HO HO HO!
Well it's about time. Christmas gifts are done! This year, I will not procrastinate. . . I will not procrastinate. . . I will not. . . . .
Here is the Andean Chullo Hat, a kit which was put out by Knitpicks a few years ago. I just couldn't resist making it for our dear friend & llama expert, Niki, who gave me such wonderful guidance over the last few years with our camelids. It was a fun knit (if you don't count the many issues I had with gauge) and eventually I will be making more of this pattern. I have stocked up yarn for several different colorways, and if I can figure out how to do sheep instead of llamas, I'll probably get to it even sooner. I do need to say that the kit is quite generous. I think there are at least two hats, maybe three, worth of yarn in that kit. Niki looks great in red so that was my choice for her.
DeeDee's booties were the other delayed project, mostly because I didn't have access to her feet when I was ready to felt the booties. The unfelted booties lay in a box in the laundry room for several months until I finally gave up & felted them on my own. I am known as “Bigfoot” to friends because of my generous but bony size 10s. My best friends & daughter all wear 8 ½ s which is very inconvenient when I want to do something like this. Fortunately, if they are way off D2 knows how to felt. Or she can bring them back to me, along with her feet, and I will redo them. The pattern is from Cat Bordhi's TREASURY OF MAGICAL KNITTING.
The other knitting project that I tackled in the last few months was a garter stitch shawl. I needed something that I could knit while waiting in the barn, in the cold, in poor light, for my ewes to give birth to their lambs. That needed to be something I could knit in a near-sleep state, with minimally confusing elements & cozy yarn. I chose Suri Dream alpaca from Knitpicks, size 11 needles and a pattern that I ripped out of a magazine years ago. I can't put my fingers on it right now, but it has double increases down the midline & increases on the beginning of each row. A couple rows of yos & togs add a little detail. So there you have it. That's basically the pattern. I did discover that metal needles in a 40 degree barn are not a good idea, so I switched to bamboo early on. Photo will have to wait.
Current knitting is the “Wings of Fantasy” shawl from Blackberry Ridge. I'm using handspun from my yearling ram, Elmer, a moorit (brown) CVM/Romeldale. Last year we showed him at the National CVM/Romeldale show in Estes Park, Colorado, and he came in Reserve (2nd place), behind a lovely ewe who now resides at our farm, too. Elmer won the trophy for “Best Fleece” on the sheep. So this is one very special guy, and I am enjoying every minute of working with his fleece. I am on the border now, last side, halfway done, and I will post a photo later, when I have it knitted & blocked, as we all know that unblocked lace looks like crap. Anyway, here's a photo of my boy, Elmer.
Here is the Andean Chullo Hat, a kit which was put out by Knitpicks a few years ago. I just couldn't resist making it for our dear friend & llama expert, Niki, who gave me such wonderful guidance over the last few years with our camelids. It was a fun knit (if you don't count the many issues I had with gauge) and eventually I will be making more of this pattern. I have stocked up yarn for several different colorways, and if I can figure out how to do sheep instead of llamas, I'll probably get to it even sooner. I do need to say that the kit is quite generous. I think there are at least two hats, maybe three, worth of yarn in that kit. Niki looks great in red so that was my choice for her.
DeeDee's booties were the other delayed project, mostly because I didn't have access to her feet when I was ready to felt the booties. The unfelted booties lay in a box in the laundry room for several months until I finally gave up & felted them on my own. I am known as “Bigfoot” to friends because of my generous but bony size 10s. My best friends & daughter all wear 8 ½ s which is very inconvenient when I want to do something like this. Fortunately, if they are way off D2 knows how to felt. Or she can bring them back to me, along with her feet, and I will redo them. The pattern is from Cat Bordhi's TREASURY OF MAGICAL KNITTING.
The other knitting project that I tackled in the last few months was a garter stitch shawl. I needed something that I could knit while waiting in the barn, in the cold, in poor light, for my ewes to give birth to their lambs. That needed to be something I could knit in a near-sleep state, with minimally confusing elements & cozy yarn. I chose Suri Dream alpaca from Knitpicks, size 11 needles and a pattern that I ripped out of a magazine years ago. I can't put my fingers on it right now, but it has double increases down the midline & increases on the beginning of each row. A couple rows of yos & togs add a little detail. So there you have it. That's basically the pattern. I did discover that metal needles in a 40 degree barn are not a good idea, so I switched to bamboo early on. Photo will have to wait.
Current knitting is the “Wings of Fantasy” shawl from Blackberry Ridge. I'm using handspun from my yearling ram, Elmer, a moorit (brown) CVM/Romeldale. Last year we showed him at the National CVM/Romeldale show in Estes Park, Colorado, and he came in Reserve (2nd place), behind a lovely ewe who now resides at our farm, too. Elmer won the trophy for “Best Fleece” on the sheep. So this is one very special guy, and I am enjoying every minute of working with his fleece. I am on the border now, last side, halfway done, and I will post a photo later, when I have it knitted & blocked, as we all know that unblocked lace looks like crap. Anyway, here's a photo of my boy, Elmer.
posted by Yvonne at 9:10 PM
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