In a small series of momentous decisions, I came to the conclusion that they were some of the saddest, most ill-fitting mittens ever to have come off my needles...so I unraveled them yesterday. See the two balls of yarn in this picture.
The hat, however, part of the set, came out rather nicely.
Crafty Girl is modeling here, but the hat is for my niece. (OK. Niece's mom? If you're reading? Please don't tell...)The yarn is Manos del Uruguay. Needle size 8. No Official Pattern.
As to the series of decisions I had to make, revealing Christmas knitting was one of them. I had to or else there would be precious little to talk about these days.This next project is a much bigger one, and I meant to never talk about it until the day came that it wouldn't make any difference.
Here, I have to ask my sister Doris to keep the secret, as she is the family member in Germany who reads this blog.
But. I need to talk about this. It is a pretty big undertaking for me, the kind of thing where you need your fellow knitters' support, where you need to tell someone who will understand what you are doing.
So here goes.
This is yarn I am spinning (I am almost done spinning the 1 1/2 pounds) from Romney roving I obtained at the NYS Sheep and Wool Fest this year. It is wonderfully soft and almost spins itself.
Almost. So far I've put in about 10 hours altogether. Yesterday, I plied some of it.
Again, I am quite pleased with the results.
Next, I would have to swatch.
Is your curiosity piqued yet?
This yarn is for a special sweater I am making for my dad.
We are going to Germany for Christmas this year, the first time since 1993 (other years we went during the summer). Also, it is my dad's 70th birthday on December 30th. This handspun, handknit sweater will be his present from me.
I hope I'll make it.
But now that I've told you, there is some hope that I will stick to my plan because you all are keeping tabs on me.
Or, you may just call me crazy.
6 comments:
Love the pink hat! It will be a great gift. And the yarn for your Dad's sweater! Well, what can I say? It looks great too! I so enjoyed watching you spin it and now it looks so cozy. I can't wait to hear what Dad says about it. Keep up the good work!
Hi Karen,
I got your comment via my blog, but was unable to respond by e-mail so I figured i'd catch you here:
As for measuring yardage of handspun, there's not a super accurate way of measuring unless you have a yardage counter (its a little device that you feed the yarn through while winding it into a ball, etc.) I don't have one, so I just wing it. There are approximate conversion charts online that take the weight of the yarn (in wpi) + the weight and give an approximate yardage count, but that can range pretty widely on how densely spun the yarn is.
I hope that helps! I find my yarn tends to have a little more yardage per ounce than commercial yarns - I guess I spin it light enough to keep a lot of air in it.
Thanks!
Jared (brooklyntweed)
Did you happen to read Yarn Harlot today? Are you two sisters? It's a very large undertaking and I wish you nothing but success. I'll be following your progress :)
Jared, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate it!
Leslie,
yes, and it scares me sometimes.
Thank you for your support!
Jody, more spinning to be done! Not to worry. I'll be there with my wheel on Tuesday.
Knit girl, knit! And keep on knitting. I love the yarn...loved the romney when I first saw it and I know it will be a fabulous sweater. If you can just forgo cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, and you can knit like a madwoman on largish needles, I say you will have plenty of time leftover!
I am sure the sweater will be completed...I have total confidence in you.
Elise
What a great color and it will be a beautiful sweater - so get knitting - set the rhythm and you will be just fine...
What a goal and it will be a great surprise for your Dad...
now to read the yarn harlot and see what the kinteic world has set astir
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