Finally. Read the last post if you’re not keeping up. I bagged up the camel blend fiber and put it safely away. I think my immune system is finally deciding that it’s OK to stand down at this point. To complicate the diagnostic dilemma, our pollen counts have been sky-high here, so I won’t get rid of the camel until my symptoms are completely gone, then do a challenge to make sure. It’s such pretty fiber that I hate to dump it if I don’t have to.

Here’s a better picture of the True Blood fiber:

That’s still a little pinker than what it really is, but closer. Why is it that red is so difficult to photograph accurately? It’s almost enough to make me want to buy a light box. And look at that cute little pin-weight on the underside of the whorl. Jonathan, the maker, carves these whorls out of naturally shed moose antlers, then adds a pin to balance the spin if needed. I think it looks like a beauty mark. I don’t think I mentioned it before, but the new spindle’s name is Bullwinkle, of course.

And I finished the Wensleydale from prior posts.

Project Details:

Fiber: Wensleydale top, from Damselfly Yarns, color Storm Clouds

Wheel or Spindle: Wheel

Yardage/Weight/WPI: 182 yards/16-17 wraps per inch/3.76 ounces

What I Plan To Make With It: Socks. The yardage is a little short, but I’ll look for a coordinating blue or possibly a black yarn the same weight and do ribbing, heels and toes with it to make it work.

What I Learned: This was my first attempt at a 3-ply yarn. I was aiming at a true sock weight, but figured I’d be happy if I got something that was consistently spun and sport weight or under. I actually did some sample spinning and plying before I waded in, which makes a huge difference in the consistency of the finished project. Basically I spun a sample single until I got something that made a 3-ply close to what I wanted, then wrapped the single around a card so I could compare as I went along. The Wensleydale is not the softest stuff in the world, but should make decent sock yarn. With commercial yarn for the heels and toes, I’ll be less worried about how this wears as well. Next time I’ll try to go finer and twistier!

Boy, with a title that enticing, I should get loads of visitors flocking to the blog. Anyway, this time it’s spinning stuff that’s finished. First up is some pretty pretty Carolina Blue yarn.

Project Details

Fiber: This is a merino tencel 50/50 blend, purchased from Yarn Chef.  The color name was “Whisp of Clouds” but it is most certainly a Carolina blue. I live with a good Carolina boy, and he knows his blue.

Wheel or Spindle? Spun on the Schacht Matchless wheel. I used the high speed whorl and high speed bobbins. I think the ratio setting was 19.5:1. I set the wheel up in double drive.

Style of Spinning: Again, I’d point out that my style is still a little inconsistent. This is mostly an attempt at a short forward draw. It’s a 2-ply.

Yardage/Weight/WPI: I started with 12 oz of fiber, and ended up with 11.88 oz of yarn, or 337 g. It’s about 14-16 WPI (wraps per inch), depending on where I measure, which makes this somewhere between a heavy fingering and a light sport weight. There are about 684 yards.

What I Plan To Make With It: There should be enough of this for a shawl/stole of some sort. It will need to marinate in the stash for a bit first (see last post regarding numerous WIPs/UFOs).

What I Learned: Well. I feel like I’ve finally spun up enough fiber that I can start working more on being consistent. I sat down this past week and started to re-read The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie McCuin (reviewed here). When I started to learn to spin, every time I talked to more experienced spinners (meaning pretty much everybody but me) I kept hearing “well, Judith says this about that subject”. I read through the book last year, but there is just so much information in it that a brand new spinner can’t really absorb it all at once. I don’t want to just spin and see what I end up with, my goal is to say “I want to spin x type of yarn for a specific project, then figure out how to get there.

I learned with this project that it’s not entirely about the size whorl I use that gets the yarn I want. Typically the extra fast and extra extra fast whorls should get you to thinner and thinner yarn. I need to work more on tweaking the settings of the wheel, and also on my drafting technique to get to that thin yarn. I’m also beginning to discover that I like the Scotch tension set-up a little better than double drive. I set the wheel back up in Scotch drive after I finished this yarn, and I’m finding it much easier to control what I’m making. I also have learned that I need to change the drive band now and then. This should seem obvious, but I changed it out after I finished this, and the wheel is working much better.

The next project (yes, you get a two-for-one!) is spindle spun.

Project Details

Fiber: This is some unknown wool-sparkle blend that I got from one of the vendors at the Whidbey spin-in earlier this year. The sparkle stuff is Firestar or something similar. This color combo of red and vivid purple reminds me of a children’s book, but I can’t remember which one. It had illustrations of fireworks over a city, with big flashes of red and purple. It was one of my favorite kid books when I was a kid. Anybody remember which one I’m talking about? I don’t remember the story either, so I’m really not much help here. I’m in my early 50’s, if that helps anybody place this. I think it had dragons, but I might be making that up.

Wheel or Spindle? Spun and plied on my Bosworth midi spindle.

Style of Spinning: This is a worsted type of spinning, again pretty much like I do on the wheel, just with a drop spindle. This is also a 2-ply.

Yardage/Weight/WPI: I started with about 3 oz of fiber, ended up with 2.66 oz of yarn, or 75.5 g. There are 264 yards here. This is about 18 WPI, so more like a light fingering or heavy lace weight.

What I Plan To Make With It: I think this will make a pretty scarf or neck warmer, something with a lacy pattern.

What I Learned: I can spin a lot more evenly and finely on a spindle than my wheel. I’ve finished yarn on the spindle before, but with the other yarn I’ve done, I’ve chickened out when it came to plying and did it on the wheel. I decided to ply this on the spindle, so it’s the first fully spindle-ized yarn I’ve done (that should be a word!). Here’s how I managed my singles and the plying. I’ve tried a number of ways of getting the singles off the spindle when it’s full, but the easiest I’ve found is to wind it off around a clean tennis ball (no dog drool here!). After I finish spinning all the fiber, I have a bunch of tennis balls with singles wound around them. I made one giant plying ball onto an empty tennis ball, wrapping from two singles-balls at a time, and wrapping neatly and fairly snuggly as I went. Then I just plied from the 2 ply ball back onto the spindle. I tried plying from two separate balls directly back onto the spindle and ended up with a mess.

Reading through that last bit, even I think it doesn’t make much sense the way I’ve described it. The next time I’m ready to ply with the spindle, I’ll take photos and show you what I mean.

Last but not least is another photo that I took yesterday. We’ve had so much rain here in the last few months that I’m getting ready to start shooting holes in my refrigerator from cabin fever. Yesterday we had an almost day-long sunbreak. It was all the way up to the 60’s here, and we had a glorious trip to the farmers’ market to celebrate. Here’s a flower that I snapped.

Of course it rained again all day today.

My sweetie just handed me a martini, so I’m off to help in the kitchen. Until next time…

I’m going to start putting my finished spinning projects on the blog, mostly so I have a record of them. Here’s that golden yellow Cormo I’ve been working on over the past few weeks, all spun up, washed, and dried.

That’s just a little more orangey than in real life, but it’s more of a harvest gold. It’s difficult to get that color to photograph well with incandescent light and a flash, and it’s January in Washington, so a good outside sunny shot is out of the question. I need to build me a light box. Here are the details:

Finished Spinning Project:

Fiber: Cormo roving, purchased from Apple Rose Fibers on Etsy. This was 8 ounces of roving, nicely prepared. There was a bit of vegetal matter in it, mostly bits of hay or straw, easily picked out.

Wheel Or Spindle? Spun on my Schacht Matchless, using the Scotch tension set-up. I used the fast speed whorl on the larger groove, I think that would be a 13:1 ratio.

Style of Spinning: Style? Who, me, style? I spun this using a worsted style of spinning, mostly a short forward draw. Mostly. I’m still new enough at this that I occasionally get a little off track. It’s a two ply.

Yardage/Yarn Weight: This ended up being somewhere between a heavy fingering weight and a light sport weight.. I got about 850 yards from this.

What I Plan To Make With This: I think this would be a great shawl. It’s very soft and squishy, and would also be good sweater material, if I had several times as much of it.  Though it’s a little soft for a sweater, it might pill like crazy. I have in mind this shawl. Rav link here, for you Ravelers.

What I learned: Well, how to answer that one. I’m so new at spinning that everything is a new experience. This was my first Cormo. I have another whole bag of this in a pretty bright aqua color, too. Every fiber has been a new experience to me. This drafts differently than the merino stuff I’ve mostly been working with. It’s not difficult, just different. It’s sproingier to draft, and either the fiber was well-prepared, or I’m getting better at drafting. I didn’t have to do much fiddling with it or pre-drafting at all. I just pulled it out of the bag and started spinning. The worsted style yarn I ended up with is lovely, but I’d like to try this fiber again using a long draw technique.

I also learned not to judge the yarn until it’s all done. This looked like a twisty overplied mess before I finished it, and I was almost tempted to run it back through the wheel to unply it a bit. I soaked it, snapped the hanks a bit, hung them to dry, and it all looks beautiful.

In case you’re roaming around my blog looking for something specific, I’ve started categorizing the new posts. There’s a drop-down box over in the right menu bar that will get you there. I’ve done this with all the posts since I moved the blog, and I’m slowly working through the older posts, moving photos and cleaning up links. “Finished Spinning Projects” is the newest category!

Notice anything new in that photo, besides a new blue knitting project?

It’s a finished Not Exactly A Cobblestone Sweater!

I finished it over the weekend, though I haven’t gotten a chance to wash and block it properly. It’s very cozy, and I figured I’d get a post in before I go back to my work week starting tomorrow.

Project Details

Yarn: Classic Elite Skye Tweed, in the color Tapestry. This yarn is now discontinued, and very difficult to find for sale. It’s a little more deep red wine colored than in that photo.

Pattern: Jared Flood’s Cobblestone, from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. Sort of. The bottom up to the armpits is a Cobblestone, the rest is pure Elizabeth Zimmermann (see modification section).

Started: February 2008

Finished: November 6, 2008

For: Me

Needles: Knit Picks Options Circulars, size 7.

Modifications: I did the body as written up to where you attach the sleeves. I really didn’t want all that garter stitch on the top half, and I was pretty certain that the circular garter yoke would not be even remotely flattering on me. So I used the instructions for a raglan sweater from EZ’s Knitting Workshop for the top half and the sleeves. I made the sleeves narrower than the original pattern instructions, as the pattern as written for a man has fairly wide, baggy sleeves.

What I learned: See above. I’m gradually learning as I knit to analyze patterns as to whether they will be even slightly flattering, and to adjust things as I go if they’re not. This one fits well, and I predict will be worn often. This is the first time I’ve knit a sweater in the round like this, other than for a baby. It’s an interesting way to construct sweaters, but makes for a very unwieldy project once you get the sleeves attached.

The yarn is a bit weird, which might be why it was discontinued. The color is lovely, and it actually feels great once you wash it, but it has an odd stringy feel while you are knitting, like yarn that is treated for machine knitting.

Verdict: A successful sweater!

And what is up with that blue yarn, you ask? That is from a pile of very lovely Beaverslide wool/mohair blend, in the color Lake Josephine. It looks like a solid blue in that photo and on their website, but actually has very subtle tweedy bits in it. This will be a sweater for my sweetheart. After some dithering around, he decided on blue, and I narrowed down all the blue yarns from their website and let him choose. After another period of dithering, he’s decided that he wants it to look just like the Father/Son Pullover I made him previously out of grey Peace Fleece. Fortunately I’m completely happy knitting exactly the same sweater for him twice. What you see in that photo above is the beginning of a swatch, and I hope to start the actual knitting in a day or two.

In NaNoWriMo news, I’m up to 10,699 words, which puts me a little behind, but not far. So far I’ve killed off two drunk twin brothers, and started a world war. Not bad for only two chapters!