Mandy Moore's Blog, page 94

Spinning Tuesdays: My Bobbin Winder & Fiber as a Fix

I’m a flighty spinner, a process spinner, a starter, a dabbler, a sampler – you get the picture. I fill up, or partially fill all of my bobbins pretty regularly. I’m also not a very even fiber divider or spinner, so I frequently have a fair amount of singles left on one bobbin after plying. I need my bobbins but I don’t just want to trash the leftover singles. My answer to this dilemma is storage bobbins.

 

I recently used some store credit I had on a bobbin winder and I love it. I got a Schacht.

Schacht bobbin winder

I use cardboard storage bobbins that are less than $20 for a bag of 10.

 

Cardboard spools

I wind off  lonely or leftover singles to use for blending or textured yarns. The cardboard bobbins are great because they are cheap (!) and I can write notes on them – twist direction, fiber, etc.

One hiccup I had at the beginning is the bobbins are too big for the bobbin winder. My fix? Fiber to the rescue!  Using a little fiber on the inside of a bobbin makes it fit perfectly.

Using a little top to make the bobbin fit

Put a finger sized bit of fiber on the end of the bobbin winder shaft and push the too-big bobbin on over it. The fiber fills up the space between the bobbin winder shaft and the bobbin.

When I wind a bunch of bobbins at once I find I have to replace the bit of fiber because it compacts and doesn’t hold the bobbin anymore.

 

The fiber stuffing trick works great on my niddy noddy too. I have one that is particularly susceptible to weather changes, when the weather gets cooler, even too much air conditioning and the arm falls off while I am winding. I stuff a little fiber in the hole in the arm and the niddy noddy shaft fits tightly once again!

Niddy noddy fix

Foot Sizing Survey Results; Contest!

Last year, I ran an email survey: I asked knitters to measure the feet of their friends and family, asking for the following data:

The key data points

I got nearly 400 replies, providing meaningful data for foot lengths 8.5-11 inches, foot circumferences 8 to 11 inches.

Disclaimer: although I received replies from all over the world, most of the data I received was from North American knitters. I received more data for women’s feet than men’s. There is inherent risk in getting respondents to take their own measurements: I have to trust that they measured in the right place. I don’t claim that this represents every foot in the world, and I don’t believe it should be taken as the final answer on foot size. What this represents is simple: 400 of your best knitter friends offering up measurements of their own feet to help you better understand how to choose a sock size and how to better design sock patterns.

SUMMARY

I found some interesting results – some confirming what we felt we knew, as sock knitters, others rather surprising.

• In the vast majority of cases, ankle circumference is the same as the foot circumference. The foot circumference either same or larger (never smaller), and if larger only by about 5%.

• And there is a remarkable correlation between foot length & foot circumference – foot circumference on average is about 95% of foot length.

• Gusset circumference on average is larger than foot circumference by 10%. (It turns out that I have a high arch!)

• Heel diagonal about 35% larger than foot circumference, 25% larger than gusset circumference.

• The calf circumference question was an interesting one… lots of respondents questioned why I was asking this. In many cases, 6 inches up from the floor isn’t that far up the sock leg – certainly nowhere near full sock leg length. And this was the point of the question! A standard leg (if such a thing exists) does indeed get wider about 6 to 8 inches up from the top of the heel, where the calf muscles start to curve out – which is also the usual length of a sock leg. But the majority of calf-length sock patterns keep the sock circumference the same – that is, they are assuming that the sock leg doesn’t need any increases to fit comfortably below that calf curve. However, what I learned was that in nearly 50% of cases, there’s a significant increases in leg circumference just up from the ankle.

• Calf circumference 6 inches up from the ground 12% larger on average but there was a huge variance in this – for some, up to twice to size. For 15% of respondents, it’s the same or smaller; 40% it’s 1-10% larger than ankle; for 30% it’s 10-20% larger; for 18% it’s even larger.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SOCK PATTERNS

This particular data point was known to me before I started the survey: in fact, it was why I started the survey. Looking at men’s and women’s shoe sizes individually, the difference between the largest and smallest common sizes (e.g. women’s size 5 to 11 and men’s size 6 to 12), there’s a 25% difference in both length and foot circumference. That is, a women’s size 11 shoe is over 20% larger in both width and length than a women’s size 5 shoe; and the same difference exists for men’s size 12 compared against men’s size 6.

Although knit fabric does stretch, you can’t expect one size sock to fit that range of sizes with equal comfort, and to look equally look good.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SOCK KNITTERS

Rather remarkably, you can guess the rest of the foot measurements based on one: as long as you have foot length, ankle circumference or foot circumference you’re good.

If you have foot length:

Foot circumference, ankle circumference = foot length * 1.05.

Gusset circumference = foot length * 1.16

If you have foot or ankle circumference:

Foot length = foot/ankle circumference * .95

Gusset circumference = foot/ankle circumference * 1.10

I do recommend you look for sock patterns that come in multiple sizes, and choose the size carefully. Remember that a sock is best worn with about 10% negative ease. Your feet will be happier for it.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SOCK DESIGNERS

• Socks should be sized!

• It’s safe to assume that foot circumference = ankle circumference. You can also use foot circumference as rough guide for foot length, as in the formulas above.

• Design with a gusset or expanded heel for better fit: If you’re adding a gusset, make it at least 10% larger; if you’re working without a gusset, ensure the heel provides 205%-35% extra circumference.

• Allow for larger calves; consider providing suggestions on how to size for larger legs.

THE DATA

I’ve sliced it two ways: by foot length, reflecting how shoes are sized and how non-knitters tend to think of their feet, and by foot circumference, reflecting how knitters usually think of feet. The numbers are the average of the reported results.

Note: I’m not making any statement here about shoe size, as it’s not an absolute or reliable measurement: I found that for any given shoe size, the reported foot length varied by on average 13%. There several reasons for this: shoe size varies depending on manufacturer (I wear a size 6 in some brands, a 6.5 in others, and a 7 in some others); those with wider feet will more often choose a larger shoe size due to its added width (since relatively few shoe brands provide wide sizes), and shoe size will vary wildly from style to style, and whether a shoe is worn with socks (and handknit vs. storebought socks at that). Just because you buy a size 8 shoe doesn’t mean that you have a size 8 foot!

By foot length.

By foot circumference.

I hope this is useful to you! If you have thoughts, comments or additional questions, least let us know.

Bet you wanna knit these….

As a reward for reading this far, we have a contest! We’re giving away a pack of 2 skeins of Zauberball to make the excellent and innovative Longitudinal Socks. (That’s enough yarn to make 1 pair of the largest size, or a couple of pairs of the smaller sizes!) Value of the prize is $42. Our usual contest rules apply: leave a comment on this post by midnight EST Wednesday July 18th to be eligible to win. If you’ve won a giveaway in the last year, please give other knitters a chance. Thanks to the Skacel Collection for the prize.

Obsession: Good Health. The Stitch Red Project

With patterns from many of your favorite designers

Stitch Red is a nationwide campaign in the US that raises awareness about heart disease, the #1 killer of women in the United States. Manufacturers and designers in the Needlearts industry are creating and selling Stitch Red products to benefit the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health in support of The Heart Truth. Yarn shops are carrying these products and hosting Stitch Red events to raise funds for heart disease awareness.

Yarn retailer Jimmy Beans Wool is leading the charge, and they recently released the book Knit Red, which features 30 red, heart health-inspired patterns and personal stories from industry greats.

The team at Jimmy Beans Wool was inspired by the experiences of some friends and family members, including  sales rep Marta McGinnis who had  survived a major heart attack. Marta was a key member of the team developing the campaign, but she sadly passed away in 2008, and never saw the results of her work.

The main goal of the campaign is to spread hearth health awareness nationwide –  and maybe even internationally. Heart disease has been traditionally considered a men’s issue, and it’s critical than women are aware of it and how it affects them. Heart disease is most common in women ages 55 and older, but it can affect younger women. It’s never too early to know the risks of heart disease so young knitters can start preventing and controlling the risks.

Launched this year, the campaign will be ongoing, and spread beyond knitting: the bok Sew Read is being published in February 2013, just in time for American Heart Month, and the goal is to get the sewing community as involved as the needlearts community has been!

Although the campaign is primarily about information and awareness, all of the manufacturers/designers have partnered with The Heart Truth and pledged to donate at least 5% of gross profits of their Stitch Red products.  Knitters can get involved by purchasing Stitch Red products, and by helping ensure that knitters get involved in the conversation.

I talked to Laura Zander of Jimmy Beans Wool and author of the Stitch Red book, about the campaign. I asked her if she has changed anything in her own life since she’s got involved in the project:

“I’m already pretty active- I have a three year old son who keeps me running around! I have made a commitment to myself to eat one piece of fruit per day. If I’m honest with myself (sigh), I have to admit that I’m always finding excuses to eat chips and fatty stuff instead of fruits and vegetables. I know that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so I’m just challenging myself to make 1 small change at a time. Once I’ve made eating 1 piece of fruit a part of my lifestyle, then I’ll take the next step (2 pieces?! Oh my!). On a more general level, I’ve just started being more aware of the signs and symptoms and am committed to not ignoring things about my body that seem out of whack.”

Laura’s parting words are wise – that we should all take care of ourselves:

“Make a conscious effort to eat healthy, exercise (even going for a walk counts), and pay attention to your body.”

Gorgeous!

We are giving away a prize – a copy of the book, courtesy of Soho Publishing, and a yarn pack to knit Norah Gaughan’s fab Cable Cardi, courtesy Berroco Yarns. The value of the prize pack is $75.95.

There will be one winner. Our usual contest rules apply, leave a comment on this post by midnight EST Monday July 16th to be eligible to win. If you’ve won a giveaway in the last year, please give other knitters a chance.

WWW: Sensible Voices from Mainstream Media; A Monster Knits Himself; Geek Craft

The winners of our Cathedral Grove Socks yarn pack giveaway are Sarah from Ontario and Joanne from Alberta.  Thanks to Felicia at Sweet Georgia Yarn for the Tough Love Sock. Happy knitting to our winners!

Image property of the artist, Amy Crook.

Artist Amy Crook posts a charming sketch on her blog of a monster knitting himself a sweater from his own coat.

Why I Knit: Washington Post writer Ruth Marcus elegantly meditates on what knitting means to her and to the larger community of women.

Writer Will Batchelor weighs in – very sensibly – on the fuss kicked up about the knitter at Wimbledon. Fab piece, and I particularly enjoyed the image it evoked of Will’s grandmother. (Reminded me of my grandmother…) Key quote: “A basic ribbing stitch/ tennis match combination would have been a doddle.” It feels good to be understood. Thanks Will!

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New knitters!

Love this! A class of teenage boys from Patrician Brothers’ College in Fairfield City, Australia have taken up knitting to create blankets to donate to a charity drive.

“A story of giving and loving hearts”

A Wisconsin first grade teacher was inspired by a the generosity of Florida knitting group to write a children’s book. The book, “The Golden Purls” tells the story of Kathy Dennis’s mother and her friends, who knit and donated hundreds of hats to hospitals and cancer groups around Florida.

Makes my geek heart beat a little faster!

Not all knitting but fab just the same: io9.com brings our attention to an amazing online gallery of fabulous sci-fi and fantasy fan art, created in yarn and fabric. The online gallery shows a portion of the exhibition, “Sew Nerdy: A Geek Craft Extravaganza“, is being hosted at a gallery in Lauderhill, Florida. It runs until August 11, 2012.

Spinning Tuesdays: Knitting with Handspun – Ply Twist

So, I’ve finished spinning my Tour de Fleece singles, yay!

Now it’s time to ply. Easy thing right, just ply?

Ply twist is another piece of the knitting with handspun puzzle. It can make a big difference to your finished knitted fabric, both to the look and drape.

Here are the three samples I did for this particular yarn. One is slightly under plied, one is balanced and one is over plied.

Single, slightly under plied, balanced, over plied

The color change in the yarn may make it a little harder to see the difference in the yarn, so lets look closer

under plied, balanced, over plied

I measure my ply twist by measuring bumps per inch. I lay my plied yarn next to a ruler and count the number of bumps. For the three yarns above the under plied yarn has 4 bumps per inch, the balanced 6 and the over plied 10. If you want a much more accurate measurement, measure twist angle.

For me measuring bumps is quick, and most of the time an ish measurement is all I want.

The under plied yarn is pretty floppy, I don’t like how it feels or looks, even as a yarn. The balanced yarn is ok, it would work. I really like the look and feel of the over plied yarn. It’s not crazy over plied, like I’d over ply for socks, I just let it get rounder looking than the balanced ply.

 

I knit small 15-stitch, stockinette samples of each yarn, using a US #6 needle.

Bottom to top: under plied, balanced, over plied

They look a feel very different to me. The gauges for stitches to one inch are: under plied – 3.75, balanced – 4  and over plied 4.25.

I love how the color is much more blended in the over plied sample, the under plied looks much more marled.

The feel of the over plied is denser, not really in a stiff way (but if I kept twisting the ply it would get to stiff pretty fast) in more of a durable way, they way I would want a sweater yarn.

Here’s a closer picture:

Top left, over plied; top right, balanced; bottom, under plied.

This is so exciting to me! It makes me think about a  design with different ply twist in different spots for drape or color control.

What do you think?  Does this make you curious enough to experiment with ply twist?

 

Please, no one point out that my gauge is wrong for the Tappen Zee that I want to knit.  Ack. I’m going to keep swatching with different needle sizes and may try a tiny bit more ply twist, but I love the yarn as it is. I may monkey with the math of the pattern or I may have to choose a different sweater.

TNNA is more than just ice cream.

Technically, TNNA stands for The National Needlearts Association. Practically, it’s the abbreviation that stands in for the twice-a-year trade show for the business of knitting, crochet, embroidery and needlepoint. And a little spinning. And yes, ice cream. More on that later.

Every summer, the industry meets in Columbus, Ohio, for a long weekend of meetings, seeing what’s new, buying and selling. It’s all done on paper…no one walks out with shopping bags full of yarn. Orders are placed and goods are shipped after the show. For Jillian and I [and this year, Kate joined us], it’s about catching up with our industry partners and friends who make yarn, design patterns, write books, publish them.

What have they been doing since last summer? What’s new that our readers have to know about? What are the yarn trends for the coming year? It’s fun, but like all trade shows, it’s a crazy lot of work to stay focused and do and see all that needs to be done and seen in just 2.5 days.

So, what did we see this year? Take a look!

Amy Hendrix [right], the creator of Madelinetosh, shows off her full line of colors to a customer

Blue Sky Alpacas always has a stunning booth display. These are the boxes that hold the color cards for their new Metalico yarn.

And here it is…50% baby alpaca, 50% silk. Yum!

Also from Blue Sky Alpacas, their new line of Petite Knitting Patterns. Each goes with 1 skein of their Royal Alpaca yarn. Clever.

We were so glad to hear that Kristin Nicholas has brought her previously discontinued yarn line back to life, now called “Color by Kristin“, and available through Classic Elite. Here’s the color card. Fabulous for Kristin’s trademark colorwork designs!

That’s me on the left wearing my newly finished Lanesplitter, and on the right, Tina Whitmore, designer of the fabulous pattern!

Tina is the owner and mastermind behind Knitwhits. This is her very popular Freia yarn, which comes in a variety of weights.

One more photo of Freia by Knitwhits. Can’t get enough of Tina’s beautiful way with color.

not everything at the show is yarny — these are zpots, rustic pottery cups, needle, and spindle holders with heartwarming messages

 

We gave out little Ninja Rabbit project bags to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. Here, the awesome Debbie Bliss, her daughter Nell, Nell’s new design partner Teresa, and the lovely Josh Bennett.

The fabulous Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton shows off the other side of the Ninja Rabbit bag. We just love this logo!

No Sheep spotting: my Tuscany pattern, beautifully worn by Brigitte from Illinois.

Knittyspotting: Kimberly shows off her Coachella! (We love the cowboy hat, too.)

Knittyspotting: Pat from Alabama looks lovely and cool in her Gemini (the number 1 pattern spotted on the TNNA floor this year…)

See? Another pretty Gemini. Lovely, Suzan!

Speaking of sweaters, one of the fun things to do at the show is try on the sample sweaters…like these at the Berroco booth!

Here, my copilot for the trip, the fabulous Denny, gets giddy as she tries on every Norah Gaughan-designed sweater in the Berroco booth. Note the amused Miriam Felton (aka Mimknits) in the background.

Then Denny met Norah (her design hero) in person, and lost her mind. Norah was amused by the whole thing.

Speaking of Denny, one of her favorite things was the display by the Royal School of Needlework, the prestigious school from the UK. This beautiful piece was created by Lucy Barter, and features stumpwork (raised embroidery) and the little lanterns even light up!

Detail of Lucy Barter‘s handiwork. Exquisite.

What was I most impressed by? At many booths in the show, Schacht Spindle Company had set up a display like this one. It featured a finished scarf woven of that company’s yarn (here, we see the Berroco version) on their Cricket Loom and one still in progress. A great way to show off yarns we think of as meant for handknitting in woven form, and to show how useful a little loom can be.

At the Louet booth, friend of Knitty and owner of the Spinning Loft, Beth Smith, turns fiber into beautiful yarn and has a blast doing it!

No, not mushrooms. Yarn shop staff will recognize these as huge bundles of skeins of Manos del Uruguay yarns. This is how they’re shipped to each shop. So appealing!

New from Alchemy, they’ve beefed up their Silken Straw, and now also offer Silken Twine…same raw materials (100% silk), but much thicker. It shows off color so beautifully and now knits up much faster!

Here is the Knitty team! L to R, Amy (yes, that’s my tunic-ized version of Gemini!), Jillian, Kate and Denny

There was so much more, and we’ll be featuring more of our favorites in the Fresh from TNNA edition of Cool Stuff in the First Fall Surprise. For now, we leave you with the favorite break-time pasttime at TNNA…stopping in at Jeni’s Ice Cream at the North Market.

The milkiest chocolate in the world on top, roasted strawberry buttermilk on the bottom. Oh, my.

(Everyone featured, and the owners of all products shown, were asked and have granted permission for these images to be taken and featured here.)

A little face lift for the blog

The old blog template was beyond stale. We are liking the fresh, white background where pictures of knitting can pop even more. And of course, our brand-new 10th Annversary Logo is prominently featured.

We hope you find this new template easier on the eyes…or at least a fun change.

Ignore the dust

We’re mucking about. Readable blog will return asap. Your patience is appreciated.

WWW: Tennis, Music and Iceland in Wool

Knitting: making tennis more interesting since 2012.

The Knitter- and Twitter-verse was all abuzz on Saturday when a woman was spotted knitting at Wimbledon. @stephenfry and others tweeted about it, it was covered on TV and various media outlets. Much (predictable) discussion about whether you can watch tennis and knit at the same time, from the muggles.

The knitters were busy trying to figure out what she was wearing and knitting… we’re pretty sure that’s a Citron draped over her shoulders, and a Lanesplitter on her needles.

The home of wool mills.

Leeds yarn shop Baa Ram Ewe has announced a series of terrific events to celebrate Yorkshire Wool Week, October 14th-21st.

Our very own Amy will be there, offering three workshops: All About Knitty, Making the Next Monkey, and her Plug-and-Play Shawl Design Starter class.

Amazing!

Electronic music composer Jeff Bryant, challenged to create a “non-boring” MIDI controller, employed conductive thread to create a “playable scarf“. With help from a costume designer friend, the composer knit a few scarves and asked a dancer to wear – and dance with – them… When the fabric is manipulated, the thread’s movements activate the piano’s keys.

Fjord of Wool. Image courtesy the artist.

Many knitters and fiber fans have fallen in love with Iceland. Artist Eszter Burghardt has taken it to its natural conclusion: she has recreated the landscapes of Iceland in wool. Fabulous work.

Knitting free spirit and genius Lucy Neatby has launched a new YouTube channel with her fabulous technique videos.

Presented without comment, because I’m really not sure what to say: TV personality Tori Spelling is knitting a poncho for her pet chicken.

Spinning Tuesdays: Tour de Fleece

I’m spinning for the Tour de Fleece!

I didn’t join a team, and my challenge isn’t huge, but it’s something I really want to do.

I’ve been spinning sort of half heartedly on my goal to spin a sweater’s worth of yarn. I’ve done about half.

So my TdF challenge to is finish spinning and plying my 2lbs of Falkland from Southern Cross Fibres.

Tour de Fleece!

When I finish I want to knit Tappan Zee by Amy King.

Yay for handspun sweaters!

I love this sweater. I’m going to make the sleeves longer and have buttons run further down, it’s going to be great.

 

What are you spinning for the Tour?