Twisp of Fate

Lots of new projects underway here lately, but the blog has lagged behind.  I have had start-itis, wanting to start many things all at once!

I started a new sweater using some yarn that I spun last year.  Actually I brought this one along all the way from the fleece, which was from a multicolored Corriedale named “Tsuku”.  After washing, I separated the fleece into 3 color groups (gray, white-to-pale gray, and dark-gray-to-black), carded them separately and then put the 3 colors onto the drum carder in layers.  The goal was to preserve some color variation in the final yarn, which more or less worked.  Spun it up as a 3-ply yarn sometime last winter and wound up with quite a lot, maybe 2800 yards or so.  So now I am knitting it up as a traditional gansey style sweater, using the pattern Lochinver from Alice Starmore’s book Fishermen’s Sweaters.

Lochinver sweater completed to the underarm

As of today, I have almost finished the front and back yokes and will be moving on to the collar and sleeves soon.  More pictures to come!  It’s going amazingly fast and it feels good to be knitting an actual sweater again.  I had kind of gotten stuck on hats and small projects there for a while.

I started spinning some merino/cashmere and merino/tencel fiber that I purchased at a conference several years back.  Dyed by Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks, both in the same colorway called Copper Slate.  Taking an idea from last February’s spinning camp on Orcas, I am alternating the two fiber blends in the spun singles (instead of alternating colorways of the same fiber) and hope to wind up with a 2-ply for a lace project.  No pictures yet but I will get some once I actually have produced some yarn.

Started another round of plaited twill scarves down at the weavers’ guild room.  I am calling this warp colorway “Sea Scallop.”

Sea Scallop with chocolate chenille weft

Sea Scallop with taupe tencel weft

These are actually off the loom now, fringes braided, washed and pressed and trimmed.  I’ll get pictures today or tomorrow and show the finished product.  I have wound the next warp and it is ready to tie on, which I may get started on today.  I’m on a roll, trying to build up some stock for the galleries and holiday sales.

At home, I have been working on more of the small blankets or lap robes.  I have interim pictures only, as I am just concentrating on getting them woven and putting them in a box to be finished up later (twisting the fringes, fulling in the washing machine, etc).  It’s been really fun though, sorting through my Shetland yarn stash and coming up with combinations that work together – and getting rid of some stuff kept in storage for way, way too long!

This one used some handspun Romney yarn that was given to me at knitting retreat last November.  She dyed it the variegated purple color and then spun it as a 2-ply.  I had to use some commercial yarn in the warp as well (Harrisville Shetland) to get the full width, and also for the weft:

# 6 using hand-spun, hand-dyed Romney

This one used up yarn leftover from a fairisle sweater I knit several years ago (Luskentyre by Alice Starmore):

# 7 Luskentyre, on the loom

#7 Luskentyre, off loom but not yet finished/fulled

I finished one 2 days ago in shades of brown, and have a new one on the loom in shades of gray to black:

# 9 underway on the loom

On a completely different note, last Friday we attended the “soft opening” for my friend Sara’s new studio down at the TwispWorks campus in Twisp.  She is calling it “Culler Studio”, a play on “color studio” but Culler was her mother’s maiden name.  Rick and I had been down there the week before helping her paint the walls, and it was amazing to see it transformed:

Culler Studio at TwispWorks

This will be primarily a work space (Sara is a natural dyer, painter, weaver) but for this event she had a showing of her own work, plus that of her 2 daughters Eva (print-making) and Grace (jewelry).  It was certainly well-attended and a good time was had by all!