as cozy as spring

Spring Spins

I learned to spin the day before Mother's Day a few years ago, on a quilt outside in the garden.  It was such a lovely day that springtime always puts me in the spinning mood.  

I don't have a lot of free time these days.  My latest spin began in November, I think, but I finally wrapped up enough to knit a pair of stripey socks.  I'm taking advantage of third trimester insomnia to become super productive at around 4:00am.  The house, it has never been so clean.

Sunshine Yarns Superwash Merino 'Molly Weasley' thinly spun and then chain plied for a sport weight stripey yarn, my very most favorite yarn to use but oh goodness, it takes forever to spin on a spindle. 

I have another braid in the works but it is spinning up with more gray than I anticipated, which is kind of the fun in handspun yarn.  My daughter seems to love it so I will eventually finish and knit her a little hat, I suppose!

But we'll see.  I have a few unopened boxes of school books that I need to sort through and schedules I need to make for the new year.  I'm glad to have the decision making process behind me for next year.  On to the planning! 

I was right.

I don't have time to spin in the fall.  It's taken me weeks to manage a tiny 1.75 ounces.  But oh, it's so lovely.  I do wish I had to time to finish the rest of the braid.  Since that is unlikely any time soon, I'll go ahead and post a glamour shot. ;)

This is my first braid from Fat Cat Knits 'Wizard Island'.  I'm impressed.  I ordered merino and it was fluffy and not at all dense or felted like some braids can be.  I got about 130 something yards, chain plied.  Not bad for half a braid and quite a bit better than I get with superwash merino. 

The weighing of my teeny tiny little skeins.  

I haven't had much time for knitting lately either.  Rather, all my current knitting requires a paper pattern and that's tricky to manage on the go.  I need to cast on some basic, mindless socks to keep my hands busy.  They are the perfect travel project.

I've been parenting on my own for a good bit of this month.  I'm uncomfortably busy and I'm trying to figure out if I need to change our schedule somehow, put the children in regular school, or start drinking.  One of those things.  But I shall not make any hasty decisions (or hit the liquor store) until my husband returns because that might immediately and dramatically improve my outlook.  I miss him.

Tiny Flowers

Happy #3 - Dotted Saxifrage found growing on a large, very rocking clearing in the woods. I snapped this photo without thinking and it remains one of my favorites.  I love it when that happens.  (Though it's driving me up the wall that it isn't perfectly focused.)

And also, it has rained for the last two mornings. If you blink, you might miss it, but there is wet stuff failing from the sky.  The weather man said something about "an end to the heat wave" last night.  Dare we hope?

And P.S! Last year Dani at Sunshine Yarns dyed a special yarn based on one of my wildflower photos.  She's offering it again today!  I'm hoping to get another wool/silk roving.

Handspun Socks

Part 1 here  Part 2 here

My first handspun socks turned our just as I'd hoped.  I ended up with a sport weight yarn and had enough left over for American Girl leg warmers (which are on the needles and stashed in my purse for any emergency knitting needs).  I used the Sell Your Sole sock pattern for sport weight socks and knit this on US 2.5 DPNs.

I was worried about this yarn creating a more fragile fabric for socks, but I think the opposite may be true.  I was able to control the twist and I hope they will wear well through this winter.  Although to be frank, I've given up on winter entirely.  See also: the possibility of it ever raining again.  These huge trees are dying all over town.  It's so depressing.

Anyway!  I planned on that being my last spin this summer season.  I'm pretty sure I don't have the time to sneak in one more, but it's still so darn hot that I can just picutre the happy site of freshly spun yarn hanging to dry in the sun.  We'll see!  If not, I'm pleased with my summer spins.

Summer Yarns

Sunshine Yarns Superwash Merino (New Moon Alice Colorway) first seen here- 230 yards of chain plied... I didn't bother checking the weight.  It looks like worsted, but might be closer to dk.  Realistically, it's probably lace weight in some areas and bulky in others. :)

I used to spend so much time telling myself I couldn't do things.  When my sister learned to knit I was sure I couldn't.  Then when I did, I was sure I couldn't ever conquer anything more complex than a hat.  I used gaze at all the beautiful handspun yarns wishing I could create something so lovely.  This latest spin, one that should knit up into fun little stripes, is something I've wanted to manage since I started.  My kind husband tried to summon some enthusiasm when I showed it to him. I think he gets that it's not about the yarn, it's about the challenge.

These are all the yarns I've spun this summer.  There's no time to do much spinning in the winter, but that's fine.  Freshly spun and soaked wool dries almost instantly in the summer heat and that might be the only redeeming quality of temperatures in excess of 100 (or 105 or 110).  

Fiber Prep and Camera Settings

The trickiest issue I have with my DSLR is color.  The color changes drastically according to the settings and it's just too much to manage sometimes.  I do try to get an accurate representation of color for my yarn and FO photos that I put on Ravelry.  It usually ends in me saying "I don't have time for this." and grabbing my trusty point and shoot.  

The following is a series of shots I took yesterday while preparing a new braid of fiber for spinning.  I'll also give a little description of what I'm doing if that interests you at all.  I don't generally do tutorials and won't consider this one.  I'm youtube taught and no expert.  I'm pleased I can spin yarn I like.  

4 ounces of superwash merino to be spun into (I hope!) self striping sock yarn.  I adjusted the white balance in this photo to drain a little yellow that was showing up in the late afternoon shot.  It's still a little too dark in the center to show the colors well.

Close up - so pretty!

Unbraided fiber.  I changed the settings to center weighted metering and it's the first photo I've taken where my kitchen table doesn't appear bright orange.  It is not bright orange.  

Splitting the braid into (hopefully) two equal strips.  At this point, I switched rooms without adjusting the settings and things went downhill fast. 

Weighing the two portions.  My scale was a Christmas gift and has proven to be very valuable.  I love it for weighing yarn into two balls for socks - I seriously used to sneak my yarn balls onto the produce scales at the grocery store.  It's also great for demonstrating to one's children how tragically small a recommended serving size of ice cream really is.

I'm trying to keep the colors separate while I draft.  I intend to chain ply a thin-ish single which will preserve the color separation and (hopefully!) knit into sweet little stripes.  There are so many ways to draft fiber and I'm sure they look different in different hands.  I'm using a spindle and I just thin a good deal of fiber, spin it - being carful that the weight of the undrafted (not a word, apparently) fiber doesn't cause a break - then start drafting the next portion.

At this point, air conditioning and ceiling fans are the enemy.   

The little bit I spun last night! Love, love, love natural outdoor light.

I'm sure I used a number of online tutorials when I first learned, in addition to a great deal of trial and error, but I picked  up spinning fairly quickly using the videos by Megan LaCore.

Sunday Spin

Sunshine Yarns Superwash Merino in 'Pacific'.  

I intended to knit this yarn into socks.  Handspun, handknit socks seem absurdly luxurious.  I'm going ahead with the knitting but whether I will let anyone wear the socks is less certain.  I may just hang them on the wall where no one will walk big holes through them.

I am super excited to have tried a new drafting technique that will (hopefully) create subtle color changes throughout. This yarn also ended up a bit softer and loftier by design.  I have a tendency to overspin a bit.  Hopefully I'll continue to improve with practice!

Hot Stuff

The zinnias and the sunflowers we planted from seed are thriving. I'm having a love-the-one-you're-with year in the garden.  I've fought this hot, dry climate for years and lost.  I much prefer cool blue alpine flowers to these prairie natives, but the garden is much more beautiful if bend to what it wants instead of what I want.  There's a life lesson in there somewhere, but I haven't stopped long enough to think on it.

I'll tell you what I love about the hot, dry climate.  I'm back to spinning again simply because I longed for the sight of freshly spun wool hanging to dry in the back yard.  I'm working on a merino/silk blend right now.  It's not my favorite to spin - too wispy - but the finished product is gorgeous.

This is about a hundred yards of two ply fingering weight yarn.  It was more of a warm up and I wasn't fussing over evenness but I think it's still usable.  I'm not so sure about the color.  I like it in theory but after staring at it for months, I still think it looks like pickles.  Or maybe turtles.  

OK, speaking of hot, I've got to go pack the swim bag.  Happy Thursday!

Things I do and things I like.

The older I get, the more I am able to see that ability doesn't always translate into results and ability also doesn't translate into joy.  I still think it is important to learn new things because there is a wee bit of confidence that one gains through acquisition of a skill.  Yes, I can do that.

Latest skill : Chicken Scratch Embroidery from Embroidery Companion (This had no purpose whatsoever and is consequently kind of bugging me, but I had to do it.  I just had to.)

My poor husband took my ability in the kitchen to mean that he would eat well after we married.  It does occasionally happen.  What neither of us realized was how passionately I disliked grocery shopping, the necessary precursor, and how my time management skills would mean that the bread was done hours before our main course.  So I don't like to cook but I can and I will and I do because I like serving processed food even less than cooking (excluding Ding Dongs, which are awesome).  

I do like to bake, but it occurred to me last year that I do not like to bake with my children.  I feel very guilty about this because it's such the sahm thing to do.  But they drive me a little nutty with flinging flour everywhere and dropping whole bowls of eggs.  It was rather freeing to admit this.  Now I give myself a little pep talk, prepare the kitchen for mayhem and am overall in a better mood about all of it.

I sew.  I tolerate sewing quilts, but bags and garments stress me out.  Badly.

I learned to spin last year and I'm glad I did but it also stresses me out.  I get impatient with the speed of spinning on a spindle and begin to abandon all my household responsibilities until the whole braid is done.  So it's not a great fit for my personality right now. It is awfully pretty, so I will continue but I have no desire to spin all my own yarn.

 

Latest spin: Pigeonroof Studios Merino in Persimmon.  Rav destash.  Love.

Knitting and gardening are wholly relaxing and enjoyable to me. It's nice that all of these pursuits have their own place in my life but I'm happy I don't feel the pressure to enjoy every second or sew just because I can.  This is just fun stuff, you know?  I relieved a lot of guilt with this slight shift in how I think.  

I am baking oatmeal raisin cookies today, perhaps my favorite, because we're all happily trapped inside 'round the fireplace.  I intend to start some knitting some very plain socks.

The Winter Sky

I received Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting for Christmas.  It's awesome for two reasons.  It's the best Fair Isle design book I've seen and then there's this:

It was reprinted with the original 1980s photos!! The above is my absolute favorite.  Anyway, I got started on a stranded hat right away but had to put it aside until just the right color arrives.  

In the mean time, I picked up my spindle for the first time in months.  I had 4 ounces of BFL on hand.  It was interesting.  It had far more crimp and more fluff than merino.  My goal was a loftier, two ply worsted weight which is slightly thicker than what I normally spin.  It became clear early on that I can spin only one type of yarn.  My thicker, loftier single was fuzzy and wildly uneven.  I reluctantly plied it and set the twist in a slightly gentler manner than I have before.  The finished product was far more even in appearance than I expected.  It's amazing what plying and a good soak will do!  Not that it's a great yarn, but it's not going immediately in the garbage and I may actually spin the remaining two ounces.

This wasn't a color I loved right away but when I switched my banner this month it hit me that it perfectly matched the snowy, rosy winter sky in the photo.  It even has tiny flecks of a bark color throughout.

My husband went back to work today and I want to go cry into my pillow but we're gearing up to start back to work at home which means I need to just publish this already and get off the computer.