affreca

I'm at the stage in my life where hobbies are the most update worthy bits of my life. Job is job, and travel is occasional. So fiber (for pictures, check out my ravelry page)

On my needles: Active (as in worked on in the last week) is a hat. My LYS has started doing KALs, and the current one is the ghost ranch hat (I'm calling my project ghost farm because brown and green). After saying that I was going to use some existing yarn, I somehow ended up spinning up some just for this project. I at least used up some random fiber I already owned. For the contrast yarn, I spun 4 ounces/215 yards of dark brown roving from Pinwheel Farms (the one fiber seller that regularly has a booth at the Farmer's Market, I think I got mine in a swap). I also gradient dyed green 1.7 ounce of random white wool roving and 1.7 ounce random tan wool roving, and spun that into 200 yards two ply. I'm just about to start the top shaping on my hat so I should be done today (as I'm home without plans).

Once I finish the hat, I will go back to knitting one of the two sweaters that need arms.

On my wheel: A project I'm calling Burning Together. Goal will be a DK 3-ply. It's all the combos, with both combo drafting (still addicted) and combo spin (because I'm trying to have enough for a sweater). It's not a canonical combo spin, as each of the ply halves are a different selection of colorways as I'm trying to minimize color clumping. I'm one the second (of four) bobbins of the second ply. I might get done by New Years.


In my dye pot: Nothing currently. I finished the last of my natural dye experiments last weekend. This is for my Olds Master Spinner Level One. I've done at least three self directed studies and several studies in classes, so I've done most of the common natural dyes. And I waited until late fall to start. This time I decided to try a couple of the food ones that I'd missed. I don't think black beans were worth it, but thankfully I did more dyes that required, so I can leave out the failures.

Which I did not manage to do on Thursday. I did craft in public by meeting up with the Thursday group which is now meeting at one of the coffee shops. There's overlap in this group with the spinners that meet at Yarn Barn and Spinsters.

And Friday was the Fiber Guild Christmas party, which I did end up going to. I'd been debating all week, because I'm really not going to guild meetings much, partially because of the large number of new members and partially because I hadn't figured out what to bring to the potluck. I ended up thinking of hummus at the last minute, so made a batch with an old can of chickpeas in the half hour I had at home. I finally got something at the swap that I liked - a box of assorted wool top/roving. As usual, D claimed my handspun.

Knitting: Same projects. I'm slowly making progress on the socks, but the vanpool has been crowded and dark so I skip working on them most days. Plus I'm considering undoing them and restarting with smaller needles. The pink monstrosity is done except for the ribbing on the bottom of the body. I did not finish the UFO sweater by the guild party, but I'm getting closer. I've got about thirty rows on one sleeve and the neck ribbing left to do. I'm also going to undoing the ribbing on the front of the body and lengthen the blue stripe some (I already made the back panel longer).

Spinning: I just finished the lichen targhee. I bought a braid of green and blue merino on Etsy, so I'm going to start the Green Maid project. The Green Maids will use four different braids of green or brown merino which I will do successive plying with, planning for a two ply fingering with enough length to do each "color" in a Jen (my go to long sleeve sweater pattern).

Spring in Kansas. It was crazy windy all day, and had a strong but quick line of storms blow through this evening. Hopefully pressures will settle down, they haven't been playing nice with the light cold I'm fighting.

February's project isn't done, but almost so. After fighting with the last bit this weekend, I just finished binding off the neckline. I still have to graft the armpits, but I'm not up to learning the kitchener stitch tonight. So that, then block. I can see all the problems other people have had with it, but it worked out in the end. The neckline is wide in the shoulders, but it isn't enough to continue futzing with.

March's project is coming along. I've changed the neckline to a v-neck, and I think it is working. I've got the back, left front and half the right front shoulders done. The arms are a new style for me, so we'll see how that works out. I haven't made a new set of stitch markers for this project, which is probably wise. The selection of split rings came in, and I've been some of them.

I finished spinning the BFL/silk. I still need to set the twist, but I did get enough yardage out of 8 ounces. It will probably be April's project. I will use the rest of the top I bought for another project. Possibly the grey sweater.

I have managed to get through the tricky part of February's project's sleeves, now onto lots of cabling. The honeycomb pattern does not thrill me, and I'm worried that the yarn is to heavy. This is going to be a damn warm sweater, and wear like a leather bomber jacket. It might even turn knife attacks.

Thursday was the monthly spin in at Yarn Barn, so I started back spinning the yarn for the mermaid sweater (hopefully March's project). The combination of not loving honey comb and touching my wheel got be excited about the mermaid yarn again, and today I finally finished carding the wool for that project. I'm pretty pleased by the color gradation.

Knitting: This is the year of knitting. Which is just my way to focus my efforts on one art. My goal is to knit at least one row per day. My first project is a pair of socks (my first). I'm now at the easy part, the leg. Getting the heels done took me a week of tries until I got it right. Whee! I'm doing both at the same time, toe up on two needles because I don't want to come back to them. My biggest problem now is the laddering on the sides. I'm pretty happy with the purse that I've repurposed as my knitting bag and have been throughing it in my work bag so I can knit on my breaks.

Spinning: Not as much since I'm not making the effort to spin every day. The current project on the wheel is my sport weight merino, in English Garden. I bought more roving than I should at Wamego Wool fest, so I have plenty keep me busy.

Reading: I finished Ann Budd's Getting Started with Socks earlier this week. It wasn't a useful as I wanted since I started my socks the other direction, though it increased my confidence in not actually following set instructions.

I'm currently going through Elaine Eskesen's Dyeing to Knit. I'm eh about it, but that might be because I've read lots of dyeing books, and find the discussion of the color wheel and nature inspiration repetitious.

Reading: I finished Spinning in the Old Way and Start Spinning by Maggie Casey, and started on the Fall 2015 Ply magazine. The focus this issue is on texture, which really isn't my thing. And I'm not sure what I think about the new organization of the magazine.

Spinning: Making progress. I'm now plying the merino, which is going to take forever.

Last Tuesday, I received a tester bobbin from Akerworks. They make 3D printed bobbins and spindles. It's pretty, but doesn't work well on the Traveler. It binds and so pulls hard. It works fine on my Hitchhiker. I should post my results on the ravelry thread.

I made a small test sample of the alpaca/silk before starting plying the merino, and then knitted some of it. I really like the look, but tempted to replace the silk ply with silk thread, like orenburg lace.

My local yarn/spinning/weaving shop has a team for the first time, and somehow that was enough to actually sign up for Spinzilla this year (first week in October). And that spinning is my focus this year, and I'm up for dropping everything (except work and sleep) and spinning for a week. And it's the week after Yarn School (three day spinning workshop). Then I realized that Ann Leckie and Kameron Hurley's latest novels drop that Tuesday. At least I get 20% off spinning fiber at Yarn Barn until then.

Dyeing: Through guild, heard about a variegated yarn dyeing class, so last Saturday I drove out to a nearby alpaca farm and made pretty colors. I successfully held my tongue most of time when the instructor said incorrect things (mordant does not come from the latin word to open, neither does mortician). I learned some interesting things (people who go into alpacas ususally have more money then I do) and have two pretty skeins to do something with...

But I have a really good excuse for being late - it was that time of the quarter again. See, I have a couple of meetings every quarter. And one of them starts at 6 p.m. in a town on the other end of the state, so I don't get home until after my bedtime. The good news is that since they won't pay overtime, I only have to show up for three hours of work on Friday, so hopefully I have time to sew the edging on the baby blanket before Saturday's baby shower.

Reading: Finished The Whole Craft of Spinning by Carol Kroll. Woot! Not that it was a bad book, just that I didn't seem to get through it quickly. Blogging about it every week affects how I think of the pace of my reading. I should remember that the goal is to read some, not to finish a specific amount. But there were some interesting things that I haven't seen in other books. She seemed to be in the spin everything crowd, including dog and cat hair. And corn silk and thistle down. Pretty sure I'm not in that crowd. (this in comparison to one of the first spinning books I read that recommended possum fur. Turns out the author was in New Zealand and their possums are a very different creature from the opossum's that raid my trash. Creatures with soft fur).

So I started Spinning in the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, which is focused on top whorl spindles. Gorgeous line drawings, and I like her focus on traditions of the wider world. A little evangelical that her way is the best, though.

Then the Fall Spin-Off showed up, and I started reading those articles instead. I should figure out what I'm doing about the Summer issue that never showed up (I emailed Interweave and was told they were going to extend my subscription, but the completist in me wants the Summer issue).

Spinning: Still on the merino, as I spent last weekend weaving. You know, spinning fine takes forever for the same weight of fiber.

Knitting: Three rows to finish the alpaca silk hat. Then what? Maybe try for socks?

Weaving: Started weaving blanket with light blue yarn and hated the look. Experimented with multiple yarns in the stash and decided it needed a dark blue weft. I had luck with mill ends at Yarn Barn, and found a dark blue cotton yarn of the appropriate weight and bought twice as much as I needed. After weaving the blanket, I wove about 12 inches of the remaining warp with a random ball out of the stash. I think that length will go to work on my plant shelf. I decided to sew binding on all the edges instead of tying fringe as apparently babies chew and choke on fringe.

Reading: I finished The Spinner's Book of of Yarn Designs: Techniques for Creating 80 Yarns on Wednesday. I then started Step-By-Step Spinning and Dyeing by Eunice Svinicki. I read the first few chapters but skipped the chapter on natural dyeing (last year's focus) and projects because... See this book was so very 1970s, and that's not my aesthetic. Currently reading another skinny one, The Whole Craft of Spinning by Carol Kroll

Spinning: Continued the green woolen practice. I'm out of batts, so the next bit will be carded off the a variety of green rovings.

I also plied the merino/tencel into a cable/cord/(different books name it different - 2x2 plies z s z). I'm surprised how little green you see (only one of the four is green). It's a weird looking yarn, especially with the shininess of the tencel.

Sunday I started some singles of Malabrigo Nube merino. This is my first time using this roving, and I'm finding a lot of nubs. Which is annoying, because I'm trying to go even finer than the last project. The eventual plan for the singles is another cabled yarn, this time for socks. Spinning this fine takes forever.

Knitting: I decided to start another hat with the alpaca/silk that I keep recycling (I knitted it into a scarf, never used it, ripped it to make a hat, which did not fit, and so I try again). Similar style so, but with a different lace pattern. I've been to save it for the road trip. I'm taking another ball with me, but I don't know what I want to do with it.

I have started a new project. See, I'm taking a natural dyeing class this fall and I bought a new loom that needs to be tried out (and yes, now I have two looms to sell). And I actually thought of an idea that would use yarn I already own.

I will be weaving a 20" by 2 yard scarf on my new loom. The warp threads are thin wool dyed blue, with a pattern wrapped (so the sections stayed white). The weft is mohair and wool dyed in the same indigo bath to a medium blue. Hopefully I calculated sett well enough that it will be slightly thin and airy. And very fuzzy.

I finished the dyeing last night in class. I will wait to dress the loom until it is in the craft room, which will hopefully be this weekend.

The scary version.
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