by Kat | Apr 14, 2017 | General
The latest issue of Taproot magazine is filled with good things. From homemade bitters to Wendell Berry to Tasha Tudor to these cute hens. If you have not had the chance to read Taproot – it is worth a look, and this month especially!
The latest installment from the Sheepspot Fiber Club is really quite stunning… and scary: Teeswater Top (Top or Roving, the difference between them) I simply love how the fiber took the dye and I am really quite nervous to spin up this incredible stuff! Yeah… this spin will be something that I focus on – no watching Netflix while spinning!
And, finally Tattoos! In the credit where credit is due category… a huge thanks to Mitch McConnell for making “nevertheless she persisted” the most popular tattoo of the year! Across the nation women have been gathering to tattoo this motto on their person, and April 23rd Pittsburgh (and the surrounding area) is joining in the fun! The event will be raising funds for Women & Girls Foundation’s GirlGov program designed to provide local girls with the opportunity to learn about civics, government, philanthropy, community involvement, women’s history, and leadership! It will be held at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh! You can sign up for the event here – and Yinzer’s can you help me out by sharing this in your social media sphere – THANK YOU! I am going… and I hope you are too!
Now, how about some links this week?
On to the sweater category…
That is all I have for this week! Have a great weekend and a very Happy Easter!
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by Kat | Dec 7, 2016 | General, Making
I am making progress on the Christmas Request knitting. I have one more sock to finish, and perhaps another pair of slippers – depending on how the sock moves along!
I am also knitting my four repeats daily for Project Peace – and I am really enjoying it. From daily Peace posts to the knitting meditation – there is a noticeable change in the atmosphere at Casa del KatKnits!
I got a nice surprise this week from the Sheepspot Breed Club – Southdown! I have never spun (or knit, for that matter!) with this fiber and I am eager to give it a try! The colors this month were also interesting. Is it yellow? Or green? As you can see, others had the same question! Jillian has a great article in the new Knitty on color blending that I am going to try with the multi-color braid. And, yes – this fiber seems to be saying “card me”!!
My reading has stagnated a bit I am sad to say! I have yet to finish Burial Rites, which hardly seems possible with the insomnia I have had this week! However, I have about 75 pages to go and I hope to have this finished today!
The library just emailed me that a book I had on hold was available, so I have that to look forward to as well but, I am not certain this will help my insomnia!
However, this was the best find all week. Thank you, NPR, for this incredible list! So many books I have not read, but I was happy to see several I had read on this list! But, my “to read” list has grown exponentially! Perhaps, 2017 will be the Year of Good Books (and little else)!
I am also contemplating what knits I need to finish – and there is a list of them – as well as what knits I want to start in 2017. Mapping out the New Year is always a good plan!
What do you want to knit or read in the New Year?
Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along, where you will find plenty of well-read knitters!
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by Kat | Sep 16, 2016 | General
It has been a full week here in my house – although, my list still has a couple of things still lingering on it, but I will not be overly stressed if I do not get them all done.
I did indeed get the second Triticum front completed, I hope to cast on the first sleeve sometime this weekend. Seems like the perfect thing to do while watching the Michigan Game!
Plus, there were a few moments spent spinning this week. I am working on getting my Shetland from the Sheepspot Fiber Club finished. I was unsure of what I would do with this, but Ysolda provided a fantastic idea and gave me a problem at the same time! What did I have that would go well with this purple yarn?? I did some stash diving and found some “sport weight options” – imagine that! At first I thought that this Top of the Lamb might work. It looks nice in color but, as you can see in the black and white image, there is not enough difference in the hues of the two colors. Therefore, not a good choice. But, luckily I also have some Rauma Strikke-garn that works well as far as color theory goes. I will know for sure when I swatch and see how they play together.
Next week will be another full week, but I am going to spend some time today making some lists for our upcoming vacation. It is much easier to pack from a list; don’t you agree? If not, I tend to forget lots of things!
The Friday Links today have lots of good things, and not all of them are fiber related:
Today is “Read an eBook Day” – I mean, is anything even remotely more important than that?? (Psst, there is a contest involved too with a great prize…)
Finally, this is totally off track, however Steve is sending me Links of Torture – Pumpkin comes to Williams Sonoma – yeah, I reallllly want, but do I need… that is the question!!
That is all I have today – have a fantastic weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!!
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by Kat | Aug 12, 2016 | General
This installment of the Sheepspot Fiber Club is a lovely Shetland top and, I have been doing some sampling to see what it can do and it is interesting what I am learning, thus far.
I spun my first samples on my Schacht Matchless using the largest whorl I have (10.5:1) and I slowed my treadling way down and I increased my take up. My single ended up with about 3 TPI (twists per inch), my twist angle is 65-degrees, but I think that might be a bit too much twist. I’d like it at about 2 TPI, but I don’t think I can do that on my wheel with the whorl I have. I just am not certain I can treadle any slower! (The bottom skeinlet is the singles yarn)
I then spun up a sample that I plied. I did not change the whorl or my treadling for the singles, although I spun them a bit finer and decreased my take up significantly. I plied the yarn with a 40-degree twist angle and 3 TPI. I like this yarn very much before finishing. (The top skeinlet is the plied yarn) It is very interesting how different the two samples are in color as well.
I then sampled using spindles.
I spun the same amount of fiber on my Ann Grout Acorn Spindle – my goal was to create a low twist single. I got much better and more controlled results using a spindle – 1.5 TPI, a 25-degree twist angle, and it is a cohesive yarn. I have yet to wash and set the yarn, but I will full it a bit to help it stay together. (The skeinlet on the left is the singles yarn)
I spun a much finer single on my Jenkins Kuchulu Turkish Spindle. I wound the singles off into a plying ball and plied them on the same spindle. My twist angle was 50 degrees in the plied yarn and I got 4.5 TPI before finishing.
Now, here is the shocker – I like the yarns spun on the spindle much more than I like the yarns spun on my Matchless. I know. I am stunned!
My next step will be to finish the yarns and knit up swatches. I will be interested to see what my thoughts are once I have done that.
Stay tuned, swatches will be next Friday’s post!
Now for some linkage to usher in the weekend:
That’s all I have this week, Gentle Reader. May your weekend be much cooler than it is forecast to be here!
by Kat | Aug 5, 2016 | General
A couple of years ago, I knit this sample. It turned out beautifully and I really wanted to knit one to keep. But, as with many things – time passes and I forgot about it.
Until this, since Gale posted her fantastic version of this I have been unable to get Cladonia out of my head!
I looked at yarns online. Lots of yarn online. Nothing really struck me…don’t get me wrong, there were volumes of gorgeous yarns, but nothing that really said to me – I need to be your Cladonia.
Then I remembered this Debbie Bliss Fine Donegal I had in my stash. I have three skeins of it, but I really did not want to make it one color. I played with other yarns in stash, but nothing was really the right color.
It did not take much effort to convince a friend to head out to Sewickley to visit their yarn shop and I am happy to report that I had great success finding the perfect yarn to match. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and for me it is true. Gale, I simply adore your Cladonia – my version will be a tribute to you!
I am holding off on casting on until I have the big brown blob finished – which, with some Olympic Assistance, I hope will be today!
I did get the first half of the Sheepspot Perendale plied up – I ended up with about 160 yds of 3-ply fingering weight yarn and I hope to get similar yardage out of the second half of the fiber. That will give me about 320 yds for a pair of socks, so here’s what I want to know from you, Gentle Reader, what is your go to toe up sock pattern? This is not my usual method of knitting socks, but I want to maximize the yardage!
Now for the Friday Links (and they are amazing this week!):
Svetlana has been busy again
And so has Thea
I laughed at this, but really – perhaps every little girl needs one!
It has been years since Interweave Knits has had anything that I even remotely wanted to knit, however their Fall edition has some really yummy things. Like this. And this. And this.
There was an update to Sight is Life
Grellow gets me every single time.
This does not Vex me at all.
Diabolique
That is all I have for today, have a fantastic weekend and see you all back here on Monday!
