Weaving projects 2 and 3

After my initial foray into the wonderful world of weaving, I quickly warped up the loom again, started weaving and then...took a two week break. Last Thursday I climbed back on the horse so to speak, and finished up Scarf #2 before moving on to Scarf #3 - handspun variation.

Here's Number 2:

The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Blue Violet - I bought two skeins of this a couple of years ago for a pair of knee socks, but never got around to knitting the socks. Now it's been transformed into a wide scarf that I Love. I wear it every chance I get. I'm so pleased with it, even though my selvedges are still not what one might hope for - they've improved though!

Emboldened by finishing off one project, I promptly warped the loom for Dev's handspun scarf (she'd been asking about it). That was Sunday. Yesterday, thanks to some concentrated time with John Luther and a couple of animated features, I managed to finish, wash and trim this little beastie.

Warp is handspun Shetland in the colorway "Happy Dance" from Hello Yarn. Weft is some pale blue fingering weight 2-ply recycled from a Goodwill sweater bought long ago in a galaxy far, far away. I was dubious about the weft color (I managed to talk her down from Bright Electric Blue), but I like it in the finished project.

And what's more important, Dev likes it. She was anxious for it to dry so she could wear it to her first Big Girl School Visit this morning (aka "assessment"), which went swimmingly.

I think maybe I'll warp Boo's scarf tonight...this weaving thing is addicting!

Christmas spinning

The loom did not come as any sort of surprise, and I was so excited by the mere prospect of weaving that three days before Christmas I had the girls pick out some fiber from the stash that I could spin up for scarves for them.

Dev chose some Hello Yarn Shetland fiber that I got from my 4 Oz Challenge prize in 2010, in the colorway "Happy Dance". It ended up like this:

212 yds/4 oz, 10-14 wpi. I spun this using a point-of-contract draw (i.e. using the twist to pull fibers out from the drafting zone). I ended up with something very squooshy and soft and lovely. After I spun this up I got a bit concerned that it wouldn't hold up to being warp, so I did a little research on how to spin strong warp yarns, which I applied to Boo's scarf yarn.

Boo chose HY Merino in "Overfond".

256 yds/4 oz, 8-10 wpi. I spun this worsted (inchworm drafting), with lots of twist, and I'm much more confident in its ability to hold up to weaving strain.

At that point, I was so hopped up on the spinning-for-weaving idea that I jumped into 100 grams of wool/silk blend that I got in a trip down to Guilford to George Weil.

95 yds/100 grams. Very smooth and dense and gorgeously shiny. I can't wait to weave this up! But I need to do some stash diving to find the right weft yarn for it. Hmmm...

I've also been working on the River Run Pullover again, now that I've got a firm, final, finish-or-be-damned! deadline on it (aka Himself's birthday). I spent yesterday on the couch, recovering from my wicked plague, and working one repeat of the sleeve.

Ooof. I'm not sure it will ever be done!

Hooray!

Found: one knitting mojo

Please note: 95% of what you see there was knit between Christmas and New Year's - I'm just showing it off because I actually added some rows today. It's a fingering weight version of the Penobscot Bay Shawl using Misti Alpaca sock, and it's luscious!

Diagnosed: one case of flu morphing into a never ending series of colds. Now on antibiotics and feeling infinitely better. Phew!

In fact, I'm feeling so much better that I photographed approximately a year's worth of fiber club that had been neglected. I feel so much more organized, despite the fact that it looks like a herd of sheep exploded inside a dye factory in my guestroom right now. Oh well.

Nothing to see here

I am currently experiencing something that I don't have a lot of experience with - I have no desire to knit.

Last week I got sick (yet again) and since then my knitting mojo has fled. I just don't have any motivation (or spare concentration) to donate towards the knitting thangs. Instead I'm lying on the couch blogging, with "American Chopper" on the TV, the dog chewing on his rawhide on the rug, and wishing I didn't feel like my lungs were going to erupt out of my throat every time I inhale. WebMD informs me that I probably have viral pneumonia (hooray!) which I believe about as much as I do the idea that Bram Stoker covered up the real existence of vampires. Here's hoping that I've got more knitting mojo by the end of the week!

Retrospective

There was quite a bit of crafting over the course of 2011, along many different lines and in many new directions. I've gone into many details already, so I thought I'd just offer up this as a visual record.

I didn't quite get through my goal of 11 sweaters and 11 pairs of socks in 2011, but that's ok. Clearly the world is not going to end if I don't live up to my knitting goals, right? I'm pleased that I knit sweaters for myself and my loved ones. I'm pleased that I spun up some lovely yarns, and I can't wait to knit them up. I'm thrilled that I learned some new skills (thank you Judith!), and that I managed to knit three pairs of handspun socks (now only Ironman is lacking in that department). I'm thrilled to bits with the designs that I've managed to put out this year - two sweaters, one pair of socks (for Sock Madness - I've still got to get the general release pattern out the door!), a scarf and some mittens (finally finishing up the Southwark Collection - got to get that ebook out the door as well!). I spun more during the 2011 Tour de Fleece then in 2010. I started dyeing fiber for the general public (ohmygodwhathaveIgottenmyselfinto?). It's been a really good year on the craft front.

So what's ahead for 2012? I'm not convinced I want to do the whole list of resolutions this time around. I think a sweater and a pair of socks a month is a bit beyond my capabilities, to be fair. But there are some things I would like to accomplish:

• Dye my little head off and get Porpoise Fur really up and running. I've got ideas for colorways and patterns for certain colorways and so on and so on. Now I've got to get going on the reality. 

• I've got at least four more design ideas ready to be knit up, and I want to get going on those ASAP. It's a bit tough, since three of them are for summer weather, and it's 45 degrees with 40 mph winds in London today. Makes it tough to think about tank tops, to be honest...

• Get rid of my stash yarn that I'm seriously never, ever going to use. There's a lot of it. My Ravelry stash (which sadly, does not include everything) is at 53,286 yds of yarn. Holy fuck...that's...that's...that is waaaay to much yarn for one person to have lying around. To be fair, I may have included in that total some stuff that's been used up, but still.  OK, Real Goal #1 for 2012: update Rav stash to be totally accurate and keep it that way. And list a bunch of stuff for sale - good God woman!

I think I'm going to stop there. The grim reality of that amount of yarn is more then a little bit disturbing. I need to go lie down for a bit...

And please, someone out there tell me that's not that bad?