A few months ago my friend K suggested a spin-a-long (SAL). The challenge was to combine two different braids of fiber to result in three skeins, one of colorway A, one of a mix of colorways A and B, and one of colorway B. This results in a really neat gradient effect as you’re knitting. Of course, since I have to supersize challenges, I thought it would be a great chance to spin up enough for a sweater. I used this amazing sweater designed by Tanis Lavallee as my inspiration.

Photo Credit: Tanis Lavallee

I had three braids of falkland dyed by Funky Carolina in a bright pink, and I was looking for a way to tone it down, so I ordered three braids of falkland from Fat Cat Knits in the colorway Esther.

So I spun in April, and I spun in May.

First I spun the two colors together to see what they would look like.

Then the pink:

And then the multicolor:

Altogether I now have about 1700 yards of luscious yarn (from 24oz of fiber).

I have two other spins for the month as well.

First up, a club colorway from Two if By Hand, Superwash Merino in the colorway Little Plastic Castle:

And second, an oversized braid from JulieSpins, Falkland in the colorway Spring Tide. I love this one and got 457 yards of squishy goodness, a record for me!

Both of these two skeins are available over in my shop!

That brings my yearly total to 109.1 oz or 6.8 lbs of fiber. Well on my way to my goal of 12 pounds in 2012!

Did I say crafty stuff? This is what 34 looks like with crafty stuff.

The hat is new (the pattern is “Rikke”) and I love it despite the fact that it was in the 90′s this weekend and clearly inappropriate weather for a wool hat.

Other than knitting and spinning, I got to go see the touring production of Jersey Boys for my birthday and then have a delightfully delicious dinner at my favorite Kansas City eatery, Piropos.

Yesterday I ran all kinds of errands and came home and got cracking on getting my spinning and weaving shop ready for the Creative Hand Craft Show this November where I hope to be selling my wares for the first time. I ordered new business cards this morning and I need to get treadling!  My favorite photo from the shoot yesterday? A rainbow of handspun:

And finally, just for a little extra excitement, we spent last night hunkered down in the basement listening to the tornado sirens. There were two tornadoes that touched down in Olathe, two houses caught fire after being struck by lightening, quarter sized hail pelted the area, and we’re still under flash flood watch. Who knew 34 would be such an exciting year?

The bag I picked up was a whopping 20 ounces of ends so I was pretty sure I could get about 1000 yards of worsted weight out of it, or enough to knit a sweater. But when I started looking at patterns, one in particular jumped out at me, Snowbird by Heidi Kirrmaier.  And wouldn’t you know it, the pattern called for 1450 yards of yarn?  I mentioned my problem in a forum on Ravelry and a wonderfully kind spinner offered to sell me another 8 ounces.

So I began to spin.

And then I spun some more. Okay a lot more.

And when I was done, then I plied. A lot.

Then I knit a swatch… just to see if I was on gauge.

And I was spot on.

So then I began to knit. And knit. And knit some more. Towards the end I got a bit fearful about having enough yardage to make it through the project. I spent a few days frantically knitting faster (because you know that helps when you’re about to run out of yarn!) and then it occurred to me that I might have something in the stash that would help. And I did. I dug out some leftover Blue Moon Fiber Arts Woobu from a vest I made last year. The bamboo in the yarn approximated the shiny silk in the handspun and the colors were a match!

Finally, last week I was done knitting. And I don’t think I’ve loved any sweater that I’ve made more than this one.

The colors. The details. The pockets.

I love this sweater.

March was a BIG month for spinning.  At the end of February I showed you a bobbin – the first of 6 that I was working on for a big project. Well I’m done!

I spun this big pile of fiber:

And ended up with this:

~1100 yards of beautiful silky wool destined to be a sweater. I should add that the 11oo yards wasn’t quite enough for the sweater I wanted to knit, and a kind Raveler sent me a bit more! So I should have enough to make my sweater. I’m already almost 2 balls in:

The remainder of the month I devoted to small, quick spins. Over on Ravelry, in the 12 pounds in 2012 group, the March challenge was to spin batts. I have several in the stash and have never been to comfortable spinning this particular preparation so I thought I’d try my hand at it.

Spin number two was a beautiful set of batts by Spinnerette Fibers. The wool is Falkland which is one of my favorites and the colorway is Denim.

I spun the yarn in color chunks, and plied each batt together in the same order so the gradient (white, grey, sky blue, navy) was preserved. I love how it came out!

Spin #3 was a small one. A while ago in a swap I received 2 small batts (total 1 ounce) of Rambouillet wool in yellows and purples.  The dyer, Spin Up Girl Fibers, created them for me and called them “Flirty Fluffy!”

Since there was only a little bit of fiber, I decided to spin this into laceweight singles. Again, I pulled the colors apart to preserve the gradient and then I spun. I have to say the fiber preparation was AMAZING. It was so soft and drafted so beautifully. I totally credit that for my excellent yardage – almost 150 yards out of 1 ounce of fiber!

Spin number 4 for the month were some batts that I made in January. I’m part of a spinning group from the eastern Kansas area called the Spinsters. We meet once a month somewhere between Kansas City and Topeka (usually).  January sessions are at the Harveyville Art Project where Nikol graciously lets us use her carders. Everyone brings a bit of fiber to share, and we all end up with crazy colorful batts!

Last year I loved how my batts looked and how the resulting yarn spun up. This year I thought the batts were kind of fun. We had a full rainbow of colors which I separated into lights and darks:

I managed to get fairly decent yardage out of these (yay for spinning thinner) but I have to say I’m sort of ambivalent about the resulting yarn. Somehow the colors just don’t come through and I feel it’s kind of a boring yarn. What do you think?

Total spinning for the month: 34.4 oz or 2 lbs, 2.4 oz.

I already showed you my first spin of February, Jolly Days.

Next I spun up some beautiful BFL/Silk courtesy of Spin Up Girl Fibers. I bought this one a while back when I was unable to resist.

The colorway was called Scandalous Sandy, and it was wonderful to spin. I ended up with a skein of skin soft shiny yarn.

My third spin of the month was some a club colorway from Ava, Ludu & Bees.  The colorway reminds me of Mardi Gras and the Targhee is so fluffy!

So technically I only spun 11.7 ounce this month which was short of a pound. However, I spun extra in January, and I’m already stacking the decks for March. I’ve already finished 3 bobbins of luscious fiber for a sweater spin – can’t count it as finished yarn, but it’s another 10-12oz that’s on it’s way!

The fiber arrived:

Beemiceelf, Jolly Spirits on Polwarth

I had a few different ideas, but ultimately spun it fractally:

Approximately 200 yards, worsted

And then decided to weave it:

Available now in my shop.

SIMPLIFY

Whether it be my craft room, my finances, the clutter in our house, or just taking a few moments to breathe and enjoy life, I hope that this word will help me focus in 2012 and live a happier life.

One would think now that I embraced my word, that I would be doing my best to simplify my life. Well I suppose in some ways the challenge I have set for myself is a simplification. It is to spin, to enjoy spinning and to spin down my stash. To this end I have pledged to spin 12 pounds of fiber in 2012. For those who don’t spin, an average braid is about 4 ounces, meaning I need to spin 4 per month or one per week to keep up.

I’m delighted to say that I have already finished this month’s goal!

Spin #1: A 3-ply yarn made up of three different fibers from Funky Carolina, The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga and some batts I received in a swap. It was fun to see how the colors played together!

Spin #2: A spin-a-long with a group. The dyer is JulieSpins and the fiber is a gradient in the colorway December Dusk. I got approximately 200 yards of floofy 2-ply yarn and this skein already went flying out of my shop to a good home!

Spin #3: This month my friend K challenged a group of us to spin a fiber we labeled as our “precious.” This is a fiber that we had been holding onto much like the ring in Lord of the Rings – hoarding it and/or afraid to spin it. I went into the stash and pulled out my braid from All Spun Up in the sought after colorway Goldfish Wearing a Tutu. It’s bright and happy and I’m so pleased to have spun it up!

So that brings me up to 19.7 oz or slightly over 1 pound!  I’ll be back with my knitting challenge for the month in the next post!

We’re now in the time of year when I take most of my photos on the weekends, so that I can use natural light. I can’t seem to take photographs under lamps and indoor light that I like quite as much as those I can take in natural light.

Anyway, I gathered up a ton of stuff this weekend and got out the camera.

There were a few spins:

And of course there was knitting. A test shawl for a friend:

And my favorite, a new set of handknit fingerless gloves.  I didn’t actually spin this yard, but rather traded for it in a group on Ravelry. I LOVE the colorway though (by one of my favorite dyers, maude & me).  I mixed up two patterns to make my own.  When I was done I had a bit of handspun leftover, and you know it’s a SIN to waste good handspun so I made a matching headband/earwarmer.

I also cannot say enough wonderful things about etsy. I got the buttons from a crafter in Israel!

Next time… more weaving, and sweaters #9 and 10!

A few months ago, I participated in a Spin-a-long.  That is, I ordered some fiber dyed especially for a group of spinners and we all spun them up. When it was all over there was a drawing for a prize, and I won! A short while later I received this beautiful superwash merino braid from FatCatKnits, in the colorway “Wretched Kiss.”

I spun the yarn up intending it to go in the shop, but I miscalculated and ended up with a larger skein of 2ply and a shorter skein of navajo plied leftovers.

With colors this bright, I decided that I was going to have to knit myself some socks. It took me a little while (as I got distracted by other projects) but now, just in time for fall, I have some awesome socks.

A while ago I purchase a pretty fiber batt, “Rich Girl” batts from a Ravelry friend, Adventures in Fiber. I purchased this around the time she opened the shop and she was kind enough to stuff a second batt into the package as a bonus! The colors were rich magenta and purple.

At first I wasn’t sure how I wanted to spin these batts, but then during Tour de Fleece I threw caution to the wind and spun them into singles:

The yarn came out pretty, and I got about 400 yards out of them, but I hadn’t counted on the silk creating nepps and uneven singles. So I waited, and as always happens, the perfect pattern fell in my lap.

At the beginning of September my friend Chrissy asked me to test knit her new cowl, one that she was calling Chou Cowl (and knitting in the colorway Mon Petit Chou).
Voila! My Cabbage Leaves: