2013 FO's: February

  
 
Off My Needles/Hooks:
 

I finished the Riverbed socks for Mom using Cat Bhordi's Master Riverbed sock pattern from her first New Pathways book. I worked on these a lot when Mom was in the hospital and my concentration was perhaps not all it should be. Regardless, this pattern needs major tweaking to properly fit, and because of that I'm not likely to make another pair right away. Too much effort; I think I'll stick to Cat's sweet tomato heels for now.  

 As I said, I was originally making these for Mom, but she died right after I finished the second sock.  They probably would've been too big for her anyway as they are large on me especially around the heel. One sock is worse (bigger) than the other.  I mushed the excess fabric around to the underside of the socks in this picture, but if you look closely you can still see bagging on the heel/gusset area especially on my right foot.  Used approximately 86grams/282 yds of Knit Picks Felici sport wt Self-Striping yarn. Started Jan 14 and finished Feb 14.      

 
  


 

Odds and Ends - Only one this month: knit a quick little bookmark in Hufflepuff colors for a Quidditch match

 

 

 
Off My Spindles/Wheel:
  
  

The Knit Girllls Expand Your Horizons Jan/Feb SAL (spin-a-long) was Southdown. I tried spinning Babydoll Suthdown during the SpinDoctor Wool Breeds Challenge several years ago but found it difficult to spin. I didn't like it then, and I'm not very fond of spinning it now.

Southdown is the original Down breed so there is a bit of Southdown in all the current Down breeds. It is a British based breed varying in size from toy to medium/large sheep. Staple length ranges from 1.5 to 4 inches but averages around 2-3 inches.  Micron count is 23-29 for white and 27-31 for black/colored fleece. Babydoll Southdown is one of the smaller types and usually raised as pets/fleece sheep. ("The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook" by Carol Ekarius & Deborah Robson)  Babydoll wool is springy and squishy to touch; very interesting hand. 

I started spinning this on spindles (for portability), first doing a short forward draw, then switching to supported longdraw, but eventually switched to Jack, my e-spinner. In this instance I found longdraw easier on Jack (not always the case for me) than on my spindle, especially if I was spinning from the untouched portion of the Babydoll roving. Predrafting or any fussing or prepping of the roving at all made it much harder to draft. Lessons learned: don't predraft or prep the fiber, and spin woolen or semi-woolen.

Babydoll Southdown is not one of my favorite fibers to spin, but I wouldn't rule it out completely. It has interesting character and I like the finished yarn. Out of 40grams of roving I finished with approximately 109 yds of 2ply yarn (218 yds singles). Spinning started on Jan 5th and plying finished on Feb 6th. Picture was taken before yarn received it's twist-setting bath, and you can clearly see difference between the worsted and woolen spun sections.

 

 

Itty Bitty Bits for February are just three small samples (top to bottom):

A) “Nordic Sky”, Cobblestone Creek Farm, sw merino/nylon, blue, 32yds 2ply, 64yds Singles, spindle spun & plied, S/F Jan 29-Feb 3, 7 grams
  B) “Raw Turquoise”, WoolieBullie, merino, green/gold, 23yds 3ply, 69yds Singles, Spindle spun & chain plied, S/F Feb 5, 7gr
  C) unlabeled, pinks/greens/white, wool & sparkle, 24yds 3ply, 72yds Singles, Spindle spun & chain plied, S/F Feb 7-9, 10gr.

 
 

 
Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:    
  Audiobooks:  Emma by Jane Austen; Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore;              
  DVDs etc: Iron Man; The King's Speech; Midsomer Murders; Nero Wolf;              
  Pod/VideoCasts:  Round The Twist; The Knit Girllls; Yarnspinners Tales; Knitting Pipeline;                
 

2013 FO's: January Part 2

 
  Off My Spindles/Wheel:
  
  

I did a lot of spinning during January, but the only "finished" items were a few samples from my Itty Bitty Bits project.  Eventually, these will be knit up as hexipuffs or blanket/afghan squares or something similar, so I'm trying to keep them as consistent as I can by spinning worsted/semi-worsted and Navajo/chain plying.  

Clockwise from left:

“Blue Moon” BFL/silk fiber, blue, green & purple, Spindle spun and chain/Navajo plied, 29yds 3ply, 87yds Singles.

Unlabeled fiber, wine, Spindle spun and chain plied,  19yds 3ply, 57yds singles.

“Market Salad” All For Love of Yarn, BFL, spindle spun and chain plied, 10yds 3ply, 30yds singles.

Unlabeled fiber, yellow/gold/green/wine/pink, Spindle spun and chain plied, 79yds 3ply, 237yds singles.

 
   
 

2013 FOs: January Part 1

  
 
 
  Off My Needles/Hooks:

The Blue Yoke Sweater is done! I'm quite surprised that I used only about five and a half balls of Filature Lanarota Chaco or about a little over 1100 yards.  

 

I was only halfway through the yoke when I'd stopped working on this in 2006, and seriously, I have no idea what my problem was with finishing it. The yoke decreases were following the modified EPS percentages and worked like a charm. And I got the collar right this time by adding an inch worth of short rows to the back collar ribbing. Oh, and I also changed to a size US5 (3.75mm) needle for the last round and for the bindoff round of the collar. Made it much neater looking. I think the next time I make a yoke sweater I will decrease an extra eight stitches (rather than the four I did here) after the final yoke decrease round. But other than that I'm quite pleased how this turned out.

BBS or Big Black Socks  were made for the Socks for Soldiers group, and I'm ashamed to say started almost three years ago.  These are "Team Knit" socks, with the legs knit on a CSM (Circular Sock Machine) then forwarded to me to add the feet.  That's right.  All I had to do was add the feet and it took me this long to do it.  I get fifty lashes with a wet skein for that. Feet were knit using US0 (2.0mm) and US1 (2.25mm) needles.    

 
  
  

 Mom's Mitts were started on Jan 13th using some unlabeled blue-toned mystery yarn and size US5 (3.75mm) needles. Mom went into the hospital on the 19th for pneumonia, and I finished them on Jan 21st while sitting at her bedside. It is just a vanilla afterthought thumb mitt with ribbing at the cuff and seed stitch at the fingers. They are about 10.5 inches long.  

 

 
 
   
  The 40lb Stashdown Goal (in grams):  18,144;  Grams Used: 829;  Left to Go: 17,315  

Old and New

  
 
On My Needles/Hooks:

The Blue Yoke Sweater has been languishing on my needles for eight years, maybe more.  If I remember correctly, I started it when Mom was in rehab for compression fractures of the spine as something for me to work on while I sat with her.  I got as far as about two inches into the yoke and then stopped, reason unknown.  

  
  
 

I'd kept some very spare notes on a little slip of paper which were just enough for me to continue without having to do any major recounting or head scratching.  I am truly surprised that little bit of paper survived.  If it hadn't, I might've been tempted to frog it instead of finishing it, but finish it I shall.  I'm currently up to the collar ribbing, so almost done.  

  
 

I found a ball of unlabeled yarn with very nice colors and decided to use it for Mom's mitts.  I think it's dk or light worsted weight acrylic or an acrylic blend, and not the softest (although it is squishy), but it's the colors that caught my eye.  See:

    
  

I cast on the other day using measurements from memory: an eight inch wrist and nine inch circumference hand, but stopped at the wrist.  It just didn't jive with what my head sees for her hand now.  So I remeasured Tuesday night and, wow, good thing I did.  Wrist is now six inches, hand eight and a half.   Frogged and immediately recast on with new numbers.   It's a plain, simple, afterthought thumb mitt and is working up quickly. 

    
On My Spindles/Wheel:

The Knit Girllls "Expand Your Horizons" January fiber is Southdown, and I just happen to have a wee bit of Babydoll Southdown in stash.  In fact I have all of this year's EYH fiber in stash, so yay!

Babydoll Southdown was something I tried a few years ago for the Wool Breeds Challenge and wasn't too thrilled with. I believe I found it surprisingly difficult to spin, but I can't find my notes (if I even made any) so don't remember what the specific problem was.  It might've been that this fiber begs for longdraw and I wasn't that experienced with it yet, or it might've been something else.

Either way, I finally got around to trying it again on Tuesday.  The part of the roving that was still intact in the 'skein' was fairly easy to spin (longdraw of course).  The pieces I'd pulled off to try previously were much fussier and difficult.  But I persevered and have this bobbin of singles (40gr) to ply, when I decide how many plies I want.  

      
  
 

Tuesday was the first day I'd spun in what seems like ages, and it felt really good.  So after spinning the Babydoll I immediately switched out the bobbins and started on the Fiber Optic merino/silk fiber for the The Knit Girllls other SAL.  It's lovely colors and spinning quite smoothly. I'm spinning smoothed semi-worsted from end to end and will chain ply to maintain the color gradient.

      

      

There are some other small items I have going on various spindles for Spinning Itty Bitty Bits project, but they're so small I'm saving details and pictures for the January FO post.

Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:    
  Audiobooks:            
  DVDs etc:   Castle S4; The Backup Plan; The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant;          
  Pod/VideoCasts: The Knitmore Girls; Round The Twist; The Knit Girllls; Knitting Pipeline;            
 

Triksaidekaphobic - Not!

I am not triskaidekaphobic. Never have been.  In fact I usually consider any Friday the 13th will be a great (or at least good) day for me.  And it usually is.  Thirteen is a lucky number:  a baker's dozen anything is wonderful.  So when it dawned on me this was 2013 my brain when off on a tangent. 13 in 13!

13 in 13.  Let's see, I can do 13 pairs of socks, 13 pairs of mittens, 13 hats, 13 shawls, 13 preemie hats, 13 hexipuffs a week, spin 13 pounds of fiber, process 13 pounds of fleece, do 13 projects for Bundles of Joy and 13 for Socks for Soldiers, make 13 sweaters, finish 13 UFOs......enough already! Getting carried away here!

Realistically, while I probably need to do all of that to reach my #40lbStashdown goal, it ain't gonna happen.  My hands alone couldn't handle that much knitting and/or crocheting.  So let's whittle this down a little more sensibly. Maybe

Thirteen pairs of socks was the first one I thought of so that's in (WIPs count).  And I've been chomping at the bit to do some stranded colorwork mittens, so 13 pairs of mittens is also in.  Hats are small so they're in, as are the hexipuffs (at least 13/month) and preemie hats.  The 13 shawls and 13 sweaters are out. I'd like to say I'll try for 4 sweaters and maybe 2 shawls, but I'd also rather not set limits for them at all, so I won't.   Also out are the 13 projects each for both Bundles of Joy and Socks for Soldiers, and the 13 UFOs - they're all redundant if I'm doing all the rest.  

What? no spinning goals you ask?  To which I reply: yes, I have spinning goals for this year, it's just a little tricky working it into the 40lb stashdown goals.  Why?  Because of the whole spinning the fiber just moves it from one stash pile (fleece/fiber) to the other (yarn) thing.  Now processing fleece (scouring, combing, carding) will reduce (sometimes up to 50%)  the original start weight of the fleece, and I am counting that in the 40lb stash down.  But I won't actually reduce my spinning stash unless I use it.  

To that end, my spinning goals this year are (1) to use my handspun yarn in any 13 projects this year, and (2) spin 17,000 yds of singles. I know, that is lowballing it considering how much I spun in 2012, but there's a reason.  Last year I was aiming to knit and/or spin 10 miles (17,600 yds) worth, and I spun over 25,000 yds but only knit under 4,000 yds.  This year I've upped the total yardage goal to 30,000 yds, but split it out at 13,000 (see '13') yards of knit/crochet and 17,000 yds spun.  The spinning is easy; the knitting, not so much. And that's the challenge.

2012 Odds and Ends

  
 
 

10 Mile Goal was to knit, crochet or spin (singles) totaling ten miles or 17,600 yards.  In actuality, I spun 28,565 yds of singles, and knit/crocheted 3,752 yds of yarn for a total of 32,317 yds.  That's almost double my goal.  Of course, I also bought over twenty pounds of fleece/fiber & yarn which negated any good surpassing my Goal might've done.  Oh well.

  
 
End of Year WIPs, SWIPs, and UFOs:   
  

WIPs/SWIPs: Autumn Walk socks, Owlie Socks, Spinning Itty Bitty Bits,    

UFOs (haven't been touched in at least 3 months):  BBS, Hexipuff Baby Blanket, Preemie Hats, Charlotte Bronte shawl, blue sweater, Spinning Promise, Spinning Friesian x, Dragon, washcloths, Margarethe Shawl. And there's also the projects I planned or gathered materials for but never actually started like the Thrummed Mittens and the Quilt Blocks Sampler Afghan.  

That's a lot of open projects, but lest I get discouraged and think I've accomplished nothing, I added up my FOs for the year on my Ravelry Project Page, and there were 23 projects completed.  Some, like the Tour de Fleece contained multiple FOs within one project.

 
  Geek Patrol   
 
The latest round of badges from Hogwarts at Ravelry:   
 
    
 

 
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Looking Ahead to 2013

  
 

I've been looking over the vast (and I do mean vast) amount of stash I have and realized 2013 must be the Year of the Stashdown.  I believe I have reached S.A.B.L.E. (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy)   Seriously, I have about 90 pounds of fleece and fiber and another 25-30 lbs, at least, of commercial and handspun yarn.  Spinning the fleece/fiber is fine but really only moves it from one stash to another.

   

The only way to really reduce stash is to USE IT, sell it, or give it away.  Sooo, that's what I'm going to do.  2013's goal is to use, sell or donate one third of my stash.  That's forty pounds of yarn.  That's a lot of yarn, and honestly, I don't really think I will reach that goal, but it is something to work towards.

  

And I do believe it gives me a legitimate excuse for some Selfish Knitting.  I'm thinking sweaters and lots of socks and maybe a shawl or two or three.  And of course, charity knitting; I've really fallen behind on that over the last few years.   Bad Knitter - Shame on Me!  (If I used all the yarn I got specifically for charity knitting, I'd empty one whole bin - that's gotta be a couple of pounds right there.)

Hmmm, forty pounds. Guess I should put down the iPad and pick up the needles