For the Love of All Things Wooly - The Cuttle Corner #22

Welcome to the twenty-second edition of The Cuttle Corner! It’s Valentine’s Day, so we are talking about the love of all things wooly (like we do every week).

Image of a twisted hank of wooly yarn with purples and oranges, resting on the mother of all of a spinning wheel.

If you missed last week’s post, you can take a look here.

Now, let’s get cozy!

What’s Going On

If you follow The Cozy Cuttlefish closely, you may have noticed there wasn’t a Friday post last week. Don’t worry! Nothing tragic has befallen me, and I’m not going anywhere.

I thought I was on top of everything, then all of a sudden it was Friday again and my post wasn’t finished. Instead of rushing out something that wasn’t right, I took the week to get ahead going forward.

Even though it was a busy enough week that I got behind, I couldn’t tell you what I was so busy doing, so let’s get right into the wonderful wooly things I’ve been working on!

What I’m Working On

Knitting

Cabled Cardigan

I’ve finished the first sleeve on the Kildalton cardigan I’ve been working on! I was extra careful to not make sure to make it too short. I’m a fan of long sleeves, but it is easy to want to be finished with sleeves so badly they end up a little shorter than you actually want.

Image of the sleeve of a cream colored, hand knit sweater, with a Celtic cable motif.

Of course, I am still solidly on sleeve island, but I’m encouraged by how quickly this sleeve knit up. Hopefully the second will go even faster, since I will know exactly what I’m doing.

Vanilla Socks

After a bit of a break of sock knitting, I picked back up the pair of socks I’ve been working. Much like being stuck on sleeve island, knitter’s can suffer from the terrible malady of second sock-itis. This is when you knit one sock and instantly lose all momentum to finish the second one.

I have fortunately made a speedy recovery from this case of second sock-itis, and have made a lot of progress.

Image of feet wearing a pair of hand knit socks. The right sock is not finished and the toes of that food are showing.

With a heel turned and half a foot, this second sock will be done in no time!

Spinning

Purple Blend

I haven’t been able to keep my hands off of the Corriedale/Polwarth/Silk blend I’ve been spinning on my Norwegian spinning wheel.

Image of a Norwegian spinning wheel with a flyer full of two-ply yarn and two bobbins on a built-in lazy Kate with singles waiting to be plied.

With two bobbins full of singles, this week has been all about plying. I’ve plied over half of what I’ve spun, and soon I’ll be back to spinning the other half of the fiber.

Image of the flyer of a spinning wheel with the bobbin half full of purple, two-ply yarn. Resting on the spinning wheel is a twisted hank of the same yarn that has already come off of the spinning wheel.

I am so happy with how this yarn is turning out. The colors are doing interesting things, and it is delightfully wooly. The yarn is turning out pretty consistent, even though I’ve been spinning this yarn very intuitively, without any strong parameters to keep me on track.

Turkish Drop Spindle

Whenever I have a spare minute here and there, I’ve been picking up my Turkish spindle and spinning a little of this grey Merino/Bamboo fiber.

Image of a wood Turkish spindle with geometric carving on the arm with grey single ply yarn, neatly wound around the arms.

Spindle spinning is not as fast as wheel spinning, but it is very portable and easy to squeeze into the day, no matter what you’re doing. Even though I only spin a little bit at a time, it adds up!

This fiber is very slippery, which makes it more difficult to spin than some other fibers. Even though it takes a bit more concentration to not let the spindle drop, the yarn that this fiber makes is so soft, it will be worth it!

Until next time, keep cuttle-ing!

What are you working on? I’d love to hear about your projects in the comments below!

For the Love of All Things Wooly – The Cuttle Corner #22

What’s Going On