Sat 19 Jun 2010
Feels like the summer is just flying along. I had a bunch of blog posts to write this week, and they just didn’t happen somewhere in the time warp that is the workweek.
I usually try not to cram too much into a single post, but let’s get caught up, shall we?
I’ve been hesitating to start spinning for the new sweater before getting a really good idea of how much yarn it was going to take to finish the current one. I’m closer on yardage than I’d like, so I wanted to make sure that it was going to be enough before forging ahead on the next.
Finally, I can say out loud that we’re going to make it. In fact, I’m going to have a skein (or two!) left over. I reduced the sweater length pretty dramatically, so I’m thinking that I’ll probably snip a stitch near the hem and graft on a few more inches with whatever yarn is left over.
But before that, I have to finish the second sleeve, which is currently killing me. Somewhere around the elbow, I was suddenly done with this project (I think it’s the weight of the sweater pulling on the needles that’s getting to me). There are only a few inches left, so it should be finished soon, but I am counting the stitches, which is entirely unlike me.
While I was dithering about how best to spin the next sweater, I shook things up a bit and spun up the 8 oz of Finn that I bought at the Shepherd’s market. (Shook up as in the amount of fiber was less than enough for a sweater…that is fast becoming a rarity in this household…)
I ended up with two large skeins of very soft two ply yarn that total about 500 yards, and one very small one that should be just perfect for a swatch. I’ve been browsing stitch dictionaries for the past couple of days, wondering what it will be.
I figured that I’d have plenty of time to whip up a scarf or a stole before the next sweater was spun, but it’s beginning to look like that won’t be the case.
I started spinning on Monday night, and today I plied the first set of three bobbins:
Which marks the halfway point in the spinning.
So maybe that’s how it got to be Saturday. Either that, or for a single moment the time warp was operating in my favor. Think spinning a wheel might be able to create eddies in space-time?
The sweater is looking great! Sorry the “done” feeling came before you were actually done. That always sucks.
You are on quite a spinning kick! It looks lovely! Love the color of the bottom one, but the Finn looks super squishy! 🙂
And if they do, where would you put his sofa? The spinning looks beautiful, and i love the colors! I can’t believe how much you get done-you have got to teach me how, so i can try my hand at knitting a handspun sweater sometime in this lifetime 🙂
Every time I stop by here, I feel like I’m getting so little accomplished! Please tell me spinning takes less time than I would expect…The sweater’s looking great though; hopefully you get back into it just enough to finish out.
OK, spill on the details on the spinning. Now I’m guessing that must be woolen spun, as I could never spin that much worsted in a week. But maybe I’m extra slow.
Definitely, though, that is gorgeous spinning. I’m not sure which one I love more. And the sweater ain’t bad, either!
Your knitting is beautiful! Sadly I do something that only vaguely resembles knitting! If only I could make my work look as stunning as yours.
And spinning! That sounds like fun 🙂 Great job!