So, Lotus Blossum, please private message me on Ravelry, where I am NurseKimKnits, and let me know which Ravelry giftable pattern of $5 or less you would like and I will get that to you as soon as possible! Congratulations!
I was able to complete my February Lady's Sweater this past week. One thing I really appreciate about my Ravelry project page is the ability to see that it took me just 23 days to knit that sweater. After knitting this, I feel it was a very easy sweater. It would be a nice challenge for the beginning knitter who is a bit adventurous. Granted, I did modify the sleeves to include decreases because I do not like floppy sleeves. At any rate, it is a warm sweater, made of 100% alpaca, and I am enjoying wearing it.
When I finished this sweater, I experienced a feeling I have not had in many years. It brought back memories of being in college. After the last final of the semester is completed, that feeling of lack of purpose set in. Wow! That sure was a blast from the past. In order to combat that I thought a simple project might get me through this. And it did! Although I think it looks more like a mouse, this is supposed to be a lamb from the Farm Animal Finger Puppets by Fiona McTague. I made it out of a worsted weight acrylic and adjusted the stitch counts, accordingly. This little guy is currently on its way, via USPS to my World Vision child I sponsor, in the Dominican Republic. If you are interested in sponsoring a child, I would highly recommend the World Vision group. You are allowed to send small gifts and they have a monthly automatic deduction from your account, making this very convenient. I can also send letters to my child and her family by e-mail, saving me postage. Occasionally, I get letters from her family and drawings she has made, as she is not old enough to write on her own. I feel strongly that we all need to help someone outside of ourselves and from whom we have no expectation of receiving anything, in return. This makes for a better world and a more humble self.
If you listen to any knitting podcasts, chances are good that you have heard about the new e-book of patterns from Alana Dakos entitled Botanical Knits. When I heard about it, I decided to look it up on Ravelry and wow, was I blown away. Once, I heard someone say you should not buy a magazine or knitting book unless there are at least 2 or 3 items you would like to knit. Well, with this guidance, it was a no-brainer for me to buy this book. I like every single pattern in it! Naturally, having just finished a sweater, I gravitated toward choosing another. My next sweater will be Entangled Vines. And of course, I need yarn to knit the sweater; so, I ordered this lovely yarn...:
...from the renowned Miss Babs. I must tell you, I have drooled over this particular yarn for some time! I first saw Miss Babs, herself, with all of her lovely fiber and yarn in Nashville at SSK 2012. I just did not have a vision for sweater knitting, at that time. I then drooled over her yarns at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool in the fall of 2012. When I saw that sweater pattern, this is the yarn that immediately came to mind. And then, there was this color....I am now on mailbox vigil, waiting, itching to get this project started.
As I wait, I have pulled out my Metro to see if I can get that completed before the yarn gets here. Now there is a worthy challenge for a knitter with "cast-on-itis!" This weekend, I have joined the shoulders and started the sleeves. This type of sleeve is a picked up, set in sleeve. This gives a very nice, tailored look to the sweater. I will just say that I have restarted the first sleeve 3 times. I am finally happy with what I am doing- and I wrote it down, this time, on my pattern! That way, sleeve 2 will have a better chance of looking like sleeve 1...... This sweater is made of the Vintage yarn I won from DramaticKnits podcast. When I finish this sweater, it will have only cost my the price I paid for the pattern. What kind of deal is that?
And now for some spinning! My Completely Twisted and Arbitrary spin along of my Southern Cross Fiber in the Storm's Edge colorway is coming right along! Funny thing is, in my last spinning session, I thought, "Oh, wow, I am over halfway finished with this, I wonder when the color changes." So, I looked down and poked around in my basket of fauxlags arranged in gradient order and realized that I am not about to start the final layer, but there are 2 more layers below the next! I have barely begun spinning! But it is so beautiful- I could not be happier with this discovery!
I also enjoy spinning with my spindles, too. This summer, at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, I picked up a 4 oz braid of mixed BFL from Gale's Art in what is commonly known as "naked" colorway. That means there is no dye added- this is the color God gave the individual sheep. I began spinning this fiber on my Trindle, a special spindle, and fell in love with the yarn! I stopped spinning that fiber and ordered more- enough to make a sweater. With that fiber set aside, I still had the bit of fiber I had spun up on my Trindle. I took that fiber and was able to successfully Andean ply (making a 2 ply yarn from a single length of one ply yarn) on my Trindle! This was my first plying on any type of spindle. Here are the 8 yards of yarn I made:
Because I plan to make a sweater, I thought a nice little swatch to see how this knits up would be in order:
I believe that I will like to have a sweater with this natural look. The BFL yarn hs a really nice to feel when knit, too.
That's all I have for this week. Remember to keep your knitting fantasy alive by feeding it often!
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