Author Archives: atangledyarn84

Spinning Lamb For The First Time

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I have A TON of some lamb, alpaca and silk farm raised fiber in my stash. This was donated fiber that came with my hitchhiker wheel. It is not a very soft fiber to work. It is spinning very thinly but I feel like there are maybe some guard like hairs worked into this blend? This my first time spinning this fiber so it’s all an adventure for me.

This is the project I chose after my targhee singles were done but I am not sure how I feel about it. The singles have quite the halo as I work it up. And its not super joyfull to spin. I have to pull quite hard to draft the fiber thinly.

I am going to keep working on this to see if it gets better/easier. But this may be a no go for me. Life it too busy to work on project that aren’t fun. Happy Spinning!!

Targhee Singles

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My prediction for these targhee singles was CORRECT, I couldn’t put them down. I have two finished bobbins with 2 ounces of singles each.

This was a delight to spin and was easy to control as I was making singles. I will 1000% spin this fiber again. Now I just need to be patient and let these singles rest before plying. That and decide what to spin next!

Happy Spinning!!

Catbells Reignited

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I have a confession, its been a year since I have touched my Catbells cardigan. I just wasn’t feeling it but I have had the itch to have more sweaters for winter and my cold office.

Thanks to a little women’s college softball on TV, I have the first section of the upper back done. It took me a minute to get into the groove of the lace but I got there. DEFINITELY have some mistakes in there. But you know what? Dark navy yarn hides a lot of sins, lol.

Now I need to break out my Ott light and pick up stitches for the right front. My eyes aren’t what they used to be!

Happy Friday and Happy Knitting!

Let’s Spin Some Targhee

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My spinning mojo continues unabated! After finishing a bunch of smaller 4 ounce bats, I decided to try spinning from a braid again. I pulled some Targhee top from Fiber Love Diary from my stash to spin. I even took my wheel outside to take advantage of the cooler spring temperatures.

I undid the braid and split in half by length so I could spin on to two bobbins again for plying. This fiber is soft to the hand but not slippery. I don’t think this spinning will take very long I can feel the sirens call of this project.

Happy Spinning!!

Surprised By The Sparkle

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My white merino yarn came out of its bath beautifully. I was actually surprised to see a pronounced sparkle! I did not notice ANY sparkle as I was spinning and plying. I am wondering if it was dulled by spinning oil? Nevertheless, it was a welcome surprise!

The dyer called this color “Righteousness” so that is what I named this skein. I ended up with a 113 gram skein measuring about 182 yards. So mostly a heavy worsted to aran weight. I can tell my spinning is getting more refined as I am making a more consistent worsted yarn instead of a bulky weight.

I just need to label this skein up and get it into the special handspun stash! Happy Spinning!!

Cast On: Celebrate The Night Socks

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Since my Stark Effect Socks were done, I felt like diving right back into the self striping sock yarn pool. I may have a decent stash of it, lol. I pulled a sock kit from The Cozy Knitter, a Canadian dyer, and started a new pair of socks.

This is her Celebrate The Night colorway on her 80/20 merino and nylon base. The sock set came with a purple mini and I did decide to use that for heels, toes and cuffs. I am fairly confident this will come out as a muted rainbow. So very on theme for what I have been knitting lately!

I am hoping this will be good for my upcoming travel knitting needs. Happy Knitting!!

That Was Quick

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I had some merino blend fiber jump on and off my wheel very quickly last week. I had four ounces a merino, bamboo and sparkle blend that I bought from The Shepherds Mill when I took spinning lessons.

I weighed and split the fiber in half so that I could work from two bobbins. This fiber just spun so smooth and quickly. I think the singles rested longer than it took for me to actually spin them. I did my go-to 2-ply and ended up with this skein.

It it is a little overspun and is twisting back on itself. But I think a good bath and a solid thwack should set this just fine. I think this will turn out to be a thick and thin worsted? I’ll do a final weight and measure after its dry.

Happy Spinning!!

FO Friday: Stark Effect Socks

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I did manage to clean my craft area just enough to find a plastic tapestry needle. Not my first choice but it got the job done and my Stark Effect Socks are complete!

Pattern: My own 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe”

Yarn: String Theory Colorwork Inertia Self Striping in the Stark Effect Colorway

Needles: US 1

Mods: none

They turned out fantastic and a great fit on my foot. As with all my afterthought heels I add in extra plain rounds to the heel to accommodate my high instep.

They are also almost a perfect match. Which I totally managed and did on purpose. It does mean I have to tiny balls of yarn left that aren’t in color sequence. I will still find something to do with them, probably my memory blanket?

In the meantime, I’m off to pick out my next sock project! Happy Knitting!!

All But The Heels

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Thanks to some TV show binging my Stark Effect Socks are complete save for the Kitchener on the toes!

The good news is that I’m getting fairly proficient at grafting. The bad news, I can’t find any of my tapestry needles so I need to either clean or buy more, lol!

These socks have just brought me so much joy to watch the bright colors pop. I did in the end decide to use the rainbow yarn for the heels. Probably would have looked cooler with black but I couldn’t be bothered to put in that effort. I just want these socks on my feet!

Happy Knitting!

Deliciously Chocolate

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My beautiful natural chocolate Romney yarn is complete! This….I’m SUPER proud of!

I ended with two worsted to slightly heavy worsted skeins of 2-ply. After washing it plumped up to be 396 total yards and 213 grams. Roughly half in each skein so not a bad job on my part for the dividing!

After seeing this finished and putting it next to my other natural color Hand-spun…..I might be close to a sweaters lot of heavy worsted if I work stripes. And that excites me! They only caveat is that it’s not all the same fiber content. It’s all non-super wash but many different breeds of sheep. I might have to research my idea before I go to far down the rabbit hole…

Happy Knitting!!