More Fiber Makes More Yarn

I don't have much knitting progress to show. But I have been spinning, so I thought I'd share that progress instead. I've been spinning every day since starting the Tour de Fleece this month. My approach to this type of marathon spinning is to fill up as many bobbins as I can and then ply all the bobbins at once.

The first set of bobbins that I worked up are finished. I spun, plied, washed, and thwacked. The yarn is in skeins and waiting to be photographed. I ended up with three skeins of yarn from that run through. The first of which I'll post on Friday.

The second set of bobbins is just out of the soaking stage. The skeins are hung up to dry so to speak. I meant to get a picture of all the full pretty bobbins, but forgot, so you get to see an out of focus photo of the finished yarn soaking in the laundry sink. There are four skeins of yarn in this second bunch, but two of the skeins are the same fiber.



When I started this marathon of daily spinning, I promised myself that everything would come from my stash. So far so good, but I must admit my stash has some nice choices available. I've also tasked myself to include a three ply yarn and at least one selection from a fiber club. I've started work on my third set of bobbins this week. I'm starting with a three ply yarn out of super wash merino.

Saturday Surprise

I decided to spend this morning working outside. I've got some neglected plants that could use a little TLC. So I started with a couple hanging plants on the back porch. I pulled the first plant down to snip out the dead leaves and give it a good drink of water and look what I found!

There is a bird's nest in my plant. It looks like two eggs may have hatched and two eggs remain. The little hatchlings were moving about a bit, but don't look quite as developed as I imagined new hatchlings should look. Hopefully the little ones will be okay.

I'll continue to watch their development and hopefully the mother bird will be back soon!

Handspun Friday - Calendula

This skein was actually spun before I took my blogging break - but I hadn't shared it yet so it seemed a good place to start this week. The fiber is super wash merino and nylon. I think it is the first time I've spun a blend with nylon. It was actually nice to spin.

The fiber was a pencil roving I purchased on etsy from Fiber Denn. This is the second of third time I've purchased fiber from this source and I've always been happy with the results. One of my first handspun projects, a feather and fan shawl, was knit with yarn from fiber from this source.


Geddesburg Handspun Yarn

Fiber: dyed by Fiber Denn
Content: 80% Superwash Merino; 20% Nylon
Weight: 3.6 ounces
WPI: 11 wraps per inch
Yardage: 200 yards
Notes: 3-ply

Projects in Progress

Even though I haven't been blogging much and I've lacked motivation to actually do much knitting and spinning; I've actually got a few things going on. This first project is a nice light cotton summer sweater. I've got wool for several sweaters sitting in my stash, but I couldn't get motivated to start any of those projects. So I did what lots of knitters would do, I bought different yarn to see if that would jump start my knitting. This is Ty Dye yarn from Knit One Crochet Too. It is the first time I've used this yarn and it's knitting up into a nice fabric; no more splitty than any other cotton yarn. The pattern is easy enough so far and will require minimal seaming.

I also joined in the spinning for the Tour de Fleece. The goal is to spin each day that the Tour de France race is running. I was hoping this would put me back in a spinning mind set and I can honestly say that I've spun everyday so far. This photo shows some of my efforts from the first couple of days. I've actually got these bobbins plied and a new set of bobbins started. My personal goal this year is to work through as much of my stash as I can. The photo only represents 12 ounces of fiber - I've got a long way to go!

I got my sock yarn traveling scarf back and I love it! I just need to get it bound off and photographed so I can show it off. But in the mean time I decided to go ahead and join two more scarf groups because I had so much fun with the sock yarn group. The first group is with a cable theme. It will be interesting to see how the different cable sections come together. Plus I really don't knit a whole lot of cables so it will be good practice.

The second scarf group is a lengthwise knit group. I've always wanted to try a scarf knit like this and I think it is a great idea for a varied group of knitters. My scarf will be all garter stitch and I think the fact that it is knit lengthwise will camouflage any gauge differences. Anyway, hopefully by winter I'll have a couple new scarves to throw in the lineup.

Swissy Sunday - Another Fiber Addict at Geddesberg

I know it has been awhile since I've posted. It has actually been a little over a month. I was surprised when I brought up the blog and saw that. That long of a break was unintentional, but it was a nice summer break. I've been in a knitting and spinning slump. I think the warm summer weather has contributed to that, but I'm back at it and you can see I have a new fiber addict in the house.

Scarlett has always been interested in my yarn, fiber, and knitting and spinning tools. Every once in a while she even manages to get a hold of something for herself. This time she got a hold of 4 ounces of super wash merino fiber that I just received from Fat Cat Knits. She was only alone for a couple of minutes and she snatched this off the dinning room table. She managed to tear the braid almost completely apart. I didn't save the fiber. I think if I had a drum carder or some combs, I could have salvaged some of it, but I just didn't have the energy.

I had been going through some of my fiber stash planning what I'd spin for the Tour de Fleece that just started. I had 8 ounces of this fiber and had been planning on spinning it for a shawl project, now with 4 ounces left I'm thinking socks. But for the meantime I've started with some other fiber.

Other than Scarlett's strange eating habits - Sherman and Scarlet are doing fine. We've been enjoying the summer and talking walks in the park that is nearby. This photo shows Sherman in his new hiding spot. He likes to crawl under the bushes near the porch and have us look for him. After several minutes of us calling "where is Sherman?" he will come charging out of the bushes.

I"ll be back later this week with some project updates and I'll have some new handspun for the next several Fridays at least. The slump is over for now at least.

Knit Blanket Bingo

I love having blankets all around the house, and knit blankets are nice. I like knitting them too. I consider them more of a long term project and usually don't have more than one going at a time. So when I finished my log cabin blanket, I took a look at the blankets I had been wanting to knit and there were two that really stood out. I couldn't decide and decided to go ahead and cast on for both.

The first one I cast on for has probably been in my cue the longest. The pattern in the Curlicue Coverlet by Oat Couture (Ravelry link). The blanket will blanket will end up being sort of flower shaped made up of 15 different sections. There are 5 sections that make up the center and 10 additional sections that form the outside petals.

I plan on knitting each section with a different color of Noro Silk Garden. I image that that this blanket will take the longest of the two. I don't have all the colors purchased. I've started the blanket with some leftover skeins. You can see in the photo above that I have completed two sections. The cool thing is that there will be very little seaming in the end. The sections are joined by casting on or picking up stitches. The shaping is done my short rows. I think this will be an interesting project to knit.

The other blanket I cast on for is the 10-Stitch blanket by Frankie Brown. The pattern is available for free on Ravelry. The construction of this one is a little unusual too. It is knit in sort of a spiral connecting the new rows as you go. I am using a modification to pattern to make this join. I've taken the idea that Smoking Hot Needles used when knitting her blanket. It creates a nice raised ridge detail all along the join, kind of highlighting the spiral nature of the construction.

I'm using some Noro Kureyon in a color I purchased on discount because it is a discontinued color. I really like the purples and oranges together. The photo shows what one skein looks like knitted up into the blanket. I have a long way to go.

Log Cabin Blanket

I finished this little blanket just shy of the two year mark. I started knitting this blanket in June 2007 and finally completed it last weekend. I am so glad to have it finished and out of the WIP pile. The blanket is finished and that is the best part - it is a little smaller than I had originally hoped, but there is now way I have the patience to order more yarn and add more knitting time to this project. The last few rows of garter stitch really started to drag on and on!

I don't think I can knit another log cabin blanket - or at least one the is made up of only one square. I might be able to complete one if I used smaller individual squares. but the one large square was what enabled me to get the swirl of the three colors. I think one of my mistakes was trying to knit a blanket on size US #6 needles; probably too small for a real blanket. I won't be knitting another blanket with needles that small again.

The finished blanket is 40 inches square. It is probably a little small for an adult to use for curling up on the couch. It is also a little on the heavy side and the garter stitch does make it kind of stretchy. But it is machine washable and the stitching is nice and tight.

I had thought about finishing the blanket with an applied i-cord border, like I did for my Lizard Ridge Afghan. but in the end I just finished with a regular bind off; the edge is actually kind of nice and simple that way.

I had a little yarn left over. I probably could have knit two additional bars, but I liked how I ended up with an exact square with a matching amount of bar on each side of the center square. Each bar is only two inches wide, so it wouldn't have added a whole lot to the finished size anyway.

Project Info

Pattern: How to Log Cabin from Mason Dixon Knitting
by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne
Yarn: Socks That Rock Heavyweight
100% super wash merino wool
each skein: 350 yards / 6.98 ounces
colors: Lemongrass, Thistle, Knitty Rocks / 2 skeins each
Needles: addi TURBO US# 6 (4 mm)
Finished Size: 40" square
Notes: Center square is 4x4 inches and each band is approximately 2 inches wide