Continuing Right Along

Despite the new yarn arriving for my next sample sweater, I managed to finish the yoke of my Icelandic sweater after all.  I swatched for the new sweater and then while I was waiting for those swatches to dry, I quick knit up to the neck of my own sweater.

It seemed like a pretty reasonable stopping point now that the stranded work is done.  What's left now is to knit the neckband, cut the thing open, add a zipper and weave in the ends.  In short, the finishing.  I also consider this a decent point to stop because I don't yet know what I want to do with the neckline.  The directions in the pattern leave something to be desired and I think I'm going to have to play around a bit.  Due to the patterning on the yoke, there was no simple way to add short rows in the back to raise the neckline, so I may try to do some of that in the collar.  It's still to be determine, so I'll mull that over as I work on this next sample.

The sample, though I can't show you, is cruising right along.  Despite it being for a 44" chest, I'm about 1/3 of the way through.  Unemployment does have it's benefits, doesn't it?  I've also been zipping through audiobooks like candy and it seems to keep the knitting moving along.

When I looked out into my backyard this morning, I saw this little guy snoozing on my sidewalk.

I think the bunnies feel safe in my backyard because it's fenced in and for years nobody has really gone back there other than to mow the lawn.  This was my grandfather's house and at 93 with his memory failing, the time came for him to be moved into a nursing home where he'll have people looking after him more closely.  Now I'm living in the house as we clean it out and getting it ready for sale.  The bunnies have free reign of the backyard, but now that I've fixed up the garden space by the garage (I'm sure it hasn't been used in at least a decade.  There was quite a bit of work to get it ready), I've had to make it clear that no bunny is allowed in that space.  Apparently now they just sleep next to it.  I can't blame them, though, it's quite peaceful back there.  (And I have a habit of feeding them lettuce...  how's that for mixed signals?)

Mostly Alpacas

I thought you would all enjoy a few more pictures from the alpaca farm.  Babies are arriving almost every day and it is a very exciting time at the farm.

The last time I was down at the farm (on Sunday), there were nine babies and I know that at least one more has arrived since then.  Each one really has its own personality!

That little black one is the smallest of the group, but he's quite a handful.  He's like the little dog who isn't aware of his size and challenges every German Shepherd that walks past.

We call him Oh, Henry! because he is such a handful (his mother is named Skittles and that lineage is all candy bars).  That won't be his documented name, however, because his mother had previously been sold and the new owner will have to choose a name for this little guy.

You can tell these babies have a lot of energy and they are so much fun to watch!  They have the same carefree nature as human children and I admit it's very entertaining to watch them stumble around as they get used to running, prancing, and playing.

That little brown girl is such a beauty and I'm sure she'll be a show girl next year.  Just look at how curly her fleece is!  And aren't those eyes the most adorable things you've ever seen?  And just look at one of the most recent arrivals:

What a surprise!  The other babies are all pretty solidly colored - one white one has beige ears and a brown one has white legs - but none of the others have big splotches like this one!  I told the farmer that if he's not suitable for the show ring, I'd be happy to take him off her hands.  He comes from one of my favorite families, too - his mother's name is Symphonie.  (That family also has Melody, Harmony, Aria, Rhapsody, and probably some that I'm forgetting.)  I'm sure I have room in my back yard for him.

And here's Harvi, the friendliest guard llama you'll ever meet.

She loves to know what's going on at all times and it seems her favorite thing to do is to interrupt conversations by standing in between the two people talking.  All the alpacas know that she can protect them, though, so they have a habit of hiding behind her when they're unsure about anything in the field.

But like I said, she's just a sweetheart.

I really could spend all day every day at that farm.  I don't think I'll ever grow tired of it!

Shall we look at some knitting now?  I thought you'd like to see what my Mountain Peaks Shawl looks like now that it's blocked.

It really blocked nicely and has the perfect combination of drape and springiness.

And I think using handspun gave it a great amount of character, too.  Remind me to knit with my handspun more often!  I think I get into the habit of considering a skein of handspun to be finished once it is washed and dried, but I really need to follow through with the next step - knitting!

I'll have to save this one to give as a gift sometime in the future.  I'm sure I can find someone who'll love it.

And my Icelandic sweater is coming along nicely, too.  I was trying to knit it up as quickly as possible because I have some more sample knitting to do, but I didn't quite make it to the finish line.  The yarn for the next sample sweater arrived today and I still have much of the yoke to finish, so I'll have to set it aside for a bit, but I'm eager to see the finished product.

I tried it on today, though, and I really love the way it's fitting so far!  This is definitely in the running to become my favorite sweater, but I tend to think that about each new sweater I knit.  Only time will tell!

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US!  Don't do anything stupid with fireworks, mmmkay?

Lemonade, Figuratively Speaking

I always find it difficult to begin a blog post these days without apologizing or explaining why I have been away for so long.  In truth I don't enjoy being away for so long for a number of reasons.  The first is that I feel like I'm abandoning you guys.  Today's post is prompted by a simple message I received on Ravelry.  To paraphrase, it said "I read your blog", which was enough to make me feel guilty enough to update it.

The second reason I don't like blogging so infrequently is that I feel like there's no flow between posts.  I often knit quickly enough that if too much time lapses between posts, I'll be showing you entirely different projects in each one.  Something I personally like about other blogs is seeing the process of how something is created, which can't be achieved here unless I blog more often.  Or knit more slowly. And I'd rather not knit more slowly.

Blogging at the rate that I do also causes me to omit a great deal of information, ideas, and thoughts that I would love to share with you guys.  Believe it or not, there's usually something I want to share here on a near daily basis, but by the time I sit down to write a post, I have forgotten half of it, 40% seems obsolete, 5% is so belated that I don't bother sharing it, and the rest I try to cram into a single post, causing it all to be rather truncated and lacking my forgotten (rare) insights and even more rare witty remarks.  Case in point?  Alpaca shearing.  Alpaca shearing at the farm was several weeks ago now and I never told you about it.  At the time it was because I was tired after the 16 hours on the farm and I was quite emotionally distraught due to an incident near the end of shearing day and now it seems so long ago that I find myself thinking, "why bother?"  So instead, here's a picture of me at the shearing.  Imagine an entire post to go along with it, most of which would talk about how much fun I had.  We sheared 89 alpacas and 1 llama that day and I got the best job in that I, along with Tamara (next to me in the photo) got to sort the fleece as it came off the animal.  This means I got to roll around in touch the fleece of almost every single animal on the farm.  I missed a few due to the fact that I was forced to eat lunch.  It also means I got spit on and peed on all day long, but does it look like I cared?  I learned so much that day.

Since my last post, I've also celebrated the marriage of one of my very best friends (I played the bagpipes at her wedding), quit my job, and moved into a new house.  Because I like to lay blame on factors outside of my control, I'm going to say that part of the reason I haven't been blogging is because I, once again, do not have internet access at my new place.  Why?  Because I'm cheap and can't afford it.

So there you have it.  If you're annoyed by my less-than-frequent blog posts (and I know some of you are as I have seen reviews of my blog expressing such an opinion around the internet), be assured that I am right there with you.  As my brother and I say, "you can't do much about lemonade."  And no, that phrase doesn't make any more sense to us than it does to you, but I'm using it nonetheless.  It started when we were having lunch at a restaurant and there was a mix-up between raspberry lemonade and regular lemonade and blah blah blah Minnesota nice it wasn't worth making a fuss about... essentially it means, to us anyway, something like "it is what it is" or "just go with the flow."  (Full disclosure: the proper response to "you can't do much about lemonade" is "that's just what they say.")

Wow, I got way off track.  This is a knitting blog, isn't it?  Look here, I finished a shawl.

It's obviously not blocked yet, but I have a modicum of hope that once it is, it will look somewhat beautiful.  I see that I haven't talked about this shawl in two months, so as a refresher, the pattern is the Mountain Peaks Shawl by Miriam Felton and I'm using some of my handspun superwash BFL, the fiber for which was gifted to me by Anne over at Wooly Wonka Fibers.  I find this shawl particularly interesting because when indoors, the color (to my eyes) tends to read as some sort of light brown/beige/khaki/I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to color.  Only when the shawl is outside in natural light can you see those different colors, particularly the blue.  In fact, I didn't even notice how cool the edging looked until I took it outside to take a picture today.  I'm excited to block it now.

Because I seem to have a knack for tossing projects by the wayside as soon as I reach the finishing stage (and I have a vest, a sweater, this shawl, a pair of mittens, and a pair of fingerless gloves to prove this theory), I have already moved on to my next project.  This time it's a thick, warm sweater, because I can think of nothing more appropriate or comfortable to work on in this 90 degree heat than a sweater that will most likely be too warm for 362 days out of the year.

I have both sleeves finished, which I am considering rather exceptional considering I have only been working on this project for three days (and one of them was wedding day).  The pattern is Hlekkur by Védís Jónsdóttir and is my first venture into Icelandic patterns.  I've wanted an Icelandic sweater ever since I saw the first photo in this post by Franklin Habit (and yes, I did just scroll through the past two years of his blog entries to find it).  At one point I was just going to reproduce the one in that picture, but decided on a different pattern instead.  (As an aside, if you do want the sweater in that picture, it's not necessary to make up your own pattern for it.  It's right here.  Or at least the information about the pattern is.  I don't know how you would actually get your hands on it.)

Back to Hlekkur.  I liked the pattern both because of how well the white stood out from the background and because it inspired in me the idea that an Icelandic sweater doesn't need to be a pullover.  It can have a zipper if I want it to, and I want it to.  The only difference is that when I'm done knitting a pullover, I will cut it open.  Super simple.  The pattern isn't available on Ravelry, but you can find it over on Patternfish.  (It's free to make an account.)  Thanks go to Mel for finding a source for this pattern.  He also informed me that Hlekkur means "link", as in a part of a chain.  This makes sense considering the patterning around the yoke.

A note about yarn choice:

I think it's important to understand the qualities of a particular yarn or fiber when choosing the yarn for a project.  I am by no means an expert when it comes to Icelandic sweaters, but I do know that they are most often made with Lopi yarn.  From my understanding, this is a yarn spun from Icelandic sheep - makes sense.  Icelandic sheep have a double coat, meaning that there is a longer, coarser outer layer and a shorter, softer undercoat.  Lopi yarn contains both fibers spun together to create a singles yarn.  The long, coarse fibers provide strength against abrasion while the shorter fibers provide warmth and a bit of softness.  Take this knowledge of the fibers and combine it with the fact that Iceland is cold and the sheep come in a variety of natural colors and it isn't hard to imagine how the first colorwork yoke came into being in Iceland.  Colorwork shows off the beautiful array of natural shades and provides an extra layer of warmth against the bitter chills of winter.

All that being said, I am not using Lopi to knit my sweater.  I am using Cascade Soft Spun.  It is similar to the yarn called for in the pattern in that they are both loosely spun singles and I can get gauge with the Cascade yarn.  One big difference is that Peruvian Highland sheep (which provide the wool for the yarn I am using) is not a double-coated breed and therefore my yarn does not have coarse guard hairs that will stand up well to wear and tear.  What does this mean?  My sweater will not last as long as a traditional Lopapeysa.  My sweater will also most likely start pilling the minute I put it on, though a somewhat denser gauge may have the effect of staving this off a bit.  My sweater will also be softer, which is the tradeoff.  The important thing is that my yarn choice was a conscious, informed decision based on my understanding of the qualities of both the yarn called for in the pattern and the yarn I chose to substitute.  By knowing how each yarn behaves, I am able to predict the type of fabric that would result from knitting with them and decide which I prefer.  In this case I chose softness over longevity, even if it means my sweater won't be a true Lopapeysa.  You can't do much about lemonade.

Two Distinct Batches

A quick post today to show that I did, in fact, finish plying all of my sweater yarn.  In fact, I finished over two weeks ago but just now got around to taking some pictures.

I'm really happy with this second batch of yarn.  I call it my second batch because I spun and plied the first 24oz. almost a year ago and then did the remaining 12oz. this past month.  I hadn't really done any spinning in the intervening time, but I did spend some time reading books, scrolling through forums, and watching countless videos and my approach to spinning the final 12oz. was a bit different than the first batch.  I did want my new yarn to resemble the first batch as much as possible, but I think my singles were a little thinner (and definitely more even) and I took a more conscientious approach to my plying this time around.  I think that's the biggest change I made.  With the first 24oz., I put 2oz. of singles on each bobbin and then plied two bobbins together into a 4oz. skein.  This time I began the same way - with 2oz. on each of six bobbins - but when I got to plying I made sure to continually switch bobbins throughout each skein to make as even a yarn as possible.  All six bobbins of singles contributed to each skein of plied yarn which means that overall, the yarn is much more consistent.  I was also more deliberate in the amount of plying twist I was putting in to prevent having some spot overspun and some underspun.  All these changes reflect, I think, a more knowledgeable understanding of the qualities of fiber and yarn and how to manipulate these to get exactly the yarn that I want.  This is a shift from my previous approach to spinning, which was to essentially throw the fiber at the wheel and hope for the best.  I hope to continue spinning with a deliberate and thought out approach that will result not only in a yarn that I like, but in a yarn that I planned for and intentionally produced.  A much better approach, I think.

On the left is a skein from the new batch of yarn.  It's not as fuzzy looking, but it does look much more even and consistent, doesn't it?  The skein on the right has thick spots and thin spots and spots that don't have enough twist.  They're both useable, but now I have to come up with a plan that will allow me to use both yarns throughout a sweater without any jarring discrepancies that would come from changing skeins in the middle of the body.  I was thinking I could use the new yarn just for the ribbing on the body and sleeves and then again for the collar, but if I ran out of the first batch in the middle of the yoke or halfway through an arm, I'd be SOL.  What if I did set-in sleeves and used the first batch for the body and the second batch for the sleeves?  Would that look weird?  I don't think alternating skeins would be a good way to go because I would be afraid of having some strange corrugated effect happen.  I'll have to think more about this.  Any ideas?

I also have another experiment coming up with this yarn.  I took the last of my singles and plied up a small skein of 3-ply yarn and will do some comparative swatching to see which I like better.  I figure it's a good thing to know and interestingly enough, the 3-ply isn't any bulkier than the 2-ply.  I'll let you know how it goes!

On an unrelated note, alpaca shearing in five days!  I'll be at the big farm (did I mention that I don't just volunteer at the small, 4-alpaca farm?  The big one has 77) and am so excited for shearing day!  I predict I won't take any pictures, but I'll be sure to tell you guys all about it.

The Fox Way Boys

It's time to meet the gang from Fox Way Alpacas that I have had the pleasure to visit a few times over the past couple of weeks.  From left to right we have: Kane (Raising Kane), Simon (Simon Says), Turbo, and Aiden.

Turbo is the biggest of the bunch and acts as the leader of the pack.  He's always the one keeping a look out for danger and is usually the first one to greet a newcomer to his domain.

He's technically a beige alpaca because of the smudge on his forehead, but for all intents and purposes, his fleece is just as white as Kane's.

Kane tends to be the troublemaker and is definitely the most rambunctious of the group.  I have yet to have a great deal of trouble with him, but I hear he can throw a bit of a hissy fit.  When in the shelter, he likes to hunker down by the door so he can always see what's going on outside.

Simon is a bit skittish, but has a very lovable personality.  Perhaps I just view him as a fellow introvert and leave him be.  His fleece is a beautiful black and I love the streak of white on his forehead!

And lastly we have Aiden.  Aiden, obviously, is a brown alpaca and had a stint in the show ring before moving in with the other boys.  His dad is still a showpaca (I made that word up), so for the time being he'll be staying out of the circuit, but his fleece is quite beautiful.

All four of these boys are very gentle and are a joy to be around.  It's always fun to watch them run and jump around, roll on the ground, or most often in my case, do what they can to stay away from me.  Hopefully that changes soon!

I definitely think alpacas are man's other best friend.  Who said a person can only have one?

All photos in this post are taken, with permission, from the Fox Way Alpacas Facebook page.

The Deep End

Ever since I attended the MN Alpaca Expo on a whim a month ago, I have turned into a bit of an obsessed freak when it comes to my fiber interests, and so my mission began.  I wanted to become a more knowledgeable spinner and fiber fanatic (I can't really say "fiber artist", because I mostly tend to flail around like a novice) by learning more about sheep breeds and how best to used their wool.  I wanted to learn about how animals are raised, the different climates that various animals thrive in, how best to prepare certain fibers for spinning, what the best type of yarn is for a particular project, etc. ad nauseum.  In short, I want to become proficient in my understanding of natural fibers in a way that allows me to contribute to the continued success of this industry.

A few weeks ago I heard about an event in Minnesota called Shepherd's Harvest.  It's Minnesota's Rhinebeck and I immediately and passionately exclaimed (all over Ravelry) "I WILL BE THERE!!!"

...only to discover the next day that my work schedule wouldn't allow for that to happen.  I was so crushed!  I had only just learned that this event even existed and, really, hadn't invested an exorbitant amount of time imagining what it would be like, but I felt so sad.  Luckily, my coworkers are familiar with my wool obsession eccentricities and by the sixth hour of my constant lament of how sad I was that I would have to miss this event that only occurs once a year and allows farmers to connect with those who value and understand the hard work that they put into raising these sheep and other fiber animals, not to mention the teachers who travel from all over the country and the incredible amount of knowledge concentrated into one little space and how could I possibly live with myself if I didn't somehow participate by showing my support and appreciation and... and by that sixth hour, one of my coworkers finally caved and took my shift on Sunday.

And so it was that I attended my first ever sheep and wool festival, and boy, these things do not disappoint!  (Although, somehow I forgot to take a single picture.)  My one and only goal was to buy my first fleece.  I really wasn't interested in yarn or the rainbow of dyed fiber that was available (I'm technically on a yarn diet.  It started on May 1st.  I didn't tell you.  Fiber doesn't count.)  I did a buttload of research about sheep breeds and what kind of fleece would be best for the type of fiber preparation and spinning techniques I thought I might want to use to produce a certain type of yarn.  Armed with this knowledge, I wandered the booths looking for the perfect fleece.

On Saturday there was a fleece judging and silent auction which I was not able to attend because I had a symphony concert to play, and I was certain that every last fleece worth buying would have been snatched up that day.  I am so glad that I was wrong!  I felt confident in my ability to choose a fleece that was right for me based on what I had read and watched about how to pick a fleece, what to watch out for, and so on.  I saw some beautiful fleeces, but passed on them because they weren't a breed I was looking for, they were a bit too dirty for my first fleece, the staple length was too long, the fiber was too coarse, etc.  This whole time as I wandered from booth to booth I thought to myself, "Wow, Peter.  You're being really practical and systematic about how you're choosing a fleece.  I bet this is what it's like all the time."   ...and then I walked into the next booth and was immediately drawn to one of the fleeces on the table and as soon as I felt it, I felt a wave of inexplicable intoxication much like the way one might feel when they have their first taste of the best chocolate in the world, or the first juicy strawberry of spring, or sinking into a warm bath after a long day of work.  I lost all sense and knew that, regardless of any practical reasoning, this fleece was destined to be mine.

I know that this picture is quite disappointing because it doesn't begin to demonstrate the power that this fleece had over me.  The color in real life is rich and gorgeous, the fleece itself is full, soft, and so springy that it feels like a sponge when you press into it and just by sheer luck, it also happens to be exactly what I was looking for.  It's a 5.5lb CVM (California Variegated Mutant) fleece from Crosby Hill Farm and to make things even more spectacular, the sheep was coated which means that the fleece itself is incredibly clean and free of vegetable matter and other foreign objects.  This fleece is sure to provide me with YEARS of spinning pleasure and I can't wait to begin the process.

I would have been happy to have stopped with one fleece because I was so elated to have found exactly what I was looking for, but I had made a mental note to visit the Hollyhock Alpacas booth to see what they had to offer.  The Hollyhock farm raises Huacaya alpacas (the fluffy ones) and I was curious to see a huacaya fleece because the farm I volunteer at raises Suris.  Well, it turns out I didn't just see a huacaya fleece - I took one home with me, too.

But honestly, how could I say no?  This is a cria fleece, which means that it was the alpaca's first shearing (a cria is what we call a baby alpaca.  No, I don't know why) and as I'm sure you all know, baby alpaca is soft, soft, soft!  I was so fortunate to have snatched this one up as it was their last cria fleece for sale.

I also took a three-hour spinning class on Sunday morning and although I was perhaps a little disappointed with the class overall, it did provide me with the opportunity to try a number of fibers that I had never spun before - silk, yak, cashmere, and cotton.  The yak was my favorite.

I'll be back tomorrow to introduce you guys to the four alpacas I've been spending my weekends with.  They're such charming boys, I'm sure you'll love them!

Six Little Bobbins

Six little bobbins

All in a row...

...It's time to ply

So here we go!