Projects! (Mostly nalbinding and a bit of knitting)

Last month and this month I finished my hat and a pair of mittens. I found the mittens unfinished in my project pile and they were just the project to work on while hubby reads another Ranger's Apprentice book to the family.  (I'll put the mittens up in the shop tomorrow.) 


 

Last night I started a pair of mittens in a gradient yarn I dyed. (The 2 skeins were dyed at once so the mittens match.)

Another project pile item I'd forgotten about was a pair of socks where one was done. Evidently this is the week I work on old projects! At knitting group - since it was brainless knitting, I got almost to the instep. I love Zauberball yarn for socks. The socks will be a pair but each will be slightly different because of the "fractal gradient striping effect.

What are you working on?

The Vest that Never Ends is Complete

Absolutely giddy. That's how I felt yesterday when I finished the border and reinforced the arm holes of my circular vest. The Finnish 2+2 stitch knotwork border sucked up yarn so fast! I had to go buy more of the blue yarn.  Much to do today, so I'll keep the post short.

Nalbound Knot Work Cowl + Knotwork Pretzels Tutorial

Yes, yes. I should be working on my circle vest to have it done before the end of February for the Green Camel Gathering fiber arts event.  But I got distracted, you see.

A spiffy knotwork headband  post from one of the Facebook groups inspired me this week to start to learn how to do knotwork in nalbinding, beyond braids.  I've always loved Celtic and Viking knotwork, thus I was dragged (not unwillingly) into another project. Thankfully this one went quickly!

It’s been wicked cold out (windchill -20°F/-28°C to -30°F/-34°C) this week, so a cowl was the perfect project.

Nalbound cowl with knotwork - done in Finnish 2+2 stitch. A Celtic looking clasp was the pefect closure for this, to help tighten it against my face.  I couldn't resist putting the needle in the picture too. Hubby made it from red heart wood and gave it to me for Valentine's Day a few years ago.

The cowl with the clasp undone.

I'm trying not to giggle as my son snaps the picture of me in this cowl indoors.

Working on each of the little pretzel like knots was addictive and the work went quickly. Yarn details are on the project page. I suspect this will lead to more knotwork projects…

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To help my fellow nalbinders with knotwork of their own (since it took me a couple tries to be able to make them consistently), I took pictures of each step for making the little pretzel knots.  (They're actually overhand knots - but they look so much like pretzels!) Hopefully this will also help me remember how to do the knots too.

How to Make Knotwork "Pretzels": (Or at least it's how I made them. There are probably several ways to make them.)

To start, I'll recommend making a pretzel\overhand knot and measuring it against a flat row of stitches, so you can get the width in stitches of your knots and how many stitches for each section.

Attach your work to row. Make a chain of stitches.

Turn your work over. Count over from your attached work half the width of your test pretzel knot.

Work with F2 connection (for strength of the join) back to last joined work.

Create another chain, same length as the last one.

Turn your work, then put your chain end (with the working yarn and needle) through the loop you created.

Now you have a pretzel/overhand knot.

Attach it to the previous row with the F2 connection for stitches that equal half the width of your pretzel knot.

There you have it. Go forth and make pretzel knots to your heart's content!  (I had to do 3 rows of them before I wanted to do something different.)

Now I need to get back to my circle vest...

Nalbinding Projects since September

The last few months (since September) I've done quite a bit of nalbinding and finishing old projects. 

Finnish Stitch 3+3 pouch from Imperial Tracie Too sport weight yarn.  (My Ravelry project page for the pouch has general instructions for  making your own.)

Finnish Stitch 3+3 mittens from handspun yarn - mixed batts from Moonrover and SD Natural Colored Wool

Rådmansö Stitch hat from Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky yarn

Hand Warmers from Finnish Stitch 3+3 Stitch done with Imperial Yarns Tracie Too sport weight.

Currently I'm working on a circular vest, inspired by the crochet pattern for the Pinwheel Sweater. Simply doing Oslo stitch to have more drape than the thicker stitches that use more loops.

General crochet conversion instructions and tips for this vest are in my Ravelry project page.

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Has it really been that long since I posted last? Eghads! Well, to make up for that, I've updated the site quite a bit - new look, added a calendar of classes that I'm teaching, and a list of classes I have ready to go (I've had several inquiries lately and I thought this might help).

(Update 12/28 - added in links to the project pages for the pouch and vest, since I'd has questions on them. The project pages have general directions for these projects, if you'd like to try to make them too.)


What projects are you working on lately?

Handspun Socks - Take 1 - Yarn and Starting to Knit

I've wanted to spin for my handknit socks for a long time, but I just never tried it.  So it went into my 13Skills list. For my first attempt, I wanted fun to spin wools.

A soft fine wool and a set of Moonrover batts were my choices.

I'd spun the wool quite fine, and found these yarns puffed up quite a bit then testing the ply. The yarn is quite a bit thicker than regular sock yarn.

I was really happy with the white plied with the darker variegated yarn after it was spun.  And now that I'm knitting up Gusset Heel Basic Socks (toe up), I love the gentle striping effect in the socks as I start to knit them.  I've had to modify the pattern to accommodate my thicker yarn and size 2 needles.  A decrease of 8 stitches in the overall number of stitches is working well.

A side note on patterns in Kindle books:  I purchased Socks from the Toe Up for the Kindle. It's lovely to have my books with my all the time.  But I was at a loss at how make project notes. UGH.  After some tinkering, I found I could open the book in the kindle reader on my PC and take screen shots and print them.  Then I can make notes on the pattern to my heart's content.  After more tinkering with the Kindle app, I found there is the ability to make notes in Kindle books.  But it's just not the same as keeping track on paper.  PC notes are easy, but I don't knit near my PC and notes from my phone are not easy.  Paper is faster and easier in this case.  I'll scan my notes afterward to keep for future projects with the same pattern.

Back to the knitting project...

These socks are a blast to work on, but I think there's not enough twist to make the socks last a long time. These will be squishy soft socks, but not so durable.

When I spin for socks again I'll need to:

• Use a higher ratio whorl on my wheel - so I get more twist in my singles and plied yarns.
• Spin finer for thinner yarn.  This yarn is pretty thick for knitting the patterns I want to knit.
• Consider using a 3 ply yarn - perhaps Navajo plied.

Fear not I'm not discouraged at all.  I'm enjoying the process and am already planning for more handspun socks.

Have you spun for socks?  If so, how did you like it?

Quilts for Japan

Quilts. Such amazing examples of delicately pieced works of art.  (I never imagined myself making a quilt.  Far too precise for me.)

I'd been scouring the internet for something tangible I could do to help the people in the devastated areas of Japan.  When I came across the Call for Quilts for Japan from Quilters Newsletter - it was then I knew I'd be diving into this new craft.  My local fabric store was awesome and so helpful!  I wasn't sure where to begin or even what pattern might be a good first project, but they helped me find a simple pattern, the batting and backing, and the nifty even feed foot that helped sew through the many layers.  There wasn't time to have a long arm quilter quilt it.  So I ventured out and tried that too.  (Two days of wrangling the many layers to quilt it!)

The process really gave me respect for those who choose this art form as their expression.  Wow, it's a lot of work! 

Today the little quilt will be shipped out with a note to it's recipient.  I'm so excited to have it done and ready to start the first part of it's journey.

Maki, bless her heart, helped me translate the note into Japanese.  Here's the message in English.

Even though we've never met and we're half a world apart, with every stitch of this quilt you've been thought of and prayed for.  It's my first quilt.  I chose the 8 pointed star for luck and red as the background color for happiness.  My hope is that this quilt will bring you comfort and warmth.