"When I grow up..."

"...am I going to be a sweater?"

We're counting on it...but it would be nice if you'd try to stay a bit tidier, baby girl :-o.

The 2018 sweater making preparation season is not far off.  The bigger flocks getting ready for lambing are shearing now.  We won't be far behind, especially if this crazy weather holds up.  It won't though and the surest way to get it to cool back down will be to shear the sheep...

Speaking of sweaters, I've decided to take the Carbeth back from 20 and re-knit it for the Iknitarod, which starts this Saturday.  Wait a minute.  This is probably not making any sense to anyone who isn't following on Instagram, now that I think about it.  Let's back track...

I finished Baaxter's Carbeth.  I was between sizes and went up instead of down...and should have gone down.  Not only that, I wasn't happy with my decrease stitches (what shapes the sweater and makes that point in the top center).  

The right side was not as even as it should have been, but I also had some mild puckering on both sides, front and back.  Both of these problems could have been fixed with an aggressive blocking...which would have made the sweater even bigger.

So my first thought was to trade it to 20 (who looks great in it) in exchange for the Ford sweater (that I'd like to have back ;-).  Then I saw that cute video of the afternoon I knit out in the field and got all sentimental about it and now I'm going to re-knit it for myself during the Iknitarod.  Sorry, 20.

Before I do that though I wanted to practice those stupid decreases, so I decided to knit a teddy bear sized sweater...which is oddly how my last winter Olympics challenge ended, now that I think about it...and here's a link to that post.  Oh wow, I'd forgotten about the Burrnie/Daniel incident!  How sweet to go back and remember :-).  

I finished the sweater in time for the closing ceremonies and I think it turned out very cute.  I completely fixed the puckering issue and figured out how I want to do the right hand side decreases.  I'll be ready to restart on Saturday!

Just to keep the bear sweater exciting, I'd pulled out a skein of handspun yarn that I thought would be enough yardage.  Boy, was I wrong.  Luckily I remembered that I'd spun it during the Tour de Fleece a couple years ago and I still had my 'on paper' notes about who I'd spun and yardages.

Okay, I spun that FOUR years ago.  Good grief!  Thank goodness for the blog records :-o.  I'd spun that from a friend's flock in hopes/plans to make her something from it...which I obviously never got done.  Luckily that roving is still here (still in hopes/plans to still make her something from it) and I was able to spin enough more to finish the sweater.  

I believe it's a Perendale fleece and I really enjoyed spinning and knitting with it.  I think fiberpusher may still be buying fleeces from this flock for her breed study offerings.  Here's a link to her shop and they'll also be at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in May.  Yikes :-o.  The fiber season has started for sure!

How Many Sheep Does It Take To Knit A Sweater?

Baaxter's pretty sure he knows the answer to that question.

You know that old joke...

...where the punch line is "I didn't even know sheep could knit!"

They can't.

Well, we had snow yesterday and today it all melted and warmed up enough that I could knit outside this afternoon.  Baaxter "helped".  I'm ready to start the collar tomorrow, which means the end is in sight.  It's been a fun, easy knit and so many friends are knitting Carbeth sweaters that it's felt like a virtual knitting party :-).

Yarn Along - A Silver Medal Finish

Technically I did knit a Rebecca Boone "vest".  I just ended up making a miniature one so I could figure out all sorts of stuff that I didn't even know I needed to figure out until they happened.  If you realize something isn't going to work and needs to be ripped back and re-knit, it doesn't hurt as much if you are only talking about 70 stitches rather than rows and rows of 200 ;-).  

Designing patterns is hard work.  When you see that small charge next to a pattern download, pay it happily (and fairly).   Someone has put a ton of work into those three or four sheets of paper you are getting ready to print out.  And if you are thinking about giving it a try yourself, do it!  You'll learn a whole lot and make a cute little sheepy or teddy bear really happy :-D.

"I can't believe someone knit me a handspun sweater!"

And now on to my favorite part - blocking.  See how wonky everything is?

I start with a good soak in some warm water with a little Mrs. Meyer's lavender laundry soap.  I didn't use quite as hot water as I usually do because I was nervous about the Cotswold yarn being more shrinky than a more medium wool.  Not sure if it is, just a fear.  I should do a test of some different swatches sometime and find out.

Pinned out to dry.

Tadaa :-)

A close up of the collar.  I was wanting to do a lock spun yarn from Rebecca Boone's lamb fleece that I still have stashed.  It's so pretty and lots of different colors and darker grays.  It didn't look quite right though with the lighter gray sweater, so I pulled down some of Graham's lamb fleece. 

I'd originally planned to tail spin it around a core the proper way, and I did, but I didn't like the yarn.  I've not found a core spun yarn yet that I really like.  Oh, they're pretty to look at, but I just don't like the feel of it knitted.  Maybe I'll try weaving it sometime.  In the meantime, I just fluffed up his baby locks and spun two small singles and then plied them together.  Worked fine, looked good and knit up just the way I wanted :-).

Here's a better view of the the lace pattern and the attached i-cord edging on the front panels.  The pattern worked out well and was easy to maneuver around because it had so much stockinette stitch involved, but when I do a full size sweater, I'll mirror the patterns on the fronts so they, well, mirror each other.  Lots to learn :-).

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along

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Burrnie Update - and his name is going to stay Burrnie.  It just fits him.  He's doing really well, is really sweet, super smart, working hard to fit in and we're glad he's here :-).
 
I started having some trouble yesterday with Daniel Not-Boone (who's maybe actually more Bossy Boone than we'd have thought ;-).  Poor Daniel.  Chocula doesn't like being separated from the rest of his friends.  "I didn't doooo anything.  Why do I have to be in priiiison over here?..."  If Chocula's upset, his big brother Daniel is upset.  Burrnie was completely behaving himself, but was still getting some retaliatory punches and it looked like it wasn't going to stop.  No one should have to feel scared, especially at night.  I kicked Daniel out of the group :-/.

I went back up before bed last night to check on everyone and all was quiet.  This morning I found three sleeping spots outside, near the back corner of the barn. I'm guessing that's Chocula and Hershey together on the right and Burrnie on the left.  Daniel had a matching spot just over the fence corner a few feet away.  While I was sad they'd all slept out on the cold ground, at least they'd all slept together.

Oh For Knit's Sake!

"Knit five rows of garter stitch and shut up.  It's the Winter Olympics, not the Whiner Olympics.  Yeesh!"

An Olympic Update

I am standing at the top of the ski jump. Just standing there. And standing. And standing... The yarn has been finished for days now. I've done two samples, still like my stitch pattern choice, am good with my gauge, have measured a nice fitting vest...  I'm ready, but I'm just standing.  Over-thinking which jumps I want to do, how many turns in the air, (actually, I'm probably trying to learn the names of all the jumps and turns ;-).  

Anyway.  I'm not really sure what the hold up is.  I need to just get out of my head and git ta knittin'.  I guess the main hold up excuse is how I want the bottom edge to start.  Which cast on would be best?  Do I need/want a few rows of something straight and stable or will the patterning itself be enough to keep it from rolling?  Hmmm, if I cast on provisionally, I can over-think all this WHILE I'm knitting.  That's today's goal.  Just. Get. Started.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Rebecca Boone's pretty yarn. 

A few snowflakes added for fun.

I have to say this is some of my favorite yarn I've ever spun.  It's soft and fuzzy, pretty to look at and carry around.  It's exactly what I wanted - a yarn that reflects her curly locks.

Even washed and combed out, the curls shine through.

Spun softly, but definitely not a fragile yarn.  A yarn with character, much like the sheep herself :-).

My Olympic spinning mascot.  Maybe she'll help my knitting too! 

Yarn Along - For The Winter Olympics

It's here!  It's here!  It's finally been FOUR WHOLE YEARS and time for the Winter Olympics! I enjoy the Summer Olympics too, but a whole Olympics devoted to my favorite time of year?  Oh you know it! :-D

It's also time for the Ravellenic Games, formerly known as the Knitting Olympics.  The Olympic folks came after the Ravelry folks for using the word Olympics two years ago.  Same ultimate challenge with a clever new name ;-).

The goal of participating in the Ravellenic Games is to set a fiber art (I don't think it has to be knitting) challenge, start it no earlier than the opening ceremonies, work hard to complete your challenge during the games, watch along if you wish and be finished by the closing ceremonies.

Your challenge can be anything that's a true challenge to you.  Push yourself.  It could be knitting a huge lace shawl or just learning to knit.  Want to spin up an entire fleece or just learn to drop spindle?  Weave something?  I think it all counts.  Or at least it counts on our team :-).

If you'd like to join Team My Favorite Sheep, we have a fun group over on Ravelry.  Just drop in, join the group and let us know what your challenge will be.  If you'd enjoy keeping everyone posted on your progress, we love to hear and see pictures.  We are great cheerleaders and there is a ton of talent there if you crash your sled ;-).  There are also a whole list of other teams and groups and "sports" and on and on and on...

I worked up a fun ravatar for our team.  Originally Maisie's head was a little too big.  When I showed it to Saint Tim his comment was "Well, her head's too big for her britches anyway."  So I fixed that! Also, Boudreaux is a bit over-tall, but since he's spent most of his life being "under-tall" he said he was okay with it ;-).  

Feel free to take and use it as a button if you'd like - just please link it back to this post or to our Ravelry team thread.  And, hey, if you'd like to participate but you aren't on Ravelry (gasp! ;-), just leave your comments here on the blog and enjoy the games! 

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along.  My Ravellenic Challenge is to design and knit a Rebecca Boone vest, so the only books I'm reading right now are pattern books ;-). 

The Wool Anniversary

Time flies when you're having fun.  Yesterday marked my 7th blogging anniversary!  Blogging is a lot of work.  Honestly.  But it's also one of the most rewarding things I've done.  Rewarding in the records I have of our life and our farm and farm family.  Rewarding in the good friends I've made from all over.  Rewarding in all I've learned and will continue to learn.  Rewarding in knowing that sometimes my crazy little world brightens up someone else's crazy little world.  It all matters.  

Since the 7th anniversary is wool, I used that (and the fact it was warm in the Wool House :-) as motivation to finally do some sample spinning with Rebecca Boone's pretty Cotswold roving.  I have big plans for her for the upcoming Ravellenic Games (formerly known as the Knitting Olympics).  More on that tomorrow.

"So, is this how you want me to pose?"

I have a little over 30 ounces of her 2013 fall roving.  That should be plenty.  Our little tomboy cleans up pretty well :-).

I spun a small sample and wound it off on my hand to Andean ply.  This is a neat trick and one I use for drop spindling and for plying small samples off the wheel.

Basically you wind the single strand into a center pull around your hand.  You gather up the front and back end of the yarn, pull your finger out of the middle so the yarn slips down onto your wrist and you can safely ply the two ends together without things getting crazy.  Usually ;-).

It's pretty, but I had a feeling it was too thin for what I wanted.

So I spun up another sample.  This time I had more yardage so I wound the center pull ball on my plastic ball winder. 

I liked this much better.

And then I pulled out a stitch book and sampled three different patterns.  I like the Eyelet Zigzag lace the best.  It's a super simple pattern and I think the zigzags look a bit like her curly locks.  It's a start!

The Ravellenic Games

The Ravellenic Games (previously known as The Knitting Olympics) start tonight!

While I think technically you are supposed to cast on a new project during the opening ceremonies (of which I've heard might include sheep and maybe a Border Collie too :-D), I am breaking the "rules", putting on my big girl panties and...wait for it...completing the Fair Isle portion of the Jester sweater. Finally.



I have the requisite cat lined up. Claire Bear's been training hard.



Two of the best Fair Isle books at hand. (Oops - amended to three. Forgot I had Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified at the house. It was part of the barn sale find :-).



And my poor, lonesome, neglected Jester sweater.



Which looks like my first step will be picking up some dropped stitches. Sigh. I deserve them.



I hit a great yard (actually barn) sale last weekend and scored a bunch of new knitting books. I ended up with some at home duplicates because I gobbled them all up just like the lady in front of me grabbed all the spare reins ;-).

Anyone interested in a Ravellenic kick off knitting (or crochet) giveaway? Leave me a comment and I'll draw three winners on Sunday evening.

Happy Knitting!