Torreyana Pines
21 Jul 2010 3 Comments
A few months ago, someone I consider a dear friend (but have only met on the internet) purchased a yarn store. She was so excited to have a yarny business of her own! I volunteered to knit a sample for her shop as an opening gift. Fast forward a few months and I’ve finally finished a lacy shawl that I hope will inspire her customers to knit more lace!
The Pattern: Torreyana from the Summer Knitty 2010
The Yarn: Baruffa Cashwool, Purple
The Needles: US 6′s
The Verdict: This was a challenging knit. There are lots of different charts and pieces, and the pattern is set up so that you can add in what you want and omit what you don’t. So there were lots of decisions to be made and careful tracking to be done. Add in very thin laceweight yarn, cables and nupps and you understand why it took me almost 3 months to knit. But I think it’s beautiful and I hope it will inspire my friend’s customers to knit lace!
Still spinnin’
14 Jul 2010 2 Comments
So normally I post about crazy knitting hijinks (yes, I am a crazy knitter). Today I turn my attention to crazy spinners (yep, I’m one of those too)!
So every summer there’s this little athletic event called the Tour de France, you may have heard of it? Well I don’t know exactly when it started, but thanks to Ravelry, a huge group of spinners (of yarn) get together each year for the Tour de Fleece – they spin (yarn) while the riders spin (bicycles). You set some goals, you start spinning, you watch the stages and away you go!
Being a new spinner I figured, what the heck? As usual I set the bar too low on my goal. I wanted to spin one “proper” skein of yarn (read: a skein that I could actually knit with). Behold, the results of my spinning Tour days 1 through 7:
The Fiber: Frabjous Fibers Blue-Faced Leicester, Colorway Moulin Rouge
The Stats: 4oz, Approx 220 yards, sport weight/light dk weight
I’m planning on spinning a few others bits of fiber I’ve got in this color range and ending up with (hopefully) 600ish yards for a handspun shawl!
And of course because I’m obsessed with seeing the transition from the fiber to the yarn:
We done did it.
07 Jul 2010 3 Comments
We bought a house! Inspection was yesterday and we’re moving towards closing mid-August. We are SO excited – a home of our own!
You can find more photos here. In the current photos, all furniture, paint, clothes and crosses belong to the sellers.
All spun up.
06 Jul 2010 2 Comments
I’m still playing, and I’m loving it! I guess it’s just a matter of the right timing. I tried to spindle spin a few years ago and I hated it. This time I picked it up and it just clicks for me. Currently I’m spinning 8 ounces of BFL in a gorgeous red/orange/pink braid. It’s coming out at laceweight singles!
But today I’m going to share my second handspun. I’m really proud of this one.
The Fiber: Squoosh Falkland in the Hibiscus Colorway
The Stats: 105 yards total, 2 ply.
And start to finish:
