more socks

i finished the Aran mittens from the folk mittens book. they are a wee bit too big and a wee bit scratchy so liner mittens are in order. i'll probably buy thin fleece mittens to wear inside these mitttens. i like this pattern and will likely knit it up again in a softer yarn.

i just started the childs sock pattern from nancy bush's vintage socks book. i am so glad i bought this skein fleece artist yarn so many years ago as these are the third pair of socks to be knit from that one skein. they are working up nicely. i decide to once again knit both socks at the same time as this means both socks are more likely to be the same size, tension.

icelandic fleece and buffalo down

these are the first tools i used to prep the icelandic and buffalo. the handcarders are on top and the flicker tool is below the carders.the icelandic locks are flicked open to ease carding on the drum carder. the buffalo down is quite matted from the cleaning process so i used the hand carders to ready it for the drum carder. the buffalo down was collected from fences, bushes and the ground so was very dirty. during the many washes and rinses it became matted.

below are the prepped fibres. the first being the icelandic fleece and the second being the buffalo down. the colour is deceiving as both are more brown than depicted.

the prepped fibres are then fed into the drum carder to align the individual fibres. i started with the icelandic and created a batt. see below. i split the batt lengthwise and sandwiched the buffalo down between the icelandic. i then fed the sandwich into the carder in order to blend the fibres. i sandwiched them as the buffalo down has a short staple length and would likely end up on the smaller lickerin drum.the blended batt is seen below ready for spinning.

there are about 6 batts spun up on the bobbin. i might ply the icelandic buffalo blend with the black alpaca and aldo doghair polworth wool blend shown below. if i can spin up enough of this yarn i would like to make a gansey with this blend as it would be naturally warm from the dog and buffalo and water resistant from the icelandic. however once damp you would smell like a blend of dog, buffalo and sheep.

begun and done

the finnish mittens are done and i have started to work on the aran mittens using yarn that i spun and plied years ago. itis three ply consisting of black suri alpaca, white coopworth wool and tan maggie doghair blended with polworth wool. i got halfway up the palm and realized the #3 needles were the right size for the cuffs but not for the palm. i ripped back to the cuff and switched to #2 needles for a tighter gauge. hopefully this will work as i like the way these mittens are knitting up with this yarn.

the last time i was in the city i stopped by the pottery studio to see if the last of my pottery was out of the firing kiln. i found four pieces which i think are the last of my efforts from my classes last winter. all in all i am pleased with how my many bowls have turned out. i am really looking forward to taking pottery classes again this coming winter.

i purchased seven knitting and one spinning book a while ago. the finnish and aran mittens are from "folk mittens". i have chosen a sock pattern from "vintage socks" called"child's french sock" that i will be knitting up with the rainbow blueface leister seen in socks pictured in previous posts. although the sock pattern was originally for a child the pattern has been altered to fit an adult. i am excited to start these socks but will finish the aran mittens first.