Violet Mittens: Mid-Month Check-In

This weekend is the half-way point in January and I think a mid-month check-in on what I'm working on would be a useful regular post for me to make.

Spinning:

The first week of January I spun a 4 oz braid of Mixed BFL combed top from Three Waters Farm in the colorway "Flannel Shirt." I have a blog post about this spin and the resulting hat project.

I have just started spinning 4 oz of Teeswater Roving from Lawrence Cottage in Oregon. I tried a few things but have settled on spinning this at a 5.5:1 ratio and am using a short forward draw. I have more to say about this but that will likely be a blog post down the road.

On January 1 I began spinning my batts of Oxford. I had about a pound total weight of these batts (approximately 1 oz each) and I have been spinning one a day. As of today (1/14) I have spun all of the singles. I am letting the last bobbin rest and then I will rewind those on to storage bobbins and then I will be ready to ply. I'm even experimenting with numbering my bobbins so I am mixing up what I am plying (i.e. first and last together) I would love to get it all plied this weekend, but I should definitely be able to within the week. I filled up 4 regular bobbins with the singles so I expect to get 4 or 5 skeins from this. These are woolen spun. I'm not entirely sure how I will use the resulting yarn. I might put it in the mitten stash or I might go for a shawl meant for a woolen spun yarn, Skeindeer Knits has a couple of those patterns.

As for what is on deck after the Oxford project is complete- I am leaning towards another dyed braid from Three Waters Farm. I haven't decided which one or how I want to play with color with it.

Earlier this week I completed the toe of sock #1 of my current purse socks and cast on sock #2. I haven't worked on it past the first few rows of ribbing. These are "vanilla socks," but I am doing them cuff-down and with a heel flap and gusset because I need to mix things up every once in awhile. They are in the colorway Manderley by Voolenvine on the Footsie base .

I am probably going to wind up one of my skeins of Dorset sock yarn and get that going as well. The first skein I spun was with batts I made inspired by Valentine's Day so I think it would be nice to make those in time for the holiday this year. The yarn is sport/dk so they should be relatively quick to knit up.

I have 4 of these going. I will start with my most recent cast-ons and work backwards.

On Wednesday the Shave 'Em to Save 'Em Sweater Challenge kicked off. I joined in because Deb Robson is teaching sessions and she is a wealth of knowledge and experience, but also because I have a fleece worth of yarn that has been waiting for months to become a sweater. I hadn't started yet partly because I was trying to clear other things off the needles, but also because I was a little intimidated about knitting a sweater from my own handspun. This challenge provided the nudge I needed to jump in. Originally I was planning on following directions form Ann Budd's Top-Down Sweater book, but it turns out the charts are only for a whole number of stitches per inch. I have 17.5-18 stitches per 4" or about 4.5 stitches per inch. I decided to check my pattern library and found that Flax by Tin Can Knits matches the stitch and row gauge pretty closely. I'm using that as a guide, I've knit the pattern before. I am eliminating the garter panel on the sleeves, I chose option 2 for the neckband (I will pick up stitches to knit the neck) and I am going to add the short rows shaping for the back of the neck as well. I cast on and am currently working the raglan increases. The sweater KAL goes through late February, I hope to have it done with some time to spare.

The second sweater I am working on is the Festive Sweater KAL Pullover by Skeindeer Knits. This was definitely an impulse cast-on when I heard about the pattern and it was released, but it was just the thing to start right around Christmas. I considered making it an all-over colorwork sweater but ultimately decided I would rather make it a yoke. I'm using Jamieson & Smith 2-ply Jumper Weight, the MC is a cone of the white, and I used a dark gray, red, and green in the yoke. I have now finished that section and divided for the sleeves, so now it is a lot of stockinette. I am leaving it out to pick up and knit something that requires no thinking for at least awhile. I may end up putting it away eventually and bring it back out to finish it later this year. As long as it is done and ready to wear for the 2022 holiday season I can't say that I am in a huge hurry to finish it.

I am at a very similar point with a similar sweater. My next sweater WIP is Newleaf by Jennifer Steingass. I started this in late August and finally finished the colorwork yoke within the first week of January. The MC is also a cone of Jamieson & Smith 2-ply Jumper Weight in shade 202 which is kind of ecru/natural/light beige. The CC is handspun though, so it has a really great effect to it. The CC will come back for the cuffs, but in the meantime it is also lots of stockinette. I don't have any real deadline on this one, but would like to get it done by March maybe? It is kind of spring-like with the colors and motif. I would like to be able to wear it before it is time to put sweaters away.

My oldest sweater WIP is Floof, also by Skeindeer Knits. I started this in early August. I was doing alright with it but it hasn't had much attention in the past two months. When I fractured my elbows I was at a point where I wanted to put the main body on hold and pick up stitches for the neck and then do the sleeves (and then I could go back to the body and knit as long as I wanted and be certain I had enough yarn.) Unfortunately, picking up stitches was a really painful maneuver for my wrists with my injuries, so I have just picked this sweater up again this week. The neck is done and today I started a sleeve. I really would like to finish this one soon. I am holding Knit Pick's Aloft (their mohair/silk) with Palette (a 2-ply fingering weight wool). The Aloft is hand painted and the Palette looks to be a dyed-in-the-wool blended color, so the color of this sweater is kind of interesting. It should be really warm, so I really like to get this done and wearable soon.

Nothing right now