Brought to You by the Letter "S"

Specifically, Saturday, Sunday, snow, spinning, socks and sun...not necessarily in that order.

Saturday was spectacularly lovely and filled with loads of sun. 

The snow from the day before covered the trees with a heavy coating of powdered sugar frosting. The winter wonderland of snow covered landscape made the sky all the bluer.

Saturday was also a day to finished up some left over spinning.  Three bobbins of Mama E’s  Margene colorway were ready for plying and that's just what I did.  It wasn't as much fun to spin three separate plies as it had been to ply chained singles.  The results of plying three singles together made the yarn quite tweedy and the colors muddied a bit.  I much prefer the look, feel (it's softer) and execution of plied chained singles.  What do you think?

click to enlarge

The three-ply skein is shown on top and the chained single on the bottom in this photo. I only ended up with about 200 yds. of a near sport weight yarn, so more ounces will be needed to spin enough for socks, at least until I'm better at 'frog hair' (as Laurie calls spinning for fingering yarn).  I'll remember that next time I spin a three ply. I'd like to hear what you other spinners think of knitting with plied singles (aka Navajo plying) versus three ply yarns.

Marcia was 'all a twitter' when she saw my comment on Kim's blog about my dream of owning two more wheels. (It's a dream, only a dream.) She rightfully took credit for my current addiction to Emmylou.  Just to show Marcia that I sill do love my spindles, after I finished plying Margene, I returned to the spindle and worked on the last of the Ashland Bay merino top for the long suffering Estonian Scarf.  I should be able to ply the two singles together on my Lizzy Kate this week.  I'm doing my best to finish up a few projects that have become a bit more like albatrosses than the process...not that I love them any less.

Last, but certainly not least, I give you the mystery socks, designed by Susan (and she has revealed their name).  Ta Dah!!

Horcrux Socks!

These simply wonderful socks are so comfortable and enjoyable to wear. Jessie's yarn is so soft, so wearable and the colors are so rich and warm.  I'm a big fan of this worsted yarn, Jess and can't wait to try some Real Vermonter sock yarn. The color shows up nicely in the photo on the left and, on the right, you can see my nicely done, without any swear words, Kitchenered toes.

Horcrux Socks
Designed by Susan
Yarn: Jessie’s Super wash Worsted from A Piece of Vermont
Needles: Size 3 bamboo DPNs
Time to Knit: February 10, 2007 - February 24, 2007
Modifications: 45 stitch instead of 40, more repeats of lace motif to add length.

More spinning and knitting were accomplished on Sunday and we had a bit more snow, too.  You'll have to stay tuned to hear more.
The letter "S" says thanks for reading!

Comments

[jessie]

Yay for the socks! Okay, the view is impressive, too, but I can't take a bit of credit for that. :-)

[Kathleen]

Wow, goregous spinning. I like both. Different looks though. And your Estonian scarf will be on its way soon enough. :) Love the socks. I can't wait for the new Harry Potter book.

[Carole]

Sounds like a wonderful weekend. We have snow today!

[mama-e]

nice spinning! Jesse's stuff is beautiful!

[susan]

Oh, no, you're trampling an HP book!
Do you really need the height??

[Vicki]

I don't know what I'm talking about when I say "plied chained singles" (it's like I'm using a foreign language), but I like that skein the best -- it even LOOKS softer. Beautiful yarn.

[Amy Artisan]

Sounds like an all around lovely weekend! The socks look wonderful. As I was kitchenering the toe on my sock yesterday afternoon I thought of you. :)

[Cara]

I tried to Navajo ply this weekend - could NOT do it. It's funny, because I think the 3-ply yarn is so much more interesting than the navajo plied. I just love me some barber pole. To me that looks handspun - the other stuff looks like you could've bought it in a store. ;-)

[Kim]

You are a master on those spindles!!! I love the estonian scarf and those socks are gorgeous!

Do you find worcestered weigh socks a bit heavy to wear? I love that they would work up quick.

[Laura]

Your Horcrux socks came out SO PRETTY in that colorway - such a perfect choice! And I do see what you mean about the tweedy vs ...not sure how to describe the difference but I see it. They're both very nice. Just different. I just did my first 3ply from three seperate singles. I don't find a difference in the softness. And for some reason it seems like when I Navajo ply my single breaks more often. I don't know if it's the twist or if it's my imagination. No matter - it's all a learning experience. I'm looking forward to seeing the socks you plan to make with your Margene yarn! :)

[Anne]

Definitely the "navajo-plyed" singles, but it will be interesting to see how both knit up. I might be tempted to switch my vote because the tweedy yarn would be great for a bigger project too!

Those Horcrux socks look nice and warm - yummy colors too!

[Chris]

Your Horcruxes turned out great! Nice to see that there was sun somewhere over the weekend.

[Norma]

That's amazing how different the yarns look depending on the plying. I shouldn't be THAT surprised, but I am.

[scout]

The socks are lovely!!

[amanda]

you're right...the chained singles look better. the colors are beautiful!

and the horcrux socks look great!

[Roxie]

I vote for the Navaho ply too! It would be fun to knit one sock in three ply and one in Navaho ply, but it would take a decided sense of play to wear them.

[Stacey]

I love the yarn you used for your Horcrux. Yeah for learning kitchener!

I'm almost done with mine and have discovered the joy of worsted socks. They do go much faster... sometimes you just need a little progress over process. :)

[Ruth]

Love the socks - I'm dying to try some heavier weight socks soon - since we live in a climate with a proper winter, seems they would be practical too.

[Kristy]

I really like the yarn made out of three singles. It does have a great tweedy look! It would be interesting to use both yarns in one sock and give it different textures.

[Marcia]

Well, you KNOW where I stand on that debate! After three days with Judith in Park City learning to spin THREE PLY sock yarn (and there are tricks to get the colors better) I have to vote for the 3-ply, but for a practical reason. True 3-ply is stronger yarn, period. People say also that they can't FEEL all those chained bumps, and that may be true, but they are weak spots, something you don't want in socks. Your other socks were smashing, by the way. As was your spindle yarn!

[Kelly]

While both skeins look great I do prefer the chained singles. Love the socks!

[Birdsong]

Beautiful mountain photo! I prefer the look of the chained singles too, but am glad I got to read Marcia's comments; I can see there is so much to learn about spinning, and want to know more about how to get the colors "right" as Marcia describes - maybe a tutorial is in order, here. You sure picked a nice yarn for your Horcrux socks... but WHAT are you standing on?!

[rachel]

The Letter S is getting a workout!

[Sylvia]

True froghair has a cross-section of 8 or fewer fine fibers. Definitely a thrifty use of fiber.

As for knitting with N-ply, I love it. Yes, you need to have relatively smooth joins, and the sudden shifts in color should be taken into account and used as a design feature instead of a burp, and it's better with a smooth singles since having both directions represented can raise a bit of nap on a fuzzy yarn (then again, that can also become a design feature).

[Lucia]

Simply splendid socks, spectacular snowy summit, superb spinning.