Another finished item and inkle stuffs!

Another finished project. Yay!

The armwarmers were done using this pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shelly-fingerless-mitts–loom and with Lion Brand Wool-Ease Sportweight, colourway 115 Blue Mist.

I made these for my good friend, Rian, and I’ll be making her a matching scarf as well, but after I do something else that needs to be done. Phew!

In other news, my dear friend Claire, to whom I gave the mini-inkle loom, did her first piece on it, and it came out really well. Take a look at the photo below–not too shabby eh? Pretty awesome!

 

It’s Finished!

Hurrah! I’ve finally finished the shawlette for Laura. Admittedly, I had to pause for a bit in order to try and start and finish arm warmers for Rian, but it just wasn’t possible to do that. I did about 60% of the arm warmers before Rian arrived for her weekend visit. I’ll have to post them out to her, probably with her Christmas present now.

Anyway, the shawlette. I realised while I was making it that I hadn’t gone the whole way around the loom. I was pretty annoyed at myself, because that had been the plan, and when I realised my error, I was about 45% into it and didn’t want to frog it and start again. So considering that, in the end, the finished project looked heaps better than I dared to hope. Mum was my shoulder model again, and I have to say, the shawlette worked out really nicely.

I used a mohair yarn for this one, the Kuka Yarns Magic Mohair in red/brown/tan (Rav link: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/kuka-yarns-magic-mohair) and the pattern I used was the awesome large shawl pattern for the knifty knitter by H. S. Schulte, here: http://kniftyknitterweekly.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/large-shawl.html

So now, the photos!

 

It’s an update! Stop the presses!

It’s been a wee while since my last post. It’s not been a particularly good few months, after my father died, a lot of other things happened and subsequently, I haven’t really had the energy or the desire to do much of anything except sleep.

So this is just a quick update. My good friend Laura recently sent me a Mirrix loom, which is currently sitting by the entertainment unit. I’m not sure what I’ll make on it yet, but I will use it, oh yes. I also got a second inkle, which I think I posted about and told Claire, a good friend who is a spinner and weaver, that she could have my little one, and she was thrilled about that. I bought some more yarn, because I am weak and yarn is pretty. Still haven’t started the clapotis, though the loom and yarn are sitting here, judging me.

I did get some great photos from my friends with their finished products, though. You may recall that over the last summer, I was weaving a wrap for my friend Vayshti who currently lives in the UK. I expect she and her partner will be there for some time, though they’re coming back to Australia to visit friends and family in October, and I’m looking forward to catching up. Anyway, she sent me a photo of herself wearing the wrap I did for her, and here it is:

The next photo is from my dear friend Erin, and is of her new son with the hexagonal baby blanket that I wove for him. She’d shown the photo around to mutual friends and they all commented on the blanket, which did give me the warm fuzzies and show that yes, I’m making some nice stuff, so that’s much appreciated. Anyhoo, here’s the photo:

And that’s it for now. Hopefully I’ll have something more to post soon.

 

One Baby Blanket–Finished!

Yay! Finished and ready to send to my buddy for her soon-to-be-born baby. 

 

 

New Project.

I’ve started the baby blanket for Erin, take three. The first two go rounds I frogged for various reasons, and I’m not sad I did that now. The first one, the pattern was too hard for novice-me to follow, the second, the yarn was too thin, and now this one, the third, the yarn is just right! The pattern is Charity Windham’s hexagon baby blanket and Kristen at GoodKnitKisses has put up a VERY helpful loom-along vid on YouTube which has made this process SO much easier. Honestly, those vids are life savers. So I’m about a quarter into it, and I’m quite enjoying it. Here’s a photo of it in progress. The cat had *just* turned his head as I clicked, a nanosecond beforehand, he’d been sniffing at the loom, hahaha. 

 

I’m using Lion Brand Jiffy Thick and Quick yarn in Salem, and a cheap $2 blue I got from a shop down the road. The blue is 8 ply, so I’ve been using two strands at once to compliment the 12 ply chunky of the Lion yarn.

 

Mini Update

So there’s a lot going on in my life right now, and there’s not much time left for updating. But I did manage to get a photo of a close up of the stitchwork of the armwarmers I made with the mohair wool, and that’s what I’m posting now. So here it is!

 

 

Looming Successes.

So it’s been a pretty good period for getting things done if not for my health. The less said about the latter the better, I think. Suffice to say that back pain is quite possibly the worst pain that exists in the world and you all should take care of your backs because when they go, they really go.

First up on the success-o-meter is an infinity scarf I did on the Martha Stewart loom. This is for a friend and the photos are of it unblocked, so keep that in mind. 🙂 I used the denim blue of Rico Design Baby Cotton DK. It was a joy to work with and so soft. The pattern for the infinity scarf is this one by Once Upon a Loom. It was a great pattern and a lot of fun to do.

Next up is my first piece of finished inkle weave, and now I think I’ve got the hang of it, so I can warp up my inkle loom for something a little better. And with that photo is a few pics of my current WIP, a wrap I’m making using James C. Brett yarn colour 9. For this one, I’m using the blue longest loom in the Knifty Knitter set of looms (I understand it’s not always blue, but it’s the longest one of the long looms), and the stitch pattern I’m doing is this one, also by Once Upon a Loom. The pattern linked there is for a beanie, but the stitch is so pretty, I thought it would come up nicely in a wrap, and I was right. So far, I’m just under halfway, I plan to have a length of two meters, and then I’ll bind off and put on the tassles and block it. Here’s the photo:

And then, then I shall embark upon the adventure that is the clapotis. Meep! XD

 

Mohair No Hair.

I have discovered that mohair is the worst fibre to work with. I won’t be making the same mistake twice, although the colour of the skein I have is just beautiful, so it’s a bit of a shame in that regard. I began working on an infinity scarf using the stitch pattern in the violet carpet shawl pattern because it was pretty–and it is. But with mohair, the yarn kept breaking, unravelling from its spun thread shape, and just was awful. 

 

I did end up winding the skein onto a drumstick that was a gift to me from a drummer friend some years ago. He gave it to me in case I needed to defend myself, and fortunately, that eventually didn’t arise, so it became a yarn holder last weekend. Winding that sucker onto the drumstick took a LONG time, and I’m very glad I had mum to help me. In the end, it looked like a big old woolly candy floss or hotdog on a stick (called dagwood dogs here). I mean, look at it:

 

 

So, I finished off the first planned infinity scarf and set it aside. I did stitch up the dropped stitches due to yarn breakage and I suppose it’s okay for me, but it certainly isn’t good enough for a gift, which was the aim of the excercise. So I began again, this time using a James C. Brett yarn, which is a variegated blue-grey and lovely and easy to work with. I’m using my new Martha Stewart loom, which is fabulously versatile, and I’m on row 26 of 50, and it’s coming along very nicely, so I’m pleased. 

I’ve also taught mum four stitches on the knitting loom–the e-wrap, purl, knit and the flat knit. I’m teaching her the u-knit next, and then it’s onto the more complex stitches, but she’s enjoying it and I got her a sock loom, the one by Boye, for her birthday as she wants to loom socks and bedsocks. So that’s good too.

 

Loom Knit Arm Warmers

I’m quite chuffed. I made a pair of armwarmers, using James C. Brett Marble DK, colour 33, for a friend who is going into hospital as a small get well soon pressie. (I’ve also got her a bottle of relaxation blend essential oil.) Anyway, I looked through what felt like ten million loom patterns and YT vids, and finally settled on a pattern, the Figure 8 Fingerless Gloves pattern by Heather Dellinger. It was refreshingly easy (once I reminded myself how to do the figure 8 stitch), and it took me 2 nights to do a full pair. I tweaked the pattern a little to suit my needs, as the pattern gloves only reach to the wrist and I wanted them to be longer. So I did the figure 8 stitch row count a second time after the u-stitch, then did 5 rows of u-stitch, then bound off. All done. And so here’s a picture, not a great one as I can’t take pictures of my own arm too well, hahaha. 

 

 

I’m planning two infinity/moebius/cowl scarfs next, as gifts for two friends for Christmas as they live in very cold parts of the world and having a warm neck is a very good thing when you’re cold! XD And maybe I’ll finish my scarf shawl thing before winter ends here. Fingers crossed. 

 

Current Project: Wavey Water Shawl.

This is a pattern from Ravelry, a free download for the Knifty Knitter and similar style looms, and can be found here. (There’s another download for it here.)

Now, I find it quite confusing to follow the description of how to do the stitch and it was quite by accident that I figured it out. So, I thought I’d post some pics of how to do the 3 flat stitches without an e-wrap on one peg before moving to the next peg stitch.

 

 

One: Flat knit as normal. Working yarn over the peg, above the loop on the peg. Stitch the bottom thread over the flat laid working yarn as normal for the flat knit stitch. Then…

 

 

Two: Lay the working yarn over the peg again, this time as if you’re working backwards. Stitch over as normal for a flat knit. Then…

 

 

Three: Lay the working yarn over the peg for the third time, as if you’re moving forward once again. Stitch over as usual for a flat knit, then move on to the next peg. Repeat! And that’s it!

So how does it look? Well, here’s a few in progress shots. I’m making a sort of scarf shawl thing, using burgundy wool/acrylic blend and stripes of Malabrigos silk/alpacca/merino blend which is GORGEOUS, but omg, so fine. Never again will I use laceweight.

 

 

Overview of the wip on the circular 36 peg loom. I’m doing a flat panel. (Obviously). I cast on using the crochet cast on, without a crochet hook, using the loom hook instead. I think I’m allergic to crochet hooks. (Jk). 

 

 

Close up. The Malabrigo is so pretty, seriously. I love it.

 

Castiel, kitty of the lord and scourge of all yarn, thanks you for your time.