FF: Preppy longwool

When I was a kid, we used to go skiing at my Dad's family's place in Maine. And for a stretch there (maybe from ages 8-12), everytime we went up, I would read The Official Preppy Handbook. You know, just to keep in touch with my WASP roots and berate myself for the things I was doing wrong. I specifically remember the whole section on the Official Colors of the Preppy - pink and green.

The last few weeks have found me on a complete tear through some fiber. I finished up four separate spinning projects last month, a fact which boggles my mind. I think the fact that Ironman was on a business trip made a big difference, because I could sit and spin to my heart's content after the girls were in bed.

This is my second batch of stuff spun from fiber that I dyed at Yarn School, and my first experience with a longwool.

You can see from this picture that the beginning materials were somewhat retina-searing. This is 8 oz (4 oz spun, 4 oz top) of Masham wool which I dyed with Emerald, Chartreuse and Fuschia Jacquard dyes. I had never heard of Masham before, but it's one half Wensleydale (I have 12 oz in my stash - what will I do with it?) and has a pretty good staple length. I wasn't really sure how to spin it, so I went semi-worsted, longdraw-ish from the fold, and then chain plied to maintain some striping.

This picture gives a sense of the fibers. It was pretty nice to spin, although some places seemed a bit sticky. I attribute that to operator error in the dyeing process.

The colors muted themselves quite a bit in the finished yarn (thank Allah)! I ended up with 120 yds* of self-striping 3-ply, 10-11 wpi (about light worsted weight). It should be plenty for a lined hat or some mittens - since the yarn isn't terribly soft (a characteristic of most longwools), it would behove the recipient to maybe use it for some outerwear.

And if I get worried that maybe it's too subdued, I can just look at these pictures. Yikes!

* Total I-am-an-idiot-and-thank-Diety-my-day-to-day-existence-does-not-depend-on-my-ability-to-do-arithmetic moment: while calculating yardage for this skein I realized that I have been off by a factor of two in figuring my handspun yardage for who knows how long. Because you know, X loops in the skein times the # of inches divided by 72 does not equal yards. Thank god for calculators. And sweetheart, stop laughing at me.

A cubic buttload of sock yarn scraps and some wire

In the spirit of working on UFOs, let me update you on the progress of the Sock Yarn Blanket, aka my Albatross.

As you can see from the layout, it's moving along. I'm actually starting to think that maybe this puppy might see the end of the line in this century. I am ignoring the fact that I still have to fill in all those little triangles around the edges. Denial is a wonderful thing.

And, since you haven't seen an actual picture of the thing in more months then I care to admit, here it is:

And here's the stash of sock yarn scraps waiting for incorporation. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the pile. I may end up not having to repeat yarns, which would be awe-inspiring.

Boo's birthday is at the end of the month. I'd like to pretend this will be done by then, but I suspect this will be a "Welcome to London" present for her instead. So be it.
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My first experience knitting with wire:

Pattern: Bijouterie by Rosemary Hill, Knitty Winter 2008
Yarn: 30 gauge sterling silver wire (white beads) and 32 gauge silver-plated Artistic Wire (red beads), very small amounts of each, beads from here.
Needles: Bamboo US 2/2.75 mm needles
Comments: OK, knitting with wire is weird, but strangely satisfying (hello instant blocking!). These two pairs took me less then two hours to do, even with Alias Season 1 on the tube. I ordered the wire in December, hoping to have them done for Christmas presents, but it arrived two days after we went North, so no dice. I love them, and have ideas for all sorts of other incarnations for future gifts. Quick, easy, and gorgeous - what could be better?

Happy Groundhog Day!

Mondays kind of suck. The weekend never seems quite long enough, you have to get up early again, and the whole work thing is kind of a drag. However, when you have managed to somehow finagle your still-somewhat-jet-lagged husband to get up with not one, but both kids, allowing you to sleep for 11+ hours for the first time in (probably) five years, there's not much room for complaining. Even though I will try.

It's been a crazy few weeks - IM went on a week long business trip, Mermaid came to visit, the girls' daycare moved into a new building (where Boo's new teacher lasted all of three days before becoming persona non grata - oops!), and things swung into high gear on our moving plans. The grownups in the family are going to look for a place to live in a couple of weeks. Is is silly that I am inordinately excited about 1) a business class trip to London and 2) a week with no kids? Ok, the second part of that isn't silly, but the first part? Anyway...I'm hoping to keep my finishing-up-of-long-undone-WIPs streak alive by finishing Manon before we leave. Because I'm pretty sure it's not going to be 70-something degrees in the UK.

January was a big achievement month. Here's the recap:
Knitting
Boo's Tomten
Sunset Surf scarf (from handspun)
Devil's stripey pink socks

Spinning
Buckland, 8 oz of Finn top from Hello Yarn Fiber Club, November 2008
Spun 8 oz of Crown Mountain Farm superwash merino
Finished the second 4 oz of my first Yarn School spinning

Unblogged:
Two pairs of earrings (Rav link)
I finally finished the knitting on Duck Returns. However, I think it has a new intended target, so no pix until it's totally finished (lined) and in the mail and received on the other end.
I also had to lengthen Ironman's Christmas socks a bit, so I ripped out the cuffs, knit about 2 more inches on each, and finished them off. And I still have yarn left. Love that Trekking XXL!
Spun another 4 oz of my first Longwool (Masham) from Yarn School

And just in case anyone is concerned that Boo is getting left out in the sock department (and to save you from yet another picture-less post), behold the in progress sock. And if she pulls another screaming fit before 5:00 am tomorrow like she did this morning, I will make the foot longer and give them to her big sister. So there.

I want those four hours of my life back

If you're considering faking your death on the internet, please us this video as a primer so I can get some more sleep.

I will also add a postscript: going back to the community where you "died" as a sockpuppet but using identifiable aliases/similar email to register your new blog will probably not work out too well for you. Just sayin'...

What, knitting? OK, if you insist. Boo decided (after Devil wore her new socks for 36 hrs straight before I could pry them off her feet and throw them into the machine) that she needed new socks too. So she started pulling yarn out of the cupboard and holding it on her feet. And standing on it. I broke down and started a pair for her out of some Kool-Aid dyed Knitpicks Bare, red and pink, using Grumperina's model for helical stripe socks. They will not be done for the January progress report, but I have a whack-load of spinning to share for that.

Wee teaser: My WHMU(WHSKAL) buddies might want to take note of the spinning posts for the next few months. That is all.

Back in the saddle again

The first pair of socks for 2009:

Pattern: umm, no. Top down, picot cuff, eye of partridge heel, star toe, 42 stitches.
Yarn: Cascade Fixation, in a color I believe is #9398, just under one ball (100 yds).
Comments: I realized last week that my Science Geek socks were not going to be done in time for the SAM knitalong. Enter a quickie pair of socks for Devil. I started them last Thursday during an epic Barbie Fairytopia video marathon and finished sewing in the ends on the bus ride home last night. Love the stripes. She wore them to school today. With her Tomten. Win, win, win. I guess Boo needs a pair now. Good thing I picked up a bunch of this yarn on sale a couple of months ago!

And hopefully my socks will be done next month. Onward to pair #2.

Addendum: Brilliant!