cosmicpluto knits!

a return to the needles

Thanks for all the sweet concerned comments! Luckily I didn’t have too bad a reaction, took some Advil and the swelling went down overnight. Today was a rainy day, I stayed in and worked on various things, including the switch/reorganization/weeding out of winter to summer clothes, and did my taxes. Sadly I’m not getting anything, but neither do I owe. So it could be worse! (I am getting the GST credit, though – and that’s over $300!)

The other day I had the crazy idea that I could knit something new for Maryland, and I’m trucking along:

Jo Sharp Silkroad DK tweed – makes a really lovely fabric and is nice and light! I just might need a little something in the morning and evening, the way the forecast is looking.

As for the new wheel, no photos yet – I had a bit of an allergy attack to it due to it coming from a cat home (I never thought I was all that sensitive before, but it might be getting worse) and it’s in a bit of quarantine after a wipe-down. Any ideas for de-allergen-ing a wheel?

more and bigger

I’m extremely busy this week but I thought I’d pop by with some more photos of my giant granny square!

This is all five balls of yarn that I had, and it’s about 42 inches square.

I still need to find something to crochet a row of border, and to do that whole fabric-backing thing. I love it though! Just in case anyone missed it, I used the Purl Bee granny square tutorial.

Knitting? Yeppers, although just now I’m feeling a little stuck in terms of actually getting started on projects. I’ve got lots of ideas, I just need the time to sit down and work them out so I can get knitting!

This is some Koigu that I really love – but this attempt got ripped. Working on something shawl-y.

Spinning down the stash is going…okay. I’ve been working on some merino/silk – it’s probably Ashland Bay, and I got it at Rhinebeck last year.

I’m almost done the second half, so then I can ply and be done with it! But I’m spinning it a touch finer, so of course it’s taking longer. Next bit I pull out of the fibre stash is getting the fast and furious treatment!

fits and starts

Whew, that flu really knocked me out – I didn’t even want to knit for a couple days, so you *know* I was really ill! But after that the crafting kicked right back in – and hard.

I finally blocked the slip-stitch ridged cardigan I posted about before – now it’s just waiting for some buttons. I’m going to be working on the pattern for this one for the next little while, but the yoke shaping might be a bit tricky to write up!

Although I haven’t had much time with my spinning wheel at all lately, I’m finally getting back into the groove. I’ve got this goal to spin down my stash as much as possible before MDSW (will I see you there?).

So far I wound off some gorgeous teal yarn that’s been sitting on a bobbin for a long while – this was mixed batts that I got last Rhinebeck.

Then I spun and plied up all the grey roving behind the teal there – it was a big fluffy cloud of fibre, also from last Rhinebeck.

I spun it really fast and furiously to a couple episodes in a row of Six Feet Under (which is awesome, but kinda depressing tv-watching) and came up with 460 yards of 2ply, worstedish weight. It goes really nicely with the teal, so they might end up together in something!

All this desire to work through some stash has also resulted in me picking up a hook!

This is my very first granny square – inspired by Joelle’s Giant Granny Square, I’m working up a giant granny square of my own. This is nearly one ball of Noro Taiyo, a little bigger than a foot square, and I’ve got five balls. This goes so quickly! I love the colour changes. Might back it with some fabric afterwards, but we’ll see.

Happy Easter, Passover…or just Sunday!

a spinner is born

So back at Rhinebeck,my travel buddies Cheryl and Andrea both decided on Sunday afternoon that it was high time to look for a spindle and some roving and get spinning! Obviously I was rather pleased, having both of them turned by the wool fumes…buahaha.

With that goal and a tight budget for this whole spinning lark, we set out to find some inexpensive spindles (a bit challenging) and some pretty roving (not nearly as challenging) and I got ‘em spindling on our last night at our Rhinebeck house.

Fast forward a month, and both of them have finished their very first handspuns! I didn’t take a photo of Cheryl’s (I should’ve though, it was awesome) but I did take some photos of Andrea on Wednesday night at knit night!

Plying…which is my favourite part;

Stephanie helping Andrea with Andean plying;

And Andrea’s very first plied mini-skein! She ended up with about 100 yards or so. (From pretty Ashland Bay merino, in case anyone’s wondering!)

Awesome. I love seeing spinners being born.

I’ve been spinning a little bit myself, too – here’s some gorgeous 2ply worsted-ish weight that I spun up from merino/silk batts that I got at Rhinebeck. I haven’t counted up the yardage yet, and there’s another bobbin full that I haven’t wound off yet.

I’ve also finally managed to get a few woven scarves up in my Etsy shop. I’d wanted to get more done for this update, but I figure I’ll just add as I go – lots more to come, and you can always contact me if you have a request!

rhinebeck spoils

It’s late and I’m dying to go to bed, but I wanted to post all the yummy stuff I got at Rhinebeck! So it might have to be point form if I’m going to get through writing this…

L: Teal laceweight cashmere, over 1600 yards, from the Skaska booth. Mmm!
C: Black fingering weight cashmere, 1200 yards (score!) from the Skaska booth as well. A woman at the booth was a little disappointed that Andrea and I bought up all the black cashmere!
R: DK weight wool/silk from Brooks Farm, 1 skein. Probably destined for something like a swallowtail shawl for a gift.

L: a sweater’s worth of pillowy, squishy natural coloured DK-weight merino from Greenwood Hill Farm (I think?). Sort of knits up tweedy – I totally got sucked in by the knitted up samples at the booth!
C: three skeins of sock yarn from Sliver Moon Farm in a gorgeous plum. Seriously, the camera did not want to capture the true luminescence of this yarn.
R: two skeins of yak down/cormo DK-weight yarn from Bijou Basin. This yarn is irregularly spun, cushy, and I love it! I’ve got 300 yards, and I’m thinking something with cables…

And finally, in spinning fibres (do you sense a colour theme here?) -

L: batts from twitchystitches.com – crazy awesome teal/green/shiny goodness. About 180g.
C: smokey grey corriedale mix from Spinner’s Hill – 5 oz.
R: one lone braid of Ashland Bay merino in Cranberry – 4 oz.

I also came home with a heck of a lot of raw milk cheese and a couple bars of soap, too! I actually had a bit of trouble shopping on the Saturday since it was so darn busy, I just wasn’t really able to concentrate properly! I more than made up for it on Sunday though

In not-unrelated news, I have a pair of Fluevog Marians, red, in size 7.5 that I want to sell to a good home. After I twisted my ankle, it’s decided to be a bit…reconfigured. So they don’t fit quite right anymore! I’ve only worn them a few times (maybe 3 times) so they’re in like new condition. Yours for the same price I paid, $165 (USD or CDN is fine with me, despite the now rather significant difference!) and I’ll include the shipping. Email me if you’d like some new shoes!
Taken!

uncle!

There will be no yellow jersey for me this year! I’ve totally failed in my attempt at the Tour de Fleece.

Well, to be fair, I did set my sights rather high – recall this photo. I’d estimate that I still have at least a pound of fiber left – and I’ve been spinning hard, dudes. Today (Friday) was the first day off I’ve had since last Monday, and every day that I was at the store, I spun on one of the store wheels.

I made quite a dent in the last week, really, especially with the Woolee Winder…but I’ve still got more fiber! It’s like the neverending fleece. That there photo is of 13 balls of various weights, since several (4) were done on a Louet, which has a huge bobbin.

I did spin a bit today and managed another bobbin’s worth, and I might be able to spin another tomorrow. But that still won’t bring me quite all the way. And then there’s all the plying to do. I’m not that deterred, really, because I still want to finish up this project! It feels like I’ve devoted so much time to it that it would be stupid to stop now. I’ll be spinning until it’s done!

After the spinning and plying (I’m going to do a three ply), then comes some knitting…I’m thinking a coat-type sweater, maybe in a dense, flat stitch like a herringbone. I could even sew a lining or something. It’s going to be a lot of yardage, so I’ll have options!