Tweedy bits love

13.01.2021 

 I love rustic tweedy yarn.  This past year I have been enjoying using handspun and commercial  tweed yarns for my projects.  The bits of color add texture and interest when viewed up close,  and blend optically at a  distance.  

Small tapestry weaving in progress

 

It was a happy day when beWoolen yarn shop stocked Tahki Donegal Tweed.  The perfect project to highlight the lovely yarn was Doocot, by Kate Davies.  The pattern calls for DK weight yarn (11 WPI).  This yarn is Aran weight (8 WPI).  WPI means wraps per inch, a way to determine the thickness of yarn,  something I did not know about until I learned to spin.  It is also helpful to measure the WPI when a commercial yarn label is missing.  The Craft Yarn Council (a very helpful resource, by the way) has a chart showing the yarn weight system.  

Back to the sweater...to knit the appropriate size for myself, I went up with my needle size and yarn weight and down a pattern size and the numbers and measurements from the pattern were perfect with the correct amount of positive ease.  The only other adjustments I made were to the sleeve decreases, which I did every five rows to the cuff ribbing and to widen the neckband ribbing.  It worked out beautifully.

Tahki Donegal Tweed yarn for a sweater and a mini skein of handspun

Donegal Tweed, Fossil colorway

It helps to have a knitting buddy in the camper.  We were staying at Itasca State Park when the yurt was unveiled in Bemidji

There was enough leftover yarn for a pair of mittens

My second sweater with Donegal Tweed is Dacite.  I knit one for a yarn shop sample in 2014 and then taught a class.  I received an update to the pattern through Ravelry.  Carol Feller, the designer, updated the pattern with extended sizing.  It was a good opportunity to knit this sweater again and teach a class. The pattern is well-written and fun to knit, as there are lots of fun knitting techniques throughout.  In my excitement to take the sample to beWoolen, I did not snap a photo of the sweater when it was done blocking and the buttons added at the neck.   

Hot off the needles

The back has a natural dip (no short rows) because it and the sleeves are worked in stockinette stitch.

FO Friday and something tweedy

Finished objects!

Goldfish Love's hand-dyed chunky merino.  A prize from the Ravellenic Games.  

DPC x 2  Delores Park Cowl.  Each hank was just enough to make one cowl. 

 The cowls are not blocked, yet.

A teaser, not yet finished, but soon to be--keep watching!
This is a sample for an upcoming class (in 2013) at Amazing Threads.
Design by Marie Wallin and yarn by Rowan.  Mmmmm...tweed...

Wednesday

My class begins soon and I am ready to get down to business (pun intended!).  I am gathering patterns and ideas for my classes at Amazing Threads beginning in January.  In fact, one of my projects is on the needles and progressing nicely.  I stopped by to get some inspiration and my friend, Kathy, was there with a knitting group and I happily joined in.  I spent time looking through the Rowan books and the wall of yarn. Naturally the tweed caught my attention and the pattern Brynn from Rowan Tweed by Marie Wallin will be my first shop sample and what I think will be a great project for a class.  The slip stitch checks are easy and the yarn is bouncy with luscious color.
There will be another polymer clay class at Creative Souls with a focus on faces.  Since the class is in December, snowmen and holiday-themed canes will be fun projects for buttons, beads, and whatever else the students make.  It will be fun to play with clay!  I will post class information soon!

A little shrug in cheery colors.

Ben began his job last week and looks so handsome in his suit and topcoat when he leaves in the morning.  He is looking for an apartment closer to work and will be getting some furniture from us.  Our new furniture arrives tomorrow and I am excited.  Jim and I are frugal when it comes to things like furniture and home improvements.  We just now got the new floors upstairs after living here 13 years.  Other than a new coat of paint on that level (our home is a split-level from 1984) the house finally feels like ours.  A little improvement every few years pays off.  My goal next year is to tend to the shrubs and plants out front.  I am not a gardener, although I appreciate so much beautiful landscaping.  Unfortunately I did not inherit the gardening gene of my parents.  I prefer to paint the flowers and trees on canvas, which would be wonderful...I could have new paintings to put out front every season--no digging required.
Back to change.  I am ready for a change, as this has been a difficult year and I always have hope that tomorrow will be better.  In the past month the decision to go back to school and changing my place of employment are two big steps forward.  I will be teaching at The Shepherdess through December and then will begin teaching at Amazing Threads in January.  I appreciate so much the support and encouragement I received from everyone during the past few years.