Fiber Musings

Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Month: January 2005 Page 2 of 3

Spinning for Sock Yarn

By

On 12 Jan, 2005

In Spin

After I read about cabled yarn for sock knitting in Spin-Off, I tore through my stash looking for appropriate fiber to turn into socks. For the first time, I made a sample card that I referenced while I spun. My goal is to make sock weight yarn, similar to one of my favorite sock yarn, Trekking. I love the subtle color shifts.

While spinning, I noticed that the dye in the roving was less saturated on one end than the other. So I started alternate which end I pull off of while spinning. I pulled about 10-15″ hunks. I think the finished yarn will be pretty even.

These Schacht bobbins are huge! When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I wound the singles off into a center pull ball, weighed it (4.5 oz), measured it (45 wpi), and started to ply, and ply.

I will be re-spinning this 2-ply to give it additional twist before I cable. At the rate that I’m going, it will be a while before I have sock yarn.

There should be plenty of yardage since I only use about 300 yds of sock yarn per pair of socks for me.

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

By

On 10 Jan, 2005

In FO, Knit

mismatched socks

I finally finished the second sock of the pair I started back in November. No long car trips nor (non-work) meetings, so these sat in a corner of my WIP shelf. When I pulled it out this weekend to work on, I only pulled out the working sock. I didn’t pull out the finished sock as a reference.

How hard is it? I’ve got the formula: 5-60-10-55-10, in 4×1 rib. After I grafted the toe, I pulled out the first sock to put them away. Alarm bells went off. Something’s wrong.

I’ve heard horror stories about mismatched socks, but they generally are issues with matching self-patterning yarn pattern. Those I don’t generally fret about. But this is more than a color mismatch. For whatever reason, in the first sock, I decided not to continue the rib down the top of the foot, which I normally do.

The sock has been frogged back to the heel and reknitted. The matching pair is now sitting happily together in the sock drawer.

Another finished sweater!

By

On 6 Jan, 2005

In Knit

Yup. I finally finished the blue sweater. It took 2 evenings to sew up, crochet the collar, and weave all those ends in. And I used one skein less than I originally calculated.

It’s a basic drop shoulder sweater to replace my favorite sweatshirt. The silouette is almost identical to the sweatshirt that I bought over 10 years ago. I bought it on a trip and have never been able to find another one like it. And it looks a bit ratty now. Or should I say katty? It’s got punctures from all the kitty cat claws over the years.

Now that I’ve figured out a pattern for it, I foresee at least another one in the near future.

No pictures until the weekend. That’s how I’ve decided to solve the problem of not posting more often. I don’t have time to fiddle with the pictures, cropping, uploading, and then updating the blog during the week. I feel guilty for not updating more often. I stress. And I post less.

Well, I’ve decided that I don’t have to have pictures every day. And feeling guilty and stressing defeats the purpose of this blog. It’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to document my progress through exploring the various fiber arts. It’s not supposed to be a point of stress.

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