Category Archives: spinning

pink.

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7

pliedpinkhh

pinkhhskein1

pinkhhskein2

106 yards of 2-ply, light worsted, from 2 oz. of pinky-purple falklands fiber from AVFKW in the hollyhock colorway.

Despite what you’ve seen here lately (Mara, this baby sweater, lots of pink spinning), pink is not my favorite color in real life, but I am always really happy with the pinks in my fibery projects. I hated pink as a child, and as soon as I headed off to college, my parents painted my bedroom what I like to call “pepto bismol” pink. (That pink is still not okay.)

bbelleprog sleeve

bbellesleevecloseup

I’m loving how this is knitting up, but I’m getting to that place where I’m concerned I may run out of yarn. With this in mind, I stopped the sleeves at 4 inches, so these will be 3/4 length, rather than full length. I even caught myself knitting faster last night…fingers crossed!

feeling antsy.

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I’m not exactly sure why — maybe because it is early enough in the semester that I don’t quite have a routine yet, maybe because getting back into this particular mode of being is a bit of a struggle — but last night I felt just plain antsy, like I should be getting things done, even though I was tired. I think one of the reasons there is such crossover between the land of knitters and academia is that knitting is a way to see what you are producing, to hold it in your hands. Sometimes, even though there is a pile of reading staring at me, I just need to really see my own progress on something slightly more tangible.

belleprogsleeve

Hence, my baby belle. I just have the sleeves and the button band left to do, and I love how this is turning out. Also:

hhocksplied

I plied the bobbins of the green falklands fiber in the hollyhock colorway together, and set the twist.

hhockskein

hhockcloseup

110 yards of 2-ply, from 2 oz. of fiber. You may recall that the other half of this bump is pale pinks and purples. I may have spun up the remaining 2 oz. before bed last night…

purpleshock

I’m taking a class that is exciting to me, although it is out of my field — and out of my comfort zone. I may ply the rest of the hollyhocks falklands fiber this morning in preparation  — the fibery equivalent of a few deep breaths?

MIA (mara in action).

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10

wearingmara1

Monday.

wearingmara2

Tuesday.

laceshawlalmost

18 rows to go. I was intending to work on it tonight, but I accidentally (?) had a few beers after class today, and really should not work on it.

hollyhock1

Late last night, after doing substantial work on the shawl, I decided that while I could no longer look at lace charts, I wasn’t quite ready for bed. So I spun a bit of luscious falklands fiber.

hollyhockbob1

This is the first of four ounces of lovely falklands fiber in the hollyhock colorway from A Verb For Keeping Warm. There are two ounces of this green, adn two in a lovely pinky-pale purple. I’m spinning each color separately into a 2-ply, with the thought that I’ll make something stripey…eventually.

dogtired

This is what Boh looks like right now, and I’d say it accurately conveys how I feel at this particular moment — and it is only Tuesday. Hello, September.

high.

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You know, like alpine.

alpinemacro1

alpinemacro2

alpinefo1

I absolutely love the way the browns and golds interact with the blues in this skein. So pretty.

alpinemacro3

alpinemacro4

alpinefullskein

203 yards of 2-ply romney, from Hello Yarn, in the Alpine colorway. Romney is not as soft as the other fibers I’ve been spinning lately, but oh, that sheen. I wonder if this should become something sturdy, like mittens.

quiche

Yesterday’s quiche, and legwarmers:

legwarmers

Believe it or not, it was chilly enough to warrant wearing these around the house as I made coffee and rolled out pie crust yesterday morning. People routinely find their way to my corner of the internet by googling “legwarmers” and related terms, so I figured I’d announce that, yes, the mornings are cool enough that legwarmer season is officially open, at least for around-the-house wearing.

More soon, as I desperately need to make more progress on the wedding shawl…

twists and wrinkles.

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7

darkalpine2-ply

alpinehangingupclose

Twists: Hello Yarn romney 2-ply in the Alpine colorway, both on the bobbin and hanging to dry.

bohcouch1

bohcouchcloseup

Wrinkles: Is there anything more to say? I love it when Boh falls asleep on his wrinkly face. Sigh.

Today’s plan: more lace knitting — after a brunch for the incoming grad students in the department, which means I’m off to roll out a pie crust and get a quiche into the oven…

singles and shawl progress.

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3

alpinebob1

Bobbin 1 of the Hello Yarn romney in Alpine.

bob2alpineprog

alpinebob2

Bobbin 2, first in progress, because I thought I was going to stop, and then, in the second picture, finished. This stuff spins itself. I may cheat a little bit and ply later tonight instead of letting the singles rest a full day, We’ll see.

heathershawledge

The wedding is next Saturday, a week from today. I decided on two leaf pattern repeats (I think the last time I blogged about this, I was thinking about doing three), and this morning I began the edging. I’m 8 rows into 34, and I absolutely love how this is turning out. If I work steadily on this over the next few days,  I won’t have to stay up late and risk making stupid, bleary-eyed mistakes. My goal is to block this on Wednesday night, so that it has ample time to dry before I deliver it to the bride on Friday.

While I was working on the romney and the shawl, Boh was standing guard at the window:

longdogwindow

He really is a surprisingly long dog — I marvel at his length whenever I find him at the window like this, paws up on the radiator.

morepouting

Apparently surveying the backyard is pretty exhausting work. (There is loud snoring drifting towards my desk from the bedroom.) May your Saturday be as productive and restful as Boh’s!

romney.

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In all of the start-of-the-semester hubbub, my wheel has been empty for most of the week. I returned home from campus (where my office is growing ever cozier with each bag of belongings I move from here to there) today and decided to at least start something so that I can try to spin a little each day.

air1

air2

Sigh. So beautiful. These colors just make me yearn for handspun legwarmers. This is Hello Yarn fiber — Romney wool top in the Alpine colorway — and I love it.

forlorn1

forlorn2

Boh is looking particularly forlorn this afternoon, perhaps because he knows that the new semester means a bit more reading (me) and resting (Boh), and a little less frolicking (both of us).

pointillism.

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5

pointillismpink1

pointillismpinkmacro2

Here’s the pink half of the bump of AVFKW superwash bfl in the pointillism colorway: 106 yds of 2-ply, from 2 oz.

pointillismyellowbobbin

pointillismyellowoffniddynoddy

And here’s the yellow half, spun, plied, and skeined:

pointillismyellowskein1

pointillismyellowmacro2

pointillismyellowskein3

The yellow 2 oz. yielded 95 yds of 2-ply, so I have 201 yards to work with. I’m thinking about not using a constrast color at the start, and allowing the pinks to blend into the yellows in the sweater, and then finding an appropriate color for the bottom ruffle of baby belle if it seems like there won’t be enough handspun.

I’m not letting myself cast on for this until I am solidly into the edging on the wedding shawl. (Finished repeat #2 last night!)

Also, more silliness occurred after I posted yesterday:

boh comforter

bohhidingcomforter2

Sigh. And so it begins: I’m off to campus for a meeting and (yay!) to get settled in my office (and by office, I mean desk in the basement).  Happy Monday!

spinning for something.

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pointillism pink lap

So I’m spinning for something. I’ve been eyeing cosy’s adorable baby sweater for awhile now, and I was thrilled when she posted that she needed some folks to knit these out of handspun. Though I have a large bag full o’ my own handspun, I decided that this might be an opportunity to at least try to knit with a particular pattern in mind, so I dug through the fiber bin and came up with some Verb superwash bfl in the pointillism colorway, which is 2 oz. of lovely yellows, and 2 oz. of pinks and purples.

pointillism pink toes

I decided to preserve the colors, so I split the pink and purple piece into 2 parts, lengthwise, and plied them together.

pointillism pink macro

Here it is, hanging to dry. The pattern calls for 8s, so I’m aiming for a worsted weight, which I’m hoping will plump up and help me get close to the called-for gauge. It looks like I got about 100 yards out of the first 2 oz., which sounds about right. I’m planning to spin and ply the rest today so that I can get started!

Also, I snapped a picture of Mr. Boh, resting atop the comforter.

boh and laundry

This dog really loves laundry day. As you can see, we’re aiming for a mixture of restful and productive on this last day of the final weekend before the semester starts!

woolen spun?

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4

jacob prewash

First up, here’s a picture of the first skein of the jacob, just off the niddy-noddy and ready for a bath. I love those paws!

jacobfo1

I had to ply this in two parts — the yarn was just too lofty/airy to fit onto one bobbin. This is my first (mostly) true long draw project, which I believe makes this a woolen spun yarn!

jacobfo2

This is 211 yards total: 130 in the first skein, and 81 in the second, of 2-ply undyed jacob wool.

jacobfo3

The spinning method chosen really does determine the character of the yarn — up close, this yarn is completely different from something spun using a worsted technique. This has a lovely halo and an incredible amount of squish to it, but minimal sheen. This is also more thick and thin, which may just be a function of my learning curve with the long draw. One of these days I’m going to at least swatch with my handspun to get a sense for how my spinning is evolving and, perhaps more importantly, to figure out how to start planning knitting projects at the spinning stage.

jacobfo4

Oh, Boh. Even though you spent much of the night growling at things in the yard (and thus, keeping me awake), I still love you. Especially when you make that face.