Monthly Archives: February 2014

Water Lilies in Ravellenic Winter Games 2014

Carbon Fiber Needles, Dyeing, Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, Spinning

The Ravellenic Winter Games 2014 are in Day 6 now. I’m playing on Team Knitspot, and have made some progress.  I have 2 projects in the WIP Dancing event.  I’ve  added a few repeats to my Flamming Swan but my Blue Sugar Frosting is still awaiting some attention. What I have been working on is my Fleece to Finished Object game. I’m using my new colorway Water Lilies with Anne Hanson’s Hillflowers. I started by dyeing the Bam Huey Fiber with a new dyeing pattern I’ve been experimenting with.   The dyeing pattern needs a little more tweaking  to achieve the look I was going for, but I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results.

Bam Hueh spinning Fiber Water Lilies
Bam Huey in Water Lilies quick drying in front of the fire place.
Bam Huey Spinning Fiber
Water Lilies split into 16 strips ready for spinning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spun up 2 skeins of the Water Lilies.  The first  I split the 3 oz roll of fiber length wise  into 16 strips and plied it against itself . I’m using this skein for the scarf.  The second skein I spun up in a heavy sport weight and plan to make a set of mitts to go with the scarf.  Here is the start of my  Water Lilies and Hillflowers.

Bam Huey Handspun Water Lilies
Water Lilies and Hillflowers

I’ve been finishing and testing  the first batch of our size 2 and 6 Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Needles .   We have had some rod issues and we have chosen to redo some of the needles.  Sorry that this has delayed shipping by a day or two, but we want your needles to be purrrrrrfect!

Mr X’s Sweater is in a time out.  The re-seaming is moving along slowly, hopefully I will get back to it in the next day or so and GET-ER-DONE!

I have another Trunk Show coming up at the end of February, and I will have all the details of that in my next post.Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival is looming. I’ve been making plans for that and will tell you about them soon.

Until next time,
Happy Spinning and Knitting!
Cheryl <^..^>

 

 

 

 

Mr X’s Sweater…..The Drama Continues…..

Carbon Fiber Needles, Handspun Yarn, Home Life, Knitting, Spinning

 

Mr X’s sweater is done…but not done….

The pieces were finished,

Aztec Mazes Sweater
The pieces are done and fit together!

This is my first seaming project.  I’ve not done a sweater before because I’m not confident in my seaming ability.  I googled and watched videos about seaming.  Before long I figured out how to do a mattress stitch, did a few practice runs, and dove into seaming up the sweater!  The mega pound sweater then hit the bath.

Aztec sweater pattern by Anne Hanson
Mr X’s Soaking Sweater

At last the sweater was laid out to dry.

Aztec Sweater
Mr X’s Sweater laid out to dry at last!

I’ve enjoyed knitting Anne Hanson’s Aztec Mazes. I fell in love with the pattern and the ease of knitting it. I did drop the cables because I thought it suited my brother-in-law better with out them. Yes that’s right, my BIL Dan is Mr X. He loves the sweater….the problem…. I made the arms too big. I have been researching my best option to skinny up the arms. I’ve decided to re-seam the arms and cut off the extra materials. I have been working up my courage to start cutting, and this afternoon it is my goal to take the plunge! Wish me luck!!!!  One more close up before the scissors attack.

Aztec Mazes
LOVE this Pattern!!!!

OK a REALLY Really close up…..

Aztec Mazes close up
how’s that for texture!?!

I’ve had some other knitting on the needles. I finished off my hat of old left overs. This is some of my Merino/Angora handspun used with handspun Alpaca. A VERY nice WARM hat!

New Hue Handspun Angora,Merino,Alpaca hat
A Very Warm Merino, Angora, Alpaca Handspun hat.

I’m getting geared up to watch the Olympics on TV and knit along with the Ravelry Games.  I’m playing on Team Knitspot. I have 2 WIP’s to knit on and am contemplating a fiber to finished project. starting from dying the fiber, spinning the yarn, then knitting an Anne Hanson Pattern.  That starts on Friday, guess I best be making some decisions soon!

We have good news on the needle front.  Our Newhouse Custom Carbon Fiber Needles will be offered in two new sizes.  We have a small delivery of the new US size 2 – 3.0mm, and US size 6 – 4.0mm  raw rods on the way.  We have been taking pre orders and have a few spots left for this first batch.  The new sizes should be listed in the shop early to mid March, until then if you would like to order a custom pair, please contact me HERE through the shop.

There has been spinning too.  I had fun spinning up 1,000 yards of Bam Huey in the Joseph’s Coat colorway. This turned out to be a very heavy fingering weight of about 14/13 wpi. Bobbins full of all the rich colors of Joseph’s Coat always makes me smile.

New Hue Handspuns Bam Huey
Bobbins of Bam Huey Joseph’s Coat

I forgot to take pictures before sending this skein off to it’s new home, but I did remember to take one pre bath, all tied up in it’s washing ties.

New Hue Handspuns Bam Huey Handspun yarn
1,000 Plus yards of Bam Huey Waiting for the bath!

There was also baking going on…..what better to do  on a freezing cold afternoon than warm the house by baking an apple pie?!!?!

Newhouse pie baking
mmmmm pie:)

I’m going to go grab a cup of coffee and a nice warm piece of pie right now…see ya!

Until next time, happy  Knitting and Spinning!

Cheryl <^..^>