2nd Pair Done

The second pair of handspun socks are done and I just...just...had enough yarn to finish. I think I have about 6 yards of yarn left! The only concession I made was to make the top 6" instead of my usual 7". They have nice heft to them, without being as heavy as the first pair.

The new pair is on the right.

They have a great sheen to them and are very soft. Now on to the next project.....

Ripped Again!

My socks, that is...... With the DragonFibers handspun,

I am hoping that this third attempt is a keeper finally. I made two attempts at doing the Berry Season Socks from 2 at a time Socks

by Melissa Morgan Oakes. My handspun is very dense and the gauge just wouldn't work out. They were coming out huge, so I ripped them again and started a plain jane pair using a 48 stitch cast on. So far so good, now, and I like the shine the yarn has in the plain stockinette. So, here is the third attempt:

I hate that I am still working part time and that I can hardly make ends meet, but I am loving my job and my 3 day weekends........ Everything is a trade-off in this life and things could be lots worse. At least my yarn and handspun stash is large enough to keep me in projects. Now, if I only can restrain myself from new purchases.

Finished one and Restarted Another

What ended up being knit with the Bright Hibiscus homespun discussed in an earlier post, turned out to be a foliage hat. I should have enough yarn for 3 of these hats, using the bulky weight directions.

I am "training" for the Tour de Fleece which starts on July 4 to coincide with the Tour de France bike race. I have spun up two bobbins of the fiber I will be spinning for the sweater. I am going for medium worsted weight yarn and I am striving for consistancy.

I frogged the Berry Season Socks from the book 2-at-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes because the fabric was just too dense, and it almost felt woven. I began them again, this time using the top as designed in the pattern with Size 2 needles. So much better and more stretchy. The way the yarn shines in the stockinette section of the cuff makes me wonder if I should reconsider again and make a plain sock to show off the fiber. Hmmmmm.

I recall a blogpost by the Yarn Harlot where she knew all along that the socks were coming out too big and she knitted away in denial till the end...when they were indeed too big. It is one of the best lessons she has taught me over the years: Frogging in the early stages of a project is a whole lot less painful than once it is completed.

Today's nature shot:

How nice of him to stay put and pose for me!

New Challenges Ahead

Did you see the new button to the right for the Tour de Fleece?? I am joining up for the first time this year and my challenge is to spin enough yarn for a sweater or to make significant progress towards one. Of course, I am talking about spinning it on my wheel, and lucky for me I will be going up to the Estes Park Sheep and Wool Festival this Sunday to scope out and purchase something squooshy. The way this works is that you set yourself a big challenge to spin every day of the Tour de France bike race which this year runs from July 4 to July 26. There is a Ravelry group that issues prizes and it is a forum to post progress reports and photos as you go. Sounds like a lot of fun and I am up for the challenge.. Now I have a shopping goal: 2 pounds of fiber should be sufficient to make enough yarn to do this. Any ideas for colors or fiber type??? Suggestions always welcome.

I haz Iris!

This is the first blooming iris.....gift from Becky of Iron Needles and it looks like there will be several more on the stem. It is a very yummy shade of butterscotch with burgundy accents. I thought it might be the same as she showed in her blog this morning, but hers look like a much brighter gold. In addition, there are bloom stalks on 3 other iris that she sent me. Stay tuned.

I have cast on for my variation of the Berry Season Socks from 2-at-a-time Socks in my first 3 ply wheel spun sock yarn from dragonfibers. It is actually knitting up more bulky than I thought it would, so next time I will do 2 ply. Changes made so far is a plain k1p1 cuff, and I will make them regular length, instead of shorty as in the original pattern. I love the sheen that this yarn has and they are very soft, if bulky. Using size 1.5 needles.

This is a much better representation of the true colors and it shows off the texture of the pattern.

Spinning on the front porch

It is so relaxing to know that I don't have to spend the long weekend studying, since I passed the part of the insurance exam yesterday.    I do have the text book for my next test, but took today off completely.    No, not really completely, because I did vacuum and dust in the the main rooms downstairs.    On Monday, Mom is coming over for a barbeque, so I had to put a bit of time in to get the house in order.     Now that Gary is not smoking anymore, I can enjoy being in the house all day, and even the back patio.   I put some potted hibiscus plants out there, but since the dog ATE the flowers, I did not take any photos.   A quick trip to google showed me that the flowers are edible and they are even used in salads in the South Pacific islands.   Hoping to break her of this delicacy, I will photograph the plants later.

This afternoon, I took the spinning wheel out to the front porch where the bouncy lounge chairs are, and worked on the second 4 oz of the dragon fibers yarn.    

Catching up on my podcasts, I spun the afternoon away.   I did wait until 4 o'clock before I poured my first glass of wine.   A perfect afternoon.  Here are the results:

Tonight the wheel goes in the corner and the Ishbel shawl will be my project of choice!

Four Day Weekend Coming Up!

I just passed the 4th part of the Insurance exam and now I can relax for the long weekend.  After what was forever in the retail industry, I now feel like I am part of the real world out there with nights, weekends, and holidays off.      Only one exam to go (June 2) and I will have fulfilled the testing requirements for my job.   Of course, the weather is dreary outside, but my spirits are bright!  

So what does everyone think of Kris beating Adam last night on American Idol?   Adam is far and away the most talented, but I guess he was just a little too scary for the preteen set who do most of the voting.    Let's just see whose career is further ahead in 6 months to a year.   Kris is cute and all, but his cuteness will fade away to obscurity without creativity.   Just my opinion..... which I don't share with one of my daughters!

More poppies:

Spinning up a storm.    Just to remind you, this is the fiber, singles and now 3-plyed on the bobbin.   Dragonfibers merino, bamboo and nylon for socks.

 

oh boy, oh, boy, oh boy.....More fiber to spin!

When I first started spinning over a year ago, it was the pure fascination of it all. I started slowly with a drop spindle and I thought the process was so leisurely that my stash would grow at the same rate as knitted finished objects (FOs)! How could I ever have been so wrong??? Look at me now, with 5 drop spindles and a wheel, lots of handspun yarn and only two handspun FOs to show for a year of spinning. Over the last several months, I have no knitted FOs to show and lots more fiber on hand to spin, as well as many, many skeins of ready to knit yarn. I started this blog at about the same time, and read back to the beginning for this history of a new addiction! Below is just my most recent wheel spinning. I do have lots of spindle spun yarn in my stash box upstairs. It is a little frightening to see how the stash grows, and grows, and grows.

Here are two new fibers I received in the last couple of weeks. This first from Dragonfibers is a blend of Superwash Merino, Bamboo, and Nylon in the Mountain Majesty colorway.

I divided it into thirds lengthwise and rolled each into its own ball.

I have set it up on the wheel, and it is demanding to be spun super-fine for three ply socks. It has such a lovely shimmer. My goal is for striped socks which will probably end up coordinating but not matching.

The second fiber is another purchase from JulieSpins. This one is Merino 64s in the color called Brilliant Hibiscus.

This roving is not superwash and so soft and fluffy/thick that I need to really try to make a heavier weight yarn for a hat/mitts set. This fiber is going into the stash box for now......

I have been a spinning fool, lately, to the exclusion of nearly everything else. At least I have something to show for all that time spent with my new wheel. Believe it or not, this is all from the same 17 oz ball of roving: Briar Rose BFL that I purchased at Rhinebeck last October.You can see that there is a definite difference in the overall results. These are soaked, thwacked, and hung in the closet to dry.

The two skeins with the pink ties, as seen below a little clearer, are spindle spun and navajo plyed on the spindle and lovely, if I do say so myself. The other three were done on the wheel. The 1st and 4th are three ply and so tightly plyed that you can still see the kinking even after its nice hot bath. I hope it settles down after knitting it up. The second skein is my favorite- two ply, but not as tightly spun. A shawl perhaps. Isn't it interesting how different the colors came out after plying, especially the 4th from the left.

Here is another example of how plying can really affect the final yarn achieved. These all came from the same ball of roving from JulieSpins. The greens really are pronounced in the third skein and this is the one I will start with for socks. It was suggested to me at my spinning group that I should have rewound one of the singles to spread the green out, but did I listen?? What do you think????

I think I need to restrict my spinning to one or two days a week. I am bound and determined to have some knitting to show here on the blog and I need to finish some of the UFO's that are lingering.

Or maybe I should rename this blog: Lizzzspins!