I begin to see why spinning -- or more correctly spindling -- is addictive . . .

But on the other hand, instead of buying not one, not two but FIFTEEN skeins of what was described as "luxury fibers" that turned out to be wonderful and yummy but NOT -- and I do mean NOT -- plied, I might have skipped all that and spent my money at Little Knits. After all, the money I spent on the "luxury fibers" would have bought a lot of madelinetosh pashmina. Or other fibrous goodness.

It seems like all I have done for the last three days is ply yarn. With a cheap, poorly balanced no notch drop spindle. (The average, "entry-level" job, complete with alpaca roving that I succeeded in turning into dreadlocks. "Separate the fuzzy fibers" my backside.) The good news is that I've gotten pretty good at plying on the cheap drop spindle. When leads to bigger and better things . . . like spinning clockwise.

Away I went to my favorite LYS, and with vorpal checkbook in hand, I purchased a whopping $6.00 of undyed superwash roving, not for the aesthetics of the stuff, but to practice. And to big box mart where I purchased an incredibly cheap (and not terribly expensive) paper towel holder to use as an aid to plying. I thought, slip the balls of yarn over the dowel, center pulls, ply no problem. Well, ply I did, but not without problem. Scratch that idea. Nancy's Knick Knacks makes a nice gizmo for doing just that, but it requires any standard wheel bobbin  . . . groans. Does that mean I will eventually end up with a wheel . . . (I daresay I will . . . but more about that later. Like, after income tax time).

So I finished my plying and Dad and I had dinner, then I grabbed the spindle and some roving . . . and made (as if you couldn't guess) a really nice set of undyed, superwash dreadlocks.

The dreads are now living in the trash. I could have maybe salvaged the mess, plied it with some of the "luxury fibers" and made an interesting homespun. Unfortunately, there would not be enough of it to even be worth it. And I'm not sure that confidence is built by saving the mistakes . . . 

I pulled up my favorite source for all things instructional, the mighty YouTube. Watched a few videos, and started again. Evidently something clicked in my little brain, because I actually produced a fairly respectable few inches of yarn. In a mere two and half hours. Of course, I would have spent that time doing something, I suppose. The point is, learning is beginning to take place. I expect that when I allow myself to buy a good quality spindle, learning will take place much more rapidly. But while I'm still dropping the spindle (although not as much now as day before yesterday), I'm not sure I want to risk a really good quality spindle.

This phase of learning reminds me very much of when I first taught myself to knit. I purchased a number of inexpensive "metal" and some plastic circular needles. The cables were thick and inflexible and quite nasty. The "metal" straights had no balance, no feel and no soul. Oh, and of course, I bought a great deal of the least expensive acrylic yarn I could buy . . . And stuck with it faithfully for a long time, hating the results, not having much fun, but by golly I was knitting!

Finally my friend Sara pointed out that I might have more success if I actually invested in some good quality needles and some better yarn. When I did, things got a lot easier. I suspect it will be that way with "spindling" as well . . . But you see, I know how this goes.

I replaced my junk straight needles with bamboo, and like the results. I replaced the plastic circs with the Harmony wood options needles from Knit Picks. Now, I love Knit Picks customer service (as do most people that have purchased the Harmony wood needles, because of the coming loose from the housing issue) and I love the feel of the needles. And before I began to be concerned with speed, the Harmony wood was fabulous. I also bought the Harmony wood straights, and love them, love them, love them.

But with confidence and skill comes the need for speed. Fortunately, I bought several of the nickle plate options tips. So out of cold storage they have come. And, I bought a set of HiyaHiya interchangeables (small). Now, I don't particularly love the Hiya tips; they're quite a bit more blunt than the Options. But, they work okay for DK weight and larger. And the swivel on the cord is just magnificent. And while on my rampage, I bought a set of Addi Lace clicks. Okay, four sets of circs is a lot  . . . but I guess I've got a type of tip for every possible knitting choice.

And I'm really afraid that spinning is going to be the same thing. I can see building confidence on the drop spindle leading to a better drop spindle or several, leading to a kick spindle for plying, leading to a wheel or an e-spinner for serious yarn production, leading to a stash closet that will no longer shut and a bank account hovering on empty.

In retrospect, I think I should have just avoided the "luxury fibers" and stuck with dang pashmina.

But just for a brief moment, tonight, while I was spindling, I had a real sense of peace. And after all, I guess that's what it's about.

Bitten by the spinning bug

I learned something from working with the bunny scarf yarn and of course a new pathway in learning is rapidly taking me back in time . . . 

The yarn is yummy, yummy and soft. It's a blend of alpaca and angora with a tad of mohair and a strand of silk. And it is unplied. I didn't really think about these things when I was knitting the bunny scarf, because of the lace pattern and the larger needles I was using. I was just careful in picking up the fine, fine strand of silk and called it good. Emboldened by my success, however . . . 

I grabbed a ball of alpaca, silk, cashmere (from the same seller) and discovered FOUR strands, unplied. Undaunted, I cast on and began knitting . . . and HATED it. Knitting is supposed to be relaxing, right? Peaceful, meditative . . . NOT! I was cussing a blue streak and two rows into the pattern frogged the whole darn thing, and considered trashing the yarn. Not at all a positive frame of mind, I tell you.

Walked away, played on facebook for a while . . . then had a brilliant idea. I went to the yarn closet and grabbed the really cheap, not well balanced drop spindle I had gotten with a drop spindle kit, and decided to ply the yarn. Never mind the fact that I have used a drop spindle a total of three times in my life, two with an alarmingly spectacular lack of success (the results of my attempt to spin an ounce of alpaca "fluff" look like diseased dreadlocks) and one with some merino and someone else's better quality spindle (with somewhat more success). Nonetheless, i decided that this yarn MUST be plied. I did a little reading  . . . enough to know that I would ply the yarn anti-clockwise, and I was off.

Success! Mostly, anyway. I did manage to create a nice ball of plied yarn out of the four strands I started with. I put quite a bit too much twist in the yarn, making it really difficult to knit. However, I then turned around and replied it with a ball of the "bunny scarf" yarn, and I did not put anywhere near as much twist, resulting in a ball of lovely thick and thin earth tones, and I am now knitting a hat with it. The hat is three quarters of the way done, and I am really liking the results.


Which takes me back to the title of this post: I have been bitten! Success with the yarn plying gives me confidence that "spindling" will be easier than I had thought. Of course, it will take forever to spin enough yarn to knit anything bigger than a placemat (shaking my head and wondering if it makes any sense at all), not giving me anything like instant gratification . . . maybe I asked at some time for patience? If so, the universe is certainly giving the opportunity to learn patience (grimacing).

I took a spinning class many years ago . . . and could not get my feet and hands to work in sync enough to spin anything better than a 1970's version of dreadlocks. The little bit of yarn I actually succeeded in spinning could have been used to inflict serious injury on home invaders, and probably should have been registered as a deadly weapon. I have wanted for some time now to learn again. I'm not sure that my hand-foot coordination is any better, but I know a lot more about how to relax than I did 30 years ago. And my logical brain works better . . . plus, success breeds success, and I have had some success with the drop spindle.


And I'm beginning to drool a little about the concept of making yarn in colors I adore, vs. putting up with someone else's short repeats, or funky colors that look good in the skein and something else entirely on the needles . . . 

The Bunny Scarf is done!

I finished the bunny scarf this evening. I'm not sure why it worked up so quickly, especially since I frogged the beginning once, and part way through, had to frog again. It seems like it just sort of worked itself, peacefully and harmoniously. This is the first knitting project I've had in a long time that did that.

 It's waiting now in my completed projects stash for light blocking and it's ultimate destination. Yippee!

What a difference a day makes . . .

So I have been working on a monster lace pattern scarf. I found the pattern on Ravelry -- the Mason-Dixon blog site, actually, which is in itself a hoot, but that's another story.

Anyway, I started the scarf with a skein of Fundy Footsie sock yarn, and hated it, so away it went to frog-land. I started over, and added a skein of Tapping Tootsie sock yarn, and still hated it, but I hated it less. So away I went frogging . . . and added a skein of Paton's Silk Bamboo in a nice ivory color. At last, I didn't hate the colors, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out WHY the pattern stitch didn't look like the picture of the wonderful lace scarf shown on the blog.

But I am nothing if not willing to persevere for the cause of knitting. So I've been working on this monster scarf (3 strands held together, size 11 needles) for some time now. And still not really liking it, but not really hating it.

This morning, I hauled it out and started working on it again, and by accident did something different (although not quite right) with my yarn overs, and lo, and behold, the lace pattern suddenly worked. So I played around with it some more, and sometimes the pattern worked, and sometimes it did not. I thought I'd finally found the rhyme and reason to it, so I took it to work thinking I'd work on it a little bit if I had some slack time.

Slack time came and I had a novel thought. . . why not see if somewhere on the vast internet I could find a tutorial on the "correct" way to do a yarn over? Hmmm . . . what a concept. So, I did. And, again, lo and behind, I've not been doing the very simple yarn over correctly in the many years I've been knitting. (Can you say self-taught?) Now, knowledge may be power but in this case, it proved dangerous. The pattern that didn't look like the picture looked okay . . . the correct pattern looked pretty darn good, but didn't match the first half of the scarf.

Two choices . . . frog it all and start over. (And as I was thinking about, and thinking about my love-hate feelings about this scarf, I decided I'd rather eat my fingers than do that.) Or, frog back to the point where I stumbled on the "right way to do it", bind off, and make a half-scarf. That felt like a really good thing to do, so I did it. And proceeded to give the half-scarf to a colleague who's small enough to be able to use it and enjoy it! Voila! She's warm and happy, I'm rid of the "happy accident" . . . and I learned how to do a yarn over which will make this year's goal of knitting lace so much more rewarding.

Needless to say, I started over with the scarf. Of course, I'm now almost out of bamboo with enough sock yarn left to finish the scarf -- as cast on -- and make it long enough to work for my much taller self. And, not incidentally, this also solves the problem I'm having with the pashmina scarf I've tried three times to knit. I dread frogging that one again . . . the madelinetosh pashmina yarn HATES being frogged. Oh, well . . .

WIPs and a promise . . .

So my challenge to myself this year (and part of a New Year's pact I made with a friend) is to become competent at knitting lace.

Hah! Little did I know . . .

The lace madness bug has bitten. And it involves things I wasn't sure I'd ever do . . . like knitting with nickle plated needles, reading charts, and knitting with smaller needles than I ever thought I'd enjoy.

Of course, it has involved much buying of yarn, which I always enjoy. I did a major destash last October when one of my favorite LYSs offered a deal . . . bring in your old yarn (any kind, any amount) and get 20% NEW Yarn . . . enough for 2 complete projects. Well! There was, of course, yarn I'd been lusting after, and it seemed like a good time to blast my yarn budget to tiny bits. After all, a good cause . . . acrylic yarn lurking in my stash going to a better (charity based) home freeing up space for wonderful wool, and wool/mulberry silk, and wool/alpaca/silk yarn . . . how could I lose! And better still, it left enough space in my stash for the new, yummy, lace weight yarns!

What I didn't reckon on was that this lace knitting business and my Harmony wood needles would not fare so well together. I have loved those needles despite their many failings (coming loose from their screw housings, cables breaking, cables unscrewing) and I discovered that they are just not what I need for knitting lace. So I hauled my nickle plates out of the bag, and boy howdy did I pick up speed! Same problems, tho, at least with the cables despite cranking on that silly little cable key like no tomorrow.

So away I go to the internet to do my research. Much spare time devoted to reading reviews of needles. Much input. Much head-whirling. Turbos? Addi lace? Hiya-Hiya steel? KA bamboo? All of them having pros and cons. Maybe just stay with the Options nickle plate and bit the bullet on the cable issues? Oh, heck with it, another glass of wine and it just will not matter.

But I persevere (or perseverate). I finally got fed up, even with myself, and called the wonderful folks at Little Knits (www.littleknits.com) and ordered the Addi Lace Clicks. And some more lace yarn with the gift certificate that came along with the purchase. I'm waiting for the needles . . . I hope I will be thrilled with cables that don't unscrew themselves.

So . . . I currently have four WIPs on needles that involve some form of lace pattern. My stash is tolerably organized. My large Lion tote bag that is home to tools not immediately in use is organized. I found a wonderful app for my Android phone that keeps immediate track of needles, hooks, projects, and even contains a built in row counter. I can't figure out how to be able to save photos of WIPs to the stash program, but if I do, I'll post it.

And I was reading a blog in Knitting Daily about stash organization which is really what got me started writing this. One or two of the folks that responded were talking about keeping a knitting journal, and it occurred to me that rather than put ONE MORE THING in my darned Laurel Burch tote bag . . . I could keep an electronic journal here. And now, I'm thinking, hmmmm . . . maybe I do want a hard copy after all.

Any way -- 2 of the scarves on needles now call for the same stitch:

Cast on odd number of stitches
Seed stitch 1st two rows (k1,P1) repeat to end of row
Row 3 and all subsequent rows: Sl1 *K2tog* repeat to end of row
Repeat row three until you're out of yarn and don't want to buy more, sick of the scarf or reach the desired length.

Easy peasy!
Pics will follow