The Knitting Pirate

On Saturday, Janis and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and had a wonderful time! For the most part, I kept to my shopping list. I didn’t buy anything that wasn’t on the list, and I didn’t buy some things that were on the list, like semi-solid sock yarns. I didn’t buy any yarn at all, actually!

I picked up both a spinner’s control card and a WPI (wraps per inch) tool, which is basically just a bit of wood with a one inch notch cut in it. These should help me get to a point where I’m more consistent in my spinning.

Then I bought a variety of fibers to spin – a four ounce braid of Merino/silk in a foresty green and brown, four ounces each of Merino/silk and Falklands dyed in the same bluesy colorway that I plan to spin separately and ply together, eight ounces of “Starry Night”, 50-50 wool and mohair with a bit of gold glitz, and an eight ounce bag of Finn/mohair locks in a variety of colors that somehow all go together well.

Janis and I are splitting two pounds of raw Romney, but she’s taking the whole of it home with her to clean. I think that’s awesome of her!

I snagged about fourteen ounces of Corriedale in a bunch of solid colors for making blends on the drum carder, but I couldn’t find any nylon roving at the show. When I got home, I ordered a pound of it from Sheep Shed Studio. I got a few small baggies of glitz in different colors to blend in, surprising myself, as I never thought I’d like the stuff. It’s a lot less scratchy than I thought it would be.

What’s surprising is that I decided that I like the walnut finish on the Kromski Sonata better than the new mahogany finish. I had been so excited for the Sonata to be released in mahogany, as I’d seen both finishes on websites here and there and didn’t really care for the walnut much. Now that I’ve seen them in person, I’m definitely leaning towards the walnut!

On Sunday, I sorted out the colors in the Finn/mohair blend and carded two batts. The fiber seems to be less clean than I thought it would be; I’m definitely noticing lanolin on my hands, and wondering if I should re-wash it before I card any more. The first batt seems to be more mohair, and the second more Finn. I teased the locks apart with my fingers and fed the batt through three times. For the second batt, I used the teasing tool that came with the carder to open up the locks more, and only had to do two passes to get a reasonably smooth batt.

When I was tired of carding, I went upstairs and spun for about 45 minutes before bed. I’m working on some Ashland Bay merino top that might be thin enough for a three-ply sock yarn, and coming to the end of the second bobbin. I’ll have to weigh the singles, since I was stupid and didn’t split the top before I began.

More pictures when I have a sunny day, so I can get good shots with accurate color!

I got this yarn as part of a Ravelry gift swap, and I am appropriately ashamed that I didn’t immediately take pictures of it and add it to the stash. Here we have some 100% linen laceweight in purple. I have no idea what to do with it, but the color is beautiful! It’s about 165 yards, lightly variegated. What could I make with this?

And here’s 600 meters of grey Icelandic laceweight, which may one day become a shawl. It’s sort of hairy and coarse, so it wouldn’t be suitable for a next-to-the-skin project. Both of these yarns are beautiful and neither of them is something I’d've purchased on my own, so it’s perfect to have gotten them in a gift swap!

These are the colors of the Napramach – tan, brown, two shades of blue, red, and gray. (The pattern called for a more silvery-gray than what I have, but that was out of production at the time, so darker gray will have to do.) They go nicely together, the red standing out against the more subdued colors. And they each have a little bit of the others’ colors in them. The red and tan have tweedy bits of blue; they all have tweedy bits of tan. I really like tweed yarns.

And THIS is the most perfect fabric ever. So ugly it’s beautiful, covered in camels, and just the right colors for the bag. It just doesn’t get better than that. She is absolutely going to love this. I ordered two 18″ squares, which should be more than enough. If there’s enough leftovers, I might sew a little drawstring pouch and give her that, too.

For a project that annoyed me so much to have to make (especially when I found out that she thought I was making her something simple like a Booga Bag), that I procrastinated on for approximately two years, I seem to be enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It definitely helps that it’s going a lot faster than I expected! I’m stretching my skills and rising to meet a challenge, and that’s always a good feeling.

Red Bird Knits, one of my favo(u)rite Canadian yarn shops, is having a Boxing Day sale. I spent a good hour putting yarn in my cart and taking it out again, flipping tabs in my browser to Ravelry and checking colo(u)rways, thinking about what I need (nothing) and what I’d like to knit (another stripey striped scarf), asking Pirate-Husband’s opinion, and calculating what I’d spend at $0.82 USD to the Canadian dollar, but then there’s $20 shipping…

Eventually I decided that I already have quite a bit of yarn, and there’s nothing on sale that won’t be available once I’ve worked through some of my stash. But I wanted to let you all know about this sale, because it’s 10-40% off some really great yarn, and because I really like Red Bird Knits. Kureyon, for example, is on sale for $6.38 CAD per ball. Lorna’s Laces is 40% off, $7.20 CAD marked down from $12.

So, as much as I’d like to, I won’t be knitting another Stripey Striped Scarf. Not now, anyway. I have Silk Garden in my stash already for a scarf for myself, the possibility of two dressier scarves for two guys to wear with black wool coats, and two scarf patterns that I really admire after that. I think I’m doin’ all right for scarves for now!

It’s Chanukah and also Christmas Eve, and I’m spending the evening in great happiness with Pirate-Husband and my cousin Michael (who is the only one of my cousins with whom I’m also friends) playing Rayman’s Raving Rabbids on Michael’s Wii and drinking some Bell’s Expedition stout. I hope that all of you are also spending your evenings in the best ways you can imagine!

Yesterday was gray and drizzly, and I didn’t accomplish much in the way of knitting. I did catch up with friends for a bit, and had a lovely dinner with Pirate-Husband of chicken, sweet potato, and acorn squash over couscous… but no knitting! This morning was black and rainy, my commute took twenty minutes longer than it should, and I’m a little grumpy about it. In order to make myself feel better, I’m looking at my stash on Ravelry.

(I also ordered a three-pack of Malbec from wine.woot to make myself feel better, but that’s not as closely related to yarn and fiber… though it’s just as relaxing!)

So anyway, my stash. It’s so soothing to look at it, even in pictures, even without the tactile pleasures. I can imagine what I’ll knit or spin, I can envision the excitement of casting on and the accomplishment of binding off, the curiosity to see how dyed top will spin up and the milestones of filling a bobbin, plying, washing, and parading the finished yarn around the house.

I’m starting to plan out my 2009 fiber arts. Mom’s gloves should be done in two weeks (I’m being realistic; I can knit a glove in a week but my hands will hate me for it) and my socks should hopefully be finished in the next few weeks after that. Maybe I can get both of those projects done before the New Year!

Two fairly complex projects need to be worked on. The first is the Pomatomus socks; I have no excuse for not having those complete already. The next is Napramach, a colorwork bag for friend Angie, who has made me some beautiful SCA garb. I have the yarn and am thoroughly intimidated by the pattern.

Two sock designs are percolating in my head. One is the written-up pattern for the with numbers for a smaller size worked out, and a new name of “Brother’s Socks.” The second is the design I started in the sock class I took with Cookie A. back in September, which is much more elaborate. I’m going to name it “Verdant.”

2009 will also be a year for spinning. I can’t justify the purchase of a second wheel until I’m spending more time at the one I have. And I can’t justify the purchase of more top/roving until I’ve spun up some of what I have. The Yarn Harlot says that Tuesdays are for spinning, so perhaps I will take her advice and schedule time that’s specifically for turning fluff into usable yarn. I would really like to have a pair of socks made from my own handspun. I also have a dream of a lace shawl from my own handspun, but I’m not touching those rolags until I’m more confident in my ability to spin smooth, fine yarn.

It’s possible that 2009 will be a year for dyeing. There’s only one room in the house that hasn’t been unpacked and set up yet, and that’s the crafts room. Well, right now it’s a boxes-and-laundry room. The washer and dryer are going to stay right where they are, but there’s no reason that the rest of the room can’t be set up for arts and crafts! I’d like to arrange a fiber station with areas for both carding and dyeing.

Ahh, I’m feeling better already…

This is the yarn I said I wouldn’t buy, and although it’s not been sunny enough to get a good picture, I took one anyway. In real life the colors are much deeper. I could probably spend the next hour futzing with the camera and not get an accurate shot, so I don’t think I’ll bother – can you forgive me?

Anyway, I don’t have a pattern in mind. It may come out as some mottled variegation or it may stripe/spiral a bit; I’ve seen both in socks knit up from this yarn. I may just go with a simple textured stitch on the leg and stockinette on the foot, and see what happens. Something with a single cable down the side might look nice too!

I will never say “…and I won’t buy anything there” ever again.

Sam, the Ninja and I went to Needles in the Haymarket, and I fell in love with a sock yarn in deep red with little bits of black and dark purple. (Pics soon.) Since I had no deep red yarn in my stash, and since there was still a little bit of money left on my gift card, I bought it. Now, this is how cool the ladies at the store are: I didn’t know exactly how much money was left on the card, but I knew it was six dollars and some change. They put $6.00 into the credit card machine and it went through… and then we started trying small change because, as they said, “You have to use the last bit of money on these cards!” Eventually they logged on to the card’s website and looked up the balance (three cents) and ran that through for me too. They are awesome.

Then we went to With Yarn in Front where I succeeded in not buying anything else, probably because I just bought sock yarn from them a few weeks ago when I was there with Janis. This is how cool they are at this store: they remembered that I was loving on the Kromski Sonata and offered me, “do you want to spin on ‘your wheel’ again?” I declined, but we admired the selection of Noro (I would love to knit another Stripey Striped Scarf) and when we were done shopping, we sat in the back and knit for an hour until it was time to head off to dinner.

I’m not sure I *can* go to a yarn store with friends and not buy anything, if there’s something I like.

This is Silkie Socks that Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Ravenscroft, a gorgeous black with hints of greens and purples. I’ll be using it to make Mom’s birthday present, a pair of gloves. Hopefully they go smoothly and quickly; I’ve never knit gloves before but I want to get them to her as soon as possible. Pirate-Husband actually bought this yarn, because I’m doing the knitting and the gift is from both of us.

On the left we have Cervinia “Forever” in awesome stripes. Forever was the yarn I used for my very first socks, which have held up quite well, and when I saw this colorway in With Yarn In Front last weekend, I had to have it. It passes the “blue jeans test” easily, that test being a single yes or no question: Will this yarn go well with blue jeans? On the right is some Universal Yarn “Ditto” that was on a serious closeout sale. It also passed the blue jeans test, and the price was too good to pass up! The cost of both was covered by the last of my pre-paid Visa, money that I’d set aside for yarn purchases, so I don’t feel at all guilty. Even though I’m supposed to be on some kind of yarn diet.

I’m quite tempted to cast on for a simple, 64-stitch, stockinette sock… but I have deadlines to meet. The baby blanket is somewhere between 75% and 80% complete, depending on when I decide to stop. I finished the third skein of yarn yesterday. The Bloo Socks are halfway through the gusset decreases. Progress is being made!

The trip to WEBS yielded these additions to the stash, and I think my new camera did them justice. The rocks in my front yard are great to take pictures on when it’s sunny out.

One ball of Lang Jawoll Color Aktion should be more than enough to make fingerless flip-top mittens with nice long cuffs, which I’ve been wanting for a long time. Mittens will keep my hands warmer, but there are those moments when I’ll really need my fingers free. I doubt these will be done by Winterlude, even if that’s when I’ll really need them. There’s a stew competition I attend every year which is held outdoors, and the bulky winter gloves I was wearing last year made it impossible to hold my spoon! The fliptops will also be good for driving, although I do plan to buy a new pair of lined leather gloves this year. My old ones are worn out, and leather is one of those things that knitting just can’t replace.

I’ve wanted to try Silk Garden for a while, and when I saw Everyday Autumn’s Razor Shell Scarf I knew I’d found the right pattern. I have three balls of the Silk Garden and she only used two for a scarf that’s just about five feet. I might decide to make mine a five-pointed scarf instead of three, because I like scarves that are both long and wide. My general rule is that a scarf should be at least six inches taller than its wearer. I’m planning this one for next winter, as I’m not feeling any shortage of scarves; I’ve already knit three for myself! The Razor Shell scarf seems like it might be a little more dressy than the ones I made before. Sometimes I need to look a little more sharp – what’s better than a Razor scarf to accomplish that?

So I went to WEBS and had a wonderful time fondling all the yarns. Michael the Enabler, he for whom the Bloo Socks are being made, carried the basket and helped by saying things like “you should buy that” and “yes, that is soft” and “wow, this wheel spins for a really long time.”

I didn’t buy the wheel (it’s wasn’t a Sonata), but I did buy two new bobbins for my Traditional, three skeins of Silk Garden for a scarf, and one ball of stripy-jacquard sock yarn for fingerless gloves that will have flip-top mittens.

I’d like to go back to With Yarn in Front and test the Sonata they have there. If I like it, then I’m going to start up my savings fund for it. And if I don’t, then I’ll know and I can stop drooling every time a used one comes up for sale! Pirate-Husband asked me if I’d ever spin on the Traditional again after getting a double-treadle wheel. I said that I didn’t know – maybe? and if not, I can sell it to someone else. It’s a good wheel and there’s no reason I can think of that I wouldn’t continue to spin on it.

My new camera should be arriving today, so soon I will be able to take pictures of everything I’ve been working on! I made some progress on the Bloo Socks while I was on the airplane, in spite of having to unknit six or seven rounds to correct a mistake that I must have made while at the wine festival. No more drunken knitting for me! (I did try to drop the stitches down and pick them up in the right orientation, but that didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, so I unknit.)