Brainless Knitting (and a little spinning)

I spent the spring putting out a book and a summer knitting a bunch of new patterns (available on terrisheaknits.com) and now I’ve taken a little time off for some relaxation.

A little spinning. The blue on the left is a soft, balanced single. The Crosspatch Creations Spin Ready Batts from Carolina Homespun were delightful to work with; well balanced without being over blended, and no big clumpy lumps of one fiber over another. The fibers all moved together, beautifully, which made this single ply yarn easy to create.

The skein on the right was an impulse buy at Sock Summit. I had dragged my wheel along, and by gum if I wasn’t going to use it. I think I got more attention for this than for the class I taught. Ahem. Again, I ended up with a single ply, but this fiber wasn’t as easy to spin as the blue above. The orange fiber is bamboo, and it tended to stick to itself and not blend well with the other. My goal was a funky, eclectic, modern chunky yarn that could be knit into a funky, eclectic, modern chunky accessory. I think I achieved that, although the grist is finer than I expected it to be.

This knitted piece is also handspun. It’s going to be a scarf or stole or wrap or however long it turns out to be. I bought 4 ounces of batts from Emma who dyed as Dragonfibers a few years ago. Moderately aged, it spun up perfectly. I love the olive and brown combination, and am using it in another project, which you’ll see previewed at terrisheaknits.com

A little dyeing. I threw up a pot of logwood, added a whole mess of … Corriedale, as I recall, and some mohair, and waited to see what happened. This purple skein is from the exhaust bath. The fiber is tied up in a bag in the basement and is hiding from me. Because I wanted to take its picture. Sigh again.

And some brainless knitting. Please be kind to your poor model. I have only myself and a single mirror, poorly placed and frequently used by someone with sticky hands. Sigh. A chunky weight dark grey tweed cowl, made in Mystery Yarn, and a jaunty little beret out of Noro Kochoran. My long time followers may recognize that colorway from the Unibreast Sweater. (Those who haven’t followed me: it was gorgeous fabric that hung just wrong. Yes, I ripped and reknit it.)

And finally a long cowl, or is it a circular scarf or what is it? I’m not sure. It’s Rosalie Truong handspun mohair, and the colors of green and blue and brown and gold are so scrumptious, I really don’t care what it is. Just don’t take it off me.

Back to work on pattern knitting. What are you working on?