Spin to Knit!

October 7, 2006 By

Note: Shannon was kind enough to share her day with Seraphim, my recently finished handspun handknit shawl. I’ve peppered the interview with pictures taken at the Getty Museum in LA where the shawl and I were generously photographed by Julia. More pictures and relevant information about this project appear after the jump. Thanks!

hellohello? Is this thing on? Hi everyone! I’d like to introduce you to Shannon Okey, esteemed author of Knitgrrl and Knitgrrl2 and the new Spin to Knit: The Knitter’s Guide to Making Yarn published by Interweave Press. Shannon’s book is sort of a how-to/pattern book with something for everyone interested in spinning.

She teaches you the basics of spindle spinning, wheel spinning, drafting, and plying along side introductions to fantastic spinners, dyers, and fiber artists across the country, as well as giving you great patterns for putting your new handspun yarn to use! It’s all here!

Before we start the interview, I’m going to pull out a joke because I’m a little bit nervous about this and you’ve had some tough interviews this week and I’m not really feeling so Mike Wallace-ish . So a joke it is:

A chicken and an egg are laying in bed together. The chicken rolls over, lights a cigarette, turns to the egg and says “Well, I guess we answered that question.” (I will use every opportunity to tell this joke!)

1/1: So, Shannon, which comes first, the pattern or the handspun?

SO: For me, it’s the handspun. I really, really admire someone like June Oshiro who can sit down and say “I want a yarn with this, this, this and this quality.” Then she sits down and tests and samples to gets just what she wants. I admit it: I have no patience for that. I could if I really wanted to, but I don’t want to. I just want to knit! What happens in practice is something like the Laurabelle Swedish heart shrug in the book: Kristen Welsh spun all these gorgeous little samples from the same roving, plied and drafted differently, thinking I’d just take a look at the samples and use the main yarn instead. Oh no – when you look at that pattern (you can’t tell unless you’re up close) I actually used everything she sent, samples and all. I thought “hey, it’s all from the same roving, it’ll look great” – and it did!

1/1: I just completed my first handspun project, the Seraphim shawl, and while I was spinning away, I knew that I would be using the yarn for a shawl. I just didn’t know which shawl. When spinning yarn that you know you want to use for a large project, how much planning do you think you have to do in advance?

SO: Good for you! I lack patience. (What, you couldn’t have figured that out by my last answer?) I can plan…but usually end up knitting before I really “should.” Maybe it’s just luck, but it always seems to work for me. I was told when I first began to spin that you should spin enough for the entire project before you start knitting, but I don’t think I’ve ever done that! There’s good reasoning behind it – if you’re working with a natural fleece or a multicolor roving, you may want to switch balls occasionally to avoid huge stripes of one color next to another, and if you’re not a super-technical spinner, you may want to balance out the slightly different weights of yarn that result.

For me, the advance planning would come in only if I know I only have X amount of the one roving I want to use – say I’m making a sweater and there’s nowhere near enough fiber, but I’ll supplement with another yarn (handspun or commercial – that’s the beautiful part about many patterns in Spin to Knit – you can mix and match handspun with stuff from the store if you like). I’d spin up the limited-amount stuff first, measure how much I have and then figure out what comes next, whether it’s buying 500 yards of yarn at the store to mix in, or spinning something else to make up the shortfall.

1/1: One of the things I love about Spin to Knit is that you have sort of a laissez-faire approach to the whole craft. If the yarn looks good, it’s a WIN! I completely agree. I can’t really be bothered with all of the technical stuff – I just want to spin pretty yarn that I can use. But what I found with my own project is that handspun doesn’t act like commercial yarn. (DUH.) I actually had to switch needle sizes halfway through the project because one skein of yarn was so different from the other skein of yarn. Do you have any suggestions for working around the peculiarities of handspun? Other than having an open mind and being flexible?

SO: This is where Denise and other interchangeable-needle-tip needles really come in handy! That’s probably my favorite way to address that particular problem. In the case of something like a sweater, I actually think the slightly different gauges give it character – after all, if you wanted a 100% perfectly-knit sweater you probably wouldn’t even handknit it, you’d go to the store! But with something more delicate like a lace shawl, you don’t want some big slub in the middle of a pattern repeat, right? In that case, I’d probably rip out the slubby section and go to the next “good” section. You’re right: open mind + flexibility = success.

1/1: Another one of my favorite parts of the book are your interviews with fiber artists from all over the place. They all have great stories to tell and I love the tips! I can’t wait to try Angela Ho’s spice shaker cap plying template (p. 71) where she suggests using a cap with holes to keep the various singles in order when plying. Any other fantastic tips that didn’t make it into the book?

SO: More than you could imagine. I’d tell you, but then what would I put in Spin to Knit 2? (Which doesn’t actually exist yet, but might if enough of you buy this one. Wait – was that a little too obvious?)

1/1: The absolute BEST part of the book for me? The pre-drafting section. Hands down. GREAT pictures of what the fiber looks like before during and after pre-drafting. Excellent. When I was first learning to spin, pre-drafting was what made everything click for me. I don’t remember where I first learned about it ( it wasn’t
in any of the books I had at the time) but it was ESSENTIAL to learning how to spin and it wasn’t talked about enough. Not really a question, I guess, but I just wanted to say thanks for that section. Nicely done.

SO: Say thanks to my mom, the photographer. She’s the one who had to resist the urge to run off and play with the dog during the photoshoot. I’ll send her your regards…

1/1: What is your favorite handspun project EVER? And what’s your favorite handspun yarn EVER? Do you have any fiber preferences when it comes to spinning?

SO: Oooooooh, you’re going to make me decide among my children? Come on, Solomon, that’s unfair. Ok, if you had me up against a firing-squad wall, I’d say the hat on the cover, because it’s made of the very first roving I ever dyed, and I just love it. Sentimental value + awesome colors. As for favorite handspun yarn ever, I am very very partial to the one that got away – lesson learned, if you see something online you like, buy it immediately because when it’s gone, it’s gone. It was shades of purple plied with a yellow plying thread, which made it look like irises. I wouldn’t have even knitted it, I just would’ve wanted to stare at it all day.

Fiber-wise, I’m all about the wool… or wool with a little something extra blended in, like tencel (which dyes a slightly different shade than the surrounding fiber, and makes a cool effect when you spin it).

1/1: What attracted you to spinning? I know for me, it was all about color. I wanted to make gorgeous barber pole yarns. I didn’t really care about that whole sheep to shawl thing. What about you? Ready to raise some sheep?

SO: Oh yes. Color, please, yesthankyouma’am. I do want sheep, but my ever-patient and loving boyfriend says no, you live in the city. (So I’m working on that. Anyone got land in southern Maine they want to sell? We’ll move in a heartbeat).

1/1: Last Spring I sort of organized this event, which I called Spin Out. It was a lot of fun and we managed to raise a little bit of cash and turn on some new spinners. I’m thinking of doing it again next year – want to come and play with us? I promise it will be fun. SAY YES!

SO: How could I say no to an emphatic request like that? Of course!

Thank you Shannon for providing a new resource for spinners! One that’s accessible on all levels, beautifully crafted and chock full of fibery goodness. Good luck with the book and the rest of your tour. I’m sure you’re in GREAT hands with Lolly on Monday. Although if she starts talking about socks, I say RUN. 😉

Keep reading for pictures and info on my handspun shawl….

[Read more…]

Filed Under: blog book tours, Handknit Handspun, Seraphim

HARK! The Herald Angel Sings!

September 27, 2006 By

This is how much yarn I had left after weaving in all the ends:

This is a taste of what the shawl looks like blocked:

This is what you get to start when the TSA workers leave your knitting alone (even though the woman should’ve paid me after the body search. Does she think I give that shit away?):

And this is what mother nature does when she is gloriously happy with the way my knitting is progressing:

It’s HOT. But in that dry, no humidity, are they fucking kidding me with that shit burn your skin off kind of heat. Yesterday we found a salt water pool which is like swimming in a silk cocoon filled with the salt of a million tears and despite the heat I am very happy. It will take a while for a full Seraphim photo spread and there are no pre-blocked pictures, BUT I’m planning on two very special blog photographers dueling it out at a photoshoot on Friday. Guaranteed to knock your just started Koigu knee highs off your feet.

If anyone of you are half as good as I am then you are FUCKING FANTASTIC! My first handspun handknit is better than I ever could’ve hoped. Sniff. Sniff. I’m so happy….

PS – The pictures in this post are untouched. I say that because it kind of gives me the heebie jeebies to post untouched photographs. I believe that every single photograph I take SHOULD be touched in some way – Photoshop is my darkroom. You develop film, right? You also develop digital film. This is my belief. So forgive the photographs. I’m not working with all my tools right now.

PPS – And my site STILL looks like crap in IE and Safari. Fuckers.

Filed Under: Handknit Handspun, Knee Highs, Seraphim

Seventy-one

September 24, 2006 By

That’s how many stitches there are left to bind off. And see that? Right above the shawl? That’s how much yarn I have left. Not enough. Go ahead and laugh now Ann. Go right on ahead.

Help me. I did the bind off the pattern calls for – k2, slip the left needle through the two stitches in front of the right, then k2tbl. If I do a regular bind off on a larger needle, think I’ll have enough? I guess it’s the same difference – or no because with the way it’s written I’m knitting each stitch twice, right? Or one and a half times? With a regular bind off I only knit each stitch once. I could work, no? Otherwise I rip two rows out and end the final chart with 8 rows instead of ten. Which will probably work too, but I’d rather not.

CRISIS ABATED!!!!!! I remembered my mini (mini) skein of sample yarn!!! I will spit splice it with the existing yarn and I should have plenty to finish the bind off!!! WHOO HOO! I’ll be blocking Serphim on vacation. Packing’s just about done – now I need to start a pair of knee highs for the plane. THANK YOU!

ETA 8:13 PM – Bound off last stitch! The spit splice worked! I’ll block it tomorrow for sure! Have a great week everyone!!!

Filed Under: Seraphim

A Woman’s Touch

September 18, 2006 By

Remember how, the other day, I was talking about what makes a real knitter? Chickies I’ve got the answer. I AM A REAL KNITTER. Want to know why? Because, dudes, I’ve got freaking CALLUSES!!!!

The left hand callus comes from pushing the needle down with almost every stitch. It’s just one of those things I do. When people talk about wanting pointier Addis, I cringe a little bit. My god I’d draw blood! The right hand callus is also from pushing the needle into my finger – I think I use my finger to anchor the needle when I’m moving stitches around. As much as I’d love soft, never worked a day in her life hands, the calluses are good because sometimes I actually hurt myself. This SO makes me a real knitter. Not that designing stuff or changing patterns on the fly. Calluses. I’ve declared it right here, right now. (Oh and whatever you do don’t google callus. Very very disgusting.)

What’s giving me such noble well-worn hands? Seraphim. I can’t put the damn thing down.

What’s that I see? Could it be? I think it IS! It’s LACE!!!

Let me just say this: knitting with your own handspun is incredibly challenging and absolutely satisfying. Or maybe that’s just the case when your handpsun isn’t that great? Or maybe, actually, that’s the POINT of handspun? I’m not sure – I’m still learning about all this. Anyway, I started knitting the shawl and tried a bunch of different needle sizes. I settled on 7s and all was good. Then, the first skein ran out. (At the perfect spot no less – I had one purl row left before I started the first lace chart.) I started knitting with the second skein on the 7s and quickly found it wasn’t working. You could FEEL the difference in the fabric – you didn’t even have to look at it. You might remember that there were definite differences between the skeins. There were some desperate phone calls to MY MASTER and I switched to 6s. I’m not sure why I think this is a big deal. I mean where’s the rule that says you can’t switch needles mid pattern (I’m not talking about a smaller size for ribbing or something) and even if there is rules schmules. Right? Anyway, I switched to 6s and things got A LOT better. I could barely feel a difference in the fabric – and I don’t think you can see anything either.

Can you tell? I’ve looked at it about a million times and I can see a difference, but then again I KNOW it’s there.

That crisis over, now all I have to worry about is running out of yarn. I’ve got 42 rows to go and 2.5 oz of yarn. I should make it.

Yesterday I went to the Knit Out in NYC – my first one. It was great to see old friends and some new ones! I finally got to meet Margaux and her friend Dana in person! And we had to go to the other side of the Hudson to do it! The best part of Knit Out was looking into a sea of people – all of them there for the fiber arts! INCREDIBLE! Trendy, not trendy – who cares? It’s something I LOVE to do (I’ve got CALLUSES people) and it’s just nice to share it with so many others. And the new knitters – you can’t even imagine what’s coming! 🙂

Filed Under: Handknit Handspun, Seraphim

The Wind Beneath My Wings

September 15, 2006 By

Way to make a girl feel better. Sheesh. I throw myself a pity party fully expecting no one to show and then you all come and I didn’t clean the house, laundry every where and I didn’t have SNACKS. How can you throw a party without snacks? I’m a terrible hostess.

Seriously, though, thank you all for your comments. It’s all a matter of self-judgement and rationally I know that I will never be able to attain the heights I set for myself. I know I’m good. I’m just not GOOD ENOUGH. Over the years I’ve tried and tried to be nicer to myself and for the most part I’m succeeding. I’m much gentler than I was, say, ten years ago. But it’s hard to recode the DNA. The whole families like me – some worse than others – but still it’s there.

A couple of friends and I were talking about blogging the other day too and what kind of boundaries we set on the blog. How sometimes we can meet someone who reads the blog and they can ask us a question and we’re sort of taken aback because WHOA! How do you know abou that? Kind of personal no? Even though we know full well we talked about it on the blog. The things I talk about on my blog are things you’d here me talk about anywhere. I find it very hard to hold back in my personal life and see no reason why that would be the case on the blog. I’m an open book. It makes me FEEL better to talk about stuff – get it out of my head. Always out of my head. So anyway, I’m not sure what I’m trying to say here, but yesterday’s little tantrum wasn’t meant to illicit comments on how great I am or anything (that’s what I have Ann for honestly) but more as an expression of how I’m feeling at any particular time. Think of me as your favorite two year old. If I’m feeling it, chances are you’re hearing it. Lucky for my husband he has a day job. 😉

Things improved RADICALLY as the day progressed yesterday. First off, I made myself the most awesome bowl of oatmeal EVER. G eats oatmeal a lot and I sometimes partake but after a desperate phone call on how to make it his way (half cup oats, one cup water) I played around a bit and came up with my fabulously spectacular recipe: half a cup of oats (McCann’s Irish), half a cup water, half a cup 2% milk. Microwave for 2 minutes. Put a TON of honey on the top. Taste. Put more honey in there. Then sprinkle with cinnamon. YUMMMMMMMM! It was so damn good.

Then I got some work done. Then I knit a bit to take a break. Then my sister called and told me how ridiculously cute my niece was at her first day of dance class. Then I was hungry again and I went into the kitchen. I eyed the box of Microwave popcorn. Nah. I wasn’t into the kernels stuck in my teeth. Then I opened the freezer to find out what kind of processed goodness we had hiding in there. Frozen corn. Hmmmm. Could I eat a box of frozen corn for lunch? Corn was obviously calling to me for some reason. Then I opened the cupboard and looked through the canned goods and lo and behold – a can of CORN FREAKING CHOWDER?! How the hell did that get there? I can’t remember EVER eating Corn Chowder and G doesn’t really like soup or only eats lentil and I have no idea how long the can was there but my sister said it was still good as long as the can looked okay – like no dents or bloating – so I had Corn Chowder for lunch. Dudes. I licked the bowl. PERFECTION!

Then I did some more work and got a LOT accomplished (imagine that) and finally went back to my shawl. Somehow someway I managed to get myself 20 ROWS shy of the first lace pattern. Right now I have 207 stitches and I need 247 before I start lace chart 1! WHOOHOO!


The most boring progress picture in the world! But who cares?!

The 7s really are lucky – the fabric is nice I think – a good drape, but solid still and I’m loving knitting with the yarn. Not too many anomalies at all and it’s pretty damn even. Excellent work spinner girl! But you want to know what I love the BEST about the shawl. The way it smells. I swear to god I’d be done with it already if I didn’t stop every five minutes to bury my nose in it. I’m not exactly sure what it smells like – maybe a little like G to be honest. I made him smell it last night and he appeased me, but oooh! It smells good. When I rinsed the yarn after I spun it I used some dishwashing liquid (Dawn Apple Blossom) but only a little bit. I don’t know what it is but I LOVE it. I hope I don’t lose the smell when I have to block it because I’m going to LOVE wearing this wrapped around me. It’s soft AND it smells good.

And to prove that I’m in SUCH a good mood today (even though it’s still MISERABLE out) I’m going to put up the sidebar sign-ups for RHINEBECK!! Kim P mentioned in the comments that it’s only 36 days until the big sheep out and you know how I feel about the number 36 so today’s the DAY!!! (Yeah, yeah it’s early. But I’ve had my freaking hotel reservation for six months already and it can’t get here soon enough!)

Meet-UP!
Saturday, October 21st, 1:00 PM
Outside Building E
(Which conveniently houses the Wine Tasting, the American Cheese Society,
Specialty Foods and an ATM. HUZZAH!)

I am aware that there is a Charka Demonstration with Jonathan Bosworth scheduled at 1PM as well – but it’s in Building E, so maybe you can do both?

And don’t forget BLOGGER BINGO!!! The Meet-Up is a perfect place to fill in your squares!

Leave me your name in the comments and I’ll add you to the list in the sidebar! Tell your friends!

Have a great weekend!
L, C

PS – The sheep picture above was taken from the Sheep and Wool website. For more information about it, go to the website The artist is Jodie Rae Plaut.

Filed Under: Rhinebeck, Seraphim

Lucky Number 7

September 14, 2006 By

Run, my friends, run for the hills for I am in a VERY SHITTY mood today. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Oh look! Look how pretty my Seraphim looks! Maybe two more rows since the last time you saw it? You’d think I did NOTHING to it, but au contraire mon petit amis. Au contraire. What you see here is the FOURTH start to this project. That’s right. FOUR FREAKING STARTS. Something wasn’t right about my original start to Seraphim. I started off with Addi US #5s and after a desperate call to my knitting sensei yesterday afternoon (I only caught about every third word of the conversation so I hope she told me to go up a needle size) I found a pair of 6s and started AGAIN with those. I was humming along, feeling okay, but not great and I talked to this one and she said, oh so flippantly, try 7s. I resisted for a bit but then pulled out a pair of #7s and started knitting from the other end of the ball. I went back and forth, back and forth between the 6s and 7s and there were more phone calls and Ann told me go for the fabric you like rather than the needle size. FORGET NEEDLE SIZE. It’s not the size of the needle but the drape of the fabric or some such double entendre that only a knitter who spent the afternoon watching The Libertine could think up.

Anyway. I started yet again on the 7s and damnit I liked the fabric. So much so I ripped out the start on the 6s and went to dig out a pair of 8s. At this point I didn’t really even want to knit the damn shawl anymore because when I want to start something I just want to freaking start it not try eighteen different needles. But I persevered. I tried the 8s. I knit and knit and in the end I didn’t like it. Lucky #7s it is. And if it doesn’t work out – fuck it. No Rhinebeck shawl for me.

See, I think something like this separates me from being a truly good knitter. I’m not patient enough with these things. I don’t want to swatch. I don’t want to do the homework necessary to get to the ultimate finishing spot. I’m not intuitive enough to change patterns on the sly, to intrinsically know what’s working and what’s not working. My skills as a knitter end with the knit and the purl. I can make some damn pretty stitches. But that’s about it. Otherwise I’m just following the crowd. That bothers me a little bit, but I’m not sure how to change it. For one, I hate math. HATE IT. And all this figuring things out on the sly shit is all about math. I’ll never like math. My brain gets all muddled and my head starts to hurt and I get frustrated and I don’t like to feel frustrated and then I stomp around and pout and whatever. Not worth it. Although it really is and I wish I was better about this stuff.

So I’m feeling kind of inadequate and down on myself and I take a break to read some blogs and the lovely Margaux pops up on the list with an update (did you know she’s going to her first Rhinebeck? YAY!) She links to Brooklyn Tweed. You probably already read him because seriously no one tells me anything – but OH MY GOD! It’d be one thing if he was just a fantastic knitter. I could handle that – I mean we’re all fantastic knitters in our own way and some of us are more fantastic than others, but that’s not a big deal. (Although I started out feeling a little bad about my knitting.) And it would STILL be acceptable that he picked up a copy of the EZ classic Knitting Without Tears without knowing that it was freaking signed by EZ herself. BUT the photographs. My god the photographs. All of you people that come here for the pictures – forget it. Go there instead. I give up.

How’s that for self-pity?

Jealousy sucks but I happen to believe it’s as common as breathing. If I’ve learned anything from the envy I’ve felt as I took in someone else’s breathtaking photograph or genius short story or fantastically knit sweater or perfectly spun yarn, it’s that for everyone who’s better than me at something, there’s equally someone who’s not as good a photographer, writer, knitter, spinner as me. I’m just in the middle. And sometimes, to my perfectionist soul that god help me wants to be the BEST at everything – damn that feels pretty shitty.

Yeah. You all have a good day too. 😉

Filed Under: Life, Seraphim

Random Knits

September 13, 2006 By

because it’s Wednesday.

Thanks for indulging me the last couple of days. It feels good to get all that stuff off my chest and you can’t know how much I appreciate the audience. I’m pretty sure Ann wishes I never went to New Orleans, even if she is the only one who got a souvenir gift.

Want to see what I bought while I was there?


Koigu, P852 and 2340

Six skeins of Koigu from the Garden District Needlework Shop. This yarn is destined for knee highs – see how the EXACT same shade of the semi solid green shows up in the variegated? DUDE! There’s your ribbing, heel and toe right there. It’s taking everything in my power not to cast on for these RIGHT THIS SECOND. Sad really.

And, more Koigu:


Koigu, P706 and P516

This time from The Quarterstitch. Destined for socks, I guess. Too pretty to pass up and look how they wrapped up my yarn!

At one point while I was purchasing the yarn I ran out to catch a Second Line going by – and when I came back she had unwrapped all the yarn that she had already wrapped up. I said, oh did you think I wasn’t coming back? And she said no – I did a crappy job so I wanted to do it over. A girl after my own heart!!

I also got a Rebuild T-shirt which I’ve finally taken off for the first time in three days so I could photograph it for you. And a DESIRE NOLA magnet.

Lest you think it’s all been bleeding hearts around here, I have been knitting. I finished the first Koigu Knee Sock!

I love the way it looks, but the fit is off a bit from the STR knee highs – even though I kept adding rounds and adding rounds. The stitch gauge is about the same, but the row gauge seems to be way off. I’m going to have to recalculate for the NOLA knee highs, but for the next purple one I’ll do the same thing. They fit fine – they just sink a little bit. Not fall down, just sink. Does that make sense? I want them to STAND AT ATTENTION! Anyway, Koigu is just so much different than STR and I still prefer STR over just about anything, but it’s nice to mix things up a bit. Couple more shots of the sock:

Now, I hate to disappoint all you log cabin lovers (and haters – because really – if I’m not knitting log cabins – what will you hate? 😉 ) but I’m putting my ONLY (and this just doesn’t seem possible) size 5 addis to work on something else.

It’s SERAPHIM. Knit in none other than MY OWN FREAKING HANDSPUN!!!!!! I’m almost positive I will have enough yarn for the shawl as written, but Mim has given instructions for increasing or decreasing if need be. It’s really weird to be knitting with your own yarn. You have no one to curse out but yourself when the yarn is a pain in the ass. BUT I’m LOVING IT! Look at the nubly wonky weird stitches! Aren’t they precious?

I declare on THIS DAY, September 13, 2006, that this shawl is MY RHINEBECK PROJECT. I will finish it before Rhinebeck. And I will WEAR it at Rhinebeck. I was going to do the Top Down BW sweater for Rhinebeck but it’s just not calling out to me AT THIS MOMENT (you know what a fickle bitch I am.) The hardest part of getting this done in time will be NOT casting on for the NOLA knee highs. NO KNEE HIGHS. NONE. KNEE HIGHS BAD. Handspun Lace project good.

Filed Under: Handknit Handspun, Knee Highs, Seraphim, Stash