2-ply BFL

My bobbins are now clear.  I was able to make a wee bit of 2-ply from the singles I had left over.  This is 74 yards / 22 grams. I also ripped the little thumb ribbing off that one mitt and called that project “done.”

And of course, I have one of these on the needles:This is the sportweight Felici in color “Sunny Day,” for S1.  Perfect knitting for those moments at MDSW when you need to plop down in the grass and rest for a while.

Two more days…!!!!!!!!!!!!

BFL my new BFF?

As you know, I’ve been trying to improve my spinning this spring.  I’m registered to take a plying class with Maggie Casey at MDSW on Sunday, and I’m really looking forward to it.  A spinner spends a lot more time spinning singles than plying them, so she learns singles faster.  There are many knitting analogies – plying is like the finishing techniques that we just don’t spend as many hours practicing.Anyway, I wanted to do one more spinning project before my class.  I’m supposed to bring at least 4 empty bobbins to class, and I only own 4… so I need to be between projects.  I thought I could spin another 4 oz bunch of fluff, so I reached into my fiber stash and came up with this BFL top in color “black.”  This the natural sheep color, so it may look more brown or gray to you, but the official color is black.  Somehow I didn’t manage to take any photos of the top before I spun it – sorry!

BFL is a longwool and Clara Parkes’ The Knitter’s Book of Wool says longwools “beg to be spun worsted” (62).  Perfect – that’s my default spinning style.  BFL is probably the softest of the longwools, with an average micron count of 24-28 (for comparison, merino ranges from 17 to 22).This project was a bit more ambitious than I meant it to be.  I had TWO 4-oz bundles of this top, so I really spun 8 oz total.  I wanted to try a 3-ply yarn so I divided the fiber by weight and spun onto 3 bobbins:I think my singles spinning is becoming more consistent.  And I used some techniques that I learned (or re-learned) on Rita Buchanan’s How I Spin DVD when it came time to ply.  I think this may be the best yarn I’ve made! 

There are still inconsistencies.  Some of the appears to be fingering weight, while some gets close to DK, maybe.  It’s hard for me to tell.  If I’m going to make worsted weight yarn (for the SPAKAL), I’m going to have to spin fatter singles or use more plies.I have one fat skein that is 162 grams and 346 yards, and one small one that is 39 grams and 84 yards.  The yarn is soft and cushy and I’m so pleased with it.

I still have some singles on 2 bobbins, so I need to either ply some 2-ply, or navajo ply the rest.  I see now why it’s good to have your singles in smaller amounts on more bobbins, so that you can reduce this “leftover singles” issue.

3 more days ‘til MDSW.  The main item on my shopping list is fiber for the SPAKAL.  At first I thought I needed 24 oz, but then I spooked myself and decided to get 30 oz, just to be safe. I’m not committed to a particular breed or blend at this point.  But if I see some yummy BFL, I just might go for it!

Phew!

It’s been a while since I posted and even longer since I had some actual knitting to show for it.  It’s the crazy time of year for us who work on college campuses – and kid schedules are completely wacko as summer day camps have ended but school has not yet begun (who is in charge of this stuff, anyway?!?).  But I finally finished this pair of Amelie socks. These socks are well-traveled.  I started them before going to Sock Summit and finished the first one on the plane back.  It’s taken me weeks to finish the second.

I toyed with mods.  On some pattern repeats, I knit the stitches to either side of the lacy dropped stitch area through the back loop, to neaten things up.  Can you tell?  The top repeat in the photo below has those twisted stitches, and the bottom one does not.  It’s neater in some ways, but doesn’t affect the overall look that much.  Plus, it’s way slower.  If I knit this again, I wouldn’t repeat that. I thought my lacy panels were much wider than the ones shown in the pattern photo:

The version that Kris is knitting (using Cascade Heritage) is more like the pattern photo than my sock.  I’ll take a picture and show you that another time.  I guess my 100% superwash BFL sock yarn is extra sproingy or something.  I don’t really have a satisfactory explanation for the difference. Another modification: I stopped doing the dropped stitches partway down the top of the foot.  I figure that even if I wear Mary Janes, it won’t show – and the plain ribbing will be much more durable than those ladders. All in all, a pretty pair of socks.  I don’t normally do lace, so this was a big change for me.

A new home for the handspun

Do you remember that autumnal BFL I spun up?  Well, Judy has knit it up, and it is gorgeous! She picked a simple infinity scarf pattern, which can be worn looped twice for a snug fit or left long: It really does look beautiful.  She was able to use almost every last bit of the yarn, too.  This will be so cozy come fall.  Great choice of pattern.

I really should get back to my wheel…

A woolen beginning…

I’ve wanted to learn to spin woolen-style for a while now (the way I usually spin is a worsted-style technique).  I think that buying the Shelter yarn (which is woolen spun) a couple of weeks ago heightened the urge.  So I whipped out Abby Franquemont’s Drafting: The Long and the Short of It DVD and studied up on the long draw woolen style draft.  I pawed through my fiber stash looking for appropriate roving (not top) to practice with and came up with this:

Just a reminder for my non-spinning readers:

• TOP is fiber that has been prepared for spinning by combing it.  Top is more organized than roving – the fibers are all completely parallel to each other.  Top sometimes looks kind of like human hair! 
• ROVING is fiber that has been prepared for spinning by carding it (either with hand carders or a drum carder).  Roving is less organized than top– many of the fibers are aligned in the same direction, but you can definitely see other fibers going every which way.  Batts are pieces of drum-carded roving.

Don’t you just love that logo on the label?  This is 2 ounces of BFL-mohair roving that came into my stash by accident.  When I got my kate for Christmas a couple years ago, the seller included this small batt as a thank-you for waiting on a slightly delayed shipment.  Here is how it looks once opened: Pretty mix of orange and pink, very spring-y!

Woolen style spinning allows twist to enter the fiber supply in the drafting zone (in worsted style spinning, you pinch the fiber in such a way that twist never enters the drafting zone).  With the long draw, you pull your arm back and let a LOT of twist run up into the drafting zone.  And you don’t smooth down the resulting yarn with your fingers, which means that more air stays in the yarn.  Woolen spun yarns are have more yardage by a given weight, because they are airier and loftier. 

Spinning consistent singles with the long draw will definitely require more practice on my part.  You can see here that my singles aren’t all the same width.  You can also see how FUZZY they are – this is the result of the woolen spinning. I will ply these tomorrow and finish the yarn – expect a show-and-tell early next week.

One thing I like about the long draw is how much FASTER it is than my usual worsted style, inchworm approach.  I’ll have to dip into the fiber stash and see what other roving is in there to practice on.

We’ve got yarn!

Here is my 3-ply BFL yarn.  I spun this roving on my high speed whorl at the 14:1 ratio.  It measures about 216 yards and weighs 90 grams.  Because I plied from 3 separate bobbins, the finished yarn has a barber pole effect.

I’m really not sure how it will look knit up.  Each section is a little different, depending on the colors of the 3 plies.  There is one section with two plies of that deep wine color that looks pretty dark overall.

Even though I divide my fiber into 3 sections by weight before beginning to spin, I never end up with the same yardage on all 3 bobbins.  I decided to practice my Navajo ply on the leftovers.  The first batch came out pretty well (this little skein is only 20 grams and 56 yards): Navajo ply is really a chain ply technique where you pull the single from one bobbin and pull it through a loop that allows 3 singles to twist together.  Two are going in the same direction, and one is reverse.  I’ve read that if you want to preserve the color changes in the singles yarn, this is the way to do it.  You can see how most of the finished yarn is one color at a time (all 3 plies are the same color).  Here is a close up of these first two skeins side by side:The Navajo plied yarn off the other bobbin was a bit of a mess.  It twisted up on itself WAY more when I took it off the niddy noddy and only partly relaxed after its hot water bath.  You can see how twisty it still is here:I’m not even sure that yarn is useable.  Luckily, it’s only 10 yards (5 grams).

Notice also how the angle of twist differs on these 3 skeins.  The big skein was balanced when I first took it off the niddy noddy and it behaved even better after its bath.  The second one twisted at first but relaxed after its bath.  The third one was way too twisty.

I read a little more about plying and decided that next time I Navajo ply, I’ll go up one whorl size so that the plying happens more slowly.  That should help me not overtwist, I think.

Like spinning on a wheel…

It’s been too long since my last spinning project and I’m not sure why, exactly.  Fortunately, it’s just like riding a bicycle. 

Boy 1 was having “lessons” for a while so a bobbin was tied up with his learning yarn…but I finally decided to take back the wheel.  He helped me pick this roving – remember the BFL I won in novamade’s contest last summer?

I divided it into 3 equal(ish) parts using my scale and began spinning.  I finished the first bobbin and realized I would need to clear some leftover fiber off two bobbins in order to make this 3-ply yarn (I only own 4 bobbins).  After a somewhat frustrating time re-teaching myself to Navajo ply (thank goodness for YouTube), I got this little 17-yard skein: And I tried my best to Navajo ply Boy 1’s singles, but they were so uneven that it kept breaking.  I got this far (36 g) before just throwing the rest out in a small fit of temper: Once I cleared the bobbins, I walked away for a day and came back to spin these: Ahhhhhh, better.  The singles have been plied now and the finished yarn is drying – I’ll show pictures tomorrow!

And… I’ve decided that it’s time to learn the long draft.  I want to be able to get a fluffier, loftier, woolen-style yarn.  My current (and only) technique is for worsted-style yarn, created without allowing any twist to enter the drafting zone.  It makes denser, drapier yarn.

I read a post on a Ravelry forum that the MDSW catalogs are out – someone got theirs in the mail on Saturday.  Not me, though.  Maybe tomorrow?!??

FO: Butternut Scarf!

I bought yarn and pattern for this project at Sock Summit in 2009 (Glory Days DK weight BFL, dyed by Briar Rose Fibers, pattern by Anne Hanson) and cast on last October.  Somehow I got very sidetracked and only just now finished it.  Still, just in time for fall! I tend to like my scarves on the long side, and I figured there wasn’t much point in saving leftover yarn, so I kept going for a while.  The finished, blocked scarf is 9.5” wide and 79” long. This is my first real lace piece and it needed to be blocked seriously, as lace does.  Luckily, my friend Gretchen has blocking wires, which I borrowed for this task.I also had a heck of a time photographing this.  I’m not sure the colors are done justice in these pictures.  Come visit, and I’ll show you my scarf!

Sock Summit: Trailhead to Base Camp 1

Steven and I made it through Day 1 of Sock Summit!  We’re not at the top yet, but we got to Base Camp 1 successfully.  Whew!

My first class was Spindle Spinning Basics with Abby Franquemont and Denny McMillan.  I bought the class kit, which included a basic bottom whorl spindle.  I was a little worried when they said that knowing how to spin on a wheel would actually be a detriment to learning to spin on a spindle (because I already have a “prototype neural pathway” for the physical activity of spinning), but it was okay!  I can now half-hitch, park, and draft just like most 2-year-old Peruvians can. 

We didn’t have time to ply any yarn in our 3-hour class, but I think I understand how to ply on a spindle.  We’ll see. 

Abby and Denny were great teachers – I recommend them wholeheartedly.  I loved hearing about Abby’s childhood in the Peruvian Andes – so interesting.  (Read it on her blog, or wait for her book, Respect the Spindle, due out this November.)  She was precise and articulate in her directions to us, but still warm and funny.  Great combination.  And I was blown away when she showed us socks that she knit with her first spindle-spun yarn – she made them only 15 months ago.  (She’d spun on a wheel for years but is a relatively new spindle spinner!)

My afternoon class was “Finding True Sock Yarn Happiness” with Clara Parkes.  We talked about the requirements of sock yarn and how “true sock yarn happiness” is found in the perfect balance among elasticity, strength, and absorption.  We talked about different kinds of fiber and listed their strengths and weaknesses; we also got little samples of various fibers and taped them to our handouts.  We did the same review with yarns and examined swatches and sample socks.  We saw a few special socks that are featured in Clara’s forthcoming book, The Knitter’s Book of Wool (due out in October) – it was neat to get a preview of them. 

I left this class with a confirmation of a sock yarn philosophy toward which I have been moving for a while now, and here it is: No More 100% Merino Sock Yarn!

It’s okay to have merino mixed with nylon (or perhaps “nature’s nylon,” aka mohair).  But no more 100% merino.

Do you know how much sock yarn is 100% merino?  A LOT.  Right after Clara’s class, the marketplace opened to registered students for a couple of hours.  The Harlot Herself was at the doors to the marketplace.  I can’t resist the urge to photograph her.  It must be so annoying to be on the other end of that!Steven and I hit the ground running.  I saw Brian from Skacel knitting his 7 pairs of socks at one time:At this booth, I also snagged a really neat Addi needles with one Turbo tip and one Lace tip.  I checked out some of the Dye for Glory entrants (mmmm, String Theory).  I fondled the Briar Rose fibers for quite some time (I’d heard about these on Brenda Dayne’s Cast-On but have never seen them in person).  There was a LOT to see, and so much of it was merino merino merino.  I asked Clara earlier why so much sock yarn was made of merino, and she said that sock knitters like it (or think they like it) because it feels so good in the hand, and that the Australian merino industry is really strong.

Clara suggested that we seek out Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn, and I found some!  BFL is my new BFF.

This is an awful photo, but here is my haul from that first evening. I’ll photograph this better later and describe it more.  That sparkly yarn on the right is for Anna.  The sunny yellow next to it is for S1.  The robot bag is for you know who.  Steven and I both got some of the Jacob/Alpaca/Mohair black yarn to the left of the sunny yellow – we plan to have a Toots LeBlanc sock yarn smackdown knitalong.  That big hank on the far left is worsted weight yarn but it was far too yummy to leave – I got an Anne Hanson knitspot pattern to go with it.  That Briar Rose booth was truly irresistible.

Later, we went to the Opening Ceremonies.  Steven asked if my munchies were dinner or a colorway.  This small plate does look like it could inspire a colorway, doesn’t it?

Whew!  We were POOPED when we got home.  And that was just the first day. We made it to Base Camp 1, but what will tomorrow hold?