Oh yes

I like this spinning thing.



I bought this batt at SAFF in 2006.



I think it's BFL, and about 4 oz. I lost the tag for it, so I have no idea, really.



I also don't have the foggiest idea about yardage. My mom offered to buy me a niddy noddy when we went antiquing the other weekend, but I declined until I get more into spinning. In retrospect this was a poor move.



...I have 6oz of new roving on the way...

Super chuffed and also kind of annoyed

Turns out Kiwi Knitter and I had the same idea: Don't blog for a long time, and acquire a large number of FOs. Then the next post will be all amazing, and we will look like crazypants awesome knitters.

Being all unemployed like I am, with my propensity for sitting on my duff in front of my computer (I used up all my exciting in New Zealand), I've got a LOT to show you. Grab a cup/mug/jug/box of your preferred beverage and get comfy.



This is the baby surprise jacket I made in NZ (out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport). I finally sewed up the seams (though I haven't put all the buttons on, so it's not actually done yet), and I am totally pleased with how they look. I actually looked up the proper way to seam, and it looks way better than what I was doing (which, it turns out, was basting).



Look at that. That's so pretty. (I bought these GREAT blue hippo buttons and put one on, but the buttonholes aren't QUITE big enough, so I think I'll find four better-fitting ones to put on the rest).



I made a Grrr! It's not for me. I like the embroidered face, but the back of the sewing looks not so good. I am only minimally concerned about this.



My first singles, getting wound up to be plied. This picture just made me happy.

And they, plus my blue singles, got turned into this:



Somehow, in the original spinning of singles, it didn't occur to me that blue singles + grey singles = marled yarn. I don't much like marled yarn. But I did it anyway, because by the time it occurred to me to Andean ply each color on itself I was too far in.

I'd read this link about plying a balanced yarn, which made for a pretty loose ply. Then I read on Ravelry that yarn doesn't need to be balanced immediately after plying. Instead, you wind it on the swift, soak it in hot water, soak it in cold, repeat hot then cold, wrap it in a towel and gently squeeze the water out, then take it out and give it a good solid whack on the sink (or wherever). Then turn it and repeat. This makes the yarn "bloom" and should (so they say) make it more balanced. There you go.

This is what Janice had to say about spinning:

That bit about letting the yarn ply back on itself to determine if it's balanced ONLY applies to very freshly spun yarn. IOW, if you want to see what a balanced 2-ply yarn would look like from the single you're currently spinning, do this: spin out a long length, and then double it back on itself RIGHT THEN. Smooth it down and let it find its own level of plying. Break that bit off and keep it as a sample.

After that, spin as much as you want, then ply your singles so that they look like that sample you did. As long as you're spinning your singles pretty consistently, you should be fine.

Whacking yarn and wet finishing it will help fix some things. They don't really BALANCE the yarn per se, because that's determined by the amount of twist in the singles vs. the amount of twist in the plying.

And I don't care what anyone says, I staunchly maintain that "balanced single" is a meaningless term. There's nothing for a single to balance AGAINST. Soft-twist or low-twist single describe the yarn better.

BTW, blocking yarn doesn't get rid of twist in singles either. The yarn that I used for my SAFF sweater last year was spun many, many years ago. I'd blocked it on niddy noddies as I'd spun it, and it looked pretty straight in the skein. But as soon as I put it in water to wash before dyeing, *sproing* all the twist energy was released, and I had little curls and twists all over the wet yarn. :)

(I tend to spin with a lot of twist.)

She knows way more than me about this stuff.

And it's about 205 yards. I have no idea what to do with it, if anything.

The remaindered blue got Andean plied into this:



A much tighter ply. Note the artful application of dog fur on the left.

I also pulled out my new Koigu and cast on for some socks:



I'd seen a sock on some blog (I'd love to know where so I can give credit -- anyone remember?) with a nice light texture pattern that went:
1. K1P1 around
2. & 3. K around

A good idea, I thought! But I changed it to:
1. K1P1 around
2, 3, 5, 6. K around
4. P1K1 around

Deciding, as I do, that following patterns are for suckers I decided to wing my first toe-up gussets.

This sock sucks.

First, I can't get it over my heel.



Then I can't get the heel over my heel.



Then it cuts off circulation in my calf.



And finally, the heel just looks funny.



So it's sitting in the corner until I can gather my wits enough (or stop being distracted long enough) to frog it.

There's one more FO, but I need a different picture of it. It's one thing to put a mildly saucy picture on Ravelry, and another entirely to put it on my blog.

This spinning thing, though...



...I might be hooked.

Bits & Pieces

Some of you may have noticed that waaaaaaaay back in September I won a contest on Mari's blog, and then never mentioned it here. I have good reason! You ready?

I won about a week before I left for New Zealand. The plan for me was originally to find a place to live in NZ, and so Mari was going to send the package to a friend of mine, who was going to add to it, then forward it on to me. Flawless, right?

Except that I never settled in NZ, so there was nowhere to send the package. Between busy schedules and life just being what it is, I didn't get the package until after Christmas. Which is fine by me, I'm happy to accept gifties anytime.

And what a gift! Check this out!



At the bottom and on the right are 2 skeins of Koigu KPPPM, in the middle is a skein of Sundara sock yarn (!!!), and the needles are, obviously Pony Rosewood. None of it is stuff I've tried before, but all of it is stuff I've wanted to try!

Needless to say, there was much prancing around when I opened the package.

Thank you Mari!

Someone on Ravelry asked in a forum how to knit faster. Here are my tips:

1. Don't have a job. Frees up lots of time for knitting.

2. Live with your parents. Without a job you have no income, but with parents buying food and paying for things like heat you can use whatever savings you might have for wool.

And, less hilariously:

3. Don't read blogs. It gives you a false sense of other people's speed, and seeing 400 FOs in one day makes one despondent.

4. Project monogamy. Sucks, but does make things go faster.

Look! I made socks!



Final successful cast on: January something.

Finished weaving in the ends: January something.

The originator: Basic toe-up pattern to 60 stitches (should've done 64) with a short-row heel.

The string: Schaefer Anne

The sticks: Size 1 dpns.

Pattern shmattern: I don't like short-row heels. They're always a little pointy until they get worn once or twice, and they're a little too small for my feets.

And I'm working on a scarf, because, as it happens, I don't have a decent one. Seems wrong, somehow, to be a knitter and not have a good scarf. But I brought out my cashmere (NOM NOM NOM) and have cast on for a brioche scarf.



Of course, immediately after casting on I learned that cashmere goats are super bad for the environment, but... you know. So is cotton. So I'm not going to worry about it right now.

The other thing I'm doing with my plethora of free time is teaching myself to spin. I bought a new drop spindle with part of my gift certificate to one of the LYSs here, read an article and watched some things on youtube.

I had some Merino 64 from The Yarn Tree last time I tried to learn how to spin. Turns out? Spinning is hard. My consistency leaves something to be desired, and I need to study up on some more expletives because I just don't have enough for this learning curve.



And I find I'm getting the beginnings of a blister on my drafting thumb. Is that normal?