Possessed to Knit

Handspun Kaleidoscope Wrap

Here is one of the three squares for my Fiddlesticks Kaleidoscope Wrap.  I spun Hanks in the Hood batts in the Husky Sparkle colorway.  I started with four 3 oz batts and spun each batt onto one bobbin.  I then plied them into one 12 oz ball of 2-ply yarn which varies between 10 and 14 wpi.

This square is unblocked and measures 16.5" by 18" and will hopefully block close to the 21" square recommended in the pattern.  I used my size 8 Addi Lace Click needles which worked nicely as I easily changed the needle length as the square grew from the middle.  One square down, two to go! 

Cupcake Fiber Company Handspun Yarn

This is a 6 ounce skein of 3-ply sock yarn spun from Cupcake Fiber Company's Superwash Merino/Nylon batts in the Parasol colorway.  This fiber was absolutely delightful to spin.  The batts are divided into six 1 ounce "cupcakes".  I spun two ounces at a ratio of 1:17 on three bobbins on my Walnut Lendrum spinning wheel.  I used the plying head at the fastest 1:9 ratio and treadled a lot to add enough plying twist.  It turned out after I washed the skein that there were some underplied sections.  I put the skein back on the swift and added more plying twist.  I washed the skein and I was much happier with the resulting yarn.

The color deepened beautifully with spinning as the batts were lighter shade of lilac.  This 3-ply yarn is 16 to 20 wpi and will make a fantastic pair of socks.  I have Cookie A's Nebula pattern in mind for this sock yarn project.   

Handspun Socks Completed

These socks are knit with the 4-ply yarn I spun from 4 oz of Fat Cat Knits Merino Superwash Top in the Just Dance colorway that I bought at last year's MSWF.  I tried to keep the colors together, very challenging when making a 4-ply yarn.  I ended up with just over 270 yds of yarn and made my friend, Denise, these socks for her upcoming birthday. 

I spun the singles and plied the yarn very tightly so these socks are not very soft.  Hopefully, they will last better than my other handspun socks that ended up with a hole in the toe.  I used my 2.25 mm Addi Turbo needles for all but the heels and toes where I used my 2.00 mm Addi Turbo needles.  I knitted these socks toe-up and increased every row to 32 sts and then every other row to 60 sts after casting on 16 sts with the Turkish cast-on.  Now we just need some cooler weather for Denise to wear her new socks.

Australian Fiber and More

I received this beautiful fibery surprise from Ann in Australia.  Starting on the left, we have Melanian top in its natural wheat colorway.  It is incredibly soft and I cannot stop touching it!  Next are two sets of Ann's delightful markers (essential when I knitted John's Habitat hat) and a darling project bag.  On the right we have a beautiful Dreamee Wool Tops braid in natural colors beige, wheat, coco, and white.  I have already spindle spun and spindle plied the braid and look forward to knitting a natural Fair Isle hat with the yarns.  I'm thinking a nice lace project for the wheat Melanian top, with over half a pound, I will have enough yarn to knit one of the larger shawls from Victorian Lace Today. 

Thank you to Ann for her wonderful gifts!

Handspun Fair Isle Hat Completed

I have been having a lot of fun spindle spinning my Cormo/Possum roving.  I even plied it on my All-Day Lollipop spindle.  I used about two ounces of it with some handspun alpaca two-ply yarn to make this Fair Isle hat.  I casted on 84 sts and worked k1, p1 ribbing on size 7 Addi Turbo needles.  I changed needles to size 8 and worked two rounds plain before starting the Fair Isle pattern which I found in 1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts.  I minimized the jog which goes through the middle motif diagonally.  I worked two plain rounds after the motif and then decreased six 14 stitch sections every other round until the last few rows where I decreased every round.  This hat is about 19" around and it was a joy to knit with my spindle spun yarn. 

New Year's Day

I did a good bit of spindle spinning in 2011.  The silk singles are on the top and the cashmere singles are on the bottom.  I wound the cashmere into a center pull ball and plied one strand of silk with two strands of cashmere using my Gem.  Now I need to find just the right project for this precious yarn.

In 2011, I knitted 13 pairs of socks and I have three single socks awaiting a second sock at the moment.  I completed 3 scarves, one shawl, 2 pairs of mittens, 5 hats (one handspun) and one handspun French Press cozy.  I also have front, back, and sleeves knitted and blocked for a Twinflower pullover for my sister, Teresa.  My nephews have recently discovered Harry Potter and each would like a Harry Potter scarf to wear for the rest of the winter so I will start on their scarves next. 

I hope to knit with more of my handspun yarn in 2012 and to experiment with my inspiring 250 Japanese Knitting Patterns book.  Happy New Year!

 

Fibery Birthday Presents

I received this wonderful box of birthday gifts (for my birthday tomorrow) from my Ravelry sister, Laura.  I have been frustrated with my yak spindle project, it is not the fun spinning I thought it would be and I was thinking of what would be fun to spin and then I received these delightful rovings and DVD box set today.

Starting with the top left, we have a batt of cormo & possum carded together.  There is also another batt, I could not fit everything in the photo.  Laura had a fellow Raveler with a drum carder combine these lovely fibers into two batts for me.  Next, the purple batt is a merino/possum blend, incredibly soft and carded into a thin strip that is ready to spin, with no predrafting.  On the bottom right, we have New Zealand Halfbred combed top at 27 microns, similar to merino, but with a 4" staple length, it will yield a more durable lace yarn.  There is actually half a pound of the combed top, not all of it is in the photo.  Qiviut, the down fiber from Musk Ox, is the amazingly soft ball of roving in the lower left corner.   I will spin this into a 2-ply lace yarn and knit a Ptarmigan cowl.  "The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency" DVDs will be perfect to watch while I spin my beautiful rovings.  Laura wanted to send me fibers I had never spun before and she certainly has.

Thank you to Laura for all of my fabulous birthday gifts!

December Baby Yarn

Here is my Dragonfly Fibers merino/silk yarn, a lovely ebony and maple spindle from Spindlewood Co, and a beautiful spindle bag handmade by Laura M. 

I spindle spun (and wheel plied) the entire 4 ounces of merino/silk roving using all of my one ounce spindles.  I spun the singles very fine and rotated through my spindles as I made the 4-ply yarn.  This gave me a lot of practice with joining yarns as I learned from The Gentle Art of Plying DVD by Judith MacKenzie.  The yarn is about 350 yards and 18 to 22 wpi. 

I love Spindlewood's square spindle design plus Steve and Connie always provide excellent customer service with their wonderful spindles.  Laura's delightful spindle bag helped to make my spindling more portable.  It took a while for me to spin such fine singles.

This yarn would make an interesting pair of gloves and a nice matching cowl or a great pair of socks.  I will be knitting with it one of these days once I complete my holiday knitting.

 

Blue Faced Leicester Yarn

Here is the Blue Faced Leicester yarn I spun from Gale's Art roving in the Bottle Blue colorway.  It was a birthday gift for my dear Ravelry sister, Laura.  I picked up two 4 oz rovings at MSWF.  I spun them on my Majacraft Gem, but without the Woolee Winder.  I wanted to spin this roving fine and the Woolee Winder has a lot of pull on it.  I received some very nice wooden Halcyon bobbins with this wheel and the fine flyer (without the delta orifice) and used them for spinning lace weight yarn.  It was a wonderful spinning project. 

I made a sample with the 1:10 whorl and the 1:13 whorl and liked the 1:10 sample better.  I filled two bobbins with each of the rovings and then plied them on my Lendrum using the 1:9 ratio and the plying head.  I ended up with about 750 yards of two ply yarn at 18 to 22 wpi.  It is more like fingering weight, but it should still knit up nicely into one of the pretty scarves Laura has in her Ravelry queue.

Droplet Hat Completed

Here is my completed handspun & handknit Droplet hat. The yarn is a 2-ply spindle spun yarn from my Sugar Coma Art Club Batt. The pattern is from Knitting Nature. I used my Addi Lace Clicks in sizes 6 and 8. It is a quick & fun hat to knit plus nothing beats knitting with handspun yarn.

I have donated this hat and my Four Corner Hat to my friend, Gina's, Kenya Calling Benefit to raise money for her upcoming trip to Kenya. Gina is a talented artist and she continually inspires and encourages me. One of the wisest things she shared with me is that one does not need to attend art school to be an artist, something which I found to be very profound for me on my path as a fiber artist.