Favorite Yarn and most disliked yarns

have your ever thought about what your favorite yarn is? Well the question has been posed to me and boy did I have to think about it. I think it might be easier to say what yarn or yarns I don't like. Although my husband says there isn't a yarn I don't like. which I guess it true. But there are some that I would rather not use but if that was all there is then I would still knit or crochet with them. On that list would have to be Red Heart anything. Now years ago I only used Red Heart but over the past few years I have learned better. When I teach a knitting class about fibers and yarns I explain that acrylic yarns are made from plastic so think about walking around with a plastic bag on your body. Not fun.
Now when it comes to my favorite the answer to that question is ... It all depends on what I'm making. I love the the colors of Sugar and Cream for dishcloths. I love lopi and Lopi lite for anything felted. Now when it comes to sweater yarn that is a more tough question to answer. I usually tell people that my favorite yarn is the one I'm working on at the moment. Some of my favorite wools are Galway from Renyolds, Lonestar from Alchemy, Ecco Wool from Cascade, and I really do love to knit with my hand spun. I'm not realy fond of Ella Rae or Cascade 220 because I have made sweater from them and they pill something terrible. I also really enjoy any and all of the Elisbeth Levold yarns. Right now I'm working with Berroco's Ultra Alpaca which is 50/50 blend of wool and alpaca. I also have some Bomull from Marks&Kattens that is a 50/50 blend of wool and cotton, that I have waiting for me to get to.
So you can see I really don't have a very favorite but a few. The big problem is there are so many nice yarns out there to buy that as any good yarn collector will tell you that there is so many yarns and so little time.

SKP 10 is off and running

Wow what a great surprise came in the mail today. My first box from my SKP 10 pal ( Secret Knitting Pal). Its always a great day when yarn comes in the mail and there are no bill a long with it. I'm getting ready to take a trip in April and I was planning on taking a sock project with me. I just might have to use this new bamboo yarn that I got. I also just love the sheep tape measure it will be the one I leave by my bed. Also I have never read Fiber Arts magazine before. It was a really nice one. But what else would you expect from Interweave. Thanks Pal!

What's coming next

Now I'm one of those weird people that can only work on one thing at a time. So I'm usually thinking of the next project while working on the current one. Sense I'm working on a simple garter stitch sweater I have lots of time to think about what's coming next. So here they are. On the left I am spinning some roving that I bought some time ago off of ebay. The listing was merino but I'm sure its not. But it is a beautiful wool anyway, its just not as soft as merino should be. Anyway I'm spinning a 2 ply DK weight for the Fiber Trends Spinner's shawl. I plan to add some beads to the edging too. I picked out some neat dark blue ones that are iridescent. On the right I will be teaching a class at the yarn store I work at coming up in April and this is the shawl we will be working on. I have made this shawl a few times but never for myself until now. I'm using Berocco's Alpaca wool blend. you can't really see in the picture but the color way is a navy blue but there are heather tones of red and light green. I hope to finish up the spinning for the Spinner's shawl the garter stitch sweater and the blue landscape shawl before Easter. So we will see if I can get it all done.

I am knitting too

Will all this dyeing and spinning I am knitting also. Right now I'm working on a sweater from the new book The Natural Knitter. If you have not seen this book its well worth your checking it out. One big not fall is that its kind of pricey. Over 30.00 unless you buy it from Amazon. Anyway this book talks about different yarns and yarn companies. There are in my opinion several patterns that I think are worth my time. The first is the one pictured. Of course you really can't tell. First I'm using Lonestar from Alchemy yarns the color way is Southern View.I have had this yarn for several years just waiting for the right project. I think this sweater is it. The entire sweater is made in garter stitch. You first make the back then the front piece, sew up the shoulders and then pick up and knit the sleeves down. The collar is a rounded scoop neck. The down side is all you do is knit so it does get boring after a while, thus why I'm spinning so much.

spinning with a little bit of glitter

Spinning with a little bit of glitter is a beautiful thing. These four skeins are all single plys that I added some specialty manufactured yarns too. The two multi colored skeins are a wool singles that I spun and then plyed with some Rowan Kid silk haze that I had left over from some other project. The two solid skeins are plied with glitter. The grey lavender color one is a wool silk blend. The pink skein is a blend of camel, silk and angora. If you are a spinner you might try plying some of your left over yarns with some hand spun singles. The one thing to keep in mind is spin your single S as in clockwise and then ply them Z. The reason for this is most professionally spun yarns are spun that way so that when you put the two together they will join the proper way.

March's dishcloths of the Month

I haven't just been spinning and dyeing roving. I have been doing some knitting too. Here are my two dishcloths of the month. I really love how the bunny worked up. I have made this one before and really like the look. The textured one was new to me and I just love how it worked int he Keylime color way. I believe these were both done with Sugar and Cream yarns. I am beginning to get a large collection of dishcloths. My plan it to give them away at Christmas time with a bar of hand made soap to those who are friends and family.

A new Top down sweater?

Well after I did all that dyeing of rovings for the Fiber show coming up. I was inspired to dye some roving for a Top down sweater. If you have read my blog for any length of time then you know that I really love making the top down sweater from www.knittingpureandsimple.com . So I ordered 3 pounds of Blue Face Leister wool from wood land wool works. www.spinology.com I wanted to make sure I would have enough to make whatever version that I wanted once the yarn was spun. Its kind of hard to see but the color way is navy blue, light raspberry, mint green and lilac. I figure it was a springy color in the dead of winter and it will also go great with jeans. So far I have spun about 12 ounces, so I have a ways to go but I'm really happy with the way its coming out. Its about a worsted weight yarn and I'm making into a 3 ply so that it will wear better then the usual 2 ply.

Fiber Fiber Fiber everywhere Fiber

I know I know I have not updated my blog in quite while. Well I have been busy. I have been finishing up some little things. The first thing I finished up was to hand paint some roving. A couple of friends of mine and myself are planning on attending a fiber show and sale in May and in the next few days I will be helping hand paint some yarns. My part was to paint some rovings. On this picture I have 9 4 ounce lengths. I have to say the first few were fun but by the time I got to the 5th or 6th one I was having trouble coming up with something new. In the pictures of the bundled up hanks you can see the different color ways. It has been such a grey winter that I was defiantly inspired by spring and spring colors.