Fresh Off the Wheel - I've Got the Blues

 

Lately, I've been at my spinning wheel finishing up projects like trying to complete my yarns before the plys sit around for too long and lose their energy.  The above fiber is from The Painted Tiger and is New England Wool Top dyed in beautiful shades of blue.  Navy blue is my favorite color, besides orange that is, and I love finding it in yarns and fiber as I know it will go with all the clothes I own.  I also purchased this fiber for it's "type' which is really a region and not a specific sheep, basically a representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States.  It's not super soft, but is rumored to be hard wearing which suited my needs for luscious blue socks.  Now, I am still pretty new to spinning (as can be seen in the tangled mass of plys plied in the wrong direction in the photos above) and I realized I should have given this yarn more twist to make it stronger and more durable.  Thus, I am a little forlorn to have gone to so much effort for socks which might not last as long as I want (which is forever of course.)  The yarn turned out to be a bit thicker than planned which pushed me to use US size 3 needles instead of the US size 1s I would normally choose for socks.  They were knit from a general gusseted heel toe up sock pattern from Wendy Johnson's book Socks from the Toe Up.  Honestly, I have yet to knit any complicated sock patterns as the yarn always seems pretty enough in a simple ribbed pattern.  Which is your "go to"sock pattern?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Amanda for Fibre Arts Friday.

representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States - See more at: http://www.thepaintedtiger.com/category_69/New-England-Wool-Top.htm#sthash.GZdPT2AY.dpuf

representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States - See more at: http://www.thepaintedtiger.com/category_69/New-England-Wool-Top.htm#sthash.GZdPT2AY.dpuf

Fresh Off the Wheel - Sunshine on a Cloudly Day

I'm not really a big fan of yellow, but when I saw this plant dyed yellow batt called "Daffodil" in Judy's shop I felt compelled to purchase it.  Something about it really called out to me and I think it was that it reminds me so much of the warm bright sun of summer which I sorely miss at this time of year.  It also reminded me of this post I read a while ago on Tonya's blog about how there are so many plants which give us yellow dye and her thoughts that maybe wearing yellow sweaters would help us think of the warm months to come.  Well, I really liked that thought of wearing yellow to cheer oneself through the darker months here in the north, thus for a change this yarn is intended for me and not my shop.

Now, I only had a few ounces of the yellow wool so I needed to ply it with something else to make a good sized skein.  I've been wanting an angora hat for a while and found I still had some angora/wool roving that could flesh out the yellow nicely.  The angora is a soft dove gray which got me thinking about how the roving looked like a fluffy gray cloud waiting to be spun as it sat pooled at my feet.  Then I thought what a nice juxtaposition of clouds, which are the mainstay of winter, and sunshine, the mainstay of summer.  Needless to say I'm happy with my lumpy, fluffy, squishy "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day" skein of yarn.  Oh, in case you were wondering it came out to be 250 yards of DK/worsted weight.  I've already begun knitting this hat making just a few modifications, but more on that in another post. 

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Rainbow Gradient

 

My focus has changed some since I last wrote in this space.  During the previous month my world was all about making toys for selling in my shop as well as at a few holiday fairs.  Then while knitting a gnome mama doll I suddenly stopped mid stitch and realized that toy making is usually fun for me, but at that moment it was anything but fun. It felt like a chore; something to cross off a list and not in a good way.  Usually at this time of year I really get into making lists of what to make, ordering yarn and knitting, knitting, knitting lots of toys.  This year it wasn't jibbing for some reason so I decided to stop knitting toys right then and there and take a break to spin some roving into yarn.  My husband was thrilled with the idea of no holiday fairs by the way.  As he is my support for caring for our son, dog and house before (I always seem to need more knitting time) and during these fairs it can a lot of stress for him too.  This year I will only sell toys in my shop on Etsy and hope my inventory can keep up with sales.  It's a big relief.

Spinning is a great relaxer for me.  If I go too long I can tense up and get sore muscles, but usually it really sets me in a good mood both body and soul.  Compound that with rainbows and you 've got a heck of a Ann feel good combo going on.  The rainbow wool is a blend of domestic (to the US) sheep's wool and is plant dyed by Judy at Mamajudes and the undyed brown Jacob sheep's wool comes from Almapark also on Etsy.  The yarn came out to a DK weight with a whooping 328 yards!  It will make a long rainbow gradient from red to purple and I'm really hoping whoever buys it will send me a picture of their completed project.  You can see the yarn's listing here.  

In the last photo is a view of my new yarn labels designed by my fabulously talented friend and graphic designer Emily.  She made them as stickers for me to attach to whatever paper I like to create the label; since my skeins very in thickness it's great to have the flexibility this allows.  I'm also exited to use them to seal wrapping tissue on gifts - oh the versatility!  As you can see I'm still working on my photo taking and they still look a bit dark, but I don't seem to have a good location in my house for picture taking.  Where do you take your photos of your creations?

Joining in with Fibre Arts Friday and with Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Speckled Chickens?

 

It's getting close to the Holiday Season of Craft Fairs for me and my knitted toy business Simply Playing so, personal knitting has slowed, if not stopped completely, while toy making goes into full swing.  Thus today's post on my latest "Fresh Off the Wheel" yarn is not intended for a hat or mittens as is my usual, but instead is for chickens - knitted toy chickens.  It is rather silly to spend all the time I do spinning yarn (I am a slow spinner) to knit a simple little toy, but I really love the results which oddly I came across by accident.  

You see I purchased this black lama roving from Friends in Fiber thinking I would ply it as a single strand to ply with a rainbow ply to sell in my shop.  Well, it kept breaking and getting away from me as I was trying to spin it being too slippery for my inexperienced hands I believe.  To solve this problem I thought I'd card it with another wool fiber to give it a bit more "grab" so the fiber would stick together and let me draft with better ease. White merino was what I had on hand and using it with the lama fiber did make drafting easier, but I had no idea what to make with the yarn it until it occurred to me that it kind of looked like a black and white speckled chicken.  

One of the venues in whose Holiday Fair I participate in is Dodge Nature Preschool.  They have an interesting feature to their classrooms - live chickens.  Yes, they have live chickens that the preschoolers get to help care for and play alongside with - it's a very wonderful school.  Needless to say I sold out of my chickens at last year's fair.  As I'm hoping to participate again this year I thought I'd make more varieties and quantities of knitted chickens.  And now I have a speckled black and white variety to add to the mix.  What colors do you associate with chickens?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Midnight Campfire

 

The spinning wheel was calling me after a  long reprieve and even though I have other projects in the wings (ones with an actual due date) I just couldn't resist.  I dug into my fiber stash and found this roving dyed by Wishfox Dyeworks called "Midnight Campfire".  It's Southdown wool which is a new fiber for me to spin.  A medium length fiber with lots of crimp it's supposed to be a hard wearing wool that's good for socks. 

So, socks they became!  I loosely used this pattern again with Ravelry notes found here.  They are my first pair of socks knit from handspun and even though they don't match hardly at all I am pleased.  Because I still haven't mastered spinning very fine yarn they are a bit thick.  I will actually need to get some wider clogs so I can wear them this winter.  It sounds a bit extreme, but my current clogs only fit with very thin socks so it is something I have been thinking about purchasing for a while now.  I mean who wants thin socks when it's cold out?

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Baby Alpaca!

Hello!  I have a new skein fresh off the wheel this week that I'm quite pleased to show you.  It's a 2ply with the first ply being spun from a mixed batt of planted dyed merino, silk, BFL and domestic wool in beautiful shades of blue with a hints of lime green and purple from MamaJudes down in Georgia.  The second ply was spun from Baby Suri Alpaca in a beautiful natural charcoal grey color from Sunrise Suris in Iowa.  It was my first time spinning Baby Suri Alpaca and man it practically spun itself it drafted so easily! 

I only got about 100 yards of worsted weight yarn out of the Baby Suri Aplpaca since I could only afford a small 2oz. package. See, I am trying to stick to my fiber budget.  Do you have a budget for fiber?  Well, I found out I needed one since I overspend at every single fiber festival/show/store I go to.  But, to really make my budget stick I have to remove my debit/credit card and checkbook from my wallet and bring only what I can spend in cash.  I have no will power you see and am very skilled at talking myself into purchases I don't need.  This trick works like a charm though, and I highly recommend it if you have overspending issues.  It's sad that I only got a little of a fantastic fiber, but then I have already spun it and it's not just languishing in my stash (this happens to so much fiber and yarn when I overspend).  

Hmmm... this post was supposed to be about yarn not budgets.  Well, I do tend to go on tangents.  I listed this skein in my Etsy shop so stop by and check it out if you are looking for a silky soft squishy yarn treat!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Rainbows

You might have guessed by now how much I like rainbows if you have visited here or my shop, so today's post should come as no surprise.  Fresh off my spinning wheel this week is a self striping skein of a bright rainbow yarn.  I completely geeked out while making it and seeing the rainbow appear on my bobbin that I stopped to take a picture.

I then plied it with a ply of BFL wool/silk blend in a cream grey color.  Above are the results.  I would like to learn how to mix two rainbow ply together matching up the colorways so they don't overly bleed into the next color, but I'm not sure how to make each color strand the same length.  I see some experimenting in my future.  This skein came out at 148 yards and is available in my Etsy shop for purchase.  I have more of the rainbow wool so what do you think I should ply it with next the next time I spin?  I'm thinking a light blue might be really pretty, but I am up for suggestions.

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Pastel Rainbows

Hello everyone!  I was inspired last night after putting Sam to bed and spun up this mini yarn skein of about 70 yards.  Using my favorite angora/wool blended cloud roving for one ply and for the other ply some wool roving that my friend Judy of mamajudes on Etsy plant dyed in a graduated pastel rainbow colorway.  Judy uses a mixed breed roving from Brown Sheep Company which is strong and makes a firm ply, but it's not the softest.  Since I value softness, I felt that to make a pleasing yarn it really needed to be blended with the angora.  This is also a good way to make the plant dyed fiber stretch a bit farther.

  Here is the skein along with the rovings I used to create it.

 A closeup before washing.  It will "bloom" fluff out some more after having a bath.

I wish there was more yardage as I very pleased with how the skein turned out.  I still have some of both of the rovings in which to make more yarn and I think I'll sell that as yarn instead of knitting toys from it.  How many yards do you think is needed to make a useful skein of DK/Worsted weight yarn?  

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel

I'm in the midst of a summer cold which has settled into my head in these last few days of August.  So, sitting here in my favorite chair (one of those Poang Ikea bent wood chairs in case you're wondering) resting, I look over to my spinning wheel and the half finished yarn being plied and I think "I have enough energy for that".  I then sit and pedal my way through finishing the skein of yarn.  It's a lovely blend of merino wool, which is the white ply, and a plant dyed mixed fiber batt in pastel  tones.  The skein came out a worsted weight with only about 140 yards.  It's destiny will be knitted cats and gnomes I think as I'm just not quite ready yet to sell my yarn as well, yarn.

 

This is the completed yarn wound on my Ashford Jumbo Flyer Bobbin.

 

And here it is wound on to a Niddy Noddy.  I count how many wraps to determine yardage.

  

Lastly you see it wound into a skein form.  Lots of winding in making yarn!

Now the yarn is still not ready to knit with and must go through a soak with a little soap to set the twist and let the fibers "bloom" or puff out so to speak.  Then I'll rinse it and hang it dry.  When it's dry I'll take the skein and place it onto a swift and use my ball winder to wind it into a center pull ball ready for knitting.  After I started spinning yarn I have deep appreciation for the amount of effort goes into each skein.  Of course, mainly machines do these tasks now, but still the amount of steps really is amazing.

Joining Linda on Creative Friday on a Thursday :)

Fresh Off the Wheel

I haven't had time in the last week to spin at my wheel due to being sick.  When sick I just don't have the focus I need for spinning.  So, last night I sat myself down and spun up the rest of my "A Wee Garden Path" batts from mamajudes.  That single along with another single of Blue Faced Leicester/Tussah Silk that I had spun earlier made more of the yarn that I used for this project.  Since I'm making mittens to match my mother's hat I thought I too would like matching mittens for my Mother's Day hat.

Here is the yarn on my niddy noddy which is used to wind the yarn from the spinning wheel bobbin into a skein.  Please excuse the dark photo; it's rather gloomy here in MN this morning.

 

And here is the yarn wound into a skein.  Next, I just need to soak it in water to set the twist, hang it to dry and lastly wind it on my ball winder.  Then I'm ready to start knitting this pattern!

 

 I chose a simple plain mitten pattern as the yarn itself is really the focus.  What are you up to on this Friday morning?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday