Finally Finished Fiddleheads

I have another finished object to show off!

At last I have finished my lovely Fiddlehead mittens. I joined the KAL we held at the Sheep months back (most people have long since finished their fiddleheads) and had a great time casting on and comparing liners with everyone. But for some reason this project was determined to linger, and it certainly did!






I knit the outer mitten out of Diamond Alpaca Peru (gray) and Classic Elite Inca Alpaca (orange...its not red, even though most people think it's red) and at the last minute decided to knit my liner out of Malabrigo Lace held double in the lettuce colourway. I knit the smallest size, and it fits me perfectly, but was worried about a thicker DK weight liner bunching like crazy inside my dainty mitts. Now that all is said and done I am sure that a thicker liner would have bunched, but my lace weight pick fits inside the outer mitten perfectly!

I had to make a few adjustments, however, and here they are...

• the liner was knit on 3mm needle (instead of 3.25 for the outer mitt)
• thumb gusset increases were every other row instead of whatever the chart wanted...I don't remember, but it was something funky. Same with the decreases for the top of the mitt.
• I also decided to shape the top of the mitt the same way as the outside....pointy instead of rounded. I think this fits better inside the outer mitten.

This was such a fun pattern to knit, and all the while I couldn't stop myself from dreaming up other colour combos to knit it in! But I am restraining myself and knitting the Squirrel Sampler Mittens instead (love, sigh...I hear there are people out there who don't like squirrels.......whats up with that?! They're so cute and fluffy!)

Oh, and I'm a bit concerned that I've lost all ability to read patterns. My Damson has gone horrible awry. I actually have no idea where I should be changing from the garter to stocking stitch sections. The stitch count and number of rows are not matching up, and I am terribly confused. I stopped trying to use math to solve the problem days ago and have been plopping in the stocking stitch section at random hoping that it will fit. I KNOW many of you out there have knit it with ease, so what the heck am I missing?

spinning!

The past four Saturday mornings I have spent happily spinning away in a class we offered at the shop. Tomorrow is Saturday again, and I am so sad that I don't get to spin! (I'm pouting, but you can't see that)
I know that I told you about my lovely new Suzie Pro, but now I get to show you my beloved wheel in action...



...there I am gleefully spinning away on I don't even know what! This photo was from the last day where we had the treat of spinning a variety of fun fibers...angora, seacell, silk , mohair...you name it!

It was such an inspirational month of spinning In between classes I managed to get so much spinning done, it was quite remarkable!
Anyway, here is a look at everything that I spun up over the course of the last month...





...the purple and orange yarns are both merino roving that I dyed myself. I'm particularly proud of my first singles (the purple stuff); I think I did an OK job setting the twist, but I'll let you know when I manage to start knitting with it! I also spun up some BEAUTIFUL hand carded merino/firestar fluff, that I made into a 2 ply. it is a super soft, light fluffy woolen yarn, that I'm thinking of knitting into a big cowl-y thing...keep you posted there too.




I've been working on some my Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino...which will now be finished before I die because I have a wheel and I'm not attempting to spin 8 oz of fingering weight yarn on a drop spindle! Phew! I am really excited to finish this one because I have promised myself I can order more fiber from the Crown Mountain folks when I do.



Finally, the last thing I've been spinning is some very pretty pure alpaca fiber in a natural brownish-gray colour. I have abot 7 oz of that and have just begun plying. I'm going to make this into a 2 ply, and it looks like it will be close to a fingering weight, and is another soft woolen yarn. I'm planning something lace, and I think I'll get enough yardage to make a reasonable size project! Yippee!



The topic of wheel naming came up in our classes, and got me thinking that my little wheel needs a name. One woman in our class has a vintage Louet (its lovely!) and she's named it Louis, perfect choice if you ask me. I've been thinking about names and like the idea of giving my wheel a masculine name as well...not enough of them out there if you ask me. But making a decision is never easy for me, even at the best of times. I've tried thinking of some of my favourite characters; Mr. Darcy...Omar from the Wire...neither seems right. Someday my wheel will have the perfect name, and until then I'll just call it spinny, or something like that!