All the Color

Spinning has been satisfying my color cravings this weekend. For one thing, my current project seems to have every shade in the rainbow.

I'm pretty sure I showed the fiber last weekend, but I don't think I'd gotten much of it spun at that point. I'm now a little more than halfway done with the singles. This is organic Australian Polwarth, my absolute favorite wool to spin, and I know that it will poof up when I wash it, so for now I'm spinning very fine singles (somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 wpi) with plans to chain-ply when all the fiber is spun. This fiber was the January shipment from the Southern Cross Fibre club, on which I have quite a backlog, so I'm extra happy to be spinning it.

It's also a good thing because April's shipment has shown up this weekend, and it's a stunner.

The colorway is called Posy, and it's on lovely Bond wool, another one of my favorites. Someone in the SCF Ravelry group said that it reminded her of a sunset, so she split up her fiber to make a gradient. And I'm going to shamelessly copy her. The gradient will go from that beautiful rusty orange to the magenta to the purples. I think it's going to be stunning.

I'd be tempted to get it on the wheel next were it not for a little swap thing I'm participating in through the 90% Knitting podcast. The idea is to find 4 oz. of fiber in your stash, split it in half, and send half of it to another spinner, who would do the name in their stash. The two swap partners then have 2 oz. each of two colorways and can spin them up however they like. All the participants will then be sharing photos of how they spin the yarn. I received fiber from my partner on Friday, and it's quite gorgeous:

It's Polwarth/silk, dyed in colors that reminded my partner of where she's from in Oregon. She also included a couple of extra treats: a spinner's journal (not shown) and this adorable stitch marker with the state of Oregon on it. It's made of reclaimed copper, or so the back of the packaging says:

Pretty cool, huh? I sent her package this weekend, and just in case she happens to stop by, I won't post a photo, but I will say that the colorways we both chose should go very well together. I'm fairly certain that even though I wanted to get to the purple prize fiber next, this project is actually going to jump ahead of it because I have a fun idea for how I want to spin the two colorways.

Closing

I'm closing in two senses of the word today. First, I can mark the closing of one project, my new shawl design, which has now been blocked and had its ends trimmed, marking it officially done.

I know it looks a bit wonky here, but that's mainly due to my haste in snapping the photo this morning. I might still hit it with a shot of steam here and there before we shoot the pattern photos, but this is pretty close to the final product. I'm very happy with how it turned out and with how it blocked. Freshly off the needles, it was smaller than I expected, but wool does stretch very nicely. This still isn't a huge shawl, but post-blocking it's big enough to sit comfortably on the shoulders. Finishing up the pattern and getting it off to my tech editor is on my to-do list for the weekend.

The other closing that's happening is that I've started the crown decreases on my slouchy hat.

I worked in stockinette until the hat measured 10 in., which I think should give me sufficient slouch. To be honest, I'm a little sad that I'm almost done because this has been such an enjoyable knit. The colors are really lovely, and it's been something that's been easy to pick up and put down -- unlike Rainbow's Little Boxy, which, although also all stockinette in the round, involves alternating skeins and is thus not nearly as portable.

I'll soon be casting on another travel/work project, as I anticipate finishing this hat later today, but it remains to be seen how much will get done before the weekend. Tomorrow is a big day at work, as quite a few of us will moving offices. This is all part of a big reorganization plan to group people who work on teams more logically in physical locations; at the moment, people are kind of all over the place, as they've been put in offices that are empty as they've started working. It's not a big office space in general, but having been in my space for about a decade, it's meant quite a lot of clearing out and packing up. I'm glad that there's very little on the calendar this weekend so that I can finally get a relaxing couple of days in a row. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and I'll have time to plant the flowers I picked up last weekend!

A View from the Weekend

Why is it that the weekends always fly by? This past one was no exception, likely because we had several things planned and not a ton of downtime.

On Saturday, as a special treat, I took Rainbow and my mother to see the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre perform Sleeping Beauty. The story was always my favorite Disney movie as a kid, and I'd never seen the ballet version, so it was something special for all of us. I knew I needed a new simple project to take with me (I don't know about you, but I can't sit still for two to three hours), so last Thursday I cast on for a new slouchy hat for me. It'll be similar to a Sockhead Hat, but I'm not really following the pattern at all -- just using the style as an inspiration. I did brioche for the brim for a change from the usual ribbing. Here's what it looks like as of this morning (my apologies for the dim lighting -- it's been a gloomy few days here):

The yarn is my go-to fingering, Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce, in a colorway called Colorplay Collection #1. A couple of months ago, Lisa created a series of yarns in a set of colors; this skein was the self-striping version. I don't anticipate using all of the skein, so I should have some leftovers to play with when the hat is done.

My main knitting goal for the weekend was to finish the shawl sample I showed you last week. The applied reverse stockinette I-cord edging took me parts of two days, but I did finish, and last night while Rainbow was in the shower, I blocked it.

Fresh off the needles, it was a bit small and curled up, as you might imagine, but blocking worked wonders as it so often does. I didn't have a chance to check on it this morning, but I'm hopeful it'll be dry by the time I get home tonight and I can do some final measurements. I ended up playing a bit of yarn chicken with the gray and finished with just a tiny ball of yarn remaining. I've still got about two-thirds of the red leftover, and it's so soft and squishy (Cormo lambswool, hello!) that I might use it for a pair of mitts or something for me.

Now that the shawl is off the needles, my evening knitting is once again Rainbow's Little Boxy. It's going to be a long haul of knitting for sure, but at least it's mindless enough that I can read or watch something involving on the TV while I knit. I'm packing up my office this week in preparation to move to a different space on Friday, so it will likely be the perfect thing after some long days.

Spring Spun

This past Friday evenings I sat at my wheel, as I normally do on Fridays. Having finished my singles earlier in the week, I was ready to ply and see how the finished yarn would look. I managed to get through the entire bobbin before bedtime, so I while I was excited to be done, I knew that it likely meant low yardage. I wound up the skein Saturday morning and gave it its bath, and by this morning it was dry.

Thanks to my sister-in-law, I'm now the proud owner of an Instagram Succulent.

I have mixed feelings about this skein. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, but at only about 242 yards, it's much less yardage than I was hoping for from a fingering-weight skein. The fiber was Corriedale from Southern Cross Fibre in the colorway Spring. While I can see the colors of crocus blooms in the yarn, it also looks a little bit like a mashup of Halloween and Mardi Gras colors.

I have some undyed dark brown Corriedale in my stash and think I will spin up a smaller contrast skein to go with it.

On my wheel now is some more Southern Cross, this time Polwarth in a gorgeous colorway called Millefiori:

I've split the fiber in half lengthwise and am once again spinning end to end, and I'll chain ply when I'm done with the singles. And I already know what's going on the wheel after this spin is done:

I may not be buying any new fiber, but surely winning some in a giveaway doesn't count toward the prohibition? Sherrill posted this fiber on Instagram, and as I never win contests, I figured there was no harm in entering. So you can imagine my surprise when I did win! This is a Targhee/bamboo/silk braid in a colorway called Lilac Girls after the book of the same name (a book I read while we were in Florida most recently). I'll either split the braid in half lengthwise and spin a two ply, attempting to match up the color as much as possible, or spin it fine end to end and chain ply.

A Bonus (or Two)

I normally don't post on Fridays, but this week I've got a little surprise, and it seems fitting to share it going into Mother's Day weekend.

A number of months ago, I was approached by the folks at KnitCrate about collaborating with them. They asked me to design two patterns using their house Knitologie Cozy Sock, a merino/cashmere/nylon blend. These projects obviously had to stay secret until they were revealed to subscribers, and that big reveal came this week. And now I can share them to you, because they're now available to everyone through my Ravelry store!

My Jounce Cowl is one of those one-skein wonders that are the perfect use for that special skein of fingering weight yarn that's maybe a bit too precious for socks. It uses an all-over texture stitch that's sort of a mashup of basic brioche stitch and 1x1 rib. It's simple to do and quick to memorize, and while using fingering weight yarn creates a light accessory that's just as good as a fashion item as one for warmth, you could use any weight of yarn and can easily adapt it to be closer fitting or significantly longer if you'd prefer to wrap it twice. I'm planning to make myself one using some special handspun!

My Squeezed Citrus socks are likewise textured all over, using twisted stitches and knit/purl combinations. They're worked from the cuff down and incorporate a heel flap and gusset and wedge toe. They're graded to three sizes -- adult small, medium, and large -- and have both written and charted instructions for the stitch pattern.

You can find more details on these patterns on Ravelry by clicking on the links. I hope you like them!

Tri-Kitty

Not nearly as much knitting got done while I was away as I would have liked, but I did make some progress and added to it during my lunch breaks this week. After about three failed attempts, I finally managed to figure out the crown decreases for Rainbow's brioche hat, and I finished it up last night right after I put her to bed.

Pattern: two-color brioche with an improvised crown
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (80% superwash merino, 20% nylon) mini skeins, 54 g/216 yds. used
Needles: 40 in. US 1 (2.25 mm) Addi Sock Rockets, magic loop
Started/Completed: April 29/May 8

As brioche projects go, this one was pretty simple. For most of the hat, I simply did the basic two-color stitch pattern, switching to a new mini skein for each strand when the previous one ran out (in the interest of science, I use a Russian join for one transition and a braided join for the other). The complicated part came when I was ready to do the crown. The problem with brioche is that you can only do decreases that reduce your stitch count by an even number of stitches (2, 4, etc.) in order to maintain the pattern. This makes it difficult to get a smooth dome-like shape for the crown. First I tried to do either k3tog or sssk decreases in four evenly spaced points, but it wasn't possible to do with my stitch count. So I settled for what you see here: three lines of 5-into-1 decreases. It made for a much shallower crown, but it's a cool effect, and Rainbow is quite pleased with it, as you can see:

She thinks it looks like kitty ears (with a bonus point in back). I suggested she think of it as a "tricera-kitty" hat, but she told me I was being ridiculous; similarly, my suggestion to put little pompoms on the points was quickly rejected. I will block it this weekend and try to stretch out a bit more length if I can, but I think the fact that she wore it to school today, when it was already in the upper 60s F when we left the house, is indication enough that she's completely happy with it.

I did get a little bit done on her Little Boxy on the drive down to Maryland, so I've now got about two to three inches of body on the needles. I haven't touched it since, but I expect it will soon be in regular rotation.

For the moment, my main focus is going to be finishing up this design sample, because I'd like to release it next month and need to allow time to write up the pattern and have it tech edited.

I know it's hard to see all bunched up on the needle, and I think you can tell why I'm so eager to finish -- I really want to block it and see how it looks all spread out and opened up! My plan is to knit until I'm about out of the gray, and that ball is quickly getting smaller. I expect I'll be able to get in one more stripe of the red before that happens. I'm still debating whether to add a garter border in the red or not; either way, there will be an applied I-cord edging in the red to finish it off. I might have to run a lifeline through the stitches and take it off the needles to get a sense of the true size before I decide (though opinions are certainly welcome).

The weekend is shaping up to be a good mix of activity and relaxation. On Saturday afternoon, I'm taking my mother and Rainbow to see the ballet perform Sleeping Beauty, and then we've got a Mother's Day brunch planned with the family. There are the usual errands and chores, but I'm really looking forward to sleeping in and staying home after last weekend's exhausting adventures. Whatever your weekend brings you, I hope you enjoy it!

MDSW 2019: Of Puppies and Mud

I'm back! Chances are you didn't miss me at all thanks to the wonder that is scheduling a blog post ahead of time. But I've had quite a bit of catching up to do on e-mail and blog reading after being away and largely offline for about four days, not to mention that I was desperate for a long hot shower and a good night's sleep in my own bed.

All in all, it was a fun but busy weekend. I left at about 6:30 Friday morning, making a quick stop at Bruegger's for a bagel and coffee for the road, and was at the farm by about 7:30. We got on the road shortly before 8. This was my first trip to MDSW with Amy and Scooter Pie after doing the last two Rhinebeck trips with them, and on this trip we had two new companions:

This is not the best photo of them, but with puppies, it's hard to get them to sit still long enough for a photo. These are Amy's newest puppies, Bo (short for Boudin) and Whiskey (full name: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot). Amy likes to say that Bo is her emotional support animal and Whiskey is Bo's emotional support animal. While Whiskey is full Pembroke Corgi, Bo's Corgi mother apparently had a liaison with a French Bulldog. They're both pretty darned adorable, and they were my sleeping buddies in the camper (their crate was right next to my bed, so I woke up each day to the two of them staring at me). They didn't come with us to the festival, but it was fun to see them at the end of each day (as you can imagine, after a day of sitting in their crate while we were gone, they had a lot of energy to burn off when we let them out).

The festival itself was a lot of fun and very busy. Saturday ended up being just about perfect, weather-wise. It was overcast and not too warm most of the day, with a nice breeze, and the sun popped out briefly a number of times. Sunday was the exact opposite: It rained all day long. We were in the Lower Coral in a tent, and frankly the entire area was a giant mud puddle. I was thankful that I'd had the foresight to bring my rain boots, because I really needed them and would have destroyed my sneakers had I worn them. I was also thankful that Scooter Pie had laid a temporary plywood floor in the booth (really done for the ease of wheeling out their display cases, but it helped with the mud, too!).

The highlight of the festival for me was this:

For the first time this year I was able to enter one of my handspun skeins into the skein and garment competition in person (you may recall that last year I entered two skeins and had to mail them in, and someone switched the tags on them, leading to poor scores). I knew this was one of my better skeins and hoped it would do well, and I'm absolutely delighted to have received a third-place ribbon!

Because the booth was so busy, I didn't get a ton of time to go out and shop -- and that was just fine, considering my strict yarn and fiber diet -- but I did sneak out to pick up a couple of little gifts for Rainbow, who was a little weepy when I had to leave on Friday morning.

I specifically wanted to stop by the WeeOnes booth to see if she had any Westie stitch markers, and I was in luck! I hadn't planned on also picking up a project bag, but when I saw this one, I couldn't resist buying it for my sloth-obsessed daughter.

Amy and I took a stroll through the Main Exhibition Hall on Sunday morning, when business was slow, and I decided to treat myself with a new tool (it's not yarn and fiber, so it's okay!).

This is a lucet from Stephen Willette in beautiful Bubinga wood. I've never used one before, but he gave me a quick lesson in the booth and I was sent home with an instruction booklet, so I'm all set to give it a try. It's actually much easier than I would have thought, and it will be another good way to use up some stash yarn, particularly some handspun that is perhaps too scratchy to knit with but would be good for a rug or a hot pad.

Though I was mighty tempted by a lot of beautiful yarn and fiber at the festival, I didn't buy any -- but that's not to say that I came home empty handed.

This lovely pile is my favorite yarn from the farm, Shetland 3-ply sport, which Amy generously gave me for a new sweater design that I have planned for later this year (if all goes according to plan, it will make its debut at Rhinebeck). It's been years since my first sweater design, and I think I am now ready to tackle a stranded colorwork yoke pullover. I'll be using Marigold, the lighter color, as the main color and Lindy, that gorgeous chocolate brown, for the contrast in the yoke. I still have some reading and swatching and number crunching to do, but my hope is to have this in the works by the summer.

Everything is now back to the normal schedule for me, and this week I'm working on finishing up a couple of projects at home and packing up my office for a move next week at work. Though it wasn't a relaxing weekend away in any sense, it was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to see some friends from far away. Now let the countdown to Rhinebeck begin!

Still Spinning

While you read this, I'm away at Maryland Sheep and Wool, hopefully not getting completely soaked. I did not take any spinning with me, but I did get a little bit done during the past week, albeit not as much as I would have hoped.

That fiber draped over the wheel is all that's left of the third ball, so I'm nearly 75% done with these singles. With any luck, I'll get some time in at the wheel when I'm back after the busy weekend to finish them up!

In Prep Mode

I will be leaving bright and early (actually, probably before the sun is fully up) tomorrow for Maryland Sheep and Wool. For the first time, I'll be going to work rather than shop, which should be a nice change. My plans to go with friends never really fell into place, so when Amy of the Ross Farm said they could use my help in the booth, I jumped at the chance.

Despite the fact that I have to leave very early tomorrow (Amy wants to get on the road by 8, and I've got about an hour-long drive to get down to the farm), I've done no real prep for the trip other than think about it. I've checked the forecast throughout the week and it looks like it'll be wet and warm, so I'm definitely taking my wellies and some extra shoes, but I haven't started packing at all. True to form, though, I've already planned out what knitting I'm taking.

I figured the trip would be a good excuse to get a fair amount done on my two current WIPs for Rainbow, the brioche hat (pictured above) and her Little Boxy (which has gotten only one round knit on it since the last time you saw it). I also my take my current design WIP, which really needs to get finished soon. That should be plenty, considering the drive down isn't nearly as long as the drive to Rhinebeck.

Tonight I've got to pack, wind the rest of the minis for the hat so I don't have to do it by hand, and get shopping lists and schedules all set for my husband for while I'm away. If you will be at the festival this weekend, come by the booth and say hi!

Fresh WIPs

It seems like whenever I finish up a big project, especially one that has taken a lot of time, I get an urge to cast on all the things for a while afterward. I'm definitely in that mode now, and in the last week or so I've started three new things and finished one.

The finished project isn't very exciting and hardly seems like it should count. When I finished up my Inspiration socks, I had about a quarter of the skein leftover, so I decided to use them for a little bit of crochet. Using an F/3.75 mm hook, I started with a small circle and worked my way out and up to make a little basket/bowl type thingy. Because the yarn wasn't superwash, I thought I'd see how it would felt, so it got tossed into a couple loads of laundry. It fuzzed and shrank up some, though not completely (likely because it was still worked at a fairly tight gauge), but it's the perfect size to be a cozy for the pot of fancy lotion Rainbow gave me for my birthday this year!

I will probably try to felt it a little more, as my original intent was for this to be a little bowl to sit on my nightstand, where it could be a useful receptacle for little things like buttons and stitch markers. So it may not be super useful right now, but it was a fun little experiment, particularly as I want to do more crochet this year.

But on to the WIPs! I've been promising Rainbow a new sweater for a while, so I did finally cast on for a Little Boxy for her on Sunday.

I'm using Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (superwash merino/nylon) that she picked out earlier this year at Indie Knit and Spin. The colorway is Peacock Blue, which is turning up more green here than it is in real life (this listing in another base in Lisa's shop shows it better). Because I'm working with hand-dyed yarn, I am alternating skeins every round. I don't know if I am technically using the helical knitting method, but I am not twisting the strands as I switch them. Instead, I'm just grabbing the new strand from under the strand I've been using as I start each round, and I'm finding that it has a much smoother effect than the twisting I used to do.

So far, I've only worked the ribbing at the bottom of the body and one round of the stockinette on larger needles (I used a US 2.5/3.0 mm for the ribbing and am using a US 4/3.5 mm for the body). The 1x1 ribbing is definitely the slowest part, especially during the first couple of rounds when you're really being careful to make sure you haven't twisted your work and when there isn't quite enough fabric on the needles yet to comfortably stretch around the full length of the circular. Because I knew I'd be working with two skeins at once, I decided to make things easy for myself and used both for the cast on. I used my favorite method for casting on, long tail, but I thought I'd change things up a bit. Because the bottom is worked in 1x1 rib, I did an alternating knit/purl long-tail cast on. I think this makes the CO edge blend into the ribbing a bit better, and it also creates an interesting effect on the edge.

My other new project uses the same yarn but in another color (or perhaps I should say colors). A few weeks ago, I won a set of mini skeins from Lisa as part of her yearlong knitalong program in six shades of purple. Naturally Rainbow immediately asked if I could make her something with them (the love of purple has diminished as she's gotten older but hasn't entirely gone away), so I thought I'd try a slouchy brioche hat that she could alternate with the Sockhead Hat she loves so much. I cast on for it on Saturday and had completed probably an inch and a half by Monday morning when I realized that it was going to be way too big for her -- even too big for me. So I ripped it out and started again. I'm almost back to where I was, and the fit looks to be much better.

Despite what they might look like here, these skeins are actually two different colors, though I'll grant you the difference is subtle. I used the same two-strand knit/purl long-tail cast on for this hat, and I'm using the same quasi-helical method to alternate my skeins each round. I have a total of six mini skeins, which I think are 20 g/80 yds. each, so I doubt I'll use all the yarn, but I should at least be able to use most of it. It's not as portable as my usual sock project, but it's been fun knitting.

A Mixed Bag

It's the weekend, which means I have been spending some time at my wheel. Before I show the most recent spinning, however, let's return to my combo spin yarn, which has been washed and dried since last you saw it.

The good news is that it super squishy and round (though it's not actually glowing as it appears here -- blame that on the filter on my photo editing app that I had to use to get the colors appropriately dark).

The not-so-good news is that there's not nearly as much of it as I would like. It's definitely on the heavy end of worsted weight toward Aran and probably even bulky in some spots, but I only have about 820-ish yards based on my rough estimate. The sweater I was hoping to knit would need almost twice that in yardage. So it's back to the drawing board. The ply twist is rather tight, so I might end up running the yarn back through the wheel to remove some, though I don't expect that that would do much to get me more yardage, and I do like the look of the tight twist. I think the issue is just that even when I'm not spinning my default yarn (three-ply fingering for socks), my hands still want to spin yarn that's the same quality -- dense singles tightly plied. So this is a dense yarn, though the tight ply twist should make it wear well. What I just may end up doing is using an Ann Budd basic pattern (a top-down version, anyway) and knitting until I run out of yarn. Perhaps that will mean a cropped sweater or one with shorter sleeves, but I'm sure I can work with what I have.

I will say that I'm quite in love with the chain-plied skein that used up the final singles, and part of me wishes I had chain-plied all the singles, though realistically I know that would have been a bad idea and given me a very inconsistent yarn.

I have a little more than 100 yards in this skein, so perhaps enough for a hat or at least a headband, or maybe I will stripe it with something else.

Seeing that my hands wanted to spin my default yarn, I decided that the next thing on the wheel should be just that, and I decided to do it with the most recent fiber added to my stash, the March 2019 Southern Cross Fibre club shipment, Corriedale in a crocus-inspired colorway called Spring.

I decided to maintain the colors in this yarn, so I split the fiber vertically into four long strips and am spinning them in succession. In the end, I'll be chain plying for a self-striping yarn.

I started spinning this on Monday evening and am more than halfway done with the singles, no doubt because I don't have to think much when spinning this thickness. It would be lovely to get this finished up before I head down to MDSW at the end of the week, but I make no promises!

It Begins with One Small Step

I've made a conscious decision to pare down my stash, but it's not going to happen overnight. In reality, it will take a while -- as they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step. My first step has now been taken with the completion of these socks:

Pattern: cuff-down stockinette with true afterthought heels
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Ridgetop Fingering (80% Romney, 20% Falkland) in Inspiration, 75 g/300 yds used
Needles: US 0 (2.0 mm) 40 in. Addi Sock Rockets, magic loop
Started/Completed: April 13/April 24

This yarn is the perfect example of yarn I didn't really need but bought on a whim. The colorway was one of two special colorways that Lisa created to celebrate her eighth anniversary of being in business, and when I saw it, I just had to have it. It was the perfect excuse to try out this new yarn base.

I really loved working with this yarn. It's very different from most sock yarns in that it's a more rustic blend and not superwash. Some might find it rough or scratchy, but my feet are not that particular, and it reminded me in some ways of some of the yarn I've spun from coarser fibers. I think it will wear well in the long run.

I don't normally do afterthought heels, but the striping sequence in this yarn is so long that it seemed like the right thing to do to preserve it. (That length of the sequence is also why I didn't bother trying to get the two socks to match each other but instead started each sock in the same spot in the general pattern, if that makes sense.) I did true afterthought heels, inserting my needles on either side of the row where the heel would be and then snipping the yarn right in the middle. I caught the yarn tails/wove them in as I knit the first round of the heel, and it feels a little tight around that round at the moment, but I think it will loosen up when I wash and wear the socks. Overall, I am pleased with these and think they'll be in regular rotation once it's sock season again.

With the leftovers, I've started crocheting a little bowl/basket that I'm going to try to felt to see how the yarn does with that. I figure it'll be a little thing I can keep on my nightstand to hold random stitch markers and such.

I'm also reducing the size of my stash a bit more dramatically by clearing out a sweater's quantity. Several years ago, I won these skeins of a Madelinetosh merino/alpaca DK. I still think they're beautiful, but as I haven't used them, I'm fine with letting them go.

These will be a prize for someone in the Mad May event in the Madelinetosh Lovers group on Ravelry. I hope they'll go to a new home where they'll be used!

The Stash: A Reckoning

I hope you all had a restful holiday weekend, whatever you were celebrating! We had two very big Passover dinners, and thanks to taking yesterday off, I got pretty well caught up on my sleep. This morning did feel a bit crazy -- the Mister was up early to leave for a quick work trip, so I had to get Rainbow to school and then run off to an orthodontist appointment, which then made me run to get to work as quickly as I could -- but it also feels good to get back to the normal routine. I didn't get as much physical activity as I would like over the weekend, too, so my daily walks to and from work have been missed.

I am still working on two active WIPs, a shawl design sample and my afterthought heel socks; the socks are far enough along now that I might even finish them tonight if I can get enough knitting time in.

What I want to talk about today, though, is the state of my stash. Last weekend, I found myself going through just about every bin and bag of yarn and fiber in my stash in search of a skein of yarn I'd spun last summer and put in such a safe place that I'd been unable to locate it again for many months. I did eventually find that skein, but in the process I realized that I've acquired way more yarn and fiber than I really need or could reasonably use. I say this without judgment of the size of anyone else's stash; mine has just gotten to the point where it's causing me anxiety. So I'm taking some steps to help ease that:

1. Starting today, I am not buying yarn just for the sake of buying it. I won't say I am not buying yarn at all, because sometimes there is a necessity (such as needing an extra skein for a project that's a gift, for instance), but I am not in need of yarn for any planned projects right now and have enough yarn purchased specifically for planned projects that I am not going to buy yarn and cast on for something entirely new on a whim.*
2. At some point in the near future, I'm going to take some time to go through the entire stash and sort it. Things that do not spark joy will be destashed, either by giving them to Rainbow or a friend or putting them up for sale.
3. For the foreseeable future, I'll be working exclusively from stash. That means upping my game with charity knitting (a perfect use for all the partial skeins that are making up a large portion of the stash) and working on gift knits, such as items for my nephew.

My long-term goal here is to see more yarn and fiber moving out of the stash than moving into it, at least for the rest of the year. I'm hesitant to go through and catalog everything I have, if only because of the amount of time it would take, but I'm going to keep track of what comes in and what goes out. I will monitor that on a regular basis, and if things don't improve, I might have to take more drastic action. Wish me luck, and if you have any good tips, please feel free to share them in the comments!

*NB: There will still be some fiber and yarn coming in, as I'm a member of several clubs, and there may be yarn coming in for design work, but that amount is small in comparison to what's already in the stash.

And Done

I spent the better part of today plying and skeining, and while I won't have my final yardage until sometime tomorrow (because the yarn is still soaking and will need to dry), my combo spin is done!

I ended up with three skeins of traditional three ply and some singles left on one bobbin, which I chain plied (that's the skein on the far right). I suspect that the yarn will end up being closer to Aran or bulky than worsted after it dries, as my handspun generally puffs up a bit in the washing. So perhaps it won't work for the sweater that I had in mind, but I'm sure I'll find a good use for it!

Magic Yarn?

This week has felt simultaneously long and short. It's been busy, so you'd think it would be flying by, but instead I've woken up almost every morning wondering why it isn't yet Friday. I have a long weekend ahead (I'm taking Monday off to stay home with Rainbow), and it's a holiday weekend, with Passover starting tomorrow night, so chances are I've just been looking forward to the chance to rest.

I have not being doing a ton of knitting, mainly just working on my current socks, because I spent Monday and Tuesday night plying some of my combo spin singles (there's still quite a bit to do). I think these socks, or perhaps this new-to-me yarn, must have some kind of magic in them, though, because amazingly I've already finished the first sock save the afterthought heel despite the fact that I cast them on less than a week ago.

Last night the Mister and I went to an event for our local PBS station that featured a preview of Ken Burns's next documentary. It's on country music, which isn't really my taste, but it was something fun to do (and the Mister is on the board of the station, so it was a good excuse to go and show support). Before the preview, we got to enjoy a short set performed live by Kathy Mattea, who is featured in the film and also, coincidentally, happens to be the cousin of the station's president and CEO. I'd heard of her, though I'm not familiar with her music, so it wasn't as exciting for me as for some members of the audience, but it was still a nice evening -- and of course a perfect excuse to get some sock knitting done. By the time we left, I was already halfway through the toe!

In the absence of much other knitting content, I thought I'd do a quick recap of some of my reading lately. These aren't all the books I've read since my last reading update (you can go visit my Goodreads profile if you want to see everything), but these are the ones that I felt were good enough to share.

• All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung: I'd heard about this memoir some time ago and been patiently (and then not so patiently) waiting for my hold to come through from the library. It's a beautifully written and at times heartbreaking story about a Korean American woman adopted by a white couple as a baby struggling with her racial identity as she grows up and struggling the reasons she was given up as an adult. It's a powerful story that really makes you think a lot about nature vs. nurture, how you form your own identity, and what makes a family. I gave it 5 stars.
• Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan: This is based on a true story, written after the author conducted in-depth interviews with the main character and extensive research in Italy. It looks at the experience of WWII for Italians, especially those Italians who were opposed to Hitler and Mussolini and actively worked against them. Though I found it a bit longer than I felt it needed to be, it was a very good read. I gave it 4 stars.
• Becoming by Michelle Obama: What can I say about this phenomenal autobiography that hasn't already been said? I knew that Michelle Obama was a smart woman, but I never realized just how accomplished and intelligent she was until I read her book. My admiration for her has grown exponentially. I gave it 5 very enthusiastic stars!
• The Forgotten Hours by Katrin Schumann: This book was one of several I got for free through Amazon First Reads, and I read it mainly because I had a backlog of titles I'd gotten through the program that I wanted to get through. I've learned not to have high expectations for these books (you get what you pay for, right?), but this one surprised me. It was not an easy book to read, as it deals with an accusation of rape of a teenage girl by the father of the main character, but it's done in a thoughtful, sensitive way. It made me think a lot. I gave it 4 stars.
• A Lily in the Light by Kristin Fields: This was another Amazon First Reads book, but I had actually heard about it before because a friend of mine from high school is a literary agent and represents this author. This book is another one dealing with a difficult subject -- in this case, the disappearance of a young girl and the subsequent effect on her family, all against the backdrop of the main character's burgeoning career in ballet. Though I've thankfully never gone through such an experience, the conflict between the family members and the ways they dealt with their grief felt very real to me. It was a quick read, and the ending wrapped things up nicely (something I always appreciate). I gave it 4 stars.

If you are celebrating a holiday this weekend, I hope it's a good one! Expect to see at least some finished combo spin yarn here on Sunday!

The Rainbow Connection

When the weather is gross and all the news is bad, sometimes the best thing you can do to lift your mood is knit yourself a bright rainbow-striped cowl.

Pattern: Sockhead Cowl by Kelly McClure
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) in Once Upon a Stained Glass Window, one skein
Needles: 16 in. US 2.5/3.0 mm Hiya Hiya circs
Started/Completed: April 1/April 14
Mods: shortened the ribbing

I cast on this project to be my lunchtime knitting at the beginning of the month, right at my most stressful time of year at work, because I knew that it would be the perfect mindless project to work on when my brain needed a break. It was a brilliant move on my part, if I do say so myself, because I just did not have the mental bandwidth at the beginning of April to do anything that required counting or following a chart or keeping track of increases or decreases.

This pattern is dead easy, so much so that I didn't really need to look at the pattern after reading the number of stitches to cast on. I made a minor modification in shortening the length of the ribbing at either end of the tube, but that was mainly because when I first started, I got tired of knitting ribbing after about three inches and decided it was good enough (and then did the ribbing at the other end to match). I used up all but a tiny amount of my skein of yarn by weighing the skein before casting on and then again after I was done with the initial ribbing to calculate how much I had used at the point (22 g, for the record). I weighed my remaining yarn periodically as I was knitting the stockinette portion, and when I had about 23 g left, I started the ribbing at the end (I allowed a bit extra for a stretchy bind off that I knew would take more yarn than the cast on). The finished project is exactly what I wanted. It's cozy -- big enough to pull it up over my face and even wear it like a hat and cowl in one if I want to -- and crazy colorful, so it will be a bright spot in the middle of winter when everything else is dark and dull. I have a feeling there will be more of these in my future.

I had just started the finally ribbing for this on Saturday, so I decided to cast on something new to take with me to a performance of Come from Away (I always manage to screw up knitting when trying to knit in the dark, so I needed something in stockinette). So I cast on a new pair of socks.

This is the newest Fibernymph Dye Works base, Ridgetop fingering, a nonsuperwash Falkland/Romney blend, in one of Lisa's eighth anniversary colorways, Inspiration. Because it's such a long stripe repeat -- I've got two more stripes to knit to go through the whole repeat here -- I decided to do afterthought heels on this pair, meaning I can basically just keep knitting and knitting until I'm ready for the toe. This tube is already nearly 8 inches long, so assuming my usual 7 inch leg, that puts me into the foot already. I'm going to do a true afterthought heel so that I can place it either right in the middle of a stripe or right between two stripes.

I have to say that after knitting a big tube out of superwash merino/nylon yarn, this base did feel a bit scratchy to me at first, but it's really growing on me, and I already get a sense that it's going to make a durable fabric. I think this base (which also comes in a DK) would be fabulous for stranded colorwork, so perhaps one day I'll have a sweater in it. For the time being, though, I'm focusing on knitting and then wearing the socks to get to know it better.

31-derful

I got such a rush from finishing my sweater that I decided to move on to focus on finishing the next project, and that ended up being my combo spin. I spent a couple extra nights at my wheel in place of knitting this week, and that was enough extra time to get me through the rest of the fiber as of this afternoon. That's right -- I have finished spinning all of the singles for my combo spin!

I love that every bobbin looks different; it suggests that I did a fairly good job of randomly selecting my fiber so that the eight different colorways are all mixed up. I know that these singles are thicker than my norm, so naturally they spun up faster, but I'm still rather impressed with myself for spinning 880 g (or about 31 oz.) of singles in roughly a month -- especially considering that I mostly spin only on the weekend.

I am eager to start plying, but I figured I should be good and let the singles rest a bit first so that I don't have to fight with them. In the meantime, I'll move on to the next project.

Pattern Release: Systole Cowl

Depending on where in the world you live, it might be too hot for anything wool right now or it might still feel like winter. Where I live, we've finally had a taste of spring, but we're due to get a brief cold snap this weekend. Even when the weather is more temperate here this time of year, mornings always tend to have a bit of a chill to them, so while the days of wearing many wool accessories are probably past for now, sometimes I find I still need a light extra layer.

The new cowl I'm debuting today is just that sort of thing. It's small and lightweight, making it perfect to throw on when you need a touch of extra warmth but not so much that you soon find yourself overheating. Even if you don't need to wear it right now, it's one of those small, quick knits that are perfect when you still want to knit but don't want a lap full of wool.

This pattern started way back in August of 2017, when we traveled to Cape Cod on a family vacation. I visited a couple of yarn stores while we were there at the recommendation of some locals/frequent visitors and brought home some souvenir yarn, including these two skeins of Swans Island Washable Wool Sport that I knew I would use for a colorwork design.

I swatched when I got home and something was off, but other things were more pressing and it got put on the back burner. Then, a couple of months ago, I pulled out my swatch and set to work figuring out what was off and how to fix it. It took some time fiddling with the chart, but I finally got it looking the way I wanted to and dug out the yarn, which was just as pretty as I remembered (and thankfully hadn't gotten lost in the depths of the stash while it was waiting to be used!). Once I cast on, the cowl pretty much flew off my needles.

Though this design started as an abstract sketch, once it was knit up, I couldn't help but think that it looked like the readout on a heart monitor. Naming my designs is always one of the most difficult parts of the process for me, so I was glad to have an inspiration for a name. Systole is the term for the contraction of the heart that pushes blood out into the body. If you've watched enough medical dramas, then you know that the absence of it (asystole) is a very bad thing. There's nothing medical about the cowl per se, but I like the idea of the colorwork pattern signifying a beating heart in a way.

This cowl knits up in the round in one size that fits most children and adults. Although the finished size, after blocking, is about 20 in./50 cm around, I recommend using a slightly longer circular needle as a way of keeping your tension even and your floats loose. The entire cowl uses about 160 yds./146 m total, so if you have two 50 g skeins of the recommended yarn, you should have plenty to knit two cowls, particularly if you switch the colors for the second one. (Note that this yarn base is available in both 50 g and 100 g skeins; if you have larger skeins, you should be able to get four cowls out of two skeins!) My preview knitters used a variety of yarns for theirs (wool, wool/nylon, acrylic), and they all turned out great.

As with all my patterns, this one has been tech edited to ensure that it's easy to follow and error free. My preview knitters all had nice things to say about their projects, too, so I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who had fun knitting it!

Floozy, Complete

It has taken nearly six months, but finally it is done!

Pattern: Floozy by Libby Jonson
Yarn: Blacker Yarns British Classic 4-ply in Pale Blue (MC), Mustard (CC1), and Mid Blue (CC2
Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm), US 2 (2.75 mm), and US 2.5 (3.0 mm)
Started/Completed: October 18, 2018/April 4, 2019

When I cast this sweater on, it was supposed to be an easy knit. Yes, it's fingering weight, and yes, I had to go down to a US 2 needle to get gauge, but the colorwork was up first and is always fast and then it was just single-color stockinette. Easy, right? In reality, it might have been easy, but it certainly wasn't fast.

I managed to get through the first bit of the colorwork at the top of the yoke while I was away for Rhinebeck last year. I worked on it a bit more when I got home, but then I was distracted by other things and put it down for a while. Next, I took it on vacation when we went to Florida over the winter holidays, figuring that I'd get a ton of knitting done. But then I got carried away with knitting gnomes and charity hats and reading good books, and all I managed to do was get to the point where I split the arm and body stitches. It wasn't really until I was in a car for nearly 20 hours over three days last month that I got serious about getting this sweater done. When I returned from that trip, I had a body ready for the band at the bottom and about half a sleeve done, so there really wasn't that much work left to do. At that point, I decided that it was time to buckle down and focus on this project to get it off the needles once and for all.

The colorwork used in the yoke of this sweater is fun, but it's slip-stitch colorwork rather than stranded, and it wasn't nearly as fast for me. Essentially what happens in slip-stitch colorwork is that you use one color at a time and slip stitches in the unused color. It makes it a bit easier to do flat than stranded work, but it also means that you essentially have to work four rows to get two rows of knitting. So for those sections at the bottom and top of the colorwork section, where there are two-stitch blips of the mustard, I worked two rows knitting/purling the mustard stitches and slipping the pale blue and then two rows knitting/purling the pale blue stitches and slipping the mustard. For me, it was harder to get into a rhythm with this style of colorwork, though I certainly agree that it's less of a pain than trying to knit stranded work flat. That zig-zag line in the darker blue in particular involved some knitting gymnastics that are quite clever but slow. I think that had I been knitting this in the round, using stranded rather than slip-stitch colorwork, it would have been much faster for me.

Slowness aside, I enjoyed working with the yarn, which I obtained through the Woolly Thistle. With a mix of British breeds plus some BFL for softness, it's a real workhorse yarn. Many people would probably consider it a bit rough or scratchy, and though it did roughen up my fingers a bit while I worked with it (which, frankly, is a hazard for me in general during the fall and winter), I didn't mind it. I get the sense that it's going to be one of those yarns that wears like iron; it may even look like I haven't blocked the sweater yet though I did give it a good long soak over the weekend. Though it's classified as a 4-ply/fingering weight, it's very fluffy, which is probably why I had to go down to a US 2 to get gauge -- and even though I'm used to knitting fingering weight on an even smaller needle, the fabric is firm enough that knitting got a bit uncomfortable after a while.

I experienced a bit of rowing out on the body, which is unusual for me and I think an outcome of using a smaller-than-specified needle. If you look closely at this photo, you might be able to see it. Although I was hopeful that blocking would help, it's still there; I think that this sweater will require a number of wearings and washing to settle down and even out, and frankly I think most people are going to be looking at the colorwork at the top than the plain stockinette at the bottom. The tension on the sleeves is much better; I used a US 2.5 needle for those, knowing that my gauge was going to be a bit tighter working in the round as opposed to flat, and it turned out to be a good move on my part.

I had panic-ordered two extra skeins of the pale blue yarn when I got back from Chicago, thinking that I was going to run short, but in the end I had plenty of yarn -- I even have about half of the last skein left. I suspect the reason for the panic was that I thought I needed to make the long body version, assuming that the shorter option was going to be more of a cropped fit, but in actuality it's the perfect length, hitting just below my hipbone. I'm thankful now that there were only those two skeins available from the Woolly Thistle or I would have ordered even more! I'm sure the leftovers will be put to good use, though. This yarn strikes me as perfect for mittens, and with leftovers of the contrast colors on hand as well, I anticipate some colorwork mittens in the future.

I'm very, very happy with how this sweater turned out. I sewed on the buttons on Sunday night, after searching through my button collection for options (they needed to be the right size and I needed 10 of them) and coming up with three possibilities. Did I do it perfectly? No; if you look closely at the first photo above, you'll see that the colorwork isn't quite lined up as well as it could be. Do I care? Not really. I did my best, and that's good enough for me. In all likelihood, I'll end up wearing this open most of the time anyway, so it may be a moot point. I'm just so relieved to finally be done and to no longer have this last WIP from 2018 hanging over my head. We're supposed to get a bit of a cold snap next weekend, so I might even get to wear it out a bit before it has to be packed up for the summer!

More than Halfway

I spent most of my crafting time this past week knitting like a fiend, trying to finish my sweater, and this weekend was quite busy, so I did not get as much time at my wheel as I would have liked. Still, I've officially reached (and then passed) the halfway point on my singles for my combo spin. Bobbin number 3 was finished up this afternoon.

I've also gotten a start on bobbin number 4 (not pictured, because it's gotten rather dark here), so I'm definitely keeping up the pace. I'm hoping that I'll have the whole project, plying and all, done by the end of the month. That might be a bit ambitious, but there's nothing like a deadline to get me to focus.

Edge of Completion

After working on my Floozy cardigan for almost six months, off and on, I am so close to finishing I can taste it. The first button band is done -- I even wove in my ends. That took longer than I expected, so all I got done on the second band was picking up my stitches and knitting one row. But tonight it's all about that band.

This band is the one that will have the buttons on it, so in theory it should be faster to knit because I won't have to stop to figure out buttonhole placement. But it is all 1x1 rib on size 1 needles, so it's not exactly fast knitting. I am determined, however, and I'll get as much done as I possibly can. If I have to wait to finish on Friday, so be it.

We've got a relatively relaxing weekend ahead with fairly good weather predicted, so I'm looking forward to catching up on some sleep and spending time outside. Hope your weekend is full of good things!