Happy Hallows’ Eve/October!
I’m actually not a huge fan of Hallowe’en … after working in Emergency for years and seeing what comes in during that one night of the year (read: Burns), I definitely lost my taste for the ‘fun’ night.
But I digress – I wanted to share this as a kick start to the Deep Fall! I hope it is a spooky and pumpkin patch filled month for you!
This spin had been in my fibre stash most of the summer, begging to be spun. I was able to make two samples: a Navajo-plied and traditional 2-ply. Neither really spoke to me. The Navajo-plied sample actually had some Sweet Georgia Yarns’ Superwash Merino mixed into it as this was my original plan for this top. I like the results but … I really don’t know why I didn’t continue with that original plan. I just plain didn’t feel like it. The second sample, which was the traditional 2-ply, was horrible. I didn’t like it one bit (although looking at the sample again while I was photographing it has me re-thinking but I think this top shines as singles).
The rest of the top sat after that, calling to me from my bookshelf, We want to be singles … You can do it … We promise … Just spin us into singles … and so on. Creepy, right? But I swear it was calling to me.
Finally, in early September, I took a deep breath and very quickly (WOW! Singles spin up quickly!) spun up the rest of the braid! I held a piece of fingering weight yarn on my palm while spinning to check the thickness every so often but I have to admit, I found it difficult to keep the singles perfectly uniform. There is a lot of fluctuation in these from thick to thin. For my first attempt at singles, however, I am really happy. And it screams Hallowe’en!
Finished Specs: 446 metres/110g [488 yards/4oz]
Weight: Fingering/light sport, 15-18WPI
Structure: Singles, Z-twist direction
Next, what to do with it?! I usually don’t wind yarn immediately and knit with it. I tend to admire it in it’s skeined form for a while (I have a large glass vase from IKEA that I place all of my handspun in until it calls to me what it would like to be knit into … I should take a picture of that one day …). But I rushed to finish this because we were going camping and would be driving some 2000km. I really wanted to take this project so I cast on immediately for another shawl.
I have no idea what has gotten into me with all these shawls lately. The big question is … Will I wear them?! Time will tell!
Pattern: Boneyard by Stephen West {free on Ravelry}
Needles: 5.5mm Addi Lace circulars
Yarn: (per above) Malabrigo Nube spun gently thick & thin, colourway Glitter
These are my modifications to Boneyard:
- Edge increases were worked every row
- Three garter ridges were knit, rather than 1
- 9 rows of St st were knit between garter ‘sections’
I knit until I ran out of yarn. I used the super stretchy cast off from Evelyn Clark’s Swallowtail Shawl.
Overall, I am really happy with how this turned out. I was worried it wouldn’t be big enough for the drapey and oversized shawls I like to wear but I think it actually turned out perfectly. I definitely wouldn’t want it any smaller!
Any plans for Halloween? Kids to take trick or treating? Costume parties? What is your favourite part of Deep Fall?
My favourite parts of the Deep Fall are the Pumpkin Spice Lattes and changing colours of the leaves before they actually start to fall.
Happy Spinning & Knitting :)
This is a really great example of something a little more unexpected being just perfect for the fibre! What a beautiful shawl!!! I really liked the traditional 2-ply (for some reason the colours I’ve been drawn to lately are pretty much exactly how it looks in 2-ply), but wow, the singles are even more gorgeous.
You are so right – I did not have high hopes for this fibre at all! But spun into singles it’s as bright in person as the photos … Really exceeded expectation! Thanks!
Love the singles – and the resulting shawl. I’m curious as to how easy you found it to use the Nube – I have quite a few braids in my stash but have heard some negative comments about it, and I’m hesitating to start working with it….
Oh I’m sorry you’ve heard some negative things about the nube! This is my third time working with it. I think my only “complaint” is that it needs, in my opinion, a lot of pre-drafting as it seems to get quite beaten up in the dying process. This is understandable in the sense that they are dying a lot at once and it is hard to prevent! I stripped this down to super narrow stripes to spin and it worked wonderfully. Does that help?
Helps enormously – thank you. I tend to strip roving down to thin strips anyway so shouldn’t be a problem :-)
Hopefully not! Nube is definitely treated a bit roughly during the dying process but nothing that can’t be overcome :) cast wait to see what you spin out of your Nube stash!
Very cool, and I like the Halloween connection very much :)