Handspun sweaters! I have finished both of my handspun sweaters and just absolutely love them both!

First up is my Bitchin sweater

This sweater was a labour of love!

And do I ever love it!! The roving was Funky Carolina  in Merino Tencel, which is now officially my favorite blend to spin…it is just sooooo smooth!  The pattern is a HEAVILY modified version of the little red riding hoodie. I don’t like to spread negativity so i will just say that I didn’t like the pattern and leave it at that.

Want some more pics?

Sunday was a BEAUTIFUL day for taking FO pictures. I must admit that I didn’t sew the zipper in. I took it to a professional as my sewing skills are less than desirable and I wanted the zipper to work!

I adore this sweater even if it is REALLY heavy!

Up next…

My Buttony Sweater 

I really love this sweater too…it is super comfortable!

This is my “I’m a model” pose! Ha ha ha.

The sweater is knit from the Buttony pattern with very few modifications. I did add some extra length because sweaters seem to be a bit short on me and I really think that length can just ruin a sweater’s comfort level.

The yarn is my handspun from some superwash merino I dyed specifically for a sweater. I am really happy with it and love the feel of the superwash on my skin. The neckline on this sweater is fantastic…I really love the way that it sits so I am planning to knit another one of these sweaters minus the buttons.

And if that wasn’t enough I also finished my Clapotis!

Sweet sheep colourway dyed by Union center knits.

Whew! I wish I could say that is all of my UFO’s finished…but it is not even close!

I have plenty of roving put aside for a few sweaters, but of course I have to finish spinning for my shawl first!

Next up..my LONG awaited Seraphim…did I mention it has been on the needles forever?

So what are you knitting?

Ok, you might want to sit down for this…oh, you probably are sitting…make sure you are comfortable I have bad news.

The Rhinebeck sweater is not done…now before you go pointing the finger at my slow fingers I swear it is not their fault! I simply ran out of fiber…no actually, this sweater ATE all of my fiber. Carrie RUSHED me all of her sweater fiber and alas it was not enough. That’s insane!

So I will not be wearing the sweater, but have been working my fingers off on a new sweater. It is not quite finished, but I hope to have pictures a bit later today. I will probably be working on the finishing as i walk through the gates, but I will have a  hand knit sweater for Rhinebeck.

The Rhinebeck sweater WILL get finished. I have some spinning to do when I get back and then Carrie will be sending me the finishing roving as soon as she can. I will keep you updated. Now I am off to work on sleeves!

Yesterday I went out to my balcony to check the dryness of the sweater (which I do about 20 times a day) and found this

That is my sweater…completely ripped off the “blocking board” by the wind. Pins were everywhere! It seems that mother nature was not agreeing with my need to dry this sweater in order to rip the front. It has been cloudy and rainy since I blocked it and I was getting no where, and then to add insult to injury…the wind kicks my sweater’s ass.

Now, I know that my blocking board is not the greatest, it is simply 2 pieces of styrofoam left over from my dishwasher box, but so far it has worked.

I pulled all of the pins out and hung it on the railing. Mother Nature was smiling on me and decided to clear up into beautiful sun, so I left the sweater out to dry as I went 35 minutes to my LYS for a Jane Ellison workshop. Moments after the workshop started I heard the cackle of Mother Nature again and it started raining…

When I returned home I expected to find my wet sweater on the balcony, but was terrified to see it was not there. After drilling C with questions of where it was, I looked over the railing to see my lovely handspun sweater laying dead in the rose garden. Now I have not only a wet, unfinished sweater, but a wonderfully dirty sweater.

Mother Nature 1    Sweet Sheep 0 

Just when all was moving along smoothly, I have hit a bump.

I am not taking all of the credit for this one! The chest shaping in the sweater went well on the first side. However, when working the right side the pattern simply told me to do the opposite…ok makes sense, but wait…that’s a lot of opposite to process…and therefore I did the shaping on the zipper edge instead of the armhole edge.

There is no getting out of this one…it has to be ripped back. I didn’t notice it until I had soaked it for blocking today. The sweater will be spending some time out in the sun as I try to hurry up the drying.

In case that wasn’t a big enough bump for you, I also ran out of roving. Carrie is so kindly RUSHING me some more. This sweater will be done in time for Rhinebeck…even if I have to pin the pieces on me..I will be wearing this sweater in some manner.

Speaking of Rhinebeck sweaters, Mama E will also be wearing her newly steeked lopi sweater…and speaking of Mama E it is her birthday! So head over and wish her a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I am so thrilled to announce that Nicole F has won the Grand Prize!

Once again thank you all for donating we raised $1363.00!! Amazing thank you all so much. I am really looking forward to next year!

I am once again working on my hand spun sweater, here is how she looks this morning.

it is actually looking like a sweater…ish. I am just working on the back and then she will be receiving a very agressive blocking while I knit the sleeves and hood. I have a giant skein of yarn drying on the deck this morning and am hoping to get back to knitting tonight or tomorrow if it needs longer to dry.

Just a reminder of all of my US and international friends: Monday is Canadian thanks giving so packages will be going out on tuesday!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate this weekend!

I have been motoring along on my Rhinebeck sweater!

I am just thrilled to death with the progress and the way the sweater is knitting up. In a paranoid move I requested some extra roving from Carrie…just in case. The timeline is so tight and this sweater is just eating up yardage. The sweater is knit flat, which I love because finishing is almost as fun for me as swatching!

There is about 9 inches here so far, I am working the increases for the bust and should be done and working on dividing up for the arms by the end of the weekend providing that I find some time to spin more yarn as my giant ball is getting pretty piddly.

Right now I am feeling pretty sure I will have this done for Rhinebeck, but I am also aware that I need to sew in a zipper, which I have never done and my sewing skills leave something to be desired to say the least.

It has been wonderful to see what you all are working on over at the Flickr group…what is everyone else knitting right now? Are you working on a winter project?

The Rhinebeck Sweater is on the needles! After only 7 swatches (yikes) I finally got gauge. I was planning on just modifying the pattern to make it fit me and then I realized that it is knit flat with a lot of business going on up top and to be honest, my brain looked at all the work that needed to be done..and left.

So I struggled from a recommended 10.5 needle down to a 6 and got gauge (whew!) The Sweater is obviously knit tight, but is coming along beautifully.

I have knit a few rows since then and switched to my second ball of handspun. As many of you may know (or not) I hate swatching, but when you are working with handspun there really is no option. I have more sweater yarn on the bobbins and just about ready to be plied! We are moving along.

This upcoming Sunday is the Run for the Cure! So let’s make sure we give out a fantastic prize this week. This will be the last prize before the grand prize. Here she is:

One skein of Zen Yarn Garden in Minty Fresh, One skein of Yarntini Merino/Tencel in Hope and one skein of Brooklyn Handspun sport weight in Springs Return.

The Draw will take place Wednesday. If you have not donated and would like to do so you can here.

We are at $960 of our $1000 goal, THANK YOU ALL SO SO SO MUCH and a wonderful thank you to all of our hand dyers that have donated their beautiful yarns.

In shop news I was very busy this weekend:

Great Big Sea Silk is updated and fully stocked!

Sea Silk is updated and Fully Stocked

Funky Carolina Rovings are up with over 30 amazing new rovings!

We also have: Brooklyn handspun coming soon and Sknitches self striping coming soon and I promise I am working hard on the Tulip kits!

I am continuing on with my sweater progress. As suggested by Amy in this very helpful Knitty article, I have created a card to remind myself as to what I am aiming for when i sit down at the wheel. My biggest fear on this project is having a different gauge with every skein. Talk about an ugly sweater!

I had spun a little sample to to a swatch:

I rarely work with anything above a fingering/dk weight so I was pretty astonished at how fast this knit up! Starting to feel like I can for sure do this thing in 31 days…yikes! I spun my first bobbin last night, and will be carrying on to my second today. My bulky flier has still not shown up and I am really hoping it gets here before I am ready to ply!

I will not bore you with the daily full/half full bobbin shots, so cross your fingers for me until the next sweater update.

In shop news, Sheepaints is going up sometime this afternoon/evening…stay tuned!

A few weeks ago Carrie and I got the crazy idea to spin a sweater for Rhinebeck this year.  We have exactly 32 days.  I am fully aware, that knitting a sweater in 32 days might be a bit of a feat for someone who works as much as I do, let alone spinning the yarn, but I am also fully aware that I may be a little insane, and i’m ok with that.

I am going to chronicle the whole process here so you can all share in my success or not . 

Yesterday I received the stunning fiber that Carrie had dyed for us

2 beautiful pounds of Merino/Tencel in the Bitchin’ colourway. Carrie and I designed the colourway together and she took our vision and made it so much better. I quickly ripped everything else off the wheel and spun up a sample to make sure I got the right weight.

The sweater pattern is from Dominknitrix and calls for a bulky weight yarn. Those of you who have followed the blog for a while will realize that I only spin sock/sport/dk weight yarn. So this in itself was a tricky thing, I have been practicing some worsted/bulky in the week that I was waiting for the roving to arrive.

I plied and soaked the sample last night and will be knitting up a small swatch today to make sure that I can get gauge before I start spinning.

My Bulky flier has yet to arrive, but I have no time to waste so I will be making smaller skeins while I wait, should be here soon. I will keep you updated!

Cross your fingers for me friends!

Who else is going to Rhinebeck and are you wearing something knitted?