Sneak Peek : Tobias

New pattern coming soon...

Random : Sunny Afternoon Shoot

Spring was here on Sunday. I had a little fun with my camera in the Montréal Old-Port.

Spin Me a Sweater : The Planning - 360 days left

Spin Me a Sweater is a crazy idea. I challenge myself to spin and knit an entire adult size sweater... in a year... on my drop spindle. I told you, it's a crazy idea. And I'm crazy.

One does not simply spin a sweater. One needs to plan ahead, think about how to spin the fiber. 

Rovings!

First, I all had was a pile of 6 unorganized (but gorgeous!) braided roving. A mess.

Aah... this looks better. All side by side. Neat. But yet, my only weapon is a tiny drop spindle! I need to think about how to attack those seductive rovings. I know that my yarn has to be a 4 ply to be a worsted weight yarn. I know how I spin, and the 3 ply I spun turned out to be more of a DK weight than a worsted. So 4 ply it is.

I divided my 6 rovings into 4 equal parts and rebraided them for storage. I now have a lovely bunch of 24 cute mini braided rovings! 

Let the spinning begin...

What's Hot : Ravelry (29)

t's hot hot hot and it has just been listed on Ravelry! Every week or so, I show you the finest recently added patterns on Ravelry! Don't worry if you've missed it! Click on the image and queue it! Please note that all the images are not mine. They belong to the designer. You may need a Ravelry account (free!) to view the pattern profile.

Hi guys! This week "What's Hot on Ravelry" is a special one for my French/Québécois readership. You can now read my What's Hot on Ravelry post on the new online knitting French madazine, In the Loop, under the title "Le Buzz de Ravelry". You should also take a look around the website; it's full of tutorials and great articles about techniques, yarns and more, all in French! See you there!

FO : Cider House

Raveled Here!

Pattern: Totally improvised, two at a time toe up socks

Yarn: My handspun, 100% BFL, Cider House colorway by Greenwood Fiberworks

Damn I love those socks. My first two at a time toe-up socks. My first *real* knit with my own handspun. I love them. I couldn't be happier with the yarn itself; here and there there are small boops of yarn, some fuzzy clogs. But maybe two or three. That's it. Everything is regular, even, smooth...

It makes me less nervous about my Spin Me a Sweater challenge. If I'm able to spin a respectable sock yarn, why not a sweater yarn?

Spin Me a Sweater : The Challenge - 365 days left

Spin Me a Sweater is a crazy idea. I challenge myself to spin and knit an entire adult size sweater... in a year... on my drop spindle. I told you, it's a crazy idea. And I'm crazy.

I had this idea when somebody on Twitter told me "Spinning is awesome: you pay for the fiber once, then you knit it. You have twice the fun!". It struck me. Why buy yarn when you can spin it? Of course my own designs require yarn, but all those beautiful patterns in my queue that would look great in handspun... I worked harder and harder to spin as smooth and as even as possible to be able to achieve the perfect sweater yarn. I now know that my spinning skills are good, and I can tackle this challenge.

The pattern choice wasn't easy. I decided to go with the Belfast Hoodie by Carrie Bostick Hoge from Quince and Co. This pattern sat for almost two whole years in my queue. I was always waiting for the perfect timing, the perfect yarn, the perfect colorway. Now everything is coming together!

Belfast Hoodie by Carrie Bostick Hoge

I asked Carolyn from Greenwood Fiberworks if she did custom orders and told her about my project and the colorway I had in mind. As lovely as she can be, she came up with this beautiful colorway, Robin's Egg, just for me! All those lovely blues and greens and turquoises and aquas will blend and make the perfect semi-solid color for the Belfast Hoodie. I also choose the BFL roving for their softness, their loftiness. Perfect pattern, perfect colorway, perfect fiber. Now, onto the perfect yarn. 365 days left, starting today!