Clown Socks and Hanspun!

Hello my dears. First thing - I am switching to bi-weekly shop updates. I put lots of lovelies in the shop last Friday, so keep an eye out next week! I need to dedicate more work time to preparing for my favourite show of the year, Fibres West.

Wanna see some things I finished? I am madly head over heels in love with these socks:

I have crazy clown socks and you are totally jealous.

They were knit toe up, two at a time, with a Fleegle Heel. I love knitting toe up socks, even if cuff down heel flap socks fit me best. I find the extra structure and density of the heel flap keeps the socks from sliding around.

I knit these two at a time because they were dyed in a very particular yarn prep: the sock blank. I got mine from Fat Cat Knits in her Child's Play colourway, but there are other sources if she isn't able to make you one. A sock blank is two strands of yarn held together and knit (generally on a machine) into a rectangle. The dyer then can do all sorts of fun things, creating gradients, stripes, or fascinating variegated colours. The knitter unravels the blank to knit it. I wanted to have seriously matchy crazy socks, so I did some googling and figured out how to work socks two at a time. Honestly, I deeply disliked the method and won't do it again except to knit up my other sock blank. It would be great for those of you who suffer from debilitating second sock syndrome, but that's thankfully not an issue for me.

Action shot! Not pictured: my seething irritation at all the tangling and yarn management.

Another fun project was this handspun:

I spun this yarn from matching gradient batts that I carded on my Fancy Kitty Kitten (if ever a giant spiky wool tool sounded like a sex toy, it's that one). They were a blend of superwash merino wool, sparkly trilobal nylon (also known as firestar), and recycled sari silk in my My Little Pony inspired Luna colourway. The yarn blends smoothly from grey to turquoise, marine blue, navy, and black. I think it'll make an amazing shawl.

It's a simple semi-woolen 2-ply, spun for softness and bounce. I gave it to my mum for her birthday so I can't remember the exact yardage, but I'm thinking about 400 yards of fingering weight. So pretty! Sari silk makes all the difference, adding a textured tweedy look that makes me grateful I am a spinner.

That's all for now! I'll have more fun things to share soon.

 

Magnolia Socks

Despite the glut of Christmas crafting going on right now, I felt the need to cast on a little selfish knitting to work on at Knit City. I decided, after much deliberation, to knit up some handspun socks. I used BFL from Fat Cat Knits - one of my favourite dyers. Her Magnolia colourway is so stunningly perfect for fall (and spring, and summer) knitting, so I finally drummed up the nerve and cast on my first non-superwash socks.

I LOVE THESE SOCKS YOU GUYS.

spot the cat feet!

The pattern is an improvised cuff down jobby that I came up with in the waiting line for the ferry to Vancouver. Simple stockinette with a bit of 1 x 1 rib for fit, tapering off in the gusset. I love the way these socks feel so I may write up something similar for y'all, but not until I can perfect their appearance. I'm pretty proud of the spinning on these - I spun two matching balls of striping yarn, and they were pretty darn close! I'll spin for a more rapid stripe sequence next time though.

So - non superwash verdict? Excellent! I love the way the socks hold their shape - I wore them three days in a row (hush, I was having a bad week) and they didn't bag and slump like superwash socks do. The pure BFL really is fantastic for socks - they're pretty and shiny with a smidge of a halo. I've had some very minor felting on the soles right at the balls of my feet, but I made the socks a tiny bit big to accomodate for the inevitable so it's all good. They washed up nicely - having non-superwash socks motivates me to do a proper wool wash soak (with just a tiny smidge of agitation to get the dirt out) for my socks and bras instead of slowly ruining them by tossing them in the washer (and occasionally the dryer!).

If you spin and you haven't made socks with your yarn yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. Join me!

 

Knit City Acquisitions

Hello my dears! I've been trying to get some blog posts down for ages, but life... it gets in the way. I've taken a position on our housing co-operative's board of directors, and I'm still re-adjusting my work/life balance. Also the Christmas knitting. Oh the knitting. And sewing. And embroidering. I'm screwed.

Anyway, my purchases on Knit City weekend ranged from pretty damned restrained to all sorts of splurgey. I was faced with so much beautiful yarn that desperately wanted to come home with me, but I've been experiencing some yarn-stash-size guilt lately and I resisted. I nearly went crazy in the Indigo Dragonfly booth, but in the end I was able to escape. I did indulge in some fibre though!

These pretty white batts from Caliope's Fibre look like sparkly decorative Christmas snow, and they have some interesting wools in them. Wensleydale! Whitefaced Woodland! I'm sensing some lace or sock weight. In their future.

I indulged in another single batt from Caliope's Fibre as well, probably for corespinning. I'm a textiles geek, and this batt has Ramie in it! Cool! Also she has a discount for sets of three, and I'm a sucker for a sale.

My only other market purchase was a little more luxurious, but oh my was it worth it! I bought 200g of 50/50 merino/yak fibre from Sweet Georgia, in this fall's sumptuous Tapestry colourway. It's almost immeasurably soft and I plan to do something really special with it. I'm thinking of separating the colours into a gradient and spinning a laceweight for the Evenstar shawl. Wouldn't that be spectacular?

My true splurge though? I went to the Fluevog store in Gastown. And I bought something. And I have never regretted a large purchase less than these gorgeous, gorgeous ankle boots. They're luscious, wonderfully comfy considering they're the highest heel I've owned that I can actually stand in (hush, I know they're not that high, but I'm unbelievably clumsy and I loathe shoe pain), and have the perfect style combination of western, equestrian, and motorcycle chic. Also I have no other black shoes. My only worry is that I've begun a very expensive shoe addiction. The service in the Gastown location was phenomenal. Go see them.

There you have it folks! Now I must resist purchases for a few months! I'm going to guess I trip up around Black Friday, but I'll do my best. Wish me luck!

 

Camp Out Mitts = Awesome

I was feeling a little down the other day. I didn't feel like knitting on my WIP's, I didn't feel like pulling out the wheel, spindling seemed pointless. Everything was just very meh. And then I realized what my lack of knitting mojo/excess of ennui was hinged on: I didn't have a handspun project going! Naturally I dug out the best and brightest of my handspun stash, because if you're needing a boost, this is the yarn:

It's BFL in the Fever colourway from Spun Right Round. It's the first time I was able to intentionally spin that plump 2-ply look that shows off barber-poled colour so well. I adore this yarn. I had it queued up with the Camp Out fingerless Mitts by Tante Ehm - an awesome, easy, free pattern that looks amazing with handspun. My yarn was no exception.

Can I just say how much I adore fractal spinning? Notice, if you will, that the location of the colours in one of the plies (the short colour repeat ply, to be precise) perfectly match on both mitts. Orange at the top of the stockinette, red, purple, then turquoise on the wrist, and so on. But the other ply is in a different stage of the colour sequence, so the mitts look totally different! It's amazing!

I made them as long as I could without having to increase for arm fatness, and I still have a nice little ball of yarn left. I used about 90 yards. Each mitt was finished in a single 1-2 hour sitting. My ennui is cured!

 

Doesn't Share Well With Others

I have this grand idea that when I finish things, I'll put them on the blog. That said, if sharing is caring then I'm a heartless bastard. So yet again, here's a big post full of all the things I forgot to show you. Handspun things this time! Beware: so many pictures ahead. If you don't like pictures of pretty yarn... Are you lost?

Corespun, from a batt by Blushing Ewe

Super bulky n-ply, "Chavalier" on Falkland from Fat Cat Knits

Shetland in "Porch Blanket" from Edgewood Garden Studio

Inglenook Fibers batt, "Camelot”

My first finished supported spindle yarn - a local alpaca/merino/tencel batt.

A crazy art batt from Spin Culture called "Firetrap"
And since I got the Lendrum just recently:

"Silver Threads Among the Gold" BFL from Edgewood Garden Studio

Merino/Silk Laceweight from Muse Fibreworks

Fabulous glitzy layered batts from Caliope's Fibre
There's more on the bobbins, but it'll have to wait!

Fibres West

I know it was two weeks ago, but I swear I'm still recovering from all the awesomeness that was Fibres West. It was a fun, well organized show and a pleasure to attend both as a vendor and a shopper. We had beautiful weather for travel:

Island life is sooooo hard :P

And the booth was cozy but cute and super full of pretty things:

And the shopping was really really good:

Cherry and Ebony Tibetan, from http://ancientartsfibre.com/

Handmade WPI gauge, from Buttons by Kees

Suffolk/Southdown from http://www.hummingbeefarm.webs.com/

Kid Mohair from http://www.hummingbeefarm.webs.com/

Handspun from my booth neighbour http://facebook.com/HannahminsFibre

I'm pretty pleased with the whole thing. Thank you all for coming to see me!

 

Knitting With Handspun is the Most Rewarding Thing Ever

I just finished two projects, both of which, quite frankly, are amazing. I don't like to toot my own horn too loud, but dudes, I rocked these. Both are from handspun yarns I made last year. Knitting with handspun is the bomb.

First, because it's more amazing than anything I've ever done, even if the pictures are a bit meh: my Pomme de Pin Cardigan. I bought a fabulous local organically raised Romney fleece, washed it, carded it, and spun about 900g during Tour de Fleece last year.

 I really enjoyed Amy Christoffers' pattern. It doesn't have any shaping so it creates a cozy, casual silhouette (read: it doesn't make me look magically thin). The buttons are applewood, from Pymatuning Crafts.

Mods: a slightly wider button band. It creates a shawl-collar-like effect and adds a little extra width, as I had some gauge issues and the sweater came out a bit smaller than I planned.

Things I have learned: If you just can't get a good colour balance when editing a photo, take the colour out entirely!

Also I had awesome eye makeup that day. Base of light pink, lined in dark rose pink, inner corners in sunflower yellow, centre of lid in melon orange, and outer and contours in bronze brown. I like unnatural and bright eyeshadow - my eyelids are no more shimmery beige than they are hot pink, so I may as well have fun, right?

I'm exactly as tired as I look. All the time. Yawwwwn.

Not-a-pro-tip: a fine tip paint brush from Michaels costs $4.99 and makes an amazing precision eyeliner brush.

Second: my Damask shawl. This bottom-up pattern is by Kitman Figueroa. I didn't love the pattern until I saw the Yarn Harlot's handspun gradient version. I needed one too!

The fibre was from Loop, in the Desert Dawn colourway.

It's a fingering weight chain-ply, and it has sparkles!!! (Sparkles get extra exclamation points. They are the enthusiastic punctuation of the yarny world, after all).

Soft neutrals aren't usually my thing, but this time they just sing to me. Maybe it's because spring is here.

I admit, I was a little weirded out knitting a shawl bottom-up, but the last rows of the project just flew by because they were so short. I'm so proud of this project, and I'm looking forward to having an occasion to really show it off.