I bought a Louet Victoria (S95) spinning wheel with my tax return and after six weeks of waiting for it to arrive on the slow boat from Europe I can say it suits me very well. One of the first fibers I spun on it was from RogueAdventures on Etsy. The merino fiber was dyed in the braid, and required a ton of predrafting to get it ready to spin. I can’t say I recommend the seller, but I wouldn’t discourage buying from them either. Once it was loosened up, I had no plan. I just spun and spun and spun, then two plied it and ended up with a thickish lace weight. No idea what the yardage was either.

The yarn sat for about a month and then I started knitting it into the Citron from Knitty.

I love the way this turned out. The ruffles are so cute and though it’s a bit stripy, but not too stripy. It’s also a fantastic size, that’s perfect for wrapping around your neck and shoulders, and the thickness is perfect. There are some helpful notes on Ravelry on expanding the design past the written five sections, so I added two more. In the end I think I used all but a few yards of my yarn, so I’m quite quite happy.

I don’t think I’ll knit this again anytime soon. It’s fun and easy, but kind of tedious, and I really don’t like the way the pattern is written. I’m strongly of the opinion that now that we have computers and copy and paste, no pattern should every say “work blah blah rows as bleh bleh rows” just write the damn thing out! I really really don’t understand how a notation like that makes pattern writing or knitting any easier. End rant.

Hemlock Ring Blanket!

Status: Done! Knit in two weeks at the beginning of February.
Yarn/needle size: Cascade Eco Wool/US 10.5
Comments: Love, love, love this blanket, but I’m a little concerned with how ripply it still is after blocking. I’m giving it to my cousin and her fiance for their wedding, and they’re not knitters so just telling them to block it doesn’t really work. Oh well, I have till May to figure it out. As for the pattern, it’s ok. I’m not in love with the mishmash of vintage book, and Brooklyn Tweed chart and randomness. It went together easy enough though, and I would not call this hard.

Jaywalker Socks! (On Ravelry)

Status: Done! Started in early January and Knit through part of February.
Yarn/needle size: Regia Crazy Colors 4ply/US size 1 dpns
Comments: My first real socks. I don’t have much to say other then they feel great and I need to knit more socks.

Swatch (from This pattern)

Status: Ummm, It’s a swatch. It’s done I guess.
Yarn/needle size: Hand spun from Crown Mountain Farms/US size 5
Comments: I knit this as a swatch for a shawl that I wanted to give to a woman in Japan. Unfortunately when I actually starting knitting the full sized piece it turned out super stripey and I hated it. I ripped the whole thing out and started it over as a Clapotis. I really like the way the swatch looks though, so I’m saving it. Here’s how the shawl was starting to look but I didn’t take any pictures of the stripey horror.

Boyfriend Socks for the Boyfriend

I’m going to try to finish these before I leave for Japan.

That’s all the recent stuff. Whoo!