Tag Archives: merino

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!

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.

beach day, skeined.

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I have no words to describe how much I love this skein of yarn. I mean, I may have pulled back the covers on my bed in order to properly photograph it against a suitable backdrop. (Okay, and I cuddled with it a little. Don’t tell anyone.)

This is 160 yards of squishable 2-ply in what looks to be a worsted to heavy worsted range, from 4 oz. of FLUFF sw merino in Beach Day. This was my first FLUFF spin. Halfway through the second bobbin, I may have emailed to get on their fiber club waiting list…

And then I spun some more. See, I accidentally happened upon a Baktus-Along thread in the Snobby Spinners group. I wasn’t planning to find something else to spin for, but a headache that would just not go away changed my plans last night at the very last minute. (Do you ever have headaches that you think are just related to food/hydration that then refuse to go away after you feed them dinner and lots of water? That was me last night, and I would’ve just dealt with it if the plan hadn’t been to go hear some live music. Headache + loud = unhappy rooster. So I pouted a bit, and then sat down at my wheel.)

Right, Lacy Baktus. I dug through the handspun pile, and didn’t find anything that begged to become this pattern, so I overturned a bucket of fiber and fished out A King’s Ransom from the AVFKW Woolly Wonders Fiber Club: 1.5 oz of superfine merino and 1.5 oz of 80/20 merino/silk. Meanwhile, Boh did this:

This is the superfine merino, which is full of subtle color changes.  I wrestled with this fiber a lot in sections, and I wonder if I should’ve tried to open it up a bit before spinning.

This is the merino/silk blend, and it spun like a dream. So fast, so smooth. Part of the way through my first cup of coffee this morning, I sat down to start plying:

Despite what it looks like (you know, that I spent the WHOLE day spinning), I actually wrote a few more pages yesterday, and did some good thinking about my project whilst spinning. I did not, however, begin tackling the pile of grading. (Yesterday, my headache was the excuse.) Today, I need to get on that.

about 5 bank accounts, 3 oz and 2 vehicles*

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twilight-2oz

This is more like 2 oz.

Of fiber from the January Spunky Club.

Not anything illicit. I’m just saying.

I’m realizing that 2 oz is about all I can fit on the spindle at one time. Despite what this picture seems to reveal, I’m really happy with the evenness of this yarn. the last 10 yards or so are more irregular (and what you can see here) and I think it has to do with how heavy the spindle gets. When it is approaching full, my technique seems to emphasis the “drop” in drop spindle!

*This is Dr. Dre’s answer to the previous line, and the name of the song: “What’s the difference between me and you?” Given that the song lyrics and music references I normally post situate me solidly in the land of americana/folk/alt country, I’ll provide a little more context. This album was popular during my freshman year of college, and somehow it became clear that a friend and I knew all the words. (While this isn’t my favorite song, I have a serious memory for useless information like song lyrics.) He is getting married next year, and there have been jokes about demonstrating this particular skill at the wedding. If you know the song, you probably realize that it is pretty intense/violent and, shall we say, representative of the genre. Despite all of this, it makes me think of said friend whenever it comes up on itunes, and I smile. Music is good for that.

Plus, now that I operate in ounces — of a very different kind than Dr. Dre —  it is allowing me to creatively(?) post on my spinning progress this week…

you don’t meet nice girls in coffee shops.

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Last night I heard Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller sing Tom Waits, Bessie Smith, Johnny and Jack, Judith Miller, some gospel music and a bunch of their own stuff. It felt like looking down on something special, to see these individually incredible songwriter-musicians make and enjoy their music together. Makes it sort of hard to return to regular life, so instead of jumping right into the reading I should’ve done last night, I’ll show you a little bit of spinning I did yesterday.

spunky-jan-fiber

This is my first batch of fiber from the Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club — 4 oz of organic merino in colorway Twilight.

boh-spindle

Boh’s not so good with the spindle. (Yet.)

spunky-progress

The blues and greens look particularly beautiful against the colors of one of the books I’m reading this week — prompted me to get out the camera this morning.

Time to have some more birthday cake for breakfast and get back to the pile of reading…

squirrels love _____.

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nutkin.jpg

The answer is Nutkin.

It is also the reason I did not post this morning. I have at least seven other projects on the needles, included a sock that I am making progress on, so I can’t really explain why I felt the need to cast on — except that I was procrastinating on Ravelry, and saw a gorgeous photo of the January Yarn Pirate Booty Club yarn, Kalamata, en route to becoming Nutkin. In this case, I’m a joiner.

Home for lunch — must get back to work!