Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Going Out with a Bang

They say that you start the new year as you finished the old.

If that's true, 2015 will be the year of the sock.

Following the completion of the Mitered Sock Yarn Blankie, I started turning the leftover sock yarn into, well, socks. Baby socks.

Awaiting a suitable recipient.

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// posted by Ann @ 12/31/2014 08:10:00 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Brain Dead



I am off for the week, trying to use up vacation days that I will lose otherwise.

That's allowed me to assess my annual yarn output and to discover that I am coming up alarmingly short of FOs!

Which led me to a desire, no, a need, to complete some very small projects.

Witness the booties and dish/facecloth to the left. There were 2 more face cloths completed, but they are already in the hands of the USPS, so no pictures.



End of the year also forced my organizational skills to kick in. I sorted through several years of accumulated knitting/crochet magazines and leaflets and discovered these beauties (Mon Tricot, I think) from the 70s and 80s.

They, also, are in the hands of USPS, winging their way to Kentucky, where I hope they amuse my friend, who, I hope, will not recreate. . .






And as we were setting the table for Christmas dinner, I opened the drawer where we keep the napkins and discovered

Dave

at least I think that's his name.

He, too, is in the hands of the USPS. . . 

Edited to add: that Minion is Not Dave; he's Stuart!
How could I get that wrong??  

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// posted by Ann @ 12/30/2014 03:53:00 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Coming to the End (Of the Year)


I love the camera on my phone! Taking and posting pictures no longer involves fighting with (the now defunct) Kodak. But it also means that the colors are sometime a little muddy.

Witness the woven scarf to the left. In Real Life, it's actually quite bright. It's woven. The yarn is alpaca. Lime, turquoise, purple. Faux plaid, don't you think?

Three skeins of Filatura Lanarota Alpaca DK Splash. From Smiley's. No longer available. Made it on my 10" Cricket rigid heddle loom.

I still have some of the red/pink colorway that I am debating for another.

To the right, the Spiral Log Cabin blankie. You can search on Ravelry for the pattern. It was a quite mindless knit (stopping only occasionally to count ridges).

About 10 skeins of yarn, 5 each of two colors: cream and denim. 

Yarn is also from Smiley's, Filatura Lanarota Easy Wool (wool/ack blend). All that's currently available is black, but this is their house brand, so keep checking back for other colors.



And I finished my walking hat.

Filatura Lanarota (do I sense a theme) Puno, a 100% alpaca in  a berry heather and a denim heather. I love this stuff!

Double thick, reverse stockinette. Yum!

Same hat, turned inside out.

The Other Half has requested one.

I think black and camel. Or black and charcoal.

Still working on stuff to close out the year. Mindless small stuff. Still stash-busting whenever possible. Watch for the year-end report in about a week.

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// posted by Ann @ 12/23/2014 05:29:00 PM 0 comments

Saturday, December 06, 2014

Remaking an Old Friend

A long, long time ago, on a planet very far away, Sheepy made this very warm hat.

Now, when I say very long ago, I mean about 35 years. And when I say very warm, I am talking double layers on the crown and 4-layers thick over the ears.

It's a perfect hat to wear while walking in the winter, or using the snow blower.

But, it's 35 years old and exhibiting some wear (especially at the color changes).



Here's the inside/reverse side.

I'm thinking that the inspiration (or more likely the pattern) was in a McCall's Needlework magazine from the 1970s. Back then, I was a blind follower.

And how is it that I can date this cap so precisely (or at least get in the circa for it)?

Note the lime green, burgundy, and cream yarn in the hat.




Now, lookie here:

The family Christmas stockings, pre-Purple Warrior Princess. The third stocking from the left is the first one I made. In 1977. To mark the birth of the PWP's daddy's first Christmas. Leftovers from that stocking and a sweater or two wound up in my hat!


And now, I am seriously due for a replacement.

Particulars:

Original: 4 stitches/inch, worsted weight ack, Bernat or Berella, most likely.

Replacement (eyes left): 5 stitches per inch Filatura Lanarota Puno  (100% alpaca), so it will be thinner (I increased to more stitches) but at least as warm (probably downright hot).

I'll be throwing in some stripes of mulberry (for sure) and cream (probably) and charcoal and black (let's see how that goes!) for the reverse side.


Here's a recipe (reverse engineered from the original):

Materials: bunch of leftover yarn that goes together (or not). Appropriate size needles (I probably used 8's or 9's on the original. I'm definitely using 6's on the remake), set of dpns and a 16" circular.

Cast on 29 stitches. Join. (do I need to spell out the part about joining not twisting??)

Increase to 87 (worsted weight) or 116 (DK weight). (Work one round, then increase by kfb in each stitch to the end of the next round. Repeat these two rounds twice more for worsted and 3 times more for DK.)

Knit forever (24"). Decrease by k2 tog all the way around, knit one round even until you are back at 29 stitches (3 decrease rounds for worsted; 4 for DK). Draw up, fasten off.  Fold double with the purl side out, tack the beginning to the end. Fold up a cuff.

Stay tuned. This may not last unworn until the fair in the late summer. If we have a repeat of last winter, I'll be wearing it by Christmas.

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// posted by Ann @ 12/06/2014 04:29:00 PM 0 comments

Monday, December 01, 2014

What Has Sheepie Been Weaving?

Here's a bunch of stuff that got woven during the summer, and finished (hemmed) today.

Three dishtowels, cotton chenille. The pattern may look vaguely familiar. It's a variation on the cover project of the November/December Handwoven. Same warp on all three. different weft on each: green, blue, mauve (top to bottom).

I left out the pick up stick patter.








Another set of 3 dish towels these in cotton, plain spun for the warp, a thick and thin for the weft.

I don't know if the embiggen feature will show it,  but there's an almost "argyle" (diamond) pattern formed by the thick parts of the weft.






And the latest on the 10" Cricket: a scarf in alpaca, warp and weft.

The yarn is Filatura Lanarota Alpaca DK Splash from Smiley's. It's not on their site any longer. Don't bother to look. It's well-aged and yes, I am stash busting.

I probably have enough of this colorway to make a second scarf if I use a solid for the warp or weft. Or I might knit a beanie to match.

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// posted by Ann @ 12/01/2014 08:22:00 PM 0 comments

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