Nasty Romney goes pink!

Well, a very long time ago I produced this hot pink wool from the nastiest fleece I ever worked with.

One of four dye baths I did with this Romney fleece.  Blogged it at the very start of the blog, so I won't re-tell the story here.  Suffice it to say - I finally did something with some of this pink wool.  Did a nice blend with some gray Corriedale from a ewe named Sierra and added a bit of white icicle fiber for some sparkle. 

It seemed to take forever to get this done, I had 99 grams of batts to spin.  Mostly did it while I was sitting at the computer listening to podcasts and my Celtic music station on Pandora radio.  Nice way to pass the time, to be sure! 

Spun the singles on a spindle and chain plied them on my wheel.

I ended up with this:

A lovely mauve yarn, with a touch of sparkle.  Softer than the Romney alone and more interesting than either color wool would have been.  I'm pretty partial to heathered colors anyway, I like the character and interest that they have when worked up into something.  I originally thought I'd do a scarf out of this, there is a pretty one from Spin-Off by Stephanie Gaustad called Helix Scarf.  It is a ruffled confection that is a very interesting knitting pattern.  Besides that, it would be great with my winter coat.

Color study completed...

100% DD

Nice to finally have this finished.  The last skein is a bit larger than the others since I had some leftover singles from the LNL to use up.  The Dolly Dorset spun very nicely since all the fiber was the same length, so none of the color pooling that happened with the blended skeins.  This kind of study is very useful to keep on hand to predict what heathered colors can be produced from a single dye batch.  In some ways this comes full circle from the initial process of learning to do dyework, since I have now created for myself a simple way to estimate the amounts of colored fiber needed to create a particular shade of heathered yarn using any of the colored wools that I have on hand. 

My personal opinion is that the natural colored wools are far more interesting than white wool dyed to black, gray or brown.  That being the case, I have many black sheep fleeces on hand.  For those who don't know, any sheep that isn't white, is referred to as a black sheep and the wool is processed separately from the white wools - it takes more time for a mill to do this.  Perhaps that is my reasoning for having primarily black sheep in my own flock when I was raising sheep. 

I love happy endings, so this project has been wonderful in so many ways.  Learning new things, creating things from my own skills and being able to keep them and learn more things from them.  What's not to like?

Here's a shot of the whole batch done, and a remembrance shot of the original batts.

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted...

Ahh, the joys of screwing things up... I'm well trained in clothing design.  At least I thought I was.  I did the things I was supposed to: knit the swatch, big enough to take measurements in several spots. Check.  Start knitting, check the gauge again.  Check.

This all went well, started knitting and didn't really think about it much more.  Until the wee hours of Monday night.  Blocked the cardigan pieces, and they kept growing and growing and growing.  Took some measurements - that sweater would fit King Kong.  I did what any sensible person would do - I walked away to keep from doing something horrible to all that knitted work.

It took another day for me to calm down enough to decide what to do next.  Declared it frogged on Ravelry, banished the pattern to the back of the work in progress clipboard, and announced a new project in that yarn.  At that point, I knew I'd be ravelling out the yarn.  Just finished doing that.  In a way, it was cathartic (though disturbing) to see how quickly I could undo the mistake I'd made.

More pondering, and now I'm thinking that I may re-knit the sweater.  A size smaller and on a size smaller needles, making all the changes I thought of as I worked it the first time.  Like doing the knitting in one piece as much as possible.  As I looked over the pattern again, I noticed it had knit up about two sizes too large - certainly not King Kong, but I'd never have worn it the way it was.  So I'll go back to Ravelry, update my projects again and begin again.

Now I have experience...



25% GNR 75% DD

 On the good news front, I finished the 25% Green Nasty Romney (GNR) and 75% Dolly Dorset (DD) skein of the color study.

Vital statistics on this skein:
25% GNR, 75% DD, three times through the carder to blend colors, singles spun clockwise, Navajo plied counterclockwise. 92 yards in this one ounce skein.



50/50 GNR/DD



I got a lot of carding done.  I was getting tired of looking at all that Green Nasty Romney.  So I chose the blend I liked best of the color study and that was the 50/50.  Carded up seven batts of that, about 300 grams total.  Might do some more, but this amount would give me enough to make a nice vest for myself. 



Pink NR, Sierra and white icicle



I also carded up four smallish batts of Pink Nasty Romney, Sierra (silver gray Corriedale) and a little white icicle sparkle fiber.  I've had batts of the Pink and Sierra sitting around for a while, and I got inspired by the Helix Scarf pattern in Spin Off magazine.  I really like the fact that the brilliance of the really hot pink was toned down by the silver gray of Sierra and a bit of sparkle from the icicle fiber.  Should spin up well and knit up to a pretty scarf - enough going on to be interesting, but not so much as to fight with the interest of the ruffling of the scarf.

More good news - got my first Cormo fleece in the mail yesterday.  What lovely stuff that is - washing it up now.  I'll take pictures when it gets dry...

Swatching for the Tam...

Swatch for tam before felting

Ahh, the joys of felting... I think I'm one of those oddballs that actually enjoy the swatching process.  I've done up the swatch in Firecracker Heather Wool of the Andes Worsted from Knit Picks (find it at: http://www.knitpicks.com/ ).

Before felting this swatch measures 6" wide by 6 1/2" high across the full swatch.  Just the stockinette portion measures 4 3/4" wide by 5 1/2" high and is 19 stitches by 28 rows.

The tam is an historically correct version from Piecework magazine (love that historical knitting!) and will be paired with a set of kilt hose done in intarsia.  I dyed the yarn for the yellow in the Wallace tartan since it wasn't available in both of the yarn types I was using and I wanted the pieces to match as much as possible.  The kilt hose will be done in a lightweight two ply yarn called Palette (also from Knit Picks).  Here are the shots of the yarn with the magazine photo so you'll have some idea of what I'm talking about.


Yarns and photo of kilt hose

Here are the kilt hose, very interesting pattern.  These are knitted flat and seamed, that will certainly make the intarsia easier, but I'm thinking that I'd be supremely irritated by a seam on the foot of my sock, so I'm going to modify the pattern to do the foot in the round so that there will be no seam to irritate the foot.  The tartan is Wallace, red, black and bright yellow although the photo doesn't show it well.  The yellow yarn is hand dyed by me in Brilliant Yellow acid dye from Dharma Trading Co.  It is a great way to get the colors I want for this project.  Fun to do too!

Then there is the photo of the tam along with the yarn, tartan and photo from Piecework - interestingly enough these both came from the same issue of the magazine, how cool is that?

Yarns and photo for tam

So, next thing is to go and felt the swatch and to re-measure and adjust the pattern for size.  Then I can start on the actual tam, I haven't done felting like this in years and I really enjoyed it in the past.  Did a pair of slippers as a gift for my brother years ago - styled like chukka boots, the two eyelet ankle high style.  Remember those?  The felted "fabric" turned out so thick and soft - the knitted stitches became nearly indistinguishable.  I have also located a neat felted pattern for slippers for myself.  It uses both a superwash and a feltable wool... more on that later since it is quite a way down the knitting queue.



Skill + 1 Up (K&C Blog Week - Day 2)

The new things I've learned this past year could fill pages!  It seems that most anything I attempt, I jump in with both feet and lots of ambition - and sometimes very little sense.  For example, I never knew about all the video help available online until my Mom decided to start knitting.  She thought I could teach her, and I was flattered, and gave it a shot.  But.... she's left-handed.  I thought (all this thinking - I smell smoke!) that it would be easy - just have her sit across from me, right?  Well, maybe not, since not only are the hand positions reversed - the good thing.  The stitches are also reversed - not so good.  I also learned that it is far more difficult to teach things that sound so simple in a book.

With that experience crawling through my cranium, I started digging for more technical information about why knitting "works" the way it does.  I found it in books by Cat Bordhi, Barbara Walker, Elizabeth Zimmerman and one called Knitting in the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson.  Being rather designer-minded since childhood, these things flooded into my brain and did their own version of the hula in there, showing me possibilities I hadn't thought about for designing my own knitted things.  Only trouble - finding time to knit the samples and (of course) the finished things!

Specifically, I've learned entrelac, which has led me out to the land of madness in terms of picking up stitches and knitting off in other directions - what a design possibility!  Those ponderings led to cables combined with knitted lace patterns, mosaic knitting, really cool Fair Isle ideas and more!

In the last year I've also discovered knitting groups, Ravelry and Etsy.  These are wonderful, each in their own way.  Knitting groups allow me to knit (and spin) in public (not that I was ever opposed to doing that - I don't care if people think I'm weird - I AM weird, and I'm okay with that).  They also challenge me to look at what I'm doing in new ways - other people do different things with their knitting than I do.  The Brain hat comes to mind here... no, I don't have pictures (sigh).

Ravelry..... what a great concept!  I don't even really know how to describe it.  Part pattern library, part social network, part project journal and stash organizer.  I'm still learning my way around in there - so much to see and do!  Might be able to catalog my stash, but that will take a while methinks!  I've found patterns and lots of inspiration in that wonderful electronic environs!  Wandering through French patterns (wishing I remembered more of my high school French so I could use them!) marveling at the differences between designers.  Rediscovering yarns, sources of supply and designers that I'd forgotten, and finding some I never knew before.

Etsy is also a great online venue for all things artsy.  I can look for (and find) most anything I could desire for my fiberish life.  I also have a shop there where I sell my handmade pens www.etsy.com/shop/krwizwork and even though I haven't really talked about it much here on the blog, it is one of the ways I feed my inner artist that actually makes me a few bucks.  People know what to do with a pen.  Hoping to save up the sheckles to insulate my wood shop so I can work out there year around.  But I have had a wonderful time inside with my wool this winter.

I used to joke that I could spin, weave and dye without strong drink.  I finally did more serious work on dyeing this past winter.  I've documented a lot of that early learning here in this blog, in fact, that's why I started the blog in the first place.  Most people get a glazed look when I start talking about fiberish things - and invariably ask "Can't you just buy yarn?  Why would you spin it yourself?"  To which, I have learned to answer "Because I can."  So, in this format, I don't have to encounter the glassy stare.... I can prattle on at length about what is important to me.  So, for the first time in my life, I've found a place to say the things that are "all about me".  Selfish?  Maybe a little, but I've found that there are people who are enjoying my little flight of fancy here.  Maybe not too many, but enough to keep me writing.

Thanks for the challenge Renee Anne, this is FUN! (wink!)