the fiber fetishist

Grand plans are funny, then you find out a family member is having a baby!

baby sweater in progress for my sis

A photo posted by @jeshf on Mar 15, 2016 at 12:56pm PDT

Winter in Seattle is very grey. Sure, the trees and moss and even my lawn are green, but there’s not much color beyond that. I seem to be fighting it with the current knits:

chevron cowl

antler baby cardigan

lanesplitter

I have a neutral in the mix, too.

follow your arrow mystery knit

I had the perception that I didn’t finish much in 2013. Imagine my surprise when I browsed my Ravelry projects and discovered 18 projects completed in 2013. Not too shabby.

Sure, a few of them were more learning experiences (the inkle loom projects) but I did complete them.

(1) adult sweater, (1) child sweater, (7) weaving projects, (6) hats, (2) cowl/shawlette, (1) stuffed toy

finished stuff

1. handwoven scarf w/twisted fringe,
2. letters, woven,
3. honey cowl

4. table runner,
5. Inga,
6. looper rug for my sis K’s bday

7. Trying out Baltic patterns,
8. kumihimo samples from class,
9. citron

10. Ahahaha, this baby pixie hat is best!,
11. bulle,
12. graham

13. ambergris,
14. graham for N,
15. bray cap

16. Done,
17. Grumpy late night work and hat knitting,
18. some progress

socks from mom

I had ankle surgery on Wednesday. My mom flew out to help us out for a week (so nice, we are lucky!)… bonus for me: she gave me a pair of socks she knit!

sock from mom

They’re the Knitty-published pattern Java [ravelry], knit in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga that (I think) she picked up at MD S+W a few years ago. I’m a lucky woman, indeed!

Thanks, Mom!

N asked for placemats like ones E has.

hemmed, washed, dried

I wove one on my table loom, cut it off, hemmed it, washed it, dried it. It was the right size and it looked similar to what he requested.

So I tied the warp back onto the front and started the other three, with details about the length to weave the hem portion as well as the body of the placemat.

back and front

It’s not truly REP weave, but it does utilize a thick yarn alternated with a thin yarn as weft. Simple but looks interesting and has a great texture. I used the book Rep Weave and Beyond (checked out from the library!) for reference, but this is from a rigid heddle kit from Cotton Clouds.

Since this is on my table loom which doesn’t require my ankle to be functional to use, I have no excuse for not finishing the other three placemats yet. D’oh!

beamed

This is the project that has been sitting on my floor loom since late May. Why since May? Because I hurt my ankle at the beginning of May and I am not able to treadle, so I haven’t spent the time finishing threading my heddles.

threading heddles

This project is waffle weave towels. I ordered a kit from Halcyon Yarn, selecting colors I never would have put together: sage green, copper orange, bright pink, and yellow. I like the combination. I’m just bummed I can’t weave on my floor loom right now!

tablet weaving

I tried tablet weaving a few months ago because I love tablet woven items.

I hated tablet weaving though!

needles and things

I’ve been meaning to re-organize my knitting needles and crochet hooks and notions for a while. I finally got tired of the tangled mess of circulars and piles of mismatched double pointed needles and over the course of a few nights, reorganized everything.

I ditched some of the stitch markers that I hate and consolidated the ones I love. I sorted the needles properly, keeping the knit picks interchangeables (which I have started to really hate) separate from the Hiya Hiya interchangeables (which I find myself fighting with all the time due to the swivel join) separate from the Dyakcraft Heavy Metal needles (too bad they are too heavy in larger needle sizes) separate from the fixed needles and the Signature convertible (which I find is not slick enough for me).

Yea, I am feeling rather Goldilocks with my knitting needles lately.

But yay! All my knitting needles and crochet hooks and notions are tidied up. Does anyone want a needle tatting mini kit? Never opened. Let me know!

Years and years ago, I knit N a hat. Plain old stockinette in plain old black Aurora Bulky.

He wore it all the time. Then he lost it, we found it, we washed it again, it shrunk a little (so much for superwash).

So I knit him a second hat in Manos (Lava) — black with red and yellow. But he never really wore that hat. Later he said it was too scratchy and not black enough.

A month or so ago, N asked for a new hat. Black, easy care, not too rough. I decided that Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage would be a good yarn for the not-rough, easy care part. But when I went looking for a black yarn in Tosh Vintage, I had trouble finding one. Red toned, blue toned, brown toned, green toned. I finally ordered Georgia O’Keeffe, which looked very black to me, with teal bits.

I knit Graham, a free pattern [ravelry].

graham

I like it. I handed it to N.

N, “this is not black.”
j, “sure it is.”
N, “this is made of MANY COLORS and black.”
j, “it’s just black and teal and maybe a little brown.”
N, “so you’re saying this is APPROXIMATELY black. and other colors. I want plain old just black.”

Ooooook. He also had some changes to make to the size of the hat. He wanted the ribbing to be 1/2″ shorter and the part of the hat before the crown also 1/2″ shorter. Easy enough. He did agree that the yarn was soft enough, so at least I had that working for me.

So I ordered some more Tosh Vintage, this time in the now-discontinued Cloak. A very plain plain black. Almost black. Mostly black. I knit another Graham, this time only knitting the ribbing to 2.5″ and starting the crown decreases at 7″.

graham

This one has been stamped approved, though I believe it is a little short.

As I was ripping out a mistake for the third time in my very dark living room, N said, “oh! now I understand why you don’t want to knit plain old flat black.”

Yes, yes indeed.

two hats

N prefers his hat inside out. Graham is a great hat and works up quickly. Knit one! I might knit a third.

My Georgia O’Keeffe Graham
My Cloak Graham

rolling rock

A few days after I finished my Ambergris, I started Thea Colman’s design, Rolling Rock [ravelry], in Cephalopod Yarns Bugga!, 8 Spotted Crab Spider.

I’m a sucker for a henley and I’ve been craving some simple lace. A sweater in sportweight yarn (on US3 needles!) may be difficult for me to complete, but so far it’s interesting because this sweater is knit top-down and uses Susie Myers’ unvented contiguous sleeve structure [ravelry].

Go go go!