Spinning

Alpaca Handspun Wrap

/ reginaalexisweiss / 5 Comments

Forgive me, fiber darlings, as the golden falling walnut leaves and the true approach of autumn sends me into paroxysms of nostalgia – you see, I’ve completed a very long personal fiber art project, and will not hesitate to use it as an excuse to wax sentimental 😉

Translation: This is a long personal reflection post and a project with no patterns. 😉

It was almost 4 years ago exactly that I decided to give my still new (to me) Ashford Traveler Double Drive spinning wheel a good workout by ordering several pounds (!!) of Alpaca fiber that I got on sale.

I had already been working with drop spindles at this point, but I was excited to take advantage of the larger, faster batches one could produce with the wheel. I dug into the first pound with vigor, producing a tight and even dark brown set of yarns… but like lots of large projects, the initial momentum got lost and it took me several years to finish spinning the rest of the fiber.

In the mean time I learned and experimented with lots of other things, and even added more alpaca fiber to the hoard, including a raw fleece gifted to me by a friend (not much of that one went into the final product – hand carding is a workout!!)

The fleeces followed me, like a little herd of alpacas themselves, though many phases of life in the past four years. I spun and played with them, dreamed with them. They reminded me all the time of the farms and ranches I worked at when I was younger and traveling the United States, work-trading as a farm hand at communes and eco-villages. Every fiber of them passed through my hands eventually, to twist together on the wheel or spindle – how many thoughts are in these fibers? How many dreams?

At once point I got exuberantly experimental about natural dyeing again (my first forays consisted of tea, coffee, turmeric, and a failed pokeberry batch way back in 2009-10 or so), so I started collecting the vegetable waste from my day job in the produce department and brewing up a big batch of avocado dye from the pits and skins. Raw material, collected and transmuted again. How many hands picked the fruit? How many dreams did they dream?

When I dive, I deep dive. I want to know the parts of a process like I know the breathing of my lungs, intrinsically, so that my fingers can read the dreams. To me, that is the way to respect – respect what, I don’t know. The energies it took to create everything around me? Maybe. It is gratitude, definitely.

When the fibers were carded and dyed and spun and plied and washed and dried, I took them to my fatter knitting needles: the 9.00 mm circulars from my interchangeable set. (I remember the super long knitted scarf from a decade ago, and how I tried to cram so many stitches of recycled cotton onto a cheap plastic yard sale needle and snapped it into oblivion, losing hundreds of tiny knit stitches to my cold-sweating terror…)

Good thing my tools have evolved with me.
I knit and knit and knit, practicing my speed-purling, practicing my yarn overs, dropping stitches and switching to garter occasionally. I never got the bug for delicate knit patterns, I like my knits huge and stupid and chunky and easy.

I knew it was going to be a big folded rectangle essentially, with two arm holes. Simple. A large serape-like shell could be worn over other winter layers, since not all of the yarn I used is next-to-skin soft – but holy heck is it warm! Alpaca fiber is also naturally water-resistant, enhancing this wrap’s qualities as outerwear.

I played up the textural aspects of this piece, letting my big dumb rectangle be the blank canvas for every nuanced lump in the fiber. It was handspun; it was messy, chunky, uneven, perfectly imperfect. I did not want it to look sleek, cosmopolitan, curated. It was my glorious mess. So I did what I learned to do best in the grueling hours of the windowless rooms in studio art at Indiana University – turn imperfections into advantages.

(Mostly) planned dropped stitches provided visual breaks vertically, and lines of garter stitches complemented and accented the color changes horizontally, creating a weathered and distressed texture that plays up the lumpy, bumpy, mismatched yarnscape. The large needles allowed plenty of looseness in the stitches to give the otherwise square shell garment a flattering bit of drape. The rough visual style belies the incredibly squishy loft of the bulky alpaca yarns.

I can’t believe I spun 100% of this garment – it is my first large project to be entirely handspun. Some parts are a little scratchy, I’ll admit, and it certainly needs a second wash (it’s fragrant in a strongly camelid sort of way at the moment) – but this piece will warm me now in a special way, because so much of my story is now shared with it.

I get really excited when I finish a piece that’s taken me years, to me they feel like a victory! Previously, the Stump had been my longest-held project (3 years), but now the Alpaca Wrap (4 years) is the record holder 😉

And here’s my advice to every artist who may have had the tough moments, like me, that make dreams feel like impossibilities: Patience, patience, patience.

-MF

Return to Paca Planet

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Sometimes for fun I’ll go back and see what I’ve been writing on this blog at the same time in previous years – it’s a nice perk of having years worth of posts, to see what kind of progress I’ve made. Apparently December and January is a common point in the year for me to be interested in working with spinning wool and working with handspun yarn. No surprise! It’s cold here during these months and the low light of the dead of winter keeps me inside focused on the coziest materials.

It all started with the Pounds of ‘Paca, a spinning venture in September of 2016 where I ordered waaaaaay too much alpaca fiber (on sale) and spun it all over the course of a couple of years – see Alpacalypse Now for the final yarns I came up with.

Not totally final though, because some of it went into my experimental Avocado Dye batch, coming out in shades of muted pinks and hazels, a really pretty and soft color to add to my giant pile of alpaca yarn. Some of THAT went into this bitchin’ avocado dreamcatcher 😉

The avocado dye batch was a year ago now, and I still have some dyestuffs left over sitting in the back of my fridge. I’m contemplating another natural dye run, but first I’m going to make some more progress on what I decided to do with all this excess camelid fluff.

It’s another large knit, similar in style to some of the loosely knit wraps I’ve made in the past:

But this one is made entirely from handspun yarn, in the pretty neutral and muted tones. I am not sure exactly how I will style this wrap, but I’m enjoying the mindless knitting for now. It’s worked in stockinette (the other large knits above are garter stitch) and I’m using continental style to speed up my purling (getting almost as fast as my continental knit stitch!)

I’ve also sprinkled in some dropped stitches and lines of garter to break up the texture!

There’s much to be said for instant gratification projects, but as I build my repertoire of skills, materials, and experiences, I grow more and more attached to the projects that follow me through my history as an artist. I’ve been finishing up a lot of long-term projects lately, causing me to reflect on one of the most valuable skills I’ve picked up through working my art:

Patience. Because nothing makes a piece more personal than having it grow with you over time. There have been many projects I have stuffed in a corner in frustration, or stowed away never knowing if it would be finished (and a few that actually did go into the trash forever). I always find that when those projects re-emerge, I’m armed with a new perspective or a fresh skill to bring to the table, as if the project was only waiting for that development all along and I didn’t know it ❤

Now if only those colors didn’t make me crave Neapolitan ice cream.

-MF

Roving Sale

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Good news! I’m clearing out the last few items in the Spinnables category of my Etsy shop, which means I have a 15% off sale running for the two beautiful wool/silk blend rovings left! These are really gorgeous soft color schemes and the dye really shines brightly on the fibers – silk always dyes so beautifully ❤  So hurry up and buy them before I give in to temptation and spin them myself! 😀

 

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Speaking of, I rounded up all (or most of) my handspun yarns and took a family photo, because I was curious as to how it would compare to my similar picture from a couple of years ago. Not bad! It’s kind of like that ten year challenge thing, except with yarn. Ten Yarn Challenge.

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Well, it’s more like a 2 and a half year challenge but… we’ll do it again in a couple of years 😉

-MF

Alpacalypse Now

/ reginaalexisweiss / 3 Comments

Guys, I’m really sorry about that pun. Sort of.

You see, last Saturday I turned in my final assignment for my Bachelor’s degree, so I’ve been bursting forth with renewed energy on all the ongoing craft projects laying around my home. And exuberant art energy requires puns.

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So that’s my segue into my post today, talking about one of the things I love to do when I have a little extra time – spinning! Well, it’s also just an excuse for shameless yarn porn.

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I’ve been spinning periodically, although I haven’t really made a blog post about it recently. I did a silly thing a while back and ordered a massive amount of beautiful alpaca fiber from Alpaca Direct. I resolved to spin it all, and wrote a whole post about it –  which, now that I look at that post, was over two years ago. Slow art for the win!

Because, I totally did spin it all! Yep, all of it. Some of it even made it into projects for my friends along the way. This is me, plying together the last bit of the natural white alpaca fiber, on my trusty wheel.

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Her name is Mystic.

I made it through the pound of natural white, the 12 oz of dark brown, and SOME of the 8 oz of lighter brown (from Valentina) that I purchased at a later date. I eventually gave up on spinning it all consistently, and went in for the fast and wacky approach for the last half of the natural white. I love the variation in textures I got!

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For the white yarn, some skeins were consistent, some were chunky, and some were singles. The dark brown (being the first batch I did) was pretty even, and the light brown is a bulky, fluffy affair.

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I am really loving these natural tones, which is a good thing because my beautiful friends sometimes give me secondhand fiber.  Last summer I was gifted a big bag of RAW alpaca fiber in a beautiful pecan brown color; the catch is, this fiber is really unprocessed.

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Which is actually not a catch at all, since I finally had an excuse to purchase some carding equipment! Hand carders (still not enough resources to justify a drum carder 😛 ) were acquired and now I am clumsily learning to use them.

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I’m not great at it yet, especially since I have to keep switching to my left hand so that my right arm doesn’t end up noticeably more beefy – this activity is a WORKOUT. But as you can see, I’m producing a few silly looking rolags from the raw material so I can spin them, bit by bit, on the drop spindle.

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Excuse my awkward fiber sausage

Its tempting to build a pile of rolags and then spin them all on the wheel for speed’s sake, but for now I am enjoying the process of drop spindling them, so that I can learn how the fibers act when they are hand carded like this. I’ve been favoring the spindle lately anyway, after a period of neglect. Its simplicity and portability is really attractive and valuable, even though wheel spinning is more efficient, so I’m glad I learned both.

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The real question is, what the hell am I going to make with 4 pounds of handspun alpaca fiber? Stay tuned, maybe I’ll know in another two years! 😉

UPDATE 9/2020: It did, in fact, take me another two years.

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Here’s a picture of my moon lamp, for no reason other than its pretty!

-MF

Fiber Review: Polworth Tussah

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It’s been a while since I’ve talked about spinning here, but not because there’s been a lack of spinning – most of it has been powering through giant piles of alpaca because, after I finished the first batch I had ordered from Alpaca Direct, I ordered more 😛

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I plan on coloring the copious amounts of natural white handspun with some liquid natural dye extracts at some point – but it’s been a busy busy summer. More on that later.

At any rate, the fiber I’m talking about today is the Polworth Tussah 60/40 blend that I dyed last year – the other half of the braid I worked with PLUS a big booty 6.75 oz braid of the same colourway are both available (separately) in my Etsy shop.

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The braid I split to spin half – “Celtic Teatime” Polwarth Tussah 60/40

Polwarth is a breed with wool that has a long staple length and a fine fiber around 23 microns. Combined with Tussah, or wild silk, which is also fine, soft, and lengthy in the staple department, what struck me about spinning this fiber was how EASY it was.

As I’ve mentioned before, the long staple length of 100% Tussah silk is balanced by how slippery the fiber is, making it easy to spin but also very easy to lose control of, resulting in lots of rejoining. The combination with Polwarth, which like all wools has more “traction”, totally solves this problem.

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The 2.25 oz skein set on a backdrop of way too much alpaca yarn

I opted to spin this fiber as a 1-ply thick & thin slubby style. Silk always makes dyes look just amazing, retaining vibrant color and sheen, so I wanted to keep the focus on the colors by not plying them against another strand and possibly muddying their appearance.

This was where the fibers’ shared virtues came in handy – I don’t think I had to rejoin that single ply once the entire length! Very handy, and since I was aiming for primitive looking, I spun it at top speeds. Done in under an hour – awesome.

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The silk gives this yarn strength and definition and the wool makes it pillowy soft with a slight fuzzy halo. I plan on using this yarn for another crazy pixie belt – prepare for cuteness!

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Here’s some of the elements of said pixie belt so far – both the mushroom pouch and the shamrock pouch also have handspun in them – you just can’t beat it for giving your projects a totally unique look.

-MF

Shop Small – Indie Artists and Holiday Deals

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My prime directive this Thanksgiving break was to get a new batch of handpainted wool dyed, dried, and stocked in my Etsy shop, which I totally did, check it out! This batch features a lot of muted earthy tones, I guess I was sort of in a wintry mindset.

There’s a variety of fibers there, including a heavenly Polworth / Tussah silk blend that gorgeously translated my featured colorway this round, Celtic Teatime (the emerald, heathered silver, and russet gradients at the top). Please buy it before I spin it myself! Oh, and here’s some incentive:

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Get some holiday shopping done! This 15% off deal applies to EVERYTHING in my shop, including crochet patterns and handmade items!

If completely awesome knit and yarn – themed jewelry is your style, you should check out Malojos, run by the same awesome lady who taught me how to spin correctly and thus re-launched my obsession with it. She’s running a 15% off sale too (check out the blog post in the previous link for details), and recently has pledged to donate a portion of her profits to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Shop small, do good, feel good! My favorite is her beautiful kitchener stitch instruction cuff.

Perhaps you are a fan of pretty rocks? I know I am. Take a look at Cherry Bones Arts, who does beautiful wire wrapping around a variety of stones. I own several of her pieces and get compliments every time I wear one!

No matter where you shop, stay safe out there and spread the love this season ❤

-MF

 

 

Art Yarn Overload

/ reginaalexisweiss / 1 Comment

Thanks to a pro tip from a fellow Instagram spinner, I bought a jumbo bobbin and flyer kit for my Ashford Traveler wheel a few months ago and I have been loving it! Rather than get a whole new wheel for spinning bulky yarns, the jumbo bobbin kit allows me to spin all kinds of yarns on my regular wheel without taking up extra space.

That doesn’t mean I have quit drooling over the Country Spinner or the Majacraft Aura, but it does mean I have been experimenting a lot with art yarns. My most recent foray was with some BFL that I dyed and corespun in a gradient.

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First, I had to split and fluff the roving (factory processing in addition to the dyeing process compacts the fibers – easily fixed by whipping the roving around a bit)..

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Then I separated my colors so that I could spin them into a loooooong, bright gradient.

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Corespinning, or spinning fiber onto a core of pre-spun commercial yarn or thread, is one of my favorite techniques, because the resulting yarn has the smoothness and color-centric-ness (word? I don’t think so) of one-ply yarns, but you can still achieve soft, cushy yarns without worrying about your fibers pulling apart easily. This one is called “Fire in the Mountain” and is available in my Etsy shop, along with a bunch of other art yarns I’ve been hoarding!

Fire In the Mountain was spun from roving dyed in my most recent dye batch a couple of weeks ago, in which these three Merino Bamboo blends also got some color:

The rovings are also for sale in the shop! Basically this post is just a glorified shop update. But I’m okay with that if you are. To compensate, here’s more pictures of yarn I spun (this time from my personal use stash):

The jumbo bobbin also helps with spinning regular sized yarns, as I can fill two bobbins to the brim with singles and then ply them together uninterrupted (like I did with that 4 oz of lovely emerald green pictured above). I think these two yarns are about to find a home in another Lotus Duster…

Happy spinning!

-MF

 

 

Lotus Mandala Duster

/ reginaalexisweiss / 389 Comments

After seeing some great circular vests and talking about them with a fellow crocheter last festival, I came home inspired to do something I’ve had in my notebook for a while – rework my Lotus Throw pattern into a mandala-based circular vest! Which I did, and actually I did twice, which is why this post is a two-parter – each with a different FREE pattern guide. The sister pattern to this Lotus Mandala Duster is called the Lotus Circular Vest and can be found here.

IMPORTANT UPDATE 🙂 – This is the OLD version of this pattern. If you are considering starting this pattern, I recommend using the NEW version, which has been cleaned up and has stitch counts and more detailed tutorial sections as well as TWO sizes instead of one. 😀

ACT ONE

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The Lotus Mandala Duster was one of those gravitational crochet projects that start with a small directionless idea and sort of grows and develops a certain gravity that pulls in other ideas and materials until it is way bigger than I meant it to be! It also qualifies as what I call a “sweater hack” since a large part of the materials came from yarn that was rescued from a boring old sweater and restitched into a new form.

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This first piece was a doozy, because I wanted a really earthy western influenced duster style jacket and I also wanted to use up some #2 weight yarn doing it – I ended up using my fractal plied handspun for the center and outer accent, some recycled cotton blend sweater yarn** I’ve had forever, and a DK weight cotton blend to fill in the gaps. And I made the only partially conscious decision to add a little Lannister influence with a dramatic pointed bell sleeve. I guess I’ve been watching too much Game of Sleeves. I mean, Thrones.

**To get your own recycled sweater yarn, see my extensive tutorial Everything You Need to Know to Start Recycling Sweater Yarn.

Both patterns a bit more like guides, since the basic circular pattern makes it easy to add or subtract rows, adjust sizing, and freestyle if desired (it’s encouraged.) This Duster  was made in size small, a few of the outer circle worked on only the top half (to balance the length since the armholes are placed high) and the sleeves are tutorial style instead of written in stitch counts.  Since the Duster style coat was made with a bunch of homeless recycled yarn, I have don’t have a precise yardage requirement, but it tends to be around 1500 yards according to Ravelry and my own personal experience. 🙂

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Lotus Mandala Duster

Notes: The Lotus Circular Vest has better close-up photographs of the central motif, so if you are having trouble figuring out a round you might find it helpful to look at the pictures on that post 🙂

5.5 mm hook, #1, #2, or #3 weight yarn – the recycled yarn I used was around 17 WPI, which could be fingering or sport depending on which chart you look at. Be sure to test your gauge, listed below.

Gauge: 3″ measured across the diameter after Rnd 3.

Final Dimensions:
22.5″ radius (measured from center of motif to bottom edge)
50″ diameter (measured from collar to bottom edge)

Some terms:

4-DC Cluster – Work 4 dc stitches, keeping the last loop on the hook for each. YO and draw through all 5  loops on the hook.

Shell – 2 hdc, 1 dc, 1 tr, 1 dc, 2 hdc

Make Magic Ring.

HI THERE!! It’s me again. In case you missed it in the paragraphs above, you should really consider working from the new, updated version of this pattern. I left the old version up just in case someone still needs it, but the newer pattern is really where it’s at – two different sizes, rewritten instructions, etc. Okay, just making sure you knew. 🙂

  1. 8 sc into the ring, tighten. Join with a slip stitch in first sc of the round.
  2. Ch 4 – counts as first dc + ch 1. (Dc in the next sc, ch 1) 7 times. Join with a sl st in the 3rd ch of beg ch-4.
  3. Sc into the next ch-1 space, ch 1 – counts as first dc with last loop on the hook. Dc into ch-1 space 3 more times, keeping last loops on the hook. YO, draw through all four loops on the hook – first 4-dc cluster made. Ch 3. (Work 1 4-dc cluster in the next ch-1 sp, ch 3) 6 times. Work 1 4-dc cluster in the next ch-1 sp, ch 1. Hdc in the top of the first cluster. This positions your hook in the middle of a ch-3 sized space to begin your next round.
  4. Ch 2 – counts as first dc with last lp on hk, dc into ch-3 space 3 more times keeping last loops on the hook. YO, draw through all four loops on the hook – first 4-dc cluster made. Ch 2, work 1 4-dc cluster in same ch-3 space, ch 2. (Work 1 4-dc cluster in the next ch-3 sp, ch 2, 4-dc cluster in the same sp, ch 2) 7 times. 4-dc cluster in next space, ch 2. Join with a sl st in top of first cluster.
  5. Sl st in first ch-2 space. Ch 2 – counts as first dc with last lp on the hk. Dc into the same space 3 more times keeping last lps on hk. YO, draw through all four lps on hk – first 4-dc cluster made, Ch 3. (Work 1 4-dc cluster into the next ch-2 space, ch 3) 14 times. Work 1 4-dc cluster in the next ch-2 sp, dc in the top of the first cluster.
  6. Ch 3 – counts as first dc, 2 more dc in same space, Ch 3. (3 dc in the next ch-3 sp, ch 3) 15 times. Join with a sl st in the 3rd ch of beg ch-3.
  7. Sl st in the top of the next dc. (Sk next dc, 2 Hdc, 1 dc, 1 tr, 1 dc, 2 hdc in the next ch-3 sp – shell made. Sk next dc, sl st in the next dc .) 16 times. Join with a sl st in first sl st.
  8. Ch 6 – counts as first dc + ch 3, sc in the top of next tr stitch in the middle of the shell, ch 3. (Dc in the next sl st between shells, ch 3, sc in next treble, ch 3) 15 times. Join with a sl st in the 3rd ch of beg ch-3.
  9. Ch 3. Yarn over twice, insert hook into next sc and draw up a lp, (YO and draw through 2 lps on the hk) twice – one treble stitch leaving last lp on the hk made. Treble in next dc, leaving last lp on the hk – 3 lps remain on the hk. YO, draw through all 3 lps, ch 7. (In same dc as previous treble, treble crochet leaving last lp on hk, treble in next sc leaving last lp on hk, treble in next dc leaving last lp on hk – 4 lps on the hk. YO, draw through all four lps on hk, ch 7) 15 times. Join with a sl st in top of first treble.
  10. Ch 4 – counts as first dc + ch 1. (Work 1 4-dc cluster in the next ch 7 space, ch 2, 4-dc cluster in the same space, ch 2. 4 dc cluster in the same sp, ch 1*, dc in top of joined trebles, ch 1) 16 times, ending last repeat at *. Sl st into 3rd ch of beg ch-4.
  11. (Ch 3. 4-dc cluster in next ch-2 space, ch 2, 4-dc cluster in the next ch-2 space*, ch 3, sl st in next dc) 16 times. On 16th rpt, end at *, dc in same st as beg ch-3.
  12. Ch 3 – counts as first tr with last loop on the hk. Work 1 tr with the last lp on the hk in the next cluster. YO and draw through both lps on the hook – first tr2tog made. Ch 4, work 1 4-dc cluster in next ch-2 space, ch 4. (Work 1 tr with the last lp on the hk in the top of the next cluster. Sk next 2 chain-3 spaces, work 1 tr with the last lp on the hk in the next cluster. YO and pull through all 3 lps. Ch 4, work 1 4-dc cluster in next ch-2 space, ch 4) 15 times. Join with a sl st in the first tr2tog. – 16 clusters + 16 tr2tog + 32 chain space
  13. Sl st in next ch-4 space. Ch 3 – counts as first dc. 4 dc in same space. (1 dc in top of cluster, 5 dc in next ch-4 space, 1 dc in top of joined trebles, 5 dc in next ch-4 space) 15 times. 1 dc in top of next cluster,  5 dc in next ch-5 space, 1 dc in top of joined trebles. Join with a slip stitch to top of first dc.
  14. Ch 4 – counts as first dc + ch-1. Sk next dc. (Dc in next dc, ch 1, sk next dc) 95 times. Join with a sl stitch to the 3rd ch of beg ch-4.
  15. (Sk next ch-1 space, 1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 tr, 1 dc, 1 hdc in next dc, skip next ch-1 space, sl stitch in next dc) 48 times.
  16. Ch 3 in the same st – counts as first dc. Sk next st, 1 hdc in next st, 1 sc in next st (1 hdc in the next st, sk next st, 1 dc in the next st, sk next st, 1 hdc in the next st, 1 sc in the next st) 47 times. Hdc in next stitch, join with a sl st to the 3rd ch of beg ch-3.
  17. Ch 5 – counts as first dc + ch 2. (Sk next st, dc in next stitch, ch 2) 95 times. Sl st in the 3rd ch of beg ch-5.
  18. (Sc in the next ch space, ch 3) 95 times. Sc in the next ch space, ch 1, hdc in the first sc of the round.
  19. Sc in the same ch space, ch 3. (Sc in the next ch sp, ch 3) 94 times. Sc in the next ch space, ch 1, hdc in the first sc of the round.
  20. Rpt rnd 19.

Armhole round:

  1. Ch 3 – counts as first dc in V-stitch pattern. (1 dc in the next ch space,  ch 3, 1 dc in the same space) 10 times. Ch 30, sk the next  6 ch-3 spaces, (1 dc in the next ch space, ch 3, 1 dc in the same space) 10 times. Ch 30, sk the next 6 ch-3 spaces, (1 dc in the next ch space, ch 3, 1 dc in the same space) 63 times. 1 dc in the next ch space, ch 3, sl st in the 3rd ch of beg ch-3.

22: Ch 3 – counts as first dc. 1 dc in the next dc (3 dc in the next ch-3 space, 1 dc in ea of the next 2 dc) 9 times. 3 dc in the next ch-3 sp, 1 dc in the next dc. 1 dc in ea of the next 30 ch sts. 1 dc in the next dc (3 dc in the next ch sp, 1 dc in ea of the next 2 dc) 9 times. 3 dc in the next ch sp, 1 dc in the next dc. 1 dc in ea of the next 30 ch sts. 1 dc in the next dc (3 dc in the next ch-3 space, 1 dc in ea of the next 2 dc) 63 times. 3 dc in the next ch-3 sp, join with a sl st to the 3rd ch of beg ch-3. – 480 sts (It has come to my attention that this stitch count, and therefore some of the other counts following, might be off, so please bear with me until I can check it!)

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The placement of the armholes determines the size – measure straight across the shoulder blades to check your sizing.

  1. Ch 4 – counts as first dc + ch 1. Dc in the same st, sk next 2 sts (1 dc, ch 1, 1 dc in the next st. Sk next 2 sts) 158 times. 1 dc, ch 1, 1 dc in the next st. Sl st in the 3rd ch of beg ch-4.
  2. Sc in next ch-1 space, ch 3 – counts as first dc + ch-1. 1 dc in the same space. (1 dc in the next ch-1 sp, ch 1, dc in the same space) 159 times. Sl st in the 2nd ch of beg sc+ch-3.
  3. (Sc in next ch-1 space, ch 4) 159 times.  Sc in the next ch-1 sp, ch 1, dc in the first sc of the round.
  4. Sc in the same space, ch 4. (Sc in the next ch sp, ch 4) 158 times. Sc in the next ch sp, ch 1, dc in the first sc of the round.
  5. Sc in the same sp, ch 5. (Sc in the next ch sp, ch 5) 158 times. Sc in the next space, ch 2, dc in the first sc of the round.

28-30. Rpt rnd 27.

  1. Sc in the same sp, ch 6. (Sc in the next ch sp, ch 6) 158 times. Sc in the next space, ch 3, dc in the first sc of the round
  2. Sc in the same sp, 6 dc in next sc – one fan made. (1 sc in next ch-6 sp, 6 dc in next sc) 159 times, join with a sl st in first sc of the round.
  3. Ch 5 – counts as first dc + ch 2. Sc in 3rd dc of fan, ch 1, sc in the next dc, ch 2 (dc in next sc, ch 2. Sc in the 3rd dc of next fan, ch 1, sc in the next dc, ch 2) 158 times. Dc in the next sc, ch 2, sc in the 3rd dc of next fan ch 1, sc in the next dc, work 1 hdc in the 3rd ch of beg ch-5.
  4. Ch 4 – counts as first hdc + ch 2. (Hdc in the next ch-2 space, ch 2, hdc in the next ch-1 sp, ch 2, hdc in the next ch-2 sp, ch 2) 159 times. Hdc in the next ch-2 sp, ch 2, hdc in the next ch-1 sp, hdc in the 2nd ch of beg ch-2.

At this point the bottom of my duster was the length that I wanted it, so I switched to working the following rounds on the top half only so that the bottom wouldn’t be too long.

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  1. Sc in the same space, ch 2 – counts as first dc. (Dc in the next ch-2 space, ch 1, dc in the same sp) 480 times. In first ch-2 sp of round, dc, ch 1, join with a sl st to 2nd ch of the beg ch-2.
  2. Sl st in the next dc and in the next ch space, ch 2 – counts as first dc with last loop left on hook, work 2 more dc in same space, leaving last lps on the hk. YO, pull through all lps on hk -3 dc cluster made, ch 2. (3 dc cluster in the next ch-1 sp, ch 2) 480 times. Join with a sl st to the top of the first cluster.

Work next round over entire brim of sweater.

  1. Sl st into the next ch-2 space, ch 3 – counts as first dc. 2 dc in the same space. (3 dc in the next ch-2 space) around. Join with a sl st to the 3rd ch of beg ch-3.

Cut yarn and tie off.

Sleeves:

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After Step 1 of the sleeves

Step 1. Attach yarn on the inside of the armhole, ch 2 – counts as first dc.. 2 dc in ea ch space, 1 dc into the base of all 30 ch sts. 2Join with a sl st to the first dc of the round. For larger sleeves, work 3 or 4 dc sts into each ch space. Work the same number of dc sts into the base of the chain.

Step 2. Sc in the same st, ch 3 – counts as first dc + ch 1. Sk next st. (Dc in the next st, ch 1, sk next st) around. On the last repeat, replace the ch-1 with a hdc to position your hook in the middle of the space to begin the next round.

Step 3. Sc in the same sp, ch 3 – counts as first dc + ch 1. (Dc in the next sp, ch 1) around. On the last repeat, replace the ch-1 with a hdc to position your hook in the middle of the space to begin the next round.

After a couple rows of this, size down to a smaller hook if desired. I sized down to 4.5 to make the sleeve snug on my upper arm.

Rpt row 3 until your total reaches 17 rows, or until the length reaches your elbow.

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Locate the ch space that is centered at the back of the elbow and mark it. (14th space from the join for me) This will now be  the increase center.

Step 4. Sc in the same space, ch 3 – counts as first dc + ch 1. (Dc in the next ch space, ch 1) until you reach the increase center. (Dc, ch 1) 4 times in the increase center. The middle chain space made in this repeat is now the increase center. (Dc in the next ch space, ch 1) the rest of the way around. Repeat until short side of sleeve is about mid-forearm (9 rounds for me)

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3 spaces created in one chain space forms the increase.

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After several rounds of Step 4

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Side view – Step 4

Step 5. Sc in the same space, ch 3 – counts as first dc + ch 1. (Dc in the next ch space, ch 1) until you reach the space before the increase center. (Dc, ch 1) 4 times in the next space. (Dc, ch 1) 4 times in the increase center. (Dc, ch 1) 4 times in the space after the increase center. The middle chain space made in the middle increase is now the increase center. (Dc in the next ch space, ch 1) the rest of the way around.

Step 6. Sc in the same space, ch 3 – counts as first dc + ch 1. (Dc in the next ch space, ch 1) until you reach the middle of one increase before the increase center. (Dc, ch 1) 4 times in the middle space of the next increase, work dc + ch 1 in between middle spaces. (Dc, ch 1) 4 times in the middle space of the next increase, work dc + ch 1 in between middle spaces. (Dc, ch 1) 4 times in the middle space of the third increase. The middle chain space in the middle increases made in this repeat is now the increase center. (Dc in the next ch space, ch 1) the rest of the way around. (Basically, put a 3-space increase in the center of each increase, dc + ch 1 in every other space.)

Step 7. Sc in the same sp, ch 3 – counts as first dc + ch 1. (Dc in the sp, ch 1) around. On the last repeat, replace the ch-1 with a hdc to position your hook in the middle of the space to begin the next round. – repeat until you reach 2 rows from where you want your sleeve to end (just past the wrist for me).

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Sleeve Detail. Witchy!

Step 8. On the 2nd to last row, 2 dc in ea ch-1 space, 1 dc in ea dc around.

Step 9. One the last row, 1 dc in ea st around.

Cut yarn and tie off. Repeat sleeve on the other side.

Weave in all ends.

And yes, I named it “Stevie” after the famous singer/songwriter and style icon, Sleevie Nicks. I mean, Stevie Nicks.

-MF

Update ! : Here are some photos of Steps 5 &6 of the ultra-ruffle sleeves, by request.

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After Step 5. As you can see, each of the spaces of the [(Dc, ch1)4x] increase have a [(Dc, ch1)4x] increase. For step 6, you will increase in the middle space of each of these three increases.

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Dc, ch 1 around the sleeve until you get the the middle (2nd) ch-1space of the first of the three [(Dc,ch1)4x] increases. (Dc,ch1) 4 times in that space.

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Dc, ch1 in ea ch-1 space until you reach the middle space of the next [(Dc, ch1)4x] increase – three times in this case. [(Dc,ch1) 4 times] in the middle space.

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Dc, ch 1 in ea ch-1 space until you reach the middle space of the third [(Dc, ch 1 ) 4x] increase. [(Dc, ch1) 4 times] in the middle space. Continue the sleeve by working one (Dc, ch1) in ea of the rest of the ch-1 spaces around.

It does hang kind of wacky at first, until you add more non-increased rows in Step 7 to balance things out.

Roving Color Bomb

/ reginaalexisweiss / Leave a comment

There’s been a color explosion over at my Etsy Shop recently as I listed some beautiful rovings that I dyed over Spring Break – along with some other new summer goodies!

This was the largest dye session I’ve managed yet, and I’m happy to say that my process has come a long way since my first foray into fiber dyeing. Here’s a peek at the madness I unleashed on my poor kitchen! It all starts with coffee, of course.

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And here’s the results!

I dyed 4 braids of that earthy multicolored green and brown; it’s a generic wool blend from Dharma Trading Co. – no wool breed listed, but it spins up super nicely. The other three or so braids became faux dreadlocks using a combination of spinning and felting.

I also split the “Mango Punch” colorway BFL braid into thirds and spun one of the thirds for quality control purposes and also because I couldn’t help but play with some of that luscious color after all that work! It spun really beautifully paired with a deep emerald BFL roving from my stash into a bright art yarn I call “Jungle Juice.”

The other 2/3rds of that braid is listed in my shop at a discount since it’s already split!

As much as I am enjoying classes, I’m antsy and anxious as hell for the freedom to keep dyeing and spinning and stitching without other obligations. But I need to buckle down and finish the semester.

Well, maybe just one more row.

-MF

I Sing a Song of Plastic Bag Yarn

/ reginaalexisweiss / Leave a comment

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Out of all the materials I have ever crocheted with, I would have to say one of the most fun and rewarding is Plarn. For those of you who don’t know, “plarn” is the common terminology for “yarn” or cordage made from repurposed plastic grocery bags (plastic + yarn = plarn).

Despite the name, plarn actually contains no yarn and is made up entirely of strips from these grocery bags. Many countries have put initiatives in place to stop the enormous amount of plastic grocery bags from entering landfills and polluting the environment – but in America, we are mostly still woefully wasteful when it comes to these things.

That’s why it’s so satisfying to turn them into art instead!  Also it’s like SOOOOOO FREEEEE.

Did I mention how durable this stuff is? You may not think that plarn would be strong, since grocery bags are relatively weak, but once you combine and stitch them, they are astonishingly durable. The first plastic bag yarn bag I ever made was in 2010, a nice simple drawstring mesh bag. For 6 years I have crammed my shower supplies and towels in that thing and dragged it from camping trips to festivals to cross-country journeys and it’s still holding up. Mind you, I have not treated the poor thing gently at all. That’s how strong this stuff can be!

I won’t show you a picture of that bag, since it is pretty dingy after all that back woods hippie behavior, but I do have a few others to show. Here’s one from 2012…

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I used tapestry crochet for the trunk on the flap of this messenger bag and then slip stitched the green plarn on the surface to make a swirling leaf design.

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If you’re friends are nice enough, they will save you special colored plastic bags and you can make something like this mandala messenger style bag out of colorful plarn!

There’s lots of different ways to make plastic bag yarn, so I’ve collected a few links to tutorials I find most helpful to narrow down the search:

This HubPage article by Moira Durano-Abesmo demonstrates both the double-strand and the single-strand method for creating plarn (I use the double strand method)…

…while this Hubpage article by the same author talks about ways to make plarn softer by spinning it or working it.

Look At What I Made has a great post about making plastic bag “thread” for use in smaller plastic bag projects. Also, she mentions that plastic bags in the UK are mostly biodegradable now and therefore not good for use in projects you want to last! Again, here in wasteful America this isn’t a consideration, but something to keep in mind for readers from other countries.

Another great video on making plarn and then spinning it can be found on Youtube in a video from Wind Rose Fiber Studio.

Of course, there’s a million billion awesome creative uses for this plastic bag yarn once you’ve made it. I tend to make bags (I call them Bag Bags), but one simple Pinterest search will overwhelm you with other ideas – like this awesome Hammock project from Too Many Hobbies, Too Little Time.

One thing I searched for but couldn’t find was a tutorial for the “whole bag method” that was taught to me by someone who used it to make recycled plastic rope. It’s stunningly simple AND you don’t have to worry about throwing away those pesky handles!

The theory is similar to the double strand method, only you use entire bags to make the loops instead of strips of a single bag. To start, you need some plastic bags (duh) and scissors.

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Take the scissors and cut down the side of the bag, from the bottom of the handle opening down to the seam at the bottom. Repeat for the other side.

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Grasp the bottom seam in one hand and the top handles in the other, and smoosh the entire bag into one big loop.

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Grab another bag and repeat, making other big loop.

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Overlay the loops and pull one back through itself, creating a knot.

Continue making whole bag loops and looping them together. The cordage that this makes is really thick and stronger than normal plarn, especially if you twist or braid whole strands of this stuff together into rope!

It’s so thick that I haven’t tried to crochet plarn (plope?) made from this method, although I am sure there are intrepid bulky crocheters or knitters out there that have done so or will do. What about you? Have you worked with plarn, and if so, what do you like to make with it?

-MF