The Decorator Crab

Casting On: Amanda Jacket

In addition to certain ongoing projects, I have started my first sweater. I'm now knitting the Amanda Jacket (Ravelry) from A Fine Fleece, in Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed. Here are a couple of photos that I took from pages in the book.

and a close-up:

I love cardigans - I wear them all the time. Here is my swatch for the project:

My gauge was off prior to blocking, but after a warm soak the yarn bloomed a bit and my gauge is now bang on (suh-weet!). I'll be casting on for the 40" bust size, which will give me 5" of ease at the bust and 2" of ease at the hips (there is no shaping in the body of the cardigan). I think this sweater is meant to be somewhat boxy and "comfortable" looking, certainly not tight, so I am sticking with the "boyfriend sweater" MO. BTW - Lola is fully responsible for my desire to knit this cardigan. Lola's version turned out so well, still the best of the ones I've seen on Ravelry and beyond.

One last thing: for those who are impatient about drying swatches, I employed a new drying technique at the vacation cabin that we rented this past weekend:

That thing was dry in no time!

Ease on down the road.

So, I'm going to put up this here post as though it hasn't been FIVE MONTHS since I last blogged. Nothing out of the ordinary to see here folks, just a regular post.

Here we have my most recent FO, the Just Like a Peasant Cap (pdf) by Amber Daniels (Ravelry).

Yarn: Valley Yarns Williamstown, color 09, three skeins.
Needles: Inox circulars, size 10.5
Size: One Size
Notes: This is a fun, quick project and produces a jaunty little cap. The yarn is held doubled, so this really does knit up quickly. I loved the yarn, which I used for the first time in this project. I found it on WEBS for $4.99 a ball - a smoking deal! Here are some more photos, and then the notes from my Ravelry Project Page.

   

More notes:

I knitted the body of the hat flat for a couple of inches so that it would open a bit in the back and give the ties some room to move around. Then I joined and worked in the round until the piece measured 8” to the hem (not including the brim), and started evenly decreasing with K2TOG in 8 sections, every row until there were 8 stitches left.

For the strap, I slipped the first stitch of every row purlwise with the yarn in front, which left a very nice edge for sewing. I sewed the strap/tie thing on to the top of the brim ad around the edge of the hat to the back.

Tour de Fleece Round-up Post

I am blogging at work (bad!), so I have to keep this short.  Here are a couple of photos of my Tour de Fleece efforts (we do not speak of the earlier efforts at plying ugly yarn in this post). Along with BFL Monkey Farts, I give you Corriedale "Vacation to Canada."

And, a class photo with everyone together:

Why yes, I am rather pleased with all of it! More details to come when I am not on the clock...

I love Monkey Farts!

Fiber: Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) in "Monkey Farts" from Spunky Eclectic. 4 oz. Ravel It.

Technique: Spun using a long draw on my Ashford Traditional, only flyer ratio is 7:1.

Result: Two ply, about DK weight? Haven't done the WPI yet.

Notes: I split the roving in half long ways (down the whole length of fiber), and used my birthday present to check that the weights were even. For the first single, I pre-drafted the split roving as-is, but found that it was a bit too much to work with. For the second single, I split the roving again (now working with 1/4 of the original roving), and found that much easier to pre-draft evenly (I first discussed this a few posts ago. See there for a photo of the pre-drafted fiber). I let the singles sit on the bobbins for a few days to relax (while I was producing fugly yarn!), and plied it up as usual (lots of twist, treadling like mad!). The plied fiber was quite twisty, but a good soak and rough smack on the counter produced an even, balanced 2-ply after drying. I love this yarn, and have already moved on to another Spunky colorway, this time in Corridale fiber. Loving it!

When life gives you lemons, navajo ply them.

Recall from yesterday that I was in the midst of plying what I deemed to be the "ugliest yarn known to man." Well. It might not be The Ugliest, but it's still pretty fugly. Observe:

and

Uummm....no. When I finished 3-plying up this disaster, I had some singles left on two bobbins. It seemed that the only way to rescue this bad situation was to use it as a learning experience. Given the truly abominable color combination of the 3-ply, finishing the remaining yarn as 2-ply wasn't a suitable option. After getting some inspiration from the Ravelry Tour de Fleece folks (who pointed me toward an excellent video), and from the Yarn Harlot, I decided that I would use the remaining singles to teach myself how to navajo ply. This plying technique preserves color runs and produces a striped affect along the length of the yarn. I had nothing to lose, so I gave it a shot. Here is what I ended up with:


While the colors still aren't my favorite, alone they are less hideous than mixed together. A fine lesson, indeed, so the effort wasn't a total loss. Now, what to do with the yarn? Burn it in a ceremony to the Yarn Fates?

Drop by tomorrow for photos of BFL Monkey Farts! The skein is having a good soak now, and will be ready for it's blog debut by tomorrow morning. I'll tell you in advance that it's vastly more beautiful than the freakshow that I produced today. Then again, it would almost have to be...

Uhhhh....wow.

Okay, so apparently today is the day that I post eleventeen million times (Or two times. Whatever). I had to pause from plying for a moment and post because I am currently producing the ugliest yarn known to man. I'm not fishing for compliments here - this stuff is FUGLY. Quite a learning experience though, one of those times when you just have to laugh, keep going, and get past it. I have been working on finishing three bobbins of this wonderful roving on and off for a while now. I had grand plans about three plies of various colors blending harmoniously and changing with each other. It turns out that reality is not as beautiful as my fantasy (as per usual).

After resting for a bit, today was The Day To Ply. I started plying. I was am not pleased. Maybe it will look better as a finished skein?  Not likely! I am sorry Copperpot Woolies, it is totally my fault, not yours. I promise to do better next time...

OMG WTF?!?! I am dying from the ugliness!!

vomits

But maybe it was at least a good idea to try a 3-ply? Sigh.

Your Daily Zen, Courtesy of the Alpacas

We had Sunday brunch out at a local farm a couple of weeks ago. The farm is located directly across the street from Oregon Alpaca Farm, which is home to many (50+?) alpacas. Naturally, we took a walk across the street after brunch and fed the alpacas some pellets. Here is your daily zen...

The Tour de Fleece Catch Up Post

Not that you would know it from the blog, but I have joined in on the Tour de Fleece this year for the first time. I am participating on two fronts: at the Tour de Fleece web page, and in the Tour de Fleece Ravelry Group. It's a bit confusing that these two are different, but I figured that I might as well cover my bases and join two parties.

My goal for this year's TdF, my first, is very simple - spin every day, even if it's just a little bit. In the lead-up to finishing my degree, I wasn't able to spin for several weeks. I got out of practice, and built up a decent fiber stash as a result. I want to use the TdF as motivation to get through a bit of the stash and to get back into the rhythm of spinning on a regular basis. So far, it's going well. We had family in town and went out to the coast for a few days, but I managed to fit the spinning wheel into the Subaru and got some spinning done while we were out there. Yes! I do admit to missing a couple of nights so far, but also got in a couple of longer sessions to make up for it.

So, let's get on to the goods! My first project was spinning the third bobbin of my Copperpot Woolies merino/colonial (Rav link; 4.3 oz batt). I am letting the last bobbin rest before I ply it, but I'm also stalling a little because it will be my first 3-ply attempt. Wish me luck!

I joined the Monkey Farts TdF team on Ravelry, for people who are spinning Spunky Eclectic fibers, so I figured that I ought to tackle some Spunky fiber next. What follows is the first half of a 4 ounce braid of BFL roving in coloway Monkey Farts (of course!).

I intended to produce a 2-ply yarn this time around, so I split the roving lengthwise and pre-drafted the first half. Here is how it looked.

I had a little trouble producing a consistent strand with the BFL at first, but I adjusted my hold on the fiber a little and found that things moved along much better. This is my first experience at having to adjust my technique to suit the fiber (I haven't tried very many fibers yet), and I really enjoyed the challenge and learning experience.

I also really got a kick out of seeing how the colors in the roving were transformed as I spun it up. I am still a new spinner, but I don't think that this transformation will ever cease to  amuse me. It's what spinning is all about!

My next move is to spin the second ply, ply the two together, and move on to the next colorway. After a minor fiber stash enhancement "incident" in Portland on Saturday, I am going to have a difficult time choosing between another Spunky BFL color and my new "Happiest Girl" one off color "Let's See What Happens." Stay tuned for results!

ETA: here are some photos for Joy (blueknits on Ravelry), who wanted to show the pegboard to her husband. Curt made it for me, and I absolutely love it. It's a great way to keep the craft room organized. Sorry for the dark photos - I took these during winter on the north side of the house.

Here's a photo of the frame that the board is mounted on. The 1" x 2" furring strips are mounted to the studs, and the pegboard is mounted to the furring. Easy!

Starting from the beginning

A while back, I signed up for a "learn to spin" class at the Craft Center of my university (aside: how awesome is it that my university has a craft center?!  They have sewing machines, weaving looms, spinning wheels, glass fusing, pottery wheels, photography, a wood shop, and much more - it is too cool). I already knew the basics of spinning before signing up for the class. What I was really after was learning fiber prep - picking raw fleece and carding. We spent the entire first day hand-picking VM out of some borderline janky raw fleece, and then cutting our knuckles on ancient hand carders. No disrespect to hand carder fans, but I was really holding out for the drum carder, which she promised to bring the next day.

The following day (it was a Sat/Sun class), we had two drum carders available for the five of us students. We worked together to card a bit of fiber for everyone, and then the new spinners moved over to the wheels. I however, remained at the drum carder for the remaining three hours of the class! I fell madly in love with carding. Immediately. I created six fluffy batts of some unknown, rustic, amazingly scratchy wool. And I loved it!!

It has some little brown hairs in it - maybe guard hairs of some kind? I am new at this.

I started spinning my lovely scratchy batts immediately, but due to interruptions from other commitments (see previous post), it took a while to finish all of it and get it plied up. Here is how it turned out:

More pics on Ravelry, for those with access.  It is rough, scratchy, and definitely rustic - I love it! I love that it is local, and that I used something that would have otherwise been thrown away (it was fiber from sheep for eating, not sheep for shearing). It was a nice contrast to the merino that I had been spinning right before it, and as a new spinner I am eagerly gobbling up as many kinds of fiber as I can.

I have started a project with the handspun, but I already fear that I will run out before finishing. I wanted to make something simple that would let the natural texture of the wool shine through, so garter stitch was an obvious choice. Without much yarn to work with, and since it is very itchy (no good for a hat), I thought that a pillow ought to fit the bill perfectly. Here is what I have so far.

The plan is simple: four garter squares sewn together. Two will be knit on the bias (diagonal) and two in the "regular" fashion. I am using size 4US needles, which I picked randomly because I haven't done any diagnostics on the yarn like WPI or weight/yardage. There are some thick/thin aspects of the yarn, but I think that it adds to the rustic nature of the yarn. The squares ought to block into nice, even edges. I can't wait to see how it works out!

So, there you have it - my first project that starts from the beginning (raw fleece). Yeah!

In other news, I will be using gifts from my Mom and my Mother in Law to purchase my very own drum carder and some raw fleeces (thanks Moms!!)!  OMFG - there are no words for how excited I am!  And, in some freakish happenstance of cosmic timing, the exact drum carder that I want suddenly became available second-hand, and is in great shape. How amazing and wonderful is that?! *Happy dance!* Since I promised to spend my graduation gifts on fun, indulgent things only (Nothing practical for this gal! Not this time!), I am going buy as much raw fleece as my money will allow me. I will be missing the Black Sheep Gathering because I am in Chile right now (moment of silence, please), but there are many wool-producing farms around here that I can stalk visit. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment! I may also be brave enough to order fleece online, but that feels like cheating somehow. I should use this as a reason to get out and meet my local fiber farmers, yes?

Okay - signing off from Chile. More when I return stateside!

In which she rejoins the Blogosphere

Greetings!

Well, I realize that I don't have any readers left out there after this extended period of blog silence, but I like to carry on under the delusion that someone will read this. I was away from my blog in order to write and then defend my Ph.D. thesis, and now I rejoin the world as a new crab. Sort of. I am now "Craftycrab, Ph.D." I'm not changing the blog name or anything (heh), and I don't use it in my signature or anything, and please don't call me Dr. Crab, but it sure as hell feels great to be done!  Now I will have time to blog!  And to leave comments on YOUR blog!!  Yes, I feel like a new crab, that is for sure.

I am currently blogging from Iquique, Chile, where I am currently involved in a new research project. But, I will return home in a week or so, and will then begin blogging again in earnest. I just couldn't wait until then to peek my head in around here! In the mean time, you can see what [little] that I've been up to on my Ravelry page (if you are a member of Ravelry - sorry Mom and MinIL). I'll get it all updated over here eventually, once the dust settles.

It already feels great to be "back"!!