Unfinished projects stash

I have a very short attention spam. Therefore I currently work on 9 projects (that's what I could find, there might be more somewhere). Two are hibernating, but I actively work on 7 projects and today I realized, that I need to make a pair of mittens/gloves/something quick for my gran (not the one, who is receiving Laminaria shawl) for Christmas as well.

Ja som priserne netrpezliva a strikujem 9 projektov naraz (to len to co som nasla, moznoze strikujem este viac). Dva z nich odpocivaju, ale aktivne sa venujem siedmym veciam a este dnes som zistila, ze musim prirobit rukavice alebo take nieco. Ako vianocny darcek, grrr nestiham.

First, most current items, that I need to finish, e.g. Christmas stuff:
Najprv tu mame najviac najaktualnejsie veci:


Then I have my sweater/dress, that is not only too long, but I've messed up the collar so skillfully, that it needs to be redone, ugh.
Potom tu mame moj sveter, kroty som spravila prilis dlhy, takze to skor pripomina saty a este k tomu som urobila velmi prefikane strasny golier, ktory musim prerobit.


Single stocking, done (Nancy Bush, Knitting vintage stockings book), but toe stitches have to be woven in. I doubt I'll make another one, because I have tried this intarsia in the round thingy and it's so not working. You can see stitches pulling in and it looks messy. But on the other hand it fits like heaven. I might consider making a fraternal twin to this one, plain, with no intarsia pattern. Maybe.

Tato chudinka podkolienka je skoro hotova (knizka od Nancy Bush, Knitting vintage stockigns), ale treba jej uzavriet spicu. A urobit kamosku podkolienku tiez. No ale, problem je vo vzore, ktory som sa tam rozhodla implantovat... no... take to je, ze divne uplne. Capate ocka pokrivene, ble. Na druhu stranu ale sedi ako uliata. Mozno jej raz spravim dvojicku, ale bez vzoru. Mozno.

Blanket. Name one knitter, that doesn't have something like this hiding somewhere. To use up all te ugly, sometimes even acrylic(!!!!) yarns that have accomodated themselves in my stash. Well, yes. It measures maybe 50x50cm. In hibernation at the moment. I'll get back to it. It feels quite good, probably because of the squishy nature of garter stitch.

Prikryvka. Vymyslena, aby som vyuzila vsetky zbytocne, skarede a akrylove vlnky, ktore sa mi nazbierali. Uf no, ma to mozno 50x50cm prinajlepsom. Ale k tomuto sa snad vratim, lebo tym ze vsetky riadky su hladko tak je to cele makke a spongiovite a celkom prijemne.

I almost forgot, my lovely gloves, I like those, but no time for selfish knitting, it's almost CHISTMAS!!!
Uuu zabudla som skoro, moje rukavicky, tie su pekne, ale teraz nemam cas na sebecke strikovanie, lebo idu VIANOCE!!!

And last (on purpose) my to-be-felted Bag Of Doom. Too big, too boring, too ugly colour and what's more, the last segment, knitted with slightly different variegated yarn has pooled. It looks awful. I hate yarns that pool. ( A peanut, so you can see the size of this thing)

Posledna (naschval) Hnusna Taska, tore ma byt nakoniec zfilcovana. Prilis velka, prilis nudna, prilis skareda farba a este k tomu posledny segment ktory som strikovala takou inou vlnkou je cely flakaty, kvoli tej blbej vlnke. Nemam rada take vlnky. (arasid, na porovnanie velkosti)

You should thry this 'pull every project out of the closet' excercise too. I found out, that I mostly abandon projects, because something goes wrong with it (colour, texture, shape, my technique). And I hate ripping back my work so I let the mistake fester and knit away, hoping that it will fix itself along the way. So then, naturally, after severe pulling and squinting my eyes at the knit, I'm unhappy with the result and with my inability to rip it, I throw it in the closet, half done. Hoping it will fix itself. Today I found out, that it still all looks as bad as I remembered and no knitting fixing magic fairies live in Ireland. Ugh. And that at some point I will have to unknit stuff anyway, so it would really help ripping back when the mistake occurs :)

Toto vyborne cvicenie 'povytahuj vsetky nedokoncene veci zo skrine' bolo vcelku poucne. Zistila som, ze prestanem nieco strikovat v polke, hlavne preto,lebo sa s tym nieco zle stane (zla farba, zly tvar to nadobudne, mam zlu techniku a pod.). A takisto, ze neznasam paranie a nedokazem zniest paranie. Takze na problem akoze zabudnem a strikujem veselo dalej, dufajuc, ze sa to nejak samo opravi. Sak to bude dobre, nie...salam pohoda, tunak sa to natiahne a to bude dobre. Ale nie, potom uz som tak daleko od problemu odstrikovana, ze uz sa mi teda vobec nechce parat to taky kus. Tak to supnem do skrine, dufajuc, ze tam sa to nejak opravi. Dnes som zistila, ze v Irsku neziju ziadne zazracne, strikovanie opravujuce, vily. A vsetko to vyzera tak divne ako som si pamatala. A tiez som zistila, ze pridem raz do bodu, ze budem musiet zacat parat aj tak, cize by sa celkom siklo, kebyze vyparam chyby okamzite :)

Poll

I have updated the shop yesterday with merino lace and it seems a huge hit with you, my customers! I'll be dyeing more tomorrow, I have a few drying ... so more merino lace to come.
But I have this experiment for you! To determine, which colours you like the best, I have created a poll, on top of the page on the left. Submit your vote :) If you don't like any of the answers, feel free to leave comment with your favourite colours. I can't wait for the results! (Well at least I hope somebody will vote :D)

samples

I became a part of this lovely idea. It's about enabling people to get samples of yarns, rovings and so forth before they purchase. Various fiber people were asked to contribute samples for Phat Fiber and in January first boxes will go on sale. Amount of boxes is limited (because there's a limited supply of samples). And you can find me among contributors for this month :) here is my wee little page! I'll be sending these babies:

Stala som sa sucastou tohto celkom mileho napadu. Zozbieraju sa od vselijakych etsy predajcov vzorky vlniek alebo chlpov alebo cohokolvek , co suvisi so strikovanim alebo pradenim a porozdeluje sa to do krabic, ktore budu potom na predaj... takto aspon ludia budu mat moznost vyskusat a porovnat vela druhov vlniek a vela predajcov. Mam u nich aj taku malinku stranocku. ja posielam taketo vzorky:


around 50 samples so far, I would do more but... I have to wind them by hand and it's so much work!!! I really want to make merino lace samples as well, I hope I'll manage, but there's a slim chance... it's 1500m per 100g.

zatial ich mam asi tak 50 a uz sa mi zda, ze aj dost, lebo to musim navijat rucne a to ma stoji vela casu a nervov. Este by som chcela spravit merino lace vzorky, no ale neviem, ze ci sa mi to bude chciet navijat.. to ma 1500m/100g. ach.

I am buried deep in the black hole of Christmas knitting. So much to do, so little time and projects progres sooo slowly. That's probably because I make so many mistakes and things tend to not work out as I thought they will. This hat was supposed to be for my sister, who claimes to have tiny head, too small for commercial hats. she says they get blown away by the wind (which I seriously doubt, but ok). So I wanted to make small hat for her and made it, guess what... too small. It would fit a 6 months old baby. So dear sister, you won't have a patterned hat, at least not in time for Christmas.

Velmi vela veci musim dostrikovat do Vianoc... to najhorsie mam za sebou, ale zda sa ze nech robim co robim, vsetko mi napreduje taaak straaasne pomaly, ze az. A este k tomu, mi nevychadzaju veci tak ako maju. Napriklad tato capicka mala byt pre moju sestru, ktora tvrdi, ze ma tak malu hlavu, ze ked si kupi ciapku v obchode tak jej ju vietor odfukuje z hlavy. Takze strikujem malu capicu...a hadajme co... moc malu som ju ustrikovala. Mozno tak na 6 mesacne dieta. Takze mila sestra, obavam sa, ze capica s veverickami nebude... aspon nie vcas na Vianoce.

...corrugated rib turned out nicely...
...vrubkovanie pekne...

...inside turned out nicely...
(I practiced different ways of carrying the wool at the back)
...vnutrajsok pekny...
(skusala som akymi sposobmi sa da tahat vlnka po vnutrajsku)
too bad it's too small
skoda ze je taka mrnava
-
and another secret Christmas project that I can't blog about
este jedno strikovanie o ktorom nemozem pisat, lebo je vianocne

Amazing Laminaria shawl

I absolutely adore this shawl, I think it is the most beautiful free pattern available. It took me couple of months to finish it, but it was worth it. In the end it was a struggle indeed. Rows were getting really long, and as I'm not the fastest knitter, it took me good half an hour to do one row once I started the edging. I didn't have the patience to do full sized shawl, so I made something between the petite size and full size. The pattern was very clearly written and easily adjustable. I like the Estonian influence, with all the star stitches and organic shapes. This one will be a Christmas gift for my gran, I hope she'll like it!

Toto je uplne najsamnajkrajsi salik, na ktory sa da zohnat zadarmo vzor. Trvalo mi to niekolko mesiacov, kym som dostrikovala, kedze strikujem ako slimak pomaly. Ku koncu, ked uz som mala asi tisic ociek v jednom riadku (neprehanam), mi kazdy riadok trval minimalne pol hodinu. Ale stalo to za to myslim. Nevyzera to moc ako decka, co je super. Velmi sa mi paci, ze tento dizajn ma estonsky nadych - hviezdicovite ocka a organicke tvary. Bude to vianocny darcek pre bapku S., dufam, ze sa jej bude pacit. Ona sice chcela pretkavany zlatym, ale to nebolo realizovatelne...


I still can't get enough of spining, I wish I had more time on my hands. This a lovely roving, purchased at spindlefrog on etsy. I predrafted it and plan to make singles out of it.

Taketo cesance/chlpy som kupila od spindlefrog na etsy. Takto som si to predpripravila, budem robit jednovrstvovu vlnku.
I can't help myself I have to buy fibre... lotsss... fibre... must... get... more... now. I adore the stuff by yarnwench, it is the softest merino, dyed with rich shades, I keep petting it since it arrived... I probably won't even spin it as it is so pretty and I don't want to ruin it.

Este viac chlpov som kupila... nemozem si pomoct.... musimm... veeelaaa...chlpyy.. hura. Taketo pekne maju tutok u yarnwench, nadherne prekrasne mnami.

here's a bit of handspun i did a while ago, I'm not totally thrilled with it...
Trosku rucne spriadanej vlnky... no taka nic moc je


This one I like, not too thick, not too thin, single ply, merino.
Tato je perfisna, jednovrstvova vlnka nie prilis hruba, nie prilis tenka, a relativne rovnomerna

The fibre used
Z tychto chlpov (alebo cesancov, cesanec je hlupe slovo)

aj lolinke sa paci
lola likes the fibre too

I also made these teeny weeny baby socks for my friend Laura, out the handspun yarn from previous post. I'm making gloves for myself out of it too.

Mini detske ponozticky som spravila pre moju kamosku Lauru, z mojej spradenej vlnky, z predchadzajuceho postu. Z tejto vlnky si robim aj rukavicky, pekne kysle.

new yarns

First of, fabulous new yak yarn, blend of 75%yak and 25%bamboo, 350m/100g it will be available at the shop very soon, in this lovely natural brown colour. It is very soft, squishy with a bit of halo from the yak and silky shininess of the bamboo. Beautiful yarn, my boyfriend wants a sweater out of this.

Aha vlnka z yaka, zmes 75%yak and 25%bambus, onedlho bude na predaj aj v mojom obchode. Krasna jemna vlnka, prirodzenej hnedej farby. Vobec nepicha, trochu chlpate halo ma a je aj trosku leskla, kvoli pridanemu bambusu.

And a little sneak peek at what's happening, 100% silk lace

No a potom tu mame hodvab

My current spinning is this blob of fiber that looks like clown puke (I am very ashamed to say that I managed to dye this... oh well...)
Totok je momentalne na kolovratku... prudko hnusne farebna zmesova vlna, sa trosku hanbim, ze toto sa mi podarilo nafarbit... no...But it makes quite bearable yarn, I hope to spin 150g of this and make 3ply yarn to mingle the colours as much as possible. I like the warm shades of pink, but hat turquoise in the lower pic, oh my...
Ale vlnka z toho je celkom znesitelna, chystam sa spriast 150g a spravit 3vrstvovu, nech sa tie farby poriadne premiesaju. Ta tyrkysova tam dole v rohu, och ble.

I like spinning

I'm in love with this colour. So much that it only took me 2 evenings to spin and ply this yarn. It is 2ply thick worsted weight and I have over 100g of it weeeheeee. I used comercial top that I dyed myself. I'm going to make gloves/mittens certainly some hand covers as it's gotten pretty cold here and my hands are constantly freezing. Also this will make a little pair of socks for a newborn baby. I can't wait to start knitting with it. It is not perfectly even thickness, but I think I can live with that. I am getting better anyway, compared to my first attempts.

Superna kysla farba, tak velmi sa mi paci, ze tuto vlnku som upriadla za 2 vecery, mam jej asi 100g a aj ked neni vsade uplne rovnakej hrubky, aspon vyzera ako rucne spriadane, ze. Ale zlepsujem sa, dalsia vlnka bude rovnomernejsia. a spravim si kysle rukavicky alebo palciaky a este aj ponozticky miniaturne pre babatko jedno take.

This blue thing is secret Christmas knitting... can't blog about it too much
Toto modre to je tajne vianocne strikovanie, nemozem sa tu o tom prilis rozpisovat...


But I can tell something about the yarn I'm using: single ply mixed wool roving, that I bought in a craft shop , I dyed it and spun into thic very thick and thin lace yarn... almost resembles Morse's code, so many lumps, I might pretend that it was intentional and there's a hidden message in the yarn. BUT it knits up quite nicely, it certailny looks handspun... beginner handspun.

Ale mozem povedat nieco o vlnke s ktorom to strikujem, je to rucne spriadana jednovrstvova tenka vlnka, ktoru som urobila zo zmesoveho cesanca, ktory som nafarbila. Je taka no.. ako morseovka.. tenka, tenka, hrcka, hrcka, tenka, hrcka... no tak nejak. Ale strikuje sa s nou pekne a nevyzera to zle.