Center-Pull Ball Plying

I've plied three different skeins of yarn, and three times have ended with one single being moderately to significantly longer than the other and then spending the majority of my plying time sorting out the long single so I could fold it against itself. Bah!

As I was reading The Spinner's Book of Yarn Design by Sarah Anderson, she mentioned plying with a center-pull ball, where you wind the yarn into a hollow ball and pull yarn from the inside and outside simultaneously. I figured it couldn't go any worse that what I was already doing so I gave it a try.

DIY Niddy Noddy and Ball Winder

Once I had finished the wool I was spinning, I wrapped my Niddy Noddy (made of PVC pipe and costing about $4 to make) and began winding around a bottle. I usually just pull a side off my niddy noddy and wrap my center-pull balls from there, but I thought that would leave my center too small, so I opted for something a bit bigger. I like bottles because I can screw my loose end under the cap and not lose it in the ball. Unfortunately, this bottle was not completely cylindrical and getting the ball off was a bit of a challenge, but I made it happen.

Low Whorl and center-pull ball ready to start...

Then I was ready to start. Since I do need two hands to ply with my spindle, and I like to stand, sometimes even on furniture, to maximize the amount of yarn that can be plied in one spin, I set my yarn ball on the couch and set to work. It may have been the lack of direct control over the ball, or it could have been the way I wrapped the yarn, but after a while, I found myself with a huge excess of yarn coming from inside the ball, exactly what I was trying to avoid.

I ended up with the inner single running down and around my foot before it was plied with the outer single, but I did get it to work.

Next time, I will wind better. Next time, I will wind around something with straight sides. Next time, I will find a better way to handle my ball. Next time, I will not end up plying 75 yards of yarn balanced on one foot...The crazy goals I set for myself!

Drop Spindles: High vs. Low Whorl

Now that I have been spinning about 6 months, and have a collection of two count them two different spindles, clearly I am the world's expert on spindles, how to use them, their strengths and weaknesses, and other such topics. Yeah...right, but I have had some fun getting to know my different spindles and do have a few thought on the subject.

We'll start with a quick into to spindles. A spindle is basically a stick to wrap yarn around once its spun and a weight to keep the stick spinning (greater mass means great momentum after all). The stick will usually have a notch or hook on the spinning end to secure the yarn as you spin. There are many types of spindles that range from tinies less than an ounce, to monsters that are several feet tall. I use drop spindles, meaning the spindles get spun and then dropped and allowed to rotate in the air while the yarn gathers twist. In the category of drop spindles, I believe there are two types, though many styles within each type, the high and low whorl. The whorl is that weight that keeps the spindle spinning, and the high or low part refers to where it is placed on the spindle in relation to the new yarn being made.

Low Whorl Student spindle with dyed Cotswold

My low whorl spindle is a student spindle, and therefore very large. Not all low whorl spindles are this big, but it's size has some advantages.To start with, this this will spin forever, which was great for me when I was starting because I could start it spinning and then focus on my drafting for a pretty fair amount of time.

 This means I can now get a fairly long length of yarn before I have to stop and store my new yarn, as in I can start it spinning and draft until I am standing on my toes and my arm is above my head, so maybe 5 and a half feet of new yarn in a go.

Of course it only turns so well because it can maintain momentum, which means it has a lot of mass, which means it is heavy, which means it can and does break my yarn when my yarn gets too fine. I can still get pretty fine, but not with the consistency of my smaller spindle. I am also limited to short draw or "inch worm" drafting techniques as opposed to long draw methods as the bulk pulls the fibers apart very readily.

Another issue I have just recently had is that it is difficult for me to do the "Park and Draft." This is a technique where you spin you spindle and let tons of extra twist into a short amount of yarn, stop and hold your spindle (park), and then draft out enough fiber to take up the extra twist. This wasn't something I ever did, or thought I would ever do, until I got my new high whorl spindle.

High Whorl 1.1 ounce spindle with dyed Bella Wool

As soon as I started spinning on my high whorl spindle, I noticed an immediate difference. It doesn't spin as long, as it is much lighter, but I can spin much finer yarns because I don't need the yarn to hold as much weight as I am spinning.

It's also amazingly easy to Park and Draft with the high whorl. Before I would always stand to spin because I didn't want to stop spinning and wind my yarn after only spinning the three feet I could stretch while sitting. With Park and Draft, I can still stretch as far by parking my spindle between my feet, and I can easily spin in many more situations  (though I can still walk and spin with both).

Another fun aspect to the high whorl, though I'm not sure if it actually is a plus or not, is that I can start it spinning with my feet. When I park it, I am careful to align my feet so my right foot, the dominant one, is set behind my left foot. Then when I need more twist in my yarn, I can just kick my right foot out and it starts my spindle right up. Fun, but I don't know that it will ever be all that crucial to my spinning, but that's what I thought about Park and Draft too...

This all said, I do still love my big honkin' student spindle. I'm sure a lot of the issues I have with it, like it breaking my yarn when I spin to fine, could be solved by getting a "real" low whorl spindle instead of a "student" one, but we'll see if I need to go that far. It is amazingly wonderful for plying. Plying is when you take two single strands of yarn, or really thread at this point, and twist them together to make real yarn. My low whorl is so great because it's momentum allows me to zip through my singles. With my last two skeins of yarn, I have actually stood on a bar stool and used it as a true drop spindle, getting closer to 7 or 8 feet of plied yarn before I have to stop and wind it. It is also hefty enough to stand up to four ounces of DK or worsted weight yarn on it at once. Something tells me my little high whorl just wouldn't do as well (though they make heavier high whorls too).

This is what I have learned so far. I'm sure in another 6 months, when I've gotten another spindle or two, or even perhaps a wheel (gasp), I will have a completely different feeling towards these two guys. But that is part of the process and the fun. Learning is about trying new things, finding what works and what you like. Each new project brings new wool characteristics, methods, and outcomes, and after enough time, you become experienced enough to make reasonable predictions about how it will turn out, how to make it turn out, and how to make it as enjoyable a process as possible.

As always, I'd love to see or hear about what you all are working on. And please ask any questions you have about anything. Any new field has it's own vocabulary and don't think that you should inherently know these words. Also, anyone out there who is more experienced than me, please feel free to tell me what I'm doing wrong and how to do it better!
As always, thanks for reading and joining me in my journey to expertise!

WIP as of 7-23-13

Here are some updates on the many things I am knitting at the moment, or at least trying to...

 Here are my current projects. The green is some of my hand spun Cotswold. I am going to have three other skeins in three other colors and make it all into a market bag that I am going to felt slightly, since I felted it a bit in dyeing anyway.

The purple is some acrylic sock yarn from Michael's. I got it to learn socks. I did figure out the process with my first sock, Made the brown socks for my friend, and am now once again fighting SSS, or Second Sock Syndrome. I really need to learn a two at a time method, I think I just need longer circular needles for that.

The blue is the beginning of a lace shawl from Craftsy's July Mystery Knit Along. Good  thing I didn't sign up for the August Knit Along too. It's a triangle, center panel, triangle shawl, and other than slowly it is going well. The yarn is Cascade Heritage, another sock yarn, but a beautiful color.

This is really my first attempt at lace work, but it's been great. At the end of June, I was trying to come up with a lace pattern for something I had in my head (details to come once it's all worked out), but I had no idea how to do the lace. After just the three or so repeats I have done, I now have a pattern chart sketched. I can't promise that it will work, but it's a heck of a lot farther than I was before.

Now for some frogging shame...

 These are some projects that I started, but haven't felt inclined to work on in a while. There is a double knit scarf with the digits of pi, a basket weave scarf for my DH, and a modern log cabin afghan- which has a loooong way to go.
The pi scarf has 20 digits after decimal, and I think I will be going another 25 or maybe 30. The nice, or lazy, part of a pi scarf is that if you don't get it done by March 14th, you have an entire year to finish it, right? Anyway, I'm making it out of Caron Simply Soft.
The afghan is also Simply Soft, but there will need to be much more of it. That current section, which needs a few more inches to be a 24 inch square and the beginning section of the cabin is already into its second skein. This is going to be crazy if it ever gets finished. A skein of Simply Soft is 6 ounces and over 300 yards. I am going to work it in three colors and I had originally bought two of each, but clearly I will need much more. It's a good thing that Simply Soft doesn't have dye lots.

Here is the basket weave for my husband. It's going well and it interesting enough, but for some reason it just takes me forever to knit for him. I have made him one other scarf and some fingerless gloves to wear while he games. Now the gloves took a few hours each, but the other scarf, in a tumbling block pattern "took" a couple of years to finish. I started this on around December, so I have a few months left before he needs it.

That's what I'm working on. I'd love to see what you have on your needles, hooks, machine, spindle, wheel, or any other crafting tools. Please post a link to your projects, I'd love to see your creativity in action!

Getting Dizzy

My head is spinning....nope it's my spindle.

I took my daughter to the playground and figured I would work on my red/orange/yellow Cotswold that I had dyed and pseudo felted. When we got there I realized that Sarah Anderson spoke the truth in her book "The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs." As my Cotswold sat waiting to be spun, the felting that had begun in the dyeing process had continued. My roving, which had started as a long strip about 4 inches wide, was now about an inch and a half wide.

I had about an ounce left, but I needed to get it done, so I spent my day spinning up the rest of the red, or as I am calling it "Indian Paintbrush." I got through my ounce in about 3 hours, and then, because I am insane and procrastinating other projects, I decided to ply the two strands I had. WOW!

I keep having the same issue when plying. I don't know if I don't divide the wool evenly, or if I'm just not spinning consistently enough, but I keep having more yardage on one single than the other, and it was bad. I think in my Indian Paintbrush I had about an extra 20 yards on what I spun up that day. What a mess. Once I finished my first bobbin, I had to unwind the second bobbin and had to double it back on itself. I guess I need to work on putting the right amount of twist into my yarn because as great as it is that I know my yarn won't break, it's crazy to deal with all those "pigtails" while plying or working with the singles.

It took me two Doctor Who episodes on Netflix to get through the wound bobbins, but then another two to untangle and ply the remaining "extra" yarn. In the end I did get a nice skein of DK-ish yarn with 183 yards out of four ounces!

It really is red. I promise.

However, the story does not end there. The thing is I still have 4 ounces of the Cotswold that is dyed and 4 ounces that isn't dyed. I'm not too concerned with the undyed wool as it is sealed in a ziptop bag and doesn't seem to be felting. The dyed is another story. So now I have another 4 ounces to spin and ply ASAP. Though I think I am just going to spin it all in one single, go to my LYS (local yarn store) and use their ball winding service to get it wound into a center pull cake and ply it from the inside and outside at the same time. I'll let you know how it goes.

It's days like this I wish I had a wheel and didn't have to stop spinning all the time to wind my yarn onto my spindle...feel free to comment if you want to donate to the Kromski fund :-P.

Cool Idea That I'm Sure Won't Work...

I've been trying to get into design as I would like to open an Etsy store and not violate Copyright regulations- I'm not exactly and expert, but I did have basically an entire graduate school class on Copyright and Fair Use Policy in Education...super fun.

The problem is that I am not great at new stitch patterns. I don't have a problem with garment construction, at least I don't think I do since I have only really done a couple pairs of toe-up socks on my own, but I want to be able to try some completely new stitch patterns themselves.

This experiment is kind of a half-way mark to that goal. I highly doubt that I will get anything useable out of it, but I figure it's an amusing idea and maybe it will end up looking cool.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick some decently sized chunk of text, maybe about 10-25 words that you really love. It can be a quote from a book, movie, love letter, anything you want to dissect and repeat to yourself over and over again while knitting.
2. Cast on say 25 stitches- I really have no idea and am totally making this up so feel free to deviate.
3. Knit your quote. That sounds crazy, and you're right it is, but this is what I mean. Whenever you come to a consonant knit a stitch, for the vowels - purl, spaces get yarn overs, periods get knit 2 together, and any other punctuation gets a ssk (or slip two stitches as if to purl and then knit them together).
4. Turn your work when needed.
5. I haven't decided if the wrong side should continue the "pattern" or be some kind of rest row. I'll have to try it a both ways.

 So again in pseudo pattern speak

• Cast-on 25 stitches
• K1 for every consonant
• P1 for every vowel
• YO for every space
• K2tog for periods
• SSK for other punctuation

I've decided to start with  "'That's right,' shouted Vroomfondel, 'we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!'" from chapter 25 of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I love this quote as it is so blatantly contradictory, yet still hold up as the ground work for philosophy and other areas, politics come to mind specifically.

I probably should have picked something else as I am going to have alot of left slants with all those ssk's, but that could end up being really fun, who knows. The interesting thing is that this could be amazing or complete rubbish depending on how many stitches I start with, how the subsequent stitches line up and how I end up dealing with the wrong sides. I am going to be counting this out in just a second, but it also be interesting to see if I am going to have more decreases than increases with this particular quote. Nope, just looked and while this does have quite a bit of punctuation for a standard quote, it still has far more spaces as any quote will. Lace here we come.

So here we go with that quote I am going to start with

• SSK, K2, P1, K1, SSK, K1, YO, K1, P1, K3, SSK, SSK, YO, K2, P2, K1, P1, K1, YO, K2, P2, K2, P1, K2, P1, K1, SSK, YO, SSK, K1, P1, YO, K1, P1, K1, P1, K2, YO, K1, P1, K1, P1, K2, P1, YO, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, YO, P1, K1, P2, K1, YO, P1, K1, YO, K1, P2, K2, YO, P1, K2, YO, P1, K2, P1, K2, P2, K2, P1, SSK, SSK
• And I guess I will start with 92 stitches (not the 25 I said above, told you I was making it up) so that I can at least get through this first set of the pattern without turning in the middle of my quote. I didn't count the yarn overs in my cast-on since those are increases, but I did count two stitches for my ssk's since that is taking two stitches and making 1. And just double checking... 8 decreases and only 12 increases per pattern. So it's going to start at 92 and get bigger, but slowly, it'll be interesting.

I have some nice smooth yarn picked out for this so I can see what is going on.Given that there are 12 increases per repeat, I think I am going to do a rest row for the wrong side, meaning you knit the stitches that appear to be knit and you purl the stitches that appear to be purl. I am a bit concerned that it is just going to turn into a lace rib, but then maybe I'll try again working the pattern through both sides. I am not holding my breath for something beautiful and wearable. It's just an experiment.

I would love to get some more people involved in this to see what we can come up with. It probably won't make anything, but it will be interesting and might give us all a bit more insight on how to create different looks in knitting! Please post pictures -or links to pictures- of anything you try, or feel free to put up quotes for my to work with. We'll see if we can come up with something new!

Trying Something New

This last week I finished spinning my BFL top and the socks I made for my friend, leaving me with quite a bit of crafting time open. So like any good crafter, I filled the time I had been using to work on those two projects with 5 more.

Most of them are just knitting, and I will post photos when they start to look like something other than a cast-on, but I did try some dyeing and started spinning some of my hand processed Bella Wool (so called because that is the name of the Cotswold/Border Leicester sheep it came from).

 I started by pulling about 50 grams of locks, and letting them soak for a few minutes in warm water. Then in a microwave safe bowl, I mixed a packet of Black Cherry Kool-Aid. I put the wool in and let it sit for a few minutes before I put it all in the microwave. The result was something that would work very well for Halloween or a horror movie.

I set the microwave on 50% power and ran it in 3 minute bursts.I didn't want to go too long or too hot because I couldn't control the temperature in the microwave like I could on the stove and I didn't want it to start boiling and felt the yarn.

I checked it every 3 minutes to make sure nothing was boiling and everything was working out.  Once the "dye" was exhausted from the water, I took it all out of the microwave and let the wool cool in the bowl, as the shock of going from hot dyeing water to cold rinse water will felt wool too.




After the water had cooled, I rinsed the locks in cool water, letting them soak a few minutes. Next I washed the water just using dish soap to get any extra dye out. I guess I must have really done a pretty good job of heating it because I didn't have any dye wash out leaving pink water.




I needed a place for my locks to dry. At first I tried just laying them across the rim of my bowl, but I saw very quickly that there wasn't enough room. So I went and got my ironing board and pulled the fabric off and set it underneath to catch any drips that might come out while drying. It worked quite nicely and everything was dry by morning, leaving me with some nicely dyed locks ready to be combed and spun, but that's another story...

Success

Not all the yarn I spin gets treated so poorly. Here is some Blue Faced Leicester of BFL that I bought, already dyed, up in Minnesota while visiting family. I also bought a new spindle. This lovely yarn was not made on my giant student spindle shown in yesterday's pictures, but on a "real" medium weight spindle. It is still pretty simple, but it it much easier to spin finer yarn on as the weight of the spindle does not break my thread.

Back to the yarn... I loved this fiber when I say it. I know you can't see it here, but the fiber still has some of the original crimp in it, potentially making the finished yarn more elastic. I say potentially because I tend to stretch and over twist my yarn leaving little room for things like elasticity, but be sure that my yarn won't break! I love the way the colors twist and the great variety in this fiber. This wool has a full spectrum of blues, green, purple, pink, and even a few areas of white

Anyway, I am quite proud of this yarn, as it if pretty consistent and fairly thin. Before you leave the page, remember, I've only spun about a pound of yarn so far, so this is a pretty big step for me.

Here are a few strands over a 1/2 inch PVC pipe with my thumb in the shot for additional scale. The great thing about being able to spin finer yarn consistently is that you end up with more! I had previously spun up 8 ounces of Merino and ended up with about 130 yards. With this attempt, the four ounces that I have already spun gave me almost 152. So, if I stay consistent, and decide to use the yarn in singles, I will have just over 300 yards to play with. That's enough to actually make something, now I just have to figure out what!
.

Not (Entirely) My Fault

When I first started spinning, I bought a pound of Cotswold wool because it was fairly inexpensive and I had no idea what I was doing. So I got it, I started spinning and everything was going well, for the first three ounces. Then I started watching dyeing videos on Youtube and I thought, "Hey, I can do that!" So I tried my hand at dyeing. Unfortunately, I had only a few ounces spun and so I dyed my roving...

After I let it dry, I noticed that it was not as fluffy as it had been when I started. My videos did mention the danger of felting, so I was careful (or so I thought), but my wool felted a bit anyway. Nothing too bad. I can still spin it, but it's not like it was.

 This is what I started with, lots of fluff and nice and open.

 This is what I was left with. You can see how my diameter was almost halved. Well according to Sarah Anderson in The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs, "breeds like Cotswold felt if you carelessly allow them near a heavy breather."

So, my fault for not knowing the properties of the yarn before I messed with it, but really, it worked out because while it's not as easy to spin, I can still spin it. Which is good because I dyed 8 ounces at two separate times....

This is the first batch that I dyed as roving. I used the "Burrito Method" where you put the wool on cling wrap, apply dye to just the specific areas where you want it, wrap it all up and then microwave it in two minute intervals for about 6 minutes total.

Here is some of my wool that escaped felting before it was spun. Luckily, I had this on my spindle at the time when the other yarn was dyed. This yarn was then dyed after it was plied, just like Cotswold should be...apparently.

This was a fun process. I unwound my skein and kettle dyed the entire skein in yellow. When the dye was exhausted (read "the water was clear"), I removed the yarn and let it cool for a while, until I could handle it. In the meantime, I put green dye into the water. Then I knotted up the loop of yarn and let it soak in the green until that was exhausted. At this point, I removed the yarn, let it cool, and added blue to the water. When the yarn was cool, I retied it leaving new spots exposed and others covered and placed it in the blue. The result was a mix of yellow, green, and even some teal.

I had always planned on taking the finished pound of Cotswold and making a Market Bag, since it is far too rough to be used near the skin. Maybe now I will try felting it all the way through...

Compromises

Well, I couldn't quite hold out, so I did start the entrelac, but I did work out a system. I knit one set of cables and then did a block of the entrelac. After two blocks on the entrelac, I was so close the the heel that I just finished it up before I was done knitting for the night.

Still not sure about the needles on the entrelac. I like how the gauge looks in the solid sections, but it looks a bit funny on the picked up stitches.

Leet me know if you have any input or experience with this kind of thing, and let me know what your working on. I'd love to see it.

Fighting Second Sock Syndrome

I spent all day working on that second sock...I got two more cables done, so 16 rows. All day I kept wanting to cast on something new.

About a year ago I got some gorgeous Malabrigo Silky Merino in dill, redwood bark, and teal feather. I've wanted to work it into an entrelac shawl/scarf for a while,but I only get the urge to work it in the middle of other projects. It will be so pretty and soft when it finally gets done, but it'll be a while.

It doesn't help that I got my yarn for Craftsy's Mystery Knit-along on Monday: Cascade Heritage in Como Blue. Stefanie Japel is teaching the workshop with a shawl pattern she calls Blue Angel. It is a fairly straight forward shawl with a lace panel in the back. I couldn't quit resist working on it and am about 16 rows into it.
So the question is, do I push through and keep going on the second sock, even though I keep thinking about other projects and my progress is slow, or indulge my yarn lust and hope it will motivate me to keep working the socks?

I'll think and knit over this problem for a few days and get back to you.

Current Project 7-4-2013

Right now, I am working on a pair of cable knit knee socks for a friend. I am using Vanna's Choice on size 5 dpns, or double pointed needles. When I started swatching, I was concerned that using size 8 needles would not leave the socks sturdy enough, but wow size 5 leaves them very solid and stiff.

I need to get myself a portable row counter. I have been using the lighter needle through the cables to count my rows. It has been working well enough, but I need the cables to make this work without stretching stitches.

I have also been using that lighter needle for my cabling needle. I think it is a size three, and it has been really nice to have a straight needle to work with instead of the crazy curved ones- though I do like the way the curved ones hang, I just find them difficult to knit off of.

If you look closely on my finished sock, you can see my "lovely" ladder. I'm pretty new to socks so I'm not really sure where it came from. I've heard that using the Magic Loop method should help with that, but I also want to try double knitted socks where you end up knitting one sock inside the other. I suppose you could double knit on circular needles too, but the directions I found said to use dpns. Anyway, any suggestions to get rid of ladders, let me know. They only started showing up as I began to move up the leg, so that kind of confuses me...oh well, maybe they'll be better next time.


That's about all I have for now. I'd love to see what anyone out there is working on. Please leave a link or a post below!

Fiber Processing

In May we went up to New York where I visited a friend who has a farm. It was sheering season, and as she is just getting into the wool side of raising sheep, she still isn't too concerned with selling her wool directly, which meant that she gave me an entire fleece for free!  It was dirty, there were second cuts, it was matted and full of vegetation, but it was free. So I brought it home and started working on it, though I didn't really know what I was doing.

 This is what the wool did when I dumped it out of the bag I had brought it home in. Clearly I had my work cut out for me.

 I started to spread it out and  see what I had to work with.

  I put a few ounces in a bathtub full of cold water and let it soak for about a half hour or so. Wow, I knew the wool was dirty when she gave it to me, but seeing all the dirt in the water...Yikes.

 Eventually the water began to clear and I could see how white the wool really was, instead of the light cream it first appeared to be.

After I pulled it out of the tub, I let it soak in the washing machine, with dish detergent to cut the sheep grease, hot water, and NO agitation. Things looked good, so I repeated the whole process with the rest of the wool...in one batch, not a good plan, but it came out fine, even if it did take a long time.

Now I am working on learning to comb so I can spin up this great wool from a lovely Cotswold/Border Leicester mix named Bella.

 I've made it through a very rough ounce, and other than it being pretty slippery, hard to combine, and hard to draft as the fibers measure about 9 inches, it spins very nicely and makes some good soft yarn.