Multidirectional, a new level.

These days all I want to do is knit, plain and simple. I love the motion my hands make, I get into the rhythm, I get to indulge in another favorite pastime watching videos, I get to be calm and Serene....

And while I get do do that DH plays with that...

So I did the groceries, made dinner in advance so I could spend the afternoon doing the other things. Multidirectional has got me completely fascinated, but getting a bit boring. I figured that I could take it to the next level:

Multidirectional lace.

Simple lace, that is, for now...

I thought it would be simple enough, just make rows of eyelet lace and watch them go in both direction. Not so fast. As it turns out, with holes every other row, the direction of the bars in between holes line up all the same.

In order to have them offset each other, I had to throw a ridge of plain knitting in between.

Cast on with 4.5mm needles. Used S258, you know who.
Patterns very simple:
Knit 2 rows plain.
Next row: *YO, slip 2Nd stitch over 1st stitch on LEFT needle and Knit that stitch,* repeat until end of row.
Next row: Purl to end of row.
Repeat the 4 rows until finished.
AT THE SAME TIME: (Don't you hate that)
make shaping on edges as for multidirectional scarf.
That's as far as I got today, going to air myself while there is still daylight...

Homespun flapper flaps hat

Yesterday was another productive day, I feel like I should do this right now, as spring is coming and I wont have enough time to make all the things swimming in my head.

Instead I will be swimming, soon...So here is the latest version.

Cast on with 4mm needles, and my latest homespun, mostly blue face leister and silk. flaps worked as I go along, I-cord added at the end through the loops.

Love the colorway, very hearthy and warm.

Snow falling on cedars

Woke up this morning to a gorgeous, icy, lightly snowy landscape.

full of my favorite colors, and inspiring

so I made my version of "snow falling on cedars"

A very satisfying quick scarf, with mohair/silk in a lichen shade, with a border of blob blobs I picked up in France.

The day is gorgeous, but cold, so I get to knit some more....

Knitting tip #1

You know how it is , no matter what care you take to tuck in the loose ends on the back of your work after carefully knitting anything, the loose ends, no matter how or what, pull up through to the front!!!
There you have it, snipers of the utmost precision, very neatly shearing against the fabric, you turn the work around, and it pops, literally, to the front...
Drives me, and others I have heard, crazy.
So today finishing a sock for DH, a light went on...
SNIP THE END ON THE FRONT...
Voila, very simple, when I turned the work around, the loose end did what it always did, sneaked to the other side...BUT, it was on the BACK of the work....
I am beside myself for not having thought about it before, but I had that kind of a day, working front to get back...

And the oscar goes to...

Oscar day is one of my favorite time of year.

I get to watch glitter and fashion and hopefully some interesting speeches, and knit the whole show....

And while I am doing that DH flies...

He loves his new toy, I have to admit it is quite pretty.

So that leaves me in peace to knit and create some more.

And the Oscar goes to...

The Flapper Flaps hat # 2!!!

It was 1 Oscar show worth of knitting.

I was not patient enough to wait for daylight to take the picture, so there you have it in the night shade and all its glory.

I do think I have something going here, but right now I am a bit at a loss...

Better let this one simmer...

Flapping Knitting

I keep on playing with multidirection knitting and hats.

As I was knitting the last one with bobbles I got to think about different relief elements, introducing the flaps...

So, instead of making bobbles I made flaps so I could thread yet another element, the I-cord...

finishing with a flower on top.

Here are "flaps" details.

Based on 5 stitches worked back and forth for 6 ridges of plain knit. This gave me the threading opportunity I was looking for.

Of course it also got me thinking and moving still further....

So I am already working on the next one....

No time to blog, just a frenzy of knitting...

Hats, colors and sunshine

The "Waves of the Nile" is finished. As my friend pointed out you cant see the cables and pattern as well as in white, but I do like very much the colors moving into each other. In today's sunshine it looks very bright.

That only took 1/2 ball of "Silk garden socks" so I decided to make another one...

The head band is made with the multidirectional pattern, stitches picked up around the crown, bobbles to give texture, and again, the colors...

The side medallion is a long I-cord wound around and around.

Name for it?

How about "Flapper Bulls eye"...lol

Not that great but that is all I can think of right now.

Off to town again on the 2 o'clock ferry, good thing it is gorgeous outside, sunglasses are packed, and of course car ride=lots and lots of knitting time...

Silk Garden Waves

The homespun scarf is finished, I think I am on my way to a satisfying blend of the colors, of course after reading the Yarnharlot post on carding, I am now wishing to own one... Will I ever have enough toys!!!

I was so impatient to cast on and start a "Waves of the Nile" hat in silk garden, that I completely spaced out dinner, and by the time I looked up from my knitting, all the pizza was gone. Oh well I did have a good session.

The colors are moving the way I wanted, luck of the draw, the ball was ready with blues. Colorway #S264, on 4mm needles, looks promising.

I have to go to work, arghh, will finish tonight AFTER I get my share of dinner...

To town and back

Took the first ferry this morning to go to get yearly mammogram done, was way overdue...(2 years in fact) It was a gorgeous day, bright, sunny, and we made it back on the 11o'clock sailing.

View of my island on the way back, it was so clear you could see the mainland mountain range in the background.
Such a beautiful day that someone went sailing, lucky bums...

Anyway I did manage to fly into the wool shop and load up on more Noro...

Hmmm, so gorgeous and bright too. Too bad I have to finish my homespun scarf before I start to play with this!!!

The green balls at the bottom were just an afterthought, they looked so lonely there all by themselves, and my favorite color to boot. It is "Kathmandu Aran", from Queennsland collection, 85% Merino, 10% Silk and 5% Cashmere. There was just 4 balls so I took them....What to make???

On the other hand, one of my neighbour's house burned down to the ground at 1:30am, nobody hurt, but his home is gone. I feel very sorry for the guy.

On the home front hubby is spending the afternoon with his flying buddy, doing some HPM (Heavy Post Mortem) on one of the choppers that took a dive on cement the other day.

That will leave me in peace to knit...

color color color

Yesterday was a very productive day, again...

I cast on another multidirectional scarf bi color with the left over purple "Peter Rabbit" and a Noro. It is very pretty.

Then I wanted to experiment some more with spinning, first color combo
Took my time, the ratio is 2 to 1, worked really well. It keeps the spinning interesting as the changes have me riveted to my wheel.

Then decided to make another batch 3 to 1

I was in a rush, not sure how it will knit but the color is interesting...

So the plan for today is to finish the scarf, and start another with the homespun.

Bright sunlight, Bright colors.

Finished the small scarf last night, as it turns out I did the same ratio as the last one but because of the colorway it blended better. My friend suggested that I use more contrasting colors as in "you know who" yarn, that will be next time.

It is so gorgeous that I took it outside for a sunbathe...

Not having to go to work today, I stayed up and cast on another "Aran Flapper Hat' with a yummy "Peter Rabbit" I had stashed away.

Finished it this afternoon, and it deserved a sunbathe too...
The color is so intense to start with, with the sunlight it just burst in the ivy.

I am very happy with it.

It is a size small.

4mm needles

Peter Rabbit from Fleece artist.

Sample

Here it is, a better mix, still not what am aiming for, but still lovey.

Nice colorway, all my favorite colors, this afternoon I will experiment more and prep fibers for Thursday spinning...

More color spinning

Last night went through a marathon of Forsyte saga on DVD and finished the homemade "Noro" scarf.

Came out very colorful, but the blend is not enough for my taste. I do like it though.

In the afternoon as I was knitting I got the urge to try more spinning, changing the ratio of the blend/main colors.

Choose a new colorway...
Which gave me this ...

Home from work today I wound it into a ball...

And here we go, ready to cast on a smaller scarf I think, not quite enough yardage, and energy only to knit after a day at the office.

Spinning results

Last night finished the scarf and immediately took the spun yarn down from drying. Didn't take a break, didn't breathe, wanted to get to it right away!!!

Lying down on my desk I do love the colors and the way they melt into each other.

Even wound into a ball it looked great.

So cast on another scarf...

And this is what I think. The main colors are too long versus the blended parts. Also knitted it makes too large a block of solid colors. As Cedar posted in the comments, I will lay out the strands in a different order, lengthen the blended parts, am thinking 2 lengh blended for 1 lengh solid.
Something to look forward to next spinning session.
Meanwhile today is knitting club day and I am going, missed my buddies.

Spinning Sunday

Woke up this morning with the idea of creating my own "Noro"...

After some thoughts shared with my spinning buddy, I decided to pick a color scheme, using the same lengh of each color, and splitting the roving into very fine strands. What seem to work was to spin until 20 cm before the end of the strand, preparing that strand to be narrower and narrower, taking the next color strand and stretching it from narrow to regular width. Combining the two, blending as I went, I got an idea of the ratio of each strands to use to achieve the blend.

Here is the color way.

Spinning went quite well, a bit more time consuming as I have to stop and start all the time, thinking of some way to lay the roving out to speed that up a bit.
Some idea of the colorway, I would call it "earthy rainbow"

While this sets and dry, I am going to finished yesterday's scarf. 2/3 done, I do like the color mix, and the change in texture every other row.

Can hardly wait to make another one with my own "Noro"...