Travelling

Tomorrow we hop on a plane and head westward for a couple of weeks, so today I have been dealing with the age-old question of which projects to bring. This is a serious consideration - you want to bring a good number and variety of projects so that you don't get bored, but also don't run out of things to do. Running out of knitting might resort to a panic-driven yarn buying spree the likes of which Himself could not forgive! So, I've spent some time thinking about what to bring with me. And here's the pile:

Not actually all the bad, given the circumstances. There's the self-designed sweater that needs only a sleeve to be finished (and the pattern needs to go out to testers by Friday, but that's a different problem). This is the key project for tomorrow's7.5 hr flight, and I'm hoping to land in Boston with a mostly finished sleeve.

There's the August socks, which are lagging woefully behind. I was making good progress, but had to rip everything out and start on smaller needles to get something that might vaguely fit my foot. However, that means they're now being knit on US 0/2.0 mm needles. Metal needles. I know they're technically allowed, but given that my last trip with metal pointy sticks resulted in my being held up at security for a while, I think these will be going in the hold instead.

Third up is my guilty project: the Dahlia Cardigan from the latest issue of Interweave Knits. I couldn't help casting on this weekend, but I've finished the interesting bit (the lace panel on the back). I predict that this one is going to languish now that I've hit the stockinette stage, but maybe it will be good car knitting. This one is also on metal needles, so it will get packed in the checked bags. Hopefully TSA is a bit more understanding/less paranoid about metal needles then the Brits, so I can work on it on the way home.

Lastly, I've packed a spinning project: My oldest remaining Hello Yarn Fiber Club stash, from June 2009. This is Shetland in the colorway "Sour Fig". And my trusty Golding spindle. I haven't tried a spindling project on a trip before, and I'm looking forward to it. I think I'm going to try a 6 strand cable with this fiber - three 2-ply yarns plied together. Means I need to split up the fiber by weight before we leave though. Another item for this evening's list.

I'm looking forward to some quality family time, both with the girls and Himself, as well as with various (grand)parents, brothers/sisters (aunts/uncles) and friends. Happy August!

Fiber Friday: TdF Yarns #4 and #6

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club January 2010, "Loch", 83% mohair/15% nylon/2% merino
Spun/plied: 12:1, short forward draw
Comments: I was a bit concerned about this colorway - the combo of blue and orange has never really appealed to me, regardless of what the colorwheel says should be true. I decided to split my first 4 oz bump into two color groups and spin them seperately. Here's what the fiber looked like originally.

I broke the top apart into blue/green chunks and orange/olive chunks. Each piece was stripped into 4 lengths and I tried to mix them up as much as possible in the spinning. Here is the first batch of finished singles before plying.

I spun this with a short forward worsted draw, and the singles ended up a bit thicker then my usual default yarn - the mohair seemed a bit clumpy, more like tencel then wool I think. But really fun to spin, and so smooth and drapey - I knew the finished yarn was going to be incredible.

Originally I was going to split the second four ounces down the middle and spin for matching chain-plied stripey socks. However. Once the first two skeins came out of their spa treatment, I started thinking that I needed to do the same with the second bump. So when the cyclists hit the Alpes, I was spinning away on another orange vs. blue situation.

 

Hooray Tommy!

I ended up with about 220 yds of blue and 150 yds of orange, approximately DK weight. Now I just have to find the right pattern for them!

FF: Shaking Leaves

My resolution to make Tuesdays a spinning day/night seems to be working, for behold: my second finished yarn in the last month!

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club January 2011 offering, "Shaking Leaves" Finn top
Spun/plied: 9.25:1/7.5:1, chain plied
Final stats: 10-14 wpi (worsted/aran weight), 275 yds/~4 oz (~1100 ypp).

I love these colors (which are a bit greener then they're showing up on my monitor) - they remind me of the beach in Charmouth on the Jurassic Coast. I decided to spin this fiber up for a Baktus scarf (or a scarf with a similar construction), so I wanted to spin it in a way that would generate stripes of more-or-less the same width as the scarf was knit from end to end. I split the entire length of top in half, then split one half again, and spun it up as follows: 1/4 width, 1/2 width, 1/4 width. Then I chain plied the singles to keep the striping.

I've noticed of late that my spinning output seems to have shifted towards a lighter, loftier, less dense yarn, and this was no exception. I spun the singles with a short forward draw at 9.25:1, and chain plied at 7.5:1, trying not to overply. And I managed to end up with a yarn that came off the niddy noddy balanced (!) - I don't think that's ever happened before.

You can see in these photos how much less tightly plied this is then some previous chain plied yarns. Before washing I had 298 yds at 17-20 wpi. After a soak in cool water, the Finn Puffball Effect worked it's magic and I ended up with 275 yds at 10-14 wpi. Poof!

I still like the Baktus idea for this yarn. Maybe a lacy one. Or an extra lacy one. Anyone have a vote?

There has been spinning

But only a very little bit.

Finished before the half-term holiday:

Mom's All Spun Up Falklands. This little hank (~50 yds) was left over from my failed attempt to get the whole 4 oz on to one bobbin while I was plying. It's nice and squooshy and fluffy. I love how the browns and greens and bit of blue in the fiber blended together in the finished yarn. Now must find some itty bitty project for this.

Last week, I was feeling spin-deprived, so I pulled out this and whipped it up in a couple of nights.

Hello Yarn Fiber Club, superwash merino in "Curiosities". It's been a long time since I spun anything but friggin' Falklands wool, so it took me a little while to get used to the slipperiness of the superwash. It was so slippery! I also noticed this time around that it felt a bit plasticky while I was spinning it - none of that remained in the finished yarn, but it was just an observation.

Spun/plied at 9:1/6.5:1. Finished with a soak in warm water and wool wash, then thwacked and hung to dry.

I ended up with 200 yds from the 4 oz, at ~8 wpi. As you can see, not the most even spin I've ever done. I found it hard to control the superwash slipperiness, and it took a long time to get comfortable with it. I was planning on a baby surprise jacket for a friend, but since the yarn came out pretty bulky, I'm going to have to reconsider that plan. A hat maybe? A cushy cowl? Hmmm....

Another Christmas FO: Baktus

It's been all-handspun knitting, all the time here in the Porpoise household. The next lovely holiday item to show you is my first Baktus.

Pattern: Baktus scarf by Strikkelise
Yarn: handspun 18 micron merino from Hello Yarn, colorway Maldives, details on the spinning here and here. Guess it didn't end up as Girl Mittens after all...
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
Start/finish: 5 Dec-8 Dec 2010
Comments/mods: There are some patterns that are perfect for handspun yarn, and I'm beginning to suspect that anything in garter stitch is a good candidate. This incredibly easy scarf/shawlette is designed so you can use every last inch of yarn - my Inner Puritan (TM) approves of such efficiency and thriftiness. You weigh the yarn when you start, begin increasing and keep going until the scarf is the width/size you want or you've used up half the yarn (by weight). Then you decrease, ideally ending up by casting off with only a few inches left over.

However, utilizing handspun throws a bit of a monkey wrench into the works, particularly if you are using two skeins that were spun at different times, with different grists. Like me. Ooops!

 

Skein 1, spun first, 886 ypp, 155 yds. Skein 2, spun several months later, 1427 ypp, 214 yds. Riiiiiiiiight... Apparently I split the top in half lengthwise, because the color sequences more or less matched. Both were chain plied. I started with the lighter weight yarn (Skein 2), and merrily knit my way along for 184 yds (155+214/2=184.5) and then started with Skein 1. I was probably halfway through the decrease section when I realized that a) I was going to have leftover yarn and b) the stripes weren't matching very well.

Dilemma...if I knit more increases with Skein 2, I would use up more yarn, but not know when I needed to start decreasing. But...if I started knitting with Skein 1 from the beginning again, I would end up with two pieces that would mostly match stripe-wise that I could then graft together in the middle.

Garter stitch grafting requires cider

I knit up all 155 yds of Skein 1, counted the number of stitches I had, ripped back on the first piece (Skein 2) and increased to the same number of stitches - I then worked straight in garter stitch without increasing until I had a couple of yards left. I grafted in garter stitch using the directions from this article on Knitty.com. The result?

Tiny amounts of leftovers that even I can't justify holding on to. Saweet. I was hoping the difference in grist wasn't going to be very noticeable, but it is. Thankfully one side is nice and drapey, and the other is cushy and cuddly. So one side can go up against the face/neck, and the other can drape tastefully over a coat. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

This beauty started off as a gift for my Dad, but then I thought that maybe our recent late night back porch visitor might like it. It is now destined for someone else in the States (sorry Dad, but it was calling someone else's name). I think I'm going to end up spending a metric crapton at the post office next week, with at least three parcels of knitted goodness to fling westward. I hope Royal Mail is up to the challenge!

Current Xmas 2010 list countdown:
Presents to be knit (total): 13 (two of which aren't due until January), so 11 by 25 December.
Presents now finished: 5, with 2 more about to be finished this weekend.
Total remaining in the next 15 days: 4-6, two of which need to be mailed to the USA. One of the others definitely won't be done (my husband's lovely Aran sweater. Hopefully he'll forgive me). The rest? I'm crossing my fingers...