Some Spinning

Occasionally I take a break from crocheting suckers on tentacles and spin a while.  I've finished spinning the singles for my Mohave Turquoise gradient batts.  I've got two more sets of gradient batts from Fellview Fibres so I'm going to spin all of the singles and then chain ply them all (not together).

The second set of batts is the Antelope Canyon gradient.  This is a seven step gradient (the first was a five step), but it's still about 100 grams of fiber total.  This one is 100% Merino, while the singles above are a Merino/Tussah silk blend.  Once again, I'm spinning for a finished fingering weight yarn once it's been chain plied.

And just in case you were afraid you'd come to the wrong blog - I've finished the fourth set of suckers on all the tentacles and the ends are woven in.  That's 80% of the suckers finished and I'll be starting type five later today!

Now With 60% Suckers!

Yes, I've finished the third type of suckers, all of my ends are woven in, and I'm about to start the fourth type.  I realize that from this angle there's not much difference between the sizes of suckers, but the first ones are the flattest, and they get a little bit taller each time.  I think types four and five will be both taller and wider in diameter than these first three types.

At this point, I'm hopeful that I will meet my progress goals for this project!  Have a great weekend, I'm going to be making more suckers and weaving in ends (SO. MANY. ENDS.)

All Suckers, All the Time

That pretty much sums up what I'm working on here.  My goal is to have the suckers completely finished by Halloween, and the entire creature finished by Thanksgiving week, before Caleb comes home.  I've now finished the second type of sucker (you can see how they're just a little bigger than the first type), and woven in the ends.  I've actually started the third type of sucker (there are five types total, for each tentacle), but this time I'm weaving in the ends as I finish each tentacle, instead of waiting until I'm finished with all eight tentacles for each sucker type.  Make sense?  Don't worry, neither does making a giant octopus with hundreds of suckers, but it's so awesome, I'm doing it anyway! 

Finished Socks And New

I finished my socks!  These are the Which Has Moved The Poet socks knit in Malabrigo Sock in Indonesia.

I got a detail shot so you can see the all the pretty colors in this yarn.  All together now, "Ooooooooh!"

Once I finished these socks I went ahead and cast on another pair - these are Knotted, knit in Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Magician (and I apologize for the terrible, dark photo, I'll get a daylight one next time).

In other news, I've woven in all the ends from my first batch of suckers and I'm ready to start making more suckers now.  Have a great weekend!

Suckers

I have been adding suckers to the undersides of Levi's tentacles.  The good news is I've gotten 20% of them done.  The bad news is I still have 80% of them to go.  Also, I have to weave in ends.  For each sucker.  I'm weaving in each time I finish a section in an attempt to keep them under control.  (I don't think there's any way to avoid the weaving in of ends.  Fortunately, I truly believe that the suckers really make this pattern, and knowing that I'd be disappointed if I didn't add them makes it slightly easier.)

I'm going to be here a while!

Socks

I've started a pair of socks for the Fourth Quarter KAL at ESK!  (We won't discuss how I frogged the first quarter's projects, I'm still knitting the second quarter's, and didn't even do the third quarter.)  This KAL is to knit or crochet something in a book and these are the socks "Which Has Moved The Poet" by Hunter Hammersen from her book Fine Things for Plain Occasions.  

 I'm knitting them in Malabrigo Sock in Indonesia and I just love this color!  The pattern is simple enough that I don't have to devote all of my brain to it, but I can do other things like watch TV and figure out what Newton is messing with while I knit it (although I do set the sock down while I chase down the kitten).

I'm enjoying this KAL and I certainly have enough patterns in books to get several more projects made before the end of the year, or I could always finish up Q2's project...

Have a great weekend, and if you hear strange noises, go check on your cat - he's probably up to something!  (On an unrelated note, does anyone remember how old they are when they start sleeping for 23-1/2 hours a day?  Asking for a friend.)

Meet Levi

This is Leviathan, or Levi as I've been calling him (the crochet, not the kitten - he's still named Newton, Newt, Noodle, Noodle Bug, Noodle Doodle Doo, Kung Fu Noodle, and the ever popular Dammit Cat- Go To Sleep).  The pattern is Apollo the Octopus and I started him for Caleb back in January.  Then I kind of stalled out, but now I'm back to work on him because I want to give him to Caleb for Christmas.  What you're looking at is the underside of his tentacles, and yes, I double checked that I still had eight of them after taking this photo.

I'm using Malabrigo Rios for his body, with Purple Mystery being his main color and Zarzamora for his underside.  You can see the colors better in this shot, and if you look at the tips of the under-tentacles, you can see the Purple Mystery and how dark it is.  I had originally planned on using Lettuce (a dirty chartreuse green) for his suckers, but I think it would have been too bright.  I'm planning on using a light gray (Gris I think) instead.  I'm actually to the point where I will be adding the suckers next and while this is definitely the biggest amigurumi I've ever made, the instructions and pattern are super clear so far.  All those stitch markers in the photos are to help with sucker placement.  Now if you'll excuse me, I should probably get started adding suckers!

Slow and Steady

I know this has very much dropped off the blog radar, but I haven't quit knitting on my handspun Ambiente pullover.  I've been slowly knitting along on this, and I haven't always spent a lot of time working on it, but even a few stitches here and there add up.  I've finished the body of the sweater and I think I'll do the neckband before I start the sleeves.  

I was originally thinking about using a solid color for the pocket lining (the pocket is currently wide open, which is why you can see Fifi through it), but after seeing it on Fifi, I think any color I use, other than a solid black, is just going to be way too bright and attention getting, which is maybe not what I want in the general location of my left boob.  So I'll just work the pocket lining in the Fireworks handspun like the rest of the sweater.

In much faster project news, I have knit a little pair of ankle socks for Caleb.  We sat down and figured out what he wants in socks and this is the result.  The yarn is Madelinetosh Twist Light in Kitten, who is actually darker than the yarn.  It's closer to the color of his belly, but like any self respecting cat, he doesn't plan on letting me photograph that.  

Have a great weekend!  Stay safe and keep knitting!