The fiber - Spunky Eclectic Romney in the Eclipse colorway.
On the wheel.
On the Niddy noddy
I have never before considered knitting with singles. I heard that if you knit with singles, your project will skew to one side and I don't need any help causing problems with my knitting projects. ; ) In addition to that, the thought of spinning a single that had enough twist to stay together and still not feel like a piece of string was intimidating.
I was reading on a Ravelry group over the weekend about fulled singles - how to make them and why. I was intrigued. I had finished my Finn plying and was looking for something small to spin on the wheel to give me a break from the dark brown and found a bump of Romney (one of the breeds being studied this month) from Spunky Eclectic. I decided to spin it loosely and a bit thicker than my usual. It was already on the wheel, partially spun when I read the thread about the fulled singles. I decided to give it a try - the colorway is pretty but not my things, so no great loss if I totally mess it up.
Waiting to be fulled.
I felt like the spinning police were going to break down my door any second - scrubbing freshly spun wool - purposely agitating it, and then boiling it and dunking in cold water alternately! OMG!
It was still wet last night, so I can't tell you how the experiment turned out yet. It didn't look all that promising. I did take photos and I'll share those along with my conclusions and whether or not I'll repeat this experiment. BTW, it was hard work, so it will have to be good to be worthwhile.
My Finn skein is dry and now that I've gotten color out of my system for the time being, I'll go back to spinning the rest of it. The Finn is soft and fuzzy. I am not used to fuzzy yarns, so it will take some research and experimentation to decide what to knit with this yarn. Photos soon.
I have a marginally (if you measure with a micrometer) wider Linen stitch scarf, an almost turned heel on DH's sock (for the second time, after the ripping needed to shorten the foot) and I have ribbing and the beginnings of some cables on a handspun hat for eldest son. The pattern is the Greenery hat and it looks good so far. I was concerned since the yarn is not solid, but I'm happy, and more importantly, he is happy with it.
I bought yarn on Thursday at my LYS. I had NO intentions of making a purchase, didn't need anything, was happy with my current projects and yearning to have another FO. But the yarn, the yarn I had been fondling and yearning for over the last few weeks, was *on sale*. I had to buy it - it was Fate, right? The yarn is Llama Luxury and I went with the greys. I *had* to stop back on Saturday to pick up one more color, though, because the pattern that I settled on called for 3 colors, not 2. I will use the graph to make fingerless mitts (or mittens) and a cowl instead of the hat. I have not yet cast on. At least I managed that much restraint.
We might have lost our Mac desktop yesterday. Gulp. DH was working on a lighting project and found an outlet wired incorrectly. It caused a short which tripped the circuit breaker (as it should). Our computer was on at the time. It was plugged into a good quality surge protector but that apparently didn't help. Everything else plugged into that surge protector is working fine but the computer doesn't even power up. Nothing. Gulp. We have a LOT of stuff on there that is important. We are hoping that replacing the powering up part will fix the problem - that we don't have to replace the whole computer. We have a Mac. We like Mac. We can't afford another Mac. Keep your fingers crossed, please.
Oh, now that I typed that, I realized that I am not sure I can post any pictures for a while .....
Have a good day.
ETA
Well, I wrote the above on Monday and it's now Thursday. I haven't been down to the basement to check on my fulled singles, I haven't loaded my photos onto the computer but the computer, at least for the time being, is working! We are not certain what happened to stop it or start it again. It will be going to the doctor next week for a check up and DH has started backing everything up. I am hoping to talk him into an external spare hard drive .....
I've been knitting away on my hat for a Maryland Senator/Representative for the Warm hats, not hot heads thing (see previous post). I'm using Woolese for it's washability and some wool content in navy blue - it should be fine for anyone to wear. I'm knitting a 4 x 4 rib - again, not feminine or masculine so I don't have to worry who the recipient will be.
I am also knitting on eldest son's hat (knitted with my handspun). I love the look of the cabled pattern but I am sorely tempted to chart it to make the knitting easier - it's text only and I am so not accustomed to that for a cabled pattern. The linen stitch scarf and socks and also getting attention. The sideways vest that was an UFO is still in that state - I haven't yet studied it to see if I can bring it back to WIP status and finish it.
Mom's hat is going to get totally frogged. The hat is too big. I wrote to the designer to verify the number of stitches for a pattern repeat to eliminate and she very graciously wrote back that due to the nature of the hat shaping, just eliminating a pattern repeat would not work. It would be likely to make the whole thing out of proportion and just make it look weird. She offered the suggestion of a tie to cinch the band tighter but I think it's too much too big for that. I believe I'll try for different yarn - worsted instead of aran weight - and see if that does the trick. I love the hat and the pattern so I am determined to make this work. We are going to visit Mom this weekend and I hope to get her out to shop for new yarn. I am sure that I can find another use for the yarn I originally chose.
Lunch time is just about up so I have to get back to work. Have a good day.
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