Bittersweet Celebration Shawl

Hey folks, I am at home due to a snow storm here.  The snow is still coming down and there is already ~12 inches on the ground since yesterday.  Figure, I will catch up a bit on posting projects.

Up next, a Celebration Shawl using Palouse Yarn Company Cashmere Squeeze.

The Bittersweet is both the color of the yarn and how I feel about the project the yarn was purchased for.  The original purchase was for a sweater, which I did knit with the idea that superwash yarn would "grow". I did an estimate based on a scarf, I had knit using one skein of the Night Sky color and the Dark Hedges Scarf pattern. The scarf turned out really nice and gave me a growth factor which turned out to be a lie.

The pattern, I choose for the sweater was Fete Cardigan with a touch of lace and lots of cables.  To line up the skeins by color intensity, I took some photos and changed to black and white based on advice from Kate.  Here is a photo of the skeins in color intensity order.

I started with the lightest skein at the top.  I did get to back up a few times because of knitting mistakes.  And the sweater seemed a touch snug after completing as desired.  Turns out that having a bit of lace in the pattern made the sweater grow more than anticipated.

It turned out really nice. Since, I didn't have it in me to rip and try again, a friend has the sweater. My hope is that she has been enjoying it.

There was enough yarn leftover to do a shawl.  I choose to do the large version of the Celebration Shawl.  I might have been able to do one more repeat but thought that would be too big once it grew during blocking.  The shawl did grow but is still a good size for me. 

The shawl is a triangle and didn't fit in the frame nicely for a photo plus I didn't want some of the background items in the photo.

The series of projects was over a 3 year period.  I didn't learn I have some more super wash for another sweater.

Bronco Colors Hat

This is the second time, I bought roving with a project in mind.  The purchase was two ounces of blue and two ounces of orange to make a hat in the Broncos colors.

I spent time debating whether I want to ply from a ball or do a barber pole and ply from both singles. Obviously, I went with a barber pole. 

Which shows there is some unevenness in the spinning. As often happens, one bobbin had more length than the other.  In this case, it was the orange.  The result was 108 yards of barber pole and 9 yards of orange.

And the hat was knit using a basic formula.  It took a couple of tries to get a good needle size and the right number of stitches.  The final decision was 74 stitches on size 10 needles which indicates the yarn was knitting to a light bulky or very heavy worsted.  The ribbing has the knit stitches twisted so that they look a bit tidier.  I used a knitted cast-on because I wasn't sure how much yarn, it was going to use up.  This lead to a slight unevenness on the edge when I wove in the end.

I do have a small ball of the barber pole remaining.  My guess is about 9 yards. In my world that means all the yarn has been used.

Hopefully, the recipient will like his Christmas present in a few weeks.  My guess is he will never read this blog.  If you know him, please don't tell.

September Spinning - Alpaca Farm Blend

I won a prize by being part of the Kromski Spinning Wheel Owners team for Tour de Fleece.  It was nine ounces of Ranch of the Oaks Alpaca Farm Blend.  A lovely blend of white.  The partial bag was a bit twisted due to a bump being 'torn in half' but I got it sorted out.

 The singles were spun using a 12:1 ratio on my Kromski Minstrel using Ackerworks Bobbins.

 The singles were plied together using a 8.5:1 ratio.  I did a two ply from my overstuffed singles. My last dab was plied from a single center pull ball. I have learned to stick something in the middle of the ball to minimize tangling.

The final result was 514 yards of ~worsted weight yarn in 3 skeins.  I was pleased with the lack of over twist in the final product.

 

August Spinning

Here is my spinning project for August.  One of good friends gave me a braid from the 100th Sheep.  It is the superfine merino and the color is Sacrifice.  The total weight is 6 ounces. 

The braid was done with three sections of roving that seemed to be split evenly.  I decided to go with the splits and do a three ply.  To mix it up, I split each section length wise in different widths.  My goal was to have the depth of color match up less frequently.

 The singles were spun with a ratio of 12:1 and then plied at 8.5:1 for a nice 3 ply.

I really liked what I got on the bobbins, after plying.

The end result was 2 skeins for ~425 yards of a three ply worsted weight yarn and a dab of 2 ply that is about 20 yards and probably a sport weight.

Tour de Fleece - Trying My New Dealgan

The one challenge I did during the Tour de Fleece was to try out my Dealgan spindle.  It was purchased over a year ago at The Yarn Barn in Kansas.  My intention was to work with it last year for the Tour de Fleece.  That didn't happen.  But this year, I started a cob on it after watching a video.  Which means, I learned how to start a leader from my roving.

 This is the result after a couple times working with it.  My rule was once it dropped 3 times in a session, I was done.

I worked on it 3 times.  And have this photo with the rest of what I did for Tour de Fleece 2019.  

There is a chance it will spend more time being a nostipinne than a spindle.  I haven't gotten it to stop wobbling.

Tour de Fleece - Cheyenne Aplaca

The fiber for my other Tour de Fleece 2019 project has been in my stash pile for years.  Let's not talk about that.  Instead, I am going to show a few pictures and report how much yarn I produced.

 The starting fiber was in a nice plastic bag with a label.  The Crescent Peak Alpaca who supplied the fiber was Cheyenne.

 While spinning, I found some fiber and dirt fell out.  It was a quick spin using the 12 to 1 ratio. This photo probably is the closest to the real color.

The fiber still has a bit of energy after plying.  The final result was 297 yards of two ply light worsted.

Aplaca Silk -TdF 2019

The first Tour de Fleece 2019 project was some Alpaca Silk.  My parents sent it to me for Christmas years ago.  Pretty sure, Dad picked it out.  He asked if I had done anything with it.  I think he want to see it spun up.  That didn't happen because he died last year.  Or maybe it did.  For whatever reason, I lost my spinning energy when Dad died just before Tour de Fleece 2018.

Starting out I split the 8 ounces in to 3 piles for three singles and decided to use my Ackerwork bobbins.

Starting the third bobbin for the singles using the 16:1 drive ratio.  I did loose the end once that was a fun 3 hours getting the end back and patching the single back together.  Tape never works for me.

Here is a bobbin with the 3 ply on it with the two ply scrap in the background. 716 yards 3 ply and 12 yards 2 ply with a reasonable balance to the yarn.  A little energy was left in the skeins.

Ready for TdF

The spinning wheel is empty and I placed the following in a bag for Tour de Fleece.

It looks like more than enough.  There are two batches of fiber with alpaca in them.  It works best to spin them in the summer which means I will start with them.  The small bit of white is to try the Dealgan or Scottish spindle.  I haven't tried it out yet.  And then there are two batches of wool fiber.

If my count was right, I have 1200 yards of fingering two ply yarn from the last spinning project.

TdF - prep

I am preparing to for Tour de Fleece by finish a project I start in February.  Eight ounces of Black Welsh Mountain top has been plied.  Looks like it will be Fingering for weight.  The plan is to skein it by July 6th and hopefully set the twist.

 Of the three bobbins full, this one where the flash didn't go off, is the closest to the actual color.

And here are the other two bobbins.  The fiber came from Paradise Fiber back when the shop was near a 'rated' club.