KnitMe

Meet the new kid

Yesterday we went to the SPCA Animal Shelter and came home with this boy.

(Yes, those are cherry blossoms in the background, at last!)

They named him Cooper, and we're not going to change that since he comes when he is called. He's a young adult, a Siamese / domestic long hair cross, about two years old. He's not the least bit shy, loves people and is the most curious cat I have ever met. He has sniffed every corner, tried to get into every cupboard, and has shed just about everywhere. We're going to fix that with our fancy new brush. His back has been shaved because he was badly matted. Imagine what the shedding will be like when that grows back in. (I wonder if it can be spun). Judging by the way he climbed into bed with us last night, you'd think he had never slept anywhere else.

Since we're back into daylight savings, I have been spinning a more than knitting. I got some merino-tencel fibre from my friend Fran for Christmas. I'm going to ply it with some silk I purchased from the Silkworker in the Music Box colourway. The singles have been spun, but the plying isn't done yet. Cooper seems happy to let me spin, but plying with him around might be an adventure.

Merino-tencel:

Msic Box Silk:

About a year ago I acquired some merino-silk top from Vicki when she was destashing. It's all spun up into a fingering weight, 15 w.p.i. 2 ply yarn. There are 1,397 yards which may become a nice big shawl some day.

My current spinning is Crown Mountain Sock Hop, superwash merino in the Under the Boardwalk colourway. I've really been enjoying this. The top is dyed with half the length in lighter colours and half in darker. I have separated the two halves and torn off arm lengths of each bump to mix up the colours within the light and dark bumps. I'm spinning one armlength of light followed by one armlength of dark. Who knows how the yarn will turn out. The not knowing is half the fun.

I really like how the colours are coming out in the singles.

More color

I finished the labor-intensive rainbow silk/merino.

On my monitor at home it seemed way too washed-out so I darkened it a bit, I have no idea what it will look like to you. But I am very pleased with it. The colors remained pretty clear, and they have a lovely saturated-ness to them.

The brushed lace cardigan is done, but at the time I was taking photos yesterday it was all bunched up on the needles having the button/neck band knit so it was not ready to pose. I cast off in the evening and am seeking the perfect lightweight buttons, so there will be a photo op next week. Despite my worries about losing the halo, I think it does need a wet block, so that is on the agenda for the next day or two.

I finished one Evening Sock.

I prefer top-down socks, and I am still fumbling around trying to find out how to use weight to determine if I have used as much yarn as possible for a sock leg given the size of my foot. When I weighed the yarn remaining in the ball at the top of the heel flap, I got 84 grams. Since I had started out with 112 grams, I figured I should skip the 20 rows remaining on the leg, and just get on with the foot. Then, when I cast off this sock and weighed the yarn remaining, I got.. 66 grams. Hein? I only use 18 grams of yarn for a heel, gusset, and foot?? No way. I am considering knitting the second sock to the full length required by the pattern, and removing the entire foot on the first sock and adding those 20 rows onto the leg. What is the point of shortening a pattern when in fact you don't need to? I will see what the yarn weighs when I finish a matching leg on the second sock, and then decide.

On a lark I played with a crock pot, Kool Aid, and shetland roving yesterday. I think the results are hideous but we will see what the stuff looks like when dry, I might show it to you anyway...

Some color

Actually that is an intentional understatement. Here is the leg and heel flap of my Evening Socks.

I'm enjoying the colors although I am still not 100% sure I think they compliment this particular pattern. This pattern does not have a slip-stitch heel, so there are wonderful solid clear stripes of color on the heel flap that I love.

There is a ton of yardage in this skein of Lisa's hardtwist petite, which is why I set out to make this pattern. However, when I got to the end of the leg decreases I figured I'd better weigh the remaining yarn, and I found I had used 38 grams out of 112. So, the leg of these is going to be 10 inches long instead of 12, because I don't want to take the chance of running out before the toe since I only have 56 grams available per sock.

I am also spinning 4 ounces of merino/silk roving I bought from Winderwood Farms on eBay last year. The colors are very clear and pure in the roving so I'm trying to preserve that in the spun single, with mixed success.

I intend to navajo-ply this to keep the colors together, so I am trying to get the longest runs possible of each color, and it's been a bit labor-intensive. The roving is very compacted from being dyed and stored, so I can't just spin back and forth across the top to get each color. I have had to pull the roving open width-wise and yank off each color section by itself, then split it in half lengthwise and constantly break off and rejoin working back and forth between the two pieces till I've exhausted the one color and am ready to go on to the next one. I should be able to ply this next weekend and see how this approach worked out.

Still knitting on the brushed lace cardigan, too - I have the fronts and back finished and am nearly done one sleeve.

I am not sure I am going to want to wet-block this yarn, it is sort of open and fuzzy and brushed. How can I block something like this without matting it down and ruining it???

Still more kitties

OK this is the end of the kittification for now - here are the completed kitty socks.

They turned out to fit pretty well - a little flabby in the foot, but they actually stay up which is a miracle.

The Knit Picks Merino Style yarn is not going to be hardwearing, but then neither would the yarn called for (baby alpaca) have been.

I have to have another sock going, so I started the 'Evening Socks for a young girl' from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

Nancy would probably giggle nervously if she saw the wild yarn I'm using to make her refined lace socks, but this yarn makes me happy and we'll see how it turns out.

Meanwhile, the brushed lace cardigan proceeds. I have a completed back, and one side front which was completed after this photo was taken.

This is a fast knit, I should have it just in time to wear for spring. I hope.

More Kitties

The kitty bag is finally done.

I felted it a third time to get the grey handspun to fall into line better. It sort of worked. I considered the ideas Donna gave for cleaning up the outline of the cat, and I embroidered around the edges of the head where it had become hard to see the shape of the ears, but I decided the rest looked ok and I left it alone. The butterfly is a little too big but it wasn't worth taking it off to cut it down.

I didn't get a photo of it, but the best feature of this bag is the top. When the bag is wet after felting, you fold the top sides in like a brown paper bag - I used clamps from my toolbox to hold it in a nice tight fold. And you put dowels through facings at the top edge of the bag before sewing on the handles. This makes a firm bag that doesn't sag into a pouch like most felted bags, and the top opens nicely like one of those old carpet bags Mary Poppins carried. It is a most practical bag.

The only problem I ran into was that the facings tended to felt shut - you fold them in and sew them down before felting, and then when you are done felting they are sort of closed. I had to ram a huge screwdriver through them so that I could get them ripped open again and get the dowels in. I don't know if there is something like a long strip of plastic that you could feed through the facings before you felt the bag.

I also started the socks from the Kitty Knits book. They were so cute I just couldn't resist. I decided this was a good opportunity to try Knit Picks Merino Style.

I totally played havoc with the colors, but I just can't leave a brown color scheme alone. So you kind of lose the gingham effect she was going for in the leg - I didn't realize that pale blue was going to be so lavender. Oh well, they are still cute and cozy. I like the yarn so far - there is no telling how it will hold up with wear, but the consistency of the yarn bodes well - it is very firmly spun and plyed, and I am finding it does not split as I knit it.

I was also afraid that two-color stranded socks would not be elastic enough to fit me, but I seem to have been wrong. The first time I put these on, all the slack in the stranding spread nicely out and they seem like they will fit fine. Maybe there are more two-color socks in my future.

One small issue with the pattern that could trip you up if you don't happen to be alert right when you get to it - the pattern gives you chart B (the kitty face) right side up and tells you to knit rows 1 through 11. If you do that without thinking, your cats will be upside down (unless you happen to be knitting toe-up). You need to turn chart B upside down to get your cats facing the right direction if you are knitting top-down.

If you missed our blog interview with Donna Druchunas about the Kitty Knits book, scroll down to last Thursday's entry and catch up on the fun.

The other project I started was the Brushed Lace cardigan from the winter issue of Interweave. Without the color stripes in the lace border, thank you very much.

I'm using Valley Yarns 'Florence', which is 50% fine merino plus kid mohair and nylon - it's a brushed yarn that is feather-light and seemed like a good substitute for brushed alpaca. And on size 8 needles this is a fast knit so far - I am almost up to the armholes on the back piece and I have only been knitting on it for a week.

I seem to have a weakness for feather and fan sweaters - I tried to make up a sweater with a feather and fan border a couple of years ago and it was sort of a flop. I made the 'Tailored Scallops' sweater last year. Now this. Maybe when I finish this I will be satisfied and will be able to quit.