KnitSteph

This will be short, because I have to be up and out of here EARLY tomorrow. I’ve been working on my Tilted Duster. I only have one wip photo:

I’m further along now. Those pieces are seamed, both sleeves are made, stitches are picked up and I’m 3 repeats (of 10) into the skirt.

Look at me go!

Ages and ages ago I went to a spinning retreat for a weekend and I bought some fiber from vendors. One of the vendors there had a lovely brown wool/angora (bunny) blend fiber. I spun up some singles of it over time. Yesterday I was rooting in my stash and came across the singles. I decided to go ahead and ply them.

This is what I ended up wtih.

This one is more true to the color of the yarn. Its a deep dark brown.

Even though the color isn’t true on this one, you can see the yarn better. It’s a nice fluffy round yarn.  I got two skeins of it. One is 192 yards and the other is about 72 yards. I am thinking of making some fingerless mitts from it. I haven’t decided on a pattern.  I was considering combining it with some natural handspun that I have and doing some colorwork.

A rather blurry close up. (I need a new camera….really badly)

In other news, school is back in full swing, kids are back in school (well..holiday today and tomorrow) and we’re just zooming along. This is my last semester in school and next fall I’ll be student teaching.  Things are moving right along.

I started this hat on 30th in the morning about 10 am. I took it with me when we went to eat lunch with some family.  I finished that night around 10 pm.

Pattern: Norwegian Star Earflap Hat by Tiennie (Link goes to Raverly Pattern page)

Yarn: Cascade 220 (Navy) Lion Wool (White)

Needles: Size 7

The pattern was nice and easy to follow. It turned out HUGE though so I gave it to the manperson. It fits his huge melon nicely. I still need to put ties on the earflaps though.

Next FO:

After spending the day shopping with BikerChick, I came home and wanted to cast on something. Yeah yeah, I know my wip list is a mile long and I should work on that, but I have “OOOO Shiney” syndrome. So, I cast on.

Pattern: Valentine Deisign by Marianne Kinzel (First Book of Modern Lace Knitting)

Yarn: Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Cotton - Size 10

Needles: Size 2 DPNS and circs.

Finished size: About 17 inches across

So I got home from shopping and cast this on about 9 pm. I knit while we watched TV and rang in the new year. At about 2 am, I was 10 rows from completion and I had to get some sleep. I finished it the next morning and got it all blocked. I still need to weave in the ends.

I’ve since cast on for another one out of the book, but I’m not finished with that one yet. I really like the patterns in the book and want to adapt some of them for shawls in fingering or lace weight yarns.

Oh..speaking of designing, my patterns are now available on Ravelry as pdf downloads. You can also store them in your library there for use later.  What will Casey think of next??

I finished the Vine Lace Socks. I think they turned out very well and I’m going to wear them a lot. I think they fit the best of all the socks I’ve knit so far.

Oh…you want photos??

Pattern: Vine Lace Socks - From theknitter.com SOM Club

Yarn: Plymouth Sockotta - the one with cotton

Needles: Size 1 KnitPicks Harmony DPNS

Oh..I also finally got a photo of the Ashford wheel I have borrowed.

Isn’t she pretty? I like spinning on her too. I did the Ravelry yarn in the post below on her.

Ok..my family has a new hobby. We’ve discovered Letterboxing.  We got the stamp carving material yesterday and spent the evening carving our stamps.

The stamps left to right BikerChick, Geebaloo, KnitSteph, TheLiam, TheTopher and a sock stamp that I carved for a postal letterbox.

We went out today on a hunt for some local letterboxes. We found FOUR and had a great time. It was a beautiful day and wonderful for getting outside.  I made a slideshow of some of the photos that I took, but if you’d like to view the photos individually they are in an album over in my photobucket.

Enjoy!

Today is some of my own handspun.

This yarn was spun from roving that I got from Spunky Eclectic. The color way is Ravelry.

Definitely not my best spinning, but I really like it.