Let's try this again

Since the last heart mitts caused a Princess and the Pea syndrome........(the dog hair makes her hands itch), I have used a different yarn. This is hand spun FinnXMontedale with Mohair, plied with a tiny, skinny glitz thread. It reminds me of sparkling snow. The Horseshoe cap pattern is from Spin-Off magazine.com. I like them just as they are, but she wants the same strawberry pink, so into the pot they will go......

I have knit another pair of fingerless mitts in the baby feather and fan pattern and will do another hat to go with them. Perhaps for Moi. These will remain un-dyed.

Before and After

I needed a birthday gift for my daughter in law. These are knit with hand spun Finn/Montedale and Samoyed dog hair. She likes pink, (and hearts) so I thought I would dye them pale pink. I needed it to be quick and did not want to mix up dyes. Kool-Ade was the choice. I had one package of pink lemonade. That probably would have given me what I wanted, but I was impatient, thinking it would be too light. So.......I opened a package of strawberry, removing the mitts first I sprinkled in a TINY amount. Put the mitts back into the pot and let it simmer until the water was clear. The result was less than spectacular in my opinion because I was aiming for PALE pink. I was disappointed. However, she loved them and the color too.

Another wonderful retreat

13 attended my group's third retreat. This time we had a class in Nuno felting. Had a great time and learned a lot. More scarves have been ordered so we can do it again. Once again we had the services of my daughter in law, the massage therapist. The weather went from hot to very cool in one day with a few sprinkles. That did not hinder our fun. Much spinning and felting and knitting going on all weekend both inside the three level house and on the porches and decks. There was great food and wine. Good friends and lots of laughs. What more could anyone ask?


Vicki wearing my first attempt. It needs some tacking and embellishing.


My second scarf before felting.



Where did everyone go? Must have been lunch time! Wonderful view.

Cute little bag

Just finished a little bag. It is handspun Cotswold that has just a tiny bit of copper firestar added to it. Bought the fiber at Morro Fleeceworks. Spun on my Suzie Pro. I like the pattern, although it is a bit fuzzy to see all of the detail. (both picture and bag) I added some beads to it just to make it a bit more jazzy. It is for a friend and I know that she likes red.

Ah ha!

I had a light bulb moment when looking at a rear view mirror part. You know, the one that makes objects appear closer than they are? I added a clip and it just sits on the wooden crosspiece on my Susie Pro. Now I can keep an eye on how the bobbin is filling.

A Challenge

The vest is finished. Two actually. The first one is handspun Coopworth from my girl Sierra. I have The Swearer Wizard software program. I can create patterns to fit. I used it for a vest pattern and added some lace stitches around the bottom and up the fronts. I am happy with this vest.

The second vest is from wool yarn that I picked up at an estate sale. I once again used the software to generate my pattern and added the cables and lace on the front from another pattern. It took some concentration to get it right. I used stitch markers and row counters for each section as the patterns each had different row counts in the repeats. You can see that in the previous blog entry. I had to rip back about four times. The fact that I was waiting for my knee surgery and on medication probably entered in to the difficulities. After the vest was finished and blocked I tried it on and I really do not like the fit. It is too square in the underarm area. Not the software's fault. It is my fault. I generated a pattern for a vest and should have used the choice for a shell. I was envisioning a nice curve to the underarm area. I do have more of the yarn so I can make another vest that I will like better and either rip out the first one or put it up for sale. See, you really can use those lemons. ;-)

Life gave me lemons

No, not the yarn or the knitting..........I am suffering with a torn meniscus and waiting to hear when I will have surgery. To keep my mind off of my problems and the discomfort I have been knitting this vest. 100% wool. It is called Glengary. It is one that needs a bit of gray matter and so far I have gone to the frog pond three times. I am on the right track now. My stitch markers help along with three row counters. The patterns are all different row counts. During this down time I am doing a lot of knitting, reading, bobbin lace,and listening to books on tape. I finished a vest that had been lingering a while, and have three pair of socks in progress. Could be worse. The most aggravating thing is that I cannot go down the hill to see my animals. Really makes me appreciate being whole. I will be that way again soon I hope.