New Spindle Try-outs

I wanted to try out a new spindle. It a glass bottom whorl spindle that weighs 1.1oz. I grabbed a sample from my June Phat Fiber Box and seemed to find one that coordinates well with it's color!

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This is a 0.25 oz hand blended batt of South African wool, merino and angelina: "Sunshine on the Shore" from Moonlight and Laughter.

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My new spindle doesn't spin quite as long as I'd like, but I think it will work better for a thinner yarn. I was aiming for a worsted weight for this sample, but the singles turned out a little thinner than I'd hoped for a 2ply. So I navajo plied them and ended up with 7 yards of heavy worsted weight.

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Mykonos Dark!

This is the first sample from my June Phat box that I spun up. Yesterday's post has a photo of the beautiful top from it's a colorful life. This was spun from a space dyed merino/tencel top called "Mykonos Dark" that was so soft and beautiful.

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About 18 yds, DK from the 11g (0.4oz) sample.
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Northern Ontario is Phat!

My Phat Fiber Box arrived today. Such a beautiful collection of fluff! I'm so thrilled with all of it. The kids and I opened it together again.

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I'm thrilled with this milk fiber sample from eXtreme spinning. I've never spun milk fiber before and can't wait, although I may have to fight B, she who hates wool, for it as she thinks it just as soft as our cat Mia's undercoat.
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Yummy "Beach Glass' from Giffordables

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Moonlight & Laughter's beautiful sample
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Nikobee's yummy sample - M's favorite - he's hoping I'll let him spin this one. He's getting bored with brownish grey wool!

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A very smooshy soft batt from Corgi Hill Farm - love the sparkly firestar!
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Merino/Tencel from It's a Colorful Life - soooo soft.

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Beautiful muted colors from Polyartgirl Designs.

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Liberty fibers merino silk roving in wonderful soft blues and a pale pink sample of something sparkly. Does anyone know? Is this firestar?

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The beautiful Water Maiden bamboo roving from Moonwood Farm. I told B she could have a sample to spin if she'd like to, and I think she might be eyeing this one!

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This ceramic button is so pretty. I suggested it would be great for a single button cardi, but B is thinking of threading some silver chain through it and wearing it as a necklace.
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Ultra curly locks from Goat Goat Sheep
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Intense Yellow mohair locks from Wonders Mohair.

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Bunkybobo's Hotspur roving

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Silk Noil from 1,000 Petals

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Awesome batt from Bohoknitterchic

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Beautifly beads from Laura A Murphy

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A cute little facial cleansing cloth from Quite Nice

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A cute little tie-dye bag promoting the SLV Folk Arts and Fiber Festival. The beads and little cloth above, came in the baggie too.

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Cute little stitch marker from Miss Becca Designs

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And I got one of the darling fishy stitch markers from winemakerssister!

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I also received the Brisk Tank pattern from Kira K and the Secret Identity mask pattern from Stephanie Bryant. These links are Ravelry pattern links. If you don't have a Ravelry account yet, it's free, fun and you should get one now!
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And many generous coupons from many other Phatties! Should you wish to leave a link to your shop in the comments, I'd welcome it!
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I Won! I Won!

It seems that I never win anything - giveaways, raffles, any thing that is randomly drawn...

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But today I won a wonderful smooshy skein of sock yarn that I can't wait to see in person. Northern Lights Fiber Co. ran a give-away on her blog in honor of the 100th sale in her etsy shop.

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I'm off to dance around the kitchen now!

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Micah's Baby Blanket - Errata

M's new "Micah" is progressing. I've promised him I'd knit 10 rows a day and have been doing that for 2 days now. He wasn't too impressed with me casting on and then doing nothing! So now I've got a plan and a bit of momentum. If I continue at this pace, it should take me about 30 days total to finish.

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I've discovered that there are some problems with the pattern of Micah's Baby Blanket. If you've already finished knitting it, you'll still have a beautiful blanket, it just won't be the quite same as what I had intended.

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If you've purchased the pattern through Ravelry, you'll receive a notification when the corrected pattern is available for download (probably no later than Wednesday). If you've purchased it through my etsy shop, and haven't received an email from me by Wednesday, please contact me and I'll email the corrections to you. I'm sorry for any frustration or inconvenience the errors have caused.

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If you purchase the pattern after today, you will receive the correct pattern.

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Thank You - have some Butterscotch

It's that time of year again. School will be out for the summer on Thursday and the kids are eager to give tokens of appreciation. At Christmas, I was going to make butterscotch candy for gifts, but couldn't find the recipe I'd been using since I was teen.
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But it has been found - still on the same card I copied it onto in my teen printing!

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edited: I bring the candy to about 270 degrees farenheit. I find the hard ball stage is just a bit too soft, and the candy sticks in your teeth too much then. And the soft crack stage is just a bit too hard.

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I always love how the hot bubbly candy looks on the stove and just before you pour it. The molds are new break-apart molds for hard candy making. This is the first time I've used them and found them a bit fussier than just dumping the hot molten candy onto a buttered plate, but I'm pleased with the end result. Bashing a plateful of candy apart with the handle of a butter knife always leaves very uneven pieces and tiny shards of candy that are impossible to find and eat!

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Trying out a new spindle

I've been seeing many posts about Trindles* on Ravelry and the Yarn Harlot has test spun one recently. I was very intrigued and since I had left over dowel from making M's spindle and had recently purchased some pretty beads, I decided to try make a similar spindle.

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Here it is (next to M's new spindle and my Walnut/Cherry Kundert Spindle) It's very light (15g ~half an ounce) and spins fast!
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Here's what I'm spinning up on it - two ~2 oz batts from Jela's Fibers. It's merino/tencel with some red angelina for sparkle!

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*My apologies to Trindleman - I promise I have no intentions of making and selling or gifting these to anyone. Just for my personal use. If anyone asks - I'll direct them to you :)

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He made his own spindle!

After spinning his first bit of fluff, M felt he was ready for a spindle. So I promised him that the next time I was in town, I'd pick up a wooden wheel from Michael's and some dowel to make him his very own spindle. He was thrilled, but I guess he couldn't wait the week...

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This is his very own original creation. I was quite surprised when he came into the room and asked "Do you think I could spin on this, Mom?" I was amazed at his ingenuity and promptly gave him some greyish brown wool to try with. It appears to work very well.

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I have since made the promised spindle for him, but he prefers his K'nex spindle!

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zzzzzub, zzzzub, zzzub

My favorite movies have always been classic Disney films: Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Mary Poppins... Maybe that makes me a bit juvenille, but I think it just shows I'm still a kid at heart. Have any of you ever seen The Rescuers? And do you remember the darling little dragonfly, who serves as an outboard motor on the leaf boat Bernard and Bianca use to go rescue Penny?

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I'd like to introduce you to Evinrude.

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Evinrude patterns will be my submission to the July 09 "Non-wool" Phat Fiber Box and he was inspired by the hopes of all the silky, shiny non-wool fibers that mimic a dragonfly's natural iridescence.

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If you don't get a July box for yourself, Evinrude is also available through my Etsy shop (see the sidebar) or as a Ravelry download
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This link will redirect you to Paypal through Ravelry's shopping basket

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Free Pattern for Canada Day

In honor of Canada's birthday, I'll be offering my pattern, "I'm Canadian, eh!" as a free pattern on July 1st only. To obtain you free copy, buy a copy of any of my other patterns on Canada Day and I'll email your free pattern as well. My patterns are available in my etsy shop (see the sidebar), or as Ravelry downloads.

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See you on July 1st!
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Dyed by DaniDo Mittens

I loved the "Fireweed" bulky wool sample from Dyed by DaniDo and decided a little pair of mitts was perfect. Here they are all finished.

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There was 20 yards of the sample in my May Phat Fiber Box and each mitten used 9 yards for the colour bits. With the 2 left over yards, I made a mitten string to keep the pair from being separated. The gray was some miscellaneous worsted wool I had in my stash. I don't know how much I used. These should fit my 5 yr old niece!

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Something for M's Class

I was invited to M's Grade 1-3 class to give a spinning and knitting demo during the Social Studies unit his class is doing on pioneer's. I was quite excited to show the kids something they may have never seen before and hope I've managed to inspire some new knitters and spinners.

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These are the samples of fiber I bought with me: Merino, NZ halfbred, Merino/Alpaca blend, Corriedale, Shetland, and two samples from unknown sheep breeds that came in a big box when I bought my second-hand wheel. I wanted to show the kids that just like there are many breeds of dogs, there are also many breeds of sheep, each with wools that feel different.

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Some examples of handspun that came with me: natural Merino (one underspun, one overspun) Merino/Bamboo, Superwash Merino, BFL (starting the second column), Merino/Alpaca, Corriedale, Merino/Silk, Chien -gora, and some 3ply made from the unknown brown fleece.

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I gave each kid a small piece of top to twist between their fingers to make about a 6inch piece of yarn, just to get the idea of how twist strengthens the fibers. Some of them caught on quite quickly, but others just had fun with the fluff! This fluff is NZ Halfbred from Aurelia Wool & Weaving in Merrit, BC.

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Then I showed them how to card a small amount of wool. I used the Desired Haven's Shetland sample from my May Phat Box. Despite the bright Kool-ade colours (not so pioneerish - but I love them) I found this sample to be perfect for pioneer spinning. When I spun up some singles at home in preparation for my afternoon at school, I found it made a rustic looking handspun. I explained to the kids that the natural colour would have been white in this case and showed them all the bits of straw that a sheep would have picked up on its fleece while it went about its life. Then I carded a bit and explained that pioneers would have had to card or comb an entire sheep's worth and more to make the yarns and threads for their clothing. While spinning on my wheel, I showed them how I draft the fibers and how my wheel pulls the twisted fibers in.

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To help them understand plying, I split the kids into groups of three and gave them each a 2 yard piece of the singles from my wheel that I had spun at home from this batt. One kid held on to each end of the singles, while the third held the middle. Keeping it under tension, the middle kid let go of his end about 4 inches at a time and let it twist back on itself until the entire length was a nice little piece of 2-ply. Each kid took home a third of their 2-ply. I love the colors in the finished yarn.

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I finished off the demonstration with a bit of knitting show-and-tell. I showed the class a pair of mittens that I'm working on and a swatch with the Chimera singles from the Rock Garden roving in my May box.
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All in all it was a great afternoon. I had lots of fun and hope the kids were inspired.

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He loves fiber!

M has been asking me for some time to teach him to spin. When my May Phat Fiber box arrived, he claimed the little "Spring Rainbow" sample that came from Calizona Designs. He said I could keep the yummy lipbalm, though!

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I didn't think he'd be quite ready for the drop spindle yet, so I set him up with a stick that he rolled down his lap to add twist to his soft, brightly colored merino wool roving. Unfortunately he was quicker than I expected and once I'd finished cleaning up the kitchen and was ready to photograph that part of the process he was already done!

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But here he is plying with my drop spindle. I love the pictures of his little hands!

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And his finished yarn. He's so pround of all 16feet of it!

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Can I have more than one Favorite

This is the Chimera "Rock Garden" handpainted 0.5 oz merino top sample from the May Phat Box. My initial reactions to this braid were that I liked the colors, and thought it was soft, but it didn't grab my interest and make me excited to spin it immediately. But now? Ohh wow!

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Here's the pile of fluff. I split the braid into about 5 or 6 pieces of approximately equal length and thought I'd continue my attempts at making a thicker single - with the hope that I might be able to make one that could be used as a singles yarn.

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And then I spun. I ended up with singles ranging from 8 to 15 wpi. Quite a bit of variability, but it is getting easier. Then I gave the singles a little soak and some vigorous thwacking. I let them dry overnight and Wow!

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This is the finished yarn. 42yrds - looks about DK weight on average. I love this sooo much. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm bragging, but it reminds me of a skein of Manos silk/wool from my lys: just the colors, not quite the feel and it obviously doesn't have the sheen of the silk. But oh, my do I ever love this yarn - and I made it!

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Here's the sample knit up a bit. I'm bringing this sample with me to M's class next week to demonstrate knitting for the kids. I'll likely rip the swatch out and re-block the yarn to use in some special little project.

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knit IT UP from the May Phat Fiber Box

I'm quickly running out of samples to spin from my May Phat Fiber Box. I'll have to start knitting up the samples soon! I only have 4 more left and M has claimed one. This handpainted merino mini-batt from Knit it up! was probably the softest thing in my May box.

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Here is the soft nommy fluff. Go see what else knit IT UP has in store. She has some hand balm I know I want.
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About halfway spun up. See the little flashes of yellow on the batt?
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And the soft smooshy pink yarn. I love this and would definately want to spin some of this merino again.
10 grams, 32 yards, 17wpi 2ply (I'm nothing if not consistant - again a fingering weight yarn!)
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