More from the 24x7 Fiber Shop

Along with Superwash BFL, I have Superwash Merino and Superwash Merino-Bamboo-Nylon in the 24x7 Fiber Shop.

The Superwash Merino is Louet 7.400, one of my favorite fibers to spin. So pretty.


Available Now: Cool Chocolate

The Superwash Merino-Bamboo-Nylon is 60-30-10 and the fibers take up the dye at different rates with the bamboo adding shine.


Available Now: Waves


Available Now: Cool

I spun 4 oz of the Cool colorway and it's really soft. I can't wait to knit a pair of socks out of this yarn.


Cool bobbins


Cool 3 ply

Introducing Evelyn's No-Sew Blankie, a KAL (with prizes!), and 24x7 Fiber

Evelyn's No-Sew Blankie (ENSB) made its debut this month in the Spring+Summer issue of Knitty. It's a quick and easy knit and is perfect for a handspun yarn or a commercial yarn like Lisa Souza's Superwash Merino. The garter stitch mitered squares show off variegated colorways beautifully.


ENSB in handspun


ENSB in Lisa Souza's Superwash Merino
Free knitting pattern


The origin of ENSB goes back to last summer and a hot pour dyeing project. At the time I was focused on process. I liked the colors in the pot.


Hot pour dyeing

But the resulting bumps were not what I expected. Ahhh, the surprises of the dye pot. At times they're genius and other times, well, they're just surprises. Either way they're always learning experiences.

Anyway, I wasn't sure what to do with the bumps... normally I spin 4 oz and make socks, but maybe I could spin all 8 oz and 3-ply the whole lot to create randomness in the color combos. And maybe I could actually design something with my own handspun. What a novel idea!

Thank goodness for the 2010 Tour de Fleece, it helped me process a lot of fiber in a relatively short period of time.


Potluck - Cobbler singles

I didn't split the fiber before I spun it so the color runs were intentionally long. I wanted the 3-ply color combos to change very slowly throughout the yarn, and that's exactly what I achieved.


Potluck - Cobbler singles

From then on everything fell into place. I had a baby blanket pattern in mind for little Evelyn who was born last year and with just 8 oz of 3-ply it would need to be a car seat blanket. For inspiration, I looked to the Baby Surprise Jacket that I made for her. I loved how how the garter st showed off the yarn and how the double decreases made the garter ridges "turn the corner". Thank you EZ!


Evelyn's Pink Granite BSJ

Mitered squares and garter st squares make up the body of the blanket and the center is worked in the round and the blanket is finished with an applied i-cord border.


ENSB in handspun

After finishing the handspun blanket I searched for a commercially available yarn and Lisa Souza's Superwash Merino turned out to be the just the ticket. She put a hank of Sunny Days in the mail as she headed out to Stitches Midwest and suggested that I swatch with it. I got started and before I knew it the swatch was finished. lol


Lexy: pensive

That's my favorite photo. Isn't Lexy the cutest model ever? Kristi kindly offered to take photos of the blankets with Lexy and they both did a fantastic job. Thank you so much for your patience and tenacity.

I'm very happy with how the pattern turned out and it's getting a good response on Ravelry. There's even a KAL that Ginny of FatCatKnits has started. The photos of the blankies in handspun are making me want to knit another! If you're going to knit ENSB, consider joining the KAL. One of the prizes is a bump of fiber dyed by yours truly.

Last but not least, my handpainted superwash BFL is available in the 24x7 Fiber Shop. Potluck - Cobbler isn't a colorway I'm planning on repeating, but there are other (better) colorways available with more coming soon.


At The Tank SOLD!


7th Veil SOLD!


Emy-licious


Love Me Baby


Salad Days


Keep Me Tied Up

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits are you wearing today?

I have on a pair of socks made with hand dyed hand spun, but I can't show you the FO (yet).


Hand dyed hand spun

Emptying bobbins

Thank goodness for spin-ins. If it wasn't for the monthly get togethers generously hosted by Spinnity, I wouldn't spin at all. But she did and I did and my bobbins are empty and ready for soon-to-be-purchased Stitches West fiber.

Here's the latest off the Lendrum, 24x7 Fiber Superwash Merino/Bamboo/Nylon, Cool colorway.


Cool Bobbins


282 yds of 3 ply and a mini-hank of 2 ply for Sam

Doberman + Knitting = OMG!

Remember this hand-dyed fiber and yarn?


Superwash BFL


First bobbin


400 yds Light Fingering Wt

It was working up beautifully on my trusty 2.25mm dpns.


Bone Dry sock

"was working up beautifully..."

After a quick trip to the store, we came back to a distressing sight (which actually looked worse before I gathered it up for the photo). My heart sank.


Uh oh

Here's the culprit.


Aries

He's a good dog but I had no idea he was so interested in knitting. He took the project out of the ziploc bag, removed all the needles, broke 3 of them and put teeth marks in the other two. Losing the needles was a drag since I don't have another set with me, but even more upsetting was seeing all that lovely handspun in disarray.

We're visiting family so I called yarn stores in the area to see who might have some replacement needles and lucked out--one store in the area had #1 dpns and they happened to be Lantern Moon Rosewood. The dog owner purchased them for me. I told her that wasn't necessary since I should have put the knitting away, but she insisted.


Replacement needles

I'm happy to report that the yarn is rewound and wasn't damaged much--there was one broken ply and it wasn't horribly tangled.


Back in the saddle

Whew, that could have been much worse. Lesson learned.

Purple?

I wonder if there's anyone I know who might be interested in tone-on-tone purple Superwash BFL? Hmmm... let me think...


Big pot o' purple

TdF update

I've been spinning every day of the Tour, some days more than others. But using the fast flyer, it adds up quickly--to date I've spun a total of 9.5 ounces of fiber.

4 oz of Out of Step Dyeworks Superwash Merino/Bamboo:


Dagon 3-ply Fingering Wt

and 5.5 oz Superwash BFL that I dyed (this is 5.3 oz, the rest is on the wheel):


Potluck - Cobbler

I'd like to finish the 3rd bobbin of the BFL and ply it all before the tour ends, but realistically that probably won't happen. Next week will be a busy one. That's okay, spinning close to 12 oz of local/indie dyed fiber and getting to know my fast flyer will mean I've met my goals. Keep those wheels turning!

Potluck anyone?

I've been trying my hand at dyeing, some of which I've blogged about, most of which I haven't. I tried hot pour dyeing last weekend. It sounded easy enough--heat up some fiber in water, add colors, poke, cook, cool, rinse, done.

8 oz of fiber + heat + dye:


Hot pour dyeing

The results were less than thrilling. Trust me, they look better in braids.


Potluck - Cobbler


Potluck - Cobbler

I didn't realize that the yellow traveled to the bottom of the pot and spread farther than I intended. The top bump is heavy yellow/red and the bottom bump is heavy yellow/blue. My first thought was, "Overdye." But then I thought if I made a 3-ply with all 8 ounces, it could turn into something I like.

Stage 7 of Tour de Fleece Stage is promising. Most of Bobbin 1 looks like this (with more yellow):



But the end of the bobbin looks like this:


Bobbin 1 of 3

This might work. If it doesn't, I can always throw it back into the dye pot, right?

On your mark, get set...

Bone Dry bobbins


Bone Dry 3-ply


400 yds Light Fingering Wt

I guess love’s like a kind of star
You wish and wonder 'cause it seems so far
You get to feeling like a kid at the end of long line
You can’t change anybody else
You don’t know what you only guess
and faith is something for thirsty fools t’ hang onto
    --Bone Dry, The Roger Steen Band

The training is over, all of the bobbins are empty, and I have one day of rest before the start of the Tour de Fleece.

The heat is on

The second bobbin of Bone Dry is done--I need to finish the third bobbin and ply the yarn before Saturday, the start of Tour de Fleece.


Bone Dry

A beautiful Sunday

Today was a beautiful day--sunny and warm with a nice breeze.

The morning started with plying Daughter of the Sea:


Daughter of the Sea


Daughter of the Sea
320 yds 3-ply fingering wt


Daughter of the Sea
320 yds 3-ply fingering wt

Then we spent the afternoon at the Picchetti Winery in Cupertino listening to jazz outside:


Bill Walker & Roger Steen at the Picchetti Winery

We had a table of knitters and friends who spent the afternoon visiting, making loops with yarn, and enjoying the music. I finished the BSJ with i-cord buttons and wove in all the ends. It's ready to be mailed to baby Evelyn:


Evelyn's Pink Granite BSJ
Project details on Ravelry


Evelyn's Pink Granite BSJ

BSJ mods--
Made the neck opening a little bigger by binding off 2 additional sts at the beg of those 2 rows. For the buttonbands, I worked 3 ridges then launched into a 3 st i-cord edging adding buttonholes where the i-cord meets the sweater. Edged the cuffs with 3 st i-cord and picked up sts and made 3 st i-cord knotted buttons.

Jazz and an FO--it was an enjoyable afternoon. But next time (July 11), I'll put on sunscreen. Ouchie!

BFL love

I forgot how nice BFL is to spin--I love the long staple length.


Daughter of the Sea