Which-Crafts?

About a month or so ago a few of us trekked up to The Fold, we of course purchased but-loads of yarn (I got the yarn for the PTBNL’s Blanket). While I was there, I was asking Toni about fibers she might recommend for spinning sock yarn, and I ended up going a little overboard.

Ultimately she said I would have to see what I liked best and of course I walked out the door with a whole variety of stuff to try:

• Superwash Merino
• Blue Faced Leicester (although now I wish I had waited, I found a source for *Superwash* BLF)
• Targhee
• Cultivated Silk Top
• Kid Mohair Locks
• Tencel

And last weekend at the Stephenson County Fiber Fair I added

• more silk (I decided I needed more)
• blending nylon
• Bamboo
• cotton
• Black Diamond

I am going to split it all up into sections and card it and run test batches. I will actually need a bit more superwash merino to get it all done, but I can get that later. I have already split up the first purchases into weighed, bagged batches of SWM/BFL/KidM0 and SWM/BLF/Silk etc. Now the carding will commence - I REALLY wish I had a drum carder.

There should be enough in each batch to knit a pair of socks (assuming I don’t flub the spinning and plying). I am planning on spinning them all in their natural colors, and then dyeing them. Eventually I’ll have time to turn them all into socks and see how they knit and wear, and hopefully by then I’ll know something about *my* ideal composition for sock yarn

So I am working on a super Sekrit project. But I have something really specific in mind, and I think I finally found the pattern I want, or something really close to it. Now to the yarn to knit it with.
. . .

. . .

. . .

I am not sure it exists. I start searching and am not coming up with much (something v.soft, preferably worsted weight, superwash wool, variagated, with fairly long and gradual color repeats). Next up, I think well I could buy “bare” yarn, and dye it myself, but I am not finding a lot of superwash options that come in the weight/style I want. And I am thinking of the process it would take to get the long color progressions. And because now that I spin, I have some real ideas about what I want my yarn to be like, and what options I have for fiber content. And whether or not it would be easier to dye the fiber or the yarn etc.

I realized how MANY options I have now, its pretty cool. It sort of opens up a whole new horizon of choices for creativity and that is pretty exciting.

OTOH I have to balance how much time I have for this project and whether I really want to blend fiber, dye it, spin it and then knit it. It would certainly make the project special, but i am not sure that it won’t be cherished no matter what I make it out of.

I have definitely had the crafty horn of plenty visit for the last 2 weekends. I feel very full up of crafty-goodness, and still very inspired to keep going.

Weekend before last, S. and A. and I took off for the wilds of Marengo, IL. to visit The Fold. Toni who owns The Fold has created an excellent store chock-full of all of those things fibery folks like most. Our “purpose” for driving out there was to let A. play with as many spinning wheels as possible for research. This was theoretically a research trip not a “purchasing” trip. S. and I were along for the ride as encouragement and enablers. Plus I am never going to turn down a trip to The Fold (just too many things to touch, covet, and dream about). Actually I had emailed a bit with Toni and she was going to give my sample 4ply a look-see and give me some spinning advice.

When we got there the store was a mad-house, we got comfortable poking around the store looking for just the perfect yarn for S.’s upcoming baby blanket project. A. also started ogling the fiber, she has some very specific projects in mind, and we were looking for just the right stuff for the projects. Once the store cleared out we started putting wheels in front of A. I am pretty sure she tried almost every one in the store, while having a good run at the fiber selection, trying out all kinds of different kinds soft fluff. She clearly felt right at home on the ashford traveler, and had a few that were far from fun. As the day wended on, S. and I just sat down with our knitting and we ended up in kind of a little craft klatch, knitting, spinning, chatting and snacking. Toni approved of my 4ply and didn’t have any suggestions, which made me feel pretty good. And when all was said and done, A. couldn’t leave the little ashford traveler at the store, and so she took it home with her.

The here is some yarn pr0n of my 4ply which I spun up from my hand-dyed fiber :

Single Strand

Swatch made with yarn

I am finally going to be able to start spinning the fiber for my sweater this weekend, and I am SO SO SO excited. As a reward the universe found me my sweater pattern! I am sure that I’ll have to do some adjusting to match my yarn, my sleeve plan and size (it is aaaaalmost big enough in the largest size of the pattern.)

On the page it is so very close to what I want to knit, it even has cables just the way I wanted them! All I have to do is figure out a graceful way of removing the sleeves and still having a nice shoulder. I also found a KAL where I hope I can get some help.

This is giving me extra UMPH to get going on all that spinning that needs to be done first. OTOH doing the numbers, I might not have enough fiber, I have 2 lbs. The generic listed yarn requirements for sweaters knit in worsted weight is about 2000 yds for a 52″ bust, and about 1050 for vests. Looking at the pattern materials and averaging for sizing up I would be guessing around 3.75lb (2562 yds) of yarn. YIKES!

1. Handspun Scarf, in the “oooh soft” post I showed pictures of the yarn I spun from fiber I got from Grafton Fibers. I knit up a scarf that I love, from my favorite simple scarf pattern. The pattern makes a nice reversible cushy scarf. It also works well with the irregular color and texture of the handspun yarn. The scarf itself is about 5.5 feet long and about 6″ wide. The picture is a bit sucky cause I took it with my phone.

2. In “into the dye pot with you!” I dyed a bunch of fiber, some of which was some a light turquoise/blue BFL, later I found some BLF that had escaped dyeing. During the holidays I took another stab at it and while I didn’t match, I did come up with a good complimentary color. At the time I didn’t post pictures, I snagged the camera at work for these. The lighter color in the back of this picture is the old dye batch, the darked one in front is the new dye batch.  There are a lot more pictures of it over here if you are interested.

There I was, we had just finished a HUGE project at work and I was baked, burned out and tired but desperately wanting to see my friends. We were supposed to go over to a friends house and play games with a bunch of other friends, but I couldn’t figure out how I could think enough to play any of the games. I thought about going and knitting, but all of the projects I am working on now are on tiny needles and I don’t find tiny needles very relaxing and none of the projects are complete no-brainers. (I know Whine, Whine, Whine—wait for it there is a happy ending coming shortly)

I was sort of wandering aimlessly around the house, trying to decide if we should go or not, and what I could bring with if we went. Wandering to the stash, I realized that I mostly wanted to curl up in a pile of Grafton poofs and revel in their softness—and then I realized I could just take them and my fairly portable spinning wheel and setup in a corner do something relaxing and comforting and STILL get to socialize. It ended up that there was more than one of us who was in the same mood, so we setup a craft corner and all hung out and knit/spun/beaded/needlepointed/crocheted and relaxed while still getting a chance hang out and be social with all of the game players.
I was apparently in the perfect state of mind to spin a nice fuzzy lofty yarn, which the Grafton bats are excellent for. I had two bats that weren’t quite the same color intensity but were clearly mixed in the same batch. So I stripped each one into thick strips and then tried to even the colors out a bit. It sort of seemed to spin itself, spun on the middle ratio on my Lendrum and then plied on the loosest. The yarn is a nice worsted weight and is very soft and I really like the way the colors spread themselves out from the bat.

One thing that has become very clear is that I need a large Niddy-Noddy. The “sample” size one I bought when I was just starting, was perfect for the quantities of yarn that came off the drop spindle. Now that I have a wheel it the little guy is getting overwhelmed, and the thick short skein that comes off of the little niddy-noddy takes a *long* time to dry when I am washing and setting the twist.

More images of the yarn below the cut:

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I know some of my readers and friends are interested in spinning (especially spindle spinning) and this guy has some *great* advice for newbies.

Knitter Guy on
Spinning pt 1 and pt2

I have been spinning quite a bit lately, and not knitting much - for more than one reason.

• I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get into a position of being pressured trying to get the socks knit for my mom (IOW I shouldn’t have offered), I hate the pressure and it makes me not want to do it.
• I have TOO many projects on the needles (plus more being planned in my head) and it makes me feel disorganized and it is hard to focus on a single project.
• The tiny sock needles on the projects I *should* be working on, hurt my hands when I use them too long, and in conjunction with all the extra hours I at work with my hand superglued to the mouse - I just am not out courting the hand pain and tendonitis.
• Spinning travels better than 2 socks at one time with 4 balls of yarn that are always twisted up. I can spin in the car with my drop spindle (and did all the way back from MN) and I proved last weekend that my spinning wheel is quite portable.
• Spinning has more of a zen quality for me. I can get started and once I get the feel for what I want to produce, it just flows and flows. No need to worry about the pattern or maintaining gauge or switching needles etc. Its all in the touch and plus the spinning feels all soft and cozy with all the fiber.

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Whee! I’ve been wanting to try this for a while, I am such a color whore, that I figured it would be really cool to try dying

my own fiber. I had to get all my ducks in a row (QUACK!), which I finally did

and my mom and I painted the basement a rainbow this weekend giving this a try. I read up a ton on the web, and generally followed the basic instructions at Spinning Athena . We used Jacquard acid dyes, and regular white vinegar. My mom has done some fiber dying of silk, cotton, and rayon in the past, but this was a first for both of us with wool and using these kind of acid dyes.

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So around here we don’t have a “ton” of spinning stores, but we do have more than none. I took my spinning classes at a lovely cozy store called Wool, Warp & Wheel in Richmond, Illinois (so close to wisconsin that you can smell the cheese).   This last weekend the excellent Heloptrope689 and her friend Katherine and I headed on a field-trip out to the other uh “local” store called The Fold, in Marengo.

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