Contemplating

...well... I still don't know. Either it'll be really interesting and striking (which is what toddlers want in their outerwear, dontchaknow), or it'll be really really awful. But if it's really awful, I can toss the finished sweater into the dyepot, so it'll be salvageable regardless. I'm rather curious to find out which way it's going to fall.

The most interesting thing is that the pattern calls for Size 2 needles and thinner yarn. I'm using Size 5 needles and worsted weight yarn (for the most part), and the pieces are coming out exactly the size listed in the pattern. Very strange.*

Mods: besides working the sleeves separately (which will involve some jockeying when it comes to the gussets), I am going to make the sleeves one row longer, and I'm going to add a border to the sleeves and hem (probably not ribbing, since there is no ribbing anywhere else on the piece). Otherwise, I'm working it to the pattern specs.

*I don't think the difference has anything to do with the pattern- people just knit differently.

Ebony and Rose Garden

I got the rest of Ebony's roving spun, plied, and washed. Ebony is (or maybe was, this wool is several years old, and I'm not personally acquainted with the sheep) a BFL/BL/Romney/Coopworth cross with lovely gray/brown wool (when finished, it's more toward the gray scale than the Chocolate Romney). I really love the subtle color changes, from dark to light, in this batch. I ended up with 15 ozs of 2 ply yarn, and a little over 1,000 yds. I finally remembered to take a picture to show the scale of the yarn (I can't check the WPI until the yarn is wound into balls, and I don't do it before washing the yarn because the bloom changes the wpi count)- it always looks worsted weight in the pics, but the pencil shows the true size (between fingering and sport). I am very pleased with this yarn, and it'll eventually end up as part of the handspun sweater that I am planning. I may spin another 8 ozs of the chocolate romney to have more brown, but I am mostly done with the yarn for this sweater. Now I can start planning the design.

I dug through the stash and found a braid of merino that was dyed by my friend Dana. She didn't name it (it's a one-of-a-kind piece) but I think I'll call it Rose Garden. I am spinning this very fine (for me) and I haven't decided how to ply it yet. I'd like to keep the color separation, but I dislike Navajo plying (I'm not very good at it, and my brain rebels at needing 1/3 more single for the same amount of yarn). I may just spin and ply singles and let the colors come out as they want. Or I might get some white merino and ply Rose Garden with that (it'll be a more pastel yarn, but very pretty). I do have some undyed silk on hand, and I could ply it with that, but the yarn could end up more bouncy than I like. I'd sort of like to knit a lace scarf (or small shawl), so I need drape. I have 5 ozs of Rose Garden, so there is plenty for whatever project I decide (no matter how I ply the yarn).

Kate asked for a shot of my spinning wheel. It's an Ashford Joy and I am quite happy with it. I can spin anything I want on it (from lumpy bumpy singles, to cotton) and I love the portability. It was my second wheel- the first was an Ashford Traddy that had to be shipped from New Zealand in the late '70's (for the grand total of $125, shipping included). I used that until a few years ago when I saw, and fell in love with, the Joy.

Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue

Not as many brown song titles, I guess...

The synapses fired a bit, and I remembered where some of the mystery roving in my stash came from- a few years ago, I offered a trade of my knitting books for wool. I am pretty sure that's where the Louet Corriedale, and a lovely bag of Targhee roving came from. And this lovely wool- which came with a letter explaining the wool's origin.

This box is the fleece of Ebony- a Blue Faced Leicester/Border Leicester/Romney/Coopworth cross. The box (which had been opened but not explored since '05) had about 19ozs of beautiful lighter charcoal roving- prepared perfectly, and it spins like a dream. These 2 hanks total 5.1 ozs, and 286 yds of my usual fingering/sport 2-ply. The letter is signed Franna, and I think that must be Franna Pitt, who was on the Yahoogroups list with me. I don't have her e-mail address any more, so Franna, if you're out there- thank you again. Ebony will become part of my handspun sweater.

I'm also uploading a shot of the 3 browns I'll be using as base colors in the sweater. The darkest is a prize winning Romney lamb from Iron Creek Ranch, the medium is the Romney I spun last week, and the lightest is Ebony. They go together very nicely, and it'll be lovely for the browns to gradually lighten in the background on the sweater. (Ebony's yarn looks gray in the pic, but it really is brown, and you can tell when you put it next to the silver Romney- no comparison pic at the moment. I'll get on that).

And though my wool room is stuffed full (to the point that I am still discovering roving I forgot I had), I did buy some roving on eBay- these 2 bags are from Jehovah Jireh farm (seller id: jehovajirehfarm). Each is 8 ozs, the solid is Cinnamon Stick (40% Alpaca, 20% Corriedale, 40% Tunis), and the striped is Autumn Splendor (30% Alpaca, 30% Corriedale, 40% Tunis). I think I might try to spin some of the Autumn Splendor as self- striping by dividing the colors in the roving in equal amounts, and then plying with the Cinnamon Stick. I envision a Trekking Sock Yarn effect- sort of regular tweedy color changes. I'm going to spin at least another couple of skeins of Ebony before I try the new rovings.

Blue Moon

I'm back knitting socks again, working on the last half of the sock book, so there isn't much spinning time. But I managed to finish the greeny/blue Corriedale that I dyed a couple of weeks ago. The skein is 3.1 ozs, 204 yds, 2-ply, the same fingering/sport weight as the rest of the yarns (with a couple of thinner spots- I wasn't as consistent with this roving as with some of them). It came out a really lovely dark teal with green highlights, and it looks great with the lighter blue.

Here is a new shot of the Sweater Railing 'O Yarn with all of the colors- there is some white yarn at the far right, but I couldn't get it in the pic. I'm not sure I'll be using white or gray anyway. I have a good range of tones (maybe another yellow?) and only have to spin up another 8ozs or so of the Chocolate Romney because that's my base color. I still have no idea what sort of design I want to use- traditional or non. I just know it'll be a stranded cardigan.

Blue Hawaii

I'm back to sock-book work (the one I'm doing now is totally amazing, if I do say so myself), so my time at the wheel is limited. But I did get a little spinning done last night- about a quarter of the greeny/blue Corrie roving that I dyed on Saturday. I love how this color is coming out.

I'm heading out to Mitchell soon, for the signing at Cafe Teresa. I'll be back tonight with a report and pics of The World's Only Corn Palace.

Blue Bayou

This is the yarn from the Corriedale roving that I dyed with Gaywool dye (Iceberg), on Saturday. It came out exactly as I hoped- a little mottling, soft and pretty lofty for me (I'm a tight spinner, mostly because I knit socks with nearly everything I spin). This skein is 3.4 ozs and 198 yds, 2 ply, and fingering weight (I'm going to have to start putting a pencil or something in my pictures for reference, because all of the shots look like worsted weight yarn). I took a pic after plying but before niddy-noddying just to show how much yarn I can cram on a single bobbin.

Next up on the wheel is the greeny/blue roving from Saturday's dyeing.

Blue Heaven

Man, I'm never going to run out of *blue* song titles (or at least, I'll run out of blue yarn first). This is a nice skein- 3 ozs, 127 yds, Midnight Blue, superwash Merino, my usual heavy fingering/sport weight yarn (it'll knit up just fine on size 3 needles- though the pics always look like the yarn is worsted weight). I'm pretty sure the wool is Brown Sheep mill ends, and it was the only blue roving I had on hand. It wasn't fun to spin- the mill ends were all jumbled, with fibers going every which way, neps and small snarls, and it was severely compacted (which is sort of the definition of *mill ends*). I was too lazy to get out the drum carder to straighten it out (Lazy is my middle name, you can look it up), and I thought I could just sort of finger-comb and pull it all into spinnable hunks. I was able to do that, but it was a pain, and next time (I have about 2 ozs of this stuff left), I will get out the carder and save a lot of bad words.

I've already spun and plied the light blue Corrie roving that I dyed on Saturday- it's a nice big, soft skein, and I'll take a pic as soon as it dries. Next up on the wheel is the dark greeny/blue. And after that more dark brown Romney, though I am hankering to try the Wrap and Roll yarn that is featured in the latest issue of Spin-Off. But today it's back to sock book work, so I won't be spending as much time at the wheel.

Am I Blue?

So, I wanted blue roving for blue yarn for the handspun sweater that I am going to knit someday when I can knit for fun again, and I didn't want to buy blue roving (in part because I already have a room full of wool and roving, and also because I would have to wait for it to arrive and Impatience is my middle name- you can look it up).

I found a bag of soft white mystery roving (which wasn't such a mystery once I noticed the little sticker on the bottom of the bag that said: Louet Corriedale Top, though I have no idea where it came from, so it's still a mystery), and I dug out the dye (Gaywool Iceberg, Country Classics Blue Spruce, and later a bit of Wild Iris and China Jade), and the tools. Note the fancy countertop protection and measuring devices.

I heated up the water in a big old pot (just for dyeing: Do not use dye equipment for food prep- ever), added 1 1/2 cups white vinegar, and 2 tsps of Gaywool Iceberg dye (remembering after the fact that Gaywool doesn't need vinegar), brought it to a steamy almost-simmer, and then immersed 3.5 ozs of dry Corrie roving into the water. I left the roving dry because I want uneven dyeing, and a slightly mottled yarn. The dye struck almost immediately (what with double the amount of acid, I guess), and so I only needed to heat (not exactly a simmer, but it was steaming) the roving for about 15 minutes before shutting it off to let it cool. The dye didn't exhaust but the roving did rinse clear.

Then I added 2 tsp of Country Classics Blue Spruce dye to the pot and added another about 3 ozs (didn't measure carefully) of dry wool to the pot and let it heat for about 45 minutes. I decided it wasn't quite the right blue, so I added 1/2 tsp of Wild Iris dye (powder) to one side of the pot, and 1/2 tsp of China Jade to the other side. I did very gently stir the water where I added the powder, but I didn't stir the wool. Then I let it stew and steam for another 20 minutes or so before turning it off.

I managed not to compact or felt either roving, which pleased me. The Iceberg is a very nice pale blue (not pastel). The darker blue is a bit more greeny than I expected, but it'll come out a lovely dark blue green when spun, I think.

I'll get a nice skein of each, which is all I need for blue (along with the one hunk of blue roving that I did have on hand) in the future sweater. You might notice that I am mixing and matching wool breeds- Romney, Corrie, Merino- the only fibers I'm excluding are those that halo (mohair, angora, alpaca). Everything is spun pretty tight and Stranded work isn't really elastic anyway, so I should be able to mix and match without hurting the sweater fabric.

Sweater Yarn

I pawed through the roving/wool stash and found only one hunk of blue for the future sweater- a little bag (maybe 4 ozs) of navy merino superwash mill end roving (probably Brown Sheep). I'm not very drawn to blue, I guess. But I have a lot of white roving (lots of breeds: Romney, Icelandic, Targhee, Columbia, and several bags of mystery roving- I really need a better system of labeling) and I have plenty of dye left from Yarns to Dye For, so I can come up with blue if I want to.

Added to the Sweater Railing this morning: 3 skeins of Chocolate Romney, total 7.7 ozs, 364 yards; and 1.8 ozs, 77 yds of purple variagated Romney.

I am pretty sure that I have enough colors to knit a sweater already, though I do want some blue for the mix, and I will probably have to spin up at least another 8 oz bump of chocolate romney (if not 2). I also have lots of odds and ends of colors already wound into balls that I could use for this sweater too. Since none of these colors are replaceable (except for the chocolate, silver, and white), I will probably have to work on the body and both sleeves at the same time so that they all match as I work my way up.

It's a good thing that I don't know what the pattern will be yet, because I'd want to cast on today. What I have to cast on today is another sock for the book. Luckily, it's a *fun* sock, and I am excited to see how it comes out.

Future Sweater

After several months of steady work, and the last couple of frenzied weeks, I met the first deadline of my sock book- I've done 34 designs, and knitted 58 socks/pairs, which puts me at about halfway done. I'll be back to the regular grind now: knitting for a couple of days, writing the pattern up the next. But I've given myself permission to play this weekend (the first real days off in well over a month), so I've been spinning some more.

I figured out what I'm going to do with most of the newly spun yarn-not the purple/fuchsia/glitz stuff that's going to be a Granddaughter hat, and not the neon striping sock yarn, and not the lumpy neppy mitten yarn, but the rest of the yarn.

I'm going to knit a sweater for myself. I think it'll be stranded. I dug through my tubs of already spun yarn and found a bunch of colors in 2-3 oz skeins that will be perfect with the colors I've been working on. A fingering/sport weight yarn is my default spin, and I have a lot on hand, some several years old, that never found the right project.

I don't know what style sweater yet (except that I want a cardigan), and I don't know what the stranded pattern will be, except that it has to be fairly simple because the yarns aren't factory uniform, and therefore small details might get lost in the occasional irregularities. I do know that the base color will be the chocolate Romney because I have a lot of that roving on hand, plus one large skein already spun, and I finished spinning up/plying/washing a full 8oz bump. I also have more of the silver and plenty of the white, so those can also be good background colors.

I've looped the skeins over the loft railing so I can look at them for awhile and figure out what sort of color-order I want. The motif will suggest itself to me when it's ready to.

And of course, I can't start knitting it until I'm done with the sock book- but it can percolate.

In the meantime, I found a little 1.8 oz bump of purple/red Romney roving left over from a larger project, that I am spinning now. I probably have plenty more than enough yarn for the sweater spun already, but I can see in the skein pic that I need some blue too, so I'll have to search around the wool room and see if there is any blue roving laying about (chances are good).

Spinning spinning spinning

The last couple of weeks have been exhausting- marathon sock pattern writing (there's a reason why so many didn't get written up until late, but it's too complicated to explain right now), and an inability to knit anything else (even socks, because I don't want to muddy my head with new patterns while I'm trying to get old ones written up). Spinning has been the perfect decompression- I lose myself in the rhythm of the wheel and relax.

I finished spinning the natural/naturally dyed gold/brown batts- I did a single largish skein that ended up 3.3 ozs and 142 yards. It's a heavy fingering weight (I'm a dense, tight spinner, that's why my yarn weighs so much while having fewer yards), and I love the highlights in this yarn. It's a companion to a yellow batch (same natural dye) that I spun up earlier (note that one skein is underplied). The yellow totals 3.6 ozs and 219 yds.

I'm working on some absolutely yummy chocolate brown Romney that I washed myself, and had Abi at High Prairie Fibers card into pencil roving. It's spinning like a dream- I have several pounds of this, though I'm probably just going to spin 8 ozs right now. I also have some silver Romney, and several pounds of an award winning white Romney, so I'm sure I'll spin some of each for this series. The Romney came from Kirsten at Iron Water Ranch, and I cannot recommend her fleeces highly enough.

I don't have anything specific planned for this yarn, but the colors go together so beautifully, and I see something Stranded in its future.

P.S. Just 1 pattern left to write up, and then I'm half done with this book!!!!!

P.S.S. Iron Water Ranch- home of the most gorgeous Romney fleeces you'll ever see, smell, or touch: http://www.ironwater.com/

Abi at High Prairie Home, who cards perfect pencil roving (note, the pic above is not her roving- those are some batts I carded myself) : http://prairiefiber.homestead.com/index.html