Hand over the Wool!

Getting My Mojo Back

After Critter#2 was born there just wasn't the time or energy to play with my dyes. There's almost, not quite, but almost a metric butt load of wool and yarn to be dyed in this house. Last Thursday I decided to order in food for supper and to get back in the saddle. Oh, how I missed it! I really love the beauty of turning plain yarn into unique bits of art. 

There's some superwash DK weight and some sock yarn up there enjoying the sun. Don't they remind you of jewels in a crown?

Tour de Fleece 2009

It's been a couple years since I have participated in this annual spinning challenge. This summer I really needed to get excited about spinning, so at the last moment (July 4) I managed to sign up for a couple of teams and get started on my spinning and dyeing challenges.

My challenges are:
-Dye a whole Romney fleece
-Spin 4 oz of Merino/Seacell Roving bought from an Etsy shop.
-Spin 4 oz of my handdyed Corriedale roving.
-Spin 4 oz of my handdyed Bamboo top.

The 2 teams I have joined are Stash Busters 2009 and Team Spinmore. I did set myself 12 oz worth of spinning in just over 2 weeks, but I did not commit to how thick or fine the spinning needed to be. Don't 'cha just love loop holes?

My progress so far includes about 10 oz (I think) of the Romney fleece being dyed and some spinning. The fleece is a beautiful medium to light gray which I hand washed a couple years ago and just haven't been too inspired to work with just yet. So, since I have about 8 other fleeces waiting in the wings, I figured it was time to have some fun and throw some dye on it. Don't you just love the vibrant colors?

And my spinning, well all I can say is wow! Having kids and limited spinning time has increased my spinning speed. A couple years ago it would have taken me weeks to get this much wool on the bobbin, by lastnight I had spun up 2 oz of the total 4oz, destined to become a 2-ply sort of worsted weight yarn. During the afternoon nap time and in the evening I was really cranking out the yarn. The wool is a Merino/Seacell blend, picked up on Etsy, I have to find the fiber label so I can tell you who dyed it.

 

Critter#1 says "I'm helping Mama! I spinning!"

 

Maybe I'll get enough yardage to do a scarf? Hat? Cowl?

Rainer Cherries!

After 3 tries I managed to dyed Merino close enough in color to the original batch. It had been a very long time since the original batch was dyed and I've changed colors in my dye stock bases since then. The reward for my diligent work is:

A box of Rainer Cherries! The real color is a bit more vibrant. No, they actually are little nests of the dyed wool, waiting for their turn on the wheel. Each one is maybe 1.5" across, and are really to big to be cherry size, but the colors and the cuteness just begs to be called cherries.

There's a little more yellow and a little more green and even some purple in this batch of wool. No idea where the purple came from. It is spinning ever so nicely as I used my Superfine Merino (80s Bradford count) combed top, which is the same as I sell in the Etsy shop (see right side bar). I can finally see the end of the spinning part of this project and I'm really excited to start the knitting phase thus producing a finished February Lady sweater just for me. I did finally get gauge on US6 needles but am being a good girl and finishing the spinning first. This delayed gratification stuff is brutal.

I'm finally getting some fleece dyed and posted to the shop. It's Romney fleece hand scoured and dyed with acid dyes.
 

Double Grrr. Too Orange and Too Red

Grrr. I dyed up some more Merino for my Orangy-Red Project. Twice. Still missed the mark. One batch was way too red and the other way too orange. Both were much too saturated in color and not salmon-colored enough. Double Grrr. The pict below shows the too red on the left, the too orange on the right and the just right in the middle.

I did try spinning the orange up and it just doesn't work, you might be able to see the little test area on the bobbin above. Much too bright and vibrant, even though I used green to tone that down. I currently have more Merino pre-soaking for yet another dyeing session. In other news here's yet more knitting on a most neglected second sock. The yarn is Koigu and I'm just doing a generic sock pattern.

FLS and the Orangey-Red Yarn

I have read about finishing handspun yarn in a manner that most of us would consider to be abuse. You know, hot wash/cold wash(repeat several times) beat the yarn, smack it around a little. I was having a little bit of a day yesterday and decided to give it a try. Think of it as a little variation on my normal fiber therapy :-)

Below is a picture of two skeins, the top is underplyed and the bottom is just right. They are spun from the same fibers.

I'll apologize for the crappy picts, you know how hard it is to photograph this color, and I didn't want to set up my light box.

Anyhoo, the picture below is the bottom yarn from the first pict. This yarn started out being round and pretty fluffy as one ply was spun with much more air, more of a semi-worsted single. The other ply was very strictly spun worsted method, with no air in it at all. The texture of the 2 plys together is a little subtle and as you will see in a couple pictures it doesn't show in garter stitch. After the yarn torture and drying this yarn might have been a little more fluffy, and in its new "just a smidge" fulled state was scratchier than the original yarn. This is Merino folks, you have to expect fulling to result from yarn torture. Wait until you knit a swatch before screaming in frustration. Trust me.

Again, sorry for the quality of the pict. The below yarn was the top yarn in the first picture. It was under plied and stringy, and as you can see it is still under plied and stringy but much fluffier. If I had thought about it I should have done before and after WPI measurements. Either way this yarn must have more twist added to it if it will be used for the project. If adding more twist makes the yarn funky there's no problem, as this was a runt skein, maybe 30 yards long.

Look! Knitting! It has not been seen on this blog for months. I can knit with no loss of feeling or tingling in my left hand at all! My right hand still falls asleep but not as fast as it did before going under the knife. I am an advocate of Carpel Tunnel Release surgery, can you tell?

Below is the swatch of the well plied yarn, it has a really nice even texture and wonderful variegation as it knits up. I'm loving knitting. The swatch is for a very popular pattern, February Lady Sweater. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn and this yarn varies between DK to worsted weight. Thus I am forced to swatch. Grrr. This swatch was knit with US8s, and after washing was only getting 15 st/4", so more swatching is required to get the 18 st/4" required. But you know what? This sweater is for me! Yay! This will be my first sweater knit for me, as DH has "The-Sweater-that-shall-not-be-named" and Critter #1 has 2 sweaters knit by me. Oh, and remember earlier in this post I said the finished yarn was scratchy? Ha! This swatch is very soft and cuddly. Not scratchy at all. Ya again!

And can you believe this, I'm running out of the solid hand-dyed singles, so I had to dye more. I've got a lot of plying to do before I can start knitting as everyone usually says to finish all spinning before plying. We'll see. This picture might have been in better focus but Critter #1 ran by and snatched the full bobbin and took off in a series of victory laps around the house, the snatched bobbin held high in pride. So you get one very fuzzy picture, sorry.

Post Surgery and Big Shop Update

I did a big shop update last night, FREE SHIPPING thru 2/14!

     

My surgery was moved to 7am on Friday. Which meant I had to be at the hospital by 6:30, no food or drink since midnight the night before. This terrified me more than surgery. No food!? For a pregnant gal!? Are you nuts!?  I did survive, but barely.

If you care about carpel tunnel surgery, read on. If not there is pretty colorful wool at the end of the post, you can skip to it. There is one very small picture of my healing incision, so if you are freaked out about that skim past it.

They actually got me into the OR about 7:20, place the IV and shot my offensive wrist and hand full of Novocaine (which was the most painful part of the surgery), and washed and draped my arm. Because of my pregnant status, Novocaine is the only painkiller my OB and I felt safe with. He thought I could maybe use a sedative too (as he saw me giving birth to Critter#1 with her ginormous head {90th percentile for newborns, poor women who give birth to those babies with even bigger heads!} which was aided with Demerol) but I declined any sedatives, didn't want the risk.

My surgeon came in around 7:40 and tried to tell me every little detail about the surgery as it was happening. Ha! I very politely asked him to keep quiet, and told him "ignorance is bliss Doc!", and I was striving for bliss at that moment, or at least a glimmer of my happy place (anywhere with wool, of course). I don't like needles and I don't like to be cut open when I'm awake and not sedated. I focused on the heart monitor and my deep breathing, trying to not let my heart rate get above 85, and did my best to stay calm as they did not use a tourniquet during the surgery either.

All said and done, it really wasn't that bad. I was stitched up and back in my little recovery room by 7:55. By 8:45am I was at home, prepping for a much deserved nap. Here's the bandage I had to keep on for 3 days:

Then Monday morning I was allowed to move onto my normal brace. I know the thumb can go through the little hole, but then I use my hand too much. This way is better for now. Like this I can still ply yarn.

The incision is barely 1 inch long but looks worse as they stitched it under the actual cut. It really doesn't hurt that bad, and is getting better everyday. By keeping my thumb immobilized I really reduce my ability to over do and cause injury to the healing area.

Of course, there's no real way to keep me totally fiber free unless I'm unconscious. On Saturday I was going crazy just surfing fiber blogs and really needed to do something. I tossed 8 oz of Corriedale pencil roving in to the roaster and went wild with color. Can't wait to see what this looks like spun up!

Bread, Dyeing, Plying, Critter and The Offensive Wrist

Remember the blue batt I paid Karen as rent on the Supercard? Go see what she did with it on her blog posting from 2/3/09. I'm so glad she liked it!

I plied some of the Orange-Red yarn last-night:

And dyed some Merino/Silk top:

And made a loaf of bread for today's meals:

As you can see DH's lunch and our breakfast has been deducted from the loaf already. This bread does not last very long in our house. :-)

And Critter #1 is starting to potty train. The red star necklace under her leg is her favorite accessory and even graces her nightie first thing in the morning. Little honey.

 

And to finish the post out, the last picture of my offensive left wrist before my excellent surgeon spend a very quality 15 minutes (if that) performing Carpel Tunnel Release surgery on it tomorrow afternoon.

It kills me how much the world's shortest surgery costs, but as I'm experiencing nerve and muscle problems and I'm only in my mid 30's I see this procedure as an excellent investment in my future. After not knitting for more than a month, my had still goes numb on the steering wheel and while working, not to mention at night even with a brace in place.

Don't forget! Free Shipping in my shop through Valentine's Day!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I know, bloggers that don't blog are a big pet peeve of mine also. Aside from not knitting for the last month due to increasing numbness in both hands while knitting ( carpel tunnel sucks) I have been dyeing fiber and yarn like a nut and spinning. It's odd that spinning doesn't induce CT symptoms but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

As far as the Christmas gifts, my mother loved her mittens and my mother-in-law loves her slippers. My dad as it turns out has some top of the line elk hide slippers so I didn't need to knit him a gift. I got about 25% done with my FIL's slippers and I couldn't finish due to the CT. He ended up getting a plate of deviled eggs (seriously, he was more excited about those than the slippers, go figure).

About 2 weeks ago our whole family became sick. The critter had a double ear infection and a cold. DH came down with a cold that developed into walking pneumonia. I had a cold that lasted about a week, and developed a 3-pack a day voice that made my mom laugh her butt off every time she called for an update. We are finally better and getting back to normal.

I managed to spin a couple of skeins of a merino kettle-dyed top I've been meaning to get to.

Plus I found yet another 8 oz of that Coopworth roving I had spun up last year. I did manage to get it spun and plied, but not washed yet.

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary, and we are spending it with DH working late and I washed a pound or so of Cormo fleece I picked up at last year's Shepherd's Harvest. Check out the before and afters:

 

I usually use Dawn to wash fleece, and that is why I haven't washed fleece for about 2 years. There is so much rinsing involved even with vinegar. I tried the roaster pan method Judith MacKenzie McCuindiscussed in the last issue of Spin Off. Didn't care for it. I lined up the locks in the lingerie bags and used a plastic storage bin that came with holes in the sides and I added 5 more to the bottom to facilitate drainage. The true secret to wool washing/scouring is using the right detergent/wash. I have had a bottle of Kookaburra Scour stashed under the laundry sink for about a year. What a waste, I could have been washing my stashed fleeces this whole time. It works so well, I giggled with glee and went back into the basement to get more wool to wash. This Cormo was covered and very free of VM but has a healthy amount of grease in it. I found that 2 washes plus 2 rinses (each lasting about 10 min) was more than enough to really clean the fleece using the hottest water out of my tap. If you have fleece to wash, order this product right now. I mean it.

As I mentioned I have been dyeing like a nut have have been updating the etsy shop over the last couple days, and still have yarn to be posted. I can't stop dyeing wool. It's like an emotional high for me. I love the magic of the color play. If you've never dyed wool before, try it. You will love it too!

Oh, and by the way, we have visual confirmation via 2 ultrasounds that Critter #2 will be a girl. And is perfectly healthy. That is the best gift of all.

Unspinning and Plying

Well, remember the orangy red singles I finished this past spring? I way over spun them. When I started ply some samples it just wasn't working. The sweater I am planning to make with the yarn would have been hard and heavy and just not comfy. What to do? Unspin, of course!

 

The bobbin on the left has been unspun (spun to the left instead of the right) and the right bobbin is the original.

I might have forgotten to post about the wool I dyed to go with the original variegated top. I took about a pound of Merino top and kettle dyed it with red, orange and a smidgen of green. After plying I got the softest yarn I've ever spun, and it has plenty of character.

Also, I joined the Ravelympics and Team Knitting Camp. After finding the Knitter's Almanac at a used book store I am in love with EZ's methods and the projects of the book. I'm doing the "Nether Garment" (leggings) in some sort of stripe pattern to be determined as I knit, in true EZ fashion. Once I have a bit more than the caston to show off I'll post.

Blue Batty Batts and a Huge SALE

Before I get into the batts, I wanted to mention that I am having a HUGE sale in my etsy shop:

handoverthewool's Shop Announcement

*****4th of July SALE! Through July 4, 2008 (Friday) buy one item get the second at 50% off plus free shipping for all items ordered through July 4, 2008. *****

See? Told ya it was huge! Head here to shop.

On to the batty batts. A couple years ago at my first Shepherd's Harvest Festival I bought a couple oz of raw Rambouillet fleece. After washing it I let it marinate in the stash for a while until it was time to dye it. Ta-daa. Here it is after running the fiber through the drumcarder. There's a slightly blueberry blue center to the mostly turquoise outsides.

Batty batts? The Critter and I have one TV shop we watch together, Bunnytown. If you've seen this show you know what I'm talking about. We DVR the show and dance together during all the songs and then I find myself singing the songs to myself throughout the day, which earns me a few strange looks from who ever might be within earshot at the time. My favorite bunnies? Hands down the Cave Bunnies. "I push rock!"