Still Knitting and Spinning and still a mom.

It's a good thing knitting is not usually time sensitive, or at least not the way I do it.  The start of the new school year is always a big rush of new knitting for me, not only the fall weather and the promise of chilly months to come, but the extra time in the day when I'm not responsible for my girl.
I have been coming to the realization that I don't knit a lot with my handspun, but when others knit with my handspun I get very excited.  In the effort to create a little business that at least helps offset the money I spend on fiber, I often spin what I think will sell.
I finally knit a shawl with a gradient yarn.  I love Corgi Hill Farm fiber and especially this 60:40 Polwarth and Tussah silk blend.  I spun a super fine single and n-plied to get 500 yds of heavy fingering weight yarn.

Then I knitted a pretty little shawl called Sugared Violets, by Rose Beck. 

In a fortuitous accident the color change from green to light purple occurred right at the point the stockinette section ended and the little garter stitch and yarn over sections began.  I love the feel of this yarn and the shawl, and I'm happy to have confirmed that my handspun is lovely to knit with.

It feels comfortable and stays wrapped well, and I'm torn between keeping it or putting it in the shop.

I have so many shawls that I can't wear them all and it seems sad to have them sitting on a shelf.

 

10 project challenge-a flurry of stash knitting

 

Over in the Bohoknitterchic group on Ravelry we've been doing a 10 project challenge, where the goal is to knit or spin 10 projects from our stash of yarn and fiber before buying more yarn and fiber.  I've been knitting busily for a couple of months now, but I haven't shown you any of my projects!

Up top there is my Featherweight Cardi, a design by Hannah Fettig, knit in Knit Picks Shadow Tonal.  It fits just right and I'm very happy with it.  Our local knit shop Stash is doing a Hannah Fettig KAL, so you'll see quite a few of her designs walking around Corvallis soon!

This one is my Girl Friday Cardigan, the quintessential tweedy, cable and lace, shawl collar cardigan.  I used Kathmandu Aran that I had from frogging my Pimlico Shrug.  I found some lovely $5 buttons and fortunately only needed three of them! It's perfect I think..

 This cowl is just a simple K3P1 cowl knit from some of Savetheplanknit's hand spun.  I won it in the TdF and Ravellenic Games in the Boho group.  It was wonderful bobbly thick and thin stuff and I love how the cowl came out!

 This hand spun is from some more of my local Romney and BFLlocks from Ironwater Ranch.  I added wee silver bells to it and it's for sale in my etsy shop here.

 This circle scarf/cowl is a test knit for my friend Shannon, which I knit with some Hobbledehoy Fiber that I'd spun while wrapping with a metallic thread.  I love the colors and couldn't bear to sell it in the shop, so I knit with it!

And this one is Avery from Melissa LaBarre's pattern.  I knit it with some super soft Berocco Pure Merino, which has for some reason been discontinued.  It's the best accessory, goes with everything, easy to wear, lovely texture..
There are a few more things done recently, but I'll share those another time!

Sophie Cardi

This is what I've been knitting for the past couple of months.  It went a little slowly because I was making up the pattern as I went along, but I finally finished.  The yarns are from a SAL that I did with my friend Bohoknitterchic's Ravelry group.  I had a 3 oz batt that I spun into 516 yds of single ply yarn in the fingering/lace weight-ish range.  I had 2 oz of locks that I corespun into 80 yds of worsted/aran weight and 11 yds of tailspun.  I had a 3 oz braid of BFL dyed in a coordinating color, which I spun into 213 yds of two ply.  I wanted to get a full cardigan out of it, so I decided to knit top down so I could go as far as possible with my yarn.  I cast on with the corespun and did evenly spaced increases to create a round yoke out to the shoulders.  After I ran out of corespun, I did two rows with the tailspun locks and then began with the single ply batt yarn.  I did a few short rows to round the shoulders.  (Next time I'll do more of these, since there are still folds at the armscye.)

I knit short sleeves plus a band of garter stitch in the BFL yarn for the cuffs.  Then I continued down, doing some decreases to high waist and increases after that for some shape.  I ended with another band of garter edging for the hem.  The buttons are handmade from deer antlers, something I pick up at Stash!

I'm very happy with how it came out, it fits just right and shows off the hand spun, and I got a whole cardi out of 8 oz of fiber with quite a bit leftover, maybe I'll make some fingerless gloves to match.

Camp Pluckyfluff May 2012

Camp Pluckyfluff, Lexi Boeger, INCREDIBLE.  Those of you who've drunk the Kool-Aid already understand.  I'm not sure how to explain for anyone who hasn't!  We had this amazing bright room at Eugene Textile Center with windows and beautiful lighting and sunshine coming in the open door.  We had oodles of drum carders and a buffet of fiber.

We spun blindfolded for a while, to teach our hands to spin, and to stop trying so hard to master the fiber and just let it be.  This is very hard for someone like me who likes things to be "right."  We had the amazing Heather (Girl with a Hook) with us and her wonderful suitcase full of hats, which we tried on.  They are delightful.

They even fit me with my super-sized head.

 Here is the yarn I spun half blindfolded and plied with thread.  I love it-it's bright and colorful and textured and beautiful.

 This is what we did on Sunday, Coil Boil, which took forever on my Fricke with the tiny orifice, and when I was Navajo plying it, I had to pull it through the orifice still.. I really need a new spinner with a big orifice, but I also need a drum carder, so I think the carder has to come first.

I'm going to have some yarn in the Stash booth at Black Sheep  Gathering in Eugene in June, so I'm hoping to sell enough to fund at least one of my needed tools!

Some fun with a drum carder

 

 I have been fortunate to have the use of a drum carder for the past few months and am having loads of fun with it.  I've been buying lots of raw fleece and locks as well as the fun add-ins, sari silk, firestar, angelina, dyed bamboo, silk, soysilk, silk noil, yak down and more.   This purple and pink on is a base of Shetland that I processed myself and has sari silk and soysilk and firestar in it as well.  I've sent a few batts out to friends for feedback since I am considering selling them in the etsy shop as well as Stash. 
In other fun fiber news, I got the new Jacey Boggs book which had many fun things to try, so this is my first yarn from that book.  It's called racing stripes, and even with my imperfect beginners skills, I love how it came out.  It's a batt from Inglenook (etsy shop) with yellow soysilk barber poled around it.   I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sell it, since the wrapping yarn is sort of uneven in places, looking more like an autowrap, though it is a strong and stable yarn.

 This is another batt party, some gorgeous soft merino locks that I washed and dyed with a bunch of other stuff, yellow BFLxBorder Leicester locks (from Linda at Dayspring), mohair locks, sari silk.

So if you've got an opinion about whether you'd like to see some batts at Stash, and what variety you'd like (textured, smooth, or both) please leave a comment.  Also, photos of finished objects from Brandyann yarn that I can use on my facebook page and publish here on my blog are good for a coupon on your next purchase.  Send to me at brandyannfoster@yahoo.com  And please let me know if you'd like your name associated with your photo when I use it.

Yarn Yarn Yarn and more YARN

 I've continued to be on a spinning streak, I sold quite a few yarns in October, which provided the funds for more fiber and the need to restock my cubbies at Stash and the shop as well.  The first one up, is a batt from Inglenook Fibers.  The lady whose shop this is, is a Greek Orthodox nun who lives in a convent.  I thought that was interesting.
Next up is an extreme thick and thin yarn from a continuing favorite of mine, Woolgatherings, and she is from Washington..maybe a good choice for Stash? 

 And this one is also from Woolgatherings, Polwarth Silk..my latest favorite roving blend.

 This one is Sugar and Spice, from Unwind Yarn Company, another favorite shop of mine.

 And this one is from a batt I made from some of that Shetland I bought and washed and dyed and carded with some merino and silk noil.  I called it Grape Juice and Cheddar (wine and cheese for tots).

 And this one isn't a great photo, but the yarn is fabulous, corespun from a Bohoknitterchic batt.  I love it, it has pretty yellow mohair locks fluttering off of the main strand.

There've also been some knitted objects finished in the last couple of months, but I'll save those for the next post.  This one's getting a bit long with all of the pictures.  But I'm sending a big THANK YOU out to all of you who've supported my little business.  You help make it possible for me to keep spinning, and spinning helps me retain sanity in this stressful time in my life!

  HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you. 

Spinning day at Stash

 Sonia and I hatched a plan for a spinning and carding day at Stash last Sunday.  Amy of Anchovy Knits, and Kate (yarn soon appearing at Stash), and Tracy (yarn at Stash to the right of mine) brought drum carders and I dyed up a bunch of my fiber in anticipation of having some carder time.  Here's the table covered with our stuff! 
And I finally took a picture of my yarn on the shelf at Stash, though not a great picture.  Lighting's beautiful, but difficult for cameras.

 Here a big skein of Polwarth and Silk from Corgi Hill Farms that I finished last week, and is now in the shop.  It's really squishy and soft. 

 Here's another shot of the Jaguar yarn, also in the shop, from Hobbledehoy.  This yarn is so amazing, if you can afford Hobbledehoy, you should, but if you can't, you shouldn't get hooked :)  It's just lovely, lovely, stuff.

 Here's my coils, which I made Brittany (Bohoknitterchic) teach me how to do before she takes off for Montana.  I can't believe she's leaving us!

 And here is my prize accomplishment.  A corespun merino, milk silk, mohair locks, angelina etc yarn from a batt I made Sunday with fiber I dyed myself.  I called it Rumplestiltskin, though I know that's a little self-promoting, it's terribly soft and I love it so much!

 And this one I made yesterday while I was home sick.  Kate graciously loaned me her drum carder, and I carded up the baby teeswater and kid mohair and some other pink stuff that I got from  Brittany on Sunday into a really textured batt and corespun it.  It's very textured and incredibly soft.  I'm calling it Baby Elephant Walk.  I'll get a more detailed photo soon, but this one might end up at Stash.