Blue July

Well, August has suddenly arrived in full swing (it's gotten hot here, FINALLY!!!!), and I've discovered that there was quite a bit of blue in my fibery pursuits last month.

 

These include: some yarn I overdyed for a new men's sweater design, but ended up with some dyelot issues, a lovely pile of merino/alpaca/camel/silk fiber from Knit Nation, mohair/nylon/merino from Adrian, a finished Lacey Baktus for Dev's Year 1 teacher, my first Polwarth (from David) and two girls who finished yet another year of school. Not pictured: some lovely 3-ply SW merino/bamboo sock yarn I finished on Sunday evening, and a couple of handdyed BFL tops in navy and turquoise. I can not believe how quickly the summer has gone by so far, and there's a bit more to come before autumn!

August's colors are purple and pink. Hmmm...I think I'd better hunt through the fiber stash and find something to take to spinning tonight that falls into those categories. 

Fiber Friday: TdF Yarns #4 and #6

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club January 2010, "Loch", 83% mohair/15% nylon/2% merino
Spun/plied: 12:1, short forward draw
Comments: I was a bit concerned about this colorway - the combo of blue and orange has never really appealed to me, regardless of what the colorwheel says should be true. I decided to split my first 4 oz bump into two color groups and spin them seperately. Here's what the fiber looked like originally.

I broke the top apart into blue/green chunks and orange/olive chunks. Each piece was stripped into 4 lengths and I tried to mix them up as much as possible in the spinning. Here is the first batch of finished singles before plying.

I spun this with a short forward worsted draw, and the singles ended up a bit thicker then my usual default yarn - the mohair seemed a bit clumpy, more like tencel then wool I think. But really fun to spin, and so smooth and drapey - I knew the finished yarn was going to be incredible.

Originally I was going to split the second four ounces down the middle and spin for matching chain-plied stripey socks. However. Once the first two skeins came out of their spa treatment, I started thinking that I needed to do the same with the second bump. So when the cyclists hit the Alpes, I was spinning away on another orange vs. blue situation.

 

Hooray Tommy!

I ended up with about 220 yds of blue and 150 yds of orange, approximately DK weight. Now I just have to find the right pattern for them!

FO: June/July socks

Pattern: Charade by Sandra Park
Yarn: Brooklyn Handspun Soft Strength, colorway "Persephone", from Knit Love Sock Club 2010
Needles: US 1.5/2.5 mm magic loop
Start/finish: 1 June - 15 July 2011
Comments/mods: This yarn arrived in one of my Knit Love Club shipments last year, and I wasn't sold on the yarn/pattern combination so it went into the stash. A year later, and it's become a lovely pair of socks.

This pattern is well written, with a really nice stitch pattern. The only change I made was to make the foot long enough to fit me. The socks are a bit tight around the foot, and not really my colors, so I think they're going to become a gift. If my grandmother were still around, I'd give them to her - I have fond memories of pouring over the Preppy Handbook with great fascination on our summer visits to her house, and this pink and green color combo would have been perfect for her.

I like the herringbone rib alot.

So, after two months almost, my June socks are finally done. Total pairs so far for 2011: 7, right on track. I've already cast on for August's pair - they're awfully fiddly, so I'm getting a head start.

Tour de Fleece roundup

It's been a wooly few weeks.

That right there is 2425 yds of spun yarn (of varying ply numbers ranging from 1-3), totalling 51.3 oz (3.2 pounds) and 20 oz more of handdyed BFL fiber that I got distracted with somewhere along the line there (more on that later perhaps). Clockwise from the right side: 3 skeins of 3-ply Romney from Hello Yarn in "Timber" with a mini-skein of chain plied leftover singles, 1 skein of merino/alpaca/camel/silk blend from Krafty Koala that I picked up at Knit Nation and couldn't resist, 5 mini-skeins (~30 yds each) of natural colored Shetland that I spun up as bulky samples for a biiiiiig sweater coat project idea percolating in my head. Then there's a teensy skein of purple merino/Shetland blend that Judith handed out in her class at Knit Nation which I finally plied and washed. Next up: my experiment with thick and thin singles in Amy's "Twenty Ten" Corriedale. Then David's glorious Polwarth in "Cairns": one skein of 3-ply and one skein of 2-ply from the leftover singles. Finally, in the middle, 4 skeins of incredible drapey mohair/nylon/merino from Hello Yarn again. Originally one colorway ("Loch") of orange/olive/blue/green, which I split into two color groups and spun separately. The Romney is going to become a sweater for me me me, and I think Loch will be some kind of triangular shawl with some garter ridges. The rest of it is as yet un-assigned to particular projects.

Once again, the Tour de Fleece was an absolute blast. I did about 12 oz more then I managed last year (one of the goals on my List), got through one of my (at least) three sweater lots of Hello Yarn fiber, and got to spin new-to-me fibers (Polwarth, mohair blend, merino/alpaca/camel/silk). Plus I've got material for several weeks of Fiber Friday posts.

I must say that I'm not terribly motivated to start the wheel spinning again anytime soon, but...tomorrow is Tuesday, and according to Stephanie, Tuesdays are for spinning. There is some Spunky Eclectic Panda that I was wanting to get to...

Knit Nation recap

I'm a bit slow off the mark here with my weekend report, but it's been a crazy week. Truly crazy, and more then a little slapdash in a number of ways. In any event...

Last weekend I was able to go to Knit Nation 2011, an extravaganza of knitting, spinning and wool fumes strong enough to knock out a shepherd. On Saturday afternoon, I took Merike Saarniit's "Spinning for Knitting" class. Although it was largely targeted at beginning spinners, there was plenty to keep me busy, including some new-to-me fibers,

From left to right: merino/silk, kid mohair, handdyed wool top, 100% bombyx silk, superwash merino, Coopworth roving in three natural colors, more handdyed wool of some kind, baby alpaca and two more wool/silk blends

and an opportunity to do a bit more spindle spinning then I normally do. I discovered that sampling on a spindle is really quick and easy, and a great way to try out a new fiber. I also found that spinning up the samples on my wheel was way too fast!

All done :-(

I stopped by the marketplace on Saturday afternoon and did a wee bit of damage. I got 500 gr of the merino/silk that Merike had samples of from John Arbon, a Devon-based wool purveyor/mill/yarn/handknit producer. And then I got a braid of fiber from Krafty Koala: a dark and gloomy (but wonderful!) merino/alpaca/camel/silk blend which has now leapt on to the wheel, pushing all Hello Yarn fiber out of the way in it's mad scrum to become yarn.

There was also a fair bit of German eye candy still around by 5:00 pm on Saturday, but I managed to refrain.

On Sunday, I headed in to Imperial for a class on spinning for Shetland Lace from the master herself, Judith Mackenzie McCuin. We were unfortunately stuck in a class in the basement, but all that was just background when she poured out piles of freshly washed but otherwise not processed Shetland fleece on to the carpet. The next three and a half hours flew by in a blur of the history of sheep domestication, specific characteristics of Shetland sheep, descriptions of life on a sheep farm in Montana, dehairing, more dehairing, throwing bits of Montana vegetation all over the floor and a bit of spinning. Here are some pictures:

Fleece!

One Shetland lock

One Shetland lock, dehaired

Detritus

Bits of Montana

We spun up a bunch of samples from our freshly prepped fleece. Starting with the outer coat, we spun a 4-ply cabled yarn that is probably strong enough to tow a truck. Next up was a worsted spun 2-ply, then a woolen spun 3-ply. Unlike most things I've read/heard over the years, Judith defined worsted and woolen spinning not primarily by fiber prep, but by drafting style - worsted spinning means no twist in the drafting triangle, while woolen spinning means the opposite. An interesting way to think about it.

She then pulled out some batts, and we experimented with blends and fine spinning, with different joins, with long draw from rolags, and so on and so on. It was an amazing day, and by the time I got home I was more or less incapable of coherent speech due to information overload.

In addition to the fiber, I came away on Sunday with a signed copy of Ysolda's book, which I am greatly enjoying. I will admit that the patterns hadn't really grabbed me terribly hard before, but having now looked through it several times, there are at least 4 that I think I could happily knit. Plus the designing info and all the stuff on fitting makes it well worth it.

So, Knit Nation 2011 gets a huge thumbs up. Sadly, there is no event planned for 2012 (damned Olympics!), but my fingers are crossed for 2013.