Knit Items with Handspun Yarn
| I used the "Sophisticated Scarf" pattern from the Stitch n' Bitch Nation book for this scarf. The yarn is Dorset wool that one the members of my spinning guild dyed. I love the colors! They're even richer than they appear in the picture. | |
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You can find the pattern for this bunny here. I made mine out of some of the leftover yarn I used for the twist scarf (below). It didn't take very long to make and it's pretty cute. |
| I made these fingerless mittens from Jacob wool that I carded carefully to keep the colors separated. I plied dark with light to give the yarn a variegated look when knit, and so it would change shades in broad stripes as well. I love the end result. The pattern was a simple one developed by a fellow member of the Tennessee Valley Handspinners Guild; I'll definitely be making more of these, they're so easy and rewarding to knit. |  |
| The mohair bag is finally finished. It was very
boring to make, just knit around and around and around. The yarn is two-ply mohair,
one strand white and the other strand spun from hand-dyed mohair I bought online; the
colors are purples and blues and very lovely. Plying it with white made the colors
seem much more pastel than they are, but the finished effect is attractive. I used
the basic sock directions in The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook to make the bag,
and braided the drawstring firmly.
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 Vincent trying to eat the bag before it was done. |
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I made this twist scarf back in March, using the pattern from the winter 2005 issue of Spin Off. It's made from luscious 25% cashmere, 75% lambswool yarn, two-ply and sort of a natural champagne/pale gray color. I misread the pattern, however, and failed to knit a row between every YO row, which made the scarf look quite different from the original pattern. Still, I like the end result--the picture doesn't really do it justice--and it's softer than soft. |
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The gray lamb is my first try at this knitted and felted pattern and is made from Jacob wool, which gave it an interesting brindled look. A customer requested a black bear stuffed animal, so I modified the pattern to look more bear-like (longer snout and rounded ears) and knitted it in black mohair. If you're interested in the pattern, it's a Fiber Trends pattern (#206x) called "A Felt Flock." The pattern takes very little yarn, particularly since I've been knitting them from singles directly from the bobbin (although I give it a few days to relax). Yes, it does pull the stitches a little on a bias but they get felted anyway and you can't tell. |
| Here's another pair of these booties I made with poodle fur; you can see the other pair on the yarn page. The poodle buttons were an impulse and I don't know that I like them much--I don't usually use plastic buttons. Also I dyed the band with Kool-Aid and obviously didn't dilute it enough. Anyway, the booties themselves are simple to make. The pattern comes from the book Stitch 'n Bitch Nation. |  |
I made this hat for myself but it's a little large for me, so I put it out in the Appalachian Arts shop. We had such a mild winter this past year, though, that no one sold any winter stuff and I brought the hat home. It's a stocking cap knitted from various types of wool and I think I used some Samoyed chiengora to ply with part of the black merino. I didn't use a pattern, just knitted in the round and kept decreasing every few rows. Anyway, this hat is for sale for $16, which includes shipping, and I'll be glad to find a head for it.
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