Joyarna Knitblog

Romney lace, hot off the spindle

2013-05-22T12:37:00.000+01:00

An FO! An FO! It feels like I never finish anything these days, just start new things and leave the old to the wayside.

Does it count as an FO if it's only yarn? I don't know. I don't care. It's a spinning FO to me. It's a finished object, and that object is a skein of yarn.

2 skeins for one project. The white is locks from my British Romney fleece. The grey is Romney, too - American Romney leftover from the American breeds workshop I went to. It's just a tiny bit, 5g or so, but I thought it would be nice to use the two Romneys in a project together.

I am totally jealous of all these American colored Romneys, by the way - practically every American Romney fleece I see on Ravelry is some beautiful shade of gray or brown! I only ever see white around here.

The gray locks were markedly different from the white - I don't know how much of it is the US/UK difference, and how much is just variation between fleeces. The gray wasn't quite as long, and with not as tight a crimp. The gray Romney was thoroughly scoured, while there was still some lanolin left in the locks that I processed myself - so the spinning process was also different.

I plan to use these two cousins together in a shawl - Emanuela is my current top choice - striping the gray & white for the body portion, and the lace border being all in white.

~Joyuna

Epic Ball Winding

2013-05-20T18:53:00.000+01:00

I just wound a 300g skein of Wollmeise lace...
(that I picked up at Knit Nation - the colorway is Dora, a lovely deep true blue)

...into a ball. By hand.

I put the massive hank on my swift, but this incredible chunk of yarn, 3 or 6 times the size of the average ball of yarn, simply wouldn't fit on my ball winder in one piece. I didn't want to break the yarn if I didn't have to, and I quite like winding balls by hand, so that's what I did.

Wollmeise Lacegarn is much thicker than your standard lace yarn, really more of a light fingering. Still, a 1740-yard ball is nothing to sneeze at. I was very careful in my winding, focusing on the geometry of the ball, making sure the center was clear, to avoid any yarn-barf situation.

Some people watch me winding my balls like it's witchcraft, but I really find ballwinding soothing and enjoyable. The feeling of the yarn running through my hands, the opportunity to catch any knots in the skein - I like it much better than the sometimes floppy, half-hearted cakes that come off of my clunky 20-year-old ball winder.

At the start of the winding, I keep my fingers in the center of the ball to function like a nostepinne or a ball-winder core, giving space for the yarn to relax in the middle of the ball. After I take my fingers out there's no need to wind loosely after that - because once I've knit past the point I wound with my fingers as a core, all that middle yarn is gone, giving space for the tighter outer yarn to relax. If you wind everything too loosely, the whole thing would collapse either from the inside or the outside.

I wound in layers evenly around the ball. I don't generally have much trouble with yarn barf, or with collapsing balls until near the end, so I think my ball-winding method is solid - but I've never wound a ball this big before, so I guess we'll see!

~Joyuna

Combs!

2013-05-18T12:36:00.000+01:00

Finally, finally, I got my combs. It felt like a big purchase (though when you think about it, it's the same as just a few big orders of yarn or fiber), but I really wanted them so I saved up and they're here!

They're Valkyrie Extra Fine Minis, from The Whorl's End. When I opened the box, I was delighted to see that it was padded with wool :) Donna keeps some mule (BFL cross) sheep, and this fleece is long and shiny, so that's probably what it is. It makes perfect combing practice!
What to do with the fleece? There's a fair amount of it, certainly enough for a little project. It's pretty soft and shiny. The fleece is aesthetically lovely, with those long curls and that pearly sheen. I think it will make lovely, lustrous lace.

The little nests are coming off my combs as fast as I can produce them. It's a little addictive, turning locks into perfect-looking top. It's definitely more productive and a better result than my previous ersatz method.

I'm dizzing off the combs with a seashell I found on the beach in Devon - which already had a hole in the center. The broken edges of the shell were smoothed down by the sea. The diz is so easy to use with these super-long locks!
The diz hole is about 1.5cm or 1/2 inch in diameter, which makes for quite thick top (the fiber fluffs out a LOT after you pull it through that little hole!). In the future I'll look for a smaller hole - but, the rounded shape is just perfect for funneling the fiber through.

I've tried combing some of my fleece stash, and everything has turned out great. It was tough deciding which combs to get - Valkyrie offer Fine, Extrafine, Superfine, and Viking combs (larger combs for medium to coarse fibers). I like to work with a variety of fibers but favor the finer side, and I think the Extrafines were a good choice for me.

This is some Gotland I've been stashing away - previously I've been spinning it from the lock, which has turned out well, but the fleece has some color variations. When each lock was a slightly different shade from the next, it would spin up into a sort of subtle striping. For the project I have planned I wanted a more consistent look - it was easy to blend the lighter and darker fibers together on the combs.

~Joyuna

Interview at KnittingRobin

2013-05-13T15:00:00.000+01:00

I was thrilled to hear from KnittingRobin recently, asking if I would complete an interview for her blog!

I talk about inspiration, my favorite techniques, the design process and more. You can read the full thing here.

~Joyuna

Wool and Necklines and Icing, oh my! Craftsy Mini-Classes

2013-05-08T09:13:00.001+01:00

We just had a long bank holiday weekend in the UK, which gave me some time to kick back and catch up on my crafting. One thing I did was browse the Craftsy course offerings and sign up for a few new mini-courses.

My first introduction to Craftsy's mini-classes was Know Your Wool by Deb Robson - I've already raved about that in a previous post - simply a fabulous class, and I would have paid full money for it!
I'd also already watched Carol Feller's free Short Rows class, in addition to the full-size Craftsy classes I've taken including Curvy Knits and the Garment Grading class.

I signed up for two new mini-classes -- Creative Cabled Necklines and something a little different - Modern Buttercream.

The cabled necklines class is really interesting - again, I would have been happy to pay and watch a full-length class on this topic (the teacher does have another Craftsy class available, about designing cabled garments). It's about designing interesting necklines that complement the rest of your garment and help draw attention upwards towards your face.

The buttercream class I haven't watched yet, but hopefully I will learn something interesting :)

~Joyuna

FO Friday: Katie

2013-05-03T21:24:00.000+01:00

I had forgotten that I hadn't blogged about this yet! I'm very pleased - it's a new sweater.

Rav project page
The pattern is Katie, a top-down raglan with a colorwork band and a few other thoughtful details.

The yarn is called Ethical Twist - a 70/30 wool/alpaca blend. It's sadly discontinued - it has just enough alpaca fuzz and softness, while still being light and elastic. Plus it came in all natural colors - the brown, called 'Mink', is this fabulous heathery brown that I really love. If you can find it, I recommend it (and you might be able to find it at a discount).

I did make some modifications - I used a thinner yarn and a tighter gauge, so there was some math involved. I didn't use yarnovers for the raglan and I made up my own waist shaping, including moving the colorwork band up a little higher. I had intended the line to hit at the waist, but it doesn't quite - starting the colorwork at the waist meant that the visual line of the gradient effect fell somewhat below that point. Doh! I don't mind though :)

I also added the colorwork motif to the sleeves - the original pattern just has totally plain sleeves in one color, but I wanted more balance between the light and the dark.

It was a fun knit - I thought the stockinette would get boring, but the small amount of colorwork did a great job of breaking up the monotony. It knit up quite quickly.

My favorite bit of the sweater has to be the thumbholes in the sleeves. Ideal for cold weather - I finished the sweater just before the last cold day of winter, and loved rolling down the sleeve cuffs when I went outside. It's really cozy.

One thing I did, and I'm very glad I did this, to make sure the sleeves would be the right length: I blocked the sleeves before knitting the cuffs. My sweater sleeves have a tendency to stretch out during blocking, so I knit both sleeves to the point of starting the cuffs and put the stitches on waste yarn. Then, I washed and blocked the sweater as I would normally, and then finished knitting the cuffs after it dried. That way my sleeves were the perfect length, rather than my thumbholes reaching past my fingertips! ;)

I also made a matching hat, with which I am somewhat less enthused. Maybe I didn't shape it right, or maybe the slouchy look just doesn't suit me. Ah well, live and learn. I'm really thrilled with the sweater anyway! Fun knit, good fit, lovely yarn. What more can you ask for, really?

~Joyuna

Meeting the Wiltshire Horn

2013-04-30T21:23:00.001+01:00

Last weekend I took a short holiday, and on the way back home we visited the National Trust property Stourhead. It's a fantastic old estate with a beautiful garden and lovely house, made even more intriguing by the fact that people are still living in it today!
One thing that caught my attention as we were walking around was a pen of sheep. Actually, from afar we thought they were goats, because they were all horned and the ones we noticed first had short hair. Upon closer inspection though, yes, sheep!

The fences and bushes around their enclosure were scattered with chunks of wool. Likewise, some of the sheep appeared to have rather patchy coats, and some were missing entirely. How curious, I thought to myself. Why are these sheep shedding?
It turns out, it's completely natural. These are Wiltshire Horn sheep, right in the middle of the yearly shedding of their coat. They're a hair breed of sheep, kept for meat or for grazing. The shedding is intentional - they're marketed as an easy-care breed, in an age where sadly the cost and effort of shearing isn't always worth the price of the wool. It's not a new breed, though - its lineage can be traced back hundreds of years.

He seemed nice enough, despite all the bleating - maybe he wasn't keen on me pinching his wool?
I couldn't help myself but grab a handful of the wool littering the area - it would have been left to the birds, or the compost heap, otherwise. It's freegan crafting! It looked decently woolly - crimpy, full of lanolin, and not too harsh. Short, absolutely, and full of veggie matter, but it was wool. Wool picked off of fences doesn't tend to retain its lock structure too well, but I did pick out a lock to show off its length (or lack thereof):

That's just barely reaching 4cm.
I looked in the FFSB - Wiltshire Horn is mentioned, in a short section on hair sheep, but not any information. Was it spinnable? Well, I would have to see.

First thing, I washed the fleece, to remove at least some of the lanolin, suint, and who knows what else that was on it. Then, I carded it into thin little rolags.

These rolags (so small, more like punis) spun long-draw beautifully.

I was left with this sweet little skein of yarn - textured, with its share of kemp, but really no scratchier than a lot of proper wool-bearing sheep, and really not a lot of trouble to spin despite its length. Let's face it, while it's very short for a wool, compared to camel or vicuna, it was a cakewalk. What can I say - I like my bouncy wools, and I liked spinning this!

~Joyuna

Holiday progress

2013-04-23T08:35:00.000+01:00

I took a mini-break to North Devon over the weekend. It was lovely - the countryside, the seaside, the fish and chips and cream tea :) I saw lots of sheep (more on that later) but, more importantly, it was 4 hours in the car each way and plenty of driving between towns. That makes for a lot of knitting time.

I brought three projects with me for the trip - plying 4 shades for my Sheep Heid hat, a slouchy hat to go with my Katie sweater, and a sock - Pomatomus by Cookie A.

Before the trip, the singles were all unplied, the sock had yet to be cast on, and I had only knit the ribbing of the hat.

Here's what my projects looked like about halfway through the first day's drive:
Things were making progress. The plying went quickly - there wasn't very much there; only about 50-60g or so of fingering weight singles. The hat was coming along, and I had cast on the sock and finished the toe. (That's Koigu PPPM, by the way - a skein I've had in the stash for years, always intended for a pair of Pomatomus, and finally being used.)

Finally, here's my full progress after my 3-day weekend:
On the crown decreases for the hat (we arrived home at around dinner time, so I ended up finishing the hat that night), plied all the singles, and a few rounds into the chart on Pomatomus.

I think it's so neat to watch fabric being made beneath your fingers - knitting can be slow, but when you see progress being made, it's a great feeling. I guess that's part of why I prefer small projects to big ones!

~Joyuna

Getting to know the Charkha

2013-04-21T12:01:00.000+01:00

I'm learning to use a new toy of mine... A new-to-me Indian book charkha.

The charkha is a spinning wheel (technically, a driven-spindle wheel - it functions differently from a regular flyer wheel) from India. The book charkha is a tiny, portable version, which folds up into a case about the size of a hardback book. Gandhi was a huge proponent of the charkha in helping Indians gain financial independence by spinning their own cloth.

Setting it up was the first challenge - luckily, Urbanspinner provides an excellent tutorial. I have to admit I tried to set it up without instructions at first, and I just couldn't figure it out. But once you do it once, it's easy to do it each time after that. It is an ingenious little device - everything you need to spin 3 bobbins, and it even converts into a skein winder!

I tried a few different fibers while I was getting to know my charkha. Traditionally they are used to spin cotton and silk. I have some cotton sliver somewhere but I wasn't able to find it, so I tested mine out with camel, silk, and some short-stapled wool (pictured).

The wool is apparently Romney lambswool - the lambs must have been awfully young, because this fleece is short! It spins up into an interesting bouncy yarn from rolags, but it feels nothing like other Romney at all.

The wool spun up OK on the charkha, but super-short stapled stuff is where it really shines. Spinning camel down clouds was a pleasure. Because one hand is turning the wheel, the only way to spin on the charkha is long draw. Spinning on the charkha felt very similar to spinning on my tahkli - like a tahkli on steroids.

The biggest disadvantage is the size of the spindles - there are three of them, but each holds only a tiny amount of yarn. After about 5g or so, it gets so overfilled that it just won't turn anymore. This charkha is a portable and easy way to spin camel or cotton (or yak, or cashmere, or qiviut?), but those spindles fill up quickly.

~Joyuna

New supplies

2013-04-19T09:32:00.000+01:00

I got a lovely package from Meadow Yarn yesterday. Their website is great, their selection is extensive, and everything arrived quickly and well-packed. I am very pleased.

I am on a sort of yarn diet (no buying yarn until I've knit or destashed at least twice the amount I buy), so I didn't pick up any yarn (not that I wasn't tempted). Instead, I picked up some needles and other things I needed.

One would think I have enough needles already, but that simply isn't the case. I never seem to have the right needle in the right size - either there's a gap in my collection, or it's in use on one of my WIPs. So, I picked up a few new needles to try.

First is a needle in a size I needed - US5 KnitPro metal tips, and a cable to go with them, for a sweater I'm planning. I already swatched in US6 but I want the fabric a little bit tighter.
(Just a quick aside - I just learned that KnitPro, formerly Knitpicks Options in the US, are now known by the name Knitter's Pride, and Knitpicks are selling new needles, apparently with much blunter tips. I feel like I am the last person in the world to have gotten this information!)

Next is a Chiaogoo Red Lace fixed circ, because these needles come so highly recommended. In fact, when I mentioned on Twitter that I'd ordered them, the outpour of love was overwhelming. It's hard to believe that passions can run so hotly over knitting needles.

@joyuna you will quickly draw up all your savings and give them to chiaogoo. You will rediscover pleasure through them.
— Ruth Garcia-Alcantud (@rockandpurl) April 16, 2013

@notsogranny @joyuna @rockandpurl love mine. Really really love.
— Kat Goldin (@katgold) April 16, 2013

@notsogranny @joyuna @rockandpurl Love, love LOVE mine.
— Helen (@ripplescrafts) April 16, 2013

@joyuna @bombella @notsogranny @rockandpurl LOVE ChiaGoos. Have got interchangeable set & lots of regular circs. Best needles ever.
— Anniken Allis (@YarnAddictAnni) April 16, 2013

...and so on. I have a special shawl I want to cast on soon, and this looks like just the ticket.

I also got a set of KnitPro Karbonz, the carbon fiber needles with nickel-plated tips. I have been intrigued by these needles, offering a grippy surface similar to bamboo or wood but with added strength. As someone who has snapped a number of wooden sock DPNs, this appeals to me. I got a fixed circ for magic loop socks, and I will report back how I like them!

I got a KnitPro bag for storing interchangeable tips and cables - that will come in handy. The pouch that I've been using, from The Bothered Owl, is lovely but I think it's meant more for DPNs because it's really too tall for the tips.

And finally there is a small bottle of Eucalan, in a jasmine scent ("Wrapture"). It smells nothing short of divine. I love Eucalan, and I've used it in both the original and lavendar scents before. This is definitely my new favorite.

~Joyuna

Sheep in my Heid

2013-04-18T21:30:00.001+01:00

I'm dreaming of sheep in all sorts of colours.

I've decided to spin some yarn for a Sheep Heid, a colorwork beret in 9 natural sheep shades. The nice thing about it is it only needs about 10g of each color. So, it was the perfect opportunity to dive into my spinning stash and pick out some great British wool.

My nine shades are -

White: Shetland, from J&S
Cream: Kerry Hill, from Rosewood Farms
Beige: Boreray, from Spirit Trail (RBST 1 - Critical)
Grey: Bluefaced Leicester, from Wingham
Light Moorit: Castlemilk Moorit, from Spirit Trail (RBST 3 - Vulnerable)
Dark Moorit: Manx Loaghtan, from Parvabrook (RBST 4 - At Risk)
Brown-Grey: North Ronaldsay, from Scottish Fibres (RBST 2 - Endangered)
Very Dark Brown: Soay, from Parvabrook (RBST 4 - At Risk)
Black: Hebridean, from Parvabrook

Everything is from my stash except the 3 breeds from Parvabrook. They offer whole fleeces, prepped fiber, and yarn from several different breeds, and purchasing from them was a smooth process. The Hebridean and Manx were both smooth and great to spin. I especially liked the Hebridean - it's somewhat scratchy, but something about it makes it really pleasurable to spin. The Soay is more of a challenge, being shorter, more bitty, and having more veggie matter in it. I don't mind, though - for such a hard-to-find breed, I will take what I can get!

A couple of the other breeds I'm using were sourced from Spirit Trail Fibers during my last visit to the US. It did feel a bit silly bringing home British wool from America, but I was placing an order anyway and these were some breeds I hadn't encountered in an already-prepped form back in the UK. (I also picked up some of their Hog Island, Gulf Coast Native, and CVM roving.)

The spinning is going quickly, but I'm not sure when I will actually be able to cast on. I have a lot of projects on at the moment, and a lot more I want to make... It's only a hat, so hopefully it will be pretty quick, but it is an intricate stranded colorwork hat, so maybe not.

~Joyuna

One fleece, Three ways

2013-04-15T21:00:00.000+01:00

Recently I got a kilo of shearling Romney fleece from Pippajo123 on eBay (recommended!). eBay can be a gamble when it comes to fiber, but I've been lucky and gotten some great stuff, and this fleece is no exception. Lustrous, long, fine, and a lovely crimp too. Before this I wouldn't have described longwools as 'versatile' - but I'm spinning this fleece in three different ways.

The majority of the fleece is getting spun worsted style into a DK/light worsted 2-ply yarn, tightly plied. This yarn has the best of both worlds - luster and bounce.
I'm hoping I will end up with enough yardage for a vest (I will probably dye the yarn before knitting). I've knit up a tiny swatch and I really like the fabric it's making.

Next, I took some dark grey mohair and blended it into the Romney, and I'm spinning this (chain-ply on the fly) into some sock yarn.
The mohair and wool don't draft together evenly, so this will actually knit up stripey as well as heathery.

Finally, I've given some locks the individual hand washing treatment and flicked them out into beautiful smooth handfuls. I'm spinning this finely into a gorgeous lace yarn. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm really excited about it.

Basically, this fleece can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. I wasn't even sure if I was going to love it, when I made the purchase - I mostly favor the springy bouncy wools. But this stuff is just divine. It definitely warrants a different kind of spinning than a downs breed - namely All Worsted, All the Time. I did spin up a little sample in a more woolen draw... It just took all the magic out of the yarn. It definitely wasn't what this wool wanted to be. So, I obeyed the wool, and am spinning it all strictly worsted to bring out the gorgeous pearly shine of these locks.

~Joyuna

Kickstart it: Ricefield Collective

2013-04-14T09:50:00.000+01:00

I'm rather late to the party on this one, but there's still a few days left to support this neat project - Ricefield Collective.

This project has already been funded, and it's no surprise why - the project appeals to both knitters and, er, 'muggles' since they are producing both patterns and finished objects. Ricefield Collective aims to teach a group of women in the Philippine province of Ifugao to knit to supplement their income, so they can continue to live in the region their families have lived for generations. Further funding will allow them to employ more Filipina knitters and establish a full-time base in Ifugao.

Backer rewards include both finished hats, and patterns inspired by the lines of the rice paddies. I'd already seen someone's Upward Hat on Ravelry a while ago, but didn't know anything about it, so I was really excited to discover the source of that neat pattern!

~Joyuna

Etsy Gift Cards and Instant Downloads!

2013-04-12T08:08:00.002+01:00

Just a quick note to say that Etsy has finally implemented an instant download system for patterns - and I'm signed up for the beta test. So, all the patterns in my Etsy shop will now be available for download instantly after you purchase them - no more waiting for emails!

At the same time, I've also enabled Etsy's direct checkout, which will allow you to pay by card without Paypal, and allows me to accept Etsy Gift Cards. So now it's even easier to buy. :)

~Joyuna

Craftsy class review - Curvy Knits with Marly Bird

2013-03-23T17:58:00.002Z

I've just finished watching a Craftsy class - Curvy Knits with Marly Bird - and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on it.

I'm a plus size, there's no denying that. And while I've knit a few sweaters before - and I'm in the middle of several more right now - I'm always worried that after all that work, things won't fit well. Sure, I know some of the principles involved to knit things that fit, but I'm always looking for new tricks - which is why I signed up for this class.

The class covers all the main topics for knitting a sweater for plus-size women - taking measurements, knitting a generous swatch, gauge & ease, choosing the right yarn and pattern, and finally getting down to brass tacks and modifying a pattern (covering shaping, short row bust darts, necklines and armholes/sleeves). There are also two 'bonus lessons' at the end - one on blocking, and the other (apropos of very little ;) on recommended knitting-related apps (iOS only).

Marly is a bicraftual designer - and she also does a class for Curvy Crochet.

Marly is a very charismatic teacher, and just a fun person to watch! She manages to mix real, valuable info (like math for modifying sleeve caps) with funny anecdotes and a pleasant personality. She is also able to talk frankly - which is vital in a class like this, where we have to be honest about how our bodies are shaped in order to achieve a good fit. For instance, when she suggested taking measurements while wearing our 'good bra' - yep, I knew exactly what she was talking about!
Another fun moment in the class is when she shows us how to make a duct tape mannequin, and Stephanie Japel makes a guest appearance :)

While there are a lot of tips in the class that are specific to bigger knitters, many of the modifications that Marly explains could be applied to any body type - for instance changing a neckline or adding in bust darts. I thought the class might cover body shapes like Amy Herzog's Fit to Flatter tutorials, but Curvy Knits takes a more intuitive than analytical approach to selecting patterns - you choose some garments out of your closet that you already know suit you well, and you use them as a guide for what you like.
(I just learned - apparently Amy's Knit to Flatter has its own Craftsy class, too!)

When I take a Craftsy class, I like to watch lots of lessons in one go and finish the class over a weekend or so. I think I must be an atypical Craftsy user, because some classes can get pretty repetitive when you watch several lessons back-to-back. I could have made a drinking game out of how many times Marly mentions she's bad at math, or that we can use video notes to bookmark things. (Though if I had done that, the math-heavy lessons towards the end would have been much harder...) ;)

The materials included for this class include a ton of worksheets for recording measurements and calculations, along with some extra information. The class materials also include 2 sweater patterns - Darlene Sue, a simple stockinette sweater used for illustrating bust darts and shaping, and Lacey Dream, an open lace cardigan in sportweight yarn.
The materials are all laid out nicely, easy to understand and packed with information. Plus, they're broken up into logical sections rather than all bunged into one huge PDF, which was how the materials in the Sizing Knitwear Patterns were formatted. The class materials summarize many of the key points of the class, so they would be useful to keep on your computer, tablet, or phone to refer to after watching the class videos.

The examples in the class are all for bottom-up, seamed sweaters, but the principles can easily be applied to any construction. It did throw me for a loop at once point, when I was only paying half-attention and she mentioned 'all 4 armholes of the sweater'... But no, it wasn't a sweater for an octopus, just two separate pieces for front and back.

I learned some helpful tips and tricks from this class, and re-enforced ideas that I already knew (yes, a lot of the time it just comes down to knitting a big swatch and doing the math...). And with Marly's bubbly teaching style, I had fun doing it. I would recommend this class! Check it out here.

~Joyuna

Getting Technical

2013-03-19T17:42:00.000Z

Since I'm spinning up (another) sweater from my big load of Polypay, I want to make sure the yarns I'm spinning are consistent. I have a problem with consistency - not so much over the short term (my yarn isn't necessarily thick-and-thin), but more over the long term. That is, the first ball of yarn I spin can be very different from the last ball I spin - in terms of thickness, as well as amount of twist.

One way to deal with this is to spin all the singles first and then ply the thick ones with the thin ones to help with consistency. Another way is to pay more attention as I spin - it's time to get technical.
I've always been a very 'seat of my pants' spinner - I enjoy the state of flow that I can get into while spinning, and I care less about the results. But, I know I will grow as a spinner if I learn to pay closer attention to the yarn I'm making. The numbers have always frightened me - twist angle, wpi, tpi, ypp?!

Luckily, there is help out there. Ravelry, of course, is a wealth of information - some of my favorite spinning groups are Spin Tech, Advanced Spinning, and Spindlers.

But one thing that is really helping keep me on track is an app I just discovered - it's called iSpin Toolkit, and it's available for iOS. I wish it were on Android too, since I would love to have it on my phone, but luckily I do have an iPod Touch.
The app has a few different features - the most useful of which for me are the twist angle measure and the wpi gauge.

I do always measure wraps per inch when I'm skeining up a finished yarn, but I don't measure singles and it would break the flow of spinning to take out a ruler and wrap yarn around. This is more like those spinner's control cards - a series of horizontal lines and their wpi equivalent (white lines with a red border - when you can just see the red but can't see the white, you know you've got it right). It only takes a second to check that my single fits the same bar as it did at the start of the project - perfect!
There are also a bunch of different spinning-related calculators included in the app, but apparently many of them are based on an erroneous formula so I would take them with a grain of salt. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the developer is working on the app anymore. However, the twist angle and wpi tools are useful enough that I still think I got my money's worth, even without the calculators.

So between the app, spinning all the singles before plying, my effort to increase my focus, and a little card with some samples to refer to, I'm hoping to keep this project consistent over the course of nearly 800g of fiber. Time will tell!

~Joyuna

Polypay sweater! (I'm getting crazier by the minute)

2013-03-18T15:00:00.000Z

I'm just back from visiting the USA to see my family - it was a great trip, albeit rather last-minute. Right before I set off, I decided to order a few things that would be hard to find back in the UK. And by 'a few things', I mean two pounds of wool...

The majority of it is Polypay wool roving (actual carded roving, not combed top - I'm not sure why so many Americans can't tell the difference) from Shady Side Farm. I was absolutely thrilled to find this shop - you might remember I encountered Polypay before at a workshop. And I quote...

"I would love to make a nice cushy (but still sturdy) sweater from this stuff. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get ahold of more Polypay in the future..."

Well, I did! Shady Side's Polypay is softer than the fleece sample I worked with, better reflecting its Targhee ancestry. I cannot say enough good things about this wool - soft, bouncy, very easy to spin. And yes, I'm planning to spin a sweater out of it, so it's a good job I'm pleased with it!

I have a pound of natural undyed roving and three balls of dyed wool in teal, yellow, and brown. I think it's a really nice combination (for a striped or colorwork yoke). I haven't decided yet whether I'll dye the white yarn or leave it natural. Another color would be hard to coordinate with the set I've already got, but I don't wear white or cream very well. We'll see...

~Joyuna

Sweater Crazy

2013-03-16T17:39:00.001Z

I'm not sure what's come over me lately - all I want to knit are sweaters. I haven't finished any yet, but they're going quicker than I expected.

Sweaters, for me, are always more of a product knit than a process knit. I soon get bored of long stretches of a single stitch pattern, so for anything larger than a pair of socks, I need to motivate myself with the fact that it will be a really useful finished product.

There are practical considerations too - I don't really need more shawls or fingerless gloves. Even though I like knitting them, I already have more pairs than I will ever wear. A bunch of sweaters are more useful in that regard, plus the fact that since they're slower to knit, they'll pile up less quickly.

So a combination of those reasons, the stashbusting I'm taking on this year plus cleaning out my queue, and a general mood I'm in, has caused me to want to knit sweaters. Lots of sweaters.

Layter is coming along well. I've started the first sleeve, but I needed the tips for another project so it's temporarily on hold.

Katie is a quick, simple pattern with a beautiful colorwork band. It's an ideal way to use up leftover yarn that isn't enough for a whole sweater - the colorblock look is in, but I like how the simple stranding in this pattern softens the transition.
I'm knitting it in Ethical Twist, a sadly discontinued wool-alpaca blend that is beautifully soft, organic, and naturally colored. I got a few skeins each of white and brown - I've already knit a few stripes of my Layter with it, and I'm hoping to make a matching hat for Katie with my leftovers.

I've also cast on my first all-handspun sweater from some bouncy and soft grey wool. It definitely has a rustic feel, but I don't mind. I'm alternating two balls via the helix technique so that inconsistencies between balls are less noticeable.

~Joyuna

Post your FOs and Win!

2013-03-01T15:22:00.000Z

I love, love, love seeing the FOs people have made from my patterns. For me, it's the ultimate compliment that someone would use their precious knitting time and materials to work up something I designed.

Sometimes people make lovely modifications, or they take beautiful photos, and sometimes they just look really happy with their FO. And that makes me happy!

So if you've made something from one of my patterns, I want to give back. Head on over to my Ravelry group and find the Post your FOs and Win thread. Just post a picture of your FO - that's it. Then, I'll have a drawing and the winner gets a free pattern. :)

~Joyuna

TECHKnitter, my knitting hero

2013-02-12T08:47:00.000Z

A minor bout of insomnia last night compelled me to do an archive binge of the TECHknitting blog. TECHknitting is one of the blogs I return to time and time again - if you haven't visited before, it's well worth a browse. And if you have, it's well worth another look!

Each post has something useful inside - many practical quick tips such as what to do when your stockinette is uneven, tightening up the backwards loop cast-on, ways of adding elastic to socks and how to do "stranding" only working one color at a time.

Some posts are more theoretical, exploring what knitted fabric is or why stockinette curls.

Many tricks I've picked up from TECHknitting I've put into my knitting repertoire - such as increasing my efficiency of movement, stopping the old color showing through when changing colors in ribbing, and short-row shoulder shaping. And I've learned some new things just now, too - like the proper way to perform that pesky continental purl stitch and the fact that center-pull balls affect twist (the question is, how much? and is it enough to affect the yarn? Hm, this calls for an experiment...)

~Joyuna

Layter-ing along

2013-02-06T11:40:00.000Z

I've started knitting Layter (Rav project), and it's going well! I'm actually nearly finished with the first body section, then there's a sleeve and another half to do. It's going quick - garter stitch and short rows which are easy to memorize once you've got going.

Knitting with all these different yarns has been a pleasure. I already swatched with most of these yarns, but by the end of this project I'll have knit with almost a full 50 or 100g of each, getting to know the character to each one.

The first yarn of the sweater is Stylecraft Ethical Twist, a blend of 70% organic wool from the Falklands and 30% alpaca. This is really luscious yarn, sadly discontinued but happily available on eBay at a deep discount. In fact I bought a bag of this, and I'm going to use the rest on another sweater project. It's soft and warm, with a little bit of alpaca halo. I have this yarn in two natural colors, white and brown.
The second stripe is Whitefaced Woodland. I got this wool on eBay in the form of a 1-kilo cone, spun from the seller's flock by Halifax Spinning Mill. The Whitefaced Woodland breed is listed as Vulnerable by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Its wool is bouncy and medium-soft, and this DK-weight that I have is going to be great for a sturdy jumper (I'm thinking something with cables).

The third stripe in my Layter is knit in Kerry Hill yarn - which I purchased from Rosewood Farms. Kerry Hill is a wonderfully bouncy wool, a bit softer than the Whitefaced Woodland and a creamier color. Even though I have 4 stripes of white/cream in my jumper, they each have a different tone to them. It's especially apparent in sunlight.
Stripe #4 is Lleyn lambswool from Cornish Wools. Though it's lambswool it's not particularly soft, but it has got fantastic stitch definition, and it's a beautiful deep cream color.
Truth be told I was very pleased to get into the colored wools! White can be nice and it's great for dyeing, but I love the range of fawns to browns to greys to blacks you can get from blending natural colors together.

The first splash of color is a light grey wool from the Jacob sheep of Charlecote Park. Charlecote Park was the home of George Lucy, who in 1756 brought the very first flock of Jacobs into the UK from Portugal. They now have one of the largest Jacob flocks in the UK. Jacob has a reputation for being a 'strong' wool, but truth be told this is softer on the hands than the last three.

If we're going by softness, though, there is really no contest: The winner is the next two stripes, knit in Blacker Swan. Swan, a newcomer from Blacker Yarns, is a luxury yarn if there ever was one. Super soft merino wool sourced from Swan Inlet Farm in the Falkland Islands. Blacker Swan is available in a 4-ply and DK version (this is the DK), in dyed colors and undyed blended with colored BFL and Shetland to create these subtle shades - Stone, a very light gray, and Sand, a pale beige with rosy undertones.
It's so soft, and also a bit thinner than my other DK yarns - it creates a fabric that practically melts in my hands. I'm not going to lie, it was a welcome change from some of the rougher wools in this project - but I also know that the softness comes at a price, and I fully expect these sections to pill quicker than the others.

The final stripe I've knit so far is from Cornish Wools again - this time the Alpaca/Lleyn blend, which creates the most beautiful light fawn color. It feels both soft and sturdy, with a firm hand and a little alpaca fuzz.

I've still got 6 yarns left to knit - the last few stripes, plus the sleeves. And, I've already divided all my yarns in half, so I don't have to worry about running out of yarn before the second half. I have a good feeling about this sweater. (Famous last words?)

~Joyuna

Experiments with Combing

2013-02-03T18:00:00.000Z

I need some wool combs.
I tried combing for the first time at the workshop in Ringwood, and I really liked the result. I've often had trouble spinning evenly from rolags - the results can be OK, but I end up with lumpy yarn. My preferred method of fleece prep up until now has been flicking and spinning from the lock, which works really well unless your fleece has variations (in length, or texture, or color) - then one length of yarn can be very different from the next one.

In the grand scheme of things, a set of combs is not that expensive, especially when I can tell I would get good use out of them. Still, a quality pair of combs is an investment and would wipe out my fiber budget for the month, so I need to save up before I plunge in.

Still, I'm not very patient. And some Romney fleece arrived at my doorstep - long, lustrous, and quite crimpy too. So I decided to experiment with what I had around the house and make some ersatz combs.

Two plastic hair picks, the kind you can get for cheap at your local drug store. They're not sharp, not sturdy, and not particularly ergonomic. They don't hold much fiber. But, they'll do for an experiment. And as you can see, they worked! I managed to produce a ball of fluffy, smooth, spinnable top from my Romney locks. Hair picks are to wool combs as dog slicker brushes are to hand cards - not the best way to do things (they don't hold much, not very durable, not designed for the job) - but a way to experiment and try it out without a big investment.

Fuelled with excitement, I did a few more samples. OK, actually a lot more samples...

(Right to left: Suri alpaca, huacaya alpaca, Oxford Down, Wensleydale, Aland, Bowmont, and Romney spun both thick and fine)
Yep, I loved the results. The smooth texture, the sheen, the evenness I was able to achieve, the way I can comb bit after bit and roll them into one big ball of top, rather than flicking out each lock separately.

I'll be able to be much more productive once I get my proper combs - but these experiments have been really fun and enlightening too.

~Joyuna

Levels of Knowledge

2013-02-01T22:03:00.001Z

The great thing about the world is that there is so much information to absorb - far more than any one person can ever learn. Which means that when we learn or develop a skill, we're progressing up a ladder with an infinite number of rungs. And no matter where we are on that ladder, some people are above us, and some below.

There have been some discussions I've read lately that have gotten me thinking about this. And I think it's a useful idea to keep in mind.

When I was studying for my MA, I would get two very different reactions: Some folks would look at me in a kind of awe -- "A Master's Degree? Oh, wow." Others would ask me, "So, when are you getting your PhD?"
It's all relative. In the eyes of the first group, I was studying something very advanced. To the latter, it was just another stepping stone towards something even higher.

It's like when I knit a sock on double-pointed needles, and some people look at me like I'm performing black magic. Even when I know it's quite simple once you're used to it, and there are so many other more advanced things you can do with knitting, some well beyond my own expertise.

Similarly, I could never consider myself a 'spinning expert' - after all, I've only been doing it for a few years. But I can usually make the kind of yarn I want to make, and I've got the basics down pretty well. I have taught other people the basics to spinning on a drop-spindle, and they have gone on to develop their own spinning skills.

I believe there is a place for intermediate learners teaching beginners, because this ladder of knowledge is so vastly high. And when you have learned something new, you can get really enthusiastic and share that knowledge with other people - even when you do so imperfectly.

But similarly, when someone higher up on the ladder explains to an intermediate learner that what they are teaching is a little awkward, or poorly phrased, or downright wrong, the learner needs to take that gracefully. Not necessarily without argument - not all information is set in stone, and many times there is no One Best Technique. But the advice should be taken and considered in the spirit that it was given, and the learner should not feel hurt or bullied.

I know I've been guilty of teaching as a non-expert - maybe making some flubs along the way. I've always written to the best of my knowledge, but when the pool of knowledge is so vast, of course I can't take it all in. So this is my request: If you read something here and you don't think it's true, by all means leave a comment! You're doing a favor for me, and for anyone else who reads that post in the future. Maybe it's a factual error, or maybe it's a difference of opinion, and either way we'll all learn something.

~Joyuna

The right tool for the right job

2013-01-24T16:06:00.000Z

One of my spindles has long been a mystery to me. It's beautiful, but I just couldn't figure out what it wanted to spin. It's not a long spinner, nor a particularly fast one. Everything I tried to spin with it sort of fell flat.

It's about the same weight as my other medium-light all-purpose spindles - ones with which I can easily spin between lace and dk weight. This spindle didn't want to spin thick yarn - I was constantly fighting backspin. So, I tried it with finer yarns... It didn't want to spin sock yarn - it just couldn't put enough twist into them.

And then, out of serendipity, I found the kind of yarn that this spindle was made to spin. Singles!
It spins singles so beautifully and easily it's like the fiber is spinning itself. If I tried to spin these on my Golding, it would be so easy to overtwist them and turn them into a coiled mess.

I haven't actually spun many singles yarns before - I prefer the look and wear of plied yarns. But, there was a neat discussion in the Spinner's Study group, so I decided to try it out. And, a realization dawned on me... Singles yarns are half the spinning of plied yarns! (Duh, right? I never said I was perceptive.)

Then I found a pattern for a beautiful shawl - Dreambird. For the feathers I had some Rico Poems yarn in my stash which would do perfectly, but I couldn't find any yarn suitable for the body of the shawl. I do, however, have pounds of fiber in my stash just waiting to be spun...

With a newfound passion for single-ply yarns, I started testing. I sampled 4 different fibers that I thought might be suitable for the shawl, and the winner was clear - the fawn-colored fiber at the top of the swatch spun into an almost perfect match for Poems (the yellow yarn).

I have been waiting for the right project to come along for this fiber - it is called Haunui, and I got it from Wingham some time ago. It is an absolute pleasure to spin and I love the pale heathered fawn color of it.

The roving (true carded roving, as opposed to combed top) is a blend of Romney and NZ Halfbred (a breed developed from crossing merinos with a longwool). The fiber is next-to-the-skin soft (to me) and has a nice bit of a sheen. I absolutely love it - and I'm so happy to have found the perfect pattern and the perfect tool to spin it up.

~Joyuna

Review: Pure Wool by Sue Blacker

2013-01-22T17:26:00.000Z

I recently got Pure Wool: A Knitter's Guide to Using Single-Breed Yarns.
As the title suggests, the book is all about knitting with single-breed wool yarns, and recognising the unique qualities of each breed. I've been spinning for a while now, but only recently have I begun really appreciating the wide range of wool available. And recently, mill-spun yarns showcasing individual breeds have become more common, allowing non-spinners to discover the world of wool in the same way.

It's not a massive book - weighing in at 144 pages, it pales in comparison to my Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook, but Pure Wool has a different focus. It doesn't try to be an exhaustive resource for every breed of sheep. Instead, Sue Blacker has chosen 16 breeds found in the British Isles and focuses more closely on their strengths and weaknesses.

The book contains 21 patterns tailored to certain breed-specific yarns. Most of the patterns are quite simple and I didn't find many of them too inspiring - but I didn't buy the book for the patterns. I will say they all look quite knittable and wearable, but many are garments and knit in pieces, so not really up my alley.

I think this is a beautiful sweater, but it's hard to tellHowever, there is a nice Guernsey which is knit in the round, and there is also the Climbing Vine Cardigan which looks lovely, from the one photo of it - though I would have liked to see other views of it. (I find the photo issue particularly concerning because there are photos of garments scattered throughout the book which are not even included as patterns - I would have appreciated a second view of a pattern which is actually included)

This is a nice sweater knit in Manx Loaghtan yarn... but the pattern isn't included (you can find the Chevron Cardigan pattern by Rita Taylor on Blacker Yarns' website)The photos are generally high-quality, and well-composed, though the darker yarns lose some detail which is disappointing. Each breed of sheep has a page showing the fibre in its raw form, prepped, and spun (and sometimes dyed).

My favorite part of the book is the charts in the back - an easy quick reference to the qualities of the wools, substitutions, and the natural colors in which each breed can be found. I'm a sucker for charts and graphs, and these brief charts pack a lot of information into a small space.

~Joyuna