I finally finished my first spindle full of Sheep Shed Studio roving. It's the stuff I Kool-Aid dyed forever ago and never got around to spinning because I broke the hook off my spindle. Only took a little Super Glue to fix, but sometimes I get stubborn. And lazy.
That only used up half the roving, and I'd planned to make it a two-ply, but it's pretty balanced as is and might work well as a single. I like that it's thick/thin and rustic and think plying would even it out too much.
I have 238 yards so far, out of about 4 oz.
Next up is this fabulous green/yellow/black stuff that I got in a RAK. I don't know what the fiber or brand is, but it's some kind of wool. It's combed, so the resulting yarn is super-smooth. It's also really dense and needs a LOT of pre-drafting to get it spinnable. It's not felted, the fibers just seem like they're packed really close together and need a little encouragement to seperate. Maybe it sat in a tight braid for too long.
My cousins are in town from South Florida, and were really impressed that I can actually MAKE YARN. Dan goes to antique shows all the time (he's a military history nut) and promised to be on the lookout for an affordable wheel for me.
I'm moving to Georgia for a few months.
Here is my bag of clothing.
Here is my bag of yarn.
Guess which is bigger?
(It's the clothing, but just barely, and if I took the handknits out of the "clothing" bag it would be in trouble.)
This is all the yarn I've recently acquired from swaps, RAKs, and buying things.
It includes LOTS of things I've never tried before. Tons of indie-dyed things (omg I are indie yarn virgin, and I think I just became an indie yarn nympho), and my first ever Tencel and silk yarns! Yes, before now I've only used wool and acrylic. Also two Noro sock yarns (Kureyon and Silk Garden).
In the top left you can sort of see the natural yarns I skeined up and am going to dye as soon as I track down a local store that sells acid dyes. Two laceweights and two worsted, all 100% wool. One of the worsteds is a gift for my sister's birthday.
And yep, I did roll in it!
Inventory:
Noro silk Garden
Noro Kureyon
Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel
Yarn Pirate Merino Superwash
Lovesticks Superwash Falkland Sport
Knitpicks BARE merino lace
Lotus Yarns Buddha
Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool
Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool
Unknown brand wool roving (maybe superwash? will have to test)
As nutty as I am for color, sometimes there is just something awesome about undyed wool. Sheep come in tons of different colors (sometimes even multiple colors on the same sheep!). You could knit without touching a drop of dye and still have enough different shades to make a complex Fair Isle sweater.
I participate in a "Random Acts of Kindness" group on Ravelry. People post wishlists, and if you have something on their list, you can send them a gift. I love sending out surprises, and it makes opening the mailbox a lot like Christmas morning: I either get an itchy "novelty" sweater from Aunt Sara (bills and junk mail) or Lego and comic books (Yarn! Or postcards! Or candy!).
Today I got a fabulous package from one of the ladies in the group, and it included this natural yarn from
Gaspereau Valley Fibers. I opened the website and paraded around the house telling everyone "THIS yarn came from THOSE sheep!" Okay, probably not those exact sheep in the photograph, but at least some of their relatives and friends.
The yarn itself is lovely. It's a nice, soft creamy color. Feels nice and wooly (little bit of lanolin, but not much). It doesn't smell of sheep like wool does sometimes, even when wet.
I'm planning on splashing some dye on it, but leaving parts natural to let the wonderful sheepy color show through. Color scheme to be decided when I plan on what to make with it! Laceweight doesn't come my way so often, so it's a special treat when it does.
Yarn Stats:
2 ply wool
25 micron count (Being a geek, I love that they include this on the label! I've never seen that done before!)
100 grams per skein
800yds/100g
3200 yards per pound
I measured it myself with my handy WPI calculator, and it looks like it's about 18.
Thanks again, Karen. Definitely a gift to be treasured.
Sometimes I knit for people and they suck and never wear/use said item. However, sometimes they are AWESOME and order me a huge box of cool stuff as a thank-you gift.
New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi. I flipped through the book looking at the patterns, and it is fabulous. I love that it's more of an educational book than a pattern book, and gives you "master patterns" so that you can substitute yarns or stitch patterns, change sizes, or whatever and make your own custom socks using the techniques.
Size 0 32" circular needle, for Magic Looping socks.
Swish DK yarn in Mist. I can't stop touching this, it's so soft. Way softer than most merino yarns.
Palette in Eggplant and Clover. This is in the process of becoming gorgeous Fair Isle mittens.
And you can't have him, he's mine. Getcher own sexy yarn patron.
This is the story of the most expensive skein of yarn I ever bought. This is the story of 2400 yards of Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace that I lusted over and hemm-hawwed about justifying the expense and finally snatched for half off when the LYS was going out of business. This is the story of dropped stitches, of frogging, of woe and scissors and triumph.
That said, it's going to be a long fucking story so get comfy.
The skein sat in my stash. It called to me, "Jillie, make me something pretty. I am soft and fuzzy and wonderful and you will love me. I am like that cheesy-ass *Giving Tree* book, only better."
And I finally said "OK, Yarn! I will!" Being a brokeass from spending $30 on a skein of yarn, I dug out my free pattern stash and stumbled upon Jeanie. "Oh hey, with my laceweight, this will make a nice scarf instead of a full-sized shawl. Which will be good for my first time knitting lace."
And I started knitting, and it was good. So I kept knitting, and knitting, and knitting. After a millionzillion hours, it was maybe 18" long. I decided to block it and see what it would look like.
So I took it off the needles and threaded it onto some scrap yarn. I looked up "How To Block Lace" on Google and decided to do it just perfectly right, being my First Special Project and all. So I did. I got some wires, some pins, and a towel, and I blocked that shit.
When it was dry, I gazed upon my masterpiece. "What the ever fucking fuck?" I thought. "Surely I did not put that giant fucking hole about an inch above the cast-on edge." And lo, there were 8 or 10 rows that looked like they'd been cut, making the aforementioned giant fucking hole. I cried, and shoved that shit in the closet for 6 months.
Enter today. I'm trying to clean out my giant stack of unfinished crap, and this was next on the list. "Hey," I said to myself, "I can string a lifeline right above the hole, cut off the knitting from the hole down, and only lose about 2 inches." So I dutifully started to insert my lifeline.
One problem. Did I mention the yarn is fuzzy? Well, it's fucking fuzzy, and all of the teeny-tiny skinny strands have gotten cozy and snug together, and it's impossible to get the needle in between this mess, or even to tell which stitches are where. This is not helped by the fact that the pattern is fucking ribbing and cables and dropped stitches. I gave that up pretty quickly.
"OK," I thought. "I'll just frog it and start over. It's a little wider than I would like anyway, so no harm done."
Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Did I mention the yarn is fuzzy. Yeah. In about half an hour, I'd managed to frog maybe an inch. At this point I realized the stupidity of spending days frogging to get kinky, pilly yarn when I had more than 2000 yards of the stuff in pristine condition in the other room.
But what to do with the stuff I already knit?
I took my trusty scissors and I CUT THAT BITCH UP.
I cut it all up into 3/4" wide strips. I grabbed both ends and yanked on them and stretched them out. I made crazy-ass yarny stuff with knitted chunks in it:
"OMG!" you say. "Jillie, you destroyed teh speshul handpainted espensive yurns!"
And I say, "Yes, bitches, I did. And I fucking liked it."
To my American readers, happy Thanksgiving!
And for everyone, here are some adorable alpacas I saw yesterday. The rest of the photos can be found here.
Last week I was spending some time in Atlanta and decided to get together with some of my Ravelry friends for knitting night. We went to Knitch in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood for their Friday night get-together. The shop does free knitting nights at 6:30PM every Thursday and Friday.
Parking was a bit of an issue. There's a small lot behind the shop, but it and the nearby on-street parking were totally full. My ride ended up dropping me off and leaving, as he didn't really want to hang out in a yarn shop anyway. Quick note: Don't park across St. Charles (in front of the bar) if you plan on staying later than 8PM: you will get towed, as we found out.
The shop is HUGE. The downstairs area has yarn everywhere, plus some seating. Up a spiral staircase is more yarn, spinning supplies, a big table, and couches. Most people at knit night were hanging out upstairs. There were a lot of us, and I was made to feel more than welcome.
The yarn selection is awesome. They had everything you would expect to find (Noro, Cascade, Rowan), plus some more exotic stuff (Artyarns, Habu), and even a few locally-made yarns and original patterns. I didn't buy anything (right now, money is short and yarn is long), but was sorely tempted to skip going back to college and buy the place out.
In short:
Go to Knitch. It is awesome.
First off: KNITPICKS! SCOTLAND! TWATWEASEL! Now that that's out of the way....
I finally succumbed to the call of cheap internet yarn.
When I moved a few months ago, I lost my LYS (Knit 'N' Knibble in Tampa, if you're in the area stop in, pet the yarn, and tell Caroline I said hello!). And then the local Jo Ann moved farther away, so my only source of yarn is Wal-Mart. Now, I've used my fair share of Red Heart and Simply Soft, and they definitely have their place in the world (I'm the ultimate Lazy Laundress... no way am I handwashing a wool afghan), but sometimes a body has to knit socks. Or lace. Or felt something.
And that's where Knitpicks comes in. For only marginally cheaper than Wally World, you can get fibers that come from an actual animal. Apparently they also sell some ballin' circular needles, but I haven't fallen for those yet.
In case you missed the Shopping Spree post, here's the picture of my Knitpicks loot:
4 skeins of Essential, two kettle-dyed in Jay and two regular-dyed in black. Total wallet damage: $19.15 with shipping ($10 of which came out of my Project Wonderful ad money, thanks adverteisers for contributing to the yarn fund!).
So far, I've knit up all of the Jay and just cast on with the black.
The yarn has a little bit of fuzz to it. The Jay was knit into a lacy pattern, and you can still see the stitches clearly, even though they're not extremely well-defined. The finished fabric has nice stretch to it and springs back into place easily. It's some of the softest sock yarn I've ever touched.
No wear report as the socks are for a Christmas gift, but I'll update later after they've been washed a few times. I expect some pilling because of the fuzziness, but hopefully not too bad.
I've been acquiring things recently.
For the holiday knitting, some Knitpicks Essential sock yarn. In black, and the new kettle-dyed stuff in Jay. I LOVE the kettle-dyed, the little stripes you get are gorgeous.
Neighbor's nosy dog sold separately.
And something I couldn't resist: KNITTING BOOTS. Well, rain boots with a photo of knitting printed on them anyway.
I've been trying not to buy any more clothing, but damn, it's like they were made just for me. And I don't have any rain boots. (OK, enough rationalizing.)
"Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue"
-Old Wedding Proverb
I think I've got all my bases covered.
In November, I went to a needlework festival and bought a few ounces of Colonial wool top:
Some of it I spun right away:
But the rest languished in my stash until recently.
A few days ago, I had a spinning kick. Since my usual spindle was still packed up (I just finished moving), I borrowed a dowel rod and a couple of CDs from my dad and got going. I ended up with a beautiful new single, in a lovely shade of navy blue.
After tracking down my own spindle, I plied the newly-spun blue single with the old grey one to get a very-full spindle of bulky 2ply yarn.
Once I got the yarn washed and skeined, I noticed how much my spinning has improved in such a short amount of time. My finished yarn has hardly any excess twist, and doesn't worm at all when two strands are held together. I've learned to be more intuitive as I spin, making the yarn the thickness and amount of twist it wants to be rather than trying to force it to be something it's not. I'm still not very good at getting a consistent thickness unless I do a lot of predrafting, but that will come with time.
The finished yarn is called "Heidi", because I plied it while watching "Project Runway". There are 46 yards, weight of 2 oz, and it's bulky (7 wpi). Outdoor photos taken with a crepe myrtle bush.
I don't know what to make with it yet. It's very fuzzy, so nothing that needs to be durable. I was thinking of perhaps a hat or a neckwarmer (like a Pidge).
Just dropping in to post a few better pictures of the kool-aid dyed yarn from Tuesday, now dried and skeined.
Runway Yarns "Raw", 4 oz of 100% wool roving.
We all know hand-dyed yarn is gorgeous and to be coveted. and something you dyed yourself is even more so, since it's completely one-of-a-kind and custom-made to your own tastes.
But sometimes we don't want to jump in to dyeing our own fiber. Maybe you have small children and don't want them accidentally playing with potentially-toxic chemicals. Maybe you don't want the hassle of keeping your dye pots and utensils separate from your cooking pots and utensils. Or maybe you're on a budget and don't want to spend a lot of money on dyes, mordants, and all the other supplies you'd need to get started.
Well, no more excuses for you! There is a way to home-dye that's cheap, non-toxic, and easy. All the necessary supplies are available at your grocery store, and you probably already have most of them at home. What would you say to that?
Personally, I say....
Yes, that's right, Kool-Aid. It comes in tons of colors, and you can mix them to make even more. It's acidic, so it will dye protein fibers (wool, silk, alpaca, soy... I even used it to dye my hair as a teenager).
You can use any microwave-safe plastic or glass bowls you have on hand. Some people use metal, but personally I shy away from them because they could potentially react with the acidic dye. Since everything you're using is non-toxic, you can go back to using them for food after a wash. They may stain a little, but the residue isn't harmful.
You need:
1. Your protein-based yarn or fiber. You can use a blend if you like, but the colors won't come out as vibrant and may fade more quickly. For this batch, I used a 100% wool roving.
2. Lots of Kool-Aid. For bright colors, a good rule of thumb is one packet of Kool-Aid per ounce of yarn. For less saturated colors, use less. Since I wanted a semi-solid with some fiber left white, I used one packet per two ounces. The color is called "Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade".
3. Water.
4. A few large bowls, plus cups and spoons for mixing.
5. A turkey baster, paintbrush, or other method of applying dye (for painting). I love to use my
basting bottle.
6. Your microwave
7. A plastic sheet (such as a tarp or garbage bag) to protect your workspace.
Step 1: Wash Up
Fill your sink with water, and swish in a little bit of wool wash or detergent. Wash your yarn and rinse well. Then drain and re-fill the sink with clean water. Let the yarn soak until you're ready for it.
Step 2: Mix Up
Do you want your yarn to be solid or painted? Solid yarn will be the same color all the way through. Painted yarn will look mottled, variegated, or striped depending on how you apply it.
For a solid yarn, add some water to a large microwave-safe bowl (make sure to leave room to submerge the yarn!). Then dump in the Kool-Aid packets and mix well. The ratio of water to dye doesn't matter, just the ratio of dye to yarn.
For a painted yarn, mix your packets with water in a cup (coffee cups work well for this). Again, the ratio of dye to water doesn't matter. I use about 1/2 cup water per packet of KA.
Step 3: Time to Dye
If you're making a solid yarn, this next step is simple! Just dunk the soaked yarn into the dye bath, making sure it's all covered up.
If you're making a painted yarn, this is the fun part. Lay the wet yarn out on your plastic, and start painting. You can drip, pour, squirt, brush, or splatter the dye on. As mentioned before, I use a basting bottle, which lets me do a little of each. Get creative, and have fun. When you're satisfied with your results, transfer the dye-covered yarn to a microwave-safe bowl.
Step 4: Cook It
Heating the yarn/dye/water mix will help the fiber absorb all the dye and make it permanent. Just stick the whole thing in the microwave, covering it loosely with plastic wrap to avoid splattering.
I heat mine in 2 minute cycles: cook for 2 minutes, let cool for 2 minutes. Repeat until the water looks mostly clear (which meand the yarn is absorbing most of the dye). My batch today took 4 cycles to get clear, depending on how powerful your microwave is and how much dye you used, yours may be more or less. Just keep going until it looks right!
Step 5: Cool It
When the water is clear, drain it off (leaving the yarn in the bowl), and let the fiber cool to room temperature. In the meantime, grab some sock knitting you've been procrastinating on.
Step 6: Rinse Clean
Once your yarn is cooled off, it's time for the final wash. Get a stream of running water close to the same temperature as the yarn, as sudden changes in temperature can cause it to felt. You may see a little dye coming out in the water, or you may not. Either way is no cause for concern.
Step 7: Oh, Hang It All
Your dyeing experience is done! Now all you need to do is hang up your yarn to dry.
To make it dry faster, I like to lay out the yarn and gently squeeze it between two towels. Be sure not to wring or twist, as this can break fibers. Just press it gently. This step is optional, but if you do it, you'll have much faster drying.
Now hang the yarn someplace well-ventilated. I do it in my bathroom, or outside on a sunny day.
Once it's dry, you're ready to enjoy your results! Isn't custom yarn a beautiful thing?
Things have been insane in SP-land lately, and I've had almost no time to post!
Finally I've slowed down enough for an update to post some fibery goodness.
I'm drowning in yarn!
A semi-local yarn store (The Yarn Gallery in Dunedin, FL) is closing down at the end of the month, and I got a chance to hit up the closing sale. I ended up with some Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace and some Regia sock yarn.
The Regia is in the Mirage Fog colorway, and will be turning into a pair of socks for my dad. I haven't decided on a pattern yet (suggestions welcome!), but probably an interesting rib pattern.
The laceweight is an interesting story. I bought it because there is a ton of it (2400 yards!), it was a good deal, and it's beautiful. No idea what to make with it yet, there's enough for 2 shawls or sweaters! I'm not much of a shawl person, but I may make some of it into a lacy shrug or scarf. I've been eyeing Jeanie from Knitty, or maybe I'll modify Arbor. If all else fails, I'll sell or trade it on Ravelry.
Bye-bye, Yarn Gallery. I'll miss you!
Later today I'm heading out to meet a lady from Freecycle about even more yarn. She has a few old sweaters she's giving me for unraveling purposes. Personally, I love recycling things. Why throw away an old sweater when you can make it into a new one? But a lot of recycled yarns have the disadvantage of being faded, stained, or just not exciting.
Well, with a little work and creativity, we can change this! My plan is to handpaint the yarns, re-skein them, and wash them so they're like new again. And since I've got more of this than I can (or want to) knit, I'm planning on setting up an Etsy shop to destash a bit and spread the love of beautiful, environmentally-friendly fiber. More information, and a link to my Etsy shop, will be posted when I get everything set up.
I've been scrambling to finish my holiday knitting, and BAD THINGS have been happening.
Even with the support of the Ravelry group Procraftination, I'm still managing to avoid getting things done.
I've cut back my gift projects to two (Skywalker socks for Y and a Fun Fur scarf for my sister), rather than worry about two more pairs of socks for my parents. The Skywalkers are almost done, with only an inch of ribbing to go on the second sock, and I haven't started the scarf yet, since it will hopefully only take a few hours.
A few more things going on...
Nutmeg made a pair of my Ribbed Cable socks as a Christmas gift, in a beautiful dark blue merino. Photos by Nutmeg and used with permission. Click here to see her project on Ravelry.
For Sale or Trade
I'd like to destash this yarn, it's been sitting around for ages and I can't think of anything I'd like to do with it.
Yarn brand/name: Needful Yarns Kabir
Weight: Bulky
How much? 1 skein, 70 yds.
Fiber content: 50% wool/50% acrylic
Colors: Shades of green, khaiki
Made in Italy, an interesting thick-and-thin yarn to play with.
Retail value: $7-$9, I'm asking $8 including shipping within the continental US. Ask about prices for international shipping.
I'd also like to trade it for something of similar value. I've been meaning to try the KnitPicks Essentials sock yarns, and I always need hooks and needles. Make an offer!
See that? It's a broken DPN, and the reason I haven't made any progress on my basketweave socks in weeks. I thought I'd have to buy a new set of needles, but someone on the Ravelry forums told me Brittany will generally replace broken needles for free! I sent an email a couple of days ago. I haven't gotten a response yet, but hopefully I will soon so I can get on with the knitting!
In the meantime, I've been working on a new pair of socks. It's a total re-write of Grumperina's Jaywalker pattern, applying a similar stitch pattern to a different sock. I'm calling them Skywalkers. There's a lot more info about them on their Ravelry project page (Socks for Great Justice), but I'm holding off on posting the actual pattern until I have both finished.
Here's a technical preview:
They're big! They should fit a men's size 10-12, or a women's 12-14.
They're toe-up! It's easy to make sure if you have enough yarn left over for the second sock.
They're more zig-zaggy! I modified the stitch pattern so the zigzags are more pronounced.
They have shaping! Ribbing on the instep keeps them fitting well, especially if you have a high arch.
They're crew-height! Great for people who don't wear dress socks.
They have short-row toes and heels! Nice-looking, sturdy, and easy to do.
Two weeks ago, I went to the Orlando Needlework Convention at the Orange County Convention Center. It was held along with a scrapbooking show and a beading show, three in one. All of them were pretty impressive, though I was a little disappointed that there were so few vendors selling yarn.
I did pick up some spinning goodies from one of the quilting booths (Boutique 4 Quilters Inc)...
Top to bottom: 30 silk cocoons (0.5 oz), 1 oz Colonial Top roving in Koala, 1 oz Colonial Top roving in Slate
I spun up a little of the Koala, it's so soft, pretty, and easy to work with. Nice long staple length too, without being too long. It's only one spindle-full so far, about 23 yards. Mostly DK to worsted-weight, with a few thinner spots. I'm thinking of plying it together with the Slate.
Silk-processing has been an adventure so far. I managed to degum the cocoons with some help from Worm Spit, and ended up with this fine mess of a thing:
I don't have any carders yet, but I did pick it apart a bit to untangle the fibers and see what the fiber comes out like. Nice! I think I'll like spinning this, once I get it out of "poofy tangled cloud" stage.
Of course, all of this spinning has a purpose! It's going into a portfolio project I'm working on. More on that to come later, or get a sneak preview photo in Ravelry.
I realized I haven't shared any photos of my Tetris Afghan-in-progress lately, so here are two.
It's not really that wobbly, just laid out crooked. And look at all those damn ends I'm going to have to weave in.
I also finished my second full spindle of yarn, 21 yards, so that makes 33 total! I still have roving left to spin, I don't know how much yarn I'll end up with.
Laugh at me if you will.
My attempts to spin "properly" failed like crazy a few months back. I threw away the spindle I was trying to learn with, and basically left the roving sitting all alone in a storage box.
Until yesterday... when I found my wool, a screwdriver, and a dream.
Here's my spindle:
And my yarn! About 12 yards (half an ounce) of wool. It's different thicknesses in different parts, ranging from laceweight to worsted, but the majority of it is about fingering-weight.
Next item on the agenda: spin up the rest of the roving (about 1/2 ounce more) and knit it up into a scarf or something similar.
My online knitting buddy Knitting Up A Storm needs some help naming a yarn she just dyed, and is sponsoring a contest for the best name! The winner gets a free skein!
Here are the contest rules, please head on over to her blog post to suggest your colorway name! My suggestion was "Sugar Rush"--What can YOU come up with?
"I just dyed another skein, because....well, just because I'm crazy enough to do another one soo soon.
However, I was having the hardest time trying to come up with a name for this one.
Then it hit me.
I thought that it would be fun to have a colorway naming contest, since the colors are pretty funky together.
It's up to you, oh faithful commenter-friends & lurkers, to come up with the perfect (and jazzy) name for this one.
It's a hard one... what goes with lilac, sky blue, periwinkle, silver, salmon, pink & white?
The winner gets fame & glory on the winner's post....and this skein! Freebies are always good, right? Yeah, I should probably get some crackers to go with all this cheesyness.
"NAME THAT COLORWAY" RULES:
1. First, come up with the perfect colorway name. Jokesters might gain extra merit, as long as it's to good humor. Post on THIS post's comment page ONLY!! Thanks. :)
2. Post these rules on your blog & your colorway idea. That way, no one will use something like it, by mere freak accident. Who ever finds out about this contest on your blog must refer you on this comment page below, before participating in the contest. (This is kind of like Lotus' Knits contest idea. But we will use a poll too...)
-->If you see your name (or blog address) on my comment page, you can add another colorway name idea! The more referals for you, the better! Good luck to you all!
3. The top 3 best names will be put on a poll, so you all can vote!
4. Contest ends: Sunday, July 29th @ midnight!
So, the sooner you comment, the better chance you have of getting another go. lol.
Feel free to copy & paste the rules. No use in typing it all over again."
