Emily’s Knits

I’m finally getting the hang of my drop spindle.  I do most of my knitting with lace and fingering weight yarns, so the larger weights look funny to me.  I’m also a tiny bit compulsive about wanting things to look uniform.  So the drop spindle had been driving me crazy – the yarn was too think, bunched up funny, and in the few places where it was thin tended to kink itself up.

But last night I had a breakthrough.  I took much, much shorter sections of fibre – between 8 and 12 inches long – and I separated it into very thin segments and then pulled those out even a bit further.  It’s coming out as a roughly 1ply fingering weight, which I’m okay with.  And more uniform since it’s easier to judge how ‘thick’ the fibre should be in that amount.  I don’t mind having to graft two pieces together more often.  Plus, I’m getting rid of the think portions that aren’t really twisted at all.

Yay!

I cheated a bit today and went ahead to cast on Wisp – the project I’d intended for January, which doesn’t start until tomorrow.  But that’s what happens when you have a 12 hour car ride!  It’s not a good time to run out of knitting :)

I’m just over half done already.  I think I found something else for the ‘January’ piece…

I may have needed another ‘i’ in ‘biiig’ to cover this one.  Here are a bunch of Finished Objects, mostly Christmas presents:

Name: Calypso Shawl

Designer: Debi Lake

Pattern: http://www.ocknitiotdesigns.citymax.com/catalog/item/4902737/5177209.htm

Yarn: KnitPicks Bare Wool, dyed by me (1.75 skeins, 700 yds)

Made For: Me!  (not a Christmas gift)

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/calypso-shawl

Name: Cable and Ribbed Scarf

Designer: Knitted Gems

Pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cabled–ribbed-scarf

Yarn: Moda Dea Tweedle Dee in Surf & Turf (1.75 balls, 270 yds)

Made For: Roger

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/cabled–ribbed-scarf

Name: Tapered Scarf

Designer: Me, with significant inspiration from a yarn store sample

Pattern: http://knitting.tigersdawn.com/free-patterns/tapered-scarf/

Yarn: Stacy Charles Venus in 20 (2 balls, 166 yds)

Made For: Mom

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/moms-fancy-yarn-scarf

Name: 6-Hour Afghan

Designer: Lion Brand

Pattern: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80215AD.html

Yarn: Lion Band Homespun in __, __, __, and __ (under 2 balls each)

Made For: Irina (sister)

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/6-hour-throw

Name: Muggins’ Starfish

Designer: Me!

Pattern: http://knitting.tigersdawn.com/free-patterns/muggins-starfish/

Yarn: Moda Dea Tweedle Dee in Cinnamon (3 yds)

Made For: Muggins Leathers-Nutt (the stuffed ship’s cat for Daisy, my brother’s boat)

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/muggins-starfish

 

Name: Muggins’ Fish

Designer: Me!

Pattern: http://knitting.tigersdawn.com/free-patterns/muggins-fish/

Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in Sapphire (2 yds)

Made For: Muggins Leathers-Nutt 

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/muggins-fish

Name: Muggins’ Blanket

Designer: Me!

Pattern: http://knitting.tigersdawn.com/free-patterns/muggins-blanket/

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Shadow in Pearl Frost (50 yds)

Made For: Muggins Leathers-Nutt

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/muggins-blanket

Name: Dolly Faroese Shawl

Designer: Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer

Pattern: http://www.shopatron.com/product/product_id=HFAH34D/291.1?os=ravelry

Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in Sapphire (0.5 ball, 85 yds)

Made For: Samantha and Nellie (Irina’s American Girl dolls)

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/dolly-faroese-shawl

Name: Ballband Dishclothes and Coasters

Designer: Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co.

Pattern: http://www.peaches-creme.com/Ballband%20Dishcloth.htm

Yarn: Sugar & Creme, various colours

Made For: Will (younger brother)

Ravelry Project: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/ballband-dishcloth (dishclothes), http://www.ravelry.com/projects/eleather/ballband-dishcloth-2 (coasters)

There are a few additional projects that I don’t have pictures for yet; I’ll post those as I get them.  Please excuse the generally poor state of my blocking-for-photograph (though concrete works surprisingly well).

Additionally, I’ve joined the Seasons of Lace Winter 2009 Knit-a-Long.  Hopefully that will keep me company for now on my random lace projects.

I think my resolutions this year are fairly straightforward and reasonable.  

1) On the first of each month in 2009 I’ll start a lace project.  I won’t start new ones in between.  If I don’t get it done in that month it’s fine, it’ll just carry over to whenever I have free time.  If I finish early it’s time to finish up all the other projects in progress!  Perhaps I’ll start a KAL for such projects if no one’s made one yet.

2) I’m going to learn to spin.  I’ve done a little with a drop spindle, but I want to learn to use a wheel, to create more than single-ply yarns, and make more consistently-sized yarn.  I think my mom and I will be taking a course at Halcyon Yarn in Bath, ME, so that’s off to a good start.

I’ve got a few projects picked out already (though subject to change) for Resolution 1.

• January – Wisp from Knitty Magazine (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wisp)
• February – Mystic Ice by Anna Dalvi (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mystic-ice)
• March – Creatures of the Reef by Fiddlesticks Knitting (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/creatures-of-the-reef-shawl)
• April – Mystic Waters by Anna Dalvi (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mystic-waters-lace-shawl)
• May – Kiri by Polly Outhwaite (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kiri)
• June –  Cheshire Cat Stole by Carrie Griffin (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cheshire-cat-stole)

I finished this blanket and sent it to my brother and his girlfriend a bit ago.  Sorry for the long delay in posting pictures, I just got them off my camera.

finished blanket

finished blanket (wrong side)

a single strip

close up of fish

This afternoon I finally got the border on the Festive Fish blanket I’ve been working on!  Now I’ve only got the ends (but oh my are there so many of them) to weave back in, and I’m officially finished.  I’ve been snapping pictures, I’ll put those up when I’m done.

I’ve got 9 finished strips for Festive Fish, working on the 10th.  I’ve seamed 8 of the 9 together so far.  It looks great, but it does seem like 15 rows will be needed to give the proportions I’m looking for.  At that point it’s going to be a pretty hefty piece of fabric.  I do want it to be able to cover two people, but in comparison to most throw blankets, maybe sizing it on my Queen bed is a little big…

Hopefully being a standby inspector for tomorrow’s election will be a good chance to get some more work done.  If not, it will be a good chance to be a poll inspector, which will also be great.

Also, I finally broke down and bought myself a knitting machine Sunday morning.  I think it barely counts as such – one of the cheap Ultimate Sweater Machines from Jo-Ann.  I’m curious to see what it’s capable of.

Last night I found an interesting pattern, Pink Lemon Knits’ Atlantis Stole.  It’s intended for lace beginners, using fingering weight yarn and size 7 or 8 needles.  I think I’ll start this up in some of the Jojoland fingering weight I got for mom, and see how it comes.  If I can get it done by Christmas she can have it if she likes it.

I’ve made good progress on the Festive Fish blanket.  Despite the setbacks of losing my needles and one of the strips a few weekends ago, I’ve now finished my 6th strip.  I had originally planned on 9 more, I’m excited to get these put together and see how the length is coming along.  I have a long history of making blankets, etc way too large :)

On hint 3 of SotSiii and not even selecting yarn or beads for MS4, I’m significantly behind all the talented knitters who finished or nearly finished both this week.  I’ve downloaded all the hints for both, and look forward to possibly getting to them in the future.

The fish blanket isn’t quite going swimmingly, but it’s getting there.  I set myself a deadline of wanting to be done by Halloween, but that’s certainly a little too ambitious.

Monday night I got out my new swift and yarn baller (such an improvement over balling by hand!) and wound up one skein of the blue and teal yarn.  The colours look really neat in the ball :)

I’ve cast on the Deby Lake’s Calypso shawl, and so far I’m loving it.  The actual cast-on process was exciting – involving drink stirs and some paper clips as those were the best I could find for a second needle (long tail cast on) and stitch markers at the bar I was in.  I’m about halfway through the first section.  A little worried that I won’t have enough yarn since I was slightly over gauge even on size 5′s instead of the recommended 6′s.