New Sizing For Socks

Shrunken

This is a mini rant: I don’t mind doing laundry but my DH insists on is generously doing it now that he is retired. He does it during Prime Time so we don’t get the benefit of the weekend electric rates and has had to learn about spot treating and getting stuff clean. But he didn’t know that wool doesn’t wash in the washer. He shrunk the handknit socks.
ETA He thinks he can still wear them, even though they aren’t even the same size and could stand by themselves. I have banned him from washing sweaters for life. 8~)

WIPs

I got a stitch calendar from Vogue Knitting: a stitch a day. It has some interesting stitches but you need to tear away a day at a time and somehow I feel like I might want to save the pages. But how.

On another note, I did a knitting needle reorganization brought on by my dissatisfaction with my circular needle storage system. I decided to scrap the fishing binder in favor of an accordian file (The Martha Stewart Collection at Staples) After counting all my various needles (single point, DPNs, and circs)I came up with more than 200 needles including 8 sets of size 8 DPNs and 5 sets of 7 DPNs. Plus my interchangeable set. But I don’t see the need for portability of my major storage since I have the interchangeable set.

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Stacey Shawl

I started this DK weight shawl, it is a curved shawl designed to sit nicely on the shoulders from the book Wendy Knits Lace by Wendy Johnson out of MadelineTosh Merino DK in dark green/teal tonal. I finished the first set of graphs and am moving onto the second set with repeating patterns. This pattern is only graphed which is the way I like it.

I made a vanilla sock for DH out of the Raumaragg that Jonathan brought back from Norway. It is warm, rough, and rugged so I am making boot socks. Today, it is snowing outside, there is a fire in the fireplace, dog resting by the hearth, so I think some progress on the sock. Hopefully, this will be a start on sock completion in 2012.

Woven Scarf

The scarf, made from sock yarns Colinette Jitterbug and Sanguine Gryphon Codex, is finished and blocked. It is amazing how everything seems to even out after a vigorous blocking.

Washed Corriedale Fleece, 8 oz. from the Spinning Loft

I washed 8 ounces of Corriedale Raw Fleece from the Spinning Loft using a cold soak, a hot scour, and several hot rinses. I rolled the fleece up in a towel and left it in my cool study to dry for about a week. I put it in a big basket and kept turning it. Once it was dry, I drum carded it using my Strauch’s Finest DC. I pulled the fiber apart by hand and placed it by clump of locks perpendicular to the drum. I loaded it with more fleece towards the sides. I did one pass per batt. I pulled off about 5 batts for the total amount of fiber and then I tried spinning it. I wonder if it would have benefitted from further carding but I am learning what works. The fiber drafts nicely with a few little noils.

Drum Carded Batt from Corriedale, on the Strauch Finest Drum Carder

Carded Batt

Spun from Corriedale Batt using supported long draw

I still have a lot of fleece to wash, spin, card but nothing like the stash that Discontinued Name Brand Yarns scored at an estate sale in Chicago: the first round was 300 cartons of yarn, kits, quilting supplies. Made me feel a little better about my paltry stuff. Still after an airing of the stash last week, I found so many projects that I love but I haven’t worked on in ages. I hope to make major inroads into those WIPs this year: Inishmore in Rowan Magpie (bought that yarn at SE in King of Prussia); Celtic Dreams in Jaeger Aran (they don’t make yarn anymore); Autumn Cardi in Kauni (way too much was bought in Estonia); Henry VIII in Jamieson; Nansen, a Dale ski sweater; Espresso in Ultra Alpaca; Shawl Collar Pullover in Leicester Handspun; October Frost in Plymouth Tweed. Then, in the pipeline: Jean Frost Jacket in Plymouth Tweed; vanilla pullover in Brown Sheep; Dark and Stormy in California Red Handspun.

Finally, I am so happy that somehow I got the words and pictures to match up on the page, which is not automatic or intuitive. More to follow as I knit. BTW, Knitpicks is having a book sale. Curiously, they initially had Meg Swansen’s new book on color knitting, Knitting With Two Colors on the site and then it disappeared. If it comes back, I can probably cobble enough stuff together for free shipping. I have been collecting some stuff for a while.

Happy New Year 2012

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2011 was a banner year for fiber prep, learning and acquiring tools. I made yarn and made some mittens from the yarn as well as a start of a sweater and hope to weave a scarf from some more yarn I spun. (see previous post)
For Christmas, I got some Corriedale raw fleece to process and use on my new drum carder. I ordered some angora to spin in also, but I want to be sure I have the right stuff to blend. I now have several different fibers that need scouring and I hate scouring it in the sink, plus I really need to get some stuff to dry it on. This fiber habit is getting costly. My SIL got a tabletop spin dryer which works well for water extraction so I may need one of those as well as one of those sweater racks to dry it on. I need to clean out a closet just to store all this stuff.
I spun up the rest of my Leicester and plied it on my new bulky flyer. That is awesome. Plus I got some yarn from Norway to make DH a pair of socks. I started these using a vanilla sock pattern, developed on my Sock Wizard V.2 software. I updated my knitting software and added a few new programs for mittens and hats. It is so simple if you want to knit something basic.
I made DIL married to oldest son some mittens for Christmas: I used Classic Elite Lush and I added in a strand of Kidsilk Haze in the body of the mitten for extra fluff/warmth. They came out nice but I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture. Plus I was going to give Bethany the extra leftovers so she could make a ski band and they left without them.
I warped my loom finally, although too late for daughter to try it out. I practically finished a scarf in a couple of hours. Now, I remember that you must pay attention to the tension when warping. The colors came out quite nice and now I am anxious to try my homespun as the weft on the next scarf.
I got out the scarf knitted with Sanguine Gryphon yarn and worked on that as well. I feel like I want to start finishing some old WPIs instead of starting new ones. I just wish I had a decent place to wash fleece because I have a bunch to wash.

Mittens et al

Mitten from Ann Budd's Schematic in Holiday Knits 2007

California Red Roving

Did a little review of the stash and discovered I have very little DK weight yarn besides Heilo. I was planning to warp my rigid heddle and use the Three Rivers handspun for the weft. Doesn’t seem like weaving is a stash buster if you have to get more/different yarn to do a project. (ETA: I did find some more appropriate yarn to use.)

I also ordered some more dry cleaner’s bags for storage; I plan to put project quantities of yarn in them to get some order on the shelves. Right now everything is in baskets and things fall at the drop of a hat. Also Fiber Dog snatches stuff from the lower shelves.

I finished the mittens in a week and despite trying them on, found them a little small. The shaping decreases make the shape faster than needed so I guess on my next pair, I will knit longer before finishing. A super pattern from Ann Budd but I didn’t like the little holes from the M1 increases for the thumb gusset; I think I would like to use a different method.
I started a hat for DH from the same handspun as the mittens but I need to spin/ply some more before doing more. I also used my bulky flyer to ply some more Leicester (actually all the Leicester) and that needs to be finished off. I need to spin more of that also. I don’t think I have enough for two sleeves. I should weigh it and see.
I hate my scale: I bought on ebay and I don’t like the way it locks the weight for at least 10 seconds before going to zero. Sounds little but is an eternity if you are weighing a lot of stuff. I also think it is not tht accurate.

Drum Carding

Drum Carded Batt: Gotland Fleece Rhinebeck

The Gotland Fleece I bought at Rhinebeck this year is lovely with about a 4″ staple and 2 crimps to the inch, more curl than crimp. The color is charcoal with some silver and some brown tips. There is also some other fiber that must come from different parts of their body that is short, very crimpy to almost frizzy and matte black. I did a number of different things to try it out: the festival worker suggested spinning it in the grease from the locks. I tried this but I found it a little hard to draft and hard to be consistent. Then, I washed several flats, not really organizing the locks like I did with the Leicester. I fluffed them rather than flick carded them and spun them up. There was a lot of variation in color and although more consistent, still some lumps and bumps and variation.
I found a drum carder, a Strauch Finest, on ebay and won the auction. It arrived on Monday so I read the directions, watched a few UTube videos, and set about it. I fluffed the fiber and tried to feed evenly and not to overload it. I didn’t separate by fiber color/type but tried for some homogenous blending. I got a big batt, nothing like the purchased roving I have worked with and it seemed a little too loosey goosey but I tried spinning it. I worked on trying for a supported long draw; it was somewhat successful and I like the resulting single. In the following picture the bottom bobbin is spun from the lock and the upper bobbin is the carded fiber. I need to scour some more fiber for the next run and this time when I card it, I will separate the different types of fiber, similar to the article in the latest Spinoff. My finished product is still a little inconsistent but I am happy with it. Of course, I will continue to experiment with the drum carder.

Comparison of Different Fiber Prep Singles

On another note, I have finished one mitten out of California Red. It is a little still but the color is pretty and it will be warm. The second cuff is half done and I should be finished with the pair soon. I still have some plied yarn on the bobbin waiting to be finished if I need it and plenty of roving to spin. I am still not used to spinning worsted; I didn’t agitate it or whack it or anything.
I also finished the Three Rivers Yarn and it needs to be wound into a ball. It was a little fragile in places and broke; I guess it could have used more twist. It is funny but I seem to overspin the long fibers and under spin the short ones.