Maia Spins

Tid Bits

It has been crazy the last few days.  The natural dye class was awesome.  It was a great group of people and we had a lot of fun.  I'll report on that soon. 

I have only had a few minutes here and there.  I spent that time on a bit of spinning and on my TW2 socks for Sock In A Day.

Remember this?  It is the hemp and sari silk batt I made based on the great tutorial by Pippi Knee Socks in her Knitty spinning column, Get Spun.  In this post I made my batt.

(Click on any picture for a bigger version.)

It was surprisingly easy to spin.  The silk did come in clumps sometimes, but it was quite enjoyable spinning.  This picture shows about half of the batt spun into singles.

I plied it with itself and gold and silver threads.  They are very hard to see in these pictures.  In person, it is not as subtle as the pictures lead you to believe.

I love that the sari silk clumps in places.  I used mostly burgundy, red, and orange with small amounts of contrasting blues and greens.  The effect when a clump of contrast colors appears is very fun.

The finished yarn is very soft.  Softer than either fiber spun on its own.  This is about 125 yards of worsted weight, enough for an accent or a small project.

Sock In A Day

I completed my 18 hours of Sock In A Day knitting last night, just under the deadline.

This is how far I got on the second sock with the remaining 5.5 hours (12.5 hours spent on the first sock).  I have just finished the gusset decreases plus a few rounds.

It is interesting to know how much time it takes to knit a fingering weight (30 sts / 4in) sock for my large feet, but timing everything took some of the pleasure out of it.  It made knitting goal oriented.  I am a process oriented knitter by nature.  I prefer to watch the pattern rather than the clock.

I have had a few requests for the pattern for this sock; look for it soon.

Sock In A Day Done

I finished my Sock In A Day sock last night.  I worked on it over three days (as permitted by the 18 hour rule).

This is how far I got on Monday after 2 hours of knitting.

This is my progress after knitting another 4.5 hours on Tuesday and 1.75 hours on Wednesday (8.25 hours total).

The finished sock after another 3.75 hours on Wednesday.  That is 12.5 hours for one sock.  I was ahead of my 12 hour prediction until I couldn't decide what kind of ribbing to use.  This is my second version.  It is hard to tell, but the ribbing continues to spiral around the leg. 

I am working on the second sock now.  I want to see how far I can get in the allotted 18 hours.  This toe is 1.75 hours of knitting which includes some frogging and reknitting time.

I have 3.75 hours remaining on the clock.  I hope to get well into the heel. 

As you can see this first sock goes tom the right (this way) and the second sock goes to the left (that way).  The new official name for these socks is This Way That Way or TW2 (as in TW squared).

Go This Way and That Way

I have started my Sock in a Day sock.  Last weekend didn't offer me a day to dedicate to it and this weekend I am dyeing with Brooke.  That means I will be using the 18 hours over a week option.  My guesstimate is that it will take 12 + hours for one sock.  I think I will use the full 18 hours and see how far I can get on the second sock.

So, what am I making?
The stitch pattern is just a right twist diagonal pattern.  The other sock will be a mirror image using left twists.  It is so simple, yet I am always anxious for the next twist row.  Maybe I am easily entertained.

The yarn is Sea Wool by Fleece Artist in their amber colorway.  It feels very silky like a soy silk and it has less elasticity than I expected in a 70% Merino wool yarn.  Not that I am complaining, just reporting.

I am calling the sock "Go This Way" because when I decided to mirror the other sock, I got the old nursery rhyme "Did You Ever See a Lassie" stuck in my head.  go this way and that way . . .

Speaking of yummy amber colored sock yarn . . .
In her travels, Brooke found this Meilenweit Fun yarn by Lana Grossa (color # 136) and bought it for me. 

That is a good friend.

But what about the sweater?
I have not forgotten it.  I am playing with the pattern and one or two new colors.  Thank you for all the suggestions.  I will post a new swatch when it is done. 

It is not all fun and giggles here at the homestead.  Sammie went walkabout this morning.  The front door opened and he was faster than I am.  He does this every once in a while.  We live on a fairly busy, four lane street that connects this area to the freeway.  We live one block away from another four lane street that was the state highway before the freeway was built.  People regularly drive 50 mph or more.   A small dog on the run is a scary event.

We were out looking for him and had just returned to check for messages when the phone rang.   A construction worker named Jose had him at the new city hall building site about 10 blocks away.  He admitted to me that some of the guys wanted to keep him, but he has two dogs and he knows how much it would hurt to not get his dogs back.  Bless him for that!  He wouldn't take a reward so I think I'll make a donation to rescue in his name.