What good is learning to spin if I don’t knit with the spun yarn that I make?  Of course I’m not going to do anything so pointless, so here are a few of the knitting projects I’ve been working on.  I haven’t posted any projects for a while, so there are also some from the winter and spring – before I started spinning.

First, the projects I knitted from spun yarn.  My first spun yarn was a two-ply shetland in a basic gray color.  Nothing too exciting, but the yarn turned out fairly even and was a good sturdy, worsted-weight yarn for socks.  So far I have knit three soldier socks using this yarn.  I am in the process of knitting the fourth sock to complete the second pair.  The first pair went to Ranger Doug, our boss.  I’m not sure how he felt about them because so far he has declined to wear them.  I will keep the second pair for demonstration purposes.  As I talk about spinning yarn it is good to have some completed projects for people to see.

The second project is from blue-faced Leicester wool.  This wool is especially soft and is a lovely brown and white mix.  I wanted the spun yarn to be as soft as the wool.  So I made it extra thick with as little twist as possible.  I made a Mitali Shawl with it and it is very soft and cuddly – perfect for a winter shawl.  Although I usually give away the shawls I make, but I will be keeping this one.  I plan to wear it when it is cold and I am in historical dress.

Here are some pictures of the white and dark brown balls for my “zebra” spun yarn.  I spun the colors separately and then plied them together.  I am planning on making a hat and scarf out of this spun yarn.

But on to some projects that don’t include my spun yarn.  I knitted a My Summer Song Shawl, although I call it a Stained Glass Shawl because it has little windows of color.  It was all knit stitch except for the little windows and I didn’t think I would ever finish it.

I made Jackie some boot socks last January so they were a belated Christmas gift.  She says they are very warm.  I also knitted some socks for Beth, one of the other volunteers here at English Camp.  She didn’t have any that went with her historic dress, so I made her some.  Thanks to Beth for modeling them!

On request of Ranger Denise, I made some period-correct fingerless gloves at Fort Frederica.  Ranger Caitlyn is modeling them.  I knitted them on size 1 needles (like toothpicks) and it took forever.  Never again!  I made a pair of fingerless mitts for my demonstrations.  This is my favorite historic fingerless mitt pattern and they turned out very nicely.

I also made a shawl and a shoulder cozy from patterns and yarn I got from The Stitchery on St. Simons Island.  The shoulder cozy is cotton and perfect for the chill of the air-conditioner on hot days.  I gave it to Ranger Caitlyn because she was always complaining about how cold it was in the Fort Frederica office.  The color block bias wrap shawl was sent on to Wedgewood to be given to someone for a prayer shawl.  It was fun to knit because I used huge needles and it went really fast.

Finally, I am sad to report on one project that didn’t make it.  I worked and worked on a summer in the shade sweater that I intended for my own use.  It was cotton, knitted in the round, in a bluish gray color.  The pattern was boring and the sweater was turning out too heavy to wear in the summer.  After sticking it in the closet for a year, I finally admitted I wasn’t going to finish it.  This morning I unraveled it and wound the yarn to use for another project.  Not everything I knit turns out and that is okay.

Knitting with spun yarn is a lot of fun, but it does take a lot of extra time.  I think I will continue to enjoy going to a yarn shop and picking out beautiful yarn spun by someone else!