Things are getting fuzzy!

Knit Picks Galileo in "Gem" on size 3 (3.25 mm)

Spinning and swatching have taken up my fiber time lately.  I've been working on wooly goodness to put into my Etsy shop as well as spinning more singles for another embellished yarn.  Swatching for some new projects as well.  Sometimes it is nice to start looking into my next few projects when I feel ready to stall out on my current one.  Shipwreck is in that particular spot right now... a little too much time on really fine yarn and fiddly lace has me hungry for some super simple take along type of projects.  That being said, naturally the first thing that grabbed me was the extra-super-duper fiddly cabled cardigan called Tapestry.  I'm nuts - I know.  But the swatch was plain stockinette with garter borders, so it met the need of super easy knitting that I needed just then.  Of course the photo also gives me away - I've cast on for the sweater and I'm a couple rows into it.  Didn't I just frog out a cabled sweater?  Ummmmm..... yes, but I guess I'm ready for more punishment on even finer yarn and smaller needles.  Learning from recent mistakes doesn't always happen in my case evidently.

Combed Romney nests up for sale

Other fiber madness includes this batch of delightful fluff.  This is hand combed Romney that I processed on my English 4 pitch combs.  I mentioned them and discussed the process back in the Wicked post.  It is a very nice way to get lovely spinning fiber out of clean but trashy (with VM) fleece.  Spinning from hand combed top is such a pleasure.  The fiber is arranged in parallel fashion, so the spining is so smooth and wonderful!  I like texture too, but nothing beats combed fiber for a lovely smooth singles when spinning.  This Romney is pretty typical of the breed, long and silky fiber.  Not as harsh as most of the longwools and a terrific fiber on which to learn spinning.  There is also something about spinning the pure, undyed, creamy natural wool.  My passion for color in spinning doesn't often give me the time to do much white, but this fiber may just find a place in the lineup sometime very soon.  This particular batch is listed here in my Etsy shop.  I'm working on more of this fleece in dyed colors as well.  Those will go up in the shop as soon as I'm finished combing them.

Original pair of swatches for Knit, Swirl jacket

Another fun project that I'm still swatching is a jacket from the book Knit, Swirl by Sandra McIver.  I've wanted to do one of these lovely knitted works of art for several years, so I finally bought the book and raided my stash for these swatches.

The rich purple is a mohair that has been in my stash for years, just waiting for the right project to showcase it's beauty.  Being mohair, it isn't next to the skin soft, but it has such a wonderful fluffy halo that it should work well in this jacket.  The one on the bottom is the handspun that has made several appearances in this blog.  It is the Dolly Dorset with Louet Northern Lights in Wild Berry Jam.  These swatches were done on the same needles with the same stitch count and pattern, and they don't match up for size.  Bummer, but that is why I do swatches, to find this kind of thing out before I charge into a project.  I've learned this the hard way... so I do a lot more swatching than I used to.  Since the tags aren't really visable, I'll give the details here.

The mohair swatch is done in Millie Mohair that I've had in my stash since 1992 or so.  I remember buying it back when I lived in Colorado from a shop called the Recycled Lamb.  I believe that they are still in operation - I've encountered them on Ravelry from time to time. 

Back to the swatch: I cast on 24 stitches with the plan of a three stitch garter border and worked it up on size 7 (4.5 mm) needles.  Did four rows of garter stitch and then worked the stockinette center section and finished up with another four rows of garter stitch.  Bound it off and gave it a bath.  Who knew such fine yarn would work up in nearly Aran weight?  The fabric is light and airy, but the fuzz really fills it up!  I also notice that it has a definite tendency to bias which is good to know.  I didn't block it hard because I wanted to know what it wanted to do on its own.  Worked up at four stitches per inch, just a bit too big for the gauge called for in the pattern.

The second swatch is the handspun done up in the same fashion.  But it washed up nice and square - being a three ply yarn really helps it to behave as a more stable yarn construction.  This swatch worked up at just over five stitches per inch. 

New swatch showing the welted construction,
done in two different needle sizes

Tough decisions now... do I switch yarns, or switch needles to make these yarns work together?  The first thing I sampled was to change needle sizes to make the gauge match and it worked pretty well.  But, and here's the big problem, I don't like it as much.  Knitting the mohair on size six (4 mm) needles makes it firmer than I really want and really compresses the fluffy fun that makes the yarn such a treat.  I also find that I'm not as wild about the handspun on the size 8 (5 mm) needles.  A bit too floppy for my taste, and I think the colors just don't really go together as well as I'd hoped.  So, I'm back to the drawing board.  What I'm considering now is a very plain yarn with the mohair so there is less competition between the yarns.  I'm also thinking that I may alternate rows to spread out the fluff a bit.  The welts will still show up well I think, but I'll need to swatch it to be sure.  I'm not wild about the visible purl bumps between the welts, so I may match up the yarn on those rows to help them blend in better.  So, now I'm in search of a new background yarn to use with the mohair.

Welcome to the frog pond... are you hungry?

Discovered this in my inbox this morning and thought it made a certain amount of sense, so I'll share it with you too.  It is a little video (under two minutes) that really made me think about what my own "frogs" are.

http://www.flickspire.com/m/AdvancedLi255/EatThatFrog

So here's my first live frog... a frogging project!  I've decided to "frog" the cabled sweater so it will stop bothering me.  In case you aren't a knitter, "frogging" is where you discover a mistake a few rows back, and "rip-it, rip-it, rip-it" back so it can be re-knit.  Hopefully correctly on the second try.  Some projects take many trips to the frog pond.  I had a sweater that I had completely finished knitting the pieces and frogged it all the way back because I didn't like the fit.  I blogged about that here, just scroll down the page until you see the red-violet sweater.

See how the ribs mis-match the cables... bummer!

So here is the shot of the mistake side of the sweater... I showed you the good side last post.  See how the cables don't line up with the ribbing.  That was making me unhappy, because that is one of the things I really liked about the pattern.  Since I hadn't done cables in a while, I followed the pattern precisely rather than making sure it made sense on the reality of the needles.  When I converted the pattern to knitting in the round the stitch count didn't line up to the pattern anymore - probably because of the stitches not being lost into seamlines of the finished sweater.  In any event, I'll reknit this in the round and watch more carefully to be certain that the ribs line up with the cables.

This is the part that always makes me go "hmmmmm....." because as satisfying as it is to watch a mistake disappear, there is the niggling consternation over how long it takes to knit this amount of yarn versus how quickly it can be made back into just balls of yarn again.  In any event, it is finished now and I can consider how to start again to make the ribbing line up.



Back to being balls of yarn, needles and a pile of markers.

Part of the reason for the error is that I hadn't done cables in such a long time that I didn't really watch where the stitches of the cable were coming up on the pattern over the ribs.  I was too busy counting stitches!  It is going to be a matter of lining up the knit stitches of the cable pattern over the knit stitches of the ribbing.  Sounds easy enough, but there are several charts working at the same time - six different charts in each row.  I've made myself a "cheat sheet" of sorts where I've made photocopies of the charts, which are different sizes, and I keep a colored pencil with me so that I can mark off the rows as I finish them.  Ponderous, I know, but it is a way to keep track that works for me.  There are chart keeping systems out there that use magnets to line up on the papers, but I don't have one of them.  Since I keep my pattern on a clipboard that goes in and out of a project bag, I'm not sure the magnets would stay in place.



Brindle Shetland roving and bobbin of singles in process.

The next thing I've been working on is the Shetland roving I started on the last post.  I've got over half of it finished now.  2.6 ounces of the 4 ounces I started with are now spun into singles.  This is such luscious wool - I'm loving the way it spins up, fine and soft and very different from the commercial Shetland yarn I've encountered in yarn shops.  I spent some time with my Mom today and since she remembers the days when Shetland sweaters were all the rage, I asked her about them.  Wondering if maybe the wool was better back then, like the hand processed roving I'm using now.  She said it was dreadfully scratchy to wear those sweaters, and she had to be sure to wear some kind of firmly woven shirt underneath those stylish sweaters!  What young women go through to be fashionable.... seems that it never changes. 

I take a certain comfort in knowing that as a spinner, I really can do a lot to make my yarn be exactly what I want it to be.  Granted, there are some wools that really are never going to be "next to the skin" soft.  There are many others that can either be blended with other kinds of fiber, or handled more gently in processing that will come very close to being that soft.  Soapbox I'm hauling out now: the medium wools may not be as soft as the finewools, but they are lots more pleasant to spin, more durable, and by buying raw fleeces or roving from local shepherds I get to support small, local farms.  That is so important to me... having had a farm of my own for ten years.  The driving force behind this rare breed spin-a-long is to encourage spinners to at least try some fiber that is new to them.  I can use myself as an example of how surprising the project can be.  I would cheerfully buy more of this kind of roving from this farm.  Shetland sheep have a claim to fame in their colored wool - there are eleven "official" colors and many patterns of markings on these tiny sheep.

The worn heel of my favorite slippers.

Garter stitch patches, about 4 inches square.

Next thing I've been working on is some mending.  I'd prefer to mend than to remake things as much as possible... use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without is something of a mantra for me.  Not a popular idea in current culture, but one that I strive to live.  This particular mending project is a pair of slippers that I knit and felted about a year ago.  I've loved them nearly to death, and now they need patching.  These slippers are from a felting book that I just love.  There are many projects that I want to try, but I've done these twice.  When I do mending, I try to catch spots that are wearing thin before they become holes - which are much harder to fix!  I decided since the rest of the soles of the slippers are in pretty good shape, I'd just patch the heels.  My thinking was that since the stockinette wore out faster on the heels, I'd do the patch in garter stitch to get more yarn into the same amount of space.  I knit up a couple of squares of garter stitch, casting on 20 stitches on size 8 needles and working until the pieces were square.  The next step is to felt the squares.  I'll put them into a "delicates" bag and throw them into a heavy duty wash with low water level and plenty of soap - with a couple pairs of old jeans for company - and beat the fuzz out of them until they become good, firm felt.  Having done some of this kind of felting before, I'm pretty sure they won't be square at the end of the process, but since it will be felted, I could cut them to a specific size if I wanted. 

My favorite, although well worn, slippers.

Here is my project page from Ravelry on these slippers.  And here is a shot of what they look like today.  The soles are in pretty good shape, but the superwash sock yarn tops are still like new.  Superwash wool is amazing stuff!  This is done in Wildfoote from Brown Sheep yarn company.  Still available, but I don't know if this colorway is still part of their line up.  I bought this yarn years ago, and did a stash dive to make these slippers over a year ago.  I've been so impressed by the durability of these slippers and I've made another pair since then so I can always have a pair to wear - they take a couple days to dry after being washed - felt is pretty dense stuff!  The felt does relax a bit with wear, so washing and doing a little massage job on the worn parts tightens the felt a bit, but these are to the point that the felt doesn't have the ability to tighten up enough anymore.

My condo is on a slab foundation, and the thickness of these slipper soles keeps the chill off my feet very well indeed.  I'm off to make felt patches....



Happy New Year!

Shetland Wool - Brindle roving from Bramble Wool Farm
This blend is 49% Black/51% White Shetland in natural colors.

So begins another adventure!  Since I work third shift, I was awake for the midnight change of year.  I celebrated by spending the night spinning some lovely Shetland Brindle roving from Bramble Wool Farm.  It is part of a Rare Breeds Spin-a-long with Joanna and the folks over at the Knit Spin Farm podcast.  This wonderfully prepared roving followed me home from the 2012 Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival back in September.  I had a hankering to experiment with Shetland wool, but the tiny skeins I found for very high prices at my local yarn shop certainly put a damper on my enthusiasm!  That being said, there are wonderful rainbows of color available in those gorgeous Jamieson yarns!  Since this wool is so often used for Fair Isle knitting, I suppose that it makes a certain amount of sense to have small skeins available.  I think I'll chain ply the singles I'm spinning and perhaps dye it in several colors to play around with some Fair Isle.  Here's what I have done so far:

1.8 ounces spun into singles on the Kromski, pretty fine singles

This will probably be a chain plied yarn.  I prefer the rounder cross-section of three strands to the flat nature of two-ply yarns even though the two-ply is what is traditionally used for Fair Isle work.  I have four ounces of this roving, so I'm just about halfway through it already.

Some things were surprising as I spun this Shetland.  I was sure it would feel very scratchy and rough like the commercial yarn I saw at the shop.  To my delight, it is softer than expected and it drafts well.  As I browsed the farm's website, I did discover that they hand wash their fiber, which may account for the softness and the very slightly "oiled" feel of the roving while I draft it.  Hand washing the wool allows it to retain just a touch of the natural oils to remain in the strands of the wool.  It is a matter of opinion whether this is a good thing or not - but I prefer it for spinning, since it allows the fibers to slide along each other more smoothly.  Commercial preparation strips out all the natural oils and, to me, makes the fiber seem parched and dry.  It also straightens most of the wave and crimp in the fibers which deadens the bounce and lively nature of hand processed wools.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have started the Shipwreck shawl and I'm thrilled with the way it is turning out.  Here is the first "in progress" shot I took at the end of the 5th section, called Bleeding heart lace, of the pattern. It is pinned out on a blocking mat for the picture, since knitted lace is less than lovely just sitting on the needles.  This measured about ten inches in diameter when pinned out.

I have continued into the next section, called Madeira, and shot another picture after stringing a very long cable through the stitches.  You might notice a white thread strung through the stitches a few rounds from the edge.  This is called a "life line" and is a clever way of retaining sanity while working complex lace patterns.  Lace is difficult to rip back in the event of a mistake since the holes cross the boundaries of the rows.  Life lines are threaded through the stitches of a round, and make it possible to replace the knitting needle correctly in the round if the knitting has to be ripped back.  The needles I'm using have a nifty way to accomplish this.  There is a small hole in the end of each cable connection to tighten the interchangeable needle tips - this is also useful to make life lines, just string some sewing thread through the hole at the beginning of the round.  This draws a thread through each stitch in the round.  At the end of the round, the life line is placed - much easier than other ways!  The only trouble is that it also takes the thread through all my markers.... This time, I did slip the thread out of the markers, but I think next time I'll just do another life line about five rounds later and leave the thread in the markers.  In any event, here is a picture three rounds into the Madeira pattern.

Notice that in just a few rounds the size has increased enough that it takes four of the mats to pin it out into round now!  Probably about eighteen inches in diameter now.  This style of shawl construction is called "Pi shaping" since the increases come at intervals where the stitch count doubles in a single round.  Makes it simple to keep track of the increases.

The other project, the cabled sweater, is in time out at the moment.  I've made an error when I converted the pattern to knitting in the round that altered the stitch count and the cables didn't line up exactly as I had hoped.  I'm not sure anyone would notice but me, yet part of the appeal of the sweater pattern was that the cables grew up out of the ribbing.  So I'm trying to decide if it bothers me enough to pull it out and fix it.  I'm about twenty rounds into the pattern, and it is gorgeous, but the mistake at the edge is pulling at me.  I'll probably frog it back to the ribbing and re-knit it unless someone has a slick solution to fix it without having to pull out all that work.  In any event, here is a picture of the sweater so far.
I don't see the mistake in this shot, so it is probably on the other side.  So in the interest of full disclosure, imagine the pattern offset by two stitches so the cables don't line up over the ribs at the bottom edge.  One of the many things I really like about this pattern is that the sides of the sweater are in regular stockinette stitch as well as the panels between the cable sections.  I find that more appealing than the reverse stockinette that most cabled sweaters have as the background.  Reverse stockinette means lots of purling, but it also means a nubby surface that seems more likely to pill than the smoother stockinette surface.  This particular yarn is the rugged Wool of the Andes Worsted in Amethyst Heather from Knit Picks.

Blocked and ready to give...

Front view - Annis shawlette for Mom

Mom's shawlette is done and ready to give for Christmas.  This was a relatively quick knit.  I loved working with the Malabrigo yarn, beautiful color and wonderfully soft!  Way out of my price range, so I really enjoyed working with this fancy yarn.
I've done this shawlette before, and so I was familiar with the pattern.  That certainly helped me get through the nupps - which are not my favorite things to do - but the effect is very nice.  The method I use is not the knitting purist way of doing things.  The nupps on this shawlette are one stitch to seven stitches on the first row and then back to one stitch on the next row. I use a tiny latch hook, I got mine from a knitting machine supplier a long time ago.  Not entirely sure if they are still available, but it is about half the size of the standard rug making latch hooks I've seen in craft stores. The way I use it goes like this: the first row I do on the knitting needles in the normal way, knit one stitch without removing it from the left needle, go back into the stitch and do a yarn over. Repeat until the required number of loops are on the needle. Knit on in the pattern to the end of the row.  When I get back to the nupp on the next row, I slip the loops onto the latch hook and lay the working yarn in the hook, close the latch and draw it through all the loops and re-hang the yarn I drew through onto the right needle.  Then I tighten it up to match the gauge of the rest of the knitting.  Works better for me than trying to use a knitting needle or a crochet hook to capture the yarn without losing all the loops.

Back view - Annis shawlette for Mom

This shawlette has the lace done first and then short rows of stockinette to the top edge.  It is crescent shaped, and was a very different looking thing on the needles as it was being worked.  This particular piece didn't get quite as large as the pattern suggested for blocking.  The pattern suggested fifty six inches in width, I got about fifty two inches, and I blocked it out about as far as I could.  The yarn was beautiful, but it did lose some color in the wash water, but the finished piece doesn't look any lighter, so the color was probably excess dye on the fiber of the yarn.  I put it through several hot water rinses to be certain I got all the detergent out of the fiber, and to rinse out as much of the dye as would come out so that the shawlette wouldn't lose color onto any garment it would come in contact with when worn.

I do have a set of blocking mats from Knit Picks that I shot a picture of this piece on before washing so that you can see how much knitted lace changes from the needles to the shawl.


Before blocking - notice the size

This picture gives an idea of the size before blocking.  The tape measure shows about twenty eight inches, I thought I'd have plenty of space on these nice blocking squares. Not in real life though... I blocked the wet knitting out to the fifty two inches and it took my other set of squares, an alphabet play set that I bought at Walmart for about twenty bucks a few months back.  I knew I'd need them for the Shipwreck shawl I'm planning - I'm sure glad I had them for this!  Hideous colors, so I won't blind you with a photo of the lace being blocked, but they worked very well to hold the pins in the points of the lace.  I do have blocking wires, but they are not the super flexible ones, so I only used them for the ends of the lace where it is flat.  I used extra fine sewing pins for the points of the lace, being sure to catch at least two strands of yarn in each point.

Close up of lace before blocking

The process of blocking is pretty simple.  Take the wet knitting and stretch it out, using pins at all the points of the lace to pull them out and lay the knitting very flat and allow it to dry in that state.

 

The reality is a little more involved. 

 

1. Take the sloppy looking mess of knitting and soak it for a half hour in hot, soapy water remembering not to agitate it at all. 

2. Become horrified by the dark purple water under the suds.

3. Bundle up the knitting and squeeze out still more dark purple water and suds.

4. Remind myself to relax - there is still purple yarn in there.

5. Refill the bucket with more hot water and push the tiny bundle back into the water.

6. Become alarmed again by the dark purple water.

7. Repeat the hot rinse a couple more times, carefully watching to see if a white shawl will remain at the end of this process.

8. Relax a little when the color bleed slows down after the fifth rinse.

9. Take the little bundle out of the water, squeeze out most of the water and carry the tiny bundle down to the blocking board.

10. Start pinning it out after threading the two straight edge bits onto blocking wires.

11. Discover that the fancy branded knitting blocking squares are not even close to being big enough to do the job, no matter how cleverly configured.

12. Move the whole shebang to the kitchen counter and retrieve the other set of mats - the hideous bright colored alphabet set mentioned earlier.  I am NOT shooting a picture of lovely lace on those ugly things!

13. Start over, pinning the knitting out and re-pinning as it grows, and grows, and grows!  This piece more than doubled in size from the needles to the blocking.  I was amazed!

14. Wait for the thing to dry, finding somewhere else to prepare and eat my meals so I don't have to disturb what now looks very fragile, airy and light.

15. Remove a couple of pins after about 12 hours, gasp with delight that the lace holds the shape.  Then remove the rest of the pins and wires and let the knitting rest for a couple hours.

16. Prepare the dress form and shoot some pictures!

 

Even though I did this before with my first shawlette, I didn't use such fine yarn and didn't block it out as far.  I really was not prepared for the beauty and diaphanous quality of the finer yarn made into knitted lace.  I can hardly wait to begin the Shipwreck shawl.  That pattern is a very large circular shawl - almost six feet across when blocked!  Glad I had this experience first to prepare myself for that, although I love to be surprised by beauty like this.  I think Mom will be delighted with her pretty shawlette, and I hope she gets a lot of use out of it.

 

Next on the needles is a heavily cabled sweater for myself.  I'm already started on it and I'm enjoying this knit a great deal.  I like to keep one project in heavier yarn in progress for when I just want to knit something that I can really see progress on. Finer yarns are great, but the projects seem to go so much more slowly...

 

Still spinning on the singles for the Shipwreck shawl.  I've got about 600 yards of the sequined yarn and over 400 yards of the yarn without sequins.  I'm into the last ball of the Louet Northern Lights pencil roving in the Violets colorway and I've got a full bobbin of the purple recycled yarn ready for plying when I'm done with the LNL singles.  I'll probably cast on the shawl and get started on it so that I'll have some idea of how much more of the yarn I'll need of each style.  The sequins are in the netted part out toward the edge, so I expect that I'll need more of that.  The total shawl takes about 1600 yards, so I'll have plenty of knitting to do.

Knitting lace for Christmas...

Annis shawlette in Wiggly handspun
on the needles

As time goes on, I find that I enjoy the challenge of lace.  This lace shawlette is one I've done before - in my own handspun.  I showed you a picture of it in progress, at about the point where the current shawlette is on my needles now.  This is the Annis pattern from Susanna IC.  Granted that my handspun is a heavier weight than the yarn I'm using now - but the shawlette really turned out well.  Looking back, I never showed you the finished project, so here is a shot of it on the blocking board.  It is pinned out while still wet from its bath so that it will dry with all the gorgeous lace pulled out flat.  As you can see from the "before" shot on the needles, it isn't impressive as it is in progress.

Annis shawlette in Wiggly handspun
 on the blocking board

This is a relatively simple pattern, and I love the striping that happens in the stockinette section on the shawlette.  I blocked it into a crescent shape, thinking that the tails would stay in place better.  The nice thing is that I can change my mind and reblock it in a different shape when I wash it next time.

I took a couple shots on the dress form to show it on a person-shaped form.  I like the way it turned out.  I pinned it in place fully open, but in reality, I'd probably put the ends over my shoulders for the warmth of double thickness on my neck and shoulders.

Annis shawlette - back view

Annis shawlette - front view

Another way I could wear this is with the wide part across the front and the pointed ends pulled to the front as well.  Didn't take a picture that way though.  I guess I didn't think of that while I had the dress form out. 





Mom's Annis shawlette in Malabrigo

In any event, I'm working this one again in Malabrigo that I bought for my Mom about a year ago.  We were planning to knit this together and the lace was a bit too intimidating for her.  I'm doing it for her Christmas present this year.  I'm ten rows into the lace pattern, and the yarn is far different and quite a bit finer than my handspun.  I don't have the ball band from this lovely yarn, but it is mostly a lovely grape color with some blue shading.  Since it is still on the needles, I've pinned it out to show off the lace patterning.  The first set of nupps is done... not my favorite, but once I started using a small latch hook to finish the second row I was much happier with the outcome.  The nupps take two rows, the first row is to create seven stitches from one and the second row takes the seven stitches back to a single stitch.  This leaves a small bubble of yarn on that spot in the pattern.  There will be a chevron of five nupps that follows the points in the lacework.  Nice effect, so I'll do them for Mom's shawlette.

 

Here's the fun part.  I found some interesting soft laceweight yarn in a pleasant variegated gray to black.  This is Patons Lace in the Patina colorway.  Slightly fuzzy and mostly acrylic (80% acrylic, 10% mohair, 10% wool), so I was worried about how it would hold up to blocking.  I knitted up a swatch of the lace pattern and used beads in place of the nupps.  I just did a loop around the needle tip as a place holder of sorts where the nupp would appear.  That loop was unwound and I threaded a relatively large round bead onto the loop.  I like the result, and it gives a pleasant weight to the edge of the sample.  These beads are 6mm size and are just a bit larger than I really want unless I find some that really speak to me.  I was sampling to find the largest beads I'd use in this pattern and I think I found this to be about the maximum size.  I washed and blocked the swatch and it seems to be holding its shape relatively well.  The photo was shot with the swatch loose on a smooth surface, and it hasn't pulled back much so I'm calling it a success.

Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival 2012

Amazing weekend!  Took some vacation time and had a wonderful time at this fiber fair.  Probably the best and largest one that is close to me.  It runs from Friday to Sunday and just finished up its eleventh annual event.

As I think back on it, this festival started as a sheep show and has grown into the amazing event that it is now.  It has a full livestock show, fleece show and auction, vendors in two large barns, a sheepdog trial that runs all three days and classes from nationally known instructors.

This year I entered the Open Handspun Skein Competition in two categories.  Experienced adult spinner class - fine yarn lot, and Drop spindle class - medium lot.  The entry for the first one was a yarn that I just finished, I called it Deep Blue Sea and my plans for it are a very large shawl called Shipwreck so I still have a lot of spinning to do!  The shawl requires 1600 yards of fine yarn.  The skein I entered will be used for part of the beaded netting that the pattern calls for out near the edge.  I may alternate the sequined rows with the regular yarn, I'll sample it and see.  Here's what the yarn looks like:


Deep Blue Sea

Deep Blue Sea - swatch

It is a three ply yarn, one ply is a varigated wool from Louet called Northern Lights in the Violets colorway.  It shades from purple to lime green through several shades of blue.  One ply is a lambswool, angora and nylon blend in purple.  The third ply is sewing thread strung with 3mm amethyst iris sequins.  As I plied the yarn, I pushed in a sequin about every 3-4 inches so they would appear about once every knitted inch.  The Shipwreck pattern calls for beads at random intervals, so I thought this would work for me since they sequins are already in the yarn.  Beads strung on yarn have a number of concerns for me.  Sliding the beads along the spun yarn abrades the yarn unless the beads are very large.  If the beads are smaller there is the problem of a thick spot in the yarn that the beads might not fit over, and that is always possible on handspun.  I also made a small swatch, the competition required it to be quite small, so the motif from the shawl pattern was much too large.  I chose a small eyelet pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury.

Blue Neon 3 ply and extra black chain ply

Blue Neon - swatch

The other yarn I entered was also a three ply.  Spun on a drop spindle, this yarn was one ply of a handpainted BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) roving from Frene Creek Farm my favorite local shepherd.  The other two plies were made from a 50/50 blend of "Dusty" a fine wool covered Corriedale fleece from a shepherd in Colorado (no longer has a web presence) and some black alpaca roving. This photo shows the extra black yarn chain plied on top of the Blue Neon skeins.  I called this one Blue Neon because of the way it worked up - the skein showed brilliant color against the black background which was the look I was after with this combination of fiber.  The swatch shows a nice, shadowy stripe of the varigation of the handpaint.  I did like the swatch at this weight the best.  This one was done on size 4 needles and had the suppleness I'd want for a sweater or vest.  I had also done a swatch for socks on size 2 needles.  It is also pleasing to me, but I think this will probably become outerwear.  Might use some as an accent on socks, but since there is no nylon in this blend, it might not wear well enough for socks.

The skein competition was interesting to watch.  The instructions were that no talking or questions would be allowed, and the judge worked in silence.  Disappointing to me, after listening to the wool judge on the prior day.  He chattered away as he judged the fleeces.  Talked about what he looked for and what he was finding as he worked his way through the many fleeces in that show.  Just a difference in the way the two judges worked.  Perhaps there is a tradition there as well... I don't know, but I did enjoy the way the talkative judge worked.  I think I learned more from that method.

The results were available after the judging and I was allowed to keep my score sheets, which I appreciated.  Sadly, there were no comments on the papers, just the numerical scores.  The nice thing was that I was permitted to speak with the judge when she was finished.  The standard calls for perfection, and appears to compare the handspun skeins to millspun yarns.  I fared pretty well, my Deep Blue Sea got 96/100 points and the Blue Neon got 100/100 points.  Both were awarded second place ribbons.  Deep Blue Sea was topped by a bamboo/silk 2 ply that was perfectly even.  Not as pretty, in my opinion, but it was perfect.  Blue Neon was beat by a beautiful heavier weight two ply, that again, was perfectly even.  That skein also won Best In Show.  I'm content, my scores were very good, and I still love my yarn.  Actually, the judge did too, as I learned in our conversation after the judging was done.  She told me that she knew how difficult it is to ply with sewing thread and that she just LOVES sequins.  So..... I think she liked my yarn - quite a lot.

Will I do another competition?  I don't know.  I learned a lot, but I also know that my yarn scores very high in such a competition.  That part was quite satisfying.  The payout isn't really enough to make me want to do very much of this.  Each of those skeins represent many hours of work, and though the booth was attended, I was uncomfortable leaving my hard work out there for the whole weekend.


New stash...

Gosh, it has been a while since a yarn grabbed me like this.  I found some really pretty ruffling yarn advertised in a catalog from Mary Maxim.  Most of their things are way to cutesy for my taste, but they had several varieties of this self-ruffling yarn that I wanted to have a look at "in person" to see how they worked.  I went to every craft shop in town, and of course, none of them had any of the types - not even the Red Heart version. Sigh....
So, I went back to the catalog and tried to place an order for the least expensive version - Red Heart Sashay - and it was out of stock!  Bigger sigh...
So, I went for the higher priced version and placed an order.  Hope it arrives soon... it looks so nice in the pictures.
Of course, with all that yarn shopping a few skeins followed me home.  I found this lovely, fuzzy Patons Lace with Sequins in the Amethyst colorway:

Pretty stuff, but as with most sparkly yarns, this one is a bit camera shy.  The sequins are a deep color that shimmers between red, fuschia and violet.  Very pretty indeed!  I'm thinking of a shrug or a vest with this, the balls are lace weight, and with all that glittering, I'll want a smooth knit to show it off to it's best advantage.

I'll swatch it later on, since I seem to have caught the "cast on" bug in the last little while.

Here's the beginning of my next sweater - at least I hope it is, the swatch is feeling a little light and loose and it isn't at gauge yet.  But here's the picture of what I'm planning for the next sweater.

The pattern is from Sunday Knits and is called Tapestry.  Very romantic, lots of cables and lace and knit in the round up to the armsceye.  I especially like the way the buttons are nestled into the cables on the front.  I chose a superwash fingering weight yarn from Knit Picks called Stroll in the colorway Twinkle Heather.  I'll keep going on the swatch and see if I like it better as it grows in size.  There are some people that say superwash wools don't feel good to them.  I really rather like the soft hand that this treatment gives the fiber.  Some wools feel a bit scratchy to me - even Merino sometimes.  I typically wear pure regular wool sweaters over a cotton turtleneck for comfort.  The superwash I can wear in socks on my bare skin without a problem.  For instance, those new slippers I made have both kinds of wool in them, superwash on the tops and feltable wool for the soles.  I find them more comfortable if I wear thin socks inside the slippers.  Doing this should also help improve the wearing life of the slippers as well, so it becomes a win-win situation.  This being said, I've started another pair of slipper socks since I adore the first pair and needed another "easy" knitting project for when I'm somewhere that I can knit on something simple and still be able to pay attention to other things going on... like at church.  So here's a work-in-progress shot of the slippers:

Since it takes two strands held together for the tops, I wound off a small ball of the sock yarn, trying to match up the patterning so there are some coherent stripes on the tops.  I like the effect I'm getting so far.  The match isn't perfect, but with two yarns running together the stripes are softened a bit.  So far, so good.  I'm just starting the top of the foot on the first slipper.  These take me about twenty hours from start to finish.  The yarn is Wisdom Yarns Phoenix in the Hayden colorway.  Superwash wool and nylon blend.  Cast on with size 7 needles and switch to size 4 for the tops.  I'll use my leftover Wool of the Andes Worsted in Fairy Tale for the heels and soles - I had a few balls left from the sweater and they match this yarn pretty nicely.

Sweater done, spinning in progress...

I love the feeling of finishing things... got a few more done this week. The never-ending sweater is finally knitted. Took a picture of it before blocking:

I like the way it turned out, but there are a couple of things I still want to do before I wear it.  Blocking would be the first thing, and I have given it the first warm bath of its life.  At the moment it is drying on a screen.  Never ceases to amaze me how the stitches smooth out after blocking.  Didn't need any wires in this one, just laid it out flat.  Second thing I'll be doing is adding a band of ribbon to the back of the button bands.  The knitting is wonderfully soft, but it isn't likely to support buttonholes and buttons without sagging.  So rather than wait for that to happen, I'll be putting the ribbon on to stabilize it.

I've also been finishing up some spinning that has been hanging around for a while. Here is a small skein of Amethyst Heather merino from Ashland Bay.  It started as one of the lovely striped tops that they are so famous for.  I just got a tiny sample (this skein is 9 grams) so that I could check the colors.  I'm pleased with this colorway, it "reads" visually as purple, but it is made up of blues, reds, pinks and grays.  Very nice indeed - I'll be ordering up more of this one. Statistics: 32 yards, 9 grams; Amethyst Heather merino top from Ashland Bay; spindle spun singles clockwise, Navajo plied counterclockwise 15 treadles.

This one has been hanging out on a spindle for who knows how long.  I took it off the spindle onto a bobbin and Navajo plied it to this gorgeous yarn.  It is a black Shetland wool blended with dyed mohair locks in blue and fuschia.  I really didn't expect Shetland wool to be so soft.  Love the sparkle and shine of the mohair.  I'll certainly be doing more of this blend in the future!  Statistics: 92 yards, 31 grams; Shetland/Mohair; spindle spun singles clockwise, Navajo plied counterclockwise 14 treadles.

This brute of a skein is the beginning of a sweater project from the color study yarns.  This is the 50/50 blend of GNR and Dolly Dorset.  Love the heathering and the color.  This isn't the softest wool, so it will definitely be outerwear.  Haven't worn much green lately, but it is a good color for me and I'll enjoy working with my handspun on a larger project.  Statistics: 270 yards, 74 grams; 50/50 GNR/Dolly; spindle spun singles clockwise, Navajo plied counterclockwise 14 treadles.

Christmas already?

Whew, it has been a looooong time since I posted!  Not that I haven't been working on stuff, but the kilt hose are slow going - seems that they still look the same after I've put in hours and hours on them.  But that is the nature of fine gauge knitting.
I did get some cool slippers done though - these are great! Felted on the bottom (soles) and ribbed on the top.  Did them in two different kinds of yarn - found the pattern in a book and they turned out better than I ever expected.

Kind of neat, the cuffs and tops are knitted in a superwash sock yarn called Wildfoot and the soles are knit in a worsted weight regular wool yarn.  Throw them in the wash with a couple pairs of jeans to felt them and ta-daaaa! Slippers to be happy in - warm and sturdy.  My typical objection to felted footwear is that it gets so loose and floppy, and these shouldn't have that problem since the tops are rib knit.

Here's another shot that shows the tops - and my Border Collie's butt - she just can't stay away from me when I get down on the floor.  Kind of weird to be taking pictures of my own feet, but I wanted to show these slippers off, and they don't look like much without a foot inside them to give them shape.

I'll be making more of these, they go pretty quickly and the felting is fun too.  Other stuff on the needles is moving along too.  Working on the sweater - still on the sleeves, but nearly done.  Then it is off to the knitting shop to pick out some fabulous buttons before I start the bands.  I've learned to get the buttons first, because it never fails that the best buttons are NEVER the size that the pattern calls for!

Time marches on...

I've been busy with a number of things, since I haven't posted much lately, I'll just put them all out here now.

Here is some yarn I've been working on:

It is another three ply with one variegated ply along with two tweed plies.  The variegated ply is from Frene Creek Farm and is a lovely handpainted Corriedale in purples all the way to lavender in some spots.  The tweed plies are 75% natural gray Rambouillet Finn crossbred with 25% bright purple merino blended in to get the purple tone.  I tried a sample of this using just the gray and it didn't read as purple as I wanted it, so I referred back to my color study to figure out how much I wanted to tint my colored wool for it to "read" visually as purple but not overpower the variegated ply.  I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

Here's a close-up shot of the same skein:

I'm extra glad that I put in the effort to do the color study.  The visual usefulness of such a project has already proven the worth of doing it.  I did do a small sample skein using the gray, and it didn't "read" as purple at all!  I saw it as gray and black, and I knew that wouldn't work for what I have in mind for this yarn.  Here are the vital statistics of this skein:

258 yards of 3 ply.  One ply Frene Creek Farm Handpainted Corriedale roving, two plies of natural gray Rambouillet Finn crossbred blended with 25% bright purple merino and carded four times to blend the colors.  I think this will work up at about fingering weight, it is finer than my typical yarn since the R/F is pretty soft.

Next up: the reworking of the red-violet sweater.

About two sizes smaller and doesn't it look nice?  Granted, it isn't assembled or blocked yet, so the stitches will even out and be smoother after blocking.  I used the ravelled yarn to reknit, so it looks "bumpier" than the first knitting did.  I'm working on the raglan sleeves now, and I'm doing those flat, rather than in the round like I did the body of the sweater.  I'm pondering what kind of buttons I'd like on this.  Picking up for the button band and collar are the last things to do on the sweater, so I do still have some time.  Surprisingly enough, even though this is an odd and somewhat bright color to most people, I'm finding that it goes with a lot of my wardrobe.  So I'm thinking the buttons can't be too bold.  I've heard of an outfit called "Moving Mud" that makes custom glass buttons, but I don't know what they cost.  That might be the next good investigation to make on the button issue.  I've also got 3 very good knitting shops close by, so I think I'll check out their offerings first.  Here is a picture of the front of the sweater:

I've learned a lot making this sweater - especially since I've gone down the path twice. I definitely preferred doing the body of the sweater in the round.  All the bands match up and the armhole is better supported during the knitting - much easier to remember which side is which since it is all together and very visible.  That being said, I had to re-write the pattern so that I would do the shaping at the right times.  With the raglan going on, some rounds had six different shapings happening at once.  That is a lot to keep track of.  I did the work on a 47" cable needle, which allowed me to try the sweater on as I went.  Very helpful to check fit that way.  Much harder to check that when the body of the sweater is in pieces.

Next work in progress is the kilt hose, they are taking forever to do.  Measured gauge over stockinette and it is coming up at 10 stitches to the inch.  No wonder it seems slow!  It is!

Here they are, pinned out flat so you can see both the front and back at the same time.  I decided that the bobbins just weren't working for me, so I am removing them as the yarn length gets under a yard or so.  I've read that many knitters just leave the long tails hanging and pick them up as they need them.  I'm finding that I like that process too.  These socks are pretty loud, but that is what the customer likes.  At the top edge where the two solid bands of ribbing are now, there will be a cabled band running around the sock right under the knee.  Flashes will be tucked under there to show the tartan and to keep the socks up - rather like garters, but around the calf of the leg up near the knee.

Until next time, I'm working on costuming for a Steampunk event...

Because I can...

I've been musing lately on the reactions I get from people who see me spinning or knitting.  Most folks know what knitting is and what it looks like when people do it.  The oddity seems to be that people are somewhat uncomfortable that someone would have the audacity to do such a thing IN PUBLIC!  My goodness, what would become of me if people saw me doing this?

I can tell you what happens... because I do it in public all the time.  People stare for a while, and if they get bold enough, they start asking questions. 

• "What are you doing?"  Spinning wool into yarn, or knitting socks....
• "Can I touch it?"  Of course....
• "What are you making?"  Yarn, or a sweater, or whatever it is that I'm working on.

and my all time favorite question:

• "Why would you want to make yarn when you can buy it?"  This gets interesting, if the person seems to be of the artistic nature, I can explain the colorwork or the blending of different types of fibers to get precisely the yarn I want.  If the person isn't the artsy type, it can be a lot of fun, but I usually end up answering simply: Because I can.

Most of the world is all about hurry up and get everything done as quickly as possible. The very nature of spinning singles, plying them into yarn and then knitting with what I have spun sets up all kinds of quandries in people's heads.  Most cannot even fathom making anything from scratch, be it a meal, clothing, furniture or what have you.  They think it is quaint and old-fashioned to make things.  Perhaps it is... but it is a skill all the same. 

I cherish the beauty of the things I create with my mind and hands.  I'm delighted that I've been given the gift of creativity, and the sense to use it.  I learned how to do most of this in my college fiber art classes, and have refined and improved my techniques over the years since then. 

So when the world and society whirl ever faster, I choose to slow down, deliberately and happily.

Because I can.

Oooooooh, messy, messy, messy!

Decided that I'd had enough of the ribbing on the kilt hose so I took the plunge, got out all the bobbins I posess and started winding them with 5 yards each and started the intarsia.  I had no idea that it would take all thirty (Oh my gosh - THIRTY!) bobbins to get started on these socks!  As I'm not really crazy about weaving in ends, I use Kaffe Fassett's method and bind them in as I go.  Messy looking while it is happening, but no ends to weave in for later.  I call that a win!
I decided to take some pictures - even though it looks pretty messy at this stage...

Those little triangles will be diamond shaped as the knitting progresses.  This shot shows both the front and back.  Here's one of just the front...

And here's one of just the back side of the knitting.  You can see the woven in ends... not the prettiest finish, but I think it is one of the most flexible, since it is done as the knitting progresses.  Oh, and did I mention, no ends to weave in later?  That's my favorite part!

Once again, I'm very glad that I'm doing both socks at once.  This is really slow going, but they will be lovely when complete... I'm thinking ten years or so (not really, it just seems that way right now).

Next up, pictures of the finished yarn I've been working on!

Finished one and started another...

Here's the finished shots of the navy blue tam that I finished on Friday.  It worked out well, a little different from the first one, partly because it is all one color and partly because the single color band felted far differently than the multicolored band of the one I did for George.  Evidently the second layer of wool in the Fair Isle dice pattern makes for a more rapid and firmer felted band on the finished hat.  I'll keep that in mind in case I ever do another one in a solid color.  Felting certainly is full of surprises and isn't an exact science!

The next one I've started is for another order - this time three matching tams for a group of three brothers.  This set matches the Buchanan tartan #151 (if you want to look up tartans, here is a great site to do it: http://houseoftartan.co.uk/house/tfinder.htm)  Could not find a way to cut and paste the image of the tartan, but it is a lot of fun to look up family tartans on that site.


Tam to match Buchanan tartan #151

Here's a shot of the work in progress: 
This is one of the most complex tartans I've ever seen.  Not only is it asymmetrical, it has more colors than any other tartan I've found.  There may be others - but I did the best I could to match it.  Missing the blue in the original, but this was getting pretty busy with color already.  Vertical lines are tough in this kind of knitting, I think duplicate stitch would be the only way, and I'm not sure how the extra layer of yarn would behave in the felting process, so I'm not taking any chances.  That is an experiment for another time - when I don't have a tight deadline to meet!

I'm up to the point where I knit even for 20 rounds or so, which forms the outside edge of the turned edge before the tam begins to flatten out across the top and the decreasing rounds.  These are a lot of fun to do, even with all the surprises that happen in the felting process.

Onward and upward...

Another felting project... big wooly bag part is done!

Well I'm finally done with the knitting part of my next big, wooly bag.  It will become a rather stylish hat for a man who saw the other one I did and wanted one for himself.  Just waiting to hear from him to find out if he wants to be here for it to be fitted exactly to him.

This yarn knits up beautifully - the heathers from Knit Picks are just to die (or maybe dye?) for in my opinion.  This one is Solstice Heather in the Wool of the Andes Worsted yarn.  It looks like navy blue, but has touches of purple, teal and even fuschia if you look really close.  My camera didn't even come close to capturing all the colors - so I fiddled with it so it looks pretty close on my screen.  Anyway, here's a close up of the fabric of the hat as it is now.  Maybe you can see a little of the color range here.

This was done up on size 10.5 needles and took about three balls of yarn.  I've got the yarn ordered for the next three hats like this - they'll match the colors in the Buchanan tartan.  Wowee - it is a bright one too!  So, next thing is to felt and finish this one for Jeff, then I'll be knitting more wooly bags in very bright colors!

On the spinning side - I found a fascinating blend of fiber from a mill in California - Corriedale wool and Samoyed dog hair.  I can hardly wait for it to arrive!  I used to have a Samoyed and I collected a lot of fiber from him.  Beautiful stuff - develops a halo like angora rabbit fur and is exceptionally warm to wear.  Many of the people who climb Mt. Everest are said to have worn dog fur blend hats to stay extra warm.  Of course, I don't know any of them personally, so it is all hearsay... but I'd believe it.  Statistics say that dog fur is about 10 times as warm as wool.  This particular roving is a blend of 80% wool and 20% dog, so it should be easier to spin and a lot more wearable in a finished item.  Besides, the halo is really a neat effect in a finished piece.