67 Yards Of Disappointment

Earlier in July I posted a blog about how I felt that talent could be acquired through persistence rather than randomly bestowed ability. José left a compelling comment pointing out that there are more actions that are needed when creating than just practice. In José's own words, "But how about an eye for detail, and for colour? And how about originality? I wonder if lots of practice alone is enough to come up with original ideas?" Those words tumbled around in my mind for the last two weeks. It's really hard to quantify practice vs. talent because even with practice, people are going to have different original ideas. I can only speak from my own experience, but I still think that practice is what leads to creativity.

I remember a day about 15 years ago when I decided I wanted to be better at drawing and I was going to do that by first observing everything around me. When I would go on walks, I would do my best to pay attention to the details surrounding me: the way a leaf created shadow on the ground, how different people's noses curved differently. Then I'd go and try to draw it all. I remember the great disappointment that my hand just wouldn't draw what my mind had thought up. I suspect most artists, even those advanced in their careers, have days when their brain and hand doesn't match up.

The other thing I observed is that the more work I created, the more ideas I had. There was just something about practicing that lead to more original ideas. Although the ideas sometimes came in cycles. When I was working on practicing a technique, the ideas slowed down, but when I started to master a technique, then the original ideas came. What kinds of experiences have you all had in regards to creativity and originality?

Meanwhile, in my own creative pursuits, I've had a bit of a failure. I decided I wasn't happy with the way the color of my current cuff/heel/toe looked against my Cider House socks, so I decided to spin a different colored 3-ply yarn. I was going for a DK and ended up with an Aran weight yarn. I knit up a cuff with this yarn and it was clear I wasn't going to be able to get away with the thicker yarn. It's pretty disappointing because I don't have anymore dark brown to try with.

67 yards of disappointment

Luckily that was the only spinning disaster I had. The second skein I was working on for Tour de Fleece came out beautifully. I spun up both braids of my Wonderland Dyeworks 80/20 Merino/Tussah Silk roving in the Coral Reef color way and came out with 360 yards of a 2 ply DK weight yarn.

I've also made great progress with Connor's Dude Sweater. After reading a bunch on steeks, I decided to go with a crochet reinforced steek rather than a sewn one. Connor asked to have a zipper rather than the buttons recommended in the pattern. I've decided that I'm going to use a combination of Tech Knitter's faced steek and Kate Davies's Steel Sandwich tutorials to complete the sweater. But first I'm waiting on a shipment from Knitpicks to arrive so I have the right tool to install the zipper.

So with all my other knits in limbo, I've cast on two different socks to make up the difference in my knitting time. On the left is the Denature Socks in my ball of Stray Cat Socks' Silver Star color way. I've carried this ball on many of my vacations, including Florida and Hawaii, but haven't cast on until now. I also have cast on another Primavera sock. I liked how the Cider House socks looked and thought that it would look good in the skein of Madelinetosh Sock in the Shire color way I got while visiting Black Mountain Yarns.

Here's to another week of creating!

The Glorious Hand Spun Blanket

I find that my most favorite projects can take years to finish. Celestarium and Lit Knits each took two years or so. But my hand spun blanket project has taken much longer. From start to finish, it's been more like 5 years. I'm pleased to say that it is finally complete.

It all started when I worked at the Yolo Wool Mill. I collected scraps with the intention of making a large project. At the time I wasn't sure what the project would be, only that I wanted to make something large. What ended up happening is that I separated the brown tones scraps from the grey toned ones. The browns were destined to be a blanket. It took me several years to finish the spinning.

Once I had decided I wanted a blanket, it took some time to decide what kind. Did I want to knit or crochet a blanket? Because the yarn was not completely consistent, I was sure that gauge would be an issue. Also, I felt that knitting would be too stretchy for this yarn while crochet would be too bulky. Eventually I decided that woven was the way to go. There was only one problem: I don't weave.

Robin Lynde of Meridian Jacobs had been weaving blankets for customers of the Yolo Wool Mill for some time. When I saw that she had woven at least one handspun blanket, I knew that I needed her to weave this one for me. She's a busy person, though, so I had to wait a bit. But the wait was so worth it. I let her know that I had imagined some sort of gradient and that I wanted there to be more of a focus on the browns. Robin is a true artist. She came up with something better than I could have ever asked for. I especially love that she added subtle stripes to the blanket.

It now lives on our bed. And for the record, while I love all of the blanket, my favorite part to snuggle under my chin is the dark brown alpaca corner. As for the leftovers, not much was left after the weaving, relatively speaking.

Perhaps the leftover yarn can go with grey scraps that have yet to be spun. I haven't decided what kind of big project the greys might grow up to be. Maybe a sweater or jacket? Perhaps in another five years I'll find out.

Update: If you'd like to see the weaver's side of the story, have a look at the Meridian Jacobs blog.

Back And Better Than Ever

Hey everyone. I'm back. I finished the Super Secret Knitting Project last night. Unfortunately I won't be able to reveal anything more about it until later this year. I didn't do much else other than knit the entire time I was gone from the blog except this:

Tada! It's half of the braid I talked about a few posts ago. It came out to 228 yards in fingering weight.

I'm still spinning the other half of the braid. 

Tomorrow I will be picking up the last of the supplies for camp. So that project is almost done too. What a relief!

Spin, Span, Spun

I have been spending most every day knitting as quickly as I can. But some nights, when I just can't stand to look at my knitting anymore, I've brought out my good old spinning wheel. Here we have an indigo dyed silk and yak blend (I'm pretty sure it was yak... or something similarly weird) from Twisted Sunshine. Indigo does have the habit of crocking, so I do have blue fingers after spinning for a bit. But I do believe that my spinning is taking most of the residue indigo off of the fiber.

I finally set the twist in the two skeins pictured below. The pink to brown skein is one of my Moonrover mystery batts. I chose to chain ply it. The actual skein slowly faded from one color to the next. So pretty! The blue skein next to it is from two batts from Tanglebella. I love how it looks like the night sky. That particular skein is a 2ply.

This particular skein is extra special. The yarn is from a friend's reclaimed silk sweater. As she pulled the yarn out, we found that it wasn't well plied anymore. The yarn is gorgeous, but trying to knit a loosely plied yarn would have been a nightmare. I offered to run the yarn through my wheel.

There is only one problem that has occurred with all this spinning. And that is that there is no way I will ever be able to use all the yarn I am making. I love spinning it all, but I spend most of my knitting time working on designs, which means I need to use commercially made yarn. So I have a hypothetical question for everyone. If I were to hypothetically sell any of my hand spun, would anyone be hypothetically be interested in buying it? Money from the hypothetical sales would go into funding my book. The book is not hypothetical.

Skyway

I've been a bit lax in the knitting department. Fear not! I have been knitting... it just so happens that all my projects are a bit involved. So without further ado, I give you my hand spun cowl.

I bought the 2 ounce "mystery" batt from Moonrover. I knew that I would love it even without seeing it. I'm calling the color way Skyway.

It only took me an evening to spin it into a 218 yard single.

And another week for the cowl. The color progression makes it seem like a landscape. I love it!

Too bad today was 105 F/ 40.5 C. I can't wait until it is cool enough to wear it during the day.

I bought a second mystery batt as well. I'm calling this color way Sunset.

It spun up so quickly and easily. Yum.

Little Crocheted Oil Bag

After taking a few days to rest after the Tour de Fleece, I decided to make an accessory for my wheel. A little crocheted bag from my own hand spun to hold my wheel oil.

It hangs on the back knob of my Lendrum. Now I won't lose my oil anymore.

Crossing The Finish Line

Today was the last day of Tour de Fleece 2010. I can't believe how much I have spun. My official goal was to be able to spin beehives. My secret goal, which I completed, was to spin a skein a day.

The totals:

Singles: 3360.82 yards

Plied: 1558.7 yards

Total Yards that passed through my hands: 4919.52 yards

That's nearly 2.8 miles!

Instant Oatmeal

I was in need of some instant knitting gratification recently. Something easy. Something that would use up part of my stash. After looking in the yarn cupboard, I settled on using some of my hand spun "Oatmeal" yarn.

Four hours later I had my very first project out of my own hand spun yarn. I wish it was cold so I could wear it without sweating.

First Yarn

I have officially finished spinning my first ever skein. Gnome Running Through Yosemite has been conquered.

Plying it was a bit more fun than spinning the singles, but I'm so happy with the finished product. Not bad for a first try on a CD spindle.

Bits of it are over spun, bits of it are under spun. It is roughly 18 yards, But I can't believe I went from fiber to yarn. I'm not sure if I should use it or not. It seems to be structurally sound. But 18 yards isn't very much. Maybe I'll just have it displayed somewhere. Either that or a headband.

And now for the Scooter report. Since I bought a new couch from the thrift store, Scooter has decided that his spot is by the window on the large couch pillow. It is a little sad not seeing him at the front window (his previous spot) when I come home. At least he's happy.