Yarn Cakes

I don’t usually wind my skeins into cakes but I have the capability to do so and after finishing up the Polwarth/Silk fiber in color way New House (dyed by the fabulous Three Waters Farm), I liked it in skeins but I thought why not wind them into cakes?

These will go live for sale in my Etsy shop this afternoon.

I have four cakes available at approx. 156 yards in each. I love the barber pole and color variations throughout. There is a smokiness to the colors- some blues, dusty grays, and pops of gold/rust.

Mad Tosh May

Kim from the Craft Stash vidcast mentioned how they have a “Mad Tosh May” project thread in her Ravelry group.

I’m not sure this qualifies as even though it is being knit out of Mad Tosh Tosh DK in the Mourning Dove color way, I started it in either March or April and it is likely I won’t finish it in May.

But in any event, I wanted to at least post a pic of my progress and I thought the title was fitting.

So here I leave you with this:

I know it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing pic, but that will come once my little guy models it.

I will likely have to block this to stretch out the length especially since I’m making this now for him to fit into it in the Fall/Winter of this year.

Hoping to finish this soon!

My bumps

Here are my bumps now updated in my Etsy shop:

These are 100% Organic Merino and are so soft to the touch.

Each measures in the 2-2.2 ounces range.

I now have names for them: Blue Lagoon, Psychedelic Tie Dye Yellow, and Candy Cane.

Newest dyed organic merino roving

Here are my 3 new braids of freshly dyed Organic Merino wool roving.

My mother and I dyed these on Friday evening and they just finished completely drying. We had a lot of fun. She never has dyed any yarn or roving by hand so this was a first for her and most likely not a last.

Each braid is approx. 2 ounces.

We are very pleased with the results!

I haven’t decided on color names yet but the purple/yellow combo will be called Psychedelic Tie-Dye Yellow to follow suit with the other Psychedelic Tie-Dyes in my collection.

I plan on posting them for sale in my Etsy shop once I finalize color names.

My oh my ! My 2 ply…

My 8 ounces of Polwarth/Tussah Silk is finally all spun up! I started plying last night. I decided I wanted to preserve the potential yardage I could attain by 2 plying the yarn and that is exactly what I did.

I’m very pleased that I took my time spinning this so that it could relax on the bobbins.

So far I’ve plied and skeined up 260 yards and I would have done more but the bobbin was full. I believe I still have about at least 200 yards more…

Here is the yarn without having been soaked and whacked.

I will have another pic of it once it is officially ready to be sold in my Etsy shop.

Latest purchases from Natural Stitches

Here are my latest purchases from Natural Stitches. It’s not really my LYS but it isn’t too far away and it is my favorite in the area.

I purchased some Louet Organic Merino – 8 ounces, some oil for my wheel, a sample tin from Yarn Hollow, some Mauch Chunky roving from Kraemer Yarns, and 2 skeins of Bamboo, Merino, and Nylon sock weight from the Universal Yarn company’s Ready To Dye Collection.

4 ounces down, 4 to go!

My finished hand-dyed roving

Here are some of my color creations I’ve dyed up in the last few days.

All of which are for sale in my Etsy shop.

From top left to right:
Tropical sunset, Spring, Poison Ivy, Psychedelic Tie-Dye Blue, Mermaid, and Psychedelic Tie-Dye Pink.

My first attempt at hand dyed roving

After having watched a ton of You Tube videos regarding dyeing roving, I finally took the plunge. Obviously it’s not much different than dyeing yarn, but I don’t know why I ever hesitated?

I used Teal, Violet, and Sky Blue.

5 minutes in the microwave and the dye exhausted.

I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Once it dries, I hope to have some more pictures and will post it for sale in my Etsy shop. It yields approx. 1.2 ounces.

Carter’s sweater & scrumptious Tosh DK

Aw yes… I wanted to provide an update on the little man’s sweater so that I can now hold myself accountable for when I deliberately choose not to pick it up and continue working on it… I am making progress. I am at where the body and sleeves divide.

If you have followed my previous early postings regarding this sweater, the pattern is basically my own “recipe” from Ann Budd’s The Knitter’s Handy Book of Top Down Sweaters. I won’t get into it, but the “recipe” style is not really for me. I need an already laid out pattern. That’s not to say that the book isn’t good, because it is. Maybe it’s just me. Well, I’m sure it is just me. But, I’m also one of those learners who learns by watching someone else do something. It’s just the method that I adapt to the easiest.

Anyway… I do want to say that I admire all of you who can pop out a baby / toddler sweater in as much time as it takes to deliver a baby. You, my friends, are my heros. Unlike myself who probably takes as much time as it would maybe take an intermediate/advanced knitter to knit 5 baby sweaters.

But, I’m going to quit beating myself up. I am going to finish this damn thing

Today started out nice weather wise and then came the rain (off and on), the wind (pretty windy), and some rumbles of thunder (no lightning). So, I trudged it in the rain to Sewickley to my LYS Yarns Unlimited and Kathy was gracious enough to help me in my little man’s sweater conundrum. I was confused about casting on under the sleeve… But Kathy rescued me and I am very grateful for that. Her reward (well and mostly mine)? My purchase of 2 skeins of Tosh DK in colorway Toast. I really enjoy Tosh DK and that is what the little man’s sweater is being knit up in. I will *sigh* make another baby sweater out of it for my cousin’s new little guy who arrived on 4/21. And I say *sigh* not because I don’t want to knit my cousin’s baby a sweater, but because I hope I find an enjoyable pattern to knit that will help this Tosh DK fly off my needles quicker than a dropped stitch. With that said, I highly doubt I will be using the recipe method, however. I will most likely find a cute little sweater on Ravelry.

So, I will leave you with these & I hope everyone has a lovely Wednesday!