July 19, 2009September 27, 2009 - saffronknits 3 Comments

le tour de fleece continues…

I finished spinning the Lame Duck Mallard colorway.

While I didn’t fall in love with the yarn I created, I was very pleased with the progress I made on chain-plying. I’d previously been underplying my singles (and the plies) so I worked to add more twist, even going so far as to add too much twist in places. Hopefully, at some point, I’ll find a balance. It’s hard for me to tell if I have enough twist. So I’m trying to add more twist than I think I need. Being a solitary spinner, it’s more of a challenge to figure this out.

Now I’m spinning this:

Dyed by Spincerely – Superwash Merino in the colorway, Delilah.

I’m spinning it fine so it’s going a little slower, but I’m enjoying it. I love spinning Merino. I started out with a couple pf pre-drafted sections, but I lost the color variations so now I’m spinning directly from the top.

I also finished my socks this week! Stay tuned for pictures! Hope you enjoy your week!

July 9, 2009October 3, 2009 - saffronknits 10 Comments

tour de fleece begins aka I’m obsessed!

First off all… what was in the box? My very own Majacraft Rose!! Whoo Hoo!!!! I haven’t had a chance to take some really good photos of it but here’s a peek:

I feel I made very good investment with this purchase.

See that little bit of pink in the lower left corner? It’s what I worked on first for Tour de Fleece. It was a work-in-progress that I had on my spindle for a while. I had totally over pre-drafted it but I wanted to finished it.

It was hand dyed by Spincerely, one of my favorite indie dyers, in the colorway ‘Goldflame Honeysuckle.’

I’m am very happy with the final results. I call it ‘Flower Petals’.

Started: 07-04-09 (as WIP)
Completed: 07-07-09

Weight: 3 ounces
Length: 208.3 yards

I LOVE it! I think it’s enough to follow through with my original thought to use it for a Morning Surf scarf. (If I can’t stop staring at the yarn, that is. )

Now I’m working on this:

It’s from the Spunky Eclectic Fiber club in the Colorway ‘Lame Duck Mallard’ – Superwash BFL. Not one of my favorite colorways so it’s perfect to practice chain-plying. I’m going to spin 2 ounces and then ply those singles and trying to figure out why I have such trouble. I’m enjoying spinning the singles – I’ve never spun BFL before and I’m like it.

In other news, my socks…

…I only have to do the cuffs and they will be done! Yay!

Fiber is so much fun, isn’t it?

June 10, 2009September 27, 2009 - saffronknits 4 Comments

more fiber fun

I worked with fiber from Sweet Georgia Yarns Fibre Club this past week – 4 oz Merino in the colorway Renewal:

I decided to work on chain-plying (n-ply). It proved to be a challenge. And in the end, I prevailed…

…and I love it! I call it ‘Jewel’. *happy sigh* I just love handspun.

May 24, 2009October 20, 2009 - saffronknits 2 Comments

a new day is done

I finished ‘New Day’ from Spunky Club. I hadn’t expected to like it as much as I do. I’m very pleased with it.

May 9, 2009December 19, 2009 - saffronknits 2 Comments

my first three-ply

Here it is! The learning curve of wheel spinning feels so high at the point. Some of it is wildly over plied and some is ridiculously underplied… but it can only get better from here, right? I’d never done a true 3-ply before, not even on a spindle. I don’t know the yardage yet but it is wet finished.

I chain-plied (navajo-ply) what was left on the bobbins. I haven’t wet finished it yet, but I wanted to show it to you.

I’ve already moved on to my next spinning project. Finally delving into to fiber from the Spunky Electic Fiber Club: New Day – Corridale. I definitely struggle with longer staple fibers, even on the spindle. But this was the reason I joined fiber club – to work with different fibers, to find out what I enjoy working with. So far, Merino & Rambouillet are at the top of my list. This is destined to be a two-ply yarn.

See ya later, alligator! Happy Knitting and Spinning to you!

August 30, 2008November 5, 2008 - saffronknits 6 Comments

Night Vine

I finally finished spinning for my HHHH swap pal and the fiber is now on its way.

I bought the fiber from FatCatKnits, entitled ‘Night Vine’ – 4 ounces of Merino…

It went from this…

to this…

173.33+ yards of chain-plied handspun yarn. I didn’t get a WPI, but it seemed to mostly range from sport to worsted. Ironically, this is the most yardage I’ve gotten so far in my spinning. That would have been the only reason I’d have wanted to keep this fiber. The colors really weren’t my favorites and I’m glad it’s going to someone I hope will enjoy the colors more than I would.

Here’s more photos for you to enjoy!

June 10, 2008August 24, 2008 - saffronknits 2 Comments

taking my life into my own hands…

How did I do that? By spinning! Since the fiber was tucked neatly in thier plastic bags, I thought maybe I would try spinning some singles that had been sitting round.

This is what I got done – superwash merino wool, hand painted by Dave Daniels, Navajo plied.

The spinning was a success. What I forgot to do was wash my hands. So when, for whatever reason, I put my hand to my eye, thus began the itching and so forth. The things we go through so we can play with fiber, hm?

I also discovered something today. My birthday is the same day as The Yarn Harlot. I think that’s kinda kewl.

January 27, 2008December 7, 2008 - saffronknits 3 Comments

fusion fibre fun

I started a new project yesterday. The yarn, called fusion, is 287 yards of squishy soft merino handspun by FatCatKnits.

I love knitting with handspun. It has ‘personality’ and ‘character’, feels nice between the fingers and is generally fun to work with.

I’m making a ‘Woven Stitch Scarf’ from Ella Rae Designs Book One. It calls for US Size 15 (10 mm) needles so hopefully it’ll go quickly. You’re supposed to cast on 15 stitches, but I think this yarn is thinner than the yarn used in the pattern so I cast on 19 stitches because 15 stitches was too thin, in my opinion. I just hope I have enough yarn for a decent length scarf. This will make a nice gift for someone one day.

The fingerless mittens (which are NOT blue, by the way) are stalled. The first one is 97% finished (still needs a thumb) and the 2nd one I’ve had to rip parts out twice – first because I forgot to switch to larger sized needles, then, while working the thumb gusset, I had an odd number of stitches for the gusset when I need an even number. So, I’m working on the scarf for now and I’ll go back to the fingerless mitts in a bit.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

December 20, 2007July 29, 2009 - saffronknits 3 Comments

spinning and playing…er… plying

Before I show you my new spindle, I have to share this with you – Presenting my first skein of 3-ply (chain plied) handspun and I love it! This is the first completed skein that I am truly pleased with.

4 oz, 106 yards. Blended Roving of 80% merino/20% colonial from CJ Kopec Creations.

from this and this:

to this:

December 10, 2007July 7, 2008 - saffronknits 4 Comments

no knitting… just spinning…

A month or two ago, I tried my hand at navajo plying on a spindle with a strip of fiber I had. I think it came out pretty well for a first attempt:

So, what I’m spinning now is specifically for extended practice of the same technique. I only have 4 more strips of fiber left:

October 24, 2007November 25, 2008 - saffronknits 7 Comments

as the spindle turns…

(picture heavy post)

In the beginning… I spun these. I bought a sampler of some unknown wool that I really didn’t like.

But this one was my very first attempt at spinning. I caught onto it very quickly… and I think I only dropped my spindle once while working on this little skein.

My next attempt: 4 oz of dyed Corridale from Hello Yarn which resulted in about 35 yds of super bulky yarn. I have no clue what to do with it.

This is the fiber that started all this spinning. This time I managed to get 70 yds from the 4 oz of Merino. I was kinda nervous about using this fiber ’cause I kept hearing that it can be a challenge for beginning spinners but I had no trouble with it at all.

I continued my quest to get more yardage from 4 oz of fiber. This merino top (Dy-no-mite) was hand dyed by FatCatKnits. When I first finished this skein, I wasn’t happy with it… which is why I haven’t blogged about it until now. This time I got 100 yards of yarn. I kinda like it now.

Below is what I finished plying last night. It’s approx 173 yds, 2 oz of natural Merino. I’m not sure what the wpi is… however … if you read my previous post about my spinning goal … well, I guess I reached it. Which has me totally amazed. Now a better goal would be to try to get worsted weight… to spin thicker. I guess I was so focused on spinning thinner singles, I went beyond what I was trying for. This took quite a while to spin … and … I have 2 oz more to spin. This will be the most I’ve gotten out of 4 oz of fiber!

Up next? I’m going to spin one of the other wool tops/rovings that I have before I get back to this yarn. Spinning about 346 yards of singles can get pretty boring when it’s one color.

In knitting news, I’m almost finished with the Beret. I’ve just started the decreases. I’m very much enjoying this pattern! Thanks for the fun, Grumperina!

And now for the good news! I ordered a new spindle!!! WOO HOO! I mailed payment today and it should take about 3-4 weeks for me to get it! I’m so excited! But I don’t wanna say what kind yet… I wanna surprise you! Stay tuned!!!!!!!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by!

ttfn!

October 9, 2007January 17, 2009 - saffronknits 5 Comments

WIP it good…

1. Fetching - (the color is not even representative of it’s true nature. Digital cameras do not like red… mine especially. )
[Yarn is Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes Cranberry]

I’m actually nearly done with this one… but it is too small
(yes, just like Odessa …I detecting a theme here… )
So I’m going to rip this out and try again with size US 7 needles. The good news, tho, is that this is my very first cable project!! That was a goal for me to do this year. The cable needle is a little fiddly but ok. (I’m not ready to try it w/out a cable needle… I tried and it didn’t work.) I can’t wait to do more cable projects!

2. Bejeweled –
Neck scarf made from Carnivale handspun.

Here is picture of the front …

Below is the section that helped me come up with the name.

Bejeweled

The only thing left to do is the bind off … but I’m not happy about which row I’ve ended on so I need to think about it before complete this project.

3. Socks –

These are in a holding pattern while I decide if I want to rip them out or continue them. The yarn is so pretty but the colors have become so muddy in this pattern and there’s a pooly-stripeyness that I just can’t get used to. And if the pattern looks familiar, it is. I modified the Cookie A.’s Monkey socks so I could do them toe up. There’s still one thing I wanna fix on the pattern. I learned a lot working on these. That’s why I’ haven’t ripped them out yet despite my frustration at knitting them.

4. Amethyst Socks
And, I’m still working on these socks.

I am on the heel of the 2nd sock.

Knitting on US size 2 needles goes sooooooooooooooooo slooooooooooow. But I’m still chuggin’ along.

Enjoy your week!

September 16, 2007December 5, 2008 - saffronknits 5 Comments

i couldn’t wait…

I knew what it was gonna be before I even got it. I could picture it in my head… so after a few days of admiring (and petting) the skein, I finally wound Carnivale into a center pull ball and cast on. I’m not using a pattern, really … I got some guidelines for size from another pattern, chose a stitch pattern and started knitting.

(This is the back of the project, btw. I’ll reveal the front upon completion )

In other news, my dear friend Sira now has a knitting blog!!!! I’m so happy about this! Please take a moment to stop by and say hello and welcome her to Knit Blog Land!

Sira’s Blog

Have a good week!!!

September 12, 2007March 15, 2010 - saffronknits 8 Comments

Carnivale

Hand painted and hand spun by David T. Daniels… and it’s all mine! *insert evil laugh here*
(see his blog post about spinning this yarn here)

BONUS PIC!

See what I’ve been spinning?

July 22, 2007July 7, 2008 - saffronknits 4 Comments

i’m all about the spinning…

(warning: picture heavy post)

At least this past week has been about the spinning…mostly.

First of all, I changed my banner at the top of this page from ‘and crochets too’ to ‘and spins too’. I can already tell that I’m going to spin more than I will crochet so I wanted it to reflect that.

Secondly, I joined the Hello Yarn Fiber Club! (see the lovely button in my sidebar?) I’ve been wanting to join a club but sock yarn clubs are so expensive. I wasn’t able to join the first round of this club, but I’ve been keeping watch for the next one so when it was time to join, I hopped on board! This should prove fun and challenging.

Thirdly, unless Dave updates the mercantile, I won’t be buying yarn for a while. But in this declaration, I unwittingly did not include rovings … which is good, ’cause I just bought this (flikr link). How could I resist a roving that’s almost exactly what I was looking for and named for one of my ABSOLUTE favorite pieces?!? As it seemed to have been made specifically for me, I couldn’t. This will be fun to play with … but it’s not my next spinning project. For that… you’ll have to stay tuned.

And lastly…I finished spinning the ‘I Want Candy’ roving!! YAY! Here are pictures of the progression:

The Roving:
‘I Want Candy’ , 4 oz Merino wool hand painted by MadelineTosh

Pre-drafting:

Singles:

Plied:

Soaking:

Finished:

Presenting ‘Candy Shop Explosion’
70 yards of thick/thin, mostly bulky, 4 oz. Merino handspun

This was an interesting process. I can’t say that I love this yarn nor can I say I hate it. What I can say is that I’m proud of it and I do plan to use it.

I will have news on my Sockapalooza socks soon…

Thanks for stopping by!!

March 29, 2007December 5, 2008 - saffronknits 4 Comments

Finished Object – Heart Scarf

I don’t have a lot to say today… so here are some pictures of my finished heart scarf. It still need blocking, but I managed to make it look ok for pictures. I love blue and I love hearts.:)

edited to add some details:
Yarn: Handspun, 6-7 WPI (I’m not sure of yardage)
Pattern: Heart Scarf from Fall 2004 Knitty Surprise
Needles: Size 15
Other: It took about a week for me to finish this project.