A Spinner's, Knitter's and Dyer's Array of Shading Techniques; 3 Handknit Hats; and Spider's Present Projects

It's amazing even to me that I'm letting my readers know that I've been baking something weekly from scratch during the whole month of January. Biscuits, scones, quick bread, and muffins have been tumbling out of my oven. This truly is amazing because I've never been much of a cook, let alone a baker. Not long ago Chris requested that we share the kitchen instead of him being the only one who knew what ingredients we needed when we went grocery shopping. He said it was time I threw out the worn-out "I'm not a cook" LP record and replace it with a "I'm a cook and proud of it" CD. I thought seriously about Chris' appeal and decided that baking might be something I could finally sink my teeth into and enjoy. Weird as this may sound, my Ma used to get disgusted when she'd bake a cake for the family and it would be gone in an hour or two. You would think that she might have been pleased by such an enthusiastic reaction to her baked creations. Wasn't so. Instead, Ma would say, "All that work and they go and eat it all in no time flat." I wonder what she would have preferred we did with the cake?!

Two friends, in particular, have been supplying me with enticing recipes and plenty of encouragement...Librarian-Lunar-Lady-Leslie and Jofran-Who-Can-Knit-But-She-Can't-Type-Worth-A-Damn. Leslie is renowned for her fabulous, healthy, baked morsels and Jofran is a master of turning nourishing ingredients into heavenly dishes. Tonight I whipped up a Jofran-fave that uses three bunches of steamed greens (mine were mustard, chard, and kale) mixed up with two chopped sweet onions; all drenched in an exquisitely light feta cheese sauce and served over rice. Chris proclaimed it outstanding. But know that not everything I've whipped up can carry the "outstanding" moniker. A few weeks back, when I had just begun my baking foray, I set out to make blueberry muffins. The only baking powder in the cupboard had French writing on one side of the container and English on the other side. That could only mean one thing. The baking powder was from when we lived in Toronto. I used baking powder that was over 10 years old! Leslie got a chuckle out of that one. Thankfully no one died from eating the muffins and they weren't quite rocks.

And before we move on to other topics, I can't help but ask: Is it me, or is working with flour in the kitchen bloody messy? Before I'm done baking, there's flour in crevices I didn't know flour could get into.

I thought it would be fun to show a few hats I knitted from when the kids were little. Note that none of the hats shown here are handspun, not that they couldn't have been 'cause I was definitely a spinner by then. The above hat was called the rather rude "Balls Hat." Rude because I don't mean baseballs. The balls were supposed to be cherries or apples or even radishes. But they never got their leaves. Yes, I know...even Adam got his leaves in many sculptures and paintings, but sadly no leaves on this hat. I made quite a lot of these hats, sans the balls, for sale back then.

My favorite thing regarding the knitting of hat's like these was to include a knitted lining. First the outer hat was knitted in stockinette. Then the inner lining was picked up on the purl-side of the cast-on edge and knitted just like the outer hat, but with finer yarn. Next came the little, triangular, garter stitch earflaps that were also lined. And finally I-cord trimmed the edge of the hat and provided a nifty tie.

Above we have another hat donned a long time ago by Alexander, youngest of the spider. This hat had a name but who-knows-where the pattern is, that would have also let me plug the hat's designer. Does anyone know more about this pattern or better yet, did you knit one? I remember 'twas fun to make. I also remember that Alexander began complaining around then that his hats did not look like his friends' hats. Hence, the beginning of hat-whining that would last throughout grade school.

This third hat goes back to babyhood time again. It's all in garter stitch and has a Scandinavian origin me thinks. I LOVED this hat as it looked beyond darling when worn by a baby. The little peak in front is simply cuter than a bug's ear. Again, I've no idea who designed this hat or where a pattern can be found. Readers?

Hiccup.

Here's the fiber that I'm spinning at my wheel these days. It's Louet's "Northern Lights" wool top in the colorway, "Sunset." At the last class I taught in '08, I had spun some of this in order to demonstrate plying. The color continued singing to me once I returned home so I thought that it would be fun to spin the entire 8oz bag up for perhaps some half-mitts and a hat for me. I'm thinking on making EZ's "Very Warm Hat," using some leftover, solid-colored, handspun for one side of the hat and some sort of 2-color pattern for the other side of the hat.

Here's the singles, which will end up as a 2-ply, when all is said and done. Note I'm spinning on the Louet S10 with the fatcore bobbin. I've been asked over the years which oil/grease I use to lubricate my S10? I prefer 30 weight motor oil. It's thick enough to stay where I put it. I have to admit, I don't follow the Vaseline recommendation.

And here's a project that has made it to my knitting bag. The handspun is two shades of Polwarth wool and silk. It is leftover yarn from my Deborah Newton collaboration for Spin Off, as seen in the past post, Ode To A Low Whorl; Beginner's Park And Draft Spindling; BOOK Update; Sister Sweater; Scandinavian Hat And Mitts.

The project is to be a scarf, and what I think will prove to be a very soft and warm scarf at that. The pattern comes from Jane Neighbor's, "Two-Color Knitting," Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974. The pattern is called, "Banded Scallops," pg. 34, and is what's called alternate reversible. In the glossary of the book, an alternate reversible is described as follows: "This usually indicates patterns having a texture of two distinct parts which alternate. Where one occurs on one side the other appears on the reverse. For example, where one is raised the other is depressed, where one is knit the other is purled. Sometimes design, rather than texture, alternates." Jane discusses the above pattern by saying: "It is difficult to achieve an attractive two-color reversible lace but this is at least somewhat lacy."

The cool thing is that I could choose to fully keep the puffy, raised texture or block it out a bit in order to better see the lace holes. Will see what I think when the scarf is completely knitted. In any case, the pattern seems to be one of the many "Feather and Fan" versions...always a perennial fave of mine.

Hiccup.

The Lunar Ladies got together last week once again. Unfortunately our E was ill and couldn't be with us. But in a moment you'll see that she, too, was represented.

Jenna arrived and proclaimed that she had a dream that showed instead of the spider taking pics of the Lunar Ladies, each Lunar Lady would take pics of the spider holding something that each Lunar Lady made or was making. "Bloody hell, don't take pics of me," I proclaimed! My hair was in such bad need of a dye job that a skunk would mistake me for its mother. Jenna told me to put on the hat. Maureen complained that I have a penchant for taking pics of them all no matter how they look. A mini-argument ensued over the hat. I won. On went the hat. Apparently it was necessary for Jenna to see this dream through to real life.

Here's Maureen's sweater project. We'll have to wait for her to comment to tell us more about it. Never mind that a comment by Maureen is a rare siting indeed. Pretty colors, eh?

Here's Leslie's delicious homemade rolls, a waxpaper-wrapped homemade energy bar that's beyond-wonderful, and some nuts.

And, keeping to my word, E was represented in abstentia, thanks to Leslie.

And finally, our resident dreamer Jenna, has been working on a crocheted bear for a friend's baby AND recently worked on a needlefelted man. Jenna's man was born when she took a needlefelting class taught by the amazing Kathleen Meeks, of Maybelle Farm.

Hiccup.

Before I show you this gathering of knitters I think it's important to tell you that the Lunar Ladies now have official Lunar "Court" names. The Duchess Of Dirt is not present at the below gathering. The hostess was Queen Bag Lady. Queen Bag Lady felt that the Lunar Ladies needed just a knit-in with no other Lunar Lady shenanigans. I, Princess Moonbeam, thought it was a wonderful excuse to get together more than once in a month, as is our usual practice!


Above you'll find Madame Moonshadow knitting on a spiffy scarf. Madame Moonshadow, won't you tell us more about the scarf and the yarn used in the comment section, please? Thank you.

Lady Sunshine is crocheting another pretty hat just like the one that was featured in the past post, 30-Step Hand Carded Triaxial; Choosing Fibers For Your Projects; Emily's Angora Handspun; Celebrating a Birthday and the Holidays; Emi Said YES!. Lady Sunshine, please tell us about the yarn you're using in the comment section. Thanks!

And above is Queen Bag Lady, herself. Geezo, I haven't a clue what she's knitting!

But I do know this is Queen Bag Lady's organized knitting needles...

And here's her official unorganized needle stash.

In the above pic you'll find what I was working on at our knitting get-together. These are half-mitts that I originally began for myself, but ended up giving to my Chris. Interestingly, Chris' hands aren't all that much bigger than my own and so they fit him just fine. The pattern is based on "Wristers," pgs. 19-20, as featured in "Fox & Geese & Fences ~ A Collection of Traditional Maine Mittens," by Robin Hansen, Down East Books, 1983. The handspun I used is a wool/mohair blend for the half-mitt itself, and 100% mohair for the color pattern. I have no idea what the color pattern represents. I made the majority of these half-mitts awhile ago and didn't finish them until recently, so I've no idea what I was going for color-pattern-wise. When viewed as above, they kinda look like Afghan Hounds (yes, the dog), for goodness sakes.

Now do look at the pic closely, please. Bet you can't tell that I made one of the half-mitts with a 2-ply and the other with a 3-ply. You can definitely feel this difference in the yarn, but not see it all too well. Why did it happen? I ran out of the two-ply I was using and realized I had spun a tad of 3-ply with the same fiber. The bottom line is that Chris cares not a bit that there's two different plied yarns in his half-mitts and neither do I. Perhaps I'm getting lax in my old age.

Palm side up! Know that there's a finer-handspun hem underneath the color pattern put there in order that the edge wouldn't curl. After I finished Chris' half-mitts, I had him try them on again and was going to wash them, as is my usual practice. Chris replied, "No way! I might never get them back." Given that I took his balaclava for the BOOK and haven't returned it yet, I guess he has a point there!

Hiccup and on to the techie portion of this post. Shading Techniques!

Shading within knitting has always appealed to me. Whether it be shades of black to grey to white, or shading from one color to another, the results have always intrigued me. As a fiber artist, there are various ways to achieve shading. Here’s a list and brief description of many of the shading techniques I’ve been drawn to:

Shading via hand carding: Various colored fibers can be put on the carding bed and if careful to keep colors in place as you card (see chapter ---), not only will the individual colors be retained, but there will be some attractive shading between the colors.

Shading via drum carding: One can lay different colors in stripes, whether vertically or horizontally placed, directly on the main drum. If one is careful when putting the resulting batt through the carder again (if needed), some, of the individual colors will be retained and shading will be inevitable between the original colors, happily creating new colors. The more you put the original through the licker-in, the more you blend and meld the colors together, cutting down on shading, and ending up with a more homogenous, even unto, single-colored, batt.

Shading via dyeing: Four techniques come to mind if one is looking for shading through the dyeing process. 1) Rainbow dyeing allows one to place colors on fiber or yarn in a pot. When the colors move and meld with each other, new colors are formed. 2) Dip dying allows one to overlap colors on a skein of yarn or length of commercially prepared fiber, creating a gentle transition between the original colors and creating new colors in between. 3) Handpainting allows colors to be placed and even overlapped on commercially prepared fiber or yarn directly as desired. 4) If a range of whites, various grays and dark brown to black fibers and/or yarns are chosen to be incorporated into the same piece, shading options can naturally occur by putting all of these values into the same immersion pot of dye.

Shading via spinning singles: When using different colored rainbow dyed, dip dyed or handpainted fiber, a spinner can shade within the singles as wanted, especially if the singles are to be knitted as singles, and not plied.

Shading via plying: If a spinner knows they’re going to use solid colors, they can plan to ply a shaded interim between those colors by plying one singles of one of the colors with another singles of the other color.

Navajo 3-plying is another technique that lends itself well to shading since the spinner can keep the colors in a multicolored singles as clear as wanted and yet allow one color to transition to the next via barber poling.

Shading via knitting: One interesting way to shade from one color to another would be to knit a row of one color, then knit the next row of the second color, knit again a row of the first color, then the second, etc. Another way to shade makes use of purl stitches, random or otherwise, as in Bohus knitting, which brings color from one row into the next row. The use of slipped stitches can also bring color from one row to the next. Fair Isle patterns make wondrous use of shading, often within or around lozenges and other traditional motifs.

Shading via choice of fiber type: Fuzzy fibers can make shading easier because the “haze” caused by the fuzz adds another dimension to the shading. Keep in mind, however, that any fiber or yarn can lend itself to shading if utilizing one or more of the carding, dyeing, spinning or knitting techniques listed above.

Above is a nice example of shading in plying AND shading via choice of fiber type. The haze is courtesy of mohair.

And next we have some random shading through hand carding. Each rolag created ranged from light grey to dark grey. It was "random" because some rolags had more than one shade within the rolag itself and they were spun without a set plan.

Here's some shading within a stranded color pattern. Note also the haze created, which adds to the shaded effect.

Above you'll find shading created in a ribbing pattern. More haze, as well.

Finally, here's an interesting type of shading by using similar colors in rows next to each other in a knitted motif. What's particularly effective is when one color is brighter than the other similar, but duller or darker color.

Do YOU like shading as much as I do??? Please share your shaded projects with us by sending me jpgs and a write-up. Also, do let us know if you've shaded in ways not covered above. Much appreciated!!

Will end with a question by Jofran in the comment section of last month's post.
Jofran wrote: How do you get air into your singles, and don't say think air - because I don't understand that.... also you may not answer it depends.... as in life the answer to every question is it depends.

The spider responds:
A tall order, indeed, since I can't say "air" and "it depends." Geesh. First I'll start with fiber prep, especially when using commercially prepared fiber. Two words will suffice: Stripping and/or predrafting. Both techniques will automatically get air into otherwise compacted fiber. For more on stripping and predrafting, see the past post, Spinning From The Fold; Plus Stripping and Predrafting Commercially Prepared Fiber.

Next I'll suggest watching your drafting triangle as your spinning the singles. If the triangle is translucent rather than opaque, there's a better chance that the fibers aren't stuck to each other and that air surrounds each individual fiber.

And finally, if you're using a two-handed technique, do make sure that you're not pinching the life (and hence, air) out of the just spun singles as it heads to be stored on the bobbin. YOU and your sneaky little pinching finger may be the biggest culprit for removing air and loft from your singles. I like to "lightly finger" the singles as twist enters, especially for knitting yarns. Lightly fingering allows me to control stray fibers on the outside of the singles but doesn't squeeze out all the air from the inside of the singles.

Anyone else have "retain the air" tips for Jofran?

Almost forgot...this request was recently put in the comment section of a past post:
Hi Jenny,
I am glad to find your blog as I have just begun my explorations into indigo fermentation vats, and have urine vat underway. I'm in Australia (New South Wales), and feel its great that there is such a great global community of people willing to share their knowledge about natural dyeing. I am wondering if you ever found out who is the vendor of the madder roots in Australia? I am on the hunt for some supplies!
Best wishes,
Shoufay
Can anyone help Shoufay? Thanks!

Happy Groundhog's Day! Happy Imbolc!! 'til next time...