Cruisin' for Bruisers

Hi!  Remember me?  

Last year when I was at the Madrona festival, my friend Mel and I split a Blue Moon Sheep to Shoe kit in the Bruiser colorway and had a little sock-a-long.  Now, Mel is an amazing spinner and can spin perfect fingering weight sock yarn, so I'm just going to accept our differences and try not to be too humiliated.  

So here's Mel's in-progress spinning 

See what I mean?  Here's her description of what she did to spin it:

 

I stripped the top lengthwise into three and spun the first one onto bobbin #1.  The next section I stripped lengthwise into two, and spun those two lengths onto bobbin #2.  The last section I stripped lenthwise into four and spun those onto bobbin #3.  Then I plied from the three bobbins, and voila, Bruiser three ply.

I just left it as it was and Navajo plied.

Here's Mel's completed skein: 

And mine, which is almost sport weight: 

We decided to use the same pattern, a basic 3x1 rib.  She used 2.25mm (1US) needles and 68 stitches, I used 2.75mm(2US) and 72 stitches.  We got to compare at Madrona this year!

 Mine are floppy soft and fuzzy, Mel's are more like real sock yarn socks - soft but definitely much sturdier.  Mine probably won't last more than a couple of seasons, Mel will have her momento forever.

This is what I knit as my New Year's sweater:

It's an out-of-print pattern by Michelle Wyman called Casual Cables.  I knit it out of Berocco Ultra Alpaca, which was wonderful to work with but is very pilly as a sweater.  

Anyway, this was the first time I started a new sweater on NYD and I think I will keep up this tradition!  It made me want to wrap up a few projects at year end, though I was in the middle of Flyindales and I have yet to get back to it.  

Here are a couple of other projects I've completed recently - already with supplies I brought home from Madrona this year!  

Socks That Rock in colorway Treehugger:

~2 oz of 50/50 cashmere/silk:

There's a shawl that's been completed, too, but right now it's pretty raisiny and needs blocking.  

It's looking like spring is finally here!  The grass is green and the trees are starting to wake up!  

Comments

[Joanne]

Wow! That's good stuff..enough for three posts! I love the bruiser stripes and color and I appreciate both approaches to socks. :) (I am more the Navajo 3ply, myself)

Also love the treehugger socks, and wish I could touch that skein of silk/cashmere yarn. Regarding pilly sweaters, I have that problem a lot. I am beginning to experiment with knitting yarns on much smaller needles (choosing a 6 instead of a 9 for instance) to see if that helps. After that? Scratchy yarns only!
Glad to see you posting again. I missed you.

[Mel]

Talk about beautiful spinning - the cashmere/silk is gorgeous!

Doing the sock spinning and knitting was a lot of fun. Our socks are different, but the same.

I can't wait to see your new shawl.

[Vanessa]

love the 4 feet shot :-)

[june]

Very cool socks! I love them both! :)

I personally always knit a bit tighter than the normal human knitter, and I've only had problems with one sweater, a wool-cotton blend. (but still one of my favorite sweaters!)

[Chris]

You and Mel both ended up with lovely socks! Those Treehuggers are very crazily pooled, aren't they?

Hmm. I think I have that sweater pattern. Hmm.

[CarolineF]

Cool socks. Yes, Mel's spinning is rather on the perfect side, isn't it....

[Mary]

Very cool comparison of different results from different techniques. I love how similar, but different the knitted product looks, although it looks like Mel all but lost the purple in hers. Funny how her skein looks darker, but the socks look lighter.

Love the sweater also!

[annmarie]

all I can say is that I envy both of you your spinning ability. I am still working on learning how to ply my singles. :/

[Mary]

Glad to see you back on the blog again. I have also missed you! The spinning from both of you is gorgeous and likewise the socks. Actually, I like your yarn best - it has more color seperation. So what did you bring home from Madrona this year?

[Denise]

Both sets of socks look great and I love your sweater.

This reminds me that I need to start spinning that bag of Bruiser I bought at Madrona!

[Robin]

That fiber is gorgeous!! Love the yarn and socks. Cool experiment. The sweater is terrific! Wish the pattern wasn't out of print.