Big as a Log

One of the advantages of knitting things with those really tiny needles is that when you get to do a project with US size 6 needles, they feel like logs and the knitting goes really, really fast.  Like this:

The variegated yarn is the Frabjous Fibers silk/merino/cashmere that I spun to (almost) worsted weight and the white is the KnitPicks Gloss (merino/silk) fiber spun to worsted weight.  Both were spun on my Kromski Symphony as 3-ply (Navajo plied) yarn with a high degree of grist.  I spun them fairly tight with the singles so that the final yarn would have that nice tight twist look.  I was disappointed because I lost of some of the softness of the fiber spinning it like this.  However, once it was knit up, dang if that softness didn't perk right back up.

I wanted to do a fair isle pattern for the hat but when I did, the colored yarn had enough really light sections that you realy lost the pattern.  I discovered that after I'd completely knit the sides of the hat - which was the second knitting of the hat because the first time was using US size 5 needles which proved to be way too small for the project.  So I basically knit 3 hats and a pair of mittens in the time it took to watch To Have and Have Not (first pairing of Bogey and Bacall - love that movie) and a couple of episodes of Psych (including the Duel Spires episode which I think is may favorite episode of the whole series - that's for another day, however).  Fast.

If you want to make the hat, I used size 6 needles, cast on 90 stitches.  I knit 3 rounds and then turned the hat inside out (to get the little brim).  I then knit 3 rounds white, 1 round color, 1 round of 2 stitches color, 2 stitches white, 1 round color. 

Then I did 3 rounds white, 2 rounds color, 2 rounds of 2 stitches color/2 stitches white, 2 rounds of color.

Next is 3 rounds of white, 1  round color, 1 round of 2 stitches color, 2 stitches white, 1 round color.  5 rounds white, 2 rounds color.

Now do 3 rounds purl (or just turn inside out and knit 3 rounds before turning it back like it was.

To decrease for the top, knit 8, k2 together then repeat all the way around.  Because of the way my yarn was variegated, I knit 1 round of color and 1 round of white.  You can use whatever color pattern you want.  Then the next decrease round is knit 7, k2 together and repeat.  I used 2 plain rounds between each decrease round and then continued to decrease as above, i.e. knit 6, k2 together; knit 5, k2 together, etc. for each decrease round.  You'll have to see how you go.  I continued until I had 8 stitches before I cut the edge and used a darning needle to draw the end of the yarn through all the stitches on the needles and work the end in.

I did a similar pattern for the mittens but cast on 40 stitches, knit 2 rounds white (k2/p2 ribbing) and about an inch of color yarn.  I used a basic mitten recipe for the thumb and hand shaping.  I did the same patterning as the hat until I got to the hands.  I decided to do the color for the top of the hands to echo the color for the top of the hat.

I wasn't sure how it would go but I'm definitely pleased with the final product.

I did run into one intsy littel tinsy problem, however, on the second mitten.  I'd spun the white from what I had left over from a batch of the Gloss fiber.  I'd been using it for demonstrations and had done some other little things with it.  And I almost made it, I really did.  I almost had enough for the whole set.  But I ended up being short 5 rounds on the second mitten and had to use a commercial wool yarn to finish it off.  How it got finished off is a story all in itself but suffice to say, white is not white is not white.  I spun some white BFL I had since it would have a similar light reflectiveness.  It was white but just not white enough.  I thought I wouldn't care, I just wanted the project done.  But it was just too different and I couldn't live with it.  Fortunately I had some commercially spun wool that was close enough to the color that really the only way you can tell the differenc eis to have a bright light to reflect off it.  The silk in the fiber has that silky shimmer to it and the commercial yarn didn't have that.  We'll have to see if anyone can pick out which is which!

Next day:  I went in to card some blended color rolags and you'll never guess what I found.  Yep, another section of the KnitPicks Gloss fiber. Don't it always happen that way.  Well, as Andy Griffin said to Otis when Otis kicked the goat who'd ate himself full of dynamite out of the jail cell and made him mad: Otis, 'bout one loaded goat at a time is all we can handle. (Doesn't really apply to anything, it just makes me laugh.)

Warm Hands

Back in February, the Yarn Harlot had a post about knitting mittens from unspun silk hankies, also known as mawata.  I had heard about doing this before but seeing hers gave me that, "I could do that" sort of feeling and, being the possessor of mawata in the undyed format, I decided to truck along.

I got my mawata (have a look at her post because she's got a good explanation of silk and how it gets to be like this) and started drafting. 

I drafted more finely than she did.  That is, I took the hankie as you see it here, stuck my finger through the middle of it and pulled it out into a big circle.  Then I broke the circle open and drafted out until it looked like the strand at the top of this pic.

And I knitted, like she did, just my basic, everyday old mitten pattern until I ended up with these.

Hers were cushy, thick silk mittens.  Mine are thinner, not as cushy but every bit as warm (did you read how warm silk is?) and I made mine so they could be an inner mitten.  I'll have this lovely silk on the inside and wool on the outside. 

Definitely the best of both worlds.  (And it's still cold enough to wear them - unfortunately!)

An Ode to Split Peas (and other stuff like a 3 needle cast on)

I had a bunch of ham left over and was trying to think what to do with it.  So I whipped out my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook app and came across a Split Pea and Ham soup recipe that was unbelievably easy - once I found the yellow split peas it called for.  I followed the recipe and dumped all the listed ingredients into the crock pot last night and got up this morning to the most amazing soup I've had in years.  It was all of about 5 ingredients and BAM!  It made me curious, though, to find out the difference between the green and yellow peas (nothing) and I found out some really interesting facts.  Here's what it says on Wikipedia:

They are a great source of protein and are also a very lean and healthy type of cereal, with only 1 gram of fat per 350 calorie serving. Most of the calories come from protein and complex carbohydrates. The split pea is known to be a natural food source that contains some of the highest amounts of fiber, containing 26 grams of fiber (104% DV based on a 2,000 calorie diet). Fiber is known to help the digestive system and to make people feel full and satiated.

I used to make a lentil soup but hadn't even thought about it for years.  I will be making more in the future, I guararntee.  Excuse me a minute, will you?

OK, I'm back and I'll try not to drip on the keyboard.

I decided I had enough of the handspun used for the hat and scarf for mittens.  Now, knitters will know that these decisions are as often made by wanting something to be true as by being able to prove the thing is true.  I was sure.  OK, I was pretty sure.  Who said trust but verify?  I decided to ball the skein into two equal size balls, then I'd be able to handle any surprises.

My second decision was to work the mittens from the tips down, something I've never done before but I decided if I had to substitute another yarn to make up for any shortages, it would be better to do that on the cuff rather than the tips.  But, hey, there's not much to a mitten, right?  But how to start?

I've heard of 3 needle bind-offs but couldn't that work the other way around?  Couldn't you do a 3 needle cast on?  I know there are a number of ways to cast on socks and whatever.  This is just how I figured out how to do it and here's what it looks like:

1. First I used a US size 7 double pointed needle (the size the mittens would be made with) and a US size 3 double pointed needle held together and did a long tail cast on to get 10 stitches.
2. Next, I pulled out the 7.  Using the 3 gave me lots more room to work the magic.
3. Using 2 size 7 needles, I knit 2 stitches from the first stitch on the needle.  I knit 1 stitch into the front of the stitch using 1 needle and I knit 1 stitch into the back of the stitch using the second needle.
4. Then I repeated the process across, giving me 20 stitches.  This isn't a great photo of the needles but it will give you an idea of what it looked like in the process:

6. Finally, I added 2 more needles and put 5 stitches of each of 4 double pointed needles and got ready to go.

 Then I just worked backwards, increasing on each side instead of decreasing.  When I got to the thumb, I bound off the number of stitches I would have normally cast on going the other way, knit around and then cast on the number of stitches I would normally have put aside on a stitch holder going the other way.  This does give you a little ridge at the bottom of the thumb when you have to go back and pick up stiches for the thumb but it doesn't show at all on the outside.

If I get a chance this weekend, I'll write out the pattern as I worked it but it was a very interesting new thing to learn.

Oh, yeah.  Did I end up with enough yarn?  Of course I did - with about 4 yards to spare!!