Red Faery

Remember when I was carrying on about not wanting to duplicate any more projects?  Yeah, I take it all back.  I found the love again, and its name is Faery Ring. 

What better gift could knitting give to me, than a reminder that I still love this design?  I might even love it more, now that I'm not creating it for the first time.  It's relaxing; almost as if I'm making someone else's pattern.  There is a huge luxury inherent in the assumption that the pattern you are making will actually turn out to be the design you expected.  This is not something designers get to enjoy when making a brand-new project.  Not having to count every single stitch eight times because it's being written down for someone else to follow is really nice.  I can remember what it was like to knit before I was a designer, and the freedom and joy that go with diving into a project for which the heavy lifting has already been done.

When I made my first Faery Ring, I had no guarantee at the beginning that the sweater I got at the end would be any good.  This one is a different experience, with that element resolved.  I know it will be good, because the first one is proof.  At last, I understand the advantage of making the same thing twice: If I liked the first one, the second will be even better.  I even think I may be starting to understand how some knitters latch onto a pattern and make it over and over again (horrors!).  There is a huge degree of comfort and reassurance in knowing a recipe so well that you can make it by heart.  What could be better than knitting like that?
 

Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel

Last March, I hopped a plane to Cleveland, OH, and visited the super-talented Knitting Daily TV team.  I was fortunate to appear in one of the episodes for season three.  Here I am chatting with Shay Pendray.

If you click the image above, you will be taken to Interweave's Knitting Daily website, where, if you log in as a member, you can download the free pattern for Ebony Jewelwing.  This is one of my favorite projects from The New Stranded Colorwork.  It ultimately was left out of the book, due to length constraints, but I'm so pleased to be able to share it with you this way - you know how I love free stuff...!

You can see me demonstrating some techniques using this pattern in episode #306 of Knitting Daily TV.  Check your local PBS station listings to find out when it airs.  The season will also be available on DVD, too.
 

Caora Dubh (Black Sheep) Update #1

"Oh," Lindsay said, "I see you've dragged out your pet sheep again."  Yes. Yes I have.  But look at her!  

Notice anything different?  In the upper left corner of this shot, you can tell:  Some of her is missing.  By which you can tell I am making progress in processing and spinning the wee beastie.  That missing area amounts to just about 1 full bobbin of worsted-spun laceweight singles.  I'm shooting for 5-ply, so there's a whole lotta spinning still to do.  And, by the looks of it, a whole lotta washing, too. 

Here's what I do:  Pull off individual locks from the fleece.  I take about 40 locks, and keeping them intact, place them in these little mesh zipper bags.  These are actually packing cubes that I bought for a trip abroad once.  Each holds just the right number of locks for me to scour, comb and spin at a sitting.  It takes me about an hour and a half to do a bag, and 8 bags = 1 bobbin.  

Here's what the locks look like after washing, but before combing:

So now if you are wondering what ever happend to my big fat plan for spinning a whole fleece, you have the answer.  I'm eating an iceberg, one snow cone at at time.

Next time: Singles!