Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Yes Virginia, you CAN spin laceweight on a travel wheel

My Louet Victoria travel wheel arrived this past weekend and after a quick trial spin of a bunch of not particularly cooperative Wensleydale, I decided to really put her to the test...laceweight. Could this tiny wheel do it without excessive effort on my part?

In a word...yes. I threw her on the highest ratio (1:13) and grabbed a bunch of Optim merino roving (Pearl colorway) and easy-peasy, I was spinning thread.

I did a little bit of sample plying and the result was equivalent to Jaggerspun merino laceweight which is a hair finer than their Zephyr...so I'm very pleased. Is it going to take a while to get 2 bobbins' worth of singles done? Yes, and it's going to take a while to ply it, but I'm very happy with the results so far.

Is this easier on my Rose? Yes...it would be a little faster and a little less treadling, but I'm very impressed with this tiny wheel.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Shuffling off to Buffalo

The Heartland Shawl in fingering weight buffalo down yarn is done and blocked (just need to weave in those pesky ends). It's sort of difficult finding a good place to hang it to get a good shot...


All in all, a satisfying pattern to knit...very clever to make a lace pattern resembling buffalo hoof tracks. The buffalo yarn blooms nicely after washing and can be blocked fairly aggressively...very very soft and I'm a big fan of rich brown so the lack of color options wasn't a concern for me. I added 1 additional repeat of the main lace pattern as I'm tall and wanted a slightly larger shawl. If I use this pattern again in another yarn, I'd probably add a few more repeats.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Oh so Giddy

Who'da thunk a pair of plain stockinette socks would end up being so much trouble?

Apparently this yarn had other ideas of what it wanted to be, because it resisted being knit into plain socks wholeheartedly.

Cider Moon Glacier is a lovely 100% merino sportweight...but the skeins are a little skimpy at 253 yards. I didn't think this was going to be a huge problem because of being able to knit them on US3s. I finished a sock...see happy finished sock:

2/3 of the way through the second sock, I ran out of yarn (seems to be my current theme, considering the Buffalo fiasco). Since getting more yarn wasn't an option (sold out and any new batch with this color, should it appear in the near future at all, wouldn't match), I had to do major surgery to be able to do the last 3" of the foot of the second sock. I cut off both completed ribbed cuffs about an inch into the stockinette leg, finished the foot of the second sock, then reknit shorter cuffs.

Oy vey. I love this yarn, but I'm hesitant to order more since, despite my tendency to like shorter legs, these are barely longer than anklets...and buying 2 skeins just makes it too pricey to justify. Maybe for gift socks for folks with smaller feet...