Category Archives: spinning

FO: sour fig.

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Boh decided that he wanted to pose alongside my finished skein of Hello Yarn shetland in Sour Fig. This is 201 yards of 2-ply, and I have a second, smaller skein of 85 yards. This stuff looks to me to be mostly sport weight, and I’m wondering if it would make a nice wurm hat. Thoughts? (Too variegated? I am also craving another set of mitts.)

Yesterday also involved this:

And this:

Friday. I managed to eat ALL of that apple crisp last night, this morning, and as a late lunch today. Boh and I just took a nice, sunshine-filled walk around the neighborhood, and I’m hoping that I have energy enough to do a bit more work this afternoon.

black beans and sour fig.

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I got home from campus this evening and just could not find the energy to tackle anything in the work pile. So I started simmering some black beans in the crock pot and sat down at my wheel.

This is the second bobbin of Sour Fig, shetland from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club. I don’t know what I will make out of this yet, but it will be for me!

The beans weren’t tender yet, so I decided to start plying.

And when I filled my bobbin, I wound the yarn onto my niddy-noddy, counted up my yardage (201!), gave the loop of yarn a bath, and hung it to dry.

It is late. Like, way past my bedtime late. But I’m here, sipping a mug of tea, listening to Nanci Griffith (“I been sifting through the layers, dusty books, and faded papers…), and slowly planning the work I’ll do tomorrow.

I might even ply up the rest of this stuff tonight.

spinning/silliness/sunday.

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The sun came out yesterday while I was spinning the first bobbin of my first (of two!) bump of Hello Yarn shetland in Sour Fig, from the Fiber Club. I had to stop and take a picture. Twenty minutes later, my bobbin looked completely different:

I’m super excited to see how this ends up. I’m aiming for a 2-ply dk weight, but this stuff wants to be spun fine, so we’ll see what happens.

And now, the silliness:

I am a lucky girl.

Yep, another picture of this sweater. The fit is a bit awkward, the armholes are huge, the seams are wonky, even the ends are poorly woven in. I love the big ribbed collar, but I think the reason I wear this sweater more than any of the others I’ve made is that it was my first, finished in February 2008.

I wear it to late night reading groups, to dinner at friends’ homes. I pull it on to take Boh outside in the morning, I curl up in it on the couch. I buy groceries and write papers in it. It fits over many layers, even other sweaters, which is often how I wear it. It warms me, in more than the obvious way. I’ve been reading/discussing Rushdie this week, and these rather silly ruminations on my green sweater make me think of something his narrator says in Midnight’s Children. “Reality can have metaphorical content; that does not make it less real” (230, in my 1991 Penguin edition, though this was first published in 1980).

Time to slip my arms into the green sweater and get back to work.

twentyten.

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I made my list of things to remember to do or think about this semester and tacked it up on the fridge, and then I snapped a picture of the snow falling outside.

My knitterly goals for 2010? Not goals so much as ideas and possibilities: handspun socks, something cabled, spinning for a sweater, a nice balance of knitting that calms me and knitting that challenges me. I also plan to keep working on my spinning — which will allow me to keep something handspun on the needles all (or most of) the time.

And with that, how about some knitting and spinning progress to kick off the new year?

This stuff is awesome. 155 yards of about 3.5 oz of Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino in Albatross, destined to be mittens for my brother.

You know, because I’m keeping these:

Boh is so ready for 2010. (Or dinner.) Happy New Year!

albatross.

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Let’s be honest: I’m probably keeping those handspun mittens I started for my brother for myself. After all, that lumpy, bumpy stuff is my first ever wheelspun. I can’t give that away, right? Besides, the first mitten wouldn’t even fit his hand, because it just happens to fit mine perfectly.

Enter this awesome CMF superwash merino in the albatross colorway. Deep blues, pale yellows — masculine enough for my brother, and super soft. I separated about 3.5 oz from the 8 oz that I have, and began spinning for a squishy 2-ply. I’m going to call my brother for a hand measurement later so that I don’t accidentally make these in my size as well…

Here’s the cuff of the second mitten.

And here’s my silly dog in the background.

Boh and I have plans to ring in the New Year quietly, and perhaps a little bit early, with delicious farm food and an evening of knitting and spinning. (We’ll also take a walk in the snow before it gets dark.)

Whatever your plans may be this evening, Boh and I hope that you are able to ring in the new year with people/pets/crafts that bring you joy.

pigeonroof studios merino times two.

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PRS x 2 = awesome.

Yesterday, all I did was ply. And ply. And ply. This is 439 yards of 2-ply, mostly worsted weight, from 2 braids of pigeonroof studios merino (in unknown colorways from a rav destash) in three skeins of 183, 166, and 90 yards. I’m thinking this yarn might make an awesome eternity scarf. What do you think?

I have so many knitting projects I’m excited about, but this week it seems like all I want to do is sit at my wheel. (Not exactly a bad thing, but I really should sit down and sew some buttons on my otherwise totally completed GYC so that I can wear it!)

It is a little bit warmer out today, so Boh and I have plans for a nice walk, and then we get to go pick up our farm share this afternoon. Stay tuned for a recap of my 2009 knitting goals, as well as some thoughts on 2010.

“new glass in the window…”

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“New glass in the window, new leaf on the tree.” If you’re looking for some music to keep you company as you knit, spin, read, and hunker this week, check out the recently released live compilation of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon. It’s called Dreamin’ Man Live ’92, it sounds like it is just Neil, acoustic, and it is fantastic. (Post title is a line in From Hank to Hendrix.)

I’ve seen some internet chatter about whether these songs/this album are among Neil’s best or not, and I don’t really care about all of that. I’m not interested in trying to compare Harvest Moon to Tonight’s the Night or any of that; I like it all.

While listening to this album, I spun up most of the second braid of Pigeonroof Studios merino, and today, I plan to start plying it.

Also, do you want to see what I got myself for finishing up the semester?

A new Namaste bag! (This is the Laguna.) I loved my Malibu to death, mostly by lugging it everywhere and filling it with way too many library books. Despite my constant abuse of this bag, it gave me almost two years of daily service, and I’m sure it would have lasted much longer if I’d been better about not overloading it with enormous books about the 19th century. This bag is every bit as cavernous as my old bag, and I love the messenger strap. The shape is a bit different — deeper and less wide, which seems better for the kinds of things I’m often lugging around. The external pockets are great for phone and keys — both things that would end up floating around loose in my old bag. I could keep raving about this bag, but instead, I’ll just say that these bags are worth considering the next time you need to replace your take-everything-everywhere bag. LOVE. Yay!

light/tunnel.

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Yesterday it was cold enough for me to wear my Stripes! Yay! I’ve put it on a few times since I finished it over the summer (as you know) to admire it, but it hasn’t really been cold enough for me to do more than wear it for ten minutes in the morning. Yesterday, though, it snowed much of the day, and the temperature was well under freezing. It’s cold again today, so the first thing I did when I got out of bed was pull on Stripes! (Well, and pull on pants over my also very stripey long underwear. Too much information?) See that second picture? That’s me hugging myself. This sweater makes me want to curl up with Boh.

Particularly when it’s like this outside:

This sweater also helped me to provisionally conclude my writing project. I’m going to read it again today, and then turn it in for comments. Last night, I filled that first bobbin with most of the first braid of Pigeonroof Studios fiber:

Today’s plan? Grade one last paper, sit down with the calculator and figure out my students’ grades for the semester, and read through my draft one more time. Hence the title of this post.

Thanks for all of your encouragement this week. Here’s hoping that the light appears soon for you guys, no matter what kind of deadlines you’re dealing with!

pigeonroof.

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I impulsively bought 2 braids of pigeonroof studios merino in unknown colorways in a ravelry destash earlier this week, and they arrived yesterday.

My plan is to fill a bobbin with each braid, and then ply them together to make a squishy super-sized skein. (I made progress on this first bobbin late last night, not instead of working, but instead of sleeping…)

Wouldn’t it be cool if I could sit at my spinning wheel and produce a conclusion I’m happy with for my paper — along with pretty singles?

Time for coffee and concluding, I hope.

FO: paw (a king’s ransom).

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I’m sorry about the silly title of today’s post, but with this photo, can you blame me? (Also, I haven’t poured my coffee yet.)

188 yards of 2-ply, dk to light worsted, from 1.5 oz of superfine merino and 1.5 oz. of merino/silk in A King’s Ransom from AVFKW. This is going to become a Lacy Baktus, but I am not allowed to cast on until I finish writing and grading. (I am not allowed to cast on until I finish writing and grading. I am not allowed…)

Also, I snapped more photos of Boh being adorable yesterday. I can’t tell if he is curling up in more photo-worthy poses this week, or if I just notice it more because I am just a few days from being done with the semester and it feels like he is rubbing it in.

A few more days and I’ll be able to do this too!