Handspun Finn Bonbon and Dollhouse Fun

Finn roving has to be my favorite fiber to spin. I find it the easiest to spin, and I love the resulting yarn. It is just beautiful, matt looking, and baby soft.

I named this skein Bonbon. Its colors were inspired by the bonbon colored dresses of Marie-Antoinette.
It is 110 yards. I can just see a Cerise Baby Sweater for a baby girl! I just added it to my Etsy Shop.

On the dollhouse front, I am almost there. Yesterday I received an adorable re-ment tea set. The detail is amazing! (I ordered it from Priscilla's Treasures.) And the color...emerald. It reminds me of the vintage Anchor forest green glass dish sets. Little Miss SockPixie will be so happy!

The dollhouse should be done tomorrow...

Handspun Sunday

It is Sunday again, and that means it is spinning day. Today I picked a bold gold and black roving with just a touch of green I had dyed years ago as part of the Vermeer Collection.

Today, on this 4th of July, it just made me think of fireworks exploding in the dark sky in bold golds. I really enjoyed seeing the golds pop against the blacks as I sat spinning this afternoon talking and laughing with Miss SockPixie.

This lovely Merino roving, which I spun as fine singles, will be plied with another fine singles this time in black. I am planning on knitting socks from it. Spinning sock yarn takes a little more concentration for me. The singles really need to be fine enough for the sock yarn not to be too thick. Enough twist also needs to be put in the singles for them to hold together and not disintegrate as you spin or when you ply. I set my wheel on the medieum size whorl, and slowed the uptake a little. This should give me a sturdy single that will resist the plying, and will make a comfy yet sturdy sock.

That's it for tonight. We are off to see the fireworks over the Charles River. I wish you all a wonderful 4th of July!

Ready to be knit up

Remember the yarn I spun on Sunday? Here it is, all skeined and ready to be knit up. To be honest I have no idea what I am going to knit with it. Maybe it will become the yoke of another Cerise Baby Sweater... maybe mittens, or a hat, who knows...

For now, I am going to enjoy looking at it. It will sit on my bedside table.

Knitting Pam Allen's Indian Floral Vest

Yes, I am finally knitting Pam Allen's Indian Floral Vest! I started yesterday afternoon. I actually started with the left front. (I know you should start with the back, but I just felt like knitting the fronts!)

The left front is finished and I have marked the location of the buttons in order to place the buttonholes properly on the right front. (I am looking forward to making the buttons, they are crochet buttons!)



The detail on the vest is beautiful. I love how Pam Allen worked the bottom edge. It is so feminine, and the waist shaping will be so flattering. And the way my red handspun Shetland is knitting up is making me so happy!



Before I go, I wanted to tell you Mr. SockPixie loved his Moth Mittens, and wore them for the first time today!

Sweetheart Baby Slippers (free knitting pattern)

I was going to have the pattern for the Sweetheart baby slippers as a pdf, but my computer had to be completely reinstalled, and the software is not back on yet, so I will just post it to the blog.



Materials:

-Left over worsted weight handspun or commercial worsted weight yarn in 2 contrasting colors. (approx. 1 oz for light color, and 1/2 oz for the contrast or dark color).(I used left over handspun Romney).
-Set of US 5 dpts
-Darning needle

Gauge:

6 stitches per inch in garter stitch on US 5

Instructions:

Make 2 hearts using the dark color(DC).
Cast on 21 stitches.
R1: K9, Sl 1, K2TOG, PSSO, K6, K2TOG, TURN.
R2: Sl 1, K13, K2TOG, TURN.
R3: Sl 1, K5, Sl 1, K2TOG, PSSO, K3, K2TOG, TURN.
R4: Sl 1, K7, K2TOG, TURN.
R5: Sl 1, K2, Sl 1, K2TOG, PSSO, K1, K2TOG, TURN.
R6: Sl 1, K3, K2TOG, TURN.
Repeat R6 until there are 5 stitches left. BO loosely.



Continue as follows to knit the 2 slippers.
With the main color, in my case the lighter one (LC), pick up and knit 20 stitches. You will start picking up at the point where you ended your bind off, you will pick up 10 stitches down the first side of the heart on needle 1, and then 10 stitches back up the other side on needle 2, stopping at the point where you started your bind off, leaving the bound off stitches unused. On needle 3, cast on 20 stitches using the knitted cast on.

Join the round, start with a purl row, then knit in garter stitch until you have six ridges (6 ridges = 12 rows).(To get garter stitch while knitting in the round, you will knit one row, then purl the next).

Break LC, now using DC, purl 1 row.
Next row: K5, K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, K10, K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, K2TOG, K1, K2TOG, K5.
Purl 1 row.
Next row: K5, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K10, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K5.
Purl 1 row.
Next row: K4, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K8, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K4.
Purl 1 row.
Next row: K3, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K6, K2TOG, K2, K2TOG, K3. (20 stitches)
Purl next 5 stitches.

Use a 3 needle bind off to close the sole of the slipper.
Place 10 stitches on one needle and 10 on another needle. The needles will be on each side of the point of the heart. Using a third needle, bind off loosely. Turn the slipper inside out. The wrong side is now the right side. Weave in all ends.



With LC, starting at the center of the back of the slipper, pick up and knit 2 stitches at the edge of the slipper, *BO 1, pick up 1*. Repeat along the foot opening until you are back where you started ending with BO of the last 2 stitches. Weave in ends.


Happy knitting!

Sweetheart Baby Slippers

A little more shetland, a little left over handspun, and a little more knitting... Here are my Sweethearts, my latest baby slippers inspired by EZ's heart bonnet!



Just think about it, this is the perfect project for left over handspun, or not handspun worsted weight yarn walnuts!

My hope is to have a pdf of the free pattern ready by tomorrow evening.That's it for now, got to go...

A Fern Beret for Miss SockPixie

A few weeks ago, I posted a picture of some handspun, a Merino Silk blend. I spun the yarn as a light worsted singles using a short forward draw. The result was a yarn with very little fuzz, great shine, and body.



I had about 4 oz of yarn which left me if two choices: mittens, or a hat. I thought the yarn would be to feminine for a boy, and its "crispness" would allow for stitch play.

Berets are great to show off a stitch pattern as they have a large section that sits in a disc fashion on the head, whitout being stretched or distorted.
I picked a lace pattern that radiates toward the center of the beret, it actually reminds me of ferns. I blocked the beret gently to open up the lace. I love the color, the slight silky luster, and the timelessness of the style.


The beret is now Miss SockPixie's.

Cat Fur Garments

I took some new photos of my cat fur spinning and knitting experiments from years ago. Above you see the cat fur spun on my spindle (I find it easier to use a spindle), plied, and knitted up in a scarf (top) and mittens.



These mittens are brown but actually the fur came from a black Persian cat I had named Pumpkin. Her fur was wonderful to spin - it could be up to 5 inches long on her tail and it had a crimp in it.



This scarf is a mixture of fur from Pumpkin and my Himalayan cat Bosco. Bosco's fur was almost as long as Pumpkin's but extremely straight and slippery. It was so slippery it was difficult to spin by itself so I mixed it with Pumpkin's fur for this stockinette scarf. The combo of furs always makes me laugh because they hated each other's guts in real life but now they're together for eternity.



I made some simple mittens with a folded cuff and peasant thumb with Pumpkin's fur. These have felted over the years but they are very soft and extremely warm.

Spin-Off Entrelac Socks

Here are the Spin-Off entrelac socks done in handspun Kool Aid and Easter egg dyed yarns in 10 different colors. They were fun to do but they are most significant because they are the first socks I've knit in years. I guess I just got burnt out on socks.

Still plugging along on all that K1P1 ribbing and trying not to spend too much money on knitting books. So far in the past month I've purchased Folk Vests and the Anne Feitelson Fair Isle book and The Children's Collection by Alice Starmore. I'm pretty bad about knitting books and always have a few more I want. I think I'll get the Ron Schweitzer books next - at least Postcards from Shetland and Appalachian Portraits.

Colorful Kin Cap

Thanks for all the nice comments I've received on this blog, especially from some of my Norgi knitting role models like Wendy & Geane.

I doubt I will achieve all my 2003 fiber goals (I may not even START Kashmir since it is last on the list of sweaters to do) but setting goals does seem to spur me on to finish more stuff.


I don't have too many items I've both spun and knit but here is one. It is the "Colorful Kin Cap" from an old issue of Interweave Knits. I found the four colors of dyed Australian wool as roving in my LYS, Village Wools (one of the BEST LYS's there is!). I spun it into a 2 ply yarn. The hat is for DH but it has inspired many people to ask for a hat of their own. I made one other but in commercial yarn. I'm not sure the colors are coming out as brilliantly as they do in real life but I really like them. Normally I am not too capable at choosing lots of colors to go together and I ask DH to do it. My knitting friend Jeanette is excellent at choosing colors and I should ask her advice more often.