Steotchalong 2017: Clue #5

I worked on this clue in a rose garden in New Hampshire.

And in the forest. This piece is sure getting around!
 

Definitely letters this time, and I know what it's going to say!

5D Giraffe, continued

Still going on the giraffe! I had enough of a fever to make me completely useless, so watched Grey's Anatomy and worked on the giraffe some more.

I still love it to pieces.

5D Giraffe

I love giraffes. I love making things. When I found a shiny 5D/Diamond Painting multicolor giraffe for $3.70 with free shipping on Amazon (here), this was a thing I needed. Deeply.

It shipped surprisingly quickly and came with everything needed to make a multicolored, shiny giraffe.

So much fun!

Steotchalong 2017: Clue #4

Over halfway done! I've been lagging a bit but I also managed to work on this clue while on the beach at a conference in Florida.

More letters!

Maybe this should be the Error Blog

I was about five rows from the end of this project, and the count was off.

Apparently, the instructions have a small change for the setup of the last two pattern repeats. That's fifteen rows, with beads, to rip back. Fifteen! With beads!!!

Tour de Sock 2017: Stage Three Oops

Apparently I cannot make a pair of socks without ripping something back or attempting sock surgery. I found I had added an extra cable cross at the base of a cabled section of the sock.

Onward!

Tour de Sock 2017: Stage 2, More Mistakes

I started off Stage 2 with some quick errors! First, I switched the MC and CC in the first chart.

Then, once I'd ripped back the four offending rows and corrected them, I made the very fiddly Latvian braid facing the wrong direction at the end of the leg colorwork section:

I will get through these socks! Hopefully without any more mistakes!

Tour de Sock 2017: Stage 1 Mistake

Stage One of Tour de Sock did not go off without a hitch. I made a big enough mistake that I had to drop back and fix it, as I could not live with it and knew I would not fix it later! Can you see the problem? I dropped a YO and miscounted, then fixed my count before the line of YOs and still had a miscount in that section. Of course, I didn't figure this out until I was inches beyond that point, when I finally realized the count was wrong in the next fin section.

 I dropped down to fix the problem. I dropped down a large number of rows.

I knitted my way back up again, fixing the pattern and hoping the extra stitch would end up blocking out.

Going back up made the purl rows easier, I was able to knit those back and forth instead of purling across!

Good as new, though leaving the error would have given me a few extra places in the leaderboard. Probably not enough to win more points though, so I am glad I fixed it when I did!

Steotchalong 2017: Clue #3

Still have no idea. Are those letters? Is it tilted? I'm pretty sure the flowers are in fact flowers, beyond that, I got nothing!

Tour de Fleece: Day 21

Today's the last day! I plied and began washing the yarns.

I did not ply everything as I wanted to be sure the yaks had time to rest, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with the steel. Ply? Leave it be? Let it sit on the bobbin until I have better skills and take another look?

When it's all dry and done, I'll figure out all of the yarn specs that might help with figuring out what I want to do with it.

I'm thinking of making woven mug rugs with the handspun samples and a pair of ankle socks with the full skein. It's around 200 yards, so not enough for a full pair of socks but still enough. I did spin it with an opposing ply specifically for socks, so socks it will be!

Tour de Fleece: Day 20

I spun my last sample today! I wanted to also begin plying the first few samples, but this tiny one took far, far too much effort to get through that I was just done with the wheel after I got through it. I am not particularly happy with it and am not sure what I want to do with it.

It's a difficult spin in large part because it is stainless steel. Yep, stainless steel yarn! Kinda cool, but maybe not something for my current skill level.

Tour de Fleece: Day 19

Today I spun both of the yak-based samples I had. One, the brown, was small and had enough nepps to bug me. I know yak is a soft fiber so some isn't surprising, but this was more than I would have anticipated.

The grey was absolutely lovely, with a few different shades of grey giving it amazing depth as I spun. it also spun very easily, a very nice fiber to work with!

Tour de Fleece: Day 18

Today I spun the best fiber ever! I am so in love, I want to get enough for a sweater's worth of singles! The color, the feel, everything was just perfect!

Of course, this means that the fiber was made by a small, local fiber company and they've been sold out for about a year. Siiiigh.

Tour de Fleece: Day 17

Today, I spun two samples from the Phat Fiber box I purchased last year. I spun them both on the same bobbin as one was very small and I wanted to spin some more but not use up all of my bobbins on ten and twelve yard samples!

I didn't particularly love either of these. We'll see how I feel when they're plied.

Tour de Fleece: Day 16

I learned how to make a plying bracelet today! I don't have any pictures of that. I do have a picture of the last of the two-ply on the bobbin, finishing off the excellent Fibernymph Dyeworks BFL in Mad Dancing Fairies.

This was a very lovely fiber to work with and the colors blended together nicely. It reminded me strongly of girls' rooms in the mid-to-late '90s, when I was growing up. Now I need to wash and finish it, then see what kind of socks I can make with it!

Steotchalong 2017: Clue #2

I started out the second clue with an error.

That red bit is supposed to be above the center motif, not the side snowflake. Not a huge error and I did catch it pretty quickly.

What will it be? Are we celebrating the four seasons with a sampler? Canada's 150th? Something else entirely because the snowflakes are not snowflakes and the side bits aren't actually maple leaves? I don't know yet!

Tour de Fleece: Day 15

So my grand plan for the challenge day, day 15, was to go through all the samples I have, giving me a pile of singles to ply for the rest of the Tour and finishing all of the fiber I acquired in 2016 (the current braid is the only 2017 fiber purchase). This would have been a good plan if I both owned more bobbins than I do (though as the samples are so small, doubling up or more on one bobbin probably would be fine) and also had fully finished the singles I was working on. The opposing ply was all used up but I didn't use up all the singles the day before. I began to two-ply the remaining singles. I figured it would be a quick process and I'd be able to move on to the samples, even if I couldn't spin all seven singles.

After the next bobbin ran out, I tried to chain-ply the rest of the final bobbin. It was a hot mess. The wheel for some reason is not wanting to take up the yarn at that ratio. This meant that my chain-ply was closer to ramen than yarn and everything was just a problem. I pulled it all out. Next time, I'll learn how to make a plying bracelet. Maybe I'll get through some of those samples, but if not, at least this braid will be done, and that was my only real goal.

Tour de Fleece: Day 14

Finished the three ply! I of course still need to wash it and see what the final yarn is like, but it is off the wheel!

Tour de Fleece: Day 13

Dividing wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. It was time consuming though.

I spun just enough to get everything all tensioned and joined and should finish plying tomorrow. I will probably have a two-ply mini skein when the opposing ply runs out. I don't think it was that much thicker than the rest, but as the other two are relaxing into the ply, that one is continuing to coil up which probably accounts for the difference in length I'm seeing.

For the rest of the Tour, my goals are to finish plying tomorrow, spin all of the samples I have left from the Phat Fiber box I got last year on the Challenge Day, then ply them all. I believe I have six samples left, so spinning them all leaves one per day to ply to finish out the Tour.

Tour de Fleece: Day 12

I spun this far:

And then this happened:

I was expecting it due to my uneven division of the braid, but I wasn't really looking forward to this part. I probably should have fixed the uneven divide earlier - joining while spinning would have been much easier than dividing the energetic single that's on the bobbin! I think I will wind the end connected to the wheel onto a new bobbin until they're about even in weight (assuming the bobbins are approximately the same weight and the singles are even enough that approximately the same weight gives me approximately the same yardage...), then cut the single and wind the first bit back onto another bobbin so I can leave it attached to the wheel, then join the cut end on the original bobbin and keep plying. Luckily I have six bobbins so the game of musical bobbins isn't a problem!