Category — Spinning

the first finished skein from my new matchless

The first-ever completed skein of yarn from my matchless is done, and I’m very pleased. The colors have blended nicely, it’s super-soft, shiny, and has wonderful drape. It will soon become the weft of my third-ever weaving project.

I’m enjoying my wheel so much, in fact, that I already have a new bobbin full of some superfine superwash merino top that I dyed earlier this spring. There’s 8 ounces, enough to use as the multi-colored yoke of a faux fair-isle yoke sweater. I really love the way the colors are blending up on the bobbin. I think I may even make it a cardigan and try steeking just for the fun of it!

I’m still hammering out the details of the sock club, but at this point it’s looking like it will be set up by yarn base and there will be one colorway for all clubs each month, at least for the first round. I love the idea of doing clubs but I don’t want to burn myself out the first try!

The clubs will have a limited number of slots so if you want to sign up, make sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter. I’ll be announcing sign-ups there first, and I expect the slots to go fast!

Nine days of school vacation. Two sick kids. Two papers due. ‘Nuf said.

Other than trying to get kids healthy, keep the house a notch above disgusting, get ready for a major shop update and write two papers that might eek out a B (NOT my usual standard- yes, I’m a perfectionist) I’ve not had time for much else that requires actual use of my brain.

my first handspun socks- yay!

Good thing for me that simple 2×2 ribbing is pretty mindless! Yep, I finished my falkland handspun socks and I must say that I’m in love. I’m also, unfortunately, completely addicted to the subtle color blending that develops while knitting socks with handspun yarn. Now if only I could afford an electric wheel for plying. My calves get quite the workout doing all that plying on my little kiwi!

my first 3-ply handspun sock yarn

Proof that I am genuinely addicted: I also did a test-spin for my new spinning fibers that will be up in the shop later this week. I could have done a nice bulky or worsted weight but no — I did more sock yarn! 450 glorious yards of 3-ply superfine superwash merino handspun sock yarn! I LOVE this yarn. It is unbelievably soft. I think it’s going to be mother’s day socks for my mom because she’s awesome. If she weren’t, there’s no way I’d be giving this yarn away!

Well, now I’ve really got to get labeling. It’s been fun, folks! I’ll be back hopefully tomorrow with some fun goodies to share!

study time isn't complete without a hot cup of joe

School is back in session which means that a considerable amount of my time is spent reading and writing. This semester, I’m taking a class that has, so far, been really interesting and thought-provoking: Science and Spirituality. The opening discussion was about science and religion and whether they were mutually exclusive or integrated. Good stuff!

It’s online, which means that I don’t have to spend two hours total driving to class and back (major bonus in the winter!) but I do have to spend a lot of time on the message board. Wow, whoever thought that all of my online slacking skills would be put to such good use?

finished handspun sock yarn

Despite being back in school, I did manage to ply and dry the latest falkland singles I had on my wheel. It came out as a nice fingering weight (exactly 450 yards/100g) and I can’t wait to cast on some socks with it! There are still some places that are underspun/underplied -I am still very much a student of spinning- but all-in-all, I’m pleased. It did take FOREVER to be plied though! There will be no navajo-plied sample of this yarn because for once I actually finished both bobbins within mere inches of each other. That has got to be a sign of improvement!

my second handwoven scarf

On Saturday our boys went to visit their grandmother for the day and my husband and I took advantage of the free time to pursue some of our individual hobbies.

I warped my loom for my second project (with some help from the aforementioned husband)- a scarf made from some louet gems fingering weight yarn that I had dyed several months back.

I am so much happier with this project than the first. My selvedges are quite even and there was only one skipped thread, which I was easily able to fix with some guidance from my book- Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson. I will wear this beautiful new creation with pride- but I wish I had some yarn left for a matching pair of mittens!

one bobbin of singles completed

In other crafting news, I spent some time over the weekend spinning up some more falkland fiber that I dyed. I’m really happy with the singles and I’m planning to ply them tonight. If all goes as planned, I’ll have some strong, lustrous sock yarn for my next sock project.

Speaking of my next sock project, I still haven’t made a decision, but I’m leaning toward a plain vanilla pattern for use with my handspun sock yarn.

fiber, singles, 2-ply and navajo-plied yarn

I was so excited about my knitting and weaving FO’s that I completely forgot to tell you that I finished the falkland that I had been spinning.

The large skein is a worsted weight 2-ply and the mini-skein is Navajo plied. I always prefer the look of Navajo plied yarn in the skein but love the random look of the 2-ply in finished objects.

I’m very happy with how it came out, and it will likely become part of a hat and/or mittens very soon!

on the home stretch!

I am making serious progress on my 9-5 socks! I’ve turned the heel and am currently working on the gusset decreases. At this rate, I’ll have them off the needles and onto my feet by the weekend.

I also managed to finish the first bobbin of the falkland singles that I’ve been working on. I hope to have the second bobbin done by the weekend as well, so that I can ply and set it.

one bobbin down, one to go!

When those two projects are finished, I think I’ll cast on a Thorpe. I keep seeing such lovely versions made from handspun and I just can’t take it any more. It’s winter in Vermont, what other reason do I need?

my new knitting needle case

I’ve been doing some sewing, but it’s also knitting related.

I finally got around to making myself a mega knitting needle case. It’s designed to hold my entire set of knitpicks options needles along with extra tips, cables,  and accessories. It also has room for all of my sock knitting dpn’s and circulars! When closed, it’s the same size as an issue of Interweave Knits. Perfect.

I do have one other knitting project in mind but it’s so small it hardly counts as a project- dishcloths! There are some super cute patterns out there and they’re a great alternative to socks for a travel project.

future dishcloths

I’m going to knit mine in aqua, natural and dark brown. I can’t wait to use them. I think they’d make great mother’s day or wedding gifts as well (when paired with something a little less utilitarian, of course!)

Happy Saturday! We’re having a cozy stay-inside day of playing games, reading books and making cookies because it’s too darn cold to go outside and play! I wanted to let you all know that I’ll be updating my shop tomorrow, probably some time in the morning most likely in the late afternoon.

Other than that, I’ll be working on my socks (I’m at the heel now- yay!) and working on this:

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

on a rainy day, bright yarn and craft books make me happy

I live in central/eastern Vermont. I don’t ever remember getting rain during the winter as a kid. I guess we can go ahead and blame it on global warming. Despite the forecast, the kids still went to school, so I got a work day after all.

I spent the majority of the day re-skeining yarn. Re-skeining yarn is the process of taking freshly dyed and dried skeins of yarn and re-winding them. This neatens them up and also allows the colors to blend together in the skein.

Whenever possible, I like to photograph my yarns both before and after re-skeining. Some knitters like to see the yarn before- It allows them to see how long and regular the color repeats are, which in turn allows them to choose the best suited pattern for the yarn.

the same yarn before (left) and after (right) reskeining

Others are more concerned with how the colors will blend after they’ve been knitted together. Photographing them both ways makes me feel like whatever the customer’s preference, I’ve done the best job I can in letting them know exactly what they’re getting. That’s important to me. I don’t want any unhappy emails!

getting there!

Now, what else do I have to show you today? Oh yes, my 9-5 socks. I haven’t worked on them for a few days, but my new sock blockers arrived this morning, so I was able to photograph my progress. It’s not the greatest photo I’ve taken, but it serves its purpose.

I also got to photograph some freshly dried falkland roving that I dyed up last weekend to spin. This is some of the practice fiber I bought when I was first learning to dye.

hand dyed falkland roving. yum!

I would love to sell dyed fibers some day but for now I only dye it for myself. Four ounces of fiber doesn’t look like much all spun up but it takes up a HUGE space to dye. It’s worth it though. There’s nothing quite like spinning up fiber that you dyed yourself.

Well, I think that’s it for today! So far, 2009 has been great (the whole first week of it) and I’m actually following through on my goal to blog more often. Now to work on those other goals…

fiber with singles

I finally finished my first full (although small) skein of Navajo plied wool. I really love how this yarn looks. It is soft and smooth and pretty consistent! When I do two-ply yarns, I have a hard time coming out with a yarn that is the same gauge throughout unless I overtwist them. The Navajo method, with more plies, balances the thick and thin of the different plies better.

I dyed this merino when I was first learning how to dye. If I had it to do over, I would have made the colors more saturated, but it’s still really pretty. I just don’t know anyone who would wear this color! I’ll probably end up using it to make baby hats for afghans for afghans.

the final results

Another thing I’ve been working on lately is learning how to knit continental style. I’ve gotten to the point where I can knit relatively well, though it is a long way from feeling natural.

The big hangup I’ve had is purling. If you’ve ever watched people knit continental, you know that it requires moving the yarn from the back to the front just as in English knitting. I tried and tried and tried to purl continental and all I got was a horrendous cramp in my hand. I decided to reserve my continental knitting for giving my right hand a break during stockinette-in-the round.

That was, until a few days ago when I was perusing Ravelry and found out that there’s another way to do it that doesn’t require moving the yarn to the front! it’s called Norweigan purling, and it’s the answer to my continental knitting prayers. I found an excellent video tutorial at KnittingHelp.com and gave it a try. I was amazed at how little time it took for me to learn this method, and now I’m continental knitting and purling without any cramps. Continental still isn’t my preferred method, but it’s good to know.

Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski

I have a new favorite book: Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski is a fantastic resource for anyone who knits with handpainted yarns. Before you get to the patterns (which are all beautiful, by the way) there is an entire section about the different types of handpainted and hand dyed sock yarns, how they’re made, and how to use them to their greatest potential.

As an indie dyer, I am always trying to provide as much information as possible to my cutomers about how my yarns are dyed and what can be expected when they are knit up. I would confidently recommend this book to them.

Speaking of knitting socks with handpainted yarn, I’m making slow but steady progress on my 9-5 socks. I’ll work on getting shoem progress photos as soon as my new sock blockers arrive!

I found the most inspiring flickr group ever today: http://flickr.com/groups/837990@N20/

I don’t want to step on anybody’s copyright toes, so I won’t post a picture here, but it is a group that shows photo mosaics of fiber, spun singles and then the finished yarn (and sometimes knitted objects). It is incredible eye candy!

So inspiring, in fact, that I had to take a little trip to etsy to take an innocent look around the spinning category (because life has made it impossible for me to dye anything for myself lately).

And then I innocently put a couple braids of roving into my cart.

And now these lovelies are on their way to me (since I bought them, I hope cloudlover won’t mind me using the photos on my blog:

Speaking of obsessions… Something you should know about me- When I get interested in something, I get REALLY interested. I buy multiple books, heavily research and buy the equipment and then commence to learn like there’s no tomorrow. That’s how it happened with photography, jewelry making, sewing, knitting, dyeing and spinning. I have one of those super compulsive muses that will literally grab me by the wrist and drag me on her latest whim with no warning whatsoever.

Now, I sense, it’s happening with something else. It all began with another totally innocent perusal. This time it was through Amazon.com’s recommendations for me. Amazon, it seems, knows just how to get me to spend money.

As I was looking through knitting and spinning book recommendations, another caught my eye: Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson. In that moment, I entered the world of rigid heddle looms.

Before that moment, I thought that “real” weaving had to be done on giant looms that took up huge amounts of space. My mother in law has one that takes up half of her basement, and one of my dearest friends has one that takes up half of her studio floor space. I can weave on something in my lap or on the kitchen table? Where do I get one of these things?

The research phase had begun. I spent hours reading up on rigid heddle weaving on ravelry, reading book and loom reviews and trying to determine the best beginner loom that would allow me to expand a bit with my skills before having to purchase another model. At this point, I’m quite sure that the Schacht Flip will be the way to go, but I’m also interested in the Kromski Harp. I have read very good reviews for both.

The real deal sealer? While checking out my flickr contacts’ recent uploads, I discovered that another dyer, also named Georgia, just happened to get a rigid heddle loom for Christmas and her first projects are so amazingly beautiful I can’t stand it! That’s it. I’m hooked.

I’m so excited at having another method for creating beautiful and useful objects from my handspun and hand-dyed yarns!

It’s probably a good thing that the 25″ Flip is backordered at Webs…