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!

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.