Swatching and Watching

I haven’t had a whole lot of knitting mojo since I finished up the two colorwork bolsters.  I cast on Last Word with the wonderful Wensleydale from The Ross Farm, but just wasn’t feeling it, I wasn’t enjoying the knit, so this morning I decided to block what I have knitted so far and just see how it looked and felt.  I put some Barber cord on my tips and soaked away.  We’ll see how it comes out, and then I will decide what I want to do next.

In the meantime I did a couple of swatches while watching PLY Spinners Guild videos.  I have had this luscious set of Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Aran Merino in my stash for a little while.  And it has been quietly insisting that I do something with it.  I mean, just look at those colors!  That is what I love about Sundara Yarn - her  colors.  Seriously, she dyes beautiful yarn, and I love her Daily Dreams emails.  She is pretty much my only impulse yarn buy these days because if you see something you like in the Daily Dream you have to get it, as all of those are essentially limited runs.

Before I started swatching I spent some time sipping my first cup of tea and cruising the pattern library on Ravelry looking for some potential patterns for this set, as well as something that might suite the Wensleydale better.  I found a few prospects, noted the called for fiber and the stitch gauge and swatched away, while I watched the aforementioned PLY Spinners Guild videos.  The swatches are blocking, but I think I know what I want to make with the Sundara Yarn.  Even still damp the swatch is wonderfully soft and has nice drape and the gauge looks pretty good for the pattern I have in mind.

Regarding the PLY Spinners Guild, if you’re a spinner, or want to be a spinner, it is a really great resource.  They have a whole series of videos that are really quite excellent.  I am also reading PLY Magazine, which is also an excellent resource.  The Sheepspot Society is another great resource.  I took the Fall 2024 Spin School on line course, which is actually how I learned to spin, and now I’m in Breed School.  And I don’t know what happened to that first paragraph.  When I put in the link for The Ross Farm it centered everything, and I can’t get it to go away.  Oh Well.

Practically Handspun - Finished!

I finished the knitting this past Saturday, and did the bind off and blocking Sunday morning.  I still have some of the purple and the orange left over.  The lighter purple that forms the main body is all used up.  The length came out perfect - it just comes down to my knees.  I am delighted with it, my first garment out of handspun yarn.  It wasn’t super consistent yarn either, but it wasn’t bad.  The knitting looks good.

I like the way the color blocking worked.  Please pardon the hall-way selfie, it is too hot to model this outdoors.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Six Skeins Done!

My Practically Handspun keeps growing.  When I’m working on it and dealing with the bulk of the knitting that is completed I start to have second thoughts about my plans, but then I try it on or put it on my dress make dummy for a photo and think that it is going to work out the way I imagine it.  I think it will look great with black leggings, a black turtleneck and boots, and then I can add a dramatic necklace.  I am on the last set of skeins - Purple Haze - and they are a pretty nice set of skeins, which keeps tempting me to go do something else with them.  But I do think I should stay the course on this one.

I am doing increases on the sides every 10 rows to give it an A-line shape.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich 

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top from The Woolery

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Three Skeins Done!

Another skein knitted up.  I’m in the mindless part, just increases every 10 rows to give a slight A-line silhouette, which is a modification to the pattern that I made at some point.  I was thinking about making two of these vests out of these sets of my handspun, but have now decided that I’m just going to keep knitting on this one until all the yarn is gone, using it from thickest (mostly) to thinnest.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - 2 Skeins Done!

I finished up Skein 11d, and started working with Skein 12b.  The transition between Skein 11d and Skein 12b worked out perfectly at the end of a row.  If I had been thinking things through a little more I might have started with Skein 12b, and then worked either Skein 11d or Skein 12c.  That would have me working from the thickest yarn to the thinnest.  But that is not what I did, and I think it looks just fine as it is.  At this point I had finished Skein 12b, and have cast off the stitches for the sleeve caps.  I am now working with Skein 12c, then I’ll use Skein 12a.  If I still need more length I’ll use Skein 11c.  I am enjoying the knitting.  There is something extra special about working with your handspun, imperfect though it may be.

This is a nice shot of the yoke that I forgot to post.  I like the garter stitch bands.

I have enough yarn that I can make a second vest using up Skein 11 and all of Skein 13.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich 

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Cast On!

Having used up Skeins 7 and 10 of my handspun yarns I looked to the next set of skeins that I had spun:    Skein 11.  Skein 11 is actually 4 skeins, spun from 250 grams of Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top in the colorway Cornucopia bought from The Woolery.

The four skeins are, from left to right:

Skein 11a - 26 grams, 49 yards or 1.88 yd/g

Skein11b - 44 grams, 76 yards or 1.73 yd/g

Skein 11c - 89 grams, 145 yards or 1.62 yd/g

Skein 11d - 89 grams, 130 yards or 1.46 yd/g

As you can see from the numbers, my singles and my finished yarn were getting thicker as I spun this top up and settled into a good single thickness.  I have been trying to decided for some time now what to make out of this yarn, along with the other three of the Rosie’s tops that I had spun up.  I had pretty much settled on a vest based upon the yardage, but I still couldn’t settle on a design that would maximize the usage and minimize the work of figuring out how to use it.  Yesterday I decided that I was just overthinking the whole thing and so I cast on another Practically vest by Kelly Herdrich, my 12th time making this pattern.  What can I say?  It is an easy knit, looks great on, and is a great way to use up those precious skeins.  I pulled out Skein 11d and caked it up yesterday and cast on.  When I use up that skein I will actually switch to Skein 12, which is really 3 skeins, and is also from 250 grams of Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top, in colorway Valentine.

For this spin I was focusing on consistency, and having settled into that slightly thicker single on Skein 11d, they all have a similar thickness to that skein.  From left to right:

Skein 12a - 79 grams, 115 yards or 1.46 yd/g

Skein 12b - 79.6 grams, 111 yards or 1.4 yd/g

Skein 12c - 84.3 grams, 121 yards or 1.44 yd/g

If I still need more length I will grab Skein 11c to finish, although I would kind of like to do something else with Skeins 11b and 11c.  Skein 11d I am thinking of weaving up on my Zoom Loom.  I think the colors would like nice with the plum squares that I wove up from Skein 10.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Skein 10 Zoom Loom Squares - Finished!

My skein 10 was thicker than Skein 7, so I used my Zoom Loom and made squares.  It worked quite well, although weaving the final weft was a bit challenging at time due to the thicker yarn, so sometimes I had to resort to sewing the weft, but they came out great.

Skein 7 Turtle Loom Hexies - Finished!

I finished up the rest of Skein 7 making hexies on my Turtle Loom.  It was a lot of fun and I got pretty good at it by the end.  I have no idea what these will become, for now I will continue to use up my handspun on my pin looms and collect pieces.

Foxgloves - Finished!

This was a super quick knit - three days.  And I still had yarn left over.  I used about 2/3rd of my skein 10 of my handspun.  As a reminder, this is the yarn that I used.

They fit perfectly, and I got to use my mitten blockers for the first time!  There are even little inserts for the thumbs.

Pattern:  Foxgloves by Clara Parks

Yarn:  Handspun

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Turtle Loom Hexies

At some point in the past, I’m not sure exactly when, I bought a Turtle Loom from The Woolery.  Why?  Because I must have all of the tools so that I can do all of the things, at least when it comes to fiber.  It sat around for a long time in an old project bag.  The project bag was an early one, an L.L. Bean tote in custom colors, back when they were doing that.  I ordered several and used them for years.  The loom was rediscovered after I retired when I was organizing my studio (using booth infrastructure from my days working for my sister at Bead & Button, and schlepping the infrastructure back and forth in my Element).  It was given a home that made it easily accessible for use, and waited patiently for me to notice it again.

I finally got it out after I had finished the Hydrangea Neckwarmer and still had some yarn left over (Skein 7 of my handspun) and learned how to use it.  It is very simple, and also lots of fun, if a little fiddly, especially towards the end.  I have made two hexies from the leftovers and have more to use up.

I have no idea what these will become, but I’m sure that I will think of something.  In the meantime I will continue to accumulate hexies made from my handspun.

The original skeins.  This skein was made on my original niddy noddy, which makes the shorter skeins, I have since bought an adjustable one that makes the longer (2 yard) skeins.  They are so much easier to work with!  Especially when dyeing.

Foxgloves - One Mitt Done (Almost)

Well, I still have to work the thumb, but most of the knitting is done.  I’m going to knit the second mitt and then do both thumbs.  This is more of my handspun, the next skein in the line-up to get used, Skein 10.  I have been trying to be diligent about using my handspun in a project soon after it is made.  The last thing I need is more stash accumulation.  It took me two tries to get the fit right.  The first time I mostly followed the pattern, except that I extended the thumb gusset far beyond what the pattern called for.  But when I got up past that point I tried it on and realized that the cuff was too long and that I was at risk of running short of yarn if I didn’t make some mods.  Here is a picture of the first attempt.

You can see how much cuff there is.  So I ripped it all the way back and started over, starting the thumb gusset early.  The pattern has you put the thumb stitches on waste yarn after you finish the increases, but that would have left me with a very short thumb gusset, and I have a long palm and a muscular thumb.

Even after shortening the cuff, it is still substantial.  I know that if I had knit the pattern exactly as written it would not have fit my hand, at all.  Fortunately I have no qualms about on the fly modifications.

This is the skein that I used.  It was spun on my Kromski at 12:1 and plied on my Kiwi at 9.5:1.  I ended up with 135 yards, and 86.4 grams, or 1.56 yards/gram.   I dyed it using my Wool Tincture Dyes kit, and the color is Plum.

Pattern:  Foxgloves by Clara Parks from the book Brave New Knits

Yarn:  Handspun, Skein 10

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Spinning Report - Skeins 15 and 16

After finishing up Skein 14 I saw that I didn’t have that much left of my latest bag of Heinz 57 so I decided to spin it up and keep working on my drafting and also the fineness of my singles.  The top was a bit more than I typically spin on a bobbin (I did not weight it, but have calibrated my eye for how full I like my bobbins to get about 40 grams of single per bobbin) so when I reached that point and still had fiber left I did another bobbin.  This gave me four bobbins, two with about 40 grams and two with about 15 grams.  First I plied up the two 40 gram bobbins and ended up with this beautiful skein of fingering weight yarn.  It came in at 82 grams and 347 yards, or 4.21 yards/gram.  Spun on my Kromski at 16:1, plied on my Kiwi at 15:1.

After finishing that skein I took the two bobbins that had the smaller amount, and the leftovers from Skein 14 and weighed them all.  Then I put them on my Lazy Kate (lightest at top, heaviest at bottom) and made my first 3-ply yarn.  Spun on my Kromski at 16:1, plied on my Kiwi at 7.5:1.

It came out perfect.  100 yards, 36.5 grams, or 3.65 grams/yard.  I posted a picture of it in the Sheepspot Guild for the Friday spinning check-in, and was recognized in the spin of the week.  The challenge for May was a new to you ply, and this was mine.  I haven’t dyed it yet and I want to make some more 3-ply.  I’m thinking colorwork socks, but we’ll see what I end up doing with it.  I’m getting a little faster with the plying, still syncing my treadling with my drafting, but settling in to a nice rhythm.

Spinning Report - Skein 14

After finishing up those beautiful dyed tops that I had bought, I went back to the undyed Heinz 57 top and also dropped down to a smaller whorl (I had been working on my 12:1 ratio whorl, but have now switched to my 16:1 whorl).  Still working short forward draft, and trying to spin as thin and consistent a single as I could.  Here is the first bobbin.

It was not a fast spin, and the single on my second bobbin was definitely thinner than the first, as I had a fair bit left over (for me) even though the weight of the singles on each bobbin was comparable, and my final skein was only 68 grams (I usually shoot for about 80 grams).

I also put my smaller whorl on my Kiwi for plying (15:1).  I had a few issues with the plying - I did have a break on my first bobbin, but was able to rejoin it into the plied yarn okay (a better join than I’ve typically been able to do), but I also had some resistance from the wheel - so I decided it needed a drop of oil.  Unfortunately the oil bottle that came with my Kromski was 10 years old, and the plastic was the old plastic that grows brittle with age (and with exposure to oil, I suspect) and the bottle cracked when I squeezed it.  I thought that I had only gotten oil on my hands, but apparently I had also gotten oil on my drive wheel and more importantly on my drive band, but I didn’t realize that at the time.  No, I kept plying, and wondering where the strange noise was coming from, and why it wasn’t treadling as easily as it should.  I managed to finish the plying, and only after the skein was soaking did I take a look at the wheel and figure out all that had happened.  I cleaned everything up and wiped everything down, and treadled it for a few minutes, and it should be fine now.  Fortunately I had bought a new maintenance kit for my Kromski and it came with a new bottle of oil in a plastic bottle that is the better plastic.  I saved the old oil in a sealed container, and the application tip, which is really long.

I dyed the skein in Wool Tincture Dyes, in the color Deep Water.  It is a very uniform dye job, which made me happy, but that is probably because the dye packs and the jar is geared for a 100 gram skein, and mine was only 68, so it had plenty of room.  The yarn came out at a sport weight, although there are stretches that are thinner and some that are thicker.  Even with the challenges, I am happy with the result.

Skein 14:  240 yards, 68.1 grams or 3.5 yards/gram

Spinning Report - Skeins 10-13

I have been spinning regularly, every day, when possible.  I typically spin in the mornings, and usually for 30 minutes to an hour.  I find it very meditative, and it sets my brain (and mood) up nicely for the rest of the day.  Since my last spinning post on March 7, I have spun and plied over 800 grams of yarn.  All of these yarns were spun on my Kromski at a 12:1 ratio and plied on my Kiwi at a 9.5:1 ratio.

This is my 10th skein.  I went back to the Heinz 57, which I use as a sort of palette cleanser, and a way to reset myself after spinning a new base.  This skein came in at 135 yards and 86.4 g, or 1.56 yd/g and about 10 wraps per inch, so something between a worsted and a DK.  I dyed the skein with Plum from Wool Tincture Dyes.  I still have some variation in the dye take up, mostly where the ties are, even though I do try to tie loosely and I swish the fiber around in my dye jar.  I’m not overly concerned, as I’m not going for total uniformity.  Here is a picture of the skein untwisted.

Overall I am happy with both the singles consistency - there is not as much variation as I’ve had in the past, and the plying consistency.  I do like the set up I have with spinning on the Kromski and plying on the Kiwi.  I’m not sure what I will make with this yarn, but have been thinking about some fingerless mitts.

A little while ago I did an impulse buy of some of Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Tops from The Woolery, so I tackled them next and focused on my singles, trying to be consistent.  For each of the tops I used the same process:  I took the 250 g top out of the bag and shook it out, and then divided it into three equal sections length-wise.  Two of the sections I wrapped up in to a nest and set aside, then I took one section and divided it in half length-wise again, so that I had two pieces of top that were about the same length.  I then stripped the top in half, and then in half again, so I was working with about one quarter of the top at a time to keep the colors from blending too much.  All were spun using short forward draw and scotch tension.  I spun two bobbins from each of the three original sections of top, I wound the bobbins off the wheel and onto another bobbin and let them sit overnight (at a minimum) before plying.  I did not spin up all of the fiber and then mix the bobbins, which I know is recommended to minimize variations in the plied yarn by compensating for variations in the singles, but I wanted to see my inconsistency, not mask it.  I spun a section, and plied it, and then spun the next section and plied it, until I had spun and plied all three sections.

The first top that I grabbed was the Cornucopia colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d.  As I settled in to spinning this top my singles settled in to a slightly thicker diameter.  When I was plying the first two bobbins I had a break, which I didn’t fix, so I ended up with two smaller skeins.

Skein 11a came in at 49 yards and 26.5 g, or 1.84 yd/g

Skein 11b came in at 76 yards and 44.5 g, or 1.69 yd/g

Skein 11c came in at 145 yards and 89.7 g or 1.62 yd/g

Skein 11d came in at 130 yards and 89.8 g or 1.44 yd/g

Next I grabbed the Valentine colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 12a, 12b, and 12c.  The singles on these three skeins are far more consistent.

Skein 12a came in at 115 yards and 79 g, or 1.46 yd/g

Skein 12b came in at 111 yards and 79.6 g, or 1.4 yd/g

Skein 12c came in at 121 yards and 84.3 g, or 1.44 yd/g

The last top is the Purple Haze colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 13a, 13b, and 13c, and on these skeins I went back to a thinner single, even thinner than what I had achieved on the first colorway.  I wanted to see how thin I could comfortably and consistently spin on the 12:1 ratio whorl.

Skein 13a came in at 154 yards and 78.1 g, or 1.97 yd/g

Skein 13b came in at 176 yards and 82.5 g, or 2.13 yd/g

Skein 13c came in at 161 yards and 83.6 g, or 1.93 yd/g

Overall, I am very happy with my spinning and plying on all of these skeins, and with the greater consistency I am achieving.  Although I have no idea what I want to make out of these three sets.

After finishing up these three tops I decided to go down a whorl size, so I set up with my 16:1 whorl and started spinning some more Heinz 57 top.  I haven’t finished my first bobbin yet, but I do have two ply-back samples:

After looking at the first ply-back sample (top) I decided I needed a bit more twist in my singles, which you can see in the bottom ply-back sample.  I’m pretty chuffed with the fineness I am achieving.  These are still short forward draw, although I did do a few inches of long draw just to see how it felt and looked - and it felt and looked pretty good.  Once I have spun short forward draw on all of my Kromski whorls (after the 16:1, I will do the 20:1), I will go back to the biggest whorl and practice long draw on all of them.

Bolster Pillow - Finished!

This fiber was from Paradise Fibers, and is called Girl with Pearl Earring.  It is 54% Merino, 40% Kid Mohair, 6% Stellina.  I ended up with two skeins, one of 51 yards and 60.3 grams (~.85 yards/gram), and one of 72 yards and 79.1 grams (~0.91 yards/gram).  It was spun on my Kromski at an 8:1 ratio and played on my Kiwi at a 9.5:1 ratio.  I didn’t really know what else to do with it, but had a vague notion of turning it into a pillow, and ended up settling on a bolster pillow, so I grabbed a US 8 (5.0 mm) needle and cast on some stitches.

If you look at the blocking picture you can see that it did not come out as a perfect cylinder.  Yes, my gauge changed because my two skeins of yarn were not quite the same weight.  They weren’t that much off, but it was enough.  I didn’t really let it worry me, because I figured it wouldn’t make too much of a difference when I worked it up into the pillow.  I finished the knitting quickly, casting on March 13, and casting off March 14.  Then I had to wait for the bolster pillow form to arrive.  It came yesterday.  I immediately stuffed it into my waiting tube.

Yes, the bolster sticks out some at either end.  My tube was between sizes so I went with the larger size figuring yarn stretches and pillows compress and bolsters should be on the firmer side.  For the end caps I had already decided that I was just going to crochet circles until they were big enough to join with my knitted tube.  I had some sparkly DK yarn from Expression Fiber Arts left over from another project so I decided to use that.  I did the cast off (smaller end) first.

I joined the last round with the cast off edge using single crochet, pinning the end cap to the knitted tube using locking stitch markers and placing stitch markers about every 1.5 inches around the circumference so I could do the finagling to make them fit together neatly.  I then crocheted another end cap the same size and attached it to my cast on edge.  That was easier to do, just because of the nature of cast on and cast off edges, and the fact that it was a bit looser then my cast off edge.

I am delighted with the result.

Pattern:  None, just a simple knitted tube and some crocheted rounds

Yarn:  Hand spun by me

Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm)

Hook:  4.5 mm

 

Hydrangea Neckwarmer - Finished!

I cast this project on back on March 17, 2025.  This is more of my hand spun, hand dyed yarn.  I spun the yarn on my Kromski, with a 12:1 ratio, and played it on my Kiwi, with a ratio of 9.5:1 and dyed it with a Wool Tincture Dyes dye kit using the color Malbec.  While this yarn still had some variability in thickness, it did come out more on the thinner side - at 219 yards and 90 grams.

I wanted to make an accessory out of this yarn so I went searching on Ravelry and settled on this pattern by Anne Hanson from the book Brave New Knits, which I happened to have in my knitting library.  I did make some modifications to the pattern.  I went up a needle size, to a US 4 (3.5 mm) needle, and I cast on more stitches.  The smaller size of this cowl has you cast on 84 stitches, for a finished circumference of 16 inches, while the larger size has you cast on 96 stitches, for a finished circumference of 18 inches.  Frankly, both of these sizes seemed too small for my tastes.  I did start out with 96 stitches and really didn’t like how small it seemed, so I ripped and cast on 144 stitches.

I did have some hiccups with the pattern.  I much prefer knitting from charts and typically skip past the written instructions that go along with the chart, which caused some consternation when I reached round 7 and my motif was not lining up correctly.  It turns out that the beginning of the round shifts on rounds 7, 9, and 11.  The written instructions have you slip the first stitch on those rounds, but there is no mention of the reason for slipping that stitch or that the motif shifts.  Luckily the motif is easily memorized, and I shifted my round marker as necessary to work the decreases that spanned it, using the chart only to make sure that I was lining up the motif correctly.

I also had some issues with the knit-on edging.  The pattern calls for a provisional cast on so you can graft the last row to the first row to make a continuous edge.  I didn’t want to do it that way so I just left the first and last motifs separate.  I like the way it allows the edge to settle on the shoulders.  The lace pattern was also fairly straightforward and easy to memorize, although I did have to rip back three times to fix errors that I made and didn’t catch until I was close enough to the end to easily count the remaining stitches and realize that I had screwed up somewhere.  It was a bit frustrating, but I did have that chart memorized by the end!

When I went to block it I was initially going to pin it out as I do with any lace item, but as I was laying it out on the blocking mats I decided I liked the look of a gentle block, especially the way that the edge ruffled, so I just smoothed it out a little and left it.

Pattern:  Hydrangea Neckwarmer by Anne Hanson from Brave New Knits edited by Julie Turjoman

Yarn:  Heinz 57 top, from The Woolery, hand spun and hand dyed by me

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

Simple Cowl - Finished!

I cast this on Tuesday, March 11, and finished it up Wednesday, March 12.  The yarn was spun up from a fiber club shipment from Paradise Yarns that I ordered on a whim.  It was a multicolored top - a mix of purples and yellows, and there were some other colors in there as well.  It was composed of 60% Extra Fine Merino, 25% Baby Alpaca, and 15% Tussah Silk.   I divided it in half, horizontally, so I could get two bobbins of singles, and then I stripped it lengthwise and spun it with absolutely no color management.  The resulting yarn was beautiful, and I’m sorry I don’t have a better picture of it.  It came out as worsted weight.

This is a picture fresh off the needles, before it went in for its blocking soak.  There is lots of color stuff happening, but it is pretty subtle.

And this is some of the yarn.  I actually had two skeins, a smaller one (this one) and a larger one, which I did not take a picture of.  The yarn was lovely - soft, silky, with great drape, and cushy.  It was also pretty consistent, which made me very happy.  Given how soft it was I knew I wanted something that I could wear close to the skin, so I cast on a simple cowl.  Just some rows of garter stitch at beginning and end and rounds and rounds of stockinette.  I even took out the end of round marker after I finished the first section of garter because I really just didn’t care and I wanted to make sure that I used up all of the yarn.  I only put the marker back in when I started the garter stitch for the end.

I spun the yarn on my Kromski, with a 12:1 ratio, and plyed it on my Kiwi, with a ratio of 9.5:1.  I even used a plying bracelet at the end to make sure I used up of the singles.

I really like having two wheels, one for spinning and one for plying so I don’t have to adjust them, and can have in process spinning on my Kromski while still finishing up other spinning efforts.

Pattern:  None - simple cowl, just cast on stitches, join in the round, and go

Yarn:  Handspun

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)