b r o o k l y n t w e e d
2.24.2008
Winter Spinning
Don't ask me when, but at some point this winter I found some time to do a whole bunch of spinning. This was a while ago, but nonetheless, I've amassed quite a little army of handspun and it's so beautiful and well-behaved, sitting quietly on the shelf, knowing it will probably have to wait much too long to see the needles. So far they've all been happy to sit for portraits - and there lies our compromise.
The photo above is probably my favorite skein - it's shetland wool dyed at HelloYarn in Boston, MA. I had never spun shetland and loved it way more than I anticipated. I was expecting scratchy and sticky, but it spun wonderfully and fluffed up to my ideal specifications. Note to self - spin more shetland. (Here's a picture of how the fiber looked pre-spinning).
Corriedale 2-ply in "Charmer" - another of Adrian's. I've been sampling small batches of various wools, which also means having fun with small batches of crazy colors.
I got a huge bag of white corriedale wool with my wheel and started spinning bulky singles (very instant-gratification) with hopes that I'll have enough for another wooly blanket for next winter. Hey, it's good to have (unrealistic) goals.
Both of these beauties came from Pigeonroof Studios in California. Wonderfully subtle and tweedy yarns - I'm quite partial as you might expect. The yellow/green batch is fine shetland, spun from this (and already occupying half of a BSJ). The brown/pink batch is South African Fine wool, spun from this. That Krista is quite a dyer.
And if you haven't gotten enough juicy spinning pictures, pop on over to my 2008 Spinning Gallery to get your fix.
There's been a great amount of knitting and some new projects are brewing. I've slowly been wooing my knitting mojo back into my corner (he abandoned me for a bit there) and great things are happening. More to come very soon.
¶ 6:13 PM 39 comments
The photo above is probably my favorite skein - it's shetland wool dyed at HelloYarn in Boston, MA. I had never spun shetland and loved it way more than I anticipated. I was expecting scratchy and sticky, but it spun wonderfully and fluffed up to my ideal specifications. Note to self - spin more shetland. (Here's a picture of how the fiber looked pre-spinning).
Corriedale 2-ply in "Charmer" - another of Adrian's. I've been sampling small batches of various wools, which also means having fun with small batches of crazy colors.
I got a huge bag of white corriedale wool with my wheel and started spinning bulky singles (very instant-gratification) with hopes that I'll have enough for another wooly blanket for next winter. Hey, it's good to have (unrealistic) goals.
Both of these beauties came from Pigeonroof Studios in California. Wonderfully subtle and tweedy yarns - I'm quite partial as you might expect. The yellow/green batch is fine shetland, spun from this (and already occupying half of a BSJ). The brown/pink batch is South African Fine wool, spun from this. That Krista is quite a dyer.
And if you haven't gotten enough juicy spinning pictures, pop on over to my 2008 Spinning Gallery to get your fix.
There's been a great amount of knitting and some new projects are brewing. I've slowly been wooing my knitting mojo back into my corner (he abandoned me for a bit there) and great things are happening. More to come very soon.
¶ 6:13 PM 39 comments
2.10.2008
Handknit Hats
I guess it's never too late to share Christmas knitting, is it? As I promised before (this long silence), I'd show a few quick little knits that were distributed under the tree this year and now live far far away. Today's hats both reside in Portland, Oregon where wool's water-resistant qualities are highly appreciated.
The first is an adaptation of the Thorpe pattern [PDF]. I really liked this pattern (it's knit from the top down, and you know I love that) but knew that handspun was in order so I decided to merge the two. The yarn I had on hand was DK weight so I just tweaked the numbers a bit to work - very easy to do when knitting hats from the top down. It turned out lightweight, fluffy and rather nice for a milder climate. Stripey too.
The yarn is a 2-ply merino that I spun last fall with this particular recipient in mind. The fiber was handdyed in sunny California at Pigeonroof Studios and turned out to be a lovely little skein. I actually have enough of it leftover to knit another hat, so you may see this one pop up again in the future. Here's the unknit yarn hanging in the window.
Hat number two was a little stashbusting creation. I had about half a skein of both Silk Garden and Cascade 220, both in neutral shades, both begging to be married. So I put them together and got this.
The hat is just about as basic as can be, aside from maybe the crown. I really love how raglan-style decreases create a square-top on hats. I got to thinking of the stripes as circles and thought it might be interesting to throw some squares into the mix. I started thinking of this hat as squares-within-circles and really liked how it turned out.
The photos were taken on Puget Sound at Dash Point in Washington State. While we were walking the beach we saw a wholeherd (school?) pod of Orcas (thanks everyone!) jumping off the coast - something I've never seen in all my life. And I grew up there. It was pretty great - and you can't beat that Puget Sound light!
Knitting has been regretfully slow around here lately, but a few projects can pull you through almost any stress-ridden period (thank heaven for Baby Surprise Jackets!)... and when did February sneak up on us?
Okay, here's one more picture of canoodling handknits for the road.
Until next time - happy knitting!
¶ 12:36 AM 77 comments
The first is an adaptation of the Thorpe pattern [PDF]. I really liked this pattern (it's knit from the top down, and you know I love that) but knew that handspun was in order so I decided to merge the two. The yarn I had on hand was DK weight so I just tweaked the numbers a bit to work - very easy to do when knitting hats from the top down. It turned out lightweight, fluffy and rather nice for a milder climate. Stripey too.
The yarn is a 2-ply merino that I spun last fall with this particular recipient in mind. The fiber was handdyed in sunny California at Pigeonroof Studios and turned out to be a lovely little skein. I actually have enough of it leftover to knit another hat, so you may see this one pop up again in the future. Here's the unknit yarn hanging in the window.
Hat number two was a little stashbusting creation. I had about half a skein of both Silk Garden and Cascade 220, both in neutral shades, both begging to be married. So I put them together and got this.
The hat is just about as basic as can be, aside from maybe the crown. I really love how raglan-style decreases create a square-top on hats. I got to thinking of the stripes as circles and thought it might be interesting to throw some squares into the mix. I started thinking of this hat as squares-within-circles and really liked how it turned out.
The photos were taken on Puget Sound at Dash Point in Washington State. While we were walking the beach we saw a whole
Knitting has been regretfully slow around here lately, but a few projects can pull you through almost any stress-ridden period (thank heaven for Baby Surprise Jackets!)... and when did February sneak up on us?
Okay, here's one more picture of canoodling handknits for the road.
Until next time - happy knitting!
¶ 12:36 AM 77 comments
