Spinning right round

I'm still in spinning mode, and lately I've been reminded of a few things that I already knew but forgot.

#1. No matter how pretty this kind of roving looks before spinning

It always looks like this afterwards- muddy. Now, it's a pretty mud, but it's still mud.

#2. Ebay bargains, in this case 17,000 yds (I'm not kidding) of very fine brushed mohair yarn for $9, may sit in the Wool Room for years, but eventually I'll think of something to do with it, like

using it to ply with muddy yarn. On the right, we have 1 ply of the mud roving and 1 ply of brushed mohair (it'll make a lovely halo after it's knit up), 2.6 ozs and 133 yds. On the left, we have a boucle experiment- 1.3 ozs, 94 yds, 1 ply brushed mohair, 1 ply sewing thread, 1 ply metallic glitter strand.

#3. Old Spin-Off magazines are wonderful. I was thumbing through back issues for a pattern that I vaguely remembered, when I came across the instructions for making boucle yarn. Since the Monster Mohair Cone was already out, I gave it a shot. I think this turned out beautifully, and I plan to try again with handspun.

#4. Ugly roving sometimes makes pretty yarn. The yarn on the left was a Merino blend that I'm hoping I got in a trade, because if I actually bought this green/yellow/pink stuff, I need my eyes examined. It was totally ugly in the bag, but I have to say that the 4.5ozs and 183 yds spun up rather prettily. The yarn on the right was gorgeous in the bag, and it turned out just as pretty spun up. It's naturally dyed with Goldenrod and I think it came from Connie at Colors by Nature's Studio- it's soft and sproingy, and will probably be used with the formerly ugly green/yellow/pink.

#5. It takes a long time and a lot of concerted effort to use up every bit of 1lb of handspun yarn in small projects. I knit another waffle hat with the Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll yarn, this one smaller than the first. I still have a small ball left, which I will use with the novelty yarn to the right, to knit one more hat. With that, the yarn should be gone. I hope.

#6. I'm still not tired of spinning. Go figure.

#7. The stash in the Wool Room doesn't look any smaller yet. sigh.

More FOs

I finished the waffle texture hat, which goes with the waffle texture mittens (which coordinate with, but do not go with the waffle texture socks, because I'm keeping them). The hat is generously sized- not terribly big, but it could have been 8 sts smaller (I used 104 sts with size 8 needles). It would be perfect for someone with lots of curly hair.

I think the waffle texture looks really good with this thick 'n thin yarn, and it plays off the color variations really well. This yarn, in case you forgot (which is not likely, since I've been talking about it for a month), is handspun, from a  Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll. I still have a largish ball of the yarn left- certainly enough for a pair of fingerless mittens, but maybe enough for regular mittens (and I can always stripe it with other yarns). I feel the need to use up all of this yarn right away, I guess.

I won't be knitting this yarn up right away. It's 3.6 ozs, 215 yards of natural colored Shetland wool. It came out so uniformly (the 3 or 4 spots with slightly thicker plies notwithstanding), that I'm going to enter it in the skein competition at NCFF next month.

I've been spinning a loooong time, and very rarely does my yarn come out this pretty. I'm happy just to look at it for awhile (though eventually it'll become gloves. Or maybe a lace scarf). It won't win a prize, but at least it's worthy of entering.

(side note: the *centered text under images* glitch seems to have fixed itself. This morning, my text is justified left again)

...whoa... knitting...

In between all the spinning, and swimming, and complaining about the heat, and writing (!), and the Farmer-y things I've been doing lately (picking and stuffing peppers, sun-drying tomatoes, keeping the flower beds marginally neat), I actually found some time to knit. You know, with yarn and pointy sticks... I haven't done a lot of that in the last month, and it was nice to get back to it.

And what am I knitting? Take a wild guess...

Did you guess right?

This is a cold-weather clog/boot sock, knit from the Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll that I finished spinning a couple of weeks ago. I'm using a very simple waffle texture (4 rnds K, 2 rnds K2 P2) which showcases the color variations in the yarn nicely. Now whether the mate will have the same sort of spacing between the "stripes" is anyone's guess. (My guess: no, it won't, in part because I'll have to wind and use another hank of yarn to finish Sock #2, and it's bound to have a different sort of rhythm in the colorway). I'm using my general worsted weight sock pattern: 48 sts, size 5 needles. I decided to do a flap and gusset heel in order to run the texture down to the foot. I rather like the effect (the yarn is too heavy for the normal slip stitch heel flap construction), especially for clogs (which I wear most of the winter).

These are the socks that I am knititng for Mary's Ravelry August Sock Knit-Along. In the old days (say, a month ago), I could have whipped a pair of socks out in 2 days, max. But these days, what with all the grandkids around and splashing and other distractions (not to mention the Fearless Fair Isle galley pages that are waiting for my attention), I will be lucky to finish these in time, which means I might just want to shut the computer down and go knit.

What needles?

This week's Spoonflower design contest is for camouflage fabrics. I had a fun idea:

It's called "What knitting needles?"

I'm getting better with Adobe Illustrator- this is my first seamless fabric repeat (without obvious divisions between the motifs). I started out with a solid background, and then I added earth-tone rectangles on the edges, lined up (for the seamless repeat), and ellipses in the middle. After that, I used a couple of the AI tools to push and pull the shapes all camo-like, and then I added assorted knitting needles (also arranged off the edges for a seamless repeat). I love how it came out, so I ordered a full yard (58" x 36") of the canvas twill fabric for bags, and maybe an apron.

Speaking of knitting needles, I played a bit with the yard of green Knit 2 Together quilting weight cotton this weekend, and made

A sock needle holder,

which came out just fine

except that the ties are a bit long, and I might make the next one just a tinch wider (the two outside pockets are not quite 1" wide- I forgot to take the side seam into consideration when I cut them out). It's an original pattern, so I'll probably post the instructions here soonish. I'm going to make a straight needle holder as well, and probably one for longer dpns (the above case is specifically designed for the 6" sock needles). I might be able to get all three projects from the single yard of fabric, but if not, I have a yard of the peach colorway too.

And here's something for all those soon-to-be carefully stored needles.

422 yards, 10.12 ozs, 2 ply, definitely worsted weight yarn from the hand-dyed Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll. I have probably 1/3-1/4 of the batt left to spin. This yarn is crying out to be heavy, winter socks (maybe even long boot socks, since there will be plenty of yarn), and I am just the person to oblige.