Spinning to Knit

I have been learning to spin, as many people know, and am finally getting better at it! This is a Cascade spindle given to me in a swap last year if you see my 12 days of Christmas postings from December of 2007. Well I finally started using this spindle in September of '08 lol yeah I was scared I was going to screw things up.

This is a wonderful roving given to me by Mardi in exchange for a bag I am making her. It's 50% cormo wool, 30% finn wool, 15% angora and 5% mohair.
I was able to spin the singles to about a lace weight and then do a 2-ply yarn that came out to be 16-17 WPI or fingering weight, baby yarn etc.
Here's everything together, starting on the top left the roving, next the skeined 2-ply yarn, then top right is the balled up working yarn and bottom right is the 1st project I have made really from my own hand spun yarn, a fingerless mitten.

Here is one completed mitten so far and the 2nd is in progress. Its a simple 1 day item on the weekend you could make called Merletto Mitts by Jody at Javajem.

They are so soft, warm and the colors came out wonderfully. I'm seriously impressing myself knitting these because the yarn is knitting up so much nicer then I could have ever imagined. I think this means I'm officially a spinner.

More Toys and finished dying!

This is where this spinning began with a grey (lighter color in the twist) roving I spun to about sport weight, and a brown (darker color seen in the twist) also spun between fingering/sport and then plied the 2 together.

After dying in Wilton's Rose icing paste coloring this is the finished result! It comes out semi purplish in some images but it's like that Raspberry scented marker a lot of us had in grade school.

Here's the other toy my hubby made me a Yarn Swift woohoo! He's actually making me another now out of my favorite wood but I can't complain about a solid mahogany one shown here either!
All balled up! I have about 60 yrds of workable yarn here so now to figure out what to do with it....oh I do already know I just can't say yet but the color was picked for a purpose!

More bags and a Barter

I had sewn up a prototype bag I jokingly call the worlds most perfect sock bag. Well the women I knit with LOVED it and have been asking me to make them ever since. I had started about opening a store but I always go back and forth as to if I want to make my hobby into a job or not. So one begged and prodded me with goodies to make her a bag and here it is!

She supplied the material, which I normally wouldn't do because sometimes people give you really a fabric that could never work for a pattern they have to have, but, I know she has impeccable taste and already knew it was upholstery weight and perfect for the bag.

I was able to create a working pattern and test it then went to town on her bag using this pattern. I cut down some of the sewing time from about 12hrs of sewing and fitting to now about 8. Theres a lot that goes into these bags, every inch is fully reinforced and lined with 6 pockets, zippers gallore, inset snaps you name it.

But, I was thinking for myself I wanted an even smaller version so created the perfect 1 sock project bag.
It has the basis of the design from the larger modle but would only hold 1 sock project with the pattern on index cards or folded paper. You could though throw in a credit/debit card into the internal pocket, cell phone, cash and keys and use this as a knitting on the go/purse...like for Rhinebeck?

Inside the 1st photo of the small bag is a cake of Brooklyn Hand spun currently in use for a pair of socks. This is one skein given to me by Mardi to make her bag. She gave me the material as I stated, and then below:
A skein of Mama-E's C*EYE*BER FIBER Sock in Winter Sunrise (top blue/red hank), A Skein of Brooklyn Handspun in Tropical Punch (orange/peach hank), 2 skeins of Panda cotton in roses ( burgandy/pink/green skiens), 2 skeins of Rowan handknit cotton in Red (2 skeins bottom right), a skein of Froebe Fibers hand Dyed in Watermelon Bombe (Top right pink/green skein) and the Brooklyn hand spun in the bag was Leafy Stalk.

So if wondering if I will barter with you the answer is yes I love to swap/barter...but the bars been set pretty high for pricing. It's really because 1. she likes to spoil people. 2. the bag is well made and takes a lot of time 3. the raw materials I supplied to put in the bag bring the cost pretty far up and 4. just cause she wanted to keep giving me yarn.

Some spinning...I think I'm improving

Yeah it's sideways and I didn't fix it oh well! I did spin though. I am now doing the park and draft method which is working out better for me. I had some wool in grey (top small dowel) and brown (bottom small spindle) so spun up both then plied them together and ended up with a light worsted weight yarn.

My wonderful husband has been doing some wood working and made me 2 niddy noddies, a swift and another on the way. So I used the 16in niddy to hank up my spun creation to then soak and set the twist.

This is the hank of approximately 60 yrds of hand spun wool.

Then I wanted to play with some natural dyes. I have been told not to use an increasing acid bath on natural dyes containing red #3. But, if a girl wants reds or pinks what is she to do? Well I decided to try it anyways and picked up some Wilton food coloring paste in Rose Pink and dyed away. I soaked the yarn in clean warm water while I dissolved the paste in some hot water. Then I filled a pot with about the same temp water the yarn was soaking in and added the dye. I placed the yarn in the dye pot and turned up the heat!

After simmering for about 15 minutes I added about 1/3 cup of white vinegar hoping the addition of acid after the red#3 had time to set in would be better, and I think it's a success. I turned the heat up a bit more and let it rolling simmer for about 20 minutes until all the dye was incorperated into the yarn and the water in the pot was clear. Then set it aside and let it cool to room temp. I had filled a water basin with tap water as well and set out so they would both eventually come to the same temperature. Then I rinsed.

Here's the skein drying now. I'll get close ups later when I wind it up into a cake to show the color variations. It's a deep fushia/red coloring due to the base roving used.

The Worlds Perfect Sock Bag...almost

So all us crafters see these wonderful, and sometimes just really plain simple, bags for oh $30-$600! If I was going to spend $600 on anything it would NOT be a knitting bag or any other type of craft bag! So I asked around for ideas on what people would like to see in a knitting bag.

I don't sell my things for now, thinking about it, but, asking others for input is nice because I have made items in the past, shown them to people and they go "Oh thats great and if it had X it would be better" so why not just ask first then design and create?

So without further ado, here is my worlds almost perfect sock project bag!

(these are all clickable link photos so click to see a larger image of each)




This is the outside you can see the front view with a clear pocket for a project sheet and the side width. I like a nice structured bag and this is a very nice rectangular bag standing all on it's own!




The vinyl exterior pocket is the prefect place for either a pattern book, index cards or regular sheet of paper with your pattern printed onto it. This came from asking how people carry their projects around. Most seemed to do what I do, print off a pattern on regular paper or scan and print it off, but some liked having the book or index cards. Here it doesn't matter, the clear pocket will keep it well protected. Added bonuses are that the pockets large enough to hold a few more things and you can write on it with a dry erase marker and wipe off to keep track of where you are.




Again, taking suggestions and what I wanted in a bag, we have an attached scissor minder with a pocket to protect the tips of the scissors and your projects from the scissors themselves. This accommodates from a small pair of travel scissors up to a regular pair of seamstress scissors. On this same side a welted zippered pocket that can hold up to 9in dpns or circular needles, also a measuring tape, post it notes, pen, several sets of dpns or circs.

I also included an elasticized pouch. This way when you need to put that sock away it can go into the pouch staying neat with the needles right there and won't just get mangled bouncing around in the bag!





Then I added 3 yarn minder pouches. Each allows you to see how much yarn you have left on a skein, holds up to a larger skein of sock yarn (ie noro and sockatta pictured) or 2-3 skeins in 1 pouch of something like panda cotton, melody, even 2 cakes wound on a ball winder per pouch. So you could hold more then one sock project at a time if you chose (or even a few dish clothes, scarf, smaller projects).

Each pouch has a zippered top so your yarn won't fall out or be damaged, dirty etc. Then I added grommets to feed the yarn through. This way your yarn stays neat and tidy and would also be perfect for working 2 socks at a time and keeping that yarn from tangling all up.






Here it all is opened up! You can see the pouch to hold your WIP is right near the minded yarn. Because the bag is structured you can easily set it on a table to view the pattern and feed the yarn out the bag, or set it on the floor when you don't need to have the pattern in the bag or view it.

I'm excited to start using it, but, now I probably should finish the husbands socks you see pictured. I took a break to make a new bag to put them in!

Spin In 2008 at Black Bear Winery Greene NY

We went to a local Spin in today at the Black Bear Winery. It wasn't a large event about 8-10 local farmers who raise anything from goats, different breeds of sheep and alpaca, but, they were a wealth of knowledge!

I had my drop spindle on me and my son and I started talking to a very nice woman named Amy who raises Angora rabbits and Fin sheep. I was asking about the bunnies as she had chosen not to bring them today because they were freshly plucked and looked like any normal bunnie right now, but, when she next breeds them she has my number so I may have one YAY!

Then we turned our attention to her fin sheep. They have a very soft coat much different in feel to a shetland sheep.

Here is Tony (the dark brown sheep) and Zinnia the light Tan in a little pen where we could pet and feed them. Both were born back in March of 2008 but in different litters and were bottle fed even though the rest of their litters were mother fed.






There were also 2 freshly sheered Alpacas there. You could pet them if they came close enough to allow you. Their head was still fluffy and so soft and their freshly sheered bodies felt like a chenille afghan.












The owners of all and the spinners were more then happy to talk to anyone about the animals, fleece, bats, roving you name it. Amy, the fin sheep owner, handed us some prepared roving from some of her sheep and started to help my youngest son spin this onto a drop spindle. She was having a ball teaching him and he was picking it up very fast! He ended up spinning about 10 1/2 yards in 15 min so she then taught him how to andean ply it with itself to make a yarn suitable for knitting and to help set the twist.

Here's His first spin off:




He now has a little over 5 yrds of plyed fin wool to knit with.

Amy was impressed with his interest and how fast he was picking this up and offered him some roving she had in her car. We walked up with her to find bags full of roving and out she pulls a blanket of brown fin wool and hands it to him, to play with, about 2 lbs.





We got her name and address and she took down ours for a bunny but we are invited to stop into her farm any time. She also has a spinning wheel shes willing to loan out for a month to get me totally addicted and drooling for my own lol

Then I spotted Sharron who is a local Alpaca farmer who blames me for getting her addicted to some online sites :) It's all in good fun. But, she just shoved some orange alpaca roving into the bag I was carrying and told me to take it. Then she handed Ben some White to card in with his wool and play with it more. She has a spinning group that meets at her farm and I am invited to come out and spin with them whenever I like! I was in heaven!







Amy also gave us a small sample of her angora rabbits last plucking





It started to rain a bit so we went inside for a wine tasting mmmm It's not bad either you get to taste 6 wines for $3, so the hubby and I each did our own tasting and shared so we sampled 12 of their wonderful berry wines. They don't use grapes at all so white/red doesn't make a difference because its not what you are use to with grape based wines. It was wonderful! I came home with a bottle of Strawberry Dream which is a desert wine and to me its desert in and of itself! It smells like Strawberry shortcake and tastes heavenly! The Hard cider is good as well and we were told by the owner is great mixed with beer too! I also fell in love with their Elderberry wine, Ruby, Starlight and Cranberry Zing. We will be going back for more!

We came home and Ben had to keep on spinning but he wanted to practice. So I gave him some commercial roving and he's been spinning away.







He now has about 15 yards of commercial roving spun up and wants to again practice plying it. He's very good at spinning and picked it up fast. So fast that Sharron saw his yarn Amy taght him to spun and jokingly showed him her's said "I've been spinning for 4 years now and yours is better...ok you go away now!" LOL

We had a great time though and I hope the event only gets larger each year. I know I will be looking for it next year and spreading the word as well as visiting these local farms and learning from them and buying (well bartering as many don't sell their roving or hand spun but will barter it for anything you have)

Day 4

Well originally there was a mix up and my partner opened her day 4 items on day 6 and then replaced day 4 with her day 6 items. So here is here day 4? day 6? LOL who knows but she loved it.


This is a double point needle organizer that has holes on the top to hang from cup hooks on the wall. There are three tiers so enough to put like 20 sets of dpns in there and the tan strip was left blank as she can customize it and write, stamp or embroider the number corresponding to the size needle she is keeping in that pocket. I loved this idea and need to make one of my own.
Then I made 3 needle cases. Then can each hold about 10 size 7 dpns or so, so great and roomy for double pointed needles on the go but not yet in use.

Here was everything together. The little green and tan things to the left are double pointed needle covers for the tips. So when the needles are in use you can put a felt end over each side and there is elastic in between to keep them taught and on the needles so your stitches won't slip off while in transit. Then the manilla envelope held lots of scrap paper i had collected all over, a bag full of buttons and such because my partner does a lot of paper crafts and ATC's so always is looking for supplies. Then the greenish/gray yarn is Italian mohair (about 350 yrds) that my grandmother brought home from Genoa. It's a small farm in the country side there that produces this yarn but onlt sells it locally and not retail. My grandmother has gotten me a lot in the past and was in Italy when I started this so I asked her to grab me some in a green colorway. It comes in a paper bag just off their spinning machines all dropped into the bag and not in a hank at all. I rewashed it all and smoothed it out so it was easier for my partner to ball up.

And, this row counter bracelet I almost forgot to take a picture of and almost forgot to put in the bag. It has 9 smaller beads and 10 larger beads. The idea is you wear it and once you complete a row you slip a smaller bead through the loop on the bracelet. Then after 9 small beads have been slipped through (meaning you have completed 9 rows) once you finish the tenth row you slip the 9 smaller beads back and 1 large bead through the loop, then, you continue on with the smaller beads. You can work and count 100 rows with this one little bracelet.
I received this wonderful spinning kit! Included was a card stating I cannot hold my partner responsible when I want to invest in a spinning wheel soon after learning.
There was a wooden drop spindle with a book on how to use this (and other types of spindles)
4 braids of hand dyed wools to get me startedAnd one braid had a sample of what the yarn should look like once spun up. It's beautiful and gives me an idea of what the difference is in look from dyed fleece to spun yarn

Day 9

My partner and I have both opened our day 9 gifts YAY (jealous yet?)
Ok so I saw this pattern for crocheted glass ornament covers and my first thought was "pretty but if the glass ball breaks your ornaments ruined" DUH it's a jacket you crochet and then slip over the ornament. Once I finally read the pattern and realized this I deided to make them.
So I sent my partner 9 hand crocheted glass ball ornament covers, of course, on 9 glass balls.

And I received 9 (ok 10 she tied 2 together and called it 1) skeins of yarn, 3 skeins of caron simply soft, 3 skeins of caron bliss, 1 skein of hand spun hand dyed merino wool, 1 skein of hand spun hand dyed bfl wool, and 2 skeins of hand painted merino wool. I am in heaven, they are all so lush and wonderful

here's the before,a nice sack made to wrap them all

the pictures don't even do the colors justice!


And, here are some more pictures of what I sent for day 10. My partner took better pics of them then I did.