Author: Chauntel Ensey

I have been trying to post since last Friday and had nothing but trouble between blogharbor and IE. It’s a new problem that I have not encountered before and may have found a way around it. I will have to post pictures in separate posts so that I don’t lose all words plus pics. I had 2 GREAT posts too that have now been lost to the www world and will never return. I think we should call the world wide web, world war three. Just a thought.

So I am completely prepared for my first sock class that I am teaching tonight over at Knit & Pearl. I wouldn’t say that makes me ready but I am prepared.

I am still sticking to my list. I have been working on the Jefferson and my cream sweater. I can now knock Sadie’s sweater and the sock class sock off the list. That is joyous! I do love both of the sweaters that I am working on, lots of simple pretty cables to keep me interested without the hassle of charts or patterns to memorize. 2 and 4 row cables, what could be simpler? well, stockinette of course but that I was trying to be rhetorical. nice try, chaun.

I am really trying my hardest to keep from casting on for another Starsky. After Tracy finished hers I am swatched and swatched with one yarn I have but could not match gauge. I gave up and reminded myself that I have “a list” now that needs to be adhered to so I can actually accomplish some things! gosh.

So now I must prepare dinner early so that I can get my kiester out the door on time for my class ~whisper~ I am really trying to get there early to do a bit of shopping in the store before the class starts ~end of whisper~

I posted a new photo to FinishedprojectsPhotos.

I posted a new photo to FinishedprojectsPhotos.

Here is Sadie’s sweater. Body is ready to have arms joined and one sleeve is 2/3 done. All accomplished in the last 20 hours. Sweet!

Cone knitting makes me happy! Gauge is 16sts/ 4 inches. It’s a quick knit but only because of the ease of the yarn. Why some yarns knit more quickly than others I cannot say but this is a quick one. That makes me HAPPY!

I will stick to my list. Next up, finish the sock for the sock class. That is a one night finish, easy as pie. I am really excited about working on my sweater but I must have patience. patience is not one of my virtues, hence my spinning wheel as a ‘birthday present’ when my birthday is not for another 6 weeks. I so know how to cheat!

 I am quiet. Not all the time, as most of you know first hand. But the last few days I have been loving quiet. The weekend was spent quietly (as much as that is possible with 3 kids). I spun, made myself a couple of niddy noddy’s out of pvc, went to the farmer’s market, basically just had quiet time. Here are the 5 hanks that I spun over the weekend.

I should have laid them out in order of spinning but too late now.  I overspun all but the two red yarns. That is something that I will have to be sure to pay attention to that for sure from now on. I get why it happens with the settings on the wheel I just have to get used to drafting at the correct speed with my treadling. Practice makes perfect! My next goal is to spin a good laceweight to ply.

I haven’t been doing much knitting, just flitting around from project to project with no real direction. But my daughter has outgrown all hand knit items I have made her so I cast on for a sweater for her this afternoon. Simple, in the round EZ style that will be hooded. I have a cone of a worsted weight boucle blend yarn, light sage and white, that will be very cute on her.

I have a small list of items that are *must knits*. I am going to list them below in the order in which they must be accomplished.

-sock for sock class

-Sadie’s sweater

-Family hats (Shedir pattern using Telemark yarn)

– Cream cabled sweater from Rebecca #32 for our Christmas vacation to good ole’ Idaho in the snow

-George’s ski sweater for our Christmas vacation so he can actually ski in it. The Jefferson is the name of that one. You know, the one I started well over 6 months ago & set aside to finish right about now. Better get on that one.

Now, my brother in law just got laid off this week. I am extremely tempted to take it upon myself to go knit crazy and make them all gifts for Christmas even though they are not our family to give to this year. On the other hand, I feel that is not a realistic idea given there is only 6 weeks left until we leave for their house. 4 kids, 4 gifts, not much time. I could always do the stock hat but that is a downer if you ask me & they have plenty of hats from me. That is one I have to think on for a bit.

So that is the knitting schedule for the next 2 months. Fun, huh? Yeah, I thought so.

 

I wouldn’t exactly call it yarn. I might call it sheepwool becomes lumpy art. or lumpy crap. Either way, I got the wheel all spinnin’ round.

First up is a full bobbin of Emerald Garden roving from Copper Moose on Ebay. I bought this over 2 years ago when I learned to use my drop spindle so I am not sure how much I bought but when I held up the ball of roving next to an 8 oz ball  that I hadn’t touched yet it looked like the same size.

Now, what you don’t see is the first layer of yarn on the bobbin that looks nothing like this here finishing layer. Bad, lumpy, scary, yarn. I got the rhythm down, tension adjusted, predrafted the roving just right and voila!

Then I started some merino that Karen sent me. There has to be at least 6 oz there to spin. It’s so soft and the fiber staple is so different than the corriedale green that I had just finished that it took me a little while to readjust the tension. I flipped the bobbin around so it would spin faster and get a more thin yarn. I am happy that I am actually understanding the mechanics of how the wheel works and how to adjust things so it does what I want it to do.

It is still coming out as a worsted weight single but I am not having much breakage during spinning.

Let’s see what else? Oh yeah! I finished the green lacey hoodie from Rebecca 32 on MONDAY. Woops. I forgot to post about that, sorry.

Most of you saw it at knitting on Thursday night but I gave it a bath yesterday and now she’s dry.

I kinda liked how it faded out to dark on the bottom, if you got a problem with that, too bad ;o)
(the bottom is just straight with no shaping anyways)

I love how the hood is constructed on this sweater, brilliant shaping. They used decreasing and then short rows to get the top to turn, much like a heel of a sock. I will be using this method of construction on hoods in the future I am sure. If you really want to read how it’s done you can buy the Rebecca 32 magazine, it’s well worth the $17. And you can use your 40% off coupon at Craft Essentials here in SB to buy it too! yippee for that!

Now I am working on the sock for my sock class I will be teaching (go sign up at Knit & Pearl people). And spinning. I am going to run out of fiber here in the next week so I better get buyin’!! Not too sure how much George is going to like the expense of my bday gift but oh well!