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Location: lake placid, florida

Sunday, May 14, 2006

spinning and knitting, whoot!

you got your spinning, you got your knitting, all right here folks!

trying to clean up the guest stash room, i came across a bit of roving that sandy sitzman had tied around the crisp spinning wheel no longer being made i bought from her (sorry linda d, i still love it).


decided to spin it 3 ply, so i divided the roving into 3 lengths, then split them so i had 30 splits, hoping to mix up the colors.

spun it up on the reeves norwegian that i picked up at madrona, thanks denise:-)

this wheel spins like butter, that rick reeves is a master! too bad he isn't making wheels any longer.

then plied the 3 bobbins, first i started using a reeves lazy kate, but it has no tension, gah! switched the bobbins onto a jensen kate, MUCH better! with no tension, those thin plies were worming back all over themselves, not a good thing.


wound the yarn off onto the niddy noddy, gave it yarn a nice lavender shampoo and conditioning, dried it on the fancy skein dryer, and have about 132 yds of fairly thin yarn, somewhere between a laceweight and fingering.

now to add it to the shrine of handspun yarns ;-)


just the other day i saw telling jessica that i find myself knitting more and more plain vanilla stockinette socks, and she was saying it's all about the patterns for her. well i must change my mind. have had my eye on the eleanora de toreno socks for a while, but i knew they would be too large for my skinny legs. til i got some of lisa s' sock! the old batch was thinner than the new sock! and i managed to snag some of the old skeins, this one is celadon. even with the thin yarn, and size 0 needles used throughout, i still had to modify the pattern with more decreases, but i LOVE this pattern, especially the toe decreases, so well written, and i love the historical background of eleanora and her stockings :-) thanks miriam for a wonderful pattern!

the pattern is written top down, with a turned down edge, so you start with a provisional cast on, then pick up the stitches and knit them one together with the working stitches. sorry if some of the photos aren't too clear, my camera is oldish!







thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers for my son :-)

17 Comments:

Blogger Jessica said...

Beautiful socks. Damn you knit fast. Celadon is one of my favorite colors.

3:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those socks are beautiful and in the perfect springtime color!

I'll also keep your son in my thoughts and prayers.

6:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i am quite sure that the end of may will be coming way too soon and the six months after that will turn way too slowly. great spinning, great socks, looks like it were a perfect day

10:22 PM  
Blogger Miriam said...

They look GREAT! I'm glad you liked the pattern :)

10:47 AM  
Blogger Vicki said...

Great choice of yarn/pattern--it nicely plays up the subtle variation of the nearly solid yarn. Beautiful handspun (as always!).

12:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, those socks came out so well. Beautiful! And the yarn looks wonderful too, gorgeous colors.

1:05 PM  
Blogger Angela said...

Hmmmm, so the Reeves bobbins fit on a Jensen kate hmmmm? Nice roving and nicer yarn - Anklets with contrasting heels and toes?

3:24 PM  
Blogger jenknits said...

ZIP! I blinked and bam - you finished another pair of socks! WAHOO! They sure are gorgeous!

6:11 PM  
Blogger Spinny Bunt said...

Love the colours of the handspun. What are you going to use it for? The socks are awesome. Jean still laughs at me. I'm doing another hood.

8:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your socks are awesome! I'm knitting them now and hope they won't be too big, but since I'm short with "shapely" calves that probably won't be a problem. I may shorten them by a repeat too.

2:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lovely socks! I agree that Lisa S's stuff rocks.

Hmmmm...interesting spinning story. Very different in the plyed version, I'm curious to see the swatch that results.

4:26 PM  
Blogger Annie said...

How many wheels do you have, girl?!? ;)
I'm amazed at how quickly you can knit a pair of socks. They're beautiful!

6:55 PM  
Blogger LadyV said...

Oooooh I'm lovin the norwegian wheel! I've been waiting on one from Winsome Timbers for a while now.

The socks look great! Fabulous spinning too!

Will definitely Keep your son in our prayers.

5:49 PM  
Blogger sillyewe said...

Wow! Those socks look fantabulous in that color. I may have to purchase that pattern. Really lovely job. And that spinning is great. :0) Good luck to your son!

6:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There must be a spot somewhere for the most prolific knitter on the planet, Vanessa. I will look it up in a book and see some blonde chick. The socks are fabulous, seriously.

Sending another swirl of white light around your son.

7:09 PM  
Blogger DeeAnn said...

Those socks are great! You did a really wonderful job with just the right yarn for it - shows off all the stich work just beautifully. They look fun to knit too :)

Many wishes for a very safe journey for your son.

8:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi again, I was looking thru your archives as June O. told me that you had a Crisp Wheel. I just won an ebay auction for the same wheel for a steal and I was wondering how you liked your wheel.

Thanks!
Kim

10:26 PM  

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