Return to Black Socks

It's been just over 2 years since I first tried to attend the shearing day at Black Socks Sheep & Wool. Well, today we finally made it :)

Oh, the anticipation!


Shearer in action.


A naked sheep :)LOL


A few lambs :D


We couldn't stay the whole time cuz dd got sick, but she liked the lambs and black wool the best.

Mini-Striping Test Swatch

I have a few new colorways in my etsy shop that are "mini-striping." Some people have asked me "How does that knit up?" Well, instead of guessing, I knit a test swatch. This is a 4-color skein called "Earth That Was." It is fingering wt and knit at 8 sts per inch. The length of each color section is approximately equal (this dyelot had a shorter white section than usual).

Here it is...click on it to enlarge.


I've labeled how many sts around each area is. It got a little funky near the top because of the bend in the needle's cable.

Here's my observations at the different diameters:
16-20sts = nice mini-stripes
24-28sts = subtle spiral stripes
32-36sts = looks a bit variegated
40-48sts = funky pooling
52-56 = subtle mini- stripes
60sts = looks variegated again
64-80sts = spiral stripes that get wider as the diameter increases
84sts = the stripes start to turn the other direction.

Somewhere b/w 80 & 84 sts around you could get stable vertical pooling colors...maybe at 82sts or maybe at 84sts but knit at a tighter gauge (like 9-10spi).

The colorways that I've dyed recently that are like this: "Earth That Was/Mini-Stripes," "Green Glow/Mini-Stripes," "Browncoat/Mini-Stripes," and "Alliance Cruiser." Just remember that every knitter's gauge is different and your results may vary. Thank you to "craftdungeon" for letting me swatch from her skein :)

Addicted to Spinning

The Ravelympics took a lot out of me. I not only knit my first sweater, but also a heavily cabled hat, a pair of man-sized socks, and my first laceweight & beaded wrap...all in 17 days! Since then, I finished up a couple of outstanding WIPs (works in progress) and found I was not really motivated to start anything in my queue.

What to do??? Get back on the wheel, of course...the spinning wheel.

So I have finally finished spinning my first singles (single ply yarns) on my spinning wheel. And last night I tried something new...I Navajo plied one of them. Here are some pics.

Roving that I dyed with Easter egg dyes last year (superwash merino).


After plying and skeining on the niddy noddy.


A close-up


I still have the other half to ply...but that can wait till tonight :)LOL

Selfish Knitting & Ravelympics

Wow! It's been AGES since I wrote something here. At least I can be rest assured that there aren't throngs of people who have been chomping at the bit to know what I've been up to :)LOL

Anyway...since we last met our "hero"
(term used EXTREMELY lightly :)

I've started dyeing with professional acid dyes and had great response in my etsy shop.


I got a spinning wheel...a used Ashford Traveller, single drive, single treadle.


We had another handmade Christmas this year...which meant I was knitting for other people for MONTHS.


And now I finally have knitted something for ME...my first sweater! To top it off, I "competed" in the 2nd Ravelympics and have received my first "medal" for finishing my sweater.


I mentioned to dh last night that my wrists needed a break so I wasn't ready to start my second Ravelympics project yet. He said, "I guess knitting isn't an endurance event." I said, "Yes it is...but I was sprinting." I knit my sweater in 8 days! If you don't knit, trust me...that's fast :)LOL


Pattern: Amused by Jordana Paige (with mods to collar & for cardigan)
Yarn: 6.5 skeins of Cascade 220 in "dark plum"
More notes on my Raverly project page.
I ♥ Ravelry