Persistent Knitter

It’s complete minus the wash/block it still needs:

I think the color combo of the blue Regia silk and the Lorna’s Laces aslan colorway work very well together.  I am not sure how well the Regia silk will hold up, it’s a little fuzzy in areas already. It is sock yarn though, so i’m hoping it will stand the test of time.

The thumb is a tiny bit tight across the thumb knuckle; might loosen up when it’s washed. I’ll probably wait and wash both gloves at the same time.  It’s a perfect fit right now and I hope it stays that way.

Time to start the second glove and try to remember what I did on the fisrt one (because I only sort of followed the "pattern" in the book.)

I need to destash some sock yarn, here’s the picture of it.

Click for much larger version. If you wanna buy the whole lot, it’s $140. A screaming deal if you ask me!

(UPDATE: I have a taker for all this yarn. Yay! I’m so glad it will go to a loving home)

Roving:

Singles:

It’s 4 oz of hand painted Romney from www.spunkyhats.com; color Leaf Peep.

Soon to be a two ply yarn!  I’m letting it sit on the bobbin for a while so the singles twist isn’t quite so active. I’ll be winding it into a center pull ball and ply it from the inside and outside at the same time. It was either that or try to figure out where to split it onto two bobbins, and that just takes all the fun out of it!

Today was “Get cool stuff in the mail” day at my house. In addition to an insurance statement that says, “This is not a bill, but you may be billed for these charges” with a total of over $1000 after it; I got this:

(Luckily I opened the yarn first. Mama didn’t raise me stoopid). You can’t even see the gorgeous blues in the bottom of the container. The red on top is really “Autumn Orange” and a bit more red than I would have thought. My original ideas for this yarn will have to be contemplated a bit. The box was literally splitting at the seams! All the yarn is w4 worsted super wash yarn from Shelridge Farms . I’m going to be doing some serious designing with it for some kid’s garments, or maybe one for me too. It’s more than enough to make quite a few sweaters. Oooh play time!

I also got this bundle of pretty colors & softness:

This is spinning fiber from Spunky Fibers. Every month I’ll get a different fiber handpainted by the wonderful Amy. The weight of it will be from 2 ounces to 6 ounces depending on the fiber type. Just enough to play around with and really have fun. All my current spinning projects are big huge “spin enough for a sweater” projects which takes a tiny bit out of the fun of experimenting and playing.

I also got two zippers from zipperstop.com; no picture, they are pretty boring. One zipper is for my Ribby Cardi and the other is for a friend. We were saving on postage by ordering together. You’ll see my zipper once it’s closer to being put in the sweater.

This should give you a better idea:

(click for bigger)

I’m making a pair of gloves from Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves. I’ve made mittens before, but not gloves, so I thought before I went hog wild and designed my own from scratch, I’d follow a pattern. Hmph. This book has some beautiful patterns in it, but the patterns are less than complete IMO. There is a ‘generic’ pattern which you can then supposedly plug in each set of charts to get a finished glove. Well, if you did it exactly like it said, you’d have a glove or mitten NOTHING like the picture. I’m having to infer a lot from the pictures. You have to shift the number of stitches you have for each portion of the project, to match up and make pattern repeats work. The gloves and mittens tend to run on the small side, so I’m adding a few extra stitches for a bit more ease. (Hopefully not too many).

The yarn?
Blue: Regia Silk sock yarn in a denim blue
Tan: Lorna’s Laces sock yarn in Aslan

Some new yarn, a bit of stash diving and I get this:

Any guesses as to what it is? (the answer tomorrow)

There’s a new book out and there’s a free chapter for the new book:
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/15/04719738/0471973815.pdf

So you can see what you’re getting into. It’s a great chapter that covers the basics of crochet.

I know. I know. You’re saying, “But I’m a knitter!”.

When was the last time you had to do a bit of finishing work in crochet?

Get yer butt over there and read it!

Besides, Crochet isn’t evil – only granny squares are evil.

I waited to finish the back until I had the fronts at the same point. I’m worried that the size of sleeve hole is going to be huge. I may be big around (Some would call that buxom), but that’s really the only spot.  I think once the sleeves are put in, it’ll be ok.  This yarn is pretty thick! (for me anyway. I’m used to fingering weight)

I’ve already planned my second Ribby – using Mission Falls. I’ve got some yarn in my stash and I’ve ordered the second color at my LYS. I also am going to try an small accent color in the collar and sleeves on the second Ribby.