Knit knit knit...size 6 = size 1

 05.09.22 Now that summer is waning, I am back to teaching classes.  The Ranunculus 2 was finished around the end of July. The process was much faster the second time thanks to my Ravelry notes.  This is a new addition to my Pick A Sweater Class at beWoolen.  The color is unusual, reminding me of the stormy sea color of Léttlopi I used for my April sweater and it has the color bits like the Ranunculus shop sample at BW.  Truthfully, I did not see the attraction of knitting this sweater until I finished the sample.  Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn is lovely and my knitting a size 6 to get the measurements of the size 1 worked beautifully.  It is a good lesson about using knitting gauge, sizing and some craft math to make it all work.  

After the yoke, it's smooth sailing

A go-with-everything sweater ❤️

R2

 11.07.22

R2 stands for Ranunculus 2.  Yes, I got sucked into the Ranunculus vortex!  Of course, this one is progressing quickly because of my previous notes.  The sample ticked all the boxes with the tweedy bits of the Noro Silk Garden Sock Solo yarn and the perfect fit.  I love when a plan comes together.  The second version is one I can wear now.  The yarn is the same except for the base color.  It was a pleasant surprise to see some warm brown in the yarn as the yoke progressed yesterday.  

The tweedy bits are so beautiful against the dark base color of the yarn
 

Deck knitting with Gus before the rain

Ranunculus

 07.07.2022

Recently I was thinking about adding another sweater (something lightweight) to my pick-a-sweater class at beWoolen.  I asked Michelle and we thought about it for a bit and then she mentioned the Ranunculus sweater, by Midori Hirose.  It has been consistently on the "Hot Right Now, designs with the most visits in 24 hours.  At the time the project count was over 12,000 and as of this morning, the count is up to 13,625. Wow!  Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn was the perfect choice, because I pictured the sweater in a neutral color to show off the design.  The size you knit depends upon the yarn (lace to worsted weight) and needles used for the amount of transparency of the knitted fabric.  At Shepherd's Harvest in May, I saw no fewer than four people wearing their Ranunculus sweaters.  It is a popular knitting project.  

When knitting a class/shop sample I take time to study the pattern before casting on any stitches.  Ravelry is a helpful tool for checking out other projects.  Given the huge number of projects, I narrowed down the search to helpful projects and projects with notes.  Casting on for the swatch, I thought about the fabric (lightweight, but not transparent), neckline (not too snug or loose), sleeves (three-quarter), length, (cropped) and fit (positive ease).  

Deck knitting on a nice day.

Using the Doocot as a template for for width and length.  

After blocking, the fit is perfect and the yarn bloomed beautifully.

Seeing green 💚

In time for St. Patrick's Day, I present a FO in gorgeous green💚!  A week ago I finished The Cranberry Gose top, a sample knit and one of the choices for the Pick-a-Sweater class at beWoolen.  The yarn, WYS Fleece BFL, has the starring role of this project and made knitting a joy!  The knitted fabric has a soft hand and the color, Fellside, reminds me of the hills and mountains of Ireland and Scotland.  Wet blocking the front and back pieces improved the fabric by measuring carefully (using the schematic) and pinning the pieces to size.  After air drying, I used duplicate stitch to join the shoulders, lining up the texture stitches.  Seaming with mattress stitching at the sides made a tidy finish.

The pattern instructions are straightforward.  Taking time to plan ahead for the texture stitching at the neck and shoulder areas is helpful.  I used German short rows and placed six markers for the initial shaping so I could see where to stop the texture and just use stockinette stitching.  The back and front texture work should mirror each other when finished.  Shaping the front and back at the same time (so to speak) on separate needles also helped.  I tend to knit while watching TV, so those markers keep me on track.  The designer confesses to be confused by the right and left side before beginning the shoulder shaping.  The right side is as the sweater is worn and the knitting universe is correct.  The second size has the right amount of ease and I like the funnel neck, which is about 6.5".  There is enough length to flip the neck down for a turtleneck.  

Tidy mattress stitch side seam.

On the loom and on (and off) the needles

20.04.2021 Only one of my looms (the small Good Wood) is empty at this time.  Recently, I re-warped the tapestry loom and made new string heddles for it...only because I could not locate the other heddles.  I lost one warp thread in the process.  My current read is Rebecca Mezoff's book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving: A Complete Guide to Mastering the Techniques for Making Images with Yarn.  It is a good book with plenty of photos and well-written instruction for self-guided learning.  

Sampling on the little loom.

Schacht Tapestry Loom, cotton warp approximately six-inches wide.

A couple Saturdays ago Louie and I into the shop and I plied a full bobbin of Jacob yarn from roving purchased years ago at Shepherd's Harvest Festival.  It will be helpful to have more Jacob if needed for a knitting project in the planning stage.

My office (using the term loosely) is a bit cramped, so it was time to reclaim yarn, needles and markers from a couple of UFOs.  The blue Gansey is frogged along with the Eid Top.  I would get more wear out of a blue cardigan and keep the Eid Top's yarn and repurpose into another colorwork vest.  

Looking pretty good.

I love the yarn colors, yarn type and the pattern, but
sometimes one just cannot get into the groove with a project.

It was the end of the road for this Gansey.

Needles and markers reclaimed from the depths of the knitting bags.

I finished a shop sample for beWoolen using the beautiful Tahki Donegal Tweed yarn.  The pattern is Strange Brew from Tin Can Knits using Aran weight yarn, top-down construction with short rows at the back, and extra colorwork at the cuffs and bottom.  This was such a fun knitting project and the class is going well with all the lovely sweaters in progress.  Next will be a cardigan version...steek!

Happy knitting!

The barn sweater and some spinning

13.02.2020

The barn sweater is named for the lovely red color of the yarn, which came to my stash in a round about way.  The original color of the wool cone yarn was tan and part of a stash, which ended up at Anoka Fiber Works after a yarn swap event years ago.  Mary, the shop owner, gave it to Linda, who dyed the yarn red and proceeded to knit a swatch for a sweater project.  The yarn was (and still is) not next-to-the-skin soft, the project was abandoned, and the remaining yarn was left at the shop with Mary.  Mary and I were having a chat about yarn, particularly sheep's wool and that not all knitting yarn needs to be soft to be useful in garments.  The bag of yarn ended up with me and the well-worn copy of Knitting Pure & Simple V-Neck Neckdown Cardigan For Women #994, was the logical choice for the project.

I added length to the bottom back with short rows and then knitted two by two ribbing at the cuffs, bottom, and the neck.  Seven light-color wood buttons from the button jar looked very nice with the red.  The fit is oversized, comfortable, and given the freeze and thaw of winter weather up here, the sweater works as a warm layer under a jacket or as an outer layer on the warmer days.  Either way, I wear a long sleeve shirt or turtleneck underneath and have no issues with scratchiness.  It is meant to be a working sweater, just like the well-worn garments I used to see hanging by a door on family farms many moons ago.

15 days pass...I love the sweater and have worn it often.  Yesterday, it was a great jacket!

Now, an update on another project!  I've been hand-carding and mixing colors for a small tapestry project using Lincoln Longwool from Snake River Acres and dyed wool from Ireland.  Carding the  the Longwool with the dyed wool makes drafting and spinning a smooth process.   The colors look so pretty lined up in the natural light near my easel.  I have a general idea of what to weave, but when a new idea pops into my head, I thank goodness for the notes feature and the iPencil with the iPad.

The weather is warming and the days are getting longer.  Spring is fast approaching and I have upcoming classes on the schedule at Anoka Fiber Works and BeWoolen.  The newsletter for AFW is released on the first of every month.  I'm excited about teaching a yoked sweater class at BeWoolen because the shop just got the first delivery of Lett Lopi yarn this week!  My classes at AFW include Stranded Colorwork, Yorkshire Buttons, and First Socks, a new class.

FOs

There are two finished objects for the end of July, the Gansey sweater and the handspun Polkagris.  Starting with the kerchief, I pulled some photos from a previous post (May 2013) to show how the yarns were created.  They sat in the stash for five years waiting for the perfect project.  Shortly before Grey Wolf in June, an email arrived from KDD with a pattern for newsletter subscribers.  It did not take long to choose yarns from my stash for the project.

Colorful wool roving and wool batts with some cotton yarn are pulled together.

The fibers are added to the bowl on the scale for weighing.  Joanne and I made 3-ounce batts.
Fibers used in both batts:  wool, silk, mohair locks, silk noils, sari silk, and cotton.

The fibers can be blended a little or a lot using the drum carder.  It is ready to spin!

The singles are plied with thread or yarn.  This was plied with a thin textured yarn.
This skein weighed 3.7-ounces after plying.  The white skein weighed 3.8-ounces.  Each skein was 200+ yards.
I should have enough left from both skeins for a small project.

The Polkagris kerchief by Kate Davies was the perfect project for the special skeins of yarn.
The shape of the kerchief fits nicely over the shoulders

The Gansey sweater was a rewarding project to knit.  It is a simple, wool sweater with traditional shape and style with extra ease added for comfort.  It will be a good piece for layering when it gets cold.  I have it on right now, as we are experiencing a cold front before the heat and humidity return.  

Before the knitting, I did my homework by looking through my personal library and studying photos of the design elements of traditional garments.  Body  measurements and measurements from other garments along with choosing yarn and swatching are so important.  One of my biggest take-aways from the experience was that less is more.  I planned for fancier textures at the top, but the simple, 2 +1 stitch repeat over four rows fit so beautifully into the design.  

Mary is just about finished with her sweater and soon we (Kathryn, Mary, and I) will have to take photos of our finished projects together.  

Garter stitch at the neck, cuffs and hem. Ridged ribbing worked well for the stitch counts for the body and sleeves.  

A bit of shaping on either side of the front neck and three-needle bind off at the shoulders.  The bind off was worked on the right side of the work and the purl ridge flows into the texture stitches nicely.

The two-stitch faux seam runs on either side from the hem, around the underarm gusset, and the to the  cuff.

Progress!

Progress on the Gansey style pullover is going well.  I have been adding notes in a notebook and also on my Ravelry project page.  It has been an enjoyable project so far and now I have to type up the handwritten notes so I can use what I learned, knitting without a written pattern, to knit another sweater.  My early sketches included various texture stitches, neck gussets, the split hem, etc.  The split hem was the first element to go, and then the various texture stitches changed to a simple and easy-to-adapt stitch pattern that fit well with my stitch counts.  The Ridged Rib is a multiple of 2 + 1 stitches and a 4-row repeat.  The second sleeve is in progress and the sweater will be finished this week.

By trying on the sweater while the sleeve was in progress,  I could easily customize the length and  the decreases.  

There is a new vendor at Anoka Fiber Works, Wether'sfield Wool Farm.  I purchased some of the Shetland wool.  Two 4-ounce bags of Emily's white washed wool, and one 3.1-ounce ball of Treble's moorit roving.  I had some black Shetland roving I bought when we visited the Faribault Woolen Mill's 150th celebration a few years ago.  I combed the white wool and it is just beautiful to spindle spin with my Moosie spindle.  Mary held a second bag for me when Jim and I were camping last week.  I will have to see how much yardage I can spin and figure out a nice project for the yarn.

Emily's beautiful washed wool

Combing was the perfect prep for the wool.  I used my Valkyrie (fine) wool combs.

Moorit is a mid-brown color between fawn and dark brown.

It was a good thing I waited to finish spinning the last of the black.  There will be plenty to add to the future project.

Beautiful natural colors.

It started with a conversation...

It started with a conversation about a year ago while sitting at the table with friends Mary and Kathryn at Anoka Fiber Works.  We have the best conversations around the table while enjoying our tea.

The conversation involved knitting a sweater without a written pattern.  Not a new concept, but we thought about the process of creating a sweater, slowing down, and being mindful about our knitting.  Knitting in the Old Way by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts (Interweave Press, 1985) was the perfect book for inspiration.   I used the garter stitch split hem from The Basic Blouse and The Basic Gansey for the rest of the sweater.   It was easy to look through my books and sketching ideas on my Boogie Board.  Choosing the yarn was another matter.  Keeping in mind the function of the sweater, Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool was the perfect choice for my camping/hiking/working sweater.  The price point of the yarn was great and using a couple of JoAnn, Etc coupons, the purchase was even more attractive.  Fisherman's Wool is 100% wool, it comes in eight-ounce/465-yard skeins, it is worsted weight, and hand-washable.  The skeins of Oatmeal Heather felt softer than the skeins of Brown Heather and the light-color skeins were the same dye lot.

Sweater design elements from one book and a stitch pattern from another book.  I searched through many stitch dictionaries before settling on a simple Ridged Rib.  The pattern is a multiple of 2 + 1 stitches and a four-row repeat.

I found some inspiration from some of the books in my personal library.  The book second from the bottom is the first knitting book I purchased after returning to Germany.  The Encyclopedia of Knitting, by Pam Dawson, Orbis Publishing Limited, London 1984, was (and is) one of my favorite reference books for knitting techniques.

My Gansey sweater in progress.  Two purl stitches at each side, the underarm gusset and the Ridged Rib stitching at the chest.  There will be Ridged Rib stitching on the sleeves at the upper arm above the elbow.

The underarm gusset stitches are on a holder.  The front and back are knit separately.  

The Lett Lopi Flock, my name for it, (Ápril) pullover is finished.  It was started before the Gansey sweater and the mindless knitting until the yoke was a good take-along project.  There were a few bumps when I started the sheep bodies' section.  I made some chart corrections (purl and color, not stitch count) and now I must wait for cooler weather to wear it, sigh...

Markers placed  every twelve stitches to keep the sheep in order.

I ended up frogging to the top of the brown zigzag and re-working that section of the yoke.

The blocked Flock, ready to wear.  

WIPUFOS

Yesterday I tackled the room to see how much spinning fiber is there and to organize yarn not in the cubbyholes...oh, and the WIPs and UFOs.  It took time and I got my 10,000 steps in easily without a walk outside.  While I like the room, it is small and fiber takes up room.  My drawing table faces the window, which is good, and my computer is next to it, but I find the bulky fiber stuff distracting at times.  The art supplies are stored in the closet, organized and out of sight while the fiber-related things are visible and bulky.  Hummm...it's a process and I'm working through the fiber and projects downsizing along the way.

Finishing the almostsixyear project was huge for me.  I started it August 3, 2011 and finished it July 31, 2017.  The yarn is Spud and Chloe Fine, a wool/silk blend with beautiful color and drape.

The photograph below shows the steeks with the red yarn marking exactly where to cut after securing the stitches on either side with machine sewing.  After securing and cutting the steeks, I was picking up the stitches for the band and yarn moved.  That is something one doesn't want to see when cutting the knitting.  Back to the sewing machine I went to re-zigzag and then the vest went in a bag in the corner of the room to be in time out.  I like to think the steeks were healing.  Three years and many projects later, I revisited the vest and finished the band around the fronts and neck and partially hand stitched the facing to the inside.  The only knitting left to do was for the simple armhole bands.  At that point other projects and activities took over, life happened, and just opening the bag and peeking in was enough to make me shudder.

Fast forward to summer 2017.  Determined to finish those pesky projects (the vest included) majorknitter's Ravelry group Finish or Frog It Friday members to finish projects during the month of July.  I managed two sweaters and this vest (just qualifying under the wire).  It was just the motivation that was needed to light a fire under my rear and get those needles busy.

2011

 Ta-da!  It turned out beautiful and I will be happy to wear it on the first day it's cool enough.  I named it Tangled because one of the hanks of yarn was just awful to wind.  It is Kasuri Chanchanko, from Folk Vests by Cheryl Oberle.  Kasuri is the Japanese form of ikat weaving, using resist dyeing before weaving the fabric.  The process gives a softened or blurred effect to the designs on the fabric. This is the fifth vest I made from the book making Folk Vests one of my favorite sources for vest patterns.

I popped a bit of color inside the facing.

The other sweaters I finished are Knitting Pure and Simple V-Neck Neck-Down Cardigan #994 in Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim DK and Tulgey Wood (so named because of the yarn color--Frabjous Fibers March Hare), which is really Acorn Trail minus the cables.  To find just the right buttons for these sweaters, I took a dive into the button stash and organized the buttons in the process.   I don't remember where I purchased the buttons for the blue sweater, but the three for the brown sweater are from Treadle Yard Goods in St. Paul, Minnesota.  

Rather than making buttonholes, I made button loops on the bind-off row.

The perfect cotton cardigan for cool days.  I had Mary snap a photo by my studio space at Anoka Fiber Works.

The wait is on for sweater weather!

In the meantime...

I sold the Weaving Wednesday project from the last post, finished warping Hank (the floor loom), volunteered to run a station at the. Star Wars themed Cub Spring Fling last weekend, finished knitting Ben's moose sweater (ends are woven in and pieces are blocking), and I have to prep for my demo at Shepherd's Harvest Festival for Saturday.  The weather warmed up and it should be a nice Mother's Day weekend.  Ben's birthday is coming up and the sweater should be finished in time, which makes me very happy and I know he'll love it.  I managed to find some buttons that match nicely, although they aren't made of antler.  If I can find some nice antler buttons the others can be replaced.

15.05.2017 The weekend was warm and sunny.  I drove to Lake Elmo early on Saturday to help Linda before her felted slipper class at Shepherd's Harvest Festival.  My spinning demo was fun.  I love seeing old friends as well as showing others the fun of carding together bits and bobs of color bits with white and a bit of gray wool and then spindle spinning.  After the demo it was time to walk around.  There  were lots of new vendors, most of which had commercial products and hand made goods.  Nice items to look at, but nothing I was interested to purchase.  The focus of the festival has shifted a bit in twenty years.  My favorite button-maker was there and I bought some lovely lilac wood buttons with purple in the wood grain.  Most of my time was spent in the Anoka Fiber Works booth spinning and chatting with passers-by.  After picking up the fleece from Andrea and taking it to the car, there were sheep and goats in the barn to visit and even two yaks were grazing outside.

The moose sweater was finished in time for Ben's birthday on Mother's Day, which makes the day even more special.  We had ribs with fixings and then an ice cream cake.  I'd ordered a small cake, but  when Jim picked it up it was a large cake...we'll be chipping away at it for awhile when Ben visits because it's too big for his freezer.  Ben brought a lovely bouquet of roses and doughnuts (from Andi and Ben).

05.31.2017 I believe it's time to finish and post.  Since the last installment, we filled the shallow hole in the back yard with twelve yards of dirt, eight yards of fill (containing large dirt clods and rocks) and four yards of black dirt.  Friday was a long day until Ben came after work and helped finish the four yards.  Jim sent this information to me about the weight of the dirt:  Topsoil's weight can vary greatly due to moisture content. In the dryness of the summer, the weight of a cubic yard of soil can drop down to around 1700 pounds, while in the spring when soil is damper, one cubic yard may weigh well over one ton.  Did I really need to know that?

This is what four yards of dirt looks like.  

This is the eight yards of fill.  My job was to rake and roll after each wheelbarrow was dumped.  Jim filled the roller with more water toward the end of the fill and it was a bit too heavy for me, so I continued to rake.  

I brought home a lamb's fleece from Black Cat Farmstead.  Ben the black sheep is a mixed breed of Shetland, Icelandic, and Gotland.  I pulled out a bit of the fleece and washed it.  I didn't think I wanted to card it, so I used Mary's wool combs.  The result was so nice and I ordered a set of combs right away.  I learned how to use them years ago as a new spinner.  The locks are loaded onto the comb with the cut side toward the handle on the pad, and then with a comb in each hand, the wool is combed by grabbing a little bit with each pass so the fiber can be pulled through the diz into roving fluffs.  I dug out some clean white wool from the stash and practiced.  Now I have to scour the fleece.  The process of fleece to yarn is slow and enjoyable.

Valkyrie fine wool combs (I call them the Freddy Krugers)

The combed wool makes for smooth spinning

Deb from Old Man Wool Farm/Ewespun Fiber Mill made up some lovely spinning fiber called Mocha Dream, which is ⅓ Romeldale wool, ⅓ alpaca (both locally grown), and ⅓ camel down.  It is a dream to spindle spin.  She had a spun sample and knitted sample at Shepherd's Harvest and it was just too beautiful to resist.  I should have enough for a hat or mittens.  Each hank is about 55-yards of yarn.  

From roving to finished yarn