FO: Ripples

I finished H's Ripple Blanket while at Wonderwool last weekend. I love it.

Pattern: Neat Ripple Pattern (Rav link) by Lucy at attic24, which is really more of a recipe then a pattern FYI
Yarn: baby melter acrylic FTW! Aka: Jarol Heritage DK, which is actually 55% wool/25% acrylic/20% nylon, and very nice to use. 270 yds/100g skeins, less the one each of navy, pale blue, teal, turquoise, red, chartreusey-green and royal blue.
Hook: US G/4.00 mm
Start/finish: 1 March - 26 April 2013
Comments/mods: since this is a recipe and not a flat out pattern, I had to do a bit of (ehem) swatching to get the size I wanted. I did a little practice swatch (also usefull for practicing decreases, which I hadn't done before) and figured out how many stitches I needed for approximately 24 inches wide (answer: 90). Then it was non-stop ripple action for a couple of weeks.

I didn't want a set striping pattern, so I grabbed the colors (mostly) randomly. I say mostly because I tried to space out stripes of the same color a little bit...

I ended up doing seven stripes of each color, which took approximately three quarters of the 100 gr ball. Total yardage used for this, therefore, was approximately 1400 yds. Finished measurements after a trip through the washer and dryer: 30 inches wide by 32 inches long. Due to the wool content, it did felt slightly in the dryer, but it came out nice and thick and cushy.

Done just in time to go off to baby H this weekend. Now I need to figure out what to do with all the leftovers (color block baby sweater anyone?).

Shop update this Friday

I'll be posting an update in the shop at 11:00 am this coming Friday, 3 May, including these babies...

To make room for them, the following fibres will be made unavailable:

fMRI BFL

Hyacinth Texel

Quantum Dots Romney

So if you're interested in any of those colourways, get them now!

WonderWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

So, this past weekend was the fantabulous Wonderwool Wales festival in Builth Wells. I went, along with my entire family (who, to be fair, spent the day I was immersed in wool fumes hiking and exploring and playing in tide pools). The weather was glorious, the wool was plentiful and there were venison burgers. What more could a fiber fanatic ask for?

I went with a few ideas of things I'd like to get, but no absolute requirements. I'm pleased to say I came away with 4 items, one of which I'd been lusting after for quite a while, and some supplies for a repeat engagement with a particular process that I've been wanting to try.

Item 1 (the smallest and most expensive): an IST Turkish Spindle in Satin Rubain and Ash.

Like most of last October's P3 participants, I came away entranced by the whirling dervish Turkish spindles that Brenda and Amy were playing with. I'd looked at IST spindles before, but managed to refrain from getting one until I saw them in person. After trying one, I couldn't resist.

My failed dyeing test run from last week

Doesn't it look like it's itching to get started on this fiber? I can't wait to get going on it.

Item 2 (not pictured): some Unicorn Power Scour, bought precisely to deal with

Items 3 and 4: one dark grey/black and one white-ish Shetland fleece.

Now, my previous experience with spinning yarn from hand-prepped raw fiber was a mixed experience. So you may be wondering what could possibly induce me to start all over again with approximately three times the amount of starting material. You may be sitting in front of your screen, slowly shaking your head side to side and thinking "This may be the final fiber that breaks the porpoise's back." And I'm not so sure you're wrong. But here's the thing...

...I love Shetland fiber. I absolutely adore spinning prepped Shetland top, and ever since taking a day-long course on the inestimable virtues of the Shetland breed with JMM, I have been wanting to play with some fleece.

All this is to say that when I walked through a doorway and beheld the glory that was the Shetland Sheep Society's booth on Saturday morning, it was all over but the shouting...not 15 min after the doors  opened, I was the proud owner of two Shetland fleeces.

The first one is a gorgeous dark grey fleece that I kept coming back to, and couldn't leave behind.

It is lovely and soft. Unrolling it revealed some light tips that are either sunbleaching or guard hairs. Either way, it's going to be just gorgeous spun up. I think that I can sort the locks into two different colors and end up with a black pile and a grey pile. This is going to be the first project.


The second fleece is white, with some light apricot sections - it remains to be seen what it looks like once it's washed.

The locks have some absolutely gorgeous crimp. I'm really looking forward to getting this baby washed up too.


So there you have it - my personal spinning time for the next year, booked.

I've got one more, critically important piece of this fleece-processing puzzle that is guaranteed to make it a success:

I'm going to borrow a drum carder.

She spins, she scores!

At least that's what it feels like given the rate at which this bag of fiber got spun up (I didn't even manage to take pictures of the fiber before it got thrown on the wheel).

This past Tuesday was my monthly spinning group, and since I hadn't done any spinning since Wool House, I spent a fair bit of time on Tuesday afternoon frantically pawing through the fiber stash looking for something to play with. I chose this colorway (Fiber Club flickr group photos) on one of my favorite fibers, Shetland. I decided to spin this up super quick to get a bulky 2-ply, and boy howdy did I succeed.

Hello Yarn Fiber Club January 2013, Mouse Ears Shetland.
90 yds/4.2 oz, approximately 325-400 ypp, 3-5 wpi, 4 tpi, super bulky squoosh-gasm
Spun on Hansen miniSpinner.

Details: I split the bundle into two halves, and then split each piece in half lengthwise. Each half was spun drafting against the twist (semi-woolen), and the singles were about 10 wpi.

Started Tuesday night, finished Wednesday night, blocked on Thursday. I love these subtle neutral colors. Adrian doesn't often do neutrals, but when she does, they are absolutely spectacular. This yarn is going to end up as a cozy cowl somewhere along the line. For the moment, I'm just going to cuddle the skein to my bosom whenever I feel the need.

I'm off to Wonderwool Wales this afternoon, and may be enhancing my fiber stash dramatically in the shape of a fleece, if I can find one that I like. Keep your fingers crossed!

Finis

My first pair of socks in just over a year (last pair were finished 20 March 2012).

Pattern: no pattern used, just started at the toe, increased till it seemed about right, knit the foot for a while, did a short row heel over >50% of the stitches (for extra heel room), knit the leg until I ran out of yarn (Sock A) or it was the same length as the first one (Sock B).
Yarn: chain plied handspun, "Gobbler" Cheviot from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club, 95 yds for Sock A and 130 yds (not all used) for Sock B.
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm and US 3/3.25 mm. I should have gone down one more needle size for Sock B, as the fabric is a bit too loose for socks IMHO, but c'est la vie.
Start/Finish: 11 March 2013-20 April 2013.
Gauge: yes
Comments: so...I love this colorway beyond all imagining, and am very happy with the socks except for one thing: clearly my winging the pattern (i.e. not using the Sock Fitting Bible*) has resulted in socks that are too big for me. The heavier weight (thicker yarn) sock is better, but I got a bit too caught up in making the stripes line up perfectly (mostly) and ended up with a second sock that is just a hair too loose. So be it - these will be lovely around the house socks when the cold weather shows up again. In June**.


My next pair of handspun socks (handspun skeins in this post, also with a large edible bird-inspired name) will be done a bit more mathematically, and so hopefully will fit a bit better.

* any and all books about socks written by Cat Bordhi.
** a certain fatalistic British-ness is infiltrating my attitude towards the weather. I suspect this is completely unavoidable. My apologies!