Stash Busting Finish To July

July is on it’s way out, to a rainy finish, and I have knit some things from my stash, which makes me feel very virtuous. Also, like everything else, the prices of yarn have been going up, which makes my large stash resemble a gold mine in my husband’s eyes.

Anyway.

I knit these Green Autumn mittens last week:

The photos show them in an unblocked state. When I knit a blue pair in September 2008, I finished weaving in the ends while I was out on an Isaac Evans knitting cruise. I had blocked one mitten before I left, but I hadn’t blocked the other one. Why? Don’t know. Anyway, I noted that when I held the unblocked mitten hand up to the wind, I could feel it blowing through the fingering weight Shetland wool easily, making the mitten largely useless. But, when I held the blocked mitten hand up to the wind, the wind didn’t get through the mitten. My hand stayed warm and cozy. Blocking does Shetland wool a world of wonders! 

I loved knitting this pattern as much this time around as I did last time around. It’s a great pattern and a lovely mitten. It only took about a week to knit. You can look it up in your old Interweave magazines (come on, you know you have them!) or you can buy the pattern on Vogue Knitting’s website.Click here to buy.

I knit a whimsical bunny hat from my stash as well:

This hat is unblocked too. I have a load of blocking in my future, it seems. I made this hat out of a skein of Regia Silk in a denim color and a skein of navy blue Wildfoote. I have a middling amount of single 50 gram skeins of sock yarn; this is what you do with them! 

The pattern is Dominique Trad’s Whimsikal Hat. Click here to buy it. I also bought her two hats based on Easter egg decorations, called Pisanki and Bazie, which also use fingering weight yarn, so you might see them appear here someday.

So, I am listening to the rain and working on my Color Affection shawl, knit of more stash. I’ll tell you all about it later. Take care, and happy knitting!

 

Hot & Cold

July has been a funny month. First, it’s really cold and rainy - on July 5, we actually turned the heat on! Then, it’s hot and humid, making it really hard to knit much. 

I finished my version of the Fireworks pullover, but I did NOT try it on. It’s upstairs ready to block now. My version has less fireworks and more plain stockinette because it was too hot to think:

I started spinning 44g of hand dyed fiber that I found. I think it’s dyed by Linda Dyak years ago. I’m not sure where the rest went, but I found 44g of it.

It’s so pretty. Not sure what I will do with it, but something will occur to me I am sure.

Speaking of spinning, I used some of the red that I dyed and spun to make a hat:

It’s quite fulfilling to knit something with my handspun. I love making every single stitch!

Right now I am knitting a pair of mittens that I knit once before. I made them in blue before, but this time I am knitting them in Harrisville’s New England Shetland in the color Grass. The pattern I’m using is Green Autumn by Jared Flood. I remember that I loved knitting them before, around 2008 I think it was, and so far they continue to make me happy. 

But, I am only on the cuff. It may get worse as I go on! Or get even better! We’ll see.

Have a good day happily knitting and spinning, and stay cool or warm as required.