Handspun Heaven

I can't wait to post that I've finally, finally finished the spinning, knitting and blocking of my Cosima sweater using my handspun version of Berroco Cuzco (it just needs buttons).  It's also the first time I've tried to spin a yarn to match a commercial yarn.  Although I think my first batch of yarn was better and really quite close to the commercial yarn (I didn't do as great a job on the second batch), I'm pleased with how it came out.  I love this sweater pattern.  I'm thinking I want to do it a 3rd time, adjusted to use Mandarin cotton yarn.

Making my way

Time flies and sometimes it's a matter of whether to blog about spinning or actually spinning.  Both are enjoyable but, let's face it, doing the first without doing the second means you run out of the first pretty quickly.

The big news is that I've finally finished the spinning for my Berroco Cosima sweater.  All that remains is to sew together and finish the collar.  I'll post a picture when it's a little more presentable.  I've been going through a little internal debate this afternoon because of a post today by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot).  She talks about how she washes and blocks all the pieces of her sweater before she sews the pieces together.  The reality is, she's right.  You really should do this for a number of reasons.  She's made the argument so I'm not going to go into them but it really is a good practice.  So the debate has been going on in my mind all afternoon about whether I wanted to do it or not.  It seems especially important with handspun yarn.  But I don't think I'm going to do it.  My yarn has been washed and thwacked so it's not straight off the wheel.  I'm really just ready to finish the sweater up. If I wash and block and all like I should, it will be the weekend before I can get it finished and I really don't want to let it drag out that long. 

I know that seems a bit silly for a project I've been waiting a couple of months to get the last of the yarn spun up.  I get it.  But the reason I got it finished is because I'm ready to have it completely off the list.  I think it will be okay.  Really. 

I'm also very close to finishing the spinning of some silk roving I got.  This is all I've got left.  Silk begs to be spun fine but I didn't want to do that with this roving.  I'm spinning it on my Kromski Minstrel to make a 2-ply which will be, I hope, about fingering weight.  I'm using the fastest whorl to get a goodly amount of twist into the single because I want my plied yarn to be fairly high grist (I think that's the word I want).  It's been one of those rovings that seems to multiply as you spin.  It was supposed to be 2 ounces but I think there's actually going to be a bit over 3 ounces.  I did weigh it after I'd already spun some and it still weighed out at more than 2 ounces.  Not often you get more than you paid for, is it?  The roving is so well prepared and has been fun to spin.  Another reason I used the higher speed whorl is that the last time I tried to spin silk, I under-estimated the amount of twist needed and had some trouble with the plying step.  I think this is going to ply beautifully.

Can't tell you what it's for just yet.  Later.  In fact, much of my time right now is completing things for the Heritage Knitting Retreat, both samples and projects.  Time is getting really close but there's still time if you'd like to come join us.

I have another package of this silk roving in a green colorway but I don't think I'm going to try to get that done right away.  I also think I'm going to give into the silk and spin it much more finely than I have this.  I think it will made a beautiful scarf/shawl.

About finishing (or trying to finish)

It's been quite a wild week since I got back from vacation.  I mentioned before about the Sebu mittens.  Here's the finished pair.  Can you tell which one was the goof?

I haven't blocked them yet but I'm happy to have them finished.  They were ready just in time for 80 degree temps!

The other thing I was eager to finish was another version of the Berroco Cosima.  I do love my Berroco yarns.  But this time I wanted to spin a yarn comparable to the Berroco Cuzco the pattern calls for.  I have to admit my early efforts weren't completely sucessful.  Spinners always say it's harder to spin a chunkier yarn.  For some reason, the inclination is to spin an ever-thinner yarn.

Cuzco is 50/50 wool/alpaca so I had this big plan to get 8 oz of silver gray wool and 8 oz of silver gray alpaca, pull them into strips and spin them together.  Probably not the "right" way to do it but I did it that way on purpose.  I wanted to see what would happen.  I spun about 2/3 of the yarn and put it away because it wasn't being much fun to spin.  There it sat until I went on this vacation.  Since I didn't have anything else to be knitting on (mittens, notwithstanding), I decided to take this along and see how far my 2 skeins would take me.  The yarn wasn't perfect but it worked up fine and I was able to get the back, 1 front and part of the second front done.  And I still had at least 1 skein left to spin.

I came home and got spinning.  There's something to the thing about practice, because when I came back to this project I found that I was much better able to control the diameter and make the yarn look like what I wanted.  Here's what I mean:

The dark gray is the Berroco and the silver gray is mine.  Pretty darn close, don't you think?

I got this washed up and ready to go and started knitting.  The next challenge is a very small issue - having enough fiber to spin to make the yarn to knit the sweater.  Sigh... 

Almost but just not quite. 

Now I just have to wait for more Colonial wool to come in.  Guess I learned one lesson out of this:  it takes more than 1 lb of fiber to make a sweater!  Everyone's always asking me how much fiber it takes to make a sweater.  Now I know what to say - more than 1 lb!