Category: FO

Spinning a Gradient Yarn with Fauxlags

This is a fiber story  from roving to toy. It is also a love story dedicated to my dear daughter. It all starts last summer when I received some some bright pink and purple roving for my birthday. She instantly claimed it as her own and I was happy to oblige.

The fiber was Malabrigo Nube, colorway Baya Electrica. You can find it online for about $15 at places like Yarn.com or Jimmybeanswool.com. Pretty decent price for 4oz of 100% Merino, and the colors – priceless. The fiber was a bit felted in places though which was expected based on the reviews. So doing a bit of extra prep up front seemed like a good plan to make the spinning much more pleasant.

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I’ve always wanted to spin a gradient yarn, so this would be the perfect fiber to try fauxlags. I watched this video and this video to learn how to make fauxlags and began to separate the colors. I took over the entire kitchen table for a few hours to make this happen! Once they were all rolled up, I used this old document box lid to organize them by color so that they were all ready to spin up.

fauxlags

I definitely need more practice making fauxlags. Some spun up easily, while others were too loose and pulled apart in clumps. Overall they were really fun to spin though. The progress went by quickly because everything was bite sized. I could easily see how far along I was and it was hard not do “just one more”.

After all the singles were spun, I used chain-ply to make a 3-ply yarn and maintain the gradient effect. It was so fun seeing the resulting yarn come to life!

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hand spun yarn cake

I believe I ended up with about 100 yards of worsted weight yarn, here’s a link to my ravelry spinning project page. Perfect for making a little pink elephant for my daughter. I have knit this elephant pattern called Elija by Ysolda Teague for my son years ago.

hand spun hand knit elephant

She loves it and the yarn is holding up really well. I was a bit worried that the handspun would wear out quickly, but it’s been nearly 6 months now and it looks as good as new! The amount of love and care that went into making the yarn and knitting the toy was well worth it.

Finished Sophie!

Sophie with both ears done

Sophie Bunny’s ears are done.  I may do a few more embelishments with the brown yarn, but I don’t want to over do it.  I also want to add a puffy tail at some point.  I need to go out and get a pompom maker.  Here’s a link to the original pattern by Ysolda Teage.

The whole inspiration for the brown stripes came from this little matching mommy/baby nursing outfit that I got from Old Navy.  Having a girl is really bringing out the girly-ness in me 🙂 

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I found this Sophie Bunny that another knitter did and it is gorgeous, check it out!  She sewed a really cute flowered pattern in the ears and a patch on the bum.  I was going to try to sew cloth in the ears too, but I didn’t have enough and the colors were a little off, but I love how it turned out in her Sophie Bunny. I may do a heart on the front similar to hers.

In other news I fisnished knitting the Owlet sweater by Kate Davies.  Can you see the owls in the yoke?

I have to block it and find the perfect buttons for eyes.  But here’s a preview before the final product is finished.  As I was binding off the neckline, I realized that I forgot to bind off in the ribbed pattern, oops, oh well it doesn’t bother me.  It was such a fun and quick knit.  I can’t wait to see how it blocks up and how the buttons finish it off.
I made it in fall colors for little Sophia.  It’s another neat pattern especially for her since owls are a symbol of wisdom and Sophia’s name means wisdom.  I hope she likes it and I hope she get big enough to wear it before the weather warms up!!

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A Magical Pouch

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I have this thing for slowly fading yarn.  It all started about three months ago when I found this beautiful crochet scarf that one of my favorite bloggers, Moonstitches, made.  I tried to recreate that scarf with some very nice sock yarn, but quickly realized that it wasn’t producing the same effect (see my old post for a pic).  Upon further investigation I realized that I need yarn that has very slow transitions from one color to the next.  I’m still hunting the exact yarn that she used in that scarf (just need the light green Diakeito Diamusse Fine in 120 – anyone??). 

Fast forward to today – whenever I find a yarn that has the slow fade I scoop up a few skeins.  The magical pouch above has that slow fade effect… the rest of this Mini Mochi yarn ball has the whole jewel toned rainbow in it!  Pretty crazy, but perfect for this little project.  I’m working on a Noro project now too, another slow fade yarn (but not very soft).

Incase you were wondering, this is actaully a yoyo cozy for my husbands fancy new yoyo.  The next thing planned for this yarn is some kind of chevron scarf or striped scarf for my 3 year old.

Hemlock is Finished!

Hemlock blocking 2 for web

This knit scored high on the satisfaction scale.  It was easy, quick and looks increadibly more complicated than it actually was.  And it was a blast to see it transform from a blobby mess into the delicate fan and feather pattern you see above.  I need to take some more photos of what it looks like in the “wild”.  The picture above was taken during the actual blocking process.  It was pinned to my ottoman and, thanks to my ceiling fan, it dried in one night!  To my amazement it held it’s shape after taking the pins out 🙂

Here’s what it looked like before blocking
Hemlock preblock web

Here’s a close up of the little details on the edge
hemlock edge web

Next time I will add the extra length.  I just ran out of time on this one.  But, I think my mother-in-law likes it, so that’s all that matters.  It turned out much more like a doily than a lap blanket though.  I think that is how she intends to use it.  See my previous post for the yarn and pattern details.

Christmas was good to me.  I got a bunch of new yarn and a slew of new knitting books to drool over and inspire.  I’ll be posting more about those goodies soon!   

Happy Halloween!

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I finished the skull cap just in time for Halloween! But – there’s one problem… it’s too small 😦 I mean it fits, if I force it over my nearly-3-year-old’s head AND if I make him stay completely still. HAH, not very practical. Oh well, it’s going to look completely adorable on my dear friend Marisa’s (from QuiltOtaku) little baby boy and I have plenty of yarn to make more. It’s such a quick knit. I just might be able to make a new one for my son by tomorrow. I’m going to double the yarn so that it’s slightly larger and add in a few rows for some extra length so that it keeps his ears toasty warm.

I finished it just in time to show it off at Green Planet Yarn‘s Show & Tell night. I’m crossing my fingers that I win a luscious yarny door prize!! I could really use a luxurious yarn fix 🙂

Yarn: Shephard’s Wool – very soft and stretchy
Pattern: Skull hat, picked up at Stitches West earlier this year. It runs small, I’ll be adding rows, stitches and doubling up my yarn to make this a roomier hat.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

Vivian is DONE!

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If you wagered a bet that Vivian would be finished before the playdate hoodie then, you win! Sorry Kathleen!  I sewed in the loose ends and stitched up the hood yesterday.  Here are some iphone pics – will post some better model shots this weekend.  🙂

This sweater is dedicated to Fin, my dear old cat who passed away August 21st.  Thanks for being there with me through the toughest time in my life.