mmw: drop spindle

Showing posts with label drop spindle. Show all posts

15.5.15

The Baa-ble Hat--finished!

I finished the Baa-ble Hat last night and I am pleased with the end result. Knitting with handspun yarn can be a challenge. Originally the original green yarn I spun looked like a worsted weight. I carded the blue-green Finnsheep with the yellow-green wool from Sue Ross and did not spin quite fine enough to obtain the gauge I wanted. The other yarns in the stash were thinner and more even, so I quickly spun some more of the Finnsheep and was happier with the result. There is a tiny hint of the bright green and I like the cool blue cast in the yarn.

I love how the Finnsheep blends into the other wool and changes the color.

Late last night I was so excited to be finished in time for Shepherd's Harvest.

A bit of steam worked nicely to smooth the crown

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Inside I tied the pompom to a button. I use a strand of dental floss doubled to tie pompoms. It is strong and stays tight around the core of the pompom.

The sheep color changed three times. I started out with white, changed to gray and then back to white. Digging deeper into the stash I found a nice white that matched the thickness of the other yarns and used the fluffier tweed white for the snow and in the pompom. At first I thought the white would not stand out enough from the pale indigo used in the crown, but I liked it so much better than the gray and I did not have any darker blue in the stash. The rustic texture adds to the charm of the design. This morning I put the hat on the form and used the steam iron to give it a few blasts of steam and smoothed and patted the crown with my hands. Rather than attaching the pompom permanently I tied in on the inside to a button, which will make washing the hat easier and keep the pompom looking good. There was enough blue left to make a small pompom.

The final color choices. I had just enough of the sheep white to use for the sheep section. I think that some mittens or fingerless mitts may be in order for later.

Tomorrow is Shepherd's Harvest and I was happy to see my short bio on the website. I have to get my stuff together today. I kept the demo to top whorl drop spindling. I have the Shetland roving from last year's trip to Jamieson & Smith to finish, BFL cloud and linen. That should be enough variety to keep me busy. Everything will fit nicely into a basket, so I will not have a lot to tote from the car. Rain and warm temperatures are expected tomorrow, which does not affect the festival because fiber-folk love all things woolly and soft along with meeting old and new friends. Classes begin today. I did not sign up for any this year, but next year I want to take the felted fleece taught by Becky Utecht if she offers it again. I can take my time to find the perfect skirted fleece!

11.5.15

Spinning yarns to make a hat

It is a damp day and perfect for sitting by the window, carding and spindling. Now, as much as I would LOVE to be back in Shetland this year for Wool Week, it just is not possible. The next best thing is making this year's Wool Week hat out of my handspun. Donna Smith's design is so cute, and is the perfect wearable for those of us that love sheep. I loved knitting the shop sample out of Rowan Pure Wool Worsted, and the minute I finished it seemed appropriate that the next version be made out of handspun yarn. This morning I dug through the stash and spinning fiber to find the colors. There was some lovely spindle spun yarn in pale blue from Anoka Fiber Works. The color is from the remains of an indigo dyeing session. Sky--check. The jury is still out on the color of the sheep. They will be brown or white depending upon how much of each color is on hand and if the thickness is compatible with the other yarns. Sheep--check. The grass color must be green and it just so happens that there was some beautiful spring green wool in a small bag from our field trip to Sue Ross' farm a couple of years ago. The yellow green is going well, but I went back to the wool stash and found the bag of dyed blue-green Finnsheep wool I received as part of a prize package from Interweave Press in 1999. I re-carded the yellow-green and added the blue-green together and I like the color much better. The grass will look much better with the sky color, a bit more washed out. Grass--check.

The yellow-green wool has nice crimp and color.

The blue-green Finnsheep wool blends beautifully to tone down the yellow of the other wool.

This coming weekend is Shepherd's Harvest Festival at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Lake Elmo. It has grown since I first visited with Kathy some years ago. This year I volunteered to demonstrate top whorl spindle spinning. This seemed like a good choice, as the materials are very portable! I have plenty of fiber to spin and may card together an art batt or two to take along. It would be particularly nice to finish the handspun Baa-ble Hat in time for the festival.

The project on my needles at the moment is Uluru, a little capelet to wear over something sleeveless. I was using the Juniper Moon Sophie for another project and was not feeling the love of lace knitting, so I promptly looked for another project. This fit the bill perfectly for the linen and cotton blend yarn. If I need some extra to fill in, there are a couple of skeins of Ito cotton. The stitching is simple stockinette with a row of wrapped stitches in which one wrap is dropped when purled. The loose row of stitches adds interest with a change in texture. To work a wrapped stitch: On a knit row, wrap the yarn twice around the needle when knitting each stitch. On the purl row, purl the stitch as usual while allowing one of the two wraps to drop, which results in an elongated stitch.

The wrapped stitches on the left needle become elongated when one of the two wrapped stitches is dropped on the purl row.

The elongated row of stitches adds interest and a change of texture to the knitted fabric.

16.2.15

Newsflash! WIPs turn into FOs! Making my way through the projects.

More finished objects. Slowly but surely I am working through all the projects on the needles and not starting anything new, which is difficult. I also finished spinning the Icelandic/Shetland blend and whatever I knit will be called Rollo after Andrea's sweet puppy.

The yarn is made from Black Cat Farmstead's Icelandic/Shetland blend.

I finished the Beaded Beret. It stayed on the needles far too long, but I enjoyed finishing it. The project is perfect for trying out adding beads to knitting. It is a shop sample so I may have to dig into the stash after I finish other projects to make one for spring.

Beaded Beret--The stippled colorway, Twyla Brae, of the Richard Devries yarn is named after a remote village in Scotland. The beads can remind me of raindrops.

The Kaffecushion is sewn together and is at the shop. The colors are so pretty and it is a good project to show off both the color and yarn. Rowan Pure Wool Worsted is very nice to work with and the colors are just beautiful.

The cushion is 24" x 24" and propped against the little cupboard my father made for my sister the year I was born. It is a piece of furniture I treasure.

Next is Greta, the fingering weight cardigan. I joined the sleeves and the body last night. It is a good thing the cable on the circular needle is long to
accommodate the 457 stitches! I will scout out some buttons next time I am at the shop. Photos will be posted when the yoke has progressed.

Last week I got an email from Blue Sky to do some sample work--not knitted--and I am excited to work on it.

Saturday was spin-in at Anoka Fiber Works. We had a pretty big crowd and had to move the circle bigger. I may not be buying yarn, but when I saw the gorgeous clouds from Linda, I could not resist. I have the light art yarn spun from the batt I made while visiting Joanne in Texas and the colors would look good with the blue and white cloud.