The past few weeks have been filled with learning all sorts of new things. Some things were only a little new others were very new. I have also been reflecting a bit on showing my kids that you don’t always get things right on the first try and it is ok to need to try again. One way to do this is to learn new skills myself where they can see me needing to try again.

Tunisian Crochet Cardigan

I have finally finished the Tunisian crochet cardigan! It certainly felt like it took forever but it is finally done! I am not usually a huge fan of stripes and it is definitely a bit big on me. I am fairly confident that I made the wrong size…oops. But there is no doubt that it is comfy and I finished it just in time for us to get hit with some cooler days (and nights).

Merino/Tencel

I finished spinning the new to me fiber blend. I am continually surprised at how much better I have gotten at spinning. I am definitely still learning especially when it comes to what and how I like to spin. This spin was actually a lot of fun even though the tencel tended to stick to everything. But it added a really pretty shiny element to the yarn. I ended up having to do some of it as a two ply instead of a three ply because I was silly and didn’t weigh out three equal sections from the get go. But the three ply ended up being a DK weight and the two ply sat at fingering/lace. I do plan on gifting this yarn to a family member so hopefully it gets made into something beautiful.

New(ish) Technique and an Experiment

I played around with the bonus gift that CostalWoolWashing sent with my last order from her. So I had one ounce of a CVM/Wensleydale cross to play with. I wanted to try out the new combs that I got and thought that this would be great trial. I loved the process of combing the fibers and decided to just spin straight from the combs. The magnetic covers that came with my combs were perfect for this because I didn’t have to worry about accidently hurting myself with the combs. As I was looking at the combing waste after spinning I wondered what it would look like to ply a combed and carded prep together. So I did. I tried to keep the drafting method as similar as possible but I mostly went with whatever happened to work best. The yellow tied skein (left) is two combed prepared plied together and the white tied skein (right) is one carded and one combed prepared. The carded prepared single ended up fluffier than the combed prepared singles post finishing. I also think that I may have slightly under plied the fully combed skein but that is ok.

New Knitting

I also started playing with double knitting because I really want to make a scarf for a friend but it is all double knit and so I wanted to get some practice in before starting that. I ended up searching my yarn stash for something to practice with and found a really pretty copper color and a teal. I think I am going to make little gear motif coasters for my husbands office because the colors look very steampunk together.

Other Stuff

I finally finished the mittens that I started forever ago! The thumbs were actually fairly quick to add I am not sure what took me so long to do them other than I got bored of working on the mittens. I also am planning on making an outfit for my nephew and found the perfect fabric for it. Now to trace out the pattern onto pattern paper for the correct size and outfit.

Thank you for joining our adventure!

Lots of Love,

The McMullin Family