handspun yarn | Little Miss Drama Pants

November 28, 2011
by lilMDP 2 Comments

And Then I Totally Effed That Oh

Back in 2008 (April 6th to be exact), I went to see the Yarn Harlot in Atlanta and ended up with 6 ounces of soy silk. Oh, and I also saw the Yarn Harlot. On July 5, 2011 I finally decided to spin it up. On July 13, 2011 I finished plying it and promptly did not record how many yards I spun. Seriously. How did I not do that? WHY did I not do that?!

Then in October, before leaving for SAFF, I decided that I needed to knit up the circus roving turned yarn into something. So I made myself a little handspun yarn cake and took it with me to Asheville, NC. On October 21, 2011 I bought Trillion (Ravelry link) at SAFF. I also promptly began knitting it. It’s a really simple knit and shows off my handspun yarn really nicely.

It’s a fantastic knit when you’re hanging with friends, drinking and not always paying attention to what your hands are doing. The two-row repeat is really easy to memorize. I highly recommend this pattern for when you need some easy but still enchanting to knit. And because I had no clue what the yardage was on my yarn cake, there was that element of danger as to whether or not I would run out of yarn before I had a wearable…Trillion.

And I still can’t help but wonder if I could have fit in one more row.

Neckerchief?

Wanna hear something kind of hypocritical? Even though I am technically half “yellow” I don’t actually like the color yellow. Since I’m half yellow and half white does that actually make me…beige? Either way, I still don’t love the color yellow.

Photobombed by My Own Husband

But when I wrapped the Trillion around my neck, the yellow is not so noticeable and I can live with that. This is not the best picture of how to wear the Trillion, but you’ll just have to use your imagination. Also, I feel that this is a completely acceptable reason to buy a dressform – to take photos of hand knits draped across it. Sans photobombers. And that is actually B photobombing me. I didn’t photoshop him in or anything. Clearly nothing is sacred to him. And yes, this is me wearing exactly NO makeup. (Note to self: get an under eye cream for dark circles.)

July 17, 2011
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After a Short Hiatus, Day 15

On Day 13 I didn’t spin because my back was acting up again. I cannot stress to you enough the value of a good mattress. I spent Day 13 at work thinking that I really should have gone home to rest my back, but since I was going to be gone for a week (Hi! I am totally blogging FROM THE BEACH. Jealous? Yeah, I would be too. I mean, if I wasn’t me, but I’m not not me, so I am basking in your jealousy. Follow? Cool.) that I should get as much done as I possibly could before I left so I stayed at work. WHEW.

And then when I got home? I laid down in the floor on top of an ice pack and alternated between icing my back and then rubbing biofreeze all over it. It was the complete opposite of sexy. And also NOT conducive to knitting. I consoled myself with playing Puzzle Quest on my PSP while laying on the ice pack.

And then yesterday was my birthday! So I totally got a pass, right? After work, I spent my evening getting a mani/pedi and then going home and chilling. What? It was my birthday. And I needed my nails to be beach ready.

Today started with me waking up feeling like I was coming down or had come down with a cold. That is most definitely the SUCKIEST way to start your vacation. I consoled myself with taking my sweet time getting ready. And my morning cuppa joe.

Also? I cleaned the entire kitchen with the exception of the floor. What’s the point of having kids if you don’t put them to work, right? You know, because pushing a swiffer around is HARD LABOR. Especially when you make them do it twice – once dry and once wet. I know. I am a cruel taskmaster. Well, kid’s gotta learn sometime that life’s not fair.

ANYWAY. Super clean kitchen. Then shower. Then taking my sweet time to pack. And we left the house by 12:30 pm. So really? We made good time.

And then it rained off and on THE WHOLE WAY TO THE BEACH. It took us about 6.5 hours to drive what is normally a 4 hours TOPS drive. I think we saw at least 4 wrecks on the way down, too. And once we finally made it to the condo, we did what any sane person would do. We unloaded the car as fast as we could and headed straight down to the pool.

What?

It wasn’t thundering or lightening.

I would just like to take this moment to tell you how proud I am that my kid does not act like a baboon at public pools. There were a couple of kids there RUNNING AND CANNONBALLING into the pool WITH TOTAL DISREGARD FOR THEIR SURROUNDINGS (i.e. US). While I do not mind the occasional cannon ball, ENCOURAGING YOUR KIDS TO ACT LIKE ASSHOLES IN PUBLIC IS POOR PARENTING. These kids didn’t pay any attention to who or what was around them and would just take off and jump into the pool. Deep end. Shallow end. People nearby. It didn’t matter.

As a former lifeguard, I had to bite my tongue. HARD.

Anyway, we can always hope that they’ll leave soon. Like maybe tomorrow. Or maybe, they’ve already gone. A girl can dream.

After swimming and dinner, I unpacked my spinning wheel from my brand new Lendrum bag my sweet honey bought me for my birthday and got to spinning. (I’ll take pictures of the bag tomorrow in good lighting.)

Shiny

Miss Babs Merino/Tencel Top

I am having to pre-draft the hell out of this roving, but it is so worth it. It wants to spin up thin, so I am obliging. The pictures I took really don’t do this yarn justice. It is absolutely gorgeous. And I think it’s going to take me awhile to spin it all up.

July 13, 2011
by lilMDP 1 Comment

Week 2, Day 5

Love

I am absolutely thrilled with how this turned out. But I am also ridiculously tired, now. Plying is hard work!

Tomorrow I’ll find out how many yards I ended up with. One bobbin has some leftover singles on it. Did I even say that right? Anyway, one day, I’ll have two perfectly even bobbins that ply up with no yarn leftover. However.

Today is not that day.

July 12, 2011
by lilMDP 2 Comments

Week 2, Day 4

I finished the second bobbin!

What’s that? You want to know what my bobbin is sitting on?

Bobbin for Scale

My new spinning chair from Crate and Barrel. Happy Birthday Week to me! Still!

Next up, plying!

July 11, 2011
by lilMDP 2 Comments

Week 2, Day 3

Look ma! I'm still spinning!

In case you were wondering, it’s my birthday week and I’ve been treating myself to birthday presents.

That cup? It’s not really floating in mid-air. I haven’t suddenly developed the power of telekinesis (bummer) or magical powers (double bummer).

I got my wheel a cup holder! It’s pretty rockin’ awesome and is pretty damn close to magic. It’s going to hold my cider(s) while I knit at the beach. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Anyway, if you are so inclined to buy me presents for my birthday, roving wouldn’t be out of the question. I mean, at the rate I’m going, I’m going to need to replenish my stash, right? Right.

I am also partial to apple ciders (the very tasty adult beverage variety). You know, in case you were wondering what to get me. For my birthday. Week.

July 10, 2011
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Day 9

I totally didn’t spin yesterday. And with good reason. My back decided to be a pain. Literally. Which made sitting absolutely miserable and do you have any idea how hard it is to spin laying down? It’s mostly impossible. But today I was feeling better so I made up for yesterday. I went from this:

To this:

Where did the rest if go? Over here:

After posting about how I would think about how I would spin this second bobbin, and being deliberate in how I spin? I was so happy to spin that I didn’t even stop to think about barber pole versus non-barber poling yarn. I really did mean to be more thoughtful about how and what I spin. But…that didn’t happen. I just jumped right in.

So I will have yarn that primarily barber poles.

I can live with that.

July 6, 2011
by lilMDP 2 Comments

Day Five…Just Barely

If we stretch the truth just a tiny bit, I spun for 30 minutes. Maybe closer to 20, but still. I spun yarn. And considering that I just went and bought a new phone tonight? That is something of a miracle in and of itself. But I’ll save that for another blog post. Right now? YARNZ.

Day 5

Flash Free

I did, however, take these pictures with my NEW PHONE!!

OK. I got the HTC Sensation 4G because I ran out of internal memory on my Nexus One and it would quit updating my emails. This is a problem when you use your mobile phone for work. Just saying. So I got a new phone and well, I am in LOVE. And it also has WAY more memory. WIN!!

July 4, 2011
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Day 3, Challenge

Today I wanted to do something different and challenge myself. So I decided to try my hand at spinning art yarn. Y’all, making art yarn is hard. And I was just kind of winging it. It, um, it could have gone better but I’m going to be content with having tried it.

Attempt at Art Yarn

I used an unidentified wool (bfl? corriedale? I lost the band), dyed locks (Wensleydale and something else) and sari silk. I just spun the sari silk and locks into the wool. Some of the locks were really matted up so I used my flick brush to untangle them. I tried using my combs to create a kind of mini batt with the locks and sari silk. That didn’t go as well as I would have liked. Today was all about learning and mostly I learned that I have a lot to learn when it comes to art yarn. [Side note: I really need to do a better job of keeping track of what I have. /side note]

26 Messy Yards

Part of my problem is that I’m a perfectionist and I don’t think that works really well with this technique. So the next time I attempt this, I’ll try making a batt first. Maybe that will help.

September 22, 2010
by lilMDP 6 Comments

Janna's Fleece Transformed

Back in 2008, I went to SAFF for the third year in a row and decided it was finally time to buy a fleece. I actually ended up purchasing 1.5 fleeces (I split a baby alpaca fleece with Regan) but this story is about the 6.13 lb fleece of a Lincoln Longwool Sheep named Janna. When I saw it, it was love at first sight. I mean, who wouldn’t love this beauty?

Look at those lovely lady locks! And I honestly don’t remember how much it was, but I’m pretty sure I got it for a steal. I brought home this amazing fleece and then promptly did nothing with it for TWO YEARS. What I didn’t realize is that subconsciously, I was waiting for Jen and Jared to get Fleury Sheep & Wool off the ground so I could send them my fleece.

I gave them my fleece on August 7 and got it back today. I didn’t expect my roving until SAFF so I’m basically getting it a whole MONTH before I expected it. Really, this is just Christmas in September as far as I’m concerned. So anyway, I sent in 6.13 pounds of fleece and got back 4.03 pounds of roving.

Let that sink in for a minute.

FOUR POUNDS OF ROVING.

What does FOUR POUNDS OF ROVING look like? Why, it looks like this:

Y’all, that is A LOT OF ROVING. A lot of really pretty roving.

Heaps of pretty roving.

Mmmmmmm….

I would roll around in it, but it’s not dissimilar to mohair and I prefer at least a thin layer of clothing between the roving and myself.

Of course I had to spin up a bobbin to see how it looks as yarn. I started out with my faster flyer and it was too fast, so I switched to my lower ratio to spin a larger single. I’m thinking that with FOUR POUNDS OF ROVING (there is really no other way to say it. Seriously.) I have enough yarn to spin up aran or maybe even bulky weight yarn. And I should have enough yarn spun up when it’s all said and done to make a sweater. I’ll probably have WAY MORE than enough yarn for a sweater. But right now? I’m focusing on spinning enough for one sweater. I’m thinking maybe an oversized cardigan. I’m also thinking about kettle dyeing the yarn once I have enough spun up. I’m thinking green.

I know, I know, you want to see YARN! So behold.

I know it’s a little washed out around the edges, but the center is pretty true to color. And now that I’m spinning at a slower ratio, it’s an absolute dream to spin. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got empty bobbins begging to be draped in Lincoln.

July 6, 2009
by lilMDP 7 Comments

I Made These

One right hand fingerless mitt.

Pattern: Annemoi Mittens by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Silk blend
Mods: The fingerless part. I did 5 rows of the corrugated ribbing at the top that is the same as the bottom. Same thing for the thumb gusset. I will probably go back and redo the the ribbing at the top in a smaller needle size for a slightly more snug fit.

I’ve started on the second one. I might even finish it by the time it gets cold out again.

Coincidentally coinciding with the beginning of Tour de Fleece, I finished up this:

Gale’s Art
Deep Blue Sea
4 oz
290 yards of fingering? sport? weight singles.

To clarify, I’m not officially participating in Tour de Fleece, nor am I affiliated with any team, but I’ve neglected my wheel for way too long and am getting back into the groove of spinning. I had to promise Jezzie I wouldn’t forsake her like that again. I’m making it up to her, too.

Little Miss Drama Pants

a hot asiany mess

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