Handspun Handknit | Hello Yarn

A Handspun Dog Sweater

on February 7, 2022

Pippa needed a new sweater and I had just the yarn for her, spun during the 2021 Tour de Fleece. The fiber is “All Bark and No Bite” Corriedale, spun into 8 oz., 352 yards of Aran weight chain ply from the full width of the top for big chunks of color.

This is some serious Rainbow Brite action. The sweater is one that I devised for her when we first got her 13 years ago. I start with the neck, then do two sets of paired increases to the leg openings. I knit back and forth for the section between her front legs, then switch and knit back and forth across the back. I then join the two sections behind the front leg openings and resume knitting in the round. A single line of paired decreases nips in for the tummy. I put approx. 1/3 of the stitches on a holder to shorten the underside, then decrease until just the back half or so stitches are left, then put on the ribbing all around the opening and around the leg holes. Works great!

The chunky, springy yarn made for a very soft and squishy sweater. She’s toasty warm on those minus degree days, with her sweater and baby carrot shoes.

I don’t have a pattern for your dog, but there are lots out there! There’s a dog sweater generator on Ravelry that looks promising, and a special wiener dog sweater, also Ravelry, too!

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Handspun Baby Clothes

on September 21, 2012

I love it when a fellow wool person has a baby and I can make hand washable baby clothes without worrying that they won’t be loved. In my book, there’s really nothing better than a fat baby tummy covered in smushy wool, so cover babies’ tummies I do.

I can’t say enough good things about these overalls. I mean, could they BE any sweeter? The pattern is clear and simple and the end product is a delight. After I made these, I was shown a blog post about knitting a crotch gusset, which can only be a good addition, when one considers how much diaper sits in between a baby’s legs. The more room there, the better. These are knit at a pretty loose gauge, though, so the fabric is plenty stretchy to function well as written, I suspect.

Patterns: On the Go-veralls and Top Down Bonnet
Yarn: worsted weight 2 ply, 8 oz. and 558 yards- half the skein made both the pants and bonnet
Needles: US size 7 for the overalls and 3 for the bonnet
Size: I made the 6-12 month size in the overalls, but a bit stubby. They’re 16″ tall, including straps. SO TINY. I made the baby size in the bonnet.

I’m really pleased with the random coloring of this yarn. It’s made from scraps of at least 4 different colorways of Hello Yarn fiber. One ply is super soft stuff like Merino and Rambouillet, and the other is stronger stuff like Falkland wool and Corriedale. I chose the fibers based on color and had no problems with the combination of breeds. I figured if the shorter fibers puffed up, that ply would just be chubbier. The yarn was finished gently, with just a soak in lukewarm water and no agitation. I spun and plied it it a bit loosely, hoping for a light and puffy yarn, which was the result. The fact that I got a whole pair of overalls and a bonnet out of 4 oz. attests to that!

Oh, hey, and there’s a whole new website! I’ve tried to move all the important stuff over from the old one, but I did ditch my blog posts from before 2007, as it really wasn’t that interesting back then and I doubt anyone ever looked. If you notice something that you loved is missing, let me know! Something happened to the blog categories (as in, they didn’t make the transfer). I’ll work on that. All the patterns you used to be able to download from my site are now available only on Ravelry. You can access them through the Pattern menu above. It seemed redundant to host them here as well as Ravelry and an informal Twitter poll indicated that pretty much everyone thinks that is exactly what Ravelry is for.

I plan on blogging a whole bunch, including about the building of our new studio. If you’d like to read about it, you can update your RSS feeds over in the sidebar.

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Handspun Foot Goodness

on March 2, 2011

I finally made some socks for myself. Knitting with such happy colors was a treat during these cold, grey days.

Yarn: Hello Yarn “Orchid Swamp” Falklands wool (see fiber). I used all 366 yards/4 oz., dividing the ball by weight and ending up a few rows short on the ribbing of the second sock.
Pattern: made up toe-up short row heel
Needles: ZERO- ha, they took forever.

As you may recall, the yarn is fractally spun. I split the top of half lengthwise and spun half from the end onto one bobbin. Split the other half into fourths and spun each from the end, starting with the same end, onto a second bobbin, then plied the bobbins together. This kind of striping sure is fun.

I also made myself some slippers.

Spinning bulky+ chain-plied yarn was a treat. I did 8 oz. of it in an evening of TV. The slippers were done lickety-split, as well. These were a fun, fast project.

Pattern: Nola’s Slipper Pattern
Yarn: Hello Yarn Fiber Club September 2010 offering, “Timber” Romney, 5.7 oz., about 170 yards

I changed these a little bit because I used a bulky+ weight yarn (instead of worsted held double), wanted a smaller size, and knit them in the round. Knocking off a couple of sts. and making the stitch count even did the trick. I did the top of the foot over 13 sts. as in the pattern, but because of row gauge differences/different foot size, went a couple of extra ridges before narrowing at the toe. (go to just before the tip of your longest toe and you’ll be golden). This increased the number of sts I picked up around the edge. I followed the decreases at the bottom, but went a couple of extra ridges there, too, to make them deep enough.

This is a great pattern and I think that if you are willing to rip a couple of times or make one pair as instructed the first time, these could be easily adjusted for a variety of yarn weights and foot sizes.

Aren’t they funny? They are so comfy and the Romney is wearing really well. I love them!

Made of Awesome:

* kuukuka– These clothes are killing me!
* glasses- I just bought 2 pairs of glasses (I’m rockin’ the progressives now in my old age) and then I saw these. Someday, my pretties.
* Downton Abbey- have you watched it? It’s streaming on Netflix Instant. I also really enjoyed the Wallander series with Kenneth Branagh. He always struck me as kind of a prick but when he’s all sad and doughy, I just want to hug him. It’s a great series.

Not Made of Awesome:

*ZOMG, I am so tired of snow.

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