Spring Zing

We've had a bit of a hiccup in the Spring weather here, with rumours of snow on the nearby hills in the past few days. Nevertheless I've been stitching away at a couple of little spring scarves for myself. Here's my favourite one still on my needles.

It's a Patons viscose-cotton blend called Sorrento. It reminds me of the eighties slubby cotton knit tops that a friend of mine used to wear. I'm just increasing at the beginning and end of every row to form a wide triangle. 

Another Scarf

I finished this scarf yesterday.

I decided the yarn was just the thing for another go at the ruffles design I made here. The yarn is a mohair blend which turned out to be too soft for its original purpose. There's no such thing as too soft for one of these scarves and the crochet structure adds strength. Now it's in a box on its way to my friend D along with her blanket and other bits and pieces which have been waiting to make the trip north. Whether she's out in the elements or curled up on the couch my friend can have a bit of woolly goodness to keep her warm. 

Solomon's Knot

I've just finished this solomon's knot stitch scarf. It's probably a bit light for this time of year, but it seemed the best approach to make the most of the navaho-plied yarn I had spun up some time ago.

Both the solomon's knot stitch and the navaho plying work to keep the colours distinct. I've finished it off with a simple fringe.

Tube Scarf

I've been working away at the mohair tubular scarf in various odd bits of time.

I've just finished re-knitting the yarn that I'd ripped out from my previous attempt. Thankfully it held up quite well to all the handling. 

Another Finish

This little scarf was another finish on the weekend.
Despite what felt like an eternity of stitches-200 of them--it was a little shorter than I wanted. It's a while since I've made one of these sideways scarves. I must've used bigger needles last time. And yes it would seem logical to write down what I've done each time I make a scarf, but there are so many of them and each one its different--that's half the fun. And what seems "long enough" one day might turn out to be "a bit too short for what I want" another day. In any case, adding a couple of little stripes on the end provided a bit more interest and finished the scarf off beautifully.

By the way, can you see the difference in loft between the blue yarn and the multi-coloured one? It was actually the same fleece and exactly the same spinning. I flattened the multi-coloured one into a slightly felted yarn when I over-handled it to get all those interesting colours. Learning from that experience, I was extra specially gentle when I dyed the blue.

Knitting

I'm knitting away at yesterday's wool.It's a long way between needles. I cast on 200 stitches so as to knit a scarf longways. It's a trick I often use when I'm not sure how far a skein of yarn will go. Once I know a scarf is long enough it doesn't really matter how wide it is. If the yarn is a bit scarce I have a skinny little thing, affectionately known as a "scraf"--that's a cross between a scarf and a scrap. If I have plenty of yarn I can have fun with a ruffle or some other embellishment. Or I can cast off and use the last bit of wool to trim some wristies. I like the freedom and versatility.

Knitting Again

It's great to be learning so many new things in my TAFE Textile Art course. The only down-side is the difficulty in finding time for the things I already know and love. I've had this knitting on the needles since last year:I used it for my Windows Frames installation in Sydney Rd. I spun and knitted it from some merino fleece which a friend had kept for years in her garden shed. The knitting is fluid and organic and incorporates knitted singles--unbalanced yarn with a tendency to twist on itself. Lately I've been playing with the idea of working it into a scarf under the theme, "Rhythm of Life". Yesterday I decided to finish the yarn I had already spun up and use what I've knitted as a sample for my new piece. Now it's been washed and dried overnight. That gives me a good idea of how the fabric is going to behave. It also gives me the opportunity to start some new spinning and knitting. I also have homework to do for two new teachers and assignments to finish for our first block of subjects which concluded last week, so I'd better get into my day. Just as well the end of daylight saving effectively gives me an extra hour.

Fishing

Yesterday I was fishing around for something easy to work on. We've had some warm days, so I wasn't in the mood for the usual woolly scarf or hat, even though I've been tempted to put the heater on the past few mornings with the temperatures coming in at the low-teens. Anyway, a hank of hand-dyed 4-ply cotton caught my eye and I decided to have a go at a Solomon's Knot scarf. I've made these before in wool and they're rather insubstantial. I figured the same thing in cotton would be ok to dress up an outfit on a warm day. I first came across Solomon's Knot stitch in an old crochet book from an Op shop. It was used to make a string bag, but I really liked the stitch pattern and wanted to feature it in something a bit more decorative, so I started using it for scarves. I'm not too sure about the outcome in cotton. I like the colour and the shape of the stitches, but I'm afraid that when it's bunched up it will look a bit too stringy. Anyway, for a quick and easy experiment it was ok and it gave me something to work on yesterday in between what turned out to be a serious of unlooked for complications. I'll try adding a beaded fringe and see if that helps to give it a bit more impact. Meanwhile, I'm back to needing a quick and easy project to carry around with me.

This and That

I finished the Lattice Lace scarf yesterday morning. I just kept knitting until I'd used up the second ball, even though I maybe could have stopped a little sooner. I like to have quite a bit of length in my scarves to give me different options when I wear them. I'm also trying to avoid having lots of leftover bits of yarn to deal with. I immediately started a hat in the same yarn, teamed with a teal wool-lycra, also leftover from the recent blanket.

The multiplication problem I've been experiencing with this collection of yarns continues. One large cushion cover, a scarf and most of a hat done since I finished the blanket and there are still a fair few balls of yarn in the box. Oh well, I'm not complaining, it's nice to have some accessories to mix and match, and it's just the right time of year for a bit of light woolly goodness.

Time Machine

Where did my morning go? Usually posting is towards the top of my daily "to do" list, but here it is nearly half past one and I'm just sitting down to the computer. Well at least I got my current knitting project finished. Here it is--a blue scarf for a girl who turns seventeen today: Therein lies another question: where did my week go? The recipient of this scarf is two states and two days postage away from where I am. This should have been in the mail by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest--in an express pack--but here it is just coming off my needles. And while we're at it, where did the years go? It wasn't so long ago I first met her as a five year old . . . Somehow time's going by faster than I can keep up and there's not much I can do about it. Except in this case, say, "Happy Birthday" from afar and give my friend A a sneak peak of what should be in her hands already. It will be in the mail tomorrow. I'll spare you the, "my, how you've grown!" and "it seems only yesterday" . . .

Autumn Dress Rehearsal

So it's mid-April--definitely Autumn by the calendar. But the season itself is not so convincing. A week or two ago I was sure it was Autumn. We changed our clocks back from Daylight Saving on Easter Sunday. Suddenly the evenings were an hour shorter. We had a run of days with maximums around 19-20 degrees. There was snow in the Alpine Region. The last few days have been summery again. Fine weather and temperatures up in the high 20's--oh Centigrade by the way.

I've lived in Melbourne more than ten years now, I should be used to the weather, but the first cool days always catch me by surprise. Intellectually I know that summer comes to an end and t-shirts are superseded by long sleeves, jackets and scarves, but somehow I don't really accept the truth until it happens. Then I find myself unprepared. There have been cool weather clothes in the shops for a couple of months, but I haven't bought any.

On the other hand there is always plenty of wool in the house! I crocheted myself this little scarf on the first cold day:
It's hand-spun merino and dip-dyed by me. I'm really happy about how the colour patterning has turned out. Now I just need the Autumn weather to come back so I can wear it!

Felting Fun

Saturday morning's session at the Guild was a basic felting workshop. When I first saw felting in the Certificate Spinning program I was rather unimpressed. There are so many aspects of spinning to learn and develop. Why spend a morning on felting? But by the time we got to Saturday morning, I'd decided to suspend any didactic criticism and just go with the flow. I'm glad I did. Basic felting was easy and fun. And, look what I made! It's a nuno felted scarf. There is a layer of black silk voile sandwiched between the two layers of lightly felted merino tops. On one side I've added wisps of silk tops for embellishment. It's in my sea-jewel colours and I'm looking forward to wearing it. And, it was an easy enough exercise that I've already started inviting friends to come and have a go. I'm sure there's a lot more to felting than this, but it was great to have a taster and pick up a new skill. After a hectic and stressful couple of months the activity just suited my mood. So, thanks for the felting workshop!

Next class is all about dyeing. That's another one to make me happy, and then, believe it or not, it will be the end of the year!

Maths

I've been checking the requirements for my beginner knitting classes. I have to admit, I rarely check requirements when I'm making a simple scarf for myself. I'm happy enough to have a guess and see how I go. I can always adjust as I go along. But it's only fair to be a bit more precise for the sake of a beginner.

At the end ofthe day it comes down to some simple maths. Here's a close up of a garter stitch scarf:

Looks a bit like a brick wall, doesn't it. Each stitch is like one brick. It took three 50 g balls to make this scarf. What if I want a bigger or smaller one? To work out how much wool I need I just need to know how many bricks there are and how much wool I need on average for each one . . . done!