Making Time to Spin

That's really my biggest spinning challenge now. It takes me so long to set myself up and sit down in front of a wheel that I need to commit time to it. Also, it's bad to run back and forth from spinning to cooking dinner, as no one wants chunks of alpaca in their kale and bean soup.

So here we go.

I'm still trying to consciously control my spinning and not just zone out and make laceweight like I do when I'm on autopilot.



4 oz of Spunky Eclectic Corriedale/Alpaca blend in "Thunderstorm".

Singles:



Plied:



Fin:



At 62 yards, this is not my personal best yardage-wise, but it is a true bulky weight yarn, and I managed to keep the singles even enough so that I don't have to call this a thick-and-thin yarn. Whoo hoo! My first bulky yarn that I'm happy with. Sweet Victory.

Here's another one. This one started out as a Spontaneous Spinning Batt from Loop.



Holy Tinseltown. This was ridiculously fun to spin, but I have sparkles everywhere now. I mean- it worked its way into everything I own, to the point where complete strangers would stop me on the street to point out the big clumps of tinsel attached to my tail. I just cooly and calmly smiled and pretend that I wanted it there. I'm sure there's been a fair amount digested as well. Actually, I'm positive.



I also had an assortment of purple babycakes that I've been collecting. Ever since Loop opened up a studio close to NYC, there's been a pretty hefty trade in these going on. I felt like the don of purple babycakes.



I striped the babycakes (which are just 1oz mini-batts) into the big 4oz batt so I have a nice variegated skein of purple yarn. This was my try in spinning artsy imperfect singles.


The results:





Squeeee! It's so girly and pretty. I'm thrilled with it. It needs to be knitted up ASAP.

On the other end of the spectrum, here some of the fleece from Muriel the Moorit Merino.



Which was processed into this by the mill:



And which I spun into this:



330 yards, woolen, dk weight. It's so soft. I have oodles of this stuff left- I'll never be able to spin through the pounds of this that is in my spinning basket, so I'm selling off some of it on my Etsy Store. For the rest of the month, it is 30% off.

Also on the wheel is some Merino/Tencel blend from Silver Moon Farms. I got this at Rhinebeck ages ago...even though pastel rainbow isn't really my color scheme, I decided to give it a try.



I've never spun tencel before. It wants to be lace and it's a bit slippery, and I'm finding that it wants to be spun worsted rather than woolen. It drafts out like butter and I'm enjoying it immeasurably.



It's shiny! The tencel is almost luminous. I'm thinking of making a delicate lace scarf with it.

Enjoy your weekend, and get some spinning done!

FO: Starsky

After a rather soul-destroying past couple of weeks at work, I was really looking forward to a cozy weekend filled with all the comforts: warm (and warming) beverages, strolls in the fresh autumnal air, slow-cooked dinners with mashed potatoes, and digging through bins of gorgeous apples at the farmer's market. When I wake up in the morning now the street lights are still on (which is shocking and a bit disheartening) and I really have to make an effort to get outdoor time in daylight during the week.

The thing I was looking forward to the most was finishing the most bad-ass sweater I've had the pleasure of making.



I started this way back in February using Cascade Eco in my favorite drab grey-brown sheep color. I didn't get very far before the weather warmed up and I made the switch to linen and cotton and this got tucked away unseen until touching it became bearable again. The pattern, while well written, was a bit complicated. The asymmetrical banana tree cable pattern was not difficult but required a lot of pay-attention time. The cables were crossed on both sides of the work, and it changed every row. Therefore, I couldn't seem to memorize the pattern despite repeating it dozens of times over the course of the sweater. Also...if I had to tink back due to an error, I found it hard to figure out what row I would be on. It took some time, but I'm so happy with the sweater I can say it was completely worth it.



I wasn't getting gauge no matter how many swatches I made, so I ended up crunching the numbers and making the small size to fit me. I made quite a few mods from the original pattern. I knit the body and the front panels in one piece up to the armpits in stead of in pieces. I usually do cardigans like this if I can- less seeming and you can knock out rows of patterns a bit quicker. I also left out the belt as I think that is kind of frumpy. It's oversize to begin with, and the belt is just too bathrobey looking to me, and I already get plenty of that in my neighborhood [shudder].



I added a couple more short rows to the collar (I love big, dramatic collars) and added buttonholes. I was thinking of getting some wood or antler buttons and go for rustic, but I found these shiny slabs of mother or pearl at Beverley Trimming and pounced. That store is legendary for having an amazing selection, but you have to dig for everything and squeeze yourself into a claustrophobic corner and crane your neck at a weird angle to see the buttons. It's well worth hunting for the perfect piece though- you can find gorgeous vintage buttons for whatever the store owner priced them at 20 years ago. I originally sewed the buttons on so the fronts lined up symmetrically, but then decided to bump them over a little bit and have the fronts meet a little off center. It's such a traditional-looking cable sweater, I felt like I need to do something slightly unexpected to give it a mod-ish twist.



I also made it a bit shorter than the original pattern. I like sweaters to hit just below my hip. Any longer and I feel like it's creating an undesirable tent effect over my derriere with all that thick fabric. The lace tunic I'm wearing is very long indeed and gives the sweater the illusion of being shorter than it is, but it hits right below my hip and that's exactly where I like it.

By the way, the necklace can be found on my Etsy shop. It's a perfect black pearl in a silver wire cage. Very delicate and unique.

I used a few yards shy of two full skeins of Cascade Eco- about 956.0 yards of bulky-weight yarn. This is the second sweater I've made from this stuff and it's great. It's woolen-spun so it's a much lighter weight finished garment than expected. It's not the softest yarn, but it's a great workhorse of non-pilling, uncomplicated warm wool. I used size 8 needles for the majority of the sweater and size 9 for the ribbing. I reinforced the buttonholes with a bit of crochet- the buttons were slipping out too easily with just a regular buttonhole, so I tightened them up until the problem went away.

I love it and I will wear this until it's a tattered rag. It's perfect.

December is the Craziest Month

...but any excuse for latkes is okay with me. Seriously though- every December I get totally overwhelmed by all the stuff there is to do this month. Work, social, family...it all makes for a perfect storm and lots of hangovers that you swore you wouldn't have again.

I know a lot of knitter friends are out straight trying to finish gifts on time. I tend to make gifts year-round and stash the finished product until it's time to put together gift bags (I can only wear so many pairs of socks). I don't like to buy much at all- I prefer to make all my gifts and dealing with the frantic crowds makes me rather cranky. Well, I make the exception of purchasing alcohol. Lots of people appreciate a good bottle of Scotch when they are dealing with family, and my bathtub gin has been known to cause blindness, so I'll let the pros make that for me. Regardless, I have one more pair of socks to make and gift before the looming holiday deadline.

I made an Etsy Shop Update:





I listed some silk bells that I dyed. They are so fun to spin, and I love how much vibrant color they take on. They are a perfect pick-me-up for when a nasty wind blows all the remaining gold leaves off the trees and you are faced with looking at the back of the neighbor's house for the next few months.

Here's what else I have on the needles/bobbins:

I made the Quincy hat by Jared Flood.


I made it with Brown Sheep Bulky (the very last of what was in my stash) and all that thick garter stitch and mobeous fold makes this incredibly warm. It has a cute face-framing effect as well.

This is the Eastlake pullover, which is progressing along nicely:

It's by Norah Gaughan from her "Woodland Gothic" collection. I'm doing a ton of modifications to this to get a better fit. As much as I love Gaughan's patterns, they do not always make sense or have consistent instruction. I've made enough sweaters so that I feel like it's enough for me (and I usually don't take instructions as anything but a suggestion anyway) but I'm really enjoying creating this. I've finished the body and I'm on to the sleeves.

I'm almost done the Lenore socks. I can probably finish them up on my commute tonight.

I've also been doing a bit of spinning...
(These photos are all pre-washing, so all the yarns look a bit more calm now)

Capistrano Superfine Merino:


I'm a big fan of Capistrano Fiber Arts- she has great use of color. That's about 3 oz. I got about 168 yards as a soft, lofty, chunky-weight 2 ply. I'm trying to liberate my spinning and make thicker, chunkier, thick-and-thin and lumpy yarn. These next two are the results:

Capistrano Merino/Silk singles:

The color is "Etoile".

Capistrno BFL singles:

I love the jewel tones in this. This was the toughest of the three to get the loft going. BFL is a long wool, the the fibers really want to pack together. I did get it fairly even. Alas, spinning thick has its charms. This took me all of 20 minutes to get through 2 oz. Instant gratification!

I'm trying to get my stash down using the A-Z method as well. I'm kind of stuck on the "B is for bison" and skipped ahead for a bit. I'm back on the bison now (that sounds like drugs, doesn't it?).

Also, as I was cleaning up around the house, I found a a wax mustache.



It's fabulous, dahhhling, fabulous. I amuse myself too easily.

FO- Snappy Hat

I grew up in Maine, and I still have quite a few friends and family who still live there and spend the winters there. I do my very best to outfit them with overly warm accessories to make the long winter months a little more comfortable.



This is the Snappy Hat, a free pattern from Picnic Knits. I had a skein of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky to use up as part of my A-Z stashdown which paired with this pattern perfectly.



The yarn contains 15% mohair, which is warmer than wool. Cables gather the fabric and create more bulk, making a warmer hat. Plus, I made the bottom band twice as long as the pattern called for in order for the wearer to fold the brim over, keeping the ears super toasty. This might be the Perfect Storm of Warm Hats.



It's a unisex pattern, but the brown yarn makes this more XY.

Naturally, this is part of my self-imposed A-Z stashdown.

The Specs:
The Snappy Hat by Corrina Ferguson (picnicknits). I used almost a full skein of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky (125 yards) in Sable. I used US size 10 needles. The only mod I made was to make the bottom ribbing twice as long as the pattern called for (I knit for 20 rows). I was able to finish this in just a few nights of casual knitting.