MSW socks #2

Second pair is done! This yarn is z spun Perendale, Border Leicester and Polwarth, plied S. It might be a bit thicker than sock yarn #1, even though two of the singles were exactly the same. I used 107.1 g for the first pair of socks and my swatch, and 106.6 g for the same from the second yarn, using the same number of stitches for the socks, so the weight per yard must be similar. I think this yarn takes up more space though since it doesn’t have the one s spun ply. My swatch is 8 stitches per inch again.

My mom plans to wear these socks in mixed pairs, to compare how quickly they wear, so I used the same number of stitches on these as on the first pair. I did do a different toe (my standard) and a slightly different stitch on the heel flap, so that should help her identify which is which. I didn’t have to worry about this yarn twisting, like I did with sock yarn #1, so I could use my standard heel.

These socks are so much softer than pair #1, however they still aren’t really next-to-face soft. The yarn was much nicer to knit with though, and it still has some bounce to it, though nowhere near as much stretch as yarn #1 did. I think they’ll stand up well.

MSW sock yarn #2

The second yarn is much like the first, but the key difference is that #1 had the Border Leicester spun with a ‘S’ twist, while #2 has all the singles spun with a ‘Z’ twist.

Sock yarn #2

‘Z’ twist Border Leicester, unwashed and spun from lock
’Z’ twist Perendale, unwashed and spun from lock
’Z’ twist Polwarth, washed pre-prepared commercial roving

These three singles were plied with a ‘S’ twist, and it ended up almost perfectly balanced (no tendency to twist itself up). The finished skein weighed 218.4 grams before washing, and 191.9 g after, so there was 12% loss in washing.

The singles all looked the same as for #1, so instead of pictures of the singles, here are pics of my sheep inspecting the fleece. Grumpy sheep now has a monocle!

Oh, and here’s some pics of the yarn, both before washing (on the scale) and after…

And here is a picture of a real live sheep we saw at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival! Grumpy sheep tells me that he wants his top hat to be taller…

MSW socks #1

I finished the first pair! To recap, the yarn is a three ply hand spun ‘illegal’ (mix of Z and S spun yarns, plied S) yarn that my mum and I made from fiber bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I actually knitted a swatch! The gauge I got was 8 stitches per inch (Mommy got 9), as it’s a bit heavier of a sock yarn. In order to have the yarn tightly plied enough, we had to overplay this yarn, so it is far from balanced and really likes twisting up on itself. Because of that my swatch is less of a rectangle… the yarn is also fairly scratchy, and my pointer finger on my left hand, where I hold and tension the yarn, didn’t really like this yarn.

Mum’s swatch doesn’t lean as much as mine, most likely because she had a much wider border at the sides. She also did a seed stitch border, while I used a garter border. Mine is also fuzzier, and we’re not sure if that’s a difference in the yarn, or if that’s because I am a much looser knitter than my mom.

Amy’s swatch-stockinette with garter border

Amy’s swatch-stockinette with garter border

Mum’s swatch-stockinette with seed stitch border

I made the socks with fewer stitches than normal, but otherwise these were fairly straightforward socks. The ribbing in the cuff prevents the fabric from skewing in the same way that the swatch did, so I continued the ribbing down the foot. I also used a spiral toe instead of my standard toe, because I was worried that the standard toe would try to rotate, and so I went with a toe decrease where a rotation wouldn’t matter.

The socks aren’t soft enough to wear next to my face, but I don’t notice them as being scratchy when they’re on my feet. Mum is really happy with them!

House pride socks

I saw this yarn from Bad Wolf Girl Studios, and I really wanted to see how it would knit up, so here we are. The color is ‘House Pride’-it has all the house colors from Harry Potter, and I got it at a Harry Potter themed knit night at my local yarn store! I’m really happy with how the yarn pooled, and the yarn is really soft and nice to work with.

MSW sock yarn #1

Mum and I got three fleeces and some prepared roving at the sheep and wool festival, and we’re turning it into sock yarn! The plan is to do several slightly different yarns, using the three fleeces and some roving we bought from MSW, as well as some angora I had in stock. Each of the yarns is a three ply, and the goal is to figure out how to make a sock yarn that will hold up well to wear and not be too harsh. We’re using a lot of longwools, which are very durable but can also be scratchy. The first yarn used two fleeces and the roving, with a mix of twist directions.

Sock yarn #1

‘S’ twist Border Leicester, unwashed and spun from lock
’Z’ twist Perendale, unwashed and spun from lock
’Z’ twist Polwarth, washed pre-prepared commercial roving

These three singles were plied with a ‘S’ twist, increasing the amount of twist on the Border Leicester and decreasing it on the other two. The yarn was plied until it wouldn’t split easily when knitting, so it ended up unbalanced with a tendency to twist up on itself.

The singles

The first fleece is a Perendale. It’s a lovely dark, variegated colored fleece, not particularly fine. The staple length is around 6 inches, it doesn’t have too much crimp, and it is super clean, even though the sheep wasn’t coated. One of the nice things about longwool sheep is that they tend to be relatively free of vegetable matter and dirt-it falls right out. The only prep I did before spinning this was to flick the tips of the locks open, and I spun this straight from the locks. The breeder did an excellent job of including information about the breed, which was one I hadn’t heard of before. It’s a cross between Cheviot and Romney-a dual purpose meat/fleece breed, and comes in white as well as pretty colors like this.

The second fleece we got was a border leicester fleece, and my mum is spinning this one. Border Leicester is another longwool, and the fleece is beautiful. The staple length is just a bit shorter than the Perendale fleece, so around 5.5 inches. Mommy wanted to play around with making a different, more bouncy yarn, so she spun this single with a Z twist, while the other singles were spun with a S twist. She also spun this from the lock.

The last ply of this sock yarn is from Polwarth pre-prepared roving. The MSW festival had breed information and sample yarns and knitted swatches from various breeds, and the Polwarth stuck us as particularly soft. It typically has a staple length of 3-7 inches, with a fiber diameter of 21-26 microns. I’ve spun prepared polwarth/silk dyed roving, however I hadn’t spun pure Polwarth before. We wanted something soft since the longwools can be a bit harsh when spun finely, so I decided to use this Polwarth roving.

We then plied the two ‘S’ twist and the one ‘Z’ twist single together. After plying it, we washed it. The skein weighed 261.5 grams before washing, and 232.1 g after, so it lost 29.4 grams (11 %) of dirt and lanolin in the washing process. It isn’t a balanced yarn in the slightest, but I’m really excited to see how it knits up into socks!

Vocabulary diamonds

The yarn for these socks is from Vocabulary Yarns, and it’s a bluefaced leicester/nylon sock yarn, which was really nice to work with, and it pooled really well! I’ve been enjoying playing with some textures, and these socks have some small little diamonds.

Bluefaced Leicester is a long wool, so it’s a bit coarser, which should improve the durability of the socks. It also has a lovely luster to it, and shines a bit like silk does. Here’s a picture of some bluefaced Leicesters from the Maryland sheep and wool festival!

More fox yarn!

My mum had given me 2 kg of the arctic fox/merino blend, and I had planned to spin it all (even though I am allergic to it). I spun at least 0.5 kg of it before my mum decided to save me from it and take it back. We plied some of it with the silk and bamboo blend, but here is the stuff that we only plied against itself. This is a three ply yarn, a thinner worsted weight. While I did the spinning I got mum to ply! I supervised though.

Mommy used the 100% merino/fox blend to cast off the shawl that was otherwise knit from the merino/fox/silk/bamboo yarn. It turned out really well! She had to use the 100% merino/fox to bind off because we were playing yarn chicken, and were just shy of having enough of the other one to cast off with…

Mommy was worried that the pictures show the ends not sewn in on the shawl, so ignore them everyone!

Maryland Sheep and Wool socks

My mum and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival this year, and so I picked out a self-striping yarn to make mindless socks from, so that I could knit while I was walking around. I started the first sock as we were walking in on Saturday morning, and finished it on Sunday. I wasn’t able to finish the second sock on Sunday, but it’s done now!

The yarn is ‘Head over Heels: All Stars’, and it’s 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon. It’s number 20 for this year!

yarn: merino, silk, blue fox, and bamboo

I’ve got four different pairs of socks on the needles right now, so I should have all sorts of done socks soon, but until then here is some yarn I just finished plying. It’s being turned into a shawl-I started knitting the shawl, but as it turns out I’m allergic to the yarn, so my mom is finishing it up for me. What a nice mommy.

The yarn is four plies of a blue fox/merino blend, with one ply of a silk/bamboo yarn. It’s a worsted weight yarn, and it’s knitting up quite nicely. It will be a really warm shawl when done!

and here’s some pictures of the shawl in progress

The shawl has some shoulder shaping, and a line of increases down the back. It’s a fairly simple lace pattern, but I like how it looks. I’m really sorry that I’m allergic to it!

Carrot socks

Two socks in one post! I’m told that these socks have exactly the same colors as the carrots we grew last summer, hence the name. I had fun playing with texture on these, something I’ve not done too much of before. The pair with the purple cuff/heel/toe has diamonds made with purl stitches, while the blue cuff/heel/toe pair has a variant on seed stitch.

And here are the home-grown carrots for comparison! We weren’t expecting them to grow anywhere near as well as they did-we ended up having lots of carrots, in all sorts of fun colors (and shapes).

The yarn is Once Upon a Corgi’s Marie Cutie (75% SW Corriedale 25% Nylon). I really enjoyed knitting with it, and since it’s primarily Corriedale wool instead of Merino, the socks should wear much better. Corriedales are a cross between Merino and Lincoln sheep, so their fleece has some of the long wool strength but is softer than many long wools. It was fun yarn to work with, and I also like the way it takes the dye.

These are pairs 18 and 19 for the year!