KNIT Mag Sock Club #3 - HipKnits

I've really been enjoying the KNIT Magazine sock club so far. The patterns haven't really caught my attention, but the yarns have been awesome. The first two shipments were Skein Queen and The Yarn Yard. The third installment is HipKnits.

There were some exciting extras in my package -- firstly, and most apparently when the parcel arrived, a copy of the new issue of Handmade Living. It's a lovely mag, even if I don't do many craft things other than knitting. The highlight of the mag for me is an interview with Susan Crawford, author of the Stitch in Time books! They've also included a fair isle sweater pattern from the first book. (Frustratingly, as a vintage pattern, no charts! Agh!) There are also some nice recipes, including red velvet cupcakes. Mmm.

Stapled to my magazine was also a raffle ticket - I'm not quite sure what this is for yet, but something will be going on with our ticket numbers in the sock club Ravelry group. :)

Everyone got different colors, so it was still a mystery to me what my yarn would be even after seeing some other peoples' yarns on Ravelry. Mine turned out to be a muted green and gray variegated. It's a nice fat sock yarn, 100% organic merino. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, yet, but I'll think of something.

~Joyuna

Interwoven Hat in fall issue of Knitcircus!

My newest pattern is called Interwoven, available in the new fall 2011 issue of Knitcircus. It's a quick cabled beanie with an unusual twist - the cables start winding around the horizontal brim, and then they continue up the hat. Who says cables can only go in one direction? Break out of the box and knit them any direction you like!

Photo courtesy of Knitcircus
The hat is available in three sizes and its classic style means it would suit either a man or a woman. Cables create a nice thick fabric, and it would be super-cozy in a wool yarn. What a twisted way to keep warm!

Sizes: S [M, L] to fit head circumference of 18" [20-22", 24"]
Yarn: About 100 [100, 150]g of DK-weight yarn (Shown: Debbie Bliss Rialto DK)
Needles: US 6 / 4mm DPNs
Special Techniques: Knitting in the round, cables



~Joyuna

Spinning notes: Angora

I got a 10g sample of angora rabbit top from Sara's Texture Crafts, part of her exotic fiber sampler.

Angora is a very fine, short-stapled fiber from angora rabbits. Angora yarns exhibit a distinct halo.

The top was pretty compacted, so prior to spinning I had to do a bit of fluffing. After opening up the top, the true nature of angora was apparent. The unspun fiber is buttery soft to the touch, and flies everywhere when you spin it. The fiber is a really brilliant white - I'm not sure whether that's the natural color or if it was bleached.

Angora wanted to be spun much finer than wool, and with a lot of twist. Most of my yarns were 17-20wpi, but the Angora ended up 25wpi.

I was expecting the angora to fluff up and halo after washing and whacking, but actually the finished yarn remained quite smooth. It's fine and wonderfully soft to the touch. I was really taken by the softness, but not so much by the spinning of it - short-stapled and slippery, it was one of the more trying fibers I've ever spun. I do wonder how it would work in a blend - keeping the soft handle, with some ease of spinning by adding in a little bit of a longer fiber.

In the future, I'd like to try spinning an angora-merino blend, perhaps. I'm not sure if I'd like to spin pure angora again, because it was a little frustrating. However, the finished yarn is fantastic - so I'd like to work with laceweight angora yarns in the future, but perhaps not handspun ones.

~Joyuna

Tajik Textiles - Jurabe Socks

It's been over a year since my trip to Tajikistan, and I long to return. The people were kind and I learned so much, not only language but also about many other things. Going through my photos, I realized there were a few other fiber and textile pictures I hadn't blogged about yet. These are cell phone pics, so sorry about the rubbish quality.

Here's a charkha I found at TSUM, the nearest thing Dushanbe has to a shopping centre. If I remember right, it was going for about 120 som, or roughly $30 USD. Unfortunately, it didn't work. If it were functional, and I had had the suitcase space for it, it would have come home with me. I also saw some handmade socks...

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Read the Knitblog on your Kindle!

Joyarna Knitblog is now available on Kindle! You can get this blog delivered wirelessly to your Kindle device. It's free to try out for the first 14 days, so why not take the knitblog with you wherever you go?

Look, a recursive website!

~Joyuna

Prepping my first fleece

At Knit Nation I picked up a half-kilo of Gotland fleece from Well Manor Farm. I've never worked with sheep's fleece before, and I used to swear I wouldn't. I've worked with alpaca fleece and loved it, but sheep fleece has a couple major differences from alpaca: first, sheep are generally dirtier animals than alpacas are. An alpaca fleece may be dusty, and have a little bit of veggie matter in it, but sheep fleeces contain all sorts of muck.

Secondly, sheep's fleece has lanolin, a grease that lubricates the wool and keeps it from felting on the sheep. You may be familiar with lanolin from skincare products, as it is beneficial for the skin. But, it also gets everywhere else and, if you leave a sheep fleece for too long, the lanolin will begin to harden and the fleece will be unusable unless you can soften it again. Some fleece is spun 'in the grease', but most of the time a sheep's fleece will need to be scoured, washed of all its lanolin before you work with it.

With my alpaca fleeces, I've just spun basically straight off the animal -- taking a handful of fiber and carding it or flicking open the locks open. Sheep fleece takes a little bit more prep. So, I was a little bit hesitant about the fleece. I spread it all out in my shower for sorting...

Keep in mind this is only 500g of fleece. A full fleece would be about 3kg!

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More Egyptian Fiber at the Petrie Museum

I didn't just see socks at the Petrie Museum at University College London - I noticed a few other interesting bits of textile as well.

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4th Century Egyptian Socks

On my most recent trip to London, I visited UCL's Petrie Museum of Egyptology. I always keep an eye out for fiber and textiles artifacts when I'm in a museum, but I wasn't expecting to see much. Instead, I was just enjoying the mind-bogglingly extensive collection of ancient Egyptian relics. Until...

I was moving towards a new display case. First, I saw the spindles. Then, my eyes drifted to the right, and there they were: A pair of socks, in beautiful condition. Sure, there were a couple holes, but these socks are 1700 years old, and they're in better shape than some of my own knitted socks!

Interestingly, these socks feature a split toe - like 'tabi socks' or sandal socks. They're fairly short and have a rolled hem.

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Final Grateful Crane donation to MSF

July is over, and I've tallied up the sales for The Grateful Crane shawl -- since adding the shawl to Patternfish, there has been an uptick of sales. So, the last donation totals to $33 or about £20.11.


Together, we raised over $90 for Doctors Without Borders - a big thank you to everyone who purchased the pattern. I'm pleased we've made a little bit of a difference with this pattern - and I'm sure it will mean a lot to whomever the aid ends up helping.

~Joyuna