Beret de Printemps

I originally spun this yarn to be a lace shawl!

There were just 2 problems. It turned out to be a heavier weight than I had planned and I was terrified of the pattern.

As you may already know, I have only used one other lace chart pattern and it was for a pair of gloves. So as I sat looking at the shawl pattern I knew if I made any mistakes their would be A LOT of tearing out to do. So I thought a hat would be a nice thing to make a little bigger than a glove and not as daunting as the shawl. 

The pattern is Beret de Printemps by Jeni Chase and can be found on Ravelry.

The fiber is 100% Merino in a Rose Quartz colourway and was purchased from Stone Edge Fibers. I spun it as a 2ply with a WPI of 18. It was very nice to spin with, soft and easy to draft.

I had a little problem with the pattern. I was about half finished with the hat when I realized I had been reading the pattern wrong:( I pulled it out and started over. Funny how the stitches look so much better when you do the pattern the right way.

It was worth the time to do it over again, and I learned more about reading lace charts!

 

Tour de Fleece Day 8

Yeah! I'm finally finished spinning my 8 oz of Jacob. I found it much harder to spin a consistent yarn with the backward draw.  I will have to practice it much more in the future. For now I am going back to my aaw alpaca with a nice simple forward draw and give my brain a break :)

I had a pesky kidney stone this week so everything slowed down, I still made sure to spin every day but a couple of days I could only do it for 5 min :(

Tour de Fleece

I'm so excited tomorrow I get to start the Tour de Fleece!

My father was a cyclist and I remember having the Tour de France on TV every July.  I also remember grabbing my blanket and pillow to sleep in the back of the car while my mom was driving the support vehicle during various local races.  I may have complained at the time about getting up so early, but they are fond memories now! I try to remember that when my kids complain about an activity we're doing.

Well this is my year to wear the yellow jersey, doing exactly what I love.

My goal is to spin 8oz of Jacob with a long backward draw.

I have never spun Jacob before. When I pulled it out of the bag it had nice sheepy smell to it.

I normally spin with a short forward draw so this will move me out of my comfort zone a bit.

We'll see what happens!

 I will be spinning for team Kromski on my Sonata.

Who are you spinning for this year?

A New Adventure Part 1

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while might remember when I got my Drop Spindle for Christmas of 2012. If your new to my blog welcome, you can read my 2 posts on my spinning Here.

I thought it would interesting to know a little more about how yarn was made.  I had no idea it would be the beginning of a new adventure.

I began spindling with Corriedale Batt using the "park and draft" method. This is a great way to learn because you don't have to worry about the spindle going in the wrong direction as you draft. (If any one is interested I can make a video of this, just let me know.) But it does take twice as long. My first 3 oz were not very even, but I still managed to make a small hat.

Here it is on my doll Amelia.

For my second spinning project I used 3 oz of Corriedale roving. I was beginning to get better with the consistency but the yarn was still heavier than I thought it would be.  And I was still having to use the "park and draft" method.

I double plied it using the Andean Bracelet method and it turned out to be a heavy worsted to bulky range at 7 WPI(wraps per inch).

I thought I would make a pair of fingerless mitts.

But after making the first one I realized I didn't have enough yarn to make a second.

It is still sitting on the shelf a lonely mitt. I might just take it apart and have a pretty ball of yarn for the table :)
I was beginning to think I would never learn how to draft while the spindle was in motion, then something wonderful happened ..... (find out in A New Adventure Part 2)

*Resources- I always like to know where bloggers get their supplies, so here is where I get mine (and no i am not compensated in any way by these companies)*

The Corriedale Batt and Roving are from the Village Yarn and Fiber Shop 
http://www.villageyarnandfiber.com/

The Drop Spindle is from True Creations http://www.truecreations.biz/wtdropspindles01.html
He is a local wood worker and you can find his spindles at the Village Yarn and Fiber Shop. 

Homespun

Remember the yarn I spun back in January? http://tookenstale.blogspot.com/2013/01/drop-spindle.html Well I finally made it into a hat. It was a chunky weight yarn and with only 3 oz it wasn't quite enough to make a hat for myself so I gave the hat to Amelia.

  

 

Here it is on the spindle single ply.

Here it is after I double plied and washed it.

It was a lot of fun knitting something from yarn that I spun myself. And now I have a better idea of how much wool it takes for a finished project.

Drop Spindle

I have always been amazed at the process of taking fibers and turning them into yarn. I did have a chance to try using  a drop spindle when I was working on a project in Mexico many, many years ago.  There was a women on the project who was working with the spindle whorls that were found at the site. They were really beautiful.
 
 I wish I had some pictures of them.  The pictures above are from a different Aztec site but look  similar. They are made out of clay and came in all different sizes the smallest for cotton and the large ones were for maguey fibers which come from a cactus. We were so interested in how they worked. The women ( I can't remember her name :( but she was very nice) gave us a demonstration and then let us all try.  Some of the ladies took to it right away. I was not one of them. The cotton kept breaking and I couldn't get a good spin going. I figured it was just not my thing and moved on.

Now many, many, years later I've decided to give it another try. For Christmas I got a drop spindle and some wool fiber. I think wool is much more forgiving than cotton. I also got the book Respect the Spindle   . I thought it was a very good book for a begginer, I was able to start spinning the same day.

At the top of the blog you can see my very first single ply yarn. I did end up double plying it in the Andean style. Here it is after it has been washed and set.

I still need to work on getting it even and it turned out chunkier than I thought it would but it's usable and that makes me happy :) !