Back in June I started on the Spunstitches KAL and decided to spin this lovely fiber from CJ Kopec Creations
on my Fricke e-spinner
I’ve just now plied to create this
We’ll see what it inspires me to make…any ideas for a shawl pattern that this would be good for? I was thinking about this Peacock Feathers Shawl or this Angel Lace Shawl
I’m still struck by the community of knitters who came out in force at the NYS Sheep and Wool festival this past weekend. It turned out to be like a reunion of like minded folks hooking up to share in the awesome surroundings of yarn, fiber and foliage on a beautiful unseasonably warm weekend.
Eric and I attended again this year with camera and mic in hand to try and capture the spirit of the event and something happened that was really different than last year. We were recognized everywhere we went. It was really quite surprising to us both. It was so cool to meet people who watch the show because until this weekend, the audience was just a few comments and emails and stats on a webpage. Now, we have met you all face to face and hear about how our show inspired you to go to Rhinebeck or try a new knitting technique. Thanks for stopping us to say “hi”, we really appreciated it!
Keep an eye out on LetsKnit2gether or subscribe for what looks to be a multipart episode from our trip!
During the weekend:
I was a square
I aquired all this stuff
and won this
Here it is! Blocking on a sheet in my living room in all it’s beauty. After 5 weeks of spinning and knitting I’ve finished it and now I need to decide whether to enter it in competition or just wear it at Rhinebeck.
Some closeups
I love the weight of the yarn (between sport and DK) and the rich color of the natural bison is just amazing. (These pictures are a much better example of the color than the prior posts)
What do you think, should I enter it in the competition?
I can’t believe this crazy weather! Yesterday it was 88 degrees(F) in NYC and it was so bazaar to watch ice skaters in Rockefeller Center in tank tops and shorts!
No new pics today as I’m currently doing the stretchy bindoff on the Heartland shawl and I’ll be blocking tonight. I’ll post pictures after that. I’m waiting until after it blocks to decide whether I will enter it in competition or just wear it at the festival
Speaking of festival, Eric and I will be at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival on October 20-21st and we’ll be meeting folks at 3:00 Saturday by the picnic tables near building A.. Come by and see us if you’ll be there! We’ll be shooting as well so if you want to be in the show, stop by!
After flying back and forth twice to California, first for an E 2.0 conference and then to present with Eric at NewMediaExpo, I had 20 hours of pure knitting time.
Here’s what I’ve got now:
I finished 4 repeats of the Bison tracks lace pattern and now I’m going to start the edging pattern. While I was on the train this morning, I ran out of the yarn I’d spun so my commute will be spent spinning another ball!
18 days and counting!
I am once again putting pressure on myself to complete a project but this time I am absolutely crazy!
I began spinning this buffalo fiber about 2 months ago. I just love this stuff. It’s naturally a beautiful chocolate brown color and it spins up as soft as cashmere. It’s like spinning butter.
After some advice from spinners on Ravelry.com, I ended up respinning and re-plying so that I could add a strand of silk so the resulting yarn would have some memory:
So now 3 skeins later, I’ve begun knitting the Heartland Shawl by Evelyn Clark.
So why do I think I’m crazy? 
I’m going to try and complete the project in time for Rhinebeck!
I’ve been doing a lot of trips back and forth to California so I’ve got 10hours or more a week of dedicated knitting time. Hopefully that will work in my favor!
I’ll attempt to keep the blog up to date on my progress. Until next time…
Here it is, all dry and in a skein. 600 yards of what seems to be between DK and worsted weight.
Here is the candleflame scarf in progress.
Check out http://spunstitches.blogspot.com/2007/06/introduction-finally-got-myself.html for progress on my latest spinning project.
I can bring myself now to write about this experience now that the object of this entry is quietly soaking in hot water. Of course there’s always the opportunity for mishap after the soak as well……
So where did we leave off last time?
Oh yeah, here’s the roving and the start of bobbin #1
This is the full spun singles bobbin #1. It was quite difficult for me to adjust to spinning soysilk. I probably should have stuck with wool for another few spinning sessions before jumping into something different. It really required concentration to make sure it didn’t overspin.
Unfortuneatly, I did not split the roving equally because I thought I would ply it with something else. However, to my frustration, I couldn’t find what I liked. Then the second bobbin was only about 30% the size of the first bobbin. I decided to ply them together.
My stupidity started at this point.
After completely plying one full bobbin and getting to the end of singles bobbin #2, I attempted to make a center pull ball from what remained on bobbin #1 and ply from both ends.
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!
All that happened was a knotted up mess that ended up falling in on itself and leaving me with nothing but tears…..
So I stopped plying and loaded the first bobbin onto a kniddy knoddy.
You can’t tell due to the blurriness from my shaking hands, that this looks incredibly beautiful.
Then I started loading the second kniddy knoddy and realized that I had several twists, which I then tried to undo while the rest was already loaded and then everything I loaded slipped right off and onto the floor….
This is what was left of kniddy knoddy #2
Again the shakiness …..
How will this end? Check back next time after it’s dry..
Yesterday I was not paying attention when I left the house for work. I forgot my knitting! I was nearly done with the foot of my second sock with Cascade fixation and thought I could finish it on my commute but I left it sitting on the couch!
On top of this, what was I going to do with my hands for an hour and a half in the morning and again in the evening? So at lunch time, I took the subway up to 79th street and stopped in at Knitty City to say “hi” to Pearl Chin and buy me some yarn to have a project on my way home. (and then some!)
This was the project I got started.
SWTC Tofutsies – 50% Superwash Wool, 25% SoySilk, 22.5% Cotton, and 2.5 %Chitin. ( Crab and shrimp shells) It’s a fairly fine sock yarn so I’m doing magic loop on size 0. Oh, and I used yet another toe up cast on…
After several spinning sessions, plying and washing here are my 3 skeins of yarn which I spun from Miss Lime’s SpringTime Handpainted Roving which I bought from the LimenViolet etsy shop back in November.
I had finished spinning the singles from her roving a while ago, but I struggled with what to ply with. I finally decided on a silk merino blend in a slightly lighter color than the first singles and then I plyed the two strands together. There are a few really puffy spots, but the majority of it is pretty consistent. Total it’s about 12 oz. and maybe around 800 yards in what looks like a dk weight. Only my second yarn on the e-spinner and I think I’m improving!
Meanwhile this is what’s spinning up right now
This is the soysilk fiber pictured in my last entry. Aren’t the colors just gorgeous! I think I’m going to ply it with itself when I’m done with the singles.
As usual my blogging has been suffering because of all the other stuff I’ve been doing.
I just snapped a few pictures before my camera battery died and it turns out all but one of the pics I took were out of focus.
(I used a flash with this one. I don’t know why I listen to Eric when he tells me not to use flash. It seems to work better with it)
Do you wonder what it is?
It is my handspun yarn!. A bulky weight 2 ply Targhee wool yarn in a lovely off-white which was spun on my Fricke e-spinner. I got 2 pounds of this fiber free with my e-spinner and this was only the first eight ounces of it. I was truly surprised at how much it fluffed up after washing to set the twist. It’s about 300 yards. I have this handpainted targhee wool fiber from SpinningBunny.com in Tamarak and Spruce colorway which I’m going to spin up fairly soon to make a top down yoke sweater. It will make a great fall sweater.
When I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last week, I picked up some fiber 
. Most of that you’ll see in the podcast. However, I got this beautiful soysilk from Serendipity Farm and Studio which I think I’m going to try and spin up next. I want to experiment with trying different fibers before trying to push myself into creating a knitted project with my yarns.
Isn’t this color just beautiful! 8 ounces should make a lovely shawl or wrap.
On the needles: Toe up Socks in Cascade Fixation (Cotton for the Floridians in the family)
