Unravelled

After (more-or-less) three weeks of being home with one or more of my children (first with sick child, then sick child plus irritated child on half-term holiday, then sick-but-now-well child on half-term holiday), I was feeling just a little bit familied-out. As in, my fondest dream was to crawl under the covers on the bed and never come out again.

Instead, on Sunday morning, I got up early-ish and went off to the lovely village of Farnham for Unravel (Alli made me do it...I think she just wanted a ride down there...).

We arrived in Farnham just before ten and wandered over to Farnham Maltings, a fabulous group of repurposed tannery-turned-brewery-turned-community-space that contains the event. We knew we were in the right place when the yarn bombing began to appear...






I have to admit that once we got inside I had total camnesia and neglected to take pictures of any of the stalls. Mostly because I was too busy making grabby hands at more or less everything. You know how it is...

In our whirlwind tour, we stopped at John Arbon, Fyberspates, Pom Pom Quarterly, rock+purl, Hilltop Cloud, Bigwigs Angoras, Skein Queen, The Natural Dye Studio, Blacker Yarns, The Threshing Barn, Aragon Yarns and vast numbers of other fabulous stands that were just spectacular. Thankfully, I did not come home with goodies from all of these people, but a number of them are going to be at Wonderwool, so I'll have another chance to get in trouble.

I told Alli in the car on the way down that I had a specific shopping list in mind.

1. A new bottle of Soak woolwash, since mine is almost gone.
2. A skein of water-inspired laceweight for an ongoing shawl design.
3. 1800 yds of natural colored bulky wool for a coat design.
4. Some superwash something or other for a ripple blanket for the Wee Nephew.

Exhibit 1:

Look at that, the first two items on my list taken care of at one stall. Result! To be fair, that colorway is more sand-inspired then water-inspired, but I did actually mean something rock colored vs. water colored. I blame low blood caffeine...

Exhibit 2:

Appears absolutely nowhere on my shopping list, but I went by Katie's stand and spent about twenty minutes trying to pick something out. That is 100 gr of gradient-dyed, handcarded, dizzed roving that is 30% Shetland, 50% merino and 20% Tussah silk. You can understand why I had a hard time walking away. I'm even willing to overlook the merino content, just because of the colors. Too beautiful.

Exhibit 3:

Also not on the list, you will note, but bunny fluff!!!!! SO FLOOFY AND SOFT!!!! The fact that I don't like wearing angora yarn is of no importance here because its SO GORGEOUS!!!!! The pictures of adorable and beautiful rabbits didn't hurt either. 

Smoke...sigh...it is such a fabulous shade of grey. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this beyond spinning the most fabulous hat/mitten lining yarn ever. 

So...I'm still on the hunt for the yarn, but am coming to the conclusion that I might be better off spinning the bulky yarn, and I'll break down on the superwash sometime soon, I have no doubt.

In conclusion, I highly recommend Unravel for a day trip or so. There's a lot to see packed into not very much space. I heard from most folks that it was unbelievably busy on Saturday and I can imagine that it might be a bit hard to move about with too many people, but it was fab. And if you're willing to get out of the venue for a bit, there is a really good French cafe on the high street. I can't remember the name, but they had good food and fabulous almond croissants. Yum!

Spinning singles for knitting

I've been experimenting with singles recently, and wanted to share some of my findings with you.

A few years ago, I was at a spinning workshop and the instructor was demonstrating how to spin a singles yarn. I asked a somewhat silly question: "How much twist do you add?" The (in retrospect) obvious answer was: "As much as you need to hold the single together." Seems pretty simple, doesn't it?

But this answer gets to the first, and in my mind, most important issue in successfully spinning singles: fibre choice. You want to start with a fibre that will stick to itself, so no silk or alpaca or plant fibres need apply. You also want a fiber that has at least a medium staple length, just for ease of spinning. If you're new to spinning singles, you'll probably be happier if you leave the merino aside for this round.

I started with some Corriedale in the Parakeet colourway.

Parakeet Corriedale prepped and spun up

I stripped the top into pieces that were approximately 0.5 in/1 cm wide and spun them using a short-forward draw. I find that the key to getting the right amount of twist lies in slowing down and using a lower ratio then I usually use. I had to make sure to treadle relatively slowly while I drafted, trying to insert enough twist to keep the single integrity without getting sections that were overtwisted.

This is the skein fresh off the niddy noddy - definitely not balanced! You can see that it's not the most even yarn ever - there are narrower sections with more twist, and puffier sections with less. This just shows how spinning a singles yarn is a really good way to see how twist gathers in areas with fewer fibers and jumps over thicker sections. If you are even a little bit interested in trying out art yarns, this is good practice!

Now, the next important step for ending up with a usable singles yarn for knitting is in the finishing process. I like to use a fulling finish to my singles yarns, allowing them to felt ever so slightly to help hold the single together. 

This process requires two containers of water - one hot and one cold, both with wool wash if you like (both containers in the picture have wool wash, even though only one is sudsy). Put the skein into the cold water and let it get wet.

Once the skein is wet through, transfer it to the hot wash and gently agitate the yarn. Now, I know that usually, as handspinners, we are doing everything we can NOT to agitate the yarn, but this is one time that you want to move the yarn around.

Give it a few stirs (with hands or an implement, however you like - my Speshul Snowflake hands don't like the hot water direct from my tap, so I use an old wooden spoon), and then pick it up out of the hot water and let as much hot water drain off into the bath as you can. Give it a squeeze if you like, then drop it down into the cold bath and gently agitate again.

You'll want to repeat this process from cold to hot to cold to hot to cold several times. As the fibres begin to full, you find the strands of the skein beginning to stick to each other a bit.

When you reach a point where the strands are clinging together but still easily pulled apart, it's time to stop. Put the skein into the cold bath and let it sit for a few minutes without agitation. Then take it out, squeeze or spin out the excess water, and let it hang unweighted to dry.

I ended up with about 100 yds of floofy singles from 2 oz of fiber (800 ypp) - about aran or worsted weight. I was hoping to have enough to knit up another topdown hat, but it might have to be for the kids instead of me.

I hope this has been helpful and/or interesting. Please post in the comments with any questions or experiences you've had with spinning singles.

Happy spinning!

Rachel 

Easy sweater gratification

Sweaters are so satisfying to knit and wear, but at some point in the process, things definitely start to drag, and it seems like you're a) not making any progress, and therefore b) never going to finish and get to wear the beautiful creation you've been slaving over. In the last two weeks I have discovered two solutions to the problem of sweater doldrums.

Solution #1: Use bulky yarn.

Pattern: Top-down raglan, a la Barbara Walker
Yarn: Handspun Porpoise Fur Shetland/silk in "Magpie", approximately 500 yds/1 lb of bulky, squishy 2-ply.
Needles: US 11/8.0 mm and US 10.5/6.5 mm
Start/finish: I started spinning on 10th Feb, finished the singles on the 11th, finished the plying on the 12th, and started knitting on the 13th I think? Stalled out on the 19th by running out of yarn, but finished up yesterday and blocked it last night. It's still drying...

This is my barter sweater, and it was started and finished (spinning and knitting) in less then two weeks. It would have been done in about 9 days, but I ran out of yarn and had to spin up a bit more, so that stretched it out a bit longer. Still, 9 days for the whole project, and about a week to actually knit the sweater, is pretty hard to beat for almost-instant sweater gratification.

I wanted to get it blogged today, so the pictures are somewhat less then stellar. I'll try for some better ones tomorrow if the weather cooperates...

Solution #2: Knit baby sweaters.

Pattern: Henry's Sweater by Sara Elizabeth Kellner
Yarn: Adriafil Duo Comfort Classic, 131 yds/50 gr, the 3-6 month size used less then two balls.
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
Start/finish: 15th Feb - 18th Feb 2013
Comments/mods: talk about instant gratification! My new nephew arrived on Valentine's Day, I started on Friday after some frenzied stash diving, and the knitting was done on Tuesday. Boo and I bought some buttons yesterday and I sewed on the snaps and buttons today.

I did a few mods. First, I did fewer short rows on the shawl collar because I didn't want it too get too long and floppy. I like this mini-shawl alot.

I worked the garter stitch edging on the sleeves back and forth instead of in the round. It was only 5 rows or something, so sewing up that tiny bit on the end of the sleeves wasn't a big deal.


I also skipped the buttonholes, choosing instead to sew on the buttons on the outside as a decorative element, and using snaps to hold it closed. I think this will work better for getting the sweater on quickly and for keeping it closed.

I'm sorely tempted to put leather elbow patches on, since the baby's Dad is a professor. I think in the interests of getting it sent off to the States quickly, I'll forgo that, but wouldn't it be adorable?

I'm thinking we have a wee bit of a problem here...

This is a knitting blog, right?

Okay, maybe a knitting and spinning blog, for the most part. Sure there's been a diversion or two here and there, but my crafting impulses have largely been consistent over the past almost-six years that I've been mucking about with this blogging thing. So surely what's going on in my world these days is a phase, right? Just like Devil's rolling her eyes so far back in her head that she must be staring at her optical cortex*... I'm not sure there's any other way to explain my sudden, inexplicable obsession with yarn projects of the hooked variety (beyond the fact that I am very entertained that (as a southpaw) I knit right handed, but can only crochet left handed...)

Behold, three African Flower Mandela potholders for the Ravelry 2013 Potholder Swap. They changed the rules this year to require only 3 potholders (instead of the six that I think they required in the past). And I, fresh off of (as-yet-not-completely-blogged) baby blanket success, pulled out my little bits of Tahki Cotton classic and other cotton bits and blindly combined colors as they came.



I do wish I'd had a bit of green to throw in there, but what can you do?** Fronts done in Tahki Cotton Classic, backs done in Patons UK 100% Cotton DK, size G/4.0 mm hook. Done in about four days.

I love the flower in the middle. Just love it.


And now that these babies are finished and about to be packed off to the States, I can start the next crochet project, for my newly arrived (as of Valentine's Day) nephew.

Because what baby doesn't need an amigurumi walrus to cuddle and drool on?

* Please, please, please don't burst my bubble on this one. I know it's not a phase, it's the next at least eight years of my life, but I'm in denial.
** Answer to rhetorical question: start stashing vast quantities of mercerized cotton, of course.

Barter Economy

I have been working on a sweater for someone I've never met. That is to say, never met in person. We've corresponded over email, but the first time we meet in real life will be when I hand this over to her. Isn't barter great?

The recipient of this sweater is an illustrator who's been working on a logo for an event I'm organizing with Alli. But since we, as a pair, aren't able to pony up the big bucks that such a logo would require, we proposed a barter exchange: specifically, she do up a logo and we knit her a handspun, custom fit sweater.

This baby is 70% Shetland/30% tussah silk, in the Magpie colorway from my shop. I spun up approximately 460 yds of bulky 2-ply over the course of a couple of days (love spinning bulky!!!) and started knitting over the weekend. One skein (225 yds) got me through the entire yoke and through the waist shaping decreases.

Think about that for a minute. 225 yards. Only. Ehem...(ponders wisdom of trying to cloth size 16 self in bulky sweaters from now until the end of time) (decides that, at least in my own personal instance, DK-weight or lighter is still the way to go) (weeps for lost yardage...)

The other cool thing is that this baby is knitting up before my very eyes. I was hoping to finish the body last night and get started on the sleeves, but 1) one child on half-term holiday and bored out of her skull because of 2) one child out of school with tonsillitis means that not much knitting has gotten done for the last few days. But child #1 is currently engrossed in the iPad, and child #2 is snoring on the couch, so as soon as I hit the Publish button, I'm settling down for some quality time with my handspun. And that, my friends, is bliss...