Spin City!

Things have been moving quite quickly around here. Still are, actually, so this will be a quick overview/update.

SOAR was last week in Sunriver. I got to be there for the 3-day workshops and had a marevelous time in Spinning 101 with Maggie Casey.



We learned all kinds of things and enjoyed working with a washed Corriedale-cross fleece and a gorgeous Polwarth fleece, too. It was my first time experiencing Polwarth and boy, am I hooked!


Yes, it's just this luscious!

We did short draw, long draw (even with cotton), woolen, and worsted spinning. We learned Andean plying and although the wrap around my hand got pretty tight, I managed not to lose a finger doing it.


My first worsted-spun, Andean-plied fiber.

Here are some of our sample skeins. We each got a little bit of multicolored fiber from Louet and took artistic license with how we spun and plied it. You can see some of the results here, along with some cotton and some of the Corriedale, too.




On Tuesday morning, we awoke to a dusting of snow. It was beautiful.


I had to leave on Wednesday afternoon for the next adventure of the week, so I missed the marketplace and the retreat sessions. From what I heard later, I also seem to have missed the H1N1 virus, which unfortunately hit a few of my friends. I'm glad I missed that, but still wish I could have been there the whole week.


These two piles of fleece started out quite a bit larger.

However, I wouldn't have changed a thing, because on Thursday morning, I got to see my friend Scott and bring him home to be my new roommate. It's been almost five years since I saw him last, so this was a very good thing. :)

In the next couple of days, we got him moved into the spare room at the house and pretty much settled in. We're both still adjusting, but it's going well. He's spoiling me by cooking and cleaning -- stuff I don't do much. I maintain that I'm Oscar and he's Felix (of The Odd Couple fame).

Sunday, I had the luxury of spending the entire day spinning. While at SOAR, I finished another bobbin of the Corriedale-Finn-Ramboulet cross I've been spinning since the dawn of time for a while and plied it into a nice two-ply. I already had a three-ply of the same fiber with a strand of metallic nylon added to it. On Sunday, I ran both plied bobbins through the wheel again, adding more twist to each. Then I chain-plied them together, creating a pretty 13-wpi, 5-ply yarn.



There's about 375 yards, so I have some good options for what to make. Haven't decided yet what it will become. For now, it's just pretty. :)

Now it's back to our regularly scheduled programming of working while establishing new routines. It's been quite a long time since I shared a household with anyone, so there are definite adjustments to be made. So far, so good!

This just in: Actual knitting content!

Yes, this is a knitting blog, darn it!

On Friday, I attended an entrelac class given by Joan Schrouder as part of the Tigard Knitting Guild's annual fall retreat. In about three hours, Joan masterfully taught us how to create knitted fabric that looks way more complex than it really is.

In the swatch, you can see that the second tier of blocks (the raspberry-colored ones) have a little line of stitches in tan showing through. The subsequent tiers don't show that because Joan showed us how to avoid having them there. Simple, but brilliant.

I was inspired. So I came home and pulled out some DK weight yarn that Stitchjones had dyed for me quite a while ago in her Gene Simmons colorway. I originally intended to make another Clapotis with this yarn, but never got around to it. I tried a couple of other things with it, but the pairing of yarn and pattern just wasn't right, so to the frog pond it had gone. But with the entrelac? It's a match made in knitting heaven!


Here is the beginning of what will eventually be a stole. I did a six-stitch entrelac repeat, which is just right for the length of color changes in this yarn. The only problem is that I don't have enough yarn to make the length of stole that I would like. However, I have a plan. I'm going to work part of it in the variegated yarn, then get a skein of each color (red, white, black, grey) in solid and do either a nine-stitch or a twelve-stitch entrelac in alternating colors for a ways, then do some more in variegated. I think I'll finish the whole thing with an attached i-cord.

It's a design-as-I-go project, and as such is definitely subject to change along the way! In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun knitting it and it's a very portable project that doesn't require checking a pattern. Love!

There's been some other knitting going on here, too. I purchased a pattern at the shop that's really fun to knit, takes very little yarn, and works up quickly. It's from Val Love of Dovetail Designs and is called the Lotus Leaf Scarf. With about 100 yards of yarn and an evening, it works up like this:

Rowan Soft Lux in soft grey:



Malabrigo Worsted:



Handspun Merino Superwash:



The only change I made to the pattern was to do the keyhole openings using doubleknitting techniques instead of placing half the stitches on a holder and working each side separately.

The handspun yarn I used wasn't quite a worsted weight, but it still worked up nicely. It has a little less "body" to it. It's lighter, yet still warm.

And, just for fun, here are some alternate ways to wear this cute little scarf:

The "I have a toothache" look:



The "rabbit ears" look, which also reminds me of some of the scarves Lucy and Ethel used to wear over their curlers on "I Love Lucy":



Next week is S.O.A.R. and I'm really looking forward to it! It will be my first "real" spinning class. In three days with Maggie Casey, I'm sure my brain will be stuffed with all kinds of wonderful spinning techniques.

Cycles

Brown.
Branches swathed in snow.
Squirrel's feet creating tiny avalanches.

White.
Flower clusters cradled in fresh green leaves.
Bees humming, birds returning.

Green.
Shaded shelter from the heat.
Cats lazing in sunny patches.

Amber.
Leaves fade while berries darken.
Birds and squirrels reap the bounty.

Thus is the cycle of the seasons as depicted by two trees in my backyard. The picture above was taken two days ago and already the leaves have lost almost all their green and glow a golden yellow against the gray sky, shimmering slightly with the rain.

It's perfect knitting weather. Sweaters and scarves and blankets hastily dug out of drawers and closets. Skeins of wooly goodness scrounged from the yarn stash, patterns mulled, needles engaged.

Some of that has been happening here. More to come.

Meanwhile, anyone know what kind of tree is shown in the picture? I never have figured it out for sure. I just admire how the pair of them mark the seasons. My own personal art gallery.

Oregon Flock & Fiber 2009

Another OFFF is in the books. As usual, it was awesome. This year's event was the biggest yet. I'll let some pictures do most of the talking for tonight. Enjoy!