hoodie update

That blob of purple stockinette from a couple posts ago finally looks like a sweater!

The Austin Hoodie, which I’ve been working on pretty consistently since I started it earlier this month, is – well, it’s not really almost done, since I still have both sleeves and the hood to finish. But it feels like it’s almost done, because the body is finally complete.

This sweater is knit from the bottom up, and then the sleeves are picked up from the completed armholes and knit from the top down, which isn’t really a construction I’m used to. I’m not sure how I feel about it (it’s a really big blob of knitting to carry around) but the sleeves are coming along really nicely.

(Of course, the fact that the sleeves are coming along well is due in large part to how many hours of lecture I’ve had in the past week. It’s a lot. I’m very proud. )

I feel a little bit like I’m racing against the weather with this sweater. I know it’ll be perfect for early fall, when things are just starting to cool off, but it’s too warm for coats. Right now, the temperature is still unbearably summery (I wilt in the humidity, it’s a thing), and I’m hoping I can get this done before fall really begins to hit.

more spinning!

3.8oz (107g) of Polwarth fiber from Sheepish Creations, in Ms Merryweather.

I wanted to spin it into a two-ply yarn that was roughly worsted weight, so I started by splitting the fiber in half and spinning each half separately. I split it in half by unraveling the braid, folding it into two, and splitting it when it looked about even. Then I spun my singles, and plied them into this.

About 180m of a DK-ish weight yarn. I’m still new enough to spinning that loud, barberpoled yarns hold a lot of interest for me. I love the effect, and I love watching the colours come together when I ply.

I’m especially proud of this yarn because I got to give it away, to the girl who helped hook me up with my wheel. Not only that, but I feel confident enough in the yarn I’ve made that I’m willing to give it away to someone else. My friend has started making glass jewelry, and I offered to swap her some handspun for a gorgeous grey-and-black glass ring. I love the crafty barter economy.

but what does it mean?

Finally, the purple stockinette I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks isn’t just purple stockinette! Now there’s another stitch pattern, too.

This is the beginning of an Austin Hoodie, which I am very, very excited to finish, as I think it’d be a really perfect fall hoodie. I’m knitting it in sweetgeorgia sock, in Mist. Everything about this yarn is amazing. I have been trying and trying to take colour-true photos, but it’s incredibly difficult – it’s purple, and that always comes through, but there are lovely almost-blue undertones and subtle variegation that I have such trouble with. This is the closest I’ve come to getting an accurate photo so far:

I crack jokes, but I actually have been enjoying the mostly-plain stockinette of this sweater. I have a secret love for completely mindless knitting projects, and this fulfills that perfectly. There are a few little details here and there (the turned down hem, the slipped-stitch ‘seams’) but mostly it’s a nice, easy project that I can pick up without thinking, and knit away while I watching TV (now playing: Season 2 of Fringe).

Also, I just really, really want a purple handknit hoodie.