Birthday present

Himself asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I had no hesitation in asking for an installment of the Wildcraft Fiber and Spindle club. Now, to be fair, I ordered it and all the rest, but I probably wouldn't have done so otherwise - I suspect I have enough fiber already.

Yesterday it arrived.

A gorgeous resin spindle with a sunflower, and a cherry shaft, and a big braid of Shetland dyed in the "Last of the Sunflowers" colorway. Bliss.

If anyone is looking for a new crack fiber dealer, I can recommend Karen's stuff. She's got some lovely gorgeous colorways, and her own sheep! So head over and check out her site. You can thank me later.

A week in sweaters, part III

Subtitle: The Unfinished.

One of my goals for the past week while Himself has been away was to finish the body of the River Run Pullover. I'm happy to say that I reached that fantastic point last night:

There it is, complete with front and back neck steeks. I started the three needle bind off at the shoulders, but it was 10:30, my silly movie was done, and I needed to go to bed early. I'll finish the bind offs tonight, then put it away while we go back to H-town. The plan is to do the neck ribbing next (just in case so when I have to spin and dye more, it will be in the sleeves), then get going on the sleeves. I'm hoping for a 23 December finish for this (so it has time to be blocked and dried).

I also had a bit of startitis this week and did this:

Started a Tappan Zee for Devil out of the handspun I did earlier this summer. The yarn is quite a bit lighter then that called for in the pattern, but I managed to pull together a nifty little spread sheet that converted the numbers in the original pattern to actual measurements using my new gauge - turns out that instead of re-jiggering the whole thing with new numbers, I can knit the second size and have it fit her perfectly.

I am beyond obsessed with how this is turning out. I can't manage to get a good picture of the really bright greens in this yarn - it's electric! - but I am enjoying the knitting immensely.

So, we're off for half-term tomorrow. I am busily planning my travel knitting list which includes this sweater, some long neglected mittens I should have finished and published last winter, and a new design idea involving orange worsted weight yarn and short-row shaped scarves. Hmmm...

Imaginary post

Warning: picture-overloaded post ahead

I was absolutely convinced that I'd started a post about my finished Sour Fig yarn, but Blogger says no. I'll just have to blame my aging Mommy brain for that little mental hiccup. So this post will be a finished yarn and a finished object all in one!

First up: the yarn. As previously described, I took my spindle on our trip back to the US, and after a horrible injury and fabulous repair, I whizzed through 4 oz of Sour Fig Shetland from Adrian.

That's it in the lower right corner - sadly I have no photo of the original fiber, but there's a bunch here.

It took me about four days to spin up the six singles and do the 2-plies. This included spinning in the car, and spinning at every available second during the day. I was determined to ply in one go, so I ended up with a very full spindle, to say the least.

When it was all wound off and soaked and thwacked and dried, I had 56 yds of super bulky yarn with a very interesting texture.

The next problem was to figure out something to make out of it - 56 yds is not very much, but I thought I could maybe get a cowl or a hat out of it. I went for the one willow cowl by Jennifer Casa, and 3 hours later I had a finished object.

The pattern is a simple 1x1 twisted rib cowl, where you knit through the back loop but purl normally. I kept going until I ran out of yarn, which meant I had to tink back several rows so I could cast off successfully. But there it is - instant gratification knitwear, and it's thick enough to ward off some serious winter weather.

Which means it will probably go in to the gift box. Because no matter what my office mates say, London winters are so not bad. But there's one Christmas item done!

Spindling again

I brought my Golding spindle and some Hello Yarn Shetland (in "Sour Figs") with me for vacation, with the idea of doing a bit of real handspinning while we were away. When we got to the airport, I opened my bag to discover that the spindle had broken. Disaster! The whorl cracked across in two separate places, and came completely detached from the shaft. Things were not looking good in Porpoise-ville.

However, it just so happens that Tom and Diane Golding live a mile from my mother-in-law in Vermont. So I called them up, went by with my broken spindle, and hoped that Tom could work his magic and fix it. Lo and behold, two days, some wood glue and a rebalance later, my spindle is back and better then ever!

Since Friday, I've spun up 5/6ths of my Sour Figs. I've got one more single to spin, a two-ply to do, and then I'll get to the cabling portion of the program. I can't wait to see how the yarn comes out! People keep asking me what I'm going to do make with it, and I have no idea. A six-ply cable is a serious time investment, and I have no idea if I'm going to have any real amount of yardage. But I'm hoping for a hat or a cowl-worth of yarn. And at the rate I'm going, I need a trip to Amy to get some more fiber before we leave!

FF: The last of the worsted spinning experiments

 

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club merino, in "Patchwork"
Spun/plied: 17:1/15:1, short forward draw, aiming for speed.
Stats: 179 yds/4 oz, approximately worsted weight.
Comments: I split the top in half, then stripped each half into four long pieces and spun each half on to one bobbin. I was trying to spin this quickly, so I used a high ratio to get the twist into the fiber fast. I also tried to spin a slightly thicker single then my default, so the final yarn would be a heavier weight. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out though, and I think this skein is destined for Boo legwarmers.

From start to finish, the spinning took 3:36, so I rounded it up to 4 hrs with finishing. So that gives a starting price of £40 for spinning, plus £15 for the fiber itself, which ends up at £0.31 per yard. £55 seems like an awful lot for one skein of yarn though, so I might split this in half. It's still within the range I've found online though, so we'll see. This certainly isn't going to make me rich however! I also need to try some woolen spinning and see if that makes a dramatic difference in the amount of time this takes, or the yardage. That, however, will have to wait until September.