Tag Archives: handspun

Finished: Emotional Support Chicken #3

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Let me introduce you to Clara the Emotional Support Chicken!

Pattern: Emotional Support Chicken by Annette Corsino (Rav Link)

Yarn: My own handspun skeins

Needles: US 7s

Mods: I totally knit the beak from the wrong direction but otherwise stayed on task.

The kids decided that Clara did not need a waddle so she doesn’t have any chin decorations. I am really happy with this finished chicken. I liked the combination of colors in the accent areas. I still have leftovers from all three colors in this chicken so I can absolutely make more chickens. I just need to find the next recipient.

Now I need to get Clara packaged up and sent to her final home with my friend! Happy Knitting!!

All Plied Up

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It took me a few bobbins and about 1,000 adjustments but I managed to get all of the singles into plied yarn. And it only took four bobbins for this SSK fiber mini spinning project.

Bonus points, the view has been pretty nice here at the Grandparents. I need to wait until I get home and get this yarn wound off into skeins to wash and measure. I finally felt more comfortable with the tension and moving the parts around by bobbin #3.

The three bobbins on the right are all 2-ply skeins where I just let the colors combine as they came off the singles. I had a little bit of singles left on one of the bobbins so I chain plied all those to use them up. It will make a wee little skein.

All in all, I am pretty pleased so far! Happy Spinning!!

Plying With The Tools At Hand

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I have the weekend booked at Casa Grandparents and I am without all my tools. But I wanted to finish spinning this handspun I brought on my Sparrow.

I found a cardboard box in the recyling and stole two wall hangers for thread from my mom’s sewing room and made do. It was not the smoothest plying but it is putting yarn on the bobbin.

I am still learning this e-wheel and it’s setting. I am struggling with the tension and take-up compared to the Kiwi 3 I have been spinning on. And at the end of the day, I am still making yarn. So as long as I am having fun, I am doing it right!

Happy Spinning!!

Enough Stuffing?

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Emotional Support Chicken #3 is ready for stuffing.

I asked my Mom if she had some stuffing I could use and she brought me a 5 lb full box of vintage polyfill stuffing. Lol, I think my chicken will be fine!

However, in editing this photo I noticed that I made an error on the eyes and the beak. I knit them from the wrong side. Easy enough to detach the eyes and move but the beak is a bit of an oops. I am just going to leave it. AND I am going to seam the chicken from the correct side. I just can’t live with the wrong side out. I guess that will teach me to pay attention!

(Semi) Happy Knitting!!

The Second Bobbin

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The second bobbin of my SSK spinning project is filling up nicely. I managed to give the grands to the grandparents for the evening and snag some spinning time and a cold beer.

I am still spinning with no plan and just grabbing whatever color feels good. All vibes, no plan. And I am still getting used to my Sparrow e-wheel. It takes a few tweaks now and again, especially after transporting to and fro. But I am learning as I go and I think it is going okay.

A few more minutes of alone time and I will have these singles done! Happy Spinning!!

A Third Set Of Chicken Breasts

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Emotional Support Chicken #3 has moved to the chicken breast portion.

These short rows really do have me counting all the time. It is fairly ingenious construction with a nice finished look and short rows in garter are my favorite. I need to complete another step and then I think I will work in the darker brown.

This chicken will go to another work friend who could benefit from an office support chicken. I just need to get the gift package together…

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Emotional Support Chicken #3

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I still have some Emotional Support Chicken mojo after finishing #2. So here comes #3!

I had PB and Jellybean pick out the the next handspun. PB picked some Romney 2-ply and I grabbed the leftover of the unknown brown 3-ply and the creamy romney white leftovers. I managed to get the tail feather completed and connected.

I think I am going to mix the accent colors of the white and dark brown colors against the main medium brown color. I have enough to play around with color on this one. And still have leftovers for #4.

Happy Knitting!!

FO: Emotional Support Chicken #2

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Emotional Support Chicken #2 is done and stuffed!

Pattern: Emotional Support Chicken by Annette Corsino (Rav link)

Yarn: My own (early) handspun

Needles: US 7s

Mods: None

This finished chicken used up just slightly over 200 grams of handspun yarn. I have a nice size chunk of the cream left and a tiny knob of the brown. I think the finished chicken looks nice but is a little body heavy. It was interested to stuff compared to the first one. I ended up using more stuffing to create a more balanced chicken.

PB has named this one Ruby and she is a little harder to find a nice pose. But I am getting ready to box her up and send her to Aunt Barb.

Dare I knit a 3rd chicken? Happy Knitting!!

A Flat Chicken

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Emotional Chicken #2 has reached flat chicken status.

I really like this mix of colors for this version. The red and yellow especially pop against the cream. I do think I possibly messed up the breast section. This chicken looks a lot deeper and rounder than my first one.

I still need to knit the bottom piece and do a lot of seaming. And procure more poly-fil as I used up my stash on the first chicken. That bag lasted me more years than I care to admit. I’m interested to see if new or better options exist now!

Happy Knitting!!

Okay, But More Singles

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Happy Labor Day to those that observe.

I did some noodling and decided that I am going to combine my SSK 2024 fiber minis with my SSK2025 fiber minis. This would give me 12 ounces of fiber in total to work with. I am thinking considering a three ply or possibly a 2 ply that alternates which bobbing I am pulling from.

This second bag of eight ounces, I did a wee bit more planning. I laid the minis out and sorted them into basically warm and cool color families. It was not a perfect system as I did have to do some mixing to get the ounces to be two equal four ounce portions.

Now to get these started on my wheel! Happy Spinning!!