Vildish Knits

Tonight: auction for Haiti!

2010-01-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

I know I've been missing for a long time and I *will* be back eventually, but until then I just have a brief announcement.

Tonight some friends of mine are putting on a benefit auction and performance for the people of Haiti. I spun some yarn for the silent auction:

If you're in Charlottesville, like The Vildish Twist yarn, and want to help with a good cause, please come down and bid!

(I'll also be performing on my hardangerfiddle just around 5pm)

Here's the press release for the evening:

Love 4 Haiti: A spectacular night of art, music, and dance to raise funds for Haitians in need, January 23, 2010

(Charlottesville, VA, USA) - A team of Charlottesville's artists, musicians, and students, with the support of local food and book vendors, are coming together for an art/music benefit event to raise funds for the people of Haiti on Saturday January 23, 2010, at Random Row Books.

Love 4 Haiti will be an evening of music and art offerings from local artisans. A silent auction of art works, gift certificates, and dance lessons will begin at 5pm. A kaleidoscopic program of Charlottesville's performing talent follows, including: Fire in the Belly (bellydance), Dzian! (world surf rock), Jdavyd Williams and the Basement Bhaktis (kirtan), Natty Peeps (roots reggae), Shootin Moon (acoustic), Matt Jones (acoustic), Secretly Y'all (storytelling), Scintillation (artistic fire dance), Stolen Arms (indie pop), and Your Spirit Animal in the Unreal City (psych shoegaze), and many more. Delicious food options donated by local restaurants will also be available for purchase.

All the proceeds will be donated to organizations behind the earthquake relief efforts including Partners in Health (PIH), International Rescue Committee (IRC), UNICEF, and GHESKIO. This event is co-sponsored by Random Row Books, UVa's Global Development Organization, The Bridge PAI, HzCollective, and Carpe Donut.

Love 4 Haiti
Saturday January 23, 2010
5pm - midnight
Random Row Books
315 W. Main St (Main St and McIntire Rd)
Admission $5

The Ultimate WIP

2009-11-27T12:56:00.001-08:00

It has been mighty quiet around here, hasn't it? Well, believe it or not I do have an explanation. I haven't been making much progress on my knitting WIPs, but there has been major growth with one very important project:

That's right - we're expecting a baby!! EDD 5/27/10

We're super, super thrilled and excited and nervous and everything else that goes along with this, but mostly excited and full of hope and wonder.

What I have not been full of, however, is food and knitting. I've been touch-and-go for the past few months and knitting acts as a nausea trigger. Terrible! So my knitting has been almost entirely packed away until the day when I wake up with itchy fingers and a settled tummy. Hopefully it won't be long.

Sorry for the long silence, but hopefully I'll make up for it in the future with lots of tiny adorable baby knits! And thanks for your patience in the meantime!

The Wheel Restored

2009-10-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

This wheel has done its fair share of traveling. According to Dave (who restored it) it was probably originally made between 1780 and 1820. All I know is that a friend of my mother's found it in the 1970s and had it restored and gave it to her as a gift. After that, it came across the ocean with us, and last year it made the flight across the US and the drive up to NY. Hopefully it'll be settled down for a while now.

So! First things first.

You'll notice that there's no flyer/bobbin unit on the wheel. Well, as it turns out this is a quill wheel! Dave made an adorable tiny flyer bobbin that fits on the wheel, but I'm hoping I can learn to spin on the quill. You know how I love a new challenge.

The maidens (the things holding up the quill (that's the pointy thing)) are from another old wheel. The originals were damaged beyond repair and Dave did a wonderful job of finding these replacements and then painting them with the black stripes like the rest of the wheel has.

After a good cleaning, the old painting shows through beautifully.

Here you can see how people have futzed with the wheel over the years to keep it spinning. The deep, blackened groove is where the axle used to go, but now it sits higher up. Someone at some point put metal supports into the wood.

The wheel alignment is suuuuuper finicky, and I'm going to be fussing with it quite a lot over the coming weeks, but I'm hoping that pretty soon I'll be spinning up a storm on this old beautiful wheel!

Thanks to my Mom for letting me fix it up, and thanks to Dave at The Merlin Tree for doing such a fantastic job on the restoration! I love the wheel and feel so lucky to have it in the house.

Rhinebeck 2009!

2009-10-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, we made the trek north again for the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. And what a year it was! It was such a good time that I hardly took any pictures, but I have plenty of haul shots to share, not to worry.

It's always a big treat to get to wander among the sheep who grow all the wool for us. Thank you, sheepies! (and shepherds!!)

(this photo doesn't begin to capture the enormity of this Rambouillet ram. He's HUGE!)

The Ravelry meetups are also a blast.

(thanks for this photo, E!)

And it is was great to catch up (in the rain and frrrreezing cold) with Ysolda. (Her Vivian design from fall 2008 Twist Collective was a very popular sweater at this year's fest!)

And that's where my actual Rhinebeck shots end. Sad, no? Next year I'll try to take more pictures. The knitwear spotting was fabulous and I wish I had caught more (any??) of the beautiful sweaters in photos.

I came home with everything I wanted, and stuck well to the shopping plan. Hurray!!

Braving the early Saturday morning crowds in the Briar Rose tent rewarded me with this beautiful slate green merino/tencel laceweight.

And holy Coopworth. This pile of yarn comes from two farms in Maine that shared a booth at the festival, and both farms raise the longwool breed Coopworth. I wish you could feel this yarn! It counts as next-to-skin soft in my family!

The naturally dark brown yarn comes from Hatchtown Farm (4 skeins) and the natural silver/pewter comes from Ruit Farm North (10 skeins!). Lots and lots of 2 ply dk weight fun in my future!!

I decided that I was allowed to buy one really special fleece for myself, and so parked myself in line for the opening of the fleece sale. I knew it would be crowded, but I wasn't quite prepared for the Filene's Basement style of the opening moments of the sale.

Phew! But everyone was courteous and even kind. People seemed genuinely happy for one another when they found what they wanted!

And boy did I ever find what I wanted.

Check out that beauty. Four pounds of merino, dark dark dark brown (almost black in sections), cleanest fleece I've seen in a long time, and with an incredible staple that ranges from 2 to just over 3 inches! AMAZING. Not a hint of tipping or matting, almost zero VM, thoroughly skirted, and did I mention the staple length??

Swoon. And that isn't even one of the longer locks.

Sadly I forgot to write down the name of the farm before checking out, and they collect the tags with the farm names for the sale records, so I'll never know where this beauty came from. (Unless one of the ladies hovering behind me eyeing the fleece at the sale stumbles across the this post and happens to remember!)

The real highlight of the weekend for me was picking up the spinning wheel I dropped off for restoration at LAST year's Rhinebeck.

I am so thrilled and can't wait to tell the whole story of this wheel, but really - she deserves her own post. Check back for the saga of this late 18th century Norwegian wheel and her wonderful restorer, Dave of The Merlin Tree.

FO: Striped baby cardigan

2009-09-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

Tada! It turns out that I still knit, too!
Pattern: b14-27 Jacket from Drops

Yarn: Anny Blatt Baby Blatt

Needle: US2 addi circs

Mods: I added a color to the pattern so the stripes were alternating blue and purple. Since this caused ther eto be lots of floats across the edges I did a single crocheted edge.

This really is a clever pattern. I love the way that short rows are used to create the narrowing stripes, which also then creates the cardigan shaping.

I am no not super pleased with how my crocheted edge turned out. It could be (and is fairly likely!) that I'm a crappy crocheter, but it looks messy and is way less elastic than I'd like it to be.

But I'll deal.

I've had enough of garter stitch to last me a good three years or so, so don't expect this to be a repeat pattern! It took much longer than I anticipated and while the clever stripes were novel at first, by the end I was ready to stab my eyes out.

Out the door it goes! Let's see, that takes me down to (mumblemumble) WIPs. And my fingers are itching to cast on with my Silk Forest yarn so the number just might grow. Whatever happened to project monogamy?

Silken Forest

2009-09-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

And she's done!

I was aiming for a deep, deep, deep green with the subtle movement between a black green and a slightly warmer than forest green.

I'm delirious over these colors.

So there she is. 410 yards of light fingering silk cashmere blend in a color I'd like to swim in for the rest of my life.
Pattern suggestions?

Silk step two

2009-09-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

Plying this silk was so satisfying, and while it was hard to see all my mistakes as I learned to deal with this new fiber (especially in the first batch of singles) overall I'm pleased with the yarn. All 410 yards of it. It's between 15 and 19 wraps per inch and So! Freaking! Soft!!

Today: step three. Dyeing.

Silk spinning

2009-09-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

You know the drill. Summer, distractions, etc. I'll just sheepishly (HA!) say sorry and pretend there wasn't an enormous lapse in blogging, mmkay?

So, to distract you from my distraction, here's a fibershot!

Shiny.

Last night I finished spinning singles from a cashmere and tussah silk blend I picked up at Rhinebeck last year. This stuff is pure luxury, and I felt entirely NOT up to the task of spinning it how it deserves to be spun. But I was determined to learn to spin non-wool fibers, and there's no way to learn to spin these luxurious fibers without, well, a learning curve. So. Off I went.

Silly as it sounds, at first I found it terrifying. I mean, it isn't like the silk was suddenly going to turn into a spider web with a giant Vilde-eating spider attached. But that's what I was feeling: terror. My good, old wool had become so comfortable to spin that I completely forgotten the feeling of being out of control of my fiber. And I swear this silk just wanted to jump out of my hands and dissolve into a million pieces. (all of which, by the way, would go right up my nose and start a sneezing fit.)

One challenge of this particular blend is the mix of staple lengths. The silk has a staple of around 7 inches, longer than any wool I've spun. The cashmere? Less than an inch. Finding a drafting technique that suited both of these fibers was my biggest challenge, and eventually I ended up with a super light gripped short forward draw.

Another challenge is the fluff/shine balance. Should I be smoothing down the cashmerey fluff as much as possible to let the shine of the silk come through? Or keep a light touch to give a halo to the yarn? I don't know! I ended up feeling lucky just to have relatively even singles on the bobbin, even if the fluff/shine balance is extremely UNeven.

By the end I felt confident in how I handled the fiber, but I'll withhold any declaration of success until after plying. There's time to screw this up yet!

The natural color of this blend is luuuuucious. Sort of a steely gray with caramel undertones. I love it, but I'll love the yarn even more after dyeing it and I'm curious to see what my colors look like on this new-to-me fiber. So tonight I ply, and maybe tomorrow I'll dye.

This all started as an experimental kick, but now that I'm ten hours into this spinning project I'd be lying if I didn't say I really really really want pretty yarn when I'm done with it. But I'll try my best to remember I'm a beginner, and keep this in mind as I poke my nose back into the "non-wool" box of fiber in my stash to see what new challenges await me.

Breathess post from the road

2009-08-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm traveling but just popped my head into the fall Twist Collective and nearly fainted. There are so! many! beautiful! sweater! patterns!!!

Swoon.

Best of all there are some great colorwork sweaters, and guess what I've been craving?

FO: Easy baby cardigan

2009-08-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Easy Baby Cardigan by Diane Soucy

Yarn: My handspun/handdyed in Daydreams of Spring, 100% merino

This was a quick little knit and such a great pattern. The construction is delightfully almost seamless (just the top of the hood) and so easy you hardly have to pay attention.

And that simplicity suits the handspun yarn, allowing all the nubbly variagation to shine through.

Man, I love knitting with handspun.

The toggles come from The Hickory Tree shop on Etsy. Check them out if you are looking for wooden buttons that look straight out of nature.

A return to Dyeing

2009-08-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

I've taken most of the summer away from dyeing, partially because it's been hot and working over a hot dyepot does not sound appealing, and partially because I've had a lot of other fun stuff going on.

But this week I dipped a toe back into the world of color. A friend of mine had gotten two large cones of undyed sock yarn and asked if I would dye it for her. She wanted blue and green (hurray!) and here's what I came up with:

I was aiming for a yarn that would be largely blue with small patches of bright green and larger swaths of a kind of aqua. I think she liked it and I certainly enjoyed the process! It made me think about the differences between dyeing yarn and dyeing fiber and it turns out that there are many - both in the design process and the execution.

Tomorrow I hope to have a FO to show. Finally something finished from the castonathon!

Cast-onathon

2009-07-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

Ahem.

Things have gotten a little cast-on happy around here lately, so in the interest of accountability I'm reporting in for a works-in-progress roundup.

Let's look at them individually, shall we?

Everyone knows socks don't really count as a WIP, so I hardly need to defend these. That said, the observant among you will notice that I've stopped right at the point when I need to turn the heel, which is really the only time that sock knitting becomes an actual project. So! The heel must be turned.

The back of the equestrian blazer has grown a bit, but it has been benched for now. It was born of demand (no easy knitting on the needles!) and supply (hey look! a sweater's worth of yarn in my stash!). But this is a cool-weather project and since fall in Virginia is still many months off there's no rush to finish it yet. And it's not like I don't have other things to keep me busy...

Oh right - lace.
I'm knitting a few rows here and there, but my favorite place to knit lace is on airplanes and for the next few weeks I'm not traveling. So progress has stalled.

New project #1! Some yarn never sees the inside of the stash bins. The Rowan silk-wool yarn that I got at an unbelievable sale price is such a yarn. And now that it is becoming a summer cardigan it has become priority knitting #1.

Or at least it was until this happened:

New project #2. Yesterday I realized I have some gift knitting to catch up on. So I opened the stash closet, picked the happiest color of handspun I saw, and got to work. This itty bitty hooded cardi is about the most mindless thing I have ever knit, and it is flying by, so hopefully I'll get back to my turqoise summer cardi soon enough.

Let's not talk about spinning projects in progress right now, okay?

Yarn call!

2009-07-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went away to the most fabulous weekend of fiddling and dancing EVER but this is a fiber blog, so I won't bore you all.

Instead, here are some things that came in the mail while I was away:

Four skeins of goooorgeous naturally brown yarn from Topsy farm in Canada. It's far from next-to-skin soft, but it'll suit the project I had in mind perfectly. Very happy with this purchase!

Ten skeins of Rowan Classic Silk Wool DK in Porcelain, which just happens to be my very favorite color. This was an unplanned purchase, but the price was just so good that I jumped on it. Very happy I did.

And with all that yarn arriving I'd better get knitting! Here is the start of the back of Kate Gilbert's Equestrian Blazer which I'm knitting with the yarn recycled from my very first (and rather bad) sweater. So far, so good.

Distractible

2009-07-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

I am without a chugalong knitting project right now and as a result I'm bouncing around and dabbling in several different things.

This weekend I...

...started spinning a cashmere and silk blend...

...fiddled and fiddled and fiddled with the tension on Margaret's Matchless that she has kindly lent me (I got it worked out last night! Let the production spinning begin!)...

...frogged my very first completed sweater and soaked the yarn for reuse...

...and cast on for a sock.

The brown yarn conundrum has been solved (I hope) and when the yarn comes in the mail I'll report in. Hopefully this means that I'll be casting on a sweater soon, which should help focus my fiber play time.

1/2 FO: Boxwood Primavera Sock(s)

2009-07-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

Yarn: Wollmeise, from the sock yarn club

Needles: 0s! (I know! Zerophobia is healed!)

Pattern: Primavera

The first sock is finished and the second ball is still AWOL. This wouldn't be so terribly tragic if this wasn't my very favorite sock that I've ever knit. Sigh. I love this sock. And I will display it prominently so I can admire it until the other ball of yarn decides to come home.

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend the Primavera pattern. It's wonderfully mindless (the fiddley bits are only every six rows) and the effect is lovely with a variagated yarn. I will be knitting many more of these socks. Or, you know, at least a full pair. (sigh!)

ISO: chocolate brown, wool, worsted or dk, 2 or 3 ply, long-wearing yarn

2009-07-09T11:36:00.001-07:00

Is that too much to ask?

I've been surprised at how hard it is to find such a yarn. My go-to solid wool (Dale's Heilo) has no good brown. I jumped to Jamieson's DK, even buying two balls to see the color in person, but no. Neither of the browns is right.

Here's what I need:

-A beautiful, solid, chocolate brown. Slightly heathered would be okay too, but no tweeds or semi-solids

-Wool, non-superwash please. I'd even take a wool/something blend if it measured up in other ways

-a good quality, long-wearing yarn. Cascade 220 won't fit the bill here - I want an heirloom knit strength yarn

-no singles yarns or no cabled plies. 2 or 3 ply prefered, but I'm willing to go up to 5 or 6 if it looks like a traditional plied yarn and not the kind of cylinders seen in, for example, Debbie Bliss's Rialto yarn

-worsted or dk. I'd go aran weight too, if necessary.

Here's what I don't care about:

-softness. Butter soft or scratchy, I don't care. Merino? Fine. (as long as it's long-wearing) Romney? Great.

This reads a bit like a personal ad, no?

Okay, so my requirements are a smidge specific. But I'm willing to pay a pretty penny for such a yarn, if I could find it! And if I can't? Well then it's time for me to start experimenting with dyeing techniques so I can get an entire sweater's worth of yarn evenly dyed.

Any an all yarn ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated!

Yarn gone AWOL

2009-07-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

The first Primavera sock is almost finished.

But there's a mysterious problem. See that ball? That's all I have left. Now yes, it is a relatively tall sock, but this yarn is supposed to have 575 yards in the skein!!

As I see it, these are the possibilities:

a) This pattern ate up a crazy amount of yarn and that small ball is really all there is left

b) I wound the skein into two separate cakes and then lost one.

I strongly suspect B. Yesterday I cleaned out my fiber closet assuming I'd run into the wayward cake, but no. This moring I hunted and hunted and hunted. No yarn. (well, no green sock yarn. I turned up some other treasures along the way.)

At this point my plan is to finish the sock and set it aside, hoping that the missing yarn will turn up. I'm feeling rather dramatic about the whole thing because I have absolutely loved knitting this first sock and was looking forward to the second, but I don't see what choice I have. (dramatic gesture)

If any of my local knitting buds have seen a brilliantly green cake of yarn wandering around, tell it to come home!

Vacation knitting

2009-07-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Does it get any better than this?

(not pictured: gin and tonic in hand)
Ahhhh...

Where have I been?

2009-06-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

Oh, around.

Just got back from the trip, more photos to come soonish, but I'm leaving on another trip tomorrow morning, so it may be a few days.

I did knit away busily during the travels.

The first primavera sock is almost a full sock, and I've gotten started on a new project:

Now I need to pack for tomorrow's trip! PHEW!

Long term project

2009-06-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

Remember these?

Well...

For a number of reasons I have decided to spin up those fleeces rather than dyeing and selling the fiber. I haven't added up the weights (frankly it makes my head spin to even think of it) but I'm conservatively estimating that there are about 20 pounds of fiber total.

This is clearly a long term project!

I'm happy with how the first fleece is spinning up. It's a yearling romney with tons of luster, so I'm spinning it into a lofty aran weight two ply.

Look at this sheen!

This is definitely not a next-to-skin, merino-soft yarn, but I'm sure it will find a good home in a great project.

For now I'm spinning and spinning, but eventually this yarn or a dyed version of it will end up in the shop. My hope is to have sweater quantities of the yarn available and there may be custom dyeing options. For now, I'm just enjoying the easy, relaxing, endless spinning.

Milo finds it all a bit dull.

Eyeing the frog pond.

2009-06-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

I'm on the fence about whether to frog my Whisper cardi. On the one hand, I put it on and say, "hey! I think this'll look pretty good ." On the other hand, the knitting is supremely irritating. In order to catch all the stitches without slipping one I have to pay rapt attention. To stockinette.

I'm talking myself into frogging, here. Maybe I'll retry Whisper with a heavier weight lace yarn. This Fino is practically a cobweb and it's not working for Whisper.

So! With all this frog speculation and with the Seascape stole just finished, I am left without a big project. This can only mean one thing around these parts.

Socks! Primavera pattern in Wollmeise sock yarn club yarn. Yum.

But of course I am scheming, sampling, and swatching for The Next Big Thing. My first handspun sweater project, spun from one of the fleeces I bought last fall. The plan is to make a cabled sweater, but I am wondering whether the yarn is too variegated/heathered and if it will obscure the pattern.

When light comes from an angle, the cables show up beautifully.

But when in full, direct sun the cables fade into the heatheredness, at least in pictures. (the swatch under consideration is on the right. I have already decided against the yarn in the left hand swatch.)

Hmph. This effect is exaggerated in this photo - in person the cables don't appear this blended, but the trend is the same.

What to do, what to do? In the right hand swatch I am blending a gray fleece with a white fleece. I'm doing it a bit haphazardly, just flicking the locks together. I could try a more thorough blending technique, but that means breaking out the combs and frankly I don't know if I want to do that for this big of a project. I could try a sample with just the gray fleece, but I really like the loft of the white fleece and was hoping to include it.

I also wasn't spinning very carefully when I sampled for this swatch, and let quite a few bloops and blobs go by that I would normally fix, so the whole thing is a bit lumpier than I'd let the final yarn be.

All this to say that I am undecided.

But one thing is for sure.

I'm in love with the way my border leicester fleece is spinning up. I'll definitely be using this for something in the near future.

FO: Seascape Stole

2009-06-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Seascape Stole, by Kieran Foley

Yarn: my handdyed, handspun merino 2 ply

Needle: Addi lace US 5s

Mods: added one more repeat of the main chart

I love, love, love this wrap.

I'm planning to use it as a travel wrap - my airplane companion since I always get cold or need a pillow.

I love how nubbley and warm it is, while still being lightweight and pretty (if I do say so myself). It pulls together a little bit since the merino has such good memory, but I knew that going in. The blocking won't hold perfectly, but that's a-okay with me. I'm traveling soon and I am so excited to have this with me for comfort and warmth.

Shop Update!

2009-06-06T13:56:00.001-07:00

It has been months, but I've finally been back at the dyepot. I had a lot of fun this week rediscovering color mixing. I've just updated the shop with these new colors:

From top left, they are Eye of the Rhodie, At the Reef, Western Sunrise, and Confection.

I also cooked up one color that I'm just not going to be able to let go.

And my fingers are already twitching to spin it. It's called Glen, and is bound for a fun project in the near future.

Blocking

2009-06-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

Seascape is blocking! This project really worked out serendipitously. Out of 820 yards of yarn that I spun, This is how much is left after I finished.

That's 2 and a half yards. You can imagine me sweating out those last few inches of knitting, can't you? I'm giddy over the finished project and can't wait to share it with you, but it needs some more drying time before its debut.

Yesterday when I popped by The Needle Lady for some Addi lace 6s (for the Whisper cardi) Mimi showed me the Namaste bag I'd asked her to set aside for me.
And now? It's mine!

Could you get more Vildish? I don't think so.

Southern Seas Yarn

2009-06-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hey look! I still spin!

206 yards, 4 oz, falklands combed top, 3 ply, in my colorway Southern Seas.

I've completely fallen for these blues and have been scheming for a recreation of the colorway. Want! More! Blue!!

And have I metioned lately how much I love 3-plys? Because I do. Lots. I went for a blended look on the colors in this yarn, and I love the subtle shifts between blue and green. (shocking, I know. I really am a broken record when it comes to these colors.)

I can't wait to see it knit up! It's jumping in the mail and will be sent off to a friend shortly.

WIP Wednesday

2009-06-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

I am hoping that posting my WIPs once a week will help me with my knitting/blogging mojo situation. I'm in the midst of several big projects and the thought of not having a FO to blog for a while now is making me itchy. This may have something to do with having knit two whole sweaters that never made it as a FO.

So! Here are some UFOs!

The Whisper Cardigan is going well. I knit most of the sleeve on 7s and then felt like it was going to be too big, so I ripped and am now knitting on 6s. Much better. I'm considering getting some pointier needles since I've been having some trouble scooping up this fine, fine yarn with my blunt addis.

The end is in sight with the Seascale Stole! I am now super excited about this project and thing it will be a great addition to my warm-keeping things.

In other news, I am starting to think about a spinning for a sweater project. It's going to be a looooong process so it's going to take some scheming. And! My dyepot is on the stove for the first time in months. I did a little happydance when I pulled out the dyestocks and can't wait to get cranking with the shop again. Hurray for color!

How you doin'?

2009-05-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I lost my mojo there. Knitting, ripping, knitting, and ripping again for the diminishing rib was, frankly, demoralizing. I've been scowling at my pile of angora cakes trying to figure out what to do with them to redeem the purchase, trying to force them into some kind of shrug-like project.

Yesterday? I gave up. The Lush yarn will become deliciously soft accessories - scarves and hats. As many as I have yarn for. One set for myself, and if there is enough to spare then I know someone who would look oh-so glamorous in the color.

And as soon as I made this decision, my next project jumped onto the needles.

I was poking around in my fiber closet, looking for the second ball of my handspun seafoam for the Seascape stole (which is coming along nicely, thanks) and out fell this pink Alpaca with a Twist. It was slightly tangled from a run-in with the Milodog, but a patient evening with the ballwinder sorted that right out.

And apparently I am determined to knit something from the spring 2009 Interweave Knits - this project is Hannah Fettig's Whisper Cardigan. Based on some Ravelry feedback, I decided to forgo the big bell at the ends of the sleeves, and added a few rows of ribbing to prevent curling.

Hurray for the return of knitting mojo!

Ready to Rip.

2009-05-11T16:29:00.000-07:00

Here is the evidence that the Diminishing Rib cardigan is almost done, and ready to be ripped.

Live and learn! Here are my problems with how it turned out.

1. It's still too stinking big. For the shaping to work out the thing needs negative easy. I still have a couple inches of positive ease in this size.

2. That stretched out row of 1x1 rib before the increase makes me batty. It looks messy and I just don't like it.

3. The fluff of the angora yarn makes the whole thing look bigger than it actually is, and as a result *I* look bigger than I actually am. And that's not something I'm really looking for in a tailored sweater, thanks. (lesson learned here!)

So. Tonight I rip. I have plans for the yarn... plans involving a vintage Vogue pattern. It's going to require some retooling, but I'm pretty excited about it. And I should have enough yarn left over to do a beautiful scarf. So if all goes well I should get two projects out of one. Trying to see the positive, here!

Ysolda was here!

2009-05-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

After reading on Ysolda's blog that she had a few days of free time and that she was in the DC area, Elizabeth and I did some quick scheming and before you could say "young Scottish knitwear designer" she was here!

She stayed with me, and Elizabeth and I tried to show her a good time in Charlottesville.

There was, of course, some knitting involved.

Here she is at The Needle Lady's Thursday knit night. Ysolda had her suitcase of knit samples with her and everyone oohed and aaahed over the designs. I'm leaning heavily towards knitting her Vivian design as my next sweater project.

Speaking of sweater projects...

Before she left Ysolda counseled me through a difficult decision. I am going to rip out my Diminishing Rib cardigan. I am almost done knitting it (for the second time, now) and I'm still not happy with the fit. It's just plain too big! And I think I made a poor choice of yarn with this angora. It all looks like a just fluffball on me, and I don't think that I would actually ever wear it.

Sigh.

So back I rip.

I'll take some photos of the unflattering fit before I tear it back but before I get up the morale to actually do the ripping I feel like I need to have a new project planned. Keep the spirits up, you know? So today I'll be poking around and dreaming up some plans for a new project.

Exams are DONE!

2009-05-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

YAY.

I'll be back!

2009-03-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be missing for so long - things are crazy busy right now and will be that way for a bit. You aren't missing out on any crafting since basically none is going on! Exams have taken over, as they probably should.

The trip to Shanghai was great - it was wonderful to see my husband and there was some seriously good food. Miss that.
Here are a couple of photos to tide you over:

The city is full of these old/new contrasts.

The famous soup dumplings. Each of these is filled with a ground meat mixture and a puddle of super flavorful broth. The wrappers are delicate so eating them can be tricky!

And here's a dorky picture of me eating shashlik with naan from a steet vendor. It was SO GOOD.

Okay! Back to work for me!

Hi from Shanghai!

2009-03-01T22:27:00.000-08:00

I'm here in China and having a wonderful time! On the flight over I managed to nab an upgrade to business class and holymoly! Talk about knitting elbow room.

As most of you know, I'm in the final push for my exam process so knitting is taking a back seat to my real job. That was the case on the plane, too, where despite having fifteen hours of uninterrupted knitting and movie watching time I read a book instead. (gasp!) I managed to squeeze in a little knitting here and there and am happy to report that I am most of the way through the raglan shaping of the blue sweater re-knit. After looking at the photos again and again and measuring my favorite cardigans, I decided to go with the next smaller size without any alteration. Hopefully it works out!

Photos coming soon!

Argh!

2009-02-25T07:38:00.000-08:00

Serious frustration going on here.

1. I realized that the reason my stitch counts were so funny was because (duh!) I actually had to rip back to the beginning to CO the new size's stitches.

2. Rip, rip, rip.

3. Cast on, knit ribbing.

4. Try to divide for raglan shaping. End up with six stitches too many. (The trolls did it! I swear! I can't understand where these stitches came from!)

5. Rip, rip, rip.

6. Throw yarn and empty needles across room.

All I want is a simple project to knit on while I read, and dang it if this is ever turning into a thorn in my side! If I could just get off on the right foot I'd be cruising through this thing again. Argh.

Too big? Help me decide!

2009-02-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, gang, I need your help.

First of all, thanks for all the super kind comments on my Urban Aran cardigan!

Now. On to the next project.

I'm nearly done with the body of the Diminishing Ribs Cardigan and at this point I'm thinking that I may need to rip back and make the smaller size.

(please don't laugh at my ridiculous face in the following picture - these shots were taken between reading two hard books. That's why I look so consternated.)

What do you think? The pattern says it's designed to have very little ease so it fits slimly and sits open. I thought, gee that sounds nice! And then I can stretch it closed and fasten it with a pin at the waist if I want to!

But when I made the size that I thought would do this, the whole thing just feels too darned big. At the collar I can overlap the sides by about two inches without stretching. And here's what the back looks like:

(don't mind the dangling needles!)

I think that puckering is happening because there's just too much material across the upper back, and so when the ribbing starts and it pulls in a bit (though not nearly as much as it could for an actual fitted sweater) the stockinette section bubbles out.

The good news is that I'm loving the yarn and how the fabric works out. And I think I will love the sweater, but the fit isn't working for me right now.

That said, I'm worried that the next size down will be too small! This is the 39 1/2 bust size, and the next size down is 35 1/4. That seems like a BIG jump down. At the same time, there really is quite a lot of spare material right now. Hm.

Tell me what to do! I can't decide!

UPDATE: I ripped. All the way back to the first few raglan increases. The sweater is down to about three inches from the cast on now. And I have angora up my nose. KaCHOO!

UPDATE #2: I cannot seem to get the right number of stitches after ripping! I have bizarre discrepancies between the increase stitches. I might just ignore it and plunge ahead working out the numbers in the increases. Or I could rip back farther (aaauuuuuuuuuggh!). I set the sweater aside for the night so neither of us got hurt.

FO: Urban Aran Cardigan

2009-02-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

Finally!

Pattern: Urban Aran Cardigan, originally by Patons, cardiganized by Jared Flood
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool
Needles: Addi Turbo 9s and 10s

I adore this sweater.

The pattern was a breeze, the yarn was a floofalicious joy, and the fit worked out!

The collar looks good both zipped all the way up and flipped down in my favorite drama collar configuration. The two way zipper means I can unzip the bottom when I sit down so the zipper won't buckle and distort the knit fabric.

Putting the zipper in took about as long as I expected (which was a LONG time) but was not as tricky as I feared.

Setting in the sleeves was also less tricky than I remembered. (It has been seven years since I last did set in sleeves!) I used lots of binder clips and set the sleeves in before seaming the sleeve and side closed. I'll be doing that from now on!

The sweater is almost overwhelmingly cozy to wear - and while the crappy weather today made for bad photo lighting, it felt like the perfect day to wear my new favorite sweater.

Impulse.

2009-02-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

I'm normally fairly measured in how I make my knitting project decisions. First a thought like "hm, maybe I'll make a sweater for my sister." Then researching patterns. Then researching patterns some more. Then looking through all the finished versions on Ravelry to see which yarn I like best with the pattern. Then change my mind and pick a different pattern after all. Finally chose yarn. Then ask all of my friends which color I should use.

It's a lengthy process.

But yesterday? My copy of Interweave Knits came in the mail in the morning. When I saw the Diminishing Rib Cardigan I said "I'm going to make that."

In the afternoon I found myself in the yarn shop and, slightly dazed by the speed of it all, I came home with this:

That's Classic Elite's Lush - 50% wool, 50% angora, 100% dreamy.

And before you could say "top down raglan" I had this:

Sometimes things just come together. I'd needed a simple project to knit on at knit night and while I read. I'd wanted to work in a luxurious yarn. And I'd wanted to spoil myself a little bit.

Done and done.

PS- tubular cast on? SO COOL.

Still aroundish!

2009-02-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a full week since I posted! LAME! This might happen more often than I'd like in the next few months or so, but I'll do my best to keep up in here.

Nothing finished to report, but lots of projects in progress. My custom cut zipper arrived and it turned out to be the wrong color (totally my fault!) so it was back to square one. I ordered a replacement but without cutting so I could return it if I needed to. It's the right color, so this weekend I'm planning to learn to short a zipper! Wheee!

I have a pair of socks churning that'll hopefully be done soonish.

And I've been spinning:

I'm aiming for a three ply worstedish. I'm not as good at judging finished weights with three plys so I'm hoping I get it at least vaguely right! This is my Southern Seas at Twilight colorway and I'm loving the bright bright blues! Can't wait to see what it looks like plyed.

No progress on the seascape stole - I've had a busy week with work and couldn't fit lace knitting into my brain. Maybe next week.

Shop Update!

2009-02-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

Finally!!! Some new fibers are in the shop.

I'm pretending it isn't the depth of winter - can you tell? These fibers have names like "Midsummer Bonfire" and "Daydreams of Spring." Dyeing them put me in such a great mood!

I put up two 4oz braids of each color.

I also put up two handspun yarns, which should look familiar:

On the left is my latest yarn, and on the right is the second skein of the yarn I used to make the February baby sweater. Happy colors, aren't they?

Daydreams of Spring, finished

2009-02-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

Finished yarn!

Daydreams of Spring, 100% Merino, 480 yards, 3.5 ounces

This seemed like it was taking f.o.r.e.v.e.r. when I was spinning the singles, and looking at that yardage now I understand why! I was aiming for a sock yarn, and it looks like I finally hit that mark. And this yarn has some fabulous sproinginess to it!

The colorwas is ridiculously cheerful, and the other day when I was raking the side beds of the house I found its real-world counterpart: the brilliant little stems of emerging bulbs, kept from the sun by the leaf mulch layer. GREEN! Yellowy, bright green!! Spring!

Lace knitting: is the miracle of blocking real?

2009-01-31T08:24:00.000-08:00

I really hope so.

I'm loving knitting this pattern - the waves are so elegantly designed and the diamonds are a little treat. Love it.

At least, I love it when I lay the piece out and smooth it all out so it isn't a crumpled mess. I've heard about the miracle of blocking lace, and how everything suddenly pops and the heavens open up and sing the praises of yarn overs, but I'm nervous about it. Will it happen for this project? Did I pick too heavy of a yarn? I love how it looks when I fake-block by hand, and I'm head over heels for the nubbly handspun in this pattern, but after every row I look at it an wonder: will it block out?

Here's hoping.

Dovetailing

2009-01-27T11:52:00.000-08:00

I always have trouble finishing one big thing without starting another. I don't like the feeling of being without some lengthy project - it feels unanchored. I love knitting socks, but if they are the only thing I have on the needles I get nervous.

Last night I had one inch of collar left to knit on the Urban Aran. So what did I do?

I cast on, of course!

The yarn is one of my first handspun skeins - the merino seafoam if you remember it. It looks more gray than green on these dreary winter days, but I love a color that changes with the light.

This little beginning will eventually be the Seascape Stole by Kieran Foley from the summer '08 Knitty. I'm making it in a much heavier yarn than the pattern calls for since I wanted a winter wrap rather than a summer accessory. I went up one needle size so the lace will still show, but the fabric will have some insulating density to it, as well. So far, so good.

PS - this morning I knit that last inch of Urban Aran collar and the body pieces are currently drying after their bath. Now the zipper waiting begins...

Daydreams of Spring

2009-01-24T14:32:00.000-08:00

In between stints of Urban Aran work I've been doing a smidge of spinning.

And yes, my new lens came and yes, I'm loving it.

Fronts!

2009-01-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

They are done!

Why the goofy picture? Well I got some new toys in the mail today. A remote control and tripod for my camera. Woo! Some of you know that my husband is leaving for a long business trip to China at the end of the month. As in, he'll be gone until the middle of June. That long. (oy.)

Among all the other wonderful things he does in our lives, my husband indulges me when it's time to photograph a finished object. What am I to do when I finish this sweater and he's 12 time zones away? Important question, this!

Technology saves the day.

Obviously I didn't really need it for today's picture, but I'm excited about the tripod for day-to-day use in low light situations, and I think the remote will help with reducing camera shake when I'm taking yarn photos. Can't hurt, at least.

I'm also expecting a lens next week which I am super excited about. My first non-kit lens!!

And about those sleeves... I'm ripping back. I think it'll bother me too much as it is. I can see how it would almost look like a design element, but *I* know that it isn't, and I'm fussy (apparently). After I finish the collar I have a few days until the zipper arrives in the mail, so I'll take care of the sleeves then. Probably. We'll see.

FO: Noro two-row scarf

2009-01-19T14:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a project that it kills me not to have better photos of. My flash for my good camera broke on a recent trip (aaaargh!!!) and so when I traveled last I only brought my little point and shoot. I forgot that I was giving away this scarf on this trip so wouldn't be able to take better pictures of it.

Sigh.

Well, there it is, sort of. One of the wildly-popular Noro two-row scarfs. It was absolutely mesmerizing to knit and I'm very, very happy with the final project. And the recipient liked it too, I think! I can definitely see making more of these in the future.

So. The sleeves. Keen eyes spotted the double cable at the top where there should be a triple. I finished the sleeve at my knitting group so I guess I wasn't paying enough attention to the pattern. I've decided to rip back the relatively few rows I need to to fix it, but not until I finish the front. The wound is too fresh right now... (drama, anyone?)

Sleeves!

2009-01-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

Anybody remember that I have a sweater in progress? That I started, oh, back in the beginning of September? Sigh. So many things have jumped ahead of the sweater in the queue. Since starting the sweater I have finished:

The Februrary Baby Sweater

The Noro striped scarf (blogging about that soon)

Alex's striped scarf

an unblogged simple hat for my brother-in-law

little Elijah the Elephant

A pair of socks

And TWO pairs of mittens.

Project ADD anyone?

But I am determined to finish this sweater in time to wear it this winter and since this is Virginia, that means I'd better get cracking.

There has been some progress:

Sleeves! So that just means that I have the front and the collar left to knit, plus all the seaming and the dreaded zipper installation.

And Oh. My. Gosh. As I sit here typing this I just noticed a mistake in my sleeves.

SIGH.

Okay. I need to go figure out what I'm going to do about this.

(hint: it has to do with the cable pattern and is near the top.)

FO: February baby sweater

2009-01-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles, by Elizabeth Zimmerman from Knitter's Almanac.

Needles: some little Addi turbos - maybe 2s? I can't recall

Yarn: My own handspun, from the Roses of Childhood colorway

A holiday knit, finally gifted so now I can blog about it.

What a JOY to knit this was!! EZ's pattern is brilliant, and the result is pretty darned adorable if I do say so myself.

I love the look and feel of handspun all knit up. Millspun still has a place in my knitting life, but I find myself looking for more and more patterns to use my handspun, handdyed yarn.

The sweater went to my dear, dear friends who are having a baby girl after two sons. I thought a good dose of pink would be in order!

Touching Base

2009-01-03T05:58:00.000-08:00

I'm home for a few days between trips. Jetlag. Laundry. You know the drill.

I have a lot of knitting and non-knitting to share, but it'll take me a while to get pictures in order. The Romania we saw on the trip was a land of extremes, from mud huts to marble mansions. We had an incredible time with family and seeing the sites, and feel so lucky to have had the opportunity for that kind of trip. Unforgettable!

For now, the news is that I have finally succumbed:

What they all say is true. I'm totally mesmerized by the play of colors and despite it being the second 1x1 rib scarf I'm knitting in a month I'm finding it totally entertaining.

More soon!

Spinning and Travel

2008-12-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

The holidays are upon us! This year we have an adventure planned - tomorrow we are heading to Romania for a family Christmas in the countryside. I've never been to Romania and am super excited about the trip! I am extremely unprepared for the travel but I'm ready to dive into an unforgettable experience. I'll be back after the new year with plenty of photos.

I've been cramming in some last minute crafting in preparation for the trip. A gift hat is almost done after an evening of knitting, and I finished a yarn for travel knitting.

The fiber is merino in my colorway Roses of my Childhood.

There are two plump skeins of it, adding up to 640 yards of a heavy fingering yarn.

It's destiny is to become an Elizabeth Zimmerman February baby sweater, as a gift for a friend's baby girl who will arrive in this world this spring. I'm thrilled with how the colors spun up and can't wait to knit with it.

My other travel knitting is one of the famous two row Noro striped scarves, so it should be a nice balance.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

ps- the fence is DONE! WOOOOO!

FO: Elijah

2008-12-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

Pattern: Elijah, by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull in gray-blue

Needles: bamboo DPNs in US0 (yeeeeeesh.)

This pattern is brilliant! Knit in the round and seamlessly, the little guy comes together pretty quickly.

His ears were a little fiddly, but otherwise just a smooth, easy knit. He is super squishy soft and I think my friend's baby will get some great cuddle time with this little guy. It'll be hard to put him in the mail! Maybe I'll have to knit him a penpal to stay here with me.

FO: A scarf for Alex

2008-12-19T11:09:00.000-08:00

Nothing fancy here, just a 1x1 rib scarf for Alex. I love the drape of the fabric with this stitch pattern, and I'm happy with the colors he picked out.

He said that all the scarves he has are too short and all he wanted was a scarf that wasn't too short.

I took the request seriously.

Despite the ridiculous looking lenght, when he wears it the scarf comes just to the bottom of his coat when wrapped around his neck once. I think that'll do!

Newsflash:

2008-12-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

Dyeing other people's knitted goods is nervewracking!

A friend from knit night was unhappy with how a yarn had knit up and was asking about how she would go about dyeing it. I offered to just take care of it for her, and went home with a beautiful lace scarf, ready for dyeing.

Enter nerves.

I just pulled it out of the dye pot and I'm happy with how it came out, so I just hope my friend is too! I'll try to photograph it tomorrow if the sky isn't miserably gray like it has been the last few days.

I'm just so relieved that it didn't end disastrously!!

In other non-disaster news, I finished some spinning.

This is a colorway called "Moss at Midnight" that is absolutely impossible to photograph. ARGH! A friend of mine bought the fiber and asked if I could do a custom spin order. You betcha! Eight ounces of spinning later, here are two skeins of light worsted weight BFL yarn. The fiber is decidedly green, even if I can't quite capture that in the photos, and there's subtle variagation from a cool gray green to warmer mossy tones. The whole thing is pretty dark, hence the "midnight" part of the name.

I'll be switching spinning gears this week and heading to merino land in a great PINK color. Should be a nice change of pace and help offset the grayskydoldrums.

Fence Building

2008-12-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, my husband and I are building a fence. Which right now means a lot of digging and not a lot of knitting. Also, it means sore shoulders. Ouch.

But just to keep things alive around here, here's a picture of the smidgen of progress I've made on one of my Christmas projects.

He looks a little alien right now, but I promise he'll cute right up when he gets ears. I'm saving them for last.

My husband's scarf is almost done (oh, the ends the ends! So much weaving!) and then I'm planning to dive right into another 1x1er.

Later today I have some finished spinning to share, but for now I have some holes to dig!

Fleeces!

2008-12-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

They're here! Back from processing!!

Overall, I'm thrilled. The fleeces all have a really nice hand to them and I think they'll be a delight to dye and spin. I lost less weight in processing than I thought I might, and Zeilinger did a great job - zero VM!

I'm anxious to start spinning with some of this wool. It was an adventure to pick these fleeces and send them off, and I'll be curious how spinning with them compares to spinning with the commercial Romney I have.

I think I'm finally committing to my next big project, which will involve the gray fleece, second from the left. More on this soon!

I wasn't kidding...

2008-12-07T15:49:00.001-08:00

...about treating the failed mittens like the mitten equivalent of stockings.

That's better.

2008-12-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

You all were too nice in your comments about my first embroidery attempt. Really! But thanks in part to your niceness I got right back on the horse and tried again. This time with patterns.

That's better, now isn't it?
I made a little tea towel for my friend Liz who hosted an eggnog party last night, and she's just the type to appreciate a tea towel!
Sorry for the moody lighting in the photos - I finished the towel after dark and handed it off an hour later.

In knitting news, a little friend is beginning to grow...

Shop Update - at last!

2008-12-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, but I finally have some new products up in The Vildish Twist.

These colors are brand new, and I'm loving them all. There are so many baby girls (no, no, not mine! No surprise announcements here!) about to appear in my world that I have some serious pink on the brain!!

Also, I've been spinning.

It looks like a fuzzy mess here, but that's some lovely BFL in my Moss at Midnight colorway. I'm spinning it for a crocheter so I'm twisting in the opposite direction than I normally do.

Yay, fiber!!

Want to see something funny?

2008-12-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

So this is what happens when Someone (ahem. okay, fine it was me) decides that even though she has never done a stitch of embroidery in her life, for her first project she's going to do away with patterns and just try to mimic the embroidery on her national costume. Without even trying to trace it out first.

Go ahead and laugh. I know it's totally mishapen and scrappy.

Lesson #1 - I am not good at drawing freehand, what on earth made me think I'd be good at embroidering freehand? (???)

Lesson #2 - picking the right number of threads to embroider with makes a big difference. I really wanted that stem to be the size that it is, but I used too few threads so it looks jagged. Clearly there's a certain amount of poor stitchery involved, but I think that if I had used more threads it would have helped cover some of the jags.

Lesson #3 - embroidery is about precision. Every. Single. Stitch. Placement makes a difference in how the darned thing will look. This makes it a very different kind of craft than knitting and spinning. (or, at least, my sloppy approach to knitting and spinning.) If I want to be happy with my finished embroidery, I need to take the time to give it my full, unrushed attention.

In this case? I rushed. I was too hopped up on the thought of embroidering everything in sight!

I'm obviously a beginner at this and I'm a-okay with that! Right now I'm sticking to tea towels that won't leave the house, so the learning curve can take whatever form it takes.

Just think of this as a hopeful future "remember when..." post reference.

Thanks, Courtney!!

2008-12-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

My package from my secret mitten pal arrived, and WOW! Thanks so much, Courtney!! I love it all!!

Sorry the picture is so dark - I'll try to get better pictures of the mittens soon. They are from the Egyptian Mitten pattern, and knit in beautiful blue and green, with maroon and white cuffs. They fit perfectly, too!!! The knitting is stunning - Courtney, you are one seriously skilled knitter!!

The other goodies include two skeins of Cascade 220 in greens (yay!!) a pattern for the Wintergreen Mittnes, some red laceweight yarn (ooooooo!) and a pattern for a scarf. And licorice! YUM!

Thanks so much for everything, I am THRILLED and have already worn the mittens!! What a treat!! :)

My package went out to my secret pal yesterday, so hopefully she's as delighted with her package as I was with mine!

It couldn't be simpler

2008-11-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

Slip. Purl, knit, purl, knit, purl, knit.... ooap. There's the end. Turn.

Slip. Purl, knit, purl, knit, purl, knit...

This January my husband is going to China for six months, and I am not. This means a lot of things but most relevantly for this blog it means that when he mentions that he might like to have a handknit scarf to wear while he's there, the very next evening 17 inches of scarf have materialized.

All of my excitement and panic and pride and nerves (and did I mention panic?) have found an outlet. SCARF.

FO: Postwar Mittens!

2008-11-28T11:44:00.000-08:00

BOOYAH!

Pattern: Postwar Mittens, by Mary Ann Stephens from the latest Twist Collective (which, by the way, actually managed to outdo the first issue which I didn't think was possible!)

Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull (from the stash, baby!)

Needles: two addi turbo US 0 circs

Date started: 11/20/08

Date finished: 11/26/08

There are a few fiddley things about this pattern, especially if you happen to be super picky about tension in colorwork. The "stars" that shine through the tile pattern are awesome, but if you get off a bit in tension, you get the effect of planets versus distant stars. E.g. they aren't even, damnit. These pictures were taken preblocking and I think it'll all even out enough to chill me out. The other tricky tension bit is the flecks along the faux seam. I lined mine up between needles which made tension extra challenging, and the white against black contrast really highlights any unevenness.

Eh, I think they're just fine, thanks.

In fact, I'm pleased as punch. Easily the best thing I've knit in any single six day period.

Wednesday Mitten Report

2008-11-26T06:52:00.000-08:00

Getting close to the home stretch, here, and I'm a weeeee bit nervous about running out of the black yarn. I'd normally seam up the picot hem with black, but I'm holding off on that for mitten number one until I finish knitting mitten number two. Worst comes to worst... well, I'll cross that bridge if I get there.

Still loving the pattern! And my arms haven't fallen off yet!! (though I am going a little cross-eyed)

Tuesday Morning Mitten Report.

2008-11-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

Mitten number two! I may actually have a shot at finishing these suckers on timeish!

I'm loving the pattern. I liked knitting the thumb hole onto scrap yarn rather than casting off and back on like I did for the Selbuvotter. The whole shebang looked tidier while knitting, and the stitches were just sitting there, ready to go, when I was ready for them! I usually pick up an extra stitch in the corners of things like thumbs and gussets - this time I didn't and I regret it. There's a wee hole where there shouldn't be, and I'm itching to stitch it closed.

I've also had some problems with my tension related to knitting on two circs. Oops! At the turn, things get a bit tight and bumpy. It almost looks like a faux seam up the side of the mitten. No disaster, but it makes my teeth itch a little.

Perfectionist, who?

Emergency Knitting, the Monday morning update

2008-11-24T07:16:00.000-08:00

Here we are after a Sunday's worth of knitting. Not as many hours as I would have liked, but the house needed some attention after an all-day cooking and eating event on Saturday. (kind of an early Thanksgiving, but with sauerkraut.) But I will start the decreases in the very next row, so it's close on mitten #1.

Thanks to all those who sympathized about the oversized mittens. I think I have a solution I'm happy with: Since they are to normal mittens what stockings are to socks, plus they are festively colored, I think they'll go on the mantel for the holiday season!

Mitten progress and comment commenting

2008-11-22T09:21:00.001-08:00

The state of the emergency replacement mittens:

The pattern is Postwar Mittens by Mary Ann Stephens from the second (and just as fab as the first!) issue of Twist Collective. The issue came out about two weeks ago and I marked this mitten pattern as something I'd definitely like to make... I just didn't realize how soon it would be!

A few comments on comments from the last post...

First, gauge and size!

Margaret commiserated about row gauge, and wondered if Terri gave one. Shana wondered what went wrong and was curious about whether the book is still a good buy. E speculated that maybe the mittens are just supposed to be huge!

The facts: Terri gives a row gauge of 32 rounds per 4 inches, and specifies that the mitten will end up 9.5" long. While my stitch gauge was right on, my row gauge was more like 29 rounds per 4 inches. My mitten is (blush) 11.5" long.

The moral of the story? Measure your row gauge in your swatch, not just the stitch gauge. But you all knew that already!

If I had used a thinner yarn, it probably would have worked out. But since my Falk was slightly heavier than the recommended yarn, I ended up with plump stitches. Going down a needle size would have solved the madness. So, Shana, I still recommend the book heartily and take full responsibilty for the disastrous results!

Shannon wondered what kind of needles I normally use for mittens. My approach has been the same as with socks: either two circs or a set of dpns. The dpns slowed me down a bit since I had to manage two yarns during those frequent needle changes. I'm doing this pair on two circs, and so far so good!

FO: Selbuvotter! But...

2008-11-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

Pattern: NHM #9, by Terri Shea
Yarn: Falk, by Dale of Norway
Needles: 2.5 mm wooden dpns

Beautiful pattern, right?

I also love the details in Terri Shea's book, like how to handle the thumb stitches so that the pattern moves smoothly from the palm up the inside of the thumb. Nice, no?

Only one problem.

Even after shrinking them as much as I could (until the floats started pulling in too much) They are still several inches too long.

Sigh.

Now, I'm no expert but I'm not an inexperienced knitter either. At some point in this process I really should have known that things were going horribly, horribly wrong. I mean, really. Look at those mittens. They're ET ready!

What I don't understand is why I kept going. Why did I not stop, listen to that annoyingly right voice inside, and fix the problem? Sure my gauge was matching the gauge in the pattern. (Still does, by the way.) That doesn't change that the finished measurements of my mittens is three inches longer than that listed in the pattern!

Willful denial is the only answer.

But! I promised a pair of mittens to my swap partner, and frankly these NHM #9s can't really be called mittens. Oven mitts, maybe, but not mittens.

That can only mean one thing.

Wish me all the speed knitting vibes you can muster.

Personal mitten deadline FAIL!

2008-11-19T14:50:00.001-08:00

Okay, it's Wednesday. My mitten? Is not done.

(blush)

I tried! I really did! That whole grad school thing got in the way a little bit. Shocking, right? I'm prepping for my comprehensive exams and I can't just stop everything to knit a mitten?

And if I'm being entirely honest I'm a little nervous to finish the mittens. Remember the gauge issues? The success of these mittens depends (desperately) on their shrinking in the dryer when they are all finished. The closer I get to that process, the more nervous I get that they won't shrink, won't shrink enough, or shrink way too much!

I'm down to the second thumb. This should be a whiz. Finish tonight, soak, and toss them in the dryer (with obsessive frequent checking) until they are the right size.

Easy peasy, right?

RIGHT???

ps- what kind of crazy person puts her knitting in the dryer to fix gauge issues twice in one year? No one should expose themselves to that frequency and intensity of anxiety!

Tomorrow is Tuesday

2008-11-17T07:56:00.001-08:00

i.e. my self-imposed mitten deadline. Here's what we're facing:

Yikes. Still a fair amount to knit. I'd say 2/3 of the mitten left. Ahem. We'll see how this goes.

ps- by Tuesday I certainly do not mean Tuesday morning. Tuesday by 11:59pm. Every minute counts.

Update: fjordalicious!

2008-11-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

This week's shop update has six spinning fibers in the fjord colorway!

In addition to the ones above I also have this fjordish top:

I'm calling it Foggy Fjord and I luff it. And I'm experimenting with photographing my lighter tops on a white background. While I love the drama of black, I think that some of the subtle color variations of the light tops get lost against black. Just like deep tops get lost against white.

The Deep fjord handspun shown a couple posts down is also in the shop now.

For those who haven't been over to the shop recently, I wanted to mention that I am dyeing 8 ounces of my colorways at a time, but dividing them into 4 ounces braids. This means you can buy just one 4 ouncer for a small project or get both and make something bigger. Flexibility, yay!

What kind of night is it?

2008-11-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Oh, just the kind where you drive to knit night thinking "won't this be a nice break from work" only to realize when you get there that you left your knitting at home.

Sigh.

And now it's back to work. (insert melodramatic poor me gesture here)

Did I say Friday?

2008-11-11T20:30:00.001-08:00

Mmmmkay. I looked at my schedule for the next week, and seeing as how it's Tuesday night and I'm already feeling a little panicky about prep work for a meeting on Monday I think I'd better dial back the expectations.

Revised Mitten Deadline: Tuesday!

Here's a cutie pie to distract you from my deadline fudging.

Oh, you're still here? You didn't fall deeply into those dewy brown eyes?

Well, then, here's a glamor shot of my latest handspun. It is a fiber blog, after all.

PS - for the record I am *this close* to finishing the thumb on the first mitten. Slow going, that thumb.

PPS - No, I have not cast on anything else. Startitis is raging, but I'm treating it with cheese which seems to be working for the moment. If it gets any worse I may need to apply beer.

Ahem.

2008-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

Progress on mittens?

Zero.

But I did make cheesy squash.

(That's acorn squash stuffed with rice, pecans, ground pork, mozarella, and sage. Yum.)

Oh, and I did some other stuff.

But tonight? MITTENS!

Second mittenitis

2008-11-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

I'm having major trouble finishing my mitten project. I don't know if it's that I'm rather taken (and thus distracted) with my Urban Aran project (plus I'm selfish and the sweater is for me me me!) or that I'm feeling sheepish about my gauge issues or that I'm just plain swamped these days.

Most likely? Some combination of all three.

But. This week I will make this mitten. I will, I will, I will. On Friday, I will post a finished pair of mittens, do you hear me?

Hold me accountable, people. I'm feeling a startitis tickle in my molars. (What's with the funny look? Where do YOU feel your statitis?)

So. I have one full mitten, minus a thumb. I am not allowed to cast on anything else until it is finished.

In other news, I am trying to learn to cook for myself. Usually my husband does the cooking around here but for various reasons I'm going to need to step it up. He's traveling this week so I'm going to try to work through some of autumn produce we've collected - butternut squashes, acorn squashes, collard greens, and beets. So it's a week of mittens and vegetables. I want socks and cheese. I'll settle for cheesy squash.

One Month Update

2008-11-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

The Vildish Twist has been open for business for a full month!
The celebrate, today's update is FULL of spinning fiber!

I'll be back later to post about some of the dyeing fun I had this week, but for now I hope you'll pop over to the shop and check out the goods!

Thanks for all the support and encouragment this past month, and I hope the shop will be around for many months to come!

FO: Surprise! A hat.

2008-11-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

This project knit up so quickly that I didn't even have a chance to blog about it in progress!

Pattern: My Herringbone Hat
Yarn: my handspun Garden lavendar!

Needles: US 10s and US7s (10s for brim and 7s for the top)

Mods: oh, a handful. I used the pattern for the basic idea and the stitch pattern. For the top of the hat I just picked up however many made sense and then did a spiral decrease at the top.

Part of what was so fun about this project was that it was my first time going end to end on a project (minus the fiber prep part - this came to me as combed top already).

It started as an idea in my head: oo! I should make yarn that looks like a lavender plant,

to this dyed roving,

to these singles,

to this yarn,

to this hat.

I'm looking forward to doing lots more of this end-to-end business.

Milo crashed the photo shoot:

But only because he had something important to tell me about orange squeaky toys.

Shop Update!

2008-10-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

It's that time again...

Today there are five new dyed spinning fibers and one new handspun. I know some of you will be happy to see recreations of two popular past colors - After Twilight, and Inside the Glacier (called Glacial Glow in this update because it is just different enough to warrant a different name).

I'm also having a Harvest Sale!

All orange items are 20% off to celebrate the season.

Hope to see you over at The Vildish Twist!

I could burst

2008-10-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

I'll try not to, but I could.

I made yarn from raw fleece! Skeinlets of trial run amounts, yes, but YARN!

Now, Peter Teal would doubtlessly say something about how this really is unskilled labor and a child could do it and yaddayadda.

Screw it. I grin like a fool every time I look at my little skeinlets and I'm not going to hide that.

So! Here's how it went.

First, raw fleece got a bath. A painstaking process since I'm keeping lock formation for combing.

The washing process went undocumented (this time) so our first photo is of the gray Romney drying on a mesh sweater rack. Exciting, no?

Next phase:

Combs. I borrowed these from Margaret and am working on getting a hang of combing before I buy my own set. So far, I'm really enjoying it. After an evening of work, my arm is tired, but the fluffy wool that comes off these combs is so inspiring that it keeps me combing. Let's hope that carries through the mumblemumble pounds of fleece I need to comb.

The fleece comes off the combs like this! FLOOF!!! This is a loooong piece of sliver pulled off through a diz and then rolled up into a handy ball.

I made three of them, all Romney. The white one is from a white fleece, but the two colored ones come from the same grey fleece.

Spinning from these floofballs was DREAMY. I loved the feel - the fluff, the structure, the luster of the singles (undocumented). And when finished?

Yarn!

The glow is from the sun setting, but this really is lustrous yarn. I've been spinning worsted pretty strictly for this project, and I LOVE the result. The white yarn is veeery close to next-to-skin soft, but also has a great sturdy feel to it. The grays will be outwear only fibers - this fleece was definitely a coarser grade than the white, but I think they will be abfab in a multicolor natural cardigan (the eventual goal).

Next up will be a border leicester skeinlet!

Rhinebeck: The Haul

2008-10-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

Finally finishing up my Rhinebeck summary here with the real takeaway: the goods.

I have no idea how it happened, but I left Rhinebeck with no new yarn. Seriously.

But I did buy my fair share of fiber, that's for sure...

How about we start with the little stuff?

I completely fell for this glass button when I saw it. I have no idea what I'll use it on, but I couldn't not buy it. Pink, gray, white! PRETTY!

I flipped through this book and learned a ton in thirty seconds, so I figured I should buy it. It rocks and has all you would ever want to know about woolcombing in it.

Working our way up...

The spinning fiber haul. From left to right: silk caps, 4 oz cashmere and silk blend (swoon!!!), tencel, camel, and in the back 2 1lb balls of border leicester.

Okay, now for the really big stuff.

One beautiful gray Romney fleece managed to escape photography. It went from the fleece sale to Zeilinger's without having its portrait taken. It's lovely, though, I assure you.

And here are its friends:

Three lovely white Romney fleeces, with a range of crimps and staple lengths. All nice and fine. I can't wait to get them back from processing!!

And then, the belle of the ball:

I love this fleece. It's a border leicester from Sue Johnson and it is just plain gorgeous. The staple is a little shorter than I might have preferred (I'm holding up what may be the longest lock), but what do I know! I'm brand new at this! The colors vary hugely (I'm separating as I wash) and the luster is to die for.

Yay, sheep!!!

Real live knitting.

2008-10-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Proof that I do actually knit sometimes:

That's the back of my Urban Aran cardigan, about a third of which I knit in the car one the way home from Rhinebeck. It's a wonder I didn't end up with some wacky zigzag shape considering how much my mind was still racing from the festival. But there it is: a back. Of the first sweater I'm actually knitting for myself.

Elizabeth taught me to cable without a cable needle and miraculously it seems to have fixed the uneven cables that were tormenting me so. I'm definitely not commited enough to perfection to rip back to the beginning and redo the waist cables. No way, no how. But hopefully the version on the front will be better.

I'm doing the sleeves two at a time - a first for me - and they feel like they are zipping along quite nicely. Then the front, and the dreaded zipper. Steeks don't scare me, but zippers? Shudder...

Rhinebeck: The Rockstars

2008-10-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

This is potentially the geekiest post about Rhinebeck. Yes, it gets geekier than spinning wheels.

Since Rhinebeck '08 was my first big fiber festival but I've been reading the blogs for a while, it was inevitable that'd I'd be bowled over by seeing, in person, the celebs.

And my response?

Heinous, crushing shyness.

Sigh.

Elizabeth, however, was quite the brave gal and got her picture taken with all kinds of rockstars.

Awesome.

I made an effort...

But you can probably tell from the look on Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's face that the words coming out of my mouth make No.Sense. Seriously? I think I was blushing like crazy. Stephanie was very nice and patient and said something reassuring about "real human contact." But I was mortified.

Moving on!

Despite being the rockingest of rockstars, Jess and Casey of Ravlery (duh!) managed to be totally approachable and didn't trigger my celeb shyness.

Maybe it's that we have a dog and scooter in common (though Milo, unlike Bob, does not actually ride along on the scootscootscooter), or that the sun was washing out all of our faces or that they're just straight up nice people, but I had a great time talking with them. Next time I'm bringing Alex so Casey can have someone to talk code with. (like he had all this free time to burn! HA!)

I think this must have been the point when I was offering my soul as thanks for Ravelry.

By the way, how glamfabulous are MaryHeather and Jess?

Many, many more rockstars walked among us at Rhinebeck, and by the end of the second day it started to feel normal to see them. That's probably a healthy sign. Maybe next year my blushing and stuttering will ease off enough that I can have actual conversations with some of the people I so admire. Or maybe just let them shop.

Last post about Rhinebeck coming up: The Haul!

Rhinebeck: The Animals

2008-10-22T13:48:00.001-07:00

Because it is, after all, a *Sheep* and wool festival. The various fiber-bearing animals that come to Rhinebeck put up with a lot during the weekend, so they deserve a post of their own.

Sheep aren't especially interested in humans. I don't blame them. They don't seem to enjoy shearing, so I'll deal with them turning their backs to me whenever I try to take a cute photo of them.

This blurry little dude was getting his diaper changed. Unreal. You should have heard the itty bitty little "baaaaa" that accompanied this photo.

These goats were way more personable than the sheep. And how can you not love that (mo)hair?

Wait... that's not a fiber-bearing animal!

That's my boy Milo. He deserves thanks too. He put up with a 9 hour drive (each way!) and he's really not a fan of the car. What a trooper.

He also got along great with his new friend (Shana's 12 week old Havanese puppy, Rufus) even if Milo did occasionally overwhelm him with his enthusiasm.

Yay for Milo! Good job, little bud.

We interrupt this Rhinebeck recap...

2008-10-22T13:22:00.001-07:00

... to announce an update to The Vildish Twist.

Spinning fiber aplenty and one new handspun yarn.

Rhinebeck: the sweaters

2008-10-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

Seriously? I have never seen anything like this. The density of fabulous sweaters at the festival was overwhelming. Everywhere I looked, fabulousness. About halfway through the fest I realized that I should, no, MUST knit my own fabulousness for next year. (because at this point I can't imagine *not* going back to Rhinebeck.) Hey, friends and family? Prepare for a drought of knit gifts. Vilde is going to knit for herself for a while.

Okay, that's extreme. How about this instead: I'll try to find a balance. I mean, what kind of knitter doesn't have a knit sweater of her own to wear at Rhinebeck? That's got to stop.

On to other people's sweaters.

My friends had much clearer heads about wearing their own knitwear to Rhinebeck, and there was much frantic knitting in the car on the way in.

Elizabeth (of The Needle Lady blog) finished her fab Bonnie on the way in on the first day. She literally seamed it up in the parking lot. That's timing, right there.

Shana knit the button band to her Truffle Cardigan on the way in on Sunday:

None of our pictures of Shana's cardigan do it justice, but E got the best shot:

There were umpteen Tangled Yokes, tons of Must Have Cardigans, and February Lady Sweaters everywhere you looked!

Speaking of Februrary Lady, check out this adorable matching pair:

I don't know these knitters' names, but how awesome are they? Super cute.

Twist Collective made a big and well-earned splash this fall, and probably the most spotted TC pattern at Rhinebeck was Wisteria.

Here is Cheryl aka yarnbee in her awesome Wisteria!

Speaking of Twist Collective, there was a TC celeb wearing this sweater which, if I understand correctly, will be part of the winter issue of the magazine.

(in an upcoming post the identity of the celeb will be revealed!)

How gorgeous is that??

I kinneared a handful of sweaters...

...including this awesome unidentified aran. (anyone know what it is?) And dudes! Kilt hose!

Finally, we made a loooooooong (and massively stash expanding) stop at the Briar Rose Fibers booth.

And got this photo of Chris's wonderful Urban Aran cardigan, knit in her dyed yarn. More to come about Chris and Briar Rose, but since it can't be said enough, I'll say it here: This woman is a dyeing genius. I love love love her work. And look! She's a great knitter too!

When I grow up...

Stay tuned: more Rhinebeck posts come come.

Rhinebeck: the wheels

2008-10-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

One of the (many!) treats of the festival was oggling and treadling gorgeous spinning wheels. I saw an antique Canadian, several nice vintage wheels, and all the new exciting wheels.

I loved meeting Gilbert Gonsalves of the Robin Wheel line.

His wheels are, as you can see, STUNNING and I love that you can see a hint of his past life as a boat builder in how the wheels are styled. I tried out one of the Robin wheels and the action was so incredibly smooth. Dreamily smooth. Heavenly smooth! Gilbert has a waiting list, but I think that if you were in the market for a double-treadle wheel with super easy action I think it'd be well worth the wait. And you know what else? He might be one of the nicest people I met at the festival, and that's saying a lot. There were a heck of a lot of nice people there.

I also sat down at the relatively famous Golding triple flyer wheel.

Not only is it all fancified, it also FLIES! What speed, what fun.

But you all know that my first love is old wheels, and the highlight of the wheel-a-thon for me was meeting David of The Merlin Tree who makes the famous Hitchhiker spinning wheel but also restores old wheels. After a great conversation I've decided to send him my mother's wheel for a full restoration. I couldn't be more excited! It's time for the beautiful old wheel to come back to working life. The process can take quite a while, but David told me that I'll have it within a year. Talk about worth the wait!

Rhinebeck, recovery.

2008-10-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

So many moments from this past weekend feel like a dream...

Making a fool of myself in front of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Meeting and chatting with Jess and Casey of Ravelry awesomeness.

Reveling in the gorgeousness of fiber everywhere.

The colors of the yarn, the colors of the leaves.

Amazing time with precious friends.

I'll be posting more about it bit by bit, as I sift through photos and stories.

But here's an initial tidbit: I managed to come home from the weekend with no new yarn. How is that even possible??

Oh, yeah. Because I now own five more fleeces than I did on Friday.

Ahem.

More soon!

Sigh.

2008-10-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Gauge! (shakes fist at sky)

At this rate my mitten is going to be 10.5 inches long when it's done. That's a full inch longer than the already generously proportioned pattern.

Dangit!

So here we go again, folks. Remember the length debacle with my Dad's Norwegian sweater? Well guess what. This is the same wool! So the plan is to pop the whole package into the dryer when all is cast off.

I should really know better at this point. I measured my stitch gauge and figured I had it made. And gauge slaps me in the face, for the umpteenth time. Sigh.

In other news, I've been spinning.

That's 290 yards of sport weight Falklands wool, in my Inside the Glacier color.

Ode to Two Colors

2008-10-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

No, I won't actually write an ode to knitting in two colors. But I *do* feel like it! I've been head over heels for this project.

What is this project?

Either I made a big mistake in this sleeve, or that's a thumb hole.

Yes, I'm making mittens. And it'll be far from the last pair, given how much I'm enjoying it.

The pattern comes from Terri Shea's book Selbuvotter: biography of a knitting tradition. I love the no-nonsense nature of the book and how much content she fits into the slim volume.

I'm using my workhorse Dale of Norway Falk yarn and US 1 needles. The knit fabric has a fabulous firmness to it that will help the mittens actually function as hand warming devices! I had a little bit of gauge meandering at the beginning, but with a good wet block the whole thing should even out to an acceptably imperfect object.

And: the needles.

Swoon.

I decided to mix things up a bit. I typically knit little tubular objects on two sets of addi turbos, but in the first Wollmeise sock club shipment Claudia included these stunning Holz & Stein wooden DPNs in 2.5mm. They were so lovely to behold that I decided to give them a go with this mitten project.

Did I mention swoon?

Yes, I'm knitting slower than I would on my turbos. The wood does grip the yarn, and something about the aesthetic of the turbo metal just makes me want to knit fast. The Holz & Stein wood encourages me to savor each stitch. The flex of the needles makes me aware of the different forces at work on the fabric and the smooth wood feels like a true luxury.

Now I don't intend to sell of my pile of Addi turbos, but I do think I will reconsider my position on needles. Fast is not necessarily the be all and end all, especially as I start savoring the process of knitting more and more.

Oh, right. I knit.

2008-10-10T06:07:00.000-07:00

So I've been a little caught up in my spinning and dyeing. And fleece shopping. There hasn't been much time left for knitting, but I was missing it so I made some time. Here's the start of a little project:

Oh, how I love knitting in two colors! I get such a kick out of watching the patterns unfold from my needles.

The Vildish Twist

2008-10-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to announce the opening of my Etsy shop, The Vildish Twist!

I am carrying fiber that I have dyed as well as my handspun yarn. I hope you'll come by and see me there, and thanks for all the wonderful encouraging comments on the blog!

Here is some of what you'll find in the shop:

I've had a blast in the process of getting shop up and running, and I can't wait to get back to my dyeing!

Baaa!

2008-10-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a looooong day, so all I'll post for now is this:

and this:

Yep, I'm the proud new owner of two Romney fleeces. My head is spinning a little bit but I am ridiculously excited. It was a super fun, stimulating day and I feel lucky to be getting to know so many wonderful people in the fiber community! More later, but for now I need to go get some food in my belly!

The learning curve

2008-10-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that my beginner's luck has dried up. This week has been full of ups and downs, with a series of frustrating dyeing experiences. As it turns out, the trouble I kept running into has more to do with the nature of two particular dyes (and the rate that they like to jump onto the fiber, or not) than anything I was doing. But a whole lot of roving ended up being kind of strangely colored while I went through the process of figuring this out.

Always learning.

I've been trying out some new things with my spinning. First, orange.

And then a single ply:

I really like how the single ply turned out and that's definitely something I'll be doing more of, soon.

Also - there's going to be a pretty exciting (for me at least!) announcement here in the next few days, so watch this space.

Rhinebeck!!!

2008-09-29T08:04:00.001-07:00

That's right, *that* Rhinebeck. As in, the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival. I'm going!! A couple of friends and I are making a weekend getaway out of it. My husband is helping us drive up and taking care of various four-legged friends while the gals go fiber crazy. I can't wait!

This coming weekend is the Fall Fiber Festival at Montpelier, so I'm getting a kind of trial run for Rhinebeck. I can't wait! I have kind of a ridiculous shopping list, but these festivals really are a great opportunity to fondle a variety of fibers and make some good purchases.

The focus for me this fall is going to be on whole raw fleeces. FUN! I'm also looking for a few spinning and fiber prep tools, and am planning to buy small amounts of new-to-me fibers to try out.

This photo-free post is brought to you by my dyeing disaster yesterday. No pretties to share today! And nobody wants to see the uglies. Holymoly.

Inside the Glacier

2008-09-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

I love that strange blue-green (shocking, I know) that seems to glow from inside glaciers. I was trying for that in this colorway, and I think I got close!

Yesterday four pounds of fiber arrived from Hello Yarn. Wheeee! Two more pounds of merino, but I also ordered a pound each of falklands and romney, all combed tops. The glacier colorway is on falklands, which so far I really like! It has a fairly soft hand, but also feels like a sturdy wool. I can't wait to give it a spin.

And now for something completely different...

2008-09-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

Autumn Fire. South African fine combed top.

And BFL.

Hellooooooo, orange!

I also have a kettle-dyed version of this drying right now.

Deep Fjord, spinning FO

2008-09-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

250 yards, 3.8 ounces, Sport weight.

I felted the south african fine top a bit in the dyeing process so I wasn't sure how this yarn would turn out. What a relief that it actually became a decent yarn! I would have hated to waste all those saturated blues and greens.

FO: Pomatomus

2008-09-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Pomatomus, by Cookie A.

Yarn: Enchanted Knoll Farm sock yarn, in Queen Mermaid

Needles: two Addi turbo circs in US1

Mods: none.

These socks took me forfreakingever. The pattern was *just* too hard for zone-out knitting, and too straightforward to keep me entertained during concentrated knitting. So they languished.

I bribed myself into finishing them so I could start another pair of socks, and now that they're done I'm loving them. They fit perfectly and holy cow I love the color. (greeny blue! Blueish green!!)

FLOOF!

2008-09-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

202 yards, 4.1 oz., about 11 wpi (that worstedish) spun super extra loose for maximum floofitude!

This yarn comes from the roving that my dear Shana sent for my birthday (thanks again, hun!!) and the roving comes from Bee Mice Elf in her colorway "cinnamon toast." The yarn is destined to be mittens, so I wanted it to be high on the floof factor so I can knit it at a fairly tight gauge and still get a fluffy fabric. After spinning all that fine, controlled yarn it was fun to just let this merino pop out of my hands in thick, puffy bits.

We don't need no stinking knitting

2008-09-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

Well, okay, I actually do miss my knitting a little bit but I've been having such fun with the dyeing and spinning that it all works out. It's all in good wooly fun.

More dyeing! This time I was aiming for the colors of heather in bloom. I love the deeply colored spots on each little blossom, and tried to imitate that a little bit on the fiber.

That's merino on the left and BFL on the right.

I did a bit of spinning too. The last fiber I dyed turned pretty felted on the outside. Sigh. There was a little bit of a fiasco during the dyeing process - let's just say that I thought I was being clever and learned my lesson. But while the surface is pretty sticky, the inside of the roving is just fine. So! I stripped it into quarters and pre-drafted the heck out of it, and now it's spinning quite pleasantly.

Definitely the deepest colors I have ever dyed or spun, and I'm loving it.

Dyeing to capture the color

2008-09-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Tuesday afternoon turned into another dyeing adventure, which in my house looks like this:

That's me, mixing colors on the back deck. Lately I've been turning to Norway for my color inspiration. In this go-round I was thinking of the deeeeeeep blues and greens of the fjords. How when reflecting the sun the water can be a pure sapphire, but in the shadows you see the green of the glacial minerals. At its depth, the water goes all the way to black.

I'm happy with how the dyeing came out, but I'm having a heck of a time photographing it. I tried the white background for minimal distraction, but the whole thing looks a little strange and glowey. The colors are true for the roving, though, and captures the depth of the colors.

I also tried photographing in a more relaxed setting and I like the general feel of the photo but the colors aren't as true (lacking the depth) and the wood grain seems distracting.

Sigh.

I'd love any comments or suggestions anyone has for improving photos for the roving, or even just a comment on which version you prefer.

After I steamed the plastic-wrapped hand-painted packets of these dyes, there was a ton of dye in the steaming water. D'oh! Guess I oversaturated the roving. So I tossed some BFL in there and ended up with this:

Neither the depth nor the variation of the painted versions, but I think it's nice enough to spin and will make a pretty yarn.

Now with Photos!

2008-09-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

A temporary solution to the broken cardreader has been found, and along the way I learned a few new tricks. Hopefully photo management will get easier now!

So!

The fab card and buttons from my Mitten Bud:

The back of my Urban Aran:

And the current bobbin:

Yay!

Thanks, Mitten Pal!

2008-09-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

My super sweet swap buddy for the mitten exchange sent me a beautiful card and some Ravelry buttons for my birthday. Yay! Now I can wear my "Hello, my name is..." button to the upcoming fiber festivals!

And wouldn't you know it? My camera cardreader is malfunctioning so I can't show you the beautiful card.

Sigh.

Technology.

So this'll have to be one of those "use your imagination" posts.

I've been knitting a bit and made some progress on the Urban Aran sweater:

(photo)

See? I've finished about half of the back, and since the side cables are finished now the rest of it should go quickly.

I've also been spinning:

(photo)

The fiber Shana sent for my birthday is a delight to spin! I'm working on spinning a thicker, but relatively consistent yarn. I have an easier time with consistency on the thin yarns, which I think is pretty typical. I'm getting quite a bit of variation on this one, as you can('t) see, but hopefully by the end of the project I'll be better at it. And in any case, this yarn is probably destined for mittens where the thick and thin texture will knit up nicely, I think.

Sigh.

I'll get the photos working as soon as I can.