Knitster Chelle

Proof of knitting.

I've been knitting. Srsly.

This winter I ...
- finished a stalled pair of socks (Dad's Boot Socks)
- finished a stalled baby sweater (Rainbow Daisy Sweater)
- whipped out two winter hats for Mr. Knitster
- knit a nice, thick pair of house socks (Saturday socks)
- knit an EZ classic (Peony February Sweater)

     

I've been itching for a new spring project for myself but I haven't decided what I want to do. I perused the Spring issues of Knitty, Twist Collective, and Interweave Knits for inspiration. Cherry Fizz, Flit Float, and Shipwreck are all piquing my interest. The Fountain Pen Shawl is queued on Ravelry.

The thing is, my ideas and my stash are at odds. I have tons of neutrals, denim-y blues, and autumnal colors. When I want a shot of color I tend to go with jewel tones or bright colors like teal, raspberry, or sapphire. are available. But my yarn palette is severly lacking when it comes to spring colors. Much of what I have is too deep/dark for what I have in mind. There are a couple of possibilities though. On the left is Schaefer's Little Lola in an unnamed colorway. It reminds me of the early spring flowers crocuses, irises, and daffodils. I'm seriously considering using it for a Clapotis. In the center is Malabrigo Silky Merino in Party Pink. On the left is Malabrigo Sock in Archangel. Since I only have one skein of it, I was thinking of a Landscape Scarf or a lacy neckwarmer.

   

While I don't have a personal project selected yet, I do have two gift projects on the needles. A Landscape Shawl for my grandmother and pair of socks for my officemate.

 

Yarnbarf sez...

  Practice, practice, practice. My spinning wheel has been idle since Christmas, possibly even Thanksgiving. Monday I decided to try again. So I got a fresh bobbin, a head of steam, some pin-drafted roving, and started anew.  Annnnnnnnnnnd, let's just say it's abundantly clear I'm a newbie spinner. Slub city. What's pictured is about 3 yards of slubby, uneven beginner yarn. It holds together, so technically it qualifies as yarn, but I'm not pushing it.

Notes on technique (such as it is). I don't have any technique to speak of, I'm just trying to capture what I'm doing at the early stages of learning to spin. I think I'm doing a (short) backwards draw because that makes the most tactile sense to me. What I mean by tactile sense is, when I'm sitting in front of the wheel trying to coordinate my feet, my hands, and the fiber, it makes the most sense to me to draft back with my left hand and pinch the twist with my right. My left (non-dominant) hand is the fiber hand and I'm pulling it away from the orifice. My right hand controls (or not) the twist. At this point I don't smooth my yarn as it feeds onto the bobbin.

I'm having some difficulty putting it all together. Monday, I had to play with the Scotch tension quite a bit to even get the "yarn" through the orfice and onto the bobbin. Tuesday I think I settled the uptake/tension issue but I had trouble drafting quickly and/or consistently enough to make actual yarn. I made a pile of bad breaks where the yarn snapped because it was so overspun or drifted apart because there was so little twist.

Frustrations. My biggest frustration is my own impatience. I want to be good already! The reality is I'm not yet able to create the yarn I envision. And I feel like I'm competing with another sense memory, the knitting fingers. My knitting fingers really prefer to knit/manipulate a sport weight to DK weight yarn. My knitting fingers are interfering with my spinny hands right now. It's getting on my nerves a little bit. But it comes back full circle to practice, practice, practice.

Rhinebeck Spoils

I went to the Rhinebeck this year, my first time. I had a great time but the next time I go, I'll do it differently. Here's the deal...

One of my LYS, Tangled Web, chartered a bus to Rhinebeck. It was scheduled to leave Philadelphia at 6:45am. I left my house at at 4:55am. I took a bus, the sub, and another bus just to get to the chartered bus. We left Philly at 7:00am and arrived at the fairgrounds around noon. We stayed for four hours. We left the fairgrounds at 4:45pm or so and arrived back in Philly at 9:00pm. I cabbed it home and crossed my threshold at 9:30pm. Long day. What it broke down to was 10.5 hours of travel time for 4 hours of festival time. So next year, we (me and the boyfriend) will make it weekend getaway.

     

  

Here's the haul.

Two ounces of Romney roving in "Midnight" colorway. Four ounces of Romney/Llama blend roving in chocolate brown. So soft and squishy I just pet it for now. Purchased from Glendemere Farm.

Eight ounces of washed Lincoln X locks. Purchased from Barneswallow Farm.

Eight ounces of Romney roving from "Maisey". Purchased from M H & J Romneys.

  Two pounds of undyed 2-ply Columbia yarn. Seven colors of Jacquard Acid Dyes. Golden yellow, Purple, Crimson, Brilliant Blue, Kelly Green, Chestnut, and Jet Black. Purchased from The Sheep Shed.

So, all in all, a wonderful time.

Resurfacing

I believe I've found my knitting mojo again. My spinning, while not so far gone, has been listless. I just kinda lost my groove for a while. But now that the fall chill has descended, I've gotten the urge to knit. So without further ado, the followup post to my Maryland Sheep & Wool excursion.

Fleeces. I didn't realize this until I started taking pics but they're from the same source. They're both Romney-Corriedale crosses from Howell Hill in Glenelg, MD. I haven't washed them yet but they don't appear to be excessively dirty. The vegetable matter seems to be the regular amount as well, not like rolling in a haystack or anything. Two 'typical' fleeces, with average amounts of lanolin, dirt, and VM. So this should be a good test of my wool prep skills.
     

Locks. The breed of red locks may have been identified at the booth, but I didn't write it down. Red locks from Wool 'n' Quilts/Triple 'R' Farm. The remaining locks are Border Leicester-Finn cross from Spinners Hill.

       

Pin-draft. I'm thinking of plying these two together to create a lemon-lime marled yarn. But I'm scared it would be eye-scorchingly too bright. Pin-drafted roving from Ozark Carding Mill.
 

Roving. Another score from Wool 'n' Quilts/Triple 'R' Farm. Yummy wool/silk blend. No formal breakdown of percentages but you can tell it's predominately wool.

Top. I got two gorgeous Blue-Faced Leicester tops from Gale's Art. I braided them to make it easier to store. The top with rainbow colors is called Festival. The top with raspberry, mauve, and orange colors is called Cherry Blossom.
     
   

Mill ends. One of my lys, Rosie's Yarn Cellar, hosts a bus trip to MDSW. They had an early bird, pre-boarding sale. I scored some lovely Koigu mill ends. So while not on Howard County Fairgrounds proper, this certainly counts as part of my MDSW haul.
 

Spinning Tools. I purchased my Ladybug from Yarnbarn of Kansas. The top whorl spindle is from The Drafting Zone.
 

Acccessories. All of these fabulous items are from The Mannings.
   

MD Sheep & Wool 2008 ... the quick recap

So here's the quick recap on all the economic stimulating I did in Maryland yesterday. I'll followup with a more detailed description shortly.

      

Schacht Ladybug and 2 extra bobbins from Yarn Barn of KS
Colored 5lb fleece, Romney/Corriedale cross from Howell Hill in Glenelg, MD
White 3lb fleece, Romney/Corriedale cross from Howell Hill in Glenelg, MD
3 oz yellow pindrafted roving from Ozark Carding Mill
3 oz green pindrafted roving from Ozark Carding Mill
8 oz pink wool/silk blend roving from Wool 'n' Quilts/Triple 'R' Farm
4 oz red locks from Wool 'n' Quilts/Triple 'R' Farm
4 oz total of three colors (orange, green, grey) Border Leicester/Finn cross locks from Spinners Hill
2 4oz BFL rovings from Gale's Art
0.6 oz Slotted top-whorl spindle from The Drafting Zone
Color wheel, McMorran balance, spinning oil, WPI tool, and highlighter tape from The Mannings
Essentials of Handspinning from The Mannings
Handspindle...Not Just for Demonstrations Anymore from The Mannings

AND I took home $120! Don't ask, I don't know how I did it either.

A Fine Experiment

For the past month or so I've been taking a Beginner Handspinning class offered by the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers. I'm enjoying it immensely. In preparation for the last class, I was supposed to spin two bobbins' worth of yarn on the loaner wheel. The loaner wheel was a lovely Louet S51. The problem was I couldn't get the hang of treadling at all. I mean I know how to treadle but not consistently. I would get going and then the wheel would change directions on me. Or it would rock back and forth like a Buccaneer ride at an amusement part. Or I'd think I got the right rhythm and I'd look at the bobbin and see corkscrew-y yarn barf tangled at the orfice. So the upshot is that I didn't have my homework for my latest spinning class. The dyeing class.

It was all good though, because my instructor, Pam,  suggested I dye locks as an experiment. Pam had a HUGE (like contractor size) bag of mystery locks/fleece. There were two distinct kinds, a long-stapled curly white wool and a short-stapled crimpy brown wool. The white wool is definitely raw. It's a bit dirty, has a fair amount of vegetable matter, and a barnyard smell. The brown wool may have been scoured, as it doesn't smell like much of anything. It appears to have only a small amount of VM.

So for the dyeing experiment, I took a couple of handfuls of the raw locks and teased them. I picked out the VM and aligned the tips. Then I headed into the guild kitchen where Pam had some dyestock set up. I think there was a teal green, a mustard yellow, and blue set up. The class mixed a bright red dye and topped off Pam's stock of blue. We were using acid dyes but I don't remember the specific brand. I choose the yellow and red dyes to make fiery orange locks. I used the drizzle and smoosh method of application. Then I wrapped the locks in a couple layers of plastic wrap and put my wool package in a big steamer pot. We steamed the wool for approximately 15 minutes. Because the class was only two hours, the rinsing and drying were our homework activities.

When I got home, I was so excited I made a couple of mistakes. My rinses weren't the same temperature (d'oh!) and I let the water run directly on the locks (double d'oh!). Still the experiment was quite successful, despite the imperfect finish.

Ta da!

      

Plum Loco

You ever get caught in a color jag? I've only recently noticed that I've been in a plum/merlot jag. Why do these things take so long  to register? I've been buying variations of the same colors since the beginning of the year. Wine and tobacco-y colors. Plum and mauve-y colors. Not that there's anything wrong with that. ;-)

And it's not just fiber. Apparently I'm also in drop spindle aquisition mode. I've been on the hunt for pretty and/or ornate bottom whorl spindles. There are plenty of beautiful top whorl spindles to be had. But bottom whorls seem to have a 'starter' stigma, so they're often heavy and utilitarian. That being said, my spindles range from feather weight to boat anchor, and I haven't scoured the far outer reaches of the Internet yet.

I've been practicing the most on my 1.1 oz Schacht Hi-Lo spindle. Schacht spindles are an excellent choice for newbie spindlers. They are widely available and come in three different weights. They have the versatility of being either top or bottom whorl. At around $17 US, they're affordable for most. The light wood and clear finish gives them a sleek, elegant air, I think.  And most importantly, they spin wonderfully well. My only issue with the Schacht spindle is that I've had the whorl shift on the 1 oz version. Most likely the result of me dropping it so many times. The crazy rollercoaster winter hasn't helped either. While the whorl still fits tightly to the shaft, I'm going to secure it with some glue.

I haven't mentioned it in my infrequent posts but I'm still spindling. Park and draft. Not quite ready to freestyle. Something about the handoff from twirl to draft gets me all jacked up. My practice fibers are Blue Faced Leicester and Targhee. Not a blend. Targhee on one spindle, BFL on another. So far, so good.

All the best dressed chairs wear handknits.

      

I finished some stuff! It's about time, those socks were killing me. I've worked on these Fortissima socks for what seems like forever. Considering they're knit on double zero metal (1.75 mm) needles, it's no surprise that they took some time to complete.

The sock yarn is Fortissima Colori Socka color number 2419. Yarndex has its name as Kolibri, which means hummingbird in German. The put-up of this particular colorway is 50-gram balls, which I think accounts for their fraternalness.

I think I've already described the seed stitch scarf but to recap. I used three balls of Karabella's Boise. It was a dream to knit with, like buttah! It's cushy, squishy, and wonderfully warm.

Challenge Accepted!

WARNING: If you're not into felines or the fabulousness of soft kitty paws, you may want to skip this post.

The resident mountain lions have accepted Ruby's challenge. Knitster Chelle is owned by three mini mountain lions.

      

 

First post of 2008

Yes, I know I've been a lax blogger, but that ends now. My only knitting resolution for 2008 is to post once a week. Now on to the updates. I finished the green tweed sweater. Still have to weave in ends and block. I finished my Boise scarf. I need to weave in the ends. Notice a trend? My end-weaving mojo hasn't kicked in yet. I have a pair of socks in progress as well.

            

The Ravelry invitation arrived shortly after the last post. I totally fell down the Ravelry hole. I've been sucked into the vortex. M.A.J.O.R. timesuck. That is a big part of why I haven't posted. I've been wading through the ocean of fiber fabulousness. Browsing the groups and forums. Updating my library, adding projects and stash. Ah yes, the stash. Slowing but surely, I'm uploading to Flickr and Ravelry. It's going to be a while, I have a good sized stash. The images below don't even include my sock stash.