Slump?

I'm not sure why it is, but I seem to have hit a knitting slump. I just don't have much of an urge to knit anymore -- mostly because all I want to do is spin! I have been diligently working on the projects that have deadlines, such as the handspun socks, which are finished and blocked and ready to be handed over to the recipient (that handover just has to be scheduled). I've also finished my two squares for the charity blanket.

These are both adaptations of washcloth patterns I found on Ravelry, and I managed to get both out of less than one skein of Cotton Supreme (with leftovers, even). These will be shipped out to the U.S. coordinator on Saturday.

I haven't touched my Essential Cardigan sleeves in about a week, though I'm determined to pull them out at knit night tomorrow. I think my lack of desire to work on them might have something to do with the fact that we're in the middle of a 90+ degree heat wave -- even a lightweight sweater is completely useless in this heat! As I'm in no rush to wear it, I think it's probably okay if I take a little break, at least until it's back in the 80s.

It really has been all about the spinning lately. I'm nearly done spinning the singles from the most recent All Spun Up spinalong fiber (merino/silk -- luscious!), which will be chain plied when they're done, and I've been working on a long-dormant spindling project. And today, while I was home with Rainbow (daycare was closed in preparation for summer camp, so I took a day off), this arrived:

This is the June shipment from Crown Mountain Farms, Perendale (4 oz.) in a colorway called the Fifth Element. Yes, it really is that bright in real life! Should make for an interesting spin.

Brief Hibernation

I worked on my Essential Cardigan sleeves over the weekend and got about halfway through the increase section, but I've but them aside for the time being to work on some charity knitting.

If you're on Ravelry and hang out in the Remrants board/group, then you know the sad story of a Raveler who recently lost her husband to cancer. They're both young and they'd been married only a short time -- a sad story all around. A number of Ravelers wanted to do something special for her, so there are several projects going to shower her with knitted (and crocheted) love. I'm knitting up a couple of blanket squares. The organizers asked that all yarn to be used for the squares be washable, so I'm using some Cotton Supreme leftover from the most recent Shedir (I'd bought two skeins to be on the safe side but used only part of one). The theme of the squares is to be "love," so I'm going with the obvious and using a heart motif. This particular square is based on a dishcloth pattern I found through Ravelry.

I'm planning a different heart pattern for the second square, which I hope to have finished up by the end of the weekend. I generally don't like knitting squares -- too much like swatching! -- but I'm finding this little project to be a good break from the monotony of my sweater sleeves.

Otherwise, I'm still working on the pair of handspun socks and have just a few more inches of foot to knit on the second sock before I can start the toe.

I've also been spinning a fair amount, because my LYS's Summer of Socks and Lace contest officially kicked off earlier this week and this year there's a spinning component. Specifically, the winner of the spinning competition will be the person who spins the most lace and sock yarn by weight, and yarns spun from fiber purchased at the shop count for weight and a half. I made a few acquisitions when I was there a couple of weeks ago and put them away so I wouldn't be tempted, but now it's time to get them out!

Clapping with One Hand

No, the title of this post doesn't have anything to do with philosophy or meditating or anything like that. It's the colorway of my most recent spin, 4 ounces of Border Leicester from Crown Mountain Farms that made up the April shipment of the 2011 fiber club.

This breed, like so many other shipments, was new to me. Border Leicester is a long wool, so more wavy than crimpy, and this particular batch had a beautiful luster to it. I didn't want to spin it too thin because I worried it would turn out wiry, so I opted for a quick-and-dirty two ply. It turned out just as I wanted.

The finished yarn is about a worsted weight and roughly 140 yards. It is silky and lustrous, though not quite next-to-the-skin soft. I think this would make a lovely hat or pair of mittens, perhaps lined with something super soft. It was also great for some immediate gratification spinning after spinning and plying all that laceweight -- I spun the singles over the course of about a week and plied the whole finished skein in a couple of hours last Sunday afternoon.

I enjoyed working with this fiber, though I'm not sure it's something I would have chosen on my own. It makes me think that I might be able to tackle last year's Lincoln!

Ennui?

I feel like I am in a bit of a rut with my knitting these days. I've been doing a fair amount of designing lately, which is exciting, except that it means knitting the same thing several times and not being able to show it to you if I want to try to publish it -- in short, it's good for my creative side but bad for the blog. The only thing I've really been working on that I can share with you is my Essential Cardigan, and that's just strips of stockinette -- again, not so great for the blog. I finished the second front on Tuesday evening and cast on for the sleeves immediately after. I'm working them both at once to avoid the horrible feeling that comes with finishing one sleeve only to realize you have to knit another. Plus, this way I know that they'll match (or at least they will in theory).

Last night, despite the fact that a certain toddler had woken me up at 3:45 a.m. and kept me from getting enough sleep, I did manage to get to Hurricane Knitting, where I slogged through the ribbed cuff (the pattern is 1x1 ribbing on the wrong side and knit on the right side; I have come to realize that there are few things in the world I dislike knitting as much as 1x1 ribbing because it takes so friggin' long). I have a few more rows to work before I start increasing, but at least now I'm working in plain stockinette on the larger needles, so I don't have to pay attention to much of anything.

I was thinking the other night that this sweater seems to be knitting up fairly quickly given that it's in a lighter weight of yarn than most of the sweaters I've knit, but then I remembered that a pretty fair portion of it is in the ribbed collar/button band combo thing, and that involves the dreaded stitch pattern with the 1x1 rib. I know this sweater is going to be really comfy and versatile when it's done, though, so I just need to power through.

I've also been working on some socks with this handspun -- just plain socks in stockinette, in order to let the yarn be the star -- so you can see why I've been experiencing a bit of knitting ennui lately. Gray yarn just isn't all that inspiring, even if it does go with everything.

With all this gray stockinette, I am craving a little color and variety of stitch pattern, so I may cast on soon for Wendy Johnson's Summer Mystery Shawlette. I'm thinking that perhaps a skein of my handspun might work nicely for this. Time to dig through the stash!

Spinning Outside My Comfort Zone

My latest handspun yarn was all about spinning that is not my usual. This Coopworth came as the March shipment from the Crown Mountain Farms fiber club; the colorway is called Hittite Kingdom. The fiber felt very springy in the hank, so I decided to try to spin it as a thicker two ply, thinking it would make some great mittens.

In the process of spinning it, I found that it was really difficult to spin a consistent single, mostly due to a lot of nepps. Because I was trying very hard not to spin my default yarn, I left most of these nepps in, figuring that they would lead to a more textured yarn. And that is just what I got.

The finished yarn is probably around a heavy worsted weight and approximately 166 yards. It's a little underplied for my taste, but I think that's due to the fact that this was the first yarn I plied on my miniSpinner and I was clearly still getting the hang of it. I will say that the skein was balanced when I took it off the niddy noddy, so my taste in tight twist doesn't necessarily mean that there's not enough.

All in all, I'd call this yarn satisfactory. I didn't hate spinning this fiber, but I didn't love it either. I'm a bit noncommittal about the colorway, too, though it is neutral enough that whatever I make with it, be it mittens or something else, should go with lots of things.

MDSW: The Recap

What a weekend! As a MDSW virgin, I found there to be a lot to take in at this festival, but all in all I had a great time. The weather was perfect (mostly sunny and in the low 70s), the company was fab, and the shopping was spectacular!

I drove down on Friday afternoon with my friend Yvonne, who was kind enough to let me not only mooch a ride from her but stay with her and her friend Kim as well. We settled in to our hotel room, did a bit of knitting and chatting, and then headed out for a delicious crab cake dinner at G & M Restaurant (when in Maryland, one must eat crab cakes!).

The next morning, we were up bright and early (I actually woke up on my own at the time I normally get up during the week!), had a quick breakfast at the hotel, and were at the fairgrounds by 8 a.m. Though the festival technically didn't open until 9, they were letting people onto the grounds by then. Some vendors were already open, though we headed straight toward Jennie the Potter's booth because Yvonne had sleuthed out that she had a limited number of MDSW mugs featuring a crab in addition to the traditional sheep. Her booth wasn't opening until 8:30, so we stood and waited while we chatted with the folks who were helping her to set up. It took me a few minutes before I realized that one of the helpers we were talking to was Amy Singer -- yes, that Amy Singer. (Yvonne promptly made fun of me for being star struck at this point.)

Our mugs in tow, we headed next to the main barn, where Yvonne and Kim went to see the Miss Babs booth and I went in search of spinning things. By 10 a.m., I had found pretty much everything I'd come to the festival in search of, though I did spend the rest of the day looking around and picked up a couple bundles of fiber. Want to see my haul?

The main thing I wanted to find at the festival was a lazy kate for my miniSpinner. I had heard from other mS spinners on Ravelry that the Nancy's Knit Knacks Katie-a-Go-Go would hold the WooLee Winder bobbins, so I was in search of one. I found one at the Mannings' booth, where I got to watch Henry Clemes of Clemes & Clemes spin on one of their wheels while waiting in a very slow-moving line.

I was also potentially interested in buying a spindle or two at the festival, and one I was particularly interested in looking for was a Jenkins Turkish spindle. I found this beautiful one at the Carolina Homespun booth (very fitting, as that's who sold me my Lendrum three years ago).

Isn't it gorgeous? It's Bloodwood and 0.95 oz. and positively tiny compared to the spindle I learned on. The fiber on it is some cormo I picked up later in the afternoon at the American Cormo Sheep Association booth. I am just enchanted by how the cop of spun singles is wound onto this type of spindle.

I should have been satisfied with my one beautiful spindle, but I was shopping with Colleen, a new spinner, at that point, and we both went a little crazy when we saw the Bosworth booth. I ended up buying this 1 oz. Redheart Midi (I started spinning on it that evening with some Gale's Art corriedale blend).

Now, I was not really a spindle spinner before this, but in using these two new spindles, I discovered that buying good tools really does make the process easier. I can now say that I am hooked!

We left the festival for the day a little before 3 on Saturday because we all wanted to sit and relax for a bit. I ended up going out to dinner with some family friends Saturday night while the rest of the crew went to a Thai restaurant they'd found and loved last year, but we all met up in the hotel room later to knit and chat.

We were up again fairly early on Sunday morning, but as we had to pack up the cars with all our stuff and check out of the hotel before we left, we didn't get quite as early a start as we did the day before. It ended up not mattering much, as we still got a really good parking spot and all of us had already done most of our shopping. We headed to the Fold's booth, now that the crazy line from Saturday was gone, and I made my last acquisition of the trip -- a tiny 1 oz. bundle of Tussah silk from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the colorway Pepe le Plume.

Okay, that's not true -- technically, there was one more acquisition, but I don't have anything to show you. Why, you ask? Well, here it is: I bought a fleece. Yes, I caved and bought a fleece. My friend Jenn, who is new-ish to the Hurricane Knitters and who knows about fleeces because she spins and also used to have sheep, was volunteering at the fleece sale and enabled me helped me to select a good fleece. I picked up a lovely cream-colored Romney fleece that was marked 4 lbs. but actually weighed in at 5 lbs. when I took it to the processors. It was a good price, in my estimation ($32 total, which translates to about 40 cents an ounce), and it's now in the hands of Ozark Carding Mill, where it will be washed and carded into roving and then delivered to my door in roughly 12 weeks.

Yvonne and I got on the road, this time with Steven in the back seat, at about noon, and she dropped me off at home at about 4:30. It was a beautiful day for a drive, and I even managed to finish the back of my Essential Cardigan on the way.

So, all in all, I'd say it was a very successful weekend. My wallet came home a bit lighter, but I'm very satisfied with my purchases and am not suffering from any buyer's remorse. I really enjoyed the festival and the company, and I know now that this is going to be an annual event as long as I can swing it.

Completely Enchanted

On Thursday night, as I was wrapping up things and getting ready to head to MDSW, one of the things on my list was to skein up the finished yarn from the latest All Spun Up spinalong. I believe the last time you saw it, the singles were halfway done.

The name of this colorway is "Enchanted," which perfectly described how I felt about this fiber. Shades of blue and green, my two favorite colors, on a luscious blend of 50% fine alpaca, 30% merino, and 20% silk -- what's not to love? I knew I wanted it to be a two-ply laceweight, and the singles were definitely the finest I've ever spun. I used my miniSpinner for the first time (other than the bit of practice I did with the sample fiber that was included with it when it first arrived) to do the plying, because I knew it was going to take a long time. Even with the electric spinner, it still took me about a week of plying sessions to get it all done.

When I finished skeining it up, I realized why: My 4.125 oz. of fiber yielded more than 1,000 yards of yarn that is roughly 36 wpi. And I love it.

Now the challenge will be to find the ultimate pattern for this yarn! Suggestions are welcome.

Coming up soon: a recap of MDSW!

Fin.

I feel as if I've reached a key milestone in my "career" as a knitter and spinner: I can now officially say that I have knit my first sweater from my own handspun.

You may recall that at the beginning of this year, I set out to spin up two pounds of some mystery wool I had inherited from a friend into enough yarn for a sweater. I knew that this sweater project was ambitious and so made it one of my spinning goals for the entire year -- by year's end, I had hoped to have spun up enough yarn for the sweater and knit it. I didn't have any specific pattern in mind, seeing as I had no idea how much yardage I'd get from the fiber, but I was aiming for a three-ply worsted weight yarn, as that seemed to be a weight that would yield a lot of options in terms of patterns to choose from and one that would be fairly time-efficient to spin (I knew that if I spun my usual thickness of yarn, I'd be spinning most of the year and would need several more months to knit up the resulting fingering weight yarn into a sweater). Moreover, I wanted to spin something a little thicker because I intended to spin all the singles at once, without spinning anything else in between, in an effort to keep them as consistent as possible.

I began spinning on January 1 and did, on average, an ounce of singles a day. I had separated out my fiber into one-ounce bundles ahead of time to make this process a little easier. After I spun an ounce, I let the singles rest on the bobbin for a day or two and then wound them off onto my ball winder and transferred the resulting center-pull ball onto a toilet paper or paper towel tube for storage. I ended up spinning a total of 30 ounces, which left a little bit of fiber from the original two pounds that I saved in case I wanted or needed to spin up some thinner yarn for seaming my sweater.

The plying phase went much more quickly. I wanted to randomize my singles to some extent to combat any unevenness between them, but because I am also a little anal about things, I also wanted to have a system for how I plied them. I ended up plying the first, 11th, and 21st "bobbin" of singles and then the second, 12th, and 22nd and so on. I stopped plying when the first of the three storage bobbins I was plying from ran out and threw whatever was left on the other two into a bag for later. After I had my 10 skeins of plied yarn finished, I plied up an 11th skein with all the leftovers, adding in more each time one ran out. In the end, I had approximately 1,250 yards of three-ply worsted weight yarn, spun in about six weeks, with virtually nothing leftover.

Now came the hard part: picking the sweater pattern. The Ravelry database was enormously helpful once I had some specific parameters set regarding the yarn weight and yardage available, but looking through the patterns on Ravelry can sometimes be more confusing than helpful because there are so many great patterns from which to choose. Then I happened to be listening to Chrissy over at the Manic Purl Podcast and heard her talk about the sweater she was working on. When I looked it up on Ravelry, it seemed perfect: The yardage and yarn weight specifications fit, it had a nice mix of fabric textures, and it had a look I loved. Without much thought, I bought and downloaded the pattern. I swatched almost immediately, got gauge, and cast on on February 20.

And a little more than a week ago, I finished the last of the seaming and weaving in of ends and sewed on the buttons -- less than four months from fiber to sweater.

Pattern: Acer Cardigan (Ravelry link) by Amy Christoffers, 38" bust size
Yarn: my handspun, three-ply worsted weight from mystery wool
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) Knit Picks Options and US 5 (3.75 mm) KP Options for button bands and collar
Started/Completed: February 20/April 23
Mods: added more length to the body and picked up more stitches than specified for the button bands and collar

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern. The construction of the sweater was a bit new to me, which was part of the enjoyment. The body is knit back and forth in one piece from the bottom up to the armholes, at which point stitches are bound off for the underarms and the back and fronts are worked separately. The shaping at the shoulder is worked in short rows and the seams are joined using a three-needle bind off. The sleeves are knit in the round from the cuff up to the underarm, where again stitches are bound off, and then the sleeve cap is worked flat. Finally, the sleeves are set in to the armscye in the round (and frankly that's what scared me a bit at the end, because set-in sleeves always give me trouble and I'd never done one in the round, but they ended up being a lot easier than a typical set-in sleeve).

I did add some length -- I think about an inch -- to the body because when I'd knit to the specified length, it was hitting me in an unflattering spot and I knew any shirt I'd wear underneath it would likely hang out the bottom if I didn't make it a little longer. I also had to fudge the numbers for the button bands and collar a bit, as you may remember, though that's a pretty typical mod for me to make because I never can seem to pick up the same number of stitches as the designer. That didn't bother me too much, because I was more concerned with getting a button band that fit the sweater (and obviously I needed more stitches because the body of the sweater was longer). I believe that I ended up adding an additional buttonhole and button because of this added length as well. The buttons themselves came from my grab bag of buttons; they're a dark blue that I selected mainly because they were the right size for the buttonholes, I was able to find the right number of them in the bag, and I was too lazy to wait until I had a chance to go button shopping. I think they're actually a pretty good match for the sweater; I didn't want anything to draw attention away from the details in the sweater or the yarn, so in that respect, I think they're a success.

The pattern was, for the most part, a delight to knit. It's very clearly written, with easy-to-read charts, a schematic, and only a few pictures that show key parts of the design. I did run across a couple of areas of difficulty, though, that I think you should be aware of should you decide to knit it yourself. The first was a very obvious typo near the end of the directions for finishing the back where it's clear that several words were copied and pasted or typed twice; I sent the designer a message on Ravelry about this, and she said that she is going to be correcting the error in the PDF. It's not an error that will cause a mistake, though, so if you already have the pattern or buy it before the correction is made, you won't have a problem. Though I didn't really follow the numbers, as I mentioned above, I'm not convinced that all the numbers given for the collar are correct. It should be a multiple of four plus two (it's a 2x2 rib but the first two and last two stitches should be knit as seen from the right side). The smallest size and the largest three sizes all have numbers that are multiples of four only, so if you're knitting one of these sizes and are picking up the number of stitches specified, keep in mind that you will need to add in two more stitches somewhere. Finally, though the supplies list on the first page of the pattern does say that you'll need a size 5 needle "for edging," the directions do not specifically state that you should switch to the smaller needle when you get to the button bands. This is probably something I should have marked myself so I wouldn't forget, but I did forget and had to rip out my first attempt at a button band because of it, so it would have been nice to have had it stated explicitly in the directions.

Overall, I am very pleased with how my sweater tuned out. I did have a fair amount of yarn left over, including the rest of the skein I used for my swatch, so the yardage estimate seems to have been pretty accurate. It fits perfectly and is the right length, and obviously it was a fun knit. Unfortunately, it's also as itchy as all get out, even when worn with a long-sleeved shirt underneath (as it was on Saturday morning, when it was still a little chilly outside and I decided to give the sweater its first wearing). I still have no idea what breed of sheep the fiber came from, though my guess is that it's a dual-coated sheep based on the coarser guard hairs that both fell out as I was spinning and stick out and poke me when I wear the sweater. I even gave the sweater a good long soak in the tub with some hair conditioner when it was finally all sewn up and finished in the hope that it would soften some, but it's still extremely rough and rustic.

So, my big spinning project for the year is finished. While the sweater I ended up with isn't the softest, most luxurious garment ever, it is very warm and I can tell that it will wear well and will last for many years to come. The bigger sense of accomplishment, to me, comes from the fact that I was able to spin enough yarn to knit a sweater in a relatively short period of time and to the specifications I wanted. I know that I can do it now and that this handspun sweater will not be my last.

Next in Line, Please

First things first: My Acer Cardigan is finished, blocked, and dry, but alas, we are in the middle of a particularly stormy April here, so I am waiting for the sun to come out again for a proper photo shoot. The forecast is looking promising for this Saturday, so watch this space.

Now that I finished the sweater -- a full two weeks ahead of my self-imposed deadline of Maryland Sheep and Wool -- I'm not feeling any real pressure, but I did feel the urge to cast on for something new.

I've had my eye on the Essential Cardigan from last summer's Interweave Knits since the issue arrived in my mailbox. It's a really classic, versatile sweater, and I knew that in the right yarn it could be a good year-round sweater. As it happened, I was pretty sure I had a suitable yarn in my stash already, and that's how I came to liberate some very well marinated Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed from my fiber room. I swatched it up on Sunday and it came out just as I wanted it to -- soft, silky, and drapey.

It's hard to capture the texture and depth of this yarn (especially in this lack-of-sun light). At first glance, it's a charcoal-y gray, but there are flecks of light blue and white in it as well. My gauge is ever so slightly off (by half a stitch over four inches), but it's actually going to work to my advantage because I am between sizes in the pattern and want a little bit of positive ease.

I'm not in any rush to finish this sweater, but it should be a fairly quick knit despite the smaller needles relative to my Acer. With the exception of the ribbing at the hem, cuffs, and around the neckline and button bands, it's all stockinette -- I can do that in my sleep! I think this should make some very good car knitting for the drive to Maryland!

Ever So Close

I haven't posted about my Acer Cardigan in a while because it went into brief (and probably undeserved) hibernation. I was about halfway through the increases on the second sleeve while knitting at my LYS when my friend, who is also the store manager, asked me if I would mind knitting a sample for the shop. It was just a simple ribbed scarf, and would be a short one at that, so I of course said yes. It took me maybe a week to knit the thing, which isn't bad at all considering how much I usually loathe knitting scarves, but that meant that the sleeve was ignored until the scarf was done.

Fortunately, once the sample knitting was done, I was able to make fast work of that sleeve. I finished up the sleeve cap and bound off last night at Hurricane Knitting. I had already done the three-needle bind off on the shoulders when I finished the body, so once the sleeve was done, the next step was to start in the button bands.

Picking up stitches for button bands and collars and things always makes me a bit nuts because I can never seem to pick up the right number. This time around, I decided to be a little logical about how I was going to do it, especially because my row gauge was a little off and I knew I'd have to pick up more stitches than specified. The ratio of stitches to rows in this pattern's gauge was about 7 to 10, so I rounded that a bit and decided to pick up about three stitches for every four rows. I also took into account the pattern for the button band, which is in a 2x2 rib with an extra stitch at the bottom and two extra stitches at the top -- or, in other words, a multiple of 4 plus 3. I figured I could follow my 3 stitches for every 4 rows guideline and fudge it a bit if I had to to get a multiple of 4 plus 3. I picked up all the stitches according to this plan and was pleased that I ended up picking up the first three stitches and also the last three without trying (I really don't like it when my button band doesn't line up with, say, the cast on edge of the sweater). Then I counted the stitches, figuring I could undo a handful and pick up fewer or more to get a number that would work, and was amazed when I came up with 99 -- a multiple of 4 plus 3! It's a bit more than the recommended number for my size (which I think was about 83), but it looked just fine. Moreover, because I picked up exactly three stitches for every four rows, I know I can replicate it for the second button band.

This was clearly the extent of my knitting good luck for the night, because after finishing three rows before we were kicked out* of Barnes & Noble, I discovered that I had neglected to go down a needle size for the ribbing. So, as soon as I got home last night, I ripped back to the picked up stitches and started again with my size 5s. I managed to get the whole band knit and began the bind off while watching the hockey game (though I put it away and went to bed after the first overtime), so I should be able to finish it and get a good start on the other one tonight.

Once the button bands and collar are done, I'll have to face the music and set in the sleeves -- I'm saving it until the end mostly because I always have trouble sewing in set-in sleeves, and this is the first time I'll have to do it in the round -- and find some buttons. I am guessing I will have this done by the end of the month, so now I just have to hope that it's cool enough in Maryland to wear it at least once!


*Only because the store was closing -- we were actually on pretty good behavior last night.

A New Addition

I celebrated a pretty big birthday last month and, after several months of talking about it, I decided it was time to add another addition to our family.

Meet the newest member of the Knit/Wit household:

What, you were expecting a pet or another baby? No way -- at least not yet (I have to work on The Mister with regard to both). No, the latest addition is a fancy shmancy new piece of spinning equipment, a HansenCrafts miniSpinner. This is an electric spinner; I hesitate to call it a wheel, because it doesn't have one. Instead of using a drive wheel and treadles to power it, it has a motor that turns the flyer. A dial at the front controls the rate of speed and, thus, the ratios, meaning that how fast I spin is no longer dependent on the ratio of my whorls or how fast I can move my feet.

This e-spinner also has something my Lendrum doesn't -- a WooLee Winder.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this piece of equipment, it's basically a mechanism that automatically moves the yarn guide up and down the length of the bobbin, meaning the yarn winds on really evenly and, as a result, more fits on the bobbin. I didn't see a need to get one of these for my Lendrum, because it has a sliding yarn guide and I'm a certified Obsessive Hook Slider (i.e., I don't mind stopping while spinning to move the yarn guide a little at a time). However, the main advantage of an electric spinner like this is that you can keep the speed constant, which would make stopping to move the yarn guide kind of counterproductive.

Another big advantage of this e-spinner? The bobbin capacity -- just look at how it compares to one of my Lendrum bobbins:

I did a bit of practice on the new spinner with the fiber that was included with it, but I've got two full bobbins ready to be plied into laceweight!

Public Service Announcement

Do you remember the Monkey socks I knit from Colinette Jitterbug three years ago? If not, I can tell you that I enjoyed the yarn while I knit with it and loved the resulting socks, but I was a bit disappointed with the yardage in the skein as well as with some knots.

Unfortunately, I have more bad news. Despite how often I've worn these socks over the past three years and despite the vinegar I've added to various washes, I regret to inform you that ...

they're still bleeding.

One of Two

We have a sleeve! Finished at knit night last night and it fits perfectly.

Would you like to admire my sleeve cap shaping? Of course you would.

The second sleeve will be cast on this evening and I anticipate a matching pair in another week or so!

In the Spinning Queue

Little progress has been made on my alpaca/merino/silk since last you saw it; I'm hoping to be a little more productive this week.

Today I finally got a chance to photograph some fiber that's up next in the spinning queue -- the most recent shipments from the Crown Mountain Farms fiber club.

March's shipment was Coopworth in a colorway called Hittite Kingdom. This fiber is new to me. It's not the softest of fiber, but it has a nice sproing to it. I'm envisioning this as a thicker (worsted-ish) two ply. I think this would make some really nice mittens.

April's fiber arrived just a couple of days ago. This is Border Leicester, also new to me, in a colorway called Clapping with One Hand. This fiber is silky and wavy rather than crimpy. I get the sense that it will have great shine when spun up. This is likely also to be a two ply, perhaps a sport or DK-ish weight.

I'm excited to spin these fibers up, so I'm hoping that will give me the kick I need to finish the laceweight!

Sweater-shaped Object

Though the calendar says spring here, Mother Nature clearly has other plans, because it's been in the 30s and 40s all week. As much as I hate the fact that tomorrow is April and I'm still wearing my winter coat, the chilly weather is conducive to sweater knitting. My Acer Cardigan is starting to resemble a sweater! I finished the back the other night and did the three-needle bind offs needed to join the shoulders.

(Yes, I'm aware that this is the worst picture ever. Have I mentioned it's also been snowing and therefore there's pretty much no sunlight?)

Now that the body is done, the rest of the knitting is pretty much smooth sailing. There's no patterning on the sleeves at all save for some ribbing at the cuffs, and they're knit in the round up to the sleeve cap, so I don't have to pay much attention. I managed to get about five inches knit in an hour and a half last night at knit night.

Assuming I can pull myself away from my spinning and some secret knitting, these sleeves should get knit up pretty quickly. I have about five weeks until Maryland Sheep and Wool, and I'm pretty confident this sweater will be done by then.

Half Spun

My spinning has been extremely slow going because of how thin the singles are, but I managed to finish the first of my two bobbins the other day.

Every time I look at these colors I like them more. I hope that I'm able to get some good yardage out of this so I can knit something spectacular with it!

Stealth Shedir

I believe this is the last of the unblogged projects, and you haven't even seen a peak of this one because it was a stealth project.

Pattern: Shedir (Ravelry link) by Jenna Wilson, Knitty Fall 2004

Yarn: Universal Yarns Cotton Supreme, less than one skein

Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm)

Started/Completed: January 15/January 29

Mods: omitted one round of the ribbing at the brim and two repeats of the cable pattern

I couldn't show you this project until now because it was a surprise: Several months ago, a friend's mother was diagnosed with cancer and began undergoing treatment. I felt like I needed to do something, so naturally I pulled out my knitting needles. My LYS didn't have the Rowan Calmer called for in the pattern, so in the interest in staying with a fiber that would be non-irritating, I selected a cotton. Unfortunately, this yarn -- while smooth and very soft -- was a little thicker than the Calmer, so my gauge went a bit wonky. I made a few adjustments to make up for the gauge issue, namely omitting a hefty number of rows, but I'm counting on the cotton yarn to shrink a bit when it's washed.

To be completely honest, working all these cables with a cotton yarn was not much fun for my hands, but I found the pattern to be completely enchanting and enjoyable. Maybe someday I find a skein of Calmer and knit one that will actually fit my head!

Many thanks to my friends at Natural Stitches, who allowed me to use their head to model this hat!

Still Enchanted

The speed at which I was able to spin up the yarn for my sweater made me forget how long my spinning usually takes me, especially when I spin laceweight. Nevertheless, I am still thoroughly enjoying this spinalong fiber. I'm approaching the end of the first bobbin.

I don't think I could have designed this colorway to be any more me. Blues and greens? So my colors. The alpaca in the fiber gives this a slightly different look and feel than I'm used to, but the silk still gives the same amazing shine. I'm looking forward to seeing this yarn when it's finished!

Marching Forward

Just a quick post for tonight, because my Mac and I are still getting to know each other and it took me 25 minutes to find the pictures I wanted to upload.

My Acer Cardigan is moving right along. I have a few more rows to do before I split for the fronts and back.

I'm currently on my fourth skein of yarn and already starting to freak out that I'll run out, even though I know I have more than the yardage specified. I have a feeling this sweater will start to move a lot faster once I do the split -- it's very slow going when you're doing the entire width of the sweater in each row.

Although I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, I do have a little bit of spinning to show you -- also slow going, because I'm spinning for lace. I absolutely love love love this fiber, though.

This is the alpaca/merino/silk from All Spun Up that is the February/March spinalong fiber. The colorway is called Enchanted, and it's certainly enchanted me! It's been a while since I spun anything with alpaca in it, so it took me a little while to get the hang of it. After all that dark brown, it's pure pleasure to spin my favorite colors again!

Plain and Simple

Continuing in the backlog of projects, I have a very simple pair of socks that took an unreasonable amount of time to finish.

Pattern: a variation on my standard stockinette sock (see below)

Yarn: Knit Picks Bare (fingering weight), dyed with Kool Aid nearly five years ago, in a colorway I like to call Caribbean Amphibian or, alternatively, Robin*

Needles: two 12" US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs

Started/Completed: December 24, 2010/February 21, 2011

My regular stockinette sock recipe is 64 stitches around; for these socks, I cast on 65 stitches so I could work the cuff in 3x2 rib. I worked the ribbing for 3.5 inches and then switched over to stockinette, decreasing the extra stitch on the first stockinette round.

The heel was worked over half of the stitches, and I decided to jazz things up by working an Eye of Partridge heel rather than the usual slip stitch pattern. Something I've taken to doing lately with my heels is carrying the slipped stitches through the heel turn. It adds some extra durability to the heel, an area that often wears out faster than the rest of the sock, and I rather like how it looks.

I really like how the yarn ended up striping, and amazingly it didn't pool in the gussets. It appears that my first and only attempt at dyeing yarn was a success!

* If you're wondering where the colorway name came from, this video might illuminate you!

Celtic Glow

After three solid plying sessions, I finished my January Crown Mountain Farms fiber shipment earlier this week. This particular shipment was South African wool in a stunning colorway called Celtic Glow.

Like fine merino, this wool seemed to like to be spun very fine, so I went for a three-ply fingering weight with this one. I ended up with approximately 377 yards.

I would have had more, but apparently I didn't do a great job of splitting my fiber because I had a significant amount leftover on two of my bobbins. I could have done some transferring and gotten more yardage out of what was left, but instead I decided to move the extra singles onto my leftovers bobbin, which is rapidly filling up. When it's full, I'll chain ply everything on it for a fun, scrappy yarn.

Just a Peek

It's been an interesting week, and not very productive as far as knitting is concerned. Rainbow has been sick with croup, which in addition to making her sound like a barking seal also caused a rather high fever that had us up with her and on the phone with a nurse at Children's Hospital until very late Monday night (or very early Tuesday morning, depending on how you look at it). I've been dragging since then, so I haven't made much progress on anything. My Kool Aid socks are complete and taking a bath right now, and I made a little headway on my Acer Cardigan last night (but I'll wait until I can get some decent lighting to take a progress picture).

Meanwhile, during my lunchtime knitting, I've been working on a little design of my own invention. I may potentially try to publish it if I can get it to work out to my satisfaction, so for now all I can show you is a little cuff action.

I loves me some corrugated ribbing! I'm using up some more of the Knit Picks Palette from the stash for the test knit, though I have some nice yarn picked out for the real thing once I work out all the kinks.

I don't know about you, but I am ready for the weekend! One of my best friends, who I haven't seen since my wedding, is coming in for a visit this weekend, so I'm looking forward to catching up with her -- and, with any luck, on my sleep!

Spinning with Color

After a month and a half of spinning nothing but the brown yarn for my sweater, I was thrilled to be able to get to something with color in it. It was also nice to spin my default thin singles again!

Once I started on this, it seemed to spin itself up in a very short period of time. This is South African from Crown Mountain Farms, the January shipment from this year's fiber club. The colorway is called Celtic Glow, and it's very well named, in my opinion. This photograph doesn't do it justice -- some of these green shades do indeed seem to be glowing! I started plying today after finishing the last bobbin of singles last night, and it's turning out to be a light fingering weight. This is my first time spinning this wool breed, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It doesn't hurt that it's not brown and doesn't shed all over me while I spin!