Spinning – Ann Budd Knits

Heading West

November 2, 2015 / Classes, Retreats, Spinning, Travel / 8 Comments

In a few days I’ll board another plane to Portland, Oregon, where I’ll teach for three days, then take a week-long retreat in Port Ludlow, Washington.

I’ll be at Twisted Yarn Shop on Friday, Nov. 6, and will teach Shadow Knitting in the morning and Intro to Sweater Design in the afternoon.

Then I head over to Happy Knits for two days. On Saturday, November 7, I’ll teach Socks at Any Gauge and Matching Cast-Ons and Bind-Offs.

On Sunday, November, 8, I’ll teach Top-Down Sweaters with Raglan shaping. The class also has an option for working circular yoke instead of raglan shaping.

After a few days of “down” time, I’ll head to Port Ludlow, Washington, to partake in the November Strung Along Retreat hosted by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Besides spending time with Stephanie, I’ll finally get a chance to take a class from Judith MacKenzie, which thrills me beyond belief.

I’ve managed to pack my folding spinning wheel in my largest suitcase, padded with all the materials I’ll need for the classes at Twisted Yarn Shop and Happy Knits. Perfect!

A New Pattern

June 2, 2015 / Accessories, Home, Patterns, Raffle, Spinning / 18 Comments

Despite all odds, I managed to upload a new pattern to my website and Ravelry. It’s called Mitered Stash Afghan and is the combination of my own handspun alpaca, and handspun alpaca that I’ve collected from other handspinners.

I took a somewhat random approach to the blanket, using Vivian Hoxbro’s mitered garter-square technique and combined two sizes of squares for somewhat of a patchwork look. I think this would look great in any combination of yarns, so long as they are somewhat compatible in size. In fact, one of my hanspun yarns was fingering weight so I doubled it to better match the other worsted-weight yarns. The doubled strands make for slightly thicker squares, but you have to look (and feel) carefully to find them.

I encourage you to sort through your stash and make your own version. You could make it smaller by using sport or fingering weight yarn or larger by using bulky yarn. Or you can change the size by adding or subtracting squares. The pattern comes with a cartoon of the sequence of squares so you’ll be able to use it as a springboard for your own ideas.

To get you started, I’ll raffle off a free copy of the pattern. Just respond to this post and tell me what yarn you’d like to dig out of your stash. I’ll announce a winner Friday morning, June 5.

More Miters

June 4, 2014 / Accessories, Spinning

I’m still having fun knitting my blanket of mitered squares, though it’s a challenge to knit when the temperatures rise. I’m adding the squares in somewhat of a circular fashion around the initial square. At some point, I’ll need to plan for the finished dimensions, but for now, I’m just adding squares randomly.

The piece is now big enough that I can get a good sense of it’s drape. It’s going to be great! The slight difference in gauge between the different yarns doesn’t seem to be a problem. The garter-stitch structure seems to be very forgiving.

Mitered Squares

May 31, 2014 / Accessories, Spinning / 3 Comments

I’m having a blast knitting mitered squares! I decided to work two sizes of squares–small squares made up of 25 stitches and large squares made up of 51 stitches. I’m using the colors and sizes randomly and I’m trying to alter the orientation of the decrease diagonals for a patchwork look.

This type of knitting is truly addictive. As soon as I finish one square, I want to start another. I sat down to knit one square, and look where I got!

Handspun Alpaca

May 28, 2014 / Accessories, Spinning / 3 Comments

I learned to spin a few years ago and, since then, I’ve spun some of my own alpaca yarn and I’ve purchased handspun alpaca at various retreats and festivals. But now I’m wondering what to do with this assortment of yarn. It ranges in weight from fine sport to worsted and includes a variety of natural colors. I’ve been disappointed in enough alpaca sweaters that sagged and dragged after a few wearings so I’ve been reluctant to knit another. I had planned to make a shawl out of my own handspun, but what to do with the rest?

The answer came to me one evening when I was snuggled under a woven alpaca throw that my sister had given me. I can combine the assortment of yarns in a blanket! To take advantage of the various colors, I plan to follow Vivian Hoxbro’s mitered square technique outlined in Domino Knitting, which was published by Interweave back in 2002.

The garter-stitch structure of the mitered squares should help minimize stretching and mitigate some of the gauge differences. I plan to use size U.S. 8 (5 mm) needles for all of the yarns and hold two strands together for the finest yarn.

It figures that I didn’t get this idea until the end of winter. The biggest challenge will be keeping my hands from sweating while I knit. I think this will be a late night and early morning project.

Coping Mechanism

December 18, 2012 / Spinning

Some people call it a spinning wheel; this week I’m calling mine a coping mechanism. As yet another horror unfolds in the news, I’ve taken to my wheel for calming monotony. I’m working on fleece that I started spinning during my class on spinning for knitting at SOAR this fall. I’m planning a three-ply yarn that will likely become some type of vest if I can every bear to wear something that currently represents such sadness.

As I spin (or knit), I’m grateful for the process and again I think that the world would be a much more peaceful place if everyone spent a bit of time in quiet contemplation.
I wish you all peace.

Yarn!

October 2, 2012 / Spinning / 5 Comments

Here it is — about 180 yards of three-ply from my Enchanted Knoll Farm Polwarth/Silk blend. It only took me a couple of hours to ply it, but it took days to find time to snap a photo.

I had planned to use this yarn for socks, but, given all the socks I’ve knitted in the past year, I’m wondering if it might not be more fun to knit some sort of shawl/cowl thing.
Right now, I’m happy just to admire the skein.

Spinning Again

September 24, 2012 / Spinning, uncategorized

I’ll be teaching at SOAR (SpinOff Autumn Retreat) next month–Spinning for Knitting a sweater, Socks at any Gauge, and Sweater Design Basics–and I started to get nervous that I haven’t sat at my wheel for several months.
To get reacquainted with my wheel, I decided to spin up the Enchanted Knoll Polwarth/silk top that I bought at SOAR last year. It’s a gorgeous combination of browns, burgundy, blue, and purple called “haunted.” I bought it with the intention of spinning three-ply yarn for a pair of socks.

It took a while for me to figure out how much tension to put on the break band and to get into a rhythm, but once I did, the fleece seemed to spin itself! I forgot how much I enjoy spinning. I divided the fleece into thirds and spun each third onto a separate bobbin.

I hope to ply the singles tonight.

Handspun Hat

January 14, 2012 / Accessories, Spinning / 5 Comments

I really should stop feeling so clever every time I knit something out of my handspun, but I just can’t help it. If I had known how wonderful handspun is to knit with, I would have taken up spinning years ago. Now I feel I have to make up for lost time.
I just finished a hat for my oldest out of “barn blend” fleece I got from Stargazer Ranch Alpacas last June. I was afraid that pure alpaca wouldn’t hold its shape so I carried a strand of Marianne Isager fingering weight wool (Wool 1) along with my handspun. Worked in a modified k2, p2 rib, the hat is lusciously thick and, no doubt, warm.
My son only takes it off to sleep. Talk about gratification!