Hot stuff

Whew! Patio knitting was curbed by the heat and the rain. It's like a jungle out there now. I did push on and finish Shogun though. It bloomed like a jungle flower.

The pattern was fun because it was interesting, yet simple to remember and the color play just keeps going. Because I used a 4mm needle, instead of the recommended 5mm, I worked 4 extra repeats for a total of 14. The finished dimensions are 77x16 inches. So a little longer than the original, and not quite as wide.

The finished project weighs about 142 grams. I had two small leftover skeins of Noro sock yarn and almost one full one.

This is likely to be a gift for someone who's not afraid of color. I think it would make a lively addition to a winter wardrobe. It was refreshing to me. Now I can go back to all those boring blue knits in the queue and find them cool and wonderful again.

Sound familiar?

I've said some of these. How about you?

Hooray for Friday! I'll be on my patio with my knitting. I hope you've all got a shady corner and a fun project to while away the summer weekend with.

Spinning Proud

My spinning has turned out some beautiful yarns lately. First there was this 11oz of Fat Cat Knits merino.

It's a 2-ply, and I just let the colors fall where they may. The yarn is smooshy and soft and about 900 yards of a worsted weight. I'm thinking of working it into either a shawl, part of a vest or the yoke of a sweater.

Then I spun an almost perfect sock yarn. I say perfect, because it looks like Zauberball to me. It's superwash Cheviot from Dyeabolical. I saw the review in Knitty and just had to have it. Don't regret it either.

It feels a bit like plastic when drafting, very slick, probably because it's superwash. And it's not a soft fiber, at all. I spun a true 3-ply.

To divide the fiber I held it up, folded in three and then split it. I weighed each hank and added or subtracted as needed. Then, during spinning, I worked one third straight from the roving. The second third I split 2 or 3 times, and the third I split down a lot. It's giving me some interesting striping in the knitted socks.

 My dad has dibs on these, since the handspun pair I knit him for Christmas were too small and went to my mom. He's already tried on the sock in the picture above and it fit fine so I'm well on my way. He's very much looking forward to them. And I don't mind giving them away because I've another 4 oz of this fiber to spin and I'm looking forward to that!
 

Siezed by the throat

Shogun was just released this month and I had to have it. I cast on Friday night and I'm almost halfway done, noon on Sunday.

It's loud and I love it. This is art, playing with the colors, putting the oddest combos together just cause I like them. Some of these odd colors will come back and improve the cohesiveness of it.  I look forward to seeing it done.

I don't like Kureyon sock yarn for socks, so I'm delighted to have this project to use up my leftovers.