Weaving Wednesday hat

Weaving Wednesdays are becoming very productive.  I finished my first woven hat, a quick project.   Fingering weight yarn from my stash was the perfect choice for the warp, weft, and ribbed band.  I used the pattern in Weave Knit Wear for the measurements, approximately 30-inches long by 13-inches wide.  The weather was cold, wet, and windy last week and the hat was warm and lightweight.

Knit 2 purl 2 ribbing with matching yarn

Gathered top

New hat!

Before the vest projects, I had a scarf started on the loom.  The vest interested me more than another scarf, and the piece was ended and cut off.  It is the perfect length and width for another hat, which will be more like a beanie.  Once the band is knitted, I will decide whether to gather the top or shape the top with sewn seams.

Hat form I use for blocking and fitting.

Fitting the fabric.  I make sure to try the hat on before sewing the seam.

Machine sewn seam, seam allowance turned under and steamed, and then hand sewn.

I am working on sample knitting and the hat is on the back burner until tomorrow's weaving day.  Mary has a bag on her loom and Kathryn is making a top.  I am thinking about making yardage of fabric that can be cut and sewn into a top.  The last meeting of the weaving group at Anoka Fiber Works, one of the members brought in a book she no longer wanted.  Clothing From The Hands That Weave by Anita Luvera Mayer is an inspirational book featuring history, finished pieces, and patterns for garments.

A sampling of simple shapes used for garments from all over the world.

At this moment...

I have been finishing up lots of projects.  This week I completed two samples for the shop, a hat and a mitten.  The Baa-ble Hat is a delightful design by Donna Smith for Shetland Wool Week 2015.  Using Rowan Pure Wool Worsted made this project quick to knit compared to my fingering weight yarn projects of late.  Angel chose Rowan Pure Wool Worsted in Ivory, Umber, Gold and Lt. Grey Heather as the colors for the hat.  The design began as a Christmas ornament.  It is fun to look at all the projects on Ravelry of this hat.  I immediately thought of my handspun stash and will do a bit of stash diving today to see how much I can find for another hat.  The Nordic Mittens are a traditional star design by Beth Brown-Reinsel and were featured in Interweave Knits Winter 2004 issue (the pattern is now available as a single pattern, also.)  Knit with fingering weight yarns in solid and variegated, there are few ends to weave in when finished.  I would love to knit a pair in two solids to really show off the charted work.  These will be a perfect future class project.

The Baa-ble Hat and the sweet little sheep from Jennifer.

The Top This Hats are quick projects to make and Bobbi can't keep them in the shop!  Monkey enjoyed modeling.

Speaking of sheep--it has been that kind of week.  I met Jennifer for coffee and she had a gift for me, an adorable sheep she designed for Target and that happens to match another sheep I have on the little cupboard.  I am thinking that it might be appropriate to do a mini yarn bomb on it.  On Saturday the gals at Anoka Fiber Works had a class on how to choose a fleece for spinning.  It was interesting, informative and just in time for Shepherd's Harvest, which is coming up soon.  I will be sure to use my new knowledge when I check out the fiber for sale during the festival even though I am not in the market for a fleece.

Which bag of fleece would you choose and why?

Did you choose the light or the dark?

Learning about skirting the fleece--what to keep and what to take off.

Sheep's wool

Checking the crimp and the strength.

Alpaca

Caught up!

I finally finished Greta!  The cardigan came out very nicely and it is now hanging at the shop by the Rowan yarns.  I picked out some small buttons and sewed them on before class last night.

Greta on display.

Yoke detail

The other project is the Beaded Beret.  I used a skein of Richard Devries yarn in the colorway Twyla Brae.  The clear beads look like raindrops.  I like the pattern so much I think it needs to be a class!

I love this hat!

This is a perfect first beaded project.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is celebrating 100 years this year.  Three masterpieces will be on display throughout the year.  The first is Vermeer's Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, which I saw many years ago in  Amsterdam.

I took this while sitting at the cafe way across the room.  

Newsflash! WIPs turn into FOs! Making my way through the projects.

More finished objects.  Slowly but surely I am working through all the projects on the needles and not starting anything new, which is difficult.  I also finished spinning the Icelandic/Shetland blend and whatever I knit will be called Rollo after Andrea's sweet puppy.

The yarn is made from Black Cat Farmstead's Icelandic/Shetland blend.  

I finished the Beaded Beret.  It stayed on the needles far too long, but I enjoyed finishing it.  The project is perfect for trying out adding beads to knitting.  It is a shop sample so I may have to dig into the stash after I finish other projects to make one for spring.

Beaded Beret--The stippled colorway, Twyla Brae, of the Richard Devries yarn is named after a remote village in Scotland.  The beads can remind me of raindrops.

The Kaffecushion is sewn together and is at the shop.  The colors are so pretty and it is a good project to show off both the color and yarn.  Rowan Pure Wool Worsted is very nice to work with and the colors are just beautiful.

The cushion is 24" x 24" and propped against the little cupboard my father made for my sister the year I was born.  It is a piece of furniture I treasure.

Next is Greta, the fingering weight cardigan.  I joined the sleeves and the body last night.  It is a good thing the cable on the circular needle is long to
accommodate the 457 stitches!  I will scout out some buttons next time I am at the shop.  Photos will be posted when the yoke has progressed.

Last week I got an email from Blue Sky to do some sample work--not knitted--and I am excited to work on it.

Saturday was spin-in at Anoka Fiber Works.  We had a pretty big crowd and had to move the circle bigger.  I may not be buying yarn, but when I saw the gorgeous clouds from Linda, I could not resist.  I have the light art yarn spun from the batt I made while visiting Joanne in Texas and the colors would look good with the blue and white cloud.

Dark Side of the Moon, a blend of Cormo wool and ink blue silk noil.  It is not  finished yet, but I made good progress.

A soft, fluffy cloud of BFL.

Knit knit knit

The seemingly endless squares are getting finished.  I am over halfway there!  The colors are just beautiful together.

 

The other project is the fingering weight cardigan, Greta.  Just about an inch and a half left until I can join for the yoke.  This is my third sweater in lightweight yarn.  Being a solid color  it seems to take forever, but I see light at the end of the tunnel.  It will be a classic cardigan and the Rowan Finest yarn is just beautiful.



The third project is Endgame by Michelle Hunter, the Knit Purl Hunter, and is a KAL.  I especially like that the pattern called for HiKoo Kenzie, one of my favorite yarns.  I chose one of the new colors, Saddleback.  It is a pinkish tan with yellow flecks.   Clue 1 is finished and clue 2 will be released on Thursday.

Warm woolies

It's sweater weather.  I am working on three sweaters.  One sample cardigan for the shop, my custom fit cardigan, and  my trapeze pullover.  I think about why I love knitting these sweaters, the patterns are well-written and the shapes are simple and classic.  The yarns for the projects are so beautiful.

In the Pink is a bit longer than the photo shows.  Working to 26.25" in length while increasing takes some time.

I call the trapeze pullover In the Pink because of the color #1029 Hebes.  HiKoo Kenzie is one of my favorite yarns.  It is a blend of 50% New Zealand merino wool, 25% nylon, 10% alpaca, 10% angora, and 5% silk noils.  The knitted fabric has a nice halo and becomes even softer after washing.

Before washing--Yeti mittens

After washing

Nice warm mittens.

A nice surprise was the Plymouth Homestead yarn for a commissioned pair of felted mittens.  It is always funny to see the size of the mittens before felting.  The process took one 16-minute high agitation/high spin cycle on the warm wash/warm rinse cycle and then another 10-minutes on the same cycle setting.  I do not close the lid so the water does not drain and the spin cycle will not engage.  I can check the project during the felting process.  The spin cycle can cause folds in the fabric that are difficult if not downright impossible to remove.  There is a short article about felting and fulling in a 2007 article by Maddy Cranley.  It is a good explanation of fulling, felting, and boiled wool.

Winter is here

Winter is beginning to settle in even though it arrived a little earlier than expected.  We have a blanket of snow on the ground and the temperatures are well below normal.  It surprises me that normal is in the 40s.  I agree that snow can be a pain to drive in, although my car has all wheel drive, which has proven to be a big help. The slop brought in from outside makes the foyer difficult to clean (I brought in the large "slop rug" from the garage.)  Snow boots are lined up and ready to pull on and the baskets of hats, scarves, mittens, and gloves are in a convenient spot in the foyer.  I look at this time of the year as sweater weather.  It is comforting to bundle up in beautiful sweaters, and wooly accessories.

Just in time for the first snow Jim's new bicycle.  He was very proud of the tracks he left in the snow.

Projects on the needles are the continuing Kaffe Fassett KAL squares, Custom Fit Acorn Trail, Top-Down Trapeze Pullover, two shop samples, and a pair of men's felted mittens, a commission from Jim's work colleague.  Yesterday I picked up some cotton yarn to make some small projects for children's gifts.  Needless to say the needles are clicking away.    Tomorrow the Gansey Headband class will wrap up.  On the loom (now named Jemima) is a scarf.  Warped with leftover Malabrigo Finito from the Snow Ghost hat and Berroco yarn from a hat, Fane, I am weaving with a lovely slate blue/gray sock weight yarn I received from Margie.  When I take a break from knitting I can get a few inches done on the scarf.

On the needles--Gansey Legwarmers

Knitting commission--felted mittens

In the Pink

I am using some fingering weight yarns to create a scarf.

The ongoing Kaffe Fassett KAL squares.

Yes, life is good!

Leather closure from JUL designs.

Resin shawl pin from JUL designs.  It looks good with most of my scarves.

An ongoing project is to clean out the old stuff and organize.  Goodwill is reaping the benefits, as is Half Price Books.  As I look around my office/workroom it appears chaotic, but is in fact organized.  It is time to do some paper shredding!

While surfing on Ravelry an ad popped up from JUL designs.  As always, I am on the lookout for unusual and wonderful notions.  I was drawn to the closures made of leather, so I purchased one to see if I would like it.  Yes, I liked it!  There are various styles of closures and even leather buttons with the same metal studs that can be removed for washing.  Also featured on the site were shawl pins in wood and some in resin (there are resin buttons, too).  On the website click on Attach for the closures--buckles, conventional buttons, pedestal buttons, sew-on closures, and screw-on closures.

FOs and Old Man Wool Farm

Did you hear the latest? Deb of Old Man Wool Farm and I are dishing the dirt in front of the Debbie Gossip wheel.

It is time to post some finished projects.  I have been burning up the needles, spinning wheel, spindles, and loom with projects for work.  Here they are (not necessarily in order of completion).

30.10.14  Lots of projects going at the same time around here.  I have three samples for Blue Sky going (sorry, I cannot show them), some of the class samples are finished and on display at Amazing Threads, the Kaffe Fassett KAL is coming along.  I need to finish two of the squares in time for  the release of Clue 4 tomorrow, and it is time to cast on for my Custom Fit cardigan.  I am making the Acorn Trail with Frabjous Fibers March Hare (worsted weight) in Tulgey Wood, a lovely deep dark brown.  This yarn is special as it is dyed and spun in the USA and the inspiration is from my favorite story book Alice in Wonderland.

The Gansey Headband is a quick project and great stash buster.

Customized P Chullo hat.  Initials on the earflaps, 'I love wool,' and sheep adorn the top.  

Timber Mitt before cutting the loops.

Wavelength is a striking scarf.

Kaffe Fasset Mystery KAL from Rowan.  Clue 1

Clue 2

Clue 3

Intarsia in the round cell phone cozy.  Good tutorial.

Gansey Legwarmers.  I will need these soon!

Earlier this month AFW had a field trip to Deb Peterson's Old Man Wool Farm/Ewespun Fiber Mill.  It was a gorgeous day to visit the farm.  Deb fired up the card and blended a Jacob fleece with blue silk noil she dyed.  I purchased some fiber from Hidden Valley Farm and we loved the colorway called Dark Side of the Moon, a Coopworth/silk noil blend.  With half of the fiber spun into a single, I can spin the pound of Deb's into another single and then ply the two together.

It is fun to visit the sheep.

The llama was happy to butt in and get an apple treat.

This beauty had one of the top fleeces at Shepherd's Harvest this year.

One of Deb's wheels, a delicate French beauty.

The card had leftover colors, which looked really nice.  

Blue silk noil blended with Jacob.  This will go with my Cormo/silk noil blend.  Watching the roving come out is mesmerizing

Autumn was particularly colorful and the weather was just perfect this year.  

Pretty colors in the small wildflower garden.

The birch trees are always watching.

Some neighborhood turkeys joined me on my morning walk.

One of the yard critters.  We call them mini-bears at Philmont.  

I do not know how it happened, but this was a most unusual split!