When I was a kid I used to bike with this otopet for about 10years. I loved every single moments I rode this. Too bad this type of bike doesn’t sell in US. Or at least I can’t find such one.

Fiber: Abby Franquemont’s batt
spindle: spanish peacock russian spindle
1.6oz, 515m, 40 wpi

yarn was used for Prairie Rose Lace Shawl

pattern: from book of wool by Clara Parkes
needle: 2.75mm

Another fiber-to-knitted project is linen st scarf
I saw this merino fiber in gray and black at Knit and Crochet show at Hilton Hotel back in Summer 2011.
Fiber was from Fairy Yarn Mother.
spun this on my Mach 1 wheel using spin from the fold.
2 ply. 405m. 113 g. 16 wpi

the grey black yarn was knitted into this scarf using linen st.
Each row was about 15min long to knit which was perfect for work breaks.

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.

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

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

I’ve been wearing my Saroyan alot at work. Love love love this scarf/shawl. I could wrap it in many ways. Mostly I use it as a scarf.

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.

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.

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

Done spinning single April 2011
planning to be 3ply yarn.
washed sample yarn gave an aran weight yarn.

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

However lately ever since I’ve joined a dance group, I feel more lively thanks to my friend Vita. I forgot how much enjoyable it is to spend time with friends who’s from back home and also compatible. All these years I’ve lived in US, the back home people I’ve meet usually end up not friendly or more like I don’t know how to interact with them.

We laugh, we dance, we talk. It’s the simple everyday life that makes life bearable. I do believe spending time with good friends is one of the key to happiness.

I’ve included a video where my dance group and me danced on stage for the first time at University of Minnesota where they have gamelan instruments. I didn’t think we did too bad for our first stage. We’ll be on stage again at the Festival of Nation May 1st at 7pm. If you are in the area, come and see us dance and also learn about other countries.

Indang Sumatran Dance from Bill Cunningham on Vimeo.

Knitting update:
Entrelac socks

yarn: KnitPicks Gloss sock yarn in Pumpkin and and Cocoa 2 skeins each color
needle: US 0 (2.00mm)
method: dpn for toe, and the rest of the body using magic loop
duration: 2 months 1 week 6 days

These socks had been my faithful companion at work breaks. Because it is in entrelac technique, each small square made it perfect to take away stress at work and break away from computer screen. Who knew, I was actually more productive if I knit during breaks. I do bring a couple of simple books to read during breaks, but seriously I look at documents and computer screen all day long, last thing I want to do during breaks is to read.

GAAA (Great Aran American Afghan) update

I started this project on April 19th, 2008 and about 2 years later this afghan is almost finished. Knitting each square of the afghan was stressful and educational at the same time. Because each square in the pattern was done with different people, so each square will have different gauge and needles called for. Theoretically each square is supposed to have 12 in square, but seriously as much as I tried to have each square to be 12 in square, it was not going to happen at all. On average each square differs about 1in to 0.5in in dimension. However, the beauty of this afghan which still fathoms me, once sewed up each square’s unevenness get canceled like a mathematical formula. None of the square looks so distorted once sewed up.

My cat already claimed this afghan even before the afghan is done. Heck even the fat-but cat claimed the blanket by kneading the blanket.

Katherine Hepburn Cardigan update

After knitting this cardigan on US 1 (2.5mm) and US 0 (2mm), it’s finally off the needles!!! The pattern calls for about US 4 and 5 and why did I knit this on US 1? Apparently each yarn reacts differently to one’s tension. Since the yarn content is 100% cotton, of course it’s not going to get same gauge as it is with wool.
Started this project at the beginning of the year and hopefully I can wear this for summer which I believe I should have time to wear this for spring and summer.

Here is some of my knitting sample work for you to see.

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Hope there’s a bidder out there for my skills. Wish you good luck

started: April 19th 2008.
needles: it varies for each square from US 4 (3.5mm) to US 8 (5.00mm)
yarn: Lion Brand wool-ease solid-heathers, color: Fisherman

The fun part is to rearrange the squares and sew them together.

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.

Marine Corps

Mysterious fiber 2.5lb
bought: Shepherd Harvest 2009
spun on: Mach 1 wheel
target yarn: worsted weight 3 ply.

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

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 Someday I’ll post a photo before each square is sewn into a blanket and after it’s sewn.

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
Until next time.