Spindlitis

It’s a new yarn bowl! Howard made it for me. It’s unfinished and the yarn slot needs to be sanded. It’s a lovely bowl.

Of course not! I had about a month of no crafts. I was a little burned out by the sock projects. I have to revisit those as one pair was just too big for the recipient. Those will fit Lon, so I will do a new smaller pair. The socks for my stepson are too long. So I will cut off the toes, then re knit them about an inch shorter. It’s so easy to do this with short row toes.

I am also back to working on the same two spinning projects. The first is the Inglenook Fibers Falkland:

I do love the color. In fact, I ordered a second braid of this for about 8 ounces total. This is two ply and I’m not that far away from finishing this.

The second project is the East Frisian:

It’s my favorite spindle on its favorite bag. This is such a nice preparation. It draws so smoothly. It’s not all that soft but I really do like it. I would love a sweater out of this. And I’m considering buying some of these sheep. They are milk sheep too.

I’m getting project burnout here. I think I’ll do another row or two and call it quits. I’ve used up most of the yarn so mission accomplished.

Here’s what I’m working on right now.

This is the East Friesian project. This will be 3 ply sock yarn.

This is Inglenook Fibers’ Crest. I love the colors of this.

Another ongoing project. This is Greenwood Fibers’ Twilight. This is also 3 ply sock yarn. And the spindle is next to the Tom Bihn mini travel stuff sack. I get a lot done with this in my purse.

East Frisian Wool:
Three ply East Frisian yarn.

Here’s the roving. This is an excellent product. It’s from Black Sheep Creamery and they do have an Etsy shop. (The cheese is excellent too!) This is not a soft yarn, in the sense that merino is soft. I’ve spun this up thicker on another turk as a two ply. I do like it and I will likely purchase more of it.

Piper’s Journey:

I like this pattern and have made several. When I saw this in the latest SpinOff, I thought “Oh, I like that shawl!” Then I found out it was Piper’s Journey and I’d already made it. It’s very satisfying to knit. This is a wool/silk blend from Autumn House Farm, probably wheel spun. The last part of it is much thinner than the earlier part. I think I’m just going to use it anyway, since it’s on the edging.

BUT! Do not think you can do this out of a 4 ounce braid! Maybe there is a grist that you can spin for enough yardage and still have it come out okay. But I’ve tried this twice and every time, I wind up here:

I am out of yarn again. I did buy some more of this fiber from the same vendor, but it’s not exactly the same. It doesn’t have the brown. And, of course, right now I can’t find it anyway. So this will be ripped back and used for something else.

Scrap Socks

This is some sock yarn that I used for a pair of Jeffrey’s socks. I just don’t have enough for a full pair so I am making the cuffs out of another ball of scrap yarn. These are a bit wild, but will wear okay, I’m sure.

And that’s the project update! It looks like I need to think about my next projects, as I will be starting them soon.

I’ve been a fan of Tom Bihn bags for some time now. I am finding that even people familiar with these bags don’t understand how great they can be for spinners.

This is a small yarn stuff sack in Solar:
As you can see, this is the size you’d use for maybe a sock project. This sack fits in the top of my purse. Notice that there is a snap hook on the side of the sack. Tom Bihn bags have o-rings inside, to be used to secure organizational pouches and sacks. If I were using my Swift, a really great knitting bag, I’d attach this to one of the o-rings. I do have o-rings in my medium Cafe Bage (which is what I use everyday), but this is secure enough without them.

And this is why I always have a spinning project with me! It’s a good size for my turkish spindles. The fabric is water resistant and I find that it doesn’t seem to cause felting of my fiber. The triangular hook on the side was designed for yarn, but it actually works well to tension singles when I am plying. You can see the remaining “turtles” from my recent plying project. Just run the ends up through the hook and pull the drawstring to close the top.

And this is the sack closed up, ready to travel. These sacks have a lifetime guarantee (as long as you don’t machine wash them.) There are two larger sizes. I use the largest size to store my niddy noddy and plying spindles, in my Swift. The medium sizes are mainly used for knitting projects. The two larger sized yarn stuff sacks can be purchased with a clear bottom. This is a handy feature for your projects, making it easy to see what’s inside.

TB also makes a travel stuff sack. I am finding these useful too. This is the largest of the travel sacks in Ultraviolet. This is how I normally have it down in the bottom of my bag.

Here’s the bag opened up. These are really designed for travel, so they do not have the snap hooks on the side. I’ve purchased extra triangular hooks and have one on this bag for my yarn.

See how the bottom is oval shaped? These bags can be used to put items into the small spaces of a backpack or one of the other traveler’s bags that they make. This particular size fits perfectly into the bottom of my medium Cafe Bag.

I’ve rolled down the sides, so that you can see my sock knitting project. I use 8″ double points for socks. They fit just fine in the bottom of this bag. Since I’ve discovered these, I can carry my sock knitting project with me and my spinning project. They don’t take up much space and I can leave them home if I want. It gives me a lot of flexibility. I used to keep my sock project in a fanny pack. I’d have to remember to grab it, if I wanted to take it with me. I’m always working on socks, so this is an easier system.

There is a new TB cross body knitting bag coming out later this year. I am really pleased with my new system, using just these two bags. I’m planning to buy more of both types of these bags. I don’t mind using cheap bags to store fiber and yarns that are not in use. I am really enjoying these more professional bags for my projects. And I am getting more spinning and knitting done, because I always have something with me.

The holidays are coming! I have a pair of socks on the needles, two more to do and a shawlette.

This will be Lon’s first handknit sock. I’m using Regia sock yarn. I will also be making him a pair of socks from handspun. I’m still spinning that yarn.

This is the shawlette in progress. This is singles yarn, spun on my Egret. I’ll probably finish it this weekend, and have better pictures.

Isn’t this interesting? (Or maybe not, depending on how well the camera captured the colors.) It’s wine with some chocolate colored areas. I really do like it. Here’s a picture of the work in progress on my Aegean:

This is fiber from Wintry Flower by Design (on the Aegean) and Inglenook Fibers on the Delight. Both are Falklands, and I seem to be spinning a lot of that lately.

These are not all of my projects of course, just the ones here in the office. I don’t have plans for these two yet, but they are delightful to spin.