Thursday, July 16, 2009

A Bit of Everything Thrown Together

Last week, I finished my pair of socks (dubbed Blueberry River socks) because I used a "waffle/woven" knit stitch for the cuff but used a specific guidelines* for the "Riverbed Architecture" sock. And the color is variegated with varies blues and purples.

Blueberry River socks

And since those socks were my "train knitting", I started a brand new pair of socks using the same Riverbed Architecture guidelines, because
a) I have the same exact yarn but a different color
b) I only have one skein of that color and I know that I need only one skein for a pair of socks using the Riverbed Architecture.

I'm not sure what to call it since the colorway are purples and yellows.

As a costumer, I find it fascinating that as part of the knitting process, you're building the fabric (from the ground up) to wrap succinctly around a 3D object, instead of taking a flat piece of fabric and manipulating it to fit around a 3-D object.


Drop Spindle:
I'm getting better at the drop spindle. I've been keeping a notebook of progress for each set of rovings/top spun. I've more than tripled my first attempt of the measly 12 yards. I'm only using the drop spindle about 10 minutes a day, but it's helped. My hands are getting a better 'feel' for what they're supposed to be doing.

So my experiment is thusly: 1/2 lb (8 oz) of a wool top. I've separated them into 4 piles of 2oz.
I've been getting about 10-15 yards more each subsequent set spun, which isn't too bad,
My last attempt (#5) netted about ~80 yards of yarn at about a sport/DK weight.
My current attempt is probably going to double that as it's more of a sock weight yarn.

The experiments are mostly for me to get better because I picked up some beautiful tussah (wild) silk rovings, and it's like petting a soft downy kitten, and I want to make it into something.


Dyeing
I dyed the 3rd/4th set of yarn I spun up using Kool-Aid of all things. I had some Jacquard acid dyes on order for overdying some fabric, so I'll make use of it for the yarn as well. I think I stretched out the yarn a bit much during the drying process, but I'll rewash them to put the crimp back into it.


*Guidelines because the "pattern" involves *you* figuring out the actual size of the foot, your gauge, and looking up numbers to see what you *should* be knitting for the toe, heel, gusset, and cuff.

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