25 February 2006

D is for . . .

. . . Done!!! I finished my River stole with suprisingly few difficulties! I finished the knitting on Thursday and I blocked it last night.Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, color is called jelly.
Pattern: Rowan mag #38
Changes to pattern: I knit it with #9 needles, not the specified 10.5's. I also purled all wrong side rows, making a stockinette lace pattern because I thought the garter stitch looked sloppy.
Finished size: 16 x 66"Look at the miles (okay, feet) of lace I knit! I pinned the edges out to form little points and it turned out really well. The picture in the Rowan mag is so bad that I can't really tell if the edges are straight or not but I like my pointy border.

It's so light and airy and I love it! I really like the Kidsilk haze and I didn't find it difficult to knit but I don't think I love it the way many of you out there do. I would use it again, though.

This olympics thing has been fun and I really like the challenge to finish something in a timely manner but I am more than ready to get back to my usual multiple project self.

Speaking of multiple projects, I have branched out beyond knitting! Kirsten and I took a drop spindle class today! It was so fun and the teacher was great and we made yarn!!Check out my first yarn! It's so pretty and even and not lumpy like most people's first yarn. It's not spun perfectly, though, because it doesn't hang straight. It twist on itself a little. I feel like I should knit something with it but it's such a small amount that I don't know what to do with it. Any ideas? Lest you think I'm over here gloating over my pretty first-yarn-ever-made, let me show you what I did next. The whole reason I want to learn to spin is because I want to spin the fur from my angora bunny, Phoebe, that is starting to pile up in my basement. So, when I came home from the class I decided to spin her fur. It's is a lumpy mess!I must point out, though, that's it's the softest lumpy mess that I have ever touched! Angora is slippery and has short fibers but I am determined to spin it well. I owe it to Phoebe to make something pretty out of her lovely fur. I am encouraged that although much of my mini-skein looks like this or worse:there are some short sections that look like this:Do you see the perfect twist and the smooth edges? It can be done and I can do it!

10 comments:

Suzetta said...

It is beautiful, congrats on your accomplishment!

chris said...

Your River is GORGEOUS!!! The color is absolutely beautiful and you did such a fantastic job! It looks wonderful on you. Congratulations on your Olympic gold, Casey! ;-) Take care and have a great weekend! :-)

Anonymous said...

River looks gorgeous! And your first spinning is just plain impressive. That you could do anything with pure angora right after learning how to spin shows either innate skill or impressive determination. ;-)

Peacock Chic said...

very beautiful. Love the color. Congrats on your Olympic Gold

Brooklyn Handspun said...

River is fantastic I love the color in general and on you it looks great. Your spinning is really good - angora is so hard to spin - you might want to get hand cards and mix in a little fine merino to make it easier to spin but it'll still have the same softness.

yahaira said...

I love your river, Jelly is one of the best KSH colors!

Can I tell you how jealous I am of the little perfect section in your yarn? I dont think mine had anything like that lol

Carrie K said...

It looks great. Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Your river is just heavenly. The thing I hate about surfing blogs is that you see gorgeous projects you think yuo can't live without.....your river is one of those.

Congrats on knitting miles of lace!

Katie said...

Very cool. Congratulations on doing ALL that knitting in 2 weeks!

Wow, your spinning looks MUCH better than mine. Love it!

Anonymous said...

I just started spinning too! I didn't take a class though, so it's been a little bit of a process. I have a hard time not over twisting.