We got another dog. :)

She’s lovely, unless you ask Shambles. He’s tired of being manhandled by a 17 lb. puppy. She’s either sound asleep with her legs in the air or jumping all over the damn place. She’s 8 months old, a Wirehaired Fox Terrier/ Beagle cross, and made of awesome. We got her on Freecycle. How could I not run to get her? She was in heat and tied outside. Everyone keep your fingers crossed she’s not up the pole, okay?

I made this new dog a sweater because her hair is so wispy, you can see her skin through it. Brr! She’s getting used to wearing clothing. At first, putting the sweater on her removed her ability to walk. I’ve never had a puppy, so that was surprising and amusing.

Ready for walkies:

Yarn: my hand-dyed and handspun Cosmos Merino wool (worsted spun from top)- worsted weight, 225 yards
Needle: size 5
Size: Pippa Size!

Seamless construction knit in the round, except where the leg holes are. It was worked back and forth there for awhile.

I cast on the neck, ribbed for awhile, then put 2 double increases in about an inch apart and increased every few rows until the area between the increases was equal to the area between her legs.

Put in the leg holes, knit straight awhile, then put in a centered double decrease on the underside, since she has a nice slim waist.

Cast off some stitches at the tummy and decreased on both sides one stitch in from the edge until the sweater was as long as I wanted. I then started ribbing and picked up and ribbed around the hole for awhile. Did the same at the leg holes and yay!

I made this with no ease and that was a mistake. She’s kind of stuffed into it like a sausage and it’s hard to get it off her. Hitting the perfect balance between stuffed-sausage and having a sweater too loose is difficult! Shambles can get his sweater off by catching it on a branch. He’s always taking his own sweater off. I’ll try again with another sweater for her soon. She’ll need plenty as she loves the snow.

There are three finished objects to show today! I’ll get off that Shame Train, yet.

I’ve been on a utilitarian kick, lately, even more so than usual. We’re cold. We want warm stuff. Adrian has yarn and makes warm stuff. :)

Harrisville Striped Vest:

Pattern: made to measure
Yarn: Harrisville Designs New England Highland in Hemlock and Tundra, about 1.5 skeins each, or about 550 yards total
Needle: US 8/5mm and US 6/4mm
Size: 40″, no ease to speak of
Started: October 26, 2008
Completed: November 14, 2008

I knit this in the round, carrying the yarn not in use up the side. This has 7 stitch steeks at the neck and armholes, which I reinforced with crochet (see Eunny Jang’s article) before cutting. Edgings were picked up and knit as usual. For the v-neck edging, I decreased with a K2tog, ssk at the center point every other row. It looks nice, eh?

This yarn’s fantastic. It’s nice and dense-feeling and woolly, but it’s pretty light, so you get a lot of warmth without feeling like you’ve got this big heavy thing on. You can’t get much better than these colors, either.

Another Seaman’s Cap:

Pattern: Seaman’s Cap by Brenda Zuk, our all time favorite man hat pattern
Yarn: my handspun Shetland wool yarn from my Gannet hand-dyed top, approx. 200 yards of worsted weight
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm and 6/4 mm
Size: Large
Started: October 22, 2008
Completed: November, 14 2008

Mark loves these, they look good on him, so I keep knitting them.

See that church in the background? The priest SPINS. I intend to make him my friend, pretty much whether he likes it or not. (ETA: Small world! It turns out I actually know him, already. I just didn’t know he was a priest. My plan is coming to fruition. Mwuahahah.)

And finally, leg warmers for me!

Pattern: made to measure
Yarn: my handspun Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club May 2008 selection, “Rosebud” Corriedale wool, 250 yards of 14 wpi/sport, plus some extra bit of another handspun yarn for the top ribbing, because I ran out of Rosebud.
Needles: 4? I’ve already forgotten.
Started: November 1, 2008
Completed: November, 18 2008

They’re 15.5” tall, 11” around the top, and 9” around the bottom. My calves are 15” around at the widest point and ankles are 8”. These are fitted and stay up well, but aren’t too tight, even with 4” negative ease at the widest point.

These are knit just like a sleeve. Cast on and rib a bit, and then start increasing 2 sts. per increase row with the increase rows spaced about an inch apart, until you get to the desired upper leg measurement. Work straight and do a bit more ribbing. These are knit at a firm gauge and stay up with absolutely no problem.

This is my third pair (second made for me) and I’ll keep making them. They’re comfy, super warm, and the colors make me happy. You can’t lose!

ETA:

The little Ravelry logo links are courtesy of Max. Find info here (scroll way down).

First off, the shop is back open. Thanks for your patience, everyone! I’ve moved it to a big new server all on its own and things are looking good. We’ll have to give it a little workout with the fiber club sign-ups soon. I’ll do them after we move on Sept. 5. There’ll be lots of warning here. Never fear!

Also, we’re finally buying the house tomorrow. I cannot even describe how much we never want to buy a house and/or move again. We plan on being super old and doddering around in that same old farmhouse, let me tell ya. Buying the house took a lot more time and effort than we ever imagined, hence the virtual silence on my part around here and the putting off of the fiber club sign-ups.

Have I shown photos of the house? It’s a really solid little farmhouse built around 1900. All the major stuff has been updated, leaving us with the delightful chore of updating the dated decor. It’s exactly what we wanted- no updating needed that’s over our heads (plumbing, electrical, etc.) but lots of carpet to rip out, paneling to take down, light fixtures to shudder at the sight of and replace. We’re thrilled! I’ve got grand plans for a toadstool/gnome/terrarium-themed dining room. Mr. HelloYarn does not know this yet. :P

Continuing in the real estate theme, I made a hat as a gift for our buyer agent. Dave is awesome (and I hope he doesn’t read this blog, because I don’t want the surprise ruined) and loves shopping/eating local and has been a great help in pointing us toward places to shop and eat in our new town. So, this hat is super local. I got the fleece used for the yarn from Alice Field of Foxhill Farm in Lee, MA. Here’s the fleece before. I highly recommend Alice’s fleece! Cormo, as you probably know, is gorgeous and soft stuff. This fleece had a silkiness to it that, when combined with the amazing softness, made a fantastic, squishysoft yarn.

It’s gonna be cold in Western MA during the winter, at least that’s what everyone keeps telling me. Colder than it is here in our house only a few blocks from the ocean here in Boston. I shudder to think. It gets COLD here. Right, Bostonians?

Greenery Hat by Lilith Parker
Ravel that bad boy.

This used about 225 yards/102 grams of my handspun worsted weight Cormo chain-plyed (3 ply) yarn.

I handcarded this fleece before spinning. It really begged to be combed, but I didn’t have the patience and carded very delicately so as to not damage the fiber. It worked out well. The yarn’s a little more rustic than it would have been had the fleece been combed, but the 3 plies evened each other out quite well. Chain plying (aka Navajo plying) isn’t my favorite way to make a 3-ply yarn, but the yarn was a little thin as a 2-ply and with two bobbins of singles, chain-plying was the simplest way to get a bulkier yarn.

To get a fabric I liked in this yarn, I had to knit at a tighter gauge than the pattern specified, so I had to add 2 cable repeats to the circumference and one full repeat to the length of the hat. I also made the top of the hat cleaner looking (totally personal preference) by taking a cable twist out at the top.

This is a very attractive pattern and a fun knit. I highly recommend it!