Knit Sisters

First of all, many thanks to Ellen for taking over the blog last week.  “Time” is looking seriously beautiful!  As always, she does good work, doesn’t she?

I myself have finished Rob’s striped socks,

                                                               and he has already worn them once.  They even match exactly, a first for me in knitting socks from self-striping yarns.

Yarn:  Regia 4-ply Patch Antik Colors, 75% wool, 25% polyamide  

Pattern:  My standard sock “recipe” taken from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’ Simple Socks Plain and Fancy.  (Clearly, these are of the “plain” variety.)

And I have started a new pair of socks for me,

                                     from a pattern in Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks.  This is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock which I acquired on ebay as a mill end.

I got 10 oz. of this colorway, which equals over 1,000 yards–more than enough to make two pairs of socks.  This seller has these Cherry Tree Hill mill ends all the time:  check it out!  She regularly has both solids and variegateds.

I’ve done a bit of spinning on the Suffolk wool.

                                              Not a full bobbin yet, but it’s getting there.

The one knitting project which has gone nowhere over the last week?  Why, The Handsome Triangle shawl, of course!  But never fear, I will return to it in time…

It’s good to be back!

“The best thing for being sad…is to learn something.  That is the only thing that never fails.”

                                           T. H. White   The Once and Future King

This is one of our mother’s favorite quotes, and now and then it runs through my mind like a mantra.

With this in mind, then, I decided to “learn” a new wool this evening.  This is the Suffolk lambswool that was given to me by my friend John last summer.  I washed all the wool over the summer, and it’s been sitting in a big bag upstairs in the stash since then, patiently awaiting my attention.

It has a pretty short staple, too short to comb on the 5-pitch combs, so I’m using my double pitch handheld combs here.

                                            Laying the fiber on the comb.

                              First pass with the comb.

                                        Second pass.

                                            Third pass.

                                           Fourth and final pass.

                                          Starting to pull the sliver off the combs.

                                             Pulling the last of the fiber off the combs.  The very short ends are left behind on the comb.

 

                                               Spinning.

Perhaps if I can learn enough new things, this sadness too shall pass away.  

Somehow, against the overwhelming odds of actually finishing anything over Christmas break that you set out to do, I have finished the black and white superwash 2-ply.

                                  Pictured here next to my lazy Kate.

I like the way this turned out, and it went pretty quickly, all things considered.

I received two knitting-related gifts this holiday:  two books from my sister-in-law, Pam.  You know a person really loves you when they go ahead and get you the knitting books/yarn/fiber that you ask for, even though you know they’re secretly thinking that you need more knitting books/yarn/fiber like you need a gangrenous limb.  Thanks, Pam!

I haven’t truly perused Knitting Beyond the Edge yet, so I don’t have too much to say about that.  But Victorian Lace Today…oh, my!  There are some gorgeous shawls and scarves in this book.  I think my interest in laceweight mohair has been revived.  (Not that it was ever really dead.  No, not at all.)  I begin to have a little inkling of what to do with the Alchemy Haiku.  And that laceweight sage-green mohair.  And the laceweight alpaca.  Hmmm, I know of an Ebay seller that has lots of Henry’s Attic yarns, including many different laceweights.  And then there’s the Knitpicks dye-your-own yarns….

It’s a sickness.

P.S.  On second thought, I did receive another knitting-related gift from my mother and father, which will bear fruit later in the year.  More on that later in the week.

Tonight, as I changed out of my tae kwon do uniform back into my work clothes in the locker room, one of the little girls there said in a tone of surprised admiration, “You look pretty!  Are you going somewhere?”  (I was putting my earrings back on at the time.)  I wasn’t sure whether to feel touched by the admiration, or a bit hurt by the surprise.

Speaking of pretty, Harvey and I decorated the tree over the weekend.  This is one of our shared traditions, and he seems to enjoy it more every year.

Rob doesn’t participate in this particular tradition; I think he has too many bitter memories of putting up a Christmas tree during his childhood.  His mom would become hyper-critical about the placement of every ornament, and their trees were always “themed.”

I myself have no use for a themed family Christmas tree.  To me, most of the joy of ornaments is the memories they evoke.  “Oh, I remember this one!”  “This one has a little note tucked inside from the year you were born.”  “So-and-so gave us this when we lived in New York.”  “I bought this on the Plaza with Mother.” 

And someday, when Harvey is grown and gone, I’ll have the opportunity to cry bittersweet tears every year when I put the tree up.  Something to look forward to.

I’ve been doing a bit of spinning.

 

I’d almost forgotten how easy it is to spin an already-prepared roving.  Just sit down and go to town.  It’s a different kind of satisfaction, I guess, from preparing a fleece from scratch.

Doesn’t it look pretty?

P.S.  Thanks in advance, Ellen, for the luxury yarn and books.  I’m honored.  Seriously.

Today we went on our annual “find the perfect Christmas tree” excursion to our local tree farm.  Yes, unlike perhaps 80% of the tree-putting-up public, we still go out and get a real tree.

                                               Some of us were clearly very excited about it. 

We did find the perfect tree, but, as usual, it was on the other side of the “Keep Out” wire. 

 

                                                       Rob holds that this wire is electrified.  I told him to go ahead and touch it to find out for us.  The tree people are quite firm about not going beyond the “Keep Out” wire, but that seems to be a bit beyond the pale, even for the stalwart keepers of the trees.

We did find a pretty little tree (although not perhaps as perfect as the one beyond the wire) after trudging around for a while.

                                                 Rob cut it down.

                                                  And Harvey gave it a good shake.

Then we all adjourned to a local Mexican restaurant, where we enjoyed mucho grande chimichangas and other gustatory delights.

 

                                                       Pam evidently saw someone doing something dubious in the corner.

We (at least those of us who are female) also enjoyed the bathroom decor, which I helpfully took a picture of so that Rob and Harvey (and, by extension, all of our dear readers) could enjoy it too.

                                                           Isn’t this great?  The perfect blend of craftiness and creepiness.

Yesterday I finished the pink scarf.

                                                         All done but for the weaving-in of ends.  (Sort of the knitterly equivalent of the laying-on of hands.)  I’m really happy with the result.  Thanks again for the yarn, Shelda! 

And, as a little December diversion, I started spinning a black and while superwash roving that I found while digging through the stash.

I’m thinking socks, perhaps with lime green heels and toes.

I’ve been spinning something new the last week or so.  I started combing the naturally-colored grey Romney, and started spinning it on my wheel’s highest ratio, creating a soft-spun single with just enough twist to ply back on itself.

 

I was able to spin two full bobbins fairly quickly, with frequent breaks for combing more wool.  Then I plied the two soft singles together.

 

 

It’s hard to see in photos just how lovely this yarn is.  Soft and spun with just enough twist to really let the fiber breathe.  Sometimes I have a tendency to spin fibers with a bit too much twist, and the finished yarn ends up feeling a little “hard.”  Not so with this wool.  It also retains some lanolin, so the yarn has just a bit of that wonderful “sheepy” smell.  I know there are those who don’t enjoy that smell, but I for one really love it.  I don’t even mind the smell of raw wool, come to that.

The fleece itself has a range of grey color in it, and I decided early on not to obsess about keeping the color consistent.  You can see in the second photo how the color varies throughout the skein.  I’m operating on the assumption that it will all even out in the end.  And anyway, I am liking the way it looks.

I have approximately 4 pounds of this wool, so I’ll be spinning on this project for a while.

I’ve also been working on Blue Bamboo.  Here’s the finished leaf motif on the upper back.

 

And I’ve started the first sleeve, from the top down, naturally.

 

My new mantra:  Must finish Blue Bamboo.  Must finish Blue Bamboo.

I have been working away on Blue Bamboo and on her leaf motif on the upper back.  My progress thus far:

 

This would make me feel pretty good except for the fact that I’ve already decided to rip back the entire leaf motif once I get to the top of the chart, shown here:

 

I made a couple of mistakes, you see, which will forever haunt me unless I correct them.  Plus, this motif has been such a raving bitch an extraordinary challenge to chart that I’m still not sure if the chart is correct.  Therefore, I feel I must knit the thing at least once more to make certain of my charting.  Sigh.  Things would be sooo much simpler if I didn’t feel I had to follow my vision for this garment.

I’ve also had a renewal of interest in spinning, and have been working diligently away on the angora blend.

Can you see the progress?  Can you, can you?  Well, say that you can even if you can’t, OK?

I have a couple (har, har–yes, I know I can’t fool you) of fleeces upstairs that are calling my name now that the cold weather is arriving, and I can’t help but think it would be fun to spin some singles that would go a little more quickly than this laceweight angora nonsense.

Oh, and sis? I can’t believe that you’ve never done any stranded colorwork!  Are you holding one color in each hand or holding them both in your left hand?  (For those that might have wondered, Ellen and I both knit Continental, aka picking not throwing.)  The great thing about colorwork, among other things, is that you can feel entirely justified in picking up one or two skeins of some beautiful yarn, as long as you stick to about the same yarn weight with all your purchases.  “Well, I’ll just include this in my next multi-colored project,” you might think.  You understand, I’m speaking completely hypothetically.  I myself have never justified a yarn purchase in this manner.  I’m just helping the rest of you out, is all.  All part of the Knit Sisters package.

I took the little skein of tufted yarn and knit up a little swatch last night, just to see how it would look when knitted.

The knit side:

 

The purl side:

 

It’s kinda cool-looking, I think, although for me it was really more fun to spin than it would be to knit with.  For that reason, I am going to offer this tufted yarn as one of the prizes in the Fall Challenge.  Someone should have lots of fun with this yarn, I hope.

In general, I think I lean more toward smooth yarns and the kind of detailed knitting one can do with them than the fuzzy, hairy, and otherwise bumpy novelty yarns.  With a couple of exceptions, of course.  I have a minor love affair with mohair, of which I have lots in my stash (and covet more, especially laceweight–are you listening, she-who-works at-her-LYS?) and I can see that angora is fast sucking me down as well.

I finally made it to the underarm division of Blue Bamboo and started the fronts.  I am knitting these simultaneously, since that ensures that they will both be the same length.

 

 

Uh….I’m starting to think I might not have this sweater done by Oct. 15 for the Challenge.  This is somewhat lowering, since I am the one who issued the challenge.

I’ve said it before but I don’t mind saying it again:  working really gets in the way of my knitting time.

I spun on the wool/angora blend last night while watching the two-hour season premiere of Battlestar Galactica.

I realize that Ellen posted about this very show just the other day, and I have to admit that I had never watched a single episode.  But my sister-in-law Pam is a big fan, and she was at our house last night and wanted to watch the show.  So naturally we all watched it too.  Well.  This is a good show, folks, despite what Ellen may say.  (I suspect that she secretly really enjoys it, but is just too proud to admit it.  Because, when I spoke to her on the phone just before the show started and told her that we were about to watch the season premiere, she said in an extremely wistful voice, “You get the SciFi channel?”)  Now I’m hooked.  It helped that Pam was there and could fill me in on what had happened in the previous two seasons.

But back to the angora blend.  I’m spinning this pretty fine, so my progress isn’t too dramatic.  Plus I had to stop spinning and comb some more of the fiber.  I love this angora.

Putting this picture up is a little like watching a TV cooking show:  nice enough in its own way, but there’s only so much a picture can convey.  You get the idea that it’s good food, but without the senses of smell and taste, true understanding is somewhat limited.  This angora is so, so soft you almost cannot feel it in your fingers.  You’ll just have to take my word for it, I guess.  (Or you could go right out and find some angora fiber of your own.)

And lest you think I have forgotten Blue Bamboo,

I have 18 inches done.  Knitting 21 inches straight of anything is pretty boring.  Enough to make you want to stick a pin in your eye.  But I am persevering.

Oh, and I washed the tufted yarn this morning.  I’m happy to report that the rayon ribbon did not immediately shrink up, but the yarn is still drying.  I’ll have a full report and a picture next week. 

I finally finished the tufted novelty yarn.  I ended up with some extra singles, so I plied those together as a 2-ply smooth yarn.  So now I have 3+ skeins of tufted yarn and 1 smaller skein of coordinating 2-ply.

I’ll be curious to see how the rayon ribbon reacts when I wash these skeins.  When I was in college, I used a rayon yarn for weaving which would visibly shrink (picture writhing snakes) when it got wet.  Obviously, you had to be pretty careful about pre-shrinking that stuff before you started weaving with it.

I can imagine how you might be thinking about now, “Why didn’t she experiment with that rayon ribbon to see if it was going to shrink before she plied it with the tufted lime green wool 2-ply?  Wouldn’t that have made more sense?”  Well, the short answer is, “I don’t know and yes, it would have made more sense.”  I can only say that I was in the grip of severe spinning mania and didn’t think things through real clearly at the time.  Besides, seeing as how the whole tufted yarn was an adventure, now I have something else to look forward to.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I started right in on the wool and angora blend that I made myself with my handheld combs.

This stuff wants to be spun fine with lots of twist, so that’s exactly what I’m doing.  This is about as fine as I can spin. 

 

Someday perhaps I will be able to spin a single as fine as a human hair (that’s what the best Shetland spinners are said to have been able to do), but that day is not today.

I’ll have to ply this in some way; 2- or 3-ply has yet to be determined.

Next time (Wednesday) on Sarah’s post:  Exploits in making “yarn” out of bias strips.