OK, so I'm finally trying to catch up on my blogs, and was a bit oblivious that I was tagged! Sorry Annalea, I'll use that it was early in the morning as my excuse :-D Oh, and happy belated birthday!
The details are that I'm supposed to find 3 events, 2 births, and 1 holiday on my birthday
So, I just went to Wikipedia for my birthday -- Nov 24:
Events:
1859 - Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.
1947 - Red Scare: After refusing to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of Communist influence in the movie industry, the United States House of Representatives votes 346 to 17 to approve citations of contempt of Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10.
1963 - John F. Kennedy assassination: Alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is mortally shot by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas on live national television.
I'll admit, I already knew about the last one. As a history major in college (I know from history major to professional computer geek, now to a budding yarn artist... it's a weird path!) Don't ask me why I picked the Red Scare... I guess because I always think of it as one of the darker moments in our nations history, when the government decided they knew better than our founding fathers. It seemed an appropriate reminder considering how some in our current government seem to be approaching their positions as well...
And, well, to be honest, I just thought it was cool that I was born on the same day that Origin of the Species was published! :-D
Births (I picked the only two, other than a former president, that I recognized!):
1690 - Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (d. 1750)
1864 - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (d. 1901)
One Holiday: Well, this one is actually deceptive. I've had WAY too many birthdays on Thanksgiving to not at least mention that one. But technically, it doesn't qualify because it's not on the same day every year, so here's an "official" one!
Roman festivals - in the Byzantine empire the Brumalia (a wine festival) were celebrated from this day until the winter solstice
I'll go tag a few blogs in the am, but didn't want Annalea thinking I was ignoring her!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
I know -- shocking -- an actual post!
OK, so as someone just pointed out to me, I am WAYYYYYYY..... far behind on posting. And I think it's because I'm so far behind that I've been avoiding it! It was just too daunting of a task. So I've decided that, over the next week, I'm going to catch up! Even if it's only a short post, I will post every day, until I'm caught up.
So, the question becomes, what have I been doing that's got me so busy? Well, you can see the link to the right! That's right, I've started an Etsy store. And I'll soon be expanding to Hyenacart as well.
I'm really excited about hyenacart because I'm not going it alone there... We are going to be the Tiny Lady Cooperative. Our store will be a combination of all three of our work... not really a congo, but not an individual store either. Somewhere in between :-D. We are doing this, figuring "safety in numbers"! For those of you interested to see our new site, it's here:
http://hyenacart.com/tinyladycooperative
We don't have any stock, but I think the site is almost completely set up for the look of it. I'd love to hear opinions! The only thing to add is a link to our Yahoo group mailing list, which I'm hoping to have time to do sometime today. This way, people will get notified of our official opening date (once we settle on one! Right now, we are shooting for mid to end of July), stockings, promotions, etc.
So, let's try and catch up on the "good stuff" now, shall we? Hmmm... where did we leave off? Oh yeah, the Icarus Shawl... which, btw, I LOVE and wear whenever I can get an excuse! :-D
Well, since I've been doing more spinning and dyeing, and the spinning takes less time to update, lets start with that! First, I FINALLY finished Pomegranite. And YES, this is the plied version! It is THAT thin...
My guestimate yardage is 1750 yards out of 6 oz. I did figure out the wpi, but can't remember right now, I'll edit later with that. Let's just say ALOT! LOL
What am I going to do with it? Well, I'm still doing a bit of debate since I haven't gotten very far, but I was planning on doing a BEAUTIFUL shawl from Victorian Lace Today -- "A Knitted Veil" (Here's a wonderful picture of one finished: www.flickr.com/photos/fanihi/405729425/ ). But I think I might be getting just a BIT over my head with this one... It isn't the design... I'm comfortable with the intricacy of the lace, if I was using a fingering... it's this yarn! It's SO thin, that I'm having a hard time just doing the k2tog's and ssk's. So I'm considering ripping out the tiny amount I've done so far and switch to Eunny Jang's "Print o' the Wave". Not that it's easy, but it's a tad easier than the other, and I can practice working with this thin of a yarn with something a bit less overwhelming first... We'll see. My knitting time has been so limited lately that I haven't touched it in almost a month! Which is unheard of for me b/c I love to knit lace!
Next up, I finished the Zen String fiber club "Fiore" that you saw in the previous post. Here are a few pictures of it finished:
and a closeup:
You'll notice there is more than 4 oz there! That's because Angelina had a contest -- whoever the first three were to finish 2 oz of Pomegranite, she'd do a drawing for a winner of 8 oz. Well, there were only ever two of us, so instead she VERY generously offered to just split the 8oz between us, so I got 4oz free! YAY! And as you can see, it turned out wonderfully! I don't remember the yardage or wpi right now, so again, I'll update later.
And, finally, I never got to put a picture of the fiber. I just couldn't get a picture that did it justice, and, well the trend continues with the yarn... However, here's what I was able to take:
and
They really don't show all the colors! There are more variations of purples and blues that just don't seem to show up in any photo I take! So this is what you get. I'll check on the yardage and wpi for this one as well. This one also has an assigned project already -- a hat and mittens for Cassie! The colors are just perfect for her (she always looks great in blues!) and her winter coat, which is lavendar.
And finally, a little clue in on my newest project. I'm trying something VERY different. Here's a photo of my sample that I made:
I've finished the first 4 oz, and I probably have enough thin at this point for it. But I want to finish all the Rambouillet I've already got combed (remember the fluff balls?) before I ply.
And finally, I still need to take a picture of this past month's Fiber club -- it is SO cool! Bright cheery colors. I'm still deciding on the approach I want to take for that one. :-D I'll take a picture and post that next.
OK, I've done a decent amount today... tomorrow, I'm going hit knitting, just because it's pretty easy. I haven't finished much! Then, the big task -- my newest dyeing obsession! :-D
Enjoy!
So, the question becomes, what have I been doing that's got me so busy? Well, you can see the link to the right! That's right, I've started an Etsy store. And I'll soon be expanding to Hyenacart as well.
I'm really excited about hyenacart because I'm not going it alone there... We are going to be the Tiny Lady Cooperative. Our store will be a combination of all three of our work... not really a congo, but not an individual store either. Somewhere in between :-D. We are doing this, figuring "safety in numbers"! For those of you interested to see our new site, it's here:
http://hyenacart.com/tinyladycooperative
We don't have any stock, but I think the site is almost completely set up for the look of it. I'd love to hear opinions! The only thing to add is a link to our Yahoo group mailing list, which I'm hoping to have time to do sometime today. This way, people will get notified of our official opening date (once we settle on one! Right now, we are shooting for mid to end of July), stockings, promotions, etc.
So, let's try and catch up on the "good stuff" now, shall we? Hmmm... where did we leave off? Oh yeah, the Icarus Shawl... which, btw, I LOVE and wear whenever I can get an excuse! :-D
Well, since I've been doing more spinning and dyeing, and the spinning takes less time to update, lets start with that! First, I FINALLY finished Pomegranite. And YES, this is the plied version! It is THAT thin...
My guestimate yardage is 1750 yards out of 6 oz. I did figure out the wpi, but can't remember right now, I'll edit later with that. Let's just say ALOT! LOL
What am I going to do with it? Well, I'm still doing a bit of debate since I haven't gotten very far, but I was planning on doing a BEAUTIFUL shawl from Victorian Lace Today -- "A Knitted Veil" (Here's a wonderful picture of one finished: www.flickr.com/photos/fanihi/405729425/ ). But I think I might be getting just a BIT over my head with this one... It isn't the design... I'm comfortable with the intricacy of the lace, if I was using a fingering... it's this yarn! It's SO thin, that I'm having a hard time just doing the k2tog's and ssk's. So I'm considering ripping out the tiny amount I've done so far and switch to Eunny Jang's "Print o' the Wave". Not that it's easy, but it's a tad easier than the other, and I can practice working with this thin of a yarn with something a bit less overwhelming first... We'll see. My knitting time has been so limited lately that I haven't touched it in almost a month! Which is unheard of for me b/c I love to knit lace!
Next up, I finished the Zen String fiber club "Fiore" that you saw in the previous post. Here are a few pictures of it finished:
and a closeup:
You'll notice there is more than 4 oz there! That's because Angelina had a contest -- whoever the first three were to finish 2 oz of Pomegranite, she'd do a drawing for a winner of 8 oz. Well, there were only ever two of us, so instead she VERY generously offered to just split the 8oz between us, so I got 4oz free! YAY! And as you can see, it turned out wonderfully! I don't remember the yardage or wpi right now, so again, I'll update later.
And, finally, I never got to put a picture of the fiber. I just couldn't get a picture that did it justice, and, well the trend continues with the yarn... However, here's what I was able to take:
and
They really don't show all the colors! There are more variations of purples and blues that just don't seem to show up in any photo I take! So this is what you get. I'll check on the yardage and wpi for this one as well. This one also has an assigned project already -- a hat and mittens for Cassie! The colors are just perfect for her (she always looks great in blues!) and her winter coat, which is lavendar.
And finally, a little clue in on my newest project. I'm trying something VERY different. Here's a photo of my sample that I made:
I've finished the first 4 oz, and I probably have enough thin at this point for it. But I want to finish all the Rambouillet I've already got combed (remember the fluff balls?) before I ply.
And finally, I still need to take a picture of this past month's Fiber club -- it is SO cool! Bright cheery colors. I'm still deciding on the approach I want to take for that one. :-D I'll take a picture and post that next.
OK, I've done a decent amount today... tomorrow, I'm going hit knitting, just because it's pretty easy. I haven't finished much! Then, the big task -- my newest dyeing obsession! :-D
Enjoy!
Monday, May 28, 2007
I'm a dyeing maniac!
I know I'm a bad blogger. I'm so far behind on posting, but I've been WAY too busy lately. Of course, a lot of it is of my own creation, so I can't complain.
First, Pomegranite is almost done! It just needs to be plied. But I wasn't going to take another picture of singles, so you'll have to wait until it's finished. I'm afraid to ask how many yards it's going to be!
ALso, I've gone a little berzerk with the dyeing thing. I'm just having so much fun with it! But it begs the question, what the heck am I going to do with all of it. Well, I decided to try and put some of it up on etsy to see if any of it will sell. We'll see. Eventually, I'd like to set up something on hyenacart, but I'd like to do that right, so it'll take a bit longer. So in the mean time, etsy it is!
I've uploaded all the pictures, but it's late and I my husband is pestering me that it's time to go to bed. So hopefully I'll have time to add them to an entry tomorrow. But in the mean time, just wander over to my flicker photos to see, if you'd like. Or, you can go to Etsy!
Good night :-D
First, Pomegranite is almost done! It just needs to be plied. But I wasn't going to take another picture of singles, so you'll have to wait until it's finished. I'm afraid to ask how many yards it's going to be!
ALso, I've gone a little berzerk with the dyeing thing. I'm just having so much fun with it! But it begs the question, what the heck am I going to do with all of it. Well, I decided to try and put some of it up on etsy to see if any of it will sell. We'll see. Eventually, I'd like to set up something on hyenacart, but I'd like to do that right, so it'll take a bit longer. So in the mean time, etsy it is!
I've uploaded all the pictures, but it's late and I my husband is pestering me that it's time to go to bed. So hopefully I'll have time to add them to an entry tomorrow. But in the mean time, just wander over to my flicker photos to see, if you'd like. Or, you can go to Etsy!
Good night :-D
Monday, May 14, 2007
Fire Spirit - Icarus Shawl
Well, I finally finished it! I completed the knitting on Saturday and blocked it Saturday night. Just in time so I could wear it for Mother's Day! :-D I was so proud of it. Here are a few photos. Oh, and notice I included the backyard in the background. Just to prove it isn't usually underwater! Plus, you can kind of see our new "addition" to the yard that my daughter is currently obsessed with! LOL
The preblocked size was 25" x 50" and the final blocked dimensions are 32" x 66". Plus, I still have quite a bit of yarn left, so I'd guess I used about 7 oz of yarn (I really need to get a scale!)
In addition, I just finished a sophie purse from Magknits (http://www.magknits.com/warm04/patterns/sophie.htm) that I made for Cassie. But it still needs a tad more blocking, so I'm holding off on the photo. But in the mean time, it did help me discover one thing. Felted wool would make AWESOME oven mitt. How do I know this? Well, I decided to try and iron out some of the wrinkles, figuring it'd have the dual purpose of making the felted fabric a bit smoother too. Since I couldn't get the purse opening over the end of the ironing board, I ended up ironing it... well, on my hand! I stuck my hand in and proceeded to iron. And it worked great! Plus, I could barely feel the iron through the fabric... amazing!
Other than that, I'm still working my way through the Pomegranite. It's slow going b/c I'm making it laceweight, plus I was spending most of my time finishing up the shawl... Hopefully I'll have more time this week and can finish it up by the end of the week.
Next up is a "cleanup round". I have several projects floating around in various states of incompletion. So I'm going to go around, collect them, and hopefully finish some of them up. By then, I should be finished with the Pomegranite and ready to start on the next fiber (probably a worsted weight Fiore BFL, then some white fingering merino tencel I got to make a shawl for my mom). We shall see...
That's it for now. Just wanted to post the pictures of Icarus now that it's finished!
The preblocked size was 25" x 50" and the final blocked dimensions are 32" x 66". Plus, I still have quite a bit of yarn left, so I'd guess I used about 7 oz of yarn (I really need to get a scale!)
In addition, I just finished a sophie purse from Magknits (http://www.magknits.com/warm04/patterns/sophie.htm) that I made for Cassie. But it still needs a tad more blocking, so I'm holding off on the photo. But in the mean time, it did help me discover one thing. Felted wool would make AWESOME oven mitt. How do I know this? Well, I decided to try and iron out some of the wrinkles, figuring it'd have the dual purpose of making the felted fabric a bit smoother too. Since I couldn't get the purse opening over the end of the ironing board, I ended up ironing it... well, on my hand! I stuck my hand in and proceeded to iron. And it worked great! Plus, I could barely feel the iron through the fabric... amazing!
Other than that, I'm still working my way through the Pomegranite. It's slow going b/c I'm making it laceweight, plus I was spending most of my time finishing up the shawl... Hopefully I'll have more time this week and can finish it up by the end of the week.
Next up is a "cleanup round". I have several projects floating around in various states of incompletion. So I'm going to go around, collect them, and hopefully finish some of them up. By then, I should be finished with the Pomegranite and ready to start on the next fiber (probably a worsted weight Fiore BFL, then some white fingering merino tencel I got to make a shawl for my mom). We shall see...
That's it for now. Just wanted to post the pictures of Icarus now that it's finished!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
Warning -- the following is photo heavy!
Yes, I know I'm WAY behind in posting this. But between catching up from being gone, helping out a friend who's under the weather, and playing with a new toy -- well, I've been a little distracted!
(Oh, and before I start -- Kristen, if you are reading this, yes, it'll sound familiar... I copied alot from my summary to you for this entry to save time!)
Well, since it finally stopped raining (there were 2 more deluges after the one mentioned in the previously -- bringing us to a sum total of about 12.5 inches of rain in less than 4 weeks!), we were able to go to MSWF without any concerns of more flooding!
How was MSWF? It was wonderful! Cassie and Mike also had a great time. Mike even said he'd like to make this a yearly trip! :-D We'll see how he feels when we get closer to the event next year. The cutest was Cassie's obsession with all the animals! Saturday, she was obsessed with the "baa" She seriously spend over 3 hours (off and on) in the barns alone! Poor Mike was probably sick of the smell of sheep by the end :-D. Along with a cute little girl, I've included many pictures of fuzzy sheep for Kristen -- who wanted to go so she could hug sheep -- but couldn't b/c of work obligations... :(
BTW, it's hard to tell in the photo, but the black sheep in the last photo are some of the most beautiful sheep I've ever seen!
Sunday, Cassie switched her interest to "pacas", which was nice b/c of course they are outdoors There were 3 different vendors she focused on -- 2 w/ actual alpacas, 1 w/ llamas (at first they were the same to her, but by the end she was telling the difference :-D). In between she also enjoyed the Angora goats (which she thought were baa's as well) and "hops" (angora rabbits). She even got to feed the llamas at one point -- she loved it and couldn't stop giggling! She just kept wanting to feed them more -- if she had her way, we would have spent the entire day standing there just feeding the llamas!
We also got to see the sheep dog show, which she had fun at too... That show was just so cool -- it's amazing what they can do with those dogs (border collies in this case).
The only part that I thought she'd like that she was unimpressed with was the storyteller. Mike took her over b/c it was right before my class, and he said she was completely bored by it...
What did I do? Well, I just spent the entire time drooling over all the beautiful yarn and fiber. Interestingly, there was much more yarn here than at Rhinebeck (the only other Festival I've attended). And, of course, there was a huge line outside of The Fold again for the "socks that rock" yarn.
But I have to say -- the one thing they do much better at MSWF is selling the vendors' whole fleeces. Instead of each vendor having their fleece piled around their all their various stalls, they have a corner of the main building that is dedicated to fleeces. They are all separated out into their different types (fine wools, long wools, primitive breeds, etc) so you can look at them all in one spot. And there is a group of volunteers who just handle the sales of those. And let me tell you -- there were some beautiful fleeces there! I was tempted to get one, but I still have one that I've barely started. But as long as I finish the one I have, I think I'll just wait until I get there to buy one next year...
The other thing I did was the class with Judith MacKenzie McCuin, "Spinning a Fine Thread". Which was WONDERFUL!! I learned so much in that class! All sorts of tricks for being able to spin really fine. I actually got down to the thickness of cobweb weight at one point (even plied!) Of course, it's like the story of the fish that was "THIS BIG!" I have lost the samples in transit. However, I still had a reasonable amount on the bobbin. And they are still definitely lace weight -- about 40wpi plied. The left one is silk, the right one is a merino:
I'm not sure I'll be spinning a large amount in that weight anytime soon, but it was kind of cool that I could do it! :-D She also showed us tons of other stuff. Including a great way to wash fleece while still preserving the locks that is much easier than what I've been doing.
Also, I learned a great trick for working with silk. Usually silk, especially bombyx silk, drives me crazy b/c it just constantly catches on my hands? So she had me rub lemon juice (from a freshly sliced lemon) all over my hands. Once it was dry, I was able to spin bombyx silk top w/o a problem! It was amazing...
But because of that, my only real fiber purchase was a small package of dyed silk hankies. If you remember right, Sarah had sent me a few undyed back a while ago, and I had fun with them. So I figured I'd try out a small package of dyed (only 1/2 oz).
You might ask -- why so conservative on purchases? Well.... My special treat was actually my Mother's Day gift from Cassie and Mike -- a pair of Indigo Hound English Combs! Only I would be asking for something that could be used as a lethal weapon for my mother's day gift! :-D
Why did I want combs? Well, as I'm sure you can tell by the class I took, my newest enjoyment is fine spinning... and one of the things I learned in that class -- it's amazing the difference that fresh combed top makes! Either directly from the fleece, or if you want to blend fibers...
Don't get me wrong -- I'll still card certain fleeces -- such as the CVM fleece I got a few months ago. I'd still like to try and make it into a sweater for Mike. But the 1 lb of Polwarth that I still have left from Rhinebeck last fall is definitely going to be combed! And now that the weather is nicer (and I know an easier way to wash fleece w/o worrying about felting it!), I should be able to start working on them.
The only down side? No maple cotton candy! :( But at least they had funnel cakes!
Finally, not to be outdone... I got my second Zen String April Fiber Club. As always, it is beautiful!
4 oz of BFL in the Fiore colorway. I still haven't completely decided how I want to spin this one, but I'm leaning towards a worsted or heavy worsted to give the colors a chance to stand out a little more since they are lighter. It'd make a beautiful pair of shorts for Cassie! We'll see if I can get it done in time to still need shorts! Ahhh... so much fiber, so little time! But what a wonderful problem to have...
Oh, and I can't forget one of the reasons I was so delayed in posting... I was playing with my combs. One of the fun treasures I got to take with me from the class was a reasonably large sized chunk of raw Ramboullet fleece. So I washed it using my newfound method (involving a crockpot and cooking the locks like they were asparagus), which worked perfectly! Then I used my combs last night to create these:
I know, not much, but I'm still learning. Combs are definitely not as easy as they look!
Well, if you made it through this entire post -- I'm impressed! But it was nice to rave about the festival...
Yes, I know I'm WAY behind in posting this. But between catching up from being gone, helping out a friend who's under the weather, and playing with a new toy -- well, I've been a little distracted!
(Oh, and before I start -- Kristen, if you are reading this, yes, it'll sound familiar... I copied alot from my summary to you for this entry to save time!)
Well, since it finally stopped raining (there were 2 more deluges after the one mentioned in the previously -- bringing us to a sum total of about 12.5 inches of rain in less than 4 weeks!), we were able to go to MSWF without any concerns of more flooding!
How was MSWF? It was wonderful! Cassie and Mike also had a great time. Mike even said he'd like to make this a yearly trip! :-D We'll see how he feels when we get closer to the event next year. The cutest was Cassie's obsession with all the animals! Saturday, she was obsessed with the "baa" She seriously spend over 3 hours (off and on) in the barns alone! Poor Mike was probably sick of the smell of sheep by the end :-D. Along with a cute little girl, I've included many pictures of fuzzy sheep for Kristen -- who wanted to go so she could hug sheep -- but couldn't b/c of work obligations... :(
BTW, it's hard to tell in the photo, but the black sheep in the last photo are some of the most beautiful sheep I've ever seen!
Sunday, Cassie switched her interest to "pacas", which was nice b/c of course they are outdoors There were 3 different vendors she focused on -- 2 w/ actual alpacas, 1 w/ llamas (at first they were the same to her, but by the end she was telling the difference :-D). In between she also enjoyed the Angora goats (which she thought were baa's as well) and "hops" (angora rabbits). She even got to feed the llamas at one point -- she loved it and couldn't stop giggling! She just kept wanting to feed them more -- if she had her way, we would have spent the entire day standing there just feeding the llamas!
We also got to see the sheep dog show, which she had fun at too... That show was just so cool -- it's amazing what they can do with those dogs (border collies in this case).
The only part that I thought she'd like that she was unimpressed with was the storyteller. Mike took her over b/c it was right before my class, and he said she was completely bored by it...
What did I do? Well, I just spent the entire time drooling over all the beautiful yarn and fiber. Interestingly, there was much more yarn here than at Rhinebeck (the only other Festival I've attended). And, of course, there was a huge line outside of The Fold again for the "socks that rock" yarn.
But I have to say -- the one thing they do much better at MSWF is selling the vendors' whole fleeces. Instead of each vendor having their fleece piled around their all their various stalls, they have a corner of the main building that is dedicated to fleeces. They are all separated out into their different types (fine wools, long wools, primitive breeds, etc) so you can look at them all in one spot. And there is a group of volunteers who just handle the sales of those. And let me tell you -- there were some beautiful fleeces there! I was tempted to get one, but I still have one that I've barely started. But as long as I finish the one I have, I think I'll just wait until I get there to buy one next year...
The other thing I did was the class with Judith MacKenzie McCuin, "Spinning a Fine Thread". Which was WONDERFUL!! I learned so much in that class! All sorts of tricks for being able to spin really fine. I actually got down to the thickness of cobweb weight at one point (even plied!) Of course, it's like the story of the fish that was "THIS BIG!" I have lost the samples in transit. However, I still had a reasonable amount on the bobbin. And they are still definitely lace weight -- about 40wpi plied. The left one is silk, the right one is a merino:
I'm not sure I'll be spinning a large amount in that weight anytime soon, but it was kind of cool that I could do it! :-D She also showed us tons of other stuff. Including a great way to wash fleece while still preserving the locks that is much easier than what I've been doing.
Also, I learned a great trick for working with silk. Usually silk, especially bombyx silk, drives me crazy b/c it just constantly catches on my hands? So she had me rub lemon juice (from a freshly sliced lemon) all over my hands. Once it was dry, I was able to spin bombyx silk top w/o a problem! It was amazing...
But because of that, my only real fiber purchase was a small package of dyed silk hankies. If you remember right, Sarah had sent me a few undyed back a while ago, and I had fun with them. So I figured I'd try out a small package of dyed (only 1/2 oz).
You might ask -- why so conservative on purchases? Well.... My special treat was actually my Mother's Day gift from Cassie and Mike -- a pair of Indigo Hound English Combs! Only I would be asking for something that could be used as a lethal weapon for my mother's day gift! :-D
Why did I want combs? Well, as I'm sure you can tell by the class I took, my newest enjoyment is fine spinning... and one of the things I learned in that class -- it's amazing the difference that fresh combed top makes! Either directly from the fleece, or if you want to blend fibers...
Don't get me wrong -- I'll still card certain fleeces -- such as the CVM fleece I got a few months ago. I'd still like to try and make it into a sweater for Mike. But the 1 lb of Polwarth that I still have left from Rhinebeck last fall is definitely going to be combed! And now that the weather is nicer (and I know an easier way to wash fleece w/o worrying about felting it!), I should be able to start working on them.
The only down side? No maple cotton candy! :( But at least they had funnel cakes!
Finally, not to be outdone... I got my second Zen String April Fiber Club. As always, it is beautiful!
4 oz of BFL in the Fiore colorway. I still haven't completely decided how I want to spin this one, but I'm leaning towards a worsted or heavy worsted to give the colors a chance to stand out a little more since they are lighter. It'd make a beautiful pair of shorts for Cassie! We'll see if I can get it done in time to still need shorts! Ahhh... so much fiber, so little time! But what a wonderful problem to have...
Oh, and I can't forget one of the reasons I was so delayed in posting... I was playing with my combs. One of the fun treasures I got to take with me from the class was a reasonably large sized chunk of raw Ramboullet fleece. So I washed it using my newfound method (involving a crockpot and cooking the locks like they were asparagus), which worked perfectly! Then I used my combs last night to create these:
I know, not much, but I'm still learning. Combs are definitely not as easy as they look!
Well, if you made it through this entire post -- I'm impressed! But it was nice to rave about the festival...
Monday, April 23, 2007
Where's the ark?
Well, we made it through the deluge! We were definitely lucky. We've since spoken to a bunch of neighbors, and many of them were not so lucky... :-(
We had almost no water in the basement. The only water was one or two "streamlets" that were seeping in through the french drain in the furnace room, which is the lowest point in the house. But they just ran straight to the sump pump that's right there. And it's just cement, so the water doesn't really damage anything. But at one point, that thing was going off every 45 seconds (yes, we timed it!). Of course, 99% of the water going into it was draining in from the side, below floor level, not those streamlets. And, this is the pump that is set to go off when only about 2 pints of water has accumulated in the hole, despite the fact that it can accomodate several gallons. Why it is set that way, I have no idea, but I really don't want to mess with it since it works!
Our only real stressful event? Well, we actually have 2 sump pumps. The other was probably put in when the house was built, and wasn't placed at the lowest point in the basement. So at some point, a previous owner redesigned the setup, and we gained the other sump pump. So the original one almost never goes off. I think it's gone off maybe once or twice in the whole time we've lived here. But it is this huge 50 gallon pit. Well, at one point when I went down to work on the laundry. I noticed it was going... and going... and going. That's not normal. That pump can usually empty out about 30 gallons in a minute or so. Why do I know this? Because it freaked the crap out of me the one time I acutally saw it go off a couple years ago! I was wondering where all the water was coming from. So, anyways, back to the present. I called my husband to come take a look. At first we thought it was dying (this thing is pretty old), but figured we'd try and empty out the pit to see if he could check for any blockages at the bottom. Sure enough, after about 45 minutes of scooping and dumping with pots, we finally got close enough to the bottom for him to reach the bottom of the input pipe. Turns out, a plastic ziploc must have fallen in at some point(which is bizarre considering where this thing is!), was sucked up, and was now partially blocking the pipe coming off the pump into the pit. He pulled it out and low and behold, the pump is working just peachy again :-D.
So how bad was it for us? At the peak of the flooding, about 3/4 of our backyard (and many of our neighbors backyards) were all under water. But we were the lucky ones. Many of our neighbors ended up with flooded basements, so I can deal with a backyard full of water MUCH better than a basement full of water. Of course, it was dark out, so we couldn't take a picture, but here it is the next morning:
And remember, this is the improving version! When we looked at night, it was about 2 feet closer to the house, about up to where the grass gets thin in this picture (the thinning grass isn't not from the storm. It's just some leftover damage to the grass from our deck construction last fall, which should start filling in now that spring is almost here).
Ah, well. Everything is fine and we are safe. That's all that's important now. So back to our regularly scheduled fiber blog...
Of course, while all this was going on, I needed to do something to get my mind off of things and relax me, so I worked on this:
It's 2 oz of the merino-bamboo from the Zen String Fiber club spun up into a laceweight yarn(yes, you heard right -- my first real laceweight yarn! And it actually looks pretty good if I do say so myself.) Specifically, it is about 28 wpi right now, and 400 yards. It still needs to be washed, so that will probably change a bit, but it'll still be within laceweight range. Here's a closeup view, just because I'm so happy with how it's turning out:
Next, I decided that I needed to do a bit of a change of pace. I've been doing too much thin stuff lately, and I needed to do something thicker so I don't get in a rut... So I decided to work a little more on my long draw with some undyed targhee I have. Well, it didn't completely work out as a traditional long draw. It's probably closer to what I've heard described as "supported long draw" but I'm getting a bit better. The end result was this:
A little less consistent than my usual, but that's actually a nice change of pace. I have offered it to someone on a Yahoo group I belong to who was in need of some undyed targhee. We'll see if she decides to take it. If not, I think I'll continue the experimenting in the dyepot and see what comes out! :-D
And, of course, I decided to go back and finish poor Iris. I finished making the singles, and started to try and do the navajo ply. And, well, lets just say it's not going so well! It keeps breaking, what yarn I am making is overtwisted, and I'm frustrated! So I've decided to put it aside for a few weeks, then I'll try again. Why a couple of weeks? Well, that brings me to my other big event of the past week and a half... I entered a lottery to try and get into "Spinning a Fine Thread" with Judith MacKenzie McCuin at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Amazingly, I actually got in! It's only a 3 hour session with 15 people, but I'm sure I'll learn alot! I can't wait!! So, of course, I'm hoping we'll maybe cover navaho ply, or if not, maybe I can still take a few minutes to see if she has any suggestions of what I'm doing wrong. I don't know if I just didn't put enough twist on the singles, or if I'm actually pulling too hard when I'm pulling it through the loop? I think I'll pull out some of my plain BFL to practice on and get it right before I try it on the Iris again. I'd like to have something useable come out of it! It's just so pretty... This will teach me for trying to do my first full foray into navajo plying (outside of some minor playing) with something so thin! And, no, I'm not posting a picture of the results so far... it's just not pretty.
And my final excitement of the week? Well, a few months I signed up for a co-op. Then a few weeks ago, I joined another. And of course, they both came in this week -- the Zen String on Saturday, and the Purewool on Monday. Now, no offense to the Purewool, but the Zen String was definitely the more exciting of the two! Look at this beautiful wool. I'm still drooling over it! :-D And it smells so heavenly:
BTW, don't mind the blur in the corner (you probably also saw it in the previous photo). I didn't notice until after I took the picture that Cassie must have gotten to the camera and put a few greasy smudges on the lens. I've since cleaned it off, but these are definitely yarns that look best in natural lighting, which is a little scarce at the moment.
So, my only problem? I don't know where to start! Another shawl (Ochoco)? The sweater for Cassie (amaretto cheesecake)? More socks (the rest of the Lotus Toes)? Or maybe the quick satisfaction of a couple of soakers for Cassie (the two Nirvanas)? They are all so lovely, I want to start working on all of them right now. But I have to pick one (well, or maybe two...) for when I finish with Icarus. Of course, that isn't exactly a complaint. I should have such problems all the time!
And of course, the Purewool is wonderful as well. It just had the unfortunate circumstance to come in at the same time as the Zen String. But not to be forgotten, here it is (I only grabbed one skein of each -- some have multiples):
The brown worsted in the middle is for my husbands long neglected slippers that I keep promising him (hey, at this point, I have until the fall, don't I?!!? :-D) and the one to it's right will probably be mine (just in case, I got the undyed at the end as a backup if I didn't like that one as slippers). Also, I decided to try their laceweight. I wasn't quite sure how the singles would work out. But it really looks nice! I can't wait to try it.
All I know is getting these two boxes made me realize I have WAY too much yarn at the moment! (I know -- is that really possible?!?!). So this is it for a LONG time for me. I might get a little something at MSWF, just because there is so much to see there. But at the moment, I have such a backlog of stuff I want to make, I need to get through some of them before I get more! Of course, I do still have 2 more months of Zen String club coming to me that will help keep me from going through too much fiber withdrawl ;-)
So where do the rest of my projects stand? I'm happily working again on the Pomegranite Bamboo Merino. That stuff is just WONDERFUL to work with! And I'm still working on the Icarus. Here's a picture, although half of it is wrapped under b/c the needles are only so long (I know, it pretty much looks like the last one, but trust me, ALOT of progress has been made!):
The good news on the icarus? I've gotten past the straight sections and have started on the "feather tips" So I'm getting there! It's been slow, though, b/c I've been a little more engrosed in spinning lately.
Also, I did finish the first of the toe up feather and fan socks:
I know -- it looks kinda funky here. Now I now know why people get those sock blockers! Trust me, it does look better on. But I just don't have the guts to show off my awful winter white legs on here! Also, in fairness, I'm still not completely sure I'm happy with the top anyways, so I might frog the top few rows and redo it. We'll see...
Wow -- I think I need to update more often so that these entries don't end up so long! Of course, my rambing on at the beginning about our "great flood" didn't help!
We had almost no water in the basement. The only water was one or two "streamlets" that were seeping in through the french drain in the furnace room, which is the lowest point in the house. But they just ran straight to the sump pump that's right there. And it's just cement, so the water doesn't really damage anything. But at one point, that thing was going off every 45 seconds (yes, we timed it!). Of course, 99% of the water going into it was draining in from the side, below floor level, not those streamlets. And, this is the pump that is set to go off when only about 2 pints of water has accumulated in the hole, despite the fact that it can accomodate several gallons. Why it is set that way, I have no idea, but I really don't want to mess with it since it works!
Our only real stressful event? Well, we actually have 2 sump pumps. The other was probably put in when the house was built, and wasn't placed at the lowest point in the basement. So at some point, a previous owner redesigned the setup, and we gained the other sump pump. So the original one almost never goes off. I think it's gone off maybe once or twice in the whole time we've lived here. But it is this huge 50 gallon pit. Well, at one point when I went down to work on the laundry. I noticed it was going... and going... and going. That's not normal. That pump can usually empty out about 30 gallons in a minute or so. Why do I know this? Because it freaked the crap out of me the one time I acutally saw it go off a couple years ago! I was wondering where all the water was coming from. So, anyways, back to the present. I called my husband to come take a look. At first we thought it was dying (this thing is pretty old), but figured we'd try and empty out the pit to see if he could check for any blockages at the bottom. Sure enough, after about 45 minutes of scooping and dumping with pots, we finally got close enough to the bottom for him to reach the bottom of the input pipe. Turns out, a plastic ziploc must have fallen in at some point(which is bizarre considering where this thing is!), was sucked up, and was now partially blocking the pipe coming off the pump into the pit. He pulled it out and low and behold, the pump is working just peachy again :-D.
So how bad was it for us? At the peak of the flooding, about 3/4 of our backyard (and many of our neighbors backyards) were all under water. But we were the lucky ones. Many of our neighbors ended up with flooded basements, so I can deal with a backyard full of water MUCH better than a basement full of water. Of course, it was dark out, so we couldn't take a picture, but here it is the next morning:
And remember, this is the improving version! When we looked at night, it was about 2 feet closer to the house, about up to where the grass gets thin in this picture (the thinning grass isn't not from the storm. It's just some leftover damage to the grass from our deck construction last fall, which should start filling in now that spring is almost here).
Ah, well. Everything is fine and we are safe. That's all that's important now. So back to our regularly scheduled fiber blog...
Of course, while all this was going on, I needed to do something to get my mind off of things and relax me, so I worked on this:
It's 2 oz of the merino-bamboo from the Zen String Fiber club spun up into a laceweight yarn(yes, you heard right -- my first real laceweight yarn! And it actually looks pretty good if I do say so myself.) Specifically, it is about 28 wpi right now, and 400 yards. It still needs to be washed, so that will probably change a bit, but it'll still be within laceweight range. Here's a closeup view, just because I'm so happy with how it's turning out:
Next, I decided that I needed to do a bit of a change of pace. I've been doing too much thin stuff lately, and I needed to do something thicker so I don't get in a rut... So I decided to work a little more on my long draw with some undyed targhee I have. Well, it didn't completely work out as a traditional long draw. It's probably closer to what I've heard described as "supported long draw" but I'm getting a bit better. The end result was this:
A little less consistent than my usual, but that's actually a nice change of pace. I have offered it to someone on a Yahoo group I belong to who was in need of some undyed targhee. We'll see if she decides to take it. If not, I think I'll continue the experimenting in the dyepot and see what comes out! :-D
And, of course, I decided to go back and finish poor Iris. I finished making the singles, and started to try and do the navajo ply. And, well, lets just say it's not going so well! It keeps breaking, what yarn I am making is overtwisted, and I'm frustrated! So I've decided to put it aside for a few weeks, then I'll try again. Why a couple of weeks? Well, that brings me to my other big event of the past week and a half... I entered a lottery to try and get into "Spinning a Fine Thread" with Judith MacKenzie McCuin at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Amazingly, I actually got in! It's only a 3 hour session with 15 people, but I'm sure I'll learn alot! I can't wait!! So, of course, I'm hoping we'll maybe cover navaho ply, or if not, maybe I can still take a few minutes to see if she has any suggestions of what I'm doing wrong. I don't know if I just didn't put enough twist on the singles, or if I'm actually pulling too hard when I'm pulling it through the loop? I think I'll pull out some of my plain BFL to practice on and get it right before I try it on the Iris again. I'd like to have something useable come out of it! It's just so pretty... This will teach me for trying to do my first full foray into navajo plying (outside of some minor playing) with something so thin! And, no, I'm not posting a picture of the results so far... it's just not pretty.
And my final excitement of the week? Well, a few months I signed up for a co-op. Then a few weeks ago, I joined another. And of course, they both came in this week -- the Zen String on Saturday, and the Purewool on Monday. Now, no offense to the Purewool, but the Zen String was definitely the more exciting of the two! Look at this beautiful wool. I'm still drooling over it! :-D And it smells so heavenly:
BTW, don't mind the blur in the corner (you probably also saw it in the previous photo). I didn't notice until after I took the picture that Cassie must have gotten to the camera and put a few greasy smudges on the lens. I've since cleaned it off, but these are definitely yarns that look best in natural lighting, which is a little scarce at the moment.
So, my only problem? I don't know where to start! Another shawl (Ochoco)? The sweater for Cassie (amaretto cheesecake)? More socks (the rest of the Lotus Toes)? Or maybe the quick satisfaction of a couple of soakers for Cassie (the two Nirvanas)? They are all so lovely, I want to start working on all of them right now. But I have to pick one (well, or maybe two...) for when I finish with Icarus. Of course, that isn't exactly a complaint. I should have such problems all the time!
And of course, the Purewool is wonderful as well. It just had the unfortunate circumstance to come in at the same time as the Zen String. But not to be forgotten, here it is (I only grabbed one skein of each -- some have multiples):
The brown worsted in the middle is for my husbands long neglected slippers that I keep promising him (hey, at this point, I have until the fall, don't I?!!? :-D) and the one to it's right will probably be mine (just in case, I got the undyed at the end as a backup if I didn't like that one as slippers). Also, I decided to try their laceweight. I wasn't quite sure how the singles would work out. But it really looks nice! I can't wait to try it.
All I know is getting these two boxes made me realize I have WAY too much yarn at the moment! (I know -- is that really possible?!?!). So this is it for a LONG time for me. I might get a little something at MSWF, just because there is so much to see there. But at the moment, I have such a backlog of stuff I want to make, I need to get through some of them before I get more! Of course, I do still have 2 more months of Zen String club coming to me that will help keep me from going through too much fiber withdrawl ;-)
So where do the rest of my projects stand? I'm happily working again on the Pomegranite Bamboo Merino. That stuff is just WONDERFUL to work with! And I'm still working on the Icarus. Here's a picture, although half of it is wrapped under b/c the needles are only so long (I know, it pretty much looks like the last one, but trust me, ALOT of progress has been made!):
The good news on the icarus? I've gotten past the straight sections and have started on the "feather tips" So I'm getting there! It's been slow, though, b/c I've been a little more engrosed in spinning lately.
Also, I did finish the first of the toe up feather and fan socks:
I know -- it looks kinda funky here. Now I now know why people get those sock blockers! Trust me, it does look better on. But I just don't have the guts to show off my awful winter white legs on here! Also, in fairness, I'm still not completely sure I'm happy with the top anyways, so I might frog the top few rows and redo it. We'll see...
Wow -- I think I need to update more often so that these entries don't end up so long! Of course, my rambing on at the beginning about our "great flood" didn't help!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Easter Treats
Well, I did manage to complete the Easter stuff (just barely!). I started planning on two eggs, but Cassie was having so much fun playing with them that I kept going and made 4. Besides, they were quick and fun, and I still had plenty of scraps left!
So, then onto the peeps (I planned on making two originally). I thought it would be fun to try a boucle b/c then it would look "fluffy", but of course, I didn't think to get one beforehand! So on Saturday, the only real option was Michaels and some cheep acrylic boucle (which, btw, was a PITA to work with!) So, of course, I only had the patience to finish up one of them... I will admit, I think it turned out pretty cute, but definitely not worth the hassle!
So, here are the final results. First, the whole easter basket (including a bunch of plastic eggs -- one of Cassie's newest fun toys!):
And next, just the peep and eggs:
Next, while I was picking up the boucle, I decided to get some sugar and cream to try for a washcloth. I never even thought to try knitting a washcloth until I saw some of Carole's beautiful washclothes. The one that especially inspired me was a lacey heart washcloth (again from smariek's blog). So, now that I finally had pink cotton yarn, I decided to try it out. Again, I used my lovely font that I found to create a chart. Here's the final product:
I think it turned out pretty well. And despite my usual dislike of cotton, this was a small enough project that I didn't mind it at all. Plus, I think it only took 1/2 a skein, so I may be able to get a second washcloth out of it! Not bad for $1.60 worth of yarn! :-D
My next big event -- I received my first Zen String Fiber Club fiber! It is BEAUTIFUL!!! It's called Pomegranite, and it's a bamboo merino blend. Of course, being the callous woman that I am, I cast aside the Iris BFL to try it out. It really is lovely! I have visions of a beautiful fingering weight with the shimmer of the bamboo and the subtle color variations throughout. Here's a shot of the fiber:
And here's the small bit that I've had time to do so far:
All I can say is Yumm!!!
Otherwise, I'm still plugging away on the Icarus Shawl. I've made quite a bit of progress, but nothing really significantly different from the last photos.
Hopefully, this time next week, my Zen String co-op yarn will be at Sarah's, soon to be on it's way here :-D Can't wait!
So, then onto the peeps (I planned on making two originally). I thought it would be fun to try a boucle b/c then it would look "fluffy", but of course, I didn't think to get one beforehand! So on Saturday, the only real option was Michaels and some cheep acrylic boucle (which, btw, was a PITA to work with!) So, of course, I only had the patience to finish up one of them... I will admit, I think it turned out pretty cute, but definitely not worth the hassle!
So, here are the final results. First, the whole easter basket (including a bunch of plastic eggs -- one of Cassie's newest fun toys!):
And next, just the peep and eggs:
Next, while I was picking up the boucle, I decided to get some sugar and cream to try for a washcloth. I never even thought to try knitting a washcloth until I saw some of Carole's beautiful washclothes. The one that especially inspired me was a lacey heart washcloth (again from smariek's blog). So, now that I finally had pink cotton yarn, I decided to try it out. Again, I used my lovely font that I found to create a chart. Here's the final product:
I think it turned out pretty well. And despite my usual dislike of cotton, this was a small enough project that I didn't mind it at all. Plus, I think it only took 1/2 a skein, so I may be able to get a second washcloth out of it! Not bad for $1.60 worth of yarn! :-D
My next big event -- I received my first Zen String Fiber Club fiber! It is BEAUTIFUL!!! It's called Pomegranite, and it's a bamboo merino blend. Of course, being the callous woman that I am, I cast aside the Iris BFL to try it out. It really is lovely! I have visions of a beautiful fingering weight with the shimmer of the bamboo and the subtle color variations throughout. Here's a shot of the fiber:
And here's the small bit that I've had time to do so far:
All I can say is Yumm!!!
Otherwise, I'm still plugging away on the Icarus Shawl. I've made quite a bit of progress, but nothing really significantly different from the last photos.
Hopefully, this time next week, my Zen String co-op yarn will be at Sarah's, soon to be on it's way here :-D Can't wait!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
