She Was Twisted

I just love how it turned out. Took me two tries – the first one I knit I ripped out because it was coming out too big and bulky, the second, just right!

This is the beginnings of a new elf hat for a customer. She requested red, black, and white/silver. I found a gorgeous variegated red yarn that I combined with a dark charcoal wool and a shiny silver-grey. I love the way the colors are working! It is made to be a loose fit so that it doesn’t flatten your hair every time you wear it. Easier to pull on and off too without all the static. (well, at least not as much!)

I know I’ve talked about this before, but now here I go again.

Here are some of the new yarns that I will be posting in the shop in the next few days. I spun these from art batts that I blended up on my drum carder. Lots and lots of variation, color shifts, and textures. But the best part? The weight. I love, love, love how light and fluffy of a yarn you get when you corespin. It is nothing like the usual handspun yarn from a carded batt, which can sometimes be a bit heavy.

What is corespinning? It is a technique where instead of the fiber being twisted on itself to make the yarn, the fiber is wrapped around a center core yarn – in this case, a wool blend yarn. You get an entirely different look, and like I said, a different feel. It takes a lot longer to spin, but is soooo worth it. *love*

I think I just found my next “real” knitting project. It is the Blissful Blue Top by Lion Brand.

I call it “real” simply because it is knitting in difficult stitch patterns, and having to follow a pattern. Both of these are something I usually avoid, as I like to make up my patterns and let my handspun yarn do all the work as far as visual interest. Not that either is any better than the other – just a different style of knitting. I have not tried to follow a pattern in awhile, so this should be fun!

Isn’t it just wonderful! And from Lion Brand – which doesn’t always have patterns to my taste. (too much fun fur and novelty yarn) So now I have to figure what yarn I want to use, or if I’m daring enough to try to spin up enough yarn for the project.

Stay tuned!

I’ve been playing around with spinning handspun curly doll hair yarn out of hand-dyed Leicester wool locks. But I hadn’t really thought about how it would work with knitting. So I set out to try it out.

I used up some scrap wool locks that, due to all the excess vegetable matter trapped in the locks, were pretty much worthless for anything. I also had some roughly carded Romney wool that also needed to be taken out to the garden due to all the junk in the wool, so I thought these two wools would be perfect for my test swatch.

I alternated the curly with the carded wool, then threw in a few lines of merino wool top for contrast. I spun exactly the way I would for the doll hair – a bit overtwisted, nice and messy.

Here is my skein.

Pretty!

I chose to knit a basic swatch using 3 stitches of garter around the edges to keep the swatch flat. Size 11 needles, at approximately 3 stitches per inch.

I love how it came out! Especially if the curly parts were alternated with more of a smooth top. Much to my surprise, however, much of the personality of the curly yarn was lost in the stockinette stitch, but not too much to bother me. The backside seemed to absorb all the craziness, which is typical.

10 pounds of raw Leicester wool locks are awaiting!

I have found that the urge to go out to eat on my lunch break becomes null and void as long as I have an exciting knitting project with me. Knit AND save money? Cha-ching! That TV dinner that I brought to work with me suddenly seems A-OK.

I actually snapped this photo a few days ago, of the beginnings of the Fast Track Handbag by the lovely Nikol Lohr. I’m knitting with my corespun yarn from a few post back. I still have to handles to do and it is complete. Will post pics soon.

Next!

QUICK! SOMEBODY PUT SOME PANTS ON THAT POOR BOY! is what the caption should say. ha ha. Yes folks, this is a real vintage knitting pattern. Always entertaining!  (the sweater and vest are really cute though!)

I’ve been experimenting with corespinning lately, and I’m just loving the effects. But I started to wonder whether all the extra time and effort was worth it. Let’s take a look:

First, what is a corespun yarn?
In my own simple way of explaining things – A corespun yarn is created when you wrap your fiber at a 90 degree-ish angle around a center core, usually a thin cotton or wool yarn. You can control how tight or loose and fluffy you want the wrap to be by controlling the amount of twist with your treadling. (something I am still working at.) The effect is quite lovely, as it takes on an appearance all on its own.  …or does it?

These 2 skeins were created by using one of my crazy batts, split in half. One half is spun into a super bulky single (left), the other is corespun around a cotton thread (right). As you can see right off the bat, they are quite different in appearance. Also, the corespun yarn is almost twice the size of the regular spun yarn. (the cotton core is the same yarn you see in the photo that I used to tie the skeins – not thick at all.) Nice! Now do remember that I am a beginner corespinner, so mine is not quite wrapped at the 90-degree angle it should have probably been. I kept finding myself trying to angle my fiber supply down as I normally would. Habits! So moral of the story, is that I’m sure as I practice I will get a more distinct wrap.

Before spinning, both of these batts weighed 1.6 oz. I was able to get 50 yards from the corespun, while only 26 from the regular spun. (Do note, however, that the regular spun is a tiny bit bulkier, so take these numbers with a grain of salt.) Corespinning does indeed stretch the life of your fiber while creating a lighter and fluffier yarn.

See the difference in the twist? The right (corespun) has more of a distinct barber pole effect than the left. (regular spun) If you were to hold these two skeins in your hands, you would be amazed with how soft and fluffy the corespun yarn is. It is just gorgeous!

Now the burning question? Is it worth it?
It took me about 40 minutes to spin the corespun, vs. a merely 20 to spin the regular. I’m sure as I spin more, I could get faster, but not too much. It does take a lot more effort and time to corespin, in my opinion. However, look at the yardage! Talk about being able to extend a precious fiber!  So YES, I think it is indeed worth it if you do not mind the extra time and effort. It creates an incredibly soft yarn with a nice round shape, and perfect balance.

I think I will spin some more!

Test knitting with your own handspun is the best ever. You get to spin something you might not otherwise spin – all for yourself. This one is not too daring, however. All I did was spin scraps of handpainted rovings, separated by a solid color, alternating thick sections with thin sections. I didn’t pay any attention to what colors worked or not. I just grabbed one after the other. So far, so good!

Eventually this will be a neck warmer-type thing. I’m hoping I have enough yarn to get the length I need. Good stuff!

I spun this yarn years ago and knitted it into a scarf that I didn’t like. Too loose a gauge and too much shedding. So I ripped it out and decided to try again with some mitts knit at a tight gauge. Loving it so far!