A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

Must Have Carigan

Progress on the back of this sweater has been slow for a couple of reasons . . . I’ve been a bit distracted by wanting to work on spinning samples for the new project which has taken away from time spent on this and the kids have been sick this weekend so we haven’t been out anywhere for a few days. Lately, Must Have has been my “waiting in the car” knitting project and since we haven’t been in the car, I haven’t worked on it much.

Here is the back so far:

Must Have Cardi- back

Fern

After careful consideration I have decided to go ahead and frog Fern. I had a good chunk of the front and back knit but since the colorway of the yarn is interfering with the stitch definition and the pattern is a rather subtle one, I’ve decided to frog it. I do like the yarn and will likely use it for another project at some point. I think a cabled sweater with bulkier, better defined cables would work well . . . just nothing as subtle as Fern.

Bye, Bye Fern:

Fern to be frogged

St. Brigid

Over the weekend I spun a sample of Romney wool roving that was 2 fleece I purchased when I first started spinning from Skyline Farm and had processed by Zeilinger’s Wool Company.  The fleece were large and I had 2 of them so I have a sizeable amount of this wool left.  It was not the finest Romney but it does spin very easily . . .

Romney on the wheel

and here is a finished skein:

3 ply Romney

And then Sunday I knit a swatch: the same 27 stitches and 1 repeat of the cable pattern to make an easy comparison.

Romney swatch

What I found is that the Romney is courser (this particular fleece, not necessarily all Romney) and hairier than the corriedale cross, something more like a mohair blend actually.  While the swatch does have good stitch definition (I think that is due in large to the 3 plies) I feel this yarn is more of a true outer wear variety . . . and may actually knit an Einstein coat from it later this year.

Here are the two swatches side by side:

swatch comparison

I also considered trying a Border Leicester Fleece that I have on hand and some Merino.  The Border Leicester, as it turns out, feels very similar to the Romney and I ruled out the Merino as being too soft and not hard-wearing enough for what I’d like to knit this sweater in based on what I am likely to wear it for.   With all that said, it looks like the Corrie Cross Wool is the clear winner.

Next up, dyeing the fibers!

It has been several years now since I did more than dabble at spinning yarn.  Since the kids came along I’ve managed a few ounces here or there . . . most of it seems to have been left on the bobbins, unplied, with the intention of going back later to add to it.  If the 7 partial bobbins I found when I took my Joy out the other day are any indication, going back later isn’t really an option.

I spent an evening plying off all the random bits, even combining some of the smaller bobbins until I had cleared all but the last 2 of their contents.  Now there are several little skeins of yarns that might be used for small mittens or other little things . . . and several empty bobbins that I can use to start the project I’d like to be working on.

The “Must Have Cardigan” is almost finished; I’m about 1/4 of the way through the back of it now, and I’ve been inspired to work on another, more complicated, Cable sweater pattern.  The next one will be the St. Brigid pattern from Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting.  The book is due to be republished in the Fall and in the mean time is available at the BPL for in-library use only.

Anyone who has seen my yarn/fiber stash could tell you, it is rather large.  That said, I do not have the right yarn for this sweater.  Not even close actually.  What I do have in the stash is a rather large amount of wool rovings and so I’ve decided to spin the yarn for this sweater.

Most of the spinning I have done has been inspired by the fiber, I have pulled out a bit and spun what ever it “felt” like becoming and for however long it actually held my attention.  There have only been a few instances where I have actually spun an entire fleece or enough of one yarn for something as large as a sweater and this will be the first time that I have started with the idea of the sweater in mind and worked “backward” from the sweater pattern to the proper gauge, ply and color for a particular pattern.

Actually, I will be dyeing, carding & spinning the yarn for this sweater.   There are several wools available to choose from and given the size of the project I thought it best to start a the beginning and actually sample at least 2-3 fibers before deciding which I liked best for the pattern.

Here is the first candidate: Corriedale Cross from Ashland Bay.  This is a true 3-ply, 9 wpi before setting the twist.

Corrie Cross

The whole sample skein is .8 oz:

Corrie Cross Sample

Once the twist had been set the yarn still seems to measure 9 wpi, which is great news since that is the size needed for the pattern.  I then decided to knit a swatch of one of the cable patterns from the sweater (1 repeat worth) in order to see how the cables would appear in the yarn.

Corrie Cross Cable Swatch

So far I really like the way the cables stand out in this yarn and it has a light and soft handle when working with it.  There is a strong possibility that this will be the fiber I choose to work this sweater in . . . but I plan to sample at least 1 more (maybe 2) fibers before actually making a decision.  Once the other fiber(s) have been spun and swatched I’ll compare the swatches and decide from that which is best suited to the pattern.

Next up, Romney that I purchased a few years back from Melissa at Skylines Farm.  I hope to spin up the sample this evening and be able to knit the swatch over the weekend . . . perhaps a post about that on Monday

I recently got a new set of shelving for organizing my knitting.  As part of that organizing I’ve been going through tubs and baskets and piles of fiber, yarn and projects.  I’ve found several projects that are going to be frogged for various reasons . . . and several that I need to make decisions about.

One of the projects I need to make a decision about is Fern.  I started this sweater three years ago, put it down because I was too distracted to work on it and needed to work on a baby gift for someone and haven’t touched it since.

Fern

I actually have a little more than this done and was working on both the front and back at the same time . . . but I’m not sure now if this was really the right yarn for the project.  I’m not certain that I like the stitch definition with the colors of the yarn and feel that the pattern may be getting lost a bit.  Actually it looks better in the photo than it does in person (which I find odd) and I don’t know if I want to continue on it or frog it.

I’ve given myself until I’ve finished with the Must Have Cardigan)only the back left!)  to decide what to do with Fern.

The other knitting question I’m wrestling with is about my next project, St. Brigid.  I think I’m going to dye and spin the yarn for it and need choose a fiber from the stash.  I have several types to fiber to choose from and I’m not certain which I should use.  Perhaps the bed time reading the next few night will be Clara’s book of Wool . . . I’m sure the answer will be in there somewhere.

I’m happy to report that the “Must Have Cardi” is back on track. I ripped and reknit the section that was off by a row and now the fronts of the sweater actually match. I’m now at about 12 of the 15 inches (I’ve added 2 inches to the length) and should be able to get as far as the underarm decrease by this evening.

I’m actually getting a little anxious to finish this sweater since I have a couple of other things, both WIPS and new projects, that I am eager to work on.

Comment replies: I definitely plan to teach all the kids to knit, in fact my oldest niece was asking about learning just recently. As she is almost 8 I think she is ready to try it but I do have to allow her grandmother the opportunity to be the first to show her As for the hat set pattern, I hope to work on it this weekend if things go well and perhaps have it available by sometime next week. Thanks for the comments & please keep them coming, feedback is a great thing to have!

I recently started working on the “Must Have” Cardigan again.  I originally started it back in July 2008 and have put it down a few times for various reasons.  Once was because I had messed up the Moss Stitch and needed a break while I decided whether to leave it or rip and fix it.

When I picked it up again last fall, I did, ultimately, decide to rip and reknit the offending sleeve top.  Once the sleeves were finished I began working on the fronts, both at the same time one one needle.  I find this the easiest way to be sure that they actually match.  However, after a few inches of Fronts I put them aside again to work on the Snow Ball Fight Mittens & Hat sets for the kids.  Now that winter is nearly over and I have finished knitting as many hat sets as I can stand to knit for now, I’m back to working on the Cardigan.  As of last night, I’d knit about 10 inches of the 15 I’m planning to knit before the underarm decreases begin.

Must Have Fronts

This afternoon I picked it up again to work another row or two.  When I’d done one right side row I laid it flat to look at it and found that I had, once again, messed up just one row of the Moss Stitch.  Having already ripped and fixed just this mistake once already I feel that I must fix it.  It isn’t as obvious as mixing up one of the cables would be but I can’t help but think I would notice it every time I look at the finished sweater.

Can you see the error?

Now I’m off to find another needle the right size and take this half off and rip back beyond the error to fix it.  Wish me luck!