Spindlicity

Spinning for a purpose - 3 ply semi woolen sweater yarn

Sometimes I just like to sit and make yarn and then other times I am actually spinning to make yarn for a specific purpose.  When you have a purpose in mind, your final product will inform many choices you make in your yarn process so that you can end up with the ideal yarn for your project.

In this project, I decided I wanted to make yarn for a sweater for myself.  Although I spin and knit a lot, I never end up with anything for myself, so I decided to treat myself to a handspun, handknit sweater, designed by me.  The first step was choosing the fiber.

Fiber:

I knew I wanted a wool sweater, and I wanted it to be a lofty, lightweight, warm yarn.  Although I like merino, it's so ubiquitous and can be prone to pilling and wear and I really wanted something not merino for this sweater.  I wanted something with a crisp hand, a bit of luster and a decent staple length to avoid pilling, that would wear well for years to come.  I found the perfect wool at Reflection Farm.  They specialize in color blended rovings of Romeldale/CVM wool.

The Romeldale is a U.S. breed and comes from a cross of a longwool and a finewool.  The entire breed was started from a one-time cross of Romney and Rambouillet.  From the Romeldale came the confusing CVM (California Variegated Mutant) which is just a colored version of the Romeldale, I usually prefer to call it all Romeldale, no matter the color.  The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy lists them as a rare breed.

Photo of Handler and Romeldales courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Reflection Farm has lots of gorgeous colors but I often get drawn to the same colors over and over, and one of my favorites is red.  While I was at SOAR 2009, I purchased 2 pounds of gorgeous reds from Reflection Farms and started sampling.

Each of the reds was a slightly different mix, and my original plan was to spin each pound separately and ply them with a third fiber to make a nice lofty 3-ply yarn.  I sampled a mix of reds and silk, but that made the resulting yarn too frosty looking.

I next tried a dark black and red alpaca and silk blend, but it was too dark.

Finally I ended up with a third pound of the Romeldale, because, really, I wanted the yarn to look like the Romeldale blends, so it was the perfect choice.  Because the Romeldale is a cross between a luster wool and a fine wool, the resulting yarn had the lovely characteristics of being a bit lustrous and soft enough for next to skin wear.

I spun three bobbins of singles at 22 WPI with a semi woolen draw.  This means I used a worsted (combed) prep, and spun it with an assisted long draw straight from the roving.  I chose a semi woolen draw because I wanted the loft that you get from incorporating air when you do the long draw, but I didn't want to mess up the color sequences by re-carding to get a true woolen.  Although the colors are subtle in the blend I used, I didn't want to muddy them by mixing them all up together. I used a 20 degree twist angle for the singles and a 40 degree twist angle for the plying, which was slightly overplied.  I often like to slightly overply yarns that I want to be lofty and durable.  The extra ply twist catches more surface area to prevent pilling and wear, and allows the singles twist to relax. As long as you finish your yarn in a nice hot water bath, your yarn will come out balanced.  My initial yarn came out at 6.5 oz (184 g) / 273 yards (250 meters), 9 WPI, a nice lofty yarn in subtle shades of red.  To determine whether this was suitable to make enough yarn for a sweater, I first calculated how much yardage I might expect to get out of 3 pounds of fiber.

273 yards/6.5 oz = 42 yards / oz

3 pounds x 16 oz per pound = 48 oz total wool

42 yards/oz x 48 oz = 2,016 yards of yarn from my 3 pounds!  That seems like quite enough for a sweater.

Next step - swatching.

 

Spindlicity Archives at long last

The archives of the old format of Spindlicity are available now (winter '07 and winter '09 coming soon now available).  Click below or on the link in the sidebar.  Enjoy the old gems, and keep your eye out for new content soon.  Welcome back to Spindlicity!

Winter '05

 

Spring '06

Summer '06

Fall '06

Winter '07

Fall '08

 Winter '09

Archives coming soon!

Hey Spindlicity Fans - Spindlicity archives are coming back soon.  We had trouble with our hosting server and went to blog format, but the archives should be back in the next few weeks.

Because of Love Beret

"Because of Love" Beret
by Janel Laidman

Download Becauseoflove

New! here is a printable PDF version of the pattern.

 

 

Oh, la la! What could be cuter than saucy beret? This one is made from handspun Bluefaced Leicester wool, with a lacy little pattern and soft pink hue. Perfect for valentines everywhere!

Materials: 3.6 oz Bluefaced Leicester spun to 12 WPI plied (2ply)

Gauge: 5.5 st per inch

Pattern:

Cast on 92 stitches on a circular needle, join in a round
K2P2 rib for 10 rounds

Increase to 128 stitches, evenly spaced around

Rounds 1-28 Begin chart1 starting at bottom right and working to the left and upward. At round 27 you will have to slip the first stitch in the round, then include that slipped stitch in the double decrease at the end of the round. All even numbered rounds are plain stockinette stitch.

Rounds 29 - 54: continue following chart 2 starting at the bottom right and working to the left and up.

Round 56 and 57: K2tog to end of round

Rounds 58-62: K to end of round (icord)

End by breaking yarn and pulling tail through all loops on the needle, cinch tight and pull yarn tail through to inside of beret. Weave ends in.

Shaping beret

When you finish knitting, the hat will resemble an oversized regular cap shape. To shape into a beret style, wet the hat and gently squeeze out excess water. Stretch the hat over a dinner plate and allow it to dry. Voila! une belle beret rose!

Comment Contest

The winner of the comment contest for the copy of Spin Control by Amy King is Autumn Hiscock!  Congratulations Autumn, please email us at EDITOR at SPINDLICITY d o t co m to give us your address so we can ship the prize out to you.

New comment contest!  One winner will be selected by random drawing from all comments received from October 10-20 to win a copy of All New Homespun Handknit by Amy Clarke Moore.  To enter, just send us a comment! 

Keeping a Fiber Notebook

Janel Laidman

Keeping a fiber notebook can be a wonderful tool in your exploration of fiber, yet many people do not keep fiber notebooks because they find them too tedious to keep up. I have spent many years of my life as a scientist, and I have learned some valuable rules that I follow when keeping a notebook.

Don't worry about how pretty your notebook is. This is the number one reason people start and then abandon a notebook. They want it to be a gorgeous document for posterity to admire. A notebook is a tool for gathering useful information in a central location. Don't worry whether it's going to win the best-designed notebook award. Don't be afraid to mar your pretty journal by less-than-perfect entries. If you absolutely must have a fancy journal, keep an everyday working journal and then transfer all the important stuff into the pretty one at your leisure. Chances are you'll find the working journal so useful you won't get around to a pretty version.

Stick everything in the notebook. Some people try to keep separate notebooks or filing systems for different aspects of a project. I like to just tape everything into my notebook. That means when I go to a fiber show and I gather people's business cards, they go in the notebook. If I buy a fleece, the information about where I got it goes in the notebook, a sample of the fleece goes in the notebook, notes about how I washed it or spun it go in the notebook, swatches and samples go in the notebook.

Don't duplicate effort. If you have a piece of paper stating what you bought, whether it's a tag from the item, a business card or just a scrap of paper that someone wrote their phone number on, slap it right in the notebook! If you save it until later to write it neater or in a certain format, you'll often lose the paper, forget to do it or just plain never get around to it.

Use your notebook for ideas. My notebook gets sketches of things I'm designing, notes on spinning ideas, lists of ideas for Spindlicity, schemes and dreams, and inspirational pictures I cut out from magazines or wherever.




Use your notebook for planning. I keep swatches of colors in my notebook, I keep swatches of yarns I've knit up, butterflies of yarn I've spun, calculations and information about where everything came from all on the same page. When I complete a project, I stick a photo of it on that page too. Each page is a work in progress. Feel free to go back to a page and add stuff later as the project progresses.

Most importantly, keep your notebook handy. When you start a project, get in the habit of noting it down. You'll find that when you get back to that project days, weeks or years later, you'll have a much better idea of what you were doing and where you were going. Better still, when you start a new project, you can look back at an old project's notes and you won't have to reinvent the wheel.

So try out a fiber notebook and see how useful it can be.

Book Review - all new Homespun Handknit by Amy Clarke Moore

Hooray!  Interweave has published a follow up to Homespun Handknit; the All New Homespun Handknit: 25 Small Projects to Knit with Handspun Yarn by Amy Clarke Moore, editor of Spin-Off magazine.

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596681446
• ISBN-13: 978-1596681446

The original Homespun, Handknit was one of my favorite books as a new spinner because it gave me project goals to aim for.  The newest volume delivers in just the same way.  This book is chock full of small projects that you can easily accomplish with less than a half pound of fiber.  There are beautiful socks, mittens, childrens sweaters, scarves, shawls and hats.  I love the fact that so many fiber types and yarn styles are represented, from chunky, softly spun singles to beautiful, delicate laceweight.  The designers represented in All New Homespun Handknit include many of the spinnerati in the fiber community - The directions are clear, and, as always, the photos are charming.  The All New Homespun Handknit makes you want to snuggle up on the sofa with a cup of cocoa and spend a dreamy afternoon knitting up some of that lovely yarn you've spun!

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Comment Contest:

Enter to Win a copy of Amy King's Spin Control!  Leave a comment any day from October 1-8th and you will be automatically entered for our random drawing on October 9th.  You may enter each day.

Speed Plying with the Connie Delaney Kick

Ingrid Brundin

Why you should kick your spindles black and blue… Daunting or boring, plying on a spindle is often the least favourite part about making your own yarn.. But I have seldom felt like that, I mean after all, if you are in a hurry the yarn shop is often not that far away, is it? Spinning is about relaxing and getting into a meditative rythm, and plying to me was a part of this until I got it into my head that I wanted a cabled yarn for socks. A cabled yarn? A simple cabled yarn is just spin your singles, overply in one direction and then ply it once more in the opposite direction. Simple….maybe. I like the thickness or should I say thinness of German four-ply sock yarns like Regia, Opal, Lana Grossa etc,as they make a thin sock suitable for city shoes, so I started out by spinning THIN singles. And then I overtwisted them, wound them into tight balls and then I was in trouble when I started to ply. Snarls!!! I gave up after a multitude of terrible messes where the yarn snapped. Left the balls for dead and continued with my other spinning projects. But - an article in Spindlicity Fall '06 caught my eye. It was about speed spindling. I had just reread Priscilla Gibson Roberts' book High Whorling or as it is known now; Spinning in the Old Way and I had been reviewing the chapter on plying where she mentions using an overhead ring in the ceiling. So I had a thought, why not combine the two?

 
So I tried it - yes, brought out the two forlorn balls and started plying again. But this time I could keep the yarn tensioned with my hand if I liked or just let gravity help me as the balls were now on the ground and the yarn running from the floor to the ceiling and back again. Another bonus, I could ply twice or three times as much yarn in one shot than before AND faster too. Take a look at the pictures (this yarn is not the offending yarn, it is spindle spun merino dyed with Kool Aid but it is aiming to be thin cable plyed sock yarn just like the offending yarn).

Place two balls of yarn in a bowl on the floor. It can be any old bowl or jar, that you have around the house. Make a loop or use a leader if you are more comfortable with that.

Thread the yarn through the hook and onto the spindle.

Keep the yarn tensioned in your left hand (if you are righthanded).
 

Place the spindle between your feet. Wear shoes or sandals.

Kick or rub your feet together, and make sure the spindle is rotating in the plying direction.

Watch the twist travel up from the spindle and towards the hook in the ceiling. If you are plying two thin yarns you might want to help the twist travel past the hook by just briefly tug your yarn up and down. Watch the plying enter the section that runs from the ceiling to your left hand.

When you decide it is enough, catch hold of your spindle and start winding. Thin yarns need one good full kick, thicker yarns might need two or three kicks as thicker yarns present more resistance to plying. Use a heavier spindle when you ply compared to spinning- I must confess that while I don't like my Golding spindle as much as my other spindles as the shaft chafes my hand, the ribbed shaft is excellent for kicking. So - if you don't like a spindle and it is heavy enough, you can start kicking it around the house and ply some yarn. Put it to a good use! 

Ingrid lives and spins in Sweden. We hope to see more of Ingrid's innovations and her socks.

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Comment Contest:

Enter to Win a copy of Amy King's Spin Control!  Leave a comment any day from October 1-8th and you will be automatically entered for our random drawing on October 9th.  You may enter each day.

Book Review - Spin Control by Amy King

It's been a banner year for spinning books!  We've got quite a few to review here at Spindlicity.  First up is Spin Control: Techniques for Spinning the Yarns You Want  by Amy King.

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596681055
• ISBN-13: 978-1596681057

Fans of Spunky Eclectic will recognize the author of Spin Control, Amy King, as the dye genius behind Spunky's beautiful fibers.  She is also a spinning shop owner and excellent spinner, and this book showcases her many talents.  It is an overview of many areas of spinning, with a little bit in each section to show you how that technique can be used to create the yarn you want.  There is a little bit about color, novelty yarns, core spinning, determining grist and twist, ply structures and finishing your yarn. 

The book is written in a straightforward and friendly style, inviting the reader to experiment and learn.  The images are beautiful, as you would expect from an Interweave publication.  This book is ideal for the advanced beginner or intermediate spinner who wants to grow beyond their "default" yarn style.

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Comment Contest:

Enter to Win a copy of Amy King's Spin Control!  Leave a comment any day from October 1-8th and you will be automatically entered for our random drawing on October 9th.  You may enter each day.

Fulled Pocket Purse

 Janel Laidman

SPECS:

Fiber: Approximately 2.5 ounces Romeldale/CVM in two different colorways, spun 2-ply WPI: 7 Gauge: Not critical, as each type of fiber will full differently and the size of the finished purse may vary. Use a gauge that gives you a medium tightness of stockinette, so that when fulled the fabric will close up.

 

Here's a fun purse with pockets built in as you go! The body of this purse is knitted in a feltable fiber of your choice, in two different colorways, spun to about a worsted-weight gauge. After fulling, the top edge and drawstring handles crocheted from Noro "Daria," a rayon-wrapped cotton cord that comes in the usual Noro-luscious colorways. Crochet gauge isn't given; just be sure before tying off and cutting the cord that you can get items in and out of the opening. If not, unravel the crocheting and rework at a looser gauge.

Abbreviations:

K, k	Knit
P, p	Purl
st, sts	Stitch, stitches
dpn(s)	Double-pointed needle(s)
CO	Cast on
K2tog	Knit 2 together (a 1-stitch decrease)
ch	chain
sc	single-crochet (UK double-crochet)
dc	single-crochet (UK double-crochet)

Materials:
About 2.5 ounces Romeldale/CVM in two different colorways, spun and plied to about a worsted weight
Cord: Noro "Daria" in color 2 or any color to coordinate with your yarn
Needles:
Two 24-inch circular needles size US7 (4.5mm) or any size to give you medium-gauge stockinette. It's best to use two different-looking needles, e.g., bamboo and metal.
One set of double-pointed needles in the same needle-circumference size as the circular needles.
Crochet hook: G (4.5mm) or size to give appropriate gauge
Stitch marker for beginning of round.

Gauge:
Not critical, as each type of fiber will full differently and the size of the finished purse may vary. Use a gauge that gives you a medium tightness of stockinette, so that when fulled the fabric will close up.

Beginning at top edge, CO80 on circular needle in color 1. Join, being careful not to twist, and knit one round (Round 1).

Round 2: Place a marker for the beginning of the round. Yo, K2tog 40 times.

Rounds 3-6: Knit.

The pockets are formed by crossing over the yarn in 10-stitch intervals from one needle to the other. Needle1 is your original needle, needle2 is your new needle. Except for the first set-up round, Needle1 always knits off of Needle1 and Needle2 only knits off Needle2. It makes things easiest if you use two different looking needles so that you don't accidentally mix up your needles. Make sure to cross the yarn at each crossover point.

Begin double knit pocket rounds:

Round 7 (Set-up round): On Needle1 (original needle containing knit rounds), k10 from Needle1 with color2.
On Needle2 (empty needle), CO10 with color1.
*On Needle2, knit next 10 sts from Needle1 with color2.
On Needle1, CO10 with color1.
On Needle1, knit next 10 sts from Needle1 with color2.
On Needle 2, CO10 with color1.
Repeat from * until you have 8 crossovers and 8 pockets started.

Subsequent pocket rounds:

Round 8: *On needle1, k10 in color2.
On needle2, p10 in color1, cross yarns to bring color1 to front.
On needle1, k10 in color1.
On needle2, k10 in color2, cross yarns to bring color2 to front.
Repeat from * 3 more times to complete round.

Before fulling

After fulling

Rounds 9-25 or until pocket is the depth that you wish: Repeat Round 7.

Round 26 (Merge round): Knit together 1 stitch from needle1 and 1 stitch from needle2 all the way around with color 2. All sts are now on needle1; needle2 is no longer needed.

Rounds 27-32: Knit 6 rows with color 2.

Switch to color 1.

Decrease rounds (switch to dpns when round gets too small for circular needle):

Round 33: Knit 1 round (80 stitches).

Round 34: K3, k2 tog until end of round (16 decreases, 64 sts).

Round 35 and all remaining odd-numbered rounds: Knit.

Round 36: K3, k2 tog to last 4 sts, k4 (12 decreases, 52 sts).

Round 38: K3, k2 tog to last 2 sts, k2 (10 decreases, 42 sts).

Round 40: K3, k2 tog to last 2 sts, k2 (8, decreases, 34 sts).

Round 42: K3, k2 tog to last 4 sts, k4 (6 decreases, 28 sts).

Round 44: K3, k2 tog to last 3 sts, k3 (5 decreases, 23 sts).

Round 46: K3, k2 tog to last 4 sts, k4 (4 decreases, 19 sts).

Round 48: K3, k2 tog to last st, k1 (3 decreases, 16 sts).

Round 50: K1, k2 tog to last st, k1 (5 decreases, 11 sts).

Round 52: K1, k2 tog to last 2 sts, k2 (3 decreases, 8 sts).

Break yarn and draw through remaining 8 sts twice, then cinch tight. Weave in ends.

Full knitted bag in washing machine. Check fulling process to make sure fulling is occurring as you wish it.

 

Once bag is fulled, begin crochet edging:

Round 1: With crochet hook and Noro cord, leaving a tail about 8 inches long, sc around bag in each yo along upper edge. This will cinch the upper edge of the bag. Check that your gauge allows room for objects to enter the bag!

Rounds 2-7: Sc for 6 rounds.

Round 8: Ch2, dc in second st from ch, *ch1, miss 1 and dc in next st; repeat from * to end of round.

Round 9: Ch1, (sc, dc, sc) in ch from previous round, *miss 1, (sc, dc, sc) in ch from previous round; repeat from * to end of round.

Tie off and break cord, leaving a tail about 8 inches long. Weave in ends.

Drawstring handles: Using Noro cord, crochet 2 chains of 100 chain sts each; weave in ends. Run each chain through the openwork round, knotting ends together on inside at opposite sides of bag. This drawstring also acts as the handle of the bag.

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Comment Contest:

Enter to Win a copy of Amy King's Spin Control!  Leave a comment any day from October 1-8th and you will be automatically entered for our random drawing on October 9th.  You may enter each day.