Thursday, November 04, 2010

Three-way fractals

My three-way fractal socks are finished.

They don't look as stripey as the traditional two-way fractals. I think it was also because the original fiber was not all that stripey to begin with. I am very happy with it nonetheless.

I tried another three-way fractals with a Blue-faced Liester/silk blend top from All Spun Up. The fiber has more distinct color repeats, so hopefully it will show up more when knitted up. Presenting Miss Crabtree:

I got about 150 yards, light-worsted weight (about 11 wraps per inch) out of the 4-oz braid. I have a full sweater-worth of this fiber (24 ounces) but I doubt I will make a sweater out of it. Most likely I will split it up and make several accessories out of it. I may just do only another three-way fractals and spin the rest two-ply for a lace shawl. Or navajo-ply... the possibility is endless.

Whatever it is will have to wait until after the holidays. The gift spinning/knitting must begin in ernest now, as I have quite a list. There are several November and December birthdays in between too!

Here is a first November birthday present for a knitting friend:

Alpaca/merino blend from Pigeonroof Studios. This was my first time spinning alpaca and I like it a lot. Will have to get more alpaca fiber. I got really good yardage too. Over 500 yards fingering out of two 4-oz braids, two-ply.

This sec0nd one is also a birthday present. It is a hybrid. No spinning here. I combined three mittens/gloves/fingerless gloves patterns to get these:


The original pattern is the "texting mittens" from the October Spin Off magazine. I combined that with the Urban Necessity Gloves and the Fiddlehead Mittens. The yarns used are Cascade 220 Superwash and Noro Kureyon. I like these a lot. I might do some more with a combination commercial/handspun yarns.

In the meantime I have to get cranking on hats, scarfs and socks for the holiday gifts. And a sweater for my mom.

See you behind the (spinning) wheel.