Progress, and some great news for spinners

If you are a spinner, scroll down to find out more about this picture and why you should be excited....

Meanwhile: You can't say I haven't been knitting.

I finished my husband's Inka hat, only he was too camera-shy (?) to model it early yesterday morning, so my nephew had to stand in.

I gave the details of the pattern in my last post and I'm too pressed for time to go back and list them again. Bottom line: a really good pattern, perfect for using up worsted scraps. Here's the nice, non-messy wrong side, thanks to two-handed stranded knitting:

I like the way the pattern was written, the earflaps are big and designed not to curl out, and although the initial set-up is a bit fiddly for my tastes, the only finishing was pulling a thread through the last few remaining stitches. I have not yet started my Holiday Headstart Christmas knitting (a la Spinnerella) but this may be something I work up a second time as a gift. Hey, it took slowpoke me less than a week.

Of course, I did spend two days at a wrestling tournament in New York, so there was ample knitting time. The Peru Invitational is typically very tough for our school, and this year was no exception. Where we had 3 first-place finishers at a tournament last week, this time only one of those wrestlers even made it to the finals. It was our boy.

And he won!

Here he is shortly after winning, with the only thing he likes better than wrestling:

Meanwhile, back at knitting central, I wanted to get going on my Kitty Pi. But first, I had to prepare for an outdoor field trip I am chaperoning next week. Since the weather is finally turning a bit wintry around here, and since my gigantic hair is not good for hats, I cast on for Calorimetry, using the remnants of hand-dyed handspun merino silk I made before Christmas. I love this stuff! (And I actually plan to be selling some of this roving, dyed, if I can ever get caught up around here.)

The pattern is written for worsted yarn on size 8 needles, but I was warned by more than one knitter that going down a needle size might be a good idea. I even swatched, a rarity for me, and found that since my yarn is actually bulky, I had to go down to a size 4 to get gauge. No problem; it's still nice and soft and not too stiff.

In the meantime, I got a great idea for the Kitty Pi: Why not use bulky handspun? I don't have any bulky handspun on hand, but I've been wanting to get back to the wheel, so... I have some gray/tan stuff from the VT S&W a few years back lying around. I decided to use it as is and then dye up some white roving in many colors and ply them together, for a tweedy color/tan effect. No pictures yet, as the roving is not yet dry. Here's the dilemma, however: I believe that the roving was a gift from Lynne of Yarnivorous. This stuff is fantastic. I think she was sending me a sample of Polwarth from down under, only I've lost the label. Am I a bad spinner if I wasted it on a felted cat bed? Does it deserve better? I'm mostly excited about spinning it, so it just occurred to me afterward that I need to save it for a better project. Lynne?

Also, the shop is about to be updated. I haven't gotten to it yet, as I spent the day at an alpaca farm (more on that below, as promised), but there will be 5 Real Vermonter wool/mohair sock yarns:

I also have six superwash merino/nylon sock yarns waiting to be skeined and photographed. Check back tomorrow.

The Run Yourself Ugly challenge is keeping me on my toes. I've added 8.25 miles this week between walking, running, and some elliptical-trainer-type stuff. Total is now 14.75 miles.

But let's talk about something else. Like these:

Now, since you must be interested in alpaca news if you are still reading this far, how would you like the chance to own your own alpaca fleece? I have four ready to sell. These are fleeces from Champlain Valley Alpacas (owned by Jenny and Les Foshay). I met them and their alpacas today and got to look at and touch dozens of fleeces in a wide range of colors.

I had many to choose from and finally settled on just four for now, in four natural colors, including a rare charcoal gray. I don't have pictures of each individual fleece yet, but I plan on posting them tomorrow. They will be available for now as whole fleeces at a 10 percent discount off the per-ounce price, and if they haven't sold by next week, I'll start posting them to A Piece of Vermont, available by the ounce.

I am even going to spin up some of the fiber myself, so I can share its yumminess on the blog. I have been reading a lot about alpaca fiber lately, and I have read that good fiber is indeed crimpy and can indeed hold its shape when knitted, even without wool added. Here's a teaser:

Yum!

The fleece I hope to work on is from Eve, who had a run-in with some burdocks recently and had to be sheared out of season. Here she is:

Her fleece is a lovely "light fawn" color and sooooo soft. I also have fleeces from Cowboy (I think the white, above, is his):

Guy (charcoal):

and Mercy (black):

You'll have to come back tomorrow to see the fleeces up close. What a day. I'm still in a slight fiber fog after touching all that gorgeous fiber. Clouds. It's like clouds. Where am I?

Comments

[Carole]

Wait. Did someone say fleece? Alpaca fleece?

[trek]

I like the ribbing!

[Kim]

Jessie, I have to say, every time you post photos of your yarn for A Piece of Vt, my mouse hand strays to go to your shop and buy! This is no good for a girl who has 3 skeins of yours still to be knitted (2 are wound into balls...one might get started tonight). Also I have a brand-new, 4-day-old blog now! But you might want to wait to take a look until after the weekend, because I haven't figured out how to post photos yet....

[Carrie]

Eve is a beauty! Wow, you need to post more often, girl, because I'm going to have to reread this long thing about four times to make sure I got everything. Hm, let's see: beautiful yarn, hooray for wrestler-son and pretty girlfriend, lovely roving, and where are the poultry?
(I think I got it all)
Oh wait, nice hat, too.

[Dave]

Great hat. I've been thinking about hats recently,and I think ear flaps are the way to go. Congrats to your son!

[Lynn in Tucson]

Jessie, I just wanted to let you know that I saw Carrie's finished Clapotis yesterday, out of the yarn you dyed for her. It's beautiful! What a treat to see your lovely colors in person!
All the best,
Lynn

[stephanie]

Holy smack that kid has some muscles! Yikes!

Too bad I don't spin - those are some really lovely fleeces!

[lynne s of Oz]

I can see that wrestling is veyr good for the physique. No I am not going to take it up :-)
It is likely that the stuff I sent you is polwarth, very likely. Plus it may even be hand processed. Polwarth is on par with merino for softness but has even more bounce. It was a gift to you. You can do with it as you please (I on the other hand would not use it in a felted cat bed but would spin it into something for next to the human skin softness and warmth).

[Andrea]

That first alpaca photo is *adorable*!!!

[margene]

Congrats to the boy! Love the alpacas...so cute and the hat is fabulous. Nice work.

[Jane]

Adorable alpaca + lovely hat + pretty yarn + celebrating boy = a great blog-read!

[Jasmine]

Great hat!! I think I owe my mom a hat with ear flaps but I have to finish her sweater first. COngrats to your step son!! I am showing restraint for the moment and not buying any yarn from you but you know that likely won't last long.

[Lindy]

yummy alpaca,
when did the poodle clutching husband become shy?

[Carol]

So much going on there! Congrats on first place in wrestling! And man, do I wish I could spin. Those little faces are just too cute! Nice hat too! Gotta move north AND learn to spin.

[Tina]

That close-up picture is so adorable!! A whole alpacka fleece sounds lovley, you shouldn't have any problem getting rid of them :)

And that hat is really really nice! Love the colours as well as the pattern. I can see why you'd want to make more of them.

And as for the handspun kitty pi - go for it! I don't think you can "waste" handspun. You like spinning it - and it's getting used. What more can you ask for?

[cheekiemary]

Can't wait until I become an accomplished enough knitter to justify my desire to learning spinning and dyeing to my DH! I'll be back for alpaca (my fav farm animal) when I get to that stage. Congrats to the boy on his win.

[Susan]

The Calorimetry can end up VERY huge VERY quickly, can't it? The one I made for my friend would cover a basketball-sized head quite perfectly, but other than that limited option it's simply Too Big. Once my brain was plugged in & I realized how the pattern worked, though, I gave up actually looking at the pattern and just knitted my second one until it was the right size - much more fun & less fiddly that way!

(And lucky you, your merino silk probably isn't as insanely itchy as my Paton's SWS is!)

{...scratch, scratch, scratch...}

[JessaLu]

...going to go sulk in a corner now...

(can't buy fiber 'til April 1 and am allergic to Alpaca. Life sucks for me right now.)

[Robin]

OH, that face!! What a wonderful face! I LOVE alpaca! Haven't worked with it yet but love the feel.

[Stephanie]

Oh, if I didn't have an entire fleece and some alpaca roving, I'd be mighty tempted. I haven't started any projects for my Holiday Headstart either. Plus, I really don't have that many ideas. Hats and socks maybe. I was also thinking of sewing some pajama pants or something. There just isn't enough time in the day.

[Judy]

See you tomorrow!
Black alpaca, :-)

[Teyani]

oo-la la, what lovely fiber.
and I love the hat! Too bad your hubby was in a shy mood - perhaps you'll have to get him to pose with the pooch to get a good photo.
I just love your yarns!

[Hollyeqq]

I love Alpaca. It is my favorite right now to spin with and to knit with. It suits my climate and dyes up beautifully.
Enjoy
Holly