Finishing and Progress

The Angel Wing Lace Socks made it off the needles. They have the same toe as the Hearts and Hugs Socks which is kind of wide at the end. I will have to see how it is fitting after a few washes but this maybe the last for this toe design. Fourteen stitches across seems kind of wide for the end of a toe. The heel is nice and snug. It is worked on slightly fewer stitches than usual which seems to agree with my narrow heels.

Next off the needles is a diagonal lace scarf using a Fiber Space pattern. It was knit in Gioiello shade 18 using size 5 needles. Obviously it could use a little blocking which is all that can be done with a yarn that is 30% mohair, 30% wool, 20% nylon, 10% cotton, and 10% acrylic. The pattern called for 300 yards and the ball had 220 yards, so I cut one repeat out for a size of 6" by 53".

Last but not least, the body tube for my Philosopher's Wool Jacket is knit. The next step will be steeking followed by either assembly or front bands and a neck band. I don't remember what the directions say right now. Looks like my experiment running the color changes up the front steek is going to work out nicely. As you can see, Freya is slightly doubtful about the whole thing.

The only other item on needles right now, is the Oregon Shawl. No significant milestones have been reached with it recently.

Jacob 1.5

Now, that is done, I found out I should have done somethings a bit differently. What we have here is the finished results of spinning a sample of Jacob fleece. I hand carded, spun it, and did a Navajo ply. The result is 50 yards of yarn at varying wraps per inch. The thickest is about 10 and the thinnest is about 18. While carding I was a bit frustrated with the variation in the wool. Spinning produced designer yarn because I was having trouble dealing with the varying lengths. I knew a little bit was second cuts, must of which I picked out. I think I lost at least an eighth of an ounce.

One of the books I got for Christmas was, In Sheeps Clothing. Of course by then the small skein was drying downstairs. Here is what I found out from the book.
- Jacob Sheep is a two coat fleece, it has both coarse and fine fiber. (here is the variation)
- The two can be separated or processed together.
- If processed together, carefully distribute both evenly on a hand card. (here is one mistake)
- If handled much, the two fibers will separate. (small samples seem to get handled)
- wash before spinning ( it looked o.k. in the little zip-lock)
- When Navajo plying use your biggest whorl. (Oops! Not the smallest!)

So, what to do with 50 yards of unique yarn? I don't think I can even make wristers without adding to the yarn. I doubt if there is enough for a headband. Any bright ideas?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads my blog. And those who don't. Go ahead and tell everyone 'Merry Christmas' for me.

It is a white Christmas by anyone's definition here. We still had snow on the ground from the last storm and it was snowing when we looked out at nine am. Last check still snowing with some blowing. The line showing the lawn versus the driveway has disappeared. Who would want to go out and disturb the beautiful snow on a day like today?

And today the scarf picture can be posted without spoiling anything. The scarf is the wide version of the Absolutely Positively Reversible Scarf from April in last year's knitting calendar. It was made with Alpaca with a Twist, Baby Twist yarn using size eight needles. It has a really nice drape and used three skeins with about 8 yards left. I would like to knit up the narrow pattern just for comparison sometime.

And it is getting really close to time to prep a turkey breast for the oven and call a few people.

More Needles

I found a local source of Casein a few weeks ago by contacting the whole sale office. The source is Fancy Tiger which is pretty much downtown. Downtown always translates to parallel parking my mind, something I try not to do. I have succeed admirably at avoiding this over the years. So, I waited until Rudy innocently asked me what I want to do. I mentioned I was looking for some particular knitting needles and that it would be nice to see Enchanted.

So, off we went. They did have a supply of the needles. I was looking for double points, particularly my favorite sock size which is a 2. I will admit I thought I was out of luck at first glance because the swallow needles were in a drawer not on the wall. Since, it sound like they were thinking about changing stock, I bought several sizes of double points as you can see.

There was a warning that they had seen a number of broken needles being brought back. I suspect they might break easier than wood if sat up on. However I don't plan to do this. Through various experiments, I found sitting on needles uncomfortable at best.

The other needles I have are from Fiber Space in answer to my original quest for needles after using my first set of double points seen in the second photo. As you can see one pair has a scarf on them.

And yes, we did go to the movie after I secured my needles.

It's Not My Fault

Really, an enabler by the name of Michelle, was involved. I was browsing a LYS when I heard her voice. We chatted for a few minutes about yarn. Then she mentioned that the Louise Harding Kashmir Aran knits up really nicely as mittens or scarves. And it was in the sale bin. What was I to do? Of course, I stopped my internal debate about knitting needles and bought three balls of Kaskmir Aran in blue. A blue that almost matches the scarf I was wearing with my coat.

This just after I finished a red scarf using 3 skeins of Alpaca Twist Baby twist. So much for getting ahead.

Bond Confusion

Have you seen the new limits US Savings Bonds? Did you see the reasoning? I find the reasoning confusing and I don't think it is old age setting in.

If you hadn't noticed here is what happens effect January 1st. The limit on purchasing EE and I bonds is lowered to $5,000 a year from $15,000 a year. This limit is per bond type. The reason is to encourage people with limited incomes to buy bonds. Besides which history shows that 80% of people who buy purchase $5,000 or less a year.

Maybe, I am just silly. I always thought when it came to investments and money, the minimum to buy in determined who was going to invest, not the maximum allowed. The minimum is pretty low now, $25 for an EE bond. The minimum has always been a determining factor for us.

And what about the 20% who bought more than $5,000 in a year? Are they evil Anti-Americans? Or did they just not want play in the stock market? Or is there a more nefarious plot afoot? Honestly, I will probably never know know the truth.

To get it straight from the horse's mouth, here is the link.

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/news/pressroom/pressroom_reducedpurchaselimit.htm

Cashmere Spun Up

Here is the scoop. I finally got up the courage to spin the cashmere I bought at the Estes Park Wool Market in 2006. This is the most expensive fiber I have ever purchased for spinning. I want to not goof it up and since I only had two ounces I want to try for lace weight. So, I waited until I had spun other fiber.

The result is about 358 yards of two ply. I did have the yarn break while spinning the singles when it got too fine. I carefully worked the breaks back. The luck here was that I didn't loss an end during the break. I also had 3 breaks while plying. I think I got those worked out. They may show slightly but I didn't notice them while putting the yarn into a skein.

The fiber came from Sweet Goats and had about 3 hairs and 6 bits of straw in it. By bits, I mean pieces that were about 3/8 of an inch or shorter. I consider this really clean compared to some other fiber I have spun.

So, now I am going to cross my fingers and take the yarn down to soak then dry. Hopefully, those breaks will stay put together. Then I need to decide what to knit with it. Looking at it, I think I ended up with sport weight.

B6 border

I have decided I really like the B6 border. I found it in 'Stahman's Shawls and Scarves'. It is a six stitch seed stitch border where the first stitch is slipped when starting a row and the border on the other side ends with two knit stitches. I have found that if the stitch is slipped purlwise with yarn in back in back, the edge has a nice chain going up it. If I knit in the back loop on the last stitch, I get a loose chain. Knitting the front loop puts a slight twist. If I slip knitwise, I get a line of bumps going up the edge. Which is also a nice effect.

With the chain border it is easy to drop down and fix a problem if I slip the stitch the wrong way. I am sure a crochet hook would make it really easy but I just use a knitting needle. The chain type border looks like the non-bumpy side of single crochet.

I have used this on several scarfs, shawls, and shrugs. The borders lie nice and flat.