Handmade Batts

My indie dyer obsession with Moonstone Dyeworks continues. She got a drum carder and now makes batts to sell.

They are unique blends that she decides to pull together from her bulk fiber. I picked out a lovely blue color in a rambioullet/merino/bamboo/nylon mix. The second bat is rambioullet/merino/sari silk/nylon blend. Both bats are 2 ounces and will make cute small skeins of yarn.

I still have my blue BFL on my wheel with lots of spinning to go yet. So I don’t know when either of these will hit the wheel but I feel it won’t take long when my wheel frees up!

Happy Spinning!!

Knitting With Dinosaurs

I did some knitting in the wild this week. Our local zoo has a special exhibit this spring and its DINOSAURS. I’m talking life sized animatronic dinosaurs and cool displays all over the campus.

Jellybean and PB ran their butts off and wore themselves out. So I got to walk (run) behind them with my Christmas Musselburgh hat. I haven’t measured in awhile but surely I have to be getting close to the decreases.

This project works out great, it serves as its own travel bag! I tucked my ball of yarn inside the work so I could walk around without lugging a bunch of stuff, lol. I did raise a few eyebrows taking this photo but I like to confuse the muggles!

Happy Knitting!!

Slowly And Surely

Slowly at a snails pace, my Christmas Musselburgh is growing. I think am around 11 or 12 inches of hat body.

This project lives in my work bag and the hat itself is serving as a project bag. I am tucking the yarn cake inside the hat to make it portable. I have been knitting while I walk on my lunches and a little bit in the evenings when I can stay awake to watch a show or YouTube podcast.

It’s busy season at work so my knitting and blogging mojo has taken a hit. I am counting the days to May 31 for sure!

Happy Knitting!!

Christmas Musselburgh Flashing

My Christmas Musselburgh is growing here and there. I managed to get fully past the increases and into the body of the hat. It’s great autopilot knitting but also not super exciting now that Christmas has long passed.

I am using hand dyed yarn from Moonstone Dyeworks. And is with all hand dyed yarn, you run the risk of pooling and flashing. I noticed one chunk of some flashing just as I was finishing the increases. Once I got into the body, it all worked itself out.

No telling if it will happen again, I guess I’ll have to keep knitting. Note, it doesn’t bother me. I just find it a fascinating part of how hand dyed yarn, stitch count and gauge all work together to make unique objects, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Christmas Musselburgh

My hat needles told me they were chilly after getting my first Musselburgh off of them. So I couldn’t let them get cold so I got a second hat cast on right away!

I went digging in my stash and found another skein of Moonstone Dyeworks kicking around. This time it is her Stellina Sock base in Christmas on Mars colorway. It’s a nice muted Christmas color with a TON of sparkle to it. I don’t get the sparkle to show up on camera very well.

I am making an adult large again, this time without the extra increases. I’m curious to see how this one differs from my first one. If its too small, then it can go in the gift pile or kid pile. I just finished the increase and its just stockinette for many many inches.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Musselburgh

Y’all, I made a beautiful thing! I am so happy with this hat that I can’t stop looking at it and petting it. My first Musselburgh is done, washed and photographed!

Pattern: Musselburgh by Ysolda Teague (rav link)

Yarn: Yak Sock in Hectate color by Moonstone Dyeworks

Needles: US 2s

I know I was working the instructions for the adult large but I do think I added like 10 extra increases to the stich count. That means I should have gone up a needle size. The fabric leans to the firmer side. But it’s a lovely super warm hat. And the subtle tonality of the browns and greys is gorgeous.

This hat isn’t necessarily long enough to cuff up but it fits just fine as a standard beanie. This is a keeper for my woolen drawer. Mother Nature here in Kansas is wildly swinging from negative temps to the high forties. So my need for a warm hat is variable, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Musselburgh On The Road

My Musselburgh project hit the road this week. I have made some pretty decent progress in the hours and hours of stockinette this project calls for. Still doesn’t look very wintery here in Kansas but I love the project matches the landscape!

Based on the weight of my yarn cake, I think I might be halfway through my hat? I am just knitting stockinette until I have 10 grams of my skein left. It’s the perfect holiday project that doesn’t require any brain space!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Musselburgh

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!!

New Yarn, Specific Purpose

I was tempted by the siren’s call of yarn again. I watching my normal YouTube podcast and just happened to catch the Tommi’s first Moonstone Dyeworks update after her maternity leave. I was powerless to resist a base that I have never tried before: yak sock.

The color is called Hecate and its a wonderful chocolatey brown. The skeins is 100 grams and 437 yards/399.6 meters so that is a pretty good put up. The fiber content is 70% superwash merino, 20% yak and 10% nylon. The yarn feels soft in my hand and I can detect the darker undertones that the yak brings to the blend.

This yarn has a specific purpose (aside from trying a new yarn blend) and that is to join the Musselburgh Hatt by Ysolda Teague. The whole world seems to be making them and LOVING them so I want to see what the fuss is all about.

Happy Knitting!!

More Spirit Yarn

My Etsy saved searches got my right in the wallet again this week. A previous destash shop on Etsy just loaded more new yarn and I opened the notification. So two new skeins of yarn followed me home.

I chose a Stellina Sock skein from Moonstone Dyeworks in a Christmas-y colorway. She’s a fantastic dyer and this was a base of her I had never tried. Next up was a merino singles skein from Mrs. Crosby in a deep green/blue saturated variegated/speckled skein. I don’t normally buy singles but the colors drew me in on this skein.

This is definitely not helping my “more out than in” goal for 2021. But sometimes yarn just happens, lol.

Happy Stashing!!