Episode 12- Cotton-Eye Joe Socks

Thanks for joining me this week. Lots happened this week, I was busy all the time, but I still managed to eek out a bit of crafting. I don't think it's too terrible, considering how really busy I was. My episode starts off kind of slow, but gets rolling pretty quickly, and then I really get in the groove.

Needlework is a big deal in my family. My mom knits, crochets, cross-stitches, sews and quilts. She mostly quilts. My grandmother used to crochet and has tried to knit, and embroiders and sews. My aunt crochets. My great grandmother crocheted, and knitted. Another cross-stitched, and another crocheted. So there is a lot of crafting mojo in my family, and I think that has inspired me and kept me going in my own crafting life. There is a cross-stitch piece that was done by my paternal great grandmother, and it hangs in my living room, and I look at it every day.

I went to Project Linus Make-A-Blanket Day, and it was a blast! I got to see some of my yarn-y friends that make blankets for Project Linus, and then I also worked on my blankets while I was there. I am really close to finishing my corner-to-corner throw. The pattern is available on the Red Heart website. I am not sure of all the yarn that I am using for this blanket, because most of it was donated to Project Linus and is just various acrylic.

I also worked on my mitered square blanket that I am using the same pattern that everyone is using for their sock yarn blankets, but I am doing it with worsted weight. In reality I was testing to see if I wanted to do a sock yarn blanket. The jury is back and it is a decided "no". I have no desire to make squares that small, even if I don't have to do any seaming. I also needed to use up a bunch of different scraps, so I thought that the mitered square blanket would be a good way to do that.

My third blanket that I'm making for Project Linus I didn't actually work on at the Make-A-Blanket Day, just because the long hook can get unwieldy. I am working it in orange and black. I was going for tiger stripes, but I think it is coming off more like Halloween. I like working on it, and hope to have all three blankets done for Project Linus next month.

The name of the podcast comes from my rambling about the mystery yarn that my socks are being made out of. I never figured out where the yarn came from or what kind it is. I made up the knit and purl pattern on the top of the socks, and it turned out pretty well, I think. It's interesting and keeps me engaged in them when I work on them, but they are really purse knitting.

As promised, here are the pictures of me dying self-striping sock yarn with koolaid. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the finished socks. It was before I was really podcasting and blogging on a regular basis, so they just kind of fell through the cracks. The first picture is the yarn in the dye pot.

This second picture is the dyed yarn out to dry, so hopefully that gives you some idea of what it was like to dye up the yarn, or at least a better idea of what I was trying to describe in the podcast.

My last knitting work in progress is a shawl that I am making up the pattern completely myself, using lots of short rows to try and make it really long and not very deep. I won't be sure how well it has turned out until I bind off, but so far I think it is going pretty well. i am using Boboli Lace Yarn and Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight. I kind of wish I had chosen another color beside grey for the contrasting color, but I think that it is turning out pretty well.

Last but not least I finished the singles of the Malabrigo Nube Solis that I will ply with itself, and have about a sport weight yarn. I really love the colors and the way that it spun up so thin. I am really enjoying this spin.

Thanks for watching and I hope that you enjoy your week! See you next week with new scenery since I'll be at the lake, and hopefully I will be outside, with a lovely view.

Insomnia Can Be Productive

This week I posted a new podcast, with the same title as this blog post. I hope that you can check it out!

I went to the lake this past weekend with my family. It was an alright time. I couldn't sleep Friday night, so I ended up working a lot on my brother's sweater, which I will show you a little later. I walked over to my grandparents' house early Saturday morning, and I saw a really huge spider web that I took a picture of. It was at least two and a half feet across. It was pretty massive. I saw others on the way, but this was by far the largest. 

There was a lot to talk about on this episode, but I'm afraid I may have rushed through some of it. So, to solve that problem, I thought I would elaborate a bit on here about the different things that I talked about. So first up are my FOs. I finished the Sockhead hat that I had dug out from forever ago and finally finished. I think that it turned out nice, and here it is, all the ends are woven in and everything! I finished it while I was at the lake. I worked in on my 16" Karbonz, US size 2. 

Then I finished the first sock of the speckled socks that I am making out of Plymouth Happy Feet 100 Splash which is a heavy fingering weight yarn. I am working them on my Addi Turbo Sock needles that are 8" around and are size US 2. I really like how these are turning out, and I have an awesome idea for my next socks that I am going to make on these needles. I got the idea off of Instagram, and basically you make stripes with two different self striping sock yarns, and the two sock yarns play together to create an even more interesting striping pattern. I think it will be really fun to work on, and it might help me use up some sock yarn that I've gotten bored by. 

That's all for my Finished Objects. Next off I have WIPs. There are two blankets, a shawl, and a sweater, and that's all that I showed on the podcast. I managed to work a bit on G's socks, but I forgot to show them on the podcast, so I will just wait until next week, when they will be nearing completion. I finished both heels, and have about 2" done on the cuffs or so. The ballband dishcloth blanket is about a third of the way through, and I have been working on it off and on. It's been made out of Red Heart Super Saver in the Primary colorway and Red Heart with Love in the Lettuce colorway. I'm almost through the first skein of both of those, so it's coming right along. I'm working it on US size 7 needles. 

I am also working on baby B's blanket. It is more than half way done. I am working it with size I/9 US Tunisian crochet hook. I am working a honeycomb Tunisian crochet stitch and switching the colors every other row, which gives it a houndstooth appearance. It is worked in Plymouth Encore Worsted in Lime Green and Navy Blue. I want to put a border on it in cream or grey or something, but my grandmother and mother insist that I use either lime green or navy. Which if that is the case I am inclined to do a thick border of lime green and then a small border of navy around it. 

The night that I couldn't sleep at all- Friday night, I stayed up and watched the movie Robots three times, once in English, once in French, and once in Spanish. I don't think I will be wanting to watch that movie for a while. I also worked on my brother's sweater's sleeve. Uninterrupted for nearly 5 hours. So I am now almost half way through the sleeve, maybe half way. I'm not really sure. I like how the pattern is turning out. It's a Hedge Fence Pullover by Elinor Brown. It's a paid for pattern on Ravelry. I am working it in Plymouth Encore Worsted Tweed in a natural colorway. I'm working it on size US 7 needles, from my Hiya Hiya interchangeable set. I really like them. Unfortunately, my size 2 needles broke, and I need to investigate about sending them back for a replacement, or what I need to do with them. I will figure it out though. 

Then I also worked on the Hippy Hippy Shawl by Gabrielle Vezina, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. Only I'm modifying it because it was written for a DK weight yarn, and I'm using fingering, so I'm working it on US size 2 needles, and I am using a mystery fingering weight in a chocolate brown and Knitpicks Chroma, but I'm not sure which Chroma colorway I'm using. I like it though, and am excited for the end product. At the end I'll have a feather and fan border using Boboli Lace yarn. 

In addition to all the knitting that I've gotten done, I've also done a ton of spinning. I've been using spinning to calm down my anxiety and help me get through the day. I finished two skeins, one from the Apothefairy is a gradient. All her braids are one-offs, so there is no colorway name to speak of. I chain plied it, and I'm not real happy about the even-ness of my plying, there seem to be some spots where it's tighter and others where it's looser, so we'll have to see how it knits up. I got 154 yards. I think I want to make a cowl out of it. Then I also finished playing the Barefoot on the Farm Isabelle colorway with the chocolate alpaca fiber, and I got 214 yards. I am not sure what exactly I want to make out of it yet. 

I am currently spinning on some wool/mohair 50/50 blend to be plied with the rest of the Barefoot on the Farm top. I think the colors will play nicely together, and there's only 2 ounces of the mohair/wool blend. I am spinning it on my Turkish spindle that I got in a swap. I have a ways to go on this one, since I don't spin as fast on my spindle as I do on my wheel, and I have a lot of projects going. 

I am also spinning some alpaca roving that is cream/white/turquoise and I think I am going to ply it on to itself and make a nice hat- hopefully I can get enough yardage. 

Finally, this week I also talked about my Etsy store briefly and showed off the hats that I've made and put up on there. So that was this week. It was pretty jam packed full of a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. Maybe if I get more comfortable I'll be able to ramble a bit more, but I doubt that I will ever do a two hour podcast by myself like the Dancing Geek does. Anywho, that's all for this week, and hopefully next week I will be able to show you some more finished objects, and maybe some new projects on the needles. 

My First Traditional Three Ply

This Sunday I decided to try a traditional three-ply. I got some BFL custom dyed fiber in a Tim Burton swap through Ravelry. Here is a picture of the fiber the day that I got it.

Then I divided it into three even pieces. I don't have a scale, so I just eyeballed it. I forgot to take a picture of it right when I divided it, but I did have my mom snap a picture while I was just starting to spin.

Here are a few of me actually spinning, I was using a modified long draw. I have been basically teaching myself to spin, so that I don't have a specific technique per se.

So then I had a several singles. I had them off the bobbin onto cardboard tubes that I got from my grandmother.

And then once I had them on the bobbins I plied them together, and here's how I held my hand.

And then I had all the singles plied onto my bobbin.

And then I wound it off onto my niddy noddy that I made out of PVC a while ago. I got the instructions off line, but I don't quite remember where, sorry. I know that it's a two yard niddy noddy, which makes it much easier to count yardage.

I had 88 yards when all was said and done, and under the wound skein you can see just a little bit of fluff. This was all that was left after I plied it, so less than two yards left in total. I looked up and down all over Ravelry, (OK, I got on and did an advanced pattern search for hats with less than 150 yards of yarn in an adult size), and found the Vermonter hat. Which I thought was cute, and I downloaded the pattern, it's a free pattern, and I just used it for how many stitches to cast on, and then I modified it, but I think that it still looks basically like the same hat. Next to the hat is the ball of how much yarn was left, which was more than I would have liked.

I really liked how it would turn out, and how the colors mixed together, and how it turned out. I think that I will try to spin thinner in order to get more yardage in a traditional three ply and then have maybe even a worsted weight, instead of the super bulky that I got this time, but I really do like the "look" of this yarn.