These Two Little Bears , though very simple pullovers with stripes, were lengthy projects, at 6.5 stitches to the inch. Finished the knitting on the Mostly Green pullover, below, and now I’m midway through the yoke decreases in the Mostly Blue pullover, and will have the Autumn Sweaters ready to gift to my two nieces and photograph this coming Sunday. As Spring was incredibly late this year, our Autumn characteristically is always. Leaves are just now starting to turn and flutter to the ground. Our Northern Californian Indian Summer I think is about to end, and to put these winter-worthy pullovers on my nieces to model this weekend!
Category Archives: Yarn
Autumn on its way
This is the (mostly) Green Autumn Sweater for my younger niece. I had bought one of each color of green, and of blue, from KnitPicks Swish. I thought I’d be lucky to find any combination of a few shades, but I ended up loving the mismatched hues, and I bought more! Blueish Teal with Olivey Mossy Green? You bet! Reminds me of Amish Quilt color combinations. ( Oh, and the row marker charm was made and given to me by Morrie. )
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So we returned from the “Out-and-About” Treehouse Village in Oregon, as last mentioned in this post . We stayed for two nights and two days, and I knit most of the time. This was my upstairs little knitting nook…
…and from within, this was my view of the rest of the place. There are catwalks up in the trees , between some really high-up treehouses, all interconnected in a web of rope and wood walkways, seeming to be about 50 feet in the air !!! But we stayed in one of the separate ones, which had steps up to it, called “Serendipitree”.
Here is a photo of the outside . My knitting nook was the tiny room above.
Baby Boots
The white pair is knit from some white Huacaya alpaca I spun up just for the project,
These booties are knit especially for this little baby.
Pattern is Saartje Bootees , a generously free download.
Spring Vests Progress
Nearing the finish of the two bodies of vests for nieces. Can you see the steeked front and sleeve holes? (For those of you who are wondering, steeks are extra stitches made into the round of stitches, to be cut open later, allowing the body to be knit uninterrupted in knit or patterned stitches). So far , this is my 3rd project involving steeks, and I am only now *just* getting the hang of it.
Note: After this project for the nieces, I think I will be quite unlikely to knit self-striping yarn for a while, it’s just so ‘been there-done that’ kind of experience. Vivid, cute, in their favorite colors, but I won’t be in a hurry to knit another self-striping yarn project.
Knitting in the wild!
Here I am wearing my most recent knitted thing, knit in the wild in the woods where I live. I love this pattern, and have made two of these so far, knitting up so intricately, yet the pattern seemed somehow easy. I was really blown away at how it came together. Made with mostly Virtual Yarns Hebridean 2ply , and also Elemental Affects Shetland. The pattern suggests for a red rooted version, this colorway is called ‘Beet Heid’ as as the neeps are more deep maroon or crimson, as I have made below, from yarns I had on hand . . .
That little pin cushion is the embroidery sampler my grandmother taught me when I was 10 years old, or maybe younger. I found it in a box recently, of things from my childhood, and decided to actually use it, to hold blocking pins, and not having tossed it in the years of my disregarding youth.
Anyway , here is the pattern for Neep Heid Tam.
Handspun for Fair Isle
Spun from gorgeous long staple and soft New Zealand Top roving which I often purchase by the half-pound, at Dharma Trading Co. in San Rafael. I dyed the roving with Jaquard powder acid dye, various reds and maroons, and this spun up to the finest yarn I’ve spun to date.
Smitten with Fair Isle knitting I really tried to emmulate the Shetland yarn while spinning this, and though I thought I spun fine enough, when plied together, the yarn is still not fine enough. Though it is pretty fine anyway, that is a dime in the photo ! Perfect amount of spin, good evenness throughout, and made a lovely loft !