As Promised

I'm back with a photo of the Ashford Blending Board I purchased at FibresWest on the weekend, and the light, fluffy skein I spun from the rolags I made on that board.



I already spun up the second batch I showed yesterday too, and I'm now on to the third, which I created this morning.. The third batch of rolags is done with the same colours and fibres as the batch from yesterday but undoubtedly in different proportions. I'm not trying to be exact here, just having fun and making novelty skeins that can be used in my weavings.



This is addicting! Is anyone surprised that I've found yet another obsession?

New Toy in the House

It's a good thing I didn't try this out last night or I never would have went to bed!



I bought an Ashford Blending Board at FibresWest yesterday, spent the evening researching "how to" videos on YouTube, and woke this morning itching to try all my ideas out. Turns out that making rolags for spinning is very addicting! And FUN!

 

I have been having a go at long draw spinning, which previously I was too intimidated to do much of, but spinning long draw from the rolags seems fairly easy. I'm probably only doing a "modified" long draw, but it sure is resulting in a nice, light, airy yarn!



I plied my singles with this sparkly thread and when I pulled the finished skein from the niddy noddy I immediately noticed that it seemed lighter than air! So much different than my usual semi-worsted style of spinning. I think I'm hooked! The finished skein is washed and hanging to dry. I'll get photos of the skein and also the new blending board tomorrow. I've already started on a second batch of rolags.

 

Vain Old Fool

I'd love it if society would allow women to be themselves, without judgment.

Later the Same Day

I did get the vacuuming done, and later cooked dinner and did the dishes and then, --- then it was finally time to PLAY!



I got the header woven to even things out, wove an inch or so in sewing thread to provide a thinner area for hemming the towels, and then KAPOW! began to experiment with colour and texture.



With the vibrant colours being used it's a fun project to weave.



Makes for some colourful pictures too, hmm?



I might have to wear sunglasses while drying my dishes with these towels!

The Call of the Warp

Today was a good day for getting warped.



As far as I know the warp went on well without any major problems, but I suppose the proof will be in the weaving!



I'm really wanting to get started, but unfortunately ---



--- some much neglected vacuuming must be done FIRST ---



--- because I know that once I start I'm not going to want to stop!

Coordinating Halves

The warp chain I made and photographed on Monday is now sleyed through the reed.



----- But I made a silly miscalculation and only had half my warp. Not wanting to repeat the same sequence for the second half I came up with an entirely different plan.

I took the same colours and arranged them in a gradually transitioning colour blend.



Should be "interesting" to see how the two ideas sit together. I think with a Saori playfulness in the weft I'll be able to make it work.

What Next?

What's up next? We shall see. Stay tuned.



Warp chain of 10/2 mercerized cotton.

Walking in the Rain

None of THAT Now.

I've been battling carpal tunnel syndrome for quite some time now. I recently had the numbness, tingling and pain in my hands evaluated by a specialist. He said it was advanced enough that it wasn't likely to heal on its own or by using wrist braces or physiotherapy. He recommended I look into having surgery. Sounded okay to me until I looked up the recovery time!

From what I've been able to find on the internet, recovery from carpal tunnel surgery takes a minimum of about 2 months and can take many months. And then there is the fact that both of my hands are involved, almost equally. It is not recommended that both hands receive surgery at the same time because then the patient is completely reliant on someone else for nearly everything. That means that after recovering from surgery on one hand I'd have to go in again for surgery on the other hand. The total recovery time for both surgeries could be a year. Whatever would I do with myself when unable to use both of my hands for that length of time?! I'd be looking at about a year of sitting idle not able to do most of my hobbies!

I decided to look into a therapy that I'd heard about several years ago. At that time acquaintances highly recommended German New Medicine for some back pain I was experiencing. While looking at practitioner Candace Brown's site I discovered she also treats Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I called her yesterday and was dismayed to find that even with her therapy she also recommends lengthy periods of refraining from repetitive movements like knitting, crocheting, hand sewing and the like. So it looks like one way or another I'm in for some long periods of time without my hobbies. ACK! I find the thought of forced abstinence from my hobbies more frightening than the surgery and the possible associated pain. What to do? What to do?!

So now I find myself wanting to knit more than ever so that I can finish up a few projects that are in progress so that I don't have a bunch of half finished items laying around causing me to fidget even more. Bit by bit I'm working on the vest I have in progress for myself.

This is the beginning of the side increases on the Drops Designs asymmetrical vest pattern.



The perfectionist in me just has to provide a disclaimer. NO, that is not terribly uneven handspun, it's commercially spun yarn that is supposed to look like --- um --- terribly uneven handspun?

It Fits!

Sara's newborn baby, John, arrived on February 15th at 12:12 am and he weighed 7lbs 11 oz.

I was concerned that I never got the little set into the mail until he was already a week old, but Sara assures me he has room to spare and it looks like it will fit until the winter weather is over.

For Me

It seems I'm in a knitting mood lately. I go in spurts like that. This time I'm knitting something for me.



Should be interesting to see how this yarn works up. It's a slubby, thick and thin single in what looks and feels like cotton but, as confirmed by a burn test, is actually some sort of synthetic,  probably acrylic. I bought an unlabelled bag of it from a clearance table when Walmart was closing out.It wove into table runners that wash up beautifully by machine. We'll see how a knit item looks and behaves.

Iceling Cardigan

Just finished a little sweater set for a friend's new baby boy.



It's the Iceling Cardigan (and hat) from a pattern designed by Carol Feller.



The only change I made to the pattern was to add the applied I-cord to the bottom edge. I only added it to hide a small mistake. I had forgotten to slip the first stitch of one of the rows and it left a bump on the lower edge.



Knit in Patons Decor (75% Acrylic, 25% Wool) so it will be easy care for the new mom.

Evolution of An Idea

Those pants I blogged about a few days ago are now part of a complete uniform. A lot of sewing has happened in between.



I started with the pants, added the basic tunic (which needed refitting!) and made the harness/belt. Once I knew everything worked and what alterations to do, I went back and altered the pattern and resewed the entire tunic.



I'm much happier with this final version. The sleeves are a full inch shorter, the body of the tunic is 1/2" shorter, and the height of the collar is reduced by 1/4". I also added one more detail ---



Zenawii is now a Lieutenant!

Free Make Over

Four year old Kenzie did my hair and makeup, picked my jewellery, told me what expression to make,
and took the picture.

It may not be the most flattering portrait ever, but a lot of love went into it.

He Has Pants

Zenawii is very happy to have his own body now and to send Patrick's home. I think he's rather pleased that his body is more muscular. He's claiming it's all that working out he does in the holodeck gym onboard the starship.

He was a bit perturbed to discover that the clothing he had use of was also Patrick's.



Lest my young granddaughters come over and see him sitting there in all his anatomically correct nakedness, I quickly sewed up a pair of pants for him.



I used the Adams-Harris pattern, "Space Cadet" and they fit like a dream!

Just --- Meh!

Here’s today’s weaving efforts:



The first scarf is off the loom and wet finished. I just realized it’s not completely finished though. I still need to weave in the tails from the hem stitching.

Overall my feeling for the finished scarf is just a non-commital “Meh!”. It doesn’t do much for me. I used a fine grey merino/silk/cashmere laceweight yarn in an effort to tone down the colour of the warp, which I was feeling was a bit too gaudy. It looked okay on the loom but when it was wet finished the cashmere in the weft bloomed rather significantly and kind of took over more than I had wished.

With that in mind I am using a fine mercerized cotton to weave off the remainder of the warp.



It’s allowing more of the original colour to show and also making for a lacier effect. I don’t know if there will be enough length here for a scarf or not. If not it will become --- um --- something else!

Eight Feet

Well I certainly didn't expect to weave as much as I did tonight. I'm finished all 8' of the scarf!



And I've used the clipping tie rod so that I could cut the first scarf off and then quickly retension the remaining warp. Not sure what that will end up being. For now it will just be "yardage".



I love the wonderful Saori innovations!

Plum Project

I signed up for a challenge on a Saori weaving thread. I vowed to weave at least a little bit every day.



As I predicted the commitment to do just a little each day has led me to weaving a LOT each day. The Saori loom makes weaving so much fun that once I get going it's hard to stop!



I really appreciate the back saving tools like the cross-holder (not pictured), the reed/harness stand, and the easily removed harnesses.



The warp for this scarf project is all from freebees I picked up at a guild exchange. The purple is three threads that were wound together into a large ball. Two of the threads are what appears to be a 2/8 cotton, the third thread is a cotton chenille I think. In addition to that ball I added in a novelty ladder yarn also picked up free at the guild exchange..



The warp was "free", but I really paid for that in a terrible mess of tangles that I had to fight with throughout the beaming on. I didn't realize when I was winding the warp, but those three purple threads were wound around each other in the ball.



For weft I am using a very fine merino/cashmere/silk from Colourmart.

Settling In To Family Life

The secondhand Fairyland Minifee Yder has arrived and is settling in nicely. He's a space travelling elf. He says his name is Zenawii but family and close friends often call him "Zen".



His sweater is still a work in progress, at chart row 50 now, but at this scale it's slow going. I'm usually only able to manage a couple of rows a day. Luckily Zenawii seems to be a very patient guy as he's also waiting on a wig and a body of his own. The ones he's currently using are borrowed.



His gradual, piece by piece arrival doesn't seem to have prevented him from settling in with his family but I think next time he'll request that he be beamed planetside all at once rather than a bit at a time!

Progress is Slow

Work on the miniaturized Armas sweater is slow. I can usually only manage 2 rows per sitting.



I'm as far as row 29 on the chart.



The colour of the handspun yarn is most accurately represented in the next picture.



I am beginning to have hope that the cables will actually show once the work is complete and blocked.