Wrapping It All Up

In less than 5 hours, we here in CST will be saying good-bye to 2011. . .

A lot has happened this year.  One of the most significant: I opened an Etsy shop!! While sales of completed items have been slow, I've been busy knitting special orders since August.  So busy that no one on my knit gift list got a single thing!

It all started with Geaux Tigers. . .

Next, I was asked to create a felted hat in black much like this Felted Irish Whiskey cap I have listed in my shop.

I also got to try my hand at stranded colorwork by designing & knitting Kate and Alpine.

Let's not forget I had a birthday in there somewhere!  My wonderful husband ordered the spinning wheel I had been pining for the last 2 years.  The Honey Bee is a handcrafted double-treadle wheel that folds away for easy storage.  I absolutely love it!  As soon as it arrived, I unpacked it, put it together & grabbed  my bag of Jacob rolags I had prepped at least 8 months earlier. . . I immediately spun up 74 yards of Jacob wool 2-ply.  So soft & loverly!  The next day I tried my hand at supported long draw with my favorite alpaca/merino/silk blend from Crystal Creek Fibers. This is so soft, with just enough angelina to make it sparkle.

Christmas orders started rolling in and Sherwood Forest was born.  Knit in a traditional fir stitch that flows into a leaf motif, this is one of my favorite pieces so far!

After completing all the "Christmas Deadline" projects, I took a little mindless knitting with me to East Texas over the Christmas holiday - My precious MIL claimed it almost immediately.  At every opportunity, she was commenting on how much she liked the colors of the yarn, then wanted to see how the pattern was coming.  The pattern, Ethereal Triangle Shawl by Lakshmi Juneja, is truly amazing!  I'll only be knitting on it now in between other projects.  

Now with only a few short hours remaining in 2011, I believe I will join my Princesses in their tea party.

Here's wishing you and yours a very happy and productive 2012!

Technique: Turning A Batt Into Roving & Spinning It All Up

In last week's installment, I showed step-by-step how I space dyed a batt of alpaca/silk in LSU colors for a client of mine, ending with the batt in the steam pot.

Here is the finished batt enjoying some Texas sun.
The colors are truly stunning - no color manipulation in the photography here!

 

Once the batt was completely dry I split it down the middle, just shy of the other end. Then in the opposite direction, split each half in half again - making one long, continuous length.

And then I remembered how much silk likes to stick to dry hands. . . . .

Hand cream is required!

Next I made a diz with a plastic milk cap by poking a small hole through it.  The fiber is then drawn through the diz to create a smooth, even roving - which makes spinning much easier.

   




After pulling all the fiber through my diz, I had a huge pile of roving that I wound into a large ball to keep the color sequence intact & the fiber tidy








In the end, I still had to pull the roving a bit thinner to get the smooth, light yarn I needed








Some friends suggested I make a how-to video for drop spindling.  However, the Queen of Spindling, Abby Franquemont, has already done so.  You can't improve on perfection.  If you'd like, go here to see Ms. Franquemont teach an introductory lesson.

You can see why this particular fiber is one of my very favorite to dye, spin and knit!

I finished the last of the spinning & gave it a long soak in hot water & wool wash, followed by a good "whacking".  Now I'm just waiting on the finished yarn to dry!

I hope to post knitting progress pics on Thursday!

On My Needles - Whiskey Felted Cap

Although I am in the process of spinning for the Geaux Tigers project, I always have at least 2 (or 5) projects going on at the same time.

Using up the rest of my merino blend roving, I spun a 2-ply fingering-ish yarn  This one should be a quick & fun knit.


In fact, I was hoping to have this bound off last night & in the washer for felting today.  Key word: "Hoping".

Sigh . . . This is the perfect example for checking gauge.  Because this hat will be felted, it isn't absolutely crucial.   However, when you are only about two-thirds done with the hat and only have about 40 yards of yarn left, it isn't a good thing.  Especially considering I spun an extra 40 yds. . . . Sigh


Around 11 last night, I completely frogged the whole thing (knitter-speak for ripping out stitches. . . you know, "Rip-it, rip-it. . . ") and actually knitted a swatch to figure out my gauge.  Then I did a little math (my yarn is a little fluffier than the commercial yarn used) and knit the first one-third of the pattern.


Now I'm chugging right along with no worries about running out of yarn. Or of having a hat that would be too big for Frankenstein no matter how many times I felted it.

I'm still working on the Maikell scarf, just taking a break right now.  My goal was to complete one repeat of the lace each day.  Then I got The Migraine That Wouldn't Leave.  I didn't knit a single stitch for a whole week.  I really don't remember the last time that happened.

Then I got distracted.

Now I want to finish something.

Maikell is still a good way from being finished.

So I started the Whiskey Felted Cap

However, to prove that I have made some progress:

Just look at all those lovely nupps!

A little over half-way completed!


This will definitely be a thing of beauty!

Come back on Tuesday to see how I split & drafted the fiber for the Geaux Tigers project. . . . Maybe some spinning & yarn pics?  I hope so!

Technique: Space Dyeing A Batt

I know it's not Tuesday.  But, people, if you had seen my day yesterday, you would understand.  The only knitting I got in was while my husband was driving us across town yesterday evening. . . .

Since my last post, I have had 3 custom orders placed! *Squeeee!*  I am so excited!!  Seriously, folks.  I really enjoy knitting from other designers' patterns. . . .
. . . . . BUT. . . . . .

There is nothing like creating something on your own.  I love talking to my clients about what they're interested in, favorite colors, hobbies, etc., and using this information as design elements.

Take, for example, this scarf I recently put in my shop:
Waterlilies


A client saw it & commented how nice it might be in LSU colors.  That got the ball rolling.

Before long, we had planned a lightweight scarf/stole in gold & purple, featuring a custom-designed fleur de lis motif. (I had taken pics of the design process & swatches, but my iPhone completely crashed & I lost them!)  Details were finalized, & I ordered the requested fiber - a prepared batt of 50/50 Alpaca/Silk (Heavenly!) from my favorite fiber source, Crystal Creek Fibers.

 A few days later, I got to open this:


This fiber is absolutely amazing.  In fact, everything I've ever purchased from Crystal Creek is amazing!  (Big Rivah Shawl was spun & knit using a gorgeous blend of silk, alpaca & merino I purchased from Crystal Creek)  Plus, with every purchase you get a little something extra:


How can you not love a seller like that?!

On with the Technique!

With the Waterlilies Scarf, I spun, then dyed the yarn.  With this new design (Geaux Tigers), I needed the colors to be more saturated, with longer color transitions.  After researching different methods, I decided that space dyeing the batt would give me the best results.  I usually use food-safe dyes (Kool-Aid, Wilton Icing Colors), but given the rich, royal purple needed, I didn't want to risk the purple separating into pink & blue.

Three days after I opened the box of fiber, the dye arrived (purchased from Knit Picks)


Right after breakfast today, I put the rolled-up batt of fiber in a warm vinegar-water solution to soak for about 3 hours (unfortunately, I didn't think to get a picture. . . )  Then the Princesses & I Saran-wrapped the table, unrolled the batt and mixed up the dye solution.


First, I test-dyed a small piece of fiber to see how far the dye would travel once applied, and how long it needed to be steamed before exhausting.  Very important, considering the colors I was using - if you recall from your elementary school art class, any time you combine the three primary colors (yellow + red + blue), you get brown.  NOT an official LSU color. . . . Aside from needing to saturate the fiber with more dye - Success!!


I used quite a bit of dye, making sure to "squish" it in real good. . . . .



. . . . yep, needs more dye.


Getting wrapped up to go in the steam pot, you can see both sides of the batt are evenly dyed:


The last step was to steam this beauty for an hour, carefully flipping it over half-way through:


I'll leave it in the pot all night to cool, then rinse it and let it dry in the hot Texas sun.

Next week, I'll talk about how to draft to ensure an evenly-spun yarn.

Until next time!

Getting Organized

With school having begun everywhere across the nation, most parents are heaving a sigh of relief.  Most days will begin the same: Wake up the household, make breakfast, pack lunches, sign permission slips, check homework, see kids to school, enjoy a cuppa in peace. At least that's the way I imagine it.

In my house, it usually starts like this: Brew a cuppa, wake the Princesses, make breakfast, gather school books, gather Princesses, begin lessons.  There is still the daily cooking, cleaning, washing stuff to do.  There are still co-op classes to be taken to.  The list goes on & on.  Homeschooling is not for the faint-of-heart.  Don't get me wrong, I love teaching my children from the comforts of my own home,  However, it can get kinda hectic!  Creating routines makes things run much smoother.

Unfortunately, there is something inside of me that really doesn't like being told what to do every waking moment of my life.  According to the results of the recent Personality/Temperament test I took, that's because I'm extremely Choleric in the Control areas of my life.  Thank you, Victor Alba.  Now I can officially blame it on something.

The good news is: I hate chaos even more!  I have decided to control my To-Do's and not let them control me!  That's what I like about FlyLady.  She taught me that, as long as I am consistent, doing a little bit at a time can get the job done.  Since I found the Cozi app for my iPhone, I am loving it even more!  I can easily schedule various tasks & events, then assign who in my family should be involved.  It's like having a dry-erase Family Calendar that sends out reminders!  I even found something to help me keep track of lessons & grading (Homeschool Skedtrack.) 

Basically, I like gadgets to help me stay on track.

I have decided to organize my blog posts, too. Regularly discussed topics will be "Technique" on Tuesdays and "What's on my Needles" on Thursdays, with a little bit of other stuff in between.

Come back tomorrow to see what I've been working on - you're gonna love it!

Falling in Love with Nupps

Last time I mentioned my Maikell Scarf project - Estonian lace. Twisted stitches. Nupps. Cashmere.

Heaven.

I imagine some of you just said, "Nupps? Heaven? How can those two words go together?!"

I, too, once felt that way.  In fact, my Ravelry queue was filled with patterns like the Percy Shawl, the Crocus Shawl, Laminaria. . . . . Unfortunately, I was never brave enough to push that "Cast On" button.

Until I got my hands on this:

As soon as it landed on my doorstep, I tore open the box & popped in the DVD.  Suddenly, nupps didn't seem all that intimidating.  I grabbed a skein of lace-weight handpainted tencel yarn from Yarntopia Treasures, restarted the DVD & started winding a center-pull cake.

By the time I got to the end of the skein, I'd watched Nancy Bush knit through the nupp section at least six times. I felt brave.  I felt confident.  I felt competent.  I cast on Percy. I flew through the first section of lace with ease.

Because I had read all the comments posted on Ravelry, I was aware that many have had trouble with the fact that the second section of lace is "active" on both sides.  Still feeling confident, I forged ahead, placing lifelines at key intervals.  I only had to tink back once (half a row).  I found it easy to recognize the "flow" of the lace & was easily in a good rhythm by the third repeat of each row.

Finally, I started the third section. The one containing the nupps.  I still had never actually knit a nupp.  Out came the DVD, and Nancy Bush soothingly walked me through my first one.  After I successfully purled back without any difficulty, I felt like I was flying!  You know that feeling you got the first time you rode your bicycle really fast without training wheels & didn't fall?  That's what knitting nupps felt like.

I finished my Sunset Percy in only 17 days (while also knitting a pair of socks & participating in a shawl KAL.)

Now I'm addicted.

One Last Hurrah

Does everyone else have a hard time planning a "Big Family Weekend", or is it just my family?

Last Thanksgiving, my two sisters & I, and our respective spouses & children were at our parents house. Someone came up with the brilliant idea that we take a weekend the following summer and rent a beach house. My little sister, Charity was tasked with the extremely difficult & thankless task of finding the one magic weekend that would fit everyone's schedule AND find a house we could all afford. Needless to say, this the last weekend of summer (school starts Monday, and according to my Princesses, summer is over the minute school starts), and we are finally having our "Big Family Weekend".

Now some of you reading might ask, "What does ANY of that have to do with knitting, design, spinning, etc.?!"

Aside from getting some time in the sand & sea, I also plan on finishing Clue #3 of Mystery Sock KAL I'm participating in (view my progress here).  I have to say, I really love Jenn's (of Knitting Like Crazy fame) designs.  In fact, she inspired me to design & write my own sock pattern!  (Hmmmmm. . . . maybe a pattern giveaway in the future?) 

If I'm lucky, I might get another repeat or two done on my Maikell Scarf - this one will soon be available from my upcoming etsy site. 

Until next week, my friends!