Exploring the world of fiber, one draft at a time

My posting can be as frequent or infrequent as my spinning, so be as patient as that fiber, sitting in my stash.

Monday, November 29, 2004

A Picture worth many words


About three months worth of spinning

I could just leave it at that, but well I have never been one to post a picture without saying something about it!

The lincoln and shetland were samples given to me by various spinning buddies. The color in the photo is not true, the bottom shetland is a lovely gray. So is the angora next to it, in fact they almost match exactly in gray coloring. I have no plans for the shetland and lincoln, I think the small skeins like that will eventually be put in the aran afghan that I have plans to knit.

I have no plans for the angora, I probably will sell that skein. The black welsh mountain was spun with the plans of being knit into a felted bag, with needle felted flower design on the side. The mystery fiber (CVM?) is very slubby and I have not really decided if I will do anything more than maybe make a square for the ongoing warm up American afghan that my knit group works on all the time.

The alpaca is of enough yardage of the same color that I could get a shawl from it. I have to swatch and decide just what type of shawl I want to make. I am still considering whether to dye that yarn or not, it will depend on what pattern I finally pick.

CW

Recent machine knitted project

I just knit this last Friday and Sat, and crocheted the edging at my knit group on Sunday. I really like the drape, and feel of this blanket. It surprised me since I was mainly selecting the yarn for the fact it was thin enough to work with the standard machine, and was a non pink or blue color, since the recipient is not going to know the sex of the baby until birth.

Here's a link to Elann's site to show you the yarn. It is in the color rock candy.

I always learn more with each project I knit on my machine. This was the first project I worked with yarn not on a cone. I know why machine knitters prefer coned yarn. I could get 50 rows from one ball of yarn, and believe me, 50 rows can go fast, and all of the sudden you may or may not notice you are out of yarn. If you don't notice, the knitting machine zips your stitches off the needles and the project falls to the floor. I took to watching the yarn in the feeder very very closely for just that reason. It's worth the effort for a very lovely yarn, however if one can find a very lovely yarn on a cone it is all the better.

I used five balls of yarn. I made the blanket 180 stitches wide and 250 rows long. My tension was loose at 9 on the carriage and +2 on the mast. I used a half of a ball to do crochet edging around the blanket. The edging consisted of a row of single crochet, a row of double and a final row of single. Nothing fancy, but it served to stop the edges from rolling. I washed and threw the blanket into the dryer on low heat, and it came out ready to use. No pressing, which is very impressive for a stockinette stitched blanket.

The picture is not that great, but the blanket turned out better than my expectations.


Machine knit baby blanket in Microfiber

My current project on the knitting machine is an acrylic scarf for everyone in my family for Christmas. I have 10 knit up, washed and pressed. I still need to sew the scarves together in half long ways, to make a doubled fabric. And I have 8 more to knit.

CW

Time Flies

And that must mean I have been having fun.

I literally took a break from the computer for most of the months of Sept and Oct. I did get to read blogs about once every two weeks. And there is always email, and the occasional fiber group that I remain active and receive their mail.

But the outside chores are done now, and I find I now am spending my typical 2 hours or more online. Sometimes I am just playing those darn addicting computer games. Sometimes I am reading blogs or live journals. And I am going to try and get back into blogging more now too.

It's been a nice break, and it's nice to be back. I still like the idea of a photo and written journal of my fiber work. I feel by taking this break I did lose some of the daily tidbits and will only be able to update some of the highlights.

Meanwhile, the baby bunnies have been growing and are now a month old.


Month old and surprisingly still in the basket, although I had to snap the photo fast.

There is a fourth bunny, and it is definately a runt. I am sure it is the one that was out of the nest over 24 hours. I am not sure that it will make it. It is literally half the size of it's siblings, and I feel that may mean it is not able to compete for food. I do not want to remove it from the mom just yet, it may be only getting it's nourishment from her. And it needs the warmth of it's sibs now that it is in the 40's in the barn. So time will tell. It looks just like the one in the front of the basket in the picture, only half the size.

CW

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Everyone say AHHH


Pepper's babies, 10 days old

If you want to know the story about these baby bunnies, read the post below this.

CW