How to Wear It?

I'm finished with a rib warmer variation. Well, sort of finished. I need to decide how I want to wear it. I have two options.





First is my original intention - shawl collar all the way down the front (it's just temporarily pinned now). I will sew it down, add two buttons outside, and a secret closure inside, like this one:

I like the other option, too. I'd add a button again, but a functional one. I'd have to add I-cord around the shawl collar to make an invisible I-cord buttonhole.

I haven't decided yet. In the meantime, I can finish the armholes.

Home Dec

I've been making pillows. From scratch. Totally from scratch.

I had a couple of false starts before I decided that a zipper AND piping at the seams lines are just beyond my skills. Once I accepted that and inserted the zippers in the middle of the backs, it was just a matter of doing the job.

But first I had to make the forms (non-standard size wanted). Then I had to make the piping. I futzed with this for several days but it's done. And packed to mail. Along with a couple of napkins from leftovers from a previous pillow. (color issues with my camera again - it's not blue, it's purple)

More to come, but this is it for now. I can go back to fiber fun for a while!

Here's some yarn from my Totally Tubular kit. I'm pleased with this, but I need to work on the plying skills!

And then the natural rainbow yarn. Singles on the left, which is what I used to make the ribwarmer. Navajo plied on the right. Same fiber.

Natural Rainbow

It's done! The Natural Rainbow Vest. A rib warmer, of course. What better way than to use my favorite vest to showcase my hand spun yarn. It's not the first I spun, it's the second. But it's the first that I prepared myself, and boy, have I learned a lesson about carding. This yarn is thick/thin/fuzzy. On purpose. But also because I knew that's what I'd probably get from my first rolags.

The GREAT thing about this though, is that it's from wool dyed with natural sources, under the guidance of Martha Owen in my class at the John C. Campbell Folk School last February. Read more about Martha and the Folk School by clicking my link on the sidebar. Click a photo for a clearer view of the yarn and the colors. If anyone is interested, post and I'll review what was used for which colors.

Now, about the magic of blocking. The last photo is the newly finished vest. A tad short in front, even for me (I like 'em short). I blocked, and the first photo shows an improved length in front.

However, also notice the "wing" at the left armhole in the newly blocked version. Sigh, I hate armhole wings. Sometimes that happens when you block a rib warmer and I'm learning I need to be more careful there. So the vest is back on the ironing board, having had the armhole steamed a bit and reshaped. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

(PS - The I-cord is not handspun. It's Cascade Pastaza from The Yarn Patch, a wool/llama blend.)

Jaunty Jane

Though not original, I think the title to this entry is most apt. Here's my good friend Jane, modeling her recently made rib warmers. Jane is an expert knitter with an affinity for lace. She teaches lace classes at The Yarn Patch and is a friend and mentor to so many of us. She's such a wonderful resource, and her cheerful outlook brightens our lives!

Spinning My Wheel

As I said I would, I've been spinning. But first, I finished Andrew's hat and it's on it's way to Oklahoma. The colors in the photo aren't quite true. It's got green, not teal, charcoal, black and gray, and rusty brown. There's no blue or purple. I should get a better camera or something.
















I've filled two bobbins. This is 2/3 of what I need for a hat. I'll ply as soon as my tensioned lazy kate arrives. Or maybe sooner, since I'm running out of bobbins.















And I've been knitting with handspun, natural dyed yarn. Ribwarmer in process.



For thos of you who don't know, if you click on a photo you get a bigger, closer view. I think the fiber on the bobbins is pretty cool. When I'm finished with the hat, I'll post where I got the kit. I can't remember right now and I'd have to go back downstairs to look. I'll do it soon.

A New Year

2008 Already!


This year I am going to either finish or formally abandon any and all socks currently on the needles. I am going to finish spinning the green pencil roving (hand spindle) and knit myself mittens from the yarn.


And I'm going to "spin my wheel" more. More spinning = more learning and improved results. That's a good goal!


I will also start my Christmas 2008 gift knitting in January (easy one - it's already begun).


Today, the projects on my needles that need to be finished SOON. Of course, there's no way I know the current UFO count (nor do I particularly care). But these projects have reasons to be done.



A new hat for Andrew. The one I made him two years ago turned up with little holes in it when he went to use it this year. Andrew is an active hunter and fisherman, and he really likes the soft, warm Noro wool hat. New one post haste, along with washing and storing directions to keep the m _ _ _ _ at bay.
















A big blob that will be felted. It's my head start on Christmas 2008 and I will say no more lest word get out to the intended recipient.

















A rib warmer, with some modifications and a possible "unvention." No more said about that until it's unveiled. Except that I'd like this one pretty well done by Thursday, when I begin teaching the new rib warmer class at The Yarn Patch.



















A rib warmer, knit from my handspun. Wool dyed with natural dyes in my learn to spin class last winter. It's deliberately spun thick and thin, fuzzy slubby. Yes it is!! But it's also the very first wool I carded and prepared for spinning, and I've learned a lot of how NOT to do it since. This one will be a show and tell at the January Spin-In, where Diana and I are planning on playing in Destin, Florida late in the month.















Lots of other goals, of course. But since I know me, they're likely to change as the year progresses, so I won't mention them.


And..... the 2008 socks are under way. I've decided on the Tyrolean Stockings, designed by Ann Budd in the Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. These ought to take me a while!




Happy New Year to everyone!