Secret Spinner loot!

I have already eaten all the cookies (well, Ruby helped...) so it is clearly overdue for me to post about my second Secret Spinner package. I got a skein of natural wool spun as a thick and thin single, and a package of the best chocolate cookies I've ever tasted! Plus a nice card from Jessica Riley, who has now revealed her true identity.

Thanks Jessica! I love the yarn, especially since I spin mostly fine, fine yarn. I gave it a wash in Fibremaster and it's lovely. And the cookies were so good.

I haven't decided what to knit with the yarn, but I think I'll use these two skeins together. I'll be sure to post when it turns into something!

On another note - I had a third try at the Rib Warmer vest. There isn't enough yardage in the one skein to make the vest on a #9 or a #10.5. I tried a #13 but the resulting fabric is too sleazy for my taste, so I give up. I'm going to order two skeins of the Scotian Silk in the new periodot color just to knit this vest, and knit up this skein of autumn as a scarf or wrap.

I'm considering just garter stitch, as I really liked the way to color was zig-zagging on the vest front. I'm also considering a narrower Calpotis or the Flying V Scarf from Iris Schreier's Exquisite Little Knits. Here is a link to the Flying V Shawl - rather wider, but you get the idea.

Thanks, CarolineF for pointing me to the Yarn Harlot's Rib Warmer! I was inspired to knit this pattern after seeing one on a friend - she knit her's in Kureyon. I think it's a great pattern, I just need more yarn!

EZ Rib Warmer Vest

I've also been working away at a Rib Warmer Vest from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop - the pattern is great, but it didn't specify a quantity of yarn and I'm trying to squeeze it out of one 250 gram skein of Fleece Artist Scotian Silk. I started on US#9 needles and got about 3/4 through the first vest half when the remaining yarn started looking lean. I weighed the knitting and the remaining yarn and it was much too close to the same weight, with many a row to go. So I ripped it out and started again with a US#10.5 and adjusted the pattern for the new gauge. I'm almost to the end of the frogged yarn and I'm not close enough to the end of the first half... again.

I do have 50 grams of silk & wool sliver that was dyed in the same run. I could never match the yarn that was dyed as yarn, but I could maybe come up with something that was a similar weight and the colors would match generally. The odd yarn would be on the shoulder, at the back... I dunno. I may go ahead and finish this piece and then weigh everything again and think about it. It's just a sample, but in such a pretty color. This photo is the first draft, now frogged and reknit.

Corgis, knitted and otherwise

I was looking through some photos Ruby took of me weaving on one of my big barn looms this past summer and I found one I liked, so I put it up on the blog. And since I was replacing Rupert's photie, I thought I'd do a corgi post.

It's hard to get a good picture of a dog - you call their name to get their attention and for once they come right to you. Here are Wiley and Rupert on one of our recent snowy mornings. They are about 8 or 9 years old.

Wiley is on the left, and we got her through a free ad a few years ago. We got Rupert from the local pound when he was less than a year old. Someone had dropped him off, or rather pushed him under the fence and driven away. We have had 5 corgis so far, and he looks as pure bred as any of them, so it's hard to imagine someone paying that much for a dog and then abandoning him.

He gets upset when we have too many boxes around the house or when we pack to go somewhere, so I think his family was moving and/or in divorce. He's a great dog. They both are, but Rupert is my special buddha dog. I bring them to work with me most days, and they laze about while we work.

I am attempting to knit a corgi, through the inspiratation of seeing the Florian Fox pattern in Lucinda Guy's And So to Bed book and a new color of Peace Fleece. Here is the side section, for your viewing pleasure. I moved the color pattern around and added a head shape at the top. I'm hoping it will look seriously cute when it's all made up.