BatZo

They/Them Non-Binary nerd from Wales | Likes: Cats, DnD, Reading, and Knitting Sometimes does space instrumentation science

[batzooh]

Oh sweet baby why do you sleep on my knits?

(also this is my new finished knit: the Lauro Sweater by Minimi Knit design. I love it so much, the yarn is from my wonderwool haul this year: knitsonmars (I think) was where the fingering weight came from and the silk alpaca floof was from pigment and ply)

[batzooh]

A tour de fleece update! I started early but with the days I'm busy working all day, I'm about on track with the number of spinning days so far.

I have finished my first goal of 300g of Corriedale in the kingfisher colourway. I ended with a 2ply sport weight, and a total of 947m spun from the fold to keep the colours from going muddy

I am making progress on my second goal at 300 out of 400g of my gradient Skein and the Stitch project. 300g has got me 1212m in 2ply sport/fingering weight so far with 100g to go.

And because I have been alternating these so far I am adding a new goal to the roster:

I'm going to spin this as a combo spin, aiming for 3 ply and a DKish weight. I've split all the braids into 4 and re-bundled them so I get a bit of everything in each skein, then I'm going to break them down and make grab bags for each single to get some really random colour play going on

I am so excited for this one, I rushed through playing the last of the Corriedale so I could jump right into this!

I hope you're all having a fruitful tour-de-fleece so far! Happy spinning x <3

[evidently-endless]

being offered ai at every turn

[koniknits]

Here's what I am looking forward to weaving. Handspun silk merino blend for weft and B&F blend for warp.

[batzooh]

I would like to introduce my seabird colony (The Mean Gulls) in aid of https://knitforwildlife.org/knitalong/ they are my best boys: Baygull, Gulliver, Flapjack, and Snack Bandit.

In the (very probable) event of me making many more of these: please leave your punny seagull names for me to give to these little darlings

[batzooh]

All of the posts I've seen of people planning their tour-de-fleece spinning has got me excited for spinning things again (that and the fact I need a break from all the endless stockinette my projects have turned into). So without further ado here's all my plans for tour-de-fleece (that I have already started cause I have no self control)

First up:

100% Corriedale from the threshing barn in the colourway 'kingfisher'. I've had this since yarndale2024..... and it's about time it got some love! My plans are for a 2ply sport-ish weight to make a rift tee out of.

And then this pile of joy from Skein and the Stitch: the semi solid is 'obstinate headstrong girl' and the solid is 'Lincoln green' both from the year in Austin march colourways in a blend of Rambouillet, Romney, and Cormo fibre. This has even more extravagant plans I'm going to start with the variegated (around two thirds of it) as a 2ply fractal, then take the remaining third and ply that with the solid to make a gradient into the semi-solid. Not sure what exactly this will become (I have a few options) but I'll start with the variegated round the neckline and knit through the gradient in the yolk!

I am very hype with my plans and we shall see how far I get actually during the tour, and how much I get through before it even starts 🤣

[batzooh]

Tickets acquired!

[makerandbean]

in my ongoing efforts to a) make a bunch of four-ply, and b) not waste any singles length, i am coming up with increasingly unhinged ways of Still getting four strands after one or more of my bobbins runs out.

after much experimentation, i’ve come up with the following process:

four singles: easy. four lengths of singles, one for each ply. three on a lazy kate, one on my wheel’s integrated bobbin holder, done.

three singles: still pretty easy. turn one of your remaining bobbins into a plying bracelet. this gives you two ends from one length of single. that, plus the lengths from the other two bobbins, makes four plies.

two singles: now we’re cooking. where we go from here depends on whether your plying bracelet ran out, or one of the other bobbins ran out:

a) two bobbins: chain ply one single, while simultaneously plying with the other. the chain ply gives you three plies, and the additional single makes it up to four. a fun discovery i’ve made with this is that it doesn’t actually make a difference which single you pull through the loop in the process of chain plying - you can essentially alternate which of the singles you chain, as long as you’re only ever pulling one single through the loop at a time and letting the other single ply normally. (you can also do (b) below with two bobbins, but this is way is much less of a hassle.)

b) one bobbin and one plying bracelet: turn your remaining bobbin into a second plying bracelet, on the other wrist to the current plying bracelet. now you have two ends of singles from each wrist, for four plies total. this is exactly as much of a nightmare to control as it sounds, especially if your singles have a lot of twist in them. good luck!! you’re going to need it :) also, probably turn your wheel’s tension up a bit. that helps.

one single: advanced technique for the truly deranged only. turn your single into a plying bracelet, and then do as (a) above - one end of the plying bracelet chain plied, with the other end allowed to ply normally, for a total of four plies from a single length of single. definitely turn your wheel’s tension up. laugh directly into the face of the uncaring void as reality bends to your will. also, time how long it takes for everything to become hopelessly tangled. if it’s more than a minute, you have Won Spinning. congrats!!

[riotboi]

Horrendous thought, posting my actual physical form (cringe! You're embodied? In the year of our lord 2026?) But I just finished my first ever sweater and second ever knitting project! The ends need to be woven in and it needs to be blocked, but overall I'm really happy with it! Step by Step Sweater pattern by Florence.

[batzooh]

Behold! A finished object:

It's the Quickbeam cardigan by Marina Skua, made with my own handspun yarn (fibre from Skein in the Stitch) held together with knitting for olive mohair

It took me a month and a half ish (I was a little bit obsessed with how it was working up) the guage is quite small for the size yarn I needed up with and I'm happy to move on to something on bigger needles (my tennis elbow is thankful that I'm done).

I don't think I'm ever going to take this off, it's so soft and so cozy, I love it already

[gradientdescent-does-it-all]

She’s REALLY into the sheep smell

[hippieghost]

This is a tea checkpoint.

Is your tea getting cold?

Did you turn on your kettle and forget about it and now the water is cold again?

Is the tea bag still in?

Did you intend to start the tea making process and forget?

Congratulations! You remember now.

[tangleddreaming]

My first handspun sweater

I'm still in the beginning of my spinning journey so I wanted to try a bunch of different fibers. I didn't want to buy a large quantity of one fiber I haven't tried and I already have a bunch of mittens and beanies etc so I didn't want to do a bunch of one skein projects. So I planned to use all of the different fibers I bought for a sweater.

I already had some solid coloured blue Corriedale and the other fibers I bought were merino, merino-silk, merino-bamboo, merino-sparkly, merino-bamboo-viscose. The tweed and the black fibre from the picture I left out of this project.

I wanted to get a striped effect where the colours would fade nicely to the next colour but that didn't happen especially on the sleeves. I divided the fibres into smaller sections and spun two identical bobbins where the colours appear in the same order.

Then I plyed those two strands of merino blend with the corriedale

Finished skein

Finished sweater

The fit isn't perfect because I was very lazy when I casted on and didn't do any shoulder shaping. But still MY FIRST HANDSPUN SWEATER!!!

[batzooh]

Incredible!! Love the stripes 😍

[cabinet-of-crafts]

Some 3ply Merino/Silk I spun last year

[batzooh]

You can be so productive when you have a week off work! 🤣

Behold: a finished spin, ready to be cast on

Skein and the stitch's enchanted yarn society colourways from October "that's hot!" and "May all your bacon burn" plyed together. 400g total at just over 1600m of 2 ply fingering weight. This is destined to become a Quickbeam cardigan (by Marina Skua) held with kfo mohair in the rust colourway

[wyrmscraft]

Stash!!!!!

I found these in my stash (looking for something else ofc) and immediately wanted to do a Luminous Nine Patch.

Now, now listen.

I know I seem to be making a few of these.

But they turn out gorgeous! How could I not make them?? They’re so easy and fun to do.

[wyrmscraft]

She is on fire!

Look at this thing! I love her! She’s gorgeous!

She’s bold and dramatic and demands attention!

I think this one is one of the best Luminous Nine Patch quilts I’ve done.

I’ll use orange thread to quilt it and put black cuddle on the back, along with black binding. I think that’ll finish her off nicely 💖💖

[wyrmscraft]

I was correct. The black cuddle and binding are just fab with this.

I did actually find a more golden yellow thread called Dessert Sunset that I used instead of orange to quilt with, and I love it.

Man. It looks so good in the sunlight.

[batzooh]

It is surprisingly difficult to take aesthetic photos of your own finished handknit socks when you are in fact wearing them....

However I have finished them and so I must show someone:

A slightly altered Hybernal Sock, in Jan 2023's yarn worx market town mystery yarn.

I had a goal this year to make 12 pairs of socks over 12 months and as it is currently Feb 14 and this is the first pair finished (and I cast them on only on the 2nd of Feb) I am kinda behind. But I'm feeling motivated and enthusiastic about socks right now, so I've cast on the next pair straight away and jumped right into a tense game of yarn chicken 🤣

Pretty sure I've won tho with 12g remaining from a 20g mini! Success (even if I did cut out a few rows of the colourwork chart)!