Try, try again

This post is mostly about not giving up on things when they don't go right the first time.  Or the second time.  Or the... (you get the idea).

When I first started trying to spin with a tahkli spindle, it was a miserable failure.  So I put it away and decided that the tahkli spindle wasn't for me.  Part of the problem was not being able to do the long draw very well and part of it was managing the spinning of the spindle.

The next time I tried it, I at least got some yarn made but it wasn't very good.  In fact, I threw it away because it was so bad.

Then I've tried it several other times when I was trying to show people how it worked (in theory because I did more 'splainin' that spinnin').

In all my classes, I always tell people they have permission to suck at whatever they're learning because they don't know how to do it.  It's like Captain Picard said, "Things are only impossible until they're not."  Once they're not impossible (because we've invested some time in them) then they're possible.  N'est pas?

Recently I've been working with the beautiful support spindles my friend made for me and some angora fiber that I'd had in my stash for a while.  Like this, for example.  Working with this fiber and these spindles has helped me heaps in learning how to prepare my fiber and how to keep the spindle under control.

So the other day I got an email from a local teacher asking me to be involved in an arts day they're planning for local school kids.  I'd taken part in a program they did a couple of years ago at a local school and had a blast.  Now she's got some grant money and wants to "go big" with a Saturday gig at the Hoogeland Center for the Arts for kids from a lot of different schools.

I was thinking how fun it would be to do something with cotton since it's definitely something they can relate to and I have plenty that I can let the kids have a cotton seed and see it in the boll, on the seed, spun into yarn, and made into something.  It's educational and yet fun.  Of course that sparked me to pull out and dust off the old tahkli and give it another try.  I predrafted and opened up the fibers like I'd been doing with the angora and started to spin. 

It was like magic - it suddenly all came together in my brain and my hands and this is what happened:

 Over a couple of evenings (and early mornings), I spun a section about the size of the raw cotton on the right of the photo and got what's on the spindle.  Cotton goes unbelievably far.  I plied just a little strip of the yarn as a sample (which you can see in the middle).  The comparison sample is some size 12 perle cotton (on the far left).  Here's a photo to show the comparison of the two:

It has spun so fine and I swear to you it was all by magic.  Who said I couldn't do this?  I can totally do this!  If I play my cards right, this might be the perfect handspun cotton to knit a doily with.  I love it when a plan comes together....bwahahahahaha.

The Bounciest Yarn

Last year when I was in Kentucky, I was given a Polypay fleece.  I was going to use it as my Tour de Fleece project but didn't get too far on it.  I've recently pulled it out again and started working on it again.  I put it through an initial wash last year but the tips were still quite dirty so I decided to flick open the tips and wash it in batches which has really done the trick. 

The stuff in the basket is how it came out when I washed it in large batches.  The stuff in the box is washed after flicking the ends open and ready to be combed.  Once it is combed, it's a loverly juberly fluffy mass.

I spun a little sample the other day and was shocked at how bouncy the sample was.  Just laid out, it was about 30 inches but it stretched to over 36 inches.  I took it to knit night so I could show everyone this bouncy yarn.  The funny thing is that, while you can really get some bounce when you card and spin a wool yarn worsted, you don't usually get that same kind of performance when the fiber has been combed and spun short draw.  This sample was combed and spun short draw and still had that kind of bounce.  This post has a picture of the lock (the one on the right).

I'm spinning it on my Kromski Minstrel on the 8.5:1 whorl so it's kind of medium speed.  As usual, I have it set up to spin with scotch tension and I've got a fairly hard draw in.  I'm trying to get enough twist in to hold it together well but not enough for it to lose its soft and bounce.  I am planning to ply using the next higher ratio of 12:1 to help that process, too.  I'm still learning a lot about ratio and how to use it to best effect so that may change once I get to that part of the process.

Right now I'm spinning it pretty fine, although I may try to 3 or 4 ply it for a heavier finished yarn.  I don't know, though. I think I like the lace weight.  I'll have to experiment a little with that, too.  I would love to have something made with it before I go back to Kentucky this year.  Wouldn't that be fun? 

On the knitting front, I finally made the big step and ripped back the body on the bohus.  I ended up decreasing by about 30 stitches which should equate to about 5 inches and I think it's going to be much better now.  From the finished body, here's where I am now:

I never seem to be able to get a good photo of this sweater but here's where I'm at.  I got about 3-4 inches done this weekend and, of course, the stockinette goes really fast in the round so I think now that I've got it working, it won't take long now. 

Upcoming dates

Just a quick post to give you some upcoming dates.

Lace Class
In February, I'll be doing a 2-session introduction to lace class at Lincoln Land Community College.  It will be 2 Friday night sessions (2/10 & 2/17) and we'll do a sampler scarf so we can play with different lace patterns.

Knitting With Jewelry Wire and Beads
In April, I'll be doing a 1-session class at Lincoln Land on knitting with the fine jewelry wire and beads.  Everyone should be able to complete either a bracelet or a pendant during the class.  April 6.

Spinning Long and Short
I just heard that I've been accepted to teach a spinning class at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington, KY.  On Saturday May 19th, I'll be doing a 4-hour class covering the various types of "draws" in spinning from short draw to long draw (and in between).  I taught a spinning for lace class at this festival last year and I had so much fun.  There are a gagillion vendors there, too.  Everything from wheels to fleece to roving to gadgets.  It's a magical place. 

Keep an eye on the web link above as they begin to post classes and vendors for the Festival.  The Festival itself is Thursday-Sunday and is linked to the Sheepdog trials.  So not only can you buy sheepy things, you can go watch them being chased around a field by some very talented dogs!

For now, those are the only events that I've got booked.  Last year got way too crazy so I'm trying to be a little smarter this year about my time.  Of course that probably means I'll get 10-12 more things booked before summer.  Sigh....

Fabulous

Oooh, you just have to look at this:

Isn't that the most beauooootiful spindle you've ever seen?  It was made, all in one piece, by my friend Cindy.  Her spindles are just getting better and better.  It's the most beautiful wood and it spins like a dream.  The middle section there is being filled with the angora that I starting spinning on it last night. 

It's taller than the other support spindles I have but it's so balanced and feels so great in the hand. 

Slowly but surely

I'm not making very quick progress on the various sweaters and cardigans I've been working on.  I'm still on the second sleeve of the Kauni cardi, I'm getting ready to rip the body of the bohus but I've finished the body on the Fibonacci cardi and have started on the sleeves.  I made a mistake at the beginning with the ribbing so I'll have to redo it but I love the way the body has come out.  As you may remember, this was knit in a tube so I had to sew the openings for the front and back neck and each sleeve.  It would have been easy to felt those areas but I didn't want to wait for it to dry so I just used the sewing machine.  I won't cut the front until I get ready for the button bands.  Make it much easier to work the sleeves to leave it in the tube.

If you think there's a weird shift of the rows, you're right but it won't matter once I steek it and get the button bands on.  I decided to just do regular sleeves, knit from the top down.  I thought I had the same number of balls of each color but when I had a look, I must have only had 2 of the turquoise and the green  but I had 5 of the blue.  So I decided to do the sleeves in a solid blue color with small color stripes when then coincide with the small color stripes on the sweater.  I think that will hit about the elbow and then I'll repeat them at the cuff.  I think that will keep the stipes interesting instead of distracting.

There's no pattern for this, I'm just winging it, so it makes the progress so much more satisfying!  Hopefully I should be able to write the instructions down at the end, once I get it all figured out.

Come on Along

If you're in the Springfield area on Saturday, January 21st, be sure to sign up for a class (or 2 or 3) at the Lincoln Land "Needle in a Haystack" event. It's a little hard to get to the information but here's the easiest way to do it:

1. Go to the Lincoln Land website.
2. Click on the image for the Forward magazine.
3. Just below the magazine is a page number box. Click in that box and then type "60" in the box and hit enter.
4. This will open the magazine to the page showing more information about the day. 

They have added classes since this was published but I don't see anywhere on their website where they've updated the list.  You can certainly call the Community Education office to get an updated list - 217-786-2430.  I know one of the classes is for needle felting and the lady teaching that class is FABULOUS (and, yes, I meant to shout that).  There will also be some advertising in the Springfield paper so you can keep an eye out for that.

If you see the class(es) you want to sign up for (and don't miss out on the lunchtime presentation on "Loving Lace" - all kinds of lace!), you can either register by phone at  or you can register online here. 

There will also be vendors and demonstrators all day long so if you need some yarn or needles or fabric or fiber, this is your day.  It will be a great event to bring the kids out to as there will be plenty of hands-on things to try.

I'm teaching the Mitten class and a class on learning to spin using a drop spindle but the rest of the day I'll be demonstrating bobbin lace.  I'm not that great but I can do the basics and I'll have a pillow set up so you can try your hand on the basic stitches, too.

Break's Over

Hope you had a wonderful holiday season.  As you can tell, I took a little break and it's been a little hard to get back into the swing of things.

When last we visited the in process sweaters, there was a Red Palm Bohus with the yoke finished and the body started.  While I was at my Mom's this happened:

This is the Bohus with the yoke and body done (all except the ribbing) and one sleeve finished (all but the ribbing.  I had enough yarn to start the second sleeve but since I need to spin a little more for that sleeve, I decided to wait so I could work the new yarn into the existing yarn.  I haven't done the ribbing yet because I haven't made up my mind exactly what I want to do with it. The body is really blousier than I wanted it. 

I just don't think I was ready to say done because there's every chance that I'm going to go to rip-ville and slim the body down some.  I was really hoping for a more fitted look. 

But at the time, I'd just done this heroic thing (it felt heroic to get all that done) and I couldn't contemplate the thought of ripping.  Now that I've got a little perspective, I think I'm closer to doing it so that I can get the sweater I wanted.  After all the work spinning and knitting, I want to want to wear the silly thing.

While I'm contemplating (and spinning more merino), though, I came across this pattern:

In this book:

 I went to the yarn shop and found some yarn I'd never heard of before called Stoccarda.  There were only 6 balls of the yarn, each with 82 yards.  The pattern called for Bear Brand Supra Mohair held 2 strands together, using 10 balls, knitted at 2.5 stitches to the inch.  I had no idea what the yardage was supposed to be with that yarn (although I now know that they were ***TADAAAAA*** 80 yards per skein.  Holding 2 strands together means I would have needed 5 balls of the Stoccarda.  See how this is all shaping up?


 I've taken the picture while I was in the middle of putting it together so I could show the interesting construction.  It's worked from side to side, as you can probably see.  The pattern is worked in sections to mimic the fur stole look of the time (1961).  You knit across until you get ready for the first sleeve.  Then you knit the bottom underarm section and put the stitches on a stitch holder.  Next, you cast on the extra stitches for the sleeves, and knit the sleeve section.  Once the sleeve section is done, you bind off the extra sleeve stitches, pick up the underarm section and work across the back.  You do the same thing on the other sleeve and work to the finish. 

Once you've finished off the final edgin section, you close up the little end, sew all the seams together and you have yourself a fabulous vintage stole.  2.5 stitches to the inch on US size 13 needles.  No time at all.

And, in case you're interested, I did have enough yarn.  In fact I only used about 2 yards of the last ball.  Maybe I'll use it to make a Russian-style pillbox with the fuzzy border and white top.  I have some Cormo that needs to be used.  That sounds interesting.

Actually, knitting this has given me all sorts of ideas for adapting this construction but I'd better get the ideas written down so I don't forget. 

I'm off to finish the other side so I can wash and be ready to wear with a fetching chocolate brown outfit I've got.  I think it will be just right!