Fiddliness Factor

These are the hardest things I have ever knit.



Well, maybe getting the "Feather and Fan Shawl" from "A Gathering Of Lace" started was equally difficult.

I have so much trouble starting a circular item in the middle! It's not that I don't understand what needs to be done, it's the Fiddliness Factor. All those points flying about for so few stitches! These little heads (were you wondering what they were?) start off with just 9 stitches. That's just 3 per needle. Just when you think all is going well a needle falls out or twists around backward.

Normally I knit circularly using one long circular and the Magic Loop technique. Didn't work for this. I then tried wooden skewers. Nope. I finally broke down and bought a set of double points. With those, and a diagram I drew for myself showing the placement of the increases on each needle, I was well on my way. The second and third heads took less time together than the first one did.

After I get a couple more bodies done I'll be able to show you what I'm up to. Oh...and wings. Did I mention wings?

Wee Wascally Wabbit

This little fellow was started many months ago and then abandoned when the head went terribly wrong. His forehead was really tall and totally out of proportion for the rest of his face.

I taught a needle felting class for a few guild members this afternoon and while the others were working on the heads for their little jointed bears I gave "Wascally" some needed head surgery. I chopped off the top of his head, removed some length and then needle felted it back together again.



I think he turned out quite cute.



He's a wee little fellow, only one and a half inches to the top of his head when seated in that position. That's a standard keyboard he's sitting on.



Lying down he's three inches from nose to toes.

Visiting Bug

So I'm spinning away last night, my eyes more on a TV program than on the roving sliding through my hands, when suddenly in my drafting hand I feel something small, cold, and moist. I look down and find this little critter....



Normally I'm not afraid of pill/sow bugs. In fact I'm fond of the little fellows. I even recall reading a short story to my children that had a pill bug as it's hero. Finding one riding along on my wool roving was a little unnerving though. My first thought was "Do pill bugs eat wool?!" and the second was "How did it get in my wool?". I went scurrying to the computer to look up the subject and be sure that they are indeed the innocent, friendly bugs I had always assumed. I found THIS. What does the phrase "eating both dead and live plant and animal debris.", mean to you? Would you say that clean wool roving would be considered "animal debris"? Would a pill/sow bug seek it out as food or was it just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?

To avoid uninvited guests I am relatively careful about not leaving any sort of wool directly touching the floor. My full bobbins are kept up off the floor on a little table. My plastic basket of rovings has a solid bottom and sides that are solid for an inch or so. Last night however, I had predrafted a length of roving and that one section was on the floor beside me as I spun. Do you think the little bug just hitched a ride with no intent to stay around for dinner? I hope so. I treated it as innocent until proven guilty and tossed it into the compost pile along with the combing waste you see in the picture.

Go see!

I had a VERY exciting day! Via modern technology I got to "see" our first grandchild. Wow! Absolutely amazing! We saw "it" (won't be told the sex until the next doctor's appointment) so clearly. He/she hiccupped, swallowed and "yawned" and smacked his/her lips and we could see it all.

I am SO glad I had the opportunity to be present. Live and in person you see so much more than the printed out scans can show. Our daughter has the scan photo up on her blog. The baby is even decked out in his/her first Hallowe'en costume. Go see!

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!



For several years now my husband and I have not bothered to carve a pumpkin. We had a "flaming" electric pumpkin that skrieked "Happy Hallowe'en!" and we put that out each year, but with the "kids" all grown no one wanted to bother with the mess and fuss of carving a Jack-o-Lantern.

Now with a little grandchild on the way we have to get in practice for such things again. I picked up a pumpkin yesterday and gutted it while I cooked dinner. Funny how such things don't take nearly so long, nor seem quite as messy as I recall. Perhaps it's the absence of little "helpers"?

Shelby doesn't bother to help. She prefers to supervise.

Opinions Please

About a week ago I finished the spindled hat I am making for the contest. Actually, I "finished" it several times that day, and each time ripped out what I had done and tried something new. At various points it has had beads, a flared brim, a topknot, embroidery and "couched unspun roving". I keep coming back to simple. I guess I am just not into a lot of "bling" and fussiness.





So I'd like your opinion. Do you thing it still needs something? Should I lose the picot hem? Should I add on a few more inches to create a fold back brim? Any other ideas?

Progress Post

The spindle spun hat is progressing nicely, albeit slowly. It has occurred to me that I have never before spun for an article AS it was being made. Usually, so that I am sure I have enough, I spin the entire project's worth before beginning to knit/crochet. Hats don't take much yarn and I know I have way more than enough of the purple/pink rovings to make the hat so I am spinning as I go. One or two more cop's worth should just about do it. Cop #2 took me through rows 15 through 27 and I have about 10 more (ever expanding) rows to go.

My husband's handspun pullover is also seeing some progress. The front and back are complete. I'm working on the neckband now and it's looking really nice. I'll be working the sleeves from the top down so that I can customize the length to his preference.

So that the spinning of the grey NZ fleece can continue in the evenings, I have been combing the wool each afternoon for a couple of hours. I find that the combing and the spinning tend to take and equal amount of time. If I comb for two hours I will have enough wool prepared so that I can spin for two hours.

Big Belly Alert

If you're a regular reader here I'm sure you've noticed the grand-baby due date "ticker" at the top of my blog. Want to see how things are progressing? Check out the big belly picture!

One Cop Skein

That first cop off the spindle made a much larger skein than I expected......49.5 metres of 3 ply (Navajo plyed) worsted weight in a lovely soft variety of pinks/blues/purples.



I've got a good start on the hat for the contest. With that first cop's worth I got the entire crown and a few rows down the sides of a crocheted hat completed. Spindling up the next cop tonight.

Spindling Again

Maggie has inspired me to pick up my spindle again.



I only spindle for brief periods of time...usually while I am watching for a pot to come to a boil or something...so we'll just have to wait and see if it amounts to enough to enter this contest.

Charity Toque

For non-Canadians, a toque is "a close-fitting knitted hat, often with a tassel or pompom on the crown." At Rabbitch's request this one is destined for Vancouver.



The hat is not as big as it at first might appear. The model is a bit of a pin-head.

Lace Rides Bear Back

The last of the handspun, laceweight llama made into yet another "Modified Branching Out".





As you may recall I made the first in the natural butterscotch color. I then made some modifications to the pattern and overdyed the second (shown here on the left) scarf with "scarlet" dye. This third one has been overdyed with "black", but turned out the rather pretty chocolate brown you see here on the right.

The cute bear bench modeling the scarves was a joint effort of my mom and her husband. He is the woodworker and she does the painting. Nice pairing of hobbies hey? The bench is meant to be a patio item but it has been in the house ever since we got it. It is actually part of a set. There are two baby bear "rail sitters" but my husband has to do some modifications to the handrail of our deck before they can be displayed properly.

Going For The Masters

While on the surface it may not seem like a lot is going on around here,(no posts for five days, no news of finished objects) I have been madly working away behind the scene. I've been spinning, and knitting, and knitting, and knitting.....and frogging. A lot of frogging. A lot of reknitting. And frogging again. All that frogging doesn't leave a lot to take pictures of or blog about!

What have I been knitting and frogging? Swatches. The same ones. Repeatedly. I've begun my quest for my Master Knitter's Certification through TKGA and I'm not making it easy on myself. I start and restart, finish something then reevaluate and frog. Many, many hours later I still only have the first 3 swatches done and I'm still looking at those ones thinking I could somehow do better.

Even though I haven't taken the time to post about it, there has been ONE (non-Master's related) finished object in that time period. I finished yet another of the "Modified Branching Out" lace scarves, and with that came to the end of the laceweight llama I had spun. This last scarf was dyed black.....but came out a lovely, deep chocolate brown. I'll try to get a picture of that up soon.

I've also picked up my husband's handspun pullover again and I'm making decent progress on that. The front is done and blocked and I'm past the underarms on the back. It's looking really nice. Yes, yes....photos, I'll get to that...soon.

Definitely Biased

I've knit up a swatch of the handspun 3ply from the NZ fleece. Even though the finished skein hung in a very balanced and well behaved way, the swatch is showing a definite bias.



I didn't stretch it this way. I only pinned down the corners, as is, so that I could take the picture. Afterward it was tugged and pinned into submission.

I have my eye on an intricately patterned vest for this yarn, but it will have to wait. I have too many projects on the needles as it is.

First Skein

It's soft!

You may recall that I was a little concerned when the huge tsunami sized wave of wool I was given seemed to be spinning up rather coarse despite the "fluff" itself seeming nice and soft. Well lucky for me the coarse feeling in the singles goes away when it is plyed and washed. It's now quite lovely.



The first 3 ply skein weighs in at a whopping 165 g, is 301 m in length, and measures about 15 WPI, which is somewhere between a sports and fingering weight yarn.

This fleece has a beautiful sheen and subtle variations in color. Combing it seems to make the most of the color variation with the resulting 3 ply becoming a lovely merle. I think it will make a gorgeous, light weight sweater. Something quite plain perhaps to showcase the pretty handspun wool? For a start anyway. 5 pounds will go a long way.

Spinning Beginning

While the good weather lasts I'm trying to keep to a schedule of combing wool in the afternoon and spinning the results in the evening. The little combed bundles go a suprisingly long way. Even if the weather stayed mild all winter and I was able to comb wool outside every single day and spin every single night, I'm guessing this huge tsunami of wool would last me several months. At least.



Although the wool feels soft and the combed bundles feel relatively soft, I'm finding it actually feels kind of coarse while it's being spun. (?!) I intend to do a little bit of experimenting. The first few nights I'm going to concentrate on spinning quite fine. With the long fibers I find this quite easy to do.



I'll then ply three singles together, skein it, wash it, and see what kind of results I have. I'll also do some up thicker and see what kind of effect that produces. I have found that not every wool that CAN be spun thin, should be. One batch of wool I experimented with recently was much nicer done a bit thick. It's just that I prefer to spin thin because I prefer to KNIT thinner yarns too. I also find heavier socks/sweaters too hot to be practical.

The little bunnies peeking out below my bobbin in the above picture? It's these two cuties.



There were part of my gift bag from the annual Ryder Lake Spin-In. I've got the chime part loosely tied together so that they tinkle a bit as I spin.

Tsunami of Wool

Just when I thought I had a good start on "bailing the boat", I've been swamped by another wave! This one is a tsunami.

The last week or so I have been valiantly trying to make some headway with my overly long project list. I have numerous WIPS (works in progress), must dos, and things not yet started but with deadlines looming. These unfinished projects are not all knitting.

I've been trying to work my way through my spinnable stash. You may recall that last year, when I first learned to spin, a fair bit of wool found it's way to me. I've been working ever since at spinning my way through it all. Here and there more wool has been added and I never seem to get to the bottom of it all. Last week I set a goal to have it all spun up by Fibrefest next April. I was not going to buy another roving or lock of wool until I reached the end of what I had.

This morning I innocently went to the guild room to ask a few questions and check out a book. I ended up going home with a large bag of grey, New Zealand fleece. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

The fleece was sent from NZ to Nanaimo, BC in the 1970's! Still unwashed and in it's shipping wrapper after 30 years it was rather "ripe" so I took Betty's advice and washed it immediately. It is gorgeous! Soft, super long fibers, nice crimp, and virtually NO VM (vegetable matter).



After it's bath it weighs around 5 pounds. To give you an idea of the volume, it's lying on a flat, queen sized bedsheet, and that's a green pillowcase lying on the ground in the top right hand corner of the picture.




The fleece was free, requiring only a $5 donation to the guild. Would you have walked away?

I'm "bailing the boat" again.

Smile Cultivator

KnitnZu asked, "What is a smile cultivator?". I would imagine her question is in response to my listed occupation on my profile page.

A Smile Cultivator (capital letters for this very important position) sows seeds of inner joy, contentment, and peace first within themselves, then in their own home, and eventually their joy overflows and a radiant smile spills out onto all they come in contact with. The result is spontaneous return smiles, which in turn creates more inner joy, more contentment, and more peace. I'm changing the world, one smile at a time.

Smile Cultivator is the best occupation there is. You don't have to be hired, you cannot be fired. There is no job interview. You just look in the mirror in the morning, say "serenity", and leave that curve on your lips. Try it. I think you will find that the world smiles back at you.

Miffed About Muffin

My daughter had a staff dinner to attend last night. Her husband was working out of town for the weekend so she asked me to attend with her. I am honored and delighted that she thinks enough of me to introduce me to her bosses and co-workers. She allowed me to step into her "other world" for a few hours.

It reminds me of a conversation we had when she was younger. She had commented how it felt weird when any of her family members would show up at school, or at a job site and her worlds would collide. She wasn't complaining, it was just a comment about how you expect different people to be in different places and when one or the other shows up "misplaced" it feels odd. Like meeting your school teacher in the grocery store.

Anyway, while we were gone Monkey entertained our dog, Shelby. Or vice versa? Monkey was a little miffed that we were out having steak dinner while all he got was a leftover muffin.



Well Monkey shouldn't have complained, we found out this morning that Shelby was not fed at all!

Branching Out Fisherman Style

My second Branching Out scarf, this one also done in handspun, laceweight llama. I've dyed the naturally butterscotch colored llama yarn with "Scarlet" dye and it came out this lovely brick red.



In this second picture the camera flash intensified the color too much. The actual color is more like the first picture.



Neither picture is clearly showing the detail of the modified center portion. It turned out really well, solving the problem of the "V" at the usual cast on end of this pattern. In fact, with the lace pattern pulling at either end of the center ribbed portion it makes a lovely curved start to the lace.

I finished both ends of the scarf with a hybrid crocheted cast off. It's sort of like the "crochet bind-off" described on page 84 of "Reader's Digest Knitter's Handbook" by Montse Stanley except that I decided I like the extra stretch that more of a single crochet effect gave. It's still not the "single crochet bind-off" from page 85 of the same book. It's somewhere between the two, my own invention. It gave a nice neat cast off edge with plenty of stretch for blocking the scarf.