Darn your socks?

Damn your socks!

 

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Happy Birthday, Dear Knitter

Another gem from Franklin at The Panopticon.

Celery Green

The spinning jag continues.....

 This is the green wool/silk batt I'm spinning to go with the pink wool/silk I finished last week. I already decided to spin a little yellow for the flower centers, that's all done and I can start on the rose motifs while I spin the leaves.

I finished up the sample wool on the blue spindle and found this hand dyed longwool in a bin I haven't looked through for a while. It's mostly blue and purple with little bits of greenish blue. That's been my jacket pocket carry-around spinning since last weekend. I have no idea what I'll do with this once it's spun, but it might make a nice lace piece. It's got a lovely sheen and a bit of a halo, so maybe a cowl? Don't know, and I'll have plenty of time to think about it.

Ethereal Spinning

I bought this beautiful roving, colorway Ethereal, from Cantrix last month. I've been looking at it, and decided to card it into rolags.

 

I started spinning these Saturday morning on my 17 gram top whorl Maggie at dance practice. I think it'll make enough 2 ply fingering to make a small to medium shawl. I haven't carded a lot before this, but I really enjoyed the process, watching the colors blend a little, seeing the luster come up, the fibers getting so airy and luscious. Methinks I'll have to explore this fiber preparation thing a little more in the near future.

Spinning Frenzy

Have I mentioned I've gone on a spinning binge lately? It all started with this little gem I bought from ThreadsThruTime on etsy.

It's a truly tiny Turkish spindle, measuring 4" tall and 2" wide. And yes, it spins very well. Stays spinning for a long time.. If I take the shaft out and leave everything else as is, I can carry it in a cosmetics bag in my purse, along with enough wool to keep me busy for an hour and some 4" long size 2 needles if I want to knit something up once the wool is spun and plied. All that takes up as much space as a checkbook. I spun and plied for the entire 1.5 hours I spent waiting at the DMV last month. I've been spinning up all the fiber samples I have accumulated over the years and knitting them into ornaments for the guild sale. I love my tiny spindle so much I went back and got this one:

This is a medium, 6.25" tall and 4" wide. I've been spinning and walking to the coffee shop with this one, and with the shaft removed it fits into my hoodie's pocket (so I can carry the coffee back). In four days of walking I spun and plied the sample wool that came with it, for a few more ornaments I think. All of this spindle love has inspired me to finish up a project on my 35 gram mid whorl Maggie, some Corriedale and silk batts (colorway Rose Quartz) I bought from LunabudKnits a while back.

The lovely batts (people kept asking if I was spinning cotton candy) turned into 8 skeins of fingering weight singles:

 

 These are destined for a shawl that I've been pondering the whole time I've been finishing up the spinning.Tomorrow I'll show you what's on the spindles right now.

Alpaca Scarf Update

So, way back in the summer, I wove an alpaca color and weave scarf. Suzanne said she thought it was still a little open and should I maybe wet finish it some more? I liked as it was, so I filed it away for future use and left the scarf as-is. It sold in the sale, and in the early fall I warped another one, the one I finished last weekend. I decided to wet finish this one a little more aggressively, just to see what would happen.

 

Um, Suzanne, was this what you had in mind? I checked my notes, and it was only in the washer for 2 extra minutes. I checked it at +1 minute and it looked exactly the same as it did at +0. All I can say is, stuff happens FAST  in the washer.

And I don't blame Suzanne (so you can come out from behind that big old plant now), she simply did what all of the best fibery friends do, give their opinions. And it was already clear to me this wasn't going to be a scarf. It'll make a dandy bear, though.

Warp of the Month Club

A week or two ago, while looking at my 4 shaft loom with lovely alpaca yarn all warped up and unwoven since September (I think, not sure anymore), I realized I need some weaving motivation. Since joining a self-imposed sock club on Ravelry, I have knitted 4 socks in 4 months and traded encouragement with other folks who have similar goals. I checked the forums to make sure there wasn't one already and started the Warp of the Month Club on Ravelry. In the last week, more than 70 people have signed up and I wove off my sad, lonely warp before the end of the month. Yay!

 It was supposed to be a scarf (or 2, can't remember that either), but I ran out of the dark color partway through. Chose a slightly lighter one, changed to a different color and weave pattern because the color change was going to show anyway. Ran out of the light color later on, so I finished the warp with stripes. Definitely not a scarf, but nice fabric that'll all go together. After I wet finish it I'll start to think what it should be.

Anyway, if you'd like to commit to weaving off a warp of any length, on any weaving equipment (or using an off-loom technique), come on over and join us. Choose your own projects, make your own rules, and weave more. You have nothing to loose but your stash.