Plugging Away ...

I may have been on vacation this week but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy.

The week before the break Little Squid's favorite sweater was declared dead. Little Squid promptly went into a state of deep mourning that evoked the only response possible from his mother.

But first, I tried to convince him that repair was beyond my abilities and, could I please take the two hanks that remained of the original yarn and start knitting him a replica -- which would require, at some point, the unraveling of the original sweater.

He wasn't having it.

And so, I embarked on an eight hour adventure where I turned a badly spun and inexpertly knit sweater into a (if I must say so myself) fairly decent one. (I feel free to critique the sweater since I spun and knit it for myself -- it also fit (me) badly.)
Both cuffs were reknit (the old ones practically fell off),Wonky raglan increases were double stitched and tightened up and repairs were made all over to spots that had been worn into almost non-existence.

The result ... one happy Little Squid and a sweater that we now swear is a Zombie. (It was dead, after all.)

Next up, Mike's "felted" (actually fulled) socks.
Knit of homespun Jacob which has been marinating in the stash for so long that I remember teasing the locks while sitting in a playground watching the kids play. (It's been a few years since I've been with them to a playground.) They were also finished before the break but had to wait until I had time to put them through their first washing. The pattern? Just a basic garter rib sock knit on size 4 needles to about an inch or so longer than I would usually knit Mike's socks and with much more ease. The yarn is roughly a dk weight. I'm hoping they will full more with subsequent washings but didn't want to push it for right now.

Next up ... I'd had a partial warp on the warping board since late August. Yes, 4 full months. It started just in case I needed to try Little Squid's tallis a third time. Since I didn't ... so it sat there.

I finally wound enough ends to justify a 10 inch wide scarf warp and set up the loom.



I'm not sure how I wove the tallis so quickly. This is a lot of yardage! I threaded a straight 8 shaft twill and played with some 4 treadle patterns, weaving two complete scarves and about 24 inches of additional fabric. Eventually (probably next December), I will cut them apart and hem them for gifts.

Then I finished a pair of socks that has been hanging out as my purse project for a few months (no photo, they are in the laundry cart). Next up was supposed to be a pair of socks for Little Squid -- he of the no-longer-the-smallest feet. He'd chosen a lovely roving batt at Rhinebeck last October (yes, over a year ago) and I'd spun it up this summer but kept pushing his socks to the end of the queue because I was not crazy about the yarn and had a sneaking suspicion that it would not knit up well.

I was right. To get a nice tight sock fabric I'd have had to drop to my 000 needles. Not an option for socks that would be outgrown in a few months. So, I approached Little Squid with some trepidation. After all, this is the child who had gone into deep mourning over a sweater. I showed him another scarf that I'd woven with hand spun yarn and got his permission to weave the yarn instead of making socks out of it.I scored!

I love how the natural color progression of the yarn works in the woven fabric. Turns out, he'd completely forgotten about choosing the batt for socks!

Now on the needles, a pair of brown socks (to match the sweater but of better yarn) for Little Squid and a pair of yellow socks for me -- to eventually be stolen by Squidette.

On the wheel -- Squidette's next sweater.

In the dye pot, two warps for my first experiments in warp "painting." And only a few days left of the break.