Category Archives: Spinning

Kokomo

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It’s been a while since I have actually talked about what I am actually working on, so I figured now would be as good of a time as any to do that. First, the infamous Ice Ice Baby sock.

I took this photo this morning. I finished off the first sock this evening after dinner, ready to start the second sock. Roseann found another boo-boo in the instructions, so I will be updating the errata post for the sock with that information. Again, it is not a matter of fit, just how the stitches fall, setting things up for the 1×1 ribbing for the cuff.

Before I was able to bring Ice Ice Baby to Wednesday night knitting (because the pattern had not been released yet), I started the summer sock from Sheila’s sock club, Kokomo.

I converted the pattern to a toe-up sock and used a short row heel. I am knitting these on 2.25 mm needles instead of 2.5 mm, as the recipient has really tiny feet (at least in comparison to my feet).

Finally, with all of this knitting, I felt the need to do something other than knitting during the holidays. Fortunately, my swap partner in the Winter Wonderland Swap sent me some alpaca roving. I spun that up in no time and am now working my way through a pound of Romney/mohair blend that I got at the MSWF a couple years ago.

The black singles are the alpaca, and the blue/green/purple is the Romney/mohair. I will be winding these off their bobbins into center-pull balls so do two ply onto themselves. That is pretty much my default means of making a two ply.

Copyright 2010 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Easy Come, Easy Go

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With finishing up the one pair of socks, it was time to cast on another project. Since a friend of mine gave birth to a son earlier in the year, and I hadn’t completed anything for said child yet; I decided that I needed to knit up something for the boy. (I did have a little romper cut out and ready to sew for him earlier in the year, but never go around to sewing it because of the accident put be behind on so many things.)

So what to make for the boy that is approaching the one year mark?

A red and green blob! Well, it looks like that in my fine photography, but it is actually the Modular Tomten Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I am using Sheila’s superwash merino worsted weight in the Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree colorway. I picked the colorway in part to motivate me to get it done before Christmas. So far, it has been a pretty easy, mindless knit. What you see there is about week’s worth of knitting, where I am finished the body, about to start the hood, and still need to do the sleeves.

I have also given a try at plying my first course from my Hungry for Handspun subscription.

This isn’t going so well. The big bobbin is the single, while the other two are how far I got on each before the single broke. Not a whole lot of progress, eh?

The single keeps breaking on me. I think I am going to have to wind single onto a Woolee Winder bobbin in an attempt to get a more even feed, and thus less breakage. Hopefully, that will do the trick.

And for those of you anxiously awaiting the Winter shipment of the sock club, it goes out to you this week. I have started a “knit along” for the sock on Ravelry. What this basically amounts to is a forum where you can ask questions about the pattern and any techniques that you may be unfamiliar with. I will also be hosting some chats there. Here, I will be giving some basic instruction on what I do when making socks (things that will apply not just to the pattern, but to most of the socks that I knit.) Yeah! Blog-fodder!

See you soon!

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Apparently Nothin’

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There has been a lot going on around here, but not a lot to show for it. A little over a week ago, I finished writing up the pattern for Sheila’s sock club so that everyone’s favorite test knitter could start knitting it. I still have some hints and tricks that I want to put in it, but the pattern itself is done, barring any corrections. I have received the winter edition of yarn from Sheila. And? SQUEEEE! But again, I can’t show you that yet.

I finished spinning up the single last night of the first course of Hungry for Handspun‘s Fiber Feast. I would show you, but it really doesn’t look much different than the last time I showed you. I am figuring on chain plying. What I will do with it, after that, I am not sure.

Finally, I am running again in the Komen Maryland Race for the Cure, in Hunt Valley, MD, on October 18. Unfortunately, this year I am not able to offer any prizes, but I did start the ball rolling by selling off some of my stash on eBay. The last buyer paid me this past week, so all of that is done and out the door. I will write up a lessons learned on that later.

If you would like to support me in the race, just go to this link.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for your support.

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Caught Up

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It feels like forever since I posted anything fibery, so here is a nice big post to catch up on what has been going on with the textiles.

After finishing the STR heel experiment, I started on these socks.

The sock yarn is Eidos from Sanguine Gryphon in the colorway Poesis. The colors don’t show up well in my photography. (I either need a new camera, am a lousy photographer, or all of the above.) It is a rather dark sock, making it kind of difficult to work on at night. Note to self, stick with lighter colorways. I do like the resulting sock, though.

The pattern for the sock club is coming along well, now that I have taken a break from it for a few weeks. I made a number of edits and am knitting the revised edition now. I am pretty amazed at how fast the second one is going. After only a few days, I am already turning the heel.

The spinning has not stopped either.

This is the Sea Kelp Salad from the Fiber Feast by Hungry for Handspun. I am wishing I spun this with not so much twist and not so thin, because it is taking quiet a while to work through the roving. (This is all my fault, not the rovings.) I figure I will do a chained ply with this single.

And I have gotten back to the loom.

This is Sea Silk from Handmaiden. The warp is the Pewter colorway (I believe,) and the weft is of unknown name, but is browns and purples. My original idea for this scarf was to do a 3/1 twill rib, that you can see a bit of at the bottom; but that weave needs a tighter sett than 12 epi for this yarn, and making this a tighter sett would make the scarf narrower that I would like. That means that the scarf is now plain weave. So far, so good.

But that is not the only weaving going on.

These are squares that I wove using the Weave-It loom. It is a fun little thing that makes weaving portable. The Weave-It is actually my mother’s; but I borrowed several years ago, and it never made it way back to her. She hasn’t missed it, so far.

I am not sure what I am going to make from these squares. I may be a blanket of size to be determined. It is a nice diversion, at the very least.

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Gone, Gone, Gone

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Just so you don’t go thinking our trip to P-town was just a maddening re-creation of Plane, Trains, & Automobiles, subbing Busses for Trains, here are the photos from the whale watching tour we went on.

Here are some recommendations we can make if you go to P-town:

Areas like entertainment are more subjective, I think, so I will just say that the dance clubs were good, and we really enjoyed the shows by Jennie McNulty and Miss Richfield 1981.

When we got home, there was lots of mail waiting for us. In that mail, was a package for me! From Opal!

She was sweet enough to send me the following:

  • Oatmeal BFL from Hungry for Handspun in the Earth Day colorway
  • Kuaui coffee from Kuaui Coffee Roasters
  • Kona coffee macadamia cookies from Kuaui Kookie (now gone)
  • Macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies from Hawaiian Island Crisp (now gone)
  • Maui Caramacs from Hawaiian Host (now gone)

Thank you, Opal!

Coming soon! Knitting, spinning, and weaving! Oh my!

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Just Can’t Get Enough

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Well, I certainly have been doing a lot of spinning lately. I bring to you more finished product!

This is the superwash merino from Enchanted Knoll in the Mesmerized colorway.

There is a fair bit of thick and thin in this because it just did not want to draft evenly for me. Of course, that is the fiber’s fault, not mine. Of course!

And this is the alpaca/merino/tussah silk blend from Spirit Trail. I spun it pretty thin (for me.)

BTW, none of the skeins that I have been showing you have been blocked or fulled. The reason for that is that I am planning on weaving with them; and weaving tends to undo the whole blocking thing, so I might as well just skip that part. If I was going to enter any of these in some kind of contest, then I would block them.

Other stuff is happening. More fiber is finding its way onto the wheel, and more socks are being knit, but that is for later.

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Experiment IV

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This has been a pretty productive two weeks for me, even though I only have one thing to show you. I got a good bit of spinning done on the alpaca/merino/tussah silk blend, but there is really no need for a picture as it just looks like there is a little more on the bobbin. I maybe have about three hours left of spinning, and I will be done with the singles for it.

I am almost done the sock club pattern, but I may design up a second sock pattern, as a new idea popped into my head recently, and I think I might like that design better. In any case, I can’t show you that because that would ruin the surprise for the club.

But I can show you these:

Yes, the heel experiment is done. And, it is a success! Here are the socks lying flat in profile.

The top sock is the sock with the increases diverging as they approach the heel turn, while the bottom one is with all of increases along the center of the foot, causing a pointy heel. Even lying flat, I can tell that the top sock is going to fit my heel better because it is a bit more rounded there.

(Sorry that I couldn’t get a better photo. I am not a contortionist.) If you look really, really closely in the picture, you can see that the sock on my right foot conforms to my heel better, as expected. I think the moral here is not line the increases up next to each other. At least a few stitches of separation is needed by the time the increases meet the heel turn.

As for the Socks that Rock Lightweight that I used, I am still not that crazy about it. For one thing, there was a flaw in the skein, which is a major sock yarn no-no in my book. Yardage is usually at a premium with sock yarns, and flaws, especially in handpainted yarns, has a major impact on what is left to work with. Also, the yarn is just not elastic enough for me. I joked in knitting group that it was everything that you like about wool, and less. If only they didn’t have such wonderful colors….

And speaking of wonderful colors, look what arrived in the mail for my just before the Independence Day holiday!

It is my “first course” in my Fiber Feast subscription from Hungry for Handspun. I joined it on Opal‘s recommendation, as Opal is my sister in color. This fiber is merino and tussah silk in a colorway call Sea Kelp Salad. LOVE IT! Now, to finish up what is on the wheel at the moment so I can dive into it.

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Mesmerized

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Well, another two weeks and time for another update. Besides the club sock, I still have the heel experiment going on.

This time, rather than lining all of the increases up along the center, I am making the increases diverge from the center, forming a “V” at the bottom of the foot. I am getting near the heel turn, so I should find out soon enough whether this will work out any better than the first sock.

And, I seem to be on a spinning roll (spin/roll?) at the moment. This finished single is more merino from Enchanted Knoll, this time in the Mesmerized colorway.

It spun up as quickly as Silk Road, but was a little tougher to draft. Not sure why, but it just was not as smooth drafting. Nonetheless, it still only took about 35 to 45 minutes for me to spin up a half ounce.

Next up on the wheel is one of the alpaca/merino/tussah silk blends from Spirit Trail. Here is some of it pre-drafted.

I seem to want to spin this as fine as I spun the corriedale from Grafton.

As a matter of comparison, it is taking me between 75 and 90 minutes to do a half ounce of this.

And all of this spinning got me to get out fast flyer and extra bobbins that I have for my Lendrum Saxony and finally apply finish to them.

I used Tried and True Original Wood Finish that was a mix of linseed oil and beeswax. It worked great, only requiring one application to get the tone that matches the rest of my wheel, which I did with just boiled linseed oil (if I remember correctly) in three applications. Now I have eight bobbins total for my Lendrum. Woohoo!

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Margaritaville

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Sorry I have been away so long, but at least I am still keeping to the schedule I set out when I initially started this blog, once every two weeks. The reason why there haven’t been a lot of posts is because I have mostly been working on the winter sock for the sock club, and I can’t show you that. Sure, I could go expound on other topics in the meantime, but do you really want to hear about that stuff? As an aside, I have learned not to work on the sock while having our weekly cocktails on Friday night. It seems I lost the ability to count while doing the heel, and had to rip it out the next day. Oops!

I have been doing other things while working on the sock, though. I have been spinning! I managed to finish the blue Corriedale that I bought at Sheep and Wool.

And I managed to spin some superwash merino in the Silk Road colorway that I bought from Enchanted Knolls on Etsy.

That spun up super easy!

With all of the bobbins for my Lendrum full,

it was time to start doing some plying. The first completed is the Silk Road superwash merino.

Next up, merino from Mama E’s C-eye-ber Fiber in the Blackwatch colorway.

Then, the blue corriedale, which took forever, or so it seemed for plying.

The Woodland colorway merino from Gale’s Art is still in the process of being plied because it is being a bit cantankerous. It will eventually bend to my will!

Here is what I have done, all together.

They are all going to be used for weaving, though plans are not definite for all of them yet. Right now, it is good to have something in the done column.

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com

Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)

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While last weekend was my big weekend, this weekend is Mr. Penney’s big weekend. Star Trek opened this weekend, and we are going to see it tonight. Lucky for me, I finished socks for just such an occasion.

Yes, I finished the socks I was knitting with Dragon Sock in the Starry Night colorway from Dragonfly Fibers. The base superwash yarn that she uses is great, and this shade of blue is one of my favorites. It also helps that this colorways also happens to be my alma mater’s colors.

In other news, the sock that I am working on for the sock club design has been ripped out, rewound into a ball, and I am starting over. It turns out that the foot was too wide on me, so I am making a few minor adjustments to take up the slack. Not a big deal, really; but it is a set back.

As for spinning?

The blue corriedale is spinning up well, though I am probably spinning finer that I really should for this fiber. There is a bit of a coarseness to it. To spin it, I just peel a strip off of the batt and spin from the one end, with no predrafting whatsoever. The photo is of about an ounce and a half (I guess) that took me about four hours to spin. Wish me luck.

Copyright 2009 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com