A teaser for Grace

Details to follow.

Wicked

I'm coming to terms with the fact that it's simply all about the spinning around here...at least for now. It's useless to fight it. I did knit yesterday, though. Honest. And since I don't feel like hauling the wheel to knit night, I will knit again tonight.

Anyway, the spinning. Here's the latest. It started off as this roving. Then I spun it into these singles.

And the singles got plied into this yarn. It still seems like magic every time.

Fiber: 100% merino from All Spun Up (unnamed colorway—I'm calling it "Wicked")
2 ply
121 grams (4.25 oz.)
560 yards

There are no problems with the yardage on this one! When I skeined the yarn off the bobbin, it was just over 600 yards. I was so incredulous about that figure that I counted it three times. Since I wanted the yarn to bloom, I abused it a bit during finishing (agitation, hot/cold shocking). I was fairly certain that process would cost me some yardage—which it did—but really, I felt like I had yardage to burn.

About halfway into the first single, it occurred to me that this colorway might lend itself well to Navajo plying, but by that time I was pretty much committed to my original 2 ply plan. Although I still think Navajo plying would have been the way to go, I am quite happy with this result.

I'll admit, the colors aren't exactly "me," but I'm wild about this yarn.

Confidential to Grace: You're up next.

Twins

Most of us are familiar fraternal twin socks, so please allow me to present fraternal twin skeins. Considering my sock knitting history, producing fraternal twins seems to be in my blood...probably because I have a fraternal twin sister. (Am I the only one who thinks we should be sororal twin sisters?)

But I digress. The skeins really aren't that different. The second skein (on the left) is a bit darker than the first, but it should be clear to anyone with functioning color vision that these two are siblings. They were born from this roving.

Half of it was greens and browns with a little red, and the other half was mainly red and white with a bit of brown. I spun it up according to Teyani's method (more or less), and I must admit that I'm thrilled with the results.

For the record, skein #2 is 118 grams, 350 yards. Also for the record, Crown Mountain Farms hand dyed superwash merino is fiber crack—lovely, affordable, addictive. It just is.

Technically there's enough yardage to get a pair of socks out of each skein (especially for my size 7 feet), but I'm still aiming for 100+ yards per ounce in my sock yarn spinning. I've only achieved it once, but I know I'll get there.

Really, I can't be disappointed with this. I won't let myself.

Promised knitting

I do have finished knitting to show! OK, so it's a very small project. Don't judge me too harshly.


Pattern: Saartje's Booties
Yarn: Smoky Mountain Fibers sock yarn (75% wool, 25% nylon), "Rosewood" colorway (leftover yarn from these socks)
Needles: U.S. size 1 (2.25 mm)

Aren't they sweet? I'm not 100% satisfied with them, mainly because the buttons are a tad large. They matched the yarn so well, though, that I couldn't resist buying them. I think I'll knit another pair with smaller buttons and see which ones I like better. (In case anyone is wondering, these booties are not for me. The Professor nearly gave his mother a heart attack the other day when she called and he told her I was knitting baby booties.)

There is also a sock in the works. It's not cooperating nicely, though, and I need to adjust the fit. Here it is just before I frogged it.

Never fear, though; the sock will rise again. Note to anyone knitting Nutkin: there's not a lot of stretch due to the biasing of the stitches. Luckily it's a snap to add (or subtract) stitches with this pattern.

And because I'm sneaky, I'm tacking on the latest spinning project to my knitting post. Hey, it will get knitted eventually.

Fiber: Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino, "Under the Boardwalk" colorway
2 ply
385 yards
120 grams (4.25 oz)

I love this colorway! More details to follow when I finish the second skein.

Inevitably, more yarn

So, the general consensus from my last post is that I don't in fact have a problem, and I don't need to slow down on the spinning. What enablers you all are! I very much appreciate all the kind comments about the last yarn. (I do try to respond to all comments, so if I didn't reply to yours, it's most likely because I couldn't find an email address for you.)

One of the things I love about spinning is the almost magical transformation of colors from fiber to yarn. Many times the finished yarn looks nothing like I imagined it would...and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Take this fiber, for example.

It seems to be a somewhat even mixture of purple, blue, brown, and white. The blue actually pops quite a bit. And here's what it looks like all spun up.

Yes, the blue is definitely still there, but this yarn is all about the purple. Purple is not normally one of my favorite colors; however, I'm thrilled with this yarn. I particularly like how the brown tones down the brighter colors a bit.

Fiber: Blue Faced Leicester from Fat Cat Knits, "Arabesque at Night" colorway
2 ply
250 yards
102 grams

I spun this yarn a bit more softly than the merinos I had spun previously, and I think that was a good decision. This skein just begs to be squeezed.

There should be some knitting in my next post—not necessarily finished knitting, but knitting nonetheless. Really.