Big, big news

I have big news.  Perhaps even big, big news.  The Amish Center Diamond Afghan is finished!  Well, finished for all intents and purposes.  The afghan part is finished and the center diamond motif is finished and blocking but it still needs to be sewn on to be final finished.  I'm counting it.

This is a motif from the Elsebeth Lavold book one - The Viking Knits Collection and it was the perfect size for what I wanted and it worked up quickly.  I'll get a good photo of the whole thing later once this is dry and attached.  I've been using the afghan on my bed the last few days and, boy, is it warm and light.  Who'd've known?

And I got highjacked with my latest newest project.  I was straightening up my books the other night which, of course, led to looking at some old Spin Off magazines.  I don't know if this happens to you but I can read some of these articles but if I don't have any context for what they're talking about, I don't really take much of it in.  So, since I'm starting to learn more about spinning, I like to have a look back from time to time.

So there I was quietly thumbing through the magazine, sipping a cup of tea (because I am a tea drinker) when I got hit with this:

Have you ever seen anything quite so cute?

This is from the Fall 2006 issue.  Carol spun this yarn out of silk and cotton.  I didn't want to spin something new to make it but I just happened to have some silk that I'd spun up and had no idea what I would do with it.  Ha!  And it was just the right weight.  I'd love to have a real t-shirt made out of this.  Wish you could touch it and feel how gorgeous spun silk is.  This silk roving (which I'd had for donkey's years) was spun on my Kromski Minstrel using the 12:1 ratio in a 2-ply.  I didn't check the wraps per inch but the pattern called for 17 wpi and this is knitting up to the gauge so I'm guessing it's about that.  I started it last night and just have the last part of the back, the sleeves, the pocket and the neckband to go.  I'll be sure to get a photo once I've finished.  I've got a white teapot that will go great with this!

Mini Knitting

I really got into this mini-knitting thing.  Here's the tablecloth just after blocking. 

I'm actually a little surprised that it came out because there were a few challenges.  First of all, I was working on size 0000 needles and size 80 tatting thread.  Next, there was a mistake in the pattern - not huge but it did throw me.  Fortunately, the errata was posted on the Interweave website so it was easily fixed but it's not so easy to un-knit once, never mind un-knitting several times until it got through my thick skull that I should count stitches.

Next was the needle incident.  This involved one of the needles, which are quite small and light, getting caught in my sweater and pulling completely out.  Round 28 or so and I've got a whole bunch of stitches hanging out.  Not a pretty sight.  Fortunately cotton doesn't unravel as badly as some other fibers and I was able to pick the stitches up again.  I did have to unknit a row to fix it but, after some hyperventilation and naughty words, the mission was accomplished.

It looks pretty good on my made up table but I got a little tied up with the fact that it's not the thread and needles called for in the pattern.  So I hopped on the internet the other night and ordered some size 100 mercerized cotton and size 000000 needles.  I actually ordered size 00000 and size 000000 needles, but that's beside the point.  Once I get those, I'm going to do a picture putting the sizes into perspective.

Very Folk

Sometime late last year my friend, Karen, and I started going to some meetings at the Three Sisters Park up in Chillicothe, IL, where a group was working hard to establish a Folk Art School in the midwest. I've enjoyed this group so much.  It's made up of really talented artists in all sorts of genres from quilting to wood carving to doll making to knitting to jewelry making to goard carving to weaving to just about anything you can imagine.  There are people who grow things and cook.  A really talented, fun group.

They've already had a series of classes and have some more coming up that you should really check into.  There's a mountain dulicmer weekend coming up later this month and then a weekend of classes on April 23-25.  The class list will be posted soon on the Three Sisters Folk Art School home page pretty soon but here's a preview list of classes:

• Beginning Tapestry Weaving
• Hand Building Clay
• Beginning Spinning
• Sculpt a Garden Statue
• Quilting
• Copper Jewelry
• Dogwood Flower Relief Carving
• Autoharp
• Create a Native American Flute
• Gourd Decorating

I've got my eye on several of them, in fact!

One of the things we talked about yesterday was developing a group project that all of us could contribute to.  What we talked about developing was a representation of the school with rooms that contain miniatures of the various things that each of us do.  As we were talking about it, I remembered that a recent issue of PieceWork magazine was dedicated to miniature textiles.  I had a look at it last night and, sure enough, there are several patterns for a variety of textiles in miniature. 

I got so excited about it that I got it cast on this evening.

Doesn't look like much, does it?  It's actually 70 stitches around, 16 rounds completed (a third of the way) but made with 0000 needles and size 80 cotton.  The pattern calls for 000000 needles and size 100 silk but I think this will still work!

And we all love socks, right?  This sock represents the beginning of a master plan.  I bought one skein each of blue, white and wine.  I can't find my ball bands so have no idea what the yarn is but there's a little over 200 yards in the skein.  That's enough for me to make a pair of socks with each skein.  So here's the plan.  With these 3 skeins of yarn, I'm going to make 3 pairs of socks, each with a different base color and a little something different with the color accents for each one.  We'll see how that one works for me.

Spindle Spinning

When I started spinning, I started with an Ashford top-whorl drop spindle.  I learned with it and all the early stuff was done on it.  In fact it was about a year before I moved on to a spinning wheel but I've always kept my love for the drop spindle. 

Recently the spindle has come up again and I decided to spin some dark blue fiber I got on one of my trips.  I'm amazed at how quickly the first skein worked up.  Have a look:

It's not a hugely soft fiber, more along the lines of Border Leicester, but it's a pretty color.  This skein is a little over 200 yards for 2 ounces.  I have to admit that it took me a little while to get the rhythm again for the spindle but it was a lot of fun.  I still have a couple more ounces to go then I'll need to do some white because my thought is to do a pair of fulled blue/white fair isle mittens.  There was a pattern in a recent PieceWork that I would love to try.

In other news, I've hit a milestone with the Amish Center Diamond afghan.  I've finished the 3rd side!  Whoohoo!  Now I'm in the process of picking up the 252 stitches for the final side.  I have to admit, it's a little daunting, knowing how long the 3rd side took.  But it is cozy and I love it so I guess I'll just pull up my thick, felted socks (did I mention it's been cold here?) and get on with it.

I've also got a progress pic of the beaded purse.  Not much to say at this point except that this is it.

You can always count on socks

I love knitting socks.  Plain socks, lacy socks, any socks.  I love knitting socks.  I love them because they're so easy to take with you anywhere, they're useful, they're pretty.  Just when you're discouraged because it seems like nothing is getting finished, not afghans or tablecloths or cotton spinning or lace spinning, they will allow themselves to be finished.

I'll get the pattern posted at some point but the down and dirty pattern is this:
I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in an oatmeal color.  I cast on 64 stitches using US size 2 double pointed needles.  Do K2/P2 ribbing for 2.5 inches then start the pattern as follows:

Round 1: *K4, P1, K2, P1* repeat around.
Round 2: *Yarn over (yo), knit 2 together (K2tog), K2, P1, 2 stitch cable, P1* repeat around.
Round 3: Repeat round 1.
Round 4: *K1, yo, K2tog, K1, P1, 2 stitch cable, P1* repeat around
Round 5: Repeat round 1.
Round 6: *K2, yo, K2tog, P1, 2 stitch cable, P1* repeat around
Round 7: Repeat round 1.

Rounds 2-7 make up the stitch pattern.  Make the cuff as long as you want it to be - mine was 8 pattern repeats.  Work heel.  I worked 9 more repeats for the foot (17 repeats in total from top) but I've got a small foot.  I worked the toe decreases kniting the whole thing in stockinette.

If you've never worked a heel or toe, grab any pattern because it's basically the same for all of them.

I've spun the fiber of 109 seeds.  Here's a gratuitous shot of my cotton bobbin:

Progress

I'm in one of those phases where I've got lots of large projects on the go and it's hard to see any progress on anything.  Usually I have a smaller project that I can finish quickly and have some sense of accomplishment but not right now.  So, it's slowly as we go.

Amish Center Diamond Afghan - I'm almost finished with the 3rd side.  After the 4th side I will still need to make a diamond motif for the very center.

1923 Lily Pond Breakfast cloth - I'm almost finished with the 3rd motif (some sort of pattern happening here).  There's supposed to be 6 of them but I'm going to see if it will work with 4.  I'll still need to make the placemat sections to go with it so I've got quite a way to go before finishing this one.

Colorful lace - I'm spinning this merino, trying to do some true laceweight yarn.  These are 1 ounce batches that I got in a sampler package several years ago.  Once I've got the colored singles done, the plan is to do a singles of black then ply the 2 together.  I have no earthly idea what I would do with it but it's a dream to spin.

Pima cotton - I got this cotton still on the seed a couple of months ago and I've been wanting to get at it ever since.  I've interrupted the colorful lace which, although it's a dream to spin, takes forever to spin.  I've taken the unprocessed cotton still, as I said, on the seed and combed it out with a little doggy comb to get it ready to spin.  I know there are cotton combs but I've found these work just as well and cost about $6 each. 

I've done a little bit of cotton spinning but never enough to really think I know what I'm doing from one time to the other.  So it's taken me a little bit to get up to speed and it's not very regular but it's okay for me for the present.  It's more about experimenting (playing) and getting a better idea of how cotton works.  I'm hoping to get a bobbin full. I'm certainly not a third of the way through this one!

Cranberry and Gold

I thought I might have a silk beaded purse by the end of the weekend. Alas, I don't.  But I do have one in progress.

I looked through my 19th century pattern books and some more modern ones and just couldn't find a pattern that seemed right.  I cast on several of them but ripped them out again.  Actually there was one that I liked but I need to try the pattern on something a little larger than this silk thread to get the hang of it.  So I decided on the pattern above.  It's a repeat over 6 stitches that calls for K3, slide 1 bead, K3, slide 5 beads.  On the next round you K3, slide 2 beads, K3, slide 4 beads and so on.  On the first section you slide more beads until you get to 5 and on the second section until you get to 1 and then you go backwards. 

See what it's doing?  Making little diamonds and because over the 6 stitches you always slide some combination to make up to 6 beads, the shape of the purse is preserved.  Otherwise you would have a weird pulling and pushing according to whether you had more or less beads.  Determining the number of beads to slide is a way of increasing or decreasing the overall size of the tube.

I have to say, I'm adoring working with this silk thread and the feel of it is just wonderful.  Of course, it's very stong, too, so the sliding of the beads has not harmed the thread at all that I can tell.  I will probably just continue this until I run out of thread, since part of this experiment is to find out how much you can work with the 92 yards of thread on the spool, but I think it will work out wonderfully for a decent sized coin purse.