Sale on Yarn! Buy Stuff! And a funny story.

First off, check out the March Sale at my Etsy shop! All GREEN items are 10% off until the 31st. This includes my Mardi Gras yarns, the Iris Garden yarns, and the Dragonfly scarf. I have some other green things coming soon; mostly yarn, but we'll see if I can get my butt in gear to post some other fun things too! Also, I have a signed print of the Mermaid from last year's Merchant Road series up for auction on Ebay. Please consider placing a bid, or spread the word! :D

OK so, funny story.

I signed up to teach 3 classes in my town's Adult Ed program: Basic Knitting, Intermediate Knitting, and Basic Sewing. The second two were cancelled due to not enough people signing up, which was too bad, but I'm ok with it. The first one started last night and was GREAT, but that's not what this story is about.

So I'm home tonight, plying some pretty pink self-striping yarn when I get a phone call from the secretary of Adult Ed. What follows is pretty much word-for-word.

Her: Jenny, do you crochet?

Me: ...uh, yes? A little?

Her: Would you like to teach a course?

Me: ...I, uh, well, I don't know, I, er...

Her: It's just Basic Crochet. *cheerfully* I'm sure you could do it.

Me: ...Jule, I don't know...I crochet, but not a lot...I've never taught it before...

Her: *reading the pamphlet* Oh, it says "Fun with Granny Squares"! See, that's really easy.

Me: I've never done a granny square in my life!

Her: It's only for six weeks. It starts tomorrow night.

Me: O_O (I'm sure she could hear it, too)

Her: See, the problem is that our usual teacher thought the class was going to be cancelled, but at the last minute we got eight students. But the teacher went to visit her family in Norway, so she's not here...

NOTE: I would like to mention that I am not making this up at all. This is pretty much how it went down.

Her: *continuing* ...and I know your Wednesday classes were cancelled, so you could teach this one instead...

Me: ...ok. But...this is not enough time. I need to learn how to make granny squares and work out a curriculum before the class, and I can't with less than 24 hours' notice. Can we start next week instead? Since it's only six weeks anyway?

Her: *thrilled* Of course! I'll call the students. See you next Wednesday!

*end call*

*cue Jenny freaking out, with husband LOLing at her*

So yeah, now I have a Basic Crochet class to teach. I have never taught crochet to anyone, nor have I ever actually crocheted a granny square. Ever. I need to learn how, preferably right-handed. I'm a lefty. *facepalm* And then, slightly less pressing, I need to come up with 'fun projects' that use granny squares. Please don't tell me--I know I'm screwed.

Actually, I'm not, but MAN I am feeling like I am at the moment. I'm gonna get some sleep, then tomorrow I'll grab my crochet hooks and see what I can do. I at least have a week, thank the gods.

And remember--this is on top of my knitting commission, my artwork, and my spinning. Oh, and babysitting. *diez*

So, anyone got any good sources for ambidextrous crocheting of granny squares? :D

Yarn Pr0n - 2 new yarns!

First, the Zwartble I spun earlier this month is going up for sale, so it got the full photo treatment. :)




And here's the first of two skeins of alpaca, also up for sale, in a colorway called "Iris Garden". The alpaca is raised, shorn, carded and dyed by a local farmer who also happens to own my favorite yarn shop in the world, Criations in Somers, CT.



Go check out the yarns and let me know what you think!

The Numbers that Shape Your World

Since receiving the spinning wheel 18 days ago (on 2/10/07), I have spun 1633 yards of finished yarn on it, resulting in 14 different skeins of yarn.

Of that, only 125 yards were single-ply, which means the remaining 1508 yards of finished yarn actually represent 3016 yards of singles.

(This does not include the skein of practice yarn from my first attempt, nor does it include various smaller amounts of fibers to test. Those probably total another 50 or so yards.)

All but one skein is worsted weight and lighter. Most of it is DK, sock or laceweight.

I have put up 3 skeins for sale on my shop, and should have another 2 or 3 up by the end of the week. I also have pics of my latest spinning, though you may have to wait til later tonight or tomorrow for them. :)

Birthday Weekend, and Yarn for Sale!

ETA: OMG I TOTALLY forgot to mention this!! I'm selling a signed print on Ebay. It's The Mermaid, #2 of 20, signed & numbered in silver pen. The print is 8"x8" square and it's one of my favorite images from last year's Merchant Road series. Please check it out, and feel free to bid. ;)

----

So...Birthday Weekend is about 2/3 over, and it's been lovely so far. :)

Friday morning was spent mostly hanging around the house, spinning, and knitting. I got a few dishes done (strange how they keep getting dirty), cleaned out the corner near my desk here so I wouldn't have to deal with an avalanche, assembled some tax paperwork, and then did a little stash-diving. Came up with a gallon bag of about 6 or 7oz of that green sparkly batt I've been working on FOREVER and decided that it was time to just spin it up and say goodbye. So I did just that. Halfway through, the bunny got home and we went over to Dragonmaille's to hang out and spin and play video games. While we were there, a mutual friend, SkullX, came by to talk about a project with Dragonmaille, and we all ended up hanging out together. It's been a long time since we had a chance to really chat with Skullx. I asked him about the icons he'd done for Dragonmaille, which I love. The result of his inspiration is the new icon on my LiveJournal. Every color and element was chosen for a specific purpose, and I couldn't be happier with it. It's a new vision of the Divine Bird! :D After all that, we got home, and I grabbed some earlier attempts at spinning the green sparkly wool and decided to ply it with cotton thread. The results are below--I named the yarns "Mardi Gras" and "Mardi Gras 2-ply". Both are now up for sale on my Etsy Shop. There are about 80 yards on the Mardi Gras and 100 yards on the 2-ply.



Next morning, bunny & I got up and went to eat breakfast at The Diner. It's a little local place, owned and run by a retired police officer from our hometown. We love going there because it's cheap, the portions are huge, and the food is SO GOOD. Seriously. SO GOOD. After that, we headed to the bookstore where I received one half of my present from the bunny--a copy of "Knitting Beyond the Edge" by Nicky Epstein. We hung around for a while, I cast on another mitten and got a few rows worked on it before we went home. That night we went to my father-in-law's for dinner and good conversation. :)

Today, my actual birthday, I spun some angora (which is also going into the shop once I photograph it), went up to Criations to spend a gift certificate, and then had my official Birthday Dinner (tm) at my parents' house. Both of my grandmas were able to make it, happily, though it was a little odd not having Granddad there. He hasn't been gone for even a year; he was at my last birthday and it seems a little quieter this time around. Still, it was a lovely, relaxed time. I got to talk to my sister on the phone (she was stuck in DC, waiting for her severely delayed flight). Both of my grandmas oohed and ahhed over my yarn--I brought the Mardi Gras AND the Tiger Lily (from my previous post) to show them. After they left, my dad put in a movie--Master and Commander--and the four of us watched it together with cocoa and popcorn. I am thoroughly impressed with the movie; it was just amazing--and it didn't hurt that we watched it on my dad's awesome home theatre! Seriously, I felt the rumble of the waves. :D Coolest present--my parents got us tickets to see Macbeth at UCONN next Sunday!!

So tomorrow, Bunny stays home and we have plans to go see Ghost Rider (movie passes), eat dinner at Outback (gift certificates) and then just veg out at home. :D It's the kind of day that we just love to have. I plan to knit & spin some more--gotta get my speed up--and add a few new things to the shop. The angora goes up tomorrow, and I just added a mohair scarf to my stock as well!

And that's the end of my boring (for you) and fun (for me) Birthday Weekend post.

Tiger Lily

I can't help it--I just can't stop spinning.

This time you get one big collage image. :)

From Fiber to Yarn:


I couldn't quite get the light to work properly for me, and photoshop was no help today. The blues in the pic are actually much more purple, but that's what the lens picked up. It's a very rich and decadent looking yarn.

I spun two plies in the same color order: Red, Pink, Purple, and plied them together. The color runs, while in the same order, ended up overlapping, though there are places where the plies worked out to the same color nicely. I am going to be making socks from this yarn. :) I got about 385 yards in the big skein, plus another 50 or so in a smaller skein that was spun randomly instead of in order.

Enjoy! Comments and suggestions are always appreciated, too. :D

Yarn Pr0n - some duplicate pics and some NEW ONES

Results of the Baby Camel/Silk.

Foreplay:


Swinging Spinning Single:


In Flagrante Delicto:


Afterglow:


*lights up, looks at yarn* So, baby, was it good for you, too?

Mega-super-ultra-stupid-fine

This is some Baby Camel and Silk top.



This is the single I'm spinning from it.



I feel happy. For reference, the orifice (the black tube that the yarn is coming out of) is 3/8" across.

The best part of this? I have been spinning it on my drop spindle as well as on the wheel, and both are the same weight/thickness. I'll be able to use all of it in the same manner. :)

And in today's episode of "Pimp My Ball-Winder"...

Sick of my spinning yet? :D

First off, two very awesome quotes from two chats I had today:

[11:17] friend a: [...] I've just felt my legs and have the sudden NEED to shave them.
[11:18] friend a: For the good of humanity
[11:18] friend a: You know, I should NOT have to be wearing pants in my own house.

*****


Re: chocolate covered potato chips

[15:34] friend b: I call them PMS Wafers
[15:34] ChocoboNoMegami: LOL
[15:35] friend b: they're MEDICINAL
[15:35] friend b: health insurance should pay for them
[15:35] ChocoboNoMegami: LMAO
[15:35] friend b: they save our loved ones
[15:35] friend b: "You seem filled with rage. Here, shove this in your mouth and shut up."

--

And now for spinning news. I plied about 175 yards of the Scottish wool and have at LEAST that much left to do of what I already spun. I would like to point out that I haven't finished spinning even the FIRST batch I washed, let alone touched the second batch. A one-quarter of a fleece gives a LOT of yarn. :D I'll post pics sometime this weekend. I still have a lot to card, too. *sigh*

A picture of the plied Scottish wool


So anyway, I got it into my head that I wanted to try spinning a worsted-weight single. For the non-yarny folk, that's basically the most common weight people think of when they think of yarn. It's not especially fat or thin, but I know I tend to spin very fine. (Not as fine as Dragonmaille but still pretty fine.) It's actually work to spin anything thicker at this point.

Using the wheel and some wool/mohair roving that had been gifted to me, I started by spinning 'from the fold' (thanks, Abby!) and drafted what I thought was something VERY thick, then measured it. Yarn is measured by 'wraps per inch' (wpi)...literally how many times you can lay the same yarn next to itself over one inch. Worsted is generally about 14 wpi. My first 'thick' yarn came to about 20 wpi.

Had to go thicker, so I went on and added MORE as I drafted. This time when I measured, I was better at 16wpi, closer but not quite there. This time, I added WAY more than I thought I needed. I was sure it would be TOO bulky...

Nope, I got it dead on, 14wpi.

So I kept going, since I'd finally made my goal. Upon checking the wpi when I finished, I found it had gone back to 16. However, it's consistently 16 throughout most of the yarn, so I can't complain TOO much. All I have to do now is get used to doing the same thing only heavier.

I admit it's not bad considering it's my first time trying to spin heavy singles. This is also completely usable, of course. I have about 125 yards of the DK single and 16 yards of the smaller part plied.

See?



Not bad for an evening of work! :)

IN OTHER NEWS:

I got my amazing package from my "Spin to Knit" secret pal yesterday morning--and I say amazing because it REALLY WAS. First off, I get this HUGE envelope from the Post Office--check out all the postage!



It didn't really sink in that the package was from AUSTRALIA until I got into the car. :D



Check out that haul!! My pal sent one big package rather than two smaller ones, and I couldn't be happier. The two yarns are called "snow" and "no snow". Both are very thick and OMG-soft. There were also some candies (whoo!), two postcards (double whoo!) and vying for attention for 'favorite part of gift' was a bag of Polworth poufs. :D Since I opened the package while we were out to breakfast, I ended up grabbing a pouf and a pen from the table so I could start spinning RIGHT THEN. (Good thing we were in our favorite diner where everyone knows us--all the waitresses came up to us and had to fondle the yarn & the wool! XD)

What a great intro to a day of...YARN STORE CRAWLING. Yep, Dragonmaille and I went off to Avon to visit an LYS that was closing. It's very sad to see a shop like that close, but the owners were retiring. At least it wasn't because they were forced out or something. Still, Wool Connection was the very first real LYS that I ever visited, and it's where I bought my first 'real' non-craftstore yarn. Holding true to my "no buying yarn for a year" promise, I walked out of there with some baskets and a pair of Mission Falls 1824 Wool skeins purchased specifically for a commission. Note: no stash enhancement took place. :D I almost broke for a trio of the same yarn in three shades of green (OMG COME ON IT WAS LIKE $3 A BALL) but I resisted temptation and put it all back.

Dragonmaille bought a TON of MF1824, though. I do love that stuff.

After that, we decided to go in the opposite direction, past BOTH of our homes to Northampton, MA. Yep. WEBS.

Again, resisted the impulse to buy yarn. It was easier there, actually; everything I loved was something I could make on my own. Why buy it then? I did pick up 2oz of Ingeo fiber in a royal purple and 1oz of Firestar in greens and blues with a hint of yellow and red. I want to use the Firestar sparingly in an upcoming spinning project idea, and I have wanted to experiment with Ingeo.

I also got to try a Louet wheel (not sure which model, but wow did I love it!) There was a man sitting over there when I was checking out the wheels; I thought he was a spinner himself but he confided that he was only back there because the 'man chairs' up front were full. WEBS really was packed, I have to admit. So we got to talking, and I sat down to try the Louet. The guy was FASCINATED. His wife came back and she, too, started asking a lot of questions. XD I felt like a master spinner sitting there, making up samples of wheelspun while talking about why the flyer moved at a different rate than the bobbin or what the hooks were for. :D Dragonmaille also came over and showed them how a drop spindle worked. I think the guy left with a new appreciation for textiles and how they were produced.

Oh, and Abby--I got to use your line about how machines were made to replicate what humans could spin, not the other way around. XD I think that was when the guy got really interested. haha!

All in all, I am very proud of my ability to resist the lure of new yarn. I went out yesterday with a definite plan in mind--to buy a ball winder--and I fulfilled that goal. I even got to test it out later at Dragonmaille's when her thread-thin singles were tangling while she plied them. :D I think I wound like 200yards and it didn't look like ANYTHING. :D

And now for some ball-winder porn. CHECK OUT THE LEOPARD-SPOTTED PILLOWS, AWWW YEAH!



See you later. I've got some yarn to wind. :D

Weekend Spinning: Wheel Version

Well, you all know I got to borrow a wheel this weekend. I will be keeping it for about a year, which means that I'll have plenty of time to spin my stash down to nothing! ;)

Thought I'd post a few pics of the result of my spinning. First up, we have Zwartble (the dark brown black, 120yd) and an unknown wool (the white, 70yd). The extra pic of the Zwartble is a flash pic so you can see it a bit better.




Closeups:


And here's the Alpaca (caramel, 2 skeins equalling 140yd) and Llama (oatmeal, 70yd).


Closeup:


Add to these another 200yd or so of singles spun from that Scottish wool, and you have my spinning on the wheel since Saturday. :D

I'm also working my way through that baby camel & silk; pics of that next time!

No, I mean it, I REALLY love fibers.

It might kinda sorta be obvious to the casual reader of my blogs that I kinda sorta like yarn. Not to put too fine a point on it, I kinda sorta like fiber.

I know a lot of spinners and knitters out there. Some like coarse, heavy fibers like Navajo Churro. Some like fine, soft luxury fibers like silk and cashmere and angora. Some like soft, spinnable wools like Shetland, Romney, and mohair.

Me, I like 'em all.

Enough with the rolling of eyes and stuff, you guys, I know this is nothing new. It's just...I found myself getting choked up over the page for the Foxfire Fiber Farm. Specifically over the parts that talk about spinning. Also over the Jager Icelandics webpage, and their pictures of "Fresh Fall Fleeces".

I don't know what it is, really. I started spinning only a little under two years ago, and I've been knitting for maybe five or six years. I have always loved patterned, woven fabrics. I do have an appreciation for textiles in general. Still, there's nothing in my past that I can recall that makes me go all emotional for fibers and yarns.

My husband jokes that I'm part kitty because I play with yarn. My beloved Drakonlily once said, "CG, I think you don't just like yarn. I think you...LIKE...yarn." I go to Guild meetings and get a contact high from just being around so many fibers in different stages of preparation. I love the smell of lanolin, the feathery texture of angora and baby camel, the smooth sliding of silk or alpaca over my fingertips while I spin. I seek out every different possible fiber I can find, just so I have something new to try.

I revel in a thin, even single. I keep going thinner and thinner until it's hair-fine and still strong, always thinking of how I'll ply it to make a finer and finer finished yarn. I hold the yarn or the fiber or the single up to the light to study the halo of fine hairs surrounding it, and to see how deep the colors appear, like a newly-engaged girl admiring her diamond ring.

I do the same thing with my spindles. I sometimes take out my box of drop spindles to admire their different qualities--the slender, handmade, unique ones; the heavy beginner ones; the one I made myself; the unusual stone ones. I like to see how the bloodwood inlay on the top of my favorite spindle can look satiny when I turn it. When I spin on the small purpleheart spindle, I barely feel it moving, it's so well-balanced.

I dream of the day I own a parcel of land and can put sheep, maybe an alpaca or two, out to graze. Maybe I'll have a few different breeds, maybe even have a goat! I want a bunny. I'll get a llama or a dog to watch over them all.

I wonder if I'll have a wheel of my own. Or two! Or three! One to spin fine yarns, one for production, and one to take with me wherever I go. I'll settle for one. I'll probably end up making it myself.

I dream of spinning. My husband woke up a few weeks ago to see my arm sticking up in the air, and when he asked what I was doing, I made the motion as if I was winding on the single and put the 'spindle' down. All as I slept. I woke up this morning to find my foot 'treadling'...that is, pedaling the spinning wheel.

Here's the wheel I'm borrowing:



It's a Thumbelina "Sleeping Beauty" wheel, made in the early 1970s. It's older than I am, though not by much. :) I'm borrowing it from a fellow guild member, who will forever be thought of as 'the awesome lady who fed my fiber addiction in a big way'. ;)

And here are the first two bobbins of singles that I spun on it. The one in my hand is actually only about 100yd of singles; there was already some commercially-done yarn wound on the bobbin that I used to work on my treadling. The bobbin still on the wheel is more of the Scottish wool. I've since added more.



And now I'm off...got some more of that baby camel/silk to spin. :)

incommunicado

I just want you all to know, if you're trying to reach me and I don't answer the phone, or my email, or smoke signals, or banging on the door, or...well, you get the picture...

It's because I'm a bit distracted.

I am borrowing--BORROWING--a spinning wheel from a Guild member who lives down the street from me. I will be, shall we say, 'occupied' for the next few days. ;)

Please ignore the loud swearing for the first few hours; I am still getting the hang of treadling/pinching/drafting/treadling/keeping-the-yarn-in-one-piece-ing. And stuff.

:D

I love fiber

Five times a year, I make space in my schedule for an all-day meeting. I pack up several bags, a lunch, and a carefully-measured amount of spending money, and head across the Connecticut River to my alma mater. I come home hours later, happy, tired, my head brimming with ideas and new techniques--my pockets are usually empty at that point, and my bags are even MORE full of stuff. ;)

Yep, I'm a member of the Nutmeg Spinners' Guild.

This month's meeting was the pot luck lunch meeting, where everyone brought food to share. We also didn't have a speaker or mentor this time, which meant everyone just sat around spinning, talking, sharing knowledge, sharing wheels & spindles, and experimenting with new fibers. It was amazing.

I always love the meetings to begin with, but this one was just so laid-back and relaxed. It's cool to have mentors and teachers, but sometimes I think we all just like knowing we can connect with other spinners. This time around, I tried baby camel/silk for the first time, learned the proper method for carding wool and bamboo fibers, tried a Great Wheel, tried a Traveller wheel, and arranged to borrow a wheel from another member.

I'm ecstatic about that last thing--I have wanted a wheel for so long, and haven't had a chance to try one for more than a few minutes. This way, I'll have a chance to experiment for a much longer time. I have a pound or so of wool that came with my Louet spindle--something I swapped for. I was planning on giving it away or selling it. Now, though, I think I'm going to use it as my test wool--I won't be crushed if it doesn't come out the way I want, since I didn't buy it in the first place.

I did buy a new spindle, as I mentioned in the last post. It's a Spindlewood mini drop spindle, made of purpleheart and yellowheart. Here's a pic of it from The Wheel Thing's website:



Next to it is a pic of my bloodwood Kundert spindle, also from The Wheel Thing.

The mini is so pretty and cute, and I barely feel it moving, it's so well-balanced! I'll post a pic of my own later on, when I receive my Aztec spindle, too. Right now, the mini is being used to spin some of that baby camel/silk top.

Which brings me to my fiber acquisitions of the day. I bought the baby camel/silk top from a vendor I hadn't met before--the colors called to me from the moment she put it out. They're mossy, deep greens and browns, with a few hints of russet in there for good measure. Then I headed over to Dragon's Lair Farm's table to look over the Navajo-Churro roving she had. I found three smallish bumps in her clearance bin, one pink, one orange, and one yellow. They were coarse and hairy and exactly what I wanted--I have wanted to make a felted bag in those colors for a while, and Navajo-Churro should wear like iron. Last, I bought an ounce or two of Shetland from Cairn Farm's table--a lovely heathered warm grey.

That was supposed to be the end of it. I had my existing stash at home, plus the Scottish fleece (which didn't get drum carded, sadly, but now I know how to card by hand), plus my new stuff. Then, however, I went to reclaim some sock needles I'd lent to C from Dragon's Lair. She was working on a pair of socks, and decided she didn't want to take the needles out. "Would you be up for trading your needles for some roving?" she asked. WOULD I. I ended up with about 1/2lb. of heathered grey Navajo-Churro--this stuff was much softer than the colored roving I'd bought earlier. Hurrah!

So we were packing up. My husband and Dragonmaille's husband & son had stopped by, and they were talking to another Guild member, T. Turns out she and her family do Revolutionary War reenactment, which appealed to my husband. Then she heard me exclaim about how much I loved fiber (while brandishing my new roving) and she said, "Come with me."

We went out to her van. She opened up the back to reveal a large box of dark caramel-colored alpaca roving. T reached in, grabbed a large handful, and gave it to me. ALPACA!! :D I learned how to spin on alpaca! This was lovely, soft, and so warm. Then, when we went inside for our stuff, she brought over a bit more, as well as a nice handful of pale grey llama.

It was just so nice. SO NICE.

When I went home, I pulled out all of my stash and re-packaged everything. I'd been using shopping bags and plastic grocery bags for most of it, but now that I have a real stash, I don't feel comfortable doing that anymore. I put everything into clear plastic ziploc bags, labeled them with fiber content, weight, and approximate date of acquisition, then neatly put the bags into some fabric cubes I got from Target. I now can see everything I have, and it's safe from moths or bugs or whatever. Heck, they're safe from my cat's mischief! :D

The spindles have a new home, too--I've been hanging them on my wire cubes, but I don't really like them there. Now they reside in a plastic shoebox with a lid. My small niddy-noddy also fits in there--bonus!

All in all, I have a really nice stash, though I think I'm done for a lonnnnng time. I had purchased enough to spin over the next few months, but with the gifts, I'm set for the whole summer at this point! I'm also done buying spindles for a long time, too. The only one I truly want is a Turkish spindle in Osage Orange that always makes my heart skip a little. However, just like last time, I am going to hold off on the purchase until the next meeting or two. If it's still there, then it was meant to be. If it isn't, well, I'll always find another one someday. :)

I'll take pics sometime soon so I can show off how pretty everything is.

OH OH!! And The Wheel Thing is now going to carry some of my peg swifts!! Watch for the update soon! :D :D

And now for a Project Update:

Sock yarn for husband: FINISHED
Calorimetry (from Knitty): FINISHED
Art Scarf--Neutral colors, Plant fibers: IN PROGRESS
Green Scarf in Alpaca yarns: IN PROGRESS

Latest Handspinning & Spindle Update

Just a few pics of my latest handspun.

First, a comparison. The fiber is Corriedale, from Yarnpunk on Etsy. I first bought some back in August, spun it up, and promptly ordered more. The first batch was...not bad, for my spinning at the time. I ended up with a heavy worsted-to-chunky single, somewhat consistent but still varied. I was really proud of it, though.



After the first batch, however, I discovered that I wanted something softer that would show off the colors more. In that time, I attended two Guild meetings and worked on spinning some angora, which was an amazing fiber yet required more attention than I had ever needed to give before. Once done with the angora, I started spinning up some Rambouillet/Border Leicester that had been given to me back in April. Imagine my surprise when I was suddenly creating even, thin singles that plied into a nearly perfect (for me) sock yarn!

I turned back to the green and tried working with it on my current level of finer spinning, and ended up with the lovely 2-ply you see on the left of the picture above. The old single chunky yarn is shown for comparison on the right.

Here's that Rambouillet/Border Leicester I told you about (thanks, Patty!):



The green--I don't know what it will be yet. I have about 100 yards plied with some black Corriedale, plus all the chunky stuff, and now this pretty thin stuff...plus I have another 6oz or so left to spin. The grey-brown wool will become socks for my husband as I promised him. The heavier grey-brown, my first skein that I spun before realizing it was a bit too thick for what I wanted, may go to something else for my husband or else I'll gift it to someone.

All in all, I'm really happy with what I've done in the past month. I feel like my spinning has taken a turn for the better, as well as becoming FAR more consistent and predictable.

My spindle collection is growing, too! In my possession now, I have:

Ashford 'boat anchor'--sturdy, heavy, and my first top-whorl spindle. Also the first spindle I actually owned, given to me by a secret pal early last year.

Louet beginner's spindle--lighter, though with a very large hook, with sheep woodburned into the whorl. I entertain thoughts of replacing the hook and turning the shaft on a lathe to make it a bit prettier, as it's an otherwise blocky piece. Still, I have used it for several fibers and it's a good, solid spindle. Received as part of a swap.

Kundert Bloodwood & Maple spindle with Walnut shaft--my main workhorse spindle. I adore it, I love it, I am lost without it. It was the first one I'd bought for myself, at the Guild meeting in October. I was expressing frustration with the Ashford because I couldn't get thin singles that wouldn't break, and two guild members (one of whom ran The Wheel Thing, who may be carrying some of my swifts soon) said, "The spindle makes a difference--try spinning on a lighter one." So I did, and almost cried at how pretty the single turned out. I experimented with a few different ones, but ended up with this one because of the gorgeous deep red color of the inlay. I now use it constantly.

Stone Whorl spindle from Running Moon Farm--the newest addition to my collection. I heard about RMF through the spindlers group on Yahoo; a stone whorl spindle intrigued me and I checked it out. Boy am I glad I did! It's light, unique, pretty, and spins forever. I got some very nice, very thin singles with it, though I haven't used it enough yet to really get to know it.

Prototype Turkish spindle--made from a Windsor chair spindle and two pieces of cherry. I have a few things to iron out before this can go into production, but I have the basics. It DOES spin, and it DOES work, but I still need to play with it for a while. It doesn't spin long enough. I'll show pics of it at some point.

Coming soon:

Stone Aztec spindle--from Salome on Etsy. An early birthday gift from my husband to me. The whorl is an authentic archeological find from the end of the Aztec empire, about the time Cortez brought them down. Salome turned a new spindle, and I can't wait to play with it when I get it.

??--from The Wheel Thing. I have my eye on a small Purpleheart & Yellowheart spindle, though we'll see if I can still get it when the time comes! I may change my mind, though I've been thinking about that particular one since December. Actually, since October, when I had to choose which one to buy. I got the Kundert then, but I've been thinking about that small one ever since. I recently sold a scarf on Etsy, and the deal was that I could get something at the meeting if I sold something...so new spindle, here I come!

And that, as they say, is that for the night. :)

SNOWWWWWWWWWW

SNOW!

It's not much, maybe an inch at best, but here it is 10am and it's still hanging on. I am so happy about this. I was really worried that we'd make it through January without so much as a flake. :)

Speaking of which, I think that's what my friends think I am for loving this stuff so much. Of course, I got no less than 3 calls (one from my husband and two from RL friends) who all wanted to make sure I saw that it was snowing. :D I can't help it, I know you guys think I'm nuts, but I really really REALLY love snow. It hasn't felt like winter without it.

I was very warm going outside in my new mittens and my artscarf--the scarf is long enough to wrap around my neck twice AND tie in the front, and the mittens are SO thick and warm. All I need now is to complete a hat that I like (I ripped out my Calorimetry and decided to start over--it was WAY too big) and I'll be set. I have some leftover green from the mittens and a whole other ball of the purple as well, so maybe I can do something that matches.

My art has stalled out; I had a small pair of commissions that were cancelled, which is sad, but I understand why. Now, though, I need to get my butt in gear and start doing SOMETHING. Same with my writing--I reworked the beginning of one of my stories and I like it more, but it's still missing something important. I think I just need to keep going and I can figure out what I need later.

I fell far behind in critiques on Critters.org, which means I need to catch up. That'll be 'fun'. ;)

Oh, and as I mentioned in another post, I decided that this year would be not only Knit from Your Stash year, but also Spin from Your Stash. In light of that, the first thing I chose to spin once the angora was done was some really pretty grey-brown wool that was gifted to me last year. I'm glad I'm doing it now--it practically spins itself! I am also much better at getting a uniformly thin single. This is going to become really nice sock yarn for my husband. :D I've done 100 yards so far--that was within less than 24 hours of spinning!! I need about 300-400 for a decent pair of socks, so another few days of spinning and I should have enough.

My arm is totally feeling it, but it's a good ache. I never thought of what a workout spinning could be, but it forces me to raise & lower my left arm a LOT. I figured out that for every 100 yards of finished yarn, I probably raise my arm to its full extension about 350 times. This is really good for me. My left arm is the one that had problems a few years ago, and I've been coddling it for so long that I was losing flexibility. I'd like to get to where I don't feel a difference anymore between my arms. I am good about taking long breaks between spinning periods and shorter breaks during.

I guess that's it for now. I was only planning to write a 'SNOW' post, but you guys get the scoop on my life as well. :D

Mittens!!

I made my first pair of mittens this weekend!




I've done gloves and all sorts of other items before, but I've never done mittens. I wanted this particular pair, ever since I saw someone on DeviantArt who had made hers in blue & yellow. I almost did the same thing, but then I saw the purple & green next to each other and...well, I had to have it.

The strings on the cuffs will be knotted into loops for hanging the mittens when they're wet. :)

x-posted to my personal LJ & the punk_knitters LJ community.

Joshua's Sweater

I can't believe I didn't post this here. My aunt had a baby 2 weeks before Christmas; his name is Joshua. Since he is likely the last baby to be born on that side of my family for a VERY long time, I decided he deserved a sweater of his very own.

I've never knitted a sweater before, actually--but the One Skein book by Leigh Radford had an awesome baby bolero in it. I happened to have some Mission Falls 1824 Wool...it was just meant to be. :)

So here you go:



:D

PS: More spinning, knitting and sewing stuff to come. Honest!

Looking for Christmas Music?

I hate "mall mixes"...you know, the stupid replayings of holiday music that play the same crap over and over and over until you WANT TO KILL SOMETHING AND IF YOU HEAR SOME 80s NEW WAVE VERSION OF RUDOLPH AGAIN YOU *WILL* KILL...

*ahem*

So I like the 40s and 50s for Christmas music...and I went to Pandora.com and made my own holiday mix. Starting with Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and let them do the rest. It rules. So far, I've listened to Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and of course Bing Crosby. It's exactly what I wanted.

Naturally, you can also put together your own preference for music--looking for that Beach Boys version of "White Christmas"? Or the one by Lee Ann Womack? Go ahead and click. :)

I sound like an ad, I'm sure, but c'mon! Free internet radio, tailored to your personal tastes. If a song plays that you don't like, you give it a thumbs-down and it'll move on to another song. Add more music or more types of music, and it'll grow as you like. I had a subscription to another Internet radio site, but I'm thinking of letting it lapse.

The only drawback to the site is that it doesn't do classical music...yet. Check it out, read about the Music Genome Project (which is freakin' cool) and if you do sign up and want my mix, let me know and I can email you an invite. You don't need to download anything, even. And when the holidays are over, check out the selection on other types of music. I have two techno stations--two different subgenres, natch--as well as a hard rock station and a soft-folk-guitar station. Seriously!

*urges* Now, go check it out! :D

Pandora.com

My First Angora

Angora bunny is one of those fibers that make my life worthwhile. I love everything about it: the range of colors from blinding snowy white to deep brown and black, the softness, the halo--not to mention my obsession with bunnies in general. It's also one of those fibers that you find in the LYS going for $25 for a 2oz skein. It's one of my 'holy grail' fibers, and until today I have had to content myself with buying blends and playing with inexpertly-cut bits that have been given to me because they were unusable otherwise.

Apologies for the crappy pictures.






Bought at today's Nutmeg Spinners' Guild meeting and spun on my lovely Bloodwood spindle. I have 2oz, though this is only about 1/2 oz so far. I couldn't wait to get enough to ply. :) I started spinning it almost immediately upon purchasing it. The fiber came from the lovely Woolybuns, who will be posting a picture of me on her blog, in which I grin like a fool and hold up my spindle with the first part of my singles on it. :D Not necessarily a flattering pic, but a fun one nonetheless. :D

A Winner is Me!

Just so y'all know. :)

Flash yer Stash!

Sorry I haven't posted recently! November is National Novel Writing Month, which means I have been working like crazy on a story that's fallen behind, and on top of that, this is the time of year when I freak out about how many gifts I need to finish by Christmas...not to mention that both of my parents' birthdays are in December. *cries* I have too much to do.

So of course, with all this Stuff to Do, I decided to slack off participate in the "Flash Your Stash" on secretpal_lj3, over on LiveJournal. It took me an hour to photograph the whole stash, which I discovered would NOT fit onto a queen-sized mattress. Not even with stacking. -_-;;

So here we go!


My Spinning Stash, with my 3 spindles, niddy-noddy, 3 bumps of wool from a local CT farm, a lot of my handspun, a bag of washed but uncarded fleece, and a bag of bunny


Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran & cashmerino chunky, and a few skeins of a knockoff


Assorted chunky plied yarns, some of my chunky handspun, sparkly and shiny yarns, recycled silk, recycled silk & wool...the white mass in the middle is some fingering weight vintage wool.


Worsteds & DKs, plied. Lots of KnitPicks WotA, Cascade 22o, Cascade Eco wool, some vintage teal green wool, two colors of a local co-op's wool (the bright green & yellow on the right), 2 cones of wool, OH and some KnitPicks Ambrosia in the very front & center. :) Also, some laceweight alpaca made it into this pic somehow; I must have been distracted by the cat and put it here by mistake. :)


Cottons, sock yarns, & Superwashes. Superwashes in the upper right, including some Filatura di Crosa and some Mission Falls 1824. Kitchen cottons in the upper right, then moving down to Berber Cotton, then sock yarns...some Mountain Colors Bearfoot, Trekking XXL, Cascade Fixation, some leftover Artyarns Ultramerino 4, then some Nature Cotton, and mercerized cottons on the bottom left.


Single-ply wools. Includes some Tibetan wool on the left, then some Manos del Uruguay and some debbie bliss that matches it exactly, a lot of Reynolds Lopi & Lite-lopi on the right, the multicolor in the front is Farmhouse Yarns (local spinner), 2 skeins of Brown Sheep Co. Lamb's Pride in purple, and last some assorted yarns from old projects.


Fuzzy and shiny yarns. Starting in upper left, a metric tonne of a kid mohair/acrylic blend that I got online, some acrylic thick & thin that makes amazing scarves, 1 skein of Berroco Sizzle, several skeins of Bernat Boa and some Splash that looks like lettuce, 4 skeins (well, 2, but the socks take up the other 2) of Reynolds Devotion, an angora/nylon blend that makes awesome socks, a few balls of mohair, some Plymouth baby alpaca, a few Target yarns, some mohair/nylon blend called "college", and the single green skein on the left is what's left over from my husband's alpaca socks.


Eleanor (from the book Scarf Style) in progress, with 3 balls of the yarn being used, plus 1 of the same yarn in a different colorway. The yellow is called 'citrus' and is dyed locally by my favorite LYS owner. She dyed the yarn for Eleanor specifically for me; it's called 'citrus grove' because it uses the same colors but in different amounts. I have 2 more skeins of this on hold for me at the shop...I'm buying it one at a time. :)

...And that, my dears, is what obsession looks like.

This week is killing me. I will have pics of the finished bad-ass bag once I recover from finishing an art commission AND a knitting commission that's almost done. XD

Anything in the stash that you have suggestions for me to knit? I'm open. I need to add some new items to the Shop. :D