Spun

 

I'm struggling to regain my oomph, but I have spun four skeins of wool. Spinning and plying a 'plain vanilla' yarn doesn't require a lot of concentration or wits. 

Flowers And A Failure

 

The flower bracelet worked well. I really like the other bracelet too, but I haven't been able to get the invisible join right. I've had some sort of winter bug and felt unwell. I think I'll wait until I feel better and have more wits about me before I try the join again. 

Two Finishes

 

In my daytime crafting, I've finished another bracelet. 

And over several evenings, I've knitted a pair of socks. They're definitely fraternal twins, one is darker than the other. I'm not sure why. As I showed in this post, the two skeins were dyed together. Anyway, I think they look ok, fraternal it is. It's also interesting how different the colour pattern is to this pair of socks which have definite stripes. Hmm, that's the joy of hand dyeing wool. 

Two

 

I've finished two beaded crochet bracelets. I've just been working on them during the day, knitting socks in the evenings. I can knit without looking at my work, which is good when watching TV. Beaded crochet needs more concentration. 

Beading Again

 

Well, I did sell the blue and white entrelac gloves at the market on Saturday, so that's good. I don't have any knitting orders at the moment, but the lady in the shop that sells my beadwork wants more bracelets, so I'm working on that. 

One And A Bit

 

 I think I'm still on track to finish a pair of socks before Saturday, provided there aren't too many interruptions. I took some time off knitting this morning to make a sample for Friday's craft group meeting:

The tutorial is by Narin Handicrafts on Facebook. 

Tried And Tested

 

There are a lot of patterns for fingerless gloves on the internet. Some work better than others. I'm in a hurry at the moment, getting ready for Saturday's market, so I'm sticking to patterns that I've used before and I know work. The charcoal pair is Spragues by Galt House of Yarn and the pair I'm working on is Nalu by Sparrowhawk. 

I spun four skeins of wool over the weekend:

Now I'm in the process of dyeing them:

I don't think I'll be able to knit two pairs of socks before the market, but maybe one pair? 

Beaded Crochet Rope

 

Right, I have two necklaces and three bracelets done, to take to a local shop. Now I need to concentrate on spinning and knitting for next week's market table. 

Another Diversion

 

I had a request for puppets, I assume to illustrate the Tortoise And The Hare story. I've made rabbits or hares before, but I had to give some thought to a tortoise. My first step was to look up cartoon tortoise images, because cartoons highlight the most iconic aspects of animals. I was surprised that many of the images showed the tortoise as green. I don't think of tortoises as green! I stuck to brown. 

A Change From Knitting

 

A shop that sells my beadwork has depleted their stock and asked for some more. So I put aside my double pointed knitting needles and picked up my crochet hooks. The colours are a bit more vibrant than they look in the photo. I've started on a second necklace:

One More Augusta

 

I've finished another pair of Augusta fingerless gloves, pattern by Lena Marie Gjerald. They're for an order; I'll deliver them tomorrow. I have another skein of charcoal wool for a pair for the market basket, but I think I'll use a different pattern. 

Another Pair

 

I finished another pair of Augusta fingerless gloves, pattern by Lena Marie Gjerald. 

Here's the husband and wife pairs together. The colour shows up better against this background.

Blogger seems a bit erratic about updating blog lists at the moment, which is disconcerting. It looks as though a blog hasn't been updated for days, when in fact there's a new blog post on it. I hope they'll get their act together again soon. 

Man's Gloves

 

I've finished the first pair of gloves for the orders I'm working on. The colour is darker than it shows in the photo, definitely charcoal, not grey. I used the same pattern as I used for last week's gloves, my own pattern. I should write it down, in case there's a longer gap between requests for men's gloves. Silly to have to work it all out again. 

Knitted And Spun

 

I used the pattern Augusta by Lena Marie Gjerald to knit these gloves in two colours. It uses a mock cable that is easy to knit and looks good. The gloves fit well because of the ribbed pattern, but can look a bit odd when not worn. 

I spun a batch of wool and dyed it charcoal yesterday afternoon. I put it out on the line this morning. There should be enough for the three pairs of fingerless gloves that have been ordered and, hopefully, enough left over for a pair for the market basket. 

You Never Can Tell

 

At the end of the market morning, I still had the blue and white gloves that I thought were irresistible! I did sell a pair of Spragues gloves that I whipped up quickly before the market. And I have order for three pairs of gloves, from two people, all wanted in charcoal. I've just started spinning for those. I delivered the socks that were ordered at the previous market and sold two pairs from the basket. What did I buy? Some vegetables and jam, two nasturtium plants and samosas for lunch. I worked on these fingerless gloves in quiet periods. I had taken my spinning wheel along, so people could see the whole process. 

Blue And White

 

I used the little bit of blue wool left over from the denim socks to knit these fingerless gloves. Once again, I used Allyson Dykhuizen's Reservoir Mitts pattern for the back of the hand, but made up the rest. My basket for the market is looking a bit sparse, but hopefully these will be eyecatching enough to draw attention. 

In Extremis

 

I had to take Jack to the doctor yesterday. No problem, I thought, I'll knit in the car instead of knitting at home. But when I opened my knitting bag, I discovered that I'd left the fourth needle at home! Oh my hat, as my friend Fran would say. I managed to keep knitting by pulling the needle out of one lot of stitches and then replacing it when I got to those stitches. Repeatedly. It was laborious and inefficient, but hey, I got up to thumb level and occupied 90 minutes. And managed to finish the gloves by the end of the day. 

Several

 

I've finished knitting the green socks, though I still have to sew non slip fabric on the soles. I started another pair of entrelac mittens while I was preparing the yarn for the brown gloves. Jack, my husband, took the order for the brown gloves. I wasn't home when a man came to cut up a tree branch that had fallen, but apparently he was fascinated by my spinning wheel and asked for a pair of fingerless gloves. Since it's an order, I want to knit them before the entrelac mittens, which are for my market stall. Mind you, the market is on Saturday and I would like to have a couple of pairs to offer, so I'm knitting earnestly! 

Non Slip

 

The man who ordered socks asked me to put something non slip on the bottom. Can do. I found a spot in the Winter sunshine this morning to sew on a rubbery fabric that should do the trick. I've nearly finished knitting the green socks. They are for his wife, so will need rubbery patches too. 

Handspun

 

My spinning is pretty consistent, helped by the commercial preparation of the fleece, but I'm not a machine. I think I must have spun the brown wool a little thicker than usual, so I ran out before I got to the toes of the second sock. I undid the toe of the first sock and knitted them both in green. I used wool spun for the next pair of socks, but they're a smaller size, so I'm sure there will be enough. I did consider adding some green to the top of the socks so that it looks less like I ran out of wool, but I'll knit the green pair first. 

WIP

 

I'm working on the brown socks. I don't think I'll get them finished today. I've spun the wool for the next pair of socks, but still have to dye it. I've sold all the fingerless gloves and need to make more for the market, so I'm trying to keep at it. 

Denim

 

I've finished knitting the blue socks. They're for an order. I spent much of yesterday spinning the wool for the next pair. I dyed it this morning. It'll soon dry in the winter sunshine.

Replacement

 

I knitted another pair of celtic knot gloves to replace the pair I sold at the market. This pair won't get to the next market though because they've already been claimed. 

I'm working on the blue socks now. The colour is denim, now that it's dry. I like how the unevenly dyed wool is knitting up:

Solving A Puzzle

 

On Saturday, a friend of mine handed me an old, crocheted coat hanger cover and asked me if I knew how it was done. Mmm, no. I said I'd have a go at figuring it out. It was easy to see that the white part was done second, but how was the middle zig zag done? It took me a while to figure out that there's a central chain and then two sides of shells are worked down the chain separately, with a double crochet between each pair of shells. Single crochet in American terms.  Mine looks a bit more pointy than the original, but I think that can be corrected by working one chain between shells instead of two. I've sent Jenni notes about the method and I'm going back to knitting socks.

For Socks

 

I've been spinning for a sock order and dyed the wool this morning in the microwave. I didn't stir the dyepot because I didn't want to risk the wool felting, so I'm prepared for some unevenness. I added the skeins to the dyebath together so that the skeins would be 'evenly uneven'. I think it has worked, but I'll have to wait until the skeins are dry to be sure. 

Dawdled

 

I've dawdled rather, but have now finished the entrelac gloves. 

I did knit a pair of little bootees on Monday, but gave them away without taking a picture. 

Stashbuster Fingerless Gloves

 

I was looking through my pattern file the other day when I came across a pattern I'd photocopied from Interweave Knits magazine. The pattern is by Allyson Dykhuizen. I didn't have the name of the pattern, but I've just looked it up and it's 'Reservoir Mitts'. It can be found on Ravelry. I thought it would be a good way to use up the tiny bits of wool I have left over from making socks and gloves. It is. I've used Allyson's directions for the entrelac back of the hand, but made up the rest of the gloves. Allyson knitted the palm of the hand from side to side and her version has half fingers. I'm knitting the palm upwards, joining to the back as I go. 

I sold the Celtic knot gloves on Saturday and a few other things. I also have orders for three pairs of socks. I want to finish these gloves and a pair of boottees for a gift and then I'll start spinning for the orders. 

PS There were a lot of scribbled notes on the pattern, but I don't remember knitting them. I've just looked back on my blog and found them! I knitted them in 2014. As I'm doing now, I made up my own version of the palm.

Wool For Market

 

I've spun four skeins of wool, which I'll roll into balls before Saturday's market. I ummed and arred about dyeing them but eventually decided to leave them natural. 

Spragues Revisited

 

I'm running out of time to prepare for the market, so I didn't want to try a new glove pattern and risk it not working. I used this Spragues pattern by Galt House of Yarn that I used last year. This time round I know that 'spragues' is an old English term meaning alert or lively, thanks to Diane. 

Here's the whole batch of gloves together:

Another Pair

 

I've completed another pair of fingerless gloves for the market basket.  I can't see a name on the pattern I used. The variegated wool probably distracts from the lace and cable pattern a bit. 

A Pair

 

Well, it's been a bit of a slog, but I now have a pair of well-fitting fingerless gloves with a Celtic knot pattern on the back of each hand. It's just as well that I made the second glove as a test knit because I did find mistakes in my reworked pattern. I made corrections on the paper version as I went along and will now go back to the computer and make changes there. 

Wave

 

The pattern for these gloves is called Nalu, which apparently means 'wave' in Hawaiian. So I thought the blue/green yarn would be appropriate. The pattern is well written and the shape of the gloves ideal, so I thought I'd combine this pattern, by Sparrowhawk, with the Celtic Knot cable that I used last week. I unravelled the horrible gloves that I made using a pattern from Start Knitting and amalgamated the two patterns:

This is the first glove, a huge improvement on the original. I did have a false start when I placed the thumb too low, but I got there eventually.  I'm going to write out the new version now, so that I can test the pattern when I knit the second glove. I don't want to go through the whole thought process again when I want to make another pair. 

Colour

 

I dyed three different coulourways to knit into fingerless gloves. I dyed each one separately, in the microwave, then rinsed them all together once they were cool. I started knitting with the blue/green one:

 After my difficulties with the last pair of gloves, I thought I'd stick with a tried and tested pattern. It's Nalu, by Sparrowhawk, which I've knitted several times before. 

A Better Size

 

I had another go at Celtic Knot Fingerless Gloves from Start Knitting, adding 16 stitches to the original pattern. They do fit better. I like the cabled pattern, but there are other aspects of the design that I find less pleasing. The gloves are knitted downwards and the cast off ribbing doesn't hug the wrist well. And then there's the thumb. The pattern uses a waste thread method to make a place for the thumb. That's clever, but it leaves a loop of thread at the base of the thumb:

I sewed the loop down when I threaded in the yarn used for the thumb, but it doesn't seem satisfactory to me. I also prefer a thumb with a gusset. I might be able to reuse the cable pattern, but won't knit the pattern again as it is.