We’ll get to the “ack!” later. The sister visit was great. Unfortunately all the good photos are on John’s computer, and I’m too lazy to go down and get them. We drank a lot, ate a lot, saw a few of the local sites, and for a change, had a bit of sunshine around here. Very little knitting got done, though I did get some spinning done. Here are a few photos.
I showed this before, but I finally got it washed and recorded the details. Again, this is Targhee wool, about 12 ounces of fiber, spun on the wheel. It turned out to be a heavy worsted weight, about 10 WPI, and around 1040 yards. This is going to make some nice warm mittens and hats. John gets the first set, and anything left will be mittens and perhaps a hat for me.
The next stuff is the fiber that I showed you in progress last time.
This is a BFL-silk blend from Wolf Creek Wools. I spun this on the wheel as well, and it is about 20 WPI, about a light sport weight by the time I got it plied. I had 4 oz of fiber to start with, it ended up being about 280 yards. I think this will be a lovely cowl, or perhaps some nice mitts or hand warmers. Or I might just keep it on my desk and pet it.
The next is the “ack!” part. I’m still working on that mystery electric baby blue thing. I’m at the point where I need to pick up a gazillion stitches around the edges. I sat down to do this while the sisters were here, and ripped out the picked up stitches about 4 times before I decided it needed a time out. The pattern as I’m adjusting it calls for picking up 128 stitches on each edge, I just couldn’t get this done without ending up with more or less than I was supposed to have. I suppose there could have been vodka involved, but still. This really isn’t a difficult task. I picked it up again today, and realized that instead of just wading in and picking up stitches willy-nilly, I should divide the edge in quarters with markers, it makes it easier to see when I’ve gotten off track. I got one side done at the salon today, and it should get done a little more easily from here. Here’s a teaser photo.
They just don’t make Cotton Ease in those great blinding colors any more.
I’m off to get a few chores done. We have tickets to a concert tonight at the Seattle Zoo, so I need to get it in gear. Later!
Another long lost blogger heard from. It’s been a quiet summer in blogland – guess we’re all pretty busy. Your spun yarns are gorgeous. I seem to have lost my spinning mojo for the time being, but am confident it will probably come back in the fall or winter. I pretty much never pick up stitches without dividing the edge. I know better than to fly by the seat of my pants on that one!
Still have my blindingly colored Cotton Ease stash… 😉
The skeins you spun are gorgeous!
Sometimes, when an edging just isn’t working out for me, I will call it quits and use a backwards single crochet stitch around the edges. It makes for a basic, generic edging that seems to stabilize the entire baby blanket. It also makes the blanket not so fancy-dancy but more for every day, knock around/drag around use. Besides, that usually is my intention in the first place rather than to make a blanket that is used only a couple of times for very special occasions.
Good luck with picking up the rest of the stitches; that’s never a fun task. I would do the same as you and divide the perimeter into quarters. I remember seeing a tutorial on how to pick up stitches depending on the direction of the knitting and how to figure out the math, but I can’t remember where. 🙁
The spinning is fabulous!! 🙂
What’s wrong with electric blue? Looks fine to me. 🙂 I am not a happy stitch picker upper.
I cheat. I divide it into four and get as close as I can. When knitting the first row I add and decrease stitches where needed.