Good things come in threes

In spinning, as in life.

Alpine Romney,

Changes Falklands,

Tartan superwash Corriedale.

What the...?

This winter has been fairly mild in London, mild enough that the daffodils have started poking out of the ground, and snowdrops have made their appearance. That mildness came to a crashing halt this week (snow shower on Tuesday? Really?), and culminated in the dire information that it was -4 degrees Celsius this morning when we woke up.

Now, those of you living in places with actual winter (I'm looking at you Chicago!) are saying "Minus 4 degrees? Pah! (after quick Google conversion) That's only 25 Farenheit! You're not even below zero. Suck it up cupcake!" Please grant me a bit of leeway, seeing as how I've spent the last 22 years not living in New England, and indeed almost 9 of those years living in southern Arizona and Texas. In any event, it was freaking cold. It made it very difficult to get out of bed, but getting out the door was easier because I had a new snuggly scarf to hide in.

Yet another Lacy Baktus, this time using some Finn handspun in "Shaking Leaves".

This is one of the few times I've ever spun a yarn for a specific project. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make this scarf from these colors, so I split up the yarn so that I would get more-or-less even width stripes across the entire length of the scarf. I started off, and things were going well...

Stripes are looking good so far. I knit to the middle of the scarf (by weight) and started the decreases. As I got closer and closer to the end, I started thinking that perhaps I hadn't been spinning as evenly as I might have hoped - the yarn was thinner, and there seemed to be alot left in the ball. I got to the end and had a big chunk of yarn left - riiiiip. Back to the middle, knit up half of the leftover yarn length, then start decreases. Rinse, repeat.

Finally I ended up using up most of the yarn,

but the even stripes thing? Not so much...

Bah!

I am comforted by the fact that no one will ever notice this except me (unless I point it out), and by the incredibly warm squishy goodness around my neck. Since I'm off to go take a bunch of photos outside today, this should help!

Technical details: more details on spinning the yarn are here. I used US 8/5.0 mm needles.

Ooops!

Meant to blog about this yesterday.

A handspun sweater for Devil, finally photographed
Pattern: Tappan Zee by Amy King, from Knitty
Yarn: handspun Targhee from Hello Yarn, coloway Sprout, about sport weight
Needles: US 4/3.75 mm
Gauge: 6.5 sts/inch
Start/finish: 10 October - 28 November 2011
Modifications: the pattern calls for a heavier weight yarn so I had to do some finagling with the numbers. I knit a swatch (gasp!), got my stitch and row gauge, and plugged some numbers into a spreadsheet to figure out which size to follow from the pattern to get something that would fit her. From that point on it was pretty straightforward knitting from the pattern.

I did work buttonholes all the way down, as requested, and omitted the diamond detail at the bottom. I've got some yarn leftover, so I'm hoping to be able to lengthen it as necessary as she grows.

For the sleeves, I knit straight for about three inches, then decreased two stitches every inch down to about 7 inches at the cuffs, which are finished with a garter stitch band to match the neck and hem. Buttons are yellow hedgehogs found in a shop in York as we were wandering about in the fog.

This is the third time I've knit this pattern, and it's still fun to do. Now I just need to work up one for Boo, and we'll have a matching set in the house. So far the sweater seems to be a huge success. At least it's getting worn a lot! Most gratifying when that happens.

FO: Some socks

I managed to get a few photos done yesterday.

My new handspun socks, which I adore (although I realized when taking these pictures that one is shorter then the other, so I need to go back and add a bit of length...).

Spinning this yarn was an exersise in trying to spin two skeins that would knit up into two matching socks. Ummm...actually, not so much, despite my best efforts.

That is ok, because I am madly in love with these socks. And it's finally gotten cold enough that I might actually wear them!

But it is hard to take pictures of your own legs that don't look funny.

Stats: toe up socks, size US women's 10/UK 8/EU 41 (otherwise known as porpoise-sized). I did an eye of partridge heel and calf shaping. Finished with about 3 inches of 2x2 ribbing.
Yarn: handspun Insect Wings BFL from Hello Yarn, two skeins of 255 and 254 yds, approximately DK weight. Spun as part of the Tour de Fleece 2010.
Needles: US 2/2.75 mm bamboo douple points.
Start/finish: 14 - 30 November 2011 (finished just in time for the November Sock a Month KAL)
Verdict: bliss

The importance of rinsing

Yesterday I took a break from all the knitting that is ongoing, and did a wee bit of spinning instead. I tried another new-to-me wool, some mixed English wool that Boo dyed a few months back - same color scheme as her Cheviot socks, but slightly darker colors. However...I discovered that the fiber didn't get rinsed out quite enough, because my fingers turned blue. Oops!

 

That's after an hour of plying this morning - last night after a couple hours of spinning the singles, my fingertips were bright blue!  I gave the finished yarn a good soak, so hopefully all the other excess dye is now gone. I guess I'll know for sure when I start knitting with it.

 

This wool reminded me of the Cheviot in that it was not terrifically soft, but had a nice grippy feel when spinning the singles. The finished yarn reminds me a bit of the Bartlett yarn I'm using for my MIL's sweater, although not as lofty. It's a very rustic yarn. I'm thinking lined mittens for Boo, to match her socks.

In other spinning/handspun news, I've almost finished off Dev's Sprout sweater.

We went to York last weekend, and my yarn-dar did not let me down. While wandering around the city streets, we happened upon a yarn store. Dev and I went in while Himself and Boo continued on. The yarns were lovely, but nothing I needed to snatch up and take home with me. They also had a nice selection of buttons, so after much hemming and hawing, we brought home these.

Perfect buttons for my little English schoolgirl. Hopefully she'll be wearing it by next weekend.