Not knitting
I am totally and absolutely sick of knitting these days, so I’m expanding my crafty horizons!
Plying is FUN! The spinning itself: not as fun. But plying is WHEEEE all the way!
I helped Amy move her blog posts to a new url, and somehow convinced her to bring her new-to-her wheel over to my house. The fiber is Spunky Eclectic merino in the Nova Scotia colorway. The best part? The yarn is perfectly balanced after plying. After this, I felt inspired and plied up some of my spindle-spun roving, and the end result is twisty as hell.
Next up: sewing. I had a sewing phase a few years ago, but haven’t really done much besides clothing alterations recently. This was partly because of my old setup - my table and chair were both very short, so I would bend over the sewing machine as I worked. My back hurts just thinking about it. Ouch. I bought a new desk to use as a sewing table last weekend, so I’m ready to rock. I was planning on making this whale from this book, which has a sum total of two distinct pattern pieces. However, the pattern sheet looks like this:
It is also double-sided. My pattern pieces are in red, which really recedes behind all that black. I found one piece before my eyes crossed and I gave up.
Instead, we have this (which gets bonus points for having instructions in English):
That bunny? Has big feet! Well, he will have big feet once I assemble him. If you squint, you can see that my bunny-pants fabric is the same as in the pattern photo - total coincidence. I also managed to way overbuy fabric (in anticipation of kelpy mistakes), so I have enough to make three bunnies.
The bunny is for my sister-in-law, who is due in August. Baby stuff! I’m in the midst of compiling baby sweater patterns to make. She’s expecting a boy, so I’m open to suggestions!
Crochet! I now kinda-sorta know how to single crochet. Here’s a tip: don’t teach yourself to crochet with lightly-plied, super-hairy yarn. I kept piercing the yarn between the plies with the hook, which was a total pita.
There is still knitting going on behind the scenes. I’m working on the most looks-simple-but-is-epic project ever:
Knitting the ties are the equivalent of knitting a scarf and a half. Gah! You can see why I’m cheating on the knitting.
One last thing: Blackie hearts dotty! I swear, this is the last word on the cat bed. Except for posting the pattern. I need to knit a new pre-felted swatch to figure out my gauge, because my notes were wonderfully vague.
RSS
handspun? gorgeous!
pattern? insane!
bunny? precious!
crochet? oh, yay!
and that wrap sweater is going to be *stunning* when you do get it done. :)
Ohhhhh, bitten by the spinning (or rather, plying) bug!
Are you going to look at any wheels in Maryland? It’s a great place to try out a variety of different ones . . . (not that I’m trying to, ahem, influence you or anything! :)
Pretty handspun! Isn’t plying the best!
Ah, the “other crafts craze”. I’ve been infected as well, and I’ve actually sewed something this week. *gasp*
And as gorgeous as that handspun looks, I might have to finally do something about that Merino roving I’ve been stashing.
That pattern kind of looks like the road map to the underworld…good luck with that! I love the bunny though, very cute.
The yarn you made is so pretty! I can’t wait to see what it looks like knit up.
What is this simple-but-epic sweater? Have you been holding out?
nothing wrong with expanding the crafty horizons! you are a craft machine - sewing, spinning - you go! that big foot bunny is adorable. being I have big feet, I have to love it!
personally i’d be extremely vague on the felting for dotty for reasons that most people will subsitute what ever they have that will felt in its place. LOVE the yarn you made and I can completely understand why you may get the knitting hump.
Baby pattern suggestion:
http://dogsstealyarn.com/archives/000621.html
I really like this kimono version for two reasons:
the little collar adds a punch and the cross-over is higher on the body so it has less chance to gape open over babies’ round tummies.
wow.. those schematics put Phildar and their crazy French patterns to shame.
Speaking of, I’m translating the whole Baby Pants pattern and can give you a copy as you requested sometime ago. I’ve decided to make another one in less scratchy yarn.
The bunny’s so cute! And the handspun is fabulous. I have the itch to sew something again–unfortunately nothing I sew turns out quite as nice as I’d like, but I guess there’s a learning curve there.
[…] the airy lace wrap from Fitted Knits, but I am not sure I am up for all of that knitting (as it was put over at Kelp! Knits, “Knitting the ties are the equivalent of knitting a scarf and a half. Gah!” Of course, […]
YUMMY yarn!!!
yes, plying is amazing isn’t it?!
:o) xoxo to the kitties!
Love your blog… just letting you know I’m adding you to the list of links on my blog. Can’t wait to see how your Airy Lace Wrap turns out!