Persevering

Despite the distraction of a very tempting little wheel in the house I am still making progress on the Feather and Fan Shawl. I am forcing myself to knit a minimum of 2 rows every day. That doesn't sound like much, but as I am nearing the outside edge of a very large circular shawl, the pattern rows (one out of every 4) take me a full hour to do, and the plain rows aren't exactly quick either. 1,272 stitches per round.....and growing. 16 more rounds and then a crocheted loop bind off.

Oh. And it looks like I may run out of yarn. 8-X

Ode to Little Gem2

Little Gem2, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.



I love your smooth spinning, the ease with which your treadles glide, your quick no-hands-necessary stops and starts, and your sealed bearings. I love your beauty, your pretty finish, your attractively turned post, and your no fuss design. I love your practicality too, your portable lightness, your convenient and protective carry case, the way you take up no more space than necessary, and your willingness to fold up and go with me anywhere. I love your big, no-rattle bobbins and your sliding flyer hook. I love your double treadles that allow me to sit straight and use both feet at once sparing me back pain and chiropractor bills. My lovely new wheel, you are truly a GEM. Welcome to the family.

Still Plugging Along

I haven't dropped out of the knitting universe. I'm still knitting on the Feather and Fan Shawl from "A Gathering Of Lace" and, with all the other busy-ness this time of year, progress is slow. It doesn't help that there are now 1176 stitches in each round. It shall not beat me though, I have perseverance on my side. In an effort to spur myself on I dragged out a few wardrobe possibilities that will coordinate with the shawl and did a photo shoot.



The shawl doesn't look like much in this heap, but trust me, when it is blocked and the lace pattern shows, it will be lovely. I'm at row 161 of 190 and trying to knit a minimum of 2 rows per day. At that pace I will be finished in a little over 2 weeks. If I can slip in a few extra rows here and there it may make its debut sooner.

Flock Of Cookies

When do cookies come in flocks? When they are Sheep Cookies of course! No, no....not made of mutton. These are regular sugar cookies in the shape of sheep.



They are part of a gift for the exchange at the Spinners and Weavers Guild Christmas lunch tomorrow. The other part of the gift was purchased earlier.



The candied citron bits are to add a bit more of a festive touch......in case the recipient decides to pawn them off on holiday guests.

A Whole Lot Of Spinning

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting much about knitting this past little while. That's because I haven't been knitting much. I've been busy with this:



That's 783 metres (approx. 856 yards) of 2 ply Coopworth wool, weighing 651 grams (approx. 1 pound, 9 ounces). I'm spinning it up at 11 WPI (approx. a worsted weight) in preparation for making an Aran cardigan for myself.

This batch (there is another 2 pounds not yet spun) is being prepared for it's post-spinning bath. If it doesn't bloom too much in the washing it should work out perfectly for the pattern I have in mind.

Christmas Table Runner

I finished the weaving of this Christmas Table runner at least a month ago, but the other weavers in the guild had to take their turn on the group warp and it was just cut off the loom this week.




I really struggled with this one. Not due to the weaving itself, which was quite simple. No, I struggled with the old loom. The back brake was not holding for me and I had to get up every couple of minutes (no exaggeration!) to roll the warp back again.



It is as hard to photograph as a black dog on a dark night! The whole appeal of this pattern is in the raised "tree" detail which is hardly showing up in the photographs.

Sample Bear

Another little bear made from leftover scraps of handspun wool using the pattern in the Spring 1995 issue of "Spin Off".



He's two tone because I ran out of the first, blue yarn. I think it still turned out well though. The eyes weren't crossed when I first embroidered them. That happened when I did the soft sculpting....it pulled the eyes down and inward. He looks like he needs a little bee on his nose or something. The nose and the whites of the eyes were done with needle felting. I didn't think the black pupils would show up on the dark colored wool with out that addition.

It's About Time!

Well, I finally got myself a round Tuit enabling me to accomplish a few things around here.



You can get your own round Tuit here.

With this lovely Tuit (did I mention that it was one of the rare, round ones?) I was finally able to get around to posting on this much neglected blog.

Using the Tuit I finally found the time to hem a handwoven tea towel that has been languishing in my sewing room for weeks. All it needed was the hems! Please excuse the garishness of the color. It's the first weaving I've done in years and was part of a group warp used by the guild. The other (experienced) weavers were sensible and worked their towels in various versions of a plaid. I thought for my first weaving I had better just stick to straight weaving, no need to complicate things by adding in a few color changes. As it is I made enough mistakes. Who cares? It still does a mighty fine job of drying dishes.



I was finally able to photograph this little, handspun, hand knitted, string jointed teddy. He's been finished for more than a week but photography was delayed until I got a round Tuit.

EDIT: The pattern for the little teddy is found in the Spring 1995 issue of "Spin Off". I did a little soft sculpture shaping on the face, which was rather pointy and "rat-ish".



I also took a comforter in to be cleaned, mended a shirt, and got my Christmas cards ready for mailing. Vacuuming is next on my list, and with the round Tuit, I know that it will happen.

Just think what this round Tuit could do for you if you kept it in your knitting basket. Why, there would be no more unfinished objects! Every project would be finished on time. You'd learn all those new techniques you've been meaning to try. Never would a sweater remain in pieces, waiting for blocking and seaming. No, you would have a round Tuit right there handy to take care of these things.

Better go get yourself one, quick! I hear they are quite hard to come by.

AWOL

I've been a little neglectful in my blog posting lately. No good excuses, just didn't have much to say and was a little on the busy side.

Last weekend we helped our daughter and son-in-law move into their new home, packing up the moving truck at one end and unloading it at the other. Unfortunately the carpets were being cleaned upstairs so all the stuff had to be taken into the basement suite and moved upstairs over the next few days. Here they are, the happy couple on moving day.



Yesterday was spent putting up our Christmas tree. This year I had some help. Thanks Jordon! I really enjoyed the time we spent together.

Sock Yarn As Art

Picture taken through a kaleidoscope.

And with a toy as intriguing as that could I stop with just one photo? No way. I went on to take over 30 more (thank goodness in this age of digital photography not every photo taken must be printed!).

These are a few of my favorites.



Close up of a basket.



Two different violets.



Another basket? It's hard to identify the object in some of the photos.

New Baby

It's been far too long since I had my last baby.....so I bought one!



Okay, so maybe she is not a "real" baby, but she does make a great model/mannequin for my handknits. She is a lot easier to care for than my first three children, and she costs a lot less too...just $14.99.

Camel/Silk Baby Socks

I had (just!) enough of the handspun, 3 ply, camel/silk laceweight to finish this little pair of baby socks.



The natural camel color might be a little odd for a baby item, but I like the slight color variations the natural fiber gives and didn't want to mess with overdyeing them. Besides, I think it gives them a bit of an antique, "heirloom" look.

They are 4 inches long. I asked around at the Knitter's Review forum for suggestions on a good size for newborn-ish babies.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any cookies?



I spotted this cutie in the Sears catalogue and just had to pick her up. She'll be perfect for the spinning guild's Christmas gift exchange. Don't you just love the socks? I'm sure they must be handknit of handspun. ;-)

If anyone knows of a source for sheep shaped cookie cutters, speak up. I'd love to fill this with sheep cookies as part of the gift.

Spinning Straw Into Gold

After spinning up the camel/silk blend last night and gazing at it's golden loveliness I felt quite like the princess that spun straw into gold. Rather fitting then that I would come across this quiz today and be numbered among those who are "most likely to discover a hidden talent for spinning straw into gold.


The Traditional Princess

You are generous, graceful, and practical with both
feet planted firmly on the ground. You tend to
be a little on the old-fashioned side. You
value home, hearth, and family life and love to
be of service to others.

Role Models: Snow White, Maid Marian

You are most likely to: Discover a hidden talent
for spinning straw into gold.


What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!)
brought to you by Quizilla


I love this picture. Too bad she isn't spinning or knitting. Oh I know....she's not sewing a flag. No, she is doing the finishing work on a knitted afghan made from handspun vicuna. It's for her knitting chair/throne dontcha know?

Spinning Camel

What a lovely gift! Louise, a friend from the spinning guild, gave me about 1/2 an ounce of a beautiful, soft, lustrous camel/silk blend. What a pleasure it is to spin. Because I don't have a lot of it I'm trying to spin it ultra thin so I will have more length. If it works out as I hope, I DO have a small project in mind.

Round and Round

Knitting, knitting and more knitting and yet I seem to be getting nowhere. The blob of tencel lace doesn't look any larger despite the fact that I am knitting quite a bit on it every day (now that the Craft Fair stuff is out of the way). I'm now working round #123 (of 190 rounds total) on the Feather and Fan Shawl from GOL but I won't bother with a photo. It looks much the same as it did last time....maybe a little larger, but it is hard to tell with it all bundled up on a circular needle.

This is certainly an exercise in perseverance.

I've ordered the Shy Sheep Vest pattern. The knitting won't be started any time soon though. I'm thinking I'll probably spin the yarn for it. Fitting hey? Handspun sheep wool for a Shy Sheep Vest? Something like that is bound to be popular at guild meetings and spin-ins!

Bear Necessities

In answer to Lizz's question about patterns for the bears...(posted here so I can provide direct links):

There is no real pattern Lizz, they are needle felted, not sewn. You can buy an instruction booklet that gives the basic "how-to" but the personality and individuality just happen during the process.

You might be interested in reading my older posts about these bears.

Bear #1,
Bear #2

And HERE is the source I used for supplies.

More For The Sale

I also made these for the Chilliwack Craft Fair coming up on the 17 th of November. They are "Timmie Cozies", just like the acrylic ones I made last year, but these are made from handspun wool. If the craft fair attendees can figure out what they are I think they will sell okay. I'll try to keep one ON the cup for display.



Other items that I am also taking to the fair:

In the Nick of Time

I managed to finish the handspun socks with little time to spare. They took longer to knit than I had expected. Here they are, posing with (the back of) the Gnomy Hat made of the same wool. Toasty warm and comfy!



And here they are, all steam blocked and ready to be labeled for the Chilliwack Christmas Craft Fair.



The labeling. Now there is another enterprise that took longer than I expected! Still, I was done before bedtime last night and everything is packed up ready to be inspected by the Standards Committee this morning.

Gnomy Variation

This is a "Gnomy Hat". I was going to say it was child size since it doesn't even come close to fitting my fat head but I just measured the wig stand and her head measures 20 inches. According to the Craft Yarn Council of America that is the standard women's size.





The basic Gnomy Hat pattern is in Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Knitter's Almanac", page 69. Instead of inserting a ping pong ball in the tip as Elizabeth did, I extended the point some and knotted it. I knit it of hand dyed, handspun 2 ply wool. I didn't dye the wool myself, but I did spin it from purchased, sprinkle dyed roving. I combined one ply of the hand dyed and one ply of natural, brown wool.

I am also knitting a pair of thick socks from the same wool. I hope to get those completed today as they are destined for the Chilliwack Christmas Craft Fair and the guild Standards Committee must have them to "approve" by tomorrow.