For my HHHH pal

I am finally done with my HHHH skein (click on picture for fiber details). It took me forever. Mostly because I was forcing myself to knit a scarf for a friend whose birthday has come and gone. And I’m still not done, but I’m almost there. Isn’t that sad - *forcing* my self to knit??? It would’ve been much more pleasurable if I was knitting in handspun, but she is not a handspun-full-of-color kind of person, so I am knitting it out of marisilk, which is one of my most favorite yarns and it *still* pains me to be away from the wheel. I am a very sick person. ;) I finally couldn’t stand not having a complete skein and just started spinning in limited amounts every day until it was done.

The final skein came out less hairy than I thought it would be, maybe the action of plying helped calm things down. I am very happy with it, although I made a skeinlet of navajo ply out of the leftovers and I think I like the N-ply better. Oh well. I hope my pal likes it!

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almost halfway there! Spinning for my HHHH swap pal is underway. Could this be yours? You’ll see in a week or two! :) I am enjoying this spin, but it is turning out more hairy that I like. Maybe that’s a property of the tussah? Fiber: Pigeonroof Studios 80% merino/20% tussah silk in Bruise shooting for a 2ply fingering weight

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Handspun Lovesticks sw merino in Patina

So here is the result of last night’s navajo ply. I was cursing the whole time! ;) Yes, it looks good from afar, but come up close and blech! It’s a lumpy bumpy mess! It’s still knitable, but you can feel many of the joins. I feel like I did a disservice to the flber. It’s so pretty and I just love the subtle patina colors.

And another thing - the yardage sucks!!! I got 272yd/4.2oz. I don’t know how you N-plying people stand it. Ok, it’s nice that you use almost every inch of fiber, but still. And I also read in the Yarn Harlot’s blog that the n-ply is not as strong as a 2ply. I wonder if it has to do with how it’s put together?

I probably won’t do another navajo ply again anytime soon, unless someone has a magic trick that will make everything better. Fbz suggested that I put the lazy kate far far away as it would help with the tension of the single coming off the bobbin. She even promised a video! Ah, what great friends I have!

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what the title says.

I am going super slow, and about 50% of the time it looks ok, but the other half, sucks ass. Really. A lot of times, I have one of the plys too tight (like coming from the lazy kate) and so the other two start wrapping around it. I tried pulling the other two tight, but then I start pulling the yarn off the bobbin and there’s not enough take up (I think I have this adjusted to have as much takeup as possible). Then I tried loosening the LK, but then I got the curlys, even though this single has been sitting for 2 days). And then there’s the problem of when I’m getting ready to “chain”, plys shift and move and look like crap.

Please tell me that whacking fixes this!!! Probably not. Shit.

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Handspun All Spun Up sw merino in Chocqua

So, for this spin, I did it “fast and free”, meaning I just let go - fast and not too much control/thinking. And man, it was a lot of fun! It’s overspun just a tad, but I am really happy with the results. Makes me wonder why am I so stressed out trying to get it so thin, when it just does it itself! :)

The fiber was given to me by my HHHH swap pal, SourCherries. She totally knew exactly what to pick out. Well, it helps that I leave comments on her stash pics saying “drool” or “OMG, drool even more”. Heh! Thanks so much Ami, you have now turned me into an AllSpunUp stalker. I already ordered some merino/silk.

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Twisted Fiber Art Cloudy in Ravelry (2ply light fingering) Politically incorrect in Greg (2ply fingering) Handspun hat modeled by Kelp! About to N-ply the Lovesticks sw merino in Patina All Spun Up sw merino in Chocqua I’ve been so bad about blogging lately. Cuz it takes away from spinning! :) It’s been so long since I last posted a “real” post, I don’t even remember what it was about. How about I just fill this with pictures and make the text short. Let’s see…. I finished the Twisted Fiber Art Cloudy skein, I also finished the Politically Incorrect batt (that I started in May!). I am currently working on a Lovesticks sw merino navajo ply and a AllSpunUp sw merino 2ply. Both of them are delish! As for knitting, I finished a handspun chullo hat for Michael, to match his handspun socks. I thought about crocheting a border around the edge, and did a few sts and decided I didn’t like it. He also hasn’t had time to model it for me, but luckily Kelp! came to remedy that problem. It was really great to meet her and talk about how much we hate Houston. Heh! I am currently wrapped up in the HHHH swap. There are almost 100 participants and it is a lot of work to keep track of everything/everyone and try to match them up with someone you think they would like. Some of them I couldn’t, due to allergies and skill level, but hopefully it all goes well. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed. It looks like I have a great bunch of peeps, they are like my kids. It’s so rewarding when they post about the swap and enjoying the process of getting to know their pals!

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Twisted Fiber Art Cloudy in Ravelry

I am taking my sweet ass time with this one, mostly because I am trying to find a healthy balance again. I went off the deep end in the fiber world and ignored a bunch of house duties that really I should have taken care of. My work area is embarrassing and I’m realizing that I’m turning into a hermit with a fiber problem. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ;)

So anyhoo, enough about that! I was wishy-washy after I started this - I’m making this super thin, and then thought maybe I should do a navajo ply, but then that would defeat the whole point of doing a fractal spin. So I’m just sticking with it. The fiber always seems to fluff up more than I expect, so let’s hope that happens with this one. It would be just my luck that it stays super thin. Ah well, laceweight is cool.

This is the first time I’m doing a merino/bamboo blend and spinning from a big chunk of roving. I usually split the roving down into manageable widths so I don’t go back and forth. The back and forth kinda stresses me out a little. Does anyone have tips on how to do this better?

Fiber: Twisted Fiber Art Cloudy (60% merino/40% bamboo) in Ravelry colorway - it’s perfectly matched!

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Wollmeise Fiddleheads Wollmeise Fiddleheads Twisted Fiber art in Warlock FatCatKnits merino/tencel in Patina Look - I’m knitting!!! My left thumb is getting some kind of spinning injury (is that possible?) so I’m giving it a rest and I haven’t spun in 2 days. So what do I do? I buy a pattern and take stock of my wollmeise! Man, do I suck at color work. I cannot do fair-isle for the life of me. Oh it looks good from afar, but it’s puckery, loosey goosey, and hole-y. :( I can’t knit English style so I basically pick up and drop the yarn. Very time consuming. One of these days I will have to learn to throw. Will someone give me some tips (ms. onandofftheneedles, I’m talking to you!)? I looked at the video on Knitting Help and she makes it look easy but it’s so freakishly hard! The spice market (middle strip) doesn’t have a whole lot of contrast, and I thought about ripping it out, but ugh, to go all the way back there would bring me to tears. So can you just lie and say that it looks super awesome??? ;) And also wanted to post pics of my latest skeins of spinning. I love them both!

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corriedale pencil roving in “Dance of the Dervish” superwash merino in “We Are the Champions” BFL in “Silk Road” Twisted Fiber Art Festive in “Warlock” Yep, you read that right! My parents have been here, what, a week or so? And in that time, I’ve spun up a pound and a half of CMF. I’ve tried the Corriedale Pencil Roving, the superwash merino and the BFL. The pencil roving was the most boring because it was too easy, no challenge whatsoever. It’s ok for 4oz, but when it’s 8oz, towards the end you just want to get it over with. The sw merino was lovely, I think that was my favorite of the 3. The BFL was ok, I don’t know what it is with me and BFL. Everyone loves it and I don’t. It’s ok and all, but I much prefer merino. I wanted to spin up some different fibers, so I broke into my Twisted Fiber Art stash and I’m spinning up the Festive (merino/silk blend). It is dreamy! I think I will need to change this blog title to “Bockstark Spins”! :)