FF: Lincoln Socks

I am feeling a bit like the unblogged projects are piling up and I don't really know where to start. There's so much going on at the moment that blogging is taking a bit of a back seat, so I'm going to try and get some things posted just to keep them straight in my own head.

This is a terrifically craptastic nighttime picture of Dev's new handspun socks, made out of Lincoln that I dyed. Since Lincoln is a longwool, and I didn't want the yarn to feel like twine, I spun the singles at 7.25:1 and then chain plied at 6.5:1 - I'm hoping the length and strength of the fiber will keep these from wearing out too soon.

Pattern is a simple toe-up, short-row heel, worked in k3, p1 rib. I changed to k2, p2 ribbing at the cuff. And I managed to get them on to her feet for an even worse modeled shot.

Given that it has been extraordinarily warm here recently (they're calling for 28 degrees over the weekend - bliss!) (Also: WTF end of September? This is July weather. Of course, in July we had October weather, so maybe it's all evening out), these babies are destined for the back of the sock drawer for quite a while. Thankfully they're a bit loose, so she shouldn't grow out of them before December.

I hope...

Rainbow Icelandic singles

From the gradient fiber I posted earlier this week, I ended up with this:

163 yds of singles (out of ~3.5 oz). I spun these at a low ratio (7.5:1) so that I didn't end up with wire instead of yarn. I hadn't spun Icelandic before, and it wasn't the smoothest experience. I think this top had both fiber types (tog and thel, which is the outer and under coats respectively), so the staple length wasn't consistent. I kept getting points where the shorter undercoat made clumps and slubs in the singles. It was a bit of a frustrating experience, but the finished yarn is pretty nice anyway.

I couldn't resist, so today, after I took the finished skeins pictures, I balled it up,

these colors are pretty true to life

and cast on for EZ's Pi shawl.

I'm working the increase rows as invisible increases and doing yo, k2tog whenever the color shifts in the yarn. It's not going to be very big, but maybe the girls can use it for a stuffed animal or something.

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!

FF: 3-plies, as far as the eye can see

The second experiment in my exploration of selling handspun yarn came in the form of two Spunky Eclectic tops I'd been eyeing for a while, and was inspired by my friend Caro, the Queen of the Three Ply.

Fiber: on the left, SE Panda (60% superwash merino/30% bamboo/10% nylon) in "Blue Moon", on the right, SE superwash merino in "Emerald Isle", both purchased on my first visit to Amy's bricks and mortar store in August of 2009.

Spun/plied: 15:1/12:1 and 15:1/15:1 respectively, both spun worsted, with a short forward draw. I prepped each top by splitting it into three equal lengths, and then stripping each piece into 6 sections. I spun each length on to one bobbin and then 3-plied.

Stats: 241 yds and 144 yds respectively (might have to double check that second measurement). Approximately DK weight on both.

Now for the experiment part. I spun up the Panda willy nilly, and loved every minute of it. The finished yarn is smooth and drapey and I desparately want more so I can make a tank top out of this stuff. The bamboo gives it a lovely shine.

When I pulled out the other superwash merino, I decided to keep track of how long it took me to spin it up.

Not counting prep time, it took me four hours to spin the yarn. I finished it by soaking in warm wat, spinning out the extra water in the washing machine and hanging to dry. So, this skein (if actually 144 yds) works out at £55 (including cost of fiber), which is £0.38/yd. Which falls into the range I've found. So now I've just got to see what the cost is for a 2 ply, and I should have my bases covered. Although if I spun woolen, it might end up being a bit faster...

Fiber Friday: more singles

I mentioned a while back that I was having some issues in the day job. Those issues are not yet resolved, sadly, mostly due to the crapshoot that is the research funding roulette wheel. I've been thinking very seriously about starting some kind of fibery business venture. With that in mind, I've been playing around with different types of handspun yarn, trying to get an idea of how much time it takes me to spin up X number of yards. The first ventures have centered around singles yarns.

This is the skein of Corriedale singles I spun up during the Tour de Fleece. 1.5 hours, 227 yds. Not too bad for 90 minutes work, but my hands and wrists were pretty tired by the end of it. So I wanted to try again with a different fiber, just to see how it went.

Fiber: Hello Yarn Merino in "Harmonia"
Spun at 8.5:1, 282 yds.

The ratio was a bit high for the final yarn - I wanted to add a bit more twist then I did with the Corriedale, given the shorter staple length of the merino, but the thin bits are a bit overtwisted. It will probably come out fine in the knitting, but we'll see. I also fulled the yarn when I finished it - three shifts between hot and cold water baths until the single started sticking together. The finished yarn is nice and fluffy where it's not overtwisted.

This skein took me 2 hours to do, but my right wrist and hand were still a bit unhappy. I didn't do any predrafting with the fiber, just stripped it into sections (6 I think). I think that next time I'll do a bit more predrafting just to loosen the fiber up a bit more and make it a bit easier to spin into a single. I also might try to keep the single a bit more even next time and see if that helps the wrists.

If I were going to charge £10/hour for my labor, these skeins would end up at £30 and £35 respectively with the cost of the fiber, which works out to £0.13 and £0.12/yard. From my research, singles yarns are being priced at anywhere from £0.10-0.50/yard. That's quite a spread, with art yarns running on the higher end of that scale.What would you spend for handspun yarn? Would you rather get a full 4 oz or standardized skeins (i.e. 100 yard skeins)? Would you rather thick and thin singles, even singles or multiplied yarns? Please do leave a comment if you have any thoughts along these lines. Thanks!