Deadlines part 4

Week 4
I knit like mad all week, every spare moment. It was taking me 40-45 minutes to complete each row.

I started weighing the ball of yarn every row to maximize usage. Each row used about 4g. I estimated I needed 3 times that for the bind off. Last night I realized I could only work 2 more rows before needing to bind off.

Today, I made it to the bind off!

It's going to take some time for the bind off The pattern called for a regular bind off - knit 2, pull first stitch over the second. I tried it and didn't like the look of it. Instead, I chose the Lacey Bind Off from this website - http://www.stitchdiva.com/tutorials/knitting/stretchy-bind-off-comparison. It's a stretchy bind off that has a really nice finished edge. And worked with some tension on the yarn, the stitches are not too loose.

I'm actually going to finish the shawl in the next couple of days. I will have time to wash and block it before I leave for the retreat next Thursday. So excited!

Deadlines part 3

Knitting like MAD...

Week 1
As soon as the yarn was dry from washing, I wound the yarn into this beautiful ball where you can see the gradation clearly.

I sampled size 4 (3.5mm) and 5 (3.75mm) needles for gauge. I like the way the fabric felt with the size 4 needles.

I started knitting right away. A selfie of me knitting at the Spectrum Center in Irvine, CA while I waited for friends for a lunch date.

Week 2
By the end of the second week I got near the end of the red yarn. I weighed the yarn ball after every row trying to calculate maximum usage but still leave enough for the increase row (which doubles the number of stitches) when I switch to the blue color for the ribbing border.

The tiny scale I use below is battery operated. It's called ProScale555 and can be found on Amazon. Of course. It weighs down to 0.1g. It's a great piece to have in the knitting kit.

Week 3
Got the blue yarn started. I really like the change in color and texture with the ribbing border.

My son asked me how many stitches I had on the needles. So I counted them. Big mistake. Sometimes it's better not to know something. I started with 725 stitches with 2 increases required for each new row. I will count again at the end to complete the torture. It takes me about 30-35 minutes to knit a row. I have 2 weeks still to get this shawl finished. Hmmm...

Deadlines part 2

So I turned the fiber from my post on August 30 Deadlines into these singles. I wanted to control how the colors blended so I spun each color on its own bobbin.

I plied it into a 2-ply DK-like yarn. One ply is Bluefaced Leicester. The 2nd ply is Merino and silk. With 4oz (113g) total, I ended up with 385 yards (352m). This lovely squishy yarn is washed and dry.

With help from some spinning/knitting friends, I chose the TGV (High Speed Knitting) pattern by Susan Ashcroft. It's a crescent shaped shawl with a wide ribbed border. I'm using my handspun yarn for the garter stitch body. The blue yarn is BAAH La Jolla Powder Blue colorway. It has a hand dyed look to it. It will be used in the 2x2 ribbed border. Altogether it made me think of a sunset.

Now I have to turn these pieces into a finished object. By Oct 12th.

High speed knitting...yeah, right!

Instant Photo Studio

Photos support our written stories. I don't have access to a photo studio or a great camera. But I do have a smartphone with a decent camera.

I also have wonderful indirect light that illuminates my balcony in the mornings. And I have a patio table along with the following items -  a roll of white paper, blue tape and one of my son's sticks to use as a weight.

Here is how I set it up. Instant photo studio.

Demoing at the Adobe

I spent a lovely afternoon last weekend spinning at the Diego Sepulveda Adobe in Estancia Park, Costa Mesa, CA. Along with me were fellow guild mate, Robal, and my mother.

Robal wove on her Ashford rigid heddle loom making a gorgeous alpaca/silk blend shawl with pick up detail.

My mother hand-ginned her homegrown wild cotton.

The Costa Mesa Historical Society sponsored an Early California Days event celebrating 50 years of restoration and preservation of the adobe. The adobe museum was beautiful with lots of historical information about California. There was an American Indian dressed in a fur hat and beautifully fringed buckskin tunic and trousers. You can just barely see his backside in the shade of the adobe.

We were situated under a tree and canopy outside. The weather was warm but not too hot and there was a lovely breeze. The event was small but the LA Times Daily Pilot took pictures of us (Find the post dated August 29. Click on the arrow for more pictures).

We got a lot of spinning, weaving, ginning and laughing done.

Deadlines

I try hard to spin without a deadline. However, imagine this scenario...

I get a bag of fiber at a retreat and am supposed to bring it back the following year as a finished item. I intend to start spinning right away so I have plenty of time to plan a complicated and detailed project.

But then, I wait to start the spinning... like TEN months later. Suddenly there is a two month deadline looming ahead. I now have to focus on spinning quickly without too much forethought about what kind of yarn I want to create. Then I have to pick a project that I can knit in a month.

I am a slow knitter.

Why do I do this to myself? Well, of course, sometimes life happens and spinning gets sidelined for a time. Or I just don't feel like spinning that fiber yet. Or I'm somehow deluded into the idea that I'm going to think my way into the perfect yarn and project.

The fiber is from the 2015 Studio 49 Retreat. This 10 year anniversary themed fiber was prepared and dyed by Dreamy Goat Designs. Above is 2oz/56g of Bluefaced Leicester (BFL). Below is 2oz/56g of Merino/Bombyx Silk blend. Both dyed in the same tri-color way. Some folks chose the same fiber for their projects. I got one bag of each. It will be fun to see what we all come up with. The next retreat is Oct 14, 2016.

So... right now, I spin with a deadline looming.

Plying

I finished the Tour de Fleece single ply yarn the week after the race ended. I got around to plying it a week later into 386 yards of 3 ply yarn. What I didn't like was that the yarn was not plied with the same amount of twist as the first skein I finished in June. So I decided to add more twist by running it through the wheel again. I put the skein on the swift attached to a dining chair seat. It took a little longer than I thought, but Season 10 of Food Network Star kept me entertained. I just love the ability to binge watch shows on streaming television.

 

I ended up with 7 yards less but with the same twist as the first skein. With the two skeins I now have a total of 757yds/692m to play with. I wrapped the yarn with the original fiber label and wrote my yardage notes on it. The colors blended more than I had originally intended. I still like the finished yarn a lot. The fuchsia dominates the yarn. Which is nice, but I have lots of yarn in this colorway. Of course I do. It's in the red family and that's my favorite color!

I had some singles yarn left over on 2 bobbins. So I decided to ply that using Navajo chain ply method. It's a tiny skein but the colors came out more like what I had originally imagined this fiber to look like.

Since I was on a twist fixing mode, I dug out another skein of yarn that had been bugging me for a while.

This skein of 3 ply yarn was spun by a friend of mine. I love the subdued colors (it's not red!) but I always thought the ply twist was a little loosey goosey.

Since I had the swift set up already I put the skein on it and ran the yarn through the wheel again. I lost 4 yards in the new twist but now the skein looks great. Even the colors look a little more defined to me and I was dreaming of other yarns I could combined it with to knit up something fabulous.