SourCherries

A Post With Pictures = Yay

I finished the bamboo blend from the other day last weekend. It went on the wheel almost immediately because it was just too perfectly summery. I don't have specific plans for this skein- I like it a lot, but at 225 yards and around worsted weight, projects are limited. I think it will make something great for a baby when the need arises sometime in the future. Maybe a hat and booty set? Or it could be mixed with another something for a wee sweater.

I love to spin small amounts of different colours because it holds my interest and keeps me entertained, but it doesn't always result in yarn that's great for projects. I'm trying to be better about spinning for specific projects. As a matter of fact, I'm planning for my first true laceweight yarn which I hope to start on my next stretch of days off next week. I can't wait.

One thing though, I know I can always use handspun sock yarn and I've finally cast on for my first handspun socks. Can I stop for just a moment to Squee!

These are from yarn that I don't think I've featured here on the blog, but you can see pictures of it and the roving I spun it from on my Ravelry page over here- it's called Trippy.  I've started the second sock since this photo was taken but still haven't bound off the first as I'm hoping I'll be able to make it a bit taller still. I want to eke out as much handspun sock goodness as I can. So far this sock feels amazing on my foot- more amazing even than regular handknit socks. I am so excited to be working on these.

HHHH Questionnaire

1.  How long have you been spinning?  What skill level do you consider yourself?
I've been spinning almost exactly a year- since July 18th 2007. I consider myself around intermediate- past all the early bumps, but with lots still to learn.
2.  What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)? 
Lots and lots of 2 ply because they're my favorite, but also singles and 3 plies and the occasional odd ball.
3.  What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)?
I almost always wheel spin. I will pick up and enjoy spinning on a spindle but have yet to produce a skein of yarn. It takes a long time!
4.  What are your favorite fibers to spin with?  Anything you don't like?
I love soft, soft, soft. Merino, and merino type fibers are hands down my favorites. I also love shiny blended with merino so merino+silk, bamboo, tencel etc. are all winners too. I also love targhee, south african fine and rambouillet.
I'm not really in love with scratchy fibers for spinning (I don't mind knitting with them, but can't love spinning them).
5.  Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)?
They are legend. All the usuals- PRS, Funky C, Hello Yarn, AllSpunUp, The Yarn Wench, Black Ethel Cash's Stash, Flawful Fibers, Crown Mountain Farms, Fat Cat Knits... Okay, I'm going to stop :)
6.  What kind of fiber do you want to try?
CVM, Angora (although I do have some of this) some more exotic blends.
7.  Is there any techniques you would like to learn?
I'm very intrigued by artyarns, but then I realize that I would then really never knit with my handspun. I just really want to learn all about spinning.
8.  Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn?
Yes!
9.  Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber?
Ready to spin for me.
10.  What do you do with your handspun?  What projects have you completed?
I gaze at it admiringly and give lots of it away. I've made a couple of cowls and a hat that I wear obsessively. I'm trying to get better about using it.
11.  Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)?
I think I'm good.
12.  What colors "fall into your shopping basket"? Any colors you just can't stand?
Blues/browns/greys/greens. Nothing that I hate but I will give away handspun that I don't think I will knit with.
13.  What is on your wheel/spindle right now?
Gah! Nothing.
14.  What other crafts/hobbies do you have?
Knitting, Crochet (a wee bit), Music, Reading, Cooking, Gardening.
15.  Other than crafts, what are you passionate about?
See above :)
16.  Do you have an online wishlist?
Nope :(
17.  Is there anything that you collect?
Besides yarn?  That was totally a joke.... Anyway, I like little whimsical things. Small pictures- ACEO's I think they're called, buttons, rocks, shiny pieces of wood (seriously). Basically choking hazards. My house is so not child friendly.
18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have?
Just Interweave Knits.
19.  When is your birthday?
April
20.  What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality?
I can never answer these kinds of questions.
21.  What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)?
It's generally warm and dry, but can be cool and rainy or could possible snow apparently (okay it did snow a couple of weeks ago for like five minutes...).
22.  Tell us one weird fact about yourself!
I hate, hate it when my food gets mixed up on the plate. I also use tons of dishes because of this.
Favorites
favorite painting/picture(link):
Hmmm... I love  Annie Leibovitz
Candy:
Necco Wafers or sesame candies
Food:
Watermelon
Drink:
Vodka Gimlet
Movie(s):
I love foreign films... but honestly I have the hardest time remember film names which could go under  a weird thing about me. I'm not being lazy really. Foreign films/indies and romantic comedies.
TV Show(s):
I watch a ton of tv shows while spinning/knitting. It's almost embarrassing. I'll watch anything- almost. Six Feet Under was a favorite, Entourage, The Gilmore Girls, The Extras, The Office on and on and on. Right now I'm slowly watching the many, many seasons of McLeod's Daughters. It's very corny, but there are 7 or maybe 8 seasons and they have Australian accents.
Book(s):
I used to read a lot more before I started knitting- now I read barely at all. I love Haruki Murakami, Chuck Klosterman is a hoot, I've enjoyed Isabel Allende. That's a really random list from what I can see on the bookshelf from here.
Guilty Pleasure(s):
See: watching millions of hours of tv while knitting/spinning. Also, eating chocolate while doing said activity. Sleeping in past eight- which I do more often than I should.

Summer is in the air...

Things are blooming and blossoming in my yard and the temperatures are heating up. I don't really have a garden, but I do have a lovely little border and a tiny little wilderness area in the back where these irises were blooming today

and up close-

J, very kindly reminded me to take pictures or these probably would have gone unnoticed as they are way out in the back by the trash cans beautifying the alley way.
I also got some new multicolored roving from FatCatKnits Etsy shop yesterday (this is no big surprise- I buy roving like it's going out of production next week). However, I really like this one, and it's aptly named, Summer Garden. So, I will share it with you.

Mmmm, Merino and Bamboo- one of my favorites. Someday, hopefully soon it will be spun. I only have a week and half left of my crazy working schedule and then it will be back to my usual all spinning all the time. Plus, I would really, really like to finish up a couple of my projects that I started way back last summer. Although, realistically I have startitis like crazy so we'll see about that.

A Litte Eye Candy Saturday

Dogwood Branch

All the blossoms from this tree (in the neighbor's yard) are now fallen and on the ground, but this was so gorgeous while it was blooming. Spring has been so long and slow this year- we even had snow a few days ago. In June! This weather- it has been crazypants.

More Spinning

My Crown Mountain Farms Albatross from the other day is finally finished and I am very happy with the resulting yarn.

As I said before, this is the first time I've spun a traditional 3 ply (just taking the three stands of yarn and plying them together) and I really love how rounded the finished yarn is. This is superwash merino and it's incredibly soft and very drapey.
Eliza asked earlier this week how I split my roving when I'm spinning. The answer is that I don't really plan it very well.

 
For this roving I split it into three equal parts by weight and then spun those strips end to end. The CMF roving was super soft and very well prepared and so I was able to spin without predrafting or splitting the roving down further.

I ended up with 560 yards out of the 8 ounces of roving and I love every inch of it.

Even though I've committed to post more frequently, I might not be checking in for the next couple of weeks because I have to work nearly every day. I know a lot of you probably do that anyway, but with my hours- some 12 hour shifts until 3 am and some morning shifts- my sleep schedule gets so thrown off that many days it's all I can do to drag my butt into work. This is why I feel so fortunate to be able to work a flexible schedule normally that doesn't require so many hours. Anyway, it's only for a couple of weeks and then I will hopefully be back to my abnormally, normally high level of posting :)

Simple Socks: A Pair

This is something that doesn't happen around here that often- A finished pair of socks.

I worked on these off and on over the past week (or maybe less than a week). They worked up very quickly since I took them with me everywhere I went. I really like the variegated yarn for knitting plain socks like these. You can glance at the project page on Ravelry here, although there's really not much else to see. This makes my fourth pair of finished socks and I have yet to actually wear any yet. I think I am waiting to have enough finished so that I won't put too much wear and tear on the few that I have.  Hopefully by fall (when it will be cool enough for wool sock wearing anyway) I will have plenty finished. Socks seem to be one of the few things I can concentrate on since I have taken up spinning.
This weekend I worked on 8 ounces of Crown Mountain Farms Superwash Merino in Albatross.

 
the big squishy pile of roving

I decided to spin this as a traditional three ply- my first- and I'm actually quite nervous about it. I'm really not sure at all how it will turn out.  Here is a photo of the singles midway through the spinning that shows the colour variation in the roving- one end was decidedly lighter than the other.

I am a bit further along than this now, but spinning eight ounces of three ply definitely takes longer than the 4 ounce bumps of 2 ply that I'm used to. Hopefully I'll get this yarn finished early this week, so I can move onto something else. I have a tremendous amount of spinning I want to accomplish this summer.

Definitely not Reformed

So, even though I have decided that I do want to keep this little corner of the internet world more up to date, I am definitely not reformed. I procrastinate. I write posts in my head and never get around to sitting down at the computer and actually typing them out. I even plan things and take pictures for posts that never even make it to my flickr pages. However, looking back at the little I have managed to get down on paper as it is, I really enjoy having at least a small record of the past couple of years, if even just for myself, so my goal is to continue doing that. It might just be through flickr blogging a few photos (this is so sinfully easy I don't know why I don't do it more often). I hope you guys don't mind :)
This week was a very lazy week for me. I got hardly anything accomplished. I did watch No Country for Old Men and then had very odd dreams for a couple of nights. And, I swatched a lot, which is something I don't often do. This one swatch in particular with some handspun that I navajo plied  and wasn't actually too thrilled with was a surprise because I really like the swatch. It needs fewer stitches and bigger needles, but then I think it will make a really nice scarf and I think I even have enough yarn (160 yards). So, we'll see.

Also, the blog contest from last week- My random number generator (which was just asking J to pick a number without really telling him why) picked Tiennie as the winner of my little skein of handspun. So, Tiennie if you send me your address I'll get that over to you. Thanks everone for the lovely welcome back to blogging :)

If you are still subscribed to this blog...

You deserve a prize (or at least a chance at one), but more on that at the end of this post. I have obviously, completely lost my blogging mojo. Over six months! For shame... oh well. If you aren't one of my flickr or Ravelry contacts here's what's been up. Socks and Projects Spectrum and Spinning. The socks (or more specifically single socks) are in the Fire variety

 

and the Earth variety

For info on individual socks, please click on the photos.
The spinning, well, it's been in many varieties...

To see more handspun then you ever wanted and get the deets on what you see here go look at my handspun stash on Ravelry :) I feel like I'm being seriously lazy, but this is 6 months of back log people and I've definitely been busy with the spinning. Although, when you look at it like that it also seems like a pitifully small amount.

The prize will also be of the handspun variety-

I'm not very creative when it comes to contests, so if you'd like to win this skein of superwash merino handspun (250 yards of 2 ply) leave me a comment by midnight PST Wednesday, June 4th and I'll randomly draw a winner out of the hat or something to that effect.  And if you're still around, thanks... I'll try to pop in more often this summer.