Category: spinning

  • temptation, temptation

    I don’t know if I’m just in a buying mood or what, but…there’s been spending. Not just yarn; I also spent over $200 on clothes at Reitmans recently (that was for a lot of clothes, though – 2 pairs of capris that are actually the right length for my short legs; tshirts; 2 sleeveless tops; 2 skirts, including linen; a dress off the mannequin because it was the only one my size!).

    The yarn? Well, the stuff I showed last time. And I ordered a bunch of cashmere off eBay, from colourmartUK – I ordered two cones and three skeins, and a sample card (photos tomorrow, once there’s light). Upon seeing and feeling the skeins, a most perfect burgundy, I promptly went back and ordered more. Enough for a sweater. I mean, twelve dollars a skein for a hundred yards of aran weight, 100% cashmere is a steal.

    But then….then there was Knitpicks. I haven’t ordered anything yet, but I feel the pull. There’s all the new yarns; Main Line (80% cotton/20% wool) is on sale this weekend for $1.97 (!) and there’s the needles. They do look lovely and pointy. Don’t know if I like what Lauren said about the sound – I don’t really like the way Addis sound.

    Anyway, enough rambling about my consumerism. A sock photo?

    These strange little socks go pretty quickly when I work on them – I probably knit four repeats of the stripe at SnB a few weeks ago. I knew there were six black stripes in the cuff, and that I started the heel in pink, but for some reason I just stopped working on it. I should finish these socks, just to get them off the needles.

    I made some yarn a while back too. I’m going to dye it, but I don’t know what colour – it’s lovely wool/silk from the Black Lamb, done in singles because I wanted some fast spinning, although I don’t find end-product singles spinning to be very relaxing/easy. I have to really try to spin more worsted, thicker, and with less twist. Pretty, though!

  • cleaning house

    Since I’m probably going to be spending nearly all knitting time for the rest of the month working on a sweater for Knitty (I got the yarn today and it’s gorgeous!), I figured it was a good time to finish up some lingering projects.

    First up is VBC – I needed to do the neckband, sew it all together, and weave in the ends.

    I managed to sew up the neckline, do the neckband, put in one sleeve and sew up the side and sleeve seams on that side. Looks like it will fit well, although the sleeve is a bit long for 3/4 length – it’s more like bracelet, maybe. I need to find buttons, too…

    I also plied up some yarn – this is Navajo plied using the newly souped-up plying head. I’m not sure if I like yet; it has hooks rather than the sliding clip (it’s old) and the hooks are kind of far apart. Very difficult to fill the bobbin evenly and efficiently. Plus, the whole head is kind of heavy and takes a good bit of effort to work.

    The yarn turned out pretty good though! It’s all purples and yellows, with some white and inbetweens. Merino and silk, so super soft too!

    Tomorrow – the supermerino sweater.

  • two pair

    Whew, time sure flies by when you’re out of the house nearly the entire week! Monday, Megan H. and Stacey came by to pick cherries!

    Megan, being the tallest one, was atop the ladder while Stacey kept an eye out. I was in charge of getting bowls and picking gooseberries. It sure goes a lot faster (and more fun) when you’ve got people to pick with!

    Lots and lots of cherries, plus a good amount of gooseberries (going to try my hand at jam).

    Talk about a big bowl of cherries. Megan and Stacey each took some, and I took a big tupperware-full to the party yesterday, where they got eaten (and I gave gave the extras to Megan I.). I’ve still got a whole bunch left though!

    Back to the knitting – I haven’t been doing that much lately, just a bit here and there. I did manage to finish the Lorna’s Laces socks, though.

    I’m digging the slightly longer than my usual ribbing. I did these toe up, short row toe and heel. Maybe 3/4 of a skein each? I was using leftovers.

    What else…oh, the boy and I cooked up a solution to the plying head problem:

    A couple of wooden blocks drilled out by yours truly, plus some metal washers (which had to be drilled out a bit in the middle as well – I left that to him to do). Very secure, and seems to work well, but I’ll have to put it to the test soon!