Wild T. Whiffit - Finished!

Way back in 1979, Bernat released this latch-hook kit.  According to the poster on the reverse of the instructions, it was part of the Wonderful Wide World of Whiffits.  I have no idea what a whiffit is, and google searches came up empty.

According to the poster, the T stands for Tiger.  I have always loved tigers (having been born in the year of the Tiger) but I would never want an actual tiger skin rug, so this seemed a perfect solution.  Fun, and whimsical.  I did the latch-hook part right away, and sewed one ear front and back together, and then the parts traveled with me through my life and around the country for the next forty-six years!  The amazing thing is that I did not lose any of the pieces, or the materials.  The materials, and the all-important instructions, traveled in a box from a Rike’s department store (a Dayton, Ohio store) that is probably long since gone, along with two embroidery hoops and an old margarine container of beads and sequins (probably from a Christmas ornament kit).  It should be noted that the only thing neatly contained in the box were the beads and sequins, the organizing of the yarn bits was done today.

When I was organizing my studio after my retirement I pulled everything out and promised myself that I would finally finish it.  The hardest part, of course, was assembling the head.  The top of the head was part of the body, but the sides and the throat were all separate pieces and had to be stitched together.  The instructions said to whip stitch the canvas edges down, and sew the pieces together with the wrong sides facing, matching up marks to make sure that everything lined up correctly.  The problem with that approach is that as soon as you sewed the canvas edges down you could no longer see the all-important marks that you needed to line up.  So instead I assembled with the right sides facing, and did a running stitch through the canvas grid, tightening things as I went.  It made the assembly easier, but then I had to turn the head right side out.  That was a bit of a struggle, but I managed it without tearing anything apart.  Stuffing the head was easy, but used a fair bit of stuffing.  Sewing the ears on was also a little difficult, I whip stitched those in place.  I have also basted the canvas edging under to prepare it for the final finishing.  The instructions call for rug binding, and I have some coming tomorrow, but I might get some felt and just back the whole thing.  The head is just adorable.

And Jezebel approves, as can be seen in this photo of her laying on it after I had partly stuffed the head, but before the ears were attached.  She is a little bit hard to see, being a black cat.

Tessellation Nation - Take Four?

So I have been noodling around with this one for, oh, six months now.  Trying out different designs and color combinations and just not finding anything that really got me excited, although in the process I’ve had fun and learned lots.

I started out with some of my favorite colors - teals and purples and made a couple of pentagon circles.

That really didn’t go anywhere, although I like the color combinations.

I made more progress on my next iteration, but still just wasn’t feeling it.  Then I ordered a color card for the Scheepjes Terrazzo yarn, which helped my design process immeasurably.

Next I thought I would try a gradient of pinks for my background.  But that wasn’t sparking me either.  I had printed out an asymmetric grid (no motifs) to keep track of my progress on this last go and as I was working I just became fascinated by the shapes and how they interacted.  So I went back to basics and decided to kick it old school.  I printed out another asymmetric grid and got out my colored pencils and made the design in the first picture.  No motifs, just shapes and colors.  In the end I decided on just six shapes - pentagon 1 (I love making these, they are like potato chip crochet), stars, boats, diamonds, medallions and mandalas.  No small flowers, no 5-petal flowers, no 10-petal flowers.  Instead of small flowers, I’m using pentagons in that shape.  The next challenge was the colors for those.  I had decided I wanted a central pentagon with a green frame, and then 5 petal pentagons with a blue frame.  My first attempt at the colors wasn’t quite right.

I ordered some more colors and they came yesterday and last night I started yet again.

Finally something that got me smiling and nodding “yes!”.  I’m even going to be able to use those pink pentagons that I made.  I’m not sure what to do with all those other attempts.  I suppose I could turn them in to dodecahedrons.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Scheepjes Terrazzo

Hook:  F (3.75 mm)

Practically Handspun - Six Skeins Done!

My Practically Handspun keeps growing.  When I’m working on it and dealing with the bulk of the knitting that is completed I start to have second thoughts about my plans, but then I try it on or put it on my dress make dummy for a photo and think that it is going to work out the way I imagine it.  I think it will look great with black leggings, a black turtleneck and boots, and then I can add a dramatic necklace.  I am on the last set of skeins - Purple Haze - and they are a pretty nice set of skeins, which keeps tempting me to go do something else with them.  But I do think I should stay the course on this one.

I am doing increases on the sides every 10 rows to give it an A-line shape.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich 

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top from The Woolery

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Starry Night - Finished!

I finished this up this past Wednesday, knitting while watching PLY Guild videos - Season 1, Foundations, the episode on spindle spinning, which mostly convinced me that I don’t want to do that (even though spindles are such a beautiful and simple tool).  As a side note, I’ve found the videos to be extremely well done, and useful, and am happy that I backed them on Kickstarter, and am a lifetime member as a result.  But back to knitting.  I love how this came out.  I know the yarn label says “Super Sock”, but maybe it really should be called “Super Soft”.  It has a wonderful drape, and also feels very light.  The top fits me perfectly, just the right amount of ease and length.  I even have the perfect set of jewelry to wear with it.  I honestly think it was the perfect yarn for this pattern.

The colorway was a two-skein set by Sundara Yarn, inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night.  I did not do any of the patterning in the main colorway (the blue) knowing that it just would not show up, but I love the way the different blues stripe, and the contrast between the darkness of the top half and the light and airy bottom half.  It is just dreamy.  I went up a size, knowing my gauge did not match the pattern (I had more stitches and rows per inch than the pattern called for), and added extra length in the bottom half (after chart E).  I had plenty of both colors, although I did use more of the blue.

Pattern:  Kaya Tee by Megumi Shinagawa

Yarn:  Super Sock by Sundara Yarn

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)
 

Starry Night - Time For Chart E!

I have finished knitting the 3.5 inches after placing the sleeve stitches on holders and casting on underarm stitches.  Per the pattern, the rest of the body is supposed to come out to 6.5 inches, so based on my row gauge I need another 16 rows of the yellow to make everything come out correctly.  I should have enough of the blue to do the few rows on the body between chart E and chart F, but I’m not sure if I will have enough to work the few rows on the sleeves before I work chart G.  We’ll see.

Pattern:  Kaya Tee by Megumi Shinagawa

Yarn:  Sundara Yarns Super Sock

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Three Skeins Done!

Another skein knitted up.  I’m in the mindless part, just increases every 10 rows to give a slight A-line silhouette, which is a modification to the pattern that I made at some point.  I was thinking about making two of these vests out of these sets of my handspun, but have now decided that I’m just going to keep knitting on this one until all the yarn is gone, using it from thickest (mostly) to thinnest.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - 2 Skeins Done!

I finished up Skein 11d, and started working with Skein 12b.  The transition between Skein 11d and Skein 12b worked out perfectly at the end of a row.  If I had been thinking things through a little more I might have started with Skein 12b, and then worked either Skein 11d or Skein 12c.  That would have me working from the thickest yarn to the thinnest.  But that is not what I did, and I think it looks just fine as it is.  At this point I had finished Skein 12b, and have cast off the stitches for the sleeve caps.  I am now working with Skein 12c, then I’ll use Skein 12a.  If I still need more length I’ll use Skein 11c.  I am enjoying the knitting.  There is something extra special about working with your handspun, imperfect though it may be.

This is a nice shot of the yoke that I forgot to post.  I like the garter stitch bands.

I have enough yarn that I can make a second vest using up Skein 11 and all of Skein 13.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich 

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)