AtomicKnits

Finally getting to know my wheel.

Last week I finished spinning up some purple merino roving from Ashland Bay.  It came out to be slightly inconsistent light worsted, 2 plied.  It's not perfect, but this is the most success I've had since I purchased my http://www.ashford.co.nz/spinning/joy.htm last summer and I'm pretty excited about it!  I feel like I'm finally getting to understand and really know how to use my wheel.

These two skeins are only about 4oz of the 8oz of roving I have in this colorway.  I will probably spin up the rest in the same way, but I might try something different. I have extra bobbins now!  I haven't decided yet, but I'll probably wait until the blue/purple months of Project Spectrum.

Preparing for Project Spectrum 2009

This year I'm going to participate in Project Spectrum.  It's an 8 month long craft-a-long with a new theme every two months.  This year, the theme is cardinal directions, and there is a color, season, material, and element assigned to each quarter.  I wanted to participate last year, but I didn't.  I have been having trouble being inspired when it comes time to start a new knitting project, and I have all these ideas for other crafts floating around in my head too. I'm hoping this project will inspire me in my knitting and allow me to push myself in other areas too.

A few days ago I found a Moleskine book that I haven't been using and dedicated it to Project Spectrum. I divided it into 4 quarters for each direction/color.  I'm going to use this to plan projects and also to art journal during the year.  I think it will be great.

The first direction we'll be exploring in March and April is North.  The color for North is green, so I pulled out all of the green yarn from my stash and put it in a separate pillow zip bag.  I already know of a couple projects I want to do with the yarn and fiber.  When I need a new or different project, I am going to go to this green bag first.  I'm excited!

My Valentine Swap package from Kari!

On Valentine's Day I finally got to open my package from my swap partner from the Be My Valentine Swap on Ravelry.  I was so excited to open it and I love everything I received from my swap partner, Kari (CoggieTM on Ravelry).  The thing I'm most excited about getting is the AWESOME PAIR OF SOCK BLOCKERS.  I did ask for these, but I didn't think I would get them.  I have been wanting a pair of real sock blockers FOREVER, and I'm so glad Kari picked out such nice ones.  I am knitting a pair of socks right now, and I can't wait to block them on these babies.  I also got a WPI thingy from Hornshaw Woodworks, also something I wanted but didn't know it!  The fiber treats are some white spinning wool local to Michigan, and some roving from Briar Rose Fibers. I also got a skein of Tofutsies, some chocolate, and the winter 2008 issues of both Knit 1 and Spin Off.  I'm looking forward to reading Spin Off.  Thank you again, Kari!!

P.S. I am destashing a bunch of my yarn!! Please take a look at my Ravelry Destash page for details.

More swatches for J. Knits!

According to my sidebar, I don't have very many things on the needles right now.  The reason for that is I've been really busy knitting more swatches for J. Knits!  They were happy with the Silky swatches I did for them last month, and they asked me to do more!  This time they sent me 5 skeins of Dreamy Worsted, which is a wool/mohair single-ply blend.  Working with this yarn is very similar to working with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted.  The colors they sent this time were really pretty.  The purple is out of sight in person.  I just finished the last of the swatches yesterday and here they are in all of their blocking glory!  Doing this swatches has been really fun. I love trying out the new yarns and figuring the gauge for each one has been a really good exercise.

Navajo Plying

This week I got out the wheel after a pretty long spinning hiatus.  I finished up spinning some multicolored merino fiber.  I spun the first bobbin like poop, and the second one was ok.  Since this project was kind of an experiment anyway, I figured I would continue the experiment and Navajo Ply the yarn.  Navajo Plying is when you make a 3 ply yarn out of one single.  At first, I had a lot of trouble slowing down my treadling so I didn't over-ply the yarn, but got the hang of it pretty quickly.

The first "good" bobbin came out pretty good despite some over-plyed sections at the beginning of the skein.  The second "bad" bobbin actually came out ok too.  This single was way overtwisted, and I tried not to worry about getting rid of every single one while I was plying, so some of the small kinks got swalled into the yarn.  After I washed and hung the two skeins to dry, they were actually pretty balanced.  I really want to practice spinning more on a regular basis and really get to know my wheel so I can get better at making more consistent yarns.

I won some yarn!

It's almost February, so it's time for the Be My Valentine swap once again!  I have been shopping for my swap partner, and her package is almost complete.  This swap is run by a group on Ravelry, and it was so much fun last year.  There are always a few contests that go along with the swap and I won the first one, which was a photo contest using photos of your FO's that you completed with yarn from last year's swap package.  As a prize I won this gorgeous skein of yarn from Yarn Chef!  The yarn is called Creme Brulee and I choose the colorway, Atlantis.  It's lace weight merino/silk and it's the prettiest blue!  It also came with a recipe for Minestrone soup and a tiny blue stitch marker!  Thanks, Yarn Chef!

First handspun on my own wheel!

This weekend I finished spinning and plying my first batch of handspun on my newly purchased wheel.  After renting it for a month, I decided to purchase the Ashford Joy double treadle wheel.  My yarn is way more consistent on this wheel and I really like the portability it provides.

This yarn is (mostly) fingering weight and it was spun from Louet Corriedale roving in Teal.  This fiber is a bit scratchy and it came out a bit coarse to the touch, because I think I put a little too much twist in it.  I'm going to try to spin at a looser tension next time to see if I can get a more balanced yarn.

Merino Handspun

It was almost time to return my Louet wheel to The Lamb's Wool, so I quickly spun up this multi-colored merino roving I ordered from Paradise Fibers.  Sandalwood is the colorway, and I love seeing how all of the colors blend and twist together.  I think I already have one project in mind for this yarn.  I ended up renting another wheel, so I'll be spinning on an Ashford Joy for the next month or so.

My 2nd attempt at handspinning.

I finished spinning up the last of the roving that I bought from The Lamb's Wool when I rented my spinning wheel.  This is a quarter pound of colonial top in a blue/gray heather color.  The color reminds me of denim.  I'm really happy with this yarn, because it is a lot more consistent than my first try.  I have more roving coming in the mail!

My first handspun yarn!

Ever since learning how to spin on a drop spindle, I've been jealous of seeing other knit bloggers spin entire piles of wool in a single evening.  I knew I wanted to try spinning on a wheel, but I didn't want to invest a lot of money in something I've never tried and might not like.  When Santina and I visited The Lamb's Wool, I was psyched to learn that they rent spinning wheels on a monthly basis, and if you want to buy the wheel, the rental fee is applied to the price of the wheel.  I really want a wheel that can be portable, and I was looking at some folding options, but the woman at the store advised me to try out this Louet S51.  She said it's great for beginners and you can spin any weight of yarn on it.  I also bought the book Start Spinning so I'd have a guide for when I was on my own at home and some vanilla colored roving that was affordable so I wouldn't feel too bad if I messed some of it up.

Well, before long I was on a roll and spinning up lots of my roving in no time!  I was so excited that I picked this up, and my yarn was coming out way more consistent than I could get it on the spindle!

After I got my yarn all plied up and washed, I was SO EXCITED.  Although it's bumpy in a lot of spots.  I made two skeins of completely usable yarn!  I am so proud of these two skeins.  I thought it was going to be boring to spin plain old vanilla roving, but the finished product is so beautiful!  They are soft and squashy and I LOVE THEM.  I have no idea how many yards they are, but I can't wait to knit something out of them!  I will definitely be spinning more on this wheel, and I think I'll probably have to buy it now!