Knitting and Unknitting

The Man’s sweater looks much like it did last week.

This is not because I have not been knitting.

It is just that I’m having conceptual difficulties with the sleeve.

I have knit (and ripped) the right shoulder of this sweater 3 times now.

And I’m starting to wonder if part of the problem is the depth of the armhole.

Or perhaps I did not design-in enough ease through the chest.

I’m going to have to sleep on it before I make another attempt.

 

In other news, I took a field trip to Pullman, WA this weekend to visit WSU Animal Science facilities- Swine, Cattle, Sheep ,etc etc…

Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/44275451@N08/sets/72157622585553769/

Oh Yeah!

That’s what the Kool Aid guy (the big pitcher) used to say, right?

I was thinking that I needed to plan ahead for this Kool Aid dyeing class that I’ll be teaching at the end of January. Get samples ready and all -
So, yesterday I make up a bunch of little mini skeins, selected a variety of flavors, and had at it.

Here are the results:

I think they turned out pretty cool. Best Kool Aid dying I’ve done in a while.

I think the key really is using enough of the stuff to get really saturated colors.

I used some Lambs Pride that I had in the stash- both white (Cream) and Taupe.
Here are some photos to show the differences between cream and taupe in the same flavor-

Pink Lemonade:

Mango:

Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade:

(This one actually had three samples- the one on the left is some light gray handspun)

I really like the colors on Taupe.
Might knit up the little samples into swatches for the class. Not sure yet.

It was just so easy. Took me maybe a half hour to do the whole thing.

And while I was busy making the kitchen smell like fruit punch, The Man was out in the shop re-threading the flyer shaft on the new little wheel (Sophie).

It worked out great, and now I’m able to use my Kromski whorls with her!

I did some measurements, and am pleased to announce that now Sophie has the following ratios (approximately): 5.7:1, 7:1 (on the kromski slower whorl) and 10:1, 13:1 (on the faster whorl, shown above)

For comparison, here is a photo of the whorl that she came with-

(I think the ratio on that one came out to 4:1)

She’s really coming along! Getting more versatile all the time.

And thanks to Michelle, I have found a woodworker that will make me some new bobbins for her. I’ll be shipping her flyer assembly out tomorrow for him for work from.

What a good wool day!

Less Talk, More Knit

Finding I don’t have a lot to say right at the moment.

But I have been doing quite a bit of knitting.

See?

Boo Kitty really likes it

And I do too. It’s coming along very nicely.

I’m almost at the point where I join the shoulders together and get to try it on The Man to see how it fits.

I hoped to have some dyeing to show off in this post, but my results yesterday were rather disappointing. Still trying to figure out what went wrong.
Has anyone else used this product?

I was all excited about the neat colors. Tried the “Olive” yesterday, and it was total bust. Turned my creamy white alpaca a yellowy gray. Ick. Sure I can salvage it by overdying with something else,, but what a waste.

And I swear that I followed the directions.

Now I’m almost afraid to try the other colors.

Dag.

Flash of Fall Color

Though we’ve had a beautiful Indian summer here recently, we’ll probably have frost any time now, so it’s pretty much the end of the garden season.

I completed the garden tear-down yesterday,  and all that’s left out there now is the punkins-

Here is one posing with sweater-in-progress. (They look very Halloween-y together, no?)

The sweater knitting is coming along very quickly.  I got 10 inches or so done
this week! And I might actually have enough yarn already spun to finish it. Hard to tell at this point, though. Will probably work up another 1 or 2 skeins just to be sure.

Nothin’ But Blue Skies got navajo plied up into a really soft, squooshy chunky weight yarn- and enjoyed a little quality time snuggled up with some King apples from our big old apple tree in the garden.

And here she is against her namesake- pretty good match, eh?

Weekend In Review

We got off to a bit of a slow start today

But managed to pull it together and turn goodies from the garden

into savory sauce -

and dried bite size treats-

Also got the new storm door installed-

Just in time, too. I think the weather is supposed to change tomorrow…

Whew~

In wool news- I’ve got Blue Skies on the bobbin-

and am planning in earnest for The Man’s next sweater.

Option One: Cambridge Jacket

Option Two: Oregon Vest (with sleeves added)

My swatch is coming out at about 3.75 stitches per inch on size 9s

Either one would be just a starting point, of course.

So I just have to get my plan together and cast on.

If only I could get my desk back!

Spinning Wheels and Turning Heels

I asked the folks on Ravelry if anyone had ever seen a wheel like the one I just bought last week- and someone referred me to the following video.

(My wheel makes her entrance at about 1:15)

So, it would seem that she’s more likely Serbian or Croatian in origin than Welsh,, though she certainly might have come through the UK on her way here.

Neat, eh?

(I’m still not decided on a name- gonna take another week to think about it, though I’m leaning towards Sophie.)

Yesterday, the man installed nylon bearings for her wheel (where there had previously been small pieces of cloth and axle grease). Big improvement. Wheel spins more freely now.

I think what we’re going to do next is redo the threads on the flyer shaft so that it can use Kromski whorls.  The current threads are a really odd size (no surprise there).

Here is the girl hanging out in the yard with the first two skeins of yarn that we’ve collaborated on.

With her current ratio (approx 5:1), she does a really nice soft spun single.

Anyone know of a woodworker that makes custom bobbins?

In other news, I’ve reworked the Zauberball socks through the heel. I was distracted for a bit trying out a different kind of heel shaping, but in the end, decided to stick with my usual style.

And in honor of the lovely fall weather we’ve been having, I dyed some East Friesian wool and blended it with white alpaca. I’m calling it “Nothin’ but Blue Skies”.

Have a good week!

Minstrel’s Little Sister

Look what I found this week!

Cute, eh?

It’s an old wheel. Seller was told it is Welsh.
Single treadle. Double drive. Only one bobbin.

Here it is next to my Kromski Minstrel:

And from the side:

It’s about 6 inches shorter, and quite a bit lighter than the Minstrel.
And the back side is pretty much flat,, so I can lay it down on the backseat of the car.
I plan on using it as my traveling wheel.

The flyer setup is pretty much identical to the Minstrel. It’s got the screw-on whorl that sits behind the bobbin and the flyer shaft rests in a block that is adjusted with a screw on the back vertical wheel support post.

The Minstrel’s whorls don’t quite fit (dang),, but it looks like if we created a front flyer bearing that sat a bit further forward, I could actually use the Minstrel’s flyer with this wheel! Then I’d have the benefit of more ratios.

Many thanks to The Man for helping me rig a scotch tension (because I prefer that to double drive),

fixing up the bobbin with a liner so it doesn’t wobble and chatter, and tightening up a couple connections that were a little loose.

Now she needs a name.

Suggestions?

Back By Popular Demand…

It’s Boo Kitty!

Here are a couple of clips of the girl in action:

Negative Progress

Sock before size-check:

Sock after size-check:

Dag.

But if it’s not right, what are you gonna do?

First time out I cast on 80 stitches, assuming that the gauge was gong to be about the same as the last pair of socks for The Man.

(Well, you know what they say about assuming…)

So, I’m re-knitting.

Thankfully, it’s really neat yarn, and I’m easily amused, so the color changes are enough to keep me entertained as I k3 p1 my way down the leg.

In other news, the peruvian wool scarf/shawl finally got it’s loopy fringe and went off to it’s new home.

And I’m still spinning Inky Dot (fleece from Black Sheep Gathering) for The Man’s sweater. So far, I’ve got 6 skeins and almost 2 full bobbins towards another batch of 3.
It is such pretty yarn- I’m dying to get started with the knitting!

The Return of the Experimental Sweater

Once upon a time, there was a scarf.

It was a soft gray, handspun Shetland scarf with a cable panel that repeated over its length, and it was a lovely accessory (“Tilly”, from A Fine Fleece).

But somehow when I finished it, the scarf didn’t seem to be done. It struck me as a big shawl collar with no sweater attached. So I set about building the sweater onto it. The cabled shawl collar needed a  generous, swingy sweater that would enfold its wearer in wool.

I picked up stitches along its edge and knit raglan shaping that curved the scarf around into a shawl collar. I started with a silvery blue Cotswold-Ramboullet X wool as an accent, and then turned to a dark and silvery LincolnX for the bulk of the project.

The LincolnX ran out about the time that I finished the fronts and the back down to the shoulderblades.

It was at this point that I made the tragic miscalculation. I chose a yarn that was too heavy, and knit on. I was so anxious to finish and wear the garment that I knit on blindly and with great enthusiasm, disregarding my gut feeling that the garment was architecturally unsound.

I actually finished all of the (considerable amount of) knitting before I realized the magnitude of the mistake. It was too heavy on the bottom. No amount of fudging after the fact was gonna fix that. It hung like a wet towel.

I put it away for a while. I could not quite face the sweater for some months.

But I am not one to leave projects unfinished, so finally I summoned the strength to do the necessary ripping out.

Then I set about spinning a new batch of Border Leicester (2 ply this time). And I took another run at it.

Now, at long last, I am very pleased to introduce the Experimental Sweater. (please disregard the background clutter)

Many thanks to the gray Shetland scarf who made this adventure possible.