Southern Cross Fibre

One of my favourite drafting methods is English Long Draw (aka Traditional Long Draw aka Double Drafting). Nothing beats spinning long draw from rolags. I also enjoy watching the changing colours slide through my fingers when spinning from handpainted top. Here is the method I came up with to have the best of both worlds.

Get yourself some combed top. I’m using Falkland top in the “Katoomba” colourway from Southern Cross Fibre. This technique will cause some of the colours to overlap, resulting in heathered sections in the finished yarn where the colours have blended. If you want a clean, crisp colour progression, then this technique is probably not for you.

If your top has been sitting around for a while, it may need loosening up. Compressed or sticky top makes for bad rolags. Most top is a flat length of fibre that has been rolled and twisted to hold it together. We’re going to undo the rolling and twisting to turn it back into a flat length of fibre. You should see a definite fold line along your top. Gently work your way along the top and open it up along the fold.

Next, you’re going to loosen up the fibres. Press down firmly across the full width of the top with one hand and pull gently with the other until the fibres just start to move. That’s it. No more. You just want to loosen the fibres, not draft them.

Move your hands about a staple length and repeat. Here’s what you’ll end up with:

Next, we’ll make the rolags. I use an old wooden rolling pin. It is well worn from years of use, has no rough edges and is a nice diameter for rolag-making. If you’re using a piece of dowel, ensure it is completely smooth by sanding it with fine sandpaper before use.

Wind the top around the rolling pin once as shown in the photo below:

Press down on the rolling pin with one hand and pull apart with the other. Roll up the remaining piece of fibre and slide it off the rolling pin.

That’s it. Rinse and repeat.

Happy Spinning!

While I was staying with Adrian after Rhinebeck (October 2009), I “encouraged” Adrian to start a new mitten pattern. After a shopping trip to WEBS, we spent a few days sitting around the dining room table armed with Adrian’s extensive mitten library, graph paper and pencils. Adrian’s awesome Squirrel Sampler Mittens and my Northman Mittens are the result.

Special thanks to Adrian for encouraging me to design these mittens, answering my endless questions, test knitting, and giving me permission to use her Squirrel Sampler Mittens pattern as a template.

Thanks also to Stacie for her wonderful editing and test knitting skills.

Pattern: Squirrel Sampler Mittens by Adrian Bizilia
Yarn (Outer): Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift (“Peat”) and Rowan Scottish Tweed 4 Ply (“Oatmeal”)
Yarn (Lining): Misti Alpaca Lace Solids (#C743)
Needles: 3.25 mm (US3) Addi Turbo (magic loop)
Gauge: 8 sts per inch/2.5 cm
Size: Large

Pattern: Northman Mittens by David Schulz (now available on Ravelry)
Yarn (Outer): Berroco Ultra Alpaca (#6279 & #6214)
Yarn (Lining): Blue Sky Alpacas Melange (#806)
Needles: 3.5 mm (US4) Addi Turbo (magic loop)
Gauge: 6.5 sts per inch/2.5 cm
Size: Medium

Wow! Has it really been three months since my last post?

Most of August and September disappeared in a haze of dyeing and sweater-making in preparation for my holiday in the USA. I have quite a few sweater projects still on the wheel and a couple on the needles, but I managed to get a couple completed in time for my visit.

Pattern: Seamless Set-In Sleeve Sweater from “Knitting from the Top”
Yarn: Handspun Aran weight Superwash Merino in “Peat” from Hello Yarn 
Needles: 5.0 mm/US 8 and 6.0 mm/US10

Pattern: Huron by Jared Flood
Yarn: Portland Tweed from Classic Elite Yarns in “Espresso” and “Desert Sand”

The unfinished sweater projects will now likely hibernate until the end of summer.

In the meantime, it’s all about mittens! Stay tuned.

A couple of finished WIPs. First up, my Champagne sweater. It is thick, squooshy and I love it to bits. The finished sweater weighs in at 690 grams (24.3 oz).

A quick and easy cowl made from my “Enchanted” Corriedale handspun (Southern Cross Fibre Club - July 2009). The pattern was made up on the fly and can be found in the project notes of my Ravelry project. The cowl was knit at a fairly loose gauge and the resulting fabric is super squooshy but not too dense.

To finish up, yet another sweater swatch. This one is for a Duxbury Point Pullover (from Simply Shetland 4). Made from a cone of grey New Zealand lambswool that I’ve had in the stash for eons.

It turns out to be a perfect match for Jamieson’s Shetland 2-ply Spindrift. I’m in two minds about whether to proceed with the yarn I’ve used for the swatch or to spin the yarn for it using some gorgeous moorit Shetland that just arrived. Decisions, decisions.

A few people have asked me about my tweet this morning:

Even if a woodchuck could chuck wood, why would he bother? http://bit.ly/5mpFr

Before you have me committed, let me explain. I woke up with “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck…” in my head at 5 am this morning (sanity is not my strong suit). Not even knowing what a woodchuck looks like, I decided to google it. The pic appeared on the first page of hits. I figured, why would a woodchuck chuck wood when armed to the teeth like that? Seemed a bit pointless. OK. You can have me committed now.

My sock-knitting frenzy came to a screaming halt during this year’s Tour de Fleece. I spent the Tour spinning a kilo of “Champagne” from Spunky Eclectic.

A new bug has taken over - sweater knitting!

This one should be done in a couple of days and I already have plans in place for a few more.

Another bug took hold during the Tour de Fleece - felted singles.

“Selfish” Shetland felted singles from Spunky Eclectic Fibre Club:

Knit into a Forest Canopy:

The two bugs have combined into a new project. Not sure where this one will go, but it’ll definitely be a sweater of some kind.

Grey Corriedale felted singles (worsted weight):

I started knitting a swatch with it a few nights ago. I was enjoying the yarn so much I didn’t stop until I ran out. It knit up beautifully at 4.5 sts/in.

Lastly, a few shout outs:

- Amy - congratulations on the release of Spin Control. It truly is a wonderful book and I’m so very proud of you. xoxo+++

- Jared - congratulations on your “Made in Brooklyn” collection for Classic Elite. It is always a delight to see new men’s patterns on the market. Can’t wait for my copy to arrive. Huron - here we come!

- Adrian - you are the Preserve Queen of the Universe. Thanks for the daily dose of mouth-watering goodies. I’m counting the days until I get to taste some of them.

The title of this post says it all. Winter. Knitting. What else is there to say?

First up… a hat of my own design made from Hello Yarn Fat Sock - one skein each of “Navy” and “Silver”:

3-ply Bulky socks made from Spunky Eclectic Romney - one ply each of “Sangria”, “Dinosaur” and “Gin and Tonic”:

Fingering weight socks made from Spunky Eclectic Yarn Club yarn in “Soul Windows”:

2-ply Worsted weight socks made from Southern Cross Fibre Romney in “Fields of Gold”:

2-ply Worsted weight socks made from Hello Yarn Fibre Club Superwash BFL in “Night Sky”:

Teeny tiny 4-ply sport weight socks made for my dear Boogie from Spunky Eclectic Panda in “Hidden”:

My very first (and definitely not last) cowl - made from very gorgeous Hello Yarn Shetland in “Turkey Attack!”:

See this post for basic batt spinning information.

Next up… batt stacking! This is a great method for getting a lot of colour into your yarn. It is also a wonderful method for getting so much colour into your yarn that the barber-poling effect practically disappears.

First… lay out your batts into rectangles. Give them a good stretch so you end up with a reasonably thin layer of fibre.

I’m using a blue batt, a brown batt and half a yellow batt in this example. I’ve stretched the yellow batt out *really* thin to match the size of the other two batts I’ve chosen.

Now I stack them on top of each other:

Z-strip them or tear into strips, being careful to tear through all three layers as evenly as possible.

This is one case where a little pre-draft can help - it meshes the layers together and makes drafting the colours evenly a little easier. Work your way slowly along the length of the fibre, being careful at the ends of the “Z”’s if you chose to Z-strip. If it breaks, no drama! Just continue on.

Even after pre-drafting, the width of all three layers is about the width of two fingers.

And wound into a ball, ready to spin!

The singles on the bobbin (in front):

And the finished yarn on the left:

Here are some newbie batt-spinning tips for you. Batts come in all shapes and sizes and there are many different approaches to take depending on the type of batt you have and what you want out of it. These tips are intended to get you started with the type of batts shown below:

One of the first things you’ll notice when you look at a batt is that the fibres are jumbled up. They’re not laying in perfectly neat little rows like in top. If you’re not sure of the differences between top, roving and batts, see Abby Franquemont’s excellent article from Spin Off here. Also, see Boogie’s blog post here.

One you release the batt from its knotted-up form, you’ll have a long sausage of fibre:

Sometimes the batt is folded before rolling up, so check for a fold line in the batt (sometimes, but not always present):

Your aim is to lay your batt out in a nice big rectangle before proceeding further:

One of the most basic ways to spin a batt is to tear it into strips. Once you have your strips down to a size you find manageable (not too thin!!!) you can take them to the wheel/spindle and start spinning. How thick or thin should the strips be? Thin enough so you can draft easily and comfortably, but not so thin that you’re not drafting at all when you get to the wheel. The strips in the photo below are about the width of two fingers (to give you an idea).

Another method is known as Z-Stripping - tearing the batt into a big long zig-zag to create one continuous length - much like you did to create the longest strip of paper in the world when you were a kid with a piece of paper and scissors

You can also turn your batts into rolags - see Boogie’s blog post here for details.

The Hello Yarn Fiddlehead project is done! Hooray!

The fibre - Hello Yarn Fibre Club January 2009 - "Norway" BFL:

The fibre was separated into colours and blended into heathery batts. I dyed extra silver BFL and blended it with a titch of navy BFL to give it a lift and to coordinate better with the heathered colours.

The BFL batts were spun semi-worsted into a 3-ply worsted weight yarn. I usually get around 160 metres of 3-ply worsted weight from 115 grams (4 oz) of BFL, so I carded 115 grams (4 oz) of the main colour and 30 grams (1 oz) of each of the contrasts. This turned out to be sufficient with some leftovers. Singles were spun at around 26 - 29 wpi. Finished yarn is 11 - 12 wpi (fairly loosely plied).

The lining - natural Polwarth blended with Possum fur (70/30 blend) - woollen spun 2-ply sport weight. Singles spun at 32 wpi. Finished yarn was 14 wpi.

And done!

My first Australian summer in four year has been absolute torture and it has been a long time since I’ve done any knitting. The weather has improved a little over the last week and my long-lost mojo has returned with a vengeance! Now I have a severe case of project-startitis. I now have three pairs of socks on the go, one lace shawl and a vest.

Last July, I ordered some custom fibre from Hello Yarn to complement some of Adrian’s gorgeous handpainted Shetland. This was purchased with a view to making a brooklyntweed-style Striped Vest.

It sat in my stash until December - a week and a half at home with my parents gave me ample opportunity to get it all done.

Finally, I have a swatch, a gauge, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’ Knitting in the Old Way and I’m all set to go!