How The West Was Spun

Spinning Friday - FatCatKnits - Falkland

I signed up for Ginny's Greek Mythology fiber club to finish out the year.  The first package, which was actually the September club fibers, was the pretty combination of Gaia and Uranus, on Falkland wool. 

All of Ginny's fiber clubs at FatCatKnits are done with two colorways, each with 2.5 oz of that month's base.  (She also gives you a choice of 2 bases for each month, and the clubs run for 4 months.  You can also opt in for double helpings - or more.)

I have spun up the 2.5 oz of Gaia - that's the pretty yellow and green colorway on the left in the picture.  I got a nice 2-ply fingering weight of 196 yards for the skein. 

I have just started spinning singles for the Uranus colorway, but the plan is to match the grist and then I'm thinking of maybe a 2-color small shawl of some sort, if I've got enough yardage to do that.

All for now.....

Spinning Friday - 2IBH - Finn - Cries of Witchcraft

A brand-new skein of yummy handspun to share with y'all today. 

This is Finn (one of my favorite bases) from 2IBH.  The colorway is "Cries of Witchcraft".  I decided to dig in stash and find something to use for their Oct-Dec SAL/KAL, and I love these moody purple-blues. 

I spun this up after splitting the roving lengthwise into 6 mostly even strips. I then spun those and then plied the singles up into a 2-ply yarn.  I wound up with 210 yards/4 oz for the final finished skein.

The plan is to eventually knit this up into a Norie hat as the knit part of the KAL.  That'll hopefully go on the needles sometime later this month.

All for now..... 

Spinning Friday: Funky Carolina - Falkland - Golly Molly

A bit more handspun to show you this Friday.

The fiber is from deep stash - a Funky Carolina club roving.  The original braid, which is Falkland wool, colorway "Golly Molly" looked like: 

I split the braid lengthwise into 9 pieces to break up the colors, and then spun it into a 2-ply, worsted weight yarn with 214 yards/4 oz that looks like: 

I don't have a specific pattern in mind for this yet, but I think the colors would be well suited to something like a linen-stitch cowl or something else fairly simple, but is is super squishy and would be awfully nice as a next-to-skin accessory.  

All for now......

Spinning Friday: FatCatKnits Mixed BFL

A little finished-yarn eye candy for this first Friday in October.

This was the mixed BFL fiber from the November 2011 FatCatKnits Mixed Blessings Club.  The original fiber came in two 2.5-oz braids, one of which was natural mixed BFL and the other was a long color-run handpainted rainbox colorway on mixed BFL.

I spun these up using a semi-worsted method, to keep them nice and smooth.  While I spun the natural colored wool just as-is, I split the colored roving into 4 almost-equal pieces, and then spun each of those onto 2 bobbins.  I then plied those together.  I didn't have the 3rd and 4th quarters quite exactly divided, so I wound up breaking off some of the singles as I plied from one bobbin to be sure the colors stayed matched up and the stripes in the yarn would be long and pretty clear.

(The natural colored skein has poofed up a bit - I had washed it already, but not the colored one.)

I wound up with two skeins: The natural wool is 2.5 oz and 240 yards of fingering weight.  The striped version is a little bit lighter, somewhere between 2.3 and 2.4 oz because of the singles I jettisoned and is 210 yards of fingering weight. 

I haven't decided on a pattern use for these skeins yet.  I may wind up working up something on my own, although there are a lot of great colorwork mittens out there calling my name right now too - so stay posted.

All for now......

Handspun Sample - Poll

Y'all might remember from eons ago... February I think it was?, I mentioned I was spinning up some of a large lot of charcoal gray CVM roving I had processed.

I had spun up a whopping 2 oz of singles before life intervened and this got put to the side and then the bobbin got moved, and you know how that goes.  I "found" it this last week while I was doing some putting away of things and realized I had a bobbin of singles languishing.  I originally was planning to spin this up for a worsted-weight sweater as a 3-ply.  But I decided I would just go ahead and get these singles plied so I could see what I had as a small sample, and just do a 2-ply yarn.

Here's what I wound up with: 166 yards of 2 ply on 2 oz.  This winds up being about 1328 yards/pound, putting it at something like a DK weight.  It's bouncy and lofty, since I spun the singles with a supported backward draw/woolen style.

Now... given how incredibly long it took me to even get these 166 yards spun up, here's the question for you, gentle reader:  Shall I forge ahead?  Shall I slowly spin up 2 ounce increments of this, hoping that I'll be somewhat close to this initial grist?  (Knowing myself fully well, with somewhat limited spinning time, and a very bad case of magpie-ness which doesn't want to sit and spin dark gray wool.) 

The other option, of course, is to just use this little skein for a small project and re-home/re-purpose the other 2 to 3 pounds of roving I've got.

So let me hear your opinion!  Vote now and we'll see what y'all think.  All for now.....

 

Spinning Thursday: 2IBH - Finn - Over the Top

You are speechless, right?  Actual spinning content right here on this blog.  Stupefying (for me as well).

Another well-marinated club fiber from the 2IBH circus-themed club.  This was a 4-oz braid of Finn wool, in the "Over the Top" colorway.  The original roving looked like:

I spun this exactly as it came off the braid - I didn't do a thing to it except but fluffed the fibers a bit while I spun, and preserved all those long awesome colors in there.  I spun this fairly thin, as I had decided I wanted to do a chained ply to keep the colors intact.

I wound up with a 337-yard/4 oz skein of chained ply, with a snappy twist, that I want to use for a pair of wild striped socks.  Because of the semi-gradient color application, these won't be perfectly matched, but I'm okay with that.  I love the colors, and I think they will be awesomely fun no matter what!

 

With that off the wheel, I dug back into stash (I'm working on previous club fibers right now) for the November 2011 FatCatKnits Mixed Blessings fiber club offering.  This is 5 ounces of mixed BFL, with 2.5 oz of the natural, undyed fiber, and then 2.5 oz of a bright, rainbow dyed colorway.  Ginny had created the pairing specifically for a colorwork project and that's what I'm going to use this for.  I'm spinning each separately, and shooting for a 2-ply fingering weight yarn.

I haven't picked a project yet, although I'm leaning towards a pair of colorwork mittens of some sort.  Kirsten at Through the Loops has a great deal on a colorwork project bundle right now, some of which I've already got in my library, but I'll decide once I see the final yardage for the two skeins.

All for now........

WIP Wednesday: August 22, 2012

It probably sums thing up if I tell you that I was trying to type a date in July for today's post. Where on EARTH has time gone?

I have no new spinning to show y'all, but I think maybe tomorrow I'll bust out some photos of a sewing project or two now that I have a working camera, so stay tuned.

In terms of my knitting and designing projects, I've gotten one of 2 swatches/proposals that need to go in the mail in the next 10 days done and I think finally FINALLY after a bunch of attempts and a lot of frogging, have the second one in the works to where I'm happy with it. 

My fall collection sweater is trundling along too.  I have half of one chart repeat to finish and I'm ready to cast off for the underarm set-ins.  That's a good feeling.  Can I finish it up before the end of the month?  I'd sure like to try - and then I'd just have the sleeve to do.  My tech editor can work on the numbers while it's being photographed that way.  We'll see, but I'm going to try anyway!

All for now....

WIP Wednesday: August 15, 2012

SPINNING PROJECTS

I'm going to take a break from reporting on any spinning for a while, simply because - I'm not doing any!  I have some fall projects earmarked, but I've recently gotten bitten by the sewing bug, so I'm doing a bit more of that in my limited free time, so that's eating up my random spare moments right now.  Stay tuned for updates this fall hopefully!

DESIGNING/KNITTING PROJECTS

I finished up the ribbing on the second fall collection sweater, and I'm working on the body charts right now.  I finished up the first chart repeat and I'm at just under 5" from the cast-on edge.  I am going to continue pushing along with this.  I'd like to try to get several more repeats done.  I need to get to about 13-1/2" before I'm ready to bind off for the underarm/sleeves.  Several more repeats will get me close.

I'm currently in the process of working on a bunch of sample swatches/proposals, so that's my other knitting project.  Not much to show for it at this point, but I'm working through my to-do list of those right now as well!

All for now....

Spinning Friday: 2IBH Falkland - Hyacinth Girl

An actual spinning post on an actual Spinning Friday!

This pretty soft braid of Falkland wool from the 2IBH spring 2012 club:

Got spun up (finally!) into a 2-ply worsted weight yarn with 219 yards/4 oz.  It's lovely and squishy and plump!

No immediate plans for it, but it does finish up the last braid I had started during the TdF 2012.  Out of the group of braids I had selected, I spun up 4, traded 1 to a friend who was looking for one of the colorways (hey - it counts as gone from stash!) and have 3 left.  Not great, but better than I had been doing!

Have a wonderful weekend - all for now.....

WIP Wednesday: August 8, 2012

SPINNING PROJECTS:

Believe it or not, I finished plying the singles that have been languishing for a couple of weeks now!  Look for a spiffy Spinning Friday post on those on... uh... Friday. 

I currently (gasp!) don't have anything on the wheels right now.  Still working on an insane amount of dyeing for the Texas store, and in the bits and pieces of free time that I do have right now, I've gotten bitten by the sewing bug, and I have a few things to show you there, but I think my spinning is going to take a break for a bit.  The insane August heat isn't helping my spinning mojo either, to be honest!

DESIGNING/KNITTING PROJECTS:

I finished up my Whosian Scarf!  That's off the needles, all the ends woven in and it's ready for photos.  The battery issue my little camera had apparently isn't really the battery but rather the camera itself, so until I get a replacement for that (hopefully next week), I don't have a much in the way of pictures to share.

I finished the first half of the body of the final fall collection sweater.  I went ahead and blocked it, to double-check my numbers and those look in good shape, so I've cast on for the other half as of last night.  My plan for this week is to get the waist ribbing done and get at least the first full chart repeat completed, which should put me at about 5" or so up the body.  I haven't knit a men's-sized sweater in so long, I forgot how much knitting is involved in that!

Otherwise, I have some swatches I'm working on, but I've been flipping thru my idea notebooks and trying to decide what will be next on the needles.  I'm thinking maybe of a small shawl for the fall, something fairly simple, but with some lace, so I'm also planning to spend some time with my stitch dictionaries this weekend while D is on travel and see what sparks my imagination for that!

All for now.....