Fun, Fun, Fun

The Kansas City Wool Festival as put on by the KC Fiber Guild and the Shawnee Indian Mission

Some sheep waiting to be sheared. There was a shearing every hour.


The meal was $1. How cool is that?


Felted mittens made by the talented Jamie. You wish you had bought them don't you. Me too.


Handspun yarn for sale

Fleeces for sale. Mmmmmm Yummy.


Some mighty fine Merino came home with me.

Weekend Sweater

This weekend was the KC Wool Festival. It was small but fun. I’ll post the photos tomorrow.

I have started a new sweater. It’s the Cashmere Unisex Sweater form Weekend Knitting. I’m using some hand spun that has been waiting its turn for about 2 years now, sort of marinating in the stash.

I swatched and swatched before getting the fabric I like. Of course that isn’t the gauge called for in the pattern. For the first time I will be doing the math needed to change the sweater. And you know what? The thought doesn’t bother me at all.

Pink Sweater

Last night I finished my pink sweater. It’s about a pound of targee, silk, mohair, alpaca and glitz dyed by Needlefingers and I spun it loosely to ararn weight. I have been waiting for a few years to find the right pattern for this yarn. After extensive swatching I decided it looks best with yarn overs but not lace at about 4 stitches to the inch. I started a sweater from IK but wasn’t too excited with the way the YO pattern looked. I pulled that out and started a top down raglan using the best things of that sweater, a lacy rib pattern.

By the time I separated the sleeves from the body I knew it was going to be a short sweater as I had already used half of my yarn. I made shorter sleeves to compensate. The neck shaping bothered me a bit too. But I was half done so I could be sure before ripping.




Here it is finished. Not bad. Look at the fabric. Look at the stitches. Look at the glitz.


And again


And sadly again


I’m sure.

Bummer

The photo up-load button is missing. I so need that photo button or I am clueless on how to post a photo. I guess my nice photo filled post will have to wait until Monday. And I so wanted to share...

Baby Legs

Last night at the KC Fiber Guild Work Night I finished a pair of Baby Legs.
















Traditionally Baby Legs are a strait tube but the baby to get these is 8 inches bigger at the top of his legs than his ankles. Because of that I felt that I had to shape them. So the parents can put them on right, I worked in a cute little pattern around the top. I used Cascade Fixtation so the lycra content would help hold them up. This yarn was fun to knit, all stretchy and bouncy and very soft.













I also knit some pirate socks. The pink and chocolate yarn is Fly Dyed that I picked up at Stitches last year. I love that yarn. These socks were traded for soaping oils. A good trade but now I’ll have to buy some more of the yarn so I can have a pair of socks made from them. It was very, very hard to send those socks to their new home.

I was a member of the Kansas City Fiber guild Sheep to Shawl team this year at KAWS. After a trial run at our winter retreat we were ready to go. I spun 16 oz of Falkland wool for the warp which we broke into two batches and dyed one from blue to forest green and the other from blue to plum. We were then able to wind a warp with gradating stripes. For the competitions the warp could be spun and measured but the loom couldn’t be dressed. That is practically unheard of all the sheep to shawls I have watched they always came with the warp already on the loom.

The wool for the weft could be washed and dyed but it still needed to be in lock form. We bought 3 lbs of raw merino fleece form a guild member and washed and dyed it. Leslie and I even set them out in layers of tissue paper with all the tip ends going the same way for faster preparation time.

While it was close, the 4 of us were ready to set up on time and we got right to work. Debby and Lolly warping the loom while Leslie and I flick locks and started spinning. This pretty much covers the next 2 hours. Once the loom was all warped we took turns weaving. Once the loom was warped Lolly wove and Debby took over the flicking the locks.

Four hours later the competition was over but not one of the 5 teams had finished. I think that had some thing to do with us having to warp out looms on site. But they graciously allowed us to work through breakfast the next morning to finish.

The KC Fiber Guild team finished first. YAY us. That’s right we won. We also had the most team spirit (notice our uniform of matching hats) and the nicest shawl (at least I think so). A slam dunk for that first place spot.


I finished some socks in Sockotta yarn. They’re too big for me because they are a gift. It didn’t occur to me until I was looking at the photos that my wearing them first might be considered icky by some. That I might consider it icky if I thought someone else was wearing my gift socks. Betsy, I promise those are shower fresh feet in your socks, but go ahead and wash them before you wear them if you want.

Sumi-e

Everyone is asking about Sumi-e and where I got that name. I wanted something Thai, you know Siamese, for a Siamese cat. Pretty obvious and I thought simple. Not so simple with the exception of Pad Thai and about 10 baby names I could find nothing much online about the Thai language. So right when I was going to name him something lame like Soot I thought how much he looked like dirty water color water. No, make that the way ink pools around in its little cup. So there you go. Sumi-e

Sumi-e had a rough beginning in a farmer’s market in Utah. When I got him he ranged from a bundle of wild cat to a purring, purring, licking, and nursing bundle of love. It’s nine months later and nothing has changed except his size.

I don’t believe in de-clawing a cat but after 10 weeks I was at the end of my rope. I asked people that had de-clawed their cats and learned the horrors of days spent at the animal hospital and weeks of bandages. It was all so sad and nothing I would do, ever. However, Sumi-e shredded a pair of hiking boots the day he had his last shots. Shredded. And already Joey and I were a mass of itchy scratches. Poor Joey. He was so drugged up from his chemo treatments that all he did was sleep on the couch. Sumi-e would walk up to him and give him a swipe then bound away with his tail a bottle brush and a smile on his face. Joey was a wreck. It’s his home first and he couldn’t even sleep in peace. It wasn’t for me that I asked my vet about de-clawing, it was for my dog and may I say, my shoes. Shredded.



My vet told me all about de-clawing now that they had laser surgery. Only a few hours at the vet, no bandages at all, and he would be better in just a few days instead of a few weeks. I though of my couch, my shower curtain, my bedspread (and that was just the last 3 days) all showing damage. I thought of Joey. I looked at my shoulders and cleavage and the itchy scratches. I told the vet I would do it.

I go to the front counter to pay for the shots and set up the appointment. The receptionist is filling out the date book for the appointment and she asks without looking up “Will that be all four feet?” That surprised me since the vet had only wanted to take the front claws leaving Sumi-e his back. I said as much. The receptionist looked me in the eyes and said “With this cat we will make an exception”.

It turns out that Sumi-e had shown his stuff in the backroom and no less than 3 vet techs bore the signs of his disapproval. In a very short time he had shown his stuff and rolled over on his back and had a go at him with his back feet. They had never seen anything like it. I felt vindicated.

Now when Sumi-e smacks Joey or me and starts kicking we just laugh. Ok, I laugh. Joey, who is no longer on medication, bites him back. But that’s ok Joey lost 16 of his teeth during the cancer treatment. At this point neither are going to do much damage.




or maybe they are...

Trying it on,

I'm trying it on. Both the socks and this photo thing. I decided to do it the easy way and use the photo site set up by Blogger even though a certain someone was against it and thought I should use an outside site.
Since I'm no longer listening to that certain someone and Flicker won't talk to Blogger today I'm just going to do it the easy way. Well easy if it works. Already I had to go in and edit the HTML code. How cool is that? It looks like my Dreamweaver class this spring was good for something, although it might be embarrassing to point out I now know how to design crud websites and yet learning a blogging site is kicking my butt.





The sock is from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. And while you can't see the pattern here let me assure you it is nice and shows up will even with that riot of color.


Yarn is Koigu, cat is Sumi-e.

Still no photos

Must. Learn. To. Post. Photos.

So much knitting, so much to show, and I still haven't taken the time to read how to link, or whatever it is called, a photo.

dry well

So much has happened and so little I don’t know where to start. I do know one thing. I’m not to say I’m going to start consistently bloging again. Every time I say that it’s a year to the next post.

I’m taking classes full time. Computer classes in graphic design. The computer stuff isn’t intuitive for me but its coming. The design part is even worse. It’s like I’m going to a dry well. When I do have an idea it seems trite. This week is the first week of completely original projects. I will just have to dedicate the time to do them and just get them done, and done with “good craft” as my instructor says. Clean edges, neat mats, no fingerprints, and to hope that the composition either comes to me during the work or takes care of it’s self.

But my knitting is going very well. I have finally knitted art. And a whole series of them too. 3 sets of mittens from my handspun. The color play, the asymmetry, the angst. And the thing is, with them all I did was make sure I was using good craft. I was just sat down and knit some good mittens with excellent yarn and the rest took care of it’s self.

So as I say every time I blog I need to learn to use my camera. I should know soon since 2 of my classes are using Dreamweaver and Photoshop. Those two programs that are all about photos and posting them. Then it will just be up to me to figure out how to get them off of the camera.

Today I am knitting a kitchen towel. I decided that it was time to use 3 small balls of red cotton that I have hauled all over the Midwest and back again. They had out lived potential and had turned into guilt so it was time for them to go.

Also today I tried to find yarn from my stash to knit baby sweaters. Mission Falls cotton to be exact. The yarn from before it was discontinued and brought back. The good yarn. I bought this yarn to be baby sweaters but now it’s too special to be used. I played with it a while by stacking it in piles of color before putting it back. I think I will have to knit me a sweater or two from it and then the leftovers can go into baby sweaters. Maybe.

Kansas City…Kansas City Here I Come

It’s decided. I’m moving to Kansas City. Not my first choice but the better choice. Tomorrow Joey, Sumi-e, and I drive down there to pick out our new apartment. I set up appointments to look at 7 or 8 different complexes. In the past I make the appointment with the one with the best add and rent it. This time the 2 most appealing are the last visits of the day. I’m looking forward to getting this taken care of. Getting one more detail crossed of the list will feel good.

I packed the sock suffering from SSS and just turned the second heal of the pair I started instead.

A friend asked me why all the fuss about Koigu when Knit Picks has a merino sock yarn for a fraction of the price. The answer but it’s KOIGU didn’t do much to sway her. Since I have never actually knitted either, although I have collected both, I am in the process of a side by side comparison.

So far the knit pick is nice and squishy and the colors make perfect 1 row strips. The colors are clear and vibrant a fun colorway that’s discontinued. It’s a very nice yarn and when my 2 socks are done I will still have enough to make a baby hat or a pair of toddler mittens.

The Koigu is next with its blended muted colorway. I’m interested in how that one will knit up and how the actual socks compare.

Now while I am interested in how the socks compare, I’m an equal opportunity stasher so I know whatever I find I will still be buying both as I fall in love with a color.

Moving

I’m in the process of moving. The problem is it’s two weeks to go and I don’t know where I’m moving to. It’s two days to go until I find out. The pressure is getting to me. I’m not spending as much time packing as I should but I have knit 2 socks. Not matching socks mind you. For the first time ever I may be dangerously close to suffering SSS.

Baby In the House

Becky said Mia now Sumi-e slept on her pillow. What she meant was that Sumi-e would energetically play in my hair for 6 hours with very brief down times when he would suck on my lips while purring so hard my teeth rattled. I have to say that this fluffy bundle lost a bit of the joy at about hour 4.

Off to the airport

I have noticed that knitting blogs all seem to have cats. Not to be one to fall behind the times (after all I did buy some STR) I’m off to the airport to pick up a Siamese kitten. It’s a long story that I may tell you later.

I'm Back

Ok, lets give this another go. tomorrow.

Olypics are over

The olympics are over and no medal for me. I just underestimated the time I would have. I did get a pound spun so I should be 1/2 way there. Oh I really hope a pound is half way there.

Now onto some happy finishing news. My LYS held the Finishing Olympics at the same time and I was able to dig into my UFO stash and finish 5, yes count them 5 items. Mittens, 3 sweaters for me, and a baby sweater. It feels so good to have them done and the crazy store (oh I love them) gave me a prize for every item finished. I received 2 books and free yarn along with 2 gift certificates that I promptly used to get some free Koigu. Ahhh my first 2 skeins of Koigu. Since they were so nice to give me so many prizes I bought some more fleece artist too. Is it just me or are they dyeing the same yarn? Either way Canada is producing some mighty fine sock yarn right now.

So have you heard of this? I think I will make some baby socks.

It's not the gold but playing in the game. Right? After all it looks very unlikely that the founder of this game, Yarn Harlot, will get her gold either. But it's not over yet. I will keep spinning and keep listening to book 11 of the Wheel of Time series. That at least is going very well. And the scale finally made it. There is a bit of good news. More good news, my bobbins hold 3 oz not 2, so I am farther along than I thought.

The other Olympics, the Finishing Olympics hosted by my local yarn shop is going great. I entered 7 items and have finished 3. Today it looks like I will finish 2 more. The last 2? That's looking pretty grim but it could happen. For this Olympics there is more than bragging rites, there are prizes. I have to go to the closing ceremonies Sunday to find out what I have won.

Oh, You want to know what I have finished? See, I have this big drawer that I carefully place things once all the knitting is done and all I have to do is tuck the ends before wearing. Once I found out about the finishing Olympics I cleaned out the drawer. I finished my purple hand dyed fibernachi striped purple sweater, I finished my hand spun natural fawn just the right shade to match my swede boots Shetland sweater, I finished my mini aka boob holder sweater and it has a supper cute button to boot. To be finished today the second mitten of a pair. In fact half of the ends are already tucked. This one is so close to finished I'm not sure how it end up in the drawer. Also for today, a baby wallaby needs some grafting at the arms and hood.

The last two projects need ripping and reknitting. One is a vest I made before I knew about shoulder shaping. Now I know but I still haven't implicated it so I keep putting it off. The other is the sweater Child Hood. Remember the one were I ran out of yarn? I'm leery of seeing how the yarn from a different dye lot looks. So that's something else I have been putting off.

So off to that LYS to have photos taken of my FOs.

Problem solved. It turns out that the polonaise is supper easy to treadle, no down right effortless, once the half knitted stocking cap is dug out from under the treadle. I swear the UFOs are escaping their tidy knitting bags to hide and have litters when I'm sleeping. Once I removed the stocking cap I easily spun 2 oz while eating bread from Great Harvest and most of a box of chocolates. Finally I am on track.

Day 4

Day four and I have just finished 4oz. Anybody see a problem with that? I really have to treadle hard and fast with the Polonaise using the small whorl. I don't know why. Whatever the reason I'm spinning yarn at my fastest pace ever but my leg gets tired before I fill a bobbin. I will start spinning on my Lendrum too. That one is effortless. Maybe by having the same project on both wheels I will be able to get back on track.

Day 3

Day 3 of the Olympics and I am at the back of the pack. That's not so bad if you consider that I had a late start. With Himself being sent off to Tokyo to do Some Very Important Stuff I spent Friday not spinning but having an early valentines diner and watching him do laundry so he could pack. Saturday the going was strong, but today I am lonely. I ended up squandering most of the day playing computer games and knitting on the random stripe sweater.

I did finish the laundry. Yes, every bit of clothing is clean and most of it is folded and put away. It turns out we have never planed or experience this before and the dresser drawer isn't big enough to hold all of my socks at once.

Back to the Olympics. I figure if I spin one bobbin full a day I should be OK. I'm pretty sure that my bobbins hold 2 ounces. I'm also pretty sure I can make the sweater with 2 pounds of wool. So that is my goal- 2 ounces a day. Since I can't find my soap making scale I went ahead and ordered a new one. Once it gets here I will weigh my yarn, play with my yarn balance, crunch some numbers, and actually be able to know how much yarn I have, what I need, and whether it is possible to spin enough in 16 days. Right now I am just shy of 2 full bobbins. I should have 3 by now but the day isn't over yet.

Samples

This morning I spun samples. This may be a first for me. I rarely spin with a project in mind. I made a loosely spun single and a tightly spun single and turned each into a 2 ply and a 3 ply yarn. I was surprised how much faster it was to spin the tightly spun single, but my wheel kept stalling on me. If it turns out that is the yarn I like best I will have to spend some time adjusting and making sure everything lines up perfectly before putting hours into spinning. Right now the wheel is adjusted for the loosely spun yarn. I feel like I am missing something because I think there shouldn't be so much adjusting when I change whorls. None of my other wheels needs this much adjusting. I might see if I can get the assembly video. It wasn't yet available when I got my wheel.

The samples washed and hanging to dry. I will then knit some swatches and have everything all set for Friday. I even have my spinning team button all picked out and photos. If you can't tell I still don't know how to post them. Maybe Himself will have time to help me tonight.

To hold me over until then I am knitting a random stripe, from the top, knit to fit sweater. The swatch is stunning but I'm irritated at the sweater. I'm not liking how the dice are falling and the metal needles hurt my hands. Ok so maybe I shouldn't knit for 3 hours at a time, but still. Also with 4 yarns stores in my area I should be able to get a size 2 bamboo needle, but Nooo. Ok whiny fit is over. I'll keep knitting until the olympics then I will decide how the sweater is turning out. It may be headed for the frog pond.

I'm so excited, today I noticed my name has been added to the KNITTING OLYMPICS. I am finally a joiner.

The giddiness of this had made me consider buying a tv. Yes, I have lived without this staple of american existence for 2 1/2 years now. Notice the half? I am proud of it but desperately miss some shows. I made the decision that I should be watching the olympics as I spin for my gold.

I thought long and hard, I consulted Himself the tv expert. Why do we have no tv but a tv expert in our house? It's because no tv out there right now is good enough for the expert to spend his money on. Next month or next year it will be better or the prices will go down. I asked when he would finally spend his hard saved tv money (he has been saving his money for three years now to buy a tv)and his answer was "maybe never."

So I informed Himself that we would buy a small tv to hold us over until he was prepared to make... The Big Purchase. AND we would spring for(gasp)cable.

Once that was decided, I set a budget and he picked out what we wanted. Then I got scared. I started thinking about watching ice skating (I love ice skating) and not spinning. I started thinking of the added $ a month on cable. What if that cut into the yarn fund? So in a fit of panic I have chosen Books on Tape. I will go find out why I still haven't received my library card, and look over their selection. If it has Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and some other books I have been meaning to read I will forgo the scary money and time sucking tv and spin to stories instead.

To celebrate being in the olympics I bought one of the Yarn Harlots's books today. After all she is hosting.

To celebrate my largest paycheck ever I bought eight balls/skeins of sock yarn. Yes, the day before February actually starts, I spent all but $20 of that month allowance. But some of it hand dyed, and some will be a gift for my father after all he sent me this e-mail.

...Sometimes I decide if I need to do laundry by checking whether any of the socks you knitted me are still clean. But since Christmas, I have sometimes decided based on whether the new pair is clean. That's a lot of laundry.
I had never had favorite socks until you made me some. Then all your hand-made ones were favorites. Now this new pair is more comfortable than any before. They stand out. The wool socks in general, kept my feet comfortable, especially in the cold. I hadn't known that socks could feel good just to wear. Actually, I had always preferred bare-footed for comfort, unless it was cold, or I was going in stickers...

So of course I had to run out and buy more yarn to knit him socks. It was a struggle not to buy him hand dyed yarn, too. But I didn't think he would appreciate it as much as I might hope. I found some in a nice tweed sock yarn at the second yarn store I visited at lunch.

Yes, I now work in a place I can walk to two yarn stores. If that isn't the beginnings of an excellent job, I don't know what is.

After a night of knitting at Fine Line I'm almost finished with the mini sweater. Some of my handspun is finally done marinating in the stash. It's only 400 yards that's not enough for a sweater, and just right for the mini sweater. but as I knit I'm actually worried about having too much yarn left over. I only have the short sleeves left and I still have 3 skeins. I suspect I will only need 1 of them. Then what? Would my wardrobe be improved by a One Skein Wonder? Do I want two shrugs made out of the same yarn?

So why can't I see my new posts?

So why can't I see my new posts? OK so I just need to hit my damn refresh button. Duoh!

learning to blog

I'm having a hell of a time learning the bells and whistles of this blog. My last post does not show so here is a second. All I want to do is make a link work. I want to make this sweater. Is that so hard? I don't mean the sweater. I think that may be hard, but to post the link. Anyway I am sampling the yarn now.

New Years

Yesterday, I finally made my new years resolutions. The first one is to blog more. What brought this on? Why the knitting olympics knitting olympics of course. I am going to participate. I'm not sure I'm going to actually join since I won't be knitting, I'm going to be spinning. That's right during the winter olympics I'm going to run a marathon... No wait not in the snow... Cross country sking. I'm going to spin enough 3 ply worsted weight yarn to make a mans sized cabled sweater. This with some changes. It will take spinning 2+ oz a night but I can do it.

So I have 2 months to catch up on. In short we moved from the farm to the city. That's right Chicago. The land of deep dish pizza, art museums, and the yarn store. I have already visited 3 within 5 miles of my home. I have found address for 2 more. If I'm willing to up that drive to 10 miles there are at least 2 more. This is not counting Joann's or Michael's. Lets just say I'm in yarn shopping heaven.

tiramisu

So much has happened recently, I just don’t know were to start. I have yarn showing up on my doorstep almost every day. That’s good. Two more packages to go and that will be all. Well unless of course I go ahead and buy some superwash wool for the upcoming dye day. One package I won from eBay is wrong. What a pain. Right yarn wrong colors. Very wrong colors. Now I have to go through the hassle of shipping it back and waiting another 2 weeks for it to make the trip back.

The sweater that started all the crazy yarn buying is almost done. Along with 2 others I just started. It’s nice to be productive.

I bought Fishermen’s Sweaters by Alice Starmore. They are my favorite types of sweaters to knit. Cabled aran and gansey sweaters knit in the round seamlessly. While the photography is stunning nowhere can I actually see the sweaters very well. In one photo the model is wrapped in a woven blanket with only the neck ribbing of the sweater showing. Hello, how am I supposed to know if I want to make that one? Ok minnie rant is over and I have 2 picked out that I’m dieing to knit. Too bad they are both for large children. Since I don’t know any large children I will just have to wait until the babies I’m knitting for get bigger. There is one sweater I must make for me but it’s not knit in the round. Bummer. However I think I can change that. Oh and she tells how to make steeks that are finished without using a sewing machine. WooHoo! Fair Isle here I come!

In that note I also picked up Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified. I have a whole bunch of Romney Pollipay X wool spun up that I think will knit right to gauge. I will have to swatch before said upcoming dye day on the 22nd. I spun it all to knit a gansey (see above) but I think it came out too hairy. While doing the gauge swatch I should throw in some k and p designs and a cable too be sure.

I’m spinning bombex silk right now and pretty thinly too. I have been working on the same 2 oz for 3 weeks now. I have 3 days worth left and with today being a holiday (there are some advantages to my crapy job) I may just be able to get 2 days worth of spinning in. I’ve already finished one, lets just see if I knit or spin during the evening news tonight.

Now stuff that is getting in the way of my projects, Himself has a job offer. Right now things are very up in the air. We should know by the end of the week if we will be moving. In preparation I spent yesterday painting the bedroom walls. It’s amazing how many scuffs we have put on them in 3 years. If we move or stay they look so much better now.

And since said move will take us to the Big City, good by soap room. I have been making soap like crazy to use up all my supplies and to have a good amount of inventory, sine I still hope to be selling. Hopefully, I will have enough soap to last me a year or two. Lotions I can make in an apartment so I should be set. To top off a day of hard work the last two batches of soap were for fun. I made So much has happened recently, I just don’t know were to start. I have yarn showing up on my doorstep almost every day. That’s good. Two more packages to go and that will be all. Well unless of course I go ahead and buy some superwash wool for the upcoming dye day. One package I won from eBay is wrong. What a pain. Right yarn wrong colors. Very wrong colors. Now I have to go through the hassle of shipping it back and waiting another 2 weeks for it to make the trip back.

The sweater that started all the crazy yarn buying is almost done. Along with 2 others I just started. It’s nice to be productive.

I bought Fishermen’s Sweaters by Alice Starmore. They are my favorite types of sweaters to knit. Cabled aran and gansey sweaters knit in the round seamlessly. While the photography is stunning nowhere can I actually see the sweaters very well. In one photo the model is wrapped in a woven blanket with only the neck ribbing of the sweater showing. Hello, how am I supposed to know if I want to make that one? Ok minnie rant is over and I have 2 picked out that I’m dieing to knit. Too bad they are both for large children. Since I don’t know any large children I will just have to wait until the babies I’m knitting for get bigger. There is one sweater I must make for me but it’s not knit in the round. Bummer. However I think I can change that. Oh and she tells how to make steeks that are finished without using a sewing machine. WooHoo! Fair Isle here I come!

In that note I also picked up Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified. I have a whole bunch of Romney Pollipay X wool spun up that I think will knit right to gauge. I will have to swatch before said upcoming dye day on the 22nd. I spun it all to knit a gansey (see above) but I think it came out too hairy. While doing the gauge swatch I should throw in some k and p designs and a cable too be sure.

I’m spinning bombex silk right now and pretty thinly too. I have been working on the same 2 oz for 3 weeks now. I have 3 days worth left and with today being a holiday (there are some advantages to my crapy job) I may just be able to get 2 days worth of spinning in. I’ve already finished one, lets just see if I knit or spin during the evening news tonight.

Now stuff that is getting in the way of my projects, Himself has a job offer. Right now things are very up in the air. We should know by the end of the week if we will be moving. In preparation I spent yesterday painting the bedroom walls. It’s amazing how many scuffs we have put on them in 3 years. If we move or stay they look so much better now.
And since said move will take us to the Big City, good by soap room. I have been making soap like crazy to use up all my supplies and to have a good amount of inventory, sine I still hope to be selling. Hopefully, I will have enough soap to last me a year or two. Lotions I can make in an apartment so I should be set. To top off a day of hard work the last two batches of soap were for fun. I made tiramisu soap. That’s right a bottom layer of kona coffee and vanilla chestnut scented soap with a white frothy layer on top. It smells wonderful! Wish I could eat it. soap. That’s right a bottom layer of kona coffee and vanilla chestnut scented soap with a white frothy layer on top. It smells wonderful! Wish I could eat it.

Mmmm....Yarn....

I have had a great bit of finishing going on here. I finished my fibonacci striped sweater that I dyed the yarn for last year. I started and finished my first sweater out of handspun. It started as a wonderful Shetland fleece in a natural caramel color. It matches a pair of my fall boots exactly. I’m very happy with how robust this yarn and therefore the sweater turned out. It feels like it can take some abuse yet isn’t unpleasantly scratchy. In fact it isn’t scratchy at all. I’m sold and will have to spin some more Shetland fleeces. I’m well on my way to finishing my first cabled sweater. I also knitted until I ran out of yarn on a childs hoodie…

Which brings me to what else I have been doing. Let me start at the beginning. 2 years ago I bought enough Mission Falls cotton yarn to make 2 baby sweaters. I finished one and loved it but decided I didn’t want to make it all over again. The yarn sat until I heard that Mission Falls would no longer be making any more. Yes, it has been discontinued. I found Child Hood and decided to make it. The idea was to use up the yarn in my stash and then forget about the brand. I carefully figured out the largest size I could make. I very carefully figured that out, and I was right on the money too. However, some sneaky casting on demon whispered in my ear that I had plenty and I should cast on for the next larger size. Well I did, and I’m sure you can see were this is going. ¾ of the way thru the second sleeve and the same amount thru the hood I run out of yarn. I sit on that for about two weeks. After all I can unravel the hood but there was nothing I could do about the sleeve. I start shopping around. I discover eBay. I called yarn shops. In a fit on OMG I can no longer get this yarn I am now the proud owner of 60 new balls of that stuff. Yes 60. The only thing I can say in my defense is that 40 are mill rejects and at a price I can’t pass up. We will see how bad (hopefully good) they are when they get here. 10 more were going at such a low price I had to bid on them. The last 10 were at regular price, 5 were to finish the sweater, the other 5 were to make a second sweater since I only need a few yards each of the first five to finish the sweater.

Did I end my buying there? No! Also wheeling its way to me is some more mill seconds from Brown Sheep. I LOVE cotton fleece and I’m trying for the first time some lambs pride. They messed up some seriously pretty colors. All different shades of purple and pink. I held strong and left the pinks alone but I did pick up 2 purples, green, and black. Once my credit card stops crying if there is any yarn left I’ll get 2 more purples and probably the pinks too. I think this comes from my not buying any yarn for a full year. I was strong for so long that when I fell of the wagon it was in a big way.

I should mention my spinning. I’m spinning white bombax silk fine so it’s taking a while. It also slips and clumps in interesting ways so I have to take my time and concentrate. I’m also spinning the candle light cotton. I don’t get to often but when I do it feels like butter and goes as fast as wool. I’m loving it. However, at the fine grist I’m spinning it still takes a good long while to fill a bobbin.

the plying that never ends....

What a busy week. I had out of town friends visit for the weekend so I mostly cleaned house then had fun with friends. However, I did get some knitting done and am now working on the second front of child hood. I also tucked the end into a toddler and a baby sweater. While they were off the needles many months ago they are finally done. Right now I’m looking for a nice baby bunting pattern.

The plying of that cotton linen tensile blend took longer than I thought. I can usually ply 2 bobbins worth in an hour of my wool yarn. This was so much thinner it took me 3 days; I think about 5 hours just to ply 4 oz of yarn. However, yesterday I finally finished and I’m now happily spinning the cotton.

Weaving is on hold. I am thinking of buying a new reed and heddles this week so I can weave a color gamp. After all I have been weaving for 9 years now and I think that if a color gamp is completed by the 10th year you are drummed out of weaving groups. It’s something that beginners make and they do look pretty cool hanging on the studio wall.

Fresh Sweet Corn

It’s been a full week of knitting. I have 2 baby sweater starts to be unraveled. One is the blueberry sweater of last Saturday. The knit purl design was killing my hands and the dark purple made it impossible to see the pattern in anything but noontime sunlight. I will try using that yarn in a different pattern. The other is Baby Ole in a cotton sock yarn that is poling instead of striping. It looks like a snow leopard. Nice enough but not what I wanted. I will put it away for a while or possible claim the yarn for socks.

Now a project that is going well is Child Hood out of Mission Falls 1824 cotton. It’s going pretty fast now that I have gauge. It took 3 false starts and moving down to a size 3 bamboo needle. This is from a yarn that recommends a 7 needle. I know I knit a bit loose but really! I do love the way the yarn feels in my hands and on my needles. The yarn has been discontinued and I keep wondering if I should buy some more while it’s still available.

My spinning wheel has been humming away on my cotton, linen, rayon blend. Last night I divided the fiber I had left into 9 portions, thinking I could be done spinning in 9 days. As of this morning I only have 6 left. The hard part is deciding what is next on this wheel. Do I finish the mostly full bobbin of ramie? Do I start the cotton silk blend? The cocoon waste? Cotton Wool? Colored cotton? I have a soft pink beige called candlelight that has been waiting for 5 years now. I recently found it and it’s so pretty. Silk Top? SO many choices. If I was a good, dedicated, project finisher I would spin the ramie but right now I think not.

How did I get so much spinning done? After all those weren’t little hanks I had divvied up. Well Saturday morning I snuck out the back door at work to visit the farmers market again. This time I came home with a huge bag of sweet corn, seven pounds of peaches, and a watermelon. Himself inspired by the Iron Chef corn battle made a wonderful corn bisque with straw mushrooms, while I made corn bread, and a friend grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob. After a good and thorough stuffing with everyone saying we couldn’t eat even one more bite, Himself made a peach blueberry cobbler. Oh so tasty. It’s a good thing we took a mile walk while it was cooking since I don’t think I ate so much at THANKSGIVING! With all this cooking and eating taking well over 4 hours I had plenty of spinning time too. I just love summer food and some soft summer cotton spinning. Hmmmm… so good….

The little tid bit about finding the candle light cotton reminds me. I forgot to mention I cleaned out the fiber studio. I put all of my roving into my car and parked it the sun for an incredibly hot week while I deep cleaned and organized the room. Today I will vacuum everything, including behind the bookshelves and under rugs. Hopefully these preventive measures will keep the room m…. free for another year.

Fresh Sweet Corn

It’s been a full week of knitting. I have 2 baby sweater starts to be unraveled. One is the blueberry sweater of last Saturday. The knit purl design was killing my hands and the dark purple made it impossible to see the pattern in anything but noontime sunlight. I will try using that yarn in a different pattern. The other is Baby Ole in a cotton sock yarn that is poling instead of striping. It looks like a snow leopard. Nice enough but not what I wanted. I will put it away for a while or possible claim the yarn for socks.

Now a project that is going well is Child Hood out of Mission Falls 1824 cotton. It’s going pretty fast now that I have gauge. It took 3 false starts and moving down to a size 3 bamboo needle. This is from a yarn that recommends a 7 needle. I know I knit a bit loose but really! I do love the way the yarn feels in my hands and on my needles. The yarn has been discontinued and I keep wondering if I should buy some more while it’s still available.

My spinning wheel has been humming away on my cotton, linen, rayon blend. Last night I divided the fiber I had left into 9 portions, thinking I could be done spinning in 9 days. As of this morning I only have 6 left. The hard part is deciding what is next on this wheel. Do I finish the mostly full bobbin of ramie? Do I start the cotton silk blend? The cocoon waste? Cotton Wool? Colored cotton? I have a soft pink beige called candlelight that has been waiting for 5 years now. I recently found it and it’s so pretty. Silk Top? SO many choices. If I was a good, dedicated, project finisher I would spin the ramie but right now I think not.

How did I get so much spinning done? After all those weren’t little hanks I had divvied up. Well Saturday morning I snuck out the back door at work to visit the farmers market again. This time I came home with a huge bag of sweet corn, seven pounds of peaches, and a watermelon. Himself inspired by the Iron Chef corn battle made a wonderful corn bisque with straw mushrooms, while I made corn bread, and a friend grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob. After a good and thorough stuffing with everyone saying we couldn’t eat even one more bite, Himself made a peach blueberry cobbler. Oh so tasty. It’s a good thing we took a mile walk while it was cooking since I don’t think I ate so much at THANKSGIVING! With all this cooking and eating taking well over 4 hours I had plenty of spinning time too. I just love summer food and some soft summer cotton spinning. Hmmmm… so good….

The little tid bit about finding the candle light cotton reminds me. I forgot to mention I cleaned out the fiber studio. I put all of my roving into my car and parked it the sun for an incredibly hot week while I deep cleaned and organized the room. Today I will vacuum everything, including behind the bookshelves and under rugs. Hopefully these preventive measures will keep the room m…. free for another year.

blueberry summer day

It’s been so long since I posted and I have done so much it’s overwhelming. So I will skip it all and just start with now. Yesterday I slipped out the back door at work to go the farmers market across the street. I was hoping for some corn but it’s still too soon. Instead I bought a gallon of fresh blueberries.

After work I turned into the LYS since I hadn’t visited it in months. I was looking for easy care yarn for a baby sweater. I picked up a deep purple the color of blueberry pies. Once I got home I spent the afternoon making and freezing blueberry waffles while casting on the purple yarn. A baby sweater is now well on it’s way and those blueberry waffles are the best I’ve ever tasted.

Busy Week

It’s been a busy week. I spent all of last week moving the loom and yarn room from the small upstairs bedroom to the larger basement bedroom. The new room looks great and there should be room for the loom I’m buying Saturday. The down side was to make this move Himself wanted all of my wool out of the other basement bedroom so he could set up his new computer. Well even though my new room was larger than my last it isn’t big enough to hold all of my fiber from both rooms. The only thing I could do was to send all of my raw fleeces off to Wooly Knob to be professionally washed and carded. I sent off 3 boxes the largest of which tipped the scales at 30lbs. I will get them back mid April all clean and fluffy ready to be spun.

So did you notice that I’m buying a new loom Saturday? It goes with the new computer himself bought. We brokered a deal. It was time for us to upgrade but he really wanted a top of the line gaming computer, more power than our little family needed. So he got his top of the line computer and I get a new loom. Now shhh don’t tell anybody I think I will be coming home with 2 used looms on Saturday. Don’t worry I’m not being sneaky. The two looms cost less that himself and I agreed that I would spend on one. The sneaky part is where will I put this other loom. The living room? the bedroom? If both come home with me I will have jumped from only having one loom for 7 years to 4 looms in 2 months. Not bad. Actually it worked the same way with my spinning wheel. I had the same Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel for 5 years and when I finally let myself buy a second wheel it was less than 6 months before I had my 3rd. However, I did end up selling my Kiwi and I find 2 wheels to be a nice even number.

Even with all this talk about looms I’m not weaving much. I’m still working to weave off the yardage that came on my table loom. My Norwood still stands empty but I have measured half the warp needed for some kitchen towels. I have spent all my weaving time moving my fiber room. I’m still spinning. I’m back to going full force on that cotton linen yarn to weave into clothing cloth. I may be able to finish that by June, I hope.

Knitting is stalled. Although, I did finish knitting my odds and ends vest and I finally tucked down all the ends in a sweater I knitted last spring so I could finally wear it. Of course I spilled some soup on it right away but it should wash out fine. And I finished a pair of socks and I started working on one of my UFO sweaters and I’ve started the hers in the his and hers sweaters I’m making. But really not much knitting the last two weeks.

I decided my yarn diet was officially over this month and that buying a new loom needed to be commemorated with some new ½ priced yarn. However, in moving all my yarn to a new room I realized that after working nonstop for 6 months and giving over 20 fiber gifts at Christmas I still hadn’t touched the surface. So I called the fiber diet off as pointless. Seeing as how I still shouldn’t be buying more yarn I just declared 2005 the year of the book and equipment. This year I have given myself permission to buy the books and equipment I always thought was too expensive. Well No More! Now I just have to save longer between purchases but I think it will work out well. It will also make driving home from fiber fairs easer. Instead of spending $50 on wool fleeces and not being able to see out the back window, I can buy $50 in books and it will be a little stack on the front seat.

Blaa

It’s sort of a blaa day today. A paid day off and I’m not motivated to do anything. I did spin for an hour this morning along with going through my stash for tomorrows Shop and Swap. It turns out that I’m too emotionally attached to my yarn to get rid of much. I went in with good intentions of doing a slash and burn. Instead I dusted the shelves, rearranged the balls and put all but the most hideous back. The yarn I am willing to get rid of is so ugly that I can’t put a price on it. I think it is all yarn I got free at a Swap & Shop when I was a new weaver.

On the knitting front- I started the aran sweater but disliked the back and forth knitting. I pulled it off the needles to knit it in the round. However, since it was the same set of needles to finish my odds and ends vest I went back to work on that instead. All I have left is the neckline and armhole ribbing. With some work I could finish tonight. I will then be down to two unfinished sweaters and one hat. 3 UFOs! That number is so low I may decide to keep up the trend and finish them all before moving on. Or back to that aran. We will see when the time comes.

Spinning has been on hold. However, this morning I plied up some odds and ends. The now finished skeins of yarn will be easier to store than the energized balls of singles. I have a few more to go before I’m finished. I think I may work on that this afternoon during the news.

Weaving has been on a bigger hold than the spinning. I finally decided what I want to do with the wool tweed for my Siberian parka. I’ll weave it on the larger table loom, hopefully in a hounds tooth pattern. However, the table loom came with a project already on it and the floor loom still sits empty. The last thing I wove on it was handspun so up next needs to be commercial yarn and cotton too since that is what I have so much of in my stash. I could use some towels to match my kitchen. I have been living here for two years now and still using my perfectly functional old towels. However, the late 80’s colors of teal, burgundy, sage, and pink aren’t quite right in the 70’s brown and gold kitchen I have now. I’ll think on it for a while and see if any inspiration hits.

Well at lest I have one thing finished today. It’s only 1:00 and already supper is done. Tonight Himself and I will be dining on home made hummus and fresh baked wheat bread. It may be time for me to go take a nap.

Pretty Good Year

Today I have a sore throat and I think I’m coming down with a cold. What a way to spend my day off. However, last week was a good one. But with everything the bad comes with the good. My Giant Angora Kisses broke her back in the cage. The vet said that sometimes happens to domestic rabbits and we had her put down. Sad but she didn’t seem to suffer.

However, there was plenty of good last week too. I finished my child sweater at our monthly knitting gathering. Then this morning while drinking hot cranberry juice- that’s a dangerous combo- I finished my alpaca seed stitch poncho. I designed it all myself and it looks it. However, it’s soft and warm so it will do. The angora trim I added to make it longer really added and improved the piece greatly.

On Saturday himself and I went shopping. One of his friends took us to O’Fallen outside of St. Louis. Right off the highway is this little shopping Mecca. Right next to Pet Co- the whole reason for this trip is that Joey won’t eat regular dog food so twice a year we dive an hour to get his special chicken and lamb blend. Right next to Pet Co was a Borders so we stopped for gingerbread mocha and I picked up a knitting book, The Best of Lopi. I like the patterns and the seamless knitting in the round. All I have to do now is buy a ball of lopi yarn so I can spin something similar. As we got to the counter himself with his own book suggested we spend the family money instead of our personal dollars for the purchase that day. Well anytime I don’t have to use my money for a yarn purchase, even a book I’m happy.

We then spent the rest of the day buying shoes and looking for work clothes. However in that shopping area there were 3 craft or fabric stores and an art supply store. If a fit of generosity himself suggests I shop in the art supply store while he browsed the fantasy shop near by. Then I looked at yarn in one of the craft store. Some of it was very nice but I didn’t feel the urge to buy any. All and All a very good shopping day.

On Sunday I picked out by e-mail a little English Angora doe. A beautiful blue eyed white doe that also caries the chocolate and tort genes I like so much.

So now the child’s sweater and the poncho are done I can start on the two aran sweaters with a clean conscious. However, I’m strongly thinking of finishing my odds and ends vest first. If I finish it I would only have 2 sweaters left in my UFO pile, and they can easily wait for later. I had hoped to clear out the yarn room today, after all the shop and swap is only one week away, but this cold is keeping me down. Maybe I will feel up to it this evening.

New Year

We made it home safe. Even with 9 days of traveling and passing 4 known yarn stores without one stop I still did pretty well this holiday season. I came home with a table loom, a book on sewing hand woven fabric, a book on designing weaving drafts, 2 bags of yarn, and a book of aran and cabled sweater knitting patterns.

The giving of Christmas gifts went well too. With plenty of furious yarn tucking and burring I was able to finish all presents the night before opening. The handspun scarf did have to make a trip through the washing machine after it was open but everything else made it in time. I am very happy with that scarf and may ask for it back this summer to enter in a few shows

I can’t wait to begin the New Year and the new projects. The aran book has a sweater pattern that the cables interlock in a basket weave. While the sweater is knitted I like how it conjures up images of weaving. I just have to show it to himself to make sure he would wear it before I start. I like it so much that mine will be the same sweater in a different color instead of a different sweater in the same theme as I had envisioned.

The table loom is wide enough that I can finally start weaving the cloth for my jacket. I just have to decide if I want to weave the entire yardage on the table loom or only the front and back panels. Weaving is quicker on the floor loom but warping two looms with the same fabric seems wrong, so very wrong.

As soon as I got home from traveling I pulled out my spinning wheel and started on the second 4 oz of lyocell, cotton, flax blend. This one is bleached white and so much softer than the natural I’m sort of regretting my decision to ply the two together. I have added too much twist to use them as singles so when I get this spun up I’ll do some samples with the plying to see what I like. I can’t wait to warp a loom with the commercial cotton linen blend I have and start weaving the cloth for a shirt. See that is why I don’t want to try up booth looms with the same fabric.

However, before starting new projects I want to take some time and finish some (but not all) of my old. I only have half a sleeve on my child’s guernsey left and my odd and end vest is knitted up to the armholes. Both of those need to be finished before I forget what I’m doing. However, my two other unfinished sweater will have to languish a while longer. Maybe I’ll pick them up next fall.

Just Checking In

Things are moving right along. I still have 2 Christmas presents that must be made. And I have 4 that are all the way finished. I also have a table full of items that are off the needles but still need the ends tucked in. I suspect that end tucking will take me all week.

Other than this glut of Christmas knitting I am still spinning. I just finished rainbow wool that I plied with purple merino wool. I had plenty of purple left so I spun that up and plied it with it’s self to be a complementary yarn. Now I am spinning a sock blend that I dyed myself. It’s a blend of super wash wool, mohair, and nylon. It’s supposed to be machine washable but I’m not so sure about the mohair. It’s also not as soft as I like but I guess that’s ok for socks. We will just have to see once it’s knitted. It is a stunning color way; red, golden yellow, forest green, and denim blue. It will be interesting to see it when it’s done.

That’s it for now. I really need to be knitting not typing. I will be glad once this is over since my hands are starting to ache at night.

Knitting for Christmas

Knitting for Christmas is coming right along. I have hade a few set backs. First that ugly hat and now a wonderfully thick and warm hat knit in variegated hand spun yarn in a men’s large. The variegated yarn with only a touch of pink knitted into a hat with 2 bold pink stripes. Possibly not the best option for a man’s hat. Now I’m working on another hat. This one is out of commercial yarn knitted with double thickness and will have a deer in a color-stranding pattern along the brim. Of course more socks are on the needles too. Did I say last time that the pink splattered ones are done?

I finished spinning a white alpaca and silk blend and just started on some bats I carded up from some leftover green and pink wool. I added a generous helping of flash so the yarn should glitter nicely when done. I think I will finish it tonight so I can wash it along with the alpaca silk.

I had thought the loom would stay empty for a few more months. However, I may try to dash off some bookmarks before Christmas. First I need to go to the quilt shop and see if they carry silk sewing thread. If not hopefully I can still find something nicer that the cotton polyester sold at walmart.
This post is pretty short but I got to get back to knitting. There is still so much more to finish. I really want to be done with all I have to make by Thursday.

Nothing New

Everything is about the same since I last posted. The loom is still empty and will stay that way. I still have to decide on the pattern I want to use. I’m going to need to weave about 9 yards. Do I want to wrestle with a design for that long? Do I want to have the whole thing in plain weave? Twill? I do like the idea of pen stripes so I have considered log cabin. I think I will leave all of this until after Christmas.

Knitting is going. I finished the splattered socks and am now working on a pair in a blue and gray rag yarn. It’s going pretty fast. We just bought 2 seasons of Far Scape and have spent several days camped out watching. Since I want to give it a bit more of my attention than I give to regular movies knitting is working better than spinning.

I did finish the blue sock yarn on my wheel and am now spinning 4oz of alpaca silk blend. This is to be a Christmas present. One of the few that must be completed. It will be an aran wimple if all goes well. If all goes supper well it will have matching gauntlets. In case you were wondering gauntlets are supper fancy fingerless gloves that go up the arm. However, I don’t know if 4 ounces will be enough to make the set. I really hope that I will have enough just to make the wimple.

I will be placing an order today. Really I don’t order from yarn shops weekly. Or at least I don’t think I do. I suppose I should start keeping track. After discussing it with Himself about what to make his father I have to buy some yarn. I pushed for socks so I could stay on my yarn diet but he thought socks weren’t cool enough and really wanted the fingerless gloves I had mentioned earlier. Socks not romantic enough? Just wait! This year all my hand knit sock are getting speshal packaging that will humble all recipients. However, Himself doesn’t see it or at least hasn’t seen it yet and wants the gloves. So today I will be buying the yarn for that. After many hours of looking and listing I have my order to that yarn only- it was very hard to keep others from joining it, 4 aran sweater patters to make his and her sweater from some yarn I bought last summer, and some large knitting needles to knit my first handspun yarn into a hat. So all and all it looks like I have been very good on my yarn diet doesn’t it? Just a bit of new yarn that will be immediately used up and worked off not to join the stash? Not quite. This is more like himself asking that I make 5 pounds of fudge for the office party and only taking one of it with him and leaving the rest for me to eat. The fingerless gloves will take a fraction of the hank it comes in. The rest will have to go into storage until I work it off.

Note. I just got off the phone with the yarn shop. They don’t carry the patterns I want. I will have to do more searching for a place that carries them, but not this week.

Fiber Festivals and Flings

This last weekend I was able to attend a fiber festival. Going to one of these is a joy. Even smalls one have much to offer. I came home with a French Angora buck that Himself named MoJo. Hopefully the name will be good luck and he will have a better time with the ladies than Deano. Deano has had several nights out and once again the due date passed with no babies. I think he missed sex ed at school.

Lets see I also came home with a drop spindle. I think it is the nicest one I own. Driftwood Spindles made by Gary Rebman. The wood is Black Locust and Jatoba. Not the prettiest available (I really liked the dark look of the black walnut and the zebra wood) but I thought it spun the best and is pretty enough. I believe I will spin up some wool/mohair/nylon blend I have dyed to be socks.

I also got an old metal ball winder. It has some problems but I think they can be fixed and the metal gears will last longer than the new plastic ones. They seem to strip after a few years of use. At the same table I got a seashell diz. The bright colored shells that look like peacocks. Much prettier then the horn diz I already own and it didn’t hurt that I was able to make a trade for it.

My last purchase was some old Spin Off magazines. I love reading them and all the ones I have are just worn out with use. It’s always exciting to get old ones and it is helping me fill out my collection. I doubt I will ever have a full set but I’m working on it. The same booth sold yarn. Makes sense since they are a yarn mill where you send you fiber in to be spun into yarn. So anyway there is this yarn, brown alpaca with little bits of green, purple, and orange through out. Wonderful yarn. I thought long and hard since my stash doesn’t contain the yarn for one Christmas present that must be made. However, it should be black yarn and this, as pretty as it was, wasn’t going to be right. So I was able to stay on my stash diet.

The two spinning wheels are busy. On one I have blue sock yarn. It will be a rather thick three ply. On the other wheel is the corn silk; you know the stuff that smells like corn syrup? After reading a few of the old Spin Offs I just bought I ran into two articles that really like spinning synthetic yarn for socks because of their wicking qualities. I may give this yarn a try. Or I will place it in the tote with my other thin yarns to be woven into clothes.

The loom is still empty and for the same reason as last time. I suspect it will stay empty until spring. But my needles are going strong. I’m serious about reducing my stash. Ok all the projects I am listing still need the ends worked in but they are off the needles. 2 hats. One is so ugly it’s cute, that’s according to Himself. It was just ugly until I added the pompoms and the bow. That really helped. I feel pretty sorry for it so I have worn it a few times on our evening walks. It has earflaps so it keeps my face warm. Good because last night’s walk was in frozen sleet. The weatherman called it snow but I know ice on my eyeballs when I feel it. Another hat is finished. This one is extra nice made out of very soft wool for a friend that doesn’t think she likes wool. I have also finished a pair of socks and well on my way to finishing another pair. Finally the child sweater is working its way down to the last cuff. A few more hats a few more pairs of scarves some boiled wool mittens and some fingerless gloves and Christmas will be done. Can I finish all of this in time? Who knows? Especially since the socks I have been working on are for me and the child’s sweater isn’t for anybody. It seems that they should be saved for after Christmas but I must listen to the project that cries the loudest. Also an abandoned project usually dies and all that can be done is reclaiming the yarn. It’s just too hard to pick up were it was left off. I really hope the four sweater bodies I set aside this year can be revived later this winter and finished.

I feel like I should list the yarn that each project is coming from. Like that super nice wool hat. That yarn was to be my first sweater. I had a perfect natural brown fleece. Perfect except all that hay. I bought some combs and combed it out really nice. I combed and combed and combed. I did this for hours. I had a huge basket full of bird nests of combed top. Perfect. Half an hour of spinning and 2 balls of yarn later the combed top was all used up. Hmmm well several more months of this and I would have a sweater. I put that yarn away. It seems that I don’t like combing all that much after all. 3 years later it is time to forget that sweater and the yarn is just the thing for a hat. I have enough that I think I can make a second one.

The socks where a pair I had worked on while ridding the train to Chicago to see Rembrandt exhibit last spring. Since I was on the train I couldn’t try them on for size. Booth needed the toes ripped out and reknitted to the right length before I could wear them. The socks in progress are from yarn that I got a gift exchange. They are a good brand of sock yarn but an unfortunate color. That’s how they ended up in the white elephant exchange in the fist place. I have tons of pretty sock yarn in my stash but felt that I should knit this one. The socks are turning out great but the color is still unfortunate. The main color is sweatshirt gray. That’s fine. However, it has dashes of hot pink. It looks like gym socks that had been washed with an ink pen that leaked or worse it reminds me of all the hunters that come in where I work wearing blood splattered sweat shirts. It seems they take off the camouflage jacket before moving the dear to the car. I guess blood on camouflage doesn’t look nice either. Finally that poor ugly cute hat. It was yarn that was sampling for a mixed fiber jacket. The jacket was to be the same wool plied with a different fiber for each strip. It was going to be stunning white on white all different textures and natural white color. However, that pattern is still in the publishing faze and by the time I can buy my very own autographed copy I will want to make new samples out of my new stash.

My stack of finished projects is mounting but my stash is hardly diminishing. However, my yarn stash diet is progressing nicely. I haven’t bought any yarn for months. Except for those 2 balls of my very favorite BFL wool made into yarn. I have never owned mill spun BFL wool yarn, and it was on a supper sale, and it fit easily into the spinning fiber I ordered. I just couldn’t resist, two balls that is only enough for one pair of socks so it will hardly take any room in the stash. I don’t remember putting myself on a spinning fiber diet so the 12 pounds of sock blend top, merino top, and coridale cross top I bought two weeks ago weren’t cheating. I was out of white fiber for dyeing. And after spending all day last Monday dyeing I worked my way through 8 of those 12 pounds so I am almost out again. Maybe I will need more fiber before the BFL yarn goes out of sock. It is such a nice yarn. I must get back to knitting. Maybe I’ll have time to dress the loom this weekend after all.

Finishing

My compute has been kaput for the last couple of weeks. I have been lucky on the day’s it would let me read my e-mail much less compose an entry. However, I have kept busy through it all.

Spinning I finished the black angora. I didn’t like the sample yarn plied back on it’s self so I plied it with a finely spun silk thread. I love the squiggly texture that made. Now I just have to decide on the boarder for the alpaca poncho. I also finished spinning all of the natural cotton, lyconell, and linen fiber. Now to spin up the equal amount of the same blend in bleached white. I’ll then ply those two together. However, I needed a break from that so I am well into 4 oz of Ingio a fiber made from corn. I don’t know how they do it but it smooth like silk, bright white like angora, and it smells like corn syrup. I’m spinning it fine but don’t know what I will make out of it. Do I want clothing that smells like corn syrup?

Weaving- My loom is empty. I finished the weaving of the pink poncho and the Christmas scarf. Both need to be finished and washed before they are done but that can wait. I received my patterns in the mail and will start the yardage for a hooded jacket one of these days. It’s on the back burner since the widest piece in the pattern is wider than my loom. Now I wait to see if I get that table loom for Christmas. Oh I think I am. How exciting. And Himself was eager to strike the deal of my getting another loom the next time he gets a top of the line gaming computer. So it may be possible for me to have 3 looms by this time next year. O JOY!

Knitting. Of course that gray poncho is on hold while I decide the perfect boarder. All sweaters for me are on hold until after Christmas. For Christmas I have a list the length of my arm. We will see what gets done. In the mean time instead of Christmas knitting I am making a child Gausy sweater. Only one more sleeve to go. However, I don’t know any children. I will just have to wait until one of the babies in my life grows up. This sweated is wonderful and now I will know what I’m doing when I want to knit an adult size.

Planning

This week has all been about planning. Planning the size and style to make my scrap yarn vest. Planning my next few weaving project. Planning and looking for the perfect aran sweater patterns to make a set of sweaters for himself and me. And finally planning on what to buy next.

Weaving: I am half done weaving my poncho so it is time to start working on the next project. It’s a Thank You scarf all out of hand spun. It will be an easy project that I will plan as I go. The hardest part is that I have been spinning for 3 years for this scarf and I will probably only use one evening worth of that yarn. Why 3 years and a pound and half of yarn for a scarf that will only take four to eight ounces. Well I asked her what colors she likes and the answer was turquoise green. Well I thought I had every color already in my stash but it turns out I had none of that color. Not one baggie. That leads to a year of picking up every blue green I come across for a year. Then I had to spin all of that and while it was waiting it’s turn on the loom I found more shades of blue greens and green blues. Now all but the last two ounces are spun and it’s turn on the loom is next but what to do with the rest? It might become a Thank You Hat and Thank You Hand Sweaters to go with the Thank You Scarf. Or it may become yardage to hopefully become a fall jacket.

That’s right. It’s time to make some clothing out of my weaving. I have started going to weaving conferences and I must have garments. It is easer to walk around nonchalantly in woven art wear and wait for the complements to come to you that to keep a kitchen towel in your purse. The only way I can think to show that off nonchalantly is to pull it out at the cafeteria and comment on how you just can’t stand to harm the environment using paper napkins. So far I am planning on a cashmere dress and a wool fall jacket. The cashmere is a commercial yarn that has been waiting too long for it’s turn. The jacket is still undecided. Should it be my tartan- I bought that yarn years ago or possibly using up that blue green handspun. Angora possibly? I have a tone of that spun up too. But first I have to by the pattern so I can plan on how wide the pieces have to be on my loom.

Knitting is going well. I am half done with my scrap yarn vest for the second time. It seems that I was lying to myself about the gauge the first time and that vest was going to be much too big. Some new math and some new plans and I hope it is coming out all right now. While it can’t be my next knitting project I have started planning the aran sweaters. I have heathered yarn in teal, navy, and periwinkle. Last summer I bought all three colors on sale after himself mentioned that he would like a sweater. I have now picked out four aran patterns that I would like to knit. Once I buy the patterns and look them over to make sure they are practical he will get to choose the color and pattern for his first sweater. I will then choose from the two colors and three patterns that are left to make a sweater for me. Once they are done I just may make us pose for those Christmas card with the family photo. Something that has never appealed to me before but how else will everybody get to see our complementary sweaters? Maybe I will make one for Joey and the whole family can get in on it.

Spinning has stalled out. We haven’t bought new movies in a few weeks. That any I have been knitting like crazy to make up the lost ground. Maybe this week will be better. Spinning is always about planning. Planning and dreaming. How thin do I want to spin this silk? What can I make with two ounces of white baby alpaca? How long will I be interested in spinning plain white cotton? Should I wash this wool or spin it in the grease? It is the possibilities in spinning that attract me so much. Right now I am still working on the black angora needed to finish my gray alpaca and silk poncho and the other wheel still has the cotton linen blend that was supposed to become my first hand spun hand woven garment. It looks like a wool jacket just might beat it.
All of this planning came out of my desire to use from my stash before buying any new yarn. Well now I can make these projects from my stash but that doesn’t mean I’m home free. I need knitting patterns for the sweaters. I need sewing patterns for the dress and jacket, buttons, zippers, and most importantly; planning to find the time to take a class so I can learn to operate that crazy machine or figuring out a plan to twist the arm of some one that already sews to do it for me.

Knitting a Vest and Time

I finished my knitted tam using all the scrap yarns that we tied together at the last guild meeting. I did have to start over at the halfway point because of a typo in the pattern. More proof that it’s better to do the math myself instead of trusting a bought pattern.

I liked the look of the tam fabric so much that I am using the same ball of scraps to knit a matching vest. I dug through my stash to find a complementary yarn to use as ribbing. While knitting the Tam I knew of the perfect yarn. I have some periwinkle tweed in my stash that I thought would go well with the periwinkle handspun scraps. However, once I dug it out the tweed was much too warm to go with the cool colors in my vest. I kept looking and I had some oatmeal wool that I had bought to make a sweater that is perfect. I hope my sweater to be won’t miss a hank because I am now happily knitting on my vest.

All other knitting projects are put away for now. I suppose I should start caring the Christmas socks to work with me again but I’m so frustrated with the idea of ripping out the other foot that I’m not keen on finishing the foot I’m working on.

I finished warping the loom this morning. All that’s left is tying on and the weaving. I think the warp is long enough for the poncho and some yardage too. I hope so. I want the poncho to be solid pink but I found a great peach and gray variegated yarn while digging in my stash that would look great with that pink.

Right now using up that stash is the name of the game. I will not buy more yarn until I have used up a suitable amount of what I already own! My loom room is already so crowded that it’s not as pleasant working in there as it should be. My goal is to use enough that I can buy pounds of natural colored cotton that the Yarn Barn has offered on their mill ends list. The problem is that the mill ends are only available while supplies last and I don’t know how long that will be. However, a suitable amount isn’t set in stone either, soon as I feel like I have woven enough new yarn is fair game. But once again I have a stipulation of alternating a mill spun and a hand spun project on my loom. Sometimes I get a real chuckle at the stipulations I put on myself.

Spinning is still the black angora. I’m having to card it first to even out the fibers. I didn’t like the variegated quality the yarn had just spinning from the bag. Now the yarn is coming out nicely heathered instead. The knitted poncho is alpaca plyed with silk. I’m thinking of plying the angora with silk too. I no longer have any of that dye lot left. I do have some charcoal gray silk that matches the angora. I will just have to spin and knit up some samples before deciding.

I have had people ask how I get so much done. Really I’m pretty lazy and don’t think I do all that much. So I’ll tell of a typical day this week. From when I wake up until 9 am is my weaving time. This can be 2 hours or it can be 15 minutes. On Saturday no weaving since I work in the mornings but I make up for it by being able to weave until noon on Sunday if I want. At 9:00 I get 20 minutes to clean house before going to work. At work I knit on my lunch break. After work I am just available for my family or friends. I take care of my rabbits and go with my husband on a two-mile walk. However, if we sit down to watch a movie I spend the two hours spinning. On the weeks that I have to be at work at 7 am I don’t weave as much but I get more spinning done at night. It all evens out and gives me plenty of time for other things too.

knitting as art

Finally a finished project and my first knitting as Art too. It’s a pair of Hand Sweaters my own version of fingerless gloves. They are to go into a care box for a dear friend. The yarn is my own handspun in a combination of wool, alpaca, mohair, silk, and angora. I choose every color and every fiber to portray the person receiving this gift. I still have to write up the letter that will explain and complete the project. I’m actually scared to mail them since it seems almost too intimate of a gift sending an abstract useful portrait to someone I have never met in person. However, go they must, so they will start their trip to Canada tomorrow.

The weaving is stalled. I have not progressed past threading the first few inches. I shall blame Himself because he ran off with my weaving chair. It seems it is the only chair suited to hold his exercise weights. However, the pink yarn is coarser than I like so that may be the real reason.

I haven’t knitted much either since I have a nasty case of poison Ivy. I spend every available moment in the bathtub since that is the only place I feel relief. I keep getting re infected from Joey and would love to give him a bath. However he had a run in with a wild animal and I don’t want to get him wet until his stitches are removed. However at the last small guild meeting we had a program on how to use up our left over bits of yarn. I’m using that technique to make a fun tam. I like the look so much I may make a vest to go with it.

Sunday was the large guild meeting and besides good fun, food, and some nice shopping. I was able to get a substantial amount of very fine weaving yarn spun. I also picked up the black angora and have started spinning that to finish my poncho. Alas the angora sticks to my poison ivy rash so spinning it right now isn’t much fun.

I’m up in the air about the WooLee Winder. It winds my yarn evenly onto the bobbin. That part is great. However, it’s a touch loud and the drive band keeps slipping on the smallest whorl. I will buy a stretch drive band and I thin all my problems will be solved. I should order it tonight but have been putting it off. After all if I get the drive band I should get the niddy noddy too and the…and… and… and… I get scared by the money it would take to buy this $3 drive band so I keep putting it off.

WooLee Winder

I had a dentist appointment today so I left work early. When I got home my WooLee Winder was waiting for me! I haven’t used it yet but came here first to post about it. I want to post before Himself gets home from work and needs the computer. I will play with it all the rest of the afternoon. I have some Angora in the freezer right now that will be the first thing I spin.

I didn’t finish anything this week. Too much going on one of which was getting a tiny kitten to hunt mice in the rabbit shed. He is so sweet. Right now he is a dark brown black. I hope he stays that color but I think he will get blacker once he loses his baby fuzz. I named him Snowball II after the cat in the Simpson’s. All the other names I considered seemed too scary for a black cat. I was planning on calling him Dragon after the cat in the Rats of NIMH but I just couldn’t do that to a black cat. I’m pretty sure Dragon was an orange cat anyway.

While I didn’t finish anything, I did start something. A friend of mine is going through tough times and a care package is being sent to her. I was hoping to make her a pair of red fingerless gloves and a ski band. However, to make it into the big box I must have it mailed by Wednesday. I don’t know if I can make the deadline. I did spin the yarn Saturday night. But now I’m having difficulties deciding which gauge is best for this yarn. I still need to spin the angora to line the ski band. That brings me back to the WooLee Winder and the frozen fiber.

I want to line the ski band in white angora but I only have tan on hand. It tan is fine but white will make the red pop. Then serendipity stepped in – maybe. While cleaning out the garage before friends came over for a barbeque I found a Wal-Mart bag of white fiber. I have no memory of tossing a bag of angora in the garage corner and decided it must still be there from when we moved 2 years ago. I checked and no M@&^$. I started spinning and I came upon some caterpillars. Now baby M@&^$ should look like caterpillars but they look like maggots. I’ve had them in my stash before. These looked like cute caterpillars. However, since I am concerned that they might just be cute but still vicious M@&^$ I put the whole bag in the freezer. If I find more than the 4 caterpillars I will toss it. If I don’t I may just bake the finished yarn in the oven a bit. I don’t know if that will help but I don’t want to send an unsuspecting friend a contaminated object. I should just use the tan angora instead.

So that is my spinning and knitting. I haven’t done any weaving lately. I did get the Yarn Barn catalogue this week so I was able to spend several hours dreaming of weaving at work on Saturday. There are several new project that I would like to buy the yarn for but I absolutely CAN NOT buy any more yarn until I use some of what I already have. I am donating yarn to the guild project tomorrow. That will help a little.

Ponchos

After sewing up the seams neatly to join the 3 panels into a single blanket I took a good hard look at it. The seams make the blanket even more rustic and now I’m stratified with it. I feel that to add anything at this point would distract from the whole. The seams give it some visual interest so the I-cord would be too much.

All that is left is one more washing and to even up the fringe. I’m surprised at how dense the blanket turned out. To me it feels more of the weight of a bed blanket rather than the afghan it is. The whole time I spun I thought light and lofty thoughts so the yarn wasn’t dense. I then chose my weaving set but a lack of yarn forced me to open it up more. I’m glad I did. Now that the blanket is almost finished I think I should have set it even looser.

This morning I threaded a few inches of the pink poncho through their heddles. It’s a really easy pattern -plain weave- but at 4 inches I noticed I made a few mistakes. After taking it out and fixing them I stopped for the day since it seems my mind isn’t on it.

The Christmas Socks were set down for a while to knit a gray alpaca poncho. One day I was looking at my knitting and how much I had left to finish anything that I snapped. I needed to finish something so bad I started a new project. The planning stage was fun as always. I chose to knit from the top down a la Barbara Walker and seed stitch on large needles made the thin yarn knit up into a thick fabric with lots of drape. It showed off the hand spun alpaca and silk yarn to perfection.

All was going well and it looked like I would have a finished poncho by the end of the week when I ran out of yarn. It had always been my plan to bind off when the yarn was gone but the poncho is much too short and I don’t like large neck hole as much as I thought I would.

Ok so time to redesign. Instead of the indoor sophisticated poncho I had imagined. I will add a big fluffy boarder of angora and turn it into a fun and flirty outdoor cover-up. A hood will solve the too big next opening too. I put in an order for the angora fiber from my favorite breeder and started taking yarn from the bottom of the poncho for the hood. I’m now waiting for the angora and with the hood finished I can go no farther until it gets here. So yet again I have another unfinished project waiting on the needles. The good thing is I picked up the Christmas socks again at work Saturday.

What am I spinning now? On the Polonaise I have more teal wool and silk for the scarf that will be next on the loom. On the Lendrum I’m spinning Lyocell, cotton, flax blend. It was supposed to become part of the handspun pants. However, the yarn is weak. After some comments on the spin list I decided that it could be from the Lycocell a type of tencel. However, not all is lost. I have some commercial cotton linen yarn to use as warp and this can be weft for a simple shirt. I do need to learn more about sewing before tackling pants and this might be the project to do it on. I’m thinking the Egyptian shirt by Folkwear or if not that the Riverboat shirt by the same.
More on spinning- I ordered a WooLee Winder! Too exciting! I will tell more about that when I get it.