Spin Soft

I took a look through the summer issue of Spin Off yesterday, and I was pretty impressed with it!  Two articles stood out - the first was an excellent article about making boucle yarns by Jacey Boggs.  If you're familiar with Jacey Boggs, you might expect felted eyeballs in every yarn she makes.  But all that talent makes gorgeous boucle, too!  Sadly, at my skill level, her yarns are just eye candy. (sorry)

The other, "Light and Smooth Yarns from Worsted Preparations," was a goldmine for me!  Reading that worsted spinning (the inchworm technique, my favorite) is supposed to create dense and heavy yarn has always saddened me.  Isn't there a happy medium where I can get smoothness and durability but keep it light?  This article has the answer and it led to this:

BFL in Petroglyph by Lisa Souza

Well, the difference is mainly in the feel.  You have to trust me on this.

The yarn is for this project, a design-on-the-fly shawl I will eventually finish.  (It helps that I've finished all the spinning for it!)

All the same colorway, honest!  The top section and two balls are merino, the rest is BFL.

And the new skein compared to the others?  Much lighter, with a very pleasant squish.
~~~
I "attended" a webinar on how to build the perfect Yelp business listing.  If you're not familiar with Yelp, it's review site that I use to find new restaurants, stores, doctors, everything.  I actually didn't change anything on our profile, though - what do you think?

Llama Llama Knit on Yelp

We're always striving to improve. :)

On the finishing side

I worked out the mitten thing. Ripping back to top of the first mitten and finishing them both with blue made a passable pair.

I ended up with four pairs! (I'm pretty happy about that.) These are going off to Afghanistan today.



Next up for finishing is a lace cowl from my handspun.


This was from this fiber.



It's 50/50 merino and tencel from Tactile, and I have to say that I loved spinning, love knitting with it, and I'm going to love wearing it. (Psst - we'll be carrying this fiber blend soon!)

I met with Maia and Brooke from Tactile last week. Let me tell you, these ladies are awesome. I could explain how they are knowledgeable but make you feel comfortable, or how they have a great sense of humor, but I'm hoping that you'll get to meet them sometime at LLK!

And for another topic change:

We're doing a charity knit- and crochet-a-long! We talked to Homeward Bound of Marin, which helps Marin County folks transition from homelessness to financial independence, and they could use some warm hats and scarves. Adult and children's sizes are needed and unisex items are useful! All items can be dropped off at Llama Llama Knit before December 19th.

To kick it off, we're offering 15% off yarn purchased to make these items! (Stay tuned; there will be more!)

I'll be keeping updates here as well as on Ravelry.

Denial

There is a difference between hope and denial. I went from "hoping" that I'd have enough yarn to finish these child-size mittens to completely denying the fact that I wouldn't. And here I am, with FIVE ROWS LEFT and no more yarn. ARG! I did a crazy thing and decided to rip out the thumb of mitten #1, thinking that I could use a contrast color for the thumb and get away with it, if I could finish the hand in one color. HA!


I even managed to lose one of my double-pointed needles for a while. I suppose the fact that it was IN MY SLEEVE is proof that I've lost my mind.

This is why I make faces like the one in my avatar.

Big Ol' Bobbin-full

I finished spinning and plying my PRS merino/soysilk, and I have to say that love it.

160 yds/116 grams
DK (11 wpi)
chain-plied

Check out the fat bobbin!


I chose to chain ply it, for a couple of reasons.
- Triple ply yarns (and their imitators) have a more satisfying look and squish, in my opinion, than two-ply yarns
- Pigeonroof colorways look amazing when the sequence is preserved, as in chain plying

See my swatches, here?


These are my socks. They're knit with a traditional two-ply.


This is a swatch from the chain plying I did with the singles left on my bobbin. Don't the colors look much less diffused this way? I want to spin up a whole bunch of PRS yarn like this, but I can't lie - I love the way it turns out both ways.

One of these days I may be able to get another 4 oz. of the Harlequin or Marigold or Harvest colorways in BFL or merino before they're all sold out! (arg!)

S-U-P-E-R

Pigeonroof merino/soysilk in Bitter Orange

Alec decided to play "Super Sprode" by Freezepop when I began to spin this morning. Oddly, it was excellent spinning music! Perhaps it reminded my synapses function at Rock Band levels.

I've been spinning fiber from Pigeonroof Studios (or, as someone put it, "that lady you've been stalking") and it's wonderful. It's always a little bit of a surprise to see how a fiber will spin up, and this one's much darker than I thought it would be.





Oh, did you notice? I keep A Fine Fleece nearby for inspiration.

This book is lovely. Every pattern has a description and a model of both the handspun and commercial yarns used. I may have to go over my recent and zealous book acquisitions in a separate post soon.

My knitting will remain photo-less, for now. I'm finishing up my gift knitting, and I don't want any spoilers.