cormo | Through The Yarny Curtain

A Year of Projects 2015, Weeks 27 & 28

I didn’t write a Year of Projects post last Sunday, so this post covers the last week and a half of progress. Saturday, July 4 was Independence Day in the United States. My husband had Friday and Monday off, and we planned to go to the beach at least one day. We didn’t go because I wasn’t feeling well on Sunday and Monday. On Friday, my family got together for lunch:

Chris and I hung out around the house for the rest of the long weekend. The rest of this week was our usual routine. Today we did some yard work. The aloe plants in our backyard are blooming. I love their flowers!

I’m also happy to report that while Tiger seemed suspicious of his cat bed when I first made it, he’s decided he quite likes it. It is now his favorite place to sleep — if no human lap is available, that is!

Let’s review the goals I set when last I wrote a Year of Projects post:

Goals for July 1 to 5, 2015

Knit at least 1/2 of the Sweet Summer Shawl
Cast on Miranda Shawl
Swatch and Cast on Bubbles Baby Blanket
Swatch and Cast on Liquid Silver Shawl
Finish spinning and plying the Cormo I’ve been working on since February
Start spinning the 3 Feet of Sheep (8 ounces BFL) on July 4 for Tour de Fleece

I finished the Sweet Summer Shawl on July 8.

I cast on the Miranda Shawl, knit 8 rows, discovered that my mistake on the cast on row was going to be a problem, ripped it all the way out, and cast on again. I only cast on again yesterday and I’m now making excellent progress.

Since I’m working on the Cormo as part of Tour de Fleece, I’ve been writing regular updates about it (Stage 1, Stage 3, Stage 6, Stage 7). Today I finally finished plying it! The bobbin on top is the one I finished plying for Stage 7. I finished the other two bobbins today.

I have not started the baby blanket, Liquid Silver Shawl, or spun any of the BFL. I didn’t include anything about the Master Hand Knitting swatches on my goal list, but it is an ever-present goal. I knit one more swatch in the last week:

Goals for July 13 to 19, 2015

The next two weeks I will be very busy. My cousin is in town next weekend. I’m also taking a three-day weaving workshop from the 17th through the 19th. On the 21st, I head to San Diego for The Knitting Guild Association Annual Conference, and I won’t be home until the 26th. I have a long list of things to do and little hope that everything will get done! I’m trying to write a modest list of goals, and it’s taking every bit of restraint I have to keep it short.

Finish the Miranda Shawl
Knit all the homework swatches for TKGA classes
Finish knitting the MHK1 swatches
Spin 1 color of the BFL / day (there’s 10 colors / 8 ounces total in Three Feet of Sheep)

On Deck:

Mittens for MHK1
Liquid Silver Shawl
Bubble Baby Blanket
Weaving with VCR tape
Color and Weave Study scarves
Begonia Swirl Shawl

Updated List of Goals for 2015

Knitting

Knit myself a sweater
Improve my finishing techniques
Finish MHK Level 1
- First 3 swatches finished by June 24, 2015
- Swatch #14 finished July 11, 2015
Dishcloth Advent Calendar
- Tribbles, finished January 18, 2015
- Leaves, finished March 30, 2015 but never blogged
- Heart Illusion Dishcloths (in progress)
Charity Knits
- Mock Rib Scarf, finished January 18, 2015
- Emergency Scarf, finished June 1, 2015
Do some test knits
- Sand Tracks Scarf, finished June 16, 2015
- Grisou Scarf, finished June 24, 2015
- Raindrops on Roses Shawlette, finished June 27, 2015
- Miranda Shawl (in progress)
Finish or frog all UFOs
- Traveling Scarf
- Bigger on the Inside Hat
- Evenstar
- Quinn Bag
- Baby Blue Monster
Socks
- Wearing o’ the Green(e) Socks, finished February 14, 2015
Other Projects
- Clapotis, finished June 1, 2015
- Liquid Silver (remaking from scratch, since I frogged it!)
- Fountain Pen Shawl
- Begonia Swirl Shawl (remaking from scratch, since a friend accidentally felted the first one)
- Felted Cat Bed, finished May 16, 2015
- Tiger’s New Bed, finished June 30, 2015
Design at least one project from scratch
- Super Secret Shawl, finished June 1, 2015

Crochet

Learn to read crochet patterns
Learn all the basic crochet stitches.
Make at least one non-granny square crochet project
Dishcloth Advent Calendar
- Diagonal Crochet Dishcloths (in progress)

Spinning

Breed Specific Spinning
- Cormo (in progress)
Learn to spin on a drop spindle

Weaving

Continue playing with color and weave drafts
- Ravenclaw Houndstooth Scarf, finished January 19, 2015
- Solid Warp, alternating picks, one of which matches warp, in progress
Learn pick up stick drafts
Learn Inkle Weaving
Learn Kumihimo braiding
Explore Twill weaves on the floor loom
Make items for the Guild Sale
- Slytherin Houndstooth Scarf, finished May 1, 2015
Other
- Woven Doctor Who Scarf, finished May 7, 2015

Dyeing

Finish dyeing the MAPLE LEAF Shawls
pH / water source experiment
Return to dye triangles project

Tour de Fleece, Stage 7

Today I continued plying the cormo. While plying is faster than spinning, it still takes a long time when your singles are like thread! I finished the first bobbin and barely started on the second bobbin.

I haven’t mentioned this before, but I a towel under my spinning wheel to protect our hardwood floors. The small movements the wheel makes while I’m spinning scratched my floor the first couple times I used the wheel. I usually pick the towel up at night to keep it away from the cats. I forgot to pick up the towel last night and someone puked on it during the night, so I put a different towel on the floor today. Fortunately, the guilty feline missed my wheel and my bobbins of spun yarn. I would not have been happy to find dried up cat puke ruining my beautiful singles!

Tour de Fleece 2015, Stage 6

Since I only had 0.06 ounces of cormo left to spin, I finally finished it. Then I started plying. And plying. And plying some more. Plying is a lot quicker than spinning, but with yarn this fine it takes a long time. I’m about halfway through the first bobbin of finished yarn, or one-quarter the way through the singles.

My husband walked through the room just as I was getting set up to ply. He looked at the spinning and said, “Do you still call this yarn? It looks like thread to me!”

WIP Wednesday: July 8, 2015

I wasn’t sure if I would have anything for WIP Wednesday this week. I’ve been knitting a shawl, which I finished and blocked today. I do have an update on my Tour de Fleece spinning and I cast on a new project!

Tour de Fleece, Day 5

I really, really, really wanted to finish the cormo today. I didn’t quite make it. I have 0.09 ounces left to spin. That’s not a lot, but at the rate I’m spinning it’ll take at least 1/2 hour and it’s already 1 am. I’m throwing in the towel. I’ll finish it tomorrow.

Miranda Shawl

I cast on and knit the first 4 rows of a new shawl. This one is another test knit. Since it’s knit from the bottom up, I had to cast on 418 stitches!

Tour de Fleece 2015, Day 3

I didn’t spin yesterday as I was not feeling well. Walking around, even for a short time, made me feel nauseous and dizzy. I spent most of the day either napping or laying in the recliner and knitting. Sitting up to spin was totally out of the question. Chris took a vacation day today. I still wasn’t 100%, so we took it easy. A little hanging around, a few errands, a wee bit of housework. I had time to spin this evening while we watched American Ninja Warrior.

The picture on the left is my bobbin of cormo as of the end of Day 1. The picture on the right is my bobbin of cormo as of the end of Day 3. I spun 0.25 ounces of cormo today. I have just under 0.5 ounces left to spin. That’s just under 2 hours of spinning at the rate I’m going. I’m not sure if I’ll have time to finish all that spinning tomorrow, but certainly by Wednesday!