Monday, May 19, 2008

Knitting, Spinning, Meme-ing

Heh, heh... even if I'm not up-to-date in my blog reading, I'm making an effort to be up-to-date in my blog posting : )

Knitting Update

I'm still working along on my sweater-length, top-down version of the Serpentine Coat from Knitting Nature. I've finished the yoke and one sleeve (the bottom half of which I re-knit several times to get the right fit).

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There's one hitch: I've read over and over again that when doing stranded knitting you need to be sure to keep the floats loose. I think I took that way too seriously (doh!) - hence, my floats are too loose (making the stitches around them wonkily loose, too), and I think I'm going to have to try to redistribute the extra yarn in some fashion - probably by shifting the slack row by row to the edges, cutting the yarn, and weaving the ends in. I honestly think this will be much faster than starting over (I'm not a speedy two-color knitter, and it took me a while to finish knit the yoke, which I guess is arguably not finished yet...)


Dublin Lake Redux

So, what did I do with the other half of the lovely "Dublin Lake" Bluefaced Leicester roving I got from The Painted Sheep?

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I split the remaining roving lengthwise into halves, then split one half into 8 lengthwise pieces and the other into only 4 (this is something I've seen suggested by Kristin of All Spun Up - another wonderful fiber artist - on the Ravelry boards). This resulted in longer color-runs on one bobbin, which you can see here:

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Here's a close-up of the singles (I just love the colors):

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I plied the singles from the two bobbins together, aiming for a bit of extra plying twist. Since my bobbins weren't very equal, I ended up having to transfer about half of the remaining singles to the empty bobbin, spit-splicing the ends to my two plies before finishing plying. As you can see, I still ended up with a little bit of singles left over:

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...and here it is after finishing:

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...and closer (click to see better):

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The yarn seems nicely balanced. (I washed it in hot water and whacked it on the tub a few times before hanging it to dry unweighted.) I ended up with approximately 345 yards (2.15 oz.) of 22 wpi yarn - which is more or less a lace weight (I think I spun my singles finer on average than I did for the Navajo plied yarn... oops!). Here's my 2-ply hanging out with the Navajo plied yarn for comparison:

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I like them both!


A Quirky Meme

Brandy of The Purl Parables tagged me (a while ago!) for a quirky meme. The rules are as follows:

* Link to the person who tagged you
* Mention the rules in your blog
* Tell about six unspectacular quirks of your's
* Tag six following bloggers by linking them
* Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged


1. I will look at my (non-digital) watch to see what time it is, only to promptly forget what it said. This is generally only an issue when someone else, having just seen me check my watch, asks me what time it is : )

2. I prefer very dry, chewy raisins to plump, juicy ones (so I'm not a big fan of raisins in baked goods).

3. I like yarn a little too much... yes, some people would consider that a quirk - why do you ask?

4. I often look down to check that I'm in gear ("Drive") while driving in an automatic transmission vehicle.

5. I like to have a salt shaker handy when I'm eating dinner in case I need a little extra flavor.

6. I would rather not have a cat pacing back and forth between me and my keyboard while I type, wooshing it's tail in my face and snuffling my fingers with each pass. (Pretty quirky, I know!)

If you would like to participate, consider yourself tagged. Have a great week!

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh, that yarn is gorgeous, makes me want to take up spinning!

Virtuous said...

Despite your loose floats that is one serious sweater!!

Rachel said...

I can't tell if you have loose floats, but that sweater is amazing. I love the colors you chose! And speaking of colors...your handspun is seriously gorgeous. I don't know anything about spinning, but whatever you did, it certainly seemed to work!

Sarah said...

Oooh, I am drooling over that yarn! Beautiful job. (Sob. Makes me miss spinning! This moving thing is a pain.)

As far as the stranding goes, I've found it does even out a lot with blocking. Think that might help?

Beth said...

I just caught up on all I've missed. That shot of Bug below could possibly be my favorite.

Your spinning and yarn is utterly amazing. Is there nothing you don't do well? =)

Anonymous said...

Your coat is going to be gorgeous, as is your new yarn!

Anonymous said...

I love both of the yarns - the second one (on the right) has this sparkly, speckled quality, and the Navajo-plied yarn has such strong colors.

Dude. I want a wheel. :)

The Dollars said...

You're right, those colors are beautiful!

P.S. I do the same thing with my watch!

Viktoria said...

Your yarn looks fabulous!

Anonymous said...

I lovelovelove that sweater! It's going to be worth all the reknitting. I'd wait until you've blocked it to see if the floats need tightening up - blocking works wonders.

LizKnits said...

Love the yoke on that sweater. The colors and pattern are great!

LisaB said...

haha, I do #1 ALL the time! So funny!

That yarn is really so beautiful.

Linda said...

That sweater is looking great. The spun yarn is lovely colours and so even.

Anonymous said...

The sweater is going to be gorgeous. I liked the pattern in Knitting Nature but somehow gave up on knitting it. I can`t wait to see yours.

Anonymous said...

The sweater yolk is amazing! Beautiful colors and I can't see wonky stitches!

Love your spinning. The colors are so pretty. What will they be when they "grow up"?

Anonymous said...

Okay, I know I sound like a broken record, but your spinning...honestly! Gorgeous!

Unknown said...

You never stop amazing me w/ your talents. The Serpentine Coat!OMG... The yarn!It's all looking gorgeous. The Cat-ography! Always laugh-inducing...

rockbridge said...

oh man i've been wanting to knit that ever since i got knitting nature - i'm so excited to see your finished serpentine! and i reaaaally wish i had bought some odyssey when it was on sale at webs. damn. is that what you're using? it looks gorgeous so far...

schrodinger said...

Love the handspun.

Anonymous said...

I love your handspun yarn. So pretty!

Every now and then, I toy with the idea of learning to spin. Then I realize that learning to spin would open up a new fiber-related obsession and I don't know if my wee little brain (or my wallet or my storage space) could handle that at the moment.

Your cat- and raisin-related quirks reminded me of the Cat Eating a Raisin impersonation The Husband and I have been doing for weeks now:

Nom, nom, nom. Peh*
Nom, nom, nom. Peh
Nom, nom, nom. Peh


*The closest way to spell the sound of a cat spitting out a raisin that I could come up with; sorry.

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Your spinning is very impressive, even though I know jacksh*t aboout spinning!

Anonymous said...

I love the way the colors complement each other. It's fabulous. The navajo plied section was very cool too. What do you intend to fashion from these unlike twins?
I noticed that the colors of your adaptation of the Serpentine Coat and the yarn you just spun are fairly similiar. Is that because you just like those particular colors or for another reason?
I love your spinning work. I just drop spindle spin at this point, but I desperately want a spinning wheel and I'm still hunting for a good one. By the way, Bug looks charming in the last post. What a model!

Knittymuggins said...

The sweater and your handspun look beautiful!!

Hee hee. I don't like raisins in my baked goods either and really dislike the plump juicy ones too. Ick. That actually goes for all dried fruits. The drier the better!

knittymuggins

Sunflowerfairy said...

The sweater has got to be done by now, right?

Show us!!

Oiyi said...

Wow, the sweater looks great so far.

Beth said...

You're probably super busy. Just wanted to say I miss your updates!

Emily said...

I do love those yarns. D'you like a browny bluey combo at all???
(I'm thinking a resounding YES!