I was supposed to take loads of photos of WIPs and FOs last weekend, but forgot and took shop fibre photos instead. This is why I didn’t post during the week – I really don’t like just posting text.

However yesterday was sunny and I remembered to take photos of both shop fibre and all the other stuff.

I’ve made good progress on my Ivy League vest.

My guage is a bit off – 32 sts instead of 28. But I think it’s going to be OK.

I was between portable projects last week so I decided to make a quick hat. I cast on for Jared Flood’s Relm beret in the leftover cascade 220 from my garter yoke cardigan.

I ran out of yarn half way through the decreases at the top (despite ripping back the two swatches from my cardi) So I had to rip back the hat to the main pattern and work one repeat less of the cables. The beret is un-blocked in this photo and it’s currently blocking.

I also started some new socks. These are going to be for my Father-in-law for Christmas. I created a new colourway called ‘Stringybark‘ aiming for a colourway that subtle enough for a man, but also with enough variegation to prevent the knitting becoming boring.

This is the bottom of the foot – I’m keeping the pattern a surprise. If I like how this sock works up, I’ll probably publish the pattern.

I also took some photos of the blue mystery socks finished, but I’ll keep them for a separate post.

Another upside of having five part-ruined braids to spin up has been that I’ve been able to experiment with spinning the same fibre with different methods.

This is how the ‘Meadowbank’ grey merino looks as a braid:

The skein below was spun using the ‘fractal’ method. I split the length of top in half and spun one piece with no further splitting. The second piece I split in to 3 or 4 pieces lengthways and spun those with shorter colour repeats. Yarn produced with this method seems to stripe when knitted (or woven) but in a more subtle blended way (as seen on my liesl)

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For the second skein, I drumcarded the fibre once in to an un-blended batt and spun low-twist singles.

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This third skein is navajo plied using the technique I linked to a few weeks ago.

I let the singles rest for almost a week but a bit longer would have been better. I used my tensioned lazy kate which helped control tangles. I plied slower than usual but these still ended up a bit over-plied. I think I will try a lower ratio next time. I tried to spin very fine singles and was aiming for a sock yarn thickness but this is probably closer to ’sportweight’ and I was a bit disappointed with the yardage – only about 90 metres. I really like how the yarn looks plied this way though.

And it’s been really nice to be able to compare some different methods of spinning. I still get surprised at how some colourways look once spun – I don’t get the chance to test-spin many colourways.

Pattern: B-Side cardigan by Laura Chau

Yarn: Sublime Angora Merino

Needle: 3.5mm Knitpicks Harmony

Mods: Worked a larger size at a guage of 25 sts instead of 24 (as specified in the pattern) and knitted sleeves from the top-down (vaguely outlined in this post).

I worked the fluffy yarn at a tighter than reccomended guage to try to control the fluff factor and prevent it pilling too badly. I’m not entirely sure how successful this is going to be. This yarn doesn’t just have a halo – it’s more like an aura.

I’d only worn this for a couple of hours on Saturday night before taking these photos yesterday morning and you can see it’s starting to pill slightly already.

Despite that I’m incredibly happy with the finished item. It fits almost perfectly and I love the collar.

It kept me lovely and warm on the station platform while I waited for my train this morning!

Hurrah, I finished my socks!

Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A

Yarn: Natural Dye Studio Merino/Bamboo

Needle: 2.75mm Knitpicks circular

Mods: None (although several mistakes!)

I enjoyed knitting these socks. As with Monkey, the lace pattern was intuitive so I knew what was coming next and didn’t need to look at the chart much. Apart from the foot. There was a fair bit of frogging and tinking on the foot because the lace pattern changes a lot there to compensate for it only being on the top of the foot and I kept getting it wrong.

Cookie A socks make my brain hurt a bit. I’ve come to the conclusion that I shouldn’t knit any of her socks back-to-back.

For my next pair of socks I wanted something simple and fast. I promised my mother-in-law ages ago I would make her some socks. I even dyed up some yarn in colours I knew she’d like. I came up with a simple but lacy design for her. I’m liking how the yarn is knitting up (‘Quickset’ colourway) and if I like the finished socks I’ll be publishing the pattern.

B-side cardigan is finished and blocking. Just needs buttons and a semi-sunny day to take the FO photos.

Well the title says it all really. It’s been three years since I picked up knitting needles and crochet hook on the same weekend and learned how to crochet and re-learned how to knit.

It’s completely coincidental that last night I decided to cast on for the Ivy League vest. Hopefully this project will conquer one of my remaining knitting fears – steeking.

This is just the first three rows. I’ve been trying the norwegian purl technique for the contrast colour in the corrugated ribbing which seems to be working OK for now. I love the sproingy woolen-spun shetland yarn – I’m using the Harrisville shetland specified in the pattern.

I still feel a bit uneasy about the idea of cutting my knitting, but that’s a long way off so I’ll concentrate on the knitting part for now.

Warp: Millspun oatmeal BFL (sport/light DK weight)

Weft: My (The Thylacine) Oatmeal BFL/Silk in ‘Jansz’ handspun as 2-ply approx 14wip

I’m really pleased with how this turned out. My selvedges aren’t as tidy as I’d like them to be but they seemed to be neater once I’d washed the scarf in the machine.

I really like how the stripes came out on this. It has a bit of drape due to the silk content and I’m wondering what other yarns I can use, particularly for warp that will encourage drape. I have plenty more of this BFL and some grey shetland too, so I’ll probably be weaving up a few more of these scarves in various colourways.

My brother-in-law posted this photo on Facebook yesterday and I had to share!

It’s my nephew levi in the Baby Garter yoke cardi and Hello Yarn bonnet I knit for him. I know I’m biassed but he is incredibly cute.

They are a little big right now but then he is only 3 weeks old and still quite tiny. With any luck they’ll fit him for another 6 months or so.

He looks like our side of the family – mum says he looks a lot like me as a baby.

I finished weaving my scarf on the weekend, did a load of photographing and listing, started a quickie pair of socks and successfully navajo plied some yarn. Now I just need to take photos.

I’ve been feeling guilty for a while about my neglected rigid heddle loom. But a few weeks ago I had a bit of inspiration for a combination of yarns for a project, and I made time on the weekend to warp up the loom.

I seem to have lost my reed hook and threading hook in the process, but I made do with a crochet hook and a bit of wire.

I’m using Oatmeal BFL millspun for the warp and handspun oatmeal BFL/Silk for the weft.

I really like how it stripes, but they’re blended stripes. I used the fractile method to spin the fibre so one ply has long repeats and one has shorter.

The big stick shuttle is doing my head in so I’ve ordered a boat shuttle to see if I like that any better.

It’s been annoying me for a while that I can’t do navajo plying. I tried it soon after I got my first wheel last year, made a big knotted mess and gave up.

While looking through a thread on Ravelry I came across a link to this video by Sarah Anderson. She mentions in the video to use well rested singles. I found some very well rested alpaca singles which I spun up almost a year ago, and tried it. I got it right straight away!

And here is the proof – please excuse the slightly crappy photo – the dark yarn didn’t show up very well in today’s weak daylight.

So I decided not to spin the polwarth for the spin-along because I don’t have a project in mind for it yet.  Instead I’m spinning up yet another braid of Meadowbank and n-ply it. The singles are the finest I’ve spun yet.

I finished spinning these on Friday night, and tested them yesterday and they were still quite ‘energised’. I’m going to be patient and leave them a bit longer before I ply.

I have started on the second sleeve of my b-side cardigan and I’ve got two almost-finished pomatomus socks. I’m just putting off grafting the toes for some reason.

I dyed up a load of Oatmeal BFL/Silk and Superwash merino/seacell on Friday which should make it’s way in to the shop soon.

Big smiles here!

My nephew Levi was born at 12.30am on Sep 28th. 7 pounds, one ounce. That was about 3.00pm Sunday afternoon UK time. Mum and baby (and dad too) are all doing well.

I’m suddenly feeling the lure of more baby knitting.