WIPs

Oh dear. I decided to see what my WIP (work in progress) count was up to. Hm. I’ll share them here as a kind of accountability, although I’m not counting the ball of napkin twine in the glove compartment of my car that is for emergency craft use (that project doesn’t need an end). Nor am I including the fiber survey that also ongoing.

Spindle development

Developing a 3D printed spindle is my oldest WIP. I’m still working on the head breaking issue, but with the help of the printer, I feel we are nearer the end than to the beginning of this project.

Spinning alpaca fleece on a Befra Wily spinning wheel

My sit and spin project on my vintage wheel is also nearing completion. I have a few hours worth of alpaca fiber left in the basket (the fiber in the blue bin is waste from combing). I have another portion of washed alpaca in queue.

Spinning flax roving

My walking spinning project involves my first taste of flax spinning. The roving preparation is an odd one, but I’m finally getting the trick of it. I maybe have two or three walks left to finish the singles, then I still need to ply and finish the yarn.

Brioche rainbow scarf

My rainbow scarf knitted with the Brioche method became a car project a while back. This was the best thing for this work, as I regularly knit for about an hour on it many times a week as I sit in the car rider line. I still have many hours left to go.

Newly cast on cardigan project

My newest WIP is a blue and yellow light-weight cardigan. This is a big step for me in knitting. I have made a couple of sleeved garments (as opposed to vests, scarves, hats, and gloves), but not many and they all have had sizing issues. I’m making the attempt again because I have grown as a knitter and am hoping the new skills will help. I have been planning this knit for months, but I hadn’t cast on yet, so it wasn’t an official WIP. It sits next to my chair at home.

Not that I’m excited

I have signed up for a steeking class. Steeking is cutting knit material; the trick is to do it without having the whole mess unravel. The class instructor promises to show us several methods to accomplish this feat. Several methods. Color me eager. We have homework before class starts, make a knitted tube. I have used some hand spun Clun forest yarn because I over spun it and it is rough to the touch, so I have to no aversion to cutting into it.

Knit tube of hand spun Clun Forest wool yarn

And because I’m me, I also made a second tube out of scrap cotton yarn. I blocked both pieces and when they are dry I’ll be ready for class… in a month.

Blocking knitted tubes

Double Knit Cowl

I am calling this finished project (yay finished!) the “Polka Dot Glitch”. It is double knit with “Fiesta!” and “Fade to Black” variegated hand-dyed fingering weight yarns by Bashful Armadillo.

Finishing a double knit with a modified Kitchner stitch
Folded cowl showing both sides
Cowl modeled

I used size 2 circular needles and graphed the polka dots before I started. I cast on 288 stitches (144 of each color) with markers every 24 stitches. I found this cast on easiest to deal with, and these Kitchner stitch instructions for casting off.

Doll blanket swatch

When I need to swatch my yarn work, I make the tiny sample of stitches the size of my youngest’s doll blankets. I get the data and she gets more throws for her doll house.

Doll blanket sized swatch (not cat sized)

I needed to practice the Kitchner stitch to finish off a double knit project, so made a swatch.

Reverse side of the double knit swatch

Making the doll blanket to practice the stitch was a good decision. I messed up the first couple passes, but by the end had the rhythm down and knew about how tight my stitches needed to be.

Kitchner bind off for double knit

Kitchner stitches are used to make a seamless graft between two pieces of knitting. It is usually done on two needles, but I found this video that shows the variations needed to work off one needle, for double knit items. Fabulous.

Taking it on the road

My rainbow scarf has been languishing next to my chair at home. The problem is that I can’t stop in the middle of a row, and with brioche knitting each row requires two passes to complete. At home I am frequently required to lay down my craft for a pet or kid urgency, and I am really uncomfortable stopping mid row on this piece. So it is time for a move. I have bravely put the pool noodle holder into a project bag and moved the project to the car. I was quite surprised not only how well the section of pool noodle fits in the bag, but that the whole assembly works well as a car-rider-line project. Now we’ll see how progress goes getting attention for an hour a day, five days a week!

Rainbow scarf project moved to a project bag, with split pool noodle holder