Lou-quacious Yarns
My brother and sister-in-law brought pressies back from New Zealand! So I thought I’d show one of mine off:
The name of the colour comes from a New Zealand bird which has plumage in the colour of the yarn. Oh, and it’s a lovely 100g hank of bulky-weight mohair… I’ve been thinking about what to make with it, but I think I’ve settled on a shawl of some kind.
So, I’ve started my spinning for the Tour de Fleece. As I said yesterday, I’m starting with two complementary braids from Limegreenjelly that I’m going to ply together. I’d actually spun up half of one of them already, so I have about 50g of that one left to do, then the whole of the second.
This is how much I already had spun:
and this is the remaining fibre, before I started spinning today:
Onwards!
As well as not having blogged since July, I haven’t done any spinning since then either. During the blogathon, I posted that I was spinning some gorgeous merino fibre. I got maybe 10g of the 100g braid actually done, and the spinning wheel has been in a corner ever since. I suppose I sort of lost my spinning mojo / motivation, then I was busy with other things. But I’m now feeling much more motivated, and I suddenly felt like actually finishing that. So, yesterday I hoiked the wheel back out of the corner, sat it in front of the telly, and spun all through Strictly Come Dancing and Casualty. And then, because I was on a bit of a roll, I put on the last two eps of Flash Forward which I still had to catch up on, and kept going. I’d split the braid into two approx 50g sections so that I could spin two roughly equal bobbins full, and I’d been aiming to finish the rest of the first 50g. In fact, I finished that first bobbin, and now I’m half way through the second:
I’m going to see if I can get a bit more done tonight before I go to bed. I’m still on a little bit of a sci-fi high from the new Doctor Who episode / special tonight, “The Waters of Mars”. Can’t wait til the next one at Christmas! But I need to wind down a bit more, so a bit of podcast listening and spinning should do the trick. Hopefully, I’ll get these singles bobbins finished and then plied within the next couple of days. I might use the remainder of my birthday money to get a niddy noddy, too. That’ll make winding the finished yarn back off the bobbin much easier.
The main project that I’ve been knitting on recently has been the Ishbel scarf, and I was using some really lovely soft, squishy yarn for it: some BFL sockweight by Nimu.
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Isn’t it preeeeeeeeeetty? I know you can’t see it terribly well in that picture because it’s only some of the stocking stitch portion. But trust me, it’s lovely – the colour of ripe blackberries. The pattern calls for 300m of yarn, the skein was 365m. I used the suggested needle size because I liked the drape of the fabric that gave me, although it put my gauge a little bit off. That’s not important in a scarf, triangular or not, right? Well, I knitted all of the stocking stitch section, and thought I still had plenty of yarn. The I started on the lace charts: chart A, then B, then as I started A again I began to get a bit worried. I kept going though. Right up until I ran out of yarn with essentially 8 rows to go. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Has my dodgy gauge has eaten more yarn, or something? I’m not sure that makes sense – I haven’t knitted more stitches, after all. I’ve got more stitches to the inch than I should have: that means that to get suggested gauge, I’d have to go up a needle size or two, thus making larger stitches, and therefore less per inch. My stitches are smaller, so they should be using less yarn, right? The resulting scarf must be a bit smaller than intended, that’s all.
As I see it, I have a couple of choices: rip out the whole thing (noooo!) and start again with different needles or yarn, or knit the remaining few rows in something else. But what? I only have this one skein of lovely Nimu ‘Striding Edge’ BFL, and I love the way it’s feeling so much that I do want to use if for this project. Bah. My first instinct is to edge it in a black yarn, since it’s such a dark colour to start with. But the only black yarn I have in what to my naked eye looks like a comparable thickness (I mentioned that it’s a very squishy sockweight, and it’s relatively loose-spun) is acrylic DK. No. I also have some similarly squishy sock yarn by the Yarn Yard – their merino ‘Hug’ yarn, in a couple of colours that might do:
[thumb:906:c:t=Mysterion][thumb:612:c:t=Damson][thumb:823:c:t=Damson knit up]
I don’t know which, if either, would be better though. So I’m posting a poll. Help meeeeeee!
[poll id=”3″]
You know what’s really annoying, though? This is the fourth time I’ve run out of yarn on a project recently. I must be doing something wrong.
I’m still working on the bipolar topic post, so I though that this half hour I’d show you what I’m currently spinning. Well, not currently, since I’m typing right now, but you know what I mean ;-)
I am, by the way, very much a beginning spinner, so my results aren’t fabulous, but the whole two skeins I’ve produced so far are nice enough, and definitely usable. Which is the point, right? The fibre I’m spinning now is really really lovely, so I hope I don’t make any horrible messes with it. It’s 100% merino from Limegreenjelly in “Take Me Out”, and it’s really beautiful – see:
Charcoal, hot pink, deep jade green, and flashes of purple. Yum!
Today is 4th July, which means it’s the start of the Tour de France for this year, and therefore also the Tour de Fleece. (I understand the date also has some link with Americans blowing up aliens with fireworks, but I’m not really sure about that.) And what that means is spinning along every day that the Tour de France is on. I’ve joined up to the Ravelry Group for it – this is my first time, which puts me on the Rookie team and I’m also in Team Jelly Legs, which Jo set up. That’s appropriate in more ways than one, as spinning every day will no doubt give me jelly legs, and I’m going to be using fibre from her etsy shop, Limegreenjelly.
This is the fibre I’ve started with:
It’s Blue Faced Leicester, and it feels absolutely lovely to spin with. I shall post progress photos when I have them. And do what I said I would yesterday and give some updates on what I’ve been up to in general!
Recently, I’ve been spinning as much as knitting. Jo has lent me her spare spinning wheel which is an Ashford Kiwi and I’ve been having lots of fun with it. I still need lots of practice, and so far I’m using some of the fibre that came with my drop spindle. There’s no fear of me running out of stuff to spin, though: even before Jo lent me her wheel, I had some of the yummy fibre from her Etsy shop. I now have six 100g-ish braids of hers, and I’ll post some pics here soon. Not right now though, because I’m about to upgrade my photo gallery as a prelude to the whole site upgrade – which should be quite soon now! I’ve got some really gorgeous colours in BFL and Merino, and the Merino/Tencel is even more delicious, but you’ll just have to take my word for it until the upgrade is all done and dusted.
In other Etsy news, my friend Rae has opened her Etsy shop, Angel Rae Arts. She’s selling some very cool (and cute) fridge magnets. I love the buried treasure one (which is from a photo taken when she was visiting me a few years ago!), and also the caffeinated cat one (painted) which really reminds me of the Xandermog. *g* The original one’s been sold already, but she’s done some more that aren’t identical, but very similar. Yay!
Still catching up! Here’s the rest of February: days 45 to 51 of my Project 365 photos. If you want to see all the photos so far, click on the Project 365 category link, or check out the Project 365 folder in the photo album.
On to the pics (click them for the full sized versions):
Continue reading “Project 365 #7, Days 45-51: 23rd – 29th Feb”
My second pair of socks for the Pentathlon is underway. For this one, I think the main challenge is in the preparation (there was confusion over which translated version of the pattern and which chart was most accurate), and since it’s a 16 row lace pattern where the stitch count increases and decreases a couple of times, you have to keep your mind on what you’re doing. I’m not finding it too much of a problem though. Not mindless telly knitting, but fine for watching something where I don’t want to have my eyes glued to the screen the whole time and so can keep count.
However, I have rebelled a little ;-) The pattern recommends using solid or semi-solid colours, and I… have not. I was going to: I said in my last post that I was intending to use a solid red. But the lace pattern is a leafy sort of thing, and I just didn’t want to make it in red. It would probably look lovely in the Yarn Yard September Club yarn:
…. but much as I think that yarn is beautiful, if I make yet another pair of green socks right now I might lose the will to live. ;-) So that one was out.
Then I thought, well, it’s a really pretty pattern. (In fact, if ever a pattern said “knit me in pastel pink!” to me, it’s this pattern, but that’s never going to happen. Sorry pink, but I’ll never wear you. Ever.) It’s lace, but I’m not sure that a multi yarn would obscure the pattern completely. And the Yarn Yard Feb 08 ‘Art Deco’ club yarn is really really pretty: light blue, chocolate powder brown, cream, pale yellow, a hint of soft green. Really springlike. And I could use the minty blue-green contrast skein for the cuff, toes, and maybe the heels. So, that’s what I’ve cast on with. And I was right, this yarn is really pretty. However, so far I’m not entirely sure if it’s knitting up as a pretty lacy sock, or a small woolly pizza. Below is a photo of the cuff and first lace repeat. Any thoughts, anybody:
Anyway, here are the project stats as they stand at the moment:
Pattern: Berlin Muster by Kristin Benecken [Ravlink]
Yarn: The Yarn Yard Bonny (previously Sock) in Art Deco (Feburary 08 Sock Club yarn)
Needles: 2.5mm DPNs
Ravelry Project Page: Pentathlon Pair #2
If I do decide to change the yarn, I’ll definitely stay with Yarn Yard Bonny as it’s just perfect for the project, and I think I’d either go for the solid bright blue from the November club yarn or persuade myself that three pairs of green socks in five months would be fine, and use the above August one. I’m hoping that the Art Deco will work out alright, though. Not least because I’ve set myself the goal of coming in within the first 100 this time…
Last week, I bribed myself by setting a list of goals to achieve before I could have my “carrot” of casting on a lovely new pair of socks. Sooooooo, how did I do?
And my prize? Wheeee, I’ve cast on for the lovely Bracket Fungus socks. My version are the Bracket Fungoths, because I’m using YY Hot Pink Goth yarn as the multi colour and I never can resist a good (bad) pun. As I promised myself, I’ve only done the cuff so far because the WFS has to take priority for now, but here’s how it’s looking so far:
Yay!
I’ve signed up for the Sock Knitter’s Pentathlon (for which there are Ravelry and Yahoo groups) because, well, I liked the look of it. The group summary goes:
In honor of the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing, a sock knitter’s pentathlon is being organized. This group will test your sock knitting skills. During the course of the year, competitors will knit 5 pairs of socks in 5 different styles.
That means a pair of socks in each two month period starting from 1st March. Having two months to complete a pair of socks feels do-able for me, where other groups that are doing a pair of socks a month, for example, send me into a panic just thinking about it. Two months gives me some breathing space! There is, of course (since this is an ‘Olympic’ event *g*) a competitive element to the Pentathlon – there are points awarded according to how you place in the finished socks stakes. But if you don’t complete a sock in the allotted time, even though you’re then eliminated from the competition element of the group, you can still knit along for the rest of the patterns for the fun of it. Perfect!
However! As I said, the kal / competition begins on 1st March – just over a day away. That’s when the first pattern will be released… all we know so far is that the yarn we will need should knit to 8 sts per inch on 2.5mm (or thereabouts) needles, and that solid or semi-solid yarns will work best. Being on a yarn diet, I’m obviously not buying anything new and I hardly need to with the amount of sock yarn in my stash. But I can’t decide what to use! Heeeeelp! I feel like, because I don’t know what the pattern looks like yet, I can’t choose the yarn / colour that will look best. Maybe I should just wait until the pattern comes out, but then I’ll have to think about which yarn to pick and then rewind it, all of which will be cutting into my knitting time… and I know I wasn’t particularly going to do the competition element of this, but I’d kind of like to see how I can do at it anyway.
I have narrowed my choices down a bit, though, so maybe I could get some opinions? Have a look at the poll below…
Due to mania, server crash and my sieve-like memory, I hadn’t posted my final SP11 package squee-ing. So here it is now. I did mention on 3rd December that I’d received it, but that was as far as I got. (In that post I also mentioned that I’d been delayed in sending my final package out to my spoilee. Well, it’s still here – my money situation has meant I haven’t been able to find the postage yet. But it belatedly occurred to me that some virtual gifts were possible, and I’m putting a bit of cash by each week to send the non-virtual things! Also, I said that I had a new design for this site. As you can see, that’s not in place yet either. Hopefully soon, though!)
Anyway! Even though the package arrived at the beginning of December, it was all Christmas themed and wrapped. Hee!
Not that I let that put me off opening everything right then, of course. I did think very briefly about saving it all for Christmas, but… nah. So what was inside all that shiny wrapping paper? The best SP package ever, that’s what!
If you love something, let it go… and other clichés. The grand de-stashing has begun! I’ve actually ended up being fairly ruthless and turfed out a lot of yarn on the basis that I don’t have any specific project in mind for it. It might be gorgeous, but unfortunately, I need the cash more. You see, a few things happened, including my washing machine having a very dramatic last hoorah (it was trying to throw itself out the kitchen window, I’m sure of it) and now I’m kind of hideously broke. The yarn, she is not necessary. So, here goes. I’m not putting pictures up in this entry because it would get too big, but there are links so you can click through to the photos. Or if you like you can jump to the yarn sale section of my photo album – all pictures but two are there.
Is what’s below everything that I’m clearing out? Well, no. As it just so happens, I’ve got some more yarn on eBay. And I’m also destashing some of my knitting books. I’ll make another post about those!
Continue reading “I think you’re great, but I’m going to have to let you go…”
Today, I’ve been looking through my stash on Ravelry and trying to decide what I don’t want / need. As well as a few odd things, I had every intention of thinning out some of my Posh Yarn and Yarn Yard stash. Uh huh, right. What has actually happened is that I’ve fallen madly back in love with every single skein and colourway. It’s all mine and you can’t have it. So there!
I’m also restraining myself right now from running and digging out a skein or two to wind into cakes so that I can cast them on. Oh, they’re so pretty! I want to knit with all of them, this instant! But I don’t have time. Christmas knitting first! And oh dear, only just over a month to go for that. I’ve got to get a crack on.
Actually, there are a few skeins that I can bring myself to, ah, re-home. If anyone wants to buy them from me, that is. I really do have more sock yarn than I can reasonably knit in the next, oh, couple of years. And more than once I’ve bought yarn because it’s so pretty… without taking into account that I already have some that’s very very similar. I’ll think about it overnight and see which ones I settle on.
Before I go to bed, though, I’m going to do a bit more work on the redesign of this site. With a bit of luck I should have it up sometime this week. The design itself is pretty much done, actually…. it’s just plugging it in to the various parts of the site. I’m intending to convert everything to php, so I have to work out the most efficient way of doing the templates. I’m not sure if I’m going to change the blog to php, though. It’d mess up any direct links. Unless…. Hmm, I’ll sleep on that as well. I’m tired anyway. Maybe I will just go to bed now. G’night.
Ummmm….. it was my birthday and I’ll buy yarn if I want to?
So, I know I said I wasn’t going to buy any more yarn, and lord knows, I don’t exactly need any. Seriously, I’m all yarned out. You know that – you’ve seen my stash. I have lots. But those sock yarns are just so scrummy, and apparently don’t count towards your stash anyway. Of course they still dent your bank balance a bit, but whoops, too late now! But it was my birthday last month, so I treated myself to some yarn that I had been stalking for a while. And then I decided that that’ll be it until… well, until I’ve knitted a lot of it up!
That wasn’t me falling off the yarn wagon, though – at that point, I wasn’t even on it despite my oh so good intentions. I was the person half-heartedly jogging along behind the wagon, occasionally making a vague jump up but not quite getting on board. But last month when I began clearing out my stash, I made my yarn diet ‘resolution’. I was then really good and resisted all yarn except for the YY glove kit that I already mentioned… which I justified because [a] it’s for something I need (gloves) [b] it counts as my sock yarn allowance, and [c] the money for it came from the yarn I’d sold on eBay.
Howwwwwever, I tripped and bought yarn and stuff after Knit & Natter last Saturday. The fatal flaw with K&N is that I’d have to leave early to catch my bus back home… and I don’t want to do that. So that leaves me with almost an hour to kill when it finishes. Of course I’m going to go to the yarn shop (the group meets in the pub opposite). Actually I still haven’t broken my yarn diet rules1, but I feel kind of bad nevertheless. 
I got some Debbie Bliss Rialto DK, which is for a Christmas gift and was a planned purchase, and some sock yarn – Regia’s Kaffe Fassett Design Line in Mirage Fire, which I think is new. I refrained from buying more than one lot of sock yarn, though, so at least that’s something! *g* I did succumb to the lure of a couple of Addi Turbo bamboo circular needles, though. I’m using one pair already, and they are lovely and smooth with a non-tangley cord and all. But the join between the bamboo and the bit that connects it to the cord isn’t smooth. There’s a definite jump that the stitches catch on all the time. :-/ Still, maybe I can do something about it. I really hope so, because they’re lovely in every other respect, and I don’t want to spoil the very nice yarn that’s being knit on them. Anyone have any advice about that?
So yeah, I haven’t technically fallen off the wagon, but I felt the need to confess my purchases anyway. That’s probably the best way of keeping on top of what I do buy within my allowance and making sure I don’t slip. Keep it all public so I’ll be too embarrassed to fail! Think it’ll work?
1 To re-cap:
