Tag Archives: FO

FO: textured shawl recipe.

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I pulled the pins out of my blocking textured shawl recipe shawl this morning while waiting for the coffee water to be ready to add to my french press. I have no idea what is going on in that last picture — consider it an example of this rooster, bleary-eyed and pre-coffee. Silly. So, this is lovely. I used every last inch of my 257 yards of green/blue handspun from friends’ folly farm (well, and a yard and a half of Rowan felted tweed). I followed the recipe, but applied the mods used by sketchbook on ravelry, which makes for a wider, shallower shawl. The finished product does have the drape I was hoping for, and it is solidly shawlette size. (Victory!) The mohair content is a little scratchy, but I’m hoping to tame that a bit with use, or just wear it draped more loosely around my neck, rather than wrapped tight. It feels good to have this off the needles, and I really enjoyed knitting it.

I do think I’ll make another out of something solid, super soft, and with great stitch definition to really highlight the texture of this shawl. And next time, I won’t put this project in the bag I take everywhere. I can’t explain it, but most of the time, the project that actually goes everywhere with me rarely gets worked on. Sure, I’ll pull it out when unexpected things happen and I have to wait in line or something, but mostly, I think my bag is officially a black hole when it comes to knitting projects. Okay, coffee is ready. And as you can tell from that picture, I need it.

FO: brown alpaca.

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Victory. 208 yards of 2-ply worsted weight rub-on-your-face-because-it-is-so-soft alpaca. I am so pleased with the result, and I can’t wait to show it to the friend who requested this spin!

And here’s a progress shot of the cowl — I’ve completed the neck decrease row, and now I’m increasing for the raglan neck/sleeves. Still in love with this. Tuesday is my non-campus day, so while I do have plans to do quite a bit of reading, I’m also planning lunch with a friend, a decent walk with Boh, and a trip to the farm.

FO: hemlock ring.

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First, the answer to the blocking dilemma: blocking trumps civilized meals at the table. I opted not to use pins — the ecowool was sticky enough that it seemed to stay where I pulled/tugged it, probably thanks to gravity, as most of the “petals” were hanging off the table. Despite rolling the blanket in a towel before laying it out to dry, I had to periodically wipe up puddles from beneath the petals.  Because this is a wedding gift, I decided not to spread it out again to photograph it — that just seemed like a recipe for a blanket covered in Boh-hair. So here’s a shot of the finished hemlock ring, folded and draped over a chair in the kitchen:

I am thrilled with how this turned out. Plus, I learned new things about lace knitting, casting on, and binding off, and I reclaimed some lace knitting confidence after my ishbel fail. Victory! I used just under 1.5 skeins of Cascade Ecowool (using US 10.5 needles as called for in the pattern) and I made the regular size, binding off at the marked row on the chart. And with the kitchen table back, I made pizza for dinner last night.

This is a tomato, basil, and mozzarella pizza — no sauce, just some olive oil brushed on underneath the toppings. This is might be my new favorite pizza combination — the tomatoes were so sweet — almost caramelized by the heat of the oven.

In the land of tomatoes, want to see what I have planned in the kitchen for tonight, tomorrow, and/or Friday?

Time to can some tomatoes! I’ve never done this before, and I’m psyched. My mom emailed me her recipe for sauce and scanned in her handwritten notes about canning whole tomatoes. I remember her doing this when I was little, and I am looking forward to having my own jars of tomatoes I picked on my shelves!

Also, my fridge was so colorful after I unloaded yesterday’s haul from the farm that I just had to take a picture. I also opened the fridge door and pulled out the drawers so that the boy could admire everything from the rainbow of goodness inside to the adorableness of the baby eggplants.

Last picture today: year three, day one. Me and my goofy grin are off to campus soon. A big year begins. But first, I’m going to knit another inch of that big, happy cowl-neck.

FO: chard.

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This stuff was so soft and pretty that I had to take a few pictures before I set the twist. I snapped these while I waited for the sink to fill up!

This is 211 yards of squishy, soft, light worsted-weight 2-ply spun from Pigeonroof Studios merino in the chard colorway. I am in love. I haven’t spun merino in awhile, and returning to it felt luxurious. Just what I needed this week.

Also, I’m almost to the feather and fan section of my hemlock ring. I’m really enjoying this, and I’m planning to sit down with this before today’s soccer game. I think this project is helping me to rebuild my lace confidence — I’ve had to rip back a few times to catch small errors, and being able to read my lace and solve my stitch count issues feels really good! Also, I put just a little bit of ice cream in my coffee this morning. Clearly a good move. Happy Sunday!

FO: new day (also, zucchini and chard).

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This is 150 yards of squishy, shiny, 2-ply made from 4 oz. of Spunky Club corriedale in the New Day colorway. The orange bits are my favorite part.

And here’s the zucchini ricotta galette I made for dinner last night. (I had company.) When Deb posted this recipe recently, I knew I had to make it. I think I’ve made every galette recipe she’s posted, and they’ve all been absolutely delicious!

I’m part of the way through plying the Pigeonroof Studios merino in the chard colorway, and I am absolutely loving the way the colors are combining. So pretty! In fact, pretty enough that I might put off the reading I must finish before my afternoon meeting to ply just a little bit more…

FO: garland.

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This is 268 yards of dk-weight navajo-plied Hello Yarn targhee in garland. This isn’t the whole four ounces — more like 3.25, I think. I filled a bobbin, let it rest, and started plying, and I’m not sure if I’ll make another mini-skein just like this, or save the fraction of an ounce for an all-mixed-up leftovers skein. I love this, and I’m starting to feel like I’m getting the hang of navajo-plying! Hooray! (Also, I’m still getting to know my camera, and these definitely don’t do the skein justice.)

Look! A reorganized spinning corner! I walked by this desk on Monday — it was about two blocks from my house. And then I backed up, picked it up, and carried it home. It fits perfectly into this little nook between the door and the heater, and now there is more storage space and work space in my apartment.

This is Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club corriedale in the New Day colorway. When I finished the garland, I just had to get something else started on the wheel…and suddenly I had two bobbins of this stuff. Planning to sit down and ply right after I finishing posting!

Yesterday was farm share pick-up day, and I gathered a whole bag of flowers in the fields. I love being able to fill my apartment with flowers I’ve picked myself.

And I’m knitting something new! More on this project next time.

FO: wedding pinwheel #4.

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As you may have gathered from these pictures, I finished the pinwheel with enough time to block it out before I headed home for my cousin’s wedding. (Hooray!) I’m really happy with how this turned out — and I haven’t forgotten my daydreams of knitting one (out of handspun?) for me! It took about 2.5 skeins of Cascade 220 on size 7 needles.

I decided not to worry about my citron, and instead, I spent my non-work time last week with the boy. He left this morning to spend the month at home across the Atlantic, and I returned from visiting my family this afternoon.

Stay tuned for some spinning — it is Tour de Fleece time, and I’m planning to spin as much as I can (while still getting my reading done!) on the days I’ll be in town.

FO: manka’s thicket.

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This is 298 yards of singles from 3 oz. of black bfl in the Manka’s Thicket colorway from AVFKW. (Again, this fiber is gorgeous, with hints of reddish purple throughout the naturally dark wool. My photography skills are seriously lacking when it comes to capturing colors like these.) Using this as the main color for a daybreak shawl, I could make the medium size. I don’t quite have enough of the Sadia bfl for this size, but I have enough similarly colored fiber that I could spin an extra 4o yards of that if and when I run out. I am excited about this project — this might be the first time I’ve spun with a specific pattern in mind. I’m also really pleased about the relative consistency of my singles — I got 203 yards of singles out of 2 oz. of the Sadia bfl, and 298 yards out of 3 oz. of the Manka’s Thicket black bfl, which says to me that on the whole, these skeins are relatively similar in weight/thickness. Hooray! Grey and rainy here today, which is good for my farm share, right?

FO: sadia.

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This is  2 oz. of BFL from A Verb For Keeping Warm in the Sadia colorway — my very first purchase from Verb. I wrestled with these singles a bit, but I’m quite pleased with the way these turned out, and I now have 203 yards of this stuff! (Also, singles dry so quickly! Thank you, warm weather.) I think I’m going to spin up 3 oz. of black bfl from Verb and then see if I will have enough yardage for a handspun daybreak shawl. My singles might not be plump enough to sub for fingering weight, as the pattern calls for, so I’m going to have to wait and see how my gauge compares.

It feels great to be back at the wheel. Also, I photographed this skein on top of an open cookbook in the kitchen. Yesterday I baked some banana bread, but failed to actually look at how hot an oven the recipe called for…which means the loaf was slightly charred around the edges. Still good, but man! I think my brain is officially on vacation. I’ll allow it for today, but soon it will be time to get into a summer mode of productivity.

Happy Wednesday!