This new lovely scarf is made from a weft of commercial alapca (frog tree? It's baby alapca and laceweight, about KSH weight). The warp is a 2 ply handspun I did out of 1 ply anogra/merino blend and 1 ply of soysilk, but handpainted/handcarded for me by Lamina



The warp on one end is a bit tighter on one end then the other, which would be a problem if it didn't actually help the scarf hang nicely around the neck. The scarf is over 6 feet not including the fringe! Whew!




More pictures of it are here:  http://mnsfibers.livejournal.com/104496.html

I made a scarf in a day!  MY sides are getting much more even as I get tension down (much to the amusement of my next door neighbor who is an artist)

You can see all the pictures of the scarf here: (really big pics)

http://mnsfibers.livejournal.com/103188.html



I used a mix of commercial yarns, my own handspun, and my handpainted yarns.

I finished a new lace shawl, pattern based off of Azalea in Modern Lace Knitting, using handspun yarn from handpaintedyarn.

(folded over to show how it still has a pointed end when two ends are folded over the top)


Name: Azalea

Yarn: Lace weight from handpaintedyarn.  The yarn is 1 ply and lightly spun and split horribly with my sharp pointed needles I use for lace.

Pattern: Azalea from <i>Modern Lace Knitting</i>, with my own edging.  All I have to say about the pattern: be prepared for it to be mind numbing.  This does make it good for class knitting though.


 (Up close of the shawl at an angle hanging from my huge door!)

Mods:  Edging with bobbles.

Notes:  Why would I ever willingly choose bobbles in a yarn that insists on splitting is beyond me.  The edging ended up taking me about 3 hours for 800+ stitches around (not including bobbles).  Bobbles are places at each “tip”, with three at each corner of the shawl- there are 6 points, it’s not circular.  In retrospect, I probably won’t use this yarn again with a pattern where I need sharp needles as the unspun bits where constantly impeding the speed of my knitting.

  (The shawl hanging out blocking)
The shawl mid-pinning out.  I hate trying to get the ends to all line up!

Name: Squirrel Mittens in Faire Isle
Pattern: Loosely based off of http://www.elliphantom.com/images/SquirrellySwedishMittens.pdfSquirrelly Swedish Mittens
Yarn: My own handspun in lace/sock
   -3 skeins of  tea dyed
   -2 skeins natural brown
Needles: Size 0 (and not small enough, of so I knit really loose!)

Modifications:  What did I NOT modify would be the better question.  I have really narrow hands, so I made the gloves smaller by almost 20 sts.  I reversed the chart for the second to account for the random chopping off of stitches (one whole squirrel).  I also made the gloves slightly shorter by taking out one repeat of the main pattern and by doing double decreases to reach a point quicker (hence the tops look wonky).  I also added an extra compassy type points that goes across the knuckles.

Next time:  Next time I’ll make the thumb a bit narrower, and probably add some sort of braid as http://www.helloyarn.com/wp/ did, and make them wider if I am making them for someone else.

Other Notes: I chose this pattern since I wanted something very simple to go with the tea and natural browns, and I wanted it to have a very organic feel to the mittens, so I needed a pattern that would fit with the yarn that was spun up thick and thin.  I used about 125 yards of the tea dyed (the main color, 3 skeins), and just over 100 yards of the brown.
 

Would anyone be interested in doing a swap for summer themed yarns?   This could be color, fiber (cotton, hemp, etc), for specific summer projects, etc.  We could do something where we make (paint, spin, whatever) yarn for another person in summer colors for a specific project*  or swap odds and ends (or new yarn)  in a summery theme.


*Ie, we could all paint/spin/make enough yarn in summery colors in wool to make a felted mini handbag, which would be a fun summer knitting/corchet project.

Some new gloves I made from leftover handspun from the socks I just knit.  PIcot edge top and feather and fan base.  100% wool handspun by me in a bit thicker then the usual commercial sock wieght.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/midnightskyfibers/wiiewiweie.jpg

A larger view of the gloves

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/midnightskyfibers/fjalkdjsfds.jpg
(gotta love my random names when im saving things)
A close up of the yarn in the photo- alsohandspun by me, for my next pair of socks unless someone can convince me to part with it.
wool and silk 1 ply plied with a ply of wool and soysilk.  300-350 yards.

The Blob.
What is was it: An expiriment to make a plane that gets double it size in each round.  I wish I knew the exact name of it (anyone?), but Im not exactly a math person!
How you do it: cast on 1 stitch.  Every row increase one stitch in each stitch.  You will need multiple circular needles for this.  Straight needles will not work.  You may find that using YO's are easier that other increase methods since it doesnt require you to try and knit some already very tight and squished together stitches.  Also, knit LOOSE and on BIGGER needles then you ussually would, especially if you want to felt one.

About this blob:  This blob was over 500 stitches wide, about a foot square.  A used new colors every couple rows to better show off the ruffle effect.  it coils around and back on itself so much you cant relly see the first three inches inside it unless you coil a small portion of it into a circle.  I was going to felt it but ended up frogging it instead becauses I wasnted the yarn back, and I realozed some of it wasn't feltable.

On to the Pictures:


I had to give up casting off because I got tired of the even more ruffly effect i was getting.  Gray is bound off, the red was jut pulled off the needles. (obviously dont do that if you arent just going to frog it like me...)



A closer look at the ruffles (spread out a bit so you can see more inside of it)



And a side view where I have "wound" it so you can see a portion of the insides as well as the corkscrew effect it has

Ive been really into plied yarns, espcially if I can ply them with nubby textured yarns:


Ive also been doing a lot of cables, both before and after dying the fiber.  THis is one of my favs:


And using up some leftovers from my drum carders last runs, a mix of everything from wool to silk to angelina:

The pattern for my new gloves can be found on my blog, here:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mnsfibers/72210.html


These are my new favorite gloves/wrist warmers.  They are quite warm because of their 50% angora, and I seem to be recently obsessed with cables!


An up close of the braided cable pattern- its a lot easier than it looks, I swear!

First up, the Northwest Sea shawl from Folk Shawls.  The yarn is my handspun


And an upclose:


Rose trellis Shawl/stole:

Up close:

See it before its blocked:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/midnightskyfibers/IMG_0112.jpg
And as it's soaking:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/midnightskyfibers/washing.jpg

The green scarf in the pic above it made from two stands of baby alpaca.

I made it while I was in Costa RIca but hadnt gotten around to weaving in the ends until recently.