Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

I'm knitting away on my Ivy League Vest. The colorwork is very addictive, as each row brings something new. Here is the ribbing and first few rows of the chart. Because I'm at a different gauge and also want to make it a bit longer, I'm calculating my own shaping. I just put in the first decrease row. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

As part of Tour de Fleece this year, I spun my Ivy League Vest Kit . While these six yarns will make a lovely vest, I also included some of my Submerge/Cuttlefish combo in the hat, just because I wanted some blue for the pattern. The pattern is the blue/green star pattern from the cover of Nordic Knitting Traditions . Because I was swatching for the vest, I was on a larger needle (US 4) than called for in the hat (US 2), and eliminated two repeats of the pattern, making it a seven-point star instead of nine. The hat is 25 stitches and 29 rows to four inches. I have also cast on the vest. The gauge is even a bit larger than called for in the vest pattern (28sts/32rows), so I cast on a smaller size (34 3/4), to get a 38. I'm not quite a 38, but the pattern says it accommodates up to 5 inches negative ease. Also, I'm about to start a fitness challenge... Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

A few weeks ago, I mentioned beginning to spin " Marine Predator ," and now, I can tell you what I've been doing with it! First of all, here is the finished yarn. It is Navajo-plied, or "n-plied" or "chain-plied," as they say. I split the roving into eighths, length-wise, because I wanted fairly short repeats for stripes (for a small project...). I don't normally "cake" may yarns right away, because the cakes are sometimes fairly tight, and I think it may "stretch" the yarn a bit. I try not to store them for long periods in cakes. Since I planned to use this one for a project with a deadline, I caked it up. I took a picture of it because I thought the colors played very nicely across the ball. The intended purpose of this yarn was to make a monster for my younger nephew, Reese's, second birthday. Iris IV was the result, an erstwhile sister for Iris III , my older nephew, Dane's, monster, which I made for him on...

I used the Wicked pattern again, this time using handspun from Hello Yarn's "Blossom" on Finn, a club color. I spun it this year during Tour de Fleece . I have 1 3/8 ounces (40 grams) left of four bumps of fiber (about a pound). Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I've woven the first few inches on the Ocean Towels. You can just see the knots of the beginning of the warp over the end of the front beam. I still have a few loose beats, but I'm getting it figured out. Off to work! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Mitchell has been fighting a throat virus off and on for a couple of weeks, and he came down with a high fever again last night. I stayed home with him today and took him to the doctor, who gave him an anti-biotic for a secondary tonsillitis problem. Other than that, we're hanging out and watching movies. I took the opportunity to wind on the warp for the Ocean Towels. You can see where the color repeats re-start, which I had to do because the length of the color repeat grew through the cone. I think it is pretty, though. In fact, it may end up prettier than if the colors were fully-aligned all the way across. (I guess we'll never know!) Ready to start weaving! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

The Green Fiesta Towels are done. The warp yielded six towels, with about six inches of warp left that could have been woven. I managed about sixteen inches of loom waste, almost ten less inches than when I tied onto the apron rods instead of using leaders. I hemmed by machine this time, and the plain weave hem edge is also different. I can see why people use a smaller yarn for the plain weave hem... it wove wider than the twill. I also sleyed the Ocean Towels, and I've threaded the first five repeats (of 26). Note the loom sprite. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I finished weaving the Green Fiesta Towels. Now, i just need to serge the edges, wash, and hem. I may warp the Ocean Towels, first! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

This is a copy of a post I put in the " The Weaving Thread " in the Southern Cross Fibre forum on Ravelry, but I am just so distracted by this idea that I wanted to post it over here, too... I've become rather intrigued by the notion of hand-woven coverlets. I was at the " Daniel Boone Home ," this summer, and they had some reproduction coverlets for sale in the gift shop. I think they were actually manufactured copies, because they were so inexpensive... only a couple hundred dollars. (Which scandalized my husband with how high it was, but struck me as too much of a pittance for hand-woven... Plus, they were suspiciously perfect-looking. I think you probably know what I mean.) Anyway, the idea stuck in the back of my mind. My loom was ordered and on the way at the time... More recently, I ordered some books that I was very excited to receive, so much so that I wanted to "share." I was blown away when I received my two-volume set of " The ...