Saturday, May 09, 2009

Ooooo. Shiny.


I have begun spinning the new blue tweedy stuff. It is 30/70, tussah silk and merino wool from Paradise Fibers. (I prefer Kendig Cottage for fiber, but since the two-pounds-of-carbon-fiber fiasco, I am leery of large amounts of unknown fibers, and Kendig Cottage only sells this stuff in 8oz clumps. Now that I know I love it, I'm all over the 8oz clumps.)

I confess I've pulled out a few of the really, insanely red streaks, but otherwise I'm spinning it as-is, going for worsted-spun two ply. Laceweight, I'm hoping. Arianne suggested that what I want for my other project is probably a heather, not a tweed. I think she's right, so I'm in the market for some blue heather and will spin this up into laceweight for practice.

I've been spinning like a fiend since this morning, desperate to see what some finished yarn will look like, but alas, I must take a break. Interestingly, after about three hours of spinning (with a few breaks), it's not my hands that are giving out. It's my back. Ow. Damn. Aging is a bitch.

So, I've gotta find something else to poke at... Botched the bindoff of the first dreamsicle sock last night (too tight), so I dunno what I'll do. Play computer games maybe. Or dig through the stack of unfinished sweaters that are supposed to be my goal this year. There's a thought.

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The Goob has moved from simply drawing faces, to giving them arms and legs.

Love it. Can't get enough. The cuteness makes me squee. This is a portrait of me, incidentally.

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And the husbeast sends along some husbeast humor for all of you.

13 comments:

Luneray said...

ARe the socks toe up? I use a 5mm needle to bind off because I am incapable of binding off loosely.

Alwen said...

When I first started to knit socks toe-up, I'd do a crochet bind off with an extra loop or two in between the stitches I was binding off. I know you can do that!

Now my fave is tubular/Kitchener/grafted bind-off.

NeedleTart said...

Brenda Dayne suggested an i-cord bind off for toe up. Good luck.

Bells said...

scary cat! Cute Goober. Gorgeous spinning. It's just lovely.

Mandy said...

I like a sewn bind-off for extra stretchiness. But I have yet to try toe-up socks, so my problem is usually a too-tight cast-on!

Amy Lane said...

Someone once showed me a perfect loose bind-off for a toe-up sock... of course I can't remember it and it completely escaped me, but, damn, wish I could pass it on! (Cave Troll did lots of cute pictures of creepy big-eyed people on our wall. With sharpie.)

shadowbat said...

Hi
I just made my first toe-up socks and the pattern says, for a super-loose bind off:
Last round: after every 2 stiches, M1. When you cast off, do not knit the M1 stiches, just slip them.
Did not had the guts to try it but sounds good to me.



And i just love your blog :)

Elly said...

Cats are children of the water!

Lovely fibre and spinning.

roxie said...

Much thanks to Husbeast! That cat could be a Marine Corp mascot.

The tweed yarn is looking very nice. So what's the difference between tweed and heather colorways and how do you spin them to retain the distinction?

walterknitty said...

That yarn is spinning up lovely. I've never knit socks from the toe up. The only thing I could suggest would be to bind off with a needle a couple of sizes bigger than the one you knit with. That might help.

amy said...

I love little kid drawings.

Barbara said...

My fridge is jealous that you get Goob drawings and all if have is Powerball tickets and articles about staving off Alzheimer's. Excellent likeness!

Arianne said...

It's spinning up really nicely without the more vibrant of the red bits. It looks pretty heathered in that photo...but more purple than blue! Can't wait to see what the finished yarn looks like!