November 29, 2013

Fall Spinning




Off My Spindles/Wheel:

For Spinzilla, in October, I spun eight ounces of Corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms in the Walpurgis colorway. I also spun about five ounces of BFL/Finn cross fleece, and a little bit of "Mo", a Finn/Dorset/Targhee cross.



This is the finished Walpurgis yarn. It's a chain ply:



Walpurgis closeup

And here's the finished 2ply BFL/Finn yarn (top skein), as well as what little 3ply yarn I managed to spin before I gave up on Mo (right skein). Oh, and that's the Walpurgis singles on the bobbins. And by the way, the team I was on (Team Knit Girllls) took second place.



Spinzilla


On My Spindles/Wheel:

The only active spinning I have going right now is a small portion of a Rambouillet/Montedale cross pre-washed fleece I purchased several years ago.  I started prepping it by combing then drum carding, but I didn't like the way the carded fiber was coming out or spinning.  Way too many nepps. So I settled on just combing it but still spinning smoothed, attenuated long draw. I've finished the spinning and started plying it (2ply) which will eventually become a 4ply cabled yarn.



November 23, 2013

Socks & Hats & Mittens, Oh My




Off My Needles/Hooks:

Remember I said way back in January that I had the urge to do stranded knitting again. Well, I finally did cast on. The first pair of mittens are complete. This is the "La Joie du Printemps" mitten pattern by Heather Desserud, and the yarn is Knit Picks Palette (fingering weight) in Hollyberry and White. I started them on Sept 30th using US1 (2.25mm) needles, and finished them on Oct 29th. I made them a little bigger than the pattern called for to accommodate my wider hands and a lining if they needed it (and they do). Now I have to decide between a knit lining from reclaimed cashmere yarn or a fleece (fabric) lining. Decisions, decisions.

La Joie du Printemps finished

Also working on hats for Cancer Care of Maine in honor of Holly's husband, Mike. I've completed three hats with more planned.

Y7R2 CCM hats
Hat #3 Carnaval yarn
Holly hat #2
Y7R1 Unity


On My Needles/Hooks:
What's on my needles? Socks, socks and more socks! Socks for me, socks for charity, and socks for friends. Like these teasers for three of them:


Owlie socks in progress
   Newtown socks
Racing color stripes

I've almost finished the first mitten of another pair of mittens. These are a semi-surprise gift so no picture until after they've been received.

I cast on Susan Pandorf's "Rivendell Smoke Ring", a lace cowl, in September using my Rise of the Phoenix handspun yarn. I got about three inches done then set it aside to work on other stuff. It was not in a project bag and received unmentionable abuse and neglect resulting in a visit to the frog pond last weekend. It's been restarted and I'm almost back to where I left off. And yes, it's residing in it's own little project bag. Lesson learned.

A variation on the sock theme is Christmas or Holiday Stockings. I've collected the patterns and just need to pick the yarns. I need to make two, one done by Dec 15th, the other by Dec 24th. At least that's the plan.

Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:  
  Audiobooks: First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones; Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead;                    
  DVDs etc:   NCIS; Bones; Moonlight; Big Bang Theory; Castle; Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries; Angel;                            
  Pod/VideoCasts:  The Knit Girllls; Round the Twist;  Two Tangled Skeins; Out of the Blue/Geek Nation; The Knitmore Girls; TwinSet Designs;