PogKnits

Dyed Locks

2011-11-02T21:34:00.011-04:00

I'm prepping some raw Merino cross fleece for spinning. These locks are not as soft and smooshy as pure Merino, but they have considerable lustre! I'm working out a new colour work pattern for mittens and need several colors.

Into the dye pots (well mason jars, actually) to get two shades of pink, some green, orangey yellow and orange.

These are the same dark pink locks from the first photo, I've separated them and will flick the tips open before I spin them.

The green is actually from a Merino fleece - it's just a small sample. The bulk of the yarn for this particular project will be green and I love how this Merino fleece feels! I wasn't sure how best to obtain the precise green I wanted - hence the sampling.

Here's a few one yard 3ply samples that I spun from various blends of dyed fleece and undyed fleece. My fav is the one second from the left.

I'll also need light brown (sampled above), black and white. The black will be from some Shetland fleece I've recently washed and the white from some Merino lamb leftover from this dyeing project with B.

Incidently, all this fun is for Episode 3 of Project Spinway...

An Oddly Shaped piece of knitting

2011-11-01T15:41:00.005-04:00

My fuzzy lamb was in need of a little cardigan before he goes off to live with a neice or nephew. After scouring Ravelry for a freebie, I made this:

Odd, no?

But with a bit of seaming magic, we have this:

It's the Mini Corolle Coat found on Ravelry. I used some leftovers from this mitten project for the little cardi.

Looks good on the wee lamb!

Phat Laceweight

2011-10-24T09:18:00.003-04:00

I spun like a mad woman for the later part of this week. And had an all day plying marathon on Saturday, but my Phat Laceweight is finished (and I made the check-in for Project Spinway)

The finished yarn is soft, colourful, luxurious, green, jewel toned. The shine from the milk, silk and bamboo takes my breath away. The sparkle makes me smile. The yarn is wildly varied and yet a cohesive whole at the same time. It has turned out just as I’d hoped, but is even more beautiful than I could have wished for.

This is one Honkin’ skein of Phat laceweight!
930 yards, 24 wpi, 6.4 oz

I enjoyed this challenge immensely, despite being pressed for time. I used about two thirds of each Phat Fiber Sample from my check-in picture and about 7/8th of the eXtreme Spinning batt. I intend to spin up the rest of the Phat Samples and the last bit of the eXtreme Spinning batt. I expect to get another 130yds.

I did say I love this yarn, didn't I?

Lace Weight without Effort

2011-10-19T08:45:00.004-04:00

Have I said how much I love my new Thumbelina?! I can spin laceweight on it without any difficulty. It's so much fun.

After sampling a few days ago, I decided to make laceweight yarn with these fibers.

Here's what I have so far.

That's half the eXtreme Spinning batts and about 1/3 of the Phat samples. I need to have my spinning finished for Project Spinway on Saturday, so hopefully I can carve a little more spinning time out of the week. Plying will be for Saturday. I expect it will take a considerable amount of time to ply 50wpi singles!

Fuzzy Lamb

2011-10-17T14:00:00.003-04:00

My Fuzzy Mitten Lamb is finished.

I didn't sew the limbs on the way the pattern suggested. I think the photo included with the pattern has sewn them on differently too. I used a mattress stitch to put everything together. (This is a great tutorial for seaming toys)

B suggested he needed a little lamby tail too. I think he might need a little cardigan too. Then he'll be a coated Corriedale! I can't wait until I spin up some white fleece I got this summer. Hopefully it will be enough for another Fuzzy Mitten Lamb.

Lamb Parts

2011-10-14T08:49:00.002-04:00

The Fuzzy Mitten Lamb has been the perfect project for the last few days. It takes up very little space and I can work on an arm or a leg while waiting in the van for the kids. I've got most of the parts completed.

Just one more ear, and then I'll sew him up. I'm very pleased with the face. I used plastic safety eyes from 6060 on Etsy and some Knitpicks Palette in "Blush" for the face embroidery.

Fun, Cute and Quick! I think I'll be making more of these.

Lamby Legs

2011-10-13T07:53:00.002-04:00

I've just found the cutest lamb pattern ever. Barbara Prime's Fuzzy Mitten Lamb. I love his lamby little face. The pattern is written for knitting flat, but as I'm not a fan of seaming, I'm knitting it in the round.

Look at the little lamby legs! Aren't they just the cutest?

More lamby parts to come!

I'm using some corrie handspun and some of my first handcarded handspun!

Sampling for some spinning

2011-10-11T15:14:00.006-04:00

I've got a few things I want to spin together. Two smoothly blended batts from eXtreme Spinning and severl Phat Fiber Samples. Several of my samples are from Phat Fiber artists who also contributed to the Celery Spindies Paintbox. (Sadly Spindies has put their Paintboxes on hold for the time being).
These are the samples yarns I've come up with: laceweight, worsted weight, bulky weight and dk weight.

I think it's pretty cool that 4 completely different yarns can be made from the same fibers. Which one do you like best?

I love blocking lace

2011-10-10T12:23:00.004-04:00

There is magic that happens when you take a lump of knitting, soak it, gently squeeze the excess water from it and pin it to your blocking board.

I always find it breath taking!

Pre blocking: 17.5" x 27"
While blocking: 27" x 58"

I expect it will pull in some once it is freed from its pins.

Brandywine again...

2011-10-07T08:48:00.004-04:00

I've decided to knit a shawl for a friend who needs a bit of a pick-me-up. She had commented a few times on my Peacock Brandywine shawl so I knew I wanted to knit a triangular shawl. I wanted to use a skein of handspun, but I didn't want any lace patterning to be lost in the color changes of the yarn.

After browsing Ravelry for hours, and favoriting more than several shawls, I decided to knit Brandywine again. I love it and I love how the garter stitch portion shows off handspun yarn so beautifully.

I was working the Ontario provincial election yesterday from 8am to 9pm and managed to squeeze in several rows throughout the day. I finished Chart A.

Should be able to find lots of knitting time over the weekend. I hope to block it by Sunday night!

Oops, I almost forgot

2011-09-29T09:52:00.002-04:00

The final check-in for Project Spinway was due September 26th. And I did check in, I just forgot to post my presentation here.

For this check-in we were to present our finished yarns and a real-life (not celeb or supermodel) that embodies the spirit of our fantasy project.

So...
Here's my final presentation.

Handspun Anyone?

2011-09-26T18:05:00.006-04:00

I've decided I need a new fiber toy. I want a drum carder. I believe I've mentioned before that my hubby and I have a deal. Any funds that come in through the sale of my patterns can be used for yarn, fiber, tools, etc. That doesn't mean no fiber fun enters the house unless I buy it with profits. After all, I do get gifts, too! But Christmas is too far away and I want a drum carder NOW!

So, since I can't possibly knit everything I've spun before I die, I'm having a handspun destash. Go here, to my Ravelry stash page. Every yarn with "$$" preceding its name is up for grabs. Email me, or PM me on Rav if you see anything you can't live without.

Goji Pop Coffee Cake

2011-09-18T17:15:00.006-04:00

We have a new DavidsTea in the mall. B and I love tea. We love coffee too, but tea is more fun! So far we've spent far too much in loose tea at DavidsTea. Recently we tried some Goji Pop herbal tea. It was so yummy. When I looked at the ingredients (and the left over bits from steeping) it seemed to me that it's mostly dried fruit and it looked quite tasty. I was thinking that a Goji Pop coffee cake would be awesome.

Since we didn't want to waste (in case it turned out to be really untasty), B and I decided on a half sized cake. I followed this recipe (halved, obviosly). In place of the raspberries, I used 1/4 cup Goji Pop tea, reconstited in 1/4 cup water. And I left out the cinnamon and ginger. I could have used a wee bit less water, as the extra liquid ran right out of my mini springform pan - taking amazing flavour with it.

It smells amazing and the taste...

Wow!

I think we're on to something here.

Project Spinway - Second Check-in

2011-09-15T14:05:00.005-04:00

Today is the deadline for our progress check-in for Project Spinway. We were asked to present an outfit to go with our initial presentation and to post some progress.

Here's my presentation.

If the fine print is too fine, go to my stash page on Ravelry and you'll be able to zoom in.

Blending... Blending... Blending...

2011-09-12T09:23:00.001-04:00

I'm finding this a bit monotonous. I carded all the Romney. I carded all the Bruno. I carded 12 little baggies.

The baggies were the worst. So as not to overload my hand cards, I split the contents of each baggie into 4 roughly equal parts. Card, card, card, card. Then I stacked each of those parts on top of one another and split it into 4 again. Card, card, card, card. If it didn't look quite homogeneous, I did it a 3rd time. Card, card, card, card. Now in case this is looking extremely bleak, please note that the baggies containing 100% Bruno, didn't need to be blended as it's all the same lovely black. The baggies containing 100% Romney did need to be blended as some of the locks were darker and for the gradual color changes, I didn't want it to start light, get darker, go light again before spinning the next baggie. So I guess that's only 10 baggies... card, card, card, card.

So here is one of the two batches of blended fibers.

Despite the monotony, the blister on my finger and the sore muscles (did you know carding uses muscles I don't use for very many other things) I think this pic of the gradually color changing fiber makes it worthwile. I'm excited to spin...

Ready to Blend

2011-09-11T14:11:00.004-04:00

I've finished carding the Bruno fur. Next comes the blending to achieve a graduated yarn that will slowly transition from the Romney to Bruno.

Although the final product for the competition is the spun yarn, we were assigned to choose a "fantasy project" that our spun yarn could ultimately be used for. We didn't necessarily have to have enough fiber to complete the fantasy project. If I were really going to make the Faux Astrakhan Cuffed Caplet and Long Gloves from my presentation, I would need 3 skeins of graduated yarn: 1 large enough to knit the caplet and 2 long enough to knit one glove each. I don't have enough fiber to make a caplet and gloves - but, since I would really love to have gloves (well in my case, mittens) with this graduated yarn, I'm making two skeins of graduated yarn, each 60 grams, or a little over 2oz.

So a little blending math...
Since I like easy math, I decided to make 6 fluff piles of 10g each, rather than the 5 fluff piles from my sample. This requires the fluff to be 100% Romney, then 80% Romney/20% Bruno, 60/40, 40/60, 20/80, and finally 100% Bruno. Can you see how easy this math will be with each fluff pile weighing 10grams?

Here are the six little baggies ready to hit the hand cards for a blending session. There are two sets of these, but I only took a pic of one. Hope to be able to spin tomorrow.

This Always Amazes Me

2011-09-10T07:56:00.005-04:00

I've finished carding the Romney for Project Spinway. After the sampling I've now got 80g of carded Romney. It always amazes me that what started out as a greasy, sheepy, smelly lump of fleece becomes these lovely fluffy clouds of spinning fiber that overflow a basket. To give you an idea of scale the raw fleece was a lump about 8 x 8 x 3 inches. Now it overflows the basket that measures 9 x 13 x 6 inches. It is at the very least 4 times its original volume.

raw Romney

Washed and Carded Romney

Off to card the Newfoundland Dog fur...

Project Spinway - Stash Down with a Purpose

2011-09-06T10:02:00.001-04:00

Our presentations for Project Spinway are due tomorrow. But I knew that this week could be busy with school starting today for M and tomorrow for B. So I submitted my presentation early.

This is exactly what I posted over in Natchwoolie's Ravelry group.

If you're having a tough time seeing the fine print, go here to my stash page and click on the individual pics.

Supercoil Chiengora

2011-09-05T14:55:00.003-04:00

Weekends don't usually afford me much time to spin. But this being a holiday Monday, I carved out a wee bit of time to try making supercoil yarn with nothing but the 2 fibers from Project Spinway's Challenge 1. That's one of the stipulations for the competition - that we use no other materials than the two items chosen blindly from our stash.

I started with a 2ply yarn blended from an equal mix of the Romney and "Bruno" that I posted on Sunday (it's the last sample). Then I carded up a handful of "Bruno" and spun a thick and thin, lumpy, bumpy single. Following various hints on youtube I produced this:

Bruno Supercoil Yarn!

I think it's quite exciting.

A Few Samples

2011-09-04T09:11:00.000-04:00

I spent some time spinning little samples for Project Spinway.

First up: fingering weight yarn with one ply Romney and one ply "Bruno" I was surprised how this sample knitted up. I'm not usually a fan of how yarns that have one dark and one light ply knit up, but this one knitted up to be something I don't not like.

Second: light fingering weight 2ply in a 50/50 Romney/"Bruno" blend. I love this yarn and the sample. It has lovely drape and a wonderful halo from the chiengora.

Third: heavy fingering weight yarn 3ply in a 50/50 Romney/"Bruno" blend. Again a wonderful halo to the knitted swatch. I think I would use larger needles, but I had only brought one set with me to swatch my mini-skeins.

Fourth: heavy fingering weight, maybe closer to sport weight, 3 ply. I n-plyed this yarn to maintain the graduation from Romney to "Bruno". To make this yarn I carded up five little fluff piles ranging from all Romney, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75 to all "Bruno". Knit up on 2.75mm needles, this is my favorite sample of all of them. Since I was only sampling, I eyeballed the ratios. If I decide to make a full-sized skein like this, I would use my scale for greater accuracy and repeatability.

And lastly: a high twist 2ply in a 50/50 Romney/"Bruno" blend, suitable (maybe?) as a core for supercoils or as the warp on my rigid heddle. The supercoil attempt will happen within the next few days...

Bigger and with More Gray

2011-09-03T11:44:00.004-04:00

I've washed my raw Romney for Project Spinway. As usual it seems like I have way more fiber now that it's been washed. And it's not nearly as brown as I had thought it would be - lots more gray - and lighter in color too that the raw fiber.

I washed it twice in a sink full of very hot water and a squirt of dish detergent. Both times the water was very brown - the first time like very very strong black coffee - but not nearly as appealling to the sense of smell. Then I rinsed several times in warm water until the water was clear.

It's been so humid here that it was taking forever to dry so I popped it in my convection oven at it's very lowest setting (about 150 degrees F) for a few hours. It's still the wee-est bit damp.

I've been carding bits of the Romney and Bruno and making litte sample skeins to determine what I want to do for this "Stash-down With a Purpose" Challenge.

Sample skeins and knitted swatch pics in a few days!!!

Project Spinway - Challenge 1

2011-09-01T09:02:00.002-04:00

If you're familiar with Project Runway, you might understand the Spin-a-long I'm part of better than me. I've watched part of one episode.

Over in Natchwoolie's Ravelry Group, she's running a Project Spinway competition. Should be loads of fun and a good way to spin up some stash.

Challenge 1 is Surprise Stash Down with a Purpose. Go here for more details.

(I have no idea why this pic is rotated)

I was going to wait for my kids to wake up so they could do a blind grab from my stash for me, but I wanted to start right away. After setting aside a few special bags of fluff that are earmarked for other things, I numbered all my bags that had about 4oz in them and used a random number generator to pick two.

And here are the two bags that correspond to the randomly generated numbers.

A 4oz bag of raw Romney (Multi Romney Darks)from Natchwoolie's Sushi Club and approximately 4oz of Newfoundland Dog fur from Bruno.

Should be exciting! Even though I don't know yet what I'm going to do with these two.

Back to School Craziness

2011-08-31T13:08:00.003-04:00

I've been busy getting B and M ready for going back to school.

Meetings with guidance counselors, meeting with new principal about parent council, prepping portfolios of B's work...

Since I homeschooled B last year, it's taken a little bit more effort than if she'd moved from the elementary school to the high school. She wanted to challenge herself and do two years in one. She was amazing. She worked so hard and accompished so much that we'd like her to get credit for all her hard work. It's meant a number of meetings with the guidance counsellor to ensure they have the information they need and we have the assistance we need. It's looking like it will be quite an easy transition.

All the busyness makes for less knitting time - but I'm up to 31 hexipuffs! Hexipuff production is slowing down some, as I'm out of small skeins of fingering weight wool and have had to start spinning up Phat Fiber samples in order to knit more. I'm averaging about 2 puff out of each sample.

I Broke my Tea Pot today...

2011-08-26T15:23:00.003-04:00

...and made more hexipuffs. But I didn't want to put that in the post title, in case hexipuffs are becoming boring for anyone but me.

I was packing a lunch for B this morning. As I reached for the granola bars, a bottle of Frank's Red Hot Sauce fell out of the cupboard and fell onto my full teapot, shattering the teapot, and spilling tea everywhere. Words were said that shouldn't have been, but at least it wasn't as bad as what B heard when the basement was flooding. If you've seen the commercials for Frank's, you might find it funny that my son's comment was "You really do put that beep on everything - but maybe next time, not the teapot"

I had to go sit and knit a hexipuff to recover from losing another teapot. If you are a teapot and live in this house, your days are numbered. Apparently I'm a bit hard on them.

Hexipuffs 1 through 13
They were outgrowing the flower vase and are now in this lovely container.

Back to School Shopping

2011-08-25T16:13:00.003-04:00

Not too much knitting. I took M back to school shopping. We bought notebooks, erasers, socks, jeans, shirts, runners, a backpack and a brand name sweatshirt he may decide to sleep with tonight.

There might be a few more hexipuffs though...

A Hexipuff a Day, Keeps Insanity at Bay

2011-08-24T09:37:00.005-04:00

Have you seen this!!!!

You have to check out Tiny Owl's video too. She's very excited about hexipuffs! I think it may be contagious.

I just found out about it on Pink Lemon Twist's blog last night around 10pm and now I have three hexipuffs!

I haven't got full out hexipuffitis yet though, as I'm not planning to attempt a quilt; only a rocking chair cushion.

I found a rocking chair that is the perfect height for me at a recent garage sale, but it needs some padding to make it more comfortable. I was considering weaving something to make a cushion out of, but then the hexipuffs found me.

I'm using various samples of yarn and fluff from my Phat Fiber boxes. I'm sticking to laceweight (held double) and fingering weight. Some of my handspun is too thin for sock weight and too thick doubled so I've needed to tweak the pattern by casting on fewer or more stitches to get hexipuffs that are all the same size.

The scarf pictured with my new-to-me chair was made with another garage sale find: a $0.50 ball of Mohair Glitter, which strangely enough, contains no mohair. I wove it on my 24inch Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom.

Maeva socks

2011-08-23T13:23:00.002-04:00

Since Friday, I've gotten the rest of the foot, the heel, the heel flap and a few round of the leg knit up on my Maeva sock.

I've broken the yarn and started at the toe of the second sock. The pattern calls for 400 yds of yarn, and I only have 360 yds. In the interests of having two socks the same length, I decided now was a good time to start the second sock. Once I bring this one to the same point as the first, I'll divide the remaining yarn in half and knit the leg as far as I can go. Hopefully far enough, as short woolen socks don't make very much sense to me.

I'm loving the way this pattern looks.

I found the heel flap instructions rather lacking. From looking at the photos I assumed that the heel flap is joined to the foot as it's knit. However, other than an ssk at the end of knit rows and a p2tog at the end of purl rows there is no indication that this is actually what you are doing. To make it work for me, I put half my heel flap sts on two different needles and included 16 instep sts with them. As I came to the end of a heel flap row, I ssk'd one of the heel flap sts with one of the instep sts, then turned my work and followed the chart to the end of the purl row where I p2tog'd a heel flap st and an instep st. This seems to have given me the same result as the patterns photos.

It could just be me. This is the first time I've made a sock with this type of construction. I know there are a lot out there, but I've never really looked at them. It could be that this process is widely known. Fortunately I was still able to make the sock work and it fits beautifully so far.

Aye Laddie, it's a Wee Cake

2011-08-21T08:58:00.004-04:00

This weekend was G's birthday. B wanted to make a cake that included one of his hobbies. He's a member of the local pipes and drums band.

Last year she found the idea for a hockey jersey cake. And piped the logo all by herself.

(Once word got out about the awesomeness of the hockey jersey cakes, I ended up making a Canadiens cake for M and and Oilers cake for a friend's hubby!)

While it may be hard to top this cake, I think her ideas this year are quite impressive.

Spice Cake from a box. Italian Meringue Buttercream from here (without the strawberry puree). Drones, chanter and blowpipe courtesy of Oreo! Tassels: shoestring licorice!!

A Bit Oblivious

2011-08-19T08:08:00.005-04:00

Apparently I've been out of the loop. Did you know Knitty put up two new issues before I'd even noticed?

Now that I'm up to date, I've got Maeva on the needles.

Loving the little cables and it goes quite quickly if you work the cables without a cable needle.

I had a short set back yesterday evening. I volunteer with the local figure skating club and last night was our registration night. None of us thought to bring thumbtacks to put our banner up. One of the girls said, "even if we had some toothpicks we could do this!" I sacrificed my bamboo dpns that I'm using for Maeva for the job - ripped them right out of my sock in progress. Once I was home again I picked up all my sts, only a few had dropped below the row I was working on and my bamboo dpns were no worse for wear! Just call me MacGyver!

Zahara - errata

2011-08-18T20:29:00.003-04:00

It has come to my attention that there was an error in my original pattern.

In the section marked "Body" it read:

Round 8: (k2, kfb) around [36 sts]
Rounds 9–19: knit
Begin hump shaping
Round 18: m1, k9, m1, k to end of round
Round 19: k1, m1, k3, m1, k3, m1, k3, m1, k to end of round

this should have read:

Round 8: (k2, kfb) around [36 sts]
Rounds 9–19: knit
Begin hump shaping
Round 20: m1, k9, m1, k to end of round
Round 21: k1, m1, k3, m1, k3, m1, k3, m1, k to end of round

I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. I've emailed out update notifications to those who purchased the pattern through Ravelry. If you have purchased the pattern through my Etsy store and would like the updated pattern please email me.

Wildfire and Calm

2011-08-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

When I posted about my new Thumbelina, I mentioned 8oz of yarn that spun up almost without effort.

The first was 4 oz of Corriedale roving in a lovely calm beige. The second was an amazing batt from Orange Jello called "Wildfire"

These were both spun fine on the Thumbelina and n-plyed on my Ashford Traddy.

The Corriedale is about a DK weight yarn, while the Wildfire is a fingering weight. Both need a little bath to set the twist, and then I'll measure yardage.

New Spindle Candy

2011-08-16T11:26:00.003-04:00

I've been coveting the Jenkins Turkish Spindles for some time. And I finally caved in. Usually it takes a few weeks on their waiting list before they are able to fill your order, but I got lucky. After returning from Sock Summit, the Jenkins' had a Burmese Blackwood Lark that hadn't sold...

... and now it lives on my coffee table!

Calvin needs to learn that despite its petit size, it is not a cat toy with a fuzzy wuzzy tail.

This darling little spindle arrived in my mailbox yesterday, only 12 days after I ordered. Pretty impressive for cross border shopping. It came with two little samples: one of Targhee roving and the other a merino/bamboo blend. So handy, as I had to wait a few minutes for one of my kids and was able to spin in the van after I tore open the package!

It's so cute, I almost feel like it needs a name. I think it's a boy... any suggestions?

Thumbelina

2011-08-15T08:02:00.006-04:00

Do you ever browse Kijiji (or whatever is local for you). You know, just looking, just to see if there are any looms or spinning wheels or drum carders... Of course, you have no plans to buy - especially when the dh pops his head into the computer room and asks. "Whatcha looking at?"

Local things for me rarely pop up - so sometimes I broaden my search to include all of Ontario, because I'm "just looking". A few weeks ago, just before my family converged on my small town for a fun-filled reunion, I was "browsing". Now I realized this time that this could be dangerous, since there were three parties of family members driving in from 3 different parts of Ontario. This meant, 3 potential delivery options...

And I found something!!! A circa 1975 Thumbelina from New Zealand*.

The seller was offering the wheel and 2 bobbins for $35. I almost burned the keys off my keyboard I typed the email in so fast. It just so happened that my brother was overnighting in a hotel very near the sellers home, so she offered to bring the wheel to the hotel (always wise to meet in a public place). And now I've got the cutest little wheel sitting in my living room.

She spins like a dream. It doesn't appear to me that the wheel ever saw much use. There are very few marks of any sort of wear, a few minor bumps and dings that you'd expect on any piece of furniture. I took it apart, oiled it, put it back together and promptly spun about 8oz. I hope my Ashford Traditional doesn't hear this, but I think I like the Thumbelina better! I don't need to treadle with nearly as much effort.

My Traddy never feels effortless, and although I've made lots of yarn on her, it seems that there is a lot more resistance on her foot pedal, despite regular maintenance. Now the Thumbelina is no longer made, so I knew that getting additional bobbins would be tricky at best. But... my dad has a lathe, and has already shipped me some reproductions. I've got 2 originals and 3 reproductions that work very well. Should be able to make lots more yarn!

So the moral of the story? Don't go looking if you don't want your living room to start filling up with fiber making furniture!

*Check out this thorough resource on identifying New Zealand wheels.

Canon Powershot Sock

2011-08-12T21:12:00.007-04:00

B has just purchased a new Canon Powershot Elph 100 HS. It is orange. She loves it. Of course, as the daughter of a knitter, she immediately thought that a knitted case made more sense than buying a case. That, and she spent almost all her money on the camera...

...with my permission, she went stash diving and came up with this:

and this:

Using Judy's Magic Toe-up Cast on I cast on 40 sts using the orange yarn and my 2.0mm bamboo DPNs.

Using a third DPN, I knit 4 rows of orange. Then I picked up 3 sts on one side of the little 4 row by 20 st rectangle, knit 10 sts. Grabbed a fourth DPN, knit 10 sts, picked up 3 more sts on the other side of the little rectangle and knit in the round. I knit 6 rounds of orange and 3 rounds of green until the sock fit Mr. Powershot nicely.

I cast off 22 sts (being careful to make sure the remaining sts were in a location that made sense for a flap). I knit 15 more rows in stst, slipping the first st of each row. (In hindsight, I shouldn't have slipped these sts, nor the ones in the next section, as it made applied I-cord more difficult to work.) Then I decreased one st at the beginning of each row until it came to a point.

Using the green yarn, I worked a 3 st applied I-cord edging, included a little loop for the button.

All in all, B was thrilled with the result.

Pinkuin Pendants

2011-08-11T20:27:00.003-04:00

My daughter just opened an Etsy shop where she sells polymer clay pendants. It's quite exciting to me that she's interested in something crafty.

Go check it out at Pinkuin!

Or look at the sidebar for her current offerings!!!

Am I crazy?

2011-06-11T09:05:00.003-04:00

My family thinks I'm crazy but this week I've turned this:

into this:

This is the softest, fluffiest stuff.

I'm averaging 3 yards of 3 ply fingering weight per day. Calvin is beginning to run when he sees the brush coming, so I'll have to let him be for a bit.

He needed brushing so badly as fur was flying everytime we had a snuggle session. Being a spinner and all, it was a very easy leap from soft fluffy cloud of kitten fur to my spindle!

A New Sweater

2011-04-04T09:37:00.004-04:00

I've been knitting along on an Inaugural Sweater for B. She chose the yarn several weeks ago. She hates wool, and she's not much one for handwashing and drying anyways, so we opted for an acrylic yarn. I don't typically like using acrylic, but hopefully this will work out okay.

this is the pic from the pattern

We have a few places to choose yarn: 1/2 an isle at Walmart, ditto at Zellers, a local yarn shop and Michaels. Since color is always a deciding factor for her, we decided that Michaels would be our stop since they have a few different worsted weight acrylics all in a row. B narrowed it down to Vanna's Choice, Loops and Threads Impeccable and Patons Decor. Despite some iffy reviews on Ravelry of Michaels store brand Loops and Threads yarn, we decided to go with it anyways as it felt soft, looked evenly spun and of ultimate importance: had the right color!

I've knit about 6 inches of this top down raglan sweater and the yarn is behaving well so far. I haven't noticed any pilling and none of the dreaded squeaking that often accompanies acrylic yarns. The Inaugural Sweater pattern is available as a Rav download for $5.50 and easy to follow so far. The designer recommends Malagbrigo worsted on a 3.5mm - 4mm needle, but I didn't have a 3.5 mm circular so I'm using a 3.25 mm circular and am getting gauge. I typically knit very loose, so I wasn't worried. I usually knit with 3.25 mm needles and worsted weight yarn when I design toys, so I wasn't expecting this would feel weird.

Feels good to have some needles in my hands again! Expect a number of progress shots of an amorphous blue blob over the next few weeks!

Fun with Polymer Clay

2011-04-03T15:39:00.004-04:00

I have been knitting this week, but after having been sick, and having had sick kids, I had so much laundry and housekeeping to catch up on, I didn't have time to draft a post. Tomorrow I will show the knitting, I promise...

B and I have been busy looking for necklaces for some upcoming events that she needs to dress up for, but haven't found anything she likes. We spent hours browsing on Etsy and found many lovely things, but didn't think they ship in time.

Off to our stash of Sculpey! We made some very cool pendants that she is very excited to wear! We sanded them smooth with 150 grit then 600 grit sandpaper and finished them with a high gloss acrylic glaze.

Such Fun!

Two Words

2011-03-26T18:16:00.001-04:00

Strep Throat

First B, then me.
Hope to be healthy by Monday

The last of the Slippers (for a while)

2011-03-16T11:09:00.000-04:00

As much as I am enjoying the mindlessness and quickness of these slippers, I am done for a bit. My MIL's slippers turned out just as well as the other pairs.

All 5 pairs followed similar modifications as the initial pair. For smaller feet, cast on fewer sts for the cuff, knit fewer rows for the tongue.

An interesting little tidbit I discovered while knitting these was how the yarn behaves when unwinding from the ball. Bear with me while I lay out the background info...

For my slippers I used centre pull balls that I made on my KnitPicks ball winder. I pulled from the inside and outside of the same ball, even though the pattern recommended against that. The pattern suggests winding the two yarns into a single ball before beginning knitting to make yarn management easier. For both B and M's slippers, I again flouted the advice and decided to knit from both both balls. I considered winding into one ball, but not wanting to wind the balls by hand, and knowing that my ball winder wouldn't be able to handle winding 8oz of worsted weight into one ball, I didn't. For the second slipper for each, though, I thought I'd try it, since the yarns were twisting and I had to stop every so often to untwist things. Other than providing the cats with half the opportunity to bat yarn balls around while I slept, this method did not seem to help with the twistiness. I still had to stop and untwist the yarn.

So here's the tidbit. Use it if you can: When working from both ends of the yarn, it miraculously did not become tangled! I decided to do the same for G's slippers and happily knit along with no tangles. This is why Grandma's slippers are only one color too: makes my life easier!

I'm not certain this would work with a store wound ball. They don't sit nice and flat when unwinding from the outside, but with those wound on a ball winder, it's magic!

Rrrrrolll Up the Savings

2011-03-14T19:24:00.008-04:00

Tim Horton's is running it's annual "Roll Up the Rim to Win" promotion. It kills me. Every time we go out the kids want to hit the drive-through.

"But we can't make French Vanillas at home"
"Their hot chocolate tastes better than yours"
"I might win a car (or a tv or a bike)"

and my all time fave...

"pleeeaaasssse?"

Being the frugal mom that I am, I set out in search of a recipe to quell Reason #2. I was surprised how many recipes were out there. Armed with a well stocked pantry and a basic ingredient list, I only needed to buy vanilla flavoured coffee whitener.

After a few iterations of the chosen recipe, including the addition of some powdered milk, we hit upon paydirt.

French Vanilla Powdered Mix
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered milk
1/3 cup vanilla flavoured coffee whitener
2 tbsp instant coffee

Whiz in your blender until it all looks mixed up well. I used 3 tbsp of the mix in a mug of boiling water. Depending on your mug size and your tastebuds, you may need more or less.

B says it's perfect - and at $0.18 per mug, I save a whopping $1.40 each time!

A Very Wonderful Thing

2011-03-13T14:49:00.005-04:00

Something really quite wonderful occurred during my unscheduled four month break from blogging. I got a new furry baby!

Ever since my dear Thomas died, I'd been bugging G to let me have another kitten. He continued to insist that two cats is two cats too many. At Christmas, when the kids put together their wishlists, I made one too: with only one thing on it - an orange kitten.

Poor G really didn't have a choice. The little dude was the last of a litter of five born at a nearby farm. G drove me out in a snowstorm to meet him and decide if I wanted to take him home.

Of course, it was love at first sight. Calvin came home with us November 19th.

He is the sweetest little cat. He loves cuddling, especially tummy rubs and he makes the cutest trilling noises. He is as mischievious as any kitten can be and is such fun. Tiger and Mia have accepted him. Calvin loves our big lab/husky/shepherd cross too - although Tamika is a bit shy of him. Every time she sniffs him, he starts purring and rubbing up against her.

Helping B with her homeschooling

Climbing the Christmas Tree

On a bit of a Slipper Jag

2011-03-12T10:44:00.006-05:00

I've been working hard on my energy saving plan. I finished my slippers first. Is it selfish that I made some for me first?

My son, who thinks wool is wondrous stuff, begged for a pair too. I decided to knit his pair next, even though B, who hates wool, was working on breaking in my slippers for me. His slippers are one strand of the miscellaneous NZ brown yarn and one strand of Briggs and Little Heritage in "Evergreen". He loves them. Even wears them in bed. Wears them without socks, with socks, to school for pajama day. They've needed washing already. Maybe I didn't need to knit them a size bigger to allow for growth. He may wear them out before he fully grows into them.

B wanted a pair with purple, but didn't like any of the purple in the house. Which wasn't really a problem, since it was M's wool anyways and I try not to steal from his stash. That necessitated a trip into town to go to the yarn shop. (Such a hardship!) I picked up some Purple Paton's Classic Wool to pair with the NZ brown handspun. She loves them. The brown and purple go very well together. She "parks" them on the piano bench when not in use, because I refused to let her put them on the tables.

While getting yarn for B, I also picked up two more skeins of Heritage in "Dark Grey" for G's slippers. He was somewhat surprised that I needed to buy yarn to make his slippers. "Really?! You don't have anything here that you could knit them out of?" I suppose, given the size of my stash, that is somewhat surprising to a non-knitter. So far he only has one slipper, but has pronounced it "very warm" and thinks I should make another pair for his Mom who will be visiting us in a few months.

I may need to visit the yarn store again!

Energy Savings Tip

2011-03-07T11:16:00.006-05:00

I finished my Nola's Slipper's yesterday and they are very toasty indeed!

I used some handspun worsted weight held double. This was my one of my first wheel spun yarns and was definitely the first I hand carded. When I bought my wheel (I believe 3rd or 4th hand) the woman I bought from included some Ashford handcards and several pounds of brown fleece that she had washed, but not processed in anyway. I have no idea what kind of sheep it was from, except that the box it came in was marked "NZ fleece". Even though the approximately 800 yds of miscellaneous brown yarn was not amazing or even amazingly spun, I have a soft spot in my heart for it. I learned so much from that plain, seemingly boring, brown fleece. It was appropriate to make something out of it for someone who would appreciate not just the end product, but also what went into it. So I made slippers for me!!!

I've discovered that when I wear them, I have to lower the thermostat by 2 degrees Celsius! I've decided everyone in the family needs a pair - my part to reduce global warming. Even G wants a pair. He specified gray - I don't think he's ever asked for me to knit something for him!

I think I'll knit a purple pair first, though. My pair keeps walking away...

Peacock Baby Booties

2011-03-06T08:35:00.001-05:00

Do you remeber this? I had about 120 yards of laceweight left when I cast off. I decided that I was more likely to find a use for a slightly heavier weight yarn, so I added more plying twist to the two ply laceweight and made 60yds heavy fingering weight cabled yarn.

Recently Knitting Iris showed us her Not Nola Slippers. I thought they'd be perfect for a pair of toe warmers for myself.

Halfway through, I realized this pattern would also be perfect for baby booties.

A friend is having a baby next week and I guessed that my 60 yards of remaining peacock yarn would be perfect. I used 2.0mm dpns with the heavy fingering weight yarn and modified the pattern slightly (mods here). I ended up with 15 inches left!

Aren't these just about the cutest things ever? Perfectly sized for a newborn, I expect they'll fit for only the first few weeks!

Oh, and thanks for waiting around... I think I'll be back regularly again

Spindies Paint Box

2010-10-29T17:14:00.002-04:00

I was recently asked to write up a guest blog post about my experience with my Wisteria Paint Box from Spindies.

Check it out over on the Spindies Blog.

Domo kun Mittens

2010-10-15T17:03:00.003-04:00

My daughter has been searching Ravelry for free mitten patterns and has picked three for me to knit for her. She has decided I should start on the easiest pair first in the hope that she'll have a pair to wear before it gets too cold. Smart girl, no?

Since the Domo kun mittens I've cast on are only a 1" tube of fingering weight ribbing in Knit Picks Gloss, here's my inspiration pic instead!

I'm going to make full mittens, rather than fingerless and I'll probably make a square top so that it's more like Domo's head.

So much and so little at the same time

2010-10-14T15:59:00.006-04:00

I'm sure I've done a lot in the last 4 weeks, and yet it went by so fast it seems like just yesterday was mid September. It's amazing that almost 4 weeks have gone by since I last posted. I really don't have any good reasons for that - other than the normal busyness of life. I've been spinning, knitting and homeschooling... but haven't made the time to post it here.

Please forgive me.

Here's a few of the pretties that have been occupying my time...

260 yds 3ply sport weight. Spun from "Happy Vamp" batts from Knitty and Color. Love her colors!

A needle felted sheep. I melt every time I look into his felted sheepy eyes, even though I made them myself! Pattern by Bear Creak Designs, wool from Natchwoolie.

A colorworked Estonian Sheep Puppet. While I do like this, I'm not overly happy with my yarn choice. The pattern doesn't pop as there is less contrast than I initially thought there would be with the white and multigreen yarn. And somehow his ears look less than sheepy.

And I've started a few new projects: spinnng my Wisteria Spindies Box and making a pair of Domo mittens for my dd.

Watching Fluff Dry

2010-09-19T09:45:00.003-04:00

B's fluff has been dry for a few days, but I only just found time to photograph it. We're both very happy with how it looks. But now we have to decide how to prep it for spinning.

My plan is to blend it like I did for my Peacock yarn, but the fluff I used for that was already either drumcarded into a mini batt, or pulled into top. We've got fluffy clouds of farm fresh merino lamb and I'm not sure what to do to make it mix together. I tried using my hand cards on a bit of it and don't think it's going to work to blend it like I did with the Peacock Spindies fluff.

Maybe I'll have to find someone with a drumcarder to help me.

Purple Fluff

2010-09-15T15:54:00.009-04:00

B wanted to dye roving or carded fiber instead of yarn. Which is a good thing, since that's all I had in colors that would take dye well!

For her first attempt, she wanted to dye 8 different blues and purples to blend with a teensy bit of natural black and white.

Yesterday, while getting my Purples in order, I also washed up 4oz of Merino Lamb Fleece from Natchwoolie's Sushi club. This club is so much fun. There is something about knitting with yarn that started out as raw sheepy smelling fiber that gives me a thrill!

So today, the Merino Lamb was ready for her to dye. She used my kitchen scale to weigh 10g balls of fleece and placed them into 1L jars with water and vinegar. Then we calculated how much of red and blue each jar would need to obtain the colors she wanted.

We placed the jars in a 200 degree oven for about an hour, then placed them on the kitchen counter to cool. The water was completely clear, and the fleece took up the color beautifully.

Once the fleece is dry, I'm supposed to prep it like I did for the Peacock Spindies Yarn and spin it for her. I'm thinking a thick single, to preserve the softness of the merino. I might make it into mittens for her, but she's still somewhat wool resistant, so the final judgement will be in if she finds them itchy once knitted up.

Purple Dye Experiment

2010-09-14T13:03:00.010-04:00

I'm supposed to be dyeing with B tomorrow. Knowing that she's going to want to try colors other than the Red, Blue and Yellow I've got, I decided to mix up my dye stocks today and experiment with what percentages will give nice purples.

I'm using Greener Shades dyes. I've got a little sample pack that comes with Sunshine Yellow, Ruby Red and River Blue. On the Ravelry Greener Shades forum, there are some excellent examples of Reds and Greens, so I didn't have to reinvent the wheel there. And orange is just not my thing, so if B wants orange, we'll wing it! But purple...

Knowing that I didn't want to dip into my dyes too much for these tests, I figured that the smallest amount of 1% DOS dye stock that I could measure would be 1mL. This weighs 1 gram; so I'd need 1 gram of yarn. I have some white KnitPicks palette and calculated from the ball band that about 4.5 yards would be about a gram.

snip snip snip

Here's my little yarn samples resting in some disposable cups with a vinegar water solution.

Next I mixed up my sample Purples. I wanted to try a range of blue to red ratios in a 1% and a 0.2% DOS.

Even though I only needed 1mL for each little yarn sample, I had to mix up 5mL of each test purple. Again this is because I couldn't measure anything smaller than 1mL with any accuracy.

So I went with the following

80% River Blue, 20% Ruby Red - 4mL blue, 1mL Red
60% River Blue, 40% Ruby Red - 3mL blue, 2mL Red
40% River Blue, 60% Ruby Red - 2mL blue, 3mL Red
20% River Blue, 80% Ruby Red - 1mL blue, 4mL Red

These were my 1% DOS Purples. To make the 0.2% DOS Purples, I mixed 1mL of each of these with 4mL of water.

For each of my 8 Purples, I put 1mL into each of the little disposable cups with the yarn.

I nuked the little samples for a total of 3 cycles of 1 minute cooking & 5 minutes resting. The yarn took up the dye beautifully and left the water almost completely clear.

And here are my little Purple babies!

The colors on my monitor are very close to the actual yarn, I hope they are for yours too.

Got Gauge?

2010-09-12T06:53:00.000-04:00

This particular swatch is 6 sts wide by 6 rows tall. For a stockinette stitch gauge of 4.4 stitches in 4 inches. Doesn't this look like it would make a most amazingly warm pair of bulky mittens?

This is the Poppy contribution by WoolieBullie to the Poppy Spindies box I received on Friday. It's 75% BFL, 25% silk and is so soft and wonderful I haven't been able to stop touching it. Maybe that's why I want it to be mittens - so I can envelope my hands in it everytime I go outside! Unfortunately, my little swatch will not reach all the way around both my hands. I might just have to pop over to WoolieBullie's etsy shop and get some more. The only thing stopping me is that mittens from this sort of roving would pill like crazy - doesn't mean however that I couldn't buy some of this lovely stuff for some other purpose!

I love the reverse stocking stitch side too!

Just in time...

2010-09-11T18:46:00.003-04:00

I finished blocking my Peacock shawl and love how it has turned out. I love the lace part and I love the garter stitch part! I finished it just in time as I've even had a chance to wear it twice this week. M had a couple of hockey practices at the rink that I didn't want to freeze at.

Blocking

2010-09-07T11:49:00.003-04:00

I finished the knitting on my Brandywine on Sunday night. I love the bind off - a reverse stocking stitch I-cord. This morning I grabbed my trusty blocking mats ($10 foam playmats from WalMart)and T pins; gave the shawl a little soak and rather aggressively blocked it. My fingers got deeply stabbed a few times. Why can't I block lace without bleeding?

I can't wait to see how it looks when it's freed!

There was about 120 yds of laceweight left when I decided to bind off. I brought it back to my wheel and added lots more plying twist, and then plyed it back on itself to create a heavy fingering weight cabled yarn. I know that I will find a use for 60 yds of fingering weight yarn, but that was definately not going to happen with the small amount of lace weight.

Apple Sauce

2010-09-04T09:46:00.000-04:00

I love apple sauce. As a kid, I think I thought it should have been it's own food group. As an adult, I still love it. But it has to be the homemade stuff. There's something about store-bought that just isn't as good.

A friend of mine called me a few days ago to let me know her crab apples are ready to be picked. B and I dropped by there Thursday evening and picked about 20 litres, or approximately 1/1000th of what was on her tree!

Yesterday, I boiled up a stockpot full to make G's favorite, crab apple jelly. I got about 12 cups of juice and decided that I'd dilute 4 cups of it for drinking and only use 8 for the jelly. Once I've added sugar and boiled it, I expect I'll get about 10 cups of jelly.

And today, it's apple sauce. I boiled up a second stockpot full until the little apples were soft and sent them through my old Foley food mill. We've got some beautiful, tasty, tart apple sauce. Such a gorgeous color... and... Yummm!

Knotty Gloves Update

2010-09-03T08:44:00.004-04:00

I've had this one glove finished for a few days now and have the cuff on the second one.

Before I cast on for the second glove, I decided to check how much a finished glove weighs and how much my ball of yarn weighed. A finished glove weighs 1.5oz and the ball weighed 1.0oz. Can you see the problem? It's a good thing I ordered some of the East Friesan Lamb in roving form too. It should arrive in a few weeks and I'll spin up what I need then. Until then, I'll finish with the yarn I do have.

If my Calculations are correct...

2010-09-02T11:30:00.003-04:00

I'm clicking along nicely on the Brandywine Shawl with my Peacock yarn.

I've finished 13 repeats of "Chart B" and with the amount of yarn left, I expect to be able to make 17 repeats before needing to ply more yarn. Once I'm at that point, I'll pin it to my blocking board and take some measurements.

If it's as big as I'd like it, I'll move on to "Chart C", otherwise, I'll ply up the third Peacock bobbin as a 2ply and knit some more repeats.

"Africa" Phat Fiber Box

2010-09-01T09:35:00.003-04:00

I've received my August Phat Fiber box and as usual, it is a beautiful sampler of fun fibers.

So many coupons, a EZ note card, beautiful bracelet, zebra sphere stitch marker and dainty beaded stitch marker.

Some interesting things here! A mini art yarn kit, silk noil, crab fiber, beaded plying cord, sock yarn, upcycled yarn

Lovely soft merino, beautifully colored falkland, "Cleopatra" merino, pindrafted romney, and alpaca

Orange fluff!

If you see your stuff, feel free to give your shop a shout out and linkie in the comments!

Peacock laceweight

2010-08-29T13:53:00.004-04:00

I've finished spinning all of my Peacock Paint Box. I decided to do a two ply laceweight so I can make a Brandywine shawl. So far I've only plyed two of the three bobbins. I'll start knitting and then decide if I need the rest. If not, I'll n-ply it and use it on some colorwork mittens.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out. 440 yds 26wpi.

Yum

2010-08-28T08:49:00.003-04:00

While we were in Ottawa this summer, B and I had coffee together one afternoon and she tried an iced chocolate smoothie kind of thing. She decided I needed to try to copy it once we got home.

We had noticed that it had ice, milk, chocolate syrup and something that looked like hot chocolate mix all blended together in a blender.

So into my blender I put:

1 1/2 cups ice
1 1/8 cup skim milk (if you use higher fat milk, you could omit the cream)
1/8 cup cream
1/4 cup hot chocolate mix
1 tbsp cocoa (I was out of chocolate syrup)

Blend until all the ice is pulverized and you'll have a yummy cold chocolatey treat. Especially great for a girl who's been at figure skating camp all week and is tired and wanting something cold and creamy and sweet!

Retrofit

2010-08-27T13:11:00.006-04:00

I've mentioned a few times how I like my Ashford Traditional, but wish it had more than one speed. When I want to make really fine singles, I need to spindle spin the singles and ply on the wheel. Since trying the Majacraft Suzie this summer (shhhh, don't tell my Traddy) I'd almost decided that when I save enough to buy a new wheel, the Suzie Pro will be it. While amassing the small fortune needed, I thought I'd look at buying a newer flyer for my circa 1975 Traddy. I showed a few to G, who suggested he ask around to see if anyone had a lathe and could retrofit my current flyer with a few new whorls.

So this morning, not without some trepidation on my part, my flyer took off to work with him. Apparently Speedy is the best way to describe the friend he found, because by lunchtime, I had this!

And I could spin 50 wpi singles with no effort!

And my Knotty Gloves progress?

I've almost finished the chart. I shortened the cuff by 2 cm and started the increases for the thumb gusset 4 rows early. This will effectively decrease the cuff length by 3 cm and move the cable motif a little higher on the back of the hand. I'm still a bit worried about having enough yarn, so this cuts out a bit and I like the placement of the motif a bit higher.

Borg Queen Yarn...

2010-08-26T09:31:00.014-04:00

...your uniqueness shall be added to our own.

I have a 3 month club membership with Spindies. It's wonderful, lovely and such fun to open presents for me every month, even if I have to buy them myself!

My very first Spindies Paint Box was the Peacock inspired one. Each sample from bamboo, milk fiber, wool roving, and gorgeous blended batts were such fun to pet and play with. It really gives me a good idea of the product each of the contributors produces.

I struggled with how I should spin this lovely fluff up. I considered spinning each sample as it's own little yarn, but didn't know what I'd do with ten 0.5oz mini skeins of Peacock inspired yarn. I considered breaking each sample into little bits, and spinning a fat single with a bit of each sample in sequence, but didn't know what I'd make with the resulting yarn. In the end, I decided to go with what I know I will love, 3 thin singles, plyed into a fingering weight yarn.

I wish I had a blending hackle, but since I don't, I found another way to blend all the samples nicely. I stretched each sample out to a big rectangle (approx 15" x 20") - very easy with the batts. Not so much with the milk and bamboo rovings - those I lightly carded with my handcards. I stacked each stretched sample on top of eachother. Then I ripped the sample sandwich into eight strips. To keep things tidy, I twisted each strip into a little knot until I was ready to deal with it. Once I was ready to spin, I predrafted each knot and spun to my heart's content!

I feel a bit guilty for this approach, the wonderful uniqueness of each sample is lost this way, and I hope each of the fiber artists who contributed don't feel slighted by my melting pot approach.

I'm spindle spinning this so I can get the thinness I want from the singles, but I'll ply it on my wheel. I've got two thirds spun, and am working away on the final stretch. However, now that I'm at this point and have just found the Brandywine Shawl pattern (a Haiti relief project by Rosemary Hill) I'm considering a two-ply lace weight instead!

On the Knotty front, I've got 4cm of cuff!

Knotty Gloves

2010-08-25T15:07:00.007-04:00

My poor sad, neglected blog...

I've been spinning this summer, but not so much knitting. But with the kids heading back to school, I start thinking about fall. And then thinking about winter and Christmas gifts and cold weather. And that almost always cures the knitting funk!

So today I cast on for Knotty. I'm using the East Friesian lamb I spun up this summer and I'm still just as in love with it as I was when it arrived in it's raw sheepy state. It is such a lovely smooshy yarn. I'm hoping the 80g I've got will be enough for these gloves. These will be a Christmas gift for someone who always appreciates handmade goods. The fact that these come from raw fleece to finished product will not be lost on this someone!

Fiber Tourism - part II

2010-08-03T11:17:00.000-04:00

On Saturday morning we headed out of Ottawa torward Toronto to take in a Blue Jays game before saying goodbye to my parents and heading north again. Enroute, G kindly allowed me to detour us to Port Hope to visit the Black Lamb.

I tried out a Majacraft Suzie Pro and a Little Gem. I really liked both of them. However, I liked the way the Suzie treadled better than the Gem. I would still like to try a few other wheels, but so far, I'd say the Suzie is my favorite of the ones I've tried.

The Black Lamb had big baskets of fiber tempting me in every corner.

I succumbed to some tencel roving. I've spun merino/tencel before, but never 100% tencel and I think this could be a fun challenge.

Sunday afternoon we watched the Jays play the Cleveland Indians. Although they lost 4-5, it was one of the highlights of the trip - my first ever major league ball game!

Fiber Tourism!

2010-08-02T12:44:00.007-04:00

My family met up with my parents in Ottawa last Monday for a week of sightseeing and fun! Of course, I couldn't leave any yarn shop unvisited and included a few in my travels. My goal was to try out a few wheels. Don't tell my Ashford Traditional, but I'm looking for a replacement.

On Monday night, we watched the Mosaika show. It was quite enjoyable: the show uses the parliament buildings as a screen. Tuesday, we toured the center block of the Parliament Buildings.

I enjoyed it much more than I expected. The architecture is really impressive and I hadn't known that the building was built to honor the soldiers who lost their lives in WW1. The library was really amazing, all the wood details were well worth a visit. Tuesday afternoon we visited the Aircraft museum.

Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, more museums, including the War Museum, the Museum of Civilization and the Nature Museum. And a bit of Shopping!

One of the shopping stops was Wabi Sabi, a fun fiber arts store in Ottawa. Both M and I found some merino/silk fiber that begged to be brought home with us (with really great prices, I might add).

M helped me pick out mine: it was a toss up for me between two teally greens and this one. M pointed out that this one was really more my color!

And of course he picked out the purple. He says this will be the first he spins on my wheel!

Wabi Sabi has a Louet S15 and a Babe in store that I got to try out. I can appreciate the price of the Babe and the double treadle, but really didn't like how it wobbled. Plus, I just can't get past the PVC. (my apologies to any die-hard Babe fans). The Louet I liked better, but found getting the bobbin off a bit fiddly, I'm sure I could get used to it and I like it's modern appearance and smooth treadling.

And since my parent knew I was looking for a new wheel, they brought me this:

Isn't that a cute little wheel? "Respect the Spindle" was brought along for reading material on our trip - highly enjoyable and informative!

Zahara - new pattern

2010-07-23T16:18:00.009-04:00

I'd like you to meet Zahara. She's a sweet knitted camel, complete with underbite, knobby knees and a gentle disposition.

This pattern is suitable for someone who can knit in the round on double pointed needles. Other skills required are increasing and decreasing, knitting short rows, picking up stitches, grafting and seaming.

To make your very own Zahara, you’ll need less than 100 grams of worsted weight wool. I used Patons Classic Wool in "Sesame".

As usual, the pattern is available through my Etsy shop and as a Ravelry download.

This link will redirect you to Paypal through Ravelry's shopping basket.

Somebunny special...

2010-07-21T10:16:00.006-04:00

Excuse the seriously silly title, but someone I love asked me to make them a bunny after seeing this one that I made for my nephew for Christmas. How could I resist?

This one is made with handspun: 2oz of oatmeal colored Corriedale, 3 ply worsted weight, and a little bit of teal merino/silk, 3 ply heavy fingering weight for the dress.

I changed things for the body on this one as I wasn't entirely happy with the way I'd improvised the body for my nephew's bunny. I like this much better. I knit from the neck down. Once I got to the legs, I slipped half the sts plus 3 to a holder and knit the others in the round for one leg. The 6 sts (3 from the front, 3 from the back) were placed on a holder, while I knit the second leg. Then 6 sts were grafted together and all ends woven in.

The skirt was improvised too: cast on 50 sts, made a little picot hem, and knit up to where the bunny's waist is, did some decreases, bound off half the sts and knit the bib back and forth. Tiny 3 sts I-cords make the dress straps.

The pompom tail used up the very last bit of handspun that I'd made for this project. All that's left are the trimmings from the pompom as I used all my snipped off yarn ends and the last few yards of yarn to make it!

Coming Soon to a desert near you...

2010-07-14T20:22:00.004-04:00

I'm almost finished tweeking a new pattern. B has been bugging me for a while to make a camel. She's named it Zahara...

And since we're on the topic of camels, maybe you can help me? Do you know the song "Alice the Camel"? It's one of those count down songs that goes like this:

Alice the camel has 5 humps,
Alice the camel has 5 humps,
Alice the camel has 5 humps,
Go, Alice, Go,
Boom, Boom, Boom...

Alice the camel has 4 humps,
Alice the camel has 4 humps...
etc,

until the end...

... Alice the camel has no hump,
Alice is a horse.

Now B says the song is supposed to be about Sally the Camel. Which way did you learn it?

Being Good has it's rewards...

2010-07-13T15:01:00.002-04:00

Last summer I let you all know of my resistance to the temptation to steal my favorite picture book. Well, today, my goodness has been rewarded. The public library in my little town is selling books from its collection that are rarely signed out and "Sarah's Bear" was on the table!

If you ever have the chance to read this adorable book, take 5 minutes. The darling water color illustrations and sweet text won't disappoint you!

Soft, Fluffy Clouds

2010-07-10T09:29:00.007-04:00

I started carding the East Friesian last night and it is oh so soft and bouncy.

The little bowls show approximately equal amount of fiber: one washed and dried, the other also carded!

And here's all 80g carded and ready to spin. It really fills up the same blue basket the raw fiber was sitting in in the previous post.

Sushi Club - East Friesian Lamb

2010-07-08T22:02:00.006-04:00

My July installment of Natchwoolie's Sushi Club arrived today. Absolutely gorgeous bouncy, soft, creamy white East Friesian lamb's fleece!

As usual, dog and cats had to have a sniff of the sheepy goodness enclosed in the ziploc bag! And again as usual, the kids groaned at the farm fresh scent!

It looked like so much fun, I gave it its bath immediatly! And it has already fluffed up so much. I can't wait until its dry and ready to spin.

Can't show you the knitting I'm doing...

2010-07-07T18:13:00.006-04:00

I'm working on a new pattern, but don't have enough of it done to post it. So I'll show you supper!

Grilled chicken pizza done on the BBQ!

Grilled Pizza with Chicken, Grilled Veggies and Pesto
Ingredients
pizza dough - I use homemade whole wheat crust.
1 large or 2 small chicken breasts (grilled, roasted, or cooked in some fashion), sliced
grilled veggies (I used leftover grilled onions, mushrooms, red peppers and summer squash from last night's supper)
pesto
feta cheese, in small cubed
mozza, grated

Method
Preheat grill to medium heat.

Form dough into balls larger than golf balls and smaller than tennis balls. Roll out to between 1/8" and 1/4" thick. Dust with flour and stack in layers, separated by parchment paper.

Place pizza rounds on grill for 2 minutes with the cover closed. Flip. While still on the grill, spread with a bit of pesto, sprinkle with mozza, feta, veggies and chicken.

Go sparingly on the toppings on this pizza, it gets soggy with too many and is difficult to remove from the grill.

Close cover, grill for an additional 90 seconds, or until mozza is melted. Remove to a cooling rack, or cut and eat immediately.

I can only fit two 8" pizzas at a time on my grill so some of the pizzas are warm and some are hot by the time I have them all cooked. But at ~4 minutes cooking time, I'm done 8 pizzas in 16 minutes!

Yummy!

Monkey See, Monkey Do...

2010-07-03T09:27:00.003-04:00

I couldn't put this pattern down! This was such a cute fun knit. Details and mods on my Ravelry project page.

In the Pink

2010-06-30T19:06:00.010-04:00

Here's my lovely 3 ply...

50grams, 80 yds, dk/light worsted weight. Apparently I wasn't paying very close attention to the thickness of my singles and this did not end up at my typical fingering weight. Must be all the "big fat" spinning I've been doing recently!

Each of the pretty pink little knots from the previous post were gently coaxed into a handpulled roving like this one. Due to the hodge podge nature of the different fibers, this was a wee bit tricky at times. The mohair locks that were one of the samples refused to cooperate until I removed them all, carded them and put them back in.

I'm hoping it will be enough to make this:

"Jacobus" by Annita Wilschut. (links: ravelry, Annita's blog)

The newest spin

2010-06-29T22:41:00.004-04:00

I decided I wanted some pink yarn. So I dug through my pile of Phat Fiber samples and pulled all the pinkish and purplish bits of fluff out. I pulled each sample into roughly the same size rectangle, stacked them up, then pulled the stack into quarters lengthwise.

Aren't those pretty little knots ready to be spun up? 55 grams of goodness, including samples from a number of Phat Fiber artists: Alaskan Sass, The Sheepy Kitty, Maude & Me, Spincerely Yours, From Ewe to You, Susan's Kitchen, Cozy Cove Farm, and Ambrosia & Bliss.

I'm planning a fingering weight three-ply.

Learning something new

2010-06-28T20:36:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, I came across this tutorial about making your own backstrap loom. Since weaving has alway fascinated me, I knew that this would be something I'd love to try. Last week, I ran out to the hardware store and bought $7 worth of dowels. I spent a bit of time in hubby's garage sawing and sanding things to the appropriate sizes. I also fashioned a beater and shuttle out of some thin plywood.

And this is was I made! Isn't that just about the most amazing piece of weaving you've ever seen!

I have since wound the warp for a bigger project. The tutorial suggests making a backstrap for your loom, but I'm finding the adjustable strap from one of my bags to be working very well. I've decided to make a bag to stash my loom bars in instead.
The tutorial also suggests that when you make your warp to ensure things are very well clamped down. I thought I had clamped enough, but when I checked after finishing, things had moved about 1cm. I'm not sure if this is going to be a problem. I'm hoping not - I don't really want to take it all apart and start over. So I'm going to go with it and hope for the best.

I saw Alpacas Today!!!

2010-06-26T17:37:00.008-04:00

The local Spinners and Weavers Guild held an open house today at an alpaca farm about 20 minutes from my home. I didn't even know there were alpacas living so close to me. I have been bursting with excitement all week and this morning was awake before everyone else, partly from excitement, partly because hubby tends to snore.

There were about 20 different darlings grazing about the farm - two tiny babies among them.

This is Jasper - I missed getting a photo of M feeding him some pellet food.

This is Coco and Cody, her cria. Cody was born premature, but is doing well.

This is Coco too! Couldn't go to an alpaca farm without coming home with something to spin.

The guild members demonstrated weaving on tabletop 4 harness looms. I've always been so fascinated by weaving. They had some fun weaving activities for the kids, but M and B were more interested in the alpacas.

B found their feet particularly cute.

These alpacas were ones she watched almost the whole time we were there.

And the spinning demonstrators were more than willing to let people try out their wheels. Up to now I've only had M spinning on a spindle, but after he spun some Romney on an Ashford Traveller like a pro, I've promised him a bobbin on my wheel.

Many of the guild members and visitors to the open house were quite awed by a young boy spinning happily away at a wheel.

Birthday Party!

2010-06-25T21:46:00.003-04:00

To celebrate Canada Day, I'm having a pattern promo! Between now and Canada Day, if you buy a pattern either from my Etsy store, or through Ravelry, I'll give you a free copy of "I'm Canadien, eh!"

Who can resist the flag waving, hockey playing national animal of Canada?

Happy Birthday, Canada!

Still spinning

2010-06-22T09:47:00.003-04:00

More spinning today! I've been working on some more chubby singles, since the last yarn was so fun. After I washed that one it bloomed beautifully and ended up more of a heavy worsted/bulky weight. So for this singles yarn, I'm aiming for a worsted weight after its bath.

This yarn is being spun from some batts I purchased from It's a Colorful Life. I fell in love with the colors. They were more burgundy in the photos on etsy and more purplish in person and I think I like them better in person!

To spin the batt, I ripped the batt into strips...

...and predrafted each strip.

So far I'm loving the result!

It's That Time of Year Again

2010-06-21T10:14:00.000-04:00

The school year is coming to an end. Only two and a half days left! B had a great idea for teacher gifts this year. She wanted to make BIG cookies for the teachers. We spent some time Saturday making up a double batch of Snickerdoodles, a double batch of Chocolate Brownie Cookies with white and chocolate chips, and a triple batch of Ultimate Chocolate Cookies with the fun addition of Skor bits. On Sunday we baked everything. These are really big cookies. We used 1/3 of a cup of dough for each cookie and due to the differences in the doughs, they range from 4 to 5 inches in diameter.

Here they are all ready to be brought to the school; 14 pretty packs, 84 big cookies!

New Pattern - Cyclopsish

2010-06-18T09:20:00.009-04:00

Quite some time ago, I blogged about a little cyclops I was working on. I guess he needed time to grow on me before I finished up his pattern, but here he is!

This pattern is suitable for someone who can knit on double pointed needles. Other skills required are increasing and decreasing, making I-cord, and seaming.

To make your very own Cyclops, you’ll need less than 50 grams of worsted weight wool, and some oddments of worsted weight wool for the legs and feet. I used Wool of the Andes in Avocado, Tulip & Orange, and Williamsburg(blue).

As usual, the pattern is available through my Etsy shop and as a Ravelry download.

This link will redirect you to Paypal through Ravelry's shopping basket.

Cedric and Simon looking cyclopsish!

Silk Edged Hankerchief

2010-06-14T09:15:00.003-04:00

I finished the edging late Friday night and blocked it Saturday morning. While the pretty little bit of lace was drying on my blocking board, I cut a piece of hankerchief cotton to the right size and packed some thread, scissors and a needle for a trip into town. Fortunately I didn't have to drive, so I hemmed the hankerchief in no time! Saturday evening, the lace was dry and stitched in place on the hankie.

I am very pleased with how this hankerchief turned out!

I am rather hesitant to use it, it's almost too pretty!

There is one thing I would change if I could. When I started spinning the silk, I didn't have an idea in mind for it. Now that it's all knitted up, I think it would have looked better if the color repeats changed more frequently. Hindsight being 20/20, I would have split the roving lengthwise into 4 parts and spun top-bottom, bottom-top, top-bottom, bottom-top. Other than that, I'm happy!

Edgy

2010-06-10T10:08:00.004-04:00

I decided to knit a little edging for a hankerchief with the tiny bit of silk yarn. I searched Ravelry and was surprised to find quite a few knitted lace edgings available. I picked the Apple Leaf lace and decided to drop the point border on it as I didn't want the lace to be too wide.

I've included a blue 2mm sock needle, a sewing needle and a measuring tape for scale. I couldn't remember the size of my fine steel needles. They might be 1.25mm. I could have rummaged through G's tools and found his digital calipers to confirm the diameter, but it's cool and raining today and I was comfy and warm on the couch and didn't feel like going out to the garage!

My little itty bit of lace is progressing quite quickly. To turn the corners, I working a few short rows.

eta: I did eventually go to the garage. It was cold and damp. The battery in the calipers had died! I bought a battery on Friday and the needles are US0000/1.25mm

Something New

2010-06-09T09:16:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I decided to try making a bit of supercoil yarn. I'd seen some beautiful examples on Ravelry and thought I'd like to try. This must be the time for me to break out of my spinning comfort zone! I had a yet another Phat Fiber sample that decided it should become my first supercoil yarn.

I'd harvested a wee bit of this "Beach Glass" batt from Giffordables for a needle felting experiment, so there was only 0.2oz left. I spun a fairly thick single (for me) and ended up with 16yards. Following the example in this Youtube video, I wound some white fingering weight yarn onto my spindle and began the corespinning!

I am quite pround of my not quite 3 yards of supecoil and can see myself trying this on a larger scale some time.

I finished spinning the Wild Orchid silk too and gave it a little bath. There are about 150 yards of laceweight singles in this beautiful little 1/3 oz skein! I couldn't resist the pic of the little center-pull ball. I heart silk!

Everything is Fine Again

2010-06-08T08:37:00.004-04:00

Although making chunky singles yarn was tons of fun, I've decided to finally try spinning some silk that was in one of my Phat Boxes. Somehow I had felt I wasn't ready for silk. But after spinning those other slippery fibers last week with great success, I thought, "let's give it a whirl". But I did want the resulting silk yarn to be fine, so we're back to my comfort zone.

This is a tussah silk sample from Wild Orchid, dyed from yellow to blue to pink, with the green and purple resulting where they ought to.

So far it's spinning up far more easily than I had expected. I don't actually find it slippery at all. It's surprisingly grippy and very easy to make a fine single with.

Super Fast

2010-06-04T14:21:00.003-04:00

Why has no one ever told me how much fun super chunky singles are? This 6.5oz roving spun up crazy fast averaging a worsted weight singles. Here we are about 48 hours after I started with 230yds of yarn. And I even kept the house clean and cooked meals for my family during that time.

Some sections are a bit thicker, some a bit finer. I found it tough to be consistant, something I don't usually have to much difficulty with when I make a finer yarn. It just needs a little bath to set the twist and then I have to decide what to knit it into!

What to do with a bit of Bamboo

2010-06-03T07:18:00.004-04:00

After spinning up the little samples of bamboo and milk fiber, I wanted to use them for something. I've mentioned before that B hates wool, so I decided to knit up a pair of bamboo mittens. The main yarn was repurposed from a pair of Lily of the Valley socks that she found didn't fit the way she liked.

These mittens are so far being received quite well. I'm using my generic mitten pattern (see the sidebar) and cast on 48 sts. I love the subtle stripes the little sample yarns created!

Johnny Jump Ups

2010-06-02T14:32:00.004-04:00

Spinning fat continues...

I've moved onto my "Johnny Jump Ups" superwash merino/bamboo roving from PortFiber. Port Fiber currently has a similar roving for sale, a bit more blues and less greens than what I'm spinning. I'm loving how this looks so far. I had initially recieved a 1oz sample of this roving in my Phat Fiber box and spun a 2ply DK weight. I loved how easily the roving drafted and how soft it felt, but was a bit unhappy with the finished yarn. I felt the two plys competed with one another colorwise and decided then, that when I spun the full sized roving I'd do a thick single.

Looking like about 12 - 14 wpi!

It's the "Week of the Big Fat Singles"

2010-05-31T16:36:00.008-04:00

Just a definition (in case you googled "big fat singles" and were not expecting a knitting and spinning blog). A singles is the individual ply you get when spinning fluff into yarn. Sometimes it is combined by plying with additional singles to get a multi-ply yarn, sometimes it's left on it's own and turned into other fibery things without plying.

For those of you who know what a singles is, I'm going to announce my goal for this week. I've got about 6.5oz of merino/bamboo roving from PortFiber.etsy.com that I bought a long time ago. I want to spin it into a big chunky singles yarn. This is very hard for me, my fingers tend to spin fine, laceweight is not a huge challenge for me, other than the time it takes.

To start with, I've practiced my fat spinning techniques on a few Phat Fiber samples. Some "Popsicle" bamboo (can't remember from who), yellow/pink bamboo from eXtreme Spinning and some milk fiber from Feeling Sheepish.

Here's my little results, 10 yds, 18 wpi, of milk fiber, 13 yds, 22 wpi, of Popsicle bamboo and 24 yds, 22 wpi, of yellow/pink bamboo.

I gave each little skein a soak and pressed the water out by rolling them in a towel and standing on it. A very gentle thwack afterwards and they hung to dry. These little skeins, being singles, were quite twisty when I hung them to dry. I am so impressed with the bamboo! It totally relaxed while drying. The milk fiber did somewhat, but the bamboo skeins no longer twist back on themselves. I heart bamboo! Can't wait to knit something up with these little samples.

Just a Few Ends

2010-05-27T08:41:00.004-04:00

I've finished the knitting on the Shetland Shorty. Definately a quick knit, especially with the slightly heavier yarn I subbed in. All my calculations appear to have worked, it fits B very well.

I almost made it too long, but I kept trying it on her as I worked, and stopped when it seemed right! I love that this little shrug is seamless! Two shoulder seams done in a three-needle bind off don't really count as seams to me, since I don't have to get out a yarn needle to make them. Now there are just 17 ends to weave in and she'll be able to wear her new little summer shrug!

Summer Knitting

2010-05-24T16:16:00.003-04:00

Quite some time ago I found a killer sale on some taupe Paton's Grace (~75% off) at Michael's and since B hates wool, I thought I'd pick some up to make her a little shrug. She's decided on the Shetland Shorty from Summer '08 Knitty. This has presented a few difficulties as the pattern calls for fingering weight and Grace is not. But after some swatching, punching of calculator buttons and scribbling and erasing with a pencil, I think it's working.

Here's the progress so far - almost to the armpits. She's loving it and it appears to be fitting despite my needing to rework all the measurement for the heavier weight yarn. This color works with so much of her summer clothes too, so she's thrilled.

Rambouillet Tweed

2010-05-21T08:53:00.002-04:00

My back has been slowly on the mend since Monday.

I spun a wee bit Wednesday evening and finished up the Rambouillet singles. I plyed them yesterday and have about 120 yards of lovely soft tweedy worsted weight yarn.

My May shipment of the Sushi Club from Natchwoolie arrived on Monday too. Some darling Lincoln Lamb Locks. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but they are very soft with darling curls!

It's All my Fault

2010-05-20T08:00:00.003-04:00

Hi, Mommy said I had to tell all of you what I've been up to the last few days. Well I do lots of stuff every day, but Mommy said I should start my story with what happened on Monday. On Monday we went for a WALK and it was so much fun and there were birds and people to sniff and OTHER DOGS!!!

We go for walks almost every day but every time we go out the smells are new and exiting and yummy and snuffly and... oh, right, Monday... On Monday there was a little grey mini schnauzer that always looks like he'd be really good to sniff and lick and maybe even PLAY WITH, and Mommy wouldn't let me play with him. Mommy says I also have to tell you that since I'm a VERY big dog when I try to go in a direction she doesn't want me to, especially when I go very fast, she doesn't like it. She hasn't taken me out for walks since Monday, actually she hasn't seemed very much herself since then. She keeps taking medicine and putting funny smelling cream and warm things on her neck and back. She hasn't been sitting infront of the thing that spins around and that I have to be careful not to get my feet under, doesn't sit at the computer, hasn't been doing that thing with the pointy sticks and string, gets the smaller people and Daddy to lift things for her, and seems really grumpy. I hope she gets over this soon, I've got a mini schnauzer to snuffle.

Look what I did today!

2010-05-12T16:30:00.004-04:00

I finished carding the Sushi Club Rambouillet.

I will likely start spinning this during the hockey game tonight. I'll need something to take the edge off the excitement of the Habs endeavor to win against Sid the Kid. Go Habs, Go!

*****

Another in the "catching up" series...

I'm now at 15 repeats of the Print O' the Wave Shawl. It's just as fun as it was, but had sat idle for a bit until I picked it up again after finishing my Fountainhead Scarf.

Rambouillet Fines and SuperFines

2010-05-12T10:04:00.002-04:00

My first shipment for the Sushi Club arrived a few weeks ago, and I just realized I neglected to take any photos of it in it's original sheepy goodness. The puppy could not get enough of the smell and the kids couldn't wait until I washed it - different perspectives!

Here's one raw lock, with a measuring device to indicate scale

The washed fluff, with some silk noil that I'm carding in for a tweedy effect. There are two little nests of carded fiber in the upper right corner with pale pink noil already carded in.

This is soft stuff with a lovely staple length. I could pet it forever!

Catching up

2010-05-11T11:07:00.005-04:00

One of the projects I've been working on over the last month was a Phat Fiber SAL/KAL. The PhatFiberLady created a lovely shawl pattern, the Fountainhead Shawl, that was posted on the Phat Fiber Secret Site (click here for details on how you can access the secret site). This SAL/KAL ran for March and April, and since I'm not really a shawl person, I didn't really bite until mid-April, when I decided that I could make a beautiful scarf using this stitch pattern.

Not being the sort of person who likes to hand in a project late, I started spinning with a vengeance.

These are Knitty and Color's Flightless Bird batts. I had decided to spin a two ply laceweight and since I have a hard time spinning anything finer than fingering weight on my wheel, this was spindle project.

It took 8 days of feverish spinning to get ~600 yards of what I believe to be a breath takingly beautiful laceweight. To say this yarn is grey is so much an understatement. More like hematite, but much, much more than that.

With less than a week remaining in April, I cast on for my scarf version of Jessie's beautiful shawl. (Mod's here) And 5 days later it was blocking!

Although spring arrived early here in Northern Ontario, it is still quite frosty in the morning and I have had a few opportunities to wear my new scarf. I think I'm in love! None of the photos capture the beauty of the yarn sufficiently.

That Pretty Much Sums it up...

2010-05-09T14:03:00.000-04:00

This poem that I received for Mother's Day touched my heart and made me laugh.

Now you know what I've been busy with for the last month! There has been some knitting and spinning, but mostly mothering.

Better than the Book

2010-04-12T08:08:00.004-04:00

Usually when I read a book first, then watch the movie, I'm disappointed. Sometimes I'm pleased and think it's almost as good as the movie, but this weekend I watched a movie, that although not exactly faithful to the book it was taken from, was way better than the book! "How to Train Your Dragon" was cute and funny and Toothless was by far my favorite character - he reminded me of my cat Mia!

I'd read the book a while back when my son's teacher was reading it to his class - I like to know what's going into my kid's heads. And although I didn't have any objections to the book, I could see why it appeals to 8 year olds. But the movie was fun! Even G, who usually cringes when I suggest we take the family to an animated movie liked it - said it was better than Shrek!

On the fibre front, I finished up the singles from the "Harlequin Girl" Batts over the weekend and plyed them last night. It is very soft, which surprised me - I expected the firestar to make it a bit scratchier, but it's wonderfully soft.

250 yds fingering weight 3 ply.

Something Pink

2010-04-08T09:40:00.000-04:00

With empty bobbins for my wheel, I began stash diving and came up with 3 batts from Knitty and Color. These three art batts total 4oz of merino, mill ends and firestar in the color "Harlequin Girl".

To spin, I open up the batt and rip strips off it. Each strip gets rolled into a little knot and then predrafted before I spin it.

Batt

Knot

Unrolled Batt (with batt and knot to show scale)

Predrafted Knot (this is the same knot from above)

One batt's worth on my bobbin.

Two more bobbins to go, and then plying!

I've been Spinning...

2010-04-07T10:47:00.004-04:00

I'm not really sure why, but I have not been spinning much - maybe my brain thinks winter=knitting, spring=spinning? But last week I spun up the singles from a lovely braid of Romney wool roving from Feeling Sheepish in all sorts of blues - her "Magpie" colorway.

I finished plying them on Monday. I was a bit worried that I had overlplied the singles, but after a wash and thwack, the yarn was perfectly balanced.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out. I have approximately 210 yards of worsted weight 3 ply.