Spinalcat's Crafty Adventures

I participated in the awesome Zombie Apocalypse Swap in the Phat Fiber Ravelry group earlier this month. The fibery portion of the package I received from Dawn of Dawning Dreams was this chunky art batt I spun it up into these singles- Not sure what I'm going to do with the yarn, but I'm sure it will be just perfect for something or other someday. :)

Project details here . Finished the 2nd sock! I had to divide up my leftover singles and ply a few more yards to make it the same length as the first sock. I still don't really understand how I was that far off on the length of singles I spun on each bobbin. Here you can see how the color lined up perfectly at the beginning of the first sock, then not so great when I got to the 2nd sock.

Green and black Merino/bamboo sock yarn from Fiber Fiend roving. I think this was my fastest spinning project yet. I started at the last meeting of the Spinnity Spinners. I had a goal of knitting Tofutsies socks for Bryan by our anniversary (June 1) and spinning and knitting socks from this fiber by his birthday (August 22). I finished the socks in about 2 weeks (yay, stockinette and not having to look!), and finished the spinning for these socks. My new goal is to knit socks for both of us by our anniversary. I spun up the Mars colorway of the same Fiber Fiend Merino/bamboo 2 years ago. I chain plied the red yarn, and it weighs 104g. I decided to try something new with the green roving. It was dyed in a sequence that repeated a little over 3 times. I put each repeat on a separate bobbin, and spun from the whole width without splitting or pre-drafting. The leftover roving had 2 repeats of a short sequence. I split it in half width-wise, and stripped it so each bobbin would g...

With my first combed fluffball. This could be addictive! My friend in Austin blogged about a crafty garage sale she went to. I emailed one of the sellers and bought these! I'm still planning on spinning up some of this CVM and submitting it to Spin-Off's "Your Yarns." Five yards by June 1? I think I can handle that! The theme this issue is natural fibers to coincide with the UN's year of natural fibers. Spin-Off's taking it 1 step further since natural fibers are no big deal to handspinners! You have to do the fiber prep yourself, and only natural dyes are allowed. Valkyrie Mini Combs , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion .

Finished Yarn: Ravenswood , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . 3-ply sock yarn from Lorna's Laces combed top. The rest of the 10 oz is going in the stash for a while. I'm ready to move on. There's 750 yards here. It may be time for another pair of handspun knee socks.

FO: Handspun Triangular Shawl , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Handspun from 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). Bought at Stitches West 08 from Tactile . I am totally in love with this and can’t believe I knit it in a week. This is my first triangular shawl, and the pattern is from Knitting Lace Triangles by Evelyn Clark. The construction suits handspun very well. I also liked not having to do a knitted-on border. I am definitely inspired to design triangular shawls for the rest of my handspun laceweight stash!

Bobbin 1 , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Working on the Lorna's Laces top I got when Knitting Arts closed.  I'm planning on a 3-ply sock yarn.  Sorry about the flash.  It's ludicrously dark in the house, even with a 5-bulb lamp right above the spinning wheel.  I'm spinning in the bobbin lead configuration, so it's a little less easy to pop out the bobbin for photos.  I've been on a bit of a spinning kick lately.  I taught Rachel's son's girlfriend spindling at last month's spin-in, taught a spindling class last weekend, and taught Kool-Aid dyeing this afternoon. This top is the last of my fiber stash!  Someone bought the Chasing Rainbows merino-tencel I had been eying at work, so I looked up the colorways and there are over 40!  Plus so many fiber blends!  I also think I'm in the mood for undyed fiber.  I want to buy a couple pounds of wool for a sweater. I'm tempted to start doing some prep myself as well, but I don't want to tak...

Laceweight Silk Hanky Handspun , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Here's the finished yarn from the silk hankies I was complaining about.  The detail above is cropped from this shot.  I ended up with about 500 yds. This is what the hankies look like.  I spun each stack onto separate bobbins and plied the two together.  The multicolor stack seemed slightly less annoying than the solid stack, but I still probably wouldn't buy hankies again.  I don't like the unavoidable neppiness, though the finished yarn appears a little smoother than I'd have predicted.

That is all.

Handspun Silk , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . At Mary 's last Saturday I finished up 450 yards of handspun silk singles, about fingering weight. Fiber (2 oz) from Heritage Arts booth at Kid 'n Ewe 2006. I'm fairly sure it's bleached Tussah. It was pretty fun to spin, with a manageable number of neppy bits and just a couple of pupa shell bits. Once again I ended up spinning finer than I had in mind. I like to pet the hand dyed silk singles yarns in shops, most of which are fairly thick. I don't think they wear very well, though. If I'm going to make something intentionally delicate, I want to do it in finer yarn. I ended up spinning this just thick enough to get that fluffy shiny look that you see in thicker silk singles.

February in Tacoma Handspun Laceweight , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . 2-ply, about 30 WPI. From a Tactile batt bought at Stitches West. I was worried about the bits of silk noil being obnoxiously obvious, but it turned out really nice after plying. I think I've got about 500 yards, enough for an Evelyn Clark style triangle. I've got a bunch of books on lace design checked out through Link+ right now. I picked up some Mermaid at Green Planet when my meetup group was there last week. It's cotton, merino, silk, and seacell. I'm thinking I'll use it with my tweedy handspun for some kind of top-down raglan mini cardi. Of course, I'll have to finish something first! Here's one of the hibiscus photos I promised. Whee! Spray bottles are fun! Cat discipline, quick blocking, pretentious nature photography. . .

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.

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 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...

Handdyed Self-Striping Yarn , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . If you look closely, you might be able to see one of the 20 or so knots. Apparently the yarn got chewed on between skeining and dyeing. Serves me right for being a procrastinator. This is my first time with acid dyes, and my first time dyeing yarn black. The black came out better than I expected. I've heard people griping about black dyes before, and I've seen a few skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn in stores that had issues. How much more black could it be? None more black. I actually said that to Bryan when I finished dyeing. The yarn is Knit Picks Bare merino sock yarn, and I used Jacquard acid dyes in Fire Red and Jet Black. I was actually going for a real red, but it was taking forever to exhaust. I actually really like the hot pink, though. I wound the yarn to be self-striping on a sort of warping board. Here's the links to the resources I used for that. I had some plastic pegboard with wooden...

2 Skeins of Llama , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . After fulling by shocking in hot/icy water and thwacking on the edge of the tub (thanks, Jasmin ). There's still a lot of fiber left in the bag. Not sure what I'm going to do with the yarn. Probably a simple warm hat. It's in the vicinity of worsted weight, spun woolen-ish. My first time using the long draw . It's like magic! Especially when done unsupported (one-handed).

Handspun Socks , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . After reaching mid-calf, the first sock has been set aside. The second sock, currently ankle-high, is going much faster. No ripping back at all! Eventually I'll have to decide whether I want 1 pair of tall socks, or 2 pairs of "normal" socks.

Handspun BFL Sock , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Heel turned for the last time! I realized I needed to add some increases between the toe and gusset increases for the best fit, and it took me a couple of tries to make the foot long enough. Now it could stand to be shorter, but I like my socks loose and comfy. I made a lot of progress on the cuff last night after I took this picture. I'll post more technical details and resources I used when it's all finished. Ravelry page here . History of this yarn here , here , and here .

Handspun Yarn and Swatch , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Just got around to photographing the chained 3-ply yarn I plied at Mary 's spin-in . ( Fiber Fiend roving in Mars colorway) I love the way everything turned out, and the roving was really easy to spin. Merino/silk or merino/bamboo blends are my absolute favorite. Blog entry on singles here .

Handspun BFL Sock , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . My first toe-up sock. I've since turned the heel for the 3rd time, and may soon be ripping it out for the 3rd time. I think I need to add some more increases in the middle of the foot. The stitches on the instep still look a little stretched out. This fabric seems to have much less tolerance for being stretched and still looking nice than normal socks. More info on techniques and resources after I actually get it worked out.