Left Foot, Right Foot, repeat

There's a pattern I've been working on lately. Some may call it obsessive, some may call it crazy, some wonder when they're gonna get some, but it's definitely sock lovin' season. Now that I've convinced others that they want a pair, I figure that these lucky folks will now turn their otherwise raised-eyebrow opinions of my latest fanatical objects of affection into something like: 'oh, for me? really? you shouldn't, it's so much work, well I do like green, yadda yadda'. Guess what? It's working! They're fooled, never realizing that it's just another reason to knit another pair. And so it goes.

First victim up is to the right (not politically, thankfully). Patsy from Florida. Poor Patsy didn't know that I just needed an excuse to some really awesome yarn, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock, a soft, strong 4-ply merino. REALLY GREAT YARN. She chose this beautiful pattern, Spring Forward.

Naturally, I needed to reward myself for this outpouring of generosity. What better way than a quick fix as illustrated to the left. This yarn is yummily soft and stretchy. It's Universal's Classic Worsted Tapestry in China Blue. I'm extremely partial to blue/yellow combos and it cost $6 for a ball of yarn that would make two whole socks. Say no more.

So who's next?

And so it goes...

The other S word

I'm taking another spinning class - this time solo. The other purl girls are just too lame busy to join me.

The first week she had us spin a bit of fiber, just how we usually spin, and measure the wraps per inch (WPI). Mine was ridiculously fine, but that's how I've been spinning for months. Close to 8oz of 3-ply that's between fingering and laceweight. I know, I know.. only one spinning project? I kept at it just to have the fiber be consistent as I got to know my wheel and improved my drafting skills. Anyway, back to class.

Maggie had us each adjust our wheel to make yarn that was different than we're used too - get us out of our comfort zone. For me that was bulky. I struggled with it during class, but things went better when it was time for the homework.

It was hard at first to be consistent, but it got easier as I kept going. I certainly got some bulky yarn! The white came out at 4 wpi, the pink varied between 7-10, and the bottom was mostly at 10. I'm amazed at the wonderful squishiness of these bulkier yarns. Maybe I do like more than skinny yarn.




For the second class we played with amount of twist in the yarn. She showed us a couple ways to measure twist. Her favorite is to let freshly spun yarn twist back on itself and measure the number of bumps per inch. There's also a card with lines at various angles. You can measure twist by holding the single up to the card and trying to match the angle of the fibers to one of the lines on the card. Fine with worsted, but not gonna work with laceweight.

Then we measured the drive ratios on our wheels. If you know the drive ratio (i.e. 10 to 1) and you feed a specific length of fiber for each treadle, you know how many twists per inch you have.

I'll stick with Maggie's bumps per inch.

In class she pulled out a lovely orangy-red fiber for us to spin. Not all that soft but a nice rich color and easy to spin. I was quite focused during class and got quite a bit of it spun - she had to give me extra, then gave us some to take home. It goes so quickly so spin fatter yarns, that I could get addicted to this flavor of instant gratification. It's always so hard to photograph reds, but this is appropriately called Vine Maple.


Next we learned a new kind of drafting. Well, new to me. Double-draft or English long-draw. It's hard to explain and impossible to control but it makes the squishiest yarn ever. Some people hated it, I thought it was kinda fun. I'll probably never use it because it creates a very uneven yarn. It doesn't look pretty, but I'm showing you anyway. The point though, was to get better at regular long-draw, which everyone did. Try double-draft for 10 minutes and long-draw becomes a breeze.






For homework, we're supposed to spin yarn at 3, 6, and 10 bumps per inch, then spin enough yarn of any weight for Thursday's plying class. We have to bring 3 bobbins with yarn, with most of it on one for practice with navajo plying, plus one empty bobbin. I own 4 bobbins, and the store is out of stock. That means I had to get everything off my bobbins. Easy enough. Then I should have started my homework, but nooo.

Then I spun and plied my Louet Northern Lights roving into this:

My worsted spinning is still less consistent than my woolen, but at this rate I should improve quickly!

Maybe I should have focused on the homework yarn. Maybe I should have packed for my trip to Argentina. But I don't care. I make pretty yarn!