Another Lozenge Cowl

In an attempt to use up the rest of the yarn from the Wabash Woollen Works natural dye workshop, I knit another Lozenge Cowl. Mission almost accomplished. All that remains is some madder.

Pattern: Lozenge Cowl (free Ravelry download), by Raging Wool
Yarn: merino sport weight (about 100g), MC = hollyhock, walnut, eucalyptus, marigold, onion skin, madder, CC = sumac, Queen Anne's lace, madder (acid modifier)
Needle: US5
Modifications: Used Old Norwegian cast on and suspended bind off

A black and white version of the above photo reveals that the contrast in values between the onion skin dyed yarn and the acid modified madder is not as deep as I would have liked, but not too bad.

The main color is knit in garter stitch. If I had paid attention, I would have avoided this bit where the change in colors is not very smooth. (Is there a name for this knitting result?)

The back is not as tidy as the previous Lozenge Cowl. I have a tendency to knit stranded colorwork too tightly, but I overcompensated too much in this version. I would not enter this project in the county fair.

I showed this to my spinning peeps, and they declared it good. Their opinion is all that matters, right?

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.

Wall hanging in shades of gray

I impulsively purchased some jumbo bulky yarn at the Portland fiber fest last spring. It is so bulky I could not figure out what to do with it. Also, it is merino and feels like it would not withstand much abrasion. After trying this and that, I ended up with a wall hanging.

Pattern: none, just my own concoction.
Weave structure: plain weave
Loom: frame rug loom
Warp: Maysville 8/4 Carpet Warp, in medium gray
Weft: Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok Jumbo, in 'Snow Storm', 'Gray Stone', and 'Arctic Cloud'
Decor: Cascade 220 Superwash in black; Ella Rae Classic in red
EPI/PPI: 5/2
Ends: 118
Finished size: 17" x 28" (without extra long ends)


I wove this sideways on the loom, so each pass had a loop on one side and loose ends on the other. Once it came off the loom, I puzzled over how to secure the selvages on all four sides. On what had been the top and bottom on the loom, now the sides, I knotted the warp and wove the ends into the fabric. But what to do for the loops and loose ends? Inspired by Sheila Hicks, I decided to wrap them, in black except for one vertical pair which I wrapped in red, from top to bottom.

I'm leaving the loose ends at whatever length they ended up being, which complicates photographing the piece. I'm still in search of an appropriate rod for hanging. Since it hangs rather lopsided, I may use a branch that will correct the skewing.

Black merino top

A while back I was fretting about plying superwash merino with non-superwash merino. I decided not to, which I think was the right decision, as the superwash came out darker than I expected. Instead, I spun and plied the non-superwash merino to use in conjunction with other colors in either weaving or knitting.

Fiber: DMFibers merino top dyed black
Wheel: Ashford Joy 2
Technique: Nothing special
Spun: worsted, Z-twist at an 8:1 ratio
Plied: 2-ply, S-twist at an 11:1 ratio
WPI: 10
Yardage: 494 yards
Weight: 237g (8.36 oz)

When skeining, I wrap up 50 yards at a time. When weighing each skein, I get an idea of how consistant I am across the whole effort. In this case, I am happy to report that each 50-yard skein was within a few grams of the others. Not bad for an amateur.

There is definitely enough yarn to do *something* with. Black goes with just about any color and helps them pop. While black may be a boring color to spin (and difficult to photograph), I think I will make good use of this yarn.

Jailhouse Rock

The instructions that came with this Sheep 2 Shoe kit were for making 3-ply sock yarn. I have given up on knitting socks with yarn that lacks nylon, as they wear out too fast. I've also given up on using merino, as it too does not last. (Simply Socks produces a sock yarn made from Corriedale and nylon, and that is now my go-to sock yarn.) Then I agonized over finding some superwash merino in black, to ply with this yarn, but that search was fruitless. So I finally just created a two-ply, which I really, really like.

Fiber: Blue Moon Fiber Arts superwash merino top in 'Jailhouse Rock'
Wheel: Ashford Joy 2
Technique: Nothing special
Spun: worsted, Z-twist at an 11:1 ratio
Plied: 2-ply, S-twist at an 11:1 ratio
WPI: 9
Yardage: 387 yards
Weight: 237g (8.3 oz)

I really wanted this yarn to be DK weight after the fact. In other words, I spun and plied it, and THEN decided it should be DK. Wishful thinking. Still, I crammed it into my wpi counter before admitting that it really is worsted.

Another so-called plan was to knit or weave the yarn with as-yet-to-be-spun black yarn, but I'm thinking it is dark enough just as it is. One skein, the last one, has a lot of joins in it, so I will use it to work up some swatches while I decide what to use this for.

This roving was gifted to me by Qutecowgirl who just released a hat pattern on Ravelry called Pascal. It's free and looks like a fun knit, so check it out!

Pink and purple and some sparkle

I had this grand plan to blend half the angelina into half the purple merino, blend the rest of the angelina into half the pink merino, spin those into singles, then spin the rest of the purple and pink into singles, finishing up with a 4-ply yarn. I think I could have skipped all the fooling around. Were I to do this again, I would mix all the angelina with all the purple merino and two-ply it with the pink.

Fiber: merino in purple and pink, angelina in sapphire(?)
Wheel: Ashford Joy 2
Technique: nothing special
Spun: worsted, Z-twist at an 8:1 ratio
Plied: 4-plied, S-twist at an 11:1 ratio

I used a drum carder to blend the merino and angelina. Fiber that starts out as top turns into roving on the drum carder. After a few trips through the carder, it turns into roving with nupps. It took me a while to figure out I did not need to send each batch through the carder three times, once was enough. I think I was hung up on the number three because if I had been blending colors, yes, three or more trips would be required. (Some people blend angelina into fiber as they spin, but I'm too anal to risk running out of one or the other before I was done.)

Spinning the blend was a challenge. Merino top spins up so easily! Merino blended with angelina - not so much. The angelina doesn't slip like wool; it stiffens the fiber and removes some of the bounce that merino is known for. I found it more difficult to keep the singles thin, too.

As would be expected, when 4-plying, I ran out of one ply before the others. So I 3-plied until I ran out another spool, then 2-plied the rest, ending up with one sample that was not a mixture.

4-ply: 1 ply purple merino, 1 ply purple merino/angelina blend, 1 ply pink merino, 1 ply pink merino/angelina blend
WPI: 8-9 (between Aran and worsted weights)
Amount: 286 yards, 204 grams

3-ply: 1 ply purple merino/anglina blend, 1 ply purple merino, 1 ply pink merino
WPI: 10
Amount: 5.5 yards, 7 grams

2-ply: 1 ply purple merino/angelina blend, 1 ply purple merino
WPI: 12
Amount: 24 yards, 8 grams

2-ply: both plies purple merino/angelina blend
WPI: 12
Amount: 38 yards, 13 grams

I like the color combination of pink and purple, but I have no idea what I will make with this. Suggestions welcome!

River Queen

It seems to me that the results of search engines (ahem, GOOGLE) are getting worse and worse. They are mostly ads and those ads rarely are even close to what one is looking for. Of course, maybe what I am looking for no longer exists? I'm talking about Timbre (or Timber?) Ridge Farms, the vendor of this merino fiber that was labeled "River Queen". I'd like to give credit where credit is due, but the source of this fine fiber will have to remain unknown.

Fiber: merino (superwash? top? we'll never know) in 'River Queen' - navy blue and burnt orange
Wheel: Ashford Joy2
Technique: nothing special
Spun: worsted, Z-twist at an 8:1 ratio
Plied: 2-ply, S-twist at an 11:1 ratio
WPI: 8-9 (between Aran and worsted weights)
Amount: 406 yards, 236 grams

I don't consider myself to be a master spinner by any means, but I am quite pleased with how this yarn turned out. The diameter is more uniform than I usually spin, and using two different ratios for the spinning and plying resulted in a perfectly balanced yarn. Woohoo!

I have to admit I became a little bored with spinning a generous 4 oz of navy, then another generous 4 oz of orange, but when I plied them together - WOW.

If there is a county fair this summer, I plan to enter a skein of this yarn, that is how proud I am of these results. I can't wait to knit up a swatch, as I think this would make a lovely hat/mitten/scarf combo. There should be enough, right?

Fractal Neapolitan

I enjoyed spinning up the 'Neapolitan' roving, but I'm not so sure about the results after plying. Maybe the colors are too solid? Or there is too much white? What should I make with it?

Fiber: Lone Star Arts superwash merino, colorway 'Neapolitan'
Wheel: Ashford Joy 2
Technique: Fractal
Spun: Worsted at an 8:1 ratio
Plied: 2-ply at an 8:1 ratio
WPI: 9 (worsted weight)
Amount: 362 yards, 239 grams

My spinning is more consistent and I achieved a worsted weight yarn, but the plying looks loose. I think my problem is I am not used to spinning superwash merino. Merino is rather slick, and once it is treated to become superwash, it looses its barbs. This results in a soft yarn that won't felt. It also means it does not want to cling to itself like a coarser, non-superwash wool. I'll have to do some research to see if there are techniques for overcoming these quirks.

I fractaled

(I don't know what my problem is regarding getting photos in focus. Maybe it is the camera, maybe it is my eyes, maybe the whole world is currently out of focus (sure feels that way). I apologize for the quality of these pix.)

I overheard some spinners discussing fractal spinning and wondered what it is. According to this site, it is a way to divide some multicolored roving in such a way as to mix up the colors without making a mess of it. Basically, the spinner divides the roving in half lengthwise, then divides one of those halves lengthwise into 2, 3, or 4 pieces (I chose 3). The first half is spun on one bobbin; it may be drafted by pulling it lengthwise. The rest of the roving is spun on another bobbin. This creates one bobbin with long color runs and one bobbin with short color runs. Then the two singles are plied. Easy peasy.

I chose to work with 5 ounces of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Wool top (100% superwash merino) in 'Devon'. Merino is not one of my favorite wools to spin; I find it too slick, but moving the drive belt on my wheel helps hold the yarn together. After spinning a ton of light gray Shetland into super bulky, high grist yarn, I struggled a bit to get a thinner single.

After plying and steaming, I'm left with an incredibly bouncy yarn. I'm not quite done yet - I should have close to 200 yards when finished.

This effort doesn't represent my best spinning but the luscious colors help overcome the lack of consistency. It's also a fun way to experiment with spinning without going too crazy. And the results are sure to please.

UPDATE: Once this roving was all spun and plied and steamed, I ended up with 189 yards, 128 g, of Aran to Bulky yarn.

Still a little tight

As a palate cleanser, I decided to spin the alpaca/merino blend I purchased from the Natural Fiber and Yarn Co. Mindful of the shorter staple, I carefully used the inch-worm method of spinning in hopes of improving the consistency of my spinning. Still not there, but getting closer.

After a previous episode of plying, where I tried to ply from a too large center-pull ball, I had the sense to divide this roving into two parts by weight and to spin each on a separate bobbin. But then I tried to ply it all onto one bobbin. It didn't quite work out.

I told myself I could use the mini skein for swatching, but it is pretty messed up. There is always something new to learn, but sometimes I get tired of these learning experiences.