koigu is king (and a shipping sale)

In honor of all those lucky souls cavorting at Sock Summit this weekend, proof I do still knit socks :)


Pomatomus by Cookie A
Koigu Painter's Palette Merino, p338
US 1, 2.25mm dpns
Started: January 2009 (!?)
Finished: July 2009

Even after all this time, my all time favorite pattern (excluding PGR's basic toe up recipe) remains Pomatomus. I think this is my fifth or sixth time knitting it and I still can't get enough. Looks good in color blocks, in variegated, in handspun... and now in koigu.

Seriously, I've been hoarding Koigu for years and I don't know why I don't knit with it more often. Maie Landra (eta:) and Rhichard/Koigu Boy are magicians with color harmonies and non-pooling colors that set any design off. I don't think any design would look bad in this incredible orange, but Pomatomus just sings in it.



I do have a few favorite patterns in Sock Innovation bookmarked with yarn all picked out... but overcoming Pomatomus' tower is going to be tough :)

Koigu does make everything easier though, new to me things...



Looks like a simple stockinette sock, eh?


Basic Shaped Arch Socks by Marlowe Crawford
Koigu Painter's Palette Merino, p7140D
US 2, 9" KA circular
Started and finished July 2009

Marlowe's written a fun, fitted pattern from the top down in her Shaped Arch socks. They also work as advertised; the shaping is not just a design detail but truly hugs the arch of the foot for a nice snug fit when wearing that doesn't bag or shift after a few hours of wear. I do love the lines of it though, and how the instep shift echoes the simple wedge toe decreases.

I also love how yarn movement looks in these, and moreso in the perfect purple koigu...



I forgot how much I like to pick up and twist the stitches of a heel flap, and how I like to imagine a pattern in another yarn even before the current one's finished (can you imagine how a self striping yarn would move on the foot in a fun way in this pattern)? I'm cheating a bit... I've already started another shaped arch pair in some Dyeabolical Yarns handspun merino and they do look super awesome :)

Further awesome and further new...


knitting the heel flap on 9" circular

I used a 9" KA circular needle to knit these instead of my default dpns. I have magic looped, knit on two circs, but always return to my double pointed needles for socks. They just *feel* like you're knitting circularly, celebrating the spiral... not the back and forth, turn and turn back of circular knitting. I do love circs for some sock things, colorwork is nice with only two angles to manipulate floats over instead of three or four, but otherwise I'm a socks on dpns girl.

All that said, these are pretty cool! They take some getting used to-- I made myself stick to using them even though I wanted to quit during the first few inches. The needles are SUPER short, 2", and since I usually use the inside of my palm to manipulate needles (dpns and circs) it meant I had to learn to use my fingertips to knit. These KA needle tips are very light though, and pivot within the cable joins, so learning was not too difficult. I did need to pay attention and not push the working needle down so hard and so often, I ended up with a sore spot on my left pointer finger after several hours of eyesfree knitting at the fleece judging.

That is really the plus tho-- I already can easily knit without looking at my hands, but always have to at least unconsciously glance downwards when switching to a new dpn or circular needle. With these you're continually knitting in that spiral, no need to look down at ALL. I was also able to do all of the knitting (minus the toe) on these-- including knit the heel flap and pick up and twist sts from its edge. I did have to use some stitch markers to mark where the dpns would be, but for me that's not a big deal :)

So much so I decided it's time to restock my knitting stitch marker etsy store as well.


smooth lava rock stone knitting stitch markers by zeromarkers

I've got over sixty sets to list (!!) -- so all orders from my shop of two or more marker sets will ship for free *worldwide* thru the month of August!

A Verb for Keeping Warm also has zero stitch markers (and copies of the Shaped Arch sock pattern) for sale at their Sock Summit booth this weekend (booth #503). Happy sock knitting everyone!

crochet chain roving braiding

the first time i bought chained roving i was !!! ... so much easier to pull open and start spinning than when its braided. i'm surrounded by a bunch of superwash rovings and barknknit asked how i was chaining them up-- a few pics of the steps (and a minipreview of the new dyeing idea i had to try out)...

take one end of the roving, lay the long end over the top of the short.



reach thru the loop, grab a length of the long end...



...pull thru...



...making another loop.



keep pulling the roving thru and making loops til you run out...



...insert end into last loop...



...pull taut and you're done!



yay!

this and nine other superwash merino rovings will be listed in my etsy shop tomorrow (may day!) at 9am (pacstandard). i'll have previews up in my flickr stream later-later today and can hold/reserve colors-- just send me a note.

[8pm: all photos uploaded]



happy spinning and dyeing!

catching bullets

my brain's all over the place the past week, i don't even dare try to number these :)

* the asymmetrical cardi grows.



norah gaughan has created a super interesting construction here-- you knit the two front panels separately, increase on either side for the arms, work out the neck opening on either side, then join for the back and knit on down. fold at the shoulder, seam up the sides and under the arms for a non-interrupted pattern (and no need to set in sleeves when seaming.)

i've modded the arms to have more pattern and less cuff (and under the arms for a faster increase rate), we'll see if it works when its time to origami this thing up.

the color in both of these is really off... but who knew a cable could pop so much?



yay o-wool :)

* i went to the bay area bead extravaganza and brought home fistfuls of new pearl strands for my knitting stitch marker shop. my new favorite? biwa stick pearls. paired with other pearls and semiprecious stones the stitch markers look like little surfers on surfboards...


biwa stick pearl knitting stitch markers at zero.etsy.com

less valleygrrl but still fun...


sample of what's to be added to the shop over the next week

* i warned christina. when i went to this month's tahki stacy charles yarn tasting at article pract, i warned xtina i'd sit up at night and weave all of the yarn samples when i went home (i took my weave-it instead of knitting needles). which wasn't bad...


top left and clockwise: takhi tweedy alpaca, filatura di crosa zara, loop d loop moss, s charles trapper

...because, oh do i love stacy charles collezione trapper. 70/30 merino-cashmere, very reminiscent of felted tweed. but cashmere. oy. i want to marry it and have red tweedy babies. or a sweater. or knit it a sweater.

filatura di crosa superior may object though. i can't tell who's been leading who on.



i think there's enough squares to tack them together tip to tip (five times fast!) and end up with a cravat. of brushed cashmere and silk.

!!!

absolutely gorgeous woven up, the cashmere just fills in the blanks.



doesn't it always?

seriously, superior is the most decadent feeling yarn i've ever, ever encountered. thinking hard about making mary-heather's lace capelet with it (only one skein of superior! and i have a 25% coupon from the yarn tasting for as many tahki yarns as i'd like!)

* speaking of weaving, while at article pract (best yarn store in the bay area), i fell down on the no more yarn oh goodness no the boxes are still overflowing sort of not announced diet i've been on.


a verb for keeping warm 70/30 alpaca-silk

don't tell anyone, but i think kristine sold her soul to be able to dye such glorious colors using only natural dyes.

:)

how could i help myself though? it is an article pract staff pick for november (20% off!) and can you imagine what a great scarf it'll make? i'm really drawn to green lately too. weird.

* if you're in the bay area, this wednesday (11/12) there's a spinning meetup at knitoneone in berkeley between 7 and 9pm. well lit studio space (plenty of room for wheels tho i'm bringing a spindle) and BARTable via ashby. it's really neat sitting in a circle of spinners. tactile fiber arts' trunk show will still be on display, if you need a fiber/yarn fix mid-spinning :)

more info here on ravelry in the bay area spinners forum. we're renting the space ($60) and splitting the cost amongst us-- last time we had about ten people? good times! i'm bringing wisteria for show and tell :)


photo by wondermike-- header for the fabulous yknit podcast re: knit one one!

* did you have a good hallowe'en? we did. yes we did ;)



i think i'm all caught up :)

miss you!

Ready for Stitches West 2008? (...or, how many knitting stitch markers does it take to choke a horse?)

I am! :) Well... as far as obligations go, I finally got to stop holding my breath when Kristine and Adrienne from A Verb for Keeping Warm picked up the zeromarkers stitch markers for their Stitches West booth (booth 840!) yesterday along with the plexiglas stand I bought for the Bay Area Knit Co-Op booth at Stitches last year...


(i made way more than these :))

Taking some lessons from last year, I know that the way I packaged them last time caused them to fall forward from their pretty plexi stand and make a general mess. This time, I mounted a single marker to the front of the card like I do for thank you gifts, and packaged the remaining six on the back of the card.


(still, there are more than pictured... :))

Last year I handwrote the type and ring size of each marker set... not a great idea for my terrible handwriting and the ensuing cramping. This year I picked up a few reusable stamps and only had to write in the ring size and extra stone info after stamping the backs of the cards the markers were mounted on. I really like the way the labeling works-- markers sold in my store haven't been marked with what kind of stone they are, and for gifts the recipient may not know what they were. I hadn't come up with a good, cost effective way of labeling before and it kind of bugged me, though I hadn't heard anything directly about it. I think I'll keep this up for my knitting stitch marker shop as far as stamping goes.

I picked up a box of moo cards to pack in with the marker sets... printed with an individual discount code on the back for my zero.etsy.com shop as well :) They turned out great...


moo cards for zeromarkers, knitting stitch markers

I think they are too expensive for use as business cards with the volume I hand out, but as pretty extras in the Stitches West packaging they're awesome. The back side of the Stitches packaging is just as good looking as the front because of them... I just grabbed images of sold items from my etsy stitch marker shop and moo did the rest.

They also included a discount code to share-- 10% your first (or next) moo minicard order with code "8BSUTZ". It expires 29 February 2008 at midnite gmt... soon, but yay for leap year anyway! :)

Kristine and I were undecided on what ring marker size to offer-- I made lots of US 2 and even more of the US 9 sizes this time. When I made the US 2's, I specifically made them smaller/shorter than I usually do when fitting US 9 sized markers. Thinking they're on sock or lace needles and wanting to keep them just as dainty, I really like the way the shorter stature markers worked out. I don't like long stitch markers anyway so most of mine normally hover at 2/3-3/4" long, but the shorter US 2's I made for A Verb for Keeping Warm were mainly about 1/2" with a few "normal" lengths in there. I think I may start making specifically "shorter" markers for my US 2 ring sizes and offer them in my shop-- in a week when I can look at stitch markers again, anyway ;)

...I know! Lots of stuff that's probably only interesting to me, but I'm so happy to have these done and out of here :)

Aside from that, I've been visiting all of the home pages of the Stitches West vendors this year, planning my must sees. My bent will be on fiber like last year, and this year has some amazing vendors I can't wait to see. A few (and of COURSE I'd love to hear yours)...

* A Verb for Keeping Warm, booth 840. I know you're thinking nepotism, but seriously hear me out. A huge range of fibers (and yarns) dyed with natural dyes, many of which are grown organically in their own garden. They're also a local shop-- VERY local to me, right here in Oakland, and I really like being able to support local indie businesses as much as I like supporting indie businesses in general. They're also sharing the booth with Tactile Fiber Arts-- another awesome stop for naturally dyed fiber and yarn. There is a huge hole in my (enormous!) fiber and yarn stash for naturally dyed items, justification central for me :)

* Article Pract, booths 1040 & 1042. This is my LYS, and seriously even if it wasn't would be my favorite bay area knitting store... actually favorite knitting store anywhere, I've never been in a knitting store outside of the Bay Area :) Christina is going to be debuting her new pattern line in the booth, hosting Alchemy Yarns' new book signing for "Destination Alchemy," and carrying Pigeonroof Studios yarns and rovings (!!)... I shouldn't have said anything, it'll all be gone by the time I get there Saturday!! :) Article Pract will also have the Knitter's Block which had my jaw dropping at the Knit and Crochet Show last year (Clara from Knitter's Review has a review HERE)...

* Blue Moon Fiber Arts, booth 731 & 830. Their Sheep 2 Shoe kits are always picked over by the time I make it on Saturdays... but I'll keep trying! Curious to see what the raven series looks like in roving-- though I hate buying 8 oz of roving destined for socks.

* Carolina Homespun, booths 717, 719, 816 & 818. I have no idea what I am looking for here, but I know I'll find it :) (Seriously awesome spinner stop.)

* Fiber Fiend, booth 738. I picked up some of Margit's fiber last year from the Bay Area Knit Co-Op booth (just finished spinning the last of it!) and I'm excited to see her colorways on her new bamboo and hemp fibers...

* Full Thread Ahead, booths 621, 623, 720 & 722. Four words. New Cookie A patterns. (Hopefully! Someone's scoped some new socks in her flickr stream, and Kristi has pics of a beautiful one here-- "Stricken"...) Cookie can snap me out of stockinette socks, I know it!! :)

* Interlacements, booths 611, 613, 710 & 712. Their "dyer's choice" sale bins are always worth checking out-- the last time at the Knit and Crochet Show was just okay, but times before I could pick up 8 oz bumps of handdyed merino for $15-- worth it in my book. (I knit the Totally Autumn throw from merino I picked up from Interlacements one year.)

* The Mannings, booth 301 & 303. I'm curious to see the spinning fiber they bring, having heard good things about this shop online.

* Village Spinning and Weaving, booths 305, 307, 309, 404, 406 & 408. Another one I'm curious to see... with so many booths, they are probably bringing a grip of wheels like Carolina Homespun! :)

...and of COURSE-- the RAVELRY BOOTH!! They'll be selling Bob pins (::swoon::) and other rav swag, yay! Don't forget about the passport game; I've given A Verb for Keeping warm four sets (in each of my ring sizes) of markers as prizes for the game.

See yall there! I'm hoping-hoping to have finished my Imogen jacket, just the front to complete but I'd like to sneak in a wet block (and DRY!), and in this rainy weather... wish me luck! :)

catching up

So I've been welcoming my new-to-me Schacht Matchless over the past week (one but not the only reason for radio silence)... and I realized I had some skeins of handspun spun on my lovely little Ashford Joy that I hadn't photographed yet!


Handspun 2-ply sock yarn, 70/30 superwash wool/alpaca
roving from fromthewoolroom.etsy.com -- "jam" colorway

Oh, it is so red! Purple too, but I can't get enough red lately. It is one of those yarns whose colors shift in the light; bright when under sun like this, more muted and heathery looking in ambient. I'm actually knitting this yarn into socks, my walkaround stst socks so they may a long time in the hopper, but they'll be so nice when done.

I worried that the alpaca would lend the yarn to have no stretch, that I had to knit this into a rib or pattern to help a sock keep its shape-- but the wool is helping with the bounce and I'm knitting the socks in a slightly less wide foot to help with any loosening. Lori did such a great job in dyeing this-- you may remember the roving from a past etsy friday. She took a base fiber that was grey, so the red and purples were more muted than if she had used a white. Such a good idea, and it ended up spinning into such a nice yarn.

So did the last half of the Crosspatch Creations batt from a while back...


laceweight singles spun from Crosspatch Creations batt-- "eggplant"
purchased from thebellwether.com

I worried before that I wouldn't have enough for a laceweight project... turned out to be 1300 yards (!!). I originally planned on Juno Regina, but instead am planning, sometime, to gank amy's idea of knitting laceweight circularly on a US 0 16" needle and making myself a lovely in the round stst scarf. I need to find a US 0 in 16", not a big deal but has kept me from starting (plus, the project'll prolly replace my walkaround socks, and I do like surprising those more than I'd like a scarf for myself right now...) but anyways, that's the plan :)

One more thing, plan...


Imogen Jacket, back
Noro Silver Thaw, color 11, US 8
Started: 8 feb 08

I have no idea what possessed me. Well... maybe :) I heard the Stash and Burn ladies talking about what they were working on to wear to Stitches West, and I had also just reminded myself that my first adult sweater attempt is making me mad taking up space in my stash and I'll never finish it even though nothing's wrong with it (anyone want some yarn and half a sweater for postage?) pending... Anyway-- I started and like 5" in I decided it was way too Dolly's coat... but didn't rip cos, well I was knitting in the dark and nothing else was close at hand :) I've managed to knit almost the entire back (the stripes'll run vertically like this) and I still don't know if it's too... much.

Then again, my noro kerchief is too much and I wear it ALL THE TIME. So... who knows :) Maybe I'll have a handknit sweater to wear for Stitches West. I will have a grip of zero stitch markers for Stitches though (courtesy of A Verb for Keeping Warm's booth-- booth 840 & playing in the Ravelry passport game)... more pics of my gargantuan task later.

For now, a reminder! Kate is holding a fundraiser in her brother's name for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. For every $10 donated in his name by Feb. 24th, you are entered to win one of *many* awesome prizes Kate and the fiber community have lined up (including 4 sets of zero.etsy.com stitch markers!)

Have a good one, til then :)

etsy friday

Part of the love I have for etsy is not just finding acres of cool stuff for myself, but being able to connect with other artists and use their handmade items when making and preparing things for my own etsy shop. I realized, after buying more "zero" hangtags for my handdyed rovings and handspun yarns that I should check MaryLou's shop out for larger sized tags as well. She has a huge range of tags, but these! are! perfect!


Octopi handstamped tags by time2cre8.etsy.com
(bright in real life, rainstorms today!)

Ever since packing up my holiday knitting, I have been thinking how nice it would be to include a tag attached to items that I don't have the chance to deliver personally... you know, with a little "handknit by" and care instructions and the like. These tags have lots of room on the back for just that... and fulfill my irrational attraction to all things tentacled :)

It was a tossup between my colorful octopus tags and these "handmade by___" custom tags... the handmade ones may have been a better fit for what I intend to use them for, but... octopuses! :)

I also asked time2cre8 for more recycled business card envelopes (I use them in my packaging to send gifts in with orders)... I've gotten into the habit of letting MaryLou just surprise me with what she sends and these are so fun :)


Recycled book business card envelopes from time2cre8.etsy.com

These are made from a children's book and a comic-- so bright and fun :) I'm always floored by these; time2cre8 handcuts each from a template she designed, and handglues each together. She sends me blank business card sized cards as well that I go on to handstamp with my Hotai + Yarn stamp and write a thank you on... I'm lucky MaryLou's work helps me extend the handmade revolution a little further with these :)

I also try to find handmade items on etsy to make stitch markers from-- it can be a challenge, but one of my favorite artist suppliers for my shop is jessprkle.


Handmade paper beads by jessprkle.etsy.com

Jessprkle's shop is full of handmade goodness, from jewelry to handspun yarn and to these handmade paper beads. I use these beads to wrap copper colored wire around and make into one-of-a-kind paper bead and wire stitch markers like these...



I haven't made these in a while; they are more work but I really do like the effect. Jess' beads are the best of any I've tried-- they are very very hard (some paper beads I've bought still have a flimsy paper quality and don't hold up to the wrapping as well), and the papers she chooses are always very interesting and stand out even against the dramatic wire. With the downpour outside, I'll probably be spending a chunk of time this weekend wrapping these beads :)

I also couldn't resist picking up this tiny pendant from jessprkle when checking out...


q pendant by jessprkle.etsy.com

She's taken a glass half marble and applied a jumpring and a "q" to the back... and backed it all with a tiny dot of felt. It's tiny, but I don't always have to be a size queen ;)

...

Meanwhile, back on the farm-- I ran out of time last week to share something from an etsy artist who has purchased from my shop, but it is something I want to keep doing! I think it's another fun way to find cool etsy stuff... like handspun yarn from Knitted to a T:


Handspun superwash merino/tencel from knittedtoat.etsy.com

I don't usually go for tencel blends, but the blue and orange combo here is one of my favorites and would make such a super hat! I've been wearing my handknit hats a lot lately and need to knit one from a superwash-- they're getting much more use (and downtown grime!) than I had thought they would and wish I could toss them into the wash instead of handwashing them :) There also may be just enough here for some sweet simple mittens (esp. if paired with a coordinating color for cuffs and thumbs), another thing I could use more of lately :)

That's all folks, miss you! Stay warm :)

lemonade...

Instead of doing lots of intended things (etsy friday, secret knitting, listing new freshwater pearl stitch markers in my etsy shop), my past week was sidelined by the crazy rain here in the bay area (mom had a leaky roof!!) and my son's first bout with the flu ever-- meant lots of no sleep for me and lots of juggling, but thank goodness for our hobby... it calmed my nerves quite a bit over the past few days.

During the night hours where I'd watch my redfaced son try to suffer thru sleep, I worked on my Casino shawl project.


Casino Shawl by Anne Hanson of knitspot-- petite size
Elann's Lana Cash
Started: 28 December 2007
US 6 (4.0mm) Knit Picks Harmony needles, 48"
faceted freshwater pearl knitting stitch markers from zero.etsy.com

I know, doesn't look like much! :)

I started this shawl soon after Christmas for someone close to me who needed something akin to a comfort shawl... something to be wrapped up in where each stitch was made with a good thought of warmth and love. Of course, my mind flew instantly to anne's pattern shop and I remembered how much I liked this shawl when she debuted it a while back. It's interesting and not mindless-- one of the things that scares me about lace is the monotony of patterning and my tendency to get bored with the familiar, but the casino shawl is "knitted lace"-- patterning on both sides; the WS patterning is simple but it's not just "purl across." There is a provisional caston for the upper edge's border, but the side borders are knit as you go so I'm not as intimidated as I thought I'd be.

The Lana Cash (not carried currently by elann, the link above is to my short review of it; 70/30 wool/cashmere) is a 2-ply of black and brown with white tweed flecks; I worried that the shawl would look too... shabby? in this yarn, but figured it would be more wearable on more occasions than something dressier like a solid or silk blend. I also really liked the way the Lana Cash ended up after a good warm water soak-- it feels like rowan felted tweed and gained quite a bit of softness, so we'll see in the end :)

I did keep making some sort of mistake on the row 18-row 1 transition so I put it down for truly mindless knitting...


Handspun American Maid BFL socks
roving from dyeabolicalyarns.etsy.com
Started: Jan ? 2008
US 3 dpns, 4

Another pair of handspun socks based on Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' Simple Socks method, another beautiful showing of handdyed roving from etsy sellers. I'm still amazed at how red they are (and this is the more blue skein)-- I shy away from buying red roving destined for socks since it usually drafts finely into pink, but this is red-red and you guys know what a red fan I am :) The blue also holds its own, not purple which is a nice change for me.

You can see what I mean here from last time-- my long draw spinning's becoming less fuzzy in yarn and FO from the last pair, which looks better but doesn't feel as good on the foot. I'm definitely a feel-girl, so I may start to try and make some more fuzzy yarns :)

In the wake of the week I also started spinning the 50/50 rovings from my last dye session-- I dyed 2 oz of 70/30 sw merino/seacell and 2 oz of 80/10/10 sw merino/cashmere/nylon together, intending on spinning them into singles and plying together to see what they'd look like in a finished yarn.

The seacell blend:


"Mercutio" colorway

I usually don't like on-the-bobbin shots since mine always come out blurry and weird, but I tried since I really want to get pics of how the different fibers look individually to compare to the finished yarn plied together. The seacell in the blend didn't take the dye (I use acid dyes), and my method of dyeing will often leave white spots of undyed roving, so the finished singles were almost ethereal in their shine-- fog stains of the original colorway. I bet if spun into a thicker yarn you could see the streaks of whitish seacell, but here it just lends a sheen to the overall single.

I have come to the realization that I don't really like yarns with sheen/shine, but I really like spinning tencel-seacell-*-cel fiber blends. I'm hoping that plying with the merino/cashmere single will leave me with a yarn I can enjoy knitting into socks... I'm getting nervous about running out of handspun sock yarn for my mindless knitting :)

*Finally* regarding diverted time, I did manage to make lots and lots of new knitting stitch markers for my shop, though I am wrestling with the weather for better pics. New shapes for old favorites (tiger's eye stone bricks, silver leaf jasper in square pillows), new pearl/garnet combos and amethysts to be listed sooner than later. I will be restocking regularly over the next weeks-- I have a lot of sets that I just haven't even taken pics of yet.

Okay! Little boy MUST be feeling 100% better because he's crawling all over me, so miss you and talk to you soon :)

unoriginal hat and new original colorways

Spinning's slowed down quite a bit in the wake of travel and holiday/secret knitting, but since I haven't written for a while it seems there's a lot to catch up on!

I didn't even have a chance to share the roving on etsy friday for this one, so I get to (for once!) share a walkthru of roving to FO :)

I have a tiny crush on orange, and when Krista introduced her "harvest" colorway I couldn't just stop at harvest yarn :) (Her "bitter orange" is my new fav colorway though... I didn't buy that one, I swear!)


Corriedale by PigeonroofStudios.etsy.com -- "harvest" 3.5oz

As pretty as this is, I had no idea what to make... socks were out since I have no desire to handwash any new knits, probably not quite enough for a scarf (though, you'd be surprised how far 4 oz can go!)... I did have a deep love for the hugeness of Stephanie's new "unoriginal hat," despite my 100% failrate on knitting them for myself, and I attempted to spin a yarn to mimic Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Leticia to break that streak.

Leticia is a handspun yarn, bulky and thick and thin-- 80 yd per 3.5oz. I've never seen it in person and online it looks more thick than thin, so I aimed for a thickish side single that wouldn't be too weird/variable when knit up into cabling. I ended up with about 95 yd for my 3.5oz, so thinner than BMFA's going by the numbers. A very fast spinning project-- completed in one nite!



In addition to ending up with slightly thinner yarn, I also had no appropriate 7mm needles called for by the pattern so I decided to change the cable up a little bit to account for all of that and my truly oversized head. A simple change-- I increased each cable's "leg" by 1 stitch; so the 4 st right twist cable became a 6 st, and instead of 2 sts for each leg of the other I made three. Odd to describe, easy to see:


Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Handspun corriedale, dyed by pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com
Started: Dec 2007
Finished: Dec 2007
US 10 (6.0mm) dpns, 5

Like everyone else has said, a fast, fun hat. I was surprised that I used ALL of the yarn... this is a heavy, dense, WARM hat. Awesome for the local weather, and despite being slightly loose (esp. from being worn daily), it doesn't look bad. Maybe a little too ostentatious colorwise on my (giant) head... attracting more attention when I should be toning it down, but it's grown on me. I'm also glad to have made yet another project out of only 4 oz of roving; it makes me look at my fiber stash in a new and less daunted way-- I may be able to work thru it all eventually ;)

Speaking of fiber, I'm going to be listing several types today in my zero.etsy.com store: 80/10/10 superwash merino/cashmere/nylon, 70/30 superwash merino/seacell, and one 100% superwash merino. I dyed some old colorways...


"Fermina Daza"-- 80/10/10 sw merino-cashmere-nylon

...as well as some new ones...


"Skin Storm"-- 80/10/10 sw merino-cashmere-nylon

I received an ipod touch over the holidays so of course the first things to be added were the (few) cd's of Morrissey and The Smiths that I held onto (easier to misplace a cd than a record; who knew I'd give up my turntable?!)... so there are a few colorways named for moz b-sides scattered in the update as well :)

I did pair the seacell and the cashmere blends together for a few batches...


"Mercutio"-- 2 oz of each

...I'm keeping this one to spin as singles and ply together. Can't wait to see how *that* turns out :) I also have several "mixtape" scrap bags to list-- bags of more than 4 oz of one fiber type in several short color runs and in different widths (for a good price!); fun for stripey skeins or blending/carding or whatever your heart calls for.

Enough with the shilling... they'll be listed about 12pm pacstandard later today in my etsy shop! :)

Have fun, be back (etsy) friday!

spinny bitty

Time flies when... well.
Or, how I spent my Thanksgiving vacation.

:)


Handspun superwash merino, 2-ply
110gm, approx 360 yd
fingering weight
roving dyed by zero.etsy.com

I take it all back from before-- saying I couldn't spin a plump, squishy, full of life fingering weight yarn. Don't get me wrong, I love the slightly dk handspuns of mine (so warm! so fast!)... but I felt I was kind of missing out on a whole range if I didn't start trying to spin a fingering weight that I was happy with.

And I am happy with this one :)



When I dyed this, it was pretty out of character for me-- I usually like to dye (and spin) not too contrasty fibers... but this one! Green, purple, orange, blue... probably others I'm forgetting there were so many :) Even so it definitely has a purple overcast to it... for some reason it reminds me of Mardi Gras. Or Mardi Gras beads. :)



As lovely as it is, I am setting it loose on the world :) You may have read about Alyson's pup needing some emergency surgery over the holiday weekend and her subsequent stash sale (dude, check it out-- good stuff!)... I wanted to help so I've listed this yarn for sale in my etsy shop with all proceeds going to Alyson directly, and I'll ship it for free to the buyer once payment's cleared Alyson's pp account. I've tagged it "bittyfund" for easy finding on etsy -- I know Jen (Piddleloop) is going to be listing a few of her adorable 4x6 pouches specially for Bitty fundage too.

Speaking of etsy, I did manage to dye up some of the new seacell/superwash merino roving for my shop as well, inspired by "Love in the Time of Cholera." I recently bought 4 oz each of alpaca and merino in the Sangria colorway from SpunkyEclectic and plan to spin it into a 2-ply (a ply of each), so couldn't resist dyeing the seacell/sw merino with of some of my favorite superwash merino at the same time... the effect of dye on the two different fibers is fun but will look great if plied together.


"Leona Cassiani"

(The rest of the flickr sets are here, the rovings for sale are here.)

I do have one unlisted set of these fibers I need to try and take pics of (again)-- "Miss Lynch" in emerald and deep greens that wouldn't photograph true. If you're interested in the greens lmk, otherwise hopefully I'll have them photographed later today or tomorrow :)

I did dye several samples of the seacell blend to spin up myself. I spun all of the solids together thinly and navajo plied them...


wooden keychain sock blocker from thebellwether.biz

The seacell seems to be more of a sheen, not so much shine. I love spinning the tencel blend rovings, but they always look so shiny that I don't really gravitate towards knitting them once spun. It may be that there is less plant fiber in the seacell blend than the tencel blends I've spun (30% seacell), but I like it. The seacell doesn't dye (you can see the white streaks in the individual pics in my shop), but spun up you don't really see the white-- just sort of an iridescent quality left in the yarn. I can't help but think how awesome the fiber would be dyed up in black and brown (thinking of splityarn's Hanami stole in seasilk-- 70/30 silk/seacell.)

I also abused the 7734 put of my navajo plied sample yarn-- the hot set rinse water was clear, and despite me agitating, thwacking, and just being mean to the yarn :) it held up quite well.

Me, not so much :) This is too long... miss you, have a good one.