Freshisle Fibers

Once a Week

These once a week, on the weekend posts need to stop.  I somehow need to find more hours in my days so that I can post more than just once a week.  Terrible.

On the other hand, I may just have to face up to the reality of my days.  They are busy.  Not always blog worthy, exciting to read about days, but busy days.  There's a little time for dyeing and knitting, but it's ridiculous how little progress I'm making on some knitting projects.

I've started on some Cauchysocks (Ravelry link).  I'm enjoying the pattern so far, but after only a few rows I realized I wasn't in love with the yarn.  It's Cadenza from Estelle, 80% Superwash Merino Wool and 20% Tussah Silk - a gorgeous blend that looked and felt wonderful in the skein.  Knitting with it is not so much fun.  I'm finding it splitty, slippery, difficult to maintain an even tension with, and I'm not pleased with how the colours are sometimes pooling and sometimes not.  I'm sure they will be comfy and luxurious socks once completed if I can just get past my lack of love for the yarn.  The sad thing is I have two more skeins of it in different colours in the stash.

Today was chilly, but sunny, and we enjoyed most of the day outside raking leaves.  Dusty puppy thinks that chasing leaves is one of the most fun activities.  Eating them is pretty good, too!

 

Growing Them Big

I've never had cosmos grow like this.  I'm 5 feet 4 inches and some of these are over 6 feet tall! 

This flower bed previously had some phlox in it and they were dug up last spring.  The deer love phlox so I gave up on ever having them bloom.  Some new soil was added, but other than that, nothing special.  For whatever reason, we've enjoyed the most amazing cosmos I've ever grown.

The Dusty puppy is also growing.  And growing and growing.  There are changes every day.  His ears are enormous!  And they have muscles.  They move in the most endearing ways and are a definite indication of his interest and moods.

Earlier this month I dusted off the circular sock machine and dug out some cones of yarn from last summer's Spinrite sale.  I need to start some socks and scarves for Christmas presents now if I ever hope to have them completed in time.

 

Our hydro will be off this morning so I'm up early to make coffee and put it in the carafe for later.  I plan on having a wee nap while the power is out!

Poof

That's what happened to this week.  Poof!  Gone.  Over.  It just sped by.  Where did the time go?

We had rain on Monday but the rest of the week the weather was perfect.  School was mostly good, new puppy times were thoroughly enjoyed, and I even managed to get a little knitting done. 

Progress on the XO vest.  Slow progress.  The vest that is taking two years to complete.  I rationalize this by reminding myself that it's a gigantic size 48-50 for my dad.  Fronts done, back and neck to finish.  By Christmas.  I hope.

There have been lots of Dusty puppy socialization times this week.  Play with a neighbour's new chocolate lab puppy was the most fun to watch.  They both loved it and they both slept soundly that evening giving all of us a much needed break!

We are also lucky enough to live next door to relatives.  Our grand-nephew is the perfect age to help play little puppies out.

 

The weekend ahead holds plans for dyeing, knitting, resting, and of course, more puppy play.  I hope the weekend passes more slowly than this week did!

Knitting, What Knitting?

The things I forgot about having a puppy -

1.  tiny teeth.  Sharp, tiny, teeth that like to mouth, nip, and bite everything.  We're seeing progress each day and he has loads of other toys and bones and things to bite, but this still needs work.  Of course an old dead branch is the best thing to bite.  Much better than any store bought toy!

2.  sleep.  Interrupted sleep for us.  We're tired.  New parents kind of tired.  Then there's the total crash when Dusty sleeps.  He sleeps quite a bit.  But not through the night!  Yet.

3.  tiny poops.  After having the full grown, big Shadow puppy, Dusty's little presents are tiny.  And hard to find on the yard to scoop up.  How can such a tiny dog go so much? 

4.  put the yarn up.  Up, very high up.  Dusty's had two minor and very short encounters with some yarn and loved it.  It didn't last long and the yarn was safely rescued.  But, I think he liked the stuff and I've tried to move it so it's up, very high up and out of his reach.

5.  lack of time to knit.  I only have a little bit of time in the evenings to knit during the week and this week the knitting time  has been even more scarce.  I remembered why I knit a lot of socks.  They're easy to put down at the frequent interruptions for puppy play, for puppy bathroom breaks, and for puppy cuddling.

Some new Suffolk socks that with any luck will be done in time for Christmas. 

Hermione's Scarf

I am a fan of the Harry Potter novels.  I loved them and couldn't read them fast enough.  I always think a book is better than a movie, but I've enjoyed the movies as well.

I've knit many, many Harry Potter inspired projects, designed some of my own, and share some of my favourite free Harry Potter pattern links as part of my web site.

But, I haven't tried to specifically copy any of the knitted items from the movies.  Until now.  Hermione's colour work scarf in the Half Blood Prince got me.  I think it's partly due to my latest obsession with all things Fair Isle!

 

I looked at every image I could find and here are some of them.  There's also a wonderful shot during the movie of Hermione on the train where both ends of the scarf are clearly visible.  I've Photoshoped and used Knit Visualizer until my eyes see nothing but tiny charted squares.  I've swatched and knit and ripped, knit and ripped some more. 

Here are my thoughts on the scarf

There are four different colour patterns that appear in the scarf.

I’ll call them A (blue circles), B (x’s), C (green circles), and D (star).

My best guess from the pictures I’ve been able to find is that there are 8 full pattern repeats and then a partial repeat of A and B. The scarf ends do not match.

A B C D, A B C D, A B C D, A B C D, A B C D, A B C D, A B C D, A B C D, A B.

There are 58 rows to a full pattern repeat, 435 rows for 8 full pattern repeats and the partial. I believe the scarf is at least 60 inches long, more likely 72 inches.

A full round is 72 stitches and again, my best guess is that the scarf is about 4 ½ inches wide or 9 inches wide for a full round.

These measurements would make for a gauge of approximately 8 stitches/6 rows to 1 inch or 32 stitches/24 rows to 4 inches.

The colours have been harder to determine. I believe the background is white, but a white with a grey tone. The blue circles are a shade of royal blue, a brown, and a purple. The darker colour has been the most difficult. I’ve debated about whether there is a black, a navy, and a green, but have finally decided that the darker colour might be all the same green. But, I think it is a tweedy green, possibly a two ply with one ply a dark green and the other a dark brown. Maybe. My best guess.

I’m more certain about the actual chart. I’m fairly confident that it matches the movie scarf pattern.

The scarf is knit in the round and the ends are seamed.

I’ve knit a number of swatches with various yarns and needle sizes and although some of them are close, I don’t think any of them are exactly right. The swatching continues, the search for the perfect yarn continues.

Hopefully others will enjoy the chart.

All of my ideas and my chart - crazy or correct?? - are available here as a free .pdf file.

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Week 2

We're back from a short trip to the city.  A great start to the holiday.  A little shopping, a little dining out, a little rest.  I can hardly believe I'm already well into the second week of holidays.  It will go so quickly.

There was no yarn shopping, just a few magazines and some alum for use as mordant with many of the natural dyes.  Things I can't find in our little town!

I've been slowly, slowly working on a new pattern for our Suffolk wool which hopefully will be ready for release next week.  I think it's turning out nicely.  A simple rib, with a little twist for interest.  A good man sock!

This yarn was a leftover skein, dyed with the ends of various natural dye pots and it's very soft and muted.  It met the dear husband approval scale for an appropriately masculine colour!

Today is a dyeing day.  We've had so many rainy days that I'm going to especially enjoy today's sunny and warm weather.

Progress?

I've been knitting on the XO vest.  A few rows on most evenings.  I'm trying to stay motivated.  I'm trying to see progress.

Last night I reached the division for the armholes so I know it must be growing.  Now that the sections are smaller - the back, each side - I'm hoping that the progress will be more visible and the knitting will be faster.

There have been other distractions this past week to keep me from my knitting.  It's finally warm enough to enjoy being outside in the evenings and start cleaning up the flower beds.  I have one lonely daffodil blooming, with more to come.  It's a start.  Progress.

And I've been dyeing.  One of our orders from the mill arrived last week.  I've been so low on the Mixed Breed single ply that I've been only dyeing the self-striping with it, mostly watermelon and kiwi yarns.  I can finally start re-stocking the solids and dyeing new colours.  So much fun.  The dyeing has been happening, but it takes time for drying, re-skeining, picture taking, and updating.  Itty, bitty progress.   

More Socks

I know I'm supposed to be working on the XO vest.  I know I'm supposed to be working on the cable ideas.  I know I'm supposed to be finishing up a scarf.  I can't help myself.  I've started another pair of socks.  I have no willpower.  Not a drop.

 

These are Escher Socks by Lorna Miser from the book, Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn.  The yarn is Lucy Neatby's Cat's Pajamas which is a wool, cashmere, nylon blend.  Absolutely yummy yarn!

The pattern is primarily traveling stitches, my latest obsession, after playing around with them with the Cotswold yarn.  I think it's hilarious that 'traveling stitches' are the latest, greatest thing.  They are just tiny cables!  Just moving one stitch.  When I first came across the term traveling stitches, I thought it was some amazing new technique.  In some patterns and sites, it's called a right twist or a left twist.  Semantics.

We're having gloriously sunny days and although it's still cool outside, I'm starting to get some of the flower beds cleaned up.  We've been in our 'new' house 10 years this summer and there are a number of shrubs that have overgrown their spots.  There's going to be a little extra work ahead digging them up, dividing them, and replanting.  10 years.  Hard to believe.

Happy Easter Weekend

Oh, happy, happy, joyful Easter weekend.  Four glorious days.  Although we did have snow earlier this week, today is bright and sunny and hopefully winter is over.  I knew it was bad when even the kids at school were groaning about the snow!

My brother and his partner are here for the long weekend so there will be family times, but as usual I have plans for dyeing as well.

I was doing some spring cleaning of my knitting things and decided I should really try to finish some projects.  I'm not very good at finishing larger projects.  I grow tired of them!

This is a vest started many years ago - pre-blog years ago!  It's the XO Cardigan from Folk Vests.  The yarn is long ago discontinued - Muskoka from Berella, 100% superwash merino, aran weight, and positively delicious to knit with.

I'm using 5 mm needles but even with big needles and big yarn, the super size 52" chest needed for my father was/is taking forever.  The plan is for a few rows every night and just maybe this time, just maybe I will finish it!

Cotswold Cables

Somewhere along the way I stopped blogging about patterns in progress and new colours for dyeing.  I do know why.  Copy cats.  But I've pretty much decided that copy cats or not, it's not worth it.

One of the other reasons I became a little more hesitant about revealing things in progress is that it takes me so long.  It's at least a month before I'm happy with a new colourway.  By the time I have the colour just right and have knit with it myself, time has passed.  Often it's longer than that for a pattern.  After swatching and frogging numerous times, knitting and re-knitting, writing and re-writing, and finally pictures, more time has passed.

I can't do anything about the copy cats.  I can't make myself more time.  But I can decide to share things in progress and my joy of the moment.  Come what may!

One of those joys is experimenting with the Cotswold yarnI received last month.  The yarn in the skein didn't feel as soft as the roving but once I started knitting with it, I couldn't stop.  I've also been playing around with cables and decided to try something cabley with it.

 

The cables are complicated and endless, but the results are so worth it.  I think if I continue and then pick up on both edges this could become a hat.  Ideas are endless.  Mittens maybe?  Two needle mittens?   Along the sides of a vest?  What would this look like in my Suffolk wool?  I'm betting the cables would really pop.

There.  I feel better.  Now - no one copy this for at least the two months it will take me to finish and write up the pattern.  Pretty please.