Paper Bag

Last summer, our Guild held a Bag challenge and I started to work on my Paper Bag. At least, that was the intention. I made a trip to Granville Island to visit Paper-Ya. Paper-Ya has almost every kind of handmade paper imaginable...except the washi that I needed. What makes this paper special is that the sheets are pulled with all the fibres aligned in two direction, rather than the regular four. Still, the Hadaura is strong enough to use for paper spinning.

Finally, with a lot of off-and-on spinning, I had enough to knit my bag. I tried several different stitch patterns but the stiffness of the paper yarn made it hard to show any definition. I decided on a simple stockingnette stitch, accented with beads. The beads are added with a crochet hook as I went along. I tried stringing all the beads on first but the uneven joins made it hard to push the beads along.

The bag was finished and I had planned on using an olive green/gold silk chiffon for the lining and the fringe but the whole bolt has disappeared. (Yes, a WHOLE BOLT OF FABRIC!) In order to finish the bag for the Mar 9th deadline, I used a pale gold organza, cut into strips, and the paper yarn for the fringe. The ends were beaded to match the body of the bag. The cords were made with a commercial silk, twisted. Overall, I'm happy with the results but it's not the way I envisioned the bag to look. If I find this bolt of silk, I may change the fringe...just to see what it would look like.

If I had thought of it, I would have taken a picture of the finished bag before dropping it off at the Guild metting but instead, here's a pic of it as a work-in-progress.

More hats

I'm still knitting hats. I thought I might finish up the wool I bought just for the Olympic hats. I'm doing hats because I'm at a loss what to knit next. I guess I could finish one of the zillions of UFO's lying around upstairs. I thought perhaps another shawl. But that means I have to finish plying the Polworth. (Plying together two bobbins of lace weight takes a very LONG time!)

What I really want to do is a sweater with lots of twists and cables. But I can't seem to decide on a pattern. But I want to knit this with my own handspun...which means more carding, spinning, plying. All which I love doing but I need instant gratification right now.

I think another pair of socks should be next. I'm thinking of Pomatomus. I think I need a trip to Urban Yarns this weekend.

Polworth

This is my first time trying to spin a yarn to match what is recommended in the pattern. The pattern is the Madli Shawl from Interweave Summer 2004. The yarn is a 2-plyed lace weight - 1000m/200g. I worked it out that 10g of fibre, spun and plyed, should be 50m of yarn. The swatch was right on gauge, after blocking.

Now, the challenge will be to spin enough yarn to knit the shawl. Bobbin Two is filling up nicely. Once this one is full, I'll start plying.

Post Olympics

I've accomplished my goals for the Knitting Olympics. By the end of the closing ceremonies, I had a total of 18 hats...2 over my goal of 16. It wasn't easy because I'm just not a one-project-at-a-time gal. It was really difficult to resist all temptations of new projects. I did give in once and finished a pair of socks...I only had the ribbing to knit!

I thought I might post pics of the individual hats but I'm a really bad photographer. You have no idea how long and how many pictures I had to take before I got anything decent enough to post here. For me to take 18 GOOD pictures is nearly impossible so I won't bother...

If you've been over at Twisted By Choice, you've already seen this pic...my apologies.

Random cuteness

I came across this site today...Pencils and Papers. I thought the cards were too cute. It turns out she's a local artist and I know her mom! Talk about a small world. I ordered a dozen cards. I would have ordered even if I didn't know her mom. How can you resist Stuffed Bear, passed out from eating too much chocolate cake?

I'm going to suggest that she make some sheep cards.

Basic Hat Pattern

So far, all the hats are made from top down.

Using the Emily Ocker method, cast on 8 stitches. I didn't bother with a crochet hook and knit them directly on my circulars.

Round 1: Knit
Round 2: *K1, M1* repeat to end of round.
Round 3: Knit
Repeat the two rows but instead of K1 on the next round, you K2, etc. until hat is the right circumferenc. Knit plain until hat is long enough. Rib 2X2 for about 2" (or however long you want your ribbing).

Bind off prep row: K2, YO, P2, YO, etc to end.
Bind off: K2, pass 1st stitch over, slip YO, pass 2nd stitch over, etc. I like this bind-off because it gives me a nice stretchy bind-off without changing to larger needles.

Edited to add: The bind-off is done like a regular bind-off except for the yarn overs. They are not knitted but slipped and the previous stitch is passed over. This is a great bind-off for toe up socks.

That's basically the HAT. You can change colours anytime, do different colour patterns, stitch patterns, etc.

I like to cast on 8 because the subsequent increases will give me just the right number for 2x2 ribbing. I don't have to count and keep track of my increases this way.

A bit of wool

This followed me home today. I went through my stash and decided I needed more wool for the hats. At the LYS, I found Patons 100% wool. I've never used Patons product before. I was really surprised by the softness of the wool! And it was really quite affordable! I know a lot of people say they're on a limited yarn budget and can't afford good yarn but there are good quality affordable yarns out there. This didn't cost any more than the craft acrylic stuff one finds at Michael's.


This one is going back to the LYS. I think some of the Phentax was mixed up with the Patons balls. They were the same size and I just picked colours. 100% acrylic! It's going back! It hurts my hands just thinking about it!

Day of Rest

Today is truly Day Ate. I've been eating all day. It's someone's 65th birthday so there was cake. A big monster size CHOCOLATE cake! And then the lunch. And then the afternoon meeting and someone brought delicious homemade CHOCOLATE muffins! And my boss is back and gave out big Purdy's CHOCOLATE hearts! I'm a chocoholic. I can eat styrofoam if it's covered with chocolate...especially DARK chocolate.

9 hats finished. Tonight I will treat myself to a break and work on some other fibre project. Just a little one...I promise! I'm going to finish the ribbing of my Forever socks (aka Chevron socks). Even ribbing was exciting to do after a week of hat knitting.

I'm eagerly waiting the arrival of my new rosewood needles. I've never tried these before but have heard good things about them. I'm intrigued by the black cord. The claim is that the cord doesn't coil up like other circulars. I'm game to try anything at least once.

Day Six

Day Six and 7 finished hats. There was a false start and some frogging was needed. Hat 8 is back on track and on the homestretch with just the ribbing to finish up. I'm hoping to gain back my lead this weekend with some power knitting.


Unfortunately, a box came today with the rest of my Kidsilk Haze yarn order. There is nothing on this earth like this stuff! I'm having a difficult time not casting on a new project.

I guess you can tell I found a Candy Heart maker. These things are lots of fun!

Olympic Knitting - Day Three

It's coming to the end of Day Three here in BC. It's been an exciting 3 days here, with watching the Canadian Women's Hockey games and speed skating.

I've outdid myself and accomplished 6 (count them!) hats!! I know once the work week starts, I may not have enough time to knit so this weekend was devoted to hat knitting.

While I'm off to a pretty decent start, I hope I haven't peeked too soon. That's still another 10 hats in 13 days to go. As in any long distance sport, I must remember to pace myself.


I've been using up some of my hand-dyed handspun yarns. It's been fun taking the small skeins and matching them up in different colour combinations. The non-handspun hats are brighter but the handspun hats are definitely much softer. I still have to weave all the loose ends in and block. Maybe I'll do that tonight to give my hands a break.

Mr. Olympic Knitter has been very supportive. He offered to drive me up to the yarn shop yesterday. He wanted to make sure I had enough yarn! LOL!

Olympic Knitting - Day One!

On Friday when all the other Olympic Knitters were casting on, I was dealing with a crisis at work. A capital "M"-Major crisis. I snuck out to the bathroom and quickly casted on my first hat. Thank goodness I decided to start with something simple. Cast on 6 stitches and knit top down. Round & round, change colours once, and rib to the end. I knitted on the way on on the train. We ordered out for food and I kept knitting. Hat One is done!



Hat Two is well on its way to completion. Dare I hope to do two hats today?

Jennifer Heil won a gold medal in the Women's Mogul! A proud moment for the Other Team Canada!

Team Canada

After looking over the list of projects other knitters are doing, I want to change my mind - over and over again. It's easy to be tempted by this shawl or that sweater pattern. So many things that I want to knit. But I feel obligated to stick with my original plan. I always come back to the hats. I think it's because I believe in the Duulan project.

I just started a bag for the vessel project for the guild today. I have one more day to finish this so I can concentrate on the hats. I'm not sure I can do this. It's not going to be easy sticking with just one thing.

Knitting Olympics

I love the idea of Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olypmics. There are more participants signed up for this than the actual Olympics! I don't think she had any idea that it would become so huge. Almost every knitting (and a few non-kniiting) blog that I've visited this past couple of weeks has a mention of this Knitting Olympics.

On Friday, Feb 10th, during the opening ceremonies, over 2500 (and counting) knitters from all over the world will be casting on and knitting their Olympic challenge. Wow! Mindboggling and exciting!

I'm going to knit 16 hats...one a day...for the Duulan project. Knitting hats is not a challenge for me but knitting 16 hats and nothing but for that timeframe will probably kill me. I have the attention span of a gnat. It's going to hard not be distracted, considering that I have several projects on the go right now. I have the polworth that I'm currently spinning into laceweight. There's the freshly cleaned Gotland fleece just waiting to be carded and spun. And the biggest temptation of all arrived in the mail today - a box of Kidsilk Haze ready to be knitted into scarves and shawls. But I'm excited. I went through my yarn stash and pulled out stuff that would be appropriate. This Wed, I'm going to the LYS and MAKE SURE I have enough yarn to last me.

Gotland 2006

Despite the blue skies and sunshine today, it was still a bit damp and chilly out. I decided to be lazy and wash the fleece indoors. Just didn't want to spend the time cleaning winter debris accumlated in the outside laundry tub. That's a job for REAL springtime.

The Gotland was dumped out on the kitchen floor and sorted into little piles. Surprisingly, there was very little VM. Nothing like my first Gotland (thorns and dead beetles). But there was a lot of second cuts. And badly sheared bits. This little lambie didn't want a haircut!

I can see how Gotland will felt if you just look at it wrong. The lock formation is not as good as some of the other fleece I've processed. You can carefully separate them but the cut side is very very soft and loose.

The tub I used is not as big as my outside tub so the fleece was washed in two batches. Mesh lingerie bags are wonderful and only cost a $1.00 at the Dollar store.

A good hot soak with Sunlight dish soap. I know a lot of people like Dawn or Orvus paste. I don't care for the scent of Dawn and I'm not sure how I feel about Orvus paste yet. As a natural soapmaker, it's a tough habit to not be wary of anything mostly sodium laurel sulfate. Strangely, I've been told that suds are not what you want for washing fleece but SLS is used as a sudsing agent in detergents. Sunlight works for me and I'm happy with the results.

After the initial soak in the tub, I transferred the fleece to the washing machine - no aggitation! I didn't want to chance clogging up our drains with lanolin. Don't think that would be appreciated by the Hubby-person. Two rinses - the first rinse with vinegar and the second with plain water.

The fleece dried quickly. I cheated by placing the rack near the fireplace. It was checked often to make sure it didn't dry too quickly. The silver and grey came through beautifully! Some of the tips were still dirty so I'll separate them and wash again.

I'm really looking forward to working with this fleece.

Happy Monday!

Oh my! What is this?! Is that blue I see peeking out? I've lost track of how much rain we've had. Blech! Lunch time was spent outside by the water, knitting the *Damn Socks* aka Chevron Lace socks.


This is 1.2 kgs of Gotland in all its sheepy goodness. Not quite the fullbodied sheepness of some of the other fleece I've brought home but enough to get strange stares on the bus home tonight. In my perfect world, I'm going wash this fleece and sort it by the colour variations. Then I'm going to spin and knit a shawl, using the Illusion Knitting technique. This will be done as soon as I win the lottery so I can devote 36 hours a day in the pursuit of fibre happiness. yup.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year!

It seems appropriate that I decided to return to my Knit Blog on Chinese New Year.



So many things symbolizes prosperity and long life in the Chinese culture. Abundance of good things is obvious at this time of the year. Fibre was probably not what they had in mind but seems appropriate here. My newest fleece - 3 pounds of sheepy-smelling brown Shetland. It's gorgeous!

I was hoping to have it all washed and drying by the end of the weekend. Unfortunately, the weather was the typical Vancouver weather - rain and lots of it. Other than the very brief bit of blue skies on Saturday morning, it was rain and wind all weekend. The second best thing to do was just to sort through the fleece and pack it away for another day. I spent as much of the weekend as I could flick teasing the Polworth and carding it into batts on the drum carder. I want to line my floor with these batts and roll around on them nekkid. They are that soft!

Note to self: change drums and blend some silk with the Polworth.

KMVS Embroidery Workshop with Maiwa Fibre Symposium

The whole day was amazing. There were two actual embroiderers and two interpreters. The interpretors were all excellent embroiderers in their own rights. The day started out slow and unsure. They were hesitant and shy at first. They could see that we were all very interested in their work and relaxed. The lack of common language between us didn't seem to be a problem. Lots of pointing and smiling seemed to work. I apologize for not remembering the names of these ladies. This woman is holding her wedding shawl. It's hard to see in the picture but there faint lines in the black area. The fabric was block printed first, then mud painted, then dyed - all before the embroidery work was done. The picture really doesn't do it justice. That piece is stunning! She did it all herself as part of her dowry. She's 34 years old and a widow with a son and has no chance of ever remarrying. No one would marry her without another dowry. But even if she does save up, why would she want to remarry? She's better off now. She has high status in her village as an embroiderer. She has a son who will marry and give her a a daughter-in-law and bring in a dowry.

One of the interpretor trying on the wedding shawl to show us. In her village, the embroiderer is not allowed to wear her own embroidery or anything colourful because of her widow status. This custom is apparently different from village to village.

If anything, I came out of there with a better understanding and appreciation of their work. The KMVS group buys directly from the embroiderers and sells directly to the public so there are no middlemen. This means more money for the embroiderers. Right off the bat, the embroiderers are paid a good wage, a percentage is for the village for schools, water, etc. The middlemen would pay roughly 20 rupees a piece and the KMVS may pay 400 rupees for the same work. Big difference. The men are quite involved as well. Even though the work is all done by women, the men has a big say in things. They were concerned about women coming to Canada by themselves, being corrupted by Westerners. Meena (the woman in the yellow dress) has been here before but the others have never left India. Each woman interested had to submit their name and reasons. It was quite a long process in picking the names. The women chosen had to be expert embroiderers and married or widowed. The embroidery work is a strong part of their culture. I really got a sense of pride not just from the embroiderers themselves but from their whole village. There was a lot of planning to make sure we understand their work. Each student had a binder prepared for them with notes on the different stitches, a blurb about the villages, and a very nice special gift. Each binder had an original piece of embroidery done. Each piece handstitched and matted - ready for framing. It's a depiction of the Tree of Life.

Our sewing kit is a Buchki bag containing a practice cloth, a sampler to stitch, a bag of shisha mirrors, and assortment of coloured threads. The shisha mirrors are much thinner than the ones in craft stores. Each tiny mirror was hand cut and polished. Buchki bags are usually given to the girls when they are at an age to learn embroidery. The girls will take the bag with them as part of their dowry.

Each bag was handstitched and embroidered with a sample of all the stitches we learned in the class. The inside is lined with fabric that they block printed. Every single bag was different and unique. Let's just say that my sample looked nowhere near theirs. I think I will need years of practice.

Lanolin Extraction

A few weeks ago, there was a discussion on extracting lanolin from sheep fleece. Of course, I just had to try it. I had 2 pounds of beautiful Grand Champion white merino fleece to work with. It was just dripping with lanolin. Perfect.

The fleece was separated into 1/4 pound sections and put into lingerie bags. I decided to work 1 pound at a time. The fleece were pre-soaked in cold water for an hour. This was done twice to loosen and get rid of any sheep doodoo and dirt. I filled a very large pot with cold water and placed the 4 bags inside. The temperature was brought up slowly until it reached ~100 deg F. It simmered at this temperature for almost an hour. A second pot of water was prepared. I heated the second pot to the same temperature as the first pot. I added 1 tsp of baking soda and 1 cup of dishwashing soap. The fleece was carefully transfered into this pot for actual cleaning.

This was done for both pounds of merino. The water from the first pots were saved and let cool overnight. The next morning, I skimmed the lanolin off the top and discarded the water. Great for plants.

The lanolin was further rendered in another pot of clean filtered water. This was done 3 times. The final results was a teaspoon of pure clean lanolin. The resulting lanoline was made into a salve, using 1 part lanolin and 4 parts jojoba oil.

The salve is nice but a bit on the sticky side. Still, it was something I wanted to try and I did. Unless I have a good greasy merino fleece and a nice hot summer day, I don't think I would be rendering lanolin on a regular basis. Something to try & say yeah, I've done it.

Little Brown felted purse

I used Waterspun Merino in brown because I have so much of it. Knitted with 6mm circular needles. Not sure how much yarn I used as this was frogged from a sweater I decided not to finish.

Main Bag:

Cast on 40 stitches using backwards loop. Don't join. This part is knitted flat.
Garter stitch 4 rows, flat knitting.

Pick up 2 stitches along the short edge, 40 stitches along bottom edge, and 2 more stitches along the last short edge. This will give you 84 stitches. You can knit this with DPN's but I used a circular needle. If your cord is too long, no worries. Pinch out part of the cord to form 1 loop of the magic loop. If your cord is really really long, pinch out 2 loops.

Knit stockingnette stitch in the round until the bag is 1.5 times the width.

Garter stitch 4 rows. For this you will have to knit 1 row, purl 1 row, etc. Bind off 42 stitches loosely. This will be the front of the bag.

On the next row with the remaining stitches: K2, P1, Knit to 3 from the end, P1, K2.
Next row: K3, Purl to 3 from the end, K3.
Repeat these two rows for a total of 6 rows.

Next row: K2, P1, SSK, Knit to 5 from the end, K2tog, P1, K2.
Next row: K3, Purl to 3 from the end, K3.
Repeat for a total of 10 rows.

The next row is the buttonhole row but I can't remember how many stitches...bind off the middle 2 (or 3) stiches, following the same pattern decrease. On the row after the buttonhole bind off, when you get to the bind off, cast on 2 (or 3) stitches, using the cable cast on. Continue to end, following the decreases, etc.

Follow pattern decreases for another 2 rows.
Next 3 rows: garter stitch

Bind off and weave in the ends. Don't make it too tight as the fabric will pull funny when it's felted.

Front Pocket:

This is optional. I placed the pocket off to the side and an inch up from the bottom so I didn't have to worry about the pocket being slightly off centred.
Pick up 20 stitches. It's easier if you pick up these stitches with a crochet hook and then transfer them onto your knitting needle.

The pocket is done in garter stitch. Knit across. Pick up 1 stitch on the side, just above your last stitch. If you place your needle flat on your knitting, it should be just right there.
Next row, knit the pick up stitch and the first stitch together. Knit to end.
Next row, repeat the above until the pocket is about 3-4". The sides of the pocket will be secured by the picked up stitches. You won't have to sew the pocket on. When your pocket is high enough, bind off loosely. Remember that it will felt roughly to 1/3 the size.

For pocket flap, pick up 18 stitches above the pocket the same way. Knit to end. Next row, don't pick up fabric stitch but knit the flap without attaching the sides. Knit 2 rows following the stitch pattern for bag flap. Decrease the same for 4 rows. Make button hole and knit 2 more rows. Garter stitch 2 more rows and bind off. Weave in all the ends.

Don't worry if the bag looks funny. Felting is a wonderful thing.

Felting the bag:

There are all sorts of felting directions on the internet. The quick and easy way I do it is in the washing machine with a hot wash and cold rinse. Wet your bag thoroughly and place it in an old pillow case...preferably one that is similar in colour to your bag. You don't want to pick lint off your bag. Tie up the bag securely. Wash with a regular load of laundry. Take the bag out and check. I usually only need 1 cycle of hot wash and cold rinse. If you need to, do a second cycle.

Lay the bag flat and shape it by straightening out the edges. Let the bag dry and attach strap. You can sew a fabric liner inside to protect the bag from your keys poking through. I'm planning on putting my cell phone in the front pocket so I'm going to line that too.

I'm going to try and post pictures tomorrow when my bag is dried.

Glovemitts (or Glittens)

Whatever they're called. I think there should be a proper name for fingerless gloves with mitten covers. "I made you fingerless-gloves-with-mitten-covers." is quite a mouthful.

These "glittens" were made with grey alpaca, using 4mm DPNs.

Both Hands:
Using 5mm needle, cast on 38 stitches using long tail twisted cast on. Divide evenly over 4 - 4mm needles and join.
Knit 15 rows.

Right Hand:
Row 16: Knit to 2 stitches before 2nd needle. PM, k4, M1R, PM.
Row 17: Knit across.
M1R at every second row until you have a total of 12 stitches in the thumb gussett.
Knit across other rows (31 rows)
Transfer gussett stitches to waste yarn.
CO 4 stitches using backwards loop.
Knit to 44 rows (~1 1/2 inches)
Pinkie: PU 4 front, CO 2, PU 4 back. Knit 10 rows. Bind off.
CO 2 stitches next to pinkie and knit 2 rows palm stitches.
Ring: PU 5 front, CO 2, PU 5 back. Knit 10 rows and bind off.
Middle: PU 5 front, CO 2, PU 5 back, CO 2. Knit 10 rows and bind off.
Index: PU 6 front, 6 back, CO 2. Knit 10 rows and bind off.
Thumb: Divide over 2 needles (6/6). PU 5 along the top of thumb hole. Knit to middle of thumb nail (14 rows?). K2tog until 4 stitches. Thread yarn through remaining stitches and close.

Left Hand:
Knit to 2 stitches from the end of the second needle. PM, M1L, K4, PM.
Same as the right hand...M1L for every second row, knit the other row to 12 stitches in the gussett.
Knit fingers same as the right hand.