Seeking the perfect sock yarn, all natural and machine washable

Suffolk yarn, a sock to throw in the washing machine. Worn with the purl side to the world.

Suffolk sheep are the most common sheep in North America. They are widely raised for meat production. However, while all sheep must be sheared, it is difficult to obtain a quality Suffolk fleece. People raising Suffolk for meat production are not intending to also offer a pristine fleece for handspinning. The majority of Suffolk wool will be sold to the wool pool.  The difficulty in obtaining Suffolk fleece is unfortunate because the yarn has very interesting qualities. 

Suffolk is one of the Down breeds. The Down breeds are several distinct sheep breeds that have certain common characteristics. The Down breeds are Suffolk, Hampshire, Horned Dorset, Polled Dorset, Oxford, Southdown, Dorset Down, and Shropshire.  Cheviot is not a true Down breed but has the common characteristic, the wool is very difficult to felt. That means the yarn is difficult to felt. So one can create a sock yarn that is a non-superwash natural wool, but the yarn can be tossed in the washing machine. 

This also means that if you like to do needle felting or wet felting, do not use Suffolk or any of the other Down breeds. A woman visiting my booth at a fiber festival told of trying to felt wool for “days and days” with no change, to discover they were using 100% Oxford wool.  Oxford is a  Down breed, it does not felt well, or in this case, not at all. 

I knit a pair of boot socks in Suffolk yarn, DK weight. These are socks made for wearing with heavy shoes when I am on my feet all day. The first time I wore the socks, I realized that I could actually feel the purl bumps on the souls of my feet. When I got home I turned the socks inside out and from that point on, that is how I wore them. With the stockinette next to my skin and the purl bumps facing the world. This is a very comfortable sock.

When it came time to wash the socks, I dropped the socks into a lingerie bag and threw it into the machine with jeans, t-shirts and all the other dirty clothes. I did a normal wash cycle with cold water wash and rinse. When finished the socks were removed from the lingerie bag and draped on the drying rack. The socks did not felt at all. One still sees the perfect stitch definition.

I have been wearing (and washing) these socks for over two months. The socks have shown no sign of felting, they have pilled a bit, but that is to be expected.

Choosing a yarn, based on the properties of the fleece, can totally change the qualities of the finished project. The Suffolk yarn is natural with minimal processing (see earlier posts for detail on how yarn is created). These socks will last for years and they clean easily.

playing with the dye, being creative with color

A word (or two) about Superwash yarn:

Superwash is a chemical process. The purpose of the process is to remove or alter the outer “scales” on the strand of fiber. It is the microscopic scales on each fiber of wool that, with heat and agitation, bind together, causing wool to “felt”. The Superwash process uses harsh chemicals, more water and creates a waste product that is definitely not eco-friendly and is often referred to as toxic. 

A word on sock construction.

My basic “perfectly fitting sock” formula.  I knit the socks with undyed yarn. I had decided to dye the finished sock. This technique allows for a creatively colored sock. I used commercial acid dye which was “set” with citric acid and steam heat.

This is how your yarn is created, Part 2

Recently sheared Romney (and one Romeldale).

Once the skirting is finished, the bag is closed and waits for the next step.

Romney fleece, grease wool

The next step is washing the wool. Wool straight from the sheep is referred to as grease wool. The “grease” is actually lanolin, a substance that is secreted by the sebaceous glands of the sheep skin. The amount of lanolin in the wool varies between the various breeds of sheep. 

very dirty grease wool, soaking in a washing machine that has had the agitator disconnected.

Before wool can be processed a majority of the lanolin must be removed by washing. Washing not only cleans the wool, you lose weight.  Merino can lose 50% of its weight going from grease wool to clean wool. The majority of sheep breeds will lose approximately 30% of weight. If I need 50 pounds of clean, dry wool to spin into yarn, if it is Merino wool, I need to start with over 100 pounds of grease wool, to be certain of enough clean wool. With other breeds, one needs to begin with over 70 pounds of grease wool. 

There are two things that are needed to cause wool to felt in the wash, hot water and agitation. Hot water (above 140 F) and detergent is necessary to remove the lanolin. If you do not agitate the wool, it will not felt in the wash. There are various methods, mesh baskets in sinks, use of washing machines with the agitator disconnected, and plastic tubs. One needs to have enough space to immerse the wool in very hot water with detergent (dishwashing liquid works well). Let it soak for 30 minutes. Drain the water and spin the wool, or gently lift the wool out and spin it. Then rinse the wool with a soak in clear hot water for 30 minutes. Spin out and repeat. Wool should be laid to dry on racks so that the air circulates both below and above the wool. Old window/door screens make great drying racks.

racks of clean wool drying

After steps one and two, one has lots of clean, dry, wool. How do you know if the wool is clean? If you grab a handful of dry wool, it should not feel sticky. Your hands should not feel sticky after handling it.

I get asked a lot about where the yarn is spun.  I like to keep production local, so I use woolen mills in the Midwest. There are two methods of spinning yarn: woolen and worsted (the difference between woolen and worsted deserves a separate discussion). Each method of spinning requires specific equipment. There are basically two types of woolen mill, “mini-mills” and traditional mills. Traditional mills are the technology that drove the industrial revolution. The equipment has not changed much since the 1800’s. Many of the traditional woolen mills in operation today utilize equipment that is over one hundred years old and can be traced back to the woolen mills of Lowell, Massachusetts. This is large, massive equipment that can mangle a body part if you get too close. A traditional  mill will have the large card producing a web of fiber for spinning woolen or the card will have a draft to produce sliver for spinning worsted (or semi-worsted). In addition there is the spinning frame, the picker, a plyer, a coner and a skeiner.

A “Mini-mill” is literally a smaller version. All the equipment for a mini-mill will easily fit in a two car garage. In comparison, just the card of a traditional mill would need at least three times that area. There are a couple manufacturers of mini-mill equipment, size varies, but the main factor is the same, the capacity is less than a traditional mill. Mini-mills generally spin semi-worsted, some mini-mills can also spin semi-woolen. 

At either mill, the processing is similar. Clean wool is put through a series of processes: a picker to separate the fibers and then a carder to draft the fibers. The drafted fiber (either in woolen preparation or worsted preparation) then goes to the spinning frame. First singles are spun with S twist, then the singles are plied with Z twist.  Once spun, the yarn is put on cones and then it can be wound into skeins. Finished skeins are washed to remove the spinning oils and allow the yarn to bloom.  

When I drop off fleece at a mill, I tell the operator what type of yarn I want produced. I will request a specific weight and the amount of twist I want on the yarn. Sometimes, at the end of the process, I pick up yarn that is exactly what I ordered. Sometimes the yarn I pick up has no relation to what I ordered, but is perfectly lovely yarn.

This is how your yarn is created.

The sheep after being sheared.

That beautiful skein of wool yarn, it can be hand painted in vibrant hues or it can be the natural color of the sheep, it all begins in the same place.

Shearing a large Corriedale.

Most people know that wool is produced by sheep. But not everyone understands the process of how that fleece, once separated from the sheep, becomes the wool yarn that you are knitting into a sweater (or socks or a hat or scarf).

Shearing is the process of removing the fleece from the sheep. An experienced shearer can remove the fleece in one continuous piece and do it in less than five minutes.

The first step in turning that fleece into yarn is skirting. Skirting actually takes place twice. The first time is on shearing day. When the fleece is off and the sheep has jumped up and left the stage, the fleece is picked up and tossed on the skirting table. The skirting table is a square frame covered with chicken wire or plastic mesh that is high enough to work on comfortably while standing. The mesh allows the dirt and any second cuts to fall to the floor. The frame should be large enough that an entire fleece can be opened out. In order to do the skirting quickly at shearing, one needs to see the entire fleece in one glance. One quickly removes the sections of wool that hold the most vegetable matter (VM) and grease tags. One pulls off the belly wool, the lower section of legs, the neck (if it is full of VM) and if you are skirting for handspinning, one removes the britch (this is coarse fibers on upper hind legs and around tail). One then rolls the fleece together and bags it for further skirting later. The reason that one does all of this very quickly is because a good shearer needs less than 5 minutes to shear a sheep. The skirters must have the fleece skirted and rolled up so that the skirting table is ready for the next fleece as soon as it hits the floor.

Skirting table with fleece being skirted while the shearer begins shearing the next sheep.

Not everyone does a quick skirting on shearing day. Some people just bag each fleece on shearing day and skirt later. The process is the same. One can take time and look closely at the whole fleece. The neck area should be easy to spot. If sheep are fed from above their heads, the neck will be full of VM. If sheep are fed from below the head, there will still be VM around the neck but less. When I skirt, I make a note of where the neck fleece is, but I first  pull off the sections of fleece that are free of VM. As I skirt, I am separating the locks, pulling out any burrs, stickers or seed heads. Often I will skirt 60% of the fleece in 20 minutes but spend up to two hours skirting the remaining 40% of the fleece. Why? Because the remaining fleece is where the VM sits. One pulls out grease tags, the occasional blob of dried poop, and lots of seed heads, burrs and stickers. By the time I have finished skirting a fleece, I can tell you quite a bit about that sheeps pasture.

As one skirts, the skirted fleece is tossed in a bag by the handful and the bits of fleece stuck to burrs or grease tags are all dropped on the ground below the skirting table. These bits will later be swept up and added to the garden as mulch or thrown into the compost pile. Wool is a nitrogen fixer, and the poop and grease stuck in the wool will improve the soil.

When I am skirting I am also paying attention to how the wool feels. I will “ping” the wool to check the strength. If the locks break while I am skirting that is a bad sign. If the lock has a visible change in color, that can denote a weak point in the wool and it will break. If the staple breaks, it will not hold up to the stress of carding and spinning. That fleece goes in the compost. 

I also pay attention to the staple length. I am preparing wool for commercial mills, most of the mills will only take fleece with a staple length of 3 - 6 inches. A few mills will take fleece with a length of 3.5 inches to 11 inches. The majority of sheep breeds that I skirt tend to have a staple length in the 3 - 6 inch range. However, it is not unusual for Romney to have a staple length of 7 - 8 inches. 

As I come across bits that are very short, those are dropped. Second cuts are caused by the shearer not shearing close enough to the skin, so the shearer makes a second pass, the second pass is too short to use. I also skirt out any kemp (brittle, chalky white, it is an impurity in the wool). As I am skirting for commercial spinning, I do not skirt out the entire britch. The britch is coarser, but it is also stronger. As I am combining many fleeces to make yarn, this small amount of coarser fiber is just part of a large mix and benefits the whole. 

Once the skirting is finished, the bag is closed and waits for the next step.

Committing to the Sweater

A sweater is a big project. It takes time. So I enter the process slowly. I decide on the parameters of the sweater: pullover or cardigan? Will it have color work or texture or both? What technique have I never done before?  Most importantly what will make it a, relatively, quick knit?

I want a pullover. I start looking at patterns in books and magazines. I browse patterns in ravelry and there are many sweaters I like but either the yarn is fingering (that will take forever) or there is too much colorwork (colorwork slows my knitting time down). I do not see any pattern that calls out to me. 

 I have an old sweater that I love to bits because of how it fits; oversized and sleeves long enough to roll up but I never really liked the v-neck. So I measure this sweater, every dimension very carefully and create a diagram with all the measurements noted. 

I have been swatching a new yarn. I asked the mill to experiment with the polypay fiber I left there and create a 3 ply fingering and a 3 ply worsted. I had been swatching the worsted polypay and I was impressed by how the yarn knit up. I obtained a worsted gauge with both a US 8 and a US7. The main difference was that the fabric created with the US 8 was just a tad more firm. The US 7 created a fabric with more body and when blocked, it was lovely.

I still have not found a pattern to suit my vision and my lovely 3 ply worsted. I decided to create my own sweater based on my swatch and the description of a yoke sweater in “Knitting without Tears” by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The recipe she lays out is bottom up, uses steeks for the armholes (I have never done steeks, it is time to learn) and a simple yoke that I can finish with a crew neck or boat neck or whatever I think of when I reach that point. 

I used a provisional cast on. The last step will be to go back and knit a folded hem. I decided to place a cable going up the front and a cable up the back. There will be lots of stockinette, which knits up quickly. 

I am committed. I love an adventure.

beginning of sweater, bottom up, green yarn is provisional cast on

Socks and Stripes

The average pair of socks requires 100 grams of yarn, give or take a bit. If you want to knit striped socks that will skew how much yarn you need. If you want to stick to the 100 grams, you can obtain two 50 gram balls, each a different color and work stripes of equal size for the entire sock (think rugby shirt). In this manner the two colors will be used evenly. However, if you want to be creative and do a sock mostly one color with narrow stripes, that will skew the amount of yarn needed. You will require a larger percentage of the 100 grams to be in the main color and a smaller amount in the contrast color. This is where one says, “no problem, I will just use that bit left over from the last pair of socks for the stripes”. But, are you sure you will have enough yarn for all the stripes on both socks?

Enter the fraternal twin. When I want stripes but I want to use the two colors that I have and not worry about playing chicken with “leftovers”, I knit the pair of socks as “fraternal twins”.  

The stripe pattern is the same. All the blocks of color are the same size. I just reverse the colors. In the photo, the finished sock has Rapscallion Jelly as the main color and Adventure Sprinkles as the contrast color. The sock in progress uses Adventure Sprinkles for the main color and Rapscallion Jelly for the contrast. Two 50 gram balls of yarn used equally for a very fun pair of socks. 

Who said socks had to be identical?

Knitting details: 

Gauge is 8 stitches to the inch on 1.5mm needles. (I am using ChiaoGoo circulars and a 40 inch cable, my personal favorite). Sock Bandit has a tight twist and is a bouncy sock yarn. 

Pattern is my own recipe for perfectly fitting socks.

Empowerment

This is a year of events. Some good, some bad, most I prefer not to dwell on. It has all gotten to be a bit too much. Then Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. Everything just seemed darker. RBG fought for equality between the sexes. If you have not seen the movie “On the Basis of Sex”, I highly recommend it.

WIP in progress

I heard about the move to knit Empowerment kerchiefs, as usual, I am late to any trend. I decided to knit a scarf in purple and I wanted to add an essence of the collars worn by RBG when gowned as a Supreme Court Justice. 

The yarn, 100% Cormo works up beautifully on US7 (4.5mm) needles. I kettle dyed the skein for a variegated purple. The white is a skein of undyed wool from deep in the stash, no label.  

I charted the collar by looking at photos and graphics of RBG. The collar is not exact, it is representational. As the scarf continues the collar motif will evolve.

FiberWorld2020 - fiber, lifestyle - evolved and evolving

The Pandemic changed all my plans for the year in one swipe. It began when the fiber convention in Koln was canceled. I had plans to fly over a week early and visit friends before attending the convention. Two days before I was due to leave, I learned the convention was canceled. Only a week before that I had received an email that the convention would take place as planned. The Covid-19 virus moved fast. The festivals that were scheduled for the summer canceled one after another. Quarantine did provide for quality knitting time, not everything was negative.

FiberWorld is a virtual festival. Come check it out: FiberWorld2020

Savoring Summer Knitting

Summertime is for savoring. It is a time to step out side of ones self and be attentive to the experience as it happens. Savor the sensation of the warmth of the sun on your skin, the cool grass under foot, the feel of the cotton as it slides through your fingers.

Yarn is the original Peaches n Cream

For me, summer is a time for light knitting. When June hit, I had an irrepressible urge to knit dishcloths. I dived in the stash for the last of the authentic Peaches and Cream cotton (from the original mill on the east coast) and immediately whipped out a dishcloth in the Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloth pattern. When I was questioned by the daughter, I told her I was getting a jump on Christmas presents. Everyone can use a four inch square of absorbent cotton. I quickly did two more. Then I did a fourth of all the tiny bits of cotton that were tangling in the bottom of the summer knitting bag. As some of the yarn was short, I joined the yarn with square knots and just kept knitting. I love things that are vibrant and contrasting. That less then four inch square is a coaster. I used it the same evening I finished it; did not even bother to weave in the ends.

Yarn is 100% cotton from Katia, deep stash.

I pulled a multi-colored skein of super soft cotton from the stash. The yarn that is just so soft and pretty I had been just keeping it around to look at, but know I have cast on. I decided to make a dish towel, a large rectangle. I began with the Jacquard stitch. This is a stitch where the design is created by slipping stitches on each row.  It looks particularly cool when one uses a yarn with longer color changes.

Now, back to savoring the sensation of the cool grass under my feet.

Need Inspiration?

Realized that I never posted a photo of the finished sweater in Bohemia Sport. Colors are carnival and parchment.

Knitting in the time of Quarantine or as they say here “safer at home”

Safer at Home orders have been in effect in most areas across the nation for at least a month, in some areas longer. Being restricted in movement has several side effects; one has a wealth of time. Within the first few days I finished a shawl that had been on the needles for over four years, if I am honest, I would have to say it is more likely to be five years. The body of the shawl was fairly quick. But the knit on trim, that got tedious. After an inch or two, the shawl went into a bag. I dropped it on the backseat of the car and it became the project I would pick up when waiting to pick up the DD from rehearsal. It is a slow way to finish a knitting project. When I had soaked the shawl and blocked it, I decided to take inventory of all the WIPs.

The Planetary Shawl

I went through all the baskets, the cloth bags, the plastic bin, the pile of yarn on the dresser. I found 20 WIPs. This includes four tops that I have been designing/knitting for myself. One of these is 99% finished but I do not like how it fits. There is the grey hempton shirt which has been ripped back and re-knit twice already. I did not even count the project bag full of balls of rose colored linen. That yarn cannot decide what it wants to be, I have started tops with that yarn several times but I always end up ripping it out.

So many WIPs just need an assessment. The sock for the DD, I picked it up and finished it in a day and then promptly cast on for a pair of socks for myself. Sigh.

There are WIPs that I need to admit are not going to be finished, either the sizing is off (gloves) or it is a project that simply no longer speaks to me (pi shawl). There were two scarves that were to be gifts, ages ago. I finished one; the other will remain in limbo.

100% wool dyed with Chamomile and Purple Basil extracts

 I often begin things because I want to learn or practice a new technique. When I finished the two color Brioche scarf (in Chamomile and Purple Basil),  two years after the cast on, I felt quite satisfied. I know there are errors in the beginning bit but no errors in the second half and I have discovered that I quite enjoy Brioche. Soon I will cast on for another Brioche project; I have the yarn picked out, a variegated pink and a purple/black.

hempforknitting, design my own

As of today, instead of 20 WIPs, I currently have 17 WIPs. I have made fantastic progress on the hemp shirt. I love working up summer shirts in hemp; top down, raglan increases. This shirt has a bit of magenta at the base of neckline. There will be a large color work pattern in magenta at the hem of shirt.  I am alternating work on the hemp shirt with knitting high socks for myself. And because I am not that keen on color work, at least once a week I sit down and knit a few rows on the Orfeo Hat.

Working on the WIPs in the time of Covid-19.

The New Normal

Life becomes busy. It happens slowly. Dishes stack up. The vacuuming has not been done in a week or more. Then a day passes when there has been no time to sit down and knit. Then suddenly one is told to stay home. One catches up on all the delinquent cleaning. One looks at the knitting sitting in piles in every room. It was time to take control of the WIPs. I made a list of all the WIPs, Walking through rooms, looking through baskets, into re-useable canvas shopping bags, even a plastic storage bin. I found 19 WIPs in various stages. Even I was a bit surprised.

before the ends were woven in

Yes, I will start projects and then lay it aside to knit something that catches my eye. Look at the Toph hat I have been wearing all winter. I knit that hat in a few evenings. Then I remembered the Orfeo Hat. That hat was going to be my winter hat. (see post from November 1, 2019). The Orfeo Hat was easily found, nicely gathered in a lovely zippered project bag and the bag was sitting on top of the color chart, all nicely labeled on a magnetic pattern holder.  And that was the problem, the color chart. I love knitting corrugated rib. It is fun and easy to knit. But you can only do so much corrugated ribbing. The color pattern began and my interest dropped in direct proportion. The project bag with the Orfeo Hat was neatly placed on a shelf and I knit Toph with gusto. Toph is also color knitting but it is a totally different type of color knitting.

Toph, designed by Woolly Wormhead is knit flat in segments and is all about short rows. I love short rows. I like short rows so much that I teach classes about knitting with short rows. Short rows are fun and fascinating and Toph fit into my idea of fun knitting. The fact that it also used two colors did not even faze me. I used Bohemian Gothic in Jekyll and Dorian. Technically, the pattern calls for DK wool but my gauge using the worsted weight Bohemian Gothic was not that wide from the required gauge. I adapted by knitting the smaller size. I also adjusted the fit by knitting one less wedge then called for in the pattern. This is my favorite hat ever. It is warm and stylish and I wear it everywhere.

progress on April 10

Ah, the Orfeo Hat? In this time of “safer at home”, I have made an effort. I am becoming more adept at color knitting. I am discovering the fun of seeing the pattern gradually appear. While I am progressing, let’s be honest, I won’t be wearing this hat until next winter.

Baby Bandit -machine washable BSJ

When the Baby Bandit arrived I had to cast on for a Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ). The BSJ is one of the few patterns that I have knit more then once. I have done this pattern at least five times. I love the way the BSJ does not look like a sweater when one is doing the knitting.

The BSJ is a series of increases and decreases at marked points. This makes it good travel knitting, one can shove it in a bag and pick it up at any point, look at the markers and continue knitting.

BSJ, finished except for choosing the buttons

It is only after you flip the bottom edge and make the fold that creates the sleeve, that one sees that this is a wearable piece of knitting.

What I also love about the BSJ is that it is proportional. You can follow the exact same pattern but use a different yarn (baby, sock, sport, worsted) with a needle appropriate for that yarn and you will obtain the same knitted object, exactly proportioned but in a different size, the perfect pattern to test a new yarn.

I did my latest BSJ with Baby Bandit in the color Frolic (think bright green) using a 3 mm needle. I used a 32” circular because I like using a circular needle to accommodate all the stitches. One could also use a long straight needle. I made no changes to the pattern. I used an i-cord bind off. Did an invisible seam and then continued the i-cord along the neckline for a smooth, continuous i-cord edge. I placed my buttonholes on the left side and the buttons will be on the right.

Baby Bandit is a 50g ball, 178m; the BSJ used 70g of luscious machine washable merino wool. Looking at the finished BSJ, I could easily have done up to a 3.25 mm needle. I admit I did not do a swatch. A slightly larger needle would have produced a slightly drapier BSJ. However, I just may do a matching hat and socks.   I am going to put the BSJ through the washing machine cycle to see how Baby Bandit stands up to machine washing. Stay Tuned.

finishing and necklines

first attempt at neckline, a few rows of garter stitch

The red and white striped sweater is finished, except for the final fitting session. The last task on this sweater pattern was to pick up stitches around the neck and work three rows of garter stitch. I did this. It did not look neat. So I took a photo, for comparison purposes, pulled all the knitting out and contemplated the sweater. I believe the purpose of the three rows of garter stitch at the neckline was to connect the neckline visually with the garter stitch border at the bottom edge of the sweater. I thought that a rolled edge, with the knitting rolling to the “right” side of the sweater, so the purl side was visible would be visually similar to the the bottom of the sweater, providing continuity of design. I began by picking up the stitches around the neck, beginning at the back of the neck. I was more interested in picking up stitches evenly and not allowing any small gaps then in picking up the exact number of stitches noted in the pattern. I ended up with slightly more stitches. I worked six rows of stockinette and bound off using a stretchy bind off. I am very happy with the result. But will reserve final opinion until I see the sweater on a body. Hopefully, the neckline will lay flat and drape as intended.

final neckline, six rows of knitting, creating a rolled edge, simple and neat

Seaming and the excitement of Startitis

Wires and pins and a considerable amount of time, but the result is worth it

The famous red and white striped sweater has been blocked. When knitting sweaters the instructions will usually say seam and then block to measurements in schematic. If I think blocking will make it easier to seam, I block first. This sweater was a combination of knitting in pieces (front and back were knit flat) but the sleeve stitches were picked up from the seamed front and back. Once both of the sleeves were knit I could lay the sweater out flat and block it easily. Blocking made it much easier to seam the sleeves and the sides. Once all the seams are done and ends woven in, all that remains is to pick up the stitches at the neck and work a few rows to polish the neckline. Why have I not yet finsihed the neckline? Because this new yarn arrived. Bright colors, machine washable baby yarn and I just had to try it out. It was almost a compulsion. What better way to test a new baby yarn then to knit a Baby Surprize Jacket (BSJ)? Soft yarn, intriguing pattern, OK, I have knit the BSJ previously, but the result always amazes me. Stay tuned.

BSJ in Baby Bandit, color is Frolic, a bright green, the computer monitor does not due it justice

The never ending sleeve

Bohemia sport in carnivale and parchment.

Sweaters take time. No matter how you do it, top down or bottom up. Sweaters are large swaths of knitting. And at some point you end up knitting 12 or more inches of the same thing. This is a cropped sweater, super easy. Knit the back, knit the front and sew the shoulder seam. Pick up stitches and knit the sleeves. Sleeves, long sleeves are 19 inches of the same thing. I like stripes and it does mean one must focus so that all the stripes are the same. At least three times I have had to frog back a row because I was more focused on the movie than the knitting and the red stripe was suddenly three rows wide instead of two rows. The second sleeve has seemed to go on for infinity. I think it looks long enough and when I compare it to the first sleeve I am only half way done. I knit for hours and I still have several inches left to knit, a knitting condundrum. I have compared to the first sleeve, I have counted stripes and I have measured. There are still 4.5 inches of sleeve that must be knit.

Snow on Halloween!

The Orfeo Hat, beginning stage, before winter arrives.

There was snow on Halloween in Wisconsin. That blew me away. OK, so maybe I am in denial about being on the cusp of winter. I am still in autumn. Halloween is supposed to be crisp cold air and crisp, crackling leaves under foot. Halloween is not supposed to be four inches of wet snow. I had to shovel a path for the perspective trick or treaters. My jack o’ lanterns were not scarily lurking in the grass. The jack o’ lanterns were plopped in the snow. I had to brush snow off the jack o’ lanterns, scoop the snow away from the eye sockets and toothy grins. The only advantage was one did not have to worry about the candles being too hot and burning the pumpkin, pumpkin isolated in snow. Like I said, snow on Halloween was just too much for me.

I have been knitting myself a new hat for winter. And of course, winter cannot arrive before the hat is finished. The hat is way cool, a color work design that begins with corrugated ribbing and flows into curls and twists. The Orfeo Hat is the perfect design (link to pattern) for Bohemia Sport, which cries out to be used in color work. There are 24 colors of Bohemia Sport, do not let the pattern decide your color choices. Be bold. I chose Arsenic for the background and Tiffin for the fancy work. It is bold. However, I only have the ribbing and nine rows complete. So clearly the snow on Halloween is an aberration. It will take me at least two weeks to finish this hat.

Winter cannot arrive until the hat is finished.

Simple, Quick and Warm

Thanks to F. for being a willing model for wool on a very warm September afternoon!

It is cold in the Midwest. I love to knit lacy shawls but sometimes one needs a bit more warmth. A simple small shawl that is knit for warmth is versatile. One can drop it over the shoulders or wrap it artfully around ones neck to hold the cold at bay. I don’t like to be cold and I have found that if I wear a warm scarf, the rest of me is warm and content.

Small shawls do not have to be lacy and complicated. I like to have a simple knit on hand. The type of knitted object that one can do with less then half your attention while watching a great movie. The shawl in the photo was knit in garter stitch, beginning with a cast on of three stitches. Then one increases one stitch at the beginning of row and increases two stitches at the end of the row. Knit a plain row and repeat until you run out of yarn. I used two skeins of the DK Merino in the color Amaranth to obtain the size I wanted. It is warm and cozy, ready for the coming Autumn weather.

perfect knitting weather

The weather is finally sliding towards cooler days. Yesterday may have been the official beginning of Autumn, but the week prior was sunny days followed by muggy heat with overcast skies. This afternoon there have been a few rare gleams of sunlight between heavy clouds and nearly continual rain. It is Sunday afternoon and perfect knitting weather. I have been working on a simple striped sweater using Bohemia Sport. I chose parchment for the main color and the deep red of carnival for the stripes. I have finished the back and am now well in to knitting the front.

Bohemia Sport, parchment and carnival, sweater back, complete!

Stitches Midwest

Large venue, lots of vendors.

Talked to lots of lovely people who like yarn.

The best part was seeing all the beautiful hand knits the lovely people were wearing.

Out Booth at Stitches Midwest

Preparing for Stitches

You may have seen us at the Iowa Sheep and Wool Show.

Now we are gearing up for Stitches Midwest, our first outing to a very big show. It is so exciting!

Stitches takes place in the Chicago area at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, Illinois. The dates are August 1 - 4, 2019

You will find Hancock Yarns in booth 918. We will have our usual mix of locally sourced yarn and luxury fibers sourced from Away.

Outlaw Yarns has created a unique blend of polwarth wool, alpaca and possum that one must touch and see to truly appreciate!. Gothic with its black alpaca fiber adds a new look to the traditional winter sweater.