Skip to main content

Twofer

I spent yesterday spinning.  A lovely pink/purple wool roving was purchased at Knit City and it was calling out to be spun.  This particular combination was selected because both colours are Miss M's favorites.
We had a beautiful sunny morning

Here's a photo of a wisp of the roving and some of the single ply showing off the colours and much to my satisfaction, a pretty darn consistent spin as well.  I know I only purchased 100 g of roving, which if spun finely could make a couple hundred yards of yarn, but I was going for a worsted weight.  That means I will only get about 150 or so yards of yarn, about the perfect amount to make a toque for an almost four year old.

There has been lurking in my stash for over a decade a wool/mohair Berroco yarn called Memoirs.  (I purchased it on one of the first trips to North Carolina to see my girlfriend, Karen.  The shop, Anglewing Needle Arts, remains in business yet today!)  This Berroco yarn varies in consistency much more than my own hand spun, but the colors would make a lovely accompaniment to what I had spun.  There was and still is no plan about how the Berroco yarn will be used, so I decided to ply it with my single ply hand spun.  Even Paul was moved to say how lovely the yarn was, and if you know Paul you know, he would not speak about such a thing unless it he really liked it.



All that halo is caused by the mohair
 This is what it has created.


The combination yarn is an interesting weight because it is so variable.  I went with a large needle (US 10.5/6.5 mm) and got a fabric I liked.  Of course with that large needle things knit up fast and here is my almost complete version of Tall, Dark and Handsome from Tin Can Knits' Great White North book.




It has been said before, but bears repeating, when you purchase a Tin Can Knits' book you get each of the patterns in multiple sizes from newborn to adult.  Thus even though the name of the pattern would suggest this toque is for a man, my child-sized version looks very feminine to me.

So I am calling this a twofer, not only am I using my own hand spun, I am also whittling away at my stash as well.  And, I have something to give to my grand daughter that I know will keep her head and ears warm in those chilly Minnesota winters.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms.  (BTW
2 comments
Read more

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and
1 comment
Read more

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or how about the longest piece of finger knitting that measured 4,321.4 m
Post a Comment
Read more