Handspun Merino

I am so excited to have finally figured out what yarn pr0n is (thank you Urban Dictionary) and apparently Friday is the day when we post our yarn pr0n for the week. So for my inaugural entry I present my merino handspun. This is my best spinning so far. The fact that the fiber was incredibly smooth and easy to spin has something to do with that, but I am pretty pleased by the fact that I made a yarn that is pretty small when plied (haven't checked my wpi yet).
And while it isn't great yet..it is by far the most consistent and least bumpy yarn I have yet produced. I took it to spinning night last night, and Michelle wound it onto a niddy noddy for me (I need to get me one of those!), and I seem to have about 200 yards. Now to dye it...hmm, what color?

I finish and begin.

I FINISHED THE CAP SLEEVED SWEATER.I was starting to wonder if the day would ever come when I could block this and send it away out of my house. This has definitely been a love/hate knitting project. My mom picked out the yarn and the pattern, and it is very beautiful. I have received many compliments on the yarn and the pattern during the knitting process. However, the Royal Bamboo splits a lot. The cap sleeves look cute from the front, but the seam is a big indentation, which is ok for a shoulder, but not for a sleeve. The worst problem with this sweater is that the lower edge rolls up really badly. I ended up picking up along the lower edge and knitting four more rows of garter stitch to try to fix this and the tendency is still there. I am hoping for a blocking miracle! Photos of the FO on Mom will have to wait until it dries and gets into an envelope and travels to Arizona.

In other happy news, I started the Apres Surf Hoodie with my new yarn from BSG and it is so gorgeous I can't begin to describe it properly. There will be more on this later.....

The Minisweater

I finished the knitting on this a while ago, but it needed the button which I finally found. Today I once again forced my husband to the duty of fashion photographer. I like this sweater in most ways and it was really quick to knit. The bottom of the back tends to stick out from my body a little, maybe a few descreases before the garter stitch edging would have helped this.
I did some of the increases for the puffed sleeves, but not all called for in the pattern.
This is me trying for a non-smiling picture, which came out looking almost as strange as some of my smiling photos. The sweater also poufs out beside the garter stitch band down the front. This may improve with some washing and blocking.
I haven't figure out what adjustments I would make so that this would be perfect, but I do mostly like it.
Pattern: The Minisweater, aka the Boobholder - free pattern from Stephanie Japel, Glampyre Knits.
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool 100% Merino Superwash, sort of a rose color, from stash
Needles: Size 8 Addi Turbo
Size: One size adjust to fit.
Alterations: Detailed on Ravelry-was not able to get gauge, she said something like 13 stitches/4" for a worsted weight yarn, and I could only get 16, so I recalculated for casting on and dividing. I also didn't do all of the decreases called for in the puffed sleeves. IMHOP-this isn't a pattern for a beginner, its strength is in the top down construction which allows one to knit it to fit well, it can be tried on as you go.

I'm spinning again

Michelle at Fiber Nooks and Crannies, my local knit shop has been having a spinning night every other Thursday, and I finally packed up my spinner and went. I have a Fricke electric spinner because of fused ankles which cannot treadle on a real wheel. I took some fiber that I have had in my stash for a while. It was purchased from Dicentra Designs and is so beautifully dyed. I am hooked on spinning again! I tried again to photograph this fiber, it looks so pretty in the sun.
But the colors look a little different out of the direct sunlight.
Anyway, it is lovely and I can't wait to see how it looks when I am done.

Little Pink Silk Shrug

I bought this dress the other day and am not so comfortable showing so much skin, so I thought to knit a shrug to go over it. Fortunately I have a really great book called Lace Style and it had this pattern in it, AND I happened to have a few balls of this yarn left over from my Molly Ringwald. It came out really cute. Unfortunately my photographer (my DH David) thinks that one picture of any FO is enough...so this is it. Pattern: Little Silk Shrug by Pam Allen from Lace Style
Yarn: Classic Silk by Classic Elite Yarns 50% cotton/30% silk/ 20% nylon, 2 balls
Needles: US 8
Alterations: I added one lace repeat to the pattern width to accomodate my arms which are not 10.5 inches around unfortunately (the sleeve width the pattern is written for), maybe when I lose a little more weight!

Black Sheep Gathering

I finally got to attend the Black Sheep Gathering this last Saturday in Eugene. This is an amazing fiber festival that happens once a year and I never knew about it until two years ago. My kind mother-in-law attended with me and pushed Alexa around in the stroller so I could go into the booths and pet the yarn. Alexa was amazingly good. She sat in the stroller the whole time without whining or pulling yarn off the displays. The only picture I took the whole time was this one of Alexa and this very cute sheep. So what did I get? You have to understand that I have been on self-imposed yarn restriction for about six months, telling myself the whole time that I would allow myself to buy something at the BSG as a reward. I had set a limit on the amount of money I would spend and wanted to buy enough yarn to make a sweater. I don't knit a lot of socks, so I thought I would make the Apres Surf Hoodie from Interweave Knits Summer Issue. After looking at a lot of unspun fiber and beatiful yarn I decided on this.
An incredibly lovely yarn. The label says Wolf Creek Wools Toe Jammies. The website is listed as www.sweetgrasswool.com and the lady who made this beautiful stuff is on Ravelry as sweetodie.
In addition to the beautiful colors, this yarn shines a bit..it is 60% Merino/30%Bamboo/10% Nylon. I am very pleased with my purchase.
Next year I am going to have to attend alone however so I can take my time. I just can't spend hours in a place with a 4 year old.
There was also a barn with alpacas and their fleece. Penny (mom-in-law) and I bought some uncarded alpaca so we could put my thus far unused hand carders to use. We will see how that goes!

Alexa's Unmentionables

I finished the Unmentionables in time for Alexa's 4th birthday, and she looked adorable in them. I recognize that I am a bit biased here, but look-


So I am not very good at the formal details post, but here goes
Pattern: Emma's Unmentionables by Lee Wood Juvan published in Knitty, Spring 2008
Yarn: Longmeadow by Valley yarns in lettuce, less than 4 skeins.
Size: 2 year old waist, four-year old lengths for the rest.