Terminal And Main - Cowl and Hat Pattern

Today I have released my first paid pattern: Terminal and Main, a pattern for a slouchy hat or cowl.

From the pattern notes:

"This pattern is designed to finesse our intermediate knitting skills while creating a fun and funky cowl or hat. By the time this project is completed, the knitter will be well-practised in multiple varieties of increases and decreases, working in the round, and creating textured patterns involving simple lace and seed stitch. This pattern can be easily adjusted as well; with a little math, it can be made larger or smaller, or completed with a different weight of yarn."

This pattern can be made larger or smaller by adjusting the amount of stitches cast on in multiples of 4 or knit in a different weight of yarn.

This is the pattern I teach how to complete in my Knitting 202: Beyond the Scarf class at Bird On A Wire! Want to learn in person? Check out more info on here.

This pattern can be purchased here for a special introductory price of $2.99 (Canadian) until March 31st 2013. As of April 1st, it will be available for $4.99, so scoop up your copy soon!

And please check out my other patterns in my Ravelry Pattern Store.

Hope you enjoy!

Cheers!
-Grace

Happier Than A Pig In... Pink!

This weekend I tried dyeing some yarn! I have had a little experience with acid dyes under the instruction of my good friend Jo Anne, and I have been craving to give it another go for a while now. So last week, I bought some acid dyes from Maiwa on Granville Island and started to play with some different hand-painting techniques. I have only cracked open one colour so far - but even playing with different dilutions of a single shade has provided me with lots of inspiration and experimentation!

I tested out a few different strengths of one shade of fuchsia - just by adding more water, I got paler shades of pink.

Than I hand-painted two skeins to try to achieve a "tonal" look. The first skein is purposely lighter than the other.

I was fairly happy with the lighter skein, but I thought the colours in the darker skein were too broken up. So the next day, I decided to try to over-dye both skeins in a diluted shade of fuchsia to see if I could even out the colours a little.

The bottom skein in the above photo is my first/lighter skein and top skein is my second/darker skein.  I was VERY happy with how the first skein turned out. I think the second skein is now a little too dark overall and is still has too much contrast between shades.

So just for kicks, I dyed a third skein, with a different technique to try to get the subtle colour shifts I was looking for. I wanted just a little bit of variation, so the yarn would look like a solid colour from a distance but still have a little bit of contrast to add some interest.  I believe I had success with this third skein! (Featured on the bottom of the photo below.)

I knitted up a little bit of each skein to see what the swatches would look like! In conclusion, I was equally happy with the results from skeins 1 and 3, but the third skein required less steps and gave me a more consistent look overall. If I was going to recreate a slightly-tonal yarn again, I would use the same procedure I tried on the third skein. I took photos of the swatches, but the photo for my second skein turned out HORRIBLE, and I frogged it before I checked it properly on the computer - my bad! So I apologize for the crappy comparison photos below! In order, they feature skeins 1, 2 and 3:

I can't wait to try out some more dying! Next, I want to create a lighter tonal pink yarn, then start to play with some purple.. I'm going to work my way around that colour wheel :D

Cheers!
-Grace

March/April Skill Stretch: Spinning The Goat

This skill is going to take a lonnnng time to stretch.

This goal actually combines a few different skills; conquering a new drafting method, spinning a new type of fibre, and spinning enough for a SWEATER, which I have never done before.

Last month, I started preparing fibre from a mountain goat hide to spin. If you missed that post, you can check it out here.

This month, I am going to start spinning the resulting fibre. Slowllllllly over the last few weeks I picked out all the guards hairs from my collected fibre.  It was an intense project. I set up a nice station in my living room, watched the second season of House, and ended up with 46.4 delicious ounces of baby-fine goat hair. Now, does this count as cashmere?!

I practised spinning some cotton to 'warm up" for the project. The cotton had a very short staple length, so it was tough to get used to! Below is a photo of the cotton (with a pencil for scale):

Then I moved on to a small sample of mountain goat hair. I found that using a short forward draw felt like the most comfortable drafting method for me (I let the twist enter the web between my drafting and supply hands, but I did not move my supply hand backwards. I fed the twisted fibre into my wheel once I had allowed enough twist into the space between my hands). One day I will learn a proper long draw, but the fibre feels "right" when I draft it this way, and I am able to get the control and diameter I want. If I am going to spinning 40-odd ounces of this stuff, I might as well do it the way I feel the most comfortable, right!??!

I chain-plied my resulting test, and this is what my final yarn looked like:

This three ply sample is a wee bit thinner than sock yarn, but very fluffy. I was worried it might be too thin to knit a sweater from without going crazy, but when I compared it to the merino-silk yarn I used for this sweater, I found the diameter of the yarn was roughly the same. And that's one of my favourite sweaters to wear.

In conclusion - I am sure it's going to take me longer than a month to spin all that fibre. But that's ok - I think I am covering at least 3 skills with this goal, so if it takes some extra time, I am still stretching myself!

I will update as I go... there is now a list on the right side of my blog that is going to "count down" the amount of ounces of fibre I have left to spin! And I will post photos when I have them too.

Cheers!
-Grace

February Skill Stretch: Over The Fold COMPLETED!

Just in the nick of time... I have completed my skill stretching goals for February and I am ready to share the results!

TEST ONE

My first test was to spin this lovely tourmaline merino/silk/bamboo blend from SweetGeorgia.

First, I spun a teeny little worsted sample so I could compare my results. Then I spun the rest of the bump from the fold (yes, I spin in my pyjamas).

The Results:

On the left is the worsted sample. On the right is the 'from the fold' sample. Interestingly enough, after washing and drying, the worsted sample is pumper and softer...? I think I just simply might spin thinner than I think when I am drafting from the fold.  Also, the yarn feels a little bit more 'scruffy', but that makes sense considering the fibres are more bent and twisted than my worsted version.
In conclusion: next time, I don't think I would bother spinning this fibre from the fold, unless I wish to control the colour differently. I like the look of the worsted yarn, and it was easier to both spin and prepare.

If you would like to see more information on the finished skein, check out its Ravelry page in my stash.

TEST TWO

Next up - the blue multicoloured mystery!

UPDATE - actually, not so much of a mystery anymore! My friend Anita has told me she has the same fibre in her stash, and it is Northern Lights!

I did two samples of this skein as well - one small skein of worsted, and one larger skein of 'from the fold'. I purposely wanted to see the difference in colour that results from using these two drafting methods.

Here is a photo of one of the worsted-spun singles - you can see the long colour repeats I was able to achieve by simply spinning this roving as presented:

Then I spun my remaining fibre over the fold.  You can see how short the colour repeats became. The resulting single looks almost marled; the colours are much more blended together!

Once plied, the resulting yarns don't look TOO different... but I am sure once I get to swatch them up, I will see much bigger and longer colour repeats in my worsted yarn than from my 'from the fold' yarn.

The Results:

On the right is my worsted sample. On the left is my 'from the fold' sample.  Again, the 'from the fold' yarn is thinner and courser. But the colours in that sample are much more broken-up and dappled. I believe when I swatch these yarns I will discover that sample has more of a 'tweed' look to it.

If you would like to see more information on the finished skeins, check out the link to its Ravelry page in my stash.

TEST THREE

Finally, I tried to spin a batt from the fold. I also decided to leave this yarn as a single, just to test out my "mad single-makin' skillz".

I unrolled the batt, pulled out staple length chunks, and folded them over my finger before I spun them.

The Results:

A little more kinky and thinner than I thought! But still a LOVELY yarn - I think I might combine it with one of January's singles to create a nice sparkly scarf.

If you would like to see more information on the finished skein, check out the link to its Ravelry page in my stash.

So what do I have next in store for my spinning wheel?! Come back next month to find out! ;)
Cheers!
-Grace

Science Day!

A couple weekends ago, my husband and I hosted a SCIENCE DAY with a couple of friends of ours - a day where we collect samples, look through microscopes, and bake Pillsbury cookies.

Meet some of my fellow scientists (in order of appearance): Cameron Husbandman, David, Biren, Eva, Magnum (Jenn was camera-shy).

So what did SCIENCE DAY have to do with fibre you may ask? Well, I asked Cameron to put some samples of my fibre stash under the microscope and take some photos! I did it on hopes of discovering what some of my mystery fibre was. Even though I never came to a good conclusion, it was still pretty neat to see the final images!

Behold: Alpaca and Silk:

Bamboo:

Cashmere:

 Flax:

Human (aka Eva. No, I guess this one wasn't from my stash...)

Milk:

Mountain Goat:

 Silk:

 Wool (BLF):

 Of course, other science was done too... we looked at pond water under the microscopes!

We also ran an experiment where we separated water into it's gas components, and filled up a "balloon"... well, we couldn't find any balloons, but we found something else that worked just as well for our purposes.

All was fun and good, I sure can't wait to have another SCIENCE DAY! We're already brainstorming new experiments, and I have cookies in the freezer...

Cheers!
-Grace