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Saturday 2 February 2019

winter....

apparently it's cold and white everywhere! the uk has a cold snap, there's been loads of snow, esp. in southern germany - and parts of northern USA are in deep freeze as it seems... even ireland got a bit of a dusting! as you can see in the banner, which is from 2 days ago, we had a bit of a white wonderland for the last few days. I do like winter, esp. when it's sunny and cold, but not, when we have to travel on bikes - esp. in the dark and on icy roads:( I am a chicken, scared of falling, slipping, so in this weather I tend to stay at home if I can!
 
on the other hand it's the perfect excuse to stay inside - and knit or spin! someone has to make hats, scarves and blankets!:) I've been working on several things at once. after christmas all I wanted was a bigger project, without much sewing or putting together, just plain knitting row after row... together with an acute case of starteritis that meant one cowl (peduncle silk and beads) that I work on at the kitchen table. one cowl for tv knitting, spinning of course, and a pair of socks, following a pattern from the book by Hunter Hammersen, silk road socks. I was quite disappointed when I found out that the first print was oop and only to be had for silly prices in 2nd hand. but a little while back the 2nd batch was published and I snatched one copy up as soon as!
ehm, I had planned to show the finished sock here... but apparently I haven't taken a pic yet. ok, will have to wait until 2nd sock is finished so - sorry about that:(
 
what you see here is part of the hp cowl I've started. in double knitting, to avoid endless floats... it feels nice and warm... 
but the downsize is that I have to knit endless rows - 640 sts per row, to be precise! which is ok in general, but no fun if you made a mistake and have to knit back:( which I discovered after a few rows of knitting the pattern! I spend one evening with tinking just 2 rows - and knitting one of them new again:(  
and just now I discovered (only when seeing the pic!) that there is another mistake, albeit a small one... I am so not going to knit back again - this would mean half the cowl! I think a bit of swiss darning is in order - once the cowl is done! I am playing yarn chicken as it is - it'll be very close, but I ordered the yarn from germany and there won't be time to order and finish knitting in time for the birthday, if I don't have enough:(  
I have a bit of a twinge in the left shoulder, so I can't knit for hours on end. but I can't sit empty-handed either, so I got myself a new toy: the zoom loom from schacht! I've been ogling that for a good while now, and when I saw a good offer (from australia of all places:) shortly before christmas, I couldn't stop myself. it arrived on the 24th of december, a perfect gift to myself:) it's simple, very portable, easy to do, and doesn't use the same movements as knitting - so it's a good way to spend my time, when I need a break!

 

and it's handy for using up all those small balls of handspun yarns, leftovers from bigger projects, test spins that weren't needed etc. one square is 10 x 10 cm or 4 in - and needs very little yarn. I am going to make a small mountain first, of whatever yarn I can find - and might put together a blanket later...  
 
of course I also have other projects on the go. our textile craft group is going to make a charity blanket, lots of small granny triangles... and we're also making a nativity scene as a group project. only due for christmas of course, but I am going to make one of the three kings/wise men - so in my mind I am already planning how to make the figurine, how to decorate etc.. I am no good at needle felting, not good at sculpturing in general, so I'll have to find a way to make a doll shape first. the decorating can be as over the top as I like - kings are usually colourful with rich clothes after all:) I'll let it "stew" in my head for a while - and maybe I'll browse the net a bit to get a few ideas...
 
then there's the spinning and knitting project of the Chestnut Crescent by Kieran Foley. I bought mainly berry and turquoise/blue/petrol colours for this - plus some sari silk fibres to add a bit of zing! couldn't resist that of course and spun it up first. it's a two ply, 100 g of it - which should be enough as an effect yarn with the merino I still have to spin. the shawl is a riot of colour and uses gradient colours in parts, so now I have to decide whether I should blend and spin my own gradients - or spin the colours separately and just knit with lots and lots of them? I have enough to do a few small test runs - but first I have to finish the last batch of natural dark brown merino - for the hexa hap I've planned, as a contrast yarn.
 
with all this fibrey stuff going on - maybe I should wish for more winter to come? once spring is on the way, gardening will take over - and time will be in short supply again...

5 comments:

DelightedHands said...

So nice to catch up with you! The winter scene in your banner is very pretty!
The cowl you are taking on is quite the work--I do hope you win the yarn chicken game!!! Another blog friend just made a large blanket using the woven squares--so, so comfy done in the handspun!
The blue skein is a nice contrast to the moss (?) in the picture--I hope winter continues for a bit longer for you!

Woolly Bits said...

Cindy - I should have taken a pic today:( what a contrast, grey all day and constant drizzle:( that's our usual winter for us - days of blue sky and snow are rare! I'd rather have spring now than the grey, damp days that are forecast... though the moss likes it:)
I saw a lot of lovely projects with the pin loom squares - right now I am just making some, without thinking about future projects. it's fun to do, and not quite as heavy on the shoulders as knitting can be...

Leigh said...

I haven't seen one of those little looms in forever! What fun. And what a great way to use up odds and ends. The cowl is lovely, BTW.

Nina said...

The Harry Potter cowl will be fun when finished. That is a lot of stitches for sure and I agree that a bit of duplicate stitch can be a very good thing. It's been bitterly cold here until a couple of days ago when the weather turned mild. Now it's back to icky, with a dismally grey day of freezing rain and drizzle. Your colourful shawl would definitely brighten up a gloomy day.

Woolly Bits said...

Leigh - thanks - the cowl might be lovely, once I've closed the top row (640sts!) with kitchener, yuck... but it has to be done:) and the loom is great fun. when I am too tired to work on more counting or thinking intensive projects, the loom is my go-to now. the winding and "weaving" is so simply, that it can be done half asleep on the sofa:)

Nina - I hope my son will like the hp cowl, esp. after I won the yarn chicken - about 5 yds of black are left:) not sure that he'll be able to wear it before end of year, because apparently our cold spell has ended. back to normal irish temps of around 8 deg. C - too warm for a dk cowl?!