Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Sock Progress, More Spinning

Today was a nice warm October day.  I planned to sit on the deck with my wheel but never got out there. Maybe tomorrow if the weather is nice.

Nothing has been finished as far as knitting is concerned.  I did start a pair of socks in the skein of self striping I dyed last year.  The stripes go from undyed white to dark magenta.  I made a mistake and should have done one more set of stripes.  I have enough for the socks, but wish they could have been a  bit longer.  I plan to use some of the same undyed yarn I have left over from another project for the heels and ribbing if necessary.  Since I started with the white for the toes, I don't have to worry about that part.  Once the toe increases are finished, these will be my "public" knitting project. This is a pic of the sock yarn.

 
Lacey Bias Scarf is almost finished.  I've got about 10% to go on that.  I'm about to start the third skein on the Sojourn Falls Scarf, so that will hopefully be finishing up soon as well.  I still have three other pairs of socks on the needles, and plan to start two sweaters soon.

The Sonata wheel has been busy.  Eight ounces of Frabjous Fibers Merino in the colorway "Mirth" was finished this past weekend.  I'm back to spinning the Cria Alpaca Hoggett Merino blend again.  After this skein I plan to take a break from the rest of this fiber.  One of the previous mentioned sweaters will be knit in the yarn I already spun from this.  I need to think what else I want to use the yarn for before spinning any more.

My Minstrel wheel is also busy.  October 1 was the start of the "New To Me" SAL over in the YarnRaising group on Ravelry.  I bought some Gotland fiber from Corgi Hill Farm a while ago but never spun it, so I started it last week.  After trying it out on a spindle, and not really liking the result, I decided to switch to this wheel.  I sampled some using the larger ratio of 12:1 on my smaller whorl and used the Double Drive setting for a change.  The result was a lot of fighting "pigtails", so I put the larger whorl back on and am using the smaller ratio of 8.5:1, and it's spinning nicely.  Since the Sonata doesn't have Double Drive, I won't be able to use the jumbo flyer for plying which is fine. This pic is of the whole pound of fiber.


Wednesday, October 01, 2014

October Chill, Fiber Adventures

Brrr.  It's a bit chilly and damp today.  You can tell Autumn has made it's appearance.  This is my favorite season.  Some of the leaves have already turned and are so beautiful.  Pumpkins and mums are plentiful in the stores.  The pumpkin flavored coffees and pastries are back at several coffee shops. If the weather decides to behave, and not rain as predicted on Saturday, I plan to enjoy a nice fire in the chiminea in the back yard in the evening.  I'll just have to wait to see if that happens.

I finally got some pictures of some of my latest finished knitting.
Traveler Socks, Fly Away Home Socks, Honey Cowl, Everdeen Beanie, Kalinda Shawl, Quiver Full Hat, and Reversible Big Cable Scarf are the projects pictured.  Also included, is the Lacey Bias Scarf in progress.



















 












There's also been some spinning progress with another 6.5 ounce skein of the Cria Alpaca/Merino Hoggett blend finished as well as 4 ounces of a Fibers4Ewe pink blend, and 8 ounces of Frabjous Fibers Merino in the "Kaleidoscope" colorway.  Right now, another Frabjous Fibers is on the wheel in the colorway "Mirth".  My goal was to spin 8 pounds this year and I've accomplished that so I bumped the goal to 11 pounds.