February Phatfiber - Precious Gems

Kido Lame in colorway "Precious Gems"

I'm so excited about the yarns and fiber I dyed for the February Phatfiber Box. I have a wonderful new base yarn called Kido Lame. It is a lace weight kid mohair stranded with a gold metallic thread. The superfine kid mohair simply loves the dye pot and the results are astounding. Kido Lame knits up very much like other lace weight kid mohairs on the market and can be substituted in almost any pattern.

85% BFL/15% Silk Top

Soft Silk 50% Silk/50%Merino

I've included pictures of the luxury yarns and fiber that I've dyed up in the Precious Gems colorway as sampled in the Phatfiber Box. Special for blog readers until February 28, 2011, the code GEMS15 at checkout will take 15% off anything in the BitsyKnits Etsy shop.

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On other fronts, I've begun to finalize my festival schedule for 2011. Details on where you can see all BitsyKnits yarns and fibers in person as well as the current calendar of classes I'm teaching can be found as always at BitsyKnits.com

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Oh, and 1 last note for all you Spinolution fans... I have a Spinolution Hopper with just a few hours of use on it being sold as a demo wheel - full factory warranty, 3 bobbins, 8 oz. art yarn flyer, the works, all at a deeply discounted price. Feel free to contact through the website for pricing information and to receive a PDF sales flyer with pictures of the wheel.

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Knit On, Bitsy

Finished WIP's and Poor Little Puppy

Well, I've been a busy girl this past week. 2, yes 2 finished fiber projects, 1000 yds of handspun laceweight yarn, 12 silk scarves, hand dyed, ironed and boxed, ready to wrap for holiday gifts and I played nurse to my baby, a 10 year old Scottish Terrier who had a mass removed from his paw on last Monday.

Scottie the scottie at home after surgery

Scottie (no, I didn't name him) is doing just fine. He now has a handknit sock and boot to cover his poor little foot. The stitches come out next week but until then it needs to stay clean and dry. We won't have the pathology back for a while yet so please keep him in your prayers.

Onto more exciting things, FINISHED PROJECTS! I think I mentioned previously that I was weaving a scarf on my new rigid heddle loom. I used Emu Naturally wool for the warp and my own handspun wool/mohair for the weft. The handspun was a blend of 2 colors, one a solid turquoise and the other a turquoise/rose blend that I purchased at MDS&W '07. The yarn created subtle undulating shades against the rose colored warp. I'm really proud of this one since it is my first woven item.

handspun, handwoven scarf

I had thought to give it away but I think that it will stay with me. As this was my first attempt, there are a couple of problems with it. Next time I will loosen up my weft at the selvedges but all things considered I'm really happy with the result. I purchased the loom in an effort to use up some of my handspun faster than knitting and I certainly was able to do that. The 11" wide, 60" long scarf only took about 5 hours, including warping the loom. I have more of the handspun (I did around 24 ounces originally) and I like the colors so I'm thinking I'll do the same project again, adjusting to loosen the edge just a bit.

My second finished project is my tam using the California Red that was in my spinning guild's paperbag for this year. This one make me happy for a couple of reasons, first, it is finished and ready to display well in advance of the December guild meeting and second, I was really looking forward to creating a tam and playing with the wheel type motif on the top.

knitted tam using hand dyed, handspun yarn

The California Red is the multicolor yarn. I handpainted the fiber using acid dyes and then spun it and plyed it to create a sportweight yarn. I wasn't happy with the feel of the yarn, it is kind of rough and so I used it to create the fairisle patterning against a background of commercially milled wool and alpaca. The end result is just lovely. The colors in the handspun really look nice against the sage green of the background yarn. It fits nicely although next go around I will decrease the needle size used on my ribbed band. This was the first time I actually used a multi-colored yarn for fair isle. I ususally do it the old fashioned way and end up with 15-20 partially used skeins. I really like the results and will likely do this again in the future. I have some very suble color blends of handspun in my stash and I'm already dreaming of fair isle socks with more of a color contrast.

So, thats it for now. I'm off to begin work on my first issue of the North Country Spinners Newsletter, a job that I am taking on beginning this month. I'm also beginning to work on my 2009 festival schedule. I just learned that the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival has a waiting list so that one is out. I'm hoping to get a few shows in this spring. If anyone has any suggestions, drop me a note. Geographically, I like to limit myself to the Northeast.

That's all for now. Until the next time, Happy Knitting, Bitsy