FO: Ethereal Rivulet

When I posted the picture of this yarn on the Hello Yarn group Fiber Club thread a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned what I planned to knit, one of the responses used the word ethereal to described the predicted results.

She was right.

Pattern: Rivulet by Heather Asbeck
Yarn: my handspun, detailed here, approximately 400 yds/4 oz.
Needles: US size 2/2.75 mm straights
Gauge: hunh? It's lace, the one time where gauge doesn't matter (much).
Comments/mods: a lovely pattern, well written and easy to follow, that came out so well with this yarn that I think I will wear it for the rest of my days. It's a lovely soft, drapey yarn that feels absolutely yummy knitted up.

The color progression worked out better then I could have hoped, from purple to blues to teal to grey to green. I was expecting the green to be more overwhelming, since it seemed like I had way more green fiber then the other colors, but I don't think it looks too unbalanced.

There were some spots in the yarn where some stray colors got mixed in, making odd stripes every so often.

This bothered me while I was knitting, but isn't noticeable in the finished project. Win-win all around.

Wait, no socks?

For the first time in ages, I have no socks on the needles. I know that the sidebar lists the Peat socks as being "in progress", but I haven't cast them on yet. I don't even know what pattern I'm going to do yet. In fact, I suspect I'm going to end up making one up, so it's not the sort of project that can just be jumped in to.

It feels weird. I've spent the last several months obsessed with these TdF socks, and now that they're done I'm a bit at loose ends. How can I not be working on a pair of socks? But we're coming down to the wire: on Friday I get on the train with the family to go to (gasp!) Paris (where we will, purely incidentally of course, get to see the final stage of Le Tour) (squee!), and I need some socks to work on. So the question is which ones?

I recently found The.Perfect.Yarn (Boo's favorite) for a pair of Glenna C's Viper socks - Dream in Color Starry.

98% superfine Australian superwash merino, 2% silver fibers. Real silver. It's sparkly...perfect for some kick-ass Starbuck socks for some deserving BSG fan out there.

But then I recently got "Sock Innovation", and carrollb and I are preparing to knit our way through the entire book. I've got some gorgeous purple stuff ready for Glynis, so maybe I should cast that on?

And then there are several babies looming on the immediate horizon (like in the next 5 days or so), and I've got all these scraps lying around. Maybe some of these in some handspun? Or maybe a pair of Lanterne Rouges in Sweet Feet?

The problem here is, of course, too many choices and no time frame. I'm sure I'll make a wonderful decision at 9:30 am friday morning when I'm dashing out the door to go to the train station, right?

She's been corrupted

Boo just came and picked this skein of yarn off of my desk and, cradling it in her arms like a baby, said "What's this?"

I said "That's some yarn."

She said "Oooooo, yarn. Can I see pictures of yarn?"

My work here is done.

The Green Jersey pattern now available

I can't believe I forgot to post this on Saturday, but the final Tour de France anklet pattern is now available for download.

download now

This version, like the other three, will be available for free until July 26th, 2009, when the Tour ends. Although since I'm going to be on vacation, it's quite likely that they'll be available in the test versions until the following weekend.

Stats: sized from XS-XL (8-9 inches around the foot, unstretched), 1-2 balls Cascade Fixation, 7.5 stitches/12 rows per inch on US 1/2.25 mm needles.

Please download, knit, and enjoy while you watch Cav and Thor duke it out! Let me know (see sidebar for email address or pm me on Ravelry - I'm porpoise) if there are any problems with the pattern!

*Photo credit goes to Elica/knituitist, who was my test knitter on this one.

FF: Inspiration

The May-June project for the Ply by Night Ravelry group was to spin something from stash and knit either the Lace Ribbon scarf or the Rivulet scarf. What with moving and parenting and all, I wasn't feeling terribly inspired to do either of these projects.

However, a couple weeks ago I remembered a phenomenal project from the first round of Ply by Night, where the spinner separated out the component colors from the top, spun them in order and created an ombre yarn that went from yellow to orange to purple. It was stunning. And I thought that I might try something similar with a recent Fiber Club shipement.

"Air", Hello Yarn Fiber Club April 2009, 50/50 superfine merino and tencel

I split the fiber into four main colors: dark purple/wine, grey, green, and a bunch of sections that went from dark blue to teal. I started with the purple sections, split each one in half and spun each half on to separate bobbins. I switched from bobbin to bobbin with each color to try and keep the singles the same thickness/twist.

I've been catching up on episodes of Yarnspinners Tales and was entertained to find that one of the recent ones was about spinning bamboo and tencel. I experienced many of the things they talked about - tencel wants to be spun fine, and it tends to clump on itself, requiring that you stop, untwist and declump before going on. It also needs quite a bit of twist, but I think that since I've been spinning merino in one form or another for the last two months, that didn't stand out as much for me as it might have otherwise.

The yarn ended up absolutely gorgeous - soft, shiny, drapey. The colors worked out really well - purple to dark blue to turquoise to teal to grey to green. I spun the singles at 15:1 and plied at 12:1. 4.1 oz/117 gr, 28-18 wpi (mostly 20-22 wpi). Finished with a cool soak, thwack against the side of the house and spinning overhead in the back garden before hanging to dry.

I ended up with 406 yds, so plenty for Rivulet. The pattern calls for sport weight, so I'll go down a couple of needle sizes and see how it looks. I'm planning to start at the purple end and see how far I get through the color progression before I get tired of the pattern.