I jumped right into my Latvian Mitten (by Lizbeth Upitis) book today and started on the sample child’s mitten (Graph 4). It’s basically a glorified swatch that allows you to try out a few of the techniques and general construction of Latvian Mittens.

I’ve just finished the braid… and backwards, I might add. That’s okay. I did it right the for the first few stitches and then tinked back and did it backwards. The braid thing and my brain have now meshed, so I think I’ll be able to have the slanting going the right direction next time.

The original mitten has a fringed edge, but I decided that it might be a bit too fussy for a child’s mitten so I’ve substituted a picot edge instead.

Pattern: Graph 4 in Latvian Mittens by Lizbeth Upitis
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4ply
Needles: 2.5mm

We had a great day at Woolfest buying, petting the fibre bearing beasts and checking out the various exhibitors.

There were several great displays, including a stand dedicated to the traditions of knitting in Norway:

(I have a personal infatuation with knitting in Northern Europe… those photos were inevitable)

There were also lots of cool fibres to be had. The one which intrigued me was The House of Hemp stand:

There were also many animals being displayed and sheared:

Sheep:

Including my favourite, Wensleydales:

And alpaca:

Of course, one can’t leave a fibre festival without a bit of fibre. And fibre I bought. :)

I bought merino roving:

And some alpaca:

Most of these will be spun up into fingering weight yarn. I have dreams of colourwork mittens. I have a lot of spinning to do…

... so while for the time when I’m not spinning, I bought some laceweight. It’s 1200m of cobweb laceweight from Fyberspates. The range is called Faery Lace and it’s 90% superwash merino and 10% nylon.

I also bought a couple of books:

(I did mention something about liking Northern European knitting, right?) The books are Lizbeth Upitis’ Latvian Mittens also available from Schoolhouse Press and the now out of print Poems of Colour by Wendy Keele

Of course, after a long day of fibre it’s best to relax in the comfort of an English pub, in our case at Twice Brewed Inn which is nestled along the old military road by Hadrian’s Wall.

It was a good day. :)

...or at least a stellated dodecahedron.

I’ve been busy for the last while, mostly with the wee one. She’s growing so quickly, changing so quickly and now starting to move around quite quickly. I’ve even keeping up on my photo a day (with only a couple minor exceptions) although the photos aren’t always getting downloaded that day, let alone getting them posted on flickr and on the blog. Everyday I keep meaning to post… it just isn’t happening. I think I’ll be playing things by ear for a while.

However, I have been busy knitting. My latest finished object is a toy for my little girl, a stellated dodecahedron made in various colours of wool complete with a few jingle bells inside.

The pattern is Celestine by Norah Gaughan and it’s a great little pattern. Best of all it’s seamless. You start with one little five sided point:

Then you pick up and cast on for the adjacent point, knit, repeat:

(By the way that photo was taken at 10pm… still plenty of light. Love summer.)

and repeat:

until you have 11 sides. Stuff. Knit final side. Presto! Baby toy:

I found the pattern very intuitive and a fun, quick knit. Best of all the wee one loves it.

Pattern:
Celestine by Norah Gaughan via Berroco ( Ravel it! )
Yarn: Oddments of Paton UK Diploma Gold DK
Needles: 2.75mm double points
Mods: none

I’m heading to Woolfest tomorrow. There will be photos. And shopping. And photos of shopping. Whether or not they get posted tomorrow will depend on what time we get home.

My Primavera socks came off the needles last week and they’ve already been lovingly worn since blocking.

I really enjoyed knitting these. I loved the pattern. I loved the yarn. I loved the colourway. I didn’t even mind that I had knit them on 2mm needles (what was I thinking??), that’s how much I enjoyed knitting them.

Pattern: Primavera socks (on Ravelry ) by S(t)ockinette
Yarn: Stroud Supersock from Violet Green in the Burnt Orange colourway
Needles: 2mm
Mods: I increased the number of pattern repeats by two and deacrease a purl stitch in each repeat. I would have loved to have knit them as written, but the sock just wasn’t going to go over my heel. I also had some 2mm needles going spare….

These socks are also falling under the Project Spectrum and Sock a Month 5

I mentioned to Joey the other day that I’d need to start winding a few skeins into balls for the next batch of Project Spectrum projects, including two skeins of sock yarn, and that I’d need his help to hold the skeins while I hand wound the centre pull balls. With minutes we were on ebay and knitting sites looking for a ball winder and swift. Both arrived today.

This is my new swifft, bought from Get Knitted and I’ve got to say that it works like a charm coupled with my Royal wool winder bought off ebay.

Doesn’t it make a great looking ball?

This will be the next pair of socks on the needles and will fall into Project Spectrum Earth which starts April 1st. Yarn is the Rainforest colourway from Violet Green.

A lot of things are in progress right now. For the Library of Memories class (via Big Picture Scrapbooking site) I’m currently in the process of organizing my photos:

I’m also in the middle of making my Primavera socks which is a Project Spectrum knit:

Lots of progress is being made on my Tweed Hooded cardi as the back is finished and the two fronts are nearly off the needles. Here are the centre front cables in their glorious unblocked state:

And I just finished spinning the first four ounces of singles of my Bluefaced Leicester roving:

My new bobbins should arrive tomorrow so I’ll be able to start spinning the other half of the BFL. I can’t wait to see how this turns out once it’s finished. :)

My mitts are finished and dry:

and I’m quite chuffed with how they turned out.

Although they do fit, I’m thinking about felting them ever so slightly to get a nice snug fit and close up the spaces between the knit stitches. A nice hot bath (while wearing the mitts so they don’t over felt) might do the trick just nicely.

Pattern: Plaid mittens by Alison Hansel
Yarn: My handspun, 2 ply bulky in merino from Violet Green in the Valentine colourway
Needles: 6.5mm

I was really excited to start in on my Valentine handspun, so I cast on a pair of mitts:

Pattern: Plaid Mittens by Alison Hansel ( on Ravelry )
Needles: 6.5mm DPNs
Notes: Knit as per pattern. 87 metres. Fits my medium sized hand with a bit of room to spare so I can wear fitted gloves underneath for those really cold days.

And then I cast on a scarf:

Pattern: One Row Handspun Scarf by the Yarn Harlot (on Ravelry )
Needles: 7.5mm
Notes: 22 stitches wide and I’m going until I run out of wool.

And here’s one of the three balls of yarn:

Seriously big yarn. (I have a preference for DK weight yarn so this is a bit of a change up).

In celebration, I started spinning up some new fibre:

This is some Bluefaced Leicester handdyed by Violet Green. I’m spinning this a lot thinner in hopes of achieving a DK to aran weight yarn. If all goes well, I’d like to knit it up in an as yet undecided lace pattern, but I’ll wait until it’s plied and washed before any final decisions are made. Fingers crossed. :)

One of my favourite finished objects of late, the Baby Surprise Jacket. Love this thing. My intention was to make this so that the wee one can wear it to her daddy’s congregation and I wasn’t too sure if the sleeves would still be long enough by then so I lengthened the sleeves, but knit them with two less stitches to form mini cuffs. I think it’s cute.

I really love the way the yarn works up in this pattern. I can really see myself doing another in some handspun.

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by EZ (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Twilley’s of Stamford Freedom Spirit
Needles: 4.5mm
Finished size: 18” chest
Mods: lengthened the sleeves

I actually finished these a couple of weeks ago, but thought I might get a second pair in before the end of the month. Didn’t happen (the new spinning wheel might have had something to do with that).

Specs:
pattern: Spindle Socks (and on Ravelry )
yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK
needles: 3mm

Nice quick knit and one of my project spectrum (fire) projects.