Ashford Kiwi Spinning and Ma Cherie

Last summer Ashford announced an additional flyer and bobbin set up for the Kiwi Spinning Wheel. I was really excited with this flyer and bobbin, called the Super Flyer. It was designed with art yarn or just plain thick yarn in mind. It turns this wonderful scotch tension wheel into a bobbin led wheel.

 

My experience in spinning art yarns on my Ashford single drive/scotch tension wheels has been disappointing, only because I couldn't get enough take up  onto the bobbin. That causes a loosely wound bobbin, meaning that I was lucky to get 35 or even 50 yards onto one bobbin.

 

This flyer and bobbin solves that issue!

 

The bobbin holds 500 grams(17.636 oz) of fiber, the orifice is 1 1/8 inches in diameter, allowing beads or even feathers through it, and the there are free flowing sliding yarn guides allowing fat yarn or bulky items to spin onto the bobbin.

 

Ashford designed this flyer to set right onto your existing Kiwi. It attaches easily and will pull off easily when you want to use your scotch tension/single drive again. I am in love. :)

 

The yarn I have on the bobbin is a bulky weight yarn, with beads spun into it.

 

If you have an interest in purchasing this, I do sell Ashford wheels and parts, you can contact me through etsy or my Ravelry page.

 

Doing some stash knitting. I had this great super bulky art yarn that kept calling my name and saying "Knit me into something." I decided to knit this yarn using my Ma Cherie pattern. I love the lumps and bumps and how it has the boho chic appearance to it.

Lake, SpinOff and Baby

Here's my show and tell, finished project. We are awaiting the arrival of our 4th grandchild and we are really excited! Because they live in northern Florida there isn't a lot of need for warm wool sweaters, with a June delivery date.  Don't get me wrong, there is a need for sweaters, and I have made some. I will show them another day. (When the sun comes out and I can get decent pictures again)

 

This outfit is a crocheted sundress and a knitted shrug. The pattern for the sundress is from Deborah Norville using her Serenity yarn. I found the pattern as a tear-off free pattern, one time while at at JoAnn's Fabrics. When I was done with crocheting the sundress, I decided that baby needed a shrug to go with it. So, I wrote the pattern for the shrug and knit it.  The sheep is for me. It was a gift to me, since I like sheep and I like putting it in pictures.

 

 

I mentioned about the sun and needing it for some pictures. We are having TONS of rain in Texas. I think I heard it said that it was the rainiest May on record. I have also heard people pondering whether our state had moved to Seattle Washington, or Louisiana, over night and we didn't know it. :)

The ground is squishy and just saturated. It is safe to say the drought is over, cause our lakes and rivers are at their limits. There is a large lake near me, which is over its banks in some areas.

BUT, behind our home, is a pond.  It is full. It doesn't get higher than this, because it will flow over its dam at the far end.  I wanted to show the picture of it. The neighbors dock, across the pond, is sitting in the water.

 

SPINNING!!! This issue of SpinOff magazine, is all about using up your stash! What a great idea.

I do have quite a stash of fiber. So I went through it and found enough that would coordinate together that equals just over 2 lbs. That is enough for a sweater. My granddaughter came to visit and wanted to photo bomb my picture. LOL!

 

We spent part of the visit splitting up Gramma's wool. We started with the blue on the top, and actually weighed it out into 3/4oz portions. We ended up with about 35 of those. Then we equally split the rest of the colors into 35 pieces. We didn't weigh these. We just folded rovings in half and split, folded, split, folded. When we were done we had piles of wool all over my studio floor, we were dancing in the tulips, so to speak. :)  We took each pile of coordinated fiber and rolled it into a ball for safe keeping, until I can card it on my Ashford drum carder.

 

The neat little balls on the left are before it is carded and the one on the right is a ball after all the fibers have been carded together. I will be carding off and on for a while. But, meanwhile, let the spinning begin.

Knitting Patterns are a Tool and A Granny Shrug

I am here today to set you free and help you realize that a pattern is a tool, your tool, do what you need to do, to make it easier for you to understand and use. :)

 

I wanted to share how I made the directions for knitting my Astor Jacket work for me. You see, when I was knitting on my Astor Jacket, I found part of the directions difficult to use and a bit confusing. One issue that I encountered was that I needed two different pages at the same time! 

 

This meant I was constantly flipping back and forth, and back and forth, between the two pages. I had a paper clip on the pages, because one page was the first page and the other needed was the third page. Even then it was still aggravating.

 

What I did to remedy that problem was that I took the two pages, ripped them up and cried!  Hahaha! Nooooo, I didn't really.  ;)

 

What we have to remember is that the pattern is a tool, our tool, your tool, my tool.  Make it work for you. For this pattern, I was able to fold each page in half lengthwise, lay them on my copier/printer, so that the areas I needed could be on one page. For another pattern, I may have to fold the directions differently to do this, but for Astor that was my solution.  You see before you the one page.

 

 

The next issue that I had with the directions had to do with the cable pattern on the center fronts.

On the right hand side of the paper below, you see the cable pattern itself. Then on the left side of the page you see the two rows, that you repeat over and over, for the remaining stitches on the front. This actually was part of what I was having to flip back and forth for.

 

I decided to color code my rows. When I worked the orange row, on the left, I knew to go to the orange row for the cable pattern and then again for the yellow highlighted rows.

 

I also, write on my patterns, any hints to make knitting easier. That is all the scribble that you see. This pattern is written saying, "make left front same as right front, reversing all shaping." So, many of the scribbles, are helps for that. I marked which cable row, I added the pocket, which cable row that I started the armhole, that sort of thing. Basically, any thing that I thought would make life easier.

After all knitting is to be fun, right?  And relaxing, right??? 

 

While I was working on knitting my Astor, I would put it down for an easier project. That was my Granny Shrug.  This is a free pattern that can be found here.

 

I decided to use stash yarn and I had several balls of Lion Brand Thick and Quick hanging around. Because my yarn was thicker than the pattern designer's, my shrug is much bigger, which I figured it would be, and that is what I had wanted. 

 

 

The idea of using up my stash didn't really work, though.  I ran out of yarn and had to go purchase more to finish the shrug! So, now I have the same amount left in my stash........

Finished Project, FINALLY

Here I am in my finished sweater! I love this sweater, with the big pockets and the cable design on the front. The pattern is Astor, from the Berroco Yarn website, and it is a free pattern. The pattern called for 3/4 length sleeves and I wanted them a bit longer, but what I didn't think about is that my arms are obviously shorter than the model the sweater was on. So, the 3/4 length sleeves would probably have been perfect on me. If you look close, you will see my sleeves rolled up. I am thinking that I may shorten them.

 

 

This is my newest pattern, A Zig and A Zag Scarf.  It is currently being tested on Ravelry and I hope to have it listed next week.

 

My testers say that they like the pattern and at least one will be making it again! That is always a good sign. :)

Projects, Finished and Not

In a previous post, I had shown my Happy Mistake, pinned and blocking. Here it is on my mannequin for you to see. I love the way the wrap is asymmetrical.

 

 

 

I will also, put one end up over my shoulder, use a shawl pin to hold it in place, and wear it like a poncho. This shows my lace edging well.

 

Here is one of my favorite live models.  I have several of those. :) She is modeling her Tardis scarf, one of the two that I had knit for Christmas gifts.  Can you see that her t-shirt has a Tardis on it as well?  I am sorry the picture is blurry, it was Christmas, there was excitement and Gramma(me), didn't hold the camera still.  Hahaha!  

 

 

This sweater is Astor. Astor is a free pattern on Berroco yarn's website. Click on the link, and you should go directly there. I like the fact that this sweater is knit out of a bulky yarn and is a loose sweater, with pockets!! It may be a jacket for me here in TX, but I will definitely wear it inside on those cold, dark and windy days, when the house is sooooooooooo drafty.

 

This is not me, but a professional model, from the Berroco site. :)

 

I am using Lamb's Pride Bulky in Grey Heather for my sweater.

 

At the time of taking the picture, I had the back and pocket linings done. I was starting the left front and had just added the pocket lining to it.  I do have the left front and 99% of the right front done now. Will post more pictures soon. I did find it helpful to put markers where the twist stitch sections repeat. Of course, I didn't think of it until I was 75% done with the second front. But, even for that small amount of knitting it was helpful and left me thinking, "Why hadn't I done that for the left front???"

 

Last, but not least, is my plastic bag tote bag. I used the plastic grocery and shopping bags for this project.  I am sure you know the bags, they are the ones we are supposed to recycle, but collect in our closets until they are falling out of them.  

 

What fun this was! I cut the plastic bags, looped them together and made up this tote bag. It took a while to make it, but I am happy with the results. The green bag was from The UPS Store guy and our employees. When they heard that I was working on this project, they contributed this huge bag to it.  Huge means, it is about 5 feet tall and 30 inches in diameter. It holds the Styrofoam peanuts that we have to use to pack our boxes securely.

 

And the inside.

Mittens, Gauge Swatching and the blessing of Ravelry

This is my recent saga, a disappointing story about a cute pair of mittens and how Ravelry can be of such a great help to those of us who knit and crochet!

 

I found this mitten pattern on Ravelry. I think they are adorable and decided that I would try to make them. I purchased the pattern, found some handspun yarn (that was the weight needed) and started my gauge swatching.

 

Yes, I can be somewhat of a gauge fanatic. :)

 

The gauge on the pattern states: 13 sts and 15 rows = 2." Yarn weight is worsted weight, 200 yards to 3.5 oz. Knitting needles: Size 4 US (3.5mm)

 

My gauge on size 4 needles is: 11 sts to 2 inches in stockinette stitch. Oops. So, I switched to size 3 US and measured 12 sts to 2 inches.  I then tried a mill spun worsted weight yarn and received the same gauge numbers.

 

 

 

I put my swatches aside and went back to Ravelry to see what other knitters had experienced with this pattern.

First, I looked up a friend's project and found that she had put hers in time out! Oh, boy, this isn't looking good. They were too big, although they looked gorgeous!

 

 Then, I started reading other knitter's project notes and discovered that most of them complained about the mittens being too long or too wide, basically too big. The plot thickens.

 

So, I started thinking about how to fix this, so that I could make them fit. They really are cute.

This morning, I thought to look at the cast on number, for the cuff, and then the number we would increase to for the hand part. Here is what I found.

 

The non-cuff portion of the mitten, has 60 sts in it. At the designer's gauge, that would be 9.25 inches around the hand. My hand, at its widest, measures 7.5 inches. I don't want 1.75 inches of ease on my mitten. For length, at 58 rows of the pattern, They would be 7.75 inches long. My hand, above my wrist to the tip of my middle finger is 6.75 inches. I don't want the top of the mitten hanging and flopping around, either.

 

About now, you may be saying, "JOANNE, how did you figure that out?!" :)

 

I will show you with my gauge numbers.

 

Let's take my smallest gauge of  12 sts to 2 inches. Doesn't seem like that is off by too much, right? :)

-60 stitches is our total of stitches.

-I get 12 stitches to 2 inches.

-Divide, yes you can do this, get out the calculator. :) Put in 60  for the total stitches, tap the divide button, and enter 12(for the stitches that I have in the 2 inches). Tap the = button. The answer is 5. Next, we multiply by the inches, which is 2. So, 5 x 2 = 10.  That means with my smallest gauge, I would have a mitten 10 inches around. ack!

 

NOTE: I did my gauge swatch in stockinette stitch. The designer didn't say if she used stockinette for her gauge swatch or took the gauge from her fair isle design.  At either rate, her gauge would still make them too big for me.

 

Here is what I have decided. I am afraid to go any further with worsted weight yarn. I could do a gauge swatch in the round, working in a fair isle design and see. But, with so many on Ravelry having issues with their finished mittens being too big, I don't think I will.

 

I looked at some lighter weight yarns and their gauge numbers. It is looking like maybe these mittens could be knit out of sock weight yarn on size 2 or 3 US needles and they just might fit. I haven't swatched and won't be, anytime soon. I don't have yarn in my stash, that I would use for the mittens, and I wanted thicker mittens anyway.

 

The picture below is from the pattern itself. Looking closely, do you think the mittens look big on her? I do.

 

I still think that they are cute!!!

Fall Colors and a Happy Mistake

We were able to take a trip back east for a few days. We did have a great time and were able to see family members who we haven't visited with in years. We landed at LaGuardia, rented a car and drove up the NY State Thruway. Fall colors were just starting and I enjoyed every minute of that drive! The UPS Store guy keeps telling everyone that I must have taken 100 photos or more, LOL, and maybe I did....... I was just sooooooo excited to get to see the colors.

 

This picture is on the Thruway. Don't worry I won't post all of them.

 

 

This picture was taken on a smaller road, on the way to visit The UPS Store guy's dad and mom.

 

AND this is how close I was to Rhinebeck, home of the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival! My in-laws live in Rhinebeck. We were there a mere 3 days before the festival! no, I didn't get to attend it. But, I love this billboard and took yet another picture. The UPS Store guy knew that I had lost it, with this one, good thing he knows me and my pension for sheep and yarn.

We had a wonderful time upstate and I now have an invitation from one of the best SIL's and BIL's to stay at their home for Rhinebeck Wool Festival anytime I wish to attend it.  I tell you, I do have 3 wonderful SIL's. Two on my side and one on The UPS Store guy's side.

 

We had to leave upstate NY and travel back down to Long Island to visit my family for a PARTY!!  My mom turned 90 and we had her party on the 18th.  It was a fun time by all. Family, church friends and neighbors all attended and there were lots of laughs and stories floating around. Here's Mom!

 

 

Well, all the time we spent flying and driving did give me time to work on projects.  This one is actually finished!

It actually is a mistake. Yep, a bonafide mistake. However, it is a happy mistake and thus has been named.  The original pattern is a free crochet pattern on Ravelry, called Hitchin' a Ride.  Well, I left out a step. So, my Hitchin' a Ride became more of a crocheted Lazy Katy, than a Hitchin' a Ride.  The edge that is on the top of the picture should be stair stepped. But, mine isn't and I added the crocheted lace to it, to dress it up anyway.  Couldn't have done the lace edge if I had followed the directions. So, here is Happy Mistake.