kitty: spin spin spin

It's the most wonderful time of the year, Ghost and Goblins running around, candy corn by the ear, carved pumpkins at every door, and Socktober Fest has begun, now I just need to decided which socks to knit. Maybe I need some nice witch Socks. hmmmmmmmmm MG and I are off to another personal challenge to get socks knit this month. I can not wait.

This is 2-ply worsted-spun heavy fingering weight, from Amy Boogie's Almost Solid. It feels really wonderful. This is the first time that I have been able to spin this fine, so I am really excited. The down side is that my singles are pretty uneven. It is a real learning experience for me since this is by no way my comfort zone for spinning. Weight: 195 grams Yardage: 721 yards

MG and I got talking on IM the other morning about how we ply from a single bobbin. It was kind of hard to actually describe what I do, so I decided to include a couple of photos. After spinning up my single bobbin, I then wind it off on a ball winder so that I have a center thread and a outer thread. I then push the ball off on a roll of toilet paper until it is time to ply. When I take it off the roll, I replace it with my right thumb and wrap my other fingers around the ball so that I can hold the other thread with my fingers to create tension and hold it taunt as I pull out the center thread.

I then hold the ball of yarn parallel to the wheel and hold the yarn perpendicular to the wheel. The right hand keeps tension on the singles while the right hand stops the twist from going up to the ball. Then 13-15 pumps on the pedal and I have nicely balanced yarn.

MG: zero to sixty

from knitting stagnation to two knitalongs: i've joined Socktoberfest 2006 and Zimmermania. Zimmermann-worshipping and project details over here.


bluefaced leicester spun thinly for practice and stress-relief. spun and plied in what's becoming my default techniques: from the fold, point-of-contact longdraw; navajo-plied 3-ply; varying grists of laceweight; about 320 yards. for scale, the index card in the photo is 3" by 5".

my navajo-plying is better! after good advice from Andrea about not overthinking, i returned to the basics. i reread the Plying Chained Singles article (scroll down), treadled slowly on the largest whorl, and carefully watched the forming twists. my weakness lies in maintaining adequate tension on all three strands at all times and stopping/starting the travel of the twist while making the chained loops. and in general, i feel extremely unsure about how much ply i would like in my yarns.

query: when you check balance by the number of times a hank twists on itself, do you do it before or after setting/washing the yarn? if before, wouldn't the length of time the singles and/or plied yarn sat on the bobbin affect the amount of active twist seen? i'm thinking if i work for a balanced skein coming right off the wheel, the hank might actually be underplied, since my singles usually wait on the bobbin for a long while. what do you think?

MG: next?

my Ashford Joy rental time is over again, but i spun up more bluefaced leicester and jacob sheep while the wheel was visiting. i have some thin bluefaced singles and some thick-and-thin jacob sheep, also singles.


i also have some 100% hemp, which i found hard to draft. it felt both slick and sticky. either a bunch of fibers pulled out of my hands or the yarn fell apart. i think it probably needs a lot more twist than i expect. it took a while to get a feel for the hemp, and even then the singles were full of weak spots.

the fibers are straight and rigid in comparison to wool, and i didn't like the way the ends protruded from the singles. it looked messy rather than comfily fuzzy. after najavo-plying though, the yarn dramatically improved. here is my itty-bitty hank.


my yarns are looking pretty boring, aren't they? i need to start dyeing. knitting is at a lull. i started a sheer cardigan with KnitPicks' Alpaca Cloud in Iris. this is a sleeve (140 rows!):


i love this yarn. it's really soft, and the color has a lovely depth. but i'm now in ohio, where the weather is a bit warm for me; so, i left the cardigan behind and am looking for more summery projects.

i have lovely cotton yarns but haven't been able to decide on a project. lacy top? or this Phildar wrap tank that Knitalicious is about to start? or the sundress in this summer's interweave? or a cap-sleeve raglan?

added later: my heart and thoughts are with those of you in London. Yarn Harlot posted quotations in which i found hope and comfort on a day like this.