Purlwise

Rainy day knitting

It just keeps going.

I would have been done but ...

While contemplating what to do about the length of the sleeve I realized that the fabric on the first sleeve felt a bit dense compared to the upper part of the body. This was reinforced by the fact that the sleeve was already about 1 inch longer than it should have been. So, I  to eventually faced the fact that the current ball of yarn didn't match previous ones and that I would need to rip it out, spin more yarn and knit the sleeve again.

Although I need to spin two more ounces to re-knit the left sleeve,  I decided to started knitting the right sleeve with a remaining ball of yarn. You can't see a difference in the photo but I can definitely feel it. This one turned out much lighter with the stitches looking much more even. So, ripping out all that knitting was the right decision.

Now back to the cuff.

The pattern specifies a sleeve length of 19.5 inches which is one inch too long for me so I'll need to make an adjustment. The instructions says to stop knitting the honey yarn when the sleeve reaches 15 inches and there are 64 stitches on the needle but I stopped after reaching 14 inches and now have 72 stitches after decreasing two additional stitches at the middle of each cable.

At this point I'll start following instructions for the medium sweater instead of the "small" one as I have been doing. This will add one repeat of the patterns on the cuff;  just six extra stitches. I'm positive that this won't make the cuffs too big because I already attempted to follow the pattern for the small sweater and ended up with cuffs that were too tight.

All of my re-knitting hasn't gone unnoticed. My husband commented today that it seems like I've been working on this sweater much longer than any other (not including spinning).

Just over an arms length to go

Got back on the project and managed to finish most of the left sleeve.

It's a pretty basic sleeve, just pick up stitches around the arm hole and knit in the round with decreases every fourth row. It could however get a bit tricky if I have to shorten the sleeve but still want to used the same designs for the  cuff. The instructions say that the ecru part of the sleeve should be 15" long with 66 stitches on the needle. It now measures 15" inches and I have 70 stitches.

Looks like a good time to take a break and try on the sweater to see what adjustments might be needed.

Social weaver bird

Finally, I have enough time to actually post a picture of the back of the sweater.

The pattern mentions to use duplicate stitch to embroider the bird on the back once the sweater is finished but I ended up adding it using intarsia (closer view) .  Every time that I've attempted to use duplicate stitch the background yarn usually shows through too much, so unlike many knitters, I actually prefer to do intarsia.

I also joined the shoulder seems using the three needle bind-off even though the pattern says to use kitchener stitch. I figured that a bound off seam would be more stable.

Knitting this part has been so enjoyable that I kept on going and added the collar. Now I've run out of the honey colored yarn I'll be spinning this week, unless of course, work doesn't preempt my plans.

Total control

As difficult as handspinning and knitting might seem to be at times, it still never fails to help me unwind from pressures at work. It's the one thing that I have total control over, can do on my own schedule and decide the level of quality of the finished product.

It's been a totally hectic week at the office.  Instead of screaming, I knit.

The upper front is finished after having to redo the upper left side. On my first attempt I used a second ball of yarn but found that it felt a bit harsh as I knitted it because I hadn't bothered to properly finish the skein after spinning. The yarn became much softer after letting it soak in very hot water for about fifteen minutes and then letting it dry.

Japanese short-rows came in very handy when working the sloping shoulders.

Pressing on

The Spin-Off sweater is finally back.

It was put on hold while I waited for more of the honey colored merino/tencel fiber. Thanks to Woodland Woolworks, my spinning wheel has been busy for the last couple of weeks.

This time around I used Rita's loop trick to constantly measure the thickness while spinning the singles. As soon as I got an ounce of fiber spun and plied I knitted up a swatch to check my gauge.

To achieve the correct gauge while knitting this part of the sweater I had to switch from size 3.25mm needles to size 3.00mm.

I know I've mentioned it before but, I love knitting with handspun yarn!

Paradise Lost

Progress on the Spin-Off sweater been halted for a couple of weeks while waiting on a order of  more merino/tencel top from Paradise Fibers.

While working on the body of the sweater I kept thinking about the merino/tencel yarn and wondering if it wasn't just a bit too thick compared to the pure merino  yarn I had spun.  Once I finished the torso,  I paused before continuing and quickly to knitted up a swatch. The swatch confirmed my suspicion. I should have never spun all the merino/tencel top without actually making a swatch to check whether the yarn would produce the correct gauge.  At that point there wasn't much to do but order more fiber.

So, after 1-1/2 weeks of waiting for my order I started wondering where it was. My previous orders had always been shipped out promptly and arrived quickly since Paradise Fibers is only about 380 miles away.

I sent an email on Tuesday but got no reply. I called several times today and finally got someone on the line early this evening. She said my order of needles had gone out last week! After telling her I didn't order needles, she mentioned that she did have my fiber order and that they didn't have it in stock. They would need to order it from Ashland Bay, which might take two months! I didn't bother to ask why they hadn't let me know about this and just asked have my order  canceled. All of this seemed quite odd so I asked the girl on the line if Kate Painter still owned the business. She said that the business had been sold last month.

I just placed an order for the top with Woodland Woolworks. Earlier this month I had an opportunity to stop by their shop and can confidently say that they can professionally handle the order.

While I wait for more  fiber,  I'm going to start a new project. Do you recognize it? It's #11 from the current summer issue of Vogue Knitting.

Knitting continues

Progress  has been steady.  As I get farther along it  gets harder to put down and get other things done. 

Every project has it's challenges and this one is no exception.  For the most part it's coming along  quite well but  I have notice that  red background is  puckering a bit in the  large solid areas where  on the back side I  tacked  down  the unused  white yarn  to minimize the float. I try to monitor my tension on the white yarn, easing up to avoid puckering,  but that doesn't seem to do much good. At this point I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the puckering will go away once the sweater is blocked.

On my way to the NWRSA conference this Thursday I'm going to stop by Woodland Woolworks. I've been getting their catalogs for the past year but have yet to order from them. They seem to have just about anything a spinner or knitter might need.

Niddy noddy update

Last February I posted a photo of a unique niddy noddy that I've seen while attending a couple of spinning classes over the past year.  One of the owners of these niddy noddies works for the Weaving Works and said that she hasn't been able to contact the maker for years and thus didn't think he was still in business.  I've been holding out hope that someday one of these would cross my path. Well today I did one more web search and finally found a source,  Village Spinning & Weaving !

They also carry his skein winder.  While the skein winder might seem a bit pricey  it does have a built-in counter.  I'll hold off adding to my order but will certainly add it to my "would like to have" list.

Knitting has commenced

It's taken about a year and a half to get this far;  six months to give myself permission to buy a wheel and another year of  spinning classes and practice to produce acceptable yarn.

One of the reasons I hesitated to start spinning was an unfounded fear that I would never produce yarn good enough for knitting as well as a bit of nervousness due to the relatively large investment I had to make before having much opportunity to find out whether I would stick with it.

For some folks it might be odd to hear that I  want my hand spun to look just as good as any commercial yarn, but that's me. With any craft I do, I have this odd need to make my items as perfect as possible. I guess it come from a desire to show others that in this age of mass produced junk, that hand crafted items can be of much better quality and value than run-of-the-mill stuff  purchased at the mall.

So now that I've done lots of spinning and have finally started knitting with my handspun yarn, I'm so thrilled that I did eventually dive into this craft. I don't know if other spinners/knitters feel this way, but I'm finding that knitting takes on a whole other dimension when using handspun yarn.

By the way, in a few of weeks I'll be attending the Northwest Reginal Spinners' Association conference . I was lucky to get all my first choices for classes - the ones taught by Rita Buchanan.  As I've collected back issues of Spin Off magazine, I've been finding her articles  the most informative for learning, so I feel lucky to actually get a chance to take two days worth of classes with her.

Merino Tencel blend spun

So this is what it looks like spun into a 2 ply. I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice this fiber mix is.  The plied yarn looks a bit stiff when if first comes off the wheel but once it's washed it becomes soft and silky.

After spinning three bobbins of spinning singles, it became much easier to handle and to anticipate how fast the fiber supply slips through my fingers.  Now that I've got the rhythm down, It's hard to stop and do any knitting. At this point I have three finished skeins and have three more to finish.

While spinning this fiber, I decided to start weighing my fiber before I spin it. I figured that this would hopefully help in getting the same amount of fiber on each bobbin and thus eliminating left over singles on one bobbin. Each of my bobbins seems to accommodate about 2 ounces of singles that can later be plied onto one bobbin.  For the most part this method works, although results do vary depending on how many self-plying samples I take while spinning singles.

Merino tencel blend

For the past couple of weeks I've been slowly spinning this merino/tencel top which has proven to be quite a challenge compared to the pure merino top that I just finished.  The fibers slip so easily that it's difficult to maintain a consistently sized single.  So far I've only been able to fill up one bobbin, so I haven't had a chance ply a large quantity to see how the yarn will actually look.  I'm curious to see how it will look once it's knitted.

As the wheel turns

Here's proof that I've been working on the Spin-Off sweater.  I'm currently working on the red - all 9 oz. After the red, there's 1.5 pounds of  a honey merino & tencel blend.

I'm not the only one around here that loves looking at yarn, hence the paws in the upper left corner.

Some other knitting projects are on the horizon but nothing definite yet. I'd love to knit this Seaweed scarf designed by Alice Starmore.

On a roll

I'm a knitter with a mission. 

I think I'll get Irish Moss done much quicker then originally anticipated.  I find this  stitch pattern  so addicting that it's hard to put aside for any other project. While the stitch pattern looks difficult, it's not after a few repeats.  Since it's a basic drop sleeve sweater there's no side or armhole shaping to anticipate.

This week I also spun some of the fiber for the Spin-Off sweater.  Although I thought I had practiced enough, I'm finding the solid color merino much more difficult to draft. It still looks OK, but just isn't as consistent as my previous attempts with the multi-colored roving. The difference has got to be the amount of combing. I bet that the multi-colored roving goes through many more combings than the solid color rovings.

Classes
I'm ready to learn more spinning techniques so next week I'll start a series of three spinning class offered by a local yarn store that I hope will expose me to a wider variety of wool.  While I'm hoping to expand my skills, I'm not sure how in-depth these classes will get. Although the teacher is very knowledgeable, her approach isn't as technical as I would prefer. Whatever the outcome, I know I will enjoy spending time with others who enjoy fiber arts and spinning.

To satisfy my technical hunger, I recently signed up for a few classes offered by Madrona Fiber Arts in February. Hopefully I'll be able to take one class with Deb Menz called "Plying Yarns for Color Effects" and two with Judith MacKenzie McCuin called "Three Bags Full: Spinning for 3 different   types of yarn" and "The Great Sock Caper: Hand spun yarn for hand knit socks".

By the way, I notice that Interweave will be releasing  a paperback version of Deb Menz's book, Color in Spinning.  Yahoo!

Mojave Merino

During the past week I've been diligently spinning Mojave merino roving into sport-weight yarn. Yes this is another attempt to master spinning so that I can have enough confidence to finally start working on the fiber for the Spin-Off sweater. I've had the kit for almost a year now but have been afraid to start.  Hopefully I've built up enough tactile memory in my fingers so that it becomes second nature. While I know that handspun yarn doesn't have to look perfect, I just can't help trying.

I forsee doing a lot of spinning during the next four years. It has truely become my primary form of meditation during difficult times.

Tussah and Merino

Yep, I'm still working on perfecting my merino spinning skills to develop enough confidence to start spinning for the Spin-Off sweater. I've split yard-long lengths of roving into thin strips,  pre-draft  these thin strips well and then spin with moderate twist.  The singles are spun on a 9:1 ratio whorl and plied on a 7 1/2:1 ratio whorl.

I found that the long fibers of the tussah silk in this mixed merino/silk roving helped make it much easier to  spin than a pure merino roving. Although I initially liked the mix of colors in pre-spun fiber once spun, I started finding that the red didn't show up much in the singles. So after finishing a bobbin of singles I decided to ply the silk/merino singles with another bobbin of red merino singles to create a barber pole type yarn. The swatch in the top left corner was made from this barber pole yarn and the swatch below it was made from pure merino yarn.

Change in Strategy

After further practice with Ashland Bay merino top, I've changed to a slightly larger whorl which has a 13:1 ratio. Although I was getting pretty good results with the 15:1 ratio, I did notice some over twisting. Perhaps this switch will also help solve some of my problems with getting a balanced 2-ply.

Singles:
27 - 28 wraps per inch
13.5 twists per inch (with 13:1 whorl)

2-Ply:
14 -15 wraps per inch
9 twists per inch (with 9:1 ratio whorl)

I'm working away on a second bobbin of singles and plan on using the 9:1 ratio whorl to create a balanced 2-ply yarn. If all goes well with this new skein then I might start spinning the fiber from the Spin-Off sweater package.

Spin & Knit

One of my Christmas wishes came true.

This Spin-Off Anniversary Sweater is the latest entry in "to do" list.

Now that I actually have the fiber, I realize how impractical it would be to spin this on a hand spindle. I'm considering taking a class to learn how to spin on a wheel. I found one that will allow students to take the wheel home between classes. That might give me some time to spin this fiber and see if I really do want a wheel.