mittens mittens everywhere

Long time, I know :) It's the strangest thing-- ever since my son started school I can't manage anything timewise like before, even with a huge block of time in my day. I have no idea what's happening and have no doubt that it'll sort itself soon, but yeah... hang in with me :)

I don't think I'd even knit if I didn't have a goal-- this past month I've been working on projects for Verb's "Smitten Mitten" contest. Kristine put out the call for submissions of mittens and armwarmers knit in Verb fibers and yarn, both in personal and published patterns, and I managed 3 out of 4 :)

My first was more accident than anything. I absolutely fell in love with zigzagstitch's End of May hat and knit it in Verb's sadly discontinued Yakkity Yak (50/50 yak/merino). I had a lot of yarn left over from the 2 skeins, and thought about reverse mirroring the MC/CC for a duplicate hat-- but then Mandy released an End of May mitten pattern with that prominent, striking flower and I was obsessed :)


End of May mittens and hat
Verb for Keeping Warm Yakkity Yak, "indigo blue sky" and "cafe au lait"
Hat: US 4, Mittens: US 3
Started and finished: October 2009

Can I tell you I'm also obsessed with matchy-matchy now?! I want to knit a bunch of matching mitten and hats-- I always thought it was scarves and hats to match, but mittens are f*ing brilliant. I've already picked up some Ultra Alpaca for another set :)

I *really* love this set though. The pattern reminds me of something vintage, and the color pairing of the blue and tan-gold do as well. (go bears!) I can't take credit for the colors working together though-- I went into Article Pract and these skeins were just sitting there next to each other like they belonged together :) I think AP is the only place you can get the Yakkity Yak now-- they had some and even in these colors last time I was there.

I did make the shorter hat version; this one fits me perfectly like I want a warm hat to (over the ears and forehead). Also fits over big curls :)



SUCH a hammy pie. I like the gold detail at the cast on edge-- I did use some waste yarn to make a forehead-length lining, but removed it since the yak really is soft enough to wear (and I hate extra finishing :)) I just used some extra gold to do a crochet chain around the picked-out waste yarn edge to secure it. I didn't know I needed the shorter version til I was halfway done (swatch? for a hat?! ;)) so I just shifted the chart and its top decreases over halfway for the same result. Easy really.

No mods with the mittens, except I used a 2-color caston for that same gold detail at the cuff, purled one row in MC, then started the pattern.

Speaking of mods, my next Verb mitt project was Gasteropoda by Kristi Geraci...


Gasteropoda by Kristi Geraci
Verb for Keeping Warm Creating Superwash Sock, "Wonder Boy"
variety of needles
Started and finished: November 2009

I fell in love the minute I saw this on Kristi's blog. Look closely-- it's a 2" spiral that winds its way around the hand and arm! I am a SUCKER for innovation, and this! is! OSSUM! Knitting these I kept thinking that I want a spiral knit sweater now :) I'm not a cool enough knitter to figure that one out, but seriously I'd make one.

I lengthened mine (Kristi's version is a more traditional armwarmer length), and chose a shorter dye repeat with "Wonder Boy" (original knit in Wisdom Yarns Poems sock, a long striping yarn like Noro). I chose to lengthen them because lately I've been wearing my handknit kneehighs under my jeans in the mornings I drop my son off to school-- quite warm and almost like secret garters under denim in highschool. I think these will serve under a jacket with a light shirt quite nicely with our cold mornings and warm afternoons.

I retained the original caston #s for my size and only used a change in needle size to add width and extra spirals for length-- a US 3 for the above and upper forearm, a US 2 for the middle arm and US 1.5 for wrist and hand. I think if you wanted, you could also decrease stitches while spiraling if you wanted to use the same needles throughout-- the nice thing about sock yarn though is that it is forgiving knit on a range of (small) needles when you're not worrying about abrasion and feet and shoes.

I want to knit another pair of Gasteropoda from a long-repeat handspun... I can't help but think how AWESOME they'll be spun/knit from a DyakCraft (formerly Grafton) batt. And what a great choice for small leftover bits of sock yarn?! But I do like these a lot... it's like a maybe-poisonous snake squeezing me.

Aside from the spiraling construction (which is effortless-- no finishing), what really got me was the gusseted afterthought thumb. I'm not familiar enough with mitten construction to know if this is new or not, but it's really cool. I want to figure out how to use it for traditional afterthought mittens now!



Yay for a nice shot of the colorway and sheen of the yarn too :)

For my last mitt project, I knew I wanted to use handspun-- specifically the baby llama from the Verb Ultra fiber club shipped in August.



There were three distinct colors so I sketched up a stranded design using 3 colors (2 colors per row), tetris stylings.



The baby llama on its own didn't have enough body to stand up to mitts, so I swapped in some Lana Cash (dark grey) for one of the colors. I'm glad I did-- when I saw this colorway it immediately reminded me of Bohus knitting for some reason, and I spun the llama drafting against twist for LOTS of halo. Paired with the matte commercial yarn, the halo pops off like it does in Bohus collars against the body yarn...



I love these... they may actually get the most wear for being practical. (Tho I'm sitting here wearing the Gasteropoda to type this ;)) They are super warm but very, very light-- the pair weighs one ounce (30 grams). The afterthought thumb I kept very short so I could grip things easily-- I can drive without taking them off, unlike the fullon lovely End of May mittens. I also loved using three colors-- I usually only use two, and while I'm not aching to start some true 20 color fairisle, three was nice :)

Phew. If you thought that was a lot of mitten action, be sure to pop over to Verb for Keeping Warm's Ravelry group to see all of the entries and vote-- the threads are all stickied to the top til next week.

And as if that wasn't enough self-promotion... brand new stitch markers in my etsy shop! Hubei turquoise, carnelian, peridot, lapis, coral, garnet in nugget shapes... I guess I have been busy ;)

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade zero.etsy.com

Still adrift tho. Til next time :)

handspun ishbel

Ishbel from Ysolda Teague
handspun merino/silk, fiber dyed by A Verb for Keeping Warm-- "sunny side up"
US 4 Addi, 24"
spun and knit sometime in May, June 2009

I started this blog originally to share photos and knitting projects with a single person, a non-knitter too far from me who indulged my itch to share the minutia of my life and obsession with sock knitting and yarn. For sometimes better and often worse, it has slowly changed to a true fiber journal. Unable to bring myself to write for several months has left me with lots of little and big projects that I feel strange writing about since they're not contemporaneous (the difference a day makes...), but I do want to record them because -- well, sometimes like Ishbel they're beautiful. Sometimes they're painful and sometimes they're just cigars.

My bumbling way of saying a few posts are going to be old-for-me projects over the coming weeks :)

This one started with a beautiful, single 2 oz bump of 50/50 merino-silk in "sunny side up" I picked up from the Workshop... Kristine only had one left, and being one of those transitory "limited edition" colors I had to have it, even if it was a much smaller amount than I'd normally be comfortable buying.



I always think in 4 oz quantities, assuming that I could never get anything out of 2. Surprise surprise...



I was able to get Ishbel out of one! One ounce. The scarf weighs 28 grams, and I'm left with another 28g of handspun for...? Something. There's magic in it, I'm sure. No magic left in me, no mods other than using a US 4 needle as opposed to the pattern's US 6 just because I wanted a denser stst and a smaller scarf.

I know everyone's knit one (I got my idea from hearing Nicole talk about it on Stash and Burn), and it is adorable! The reason I really like it? Wearing Ishbel makes me feel like some sort of knitting cowboy, sporting a handknit bandana.



So of course I popped back into the workshop and bought a few new 2 oz quantities...


Verb merino/silk in "indigo blue day"


Verb yak/silk in "crocodile tears" (?)

I had planned on making a few more triangle shaped scarves with these, but I'm toying with the idea of opening up my notebooks and spinning/pattern writing for Verb's "smitten mitten" pattern contest instead. My son's starting kindergarten in less than a month, and I've been kicking about the idea of starting to publish knitting patterns again in the time he'll be away from me. As always, we'll see :)

Miss you.

handcombing wool two and natural dyeing 1(01)

day 2 of tour de fleece 2009
362 grams combed total
294 grams sliver (68 grams waste not pictured)

I had to start putting the sliver in cleaner's supply bags since my foam boxes couldn't hold any more after this picture :) (meghan, these are the boxes i was telling you about from a while back!)

Not a bad showing, especially since Sunday was my last installment of the 3 week "Natural Dyeing 101" class I've been attending at Verb for Keeping Warm's Workshop in Berkeley. In the two previous weeks, Kristine had taken us thru mordanting...



...dyeing and dyestuffs...



...and yesterday was washing all of the beautiful BFL we had created.



I knew how intense the setup and work involved in natural dyeing was, but didn't body-know it. It really did take us three weeks to get from white wool to color, which is just crazytalk to me when I think about dyeing with acid dyes and being said and done in a matter of days (drying time occupying most of that).

I'm glad to have taken the class-- Kristine is an excellent teacher who fielded our questions like no book ever could. I know she'll offer the class again in the fall (after the cakewalks of vending at sock summit and soar :))... and it'll be a prereq to further classes such as cochineal, natural dyegardens, and indigo (lovely indigo discussion on anne's blog here today) that I'm already looking forward to.

For me, I was mainly interested in natural dyeing as it would apply to dyeing fleece... it really has gotten out of control here again fleecewise and for some reason, dyeing fleece would make it somehow more acceptable to have a wall of fleece come avalanching down in my closet as a regular occurance. Anyhow, I was able to take away enough information about natural dyeing to actively start daydreaming about how some of these colors would look over fleeces washed in lock formation, naturally colored and no...



Back to combing :)

halfway

Everything's halfway done 'round here (glass half full?)


warp: Tactile Fiber Arts superwash merino/tencel, "orchid"
weft: Hand Jive Knits' Nature's Palette, "odd duck 5"

This wrap has been done longer than it took to weave... I want to do something different (read: not overhand knots) to finish the edges but can't decide, so it's just been sitting around waiting to be fulled for almost a week. Really pretty though-- I think once done the tencel blend from Tactile will shine-shine and the Nature's Palette will puff up even more.



I've been almostthere with the "Sunny Side Up" merino/silk from A Verb for Keeping Warm for what seems like ages-- usually I don't want such a fun color to be over, but I was hoping to have something finished to wear to Keep the Fleece/Sheep to Scarf this weekend. Admittedly all my fault (again), I got sidetracked playing Jenga with fleece.



Very little makes me as happy fiberwise as arranging locks for washing when the fleece is as greasy and willing as this one. From Whitefish Bay Farm, "Velveeta."



Buying a fleece from Whitefish Bay Farm is a crazy ordering experience-- they publish their list of available fleeces (no photos) and a time they will start taking orders, and its off to the races. I was hitting redial on the phone for an hour and half trying to order (just!) one, and didn't get my first, second, or even third choice. Crazy thing is, I am always super pleased with what I do end up with. Maybe cos both times, the lamb fleeces from WFB were some sort of magic and shifted color midstaple.



Halfway indeed :)

Miss you, only thing more than half.

shetland triangle and verb for keeping warm retail workshop

before i ramble on and on :) -- congratulations belong to barefoot rooster on random.org drawing your comment (#1!) and winning the aVfKW Ultra Club merino/silk! email sent :)

now, onto the on and on...

I think I love gift knitting because I get to make awesome things I wouldn't necessarily wear myself, and when it's a fit with the recipient everyone wins. I loved making this for my sister :)


Shetland Triangle
Handspun 2-ply tussah silk and sw merino/cashmere
Spun and knit over 4 days in April
US 10.75 needles (7.0mm)

The goal was to make something machine washable (or, at least spot washable/easy care) that she could wear easily as quick cover for nursing baby. I knit it on huge huge needles (7.0mm) to really stretch out the most fabric widthwise I could when knitting, but only lightly blocked it by shaping the edges with blocking wires and lightly stretching to dry. I worried a severe blocking would mar the pattern (already a bit indistinct with the huge needles)... and that my sister is smaller than me and I didn't want it to overwhelm her frame.


(our mom)

I think the size looks perfect when worn, and provides just enough cover to overlap in the front (and bonus-- be able to see baby at the same time.) I used my gigantic (8'+!) Mmmalabrigo Clapotis when I was still nursing as a cover, and my son loved the dropped stitches when he was a little older-- poking fingers thru, playing hide and seek behind the fabric. I am so happy my sister has so much ahead of her :)

While the goal of the project was met, it was really the yarn I was excited about.



When I spun the tussah silk I knew I was aiming for long stretches of color, but really had no idea of their impact when plied with the white until I saw the striping of the Shetland Triangle appear. They look planned... and how I love when the yarn does the work for me :) I also appreciate their subtlety; my sister isn't a knitter and what speaks to me isn't necessarily what'll float her boat. (Noro springs to mind-- I never really dug the color striping and coordination until I knit with it and saw it jump off of my own needles.) I think the white here offsets the striping impact, in that it's not the only thing you see.

For me, the only thing I see is the silk, and the baby indigo blue that looks white until you really look :)



I don't think my photos captured this shawl well at all-- big scale photos don't show the silk which for me makes my toes curl. (missing that)

I also really dig that I did what I intended to do-- spin and ply the silk tightly with the lower twist merino/cashmere, and have the white ply sort of jump out of the silk's grip in both yarn and finished object. The result is so soft and shiny... I hope she likes it too! What's great is she saw me spindle spinning during my last visit and was fascinated-- I think she'll be one who appreciates the start-to-finish of this project.

I couldn't resist showing it off before mailing, so when I heard that A Verb for Keeping Warm was having a celebration to welcome their new full time employee Adrienne, I packed it and the kid up and headed to the WorkShop where I got to show Kristine what her fiber grew up to be and see this ground-up retail store for the first time.



You walk in and immediately its spindles and fiber and yarn and wheels and gentle assault on the senses as you take it in and realize how much work is hanging on the walls around you. It still kneecaps me, knowing how much work (physical, time intensive work) goes into dyeing with natural dyes. I love acid dyers, love food grade colors, but also know the time it takes me to dye a length of roving doesn't hold a candle to maintaining an indigo vat, premordanting raw wool, all of the etc. steps. (I won't go on about natural dyeing and the steps involved, but you can hear Kristine talk about this a little bit on the YKnit podcast a 'cast or three back.)

With all the work and the subsequent higher cost these yarns and fibers have to fetch to maintain a living wage for everyone involved, I can't be happier that Verb's business is flourishing enough to hire a full time employee. Appreciation for handwork, handmade, slow artisanal crafts... sounds like what all knitters and spinners want :)



Another cool thing about the WorkShop is that its creation stayed true to the business' vision: it started with a small truly empty space that was insulated with recycled denim fiber, panelled with findings, windows and doors from Urban Ore, painted with remaindered paint from SFMOMA and floored with carpet from the same.

And it's just a neat place :)



I couldn't get away from bringing some stuff home with me. It didn't help that my son was with me, he was talking me into purchases all day :) We finally agreed on two (not eight like he wanted!) bunches of BFL for a special something for him.



I also picked up something special for me... merino/silk in "sunny side up."



SO much prettier than my overcast photos show... and the last bit :( ...an end run of a limited colorway. Ishbel maybe?

I also broke my not-a-real sock yarn fast after spying this beauty (and a sock pattern I've wanted since its publication)...


Creating yarn (Superwash Merino, 436 yd/4 oz) in "Tide Pool" and "Shaped Arch Socks" by Marlowe Crawford

I think I'll use handspun for the pattern and the yarn for a Cookie A Sock Innovation pattern (I love this book so much I should write a book report ;))... I'm obviously on a project-planning binge :)

If you're local/bay area, A Verb for Keeping Warm is hosting a "Keep the Fleece" event on May 16th, raising money for Heifer International by hosting a day of spinning and knitting scarves-- a "sheep to scarf" event in our own backyard. A perfect time to connect with local spinners and knitters, check out the WorkShop Studio in person, and raise some money to bring more fleece into the hands of the world. Again, just what knitters and spinners want :)

What we want and what we have... but as always, out of time. Til then.

on and off

One of the best things about coming home from a trip* is the mail that's been piling up while you've been away. Who wouldn't love to find this beauty waiting with open arms? :)


Bosworth Midi spindle, .98oz in Bird's Eye Maple

Amelia at The Bellwether was kind enough to give us who haunt her Ravelry forum a heads up-- there were not going to be any more Bossies available for purchase from retailers (direct buy only from Journey Wheel), so if we wanted one we should speak up NOW before she sells out her remaining inventory to classes she teaches :) I love the tiny red cedar one so much that I know I'll love this too.

I'm sure spinning this month's Verb ultra fiber club shipment on it won't hurt with that, either...


Roman Numeral

So pretty. The spaced out dyeing has me thinking I'll try for some striped yarn when I get to spinning it-- I love when colors work together like this.

Also love this...


Handdyed Banana fiber from Blonde Chicken Boutique, 4 oz in "Leaf"

I had *so* much fun handcarding the polwarth/silk that when I saw Tara's banana fiber for sale in her shop I immediately thought of the possibility of blending it with a little naturally grey wool for an artier, bulkier, Spring-has-Sprung type yarn. Her post on the "eco-worthiness" of bamboo and soy in spinning fiber/yarn is an interesting, related read too.

I did manage a little fiber time when I was away, thanks to Tactile's Superwash BFL and my 2 newest spindles...





I slid both cops off onto drinking straws like before and plied them on the wheel when I got back...



...ending up with 3.5oz and 400 yd of sock yarn. It looks bigger than it is against my new HP Mini--


(Bosworth Midi spindle, not coke zero for scale!)

The HP Mini is a really adorable machine, perfect for browsing the web around the way since *my other portable networking device has gone on the haywire.* I opted for the solid state drive, not the hdd since I plan to carry it around a lot and don't want any parts knocking about inside. I also found out that Jetflash's T3K media is the same as HP's "mini mobile drive"-- half off HP's pricing and I can increase the drivespace by 50% (more when I add in a SDHC card... both are flush with the machine when inserted in their respective slots-- nice and no breaking off.) I'm going to take it with on my next roadtrip-- that I'm leaving for in about 24 hours!! A lot of movement lately for a sedentary creature like me. When I get back in two weeks I expect to have some socks to share (with all the driving ahead)... and probably a fleece or two will be waiting as well :) Unboxing at its best.

Back soon!


*another plus of family trips-- old pics to share :)

last call

If you follow me on twitter, you've already heard that I'm heading out to my sister's for her baby shower tomorrow... part of the reason I've been cranking out so many projects and blogging every day for this past week (!!) Today was the day for my last hurrah with the wheel-- I finished plying the pygora from last month's ultra fiber club shipment from Verb.


pygora from "penzance" and "paper moon"
(twist not yet set)

This was the fiber I was spinning on my wee Jenkins Turkish Delight-- the Turkish spindles are SO fun since you end up with a center pull ball when you're done.



I admit I haven't even started packing for the trip yet-- day spent in front of the wheel and in trying to decide what spindles and fiber to bring with me. I narrowed it down...


Asciano cocobolo rosewood spindle with Tactile Fiber Arts superwash BFL in "lichen"

I promised some socks from this fiber, and am really anxious to start and finish :) Probably will use Marlowe's new arch sock pattern if I hit gauge. I'm also packing my new, ridiculously stunning Golding...


Seth Golding ebony twist with Blue Moon Fiber Arts merino/silk in "jubilation"

I was excited when I read that the Goldings' son, Seth, would be turning spindles and offering them on the site (just makes me happy, the passing on of the torch among artisans) but I had no idea I'd fall for one and so hard. It is an ebony whorl, 2.75" with a sterling silver ring that was tooled by Seth. It is also heavy-- 1.53 oz (Seth made a batch and some are over/under the 1.8 oz weight listed on the site), perfect for a worsted/aran weight 2-ply from the merino silk.



Also perfect for trying to learn how to ply on a spindle... eek! I don't know why it scares me so.

Alright! Tonite's agenda is sewing wee buttons on all of the nephew-to-be's sweaters, wrapping them in the Spongebob wrapping paper my son picked out... and actually packing the important stuff like clothes and kid :) I'll be away for a few weeks (don't know if I'll be blogging), miss you! :)

simple patterns on the rigid heddle

As much as I loved using the pickup sticks for the float scarf, I think I like how mindless weaving is on the rigid heddle more right now. I set up the Flip with another longlongskinnyskinny scarf, direct warping just like usual but triplethreading random holes in the heddle (3 strands instead of one) for a slight textured effect.


A Verb for Keeping Warm alpaca/silk in Magic Bean

Another view of the overthreaded warp...



I like it so much, but am a little tired of taking pics of myself (even tho jen is rite and i should just get a proper tripod and be done with it :)) so there you go. I should try a little harder-- it is AMAZING how much length and just scarf I was able to get out of one alpaca/silk hank (4.5oz/422 yd). Even had a little golfball leftover!



It was fun (and mindless!) to add the little texture... the next time I try it, I'll also double or triple the weft threads at odd intervals, catching them on the ends and it'll look like a boxy, random plaid. (Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle Loom has details on this.)

Another cheatsheet way for patterning is to use color-- I showed this miniblankie before but am chuffed to show off the satin blanket binding I sewed on it so here it is again, done-done and ready for giving.



Yay sewing!

I used 2 balls each of a lighter and darker blue, directwarped the loom with one peg pass of each color then alternated all the way across the length of the loom (so, one slot + one hole with one color then new color the same... it's terrible but I have no grasp on weaving terminology ;)). Then, the same with the weft in one up + one down shed in one color, then switch.



My sister and I both had satin lined baby blankets from when we were born-- hers was blue and I'm hoping she remembers when she sees this. I still sleep with mine :)

If you're thinking about weaving and you're in the bay area, Kathleen is teaching both a rigid heddle 101 class (where use of the schacht cricket loom is included!) and a textures for the RH class at the Verb for Keeping Warm Workshop this month. Bone up and get something entered into Schacht's anniversary contest! :)