Archive for the 'spinning' category

story of handspun live oak shawlette

Sep 20 2011 Published by under knitting, life, spinning

Gale Art: Sunset Gold It started with Fiber Studio in 2008 or 2009, a fiber store which was opened for a few years in Minneapolis. I was so happy when I found this little and warm store. The owner was very nice and warm hearted. At that time my spinning skill was questionable. Still struggling with technical issues like twist per inch, angle, drafting method, etc. Spinning terms. Then I saw this golden susent BFL Gale’s Art 4 oz fiber for $10. Seriously $10? It was on sale. Of course I grabbed this fiber as I fell in love with the orange color. Sadly the store closed in 2009.

wip: Sunset Gold bfl on tibetan spindle It’s not until I discovered support spindling ie spinning while the spindle spins in a bowl thus gravity doesn’t pull on the spindle. Theoretically, if yarn is spun long draw thus the support spindle, the yarn will be airy, fuzzy and warm. It’s basically how commercial knitting yarns are spun. Support spindle really intrigues me because I’ve been spinning with usual drop spindle with a hook at the top. How is it possible that a support spindle generally has no hook can spin. But it does make twist? The simple tools like a stick (literally)  where human discovered long time ago to make yarn/fabric still holds true to this age.

The finished yarn was definitely fuzzy and airy. There’s a difference in weight and firmness spinning yarn with support spindle with long draw method and spinning yarn with semi-woolen method my usual default spinning. I am one of those technical spinner which means I’ll even count when I ply with a wheel. However when I spun this yarn with support spindle, I let go of those technical and go with feelings. The end result was a little bit of thick and thin in the single, but they all went away in the plied. Just amazing. So now I’m more let go kind of spinner not as technical as I used to be.

It’s Fall in Minnesota. A perfect way to use this orange yarn into shawl. Yes alot of my projects have been shawls and scarf. The truth what I really want to knit more is sweaters. Of course my hands prefer shawls and scarf especially if yarn is handspun. Shawls and scarf has no gauge restriction which is probably why I’m drawn to shawls and scarf for handspun.

beads for handspun live oak shawlette This shawl has no beads in the pattern. However my stupid crazy idea was to put beads on the leaf sections of the shawls. Thought it may add some weight and drape. Lots of beads indeed and it’s freaking worth it.

pattern: Live Oak Shawlette by Romi Hills in KnitScene Fall 2011
needle: 3.25mm
beads: size 6 Czech- Celsian E. 2 vials. bought from Bead Monkey in Minneapolis

handspun live oak shawlette.

handspun live oak shawlette.

handspun live oak shawlette.

Fall is here. I’d better enjoy it before the long winter of Minnesota comes.

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MN state fair 2011 ribbons

Sep 03 2011 Published by under life, spinning

One of my fiber related goals is to submit handspun projects projects to MN state fair. I wanted to know how I am doing as a spinner even though I have only been spinning since 2007.

Needless to say I was so surprised to know the results.
I got 1st ribbon for handspun wool category and 1st ribbon for handspun fur/hair category. Also got 1st place for best article of wool. And 1st for Northern Lights spinning guild award.

1st ribbon for both wool spinning category and hair/fur category MN state fair 2011

1st ribbon for cap or hat, plain category MN State Fair 2011

The blue wool handspun was spun on spindle and plied with Mach 1. The baby camel (cream handspun yarn) was all spun with Mach 1.
The purple hat was spun with Mach 1.

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spinning mysterious fiber

Apr 19 2011 Published by under knitting, life, spinning

Hello all. It’s been a while that I’ve not blogged. Too long that I haven’t blogged really. I had a full time job and then suddenly I had no time to write let alone finish miscellaneous to do list. Now that I had some “unfortunate” free time let me tell you about my spinning experience.

During my desk job, I hadn’t been spinning on my wheels just because all I did was sit 8 – 10 hours / day. After going home, I didn’t feel to sit another 1 hour or so spinning. So what I did was I brought my drop spindles to work for work breaks and lunch breaks. Surprisingly I liked drop spindle for work breaks better than knitting because drop spindle spinning made some all over body movement thus move blood around to brain thus made me more awake.

Drop spindle spinning definitely wins in terms of production. I was able to spin lace weight 2 ply in a matter of 3 months when before it took me 7 months to spin single and then ply with a wheel. And believe it or not, drop spindle spinning gave me more understanding in terms of twist. Apparently I tend to spin more twist with a wheel. With drop spindle I can feel the twist and I found out that I like my single to be slightly on the under twist side because as a knitter knitting with rope-feel yarn makes the hands ache. Ooo don’t think nothing good comes out of hard twisted yarn. My handspun socks that were so over twisted have less pilling and felt so fit to my feet. But when I was knitting those socks, curses came out of my mouth.

Anyway. It’s about that time of the year again. Shepherd Harvest!! I bought 2.5lb of mysterious fiber back in Shepherd Harvest 2009 for $27.50. The vendor had no clue what fiber it was but claimed it was wool. Being as a new spinner and all of course $27.50 for a sweater is a freaking cheap entertainment. But if I could go back, I’d probably not buy this. Why? Well it wasn’t exactly nicely prepared fiber. I had to picked out lots of VM during spinning. The fiber is very very bouncy and had lots of twigs. So I’d not knit this as next-to-skin kind of sweater. Hoping more like a jacket or a cardigan. Well see.

Started spinning in Dec 2009
wheel: Mach 1 with 1:5 ratio
2.5lb of mysterious fiber

Done spinning single April 2011
planning to be 3ply yarn.
washed sample yarn gave an aran weight yarn.
all 2.5lb mysterious fiber is done!

I’m hoping to get about 1000yd out of this fiber after plying. ya…. maybe

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The sun has come out!!!

Mar 14 2010 Published by under knitting, spinning

If you live in Minnesota, USA, you know the weather has been pretty icky in the last couple of weeks. There were days were so unbelievably foggy and gloomy. I don’t mind a gloomy kind of day. That kind of day has their advantages like nice source for taking photos with natural night. Cloudy days is like having a big giant soft box where the shadow on a subject is softer and looks so much more natural. Gloomy day is a good day to knit, spin, clean the house. However it was like that for days that my mood got affected by the weather to the point that I felt pretty in sync with the weather. So far the only one that has been keeping my mood up is my hobbies and I’m so grateful for them to keep me happy. Of course there’s my hubby, my friends and don’t forget my cats.

fiber related updates.
spinning:
I have technically 3 spinning projects. One of them has gone to UFO pond because I don’t have the drive the continue spinning that cotton on coin tahkli. Next time I’m spinning cotton it’ll be on a wheel.

Current spinning projects are:

  • Fiber: Cranberry Sorbet Panda 4oz
    bought: Knitter’s Palette
    spun on Spinsanity spindle 0.83oz cherry blossom.
    target yarn: sock weight 3ply.
    use up that old vase for WIP spindle storage
    use up that old vase for WIP spindle storage
  • Mysterious fiber 2.5lb
    bought: Shepherd Harvest 2009
    spun on: Mach 1 wheel
    target yarn: worsted weight 3 ply.
    2.5lb of mysterious fiber
    mysterious fiber 2ply and 3 ply comparison

    • knitting

  • Entrelac socks by Eunny Jang
    yarn: KnitPicks Gloss in Cocoa and Pumpkin
    needle: US 0 (2.00mm)
    method to make the socks: magic loop
    WIP entrelac socks
    I must say this is actually a fun and very portable project. Because you are knitting entrelac and since each square is so little to knit, it gets pretty addicting. I’ve been bringing this project to work to knit on breaks and lunch breaks.
  • GAAA (Great Aran American Square)
    On the last square :D Someday I’ll post a photo before each square is sewn into a blanket and after it’s sewn.
  • Katharine Hepburn Cardigan
    I’m on the right front piece. No photos of current project yet.
  • Print O’ the Wave Stole
    I’m on the 11th repeat out of 16 repeats of 1st half of the shawl. Currently I’m not touching this project because I sort of got bored of the lace chart. The way that the lace chart is done I have to move the st markers time to time and it gets to be annoying. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a beautiful lace shawl. Right now it doesn’t have my attention to knit it.

    • That’s all so far for updates. Ahhh the sun has finally come up. I think it’s time for me to knit some more :D
    Until next time.

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