Sunday, October 5, 2014

Baby got back

I’ve decided that the one and only Christmas gift I’ll be knitting this year is a CustomFit sweater for S1. I bought yarn - Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool:IMG_3251 We took measurements. I knit a swatch. She picked a pattern (Cushing Isle, already integrated in the makewearlove site).

I got started with the knitting earlier this month, feeling that I needed to get a jump on the project so I would finish in time (my finishing time for sweaters isn’t impressive). And you know what? This one is flying! I finished the back this week and it’s blocking today:IMG_4541 I cast on for a sleeve Friday night so I could take it to the soccer games on Saturday, and it’s coming along nicely. I will work on those at work this week. I knew it would be easy to work on sleeves at work (they’re not so big) – but I was surprised that I was able to work on the back quite a bit at work. This fabric is so light and airy that it’s not like holding a giant baby in your lap.

Speaking of holding a giant hot baby in your lap… the cool temperatures this weekend inspired me to get back to my blanket. I just finished color 3 (of 6) this morning and have just begun color 4. IMG_4547 I normally knit it on a 60” cable, but I connected two 60” cables just to get these pictures of the blanket in a flat state. I think this is going to be a great addition to our living room, but I doubt I will ever knit a one-piece blanket again. It’s just too cumbersome. I’m modular from this point forward.

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You can see the Mondo Bag my mom made me for Christmas in the background there. She used all batik fabrics, which I’m very fond of. The Mondo Bag is a thing in the quilting world – just google it. I like mine best and it’s the perfect size for this blanket project.

IMG_4559 Color #4 is called Provence, and it’s an orangey-red. Very nice.

Tomorrow Spinzilla begins, so I’ll be reallocating some of my knitting time to spinning. I’m on Team Storey. I decided to join a team when it was clear that teams still needed members before the registration deadline. I picked Team Storey because I’ve benefited so much from their books over the years.

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I also squeezed in another spinning project before needing to clear my bobbins for Spinzilla. This is Jacob roving that I spun longdraw and plied into a bouncy 2-ply yarn. It was grown on Spot Hollow Farm. You see Skein A above – it is 213 yards and 92 grams. The second skein is much smaller (it just wouldn’t fit on my plying bobbin) – only 56 yards and 22 grams. So altogether I have 269 yards and 114 grams. It is such a beautiful, deep brown. The yarn I made is a lot like Shelter, just a little more plump. IMG_4570 Now, I need to go make sure I’m ready to begin spinning tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. The blanket is looking lovely. I imagine it is hard to work with as one giant piece, though. And I made a green scarf out of Silky Wool. I loved working with that stuff. S1 is going to love it.

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  2. Often when people talk about multiple projects in a post, one stands out for me, but all of yours look really lovely and interesting. I can also see that I may need to befriend a quilter; I love your Mondo bag!

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