Thursday, June 25, 2009

Tweedy Teal

I just love seeing the change from fiber to yarn. Last year, I kettle dyed some white merino/nylon fiber in vibrant emerald and sapphire tones during a dye day at a friend's house. I ended up with this:

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It took me a while to get around to spinning it, but when I finally picked it up, I decided I wanted to try something a little bit different. I wanted to spin it up without carding it much to create a tweedy-looking, very squishy yarn. From bag 'o fiber to wheel:

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And finally, the finish product, all caked up:

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I just love seeing how different it looks!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Gauge is Important

Everyone has their stories about gauge swatches. This is mine.

(Assume that the Law and Order scene change noise is inserted here.)

I don't swatch for socks anymore. I've knit oodles of socks, and the majority of those socks have been with a fingering weight yarn. I can order yarn and just knit it right up, no issues, and have it fit. I cast on 60 stitches, always, with fingering weight yarns.

I have some lovely Sockina Cotton, which is nice and soft cotton with a little nylon and stretch to it. Ravelry claims it's fingering weight. I cast on 60 stitches. Knit half a dozen rows in ribbing. And proceeded to put two feet into the opening. I should've taken a picture!

I then cast on 54. Knit half a dozen rows. Still too big.

48 ended up being the magic number. There's no way this yarn is "fingering weight"!