2013 FO's: February

  
 
Off My Needles/Hooks:
 

I finished the Riverbed socks for Mom using Cat Bhordi's Master Riverbed sock pattern from her first New Pathways book. I worked on these a lot when Mom was in the hospital and my concentration was perhaps not all it should be. Regardless, this pattern needs major tweaking to properly fit, and because of that I'm not likely to make another pair right away. Too much effort; I think I'll stick to Cat's sweet tomato heels for now.  

 As I said, I was originally making these for Mom, but she died right after I finished the second sock.  They probably would've been too big for her anyway as they are large on me especially around the heel. One sock is worse (bigger) than the other.  I mushed the excess fabric around to the underside of the socks in this picture, but if you look closely you can still see bagging on the heel/gusset area especially on my right foot.  Used approximately 86grams/282 yds of Knit Picks Felici sport wt Self-Striping yarn. Started Jan 14 and finished Feb 14.      

 
  


 

Odds and Ends - Only one this month: knit a quick little bookmark in Hufflepuff colors for a Quidditch match

 

 

 
Off My Spindles/Wheel:
  
  

The Knit Girllls Expand Your Horizons Jan/Feb SAL (spin-a-long) was Southdown. I tried spinning Babydoll Suthdown during the SpinDoctor Wool Breeds Challenge several years ago but found it difficult to spin. I didn't like it then, and I'm not very fond of spinning it now.

Southdown is the original Down breed so there is a bit of Southdown in all the current Down breeds. It is a British based breed varying in size from toy to medium/large sheep. Staple length ranges from 1.5 to 4 inches but averages around 2-3 inches.  Micron count is 23-29 for white and 27-31 for black/colored fleece. Babydoll Southdown is one of the smaller types and usually raised as pets/fleece sheep. ("The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook" by Carol Ekarius & Deborah Robson)  Babydoll wool is springy and squishy to touch; very interesting hand. 

I started spinning this on spindles (for portability), first doing a short forward draw, then switching to supported longdraw, but eventually switched to Jack, my e-spinner. In this instance I found longdraw easier on Jack (not always the case for me) than on my spindle, especially if I was spinning from the untouched portion of the Babydoll roving. Predrafting or any fussing or prepping of the roving at all made it much harder to draft. Lessons learned: don't predraft or prep the fiber, and spin woolen or semi-woolen.

Babydoll Southdown is not one of my favorite fibers to spin, but I wouldn't rule it out completely. It has interesting character and I like the finished yarn. Out of 40grams of roving I finished with approximately 109 yds of 2ply yarn (218 yds singles). Spinning started on Jan 5th and plying finished on Feb 6th. Picture was taken before yarn received it's twist-setting bath, and you can clearly see difference between the worsted and woolen spun sections.

 

 

Itty Bitty Bits for February are just three small samples (top to bottom):

A) “Nordic Sky”, Cobblestone Creek Farm, sw merino/nylon, blue, 32yds 2ply, 64yds Singles, spindle spun & plied, S/F Jan 29-Feb 3, 7 grams
  B) “Raw Turquoise”, WoolieBullie, merino, green/gold, 23yds 3ply, 69yds Singles, Spindle spun & chain plied, S/F Feb 5, 7gr
  C) unlabeled, pinks/greens/white, wool & sparkle, 24yds 3ply, 72yds Singles, Spindle spun & chain plied, S/F Feb 7-9, 10gr.

 
 

 
Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:    
  Audiobooks:  Emma by Jane Austen; Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore;              
  DVDs etc: Iron Man; The King's Speech; Midsomer Murders; Nero Wolf;              
  Pod/VideoCasts:  Round The Twist; The Knit Girllls; Yarnspinners Tales; Knitting Pipeline;                
 

Old and New

  
 
On My Needles/Hooks:

The Blue Yoke Sweater has been languishing on my needles for eight years, maybe more.  If I remember correctly, I started it when Mom was in rehab for compression fractures of the spine as something for me to work on while I sat with her.  I got as far as about two inches into the yoke and then stopped, reason unknown.  

  
  
 

I'd kept some very spare notes on a little slip of paper which were just enough for me to continue without having to do any major recounting or head scratching.  I am truly surprised that little bit of paper survived.  If it hadn't, I might've been tempted to frog it instead of finishing it, but finish it I shall.  I'm currently up to the collar ribbing, so almost done.  

  
 

I found a ball of unlabeled yarn with very nice colors and decided to use it for Mom's mitts.  I think it's dk or light worsted weight acrylic or an acrylic blend, and not the softest (although it is squishy), but it's the colors that caught my eye.  See:

    
  

I cast on the other day using measurements from memory: an eight inch wrist and nine inch circumference hand, but stopped at the wrist.  It just didn't jive with what my head sees for her hand now.  So I remeasured Tuesday night and, wow, good thing I did.  Wrist is now six inches, hand eight and a half.   Frogged and immediately recast on with new numbers.   It's a plain, simple, afterthought thumb mitt and is working up quickly. 

    
On My Spindles/Wheel:

The Knit Girllls "Expand Your Horizons" January fiber is Southdown, and I just happen to have a wee bit of Babydoll Southdown in stash.  In fact I have all of this year's EYH fiber in stash, so yay!

Babydoll Southdown was something I tried a few years ago for the Wool Breeds Challenge and wasn't too thrilled with. I believe I found it surprisingly difficult to spin, but I can't find my notes (if I even made any) so don't remember what the specific problem was.  It might've been that this fiber begs for longdraw and I wasn't that experienced with it yet, or it might've been something else.

Either way, I finally got around to trying it again on Tuesday.  The part of the roving that was still intact in the 'skein' was fairly easy to spin (longdraw of course).  The pieces I'd pulled off to try previously were much fussier and difficult.  But I persevered and have this bobbin of singles (40gr) to ply, when I decide how many plies I want.  

      
  
 

Tuesday was the first day I'd spun in what seems like ages, and it felt really good.  So after spinning the Babydoll I immediately switched out the bobbins and started on the Fiber Optic merino/silk fiber for the The Knit Girllls other SAL.  It's lovely colors and spinning quite smoothly. I'm spinning smoothed semi-worsted from end to end and will chain ply to maintain the color gradient.

      

      

There are some other small items I have going on various spindles for Spinning Itty Bitty Bits project, but they're so small I'm saving details and pictures for the January FO post.

Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:    
  Audiobooks:            
  DVDs etc:   Castle S4; The Backup Plan; The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant;          
  Pod/VideoCasts: The Knitmore Girls; Round The Twist; The Knit Girllls; Knitting Pipeline;