About Rayna

Newfoundlander, returned home from Toronto a few years ago after 14 years in exile! Knitter of pretty string, spinner of fluff (mostly wheel), sometimes designer and newbie dyer. Occasional stringer of shiny rocks. Wife, and doggie mom.

FO: Slipped Stitch Cowl

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Rayna

I finished another little project on the weekend.

I made two hats for my friend and work manager, Atoy last year. Each left me with half a skein of the yarn left which I just left in stash waiting for a new project.

The first half-skein ended up becoming a matching cowl for her Christmas present last year, and the second was supposed to become something for Christmas this year but my Christmas knitting sorta went off the rails. So I got her something else and the yarn sat. Last week, she started complaining (in a silly, hint-y sort of way) that she had a cowl to match her brown hat but not her pink one. So I started designing a lacy cowl for her. She commented that she really didn’t care if it was fancy; she just wanted something that matched. Since the original hat I made wasn’t lacy either, something simple would actually be a better match. I had already cast on 108 stitches and knit four rows of garter, so I figured I’d slip every sixth stitch, a la Malabrigo Neck Thingie and “Bob’s yer uncle!”

Atoy’s Slipped Stitch Cowl

Pattern: Inspired by Malabrigo Neck Thingie by Anne Sahakian

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label

Who Was It Made For? My friend, Atoy

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? Since I didn’t follow the pattern exactly, this question is not really applicable. 108 stitch cast on.

Did I Learn Anything New? No.

Anything Else? No. Moves another skein of yarn into the Stashdown2013 pile, which is very happy-making.

Would I Make Another?: Probably. It was super easy and the result is remarkably pretty when done in a nicely dyed yarn. The main thing? The recipient loves it.

FO: Porthos

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Rayna

On January 1st, with all my Christmas knitting taken care of, and a stashdown of sorts begun for 2013, I decided that it was time to get back into some of the Sock Knitters Anonymous challenges.

January’s challenge (Flora and Fauna) didn’t interest me at all; of course, now that I have seen some of the great patterns that came out of that challenge, I suspect I’ll feel differently next time. However, one of the featured designers, Caoua Coffee had some nice textured designs that I liked so this seemed like a good place to dive back in.

Strangely enough, right around New Year’s, there was some talk in the KISS group about picking up gusset stitches and I mentioned that I hated it, and there was further discussion about the Criminally Mindless heel. I filed it away in the back of my mind, promising myself I’d look into it when I had a chance.

While at a party on New Year’s Eve, I checked my email on my phone, and discovered that the lovely designer, Kathleen Baer, had gifted me with a copy of her pattern. So I thought, “No time like the present to try out this heel!”

I took a look at my wound yarn, and my indigodragonfly club yarn from last June (a lovely merino/silk/bamboo blend called “Bleats, Shoots and Leaves”) jumped out at me as a nice semi-solid that would work well. So off I went.

The stitch pattern was nothing more than knits and purls, which frankly lulled me into a false sense of security and I made so many stupid mistakes. The yarn was yummy, but somewhat loosely spun. I think if I were to acquire another skein, I might use it for something like a shawl or scarf on slight larger needles to avoid splitting. That being said, it really did make the squooshiest socks. They feel just wonderful!

The heel construction was an absolute joy to knit. Increases and short row decreases made for no gussets whatsoever. It looks a little different than I am used to, but at this point, I am willing to overlook that for the joy of no gusset stitches. The only think I can’t decide is whether the fit is right, but I think that’s because I knit my toe the slightest bit too short and the heel is being pulled down my foot ever so slightly. So that would definitely be a shortcoming on my part, pun entirely intended.

Porthos Socks in Baldersquash

I finished them on January 29th, which makes me very happy. I took a picture that night…which means they are a bit more Day-Glo in the picture than they are in real life (I so cannot wait until my balcony is accessible again! I miss being able to take nicely lit pictures!) In real life they are definitely more squash coloured, as the name suggests.

Pattern: Porthos by Caoua Coffee

Yarn: indigodragonfly Bleats, Shoots and Leaves in Baldersquash

Who Was It Made For? Me

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? More like what did I keep?! I kept the stitch pattern but reduced the cast on from 80 to 64 to fit my smaller foot. I substituted the Criminally Mindless heel. And didn’t even look at the toe in the pattern; I just did the standard grafted toe.

Did I Learn Anything New? The Criminally Mindless heel construction.

Anything Else? Not really. Just really thrilled to have finished my first Sock Knitter’s Anonymous socks for 2013, and in under a month. I will be casting on new ones today for the February Challenge. (It’s Claire Ellen month – huzzah!)

Would I Make Another?: No. They were fine to knit…but I made a lot of stupid mistakes because I stopped paying attention. For me “easy socks” means I don’t have to pay attention at all. These required just enough attention to be annoying.

Spinning Wednesdays

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Rayna

OK – so it was supposed to be Spinning Sundays, but time got away from me. Right then.

So I am struggling with a fibre artist’s dilemma these days, especially on weekends…knit or spin. It seems to be coming to spinning on Saturdays and knitting on Sundays. Not sure how or why; it just seems to be happening that way for the time being.

Friday night was spent with my friends Shireen and Leslie (who is also my spinning instructor), and the newly-met Jeannette. We had a lovely evening of “Stitch ‘n’ Bitch”, and Shireen gifted me with the most beautiful skein of Handmaiden Great Big Sea in Topaz, a stunning green-y blue. (It’s like she knows me or something….)

I got some knitting in, but threw a random 2 oz/54 g braid of pink and grey fibre onto my wheel and by end of day Saturday, this is what I had.

Pink and grey 2 ply

Yes, it’s pretty uneven, but it’s 50 yards of 2-ply yarn, and I think it’s a definite improvement over my very first skein, which ended up as only 30 yards and looks like this:

My First Ever Yarn spun on my Lendrum

We think that one was merino – it is remarkably soft.

I decided that perhaps it was time to spin something I can actually identify. So now, I am spinning up two 35 gram orange-y HilltopCloud Pumpkin Mix Batts….British Shetland, Merino and Nylon. They are different shades of orange and my plan is to ply them together, once the singles are complete but we will see. So far, I like the batts – they seem easier to handle than the braids, possibly because they start out less “compacted”.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Jeanette – Free Cowl Pattern!

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Rayna

Jeanette – Free Cowl Pattern!

My friend Shireen, over at The Blue Brick, released a new cowl pattern yesterday. GO…check it out 🙂

The Challenge of Knitting from Stash

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Rayna

One of the greatest joys of knitting for me is perusing patterns, matching them with yarns and then dreaming of the lovely finished objects that will result from all the planning and work that goes into each project. In fact, it’s been said – usually by me – that if I spent as much time knitting as I spent surfing Ravelry for patterns, I’d be a knitting machine. Never mind that these plans change dozens of times before a skein of yarn, you know, actually becomes anything!

I am somewhat impulsive about purchases; Ravelry destash is the enemy. It seems I cannot pass up a bargain. And I frequently buy beautiful skeins of indie dyed yarn that I love (indigodragonfly, I am looking at you!) and then I am afraid to knit with them because “ZOMG – so beautiful and what if I use it and then find the perfect pattern for it?? OH NOES!!”. Yes, even my inner knitter is a drama queen. As a result I frequently purchase skeins of yarn and/or patterns and then end up with a lot of seriously lovely stuff lying about, unused and not unloved, but definitely under appreciated for what they can become. In the case of yarn and fibre, this also means that I have broken my promise to DH that my stash would stay contained to a single (albeit large) cupboard in the guest room. Hell, right now, it’s not even contained to the guest room…but I digress.

So at the beginning of January, I presented myself with a challenge. I was going to make somewhat of a dent in my stash in 2013…a “stashdown”, if you will. I refuse to call it a “yarn diet”…I have been on enough diets in my lifetime and they lead to nothing but feelings of deprivation that make my inner 5-year-old throw a tantrum and scream, “Want, want, want!”. But rather, I wanted to use some of my much loved skeins to make some beautiful pairs of socks, and some lovely items to keep me warm through the winter….plus whatever else struck my fancy. And in order to keep from feeling utterly deprived, I have made myself a deal. For every five skeins of yarn I knit up, I can add one more to my collection. An arbitrary number, to be sure, but this will reduce my stash to some extent and still allow me to pick up a skein here and there, when one really calls to me. This will come in especially handy for Knitter’s Frolic in April.

It is now the 25th of January and so far, so good. Since New Year’s Day, I have added only two skeins to my stash: a skein I agreed to buy at Christmas and didn’t get a chance to pick up until last week, and a special discontinued skein of Malabrigo Arroyo to make DH a Man Slouch.

More importantly, I am looking at my stash with a whole new eye. I am having entirely too much fun choosing yarns and queuing up various pairs of socks for upcoming Ravelry Sock Knitters Anonymous challenges. I am also adding some winter accessories to my list, since it’s been below -10 for the past week or more. This includes casting on a Rhossili Beach Watch Cap (my very favourite hat pattern…ever) in indigodragonfly MCN Worsted in a stunning colourway called Squid Vicious. It’s going to be gorgeous.

I am even tagging skeins that are already wound, in an attempt to use those up first. This has been met with mixed results, as sometimes the best yarn for a project really does require the use of a winder and swift. What can you do?

The one downside to this plan is knowing that, say, My Vampire Boyfriend absolutely has to be knit in something in the red family, but knowing you have nothing suitable in stash that’s not already assigned to a pattern. I see yet another re-jigging of my queue coming…or a plan to use one of my “earned rewards” to buy a lovely skein of red sock yarn.

Soon, my pretty…soon.

The Great Fake Boobie KAL Continues….

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Rayna

As mentioned previously, four of us in the indigodragonfly group on Ravelry are knitting Anne Hanson‘s Aria Delicato from some very special yarn. This yarn, dyed by the ever generous Kim & Ron of indigodragonfly, was specially dyed and auctioned off to support breast cancer patients last spring, and each of the four of us who were lucky to get our hands on a skein has a story as to why this yarn is so special, some more dramatic than others.

My friend Mary’s story definitely falls into that category. Her friend Deb, is pretty amazing.

My friend Deb’s husband died after a really tough battle with throat cancer, then she was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after his death. She’s such a trooper she didn’t even miss teaching her classes while she was in chemo and she had all her reconstructive surgery done between semesters. She’s not only my friend, she was my advisor for my Biology/Biochem MS degree.

Two years ago she was in a meeting when one of the biology faculty pulled out a gun and killed 3 members of the department, wounded 3 more (one very very seriously; he’s alive, but will never again be his dynamic self), and Deb was the one that kept talking to the shooter until finally her gun jammed and she stopped.

~Mary Setzer

So, Mary is knitting this project in honour of Deb, for her birthday later in January.

My progress on the project is, admittedly, much slower than I wish…lace + distractions + me = bad deal all around, but I will get there. I am trying to do 2-3 repeats a day in order to finish in 2-3 weeks. This also leaves me some time to work on my January socks for the Sock Knitters Anonymous group. One of my New Years goals was to finish 6 pairs of socks this year, so as long as I complete one every other month, I am good. I am in no real hurry!

FO: Hermione’s Got Rhythm

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Rayna

Wow…three posts in three days…definitely a record.

Late last year, I set myself a goal to knit down some of the yarn I have wound already, as I have heard that it should not be kept in centre pull balls for years on end. To that end, when the time came for me to cast on a pair of simple socks to knit over the holidays (I can’t knit anything even remotely complex if I have company and my parents were coming to visit for a week), I snagged my wound ball of Tanis Blue Label in a vintage multi called Rhythm. I came into this ball via my friend, Shireen, when she wanted to trade it for something heavier.

I chose Hermione’s Everyday socks because they were a simple textured pattern with nothing more than knits and purls, and would take very little attention to knit.

As is always the case, the yarn striped….my particular gauge means this happens pretty much every time I knit up a variegated yarn into socks.

This is also my first pair of socks without cashmere and I was pleasantly surprised that they were quite comfy. I was afraid I had become somewhat spoiled! 😉

Summary:

Pattern: Hermione’s Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder

Yarn: Tanis Blue Label in Rhythm

Who Was It Made For? Me

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? I really didn’t like the modified eye of partridge heel with the garter edging, so I went to my standard slipped stitch heel flap and gussets. I also modified the toe and started grafting with 14 stitches on each needle. I find any fewer and the toe is just too long and too triangular to fit me properly. Essentially, I just took the stitch pattern and put it into my “go to” sock construction.

Did I Learn Anything New? No. This was my 8th pair of top down, fingering weight socks.

Anything Else? I was very surprised that I really like the texture. It’s simple but prettier than a plain stockinette or 3×1 rib.

Would I Make Another?: Probably, if only because they were so easy and I like the texture of the finished socks quite a bit.

The Great Fake Boobie Knitalong!

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Rayna

Every so often, as a knitter, a skein of yarn falls into your hands that is truly precious – one that demands you do something special with it, so it becomes an item you always treasure.

One such yarn came along last year as part of indigodragonfly’s World Wide Knit In Public Day Auction, to benefit The Canadian Breast Cancer Support Fund. The idea was simple. One could bid on the rights to name one of several one-of-a-kind colourways, and decide what colours were used to dye that yarn. Then others could bid on the finished skeins. There were only four skeins of each colourway made, so bidding on some of them turned out to be pretty fierce.

Some of the stories were wonderful, and happy, and sad, but most of all, filled with memories and meaning. The skein that I obtained, “Yes They’re Fake – The Real Ones Tried To Kill Me” has a story, and I will let the person who named it tell that story.

I’m just me coming through the other side of my year in Hell. I HAD Breast Cancer. I was diagnosed on June 24, 2011. I felt a lump on June 17. I had a double mastectomy on July 15, 2011. I had 6 rounds of chemo every 3 weeks, then 33 daily radiation treatments. Based on the type of my Breast Cancer I had a total hysterectomy and oophorectomy (I had to get spaded so to speak;) I have had silicone breast implants placed. I’m doing well now just need to get the final work on the girls, and get back in shape and healthy. Unfortunately my family on both sides has a lot of cancer experience.

In addition to me – I had 4 great aunts, an aunt, a second cousin, and a first cousin who also had Breast Cancer – my Grandmother died of a liver metastasis – we never pushed to find her primary but 3 of her sisters had breast cancer. My Grandfather had a malignant nasal polyp and died following a stroke while having radiation treatment. My mother has had Colon Cancer _she’s still alive and driving my crazy! Her brother – my uncle also had Colon Cancer as well as throat cancer (he died of throat cancer). My Grandmother on Daddy’s side died of Lung Cancer at 52 – but she also had cancer in her ovaries. (We think the Ovaries were primary but have no way to be sure). In March while I was still in the midst of my battle my Father was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic Colon Cancer – he is fighting now too. He had a colon resection and is now having chemo. Doing well but his longterm outlook is grim. Mind you he is sneaking off this weekend to race his car! I joke with friends sometimes that I was gonna have cancer it was just a question of where. We have all just kept on living with everything going on. Some of our fights were harder than others and some of us suffered a bit more than the rest.

Yes They’re Fake – The Real Ones Tried To Kill Me: Reasoning behind the color. I’m thinking mainly gray – for the blur that your life becomes after you hear the words “you have Cancer”. Charcoal bits for the really bad days that you feel like crap and are tired of the fight. Red for the days you come up for air and think “hell yeah I can do this, I can beat this thing”. Finally, pink because it is the color for Breast Cancer.

~Wendy Radcliff/Clsywnch

Wendy tells me that the name came from a T-shirt…she has a collection of smart-assed “Fuck Cancer” T-shirts, that includes another that says “My oncologist does my hair”.

And just to illustrate Wendy’s kindness and spirit, I only have my skein of this very special yarn because of her generosity. I placed a bid before leaving to take my parents to the airport that day, and returned after the auction had ended, only to discover that I had been outbid several times over, but that Wendy had sent a message saying that she was raising my bid herself and covering the difference.

Yes They’re Fake – The Real Ones Tried To Kill Me in Merino Sock

This long story leads to the KAL that begins today in the indigodragonfly Ravelry group. We were tossing around ideas as to which pattern would be the perfect one for this yarn, and I threw out Anne Hanson‘s Aria Delicato. All four of us decided that it was indeed perfect and that we would all knit it together. And there are even some others joining us along the way, using other indigodragonfly yarns.

Feel free to join us, too! I will post more as we go along, because there are more amazing stories to be told and I am sure the finished scarves are going to be absolutely beautiful.

FO: Bandana Cowl

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Rayna

Presenting my first FO of 2013!

My husband, Chase, has been after me for some time now, to knit him several items, including cowls, fingerless mitts, and hats, so after reviewing “his” yarn stash (yarn either picked out by him or claimed by him once it got into our home) last week, this cowl went to the top of the list.

The yarn, Mirasol Sulka in the ever descriptive colourway “210”, came from the “Magic Bag of Doooom”, a bag of varying yarns and spinning fibres given to me my a friend, Jacqueline, last autumn while she was preparing to move. Her message said it was a bag that she’d leave on her porch for me and it turned out to be a massive trash bag that I could barely lug to the car and that barely fit in my trunk. Once I got it home and opened it, it was like a clown car…one fibre-y surprise after another. To this day, I still regret not documenting if for blog purposes. But I digress.

So on New Year’s Eve, when I was not in the mood for anything else I had on needles, I cast this on for Chase, and by halfway through New Year’s day it was done. And we even went to a party at 9:30….so not exactly a time consuming knit,

Bandana Cowl

I actually love how it turned out. The triangle peak in the front is great for V-necked coats, and the yarn is SO squooshy (a single ply blend of merino, alpaca and silk), it’s makes a very cozy FO, especially after having given it a bath in Soak for an hour or so. I did not love knitting with the yarn as it was somewhat splitty, but the FO was well worth it, and it’s not like it was weeks of torture or anything.

So in summary (with credit to my friend Christina for inspiration on the summary format):

Pattern: Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho

Yarn: Mirasol Sulka in 210 (a lovely neutral taupe-y colour)

Who Was It Made For? Chase

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? One less neck repeat, as it was looking very high and I was running short on yarn, plus since each repeat reduces the number of stitches, I was concerned about it fitting over his head. Chase is actually glad I shortened it.

Did I Learn Anything New? No, but I think I got a better handle on short rows.

Anything Else? The FO is WAY bigger than it looks in the pattern pics. Not in a bad way, I was just really surprised.

Would I Make Another?: Absolutely! It was easy and fast, and as I too have a V-necked, pea-coat-style jacket, this would seriously come in handy. I might try it in some yummy worsted or aran weight yarn (like indigodragonfly MCS Worsted or something) to see if it will work. Since it uses a US10 needle, that just might do it.

The Crafty Year That Was 2012

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Rayna

Happy New Year!

I haven’t posted in a while, but as I mentioned in my last post of several weeks back, so many things I was knitting were either Christmas gifts, or sooper seekrit test knits (two of which I am still not at liberty to post).

But last night I did a tally and was amazed at what I found out, and just a little proud, to be honest. Last year I:

Completed 28 FOs (14 cowls, 4 pairs of socks, 4 hats, 3 shawlettes, 2 pairs of fingerless mitts, and a pair of dishcloths). Among those were test and sample knits for at least 4 different designers. I had challenged myself to do 12 Cowls in 2012, aided greatly by a 5 Cowls in 50 Days KAL….I have no plans to continue the trend in 2013.
Did a sample knit that was published in a new book by Kate Atherley called Knit Accessories
Took a class in Tunisian Crochet, which I loved but really have not made any progress in
Took my first spinning class (Intro to Spindle) and then a drafting class, wherein I tried out my first wheel
Got a wheel for Christmas…a beautiful Lendrum DT, which was a joint gift between several family members. Pretty, isn’t she?

This year, my plan is to learn fewer “brand new” skills, the sole exception being colourwork, and to improve on the ones I learned last year, most notably wheel spinning. I have a lot of beautiful fibre that I am looking forward to spinning up.

I have also set a goal of knitting up a new pair of socks every two months. That may not sound like much, but I knit mostly plain vanilla or 3×1 ribbed socks, and they tend to be my “knit in public” projects so they progress fairly slowly. I have plotted out several projects for the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry that will take me to the end of August (their yearly challenge schedule runs September to August). Cast on for January occurs today, or tomorrow as I have two things on the needles that are destined to become my first two FOs of 2013 and a test knit cowl on which I am woefully behind.

My last “resolution” so to speak, is to post a bit more often here and better track FOs in posts.

What are your knitting/fibre-y goals for 2013?