Sunday, March 31, 2013

Suri Alpaca Handspun yarn

ethereal (2)
What can I tell you about my experience with this fiber.  Suri Alpaca is almost like angora bunnies, but a bit different.  Suri alpaca is very soft to spin and has a very long staple.  It is easy to draft and it can take a lot of twist.  This fiber must have been dosed with a bit of logwood as I noticed that my hands had a bit of purplish hue, not a big deal, just not expected.  I was able to make two ply yarn of about 260 yards.  There is about 4oz of yarn here, but I won't really know until I weight the dry product.  I have not determined the WPI either, but not to worry, it will be in my next post.  Hope you are having a great spring and for those of you who live in the Southern Hemisphere, hope you are having a great Autumn. Thanks for stopping by!

  ethereal (3)

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Brethren by Millard Fontenot

GreenBrethren (1)
The Brethren is a significant step in my life.  Some people think of knitting as making wonderful hand made items that look like they were made by a machine.  On the contrary my dears, a hand made item has the essence of the hand crafter,  It is perfect in it's imperfection. Practice makes perfect, but don't let that phrase scare you, but motivate you to make more than one.  I have been making socks for a while, most of the time afraid of making them, because socks become lost in thought some times.  Second sock syndrome is one of those fatal syndromes that take some of us by surprise.
 GreenBrethren (12)
I have to tell you that making this sock was a great experience.  I read the pattern and took into consideration the cables, the yarn and my personal gauge and decided to make the sock.  I figure that if it was tight, I could fine someone to gift it too, but I was pretty sure that It was going to be a good fit. Mr. Fontenot dislikes to start a Round or Row with a Purl stitch, a man that makes my heart sing as a designer goes.  This facts assured me that I would not have to deal with the same issue of purlin on the first stitch.  What happens is that he designed the pattern to dance a bit with the stitches and thus keeping the first stitches as knit and thus my heart kept signing.
 GreenBrethren (11)
This yarn is this green, as you see the green on my patio.  I have to say that I am getting to be a better photographer as time goes by.  A better photographer means taking the picture when the right timing is there, lol.  No kidding,  as I will tell you that the golden hour, is the best time to take a picture.  The golden hour is the hour right before the official  Sunset.  I was reminded of that hour by my good friend Kyle Kunecke , a good photographer himself.  I will also have to give credit to Mister  Franklin Habit, my Fiber Photographer teacher ,as he gave me some fantastic insights into photography for the fiber artist.  I want to thank you for allowing me into your space and thank you for stopping by!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Knitted Jewerly

Tauron Talisman (3)
Once in a while it is nice or necessary  to make something quick, glitzy and fun for oneself. Today was a fantastic day to make myself a nice Amulet for my ankle. It actually brightened my day a lot after I was taking pictures with it. The pattern is for a necklace or an arm cord.  The pattern is mainly concentrated on making very long cords,  for the neck and such.  I wanted the experience and sure enough I learn a thing or two with this pattern. I definitely enjoyed making this piece of Jewelry, it took me less than one hour.
Tauron Talisman (2)
The pattern is called Ribband by Nelkin Designs , Laura Nelkin from  http://nelkindesigns.com/ , pay them a visit if you like.  They have kits full of glitz and more fun.  Manly enough for the man in your life.  So as you can see your imagination is the creator of your piece of jewelry.  I picked this specific clasp because it was the most plain clasp I found and it look like a man will be comfortable wearing, but enough beads to not get lost in the dark. Thanks for stopping by!
Tauron Talisman (4)

Brethren Socks


Tauron BrethrenSocks (2) 
So here we are at the end of a pair of socks.  I found the pattern amazing and easy to follow.  What I like about this pattern is that the heel does not have the usual eye of Partridge style.  The heel flap has cables  (as shown below) and they feel comfortable when you have them on.  I am making myself two more pairs, but I am at one pair of socks a month self imposed sock club lol.  I did a two strand heel and the toe section.  I was very aware that it would change my gauge and I ended up having to modify the pattern a bit.  I had to skip some plain knit rows in order to have my sock with the right length.  This is a cabled sock and taking that into consideration, you need to be aware of how tight you knit, because you may not e able to wear your tight socks, nevertheless you can gift them to someone else.
 Tauron BrethrenSocks (1) 
Speaking about other people.  Lots of onlookers are amazed at the wonders of sock making and ask me if I make socks for people.  It is a labor of love, because a pair of hand knit socks is really priceless. If you wonder which color of green this is, the photo below is the closes to the real color. The yarn is wollemeise wolle (superwash) colorway Mistelzweig.  The first photo was taken at night and with the help of some filtering I got a nice lettuce green on them.  My next two pairs are going to be purple, yellow and perhaps a third pair in blue.  I bid you well and hope you have a wonderful Spring and  a Happy Autumn to those on the Southern Hemisphere.  Thanks for standing by!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Happy Saint Patrick's

BrethrenWIP
Coming along nice, with this beautiful green yarn. I have picked up the gusset and I am decreasing on my way to the foot.  I will have to say that this is one of the most fun sock patterns I have made so far.  I will be making more socks with this pattern "The Brethren Sock"  the purchase of this pattern benefits the Men Knitting Retreats Scholarship fund.  On those terms if you want o help me with my  Retreat this year, you can purchase a pattern or two , my appreciation in advance as we move along.

I do have some spinning to be done today and then back to the sock.  Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Suri Alpaca Ethereal Spinning

Sunday Suri spinning
Just wanted to share some of my Sunday Spinning.  Spining Suri Alpaca, is it fun?  Yes, once you get the hang of the fiber.  I have not used a drop spindle in such a long time, that I kind of forgot how to handle the spindle and the fiber.  Don't be afraid, it will come back to me easily, it is called muscle memory and that is what happened today.  My hands started to remember how to spin once more.  Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, March 09, 2013

Of greens and cables

Mistelzweig
The Brethren Sock by Millard Fontenot is a fantastic pattern so far. If you purchase the pattern it benefits the Mens Knitting Retreats Scholarship fund.

  Mistelzweig Sock WIP

This pattern is a bit intriguing, because it has cables and a beautiful heel. This pattern also has Row numbers which I adore.  It motivates me and guides me as I work on the sock. I went down a needle size, because I always do when it comes to socks. It is working out pretty good.  I rather have socks a bit tight than loose.  This pattern is a man's dream.  Mill manipulates the pattern as to not begin with a purl stitch if possible.  What you see in here is the heel being turned.  I doubled the yarn and will do so again when I get to the toes. This and some spinning is what is going on this weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!

Almost two years without blogging August 2020

Life can be a bowl of strawberries when cheries are not available.   It has been almost two years since I have been in this blog.  I have s...