FO: Ply by Night cowl and mitt set

Pattern: cowl blogged here, mitts just made up out of my head using linen stitch and more or less the same made up pattern I used for the manly mitts.
Yarn: handspun BFL singles from Chris at Briar Rose Fibers, blogged here in its final form. I used about 3/4 of the yarn, lets say 180 yds for the pair.
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
Start/finish (for mitts): 12 December - 14 December 2009
Comments: No mods because it's my own pattern. I cast-on 47 stitches and worked in linen stitch pattern for 2 inches. Then I increased one stitch at beginning and end of row (2 sts increased) every third row five times, working new stitches in pattern. worked for about 2 more inches, then put 10 extra stitches on waste yarn, rejoined and worked 2 inches. Bound off in purl. Picked up 10 extra stitches plus 3 more and worked in linen stitch for 0.75 inches around the thumb, then bound off in purl.

Thankfully my mom's hands aren't too big, because the linen stitch has very little elasticity. But the set was very well received!

FO: Ethereal Rivulet

When I posted the picture of this yarn on the Hello Yarn group Fiber Club thread a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned what I planned to knit, one of the responses used the word ethereal to described the predicted results.

She was right.

Pattern: Rivulet by Heather Asbeck
Yarn: my handspun, detailed here, approximately 400 yds/4 oz.
Needles: US size 2/2.75 mm straights
Gauge: hunh? It's lace, the one time where gauge doesn't matter (much).
Comments/mods: a lovely pattern, well written and easy to follow, that came out so well with this yarn that I think I will wear it for the rest of my days. It's a lovely soft, drapey yarn that feels absolutely yummy knitted up.

The color progression worked out better then I could have hoped, from purple to blues to teal to grey to green. I was expecting the green to be more overwhelming, since it seemed like I had way more green fiber then the other colors, but I don't think it looks too unbalanced.

There were some spots in the yarn where some stray colors got mixed in, making odd stripes every so often.

This bothered me while I was knitting, but isn't noticeable in the finished project. Win-win all around.

FF: Inspiration

The May-June project for the Ply by Night Ravelry group was to spin something from stash and knit either the Lace Ribbon scarf or the Rivulet scarf. What with moving and parenting and all, I wasn't feeling terribly inspired to do either of these projects.

However, a couple weeks ago I remembered a phenomenal project from the first round of Ply by Night, where the spinner separated out the component colors from the top, spun them in order and created an ombre yarn that went from yellow to orange to purple. It was stunning. And I thought that I might try something similar with a recent Fiber Club shipement.

"Air", Hello Yarn Fiber Club April 2009, 50/50 superfine merino and tencel

I split the fiber into four main colors: dark purple/wine, grey, green, and a bunch of sections that went from dark blue to teal. I started with the purple sections, split each one in half and spun each half on to separate bobbins. I switched from bobbin to bobbin with each color to try and keep the singles the same thickness/twist.

I've been catching up on episodes of Yarnspinners Tales and was entertained to find that one of the recent ones was about spinning bamboo and tencel. I experienced many of the things they talked about - tencel wants to be spun fine, and it tends to clump on itself, requiring that you stop, untwist and declump before going on. It also needs quite a bit of twist, but I think that since I've been spinning merino in one form or another for the last two months, that didn't stand out as much for me as it might have otherwise.

The yarn ended up absolutely gorgeous - soft, shiny, drapey. The colors worked out really well - purple to dark blue to turquoise to teal to grey to green. I spun the singles at 15:1 and plied at 12:1. 4.1 oz/117 gr, 28-18 wpi (mostly 20-22 wpi). Finished with a cool soak, thwack against the side of the house and spinning overhead in the back garden before hanging to dry.

I ended up with 406 yds, so plenty for Rivulet. The pattern calls for sport weight, so I'll go down a couple of needle sizes and see how it looks. I'm planning to start at the purple end and see how far I get through the color progression before I get tired of the pattern.

FO: Chickadee Cowl

This past Sunday, I picked up my handspun Briar Rose BFL, and wound it up to cast on for the March/April project, the Chickadee Cowl.

Approximately 30 hours later, I was done. Wow. Fabulous, instant gratification, assisted by the fun of knitting with handspun, and a totally addictive combination of pattern stitch and color progression.

Pattern: Chickadee Cowl by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: BFL handspun singles, dyed by Chris at Briar Rose Fibers for the Ply By Night SAL/KAL group on Ravelry.
Needles: 16 inch US size 10.5/6.5 mm circulars.
Gauge: totally off from the pattern, which called for 13 stitches/4 inches. Mine was about 20 stitches/4 inches. Thankfully, it stretches enough to fit over my big head, so anyone who might get it as a present should be ok.

The yarn is lovely and soft, and has a phenomenal sheen. I will definitely be getting more fiber from Chris in the future, since it was so fun to spin and knits up so beautifully.

FF: Spinning bulky singles

Last week, I posted about my infatuation with the animal that produced this,

My infatuation has now expanded dramatically, since I have transformed 4 oz of crimpy gorgeousness into this.

I really wanted some bulky singles from this fiber, but my default spin when I'm not actively trying to do something in particular is about 28-30 wpi. So this one took a bit more thought.

First step was to strip the top lengthwise. I figured the less drafting I had to do the better, since then I wouldn't have the opportunity to get too thin.

Then it was sitting in front of the wheel (7:1 ratio), don't draft too much, don't pinch out the air, don't smooth! Phew.

The singles ended up puffy and fluffy and squooshy,

and fairly unbalanced, not surprisingly.

A fulling finish later, skeins were balanced and lovely. I was expecting a dramatic shift in the wpi from pre-bath to post-bath, but it didn't change as much as I thought it would. Went from about 10-11 wpi to 8-11 (I guess I drafted a bit too much in some sections, hunh?).

So now it sits on my countertop, beautifying my house and waiting for me to finish one or two other projects before I cast on for the cowl.

This stuff is impossible to photograph well - the colors are so subtle that they tend to get lost. 

Maybe I'll figure it out eventually...

Final specs:
Fiber: Briar Rose Fibers BFL, colorway "Ply by Night"
Spun at 7:1, Lendrum ST
No plying!
Finished hot/cold/hot/cold/hot/cold water with some agitation
Final wpi: 8-11 (bulky weight), ~230 yds/4.5 oz. I love the yardage from not plying. Plenty for the cowl and maybe something else!

And a funny video for anyone interested. Do you think PETA would approve?