Jananas

This winter I have a bunch of to do’s on my list of things to learn – spinning, dying yarn, magic loop, latch/rug hooking, etc. Today I met up with Caitlin for lunch and we wandered through Kensington Market once we were done, of course stopping by Lettuce Knit on our way. I was looking to pick up some circular needles long enough & small enough to learn magic loop to knit socks on planes. I did pick some up. I also picked up a drop spindle and some rovings to test it out on.

I got home this afternoon and decided that I’d give it a go. Instead of using the new rovings I picked up, I started with some of the leftover rovings from the first pair of thrummed mittens I made. I watched a bunch of Megan LaCore‘s youtube videos to get the gist of drafting, spinning, and forming a skein. I then gave it a go!

First up was drafting the rovings. The big pile in the back were the ones that ended up in nice long pieces. The pile on the front left are ones that broke and so were shorter. The pile on the front right was just too small to work with and so will get used for more thrummed goodness in the future. The big thing I noticed was that the dye job seemed the impact how easily the pieces came apart/drafted, with the heavily dyed areas being ‘tough’ and the areas with little dye coming apart very, very easily (hence some of the breaks).

I had some trouble getting the drop spindle to spin, mainly because the yarn kept coming out of the little hook up top. My guess is this’ll be rectified with lots more practice and a little patience. This is a picture of my ‘yarn’ on the spindle.

I also found that I had trouble changing over from one piece of roving to the next. Again, something that should get better with practice. I stopped spinning when I was running out of space on the spindle (and time to spin). I wrapped it around the back of a chair in my dining room. I didn’t measure it out, but it was maybe 8-10 wraps of the back of the chair… So, really not very much at all!

And there’s my first (very, very) little skein of handspun yarn! I feel sort of accomplished in that I decided to give it a go and was able to produce something. However, I feel like this would have been way, way easy if I’d had someone to help teach me as I’m sure that there are lots of handy tips and tricks to help solve what I experienced. I guess I’ll add finding spinners in the Toronto area to my list of things to do in the new year.

I’ve been having a great time plotting & planning knitted baby presents for Jason’s sister. I bought some lovely Diamond Yarn Luxury Collection Mulberry & Merino in an ivory colourway when I was in Montreal in August. The yarn is a reasonably priced silk wool blend. It is scrumptious and soft and perfect for a stuffed baby toy. My friend Jess had knit up a lovely version of Ysolda’s Sophie bunny that I quite liked, so I decided to try one for myself. Ysolda writes great patterns – the visuals & instructions on how to pick up stitches make this project much more enjoyable.

I was stoked when I finished up Marajane’s thrummed mittens as in my head they were my project for September, leading up to our original departure date for our se asian adventures. Since I finished them up early, I had time to start on new projects and I immediately cast on for this bunny. It knit up remarkably fast and I finished it over Labour Day weekend at the cottage. My biggest learning was that I shouldn’t try to pick up little stitches on little needles when we’re driving down country roads.

This is the almost finished bunny. My roommate embroidered on eyes and a nose in some leftover black silk yarn I have. Doing this meant that this stuffed animal is baby safe (i.e. that there are no safety eyes that could be pried off and eaten/swallowed posing a choking hazard). Kerri seemed pretty happy with the finished bunny and I’m excited to have started what I’m sure will end up being a hope chest’s worth of baby items.

At the Queen West Art Crawl I found a woman selling necklaces made of buttons. I asked if she’d sell me buttons on their own, as she had a lovely selection and it can be difficult to find nice buttons to finish up knitting projects. I selected a handful of nice, old wood buttons and she charged me $2 (super score).

Saturday I ended up over at the Knit Cafe to spend a couple of hours working on Christmas projects (I finished a lovely pair of warm, woolen socks for Jason’s dad). Their sale bin has been calling my name for a while and I picked up three skeins of yarn for $10 each. One in a lovely bright blue/purple handspun and two in a lovely, bulkier Sheep Shop Yarn#2 in camouflage colours. That evening I cast on to knit a hat and didn’t like the way that the bulky yarn was knitting up. I frogged it and sat there contemplating it for a bit before I was inspired by these awesome, bulky cowls that Caitlin crochets up. So I made one and my roommate Caroline sewed the buttons on for me. [As an aside, these are all available for sale so drop me a line if you'd like to purchase one]

This first one is very definitely asymmetrical. I like how structural it is as a piece.

Today I’ve made two more and made a good dent in a third. No wonder my hand is a little sore! In good news, I don’t feel nearly as bad about buying three more skeins of yarn when they are finished up within 36 hours! The second one I crocheted up can be worn either straight or slightly asymmetrical (although this one is not as severe of an angle as the one pictured above). The second is narrower for those who don’t want quite as much bulk. I really like how well the old wood buttons work with these cowls.

After I’d finished up my newly purchased yarn, I started digging through my stash. I came across some Cascade yarn that I’m not 100% sold on. But looking at it in a new light (doubled up & crocheted) it seemed way more appealing. I wound it up into lovely little yarn cakes (Jase, the tweaked swift is awesome. thank you.) and got to work.

This one will be finished up tomorrow morning, have no fear!

I’m thinking that when we’re back from traveling, I’ll re-open my Etsy store. I know that lots of people are selling handmade knit/crochet items. I’m not looking for this to pay my bills, but if I could sell a couple of hats a month I’d help pay for my yarn habit.

Look at those ‘tocks! Liam thinks that he’s part frog.

When I was last in the Columbus OH, I stopped by Wholly Craft (one of my favorite diy craft stores). Right next door is Wonder Knit. Of course I had to stop in and fondle the lovely fiber. I picked up three skeins of Mini Mochi, two in a purple colourway and one in a blue/turquoise/rainbow colourway. I thought the first two would make lovely socks and the third was just to pretty to pass over.

I went through ravelry to find some free sock patterns. I finally decided on the Arch Shaped Socks as the arch shaping adds some interesting extra detail. I knit up the first one in about 14 hours and enjoyed watching both the shaping and the colour changes. I haven’t cast on for the second yet, but I’m waiting until my next plane ride (in two-ish weeks) to start. The one small change I made was to extend the arch shaping so that it came to a point, rather than ending two rows short of coming to a point.

Below are the increases, which occur on the bottom of the foot. You can see the bias shaped fabric that results.

This side shot gives a better view of the bias shaped fabric that knits up.

I really enjoyed the Mini Mochi. I liked the way it feels. I love the way the colours changed, even if the stripes aren’t totally even – if you’re looking for a perfectly self striping sock yarn and matching socks, this isn’t the yarn for you. The yarn is a single ply, so it can split a little bit although this was never a problem for me. In one of the other balls I did come across a knot followed both a very sudden colour change. However, because I sort of like the more random colour changes that already occur I didn’t find the sudden change to be much of a problem.

The only sad thing about it being single ply is that this fabric probably won’t be super durable. But the end result is so pretty and so comfortable that I’m happy regardless.