Join me on a journey, knitting a sweater with hand spun yarn.

In my last post, I showed the finished hand spun yarn that I had just finished. I decided, after a great suggestion from Debbie, that I would make a v-neck cardigan with the yarn. 

I looked at several patterns on Ravelry and then remembered to look at my books! I had remembered that I had Top Down Sweaters, by Ann Budd. In this book are directions for many types of sweaters using many different sized yarns and gauges. She also has sizing from children through adults! 

I think this is a great plus when using hand spun yarns. Sometimes I will find a pattern and knit the gauge swatch and then not meet the gauge, so then I start rewriting the pattern. With this book, I don't have to do that. All the math is worked out for me. :)

Below is the picture of the book and the copies I made for my sweater choice. I have decided to make a v-neck cardigan and write about my journey on here. That way I will be held accountable to finish! Maybe.......

I am not sure if you can see it, but I have highlighted the numbers in the column for the gauge and size that I want to make. I make the copies, so that I can write all over them.

Here are two of my swatches.  I did three swatches, but ripped out the third one, to be ready to start the sweater. Using a size 6 US needle, I cast on 20 stitches and knit 4 inches.  My gauge is about 18 - 19 stitches to 4 inches. Since my yarn is hand spun, it is not perfect like mill spun yarn. I decided to use three separate balls of yarn for my gauge swatches. I fell in love with this yarn and just wanted to keep knitting my swatches.

If the sweater isn't enough to keep me busy, I am in the middle of writing a new shawl pattern. I spent a good portion of yesterday making a chart for the first 12 rows and another chart for the bottom lace portion of the shawl. So far, I have put the pattern through 3 edits and there will probably be three more, before it is released. 

Here is the shawl(and my Yeti cup), so far. 

Finished Projects

The date for the beginning of summer is almost upon us, but I feel like we started summer here in Texas, during May. We have all been saying summer anyway. 

This shawl is knitted using mainly hemp yarn and the lace portion on the bottom(which looks darker and really is darker) is Louet Linen yarn. The hemp yarn was purchased from Fiberlady here in Lewisville. David actually runs the machines that spin the hemp yarns, as well as, the bamboo yarns.

I used my pattern: Springtime Fling, which can be found on Ravelry.

I joined a Knit A Long with the My Sisters Knitter group on Ravelry and we had to knit something from Nature. Well, the name of this cowl is Wolkig, which is German for "cloudy" and the yarn color is named Oil Slick. The name Wolkig/cloudy helped me be eligible for the KAL.

The Wolkig is long enough to pull up over your face in blustery weather and light enough to squish down around your neck. Yes, 🌝, it gets cold here in the winter. 

On Wednesdays, there is a group of us who try to get together to spin, knit, crochet or whatever crafty thing you have going at the moment. For a VERY long time I have been spinning on the red yarn below. The red is more of a cranberry than red, as you can see. It is a 2 ply and 1642 yards wool yarn.

Several years ago we were talking about marking our skeins, with a waterproof tie, so we can count our wraps around the knitty knoddy and mark the skein before washing. Liz suggested surveyors type tape. It isn't a sticky tape, but somekind of nylon or plastic tape and you can use a Sharpie marker to write your info on it. The tape is the little orangey thing hanging down there.