Twisted Loops

I had a great time at Black Sheep Gathering last Saturday with Kate.

There was no yarn purchases this year, but there was a lot of fiber purchased.  I didn’t have a huge fiber stash before, but now I’m fairly satisfied with my stash.  I’m going to post in the order of purchase.  I’m not sure that there was a method to my buying, but I’m pleased with the fiber I came home with.  On to the details…

First up, 10.2 beautiful ounces of Blue Faced Leicester Top from Diacentra Designs in the colorway Madrona Dark.  It’s a soft blend of dark red/maroon, slate blue and gold.  It really became a tough color to capture with the camera.  I know that the photo here does not do it justice.

I purchased this fiber of purples, blues and greys with the colorway name Heather.  I looked at this one for quite a while before I got it.  I wasn’t going to, but I’m such a sucker for purple.  It’s a Wolf Creek Wools blend of 70% superwash merino and 30% alpaca top, 4.3 ounces in total.

Next up, 2 ounces of 80% merino, 20% angora roving.  It’s Bunny Patch Fiber from New Hue Handspun in the Ancient Roses.  This one was a bit of an impulse buy.  I wasn’t sold on the roving by looking at it while walking by.  As I stood around waiting for Kate to purchase some, I noticed she was selling hanspun out of the roving, and I really loved the look of it.  I decided to buy some and see if I could spin a yarn as nice as the ones she had.

Next, 8 ounces of Superwash Merino from Crown Mountain Farms in the colorway Hey Jude.  It’s a blend of purples, blues, greens, yellows, and oranges.  From talking with them at their booth, this is a new colorway for them.  This is the same vendor that I purchased my alpaca lace from last year for my Icarus shawl.  I loved the yarn, so I’m hoping to love this roving.

At the Tactile Fiber Arts booth, I picked up 4 ounces of a natural colored alpaca silk blend.  It’s 80% alpaca and 20% silk, and so soft.  I admired it several times before stopping by to pick it up.  I can’t even begin to be able to explain how soft this stuff is.  I also love the natural black color with the silk blended in to lighten it up.  I think this is going to be a dream to spin.

Finally, on my way out of the show, I stopped by the Creatively Dyed booth.  I debated for a while, but finally walked away with 8 ounces of the 70% Wool, 30% Seacell blend.  It’s mostly orange, with lots of blues and greens blended in.  If I were naming the color, I’d call it Key West, just a vibe I get from the color scheme.

It’s been a crazy few weeks around here.  We’ve had a ton of out-of-town visitors, which has meant very little knitting and spinning time for me.  I’ve had two projects that I’ve been working on.

With the visitors and other things, I was in a bit of a project funk.  I had nothing on the needles and there was nothing I wanted to make.  I’ve found that the best way for me to deal with this is to just sit down and make something.  Socks are usually an easy answer because I know I’ll wear them, I’ve got plenty of stash, and there are a ton of patterns in my queue.  So, I sat down and picked a sock out of the new Cookie A. book, Sock Innovation, and I cast on for Devon.  The first sock was finished fairly quickly.  However, it may be the first time I’ve had a case of second sock syndrome.  I finished the first sock and had no motivation for the second.  I languished again with nothing on the needles and then finally forced myself to cast on the second.  The pattern isn’t the problem, it’s well written and makes a nice sock.  I’m on the leg of the second sock, but not sure when I’ll finish them.

At work, there’s a bit of a baby boom going on.  Three baby girls are expected in my department over the next three months.  When it comes to baby gift knitting, I’ve always been a bit hesitant.  It’s a lot of work for someone who may not appreciate the effort, and I usually don’t have much baby-safe (machine washable) yarn in my stash, other than sock yarn.  Since the baby parents to be are not knitters, I never feel comfortable giving gifts that require any special washing.

I’ve loved the look of the Tiramisu blanket since I first saw it on Ravelry.  Yes, it’s crochet, which I rarely ever do, but I’ve just really wanted to make it.  When I was at the store the other day, there was a great deal on a few colors of the Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice yarn.  I picked up some in Rose and Fern.  I got enough to make two blankets.  One will be Rose with a Fern border, and one will be Fern with a Rose border.  It’s actually a project that I’m excited about, so I think it may be the way to get me back to knitting.

I’m making quick progress on the blanket.  I’m not sure if it’s because crochet uses more yarn than knitting, or if I just am so used to knitting with lightweight yarns.  I’ve crocheted about 250 yards, and I’ve only worked on it for one evening.  I don’t think there should be any problem getting the first one done before the first baby, as long as she doesn’t come too soon before her July 10th due date.

Finally, this weekend is Black Sheep Gathering.   I’m headed down to Eugene with Kate.  I’m pretty excited.  I wasn’t a spinner last year when I went, and there is a ton of fiber at this event (lots of yarn, too).  I’m trying to decide what my budget should be.  I have a feeling I might go a bit overboard on the fiber buying.  I’ve been managing my yarn stash for so long that it isn’t a huge deal to me to not buy stuff.  But, my fiber stash is relatively small, and shows like this are only a few times a year.  I’ll be sure to take pictures and post details when I get back.

April was underappreciated pattern month for the Ravelry Sock Knitter’s Anonymous (SKA) group knitalong.  To qualify as underappreciated, there had to be no more than 15 projects on Ravelry.  Before the month started, I did some research, and found that the Dresser Scarf Socks pattern in my queue qualified for the challenge.

Luckily for me, the knitalong began at midnight eastern time on April 1.  Since I’m here on the west coast, I logged into Ravelry, created my project, and cast on my socks.

The socks are an interesting constuction.  The length of the legs are knit flat and then grafted to form the back seam of the sock.  Then, stitches are picked up around the edges and the rest of the sock is knit in the round.  This construction has one flaw.  The sock has a tendency to want to bunch and sag down over the seam that is crated from picking up the stitches.  It doesn’t seem to matter what I try, it just does.

Overall, I like them and am glad I made them.

Pattern: Dresser Scarf Socks
Designer: Priscilla Gibson-Roberts
Source: Interweave Knits, Spring 2003
Yarn: Elann Esprit (100 yards/ 50g)
Quantity: 2 (200 yards/100g)
Color: Charcoal
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)

Started: April 1, 2009
Completed: April 12, 2009

Pattern modifications:

• I knit additional rows in the round before starting the heel.
• Replaced short row heel with the German Heel (37 stitches) from Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks.
• Replaced short row toe with the French Toe (54 stitches) from Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks, reduced to 9 stitches.

Yarn oveview:

• I’ve knit with Cascade Fixation before, and this yarn is very similar (identical?).  Some people can’t stand the yarn, but I don’t mind it.  I like having a cotton sock to be able to wear in the warmer weather.
• This is the second elann.com house yarn that I’ve purchased in a shade of gray that appears with very strong blue overtones.  I’m not sure that I would call this color charcoal.

Yesterday, Linda had us over for Fber Fun Day.  What is Fiber Fun Day?

There was dyeing of fleece and fiber.

 

There was lots of spinning.

 

We had our own Fiber Bus full of fiber to try and buy.

 

For extra fun, there was drum carding.

 

I didn’t do any dyeing, but I did take an opportunity to play with the drum carder.  I carded some yellow and blue merino top that I dyed a month or so ago into this big fluffy batt.

I also purchased some fiber and carded up these watermelon colored batts. I used a nice rosey pink-red and a neon green. I also mixed in some sparkly firestar to give it some flash.

I’ve finally gotten around to taking a photo of my finished Absinthe socks.

I knit them in the smaller size (56 stitches), but did add some stitches along the way.  On the foot, I only moved 2 stitches total from N2 to N1, giving me 30 on N1 and 26 on N2.  When I was in the foot chart, I increased one stitch in each of the two center cables on row 5.  To me, it created a smoother increase in the foot.  I knit the rest of the foot with 32 (N1) and 26 (N2) stitches.  I reduced two stitches in the sole before starting the heel so that I returned to 56 total.  As I progressed up the leg, I increased every once and a while (based upon fit), and the cuff was worked on 60 stitches.

Most of the errors were updated at Knitty last time I checked, so knitting them should be a little easier now.

Pattern: Absinthe
Designer: Sara Morris
Source: Knitty, Spring 2009
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight
Color: Rare Gems
Needles: Knitpicks US1 (2.25mm)

Started: March 11, 2009
Completed: March 30, 2009

I decided to post about how I spun my fiber for the local spin-along that I mentioned in an earlier post.

First, I decided to divide each of the colors in half by weight so that I had two piles with equal color amounts.  In each pile was 0.5 ounces of the blue and screaming green, and 1 ounce of the tropics color.

I took one of the piles and decided to divided it further, and set the other aside. I visually divided the screaming green and blue into four equal sections.  I created eight equal sections of tropics.  Then, I combined the colors into four bundles, each consisting of 2 tropics, 1 screaming green, and 1 blue.

I then took the strips and twisted them into small balls of roving. I may just have to post a few photos of them because they were so fun to photograph.

I then repeated the steps with the second half of the roving, and ended up with eight bundles.

My plan for spinning was to use a short-forward draw.  I’ve developed my own natural backwards draw, and I still struggle with the short-forward draw (which seems to be the way that most people are taught to spin), so I wanted to challenge myself to spin all of it using that technique and see how it goes.  I wanted to spin four of the eight bundles onto each of two different bobbins and then ply them together.

For the actual spinning I held a bit of all colors of the roving in my hand at the same time and spun them.  Sometimes I drafted the colors separately, and sometimes I drafted them blended.  In the end, I was trying to create some gradual color changes in the final yarn.  This is what it looked like on the two bobbins.  At this point in the spinning, it felt stiff and wiry.

Once I plied it, it softened up a bit.  It wasn’t as wiry as it was as a single.  When plying, I made an effort to use a lower amount of twist in the ply then I usually do.  I definitely have less twist, but I think I like my high-twist plying that I usually make.  I love how the bobbin got a stout barrel shape with all of the yarn plied on it.

I found it interesting while plying that a lot of my screaming green areas seemed to meet up and be plyed together.  I’m not sure how this happened, because it happend much less frequently with the blue.

After soaking the yarn, it became even softer than it had been after plying.  There are even some fluffy parts.  In the end, it’s 140 yards of 10 WPI yarn. 

I’m suprised by how much the green and blue are still prevalent in the final yarn, I was really thinking that they would have blended together more effectively.

You can see some areas of the yarn where there was some barberpole effect with the green and blue.

This yarn has so much halo and fuzziness. It almost made it hard to photograph.

I’ve learned a few things while spinning this.  This is the first time that I’ve actually spun roving; almost everything else I’ve spun has been commercial combed top.  It’s definitely different, and drafting seemed harder for me.  I had to slow down my wheel to the lowest ratio to try and spin.  My worsted, short-forward draw is not reliable at all.  I got a lumpy, somewhat inconsistent yarn.  I’ll definitely need to practice more in the future. 

I’m anxious to see how this yarn knits up. 

Jim’s been helping out on a local farm by pruning fruit trees and other things he wants to learn how to do.  The farm that he’s at also has sheep, and for a while I’ve wanted to see the sheep.  On Thursday, I got out of work a few minutes early.  Jim was still at the farm, so I finally went over to meet the sheep.  They’re Shropshire sheep, which the farm raises primarily for the meat.  But, she does have some people that request the fleeces.  We may go over and help on shearing day.

Perhaps it’s just my suburban upbringing, but I find visiting the sheep so much fun.  I used my cell phone to grab a few photos of the lambs.  Most of them were born in January, so they’re already getting big. 

About two weeks ago, I wanted to go to knit night, but had nothing to knit.  How lucky I was that the Spring Knitty came out that day.  After taking a look through, I decided to cast on for the Absinthe sock pattern. 

I knew that I had the perfect color yarn for the pattern.  It’s a Rare Gems colorway in Socks that Rock Mediumweight.  I’ve been working through the pattern, and there are a few errors.  The designer has been responsive on Ravelry, and has posted some corrections.  For anyone looking, the thread with corrections is in the Ravelry Knitty Socks group.  The corrected lace chart is also available.

I’m already finished the first sock, and am up to the start of the heel on the second sock.  I really hope to finish these this month.  

These have been impossible to photograph, so those will have to come later.

For previous readers of this blog, it should come as no suprise when I say that I’m a huge fan of Nancy Bush sock patterns.  A quick scan through my previous socks, and I’ve knit at least 7 pairs of socks from Nancy Bush patterns, mostly from her books Knitting Vintage Socks and Knitting on the Road.

While reviewing Nancy Bush designs on Ravelry the other day, I stumbled onto the Birch Leaves sock pattern that is buried in the book A Gathering of Lace.  I own this book, but had never really paid much attention to the pattern.  I decided that it looked nice and decided to make a pair.

I’m glad that I did, it’s a really nice leaf sock pattern with a small cable down each side.  I made very few changes to this sock other than knitting a longer leg than called for in the original pattern.  I’m really happy with they way they turned out.

Pattern: Birch Leaves
Designer: Nancy Bush
Source: A Gathering of Lace
Yarn: Pink Cottage Yarn Fingering Weight (450 yards/113 g)
Color: Gold
Needles: US0 (2.0mm)

Started: February 8, 2009
Completed: February 21, 2009

For a while now on Ravelry, I’ve been following the Ply by Night spinning group.  As a newer spinner, it’s really interesting to me to see what happens in it.  The idea is that everyone spins the same fiber, and then knits the same projects.  The group had their first spin-along in January, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to join.  But, after watching for a while, I’ve been kicking myself for not joining in.  It’s so interesting to see how different all of the yarns look.  I feel like I’ve learned so much about planning my spinning projects, not just sitting down with the fiber and spinning.

The next round of spinning is the March/April spin-along, and I decided not to miss out this round.  I jumped in and got the fiber.  This round, we’re using a custom dyed Blue Faced Leicester Top from Briar Rose Fibers.  I just got my four ounces yesterday.  It’s lovely, and so, so soft.  I can’t get over how much crimp still exists in the wool. 

There is so much color variation close together, I’m not sure how to preserve some of the color differences when I spin.  I’ve been watching in the group, and bulky singles seem to do well at keeping the color defined.  I may try to separate the darker sections from the lighter sections and spin them separately.  I think I may watch a little longer before I jump in and spin this.

I liked the Ply by Night group so much, I invited the other local spinning Ravellers to join me in the group.  Some liked the idea so much that we’ve started our own local spin-along.  We’re using a few different fibers from Bellwether Wool Company, which is local to us.  We went over to the owner, Lois’s, house, visited the sheep, and picked our roving colors.  We decided that as newer spinners, we wanted some challenges both in spinning new to us fibers and in trying colors outside of our standard safe palette.  We opted for a total of four ounces.  It’s two ounces of the Tropics color in the center, which is a Border Leicester wool.  There is one ounce each of the Screaming Green and the Blue, both of which are Wensleydale. 

I’m still planning what to do with this roving color combination.  I think that the green and blue will both be muted by the tropics if I blend more as I spin.  I’m just not sold on what to do yet.  There’s talk of a get together to try out the drum carders, so I may wait until after that to start spinning.