Official spinning olympic challenge totals

In this post, a picture really is worth a thousand words. This picture shows all of the skeins I spun during my self challenge olympic spinning. I got a rubbermaid tub of fiber and only spun it while watching the olympics. With the miracle of DVD recording, I just finished the last of the fiber and the last of the recordings today.

I strongly encourage anyone that does even a moderate amount of spinning, to set an extended period of time and keep track of time, yardage and ounces of fiber spun. I did just that for this challenge and found the statistics interesting. First of all, I did not set out to make a specific type of yarn wtih any of the fibers I chose during the challenge. I just let the fiber go to the type of yarn that flowed easiest from the drafting. I ended up with a wide range of WPI, but that's because I had a wide range of types of fiber. I make this point because I did not fiddly much with any of the fiber other than a bit more pre drafting. So there is no prep time in these figures, only spinning. They are also estimates, especially the time. I tried to keep good track of the total time, that was the hardest to remember to record. The fiber weight was easy to get with my scales, and the yardage came from my winding on my one yard niddy noddy.

Total time: 66.5 hours
Total weight: 66.75 oz
Total yards: 6739 (as singles, but the time included plying time)

Based on those figures, I can now say I spin on the average an ounce an hour, and produce around 100 yards.

I have photos of each of the skeins below, with more specific details for each fiber type.




Fiber: 75% merino 25% angora dyed and then drum carded by me. Two skeins of 230 yards and 85 yards of 2 ply spun at 12 WPI. Total time 6 hours. This is a blend I have made over and over again to sell, and have several skeins of this blend in this batch. This was what I call a blueberry color and both the merino and angora are dyed the same color.



This is also a 75/25 merino angora blend. The merino was white and the angora was dyed aqua. These were carded together and spun into a 2 ply yarn at 12 WPI. There are two skeins one 280 yds and one 103 yds. Total time was 7.5 hours.



The base fiber here is Rambouilette. It was washed when I purchased it and was slightly felted. I dyed it with several colors to make a color I call Seas. Because it was so thik and thin, I decided to spin it all as a single and then navajo ply it into a 3 ply. There was 6.75 oz of fiber and one skein of 103 yards in a bulky 8 WPI yarn. Total time was 3.5 hours.



These beautiful skeins earn a silver medal from me: they are my second favorite of all I spun. The fiber is a merino/silk blend that I purchased when I went to SOAR in 2004. The color is a blue/gray blend. Total fiber was 12 oz and it spun into a smooth 16 WPI 2 ply yarn. There are three skeins, 333 yds, 317 yds and 132 yds. Total spinning time was 20 hours.



The base fiber on this is just called lambswool roving in a lovely gray color. I overdyed it in blues and greens to make this yarn. It spun up at 10 WPI and there are two skeins of 2 ply yarn, 152 yds and 67 yds. Not much yardage here, but I think there is enough for a pair of slippers for me. Fiber weight was 5 oz and total time was 4.5 hours.



Here's more 75/25 merino/angora blend, this time with white merino and pink angora carded together. There was only 2 oz of this fiber and it spun into one skein of 2 ply at 14 WPI. Total time was 2 hours.



And another merino/angora blend, done in blue. There was 4 oz of fiber and it spun up at 12 WPI into one skein of 235 yards. Total time was 4 hours.




This is a very unusual blend, sort of the Jamaican bobsled team of the fiber world. It was labelled simply wool/linen and was a buy one get one special from a vendor. I shrugged and decided I would try spinning any blend at least once. I expected problems with it, but really it spun very easily. There was 16 oz of this dyed a lilac gray/silver color that had streaks of the off white linen in it. I have four skeins of the 10 WPI 2 ply yarn in 105 yds, 112 yds, 112 yds, and 115 yds. Total spinning time was 8 hours. I have no idea what I will do with this yarn, probably use it in a triangle loom shawl. It's a lovely spring color and should go well with other natural wool colors.




Here it is: The Gold medal winner. This yarn is absolutely beautiful, and the fiber was pure pleasure to spin. It is a merino/tencel blend commercially processed and dyed. The color is listed as coal. There was only 4 oz of this wonderful stuff and yet spinning at 20 WPI it gave me 440 yards. Total spinning time was 5 hours.




Finally the bronze medal winner, this lovely fiber was processed by someone else and is a natural colored lincoln wool with tussah silk blended in. There's an amazing shine to this wool, and I think most is coming from the lincoln. 8 oz of this fiber was all I could get at the time (another SOAR purchase and it was all she had left). It spun into two skeins of 2 ply for 112 yds and 164 yds spinning at 14 WPI. Total spinning time was 6 hours.

CW

Rainy days and projects

It's been raining steadily for three days now. That's typical for this time of the year. Fortunately I have the outside mowing done, and the spring garden weeded, so for once I have been able to sit back and enjoy several relaxing days off. I have been knitting alot and so have finished one sock and have the heel turned on it's mate. I should be able to finish the pair by this weekend.

Here's a photo.



This pattern is from the yahoo group six-sox-knitalong. Members of the groups graciously supply a pattern on a quarterly basis. I joined this group earlier this spring and this is the first pair I have knitted from the group.

The flaired top of the sock is due to a knitted hemmed cuff. I don't really like the way it looks off of my foot, but it is a very comfortable design when being worn. Usually my knitted socks are too tight at the very top, but this turned hem is very loose and giving. There is a knitted pattern over the top of the foot that is very lovely but which does not show up unless closely inspected. It would be a good sock to do in a solid color, and not the variegated yarn I chose. The pattern would then show up better. The socks do knit up quickly, especially if you only make the top of the sock ankle 5-6 inches tall.

Another rainy day project that I love to do, is to go through old craft magazines. So often a knitting magazine gets looked at when it arrives in my mailbox and then filed away. I do make a list on my PDA of projects in that magazine that I feel would be interesting to do. But a lovely afternoon of just going through magazines with patterns always perks up my creative juices.

This rainy day magazine sorting was a bit different. Over the years I have been buying any old Workbasket magazines that I found. These little treasures of magazines had been published monthly for many many years. I have some from the late 1940's all the way through to the 1980's. Unfortunately these were inexpensive magazines, hardly made for archiving. They have browned with age, and are loose at the staples, or torn. Many have the original address labels still on them, and even notes made by the previous owner, her wishlist of things to make in that issue. I find all of this very charming.

I had searched for awhile for a way to store these gems in a more secure fashion and finally found photo sheets of archive safe plastic that were the exact size. Two issues slide nicely into one plastic sheet so only six are needed for a years worth of issues. I soon discovered that trying to put more than one year into an album constructed for those size pages was impossible, and that I really didn't want albums anyway. Instead I used quilters rust proof safety pins to secure the holes in the plastic pages, making a collection of each year. These then fit very nicely into a secure box, and all of them will be stored together that way.

But I am a long way from sticking them back into the closet. I have had so much enjoyment going through each one, and listing on a sheet of paper anything I found I may want reference to later. They are a wealth of tatting patterns, something I do not do well at all. They are a wealth of crochet doily patterns, something I can do but is not my favorite craft. However now and then there are wonderful knitted doilys, or edging patterns. These along with the more out of the ordinary (a poodle pin made from a piece of chenille bedspread!) were noted in my listings.

The earliest ones are the most fun, of course. As I got into the later 70's I could only laugh and my list definately got shorter. Ah but are not the fashions of the 70's and 80's being copied today for all of these new knitters? It's still wonderful inspiration to look at each design and see maybe a detail or a stitch pattern that can be used in a new way.

And one of the true pleasures was finding the patterns for things I have owned for years. Doilys that have those wonderful flowers in them, or the baby blanket pattern that someone made for my daughter. These were things that I had and admired for the workmanship, and here were the patterns for them! Here's a photo of my biggest find:



I had the hot pad for many years, rescued from some flea market. I knew it had bottle caps and crochet, but had never wanted to dissect the actual making of it. I had seen others like it, in the form of a cluster of grapes, I bought this one for the fact it was different from the ones I had seen the most. Some creative soul had just made one of their own design. Whether they used the idea from the Workbasket, or in later years was just messing around trying out the technique will never be known. But how much fun is it, to be thumbing through the old Workbasket and see the directions for something that I have loved and admired for so many years.

I am still working on rewriting my notes from the natural dye workshop. There are many pages and in no order at all. I am trying to get them into a good flowing description of the three day workshop. I find I am not getting it done, because I really do not want to sit down and do it. I find this surprising about myself. I had always thought I would enjoy being a writer, because I do love to tell a good tale. But this is the nuts and bolts of writing, taking notes and putting them into good copy. And to my surprise, I don't like to do it. Ah well, I have plenty of things to keep me occupied well into my ancient years. I guess I can let the idea of being a writer go the way of all good dreams. Meanwhile, I will put myself back into my school years, and get this 'report' done as soon as I can.

CW

A fibery getaway

I am going away for a three day workshop on natural dyeing this coming weekend. I am really looking forward to this, even if it means I have to get up and leave the house at 5 am to get to the class in time. Once I am there I will be staying in a motel. This was not the original plan, but with gas hitting $3.00 a gallon, it makes more sense than driving back and forth for the entire three days. So after a 9-5 class, and a nice dinner I will spend my evenings pampering myself with non stop knitting time!

Here is the class synopsis. I hope to take lots of notes and pictures and then condense the good bits to a blog entry later.



All about Silk
Preparation and handling
Techniques of Dyeing
Principles of Natual dyes
All the main mordants(alum, Tin, chrome, iron)
All the main, available and safe natural dystuffs(Indigo, Fustic, Madder, Brazilwood, Logwood, Cochineal and if time permits we will dye Black)
Paint-dyeing with natural dyes
You will take home:
10- 1/2 oz skeins(of fiber or fabric) of naturally dyed silks in these colors: blue(Indigo), green(Indigo and Fustic), magenta,rosemand plum(Cochineal), red(brazilwood), orange(madder), gold(Fustic), purple and silver(logwood)
An individual creation in your choice of colors on 2 oz of silk yarn or 3 oz of fiber or one yard of fabric
a 15" by 45" scarf length of silk fabric that you will paint dye in the colors you choose and with a design you create yourself.
A portfolio with printed intructions for all colors (and more) that we wil be doing, so you can be confident to continue at home on your own
A color chart with 8" samples of over thirty colors on silk yarn, for reference.



To get me in the mood for all of this (like I needed coaxing) I am boiling up a pot of the ragwort flowers tops, since they are full bloom right now in my front field. I hope to strain the liquid and then freeze it for later use to dye yarn that lovely gold color I got in the past. I don't really have any white yarn spun up right now, but I think freezing the dye will save it until it is ready.

CW

Learning Curves

I do not think I would knit if there was no challenge to it. That's why there are no afghans of endless garter stitch coming off my needles. I have reached the point in my knitting skills where I need the challenge to keep me knitting long enough to finish the project.

Sometimes the challenge comes from the fact I am creating the design myself. Sometimes the challenge is learning a complicated stitch. Lately the challenge has come from knitting two very complicated garments in two separate online knit alongs. I thought it be a good update to this blog to talk about them, both well under way, but far from finished. I have learned so much already, and have a problem to solve on one of them.

First thing I have learned is that it is a good thing to have two completely different type of knitting projects going at the same time. It allows me to detach from the frustrations of one, even if I find frustrations in the other! My two projects, the FLAK sweater and a lace knitted mystery shawl are as different as they can be. The lace shawl is on circular needles, and is following a very detailed chart. It does have the advantage, at least where I am right now of having a knit row between the pattern rows. This becomes very essential for counting stitches in the repeats, as I am much to busy trying to follow the chart when doing the pattern row, to try and count stitches also.

Both projects seem to have the limit of doing a few rows at a time. This is not because I have limited knitting time, it is because the patterned rows go so slow, and the number of stitches are so great, that it takes me a long time to complete each row. So my progress on each is slow, and slowed even more as I bounce back and forth between the two. I have no set goal for their completion. Most of the knitters in both of the knit along groups have completed theirs. I thought the knit alongs would make me feel pushed as far as knitting to keep up with the vast majority of the group, but I found I join the knit alongs more to read about the others progress and to pick up hints and tips as they experience the patterns for the first time. It has often helped in the long run to let the others find the problems and then just sail through that difficult patch, with their experience.

With the above generalization in mind, here are a few specifics I have learned on each project.

The mystery shawl is only to row 52. This was a start in the center in a circular start and increase outward from there. It will eventually be a square, which sounds weird, considering the circular start. The increases are making four pie shaped pieces, joined at the center, with an eventual shaping to a square. Some of the knitters are only doing half, making a triangle shaped shawl. That's an option I may consider down the road, if I do this pattern again. Each pie shaped piece repeats the same pattern, so on my needles I have the areas divided by stitch markers. Each repeat currently has 64 stitches so at only row 52 I have 256 stitches. This is why it takes me awhile to get through the knitting of a pattern row. And that will only get longer as I knit on. What have I learned? That I probably would like casting on a thousand stitches and decreasing, instead of casting on 8 and increasing to a 1000!

One of the major things to watch in the pattern is that the designer has put a YO as the first stitch of the design block. That means a YO falls just after one of my stitch markers. It took me almost the first 43 rows of never hitting the pattern right (that is, I would count the stitches on the knit row and be off a stitch here and there) to realize I really really had to watch those YO. They almost always flop over the stitch marker, ending up as the last stitch of the section, instead of the first of the next section. And when some would flip, and some wouldn't, I was off on my stitch count again and again.

Now I am not a perfectionist knitter. In fact, I would say that is one of my biggest flaws as a knitter, I have too much of a Oh never mind, attitude about it all. So those first 43 rows will definately show that I was not in line on the patterning. I am not concerned though for a number of reasons. This shawl is for me, those first 43 rows will be a tiny center of a large shawl, the shawl will most likely be folded in a triangle to wear, and well, all in all, this is all about loving and learning the knitting, not unknitting. So now that I have figured out that watching those YO's and getting them in the right place is my primary concern on the non patterned knit row, I have had very little problem with the stitch count, and my patterning is working out fine.

I do not have a picture of this yet, it is only just a puddle of lacy knitting between the circular needle. It may stay that way too until I am done, so when I post a picture of the final shawl, I will probably be just as surprised at it's appearance, as anyone reading this. The yarn is a lace weight, Cherry tree merino in muted colors against a brown. It's just lovely to work with the subtle blends of the coloration is fascinating to me, when I do finally look at the shawl, beyond the chart following and counting.

Now for the FLAK sweater. That's follow the leader aran knitalong for anyone unfamiliar with the term. What have I learned? Oh a lesson so big, it deserves capital letters.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO KNIT A SWEATER FOR SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOURSELF, MEASURE THEIR BODY, NOT ONE OF THEIR SWEATERS.

See, I have plans to knit this sweater for my hubby, and surprise him with it. It was no big deal to knit in front of him, he had no clue I was knitting it for anyone else but myself. The knit along was all set up to be about knitting a sweater that fit, because the designer Janet Szabo gave wonderful sections on measuring and swatching and calculating for a perfect fit. I was the unknown factor in this process, because in my attempt to surprise my hubby, I used the alternative suggestion of measuring a sweater that fit instead of the body (stated as a possibility if one could not really do the measurements by themselves, on themselves.) So I grabbed a bulky sweater that hubby had on the cedar chest at the foot of the bed, measured it and proceeded with those measurements. Never mind I had never seen the actual sweater on hubby. So maybe the other capital letter learning should be, never assume that just because a sweater is out and in full view, that spouses actual can wear them.

Yep, you saw it coming. Said sweater is too small. So now my FLAK sweater for hubby is too small. I found this out, after knitting one full sleeve and a third of the other. Based on the experience of the last sweater I did for my daughter, and the sleeves ending up too large, I finally broke down several weekends ago and had hubby try on the FLAK. That's when it was discovered that the sweater could use 1-2 inches of ease around the body, and that the armhole depth is much too tight, it needs 2 inches at least also.

Here's a picture of how it looks so far:




See how it basically is long long rectangle including the sleeves. The next step after the sleeves are finished would be to sew up the sleeves (some knitters are even doing the sleeves in the round, but I like the straight needles) and pick up stitches all the way around the body in the round and knit to the bottom. So in my thinking about the sweater being too small I feel it is possible to add to the sweater yet at this point, before that final step. I have lots of time to think about this fix, as I knit the endless moss stitch of the sleeves (which, surprising I like doing better than endless garter or stockinette stitch even though it does mean switching from a knit to purl with every stitch). In fact this stretch of mindless knitting has been fun, because it allowed me also to watch a whole season of Battlestar galactica, while knitting. But I also have been mulling over possible ways to make this sweater eventually fit.

Here's the plan at this point: Since the armhole depth is based on stitches picked up at the front and back edges, that means I need more stitches there to use to pick up and add to the sleeve. See how the sleeves and the front are the same right now? I plan to knit an inch more down both sides of the front and back. That will give me a total of two inches next to the sleeve. If I tied my yarn on right next to the sleeve edge and one of those stitches, I can pick up the first inch, go to the other side of the sleeve, and pick up an inch from those stitches. This two inches will be knit in the moss stitch, as I go down the sleeve catching each sleeve edge and closing the sleeve with knitting instead of seaming the sleeve. The other option is to pick up the inch of stitches and knit those separately, and then seam the sleeve. I will decide which looks better, after I actually get into the process. I think this will solve the problem of the too tight sleeve, without actually frogging miles of moss stitch and starting over.

It may or may not solve the ease needed around the body. But I do not consider this a major problem, because right now, with just putting the sweater over hubby, with all of the unfinished seams etc, I am not really sure the fit is all that far off. And once I get the sleeves closed and have him try it on, I will be able to tell if the body needs ease or not. If it does, I will increase stitches as I pick up the body and add the ease at that point.

Lesson learned. Challenge thought about but not accomplished. It will be interesting to see just what happens and how the final product looks. I am less concerned about appearance though, than comfort. I truly want him to wear the sweater, I feel that way about anything I make. That's why I am not a perfectionist knitter. It is not about how it looks, just about how it feels.

So no finished projects to report, just progress. In the same way, my spinning is still in progress too. Remember the Olympic challenge to spin while watching the olympics? Well here is an 'in progress' picture. With the wonders of DVR dish recording I still have 20 hours of olympics to watch. And to me that means another 20 hours of spinning time. So it will be awhile before the final photo of all the yarn. Meanwhile, here's a picture of my spinning world, my easy chair, my Roberta electric spinner, my yarn on the niddy noddy. I suppose I should have included the cup of coffee (I always do my spinning in the mornings before work) and the TV remote too!

CW

How not to knit sleeves on a cotton sweater

Sometimes, drastic problems call for drastic solutions.

Two years ago I began knitting this cotton cardigan for my daughter. It's a challenging pattern done in a worsted weight cotton. We measured and swatched and washed swatches and remeasured. Basically the sweater body came out to her satisfaction, but the sleeves were massively too large. This was discovered late last fall, shortly before her wedding. We said, OK try washing the sweater and see if the sleeves improve. Months passed, and finally one knitting group day, my daughter returned the sweater to me. The sleeves were just too large, could we do anything about it?

Here's a photo on the original sweater sleeve:



I confess I stuck the sweater in a drawer for awhile trying to decide what to do. I now understood how the sleeves came to be too big, besides the maybe too few decreases. I had adapted the pattern. Instead of knitting the sleeves as separate pieces using straight knitting needles, I had taken circular needles, picked up stitches all around the armhole and knitted down to the cuff. Normally, this is a very good idea. However with this cotton yarn, the circulars stretched the yarn, causing a bigger gauge. And that meant the sleeve was too wide by about 4 inches. My choices were to completely reknit two sleeves, using the original design, or to try and fit the current sleeves to her size.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained the saying goes. If I cut and sewed the current sleeves and they didn't work, I was only back to reknitting them again with new yarn. Fortunately there was plenty of yarn left over, I had been knitting from large cones of cotton yarn and had a full cone left. So I switched my mindset from that of a knitter to that of a seamstress, and tackled the project of making the sleeve fit.

First I made a paper pattern piece of the way the sleeve would have been if knit flat. Here's a picture of the sleeve with the pattern piece on it, which shows how the sleeve had flaired too wide.



I actually wrapped the pattern piece around the sleeve, putting the excess fabric on the underarm side. Then I took thick crochet cotton and did a running stitch down the sides of the pattern on the sweater. Basically this gave me a section outlined on the sleeve that should be removed. I had to then cut up the middle of that area from cuff to armhole, so the sleeve would be flat. Once it was flat I could easily sew two close set lines of stitching next to the basting marks, and cut away the excess knitting. I then treated it just like a sewn sleeve, by laying the two right sides together and doing an overlap type stitch to sew the sleeve back together.

Here's a photo of the inside and the seam. It's not pretty, but it did seem secure.



On the outside, it's almost impossible to even see the seam:



I was finally sure it all worked well though, when my daughter tried it on that night. Here's the final picture of the finished sweater on her.



I have heard many horror stories about knitting sweaters in cotton yarn. I now seem to have my own to add to them. I will say that this pattern did knit up well in cotton. All of the cabling gave a nice firm feel to the fabric and kept the stretch to a minimum. Except of course for those sleeves!

CW

vacation knitting

A vacation means a driving trip, and that means lots of knitting time for me. I do take my share of driving, but try and plan it after dark when I wouldn't be knitting anyway. So having returned from a recent vacation, I have a few photos to share of progress on the FLAK sweater, and a finished project.

First the finished project:



Both yarns are commercial alpaca called Baby Twist, and are very soft. I originally made the headband, because I fell in love with the dyed and sparkly skein of alpaca yarn, but there was only one skein at the store. So I did the headband, thinking that would use the whole skein. When there was over half of the skein left, I bought more black alpaca, using the pretty yarn as a stripe. Even that didn't use up all of the yarn! I imagine my next step will be to buy yet more black yarn and make a matching scarf. Good thing the black alpaca is a yarn the shop stocks!

I spent most of my non driving knitting time working on the aran knit along sweater (known as the FLAK). I got through the first five installments, which makes the sweater have the back and front knitted down to about underarm level. This sweater is being knit top down, and we started with the saddles, those bands across the shoulder, then picked up stiches for the back, and knit to desired length. The front was the same process except we had to shape a neckline. The nice thing about this knit along is that the designer is offering options for different looks. If I wanted a rounded neckline, I would have increased only a few rows. I chose the V neck line and so did increases all through the knitting of the front. I did each side separately, finally joining and knitting a few rows at the end of the V.



One of the challenges on this was to reverse the knitting order of the cables, so that they matched the order presented on the back. It wasn't hard, once I got a good start on the cables and could see them developing, but at the beginning, I often felt my mind crossing, right along with those stitches, as I tried to work out which cable pattern was next. Add to that was the constant increases at the neck edge which would have to be a cable, once there were enough stitches. I finished the front almost literally right before we got in the car to start home, I knew I would not work on it in the car, and wanted it to be ready for the next installment when I got home. As it has turned out, I have not knitted on it for a week now, even though the sleeve installment is printed out and ready to go. I think I needed a cable break.

The yarn I am using is from my stash, a sale bin purchase several years ago. It is called lana Moro and it is 50/50 wool/acrylic. I love the stitch definition on the cables with this yarn.

What I have been knitting on this week is the start of mystery shawl along 3. I am using Cherry Tree Hill merino lace yarn in the color Java. The shawl has a circular start, and I have about 20 rows done, but that blob of yarn and needles is not very photogenic. So instead I have a photo of the swatch I made to decide on needle size.



I am hoping that the subtle colors of the yarn show in this photo. I took the picture outside hoping to get the sunshine on the colors. It's a fantastic yarn to knit, so soft and subtle in the coloring. I am expecting the shawl to be very lovely when it is done.

I am still Olympic spinning, even though the olympics are long over. With the wonders of modern technology, I have about 75 hours yet taped on my dish DVD. I am planning to watch it all, and spin, to complete my self made challenge of seeing how much yarn I can spin. Right now I am spinning a lovely merino silk blend I got when I went to SOAR. It is spinning like a dream, but there is alot of the fiber, so I have over 7 hours spinning time in it already and am only on my second bobbin. That's the problem with very fine spinning, it does not make the stash reduction happen! But the good side of that is the nice lovely lace weight yarn that I can use for my current knitting obsession, a shawl.

CW

Olympic spinning challenge: first and last place

Maybe not really first place, but first completed skein goes to the blue merino/angora blend. There is 230 yards of a 2 ply yarn, and it is lovely enough at this point to hold first place in my eyes.

Last place? A total failed attempt to save a dyed roving that I had no business saving. The fibers were corriedale (the off white color in the blend) and cotswold, the dyed part of the blend. The corriedale fiber was moderately decent, it had a few tangled areas and short cuts. It tended to clump and not draft well, probably due to maybe not being completely carded. The cotswold turned cottony after dyeing, and was filled with short cuts (slubs) that no amount of picking out could remove. Add up all of these factors and the blend was almost impossible to spin. I loved the dye scheme though and will consult by dye notebook again to use it. It just was not worth fussing though 8 oz of this terrible roving to try and spin any kind of yarn. I will not spin lousy roving to try and come up with a 'designer yarn'. So the 20 yards of 2 ply lumpy awfulness will stick around my spinning basket as a reminder that it really is not worth working with lousy roving. The rest of the unspun went in the trash. Oh I know I could have used it for stuffing, or for felting fiber, or even mulching my roses. I prefer to have it gone for good.

Now to find something satisfying to spin. Will it be the silky speed of the icy track, the colorful figure skating of a wonderfully dyed roving or the mundane cross country slogging of spinning a pound of natural colored border leicester?

CW

My personal olympic challenge

I have been reading many comments about the knitting olympics, with knitters gearing up to start and finish a major project during the olympics. I just could not get into the spirit of that challenge, and have come up with my own personal goal, a spinning olympics.

I have been so immersed in knitting projects over the last year, and my spinning wheel has lanquished in the corner. I realized I was going to have to make it a bigger part of my life, if I ever intend to spin the mountain of fiber I have in my spare room.

So it's a spinning olympic challenge for me. I plan to only spin while watching any olympics on TV (no knitting) and plan to keep track of how much I yarn I produce during the olympics. I have so much roving ready, I should not even have to spend any of the time in fiber prep. I am truly curious how much yarn I will spin given this space of time.

I'll be sure to post the end totals, sometime in March.

CW

The finished shawl

It's finished! I haven't said that about any large skill knitting project for a long time.

I have heard that blocking will do wonders to a lace shawl, and saw it for the first time with this shawl. It looked nice unblocked, but looks amazing after blocking.

I was concerned about the alpaca yarn not holding the blocking, but after I took the pins out and have worn it, and shown it off, I see no change in the size, so I think this yarn is going to hold the blocked shape.

Here's some of the details on it:

Yarn: Baby silk (alpaca/silk blend) color is no on the label, it is a raspberry color. Yarn was purchased from Elann.

Size after blocking: 52" along top and 28" along the midpoint line.

Pattern: Mystery shawl 2 from the Yahoogroup. Pattern is now available from: www.bopeepswoolshop.com

Needles: Size 3

The next shawl to be done as a knit along will start Feb 16th. This one will be a square knitted from the center out. There are details on the above web site, a yahoogroup formed for it, and the swatch information available. You have to pay $3 though to join and get the pattern sections. I am going to be knitting this, but will be focusing on my Aran knit along (FLAK) first.

CW

A New Year and KAL

It use to be that the new year would bring out the resolutions in me. This year, the new year has brought out the new Knit Alongs (KAL). But before I get into all that, let me show that I am making good progress on the past knit along I joined, the Mystery shawl 2. In a previous post I had the first two clue done. Those were quick and easy. Clue three was very difficult. It was the first time I have ever yelled at my hubby to turn off the TV so I could concentrate, and he was two rooms away at the time! Oh I struggled with that clue three. It involved lace knitting stitches on both right and wrong side, so a row of charting was followed for every row. No relief of a full wrong side of purling in that clue. I feared what clue four would bring. Fortunately it turned out easier. It still had lace knit stitches on both sides, but it had a big repeat of 22 stitches. That repeat went across the row many times, and led to easier knitting as I gradually worked into a rhythm. Clue four was increasing on alternate rows, so it was slow going, but I finally finished right before Thanksgiving. Clue five, which was the last clue, was a very wide edging. It has ten rows to each repeat, incorporating five live stitches during the repeat. Since I have 309 stitches to incorporate, it is taking me all of the holiday season to just barely get to the mid point. I love knitting on this project though, so it is not tedious. I can do two or three repeats in my short periods of knitting time, and see gradual progress. The yarn is wonderful to handle, making the knitting even more pleasurable. It is one of those projects that I will be both glad and sad when finished.

Here is a picture of the scrunched up shawl, showing a part of the patterning on the main body, and the wide edging.

It will need blocked of course, but I have the feeling that even blocked it is going to be smaller than I would like for me to wear. I used a smaller sized needle than the designer called for, her larger needle would have given me a more open lace, and larger shawl. I will make this pattern again though (in spite of clue three!) and do exactly that, use a size 6 or 7 needle instead of the 4 I am using now.

But I will not be done with this before I start two more KAL. I am hopelessly hooked on them. When the first KAL hit the blogs several years ago, I was not interested at all. I did not want to knit what everyone else was knitting. Then I saw a lace shawl being knit by Anita in my knit group, and found out it was a pattern being given in small sections week by week. The knitter would not know what the finished shawl looked like until all clues were knitted. Well, I love a good mystery, and here was a great twist indeed. I found the yahoogroup as the first shawl was being completed and waited for the second to begin. Not only was it great fun to knit, it was an intricate design that taught me a lot (beside swear words). For all of my knitting experience, I have rarely knitted from a chart. I have done lots of lace with small repeats, even designing my own scarves etc from pattern books. Nor have I actually knitted a lace shawl. I found that I am in love with the look of a lacy shawl, and have been now aware of the patterns in new magazines, Elann, etc. I am anxiously awaiting Feb and the start of Mystery shawl 3.

There turned out to be some very interested and sometimes heated discussion on the shawl group when the designer asked if people would be willing to pay a small amount to do #3. (She was suggesting $3.00 I think) Most people said yes immediately, but there were those with some valid points that felt there should not be a charge. For one thing, almost every clue in the first two, had had a corrected clue posted. Now the corrections were caught almost immediately, because with so many people knitting the clue as soon as it was posted (I swear some people must knit at the speed of light) the problem was spotted right away. And the second point the objectors were making was that we were all working as test knitters for the designer, and that should not require us to pay for the right to do that. I found the sum suggested to be very reasonable for the pattern, but felt swayed by the logic that if I am going to pay for it, I want it as complete and error free as possible.

As it turns out, the designer has decided to charge the $3. to join the yahoogroup and received the pattern for mystery shawl 3. I will pay it because I have seen the quality of her previous designs, and because I know I am getting an original and unyet published design. For anyone that might be interested the information to pay and join, or buy the patterns from the first two mystery shawls can be found on the website www.bopeepswoolshop.com

There is much to be said though for knitting at the same time as everyone. That’s the other reason I am now so interested in two more KALs. I am currently swatching for what is called the FLAK knit along. This stands for Follow the Leader Aran Knitting and Janet Szabo (who did one of these aran knit alongs several years ago) is doing a top down, saddle shoulder aran knit along on her website. www.bigskyknitting.com/flak/knitalong.html The yahoo group connected with it (search for FLAK) has some very knowledgeable knitters on it, and I am finding I really enjoy reading it. It's a chatty group though, my email from yahoo groups has tripled this month. So be warned! The sweater I do for this will be for my husband. The yarn is a 50/50 wool/acrylic that I have had in the stash forever with the intention of doing him an aran sweater, so this fit the bill. I have the first two swatches done and washed and measured, and will be starting on the saddles today.

And finally, though not a structured knit along, I am keeping tabs on and will be making the sweater from the Japanese book. If you have read any knitting blogs lately you may have seen some to do about this book, all in Japanese with wonderful classic knitting patterns. I was ignoring the hubbub (picture me covering my ears singing la la la) until I saw the book in person at a knit group. Then I had to get it. After all it had an amazing lace shawl in it! It takes forever to get, it really is coming from overseas, but only cost $23 and they pay the shipping. The book can be purchased from yesasia.com. Or go to http://www.crossedintranslation.com/ This is the open blog for anyone that will be knitting the sweater from the book. There are links to websites to buy the book there. Again it is an aran sweater, and I have no idea right now what yarn I will be using, my true hope would be to spin a cormo roving I have for enough yarn to do it. Meanwhile, I will be playing with the swatches, cables and paying attention to what others learn as they work though this pattern. Everything has to be from the chart and schematics, there is no English in the book. Why do I even bother? Shrug, because in it’s own way, it is a mystery pattern.

CW

Knitting and Cooking

I have noticed over the years of reading blogs, that there is often a love of both knitting and cooking. There's a definate lack of cooking posts on this blog, not just because I consider it a fiber craft blog, but because truthfully, I do not like to cook. I have been told many times that I am a good cook. I also know I can be quite a creative cook, making a very good soup when cleaning out the refrigerator. And after successfully going through this year's sit down Thanksgiving dinner for 19, I know I am a very efficient cook.

That still does not make me like it. So don't come to this blog for ideas for tonight's dinner.

I am going to write however, about what I discovered about me over these last two months. I cook like I knit, or I could say, I knit like I cook.

My first clue that the two skills are similiar was the fact I have a full bookshelf of cookbooks, and a full bookshelf of knitting books. I had never thought of the knitting books as 'recipes' and I certainly can not stretch the similiarity and say my cookbooks inspire a sweater pattern. They often inspire me to knit, but that's just advoidance of doing the actual cooking.

The similiarity comes in how I use both bookshelves as a source of inspiriation. I have had to do a large amount of cooking these last two months. The first step in that process was to go to my cookbooks, flip through many of them and jot down possibilities. There's no difference between that and flipping through my knitting books, deciding just what the new yarn I just bought or spun wants to become.

And even the next step, the actual creating is very similiar for me in both skills. I may follow the recipe exactly when I make it, just like I may follow a pattern exactly when I knit a project. Or I may become creative as I go, changing ingredients for that soup, just like I will change a yarn or shaping of a knitting pattern. I find that certain areas of both are mundane and can be done without thinking, and other parts of both, can challenge me and send me to following directions exactly. And here's something funny, the brioche is an example of exactly that in both skills, the brioche knitting stitch, is challenging and just as complicated as constructing one for baking.

I have always thought that confidence built in one talent, allows the pursuit and usually success in another. There will always be a limit to the distance that skill develops, based on the actual amount of time and practice that is given to it. But confidence is a very large part of the initial attempt at most skills. I suspect that the successes in the kitchen encourage me to be creative with the needles, or the successfully knitted project encourages me to be creative in the kitchen.

And in true balance of it all, the failures happen too. The failed caramel coated apple cake that I tried this thanksgiving mirrors the sleeves that are bazaarly too large in the sweater I just knit. The cake was still edable, it just looked terrible. The sweater is still wearable, however, I do have plans to make it better. I will make the apple cake better too, by omitting the caramels!

In the end though, there is still one major difference between the two that will never change for me. I love to knit and hate to cook. No matter that I can do either with equal skill, if I have I choice, I will knit instead of cook.

CW

A day for one's hobby

How rare it can be, to spend an entire day enjoying one's hobby.

This last Saturday, I did a booth at a local craft fair. I can not avoid the anticipation of sales, when I price and package any item I plan to put in the booth. However, I knew ahead that this craft fair, at a local high school was really not the venue for handspun yarns. I had a few other items too, mostly wreaths, and flower arrangements and a few Christmas ornaments. But the bulk of the items were handspun yarns, in wool or alpaca or angora.

And my spinning wheel, not for sale of course, but as usual a focal point to the booth. I sit and spin, people pass by and either stand and watch, or approach and ask questions. I explain often just how the wheel is making the yarn (no it technically is not thread) or that I am spinning and not weaving, (or as one lady told her child, sewing). I try to give them the amazement I still feel, that all fabrics made before the machinery age started in just this fashion. All fabrics, including the viking sails!

So I spun all day. I filled two bobbins of lace weight singles on my Ashford lace flyer with a soft wool purchased as mill end batts from Jaggerspun yarns. I am not sure what breed of wool they use, but it is merino soft, yet has very little of the merino bounce that I hate. I was very happy with the yarn that it produced. It is slightly off white, and I probably will dye the yarn after I have plied it. I hope to make a lace shawl with the yarn.

Which brings me back to all the yarn I tried to sell. Most of it, I have no plans for whatsoever. One bag I packaged up reluctantly, I love the color of the yarn. Lucky me that it did not sell! Now I really do need to make something from it.

The problem I run into is that I tend to buy rovings in one pound lots. And I find I can at the most, make anywhere from 300 to 650 yards of 2 ply yarn from that pound, depending on how thick I spin it. Some of the yarns I had for sale are very bulky. That's what knitters love right now, a soft bulky, interestingly textured yarn to turn into a scarf over a weekend. But the yardage on the bulky yarns are barely 200 yards, enough
for a scarf but not much else. Even spinning finer and getting the 650 yards is not really enough for any adult knitted project. A shawl needs at least a 1000 yards, and a sweater 2000 yards. It becomes clear why I have not used these yarns myself.

I have one bag of yarn stored away that I hope to use to knit me a sweater. The wool was purchased raw, I washed the fiber and then spun the yarn. I have not checked the specific amount of yarn I have, however, I spun the entire fleece, probably 3.5 pound of usuable fiber. I still may not have enough for a sweater! It's no wonder knitters run to Wallmart to buy six of the one pound balls of acrylic to knit anything.

Still, I love knitting with handspun yarn. It has a feel to it while knitting that I just do not feel from any commercial yarn. The fact that I come up with smaller amounts only challenges me to find patterns adaptable to mulitple colors.

And I will never stop spinning, even if I never use the yarn. I realized after spending the whole day at the spinning wheel, just how much I had missed it. I had not spun anything since about April, and during the winter I often spin a couple of ounces a day. When I don't do that, I miss the tactile experience of the fiber in my hands, I miss the visual experience of the colors developing in the yarn, and most of all I miss the relaxing mediative state of the whole spinning process. Here's to an early new years resolution, let there be some spinning in my life, if not everyday, then often.

CW

Wedding flower pictures

As any of my readers may or may not know, my daughter just got married this last Sunday. I had the fun of doing the floral decorations from silk flowers and finally got these pictures to upload. These are not in any special order, but I am not going to mess with trying to do them over.

First, the cake table, which turned out beautiful itself for all the wonderful desserts present. I did the garland at the edge from a purchased garland to which I added all sorts of faux fruit and flowers:



Here is the brides table, which is also in fairness the grooms, maid of honor and best man's table too. On it are a crystal basket of fresh sunflowers, arranged that morning from flowers my daughter got at her food co op several days earlier. The chain of cranes was made by my daughter.



Throughout any of the decorations be sure to note the thousand and one orgami cranes folded by my daughter and her internet friends for good luck. They were made of very colorful paper, and looked like little flowers all over the tables, windows, even the cakes. Here's a photo of how the tables were set up for the reception.



This photo was taken at my house. It is a very large vase of silk flowers that we set on an area of the grand staircase where my daughter was married. All of the flower arrangements are done in fall colors, and with sunflowers, since that particular flower was special to the bride and groom.



The area for the reception had six large windows with wide window seats. To decorate that area, I did four silk arrangements in brass planters. You can see one of them in the window in the picture above of the table.



Again, this picture was taken at my house, but I used these two baskets to sit on the grand stairway. The stairway was magnificent with all of it's woodwork, but this little splash of color made it special for the ceremony.



Finally, not floral, but sewn, is the suit I made to wear to the wedding. The fabric is a brushed suede, with small embroidered roses on it. The jacket is lined and I was very lucky to find a rayon fabric the exact color of the roses for the blouse under the jacket. I found it very satisfying to be sewing again, after about two years of just doing embroidery with my machine. I hope it keeps me inspired to continue sewing, I have picked out more patterns I would like to do in the near future.


I have joked that I may have found a second career, arranging silk flowers. I just know that I saved this project of the many, many things to do for the wedding until last, because I knew it would be the most enjoyable.

CW

Two clues done on the shawl

I love this yarn! It is called Baby Silk and is 80% alpaca and 20% silk. The color in the picture is not accurate, it is too red. The yarn is call cinnabar, and the color is a lovely orange/brown. I pinned the shawl out enough to see the pattern (I love the little cat paws all over it!). The lace will show more once the shawl is finished and blocked. I am using size 4 (US) circulars, and the shawl measures roughly 14" long at the top and 8" from top to point. Since I have the picture in a large size to show details, the yarn looks fatter than it really is. It is truly a lace yarn, gauged on the label as 28 stitches to 4 inches on size three needles.

I have no idea if I will end up with a large or small shawl. I think I am on the smaller side of the projects gauge, but with three more clues to go, it's hard to tell the final size. If it seems small, I am sure I can add a border.

These first two weeks it was easy to finish the clues within the week timeframe. I am up to 78 stitches now, I am sure it will get harder to finish as the size increases.

CW

A Mystery (Shawl)

I still do not have the button in the side bar that actually takes you to the group, but if anyone is in the mood for a knit along, there is a mystery shawl 2 at yahoogroups that I have decided to join. I found the first shawl knit along too late, but am right at the beginning of this one. So far the only thing in the files is a test pattern for swatching. A new set of directions will be posted each Friday for five weeks. The shawl is a triangle, lacy and needs an advanced knitting skill level.

I splurged (and buying yarn is truly a splurge for a spinner) and ordered Elann's alpaca/silk lace yarn. I ordered it on Sunday and it arrived today! Three day delivery. I ordered enough for two projects, a plum color and a raspberry color. I am off to swatch tonight, waiting for Friday's first posting of directions.

CW

A Cotton wedding shower

machine knit cotton afghan 


I am still in my very basic mode with my knitting machine. It is an older machine, all manual selection for any patterning, no fancy multiple color work possible. I still enjoy working with it though, and when it was announced that our Sunday knitting group was going to give my daughter a 'cotton' wedding shower, I went through the stash of coned yarn I bought long ago at R&M yarns to find cottons of a complatable color scheme with the plan to make her a cotton afghan.

I only had the basic design concept of wide strips of color when I started. Every part of the afghan had something to teach me! Even though I did swatches of each color, measured before and after washing and drying, my biggest problem was the fact that the lengths of strips did not come out even lengths, in spite of calculating how many rows per inch I needed and then how many inches. So after the strips were done, and all attached lengthwise, I had lots of fiddly bits to do, to make one section longer (putting the stitches back on a knitting needle and knitting by had until I had the right length) or shortening (undoing the cast off and raveling back to the right length) Add to that the fact that the whole afghan was definately stretchy, it was work to try and get it nice and evenly crocheted together.

The dark green was a 100% multi-ply cotton. It knitted like a dream on my standard machine, with tension set on the loose side. The brown and white tweedy strips was a cotton/rayon twist yarn and gave me lots of problems, the loose twist and slubbiness of the yarn makes it not really a machine knitting yarn. I made it through the two strips, but will not use that cone of yarn on the machine, only for hand knitting. Funny, I did not really have any problems with it when I swatched, but there's lots more knitting to be done for the long strips than that 6 by 6 swatch. I held my breath as I knit each row, and fussed though several disasters (one time a slub made the yarn break and the knitting fell off the machine, and I had to reset each stitch back on the needles). I was glad to get the second strip done, and made the design so I would not have to make any more! The small gold strips are a cotton chenille, a lovely soft yarn, that knit surprisingly well at a loose tension on my machine. And felted up into a nice fabric after washing and drying. Oh and yes, chenille does 'worm'. I honestly had never worked with chenille before, and finally saw exactly what that means. In the lovely fabric, every now and then, there is a big loop sitting on top of the fabric. I suppose it could make a difference in some projects, but I honestly was so pleased with the fabric and color, that I barely saw the worming.

But once completed, I was very pleased with the afghan. I will not probably make another one soon, the finishing time was much longer than the actual knitting time. But finish work is sort of like child birth, easily forgotten once it is past, and I may get the bug again to try and knit another one.

And finally, since it was a cotton shower, the hostess made a 'cotton' wedding cake. Nothing useful about it, just very clever and well appreciated and well worth sharing.

cotton cake 

State Fair skeins 2005

After a day's worth of frustration with my dial up and this blogging and picture software, I think I finally have everything together in one blog entry.

Here finally are the pictures of the five skeins I did for this year's state fair. There were probably anywhere from four to eight skeins in most categories entered, and the judging was tough, based on the comments written on my skeins from the judge. I was glad to see the forty or so skeins this year, and keep encouraging other spinners in my area to enter, I want this category to stay active at our fair. They have also changed many of the categories, another good thing. When I started entering skeins about four years ago, most categories were based on yarns spun from the Lincoln fiber! That happens because anyone can support a category at the state fair, simply by paying the premiums for that category, and most of the spinning categories were being supported by a Lincoln breeder. The support has been picked up now mostly by the local spinning guilds and so their categories have broadened.

I STILL find the designer category to be the most challenging. That's good, because I would not continue to enter if there were no challenges. I must admit I thought I had a first place winner this year, with my Jacob self striping, navaho plied yarn, but was beaten by a blended yarn. The year I entered a blended yarn, I was beaten by a uniquely plied yarn. And these were judged by the same judge, so I still can not figure out exactly what in the judge's mind makes a designer yarn. I know what it means in my mind, a yarn that is specifically spun with a final knitted or woven design in mind.

What did I learn from this year's judging of my skeins? First and foremost, that I am not paying attention to small details while spinning. I am not being a perfectionist when I spin. It easy to overlook the need for every twist to be the same, every ply to be even. The final handspun skein always looks wonderful to me, because it is so unique. It is exactly that uniqueness that I strive for in handspun. However, that attitude does not win first place ribbons, and this year's lesson is that if I want to enter skeins in a competition, they have to be as perfect as possible, not unique. I feel I am a good spinner, but not by a long shot a consistent spinner, and that is what wins the first place. I can understand how a judge has to use consistancy as a standard, because every skein is lovely, soft, unique.

I learned alot about a judge's job and attitude this year by being the scribe for the quilt judge. That meant I sat at a table behind the judge and wrote down every comment made about each and every quilt. There are almost 30 different quilting categories at our fair, and often dozens of entries in each category. That adds up to almost a 10 hour day for a judge to look at and comment on each one. And what I learned as I wrote and listened was that a judge has to be completely ignore the 'WOW' factor of a quilt laying in front of them and fall back on the technical skills that created that quilt. Is the border straight, are the pieces well fitted, is the handquilting even? Often I would see a quilt spread out and think, 'Oh my that is just perfect' and then have to write as the judge spoke, that those technical skills I just mentioned were lacking.

So what I have been trying to say in those two wordy paragraphs is that no matter what is being judged, it finally comes down to the technical skills involved in making that item. And that is the lesson I will take to next years entries. I have many second place wins this year instead of firsts, because my plying was slightly overdone, my singles not exactly even, and worse of all, I did not tie the skeins with the same yarn as the skein. I did on a few, but not all, and it's those little details I will have to remember for next year.

Oh, you wanted pictures! OK here they are.

Jacob self striping designer yarn 



For this designer yarn, I used part of the Jacob fleece I purchased this spring at Greencastle. I took solid areas of four different colors from the fleece and washed them. I combed each color separately to make top in four different colors. I then divided the top into color roations based mostly on weight. I spun these color rotations in order making one long single with long stripes of color. Then I navaho plied that single, keeping the colors matching, so I ended up with stripes of color. The swatch next to the skein knitted off from the resulting yarn, I did not change yarns to get the effect. It is a self striping yarn.


Spindle Spun Rambouilett 


This category called for an all wool plied handspun yarn. I started with a raw Rambouillet fleece and pulled the finest fibers to wash. This was combed to make top. I drop spindle spun the top, and then plied the yarn on my Roberta. This is a wonderful yarn, I will have to make myself something special with it sometime, I have no plans to let this yarn out of my sight.

Dyed merino and angora skein 


This category called for a blended yarn of at least 50% wool. I did this skein from one of the rovings I make to sell. The blend is 70% white merino and 30% dyed angora, in this skein the angora is a very pale turquoise color. The yarn is a bulky weight, I think it would make a wonderful hat for a toddler.

Yarn spun from Jacob locks 


This category called for any natural colored wool. This is also a skein from the Jacob fleece I bought this spring. For this skein I took locks of wide variation in colors, washed them to keep the locks intact, and then combed them with a metal tooth dog comb, again keeping the lock intact. Then I just grab a lock at random and spun the lock until it was gone. I made no attempt to color match anything, and did a normal plying of two singles. There is no swatch with this entry, but I know it will knit up into a lovely tweed. There are two washed and combed locks beside the skein to show how they look right before spinning. The prep to do this is tedious, but I love spinning locks. Somehow the lock just magically and completely disappears into the yarn, unlike other forms of prep that can have so much waste.

Merino skein 


And finally the last category is the obligatory merino skein. I have such a love/hate feeling for merino. Yes, it is next to the skin soft, and I love the yarn for that reason. But try as I may, I can not get a lace weight merino yarn and I hate a fiber that won't do what I want. Merino have a mind of it's own, and will poof out three times its WPI when washed. I tried not washing this skein before entering it, but the judge caught that . Well, the category did not _say_ the yarn had to be washed and some of the categories did require a washed skein. To spin this yarn I used 100's merino roving on my Ashford traditional with a lace flyer. If I spin merino on anything else, and wash it, it will be the width of a pencil. At least on my lace flyer I have the chance of getting a sport weight once it is washed. I don't think there is any way to win a first in this category other than practice, practice and more practice. At least I will have lots of merino yarn for shawls!

Thanks for your interest (since you got this far). I love sharing what I learn each time I enter a competition.

CW

My lace bookmark and pattern

I lurk on the lace knitting yahoogroup, with the intentions of knitting a lacy shawl someday. In that group they occasionally have a bookmark exchange. You are assigned a exchange partner and each one makes a bookmark for the other. I finally finished this one for my swap partner yesterday. I used some machine knitting yarn on a cone that must have several thousand yards on it, so it seemed funny to knit such a small item. I used size 00 lace knitting double pointed needles, and the project took very little time, about four hours. I took the lace pattern from a pattern book and adapted it to fit the bookmark size. I've written out the pattern below, feel free to make one too!


Lace Bookmark 


Little Lace Diamonds Bookmark

Lace pattern from the book _Big Book of Knitting Lace Patterns_

Yarn is coned lace weight wool, usually used for knitting machines, any very fine yarn can be used.
Gauge is not critical.
Needles: Two 00 lace knitting double points

CO 2 stitches
Make 1 stitch in next row
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: K1, M1, K1 5 stitches
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: K1, M1, K1, M1, K1 7 stitches
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: Knit
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: K1, M1, K3, M1, K1 9 stitches
Row 12: Purl
Row 13: K1, M1, K5, M1, K1 11 stitches
Row 14: Purl
Row 15: Knit
Row 16: Purl

Start lace pattern and repeat for desired length of bookmark.

Lace bookmark pattern:

Row 1and 5: P1, K2, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, PSSO, K2, P1
Row 2 and all even numbered rows: Purl
Row 3: P1, K1, K2tog, YO, K3, YO, PSSO, K1, P1
Row 7 and 11: P1, K1, YO, PSSO, K3, K2tog, YO, K1, P1
Row 9: P1, K2, YO, PSSO, K1, K2tog, YO, K2 P1

Decrease rows:

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: K1, K2tog, K5, K2tog, K1 9 stitches
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: K1, K2tog, K3, K2tog, K1 7 stitches
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: Knit
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: K1 K2tog, K1, K2tog, K1 5 stitches
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: K1, K2tog, K2 tog 3 stitches
Row 12 Purl
Row 13: Knit
Row 14: Purl
Row 15: Knit three stitches together into one stitch

Tie off this one stitch or use a crochet hook to start a single chain. Make chain longer than needed to
show at bottom of the book, bring end of chain up and connect with single chain to make a loop. Single several stitches to tack and then tie off.

CW

New skills and letting go

No pictures for this post, just a bit of philosophical blather.

First things first, I am doing the happy dance here because I have finally successfully navajo plied some singles. I've put off trying to learn this skill because in spite of reading about it and watching a spinning buddy do it, I could never make sense of what was actually happening between fingers and yarn. I guess the synapes finally connected and reached my fingers this week though, because I sat down with a small sample of single ply and made a loop and was plying loop after loop with ease. I was surprised to find that the 'bump' everyone claimed would be in the yarn when plied this way, was really not noticable. That was something else that had always made me hesitate about trying the technique.

This experience has made me believe in the existence of the knowledge of the common mind though. All those spinners all over the world that can navajo ply have put the knowledge in the common mind, and that knowledge just finally reached my humble farm and fingers! I believe because I didn't attempt this technique with book in hand, I just sat down and did it. It sort of felt like reinventing spinning itself .

Knowing how to do this is a very good thing, because now I can make the big skein of Jacob yarn the way I envisioned it. I have spun long stretches of different colors in a single and really did not want to ply those and risk the colors not matching. I can navajo ply that single and keep the colors together. I will also now be able to spin the lovely roving I won last year at SOAR, donated by Rovings, that is a polworth roving dyed in long splashes of fall colors. I will spin the whole pound as a single and then navajo ply the yarn. In fact, now I can hardly wait to get my fingers on it!

As I have been working up this Jacob fleece, I took a big section of the light gray color and carded the washed fleece into big batts. I was starting to spin these batts, when I realized that the way I spin was defeating the whole purpose of that fluffy carded fleece. I tend to split pieces off the batt long ways, and spin that in an inch worm fashion, and for the most part, straightening out those fibers before letting the twist enter them. I decided to try a true woolen yarn with those batts by trying the long draw method.

I have never mastered the long draw. I have seen spinners spin one handed, just the hand holding the fiber moving back and forth to the wheel. I must have too many control issues, I had to learn, over and over again, to just let go! I finally compromised, since I really could not do the one handed drafting, by holding a large chunk of the batt in my left hand, and placing my right hand, palm facing me and open. That way the fiber ran past my right hand but I was not actually pinching or smoothing the yarn before it ran onto the bobbin.

This was unbelieveable hard for me to do. I am a smoother by nature LOL. I can not stand fiber that has little bits of noils in it, I have to pull them out and smooth the yarn. So time after time, as I was practicing this, I had to repeat, let it go, let it go. It became the mantra of the hour, and sometimes I would find a nice relaxed zone as the fiber whizzed by, and sometimes I caught myself fiddling with the right fingers again and would have to tell myself, let it go.

I think I may have a life lesson here too. Little bits of mess in life don't really hurt and lovely stuff happens, when one just lets go.

CW

Everyone needs a sock knitting box

Cigar box outside



Inside cigar box purse

I had read the occasional comment about cigar box purses, but had never seen any in real life. I was curious because in going through the stamp stash from my Dad, I now have a dozen empty cigar boxes. I had planned to make a purse just off of the top of my head, I figured I'd come up with something usable. However, when I went to the flea market yesterday, I saw this and decided I would buy it, because I love the 'kitsch' of it, and it gives me a good example to copy when I make some more.

Oh, not that I would copy the design idea, I have plenty of other designs in my mind, quilting themes, stamps themes, yarn themes...No I just liked having this example for the finishing details, and what hardware to look for.

Meanwhile, until I find the time to make some more, this cigar box purse will hold my current sock knitting project. It can slip into a larger bag, if I am traveling, or just be grabbed for a Sunday knitting group.

CW

I bow to free advertising

I will not 'push' my fibers for sale on this front blog, but if you look to the right I have added a link to a blog I created for what I currently have for sale. Right now, there are dyed rovings, but I think of this new blog as a constant ongoing crafts garage sale. You never know what will be listed next because my crafting does not take over just a closet, but two rooms of my house. Check back now and then to see if there is anything you just gotta have.

Thanks!

CW

Spindle Yarn

Here is the yarn finally from a rambo fleece I washed almost two years ago. I took the very best part of the fleece, and combed it with my small hand held combs. And then I spun the top with a drop spindle. The spinning took more than a year, but that is because I rarely spindle spin at home. I have fond memories of the many places I did work on spinning this yarn. There were many odd Tuesday night gatherings at Barnes and Nobles, several evenings of listening to music and drinking wine at local wineries, and also one big gathering of dear spinning friends across the country called our Center of the Fiber Universe Picnic. I am sure there are many other places that have just slipped my mind. Next time I do a long term spindle project like this, I think I will slip a notebook in the bag and just jot down where and when I did some spinning.

The yardage is a few inches short of 200 yards 2 ply and the skein weighs 2.5 oz. It has been washed and put up into a 2 yard skein. That skein size is a requirement for the State Fair as I plan to enter this skein in the fair this year.

In other fiber news, I have finally been spinning every day, or washing and combing a Jacob fleece. The rush of spring outside work is over, and the hot summer heat and humidity have me glad to be inside in the A/C working with fiber again.

CW

Spindle spun rambo yarn

Revving the Creative Juices

As you can probably tell by my lack of blog entries, I have had very little time for any fiber work over the last six weeks. Even knitting, which in the winter I often pick up while 'resting' from any labors, has only happened once a week, at my Sunday knitting group. It's pathetic but true, my total creative output in the fiber realm, has been limited to six rows, once a week, on the sleeve of a cotton cardigan.

I see the end of this hectic pace though, and encouraged by that, and inspired by the yearly State Fair entry book, I have now made plans to make some fiber projects.

If you have read any of my previous blog entries on the State Fair, you will know how much I love this annual event. And it all starts with the arrival of the 440 page (!) entry book. The deadline to enter anything in the fair is July 1st, and the fair itself is mid August. So for six weeks my creative energy is all directed toward projects to enter in the fair.

There is a requirement that the project was completed in the last two years, and not a previous winner of a ribbon. And ideally (laugh) the projects have all been completed this year, from Jan through July. I laugh because that is not how I work. Deadlines, I need deadlines! And before the deadline, inspiration. Fortunately for me, the fair entry book brings both.

So with creative juices all revved by categories like 'Best Collection of Jams, Preserves, Marmalades and Butters in Jars' I have made my selections for the year and mailed in my entry form for the culinary department, the fine arts and crafts department, and the textile department.

Want to play along? I will only challenge you to the spinning category, hopefully most of you reading this are spinners. I will post pictures of my skeins after the fair, and challenge you to do the same. No there will not be any judging! This is just a fun play along spinning challenge.

Here are the six categories for handspun yarn. All skeins unless otherwise stated, are to be two to five ounces submitted in two yard skeins.

1) Handspun designer yarn with swatch (includes dyed or hand painted). A skein of all handspun novelty yarn (any fiber). The accompanying swatch should be at least 6" by 6".

2) Handspun yarn for novice spinners (spinning 1 year or less) Yarn should be plied, any weight (2 oz for medium weight, 1 oz for fine) Yarn may be made from dyed or natural fiber. Yarn should be washed and put up in neatly wound skeins, tied in 3 places.

3) 100% wool plied handspun yarn, dyed or natural, medium or fine weight, 2 oz for medium weight, 1 oz for fine weight. Yarn should be washed and put up in neatly wound skeins, tied in three places.

4) Wool blend handspun yarn, (must be at least 50% wool). Dyed or natural, medium or fine weight, 2 oz skeins for medium weight, 1 oz skein for fine weight. Yarn should be washed and put up in neatly wound skeins, tied in three places.

5) Best handspun natural colored wool, not dyed, with sample of unspun fiber (lock or roving) also submitted.

6) Best handspun Merino, white or natural colored, not dyed with sample of unspun fiber (lock or roving) also submitted.

I will be entering in five of the categories, I no longer can qualify as a novice spinner :) Category 1 will be the biggest challenge for me, it is so broad to just say spin a 'designer yarn'. I have problems because I am such a consistent spinner, my yarn has no designer qualities to it. I tried over the past two years to make the design element from the type of fibers used (angora and silk one year, buffalo fiber the next) but that didn't impress the judge as designer yarn at all. So this year I need a different plan and a reading of Diane Varney's book "Spinning Designers Yarns" is where I will start. I notice there is no fine or medium weight limit in this category, which allows bulky yarns as long as they meet the overall 2-5 oz limitation.

The third and fourth categories can probably be pulled from something I have already spun this year, or can be easily done over a couple of spinning sessions. My basic type of spinning fit these categories nicely.

For the fifth category I have decided I want to use the Jacob fleece I purchased at Greencastle fiber fair this year. That means I need to get sorting and washing it!

And the last category, handspun merino, will become my much needed portable spinning project. I have a very fine merino roving that should spin into a lovely lace weight yarn on a drop spindle. Many months ago I finished drop spindling a hand combed top of rambo fiber and I had not decided what next to spin on a drop spindle. So merino it is, and hopefully a lovely two oz skein of lace weight will result.

Ahh, it is so nice to feel the creative juices flowing again.

Cindy