Hundertwasser Socks

They're done, and they're fabulous.  I have already worn them to work, and I'm wearing them right now.   The yarn is from Opal's collection of colors inspired by paintings, and this one is from the painting by Hundertwasser, titled "Tender Dinghi."  A very interesting artist, whom I had previously never heard of.  He designed apartment buildings with trees growing out of them, and had some very original ideas.  Check this out:  Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna.  The things one learns while knitting! 

I didn't really follow a pattern.  I used a simple 3 x 1 rib for the leg and instep (knit 3, purl one).  I knit them toe-up with the trifecta of:  Judy Becker's Magic Cast-On, the Fleegle Heel, and Jen's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off.  The heel does not fit as well as some other heels I have done, sadly, because it was much easier than the short-row, wrap & turn heels used by most toe-up patterns.   So, I have yet to perfect my heel technique.  But, I love the colors and I'm sure I will wear these a lot. 

Soldier Socks and cap ready to mail

I finally finished another pair of Soldier Socks and a matching cap. Should be in the mail tomorrow to SFS. In the box, I also packed 9 bars of beautiful "American Pie" goat's milk soaps from Jenness Farm, and some soap savers. So pretty, I don't want to mail it, but I will. That's what pictures are for.

Tour De Fleece 2010, Week One

I am doing the Tour De Fleece again this year, and the first week went pretty well, although I did not get as much done as I had hoped.  We were painting ceilings last weekend, but I still combed and spun about 2 ounces of some Cotswald I had dyed magenta and blue a couple of years ago.  I was experimenting with color-blending on Viking Combs.  I am very happy with the results!  I hope to get more done this weekend.  It was so hot and humid this week, I did not feel much like spinning after work.  I am on Team Raw Power this year, and my goal is to comb and spin at least one pound by the end of the Tour, July 25.

Lopi sweaters washed to put away for summer

A few weeks ago, I washed the 3 Lopi sweaters I have knit over the years, to put them away for summer.  Here they are, drying on a rack.  The green one is the Astrid Pullover from The Best of Lopi book, and it's mine.  The 2 brown ones I knit for my husband, before knitting had much of a web presence, so they are not in my projects page on Ravelry.  I suppose I could put them in retroactively, but I don't remember the exact dates I knit them.  I remember what I was doing and what my life was like when I knit them.  "Knitted Memories" as Brenda Dayne says.  I started knitting the big one on the top during one fall/winter a few years ago, when I was working up in Augusta, Maine on a project, and away from home during the week.  It was comforting to have something from home with me to work on.  The one on the bottom was knit in the early 90's, from my first hand-spun yarn, which I spun on drop spindles, from fleece I painstakingly washed and hand-carded.  This was when we lived in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, a very pretty, quiet suburb of Philadelphia.  I listened to folk music on the radio (WHYY).   It really kept me in the present moment, and I remember that feeling vividly.  My husband loves these sweaters, and even though the oldest one is getting a bit ratty, he still wears it quite frequently, just around the house, or to shovel snow.  These sweaters are super-warm and comfortable, kind of like sweatshirts.  A winter staple in our house!

Knitting Flat: The Professor Vest

I hate seaming, so I haven't knit flat in a long time.  But for some reason, The Professor Vest by Elizabeth Morrison took my fancy.  Maybe it's the cute model.  Also, my husband recently did a career change, and is teaching at Community College.  Well anyway, I started knitting it with some very New-England-Yankee type stash yarn.  Very sturdy and warm.  It required some knitting math, as it is not the same gauge as the original.  But, I'm fairly happy with it.  The pattern stitch makes kind of a chain-mail on the wrong side, which I reckon will be perfect for staff meetings. I have finished the back, and one side of the front.  This yarn is multicolored and heathery (doesn't really show in the photo), and has bits of straw in it still, I love it!

Tour de Fleece, Days 1-7

I am spinning for the Tour De Fleece this year, the goal of which is to spin every day of the Tour de France. Then, everyone posts their progress on their blogs, or on Ravelry. I have also been watching the TDF almost every day, for inspiration. My goal is to put a dent in my stash of fiber, which has been accumulating over the last few years. I have a habit of buying fleece at fiber fairs, then bringing them home to wash, and never get around to carding and spinning them. I also have a few pounds of unwashed Merino, Corriedale, and Alpaca. I have been washing a pound or so every couple of weeks this summer, and am currently spinning the Merino. It was difficult to process, but now that I am spinning it, I see why people go to all the trouble. It's a super-soft, crimpy and beautiful fiber, and spins into a finer thread than I am used to. Normally, I spin worsted-weight. This will be a nice sport-weight yarn for a lace shawl or scarf. I plan to kettle-dye it, not sure what color yet.

My progress to date: Finished spinning 100 grams of sock yarn roving I dyed at a workshop. Drum-carded and spun 2 batts of Merino. One bobbin about 2/3 full as of last night.

I might wash the Alpaca today. We are supposed to spin something challenging on the 23rd. I have never spun Alpaca before.

Fleece Washing 101

When I first learned to spin, back in the early 90's, I read Lee Raven's book Hands On Spinning, and followed her advice on how to wash fleece. The first fleece I bought was from Reading Terminal Market in Philadephia, a brown fleece from a sheep named Edna. It was only $4 a pound, and extremely dirty, but otherwise a good fleece, probably Romney. I scoured it lock by lock, using Dawn dishwashing soap, 140 degree water, following all the book's instructions. Grab a lock by the cut end, immerse it in the water, scrub the tip end with your other hand, then drop it into a soak bucket. Soak 20 minutes, then drain in a colander and rinse with a bit of vinegar in the rinse water. It was time-consuming to scrub all those tips, but rewarding to transform something once so dirty and smelly into beautiful, clean fiber. It made it very easy to card and fun to spin. Overall, a nice experience.

I then bought a beautiful gray Romney fleece on a trip to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival which was not horribly dirty, so I tried washing a couple of pounds of it using a mesh garment bag by soaking and spinning in a top-loading washing machine (still using Dawn, NO AGITATING). Lots of people use this method, and swear by it. I never felt like it got the fleece clean enough, though. The really dirty part of the fleece (the tips) never got clean, and it is no fun carding and spinning it in this condition. It takes much longer to card. You either have to tease the ends of each lock open with a flicker brush, or if it is really bad, just cut the tips off.

It works OK if the fleece is of a type that is not very greasy, like the Norwegian Spelsau. However, I was so disappointed with the results of washing a Cotswald fleece via this method, that it is still sitting in the mesh bag it was washed in about 5 years ago. It was really greasy and dirty, and it just didn't seem appealing to card or spin without re-washing, and I kind of gave up on it.

The Ravelry website has a Fiber Preparation forum, with a fleece-washing thread that has been going on for about a year. I started at the beginning of this thread, and read through the whole thing looking for help. It seems that the soaking method is what most people use, but maybe my water was not hot enough, or I wasn't using the right soap, or something. Some people recommend using tulle netting to keep the fleece distributed in a "burrito" formation, so that the water can flow through evenly while soaking. Some people use plastic trays and layer them. Lots of people still use Dawn, but others prefer Kookaburra, Unicorn Power Scour, or Soak.

So, I tried again with a soft, crimpy Merino fleece I had bought at the Maine Fiber Frolic (see photos above). It had looked fairly clean from the outside. But when I got it home, I saw that all the tips were on the inside (as they all are, packaged for judging in the fleece competition) and they were really awful-looking. The label written by the sheep farmer had said "consider professional processing," and I should have. I thought I could handle it. I didn't know that Merino is one of the hardest fleece to process, as it is THE GREASIEST and also felts very easily. So, you have to use very hot water, but be extra-careful not to agitate. I tried using a new soap, Kookaburra Wool Scour, and heating water on the stove to get the temperature up to 160 degrees. I did not have any tulle or plastic trays, so I did not use them. Once again, the fleece got nice & clean, but the tips are still really caked and icky (photo on left is AFTER washing). I finally decided to just cut the tips off (photo on right is after cutting). Once they are cut off, it should be fine. Merino 1, Rebecca zero. But, this isn't over.