Preparing to spin!

Now that you have your fibers all picked out we can prepare to spin!

This is the point when you have to really decide what weight you would like your shawl to be. Often I will let the fiber “tell” me what it wants to be as I start to spin.

I started my “test spin” with a merino tencel braid as it is my favorite fiber to spin and gives me the most accurate results. Some time ago I came across this Knitty Spin Article which helped me a lot in preparing myself for the sweater spinning.

Keeping in mind that the fibers will bloom after the twist is set, I spun to a thick DK weight and expect a light worsted weight for my final shawl. ETA: Whoops sorry folks, it was supposed to say worsted all along!

For large project spinning like this I usually use my bulky flier so that I can make sure that all of my 4 oz braid fits on one bobbin to minimize ends and small skeins. However, this is not essential…just spin as you are comfortable!

At this point I will be spinning away for a while and trying to keep my “test spin” in mind while I change fibers. In between spinning sessions I will sit down and look at patterns, keeping in mind the texture and colours of the shawl. Something simple so that the handspun is the show piece of the shawl!

I am very excited to announce that I will be attending the Toronto’s DKC Knitter’s Frolic as a Vendor this year!!

Last year I was unable to attend due to my glorious Sea Socks Cruise!

I will be bringing a bunch of my favorite yarns, hopefully some of you will come out and see me!

Any local knitters have a request for certain yarns to be displayed? I was unable to secure a double booth so my space is limited.

I swear spring is coming. Ignore the fact that we had more snow yesterday…it didn’t stick so it doesn’t count.

This morning as I lay in bed I heard a bird chirping…I swear!! Ok, I may have still been dreaming, but it really did sound like a bird chirping as far as I can remember.

Things are coming along over at the March Sweater Madness blog and since we had so much fun we are going to continue on for April WIP/UFO finish up month. This works with my plans well…I am getting the spring cleaning bug and have many UFO’s that I really want to finish up.

We would love to have you join us and rid yourself of UFO’s!! I will be finishing my first handspun sweater…only about a year in the making on this one…the second handspun sweater took about a month and is finished and awaiting her photo shoot!

In store news I have a bunch of new goodies to put up! Stay tuned for more info…I am just getting them all organized

I will leave your with a photo of my “Look How Pretty My Yarn Is!” Shawl on the beach in Savanah!

Picking your pallet!

As many of you know I was planning on doing a “how to” series on spinning a sweater…I will still be working on that, but was inspired to spin another shawl so here we go! Much of the premise is the same!

This is a little inside look on how I spin for my shawls. I’m sure everyone is different.

First things first…the fiber. Much of my shawl yarns come from my large sized fiber stash. The first shawl I spun for was a bulky weight purple themed feather and fan shawl.

This shawl has given me warmth on so many days and nights…in fact..it is starting to pill. With this in mind I have decided firstly that I want a superwash shawl which will help with the pilling. I also felt that I wanted a lighter airy shawl to go with the spring theme. As many of you know I seem to have a problem with pink/purple tones, I wanted to do something different and push myself outside of my usual colour pallet. I also knew that I wanted a larger shawl than the first so I added more rovings and came up with a total of 9. Nine rovings will give me a good number of colour changes for the shawl.

When you start to organize your ideas for spinning a project keep in mind one thing, it does not always go to plan…stay flexible!

Picking rovings for my second shawl was not as easy as the first because I didn’t not have all of these colours in superwash…so I did a little shopping and came up with this.

The Pallet from left to right:

Strudel-Funky Carolina Merino/tencel-soon to be in the shop, Funky Carolina- Unknown gift, Funky Carolina-Charleston Superwash Merino soon to be in the shop, Funky Carolina-Mulbery Bright SW merino soon to be in the shop, Funky Carolina-Faerie SW merino, Funky Carolina-Floretta Merino Tencel, Funky Carolina SW merino in zizzix and Sweet Sheep SW merino in wildflowers and nearly Neutral.

It is a good idea to pick one roving that really pops out from the rest. If you look at the first photo the turqoise really pops out above the rest of the colours. For this shawl I went with a bit more of a subtle approach as they were more earthy tones and picked the zizzix to be a bit different from the other colours. I am fully aware that this could backfire, I will be able to see this when all of the yarns are spun.

As you many have noticed I have not yet chosen a pattern for the shawl..there is a reason for this…as stated above not everything goes to plan…so I usually wait to see what weight I spin and the yardage before picking a pattern.

Summary:

Picking your pallet

1. Chose a fiber you want to spin and that you want to knit. Also keep price range in mind and quantity!

2. Think about how you want the colours to play together. Think about what season you will likely wear the shawl in.

3. Think about size and desired (approx) yardage.

4. Pick your colours from your stash or buy what you like…if you have a feeling one colour will not fit with the shaw, go with your gut!

5. Look at your wardrobe..what colours fit?

6. Pick on colour that pops a bit, but still fits in to your pallet

HAVE FUN picking your pallet…if anyone is interested in spinning along with me let me know!

Questions and comments are more than welcome!

Hey Y’all!

I have been enjoying the beautiful weather in Atlanta (minus the tornado).  There has been a lot of fiber discussion this week which has lead me to spark up the fiber club again! I am really excited to do the club again as I have been expoloring new techniques.

Here is the official description:
The Sweet Sheep fiber Club is back with a new format!
This subscription is for 3 consecutive months of fiber. The fibers will change from month to month so you get a variety of fibers, which makes the club great for beginning spinners too!
Braids will be between  4-5 oz of roving and 2oz on months of luxury fibers.

Fibers will ship by the end of the month. This round runs from April-June.

The cost of the club includes air mail shipping.

Spaces are very limited.

Hello Yarn Lovers!!
I will be away from the store from Thursday March 13th to the 20th soaking up some much needed sun in Atlanta!
All orders in by 5pm EST on Wed March 12th will ship before I leave. Regular shipping will resume on Friday March 21st.
Hope you all have a great week!!

Sorry for the blog absence…I have no idea where I have been!

There has been packing of orders, dyeing, planning, re organizing….and knitting!

Most of you probably don’t know but I teach classes at my LYS so I have been putting together a pattern (very very basic pattern) to show off your hand dyed yarns. I have so many beautiful hand dyed yarns that just absolutely would lose a lace pattern in a shawl…but I want a shawl from them…so I am working on a basic stockinette shawl.

Check out the shawl blob photo

I am also multi tasking by test knitting a new yarn that I am dyeing. It is a high twist superwash merino that I have dyed in 8oz for shawls, tank tops, knee highs…ect. Although I love socks I have been finding that my single skeins want to be projects other than socks and scarves so I will be dyeing these base yarns in 8oz skeins.

The pattern will be in the shop when I am done for a very small fee because it is just such a basic pattern. I am also hoping to have a selection of the tight twist and soft spun shawl yarns next week. The soft spun yarns are in semi solid colourways for more of the lacy shawls!

I have also been uploading a LOT of yarns to the shop including some HANDSPUN yarns which are just stunning one of a kind skeins!

Hopefully I will have an FO shawl for you later this week…I can’t wait to block it and wrap myself in it. Mother Nature has yet to agree with me that it is time for spring and slammed us with another storm, but I am ignoring her and moving on with my shawls!!

March brings us one step closer to spring…and that makes me happy!

March Sweater Madness is in full swing!

Today is the last day for my Huge Inventory Sale…tomorrow I will start updating with all of the new yarns that have come in such as:

Ceyeberfiber worsted and feltable yarns

Dream in Color Baby lace and more of the new sock  yarn colours

Seacoast Handpainted Sock yarn

Avery Allison sock yarns

Lots and lots of Funky Carolina rovings, BFL, superwash merino, merino tencel and south african fine!

All of these wonderful products will go up in the shop over the course of this week including 3 new JOLENE MOSELY Designs!