Persistent Knitter

A local Rogue-along prompted me to get out some of my possible yarns for this project and do some swatching:

On the left, Rowan’s All Seasons Cotton in a deep forest green.  A smooth yarn that is Cotton and Acrylic, it shows the cable off really well. (never mind the bad photo).

On the right, Second Time Cotton, Mostly Cotton, some Acrylic. It’s a smooth yarn with a lot of plies making up the individual strand.  I don’t think it will work well for Rogue.  It’s a bit splitty to knit with and the variation of the color in each strand would hide the beautiful cabling in Rogue.  As you can see I abandoned the swatch pretty early on.  No time wasted here!

My last swatch (not pictured) is with Mission Falls 1824 Wool.  100% Superwash wool, this will probably be the easiest yarn to knit the sweater with because of the elasticity of the wool. It’s a smooth yarn and the cable shows up very nicely in it. 

So far the All Seasons Cotton is winning the swatch race, mainly because it’s a stash yarn. I have more than enough to make the sweater in any of the sizes (we won’t go into _which_ size I’ll be making. heh).  If I used the Mission Falls yarn I’d have to make a trip to the LYS and spend some money, and the likely hood that they would have to order the amount I’d need for the sweater is about 50/50.

I had some other yarns in my stash that I had mentally put in the Rogue bucket:  Rowan Wool/Cotton and some Rowan 4 ply.  Neither of these was thick enough to even come close to the required gauge for Rogue.  I don’t want to have to recalculate that much, and I really feel the cables need to be in the thicker Aran weight yarn to show well.

Tons of fiber, tons of spinning for Sheep to Shawl and a bit of extraneous spinning with the other fleeces in my stash.  I have three drop spindles: two top whorls and one bottom whorl. I wasn’t sure how to make the yarn stay when I was wrapping it on the bottom whorl one.  I got a quickie lesson this weekend from my friend Rebecca, who is an amazing spinner.  One of the things she taught me was how to make an Andean Plying Bracelet.  See instructions here.  It’s really amazing!  (My question is how big of a bracelet can I make before the technique loses it’s finesse?)  I decided to repeat the technique again that evening so I would remember how.  I did another short length of very light grey wool, and then I plied the silk that has been sitting idle.

My results:

Top to bottom: Silk, grey fleece attempt #2, grey fleece attempt #1.

The grey fleece was a ‘freebie’ fleece believe it or not. I’ve been using my mini forsythe combs (purchased from Bountiful at last year’s Wool Market)  to create a sliver.  Each of the tiny skeins was created from about a yard of sliver.  The first one I did my spinning was lumpy and not very consistent. I was getting the feel of the drop spindle and had a few problems with making it behave.  The second skein I really focused on keeping the drafting area the size, and making the yarn very consistent.  I can’t tell you how beautiful this little skein is. I’m so pleased with the results.

My silk spinning is so-so. I can’t say I’m totally pleased with it. It’s hard to spin nicely. I think I’ll try it on the wheel to see if that works better for me. 

Wheel vs Drop Spindle

I learned how to spin in a class, and we started with a drop spindle the first class. I was able to do it - but didn’t feel really comfortable with it. The drop spindles we were using were huge and very heavy.
The word "drop" came into play a LOT.  Then we moved onto using wheels and I thought I’d never go back to a drop spindle again. I got to try out a few different styles of wheels; and that helped me decide which one I would buy.  Since then my favorite LYS started carrying Magpie maggie spindles.  These are the most beautiful spindles and they SPIN and spin and spin and spin.  I bought one thinking I’d give the drop spindle another try. 

When using a drop spindle, you can take your time - it’s harder to over twist your yarn compared with wheel spinning.  You can make very small samples easily (as shown above) using a drop spindle.   (I’m planning on using grey fleece #2 as my sample for when I go to the wheel. ) The other big thing the drop spindle has for it is portability. You can put a bit of fiber and your drop spindle in your purse and off you go! 

A wheel will obviously allow you to spin more yarn in a shorter amount of time.  But is quantity better than quality? I guess it depends on what your quality is like on the wheel! :)   When I asked Rebecca why I could spin using a wheel, but really stunk at using a drop spindle; she reminded me that it’s a whole different set of skills and movements. She’s right! The drafting is the same, but starting the spindle spinning, winding all use your hands, whereas on the wheel your feet are doing the treadling, and winding on is a matter of "feeding" the wheel.  If you knit, imagine what it felt like the first time you tried to knit, or maybe the first time you tried continental style knitting vs english style knitting.  You know what you want the end result to look like, you know how you can get there if you were doing it the other way, but you stubbornly persist in learning a new way? Why - because it’s FUN. 

That’s probably why I have dabbled in so many different fiber related activities. I love to learn new things. I get a kick out of the Aha moment when I finally understand why something works, or I start being able to do the new task without thinking about it.  Just today I was reading the latest copy of Spin Off magazine with an article about making baskets.  "Hmm, Maybe someday I’ll take a class in basket weaving" (But not underwater) :)

My mom is making great progress on her navajo weaving.  Here’s a full repeat of the pattern we drafted out while she was visiting me:

She said she’s going to start weaving from the top and then fill in the middle somehow. I asked her, "Oh, you can do that?". She replied, "I guess I’ll find out!".

How to spin when you have two small children that want to get into everything?

It works - sort of. My 3.5 year old wants to be in the cage with me, and the other one (almost 1) just runs around the outside of it throwing things in.

The title of this posting somewhat reminds me of "What I Did on My Summer Vacation".
Inspired by a posting at The Spinning Goth blog, I share with you how I am evolving as a fiber person.

Crochet
When I was very little (more than 4 but less than 10 years old), my grandmother taught me to Crochet. I don’t remember why, it was just a Thing One Did. I remember making tiny blankets, and useless pieces of squiggle crochet. As I grew older, I would help my mom crochet fancy tablecloths out of tablecloth string.  This consisted of crocheting with a hook so small it could easily be considered a weapon.  My first experience with gauge was that mom and I had to use different size crochet hooks to get our pieces to come out the same size.  Of course I didn’t know that was because of gauge - it just made sense to us at the time.

Hand Embroidering
While in grade school, I learned how to do stem stitch embroidery. I used pre-printed patterns, mainly from iron on transfers (Aunt Martha’s Iron On Transfers, most of which I still have today). My sister and I would embroider tea towels for the house, and other random bits of embroidery.  I also learned some other forms of embroidery - different stitches, etc.  This skill hasn’t become a hobby in it’s own right, but I use these skills in conjunction when I’m working on something else.

Sewing
I took HomeEc in school.  Thankfully, my mom had already taught me how to sew at home.  Learning to stay steady by using no thread and a dull needle while following lines on notebook paper - graduating to circles and other shapes as I got better.  We would make doll clothes, and sometimes a whole doll.  In high school, I made a huge banner for a club I was in (I wonder if it’s still being used? I just looked itup, and they have a "new" banner. I wonder what happened to the old one? Probably in the trash). In college I would sometimes copy a really neat article of clothing a friend was wearing to save money.

Quilting, Step 1
I made one quilt while I was in high school - a baby quilt for an advisor of a club (Hmm.. same club I made the banner for). I embroidered dinosaurs onto white fabric, and pieced them together with some mint green sashing, and used a white ruffle to finish the edge.  I machine quilted the thing together - not knowing anything about how to really do it.  At the time I wasn’t too impressed and thought it took a lot of work to make it look good.  Later I realized I was using the wrong batting for the type of quilting I was doing.

Cross Stitch
Cross stitching started somewhere in high school, and continued throughout college.  I did some small items, but mostly larger items for wall hangings. My first major cross stitch picture was of a teddy bears family having a picnic. I framed it, and still have it to this day.  I fell in love with Teresa Wentzler designs.  I did this dragon pattern forever ago, and finally decided to have it framed when I had my first child in 2001 (about 10 years later). It goes perfectly in her room and guards her bed.  I also really like  Told In a Garden designs.  I have a few of the patterns in my cross stitch box, one or two started, but not yet completed.

Finally my ultimate cross stitch project was Permin of Copenhagen’s "Girl with Rabbit".  It was sold as a kit, for $80 or so. It seemed like a lot of money to me then, so I had my Local shop order me just the pattern.  Later I decided I didn’t want to do it with regular embroidery thread - I wanted to use Flower Thread. Embroidery thread is shiny, and Flower thread has a matte finish to it, and produces much softer colors. I converted all the colors over from one to the other; and got started. I set it aside for years, and it became my pregnancy project in 2001 when I was pregnant with my daughter.  It was then I realized I didn’t have enough thread to finish. The frantic hunt for more colors ensued - flower thread had been discontinued.  Dye lots be damned, I got enough from various shops across the United States, and I will someday finish this project. (I’ll see if I can take a picture of it at some point, or find a link on the ‘net)

I even taught a boyfriend in college to cross stitch. I bet he never finished the small project he started.

While I still have a box of cross stitch stuff, I don’t ever work on it. It’s pretty slow, tedious work, and very repetitive. I never got past needing a pattern to create a design. Someday I will finish Girl with Rabbit since I’m over half done on it.

Quilting, Step 2
While in college, a good friend of mine had me come over and help her layer & baste together her very first quilt.  It was beautiful and totally inspired me to get involved in quilting again.  I have made more quilts than I can count; and quilts are in almost every room in the house.  I have a fairly sizeable fabric collection, and will someday get back into it.  I love the control over colors you have with a quilt. Taking out fabrics and combining them in different ways with a pattern.  At one point I discovered Batik fabrics, and never went back.

Quilting is great because you can pick amazing colors and produce a quilt top fairly quickly.  Compared to Cross stitch, quilting definately won in the speed dept. I do hand quilting (my first quilt, queen sized even, was all hand quilted), machine quilting. I love the look of applique, but it’s very slow.

Weaving
After I graduated college, I learned how to weave. I don’t remember why I wanted to learn this; I just did. There was a lady local to my college town that taught classes and individual lessons.  In class I did some samples, and a rug. I still have that rug in my kitchen today.  I bought a small loom (Schacht Baby Wolf) and wove some kitchen towels on it, a curtain for a door, and a few not-so-great rugs.  I still have my loom; but haven’t used it in forever.  My mom picked up the weaving bug from me, and she has a very nice 45" wide loom at her house.   I think weaving is a great skill to have - but it takes a lot of time; which I don’t have these days.

Knitting
My mother in law knits. She knits amazing, beautiful sweaters.  I never thought I’d want to knit things, but one visit to her house I became curious and asked her to show me the basics.  She loaned me some needles and yarn and off I went. I bought a reference book; and my first project was a simple sweater for my daughter.  That was just a few years ago. I’m now part of a great knitting group that meets for fun, socialization and inspiration.  I’ve branched out into designing some of my own patterns (socks, sweaters), and hope to always have something on-the-needles. Knitting is great because it’s super portable, and as the mom of two small kids that don’t sit still; it’s easy to knit a few stitches here and there and eventually finish something.

Spinning
My local yarn shop is a knitting/weaving/spinning shop.  At one point I was looking for some classes to take and thought it would be fun to learn how to spin. I wasn’t really sure I’d like it but wanted to learn how to do it. I bought my Schacht spinning wheel at the end of that class.  Later I bought some drop spindles, but do most of my spinning on the wheel.

I’m now involved in a great Sheep to Shawl team that competes at the Estes Wool Market (my 2nd year coming up), so my spinning skills are getting a good workout. I have quite a few fleeces in my closet waiting to be spun. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the yarn I spin, but I’m enjoying making it; and that’s enough for now.

Final Thoughts
It seems I’ve always been doing something related to fiber.  I believe I always will.   My day job consists of writing code that could be deleted by a single power surge.  It’s nice to go home, and be able to create something physical that will last a long time.  Being able to see & feel the texture of the yarn or fabric.  Working with amazing colors.  I’m always telling myself "I don’t need another hobby!", but I think every new one I learn makes me better overall at all of them.

I’m working away on a baby blanket. The Shower is Saturday, and it will NOT be done by then.  The baby isn’t due until end of May; so I’m not going to stress about it until it’s actually May.  This is the blanket I’ve started a bunch of times and couldn’t find a stitch pattern that I liked.  I finally gave up and am doing a pattern out of a book.

Being the cantankerous knitter that I am, I cannot possibly follow the pattern as written.  On this one I added an extra pattern repeat to make it slightly wider than specified in the pattern.  I’ll knit until I get tired of it and I think it’s long enough.  The pattern comes from Vogue Knitting on the Go, Baby Blankets (or Baby Blankets 2. not sure which one). It actually calls for fingering weight yarn - so I didn’t really have to do much else to it. Of course I’m not using the yarn called for (which I think was Dale’s Baby Ull), but there you go.   It’s a simple enough pattern that is over 4 rows; and very easily memorized. It’s now my carry along knitting.

We’re in the midst of preparing for our sheep to shawl contest.  Multiple trips to the sheep farm to get just the right fleece, and we’re now spinning up the warp.  I don’t want to give away any of our secrets (this is a contest after all) but I wanted to share the beauty of the yarn we’re spinning:

After spending a week drying out from the final blocking - it’s DONE DONE DONE DONE!

Here’s the actual Nanny in the actual Nanny Sweater:

I sent it home with her, along with a bottle of Eucalan.  I have a feeling it will be well loved. :)

I know I haven’t posted in a long time, but I’ve been busy! I finally finished The Nanny’s Sweater.  Let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief.  My final picture of this will be her wearing it, but for now, here is it doing it’s final "blocking" on a sweater dryer:

Pretty horrible picture, and it looks lumpy because it’s soooo heavy with all the water in it (I squished it out in a towel as much as I could).  The reason I did this final wash/blocking was to get the collar to lay down flat. The yarn really relaxes a lot when washed; and the collar wasn’t folding down very nicely pre-washing. I think it’ll be just fine as it is now.

Some (fairly random) thoughts on the making of the sweater.

I knit a swatch to start with, and I’m glad I did. the pattern called for a half moss stitch/half plain cable, and it just didn’t show up well at all in this yarn.  The plain cable was much easier to knit, and also showed up better in the yarn (do not judge by the above picture. it sucks)

I really hated the yarn at the end. It was nubby so it didn’t slide smoothly over my needles. There was plenty of Vegetable matter bits in it, so I think it’ll be scratchy (luckily it’s an outwear garment). For how much I paid for the yarn, I wouldn’t recommend it. Maybe if you found it half price in a bin somewhere. Maybe.

I used a Debbie Bliss pattern, and in order to fit the wearer properly, I had to size down the pattern quite a bit. Length I left just about the same, but the width I really modified.   Since I did a swatch I had a fairly good guesstimate on my gauge. I knew the sweater would stretch width wise when washed.  I did a lot of calculations based on the pattern sizes, creating percentages and applying them to the sweater I actually knit. 

Due to all my careful planning, I did not have to rip ANYTHING out on this sweater! I’m amazed after all my torture with Hardangervidda, that this one went so well. I think the fact that it was knit in pieces helped some, and I was only working on small bits at a time.  I am doubly glad I didn’t have to rip because I don’t think the yarn would have withstood ripping out more than once, and it would have been torture.

I ordered 20 balls of yarn.  That was the amount the smallest size called for in the book. I ended up using 16.5 balls.  Not bad.  The yarn will felt so I can make catnip mice or something else with it if I wanted to. At this point I’m willing to sell my leftovers to anyone who wants to try the yarn out. I’ll make you a good deal - really!

There might be more thoughts later - but for now. YAY! I’M DONE!

PS. For those of you who were guessing about what my posting at 3am on March 26th was all about.  Only my mom really knew. I was born right around 3am on March 26th.