Silk-merino blend with Tencil

Lately, I have been enchanted with shades of gray. Consequently, I fell for this Tencil-silk-merino blend. And I had to have two.

I spun one skein and did my usual 2-ply thing with it. It turned out fine, but not quite what I expected. Or wanted.

Then I spun the second one and chain plied it. This is more pleasing to my untrained eye.

Side-by-side, you can (kind of) see the difference. The 2-ply looks darker, the "colors" denser. The chain-ply appears more balanced, again to my untrained eye.

This yarn is s-o-o-o soft! I plan to make cowls with it, cowls that even the most sensitive skin will find delightful.

Third time's the charm

I was approaching the third buttonhole on the Lempi cardigan when I realized that the first two buttonholes did not line up. An internal debate ensued, but in the end, I ripped back to the first buttonhole, which is almost all the way to the beginning. Contemplating entering the cardigan in the county fair next year helped prod me, as I knew it would be closely inspected by the judges. Also, for some reason I messed up several slip-one-purlwise stitches at the start of each row. Amateur mistakes. Ripping back did give me the opportunity to use a wrap-and-turn stitch instead of the designer's double stitch when shaping the neck, though.

Knitting: I'm up to the second buttonhole on the Lempi sweater, which *does* line up with the first one. The socks are my portable project, but I haven't gone anywhere this past week, although I was wishing I had brought them this morning while I waited in a *very* long line to recycle some electronics. Spinning: The Polish merino skein I entered in the county fair won "best in show". I decided to take a break from spinning for a while, to concentrate on weaving and knitting. And maybe dyeing.
Weaving: I (finally) did the finishing work on two wall hangings and suspended them from branches gleaned from my backyard; separate post to follow. Struggling a bit with the rag rug on the Grizzly.

I want to weave handles for several felted bags on my inkle loom, so played around with color combinations, weaving the possible candidates onto a pick-style comb. The yarn is Omega Sinfonia cotton and the colors are 'Olivo' (olive), 'Olivo Intenso' (light olive), and 'Calabaza' (pumpkin). I was trying to match colors with the colors of the bags, but in real life, they are more saturated than they look on my computer screen.


The first four patterns are from In Celebration of Plain Weave, by Annie McHale, the fifth one of my own design. I was leaning toward candidate number 5, but now that I look at them again, maybe number 3? Does anyone have any opinions?

Finally, I tried to match the colors of a blossom from the black-eyed Susan vine, using watercolors. It's HARD! My goal was to come up with a pallette I could then use to create dyes for yarn, but now I think I need a different technique.

Have a colorful week!

Polish merino

I didn't know what Polish merino was, but I knew I wanted the four colorways that Phia had grouped in her Little Shop of Spinning. After spinning it up, I bought more. And more. And I will probably buy some more. I am simply enamored with this color combination.

Polish merino is a dual-purpose breed of sheep that populates Poland. It all started with some sheep from Spain, and those were later mixed with a bit of this and a bit of that. The result is a wool that is comparable to Blue Faced Leicester, Corriedale, Dorset Down or Llama. Kromski carries a bazillion colors of Polish merino roving.

This blog notwithstanding, I wish I kept better notes with details of just what I am up to on the wheel. From what I can gather, I initially blended the four colors on my drum carder, then spun and chain plied the results. This luscious skein is going to be submitted to the county fair.

Then I spun and paired each color with each other, ending up with six skeins of 2-ply. I like some of the combos better than the others.


Finally, I spun the darkest color for a core yarn, then blended the rest and used them to create an "art yarn" that I later wrapped in gold silk thread. It looks better in this photo than it does in real life. I need to perfect my core spinning skills. (As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the pairings turned out uber kinky. I'm going to call it an art yarn, too.)

I have ideas of what to do with all this yarn, but we'll have to wait and see what I settle on.

Meanwhile, I have even *more* of this fiber to spin, probably as (better) art yarn, but for now, I'm taking a break from the wheel. Other projects are demanding some attention.

Art yarn

The program at the spinning guild featured a demonstration of "art yarn" and core spinning. I did a little research first, so arrived with some core already spun and some fiber to add to it. I also deconstructed the art yarn from the last cowl project. The light blue is the core, the dark blue the main fiber, the metalic thread the wrap.

My results from the core spinning were a bit loose and wonky, so the next day, I wrapped my sample with gold silk thread. I'm not sure what I will do with it.

Knitting: Marching along on the socks, with no problems (so far). The Lempi sweater is approaching the third button hole; my stitch count was off due to an increase that did not belong, but I was able to correct the problem without ripping back.
Spinning: I'm wrapping up my adventures in Polish merino (separate post to follow). The yarn I spun at the last spin-in was SO tight, I'm not sure the result is usable unless I do something - but what? It's really kinky.

Weaving: The county fair is next week, so I have been working on a few almost-finished wall hangings to submit to the adult craft event. The Great Grizzly is warped and the hem of a rag rug started on it.

I decided that if a project sits on a loom too long, it is never going to be finished, so I might as well remove it. I cleared the Peruvian diamond project from the 24" rigid heddle loom and the krokbragg project from the inkle loom. The latter has been in limbo since before my first shoulder surgery, and the former just wasn't working out and I couldn't bring myself to work on it. It was time to cut bait or fish!

Simple Rules Cowl

I thought I had knit this pattern before, but it was one called Bamboo Bloom Infinity Scarf and Cowl. Not much difference between the patterns as they both use thick 'n thin "art" yarn, the thick purled to bring it forward in the fabric. Both are free through Ravelry.

Pattern: Simple Rules Cowl, by Stash Lounge
Yarn: Art yarn, created by Terry Guenther
Needles: US10 (except cast on and bind off using US10.5)
Modifications: Besides purling the thick, I also purl into the thick

My granddaughter actually thinks this is pretty (she's very discerning, hard to please), so it may become hers.

Go big or go home

I just finished assembling the new Great Grizzly loom from BEKA. The hard maple was unfinished, so I decided to put a light coat of Minwax on it before assembly. Then my electric screwdriver needed to be recharged. Then other things interfered. But yesterday I got it done.

This baby is BIG: 60" x 64" weaving area. I have plans for it, so many plans I can't decide what to do first.

Knitting: The Simple Rules cowl is finished; separate post to follow. I started a pair of socks; the toes are done. Restarted the Lempi sweater, changing to a larger size to make up for the wonky gauge; into the yoke and approaching button hole number two.
Spinning: On the last color combination of the Polish merino; still deciding how to spin up the most recently purchased four ounces.
Weaving: The diamond tapestry weaving came off the loom in time for the weaving guild meeting, but I'm not happy with it.

Thursday, my SO and I met up with my son and his SO in South Bend. After lunch at Nom Nom Pho, we hit the South Bend Museum of Art, which has some fiber exhibits on display. And I think it is illegal to leave the city without stopping at the South Bend Chocolate Company.

The list of new officers for the weaving guild came out recently. (Our year runs from September to June.) I'm in charge of what I like to call "outreach" but is listed as "PR and finance". Something new was my membership on the program committee. Did I volunteer for that? I may have, in a moment of generosity when one of the co-presidents mentioned that the theme would be "art" as in "fiber arts". I really need to pay more attention.

I bought a loom

While those around me are losing their heads and purchasing harness looms, I decided to take a step back. Despite my frustrations (see below), I really like weaving on a simple vertical tapestry loom. My only complaint is the one I have is too small. So I purchased the Great Grizzly from BEKA. It just arrived an hour ago, so it is still in the box. Tonight may be spent assembling it.

Knitting: I am almost done with the Simple Rules cowl, so of course I started something new: a sweater called "Lempi". After a couple of inches, I decided my gauge is so far off, I'd better do a swatch before continuing.
Spinning: Concentrating on the Polish merino... and purchased more roving today. I want enough to make this one cowl I like.

Weaving: STILL working on my diamond tapestry weaving. I keep weaving and unweaving, not quite satisfied with how it turns out. It needs to be off the loom by Wednesday if I'm to show 'n tell it at the weaving guild meeting.

As I've related in past posts, this past year I've been more active in the weaving and spinning guilds I belong to. I'm feeling a bit burned out, though. (It doesn't take much for me to reach that point.) The weaving guild does not meet during July or August, so that will be a bit of a reprieve. I would skip a meeting or two of the spinning guild, but the programs have been too interesting this past year to miss. (The next one is on spinning "art yarn".) One would think retirement might be a bit of a bore, but the days are just packed.