WI Sheep and Wool

I made it to Wisconsin Sheep and Wool last month, this time accompanied by this little guy. He was such a trooper while Mom shopped, caught up with knitting friends, and watched sheepdog trials. The sheepdog trials were particularly great as we watched in the afternoon instead of our usual morning viewing and got to see the more experienced dogs. Nothing is better than watching dogs herd.

I vowed to be good this year and told myself I did not need any more yarn or fiber. That resolution lasted until I hit the Fiber Optic booth. I'm so addicted that I immediately spotted the new gradients Kimber had available this year. I could not resist picking up a new Wild Thyme fiber pack (mine is more muted in color than the photo) and this Damson-to-Gold gradient made of merino-tencel. I just love the look of the tencel in the braid and couldn't resist it.

I've actually already spun up the Wild Thyme gradient. I pulled out my Louet S10 wheel and made approximately DK weight singles. It was very pleasant to spend a couple evenings with my wheel, especially as I've been mostly spinning on a spindle in the last year.

Overall it was a nice day trip and I'm really glad baby was laid back about everything. WI Sheep and Wool is one of my favorite fall traditions.

Handspun Kerchief

I realize I forgot to show off a finish object from January, an Age of Brass and Steam kerchief!

I started this way back in the springtime of last year and thought I should finish it before baby arrived. I love the pattern for its simplicity and how it sets off the handspun, which is '24 karat' from Hobbledehoy Fibers.

It's a bit artsy for everyday wear but it's still a lovely finished handknit.

Spin Spin

I'm in the Start All The Things phase of crafting and, in an effort to not get overwhelmed, I'm trying to clear out a bunch of the works in progress hanging around my craft room. One such project was this braid of fiber, half spun up on my spinning wheel.

The fiber comes from Sheepish Creations, whose fiber I've spun up on several previous occasions. It's such a cheery fiber, though not in my normal color palette, so I suspect it will end up as babywear. Any pattern ideas for 140 yards of worsted weight?

Of course, finishing this skein of handspun only makes me want to start spinning more fiber. Not exactly the point of finishing this spinning, but I won't say no to more crafting mojo.

Epic

I feel like every time I finish a big project I declare, “This is my favorite handknit ever!” So of course my latest project is my favorite thing ever too. Still, I think a better declaration is in order in this case: “This is the most epically awesome thing I have ever knit!” And it really is.

This project is special in a lot of ways. First, it’s my very first handspun sweater (yarn blogged here). Second, it ended up being something of a mother-daughter project (more on that in a moment). Third, the final sweater fits me perfectly. Fourth, it’s just a really lovely garment from a really lovely pattern, Strokkur. Finally, the pattern's designer Ysolda featured my sweater on her blog! Head over there to see the full story of this sweater and get a coupon code (until Sept 4) for knitting your own Strokkur.

Wow, I'm still getting over the whole "Ysolda featured my sweater on her blog" thing. Where was I with this blog post again? Oh yes, mother-daughter crafting.

I didn't realize until recently how big of a hand that Mom had in this sweater. Not only did she give me the wool but she helped me set and de-grease the yarn. She also played a key role in determining the colors for the yoke, as she both consulted on color choice and dyed the skeins for me. I may have done all of the spinning and knitting, but this sweater would have been very different without Mom's input.

Mom and I often chat about our current projects but I really relish the opportunities to work on something with her in person, whether it is blocking lace or degreasing handspun. She has taught me a lot about working with fiber and always adds to the projects she helps me with. So thanks, Mom, for being a big part of my epic sweater project! And thanks to Ysolda for featuring it on her blog!

A Sweater-Sized Lot of Yarn

Like many knitters, I have a significant amount of stash. Some of it is oddballs, left over from a project, and some of it is yarn set aside for a particular project that may eventually be made. And then there are the sweater-sized lots of yarn; I have just a few of these. One lot belongs to a sweater that I started but haven't touched in 6 months, the second is hanging around because I didn't end up liking the pattern it was originally intended for, and the third has been waiting for just the right pattern.

The third sweater lot is something really special: 1500+ yards of handspun that I spun up almost 3 years ago. My original idea was to make it into a Cria sweater, but I decided that a fair isle yoked sweater would be even better. So I had my mother dye 2 of the 8 skeins, one olive green (it came out more golden green) and one brown. Then it became a matter of finding the right pattern.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I ended up picking out a Ysolda pattern for this yarn, her newest pattern Strokkur. I'm still not sure if it's my ideal colorwork pattern, but I don't want to have to come up with my own pattern and I know that any Ysolda design will be a good knit.

So this week I've set to swatching. I'm really happy with how the handspun is knitting up, though I do wish there was a little more contrast between the green and brown in the colorwork section. I guess that's the downside of using hand-dyed yarn, for all of its beauty. But judging by how the rest of the swatching has gone, I can't wait to get started on this sweater!

Finishing Handspun

As for many knitted objects, 'finishing' is the final step in creating handspun; finishing sets the twist and gives the yarn a finished look and feel. Since I wrote about the blocking process for handknits a while ago, I thought I should follow up with the process for finishing handspun.

This photo shows a recently handspun skein just after it came off of my spindle. You can tell that my yarn is not very smooth and still wants to twist a bit. This most likely results from residual twist in the yarn, which can be unevenly distributed throughout the skein

The first step in finishing handspun is the same as for finishing handknits: soaking. I fill up my bathroom sink with warm water and a generous squirt of Soak. I immerse my yarn in the water, being careful not to agitate it and thus felt it, and let everything sit for half an hour.

The next step is my favorite part of the cleaning process, which is unfortunately not pictured: thwacking. I do this either by holding one end of the skein and throwing the rest against the side of the tub, or by grabbing the skein at both ends and pulling tightly. Thwacking helps redistribute twist and even out the yarn, so I do it several times while holding the yarn in different places. Then I hang the skein over the tub, unweighted, to air dry.

That is the whole process! You can see from the finished result that the yarn is much smoother than it was at the beginning of this process. As long as you've done a fair job of balancing the twist during plying, this finishing process should smooth out any residual twist in your handspun.

Falling Back in Love

In June, I wrote a blog post about how my desire to knit diminished after I defended my PhD and started a more regular job. At the time, I was happy enough to have time to read for pleasure and generally enjoy life after grad school to worry about my knitting. The ironic thing is that since I started my new grad program at the beginning of September, my desire to knit has gone back up!

Perhaps it's because my time is now much in demand that I force myself to carve out 20 minutes a day for pleasurable things like knitting. Either way, I'm proud to have knocked out this Snapdragon Tam in under two weeks. Even though it's not as slouchy as I would have liked, it at least proves that the knitting mojo has returned!

Also fueling my returned desire to craft is my recent acquisition of a Bosworth spindle. After hearing so many people rave about these spindles, I was not disappointed when I finally spun on one. I'm looking forward to putting a lot of yardage on this spindle to really get a feel for how it performs. I may be busy, but at least there are plenty of exciting things happening on the crafting-to-keep-me-sane front.

Tour de Fleece Recap

If Tour de Fleece was like its cycling equivalent, then I crashed out of the race in the final week. Luckily, there is no permanent injury, just a case of real life concerns getting in the way of finishing. Still, I'm happy with my final four skeins of yarn and that fact that I tackled a new spinning technique this month! Tour de Fleece is definitely something I will be doing again.

In other news, you may have noticed the new look of my blog header. I found this great how-to via CRAFT and was inspired to update my header imagery. It was very simple to put together--in fact, the hardest part of the whole thing was choosing the photos! It feels good to do a little cleaning up on my blog, even if I'm still getting used to the new look.

Tour de Fleece

I'm participating in Tour de Fleece for the first time this year. For those of you who haven't heard of this event, Tour de Fleece is a spinning challenge that corresponds with the annual Tour de France race. The goal is to spin a little yarn (or a lot of yarn) each day of the race. The entire event is run over in the Tour de Fleece Ravelry group, where there are teams, prizes, and lots of opportunities to show off your daily spinning.

I spent the first week of my Tour spindle-spinning a Sheepish Creations roving. I love using this particular spindle because its heavier weight keeps it in motion for longer periods of time. That being said, I feel like I did a fair amount of spinning in the first 7 days and don't have a lot of yardage to show for it.

On Tour days 8 and 9, I got out my Louet S10 to try something more challenging: core spinning a Hobbledehoy batt. I've been wanting to try this technique for ages and it turned out to be just as wonderful as I anticipated, with the small exception that my singles are pretty energized. Next time, I will take a little twist out of the core (KnitPicks Palette in this case) prior to core spinning, which should help keep the spin more balanced.

I promise another Tour de Fleece update later this month, complete with photos of all the skeins I spun during the event.

Fractals and Falling Leaves

I was talking to some friends on Ravelry this week about fractal spinning and my blog post about this technique, when realized that I should update you on how my fractally spun yarn looks knitted up! I ended up giving the first skein in the aforementioned post to my friend Stephanie, who made it into this beautiful shawlette:

Knitted up, you can really see the effect of fractal spinning: the general color progression from yellow to orange to blue overlaid with shorter versions of this color sequence. I love how the shape of her shawl really highlights the color effects.

While Stephanie's handspun shawl is beautiful, I'm totally in love with her autumnal version of this shawl made out of MadelineTosh Tosh Sock. Not only is the color choice perfect for the pattern but you can really see how all of the beautiful leaves fit together into an interesting design.

I'm going to brag about Stephanie a bit and tell you that she designed this shawl, which is called 'Fall of Leaves', and has shared the pattern for free on Ravelry! For someone who recently started writing patterns, she is very talented. Plus, I think it's very generous of her to post the pattern for free since I know she put a lot of time and effort into this design.

I'm lucky to have a knitting friend like Stephanie. I always enjoy our tea-and-knitting dates with our mutual friend C, and I know I'm going to miss her when she moves away from Madison this summer.

All photos in this post are courtesy of my very talented friend Stephanie (eccentrica on Ravelry).

Woolen

It has been a very exciting week here in Madison, Wisconsin, between all of the protests and me putting the finishing touches on a soon-to-be-released pattern. Honestly, the last thing I need right now is to write a serious blog post. So today I'm just going to celebrate my recent attempts at learning woolen spinning.


I don't know why I've been stuck spinning worsted for such a long time, especially since I recently waxed poetic about my love of carded batts from the shop Hobbledehoy. It turns out that it really is easier to spin batts woolen than worsted. And oh, I am so in love with the results!


Both of these skeins come from Hobbledehoy batts that were spun woolen and plied. I think I like the two-plies even better than other Hobbledehoy batts that I spun as singles, but that's a little like asking which is your favorite child--I love them all. Happily, I still have one more batt set left that will be used to learn core-spinning!

Phat Fiber

Have you heard of Phat Fiber? Every month, Phat Fiber offers a box of handmade yarn and fiber samples from a range of online vendors. The contents of each box are a surprise beyond the theme of the box and having the option to buy a fiber-only box, a yarn-only box, or a mixed box. It is an exciting mystery as to what will show up at your door.


Though I heard about them a while ago in the Spring 2009 Knitty, I bought a Phat Fiber box for the first time in January. I was particularly attracted by this month's theme, Chinese New Year, though I'm also at the point in my spinning where I want to experiment with different types of fiber. A fiber-only box was the perfect way to get samples of a range of fibers from a variety of hand-dyers and hand-carders.


The box did not disappoint. It was very interesting to see how the contributors interpreted the box's theme by sending samples of silk, angora (for the year of the rabbit), dragon-inspired colorways, or even just packaging things in red paper sleeves covered in Chinese symbols. While all of the samples are under 1 oz, I am looking forward to trying some new things out--especially the silk hankies and the silk top!


Beyond the fiber, I also received 2 knitting patterns, several stitch markers, a pair of earrings (below), and a number of coupons from vendors who didn't contribute fiber. I recognized some of the shops, but it was nice to be aware that there is such a big community of hand-makers out there.


Overall, I would have to say that I enjoyed getting this box but I won't be making this a regular purchase. At $36 per box (including shipping) it's worth buying once to expand my fiber horizons and awareness of hand-dyers, but in the future I'll be spending my money on larger lots of fiber in colorways I choose.

Sewing and Spinning

Do you know that throwing a 30-lb sewing machine out of the window is difficult? Not that I really tried, because even imagining it made me tired. Needless to say, my attempts to sew up little globes and start on my PhD quilt are being foiled by tension issues on my old Singer machine. At least I finally located my owner's manual, so hopefully some cleaning and readjusting will fix this problem.


Instead of reminding me of this frustration, let's talk about something that has gone well for me recently: spinning up 8 skeins of sport-weight handspun totaling over 1700 yards of yarn. This yarn is from the 1.5-lb bag of fiber my mother gifted me in May and was one of my big projects this Fall. While the resulting yarn is beautiful with enough yardage to make a sweater, I think it needs to be dyed before any knitting is done with it; a sweater in this natural color will only succeed in reminding everyone how deathly pale I really am.


So now I have to decide what color this yarn will be in addition to planning what pattern to knit. I have half a mind to design something, though we'll see if that ends up happening. In the meantime, I'm searching Ravelry for nice sport-weight sweater patterns. How I love planning sweater projects!

Simple Gifts

It's starting to be that time of the year again, when I think about cheer and gifts and the like. The time of the year when it gets more difficult to talk about my knitting because inevitably it's destined to be given to someone who reads this blog. But today's post is less about all that worry and more about the joy of giving and receiving.


First of all, no post on gifts would be complete without mentioning the beautiful skein of yarn I recently received from my knitting pal DrChopSuey. I'm amazed by her thoughtfulness, especially as she gave me the yarn in the midst of a busy semester and about a week before she eloped! So congrats to her and her now-hubby, and thanks for the lovely skein and introducing me to the Frontier Fiber Mill!


I was able to balance the yarn karma this week by gifting away some of my handspun as part of a swap between the seven-term members of the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry. You know, as much as I am ambivalent about swaps, I really liked spindling up this yarn in my partner's favorite color and putting together a little package of goodies for her. Perhaps I'll think about doing another swap after the holidays are over.


Last up is a little item that is actually intended for holiday gifts: this awesome globe fabric from SpoonFlower. I found this project idea through the Craftzine Blog (which is always an amazing source of crafty ideas and inspiration) and I thought that some of the little people in my family would love to get plush globes for Christmas. Between these and my 'PhD quilt', I have a lot of sewing to look forward to!

Batty for Batts

This is a good week for putting pretty things up on my blog and pretending that I don't have a looming PhD defense. And while we're in this alternate reality, we're also going to pretend that all of the pretty colors and pretty fibers I'm about to show are not part of an overly large spinning stash. Agreed? Okay, onto the lovelies!


All of these batts come from the Etsy shop Hobbledehoy, which is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. This shop was the fiber source for 'Gryffindor' in my recent Hogwarts spinning project. I loved spinning that yarn so much that I've since bought four more batt sets, three of which are shown above (without their partners). The fourth set I spun into fingering-weight singles on my favorite drop spindle.


There is something very special about spinning up these lightly textured batts on a drop spindle; the slower act of spindling gives time for true tactile enjoyment. While I would be happy to spin up the other batts into similar singles, I suspect that this fiber would also be lovely core spun. Still, I am thoroughly enjoying spinning up and, having recently finished a hat from my Gryffindor singles, knitting up singles from these batts.


The hat in question is from a Hobbledehoy batt set in the Sunstone colorway and was knit into the pattern Ripley by Ysolda Teague. Need I tell you that knitting a Ysolda pattern from my own handspun is possibly the best thing ever? It's definitely right up there with curling up with a book and mug of tea on a crisp autumn day. And this particular hat definitely invokes the feeling of autumn and its falling leaves.


So now that I've waxed poetic about colorful batts, the joy of spindling, and the genius of Ysolda, it's probably time to pull my head out of the clouds and get back to reality. Or at least preparing for my PhD defense. I would love if you all could send positive thoughts my way next Monday at 1:30PM CST!

A Tale of Two Skeins

If you've been following this blog for a while, you may have noticed an increase in the number of post on spinning since the beginning of 2010. I swear it wasn't my New Year's resolution to actually use my spinning wheel, I just caught the spinning bug. And as I learn new and interesting things about making my own yarn, I like to share them here in the hope that you learn something as well. We're all about learning at Casa BrineyDeep.


Today's spinning post deals with how I processed the above roving, which was dyed by one of my Ravelry friends, Pacasha (you can find her hand-dyed rovings and skeins here). This is a superwash merino in blue and brown, in a colorway called McGonagall. Seeing as this is a simple two-color roving, I set out to see if I could get some variability in the final yarn based upon how I spun it up.


I spun two skeins out of this roving; the one on the left is a two-ply spun on my wheel and the one on the right is a Navajo-ply spun on a spindle. You can see the difference in their structure in this close-up picture, but I find their color difference to be even more interesting.


The Navajo-plied yarn on the left has more concentrated sections of color, due to the plying method. I also think that spinning slightly thicker singles for the two-ply on the right at makes the colors wash out a bit. The real test, of course, it to actually knit up swatches in each these yarns.


The color intensity observed in the third photo really carries over into the swatch, but now we start to see pooling in the Navajo-ply swatch (lower swatch) that does not occur in the two-ply swatch (upper swatch). While there is some variability in the two ply, it is much more subtle. I really like the fabric created by each of these yarns, but for very different reasons.

Eventually I hope to use both of these skeins in a single project, somehow showing off both their differences and their similarities. I think that that may be easier said than done.

Coils and Cores

I recently set out to learn core spinning, which I read about in the book Spin Control. Proper core spinning involves wrapping roving around a core, which is usually a millspun yarn. (You can see an example of true core spinning on this blog.) While I plan to do true core spinning soon, I decided to first tackle a similar technique, core plying, which wraps yarn around the core instead of roving. In my case, I wrapped a thick and thin single around my core, giving me these lovely baubles.


This type of handspun is more commonly referred to as coiled yarn. To make coiled yarn, you need to hold the core firmly and the wrapping yarn loosely at a ~90 degree angle to the core as you ply. Push the wraps together every so often to keep the coils tight and to completely cover the core.

It sounds simple, but I had a huge problem keeping the core from overtwisting during this process. Next time I will be sure to adjust the twist in the core prior to plying. I also had some issues with the baubles getting stuck in the hooks on my flyer, but that was more annoying (or was it comical?) than affecting the stability of the final yarn.


The real question is what to do with this cool yarn once you spin it? I had no desire to knit with it so I decided to put it to a more decorative use:


I believe this necklace idea is from the spinning book Intertwined. The whole thing is held together by a wrapped section in the back, which I spun up out of some excess roving. I Navajo-plied this little bit of yarn and I like how it results a nice color progression across the wrapped section.


I'm continually amazed by the all of the different types of yarn I can spin, from coiled yarn and fractally spun yarn, to textured singles and laceweight. I've been spinning so much in the past 6 months that I'm finally feeling confident enough to try new things and assume that they will work out (and to not feel bad if they don't). I guess my mother was right when she told me 'practice makes perfect'.

Enchanting Skeins

As promised last week, I'm showing off the results of my nerdy little spinning project. I therefore present the Hogwarts House founders: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.


It's funny that each of these skeins has some characteristic, besides the color, that correlates it to its House founder. For example, the Gryffindor skein has a lot of character, the Ravenclaw skein taught me a new plying technique, the Hufflepuff skein seems the most homespun to me, and the Slytherin skein can best be described as sleek.


The sleekness of the Slytherin skein comes from it's 50% silk content. This was my first time spinning with a silk blend and I was amazed by how easily it drafted. Too easily in my opinion. I might go for an 80/20 wool/silk blend next time, but there is no denying that the 50/50 blend is wonderful to bury your face in. Not that I would ever do such a thing.


The skeins are each unique and special, but I think that Gryffindor is my favorite. I loved spinning the batts from Hobbledehoy and I adore the final yarn. I couldn't help but order two more batt sets from this seller (one in Willow and the other in Italian Soda). I think my next little spinning project will be to learn core spinning on at least one of these batts. I'll keep you posted on how that goes!