Spinning

Are You Ready for Some FOOTBALL?

/ LDSVenus
Dallas Cowboys!!!

Dallas Cowboys!!!

 

 Woohoo!!! Pre-season football has started!!!  Dallas plays their first game this coming Friday night.  Since I babysit for 3 of my grand children on Friday nights, I’ll be training my 3 year old grand daughter to be a football fan, (don’t tell her dad I will teach her to root for the Dallas Cowboys, he’s a Bears fan)! 😛  The oldest one (11 years old) isn’t interested, waited to long to indoctrinate her :P, and the youngest (1 year old) will be in bed by then ;P.  So it’s Mady and me watching the Cowboys on Friday night :).

**UPDATE**  Oh goodness, I missed Dallas’s first game which was on 8-13, where they lost to my 2nd favorite team, the Oakland Raiders.  I can’t believe I missed their first game, sigh. 

 

click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

 
 
I’m spinning the baby Alpaca (called a Cria) roving, that I bought at a fiber festival in TN last year, on my Ashford Traveler.  This roving is sooooo soft, I can hardly wait to handle the yarn and knit it into a capelet.  I’m not sure if  the 6 ounces I have will be enough to do a shawl, I’ll see what the yardage is after I have finished spinning it all, it should be a heavy baby weight or light sport weight.  If I think I have enough, I might do a shawl instead.  The jury is out on what I really want tho. 🙂   I have plenty of time yet to make a decision.
 
 
 
Hand dyed superwash merion roving

Hand dyed superwash merino roving

 
This is some of the white superwash merino that I bought some time back.  I dyed it with Wilton icing dye.  I used the purple, and it broke into different shades of light purple, lavender and light blue.  It’s actually a little bit more pastel than it looks in the picture, quite pretty.  The last time I used the Wilton purple it was just different shades of purple and lavender.  You just never know what you are going to get with the Wilton dyes, but they are fun to play with.  This should be interesting to spin. 🙂
 

Exchanged Gifts

/ LDSVenus
click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

 

I exchanged gifts with my new internet friend, Norma.  I sent her a canvas tote that I had machine embroidered “I “heart” knitting with handspun” to use either for her knitting or to hold the fiber she is spinning.   She sent me this luscious bulky weight merino handspun that was spun and plied with her Navajo spindle.  It is very soft and has beautiful fall colors.  I’m thinking of maybe knitting a large pair of mittens to be felted for our wonderfully frigid winters here in IA. 🙂  My hands will thank me!!!  Thanks Norma the yarn is beautiful!

Little Lace Cat’s Paw Scarf – revisited

/ LDSVenus / 3 Comments

Little Lace Cat's Paw Scarfred white and blue roving and yarn 004a

I’m having to repost this pattern because the link on Ravelry for this isn’t working and I have to put in a new link.  Hope you will enjoy revisiting this scarf  that was originally posted on July 5th 2008.

**ERROR CORRECTED IN PATTERN**  If you have copied this pattern you might want to use this corrected copy.

Ok, here is the Little Lace Cat’s Paw Scarf I knit out of the red white and blue hand spun skein, shown on the right.  I used Cat’s Paw, a Shetland lace pattern, and as you can see I staggered the design so that it was not straight across from each other but rather looks like a cat walked up the scarf :). It is free to use for your own use, please do not give this pattern out to others, if someone would like this pattern, please direct them to my blog. 🙂 It was a very quick and easy pattern to knit, and makes a great long skinny scarf.  I suggest using a wool or wool blend or other yarn that blocks and holds the block well.   Enjoy.

Little Lace Cat’s Paw Scarf

Cast on 29 stitches using size 10 needle, heavy fingering or sport weight yarn. You will still have 29 stitches after completing each row.

B= border stitches (always k5, or you may use a seed stitch border)

k2tog = knit 2 together

k2togtbl = knit 2 together through the back loop

k3tog = knit 3 together

Knit 5 rows, then keeping the borders k one row and p one row before beginning pattern.

Pattern rows:

Row 1 – B, k2, k2 tog, yo, k1, yo, k2togtbl, k to last 5 sts, B

(Row 2, and all even rows – B, p to last 5 sts, B)

Row 3 – B, k1, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, k2togtbl, k to last 5 sts, B

Row 5 – B, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2togtbl, k to last 5 sts, B

Row 7 – B, k to last 5 sts, B

Row 9 – B, k12, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2togtbl, k2, B

Row 11 – B, k11, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, k2togtbl, k1, B

Row 13 – B, k12, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2togtbl, k2, B

Row 15 – B, k to last 5 sts, B

Row 16 – B, p to last 5 sts, B

Repeat these rows for pattern to length you desire, ending with knit 5 rows and bind off.

Spun and Plied

/ LDSVenus
Christmas yarn

Christmas yarn

 

I did get the single plyed.  I only spun one spool and so I wound it off with a ball winder and plyed it from the ball using the outside strand and the inside strand.  Sometimes when you do that they get tangled, but this one plied without any problems.

I found that when I use the double treadle I either have to slow down or tighten the tension so it is pulled in faster.  I prefer the slowing down (but sometimes I forget to do that  and the strands overtwist) because when it pulls it in faster I always feel like I don’t have as much control over the twist.  I wasn’t as pleased with this skein but it’s ok.  It will probably sit for a while since it was an experiment while I decide what I want to do with red and green yarn ;p.  Now I will take a day or two to decide what my next fiber to spin is. 🙂

My Apologies

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

Venus5ab

I apologize that I have had to put up some security measures for comments. 

I was getting a horrible amount of some really ugly spam that I had to clear out every day.  So to prevent that, you will need to register as a user to post comments.  I do apologize, I know it makes it a pain for you to have to sign in to post comments to my blog and I do love your comments, so I hope it won’t inconvenience you so much that you won’t post.  But I really did have to do something to cut the spam out.  

 

click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

I am going to be plying the green and red single either tonight or Saturday.  I spun some of each color together side by side rather than carding to blend first.  This technique made it looks like a red and green candy cane striping effect.   I should have a skein to post in a couple of days or three :).  I’m curious how it will look when it’s plied. 

Then I will choose my next fiber to spin.  That is always exciting, so many yummy fibers to choose from.  If one isn’t calling my name by the time I’m ready to start, I will just have to close my eyes and point to choose.

Scarves Re-visited

/ LDSVenus / 1 Comment
hand painted merino roving

hand painted merino roving

 

 

 

This was a beautiful hand painted merino roving that I bought from The Fiber Denn on Etsy.   I loved the color of the roving and the color of the yarn was just as wonderful, full of all my favorite colors.

 

 

hand spun merino

hand spun merino

 

 

 

I had the opportunity to wash and re-block the two scarves I knit from this yarn (one for my daughter and one for my grand daughter) and thought I would get some better pictures. 

 

 

Grand-daughter's Fan & Feather Scarf

Grand-daughter's Fan & Feather Scarf

 

 

I did this with an old Shetland lace pattern called Fan & Feather (aka Old Shale).  There are many versions of this pattern out there and all are beautiful and oh so easy to knit. 🙂  I really loved the way the color striped on the scarves, I wish I had gotten more of this hand painted color.  Maybe I can talk her into doing more of it ;P. 

 

 

Daughter's Lace Scarf - Branching Out

Daughter's Lace Scarf - Branching Out

 

The lace pattern I chose for my daughter is called Branching Out and it is a beautiful lace pattern.  It’s a bit more difficult than the Fan & Feather but only because you need to pay attention to the row you are on.  Most lace is really not difficult to knit, it’s just a series of yarn overs, knit two togethers along with knits and pearls all placed at strategic places. 

I think the colors of the yarn really brought out the lacey patterns.  I was pleased with the results and I felt they deserved better photo shots. 🙂

Hand Crafted Soap

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments
CD Spindles

CD Spindles

 

 

I decided to, as a fun project for the Activity Day Girls in my ward, to teach them to spin using a spindle.  I bought these from one of the vendors on my spinning list who makes and sells them.  The Activity Day Girls range from 8 to 11 years old and I thought this would be a fun activity.   I am sure the girls will enjoy them. 🙂  Hopefully I am training new spinners for the future :P.

 

Custom Soap

Custom Soap

 

It was time to reorder my smell good soap (one of the luxuries I decided I needed :P)  and I have to say that  Autumnoak  makes the most wonderful soap!!  She will even custom make soap for you.  She  loves what she does does and it shows!  I love her Sandalwood & Rose and the Lilac & Lavender soaps .  What wonderful smells and the soaps lather so nicely.  I also love the way the soap lasts and doesn’t dwindle away quickly.  You will have to go check out her etsy store and see all the wonderful soap smells she has for sell :). 

 

Punta/Wenslydale Wool & Mohair rovings

Punta/Wenslydale Wool & Mohair rovings

 

She also sells roving and I bought some of this wonderful Punta and Wenslydale Wool roving (the beautiful blue and white roving).  She also sent some very lovely Mohair roving for me to play with, I have never spun or handled any Mohair before and it is an interesting texture.  I am excited to see what the yarn will look and feel like when I spin it.

If you spin you should check out the very nice rovings she lists on her etsy site.  She is wonderful to do business with.

Birthdays

/ LDSVenus / 1 Comment

madison-1austin-2

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDI AND AUSTIN!

I really need to get some updated pictures from my daughter!!  Anyway we celebrate birthdays today for my daughter’s last two children which are 2 years and a week apart.  Since Austin will be 1 she figured it would be ok to celebrate them together since he won’t notice the difference this year anyway.   Anyway I get to go have fun at Chuck E Cheese today.  🙂

Amazing how fast children grow.  You have your own and then all of a sudden you have grand children that age.  But it’s much nicer having grand children.  You get to spend time with them and leave them with their mother and go home to peace and quite :P.

I’m hoping to be finished spinning with the green and red superwash merino this evening.  As soon as I get it plyed and set I will put a picture up of the skein (probably tomorrow or Monday).  Since I am spinning the two colors together and it already looks like green and red candy cane stripes together, I am wondering what the two plyed together will look like.  Someone at the spinning group, that I finally got to go to last week (it was fun), said they thought it might turn out looking cabled after plying the two singles together.  I look forward to seeing  :).  It’s an experiment anyway.