FO- Cotty Socks

My draconian stashdown continues.



Another skein of Socks that Rock gone. This is more of the Lightweight in the "Raven" colorway.



The pattern is called "Cotty" by IrishGirlieKnits. They have a lovely picot cuff and it was a really simple lace pattern that was addictive. I loved the colorway and had been saving this yarn for a good pattern that would be equally awesome. I'm very pleased with the result.



The specs:
I used US size 1 needles. I did these top-down, two at a time on two circs. No modifications, except that I made the cuffs a bit longer (mostly because I loved knitting them so much I didn't want to stop).

I plan on making these again- the pattern is written for both fingering weight and sport weight yarn.

FO: Architect's Hat

Last Sunday morning, a bit of a chill was in the air. I sat down with a cup of coffee, a pile of scraps of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, and The Knitter's Book of Yarn. In a couple hours I had this:



It's the Architect's Hat. It's a top-down hat: it has a short-row cap, then stitches are picked up around the edge and the rest of the hat is knitted. It has a fun slip-stitch pattern and really took no time at all. It was quite useful when it came to using up odd lengths of yarn. I think this Lamb's Pride Bulky has been in my stash for at least 7 years now, and I was going to throw it in the garbage if I couldn't come up with a project soon.



B is for Brown Sheep...this is part of my A-Z Stashdown Challenge.



It looks a little lumpy, but I took these pics pre-blocking. A bath really evened out the slip-stitch sections.

I will totally call upon this pattern again. It would be great in quieter or natural fleece colors, or even solid colors.

The Specs:
I used US 10 needles. I'm guessing my yardage is about 130 for the whole hat, but since I was just grabbing random scraps, I have no real idea. Lamb's Pride Bulky is a bulky weight single that is a 85/15 blend of wool and mohair.

FO: Belle Starr Hat

Another handspun hat! I think after months of making sweaters, some instant gratification (and stash busting) is in order.

This started out as a batt from Butterfly Girl Designs. It was 3 oz of superwash merino, silk and a bit of sparkle called "Woodland Nymph".



Really pretty.

Ugh, I spun this up in the summer of 2008! It's been sitting in a bin ever since. I'm really trying hard to get rid of all these 100 yard skeins of handspun I have tucked away.



I did an aran weight 2-ply and got about 105 yards. Perfect amount for a lace hat.

I found the Belle Starr hat (pdf) online and dug this yarn out even though the pattern calls for a lighter DK weight. "B" is for Butterfly, and I am still plugging away at the letter "B" in my A-Z stashdown. So I cast on 10 fewer (1 lace repeat less) and ended up with a hat that fits nicely.







It's a handspun hat success. It only took a couple nights at home to make.

The Specs:

I used size 6 US needles and almost all of the 105 yards of yarn. I added an extra inch on the lace pattern as I wanted one a bit longer.

FO: Handspun Spiral Hat

Ages ago, I got a really pretty braid of roving from Freckle Faced Fibers (sadly, she has nothing listed in her etsy store right now).



It's 50% Alpaca, 30% Merino and 20% silk in her "Filly" colorway. Really pretty stuff.

I finally got around to spinning it.



I made a nice, bulky weight 2-ply (part of my ongoing effort to spin a bit thicker). I got about 140 yards from a 4-oz braid. I found a simple hat pattern and knitted away and made a cute slouchy hat. Except that after I washed and blocked it, it grew to huge sack-like proportions. Not so cute.

So, I did something slightly horrifying and threw it in the wash. It felted up nicely, and I let it dry over a mixing bowl to shape it into a cloche (which is still kind of big- amazing).





It's a bit hard to see the spiral pattern now, but it doesn't look like I've got a hat that belongs on one of those Macy's Thanksgiving floats either.

I had to go back with scissors once I had felted it and trim all the alpaca guard hairs. Those apparently don't felt at all, and it gave the hat a bristly look. I didn't notice the guard hairs at all when I was spinning and knitting the fiber.

The specs:

The pattern is "Spiral Hat" from the book "100 Designer One-Skein Wonders" (I'm not quite sure about calling this hat a wonder). I used size 8 needles and about 100 yards of yarn. It's a very easy pattern and only took me a few hours to make.

FO- Handspun Annis Shawl

If left to my own spinning devices, I spin really super-fine laceweight. Spinning big, thick lofty yarn is really hard for me. I either have to make enough plies to get the thickness I want, or sit there and concentrate on my spinning so I won't slip into laceweight mode. I'm working on it.

Anyway, I took most of the summer off from the wheel. Between all the traveling and not having air conditioning during a rather uncomfortable summer, I didn't exactly feel inspired.

My first spinning project when I got back to treadiling was- Surprise!- a fine 2-ply laceweight.

I got a bit over 450 yards from 4 oz of roving. I decided to make the Annis Shawl from last Spring's issue of Knitty.



It's a great pattern. You cast on almost 400 stitches for the bottom edge, work the lace charts, and then the body of the shawl is just short rows.



The nuups were a pain in the ass, but I'm happy with the results.



The lace chart took me about a week to complete, and the short row body just a couple days. It blocked out really nice and large.



It's warm and lofty- a great fall layering piece.

The specs:
The Annis Shawl by Susanna IC. I used about 420 yards handspun laceweight alpaca from Winter's Gone Farm roving. I used US size 10 needles for a nice, loose cast on and the rest of the shawl was knitted on US size 8's.

FO- Oatmeal Cardigan

Last year at Rhinebeck, I found the most beautiful Romney fleece from the Prebles farm in Maine. I washed and processed this by myself.

Fleece:


In January, I started to make the Batts:


Laceweight Singles:


Which 3-plied up to a DK weight:


Which gave me a fabric that I was happy to work with:


Which then became my Oatmeal Cardigan:


I love it. It's by far my favorite handspun garment that I have made.

I started this on the train on my way down to DC for a weekend but worked on it in fits and starts as it soon because way too warm to touch a big woolly mess. I finished the sleeves when I was up in Maine this summer and the rest of the sweater just flew along.



I'm finding it the perfectly casual fall sweater that cuts the chill nicely.

I did do some modifications. Most of them had to do with the fact that I spun this yarn up woolen- light and lofty- as opposed to worsted, which would have given me a denser, heavier yarn with less drape but more stitch definition. There is a cable on the yoke but my yarn is really too fuzzy for it to pop the way I would have liked it to. The pattern called for a small cable detail on the sleeves, but I left that out after I realized that it looked like a fuzzy mistake. I did another modification on the sleeves as well- the pattern called for increases every 4 rows, and I changed that to every 6 rows to get a more fitted sleeve.





I also decided not to use buttons, but I found these delicate little pewter claps at M&J trimming on 6th ave.







I'm pretty much in love with it.

The specs:

I used about 1000 yards of handspun DK weight yarn for this project. I actually have another 300 yards leftover as well as I'm terrible at guessing how much I've actually spun. I used US size 6 (4mm) needles to get the gauge of 18 stitches per 4 inches.

I made the 40" size thinking it would be roomy, but ya know, with the variations of the handspun,the actual size was more like 38", which gives it some negative ease. The pattern was the Oatmeal Cardigan by Amy King from the Winter 2009 Spinoff magazine.

Atlantic Antic

Last Sunday was the Atlantic Antic.

Most weekend street fairs in New York are nothing but a traffic inconvenience. There are vendors that sell sheets, tube socks, sad little bonsai trees, designer sunglass knockoffs, and wolf t-shirts. Well, let's just say we've indulged in the wolf shirts before, but otherwise, it's a waste of time.

Antic is different.



It threatened to rain all day, but for the most part it stayed dry, and surprisingly cool.

Parents found new, ingenious ways to utilize their baby strollers to haul around the kids and their beer.



There are tons of art and jewelery vendors- most of them are local and have very unique items. Lots of vintage clothing as well. Best of all was the food.





We had some excellent oysters from some vendor, and a smoked brisket sandwich from Mile End deli on Hoyt st that really made my day sunshiny and bright.

There were some good live bands as well.




They also had some vintage buses on display, including vintage ads.






98 cents a quart even back in the day sounds like you're drinking yourself into a bad hangover.



I was sad because by the time we got to the end of Atlantic Ave, there were still lobster rolls from the Red Hook Lobster Pound and Steve's Key Lime Pies to be had, but I couldn't do it. I've learned an important lesson about pacing myself on Atlantic Ave for next year.