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Saturday, January 05, 2008

Keep On Keepin' On

Wednesday's meeting of the Hurricane Knitters was a lot of fun in spite of the headache that sent me home earlier than usual. I started my second Bird in Hand mitten and got to the first cuff chart before calling it a night. The real highlight of the evening, however, was the spinning lesson Yvonne gave me. She is a great teacher -- take a look at my first "yarn"!

I definitely need more practice, but I understand the process much better now than I did when I was playing on my own. After this success, I signed up for the spinning class at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival that's coming up next month. The class covers spinning with both a spindle and a wheel. There will be Babe wheels to practice on, which are not among the wheels I'm considering, but they should at least give me an idea of the feel of wheel spinning. I waver between being really excited about spinning and not knowing why I'd want to spin at all (mostly because it would take time away from knitting!), so I'm not yet sure if I want to buy a wheel and I think experiencing what it's like will help me decide. I have, of course, been doing some research, and at the moment if I had to choose I'd lean towards a Lendrum original. It's not the cheapest option, but so many of the reviews I've read seem to say that a Lendrum is great for both beginners and experienced spinners, so it could last me a long, long time. However, I'd love to hear some ideas and opinions from those of you who spin!

In the meantime, when I'm not thinking about spinning, the baby knitting continues apace. Thursday evening I cast on for the first of the Baby Surprise Jackets for the triplets:

Hooray for using up stash yarn! The green is Cascade 220 Tweed that I picked up at the big Knit One sale last summer, and the brown is the last skein leftover from the Seamless Hybrid. This is great, relatively mindless knitting -- viva la garter stitch!

I've got to knit a little something for myself, too, you know, so here's the first Noro sock, completed last night:


This is my first Noro experience and I have to say that I can see what all the fuss is about as far as the color changes go, but the actual knitting with it is not so wonderful. It's very rough and, being a singles yarn, there's a little thick-and-thin action going on that makes the fabric not at all uniform. I've heard that the yarn does soften up with washing, so we shall see whether this one skein of sock yarn proves to be a gateway drug and turns me into a Noro addict. If it softens enough, I might have to be a complete copycat and knit myself a Lady E to keep.

8 comments:

  1. Wait, you're considering a wheel? And kniting for triplets? How did I miss all of this?

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  2. As you know, I'm not a spinner, but I'm fascinated every time Dave at Cabin Cove shows pictures of his Journey wheel. So compact and portable. Very cool.

    Very interested to see what your final opinion is on the Noro sock. I've been contemplating getting a skein at Bloomin yarns.

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  3. Oooo- that sock is pretty!

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  4. Anonymous2:25 AM

    Wowsa!!! We're both working on the surprise jacket. let's share thoughts and ideas!

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  5. I have been weirdly intimidated by the Surprise Jacket, but now I really want to make one!!

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  6. I'm so jealous that you're spinning. I'm not brave enough to attempt it .. yet.

    Your color choices for the baby jacket is going to be nice and thanks for your review on the Noro yarn. I hate knitting with rough yarn so I think I'll take a pass on it.

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  7. Anonymous9:30 AM

    I really like the color changes in the Noro yarn, but the feel of it...yeeck. I am shuddering even as I type this!! I am glad that you found my tutoring helpful! It's because Nora was a good teacher to me.

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  8. Anonymous12:21 PM

    I just reread your blog and how strange is this.... you're knitting for triplets and I'm knitting for twins. Are you going to make all 3 identical?

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