Monday, March 31, 2008

Moments Away From Happy Feet



I haven't done a lot of knitting since Christmas. I knit several pairs of mitts for my shop before Christmas; my mom and my nephew got socks. My other two nephews got monster-hats (alas unphotographed), and my daughter "swiped" the one special project sweater that was supposed to be for me.

In January and February, I eked along on a pair of socks for a dear woman I know and love. She has size-10 feet, so that took a while. Then I started a pair for myself. What is special about mine is that they are knitted with some of my very first yarn spun finely enough to knit some DK weight socks. DK/light worsted is my favorite weight for sock knitting. I had to sub in some other yarn I spun and plied as I didn't keep quite enough to finish the job. But I like the final effect just fine. One toe to graft and a few ends to get rid of, and I will have happy feet.

And now for a quick sweatery update:


Friday, March 28, 2008

Now About That Sweater...

So I decided on a whim that I would start my handspun sweater. I had dyed up a particularly glorious batch of Blue Agate merino roving without a clear plan of what to do with it. Spin it? Sell it? Sell it spun or as roving? Keep it?

Then I noticed that a few other Etsy roving-dyers had posted what looked to me to be colours that would coordinate very well with my Blue Agate. I ordered them and started spinning. I saw a picture in my head of a basic cardigan that would stripe out in different, but coordinated colorways from similar rovings.

This is the front:



This part will really blow your mind. When I had spun enough of the three different rovings to get started, I looked at the yarn and thought, hmmm, maybe a size 9 needle. and then I looked through my copy of Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel, and thought, maybe something like this (looking at the short sleeved yellow cardi), but without that big panel thing.

And then I cast on. I made a guess about gauge (no swatch) and I made another guess about how much to start with, and I started knitting. Basic top-down raglan with open fronts. I'll add a band later. I knitted and worked increases, took note of the happy marriage of yarn with those size 9 (5.5mm) needles and carried on. I changed yarns, increased some more, knitted some more, put it all on a string, tried it on, put it back on the needles and kept on going.

This is the back:



In the spirit of making things up as I go along, I worked increases until the top part fit to where you divide off the sleeves. I knitted and tried it on again and decided where a bit of waist shaping should go. I'm working on that part now.

Here is a pic of two of the three spun yarns I'm using with some of that delectable Blue Agate roving. The spool has more yarn, cuz I was starting to run low on that colour.



Today, I'm working waist decreases, and I just put it down this second to take an up-to-date photo of where it's at. Stay tuned for more updates...



By the way, I'm having fun with this :)

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Coolest Stitch Markers Ever



In my travels through the land of Etsy, I've recently discovered, and fallen in love with, the style known as Steampunk. If you go to Etsy and search "steampunk," you will find all kinds of intriguing pieces, put together with love and old junk. Funky old junk. And when I say junk, I mean it in the most affectionate way. We're not talking about trash.



I started getting ideas in my head about how this might work with stitch markers. I imagined a cluster of unique markers that could be slipped on and off an aged chain. I imagined something I could wear that would capture that steampunk sensibility, but that would be practical and useful at the same time.

Then I went to all my favorite beaderies and used-stuff shops. I dug through my old bead box. I hunted supplies at etsy, and lo, the idea became this:



Yes, they are super cool. Yes, they are available in my shop. I kept a set for myself, and I love them! And yes, there will be variations on the theme available as I continue to dream them up.

Dear Blog...

I am knitting! Here is a little peek:



Cheers,

Jayne
xo

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Dear Jayne...

I miss you.

Your Blog
xo