Besides the knitting

I've actually been pretty productive on the knitting front lately. I finished my big lace shawl, and the lace scarf that has been my train knitting for much of the last year. Are they blocked? Well, no. But I did weave in the ends, so that's something, right?

And I've almost finished a sweater for sprout (my replacement train knitting once I finished the scarf) and started a new sweater for her once the first one got too finicky for commuting.

Do I have pictures of any of this? Nope.

But I do have pictures of the other crafty things I've been up to besides the knitting.

After all, I have my Tour de Fleece spinning to share:

That's 612 yards of BFL 2-ply (roughly a heavy fingering weight - I haven't checked the wpi count) spun from 6 ounces of Briar Rose top. The Tour was a fantastic way to focus on spending time at the wheel. I actually managed to spin every day that the riders raced. But I've managed to sit down at the wheel only twice since. Not for lack of motivation (I'm really looking forward to spinning up the second half of my fiber and turning it into a Tilt wrap), but there are only so many hours in the day/week and I have plenty of other demands on my time.

Like this little person helping me take an FO shot of my new yarn:

 Just for comparison's sake, here is (part of) what I spun when I first did the Tour three years ago

and this is the not-yet-washed BFL from this year

What can I say? My girls like yarn. At least they come by it honestly.

Yarn isn't the only thing to keep me occupied these days. The quilting bug bit again. I'd pieced these giant flying geese blocks while I was still on maternity leave and then sewed them together into a mini quilt top a few weeks ago. The fabric had been sitting on my desk for a while and, with some great encouragement from Jacey, I decided that decluttering my workspace needed to include taking my first stab at free motion quilting.

It's not perfect (there's a reason I'm not showing the back) and quilting only in the dark sections hides imperfections nicely, but it's done! And I had so much fun that I'm planning to use FMQ on my next quilt, which I spontaneously/accidentally got started on this weekend with leftover squares from Tadpole's birthday quilt.

Yes, I probably should have watered the back garden instead of dragging Mr. Tinks and Frogs outside to snap a quick picture. But I was so darned proud, I couldn't contain myself. You see, I somehow managed to lay out the blocks and chain piece the rows together in an hour on Friday night. An hour!

And, just in case looking at this picture makes me think that I really should go put my quilt sandwich together (a very bad idea) instead of knitting a few stitches and heading to bed (the responsible approach), I'm going to leave you with a shot of our pumpkin collection. 

Who knew pumpkins ripened in August? Not me. We're going to be eating a lot of pumpkin pie this year.

Tour Update

No fancy updates here but I did finish my second bobbin of Briar Rose BFL last night so I'm all ready to start plying tomorrow.

And we're off!

Sitting down at my spinning wheel last month proved much more fun than I'd hoped. The polwarth/silk blend was a dream to spin and exactly what I needed to get back into the groove with my wheel. So, in a typical fit of ambition, I decided to join the Tour de Fleece this year.

I have a bump of 12 oz of Briar Rose Fibers BLF top that will be perfect for my goal of spinning every day of the Tour. And I have my team in place to cheer me on:

We dropped our cable subscription ages ago so I was thrilled to see that you can download an iPad app to watch the Tour de France. Tadpole and I watched today's stage streaming live while I spun this morning.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before I could spin the BFL, I had to finish up my polwarth/silk blend. Nothing like a holiday weekend (and a baby who naps reasonably well, not to mention a three-year-old inspired to nap, too, by the prospect of staying up late to watch fireworks) to make the time to finish up spinning and plying that fiber braid.

This is the first handspun yarn that I've wanted to start knitting up as soon as it came off the niddy noddy. 

That's approximately 4 oz, 418 very light, airy yards of worsted spun 80/20 polwarth silk top from SweetGeorgia Yarns. 

It's still ever so slightly damp so I'm trying to restrain Tadpole's (and my) urge to wind it up right now. I think it wants to be a Kuura with the charts flipped like in this version.

I think we can hold off a little longer. My team is chomping at the bit to get back to spinning.

Rogue fibre

It's been a while since I've sat down at my spinning wheel - I'd gotten bogged down in an ill-fated attempt to learn woolen style spinning. So, with a burst of inspiration from a fellow spinner, I decided it was time to go back to my comfort zone of worsted style.

This week I pulled out a braid of Sweet Georgia polwarth + silk fibre in the rogue colorway and stole some time to sit back down at the wheel. (I may have even moved sprout's play mat down into my office/craft room so I that could spin a bit with her while tadpole was at school.)

Hello, wheel. It's good to see you again.

No sheep yet

I told myself that I wouldn't cast on for Rams and Yowes until I had finished Color Affection. The short row section is so much fun that I don't regret that decision in the slightest. Yet. 

So while I plow through many more rows of garter stripes, here's a little distraction for all of us as we're waiting to play with the shetland yarn:

This is 216 yards of (oh shoot, I forgot to check the wpi again - let's call it roughly light worsted) navajo-plied BFL silk dyed in a gradient dye by Friends in Fiber. The fiber was a delightful surprise gift from blogger friend Rachel a few months ago. This was such a fun fiber to spin! BFL/silk is a glorious combination - soft with a lovely sheen, and it drafts like a dream. The color shifts from the light lime into something closer to avocado and finally into emerald. Such lovely greens!

What to do with them? Right now I'm content with fondling and petting the skein but eventually I think it'll be a cowl with some sort of simple texture to play off the color changes. Is anyone else yearning for fall weather already?

Back in the saddle

I have had good intentions - very good intentions, even - of writing a blog post for the past month. My internal monologue would go something like this: "I'd really like to write a blog post tonight . . . [a couple/few/several hours of post-baby-bedtime work later] Wow - it's really late! I just want to knit a bit/ crawl into bed." On the plus side, I've actually gotten a fair amount of knitting done when I eschew blogging for knitting in front of netflix or hulu (and I'm definitely meeting my hours requirement at work).

I've also been spinning! And that's the sneak peak that I wanted to show you tonight.

Back in January, Jacey and I did a really fun swap (more on that later when I'm less tired and can actually find the pictures). We each threw in a little extra gift for the other and my surprise from her was a lovely little 2oz braid of Polwarth top. We all enjoyed it!

Look mom- fiber!

Slowly, in stolen moments here and there (and with plenty of "help" from R, who LOVES to play on - and I do mean on - the wheel), it became this:

Actually, the singles are now plied and the skein is sitting on my desk waiting for a bath. Hopefully I can make that happen sometime this week!

Switching gears for a moment here (and then I've really got to get to bed): I've been thinking about what to do with the blog. I love blogging - writing the posts, engaging in follow-up conversations through the comments, and following all of your blogs in return. But with the schedule I've been working for the past  nearly two months, that's not very easy to do (as you can see from my lack of posts). So I'm starting to explore quicker, shorter formats.

I've recently signed up for Instagram and I'm starting to post some knitting pics - and random ones, too - under the username tinksandfrogs. I'm trying to remember to share the knitting ones via twitter. And, when I have a bit more time, I'll set it up to post to the blog, too.

Oh, and I found a fabulous new app for the iPad that makes my scribbles and design ideas look really quite nifty (the sketches, that is).

I still have lots to share, less time to do it in, and some creative work-arounds that are still in the planning stages. Thanks for hanging on this long - stay tuned for more!

Slow and steady

See that? Catkin is seven rows father along than I was this time last week. I'm making progress! Maybe I'll have this finished by Thanksgiving. Maybe.

And I'm almost done with the first skein on Tadpole's new blanket. I'm so close, in fact, that I need to wind the second skein today. I may not get to it tonight but at least it'll be ready.

I'm actually spinning more than I'm knitting these days. Tadpole and I can both play at the wheel (admittedly in different ways) on weekend mornings and I get a surprising amount of spinning done. Hmm, maybe I should sit us down this afternoon since we didn't get a session in this morning. I bet Tadpole would like that!

Change of pace

We have had quite a whirlwind here at chez Tinks and Frogs this past week or so. I went back to work on Monday for the first time since Tadpole was born, starting an exciting (and sometimes scary and stressful) new job. And Mr. Tinks and Frogs switched from working a a job that required a certain amount of travel to being a full-time stay at home dad. One of those changes was expected.

We had hired a nanny to come care for Tadpole and had a transition week before I started work. Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending on how you look at it - we discovered that the nanny was not working out as hoped and we had to figure out alternate child care just days before I was set to start my new job. All I can say is that I have an amazing husband and it was such a weight off my shoulders going in to work on Monday knowing that he was taking care of Tadpole.

But this is a knitting blog, I'm sure you're thinking. What does all this mean for knitting? Well, it means that I haven't really done a lot in the last week or so. Catkin progresses slowly but steadily. It's a relatively straightforward knit at this point but still takes concentration and energy that I didn't always have in the evenings. My newest project, a blanket for Tadpole, is moving a bit more quickly - at least in terms of number of rows completed. But it, too, grows slowly since it's worked in fingering weight yarn on tiny needles. A picture will probably have to wait until next weekend, although you won't notice much difference since it's just a garter stitch center square worked on the bias at this point. That garter stitch has come in handy this week when I was just too exhausted for anything else.

What else do these changes mean? They mean that I didn't get nearly as much done as I had planned in the week the nanny was here. I had whittled my to-do list down to a manageable level and was making great progress until we had a bit of a scare Wednesday night. So I spent Thursday keeping a close eye on what was going on in the apartment and agonizing over whether my anxiety had more to do with new job nerves or genuine concerns about the nanny. We let her go Friday morning. As you'll understand, that sapped any energy that I might have had for pattern writing and Tadpole's Purple Sweater is still unpublished.

But I did finish something that week!

Happy Early Birthday, Sis! I had asked my sister whether she minded if I posted her birthday present on the blog or if I should keep it a secret for another month and a half. Knowing I have a terrible time keeping gifts secret, especially ones I'm really excited about, she said to go ahead. Then, when I hadn't posted anything for a while, she cheekily asked if Tadpole's latest purple sweater was meant to be her gift and whether I had made a bit of a mistake with the sizing on that one. And since I forgot to respond to that email (sorry!), I'll answer now: nope, this is your gift.

And this is 500 yards of roughly worsted weight 2-ply 70/30 merino/silk blend. It's soft and bouncy and has that lovely little crunch that silk does. It'll make a perfect present, assuming I can pack it up and put it in the mail sometime between now and the end of next month.

The combed top was a beautiful blend of reds, greens, and golds that were given a muted sheen when spun up with the silk. I actually find merino/silk blends easier to spin than straight merino because the long staple length of the silk makes drafting a bit more manageable.

The yarn will come with a pattern or two. I have a couple of ideas but I'd love to hear suggestions.

Busy bees

We took Tadpole to her first fiber festival on Friday! I've been keeping an eye out for a local festival ever since she was born and everything was just a bit too far away. But the Michigan Fiber Festival took place this weekend and that was perfect - only a 3-hour drive away. Of course, we met friends there and had so much fun that I didn't take any pictures at all.

Don't worry, we brought a bit home to play with.

So what did we get?

Starting at the bottom left and moving clockwise we have a) Knitting Notions Classic Merino Sport (sweater for Tadpole); b) Knitting Notions Classic Merino Lace (scarf for me); c) Briar Rose Legend (sweater for Tadpole); d) Briar Rose Abundance (maybe a Hemlock Ring?); e) Briar Rose BFL top (spin 3-ply and knit something for Tadpole . . . or me); f) Miss Babs Northumbria DK 4-ply BFL (something for me).

This was a good weekend for fiber pursuits. I've been getting more spinning in lately since I no longer have to wait until naptime to sit down at the wheel. Tadpole likes doing her tummy time on the play mat where she can watch me spin and that lets me get 5-7 minute sessions in while she's awake. And if she's in the right mood, sometimes we even do this:

It never lasts more than a minute or two before she starts grabbing the fiber and I declare spinning time over.

I've even been getting a fair amount of knitting done and I'm always amazed at how quickly the baby items knit up (especially now that I'm not working with thin sock yarn on size 1 needles anymore).

This is a baby version of the Leaflet cardigan that I made for myself (and haven't blogged about yet). I'm using Quince & Co. chickadee - their sport weight yarn - and I think I like the baby version even better than the grown up one. We'll see after I get around to washing and blocking the one for me. Right now it's a bit bulky feeling and adds more pounds than I would care to wear at the moment.

I also caved and cast on for Simmer Dim the other day using some malabrigo lace from the stash. I could knit even garter stitch all day long with this yarn - it's just that lovely. But I have one small problem: I brought this project for car knitting when we went to the fiber festival on Friday and I haven't seen it since we unpacked after getting home that evening. I'm sure I put it somewhere clever but for the life of me I have no idea where that is.

Back to the fiber festival for a minute (that was rather circuitous, wasn't it?). What did I think? And, more importantly, will I go back? I certainly enjoyed my time there but I think that was more because of the people I was with than the festival itself. In all honestly, I was going to get my Briar Rose fix and that was great. There were a number of vendors whom I'd seen in previous years at the Midwest Fiber & Folk Festival outside of Chicago and there were quite a few new-to-me small producers. But I must confess I was a bit underwhelmed by the offerings in general. Some of the dyers had beautiful work but either had fiber blends that I wasn't interested in or charged too much for too little yardage per skein. There was a nice variety of handpainted spinning fibers for sale but not much selection of undyed fibers or raw fleeces (not that I know anything about starting from a raw fleece at this point in my spinning career).

I think my biggest gripe lies with how the festival was physically organized at the fairgrounds. Everything was spread out over a wide area and it was difficult to see what other vendors were out there or where they were.

And there weren't many animals to look at and pet. But there was a gorgeous camel who let my 4-year-old companion feed him some straw. Oh I wish I had taken a picture of that!

So will I go back? Maybe. It's a long drive to take with a small person but I'd love to see her pet that camel!

Post-mortem

I did it! I spun every day that the Tour rode. No, I didn't spin through all of my birthday Briar Rose haul but I'm still really proud of what I was able to accomplish.

This past week I worked on the second bump of Polwarth, about 6.5 ounces of that lovely fiber. I had finished up the singles by the end of the day on Saturday and this greeted me on Sunday morning:

Plying took about an hour and I ended up with my favorite finished yarn yet. I really need to spin 3-ply yarn more often!

That's 350 yards of dk/light worsted weight. I'm not exactly sure how thick it is since the yarn is still a bit damp. But I just couldn't wait any longer to snap a picture (and you wouldn't be able to see anything if I tried to get a shot while the yarn hung to dry in the bathroom).

So how did I do?

Working left to right, I spun (a) 82 yards of navajo-plied Cormo; (b) 330 yards 2-ply Cormo; (c) 370 yards 2-ply Polwarth; and (d) 350 yards 3-ply Polwarth. That's 1132 yards of finished yarn (and 2696 yards of singles).

Not bad at all.

Things are moving forward on the knitting front, too. I sewed buttons onto Tadpole's sweater last night. (Oh, how I despise sewing on buttons!) It still needs a bath and blocking but I'm getting closer to FO shots.

I also cast on for Damask about a week ago. What Damask? It's not in the project bar. Yup, I frogged it a few days later. I wasn't thrilled with my yarn/needle combination (Swan's Island Fingering on size 6 needles) and the pattern rather annoyed me. There's no key to the symbols in the pattern charts - you have to read the line-by-line instructions, which I don't like to use, to figure out what the symbols mean. This normally wouldn't be a problem but the designer's symbols aren't intuitive (blank squares for purls on RS rows, for instance) and some of the symbols are entirely made up - not something you'd usually find in a commercial chart. I just wasn't enjoying the knit and I wanted something relatively mindless that I could knit on autopilot.

So I frogged Damask and cast on for Citron. I'm sure I'll get sick of the stockinette at some point but for now it's just addictive knitting.

I'm actually quite a bit farther than you can see in this picture (which I only took a couple of hours ago!). Yes, someone managed to take a decent nap this afternoon.

Days 10-16

Oh my, where has the time gone? I've been diligently spinning every day (and I've even managed to take some pictures) but that has really cut into my blogging time. My internet time in general, actually. I don't even want to think about the state of my blogroll.

So what have I been up to?

As you can see, the purple Cormo is done. That's 330 yards of 2-ply heavy lace-weight. It's really, really lovely.

And I've started the second bump of Polwarth. One bobbin of three is done.

I'm shooting for a worsted or aran weight 3-ply. Maybe it will be something for Tadpole. Or maybe it will be something like this for me.

Speaking of Tadpole, the Cormo passes the nom test.

And so does the sweater I've been working on for her.

Here it is in a mostly-finished state a few days ago. I wove in the last end tonight and now it just needs buttons and blocking. But I have the buttons!

The color is incredibly tough to photograph but this shot actually shows the true shades of purple and the stitch pattern pretty well.

My model experienced a gravity surge.

One more thing on the knitting front: I finished Rock Island (except for blocking). FO shots soon!

Days 6-9

Wow, I'm actually spinning every day! I'm pretty impressed with myself for this one. Where were we last time? I believe I had just started spinning up the red Cormo. On Thursday I finished up the singles.

I really wasn't too confident about this one when I finished the bobbin. The singles weren't as even as I would have liked and I really wasn't sure what the finished yarn was going to look like.  Since I only had an ounce of this particular batch, I figured it would make a great test yarn. I decided to navajo-ply the singles because it's easy, to be perfectly honest. I didn't want to make an andean plying bracelet (aka a tourniquet for my middle finger) and I thought keeping the colors together would be nice.

And indeed it was.

That's the pre-wash shot. This one turned out far nicer than I had expected. And here's the post-bath pic:

Look at that bloom! (And the color difference is due entirely to taking pictures at different times of the day, the yarn didn't bleed at all.)

I suppose I should have looked up the Cormo section in my new book before I started spinning. This particular breed is a recent development, begun by breeding Corriedale with Merino (hence the name), with a focus on producing consistent fleeces. Did you know that true Cormo sheep have fleeces whose fibers don't vary by more than 2 microns from the average fiber width of the fleece? That sort of consistency is amazing. The fibers have a fine crimp and, as I discovered and the book reminded me, bloom quite a bit when washed.

This was such a fun transformation that I had to start spinning up my second batch of Cormo next. Saturday I got the bobbin going.

And today I finished the first half of the bump. I'm shooting for a lace-weight (ish). We'll see what happens after it hits the water.

Speaking of giving yarn a bath, the Polwarth got a little soak to set the twist (err, wash the drool off).

The drool didn't stay off for long, though.

Days 4 and 5

Where was I? At the end of the day on Monday I had this.

Last night I plied the two bobbins together and this morning I wound the finished product onto the niddy-noddy.

All 370 yards worth. My handy little spinning app says that the finished yarn is about 18 wpi (before washing).

Skeined up for a quick photo shoot before taking a nice bath.

This one gets the Tadpole seal of approval, too.

So what spinning did I do today? A bit of Cormo.

I'm glad I eased into the fine wools with the Polwarth since this is a bit tricky to spin. I'm planning to navajo ply this one and then knit it into another Baby Aviatrix (rav link) since I'm pretty sure Tadpole will have outgrown her first one by the time it gets cold again.