Goin' Batty

Our last spinning class was so exciting I forgot to take pictures. But here is the batt of caramel colored CVM (thanks, Kat!), taupe mohair, and natural tussah silk that I started blending in class and finished off that same evening. It got a couple of runs through the drum carder. I really packed it on and got 2 huge batts out of that CVM.


A closer view.


I'm using my Wooly Winder because I needed an empty bobbin! This is the first time I've tried spinning with it. I previously used it only for plying. Now that I've got it set up correctly, I really like how it works.


An "action" shot. ('Course I actually had to stop spinning so I could hold the camera in the other hand.)


I hope after plying and washing the yarn comes out soft. Right now it's a little stiff, probably due to the mohair and possibly the silk too. I know the CVM is nice.


Here's a look at the floor around my spinning chair. This one's for you Wendy!

Dragon Tails

I've been talking about having to finish the Dragon Socks for a while now, so I thought you'd like to see that I'm actually working on them. Here are the tails, blocking. One sock is done, the other is halfway up the foot (toe-up) this morning. Given enough knitting time, I'll have them finished by the deadline.

I got the idea for these socks from Cat Bordhi's book, but I didn't use the pattern except as a guideline. In the pattern, each spike in the tail was knit separately. If you know me, you know I hate weaving in ends. So I used entralac triangles and bound off each one as I went. Voila only 4 ends per tail to weave in! I also used sock yarn instead of worsted weight yarn, so I had to do some finagling (that's math) on the tails to get a good size. For the socks, I used my favorite toe-up sock and the Dragon Skin design. Wait 'til you see them all put together!

Flash O' the Green

Here's a little green for St. Paddy's Day.

Someday this thing will be finished, but for now, it's my commute knitting.

Here's what I did at Fiber To Finish this weekend; it's card weaving! Very easy to do with just 2 cards. Others said their card weaving classes started with 24 cards! No, 2 is just about right. I'm still not bitten by the weaving bug though. I enjoy looking at it, admiring it, but don't need to do it. Time will tell.


Here's another lanyard I made. It's knitted I-cord.

Swallowtail Shawl

Here it is, all blocked and ready to wear. Dolly was very excited to be allowed to model this shawl but now I'm not sure I'll be able to get it back from her. She said something about a date with a department store man named Ken.



Mannequin - get it? I crack myself up!

Blocking the Swallowtail Shawl

First it was soaked in warm soapy water for a while, rinsed a couple of times, then rolled in a towel to get out the excess water. It is just damp now.


I laid it out on the towels & blocking board and started pinning the top edgs.


Next I made the top edge straight and measured from center to end, both ways, making sure they are the same length.


Then I pinned out the center using the blocking board so I had a straight line for reference.


I used a tape measure as a straight line for pinning out the points (see #4 in the group above). And then I worked each side until it looked about right (this was an iterative process). Since my blocking board is too small for the whole job, the result might not be as perfect as I'd like, but no one else will know.


Now I wait. I'll take it off the "blocking mattress" tomorrow when it is completely dry, weave in the ends, and it will be ready to wear!

You Want More...?

You see, the 3 skeins of sock yarn was in addition to this:



And that's not counting the ones by the sofa, the ones on the coffee table, the ones on the work table... Yep, that's SABLE!

Ready To Go...

to the blocking board. Can you guess what it is?

My First Felted Object

It worked! I just agitated it by hand in the basin and voila. It came out just how I hoped. It is only a little smaller than the original and somewhat denser for good ear warming properties.

SABLE

Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.

Today's FOs

That's "finished objects" for those of you who were about to ask. So. You asked for it and here it is, my knitting blog.

First up is the finished Quant. It is from my handspun BFL "Old Money" from Sakina Needles.



And here are my camera socks. The hot pink one is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock "Bittersweet". I made it during the drive home from California after Christmas vacation so my new camera wouldn't get scratched up in the bottom of my purse. The second one is Great Adirondack Silky Sock "Navajo". Both were from yarn left over after making socks and a hat.