Sparkle Sparkle!

As promised, here is the green sparkly yarn that I finished a couple of weeks ago.

The fiber was Frabjous Fibers Merino Sparkle, a 65% merino/35% nylon sparkle blend. This particular colorway was called Balsam. This yarn is what made me fall in love with my Hansen miniSpinner. I had used it twice to ply some previously spun singles before, but this is the first yarn that was spun entirely on it. I spun the first bobbin of singles on one day, spun the second bobbin on another, and plied them on the third. All told, I think this yarn took four days from start to finish, and I'm pretty sure that's a new record for me (not counting the uber-bulky skein I spun up in the first two days after I got my Lendrum).

This ended up a little heavier than I was intending -- I was going for a fingering weight and this is more of a sport weight -- but I love it anyway. The sparkle is subtle, and it's not at all showing in these pictures; when the light catches the skein at a certain angle, it almost glows.

While my miniSpinner and I still have some getting acquainted to do (it doesn't put as much plying twist in as I usually like, for instance, though the yarns I've plied on it seem to come off balanced), I predict that this is the beginning of a long and beautiful relationship.

On Design: Part I

First things first: A surprise was waiting for me when I got home yesterday. I took about 30 seconds to open the box before I had to run to pick Rainbow up at daycare, but later in the evening I was able to bury my hand in the fiber and enjoy.

In case you're wondering, yes, this is the fleece I bought at MDSW, a 5 lb. white Romney. I have yet to pull the fiber out of the box and weight it to see how much I lost in cleaning and carding, but the shipping label says that the whole box was 5 lbs. 9 oz., and I can't imagine that a cardboard box can be all that heavy. The fiber itself turned out beautifully -- creamy white, just a few traces of VM that will be easy to pick out, and fairly soft. I am looking forward to getting to know this fleece, but I think I am going to hold off on spinning anything more than a small sample until later in the summer. I'd like to spin for another sweater, and for that I need to focus just on that one spinning project. I'm reserving this summer for spinning all sorts of stuff in my stash.

I have not touched my Essential Cardigan in almost a week, and the knitting I've been doing has been for a service project or a design I'm working on. Because I lack any good projects to show you, I thought I'd start a series of posts on some of the designing I've been doing. I've been awaiting word on one design that I submitted for publication (and I may have a while yet to wait), but there's another pattern I've been working on that I'm planning to put up on Ravelry for download, so I can share it with you.

This particular pattern is for a pair of mittens. It all started with a motif that occurred to me as I was trying to fall asleep one night, which seems to be when design ideas come to me!. Partly because of this, I have a little pad of paper on my nightstand, so I was able to jot down a quick sketch of what I was thinking; it looked something like this:

From there, it was a matter of creating a chart to see how I could get this motif to fit into a mitten shape. I have a set template in Microsoft Excel I've been working with that gives me a mitten shape and size I like, so I plopped the motif into the chart and played with it to get it to fit to my satisfaction. I've already designed and knit some mittens from this chart template, so I know that the stitch counts work, but I had to make sure that this motif had a repeat that would fit well. Luckily, it did, so that was one obstacle down.

Eye of the Tiger

I had intended to show you the super sparkly yarn I spun last week today, but it is still at my LYS being evaluated by the spinning teacher for the Summer of Socks and Lace contest, so alas, you'll have to wait to see it. (Trust me when I tell you it will be worth it -- I am ridiculously in love with that yarn.)

Instead, for this Sunday's post, here's a look at what I've been spinning on my Lendrum in the past week.

This is the Columbia wool that came from Crown Mountain Farms as May's shipment for this year's fiber club. The colors aren't registering exactly true here (it's more orange and brown in real life), but doesn't it remind you of an old crocheted afghan your grandparents used to have on their couch? Okay, maybe that's just my memory, but the color scheme does seem a little '70s to me, which is certainly a perfect fit for something called Eye of the Tiger.

This is the first time I've spun this particular breed, and I'm finding it an interesting spin. It's very springy and spongy, so I have a feeling this will be a yarn that will poof up in the finishing process. I'm spinning this on my Lendrum rather than my miniSpinner -- and you may wonder why when I tell you that the green yarn I have yet to show you was spun and plied in four days on it. Unfortunately, this particular batch of wool is very neppy and has a somewhat surprising amount of VM in it. I don't mind it so much, as I can easily pull out a piece of hay every now and then, but because of how often I'm stopping to do that, it really makes more sense to use the wheel I can start and stop easily. Plus, as amazing as the speed of the miniSpinner is, the Lendrum is my first love and it's so relaxing to sit and treadle and enjoy the process -- not to mention that the beauty of having two wheels is that I can work on two projects at a time.

I'm planning on finishing up the first bobbin tonight and will spin up a second bobbin probably this week. I'm hoping that this will be about a fingering weight when it's done so it will count toward the contest, but more than anything I'll be looking forward to being done with it so I can spin something in a different color (orange is not my favorite!). Although the June shipment from the fiber club is orange and yellow ...

Wowed

I have to say that I am truly amazed by the response to my last post. I greatly appreciate what you all had to say and the fact that you said it; while at its heart this blog is about me and my process, it really wouldn't be the same without readers and without the interaction and dialogue that your comments create. I've responded to those of you who have an e-mail address associated with your Blogger account, but for those of you who don't, please consider this my most heartfelt thank you for sharing your thoughts. Had there been no response, I would have likely given up the blog in favor of more time to knit and spin, but I am really pleased and happy to know that there are people out there who are interested in what I'm doing, and so rest assured I will continue blogging!

I certainly understand that there are many of you who don't like to comment or just choose not to, and that's fine. Please know, though, that it really makes my day to know that someone is interested enough in what I have to say or in what I'm working on that they leave me a comment. I'm going to do my best to comment more often on the blogs I read (even though I'm guilty of reading many of them through Google Reader!), even if it's just a couple of words to say, "Hi, I'm reading and I'm enjoying!"

I'm going to keep the poll up until it runs out, but I'm getting a sense that what I have been doing has been working, so I'm not going to mess with what's not broken.

Since last we talked about actual knitting, I've been dutifully working on my Essential Cardigan, for which the end is finally in sight. Because the sleeves were so close to being done, last Friday morning I blocked the other pieces so they'd be ready once I finished up the sleeves. That happened on Monday, and as soon as they were bound off I sewed the shoulder seams of the body. The pattern says to sew all the seams before picking up for the button/neck band, but that just seems silly to me -- why have to turn an entire sweater if I can avoid it? On Tuesday night, I sat down and picked up the 200+ stitches for the button/neck band (it's one long piece up one side, around the neck, and down the other side); amazingly, I managed to get the specified number of stitches picked up and I did so on the first try! That has to be a good sign. The rows are very long, and the WS rows especially take a long time because they're essentially 1x1 rib, but once I'm done, I'm done. By the end of knit night last night, I had about an inch done, and I have to get to four inches total, so I figure it should take me about another week to finish knitting and get the rest of the seaming done (assuming I'm a good girl and work on this project).

Doesn't this look exciting?

I also finished up a pair of baby socks yesterday. I'd been working on them during my lunch breaks, so only a little bit at a time, but luckily baby socks are so small that they go really quickly. These are being added to the pile of baby items I'm making for a Ravelry service project; I still have to make another washcloth and a couple of hats to fulfill my pledge. These were made from some Patons Stretch Socks that I picked up on clearance at Michaels for about $3. I found another ball that is a pink variegated colorway that might have to be turned into some socks for Rainbow. It's certainly not a luxurious sock yarn, but it's washable and knits into a comfy fabric, and the price was certainly right!

I will have some pretty spinning to show you this weekend and I've been dreaming about some designs in addition to working on them in my waking hours, so it looks as though my mojo may be coming back!

Thoughts on Blogging

I've been thinking a lot lately about blogging and what it's become for me. I started this blog about five and a half years ago, just when I was getting serious about knitting and just when I was first discovering all the online resources that were out there. Because of the blog (and, more generally, due to my discovery of the fact that there were such things as knitting blogs), I've made good friends online and in real life. I've truly developed into a Knitter-with-a-capital-K and become a spinner as well. I've even started doing some designing.

The blog started out as an outlet for me when I was between jobs and alone much of the day. I'd always kept diaries and journals, so this was yet another way for me to think things through and record my thoughts, though in this case they were specific to crafting. Then it became a way for me to keep track of projects -- what yarn I'd used, what adjustments I'd made, what problems I'd encountered and how I'd solved them. Finally, it became a way for me to connect with other knitters, both those I knew in real life and those I only knew in the virtual world.

Obviously, once Rainbow was born, my time to blog shrank dramatically. Still, I knew (or at least hoped!) there were people still reading, so I tried to post regularly, albeit with some reduced frequency. Lately I've been aiming for two posts a week, which has been pretty doable. I've tried not to let spinning take over the blog because this was, after all, started as a knitting blog. But I've also struggled because there are times when I'm just not doing much knitting and I don't feel like I have much to say.

I think it's also important to note that the blog started in the days before Ravelry. At the time, it was great for me to have a place to document all the stages and details of a project, but now that I can do that in my Ravelry notebook, the blog starts to seem a little redundant. That said, I do still like the writing aspect of a blog post; I suppose I could write copious notes in the relevant section of my project page, but hitting "Save" doesn't seem to give me quite the same sense of satisfaction as does hitting "Publish Post."

I guess where all this is going is that I'd love to get your feedback, dear readers (if, in fact, there are any of you left!), on where this blog is heading. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a bit of a comment "hoar," as they say on Ravelry, and I've notice that for the past month or so, there have been very few comments on my posts. I know that I read a lot of blogs and don't always post, so I'm sure some of you are still reading, but it would be nice to know for sure! If you're reading but not commenting, I'd love to know why. Are you too busy? Not interested in what I have to post? Something else entirely? If I do decide to keep this blog up and running, I would like it to be useful, and one of the most useful things I've found about it is the dialogue it has started with readers.

In the interest of doing some market research, I've put up a poll in the sidebar. It'll be up for the next week. Please feel free to leave a comment as well! (Oh, and you'll also notice that I changed the layout again. Seems I was still in the dark ages of Blogger and wasn't using all the tools available because I hadn't upgraded my template.)

Down to Earth, Part I

Those of you who know my spinning know that my favorite dyer is Kristin at All Spun Up. When I first discovered her Etsy store, very few people knew about her, so it was relatively easy to get my hands on some of her hand-dyed fiber. Of course, once handspun from her fiber started showing up on Ravelry, it wasn't long before she became incredibly popular -- to the point where if you didn't pounce the minute she posted an update to the store, you couldn't get any of her fiber.

Thankfully, Kristin has been doing regular spinalongs. She posts ahead of time what the fiber blend will be (though the colorway is a mystery), and if you want to participate, you post in a thread on her Ravelry group so she has an idea of how much fiber to dye. The listing is then up for a couple of days, and as long as you check within 24-48 hours of the listing, chances are good that you can get some of this much-coveted fiber.

For this May/June, the fiber blend was merino/silk (an 80%/20% blend), so I signed up for a double dose of 8 ounces. The dye job did not disappoint -- she calls this particular colorway Down to Earth.

For now, I started with half of the fiber and spun a very thin single (I'm not sure I realized just how thin it was), then chain plied it to keep the colors distinct.

I am completely thrilled with how this turned out. As I was spinning it, it made me think of a seascape -- the pale blue of the water, the white of the sea foam, the brown of the sand and pieces of driftwood, and the gray of a cloudy sky. And of course there is nothing like the experience of spinning this fiber blend; it is just luscious going through your fingers, and the resulting yarn is soft, silky, and light.

This skein also marks my first entry into my LYS' Summer of Socks and Lace contest. I was aiming for fingering weight, but at more than 600 yards for my 4 ounces, it's on the light side of that.

I have no idea what this will grow up to be, but in the meantime, I will be very happy just wearing it wrapped around my neck! I still have another 4 ounces to play with, so perhaps I'll have a matching skein for this in the near future.

Playing Hooky

Wonder why I'm posting at 9 a.m. on a Friday? It's because I'm playing hooky today -- well, actually just taking a day off. I had a couple of days that I was going to lose by the end of the month, so I figured I'd take a couple of Fridays off just for me. As soon as my LYS opens, I'm planning on taking my miniSpinner, some knitting, and some brownies that are in the oven right now and planting myself on their couch for the day.

I've spent most of my crafty time this week at my wheel, plying up some yarn that you'll see on Sunday, but I've also been a good girl and have been working on the sleeves of my Essential Cardigan. As of last night, I have about 20 rows left on my sleeve caps.

I'm still pretty bored by this project, but at least the end is now in sight. I'm going to block the back and front pieces while I finish the sleeves, and then I'll be able to start on the collar/button bands while the sleeves block. I have a feeling that last part of the knitting is going to take a while, but I'm hoping that the fact that it's the last thing to do will motivate me to keep going and get it done.

I had some handspun leftover from Steven's socks, so I made a quick pair of baby socks during my lunch breaks this week.

These are going toward a charity knitting project on Ravelry. I'm hoping they'll make someone's feet very happy!

Spinning Sunday: Handspun FO Edition

Today's edition of Spinning Sunday comes not with shots of handspun or handspun in progress but rather something actually knit with handspun (it's rare, I know! I'm doing my best to remedy that). You may remember that I've made some reference in recent posts to a pair of handspun socks that I'd been working on. I couldn't show them to you before because they were a surprise, but they were presented to the recipient yesterday, so I can finally reveal them.

Here they are! As of yesterday, these are now gracing the feet of Steven. I'm sure you're wondering what he did to deserve a pair of handknit, handspun socks. Well let me tell you. A couple of months ago, when he thought he was soon to be leaving town, he did a bit of fiber destashing, and apparently he thought I was worthy of some really nice stuff. I haven't had a chance to document it on the blog just yet, but boy did I get an extraordinarily generous surprise from him -- in the form of samples of uber-luxurious fiber. We're talking silk, silk and cashmere, and yak (or was it bison? it's super soft, whatever it is). I haven't yet worked up the courage to try to spin any of it yet, but I've been petting it plenty.

This unexpected windfall was such an amazing surprise. I knew that the proper way to say thanks was with wool, and if you know Steven, you know that he loves handknit socks but rarely makes any for himself. I had the perfect man-friendly skein of superwash merino sock yarn in the stash and I knew it would be perfect for him.

Thankfully, Steven prefers ankle socks -- I say thankfully because he has large feet, or at least large relative to the feet I'm used to knitting for! With 80 stitches cast on, I kept it simple: an inch of 2x2 ribbing and a stockinette foot with a wedge toe. For such simple socks, they did take a while! Here they are with a pair of my socks on top for reference.

In any case, when I gave them to Steven, he immediately took off his shoes and socks and put them on, despite the fact that it was 80+ degrees outside. I think that means they're a success!

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!