She Was Twisted

I spun some new handspun for 3 more dolls:

Pretty! I can’t wait to see them in their full glory. I have one, possibly two more to spin, and then they will be shipped away. Neat!

I actually completed these socks many months back, but never got around to blogging about them. Aren’t they gorgeous?!

These were my first socks knit from a Knit Picks sock blank. I followed the pattern, Two at Once, Toe Up, Magic Loop Socks. A very easy knit! (If you are seasoned in sock knitting.) I’m mentioned before that knitting with a sock blank is the best ever. Plus, you can control the color striping, which is what I loved. Here is what the blank looked like after I dyed it. You can see the beginning of the knitted socks at the bottom:

The only problem I had, is that I did not squish the dyes enough into the yarn. This made it knit up much lighter with white speckles where the dye did not go all the way through. I still love how it turned out, however!

Definitely something you should give a try, if you love knitting socks with simple stripes. I’m on my second pair now. Will post pics of the new socks soon!

I bought a set of  Knit Picks Interchangeable Needles about 6 months ago, and of course, I just love them. The needle case that comes with them, however, has MUCH to be desired. So I set out to make one of my own.

Here is what I did:

I found a $10 wallet that had the perfect lineup of pockets to put the needles, cables and what-nots. Then armored with a big needle and thread, I sewed on a strip of  1/2-inch elastic band for two rows of needles. The sewing part is hideous, due to the fact that I was having to push the needle through thick vinyl, but it does the job. I can tip the case upside-down when it is closed, and the needles tips do not fall out. There is room for many other notions too. Perfect! I just love my case, and for $10 plus some minor labor, you can’t go wrong. Here are some more pics:

Pretty sweet, huh? I dig it.

This yarn is on its way now to become hair on a handmade Waldorf doll. Pretty cool. I blended the wool on my drum carder and spun it corespun over a thin wool binder. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I will post a link once Theresa has a chance to make the doll.

I loved knitting my last pair of sock blank socks so much that I decided to knit another pair. What is a sock blank? Let me enlighten you!

Here is one of the reviews from Knit Picks:

“Anyone who’s ever hand-dyed sock yarn, or knit from a skein of hand-dyed sock yarn, has been bedeviled by pooling colors. Knit Picks has a new product which takes the guesswork out of dyeing sock yarn. Sock Blanks are pre-knit tubes of undyed sock yarn. You dye the pre-knit tube with the stripes that you want, then knit your socks directly off the tube. Somehow this seems like cheating, but in a good way.” Yarn Scoop

Here is what my blank looked like after dyeing:

Things I love most about knitting socks from a sock blank:

1. You can easily dye stripes and patterns.
2. It is double stranded so you can knit two socks at once.
3. When knitting, the yarn does not twist and tangle the way it does when knitting from two separate balls of yarn.
4. You end up with two identical socks.
5. It keeps your knitting interesting without the need for any pattern repeats.
6. Provides endless mind-boggling for others trying to figure out why in the world you are creating TWO knitted pieces without any yarn in between.

Definitely give it a try. I’m not sure if I will ever knit any other way. Yes, I’m that impressed.

I thought I would use up some of my handspun yarn that has been sitting around for awhile waiting for projects. So I knit up some simple fingerless gloves.

The yarn is called “Parade” and it is 72 yards of bulky Merino/Falkland wool, that I spun into a self-striping yarn and plied with an acrylic thread. I BARELY made it with the yardage, so next time I will make sure to have more yarn before I start. I followed the pattern in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns (Interweave). (I can not tell you how much I adore this book!)

But I think they are quite pretty. Very soft and squishy too!