Tweaking a Pattern: My Vite Headband FO

I enjoyed knitting my Vite Cowl so much that I knew I wanted to make another, and when I started wearing it more as a headband than as a cowl, I began to hatch an ingenious plan!

I had just the right amount of Rainbow Chunky (BFL) handspun yarn for the project.

For the headband version, I decided that I wanted to take some of the width away from the cowl pattern so it was a little more suitable for head wear.

I am really pleased with the result (please excuse my early morning/before caffeine photo) ...

So if you would like to re-create this, you will need to download Kristi Johnson's free Vite Cowl pattern from Ravelry HERE.

Then you omit the last YO and K2tog on the odd rows, and omit the first P2 stitches on the even rows.

Carry on in the pattern in this way until your knitting is long enough to reach around your head.

Cast off and then seam both ends of your headband together.

And then wear your modified Vite Cowl on your head with pride :)

Happa Handspun and Handknit Hat FO

My trip to Unravel Fiber Festival earlier this year was very fruitful ... I came away from it with lots of goodies ... Well, it would have been rude not to!

One of these purchases was 100g of merino fiber from Skeins in the Pale Jungle colourway.

I was itching to spin it up and so this happened >>>

This was such an enjoyable spin, as these are some of my very favourite colours, plus of course being 100% merino ... Yum!

It all fit onto one bobbin, so I wound the singles on to a yarn winder to create a center-pull-ball.

And after the plying, I had a lovely squashy 2-ply yarn ready and waiting to be used.

I began looking through Ravelry or a suitable pattern for the correct yarn weight and meterage. I kept on thinking that I wanted to make a cowl, but then I asked for the advice of my Instagram friends, who instantly suggested that a hat would work well.

And so the 1 of 6 Hat KAL was born.

With very short notice, as this was all so spur of the moment, I simply couldn't wait any longer and cast on the Happa Hat within days of organising the KAL. There was no urgency or rush for others to follow suit, and they participated when they had the yarn and tools to hand.

And there it is ... the beginnings of my hat. I had learnt a new stitch too (I love an educational knit) ... the twisted 1x1 rib stitch, which I couldn't quite work out at first because I thought that my hat looked way too small for an adult head, but once I was further into the pattern I discovered (with great relief) that this rib stitch is uber-stretchy.

And on to the lace pattern, which is always so thrilling to see as it starts to take form. I just love the leaves effect of this design.

Being worsted weight yarn, it knitted up nice and quickly. In between a busy lifestyle it took a few evenings over the course of about two weeks to complete.

There's nothing quite like knitting with your very own handspun yarn. Truly satisfying to the MAX.

And here it is ... with some daytime FO photos :)

And a cheeky selfie of one happy spinner/knitter ...

Crochet Squares 4 Charity

I was recently alerted to the presence of a wonderful charity and of an amazing way for yarn crafters to do their bit and help a good cause.

Zoe Horsefield of THETEDDYBEARSHOP on Instagram put a call out on her IG feed for any knitters and crocheters to see who could help a charity close to her heart.

The charity is GRWE or Greyhound Rescue West of England and they do a fabulous and much needed job rescuing, rehabilitating and re-homing abused and abandoned Greyhounds and Lurchers.

As the owner of a lurcher myself, this is a charity that immediately pulls at my heart strings. I love all dogs but absolutely adore all of the Sight Hound breeds whose gentle, sensitive and kind nature make living without one of these special animals unthinkable. The fact that these beautiful creatures are being rescued from abusive, debilitating (and worse) situations breaks my heart.

I immediately felt like I wanted to be involved in any way that I could.

Zoe is looking for people to either knit or crochet 4x4" squares in DK (or similar) yarn and send them to her so she can join them together to make blankets for the dogs. Anyone with a knowledge of these somewhat skinny creatures will know that they feel the cold very easily and like nothing more than a snuggle with their owner or being wrapped up in a cosy blanket. The blankets will go toward helping these dogs feel warm, cosy and at home whilst they are being treated for any ailment caused by cruelty or abandonment, and to help them feel warm and loved. These blankets will then stay with each respective dog so that when they are rehomed they will have something that is special and smells familiar to them.

Fortunately the response to Zoe's call out has been good so far, so much so that she has started a blog. You can follow all the efforts of those involved HERE.

If this blog post speaks to you, and you would like to help, please don't hesitate to get in touch with Zoe at the following email address:

squares4charity@gmail.com

Here are my additions to the squares collaboration (several of the one pictured below), crocheted in handspun yarn:

Nice and bright and cheerful (the photo doesn't do it justice ... I do find it difficult to capture pinks and reds with my camera).

I will hunting around for more yarn scraps so I can add to the collection.

Maybe you have some odds and ends that could be put to good use for the GRWE charity?

Daybreak Hand Knit Shawl FO

It's only taken me six months to be able to say this, but ... I've finished my Daybreak Shawl ... Yay :)

I had a serious case of inertia with this project, and had to put it down on several occasions, but I did really enjoy this knit and am thrilled with the result ... I just got a little distracted with other projects along the way.

It all started with the idea to do a knit-along with some Instagram buddies.

I had been admiring this pattern on Ravelry for quite some time, and felt like I was ready to tackle it.

Being Autumn when I started the project, I decided on a sympathetic colourway with Ochre (a mustardy-yellow) and Cordovan (a rich dark chocolate) Malabrigo Sock Yarn.

And so I cast on ...

As with all shawls, I do love how the first handful of rows knit up really quickly, and then with frequent increases, they begin to lengthen ... especially with sock weight yarn. And so with this pattern I eagerly looked forward to being able to add my second colour.

It was really exciting to begin the stripes as I could then see the pattern start to take shape.

I became side-tracked quite a bit by other faster projects with bigger needles and chunkier yarn. Inertia sometimes happens when I'm faced with a project that doesn't grow quite quickly enough.

Picking it up and putting it back down again over the next few months, I made one last concerted effort to finish and gave myself a stint of a good few nights in a row ... and here it is, freshly off the needles and awaiting its first bath ...

And on to some VERY satisfying blocking ...

And then the utterly gratifying first trying on session, where all the blood sweat and tears were forgotten (okay, okay, I'm exaggerating a bit now).

And I must say I'm over the moon with my new hand-knitted shawl. It is a beautiful and striking pattern and I'm really pleased with my yarn and colour choice. I missed the boat to make the shawl in time for Autumn 2012, but will be wearing it with pride when the colder weather returns in September 2013.

Dyeing to Have a Go!

I've been stalking various dyeing forums, YouTube and other websites for some time and have been gradually building up a theoretical knowledgebase. Procrastination is an issue of mine, but I recently decided to throw caution to the wind and get stuck in.

I was food shopping and in the baking isle when I spotted Dr. Oetker Gel Food Colourings in small tubes. The colours looked gorgeous so I just had to throw a few in the basket. At this point I was really in a state of pure experimentation (or madness) because not one of the websites I'd studied on this subject had ever shown results from using this brand, but I thought it would be fun to see what would happen.

I had some Citric Acid powder in my cupboards at home, left over from my last batch of Elderflower Cordial, and I found about 450-500g of cheap 56's English (which is a blend of white English sheep fleeces) fiber in my stash, so I had all I needed.

One cold and rainy Sunday I set my mind to giving kettle dyeing a go.

I got out my largest pan and ran some luke-warm water, to which I added citric acid, stirred to allow it to dissolve, and then I carefully placed about 150g of fiber in to soak for half and hour.

Then I switched the hob on to a moderate heat to warm the fiber up gently. When it was gently steaming without boiling, I began to add my colour.

I'd already prepared the colour by adding the contents of one tube of gel colouring to a jam jar filled with hot water. I had four in total ... green, blue, pink and purple.

With turkey baster in hand, I excitedly began to add the colour to the roving. Not really knowing the best way to proceed with this, I decided that I would do four equal sections of colour to try to prevent a muddy mess.

I used the tip of the baster to inject colour through the top layers of fiber to try to ensure an even distribution of dye, and then the waiting began.

Keeping an eye on the water temperature was not a chore at all. I just loved looking at the beautiful bright colours in the pan.

However, after about an hour on the hob (which was already longer than I had envisioned it taking), I was discouraged to see that the dye bath had not yet run clear. It appeared that it was the green dye that was at fault here, as the water had mostly run clear for all the other sections, but was a strong yellow colour around the green.

I quickly put word out to my dyeing friends on Instagram to see if anyone could tell me what I needed to do next.

One kind IG friend quickly responded saying that they add more fiber when this happens, in an attempt to soak up any excess dye. As I had plenty of fiber left, I thought it was worth a go. I took about 50g of fiber and added it to the dye bath, on top of the green section. I was delighted to see that it instantly turned a beautiful mellow yellow colour.

And within a short space of time, the dye bath was running much clearer.

Conscious that by this time the first lot of fiber had been in the pan for quite some time, and with a real concern that it might have felted, I moved it away from the hob to let it cool down.

An agonising wait ensued ... which was only allayed by the fact that it was lunch time for me and my toddler, which kept my mind off things for a while.

A short while after lunch the water was touch-comfortable and I simply couldn't wait any longer. In to the sink it went. The water coming away from the fiber was initially a very pale yellow. Here is a picture of the roving before rinsing.

The rinsing process proved to be disappointing. I watched with dismay as most of the pink and purple fell out of the fiber and went off down the plug hole.

I was delighted to see that the blue and green remained true. The green had also split to reveal shades of green, teal and yellow.

It took quite a few rinses before the water ran clear, and I was a little concerned to keep going for fear of the pinks and purples coming away completely, so with a gentle roll inside an old towel I took it to the clothes drier.

I was also really pleased with the 50g of fiber that I had used to pick up any excess dye, which was a beautiful blend of pale pastel shades.

Having been bitten by the bug in a BIG way, I looked at my left over undyed roving and citric acid and my mind wandered.

Yes I thought, I'm going back to the shops for more dye! Having fallen in love with the green dye I decided to use the remaining supplies I had left to do a plain green roving. With time against me, I decided to let the fiber soak whilst I went to the shops so I would be ready to get straight into dyeing upon my return.

This time I had about 250-300g of fiber which was a bit of a tight squeeze in the pan, but I wound it into a spiral and placed it into the citric acid water.

After a trip to the shops I had two tubes of the green dye in hand and was all set to go.

Again I was just in awe of the divine green colour of the fiber in the pan. A beautiful range of greens and yellows.

After about an hour on the hob, I decided that was enough time, even though there was still some excess yellow in the surrounding water.

After the cooling, to the sink it went and to my surprise this fiber had a completely different effect than the first lot. It was dyed dark teal/green in small sections with the rest of the roving being a yellowy-green colour. I certainly wasn't disappointed. I loved how something in the way I hadn't been so accurate with my fiber to water to citric acid ratio, and even my inexact timings had resulted in this unexpected colourway.

The following morning, the fiber was dry and I was so proud to be able to braid up my first ever hand-dyed rovings.

Unfortunately the first lot that I dyed was slightly felted, as I'd suspected. I think it had been on the hob a little too long, and I may have agitated it a little too much checking to see if the water had run clear. However, after some slightly challenging pre-drafting I checked that it was still useable, and created this mini yarn.

So all in all, not a bad first attempt. The main thing is that I thoroughly enjoyed myself and can hand on heart say that this is something I'll do again.

I really want to try all the methods to see which I prefer, so I'll probably use the microwave next time, and I may well try to dye ready made yarn, which I envision as being slightly less prone to felting. I also want to try Kool Aid dyeing as I'm looking forward to the range of beautiful bright colours, as well as filling the house with delicious fruit smells.

It really is exciting to try something new at the same time playing with one of my favourite things ... WOOL :)

A Special Luxury Spin

The most sumptuous fiber I have yet owned has been calling to me ever since I purchased it from the Hilltop Cloud market stall at Unravel recently.

It is a 50% baby camel and 50% tussah silk 100g hank of pure heaven!

So despite having several WIPs on the go, I just couldn't wait any longer.

To make the most of the beautiful variance of colour and the sheen of silk running through the fiber, I've started this spinning project on my Turkish Spindle.

Being careful to wrap my singles neatly has opened a whole new world to my senses. I just adore the beautiful geometric shapes that are emerging in the process.

I'm so looking forward to seeing how these patterns develop as I build up more and more of the spun singles on the spindle.

Mothers Day Yarn Giveaway

It's Mothering Sunday today and I'm spending a lovely day with my little boy. Every day with him is special, but I must admit, I'm thoroughly enjoying having an extra special day to look forward to each year.

About a week ago I began a mothers-day-inspired handspun yarn giveaway on Instagram and Facebook for the pink and green skein pictured above. To enter, people had to write the one thing they thought of or remembered most about their Mother. Each and every entry has been special and moving in one way or another.

I thought I'd share some of these lovely entries with you ... (reproduced exactly as originally written with permission from the author):

By sayralynn578 on Instagram: "Endurance, the word that describes my mother. Diagnosed with Lupus and RA at 18, she pushed through and ran a pre-school for 25 years. Instilled the importance of education which led to me becoming a teacher. Even after becoming permanently disabled, she continue to endure and had devoted herself to my two children. She never complains how her lot, she's grateful to still be able to be in our lives."

By ghosthearts on Instagram: "The smell of lipstick always reminds me of my mum. She was a single mother with two jobs and when I smell lipstick, I remember laying in her bed sleeping and she would kiss me goodbye before leaving for either job and kiss me again when she came home. I would always be half asleep but I'd smell her lipstick and know things were ok."

By knitmesomething on Instagram: "There are many things I think of when I consider my mom, but recently I would say courage tops the list. She had a stroke a year and a half ago, but the doctors were able to save her. She has very decreased mental and physical capabilities from the lack of oxygen to her brain, but has made amazing strides toward recovery since then. She can no longer crochet so I knit for her often. She has even begun giving up cigarettes and coffee for her health. It makes me so sad to think I might have lost her that day, but grateful for her recovery and thankful that I can still speak with her whenever I want to."

By almaluz on Instagram: "My mother always taught me to give away what you love the most. If someone was to compliment her on anything ... it's always, here take it. She taught me to live simple and to give back. The more you give the more you get back in other ways :)"

By nurseknitsalot on Instagram: "Softspoken describes her the best. Always found her in the kitchen, folding laundry or up late night with Johnny Carson. Never complained and never went to the doctor. She died one April, my sister found her. When I was told, the world started spinning and I fell to my knees. That was almost 30 years ago ... I loved her dearly".

By spoospa on Instagram: "My mother has always been my 'crafty' inspiration. I grew up with her running her own crafting business and am in awe of her every day."

By Kimberley Ann Ramos-Lenzi on Facebook: "My Mom is very generous with her time, love and food."

By Maria Mavridou on Facebook: "What I admire my mother for (and wish to pass it on to my children) is her ability to offer all the time the best of herself without making a fuss about it. And by that I mean everything ... from the simple offering of the best portion on a daily basis, to far more complicated things like giving her soul ....."

By daniellenolan107 on Instagram: "My mom has always been really silly and a child at heart! Lol she use to dance all over the house and sing to us while she cleaned and she was always so sweet and kind hearted ... And she still is :)) She's great with my girls as well."

By rijelviolent on Instagram: "My mom's a breast cancer survivor and went through her major mastectomy when I was about 12. I remember being SOOOO worried about her, since I was 12 I had no idea what to expect and thought she was going to die in surgery. Immediately after her surgery, we went to her room and she looked at me and called over with her finger. When I got close enough, her raspy after surgery voice said 'Are you jealous?' And pointed at her new gigantic fake boobs. I will never forget her face smiling when I just looked appalled because that's what she was thinking about when she got out of surgery."

By jwarda25 on Instagram: "All I can say is that ... I only hope I can be like my mum was with me, with my son."

****************************************

As you can see by how candid and personal these stories are, it was incredibly hard to choose a winner of the handspun mini skein. If I could send some yarn to everyone who entered I really honestly would.

However, I'm afraid there can only be one winner of the yarn ...

So congratulations goes to KATKNITS from Instagram whose outpouring of love and remembrance for her kind and generous Mother has really touched my heart. As a big-hearted Mama myself, I hope and pray that I will be viewed as highly by my son in the years to come.

By katknits on Instagram: "I remember my moms big giant generous heart the most. And her laugh. It rang through the hills. She collected cats, or they collected her. She left this earth in '99. She was an organ donor and ended up saving the lives of 2 women and another regained her eyesight. Generous to the end. Miss her every day and night. We were great friends and did art together ... Mothers Day is a hard one."

 A portrait of Kat (taken with permission from her IG feed)

A photo of Kat as a baby with her Mother (taken with permission from her IG feed)

*******

A huge thank you to everyone who took part.

Birthday Knitting ... My Son Turns Two

My wonderful boy turned two years of age at the end of February, and it was so bittersweet. How can it be that two years have passed already? He has changed from a baby to a boy child before my eyes.

Their growth spurts seem so overnight and final. I could swear he looks a little more grown up and bigger each morning, with limbs lengthening, feet spreading out and his face gone from round and cherubic to more oval and boyish. The baby time is over.

On to the next phase ... and don't I know it. As if he knows his timing to perfection, his second birthday happened at the same time as he truly learnt the true meaning of the word 'NO'!

Still, it's wonderful seeing his character develop and his likes and dislikes take shape. I am astounded daily by this little soul. He is an inspiration and I am proud and honoured to be his Mama.

I wanted to make him something for his birthday, as I knew he would have plenty of toys and books from family and friends. In my opinion, there's nothing quite like a nice warm baby or child in hand-knitted outfits. I endeavoured to make more, but time is always my enemy.

So with the cold icy winter wind still plagueing us, I decided on the Lyalya Hoodie pattern by Natasha Schaffer on Ravelry.

This is just the sweetest little pattern that looks so toasty warm, and harder for the hat to come off (or be pulled off) as it comes right down onto the neck and shoulders.

I used James C Brett Marble Chunky yarn in MC31 colourway, and am really happy with how it turned out.

First of all I knitted the baby pattern with size 5mm needles and it came out too small for my boy.

So on my second attempt I followed the child size pattern with the same needles and it fitted him to perfection.

And the good thing is the baby hoodie will make a lovely gift for a friends (much younger) little one :)

A Mystery Spin ... My First Spinning Commission

An Instagram friend (@amberweinberg) recently contacted me to say she had a mysterious lot of fiber that she didn't know what to do with, and didn't want to spin it for herself.  She went on to ask whether I could spin it for her but this was a tricky request as it was an unknown weight of fiber of an unknown origin. Needless to say, I was intrigued and excited all at the same time. I had never been asked to do any spinning for someone else before, and I didn't know how to answer any of her questions such as how long it might take or how many balls of wool it would make.

After a few to-ing and fro-ing of emails, we decided I would give it a go without many of the decisions being made, as I would have to weigh and feel the fiber first to see what I had to work with. Amber requested that I attempt to make a sock weight yarn with the fiber, and I agreed to give it my best effort.

Within a few days I received a lovely fluffy delivery in the post. Here's the reveal photo ... seconds after opening the parcel:

It was a lovely naturally coloured ball of fiber which weighed 262 grams. I could tell it was sheep in origin from the smell, and it looked pure and not blended with another type of fiber. The staple length was longish (about  4-5") and the crimp quite relaxed. It felt and looked almost like fine hair in comparison to say merino fiber where you can't distinguish the individual fibers due to the fluffiness. This was an unknown entity to me, as I had never spun fiber like it before.

Even after a little online research, I couldn't isolate the breed of sheep this fiber was from. So I decided I would just have to wing-it!

Putting down other WIPs in eagerness to begin this new project I decided to do a test spin that evening to see how it would behave.

After posting this early progress pic on Instagram, someone suggested that the fiber might have some Angora in it. Although it looks this way, it just wasn't nearly soft enough to contain any.

Backing some of the spun fiber up to see how it would ply, I took this photo for Amber to see:

It looked like it would produce a lovely fluffy looking yarn of fairly even consistency.

Here I am, mid-draft!

Quite a few evenings later, I finally had two full and contented bobbins all ready for plying:

And here is the first of four skeins pre-bath and set.

So the yield from this interesting mystery spin was:

• 2 large skeins


• 2 small skeins


• approx. total yardage: 371 (or 339 meters)


• sock to DK weight 2-ply

I was very happy with the result, as it washed up beautifully to become even whiter and even more lofty.

What's more, Amber was delighted with her new yarn. Here's a photo of the yarn back with its rightful owner (courtesy of Amber's IG feed):

I would be grateful to hear from any spinners who recognise this fiber and can tell me the sheep breed it might come from.

All in all, a very enjoyable and satisfying spin :)