sock porn for knitting voyeurs.

Monday, October 30, 2006

panel and spectrum

I think its usually better to start with the good.

3rdpanel
Lizard Ridge afghan, 3rd panel
(about 4 squares, or 2/3 complete)

I was hoping to have this panel done this weekend, but I decided to spend my Saturday evening and Sunday morning with this instead...

hh
Yarn spun from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" handpainted merino superwash roving
(rocking dave's basketcase socks in sandals... you weren't supposed to see that!)

At best, at the very very best, I am ambivalent about this yarn. At medium spin cycle I dislike it. And at the extreme end where I tend to spend my waking hours, I hate this with blind fury. Its... ugly. Garish. Its kinda like the H2G2 movie-- starts out like a good idea but when you get into it, its just a mess and you want to like it (really really want to), but oy. Kinda like that. The fact I "wasted" part of my weekend with it, instead of working on Lizard Ridge, chaps mah hide too.

I feel guilty almost, hating my own handspun. I can't imagine using it, except maybe to subject my son to a crazy hat or something that he wouldn't wear anyway.

hhmac

Its about 240 yd, fingering-ish weight (pretty good for newbie me, I think!)... half of the 4 oz of roving I dyed. Yes, I have half of the roving left and I can't bear to spin it. At least I don't think I will. :) I split the roving widthwise (to split it for 2 socks worth), then lengthwise to fill 2 bobbins for a 2-ply barberpoled yarn. Everything was spun in long color sections, so (in order) the yellow & green was plied with black/blue (more blue showed up than I thought would), the red with the dark pink, and the orange with black. Pretty much anyway...

Oh yeah. The best part? Knots. I had fewer of my singles breaking this time (a miracle happens when the lazy kate on the joy is cleaned & oiled!)... but still had floaty breaky bits of underspun singles and when they happened along and fell apart, I just tied them together with the yarn into a knot and kept spinning.

What *do* spinners do when you plies break? If this wasn't superwash I'd just join them and be on my merry way, but I couldn't think of what to do.

Ugh! Just talking about it makes me mad! :)

***


(deep breaths)

Okay :) Better now. Going to hopefully finish this third panel of LR... and figure out what to do for Socktoberfest! I know I've knit some socks, but I dunno. Need to do something else-- shoot the sock yarn stash (again?) I feel like I just did that! Maybe that's what I'll do... or a quick review of "Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose and Knickerbocker Stockings" (oop) by Veronica Gainsford? I wanted to write a review of that book but don't know if 2 days will do it justice. (Plus, I have some Fearless Fibers yarn just begging to be worked into some kilt hose for me, and it may be too much temptation...) Ergh. Something else? Advice? Of course "nothing" is a fun and valid answer, too ;)

14 comments:

KarenK said...

I think your handspun is beautiful! Loud and garish? some may agree, but it may just be that you've been working with it so closely that your eye is oversaturated and your color sense is glutted (especially since you've been working with such deliciously muted colors as in the afghan). Try putting it away for a while and see if you feel differently about it after a week or two goes by. Or you could send it to me..... (hint-hint)

Kate A. said...

Noooooooo!!!! It's gorgeous!! My first reaction when I saw the picture, before reading the text, was that I *love* it! I especially like how you've got sections of red-on-pink and others of blue/green/yellow. I think it should knit up really nice into socks. Personally, I'll wear just about anything on my feet - I have much, much broader (not lower!) standards for footwear than, say, hats, which I'd also be more adventurous with than a sweater or something. I agree with Karen K that the problem may be the comparison with the gorgeous-in-a-totally-different-way muted lizard ridge.

Alison said...

I think it's pretty cool, but what you might try with the rest is navajo plying to maintain the color changes, no barber-poling or anything.

Anonymous said...

How about overdyeing the handspun? I've had great success with overdyeing yarn that I think is fugly...

lexa said...

Yes, from what I've seen you use that yarn is waaayyyy loud for you! I'm like kate a. and will wear just about any color or color combo on my footsies. It looks like it's spun beautifully - hard to believe you haven't been spinning for years!

Didja ever finish those entrelac socks? Of course, seeing more pics of your large and gorgeous sock yarn stash is always welcome!

Have a Happy Halloween!

Jenna said...

Well, you never know how it's going to look knit up. Before you give up on it I'd try knitting a swatch. Anyway, now I feel bad for urging you to barber-pole it :( I guess we can't love everything we spin. Sigh!

HPNY KNITS said...

send your hand-spun to NYC! its great- and will make one mean log cabin baby pillow!
its just wild, that's all. you got to love it for that. some aspects of you you have not met yet...
:-)

Anonymous said...

Your handspun is awesome! I love it. At worst, it was a learning experience of some sort, not a big bad waste of time. If you really can't bear to spin more, I'm sure you could trade the roving away...

Anonymous said...

Love your blog.

I don't have any good ideas for fixing breaks in plies, as I am wrestling with that myself right now. :) Usually it's only one of the singles that breaks on me when I am plying. So far, I sometimes roll the broken ends together between my fingers, and sometimes just loosen the scotch tension and let them spin together (like I would if it were just singles). ...

But as far as the yarn colors, no you DON'T have to love everything. I tell myself, "good learning experience", which hopefully it was for you, trying to line up those colors like you did.

But here's an idea for the rest of the roving: BLEND IT. Get yerself some wire dog brushes or go rent a drum carder and have a blend-fest, either thorough blending or a gently heathered blending, either all colors or select colors. Blending would totally even those colors out, make them more muted.

Unknown said...

I like it too. And I agree with Jenna - you never know how it will knit up.

Karen said...

It is loud, but it would be great to have a loud hat that people comment on and say, I *made* the yarn and then *made* the hat.

Send your left overs here! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my god, how can you hate that handspun? I love it! Should you want to part with it, there may be some yarn in my stash that could be traded.

re socktoberfest - You are sock pr0n. You are, in and of yourself, a celebration of Socktoberfest. There is no need for more!

Brittany said...

Seeing the Lizard Ridge is making me tempted to make it, if it weren't for the expense.

Regarding the breaks in the handspun: what I'd do is pull back to a few inches before the break, seperate the plies, and stick the new end in between.

This is my improvised method, and while I've done it, I've yet to knit with my own handspun, so don't kill me if it doesn't work! But I figure that the few inches of twist and the ply will hold it together. It kind of reminds me of when some people knit a stitch or two out of two strands of yarn when joining a new strand.

Elle Emino said...

Honey, sell that yarn. There are clearly an abundance of people who would like to have it. You can use the money to buy more roving and try again. After all, practice makes perfect. (I think it's beautiful, btw. Then again, I'm actually one of the two people in the world who really did like HG2TG.)

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