Spinalcat's Crafty Adventures

Handspun Singles from Tactile Batt , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . I've finished the first of two bobbins of singles from the Tactile batt I got at Stitches. It's a really nice blend, but I could do without the silk noil since I decided it wanted to be laceweight. Fiber details: 2 oz February in Tacoma batt. 53% Alpaca, 25% Merino/Bamboo, 11% BFL, 3% Tussah silk, 3% yak down, 3% silk noil, and 2% angora. http://www.flickr.com/photos/buxtrosion/2299346742/ This fiber's been really fun to spin so fine since it has so many components. It never gets boring. Since I wanted the singles thin and even, I used a short draw for more control and to more closely examine the yarn. I didn't smooth the yarn with the forward hand like I would for true worsted spinning.

Circular Cape , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . I haven't been very talkative online lately (Bryan switched keyboard to Dvorak), but I've been lurking. I've also had a bad case of startitis. I've been forcing myself to work a little on older WIPs every day. The body of the Circular Cape is done, and the border is going very quickly. This is by far the quickest lace project I've knitted. The body is just a feather and fan variation with a lot of resting rows, and it only took me a couple of repeats to memorize the border. There's not enough progress on Catriona to take a picture, and I'm debating changing needle size a self-designed sock. This is my new WIP , the Dream in Color Shrug (Classy in Dusky Aurora). The Dream in Color yarns are so gorgeous!

Ruffled Roses Scarf , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Ruffled Roses by Annie Modesitt http://www.ravelry.com/projects/spinalcat/ruffled-roses Awesome! 3 colors of Misti Alpaca Worsted and a partial ball of ONline Linie 194 Solo (a ruffle/tape yarn). Pattern (free) available at Yarndogs. Or check the designer's site for a shop near you. Mods/Notes- For me, the purl rows of the tape were the right side. Subbed dark green for red-brown yarn. No problems with stitch count. I think other people got confused because the stitch count for the center lace pattern is given. There’s stitches on either side of that for a garter stitch edging. I used this tutorial for a similar ruffle yarn to help figure out how to use it. Think whip stitch, not running stitch. I used the 3-needle bind off after figuring out how to graft in ribbing and then realizing that it would always be offset by half a stitch because the pieces were both knit in the same direction.

Self-Striping Sock yarn , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . My first time mixing Jacquard acid dyes. :) Primaries are Yellow Sun and Sky Blue. I love how it looks in the skein, but I'm not sure how I'll like the stripes. The green and blue-green are awfully similar. Maybe I'll do the same colors as a variegated yarn next time. I wrapped the sub-skeins for dyeing on a PVC device like this . Here's mine. For this yarn, I only used 4 arms (4 colors). I did the actual dyeing on the stove, with each sub-skein in a large Mason jar in a waterbath in my big Ikea pot. The colors came out a little semi-solid, probably because of the cramped jars and my laziness in stirring. Here's a little more info on building the PVC device. You'll need 14 pieces that are about 3", 6 pieces that are 18", 6 pieces that are 16", 12 pieces that are about 8" and 2 pieces that are about 6". You'll also need 4 elbow pieces and 18 T pieces. O...

Anyone heard of Flat Feet sock yarn, the stuff sold in a machine-knitted, hand-painted rectangle? Now Knit Picks is selling undyed blanks of machine-knitted Bare yarn. Looks like fun, but it's twice as expensive as the same yarn in the skein. How many of these would I have to dye to justify buying a knitting machine? Lolz. I'm partial to immersion dyeing, anyway. :)

The knee socks were finally finished a couple of weeks ago! Rav link . Here's the photo set of the entire process- dyeing, spinning, and knitting. This is the 8 oz of Blue-faced Leicester I got at the Kid n Ewe fiber festival in Bourne, TX in 2006. I dyed the roving with Kool-Aid and Easter egg dyes, and spun it into a 3-ply yarn. I don't have the WPI, but it's 17-18.5 sts/2", 26-28.5 rows/2" on a size 0(US) needle. Here's the notes on the toe-up construction and shaping. This was my first time doing toe-up socks, and it was fun. No picking up stitches, and I could start small and increase until it fit, instead of having to guess the number of stitches to cast on when starting at the cuff. (No, I don't swatch for socks. That's silly. The first few inches of the sock is the swatch.) Judy's magic cast-on about 12 stitches. Increased 4 stitches every other row in the usual manner until I reached 64. When that got too snug, I increased 2 st...

I was inspired by this Bella Knitting blog post to spend some time with my color wheel and a box of colored pencils. I also started poking around online and found a few more color picking and palette generating tools. On Color Schemer (the one mentioned on the Bella Knitting blog), you can browse color schemes that other people have uploaded. The real product they're trying to sell is their $50 Color Schemer software, but there is a quick-and-dirty online palette generator on their site. The generated palettes tend to be pretty garish, though. They also offer a nifty little free doo-dad that tells you the value of any pixel on your screen. Then there's this site for generating palettes. It tends towards monochromatic or 2-hued schemes. This flickr toy from Big Huge Labs will create a scheme based on a photo you upload or give it a link to. It's pretty nice. Colourlovers.com has a very similar function (for online photos only) that offers a little more control. The...

I think I've finally recovered from the weekend. I had a migraine most of Thursday night and Friday. By the time it was over, I missed dinner with one of Bryan's college roommates who was in town, and ended up needing to get the car detailed. (AJ in San Jose does a good job, BTW.) Who ever thought it was a good idea to put nasty mint flavoring in migraine meds? Blech. It's time to switch since the Maxalt quits working after a few hours anyway. Saturday was spinning at Mary's . I worked on spinning up my Crosspatch Creations batt (yay, more long-draw!) Lisa made and plied her first yarn on Mary's wheel! I really love seeing people learn to spin. I taught a drop spindle class a couple of weeks ago and it was so much fun! I love beginner yarn! I never make it anymore, probably because I'm obsessed with predrafting! Here's the finished yarn. I had fun spinning this, but it had a little bit of a tacky/sticky feel. There was a fair amount of vegetabl...