Sometimes progress is slow

Sometimes I feel like I'm finishing things all over the place and sometimes I feel like projects take FOREVER!! I'm there right now.

I have projects laying all over the place and this weekend I'm hoping to bring a little order to the chaos.  I may not get many projects significantly forwarded but at least things will be a little more clear and I'll have a plan.  I hope.  

A while back I spun a pound of beautiful Blue-faced Leicester (BFL) and silk.  I was trying to go for a DK sort of weight, which I mostly did, although it really wanted to be spun more finely than that and the beginning of all 3 bobbins I filled were significantly finer than the rest of the bobbin.  As a matter of fact, this sort of worked in my favor but more of that in a minute.

Just before spinning the BFL/silk, I'd finished spinning a lace weight plum silk roving that spun up beautifully.  Both yarns needed to be washed and I flaked out and washed them in the same tub.  Fortunately the water wasn't agitated but still some of the purple leeched onto the white yarn.  As soon as I realized what I'd done, I separated them and rinsed the white yarn.  There were only a few very light splotches of purple but it wasn't good.  As usual, I moved into "make it work" mode and decided to tea-dye the white yarn.  I figured that would cover up any remaining purple splotches and give it a nice warm feeling.  And it did.

The other "mistake" I made with the white yarn was that I put entirely too much twist into both the singles and the plying.  Or so I thought.  I was afraid that I'd ruined this beautiful fiber and made it tight and tough and that there would be no softness to it.  The plying helped some of the overtwist of the singles and I think the washing/dying process helped a little bit of the overtwisted ply.  By some happy accident, the yarn turned out perfect for the Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi Shawl I decided to make with it. 

Normally I would use a much lighter weight yarn to make this shawl but I wanted this one to be a cozy up on the couch while it's cold outside (and it does get cold in Texas - for at least 2-3 days of the year). If this yarn had been spun at this same weight but with less twist, it wouldn't have taken much wear and tear.  But with it as it is, it should be much heartier and keep its lacy integrity better.  I started using the heavier end of the skein and the yarn got slightly thinner as I got to the outside edge.  Funnily enough it also helped to transition into the lighter yarn for the border.  The yarn always knows.  

I did have another problem to solve here.  The color of the yarn is pretty but pretty bland, too.  I didn't want to just make the whole thing in this one color.  It probably could have taken it had it been lace weight but I just didn't think the color could carry the chunkier texture alone.  As you can see in one of my catch-up posts, I recently experimented with doing a macramé fringe on a piece of linen fabric, the way they do in Italy.  The linen was a similar color to this yarn and I loved the effect of some black tatted lace to pull that design together (also precipitated by a "mistake"  LOL). So I wondered if I could make a similar design element work on this shawl.

I decided to use a black lace section around each of the increase rounds as a sort of transitional element.  I knew that I couldn't just use a lace-weight yarn because it wouldn't hold up to the weight of the main yarn.   On the first section, I used 2 strands of black lace-weight yarn, both for strength and to make the yarn just a little bit thicker.  But one of the skeins of yarn was extremely weak and kept breaking on me.  Not a good sign.  What to do... Aha!  I said to myself, I said, Self.  Why don't you use the ball of black tatting cotton you made the tatted lace border with?  Yep, that would work great.  Much more strength and the weight fitted in. 

But it didn't go very far.  So for the 3rd black lace section and following, I used 1 strand of lace-weight wool and 1 strand of black bedspread-weight crochet cotton (10/2).  Perfect.  I've progressed to the lace edging, which is knitted 2 rows to each stitch of the shawl.  Since there are about 600 stitches, I will be here for a while.  When you add to that how difficult it is to knit this 2 stranded yarn with the Addi turbos needles I'm using, I think I'm going to be here for a very long time indeed.  But it will all be worth it in the end.

Another one down

I wrote a beautiful long post this morning and with a swipe of the finger, I managed to delete it before publishing. Hmmmm… So I'll try to recreate it knowing it's never as good the second time around. 

I finished a skein of milk chocolate brown silk that I started a couple of years ago. 

In the process of the plying, I learned something new. 

While looking for a video to help a friend of mine with her new spinning wheel, I found one by Tim from New Voyager Trading who distributes Kromski spinning wheels. In the video, he makes the point that when you spin with a Z twist, you use the brake band strung from right to left. That's how they come. 

However, his point was that when you have spun your singles with Z twist, you ply using an S twist. For this, reversing the direction of the break band, stringing it from left to right makes the scotch tension much more efficient. 

You can see that I've strung the cord over the mother of all, then through the left hook and over the bobbin to the right-side hook. I'd never thought about it befor but it makes sense. It uses the action of the spring and improves the draw in while plying. 

It was like a Festivus miracle!  It made a real difference. I do have a project in mind for this yarn, which I'll share more about later. 

Mission #3 Accomplished

In my Year of Completion, I've now completed my 3rd project - lace weight (sort of - we'll see after it's washed) yarn spun from a 75% Suri Alpaca & 25% Cormo Wool mix.  Suri Alpaca fiber is a long silky fleece and Cormo wool is fluffy, softy wool.  That's why I'm not sure how much it's going to fluff after it gets washed.  It weighed out at 8.25oz (or 236g).

Here you have 1,434 yards (before washing) of yummy scrummy yarn.  Now I just need to figure out what it wants to be...

For anyone who in interested in details, I spun this on my Kromski Symphony (which is now open and ready for it's next project) on the 10:1 ratio whorl.  Unfortunately, that's all the technicals you'll get from me.  I'm not into too much more than that. It is what it has become.

The Easiest Part is Sometimes the Longest

One day I'm going to write an article about the slowest part of spinning. HINT: it's the plying. 

When you're spinning fiber into yarn, there's a lot going on. Just ask a brand new spinner. Sure you've only got 2 hands (for holding and drafting the fiber) and 2 feet (for treadling the wheel) but it feels like you need 40 of each - not to mention a few extra eyes and a couple of brains to keep track of everything. It can definitely be overwhelming. 

That's why, when in working with a new spinner, I have then break down all the things that need to happen into stand alone tasks. 

1.  Pre draft the fiber. It helps them get a feel for how the fiber acts as well as taking away one of the spinning tasks. 

2.  Hold the fiber and treadle until you feel the twist in the forward hand. 

3.  Stop treadling and draw the hands back to let the twist run in. 

That's a lot to take in and do all at the same time. But it can be learned. 

By contrast, to ply 2 of those singles together only requires the spinner to treadle and let the the twist run in. Of course, you do have to remember to move the yarn forward on the bobbin but it should be easy and fast - much faster than drafting fiber. 

And it is easier but it's by no means faster. For the first years of my spinning life, I produced under plied yarns. I still have yarns that are woefully under plied. (I keep meaning to run them back through the wheel). 

The reason is simple psychology. You think that because it's easier, it should be faster. That ain't always the case, mon amis. 

Ah, you say, but I can always use a faster whorl. Get the twist in faster, move things along. Yes, I say, you can do that but then you change the character of the yarn you're spinning. There may be times you want to use a whorl that's a different size but it should be done on purpose and with a reason. 

If you don't believe me, go experiment. Using a generic light colored wool, spin 2 singles with your chosen whorl and make it long enough for several samples. Keep a sample of the singles yarn long enough to have a "before washing" and "after washing."

Now, regardless of the size whorl you spun the singles on, use your largest whorl and spin a sample long enough for a before/after.  Now do a sample with your next size down and so on until you've used all your whorls and have your 2 sets of samples. 

Keep track of which is which - loop the unwashed samples on a piece of cardboard and note which is which. 

Wash the other set and let them air dry then loop them next to their unwashed counterpart. Look closely at the subtle differences. You could even do this twice, one with a worsted style drafting and also with a woolen style. You could expand it further to repeat the experiment by spinning singles with each of the whorls and seeing what difference the various singles make. 

Yes, the differences in the small samples may appear subtle but it's the same principle as the gauge swatch in knitting. It may call for 5 stitches to the inch but if you are 1/2 stitch over in your gauge, once you multiply it out, it adds up to a big difference. The same for your spinning swatch. Over a project, it can make a big difference. 

When you're spinning, always keep in mind that singles need more twist than you might think because you will lose some of it when you ply. When you're plying, you need more twist than you might think because you'll lose some when you wash your project. 

The point of all this, really, is be patient in your plying. Be present and you'll get the most out of the experience and you'll get the yarn you really want. 

How many licks…

Remember that old commercial about the owl trying to figure out how many licks on the tootsie pop before you get to the chewy center?  That's how I feel with this spinning project.

I've had this project on my Kromski Symphony for about 3 years. 

I love all my spinning wheels but this one is the most elegant and the best at spinning the lace weight yarn. 

The fiber is a Cormo/Suri Alpaca blend that I found at Knitorious and it's kind of a denim color. So pretty and super soft and silky. 

As you can see, my bobbin is full and I only have a short strip to go to finish this half of the fiber. Just the second half to go!  The first half took 3 years, wonder how long the second half will go. 

Keep in mind that this bobbin has about 2 ounces of fiber spun super fine which is probably about 1200 yards of singles. 

Or more. 

So happy to make some progress with this thing. 

What to do with fractal spinning

I'm in the middle of an experiment with fractal spinning.  Check out this post for what that means, in case you missed it.  I finished the spinning last night and got the skein washed so it now looks like this:

Pretty but to me it's hard to tell any difference between this and any other plied yarn spun any other way.  Maybe after it's knitted, I'll be able to tell the difference.

So I started knitting.  Again, it's kind of hard to tell the difference but I like it nevertheless.

The scarf I started with it is 43 stitches wide and worked in a basket weave pattern.  Because knit stitches are wider than they are tall, I made the stitch pattern 5 stitches wide and 6 rows long.  In case you'd like to knit yourself (or someone else) an interesting scarf, you don't need fractal spun yarn, any good sport to DK weight will do.  I'm using US size 4 needles because my yarn has thicker sections and thinner sections.  For my yarn, these create a nice fabric.

I casted on 40 stitches and worked knit 2, purl 2 ribbing for about 8 rows before I started the pattern.  On the first row of the pattern stitch, I increased 3 stitches across to end up with 43 stitches.

Pattern stitch
Row 1: K2, P2, (K5, P5) repeat bracketed stitches to last 4 stitches, P2, K2
Row 2: P2, K2, (P5, K5) repeat bracket stitches to last 4 stitches, K2, P2

Repeat Rows 1 & 2 twice more

Row 7: P2, K2, (P5, K5) repeat bracket stitches to last 4 stitches, K2, P2
Row 8: K2, P2, (K5, P5) repeat bracketed stitches to last 4 stitches, P2, K2

Repeat Rows 7 & 8 twice more

Repeat these 2 sections until your scarf is the length you desire (or your yarn is almost finished) and end with 8 rows of K2/P2 ribbing.  You'll need to decrease 3 stitches on your last pattern row.

Once its washed and blocked, you'll be able to see the basket weave pattern much more clearly but even if you don't block it, I think it's still got an interesting light texture.

I'm not sure how much yarn I ended up with so I'm not sure how long the scarf will be but I don't think it will be very long.  I think this pattern would work really at any length but I think it would be best as a short or medium length.

Spinning Fractally

I've had a fascination with fractal spinning since I first heard about it.  The idea is that you can prepare your dyed fiber in such a way as to create different lengths of color repeats that create interesting effects when plied together.  The fascination is in the mystery of the math, I suppose, in the way a mathematical idiot is drawn in by the magic of the unknowable.

What??!

Let me 'splain.

If you have a length of dyed roving, you can split it in half.

 

Half will be spun in one long piece, making the section of each color very, very long indeed.

 

The other half can be done in different ways from what I've seen.  The way I did it is to split the second half in half and then half of that in half again.  I started spinning with the smallest strips and then the wider strip and then the wider strip.  So there was a 1/2, a 1/4, a 1/8 and 2 - 1/16 size strips.  I started with the 1/16 strips and worked my way up.

My first bobbin was the many strips with longer and longer color repeats.  The second bobbin will be the first half strip with its long repeats and then I'll ply the 2 bobbins together. 

I have no idea how it will turn out but we'll find out soon.

If you want more information about fractal spinning, see the blog post from Roving Crafters here. 

 

Spinnin' Fool

I've had several spinning projects hanging around for several months. They're mostly well behaved but the last couple of weeks they've begun to mock me and have gotten gradually more irritating. So, for the peace of the house, I've been getting them cleared out.

I showed the 2 oz of lace weight that I finished up last week. That was fiber left over from a project that is now hanging out at the State Fair waiting for the judging to begin. I had another bunch of leftovers from that project, a silk/merino/angora blend that was probably just under 2oz. As with the other batch, I wanted to see how finely I could spin this. With the silk content helping, I discovered it was very fine indeed. I need to weigh the final skein but I ended up with more than 300 yds (before washing - probably around 270 after washing) of gorgeous bouncy fine lace weight yarn. 

Scrumptious!

What am I going to do with it?  It's going into a very special place in my stash reserved for the specialty lace weights in white that I've spin over the years. I have plans for a "white on white" project using these in their various shades of glorious whiteness. 

The other finished project?

Plump and squishy. Not sure yet but about 450 yards of heavy worsted softness. Probably a hat and mittens?  We'll see what the yarn decides to be. 

Leftovers

Sometimes leftovers are the best part. When I spun the yarn for my #Roseroot shawlette, I had 2.1 ounces (61 grams) of the merino/cashmere fiber left over. I wasn't really sure what to do with it.

I figured that if I spun it very light lace weight, at least that would give me the most yarn to work with. 

I spun and I spun and I spun until I wound up with this.

Then I plied and I plied and I got this. 

The thing with spinning with a fine wool like merino is that it's super crimpy. That means that, while I ended up with 406 yards of finished plied yarn, after it was washed and dried, it came to 377 yards of finished yarn (2,872 yds/lb). 

Not knowing that got me into trouble a few times when I thought I had plenty of yarn for a project only to end up short 

If I hadn't gotten bored, I probably could have gotten even more yardage but I'm happy with how it turned out. 

Now what to do with it…

This makes me happy

I finished my #roserootmkal shawlette made with handspun Merino/cashmere yarn. 

There were a few adventures with it. I ran out of yarn 1/2 way thru the edging (which I expected).  I had spun the main yarn knowing that I didn't quite have the yardage I would need. That was one reason I decided to make the full shawl with the red (of which I had plenty) and the smaller version with this. I'm glad I did because I wouldn't have had enough fiber to spin for the whole shawl. 

What I didn't expect was to run out again about 2 inches from the end. I can't say how many times I've eked out a project, sometimes with just inches of yarn left. No such luck this time. Guess this is the evening up of all those close wins!

But I made the mistake of trying to spin the last bit of yarn while watching the #Hobbit Battle of the 5 Armies. I may have gotten a wee bit too much twist in as I treadled to the battle and washed the yarn in my tears at the end.  But I got it done and am thrilled with it. It's just the right length you would want for a shawlette but I still need to block it. 

But since we're supposed to have a high today of 68 degrees (in the middle of July - what?!?) I was able to wear it and bask in its coziness and softiness. 

Want one of your own?  You can find the pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/roseroot-2. Thanks for the beautiful pattern, Rohn!

Ooh La La

FINISHED!  I ooh'd and aaah'd while I was spinning and while I was knitting but only in the wearing is the true luxury felt. 

Once it's washed and blocked it will lay a little better but I love it so much I need to work on writing down the pattern. I wasn't going to but I just have to. 

There's nothing hard about any of it but I didn't keep track of things as I went. Watch this space and I'll post it when it's ready. But to get the full effect you should really get your spin on!!

Almost there

I've finished the skirt of my new sweater and I couldn't be more thrilled. 

I've still got to finish off the neckline and decide whether I want to add lace to the sleeves but it fits beautifully and it's softer than a baby's bum so I'm happy. 

It's always a gamble to design on the fly like this and the stakes are even higher when the gamble involves handspun luxury fibers (alpaca, merino, silk, angora and cashmere). I've held my breath through this process but it looks exactly like I saw in my mind's eye all those weeks ago. That's very satisfying, to say the least. 

Soooo close

I got so close to finishing my sweater. I thought sure the 400 yds of lace weight I'd done would be enough. And it almost was. 

I got down to this. 

And that's not quite enough to do the job. 

So I spent my day working on getting a little more done. 

Now I just need to ply and wash and then   I'll be ready to finish.

Work has resumed

I finished spinning and am now knitting with the most luxurious luxury yarn I've ever knit with in my whole life. 

I just can't put it down (not without having a temper tantrum). Even if I never wear it, I will have it in my lap to squish and pet. Crazy soft and cushy. And I thought the alpaca part was soft. 

I think I've got enough in the 400 some odd yards I've got but I do have enough fiber over for another 300-400 yards if I need it. Otherwise it will be spun for another project. But it will be spun. Unless I need it for this project, I'll probably wait until it warms up a little so the silk doesn't go quite as nutso. 

But so far, so good and on we go. 

7 years in the making...

Or is that 8...

In the (what I prefer to call) persistence category, I present my handspun, designed, hand knitted shawl. 

I don't remember exactly when I started it but it couldn't have been less than 7-8 years ago. In my defense, it's handspun to a true lace weight (probably at least 800 yards). Part was spindle spun but the majority if it was spun on a wheel. (Don't ask me which one because that would be embarrassing - I don't remember but probably Kromski Minstrel). The fiber is Bluefaced Leicester from Frabjous Fibers. 

Then I started knitting. If I remember right, this was a project that started out as something but didn't want to be that thing so I ripped it out and made it into this. It's one of those projects that I made good progress on until I got sidetracked so it got put away then discovered. A little more was worked, rinse and repeat. 

It's actually supposed to have a lace edging on each end but I finally ran short if yarn and decided just to fish rather than cut bait. 

I have to say I do (still) like it. Even after all these years. 

It's my perogative

As usual I started a spinning project with one garment in mind only to change my mind once I got into it. 

A few weeks ago I bought 8oz of blond alpaca at Knitorious in St Louis. To make the most if it, I plied it with a Merino/angora blend. 

Even though I was able to get about 500 yards, it wasn't going to be enough for the original project. 

That stripy look will become a tweedy look once it's knitted up. The new plans are to use a baby sweater pattern that has the bodice knitted from wrist to wrist and then stitches are picked up and the skirt is knitted in lace. 

The other thing I've been working on is the oven pads. With the latest one, I thought it would be cute to have a hotpad and a washcloth to go with it. 

I just can't make myself stop making them!

Sometimes it just works

Several weeks ago I visited the Myers House in St Louis and found a cute little pattern for a stole. I didn't particularly care for the yarn it called for plus I was in the midst of spinning a yarn I hoped would work for it. 

While I was on vacation, I cast on. Bit before I could cast on, I realized I didn't have the size needles it called for. Also I didn't think the yarn was quite as chunky as what it called for. Sooooo...I improvised. 

I had size 8 needles (2 sizes smaller than what it called for) and the yarn fit the needles so I increased the cast on by about 10% roughly and started knitting. It was knit from the top down so I made sure the # of stitches did what it was supposed to do and kept knitting. 

It was an easy stockinette/reverse stockinette stitch pattern with the increases coming every 2 sections. And because of the smaller needles/smaller yarn, I added a couple of sections until I got this:

Pretty much just what the pattern calls for. It has the little pass-thru ties at the front and came out pretty perfectly. 

Oh, yeah, I also did an i-cord bind off to make sure it was a pretty edge and that it would bunch up. 

Better late

About 4-5 years ago I spun a lace weight yarn out of some blue faced Leicester wool dyed by Frabjous Fibers, my favorite all time dye house. The colorway was called English Garden and it was easy to see why. 

I started a project with it but it was another one of those situations where the yarn had an opinion and the project never went anywhere. 

About a year ago I ripped out and started a new project. Even though it's taken me all this time, I should get credit for perseverance, if not for speed, because I've finally finished. 

I was running really short on yardage

(That's how much I had left in the end) but I knew I needed at least a small border on each end. I just happened to have some books covering my coffee table (and spilling off onto the floor but that's another story), one of which was this one:

Which contains a whole section on edgings. In it I found this sweet little edging:

It's super easy and super fast and super cute. 

Now I just need to block it-just an easy block and I'm all set for fall. 

Greener pastures

Last Saturday I was helping my friend, Karen, with her harp workshop. That basically meant that I had about blocks of time while the harpers were harping to otherwise amuse myself. 

My bobbin lace wasn't going to be easy to transport so I figured spinning was probably going to be my best option so the night before, I dove the stash and I came up with 2 different fibers. 

One was called apple green, an Ashland Bay favorite of mine. It's a very flat color but I love the tone in it. 

The other was a mixed fiber I bought at a wonderful little yarn shop in Charleston, WV. I'm afraid I don't remember the name of the shop but this is a mix of silk and Merino, I believe, and has different tones of greens and some blues and some touches of other colors, including the pure silk. So it's glossy and interesting but loses some of the interest when plied because there's so much going on. 

So I decided that these two were made for each other and I started spinning. And I believe you'll agree. 

Before washing:

Once it's all washed and dried, I'll show you what it looks like (because I think it will bloom like crazy) and what I intend to do with it. 

Two fer

What do you think looking at this skein of yarn?  That it must be 2 skeins hanging together?

You would think so but, no, it's one skein spun on the same spindle from what (I thought) was the same bunch of fiber. I decided to do a Navajo ply which means that it was plied on itself in order.   After I washed it and let it dry, I couldn't figure out why it was all wonky. Until I cut a couple if the ties, that is. 

Evidently I used 2 different bumps of fiber because in one skein of yarn, I managed to get 2 very distinct and very different skins of yarn. One is a very smooth, very sproingy yarn. Lots of bounce. 

And the other is a soft, halo-y yarn with almost no bounce. 

I thought I was spinning a cashmere/merino blend (which is the second one) but evidently I was also spinning a merino/merino blend. That would be the first one. 

So my question is, should I divide them when I wind them and use them separately or should I wind them together and see comes out in the end?  I was thinking about dying them (for which I would keep them together). Or I could add them to my white on white project (in which case I would probably separate them). Hummm...