Monthly Archives: November 2021

Cast On: Musselburgh

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I decided I could no longer resist seeing all the beautiful Musselburgh hats all over Raverly, social media and podcasts and I needed one of my own! I wound up the skein of Yak Sock from Moonstone Dyeworks and cast on my first Musselburgh.

I must admit I had put this project off for awhile because I HATE fiddly cast-ons with DPNs. I am totally capable of doing them but I have a mental block with them. And my needles definitely slipped out of my first try because it is slick yarn on metal needles.

But now I am off to the races and knitting the prescribed amount so I can determine my gauge and stitch count. Happy Knitting!!

A Plying Spree

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My wheel was empty after finishing my Fusion BFL skeins so I decided to ply up my first couple of set of singles. My purple singles and teal singles were WELL rested and ready for plying.

I used my ball winder to wind both singles into center pull cakes to ply end to end. My spinning teacher recommended this for me based on the twist/singles she saw me making. So I just decided to give it a whirl and I learned a lot.

First up, I could really tell I spun the purple singles first. They had much more thick and thin spots with plenty of unspun bits. That is compared to my teal singles that got more consistent thanks to practice. And both skeins had some overspun spots where it made plying extra hard because the yarn kinked back up on itself.

At the end of the day I have two filled bobbins with almost finished yarn. Next up for those yarn babies is bath and whack! Happy Spinning!!

Look At That Balance

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I took some time in between pie and napping yesterday to wash and dry what I’m calling my Fusion 2 py and Fusion 3 ply handspun.

I am super super super happy with these skeins. I have lots of issues but I managed two pretty well balance skeins that hang straight and stayed together through washing! Considering I have about 20 hours of total spinning under my belt I am super happy with my results. I am taking all of this with a growth mindset and looking forward to improving from here.

My chain ply is a little ropey and tight in places but still a super useful yarn! Next up is to dig out my yardage counter and get these measured up. Still betting on these both come out to a bulky weight. And I have absolutely no idea what I will knit with these. I might need to hoard them in the stash for a bit, lol.

Happy Spinning!!

Plying BFL Singles

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With the short holiday week I snuck in some extra spinning time, tee hee hee. My Jakira Farms BFL singles flew through my fingers. I had about 3.5 ounces of fiber left for this go around. I had split the fiber braid in half so I spun half on one bobbin and the second half on a different to aid with plying.

I managed to get a decent sized bobbing of a two ply (left) and then I had some singles remaining because I obviously didn’t split precisely or more likely my spinning varied quite a bit from beginning to end. So followed some more YouTube tutorials and managed to chain ply what I had left (right).

I am just pleased as punch to have some finished yarn that I made on purpose! Next up for these guys is a wash and whack to set the finished yarn. I am pretty sure both of these will come out to a bulky weight but we shall see!

Happy Spinning!!

A Hat Is Forming Quickly

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I blinked and a hat seems to be falling off of my needles! My Baby Blend Basic Hat it cruising towards completion.

I finished the brim in snap. I did end up working a turned brim and attached the cast on end to my live stitches after six inches of stockinette. Thus by the power of math I have a three inch brim!

I did go down a needle size to a US 7 to work the body of the hat. I felt like I wanted a denser and warmer fabric for the remainder of the hat. At this rate I should be ready for decreases in two more blinks!

Happy Knitting!!

Spinning BFL Singles

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Since my wheel was empty after finishing my teal singles I decided to put some more singles on before plying, just to keep my hands and feet practicing going in the same direction. This time I grabbed the Jakira Farms BFL I had tried to spin over a year ago to absolutely no success.

Safe to say I am making better progress this time! I am starting to notice that I can maintain a more even single with fewer thick and thin spots. Don’t get me wrong there are a ton of them in there! There are just fewer than last time, lol.

Happy Spinning!!

FO Friday: Garter Rainbow Wrap

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My Garter Rainbow Wrap is done, washed, blocked and photographed!

Pattern: None really but I did take some notes on my Ravelry project page.

Yarn: Cloudborn Fibers Superwash Merino Fingering in Antique white held double with my Teal Torch Knits 2020 Christmas advent calendar

Needles: US 9s

This was my LAST project to use up all my lingering advent calendar yarns before my 2021 calendar shows up. It feels really super good to get this yarn used up and into beautiful project. I think this shawl/wrap will go to work as my “work blanket” when winter really starts to hit. The two end triangles are not perfectly matched but they are close enough for me and anyone who looks too close will get a bop on the nose!

This project was a marled one holding two fingering weight yarns double. I used up an amazing 2,201 yards of yarn! And it wrap nicely around my whole upper torso. I forgot to measure the finished dimensions but I’m guessing its roughly 7 feet long about about 2.5 feet wide. Super cozy! And you can’t even hardly tell where I grafted the last part!

Happy Knitting!!

It’s (Finally) A HO!

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I have been struggling with a lingering cold (thanks to my children) that was thankfully not COVID. But it has left my energy levels drained to the point I just needed simple knitting the past few evenings. So I have been working on my Dad’s 2021 Christmas Socks while I lay in bed.

The silver lining? I have finished the first sock completely and zoomed through the foot of the second sock. It does help that this is sport weight sock yarn on size 3 US needles. I am just ready to start the heel on sock number two.

Maybe I do have a shot at actually finishing these things before Christmas! Happy Knitting!!

Ready for Grafting

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I did it! I made it to the point on my Rainbow Garter Wrap where I could graft my current work to the portion of the All My Stitches that I abandoned!

YouTube showed me that grafting in garter is pretty easy and only had one “pattern” to remember. But y’all….it really did take me a minute to get my tension right. I started off WAY too tight and then I went to loose. After about three inches I did settle into a nice rhythm and tension.

It took me about 45 minutes to graft all the way across and my shawl is blocking in my laundry room. I hope to snag some cute pictures to show you folks later this week! Happy Knitting!!