Helygen Celli

Created out of remnants

Spring cleaning my storage boxes,  I found several remnants of fibers. I planned to toss them in the garden so the birds could use them. Yet, I decided to do an exercise in spinning yarn with a good amount of twist. I noticed that in general I have low-twist-yarns. Nice and soft, yet not always that useful ;-)

A deep brown roving of an unknown brand, a violet Hampshire Down, bits of green Texelaar, bits of rainbow dyed Texelaar, some Mountainsheep pencil roving. I roughly carded all those fibers and begun spinning.  All the different fibers and colors alternating during spinning. I love the effect. It is a bit a tweed like yarn.

Remnants

Spinning with a good amount of twist ain’t easy to work. Two nice bobbins full of singles, quietly plied together with a more twist then I am used to.  After plying the yarn is about sport weight, with the fibers used it will be a sturdy, durable sockyarn.

2 skeins; each 28 grams and 90 meters each.
grist: 1600 ypp.

Limit my # WIP; one of my resolutions for 2009 is at a critical level :-)

I have 5 projects on the needles; 3 pair of socks, a heel sampler and a silk summer camisole…. and just added another project to my queue. Kiila by Yarnissima! How can I resist a Yarnissima-pattern-of-the-month-may-KAL of the Sock Knitters Anonymus? I could yet I won’t :-)

In the meantime …

Trevi-like socklets

Working my Trevi-like socklet. Trevi Socks designed by Cloudsofdust, is the pattern that came with the third package of the Dutch Sokketiers Sockclub. I didn’t like the pattern as a whole, so I made some adjustments. I have used a ktbl/p ribbing with blue and green beads for the leg in these socklets.

Minestrone

And working on Minestrone.

A gift for my 7 years old niece; a pair of socks in her fav colors. A good practise in stranded knitting for all those lovely mitts and tams I have queued. As a good minestrone, the recipe is just a guide … added my own ingredients :-)

I’ll hope to finish the silk summer camisole this weekend. Knitted in a 2k/2p is quite a mindless knit. Yet, be aware! I had to frog a part this morning. I have forgotten to decrease stitches after the ruffled border :-( Well, these thing happen when you are a bit tired ;-)

Vier maanden oud is het meidje alweer!
Gisteren hebben we een nieuwe stap gezet als oppas opa & oma.  Tot nu toe pasten we bij Daisy thuis op, zodat ze lekker in haar vertrouwde omgeving zou zijn. Met temperaturen ruim boven de 20 graden is het op hun flat niet uit te houden. We hebben Daisy gisteren opgehaald om de hele dag bij ons door te brengen. In huis en in de tuin is het veel lekkerder toeven voor zo’n kleine – en ook voor ons ;-)

Daisy met Kleintje Beer

Tevreden spelend met oma’s Kleintje Beer

Lekker!

Een koele bijtring is heerlijk om op te sabbelen ;-)

Mopper ;-(

Het was een enerverend dagje wel! Er is zoveel te bekijken, zoveel indrukken te verwerken en dan ook nog eens dat warme weer. De foto’s van het spelen in de box hierboven zijn een moment opname van intense tevredenheid. Lekker slapen zoals ze de afgelopen weken gedaan heeft, was er dit keer niet bij. We hebben onze handen vol gehad aan Daisy, op schoot, ronddragen, spelen etc. Rondjes wandelen met de wagen. Ach ja, een volgende keer zal het vast al wel weer een stuk vertrouwder bij ons thuis zijn.

Faves in Flickr

I recently discovered the “add to fave” button in Flickr….  I was just browsing and adding some things I liked, resulting in this composition – isn’t it nice?  The fave button works much better as bookmarking all those pages with nice pic’s.

I love looking at pics and making them myself too. It is a source of inspiration for hand dyeing yarn, designing e.a. The last year I was mainly taking photo’s of my yarn and fiber related activities. A day only has 24 hours – I intent to use my camera more often for other use – perhaps it will work this summer ;-)

This week was knitwise a very productive one …
Finished a cardi and a pair of socks for myself, which I still have to wash and block before taking pics.

And I knitted these four lovely little projects from scraps of hand dyed and handspun yarn in my stash. Each project took hardly 3 hours to complete, with hardly any seaming needed. I love that! It will be nice gifts.

Pumpkin Sit-ster

The little doll is a Little Sit-ster by Janet Scanlon. The pattern is in the book “The Natural Knitter”. I was surprised it used the double knitting technique to make the body parts. I really like the idea and will knit some more of them. Perhaps I’ll make them with a little bag to carry a gem.

Quote from the book: “In honor of some fabulous natural fibers, Janet made this village of charming and personable dolls.  Frequently she gives one of her creations to someone who might need a little friend.  You can knit a hidden pocket in a child’s sweater and include one of these dolls as a special treat”.

Orange booties

Carmine booties

The orange and carmine booties  are the Multicolored Sockies by Maude Smith. I found the pattern in the book “Socks, socks, socks”. These booties start with knitted a sole, then pick up stiches on all sides for the foot. Nice pattern and without seams. The carmine booties are a gift for Daisy, they will fit her feet perfect. The orange one will be to large right now.

Green booties

The green booties are the Seamless Baby Booties (Bottom Up) by Laura Yarnthrower. I found this pattern searching on Ravelry. Bottom up starting with Judy’s Magic Cast on, knitted on dpn’s without any seams. I like the way the worked out, yet something in the pattern doesn’t feel comfortable yet. I think it is working with dpn with such a tiny amount of stitches. I’ll give the pattern another attempt. Unfortunuatly these booties are to small to fit Daisy.