Spin A Yarn for Ewe

We are all decorated for Halloween. My Mom and I carved pumpkins and had a great time doing it. I bought myself the battery powered carver and had a ton of fun with it. Here are the results.

Everyone had their favorites of the four. This one is mine.

My honey prefers this one.

I have learned over the years that simple usually looks better lit up so that is what we did this year. We also have a few things in the yard.
The Ogre is new this year and he talks too when you walk by. We have a few other scary items up and will have the fog machine going inside for lots of scary smoke when we open the door.
Darth is also in the house. The full costume will be on tonight and it looks like it will be cool enough to not be a total sweathog in the costume.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

So I said I wouldn't bore you with white yarn photos but I lied. Here is the rambo/angora single, this is the second bobbin. The spinning has been driving me crazy with all the neps but I am trying my best to live with it.

See all those hairs sticking out? That is the angora and that is why I think it is going to be a shedding nightmare. I guess I knew that going in but I was seduced by the incredible softness of it. Sometimes the softness just wins over rational thinking. I think this yarn is destined to be a hat or headband thing as it would do the least amount of damage up there if it sheds. It will just blend in with the blonde/grey hairs.

Today is the school's big Halloween carnival. It should be a lot of fun as they have loads of games and rides. We went for the all rides wristbands as I know from previous experience that my little guy can ride a boring ride over and over and over. They are also going to have a cakewalk with tons of homemade cakes which is something I remember from my elementary school days. It was always the one game my brother and I would do over and over until we won one. Too bad we are having Santa Ana's as my guy wanted to wear his costume but somehow I can not imagine putting him in a full Darth Vader costume in 80 degree weather.

I am still spinning the wool/angora roving but I have decided not to use it for the scarf I want to make even though I am not even done with the spinning. The spinning has been a little inconsistent as the roving is not perfect. It is really nice but has lots of neps and short pieces of angora in it so it will not be a totally smooth yarn when it is done. Ir should work for some things but not the scarf.

So I decided to dye this.
I am going to use the silk as one ply but no beads. It should have the great shine of the silk and be a much more even yarn. Plus the shedding will not be an issue. I have a sneaking suspicion that the angora yarn is going to shed...a lot.

The Sunset is done. It looks really nice except for maybe a touch too much brown but over all nice.

I ended up with about 233 yards of sport weight 2 ply.

The angora/wool blend is up tonight. I have just decided to leave it natural as I think it will be best plus natural white goes with everything. Don't worry I won't bore you with pictures of white yarn but I will make you suffer through the knitting process. Speaking of knitting, the sweater is moving along and we are on to the lace portion of the first sleeve so it shouldn't be too long before I can actually wear it.

I am ready to ply my Sunset singles. They look great and should make for a fun yarn. The merino and silk has been a real pleasure to work with and this photo gives off some of the sheen it has.


I am also ready for my next spinning project. I bought this really nice rambouillet/ angora blend roving. It is beyond soft as it is 50/50. I have been vacillating whether to just spin it as is or dye it. I am very afraid of felting the angora so I have been holding off. I want to make a very fun scarf out of it so maybe white would be better.


The scarf I have in mind is one I saw in "Knitting Over the Edge." I has circles on cords at the end and I think it is different enough to be fun but not too weird. I scored this book on the sale table at my local B&N and had to have it. I might have to get the sister book "Knitting on the Edge" too. Tons of great ideas in there I would love to try.

I finally finished the Velvet Moon spinning. I am not sure why this took me so long except for the fact that my attention has been scattered over many projects. Here it is in all its glory.

I also took a close up. The color stayed together in some spots but mostly did its thing wherever it wanted. I should know better than to have a plan as that always ruins it.


I also finished the body and neckline of the sweater. I love it. I also started on the first sleeve. I have decided to work a little more stockinette before working the lace as it will line up better with the body lace and based on all the finished photos I have seen I think it will look better. I also plan to not make them so long. Sleeves that hang over my hands drive me crazy especially when you can't push them up like these.

I am on to my next spinning project already and liking it a lot. It is some roving a dyed and blogged about a while back. Thank goodness I did as I can not for the life of me remember what the fiber is. Oh....there it is. I called it Sunset and it is merino and silk.

I left a comment for someone saying what I thought she should do with the left over bits of singles you get when plying. But leaving all the info there seemed too long winded. Here is what I do with this. First you take a regular ball winder and wind it into a center pull ball when you are done tie both the starting end and the outside end together. Now get your wheel ready to go. I mean set up the tension to where you think you will need it, drive band set and leader threaded though. Take the ball of the winder and some say to insert your fingers in the middle. I am not sure if I like holding it this way as it seems to get more wrapped around then I like so I just pop it off and hold it loosely. I then tie it to the leader and start plying. The plying can be a little fiddly but you get used to it. This is how my left hand looks and my right hand is out in front controlling the twist. This is not a method I would use for lots of singles but it is great for using up the leftovers. Then you have great little 10 yard skeins to swatch with or use in the "magic" skeins I like to make for the LYS. Not my best plying job but it gives you and idea of how to do it.

I am so close to finishing the body of my sweater. I tried it on the other day and love it and can not wait for it to be done. The body has half of a purl round to go plus a knit row and then BO. I can not wait. Then it is on to the neckline. I also have to say that I have a huge love/hate relationship with the yarn I picked. I love the color, the feel of it, the way it drapes all of that is great. But I hate working with it. It loves to split and if you dare snag it with your needle beware as it is not easy to get back into shape. It is doing what I want for the look of the sweater but I can not wait for it to be done. I would definitely try another cotton/silk blend next time. Oh well, live and learn.

I also finished the spinning last night, so I finally get to move on to the plying part. I will probably start tonight during my limited TV time and hope to have it done in a few days. I vowed not to take anymore pictures until I really had something to show. Hopefully it will be some really nice yarn and a sweater with a neckline.

I wanted to add that I found a REALLY great deal on fiber if anyone is interested. Mine came today so now I can highly recommend it. I got 1 lb of superwash merino top for $10! This is a super deal and of course I couldn't stop myself and only order one pound so I now have 3lbs of it for $40 with shipping. Here's the link.

I have been working on my Simple Knitted Bodice sweater. I wouldn't say a lot but a little bit everyday and I am now down at the bottom and can almost see the bottom done. I really like how it looks even if it is unblocked and not totally done.

You can see that I did not do the beads on the lace section and I am glad I didn't. I really did not like how they looked on the swatch so I made the decision then to leave them off. I think I am going to pick up the stitches around the neck first before doing the sleeves so I can try it on and get a good idea how it will look finished.

I have also been working on the Velvet Moon roving and I am just about done with bobbin 2. Then the plying will start. This should be fun since I tried to split it and spin it so the colors would match up. Guess I will just have to hope that it worked out.

The Funky Scarf Swap has finally come to its end. All scarves had to be sent this week and I sent mine out on Tuesday. My partner, Debi, got her scarf on Wednesday since she was only in Los Angeles. My scarf came yesterday and I LOVE it. My partner, Rosemary, said she was intimidated by the yarn I spun as she wanted to make sure the scarf was funky enough. I think she came through.

The other great thing is she used a cotton/wool blend that will make it so I can actually wear it around here. The potato chip things at either end are my favorite. They look hard but they really aren't.

She also sent the skein of yarn she originally bought to make the scarf but changed her mind. It would of been very cool too.

Interesting stuff as it looks like Sari Silk but is made out rayon and cotton remnants. Definitely stuff you will not find me spinning.

I think I am going to frog the whole sweater I talked about yesterday. Even though I have spent a bunch of time on it from spinning to knitting if I won't wear it what is the point. I need to find a pattern I like for it instead now the search begins for a sweater I like, at least I know what the gauge is.