knitting and spinning and weaving, oh my!

I have always had lots of hobbies, and have fluttered from one to another at whim until I have either outgrown the hobby, getting all I needed from it, or reached a stage with it where the effort to pursue it in more depth was greater than my interest in carrying on with it. When that happens, I move on to another.

Some hobbies have managed to hold my interest throughout my life. In the case of knitting, it is like a true soulmate... I understand it, I can read it's most every move and intention, and my fondness for it just grows deeper with time. What's not to love about making a web of fabric that stretches, can transform whatever it embellishes and molds to become one thing on me, another on you.

Spinning is another love that just deepens and becomes richer with time. There is something so magical about taking a handful of fibers and plant materials and having the ability to transform them into threads and art yarns with a turn of the wrist, a hum of a wheel.

And then there is weaving, the wondrous taking of spun threads to interlace into what often appears as just gauze and transforms through the process of finishing into integral cloth for garments, household items, art forms and more.

When you participate in these crafts, you learn that the possibilities are endless... in fact, it's often hard to decide on the final project because there just are so many options and creative choices.

For me, when I make some time to work on these endeavors that I love so much, it's often hard to choose which love to honor... will I knit, or spin, or weave or (felt or dye or...)?
So now, I just let the muses tell me where to focus my attention for that time. I no longer fight them or try to second guess which would be the better effort to work on.

Yesterday, then, was weave day. I had this warp measured from handspun for a couple weeks, and it hit me yesterday that I had the perfect yarn for weft to make a scarf. I couldn't wait to get to the loom! Here it is, all finished up.

Once around my neck, it realized it really needs to be part of a jacket...

that's what I mean... one thing just leads to another in an endless stream of possibilities!

Fiber Science is so Cool!

Yesterday, I talked about my scarf that was being made from 2 50-gram skeins of a beaded yarn and how it felt so much heavier than that. The mystery as to why...

So, today, I started working through the questions...

The skeins weigh exactly 50 grams, so the total scarf weights 101 grams. This caused me to scratch my head for awhile...

I took out 2 other 50-gram skeins and held them in my hand, eyes closed and they feel the same, so that pretty much confirmed the results.

Still, the beaded scarf has a weight when it drapes that another 100-gram wool scarf does not have.

So, here's my theory... silk weights much less per volume. 100 grams of silk at this size would have yielded many more than 200 yards of yarn. The bulk of the weight of the yarn, then, comes from the beads. The weight of the beads is greater than the weight of the yarn. As a result, the beads pull the scarf down and make it feel heavy...

Now, this is not a tested theory, but there has got to be something of truth in it. When I put on the scarf, it does not fly away as any other silk scarf I have/know, but it lays against my body like a coat of armor. With or without a closure or tie, this puppy is not going anywhere.

And here she is!

And the detail.

I'm working this up in Jitterbug, too, a really springy machine washable merino. I'll post that soon, and look for the pattern! This is a fun, fun, knit that looks so much more complicated that it is. Will I make this up in a beaded yarn again, probably not. Will I play with beads in knitting? oh yeah, because the theory has not yet been proved...:) and you know how it is with curious minds... we have just got to know!

50 grams is 50 grams, right?

I've been knitting a beaded yarn project, in between other things. It's a scarf made from Artyarns beaded silk that I got on my little roadtrip to Comfort a couple weeks ago. The yarn is a very beautiful 2 ply silk, with one of the plies having little silver seed beads.

The yarn was an exceptional indulgence for me... at only 100 yds per skein at a luxury price. The scarf I'm making takes 2.  Given that I no longer have a disposable income, it was more than over my budget. But I absolutely love the yarn, the color, the feel, the shimmer. and it was an impulse I couldn't resist. To be honest, when I grabbed the yarn, I thought 2 scarves, one for me, one for gifting (can you hear the justification?)... the 100 yd skein did not really hit me full throttle. Once it did, c'est la vie! And I don't really believe in buyer's remorse... if I love it, I love it. So a 2-skein scarf it is.

I have spend time thinking about this, though, as I've been knitting with it. I have thought of every justification that comes to mind for why this scarf makes sense...about all the sale yarn I've purchased that sits in personal bins and baskets and will probably end up being donated to someone else's project or will be just stash that outlives me ... yarn that, over my lifetime, has amounted to many times more than the cost of this scarf . I've thought about how much I envy this scarf for it's sheer beauty and anyone else who might wear it, I've thought about why I feel the need to justify this to myself, especially since I already own it and, finally, how much I embrace this scarf and how I long to wear it.

Which has brought me to thinking about wearing this scarf... I'm about 3/4 done with it now and it has hit me that it is remarkably heavy with all the beads. There are loads of beads. And this little 2 skeins of 50 grams of silk with beads feels so much heavier than that.

Really, think about it... skein of cotton/tencel is 50 grams and feels light and airy. 2 of them feels light, still. Yet 2 skeins of this yarn feels like there are weights on it (aka heavy glass beads). Is the yarn really 50 grams? is it the weight of the fibers without the beads? or is it a perception issue that transcends our norm? I'm so curious, now, I can hardly wait to find the answer, but have my perfecto scale at the shop, so will have to wait until tomorrow to actually weight the scarf and see what's what...

Interesting how a simple scarf out of yarns that I have lusted for, could lead to all kinds of interesting questions about life and science.

I'm hoping I can solve this final scarf mystery tomorrow.

Living in the Imagination

I took a road trip by myself a couple of weeks ago, thanks to Carol, who took care of the shop. It was a gloriously sunny day, and I toured the hill country, visiting yarn shops and eateries along the way. I haven't done that in quite some time and it had the hoped for effect... I came back energized and with renewed excitement for all things fiber.

I love going to shops I haven't visited before and it was fun to get the chance to finally visit The Tinsmith's Wife in Comfort and Stonehill Spinning in Fredericksburg. Of course, I had to buy yarn, and even got some beads for knitting! It was a lovely, refreshing day, enjoying fiber and friends.

End result, I've just been going crazy with project ideas, imaginings of new colorways, spinning of designer yarns and planning weaving projects... so much that I've had virtually nothing to say. I know, it's hard to believe... but I've been so busy talking to myself and living in my own imagination, that my words to you all have been virtually non-existent!

That will not last for much longer, though. Why? I have been designing several projects, including a really cute scarf and hat pattern, and several woven projecs.  Also, I've finally gotten myself set up as a designer on Ravelry under "Susan Fricks" and "Yarnorama", so you can find my patterns there. I've got 3 free patterns and the Love You Sweater available there now, with more to come. And I've finally gotten some ads done in Ravelry which allow you to see the yarns we have in stock. I'll have links to all this on the Yarnorama web site in the next few days, too.

The cool thing about living in the imagination for me is that I have a burst of energy that sooner rather than later comes out on the physical, tangible side as real projects and ideas to share with you all. 

I think you will really love the things I've got in the works! At least they are wonderful in my imagination!!

Understanding the Concept

I'm a 'needing to understand the concept' girl, rather than a 'give me the directions so I can be good to go' type. I'd love to be able to just follow directions, and I do follow them lots and lots of the time. But if there is something that nags me, I just can't let it go until I understand the 'why' or the concept.

Case in point, the humble 'slip first stitch' in knitting of some patterns. I've followed this instruction since as long as I can remember following knitting patterns. Sometimes, the pattern says slip the first stitch, sometimes it says to slip the stitch purlwise. I may have even seen it sometimes written to slip knitwise. I'm asked nearly every week if it really makes a difference. I've, generally said to follow the pattern. And if I'm on a knit row, I would slip knitwise, if it didn't say, and slip purlwise on the purl side.

Well, today was my day off and I actually had time to spend doing nothing in particular... quite the novel experience for me these days. What it, also, meant is that I could play with some of these ideas and really see if there was a rhyme or reason as to which way to slip the stitch. And what I discovered was quite illuminating. There is a reason to slip the stitch purlwise, whether on the knit side or the purl side. There is truly a concept, a 'why', that explains why this is often explicitly spelled out and, if it's not, you want to slip purlwise. 

When you slip the stitch purlwise, the stitch remains seated in the right position, front leg in front, when you turn your work for the next row, either a knit or purl row. Who knew, huh? It is, actually, a pretty important concept that keeps the edges or other like stitches from becoming twisted.

So, all these years, I've sometimes done this correctly, sometimes not, but only because I never understood why I was doing it. Now that I know, I can always know how to do it correctly.

I love understanding concepts! It means you just have to learn something once and can then apply it to countless examples. And now that you know the 'why', you, too, will want to slip purlwise, no?

When Yarn Mirrors Our Mind's Picture

I've spent the past couple of evenings spinning a lovely norwegian handdyed fiber. It's been an incredibly easy spin and lent itself to lots of sampling. And sample, I did.

First, I had in my mind that I would spin yarn for socks from the 4.1 oz I had. I thought a 3-ply, actually a navaho/chain ply would be lovely to show off all the colors clearly. So that is how I started.

Not quite accurate... First, I divided my top into 2 equal pieces, each weighing 1.85 oz, leaving mw with .25 oz to play with.

So my n-plied sample was from this, and came to 22 yds. That meant (by doing all the math), that I'd only have 280-300 yds for my socks. I wanted more yardage, so changed plans to a 2-ply of the same thickness.

Here are the results. I love the finished yarn and can't wait to use it! Umm added to my project list...

(oh, and for those who remember my 2010 goal to use up my handspun yarn, I'm not doing so well, as I'm creating more faster than I'm using what I've already spun... ideas for solving this???)

Love how this yarn came out!

Have You Seen the Wildflowers?

It's a new month and time for our new colorway! The original theme was springtime and I couldn't resist taking my inspiration from the amazing colors in the wildflowers. They are absolutely stunning and en masse this year. If you get a chance, take a drive up Hwy 21, where they are coming out everywhere, or along CR1440, between Hwy 21 and 77 in Giddings. I can't recall when I've seen them so abundant and varied!

So, without further ado, here is the fiber and the yarn. Fiber is corriedale cross, $15/4oz braid, and the yarn is 100% merino bulky, 110yds/100 grams, $13.50 (5 skeins make up into one of those "Baby Alpaca Vest" shrugs that we all love to wear.

Enjoy!