Tour De Fleece 2016 Wrap-Up

All the goodies from our Art Yarns Challenge Day event last month. Thanks so much to Katie Best for doing the Demo and for donating so many wonderful prizes for this year's participants!!

Tour De Fleece has ended for another year, but our local team, Athena's Twisted Sisters did a pretty good job making a dent in each of our respective fiber stashes. Our team's focus was on having fun and getting each other excited about spinning and maybe trying out some new techniques along the way. Our individual goals were to try to spin as many meters of yarn as the riders in the Tour De France travel in kilometers (3519). Not all of us made it that far, but we all did at least a little spinning and we all had a great time enjoying each others company at least once each week for the past month.

The rest of this post is a collection of our team member's totals and photos of the completed handspun. If there was more than one picture to choose from, I tried to pick the one that I thought the spinner would like showcased. I'm really so proud of our team and I couldn't be happier with how everyone did! Even though we didn't have a stretch goal, I thought that it would be fun to see how much we spun together as a team...

Collectively we spun at least 20,332 meters!!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated and for those who were on the sidelines cheering us on! I hope that you will all join us for Spinzilla 2016 in a few months and bring a friend.

Enjoy the yarn porn below and if you aren't a spinner but are interested send me an e-mail, I'd love to enable you into this fun craft!
Shaina  ^_^

My own handspun from the tour.

Shaina:


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Sdpenrn spinning through a length of Malibrigo Nube.

Jarrod:


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Some of Luvewebygk's beautiful singles. A special thank you as well to Gerry Kay who donated some wonderful spinning fibers and kits as prizes for this year's team as well!!

Gerry Kay:


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Except for the neon green in the center, all of Evesch's handspun in this picture if from the same roving. I love how she split the fiber to preserve the color-changes and then plied it with a commercial yarn that had sparkly sequins for even more of a pop!

Eve:


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Photo credit to OmniGeek

Katie:


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Photo credit to Defiant1

Lorna:


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Photo credit to Cloudlakes

Amy:


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Photo credit to Cooneen

Colleen:


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Photo credit to Martyshandspun

Marty:


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Photo credit to Danugraywolf

Lauri:


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I did fail to get pictures of everyone's spinning (sorry!!) so here are the couple that I missed:
Nancy:



Wendy:



Lisa:

Knitting Tutorial: German Short-Rows (Purl-wise)

Hi, guys! I'm back this week with the second installment of the German Short Rows Tutorials. This time I'll be showing you how to knit these purlwise and get your fabric to lean to the right (when the right side is facing). If you missed part 1 of these tutorials, you can check it out here: Tutorial: German Short Rows (Knit-Wise)

I also wanted to point out that this short-row technique works perfectly as a replacement for the Wrap & Turns used in my Soiree Slouch and The Highlighter Affair Hat Patterns. I'd love for you to give this technique a try so I'm offering a special Buy 1, Get 1 Free offer on these 2 patterns through 11:59 PM (CST) on 8/2/16. Just add both hats to your cart and when you check out the Soiree Slouch will show as a free item, no coupon code required!

Now, time for the how-to...

Step 1: Purl to the last stitch of your short-row. (The stitch that would have been wrapped.)

Step 2: Turn work, bring yarn to the front.

Step 3: Slip 1 stitch from the left needle to the right needle purl-wise.

Step 4: On your right needle, wrap the yarn over top of the stitch that was just slipped.

Step 5: Pull the yarn to the back tightly so that the slipped stitch synches up and the stitch below wraps around the right needle. (It will now look like 2 stitches.)

Keep yarn to the back & knit as normal.

OR

Bring yarn to the front of your work and begin purling as normal.

(Use whichever stitch your pattern calls for.)

Here is what the back-side of your work will look like with the short-rows happening every-other stitch starting with the first stitch on the left needle. Notice how you can see the stitch from below wrapping over the needle and looking like it is 2 stitches that sit too closely and awkwardly together.

Here is a view from the front of the same stitches that have been used for short-rows. On this side it almost looks like a brioche stitch with the right leg almost passing over the top of the left.

To finish your German Short-Rows and work across them, simply purl the 2 legs of the turning stitch together when you come to them. Work all the other stitches as your pattern indicates.

I hope that you found this tutorial helpful and please share it with anybody that you think will benefit from this technique. Give it a try yourself and let me know how you like it. Be sure to pick up your copies of the Soiree Slouch and The Highlighter Affair while they're on sale, too. I'd love to see your projects and hear your thoughts leave a comment or join my Ravelry Group to join in on the discussions happening over there and to post pictures of your finished projects or works-in-progress.

Have a great week of crafting, I'll see you soon!

Shaina  ^_^

Tutorial: German Short Rows (Knit-wise)

Hello everyone! This week I wanted to give you a tutorial on making German Short-Rows. (Which just happen to work beautifully in my Soiree Slouch and The Highlighter Affair Hat Patterns in place of the Wrap & Turns.)

I recently learned this technique and I'm absolutely in love. Seriously, it's like magic. The first time that you do it and see how it works and makes a nice, smooth turn in your knit fabric will be like the first time you turned a heel in a sock. After I did it for the first timed I proceeded to show anyone around me who would listen how they worked. (Even my non-knitting hubby was forced to learn German Short-Rows.)

These can be used in place of a traditional wrap & turn or most other short-rowing techniques. The difference is that you get a much more fluid movement in the fabric than with other techniques that I've seen and you don't have to try to pick-up wraps as you're working over the turning stitches. I just can't get enough of them and I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do!

(I've added a tutorial for doing these purlwise: HERE. Enjoy!)

Step 1: Knit to the last stitch of your short-row. (The stitch that would be wrapped if using the wrap & turn method.)

Step 2: Turn work, keeping yarn in front.

Step 3: Slip stitch (purlwise) to Right Needle.

Step 4: Wrap yarn over the top of the stitch that was just slipped to the Right Needle.

Step 5: Pull yarn to the back tightly so that the slipped stitch synches up and the stitch below wraps around the right needle...

...it will now look like 2 stitches.

(This is what it will look like on the Right Side of the fabric.)

Step 6: Bring yarn to the front of your work and begin purling as normal.

OR

Keep yarn to the back & knit as normal.

(Use whichever stitch your pattern calls for.)

Here is a completed section of short-rows waiting to be picked up. (Short row turns occur every other stitch.)

You can see where the short-row turns are by looking for the stitches that look similar to purls. When you look closely you will see that  they are the stitches that were wrapped over the needle when you turned.

To finish your German Short-Rows and knit across them, simply knit the 2 legs of the turning stitch together when you come to them. Knit all the other stitches as your pattern indicates.

I hope that you enjoyed this little tutorial and that it will help you to have smoother knitting when you use short-rows. Have a great week of crafting, I'll be back next week with the Purl-wise version!

Shaina  ^_^