Batts in the Shop!

So, it's been a bit of a breather this weekend - not quite sure what to do with myself, it's been a while since I had a real "downtime", and two days in a row, even!

I celebrated but updating the Etsy shop (look right) with my latest creations you saw previewed here last post.  Half a dozen batts are up, some more have been sent out to local spinners for testing, and there's more to do with the carder.  I'll be mocking up a banner for next month's Ravelry listing shortly.

Here's a couple more creations.  This is another batt now up in the shop:

Purple-Black Batt

It's a little hard to see the colour subtlety there - it's a batt of black Merino and purple-dyed Romney locks, lovely and subtle. I have more of this black merino, so look for some more dark & jeweled blends.

Here's a little tease, and this one's NOT going to make it into the shop:

Icy Polwarth

Close Up - looks like marble

That was a one-of-a-kind, took every scrap of some long-staple Polwarth leftovers, to which was added little drips-and-drabs of seacell in various pale, cool colours, and then the tiniest dusting of Angelina for sparkle.  It's not going up in the shop 'cuz it promptly went here:

Into the drink?

It's busy with my Purpleheart Bosworth Midi - I'm working it into a worsted-weight single for some fluffy, warm, winter yarn.  The Scotch container (and similar wine/liquor bottle gift tubes) turned out to be a perfect spindle project case - I'm probably going to knit some bag handles for them, if I ever get through my current heap of projects.

Lofty's Going Batty

Popping in here for another "It's about time!" post.  This one - it's about time for BATTS!

A year ago I invested in a very nice Pat Greene drum carder.  The small model - Deb's Delicate Deluxe, hand-turned.  It arrived, and I had a plan to use it at May workshop on carding/blending which got cancelled due to low enrollment - and there it has sat, for a year and more.

This weekend, I had a few friends over, put out some snacks, and organized a kick in the butt for myself.  The drum carder, which I have now named DeeDee, was duly christened.  Here's the first production run!

Batt(s) 1:  Superwash merino mill ends, handpainted in a mesh bag and now carded into this lovely, streaky, "Beachy" watercolour-way:

Those are in fact the same dye lot - the color layering pulled out differently.  A spinner could be quite adventurous in how they work up, mix'n'match, or keep separate and coordinate.

Batt(s) The Second:  A blend of the SW merino mill ends and some lovely soft Romeny lamb locks.  I have dyed bagfuls of each, and when it came to blending picked adjacent colours (blue-green/green, yellow-green/green,violet/magenta-red) to make more monochrome but beautifully rich, heathered batts.

Batt(s) the Third:  Using the same adjacent-colour blending, these last two are 100% Romney lamb.  The dyes were bright jewel-tones, but on gray fleece.  Made some lovely toned colours.

I have to show you a close-up of the last one: 

I like that one enough that it might not make it into the Etsy shop.

More fluffy adventures are to come!  There may need to be more dyeing, but I've begun rootling the fluff stash too for some little add-in goodies like seacell/silk fibres, angelina (sparkles!), and some lovely blending bits of mohair, alpaca, and llama.

Socks on Circulars 101 - Lofty Fibres class coming up

And isn't it about time?!?!??

This coming Saturday, June 26th, I'm looking forward to getting back in my yarney groove, and hopefully corrupting some new soles for my next offering of handknit sock teaching.  I'll be offering my basic Socks on Circulars at All Strung Out in Guelph.  Class is a 6-hour, two part workshop, the first part 10 am to 1 pm this Saturday, and part 2 at the same time, July 10th.  You have two weeks between for lots of practice and progress on your socks!  Head over to the link above, or call the shop at 519-772-6807 to book a spot (if any are left!  If not, be sure to leave your name for the next offering.)


The class covers a basic architecture for a toe-up sock.  Knitting from the toe up has many advantages.  For one - no risk of running out of yarn with one toe left to go!  You can knit as long a leg as you like, being sure, as your foot is already done, you'll have enough yarn (a shorter sock still works - a toe-less sock maybe not!) There are no stitches to pick up on the heel flap, no uneven sides.  We'll cover a straightforward formula for gusset increases that works well for most feet out there, and discuss a few modifications for when it doesn't.


The class is aimed at the ambitious beginner to intermediate knitter, whether you've knit a sock before or not.  Those who have knit socks may wish to turn things a new way up, and those who haven't - well, this is a great method to start.


A pattern "recipe" as well as book and pattern references will be provided at the class.  I don't teach to one specific pattern, as this is a class about structure and technique, which will enable the student to pick up any toe-up sock pattern and work from these basics.  You're welcome to bring books and patterns if you'd like to discuss, or try them out.

Required Materials:

Yarn: 40-50 grams of DK to worsted weight yarn, in solid, light colours - leftovers are fine! This is for practice/test exercises.

Needles: 3 mm to 4 mm needles

 - 2 circulars, 16 to 24 inch, OR

 - 1 long circular, 32 to 36 inch

 - for test exercises, can also use straights or two DPNs as straights (heel turn practice)

Clip-on stitch markers

Scrap yarn or string for holding stitches if needed

Writing materials for notes.

Nice to have: (we can improvise or share if students do not have everything):

Crochet hook or "stitch saver"

Darning needle

Small scissors or yarn cutter

Optional:

Finer sock yarn, for those who wish to start a kids or full-size sock.

Extra needles of the size required for your DK/Worsted yarn

Finer needles for your (optional) sock yarn

Stitch patterns, sock patterns, or sock books you wish to discuss.

Required knowledge: The workshop assumes the participant knows a knit stitch, purl stitch, and understands the idea of an increase or decrease (lifted increase, kf&b, ssk, k2tog).  A very enthusiastic new knitter could cover these basics shortly before the class.

Staying Warm and Fuzzy in the Winter

Well, I've finally managed.  Look over there, on the right, the Etsy Mini....

Yep, I have some fibre up.  New to the Etsy store (as wholesale has been picking up all the fibre I could dye so far!) - handspinning fibre braids and a neat new twist - the Twisted Pairs.

Twisted Pairs are a full hank of sock yarn, combined with a half-braid of handspinning fibre, dyed in the exact same lot so they'll match.  Why?  Why not?  Thrummed mittens/socks.  Socks with a handspun & embellished cuff, or toe/heel/cuff.  A shawl with handspun trim or accessories.  And though the current stock is all superwash BFL, I'll consider a feltable fibre for embellisment in future lots, what do you think?

Part 2 of today's update is someone's mistake, and someone else's good fortune.  With my last shipment of stock, I ordered a few pounds of a wool/seacell blend which, unfortunately, does not seem to resemble such a blend, much.  So - it's on sale!  $16 (braids are regular $18-$25) .  It's definitely wool, superwash, and lovely and bouncy, combed top which drafts like a dream.  I just don't know EXACTLY what blend it is.  So - take a chance, make something new.

Warm and Woolly for the Holidays!

This fibre blog business is slow, mainly because all my other fibre pursuits are keeping me busy.

However, I got out the pots, and the inventory from the closet, and did a bit of experimenting yesterday.  Now, if you followed me here from Twitter or Ravelry, here's the buy off the blog deal.  I've not divided, wrapped, or done the proper glamour-shots and retouching yet, but if you save me the trouble of making things pretty on Etsy, you save a bit.

If you like any of the below (shots are in pairs, one with flash, one late-afternoon winter light), send me a note at LoftyFibres AT gmail DOT youknowtherest... and tell me what you'd like.  The deal is $20 Canadian per 4oz braid, + $5 shipping (any amount).  I will send you a PayPal invoice, so please use a valid email.  Local pickup can save the shipping.  Usual pricing would be $20-$25 in US funds on Etsy.

Please note:  The fibre pictured is in 8 ounce/225 gram braids, approximately.  They are usually divided into 4 oz braids, let me know if you want all of one braid (2 x 4 oz = $40 Cdn).

Blue Face Leicester:  WaterGreens - Water Greens has been purchased as of about 7:45 tonight! Natural light:

Camera Flash:

Blue Face Leicester:  Rusty Paint Bucket.  Natural Light:

Camera Flash:

Blue Face Leicester, Copper and Steel.  Natural Light:

And Camera Flash:

Blue Face Leicester, Early Winter Sunset, natural light.

And camera flash:

By the way, my BFL is a superwash-treated fibre.

Here's the last couple.   70% SW Merino, 30% Mulberry silk, Winter Seas.  Update:  Apologies, Winter Seas found a new home about 10 minutes after posting!

Natural light:

And with the flash:

Finally, these last 4 shots are the same bump of Merino-Silk.  It's a really speckled, random dye so I took two different sides of it.  Icy Splash, natural light:

And with the flash:

New Inventory, Tidying Up, Small Milestones

Well, it's been a busy stretch, and not much has turned up in the Spinning sense.

If you look over there, ---> though, you'll see a few updates in the Etsy ticker.  More to come in the next few days.

Finally, while not a knitting/spinning thing, I FINALLY got the binding on a quilt I started 2.5 years ago, that was professionally quilted almost a year ago. Procrastination, anyone?  But "Sprout's Disaster", the working title for my Tile Tango quilt, is almost on the bed.  Or, well, it IS on the bed, but folded in a heap right now until I finish stitching the binding to the back.  That has to be done by hand, it just doesn't look right if you punch it all down by machine.

Here's what it used to look like:

Better photo to come after we get some daylight on it.

A Mix-and-Match, Annotated Sock Recipe.

Hi, Sock-buddies! This post will be primarily of interest to my current workshop group who joined us at All Strung Out this morning, but if you're a knitter browsing by and interested in starting with socks, do read on.  I will perhaps work in the future to make this post a permanent document of an annotated Sock Recipe.  This is not a "pattern" per se, but my notes and references to good demonstration materials for each structural element of a Toe-Up Sock.

Part 1 of my workshop was about our "exercises" to get you started - cast-on options, and turning a heel.  HOWEVER! The goal is indeed to get a sock out of this, and many of you want a pair of them by Christmas, of course.  So this is a quick list to tutorial materials either to review what we did in class or point you to some options.

Casting On:
While there are many ways to cast on, I primarily use two.  The simplest is the Turkish Cast-On, also called the Eastern Cast-on.   The most popular tutorial on this top (based on Google's top listings!) is by Debi, aka FluffyKnitterDeb on Ravelry and Blogger.  Debi's Turkish tutorial is a great presentation of an old technique and puts my photo insert from the class notes to shame.

The second method is known as Judy's Magic Cast-on, developed by Judy Becker and published in Knitty in Spring 2006.  This looks more complicated (it isn't really terrible!) but provides a slightly more reinforced toe, and is recommended if you are a sock-wearer whose toes will wear out first.

TOES - Increasing

A sock toe has two rows or "rounds" when we are knitting in the round, a round where you increase, and a plain knit round.
I use a kf&b increase, that is "Knit Front and Back".  A YouTube video presenter known as TheKnitWitch has a super, short, easy-to-see tutorial on this increase for you to review.

Remember while working that a "round" is worked across both your needles - make sure you increase a total of FOUR times, that is, at both ends of both needles.

Round 1:  Kf&b, knit to last TWO stitches, Kf&b in the second last stitch, then K1.  Repeat on bottom needle, which is your second half of the round.
Round 2:  Knit all stitches, Top needle and Bottom.

Repeat rounds 1&2, until you have the correct number of stitches for your size of sock.

There are other increase methods you can use, and if you're feeling adventurous, head to Google or YouTube and look up "knitting lifted increase"  or "LLinc and LRinc".  You'll see these next week in the workshop.

FOOT:

Now, this is the EASY, but time consuming part, which is why it's homework.  Just knit around.  Knit all stitches on both needles, and the tube which is the foot of your sock will grow out of the toe you have just finished.  The experienced knitter can add stitch patterning on the Instep (top) needle if desired.

Knit until the sock, including the whole toe, is 3 inches less than the total foot length you need.  Total foot length is from the tip of the longest toe to the back of the heel, while you are standing.

GUSSET:

The sock gusset is the part of a sock where it gets bigger to accommodate the anatomical structures of heel, instep, and ankle all meeting.

The gusset is another set of increases, using the kf&b increase as we did on the toe, BUT, you work these increases ONLY on the sole stitches.  This is where it becomes important that you know which needle is your instep/top needle, and which is your sole/bottom needle.  Use a stitch marker, loop of scrap yarn, or even a paperclip, slipped either onto the needle or through your knitting (but don't snag it) to distinguish one side.

The gusset also has only two rounds, which repeat.
Round 1:  Knit all the stitches on the Instep needle.  On the Sole needle, kf&b, knit to last two stitches, kf&b, K1.
Round 2:  Knit all stitches, instep and sole.

Repeat THESE two rounds until the Sole needle is carrying twice as many stitches as the Instep needle.  For those in the workshop, you will have doubled the number of stitches on the Sole needle only, and you will have 16, 30, or 36 on the Instep needle, and 32, 60, or 72 on the Sole, for a total of 38, 90, or 108 stitches all the way around.

Finish with a Round 1, do not yet knit the last Round 2.  We will pick up here on Week 2 of the workshop.

If any of you are keen and want to go ahead and turn your heel, Make sure you read the "Set Up for Heel Turn" part of the notes, and place your stitch markers.  The set up basically involves spreading a few extra stitches through the gussets to provide extra room and flexibility.  If you ARE going on to this part yourselves, you might want to look at Cat Bordhi's YouTube video on LLinc and LRinc, as we want to use a different method to increase those extra stitches.

Cheers !  See you next week.