Posts from — May 2007

Despite what you know of me, this post it not about likker.  Instead, I have actual dog hair.  Hair of the Loki to be exact.  I’ve read lots of opinions about using dog fiber for yarn.  Some people think it’s weird or gross (um, using fiber from a stinky, smelly sheep is not?) and others are fine with it.  I am obviously in the latter group.  However, after collecting over a pound of Loki hair the last two years I did not trust myself and my new found spinning skills to to the fiber justice so I trusted VIP Fibers instead.  I finally received the yarn yesterday and I am very pleased.  There is approximately 600 yards of two ply sport weight Loki yarn at 16 WPI just waiting for me to figure out the perfect project.  Since fiber spun from a double coated pet is up to 80% warmer than wool I anticipate a lace project to incorporate plenty of open space in the fabric.  For those of you who wonder about the smell, allergies, etc.  here is a quote from VIP:  “Odors and allergies are caused by the oils, dander and enzymes in a pet’s skin not the actual hair itself.  Washing the fiber, yarn or finished product will remove some of the culprits but not all.  VIP Fibers is the only spinnery that has developed a patented process for permanently removing all of these factors from your keepsake yarn.  Though each natural fiber has it’s own scent, your keepsake yarn will not ’smell like wet dog’ and your keep sake will not affect people with pet allergies.”  I wet the yarn myself to confirm this and there is no wet Loki smell at all.  I plan to spin some of his hair myself sometime so I’ll have to find a way to deal with this myself sans the patented process. 

With the socks finished, I had no choice but to go back to the FPS.  I’m actually starting to feel like there could be an end in sight (even though technically I’m only about half finished) and maybe sooner than the pattern thinks.  This baby is already pretty long and there is no question it is going to grow with blocking.  I fear if I do all the tiers as written I may end up carrying around a small throw on my shoulders rather than an elegant stole.  I’ll have to check with those who have finished  and see what they think. 

FPS Totals:  Tier 13, 63 hours.

The socks had a great time at the Reds game yesterday.  I didn’t know it beforehand, but apparently there was a Stitch and Pitch group in attendance because the guy that checked my bag at the gate wanted to know if I was with them.  I wasn’t, but I happily stitched while they pitched anyway.  I really don’t know how I ever attended a baseball game before without knitting since it is without a doubt one of the most boring American past times ever.  Short of teaching every baseball attendee to knit I’m not really sure how they can reliably increase attendance.  Dollar hot dogs just aren’t enough…they really should do something about the speed of the game.  At any rate, it works fine for me since Jim gets to do something he likes (although even his patience is tested by the boringness of  it all…it he hadn’t grown up in such a baseball town I am sure that we would never go to a game) while I do something I like.

Sock stats:  Generic short row toe and heel, toe up on US 1 DPNs using hand spun 100% super-wash merino in colorway “Summer Citrus” at approximately 6 spi.  I couldn’t believe how fast these seemed after working constantly on the FPS for so long.  I also couldn’t believe that I turned out reasonable fraternal socks on hand spun.  I spun, plied and wound the yarn with total disregard for color so it was pure dumb luck that they turned out this way.  Chinni clearly approves of the new kicks.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist the lure of a sock as soon as I finished spinning the Summer Citrus (100% Merino Superwash).  This was the easiest spinning so far.  In fact I was able to spin so fast that my poor little wheel was vibrating.  I’m amazed at how quickly I have gotten better at spinning, but I still think it has a lot to do with good fiber.  I spun 2 oz onto separate bobbins and then plied them together….much easier than the center pull ball that I tried last time.

As for the sock, I wanted to do something a little different so I went with the short row toe.  In retrospect, probably not the best decision since guessing how many to cast on with an unfamiliar yarn  proved to be a little off.  I cast on 24 and it was just slightly wide (I like my sock to fit snug) but a couple decreases later I was on track.  My little theory about how I’m sure I have enough hand spun for a pair of socks?  Commercial sock yarn sold in 100g skeins makes an adult pair.  I spun 4 oz of fiber (~113g) to approximately a sock weight so I should be good right?  Well…we’ll see soon enough.

We have a problem.  While in theory the yardage counter was a good idea, in practice it pretty much sucks.  Despite my best efforts and several adjustments to the apparatus as I went along, I was unable to get the counter to work consistently.  The yarn kept coming off of it.  I tried positioning it differently in relation to the ball winder, making the yarn guide taller, making the eye hooks taller, etc. with no success.  Plus, the ideal setup of putting it between the swift and the ball winder puts way to much stress on the system…the winder kept making that awful grinding sound.  I could at least remedy that part by winding the yarn off the swift first and using a center pull ball with the counter.  Makes for a lot of extra work though I would still use it that way if I could get the yarn to stay on the wheel.  I may try to tweak it again sometime when I have my patience back. 

In the meantime there was lots of spinning (hanging to dry in the bathroom since it’s raining) and of course, some knitting on the FPS.  Seldom have I been this monogamous to a knit.  I think the fear of working on this stole into the next century is preventing me from working on anything else.  I don’t think that will be the case though when my super wash wool is dry…socks are in the future!

 FPS Totals:  On tier 11…51.5 hours (I was slowed way down last night by a fascinating show…Planet Earth.  It was about how they filmed the Planet Earth documentary series and it was fantastic!)