Start of the spinning year

When I started writing this post – last Thursday – I had not yet spun one jot so far this year.  I know- I’m a lazy spinner.  Roc day was almost a week gone already…  That evening, I sat down to reacquaint myself with the project on the wheel (Shipwreck, part 2), and spin for the first time this year.

I managed to spin up a fair amount of corriedale roving (colour: Ominous, my own dyework), for the second ply of the second half of the Shipwreck Shawl (make sense? Suffice it to say that the singles spinning is more than 3/4 done, and the plying half done…

That’s not the only spinning related news I have for you, though.  Anyone who is already a reader of Knit! magazine (the one that used to be Yarn Forward) will know that the last few issues have featured spinning-related articles.  And the most recent issue (Issue 45) features spindle spinning – and ME!

There are two articles in there: one is about the history and background of spindle spinning, the other is about me and my spinning.  Both are written by Camilla Hair, who interviewed me for the articles back in November, I think.

My hand-woven, spindle spun silk shawl gets a mention – and a rather pretty photograph – too!  It’s an amazing buzz to see yourself – and your projects! – in print in this way.  I’m not sure I’ve come down from cloud 9 yet…

A touch of the blues

Spinning, weaving, knitting: all seem tinged with blue right now:

The weaving is the warp I started for the Houghton Hall Alpacas event – finally off the loom!  I have some finishing work to do on this, but I think I will have a pair of place mats and a table runner when I am done.  I was finally motivated to finish weaving this warp as I have a great urge to put something else on this loom.  More on that anon, however.

The spinning is a second batch of fibre for the shipwreck shawl.  If you remember, I was spinning a marled yarn (one blue single, one dark grey) for this shawl, but realised I wasn’t going to have enough yardage.  I dyed an extra braid of each (the grey was my fibre anyway; the blue wasn’t), and I’m now working my way through the second batch of blue.  I’m not sure I’m getting the same thickness as the original – one reason I generally stick to a spinning project all the way through before starting something else – but I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end…

And the knitting…  Well, I’m quite excited about this.  You almost can’t see it in the photograph, but waay over there on the left is the start of a grand experiment.  It’s a cuff- for a glove.  I’ve wanted to knit myself some gloves that actually *fit* for ages now, and it suddenly occurred to me that the handspun Twilight yarn from earlier in the year would be perfect for this.  I’m loving the fabric I’m getting – cushy, woolly, smooth stockinette – and can’t seem to put this project down at all.  In fact, it may have progressed as far as the thumb by now…  Want a better picture? (No thumb, though) – OK!

What I’m doing with my Samhain yarn (and fibre!)

Of course I kept some for myself!  Did you think that I wouldn’t?  This is the first installation of my first ever yarn club, you know!

Admittedly, the sock and lace yarn I kept are from the prototyping phases – and I havent’ done anything with the lace yarn yet – but I had to keep *some* souvenirs.  The colour prototype, by the way, had a much more abrupt change from orange to black, generally less saturation through the oranges, and was – ahem – technically less together than the finished club yarnz.

I had hoped to have the pattern for these socks (or at least, the finished socks) ready to display on Hallowe’en itself – but no luck.  I finished the whole first sock, then decided that, really, it was too tight.  Yes, I could wear it – but it wasn’t how I wanted it to be.  So I started the second sock (without ripping back the first, I hasten to add; just in case I changed my mind!), and started work on the second.

When I finished the second, I realised I’d done a really stupid thing when setting up the stitch pattern for the foot: the whole thing spiralled gently, biasing it’s way around the sock.  Wearable, again – but still not what I wanted.  So I pulled it out, back to the end of the heel turn, and set at it again.  I think I had the first sock finished for November 1 – and I’ve been plodding my way through the second ever since.  I’m on the foot now – and without any silly mistakes, thank you – so it shouldn’t be too much longer till I’m done!

The fibre was easier.  I wanted to maintain the colour progression, so I spun it all into one long, graded single, and then chain plied it for a fat, round, 3-ply yarn. (Chain plying, by the way, is also called Navajo plying, but certain people think ‘chain’ is more correct, so that’s what I’m trying to train myself to say.)  But wow!  It’s a long time since I’ve chain plied anything, and I’m a much better spinner now, with much higher standards.  I had never realised before how hard it is to keep all the strands under even tension whilst you add the plying twist – and if you don’t do that, you don’t end up with such a regular yarn.  More on that another day, perhaps, but suffice it to say that what I was expecting to be a quick-and-easy ply has taken me a lot longer than I expected, and has needed a lot of concentration, too!

I overplied the yarn relative to its intial spinning twist, so it was quick active (read: twisty – you can see it coiling up on itself!) when it went in for its bath this morning.  But a couple of changes of hot and cold water, a good squeeze and a snap between the hands have it hanging meek and straight in the shower, drying.  I think a hat is in its future.

Finishing Friday

Done!

This great big box of batts:

Has been transformed into this:

That’s 19 skeins, varying from 36m/12g (the last, bracelet-plyed little bit) to 230m/69g (and I have no idea how I managed to fit all that on one bobbin!  I’m usually lucky to squeeze 50g on a bobbin with this yarn!).

Preparation: Picked and drum carded
Spinning method: Mostly point-of-twist long draw
Totals before washing: 2,746m, 444g.  I’ve averaged about 3.5m/g
Started: July 3, 2011
Finished: October 21, 2011

This really has been a long project for me; I wouldn’t normally expect it to take me nearly 4 months to spin just under a pound of fibre.  So, why so slow?  Partly, I think, because I burned out a bit on this project at the prep stage.  Prep really isn’t my favourite part of the process, but after the disappointment of the mixed dye lots, I really didn’t want to prep on the fly again, and end up with another lot of disappointingly varied yarn.  I wanted consistency.

The other issue is an ergonomic one: long draw is intrinsically hard on the shoulder, and my wheel really isn’t the best configuration for me and this technique.  I’ve built strength as I’ve gone along, and I’ve also worked on improving my setup, but there is only so much that can be done.  It may be that  a new wheel is in my future…

Finally: I’m really excited about this week’s Saturday giveaway, so do come back soon to check it out!

WIP Wednesday

Away from my blog for almost a week?!  Unbelievable.  You’d be forgiven, indeed, for thinking that I haven’t been doing much…  But you’d be wrong!

I have now completed ten repeats on my big weaving project:

(Weaving tends to look pretty same-y at this point in the game.  You can only ever see the bit that’s between the front beam and the current working edge, you see, so you’ll have to take my word for it that there’s been progress – and be satisfied with a close-up for now!

And I have 12 of these plump little puppies sitting around, waiting for wet finishing:

(That’s about 500g of yarn, 1855m in total.)  I have 6 and a bit batts left to spin, which could theoretically be done in a week – but which probably won’t be.  I’m waiting for the yarn to be all spun up before I wet finish it, so that they all get basically the same treatment.

Myrtle is coming along, too!  She now has (or is, I should say) a pair of sleeves!

I am planning to do a provisional cast-on for the body pieces, which always takes me a while (and we’ve had company, too).  In addition, I plan to add in some ribbing for waist shaping, and to move the start of the moss stitch yoke down the body a bit, so I need to figure out what’s happening where before I really get going.

Probably the real reason I have stalled on the knitting, though, is that I have been working hard on these:

I’m now up to the start of the thumb gusset on the second mitt!  That means I’ve figured out how to make it, and am now checking the pattern by working the second one.  With any luck, I’ll be able to make this available to all you crochet enthusiasts before too much longer – just in time for autumn chilliness.

If we ever get any, that is.

WIP Wednesday

I’m glad it’s WIP Wednesday around here, because frankly, there’s a lot going on at the moment.  I haven’t finished anything for a while, so the WIPs from my previous posts are still hanging around.  And going slowly, I’m afraid:  this is the second sleeve of Myrtle, and as you can see, we’re not far into it yet:

Spinning has progressed: I’ve plyed up a couple more skeins of the alpaca blend, and spun a bobbin full of more singles.  The problem I’ve had with this project is that I can’t currently get comfortable with long-draw.  Comfortable as in physically, ergonomically comfortable: I’m a tall lass, and hold my fibre in the left hand.  I’m currently having some fatigue/pain issues with my arms and shoulders, so the chair needs to be the right height, right position for me to spin for any length of time.  No photos of these; at this point, one skein of freshly-plied yarn looks pretty much the same as the next.

So!  Sundays’ swatch is now a full-blown WIP – more on that another time:

And there’s another WIP, too:

This is a quick little project; I hope to have it wrapped up by the end of the week…

WIP Wednesday

Yes – I said I’d make this a tradition back in April – and this is the second installment.  Consistently inconsistent, that’s me!

Anyway, I thought it would be good to do a quick overview of the projects I’m currently working on: not necessarily a full WIP roundup; just the ones that are actually getting some attention these days.  So:

Spinning
My wheel project is currently the wool/alpaca batts I talked about preparing for the Tour de Fleece (here and here).  I’ve spun and plied five skeins so far, plus a bunch more singles:

I’ve stalled out a bit on this project, to tell you the truth.  Last year, the Tour de Fleece helped me establish a habit of spinning for 15 minutes in the morning: this year, it somehow broke it completely.  I think it’s because I’m spinning this long-draw, which is exhausting for the arm/shoulder.  Also, my Traveller has a left-mounted flyer (which is standard), but it would be more ergonomic for me if it were right-mounted.  I hold the fibre in my left hand, so I can’t draw across my body.  Anyway, I was finding spinning to be painful and tiring, which isnt’ great.  I’ll have to see what I can do to restart my mojo.

Knitting is going rather better, though. The first of my green lace socks (name still TBD) is done, apart from grafting the toes:

I’m really *very* pleased with the way this has turned out: my plan now is to write the pattern, then knit the second one using the pattern I’ve just written.  A sort of self-checking mechanism, if you will.

Which leaves only my Myrtle.  This is progressing well, too: I’m almost a whole ball in, and I’m ready to start the shaping on the first sleeve cap:

This is the second garment I’ve knit using moss stitch and Maya, and, just like before, I love the way the colour variations are broken and mixed further by the texture.  I will admit to feeling a little anxious that there will be too much difference in appearance between this and the stockinette portions, but I’ll just have to wait and see.  (Then again, the swatch doesn’t look too bad sitting next to the sleeve, so…)

Knit Nation beckons

Knit Nation!!  Who else is going?!

I’m so excited about this event this year.  It was brilliant last year, but several logistical problems (waiting too long to book my accommodation and ending up nowhere near the others; having to drag my spinning wheel down to London (and across it) by train; not allowing enough time to decompress and enjoy the moment) meant that it was also a frantic and fretful weekend.  I’m also really excited about the Knit Tea Salon that they’re introducing this year: a place to socialise, knit, chill out, eat cake and drink tea?!  Yes please!  I think that convenient and friendly cafe facilities were about the only big hole in last year’s arrangements, so this should be awesome.

I’ve been packing today, because I hate doing it.  I’m trying to get rid of my habit of waiting until almost-too-late before starting on certain kinds of tasks. (Packing.  Rewinding.  Labelling.)   The hope is that I will also manage to lose some of the associated stress and panic along the way.

Anyway!  I have packed clothes!  And running kit!  And toiletries!  I have been wise and not signed up for any classes that require homework, but I still need to pack the materials required for the two classes I will be attending:  Cookie A’s class on ‘Knitting off the Grid’ all day Friday, and Judith McCuin’s ‘Spinning for Shetland Lace’ all day Sunday.  Judith’s class assumes a spinning wheel, but after last year’s adventures with the wheel on the tube, I’m taking a selection of spindles.  Much more portable.  Cookie’s class just asks for some worsted weight yarn and 4.5mm knitting needles; I think I’ll take some of my recent experimental yarns bases to play with.

I’m leaving all day Saturday free of classes.  I want to be able to socialise and shop and *not* be completely exhausted by my mini-holiday.  With any luck, I’ll even fit some exercise in to my busy weekend!

Of course, the Tour de Fleece is still active, and if I’m not taking my wheel with me, I won’t be able to make any progress on the wool/alpaca blend.  So I think it’s an ideal opportunity to take my lovely Russian spindle – my other Tour goal, of course! – and see if I can put in some quality time with that.

And I’ll need some way to keep in touch with the online world, too, of course.  I just can’t wait!

Tour de Fleece, week one

Ahh: the Tour de France, where real men wear lycra and attempt incredible feats of endurance and stamina.  And the Tour de Fleece, where spinners do much the same, except with less lycra, more wool, and a distinctly lower requirement for high calorie intake.

This year, as well as I’ve challenged myself to do two things:

• Spin up enough of a wool/alpaca blend to knit a sweater later in the year, and
• Get to grips with my new Russian spindle (bought at Woolfest).

I have to admit that I haven’t gone near the Russian spindle since tidying up after my recent travelling sprees.  And, as it happened, I had no chance at all to do any of my own spinning on the first day of the tour – Saturday the 2nd – because I was demonstrating and teaching drop spinning at a friend’s come-and-craft birthday party.  Still, I consider spending several hours teaching spinning to new acolytes to be a good way to kick off the tour.

A bigger technical hitch was that I hadn’t actually finished carding the blended fibre for my sweater spinning.  I wanted to blend the seconds from the cocoa-coloured alpaca fleece with a grey wool that I, errrm, ‘washed’ mostly by putting it in cold water to soak ‘for a week’ sometime last year.  By this spring, it smelled pretty much like the bottom of a pond, and had green slime growing on the top.  However, the lanolin seemed to have mostly disappeared, so I finished washing it, and called it good.  It doesn’t smell bad any more; it reminds my of my dive kit, for some reason.  The quantities I had of each meant that I could produce a blend that’s roughly one-third alpaca.  This is what my sample batt looked like:

And here’s the two-ply yarn.  Very woollen, very lofty, very stretchy:

The blending has been an adventure.  Last weekend, I spent a day and a half on it, and got enough fully finished to keep me busy on the wheel this week.  This weekend, I’ve managed to finish the rest of the carding – thank goodness!  So, by the end of the first week of the tour, I have three very full bobbins of singles, plus a partial bobbin:

And a big box of batts – enough to keep me out of trouble for a wee while yet:

Kita is amazed

Wonderful Woolfest

Wow.  It’s Monday evening; I can hardly believe that I’ve been away since Friday lunchtime.  In some ways, it seems like forever since I was sitting on my own sofa – in others, the time has flown.

I don’t think I’ve ever driven as much in one weekend: up to Cumbria on Friday afternoon (five and a half hours travelling); over to my parents on the East coast side on Saturday evening (another two hours).  All of Sunday there, then back down to Cambridgeshire today (three and a half hours).  It may be small potatoes to some folks in America, who occasionally seem to drive thousands of miles in a weekend, but it’s a lot for me!

Anyway, I’m delighted to say it was very much worth it.  I’m so pleased that I decided to stay overnight, and on my own to boot.  It’s lovely to wander around a fair in company, but in some ways it was even nicer to just meander at my own pace, following my own whims, not worried about what anyone else wants to see, or if they think raw fleece is boring, or dealing with a group which inevitably includes one hungry person, one tired person, and someone who needs the loo.  (Misanthropic?  Moi??  Well, only sometimes!)

First order of the day, as soon as I was through the door, was the raw fleece stall.  This was the point at which I realised that I’d sorely miscalculated my ready cash requirements: I’d had to pay cash for quite a few things before I even got into the show, and there is no way to get cash near the site.  In addition, only some of the stallholders can accept card payments, so, after allocating a certain amount of money for fleece purchases, a strategic tour of the hall was necessary so that I could allocate my remaining readies appropriately!

Anyway: Fleece.  I bought two.  One, a Lincoln Longwool, with the most lovely, lustrous, white, curly locks:

The other a complete contrast: a mioget Shetland:

I’ve not had time to get either out of the bags for a really good look yet, but I’ll let you know all about it when I do!

Shopping was interrupted at around half 12 so that I could meet up for a good chat (and a bit more fleece fondling) with Cecilia from The Wool Clip, who I met in real life (instead of online) for the first time the night before, and who might just be my new best friend.  I By this time, I’d already acquired my star purchase for the event: a beautiful Russian spindle from IST Crafts:

Go on- click for bigger.  You won’t regret it!

My beautiful, wonderful, gorgeous spindle is made of sycamore, and has a brass tip (which I am hoping will help it not get damaged).  It is a beautiful object, as well as a wonderful tool, and the craftsmanship is impeccable.  I also have an adorable little ceramic bowl that it is designed to spin in; there is very little friction between the brass and the ceramic glaze.  I spent so long at their stall, admiring and playing with the spindles, that I think I probably made quite an impression.  And, I have to say, the feeling is mutual.  Both Ian and Jake were delightful to talk to, and really passionate about their products.  The customer service I received from them (on a seriously busy day) was second to none, and I’d buy again from them in a flash.

Cash wise, that pretty much wiped me out!  I had to reserve a certain amount of money for caffeine and food (to help fuel the shopping and the driving), but really – this Woolfest was all about the people for me.  Despite the fact that I went alone, the best parts of the show were the connections, the conversations, the shared enthusiasm and the mutual joy.  On my own schedule, obviously.

Until next year, Woolfest!