FO Friday

There’s been a lot of thought about sewing this week, although not much sewing because my craft room is still pretty cold temperature-wise and haven’t spent much time in it. So, lucky for you, I have been knitting!

Remember that baby hat I was working on for my colleague’s baby? I finished it on time and was given to the baby, and it sort of fit!

Here’s a shot while the hat was still blocking. I know it looks kind of creepy but if fit perfectly this vase I had.

I gave it to my colleague to try on her baby, and even if the pictures didn’t come out that great, you can still see that it sort of fits. I’m not sure that the hat would stay on the baby’s head for very long, but at least it fits. I told her I would make her another, larger hat, hopefully with better luck.

I’ve already cast on for another one, this time in fingering weight and in the medium size. I’m not quite sure what baby it will go to but I’ll figure it out when I’m done! You can see more details about the pink hat here and the second hat here on Ravelry.

My second FO is another pair of socks! I’m really, really happy about these ones. The pattern (Marigold socks from Flint Knits) is perfect, the yarn (Madelinetosh Sock in Chamomile) is gorgeous and to top it off, they fit very well. I finished them a couple days ago but had to wait for some break in the clouds to get a good shot.

These socks are a ray of sunshine, and made me start to like yellow! See more details here on Ravelry.

My third FO almost didn’t end up ever being an FO. This finished object is my scarf from my weaving class. 2 weeks ago, I was weaving along, minding my own business, when I realized that I had over 2 feet left of warp and what looked like 6 inches worth of weft. Uh Oh. Time for a back up plan! I promptly contacted the dyer I got the yarn from, Yarn Sprout, to see if she had any more of that yarn or was able to dye some more. She got back to me telling me that this skein was a one off, from before she started making notes about her dyeing process. So a dead end. I also contacted Purl Soho and the Purl online store, sending them a sample of the yarn, thinking that maybe some of their Koigu would match my yarn. Purl Soho got back to me almost right away with a negative answer, whereas the Purl.com only got back to me this week, a little too late. I also went to a couple yarn stores in the area and only the day of my class was I able to find something that would remotely do. At the Black Sheep Knitting Co I found, not a sock yarn, but a dk weight yarn in a color close enough to work. So I brought it over to class and finished my scarf. After a good soak, you can tell that there is two different yarns but only up close. When worn, or in these photos, it is a lot less noticeable.

I still need to figure out what to do with the fringe. Do I twist it or let it loose, that is yet to be seen. The scarf came out really nice and long so it covers my neck really well. Too bad I need to wait until next Fall to really enjoy it! Ravelry details here.

Now that these projects are over, I’m working on knitting yet another single sock, my Ishbel, who is coming along quite well and the second baby hat. Expect a progress post next week!

Random Wednesday

I’ve got a lot of things to talk about for once, so I’ll just do a Random Wednesday. At least that way I’ll cover them all, albeit shortly, rather than forgetting!

First of all, I want to thank all of you who’ve said all these wonderful things about my orange quilt and sock. I really, really appreciated every single compliment! Since the last post I’ve sandwiched the quilt and have started quilting it. The quilting pattern I’ve chosen is the most complicated I’ve done so far so it might be a while before I get it all done. The turquoise and pink backing is perfect for the quilt, even DH complimented on it!

Knitting

I’ve finished another pair of socks, the pair I was hoping to get done in March. The socks are the Sockamania KAL pattern of last May which I knit in Kollage Yarns 1/2 N 1/2, a wool and  milk blend, yeah, I did say milk… The yarn is really soft and was nice to knit with. We’ll see how it wears though.

I’ve made a few mistakes, especially knitting the second sock, but it’s nothing dramatic. They’re a tad on the big side, just like the Rococo socks I finished a little while back so next time I see my mom, if they fit her, they’re hers! If not, I’ll just wear them as is.

Weaving

My weaving class is going well. At last week’s class I finished warping the loom and starting weaving. In the photo below you can see at the bottom a scrap yarn section, then I wove a stabilizing in tabby weave and then I started a rose path weave (the little diamonds)

At last night’s class I wove about 3 feet of rose path. It’s going really fast and I should have the scarf done by the end of another class or two. I’m using a skein of Shivaya Naturals Fingering Merino for the warp (the darker color) and Yarn Sprout Merino Sock for the weft (the light pink).

Quilting

Last weekend I had the chance to participate in Denyse Schmidt’s Improvisational Patchwork Workshop at her studio in Bridgeport, CT. I love her prints and her design aesthetic like knitters love Elizabeth Zimmerman, so it was really an awesome treat to be able to meet her and do a workshop with her. There were 7 other participants, Denyse and her assistant Richard. Richard was awesome, he would go around re threading the sewing machines, picking up bits of thread and pieces of fabric laying around. I would love to have someone like him around when I’m sewing! Denyse is wonderful and super interesting. The workshop was definitely worth doing and I hope to be able to do Part II next year! I came back with a few goodies from her studio as well as some great pictures, which you can all see here. If you want more details about how the workshop went just ask in the comments and I’ll answer your questions.

Random Random

My aunt sent me the link to this today. Hilarious!

Not so WIP anymore – Part 2

At my last Monday night’s weaving class, I finished my class sampler. I tried out many weaves like tabby, standard twill, basket, broken crow and broken twill, return twill and rose path. I also got to try out different yarns; slubby, tweedy, extra thick and extra thin to see how they behave in the different weaves.

Here you can see one half of the sampler:

And one bit of the other side:

Here are some of my favorite sections:

Broken twill

Return twill on the sides with Rose path in the middle

More broken twill

At the next class we’ll get to work on our own project. I’m planning to make a scarf out of my stash sock yarn. I just have to figure out how much I need and then I’ll be able to figure out how many skeins of sock yarn I need. If there are any weavers reading this, how many skeins of fingering weight yarn would you need for a 10″ x 60″ scarf at about 400yds a skein? I’ll make sure to show you when I decide!

Monday night weaving

My Monday nights are now occupied by a weaving class. I’ve been wanting to try out weaving for a while, as an extension of my love for all things “fibery”. Conveniently, I found out that a weaving class would begin in January only a few minutes from my house. I’ve had 2 classes so far with 8 more to go including tonight’s class.

In this class are a few advanced weavers and 2 novices including myself. There are a bunch of floor looms as well, from pretty big to much smaller like the one I’m using.

During the first class we were told to pick two weaving yarns and were shown how to create the warp on the warping pegs and then we were shown how to attach the warp to the loom. Then started the back-breaking work of threading each strand through the heddles on 4 harnesses. This part was completed at the beginning of the second class. Then started the fun part, the actual weaving part.

The teacher has us do a sampler, with the the weave changing every few inch so that we can become familiar with some of the main weaves. The fact that the warp changes gives a different look to the same weave.

In the picture above you can see that the first third of the warp (the vertical strands)  is green, the second third is red and the third is one green strand and one red strand alternating. The weft are the horizontal strands. I’m alternating working with the red and the green, changing every couple inches.  Each weave looks different depending on the warp and the weft as you can better see below:

I’m quite enjoying my class, even if it is back-breaking. I’m hoping that we can work on something of our own before the class is over as I would love to make a scarf out of some of my yarn. I would love to be able to have my own loom at home, but after having to sell my spinning wheel I can’t rationalize the purchase of one. I guess I’ll have to be happy with the class!

If you’re more interested in weaving, here’s a link to a wikipedia entry on weaving.