Tag Archives: AVFKW

FO: a second seaman.

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seaman's cap 2 fo2

seaman's cap 2 fo

This hat just flew off the needles, and I love it. These big hats intended for boys also seem to work with my incredibly big hair, which means I may need to cast on for another. This grey/green version out of AVFKW falklands in The Silent Undergrowth colorway has more drape — again, maybe because it is a 2-ply, but also because the yarn seemed a bit thinner as I was working with it. (I used the same needles: US 6 for the ribbing, 7 for the st portion and decreases. WPI tool, are you hiding under piles of fiber?) Also, for those counting ounces, I started with 3 oz. of fiber, and I have .45 oz. of yarn remaining.

seaman's cap 2 unfolded

Here it is, with the brim unfolded. Perfect for big hair, no? (The colors are too wonderfully gift-able for me to keep this, particular when compared to the bright. cheery pile of handspun taking up space on the bookshelf. I can still try it on a bunch before the holidays, right?)

Alright. Onward to a few photos of the fun parts of Saturday:

bohbeingsilly

cocoa nyer

Snoring dog, hot cocoa made with milk on the stove, the New Yorker…

snail, cowl mitts

Snail hat, handspun cowl, thanksgiving day mitts: necessary for a nice walk along the reservoir.

bohsillycouch2

Boh continues to stretch and snore. I imagine he’ll be doing lots more of this later today, as his greyhound friend (and his people) will be here (with breakfast!) in about twenty minutes. Boh has no idea.

hat-tober?

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second seaman

I started a second handspun seaman’s cap yesterday afternoon, and I’m very close to beginning the decreases. I’m using AVFKW falklands in The Silent Undergrowth.

second seaman closeup

The greens are very subtle, and I’m not sure if you can tell from this picture, but there is a soft green stripe right at the base of the turned up ribbed band. I’m learning quite a bit about the connections between my spinning choices and how the yarn knits up. This hat looks a bit more rustic than the first seaman’s cap, in part because my spinning isn’t totally even, but mostly (I think) because this is a 2-ply, and my first seaman’s cap was a 3-ply. I need to start making some choices about my holiday spinning and knitting, so this comparison is giving me a lot to think about.

bmissj

Also, check this out. I really think Boh misses our guest. For much of the morning, Boh stretched out on the floor and  pouted exactly where our houseguest had been sleeping. It is so hard to be a dog.

too cool for school?

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sockswithchacos

I realize there is a serious debate raging out there in the universe about whether this is acceptable, but I do it all the time. I usually wear my Chacos with commercial wool hiking socks, but yesterday I decided to try it with hand-knit socks. It was a cool, grey but not rainy day, and it was so nice to be able to look down and admire my pretty socks!

handspunshawl1

handspun shawl2

I finished my shawl yesterday! I ended up using some leftover purple Araucania Nature Wool from my fad classic to lengthen it by a few rows and create a crisper edge.

handspun shawl3

The shawl isn’t huge, but it can wrap around my shoulders, though I think I’ll probably wear it more like a scarf. In order to get a bit more width, I soaked the shawl and pinned it out to block.

handspunshawl4block

handspun5macroblock

It should be dry this afternoon. I’ll say it again: these blocking squares are awesome.

hibiscusFO1

hibiscusFO2

Here is my very happy skein of AVFKW targhee in the hibiscus colorway. I spun up 3 oz., which yielded 240 yards of 2-ply in a dk weight. Targhee may be my favorite fiber to spin — I cannot get over how soft and squooshy this skein feels!

hibiscusFO3

On the list for today? A mixture of school (reading), life (a few groceries), and play (a long walk with Boh). Happy Friday, folks!

yarn in the sink.

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Last night I stayed up late to finish plying my never-ending bobbins of targhee together. I wound it onto the niddy noddy, counted the strands, took a few pictures, and then placed it in a hot water bath with some soak wash. About 30 seconds later, I realized I was incredibly tired, and went about getting ready for bed: I straightened up the kitchen, took Boh out, put on my pajamas, etc. And then I went to brush my teeth, only to look down and realize that there was yarn in the sink. (I may have used a colorful word or two.) I stayed awake for another ten or fifteen minutes in order to give the yarn the bath it deserved, and then rolled it in a towel, snapped/thwacked a few times, and finally hung it to dry.

plied hibiscus

Here it is, pre-bath, nestled on one of my favorite (store bought) sweaters. This stuff is soooo soft, and it is almost dry. (I keep petting it whenever I am in the kitchen.)

leftovers hibiscus

Here’s what was leftover on one of the bobbins. This is one of my most consistent spins to date, so this massive imbalance on the bobbins indicates to me that it might be time to acquire a kitchen scale so that I can split my fiber more evenly, particularly as I start thinking about bigger spinning projects.

fluff fibers

Lastly, this came in the mail yesterday: 2 bumps of superwash merino from FLUFF fibers in the Beach Day and Jungle Flowers colorways. Yay!

still waking up.

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goodmorningboh

It was hard to get up this morning, and I’m nowhere near full alertness. I’m mostly through my first cup of coffee (and will need a second). Boh has already given up, and is currently mid-snore.

hibiscus

I started plying the AVFKW targhee in hibiscus yesterday, and I’m hoping to finish this today so that I can get ready to do some sampling for my first sweater-spinning project!

sye shawl washed up

I snapped this picture while waiting for my french press to finish working its magic — seems I stopped knitting mid-row last night because I just had to get into bed. The colors are way off in this picture, as the shawl is resting on the arm of the couch underneath a very bright lamp, but I liked how it looked as I stumbled kitchenward to put water on for coffee this morning.

Things were a bit rushed yesterday, so I didn’t take any pictures of my farm share, but since I’ve been documenting my weekly haul here, I picked 4 quarts of raspberries and a quart of blackberries in the fields, and then picked up lettuce, a few pounds of heirloom yellow and purple carrots, cauliflower, hot peppers, red peppers, italian eggplant, bok choi, basil, and the last red tomato of the season.

Off to pour cup #2…

equilibrium.

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cmf grey corriedale

cmf brown bfl

Believe it or not, I’ve been spinning faster than I’ve been stashing fiber. (The rate I’m knitting my handspun? That’s another story, but I’m working on it.)

Anyway, Chris over at Doodles In String has been encouraging me to spin for a sweater, and her kind enabling, in addition to last week’s realization that I had spun more than I had left to spin, required immediate action. On Saturday, I ordered a pound and a half each of grey corriedale and brown bfl from Crown Mountain Farms, and it was here on Monday afternoon. A few bumps of fiber are on their way here from places further afield, but I do feel that I am much closer to stash equilibrium now. Phew!

targheebob2

targheebob2dog

I spun up the second bobbin of AVFKW targhee in the Hibiscus colorway last night, (note the lazy dog in the background) and I’m hoping to start plying before I head to class this morning. Apparently this particular blend of reds and oranges routinely speaks to me: the throw on the couch above Boh is the same mixture of colors, and this morning, I put on my sassymmetrical cardigan, only to realize that I knit it in a very similar shade of malabrigo.

sassymmetrical in action

closeupsassymmetrical

I love this sweater, but I rarely wear it out of the house. I think this is because of a mixture of several factors: (a) it is bright (b) I don’t have a lot that seems to look “right” under it (c) cap sleeves in practice aren’t the most flattering on me (though I love them in theory) and (d) the texture and variegation of the malabrigo in this particular incarnation make it look hand-knit in a way that makes me a little self-conscious. Does that make sense?

Despite all this, I’m wearing it today, and it is making me happy.

simpleyeteffectiveblob

Lastly, my simple yet effective shawl is growing. It’s the wrong color family for today’s post, but I can’t get over how much I like the way this is knitting up. I’m thinking I may keep going once I run out of handspun and continue with some commercial yarn leftovers to give it a more finished edge.

This post’s title is also apt because I think I’m getting closer to a routine: I’ve made lists of my personal and academic priorities for this semester, mapped out a tentative breakdown for working at home with Boh vs. working in my office, and I’m feeling okay about it all. I guess it is about time to stop planning my work and get to it!

walk/wool/work.

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plain and simple 9in

Yesterday, thanks to a fairly productive Saturday, Boh and I were able to take a nice long walk down to a local preserve that also happens to house a big reservoir for New Home’s drinking water. As we walked and the wind rustled the leaves on the trees, I realized that it truly smelled like fall. We spent the rest of the day snoozing (Boh) and alternating between spinning, knitting, reading, and writing (me).

targheeoranges1

I started spinning this targhee — 3 oz. from AVFKW in the Hibiscus colorway.

targheeoranges2

I’m planning a 2-ply, and I’m hoping for enough yardage to do a densely knit pair of fingerless mitts (I think). Note the pooch asleep in the background.

bohasleepcouch1

bohasleepcouch2

It is so hard to be a dog.

norwegianskein1

Here’s the first skein of that norwegian top from Paradise Fibers: 156 yards of 2-ply, worsted weight, from 4 oz. of fiber. I love the sheen of the yarn and the depth of this grey.

norwegianskein2

This is not the softest skein on the planet, but it strikes me as workhorse yarn that would be great for hats and mittens. I’m interested to see what this will feel like knitted up.

How did it become Monday again? I may indulge in a little bit of knitting before I head to campus to face the universe…

feeling antsy.

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I’m not exactly sure why — maybe because it is early enough in the semester that I don’t quite have a routine yet, maybe because getting back into this particular mode of being is a bit of a struggle — but last night I felt just plain antsy, like I should be getting things done, even though I was tired. I think one of the reasons there is such crossover between the land of knitters and academia is that knitting is a way to see what you are producing, to hold it in your hands. Sometimes, even though there is a pile of reading staring at me, I just need to really see my own progress on something slightly more tangible.

belleprogsleeve

Hence, my baby belle. I just have the sleeves and the button band left to do, and I love how this is turning out. Also:

hhocksplied

I plied the bobbins of the green falklands fiber in the hollyhock colorway together, and set the twist.

hhockskein

hhockcloseup

110 yards of 2-ply, from 2 oz. of fiber. You may recall that the other half of this bump is pale pinks and purples. I may have spun up the remaining 2 oz. before bed last night…

purpleshock

I’m taking a class that is exciting to me, although it is out of my field — and out of my comfort zone. I may ply the rest of the hollyhocks falklands fiber this morning in preparation  — the fibery equivalent of a few deep breaths?

pointillism.

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pointillismpink1

pointillismpinkmacro2

Here’s the pink half of the bump of AVFKW superwash bfl in the pointillism colorway: 106 yds of 2-ply, from 2 oz.

pointillismyellowbobbin

pointillismyellowoffniddynoddy

And here’s the yellow half, spun, plied, and skeined:

pointillismyellowskein1

pointillismyellowmacro2

pointillismyellowskein3

The yellow 2 oz. yielded 95 yds of 2-ply, so I have 201 yards to work with. I’m thinking about not using a constrast color at the start, and allowing the pinks to blend into the yellows in the sweater, and then finding an appropriate color for the bottom ruffle of baby belle if it seems like there won’t be enough handspun.

I’m not letting myself cast on for this until I am solidly into the edging on the wedding shawl. (Finished repeat #2 last night!)

Also, more silliness occurred after I posted yesterday:

boh comforter

bohhidingcomforter2

Sigh. And so it begins: I’m off to campus for a meeting and (yay!) to get settled in my office (and by office, I mean desk in the basement).  Happy Monday!

spinning for something.

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pointillism pink lap

So I’m spinning for something. I’ve been eyeing cosy’s adorable baby sweater for awhile now, and I was thrilled when she posted that she needed some folks to knit these out of handspun. Though I have a large bag full o’ my own handspun, I decided that this might be an opportunity to at least try to knit with a particular pattern in mind, so I dug through the fiber bin and came up with some Verb superwash bfl in the pointillism colorway, which is 2 oz. of lovely yellows, and 2 oz. of pinks and purples.

pointillism pink toes

I decided to preserve the colors, so I split the pink and purple piece into 2 parts, lengthwise, and plied them together.

pointillism pink macro

Here it is, hanging to dry. The pattern calls for 8s, so I’m aiming for a worsted weight, which I’m hoping will plump up and help me get close to the called-for gauge. It looks like I got about 100 yards out of the first 2 oz., which sounds about right. I’m planning to spin and ply the rest today so that I can get started!

Also, I snapped a picture of Mr. Boh, resting atop the comforter.

boh and laundry

This dog really loves laundry day. As you can see, we’re aiming for a mixture of restful and productive on this last day of the final weekend before the semester starts!