Tinker Tots

Gettin' Busy

2012-02-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

I'd like to say this post would be about all the wonderful fiberish things I'm working on at the moment, but sadly it is not.

I'm busy. Very busy. I'm still busy knitting and spinning and weaving, but it has been even harder than usual to take time out to snap appropriate pictures and jot down my thoughts on the matter. Mostly because I have homework.

Math homework.

Specifically, Statistics.

I rather like math. I'm very much enjoying Statistics this term. It is certainly not the last class I will be taking because I have embarked down the road of gathering all my appropriate prerequisite courses to apply (eventually) to Oregon State University in their Pharmacy program. Since I already have a B.S. in Chemistry, these courses are relatively few. (Very relatively, because there's still quite a bit to take.) But because I am also a full-time mom for two youngsters, I can't exactly go haring off full-time. So I'll be squeezing in a course here and a course there as time and schedule allow, and sadly that will probably be squeezing out some of the lovely time I have doing (and recording) my crafting.

There are still patterns on the way and fun things happening, too. I'll be sure to check back in as often as I can. Hope to see you, then!

Inglenook

2012-01-17T12:23:00.001-08:00

Inglenook, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I love socks. After my first few inevitable scarf and hat projects, socks were the next thing on my "must learn to knit" list. And a 2009 sock club was an extra-special treat from my husband.

After working my way through that club, I moved on to Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I love this book. After walking through the very basic steps of sock construction through others' patterns, this book lets you leap off into the deep end of your own ideas.

And in comes Inglenook. Cat teaches us that our gusset increases can go just about anywhere they want to go, and I know that lace is made up of paired increases and decreases. So what happens if you leave out the decreases?

What you get is a pattern that grows on its own in a very natural manner. And you get a sock that grows without an obvious gusset.

Inglenook grew from one of my favorite lace patterns. Each motif reminds me of the licking tongue of a flame. These flamelets grow down your leg from a spiky picot edge and then turn under the heel in a cushy slip-stitch reinforced sole. The socks are wonderfully comfortable in open-back clogs.

Toes were something else that came to mind when knitting from other patterns. Knitting is wonderful in that it stretches and conforms. If you give it a shape reasonably close to what you want it to be, it will accommodate small differences. But you can also shape it to be exactly as you want.

Traditional toes decrease equally on the left and right side. But if you look at your foot, the big toe extends straight out from the body of the foot. I really like this sock's shaped toe to fit the line of the foot more naturally, and it's not that much of a stretch from a normal wedge-shaped toe.

And then, we have yarn...

Image copyright Jamie Dixon and
Twist Collective, used with permission.

While I tried these out first with yarn I had in my own stash, I had the opportunity to knit with some really lovely yarn, KnitGlobal Pollika sock yarn. This 4-ply yarn is fantastic for socks. It is a wool/nylon blend with a really firm twist. The four plies make the stitches just pop (and I'd imagine it would knit into some really amazing cables and twisted-stitch patterns) and it has a lovely, deep color. It knits up into a smooth fabric that I couldn't wait to put on my own feet (and did quite a few times before giving these babies their final careful wash and block to send them off). It's a real treat to have been able to knit with it.

All in all, Inglenook takes a whole bunch of individual design elements I really like and combines them into a cohesive whole. And in them my toes are just as toasty and warm as they would be if tucked up close to the flames dancing in my fireplace.

The pattern for Inglenook is available from the Twist Collective in the Winter 2011 issue.

2012 Crafting Goals

2012-01-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

I ran my crafting life around a "four ounce rule" last year. Each month I tried to spin four ounces of fiber, knit four ounces of handspun, and in some other way work four ounces of commercial yarn. The idea was to work down the stash... which would have been quite effective if I hadn't bought more stuff. On the other hand, I did manage to meet or exceed the overall goal and spun over three pounds of yarn, knit at least that much and wove quite a bit, too. It was a very productive year. And a lot of it left my home as shop samples or family gifts, so that's less for me to store.

This year is going to be similar, but with the added caveat of no new stuff. I have half a mind for some small exemption for weaving materials as my weaving stash is a whopping two and one-half cones of 8/2 cotton (and two kits received for Christmas). At the very least I want to limit purchases to a planned-project basis. No more collecting "just because it's pretty". I have plenty of that. I need to go USE what I already bought "just because it was pretty".

Here is my list of goals for 2012:

Knit four sweaters (one every three months). I have yarn. I have patterns or at least plans for the pattern. I just need to Do. It. These will be: Finish my [Wheatgrass Truffle](/patterns/library/wheatgrass-truffle). [Primrose Path](/patterns/library/primrose-path-2). Something from Knit Swirl to use up Noro Transitions that Mom gave me. Some Other Sweater, possibly the [Honeybee Cardigan](/patterns/library/honeybee-cardigan) since I have Sundara yarn for that. If not the Honeybee, then maybe a personal design with the handspun I originally created for the WiseSweater.
If sweater knitting is finished before the 3 month deadline, then 4-oz projects will be selected to fill in the open months. These can be knitting or weaving. Must be done *from stash materials*.
Spin some stuff. Let's say 4 oz/month again. That was pretty reasonable. Again, spin the stash and not new fiber.
Finish spinning, weave and sew a jacket. Some of this will be the 4oz/month. I already have at least half the yarn spun that I believe I will use for the warp. I need to figure out weft. And I have a seamstress on hand that says she'll help since my sewing skills are not as well developed as my spinning or even weaving. A purchase for appropriate weft materials is permissible. This is a big project and I want it to be Just Right.
Keep up with classwork. I'm going to be taking one class per term. This is going to cut into crafting time. So it's important to make a goal of keeping up with it and not putting it on the back burner for more fun stuff.

Stashdown 2011

2011-12-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

The goal: To spin 4oz of fiber, knit 4oz of handspun and work 4oz of millspun each month
Did I do it? Yes! On average I met each of my goals. Some months I did more, some less, but I worked through a lot of materials this year!

However, I didn't meet the spirit of the goal.. which was to use stash. Many of my projects required new fiber or new yarn to complete. Sometimes I bought new yarn/fiber just because I wanted to (and really, who doesn't?). So if this goal was "Production 2011" then I certainly produced. Did I reduce my stash? Not so much.

Next year, I want to work from my stash. In fact, I'd like to work entirely from my stash for both spinning and knitting materials. (I am leaving an exception for weaving, because I don't have much yarn suitable and may need to purchase particular yarn for projects I have in mind. Still, I'd like to keep weaving-purchasing limited to planned-projects only. No "just because it's on sale" buying!) I will not be making any pledges as to how much I get done each month, but I hope you'll join me for a "work from what you've got" year!

January:



February:



March:



April:



May:



June:



July:



August:

September:



October/November:



December:

Yak and Silk

2011-12-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

Yak and Silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yak.

And silk.

Can we just say "luxurious"? I knew we could!

This is wonderful yarn (if I have to say so myself). The silk single is spun from dyed mulberry silk which has amazing almost-metallic shine. The yak is matte and fuzzy, spun woolen to make it even softer. The two together are sublime.

They also match the color-scheme of a slowly-growing stash that I am seriously considering for making a hand-woven jacket.

Yes. A hand-woven jacket.

I'm so excited about this!

But there's still a lot more spinning to do, so I'll get back to you on this again, later!

P.S. This is 3.5 oz towards December Stashdown. Almost done!

Holiday Gift Scarf

2011-12-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

Holiday Gift Scarf, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I love weaving and I love twills. I think my best purchase this year was the 4-shaft table loom I picked up in the summer. Although along with that I ended up grabbing a used bobbin winder and that is just as awesome! (But the two really support each other, because without the table loom, I wouldn't really want the bobbin winder, and the bobbin winder makes working on the table loom that much more fun.)

But I digress.

This is a lovely "turned point twill" I wanted to try before leaping into a slightly more intricate gothic cross pattern. I also needed to get something special done quickly, and this fit the bill.

I hope the recipient loves getting it as much as I loved making it!

Mixed Mythology

2011-12-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

Mixed Mythology, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Here's November's goal of knit-up-handspun yarn. This is a lovely pattern known as "Vlad" on Ravelry. It's a free download. Check it out!

I had some small problems with Vlad. Nothing that should trip anyone else up, but for some reason my brain had a hard time holding on to the change in pattern at the center. Once I put in a stitch marker to remind me to knit the center section, everything went a whole lot smoother.

October/November spinning

2011-12-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

Merino/yak/silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I'm doing some catching up all around. I have projects in the works that can't be blogged, and I have projects I haven't blogged because it's Holiday season and we're all a little crazy!

In fact, things are likely to slow down a bit on the crafting front.

I'm going back to school. I'll be trying to ease into it a bit at a time so as to not be overwhelmed. Next term I'm taking one class (Statistics). I hope to take one in the Spring term and perhaps two over the summer since I have a lovely young woman looking for babysitting work then.

But until then, I need to get caught up! So here is a shot of some gorgeous Merino/yak/silk blend. My wonderful husband bought this for me for Christmas last year (so it's good to get it done before this Christmas rolls around, yes? YES!). The bag had "approximately six ounces" written on it. I bought another two ounces to round that out to eight so I could combine it with another eight I have of dyed Merino/yak/silk in a big project. I have plans for this stuff, yes I do!

But here is the finished yarn. I'm extremely pleased with it. Even if my current idea falls through, this would make quite a stunning knit shawl.

Happily, this counts for my spinning goal for both October, and November!

Inglenook

2011-12-15T12:56:00.000-08:00

Inglenook, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I'm extremely pleased to announce that I have a pattern in the Winter 2011 Issue of Twist Collective!

Here is a picture of the prototype of my pattern, Inglenook. It is a top-down sock with no visible gusset. The increases are incorporated into the lace pattern so that as you knit, it just grows into the right shape. Then you turn the heel and knit a reinforced sole and work down to the end of a shaped toe.

I love these socks. They go wonderfully in my clogs. The cushioned heel feels great, and in backless shoes you get to show of the lace patterning!

Twist Collective provided a wonderful sock yarn (Pollika Knitglobal 4-Ply Sock Yarn) which I really enjoyed using. The socks were originally knit in a heavier yarn (they are shown above in Mountain Colors Bearfoot), but translate very well to the finer weight of the Knitglobal sock. I especially like how round the 4-ply yarn is. It has wonderful stitch definition!

I hope you'll all pop by and take a peek at the fantastic photography on Twist Collective!

Little Weaver

2011-12-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

Little Weaver, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I'm not the only one that did well at this year's Weaver's Guild sale. Here's my very own little weaver, showing off her wares. She put her nose to the grind-stone and created five sets of four mug-rugs on a tiny hand loom (using my own handspun yarn). They were lovely.. and they all sold!

She's extremely proud of herself and I am thrilled, too!

Finished Towels

2011-12-13T12:46:00.001-08:00

Finished Towels, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Here they are, all done!

I was able to weave five towels with five different twill patterns. They all came out quite nicely.

I zig-zag stitched the top and bottom of each and then hand-stitched the hems.

And then I put them in our local Weaver's Guild sale... and they all sold!

So now I need to weave more towels.

Twill Thrills

2011-11-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

I've been itching to weave twills. I tried to figure out how to do them on a Rigid Heddle loom (it's not impossible, but I didn't really feel like working quite that hard at it). I bought the four-shaft loom this summer, meaning twills were within my reach. I even checked out Twill Thrills from our local Weaver's Guild and then subsequently found a reasonably priced used copy on Amazon and snatched that right up.

So after all that, I thought you all might like to see. I'm taking these...

And making these...

I am using the 4-shaft LeClerc Medico table loom with a point-twill tie up and drafts of my own devising using the PixeLoom program.

It's pretty fun!

Excuse me. I have to get back to work!

An incredible gift

2011-11-11T21:06:00.000-08:00

Baby Sweater, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I want to share with you all something that I find incredibly moving. I've had a hard time sitting down and putting it to writing, because I can't seem to convey how honored and amazed I am to be a part of this story.

Last month, I finished a baby sweater.

It came to me from a friend.

This sweater was started by her aunt. Her aunt had knit seventy-two sweaters in her lifetime. Fifty-five of those sweaters were knit for foster children in her care. This sweater was #73.

It came to me nearly complete. The back, sides and arms had all been knit to the yoke. In fact, they had already been joined on a long, circular needle, with two rows knit. It wasn't much work to read through the pattern, understand what had already been done, and complete this woman's life's work. I tightened up a couple of rows where the gauge had slipped quite a bit, and carefully seamed up the completed sweater. There were even buttons included in the bag of tools, yarn and notions that was given into my keeping.

I'm told the aunt passed away this year. She left behind four completed sweaters, this unfinished sweater, and five grandchildren.

The five sweaters will be passed on to her grandchildren, part of the story of an amazing knitter's life.

I'm so incredibly moved to be a part of this legacy to her family.

October Overview

2011-11-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

I wish I had a bunch of great pictures to show you for my work in October. But I haven't taken any!

You will just have to believe me that this luscious Merino/yak/silk is almost finished yarn:

And this gorgeous green Malabrigo is very nearly a completed pair of socks (which I have knit almost twice over with everything I needed to figure out) and in fact will be a completed pattern some time very soon!

And you'll have to take my word for it that while I didn't weave a thing in October, I did enough thinking for two months worth of weaving to happen very soon, now.

Happily, I know you all believe me. Don't you?

I'm a little behind...

2011-10-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Log Cabin Too, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

But I'm working on it! Here's a scarf I wove last month (in the back) and the one I finished this week (in the center). But why are they the same?

Because I have two looms! The previous scarf I wove on my rigid heddle loom, because it was familiar. The second was woven on my new (to me) table loom.

I had planned for the two to be identical so that I could focus on the difference between the two looms. Of course, I slipped up a little in my planning. To explain the subtle mistake I made I first need to digress into a long-winded explanation of the differences between a Rigid Heddle loom and a table/floor loom.

So here's our first illustration. This is my Schacht Flip Rigid Heddle loom. The thing that causes the most confusion for me to explain clearly is the bit white bar you see in the middle of the loom (not the white strands of yarn! Sadly, this is not the best picture to explain, but it is the best one I currently have). All the yarn passes through this thing, half through long slots and half through tiny holes in the middle of the white plastic bars. It is, on this loom, the "rigid heddle". If you lift it and set it on the blocks of the loom, it raises half the strands of yarn, letting you weave one "pick". If you press it down and slide it under those blocks, it lowers half the threads (effectively "raising" the other half) which lets you weave the next "pick". The slots and holes are spaced evenly such that if you have a 10-dent heddle, you will have 10 ends of yarn in each inch with 5 in slots and 5 in holes. An 8-dent or 12-dent heddle would have 8 ends or 12 ends per inch, respectively.

Here we have a table loom. Again, this isn't going to be the best picture to illustrate. In front you can see the beater which contains a reed (the thin slots). This is an 8-dent reed (which will sound familiar). It means if you put one end in every slot, you'll have eight ends per inch. But that doesn't raise or lower your warp ends. Instead there are four "shafts" that you can't currently see behind the beater. You can see them attached to the levers at the top of the loom. Each of those levers raises a shaft. On each shaft are dozens of moveable metal "heddles". These are bits of wire (or they can be made from string, but mine are wire) that stretch from the top of the shaft to the bottom and in the center of each is a little loop/hole where you put the warp ends. Properly threaded each shaft will raise a number of warp ends to weave just like the rigid heddle. For instance, if I wanted to do plain weave (which would be lifting/lowering the rigid heddle on the Flip) I would thread every-other-end into a heddle of either the first or second shaft so that when one is lifted, half the ends are lifted, and when the second is lifted it brings up the other half.

At this point I have no clue if I'm making any sense at all! But here's the thing. Since the shafts, beater, and heddles from the table loom are essentially all combined into one object on the rigid heddle loom, they do one major thing differently. When you go to "beat" your current weaving into place on the rigid heddle the "shed" (the space where you pass your yarn through) is closed automatically. That means the warp likes to close around that yarn and hold it in place so it doesn't pop back out. Now, on the table loom you suddenly have to make a decision. Once I put a shaft up, it stays there until I let it back down again. So I can beat with my current shed open. Or I can close the shed and beat. Or I can open the OPPOSITE shed and beat that way. Each way makes the yarn act a little differently as you beat it into the weaving.

That's one thing I'm working on figuring out.

But what tripped me up is that I forgot that my reed on the table loom is an 8-dent reed. And the rigid heddle I used on the Flip loom was 10-dent.

This wouldn't have been a problem if I had remembered the original plan. Because the heddles on the table loom are movable, you can thread the reed any number of different ways to change your ends per inch. For instance, if I thread one end in every dent on an 8-dent reed, I have 8 ends per inch. But I could thread two in every dent and have 16 ends per inch, or three in each and have 24 ends per inch. Or I could get tricky and thread it 1-1-1-2 and get 10 ends per inch. Which is what I was going to do.

But I forgot!

It's not a tragedy. I have two interesting scarves. I prefer the 10-ends-per-inch version. But I have an 8-ends-per-inch version as well and it is fascinating to feel the difference. It has much more drape. If you lay both across your cupped palm, the 10-dent version stretches over it like a tent, but the 8-dent version falls into the cup of your hand. The 10-dent version is much more "squishy" and what I expect out of a scarf, but they're both very nice.

And I hope I haven't bored you all after all this rambling!

September Stashdown

2011-10-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Completed for September (and a little of October):

8 ounces handspun knit up:

8 ounces millspun woven:

8 ounces of fiber spun (the blue is completed, just with no finished picture):

Bitterroot

2011-10-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

I got on a real finishing kick this week. I polished off the scarf that was lingering on the loom, washed/whacked/dried a skein of yarn, finished knitting a baby sweater for a friend and also finished the shawl I was working on last month!

I really love this shawl. It began in 2009 with two very different fibers. The first was a lovely, dusty rose and brown Merino, and the other was gorgeous pink and plum tussah. I wanted to combine the two, but didn't want long stretches of dusty brown in the mix, so I did a lot of prep on the Merino fiber. I broke the top at the color changes and sorted the pink from the brown. Then I stripped each section down and mixed them up so that there was one bit of brown with two or three bits of pink and pre-drafted them together to blend. I spun all of the top up and plied it over the three weeks of the 2009 Tour de Fleece. It came out to 950 yards of spindle-spun yarn! (Plus another 100 yards of leftover silk single which I just plied on itself this year.)

Here's the wool in its original form, and in the predrafted bundles I created:

And the tussah as I spun it up:

Because I was documenting for the Tour de Fleece, I have a lot of fun pictures of this project as it went along. They can be found in my 2009 Tour de Fleece Flickr set. Below are the finished singles of both fibers, wound off the spindle on to TP rolls for storage, and those same singles re-wound into a plying ball (half was already plied in this picture).

And last, but not least, the shawl itself. The pattern is "Bitterroot" (Ravelry link). I used all but five grams of the yarn, and almost 600 beads! It's huge and just exactly what I wanted it to be!

Building a cop

2011-09-01T09:20:00.001-07:00

I often see the question come up "how do you build a good cop on a spindle". There are many, many different ways and many reasons. I'm going to go over my process here, with pictures to demonstrate.

More often than not I use two distinct shapes of a cop. The first is a "cone" shape. This is the shape I started using from my very first class in spinning. It seemed logical. Start winding on with each strand aligned with the next, up and down the spindle. It ends up getting fatter at the end next to the whorl because on that end the strands won't fall off each other. It tapers towards the other end because that is the only way to keep the whole thing stable. The yarn pictured to the right is the second yarn I ever spun, made from roving that I pre-drafted to width and then simply added twist and wound onto the spindle.

And here is the first bit of yarn I spun with actual drafting going on. See how we still have the parallel-wound cone going on?

The benefit of winding in a parallel manner is that since all the strands run the same direction, they snug down against each other to create a very dense cop without much air in it. The downside is that you are limited by the width of your whorl. Once your cop reaches that width it becomes increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to keep winding on. The yarn will no longer stay in the handy notch carved into the whorl and this can cause all sorts of "fun" problems with yarn flying about. Another weakness is that it is possible to develop loose loops at the bottom of the cop that want to spiral undone down the shaft.

One solution to this problem is to use a spindle with a long shaft and to build a really long cop with a very limited taper. This still only allows you to pack on fiber to the width of the whorl, but gives you a lot more area in which to put all that yarn you are spinning. This doesn't completely solve the problem of the bottom of the cop getting loose as you work, but since the bottom of the cop isn't at such a steep angle, those loose loops are less likely to form.

My preferred solution to these problems is cross-winding. You cross wind by spiraling your single (or plied yarn) up and down the shaft of the spindle. Because the strands now criss-cross each other, they are able to hold down lower layers. But because they do cross over lower strands, this creates a gap where there is air in the cop. This isn't a bad thing, but it does mean that the cop builds up bulk faster than if the strands were laying side-by-side. It also means the center of the cop tends to get larger faster than the ends, creating what I think of as a "pregnant cop" or a "football cop".

Here is a little "football cop" just getting started. You can see how it tapers at both ends. If you keep the bulk of this cop from coming abut the bottom of the whorl (necessary in this case because of the carved-out shape of the underside of the whorl) you always have a narrow point to wrap your yarn before bringing it up to the hook. This gives you the leverage and friction you need to keep the yarn in the notch and you won't have the problem of your yarn leaping off the hook while you're spinning. When the cop can actually press up against the underside of the whorl, the shape changes a little and becomes more cone-like. You can keep the belly growing by cross-winding (or even straight-winding) more yarn lower down so that the entire shape shifts down the spindle towards the end of the shaft.

This image demonstrates how the shape of the cop changes when up against the whorl. The end that would usually taper is doubled back to make that part bulk up more. You can end up having a conical shaped cop again if you don't move the bulk of the winding down the shaft at this point.

I like using the best of both worlds for my cops. Personally, I like the look and feel of a tightly-wound conical cop. I usually start that way. If, at any point, I start seeing looseness in my cop or loops trying to work their way off the bottom, I simply cross-wind for a little while to "tie everything down". When I feel that I've stabilized my work, I return to straight-winding again. In this way you build a cop that is both stable and dense, maximizing how much yarn you can get on the spindle.

If, as you work, you find that you have more fiber than you think will fit using a cone you can always start cross-winding more and also concentrate your straight-winding around the center of the cop. This will build up a nice little belly that over time can get quite big.

Just how much can you get on a spindle? A lot more than you think. This cop is over six ounces of fiber. That was on a Kundert spindle that weighs just a little more than an ounce, and while it wasn't fun towards the end I still could have packed even more fiber on this.

According to Abby Franquemont, Andean spinners can get a full pound of plied yarn on their bottom-whorl spindles. Personally, that's a whole lot more than I want to do!

I really think that pictures do even more than words to show what I'm doing, so here is a series of one of my recent projects. The fiber spun is dyed kid mohair. You can see by the end that the "belly" on my cop is bigger than the whorl of the spindle, allowing me to put all my fiber on one spindle without running out of space.

August Recap

2011-08-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

I spent two of four weeks out of town in August. I didn't have my loom, and I didn't want to drag knitting with me. And...

It.

Was.

Hot.

But I spun up two batches of fiber. The first is two batts of "Giant Clam" in a naturally-dyed crazy mixture of fiber that was wonderful to spin.

The second is this fabulously amazing Debouillet/Pygora (and Debouillet/Pygora/Silk) mix from Rainbow Farms Pygoras. OH. MY. GOSH. This stuff is crack. On crack. With some crack on the side. And a little whipped cream on top. If you see these batts at Black Sheep Gathering or any other fiber festival, BUY SOME. That is all.

I did knit a project this month. Sadly, it is another one of those Secret Projects. I'm really excited to share it with you all, but it will have to wait!

Them's knittin' words!

2011-08-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

While reading back through one of my usual blogs, I saw that the author had linked to this inane article. And while reading through the comments I happened upon a particular response. What is wonderful about the internet (sometimes) is how it opens up the opportunity to chase an idea down and learn more about it.

I was so moved by the poem, I had to hunt it down. In my search I found a number of interesting obituaries, biographies and tidbits of trivia and I finally found this page which reprints a letter from Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Eliza Wright Osborne to admonish her for persisting in the unworthy endeavor of knitting and also the poem I enjoyed so much, which is Eliza's response.

And while you might enjoy chasing those links down as much as I did, I will also reprint the poem here so that you don't have to!

Dear Mrs. Stanton, in your skit
Against your sisterhood who knit,
Or useful make their fingers,
I wonder if,--deny it not,
The habit of Lucretia Mott
Within your memory lingers!

In retrospective vision bright,
Can you recall dear Martha Wright
Without her work or knitting?
The needles flying in her hands
On washing rags or baby's bands
Or other work as fitting?

I cannot think they thought the less,
Or ceased the company to bless
With conversation's riches,
Because they thus improved their time,
And never decreed it was a crime
To fill the hours' niches....

I could say more upon this head.
But must, before I go to bed,
Your idle precepts mocking,
Get out my needle and my yarn
And, caring not a single darn,
Just finish up this stocking

Eliza Wright Osborne

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore ...

2011-08-23T13:58:00.001-07:00

Don't call me. We're not at home!

This tree is at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. Isn't it amazing? The Arboretum is hosting a lovely show of "Nature Unframed". There are quite a few really amazing works to see, but I particularly loved this one, along with at least a dozen other yarn bombs of "lichen" all over the park.

The kids had a great time here, too, playing in the hedge maze and all through the children's area of the Arboretum.

In the spirit of the yarn-bombing, I'm just going to photo-bomb this post!

Oh, no.. I didn't!

2011-08-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Swedish spinning wheel, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Well, yes.

I did.

This is my new spinning wheel. It was obtained for an absolute steal (less than I would have spent on say, the Very Fast Flyer for my Lendrum Folding wheel). And while the Lendrum VFF is a bit faster than this baby... this wheel is gorgeous.

And Swedish!

As far as I have been able to determine, it runs a little bit faster than the Fast Flyer on the Lendrum (that goes up to 17:1, whereas this wheel has two ratios at 18:1 and 20:1). But more than that, it runs in what is called "double drive". See the drive band? (I know it looks a little funky... we replaced it with a marled cotton yarn where one of the three strands is red. I've decided I like it's character.) It goes around the wheel twice and then loops over both the end of the bobbin, and the flyer whorl. This means that both parts are spinning and with the way the whorls are set up, the bobbin spins just a mite bit faster than the flyer. It gives a very light and constant take-up pressure and the speed allows for very fine yarn to be spun easily.

Even more, the wheel comes with history.

Meet Karolina Thyberg Erickson, born in 1962 in Sweden, and immigrated (with the wheel) to America in 1887-1888. Isn't she lovely? And the wheel, too. I feel very honored to have obtained a piece of history, complete with its own story.

In fact, every time I sit down to spin on it, I enjoy that sense of history a little bit.

I ran into one more little stroke of luck when picking this wheel up. On my way home I stopped by a local wood shop. It's pretty modern stuff but the people there are very knowledgeable about wood in general and I hoped to get a couple of tips on how to maintain the wheel over time. It was extremely good fortune, then, that there was a person out front selling antique tools. And wouldn't you know... he repairs antique wheels, too. So the few minor issues this wheel has (a broken pin, and an older repair that isn't done well) are going to be cleared up with a little help in a few weeks.

I feel so very, very lucky.

There are lots more pictures here of the lovely details of this wheel.

In the beginning...

2011-08-09T17:16:00.000-07:00

I don’t know who taught me to knit.. the first time. I doubt we even knew we were knitting. What we were doing was creating miles and miles of loopy cord out of cheap acrylic yarn. It’s easy enough to start. Tie a string to your thumb. Now wrap it back and forth through all your fingers, go around the pinky and come back again.. back and forth through each finger. Then wrap the whole thing across the back of your hand and the front again. Now you’re going to want to lift each loop (the small, tight ones) over your finger and the longer loop of yarn to the back of your hand. See how this still leaves a new loop on your finger? Do all four fingers. Wrap the yarn around your whole hand again. Do all four fingers. Repeat…

Eventually you’ll have a really loopy mess hanging from the back of your fingers. But this is where the magic happens! Grab it and pull. BAM! All of a sudden you have an evenly loopy cord. In fact.. it’s I-cord! But I didn’t know that until much, much later.

Grandma taught me to crochet around that time, but it didn’t stick. Oh, I made long chains of yarn with my fingers (just like the finger-knitting, only this time it was crochet loops). And somewhere there is half of a Cabbage-Patch-doll dress in seafoam green acrylic yarn, but search me if I know where. I just didn’t have the patience for it.

It was almost thirty years later when Grandma got a second crack at the whole passing along of the fiber arts. Our family had just moved to Oregon and my father had a conference in Portland. My mother and grandmother came out with him and then drove down to Eugene to spend a week with me. We had a wonderful time driving out to the coast each day and then as far North and South as we could stand to travel in a day and still get home that evening.

Somewhere along the way, dishcloth knitting came out. I don’t recall if Grandma was teaching Mom or had just done so recently. But I wanted in on the action, too. They were able to spare a set of bamboo needles and some Peaches ‘n’ Cream cotton. And a knitter was born.

Just a knitter, tho. Grandma never showed me how to purl.

One last thing on SS2011

2011-08-05T14:37:00.001-07:00

Sock Summit 2011, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I had a wonderful time, but what is a fiber festival without the Things You Got?!

I went in with the intention of just one purchase. I figured that would hold me back (along with the previous purchases made at BSG). I wanted to hit Abstract Fiber and pick up a particular colorway which I had spun for a sample. It's that gorgeous blue fiber you see on the left.

But of course I wandered the entire marketplace. I very much appreciated Fiber Optic's samples (the small skein on the upper left) which were eye-blindingly bright. I wasn't a huge fan of pencil roving. But let me tell you, this stuff was awesome. And gorgeous. And fun to spin. It was the perfect little spindle-snack for the evening and it certainly sold me on going back to Fiber Optic next year when my stash has been spun down a little bit more.

I also took a wonderful class in the afternoon from Judith MacKenzie, titled "Sock Exotica". It focused on spinning luxury fibers (mostly cashmere and cashmere blends) for socks. The baggies (above) are samples from that class I didn't finish (tussah, Chinese cashmere, superfine alpaca, Merino/silk) and the multi-tone skein is what I spun in class. The lovely red skein is leftover cashmere/silk I spun up the next day to cement the information presented in the class in my head. It was wonderful and I really enjoyed getting to meet Judith. (I also had a blast chatting with Heather, Judith's helper. She. Was. Awesome. I'm still giggling about a story that had the punchline, "How inteLECtual." Which I know makes no sense to you all, but it was really funny and if Heather stops by here, she'll know what I"m talking about.) I have fantastic notes from class I need to review and plenty of ideas about what to spin next for socks. I also highly appreciated a compliment I received from Judith. I had kept a small sample of the Peachy Keen yarn I'd spun for Laura of Textiles A Mano tied to my orifice hook. I liked that yarn and wanted to spin similar yarn to it. So I showed that to Judith and she gave me this little look and then asked, "Why are you taking this class? You already know how to do it."

Of course, you take a class from Judith to take a class from Judith. But also because there are hundreds of little details to pick up through good instruction that make your spinning just that much better. For one, Judith showed Lendrum owners how to cross their yarn over the bobbin to reduce take-in. Normally you would do this by running the yarn from a hook on one flyer arm to a hook on the other flyer arm (and maybe even back again) before it winds onto the bobbin, but Lendrum wheels use a sliding guide on one side. Instead you can simply bring the yarn across and around the opposite flyer arm to achieve the same result. It was so simple and so obvious once it was done, but I never would have thought of that myself!

After class I wandered back to the Tactile booth. I had been there earlier and admired the small samplers of various fibers (bundles of camel + camel/silk, or alpaca + llama + camel, and others). But what really had my attention was the cashmere. I'd just spent three hours spinning it with Judith MacKenzie, and I knew I'd want to have some to spin for my very own pair of "Oh MY GOSH" luxurious socks. I picked up four ounces of luscious cashmere/silk blend which I will eventually be transforming into the best sock yarn ever.

I almost can't wait.

July Recap

2011-07-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

Spinning ...

Knitting ...

Weaving ...

We're on track!

Sock Summit 2011

2011-07-31T17:00:00.001-07:00

Sock Summit 2011, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I'm not so great at photoblogging or taking lots of pictures. I usually bring my camera and forget to use it. I did try this time to get some fun images from this year's Sock Summit.

I only went for a day (and a night). Things were pretty busy at home, but I'd planned on this trip for quite a while, and we'd worked out that staying all day was okay along with one overnight and driving back the next morning. So when Saturday rolled around I got the house all ready and drove up to Portland.

I arrived about 10am and met up with Ba (seen above in the wonderfully geeky Sockgate). She was also kind enough to pose for me (in her lovely Muir shawl) when we got to Awbrey's booth. And here's Awbrey, too. She makes the most wonderful-smelling soap. You could almost try and take a bite of some of those bars! And Everything Balm, and the wonderful Wood Beams. All fabulous stuff.

Ba and I hit the market and then when lunchtime rolled around we took the MAX down to Galleria and bought brats for everyone (YUM). I had to seriously high-tail it back for a fantastic class with Judith MacKenzie... in which I took absolutely no pictures. DOH. Seriously, tho. I was way too busy spinning and learning to remember my camera. Plus we were spinning cashmere and silk and enjoying it far too much.

Class wrapped up and slowly the group managed to gather (it was like herding cats to get this many people going in the same direction at the same time). And while waiting for the MAX again, Sandi started cooking up some nefarious plans. Okay, not really. But she does look like it, doesn't she?

The MAX back down to Galleria was packed and crazy. Lots of people going to do lots of fun things, I'd imagine. We, of course, had to educated a few about knitting. And that in fact all of us in the group were excellent knitters...

And yes, there's the crowded MAX behind us as we all bolted for freedom.. freedom!!!

Unfortunately most of those fun food carts that were available at lunch apparently aren't open for dinner. Doh! It was good luck that Sandi wanted Mexican, and I'd seen a Mexican place on the way back to the MAX after grabbing lunch so we headed that way. A couple split off for more veggie-friendly fare, but most of us ended up eating Mexican food. And it was pretty good.

We really had fun... We also really had fun with Sandi's food... (Mexican for the Watchmen)

We went back to one of the rooms and chatted a bit more, but everyone was pretty worn out. So off to respective hotels everyone went and I was fortunate enough to secure a small amount of bed-space for myself (THANK YOU ROSEMARY AND BA!!!).

I did need to get home Sunday morning, but I wanted to stay around long enough to see the start of the Fleece to Foot contest. It was pretty amazing that the Sock Summit team managed to secure permission to bring not one, not two, but THREE sheep into the Convention Center and have them sheared on the premises. I took lots of movies.

Here are the adorable sheep:

And here is Clara Parks sampling their wool:

Sadly, I could not stay any longer than that. I'm sure the outcome was really interesting and there will be others that blog that part. I can't wait to hunt down some sock pictures!

For me, it was a really wonderful day and I can't say enough good things about the people I got to meet and hang with, and about my family who were able to manage without me for an entire day.

Slip Shod

2011-07-29T13:38:00.001-07:00

Day 5 - Sock yarn, finished, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

This pretty skein is spun from Textiles A Mano fiber in a Merino/silk/bamboo blend that is just wonderful to spin.

It is also available this weekend at Sock Summit in perfect-for-sock-spinning packages of 3-1.5 ounce batts! That's a whole 4.5 ounces of spinning pleasure.

And once you have sock yarn, you need to have socks.

Introducing: Slip Shod!

Cover your feet in these great slip-stitch socks, knit from the toe-up to make the most of your handspun yarn. Of course they'd look fantastic in variegated yarn, too.

The Slip Shod pattern is now available for sale on Ravelry. You know you want a pair of your own! ;)

Knocked another one down

2011-07-28T21:13:00.001-07:00

Blue Kid Mohair, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I chewed over how to deal with my blue mohair single quite a bit, but couldn't come up with a better plan than simply plying with itself. So when I found a moment I split the single in two and wound a plying-ball.

I love plying balls because they are so portable. All this busy week I toted my spindle and plying-ball with me wherever I went and worked a little on getting the project done. It was a perfect distraction in several places where I had extended waits.

I also love the magic of plying. A lot of people agonize over how to get a balanced yarn. I would, except that I ran into a great article over at HSJ Studio. Scroll down to the section "How to easily tell your plying is balanced - while you ply" and check out the picture there. You'll see that the fibers become aligned with your yarn when you are balanced. I never trust the ply-back test (my singles are rarely spun recently enough that it is a reliable method to check twist). But the way fibers line up in the yarn never lies. I check every once in a while while I'm plying to make sure I'm still getting everything lined up correctly.

Then, when I take my skein off the niddy-noddy and it twists up, I don't get in a twist along with it. I know that as soon as that skein hits my hot-water-bath, it's going to behave. And sure enough, even the most twisty skeins breathe a sigh of relief when they get dunked in the water and everything is quite happy after.

Tour de Fleece - Recap

2011-07-26T21:05:00.001-07:00

Tour de Fleece - Recap, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Here we are with a brief moment to breathe and a quick recap of what was finished for this year's Tour de Fleece.

From bottom left and clockwise:

4 oz Blue Moon Fiber Arts 50/50 Merino/silk (still on the bobbin)
1 oz undyed camel/silk (TP tube)
4 oz overdyed green camel/silk from A Verb for Keeping Warm
4 oz "Just Peachy" Merino/silk/bamboo from Textiles A Mano (and a half-knit sock)
3 oz blue Kid Mohair from Dyelots
8 oz woven shawl (Harrisville Designs Shetland warp, Noro Kureyon Sock weft)

Clearly not all of it was spun, and really anything that is still a single is not done. I need blue to ply the BMFA, and I think the tan camel/silk and bright blue mohair will end up plied with themselves.

The fact that they're not done makes me feel like this was an unproductive Tour. But really, I got a lot done! That's a pound of spun fiber (not all that much less than I spun last year and a fair sight thinner, too). And some other lovely work as well.

I guess I'll just have to be happy about it!

P.S. After reviewing last year's Tour, I got a chuckle out of the fact that the bobbin of BMFA (Puck's Mischief) is the fiber that totally threw me for a loop last year. Here it is, done, and I'm still waffling as to chain-ply or ply it with light blue...

Day 23 - Samples!

2011-07-24T19:26:00.001-07:00

Day 23 - Samples!, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Here we are on the last day of the Tour. I didn't get to spin much today. I did work on knitting handspun (from the Tour) yarn.

And I organized these lovely samples. The batt is from Laura at Textiles A Mano and will be available at Sock Summit. The samples will be there in her booth for viewing, just so you can see how wonderfully the batts spin up at different weights!

I spun eight samples from four different weights of singles. Each single was made into 2-ply and 3-ply yarn and put on a notecard. I'm really happy with all of them and think they'd be great fun to knit!

It was a busy day with church, lunch, and then this afternoon we went swimming at an outdoor pool and had a lovely time. After that we did grocery shopping, dinner and sprinkler-play and everyone was really worn out so now they're off to bed!

I know I said Tour highlights today, but I think I'll get those photos put together and up tomorrow, or perhaps Wednesday. A couple of big deadlines have come up and I have things that must get done!!

Day 22 - Time Out

2011-07-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today I took the day off. Oh, I spun. It's Saturday, so of course I spun. But I worked hard on both "rest" days and today I decided to take things easy.

My big effort was getting everyone to-and-from their morning activities, and then heading off to Textiles A Mano to spin samples of Laura's lovely batts.

The camera stayed in the bag.

Tomorrow we'll wrap up with the finale and highlights of this Tour!

Day 21 - 600 yards of Single

2011-07-22T19:15:00.001-07:00

Day 21 - 600 yards of Single, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Well, at least I know now why it felt like it was taking forever... There are 600 yards here! That's a lot of very fine singles!

And the kids got snuggle time with Daddy.

Day 20 - More blue mohair

2011-07-21T21:35:00.001-07:00

Day 20 - More blue mohair, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yep. There's more. I'd really like to finish this soon!

After all that fun yesterday, everyone was plum tuckered out. People were grumpy and out of sorts all day. We finally crashed and everyone went to sleep quickly and quietly (except me).

There was only one blip. My daughter promised to read me a book every day this summer. We skipped yesterday (too tired) so she knew she had to read two today. And she wouldn't go to sleep until it was done. Good for her!

Day 19 - Blue Mohair

2011-07-20T21:15:00.001-07:00

Day 19 - blue mohair, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

When you're on the move, spindles are the best!

Plus, I finished the camel/silk and didn't start anything else on the wheel today. We were too dang busy.

Last night I put the camel/silk yarn in a water bath in the oven with a little Jacquard Emerald dye and a slosh of vinegar and baked it for an hour at 250. I let that sit overnight and checked on it this morning. I think the results are a vastly improved color of yarn (although I feel a wee bit guilty for using commercial acid dyes on naturally-dyed-fiber--but not all that guilty since I really didn't like the color in the first place).

As for the kids, I have massive pic-spam for you all today. We spent two hours driving to Newport to go to the Aquarium there, about two hours there, another bit of time at McDonald's recovering from the Aquarium, a little shopping at a kite shop and then the Myrtlewood place in Philomath on the way home (another two hours or so there). It has been a very busy day.

And because I can't resist cute little frogs:

Day 18 - Finished Yarn!

2011-07-19T20:22:00.001-07:00

Day 18 - Finished Yarn!, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yep. It's done!

It's also still "not me" in color. So it's getting tweaked with green dye. We'll see if I improve, or ruin it!

Here is a slightly Photoshopped image of my darling kiddos "reading" together (I couldn't get them both facing me at the same time, so I snagged half of two pictures to make one good one).

And a little showing-off of our favorite things (Star Wars toys, and painted toenails).

Day 17 - Two Bobbins!!

2011-07-18T21:45:00.001-07:00

Day 17 - Two Bobbins!!, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Hurrah! The camel/silk is done!

Well, it's not done done. I still have to ply it. But there is no more camel/silk fiber sitting in my bag. It's all on the bobbins and ready to go. Hurrah!

And because of my slip-up yesterday, we have a double-dose of cuteness today!

Day 16 - Augh! Failure!

2011-07-17T22:12:00.001-07:00

Day 16 - Still working!, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I spun today, as you can see. However, it rained all day. We did lots of indoor activities, sleeping, and went to an indoor swimming pool ... and none of the venues were conducive to picture-taking. So sadly, I have no kiddie pics today.

We shall hopefully resume tomorrow, when there will be sun.

Or, at least, there had better be! (Unfortunately, the forecast doesn't look good.)

Day 15 - Bobbin Two!

2011-07-16T20:00:00.001-07:00

Day 15 - Bobbin Two!, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yes, I know it looks exactly the same as earlier pictures. But honestly, this is a whole new bobbin of fiber! Really!

(I'm ready for them to be done, too.)

As for the rest.. today's fun activity was an outdoor picnic for dinner. After a day full of grey clouds and drizzle, we caught just enough sun to enjoy an outdoor meal together.

Day 14 - More Camel/silk

2011-07-15T21:53:00.001-07:00

Day 14 - More Camel/silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yes. There is progress. There is not much progress (on the spinning). But there is some!

On the other hand today we (we being me and the kids in various permutations): got up, had breakfast, went off to camp, cleaned the house, wove on my shawl, had lunch, played outside, got the carpets cleaned, played more, went to "Parents' Time Out", went shopping for a new lens cap and lots of clothes, ate dinner, went back and picked up little people from "Parents' Time Out", came home and got ready for bed, read books and then came and blogged!

And probably some other things, too, but I forget.

The backyard was a "repair shop" for most of the afternoon:

Day 13 - Mohair

2011-07-14T21:37:00.001-07:00

Day 13 - Mohair, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Our "lovely" pictures today are brought to you through my iPod Touch. Sadly, I still haven't figured out how to make the silly thing take any picture really worth sharing. But as I am pledged to pictures every day, here's what we get!

(Incidentally, the DSLR with which I usually get my decent photos was left at home for the day as we were too busy and I have lost its lens cap. The two things together forced me to find other means of photography. The upside is that the iPod fits nicely into a back pocket and was very easy to carry around the park while we enjoyed burnt hot-dogs and cookies!)

Day 12 - Camel/silk

2011-07-13T19:32:00.001-07:00

Day 12 - Camel/silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yep. Still working on it! And a little on the mohair, too, but not enough you could see it in a picture.

We pledged to read a book each day. She reads one to me. I read one to her. Mine are a bit harder to read, but that's fair. I enjoy sharing the time with her!

And my little monster was... a little monster today!

Day 11 - Camel/silk

2011-07-12T18:54:00.001-07:00

Day 11 - Camel/silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I broke into my third "Pro-Verbial" shipment (50/50 Camel/silk) to continue spinning.

This stuff is really yummy! And it's much more of a mossy green than the picture seems to be able to pick up. But then again from time to time it looks very like brass to me. I'm quite tempted to ply this with a different color of something just to see what would happen.

We had fun at camp, McDonalds, and the Library!

Then both kids wanted to prove they were growing..

Day 10.5 - Finished Bobbin

2011-07-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

Day 10 - Finished Bobbin, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I spoke too soon!

As I went to get today's pictures, I found a few extra snapped off yesterday :)

First off, I finished my bobbin of BMFA late on Day 9. Pictures had to wait for better light, tho.

The kids had "gametime", nice and quiet! It was a wonderful break. So, of course I had to sneak in and interfere by taking pictures!

Day 10 - Quick! Take a rest!

2011-07-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

Whew!

That has been a lot of spinning this week! But when the riders of the Tour de France take a break, then "officially" we Tour de Fleece participants get to take a short rest as well. Or as much of a rest as we can manage. (I have to admit I did a little work on my spindle project, but not with any sense of urgency.)

On the other hand, there will be no pictures today. Not even of the kids. We were too busy doing Other Things.

The house is happier for our little break. So are the laundry piles. And the garden.

Honestly, I'm sure you're just as happy to not have pictures of all that!

Day 9 - Merino/silk

2011-07-10T17:54:00.001-07:00

Day 9 - Merino/silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yes, there is progress. Amusingly enough, the top was dyed in a progression that went from green to red-purple to green to blue-purple to green again, so it really feels like I haven't gotten anywhere. But I have!

On the other hand, the kids had a HUGE day at the University of Oregon ballpark watching our minor-league team (the Emeralds) play. We ate lots of fun things (popcorn and frozen lemonade and ice cream to top it off) and played in the bouncy-house and bouncy-obstacle-course-house (that was pretty cool) and watched the game and then ran the bases when everything was all done. So double pictures from that fun!

Day 8 - Merino/silk

2011-07-09T20:09:00.001-07:00

Day 8 - Wool/silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I love watching bobbins grow!

The neighbors had a Really Big Box. How could the kids resist? I sure couldn't (if I could fit, too!).

Day 7 - More Merino/silk

2011-07-08T19:13:00.001-07:00

Day 7 - More Merino/silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

The bobbin is a bit more full, the bag is a bit more empty. Still working my way through BMFA's lovely Merino/silk.

And of course the kids are having a great time, too!

Day 6 - Puck's Mischief

2011-07-07T19:06:00.001-07:00

Day 6 - Puck's Mischief, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Merino/silk blend from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I've been agonizing over how to spin this for almost two years. I decided today to "just do it!"

Also, the kids made "leaf soup" which, of course, required ingredients. They were very fresh!

Day 5 - Sock yarn, finished

2011-07-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - Sock yarn, finished, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yep. That's right. 380 yards of 3-ply sock yarn, finished (not washed in this picture, but currently hanging wet in my shower). Huzzah!

No spindle progress today.

Day 4 - Still spinning!

2011-07-05T20:23:00.000-07:00

Day 4 - Kid Mohair, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Here's more of that lovely kid mohair, and work on the third sock batt.

Also, my two little charmers!

Day 3 - Second Batt

2011-07-04T21:58:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - Second Batt, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I was able to finish all of the camel/silk last night, so I wrangled some sit-down time and went to town on the next batt.

I also started some blue mohair on my spindle for a traveling project.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!!

Day 2 - Camel/silk

2011-07-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - Camel/silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Not much time to sit down today, so I grabbed some fiber out of my box and a spindle and took it with. I spun in the car to and from church, and then out around the neighborhood this afternoon. I'm working through one ounce of Camel/silk blend from Textiles A Mano, spun on a Bosworth Cherry Midi spindle.

And the kids!

Day 1 - Sock Batts

2011-07-02T21:02:00.001-07:00

Day 1 - Sock Batts, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

We're starting the Tour de Fleece!

A couple of things this year. I'm going to be posting a picture daily, but the posts will probably be light on content. There's only so many times I can explain I'm spinning the same stuff over and over.

Second, I've promised myself at least one picture of my family for every TdF photo. So we'll be getting a lot of cute pictures!

Of course, now that I have stated I won't be explaining as much.. I'm going to explain that these gorgeous batts are from Laura at Textiles A Mano. She's designing them specifically for spinning for sock yarn, so of course.. I'm spinning for socks! They're lovely and wonderfully crafted. Each batt is a full 1.5 oz, making the set 4.5 oz which is a generous weight for making socks. It also makes it much easier to spin a three-ply yarn when the fiber is pre-divided!

And without further ado, here's the family photos for today:

June Recap

2011-06-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

Well. I knit something...

And I wove something...

And I spun something... (but I don't know what it was!!)

ETA 9/9/11 - Ha! I remembered! It was this BMFA Merino/Yak fiber!

Last, but not least.. the Haul

2011-06-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

Now we finally come to the part everyone usually wants to see. What did we all buy!

I know it looks like a lot, but really I didn't spend all that much. (Okay, it was a little bit of money, but it was all on sale and it was specifically budgeted so it's all good).

The first bit isn't stash expansion but rather conversion. We had a fiber swap. Put 4oz in, take 4oz out. I was able to trade some black alpaca/silk I didn't enjoy spinning (it was lovely, it just wasn't "me") for a Sheep to Shoe kit, and some other various fibers for 4oz of Spunky Eclectic Merino top. I'm really thrilled about both of these trades.

As for expansion, I did fall down a little bit. My first bump in the road was 1.25 pounds of Cormo/silk blend from The Bellwether Wool Company. It's rather unassuming in the bag, but it's Cormo!! and silk!! blended!! Yum. And they have fantastic fiber. And it didn't hurt that this last lot of the Cormo/silk was marked down 25%. How can I pass up such a lovely sweater? Well, it will be a lovely sweater, eventually!

Then I went by Rainbow Farms Pygora. I went there because I had a gift waiting for me from another event, which turned out to be drop-dead gorgeous pygora-blend batts. Wow! But I couldn't leave without hitting up her 50% off bin and I walked away with another 8oz of dyed Targhee.

And last, I took a class on spinning cashmere. And it came with a 10% off coupon for the teacher's shop. So of course I couldn't walk away without finding some cashmere! I found light tan cashmere that was already marked down and applied the 10% coupon to that as well and bought three ounces for pure-pleasure spinning!

Adding everything up (and counting the swap as stash-neutral) I bought one ounce over two pounds of fiber. Which isn't great for the stash. But it does pretty much kill any desire I have to buy anything at Sock Summit so I may be done for the season!

Finally, it's Saturday!

2011-06-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

BSG - Fiber Arts, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

No, not today. But finally after all that other stuff, we get to Saturday at BSG.

Friday, the judging went on all afternoon and as it finished the Fiber Arts show closed! So I was unable to find out how my entries did.

Since this was my first year entering, and because Judith MacKenzie was judging, I was horribly nervous. My husband found it all very amusing (and asked, facetiously, if I really ought to be expecting to win anything at all in my first time entering a fiber-arts show--he loves to get a rise).

But Saturday I was able to return to the Gathering for the afternoon and the first place I stalked to was the Fiber Arts show, all nervous and silly. But guess what?! I did earn two first place ribbons! I'm so thrilled!

One was for a skein of 2-ply yarn I spun from absolutely gorgeous batts created by Laura of Textiles A Mano. These were part of my Christmas gift from my husband and they were just beautiful. They also spun up wonderfully! I'm told (because I couldn't stay to watch the entire judging) that Judith said they were lovely and evenly spun with excellent twist. Or something close to that! Yay!

My other entry was none other than my Solar Flare shawl! I'm really terrifically pleased with this one, because a lot of work went into it. The gorgeous AbbyBatts (in the colorway "Hless") were spindle spun, the singles were plied on my wheel, and I knit the whole thing into my very own pattern. I feel I own this project down to its very last stitch and I'm horribly proud of it all.

So that was a fantastic start to Saturday, and it wasn't even over yet! But I think the rest will have to wait for one last post.

BSG - Spinning Cashmere

2011-06-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

BSG - Spinning Cashmere, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Still blogging day 1 (Friday) of Black Sheep Gathering and next up is my special treat to myself.. a class on how to spin cashmere! YUM. I mean, really, who can pass up the opportunity to play with superior luxury fibers? Not me, that's for sure.

If nothing else happened in this class but we got to play with the fibers, I would have been happy enough. Our instructor, Cynthia Hereen, came with enough samples to make the most demanding personality happy. We spun...

Merino/cashmere
Merino/cashmere/silk
White cashmere
Tan cashmere
Brown cashmere
15-micron white cashmere
Brown cashmere/silk
Yak
White camel

They were amazing!

And on top of that, I had a great "spinning buddy" in Rebecca G. I'm so glad we got to sit next to each other and enjoy all this luscious stuff!

I would have liked some more intense instruction. We were able to play with the fiber and spin it, but a lot of the deeper "whys" were missing in the how-to. I don't know if I'm looking for too much in that or not. It was still a wonderfully enjoyable class and worth every penny.

Me!

2011-06-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

Laura AKA TinkerTots, a photo by sandiwiseheart on Flickr.

Here I am spinning at the Black Sheep Gathering on Saturday.

I ganked this picture from Sandi Wiseheart's photostream. Thanks, Sandi! It's not often I get pictures of myself at events!

Sheep to Shawl

2011-06-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

JM - Judging Sheep to Shawl, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Do you know who this is? I'll bet you do, but if you don't, I'll let you know that this is Judith MacKenzie (she wrote The Intentional Spinner and is generally known to be one of The Major Authorities on spinning). We were privileged to have her judge our Fiber Arts show this year.

Here she is judging the Sheep to Shawl entry. There was only one this year, but they really put their hearts into it anyway and once again received a perfect score on their work.

Judith talked for quite some time about this shawl. She was particularly impressed that the yarn was not uniform, but had a consistent-inconsistency. That is, it was lumpy, bumpy and noily, but it was that same way throughout the entire shawl even though four different women worked on spinning it. That's pretty impressive and harder than spinning a machine-like uniform yarn.

She also pointed out the lovely weaving, and here she is holding the shawl up to the light. You can see her body right through it. That's very nice weaving!

The other thing I found really interesting was that she spent quite a bit of time discussing the fact that weaving isn't done until the cloth is washed. Washing completely changes the cloth. So what she's holding up is really only half-way-done. She was also able to display the group's swatch, which had been washed, so that you could see the difference in between the two.

It was really amazing and wonderful to get to see her speak.

And then I had to run to class!

But I'll have more about that, next time!

Wow, what a weekend!

2011-06-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

BSG - clipping for show, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

This was the weekend of the Black Sheep Gathering (it's winding up even as I type this afternoon). It was amazing!

It was so amazing, it's going to take several posts to wrap the whole thing up, but I'll start with the sheep-show.

I love walking through the sheep-and-goat rooms at BSG. They smell (a little) but mostly it's a clean-barny smell with lots of lanolin that I love (unless it's a particularly warm weekend, and then it turns towards other things, but this week we had amazingly lovely weather!). I always take the time to snap a bunch of pictures (no flash, tho!)

So here we are with a mostly-picture post. I'll leave the photos themselves to do most of the talking.

Wee adorable Pygora goats:

The Big Billy Goat Gruff (my daughter and I seek him out every year!):

Jacob, my favorite breed:

Oh, I forgot what this dude was.. but what awesome colored horns!

A small Shetland:

And Navajo-Churro:

There's lots more to come! I'd better get writing.

Sometimes I surprise myself

2011-06-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

Handspun Solar Flare, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

That's not meant to be a boasting statement (although I suppose you could read it that way). I really was surprised!

I was surprised I could manage to churn out an entire shawl in four days, even if it was my own pattern. But that's what happened.

On June 8th, I suddenly conceived a burning desire to enter Solar Flare in the Black Sheep Gathering. I realized there was one major problem with this. The version I had already knit was done in millspun yarn (but for a few rows at the end). BSG requires that all entries be made of handspun yarn. And they needed to be in by June 12th. Oh, no!

But I couldn't let a little thing like that stop me, could I? Of course not. I set to knitting. And knitting. And knitting. Every spare moment. Fifteen minutes here, fifteen minutes there. Knitting at naptime. Knitting while waiting to stop sweating at the gym. I'd figure two rows at every opportunity and I'd be golden (maybe). I gave up my evening TV (because it was too distracting to knit as fast as I needed). I got up early and worked before the kids were up. I knit at the park, in the driveway, in the bedroom, on the couch, in the kitchen, but did stop just short of taking the shawl with me quite everywhere. I became more stressed as I slowly ran out of yarn, remeasured my backup skeinlet and realized that I'd been off in calculating yardage and only had 430 yards to work with instead of my estimated 500. I knit even faster to try and not-run-out-of-yarn-too-soon. (Do you ever do that? I swear I can't stop myself even though I know it doesn't really work.) I nixed the last row of increases and reworked the final charts to compensate (which sounds much more complicated than it really is).

And I got it done! I cast off, soaked and blocked on the 11th and then sat down to carefully read how to get all the entry information properly placed and figure out where it needed to go.

And then I saw it. Mail-in entries were required by the 12th. Entries could be personally delivered up until the morning of the 24th.

THUD.

At least it's done!

P.S. Cris (from Into the Whirled) and I are running a KAL for this shawl starting on June 21st, to celebrate the longest day of the year! If you'd like to join in, check out the Ravelry thread here.

Weaving. It still rocks.

2011-06-11T16:31:00.001-07:00

Woven Scarf, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Yes, here we have another scarf. This scarf took all of two days to make. In fact, if you counted hours with any 24-hour period, it took one day to make. I love weaving!

On top of that, it's gorgeous and squishy! I used two skeins of handspun which I had no idea how to knit. They just weren't enough to use on their own. But together they make a lovely scarf just when I needed a very personal gift for a friend.

I hope she loves it!

Annis

2011-06-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

Annis, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

Here's another last-minute finish for May. As the month drew to a close and I put the final touches on the Solar Flare pattern, I found I had enough time to do a little more knitting.

Since I still owed Cris (of Into the Whirled) a shop-sample of her yarn, I settled on Annis from Knitty.com.

Annis has an interesting construction. You must cast on from the bottom of the lace edge and knit upwards towards the top edge of the shawl. I'm far more accustomed to working in the other direction. So the first thing I ran into was a cast-on of 360+ stitches. Yes, over 360 stitches! Yikes! I'm not going to do that twice, so I pulled out a little trick. You can take the end of your yarn from the outside of a center-pull ball, and from the inside, and join them. Then you have the entire ball to use for casting on! No chance of running out. I take it one step further. Many people tie a knot and then work in the two ends later. I untwisted the plies and then twisted them all back together in an invisible join I like to call a "Spinner's Join". If you do it for 6 inches or so, it's almost impossible to find again later. Plus it has the added benefit of no ends to work in.

Cast-on done, I began to knit. It's easy enough to follow the pattern, but not particularly enjoyable to work with that long of a floppy-twisy cast-on until you have enough rows in place that the knitting behaves.

It also has nupps. I love the way nupps look, but I wasn't enamored with the thought of working them again (I'd had quite enough with the Echo Flower Shawl, thank you!). I opted for beads, instead. Lovely brass-colored glass beads that look fantastic against the deep wine-red of the yarn. Yum! Only.. I ran out just a couple of beads short and had to go back for another whole vial to finish. Harrumph.

Still it was worth it. I added those beads in again at the upper edge and they draw the whole shawl together. I really hope Cris enjoys hanging this in her booth!

Squeeking in under the wire..

2011-06-07T17:53:00.001-07:00

Alpaca/Silk, a photo by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I spent a couple of hours on the 31st plying.. so we have an official finish of a full 4oz of fiber for the month of May!

I completed 500 yards of 2-ply yarn which measures out at a light fingering or heavy laceweight. The fiber content is alpaca/silk and it is gorgeous. I have to say I'm not really thrilled with spinning alpaca/silk. It's all slip and drape and it's danged gorgeous and will knit into something positively fabulous. But I really miss the sproing! of wool.

But my oldest bit of fiber-stash is now spun up! Huzzah!

Solar Flare

2011-05-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

Solar Flare

I'm really excited!

I'd like to introduce you all to Solar Flare. I know many of my friends have seen it in person already, but I am extremely happy to have finally finished the pattern. I had some wonderful feedback from my test-knitters and I think together we were able to put together a really nice pattern.

Solar Flare is a semi-circular shawl. It is knit from the center towards the points and has a 3-stitch garter border along the top edge. The increases in the pattern are carefully incorporated into the lace. If you look very hard, you might find them! But otherwise they simply hide in with the rest of the pattern allowing it to grow organically.

I know my friends had great fun watching me puzzle out the math on this one. I didn't make it easy on myself. The pattern repeats seven times. I found out that the shawl needs to grow an average of three stitches each row. These two numbers are distinctly incompatible, but I was finally able to make it work!

Solar Flare is now for sale on Ravelry.

May Recap

2011-05-30T15:25:00.001-07:00

vString Swap!!

Here I am, still trying to keep up with my resolutions from the start of the year.

This fiber is around 72g (about 2.5 ounces) of GREAT GOOD HEAVENS!! awesome fiber that I received in a swap. It arrived in perfect time to be matched for the Spindler's Challenge theme of the month, Time Travel! So it was the first thing on the books and I spun it up into about 230 yards of 2-ply yarn using a Bosworth Midi spindle in cherry-wood (my first "real spindle" and still my favorite).

The book is Broken Time. It's what I would call a "fluff" novel. It's fairly solid SciFi (and a bit light on the Sci, really). I'm not sure if it's the author's first novel, or if she writes under other names, but it's the only SciFi novel she has under this particular pen-name. I enjoyed it enough to keep it through several down-sizing efforts on my personal library, and enjoyed re-reading it again while working on this yarn. It touches on space anomalies, pockets in time, and serial killers. An odd mix, but it works.

I knit four ounces of handspun into a shawl called Caliz (Ravelry link). But sadly, this shawlette was not long for this world. It is a lovely pattern and I would recommend it... provided you actually use the yarn for which it was written and the gauge that was intended. I tried to squeeze a slightly smaller version out of slightly more robust yarn and it kept trying to choke me. I did the difficult thing and frogged this poor shawlette and threw the yarn back in my stash for another time. (Yes, that's right, knitters. You can finish something, hate it, and get rid of it. It doesn't have to live out the rest of its life as a forever-not-quite-right-object. Toss it back in the yarn bin. It can live again on another day!)

I have also completed 1000+ yards of singles of alpaca/silk blend. It will probably come out being just under 500 yards of finished 2-ply yarn. I did briefly debate leaving it as a single, but I simply spun it with way too much twist for it to hang around happily in this state, even accounting for the fact that neither silk nor alpaca has a whole lot of memory wanting to SPROING back to its original shape. The twist is simply too active to be happy without the counter-twist of plying. I'm not sure I'll finish this by the end of the day (hahaha. Okay, I'm sure I won't finish it by the end of the day.) but I'll have it done pretty soon and if you add it with the spindled yarn above, I think I can safely say I've managed my four-ounce goal for the month.

I did not weave anything. I have planned on weaving, but the loom simply didn't come out. I did work 4 ounces of millspun, but you're just going to have to take my word on that. It's going to go up in another post!

Radio silence

2011-05-02T18:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel as if I'm quiet on this blog for far too long. Sometimes I actually am. Most of my posting is directly driven by what I have finished lately, or at least something on which I have made significant progress.

What gets me are stealth projects. Half of these stealth projects are the little things (like gifts) planned for people who might actually read my blog. The other half are sooper-top-secret-planz... such as a pattern I have worked on for quite a while that I submitted to a publishing company, or a really lovely piece I have in the works right now that I can't wait to unveil but need to do it at the proper time.

So, I have pictures. I have thoughts I want to share and they're burbling around in my head, trying to make it noisily explode with excitement, but they just have to wait.

Instead, we'll just have to last through a little radio silence together from time to time.

At least I'm not abandoning you here with elevator music, instead!

Fiber to Finished Object

2011-04-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Merino Silk Blend

Here's an overview of a process that started in 2009 when I went to Stitches Midwest with my mother.

The first thing I saw that I liked that day was this fiber. I didn't buy it. Not then. We walked the entire floor and then I went back and decided that I did, indeed, need this fiber. Both of them. I didn't think at the time about how they were so very much "Duck" colors (our college football team). I just liked them, and I thought they were a good price.

The story continues in February of 2010 when they finally came back out of my stash to be spun up on the rented Ladybug wheel I had for the month. It was such a fun spin! I still love that wheel. I managed to spin both skeins to a fairly similar grist--or at least as similar as my skills allowed at that time. The yarn was lovingly tucked back into my stash with vague thoughts of ducky hats and other color-work possibilities. But I never fell in love with any of those ideas.

Then came weaving.. and the iPad. These pretty skeins of yarn were just enough to make an awesome sleeve for my new toy (or so I believed).

And I set about calculating warp and weft and planning how the colors would go together. Houndstooth. I had plans for another houndstooth out of handspun, and I thought these would make an awesome first attempt.

Boy, howdy! They sure did!

A scrap of flannel from JoAnn's remnant bin in an appropriately coordinating green was just enough to finish the project. I applied some of my bag making skills to this idea, incorporating a fold-over flap at the top. I love it! I just need to figure out some way to fasten it down. I wanted a magnetic strip, but didn't have anything strong enough (and I'm afraid of interfering with the electronics it will hold). But the bag is great!

I did have to give the flap a second round of sewing. My first attempt (still visible above) was a bit wobbly. Sadly even on a machine my sewing skills are lacking. I managed to very slowly and very painstakingly hand-seam the liner to the flap so that it came up to my standards of precision. I may attempt to go back over that carefully stitched line with my machine, or I may just trust that my own skills are good enough to hold until I wear out this fun bag.

Basic Stats:
Warp Length: 40" (this needed to be at least 12" longer, but came out okay anyway)
Loom Waste: 6" on each end (thus why I need a longer warp!)
Warp ends: 122 ends (122 for 10 inches + 2 ends to start/end on green)
Dent: 12
Woven Length: 24" (after washing)
Woven Width: 9" (after washing)

April Stashdown

2011-04-27T20:27:00.001-07:00

Gothic Rose

I walked into April a tad burned out from my frantic pace of knitting the Echo Flower Shawl (which has flown off to its new home). I haven't really wanted to look at complicated knitting and certainly nothing lighter than a middling finger-weight yarn.

So when I started spinning my Gothic Rose batts, I aimed for something a bit more substantial. And I achieved that in a lovely 3-ply yarn.

This yarn is about 8 ounces and approximately 300 yards of Worsted gorgeousness. Black and fuschia blend into a deeply gothic purple that is shot through with bronze angelina. It is sproingy and squishy and soft just like you'd like out of a yarn.

In addition, I pulled out a small skein of yarn I spun up last year. This is about two ounces of a fun blend of naturally colored wool. Cormo and Romeldale make up the bulk of it, but there is also a lovely and perceptible dusting of the elusive quiviut in there, as well. This spindle-spun yarn came out a wonderful slightly-uneven yarn with a lot of character. I'd been saving it for the right pattern, which presented itself in the form of the Yarn Harlot's "Pretty Thing". I thought this would be the perfect cowl, and it almost was.

Pretty Thing, for me, has one small flaw. The lovely flare derived from the way the pattern causes the fabric to bias flips out around my face like some sort of clown-ruff. Not attractive. I tried many ways of tugging it this way and that to no avail. So then I ripped back the final section of the pattern to try and alleviate the floppiness. Only, it followed the knitting down into the previously-firm-seeming knitting below and when bound off the cowl once again proceeded to look very ruff-like on me. As a final attempt to make the cowl more wearable, I tucked the final repeat of the lace pattern inside the rest of the cowl. Viola! Now it looks like an elegant collar when worn, and it is just snug enough to keep out even the stubborn gusts of wind. I still call this pattern a "win".

There is one more knitting project for the month, which was the reason for my "radio silence" earlier. But I am saving it for the "perfect" moment! You'll hear more about it, soon.

Weaving for this month is a handmade iPad case! I'd like to go into this project in a lot more detail. So that will come up in another post!

Weaving -- why it rocks

2011-04-10T16:44:00.001-07:00

Not-quite-intentional pooling scarf

With two skeins of fingering weight yarn, you can take a couple of weeks and knit a pair of socks. You can take approximately the same amount of time and knit a scarf. You might be able to eke out a shrug. But again, all of these things will take several days, if not weeks, of careful work.

In two days (one day to warp, one day to weave), I made an entire scarf. And it's gorgeous and intricate and lovely and squishy and everything you'd want out of a scarf!

Shown above is the first few rows of weaving. You may notice that some of the lines of weaving "pop" out over the others. These are called "floats". You can have warp floats (the ones that go up and down through the weaving), or weft floats (the ones that go back and forth across the weaving). And in fact, when you make a warp float on the front, you automatically make a weft float on the back of the cloth. Pretty cool.

These floats make for some texture in the cloth. In addition, you can play with color.

I played with color inadvertently. I'd planned a 3-yard warp and began to string my yarn out when I immediately noticed that it was "pooling". That is, color repeats were stacking up so that each color lined up next to itself in successive strands of yarn. Once I saw this happening by accident, I took steps to make sure that it continued to occur. There were several "breaks" in this yarn that I probably wouldn't have noticed when knitting. But they changed the color sequence, so it showed up immediately against the rest of the warp. I broke the yarn on purpose and realigned things to match.

One of the other amazing things that happens to weaving is how much it changes once washed. You can see on the first picture a very taught, even bit of fabric. But it is being held under significant tension. When you wash this weaving, the yarn relaxes and bends, snugging everything into place. At that point, you have a completely different (and still beautiful) beast.

For the nitty-gritty details of epi, draft, length, width, yardage used, yarn stats and some other pictures, please feel free to drop by my Ravelry Project Page for the Texture Scarf.

Echo Flower Shawl

2011-04-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

Echo Flower Shawl

This has dominated my last month of knitting. This shawl is slated to be sent to a friend (the owner of Three Fates Yarns on Etsy) to be a sample to hang in her booth. It is laceweight Merino/silk, called "Lachesis" and it is hand dyed by Stephania.

And it is wonderful.

This is a really lovely yarn base, with just the right balance of spring, softness and sheen. It is strong enough to handle some very serious lace knitting (3-into-9 and 9-stitch nupps, for those in the know) and come out looking wonderful.

I'm very pleased with the project and very glad to have it done.

I'll leave you with a little gallery of just how pretty this shawl can be.

A little cream on top

2011-04-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Miss Babs camel/silk

Just because it never hurts to go overboard with monthly goals, I have an additional two ounces to add to March's tally. This is just over two ounces of camel/silk blend which I have been spinning for almost a whole year. (I checked--I bought this fiber last May and it was to add to a small sample that was already in progress at the time.)

I started spinning very carefully and mindfully with an eye out for consistency of single. As time went by, my skills improved so things went faster, but I also finally let slip that need to scrutinize every last inch--mostly because I didn't really want to look at it any longer.

This is another project I pulled off the spindle onto my niddy-noddy and then portioned back out for a 3-ply yarn. I believe I originally intended 2-ply, but all that mindful and thin spinning would have yielded a true laceweight yarn, and I just finished knitting 800 yards of laceweight in a very complicated pattern and I don't want any more of it. So 3-ply yummy light-fingering weight yarn it is.

There are about 190 yards here in 60 grams. I think it will be a cowl, eventually. It's just the right amount and should be positively gorgeous.

March Stashdown!

2011-04-02T08:32:00.001-07:00

Galia's Spindle Designs fiber

Here's the next project in my efforts to convert my stash from stash to finished object! This is four ounces of wool combed top dyed by Galia's Spindle Designs. This, surprisingly, is not wool I paid for, but rather a prize I won entering into the Phat Fiber Blog giveaways! I was so thrilled, because this wool is gorgeous. It also had a fascinating scent from whatever wash Galia uses.

I love gradient dyed fiber and I really wanted to preserve the gradient. But with as long as the color shift was, I didn't really want to Navajo-ply the entire thing just for those three changes in color. I also noticed that there wasn't a long gradual change between each color and since I had an awful time trying to split the braid lengthwise I decided to try a different tactic. I broke the braid at each color change and started to spin. I ended up with three bobbins of three different colors of single.

Then the "hard" work began. I wound each of the three bobbins of single onto my niddy-noddy, keeping track of how much I wound. This gave me the full yardage of each single. Then I planned to make a slow-change yarn. The trick is to let each single run out over the length of the yarn.

Here's an example. I have 60 "yards" of my first color (=), 75 "yards" of my second color (-) and 60 yards of my third color (+). I know I'd like some solid color of each, and a length where the colors blend from one to the next, so I decide I'd like 5 yards of color-change. Since I want a three-ply yarn, I can divide my first color by 3 and then take 5 yards away from one strand, and add 5 yards to the last. The middle color just gets divided by three since it will already be offset by the first color, and then the last needs to bring everything back to the same length. So that's divided by three and has 5 yards difference in the first and last strand.

Here's a graphic to show it, below:


===============-----------------------+++++++++++++++++++++++++
====================-----------------------++++++++++++++++++++
=========================-----------------------+++++++++++++++

As you can see, one color runs out in each strand and then it all matches up again at the end.

Now, if this wasn't complicated enough, I figured I should make two matching skeins to use to make mittens. So, divide everything by two, first, and then do all the dividing-by-three and swapping extra yardage around and.. well. It worked. After winding and breaking and dividing and measuring and getting everything in the correct order on six different TP tubes and then back into plying balls, I was ready.

The yarn spun up very nicely. There is a lovely, slow change between each color as one ply runs out into the next color just as I planned. And the yardage between the two skeins is almost exactly matched. I did get off just a little bit and I'm still not sure how that happened, but it isn't going to stress me out at this point! And of course, part of the fun is figuring out how to photograph everything to show off how it all works!

And in the end, we have two really pretty skeins of yarn, ready to be mittens. And four less ounces of unspun fiber in my stash!

As for the rest of this month's stashdown...

I'd tell you all about these two projects, but they really deserve their own posts. Keep watching for more!

Quick spun scraps

2011-03-09T19:41:00.001-08:00

This past year I bought a 1 pound bag of scraps of fiber. I never really intended to spin any of it in a serious manner. I bought it, instead, for when I go into our Preschool (and hopefully the Kindergarten this year) and talk about Wool. I spin a little and let the kids paw through it all and talk about sheep and all the cool things you can do with Wool. I capitalize "wool" because I did this for the past two years on the week they are studying the letter "W". (We also sing "Ba-Ba-Black-Sheep" and watch the Pixar short "Boundin'", which you should immediately go out and watch if you've never seen it!)

This year, we also made "felt balls" in the pre-K class. You take a puff of fiber and fluff it up with your fingers. Then get it wet with lightly soapy water and roll it in your hands like a ball of Play-Doh. In about a minute, you'll have something mostly ball-shaped. If you do it like making a Doh-snake, you'll get a little felted worm. The kids really enjoyed it.

But before that day, I was having a "blah" day, and I figured with an entire pound, it was unlikely that an ounce would be missed. So I grabbed out a random number of scraps from the brown and blue/green family and just spun them. This is the result. It is entirely random, woolen-spun, and very soft. For the most part I think the fibers are Merino, but there could be some BFL in there since I had to change my drafting a bit between scraps. I'm positive there's even a pinch of cashmere (the staple was extremely short and it was really wonderfully soft).

I think I'll knit it up into a little animal and felt it. But for what I wanted, just getting to sit down and spin something, fast, was perfect and I felt much better after simply for having completed a small project.

Waterfall Mitts

2011-03-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

Waterfall Mitts
by Project Pictures on Flickr.

With the increasing availability of free patterns and the ease of finding them on Ravelry, it's easy to sidestep paying designers, or to think that they charge too much for their work. But when you sit down to do it yourself, it becomes very clear that what designers do is not simple, easy or fast.

Take these mitts. I loved making these mitts.. once I got things to work. But that wasn't easy. I started knitting them in the round. I tried magic loop. I tried DPNs. I had problems with the yarn slipping and sliding, making "ladders" in the knitting, and with needles completely falling out of the stitches. I also started with a completely different lace pattern, the Tilting Squares pattern to match the cowl. Unfortunately, Tilting Squares don't resize well. They don't easily come out to match the circumference of a hand with the stitch counts you can manage with them, and they loose their charm when knit as a panel that is anchored on either side because they no longer have the freedom to tilt.

I found all this out by knitting the first of this pair of mitts over eight times, and ripping out my knitting each time.

I will say one thing. All that abuse gave the yarn (Textiles A Mano "Lucerne", 65% cashmere/35% silk) a chance to shine--and I'm not just talking the silk content. This yarn is strong and durable on top of being beautiful and luxurious. When it could have turned into a partly-felted mess, it still frogged easily after multiple times being knit. It continued to knit up beautifully even after all that working, and once both mitts were completed I couldn't even tell which one had been worked more!

These mitts are knit flat, so that there won't be any odd stretching of the fabric. Trust me, they are much more fun to knit flat than to struggle with any of the various methods of knitting in the round. In addition, you must knit the section of the thumb-hole flat, anyway.

After being knit flat, the sides are seamed using the tails of yarn from the cast-on and cast-off edges. Working from the edge to the middle lets you control exactly where the thumb-hole falls, and how big it will be.

Once seamed up, the lace-in-ribbing expands and contracts to cling to your hands in a sheathe of warmth. And, what can I say? It's cashmere/silk. They are wonderful, if I must say it myself.

But knitting is only half the work. Then you must write it down, make sure you wrote it down correctly, be certain that other people will be able to understand what you wrote when you're not there to explain it, and then make it look lovely. And then it helps to have someone else double check, test knit, and re-read to make sure you didn't slip up on something simple and obvious (or even on something incredibly obscure).

I have to admit, I look at the pattern-costs on Ravelry differently now. I see the hours of work that went into the project on top of the creativity in the design.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that these mitts are also for sale on Ravelry, now.

February Overview

2011-03-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how fast February goes by. It's a short month, and we have several birthdays in it which eat up a lot of free time. So I would write up a "recap", except that I forgot to post my progress for the month in the first place!

Since I still need to keep up with my spinning/knitting goals, here's the overview of my February projects.

I spun four ounces of A Verb for Keeping Warm fiber (80/20 Merino/silk, dyed in "Pilgrim" for the Pro-Verbial club). It became about 320 yards of 3-ply yarn. This is in keeping with my Stashdown and "Spin 12 in 12 months" goals for 2011



I knit four ounces of handspun, making another 198 Yards of Heaven shawl (Ravelry link). This was out of my own handspun yarn and I used just short of 350 yards by knitting an additional two lace repeats before starting the edging chart.



I knit four ounces of mill-spun yarn, although technically this was not from my stash. I was given the yarn in order to design a cowl and matching mitts (a blog post on the mitts is up next!).



I started to weave four matching place-mats. I managed to warp the loom on the last day of February, so I suppose this could technically count as a February project. Since it is using several balls of cotton, I think I will just count it as a February/March overlap project, unless I get really ambitious in the next few weeks.

For works in progress, I am still making progress on my WiseSweater. I finished my pattern-band swatches with an option I liked and cast on for the first front panel. It is easy, but mindful knitting and not the sort I can easily tote about town, so it is taking a little more time than usual. I am also working on a shawl for a friend to display in her shop. Hopefully that will come out well (and be done by the end of March!).

Tilting Squares Cowl

2011-03-03T12:06:00.001-08:00

Tilting Squares Cowl
by Project Pictures on Flickr.

I have the wonderful good fortune to live in a town with several fantastic fiber-arts shops (three yarn stores, one fiber, and one weaving, not counting the craft-chains that also carry yarn). One of these is Textiles A Mano, run by Laura Macango-Shang.

Laura's shop is just wonderful. Nearly all of the yarn in Laura's shop is a product of her own hard work. She creates fantastic and beautiful hand-dyed yarns. There are shelves upon shelves of skeins of all sorts of fibers and colors. It's impossible to walk through and not pet something.

Laura is fantastic as well. She hosts a knitting group on Wednesday night (which I am sadly unable to attend), and a spinning group on Saturdays. Saturday spinning is something I look forward to attending each week. Lots of great women come together for a couple hours of spinning and talking.

After one of our Saturday meetings, Laura approached me about working with her yarn. She had a new yarn base (65% cashmere / 35% silk) and needed a pattern to sell with it. I was thrilled and flattered to say the least. We both thought a cowl would be a great use for this yarn, and she even had a suggestion of a lace pattern, the Tilting Squares stitch.

I had a great time putting this cowl together. The yarn is wonderful and a real pleasure to knit. I worked with an older Addi 16" circular, and wished I had a Knit Picks fixed circular instead--I've become addicted to their sharp points and the blunter Addi needles just aren't fast enough for my tastes. They are still nice needles and the project fairly flew off of them.

Patterns are really interesting to write. It is quite the intellectual exercise to take instructions that are perfectly clear to you, personally, and turn them into instructions that other people can easily read and understand. Subtle details like how information flows on the page and where charts and explanations should go are also tricky. And, of course, you need a couple of good pictures to illustrate how your knitted object is going to look.

I'm really glad I have a good camera, and a willing-to-help daughter. At not-quite-six, she did a fantastic job of trying to take pictures with mommy's huge camera. Unfortunately, its computer brain was in direct competition with young fingers and getting correct focus was a trial. We got a couple of usable shots out of that effort, but in the end I was forced to the old trick of "hold your camera at arms' length and hope for the best". I can't say how much I love digital cameras. Film is an interesting media, but the fact I can take 20 pictures, know immediately if any of them are any good whatsoever, and trash the bad ones right off my camera is invaluable.

After jumping through all the hoops with noting, knitting, frogging, re-knitting, writing, photographing, formatting, proofing and printing, the Tilting Squares Cowl is now up for sale on Ravelry, or available with the Lucerne cashmere/silk yarn from Textiles A Mano.

The Strange Joy of Frogging

2011-02-03T21:07:00.001-08:00

Frogged Yarn
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

What is this, you ask? An ephemeral, deep-sea coral? Some strange spaghetti monster? A steaming pile of yarn vomit? No. This is, or rather this was, my Diamond Fantasy Shawl, now gone to the happy frog pond in the sky. This was my first shawl, back before I really even understood what a lovely thing a shawl could be. But it never really worked.

First off, it was too small. A single skein of sock yarn can yield a respectable kerchief, but really two are necessary for a good wrap. Second, it was rough. I don't know if it was my washing, or my finishing, but soft Merino yarn that was usually a joy to touch became harsh and twine-like in this piece. And lastly, the colors of the yarn warred with the lovely diamond-pattern of the lace. When worn, all the detail simply disappeared.

Now that I've been knitting for a bit, I've come to recognize that not every project works. Sometimes it's obvious when you finish--it's too big, or too small, or your skeins didn't match and it has a horrible stripe right at the wrong place. It could be more subtle with a fit that doesn't quite flatter no matter how you gently block or tug it into place. I started to notice that once I had more than one of a couple of types of knitting, certain projects ended up in the back of the shelf or the bottom of the pile, never to see the light of day.

I decided to frog the Diamond Fantasy Shawl. It was a hard decision. It was my first. It was pretty. But it wasn't getting worn when all of my other shawls and scarves were seeing frequent use. It's time was done. And the yarn is just too pretty to languish in a project that didn't make me happy.

Here that mess is, again. It is amazing what a nice, hot, soapy bath can do for unruly yarn. Gone are those crazy kinks from blocking. Gone is the sproingy mass of curls. Instead, I once again have a smooth skein. And even better, it's softer! And even with a few yards of scrappy bits to deal with, I'm really looking forward to seeing this yarn become socks or some other project where the unique handpainted nature can shine, rather than compete with the stitch-pattern.

But, it is not the only thing that has visited the frog pond this week. Oh, no. I also had the almost-lovely Versatility. Versatility wanted to be a great project, it just never was. I'm almost afraid to share a picture of it because, well, Ugh.

Versatility wanted to be versatile! It was a scarf. It was a shrug. It was a vest. It was a hood. It was cables and lace and bobbles. It was lovely.. and terrible. No matter how I arranged it on me, I looked smooshed into it like a sausage. The beads I used to replace the bobbles tarnished quickly, and they were cold against my skin when I tried to use it as a scarf. It had a huge stripe in the middle where my third skein of yarn didn't match the original two I purchased. It just didn't work.

This one was actually even more fun to rip out than the shawl. I had a deep sense of satisfaction knowing I wouldn't have the project looking at me reproachfully from its shelf in the closet for never bringing it out to wear. Every line that I pulled out of its knitting made me a little bit happier. By the end, I had three orderly balls of yarn that should probably still be skeined and washed, but will do so on my time schedule, whenever the whim may take me.

Until then, happy knitting everyone. Or happy frogging!

January Recap

2011-01-31T17:15:00.001-08:00

Textiles a Manos batts
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

This year, I made resolutions. That's not something I normally do, or rather I don't normally consign resolutions to be made only on the first of the year. I like to make them all year around, whenever they need to be made. But I made fiber resolutions this year, and I've managed to keep them for a whole 31 days so far!

First up, we have some lovely "aubergine" batts. These were gifted to me by my wonderful husband. I spun them up into a lace-weight (possibly fingering) 2-ply yarn that yielded about 450 yards. I'd like to use these with a slightly-off-white handspun in a weaving project, but don't have that fiber yet (and can't buy it, since I'm still on my "Stash Staycation" until the first day of Spring). This also dovetails nicely into Janel Laidman's Stashdown (which reinforces my 4-oz-per-month goal). And my resolution with the Spin your Stash group on Ravelry. I feel like I have a whole motivational horde behind me!

Second, I have knit four (actually closer to six) ounces of handspun yarn. This is the Blue Whale (Ravelry link) shawl designed by Jared Flood. The pattern came with the fiber and is a part the AVFKW "Pro-Verbial Club", so there will be several more of these projects throughout the year. In fact, I got a bit of a jump start on February's spinning with the next shipment, and boy is it pretty. But that's for another post. The yarn for this shawl was a lot of fun to spin and I'm really happy with how it worked out in the pattern. It's gratifying to see a plan work out almost entirely as intended.

I also wove a scarf (although this project tread the thin line of the intent of my resolution, since I did buy new yarn specifically for the scarf because I was afraid to "waste" any of my current stash. Then again, the lessons learned were valuable and I will now be comfortable using stash-yarn for further weaving projects). Weaving is extra and not "required" by my project-resolutions. But I'm probably going to, anyway. I have hopes of making some place-mats in February. I've already done the math, and I think that's the hardest part.

And last, but not least, I knit "four ounces" of millspun yarn (also a Christmas gift, but this time from my daughter). Socks typically use four ounces, even though this particular yarn comes in 50-gram skeins and thus is slightly short of the full four-ounce mark. And since the socks are for my daughter, the project did not use the entire two skeins of yarn--but it's close enough. The remainder of that yarn will get used as scrap, probably in a scrappy woven scarf. Or it will get knit into a tiny cosy of some sort for small electronics. As it is, it's not enough for another full-sized project and I'm just going to count it as used up!

The Mitten - The Cast of Critters

2011-01-18T20:02:00.001-08:00

The Mitten - The Cast of Critters
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

I've been avoiding this post.

It's rather a silly thing. First, I avoided making the post because I didn't want to "give it away". This ensemble was created as a Christmas gift for my niece and nephew (and really for their Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa as well, since I knew they would all share).

Second, I avoided making this post because... I knew it was going to be so darned long. Blogging each little animal, when I understood so little of exactly what I had done, intimidated me. (But as I have decided this post will not explain how to make each individual creature, I have gotten past that fear.)

But, as Sandi Wiseheart actually mentioned me on her blog (SQUEEEEE!!!!) I figured I'd better get off my butt and get this one done!

Forgive me repeating myself just a little bit. I set out this Christmas to make Kitten Mittens for my niece and nephew. The nursery rhyme is near-and-dear to me, because it was hand-embroidered on my crib quilt (which later became my twin-bed-quilt when a 1-foot border was added on all sides). I loved my quilt and its whimsically embroidered kittens, each searching for their mittens through blades of grass. When the idea came to me to knit mittens for the kids I decided that just two wouldn't do--instead I would knit three that didn't match. Kitten mittens, as it were.

I wanted to send the story, too, and started hunting up books that would work. There are quite a few versions out there, but none with which I fell in love. But while hunting, the woman helping me said, "Oh, but you must read The Mitten!. I'd never run into Jan Brett's books before, but I instantly fell in love. And the more I read it, the more I became convinced that I needed to make this story.

I started with the mitten itself. I dug through my stash to find some appropriate handspun--in this case a sample of Cheviot I had received in trade. I had just about the right yardage and a good weight of yarn. I improvised a mitten using an article called "Progressive Gloves" (Interweave Knits, Winter 2003) and a related article about thumb gussets, which I have used many times to create gloves and mittens in the past. It was easy to knit up, and if it came up a bit short in the fingers it hardly mattered, since it was only going to be stuffed with the next step in my plan... the critters!

In this story, a little boy pleads for a pair of white mittens to be knit by his Grandma. She eventually agrees, even though she thinks he'll loose them in the snow. When he goes out to play, predictably he immediately looses one mitten. While he continues to play, a whole host of animals crawl one-by-one into the mitten to get warm.

I worked from two patterns I found on Ravelry, one for "Owlets" and the other a "Baby Polar Bear", but the rest of the animals I improvised. I had particular fun with the rabbit (crocheted from 100% handspun angora yarn) and the mole (made from handspun CVM) but the rest were completely adorable as well. Each had its own quirks and I became noticeably more adept at creating what I wanted as I went along.

I've been asked several times to write these up as patterns, and I'm seriously considering it. The major hurdle is that I hardly know how to read crochet patterns, much less write them. Still, should the time present itself sometime this year, I may try to tackle the task.

And I'll be sure to post them here!

Ella Rae Scarf

2011-01-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

Ella Rae Scarf
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

Even though I am on a "Stash Staycation" with a promise of not adding to my stash until the first day of Spring, I have been presented with a small difficulty in that I really could use some yarn with which to practice weaving--yarn that is not too expensive and I don't mind "messing up" a bit. Most of what remains in my stash is high-end sock yarn, and sweater quantities of heavier weight yarn that are already earmarked to be... sweaters, of course.

This meant that when a 50% off any one regular priced item at the local Ben Franklin (which happens to have an unusually nice yarn section) came to my inbox, my resolved crumbled a little. I went hunting.

What I found was a lovely skein of Ella Rae Merino Lace. It's not a true laceweight yarn. I would probably mark it as Light Fingering weight, but it is a bit lighter than I'd want to use for socks as well. It is superwash, beautifully dyed and delightfully squishy. I fell in love at at half price it seemed perfect for another loom project.

I dithered about it for a little bit. I had a hard time wrapping my head around how to do all the math. It's pretty straight forward when you say, "I want to make a project X wide and Y long." It's a little harder when you say, "I have 460 yards of yarn, how can I best divide that in length and width to have a good sized scarf, and still have enough left over to weave it after warping?!"

I finally hammered through the numbers on my spreadsheet and thought I had them down pretty well. They made sense. Double checked and nudged about, they still made sense, and so I decided to go with it.

I warped for a scarf that would be around 8" wide (a little less for shrinkage) and hopefully about 2 yards long when finished. That meant I actually put on 2.5 yards for the warp, the extra 18" accounting for "take up", "shrinkage" and "loom waste". I must not have measured that quite right, because instead of that using up just a little over half my ball of yarn, I was down to just over 1/3 of a ball left after warping. That wasn't enough to weave the whole length. Ouch.

But since this was partly an exercise to see what happens with bad math, and how far you can get with what's left, I wove anyway.

After getting the warp set up, I started to weave my header with waste yarn and ran into another curiosity.. too many ends in one slot. Somehow I had accidentally put an extra set about 1.5 inches in from the edge. I had two options. Cut them out, or shift everything over. I opted to untie the warp ends and move everything over one space so everything was properly spaced and then tied back on again. Of course, that's five yards I didn't have for the weft, but oh, well. One mistake found.

As I began to weave, I was careful not to beat quite so hard this time, leaving open spaces between each pick, but not too much. I snugged the selvedges in carefully, but not tight enough to actually draw in the cloth (next time, they need to be just a smidge tighter. I'm told a small amount of draw-in is okay to get clean edges). I also did a small detail of Leno Lace three inches into the beginning of the scarf. It looks wonderful! In particular it is 2x2 leno on a closed shed.

I was feeling pretty smart as I got down towards the other end of the scarf. Despite my miscalculation on length and width, I had figured out one other helpful detail. When winding my stick-shuttle, I had wound 50 wraps on one side, and then turned the shuttle around and wound 50 wraps on the other side. Switch back and forth, and when you get down to the last 50, you know you're coming to the end of your yarn. More than that, I was easily able to calculate a good approximate of the yardage left. Add that to the known width of my weft, and I could give a good guess how many picks I could weave with my remaining yarn. I knew I'd need 36 picks to be the final three inches of cloth, so when I got close to that I did my Leno detail for the tail end, and then wove to the last tiny bit of yarn. I left just enough to hemstitch the end of the scarf. Perfect.

Perfect, except for the extra two feet of warp.

So stash-diving I went and I came up with a scrap of handspun I did last year for a Spindler's Challenge that really matched the warp well! I figured this was the space where I could try and see what beating harder, and pulling the selvedges in really tightly would do to the cloth.

I advanced the warp enough to have a nice fringe on the tail end of the scarf and then wove with my handspun until it ran out. I ended up with a pretty little sample I might turn into a wall-hanging.

The scarf seemed too loose to be a nice project. I washed it, anyway, and was still somewhat disappointed as it started to dry. But after it dried, I took it downstairs and tried to steam-block the leno so it would match the width of the scarf, and suddenly, after ironing the whole thing I found the cloth had pulled together into something cohesive, lovely, and gorgeously soft!

I'm already loving wearing this scarf around town. It's light and should last well into the Spring, but still pretty warm. I was almost sad to leave it behind today to try out wearing yet another new finished item. I'm definitely looking forward to more sock-yarn-scarves in the future.

Raw Wool Sampler - Complete set

2011-01-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

Raw Wool Sampler
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

Here's the true wrap-up of this little adventure.

From the top:
Merino 3-ply worsted
Merino 3-ply woolen
Polwarth 3-ply worsted
Polwarth 3-ply woolen
Cormo 2-ply worsted
Cormo 3-ply woolen
Corriedale 3-ply worsted
CVM singles worsted

It took me an entire year to get through all five two-ounce samples. I probably could have wrapped it up sooner, but I was distracted by all the many things I had to work on through the year. In fact, a few samples are missing from this picture because they have already been incorporated into other projects.

I think I really learned a lot working with this wool. I learned a lot of different tactile properties of each breed. I learned how to maintain lock structure and effectively wash without felting the raw wool. I learned how to comb the locks, and card the waste for spinning into usable yarn.

And above all, I learned that while I enjoy trying this stuff out to learn it, it's not my true calling. I love all this yarn. But I'll be perfectly happy to leave the processing to the mills from now on, no matter how tempting the smell of fresh wool and lanolin may be. Or at least, I'll leave it to the mills, right after I finish with the pound of fleece I couldn't resist this year!

Wraping up - Merino Sample

2011-01-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

Raw Wool Sample - Merino
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

As we get down to the end, I start to feel like I'm repeating myself and so I write less and less..

Merino is lovely. It is soft, full of incredible amounts of lanolin, and packed with elastic crimp. After being carefully washed, it combed easily and spun as if it were leaping into yarn from my fingers without any real guidance. And in both the woolen and worsted yarns, it created an extremely similar yarn to the Polwarth.

This Merino is a slightly richer brown than my Polwarth sample. But unless you look closely, it is easy to mistake one for the other.

Despite all the other wonderful qualities of the various samples, I think Merino is my favorite. I might choose a different wool to bring out different qualities in the yarn I want, but for pure pleasure I will reach for Merino every time.

Wrapping up - Polwarth sample

2011-01-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

Raw Wool Sample - Polwarth
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

My fourth sample from the Spinning Loft Sampler was a lovely brown Polwarth.

Polwarth is a popular fiber right now. Yet another fine-wool with a lot of Merino in it's background, this breed has 75% Merino/25% Lincoln (a long-wool breed) and is considered a dual-purpose meat and fiber breed.

I love this brown! I had no idea how much I would enjoy wool that wasn't white, but the three colored offerings from this batch were a joy to spin. Once again, this sample was combed/spun worsted and the waste carded/spun woolen. I went for somewhat similar sized yarns, so that the woolen and worsted differences are a bit more obvious and not obscured by the differences in yarn construction.

This Polwarth was not as lanolin-heavy as the Cormo or the Merino, but still had a significant amount to be cleaned out. It also doesn't have quite as pronounced crimp. But it combed easily with my borrowed mini-combs, and spun up wonderfully into squishy three-ply yarns. The woolen yarn is much more lofty and squishable than the worsted yarn, but both have a delightful hand.

Wrapping up - Cormo sample

2011-01-10T16:28:00.001-08:00

Raw Wool Sampler - Cormo
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

Last Christmas I received a wonderful gift of a "Fine Wool Sampler" from The Spinning Loft. It came packed with two-ounce samples of raw wool from five breeds of sheep (CVM, Corridale, Cormo, Merino and Polwarth).

Here's the third sample: Cormo wool. I had put off finishing up spinning the samples because of the amount of work in processing them. But this time I decided to follow up on an offer from the owner of Dyelots to borrow her mini-combs (thank you, Janis!!).

While working with my hair-picks sufficed to get the job done, working with real combs was much more enjoyable and quite a bit faster. Still, I found I must have lightly felted the locks in washing, because they were quite a bit of work to comb!

The waste went in a box and I carded it up into rolags.

The fine lace-weight skein is the combed wool, spun worsted. The fluffy skein is the carded waste, spun woolen. Both skeins have a delightful "sproing!", and can easily be stretched several inches with a gentle tug. The elasticity is amazing.

Cormo is a beautiful wool. I can see how it would be difficult to process properly in a mill, but it is certainly worth it to find a good source.

Rainbow Striped Cardigan

2011-01-05T18:30:00.000-08:00

Rainbow Striped Cardigan
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

I'm thinking I'll let this particular project speak for itself.

But in short, it's a cardigan. It's a pattern I have knit before and really liked. And I had a friend that needed a baby sweater. With yarn I had on hand that fit the pattern, and a fun idea, I set to work.

And it came out beautifully.

A couple of quick thoughts just in case I need reminding later:

Slipped selvedges make a very nice edge, but may not be strictly necessary or advantageous if you're going to seam it anyway. Use a stockinette or garter edge for more points of attachment.
Stripes are awesome. Stripes have a ton of ends. Use stripes sparingly, or get a self-striping yarn.
Leaving longer ends than normal at the edges of the stripes was a very good idea and made finishing the project a lot easier.

What Was Made

2011-01-04T18:16:00.001-08:00

First weaving - mini scarf
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

So. The loom. It calls me (but sadly I am busy with many things, and can only answer one call at a time).

I was thrilled to pull this almost-scarf off the loom as a first project. For warping willy-nilly and pulling design ideas out of the air, it looks pretty slick. It's just long enough to go around the back of my neck and fold over my chest, so I may actually use it as a scarf for a while. I do so hate a cold breeze down my neck.

I originally warped until I said to myself (albeit in harsher terms) "Oh, dear, I'm running out of yarn!" So then I wove until I really did run out of yarn and this is what was made. I will admit that even "willy-nilly" there was some thought put into it. I wanted the white stripe so I could see what I was doing with the dark brown yarn. I thought I didn't have a lot of the white, so I figured the off-center stripe would be nice (and it is!). It is deliberately placed. There are 20 ends of brown, 20 ends of white, and then 60 ends of brown (actually I just recounted and found I have 64 ends--doh!). In some schools of design "three makes a pattern". So I thought that making one side three times wider than the other would have a sense of proper weight. I did the same thing with the horizontal striping. There are three times as many picks of brown as there are of white. Right or wrong, I think it works and I'll do it again sometime.

My edges visibly improved with practice. I think they could use even more improvement--but that's me. And of course we're always harder on ourselves than other people are when looking at our work! Our weaving LYS-owner assured me I'm doing great. I believe her.

Beginning Selvedge

Ending Selvedge

But even after using up the last of both my white and brown yarn, there was still more warp! Rather than waste that effort, I dug into the stash and pulled out the final nugget of some LionBrand Wool-Ease I'd used in my first big knitting project (a baby sack we never used for the baby because it was too scratch.. and plain. And BOY was that a lot of stockinette to knit!).

At that point I "advanced the warp", which is to say I cranked the whole thing forward so there was a big gap. Then I set about trying a number of different techniques using the pink Wool-Ease. I started using a "pick up stick", which is a way to lift parts of the warp beyond what the loom does normally, so you can make more patterns. Then I tried the weaver's version of lace, "leno". I can't seem to stop myself from thinking of Jay every time I read or write that. Oh, well. I also did some "Brooks Bouquets" which I really liked.

Warp Floats

Leno Lace

After everything was done, I got out scissors and CUT THE WARP. Yes, I cut a lot of yarn. And I didn't even cry about it. And I dug out of my brain some old macrame skills (thanks, Mom!!) from when I was a Girl Scout. It made for a very finished-looking fringe.

It's a good first project. I've been thinking and planning and doing some math for project #2 in my head. I think I have it figured out. But I have a little something else in the works, first.

Resolutions

2011-01-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

This time of year, many of us make promises to ourselves. Eat less. Exercise more. Loose those holiday pounds. Run farther. Keep the house clean. Catch up on the backlog on your desk. And so on.

This year, I'm going to loose pounds... from my stash.

I have already entered a "Stash Staycation" pact with a friend. Neither of us will purchase any more fiber until Spring (that is, March 21st) with the one exception of WIPs where you run out. It would be just plain cruel to make a girl wait until Spring to finish that sweater she wanted to wear this year...

But that's just part of the deal.

I don't just have yarn stash. I have millspun yarn and handspun yarn. And on top of that, I have unspun fiber. I have laceweight and fingering and DK and Worsted and Bulky. I have bags of sample bits of handspun and leftovers from old projects. There's nothing wrong with having an inspirational stash, but I'd like to reduce my backlog of projects and the amount of yarn I'm just saving because it's pretty in the skein. So, here's the plan.

For every time I get more fiber/yarn (gift or purchase), I must spin that weight in fiber. This means either immediately spinning the new item, or getting something out of my stash.
For every project I spin, I must knit an equivalent weight handspun.
For every project I knit out of handspun, I must knit the same out of millspun.
For every project I knit out of millspun, I must spin a project.

I think it's a pretty good plan, if I can stick to it. What's your plan for the new year?

2010 in Review

2010-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed posting this last year. So here are this year's projects!

I wasn't gonna ... but ...

2010-12-30T20:50:00.001-08:00

Schacht 20" Flip Rigid Heddle Loom
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

Right.

I wasn't going to get into weaving. Really. I wasn't!

I didn't think it was right for me. It's a touch expensive, getting the starting equipment (although, really, haven't I spent about that much on knitting needles, crochet hooks, bags, cases, measuring devices, needles, etc...). But then I got this really nice gift certificate for Christmas, AND the store where I needed to spend said Certificate was having an ultra-rare 10% off everything (including looms!!) sale, AND I already got a bunch of lovely fiber and yarn for Christmas, so...

I have a loom!

I have a 20" Schacht Flip Loom that folds and slides right under my bed. It came today in the mail and I most maturely restrained myself from squeeling with glee, ripping open the box and playing with it all afternoon. Instead I let out a tiny happy yelp and put the box aside for a couple of hours to get other things done. Then, with restraint, I had my daughter come and assist me in unwrapping and assembling the few parts that needed to be put together.

This evening, after dinner when everyone was happy, I gave it a go at warping. It was easy! Of course, a lot of things are easy when you throw math to the wind and just give it a try. I figured I didn't care what I got out of my first project and I'd just warp it willy-nilly (but following the instructions) and see what happened.

Here it is!

I used yarn I had no intention of ever knitting. I bought the white yarn for.. Um. I don't know what I bought the white yarn for. The brown yarn was for the "Hilton of Cadbol" pillow, and would have been horrible for it. But I held onto it long enough I couldn't really return the ball and it has been sitting in my shelf every since, lonely and sad.

Now the two are taking shape as a.. um. A table runner. Or a placemat. Or maybe a bag. Really, it's probably a rag or trash. But it's learning!

Some of the things I've learned already:

Warping is not as hard as it sounded
A "pick" (one pass through the warp) is not like a row of knitting. If you miss a strand, you just back up. If you don't like the way the selvedge is, you just back and pull it through again. If you don't like the way you beat it into the cloth, you do it again. This takes no time at all and far less effort than it takes to tink a row of knitting.
Within 30 rows, my selvedges were visibly more even, and so was my beating. In fact, there is obvious improvement in the 30min I played at weaving.
There is nothing to fear about getting complicated. See the white stripe in the warp? It wasn't hard. Seriously. How long do you think I've been doing this? I'll give you three guesses. The first two don't count.
I can't wait to cut this off the loom (OMG, CUTTING YARN, AIEEE) and start a new project
Unlike a handspinner and knitter, I must overcome my fear of cutting yarn. I'm gonna have to cut yarn. A lot.

So all in all, this is pretty cool. I'll keep you updated when I start something new. Of course, since this is an at-home activity, and I still have lots of knitting to do, I can't say I'll be doing a ton. But I'm sure Weaving is about to sneak its way firmly into my blog.

Under my Christmas Tree

2010-12-27T20:20:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2010
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

This year I found sock yarn.. from my daughter.. for me.. to knit my daughter's new socks. (She requested socks before Christmas, and then went shopping with Daddy and picked out the pink yarn herself. Can't you tell? Only it was worsted weight Lamb's Pride wool/mohair blend. This yarn is the exact same shade. Only it will actually make socks. So will the Merino-cashmere-nylon yarn. But those will be mine.)

I also found a gift certificate to Paradise Fibers from my mother-in-law (which has now been turned into a super secret surprise I may unveil at a later date when I get over the glee).

And fiber from my husband in the form of four ounces of deliciously sparkly batts and six ounces of yummy merino-silk-yak blend. (He's a keeper.)

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year. May it be filled with fabulous fibery goodness!

Bags

2010-12-22T20:37:00.001-08:00

Christmas Gift Bags
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

This year, I gave bags for Christmas.

In all honesty, each of those bags is also filled with a hand-made gift for four of my lovely family members. But you don't really expect me to tell you what is in them before the 25th, right?

Right.

I've been wanting to do gift bags for a while. This year I hit JoAnne's and found 50% off Christmas-theme fabric. Perfect! And then I went pattern hunting on the 'net. How hard can bags be, right?

Right.

But I found patterns! A lot of them. And I finally settled on this lined drawstring bag. The series of blog posts has several options, and in the end I modified even the plan laid out by "happythings" (but thank you "happythings" for giving me a great starting point!). If you read it and understand what she's doing, then my modifications will make sense. If not, then you'll just have to trust me that what I changed made it much easier to make a bunch of bags!

First off, my sewing skills are iffy. My seams are usually serpentine and let's not even get into me cutting a straight line in the first place. In addition, I hate hand-sewing up the hole where you turn a bag or pillow or whatever to be right-side-out again (I can never get it to look like the machine-sewed seam and that irks me to no end). So I didn't. I sewed the whole thing as per the directions leaving only the spot where the drawstring would go through and then pulled it through that hole. VIOLA! And after making a couple, I didn't see why I needed to make the liner out of two squares--because that's just one more place I can cut things unevenly. So I left the liner as a slightly-shorter-than-the-outside-material rectangle and sure enough, that works just fine!

Hopefully these bags will be unpacked tomorrow, and the contents appreciated on Saturday. And hopefully some gifts can be given in them again, next year.

Kitten Mittens

2010-12-15T21:17:00.001-08:00

Kitten Mittens
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

Three little kittens,
                   they lost their mittens,
    And they began to cry,

Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear
    That we have lost our mittens.

What! Lost your mittens,
                   you naughty kittens!

    Then you shall have no pie.
    Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
    You shall have no pie.

                               Wikipedia

I had a wonderful time this year preparing handmade gifts for family. These cute little things were knit with my nephew and niece in mind (four and two, respectively). Three mismatched mittens means that you never have to worry about finding an exact pair. And if one goes missing (as it likely will). Then.. Oh, well!

I had fun with them. Each was cast on using DPNs, but then I moved all the knitting over to a long circular needle and worked on all three at the same time. It's a bit fiddly keeping all the yarn balls straight, but after a while it becomes obvious how to flip your work back and forth so that after each row, everything is back in line again. The benefit is that you're always working the same row and it's easier to keep track of where you are in the pattern. And, when you're done, you're really done!

They are knit from the pattern I created for my daughter, working from Interweave Knits' article "Progressive Gloves" (no longer available online). I'm really glad I was able to download it and the related article on gussets for gloves and mittens back when a large number of these types of articles were available from Interweave's site. I had just begun to knit and went on a downloading rampage on all of their technique-based articles. It's a real shame they finally had to come down off the internet, because many of those articles were extremely useful. I love having them now, and know that if I had started just a year later I would have missed out on a huge amount of really useful information! Now I just feel lucky to have a nice library of PDF files carefully backed up so I won't ever loose them!

WiseSweater KAL - Back

2010-11-24T19:34:00.001-08:00

WiseSweater KAL - Back
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

Here's the first part of my sweater!

We're waiting for the "widget" that generates our pattern to be updated with the next portion. Since Sandi Wiseheart is having it programmed from scratch, it takes a bit of time. That's just fine. I have plenty of other Christmas knitting to work on and I'm sure that would find itself on the back burner if I had the temptation of more of this sweater to finish!

I really love the yarn, but I'm concerned I'll run short. I don't really want to cut the sleeves shorter than they have to be, but so far that is the obvious "fix" to not having enough yarn. Buying more may be problematic, since I bought the last ball from WEBS a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully they'll get the color back in if I need more. Hopefully the dyelots will be close enough it won't drive me crazy.

But most hopefully, I'll have just enough yarn to finish everything exactly the way I want.

AVFKW - Pro-Verbial club

2010-11-23T17:54:00.001-08:00

AVFKW - Pro-Verbial club
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

This is the first bobbin of "A Whale's Migratory Tale", the first offering from the Pro-Verbial Club from A Verb for Keeping Warm. Four total shipments will be offered (the choice was given to receive yarn or unspun, and of course, I like to spin my own) of a shawl pattern and a particular fiber base dyed by Kristine.

This fiber is Blue Face Leicester and tussah silk dyed with Indigo. The original yarn for the club was a two-ply with 400 yards. The shawl is a lovely, textural piece designed by Stephen West called Blue Whale (Ravelry link). For the sort of knit/purl textures Stephen was focusing on, I really like a three-ply yarn (Okay, I always prefer a three-ply yarn. It's a weakness of mine). The beauty of spinning it myself is that I can have a three-ply yarn if I want it!

I really wanted to stay consistent throughout this project, so I spun some undyed BFL/Silk from Textiles a Mano first. That came out much too thick, so I adjusted my single and then taped a bit of it to a notecard so that I could refer back to it throughout my time spinning. This worked great! The bobbin shown above was the first of three, but they all came out very, very similar.

As I worked, some of the first feedback came in on the shawl. At least one knitter ran short of yarn, and I know that handspun usually achieves less yardage than millspun yarn (especially since I'm working a three-ply instead of two). So in order to increase my yardage I decided to add in some of that oatmeal-colored BFL/silk blend. I purposefully divided the indigo-dyed fiber unevenly so that it would run out at different points, and as it ran out I simply switched over to spinning the other, undyed fiber.

Because of this, there is a lovely transition in the yarn where each ply of blue runs out and turns into oatmeal-brown BFL. There are hints of brown in the indigo-dyed fiber that tie it all together. And the transition also reminds me of the unique white patterning displayed on the underside of Humpback whale tails.

I'm chomping at the bit to get knitting on this one, but I really must finish up the last few Christmas projects, first.

Sample, Sample, Sample

2010-11-13T21:18:00.001-08:00

BFL/Silk - undyed
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

Sampling is the Swatching of the spinning world. In order to spin yarn for a particular purpose, you need to figure out how to make the fiber conform to your needs. Thus, you sample. You spin some small amount of the fiber (hoping, of course, that you have plenty more to actually spin for your project) and see if what you create has the properties you want for the intended end-use.

This fiber, unfortunately, does not conform to my needs. I need light-fingering weight yarn. I spun sport, maybe DK. It's really pretty though and I'll enjoy using it eventually. The fiber is a BFL/silk blend that I picked up at Textiles a Mano. I spun it as a test for working with an indigo-dyed BFL/silk blend I have from a Fiber/Shawl club I'm in this year (The Pro-Verbial Club, from A Verb for Keeping Warm). We only have four ounces of a limited colorway to produce about 400 yards of yarn, and this sample isn't going to cut it.

Guess I'll just try again!

Hless is More

2010-11-10T18:14:00.001-08:00

AbbyBatts - Hless
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

500 yards more! For a three-ply yarn, that's a lot of spinning, but every moment was worth it. To prolong the enjoyment, the singles were spun on my Bosworth Cherry Midi spindle, but once that was complete I plied the entirety on my wheel. The spindle gives me a lot more fine control and good speed for creating the singles, but the wheel shines in the plying process.

This yarn was made from three AbbyBatts (a delectable treat I allow myself only on very rare occasion due to the high-but-totally-worth-it price of each batt). The final skein is just about four ounces and at that weight the yardage is excellent. It is firmly in the "fingering weight" class of yarn.

I suppose I could knit socks from this yarn, but that would be crazy! I'd like to design a specialty cowl and use beads I've picked up specifically to match this yarn. I have a general idea in my head but will have to start sketching out particulars sometime soon. Designing always makes the process go slower. I'm even tempted to knit the idea first in some commercially-spun yarn so as not to court disaster with my "precious" one-of-a-kind skein.

So there will be more installments of this particular saga, eventually.

vSOAR - Fine Fibers

2010-11-03T19:38:00.001-07:00

vSOAR - Angora spinning
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

SOAR is the Spin-Off Autumn Retreat, held every year in (duh) Autumn. The location varies each year, shifting across the United States from West, to Central, to Eastern locations each year. This year, SOAR was in Wisconsin. Not only is that a bit too far to travel, I'm just not in a point in my life where I can pick up for a week and flit off to enjoy an idyllic week on my own, far from family and other responsibilities.

Luckily for me, I don't have to go. The Friends of AbbysYarns group on Ravelry decided to hold a "Virtual SOAR" where each of us would design our own three-day workshop, and continue on with other activities.

I decided to spin fine fibers. I had originally intended to spin my special sampler of cashmere, yak and guanaco fiber. But since I chickened out once again, I broke into a package of pure angora fiber.

I started with a supported spindle. I expected things to go well, but ran into several difficulties. Despite the fact that I have spun quite a bit of cotton on this supported spindle, I couldn't get the angora to behave. It didn't want to even out as the cotton would. I also started to have a horrific allergic reaction just a couple of grams into spinning. So I did a little bit more on the wheel and threw in the towel.

The next day, after recovering from my allergies, I decided to try and get as much done as I could outside. I carded my remaining angora fiber into rolags with my hand-cards out on the back porch. And when that proved to be too cold, I moved into the garage. I ended up with angora all over me, but no allergic reaction. So far, so good. Rather than push it, I left the spinning for the next day.

Finally I got to work on the wheel for a bit. Again I spun out in the garage. But this time I bundled up in a raincoat and threw an old jacket over my lap as well, so I wouldn't end up covered completely in fiber. It spun much more easily from the rolag, and by the end I felt really competent again.

I think in the future I would combine the angora with some wool fiber. This would stretch the angora, and still halo. But it would have more body and memory. Still, the skeins I spun are deliciously soft. I'm going to knit at least one small rabbit out of this yarn. I think it's a perfect project!

Zombie Attack!

2010-10-30T20:34:00.001-07:00

ZAS Processing
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

I don't let myself get drawn in too often, but from time to time a group of friends online will propose a gift swap, and add into the mix an amusing idea for a theme and a reasonable price limit and all of a sudden I'm in for a bit of fun.

The Phat Fiber group on Ravelry decided to have a $35-limit swap with the theme "Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse". I have to say I'm not a huge zombie fan. Well, I am, in theory. I like reading the whimsical books. I've seen a movie or two, and although they're not my first pick I have somewhat enjoyed them. But I'm not much of a blood-and-guts gory slasher invasion movie person.

I still had to do this swap. There were too many fun possibilities with it. For instance, the picture above is not what I received, but the gift I sent to my swapee. It has fiber, yarn, crochet patterns, a brain-on-a-stick supported spindle, and above all, a flow-chart detailing what to open when in order to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. I had $35 of fun just putting this thing together (and then splattering it liberally with "blood" before sending it off).

What I got in turn was just as fun!

First, I got cool stuff. I got a bag (hand-lettered with "ACME Zombie Attack Survival Kit") filled with goodies. It was filled with various personal care items, camouflage face paint, zombie notepads, fingerless mitts with a compass, an ACME Combo Laser Zombie Disorientation and Beer Can Opener Device (awesome!!), lovely handmade buttons that look like eyeballs, and a Twinkie cookbook, so I could have haute cuisine in the aftermath of the invasion (since Twinkies will survive anything).

Second, I received lovely fiber. There is wonderful yarn that I can't wait to find a great pattern to knit, and then two batts which I had a huge amount of fun spinning. The radioactively-green batt has all sorts of interesting fibers in it (banana, alpaca, silk, bamboo and superwash merino), and the other is just as lovely with yummy fibers and a bit of sparkle. (According to the creator, Lampyridae, it "would be the 'Love Sparks at Night' - Midsummer Nights Dream blend It has SW merino, firestar, bamboo, some angelina, the deep purple is soy silk, and the brown is alpaca.") The Midsummer batt really caught my attention and weighing in at a little over two ounces, I felt it needed a little extra love to make a full project.

I was convinced by a local store-owner (Laura, owner of Textiles a Mano) to blend up a batt of my own to go with the Zombie Swap batt. She helped me put together a combination of fibers I never would have picked on my own (yellow, green, orange, brown, blue and lavender with a little sparkle) that blended up into a batt that spun up a luscious purple-brown. The two together look fabulous, with just enough shine and just enough loft. While I was too excited to get a picture of both batts together before spinning, you can see the results of Laura's batt on its own in the smaller skein, as there was a little extra single of that one left over, and I plied it back on itself.

I was especially happy to have taken a long-draw class so recently at OFFF to help me out with this yarn. I'm already planning on knitting it into a small shawl/scarf. I think it will be quite elegant when done.

And it all happened thanks to a little Zombie Apocalypse fun.

ITW - Chancellor

2010-10-29T12:19:00.001-07:00

ITW - Chancellor
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

For a while, I got on a real green/purple kick. Without realizing it, I bought several different colorways that it were mainly green and purple. I couldn't help it! They were all lovely.
This is Into the Whirled's 80/20 Merino/silk top dyed in the "Chancellor" colorway. I had no idea what inspired "Chancellor". (Unfortunately the first thing to pop into my head upon reading that word was "Chancellor Palpatine" from Star Wars. Yeesh. After that I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out if it had British inspiration. Two strikes. I was nearly out.)

Fortunately, Ravelry came to my rescue and as I showed pictures of my work-in-progress, a fellow Raveller piped up with her own picture.. apparently "Chancellor" is the name of a wine-making grape! And a lovely "Chancellor" this is, too. There are a lot of subtle variations in the green and the purple, as well as the points where the two mix.

I really love Merino/silk blends. The 80/20 blend is especially nice because it brings just enough silk to the mix to have a lovely luster, but still be primarily bouncy Merino. It spins easily, without much thought. It takes almost no effort to create a bouncy yarn.

I opted to spin most of this wool at my Saturday spinning group. I had no plan for the fiber, and spinning wool in a brainless, default manner is perfect when you're with a bunch of people and want to split your attention between working and chatting. The problem with green and purple is that if you mix them too much, you end up with a muddy mess of color. That's the trick with so many hand-dyed offerings. They look lovely and inviting in the braid, but can be tricky to spin so that you don't loose the brilliance of the dyer's eye for color. I kept thinking about this while spinning the single, trying to figure out how to split up the wool or the single to get a yarn that still reflected the qualities of the dyed braid.

I opted to Navajo-ply this yarn. Once the bobbin was full, I worked on creating very long crochet-like chains. Each loop in the chain was several feet long, sometimes even three yards long. I worked from my wheel, all the way across the room creating each loop, and then wound it into a ball for storage. The "Plying ball" is something that was introduced to me by Abby Franquemont (author of Respect the Spindle). When plying on a spindle, it makes for an excellent and portable method to store singles for plying. It still works wonderfully when you're sitting down to ply at a wheel, too.

When I'm not working at it, I tend to default to a sport-weight yarn. This came out at about 340 yards of Navajo-three-ply yarn. It gently changes from green to purple to green again at random intervals throughout its length. I think I may use it to knit some arm-warmers, or perhaps something to wrap around my neck and shoulders as the rainy season comes on.