Mad Caterpillar

I finally finished my son's fingerless mitts out of the handspun alpaca from this entry. They were actually a very quick knit -- probably two hours total from start to finish. But I finished one and neglected to finish the other until just recently. I guess there isn't much motivation when it's warm outside, but I know he'll be grateful for these come late fall. I had knit him some mittens last year, and he loved to wear them when his hands got cold but he didn't like not having his fingers free to pick up things or to clamber around on playground equipment. I think he'll like these much better.

I figured I'd include the pattern here in case anyone is interested in making child-sized fingerless mitts for their kiddos. So here goes:

SIZE: These children's fingerless mitts are quite stretchy and should fit most children between the ages of 5 and 9.

YARN:: The example shown uses 75 yards of handspun alpaca at 9 wraps per inch (wpi). Commercial yarn substitutes could be any aran weight yarn, such as Mission Falls 1824 Superwash or Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.

GAUGE: 4.5 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch

NEEDLES: Size 6 DPNs or whatever size is needed to get gauge. (This pattern can be knit using two circular needles, however specific instructions are given only for DPNs.)

ABBREVIATIONS:

PM - Place Marker
SM - Slip Marker
M1R - Increase 1 by slipping needle into the bar between two stitches from back to front.
Knit into the front of the resulting stitch.
M1L - Increase 1 by slipping needle into the bar between two stitches from front to back.
Knit into the back of the resulting stitch.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1: Cast on 28 stitches. Divide stitches onto 4 DPN’s so that Needles 1, 2, and 3 all have 8 stitches, and Needle 4 has 4 stitches. This negates the need for a stitch marker to mark the beginning of a row. Every time the needle with four stitches is knit, a row is completed.

2: Join stitches for knitting in the round, taking care not to twist the stitches. Knit it K2, P2 ribbing for 2.75”.

3: Knit 1 row plain.

4: K7, PM, M1L, K2, M1R, PM, knit to end of row.

5: K 2 rows.

6: K7, SM, M1L, K4, M1R, SM, knit to end of row.

7: K 2 rows.

8: K7, SM, M1L, K6, M1R, SM, knit to end of row.

9: K2 rows

10: K7, SM, M1L, K8, M1R, SM, knit to end of row.

11: K7, remove marker, place 10 stitches between markers on yarn scrap or stitch holder, cast on 2 stitches over the gap, remove second marker, K to end of row.

12: K2 P2 ribbing for four more rows.

13: Loosely bind off in pattern.

THUMB:

Place 10 stitches on holder onto three DPNs as follows: 4 stitches on Needle 1, 4 stitches on Needle 2, and 2 stiches on Needle 3. Pick up two stitches from the top of the hole for the thumb and place these on the end of Needle 3. Join in round and knit K2, P2 rib for two rows. Bind off loosely in pattern. Weave in ends, and make second mitt same as the first. Find some little hands that need warming up.

Posted by Danielle at 01:19 PM | | Comments (0)

I must have yarn on the brain, because I seeing fiber-related things no matter where I go. Take, for instance, a recent trip to the grocery store. Glancing around the produce department, I find fruit, gently nestled in...

If you have never tried an Asian Pear, I highly recommend them. At $2.99 per pound, they are a bit of a splurge, but are so worth it as a treat every once in a while. They have a delightfully crisp texture with a light pear taste, and are so very refreshing on hot days. They are jam-packed with liquid, but aren't drippy-juicy like plums or peaches. It's like every single molecule of water that could possibly fit in there has been infused into the fruit and doesn't come out until you take a bite and chew.

But back to having yarn on the brain. I just had to give it a try to see if it would work, and sure enough it did:

A quick detour online tells me I'm not the only one who has had this idea...

The yarn is destined for this pattern from the Summer 2006 Knitty. I can't resist a pair of cute fingerless mitts.

Posted by Danielle at 08:01 PM | | Comments (0)

I finally got the chance to finish spinning the hand painted blue-faced-leicester that I dyed in class a few weeks ago. My goal for spinning this was to end up with a loosely twisted (this translates to "light and bouncy" in my mind) worsted-weight two-ply. So I split the roving in half, put the Lendrum's driveband on the largest whorl and got to spinning.

It was fun to watch the colors line up on the bobbin, but I started to get a little concerned about what would happen to the colors when the singles were plied. The colors all seemed to have the same value, and colorway names like "muddy", "murky", and "peat moss" all came to mind...

When the time came to ply my fears were confirmed. I watched the subtle, muted colors of the singles blend into what looked like a consistently muddy color on the bobbin:

Which leads me to mention a couple things about WooLee Winders.

I bought my Lendrum double treadle wheel used, and it came with a used WooLee Winder. It appears to be a very old model of the Lendrum WooLee Winder -- from what I understand newer models for this wheel have three whorls and this one only has two.

So far, I have mixed feelings about this Woolee Winder. I should say up front that I think it is a very elegant tool and I can understand why folks that have them love them. I just think this older model has some issues that the current model most likely does not. In addition to its only having two speeds, I can't keep my orifice hook in the hole when I use it, which means I don't have anywhere to wind off my yarn when I need to pause while spinning. It also seems to make the wheel bounce about a bit, almost like it's slightly unbalanced. This doesn't affect the spinning at all, it just makes the spinning experience a little less smooth and meditative than it is when using the standard Lendrum flier. I'm guessing that newer-model Woolee Winders don't have these problems. Or they could be a problems specific to my wheel.

The WooLee Winder has a whole lot of plusses, too -- big ones. I rarely use mine while spinning, but I often use it for plying. It definitely makes things go faster, as you don't have to pause every minute or so to adjust the position of the guide. This is especially nice when navajo plying. The bobbins are larger than the standard Lendrum bobbin, and will usually accommodate all of the fiber from two 3/4 full Lendrum bobbins as was the case here. And it does indeed wind the bobbin smoothly with no peaks and valleys. This brings me to the specific reason I'm mentioning it in this post. I've discovered that when plying a multicolored roving, this smooth layering on the bobbin can obscure what the finished yarn really looks like. Basically it's similar to how winding a skein of multicolored yarn using a ball-winder will change how the yarn looks; the colors seem to combine differently, which can be a pleasing or not-so-pleasing effect depending on the colorway and the yarn. When spinning using a regular flyer (whether it uses a sliding guide or hooks to guide the yarn onto the bobbin) the yarn tends to pool up a bit to form peaks and valleys, unless you are particularly anal about moving the yarn guide consistently. (I am not so good about this.) As you can see in this picture, it will allow a multicolored yarn to pool sequentially. Since a lot of multicolor handspun yarns end up striping once knit, it gives you a general idea of how the striping sequence will occur, although when plied this effect may also change drastically. This sequential pooling does not show up when using the WooLee Winder.

So... the color of this yarn did not look so great to me during the plying process. I was a bit disappointed in the end result as it sat there on the Woolee Winder bobbin, looking muddy and murky... and a lot like the color of peat moss.

I also ended up with a lot more fiber on one bobbin than I had on the other. Never a desired result when making a two-ply. There was enough left on this bobbin that I didn't want to give up on it, so I tried something I'd been thinking about the last time this happened. Out came the handy dandy nostepinde:

I wound the remainder of the second bobbin into a center-pull ball, then spliced the tail end to the loose end on the bobbin, and finished plying it (still in one piece) by spinning from both ends of the ball:

This worked out swell -- the next time I have to do it I'll try to take better pictures to try to make up some kind of tutorial.

Once the yarn was wound off into a skein, my feelings about it did a 180. All of a sudden, I could see some variegation in the colors. It was subtle, but it was there. It's still a bit on the muddy and murky side, but I think I like it. Here's a closeup, showing my characteristically uneven spinning, but also showing a good view of how the different colors combine and change in the yarn.

I ended up with 123 yards at 8wpi. A little chunkier than I was shooting for, but not off by too far. It is nice and light and sproingy, though. I just love how soft and squishy BFL is. I don't know why I thought I'd get more yardage out of three ounces of roving, but I chalk my inability to estimate up to still being a novice spinner.

I'm hoping that this yarn will show some subtle striping when knitted up, but my feelings about this yarn may make another 180 once I see what the knitted fabric looks like. I'm hesitant to swatch it as I'm worried that I don't have enough for the hat that I'm planning to make out of it. So I'll enjoy it in skein form for a little while longer, until I have the time to wind it into a muddy peat moss colored ball and get to knitting.

Posted by Danielle at 10:23 PM | | Comments (1)

Today was the day of the traditional Seattle Seafair Pirates Landing on Alki Beach in Seattle. With the little man currently being obsessed with all things Pirate, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to swash-n-buckle with the best of them.

The pirates commandeered an old Army landing craft to get to Alki beach. Before reaching the shore, they shot off fake cannon volleys at some nearby sailboats who were in on the action, then stormed the shore with lots of "arrghs" and "grrrs" and fake musket fire.

The Pirate Captain made my son's day by coming up to him and giving him this button:

I think I may have caught a quick glimpse of Cap'n Jack himself, although with all the kid wranglin' going on I was only able to snap this hasty pic from behind. This scurvy devil was having a little too much fun showing off his cannon, and this rascal won my vote for Best Pirate Sneer.

The Jolly Roger was waved, swords were brandished, and a good time was had by all. Hubby and I are taking bets as to how many times the guy that looks like Captain Jack scores this weekend...

Posted by Danielle at 06:56 PM | | Comments (0)

Click for right side.

Sometimes the inside looks so much more interesting than the outside. Regia Jubilee colorway 5471. One sock down, one to go...

Here's a preview of the latest fiber to come off the bobbins:

Finished two-ply pics and info to come at a later date...

Posted by Danielle at 06:45 AM | | Comments (2)

Bliss.

Posted by Danielle at 01:47 PM | | Comments (0)