FOs: Thank you brain

FO#1: a large research grant, which is out of my hands and off to the lovely administrative folks at my institution to submit to the Grand Poobah of Federal Biomedical Research Funding (otherwise known as the National Institutes of Health). I am looking forward to reclaiming my very worn out brain cells and returning to the land of the semi-coherent sometime in the next week or so.

FO#2: the North Roe shawl in my own handspun...

Pattern: North Roe shawl by Odile Buatois-Brand
Yarn: 70% merino/30% mohair, colorway Verdant, from Hello Yarn, 5 oz/approx 650 yds
Needles: US 8/5.0 mm
Size: preblock, 60 x 26 inches; post-block, 70 x 36 inches.
Mods/comments: Loved the pattern, loved the handspun, even though I ran out and had to spin more. I even love how the striping came out, and I'm not big on striped shawls. Since I was light on yardage even before running out, I worked fewer repeats of Charts 1 and 2 (4 repeats and 3 respectively), and made it 8 of 12 rows into the edging before I decided that binding off was the better part of valor. Since running out again and having to spin more "laceweight" at 10:00 pm Sunday night would have dissolved me into a puddle of tears on the living room floor. This is my third lace shawl, and as with all the others, I am enamoured of the process of taking unblocked blob:

and turning it into this:

Chart 1

Chart 1 morphing into Chart 2

Chart 2 morphing into edging

Bliss.

FO#3: will have to wait for another day - I can't put all the goodies in one post now, can I?

So, while I was away

OK, I admit it, I haven't actually been any where. But I have been spending the majority of my waking hours working on a large pile of paper designed to convince the Feds to throw some cash my way so I can be gainfully employed for the next few years. A process not conducive to extensive blogging. But I have been doing some knitting and spinning that I can share with you.

On the knitting front is the Basalt Tank, Version 2.0 - now with waist shaping.

The waist shaping tip came from Kelly, and has made a world of difference. Version 1.0 was 4 inches too big in the chest (swatches lies, I swear) and looked like a potato sack. Now I'm actually thinking this might look pretty good.

I'm maybe a third into the last full hexagon on the back. After that there's one half hexagon and a veritable mile of garter stitch edging to do. But I'm still hoping that this one will sneak in under the wire for the Earth installment of Project Spectrum.

Next up: Flukes for Porpoise:

There is a lovely group on Ravelry called The Thrifty Sock Knitters Club, for folks who like the idea of a sock club, but aren't willing to fork over the big bucks to join one. The moderators pick several free patterns each month, and everyone chooses their own yarn. This month (June) will be the first one I've actually participated in, but they've introduced me to a bunch of cool patterns that are now queued up for knitting sometime in 2030. This is the first top down sock I've done in a long time, and I'm having some paranoia issues about yarn shortages...

Finally - spinning! The best thing so far for me about Ravelry has been the opportunity to meet some other local knitters. I now have a group I meet on Wednesday at lunchtime down at work, and a group I meet with on Thursday evenings. A while ago, someone got in touch with me through Rav and asked if I would help her learn how to use a drop spindle. Last Thursday we met up at the evening meeting and had a lovely time messing about with fiber, getting odd looks from the Whole Foods shoppers passing by.

My hand spindle has been sorely neglected since I got a wheel, but it was so fun to go back to it. I was so inspired that I came home and stayed up for another hour and half to get more done. The first half of the fiber is now wound off onto a "storage bobbin"* and I'm ready to go on the second half. No idea what weight it will end up or how many yards I'll have, but I would love to have enough to do Anne's new little nothing, Brambler.

So, even though I may be MIA in the blog world, the fiber stuff does continue. I've only got until next Monday to finish screwing around with this grant though, so I'll be back more regularly after that.

FO: Firestarter socks

Pattern: The Firestarter by Yarnissima
Yarn: Plymouth Happy Feet (Rav link), color 5, 2 skeins
Needles: Susan Bates US 1/2.25 mm
Comments/mods: These socks were the first project I started for PS, way back in the beginning of March. The first sock went along very quickly - I increased the number of stitches for the foot to 68 (up from 60 given that I have size 10 feet), and the number of foot repeats from 5 to 8. Once I turned the heel, I worked the heel flap in sl1/k1/purl back to give the standard ridge heel flap look. I also kept the front and the back of the leg in stockinette instead of the ribbing called for in the pattern. After a couple of pattern repeats, I increased 12 stitches (4 sts per round, 3 times) spaced out over a couple of repeats to give a bit of calf shaping.

When I got to the top of the leg, I decreased 8 sts evenly all the way around before working ten rounds of k1tbl/p1 ribbing. I decreased stitches in order to keep the twisted stitches from the side panels flowing smoothly into the ribbing. I really enjoyed this pattern, and I'm very glad I did this one before attempting something like Bayerische. Once I got the hang of working the twisted stitches, they moved along pretty quickly. I love the purl texture of the gusset next to the twisted stitches, and the pattern was very well written. They're nice and cozy, just in time for Houston summers!

The only slight downside to this project was the yarn. The colors are beautiful, but it was a bit splitty to work with. I've been thinking alot recently about spinning sock yarn, and how tightly spun/plied it needs to be to wear well. This stuff just seemed too softly spun to hold up well, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised!

In the interests of science (geek alert) I also kept track of how long it took me to knit one sock. Details are in a Flickr set if anyone is interested. Suffice to say I won't be making a living knitting socks for sale anytime soon!

Given my goal of knitting one pair of gift socks for every pair I knit for myself (the kid socks don't count), the next pair I cast on will have to be for someone else. There's enough options in my Rav queue to keep me busy for quite a while.

FF*: Verdant laceweight

My first installment for Project Spectrum 3 - Earth. Finally, at long last, I'm done spinning the Verdant laceweight. This was my first attempt to spin laceweight, and it was more or less successful I think. But it took a damn long time!

I started with this gorgeous fiber from Hello Yarn:

70% merino, 30% mohair, Colorway "Verdant". I got 8 oz of this fiber in my double order from the Fiber Club, but only used 4 oz for this experiment.

I split the top in half lengthwise and then in half again. Each half (2 quarters) was predrafted in sequence, and rolled into a ball. My goal was to spin two singles with more or less the same color sections so the two ply yarn would be sort of self-striping instead of marled.

Spun each half on a separate bobbin at 15:1. I used a sample card with a sample of commercial two ply laceweight (Knit Picks Shadow) showing both the two ply and the single. I actually spun up a sample of the fiber before starting the whole batch, so the sample card also had a Verdant single, the unwashed two ply and the washed two ply sample.

I started off spinning this knowing only a few things about spinning laceweight: 1) thinner singles need more twist, hence the higher ratios so your knees don't burn out of their sockets, and 2) another way to help get enough twist was to keep the take up really really low. My initial takeup was so light that I felt like I was pushing the single into the orifice and it was going nowhere. So I increased the take up a little bit and it seemed to work ok. I had to keep adjusting it as the bobbin filled however, and that took a bit of attention. I spun from the fold, using a supported long draw, which I'm liking more and more as I get better at it.

I plied at 12:1, and the colors matched up pretty well. There were only about 5 points at which I had to wind off one single onto a holder to get to the next color in the progression. Those held singles got spliced back in at the end. It was tough going on the last few bits though - that was one full bobbin!

I finished the yarn by soaking the skein in warm water and hanging to dry. I didn't give it too much abuse, since I'm planning to knit lace with it. I also didn't want the mohair to bloom too much - fuzzy lace isn't my thing.

Final specs: 3.9 oz, 18-22 wpi, 520 yds.

My original thought was to let the yarn sit for a bit until I cast on with it, but I couldn't resist. I wound it up and cast on for this the day after it was dry. It's flying off the needles, and once again, I am almost overwhelmed at how much fun it is to knit with my own handspun.

* I know it's Saturday, but I was ready to write this post yesterday when my mouse went bonkers and refused to cooperate. So it's a day late. So sue me...

Odds and ends

Yesterday was a red-letter day as far as my kids are concerned:

1) Devil headed happily off to daycare yesterday morning wearing...panties. The whole potty-training thing has been ongoing for a while now, but we've shifted in to high gear since she needs to be fully trained before she moves up to her next class (in May). She did great.

2) Boo, after deciding at 8:15 pm "Hell no Mama, I'm not going to sleep" (normal bedtime ~7:30) stayed up for another hour, entertaining her parents with her new party trick: walking. She would shakily stand up, totter across the rug for eight or ten steps, sit down with a Whump!, giggle and get back up again. But she still wasn't interested in going to sleep...

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The Fire element of Project Spectrum is over, and I didn't complete either of the pairs of socks I started. Not because I wasn't working on them, but because I started one pair before the other was finished. So they continue along, one sock of each pair done, and one sock of each pair at the heel/gusset. I'm curious as to how long it takes me to knit a pair, so I'm keeping track on one pair (Firestarter), and just muddling along on the Spiral boot socks when I get a moment. Here's some shots of both, just to keep you somewhat entertained:

Four days/6.5 hrs worth of sock knitting

Handspun knee-high goodness

I've got big plans for the Earth segment of PS: resurrecting the Basalt tank and redoing it with waist shaping in time for summer, and finishing off the Verdant laceweight I've been working on. I finished the singles last night, and hope to ply over the weekend once they've had a chance to rest for a bit, so that should be done soon. If I can, I'd also like to knit it up into a lace leafy shawl type of thing - it's been a while since I did any lace.

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March progress report:

Finished:
Rainbow sock leftovers for Devil

And that's it. Harumph.

In progress:
Summertime tunic
Firestarters
Spiral boot socks
Verdant laceweight

Snoozing:
Duck blanket - I can truthfully say that I hate intarsia. We're going to try to get Devil's big girl bed put together this weekend, so hopefully I can finish this off soon, but I'm not optimistic.

Hopefully I'll have some FO posts in the next week or so - it's been a long dry spell around here!