Big Yellow Taxi
Sep. 13th, 2006 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liralenSo this is the resulting yarn from trying to spin like Crown Mountain Farm's Sock Hop sock yarn. It's really nice stuff, springy and silky and solid as a rock but not nearly as hard.
The best thing is that I'm finally knitting some of my handspuns and there's nothing nearly as critical as going, centimeter by centimeter through a skein of yarn while knitting it on US #1 needles. Each tiny blemish is nearly a whole stitch at that scale. Nice thing is that after so many years of practice, I can honestly say I don't have the thicks and thins the way I used to. And this yarn makes for extremely springy, solid socks.
Jet put on the first one before I had the toe all in, yet, and he said, "It's hugging my foot, Mom!" Hee.
The best thing is that I'm finally knitting some of my handspuns and there's nothing nearly as critical as going, centimeter by centimeter through a skein of yarn while knitting it on US #1 needles. Each tiny blemish is nearly a whole stitch at that scale. Nice thing is that after so many years of practice, I can honestly say I don't have the thicks and thins the way I used to. And this yarn makes for extremely springy, solid socks.
Jet put on the first one before I had the toe all in, yet, and he said, "It's hugging my foot, Mom!" Hee.
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Date: 2006-09-13 09:07 pm (UTC)One of the things I'm jonesing for is two skeins of sock yarn, spun in opposite directions, to take advantage of one of the rare patterns where the direction of spin dramatically affects the look of the pattern (it has twisted stitches, in both directions, and of course that means that it tightens the twist of the yarn one way, and loosens it the other). I was thinking of posting on
no subject
Date: 2006-09-13 09:32 pm (UTC)Is there a particular type of wool or blends you were thinking (superwash? merino which is silky but might not wear that well or something more medium weight? a touch of mohair for wear? or nylon mixed in?) Or colorways for that matter or just white?
I would be happy to do it for $15 plus whatever shipping costs and whatever the fiber actually costs me for two 2 ounce skeins (4 ounces total) of two ply, each spun in each direction and plied in the opposite dirction (probably approx 175-200 yards per skein). I'll try and make the lengths nearly the same for the two skeins.
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Date: 2006-09-13 10:00 pm (UTC)Okay, the details. These are for me personally, and I'm not especially hard on my socks, and I do handwash happily. Merino with a touch of mohair, perhaps? I think that would be lovely. And for colorways, I was thinking of somewhere in the neighborhood of cobalt blue to blueish teal, not a lot of variegation, but the pattern I'm going to use is a strong one that stands up well to it and doesn't get lost, so it wouldn't have to necessarily be a solid, either, although I'd prefer that there be no white left in it. If you've got a source of pre-dyed roving in mind, point me at it and I'll have a look; if you'd like to take a stab at dyeing it also, I'd be happy to pay extra for that.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-13 10:26 pm (UTC)Plus, it would just be fun to do a skein of backwards yarn. *grin*
Paradise Fibers has a whole page of mohair and merino blends (http://www.paradisefibers.net/Spinning-Fiber-s/115.htm). If you have something you like there, I'd be happy to get it along with some things I was thinking of getting anyway. I was about to buy some dyes, too, as painted rovings are damned expensive compared to just getting the plain rovings. :-) So if there isn't a blue you like, I'd be happy to do that for another $10 on their basic ecru blend for the dyes and work.
The color card for the dyes (http://www.paradisefibers.net/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=986) is available as well, so if there's a blue there you like better than their turquoise, feel free to name it. I kind of want the "blueberry", which seems close to a cobalt and I'd be happy to experiment a little to try and get a bit of teal veriegation into it.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-13 10:32 pm (UTC)I appreciate the pointer.
More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 02:49 am (UTC)There are thousands of shades of good merino out there, for pretty good prices. Just do a Google merino, or even just seach for merino colors on Paradise Fibers (they seem to have good prices).
Outback (http://www.outbackfibers.com/fiber/obfiber.htm) is pretty huge in merino as well.
Superwash merino, straight, is pretty inexpensive, as is very nice straight merino.
I *have* mohair, in locks, and dyeing it teal would be much simpler than trying to dye a blend consistantly, honestly, and with a 30% content, that would be less than an ounce of it for the four ounce skeins. I'd be happy to charge you $5 more for blending a bit of handdyed mohair into whatever color blue merino you picked. *grin*
So there's more than just the pre-blended stuff, and the merino palatte at outback is pretty amazing. I could do a Noro-style *big stripe* affect easily as well if you wanted to use multiple blues that are very close to each other, too. That's no cost. *grin* Just fun for me.
There's also the other end of things, where the blues and greens of Twist and Shout blend with the white in the two-ly and it'll do bands, like the socks in the Sock Hop ad. But I've a feeling that that's a bit *too* varigated for what you have in mind.
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 06:42 pm (UTC)Let me point out some of the things I like and don't like, and maybe you can put that together with what you know and what's possible (which is part of what I don't know), and help me narrow it down.
I've done a fair amount of poking around on the Paradise Fibers site. A lot of the Ashland merino multis that are blue tones seem to also have a streak of brown in them, and that's not appealing to me, for this particular project. I'm also not too big on white; I'm really thinking of a darker tone for this, and I think the whites mixed in with the darker tones are too contrasty. I love the tones of the Ashland solids in the navy, sky, and peacock, and maybe even some of the more muted greens like the pine; what I don't know is if it's feasible to do some sort of combination, and how that would look if so -- something where these various colors sort of merge into each other, and then maybe a thread of teal mohair running through it, sounds like it would be nice, but I don't know what's workable. I do want more "blendy" than "stripey", if possible, but slow gradual slides from one distinct color to another would be okay, just not abrupt choppy stripes. Your thoughts?
I did happen across this roving, and I think the palette of that is lovely -- something like that with a bit of teal mixed into it somehow would be very appealing. But this is Romney, not merino, which I understand to be coarser, so perhaps that's not suitable -- but I do love the colors, so if we could get into the same neighborhood but with the merino, that would be nice. Or if you think the Romney is suitable, let me know.
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 07:22 pm (UTC)I need a better picture, but I blended a deep blue with a bit of teal, purple, and green and two kinds of silk to make a yarn that's actually deeper and tweedier than this picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/liralenli/178561762/in/set-72057594071005766/) shows. I think more your "blendy" type than stripes.
It is entirely possible.
The Windwools rovings are actually quite suitable for socks. It wouldn't have the same bounce as merino, but it would probably wear better and be a bit silkier, less inclined to pill, too. But it would be kind of stripy, but all along the same palette, which is nice, too. If I two-ply it it would blend the colors together nicely as well.
A two-ply would be more like the yarn on top in this picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/liralenli/222676373/in/set-72057594071005766/), but the color variation is even less, so it would make it more "just blue".
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 07:47 pm (UTC)Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 08:33 pm (UTC):-) Yay for decisions! Choices are hard.
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 08:33 pm (UTC)And then I will. *grin*
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 09:18 pm (UTC)The teal blue color looks fine for the mohair.
Do you want me to go ahead and Paypal you the $35, or wait till we have totals with shipping and all that?
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 09:33 pm (UTC)Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-18 02:48 pm (UTC)I'll cheerfully post updates about the dyeing and stuff here. *grin*
thanks!! I think it helps a lot that there's not a big deadline for these, which is the other reason I'd rather you didn't send money until I get it to you.
I've also been looking up what people sell fingering weight handspun for, and I'm happier with the price. It's lower than most, so I don't feel like I'm gouging you, either. *grin* Plus with a relaxed deadline (given that my parents are arriving on Wednesday) and the opportunity to do something new, it's pretty cool.
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-26 04:15 pm (UTC)You can now see the stages and at least the results of the S-ply skein on my flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/liralenli).
I wasn't sure if you were going to be following a pattern with a certain yardage, or if it's just a twisted stitch pattern that would scale to what you get.
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-26 04:36 pm (UTC)The pattern I'm using on these is the Pomatomus pattern, which I know you're familiar with, and then a reversal of that stitch pattern, with the twists going the other way as well as the scalloping pattern, for the second sock. I've already done one pair of these, and that's why I wanted the opposite-ply yarns -- the reverse twist loosened the twist of the yarn instead of tightening it as the forward twist did, and the pattern looked subtly different on the two socks. It's probably only detectable at you're-invading-my-personal-space range, but *I* know. :)
I think this yardage/thickness will be fine. I did the first pair in Lorna's Laces, and the pair is only 74g, so it's a pretty thrifty pattern. I'll make some adjustments for the thickness, and work them toe-up just in case, but all should be just fine.
The pictures, by the way, are lovely. The one of the prepared roving mix is to die for!
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-26 04:41 pm (UTC)Very keen. I'll just go ahead with the second skein, then.
I'm glad that the pictures give you a sense of the yarn. And, yes, I loved the roving mix. It was really lovely all blended together with the mohair gleaming just a bit. *happy dance*
Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-26 04:46 pm (UTC)This is a *really* fun pattern to knit, though; lots of stuff to keep your interest, but it all fits together very neatly so you can read the pattern in the knitting.
One more thing
Date: 2006-09-26 04:17 pm (UTC)Re: One more thing
Date: 2006-09-26 04:37 pm (UTC)Re: One more thing
Date: 2006-09-26 04:42 pm (UTC)Re: More links. :-)
Date: 2006-09-14 07:28 pm (UTC)But I actually think the Romney might well serve.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-14 03:12 am (UTC)On Paradise Fibers (http://www.paradisefibers.net) site, if you search for "Ashland" and "Multi" you'll get to see all their multi colored tops, too, many of which are merino and maybe the "navy" would serve. With the multis it would also be easier to slip in some mohair of a different color. *grin* But it would be more of a tweed affect than a solid.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 01:54 am (UTC)Could you please send the address you want me to mail the hanks to to liralenli at gmail dot com? I'd appreciate it. Then I can get the postage all settled. *grin*
Photos of the yarns are on my flickr account. They're very fetching mirror twins. *grin* I was impressed that they both turned out to be within a few yards of each other. The S-spin, Z-ply was really strange to do. All my instinctual moves for clearing out pills and second cut materials and strengthing thin spots were all wrong, so I had to really think about how to do things my fingers normally just do without me thinking much. *grin*
no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 01:59 pm (UTC)