Delayed Fiber Friday: Night Sky

Fiber: Superwash BFL, colorway "Night Sky", Hello Yarn Fiber Club, December 2009
Spun/plied: 10:1, ST folding Lendrum
Yardage/wpi: 245 yds, 2 ply, 9-10 wpi (bulky weight).
Comments: Devil and I sorted through my fiber stash last week to finish taking some pictures for Ravelry, and I actually opened the bag and touched this stuff. It was so soft that I started spinning it that night.

I've found recently that my motivation to do much pre-spin prep has been non-existent. So I split each 4 oz piece of top in half and spun straight from the end. I wanted a lighter yarn (poofy-er that is) then I usually get spinning worsted, so I made a conscious effort to not smooth too much with my front hand. I spun one half from each of the two 4 oz lots I had on to separate bobbins in the hopes that the colors would line up pretty well with a minimum of barberpole.

I only had to splice a couple of times on the second skein, so I'm pretty pleased with it. There's some barberpole, but only with complementary colors, which is what I was looking for.

So now I have three of X spinning projects done that I need to complete before April. I think I'll be getting back to the wheel in a serious way as soon as we get back from London!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Mondays kind of suck. The weekend never seems quite long enough, you have to get up early again, and the whole work thing is kind of a drag. However, when you have managed to somehow finagle your still-somewhat-jet-lagged husband to get up with not one, but both kids, allowing you to sleep for 11+ hours for the first time in (probably) five years, there's not much room for complaining. Even though I will try.

It's been a crazy few weeks - IM went on a week long business trip, Mermaid came to visit, the girls' daycare moved into a new building (where Boo's new teacher lasted all of three days before becoming persona non grata - oops!), and things swung into high gear on our moving plans. The grownups in the family are going to look for a place to live in a couple of weeks. Is is silly that I am inordinately excited about 1) a business class trip to London and 2) a week with no kids? Ok, the second part of that isn't silly, but the first part? Anyway...I'm hoping to keep my finishing-up-of-long-undone-WIPs streak alive by finishing Manon before we leave. Because I'm pretty sure it's not going to be 70-something degrees in the UK.

January was a big achievement month. Here's the recap:
Knitting
Boo's Tomten
Sunset Surf scarf (from handspun)
Devil's stripey pink socks

Spinning
Buckland, 8 oz of Finn top from Hello Yarn Fiber Club, November 2008
Spun 8 oz of Crown Mountain Farm superwash merino
Finished the second 4 oz of my first Yarn School spinning

Unblogged:
Two pairs of earrings (Rav link)
I finally finished the knitting on Duck Returns. However, I think it has a new intended target, so no pix until it's totally finished (lined) and in the mail and received on the other end.
I also had to lengthen Ironman's Christmas socks a bit, so I ripped out the cuffs, knit about 2 more inches on each, and finished them off. And I still have yarn left. Love that Trekking XXL!
Spun another 4 oz of my first Longwool (Masham) from Yarn School

And just in case anyone is concerned that Boo is getting left out in the sock department (and to save you from yet another picture-less post), behold the in progress sock. And if she pulls another screaming fit before 5:00 am tomorrow like she did this morning, I will make the foot longer and give them to her big sister. So there.

FF: Buckland

Ironman just took the girls off to the playground, so I have a few minutes to blog before I run down and meet them. Enough time hopefully to show you December's spinning FO:

Fiber: Finn wool top from Hello Yarn, November 2008 Fiber Club offering, colorway "Buckland", 8 oz
Spun/plied: 10:1 on ST Lendrum
Yardage: 3 ply - 236 yds, 2 ply - 50 yds
WPI: 3 ply - 12 wpi before washing, 11 after washing. 2 ply - 14 wpi before washing, 12 wpi after washing (pictures are pre-washing).

I wanted to do a true 3 ply this time, so I split the fiber into thirds by weight. One third I spun straight from the full width of top, one third I split into thirds before spinning, and the last third I split into approximately thumb thick strips before spinning. All fiber was spun from the fold, supported/assisted long draw.

I let the singles sit on the bobbins for a few days before I plied. The two ply skein was the left over from the two bobbins that had the most singles on them. After I finished the last of the plying, the yarn sat on the bobbins for about 3 weeks while vacation got in the way. Soaked in warm water with a bit of Eucalan and hung out to dry next to the plumbago bush, which was a mistake because I spent a while picking plumbago seed heads out of the yarn before I wound it up.

This was the first time I've spun any real amount of Finn and I found it a bit tricky. Maybe I wasn't in the mood to be particularly attentive, but I had trouble getting the right amount of twist in the singles. I tended towards undertwisting (!) which is never a problem I've had before, and makes me think that it may be time to jump up to the higher ratios - my hands seem to be getting ahead of my feet a bit.

Per usual, Adrian's colors are drop-dead gorgeous. The finished yarn is soft and squishy, and would be perfect for some scarves or hats. I was thinking about making something for the kids, but I'm afraid I might have to keep it for myself. The colors are just too pretty. Maybe they can have the 50 yds of 2 ply for something.

Next week I hope to have my Ply by Night project finished: a bit of Sunshine for some grey winter days!

FO: Orphans

I've opted for the double dose on the last two rounds of Adrian's Fiber Club, which has left me with gobs of fiber lying around. I managed to spin up parts of two batches of fiber but had about 5 oz leftover that have been sitting in the cupboard for the last few months. This past week I finally got back to them.

Specs: 214 yds/2.4 oz of Maldives (18 micron merino) , 124 yds/3.2 oz of Verdant (70% merino/30% mohair)

Spun/plied at 10:1, both chain plied

Maldives: 14 wpi prewash, 13 wpi postwash; Verdant: 10 wpi prewash, 10 wpi postwash

Both were somewhat overplied and went through fulling finish - Maldives was balanced after finishing, Verdant was still slightly overplied.

So now I have two new skeins of stripy yarn. My plan is still to make the girls some mittens with the Maldives, lined with some commercial yarn, and I think I'll actually have enough to do hats or scarves as well.

The Verdant - this was a different experience. The first batch of Verdant I spun as laceweight. This time around I wanted to end up with something bulky weight (I think I had subconscious visions of Stephanie's Unoriginal hat), so I had to focus on spinning a thicker single then I usually do. It took a bit of work - I didn't predraft very much, just snapped the top to loosen it a bit, and the mohair made it quite sticky. So I ended up with some thick and thin bits due to drafting malfunctions. It seems to be quite a bit softer at this weight however, then as laceweight - less twist means less wirey maybe? In any event, it's now balled up in its little nest of handspun, happily waiting to be knit up for a Christmas present. As a hat, it will probably have to be lined because it's still a bit itchy. Maybe I could just go on a mitten knitting binge?

Some tropical island vibes for Friday

Sand, turquoise blue water, green palm trees, fluffy clouds, stunning skies

Brilliantly luscious, 18 micron merino wool, colorway Maldives, handdyed by Adrian, for the Hello Yarn Fiber Club. I think this was December's offering, and it's been hiding in the closet for too long.

When the latest issue of Spin Off arrived last week, I was suddenly obsessed with Theresa's lined mittens (Rav link). Devil and Boo need mittens. Clearly. So I pawed through the fiber stash and pulled out this stuff. I split the roving (more or less) in half lengthwise, spun it densely, and chain plied to maintain the stripes.
Stats:
Spun/plied at 10:1, worsted (short forward draw).
2.9 oz/81 g, 155 yds, 11 wpi post-wash (hot/cold/thwack fulling method)

I think I'll pair it with either some Nature Spun sport leftover from Turkish Walrus (the blue-purple) or with some superwash merino I got in Italy and used for a rollneck sweater for Devil (also blue-purple). It's either that, or break down and bust out the dyes to get some custom colorway for the lining. Probably faster to use the stash yarn...

I think it will match pretty well, and it should be the same weight. And there's still 2 oz of this fiber left to spin up. I'm pretty sure I can get a pair for Devil out of this skein, but two pairs is a bit dubious. The other 2 oz will probably end up as Boo mittens. And maybe they'll actually need them somewhere (not too far) down the line.