If I knit wool, Fall will come

Posted on | October 15, 2007 | 13 Comments

This has been my mantra for the past few months.  Mother Nature finally got the message this weekend and we enjoyed cool breezes, the sound of leaves scritching across the deck and watching daredevil squirrels collect pecans from the very ends of branches.  I’d like to think of that as the sign of an impending long, cold winter, but I think the squirrels are just greedy.

I did not sew in the zipper on my SAFF Sweater.  I’m a huge slacker.  This weekend was all about slacking.  I did finish a sleeve on Stripey-Tweedy, however.

CIMG4384-1.JPG

I hope to start and finish the second sleeve this week and if the raglan yoke goes as quickly as it did on my last sweater, I’ll have two new sweaters to take to SAFF!

I’ve also been doing some spinning, more out of necessity than desire, unfortunately.  I’ve been on a real knitting kick lately, the result of which is that I suffered all of last week with Knitter’s Neck.  Bad posture, knitting for hours on end without a break or even a stretch – this is not a good idea.  I could hardly turn my head without being in pain and once I realized what it was, I eased up on the knitting some. 

CIMG4376-1.JPG

My spinning has suffered during my hiatus.  This is one ply of a wool blend batt from Miss Babs, and one ply of tussah silk dyed by Abby.  They go very well together and the colors are great (better than this picture shows), but my spinning is uneven and my plying more so.   Spinning is like riding a bicycle in that you don’t forget how to do it, but the more you practice, the better the results. 

Category: spinning, sweaters

Comments

13 Responses to “If I knit wool, Fall will come”

  1. Liz
    October 15th, 2007 @ 5:37 pm

    the stripey sweater looks really nice, love the contrast with the edging.

    Ah… knitters neck, and because I dabble with spindle spinning, spinner’s shoulder…
    Hope it feels much better!

  2. Carrie
    October 15th, 2007 @ 5:51 pm

    Oooh, pretty pretty! The sweater looks great and the spinning looks nice to me! I know that neck pain well. Alas.

  3. Jennifer
    October 15th, 2007 @ 9:17 pm

    frick! I can’t wait until you drive up here so we can dye/spin/whatever! I’m restricting myself from purchasing any yarn at all until my stash is depleted COMPLETELY. Well, mostly completely. Anyway, I’m jonesin’ for ysome homespun!

  4. Becky
    October 16th, 2007 @ 6:58 am

    I love the sweater, what I can see of it. The stripes are beautiful and I love the contrasting brown on the
    cuff of the sleeve.

  5. Crazy For Yarn In Alabama
    October 16th, 2007 @ 8:52 am

    TWO sweaters????? Oh My….you have been busy!!! Hope your neck gets better soon!!! Love the wool/silk blend yarn!!

  6. Jen
    October 16th, 2007 @ 9:06 am

    oh, the Stripey-Tweedy is looking so yummy! i love the color combo.

  7. Ginny
    October 16th, 2007 @ 10:34 am

    I’m going to see if I can’t get us an athletic trainer for our fibre maladies. My carpal tunnel is acting up, too. After a summer of nearly no knitting due to the heat, I’m making up for lost time. Back to the sexy wrist braces!

  8. Monika
    October 16th, 2007 @ 11:28 am

    I can’t agree more! I like knitting so much, spinning too, but spinning takes so long to see a result. I’m now trying to spin each day a little bit, to get it more even. Your stripy tweed sleeve looks fantastic!
    I think I got luckey with my last 2-ply, and how the colores turned out. I’m not a spinner who thinks a lot before spinning, I’m always amazed at what the outcome is. ;o)

  9. jenifleur
    October 16th, 2007 @ 2:06 pm

    I think we jinxed ourselves. We’re both ending up with two new sweaters for SAFF and all the extended weather reports point to temps in the high 70s. If the mob comes after us with pitchforks, I’ll light my CPH and throw it at them and you start hurling knitting needles!

  10. Jen
    October 16th, 2007 @ 4:15 pm

    I really love the colors on the stripey sweater! Can’t wait to see it finished!

  11. Tonia
    October 16th, 2007 @ 9:54 pm

    The sweater edging is very pretty.

    Your hand spun is lovely. Isn’t the point of hand spun to look like it has been done by hand? ;)

  12. Judy
    October 17th, 2007 @ 9:05 am

    I like the strips, great color.. autumn and winter will come. Count on it.

  13. Miss Scarlett
    October 21st, 2007 @ 4:24 pm

    Finally catching up on your blog. Boy have you been busy!

    A gorgeous sweater – with steeks!! I love it – cannot wait to see you model it with its zipper.

    I love your stripey sweater too – how quickly you’ve knit a sweater in a fingering weight yarn. Very impressive.

    Your handspun handplied yarn looks beautiful. Very luxe – silk tussah. Yum.