Spit Splicing

So, the other day, I decided to try this "spit splicing" thing I had heard so much about. I'm currently working on a sweater I'm sample knitting for Donna Druchunas, over at Sheep to Shawl. By the way, her patterns are lovely, and I highly recommend them. They're super easy to follow, and I have never gotten as many compliments on my knitting as I have while working on this sweater. It's a lovely blue and cream, and one of my favorite work-horse yarns: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted.

The yarn seemed like it would felt well, and so when I got to the end of my first skein of the blue, I teased out a few inches at the end of the skein and a few at the beginning of the next skein, and rolled and rubbed them in my fingers until they felted together (all of about 30 seconds, and not much spit was needed!). Then, I tried tugging on it, trying to get it to fall apart. I was a little skeptical about this technique, but it proved to be very strong. Once I put the yarn down for a second, I couldn't actually tell where the splice was! I was definitely impressed. I think I will definitely keep this in mind from now on whenever I'm using feltable yarn of any kind!

Test knitting and designing

So, the toy I was supposed to test-knit fell through. I'm a little bit sad, but given my knitting workload right now, it's actually a bit of a relief. I also found that the yarn for the sweater I'm test knitting has been shipped, but the pattern hasn't since it's not ready yet (which seems to me an odd way to do things, but it's not my money buying the yarn). Betty's pattern I should probably check up on, but I'm guessing she's just been super-busy and that won't be ready to do for a while yet.

Also, there's this design class I'm taking. I was the only one to sign up, so we're designing me a sweater. It's a cardigan, which is exciting, since I love cardigans *way* more than pullovers, but have yet to knit one. Really, it shouldn't be that hard, right? James said he'd help me with the math, and I already have the first swatch done! I'll post a photo when I get a chance. There are two stitch patterns in this cardigan, in addition to stockinette (which is the swatch that I have done).

The yarn I'm using is my birthday yarn from Maris, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in "Candy Apple." It's funny that it felt so cotton-y when working mostly with wool otherwise, but after working on Presto Chango in 100% cotton, the Cotton Fleece feels lovely. Also, it's knitting up very nicely on US 7's, and at a much friendlier gauge than it did on the 6's. The gauge in stockinette is 4.5 stitches per inch, and 7.5 rows per inch.