Knitting in hot weather and giveaway

If you live on the East Coast, you know that it has been horribly hot and muggy here for at least 2 weeks. I actually call this type of weather "sit and sweat". It is practically too hot to knit, but I cannot live without knitting. So I had to think of something. I set out to design something small, yet fun and made with cotton yarn.

I had a couple balls of Rowan Classic Yarns Siena, one red, and one blue. My project needed to require no more than 153 yards. The red project would go to Miss SockPixie, and the blue one to Little Miss SockPixie.

I have a fondness for simple summer kerchiefs, that you can either wear on you head, or around your neck. I am endlessly making some out of fabric, but thought what if I made some knitted ones?

I opted for a simple triangular center, and a lace border. The lace pattern is actually based on a vintage 40's doily. I adapted the stitch pattern to fit my purpose. The little picot edging adds to the vintage feel of this charming romantic project. It also gives an informal, innocent touch to the kerchief. I am particularly fond of the sun like pattern in the center of the kerchief.

The project is small, light, cotton and super fast to knit,and only uses 1 ball of Siena, perfect for that odd ball left in your stash. The ideal kind of summer knitting!

I am testing the pattern right now. The photoshoot will happen tomorrow. I love taking pictures, so this should a lot of fun.  Hopefully there will be a little sun for us! I should have the pattern ready by this Sunday. I will be offering it as a pdf for $3.00, and am creating a video companion to guide you through the knitting steps. I often feel when knitting myself, or when answering your questions that things would be so much easier if we could just see it. I hope you will let me know what you think of this idea of video support.

Oh, one last thing. This lace kerchief does not have a name yet. I would love it if you could help me find a name for it. Regardless of which name I select, I will pick a comment at random  to receive a gift copy of the pattern and its video as well as a ball of Rowan Classic Yarns Siena cotton.

Just leave a comment with your suggestion by Saturday July 17, 8 p.m. East Coast time.

Back to testing...

I could not resist any more...

All this spinning, and playing with colorful rovings made me want to get my dyes out of the cupboard.

Here is the result of today's color play...

Like a sunset in the sky of Normandie in Trouville when the clouds look like they are on fire against the blue grey ocean... This is going to be so nice to spin...  I love to spin so much... I am even thinking about selling my handspun... Not a lot of it, just a little of it...What do you think?

And the Winner is....

It is noon on Monday July 12, and I just picked a comment  at random using the Random Number Generator. ( I checked the comments for accidental double posts, found one and accounted for it.)  But before I announce the winner, I want to tell you how touched I am by all your comments about my blog and about my work. You made me so happy.  I hope that you will continue to share your thoughts with me, that you will continue to write about your projects and post comments to my daily musings. Your comments mean a lot to me. It is so nice to know that I have so many friends and I wish you could all have won.


I know you are all impatient... So... the winner of this lovely Handspun Candy is...




KRIS!!!!

Kris said...
I started following your blog about a month ago - what beautiful colorways you create! This skein is soooo lovely!

Congratulations Kris! Kris, please use the contact me button in the upper right of this page. Include you full name and address and I will ship your Handspun Candy to you today.

Back to knitting and spinning... I hope to be done with a new, cute, fun summer knit very soon. I can hardly wait to share it with you...

July 10, 2010 8:08 PM

Hanspun Candy Giveaway

Yesterday's spinning was dramatic. The colors were deep, dark, and bold. Today's colors are bold, but at the same time playful, just like candy. Royal blue, periwinkle, aqua, mint green, coral, peach, and apricot...
I could eat it.

I picked 2 Wensleydale SockPixie hand-dyed rovings in compatible tones, and spun my favorite light worsted weight singles.

Spinning the Wensleydale was a lot of fun. The yarn feels  denser to me than the merino, but also like it will have a beautiful drape. About 220 yards of handspun bliss! Wouldn't it look great as the yoke of a Cerise Baby Sweater?

While spinning this yarn, I sadly realized that I would never have the time to knit everything I spin, so I am going to send it as a gift to one of you.

Just leave a comment by Monday July 12 at noon East coast time. One of you will be randomely picked and will receive this skein as a gift.

Now back to working on my secret project...

Victorious!

This morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I looked at my spools of singles. Sorry, Mr. SockPixie, but a spinner has her priorities. I am after all involved in a serious competition, the Tour de Fleece!

I may have been a little too openly passionate about my spinning, though. When Mr. SockPixie came to our room to give me a goob-bye kiss, he found sitting on his pillow, next to me, the spools of handspun... He took it with a smile, but I am sure he will be teasing me about this for quite a while!

Back to the Tour de Fleece. A racer cannot let their personal life interfere! As soon as Mr. SockPixie was gone, I started plying. I decided on an early start to try and take advantage of the relative coolness of the early morning. I "pedaled" hard, and got a great early morning workout.

The yarn is plied. I have 2 glorious skeins to show for it. Soft, squishy, sport weight sock yarn... My own personal "maillot jaune".

Mr. SockPixie may have yet another reason to tease me tomorrow!

Tour de Fleece

I joined the Tour de Fleece a few days late, but since I have been spinning every day lately, I thought I could just hop on my "wheels" and get going.

Growing up in France, I followed the progress of the Tour de France everyday on TV. Raymond Poulidor was my favorite racer. I can still hear myself screaming at the top of my lungs "Allez Poupou!!!" I loved him, even though he never won.

I worked really hard yesterday to spin the midnight blue yarn to be plied with my 4th of July single ply. I finished the midnight blue strand last night.

Let me tell you it was no small feat. It was swelteringly hot here in Boston, and I was pushing on these "pedals" as hard as I could. Who knew spinnning could be so physical! With each push, I mentally cheered, "Allez, Caro, Allez Caro, Allez!" (Caro was the nickname given to me by my childhood buddies.)

Tomorrow's "étape" plying in the heat! You know I just realized a funny thing while writing this post, the colors of the rovings I picked match the Tour de Fleece logo really well. The socks I knit up from the yarn will be my Tour de Fleece socks!

Never Too Hot to Finish a Quilt

Last week I finished tying the quilt I had started a year ago. Today,inspite of the heat, I finished the binding. For the first time since the day I picked the fabrics, I got to see the quilt sitting on my bed. It looks excatly like I imagined it would.

The fabric that got me started was the central balck and red floral. I chose everything else with it in mind. I even placed it in the center of the quilt. All the fabrics in the quilt have either black, or red, with of course white. To avoid monotony, I picked some with yellow, but only in the small prints.  I looked everywhere for the perfect fabrics. Most of them come from Winmill Fabrics (111 Chauncy Street Boston, MA 02111-1796 ), some from the Cambridge Quilt Shop. One of the fabrics used to be a tablecloth originally. I love the contrast in the size of the prints, I am so happy with the simple geometric construction.

I am really fond of the little yarn ties, they seem to add a touch of surprise with their whimsical, almost rustic spirit. Such a contrast with the almost austere, measured feel of the quilt top.

I am not the only one loving  the new quilt. My old friend here seems quite comfortable, his eyes begging to be allowed to take his daily naps on the quilt. Who could resist those eyes!