Now the question is… do I remember how to knit?

Me sporting a Yak/Merino scarf made by Marianne

OK, it’s actually Yak and Merino, and it is SOOOOO SOFT and light, so warm.

Some time ago (how long was it Marianne?) I volunteered to do the Pay It Forward with Marianne. I had the easy part, she was the payer, I was the payee. Ha! To be honest, I had completely forgotten about it. Plus, I thought I was one of the extra ones that volunteered to do Pay It Forward with Marianne. It was really a bit of surprise to actually receive a package from her. Not that I didn’t think she was serious, mind you. I really just didn’t remember.

It is a loooong scarf knitted with 50% Yak, 50% Merino yarn, Superyak, by Karabella, made in Italy. A simple pattern, but the result is a super luxurious scarf. Possibly the softest knitted fabric that I’ve ever felt. So light and warm. And as you can see in the picture, it drapes really, really well. Thank you so much Marianne! It’s wonderful!

Hmmm… I’d rather eat the ramen though.

There were a lot of donated items for guild raffles. The proceeds are going to the Heifer Project in honor of Twisted Ruth (Ruth Schooley). There were tons of fiber, yarn, books, magazines and other stuff. I donated a set of five Japanese ceramic bowls.

Lots of Show n’ Tells. Hand-spun yarns. Yarns made at the Pluckyfluff Workshop. Finished knitting projects (check out Jill’s lace shawl.) And Deb and Helene’s woven pieces!

Old friends and new friends.

New roomy (with her Loch Ness Monster knitting project)!

And I met Ercil who brought her tablet weaving to the meeting. I wanted to see her tablet weaving and maybe ask a few questions. But like I said, I was high (or low) on paint fumes, and let that chance slipped away. Hope to see her in the next meeting. I also couldn’t figure out why I knew of her. Later I realized that I had seen her in Ruth’s photos of their recent gathering that included Sylvia, Stephenie Gaustad, and Joy.

Complete photo set here.

I’ve started a new spinning project. Well, maybe not totally new. I am spinning blue merino fiber that I carded with some silver hologram Angelina for sparkles. The goal is to knit a Ostrich Plumes Stole for Kate. I am also spinning this for Ruth’s Spin for Peace group on Ravelry. Yeah, I started early.

Same type of yarn, just different colors. One before I oiled the swift. The other after. What a difference! I read some complaints on blogs about the tightly wound yarn cakes and remembered that I was going to make a note about it. But before you add any type of lubricant to your vertical swift, check if it is safe to do so. I am not an expert on what’s good and what’s not to use on plastic or wood. There are also parts that do not need to be and shouldn’t be lubricated. Just doing a little research before do so, OK?

Remember that yarn that I named Forest Jewels?

I am going to start knitting something with it. I’ve always had Drifting Pleats from the book Knitting New Scarves in mind. A little scared of the pattern, but am going to give it a good try.

I joined Katherine’s Le Tour de Fleece 2008.

I had so much fun spinning and knitting for Fibre to Scarf Exchange, I thought I’d join up another spinning challenge. Maybe I’ll do well again doing a project with time restraint? We’ll see. Now I have to find something in the stash to get going.

Happy Fourth of July! I’ll be spending the afternoon with CB.

OH! Almost forgot. Chris, here’s the cotton I have to work with:

I am not an experienced cotton person. Maybe it is usual to get cotton in this condition. (It was given to me.) I have at least 30 times more of this cotton. What do you think? Keep or let go?

Here’s the story. (Did you read Ted’s Fiber to Scarf post?) Katherine sent Ted about 8 oz of dyed Polwarth fiber. (Sorry, I lost the post draft when I moved my blog to the current address. Trying my best to recollect details.) Randomly, Ted picked me to spin and knit a scarf for her. I was only given the info of the fiber (which she bought in New Hamburg, Ontario), and the person’s gender that the scarf will be for. So I thought I wanted something lacy for a lady. But I don’t want it too airy with too many holes, either. So I picked Liesel and started spinning the yarn with this pattern in mind. I aimed for a Worsted weight so that the scarf would feel more substantial. I also wanted it to be more woolen than worsted. I used a drafting style that I would call semi-worsted. The yarn turned out quite soft and bouncy. It’s about 12-13 wpi, DK weight. Over 800 yards I think. Lost that bit of info in that post draft.

After a few inches into knitting Liesel, I found it still too lacy to my liking. So I looked through the backup plans and decided on Brooke’s Column of Leaves. I chose to work on a pair of Clover bamboo straight needles, US size 7. I quite like the finished scarf. Still soft and bouncy, and it drapes really well. I stopped knitting at about 74″. It blocked out to be about 88″ or 89″. (Lucky numbers!) I didn’t use pins because I didn’t want it to stretch out too much and become… too lacy. I spread the scarf out on the blocking tiles and just let it bounce back a little when drying.

Polwarth is super luxurious. It has a micron count of 26-21. According to the book In Sheep’s Clothing, Polwarth fiber is suitable for use in baby clothing. Now that is soft! Does anyone have a good source for Polwarth? I really want some for myself. The book also says that the yarn is best spun worsted or worsted-type technique for durability. Does semi-worsted count? Oh, what do I know. I am really only a beginning spinner. This is actually my first knitted project with something I spun. I think a lot of luck was involved.

I took some progress photos along the way. Here are some of them:

Well, that’s pretty much what I did in the last few months with all that family and work issues. What’s next?

Unfortunately, the mini dye classes didn’t happen. That didn’t stop the fun, though. There were dye already mixed. There were steaming baskets and dye pots, both natural and chemical. And there were plenty of experts there. People just went at it. I ended up not doing any dyeing at all. (Yes Chris, that means the Shetland and BFL are safe. ) I wanted to do a more controlled experiment and thought I’d take up too much time and space. So, I just watched and tried to pick up as many ideas as I could. I also spent a lot of time carding cotton.

Not sure if I mentioned this. I was given bags and bags of unginned cotton about a year ago. I took some to Garen’s house to try carding them. The carding went well. I was beginning to get the feel for it. But I think I might have to let go of the cotton that I have. It’s filled with bits and pieces of crushed cotton bur. My guess is that it was machine harvested and the burs were crushed in the process. Carding did not take them out. I had to pick them out by hand a little bit at a time. Too time consuming. They may fall off when spun. But I think I’ll just get more CLEAN cotton to play with. I really do enjoy carding and making punis. One day I’ll have some cotton plants, too. Here’s a photo of the punis I made. Note the dirty bits:

I’ll be looking for takli spindles to buy. I tried spinning cotton with a small support spindle. Taklis will make plying easier. Just need to have something that will hold several spindles. I think I know just the person to ask to make one.

Below are some photos of Dye Fest. More can be found here.

I think that I can blog about this. I am not giving anything away. The person that I spun and knitted a scarf for already knows that it’s on its way. So there’s no secret there. And anyway, I am only talking about MY, all mine, scarf. Bwah-ha-ha-ha! (Are you tired of that?)

Ted started this Fiber to Scarf Exchange 2008 in January. It was very hush hush. No one knew who else was participating. No one was suppose to blog about it online. Everyone sent in enough fiber for a scarf to Ted, he then randomly selected a participant to spin and knit the scarf. We got minimum info on whom we were making a scarf for. The identity of the recipient was revealed only after the scarf was done. (See his rules page for more rules if you are curious.)

I sent in 8 oz of Ashland Bay Mulit-colored Merino Top in Sandalwood and got back a beautiful scarf:

The pattern is Campus from the book Scarf Style. Very guy-friendly I think. It is soft, springy. Drapes really well. The color is a nice warm brown. Is it winter, yet? The yarn that he spun is so fine. I’ll post a picture to show a comparison of his yarn to the one I spun when I post about my work. For now you can read about MY scarf on his blog here and here. I was going to model the scarf myself. But the weather has been very very warm. So I used one of CB’s sculptures instead.

Needless to say, this scarf has instantly become one of my treasured possessions.

Creator: Smoking Hot Needles (Monika)
Fiber: Merino/Tencel, colorway ‘Aspen’, from Spunky Eclectic
Pattern: Morning Surf
Read the creator’s original blog post

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this scarf. It’s featured in the latest issue of Spin•off. The article presented several finished spin-to-knit scarves using the same pattern, Morning Surf. This one is my favorite. The pattern, the colors just work together very nicely. Plus the knitting is fabulous! I want one! The pattern is free. I just need to find the right fiber to spin. Oh, and time. ha ha ha

Other news. I talked to my sister in Taiwan. We are going to continue the effort of completing the hotel unless there’s a serious buyer. This means that I will most likely go to China very soon. IF there’s a serious buying interest before July, I’d be able to escape the trip. Crossing my fingers.