by Kat | Aug 22, 2016 | General, In This Moment
Hullo, Monday… nice of you to bring the cooler weather. Too bad you did not bring some organization with you because I am feeling decidedly unorganized today!
Friday Happy Hour was an inside affair, but it was good. And, that Tomato Jam is to die for! Couple that with some icy cold Martini’s and a bit of music and you have the makings for a perfect weekend!
We did a little retail therapy over the weekend and did some walking of the indoor type (thank goodness the mall is air conditioned!) And, then there was some Olympic viewing, which was a pleasant way to spend some quality knitting time!
I would like to say that the remainder of the weekend was wildly exciting, however, it wasn’t, and that was fine with me!
However, I did finish Jen Lucas Mystery Shawl (2013). I did need to break into the second skein but I only used a few yards. Blocking will commence shortly as the weather is perfect blocking weather. My Autumnal Pincha will be joining in on the Soak wash and a light blocking as well!
I did some reading as well. I am only about halfway through Knitlandia because I got derailed on Friday with the delivery of my friend, Jillian Moreno’s new book – Yarnitecture.
Last week, Kay and Ann talked about having a little Wash-Along that I am going to be joining in on this week. The humidity has departed, so things should dry fairly quickly. I am also going to be doing a bit of Knitting Kon-Mari. (Thanks, Vicki for this fantastic idea!) There are so many knitted things that I no longer wear (or never wore, if I am perfectly honest). These things need to either find a new home or discover a new life by either repurposing the item or repurposing the yarn!
This weekend was the Michigan Fiber Festival, which was kind of melancholy for me because Blogless Karen and I always went together. However, she came up with a fantastic idea – we are going to knit the shawl that Ann Hanson has in the latest Interweave Knits! It will be a little fall knit along we do and we are knitting it with the same yarn! Twinning in separate states is so much fun! Thanks, Karen for helping me feel like I was there, without being there!
How was your weekend?
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by Kat | Aug 19, 2016 | General
Happy FriYAY from a MUCH cooler, LESS humid Pittsburgh! The AC is off and the windows are open!!
Cranky Pants level has been dramatically reduced.
AND!!!
Dark Sky™ is forecasting temps in the 70’s next week, with overnight lows in the mid 50’s – low 60’s!!!! Funny how a little change in your surroundings can have such a huge impact on your emotional well-being (and FriYAY does not hurt either)!
That brings me to the Fiber portion of the post (if you are not a spinner, please feel free to skip ahead to the Friday Links below):
Last week’s yarn has become this week’s swatches, with some very interesting results! I knit up four swatches – two 2-ply swatches, and two single lace swatches. All yarns were washed in hot water with a little Soak Wash and laid flat to dry – they did not hang. The single yarns were fulled slightly by agitating them lightly in the hot water and plunging them into cold water. I repeated this process twice.
First up, the yarn spun and plied on my Matchless (details are here if you are interested):
The first swatch with the finished plied yarn, the yarn bloomed some, but not so dramatically that it changed the weight of the yarn. The finished yarn is 27 WPI and 5.5 TPI. This swatch came in with a gauge of 8 stitches per inch and 11 rows per inch.
The single yarn bloomed dramatically and ended up between 18-20 WPI and 1.25 TPI. It created a stiffer swatch, but it blocked out beautifully. Because I fulled the yarn, it has fairly good strength, however, it is still a fragile yarn. I do not think this yarn would wear well, but it does make a lovely open lace swatch.
Next, the spindle spun and plied yarns:
The first swatch with the finished plied yarn, the yarn bloomed a bit, but this yarn was less consistent than the yarn spun on my matchless. The range of TPI went from 23 to 14, however, the TPI was consistent at 5. I knit both swatches on the same size needle (US4), and this swatch got 7.5 stitches per inch and 10 rows per inch. However, I like the fabric that I got with the Matchless spun and plied swatch much better. It is much more even and uniform.
The second lace swatch with the finished single yarn is my favorite! The finished yarn has a little more twist (2 TPI) and it is consistent at 20 WPI throughout the skein. It created the most lovely, airy fabric! This fabric has beautiful drape, and it allowed for some aggressive blocking! While this yarn would not be perfect for a hard wearing garment, it would make a lovely shawl.
Now for those fabulous Friday Links:
That’s all I have this week, have an amazing FriYAY and an even better weekend! I will see you back here on Monday!
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by Kat | Aug 18, 2016 | General, In This Moment
On Being Cranky: As the heat and humidity stretch on unbearably, I am sitting here longing for a change. I am cranky pants at so many endless days of a closed up house, encased in air conditioning. And, when I say cranky pants – I mean really CRANKY PANTS! Perhaps, even more than a little verschimmelt, as my nana used to say.
Reading, reading, reading: I finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird and wow. How appropriate on so many levels. I really loved it, so much! It started out a bit slowly for me, but from about chapter 13 the book grabbed me and pulled me in and kept me engaged to the very last pages. I, like Jem and Scout, could not understand the guilty verdict. I am profoundly struck by how the more things change, the more they stay the same – and it is something that disturbs me greatly. If you never read this when you were in school – try it! I think you will enjoy it! And, today I will begin my last book for my Cover All and I am so excited! I had hoped that I could listen to Clara read it as I read along, but alas, there are still 3 people ahead of me at the library. So, I will read it solo first and then listen to Clara and see how that changes the dynamics of the story for me!
Knitting like the wind: I pulled one of the Jen Lucas shawls out of my basket (one that has a delicious autumn flair) I have plowed through the knitted on border (I had seriously less done than I thought, I was less than a quarter of the way through it, but after an afternoon’s worth of knitting I am about halfway done. My goal, finish this baby up today. This might be a bit ambitious because I think I will have to wind another skein of yarn… I am hoping not… yarn chicken makes for an exciting Thursday.
How is your week going, Gentle Reader?
by Kat | Aug 17, 2016 | General, Making
I really wanted to get my Pincha done yesterday, but a friend called and I was encouraged to take a Yarn Shop Detour. We wanted to visit Natural Stitches before they close in September and since it is not far from Yarns by Design, we stopped there too! There was lots of good conversation and a fantastic lunch, but not much knitting got done! There was some minor stash enhancement, including some fun yarn to knit a hat for a certain special little girl! It was a fun detour for the day, however, today I am back on track with just one last feather to finish on my Pincha.
I got the loveliest surprise in the mail yesterday, an incredibly thoughtful gift from a Twitter friend – Thank you so much, Jean!
On the reading front, I will finish with To Kill a Mockingbird this week, and my last book for a Bingo Cover All is Knitlandia, which I think will be the perfect way to finish my summer reading.
I am listening to The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen and I am enjoying it tremendously!
Linking up with Ginny and the Yarn Along today.
How is your summer knitting and reading going?
by Kat | Aug 8, 2016 | General, In This Moment
Why is Monday always in such a rush to get here and close the door on the weekend?! The weekend was so good; I would really just like to squeeze a bit more out of it!
Friday’s are always so nice, because well – Happy Hour! Icy cold martinis and good food makes unwinding from the week an easy task. Bonus treats included homemade ricotta, homegrown tomatoes, and smoked salmon!
There was LOTS of reading this weekend!! Which means I have a Bingo or three to tell you about! The books in italics are the ones I finished this weekend!
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First Bingo Across:
- White Nights by Ann Cleeves
- My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl
- Emma, Vol. 01 by Kaoru Mori
- Shear Spirit by Joan Tapper & Gale Zucker
- Still Life by Louise Penny
Second Bingo Across:
- Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves
- Written in My Heart’s Own Blood by Diana Gabaldon
- My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Third Bingo Down:
- Emma
- Grandmother
- It Itches by Franklin Habit
- Doc by Mary Doria Russell
- Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda
My Thoughts on the recently finished books:
My Grandmother… While this was not nearly as good as A Man Called Ove, it was still a lovely read. It caused me to think deeply about the relationships with the people around us – both family and friends – and the impact they have on our lives. And, every child should have a superhero! And there is indeed something incredibly special about a grandmother’s house. You truly never forget how it smells.
Emma…this is not a genre that I would have ever picked to read had “Manga” not been a bingo square. Thank you Margene for steering me to this book. It was a quick read.
Shear Spirit…Having to select a book from the top shelf of one of my bookcases and a blog post last week really spurred me to get this book down and read it. The book details 10 different fiber farms; all new to me and one of which was right in my back yard! I also found a project or two that I might have to queue up to knit! The photography and stories are just beautiful!
It Itches…I really just wanted a quick little read to fill that free square, as I have a good bit of reading to do to get a “cover all”. This is light, humorous and true (especially the stash story!!)
Finally, there was knitting and Olympics and an EPIC bind off. Now I just need to block the brown blob and get some glamor shots! Plus, I may have cast on something new…
How was your weekend?
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