Well it looks like I’m going to be posting monthly even though I had plans on posting every other week. I can get a lot more done in a month though so my posts will be more impressive.

The things I have started but I didn’t work on this month include all of the blankets I have going right now. The pink and grey one and the granny square one are for my own baby and the blue and green one is for my friend’s baby

I finished two hats this month but they were kind of cheater projects. The first was a hat that I found when looking for yarn to make a hat. I pull what I think will be just black yarn out of a bag and it was a hat knit from the top down that just needed the ribbing. Not only did it just need the ribbing but it was knit with worsted weight yarn held double!

The second hat I finished was a baby hat for my kiddo. I used worsted weight superwash merino yarn from North Cabin Fiber Crafts. (Link to the shop) I mostly followed the Slippery pattern by Sarah Dupuis. The pattern is written for an adult size so I modified to make a baby size and I changed the crown shaping. My crown shaping is that there is none. I knit until I got to 6 inches and kitchnered the top and added some pom poms. I don’t know how this could possibly be any cuter!

My boyfriend’s socks are still coming along. I don’t know how to split a skein of yarn in half correctly because one “half” ran out long before the second one. I don’t know what I was thinking exactly, but when I got to the heels I put the socks on separate needles and I’ve continued to work on them on separate needles. Right now I have each sock on its own needle, half way up the leg, with one of them being out of yarn and the other having lots of yarn left. I’ll get things evened out soon. Soon being before Christmas…

At the end of October, Tina of the Knitting Blooms podcast started a mystery knit along for a new shawl that she designed. I picked out some Spud and Chloe fine in the Hippo color way and so far I’m really enjoying the pattern but I’m not so sure about the yarn. I love the color and I loved how the sample felt in the store so I’m hoping once it’s washed and blocked it will be softer. I have one and a half more repeat of the second chart to go and I’m hoping to keep up with the clues.

I have also been spinning! I got this fiber from North Country Fiber Crafts when I bought my yarn. Actually, I picked the fiber first and then heard she was having an update and kindly asked her to wait to ship until after I saw the update. Then I saw that yarn and added that to my order and I couldn’t be happier! I split the braid into 4 almost even parts and will be making a two ply. I’m spinning two parts end to end. It goes from tealy blues into the brown shades back to blue then to brown again. I’m planning on spinning both plies with the same color repeats and eventually making a shawl or scarf with it. I really love the variety and depth of the colors in this fiber and I have really enjoyed spinning it so far.

Its fall now and it is beautiful outside!

Links:
Knitting Blooms Blog
My ravelry project page
North Cabin Fiber Craft
Mystery Knit Along Pattern
Slippery Hat

This week I finished knitting two gifts! Two whole ones! I took pictures yesterday morning and last night I finished these socks for my boyfriend (I only had 5 rows left for the cuffs). I’ll get some finished pictures after I wash them and weave in the ends. He loves wearing wool socks but during the summer he likes to wear short socks. It’s hard to find short wool socks in stores so I knit him these ones. If he likes them then maybe I’ll knit some more.

I also finished this hat that I made out of some locally raised alpaca fiber. The farm isn’t far from here and they get there fiber milled in Oregon as well so I was able to enter this item in Amy Beth’s local fiber KAL (the LoKAL). This was awesome yarn to work with and I love the rustic texture. Not rustic in a bad way but it just feels like petting an alpaca and it looks like almost like hand spun (from a super awesome and consistent spinner). This will be a gift for my brother or my dad. 

On top of finishing some knitting I finished some spinning as well. The cowl that I made with hand spun alpaca used a little over half of that fiber. I spun the rest of the fiber a lot thinner and was able to get about 130 yards of sport to worsted weight yarn. I’m planning on making another alpaca hat and I think I’ll let my dad choose which one he likes and then my brother can have the other one. That’s my plan today but who knows, I might end up with another cowl lol. 

I worked on spinning some fiber on my drop spindle as well and it’s just a slow process. I’m about 2/3rds done with the first half and I’ve been working on it for a while. It’s some kind of superwash wool blended with bamboo from shooting yarns in the berry patch colorway. The tag is somewhere so by the time I finish it I’ll have all of the info. I was planning on spinning this yarn for socks but it depends on how it turns out. 

This is turning out to be a lot more than I thought because I also started a new project. I joined a KAL for the Lonely Tree Shawl in the Beginning Lace Knitters group in ravelry. I am using reclaimed worsted weight yarn that is a wool silk blend. I have more of this yarn in my shop and I was planning on listing this mega skein but it just needed to be this shawl instead. I have no idea about the yardage because I didn’t measure it but I would estimate it to be about 500 yards and the shawl calls for 330 yards so I’ll have plenty and I could possibly make it bigger. It’s a free pattern and I’m about half way done with chart B. 

For the rest of my Christmas knitting I am planning on making slippers. I have some of that orange wool dying in the crock pot right now and it looks like it will be a really deep red color. I’m using that and some other wool for felted slippers. I’m also still trying to get motivated to work on those slipper socks. I just haven’t been in the mood for them but they are a quick enough knit that I can procrastinate just a little longer. Next week I should have an update that includes felted slippers and the results of my dying today.


In the next couple of days look for the information I'm going to be posting on how the enter the raffle for a shawlette knit from the pattern I'm getting tested right now. If you are interesting in testing the pattern I still need a couple of people to test in fingering weight yarn. You can join this group and look for the Lil' Bit Shawlette thread or feel free to PM me on ravelry or in my etsy shop or email me or comment to this post if you have questions. 

I finished binding off my shawl and I got some pre-blocked photos. I also took gauge and measured its pre blocked size. I can’t wait to get some time to finish this up because I think blocking is going to make all the difference in how this shawl looks. 

I was able to borrow someone’s phone for a minute to take some pictures! The handspun alpaca is is a gradient that goes through some different shades of tan and brown. It’s a three ply yarn and bounces between super bulky and heavy worsted. I consider it to be really rustic looking. I also purchased some mill spun alpaca yarn from a local farm that I can’t wait to use. It’s worsted weight and I’m going to be making a hat from it. 

I’ve made quite a bit of progress on the scarf I’m making. I’ve used about half of my yarn so I’ve placed a marker so I’ll have a good idea of where I need to start the next ruffle. 

This week I cast on a new Christmas stash buster! I’ve had two balls of some patons sock yarn and I finally cast on some socks. I’m going to be making two pairs of mens ankle socks. I’m doing them two at a time and toe up on US size 1 needles. I might run just a little short on yarn but I have some similar yarn to use if I do run out. I’m only planning on finishing one pair for Christmas so I don’t end up running out of time for everything else. I also pulled out the needles and yarn for a hat. It’s some hand spun alpaca that is fairly bulky and a little over spun in some places but I think it will make a really nice hat.

I would love to have pictures of all of these things but my camera situation is still pretty lame. My phone takes terrible pictures and my camera isn’t much better but it’s out of batteries. I bought it 6 years ago and it’s been well used so I think it’s time for an upgrade anyways. I could call it a business expense for my etsy shop because I could use some better pictures! I’ll figure it out this week I hope because I have lots of things to share.

I finished the blue shawl I was working on so as soon as I block it and get the finished measurements for the pattern I’ll be setting up the giveaway for that. Or maybe I should get the pattern tested first… regardless I need pictures of that too! The last pictures I got are here.

Happy Thursday everyone!

I was hoping for some cooler weather but it doesn’t look like I’m going to get it. I know I should want to hang on to the warm weather as long as I can but I’m done with it. Until it’s too cold and then I’ll change my mind! I work at night right now so sleeping during the day when it’s hotter has been a little challenging at times. I also want to spin and knit all kinds of things that make my hands hot. There is one project in particular that I really wanted to hold off on until it was cooler and I have a good chunk of time to work on it. I unraveled a large portion of a cashmere sweater (pictures below) and I was able to get one skein plied. I took pictures and was planning on finishing up that week so I could list it in my shop. I went to do the second skein and my hands were just so hot and sticky that the yarn was just breaking over and over again. Straight from the sweater it is a single ply of 100% cashmere and it’s pretty much cobweb weight. After it’s plied it’s amazing and the colors are great and I love it! Before it’s plied it’s been pretty much my enemy.

There are a few other sweaters that I really want to get processed and listed this month because I would love to be able to give people more choices. I’m making progress on hand knit items but that’s only because I can work on those at work. I don’t think they would appreciate me unraveling sweaters at work. Fuzzies and threads everywhere! Tomorrow when I get access to a camera I’ll be posting some updates to my Christmas knitting stash down. It involves the orange variegated scarf that is in progress and yarn pictures of what is coming up next!