Jananas

I found out that a friend recently had a child (more specifically, their partner did). I spun up 12oz of Juliespins’ superwash merino in the Circus colourway. I divided one braid into sixths and spun each. I spun the other braid in one fell swoop. Then I plied the two together. The result was that one skein was predominately blue/green and the other is red/orange.

This weekend I cast on for an easy baby cardigan. Little Raglan cardigans are starting to become second nature. I don’t necessarily know sizing off hand, but as long as I know how many stitches to cast on and how many I need for the sleeves, the in between bits are pretty brainless. I cast on Friday and this is where I am this morning.

I’m using the more green skein for edging, which I quite like. I’m also splitting up the use of skeins on the arms so that the two are better matched (well, hopefully they will be!). Its funny, the last baby cardigan I knit was longer and narrower compared to this one. I need a toddler on hand to write down my own kids clothing size/measurements database to help me with stuff like this.

I really like this sweater and am debating switching it up and gifting it to someone else because I feel like this sweater needs to be appreciated/loved hard. Ah well, baby things knit up so fast that it’ll be easy to get away with this.

I spun up 4oz of Hello Yarn’s Askew colourway. This was my first attempt at doing a colour gradient. I separated the colours as best I could and then spun, roughly, from light to dark. I believe that this was Romney, a long wool. Have to say that I’m not 100% sold on long wools (I feel similarly about short/fine stuff). I guess I’m a middle of the (wool) road kinda gal.

I think that this might be destined for a weaving project!

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last two weeks spinning. I’ve been doing a pretty major spring cleaning/overhaul of the house and had started to get a little overwhelmed by my fiber cupboard. The best solution? Spin like a mad woman! I think any point in time when you spin pounds of yarn in a one to two week period qualifies as crazy.

One of the difficulties with indie dyers is that you often end up with 4oz of a beautiful colourway. Because I don’t have fantastic yardage I end up with little skeins. Partly because I wanted more yarn and partly because I’ve been inspired by all the lovely yarns I see spun up on Ravelry I decided to play around with some combos. Excuse the photo heavy post – imagine how much work it would be if I included all the yarn I spun. Below (at 12oz of fiber, or one pound) is about half of what I spun up – eek!

First up is Hello Yarn in Minerals (shetland) and Juliespins in Amish Rainbow (targhee). I think that this is just lovely and it makes for a springy, dense yarn. Lovely, lovely, lovely! I also ended up with two giant skeins of yarn!

Next up is Spunky Eclectic’s Storms of Jupiter (organic merino) and Hello Yarn’s Icing (superwash merino). I’d originally hoped to ply Storms of Jupiter with Minerals (both are red/blue/white), but the colours weren’t complimentary. I think that this mix worked wonderfully!

I spun up some lovely superwash yarn (originally a plying partner set from play at life fibers on etsy). I got 280 yards of a worsted two ply from about 7oz of fiber in lovely, bright colours.

My friend Miss Ellen (from my local stitch ‘n bitch) bought it off me. She had plans to make an adorable baby sweater from the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book, but we were worried that she wouldn’t have quite enough yardage as it was close. Well surprise, surprise when she was able to eke out the sweater and a hat and have a little leftover! I stole the photo from her Ravelry page & project.

This is sweet little set is just adorable! I think that Ellen did a fantastic job knitting it.

Its really amazing to get to see things go from fiber to hand spun yarn to finished knitted item. I’m grateful that I get to be a part of the process!

I’ve been productive getting wedding related crafting done lately. Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m not getting other things done in me life. This morning I took (photo) stock of what I’ve done this week and, well, I’m just as productive as normal in the rest of my life as well.

In that last week I finished up a top secret birthday project (photos to be revealed once the package has been received & opened). I cast on and finished the first of a set of seat covers for our dining room set. I’ve cast on for the second one and will work away on it (and the rest of them) over the next few weeks. These are super fast given the bulky yarn and giant needles (seriously – US size 15 aka 10mm), which is rewarding.

I’ve also spun a bunch of yarn. I spun and plied 8oz of stuff I dyed at yarn school in the fall. I spun 4.2oz of raw gray alpaca that I bought and carded at yarn school. Its not too much longer until I’m back at yarn school once again, so it seemed only appropriate that I finally start using some of my stockpiled fiber (eep). I also spun up 4oz of superwash merino & firestar that arrived in the mail this week. I can’t help but love sparkle!! I also (also, also, also!) finished spinning the 12oz. of Juliespins in a superwash merino that I had started last week. Total weight – in the realm of 20oz, which is over a pound of fiber!

The one thing I adore about crafting is that there is physical proof at the end as a reminder of what you’ve done/accomplish/created. I spend so much of my life in spreadsheets or concepts that its really easy to forget how much I actually do. Crafting is a great reminder for me.