I continue to experiment and play with color and different techniques without much forethought but surprisingly I do find myself completing projects with my handspun.
I've heard people talking about subpersonalities. I'm sure it's some well thought out template of human personality and interpersonal exchanges but I don't know anything about it. Though I am certain that one of my subs must be a clown. Why else would I keep turning out articles of clothing that are so brightly colored, so whimsical, so clownish.
Don't laugh! I actually like these. They do fit almost as I intended. They're almost knee high in length. They just don't feel complete at this point. I bought some of the FiberTrends soles from fiber2yarn.com .
The soles just don't give the effect I want. They make the felted socks look too much like traditional slipper socks so I'm saving the suede soles for something else........perhaps the Fiber Trends clogs which I've never tried before. I'll continue to keep my eyes open for something to "complete" my felted socks. I keep seeing leather trim and buckles canabalized from thrift store handbags or belts.
I handspun the yarn for the socks from the NZ carded wool that most spinning supply shops carry. I practiced my woolen technique and initially weighed all the fiber before blending so that I would get an approximate matching pair. After a bit, I just eyeballed which worked pretty well. I drumcarded the colors into vertical stripes and then rolled the batt with colors running still in vertical stripes. Then I drafted and spun from the side of the batt allowing the colors to unfold in sections as I spun.I think the resulting mismatching on the feet was partly a result of working fewer rows on the second heel and partly the inferiority of eyeballing. The mismatched feet don't bother me at all though I am glad that the legs seem to be similar.
I used the mukluk pattern in Folkknits from Interweave Press as a guide for knitting though I ignored some of the instructions. If you haven't seen the book yet, it's very fun with lots of lovely patterns that although unique in themselves are idea inspiring and can be used as a jumping off place for other garments or accessories.
The socks were knitted and then felted. In my early days of spinning, I never thought I'd felt my handspun but it makes perfect sense. Singles felt beautifully and woolen yarn spins quickly so I have no qualms about felting it. Here they are before felting:
I've beeen having so much fun with the drum carder. I spun up some Corriedale that I'd blended on the drum carder and knitted up a lace scarf with thick singles.
The lace pattern caused one edge to make chevron like points while the other end turned out pretty even on the cast off edge. If I ever use this particular lace pattern again for a scarf, I will definitely work up from each end and graft the 2 together.
Deviating a bit from the rainbow colored batts, I spun up some singles and worked out a pattern for a hat. It looks a lot like a circus tent to me.
It's all just playfulness and fun. It feels as if I'm just sticking my fingers in paints and smearing it around and seeing how things look.
For awhile I was just spinning up small bits of blended fiber and knitting small, narrow swatches.
I hadn't been dyeing in weeks so I threw some fiber in pots to wet and after 2 days felt I had to go ahead before mold grew. The mixing and dyeing were hurried. The space dyed roving really should have been split so that if I decide to knit socks or gloves, they would be more consistently matched but I just began spinning. I love spinning worsted and it had been so long. I just sat down and went into a trance. I realized too late that I hadn't split the roving so I would have more choices for its use after it had been spun up. It's Blue Faced Leicester and I navajo plied it. I have 170 yards of the muticolored and about 150 yards of the light green. The color sections of the muticolored skein are at some points very long.......yet another argument for splitting the roving especially when there is little yardage and the knitted item will be small. I do have a few ideas though. How they will look when executed is a different matter.......
That night, I also dyed some Punta wool I bought from Carol Lee at thesheepshedstudio.com for blending with other colors on the drum carder.
I'm pleased with the color and can't wait to start blending batts.
I am slogging along on my Gothic Leaf Stole. It's not that I don't enjoy the pattern. It's rhythmic and relaxing. The yarn is Henry's Attic Prime Alpaca and it's wonderful to work with. I knit this piece only on the commute though which ends up being a total of 30 minutes a week. I started in May and I'm a little more than half done. If you're not familiar with lace, I'd like to point out that often it looks like one big crumpled mess until it's washed and blocked. Then the pattern appears very distinctly...or so we hope!
And I just began fixing the Peruvian hat I made for MaryAnn last year. The hat was so roomy it slipped down on her head! I'm going to remedy that by putting in a polar fleece band. It really does need ear flaps too so I just began those this evening. I already ripped out one but it is coming along. Pictured is an unformed idea of the ear flap. The actual earflap will be knitted on from picked up stitches. I actually tried sewing on flaps last year and it ended up looking pretty amateurish.
The pattern for the hat, I just made up as I went along................no wonder it slipped off MaryAnn's head.....but the motifs, I found in Andean Folk Knitting. Sadly, I think it's out of print. If you see a copy, grab it if the price is right.
