Spinning

Starting here, with four ounces of fiber,

 

To three bobbins of singles,

 

To the finished yarn!

This is 360 yards of three ply fingering weight yarn.  Fiber is the Sweet Voices colorway from Three Waters Farm, 80% Superwash Merino/20% Nylon.  This was my first time spinning superwash anything but I really enjoyed it.  I'm really happy with how the colors worked out.  The finished yarn is super colorful, but I don't feel like the colors got muddy.  I plan to cast on for a pair of socks later today.  I can't wait to see how it knits up!

A Finished Sweater For the New Year!

I finished my Fireworks sweater!  I actually finished the knitting on Wednesday, and then last night I sewed down the pocket and wove in all the ends.  It had been steam blocked long before midnight, so this morning it was dry and ready for wearing in this new year!

The pattern is Ambiente although I used a K2, P2 rib for my neckband, hem, and cuffs instead of the stitch she called for in the pattern.  The yarn is handspun from the Fireworks fiber I got from Etsy.  I did do the pocket this time, but it's not photographing very well.  It shows up better in real life.  Apparently I started this sweater in July, but I took my time with it and life interfered with my knitting as well.  

I'm really happy with how this turned out and I'll be wearing it later today.  I'll also be doing some stash diving this weekend and choosing a new spinning project as well as getting started on the new ESK Yarnathon for 2021!

Happy New Year!!

A Sweater

I've made quite a bit of progress on my Fireworks pullover!  I've knit both the front and back down to the underarm now, which means that I've joined them together and can just knit around and around in circles until they're long enough.  The first time I knit this pattern I skipped the pocket, but this time I decided to do it, so that's what the purple stitch holder is doing - holding the stitches where the pocket lining will be knit.  I haven't decided if I'll knit the pocket lining in the Fireworks yarn or if I'll use a contrasting color.  I think the pocket might get lost if it's all the black Fireworks yarn, but I don't want it to stick out like a sore thumb either.

Any ideas or opinions?  I'm not opposed to the idea of bringing the pocket lining color (if it is indeed a contrasting color) back for tiny stripes at the neck, hems, and cuffs, in an attempt to tie it all together.  Or maybe I should just use the Fireworks for everything.

Fireworks Pullover

Remember all that black Merino with Sari Silk that I spun?  Well last week I cast on a pullover with it!  I'm calling it my Fireworks pullover because Fireworks was the name of the fiber and I started knitting July 2, right before the Fourth of July weekend.

When I started spinning the fiber, I decided I wanted to knit another Ambiente with it because I love my first one and I thought a black one with all the colored speckles would be fun.  I did some sample spinning and then washed my skeins and knit small swatches with them to make sure I was going to get the yarn I wanted.  Then I spun and spun and spun.  I've got more than enough finished yarn to knit my pullover and I've probably got enough to do a wrap of some kind as well (which will pretty much go with anything in my closet).

This sweater is knit from the top down but you start with the back and knit down to the underarm and then pick up again at the shoulders for the front and knit that down to the underarm.  At that point, front and back are joined and you just go around and around to the hem.  The shoulders and neckline are shaped by short rows.  What you see above is part of the back, but it's rolling on itself pretty enthusiastically so it's kind of a shapeless rectangle at the moment.  Trust me, it will look more sweater-like when I start adding the front.  Also, it's black so it's really fun to photograph!

Finished Things!

I finished the James pullover and it's all blocked!  I ended up using the neckline from the pattern, which was not a narrow ribbed edging, but a rolled stockinette edge.  It was just the perfect, narrow finish to the neckline.  This means that except for the sleeve length I knit the pattern as written.  The sleeves in the pattern are 7/8 length and I prefer either long sleeves or 3/4 length.  I made these 3/4 length. 

The pattern was a nice, easy knit and I'm really happy how it worked out with my handspun yarn.  There's A-line shaping in the body and the BFL and silk really work well with this to drape and hang nicely.  I can't wear this anytime soon, but I'm pretty sure this will be in high rotation once it gets cooler.  (So, late October maybe.)

Speaking of handspun, I've finished the fourth bobbin of raspberry singles.  I've only got two more bobbins to spin this full, and then three final less full bobbins.  By weight, I'm past the halfway point of this spinning project.

Almost There

I've finished both sleeves of my James pullover and the last step is to finish the neckline!  I've even woven in the ends already.  I've got to try it on and decide what I want to do for the neckline.  The pattern calls for a narrow rib and I like the way the pattern sample looks in the photos, but I've also used single crochet at the neckline edge before.  The crochet edging is more narrow than the knit rib and pretty minimalist, so even though the sleeve and body hems are both finished with narrow ribbed edges, it doesn't look weird or stand out.  I don't like things tight around my neck or narrow necklines, so I've had to play around with different neckline variations in the past. 

Obviously, I'll be able to make all my decisions when I try it on, but first I have to get caffeinated and change out of my pajamas.  As you can see, today's To Do list just goes on and on!

Have a great weekend and stay safe!

Onward To Sleeves!

 

Last night I bound off the body of my handspun James pullover!  I took a minute to weave in the ends (good knitter!) and then picked up stitches to start the right sleeve.  Obviously there has been no blocking yet, either wet blocking or steaming, but that can happen later.  I'm pretty sure the lower hem will lie down nicely once it's blocked, even though it is just a narrow rib.

You can see a bit of striping in this yarn because the gray fiber was handdyed.  I haven't bothered alternating the skeins as I knit and I actually really like the subtle striping I got in the body.  This kind of thing is part of what I love about handspun yarn.

Just In Case You Wanted To Know...

...what a Golden Retriever looks like under 2,730 yards of yarn - here you go!

I finished plying the Fireworks singles and I've washed the yarn.  I ended up with 2,565 yards of three ply and a small 165 yard skein of chain plied fingering weight yarn.  I plan on knitting another Ambiente pullover with this and I've got plenty to do that.  Unfortunately for my knitting right now, I am making seriously stupid mistakes and messing things up so I won't be casting on anything new right now.  I'm figuring it's stress related.

What I can do however, is spin.  I've already started another spinning project.  This is just a single braid (about 4 ounces) of Malabrigo Nube in English Rose.  Nube is 100% Merino.

I'm just spinning this to be a three ply fingering weight yarn.  I have a lot of patterns for fingering weight yarn and it works well in this climate.  I thought about chain plying it, but then I decided just to do a regular three ply and let the colors fall where they may.  I loved spinning the Fireworks fiber, but I have to admit that I'm so much happier spinning a smooth single.  I embraced the texture of the Fireworks, but spinning evenly is where my heart is happiest.

When I finish this spin, I will do another small spinning project before I start another big one.  I thought I'd let the blog pick the next small project.  I'll show you the choices and you can vote by leaving a comment.  I'll give each one a number to make voting simple.  I won't add up the votes until I'm ready to begin the spin!

This fiber (above) is from Bluefoot Market in the Celestial Colorway.  It's Merino, Rose, and Stellina.  I've never spun rose fiber but I'm guessing it's similar to Tencel.  We'll call this Fiber 1.

This is from Jakira Farms and it's BFL.  It's a blend of white and black BFL so even though it's a single fiber type, the colors take the dyes differently and make it more interesting.  This can be Fiber 2.

This is also from Jakira Farms and its a Merino, brown Alpaca, Camel, and Mulberry Silk blend.  Soft doesn't really even begin to describe how this feels - like the belly fluff of a baby bunny.  Fiber 3 seems like a good name for this one for voting purposes!  (I bet you never saw that coming)

So just leave a comment and tell me which one you'd like me spin next and when I finish the English Rose I'll total the votes!

In the meantime, stay safe, wash your hands, and keep a safe distance from your neighbors.  Here's one more shot of Logan for you.  He'll be back on the blog more now.  He had to take a break from his blog modeling career because a certain little Tonkinese who hated having his own picture taken, had no problem staying just out of camera frame and taunting Logan shamelessly.  It's super hard to sit still and wear your mom's lace knitting while Max was doing the arched back sideways hop at you.  Max never got tired of taunting Logan!

Have a nice weekend!

Knitting With Handspun

Back in July I spun a Merino/Yak/Silk blend top from Greenwood Fiberworks in the Durango colorway.  I chain plied it to keep the colors intact and I've started knitting it up now!

This is the Sockhead Slouch pattern and I'm loving how the striping in the yarn is working up in the hat.  I'm making this for Caleb, and it's really flying off the needles because I'm so amused by the stripes!  Also, I used the Chinese Waitress Cast On for the first time and while it's fiddly and takes a while, it really looks good and I will definitely be using it again.  I'll get a better picture of the cast on next time.

In other news, I've finished plying the 3-ply skeins and only need to chain ply the tiny amount I have left now to finish the Fireworks singles.  I hope to get that done today and get them all washed.

Cranberry Memories

 

I finished my Cranberry Memories pullover over the past weekend!  This is knit in my Cranberry Handspun that I spun over the summer.  There's something super satisfying about knitting with handspun!

The pattern is Pink Memories and I knit it exactly as written.  I love the garter stitch front and the little pocket.  The pocket isn't really useful, but it adds a different texture and it's cute.

I think this is the last sweater quantity of handspun that I have at the moment.  I want to get back to spinning my Fireworks fiber, but I need to finish the rest of the Christmas socks first.

Have a great weekend!

Something New

So Tuesday I mentioned that I only needed to sew down the pockets and weave in the ends of my Capture the Moment cardigan to finish it.  I haven't done any of that.  Instead I decided to start something new.  Remember the Cranberry Merino I spun over the summer?  I wound the skeins and started knitting it!

This is the start of another Pink Memories pullover - I'm calling it Cranberry Memories.  I knit this pattern a few years ago (in pink) and I thought it would be nice in handspun.  The front is worked in garter stitch while the sleeves and back are stockinette.  Also, there's a cute little pocket at the lower front.  I've just separated out the sleeve stitches from the body stitches.  It's amazing what a little change in gauge can do for your knitting speed!

I'll get those pockets sewn down on the cardigan - eventually...

Knitting With Handspun

 

I decided I wanted to knit something other than Capture the Moment this past weekend, so I cast on a new project.  (I'm actually really impressed with myself right now as I wanted to cast on three new projects, but I restrained myself - go me!)  This is Nardoo and I'm knitting it in my Dark Chrysalis handspun.

The way the fiber was dyed and spun, only about the first third was gray, then there was a short section with gray and a few muted colors, and then the rest was the colorful section.  I knew this would be perfect for a shawl where the rows get longer and longer as you go - either a traditional triangle shawl or an elongated triangle shawl.  I chose the Nardoo pattern because I thought it would give me a decent sized shawl with my single skein of yarn.  It's basically a fancy mesh stitch pattern, so simple to work.  At this point, I'm just starting the colorful section.  It's still unblocked obviously, but it's so fun to see the colors emerge from the gray section!

Now, if I can just stay focused on this and my cardigan without getting distracted by new, shiny projects...

A New Skein of Yarn

 

I finished spinning the Dark Chrysalis fiber (from Beesybee).  This braid was dyed with one end gray, moving to all the colors at the other end, so I spun it to keep that color sequence intact.  First I divided the braid into three sections - gray, gray with some colors, and the colorful section.  The gray section I spun as it was.  It was pretty much a solid gray.  I split the gray with colors section lengthwise some to distribute the colors a bit.  The most colorful section was split lengthwise quite a bit.  I did have to draft, but I wanted the colors as intact as possible.  When the fiber was dyed, some of the color sections were shorter than the staple length of the fiber, which automatically means you're going to get blending and softening of hue as you spin it.  As I was spinning it, it reminded me of wings, but not butterfly wings.  It reminded me of dragonfly wings or fairy wings.  Then after I finsished it, I watched Carnival Row on Amazon Prime and the colors exactly match the fairy wings in the opening credits.

Once the singles were spun, I chain plied it, again in an attempt to keep the colors clear.  My finished yarn is 420 yards.  Here are all the stats:

• Beesybee Fibers in Dark Chrysalis, 50% Merino/50% Mulberry Silk
• Spun and plied on my Kromski Symphony
• Singles spun using Double Drive at 16:1 ratio, 50 wpi
• Chain plied using Scotch Tension at 16:1 ratio
• Finished yarn is 420 yards/114 grams

The way it was dyed and the way I spun it, it will work perfectly for the type of shawl that's an asymmetrical triangle knit end to end (like the original Hitchhiker). More than half of the yardage is the colorful section, so if I start knitting at the gray end, it should work for that type of shawl.  I haven't picked a pattern yet, but I'm looking.  If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them in the comments!

A Finished Handspun Pullover!

 

I finished my Niamh pullover.  This was made from my handspun yarn and I loved knitting with it.  Seeing the stripes appear as I knit was so interesting and even though I still can't explain why the sleeve stripes are in the same width range as the body stripes, it was fun to knit.  I followed the pattern exactly, with no modifications.  This was designed by the designer of Ravello and I've knit several of her patterns, so I know from experience they work perfectly for my body type.  This was my first time using the contiguous set in sleeve technique and that was interesting.  I liked it!

The finished pullover is lightweight and soft and should be perfect for fall and winter weather around here.  I think it will work on its own as well as layered when it gets cooler.  I actually want to knit another one of these in dark blue - possibly handspun for that as well.  Someday...

A Second Sleeve

 

The blog post titles are getting super creative around here aren't they?  I did, in fact, finish the first sleeve of my Niamh pullover and start the second sleeve, so while it's not particularly inspired, the title is accurate.  This pullover is knit in lightweight yarn with a high number of stitches per inch, which is why it seems like it's taking forever , or maybe it just seems like it to me.  I'm pretty sure sleeves usually move faster than this though.  On the other hand, a lightweight wool pullover will be super useful around here when it's a little cooler.

I did actually get a good photo of the stripes this time, so you can see how well the sleeve stripes pair with the body stripes.  I don't exactly understand how it's working out, but I'm definitely impressed that it is.

A Sleeve

 

I've finished the body of Niamh and started the first sleeve.  At this point, I haven't woven in any of the ends yet, but I have tried it on and I'm happy with the way it fits.  Since Fifi and I are similarly sized, you can kind of see the fit here.

The stripes are continuing on the sleeves, which I was expecting, but I was expecting them to change scale and be wider.  I'm not sure how this is happening, but the sleeve stripes are in the same size range as the body stripes.  I'm pretty sure this goes against all laws of physics and has crossed over into Magic.  Strange things are afoot on the circular needle?

A Handspun Pullover!

As soon as I finished spinning the Aguas/Aguas/Zarzamora yarn and figured the yardage, I knew I wanted to knit a pullover with it.  Specifically, the Niamh pullover.  I even knit a gauge swatch and washed it and everything!  Then, once I finished Peasy, I finished winding the handspun skeins and cast on!

I decided to make it a bit oversized since I had the yardage to do that, so I'm knitting the M1 size.  I've never done a sweater with the Contiguous Set In Sleeve technique, but I really like it!  If you don't know what it is (I didn't until 10 minutes ago), you can knit a top down sweater in the round (kind of like a raglan, but the shaping happens in different places) and end up with a set in sleeve shape.  I'm past the upper body and sleeve shaping at this point, sleeve stitches are waiting on holders, and I'm knitting the lower section of the body.  Also, I'm getting some really fun stripes!  I realize that I will probably get wider stripes on the sleeves, but I got stripes on my gauge swatch and they were about the same size as what's showing up on the sweater.  I have no idea how that worked.  Magic yarn?  I don't even care what the stripes do, I'm just having fun knitting with my handspun!