Spinning Autumn Colours

My HyperNoro scarf is off the needles and I will post more photo's tomorrow when it's finally dry.

I don't know what to knit next ~ so while I think about what to make I thought I would do a little spinning. This fibre is New Zealand Half Bred and the colourway is 'Orchard' a beautiful combination of Autumnal gold/tan, greens and plum-purple, just right for this time of year.

I've lightly drafted the fibre out and as it's dyed in a gradient colourway I'm going to spin it from light to dark then 'N' ply to preserve the colour changes. I will be aiming for a fingering/4 ply weight finished yarn.

Here's a shot of my HyperNoro scarf on the blocking wires. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out, it's big ~ 210 cm long x 20 cm wide. The first fan section took 15g, so I kept knitting until I had 15g left then knit the second, final fan.

Another Finished Hat!

Well I'm quite enjoying this hat knitting run that I seem to be on now the weather is cooling down. I think it's because I just don't feel like starting a big project although I have quite a few sweaters queued up waiting to be knitted. Here's my second cabled slouch hat off the needles:

I made this one longer by doing 2 repeats of the cable pattern.
The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Mink Heather, it took just under 100g.











Once the hat was finished I cast on for this scarf:

I've knit this pattern before, it's called Hypernova.
The yarn is Noro King which is a 4 ply/fingering weight yarn. I have 2 skeins and have been thinking about what to make with it for a long time.

Cabled Knitted Hat

I have a finished project to show you:

The hat was inspired by another knitting pattern I saw.

The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport Weight, colour is Dove Heather. 

I had 1 1/2 Balls (75g) and managed to squeeze this neat little hat out of it. It's basically knitted in a 3x3 rib with a 18 stitch forward & back cross over cables. I need to soak and block it.

I have 2 more balls of the same yarn in Mink Heather, this will be another similar hat but a bit more slouchy.

A Finished Sweater at Last!

I'm feeling very pleased with myself today as finally the lace weight sweater is finished:

Yarn: Malbrigo lace
Colour: Azul Profundo
Pattern: Inspired by ZickZack tunic
Finished sweater weighs 130g (just over 2.5 skeins)
If I were to knit this again I would make the armholes deeper instead of using the measurement on the pattern, it will block a bit larger in that area but I think to be more visually in proportion I should have made the armholes 8" instead of 7" otherwise I'm happy with it ~ it fits perfectly and is beautifully light and warm. It was a lovely easy knit and I did just a regular round neck instead of the cowl neck.




I've also finished all the knitting on my Bean cotton sweater, but just need to seam it together and finish off the neck edging:

Hoping to get this completed over the weekend.














I started knitting another pair of Simple Skyp socks for my hubby:

Yarn is John Q Designer Earth Wear (85% recycled Possum Merino blends & 15% nylon.
Colour is Silver Grey.
Haven't used this particular yarn before, I try to stay away from possum blends as you end up covered in dog like hair when knitting with it. This isn't too bad though.







Then there's this bit of spinning I squeezed in, possibly the best I've ever done:

Corriedale.
'N' ply
white/natural
270mtrs
88 grams

Green Leaves Socks...

I haven't had a chance to write anything over the past week or so, but as usual I have been busy knitting away:

The Yarn is Shibui Knits Sock in Wasabi and the pattern is Golden Leaves by Cookie A.

I loved knitting these, the pattern is interesting but easy.










Modifications:
I knit the pattern as a mirror image on the second sock instead of knitting them both the same (as they are in the pattern). I also altered the rib, in the pattern it's a complicated mix of Knit tbl and purl, but after I looked at the graph I realised that knitting plain old K1 tbl, P1 would line up with the twisted stitches in the pattern, I prefer K1 P1 or K2 P2 for sock rib as it gives a more snug fit.

I'm really happy with these and will knit this pattern again.

After blocking the socks ~ and as I seem to be on a major sock knitting roll at the moment ~ I cast on these mini baby socks:

The yarn is Lorna's laces but I forget the colourway, it's left overs from the first pair of socks I ever knitted which must have been about 14 years ago. I'm using 2 mm needles and the pattern is a free Interweave Pattern.
44 stitches - a mock cable rib for the leg with a short row heel and toe.

A Merino Baby Dress

I cast on this cute little baby dress earlier in the week. It's to send to a dear family friend in England who is expecting a little girl later in the year. It's the second time I've knit this dress:

The dress is knit top down as you can see, the neck part is worked back and forth flat to create an opening (which later becomes a button band) that sits at the front of the dress. Halfway down the yoke is joined and is then knit in the round. The skirt section has a slight A-Line shape. I plan to finish the hem with a further stripe of the pink merino.
The pattern is Little Sister's Dress by Tora Froseth Design.




The yarn I chose for the dress is Mackenzie Merino 4 ply in natural and the pink trim is just a bit of hand dyed merino sock wool that I had left over from something else.
I hope to finish it over the weekend.

Apeldoorn Tulips are just coming into bloom in my garden. These particular ones always make me think of Keukenhof in Holland ~ which has got to be the best place in the world to see tulips. When we lived in Germany we would go to Keukenhof every Spring to see the tulip fields.


I absolutely love this time of year.

Finished Hand Spun Socks!

Finished these last night and I was going to block them, but to be honest I really don't think they need it:

See the teeny tiny ball of leftover yarn? That's 6 grams ~ I was cutting it fine but I weighed the yarn before starting (93g) and after knitting the first sock so I knew I had enough - although as I got to the toe on the second sock I did start to doubt my calculations. All came right in the end though!

Finished Sock Yarn!

While at the craft fair this morning I had the time to finish plying the superwash merino I've been spinning this week. It just needs a good soak in a warm bath and it'll be ready to knit. I'm really happy with how this colourway turned out:

340 metres of fingering weight yarn~fractal spun, it's destined to become socks.
Now the bobbins are empty I will have to decide what to spin next. I think it may have to be the purple gradient superwash!

Dyeing Fibre & Yarn

I've been messing in the dye pots again:


A knitter's Paintbox, Part I
Merino Superwash High Twist Yarn
Fingering weight
Gradient dyed
Part 2 & 3 coming soon!

Nor' Wester
Merino/Bamboo 80/20 blend
150g

Purple Rain Gradient Set.
Superwash Merino
100g











The lighting in the photo's is not so good but the colours are showing pretty true to life.

I've also been busy sorting out stock, packaging alpaca fibre and dyeing a few extras for a craft fair on Saturday. I plan to take my spinning wheel and hopefully get in a couple of hours spinning time.

Hikoo CoBaSi...

I recently received some beautiful yarn that was something totally new to me, Hikoo CoBaSi. It's a blend of cotton, bamboo, silk and elastic. The yarn looks very tightly spun when it is in the skein. I had 2 skeins of chocolate brown and 1 of olive green:

So I just had to knit a pair of two-tone socks, I used exactly 1 skein of each colour. This is a very easy pattern. This pair are for my hubby and I made them slightly smaller than I normally would due to the elasticity of the yarn. Once knit up it has very good stitch definition and forms a nice smooth fabric.

I have one skein of the brown left and I'm tempted to order another skein of a different colour, maybe pink, and make a pair for myself, but I'm still on a yarn diet!