A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

UPDATE!

I just added a new page (under My Info) for the patterns I’ve designed. They are free and I have one up so far and more to come just as soon as I can get the materials together! If you decide to make something from here I’d love to hear what you think of the pattern! Enjoy!

Happy Monday!

Well, back to work but I actually did get some spinning done this weekend!!! In between the laundry and some other house kind of stuff . . . . and working a little with A on her spinning and starting a new knitting project . . . . She’s making a sweater vest with my MIL but often gets bored working on it. We decided the perfect cure for that would be to have a second project to work on (just don’t tell MIL since she doesn’t believe in having more than one project on needles, can you imagine?) So we picked out 3 colors of cascade 220 from my stash and she is going to knit a headband with stipes of the colors. This will be both her first round project and her first multi colored project! I love teaching kids, they have no fear of trying something totally new and different! She is also very, very interested in getting a spinning wheel. We’ve narrowed it down to an Ashford Kiwi as the best fit for her for now. Only trouble is she doesn’t have an allowance or anything. She is going to pet sit for me when we go away in October . . . . and has saved some birthday money from the summer but it may still be months before she could afford a new one. Anyone know where to find a used Ashford Kiwi in good condition? Well, we shall see what happens . . .

I had picked up some Ashland Bay fibers merino in pale blue and a purple/red/blue blend the other night at spinning. I got 4 oz of each, split each bundle in half for easier handling and started on 2 oz of the purple on Friday night. I spun this as fine as I could without it coming apart and with what I hoped would be lots of twist. Then I spun the blue (which turned out just a little thicker) and last night (too late to be up doing these things I plied half of it together. I had done a small sample on Saturday when I couldn’t wait to see what it would look like, and I think overall my finished yarn came out just a touch bigger than the sample. I haven’t checked the wpi on the skein yet, but the sample was at 28wpi in a 2-ply form. I did have some trouble with breakage in the purple, guess I didn’t have it quite thick enough or with quite enough twist, or both. Live and learn. I am hoping to get enough yarn from this to knit a small shawl to add to the holiday gift box. I have no idea who I’ll give it to, but I thought it might be a fun project.

I didn’t do much knitting, only about an inch on Dad’s hat, I’ve got at least another inch to go before I change from ribbing to St. st., at which point the progress will get faster . . . . I just hope it fits this time!!!

Oh, and I’ve added a few more links!