Pretty Yarn Day: Colorful Edition

yay, color! this is why i joined the colorways club. just looking at these photos makes me happy. all are worsted weight corriedale, spun longdraw, chain-plied, and soaked and thwacked to finish

August: 154yds/96g

September: 167yds/108g

October (my fave): 160yds/108g
and just because i can, one more photo

have a good weekend!

Unpretty Yarn Day: Handspun Edition

i decided to use my red heart batt to try corespinning. i used red cotton crochet thread for the core. i found it fairly difficult b/c it worked best for me if i treadled verrrry sloooowly. if my feet started to pick up speed, even a little, it just became a horrible mess. i had more fun carding the batt than i did spinning the yarn. i'm not sorry that i tried something new but i don't know that i'll become a big artyarn aficionado in the future b/c i just can't see myself using novelty yarn all that much. i may try it again for fun if i have the right prep.

anyway, the contents are cotton crochet thread and romney locks, firestar, bamboo, and sari silk threads. 72yds/40g, worsted weight. i think i'm going to pair this with my blingtastic skein to knit a pair of mitered mittens.


on friday, i collected all of my leftover singles and plied them together as a 3ply skein. well, at least most of them. there's a few more leftovers. 367yds/155g, fingering to worsted weight. contents include but aren't limited to: CVM, BFL, domestic wool, alpaca, romney, bamboo, silk, camel/silk, superwash merino, suri alpaca, etc. i'm calling it my S[Crap] skein since it's kind of ugly. evidently i've spun a lot of blue and green skeins in my spinning career. no idea what to do with it, as per usual lately.

Mini Book Reviews

i placed an order at overstock.com because they're doing $1 shipping for the holidays. i needed a few things and i wanted to buy Spicy the Youngblood DVD.

i had asked him for gift ideas, and he told me he wanted this hockey movie, Youngblood. he described the plot and when i said it didn't sound very good, he said (and this is a direct quote), "It has Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe. How can it not be good?" so i had to get it for him. i'll probably give it to him on thanksgiving, as that will be our 3rd anniversary.

anyway, while i was browsing, i ordered a few craft books. i may write up some more in-depth reviews later, but these are my initial thoughts.

Sweet Nothings: Handmade Camis, Undies & Other Unmentionables: I probably should've gotten this from the library first, but i was a bit embarrassed to put in a request through interlibrary loan for a book about making your own underwear. i've been interested in making my own underwear for awhile. because i'm so short, i have fit issues with everything, including my undies. i also wear camis/tanks year round for layering, so it would be nice to be able to make those as well. from a quick glance through, i'm disappointed. a lot of the book concentrates on converting vintage pieces. which is nice and all, but if you don't have a ton of vintage slips just lying around, you can't easily convert them into bras. the book is very limited on illustrations and the photographs are not very good. there is often only one shot of the project and it's difficult to tell what the project actually is. the model might be wearing a two-piece outfit but the pattern is only for the bottoms. one of the biggest disappointments for me was a tank top/boyshort set. i was glad to see the tank until i realized that you were supposed to buy a ready made tank and the project was for sewing a heart applique to the front. woo. there were a few things i was interested in and some of the nighties could be converted to summer dresses (I think). i haven't really looked closely enough to tell for certain, but for now consider me underwhelmed.

The Knitter's Book of Wool: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding, Using, and Loving this Most Fabulous Fiber: This book was everything i thought it would be. i'm only up to chapter three, but i'm finding it as interesting and informative as her first book. so far, i haven't really learned anything new, but it's wonderful to have a reference book that is so thoroughly researched and fun to read. i think that the patterns might even be better than the ones in the book of yarn. i really love the entire section on shawls. I adore Evelyn Clark's Prairie Rose Lace Shawl (rav) i will definitely make it at some point. there are also a lot of small projects that i am seriously considering as holiday gifts.

Twinkle Sews: 25 Handmade Fashions from the Runway to Your Wardrobe: i'm giving this one a tentatively positive review. i really like a lot of the designs. the modeled clothes look a bit out there because of the styling, but there are also shots of just the garments laid flat, and those are the pics that make me believe that i could wear these clothes. my favorite is the skirt section. i would make all of the skirts except for one. the designs have a lot of really nice details that make them special. there are also tips sprinkled throughout on how to modify the designs. the instructional section seems pretty detailed. however, i won't know until i actually try to make something if the book helps me to produce wearable clothing or if it is just eye-candy.

Pretty Fiber Day: Colorways Edition

it's been awhile since i've seen a Colorways batt. Grafton Fibers changed their name to DyakCraft and had some personal issues, but now they appear to be back on track. over the weekend i received the batts for september and october.

this one is called Sumac.

and this one is Foliage. i really heart the colors in this batt.

receiving these batts in the mail reminded me that i hadn't yet spun the August batt, and i haven't knit any lizard ridge squares since june's. my plan is to spin up all the batts this week and catch up on the knitting over the thanksgiving holiday. i actually spun October first, since those colors were my favorite, and i didn't get a progress shot.

August was really difficult to spin. i'm not sure if it's because it sat for so long or if it was the time of year that it was carded (i recall having similar problems with the other summer batts) but there were a lot of neps and the fiber felt sticky. the colors blended a lot more on this one than the others, but it made a beautiful painterly skein of yarn.

i'm working on september now. it's my least favorite of the three, but it spins really easily (as did october).

i'm waiting to finish all three skeins at once and then i can get to knitting.

It's Batt Time: Red Heart Edition

this weekend, i decided to try making an art batt. i used red romney locks, red and purple sari silk threads, bamboo, and firestar.

i carded 2 thin batts and then ran them through a second time to make this batt. it's 1.1oz. i'm calling it "Red Heart" due to presence of baby-melting sparkly nylon (and rayon derived from bamboo)

i tried a new-to-me spinning technique. that skein is drying now, but i had a little bit leftover. spicy made me this supported spindle out of a chopstick and a drawer pull. i asked him to make the end pointy (i may have said the word "sharp" but that wasn't what i meant), and i could probably injure someone with the point. i've already poked myself a time or two and it hurts.

i picked a horrible fiber to practice with, but it's what i had on hand. i'm hoping to spin with it a few minutes a day to get the hang of it. it's not a bad spindle for $1.

A Sea of Stockinette

i'm still plugging away at pas de valse when i'm not working on other things. i'm ready for the underarm split now.

It's Batt Time

i carded these batts over the weekend

2oz, corriedale lamb fleece, fawn alpaca fleece, and a smidgen of bamboo

the alpaca cards beautifully. the corriedale lamb locks are very short, and i'm expecting a chunky textured yarn. i put a thin layer of bamboo directly onto the big drum. it was a bit staticky but not too bad. i only did one pass on the carder.

i started spinning it but didn't get very far because the single broke and i can't find the end. i'm really thinking about selling my woolee winder. at least with the regular bobbins you know where the sliding hook is, so it gives you a place to start looking for the end. with the WW, it's anyone's guess.

i have a couple of different spinning projects sitting in a corner of my living room because i can't find the ends.