Finished Cardigan

I finally finished the Martha Cardigan. Granted, it was over a month ago, but better posted late than never!

Pattern: Martha by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan magazine #28

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in Yakima (9459)

I had to adjust the pattern because the yarn is a larger gauge than than called for even though it's knitted at a fairly tight gauge. I also lengthened the torso, made slight revisions to the armholes to adjust for row gauge, and did more bust increases than called for. Basically, I made it fit.






My favorite things about this sweater?

It fits. Perfectly!

The textures of the stitch pattern and the yarn offset each other beautifully.

The buttons complement the design beautifully.

It's warm enough to wear as a jacket on those warmer Denver winter days, yet not so hot that I have to take it off the moment I walk indoors.

I finished it early enough in the season to have a few chances to wear it before summer really hit.



Things I'd improve on if I had to do it over?

The armholes have issues. The sleeves fit into the armholes nicely in the first picture of this post, but here you can see the problem. If I move my arms much there's bunching.

The collar doesn't want to lay flat. I've tacked it down in back and the damned thing still flips up.

The neckline is a bit too wide.


In spite of these flaws, I love it. It's done, it fits, and it's mine!

Spinster #3

Ok, so I didn't finish plying my yarn and I really don't know when I'm going to get a chance to do it. Plus, I don't know what I want to make with it! So it's on hold for the moment.






However, I did LOVE getting the corriedale plied, and dyed! Here is a sample of the plied corriedale, the parallelogram :0 on the bottom. I clearly had some over twisting going on.

The single is actually the combed fiber we experimented worsted spinning with. Still a little biased and wonky but damn fine stitch definition even with the unevenness of the spinning.

Spinster #2

Llama silk blend spun on my drop spindle. It's sooo soft!










On the left: spun from various colors blended on the drum carder. One strand was spun worsted, the other woolen. I just wish there were more.

In the middle: more of the llama/silk, this time bulkier.

On the right: Corriedale spun for class - the second skein. I can really see how much I improved.






And the best part - naturally dyed hand-spun yarn. This just begs for a small fair isle project.

Done in time for Spring

After 7 months and 17 other projects the sweater is finally done.
It's warm, beautiful, and fits perfectly. The weather even cooperated by cooling off this week just so I could wear it.

Alas, the day after I finished it I took a tumble while running for the bus and sprained my wrist. I haven't been able to knit or spin in 2 days. 2 DAYS!!!! I'm going nuts. Or more nuts.. either way.

I tried to get the boy to take a picture of me wearing the sweater. How does he manage to take out of focus pictures with an automatic camera? It's a mystery.

Perhaps another purl girl can help me out with a photo soon!

ooo.... ahhhhh.....

Look, it's something I might even want to knit with!








And I started a new project: linen tunic. Pam has contributed by assuring that I am not using a pattern. :P

Sorry for the hideous photo. You'll just have to imagine how nice it is.

Spinster #1

My First Handspun. It's 2 ply that we finished in class this week. Where's everyone else's? It's definitely different than machine processed yarn - it's poofier, fluffier. It just has more life.

Funny how I couldn't stop myself from spinning the entire section of roving we made in class - it's so easy to spin, so fluffy, and so pretty! The roving (before spinning) is on the right, and the finished yarn is on the spindle.



I've also been very very preoccupied with this fluffy critter, Colby. He's so adorable. sigh.

Springy Socks

Mom's birthday was last week. I made her very first pair of hand-knitted socks - using the super yummy Cherry Tree Hill's Supersock Merino and Diane Mulholland's Express Lane pattern. I love lace patterns. I love socks. I love this yarn. Good things come in threes.


Here's Mom opening up her present. We'd already had one screwdriver down the hatch, so everything was hilaaarious. Oh, wait, maybe that was Rob's hair we're laughing at...


Yum. Mom's Plum Martini. We went to Bastien's in Denver for dinner. We really enjoyed it.

Ewwwww.... smells like goat in here

That disgusting bucket is a mohair fleece. Even after being washed 3x and rinsed twice, it's still a little smelly. Hopefully when it dries it won't be too bad. The wool didn't get as clean as I hoped it would either, but now at least it can be carded and spun. I can hardly wait!

But I keep doing OTHER THINGS. Getting things ready in the loft / for the trip. Pam helped me go through clothing. always a painful prospect for both of us. Here's what I have left:



















But it only filled these two boxes! I worked so hard and that's all I giving to charity?



















At least it gives me hope that I'm not really going to be storing all that much stuff.

Could it be? It IS!

I have finished the warm hug, and....

It's still in season! Check out DB watching the snow fall (as though she'd never seen it before, what a dingbat).

Yes, I know it looks like she's watching construction workers, but she's watching the snow fall sideways.

Yarn Harlot Visits Us

The following entry is from our very first guest columnist, Irene Luckett, founder of Koffee Kompanions and psuedo-Mother-In-Law of SissyPrincess. Irene is also a proficient knitter and a graduate of the SP knitting school.

Yarnharlot comes to Denver!

Pam, Heather and Irene (left).

I met Pam, Kathryn, Heather, and Lynne, Heather’s non-knitting mom who tolerates the rest of us very well, in Highlands Ranch for a book signing at Tattered Cover Bookstore. We were there to hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, author of several humorous books about knitting and knitters. She’s the Jerry Seinfeld of the knitting world! Her entertaining blog is called Yarnharlot. Today she wrote about the difficulties of surviving in high altitude. It was funny to us who live here but not so for Stephanie, who was suffering from altitude sickness!

Because Yarnharlot’s coffee cup looks so lonely in her blog photos, I gave her a cup lid and a coffee cozy while she signed my book. The fabric has balls of yarn printed on it.

Heather, Pam, and Kathryn chatted with Stephanie while I took photos.

Pam forgot her coffee cozy to use on her papercup of hot tea that she bought at the bookstore coffee shop. I loaned her my Kup Kollar so she wouldn’t burn her fingers. A knitter has to protect her hands!

The purlgirls
Pam, Kathryn, and Heather