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.

Comments

[LizzieK8]

" but timing everything took some of the pleasure out of it" I noticed the same thing. It was nice to get the sock done, but keeping an eye on the clock just drained me!

[Ronni]

I can see how that would lessen the enjoyment. I'm a goal oriented knitter but I enjoy the process too. So much so that I have a heck of a time remembering to check the clock. And to "clock out" when I am interrupted by someone who wants something. Which is one reason why I'll probably never be able to know for sure how long it really takes to knit anything.

That's some pretty yarn you made. I hope I get a chance to see it in real life someday. Any ideas what you're gonna use it for? Good thing I'm not a cat eh?

[Liz]

I think a few people disliked keeping track of time. Maybe if I ever do this again I'll put up a warning beforehand.