Planning a Spin, Spinning a Plan

I have taken this braid of FatCatKnits superwash merino in Moxie.

I have split it into six (almost) equal bumps.  I think one of them might have one more gram or so.

I have started to spin the first bobbin for some three ply sock yarn.

Maybe I Should Stop Spinning

I really haven't been knitting much this year.  

 I think it is because I have been doing so much spinning.  

I want to knit with all this great yarn but I just keep spinning.  I have already spun over three pounds of fiber this year.

Wednesday on my Wheel

I have one more skein left to ply for my vest.  I am hoping I will have enough to make the vest I have picked out.  If not I will make something smaller with this yarn and try again.

I think this will be what I will spin next on my wheel.  I think it would make a great spring/summer scarf or shawl.

Another FO and a Big Spinning Project

Well since I have been doing a lousy job of posting lately I totally forgot that I had a project I had finished.  I knit these socks for a lady that I work with. These are the Jeck socks and I used Socks that Rock in River Rocked.  These were a fun knit and took too long because I just messed around and wasn't in any hurry.

I have also started a large spinning project.  I am hoping I will have enough to make a Mondo Cable Vest or maybe a short sleeved cardigan of some sort.  I am using natural BFL and Wild Ivy BFL and I am going to ply the two together.

I have finished three bobbins of the natural.  I don't have enough bobbins to spin it all at once.  I have spun six of the eight ounces that I have of the natural wool.

Here is the first bobbin of the Wild Ivy BFL.  I am almost done with the first two ounces of the eight that I have of this.

Spinning Has Taken Over

I have been spinning quite a bit this year.

This is Wild Ivy BFL, it is around 182 yards of worsted weight.  I usually don't spin thicker yarns but it turned out okay I think.  I am planning for some mittens or fingerless mitts.

This is Woolgatherings January 2012 fiber club.  It was a BFL/Seacell blend.  I am planning another Sockhead hat I think.

This is UrbanGypz Superwash Merino.  The colorway is Little Laney and it is a three ply fingering weight.   I plan to make some socks with this.  I love this yarn for socks.  They are so soft and cushy.  The two pairs I have made from yarn spun from this fiber are my favorites.

So far this is what I have spun this year.  I am really enjoying spending time with my wheel.  I already have another braid on the wheel.

Awesome!!!!!

I have to admit that I was a little afraid to spin this fiber.  I have never spun BFL/Seacell blend.  I love the streaks of seacell that didn't take the color.

I started spinning this today.  I am spinning it kind of fine to navajo ply it for a hat or a scarf. I think it would make a very happy Hitchhiker scarf or an amazing Sockhead hat.

New Yarn and Progress

I finished spinning and plying half of the fiber from a couple of posts ago.  It is BFL dyed by my friend, Ivy.  She has been dabbling in dyeing and I think she does an amazing job.  I navajo plied this and I am thinking of either spinning some white or getting some white yarn to make a stranded hat of some sort.  I still have 50 grams of it left to spin but not sure how I am going to do the rest of it.  It is about 180 yards.

I am still plugging away on the socks.  The first one is complete and I am almost to the toe on the second one.  They need to be moving on so I can knit something else.  I am really wanting to cast on a shawl or a hat soon.

New!

I have some new handspun that I finally got finished last week. This was from Two Windows, she is a Kansas dyer. I think it turned out pretty good.  It is about 340 yards of a fingering weight and the wool is BFL which is probably my favorite to spin.

I also have a new project started.  My youngest daughter wanted a new sweater because she has outgrown the one I made for her a couple of years ago.  I am making her the Tiny Tea Leaves and I am using Berroco Vintage.

There Has Been Spinning

 Just not nearly enough! Is there really ever enough spinning though?

This fiber was dyed by one of my friends from the LYS.

She also dyed this one.  I need to get off my tush and get this one plied.  I am thinking of making a shawl of some sort with it.

Have a blessed day,
Robin

Now Broadcasting from a New Location

Well, I didn't fall off the face of the earth but I did move.  This is the front of our new home. So far I am really liking it.  (So not enjoying the unpacking which I am still working on)

This is the back of the house.  Yes, that is a swimming pool in the back yard and the kids love it.  It will be time to close up the pool for the winter soon but I am sure we will get lots of use from it next year.  At the top of those stairs is the most awesome little sun room that I have turned into "my" space.

Along with moving and getting the kids in school (they went back three weeks ago), I got a job.  Little Buddy is in all day kindergarten so I got a part time job working at the lunchroom at the high school. I find that I really love working there but mornings are a little stressful for me getting them ready in time so I am not late for work.

I haven't had a whole lot of time for knitting.  This is all the knitting I have done in the last three weeks.  I even had a stretch of about a week without any knitting at all and it was making me very crabby.  I am just making a vanilla sock.

I have finally had a little time to do some spinning.  I am still working on this BFL,  I am excited to see how it will ply up.

Spin A Long

I finished my AllSpunUp spin a long fiber last week.  I ended up with 1230 yards of a laceweight.

Fiber 80/20 Merino Silk in the Down to Earth colorway.  I am hoping to make a circular shawl with it.

Still A Success To Me

I didn't make the two miles like I had planned but I think it was a success to me nonetheless.   I was able to finish the Kick Sack yesterday.

 I was also able to finish my Electron Socks yesterday also. These two projects added 655 yards to my total. I ended up with 1021 yards knit in May, which is around .58 miles of yarn knit.

I got closer on the spun yarn.  I ended up with a total of 1356 yards spun including this Black BFL from Gale's Art.  I am planning on using this for another Forest Canopy Shawl I think.

I Promised a FO

I promised a finished project yesterday so here it is.  This is the scarf that I spun from Barley and Daisy's fleece.  It is just a fifteen stitch garter stitch scarf. I plan on giving it to my sister.  The size is 3 inches by about 6 feet.

I was able to get a very cute model to show it off.  He works for yogurt and candy corn.

New Handspun

Sea Dreams Handspun 2.0  spun from a Gale's Art Corriedale Sibling.  This is a light worsted to a worsted weight yarn.  I plan to use it to make some fingerless mitts for my sister in law.

Garden Party spun from another Gale's Art Corriedale Sibling.  This a heavy fingering to sport weight yarn that I plan to use to knit a pair of socks.

New Experience

Being a spinner, I find myself on occasion thinking I want a fleece.  At the LYS, the owner has some already cleaned fleece that she sells by the ounce.  I brought it home and took a brush to flick the locks open.  This is what I had after I finished flicking it.  I took it back to the LYS and ran it through the drum carder.  

I spun the two batts and then plyed them together.  This is my finished yarn.  I have around 210 yards of a light worsted to worsted weight.  I think the finished yarn is awesome.  I am not sure that I will ever get a raw fleece since I am really not that into dealing with cleaning it but it sure was a fun thing to try.

Now Posting from Wamego, KS

Wow, what a couple of weeks it has been.  We have moved from Minnesota back to Kansas due to the husband being relocated.   I will save all that excitement for a later post.

On a knitting front (since technically this is a knitting blog), I do have a little to show.

First, I have an LYS that is not 40 minutes away!!!!!  It is right here in the town that we moved and it carries spinning fiber.  I am so excited.  

This is the bump of Merino/Silk blend that I picked up when I went to check out the store after a day of unpacking boxes.  

This is my current spinning project.  I am still working on the Chocolate Cherry Frabjous Fibers BFL  I have about three more feet of roving to spin.  I am going to do a two ply and hopefully make a Clapotis with it for winter.

Since most of the boxes are unpacked, I have found a little bit of knitting time.  I had started this before we moved but I made a mistake so I ripped it and started it over a couple of days ago.  It is the Traveling Woman and I am using some of my handspun that I had in my stash.  I am going to increase the repeats to 13 instead of 11 since I still have 81 grams of yarn.  I will probably do two repeats of chart A and one of chart B like the pattern calls for unless I have still have quite a bit of yarn after the first two repeats of chart A.

A New Project and a Tiny Bit of Spinning

Since I finished the Seas Shawl,  I needed to start the fourth shawl for my 10 in 2010.  I am knitting the Shetland Triangle.  I have a few yards short of 300 so it won't be very big, but it will qualify for one of the smaller shawls.  I am knitting in out of my handspun Tussah Silk that I recently spun.

I haven't been doing much spinning this month.  I had grand plans to get through a couple of bumps of my stash but alas that didn't happen.  I am currently spinning up some BFL from Frabjous Fibers.  It is the Chocolate Cherry colorway.  I was a little disappointed when I went to weigh it and it was quite a bit under the 8 ounces that it said it was supposed to be.  I am hoping to knit a Clapotis from it.  I am even considering just knitting it as a single.

Silky Goodness with a Side of Sock and Shawl

I have been spinning some Tussah silk from Castle Fibers that I got at my LYS.  I have found that I really like spinning it.  I will admit that it intimidated me a little but it was not as difficult as I thought.  I have two ounces and I can't wait to see how many yards I will get from it.  This is about a half an ounce.

I started this sock this week and I am just not sure if I like it or not.  I think I will knit a little further and decide then.  

I have been working on the Seas Shawl.  I won't be able to finish it before the end of the month to get it in the drawing for the 10 Shawls in 2010.  So far it looks pretty good.

Aaaahhhh Handspun

I have been listening to old episodes of Stitch It from when Meghan went to SOAR in 2008.  She was kind enough to pass on the knowledge that she learned in class to her listeners.




I learned how important predrafting was by listening to the episodes.  By predrafting I was able to spin the singles much more consistently.

I think this is one of the most "balanced" yarns I have spun to date.  There are very few spots of thick and thin in this hank.  I have 220 yards of a sport to heavy fingering weight here.  I think I might have enough for a pair of socks since I can get a pair of socks out of one hank of sport weight usually.

I needed a new shawl project for 10 Shawls in 2010, so I cast on the Seas Shawl out of my Sea Dream handspun.    Hoping to finish before the end of the month.