Author: kountingsheep

I spent last week on vacation in Florida, going to the NEXT Conference and Disney World. Of course, every time I go on vacation now, there has to be a new hand-knit to wear, because that’s what knitters do. So my lovely handspun became a Rose Red beret that I wore multiple days on the trip.

4 ounce of Fire Red Merino
1 ounce of Fire star
Spun slightly woolen
Navajo plied
218 yards

At first I made the larger size of the hat, wanting it to be plenty floppy and use up all of my yarn. But as I got about ten rows from finishing, I ran out of yarn and realized the hat was way too big. So, with only 2 days before my vacation, I had to reknit the whole thing. Luckily, it was just a hat, so I finished it on Thursday night before I was set to leave early Saturday morning.

My best friend (Left) and Me (Right) on the plane to Florida. You can kinda see that I’m wearing the beret

Here’s a picture of me wearing the hat at the conference, taken by one of the photographers there.

 You can imagine my surprise when at the first session, the pictures scrolling through the screen landed on this one of me. The photographer loved my hat and my owl bag, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that she took a picture of me.

I find myself needing to make a bunch of blankets for all the wee babes coming into the lives of my friends. Right now, I have 1 blanket on the needles and 4 more in the queue waiting to be made. If one more person finds out she is pregnant, I think I’ll have a yarny meltdown. Not that I don’t love making things for babies, because I do, it’s one of my favorite things, I just don’t like the feeling of being rushed because all these babies are being born so close together.

Fish Ripple

I’ve never been one to make traditional pastel-colored baby blankets. I’m always big on bold colors, fun patterns and interesting textures. Take my most recent gift, for instance. Bright sunshiny yellow, since the parents waited to find out the gender until he made his debut into the world. I used a rainbow color for the border, making the blanket in two panels that were then crocheted together, so there’s a fun stripe of color down the middle. Lucky for me, the blanket ended up matching the nursery exactly, so that always makes me super happy!

So this will be my second Monday working in an office. That’s right, I am now a secretary (or to be more PC, an Administrative Assistant) for my church. I’m so excited to have this job because it means that I’m finally out of retail and I’m finally able to work somewhere I love, doing what I love to do.

I’m actually posting this from my work computer (isn’t that cool to say? I think it is…) because I’ve been house-/dog-sitting for the past few days and haven’t had internet access except at work. Luckily the house I’m staying at is equipped with Netflix and is located less than 5 minutes away from my church, so thanks to hour-long lunch breaks and sequestering myself over the weekend, I was able to get a head start on my new long-term spinning project.
The other long-term project I’m starting right now also involves my handspun, but this time I’m knitting yarn instead of making it. I’m going to be using my recently finished Baltic Blue lace yarn to knit a Shipwreck shawl. This will be my first time making a circular shawl, and so far it’s been smooth sailing. Especially since I have a new reading device that I can store all my patterns on instead of having to print them out. Brilliant!

Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my sister Heather’s death. It’s been over a month since I’ve done any spinning. Yesterday as I was getting antsy for the arrival of today, I felt like I just needed to get on the wheel. Nothing seemed more appropriate to spin than some red fiber I had waiting to be spun and knit into a Red Rose beret.
Heather loved the color red and she wore it well. Whenever I see red, I think of her red lipstick, her red nails like Grandma, the red dress she wore to the last singles’ banquet at church, her red shoes, red roses she loved to buy for herself, and the list goes on and on. She would have loved this hat I’m going to make, and if she was still here, I probably would have been spinning this yarn to make it for her.
So today I have red merino blended with some sparkly firestar on the wheel. On my heart, I have the precious memories of my sister and the unending ache reminding me that she is gone.

Not much knitting/crocheting/spinning has been getting done around here, due to a few weeks of a hectic work schedule, and it’s killing me! As much as I appreciate my source of income, I definitely do not appreciate having to work for it! Ha. For now I just dream about the day when my art is my sole source of income.

This month is a hard one for me. 3 years ago my sister Heather was diagnosed with cancer. 2 years ago she died. I don’t know how I would have gotten through all that if not for God, my family and friends, and my art. Writing, crafting, these are the things that allow me to express all the emotions I keep bottled up inside; it’s what keeps me functioning, alive.
Today I went and donated 11 inches of my hair to Locks of Love. I’d been growing my hair out for 3 years now, so it seemed right to do it in April again. The new ‘do is definitely a hit.

Now that the craziness has calmed down, this artist should be getting back to work on the things she likes to do best.

A few weeks ago I made some new fingerless mittens. I had been itching to cast on about a dozen pairs, but settled for just one since mittens aren’t entirely necessary here in February, when it only gets down as cold as in the 40s. My hands are extremely sensitive to the cold, however, so I take any excuse I can get to wear hand-coverings.

Camilla by SpillyJane Knits
Fingerless Mitts
Lime yarn: Brown Sheep Wildefoote Sock Yarn
Grey yarn: Patons Kroy Sock yarn
Less than a skein of each color
US Size 1 Needles (dpns)
Mods include: Shortening the top for my stubby hands

I’ve worn these at least 10 times since I finished them. They are the perfect accessory with any of my coats, since only a little bit of the color peeks out.
I had had the lime green yarn for a few years now and couldn’t ever seem to find the right pattern to use it for. As I was digging through my stash for a complimentary color to go with it, I came across this one lonely skein of greyish yarn. I held the two together, and it was a perfect, albeit unusual match. The grey toned down the lime enough to not seem like I’m wearing a neon sign on my hands.

Yesterday and today have been two of the coldest days of the season. It’s been a nice change to actually be able to wear sweaters and mittens and wool socks, and not feel like an outcast, crazy knitter for doing so! Last weekend I got the urge to make a bunch of mittens, so I started working on a new pair. Then I watched the weather forecast and found out I’d actually be able to wear them this week
Another knitter’s delight is this shawl I just got done making the end of last year. This is the biggest shawl I’ve made, and it used the most yarn, the smallest needles, and took the longest time to make out of all the other ones I’ve made. I love the combination of the yarn and the pattern, because it just makes me think of a frosty winter day.

Anthemion

Knit Picks Shimmer Gloss Hand painted yarn
in color “Hyacinth”
Alpaca/silk, 3 skeins, 1320 yards

US Size 3 needles

It definitely was a challenge to find a good pattern to pair with this variegated yarn. I’ve come to realize that solid yarns are preferable for lace, but this yarn was a gift from my parents for Christmas a few years ago, so I still wanted to make something special with it. Luckily I found a pattern that used “chevron” type motifs, which I figured would be perfect for showcasing the yarn and still showcase a great pattern.

I didn’t think I would have enough floor space in my room to block this mammoth. I don’t have an exact measurement for the shawl, but it’s over 6 feet long. That would seem like too big of a shawl for me (I’m only five foot tall), but it actually is better being longer. I like to wear rectangular shawls wrapped where the two ends drape over either side of the same shoulder, in order to show off the main intricacy of patterning at both ends. And thanks to the fiber content, something so light and airy is also very warm.

Now I’m in the mood to wear this beauty again. Thank you, cold weather, for the oppportunity.

Despite my recent obsession with spinning posts on the blog, I don’t get as much time with my wheel as you think, which is due in part to the fact that my almost-two-year-old niece Violet has a tendency to want to touch my wheel while I’m spinning. Little fingers and spinning wheels do not mix. So Wednesdays have become my new day to devote to spinning since little Vi goes away for the day.

(The fiber pre-spun)

My latest finished yarn is the Alpaca/Silk blend I’ve mentioned before, which I call “Haiku.” This was my first attempt at lace weight, and now I am in love. Lace is one of my favorite things to knit, so it’s only natural that it’s become one of my favorite yarn weights to spin.

Haiku

4 ounces
80% Alpaca, 20% Silk
2 ply, 32 WPI
648 yards

I already have plans to make this into a Miralda triangle shawl (Ravelry link). And it didn’t take very long for me to start my next lace spinning project (maybe two days). So now it’s time for me to go get on the wheel so I can turn this lovely stuff into lovely yarn.

I finally got a chance to use my own handspun in a project for the first time. It definitely taught me a lot about what I need to do to improve my spinning techniques, mainly, focus on not underplying, which was the case for the Oatmeal yarn. Luckily my more recently spun yarns have been better, so now I need to knit with them to see how I’m doing.

Over Christmas I was lucky enough to get a signed copy of Whimsical Little Knits 2 from Ysolda Teague. I had been drooling over the patterns in this book, so when she offered signed copies for sale on her website over the holidays, I snatched one up. I plan to eventually make every pattern in this wee book, but here’s my first finished project:

Damson by Ysolda Teague

US size 7 needles
Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool in Natural,
half a skein for garter stitch portion
Oatmeal Handspun yarn, 332 yards
Modifications include: going up a needle size,
adding an extra edging repeat

Because of my color choices, this shawl came out to have a very vintage look to it. To show it off to it’s best potential, I just kept it simple and closed it with an Owl pin in the front when I wore it this past Sunday to church. Wearing pinned shawls over solid color shirts, jeans and little flat shoes has become my new favorite attire. The other night my parents asked me how many shawls I was going to make and my reply was, “until I have one in every color to go with every outfit.”