WnS Ep. 173: Continued Cast-on-itis
Dear Spinning Circle,
Direct YouTube Link here.
Thank you for being here today, especially those who were able to make it to the Live Stream. I appreciate your time spent here in this place with me. You are most welcome. I hope you feel most welcome because you are welcome here.
Enjoy the show!
Live Chat Assistance here.
There is a lot going on in our community! It’s a lot to cover and remind you of each week. If you are curious about what happens in our community, please click the links below, reach out to me: rachel @ welfordpurls (dot) com, or reach out on Instagram/Ravelry/Slack (if you are a Patreon member, @welfordpurls_admin).
Housekeeping
Be sure to sign up for the Wool n’ Spinning Newsletter at welfordpurls.com.
For a softcover copy of How I Spin: A Sock Study, check here & e-book link here
Unbraided: The Art & Science of Spinning Colour – e-books here & book orders here.
** NEW ** Natural Shades Along Ravelry thread here & use #sweaterspin channel on Slack
Tin Can Knits ALONG Ravelry thread here & use #sweaterspin channel on Slack
51 Yarns SAL Group A here & Group B here
Book Club – for more information, check the #booksbooksbooks channel on Slack (patrons only)
On & Off the Needles & Bobbins
Works in Progress – Spinning
WestCoast Colour Karma Merino & Yak
- Prepped last week, spinning continuous backward, 3-4 counts, ½ draft
- Lendrum Saxony, DD, nice pull on 8:1
Sarah Elizabeth Cormo fleece, processed at Kingdom Fleece & Fiberworks
- Pin-drafted roving, some neps noted
- Majacraft Suzie Pro 28:1, continuous backwards with smoothing
CVM fleece, processed at Kingdom Fleece & Fiberworks
- Pin-drafted roving, light & airy preparation
- Lendrum Saxony 18:1, DD, long backwards draw
Cumbria Imitation, BFL/Masham/Mohair
- Spun 588 yards (200 grams) to date, 2-ply, 1271YPP
- Lendrum Saxony 18:1, scotch tension, continuous backwards with smoothing
- Settled on a garment pattern: Oshima by Jared Flood, yardage required: 1140 yards (original pattern calls for fingering-weight yarn held double)
Works in Progress – Knitting
Test Knit by Kelly G. Knits
- MC:KnitPicks Pallette in cream, 37 grams
- CC: On the Round BFL, 2-ply, light (light!) fingering
- 2.25mm / US 1 & 2.75mm / US 2 needles
Poet by Sari Norland
- Swans Island Natural Colors Collection in Goldenrod, fingering (100% Merino)
- gauge swatch, 3.5mm needles, got gauge!
Albini by Orlane Sucche
- Disdero Ranch 100% Shetland 3-ply
- woollen prep – pin-drafted roving, spun semi-worsted (continuous backwards w/o smoothing)
- swatch gauge: 19 stitches x 4 inches
Varma (unicolour) by Sari Norland
- West Coast Colour BFL, 2-ply, ancient stash from Lynne
- Calculated yardage of yarn since long-ago lost tag & information: 1479 yards / 452 grams
- Modifications: stockinette body (rather than reverse), knitting in the round
Community Participation
For October, tell us about your spinning plans for the rest of the year? What are you looking forward to learning, exploring and making?
Episode thread here or comment below here on YouTube!
51 Yarns Group A – Cotton, Bast & Pet Fibres (October 2020)
Megan (@lykkemeg) shares: COTTON: This was my first time spinning cotton. It was hard! I don’t usually have a problem with short staple (just spun a bunch of yak and cashmere) but for some reason I really really struggled with cotton. I wonder if it is because it is not as slippery as those other fibers? I spun from sliver, and also handcarded some punis. I spun long draw and supported long draw, and did a little double drafting. I got enough twist in, but I could not get a consistent yarn! It is all lumpy bumpy and thick and thin. The best way I found for me to spin was “long forward” draw, where I hold the fiber in the back hand a long ways away from the wheel, and the pull the fiber forward towards the wheel. I don’t love knitting with 100% cotton, so not sure this will be my go-to fiber, and I would need a lot more practice to spin something consistent, but interesting to try anyway! BAST: I am really proud of this yarn. This is traditional linen spun from strict. I spun it from a towel on my lap and had a little bowl of water next to me to wet my fingers and then boiled it at the end. It is beautiful. It really softened up in the end boil and it is soft and lovely! I will definitely spin more for a project in the future! PET: Angora is so incredibly soft. I know that angora has a halo and can pill out quite badly so I wanted to spin this very high twist. I only made a small sample because I think I will blend this fiber with something else. Even with all that twist it is incredibly soft. I watch a demo of someone combing their rabbit at the Taos wool festival before I was a spinner, which was fun. I then bought my very first handspun yarn from her that was 100% angora. I also bought some buffalo yarn at that fair, and then I knit these gloves. As you can see, the angora has made a crazy halo, however, when you feel how that halo has come out on the inside, and makes this wonderful matty layer of fluffy warmness, you forgive what it looks like on the outside!
Rebecca (@rebbiejaye) shares: COTTON: After trying many drafts on my cotton top from Vegan Yarns, I ended up most happy doing a short continuous backward draft across the top. I held a wide chunk of top at a bit of an angle, using very low tension, and that seemed to allow the singles to pick up just a few neighboring threads at a hapy rate. The happy place for me was right in between short and long draws, which is what short continuous backward seems like to me. I posted about this spin here, and you can see a picture of my drafting in that post, as well as pictures of my swatches. My final yarn wasn’t super even, but pretty good all things considered. I spun it at 20:1 and it came out feeling very softly spun. I did put in as much twist as I felt I could without the singles pigtailing, and put in what I thought was plenty of ply twist! I’d love this yarn in undershirt fabric, either knit up or woven. PET: I got my fiber from my friends dog, a white Husky mutt, who I pet-sat for a week this summer. He’s a dear! He was shedding a ton at the time, and his owner also gave me the stuff they’d been collecting as they brushed him. It was gross at first, but I washed it just like I would wash raw wool, and it came out odourless. I spun it from the cloud. It was surprisingly easy and fun, at least after all that cotton and silk etc! It did NOT feel soft in the skein, but knit up a little softer.
Tin Can Knits Along #tincanknitsalong
Greta (@backtobasics) shares: I finished the Christmas sweaters for my sister in law and nephews using the strange brew recipe and the graphics from Sundottir from Diana Walla. Loved the fit On them. I did used commercial yarn.
Breed & Colour Studies
Tracey (@tracy3xl) shares: Super excited with my finished yarns! I spun this long draw, one color after another, and then plied it all together in one skein, then split it up by color. I was intending to spin a Shetland Spindrift knock-off to do some stranded colorwork and I feel really proud of myself for actually making the yarn I wanted! It’s a higher twist single and lower twist ply. I’m casting on some fingerless mitts this weekend!
How I Spin: Exploring Blends
Upcoming How I Spin content to finish off the year in November & December exploring how the recent explorations of blends resulted for me, thoughts for the future & kicking off luxury fibres for the new year. For more information, please head to the Co-Executive Producer or higher on Patreon.
Thank you so much for joining me today!
Until then, Happy Spinning!
