Tag Archives: wool

[SPAKAL] Part 2 – Plying

Posted on December 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

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Now the plying is done done done! A word comes to my mind: Glorious. It’s a perfect Morning Glory color. So bright. So cheerful. So purple.

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I skeined it and before washing, I had to take a picture. So please excuse all the kinks and pigtails. gah, still can’t get rid of them completely, although there are less. I’m still not complaining though; this is an immense improvement since the first spin to knit project. The twists are tighter, maybe too tight but it’s still better than loose twists. And the combed top that was dyed in different colors! It was more fun spinning this than other “natural” colored fiber.

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With the niddy noddy, I measured about 325 yards and it’s 120 gram skein. So I’m guessing this to be a sportweight yarn. It’s only 2-ply though. I’m not sure if I want to knit socks still or go for something less risky, like shawls. I think I want knit socks, it’s been a while since I knit a pair, but the yarn isn’t even enough. You can tell that while it’s mostly sportweight, there’s definitely thinner spots and thicker parts, even after plying.

Ah, decisions.. decisions…..

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Belated SPAKAL (knitmoregirls) challenge

Posted on December 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

SPAKAL, stands for Spin & Knit-a-long.

So with my newfound obsession with spinning on my Ashford Kiwi, I decided that it’s time to do a small challenge for myself. In the beginning of this year, knitmoregirls, my favorite podcasters, did a SPAKAL challenge. Basically they invited the listeners to spin enough fiber for a sweater and knit one. It’s been a while since their announcement, so I’m assuming that the “deadline” is over, although the knitmoregirls challenges are rarely strict with the dates…  Well, it’s still December and I might be able to knit something by the end of this month. Since this will be my first spinning challenge, I’ll maybe do socks.

Brown Sheep Mill Ends

Brown Sheep Mill Ends

 

I’m thinking about using this Brown Sheep Mill Ends I got from my LYS. Can you believe, now this LYS is the only place I can get spinning fiber from in Orange County? Sad, very sad. Another LYS that had spinning fiber is going out of business. I’m lucky this LYS is only 15 minute drive away.

I think this will make an excellent pair of socks. Very classic colors–a blend of black, brown, and white.

Or, I could do this purple/dark blue superwash merino top I got from Purlescence Yarns during my holiday stay in nor cal.

I’m excited! I’ll do a 3-ply fingering weight. Now, I probably want to knit something from my Ravelry queue…

 

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So I spun my pink yarn

Posted on December 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

Few months ago, I got my first spinning wheel, Ashford Kiwi.

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I bought it “unfinished” so when I got it, I stained it with dark wood color and then spray painted the wheel black. :)

And here’s a merino/silk blend roving I bought 3 years ago, thinking I’d try my hands at drop spindling. It failed horribly and I have some pigtail looking pink yarn in my stash somewhere. I used up about an oz of it and didn’t touch it since.

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Finally, it’s spun, skeined, washed, and voila!

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My first 100gram

I think I’m going to knit a shawlette with it. It’s still quite uneven, but I want to use it as single ply so something with simple garter or stockinette stitch body with lace edging…. :)

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FO: Seamless Hybrid!

Posted on December 25, 2010 | 2 Comments

 

 

 

Continuing the Christmas tradition, on the Christmas Eve, I woke up and went grocery shopping. This year, with Bagel and Marty. :) It’s our first Christmas together as a married couple and Marty never really had family Christmas traditions as his family doesn’t really celebrate Christmas.

 

So, I told him that I’d bake and cook for this Christmas. Which is a fascinating thing in our household because I never do that. Cooking and baking. Marty cooks, I clean. We have our roles, you know.

 

But I did it. I baked chocolate chip cookies right away. It was a bit hard to do everything without my usual equipment and Marty’s hand-held blender with whisk extension was really difficult to use. But it was all worth it. Ahhh nothing beats homemade chocolate chip cookies.

 

Then, chayotes go in boiling water.

 

About 2 years ago, a friend of mine invited me over and cooked chayotes. it was sooo good. And I tried to recreate the dish and put it in the pasta.

1. Boil chayotes, whole.

2. Cook sauce – tomato, tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, basil, Parmesan cheese,

3. When chayotes are fully cooked, pull them out and slice. While cooling, make egg white batter.

4. Fry the chayotes, covered in batter.

5. Dump everything in the sauce and cook 3 minutes. Serve with pasta.

 

 

So that was our Christmas eve, and today we went to Christmas Mass together for the first time. :)

 

In the spirit of Christmas, this is my last of my Christmas FO.

 

Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Seamless Hybrid Pullover

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of Andes in Chocolate

I followed Brooklyn Tweed’s turned hem and other notes. I loved knitting this, but not finishing it. There were soooo many ends to weave in. WOA is very soft, but not ideal for sweaters: 1) There are knots and weird twisted bits; 2) because each ball is 50g, I had at LEAST 20 ends to weave in, and then more because of the turned hem. And then, it took me 3 days to dry the whole thing after wet-blocking it.

 

 

 

 

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