sock porn for knitting voyeurs.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

handspun ishbel

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Ishbel from Ysolda Teague
handspun merino/silk, fiber dyed by A Verb for Keeping Warm-- "sunny side up"
US 4 Addi, 24"
spun and knit sometime in May, June 2009

I started this blog originally to share photos and knitting projects with a single person, a non-knitter too far from me who indulged my itch to share the minutia of my life and obsession with sock knitting and yarn. For sometimes better and often worse, it has slowly changed to a true fiber journal. Unable to bring myself to write for several months has left me with lots of little and big projects that I feel strange writing about since they're not contemporaneous (the difference a day makes...), but I do want to record them because -- well, sometimes like Ishbel they're beautiful. Sometimes they're painful and sometimes they're just cigars.

My bumbling way of saying a few posts are going to be old-for-me projects over the coming weeks :)

This one started with a beautiful, single 2 oz bump of 50/50 merino-silk in "sunny side up" I picked up from the Workshop... Kristine only had one left, and being one of those transitory "limited edition" colors I had to have it, even if it was a much smaller amount than I'd normally be comfortable buying.

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I always think in 4 oz quantities, assuming that I could never get anything out of 2. Surprise surprise...

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I was able to get Ishbel out of one! One ounce. The scarf weighs 28 grams, and I'm left with another 28g of handspun for...? Something. There's magic in it, I'm sure. No magic left in me, no mods other than using a US 4 needle as opposed to the pattern's US 6 just because I wanted a denser stst and a smaller scarf.

I know everyone's knit one (I got my idea from hearing Nicole talk about it on Stash and Burn), and it is adorable! The reason I really like it? Wearing Ishbel makes me feel like some sort of knitting cowboy, sporting a handknit bandana.

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So of course I popped back into the workshop and bought a few new 2 oz quantities...

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Verb merino/silk in "indigo blue day"

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Verb yak/silk in "crocodile tears" (?)

I had planned on making a few more triangle shaped scarves with these, but I'm toying with the idea of opening up my notebooks and spinning/pattern writing for Verb's "smitten mitten" pattern contest instead. My son's starting kindergarten in less than a month, and I've been kicking about the idea of starting to publish knitting patterns again in the time he'll be away from me. As always, we'll see :)

Miss you.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just gorgeous!! Love reading anything you write. Keep the projects new and old coming.

nestra said...

I'm pretty sure that YT might be some kind of knitting fairy that sprinkles magic onto all her patterns, but your handspun makes Ishbel even more amazing!

Anonymous said...

I love it! I just made an Ishbel myself, using two Knitpicks lace yarns wound together, and went denser as well. Keep showing us the old stuff, whatever you want to do. It's your blog.

lexa said...

Love it! Keep the projects coming, old and new.

You'll find the time that your little guy is in school will go fast. At least that's how I feel. I always think of all the stuff I have to do or get done while they're in school, then all of a sudden it's bus time! It's nice, though. Hope you get back into patterns. :)

Anonymous said...

your ishbel looks awesome :) I love that you did it in handspun and the color!

loopykd said...

That handspun is so lovely. Excellent work. Bravo.

Kristine said...

LOVE! Do you want anything from SS?

Kristine said...

P.S. your stitch markers are here.

Anonymous said...

Amazing spinning out of the 2 ozs!! And the Ishbel has turned out beautifully. I hope you do return to the pattern writing - love your writing, following your blog, your projects has been very insightful and inspiring. Love how you use A Verb fibers too. Terry

YawnOver said...

Totally freaking gorgeous - seriously. The color, the yarn and the knitting.

adrienne said...

Ooooh! Ishbel was so fun to knit in cashmere, but it looks even more awesome in handspun!

(and mmm, lovely fibre!)

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