Yea new books and new projects

Yea I love new knitting books. I picked up Victorian Lace Today, today at the yarn shop. I was going to wait until after Christmas but once I saw it today it just jumped into my knitting bag demanding to come home. As a rule I don't buy a book unless it has 3 patterns that I want to make. Well I think there are only 2 that I don't want to make. One of the first will be the shawl on the cover. The hat pattern comes from a Renyolds whiskey pattern book that I have had for a couple of weeks I have begun this hat. I hoping to wear it when I go Christmas carroling in Dec. The thing is a normal hat usually has about 80 stitches for the brim. This one has 168 so it will take a while but so far its quite fun to do.

What's on the needles now

Well with Christmas on its way the needles are busy around here . Now don't feel to bad for me as the larger dark purple project is a Hoodie for me. I have been wanting to make myself a sweater that I can shlep around the house with and the Wonderful Wallaby is just perfect for that. A few years back I made one for each of my daughters and they whore then out. I have a student in one of my knitting classes that is working on this so I thought I would make one along with her. If you have not tried this pattern , think about it. You can make one for every size in your family. From babies to XXL adults. The pink and purple blob is a top down sweater coat for my youngest daughter who just loves pink. She at the young age of 8 is a fashion diva and loves sweater coats. I don't really have a pattern for this but I am adapting a top down sweater pattern that I have to make a coat. I plan to add black eyelash to the collar and cuffs. The perfect touch for a diva.

SP9 - Wow

After a long day teaching knitting. Yes I know its a hard job but somebody has to do it. :-) I came home to a wonderful good box from my SP9 exchange. Wow am I getting spoiled. 8 wonderful skein of a wonderful Goddes cotton/wool blend.The color in the picture doesn't show the color as well as it is in person. Its a deep deep purple. I also got some great hand lotion and a bath fizz ball with the lavender scent. My favorite. Thanks so much for th e good box whoever you are.

And the world just keeps spinning

Well I have been having fun with my spinning wheel as you can see. The green is the roving I talk about earlier. I'm thinking of making a lacy scarf with it. The huge ball of green,white and tan is a skein that I have been thinking about trying. The olive green is merno, the white is corridale and the tan is alpaca. I spun up about 500 yards of about a Dk to a worsted weight. My plan is to knit up heavy boot socks, so that I can wear them when I go Christmas carroling in December.

Knitter's felted quilt block tote

I was able to finish the Knitter's quilt block tote, that is in the current issue. Wow was this fun to knit. It done using basically the modular method, but with a twist. The center square is more like grandma's favorite dishcloth instead of a modular square. I used a new, to the shop Knit Wits, yarn called Ella rae. This 100% wool yarn is just wonderful to work with. The color range is more suited to my taste, they are more muted then most colors. I was also very impressed with the way it felted up. The tote is hanging in the yarn shop for a while before I take it home to use and enjoy. Like I said before I have been working on getting little thing done so that I have move on to other larger projects. I have started a Wallaby for my self and a top down coat for one of my daughters for Christmas. I will post pictures later of their progress. I also have that wonderful blue/green fiber on the matchless wheel. I will add a pictures later this week of its progress.

What you can make with not so perfectly spun yarn

This scarf is a great example on what you can knit up with not so perfectly spun yarn. This yarn is a silk/merno blend that I spun on my matchless. This was the first yarn I spun the the new wheel I'm not sure if you are like me but when I spin on an new wheel or at least one new to me. Its like I'm learning to spin all over again. As a matter of fact I didn't have the bobbin on right. If you have never spun on a matchless the bobbin ends are different sizes. One is for Double drive which is smaller and the other end is larger for use with scotch tension. Well I had for got that and spun it with the large end on a double drive so the spinning isn't very even or smooth. But I really love the color so I thought I would try to knit something up with it. Its kind of hard to tell but I used the leaf pattern called a world lit but fire from the book Lavish lace by Carol Rasmussen Noble and Cheryl Potter. The neat thing about this pattern you can really see the unevenness of the yarn. As the temps fall I plan to wear this with my black leather coat.

As the days spin by

I have been working on odds and ends for the past week or so the first being the coat I talked about in my last post. But I have been spinning also. I finished my confetti yarn. Its about a worsted weight yarn and I came out with enough to make a top down sweater. I think I will try to get to that after the new year. Last week I got my box from Spunky fibers. This months fiber of the month is called Monster mash. I know the picture isn't very good but, the colors are lime green, lavender, rust and a little bit of grey. Amy thought of this color as if several monsters, the great big purple people eater and the green monster being a couple of them, when on a roller coaster and this is want the mash of colors would look like. The fiber is called Falklands and I have to say I really like it. I spun this rather small and tight, my plan is to knit socks with it. I'm not a real big fan of long socks so I think the 290 yards will be enough to make ankle socks. My last pic is of the next roving I'm working on, I bought this at a new fiber/yarn shop here in Boise. Its called FUZZ. They carry some yarns, but are more of a weaving and spinning store. The neat thing is the store is not to far from where I live so I don't have to travel far to get some fiber when the need comes on.

The Einstein coat

Well Its finished, and I'm well pleased with how it turned out. It just goes to show that you can break a few rules when it comes to knitting. This as you may have read is the Einstein coat and I used Noro Kureyon. Yes I used a worsted weight yarn and it still turn out right. I was able to get the gauge that the pattern required. It is more like a sweater then a coat which is fine as that was what I was looking for. I didn't worry about color placement. I have knit things in the past from Noro and did match the color changes but this time I thought it would look nicer if it was done randomly. I have worn it a few times and have gotten great feed back on it.