Spinning "Butterfly Effect"; a 4-ply cabled yarn

Into the Whirled's October 2014 colorway "Butterfly Effect" is Superwash Merino in oranges and blues.  It is making me think of my BIL's wedding, although the colors are a bit more muted.

 

I decided to pull out my copy of The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs: Techniques for Creating 80 Yarns for this spinning project.  I want to try something new, but what should I try?  It would be fun to spin beads into my project, and I also really like the look of wrapped singles, but I don't have any silk thread (yet... I'll have to order some once we move!)  I think I'm going to go for a simpler "advanced" spin and try a cabled yarn.  This is essentially a 4 ply yarn created from two 2-plies.

This project will start with me spinning in the S direction, counterclockwise, and plying for the first time in the Z direction. This is the opposite of how I normally do this.  I'm working on my smallest whirl (8:1) to get a thin single.  I just ordered smaller whorls but I'm going to have to wait for those to arrive and I want to finish one more yarn before February ends.

Smaller whorls will give the wheel a higher ratio.  On the smallest whorl the wheel came with (8:1), I get 8 twist in the yarn per revolution of the wheel.  This is great for beginners because the twist travels into the yarn slowly, but it can be harder to spin thinner yarns without treadling your feet much faster.  

I could start out by dividing the yarn into 4 equal parts and making singles etc... but instead I'm going to divide the yarn in half and make one bobbins of Z 2-ply yarn.  I'm then going to create a center pull ball and make the cabled yarn from this.

This project involves over-twisting the 2ply yarn.  One recommendation is to ply normally and then run this yarn back through the wheel in the same direction to add more twist.  We'll see how I do the first time around.  My yarns usually have a little more twist in them than I need.

Am I crazy?  This is MERINO!  Merino is hard to spin sometimes!!  Wish me luck.

Bundle 1 is 56 g, bundle 2 is 59 g.

I tried to start spinning a really thin single (thinner than my last one) but the staple length of merino is shorter than the Falkland, and I couldn't get enough twist into it for the yarn to be stable.  I'm therefore doing a slightly thicker single.  It is spinning and drafting SO FAST that I'm afraid I'm no putting enough twist into it... wish me luck.  (How many times am I going to ask for luck in this project?)

I am learning a lot from being part of the Into the Whirled fiber club.  I haven't spun merino for a while, but spinning it immediately after the Falkland I am amazed at how smooth the fibers are.  I tfeels so silky going through my fingers.  Even with too much twist in parts of the singles, they feel smooth and wonderful, not hard or rough.

This yarn isn't exactly balanced.  I think I'm spinning the second spindle much thinner than the first one.  I've also noticed that I have a lot less tension in the breakband to get uptake of the yarn onto the bobbin.  Maybe this is because of the counterclockwise spinning?  I have no idea, I've never spun singles this way before.  Of course, it is possible that the old break band was worn out enough to break,m so when I replaced it there is more friction.

My tiny whorls arrived!  I now have 1:10, 1:14, 1:18 and 1:20 ratios in addition to my 1:5 and 1:8.  Since I want to over ply my singles the first time around, I'm going to ply them with the 1:14 whorl.  his way I should have an easier time getting too much twist.  In the worst I'll have to spin slower where I was spinning as fast as I could on the reverse end.

With the first round of plying the colors matched well at the first, but as the plying went on I got more and more barber-poling.  This doesn't bother me, because since I am going to ply a second time from a center pull ball this should even itself out a ton.  Wahoo!  So far so good, right?  (On an aside, I broke my tailbone a bit ago so that is making the spinning much harder to do.  Oy am I in pain!  I sit forward when I spin so it is somewhat manageable, but I have to take lots of breaks.  Therefore I am giving myself a bit of leeway if I take longer to get through my Into the Whirled backlog.)

A preview of the 4 ply cabled yarn from the overtwisted 2ply

For plying step 1, I wound my 2 ply yarn into a center pull ball.  Then using the 1:8 whorl (to not overtwist the cable) I spun these Z 2plies in the S direction for my 4 ply cable yarn.  While I was at it, I also wound the left over S singles into a center pull ball.  There are a ton of pictures from this spinning project because I thought that each step was lovely.

Z 2-ply yarn

1 ply and 2 ply on bobbins

1 ply and 2 ply in center pull balls.  Each are ready for the next plying step.  

When creating the 4 ply chain, I quickly swapped to my slowest whorl (1:5).  This would allow me to ply slowly and make sure I was happy with my twist ratios.  You can really see that the fiber looks like a chain!  It is less pronounced when you're getting a barber pole of 2 plies, but when you are twisting two barber poles it looks like there is some woven fiber going on.  Pretty fun!

Spinning the 4 ply yarn

A close up of the cabled yarn.  Doesn't it almost look like a chain in some parts?

I think I may have lost some twist while winding into the center pull, but I like how the yarn is coming out, even if it really isn't a perfect cabled yarn.

I really am enjoying spinning with the faster whorls.  I think that it makes my 2 ply much more balanced and I'm really excited to try to spin lace weight and maybe even fingering weight 2 ply yarns.

1 ply - 21 dpi (fingering weight)
2 ply - 12 wpi (DK weight)
4 ply - 8-9 wpi (Worsted/Heavy worsted)

4-ply (left) and 1-ply (right)

2-ply (left) and 4-ply (right)

Two bobbins of 4-ply yarn

Large Skein - 54 wraps * 4 ft/wrap = 216 feet = 72 yards, 90 g; 8 wpi
Small Skein - 33 wraps * 2 ft/wrap = 66 feet = 22 yards, 23 g; 9 wpi

So I ended up with 94 yards total of my 4 ply cable yarn.  This means that I had 386 yards of singles!  This might just be a record for me.  I'm so excited for the improvement that I cannot wait to try out spinning thinner singles.  Yippee!

Did I already mention how I had no breaks while spinning or plying?  This is a miracle!!

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  Spinning begun 2/24/15
bobbin 1 finished 2/25/15
bobbin 2 finished 2/27/15
Plying round 1 - 3/3/15
All plying finished 3/5/15

Snow Dyeing 100% Wool Yarn

Spring is here for most of the country, but if you are in Colorado then you got some snow last weekend.  What better time to share one of my favorite new dyeing videos, Snow Dyeing Yarn with KoolAid!  Last February we got a LOT of snow. I decided to take advantage of the snow and use it for some snow dyeing experiments. What will happen if you use melting snow as a method to apply dye from KoolAid to 100% wool yarn?

I knew this dyeing would take a long time so I started it while watching the Superbowl.  This was the first time I've ever tried dyeing with snow.  I'd seen some really fun pictures of ice dyeing (where you sprinkle the dye on top of ice cubes), and I know parents who will help their kids paint snow with food coloring so I thought it would be fun to use this as a technique to apply dye to yarn.  

I wanted to do this experiment with unspun fiber, but I didn't have any white roving in my stash that I could use.  I had some pale grey roving that would have worked, however I don't know how pale the colors will be after the dyeing is complete, and I didn't want to NOT see them at all if I end up with pastels.  I used 100 g of Bare KnitPicks Palette yarn and 6 packets of KoolAid.

An hour into the dyeing (and the Patriots are winning, wahoo!) and there has shockingly been only a tiny about of melting.  I have a feeling that this will take all night.

My bathroom smelled AMAZING as I was waiting for the snow to melt.  I'd like to do an experiment sometime where I snow dye two miniskeins of wool.  One I set with heat in the micrwoave and the other I just rinse out.  I wonder how much of this binds to the yarn without heat.

Before I went to bed there were a few specks of snow left so I decided to leave it until morning.  I filled my bucked up with more snow and left it in the back hall (below freezing).  What do you think I'm going to try next?  I am feeling so inspired and this (clean) snow will only be around for so long.

I hope that you enjoy my latest dyeing experiment!  To see details and the final reveal of the washed yarn check out the following video.  With these longer videos I try to include contents to make it easier to skip directly to the part of the video you want to see.

Video Contents (Skip ahead to the part you need!)  Apparently the links only work to take you to the correct spot if you are watching from YouTube's website but at least you have the time marks so you can skip around as needed.  
[0:00] Introduction & Setup of the Dyeing Experiment
[1:20] Putting Snow on the Yarn
[3:23] Sprinkling the KoolAid Dye on the snow
[6:21] T = 20 min
[6:52] T = 1 hour
[8:30] T = 1.5 hrs
[10:40] T = 2.5 hrs
[11:23] T = 4 hrs
[12:38] All the snow is melted! T = 5+ hrs
[12:48] The next morning, preparing the fiber for microwaving
[17:26] In the microwave
[18:02] Cooling down
[18:39] Washing the fiber 
[20:15] Final reveal of the yarn and conclusions

Spinning "Prance"

July 2014 Into the Whirled's colorway is called "Prance."  The fiber is Falkland and it is another fiber I've never tried before.  I recently joined the Into the Whirled Ravelry group and there you get a little extra because you get to see the inspiration photo for the monthly colorway.  Awesome!  I'm finding myself tempted to join the luxury club, but I should probably wait until after we've moved.  Maybe I need to take a break for a while until the move, even though I've been keeping up with working through my stash.  

I really like this colorway.  The colors are really deep and saturated, full of (mostly) blues, greens and purples.  

I realized that if I divided the fiber in half, then I could spin a gradient directly from the braid.  It would require predrafting, but it would basically be ready to go.  (Unlike my previous handspun gradient which took a lot more planning.)  

I divided the fiber into two 56 g sections and removed the green bit from the end of the red/pink section.  Wahoo, I'm ready to go.  Two spools of singles starting with green and heading to red.  

I've been saying this a lot recently, but I want to try to spin this thin.  I'm going to predraft, spin on the faster whorl and really try to make my singles nice and thin.  We'll see how this goes.  As always I'm spinning clockwise and plying counterclockwise. 

So far so good!  I'm maybe half a gram into the fiber and I think I have multiple yards.  Woot woot!  I think the staple length is lending itself well to a really thin spin.  

Eek my hands are turning blue again!

So the spinning was going really well, and then as I approached the end of the first bobbin I got a little over confident and starting putting too little twist in the yarn.  How do I know?  It broke multiple times and I had to pull out almost a few YARDS to get to a place where I could start spinning again.  I really REALLY hope I won't have trouble when it is time to ply, I'm feeling a little nervous.  

The second bobbin filled really easily.  The singles are around 25 wpi.  Maybe on the way to lace weight?  It was hard to wrap without worrying about untwisting the singles.  

Plying is slow going, but that is because this is really thin yarn!  I had a few breaks in the red section, but I just laid end over end and continued iwth the plying.  Thankfully it hasn't been a huge problem yet.  

During the plying, I started to worry that the green/blue sections of the yarn would be much smaller than the red.  It could be really unbalanced and strange.  

I LOVE this yarn, it is so fuzzy and soft!  It is not too tightly twisted at all.  The yarn is soft and has a good bounce to it.  Maybe my intuition is just getting better.  This is the most yardage I've gotten out of a project in a while, so I'm excited about that, too.  I'm still not sure how I feel about the gradient, but it was a fun thing to experiment with.  

People often have varied reactions when I mention that I own a spinning wheel.  Knitters and other crafters tend to think it is cool, whereas non-fiber folk think it is a little strange.  I once had someone tell me that she could never have the patience to do it.  I explained that it is relaxing and soothing.  Unlike many other crafts I do, spinning can be very mindless and requires little to no thought once you start going.  You are creating something beautiful with little effort, just some time.  If you're going to be sitting around anyway, you have nothing to lose!  

13 wpi, 2 ply.  DK weight.  

large skein - 214 wraps * 4 ft/wrap = 856 ft = 285 yards; 105 g

small skein - 22 wraps * 2 ft/wrap = 44 feet = 14.6 yards; 6 g

While I was plying the yarn it felt like there was a LOT more red than there turned out to be.  The color gradient is nicely balanced, with some great barber pole sections where the colors transitioned.  

300 is a really good yardage to get out of 100 g of fiber, at least for me.  I can't believe that I had 600 yards of singles!  No wonder it too me a while to ply.  I will have to think of the right project for this yarn, but I would be happy to use it as a cowl or shawlette of some type.  Do you have any suggestions for me?  

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Spinning started 2/18/2015

First half completed 2/19/2015

Second spindle finished 2/20/2015

PANDA!

Shhhhhhhhhh, I know a secret!  Someone very special to me is pregnant and it isn't public yet*.  I still can't hold in my excitement so I needed to crochet a hat RIGHT AWAY.  PANDA!
*Not public at the time of crocheting.  I made sure to schedule this post at a time when the pregnancy was public knowledge so that way no one could guess who was getting a PANDA hat from me!   Especially Keith, Keith would have figured it out, or at least would have been suspicious.  

The panda bear crochet hat pattern contains some non-standard crochet terms that I didn't find when googling.  There are instructions in the pattern itself, so we'll see if I can figure it out.   There were some free panda hat patterns out there, but I really liked the shape of the eyes of this hat.  I should have heeded the fact that very few people had purchased the pattern, but hey, maybe I can be up for the challenge, right?

I pulled some KnitPicks worsted Wool of the Andes yarn out of my stash (see, be proud of me) in coal (black) and white.  I'm starting with the 0-6 month size since it will hopefully fit the little cub at some point.

I started with a size H hook and a chain 3 into a magic circle.  I see why there are non-standard abbreviations, I've never seen stitches like these before!  They are like little clusters which should make the fabric denser.  Cool!

When I started round 2 I quickly realized that my gauge must be way too tight.  There is NO WAY that the circle will have a 3.5" diameter after I'm done with this round.

Since my gauge was way off, I skipped I and went to a J hook (6 mm).  Doing two of these cluster stitches in one st really made some gaps (since it is almost like 4 sts in 1 st each time.)  These may no be too noticeable in the end, though.    I didn't quite hit the 3.5" diameter, but I think I'm close enough and that I'll be able to compare with some of Lucky's past hat measurements.

With the beginning of round 4, I wasn't quite sure how to start the TSC (two stitch cluster) I know that these clusters will each span two stitches, but there is not information on what we do with the first or the last, so we'll see how it turns out a the end.  I may have to fudge it a bit.  I chained 3 sts, then started with the first TSC exactly as written.

The first 3 TSC stitches. 

In the last sitch, I did the first half of the TSC I then did the second half of this THC at the base of the Ch3.  Phew, this worked out!

I could tell that by the time I was on round 7 that this hat was not quite long enough (4.25").  I mean, my gauge was a little short so this was to be expected.  I therefore did an 8th round in the #4 instructions.  I was comparing the size to the slightly bigger owl earflap hat (that Lucky never wore).  I know that this would fit a young baby.

There is an error with row 3 of the earflap.  It has you count 10 sts to join for the second ear flap (I counted across the FRONT of the hat), Ch3 and then TURN.  This makes both ears almost right next to each other.  Don't turn!  Ch3, and then continue the instructions.  You will be crocheting on the WS so it works and fits with the other ear flap.

I used the J (6 mm) hook for the trim, and switched back to a H (5 mm) hook for the spots and ears.  

There wasn't a lot of advice on how to position the pieces (with the exception of the ears.)  I did the nose first since it was easy to place that equidistant between the two ear flaps.  Then it was easy to do the eyes (I secured the eyes to the black pieces first) and then the ears.  

Looking at the yardage totals (25 g white, 28 g black), I'm surprised that this project used more black yarn that white.  If you are close on the yardage, you can help your project by using another color in the braids.  24 yards just went into the braids!

This was a great project for an afternoon spent feeling giddy over a new baby on the way.  I cannot wait to meet him/her!!  

Review of "Colorwork Knitting" and Interview with Sarah E. White!

I am so excited to have the opportunity to review the new knitting book Colorwork Knitting: 25 Spectacular Sweaters, Hats, and Accessories by Sarah E. White!  I love knitting, and designing, with color so a book that looks at 5 different colorwork techniques (striping, striping with self-striping yarn, slip stitch, stranded, and intarsia) is right up my alley. Sarah has published a few knitting books and is the knitting expert for About.com and CraftGossip.com and blogs at Our Daily Craft.  Before I received the copy of the book, I had the opportunity to ask Sarah some questions.

ChemKnits: When did you learn to knit?  What was the first thing you ever made?

Sarah: I learned from my grandmother when I was maybe 10 years old. My first project, like probably everyone’s, was an amoeba-shaped something. Back then I exclusively knit squares and rectangles. It wasn’t until after college that I really got into serious knitting with shaping and the like.

ChemKnits: If you had unlimited time and no deadlines, what would you start knitting?  

Sarah: I would probably take up knitting intricate lace shawls. I love the look of them, but don’t have the time or patience for them right now.

ChemKnits: Where did your inspiration for Colorwork Knitting come from?
Sarah: I love color knitting, and I know a lot of knitters do, too. But I also feel like it can be intimidating for knitters to get started using color. So I wanted to write a book that would provide knitters with relatively easy entry into the world of color, starting with self-striping yarns and moving through making your own stripes, slip-stitch knitting, stranded knitting and intarsia. Likewise the projects vary in skill level, too, from scarves, mitts and hats to socks and sweaters. So I really feel like there’s something here for everyone.

ChemKnits: Your latest book is all about different types of colorwork, which is your favorite technique?
Sarah: I’m really interested in slip-stitch knitting right now. I think it’s underrated and can make some really interesting designs with very little work on the part of the knitter (my favorite!).

ChemKnits: What is your favorite yarn to knit with? 
Sarah: There are so many yummy yarns out there it’s hard to pick a favorite, but some of the favorites that I worked with in the book include Malabrigo worsted (of course!), Socks that Rock by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and Spud and Chloe Sweater.

ChemKnits: You have hundreds of designs!  What are your favorites?  
Sarah: Oh, man, that’s a hard one, too! The Candle Flame Cowl is one of my favorites, because it uses a lacy pattern in a bulky yarn, which is interesting. The bright yellow color is always great on dreary winter days, too. I knit the Grace Note Shawl for my mother-in-law and I wish I had time to make myself one, too. It’s pretty easy but really lovely.  And for sentimental reasons I love this baby striped hat because it’s the first thing I knit for my daughter when she was still in the NICU (born six weeks early).

ChemKnits: What type of project do you recommend for first time knitters?  

Sarah: When I teach knitting in person I always start with a basic, bulky Garter Stitch Scarf. And I teach the knit cast on so once they have the cast on down they basically know how to knit.
My students often joke that they’re really making a Garter Stitch potholder because they might not have the stamina for a whole scarf, so that’s another option, just knit until you want to be done and move on to the next thing. Which should be Stockinette Stitch or ribbing to introduce purling.
But I think anything practical is a great first project, whether it’s a scarf or a washcloth, because it’s great to start off knitting something you can use.

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When Colorwork Knitting: 25 Spectacular Sweaters, Hats, and Accessories showed up on my doorstep at the end of April, I was so excited to open the glossy color pages.  The book is divided into five sections of five patterns utilizing the specific colorwork technique: Knitting with Self-Striping Yarns, Making Your Own Stripes, Slip-Stitch Knitting, All About Stranded Knitting and Intarsia Knitting.  If you are new to colorwork, you can learn about these techniques in the introduction while looking at samples of finished objects on the same page.  At this stage in my knitting history I've done a lot of different colorwork projects, but I also picked up some great tips from Sarah. I've never thought about wrapping the different colors from my project around a stick to see smaller amounts close together!

The chapters are arranged in order of difficulty, starting with using self striping yarns. Each chapter begins with a deeper introduction to the colowork technique that include pros and cons to the technique.  I love pros and cons lists!  Each pattern includes clear instructions and multiple full color photographs from different angles.  I really appreciate being able to see the garments from different angles before you decide to cast on.  The pattern instructions themselves are written clearly and are not intimidating.  While this book focuses on new colorwork techniques, there is a section to help with other knitting and finishing techniques at the end of the book.

Colorwork Knitting is written for a beginner, but there are plenty of patterns an advanced knitter can enjoy as well.  You can dress your entire body in a riot of color, from accessories like hats, gloves and scarves to garments like sweaters and socks.  I fell in love with the Sunburst Horizontal Stripe Scarf.  The garter stitch pattern is simple enough for a true beginner while being eye catching enough that I want to have some in my closet.  I am a sucker for ombré knitting so the Ombre Striped Mitts immediately drew me in.  I love how the fingers are each a different color.  I am inspired by how half way through the Brick Stitch Scarf you switch the main color and contrasting color, I now want to apply this to other scarf patterns, too!  The Two-Color Cable Hat would be perfect for a sports fan in vibrant colors that twist together but would also look great with less contrasting colors.  This project immediately went into my queue, I cannot wait to try two color cables!

This book has everything I love in a knitting book.  Detailed photographs, a visual index of patterns (seriously, this is a feature that I LOVE in a book and I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it) and even websites of where you can buy the yarns featured in this book.

Before I started my first ever colorowork project, I was really nervous that it would all fall to pieces.  I wish that I had a copy of this book back then!  After reading this book, I feel inspired to add colorwork to my knitting in new ways I'd never considered before.  If you are feeling intimidated by colorwork, don't be.  Let Sarah be your guide and introduce you to the wonderful world of Colorwork Knitting!

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This review was written at the request of Sarah E. White, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. You should check out what Sarah has to say about her book, too!