The Importance of Blocking

Aww blocking, the dreaded word, right next to guage.  I hate to block I really do but with lace work it is vitally important as shown by this work.  It was suppose to be the 198 yards of Heaven but ended up being about 500 yards of...well lets just say not Heaven.

I got this yarn from my friend Knitter Mama.  It smelled of mothballs and was quite rough.  A whole lot of washing, and conditioning, (yes one can use hair conditioner to soften wool, and it makes it smell good) it turned out not bad for my first lace work.

So here is it is pre-blocked  
It looks rough and small

This is after blocking, what a difference this made.

Pre Blocking 

Post Blocking

This pic does not do it justice

2011 LYS

In the past two weeks I have completed the South Sound Yarn Crawl and the 2011 Puget Sound Yarn Tour.  The South Sound is a small and can be easily done in one day.  The 2011 LYs stretches from Bainbridge to Birch Bay on the Canadian Border.  It took 3 days to complete.  25 Stores in 3 days, it was work and a lot of fun.

Here is my face upon completing the tour....it is sheer exhaustion

And here is all the loot I got.  The patterns with the exception of one were all free...too bad the fiber and yarn were not....

Knitting with Some Cotton

Went to the South Sound Yarn Crawl this weekend.  Forgot to take some knitting with me for the road...I know right, how could I?

Bought me some Farbo Garn super soft cotton yarn, and a pair of size 5 needles.  Put this together.

A Soap Save and A Washcloth.

What to do with those first spins take two.

I really am bound and determined to knit what I spin.  After all I have A LOT of yarn and am producing more.

So once again here is some of my very very first spin.  Well the stuff I am willing to show you anyway.

And here is a picture of the unblocked hat I knitted out of it in couple of hours.  Will add a pic of it blocked and on a head once dry.

So here is the pictures of the blocked hat.  I don't know how I feel about it.  I did not block it over the dinner plate.  I did not want it to look like a beret.   I wanted a slouchy hat, I am not one for the beret.

Fast Flyers

Because I am obsessive compulsive I just had to have the fast flyer for my Lendrum spinning wheel.  The idea is one can spin lace weight yarn, and fine silk.  Well I do have some Camel silk but no way was going to use it as a test run.  So I pulled out the good reliable cheap Coredale fiber and went to work.  This is what I got.  Not as think as I would like and the ply kind of sucked.

Now I am actually going to try out some silk.  It is coming along okay.  A bit thinner, plying will be interesting.

The pics had very little editing.  This silk actually has a gleam to it and it is so pretty.  Looks like it might actually self stripe.

What to do with those first spins.

My friends call it Art Yarn...I call it hideous.  But have you ever knitted something to get the yarn out of the way thinking maybe I can give it to the homeless and then finish and kind of like it.

Well this hat was a knit that first spin ugly stuff and get it out of here.  This is what turned out.  I tried to take good pics but really it looks better in person.

When I started I thought I would just knit a heavy wool hat for the ocean and bond fires I go to.

Discuss...is it fugly, or is it quirky....

Front View

Side  View

Back

BTW This Is My First 3 Needle Bind Off

Oh those dern UFO's

So rather than starting new stuff I have been working on UFO's.  Below is pictures of a shawl I pulled out from over 2 years ago.  It is the second project I ever started.  See the holes.  This is from poor knitting and leaving it lying around.  Still it is pretty and gives it personality.  I a thinking about putting some pendants on the holes.  It is my peacock shawl.  The Peacock is my oldest totem.  I need to get a Peacock Pendant or have one made for a shawl clasp.  Yes I hand strung those damn beads and yes it took forever.

A project from my handspun...who would of thought

This is DragonFibers Solar Flare..

The Fiber

The Bobbin

The Ply

The Yarn

The Scale

The Hat

Not Very Good Lighting

Not one much for modeling...

Green Wool Project

Like most good Fiber Addicts, I bought wool at the Shepard's Extravaganza.  Sunshine Farms had this beautiful green wool blend on clearance.  I got around a pound of it.  Here is the progress so far

 

The Bobbins

The Ply

Skien

Close up of Skien

 

I still half of it to spin, but it will make quite a bit.  I kneed to get a yard counter.  I am not good with keeping count on a knitting noddy.

My First Three Spins

These are the first spins I did that are worthy of posting. The first as you can see is quite thick. It is some kind of silk blend that should of been left for when I was more skilled.

The next one is bamboo which I have learned must be spun from the fold.

The last one is Tencel. It is really pretty and the pic does not do it justice.

BFL

This is BFL, most spinners favorite wool to spin. I got this from a friend who bought it from Fleece Artist. Spun up to be pretty. I am making a scarf out of it.

So here are some more. Pink is a superwash nylon bamboo blend. The brown is unknown fiber but it s pretty. The blue is a mixture of fibers. There is a lot of it...perhaps a shrug or a shawl.

A LOT OF YARN

Uhm I have A LOT OF YARN!!! This was taken before I started spinning and there is more added to the stash. The problem is it is all really good yarn and I do not want to part with it.

I have stopped buying yarn for the most part and now am buying fiber. But fiber makes yarn...so yeah there is a problem. I need to knit faster.