Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 18

Since last time I have Kitchener'd the armpits closed and sewed on the buttons,... and, on the night before we got our home back after the major remodel, this is Complete!

AND now that it is complete, I think it is important to capture how large an achievement this is:

• This sweater is 100% Hand-spun by me from Rare-Breed, American Wool.  Some of which was grown very close to my home.
• Each of these yarns are their natural color.  Nothing is dyed.
• I began spinning the yarn used in this sweater in April 2019. 
• I started thinking seriously about this sweater in early-January 2022.
• Cast-on in late-February 2022.
• Final Bind-off and Finishing happened in late March 2023.

With four urgent projects (Wavy Scarf, Black Hat, Baker's Hat, Twisted Rib Stocking Cap), a little bit of time-out for one hot summer, finishing out the other WIPs (Summer Cardi, New Normal Socks, Clown Fish Socks, Very Berry Socks, Brown Socks) and Two Tours de Fleece interfering with knitting progress over the last year, I'm very pleased with this sweater.

Especially when considering at early February last year, I was just restarting regular knitting after moving our farm and getting our former home ready for sale...  so I would say that this last year has been quite productive.

So my Save our Sheep Sweater has been 4 years in the making.  :-)

There are several mistakes and I could have made the button holes 2 stitches instead of 3.  The final result is rustic and I love it!  This is my first, fully-hand-spun, sweater and I love it!  I expect it will get lots of wearing for years to come.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 17

Well, I thought I might get this project completed under the 1 year of knitting mark, which happened toward the end of February... but I avoided weaving in the ends and re-doing the Button Band Bind-off for two long.

Finally on a few cool days in mid-March, I decided it was time to get them finished.... and both were not terrible.

Weaving in ends is tedious and took a few sessions, as expected.  Redoing the Button Band went much easier than I expected.

I replaced the "standard" bind-off with the Simple Stretchy Bind-off as described in this video.

Pulling out the Bind-off was surprisingly easy...

With the new Button Band Bind-off and much less bunched-up looking...

Remaining now are sewing on buttons and Kitchenering the Armpits closed.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!

Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 16

Since last time when I completed the sleeves, I have embarked upon my very first Button Band.

Picking up the stitches was easier than I expected.

It's a bit bunched up in this photo, but I'm very happy that my existing long circular needle is long enough for this task.

The pattern instruction was to pick up and knit the first row in one step, but I wanted to err on the cautious side and understand why they wanted a multiple of 6 stitches first.

The reason is that this Button Band is ribbed in 4x2 like the sleeves.  I decided to add 4 stitches so that the rib would be the same at the bottom on both sides, and therefore should also match as the sweater is buttoned up.

At this point, I have the Navajo Line completed as well as the next few rows.  I am ready to make the Button Holes, but first I need to confirm the hole size required...

In comparing the button options I selected earlier in this project, I've decided on the bottom one.  It's a slightly oval button made from Olive Wood and stained in a Walnut finish.

Button Hole Help:

I am using Shropshire for the Button Band, and I love working with it.  It has a nice amount of stretch and softness.

Due to the stretch of the Shropshire, I decided that I will make the button hole only 3 (instead of 4) stitches wide...

And the Button Band one or two rows wider to accommodate the oval buttons I selected.

One more row was enough...

I marked the locations for the Button Holes..

Then confirmed the button would fit appropriately in the new holes before knitting the rest of the Band.

With the Shropshire being so stretchy I decided to do a Standard Bind-off, per the pattern instructions.  However, I think a Slightly Stretchier bind-off would have been better.

Now, with my first ever Button Band being complete and the life lines all removed, the remaining tasks are sewing on the buttons, Kitchenering the armpits closed and weaving in the ends.  So close!!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday

Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 15

Upon starting the Jacob on the Body of my Save our Sheep Sweater, I decided that the grey Jacob breed band on the sleeves would be shorter and the Black Welsh Mountain breed band would be longer.  This has to do with the placements of the Navajo Lines and the fact that I wanted the sleeves to be about two inches longer.

Then after continuing the sleeves, I decided that I did not want the extra bulk of the Navajo Lines at my wrists.... but I really like the delineation between the field of the sleeve and the cuff.  So I put two lines of Hog Island where the Navajo Lines would have gone...

I finished the first sleeve on Monday, January 2, 2023 and the second on Saturday, January 29th, 2023.

I'm always impressed by the depth of black when I work with the Black Welsh Mountain.... what an incredible and naturally-occurring color.

Remaining now is to make the Button Band (which I've not done before), Kitchener the armpits closed, weave in the ends, and sew on the buttons.  It still sounds like a lot, but I am getting closer to the end.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 14

Since last time (early October), I reached 25 rows for each portion of the Hog Island Breed Band.

I put both sleeves on stitch holders and cut a couple of the life lines to allow for a better fit check.... at this point, the body is ready to begin the final section.

The final section is supposed to be about 3-inches long, after 4 rows of Navajo Lines... which means I did not have enough Hog Island available to complete the Navajo Lines.  Therefore I spent some time considering the end in context of my available yarns.

After contemplation, I added 2 rows of Jacob-American, before beginning the final Navajo Line section, since I didn't like the idea of starting it on a color change.

Then did the final section in Jacob-American, with the last two rows and bind-off in Black Welsh Mountain.

Binding off took a few sessions, since the deep black yarn is hard to read and my needles are quite slippery.

I did the bind-off using the Simple Stretchy Bind Off demonstrated in this video.

Remaining now are to finish out both Sleeves, make the Button Band, Kitchener the armpits closed, and weave in the ends. Getting Closer each day.  :-)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Shave 'Em to Save 'Em, Jacob-American

Jacob - For the SE2SE initiative, I focused on sourcing roving as locally as possible first.

This roving was sourced from Aspen Kid, who is an advocate for wool, rare breeds, and our local Fiber Shed.

I actually purchased four different rovings from her, which you'll see later.  This wool came from sheep that live in my zip code.

As with the Navajo-Churro, I have spun Jacob before because they are on our sheep short list.

I love Jacob fleece and this sample was no exception.

This is a beautiful mill-prepared roving

with a very nice 3-inch staple.

I remember this being lovely to spin, but wow it's so much nicer to spin than I remember.... there is a reason this breed is on our short list.  ;-)

The Jacob sheep are purported to be decedents of sheep kept by Jacob, son-in-law of Laban, as described in the Book of Genesis, though there is no genetic evidence supporting this story.

From the Livestock Conservancy:  The Jacob sheep came to North America in the mid-1900's.

They are listed as Threatened, meaning that fewer than 1000 sheep are registered in the US each year and that the estimated global population is less than 5000.

I was wondering why The Livestock Conservancy was calling this breed Jacob-American instead of just Jacob, so according to the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, there are two varieties of Jacob Sheep:

• American - which tend to be smaller and have been bred primarily for fleece characteristics 
• British - which tend to be larger and have been bred primarily for meat production

I enjoyed spinning this sample.  The wool has a wonderful bouncy characteristic which has me thinking about hats and cabled sweaters.

As I've mentioned before, it feels good knowing that I am able to support a local conservation breeder of rare breed livestock.  :-)

Final Yarn: Jacob-American
Single Duration: July 13 - August 3, 2019
Ply Duration: August 3
ounces: 3 7/8
yards: 213, 2-ply
wpi:  12
Source: Mill-prepared roving
Ready to Submit:  August 9, 2019

SE2SE Status:
Total Breeds: 22
Breeds Sourced: 11
Breeds Spun: 4
Breeds To Go: 18

Months Remaining: 28 (12/31/21)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!