The Latest WIP

I alluded to the return of my knitting mojo in my last post. I've been wanting to knit Sunrise Circle for some time now, and finally cast on, with the yarn I bought for that purpose, no less! Here is a partly completed left half:



This side is now complete, and I'm about half done with the right side sleeve/front combo. The yarn is Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran, and it is quite nice to knit with, I wish I had more of it. It makes a nice firm but soft fabric knit a little tight like is is for this pattern.

Spinning continues as well - the below is about 225yds of worsted 3ply from HelloYarn Fiber Club, way back from June 2007. It is 18-micron merino and it is indescribably soft. We're approaching hat season and I think this will make a fine one for Miss Dizzle. Yum.

Return

I highly recommend that anyone who is able to take 3 weeks off at a time does so. My, what a wonderful, much-needed recharge time. PumpkinFamily spent a marvelous time with great weather, lots of beach time, zero internet and TV, lots of walks, and just general relaxed outside merriment in the sunshine.

I was able to spin almost every day and got so much done. I managed to knit exactly 2 rows (later frogged due to brain damage) the whole time. The spinning is below, you can go to Flickr to see specific details of each.


The other fibery event of vacation was a visit to the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm to see the baby goats and sheep and meet Susan the owner, and marvel at her energy and spirit - that woman is going non-stop all the time. Cheryl hopped over to the island from her Cape Cod vacation and joined us for our visit.


Happy summertime everyone, hopefully I will be posting somewhat regularly again.

The Winner Is...

I felt quite bereft last night with nothing on the wheel - I was tempted to close the poll early and just start spinning. I restrained myself though, so now I get to start pre-drafting the lovely "In the Navy Now".



Here is the yarn resulting from my red dye job that I named "Creeper" in honor of the Virginia Creeper leaf photo that inspired it. It came out a little less bright than I expected, but I really love it. Got about 220yds of worsted from 4oz. Note that all my recent dyeing has been wool from a pound of "Corridale cross" that I got free when I bought the Rose - I traditionally dislike Corriedale, but this stuff has a hand much more like BFL to me, so I've really loved spinning it.



I also realized I never shared the yarn that came from the sparkly blue batts I had carded up. Probably because I don't really like it. The wool was from one of the first fleeces I purchased, and from a breed of sheep designed for food, not wool, so its not soft and kind of a strange texture - harder to spin than I'd expected. Probably won't be using much of that again. But it was fun to play with the carder and might as well practice on crappy wool right?

Choose my Adventure

Ok - I finished spinning my Creeper roving (the red one) from my dyeing last week. It is still drying, so no photos yet. But, I can't decide what to spin next, so you get to choose:



Poll order matches the photo order top to bottom. I will take votes through tomorrow morning sometime. Vote early vote often!

[Poll Closed!]

It seems adding the poll script screws with my header for some reason, so please excuse the ugliness - it will go away when I pull the poll tomorrow morning.

More Spinning

With no big projects on the needles, I'm doing so much more spinning. The latest finished yarn to come off the wheel is this:



Its BFL, "Insect Wings" from the February offering of the HelloYarn fiber club. I get doubles, so this is 9oz roughly 750 yards of a sport weight three ply. These aren't really my colors, so I was kind of "meh" about it, but I love how it turned out - Adrian's colors make it look like it glows.

Below are my singles from the little blue batts I created a couple weeks ago. If you embiggen the photo you can see the little sparklies of the nylon "icicles" that I carded in. Still needs to be plied.



The other week I mixed up about 16 different colors of dye stocks, so I'm hoping to be able to get some roving dyed in the near future too. I've still got the spring creation buzz happening.

Rainy Day Fun

Mama got to do her own arts and craft project during naptime today.

Abandonment....and some spinning

Setting knitting goals for myself worked well to get me to finish Celtic Dreams, but it is failing with the Morning Glories wrap. I am just not feeling the love at all anymore. One way I was working to make my knitting goals was to give each project its own night - so say on Tuesdays, I would always knit on Celtic Dreams after the kids went to bed. What I have found with Morning Glories is that on its designated night, I just don't knit. I'd rather NOT KNIT than knit on that right now, and it makes me feel awful - its a gorgeous pattern, kick ass yarn (if I do say so myself) and I just can't bear to even look at it anymore. So I am hereby giving myself permission to let it sit until A. The desire to work on it returns or B. I find something else to knit with the yarn, and frog it.

Despite (or perhaps because of) my ennui for the wrap, my spinning has been much more frequent. I finished the Pigeon Roof merino "Drift". My original plan was to do soft singles, but I didn't like the colors as singles. Once I realized that, I took what I'd already spun and sent it through the wheel again, adding more twist so I could change my plan to a 2ply - I like it much better this way:



I got about 350yds from 4oz - sportweight I'd guess, I never bother to measure WPI.

Next on the wheel is the last installment from Hello Yarn Fiber Club, called "Insect Wings". I've got 8oz that I've split into thirds, with a plan to make my first true 3ply (i.e not chain plied). I'm trying to keep it pretty fine so the end result isn't too bulky.

With the arrival of spring (I just looked out the window after I typed this, and its fucking snowing again!!) I'm getting strong creative urges that aren't sated by knitting and spinning, and might take out the dyepot and the drum carder soon and play with color and blending and making some batts. I'll be sure to share my results here.

Buffalo

After all my pretty colors, I got a hankering for some naturally colored fibers. I pulled out the latest offering from WoolyWonka Fiber's Exotic Fiber Club, bison!

Staple Length? We don't need no steenkin' staple length!

I have never spun any down-type fibers before so this was a learning experience. I will share my top three tips for spinning bison/buffalo fiber with you:

• remove all small children from the vicinity so that you can meet the next two requirements:
  
• curse like a sailor throughout the whole process
  
• start spinning and do not stop until the bobbin is done

I managed to eke out 120yds of 2ply from the 2 ounces I had.


It wasn't that bad to spin once I found a groove - just barely enough tension to begin to pull away, high ratio and long draw. My biggest problem was that I lost the groove every time I had to stop/start again. The finished skein runs the gamut from bulky weight to almost laceweight thanks to my lack of consistency. I did get more stable results towards the end and I always love having an excuse to blurt out obscenities in a long and constant stream, so overall I am pleased.

Next on the wheel is some merino from Pigeon Roof Studio colorway "Drift". The plan is to make softly spun singles for some future lace project.

Fractal Results

Here's the finished skein fractal spun:


Its difficult to capture in photos but I think the end result is a different effect than if I just willy-nilly spun and plied. The way this roving was painted, one end was started off with a big lime green swath, and then alternated with the orange/yellow/pinks that are the predominant colors. The green never shows up again except in very small bursts.

So with the fractal method the whole front end of the skein has a base of green with all the other colors plied against it, then the background progresses through the long changes of the main colors.


I imagine this knitted up would provide some subtle striping, which is the goal of this technique, I think - it would help if I actually read the article - I can't believe I don't subscribe to SpinOff.

While plying this at spin night this week, I declared that I hated it now that it was plied, but it has grown on me, and I can see its prettiness now. Just not my normal colors I guess. I think I'd use this technique again, it is not really any extra work, assuming you're going to pre-draft in the first place. If I ever get around to knitting with this, I'll be sure to post about that as well.

Spinning Update

My latest to come off the wheel is "Frosted Forest" wool/soysilk from Hello Yarn Fiber Club, I believe its the December 07 installment. I went for doubles for these past few months, so I have 4oz total, about 520yds of my trademarked (not really) "fingersport" weight yarn. I'd been thinking a light and drapey scarf/shawl with this, but once I completed it, I started wondering if the fiber combo might make some silky socks? Who knows, I probably won't get around to knitting it for months, and my whims may have taken me elsewhere by then.


After finishing that, the time came to decide what to put on the wheel next. I love getting to choose new fiber, shopping the stash and having an excuse to pull out and rediscover things I haven't seen in a while. After seeing Rebekah's post about "fractal spinning" here, I thought the idea sounded really neat, so I was "shopping" for a good roving for that. I think I found it:

Spunky Eclectic BFL* colorway Pluto's Fire. I picked this up at last years SPA, deliberately departing my usual color preferences in an attempt to broaden my horizons. Here it is, ready for "fractal" method.


While I've not read the original article from Spin-Off that discusses the tecnique, Rebekah's explanation was plenty instructive. Basically, split your roving lengthwise in half. Spin one bobbin from one half, thus achieving long slow color changes along the length of the singles. For your 2nd bobbin, split the remaining half into quarters, and spin those, thus getting shorter more frequent color changes. Plied together, the idea is you have one single rapidly changing colors against the slow-change single. Like Rebekah, I'm skeptical that all this work actually makes a difference one said yarn is actually knit up, but it seems like a fun experiment. We shall see.

*BFL says the label, my hands and eyes say "No Way!" as I'm spinning it. More like corriedale, but not quite. Certainly not BFL though.

Room for Growth

Below is my first skein of handpun from my Rose. This is the kind of yarn I've been trying to spin for the past two years - namely a true sock weight, tightly spun, and I did it with ease on this wheel. I am beside myself with happiness. This wheel is fast and smooth and has the ratios I need to get enough twist without feeling like I'm running a marathon. The fiber is Spunky Eclectic superwash "Storm Clouds" picked up at SPA last year, 4oz/400yds/2ply.




I expected the new wheel to help me improve, but I wasn't allowing myself to think a simple change in equipment would make such a marked difference. You know, like when you see a gorgeous photograph and think, "Well if I had a snazzy camera I could do that." Equipment helps, but a fine camera doesn't a great photographer make. The same holds true with the wheel, and its interesting for me to see that I had indeed outgrown my old equipment, and I am simply delighted to have so much growing room ahead. This yarn is far from perfect, but its the best I've ever done towards well done sock yarn and its all I can do to wind it up and cast on right now - must focus on my goals from last post.

That said, apart from completing my big knitting projects before they turn the one year mark, I do hope to be able to do more regular spinning. Apart from those wonderful 3 months of maternity leave I had at the beginning of 2007, I really only spun once a month at my local spin group. So I've joined National Spin More Month. I like this group because you get to set your own goals.

In my head I was thinking I would commit to spinning every day of January, but looking at the month ahead I know that is an impossible goal to reach. So my target is spinning 2 times per week. I've designated Thursday as a regular spin day for me (a work day, but I get to stay home Fridays, so I can stay up late spinning if I choose) and I will squeeze at least one more day in a week as time permits. Hooray!

Warm and Wooly Spinning

My little Mazurka has found a new home with some wonderful new spinners from Maine. Before I could let her go, I had to clear off the bobbins, which meant finishing my first true woolen spun. This is 2oz/250yds of Rambouillet from Anne's Exotic Fibers Club. It it pretty wildly inconsistent, so I need some more long draw practice thats for sure, but I do love the result - so elastic and fluffy!


Also made it through a Grafton Fibers batt, this is 3oz/180yard bulky 3-ply. This had been my spinning night project for a while, and despite the haphazard nature of its transformation into yarn (I rarely actually focus on my spinning at spin night) I really like it and it oceanic colors just mesmerize me.

I've been on a spinning jag lately, with the wheel getting my attention before my knitting does, and currently have some gorgeous romney from Adrian's fiber club on the Louet. (I'd have never thought I'd put that adjective in front of the word Romney before I got this package from Adrian - amazing stuff.)

My little spinning corner in the dining room now feels so empty with Mary Jane gone, but I'm not too worried. I've already got a new wheel coming to take her place. I expect that my spinning jag may last a while.

Big and Fast and Beautiful

I have be-hatted my son for the winter, but no hat for Dizzle yet. I decided I wanted a bulky, colorful yarn for her hat. But alas, none in my stash. Whats a girl to do? Spin her own. I grabbed "Lantern Festival", the offering from Hello Yarn's fiber club for the month of July. Here it is all pre-drafted:

And here it is all spun up. There are 2 batches, the first 2.5oz I did watching the Sox win game 7 against Cleveland, and the last 2.5oz was done during naptime yesterday afternoon.


Attention mothers who are spinners: Not only to babies (still) like watching you pre-draft colorful roving (please note: mobile babies REALLY love it, to the tune of grabbing and helping a little too enthusiastically), you can also spin up a whole bunch of yarn during naptime if you are content with big fat singles. Who knew I could go from roving to knitting in 24 hours. I may have a new favorite spinning method. Talk about instant gratification.

Specs: 5oz Corriedale, "Lantern Festival", really not too bulky, about worsted weight (?) I got 450 yards out of 5oz, which seems like a lot. It is so hard to make my hands spin fat yarn. I split the top lengthwise into quarters, and predrafted it as you see above. Slapped on my biggest whorl, increased the take-up so I had to keep my hands off of it as I spun, and even then I positively could not prevent myself from drafting it down further. I was shooting for pretty fat and while this is fat for me, its not quite as fat as I like. Regardless, its still perfect for a hat and is knitting up very prettily.

State of the Spinning

I haven't posted about any of the spinning I've done in the last several months. Carole did WIP `em out Wednesday this week, and I'm sad to say my knitting WIPs don't look very different from the last time I posted about any of them - the hazard of spending short amounts of knitting time on large projects, I suppose. So I'll show you my spinning instead.

First up - Flames Superwash from Rachel, who now has an Etsy shop so you can get her good stuff too. This is about 4 (maybe 5? can't remember) superwash wool, I got about 500yds of dk/light worsted out of it. It is very soft and fluffy, and Rachel's dye job was so good that this blaze red/orange didn't bleed a single drop of dye when I washed it - amazing. This may become a little sweater/coat for Dizzle .

Next Up Rambo! My first true woolen, long-draw spun yarn. Fiber is from WoolyWonka's exotic fiber club, and the prep was exquisite. Still working on this, as the last spin night my shoulder started acting up after sitting and long-drawing for 3 hours.

Lastly, I finally busted out the Grafton Fibers batt I bought back at my first SPA attendance. I brought it to the Topsfield Fair spinning bee this week, and won a 3rd Prize ribbon for my little navaho-plied sample. (for a better recap of that night with photos, and to congratulate the Blue-Ribbon winner, go see Cheryl's recent post).


PumpkinBoy, upon seeing my ribbon and the yarn, petted the little hank for a minute and asked "Did you win for it being the littlest?"

PumpkinFamily is off for a week of fall-style R&R on Martha's Vineyard as of tomorrow, so I'll be disconnected for that time. Have a great week, and GO RED SOX!!!