Spinning!

All sorts of un-labled and unidentified fiber that I've been spinning up in the in-between times and stolen minutes. The orange is the best I've made so far but I think the blue will soon surpass it as soon as it gets off the bobbin. I love the shine in it--the fiber must be some kind of blend...anyone know what might be causing it? Tencel? Just good quality wool??

Cashmere Cowl and Questionable Socks

My best friend Chrissy was the first person to give me special yarn for my birthday. It was cashmere and it was in the most perfect shade of pale green and I sat on it for about two years. The thought of knitting something with it was just to much--I didn't want to loose the anticipation of someday knitting with it!

I finally took the plunge and here it is as my version of the Cashmere Cowl in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. My gauge is different but it's her basic pattern without modification. It was amazing to knit with and worth the wait!


I'm having less success with these lace socks that I'm knitting for B's Grandma's birthday. I included the skeined yarn in this picture to show you how beautiful these socks SHOULD be but aren't. I think it's just the wrong marriage of pattern to yarn, but I'm too deep into it now and I'm going to have to finish them. I have to say, I'm really disliking the way the colors of the yarn are striping. I think it's just to much of an angular pattern for this yarn. (I'm enjoying the pattern itself and think it would look great in another type of more solid yarn.)
Oh well. Too late now!

Clapotis

Here is my finished Clapotis, keeping me warm in the amazing little snowstorm that we woke up to yesterday. By 2:00 the snow had all melted but not before I took some amazing pictures of the ranch. I didn't realize how much I missed the snow until I moved back to Wyoming!

The Hawser Sweater

Cross posted on the Zimmermaniacs Knit-Along:

This is my Hawser sweater from Knitting Workshop. Knit with Jamieson's Shetland Double Knitting in Eesit. I changed the yoke colors to Eucalyptus, Granny Smith, Sage and Ivy and I love the result. Everything else was knit exactly to EZ's specifications. This was the most enjoyable and fastest sweater that I ever knit and I highly recommend the pattern. I am getting a lot of wear out of it!

I actually finished this sweater a month or two ago but only just got around to getting good pictures of it. This was the sweater that just would NOT photograph well and thus the delay. On to my next Elizabeth Zimmermann project, some sort of EPS sweater for Bryant.

Before & After

First Wyoming FO's

Socks That Rock in Moss Agate, Mediumweight, Rock and Weave pattern. Homemade chili, even though it's been very warm here...
And three pillows that I finished sewing this weekend to make our makeshift couch (AKA very uncomfortable futon) more comfortable.

Before and after pics of the apartment to come!

Oh my...

What a month it has been!
Stitches West, our big move to Cody, and starting my new job managing a guest ranch with my husband. I'm exhausted!
And I haven't been knitting much, but I do have some FO's to show off from before all of the mania.
Plus, before and after pix of our new digs! Stay tuned...

Good-bye Jaywalkers

Good-bye pretty Jaywalkers that don't fit over my heel, I'll miss your beautiful colorway and interesting stitch pattern.
So sad.
RIIIIIP.

Happy Birthday Bryant!

Your gift is on the way! (but not done yet!)









I've actually been struggling with this one, so wish me luck.
Busy here, but busy is good!

Christmas Presents

That I haven't been able to blog about!
First we have some cabled slipper-socks from One Skein, knit with the exact yarn and needles the pattern calls for:
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Cranberry, size 5 DPNs.
This project is for my grandma!







This hat is one of my own design knit for Bryant with some mystery yarn--perhaps Rowan Cork? from my stash. I love the random stripes, but the hat sits too high on his head. I definitely should have started the decreases sooner.









Next up:










This is Swell, from Knitty. I loved this pattern but I had to do some serious m-a-t-h to adjust the pattern to my guage. I had to figure out how to do ratios again! (With some help from my good knitting buddy, Emily!) The pattern was knit at approx. 4 sts/inch. My guage was 5.5 sts/inch! I added another pattern repeat and I like the fabric that I got with my guage (yarn was the called-for Cascade 220, my current Favorite Yarn of All Time).

In non knitting news, I also pulled out the sewing machine to make this cute little number for Chrissy!










It's an Amy Butler pattern called "favorite clutch" that I pulled from the December 2005 magazine, American Patchwork & Quilting. I loved this pattern from the first and I bought the magazine just for this. I finished it off with a vintage earing in the shape of a 'C.' I have to admit, that's my favorite part.

In other Knitting News, I finally found the perfect yarn for this! As they say, I am LATE to the party on this one.

My shinny new wheel

Here it is in all it's glory! My sweet little wheel. It's a Kromski Sonata and I only just realized that I haven't actually shown a picture of it yet!

Zimmermania, a preview

Here is a preview of my Hawser sweater that I just finished. I love this sweater!
The light was crappy this morning, and I was by myself, so I plan on getting some great action-model shots this weekend. I loved this knit and had so much fun knitting it, it just flew off the needles as they say! The colors and pattern have such a groovy-retro feel to me and the yarn and pattern were so great. I love the Elizabeth Zimmermann EPS system and her helpful hints along the way. I already have the yarn for my next two (maybe three) EZ sweaters!

Last weekend I learned how to spin!

Here are the crazy energized singles right off the bobbin:
(they're supposed to be curly like that!)

Here they are hanging in my shower:

I hung water bottles off of each skein to act as a weight and straighten out the curly-q's.

And here are my two little perfect skeins!

Aren't they cute?! Just perfect little skeins with about 27 yards in each! I'm so excited about them and can't wait to knit with them!

Christmas time at Chez Knitter

Christmas trees, mother-in-law socks and colored lights!














Mother-in-law socks:
"Go with the Flow Socks" from Interweave Knits, Summer 2005 by Evelyn Clark.
Knit in Koigu KPPPM on size 1, two circular needle method.
This is a great design and it knit up so fast! My MIL is a gardener and the purples, browns and greens reminded me of a flower garden.

My knitting circle...

Aren't they cool?

Two Sweaters a long time in the making...

Here we have it! Ruben, designed by the amazing Elsebeth Lavold, (Designer's Choice, The Sentimental Journey Colllection, Book Two) and knit in Rowan Calmer, color no.481 (which I think is called Coffee Bean). This was originally my Knitting Olympics Sweater, and as you can see it took a bit longer than 17 days!

This sweater may look like it fits me great--and it does--however this sweater was originally meant for Bryant. I measured Bryant's chest a couple times, measured all of his sweaters, and based on that info, decided to knit the small. Unfortunately, and I think partally due to my yarn choice, this sweater has no chance of fitting Bryant. Calmer is a cotton and acrylic/microfibre blend and it's far to clingy and stretchy for a guy to wear. If I had this to do again I would have knit the bigger size without question or knit this in the yarn called for (or any pure cotton yarn). Cotton is so much heavier...I think had I knit this exact sweater in this exact size with the yarn called for, it would have fit Bryant. Alternatively, had I added a whole additional repeat of the cable pattern before the armhole shaping, I think that would have worked too. Oh well, another sweater for me!

Here we have a great detail of the amazing cables on the front and down the arm. If you're familiar with this pattern, the back of mine only has two cables rather than three. Yeah...ops. I misread the pattern when I knit the back, which was the first piece that I did, but not a terrible mistake because it's perfectly centered.







Here's another sweater that I recently finished! (I'm a finishing fool lately).
Side note: why oh why can I not get pictures to center correctly with blogger!???



This sweater is the Fair Isle Cardigan from Vogue Knitting, originally published in 1951. You can find it in Vogue Knitting Vintage Collection: Classic Knits from the 1930s-1960s. Obviously I've taken out the fair isle (I just wanted a good solid and plain cardigan pattern to work from). This is knit with Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK in Frolic, and was started about 2 years ago. At least two years ago...maybe more! The ladies of the Long Beach SnB will most likely recognize this project, can you believe it took me so long to finish?
Detail picture of the amazing Moving Mud glass buttons which inspired this sweater. For this cardigan, the buttons definitely came first.

Also, for fun, my sweet Sake bomb!

Have a great week everyone!

More Vintage Socks

These are the Gentleman's Plain Winter Socks with a Dutch Heel from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.
It's my second pair from this book and I love them even though they're a bit too small for Bryant--I think they'll maybe be a Christmas present for his slightly-smaller footted brother.