I continue to work with what is on hand and it's kind of fun.
I took some white South American wool and blended it with some of the same I had dyed an unsatisfactory green to make a lighter, less offensive color. I blended the same white wool with some Brown Sheep rovings in brownish gray and blue.




Although not beautiful, I still like the result. I drum carded batts with some white Tussah silk combed top, rolled the batts horizontally but drafted out from the side.




It's fun and pretty fast going!

On Ripping

I had spun up some Romney at the beginning of the year and knew I had enough for a vest but not the sweater the yarn told me it wanted to be. My attempts at matching the yarn with some wool from the same farm failed. I tried and tried and felt that my rather costly batch of fiber was dwindling in the sampling so I completely gave up the idea of a sweater in simple lines and in plain stockinette that would show off this unassuming chunky yarn.
A little vest knit on big needles seemed no big deal. In fact, I've ripped out my 3rd attempt, almost completed. It was a simple rustic vest from Vogue Chunky Knits.




I managed to completely mess up the shaping on the fronts so that they didn't match by any stretch of the imagination. I could have ripped out one but it was obvious that the end result was going to fall short of my expectation which was very modest...just a rustic vest..something I might chop wood in or throw on over my pajamas when I shut up the ducks for the night.
Here's a shot of the vest in the early stages. The wool is actually a deep dusky brown.



I am discouraged after 3 almost complete vests!
I think I might get a little cocky when I'm doing something easy and quick................

Mostly Camel

I have restrained myself from jumping from project to project and have steadily made it through 12 ounces of camel down. It seems I will end up with about 800 yards if I don't run out of silk noil.



I've been using a long draw and I'm getting surprisingly comfortable with the technique. I'm beginning to believe that if I practice enough I could do it without watching my hands.
I am a little nervous about getting back to my alpaca fleece. I'm afraid that my yarn will be so different now because of the long break from spinning it.
I recently tried to match a bulky single I'd spun month ago and completely failed. This makes it even harder to keep faith and believe all will be well with the alpaca.

Too many irons in the fire...maybe

I might have too many spinning projects in progress. The only one that worries me is that alpaca fleece I started spinning and haven't touched for possibly months.
The spinning is simple and absolutely monochromatic and the only texture is a little bumpiness from the carded fiber so as much as I am fully committed to finishing the spinning (or so I convince myself), I still need some variety especially after Camp Burton.
I spun and navajo plied Great Balls of Fire roving and I really love it. I love the colors. They appear a little more subtle indoors, definitely "guy colors". I would love a sweater but I don't have enough...not even for a vest.
I washed the swatch and the whole drape changed. Prior to washing, I thought I'd knitted it on too small needles. It was stiff and densely knitted. I now know it's an absolute must to wash those swatches, especially with handspun. I hate to think of all those unsatisfactory swatches I made and ditched the idea for the yarn because I neglected to wash the swatch.






The Crosspatch Creations was so much fun to spin and fast too because I spun it woolen. I opted for a two ply. I want 2 pounds of this stuff! In fact, I feel like making a promise to myself that I will never buy less than 2 pounds of fiber because everything I spin, I want to use to make a sweater.






I guess 2 pounds is not really a reasonable goal though because not stressing only the expense, I remind myself that it took me almost 3 months to finish Joe's sweater.
Yes, it's finally done! And I am pretty much pleased with it though I had a lot of trouble with the finishing. The crochet edging was very tough for me and hand sewing the zipper was so time consuming. I was stuck with purchasing a zipper that was too long and I chose to fold over the tops and stitch them down. I wasn't pleased with the result. It looks okay from the outside but I was afraid that the stiff ends would rub against Joe's neck and irritate his skin. My other option was to trim the zipper. I was nervous about the tape unraveling but I might have to do that if the zipper turns out to be a problem.
To console myself about not being able to buy 2 pounds of Crosspatch, I started blending fibers on the carder. At first, I ended up with many knitted swatches reminiscent of the 1980's. Finally I came up with something I liked.
It's camel down, cotton with silk noil. No, I won't have 2 pounds of this but maybe a pound to about a pound and a half. And it would be easy to put together another camel, cotton blend with a complementary silk noil if I end up feeling I must have something bigger tha a vest.
This was another swatch that changed from a tight stiff fabric into one with a wonderful hand to it. All due to just a quick wash.





I knitted this swatch right off the bobbin without finishing the yarn but I think it gives enough of an idea. Oh yeah.........I navajo plied it. I really don't have any reason why except all my bobbins are filled up with that alpaca. I know I really shouldn't continue on this way...but I might.
Truly by chance, I ended up as one of the applicants for a fiber show exhibition. I have been assured that even if we don't get accepted by the gallery, there will be a show either with another gallery or a show organized by our members. It really has shown me that it has been important to get out there and connect with other fiber people.
A talented potter, Mary Hosick took the photos for the application. We got some good ones and Mary was so sweet to give me a CD with the photos on it. She also added one of the photos on the CD label!

Camp Burton!!!

I finally made it to Camp Burton this year. The NorthWest Regional Spinners Association has a spinning retreat right here on my island. It's very freeform, just unstructured time for spinning and visiting. But there were about 5 vendors all with great offerings.
I bought some Crosspatch Creations from Amelia of the Bellwether.

It's a blended batt from Joan Contraman in Montana. A mixture of 2 types of wool Corriedale Cross and Romney (names of each sheep provided!), silk and viscose. The color is called Tammany's Prize.
I started spinning it up almost immediately. Here's one skein from one 4 ounce bag. 200 yards of 10 wpi (wraps per inch).








I also bought a 1 ounce batt of English Garden from the Bellwether. It's another blended batt from Crosspatch Creations.
I spun it up and navajo plied it just to get an idea what it would be like as a 3 ply. I want 2 pounds of it!

I think it would make a beautiful sweater.
Meanwhile, as I save my pennies, I'm inspired to start blending different fibers and colors together on my drum carder to get more textured yarns.


There was also a woman there with a company called Great Balls of Fiber. I love the name. She had some alpaca/merino superwash that she had overdyed on pale brown, gray and green. The colors spun up beautifully. I bought about 8 ounces though the picture below doesn't really show the colors well. I've found that photographing outside is the only way to get true colors and it's been raining so much.

Everyone seemed to have some of her dyed fiber!



Most of the spinners stayed 4 days in cabins. They met and spun in a common area. Since I live on Vashon, I visited briefly on Thursday and then again more extensively on Saturday afternoon.
What can I say! Spinners are such great people. I didn't know anyone. The room was filled with spinners. Not a free chair in sight never mind a spot to put one. Someone immediately helped me find a chair and as I wandered around looking confused, another woman told me just to stick it in the middle of a circle. I felt so comfortable. Everyone was friendly and helpful. I sat chatting and spinning for about 5 hours and then went back again that evening. Six of us stayed up spinning, talking and laughing until past midnight.
All I can say is that it was so much fun. I'm amazed at all the talent and knowledge in that room. Every bag had beautiful things peeking out. Some people even showed me the gorgeous yarns and knitted items that were hidden at the bottom of theirs.




I'm having so much fun with entrelac.








I've designed a few hats in children's and adult sizes. I've used the wonderful Noro Silk Garden and have been hand dyeing fiber and spinning it up with entrelac in mind. It's so much fun but I feel like I want to do more than a few more hats to get it right and also to explore color a bit more. I really do like to just sit back and let it happen without influencing the way the colors come off the needles but I do see the fun of maybe using 2 different balls of yarn and switching every row. That would take away some of the building up of color in certain sections.
And after seeing all the wonderful fibers and yarns at Camp Burton, I feel I want to play a little more with texture and blended fibers in these hats. The Noro one is absolutely satisfactory. Please disregard the unwoven ends sticking out!












But the handspun ones need some tweaking.












I saw some hamster bedding at a friend's house. I rushed to Petco and bought this:




It's viscose and a little under $4 for 35 grams. I spun up a little and it produced a fine slightly bumpy yarn. I'd like to try blending it with another fiber. I'm not so good with my ounce/gram conversions but I think it's probably not such a cost effective way of getting spinnable viscose. I had to try it though. I'm not even sure that the color is fast though I am assured that it's perfectly safe for my rat/hamster/mouse to eat.

Joe's sweater has been a challenge in some ways, primarily the finishing details. I didn't want to rush through so I took my time and redid almost every part of the process, sometimes 3 times!

Right now, I'm hand sewing the zipper in place. The finish work on this sweater has been tough!





And just in case, you didn't know what I meant by using those children's foam floor mats for blocking.............

A Run of Bad Luck

I'm having a small spell of bad luck but it doesn't sem to be affecting getting projects done.
I finally have blocked my Gothic Leaf Stole designed by Sivia Harding. The photo does not really show it off well. It is about 7 or 8 feet long! I am very pleased with it!












And that scarf that has been in progress for months and months is finally finished. I love it! It is very soft. Handspun and millspun and mostly kid mohair.






And Joe's sweater nears completion too. I'm on the second sleeve. Then, there's just the collar, zipper and edging to do.




Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat was this weekend and I did make it there one day for a class with Kathryn Alexander on entrelac knitting. Sadly, I missed my Saturday class with Judith MacKenzie because the ferry broke down.
I decided to take a ferry off the north end of the island and stay in Gig Harbor Saturday night in order to make it to the Sunday class. I was pretty tired all day and couldn't seem to follow instructions!










But somehow when I reached home last night, it all started coming together. These are not beautiful but they are fun to do and begin to let me see design possibilities for this technique.






Just learning and beginning to explore but when I was at the Marketplace, I saw this roving from Dragonfibers sold by Village Yarn and Tea. I had to have it. It's Blue Faced Leicester in colorway Big Top. I wanted to spin it up and knit entrelac. The yarn is still unfinished. The colors were beautiful as they changed and fed onto the bobbin. I love to dye and will continue to but I am really impressed with Dragonfibers. The colors were saturated completely through the roving and their combination was lovely. She has an etsy shop but no Big Top in stock at present.

Slowing Down

I'm purposely slowing down and taking care of the disorder around here. After 2 years of frantically spinning, trying to learn as much as I can, I now feel comfortable enough to not actually spin every day.
I'm still spinning though. Working my way slowly through the 3 and a half pounds of alpaca fiber I bought from Vashon Island Alpacas. I have no idea how much yardage I'll end up with in the end. I did some calculations based on the weight of a sample skein but I never trust things like that.
I'm spinning everything up before plying. I will probably buy some more bobbins but in the meantime, I'm winding the singles on to cardboard bobbins.







I'm making a 3 ply about the equivalent to a heavy worsted or aran weight. I'm carding the fiber on my Pat Green drum carder but spinning it worsted.




I finally finished the alpaca stole about a month ago though it still remains unblocked and looking like a lump of potatoes. I realize that I need something better for blocking. I've been keeping my eyes open for those children's interlocking foam floor coverings in my local thrift store. But I might break down and buy some from cocoknits.com I've been buying her patterns. She's very talented.



The stole came out perfect. It makes me embarrassed of my previous lace! I know I said I knew myself well enough to walk the fine line between being too demanding for my skill level and being really sloppy. I guess I had to make those mistakes to learn but those lace scaves and stole are staring me in the face saying "You didn't care enough to make me properly!"
I've been working on The Cambridge Jacket for my son. It's featured in the latest Best of Interweave Knits but it's also in the Summer 2006 issue. I played it safe and chose Cascade 220 (the same used in the pattern) because I really want this to come out good. I've never knitted Joe anything other than socks and more recently a hat.
I have the back and the left front done so far.







In between, I do little bits of this and that.
I pulled this scarf out of the bottom of the workbasket. I'm almost out of yarn so this will be done fairly soon. It's a mix of kid mohair handspun and a commercial kid/merino blend. It really is a slog!












I bought some more of that lovely Romney but I'm holding on to it for a bit because I have to wait to see if I'll need some more for this cabled vest I'm envisioning








.



I'm thinking of trying Connie Delaney's Spincraft pattern Knit Until The Yarn Runs Out Vest. Still, I don't want it to be too short. I'm thinking of a zipper as a closure.....












I finally bought Judith MacKenzie McCuin's book.


Sadly, I should have bought it earlier. She has a caution about making sure alpaca has sufficient twist because it doesn't hold it shape when it's not spun tightly enough. Joe's alpaca hat is melting slowly downward. I have to thread in some elastic or as he suggests shrink it.

It's all a learning process.


My friend Roxy gave me this beautiful bag! It's made from recycled materials. Her business is called RE GENR 8. Every bag is different. The inside has wonderfully detailed pockets and compartments with velcro closures. It's my new knitting bag. I love it!