We like the fuscia here.

Which has nothing to do with Franklin's talk (see further below), but it certainly makes sense in terms of current staff projects. Like, oh, Marjorie's Skif Heart (IP):

Currently being knit with over a dozen different yarns that are nearly all in the hot pink to purple-pink range. Even the marigold and orange you see there comes from a painted yarn that has, you guessed it, pink and purple as well.

Next, we have Kristin's Mystery Sweater (also IP), that I cannot find on ravelry (and it's Kristin's weekend right now...), but clearly it's a shade of purpley-pink:

And, finally, we have the Children's Bolero I am making for my niece, Tegan, (IP):

Using ShibuiKnits Merino Worsted in "Peony".

Are you sensing a strange trend here? It's a bit weird, actually. All of a sudden, our projects match. It must be something in the water.

But at least I also have this, my natural white cashmere lace:

(Evelyn Clark's Cocoon Lace Scarf or Wrap and Cashmere 1)

Which I somehow convinced Franklin (yes, that Franklin) to hold in lieu of a traveling sock :

He's such a good sport. And hilariously funny. If you missed his lecture last night, well... I don't have to words to describe such a side-splitting experience. I did manage to snap a shot before the event really started...

But completely forgot to take any photos during or after. Yes, I know. Bad blogger, no cookie.

If you did miss it, I suppose I shouldn't mention the trivia and prizes (knitting cartoon totes!), or silly photos, or Victorian patterns or... never mind. It would be cruel to go on. In the end, we had two seats left (not bad with 35 chairs squeezed in the room with a projector and screen), which you can see right there. Next time (yes, Franklin's promised to visit us again, apparently we aren't that odd), we're thinking a bigger venue would be quite lovely.

And, lastly, to prove we like all the colors of the rainbow* (not just the purpley-pink ones):

I have a basket of samples for my upcoming Kitchen-Safe Dyeing workshop. I wouldn't have mentioned it at all, but I've been nagged by several coworkers. So, there, I've mentioned it and even put out samples on the coffee table. Make what you will of it.

Until next time, stay colorful!

*Although, it may be fair to say we like some colors more than others.

can't stop

Holiday Special to finish. But here are some photos 3M took of the spinning class Tuesday:














Have a good weekend!

Wool with a twist

The night before last (Tuesday), was the second class in my Introduction to Handspinning course. It went swimmingly, by all accounts. Even better, 3M managed to catch the moment when two knitters became handspinners (my other two students managed to avoid being photographed). Unfortunately, I didn't think to get their permission to post their faces on the blog, so here's two photos of their first skeins:

aaaand...

It's always a magical moment when a person holds something they've just realised they made themselves. Think about your first knit or crochet project - can you remember the shock that it was something other than a lump of tangled yarn? Handspinning is much the same. You take a sheep's hair and twist it and somehow it all turns into something other than a giant knot.

Anyway. It was a great night. We also went over the process of making a sheep's fleece more spinable. I.e. carding. 3M and the ladies found it so fascinating that I thought you might, too.

First came the hand cards and wool combs - both of which are used to basically brush the locks of wool into a fluffier state that is easier to spin. The next lesson was the drum carder:

Which is the mechanized, and much quicker, way to process a fleece. (I actually shouldn't just single out sheep, since we also carded alpaca and goat hair, too.)

Anyway. Everyone left with a pile of wool (or fiber as the case may be) that she had carded or combed herself. Spinning it is the homework for the next class. I'm evil, I know. If you want more pictures from the class, 3M took a bunch that are all up here.

Gratis Knits: Spring 2008

Baby Court Jester

Size:
Baby-Toddler

Measurements:
15 – 17” head circumference

Materials:

• 1 skein of DK weight yarn (or light worsted)
• 4mm/US size 6 circular needle and dpns, 12” long (or one 32” long circular needle for Magic Loop method) or size needed to obtain gauge
• Tapestry needle
• Stitch markers
• Pom-pom maker (optional)

Gauge:
24 sts & 28 rows = 4” in St st.

Notes:
I used about 38g of handspun that Fyberduck created for the hat. While we determined it was a light worsted weight yarn, because it was a thick and thin ply, the fabric was a bit too lacy when knit at lower gauges. If you choose to use a commercial yarn for this pattern you will want a fabric that is sturdy but not stiff. The gauge is the most important factor. There is a list of possible substitutions at the bottom of this post but you might find other plump sport-weights or some light worsted-weight yarns work just as well. When in doubt go with a heavier yarn because it will fit a baby at some point in their life.

Abbreviations:

* repeat instructions following the single asterisk as directed
alt alternate
dpn double-point needle
K knit
kfb knit front and back (increase one st)
k2tog knit two stitches together
P purl
pm place marker
rnd(s) round(s)
skp slip, knit, pass stitch over—one stitch decreased
st(s) stitch(es)

I-cord Cast On (á la Ruth Sørenson)

Cast on 5 sts on DPNs or circular needle and k 5 sts. At the end of the row, slide the sts to the other end of the needle and pulling the yarn around the back, k the sts again. You’ve completed one row of Icord.

Continue in this manner, pulling down on the cord occasionally as you go, until the cord is approximately 20” long. Break yarn and thread through the last row of sts, cinching them up tight.

(Now here is the cool part… You may have noticed on one side of the I-cord a slight gap. Some call this gaping a “ladder”. It looks like disaster in a sock, but in this case it is your best friend.)

With your needle pick up K 90 sts creating 1 st in each of the rungs from the ladder starting about 2½ inches from one end of the I-cord. If your sts are off-center when you fold the I-cord in half), do not worry because you can always pull off or add the first few sts at the beginning. Just make sure to end with 90 sts total.

Hat Body (working flat)

Row 1: *kfb, K 19 sts, skp, k 1, k2tog, k 19sts, kfb *. Repeat between the * to the end of the row.

Row 2: P across.

Repeat Rows 1 – 2 once more.

Hat Body (in the round)

Rnd 1: *kfb, K 19 sts, skp, k 1, k2tog, k 19sts, kfb *. Repeat between the * to the end of the row.

Rnd 2: pm to mark start of the rnd and join stitches in the round (being sure not to twist the stitches). K row.

Alt row 1 with a K row until you loose the will to live which, coincidentally, measures about 5” from the I-cord edge.

Dividing the hat into points…

Set up rnd:

K 45, place remaining 45 sts on waste yarn or a stitch holder

Left point:

Fold hat in half with adjustable ties in back, PM, and K the first stitch in the row joining it in the round.

K 3 rnds.

Decrease row: K2tog, K 17 sts, skp, K 1, K2tog, K 18sts, skp, k1. [41 sts remaining]

Continue in this manner by decreasing 4 sts every 4^th rnd, until there are only 5 sts left.

Break yarn and thread through the remaining 5 sts cinching them tight to secure.

Right point:

Return remaining sts to needle(s), PM to mark beginning of rnd, K 4 rows.

Decrease row: K 9 sts, skp, k 1, k2tog, k 17, skp, k1, k2tog K 9. [41 sts remaining]

K three rows

Continue in this manner, decreasing 4 sts every 4^th rnd, until there are only 5 sts left.

Break yarn and thread through the remaining 5 sts cinching them tight to secure.

Finishing:

Weave in ends. Add pompoms to the ends of your hat points or tassels. Decorative buttons are cute too. Go wild; the hat isn’t meant to be serious and the only time one can wear such ridiculousness if they aren’t in the theatre, is under the age of 3 and over the age of 83.

Substitutions:

If you aren't a spinner or can't get your hands on some handspun in an appropriate weight, I suggest giving the following brands a try:

For lots of color Scotia Silk, Great Big Sea, or Blue Faced Leicester DK are nice. Koigu Kersti is a fab choice as well. If you want transitional color, try Migrations, Mitsuri, or Silk Garden. You could try a plain hat too or one with stripes out of Balance or Sublime Yarns Extrafine Merino Wool too.

True Plies: Spinning out of control

True Plies: Fleece Artist Blue-faced Leicester Roving

I have to admit it. I have a problem. A big one. And working at this store ain't helping me with it.The culprit this week?

Handmaiden & Fleece Artist of Nova Scotia. In the past month we have received so much merchandise from them, we've had to create a section of the store I'm calling Little Canada.

(shown to the left)

To make matters worse, a couple weeks ago we received an enormous box of hand-painted roving. Seriously, when I say "enormous", I mean it. I could have shipped myself (and a friend) to Jamaica in that thing (actually...hmm, not a bad thought).

I managed to avoid the wicked, wicked beguiling ways of the roving until The Blogger set up a spinning display with a basket of it, and ... well, I fell off of the wagon. Two nights ago I brought home 100g of their BFL roving in the colorway "Peacock". The bronze and turquoise together called to me. So I pulled out my wheel, spun up some very fine singles, and then Navajo-plied the singles into a 3-ply/ worsted weight yarn:

My review of it? Oh, it's beautiful. Not just to ogle and pet, but to spin as well. I have to admit that I have had some pretty traumatic experiences with hand-dyed wool roving. Inexperienced dyers can accidentally felt the roving by using water that's too hot or agitating the wool as it's soaking up the dyes - which turns perfectly beautiful wool roving into rope.

Not this stuff. It was still soft and fluffy and didn't resemble hand-dyed rope at all. The roving easy pulled apart in slivers and was even easier to draft. So easy, in fact, that I managed to shock myself with how fine the single-ply yarn was. Navajo-plying it made the yarn heavier and self-striping. If I had 2-plied the yarn, it would have been a fingering weight yarn in the end. And the colors would have misched more.

All in all, I'm exceedingly pleased with it. And $16.50 for 100g of hand-painted, handspun, yarn ain't bad. Not by a long shot. Now all I have to do is knit it, once I manage to beat my coworkers away from the skein with a stick or something...

(Next time? Fleece Artist's Casbah.)

True Plies: Partying German-style

True Plies: Skacel Artfelt© Roving

On a whim last Thursday, while working the sales floor, I grabbed a Greensleeves spindle and a 50g hank of Skacel's Artfelt© pencil-roving in the color "Party Time" (#901). Why? Because I wanted to see what would happen and also because it would keep me from tears of boredom during slow moments.

I immediately realized what a misjudgment I'd made. First of all, I wasn't entertaining myself anymore - the entire store stopped to stare at me. The staff even were mesmerized by the pretty whirling wooden thing that was making yarn. Second, I got about a dozen requests to teach an Intro to Spindling course (for knitters), which has been approved by our Fearless Leader, so look for it on the Class Schedule when everything is arranged.

Anyway, back to the pretty-pretty wool. I had also made the mistake of not considering the mesmerizing qualities of variegated roving. I didn't want to stop spindling because I wanted to see what color would come next. Even worse, my coworkers and our patrons were egging me on - so I spent half the day wandering around the floor trying to help people and spin yarn at the same time.

Since The Blogger was madly in love with the yarn I was making, I promised to give it to her if she'd write a True Plies column on knitting with it. This then sparked a discussion on how it should be plied, whether it needed to be plied?, or what it should be plied with. In the end, we decided that I would ply the thick 'n thin singles with Habu's Silk Wrapped Stainless Steel thread in dark blue. It would strengthen the yarn and also give it some sparkle:

(Bling Bling, baby)

By the end of the night (our Sip 'n Stitchers also piled on the peer pressure to finish the yarn), it had all been plied. The next day, The Blogger and I wound it into a skein and set the twist (the process of 'finishing' the yarn by soaking it in water and hanging it to dry):

After it had dried, we pulled out our very handy yarn weight tool to determine the WPI (wraps per inch) and approximate gauge. Shown below is the finished skein and the tool (Brass Yarn Gauge):


Un-scrunched, the yarn averaged 12 WPI, making it a worsted weight. I also checked the yardage of the skein the old-fashioned way - counting the number of strands in the skein, measuring the skein's length...


... and doing some multiplication. All told, the skein had about 146 yards from 50g of wool. Not too bad.

In the end I almost regretted giving away the yarn, but stood fast. It was lots of fun to spin and I really enjoyed playing with the roving. I'd definitely recommend it for any level of spinner. It'd be perfect for beginners who struggle with drafting or for really experienced spinners who want to experiment with designer yarns. Next time, I want to try the color "Fall in Vermont" (#921). It'd look really spectacular plied with Habu Textiles' Wool/ Stainless Steel in Terra Cotta, don't you think?

(Unfortunately, we do not have Skacel Artfelt © roving available for purchase online. But if you would like to send us an email, we'll do our best to help you!)