More Secret Smorgling projects.

A "Secret Smorgling" is a little box with 160g of random fibres. It's sold by Nunoco and they are often in the shop.
These are such a great idea, the yarn is always "one of a kind" and a pleasure to knit with because all the variations. I specially like the little roving packs that have some sparkle in them, that shows up in the yarn and final project.
For the challenge on Ravelry we have to use up all the box.

I finished 2 more "boxes" for the Secret smorgling challenge:

The first box:

Made these "Smorgling Fiddlehead" mittens:

Smorgling Fiddlehead Mittens

This is the first time I'm making mittens and I really like them. I had to spin 3 different yarns for this project: a light and dark for the colorwork and a fine yarn for the lining.

The 2 thicker yarns are n-plied to keep the colors clear. I've devided the fibre in 2 parts to make two matching yarns (for the 2 mittens).

The lining is a 2 ply yarn, mostly browns (from the "Hen batt") and a little greens.

and with the rest of the yarn I made a sweet little "Bonnie Wee mouse":

With my second box I made this "Spring Dreams Shawl":

For this one I spun all the fibre of the box as a 2-ply yarn. The colors are all mixed, but there's a bit of a gradient because I tried to keep the greens and pinks at the same side.

The fibre:

The yarn:

(dark weather in Belgium)

I love the texture of the garter stitch in combination with the lace parts in this pattern. I made it a little bigger by repeating one of the lace charts (to use op the yarn).

For the bind of I chose an I-cord edging. 

Detail while blocking:

This has been a fun challenge, I hope there will be more in the future :).

Secret Smorgling project 2

I finished a project for the Challenge from Nunoco on Ravelry, it's actually two projects:

I started with this fibre: a little box of surprises:

Secret Smorgling

I made 2 groups, with light and dark colors, and spun two yarns. The light fibres are carded with the hand carders, they made a yarn that slowly changes color. For the dark colors I used small bits of the fibres in random order, then navajo-plied. It made a yarn with bright colors. (Difficult to take good pictures because of the dark weather here in Belgium...)

The stranded jacket is made first, I wanted light flowers on a dark background. The pattern is the "Circular stranded surprise jacket". I liked that I could draw my own chart for this. The jacket came out a little small and used only 75g of the yarn...but I think it's really cute.

Then I made the regular surprise jacket, with random stripes to use up all the yarn:

I have to finish my doll from my first Smorgling now ;)

Advent Calendar Scarf 2014, day 17

Update on my cowl: working on day 17 :)

Knitting a little mouse... or two

I saw this lovely pattern in the Ravelry library: Bonnie wee mouse, it makes a cute little mouse. And almost no sewing as you knit everything in the round and attach the pieces while knitting :)

It will make a perfect gift for my daughter.

I used handspun yarn, from a batt-dropping (batt made from random fibres) and needles 2,75mm.

Little mouse

 Then I used the same pattern again, but with some modifications to make a Teenage Ninja Turtle :)
Yarn: "Meilenweit Soja" (a soft sock-yarn), needles: 2,75.
(I probably should have used smaller needles but it would make the turtle even smaller..)
I knit according to the pattern, but with a very short tail, no ears and orange stripe where the eyes are placed. The shell is knitted in some handspun. This one is for my son.

Knitted Ninja Turtle

The pattern is easy to follow and quick to knit. I'll probably make more of them soon...

Advent Calendar Scarf 2014

This pattern adds a piece of lace every day of december, until Christmas :).
I'm using my lace-weight Smorgasbox yarn. (and probably add more yarn spun from samples)
Every pattern and spacer will have it's own color, so I'm using both the outside and inside of my skeins...

Already knitted day 5 today:

This is knitted in the round (and started with a provisional cast on) to make a cowl.

All the handspun colors and the surprise-patterns make this a fun project :)

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Knitting part 3, a little dress

I can't continue with the doll-body until the eyes are delivered, so knitted the dress already.
A dress filled with leaves ;)
I used all the yarn from the mini- Bilberry-Zest batt.

Forest-theme dress.

Back collar detail

The colors are not very acurate in these photo's, I hope I can take better photo's when the doll is finished.

Comfy socks

I've used my Mystery yarn (see this post), to knit some soft comfortable socks :)

Knitted toe-up and two at the same time on one circular needle. Added some half-brioche at the top.

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Knitting part 2

The doll has feet and hair now :).
I made the feet like mini-socks with some white and a bit of the Beryl-green. (filled them already on this photo)

For the hair I've sewn on strands of yarn around the grey edge, then sewn strands on the top. (see photo...)
It's a special hairstyle for a special doll...

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Knitting part 1

I decided to do a fun (first?) project for the challenge: a doll!
I started the head with the dark grey yarn and the tan-colored yarn. The body is knitted with batt-dropping yarn.

Used 'white rabbit' for the panties and continued the legs with a striped yarn from the mixed merino packs. I'm knitting them two at a time on a circular needle, using one strand from outside and one strand from the inside of a center-pull ball... (The colors of the second half of the yarn are spun in reversed order to make that possible.)

This will become a lovely big-headed big eyed doll. I've ordered some big safety eyes for her and have to wait with knitting the arms until they arrive.
I'm not using a pattern so the final result will be a surprise for me too :).

New design: We have cookies!

I published this new sock design on Ravelry today:
There's a promotion of 30% until november 20th !

These socks are knit from the cuff down, you can find the pattern here.
They are for my daughter, she loves cookies and hand-knitted socks ;).

Shetland/Corriedale socks

I've been dyeing some wool this summer. Two of those fibres were 65g shetland and 40g corriedale wool.      I decided to use them together and knit some nice warm socks...

But first the spinning...

65g shetland dyed in blue/green/purple and pink

The singles on my wheel

This fibre was divided in 4 strips and spun end- to end.
The singles were N-plied to make 190m self-striping yarn.

Finished yarn

I also had 40g light blue corriedale fibre, and overdyed it with blues.

corriedale

I spun a fine 2 ply yarn, 222m.

The two yarns are used together to knit these socks. They are not super-soft but it's ok for my feet.

I started the toes with the shetland and then added blue stripes, with double yarn.                                      The sock pattern is very simple but effective:
I cast on at the toe, make toe increases and continue until a height of 13 cm. Then I increase for the heel gusset. I put the sock on and decide to stop the gusset when I'm almost at the end of the heel. Then I knit a small heel-turn with short rows over the middle of the heel stitches.  The heel flap is knitted back and forth, knitting the side stitches together with the gusset until there are no more gusset sts left. I often use slip-stitches in the heel flap for strenght. The leg can then be knitted until you run out of yarn :)

shetland-corriedale socks

These are very warm socks :) The striping worked well and I will use it more in future sock-projects.

Handspun Socks "De Luxe"

These are my first handspun socks knitted on fine (2mm) needles and with a 2ply yarn. Also the first handspun socks that have a pattern. (I like plain knitting for socks)

This is how I started:

The fibre:

I found this beautiful handdyed braid, a mix of 75% Bluefaced Leicester (BFL), 12% firestar and 12% Silk. (I bought this from Dutchwooldiva)
The firestar (= nylon) and silk should make this a strong yarn.

Spinning:

The braid was divided in 2 lengthwise, each half spun in a fine single, then plied together:

It made 320m/100g of this yarn:

The colors are mostly blended and less strong then in the fibre. The yarn feels very soft, but it's very strong, I have to pull hard to brake the strand. (the silk and Nylon are working!)

Knitting:

I started the socks "two at a time" on 1 circular needle. After finishing the toe I started searching for a pattern on Ravelry. I liked "Kalajoki" because it has a small pattern with a lot of plain stockinette. I changed the pattern a bit: added 1 extra rib, a slip stitch heel, and the movement of the stripes is made up. I also decided to make the two socks the same. (the pattern has socks with mirrored waves)

Here's how they look:

And that's my knitting needle on the left, with the left-overs. Yep, I really like toe up socks because you can use up all of the yarn.

The colors don't match in the socks but thats just how I wanted them (yarn was in a ball wound on my yarn-winder and I knitted one sock with the outside end, the other with the inside end...)

They fit great and are a lot "thinner" then the socks I make with store-bought yarn and a stranded pattern.

Here's a close-up of the knitting:

I really love how the colors blend, it's like a painting!

I hope these socks last a long time!

Sokken 2011-9 en 2011-10

Knitting a mini-sweater

This little bunny was a little cold.

So I made him a nice warm sweater and matching hat.

My daughter's very happy ;) 

Sokken 2011-7 en 2011-8

Ik vraag me af hoeveel paar sokken ik ongeveer brei per jaar...misschien haal ik de 10?

Dit is alvast paar 7 en 8. Gemaakt op mijn gewone manier: op 1 rondbreinaald. De patroontjes verzin ik zelf, ik hou het daarbij simpel.

Sokken voor Jonas:  rechte en averechte steken, kleine gevlochten kabels.

 Sokken voor Sarah: rechte en averechte steken en nep-kabeltjes

 (2 steken samenbreien maar de steken laten staan, 

daarna de eerste steek hiervan nog eens recht breien)

Zigzag sokken 2011-6

 

De wol is Regia-sokkenwol (zelfstrepend). Het patroon is vrij eenvoudig.

Sokken 2011-5

Dit paar is voor mijn zoontje van bijna 11. hij heeft de kleuren zelf gekozen. Doordat het allemaal aparte bollen zijn en geen "zelfstrepende" wol, waren er heel veel eindjes in te stoppen....

 

De boord is deze keer 2 recht 2 averecht.

Tijd voor wat kleur.deel4 : afgewerkt

Ze zijn wel wat kort, maar de wol was dus op :).
Als boord heb ik halfpatent gekozen en dan afgezet op rekbare manier.
(zoals gewoon afzetten met overhalen maar steeds een lus ertussen doen en lus + steek dan samen overhalen.)

Ben al aan een nieuw paar begonnen, voor mijn zoontje van 10. Die heeft ook al maat 37. Hij koos voor de kleuren zwart, rood en grijs.