Woolen pancake?

I have been thinking about making a crochet hat, knitted.I wanted the look of the crochet bars, but with knitting I don't have to look most of the time, and I thought it would be fun to "duplicate" another version of the spiral hat.

Cast on 6 stitches with purple, did 2 rows, (1 knit 1 purl) for the stitch height, switched to orange.

For the bars: double yo, k2tog. on the second row dropped the double and knit all around. The look is right

Worked on increases, up to row12 everything looked right, then I panicked and thought it would be too small for the crown, so I increased more...That's when the "pancake" took Shape, lol.

I did not want to stop, or frog, so I plowed through to the end. A beret for a small infant, or felted it will make a nice change purse...

Anyway I learned something new which is always the point, I had fun doing it and I am going to persevere as I think I have got something interesting going on here. I lean toward using different size needles for the 2 colors, small for the dark, and 2 size larger for the bars, this might give me more height. Maybe a triple yo so the stitches stretch even longer, guess what I am doing today...

Out of cobwebs, into cowebs...

Got a new load of books from the library including Nicky Epstein "Knitting never felt better", I like the eye candy of her books. Of course got me on another tangent I had to try one of the bobble scarves. As I am reading the tips, she suggests that "if you have a knitting machine, now is the time to use it". Well.... I got mine out of the cobwebs. The poor thing was so dusty and rusty and sad, that what would have been a day of knitting transformed itself quickly into a day of fixing. First locating all the parts took the better part of the morning, by one I had the whole thing taken apart, needles everywhere, and after a thorough cleaning and fixing it was ready to go.

Then of course I had to remember how to do it, another hour went by, but I would not give up!!! I was like a dog with a bone, don't talk to me, am working on this frustrating project, I will get it done regardless of time or need of those around me. What I like about this machine is that it will let me do bulky and even homespun, the needles are twice the size of a regular machine, and it is supposed to be easy! Right. Anyway I did do it, a few rows completely wonky, a random lace look, (holes here and there) and ta da, a very small silk/mohair scarf ready to bobble...

45 stitches wide, 1 ball of 25 grams silk/mohair, final knitting 1/2 hour, complete time 6 hours...It is shorter than I thought, the next one am casting on 40 only, I am amazed if it goes around a child neck by the time I full it...

As I was doing it I remembered some negative comments about machine knitting being not as crafty as hand knitting. Some seem to think that because you use a machine, it is not valid as a hand knit!!! Let me tell you that you have to be hands on all the time even with such a tool, picking up stitches all the time, you have to pay very close attention, fixing mistakes is not as easy as with 2 needles, and besides what is the difference with a weaver using a loom. It is still handmade. You just use 40 needles at once...Way more complicated in my opinion.

Oh well it was actually fun, I can see tons of possibilities, my brain cant stop designing, am off and running again....

Nightie days and summer rain

Woke up this morning to the lovely sound of summer rain... It smells nice and fresh, I love the feeling of being in bed and looking forward to an entire day inside. It means lots of projects at my desk without guilt and I can wear my nightie all day. Ran outside to look at the trees, the ginkgo that my daughter purchased at a charity auction years ago is doing very well it looks so revived and green, even at 6 am.

Bishop of Llandaff colors are bursting out in the rain.

It also means that I get to wear my felted booties in my clogs, has been a while...

This day is going to fly, I can just feel it. There seem to be less and less hours in the day as I grow older. We were talking the other day of wondering if we will ever get to make all the things we want to try. This day shall be loaded with ideas and creativity. The rain is making me want to play non stop. My desk is a mess of projects and clean up should be one of them, but why waste this gift from heaven on chores. A little spinning, a Little finishing, a lot of knitting, I am loaded with vids from the library...

First a good cup of tea and a stare at my flowers of the month.

Aren't they gorgeous, this is the greatest gift, it keeps on giving. A local grower with a great sense of color, very inspiring and good for the soul.

What is wrong with this picture?

I have been working on this pair of socks for 2 months...Something about them makes me not want to finish them. The colorway was exciting at first, I made them really big, maybe too big, I got side tracked with a ton of other projects, anyway at the knitting group I decided to try and finish them and look at what I saw.....

What is wrong with this picture?

Yes the toe is wrong!!!! Now I finished that one a month ago and never saw it until I was showing it...How could I have missed that?

Anyway trying to finish the second one and I will have to redo the first toe...Hmmm.

Been really busy this week with making more of those funky hats, plied some homespun with beads, had fun crocheting for a change of pace, I love the colorways.

This is a fun week of work in between everything else, the season is almost over, can't wait for September and to get my Island rhythm back...

Boudoir knitting?

Just finished a black silk/mohair black stole. I love the feeling of the yarn against my skin, it is so soft.

Did a good old fashioned feather and fan, 6 stitches repeats. Casted 197 stitches on 7mm needles, and mixed mohair/silk and fun fur with a bright turquoise ribbon. Cut and knotted at the beginning of every row for a fringe, turned out very well.

I'll leave it to air on the line overnight, it will fluff up more. This is my way of not blocking, but giving it time to stretch a bit. I feel lazy tonight...

Sunday Spinning

Still having a spinning bug....First I have a whole bunch of dyed roving to play with. Second I seem to have dedicated Sundays to spinning. Yesterday I visited my spinning buddy and we spun in the sun for about 3 hours. It's even more fun in tandem...The wool wasn't the only thing spinning...

When I got home I checked on my felted projects, another pair of sleepers out of SWS earth tones. I have searched high and low for forms to dry them on and decided to buy inexpensive knock off of Croc sandals at the dollar store. I cut the top part off, and voila, sturdy soles with an idea of the size. And they match!!! You can see peeking out under, the ones I have worn everyday, very cool summer, since I made them last fall.

Also felted more pot holders, this particular pattern is very sweet with a raised flower in the center, but one of them decided to break open in the washing machine.... I guess I did not close it tight enough, it looks great!!! Thinking of what to do with it, another work in progress...

I'll have to try to do that in purpose next time, maybe a lotus, more petals, and it will be a???

Wool surprize

Cant' sleep more than 6 hours these days, don't you love menopause...Might as well blog.
Yesterday I got my wool surprise in the mail from Shelley at funknits, this was my surprise for completing my challenge on the tour de fleece, as I didn't even know she entered me in the draw from Team Vanisle on Ravelry. 2 skeins of gorgeous Lorna's hand dyed shepherd sock in Quadra Island color. Yummy. And, I still cant believe it, 250gr of Bombyx silk to spin, double yummy. For now I am just staring and fondling them....

The spinning bug is back with me as I got all this fun colors roving in my stash. I love dying too but I have to say that spinning someone else colorway is like a new toy, a new colored pencil box, you want to play with it. I am spinning it rough as it is intended for felting. Check this new batch...


Definitely a new palette of colors and a new inspiration for more pot holders...

Yesterday was a great parcel day, I also received my artistic Wire. Great customer service in that place, the first parcel got lost in transit, and they replaced it. These are my fall colors for a series of "pearl in a net" knitted necklaces.

Can't wait to play with that color palette...