Spun up colourways: Coomasssie Blue

In the comments on my last post that showed one of the colorways spun up, Gigi commented that she has a hard time visualizing how colors will blend, both in the yarn and in the final finished object. So for today, I've got another example of how one of my colorways spins up (with a bonus shot of an FO!) - this time it's one of the semisolid series, Coomassie Blue.

Coomassie Blue on Targhee

Blue is absolutely my favorite color, and I love this combination of tones and shades - light blue, some spots of navy, a dash of turquoise every so often - so I was really looking forward to spinning this up. Targhee is a really sproingy, bouncy fiber, so I spun this up as a 2-ply to use for a scarf for a friend. 

Here's the 2-py finished yarn. Doesn't look like much, does it? The dark and light bits of the dyed top look like they've mostly mixed themselves all up together. Not terribly promising...but take a look at how the yarn looks in the finished scarf.

I used the 2-ply as the warp in this scarf that I wove on a rigid heddle loom. You can see how the yarn that looked like it would work up as a mostly solid fabric has really beautiful, subtle stripes across the width of the scarf.

Here's a close up of the scarf where you can really see the stripes fading in to one another. This is one of my favorite characteristics of semisolid colorways - from a distance this will read as solid blue, but come close and you can start to distinguish the different shadings of color.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and happy spinning!

Rachel

A letter of apology

Dear JoAnna,

I do apologize if my previous post caused you a bit of alarm. I can hereby categorically state that I will always be a Knitter. However,

I might also now be a crochet-er too...(eep!). But I have a few things to say in my defense.

First: I had this pile of Tahki Cotton Classic left over from a baby sweater I knit for a friend when we were in Houston. Said baby is now 8, and I made it for him when he was about a year and a half old, so they've been aging in deep stash for quite a while now.

So I had lots of pretty colors, but not enough to really do anything with. So I put them in a bag together, thinking maybe I would crochet at some point, and I forgot about them. When this silly carpal tunnel thing came up, the bag had somehow migrated to the upper layers of stash, and I found it again. I can only plead absolute desperation as the excuse for my sitting down and actually pulling out a hook.

Second: I have tried to crochet before, on multiple occasions, and failed every, single time.

Apparently, that hurdle has been cleared*. And you know what did the trick this time? I'm crocheting left handed.

OK, to be fair, I am left handed, so it should not be a huge surprise that I can crochet left handed. But besides writing, I do most things right handed - I knit right handed, I draft (in spinning) with my right hand, I do most things in the lab with my right hand. This clearly explains why I also have carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand, so the left hand had to step up.

Et voila!

Before you get worried that this means I'm going to be going on and on at great length about hooking in the near future, rest assured that there is still knitting - I even tried a few stitches on the Hemp Monster today, and didn't feel like I needed to amputate my hands. This is a good sign. But for the moment, it's just me, my mercerized cotton, and a little metal hook.

Forgive me, please?

Love and kisses,
Porpoise

PS - Congratulations on the new wheel!
PPS - And on finishing ConLaw!
PPS - And on your awesome new summer sweater! I'm afraid I don't have any other suggestions on the size problem though...and I'm jealous that it's probably warm enough where you are that you can actually wear it.
PPPS - I think I may have found out where tapestry needles go when they disappear right out from underneath your fingertips. They migrate to the deepest, darkest, hidden corners of the stash. See?

I think those two little f*&^ers have been missing since 2005. They've been hanging out in the crochet stash. Because we all know she's never going to do that...be warned my little pointy darlings: there is nowhere left to hide!

* I must apologize in advance if you notice an increase in bad sports metaphors over the next few months. The 2012 Olympic Games are becoming somewhat omnipresent in these here parts...

Shipping changes

As of today, Royal Mail postage went up quite a bit for packages. How does this affect you? In one of two ways:

1. for UK residents, nothing will change (for the moment). I will continue to have free shipping to UK addresses for as long as possible - I'd like to be able to promise it forever (or at least as long as I'm in the UK), but that's not feasible. If anything changes, and I have to start charging UK shipping, I will let you know in advance.
2. for International customers: the postage price (to me) for shipping one bump of fiber has gone up to £3.86/£3.90 for Europe/Rest of World. I'm sorry, but that's not an increase that I can cover, so international shipping charges will increase to £3.90 for non-UK shipments. However, there is some good news.

The good news is that the increased shipping price will not go in to effect until 1 June 2012. That gives you one entire month to buy all you want at the old shipping price (£2.50) - my loss is your gain.

Enjoy!

Things I am doing instead of using my right hand

1. Entering the 2013 London Marathon ballot.
2. One-handed data entry.
ETA #2.5: Trying to look on the bright side of bacterial contamination of my cell cultures: it means I don't need to worry about putting caps on 500+ scintillation vials this week.
3. Contemplating starting to crochet - it only uses one hand, right?
4. Quietly cursing to myself.
5. Coming to the realization that I can not watch TV without fiber/yarn in my hands.
6. Weaving in a lot of ends. I mean, a lot of ends...

It is a bit irritating all in all, and I am a very grumpy Porpoise. You have been warned!

FF: George R. R. Martin is everywhere

You may have noticed this yarn in yesterday's post.

That is what happens when you take this fiber,

and spin it into sport/fingering weight singles.

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club 2011, BFL/silk, colorway "Night Gathers"
Prepped by splitting each 4 oz bump into four lengthwise pieces
Spun at: 9.25:1, point-of-contact drafting
Stats: 460 yards/8 oz, ranges from fingering to about DK weight
I finished with a fulling wash (hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold)

There is not much to say about this fiber other then yum. And that it is in imminent danger of being balled up, and cast on to start another Clapotis. According to the doctor, I have mild carpal tunnel syndrome, and I should use my hand as little as possible. And here, take these honking massive anti-inflammatory pills for a month - if it's not better, come back and we'll start with the fun tests*. Sadly, I can only manage the balling up part at this point in time. But let me figure out how to knit with my hand in a brace, and I'll be on this so fast it will make your head spin...

* And by fun, I mean So. Very. Not. (nerve conduction recordings and muscle stimulation via electric shocks? Sign me up please!) (Or not, thankyouveryfuckingmuch)