Spinning Diverse Fibres

I suppose it's official now. I'm a spinning fanatic.
In case my (non-fibre-y) friends and family didn't already think me strange enough, I started spinning my dog's fur.
Having completed 2/3 of my camel silk (above- isn't that lovely stuff?), I decided my support spindle needed a break from all that fine lace and the bag of dog hair stashed under the sink needed a reason-to-be.
With the help of a leader yarn (my first time using/needing one; I usually hand twist the start of a yarn) I started spinning Darla's fur.  This is all undercoat tufts that I pluck from her, so there is very minimal tough guard hairs in the blend.

 

I have no brushes/carders to process the fibre, so I'm spinning from the cloud/fluff. The staple length is quite short (especially compared with the BFL I started spinning yesterday), but the high speed of the spindle and the lack of any weight pulling down is working to whip this up.  Because of the leader yarn I started with, the single is being S-spun.  I'm keeping the yarn relatively fine at about a sport weight single - which is 'thick' for me.  I'll be 2-plying this dog yarn and then knitting up a wee doggy.  It's essentially 'art yarn' to me. Too itchy/fluffy/sheddy and too warm to be of any practical use.  One day I might consider blending it with wool, but this first play with dog yarn - chiengora - is just for fun.

Sabbatical was not very restful

Dear, dear Sabbatical cardi.
How much grief you have/are causing me.
Firstly, who thought it was a good idea (ME) to work the body as one piece? Oh, sure, shaping was easy enough with stitch markers in place, but blocking out that lace now is a PITA.
Secondly, what is going on with those ridiculously large armpits?? I swear I did all the calculations correctly based on my gauge swatch. And might I add that I am very unimpressed that I've had to do so much math after paying for a pattern. I mean, really, what am I paying for if I have to calculate everything again because the pattern says work to X length - but you can't just knit to that length and measure your unblocked work. No, you have to knit taking into account what length it will block to. And since I'm supposed to be getting the same gauge as the designer, how about you just tell me how many times to repeat the pattern rows, what row to decrease on, etc.
Otherwise I may as well grab my own measurements, my own stitch pattern, my own swatch...
(wait, that's what I normally do)
Thirdly, self, why does that sleeve on the right look to have about 2 more stitches in its width? I'm guessing that was the second sleeve and that would explain why you had to reknit the cap twice. Well, partly explains - you should have counted your stitches more regularly.

I'm not sure I can fit those sleeves into those sleeve holes.
I am NOT reknitting any part of the body.
I will pick up stitches and fill in that arm hole with short rows if I have to.
ETA - we'll call that an armpit gusset... yes, yes we will.

I WILL make this cardi work!

Because, damn, it's gorgeous. Or, it will be.

ETA more pics after drying.
Not impressed, but I'm keeping in mind it needs a band along the front yet. Those sides still look thin - and they are definitely width specified in pattern. It's the gaping pits I seem to have messed up.

ETA - I strongly suspect I forgot to consider swatched size when measuring those armpits while knitting...  that would be the result of putting the project down for a year and picking back up, ripping back to start of armhole shaping, and knitting with infant twins...

So do I frog again??

*sigh*
I suspect that yes, yes I do.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAA

(I may start another sweater in the meantime. Something simpler.)

Bobble Love

Bobble Love

I appreciate the squish-factor of garter.
But I find it very boring.
So when I have to work in garter, I do like to spice it up a little.
With my current project I decided some bobble hearts were in order. Cute, non?

If you'd like to add some bobble-love to your next garter project here's what you need to know:
1) How to make a bobble - K into the front, back, and front again of 1 stitch. Turn and purl those stitches. Turn and knit all 3 tog.
2) Where you want to start the bottom of your heart - assuming you're working from the bottom-up.

Once you know those 2 things, proceed as follows:
1)On the right side, knit to the heart point, make a bobble, continue knitting across.
2)On the reverse side, knit to the bobble stitch and purl it, continue working across.
3) Knit to one stitch before previous bobble, Bobble, Knit 1, Bobble, knit across.
4) Knit to bobble, purl 3, knit remainder
5) Knit to one stitch before previous bobble, Bobble, Knit 3, Bobble, knit across.
6) Knit to bobble, purl 5, knit remainder
7) Knit to one stitch before previous bobble, Bobble, Knit 5, Bobble, knit across.
8) Knit to bobble, purl 7, knit remainder
9) Knit to one stitch before previous bobble, Bobble, Knit 7, Bobble, knit across.
10) Knit to bobble, purl 9, knit remainder
11) Knit to one stitch before previous bobble, Bobble, Knit 9, Bobble, knit across.
12) Knit to bobble, purl 11, knit remainder
13) Knit to above previous bobble, Bobble, Knit 9, Bobble, knit across.
14) Knit to bobble, purl 11, knit remainder
15) Knit to above previous bobble, Bobble, Knit 4, Bobble, Knit 4, Bobble, knit across.
16) Knit to bobble, K1, P4, K1, P4, knit remainder
17) Knit to 1 stitch after previous bobble, Bobble, Knit 2, Bobble, Knit 3, Bobble, Knit 2, Bobble, knit across
18) Knit to bobble, k1, P2, K5, P2, knit remainder
19) Knit to 1 stitch after previous bobble, Bobble, Bobble, K5, Bobble, Bobble, knit across.

Continue working in garter.

It's simpler to do than to type. Maybe a chart would be helpful.  It's also helpful if you are working from the top down, since I am not typing out additional instructions.

 There you go. Hope that helps liven up a garter project for you. And if you want to see how the reverse looks:

A little blocking along the length will fix up those wavy garter lines.

can't show you

June is almost over.
All I can say of my fibre-activities is
1) I didn't love the mystery pattern and the yarn I was working with together. Going to save that yarn for a mystery CAL in August and try again with the shawl at a later time.
2) I'm working on far too many baby blankets and since they're all surprise gifts I can't show them online. Yet. Sorry. I know you're very disappointed.
3) I have several design ideas I'd much rather be working on. But darn those baby blankets...
4) I've been working on my Sabbatical cardi and I was half done the second sleeve when I had to rip back a few rounds. Still rebuilding, but the end is nearing!
5) Spinning on the second third of the fuschia dance is progressing well. Almost done that section.

Summer Mystery Shawl

Is it June yet? Is it?
Perhaps I should also be asking if my printer works now - magically on its own...
I'll cross that bridge later.
For now I'm looking forward to starting a new mystery shawl KAL hosted by Wendy Johnson.

My previous summer mystery shawl was gifted to my lovely midwife on her birthday.

This time I'll be working up a large shawl with my merino lace from Painted Fleece hand-dyed with cochineal and indigo.

 Going down in needle size for the lace. I think it's a 3.5mm. Looks like my smallest KP interchangeable. Can't find most of my needles, which I usually use for comparison purposes having broken (and tossed) my needle size gauge. I should really replace that. And find my needles...

Camel silk - the first third

first third completed

The first third of my camel silk took longer to spin than I had anticipated back in February when I began.  The second third seems to be going a bit faster, but maybe that's the excitement of a new cop deceiving me. Or, maybe it's skill. I do think I'm getting the hang of support spindling.
One day this will be a beautiful 3-ply yarn. One day.

first third early on; looks a lot like current third

Stash Stashed

Moving is not complete, but I did manage to stash my stash away. (I think there was still one box of sweater yarn not yet opened at the time of this picture.)

Clearly I have some space to fill :P