I purchased this
corriedale fiber from the CT Sheep and Wool Festival. After spinning
and plying, I ended up with almost 200 yards of fingering yarn. This
was the perfect amount to make my sister these fingerless mittens for
her birthday. I used size one needles for a really dense knitted
fabric. These mittens were knit from the top down with a thumb gussett
decrease. It was very interesting to work them up this way and it went
very quickly. My sister loved her birthday present.
In the previous post, I had featured some bamboo/merino blend that I purchased from the Creatively Dyed booth at the 2011 New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York. I really love the way the blues and unexpected greens popped up while I was spinning it up. I navajo plied the yarn and came up with just under 200 yards. I found this "Abstract Leaves Cowl" on ravelry.com for free. The yarn is super soft and light. It will look nice against my purple pea coat this winter. The design of the pattern began with larger needles with the last two rounds of the pattern done in a smaller size needle for the graduated decrease effect. This helps it hug the neck. I will definitely be visiting the Creatively Dyed booth at Rhinebeck this October.
My mantra at Rhinebeck 2011 was "Step out of your comfort zone." I resisted all the colors I usually reach for like greens, browns and teals. I found this pink, gray and black colorway from Creatively Dyed fiber in South Carolina. Two years ago I had got some fiber from this vendor in a beautiful carmel colorway. As I began to spin it up, I saw that it also had some deep dark blue in it also. After navajo plying, I ended up with 142 yards of yarn. I think it's a heavy fingering/sport weight. I haven't measured the WPI. I had meant to two ply it using the andean method, but I was impatient. I think I can get a nice scarf or fingerless mitts out of this that will compliment my purple coat.
I found this Rambouleit at the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival. I wanted to do a BIG project and this 2.45 pounds of fiber had such a great price tag. It was hard choosing from the many different colors this vendor offered, but I settled on this chocolate with bright blue running through it. I have almost one spool spun up and am nowhere near finished. I posted a challenge on Facebook to all my friends. Whoever guesses the closest yardage I end up with (without going over) will win a had knit scarf from me. If you find me from just surfing the web, you may also enter to win. Let the games begin. While you're here, subscribe to my blog so you can see how the progress is going.
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Ok I admit that I have 3lbs of Ramboulliet from the 2010 Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival, but I couldn't wait to get spinning on this fiber I bought from Rhinebeck. I instructed my BKFF, Mary to make me step out of my comfort zone and get colors that I don't usually get. This meant no purples or blues. I can't remember if this is Alpaca or Merino, but it is spinning up like a dream. I purchased 8oz and plan on two-plying it to have more yardage and a finer yarn. I see a nice shawlette or scarf. This color will look great against my purple coat.
Finally got to ply up the Pennsylvanie Alpaca that I bought a few summers ago when I visited my BFF, Lori. I ended up with about 476 yards of fingering weight yarn. It should be enough to knit up the Lazy Day Lace Shawl pattern I found on ravelry.com. I love the chocolate brown. As you can see, I had to improvise with some alternatives for bobbins. I was asking everyone I knew for coffee cans, oatmeal and bread crumb containers and even the paper towel rolls. They will come in handy later for spinning up the three pounds of Rambo that I still haven't started.
In a previous you saw some beautiful blue merino from Ashland Bay. This is the final project with some yarn left over. This easy and free pattern from Ravelry was knit up on size one needles. The mitts were pretty tight, but I prefer that the mitts hug my hand. If I ever make more more larger hands, I will use a larger needle or alter the pattern. I loved how the colorway had some purple hues in it. This will go great with my violet pea coat for the winter. I also discovered through Picasa an application called "Picnik" which gives me some really cool framing options.
