Stash Diving...a tale of survival.

I have sort of been in a knitting rut. I think it's because I didn't finish the two big projects before the end of last term of the HPKCHC. On one hand I know that in order for me to feel prepared and ready for next term which starts in May, I have to get these two projects close if not all the way done but for some reason the more I want to the less time I have found to knit. I will share some of those distractions shortly but mainly I just haven't done it. So tonight instead of knitting on the lace shawl for my SIL that I am SO close to finishing...I think...or knitting on the vanilla sock that I have had as a side project for months...I decided to dive into my stash to just see what's there and reorganize.

Here is a picture of what it was to what it is now!




I took it all out before I took pictures or you would have seen a closet full of mess!! Now to be completely open, this isn't all my stash as some of it lives in another closet and some of it lives in a bin along with tools of the trade but this is the majority of my stash.

It might not look like it but it's organized. :). I have it in different big bags organized by fiber, sock yarn, other project yarn, and then lots of my first handspun which I am not entirely sure what to do with. I have the handspun that will be knit along with the other project yarns.

I love my stash. I know that sounds weird but I do. I wish I had more sweater worths of yarn but some day I hope to get there. I also wish I had a safe place to put it where I could see if more. There are some pretty yarn and fiber in there but I don't get to see it unless I dive in. Diving into the stash isn't something I do often as its just not reasonable. But I have it mostly listed on ravelry so I know what I have when thinking about a new project.

Speaking of new projects, I knit differently now than when I first started building my stash. So a lot of it reflects where I was as a knitter than where I am now. Hence the lack of sweater worths of yarn because I have just started knitting bigger projects like cardigans regularly. I do try to stick to knitting from the stash at every opportunity though.

And for the record I am a string believer that sock yarn and fiver do not count towards stash! :)

What are my distractions you ask? Well...work as usually prevents me from knitting during those hours. Then we have this little miss...she's just too cute to not spend every waking moment of hers being with her.




And then we have visitors. It started with CGR's grandma and grant who were pictured in the last post to now we have Grandpa!! My dad is here for a full month but he lives in panama and we don't get to see him often so we have to take full advantage!!




Other than that...the pups, house, and my family are big distractions but as you can probably tell all of these are good distractions so this gal is a happy camper! Might not be a productive crafter but a happy camper is good in my book!!

Happy Stashing!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My first attempt at Cabled yarn.

This past week has been full of plying yarn and re-plying and adding twist and so on!  I have taken a bunch of pictures so we'll do this with pictures! :)  For starters, what is Cabled Yarn.  The definition I got from this site is as follows: "A cabled yarn is simply a plied yarn that is plied back on itself. In its most basic form, a cable yarn is 2 - 2 ply yarns which are then plied together."  There is more details about how this is accomplished on the site referenced but I will tell you how I did it.

We'll start with talking about the singles.  I first spun up two singles of brown Merino clockwise or with a Z twist. Which by the definition found on this site means "This is twist that is inserted into the fibers when the drive wheel is spinning to the right or clockwise"  To view a picture of detailing this click here.  I then over twisted it by running it back through the wheel clockwise to make sure there was lots of twist.  This is requires when it comes to cable plying yarn.  I also spun up a single of white Cormo and a single of  white Corriedale.

2 brown merino singles, 1 cormo, and 1 corriedale

After making sure these have plenty of twist, I plied together the two brown singles the opposite direction, counter clockwise or S twist and plied the two white singles together as well. The S twist is the opposite of the Z twist where when the twist is added to the fibers when the drive wheel is spinning to the left or counter clockwise. We will call these the original plies.

Brown Merino original ply

 I figured since I was over-plying them that I would not have to run them back through the wheel, so I started plying a white with a brown ply clockwise on my wheel...ummm...boy was I WRONG!

Under twisted original plies, over twisted yarn

So, after a good conversation with my spinning mentor/adviser/friend Jasmin from the Knitmore Girls podcast,  we decided that I now have several yards of pretty yarn to show off but I need to run what's left of the original plies back through the wheel before plying the rest together.   So...back to plying I went.  I ran a bobbin of each of the original plies back through and added twist...again we are plying counter clockwise to add twist to the original plies.  After making sure these had plenty of twist, I started back plying the original plies clockwise for the final cabled yarn.   This was much more productive!!  I finished plying the two bobbins of original plies last night and am VERY happy with the results.  So, far with the two skeins I set the twist last night, I have about 250 yards of worsted weight cabled yarn!

Successful, cable plied yarn!

I was originally hoping to be done with all the plying before heading off this weekend to the Florida Fiber In with Manda, but I just wasn't able to finish.  So, I'm bringing all my bobbins, some singles left to ply, and the other original plies with me so I can finish the rest of the yarn.  I am really hoping to have about 600 yards when I'm done so I can make the Lady Kina with this yarn but we'll see.  I'll let you know after the weekend.

Speaking of weekend, Manda and I are leaving to Orlando as soon as I get of work on Friday and we'll be in Orlando at the Florida Fiber In until Sunday!  I'm looking forward to meeting new people, and all the fibery goodness in store for us this weekend!  I plan to get lots of pictures and some audio to share!  So, look forward to that!

Have a great weekend!  Happy Spinning and Fibery Fun!

Swatch, Swatch, Swatch and Swatch again. :)

Most people hate swatching!  If you don't know what swatching is, it's knitting or spinning a small sample of your yarn or fiber and make sure that it's the correct gauge or thickness for your project.  Gauge for those non-knitters is stitches knit per inch.  Depending on the size needle and the thickness of your yarn, your gauge changes.  Most if not all patterns have a gauge for you to get with the needles and yarn you pick for your project.  Sometimes even though you knit with the same needle size and yarn as someone else, you may knit tighter or looser and your gauge will be different.  In these cases you would have to go up a size in needle or down a size.   OK...enough education for today.  It's early for me.

I've been planning out a sweater project with some of my hand spun.  Now, I could just spin up all the fiber and then see what thickness my yarn ends up being and find a pattern that matches but instead I'm trying to spin for a certain yarn weight.  My first attempt at a spinning swatch didn't go well.  First off, I spun up too much of a swatch...I tend to do that because I get so into spinning that I forgot that I'm just doing a swatch.  Second, my singles were way too thick for what I was hoping would be a three ply.  The sweater calls for a worsted weight yarn.  This is a standard medium weight yarn.  You can read more about yarn weight standards here.  The end result of my three ply swatch was more of a Bulky weight which wouldn't work for the sweater pattern I choose.

3 ply. 2 plies of brown merino, 1 of some other fiber.  Bulky weight

So, back to the drawing board I went.  This time I sat down with my fiber and worked on spinning up the fiber the way it wanted to be spun.  I then realized that I was forcing it to be thick and it really wanted to be a lot thinner.  Now I had to decide what to do.  I did end up spinning up a lot more single of the brown merino I was working on before I said...time to swatch! 

Both swatches.

 This time I decided that I'd spin up a small and I meant small sample of the two white fibers I now am going to ply the brown up with and see if this will need to be a 3 ply or 4 ply and which I can get gauge with.  Last night, I pulled out two different white rovings I have.  I have about 3/4ths of a lb of some pretty white Corriedale and less than 1/2 a lb of Cormo.  I'm thinking of doing a single of each of these fibers with two singles of the brown merino which I have probably now a little more than 3/4s of a lb.  I'm hoping by mixing the three different fibers in my stash I will have enough fiber to yarn for a sweater.

After spinning the other singles up, I wound some of the brown onto another bobbin and did a very tiny sample of three ply.  Two brown and one of the corriedale.  I then checked it with my yarn gauge and realized it would be way too thin.  So, I did two plies of the brown, one of the corriedale, and one of the cormo.  I checked and it seemed generally to be about right.  I'm still working on getting my singles a consistent thickness so it's not really perfect but I"m ok with that.  I plied up a little more of this 4 ply and then I set the twist last night. What do you think of how it's coming out?  It's a barber pole effect. 

4 ply worsted weight. 2 plies of brown merino, 1 of corriedale, 1 of cormo.

When I got up early this morning, I pulled out my small sample and knit up a gauge swatch to see if I had reached my goal.  Surprise, Surprise to me of all people, I have!!  It's not perfect and the gauge isn't consistent through the whole swatch but on average it's 18sts/4 inch which is what the pattern calls for!  

I also pulled off a yard of my spinning swatch so I can weight it and determine if I'll have enough lbs of fiber for the yardage I need.  That is for another day because I might have Special K take it to work and use the scale at his work, a machine shop! :)  For now I feel comfortable that I can keep spinning the way I have and just work on getting my singles as consistent as I can.

Hope you guys enjoyed this sort of lesson in swatching.  I know it's a lot of babble really but I didn't sleep well last night because of a leg cramp and I'm up early on a Saturday trying not to wake up Special K who is still sleeping.  When he finally gets up, we are heading to brunch and then to Babys R Us for some registering.

Happy Spinning and Don't forget it's a good idea to always Swatch! :)

PS. I know the pictures are crappy as I'm still using my cellphone to take pictures. :)  Some day I'll get a better camera. 

Some Red and some Brown....Lots of knitting and some spinning.

I'm so glad it's Friday!  This week has felt like it dragged on forever, however, there has been lots of knitting, actually spinning, and planning for future projects.  I was able to finish another newborn hat.  This one is for my cousin's baby who is due in the next couple months. Since at this point, none of the dogs would model for me.  This is all you get.

Newborn Hat for Cousin's baby

Before starting on all this baby knitting, I had been working on some hats for Christmas present. I pulled out some stash yarn and knit using the Warm Ribbed Winter Hat pattern by Lucy H. Lee in Malabrigo Burgundy.  Since I was taking pictures for my Ravelry projects, here is the picture of the first one I finished on Jackjack.

Jackjack in Christmas Gift Hat

And then there has been spinning.  I started on Wed knitting about 15-25 minutes a day.  I even have been spinning for a little bit when I've gone home for lunch.  I'm working on some brown Merino roving that I purchased at Maryland Sheep & Wool.  It's from the processor Zeilinger Wool Co.  My goal at MDSW was to purchase fiber from some of the processors so I can see if I like their processing.  So far, I've really enjoying spinning this fiber up.  I can't decided whether it's the processing, the fact that I haven't spun in a while, or the fact that it's Merino. :) 

Progress on Merino Roving.

I'm very excited for this weekend!  Tomorrow, Special K and I are planning to head to brunch and then out to Babys R Us to start looking at things to register for.  I hope we can find a good bedding set because I haven't really seen what I'm looking for yet.  Other than that, I plan to get some crafting done, finish organizing the baby's room, and clean up the house.  I'm sure some other things will get squeezed in there but I do love weekends.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Happy Knitting and Spinning!

Not forgotten!

Ok...I swear this blog has not been forgotten! I think I need to start posting more often! It's not like I don't have plenty to share with you guys!

First off we'll start with a cute video of the pups. :) Just because well...they are so CUTE!!



This is part of our routine to go outside. Can you tell Jackjack is feeling GREAT?

Well...there has been lots of knitting....and a little spinning but mostly knitting. First off here is a gift I've been knitting for someone. They are these awesome mitts! You can either use them as finger less mitts or fold over the top and use as mittens! The pattern is the iphone mitts by Julie Ridl. This first pair was done using some NH Knitting Mama Franconia yarn in that Auntie Colorway. This is a Superwash Merino, Cashmere, Nylon base and I love it! These are so comfy and warm.

The color is really a bit more lilac in real life but I'm not a photography genius...I only wish I was. :)

The 2nd pair I'm working on for myself is using some Shelby B's Designs yarn in the Lilly Potter colorway. I'm actually using a similar yarn base called Supreme Sock from Shelby's that is the SW Merino, Cashmere, Nylon. Love these colors and it's knitting up very nicely!

I don't have any spinning pictures but I'll get some soon. I spun up some lovely merino but next up on my wheel is the cormo roving I bought at SAFF! I can't wait!

I'm still considering the Blog365 starting on Dec 1st. :) So...you may get to see and read a lot more from me soon.

Happy Tuesday!!

SAFF loot! Loads of pictures!!!

First I just wanted to say, SAFF was a blast!!! We drove up on Thursday and arrived to a nice dinner with my friends Judi and Caroline from my weavers guild. We then went out for a beer at this brewery that has a small bar in it with live music. We missed the music but the beer was YUMMY!! The brewery was called Pisgah Brewery. (if I'm wrong I'll correct later)

Friday we woke up and after some yummy breakfast headed down to the Fair. We shopped a bit, then volunteered at the Fleece Show and Sale, where I purchased half a gorgeous black Corriedale fleece. Pictures to come of that. Then after we got some lunch we shopped some more! Friday night was the Fiber in at the Holiday Inn near Asheville and it was so much fun to meet loads of ravelry people! I also won a prize. You can check out a quick video of it on my youtube.
Saturday, was the Barknknit meet n greet where I met lots of lovely fiber people that listen to the podcast or read the blog! That was FUN! It was so great meeting everyone and handing out the goodie bags. :) Hope you enjoyed them. We then shopped some more and headed home for a lovely evening of wine, knitting, and spinning. I managed to finish my Corona sweater that night too! I love it! What do you think?
I got to wear it on Sunday and I got lots of compliments of how great it turned out! You can see my barknknit shirt peaking out. :)

Sunday was another day full of shopping! We started the day by going to brunch downtown Asheville and ended the day at dinner downtown at an indian restraunt. It was yummy food.

So...I've talked about shopping but now the pictures and details of it. :) Ok...here we start with a picture that makes me very happy. :) It's a group picture but it is missing some things like the fleece, gifts, and other fiber. But it's this pretty!

Not really sure where to start but this first one is from Shelby B's Designs and it's the Lilly Potter colorway in her sock yarn base that is Superwash Merino, Cashmere, nylon blend. (There will be an interview with Shelby posted in the next podcast)
Next up a Unique Sheep's Verve sock yarn in their Gradience series. This yarn series is awesome and all their colorways are great Can't remember the color way but I'll update when I have the yarn near me. (You will be hearing more about them in the podcast as they are one of our new sponsors and I got an interview with Laura!)
Next, we have my Knit witch purchases...no I didn't spring for a yarn bowl but it was REALLY hard not to get one! ;) First we have her Celestial Sock series in Sagitarious. I'm a Gemina/Taurus but I loved this colorway.
Then we have I think this is Michealangelo colorway fiber. Yummy!
Next we have my Miss Babs purchases. First here is some Superwash Merino/Nylon pencil roving....love these colors.
And some yummy sock yarn in Falling Leaves colorway. This is totally the represenation of the weekend! The leaves were this color!
Then I had to pick up some Gale's Art in her new BFL twist series. It's a black and white roving that is overdyed. It's awesome! I can't wait to spin this up!
Then I met this lovely lady from Ozark Carding Mill, LLC from Oklahoma and I got some GREAT video that I'm going to post the podcast soon! But I want to send her some fleece to process but figured I should try out some of their fiber to see how I like it! This is some pin drafted Romaldale. Very soft and pretty!I also met some lovely people at this Cormo booth...will have to post their info later as I dont' have it on hand. I also confinced them to enter some fleeces in the Fleece Show!
On sunday I met the owner of The Soap Shed who was so nice and informative...this one in the picture is the Dirty Dawg Shampoo Bar! It smells great!! I got an interview with him that should be in the podcast next week! Also on Sunday, when shopping with H3dakota, I found the buttons! I could have bought so many but I settled on these...which was really funny because it totally matched the fabric of the chair I had loved sitting in at Judi's place. :)
The owner of the Clay Cat also graciously gave me this shawl pin as a thank you for mentioning her on the podcast. If you want buttons or shawl pins made I will post her email soon but she will custom make buttons for you if you want. Well...i hoped you enjoyed the run down of most my purchases. Some are missing as I said because they have already been gifted. :) I'll post pictures of my fleece soon too. I'll also update the missing information tomorrow when I get a chance to pull out the loot again.

Also...if you contact any of these wonderful stores or people please let me know I sent you their way.

Happy Spinning, and Knitting!

PS...I missed my hubby and puppies so much! They were all So happy to see me when I got home!

Casting on, a swatch, a WIP and some blocking.

Tonight, I dropped of Special K at the airport so he can fly up to Ohio and help his mother move. I'm going to miss him dearly but he'll be back on Sunday so he won't be gone too long. After I dropped him off, I stopped by the book store and actually bought a knitting book. I try not to use up too much stash money on books but sometimes I just can't resist. I bought the Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together by Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown. I picked it up because I was looking for one pattern but then started reading some of it and had to buy it! It looks like it's going to be a great read. I'll give it a proper review once I finish reading it.


I picked it up because I've been looking for something to do with all my left over bits of sock yarn. I have small feet so most the time I end up with a ton of left over after knitting my socks up. So, I figured the perfect way to use it would be to make a sock yarn blanket. I've seen others making the Barn Raising Quilt and love how it looks. I was also inspired by Mary Catharine's squares. I cast on tonight at knit group and honestly was NOT happy with the dpns at first but once I got a couple rows in...I was having fun!!
This is my first blanket of any major commitment...so I may need some encouragement in finish it.

For the sweater yarn I'm working on, I knit up a swatch of my hand processed, handspun yarn and let me tell you I LOVE the finished swatch! I really can't wait to finish cleaning the fiber so I can start carding it up and then spinning it...then I get to knit it up!! And after all that I get to WEAR IT! Such a wonderful process. Please remind me I'm so excited about this when I'm spinning 1500 yards of yarn and then knitting it. Ok? Anyway...look at my pretty swatch. :)
I had people pet it and some smelt this at the knit night. Everyone thinks it's very soft and most thought it smelled great...that is thanks to Soak in the Celebration scent. :)

I also have been really trying to finish this Table Runner which is supposed to be a gift so I need it done and blocked soon! So far it's coming out lovely!
Manda came to the knit group and she brought me some blocking boards so as soon as I got home I soaked the shawl and scarf and pinned it up. I've never blocked this way so I'm curious to see how it all comes out.Well...I hope you enjoyed my round up of projects in different stages of the knitting process. :) I definitely have become a non-monogamous knitter. I'm all over the place and never have been more inspired in my life! I'm really enjoying my crafting lately. My spinning mojo is back and I have finishitis and castonitis. :)

Good night everyone and I hope you all have a great Dogs on Thursday tomorrow. I'm off to get some rows in before sleepy time.

Spinning, Knitting, Dogs, and Recovering from the Crud.

So, I've been out sick from work for the last day and a half. It started with a headache that wouldn't go away and then my throat got really sore. I'm feeling pretty good tonight after a day and a half of rest. I'm heading back to work tomorrow. I am a little disappointed that I didn't get a podcast out last week but life happens. I did get a lot of knitting done and got some stash enhancements.

Saturday, Manda, Monica, Angela, Shannon and I headed down to Sarasota, FL for the Florida Fiber In. It's a fun fiber event that has demos and vendors. We had a great time and I came home with some yummy fiber!

I bought this lovely Superwash Merino/Nylon roving from Rocket Yarn. She has LOVELY fibers and yarn. I saw her demo and got a chance to interview her. The interview should be up next week.
I already started spinning this up and let me tell you...it spins itself! I LOVE it!!
I also picked up this fiber from Long Dog Handspun. It's a Merino, Bamboo, and silk blend. I can't wait to try it as I have not spun any bamboo or silk yet.
Knitting:
I finished the Shawl for the September Shawl KAL. The pattern is the Traveling Woman Shawl and the yarn is Hazelknits. I still need to block it.
Been putting some work into Kenny's vest as well. I'm working on the ribbing in the body and it's a mindless easy knit which is a great stress releaver. :)
The pups are great and have been enjoying my company while I'm sick. Abby has been cuddly and Jackjack silly. :)

I'm off to get a good night sleep before going back to work tomorrow. Special K is flying up to help his mom move tomorrow night so I'll be sans husband for a couple days. I already miss him.

Have a great night! Happy Knitting, Spinning, and Dog loving!

Dyeing update, Dish Rag Tag Begins, and the start of a KAL.

So, after some rinsing and drying I really like this fiber. :) It still pretty brown but it came out lovely!! What do you think? I need a name for the color too.
Today for lunch I came home and I had a package waiting for me!!
The Dish Rag Tag began! I am the team captain of the Purls n Paws so I got the box first. The box comes from Emily and she sent some really cute coasters and some candy!
I cast on the dishcloth on the way back to work at a stop light and am about half way done. I better get back to knitting...just have been a bit distracted! I have the box already packed and ready to go out in the morning. I just have to finish up the cloth!

Tomorrow is the first of September and since I've been eyeing this lovely shawl pattern and beautiful Hazel Knits yarn I have in my stash I decided to start a September Shawl KAL! So, here is my stuff all ready to cast on tomorrow!! I couldn't get the camera to work right so your getting two pictures of the same thing. :) The yarn color is better in the first but the rest is better in the 2nd. :)


If you want to join us come over to the Barknknit Podcast Ravelry group and join in the Sept Shawl KAL! You just have to cast on or have already cast on and promise to finish the shawl by Sept 30th!

ok..off to finish the dishcloth! Happy Knitting!

Sunday at Manda's...knitting, spinning, and dyeing oh my!

This weekend has been nice. Saturday, I met up with two of my friends and their kids for breakfast at my favorite place. The food was yummy and the company was nice. The afternoon was spend with Special K. We cleaned the house mostly but we did watch Cobb together.

Today was another fun day. I went over to Manda's for another Fiber Fun day! We had a good time sitting around and spinning and knitting together. We also got some dyeing in. Here are some pictures from Monica's camera of the fibery fun day!

A new friend came to our knit group and joined our Fiber Fun day today. Her name is Shannon and she's from New Jersey. She had never spun before so here I'm trying to giver her a lesson. Bless her heart that she actually learned from me! By the end there she was doing great! I need to learn more how to teach spinning. I'm just glad she seemed like she was having a great time!
Later we dyed some. I brought some BFL to dye up. The colors didn't come out as I was hoping but I like it!! It's a bit camo but I'm thinking if I ply it up with a different color it might look really cool! Even plying it up on its self will be nice too! Here I am preparing the dye.
I did a hot pour dyeing style..which Manda taught me! It's a lot of fun. I picked three colors, olive, brown and something else I can't remember. I think I put to much brown and not enough of the other colors or the other colors were too muted along with the brown that the whole roving kind of looks brown with little spots of other colors. Here's me pouring the dye.Here is my lovely roving! I actually like it a lot more now that I've rinsed it and it's drying. At first I was a bit disappointed but not anymore! ;) I think dyeing is fun because you never know what you're gonna get! Like Chocolate! hahaha
Here's our new friend Shannon...with her two skeins of worsted weight yarn.and here she is dyeing up her yarn in blue, black and red. She did a different style of dying. It was fun too! This is closer to what I first learned.
Well..hope you enjoyed the pictures. This week is going to be a bit hectic but I'm looking forward to it! My dad and step mom get her on Tuesday!! I am very excited to see my dad!

Hope you have a great week!!
Happy Dyeing and Fiber Fun day!