handspun wisteria sweater from twist collective

Umpqua, superfine Corriedale lamb fleece-- silver to steel grey with taupe tips
from Whitefish Bay Farm


scoured in lock formation


handcombed into sliver


spun worsted (short forward draw)


...all for Wisteria by Kate Gilbert from Twist Collective, Fall 2008
Started: August 25, 2008
Finished: October 17, 2008
(spun yarn during same timeframe)
US 8 needles, variety of lengths

Yay!

I really like this sweater. The idea, the shape, the silhouette. The top down yoke! More than just on me, from browsing finished Wisterias on Ravelry I really like how well this sweater seems to fit a huge variety of sizes *well.* I tried and tried to take a picture of myself in it and nothing worked (not used to taking full on body shots and not feet, I guess), but I like how it looks on me-- a rare thing. I knit the 47" (!!) size, giving myself 3" for the bust for ease and relying on the gentle shaping at the waist Kate provided to give me some shape (illusion with my linebacker frame) and it worked. I guess I'm just surprised that a sweater can really fit a range of body shapes and sizes in a complimentary way :)

I'm also surprised I managed to spin an entire sweater's worth of yarn as I knit... I'd comb-spin-knit, comb-spin-knit... I spun 1355 yd over 7 skeins and 500 grams (not including combing waste) and really, IT WASN'T HARD. If I can do it, anyone can :) Now, was each skein the same yardage per gram? Nope. Should I/could I have spun all my singles at once and mixed older and newer bobbins when plying for a more even end yarn? Probably. But I was impatient to knit, as fast as this sweater knits up I wanted it done. I'm not entering it into a wool show, I'm not asking for curious viewers to turn it inside out and look for irregularities where I added in a new skein*... I just wanted and got a really nice sweater that I'll wear and wear and that I am thrilled I took from fleece to finished object.

Speaking of wear and wear, I've worn this sweater a lot over the past few days... at least five. (Yay for cold weather and putting off turning on the heater!) I'm already seeing pilling wear at the underarms and across the lower part of the body.



Aside from needing to buy a sweater shaver, I don't really care. I do find myself thinking about it though... I intentionally spun the combed sliver with a short forward draw (inchworm) for a "true worsted" yarn (inchworm from fibers all the same length and combed in one direction), so I was a little surprised to see it appear so soon since a true worsted yarn should be smooth and dense. The more I think about it though it makes sense... the lamb's fleece was very, very short (2.5") and extremely crimpy/lofty-- not really the wools "meant" for combing and smoothing down into worsted yarn. I did remove a lot of waste from the fiber when combing, but maybe the prep and spinning method couldn't overcome the nature of the fleece itself.

Too esoteric.

As you may have guessed, I find myself locked in a love affair with raw fleece lately... I actually take a lot of enjoyment from every step, and really dig the individual characteristics of each greasy beast as I wash, comb, and spin them. This one-- the color of the fleece was what had my toes curling, pale to deep grey all tied together with the taupe tips made the color change on how you looked at it. First it was grey, bands of grey where you can see each little puff of sliver spun and run out...



...where a different angle brought out the warmth of the light brown shades mixed in during combing.



And another.



Definitely not a brown sweater, but not just a grey either.

As happy as I am (and that those who love me think it's spectacular, too)... I'm thrilled to be finished combing this fleece so I can start on another. :) Big plans!!

Til then, moo!


*one more idea i had spinning and knitting this sweater... i've seen designers use a smaller needle to achieve shaping across a garment where a pattern would make it difficult to insert traditional shaping. what would be cool is to think about spinning different weights of the same yarn from a single fiber to achieve that effect-- slightly lighter weight yarn at the waist/lower sleeves for a clingier effect, slightly heavier when incorporating cables and don't want to do increases to compensate for the pulling in, etc. lots of possibilities where shaping is concerned. i can't think of any commerical yarn where it comes in weight/grist gradation across the same colorway (much less dyelot), but for spinners! kind of a neat thought experiment, anyways :)

neutrals

I suppose if I keep starting new things, the older ones don't get finished :)



Wisteria is growing slowly, about 1/4 of the way thru the bottom cables-- I can't keep up with combing and spinning as fast as this knits up. Ran out of yarn again, need to comb and spin more :) It just flies-- a really lovely pattern that is pretty forgiving to my first attempt at spinning a sweater for.

Admittedly, it's not just the combing and spinning that has slowed me down from completing the sweater... someone very very dear to me is expecting, and you can just *imagine* I've lost my mind pouring over baby patterns for hours over at ravelry. It's too new to say whose baby it is (and no but thanks, it's not mine! pinky swear ;)), but I am planning on going all out knitting for the little one to be. I started a Trellis in Rowan Calmer I had in the stash...



The Calmer feels really nice as well, baby will be born into warmer weather so I've been on the lookout for cotton blends and the like. (My first ever socks were knit from Calmer! I had an urge to knit socks and didn't have enough of anything else on hand, I wonder how they've held up...)

I'm getting a smaller gauge than the pattern calls for (and I'm knitting the smallest size on US 6's), so it'll be wee :) My family's touchstone for baby clothes is always buying 2 sizes too big, even for newborns... I totally bought into that with my son, and had to make a latenite dash to the wal* the day after he was brought home-- nothing fit! :)

I've been queing baby cardis and sweaters though-- I had a single ball of RYC Rowan Cashcotton 4ply in the stash from last year when I knit my mom those piles of footies from it last holiday season, and tracked down another 2 on ebay (colorway discontinued) for an Heirloom Baby Aran set. The Cashcotton has held up well to lots of machine washing and wear on feet, so it should be okay for a non-knitter to take care of.



The dyelots are off for one, but I think I'll be okay.

I'd love more suggestions for baby sweaters and cardis, though... I can't wait to find out the sex! Til then it's lots and lots of beige and greys I'm pulling from the stash :)

I'm also on a seemingly neverending search for toddler patterns that could use 3 skeins of Colinette Jitterbug... I have three gorgeous skeins in morello mash (red-- color not correct) I picked up from Article Pract a while back and meant to make myself Jeanie with... but this color'd look great on my son and he needs a special sweater for the colder weather, even if he never really wore the other (one) two THREE I made him :)

easing in

Long time no nothing! :) Feels weird, trying to get back into writing about what's going on fiberwise when there's that stretch of time between... my little hater says I need something more stunning than a not even half finished sweater after coming back from so many days of silence but here goes nothing :)


Wisteria in handspun Corriedale

I started with 2 skeins of handspun corrie and have been spinning as I complete parts of the sweater... the spinning actually has been going very quickly-- it's the combing that is taking the time. This is the corriedale I have been combing out on my Craftsmiths, I'd guess the sweater has about 650 yd and 10 oz in it-- the bag is still pretty full :)

I was excited when I saw Wisteria, the cabling is just enough detail for me, and since the corrie was 2.6# washed and I lose quite a bit to combing in waste, I wanted a sweater that wouldn't eat yarn and still fit (I'm knitting the 47" inch size!) I also liked the way the sample looked with the slight variegation in color-- Umpqua was a variegated fleece, and try as I might I wasn't going to get a consistent color without lots of combing and blending pre-spinning (mixing different slivers together to even out the color)... I know I should probably have waited and spun each skein at the same time, but I just don't have the patience :)


love the taupe hints in the grey from her oddly colored fleece

I have been using my spinner's control wpi card from vip fibers to help... I'm pretty happy with the result when spotchecking the wpi of the singles and plied yarns, I haven't had any weird variation in gauge. I'm also spinning this up in a 'true worsted' style, inchworm from the handcombed sliver, and though I prefer the freewheeling of Spinning for Softness and Speed, the prep and the method of spinning is giving me a really consistent yarn.

As much as I love the grey, I needed a little color break so I started spinning the 1/2 oz samples from the latest Rhyme Times Sampler from The Bellwether.


spun samples unfulled-- they'll be super plush when set

You know I love this club, but I've never actually spun the samples before! Sure, they'd arrive and I'd be all !!! and pet them as they sat on my desk while I ordered a few bags of my favorites before they were for sale to the public (at a discount!)... but after a while I'd just stash them in the fiber closet and not look at them again. I think I'm going to start spinning each sample up and maybe knit them together into a lap blanket or something.

The Crosspatch Creations and Three Bags Full fibers are always a fun spin, texture and once shocked and set give a really soft, squishy yarn. Maybe a crazy scarf knit longways with tons of fringe? Don't know... but I'm keeping a half ounce sample in my spinning basket all the time-- it's a really nice distraction between larger (even 4 oz!) projects.

What else? I did receive my new camera (yay!) and took a bunch of photos of stitch markers for my etsy shop that had been lingering too long. I also toted it with me to the Asian Art Museum in SF last weekend...


full set here

I don't have a clue what I'm doing-- my sturdy Canon S410 was simple and reliable, but didn't really push me to think about anything other than being steady handed :) I am going to have to read a book on photography in the near future to do my camera justice. Work in progress, same as everything!

Aside from these mishmashes, I've been washing wool with Unicorn Power Scour and hope to have a (longish) post comparing it to my standby favorite blue Dawn rilly soon. Til then, moo!