Another Question to Explore

I've been spinning up the merino/silk and alpaca/silk roving that I purchased at Pennsic this year. I love them both, and I am looking forward to having enough yarn spun to make something beautiful. Which got me thinking.

I am using my "moosie," a modern top whorl, rim-weighted spindle (made of moose antler) to spin this yarn. I fill the shaft with as much yarn as will comfortably fit without reducing the efficiency of my spinning - about 155 meters. I am spinning at 10 wraps/cm, the optimum size for this spindle. I will knit with this yarn.

Here is what I have spun so far. The spindle is full and ready to be plied. While it may look like there is more room on the spindle, at this point the weight is such that it is difficult to keep a consistent thread size (81 g vs 36 g when empty), and if winding the cop is not done carefully, the thread tends to slip while spinning.

If I were spinning with one of my Ribe reproduction spindles (a lighter weight and longer shaft), how many meters would comfortably fit on the spindle? Assuming I will spin to weave, how many spindles-ful will I need to make a useful piece of cloth, say .5 meter x 5 meters with a sett of 10/12 ends/cm? (Two spindles-ful from the moosie would make a piece approximately 10 cm x 20 cm.) And while I am at it, how long will it take me to spin that much?

a mini vacation

I was lucky enough to go to Cape Cod for the long Labor Day weekend to celebrate my birthday. As always, it was very relaxing. It was especially nice because my son cooked the birthday dinner - a wonderful barbecue.

Here is a picture of the dunes at Sandwich, one of my favorite places:

Global warming is changing this beach. Much of the dunes have eroded away. It used to be that the marsh would only flood at exceptionally high tides. Now it is a regular occurrence. When we hiked in Brewster, we came across beach plums:

Aren't they beautiful? They taste just like big plums, but they are the size of cherries. They range in color from light pink to dark purple, all on the same plant.

And, just so you don't think I am ignoring my crafts, I bought a niddy-noddy in an antique store. Here it is with some alpaca/silk blend that I spun while we were there:

Some knitting projects

In between everything else this spring and summer, I have been knitting. I started with a simple shawl. It's just an over-sized rib pattern with a couple of stripes to add interest.

It kept me very warm on cold nights at War of the Roses and Pennsic this year.

Then I did a bit of sock knitting. I started with a pair for my husband. I liked the slip stitch pattern so much, I made another pair for me, then adapted the pattern for a hat, to use up the leftover yarn.

I can't wait for it to be cold enough to wear them.

I also knit a small shawl - more like a scarf. I'm waiting for fall weather to try it out.

Finally, I knit a swing coat. The row after row of stockinette was boring, so I am glad to be done (that was part of the reason for the rest of these projects - to give me something interesting to knit). I haven't blocked it yet, but I'm happy with how it turned out. The pattern called for a striped yarn, but I preferred a solid color, with just a bit of accent.

So, there you are. I have another pair of socks, and a summer sweater on the needles now. My plan is to finish the socks by Christmas and the sweater by spring. I've finally learned to knit my sweaters out of season so I can actually be finished when it is time top wear them.