Sockies

I finished Joel's socks last night and they look great! Plus now his feet are super warm and he is really enjoying them. And these won't shrink! I didn't even get a picture of the last ones before they got shrunken to toddler-size :(

But! I got a whole pair of mens-size-11 socks out of 200 yards of heavy-worsted-weight yarn. And after working on the Clapotis for a couple of weeks, the socks were super quick!

I also just had a shop update at http://kimscorner.artfire.com. I like to keep different items listed in my Artfire and Etsy, so check them both out :)

Details on the Qiviut Scarf

I've set aside all my other projects for this scarf. Since I'm spending so much time already, I might as well record it, right? Plus, I'm going to make another one with my black bear / qiviut / husky blend batt after we move.

Speaking of moving, it's got everything messed up. I have lots of projects I want to do, but I know I won't even come close to getting them all done by the time we go, so I'm trying really hard to pick and choose the things to pack ahead of time.

So, the details of the scarf. As far as the yarn goes, I was spinning it right from the raw fiber at first. I decided before too long that carding it would work better (and it did). However, there were a few weak spots, so I've been knitting in the broken ends. Otherwise, so far so good. The pattern is complicated, especially since this is my first lace project, but as long as I pay attention and count stitches (which I tend to do obsessively anyway!) I have no problems. It takes me between 40 and 60 minutes to knit an inch on size 4 needles.

This particular pattern is knitted in two sections which are then grafted together in the center. I'm ten rows away from being half done. That means it will be time to head back to the wheel and hand cards long enough to get 125 more yards of laceweight qiviut. Oh, and this entire scarf is knitted from a single. Some call me brave -- I call me lazy :P Spinning this fiber more thinly than I am already spinning it would make this project immensely more difficult (for me, at least). I'll be sure to get pictures and wpi for this next batch of yarn. I'll also take a picture when I'm halfway done (which will be tomorrow, more than likely). The edges are a little curly, but nothing that blocking won't take care of. I'm super excited to see the finished product.

What's New, Pussycat?

Well! It's certainly been a while since I've updated here. I kind of put my spinning on hiatus after my marathon in the workshop. I was working on a Good vs. Evil yarn that I had intended to enter into a contest, but the deadline came and went, and it never got finished. It's a super fun yarn, though, and I'll post it once I complete it. The material cost was outrageously high for it, so I'm hoping it will sell one day, because I won't have any purpose for it.


I've been working on spinning a SUPER thin silk single. It's slightly larger than sewing thread, but not a lot. It might fluff out once I take it off the bobbin, but we'll see. I intend to navajo ply it once it's finished, but obviously it's taking a year and a day to spin 4 oz of silk that thinly.


Other things.......I finished the doghair socks! I don't know what happened, but I spun the yarn for the first sock heavy worsted, and I spun the yarn for the second sock between fingering and sport weight (and thought that I was doing them approximately equally! That's what I get for not checking before I was finished...). I still have to tuck in the ends and take pictures...I also plan to full them slightly before I give them to my customer, as they are a little on the fuzzy side.

One of my friends has been filling my hands with qiviut. He wants a scarf, and he's paying me ... yes, with more qiviut! I certainly won't argue, since qiviut is a pricey commodity. He also supplied me with some black bear fur that he gathered in some woods somewhere, and I am already plotting. I'll probably blend it with some of that qiviut I've received in payment, and some Siberian Husky fur. I don't know if I'll make a hat or a scarf, but either way, I need to plan amounts and get it together so I can rent the drum carder from my LYS since I don't have one of my own and I want fairly even blending. Thoughts, anyone?


And my latest project...I am making some lovely rainbow socks as a gift to a friend of mine. Crystal Palace Yarns has come out with yarns called "Mini Mochi" in several colorways. The LYS got some of these yarns in and I couldn't stop thinking about making these socks once I'd seen the yarn. I prefer to knit socks on size 3 needles (3.25mm), and these yarns aren't quite thick enough, so I am knitting this Mini Mochi yarn along with a "Kid Merino" yarn, which is also by Crystal Palace Yarns, although I wasn't aware of that at the time, what with me having lost the tag to the Kid Merino when I originally purchased it for strengthening socks. The Mini Mochi is 80% merino and 20% nylon, and the Kid Merino is a combination of merino, nylon, and mohair. I can't remember the ratios on that one, but it's great for making socks stronger, what with a high nylon content and all. Plus, it adds a tiny bit of fun 'halo' to the sock.

So, I need to take pictures of the doghair socks, of the qiviut (the raw fiber, the yarn, and the scarf, once it's complete!), the Good vs. Evil yarn, the silk single, and the rainbow socks. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me!

Exciting new things!

Despite the onset of a new semester, I've been busy. I started a pair of socks from a "Flat Feet" I was given by my aunt. I got dog hair (:D):

I went to two different groomers. One gave me a little bit of clean hair (thanks so much!) but it's so short that all I can do is felt it. The other groomer gave me a LOT of hair (awesome!!) but she swept it off the floor, instead of picking up most of it and sweeping the rest into the trash. So yesterday I sorted through it, picking out dog nail clippings, potato chips, second cuts, and all sorts of other debris. I ended up throwing about half of it away, either because it was too dirty or because it was too short. Nonetheless, I still have most of a pound. So I whipped out my hand cards last night (oh, how I wish I had a drum carder at times like these) and began to card some of it up. I absolutely LOVE the color variations present! I get some batches that are mostly black, and some that are mostly white, with tan stripes interspersed. I don't know what breed it was, but the little inch-long curly locks floating around in the bag are my favorite. They're a lovely color, and they've got texture. I get sad when I card them in, because the texture leaves, but it's a subtle addition to a yarn that would otherwise not be as exciting.

I took some pictures as I was working, but then I figured out that my SO left the camera on "blue". So, everything ended up with a blue tint. I retook a couple of the pictures, but I pretty much gave up on retaking pictures of EVERYTHING I took pictures of in the last few days. It wasn't that many things, really, but it's just annoying. Anyway, some pictures of the yarn in progress:
(Carding the hair)

(After one pass through the carders. Most of these I recarded to blend a bit better.)

(And the beginnings of the yarn. It's more fuzzy than I anticipated, mostly due to the shortness of the fibers. I was trying to spin it fairly thin, but it's coming out more sport weight than anything. I can't really fight the natural tendencies of the dog hair! Anyway, this is why I prefer long long long dog hair--because it's easier to control the thickness of, and it's less fuzzy/pokey.)

This yarn is going to be made into socks for a friend of mine. He has requested warm socks, and hey, there's not a lot that's warmer than dog hair. He wants them dyed blue...I'll see how he likes them after I knit them up, though. I'll definitely be capturing pictures of the socks sans dye, because I have a feeling they're going to be quite lovely. Dyeing them blue would give a nice variation in tone, because of the overdyeing. I dunno. We'll see!

Also in the works...

The PVC loom I was so excited about!

(It's blue. Stupid camera.)

On the floor you can see the blue carpet warp I am using. It really is blue! But it's not quite that color of blue. It looks lovely in the sun (but we don't get much of that around here this time of year). Anyway, a warping-in-progress picture [sans-blue]:


Okay, so. I used right around 9 feet of CPVC for the frame (it was cheaper) and I used 3/4" instead of 1". My SO had some CPVC cement lying around, so we cemented the corners to the bar that has the dowels tied to it. I talked to Martin at A Weaver's Yarn (he does more of the weaving than Susan) and he recommended that I put some thick dowels in each end to prevent the CPVC from bending when tension is applied. Of course, we already cemented the corners... I'm just going to work this project and see how it does. After that, I'll probably be willing to saw it apart and put in the dowels (if it becomes apparently necessary). I still have to devise a tension system so that I can wind the warp up and begin weaving. I'm going to try for the nail thing...gotta get some 2" nails.

Um, what else. Oh, I don't have a warping board, so here's how I wound my warp:

This picture is blue, too. Anyway, one end was around a chair, but the chair has sloping sides, and the warp was sliding up and being all improper. So I found the other stool. They're not good for much else, as they're all torn up!

Also, I ended up doing the warp in a nontraditional manner. I wanted 7-foot warp ends. I originally set a path that was 7 feet on one side (which is how I should have done it) and then I, being sleepy, decided that was twice as long as it needed to be. So I wound a 7-foot path and I did it 125 times (the number of warp ends I need). Of course, I forgot that once you've wound a warp with a cross that you end up cutting both ends. So I only cut one end, and I'm pulling the warp out of the cross one by one. It's more tedious this way, but I'm correcting the mistake without having to waste a set of warp.

And finally, I got my order from Dyeingforcolor on Etsy:
Yep, these pictures are blue, too. Anyway, the actual product looks just like the pictures that she had in her store, and I'm pretty pleased about that. I don't know what I'm doing with these fuzzies yet, but I'm sure something will come up. Not that I have time to make anything. Anyway, that's all for now (I think).

Scarf!

So, I took half of this from roving through dyeing, spinning, and knitting. Not quite a full process, as most of the work was done for me in the cleaning of the fleece, but that's fine by me. I tried to process a fleece once, and I gave up. I could probably do it now, but I was too young then I think. Anyway, scarf!



(He's really cute!!)

He's about 5'11" and it goes just past his knees. So, around four feet long on each side? Anyway, It's longer than I intended, but I just knitted until the red yarn ran out. Somehow I spun more of the bamboo, even though I filled the bobbin less full of it than I did of the red (and I'm pretty sure that overall the red was spun slightly more thinly). *shrugs* Yarns can be weird like that.

Oh, and a picture of me modeling it after he tucked it all in (I blinked):



Overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out, although the edges are more sloppy than I like.

New parts, new yarns, and new projects.

Well. I guess I've been kind of busy, although it doesn't feel like it.

I agreed to participate in that crochet-along, and here's my first block (two are done, out of four for the month):
I still can't decide if I will do four of each block, or use some of the 2008 blocks as fillers, or do four of the blocks I like and only two of the ones I don't (with fillers added). Possibly the last. Oh, here are all the yarns I've purchased for the project so far (I need more creams):
There's actually a dark purple missing from that picture, but I've got a lot of medium tones and a couple of darks. I definitely need to find a couple of lights to balance everything out.


My SO bought me a jumbo flyer for my wheel, and here's what it looks like all installed:



I spun my first corespun yarn last night on my newly modified wheel! I think I like the technique.

Here's the bamboo I spun up to knit with the red romney:


And, last but not least, I'm over halfway done knitting the romney and bamboo into a scarf for my lovely!