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Monday, May 20, 2013

Year of Socks #10 – Very Vanilla

Is it really Monday already? Maybe I’ve said this before – I love the weekend, but there’s something about Monday that I’m learning to appreciate as well. It’s a day I can get centered and think about what I want to get accomplished throughout the week. Monday feels like a fresh start. :)

I started out making these plain socks for me, then as I was stitching away, looking at the lovely color and thinking about Mother’s Day, I decided mid-project that I would give these to my mom for Mother’s Day.

Pattern: None (just a plain 64-stitch cuff-down sock)
Yarn: Regia Extra Twist Merino Color
Needle: US 0

This was my first time using Regia, and wow! I love it. It’s so stretchy.

I made a sort of woven-looking heel with alternating slipped stitches.

The socks were so well received! She put them on after unwrapping them and (moment of truth) they fit nicely. That’s always a nervous moment… all the time put into a project, and if it doesn’t fit? Yikes.

Not much else to say about these. Boy I love vanilla socks again… after the more complicated socks I’ve been doing for the Year of Socks, it felt oh so relaxing to make a plain pair. I see many plain socks in my future…with bright, crazy yarns of course.

Year of Socks #11 is done now too! I’ll post those soon. That means one more pair to round out my year… wow. Which pattern to choose…

Posted in FOs, Knitting, The Year of Socks

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Handspun Honey

Have you knit a Honey Cowl yet? I’ve always loved this pattern, and finally decided to go ahead an cast one on.

Pattern: Honey Cowl by madelinetosh
Yarn: Handspun superwash merino, sport/dk weight – fiber from Becoming Art
Needle: Size 7 US

This pattern is fun, easy, intuitive, and great for handspun, variegated, and solid yarns. So pretty much any yarn. There’s a short and long version, this is the long version as I like to double wrap my cowls. Though I think the short version (which calls for 225 yards of DK) would be great for some of my shorter skein handspun, so I may be making another in the future. :)

The handspun yarn I’ve had stashed for awhile, waiting for the right project. It is the finest merino handspun I’ve ever felt. If you’re a spinner, you should check out Becoming Art for her super fine merinos. And if you’re a knitter too – her hand-dyed yarns are goooorgeous.

The cowl may look a tad bit rumpled, and that’s because it’s been finished for a couple months and I wore it pretty much constantly after finishing it – we’ve had a nice cool spring here in northwest Arkansas. This is my third attempt at getting pictures of this! There was always something I didn’t like in my other photos – the light, whatever.

It’s also great for peeking.

Enjoy your weekend!

Posted in FOs, Knitting

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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Spinning Woolen

You may notice the yarns in this post don’t look like my usual handspun yarns. That’s because they are completely different in the process. Now for you non-spinners I won’t go into woolen vs. worsted spinning or all the different drafting methods, etc. But I will say woolen is different and new to me. (Here is a quick video of woolen spinning, if you are curious to see it). For you spinners out there, all these woolen yarns were done by spinning from the fold - which I totally recommend as a first step into woolen spinning. It’s very addicting.

So here was my first attempt, from a 3.5 ounce batt.

It’s all crazy and thick and thin. It’s not my normal yarn, all even and predictable and precise but I still find it pretty. Only got 75 yards this first time.

Here is my second attempt. I used 3.5 ounces of merino top.

Ah, much better! I got 175 yards this time. And it is more even throughout, though still thick and thin in places. I wish this blog had feel-o-vision so you could smoosh this. It’s like a fluffy cloud. Woolen spinning makes your yarns airier, so there’s a definite floof factor. Yes, I just said floof and am coining that as an official yarn term.

Check out the fluffy plies… all these skeins are 2-ply yarns.

I am in the middle of spinning my third woolen yarn, this time out of this beautiful golden/chocolate falkland roving. We’ll see how this skein turns out as I’ve taken a break from spinning this past week or so to knit and knit and knit. But I will report back with my results.

Thanks for joining me on my little spinning journey. I think anything you can do to expand your fiber craft horizons is good, even if you find out it is not your favorite trick or method or fiber or whatever. The learning process itself is healthy. And you may find a new favorite out there. :)

Posted in Spinning

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