What to do with those Mini Skein Sets?

Cheryl and I just finished five weeks of shows. We were vendors at four of them, and buyers at Maryland Sheep and Wool (which was right in the middle of those five weekends). We get a lot of interesting questions while we are vending. Questions I would never predict that knitters would ask. Like, "wow these mini skein sets are beautiful - what would you use them for?" Don't all knitters buy first and figure out what to do with it later? Just me?

My goal now is to make samples to show those knitters exactly what can be done with the mini skeins. AND I get to knit with them, too. Bonus!

I started with a set of 6 mini skeins (100 yards each) that gradated from green to blue that Cheryl gave me for my birthday. I love the colorway. (if left to my own devices, I'd probably make everything in these colors. I'm very drawn to them.)

After much searching on Ravelry, I saw this Haruni in GirlGoneLoopy's projects. (a ravelry link) I absolutely adore how the violet and light blue contrast in her Haruni's edging makes a pretty scallop. So I contrived to make my set do that.

After reading the Haruni pattern, I laid out my 6 colors from light to dark. According to the pattern, half the yardage will be used for the edging, so I made sure to put the darkest and the lightest next to one another inside the edging, and finish with the next lightest. The shawl is worked from top to bottom, so the skeins will be knit from 1 (top) to 6 (bottom edge).

(pic does not show how gorgeous the colors are. Hopefully I can get a better pic of the work in progress.)

To keep track of which skein was which, (and keep the skeins clean) I put each in a little zipper baggie and labeled them 1-6 with a sharpie (next time I will use some painters tape on the baggies; the sharpie wore off after a few days.) I wound them into center pull balls as I needed them.

I decided that making this project was technically "working", and not just making myself something to wear, so I made sure to sit down and work on it every day. Right now I am knitting on skein 4 in the edging. The rows are getting very long, and my husband now knows that "just let me finish this row" could mean 15 - 20 minutes, not the 2 that he's used to. I am looking forward to getting to skein 5 to see what the contrast looks like! I hope it looks as good in reality as I am imagining...

Here's a pic of the work in progress:

It is getting a bit big for my needles, so it is difficult to spread out. I will take more pics once I get it off the needles, and onto my blocking board! (should only be a few episodes of "Mr. Selfridge" til it is finished.)

Knitting the Scarf

Now that my handspun is dry and wound into center-pull balls, I am going to start knitting.
I want a substantial scarf, but I also want it to be long enough to wrap around my neck a couple of times. So, I measure the yarns' wpi. The GreenBlueViolet came out a little bit thinner than the Arctic Ice, but I'm not worried about that. I settled on 24 stitches per row, on a size 6 needle.

With the Darker yarn end (Violet in this case), cast on 16 stitches.
Work a K1P1 rib for two rows ( *[K1, P1], repeat from * to end.)
DO NOT CUT YARN.
Attach most contrasty end of second yarn and work two rows K1P1 rib. (both my ends were the darkest teal, so I just picked one and started knitting.


*Start working with first color again, but pull it from UNDER the second color. Work 2 rows.
Pick up second yarn from under first yarn, making sure to pull it from UNDER the first. Work 2 rows.
REPEAT from * until almost out of yarn, end with 2 rows the darker yarn, cast off in rib.



 

The knittings is finished! I tucked the ends in, and this project is complete.

 



Time To Ply

The weather was nice, so I spun outside for awhile. That is the Green Blue Violet in the works. The bobbin with the Arctic Ice is on a bobbin in front, see?

While I was still spinning singles, I somehow lost the end of my single in the bobbin. After hours of trying to find it, I gave up, broke a strand that was (I think) near the lost end, and kept spinning. I never found it. Even while plying. Weird.

 

Now that I have all my singles spun, it is time to ply. To keep my colors as solid as possible, I decided to use a chain ply (sometimes referred to as Navajo ply).

I put my full bobbin on a lazy kate, and started with a loop. I am plying with an "S" twist. Then as, the spin comes into the yarn, I pull a new loop through the old one, before it is spun closed. I use a short draw, pinching with my left pointer finger and thumb, while pulling the loop through with my right. I really like the way the yarn looks, but I know it will get fluffier after I set the spin.

Arctic Ice

Green Blue Violet

After plying, I skeined the yarn up and tied it in several places. The yarn gets a bath, and then I snapped it and laid it out to dry.

 

 

I repeated this for the second skein. Once the skeins are dry, I can wind them into balls and start knitting!

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Spinning the singles

My fiber is prepared and ready to spin:

Next I need to decide what weight yarn I want, and whether to spin a single to knit, or singles to ply. If I'm plying, I will be N-plying (or chain plying) to keep the colors solid. I practiced on some undyed wool, and made this little card to remember what I was doing. The card is nothing special, ant piece of cardboard will do. I think this one is a label off of a piece of clothing. I wound the single around a few times, then let the singles ply themselves by holding three lengths together so they wound around each other. This will be my reference while I am spinning.

Just a quick clean and oiling for my wheel and I'll be ready. I have two wheels. I have a Louet S15, a gift from my mother. I believe she bought it in the early 1990s, and it has since been discontinued. I don't know why, it spins beautifully. I also have a RoadBug, a Christmas gift from my husband. It took me a little while to get used to this little wheel (going from a ST to a DT, and it is about a foot shorter than my Louet) but once I did, WOW. She spins like a dream, and I love that she has a spot for all her tools (oil and orifice hook) and the double treadle is wonderful.

Here's her picture, with my first day's spinning on it (I started with the hank of Arctic Ice. Love it!)

More spinning to do, but now I need to figure out what to make for dinner... ;)

Splitting the top

Today I'll be splitting the top to prepare for spinning. My plan is to split each piece into two, so I will be spinning six pieces of each color. Then, I'll be chain plying to keep the colors together.

First I laid out the three pieces of the Arctic Ice:

Then I split each one into two:

To split them, I push my fingers through the piece and feel each side, checking that they are equal.
Then, pull the sides apart all the way down the piece like this:

Then I wound up each piece with the light on the inside and dark on the outside.

I repeated this process on the Green Blue Violet hank. I took a look at the pieces and they still seemed too thick, so I split them again. Here is a comparison of each piece, the one on the right is the first splitting (1/6th of the hank), the one on the left is the second (1/12th of the hank).

I decided I liked the smaller piece, so split the rest of the Green Blue Violet and also the Arctic Ice.
Here are all the pieces.

After a mental head slap, I realized I would need to reverse half the cupcakes to make spinning easier. Now I can get to spinning!!

Scarf Spin A Long!

It is March and time to start the Striped Scarf Spin-A-Long! (See Ravelry for more info on prizes and how to get your kit!)

Cheryl dyed me a lovely Spin To Knit Scarf Kit - in the colorway "Kelp Forest".

which is a combination of the colors "Arctic Ice":

 and "Green Blue Violet":

 

 It's a Merino Tencel blend. Shiny and soft!!

Someone wanted to say hello...Hello!

Each hank of fiber is 4 ounces, in three pieces. My plan is to split each piece, and spin each of the six pieces, reversing every other one so there is no sudden color changes. Then I'll be chain plying the singles to keep the colors together.

Tomorrow, I'll split the pieces of top and get ready to spin! Woot!

New Year, New House

Whelp, after the week long "quick" cleaning and stashing of clutter for visitors this Christmas, I find I am sick to death of the crap. I am determined to get the house in order in the coming year. As in TOTAL OVERHAUL of all household areas.

I found this group on Facebook that is doing the whole house, room by room, for 14 weeks. Sounds good to me. So I signed up.



The program starts up again on January 4th, with week #1. So for now, I'm contenting myself by starting on week #6, the Master Bedroom. I will take some before pictures tomorrow, but they won't be pretty.