Christmas Crafting Madness (no yarn needed)

It's that time of year again. That time when crafters around the globe suddenly take leave of their collective senses and decide that they will craft perfectly beautiful handmade works of art for all of their loved ones. And their neighbors. And the milkman. And their local barista (who is looking awfully chilly now that he's shaved off his Movember stache). Before you know it, the crafters in question are spending precious crafting minutes making spreadsheets to track their progress, gathering their materials and spending long sleepless hours  knitting/hooking/spinning/ embroidering/papercutting themselves in to a lovely New Year's resolution of avoiding RSI for the 2015 Holiday Season.

Or maybe it's just me. Every year, EVERY STINKIN' YEAR, I make a conscious choice to remain steadfast in the face of (solely internally generated) holiday crafting pressure. I will not knit for every single member of my family and their dogs/cats/assorted goldfish. I will not lose sleep over trying to finish just one more present as time winds down to Christmas. I will perhaps gift a few, extremely knit-worthy people with handknitted items, but there is no reason for me to a) make myself crazy, b) make my family crazy (scrambled eggs for dinner will only fly so many times you know) and c) make the world any more crazy then it already is around this time of year by adding my stress vibes to the ether.

And even after all that, every year December 1 hits and I start making lists. Lists of who can be gifted knits already finished. Lists of super quick projects I can knit up in an evening with worsted weight yarn held doubled. Lists of postal timings and who would like yarn for a present and who needs an actual finished object. Things degenerate quickly - Himself needs new (fingering weight) socks, and the girls would love felted slippers. Maybe a lace shawl for my mom. The SCN (Super Cute Nephew) probably needs a new sweater for Christmas, maybe with an intarsia Rudolph face? You can see where this is going...

This year, things are different. Yes indeed. Totally different. Himself is not getting knitwear this time around - maybe a woven scarf, but I can whip that out in no time at all. The in-laws are arriving AFTER Christmas so there's plenty of time to sort out their gifts after December 25. If I'm mailing things back to the States they have to be in the post by the end of next week so pfft! Not going to happen.

This fabulous planning ahead and resisting the urge to START. ALL. THE. THINGS!!!!! means that it's totally reasonable for me to make the girls quilts for Christmas, right?

You can see above the evidence of my weakness in the face of Country Thread's collection of Moda Jelly Rolls from our Bath scouting trip at the beginning of November. I've been obsessed with the idea of making jelly roll quilts for about six months now, and finally have the materials to get started. But let's review the facts:

1) I have a very old, very small Singer Featherweight sewing machine.

2) I have never made a quilt of any size in my entire life.

3) This project will require excavating the desk in my studio which is buried about 1.5 ft deep in Other Very Important Stuff (otherwise known as Junk).

What could go wrong?

(Some) Mondays are no fun

Well. Here it is. Another Monday. This one, in particular, has been established as A Very Bad Day by virtue of the following:

1. I arrived at work, ready for a very busy day of lab stuff, only to find that the cells I was going to use were all growing beasties that should not have been there. Break out the bleach, rejigger the experimental schedule, and grumble.

2. I have, apparently, come down with the same beasties that my cells have. Cue runny nose, headache, scratchy throat and general brain fuzzies*. So off I go to procure pharmaceutical aids.

Better living through pharmacology.

3. Ahhh...there isn't really a number 3. I think numbers 1 and 2 have taken care of it.

So now I am huddled in front of the computer, trying to get things taken care of for the Yarn in the City Road Trip, and wishing I could consume Lemsip more often then every four hours. Thankfully, there is a steaming hot toddy in my very near future, plus huddling under the covers with my latest, very special design project. 

On the left is the start of the sock on Saturday, on the right is the new sock and the old one that I'm reproducing. Suffice to say that this design has historical, genealogical and medical interest, and I'm looking forward to getting it in a final form** for you all. 

* We will ignore the fact that said brain fuzz might also be a general state of being in my world.

** Top-down and toe-up FTW y'all.

FO: Sitka Spruce Hat, in handspun

I've finally given in to the urge to start knitting with all the handspun that I now have on display in my studio. This current frenzy of handspun knitting was triggered by my mother, who was visiting over half term, and demanded that I put her to work knitting up samples for me. Who am I to say no to the offer of free labor? She knit up a Penobscot Bay Shawl in some soft, squooshy Porpoise Fur Targhee in Golgi (with a bit of YFP for an edging when she ran out of yarn for the bind off). So I decided I needed to be knitting up some samples. Plus, it's gotten cold in my house and I needed a new hat. So...

Pattern: Sitka Spruce from Tin Can Knits

Yarn: 2-ply handspun Corriedale from Porpoise Fur, in the colorway "Haematoma", spun up from the ends left over after dyeing. I had approximately 160 yds of more-or-less worsted weight yarn.

Needles: US 7/3.5 mm circulars/dpns

Start/finish: 3 November - 7 November 2014

Comments/modifications: such a lovely pattern! The hat comes in two different styles - beanie and beret - and while I wanted a slouchier hat, I didn't think I had enough yarn to make the beret. So I knit the beanie as written, but added in an extra half repeat of the stitch pattern to make it a little longer.

This meant that I then had to shift the chart for the crown decreases, but once I wrapped my head around how that had to work, it was smooth sailing.

I love the subtle striping from the handspun. This ended up coming out a lot redder then I would have predicted from the dyed fiber OR the yarn in the skein. Just another example of how much the look of handspun can change from fiber to yarn to FO.

Handspun hat, and the  next handspun hat (in progress)

I'm thrilled with this lovely little hat, and am now wishing I had some more yarn to knit the matching mittens. However, I'm forging ahead to cast on one of my two Shawl Lots for the Porpoise Fur Two Color Shawl SAL/KAL, which I've been sitting on for ages. More handspun FOs ahead!

Fiber and handspun galore

Happy Monday morning! It's chilly out there, and last night I had a big Porpoise Fur update, including fiber AND a whackload of handspun.

Embers on Shetland (also available on Texel under Phat Fiber colorways), Haematoma on Corriedale, Holly Walk on BFL and Snow Shadows on BFL.

Handspun clockwise from top left: Hooray Sheep! Corriedale 2-ply, Ply by Night BFL singles, Twenty Ten Corriedale singles, Night Must Fall Humbug BFL singles, Scarab Shetland/Shetland-silk 2-ply, Scarab Shetland singles, Death to MRSA BFL singles, Botany Bay alpaca/merino singles.

Just in case anyone is in need of some woolly goodness to help ward off the chill...;-D

Bonfire Night

I love Bonfire Night. OK, the historical events that led to this ever-so-British of autumnal celebrations are maybe not my favorite, but a big fire, complete with an evil perpetrator being burned in effigy followed by fireworks? That is a start of winter send off that I can get behind.

And this week, winter has suddenly reached out its icy fingertips and stroked England's collective cheek in warning - I am here, I am coming for you. Brrrr! So it seems fitting that this month's new pattern should be a perfect match for the day and the weather. Meet Bonfire Night:

Bonfire Night is a super cozy, super fast knit that is perfect to wear huddled around your friendly neighborhood bonfire this Guy Fawkes Day. Its bulky wool and cozy thick cables will snuggle around your neck and up over your ears, keeping you toasty warm through the night. Shown above, worked in Lioness Arts Roar!, a super squishy 100% superwash merino, or below in Debbie Bliss Paloma, a lovely alpaca/merino blend, this cowl comes in two sizes to suit every need. Tubular cast on and bind off make for perfectly matching hems, and a super elastic edge. 

SKILLS NEEDED: Knitting, purling, working in the round, cabling, tubular cast on and bind off. Links to tutorials for the cast on and bind off are included in the pattern.

The cowl is worked in the round on circular needles. The pattern includes both a charted cable pattern and written stitch pattern instructions, if you don't like charts.

SIZES: Small (large), approximately 17 (22.5) in/43 (57) cm in circumference, and 10 (14) in/25.5 (35.5) cm tall.

YARDAGE: Super bulky yarn, approximately 140 (205) yds/128 (188) m. Shown in Debbie Bliss Paloma (73 yds/50 g) in Fuschia, and Lioness Arts Roar! (108 yds/100 g) in Moonlight.

Many thanks to Dani Sunshine of Lioness Arts for yarn support, and R. Deborah Overath for technical editing. You can purchase Bonfire Night either by clicking on the "buy now" button below, or from my Ravelry Store.

I hope you enjoy this pattern, and stay warm out there!

Bonfire Night, a cowl in two sizes ($5.00)