Taliesin Socks - Cast On!

Actually I cast on these socks over a year ago (best guess - November of 2023), knit 9 rows of the ribbing and then just sort of forgot about them.  I discovered them when I was setting up my project box for Tessellation Nation.  The project was hiding in a Harris Tweed project bag that I had purchased from The Woolly Thistle.  When I had stashed it in the project bag I had failed to stash the yarn label with the yarn, so the first thing I did was hunt that down.  I have a large zip lock bag that has the Janel Laidman patterns along with yarn and that is where I found the yarn label, although I did go down a rabbit hole because there was a yarn label that had Taliesin Sock on it.  That yarn was used for the Damselfly Socks.  This yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the Flashdance colorway.  The original skein was a total loss due to evil bugs, so it was pitched.  Fortunately I was able to procure another one.  The yarn does not match what is in the photo, but some sleuthing on Ravelry (looking at project pages for the pattern) allowed me to make the match.

I did not work the Latvian braid as she called for in the pattern (and in the video link she provided), with a second strand of yarn.  I worked a Latvian braid the way I learned how, where you make a stitch, put it back on the left hand needle, then knit into the back of the second stitch, and the front of the first stitch and drop them both off the left hand needle.  Then you transfer the first stitch on the right hand needle to the left hand needle as if to knit and repeat.  A video by Romi showed me how to join when I got to the end of the round.  You do end up with an extra stitch, so I did a decrease at the beginning of my second needle (I work on two circulars).  I also changed out the beads as I wasn’t crazy about the ones that were provided with the pattern.  Fortunately I have an excellent bead stash.

Pattern:  Taliesin Sock by Janel Laidman

Yarn:  Madelinetosh Tosh Sock

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm0

Lightning Thief - Finished!

As is typical for me, once I get to a certain point in a project I focus on it until it is finished.  So last week I focused on finishing up Lightning Thief, working the rest of Chart B, and the bind off.  The bind off was a bit of a slog.  Not hard, per se, once I saw the pattern and got into the rhythm, but it still required focus, and time.

Blocking also took time (an hour), as every one of those picots had to be pinned out.  To do it I put three fingers of each hand into the loops (like a cat scratching) and pulled to stretch out the knitting, then I switched my left hand to the first three loops while I pinned with my right hand, being careful to pin into the picot.  Once they were pinned I repeated for the second three loops.  Once all the picots were pinned out I could then do the fine adjustments to get them all laying neatly, make sure my pin was solidly in the picot, and make sure things lined up neatly.

I did make one modification to the pattern, adding a bead on row 40 over the CDD so that the line of beads terminated neatly.

Pattern:  Lightning Thief by Lily Go

Yarn:  Araucanian Yarns Huasca Multy Botany Lace

 Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Tessellation Nation - First Five Petal Flower Inset

I’ve also been making good progress on my Tessellation Nation since my redesign effort.  I’ve made my first five petal flower and set it in, and started on the bottom right hand corner, which has a new frame color - purple!  The outlines for two Mandalas are emerging.  I also ripped out the stars that I had done and redid them, as I didn’t like the center construction on them.  The pattern has you do a round of single crochets (14 plus a slip stitch join, for 15 stitches) and then a round of 30 half-double crochets, two per single crochet, which was just unwieldy.  First I tried working twenty triple crochets in 5 sets of four with a chain between each set, and that fit, but I wasn’t crazy about the look.  I pondered the problem on our daily walk and when I came back I checked to see if the first two rounds of the pentagon 1 would work, and it did.  So now that is how I work my stars.  I did change the beginning of round 2 so I start with chain three and a double crochet into the same stitch.  That way when I finish the round I am ready to work into the chain space for the first join and the first star point.  I work a single crochet into the chain space, join and then work another single crochet into the chain space before working the star point.  I always use a magic ring for my centers, which allows me to cinch up the piece to fit the space nicely.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton 

Yarn:  Scheepjes Terrazzo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F), 3.5 mm (E)

Spinning Report - Skein 14

After finishing up those beautiful dyed tops that I had bought, I went back to the undyed Heinz 57 top and also dropped down to a smaller whorl (I had been working on my 12:1 ratio whorl, but have now switched to my 16:1 whorl).  Still working short forward draft, and trying to spin as thin and consistent a single as I could.  Here is the first bobbin.

It was not a fast spin, and the single on my second bobbin was definitely thinner than the first, as I had a fair bit left over (for me) even though the weight of the singles on each bobbin was comparable, and my final skein was only 68 grams (I usually shoot for about 80 grams).

I also put my smaller whorl on my Kiwi for plying (15:1).  I had a few issues with the plying - I did have a break on my first bobbin, but was able to rejoin it into the plied yarn okay (a better join than I’ve typically been able to do), but I also had some resistance from the wheel - so I decided it needed a drop of oil.  Unfortunately the oil bottle that came with my Kromski was 10 years old, and the plastic was the old plastic that grows brittle with age (and with exposure to oil, I suspect) and the bottle cracked when I squeezed it.  I thought that I had only gotten oil on my hands, but apparently I had also gotten oil on my drive wheel and more importantly on my drive band, but I didn’t realize that at the time.  No, I kept plying, and wondering where the strange noise was coming from, and why it wasn’t treadling as easily as it should.  I managed to finish the plying, and only after the skein was soaking did I take a look at the wheel and figure out all that had happened.  I cleaned everything up and wiped everything down, and treadled it for a few minutes, and it should be fine now.  Fortunately I had bought a new maintenance kit for my Kromski and it came with a new bottle of oil in a plastic bottle that is the better plastic.  I saved the old oil in a sealed container, and the application tip, which is really long.

I dyed the skein in Wool Tincture Dyes, in the color Deep Water.  It is a very uniform dye job, which made me happy, but that is probably because the dye packs and the jar is geared for a 100 gram skein, and mine was only 68, so it had plenty of room.  The yarn came out at a sport weight, although there are stretches that are thinner and some that are thicker.  Even with the challenges, I am happy with the result.

Skein 14:  240 yards, 68.1 grams or 3.5 yards/gram

Lightning Thief - Part B, Chart 1 Done!

Last night I finished up the lace part of the first Part B chart (all those beads!) and this morning I finished up the four knit rows that separate the first Part B chart from the second Part B chart.  Still more beads!  But these are the larger size 6 beads, not the smaller size 8, which will be easier to work with.  I am excited about finishing this shawl, I looked at some of the finished projects on Ravelry and it is really beautiful.

Pattern:  Lightning Thief by Lily Go

Yarn:  Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Lightning Thief - Part A Done!

Last night I finished up Part A of the Lightning Thief for the large size.  This morning I weighed my yarn and did the math to see if I could make the extra-large size (the designer conveniently included charts with row by row stitch counts for all of the sizes), but alas I do not have enough yarn to do that, so it is on to Part B.

Pattern:  Lightning Thief by Lily Go

Yarn:  Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace

US 5 (3.75 mm)
 

Tessellation Nation - Progress on Bottom Left Corner

So I did a little redesign on my Tessellation Nation last week and maxed out the Medallion and Mandala flowers.  That did require me to rip out about a half dozen pentagons, but I’ve made good progress since the change.

The colors are not strictly correct - more of a suggestion, and I’m thinking of swapping the light and dark purple, but we will see what happens as I go.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Scheepjies Terrazo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F) and 3.5 mm (E)

Seahorse - Finished!

I really didn’t have all that much left to do, just the frilly bits, but it took me over a year to finally do it.  When I left off working on it I had completed the body and one of the side fins.  A couple of weeks ago I dug it out and did the little frilly bits by the eyes.  I didn’t bother blocking those before I sewed them on because I liked the look of them a little curly. I did the side fins and blocked them, and then finally did the dorsal fin.  That took me two tries to get it the right length.  I used the Long Dorsal Fin Style 1, level 1 and level 2 (the small and medium spikes), working a single small spike at the beginning and end, and working the medium spikes the rest of the way.  I did a slight modification to the pattern by skipping the slip stitch into the top of the tallest stitch in the spike - I didn’t like the look and it was a bit of a pain to work.  When I sewed the side fins on I did sew up the sides a bit so they weren’t so floppy.  I did not block the dorsal fin before I attached it.

Pattern:  Seahorse by Megan Lapp

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Worsted

Hook:  4.0 mm (G)

Spinning Report - Skeins 10-13

I have been spinning regularly, every day, when possible.  I typically spin in the mornings, and usually for 30 minutes to an hour.  I find it very meditative, and it sets my brain (and mood) up nicely for the rest of the day.  Since my last spinning post on March 7, I have spun and plied over 800 grams of yarn.  All of these yarns were spun on my Kromski at a 12:1 ratio and plied on my Kiwi at a 9.5:1 ratio.

This is my 10th skein.  I went back to the Heinz 57, which I use as a sort of palette cleanser, and a way to reset myself after spinning a new base.  This skein came in at 135 yards and 86.4 g, or 1.56 yd/g and about 10 wraps per inch, so something between a worsted and a DK.  I dyed the skein with Plum from Wool Tincture Dyes.  I still have some variation in the dye take up, mostly where the ties are, even though I do try to tie loosely and I swish the fiber around in my dye jar.  I’m not overly concerned, as I’m not going for total uniformity.  Here is a picture of the skein untwisted.

Overall I am happy with both the singles consistency - there is not as much variation as I’ve had in the past, and the plying consistency.  I do like the set up I have with spinning on the Kromski and plying on the Kiwi.  I’m not sure what I will make with this yarn, but have been thinking about some fingerless mitts.

A little while ago I did an impulse buy of some of Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Tops from The Woolery, so I tackled them next and focused on my singles, trying to be consistent.  For each of the tops I used the same process:  I took the 250 g top out of the bag and shook it out, and then divided it into three equal sections length-wise.  Two of the sections I wrapped up in to a nest and set aside, then I took one section and divided it in half length-wise again, so that I had two pieces of top that were about the same length.  I then stripped the top in half, and then in half again, so I was working with about one quarter of the top at a time to keep the colors from blending too much.  All were spun using short forward draw and scotch tension.  I spun two bobbins from each of the three original sections of top, I wound the bobbins off the wheel and onto another bobbin and let them sit overnight (at a minimum) before plying.  I did not spin up all of the fiber and then mix the bobbins, which I know is recommended to minimize variations in the plied yarn by compensating for variations in the singles, but I wanted to see my inconsistency, not mask it.  I spun a section, and plied it, and then spun the next section and plied it, until I had spun and plied all three sections.

The first top that I grabbed was the Cornucopia colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d.  As I settled in to spinning this top my singles settled in to a slightly thicker diameter.  When I was plying the first two bobbins I had a break, which I didn’t fix, so I ended up with two smaller skeins.

Skein 11a came in at 49 yards and 26.5 g, or 1.84 yd/g

Skein 11b came in at 76 yards and 44.5 g, or 1.69 yd/g

Skein 11c came in at 145 yards and 89.7 g or 1.62 yd/g

Skein 11d came in at 130 yards and 89.8 g or 1.44 yd/g

Next I grabbed the Valentine colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 12a, 12b, and 12c.  The singles on these three skeins are far more consistent.

Skein 12a came in at 115 yards and 79 g, or 1.46 yd/g

Skein 12b came in at 111 yards and 79.6 g, or 1.4 yd/g

Skein 12c came in at 121 yards and 84.3 g, or 1.44 yd/g

The last top is the Purple Haze colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 13a, 13b, and 13c, and on these skeins I went back to a thinner single, even thinner than what I had achieved on the first colorway.  I wanted to see how thin I could comfortably and consistently spin on the 12:1 ratio whorl.

Skein 13a came in at 154 yards and 78.1 g, or 1.97 yd/g

Skein 13b came in at 176 yards and 82.5 g, or 2.13 yd/g

Skein 13c came in at 161 yards and 83.6 g, or 1.93 yd/g

Overall, I am very happy with my spinning and plying on all of these skeins, and with the greater consistency I am achieving.  Although I have no idea what I want to make out of these three sets.

After finishing up these three tops I decided to go down a whorl size, so I set up with my 16:1 whorl and started spinning some more Heinz 57 top.  I haven’t finished my first bobbin yet, but I do have two ply-back samples:

After looking at the first ply-back sample (top) I decided I needed a bit more twist in my singles, which you can see in the bottom ply-back sample.  I’m pretty chuffed with the fineness I am achieving.  These are still short forward draw, although I did do a few inches of long draw just to see how it felt and looked - and it felt and looked pretty good.  Once I have spun short forward draw on all of my Kromski whorls (after the 16:1, I will do the 20:1), I will go back to the biggest whorl and practice long draw on all of them.

Tessellation Nation - Bottom Left Corner Started!

Last Tuesday I finally started working on this project in earnest.  I have a design, with basic (frame) colors picked.

And I have bought a pallet of yarn in colors that I like that more or less corresponds to the colors in my design.

So last Tuesday morning I pulled out skeins and started arranging them into colorways and came up with the color scheme for the lower left corner.

I’m not sure if the first two pentagon circles that I made will make it into the blanket now, but that is okay.  So far I’ve only been working the Pentagon 1 pattern, which has double crochets for round two.  There is also a Pentagon 2 pattern that has puffs for round two and the pattern recommends that you try to use them in roughly equal proportions.  But when I made a Pentagon 2 and started to join it to one of my Pentagon 1 circles I just didn’t like it.  I’ve been putting off working the Pentagon 2 pattern because I’m just not a big fan of puffs.  I’m thinking about just not doing any of the Pentagon 2 pattern, and leaving all of the texture for the flowers.  Now that I’ve worked all the pentagons in the bottom left corner I’ve started working my way to the right, where I need to transition to the purple frame color.  So I’ve pulled out my purples and added them to my color lineup.  I’m going to keep the interior colors the same, I think, and just change the frame color.  We’ll see how it works out.  There is a lot of “figure it out as you go” with this blanket, which means that I’m taking things slow and letting ideas marinate and inspiration come as it will.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Scheepjies Terrazzo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Lightning Thief - Third Chart - One Repeat Done!

Last night I finished up the first repeat of the third chart.  My yarn usage looks to be on target for the large size.  So far it has been pretty easy knitting, and the yarn is certainly a dream to work with.  I haven’t been working as much on this project because I’ve been working on my Tessellation Nation.

Pattern:  Lightning Thief by Lily Go

Yarn:  Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Lightning Thief - Second Chart Done!

I’ve been working on this project because I can read when I’m working the wrong side rows.  It is also pretty good television knitting.  So, I have finished the second chart and am on to the third, which I will repeat at least once.  I’ll check my yarn usage after the second repeat and see if I have enough to work a third.

On another topic, my cat, Jezebel, slept most of the night on my chest, and in the early hours of the morning moved to the foot of the bed to sleep by my lower leg.  Fortunately I do not move much when I sleep, and often sleep on my back.  It was quite nice to have a purr monster sleeping on my chest.

Pattern:  Lightning Thief by Lily Go

Yarn:  Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace

Needle:  US 5 (3.7 5 mm)

Lightning Thief - First Chart Done!

I have finished the first chart - rows 1-28.  Lots of beads, which makes for slow knitting.  I am adding the beads before knitting the stitch instead of after knitting the stitch, as called for by the pattern because I prefer doing it that way.  On row 15, where the pattern has you place a bead after working a knit two together (k2tog), I placed the bead on the second stitch, so that when I worked the k2tog the bead is on top of the decrease.  I’ll continue to do that for the next chart, which has beads on both k2tog stitches and slip, slip, knit (ssk) stitches.  For the ssks I’ll place the bead on the first stitch before I worked the decrease, so it will end up on top of the decrease.

Pattern:  Lightning Thief by Lily Go

Yarn:  Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Ibbi Socks - Finished!

And they are done.  I finished them up last night.  A pretty easy knit, and they worked up quickly, when I focused on them.  And they fit perfectly.  There are three other accessory patterns in the 2024 Advent - a cowl, a hat (both brioche), and mittens.  I have all the pattern pulled into knitCompanion, but haven’t set up the projects yet.  I’m not sure which one I want to do next.  I did grab one of the bags and pull out the yarn, and I’m pretty sure it is for the Cowl, so that will probably be the next one that I cast on.  Sometimes letting random chance decide is the best way to go.  Why waste energy on decisions that don’t really matter?

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)
 

Ibbi Socks - Sock Two - Heel Turned!

While waiting for more colors for my Tessellation Nation I’ve been working on my socks, and have turned the heel on my right sock, and then some.  I also looked at the patterns for the other two accessories, and fished out the yarn for one of them.

On a totally unrelated note, my cat Jezebel slept in bed with me for about four hours this morning, for the very first time.  She came to me not quite three years ago as an adult, four year old, kittie, rescued from a neighbor who really couldn’t give her the home she needed.  She is a very sensitive cat, she hates loud noises, people wearing shoes, kids, strangers, and being picked up and held.  But she is also a very loving cat, and really wants attention from us, but on her terms, like laying on my chest in bed for pets, but not staying more than ten or fifteen minutes.  But this morning, around 12:30, she came and laid on my chest for about 15 minutes, even relaxing and dozing a little, and then she got up and instead of leaving, she lay down between my legs, and she stayed there until a little after five in the morning, when she got up to go pee.  It is quite a breakthrough for her.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Ibbi Socks - Sock Two - Cast On!

Having finished sock one, I cast on sock two yesterday afternoon.  I find that casting on the second sock right away (the same day, anyway) helps prevent second sock syndrome.  I have tried the two at a time magic loop, and didn’t like it, well, it was mostly the magic loop I didn’t like.  I prefer the two circular needles for my socks.  I have worked two socks at a time on two sets of circular needles, but am not crazy about that method either.

These socks are from the 2024 Onling Advent set.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in Color Rosa

Needles:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Ibbi Socks - One Sock Done!

This is my “I don’t feel like working on any other projects but still want some fiber in my hands” project, so it isn’t getting worked on super consistently.  I tend to work on it in spurts - work the cuff, turn the heel and work the gusset, then work the foot.  Once I started working the foot I wanted to get it done so I focused a bit more on it and this morning I finished up the first sock.   I don’t do the standard toe shaping anymore if I can help it, instead I shape the toe to fit my foot.  Yes, that does mean that I have a left and a right sock, and I’m good with that.  It also means that I have socks that fit my toes very well.  I mean seriously, is anyone’s toes shaped the way most sock patterns shape their toes?  Custom shaping them is easy, it just requires a lot of trying the sock on between rounds to make sure that the decreases are working out properly.  Obviously most of the decreases happen on the very sloped part of the toes, and I work them every other row.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal
Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in Color Rosa

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Tessellation Nation - And so it begins…

I have finally started working on Tessellation Nation.  Most of the motifs have been released, which will give my a lot of freedom in my assembly, although she does have a recommended order of construction, and I will follow it, to a certain extent.  I know that lots of folks are varying the colors in their pentagons, because the frame color is really the important one, but I like things a bit more orderly, so have not been varying mine.  I do have a layout and a general color scheme, but there are still a lot of things that I am sorting out as I go, so I am going slow, and letting the design and color decisions come naturally.  I have lots of other crafting projects that I can work on while my subconscious mind ponders the next step.  I am using the recommended yarn - Scheepjes Terrazzo.  I had ordered some colors to get me started, so that is what I’m working with for now, and ordered some more last week to help fill out my pallet.

I do think that this is going to be a grand adventure, and I’m going to savor the journey.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton of The Mercerie

Yarn:  Scheepjes Terrazzo 

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Lightning Thief - Cast On!

I have lots of yarn in my stash, and lots of yarn that was bought as a project, and I thought it was about time that I started knitting them up.  Being the methodical sort, and not wanting to make decisions, I simply grabbed my first box of fingering (I have a lot of fingering weight yarn in my stash), and pulled this project yarn out.  When I was stashing my yarn on Ravelry I identified the pattern if the yarn was bought for a specific project, so it was easy to do.

I bought this yarn from Earth Faire back in 2015, for the pattern Lightning Thief  by Lily Go.  The yarn is not the original called for in the pattern, or any of the yarns listed on the pattern page.  It is Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace and is categorized as light fingering.  The color is Teal and I have two skeins, so I’m making the large size of the shawl.  Having finished my Wallflowers and started my Tessellation Nation, I felt I had enough mental attention to add another knitting project to my current WIPs (now at 11, down from two dozen).  Yes, I know I could have continued finishing up WIPs, but sometimes you just want to start something new.

Pattern:  Lightning Thief by Lily Go

Yarn:  Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Wallflowers - Finished!

After almost a year, I have finally finished my Wallflowers blanket.  The course started on April 2, 2024 although I didn’t start actually working on it until May 20, 2024, finishing it up on March 26, 2025.  It is beautiful and I am very happy with it, as is Jezebel, who has claimed it as her own.  

This photo was taken before it was finished.  It is folded up on a plastic box that holds the leftover yarn from the project.  At the start of the project that box was completely full.  She really likes the arrangement, so I think it will stay.

Blocking was straightforward.

As recommended by Sue, I pinned it out on my blocking mats and did a light steam with my iron.  Now I can focus on Tessellation Nation.  I was really hoping to finish Wallflowers up in December before Tessellation Nation started on January 1, but I fell down the spinning rabbit hole and was distracted.  I ordered more yarn yesterday (I only had 12 colors selected, and she recommends more - she used 30) and will finally start working through the video lessons again.  I had paused when I got to the crocheting part.  I’ve been downloading files and setting up the project in knitCompanion.

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed DK

Hook:  3.75 mm (F) and 3.5 mm (E) for the border

 

Bolster Pillow - Finished!

This fiber was from Paradise Fibers, and is called Girl with Pearl Earring.  It is 54% Merino, 40% Kid Mohair, 6% Stellina.  I ended up with two skeins, one of 51 yards and 60.3 grams (~.85 yards/gram), and one of 72 yards and 79.1 grams (~0.91 yards/gram).  It was spun on my Kromski at an 8:1 ratio and played on my Kiwi at a 9.5:1 ratio.  I didn’t really know what else to do with it, but had a vague notion of turning it into a pillow, and ended up settling on a bolster pillow, so I grabbed a US 8 (5.0 mm) needle and cast on some stitches.

If you look at the blocking picture you can see that it did not come out as a perfect cylinder.  Yes, my gauge changed because my two skeins of yarn were not quite the same weight.  They weren’t that much off, but it was enough.  I didn’t really let it worry me, because I figured it wouldn’t make too much of a difference when I worked it up into the pillow.  I finished the knitting quickly, casting on March 13, and casting off March 14.  Then I had to wait for the bolster pillow form to arrive.  It came yesterday.  I immediately stuffed it into my waiting tube.

Yes, the bolster sticks out some at either end.  My tube was between sizes so I went with the larger size figuring yarn stretches and pillows compress and bolsters should be on the firmer side.  For the end caps I had already decided that I was just going to crochet circles until they were big enough to join with my knitted tube.  I had some sparkly DK yarn from Expression Fiber Arts left over from another project so I decided to use that.  I did the cast off (smaller end) first.

I joined the last round with the cast off edge using single crochet, pinning the end cap to the knitted tube using locking stitch markers and placing stitch markers about every 1.5 inches around the circumference so I could do the finagling to make them fit together neatly.  I then crocheted another end cap the same size and attached it to my cast on edge.  That was easier to do, just because of the nature of cast on and cast off edges, and the fact that it was a bit looser then my cast off edge.

I am delighted with the result.

Pattern:  None, just a simple knitted tube and some crocheted rounds

Yarn:  Hand spun by me

Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm)

Hook:  4.5 mm

 

Hydrangea Neckwarmer - Finished!

I cast this project on back on March 17, 2025.  This is more of my hand spun, hand dyed yarn.  I spun the yarn on my Kromski, with a 12:1 ratio, and played it on my Kiwi, with a ratio of 9.5:1 and dyed it with a Wool Tincture Dyes dye kit using the color Malbec.  While this yarn still had some variability in thickness, it did come out more on the thinner side - at 219 yards and 90 grams.

I wanted to make an accessory out of this yarn so I went searching on Ravelry and settled on this pattern by Anne Hanson from the book Brave New Knits, which I happened to have in my knitting library.  I did make some modifications to the pattern.  I went up a needle size, to a US 4 (3.5 mm) needle, and I cast on more stitches.  The smaller size of this cowl has you cast on 84 stitches, for a finished circumference of 16 inches, while the larger size has you cast on 96 stitches, for a finished circumference of 18 inches.  Frankly, both of these sizes seemed too small for my tastes.  I did start out with 96 stitches and really didn’t like how small it seemed, so I ripped and cast on 144 stitches.

I did have some hiccups with the pattern.  I much prefer knitting from charts and typically skip past the written instructions that go along with the chart, which caused some consternation when I reached round 7 and my motif was not lining up correctly.  It turns out that the beginning of the round shifts on rounds 7, 9, and 11.  The written instructions have you slip the first stitch on those rounds, but there is no mention of the reason for slipping that stitch or that the motif shifts.  Luckily the motif is easily memorized, and I shifted my round marker as necessary to work the decreases that spanned it, using the chart only to make sure that I was lining up the motif correctly.

I also had some issues with the knit-on edging.  The pattern calls for a provisional cast on so you can graft the last row to the first row to make a continuous edge.  I didn’t want to do it that way so I just left the first and last motifs separate.  I like the way it allows the edge to settle on the shoulders.  The lace pattern was also fairly straightforward and easy to memorize, although I did have to rip back three times to fix errors that I made and didn’t catch until I was close enough to the end to easily count the remaining stitches and realize that I had screwed up somewhere.  It was a bit frustrating, but I did have that chart memorized by the end!

When I went to block it I was initially going to pin it out as I do with any lace item, but as I was laying it out on the blocking mats I decided I liked the look of a gentle block, especially the way that the edge ruffled, so I just smoothed it out a little and left it.

Pattern:  Hydrangea Neckwarmer by Anne Hanson from Brave New Knits edited by Julie Turjoman

Yarn:  Heinz 57 top, from The Woolery, hand spun and hand dyed by me

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

Ibbi Socks - Cast On!

I actually cast these on back on March 3 and have been working on them off and on.  I’ve been trying to finish up WIPs and not start new projects, but I fell down the spinning rabbit hole and have been obsessed with working with my handspun.  This is not handspun.  This is, in fact, part of the 2024 Onling Advent Calendar.  I had grabbed this yarn and some needles a while back and just parked them in a project bag waiting for the urge to cast on.  I’ve actually turned the heel on the first sock and have started on the foot.

The cuff is shorter than called for in the pattern because I have muscular calves (walking every day will do that for you) but overall the fit is perfect.  The pattern comes with three sizes and I’m working the medium size.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in color Rosa

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

 

Wallflowers - Half-hexi’s Finished!

All I have left to do now is the trim.  Jezebel has already claimed the blanket as hers, which can make working on it a bit of a challenge at times.  The fact that I’m working with dark yarn and want good natural light to avoid eye strain also narrows the window of activity.  I do love the way that it is coming out.  I need to get this finished so that I can focus on Tesselation Nation, which I have not even started - other than coming up with a potential motif arrangement and color scheme.

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton, The Mercerie

Yarn:  Rowan Felted Tweed

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)