Category Archives: Yarn

Leap of Faith

It’s been a crazy past week or so. Over a week ago I got some terrible news. My Godmother had passed away unexpectedly. I was in no way ready for a funeral, emotionally or wardrobe-wise. Mary was always impeccably dressed at church and I felt I could NOT step into that sacred place looking like crap. But, life goes on and it got in the way of me making a full outfit to wear. I did manage, however to squeeze out a new skirt. I needed something long to cover my legs since it’s Winter, but simple enough that it wouldn’t drive me nuts. After those graduation dresses last year I felt like I could sew anything. But still, I was afraid of screwing it up. I’d gone down to the wire, with last-minute attempts to just buy a skirt but none was to be found.. So sew I did..

black(blue!) skirt

That’s a quick shot on the train platform on the way home. I wasn’t really in the mood for photos(obviously) but I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to get a picture of the skirt before the sunlight was completely gone.

Details:
Pattern: Simplicity 3827 in size BB
Fabric: some random blue(I’d mistaken it for black when purchased, perhaps) cotton/lycra blend from the 50% off room at Paron Fabrics
Notions: black(and some blue thread, see below!), elastic for the wasteband, size 90/14 sharp sewing machine needle.

Overall this was a very simple skirt pattern. I never had to look at the instructions and scream, “WHAT?!”. It’s a 6-gore skirt in two lengths and I chose the longer of the two. For the Spring I may go with the shorter. The pattern pieces for the skirt were just two but I’d need to make two cuts from each section on folded fabric to get the extra sections. I took the time to trace copies so I could lay out all the pieces and pin once instead of pinning, cutting, removing the piece and then pinning and cutting again.

About 2/3 of the way through I ran out of thread in the bobbin and went to refill it and got this:
Bobbin gone to hell...

I just sat there staring at it for a good 10 minutes. I didn’t give up though, kept right on going, thanks to a lovely bobbin with navy blue on it. That ran out too, but the next time I went to refill with black it went off without a hitch.

I will definitely make this skirt again. It was worth the effort and time challenge, despite the circumstances which caused me to need it in the first place.

In knitting, I also took a leap of faith with some handspun yarns I’ve had in the stash for a while. So long, in fact I couldn’t remember what the fiber content was or where I got it. After some thought I’m confident it’s a wool/silk blend, but I still don’t remember when or where I got it.

Winter Tam 2010

The fact that the yarn was a silk blend combined with a 1×1 ribbing was not a good idea for this hat. It’s already all stretched out at the brim, but I’m not sure if a soaking would help it snap back into place. I decided to knit another a bit bigger and in some 100% wool, this time some Merino 64s I got and dyed back in 2007. A week and 3 tiny skeins later:

All together now--Flickrtoys mosaic

I like this one better. The color is more accurate in the shot with the flash.

Details:
Pattern: Laura’s Floppy Beanie(pdf file)
Yarn/Fiber: Handspun Merino 64s (don’t remember where I got it from), dyed with Orange Wiltons food coloring
Notions: 3.25mm and 3.75mm circular needles with the magic loop method

Again I’m really liking this hat more than the other and it will see some serious use this winter. I thought I had a lot of the yarn around to maybe make matching mitts or something but I guess not. I do have a little left over but it’s probably not enough to work with.

That’s all for these few weeks; we’ll see what I can get into next!

TTFN

BeanKnit Going’s-On

It’s been two weeks, give or take, since my birthday. I have yet to actually enjoy my new table, as I’m debating how to proceed with finishing it. I could a) just throw on a few coats of polyurethane and call it a day, b) use a stain with built-in polyurethane or c) paint it with a combination paint/primer. I’m not sure if I’d still need the poly on top of that.

Now I don’t really like the color of the table as is, but I’m not feeling the stain choices either. So the last resort is to paint it. Hmm how about a nice BLUE! :) If I can’t paint my walls that, then dammit I’m gonna have something BRIGHT in my livingroom/craft area. So that’s kind of on hold while I decide what exactly to do with it.

In knitting I’ve picked up the needles and started a baby sweater for a friend. I recently received a prize of some yummy Dream In Color Classy, in Shiny Moss, from Karen. I didn’t know what to do with it until I browsed through “101 Designer One-Skein Wonders”, edited by Judith Durant, where I found this simple baby sweater that called for the exact same yarn I had in hand. It was an easy knit, despite me making a few booboos and THEN realizing there were errata. Made a few MORE booboos, rip, rip rippity rip. And now this:

Not Enough Yarn!

 

Aww crap! I’m done with the sweater itself,  it just needs seaming. But I don’t think this little bit is going to be enough to do the neckband. I’ll give it a shot anyway, since it’s just pick up and knit and there are some live stitches at the center of the neck. Then if it’s not enough I can rip and find a yarn that’s close in color to finish. I just have to get a move on before the intended recipient outgrows it. It’s been years since I had an infant and well, I umm.. can’t remember how big they are at a certain time. Throw in the fact that I have yet to actually SEE this baby and well, yeah.  At least I got the gender right! If it doesn’t work out I’m screwed because I don’t know anyone else expecting to have a 6-9mo old baby in the cold weather.  I have refrained from showing the actually sweater, lest the recipient’s mom sees this post.

 

I’ve also been tooling around with a proto-type of sorts for a teapot cozy. OK fine, it’s just me winging it because I’m not finding anything plain and simple. All the cozies are some complicated shit that probably won’t even fit my teapot. I just want a friggin’ tube with a tie on the top. Can’t be too hard, right? til I put it down and lost a DPN. Go Me! I’ll find it. If not, I’ve got a bunch of spare 4.5mm DPNs laying around. They came in handy for something huh? Back to the drawing board!

 

TTFN

Older/The Journey Continues

Another year has gone by. I’m older. Unsure if I feel it or not. Another year of crafting. Has it really been 5 years since I fully got into knitting? I was digging in a bucket of handknit socks to pair them up before washing(I misplace socks like you wouldn’t believe!), and came across the very first pair I knit. They look almost brand new. You would never know they’re 5 years old! If someone had told me back in 2003 I would be a knitter/spinner in 2009 I’d have laughed. Time changes people.

Seriously I didn’t do much thinking on my birthday. I got some serious alone time(well, the kids being in school helped), and got to work on this:

Heather hoodie vest back

This is the back of the Heather Hoodie Vest from the Fall ’09 Knitscene. I’d wanted to knit this sweater vest ever since I picked up the magazine last month, but the yarn I was using didn’t suit it at all. When I’d spun this yarn I was hoping to use it for one of the sweaters in the Fall ’09 Knitty but the gauge just didn’t work out. Better luck next time.

I had originally thought the yarn needed over-dyeing but laziness got the best of me and I decided to go ahead and knit with it. So far I like it, but I might still have to do something because one or two of the balls is somewhat lighter in color. Seeing as this is a cabled item the last thing I want to do is alternate from two different balls. I haven’t ruled out over-dyeing the finished garment, though.

As it stands I’m well past halfway up the back and just now into my second ball of handspun. Wow this stuff lasts and lasts! I think I’m gonna make it! I can’t remember being this excited about a knitting project. In fact, I’m off to put a few more rows on this baby!

TTFN!

Gaining Confidence…

… with my spinning. Seeing the yarn come together is awesome. Visualizing the project to be done is exciting. Hoping I made the right choices is stressful.

It’s been a long road to making something I can really work with. As previously stated, I’m learning to more properly determine what size yarn I’m making. And I’m still working on really understanding how thick my singles are turning out. I’m still struggling to spin thicker singles.

I’m also learning that the form of fiber and the breed really affects the outcome. I’m seeing that carded fiber and longer staple combed fibers tend to thicken a bit with soaking/setting the twist. At least that’s how the BFL I’ve been spinning for mittens is turning out. I’m thinking it will be great for a pair of Pirate Mittens.

This might be Pirate(Mittens)

I’ve decided to go ahead and knit with the mauve-dyed Australian wool and then overdye the garment. I still don’t have a pattern in mind for it, and I’ve been trolling Ravelry for something I’ll like that uses thick yarn. I’ve yet to swatch but I get the feeling I’ll be using 8s or even 9s. This is a three-ply after all. Next time I do that I’ll have to go for a thinner single. Or leave it as a two-ply.

All hanked up and ready to go!

I’ve yet to fully measure the sweater yardage but so far one hank is coming in at approximately 147 yards. I’m sure I have enough for the mittens though. Off to swatch!

(Almost) Sheep-to-Sweater Progress

So far so good...
That photo was of the first 4 skeins.

I’ve since finished spinning the yarn for the unnamed future sweater(UFS) and the twist is being set as I type this. It’s unnamed because until I knit a swatch I have NO idea what sweater I’ll make with it. And that’s IF I wind up with enough. My only regret with using this fiber would be if the 2.5 lbs is not enough. I already know it won’t be cabled. Cables eat yarn. Garter stitch also. Though, I’m itching to try either Bel or Margot and those appear to be yarn-hungry patterns. I think this is the time to really take stock of what size I REALLY am, so I don’t make too big of a sweater and wind up running out of yarn. Over the years I found myself making things way too big because I overestimated my size.

Another issue I have with my handspun yarn in particular, is that I always underestimate the gauge on them. I tended to go by how the yarn LOOKED rather than how it knit up or how many wraps per inch it made. Well this time I have no choice but to try it and see. What might dictate what I make with this yarn is not the yardage but the gauge. That’s new to me. In the past I just bought however much I needed but in this case, since I’m spinning it myself, I have to knit something that fits the size of the yarn. It’s a slow, uphill battle trying to spin to a specific weight because I can never seem to spin a consistent singles. I suppose the only way to get that is with commercial yarns but I refuse to go there.

twist setting

This is the yarn twist being set in the bathroom. 8 balanced skeins. There was a lot more dirt/lanolin in there than I thought, because the soak water was very dirty. It’s a good thing I didn’t just go straight to dyeing. I’ll have to get a huge pot to do that anyway. I don’t want to risk major shade variations caused by using two different pots. Variations within a skein, I can live with. It’s that Oh-$hit-I-got-two-different-dyelots look I’m trying to avoid. ;)

Sigh.. I’m itching to spin something else right now. What I really should be doing is using up what I’ve already spun! Time to dig in the stash! TTFN

Passion Rekindled

What with all the sewing going on lately I hadn’t been doing much of anything else craft-wise. The occasional knit dishcloth or whimsy as a travel project, but nothing to write home about. I was so focused on fabric I didn’t have my wheel ready for the Sistahfriends Knit-a-Que this past weekend, nor did I have a knitting/crochet project lined up. I went to get Dutchie ready and found my jury-rigged tension spring(i.e., fishing line and a rubber band) had broken. I also didn’t have an empty bobbin ready to go so I said F it and left the wheel. I remembered I had some Creatively Dyed fiber I hadn’t finished spinning from way back in Oct. 2008. I bought it at Rhinebeck, along with a Turkish Spindle. So, I grabbed that and a ball of sock yarn and a circ and kept moving. Though I worked on the sock more, I really wanted to get back to the spindling. But I hadn’t used it in a long while and couldn’t remember how to wind on.

I went to find instructions online last night when my internet crapped out and didn’t come back on for more than 12 hours! By that time, I’d already figured it out. So far I have:
Mini skein
that little tiny skein of ‘andean’ plied yarn.

I’ve since restarted spinning with the rest of the fiber and this afternoon I had this little bit to show:

Getting reacquainted

I’ve already put a bunch more on there and had to tear myself away to type this post. :D I’m finding the spindling very relaxing. It’s clearly not the same as spinning with the wheel but it has its own special place in my crafting repertoire. I have a few hurry-up-and-wait errands to run in the next few weeks so I’m sure I’ll be bringing it along with me. I suppose I’ll have to steel myself for the stares-and-questions routine. Pfft, this is New York City; weird= normal.

As for the socks, they’ll come with me too. I’m on the short-row heel of the first one; it’s a pair for the Biggest Beanlet, as I only had the one ball and I know I can’t get a complete adult size pair out of that.

Speaking of the Beanlets, they’ll be spending a whole week with Gramma!! You know what that means right? CRAFTING! YAY. I’ll have plenty of time to get my fall knitting/ spinning projects mapped out, since I won’t have little people to measure for sewn clothes. I don’t plan to sew much for them this fall anyway, as they wear uniforms to school and those have already been purchased. Big kid has a stricter policy than the other two so if I DO make anything it’d have to be a certain color, and I’m not really feeling color restrictions, so we’ll see how that pans out.

Well, the fiber calls! TTFN