I told you I would finish something last weekend, and I did! In fact, this has been a week of finishes, it is pretty amazing! Gone is my feeling of tediously making no progress. Having a whole extra day off due to the ice storm was great for finishes. I declared it a pajama day and sat knitting and spinning ALL DAY. It was great!
I finished the shawl for Purple Fleece, and delivered it Saturday at Whorls and Purls. The wind was whipping when we took these photos! Brrrr.
I finished the Derry Cowl to go with the sweater. It might be too tall. I made it according to pattern, but with different yarn. My yarn isn’t as drapey, it seems. It’s been blocked, and still has loads of body – maybe it will soften a bit with wear? In this photo I folded it down, which works. And I am wearing it with the Derry sweater which I don’t think you have seen yet. You can’t see the pretty lace pattern on the sleeve , but it is there, and matches the cowl.
I finished the purple THING – second try at a scarf – for niece B’s Christmas (well, it turns out, birthday, still late) and delivered that today.
I finished these two skeins of yarn – yes, two! I dyed the fleece a while ago, and spun these both up in a few days. They are only about an ounce each, and came in between 90-100 yards. They will go with the two other similar weight skeins I dyed and become some kind of scarf or cowl. I am thinking linen stitch scarf, though I hate knitting scarves and I get bored with linen stitch. But they look so pretty when they are done… so who knows. I did one skein that was supposed to be predominantly yellow, one that is red, one blue, and then one that was supposed to be blue and green but when I spun it, it came out teal, which is actually really pretty. Still sorting out this whole dyeing/spinning/ what the heck will it look like thing.
Here’s the yellow and red before spinning.
And here’s the yellow after spinning:
And the red (with a tiny skein of red plied with yellow):
I worked on socks and mittens at Whorls and Purls yesterday – came home and finished the mittens. These are the most luxurious mittens! Love the cashmere blend lining. The ladies at knitting threatened to snitch them if I bring back the completed pair. 😉
I am working away on my socks, as I will all year – trying REALLY hard to only do a pair every couple of months, it is amazing the fortitude that takes, to not whizz through them and start the next pair. 🙂 Especially because the next pair will be made with my handspun yarn. 🙂 This pair is in Caper Sock, colorway Stella Blue and I love the softness of the yarn and color. I’ll be happy to be wearing them. The leg is much farther along than this, only about an inch left to go.
As for spinning – I have several pretty braids to choose from for my next spin. I have been contemplating a BIG SPIN, for me anyway, using three braids of finn, dyed in different colorways by Three Water Farm. Two I got intending to ply them together, but as I was looking over my stash, I realized that the third one held enough of the same colors that they would look great together. So, I am thinking spin them all and ply them together. But then what to make with the pile of yarn? It won’t be enough for a sweater, but I don’t need a kazillion hats. Then I had an idea, and I went stash diving. Sure enough – I have an ancient pile of a solid teal yarn that matches it beautifully (if it comes out the color that I think it will, that is. 🙂 ) and I have about 950 yards of that. If I can spin this to roughly that same weight, I WILL have enough for a sweater.
But I also have a few individual pretty braids that I love – one a silk merino that I JUST LOVE but have no idea what I will do with – might ply it with some pure silk lace weight yarn I have, I am even thinking I could use one of my new books for inspiration and add beads to the yarn, but then what? …
and then this special braid –
This is the latest from the Purple Fleece Roving of the month club – and Debbie used one of my photos as her inspiration for the variegated one, so named it after me! Check it out! I love it and ordered a braid of the compliment so that I will have 6 ounces of merino blended with YAK of all things – OMG, it is so soft! I have no idea what I will make with this, but I am itching to spin it. Maybe a nice soft cowl?
It is so hard to decide – I prepped the combo spin and the gold and copper silk merino, let them sit in sight for a few days… this morning I decided, and started the big combo spin. It should keep me busy for a few months. 😀