FO: handspun mittens, and some plying action

I finally finished a pair of mittens for myself the other day where all that was missing were the thumbs. I guess the recent cold weather nudged me along. These are the first complete project with my own handspun. I don't even remember where I got the fiber, but I think it was a 2 oz Grafton Fibers batt I got ages ago. The yarn came out very soft to the touch and vibrant in color, and I used up almost every bit of it.

I didn't have the sense to wash the skein first, so some of the stitches show a distinct slant. So much need to learn.

Which brings me to...the lovely spinning group I got to visit with on Friday. Kay* met me in a parking lot 20 minutes from the meeting point, so I could follow her and not get lost, according to her words.

Well I may have gotten lost. We were meeting at "Fred's" and I had no clue who Fred was.

Let me tell you. After about a 20 minute drive through the most picturesque landscape around Crooked Lake, we suddenly turn left at a driveway that was studded with faded plastic flamingoes. The small parking lot was generous enough to hold about 10 cars; we were the first ones to arrive. There was some ornate scrolled iron lawn furniture outside of a long rectangular building. A mailman looked like he was stuck head first in the grass -- I liked this place. Impromptu art everywhere. The mailman turned out to be the bottom half of a mannequin complete with an old mailman's trousers and shoes. I guess he had delivered one bill too many....

When we entered, we were greeted by

a) a roaring fire in the world's biggest fireplace

b) an aging dog

c) the delicious scent of freshly roasted coffee

d) and Fred himself.

We were inside a coffee roaster's. There were cafe tables strewn about and bistro chairs. Old overstuffed chairs and sofas, one of which was on a stage (!) on the other end of the room. There were canisters of coffee and tea, brownies, coffeecakes, and cupcakes under domed lids. Antiques on shelves and handmade pottery.

As the spinners and knitters were filing in with their wheels, fiber, and various bags of accessories, everybody
felt at home and made me feel at home. I had been very nervous since it was my first outing at a spinning group, and these were mostly seasoned spinners. But it turned out that I knew at least half of them already, from when I had my shop, from other shops, and from fiber festivals.

Much chatting, spinning, knitting, plying, and even occasional singing ensued. One person brought a partially assembled wheel that was not engaging, and we now know that it takes 5 spinners and a headlamp to assemble the final parts. (Don't ask. I couldn't explain it to you. But the wheel was soon whirring away.)

Meanwhile I was spinning up what I had left of some roving, as this was the day I was finally going to learn how to ply properly. Laurie* pulled out her Katie a go go (OK I admit I googled this later) and got me set up. Only I had so much yarn on my bobbins there was not enough time for me to ply it all. Looks like I'm going to have to get me one of these nifty lazy kates....for all these singles I have on the bobbins that I didn't know what to do with. Laurie also explained how I can make a lazy kate for about a dollar, but then she spoiled me with the best tool and now I feel like there is no going back.

However a week from Friday, I'm going back to Fred's. How can I not? His last name is Cashmere.

PS: *you can see Kay and Laurie in pictures here.

last minute

This is what I managed to complete during the past week.

4 hats for co-workers. To be given today.



About 200 yards of handspun from a Grafton Fibers rolag. My mom requested some of my handspun, and I am glad I'll be able to deliver!

I'm off to work now.

Tomorrow, we leave.

decisions needed to be made

Remember the pink mittens? (see post entitled "pieces (1))
In a small series of momentous decisions, I came to the conclusion that they were some of the saddest, most ill-fitting mittens ever to have come off my needles...so I unraveled them yesterday. See the two balls of yarn in this picture.
The hat, however, part of the set, came out rather nicely.

Crafty Girl is modeling here, but the hat is for my niece. (OK. Niece's mom? If you're reading? Please don't tell...)
The yarn is Manos del Uruguay. Needle size 8. No Official Pattern.

As to the series of decisions I had to make, revealing Christmas knitting was one of them. I had to or else there would be precious little to talk about these days.

This next project is a much bigger one, and I meant to never talk about it until the day came that it wouldn't make any difference.
Here, I have to ask my sister Doris to keep the secret, as she is the family member in Germany who reads this blog.
But. I need to talk about this. It is a pretty big undertaking for me, the kind of thing where you need your fellow knitters' support, where you need to tell someone who will understand what you are doing.
So here goes.

This is yarn I am spinning (I am almost done spinning the 1 1/2 pounds) from Romney roving I obtained at the NYS Sheep and Wool Fest this year. It is wonderfully soft and almost spins itself.
Almost. So far I've put in about 10 hours altogether. Yesterday, I plied some of it.

Again, I am quite pleased with the results.

Next, I would have to swatch.

Is your curiosity piqued yet?

This yarn is for a special sweater I am making for my dad.

We are going to Germany for Christmas this year, the first time since 1993 (other years we went during the summer). Also, it is my dad's 70th birthday on December 30th. This handspun, handknit sweater will be his present from me.

I hope I'll make it.

But now that I've told you, there is some hope that I will stick to my plan because you all are keeping tabs on me.

Or, you may just call me crazy.

spinning

I just realized that I neglected to tell you about the spinning class I took a week ago Sunday, at the Spinning Room in the beautiful village of Altamont, NY, outside of Albany. The class ran from 10 am to 3 pm, we were 3 students, and had a wonderful teacher. Mary has been spinning for at least 25 years, and is very knowledgeable about everything spinning related. She used to raise her own sheep, but now runs the Spinning Room yarn shop full time.

At first, she had us treadling for while. We took turns on 3 different spinning wheels to get the feel for them. One was single treadle, one was double treadle, and one was "fake" double treadle, meaning you operate a single treadle with two feet.

After a while, we were knitting while treadling-- a great way to make us multitask and have the treadling become automatic. Just before lunch, we attached a length of single ply yarn to the flyer (gee I hope I am remembering all the parts of the wheel correctly...), and we pretend spun.
Then we attached some roving, which we had pre-drafted, and began to spin...well, or tried to.

At that point I was ready for a little break.

After lunch, we moved the wheels outside to the little porch and had a view of the village green (see below). While the other two students merrily spun away, I had a bit of difficulty with my really smooth red roving. It kept getting away from me and breaking. I must tell you I was ready to walk away and walk around that village green a few times, to regain my composure. But Mary of course kept her cool and stepped in and said that sometimes, the spinner and the roving don't agree...I was grateful for that excuse! She gave me something "stickier", and away I went. Much better. She put a felted basket of various rovings next to me and I just grabbed whatever was in there:

Hence the rather mixed appearance of my first skein! Very lumpy stuff indeed. But heck some would call this designer yarn and would actually pay good money for this!

At the end of the day, I couldn't get enough. I went home with a rented wheel, a Louet double treadle, ran to where the stash lives, and found a small ball of Jacob roving, turning it into this. I think it's starting to look like something!

(Village Green in Altamont, NY)

We go back in a couple of weeks for a follow-up class, and to learn how to ply. I can't wait. Meanwhile, I already ran back there for some more roving, so I can "practice". Nice word for getting your fiber fix.