Habilements Raiments – Garments – Vestments – Clothing – Garb – Costume – Attire – Habits – Drapery

Handspun and handknit for C:

Observations: my handspun is so fuzzy that pattern definition is lost, and making two patterns, one on each “face” of the mitten, was rather a waste of time.  They are cozy-soft, though, and I love the base design.  See Anna Zilboorg, Magnificent Mittens.  In this case, the mischief was started when a certain knitting laurel loaned me the book.  I promptly tucked hers away “someplace safe” and bought my own copy in which to make notes.  I did eventually figure out where the “someplace safe” was 🙂

With Triangle Point on one end:

Close-Up of Point:

Close-up of texture:

Observations:  Need to design ahead of time where to cast off.

Got a few rows done on the entrelac scarf; about 2/3 done.

Close-Up of texture:

Composition:

Variegated squares: 2-ply, Handspun commercially-dyed Polwarth Combed Top; 2/3 Brown Suri Alpaca (no crimp) 1/9 Jenny (Border Leicester/Romney Cross) 2/9 Merino (local sheep, name unknown).

Brown squares: 50% Lydia the alpaca (huacaya presumed due to crimp) 50% Opal  Border Leicester/Romney

Observations: Combed top is not as much fun to spin as something I prepared; commercially dyed top colors appeared different at home out of the package ( too much mixing was required to make the colors tolerable); suri alpaca requires an inordinate amount of mixing effort to be able to card; prefer to card and spin huacaya alpaca because it has some crimp; entrelac was difficult to learn but is quick and pleasant once it was figured out; entrelac is a good way to calm down variegated yarn; variegated yarn is too busy for my tastes.

First the test mittens made of commercial acrylic and cotton:

Second pair – given away before photographed.

Third pair: First mitten complete.   Uses Natalie (light) and Opal (dark) Border Leicester/Romney Cross handspun.

Started second mitten:

Observations:

Learned stranded/two-color knitting, which makes for a thick, warm mitten; need to learn to spin more consistently, especially between different animals (Opal spun up much thinner than Natalie even though the staple length and breed are the same); fuzzy handspun requires simpler and larger motifs, as details are lost.