Quick mindless knits

I have been doing some quick mindless knits while I await the word on whether the upcoming grandchild is a boy or girl so that I know what baby knits I am starting (maybe we will find out this week).  So I found this bag, adapted from a quilting pattern, adapted from origami box folding.  It is a stockinette (or garter, but I like stockinette) rectangle, 3:1 ratio.  It is then folded to form this shape.

My rectangle was 13" x 39" (the bottom is 17") and was knit from a couple of balls of Berroco Comfort that I had lying around.  Once it was folded, I didn't like the stockinette roll, so I picked up stitches and did an I-cord bind-off, and continued the bind-off into a standard I-cord for the strap.

The website for this bag is http://www.toltyarnandwool.com/blogs/blog/15166929-tolt-folded-bag-with-veronika  I seem to be doing fairly well, as it was posted to Knitting Paradise on August 31 and it is finished on September 2!

Gerry, when you go to the website for this, she has links to a quilter with a bag like this.  You quilters have all the best ideas!

Finally got up the nerve ....

to knit garments for myself.  I am never happy with the fit after I make them, and wish I had spent the time on something else.  But this time, I took advantage of some good hints: 1-Find a garment that fits you well, and use those measurements. 2-Get yarn that suits your pattern. 3-Get a pattern that is well-written.  Using those hints, these are what I came up with

Picked up the yarn at Hobby Lobby on clearance for $1.97/skein -- I love a deal on I Love This Cotton ;-)  So the sweater cost me $6 (the buttons may cost more than the yarn!).  The pattern is Sleeveless Pullover from the LeisureArtslibrary.com website.  I got the yarn because it matched the skirt I had bought in June, but had nothing but white tops to wear it with.

Linum Tee

Got the most wonderful Rowan Lenpur Linen DK weight yarn, and looked for just the right pattern.  Finally found it in the Knitscene Summer 2014 magazine.  Now I'm all set for Tiger games --MIZ-ZOU!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming

The wedding is over, and now things can return to normal, if there is such a thing!  The weather was temperate for August 2 in Kansas City (mid 80s), the venue looked beautiful, the truffles were a big hit, and as for the bridal couple, judge for yourself:

 

John and the girls

Taking a break from setting up the reception

And now, I can return to knitting and spinning, which have taken a back seat to wedding preparations.

 

Still more doilies

I love these things!  I am mastering the crochet chain edging, too!  This doily is Egeblad, knit in DMC Baroque crochet cotton on 00 needles.

I have picked another doily pattern so that I always have one on needles, because I enjoy them so much.

A new love -- knit doilies

Just finished and blocked my first knit doily, the Swirl Leaf doily.  It's been knit for quite some time, but I never sat down with a teeny-tiny crochet hook to crochet the picot edging.  Finally bit the bullet, and other than being time consuming (88 loops of 7-stitch chains) it wasn't that bad.  I have all my grandmother's teeny-tiny crochet hooks, that I thought I would never use when I got them but just wanted them for the sentiment, but they came in handy.

Knit with Aunt Lydia's Crochet 10 thread, using a 00 needle.  The instructions called for DPN, but there was no way I was doing that, so I just used the Turkish cast-on and went to town.  It measures 13" across.  While I was knitting, I kept saying, "My fingertips hurt so bad from pushing stitches off those very pointy needles.  Never again."  But apparently not, because I have the Egeblad doily on needles, and am on my way.

Amazing what $6 in fiber will get you!

On my last trip to the Brown Sheep factory, I got almost a pound of 85% wool, 15% mohair roving to spin up.  My latest post was to show the fingering weight I spun up with most of the fiber.  Last night I spun up the rest of the pink.  The fiber was $6.50 per pound, so I guess I spent about $6, and here's what I turned my investment into:

 
The chunky turned out to be 116 yards of a chunky yarn.  Just right, I think, for a nice warm hat, maybe with cables..... hmmmm

I am searching Ravelry for "rose" or "pink" in shawl names, to pick out a pattern for the fingering weight.  So far the finalists are: Rose Fragrance (calls for laceweight), In the Pink (calls for fingering), Campanula in Pink (calls for DK) and Rose Garden Shawl (calls for DK).  Obviously there will be some swatching happening before a final decision is made.  The construction of In the Pink fascinates me, so it is the heavy favorite right now.

Spinning -- it's not just for health clubs anymore!

I have been bitten by the spinning bug in the last couple of weeks.  I obtained some roving (wool/mohair blend) from Brown Sheep factory, put on my lace flyer, and went to town.  About 8 or 9 ounces of fiber turned into about 640 yards of laceweight or light fingering yarn.  I can't wait to decide on a shawl for this fiber.  I still have about 5 or 6 ounces of this left, so I will probably spin that to a worsted weight for a cowl.

(When snow is all you have for an outdoors backdrop for your picture, that's what you use.  It snowed a foot in Cheyenne Sunday and Monday, and a foot at our house in Fairplay Colorado during the same time period.)

I also picked up at Cowgirl Yarns, my favorite Wyoming LYS, 3 ounces of llama fiber, locally produced in Laramie.  I sat down and spun it Thursday evening, then plied it Monday night while watching "24 - Live Another Day."  (Great show, BTW.  It was a stroke of genius to let it sit for a few years.)  Anyway, here's what became of the 3 ounces of fiber.  It took a while to spin, because I had to stop and remove vegetable matter quite often.

 I tried to spin and ply this a little more loosely than I tend to normally, because it is such a fuzzy fiber that I don't want to lose that property.

I haven't yet decided what it wants to be.  Since there are only 200 yards of it in fingering weight, it probably will become some sort of scarf or cowl.

  
Stay tuned for my next spinning adventure -- superwash yarn to spin to fingering weight for socks.  Wish me luck!