LadyV-Knits

Long time no blogging!!!

2009-10-02T16:14:00.004-05:00

It has been a long time since my last blog. But I would like to start doing this again. It was a great release. I admire all of you out there that keep your blogs going.

I have not knitted in a while, since June of this year. I was having some problems with my hands and wrists. It turned out to be Carpel Tunnel. A knitters nightmare, it was not a good feeling wanting to do something you really enjoy and being in a lot of pain trying to do it. Fortunately I saw a orthopedic surgeon and got to wear these super neat splints on both hands! But I do have to say they did the trick. My doctor released me last week. Can't wait to get back to knitting. I have atleast 3 baby blankets that I need to get started on.

Diamond Eyelet Baby Blanket

2007-04-10T14:19:00.001-05:00

The diamond eyelet baby blanket is complete. This is my first medium sized project that I did not use a pattern to create. I found the stitch pattern on Lion Brand's website and did a seed stitch for the boarders of the blanket. The diamond eyelet stitch pattern was very easy to memorize and was not boring. I enjoyed working on this blanket and love how it turned out. When my brother asked me to do a blanket for him, I asked him if he was sure. I have not really been into doing blankets or afghans. They seem like they take so long and that they would be boring to do. But with a simple but not boring stitch pattern it was not bad at all. I spoke to my brother today and he said that the lady he was giving it to was very happy with it. I made it with Bernet Softee acrylic yarn. This yarn was very soft and I enjoyed working with it. A lot of the other yarns seem so scratchy to me since I have experienced more natural fibers. But I do like this one and Carons.

Spinning Roving Swap Part 2

2006-11-07T09:32:00.000-05:00

I am a little late posting the pics, but here are the wonderful gifts that I received from my swap partner The Bon. Some koolaid dyed roving(4oz) and 3 (1oz) packs of roving from Paradise Fibers. The colors are copper, lilac haze and cranberry.
She also sent me two patterns, a hat pattern Coronet and a change purse pattern Best Friends. Both are from Knitty.com. I also got a sheep tape measure and a bookmark. They candy did not make it to the photo session! I hope you all had as much fun as I did and I look forward to doing this again sometime.

thanks to the coordinators of this swap!!!

2006-10-06T11:56:00.000-05:00

Well, in case you were wondering what kind of personality I have. This survey seems to be pretty accurate. You should try it. It is always interesting to see what you get from answering a few questions about yourself.

My Personality


Neuroticism	24
Extraversion	38
Openness To Experience	16
Agreeableness	62
Conscientiousness	51

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report
Find your soulmate / pysch twin

MySpace Layouts, MySpace Quizzes and student loan consolidation by Pulseware Survey Software

Now for the Knitting Update:

I am in the home stretch on the Prairie Tunic. I am finishing the right triangel on the front and hope to be finished this weekend. Pics to come soon. I have stopped working on my hat projects to finish up the tunic. I will start working on them this weekend.

Spinning Update:

When last I spoke I had spun some carmel color and cream color fiber. I have plyed the two together and they look very good together. It is about worsted weight thick and thin. Plying Method: Andean plying bracelet. Spun on Greensleeves Hound Spindle. I will take pictures soon.

Blackberry color fiber- worsted weight, thick and thin. 2ply using andean plying bracelet.

Black Blue-Faced Leicester- Hand-painted fiber bought from Knitch(LYS) has splotches of green, red, orange, neon green and other colors. Has a tweedy look when spun. I spun it lace weight with the newest addition to my spindle collection. Lady Barbara (Greensleeves Spindles). I am keeping it as a single. Project plans: shawl????

Spin, Spin and some more spinning

2006-08-29T13:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my new spindle. Oh by the way in my excitement in my last post about it The Fox, I called it the wrong name. It is actually The Hound. As stated in my post about this spindle I would have pictures. Well here it is!!! I love this spindle and I love the surprise I got when I started spinning the two singles you see beside it. I got the fibers in a sample pack at my lys. I believe it is alpaca, I will verify when I go to the lys again. It is so much fun to spin this. I think it is time to try a lighter weight spindle. I have improved greatly on my drafting and feel that I can handle spinning finer yarns. The pictures are a little dark, but I hope you enjoy. I plan on Andean plying the cream and brown color single together tonight. I can't wait to see how good they look together. The yarn on the fartherest left is called Blackberry. The colors do not show up very well in this picture. It has some reds, purples and suttle grays.

Spinning Roving Swap

2006-08-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

I joined a swap this month. It is called the www.SpinningRovingSwap.blogspot.com. You have two choices Virgin Spindler or Rebel Rover. The Virgin Spindlers will swap a spindle and roving with thier partner and the Rebel Rovers swap roving and a pattern with their partner. By the way, we need more Virgin Spindlers. This is my first swap and I am anxious to see what I will get in the swap. Below are my responses to the questions for my swap partner.

How long have you been spinning?

About 3 months

Are you a beginner, novice, or experienced spinner?

Definately a beginner

Do you spin on a spindle or wheel, or both?

On a spindle, I have not experienced a wheel yet.

What types and weights of spindles (or what type of spinning wheel(s) ) do you currently own?

My spindles are between 1.7 oz and 2 oz.

What type of fibers have you spun with before?

Not certain of exact name of fiber

What fibers do you prefer to spin with?

Something soft and easy to spin.

What fibers do you dislike?

Scratchy hard to spin fibers.

Do you prefer natural colored fibers, or handpainted/dyed fiber?

Either is fine

Would you prefer all one type of roving or smaller amounts of different types to sample?

All one, with multiple colors or a solid color.

What are you favorite colors?

Pinks, purples, and greens.

What colors do you dislike?

None that I know of at this time.

What would you like to do with your handspun yarn, or what do you plan to do with it?

Look at it for a little bit and then make a hat or small purse.

What are your other favorite hobbies?

Reading, music, knitting of course.

Do you have any allergies (pet, smoke, food, fiber,etc...)?

Smoke

The Fox

2006-08-14T06:46:00.000-05:00

I was on www.Knittinghelp.com a couple of weeks ago and they were talking about meeting at a new lys in Atlanta. So I decided to go check it out. It is located in Virgina Highlands which is a very quaint and unique area. I called the shop on my way there and the owner was very helpful in giving me directions to get there. I have another lys that I go to that is much closer, but I saw on the website for www.knitchknitting.com, that they had spindles and fibers for spinning. There are no other places in Atl. that you can find these things. I had to order my first spindle on Ebay and was not having the best time at getting it to work right. Well when I got there the atmosephere was very comfortable and the people were very nice and helpful. It is not overwhelming like some yarn stores can be. The layout is open and you can walk around comfortable. They have all kinds of yarn and fiber. The yarn is both the commercially spun and handspun yarn. I asked one on the employees about their spindles, which they have a nice selection, and she took one off the shelf and grabbed some fiber and started spindling. I had never seen it done in person and was in awe. This encouraged me that I could do this someday! Then she preceded to hand it to me and said you draft and I will spin the spindle. Needles to say she had a sure sale of a spindle. I bought The Fox which is made by Greensleeves Spindles. It is beautiful! I will add pictures. I went back this weekend to show Judy my spun singles and she showed me how to ply them using the Andean knot and my spindle. Now I have plyed yarn. Wow I just feel so accomplished.

Something for me!

2006-07-29T05:58:00.000-05:00

It has been a little while since my last post. I am so happy to be finished my husband's sweater. Now it is time to do something for myself. I have decided on the Prairie Tunic in the spring issue of Interweave Knits '06. I am doing it with Patons Lacette, which is a mix of mohair, acrylic and other materials. It is a very soft, lace weight yarn with a slight shimmer. It is beautiful and I can't wait until it is done. This is my progress so far.

The lace work in this pattern is very easy and it is working up
very fast. My other project that I am working on are hats for everyone from Hats On! by Charlene Schurch. I am buying the circs for them this weekend. To get an early start for Christmas.

Ripley Finished

2006-07-11T08:29:00.000-05:00

Ripley is finally finished. Well I have a few non-visible strings to weave in and embroider the anchor design. I can say that I really enjoyed knitting this sweater. It was not to much of a challange, but just enough to keep it interesting. Now I need to decide what to do with the extra skein and a half. Maybe a felted hat or a scarf. Here are some pictures of the sweater.

One with the anchor design pre-embroidering and one of the cable designs. Let me know what you think.

Ripley

2006-06-30T07:04:00.000-05:00

Well, I am almost finished with Ripley. It is for my DH who is a fisherman at heart. I am working on the 2nd sleeve and have about 17 rows to go. The last part is the collar and embroidering the anchor design. It is a gansey sweater done in the round from the bottom up. The sleeves are done from the armscye down on dpn. The yarn that I used is Rowan #964 Atlantic. This is a suitable name for it. The sweater is about intermediate level with two types of cables, textured stitching(dot stitch) and an anchor design (charted). The only seaming involved is three needle bindoff on the shoulders. I am very excited to see him wear it but it will be awhile since it has been in the 90s here since May. I am also glad that I was able to get enough yarn to complete this sweater. When I first saw the yarn at a lys I didn't know it was discontinued. So I had to scramble to buy up the yarn on the internet before there would be know more. I did not want to wind up with not enough or too much. I did a good job at figuring out how much I would need. I have two skeins left, one I am about to use to finish the remainder of the sleeve and the color. The other will be used to make a scarf or hat. I will add pictures as soon as I figure out how to get them off of my phone and onto this blog.

Oh, by the way the pattern was found on www.knitty.com Let me know if anyone else out there has tried this pattern. It was a lot of fun to do.