DRK Everyday Cowl

A relaxing and enjoyable knit. The pattern is the DRK Everyday Cowl by Andrea Mowry and the yarn is my own 3ply handspun, a merino/kid mohair/silk blend.

It was about 6 mornings of mindless knitting while watching Podcasts. The knitting was repetitive enough to be relaxing, but the pattern had enough unusual shaping to keep it interesting. 

Thinking that a scarf/cowl doesn't need exact fitting I foolishly did not do a gauge swatch. Nearing completion I realized that, as is, it was not going to fit over my head once seamed. I decided to just pick up stitches along the short slip stitched edge to knit a little rectangle of garter stitch to extend the neck opening.

Ta Da! my fix worked. I love the result. So comfortable and easy to wear.

 Turns out my 3ply handspun was more like a fingering weight yarn than the DK the pattern calls for. The thing is, I LIKE this weight! I don't think I'd want it to be heavier. I may make more cowls from this pattern in the future, but I'll work out the math so that I can keep the lighter weight.

From ACK to Mmm

In an attempt to pare down the stash, which is nothing but partial balls of this and that, I did some sorting and discovered that over the years I have acquired a bunch of acrylic yarn. Some of it was given to me, some was leftovers from making toys or afghans. Anyway, I decided it was time to either use it or give it away.

I decided to knit myself a cozy cardigan for wearing around the house using some of the partial balls of acrylic -- not so fondly nicknamed by some, "ACKrylic". This is the "Penguono" pattern by Stephen West. 

It actually fits quite well and, with it's raised neckline, is super comfy. I chose the pattern size based on the measurements of a favorite sweatshirt.

Unfortunately I still have a significant amount of ACKrylic left to either use up or give away. Although I'm not a complete yarn snob, acrylic certainly isn't my favorite yarn to knit with. I may knit a few toys or charity items with it, but lately I'd rather spend my time with nicer, natural yarns. Which brings me to my next cast on ---- the Mmmmm of this post.

I have begun knitting "Plan B", a cardigan pattern by Hinterm Stein. The name of this pattern is very fitting since I'll be ripping out this almost completed handknit, handspun pullover I had begun way back in April of last year ---

---and I will be reusing the yarn for Plan B instead. The first version was looking good, but was more form fitting than I was comfortable with, and I finally had to admit I'd much prefer a cardigan that I can put on and take off easily as the temperature changes.

The cannibalized yarn is my own handspun, fingering weight, 3ply from a Merino/Silk/Kid Mohair blend and it really deserved to be used in something I will love. This time I'll be holding a strand of Sandnes Garn Silk Mohair along with it to plump the gauge up to the DK required for the Plan B pattern and to add a lovely soft halo to the cardigan. 

Swatching with the two has gone very well. I tried 3 different needles sizes and then wet blocked the swatch. It's a good thing I did that final step! It bloomed quite a bit and the gauge changed rather significantly. Pre-wash I got perfect gauge on a 4mm needle. Post-wash I got perfect gauge from the section knit with a 3.75mm needle.

Spinning Revisited

Okay, so it's not much, but at least it's something. It's been a long while since I've done any spinning. I think the last time was at a spin-in back in October of last year.

This is a 50g skein of 50/50 camel/silk spun at a lace-weight. It has a lovely sheen not fully captured in the photo and is very soft. Not sure what to use it for though. It might be enough for a  small scarf.

4.5 Hours Plying

I sat down at the wheel the other day knowing I had a lot of plying ahead of me. By "a lot" I was thinking in the neighbourhood of 2 hours or so, after all, experience has shown me that plying laceweight takes a long, long time.



handspun, 2ply laceweight, 28 WPI, 50/50 camel/silk
205 grams/7.2 ounces - 1215 yards/1093 metres

I was shocked that it actually took closer to 4.5 hours and I still have some leftover on one of the bobbins. I'll get the WPI calculation for you when I ply the remaining bit.

Edited to add: I plyed the remaining 142 yards/128 metres this evening, and THIS time I remembered to measure the wraps per inch before I skeined it on a niddy noddy. At 28 WPI it is the finest 2 ply I have ever spun.

This is earmarked for a lace shawl, quite likely the Bee Fields Shawl.
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Still Around

It's been a while. I've been a bad blogger. Truth is I haven't been knitting much --- well, for me anyway. There has been some knitting ---



--- but not on a daily basis. The photo is of the completed back and the left side of the handspun lace bolero I've been working on. It's turning out well enough but it's one of those projects that is boring to knit but still requires enough attention that I can't watch TV or carry on an involved conversation at the same time. Well, I could if I didn't mind frequent tinking episodes. But I do. Mind frequent tinking episodes that is.

The Mystery Stole 3 has been put on hold while I ponder whether or not I really feel like knitting an asymmetrical, one winged stole. Yeah. One wing. Asymmetry. Not sure about that. I could get past the asymmetry and even the fact that there is one wing in a world where those kind of appendages usually come in pairs, but I've seen pictures of other knitter's work on the wing and, well --- it looks like an awkward add on. Kind of like one of those houses where each generation adds on a new room. With different siding.

So I've been reading. It's all Kristy's fault. She gave me a h-u-g-e novel to read. I mean criminy, I've been at this thing for days. Good book though.

At night I've been getting in some spinning time. Camel. Silk. Mmmmm. When I'm not reading into the wee hours that is.

Fibrefest Haul

Look what followed me home from Fibrefest International. I went with a plan. I was going to buy a longer niddy noddy, another bobbin or two for the Little Gem II, sock blockers, and as much luxury fibre as I could manage.

There were no sock blockers, no Majacraft bobbins, and the niddy noddy I saw did not suit my needs. Somehow I still managed to spend all the money I went with.



Want a closeup look?



50 grams of white bamboo top. 25 grams of cream yak top.



25 grams of white silk/cashmere (85%/15%). 20 grams of ramie.



250 grams of "Black Rainbow Glitter" a N.Z. Halfbred wool with a bit of sparkle added. I hope I'll be able to spin it thin enough to make a lace shawl for the holiday season.



A packet of silk hankies. This will be a totally different spinning experience for me.



A huge 225 grams of camel/silk. Ooooo, I'm looking forward to this one. I was gifted a small sample of camel silk a few years ago and that tiny bit was easy to spin into a 3 ply laceweight and it went far enough to make a pair of baby socks. This big bag should be enough to make something substantial.

And last, but not least I got these:



Two lovely alpaca batts. Once I get my existing project off the wheel the alpaca batts are likely to be the first thing spun up. They are the bulkiest to store and I am rapidly running out of space in my "playroom".

There was one other fun item, bought for me as a Mother's Day gift. I'll show a picture of that tomorrow.