Yarn, Flutter Sleeve Cardigan

I really think that spindling lends itself to the photo essay. I finished plying up my first real substantial hank of yarn last Sunday, and finished plying my second today. These pictures are from my first attempt. I took one fresh single and one really rested single, wound them both into outer pull balls, placed those into coffee cups and then plied them together.











This is approximately 155 yards of two ply handspun wool, 18 wpi. I finished the yarn by 1. soaking it in hot water with baby shampoo, 2. soaking it in hot water with a capful of vinegar, and 3. soaking it in hot water. I then let it hang dry on a door knob, unweighted. This method worked okay for me. Since one of the singles was fresh, it kept twisting on itself and creating knots that needed to be untwisted. Also, when I got to the end of the ball it kept popping out of the coffee cup and tangling with the working yarns. Because of that I tried something different for the next hank, but I will blog that another day.

I also received my knitpicks shine sport in the mail this week and have cast on for my flutter sleeve cardigan from the spring 08 IK. Looking at the pics I've seen on Ravelry of this cardigan, it's going to look fabulous. I decided to modify the pattern to make it longer because I have a long torso. I added 14 rows (2") of stockinette at the bottom, after the seed stitch, but before the decrease rows. So far I am enjoying knitting with the shine sport. It's softer and less heavy than any other cotton yarn I've worked with. It does, however, stain my fingertips slightly. That's not a big deal though, since it wipes off really easy.