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January 2020
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March 2020

Mystery Socks and Beautiful Yarn

I had a great week! I completed the Mystery XII Socks by Knitters Brewing Company, Let It  Snow! socks:

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Pattern: Let It Snow! socks by Wendy Gaal

Yarn: Knitters Brewing Company Sockaholic II fingering weight, 75% Superwash Merino & 25% Nylon, 460 yards per 100g: color ESB (Extra Special Blue)

It was a really fun-to-knit pattern! I might make it again. It had mosaic knitting (which I usually hate) and lace (which I love). This time, I loved the mosaic knitting. I guess I trusted Wendy Gaal, whose patterns are always well-written.

 

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One goal I had for 2020 was to spin more, which I have totally been doing, and I finished up eight ounces of lovely superwash merino from On The Round that I got about two or three years ago. I started spinning it right when I got it, but then I quit for some reason -- inertia takes the blame -- and now FINALLY it is all spun up. And I love it so much!

It's a shame that I never took a picture of the roving before it became yarn. It was all pretty colors, but when I spun it, the reds and oranges became the predominant color (and I love red and orange) and the yarn became a lovely dark red with other colors all mixed in.

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(There is a bit of the roving I spun showing at the top of the above picture)

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Now it is all ready to knit. Pogo was being really loving this morning and tried to help me so much to get the right picture. I better knit a shawl that she can curl up in!


Brrr, It's Cold: Must Be February!

Yesterday morning it was 0°F or -1°F at my house. That was tropical though; up in Aroostook I think it was -35°F or something. Maybe even colder.

So it was appropriate that I finished my Still Waters Cowl and my Kittycat Socks right when the shivering started.

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Yarn: mystery yarn on a cone, don't even know what kind of fiber it is, but it is fingering/sport weight. It is soft and warm and not itchy!

Pattern: Still Waters Cowl by Michele Rose Orne

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Yarn: DROPS Fabel 4-ply weight, 75% wool, 25% polyamide, 224 yards per 50g. 2 balls grey (#200), 1 ball off white (#100)

Pattern: Kittycat Socks by Lumi Karmitsa; in The Knitter magazine issue 136

Stay warm knitters!


January Spinning

On my Make Nine list of goals, I had "Spin at least an hour per week". In January  I had a goal to spin 4.5 hours; I was able to spin 14.07 hours. Wowza!

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I made a nifty little spreadsheet to put my spinning time in. It adds up all the minutes for me, so it's easy.

Spinning is my meditation. I spin mostly in the morning to get my head and my body to align and get used to the day. Although, my days are pretty stress free and I only have half a brain left, so there is that.

Spinning uses a lot of physics. I'm not talking about speed of the wheel or ratios, no, I'm talking about inertia. See, when I sit down to spin, I plan on spinning about 20 minutes ... but I find that I actually spin about 40 minutes on average. Once I start, it is hard to stop! Inertia takes over! But on the other side, once I stop, it is very hard to start. Previously, I stopped spinning, and it took me about two years to overcome the inertia. When I take one day off, that day tries to inveigle itself into three days or a week. After I took several days off for a knitting weekend recently, it was hard to make myself spin again, but I'm glad I did! It is hard to overcome inertia.

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That fiber is from On the Round that I got three or four years ago when they had some one-of-a-kind merino on sale. It may be superwash, not sure. I got eight ounces. I've already spun the bits on the side; only the big bit on the top to be spun, and then it will be plied and washed and then the knitting will begin! I can't believe this has been waiting to be spun for two years. That is just criminal.

At first my yarn was about DK weight (the part I spun two years ago) but now I spin a two-ply heavy fingering weight naturally. I think most people do, but I haven't fact checked it. If I want a thicker yarn, I'll just ply more than two plies together, for hats and mittens and the like.

I'm a weird spinner, because as soon as my spinning is done, I knit something out of it. I never have yarn spun up that I haven't knit. But, as far as I can tell, that is unusual. Most spinners never seem to use their yarn, or do so rarely. This I also haven't fact checked, it's just a  feeling I have. Do let me know if I am right or not. I'd love to see what you have made from your handspun yarn!