7 posts tagged “pink”

Yesterday I finished the Coriolis socks, and I love them. They match rather than mirror, because I forgot to read the 'second sock' bits of the instructions, but I don't care.

I used a modified version of Cat Bordhi's modified icord bind off, continuing the stitches from the spiral 'seam' into the icord. It's a bit wasted because the tops curl out, but it seemed the right edging to use - I tried single rib, but it didn't really go with the rest of the sock, and I didn't want a too-fancy edging. I'm wearing them now, and they're very comfy. The spiral does slightly restrict stretch in putting them on, but not too much, and they're fine once on.

In other knitting news, I finished the red mini-cardi and frogged it - the back flared out, and I just didn't like it. I don't know yet what the yarn will be reborn as.

I've also frogged the BMP riverbed socks. There were too many mistakes, and it had been neglected for too long. Their successor is already in swatch, though, so the general plan is still active.

Finally, I've started spinning up some BFL, but I'm planning to write that whole project up in one go, so no more details yet.

Oh, and I've got two knitting/spinning dates coming up in the next few days, so there will probably be more to write about soon.

Still thoroughly in love with the Coriolis socks, and I'm now a good way through the increases, so it's starting to spiral :-)

The yarn is variegated, but in the straight section at least, it's spiralling a bit itself, which ties in nicely with the theme.

(I worked out why I was struggling to pronounce the name - it's because my mouth was trying to say 'Coriolanus', and getting confused partway through. Working this out means I am now able to say 'Coriolis'.)

(Grr. Wrote long post, lost it. CBA to rewrite, so abbreviated version follows...)

Picture 1: mini cardigan in handspun red-and-pink two ply. Much nicer as two-ply than either of the plies as singles, although I bought more fibre because I'll probably need to spin some more to finish.

Picture 2: Ralph's tantalising socks, FO. Gorgeous pattern, interesting construction, yarn much better knitted up than I thought it would be. He likes them, too.

Pictures 3 and 4: the utterly fabulous whirlpool toe (pulled flat in picture 3). This is for the spiralling Coriolis from New Pathways, and the yarn is the red and pink sock yarn that Frax and I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show to share, and which we finally split this weekend. It's lovely yarn to knit with, much softer and less scratchy than the blue and purple (now mostly a clapotis) which I bought at the same no-name stall. Like the Opal in the tantalising socks, this is true variegated, with short stretches of colour that don't stripe or pool, and I like it much more than most hand-painted yarn. I've been planning to use this for Coriolis ever since I first read the book, and I'm now neglecting the mini-cardi (which I've been knitting for less than a week) because I'm so eager to get to the increases :-)

...Or I might ply it with this similar quantity of pink for scarily bright two ply.

That would be easier - no dyeing required. And would provide more yardage in finished yarn (about 200m). 

So that might be the plan instead.

...And the equivalent quick update from the spinning front!

The top picture is the second batch of Wisteria fibre that's destined for navajo plying. It's about 300m, which means I'm still on track to product at least 200m of possibly-sock-weight three-ply. I'm itching to ply it, but navajo works better if the singles have relaxed a bit, so I am resisting the urge.

The second picture is my skein of spinning oddballs :-) I have a long-term wip which I've mentioned before, of a scrap scarf made from all the remnants of my commercial yarn; I decided early on in my spinning that I didn't want to absorb my handspun remnants into that scrap project, but would make a separate one. The new Knitty has some stash-busting remnant ideas, which reminded me to get on with sorting out my spinning remnants, so I skeined it up yesterday, and was surprised that it comes to about 100m! And it's really pretty. It's currently one of the 'pet' skeins sitting on my desk to be stroked every now and again, and it's made me realise properly that I love all of my spinning, even my crappy beginner efforts. I don't feel quite the same about my knitting - I feel attached to all of it, but I don't feel uniformly positive about all of it, possibly because it's now finished, and has to be judged on how well it is performing its function. My handspun yarn, on the other hand, is still en route to its finished state (since I assume I'll eventually get round to knitting with most of it), so there are no disappointments to detract from my love for it. I can see flaws in some, of course, but I love every little bit of it anyway.

The second and third pics are singles from Texere's cerise merino, about 224m/50g, which I spun on one of the new whorls offered by my new flyer (bottom picture). The second picture is just before I twisted the skein into, well, a skein, and I just loved how it all curled up like that :-)

The fourth pic is of the same skein, sitting on top of the silk hankies which I will probably ply some of it with. The hankies probably won't make as much yardage as the wool (I got about 150m from the other pack of hankies), so I'll have to think a bit more about it. Maybe I'll keep it as singles, and just knit it in a project with the silk, or maybe I'll ply them (like the lilac 'silk cut' yarn), and put the leftover singles into the next skein of oddball. Not sure yet.

Finally, as mentioned above, my new flyer. I'm pretty certain now that my wheel is an Ashford Traditional (from the 1970s - about the same age as me!), and since my existing flyer had only one whorl (ie only one speed at which the flyer moves relative to the wheel), I splashed out on a replacement flyer with three - three! - whorls (whorls are the circles-with-groves at the left of the picture - the drive band (piece of string) is wrapped around the middle one in the pic). What this means is that I can spin with more twist (for finer yarn), without having to vary the treadling speed. This is a good thing, because there's a speed of treadling that is most comfortable, and controlling twist by speeding up is annoying and tiring. And since this (relatively cheap) addition works, that means I can plan for later, more expensive, additions, like a lace flyer unit which provides more - and smaller - whorls, ie higher ratios and allow for even finer yarn.

If there's a way to alter the order of the photos to the left, I can't work out what it is :-(

So, in slightly bizarre order, my latest adventures in fibre:

• (top picture) this is my first attempt at carding, using all the stray bits of fibre from my other projects, which I've been collecting in a pretty wooden bowl on a shelf next to my desk. It needs more work still, but I'm intrigued by the possibilities in carding
• (second picture) this is the end result of the purple and mauve I've been spindle-spinning, although it's not this bright in real life (actually, take this comment as applying to all of these pictures. Apparently there was actually light in my library this morning when I took the pics). It's three ply, two of bright purple and one of mauve, 200m, and really soft. I plied it on the wheel, because spindle-plying is the dullest thing ever. Not completely sure what I'm doing with this, but then that's true of so much of my spinning!
• (third picture) bright purple singles left over from the above. Maybe around 130m; not sure. I might leave this as singles, or I might two-ply it with itself, or I might just wait and see what other inspiration strikes
• (fourth picture) Remember what I said above about these pictures being too bright? That's especially true here. This yarn isn't actually glowing. Honest. This is  Valentine merino from Violet Green that Dyddgu traded me for the ex-Jaywalker sassy stripes. I still think I got the better part of the deal :-) This is my first real wheel-spun, and technically it's a bit of a mess - the singles are over-spun, and then I underplied it, so it's pretty hopeless. But the colours are gorgeous, and it feels beautifully soft and velvetty knitted up, so I don't care :-) Talking of knitting up, the knitting visible in the pic is my second attempt with this yarn. I started off thinking I'd make something in reversible entrelac, because the way the colours work seemed well suited to entrelac's small blocks, but I don't much like its onesidedness. Alternating squares of stocking and reverse stocking stitches seemed like a great idea, and I intend to try it again sometime with smooth yarn to see if it's inherently flawed, or if it was just let down by my uneven yarn. Anyway, I frogged it, and am now making an attempt on the Dashing fingerless gloves from Knitty. Which I like so far, although I've been neglecting them for other pursuits (such as the Shadow and Ghost socks, and the next picture...)
• (fifth picture) Peacock yarn-in-progress! This is my current project. I'm a bit over halfway through spinning the dark green (Petrol from Texere), and then I'll do the dark blue (Rich Royal, ditto) and the light blue (Cornflower, ditto ditto), and ply the lot together. And then I'll look at it and think about how pretty it is, and fail to decide what to knit with it but I Don't Care :-)
  
• (sixth picture) The rest of the Texere order that supplied the above. A big (400g) bag each of purple and dark red, and a bunch of small (50g) bags of other colours. When I made the order, I was thinking about doing some blending with the hand cards that came with the wheel, but having discovered that it's actually quite a lot of work, and that I like blending-by-plying, that might not actually happen. Still, should keep me in fibre for a while.
• (seventh picture) This is the sample for the Peacock. It's spindle- rather than wheel-spun, just because it's easier to do tiny quantities that way, and I was sampling for colour rather than for spin.