I know it is fall. It is, after all, September 20. School has been in session for for a few weeks. I am seeing the light of the end of the tunnel that is the beginning of fall-term rush. That has meant I have been teaching til at least 8 pm 3 nights a week for the past two weeks, while starting the day with meetings at 9 am. An honest confession: the meetings wipe me out, the teaching energizes me. So the days are long and cranky, but I go home energized and happy. So once I get home, I have been knitting. And unknitting. And knitting. And unknitting. The sock pattern I love and have done before has been kicking my butt. For some reason I kept getting it wrong, having to rip back, and doing that again and again. It finally occurred to me to, um, check with the pattern. Sure enough, I was trying to do the pattern wrong when it finally was supposed to be worked all around the leg of the sock. On the wrong number of stitches. I finally got that straightened out, ripped out a few more rows, and have finally gotten myself back on track. So here is the current state of the latest pair of Nanner socks:
Assuming I do not inexplicably forget how to knit these 5 rows again, I should see some pretty quick development of the leg of these socks. As you can see, I work on one for a while, then on the other, so that I end up finishing both socks pretty much at the same time. It is important to avoid any possibility of Second Sock Syndrome, and this has worked pretty well for me over the years.
I am also eager to finish these because I want to cast on for a cardigan. Yes, it is obvious from my Ravelry projects page that I finish small projects like socks but have a dismal record of not finishing larger sweater patterns. But I really really want to try some of these projects. Top down, so I will have no sewing together to do at all. In lovely yarns, a few of which have actually been in the yarn closet for a while. I REALLY REALLY want to cast on for the first one, but am trying to experiment with discipline (what a concept!) and finish the socks first. Because I do NOT go back and forth between projects, so if I put one down to start another, it is doomed. DOOMED, I say. So I am going to push to finish the Nanner socks.
I did take a break from the socks to do some spinning. Some spindling actually, on a project that I have been working on forever. I bought a LOT of this fiber, a long time ago (I could look back on this blog to see when, but I really don't want to know. But stupid Flickr just told me I uploaded a photo of it in December 2010.)
This lovely stuff is merino, and I have been spinning a very light thread on light spindles. See?
But the next step is a challenge. Because you have to get the yarn you have spun off the spindle. And I want to ply it. In fact, I was thinking of trying a three-ply yarn -- taking three strands of this yarn, and spinning them together in the other direction. The challenge is getting the single strands off these spindles, and on to another all spun together.
One way people do it, that I have been wanting to try, is to use plying balls. You take the singles off the spindles by winding them into balls, usually around a core of some kind: a little felt ball, or a tennis ball, or a little ball of left-over yarn. That keeps the tightly spun single from spiralling into a tragic mess. When I was shopping the other day, I found, in the pet aisle, some teeny tiny tennis balls, apparently being marketed so that people can play fetch with teeny tiny dogs.
So I began winding off two of the spindles, and have two small balls now wound with the singles. I am going to continue to spin on the spindle I think works best for this project. I still have a lot of fiber left to spin, but at some point I will start to play with plying what I've got. I have two choices. I can put the wound balls in a bowl, pick up a spindle, and -- spinning the spindle in the opposite direction than I have done so far -- ply three strands together. Spinning the spindle counterclockwise instead of clockwise is kind of like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time, but it is certainly do-able, and I have plied small amounts of yarn that way before. A lot of dedicated drop-spindle spinners though, do not like plying on spindles. So I could also put the balls into a bowl, and ply the strands on a spinning wheel. It would be faster, but I am not sure speed is the point. So I will try a drop spindle first, and see how I like it.
Next week, I think, the 2-dimensional design class starts at the Southwest School of Art. I will be there Wednesday nights. An important goal for me right now is to keep the creative energy alive around here.
Rob, I love the spinning! I didn't know you did that. And I'm sensing a theme with your colors - do you tend to work with similar colors for a while? I know I do! I plan to read your blog back a few years to check out all of your projects. And yes, discipline will help you finish a cardigan! I made a shrug for my friend (largest thing I've ever done that could be worn) and now I'm excited to try more clothing!
Posted by: Kawanna | September 21, 2012 at 08:24 PM