Stop Me Before I Cast On Again...

My case of start-itis has developed into full blown WIP addiction.

I started (and finished!) this...

It was meant to be a hat. I was going to pick up and knit around the top edge and make a full hat out of it, but I think the cable is too wide for that to look good. So it's probably going to be an ear warmer.

The fiber is the Wonder Why alpaca from Wonder Why.  It's super warm, and as always, soft and squishy and comfortable. I might make a version out of less chunky yarn to put in my imaginary Etsy shop.

This is my first serious effort to spin a sort-of bulky yarn. I normally go for thin (because it's easiest and because I get more yarn that way) but lately I've been wanting to make heavier yarn for warmer items. Hats, mittens, etc. I did all right, still had some slubs in spots ... I personally don't like thick-and-thin yarn, so I tried real hard to pull the slubs out! I wanted it to be thick, though, so I wouldn't lose the amazing color changes.


Here is another WIP:

This is one of the rare times I'm using alpaca yarn that I *didn't* spin myself. This is Paca-Paints, manufactured in Peru and dyed in the US, by The Alpaca Yarn Company. Purchased at Shepherd's Purse Alpaca farm in Mt. Airy, MD.

This yarn is fabulous. I love it. I can't get enough of knitting with it. I even stayed up late working on it.

It's soft, and the colors are just wonderful. I think it makes a fabulous mitten. The mittens might go in my imaginary Etsy store, too, but I'm not sure ... I knit part of them on dpns, and there are noticeable ladders in a few spots. I will try to fix it with gentle blocking, but if I can't, I won't try to sell them.

I got the pattern from "One Skein Wonders" but I modified it (added ribbed hem). It's a very basic and super-easy bottom-up mitten. Normally I make top-down mittens, so I know exactly how wide it needs to be, but I don't like the pointy tip on those!

The sweater continues. I held the two sides up to the recipient on Thanksgiving Day, and I think it will be just slightly baggy on him. I am nervous about doing a good job with the seams ... I really want them to look professional.

In spinning news ... I'm going to start spinning this lovely lady today. I'm not sure yet what approach I'll take with the colors, but I'm going to try for a light and lofty yarn. It's so pretty ... makes me think of the planet Neptune

(Fun fact: Neptune is often included in category with the gas giants, but is really an ice giant. Also, it's orbit is "perturbed." I often feel "perturbed" so I like this fact :-)




And of course ... the obligatory Turkey Shot.

We had Tofurkey ....

And Turkey.



Much fun was had by all.



Now, that horrible, hurried, not-peaceful frenzy known as the Christmas Shopping Season is upon us, and I am hunkering down and ignoring all of it. The horror stories have already started (adults behaving like spoiled brats in retails stores), so I am going to focus on faith and hope, and try to tune out the madness.


Peace and goodwill!

Don't Look at the Messy Room

Look at the pretty cables instead!

I've started the armhole decreases. Whoo hoo! I feel like maybe I'm starting to perhaps see the end of this sweater!

I've also been spinning ... the fabulous purpleness was bumped in favor of Wonder Why's  fabulous greenness!

Which I won not long ago, and couldn't wait to spin. This is going to be a hat for ME. And since I am stubbornly not turning on the furnace yet, I might need to wear it inside.















And I've also finally plied that green meriboo with purple beads, that I put together back during Tour de Fleece.

Oooohhhh that's purty stuff.

Not as beady as I'd like, but beady enough.








And that is all for me this week!  Be sure to stop by and visit all the fabulous bloggers at Andrea's, for Fiber Arts Friday!

Knit ALL the Things!

I have the worst case of start-itis ever! I want to knit everything ... I want to start a dozen projects all at once. It's like a fever!

I just finished spinning the marigold cabled yarn...

So now I have 7 empty bobbins!

I have no idea how much of this stuff I have. I used the niddy noddy to count, and the yardage counter. I got two entirely different numbers ... I wonder if the counter really counts in meters?

I was all set to spin up the fabulous purple, but then lovely Andrea of Wonder Why Alpaca Farm sent me the green-and-brown alpaca roving ... so it's entirely possible the purple bump will get bumped in favor of the green stuff!

I toil on the sweater of unrelenting brownness ...



Ready to start decreasing for armholes!

And I started a pair of top-down mittens with Wonder Why alpaca yarn that I spun up during Tour de Fleece.




I have decided to do the Etsy shop thing ... but since the copyright-licensing issue is such a difficult thing to figure out, I'm either going to make my own patterns (for scarves, socks, mittens, that isn't beyond my abilities) or request permission from the pattern owner.


There was just no figuring it out. One thread from the Ravelry Etsy group said it was fine, someone called the DC copyright office, and they said it was the words in the pattern protected, not the product of the pattern (sort of like baking from a recipe and then selling that baked item). Another thread was people viciously insisting that NO ONE ever had the right to sell anything they didn't design themselves. One woman even insisted no one had the right to sell something they knit from being inspired by one of her patterns. 

For Ravelry patterns, it's easy to find the designer and ask permission. I think I could manage simple baby items, as well. In any case, I shall flex my creative muscles, which always makes me happy happy!

What Do You, the Viewers at Home, Think?

I have all this lovely yarn. Well, this yarn, and then some. Then a LOT of some.This is just my handspun. I have lots more purchased yarn, alpaca and wool and blends and just all sorts of things.

I usually just let it sit around and wait till it speaks to me.

Sometimes it doesn't speak for a long time, so it just sort of accrues.

I've been spinning a few years, and I think I've gotten better at it. I've been knitting since 2005, I think, and I consider myself an intermediate level knitter. 




My biggest problem is laziness; I hate pulling back yarn when I've made a mistake, particularly when using handspun. I think I'm pretty good with small-scale stuff, like fingerless gloves and hats and scarves. I still have gauge issues, but that also goes back to laziness.

So what this long-winded post is getting at, is that I'm thinking of opening an Etsy shop. For small stuff, wristlets and mittens and slippers and socks, baby items, things that will use up the yarn I have laying around.

What do you all think?

In other news (yawn) I'm still working on the (YAWN) brown cabled sweater...yyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnn....

 

I'm not bored with it, not really. 

Just sort of looking forward to having it done, is all. I want to start a dozen projects, but I don't want to put this one down until I've finished it. I don't want something this large sitting around unfinished.



I've also been working on the scarf, and spinning up the Marigold yarn. I hope to finish the Marigold yarn this week, and then start in on what I really want to be spinning....



This fabulousness has been calling me for weeks now, but since I'm making cabled yarn with the yellow-orange, I can't spare a bobbin! Four-ply cabled yarn takes up SEVEN bobbins! I only have seven bobbins, so I can't do anything until I at least get everything double-plied. Then it'll only be three bobbins, and I can start in on this 8-ounce beauty.

I will have to spin it a bit heavier than I normally spin, to preserve those lovely color variations.

So happy Fiber Arts Friday to everyone, and don't forget to go check out what the WonderWhyGal is up to!

(I think if it weren't a stick shift, they'd have figured out how to drive it already.)