more matchy boys sweaters

Pattern: Gramps Cardigan by Kate Oates
Yarn: Cascade 220 superwash colour #1960 (teal) and Knitpicks Swish worsted in 'Cobblestone Heather' (grey)

My Mom has a wonderful friend she's known for about 43 years, who lives in Tasmania. She's visiting at the moment and she's a knitter. It's been a bit of a tradition the past few years that she and I exchange knitterly sorts of things, so I made these for her two grandsons. It's going into summer in their part of the world, but I hope I made them big enough they can use them on chillier days now and again when it cools down in 6 months.

This pattern was fun and good for the cable fix I was craving. I'm not crazy about knitting patterns twice, especially in such quick succession, but I didn't mind this one at all.

Has anyone read this book? I'm reading it right now (thanks to this thread on Ravelry) and it has a lot of food for thought about how our approach to clothing has shifted dramatically just in the past few decades.

Now that much of my non-work life is filled with family activities again I needed new 'waiting time' reading material. Also very happy for fingerless mitt and sweater weather.

the perfect sock yarn

I finally have some skeins of the new sock yarn I've been dyeing in the shop.  I love knitting socks and shawls and I've knit with many many yarns in the last several years and thought a lot about what I like and don't like in a sock yarn. Merino is great for softness, but it's not the most durable breed so it needs some nylon as well as some twist to give it that. These factors require a delicate balance. This yarn has 20% nylon for strength and durability, 80% superwash merino for softness and ease of care, and a fabulous sproingy twist that lends comfort and stitch definition.

I love this yarn. In fact, I keep grabbing skeins of it for my own projects, like this:

which means I've only put a few in the shop. For now. More later.

sinuous wristwarmers

Pattern: mine
Yarn: Merino fingering from Northbound Knitting, in 'Nocturne'

I wasn't positive I would like these as I knit them, but I love them now. Lisa's yarn is fabulous, in texture and colour, and I like the subtlety of the cables in it. Happy.

DK love

DK is in the shop!

yay! new yarn

I'm going to be having a small shop update tomorrow with a new yarn base I'm really happy with - it's dk weight (roughly 22-24 sts per 4"), 100% superwash merino. Very soft and sproingy. I love dk weight in general because its middle-of-the-pack weight makes it versatile for so many projects.

I also have the perfect new sock yarn and a light fingering/heavy laceweight I'll be showing you soon. It's been a bit of a dyeing spree over here.

Also, more knitting. As per usual.

mountain mist start

One of the things I'm working on right now is test knitting this great pullover for Susi, which I've admired since she knit it last year. After that she made this one which is equally lovely. I find her designs so unique and exciting.

I'm using Wollmeise in two shades of teal for the main colours and Renaissance Dyeing bfl sock for the secondary in light blue and white. It's going to take awhile to finish but it's fun Olympics-watching knitting.

Happy weekend!    

TDF recap

Between having houseguests and going on a car trip during Tour de Fleece this year I feel like I barely got any spinning done, even though I actually spun much more than I normally do. Above is some spindling I managed in the hotel room before crashing at night. Fibre is Northbound Knitting cheviot in 'Violent Mood Swings'. I only got half of it spun, so I need to finish.

 I also had a small amount (1.8 oz) of some sw merino / nylon I'd dyed left over, so spun it up into a 2-ply fingering wt. and got about 206 yds. I'll spin something else to go with it now.

A few weeks ago my friend in Sweden gave me some amazing batts from Limmo-Design. They had lots of great nepps and made for a highly entertaining spin. I got about 216 yds 2-ply dk weight from 100g.

And finally it was touch and go at the end but I managed to finish my sweater spin. Fibre is Northbound Knitting bfl in 'Purple Rain'. I got about 1376 yds of 2-ply sportweight, so that should be plenty.

I'm happy with everything, even if I feel like a slacker compared to some other people I know. I also didn't see a lot of the bike race, though I barely watch tv during the summer anyway. Maybe the Olympics will captivate me.