My Diaper tan/ hayfield merino Bamboo yarn decided that it really wanted to be an Ariann. My yarn is a little lighter than called for. It knits up at 20sts/inch instead of the 19 called for. I decided to knit a larger size than I wanted to compensate for it. We’ll see how well that works out. So far the yarn and the pattern seem to be getting along.
And that’s all. I’m feeling a little brain dead today and stringing anymore words into a cohesive sentence isn’t entirely possible. Let’s hope for some good sleep tonight
edit: My friend Gina just put up a new pattern. It looks beautiful!
Of course as a homeschooler, it’s never really out entirely. There is summer reading and a few field trips I want to take but the daily tasks are over until September. It will feel very free. Free until I find other tasks to fill it. Tasks like gardening and the general clean out I attempt to do every summer. This year the big project is organizing my sewing room into being a spinning weaving and sewing room. It’s probably not big enough for all that, but I’m going to try. I have a HUGE wall of cloth that needs to be sorted through and some needs to be gifted away and some I’ll just store. I already filled 4 large rubber maid buckets with polar fleece. I figured that was taking up the most space and it really was. It’s so fluffy.
Maybe if I take out some time to do more sewing, that will eat up the fabric too. I have a stack of skull fabric just itching to be clothing for the girls and I. Yeah, that’s the ticket, sewing isn’t for enjoyment, it’s to help organize. I bet if I spun up the fiber and knit some of the yarn, I’d have more room……I can see this organize thing falling apart pretty quickly and me taking a trip to my LYS just because.
Though I have been knitting and spinning. There is nothing ooh or ahh to show with the spinning or really the knitting for that matter but I took photos anyway.
On Hyacinth is Pumpkin Juice from Enchanted Knoll. Boogie Baby has claimed it and wants a hat, so it will be a three ply worsted weight:
On Suzie is some CVM I got from Amelia. I’m spinning it into lace:
My Enchanted Swallowtail is in the 2nd chart:
I started a tank top for 7goingon20. It’s for when she becomes 8goingon20 next month:
And I started with my Diaper tan Merino Bamboo a couple of times but didn’t like the patterns. Now I think I found one in Rowan 23 that will make me happy:
And now I’m home.
And tired.
This is what the booth looked like.
And because I know you all like to drool over new toys and fibers, and because I’m not capable of doing more than the sipliest of tasks at the moment, I’ll show you what I bought.
Friends Folly Farm Roving and 2 Hatchtown spindles.
And a pretty Border Leicester Fleece from Ruit Farm North.
Today I need to try to catch up on emails. Get some shipping done and work on putting the shop together. It looks like a tornado whipped through there. Hopefully I’ll have an update for you at the end of the week.
Sometimes I save up plying. I love making the singles but the plying can bore me. I save it up for times when I need really thoughtless slothy things to do. Times when my brain can’t seem to function properly. It can ply though. Sometimes I just save it up until I have no more bobbins to start a new project or for when I need the project off the bobbins.
Sunday was ply-day for me.
Remember the Merino Bamboo the color of Hay bales?
I was originally thinking of making Bianca’s Jacket. I finished a little over 900 yards.
And have changed my mind for the first time. I say first time because I’m likely to change it again. I made this pink jacket for Boogie Baby last year and loved it.
Every time she wears it I think I need one for me. So now I’m thinking a Hay bale one for me would be nice. Especially in Merino Bamboo.
I also finally plied some stuff I started last year
It was received in a swap with Abby. It was so insanely gorgeous that I just couldn’t decide what to do with it. I decided to finish up the singles and all of a sudden I realized that it would make a perfect shawl. Now I need to decide between Baltic Blossoms and Gypsy and whatever else I find before I cast on…. I have 2 skeins coming in at almost 900 yards… And I have a lot of shawls I want to make…Decisions….
Let’s talk about that shawl. I know most of you come here for knitting and spinning so let’s talk about this happy little shawl. It all starts with the fiber and the yarn
The fiber is a combed blended Merino silk top from Ashland Bay. I spun it in a worsted style. If I hadn’t started it at 11 at night, I might have spun it from the fold with a long draw. It’s a heavy fiber and spinning it worsted makes a strong but heavy yarn.
The garment made from this yarn will not be likely to pill and the yarn is really tough.
I knew I didn’t have a lot of time to knit this. Well, I was giving myself 2 weeks and under normal circumstances that’s plenty of time to knit a sweater or a shawl. But in the middle of shows and shipping club, it’s difficult though not impossible. So I started in as soon as the yarn was dry.
I knit every little chance I got. At the end of the 2 weeks, I had added one extra pattern repeat for length and finished off the edging. All to the specifications of the wonderful pattern from Susan’s Forest Canopy Shawl. I chose this shawl because I knew it well and it makes a gorgeously simple shawl. Not too frilly but not too plain either. It’s perfect for most people.
I love the blocking of lace. Well, I have to admit that threading the wires carefully through here and there is a bit annoying as it seems to take so very long to do. In some cases it takes more than an hour to get a shawl set to dry.
In the end it’s really quite worth it. I love pulling out the wires to see the finished product. It all flattens out, the details pop, and the edging is crisp.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with this shawl. I’m glad I did it in blue. If it was in a favored color of mine, it might be a little harder to give up.
