tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28744686912769898952024-03-13T20:23:55.689-07:00Wizard's WorkshopKarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-20219290498727474282024-01-30T17:40:00.000-08:002024-01-30T17:40:30.783-08:00Sew: let's get started!<p>Such a long time since I've posted! Busy with many new things. I've started a crafting group on Facebook and some of the participants have asked me to help them learn to sew. It is a huge topic, so I'm planning to break it down into some smaller bite-sized pieces.</p><p>Let's start with choosing your sewing machine. Several questions to answer before you go shopping.</p><p><u><b>First:</b></u> What kinds of things do you want to make? If you want to do upholstery, it will require a very different machine than making quilts or garments. Perhaps you don't know for certain what to make, if that is the case, a basic entry-level sewing machine might be the best place to start.</p><p><b><u>Second:</u></b> What is your budget? A lot of very nice machines can be found at thrift stores*. That being said, an entry level machine can be purchased from a big box store for $100 to $200. I have also done a quick search on Amazon and there are machines available for as little as $20. My personal preference would be to get a machine a little above the base model, since my experience with the very low-end machines has been that they are of very poor quality and need frequent service or replacement.</p><p><u><b>Third:</b></u> Find a class or video to learn about your machine and some basic sewing skills. My favorite source for classes is <a href="http://Craftsy.com">Craftsy.com</a> and there are many beginner classes available. It is a subscription site and the rate for the first year is very reasonable. You can browse many classes in whatever you are interested in learning. There are also many videos on YouTube that you might find helpful as you learn to sew. </p><p><b><u>*A note on buying from thrift stores.</u></b> Take someone with you that knows something about sewing machines. The older machines may be missing parts that are expensive or impossible to replace. Many machines land in thrift stores simply because the prior owner couldn't make it work. Please know that it may be necessary to take it to be serviced before it will work properly. I have seen many, many machines in thrift stores for $20 to $100. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Lsh7idI7YIPZqFdwxETPa3bTJJiedoTEj2R1EgYVIhY3qBhyS-U7YMzeOGNWLJF00aTlWcWbi2mFhNRJ6wvsmnPsq5M3Z2QBq3T9AQoV8yxuNZhmUtOCKvX9FG2Y_k9nqsCokRTb2HvJAV1AxK1lXRLZUumrDela_QMkm7TEERQ8a-i54x1fdzYPadLL/s1080/Sewing%20machine%20for%20blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Lsh7idI7YIPZqFdwxETPa3bTJJiedoTEj2R1EgYVIhY3qBhyS-U7YMzeOGNWLJF00aTlWcWbi2mFhNRJ6wvsmnPsq5M3Z2QBq3T9AQoV8yxuNZhmUtOCKvX9FG2Y_k9nqsCokRTb2HvJAV1AxK1lXRLZUumrDela_QMkm7TEERQ8a-i54x1fdzYPadLL/w300-h400/Sewing%20machine%20for%20blog.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is my Brother SQ9185</td></tr></tbody></table><p>A few things I find very helpful on a machine. <u>A self-threading device</u> is great since sewing machine needles thread from a very difficult angle to see easily. The device usually has a tiny hook that passes through the eye of the needle and draws a small loop of thread through the eye. I use a tiny stiletto to catch the loop and pull the thread the rest of the way through the eye of the needle. In the picture, the self-threader is the lever I'm pulling down with my finger. The large hook on the left is a thread guide and the tiny hook for the needle eye is a bit to the right.</p><p></p><p><u>A walking foot</u> is great for keeping multiple layers of fabric moving through the machine at the same rate. Especially useful for quilting. These can be integrated into the machine or be an attachment that can be purchased later. In this picture it is an attachment that goes behind the presser foot and has tiny gripping feet that work with the feed dogs below the silver plate to grab the layers of fabric and presses them together so they move as one piece through the machine as it stitches.</p><p><u>Drop in bobbin</u> set up is much easier than the older style of bobbin case used previously. This picture shows the drop in bobbin under the small gray transparent cover.</p><p><u>Free arm</u> is very useful for constructing sleeves, putting up hems on pants and other small circular projects.</p><p>Please feel free to get in touch if you have questions or to leave a comment below if you find this useful. I'm spending time learning how to edit video so that I can use that format in the future. Bear with me while I figure out the technology I need to learn for that method.</p>Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-8114235939517102592019-06-23T10:33:00.000-07:002019-06-23T10:33:29.408-07:00What a long, strange trip this has been!Many years since I've done a post. I've missed this more than I thought I would and I'm going to post what I'm working on now, giving a little update since so much time has passed.<br />
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Finally finished these mittens. They've been on the needles for some time and I'm glad to have them ready for the winter. They are made from Lion Brand Amazing yarn, colorway 218 Violets. I love the red-violet shading and the randomness appeals to my artist. They should be good for shoveling snow, being a blend of wool and acrylic. Loved my last pair knit from the same pattern, Classic Mittens 615.<br />
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My preference for mittens goes back years. Keeps my hands a lot warmer than gloves, and they are much easier to knit. Might try a pair of gloves someday, but for now, I have my hands winter ready.<br />
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Since you've heard from me, I've moved back to the country and I'm loving it! City life really doesn't suit me, so I was delighted to find a place I could afford out in the country near Marshall, Wisconsin. It is an old farmhouse that sits on an acre of land.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7xyAELtN2YU/XQ-u9DLQLhI/AAAAAAAABJE/sgql39tAiq4W2TPbkLA9MGbU59BJlQ4DACLcBGAs/s1600/Majestic%2BMaple%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7xyAELtN2YU/XQ-u9DLQLhI/AAAAAAAABJE/sgql39tAiq4W2TPbkLA9MGbU59BJlQ4DACLcBGAs/s320/Majestic%2BMaple%2B1.jpg" width="240" /></a>Here is a picture of the massive maple tree that shades the house, this is from the back side so you can see how big that tree really is! I'd be willing to bet that it would take three people to put their arms around the trunk of this monster. I also have some really big elm trees, so few of them left anywhere anymore. I feel so lucky to have these grand old trees on my place!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7xyAELtN2YU/XQ-u9DLQLhI/AAAAAAAABJE/sgql39tAiq4W2TPbkLA9MGbU59BJlQ4DACLcBGAs/s1600/Majestic%2BMaple%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Since the house has been added onto so many times it has the feel of the Weasley house on Harry Potter. Many odd little rooms and the layout doesn't make much sense, but I like the quirkiness of an old place like this. <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> I'm fixing it up a little at a time. </span><br />
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The first year I was here I replaced some windows and a door. The second year was the heating and air conditioning. Not terribly exciting stuff, but it really helped reduce the energy bills! Now that the mechanicals are taken care of, I'm getting into the fun parts!<br />
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Remodeling and redecorating an old place can be an adventure! I hired a designer to do some drawings for me. Then I took over and made my selections. I had a blast doing this! I did some research and interviewed some construction and remodeling outfits to work on the kitchen. Found a father and son operation, toured some of their projects and hired them to do the work on my kitchen. Finished the work over the past winter and it was quite a transformation!<br />
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Here is the before picture:<br />
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The photobombing dog is Zephyr. She was born on December 19, 2016. From a litter of 17 pups! She's grown into a lovely dog... I'll do a post on her later, but she does feel the need to be involved in everything that happens around here!<br />
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Anyway, the kitchen was probably set up like this in the sixties. It had the white formica with gold flecks and the metal front edge. Ick! The cabinets were cheaply made and not very attractive. The paneling.... well, I can't say I miss that at all! And who puts carpeting in the kitchen? It all had to go....<br />
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So the new design moved the door to the other end of the wall. Rearranged the appliances and removed the fake beams from the ceiling. I wanted to keep the window over the sink and the two windows on the side walls for ventilation. Kept the sliding glass door too, such wonderful light from the east in the morning. Changed the color scheme to a nice cool gray with navy on the floor and countertops and white on the walls and ceiling. <br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-thE0fjNQ4qE/XQ-zgRhkUzI/AAAAAAAABJo/h6SJrqazEUI9GPupj04WtVgwieYuuTXkgCLcBGAs/s1600/Kitchen%2Bafter%2Bpicture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #0066cc; float: left; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-thE0fjNQ4qE/XQ-zgRhkUzI/AAAAAAAABJo/h6SJrqazEUI9GPupj04WtVgwieYuuTXkgCLcBGAs/s1600/Kitchen%2Bafter%2Bpicture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-thE0fjNQ4qE/XQ-zgRhkUzI/AAAAAAAABJo/h6SJrqazEUI9GPupj04WtVgwieYuuTXkgCLcBGAs/s320/Kitchen%2Bafter%2Bpicture.jpg" width="240" /><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
So here is the after shot:<br />
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Zephyr again.... photobombing pest of a dog!<br />
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I'm so pleased with the way it turned out! Here are some of the specs:<br />
Floor: Indigo Swirl strand bamboo<br />
Appliances: Whirlpool<br />
Countertops: Corian Zodiaq quartz in Crushed Indigo<br />
Faucet: Ikea Aleskar (sadly, no longer available)<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HpLL3_dfpo0/XQ-2k7zxFfI/AAAAAAAABKM/54gagJWCG6kvFf9x0cUSJBvDSkCc3NvZgCLcBGAs/s1600/kitchen%2Bchandelier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HpLL3_dfpo0/XQ-2k7zxFfI/AAAAAAAABKM/54gagJWCG6kvFf9x0cUSJBvDSkCc3NvZgCLcBGAs/s320/kitchen%2Bchandelier.jpg" width="240" /></a>I love the track lighting and the ceiling fan. The under cabinet lights are just dreamy - no dark spots or getting in my own light when I'm working in there. But my favorite is probably the crystal chandelier over the sink. It might seem weird, but I just love it! Eight dimmable LCD lamps and oodles of crystals, it is just beautiful to me!<br />
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The cabinetry is Amish, and very nice quality. Many of the lower units have slide out trays, and all of them have soft-close hinges. Such a treat, since I've never had any of that in my kitchen before!<br />
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<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-6240957883882082922014-02-27T03:01:00.000-08:002014-02-27T03:03:17.523-08:00It's a good day to dye...Oooh it has been a while since I put anything up here on my blog! So sorry about that!<br />
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With the biting cold of this Wisconsin winter, I've been doing some dye work this month. It is such fun to work with dye on colored wools, so I shot some pictures of the latest batch of experiments.<br />
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I soaked 100 grams of wool from various fleeces in my stash and put them in the dye pot to try out the effect of overdyeing the darker natural colored wools.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mini trampoline drying rack - because I'm fancy like that.</td></tr>
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Here's the whole bunch on my drying rack... a mini trampoline that has lost a few too many springs and attachments due to age, but it makes a dandy drying rack when I put it up on sawhorses!<br />
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Clockwise from the top: <br />
1. Corriedale, natural gray "Sierra" in Amethyst.<br />
2. Cormo, white "Poppy" in Amethyst and then as a cleanup for Peacock Blue.<br />
3. Corriedale, natural gray "Sierra" in Peacock Blue.<br />
4. English Leicester Longwool steel gray "Theo" clean up batch in Peacock Blue.<br />
5. English Leicester Longwool steel gray "Theo" in Peacock Blue.<br />
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Wool is a protein fiber, so I use acid dyes to color the wool fibers. Typically, vinegar is used for the acidification of the dye bath, but since I plan to sell these colors, I used citric acid instead since it has no odor and uses a much smaller quantity. I learned this when I started dying with the Nasty Romney fleece that started this journey.<br />
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Speaking of the Nasty Romney, I have had good news that I can finally share! I had submitted a proposal of the story of that fleece to Spin-Off Magazine quite a while ago, and I was selected for the Spring 2014 issue featuring color. I'm on page 70 of the magazine, with my article titled "Making Lemonade". Here is a link to the magazine: <a href="http://shop.spinningdaily.com/spin-off-spring-2014-grouped" target="_blank">Spin-Off Spring 2014</a><br />
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I'll be putting some batts from both this dye batch and the Nasty Romney (now somewhat affectionately named Anastasia for obvious reasons) into my Etsy shop for your perusal and purchase.<br />
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Currently also hard at work on another delightful series of batts called the "Magic" series. All of these batts are full of sparkle and an interesting blend of fibers.<br />
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Here's a taste of the series for your pleasure.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wings of Pegasus</td></tr>
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Here is the link to the listing in the shop for this batt called <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/177882423/wings-of-pegasus-22-ounce-blended-batt?" target="_blank">Wings of Pegasus</a>.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-35998640239340657392013-08-08T03:13:00.001-07:002013-08-08T03:18:16.404-07:00SculptedAs an artist, I find inspiration everywhere. Sometimes the power of an image demands a trip to see the original artwork. Earlier this summer, I took that trip to see one of the most amazing sculptures in the world. Nestled into the hills of South Dakota is this impressive sight.<br />
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Mount Rushmore has been on my personal "bucket list" for years, and I finally had the opportunity to visit this magnificent monument to see it in person. As I gazed over the valley from the railing at the monument I burst into tears. The sheer size of this sculpture is awe-inspiring, and the detail is beyond compare. I found a book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carving-Mount-Rushmore-Alan-Smith/dp/1558596658/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375953564&sr=1-1&keywords=the+carving+of+mount+rushmore" target="_blank">The Carving of Mount Rushmore</a> and I'm enjoying the story of the artist's journey and the negotiations behind the artwork - quite interesting indeed!</div>
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Other sculptures also inspire me, although these aren't nearly as massive - or as famous - as Mount Rushmore, they are magnificent in their own ways. A friend of mine does very realistic sculptures of birds, down to the tiny lines cut into the feathers for realism. I spent an afternoon with her and she allowed me to photograph some of her works in progress.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H20GC4tC9iA/UgNlcUGwroI/AAAAAAAAAds/UqSRMqEvveg/s1600/Blackberry+06+26+2013+033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H20GC4tC9iA/UgNlcUGwroI/AAAAAAAAAds/UqSRMqEvveg/s320/Blackberry+06+26+2013+033.jpg" width="240" /></a>The Robin is life sized, and sitting on a tiny mug because his legs aren't completed yet, but I think you can see the fine detail in each tiny feather and brushstroke. These small sculptures are done in wood and the feather details are done with a specialized wood burning tool. Painstaking attention to detail is what makes this fellow lifelike enough to fool anyone into believing that he could take flight at any moment. Although the landing would be difficult without legs....</div>
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I so enjoyed learning about how this kind of sculpting was done! I don't think I'd have the patience to do it myself, but I can certainly see the care that goes into capturing the details in these tiny works of art.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oyAi2cNLMPw/UgNn8KDVXeI/AAAAAAAAAd8/7nvZIFU3nuY/s1600/Blackberry+06+26+2013+051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oyAi2cNLMPw/UgNn8KDVXeI/AAAAAAAAAd8/7nvZIFU3nuY/s320/Blackberry+06+26+2013+051.jpg" width="238" /></a>This was a sculpture done with a sense of fun! There were sculptures of many of the founding fathers on the benches lining the streets of Steamboat Springs in Colorado. Here's a shot of my Mom with one of her heroes, the president Abraham Lincoln. Such good sculpture work, and placed out in public where people can interact with the sculpture. Nice to see such things in the current era of anything artistic being set behind ropes and guarded so as to be untouchable. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vJ0KFZlidBs/UgNqVXPtufI/AAAAAAAAAeM/iokxj8CicQg/s1600/IMG_20130513_151055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vJ0KFZlidBs/UgNqVXPtufI/AAAAAAAAAeM/iokxj8CicQg/s320/IMG_20130513_151055.jpg" width="240" /></a>There was one more sculpture in Steamboat Springs that really touched my inner artist and made my spirit sing for joy. This one was in a small shopping mall, not too far from the place I was staying while in Steamboat Springs. Made up of miscellaneous spare parts that most people would consider junk - and would throw away - this stunning work of art stands about 10 feet tall. If I stood next to it, I'd just about fit under it's belly.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yT6kQ3rDuZE/UgNr30gNwZI/AAAAAAAAAec/PJ2TDyoCS2I/s1600/IMG_20130510_182854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yT6kQ3rDuZE/UgNr30gNwZI/AAAAAAAAAec/PJ2TDyoCS2I/s200/IMG_20130510_182854.jpg" width="150" /></a>Another scupture - or maybe adornment is a better description - is found on the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. Maybe it is kitsch - but I found it impressive in a quirky way. The entire surface of the building is deorated with corn. Here's an example that was set under glass to show how it is constructed. First the finished image:</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8RLS4Zn1GHc/UgNsJt672-I/AAAAAAAAAek/FpJxURxrtOE/s1600/IMG_20130510_182903.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8RLS4Zn1GHc/UgNsJt672-I/AAAAAAAAAek/FpJxURxrtOE/s200/IMG_20130510_182903.jpg" width="150" /></a>And then this example to show how it was accomplished. I found this fascinating! I knew corn was available in many colors, but this was not something I ever would have dreamed possible. These panels were probably about three feet wide and two feet high. Very interesting, and I thought it was a pretty neat way to decorate a wall. Until I rounded the corner and saw the Corn Palace in all its wonder....</div>
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The whole building is covered with decorative murals and textured elements made of corn. I had no idea how impressive it was until I saw it in person. Weird, but wonderful in its own way.</div>
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Taking art three-dimensional makes it complex and inviting. Art that can be considered from many more viewpoints than just flat on a wall is far more interesting to me than any other type. Perhaps that is where my fascination with fiber art begins. The ability to wrap fiber around a three dimensional form, whether it be a person or a structure never ceases to amaze me. I love the trend of yarn-bombing that has taken hold. These odd little bits of knitting that cover trees, benches, and bike racks have a sense of fun all their own. I've seem images of this in various places, but never in person. Maybe someday I'll find some - or maybe make some of my own!</div>
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Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-45276476507680951122013-03-27T06:26:00.000-07:002013-03-27T09:52:14.271-07:00Where squirrels are slow...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A couple of weeks ago, I said goodbye to my best friend. Granted, she was short and furry, but she was my buddy, my confidante, and my solace when things weren't going well.<br />
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Her name was Vanessa, and she was a Border Collie and Sheltie crossbred dog that was rescued from a hoarder who had about fifty dogs on the property. The dogs weren't mistreated, but had little human contact. She and her mother, Piper (also rescued by <a href="http://www.greatlakesbcrescue.org/" target="_blank">Great Lakes Border Collie Rescue</a>) were both placed in foster homes. With so little human contact, Vanessa was very shy and wasn't available for adoption right away. At the time I found out about her, she had been in foster care for nine months of her year and a half lifetime. So many people had wanted this beautiful dog, and just were not a good match for her, with her shy nature and high sensitivity to noise and motion. I was fortunate enough to have a lifestyle and quiet environment that the foster caretaker wanted for Vanessa to recover and learn to love being a pet.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LJXa6LsveYg/UVLkVZDe7bI/AAAAAAAAAbY/KfI4bNFhwcI/s1600/IMG_5012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LJXa6LsveYg/UVLkVZDe7bI/AAAAAAAAAbY/KfI4bNFhwcI/s320/IMG_5012.jpg" width="320" /></a>At first she was so timid that she wouldn't get close to anyone unless they had a treat for her. This was the only dog I've ever had that was so motivated by food, that she'd do just about anything to get it. Made her delightfully easy to train, and she was so intelligent! I could watch her figure out problems - important things like "there is food on the table, how can I get up there to get it?" and "how can I get the thumbed one over here to open the refrigerator?"<br />
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She loved the farm, the ability to run loose and chase the cats, rabbits and squirrels that populated the great outdoors. Lightning fast and graceful, she was a joy to watch. She was independent and smart, and her training went quickly and well. She went through obedience classes and then beginning level agility classes and passed both with flying colors. Competition was suggested, but with my work schedule and her skittishness with strangers, I never pursued it. When I moved into the city a few years later, she was by my side. The open farm was replaced with trips to the dog park, where she loved to run and chase mice and gophers. Once she caught a toad, which was amusing to me, but must have tasted bad to her because she flung it away and drooled for a while afterward.<br />
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As she got into doggie middle age - about six in this case, I decided to have a photographer do a shoot of us together. My thinking was that I'd rather have photos of her while still in her prime than to wait until the end of life and have only the pictures of an old dog with no sparkle. I'm so glad I did. These pictures are from that shoot in June of 2009 with Konopa Photography. They have since moved to Alaska and I bought the rights to the pictures, which I have enjoyed greatly. Black dogs are notoriously difficult to capture on film, and I think they did a marvelous job with Vanessa. We had a lot of fun during the shoot, doing both indoor and outdoor shots. She was a lovely model and the pictures were so much fun! She was willing to do all her tricks for the photographer, and he was able to catch a few of them, as well as creating some fabulous images with the both of us together.<br />
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As she got older, the visits to the dog park involved too many dogs that wanted to pick a fight with her. She was so selective in her choice of playmates, and that seemed to frustrate some dogs into aggression when she ignored their invitations to play. It didn't take too many instances of that kind of agressiveness for me to pull the plug on that situation. She didn't need to be attacked for wanting to be left alone to run. <br />
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So we took walks at home and played in our own yard as she slowed down. She still loved to try and catch the squirrels that populate the oak trees and the small woods. Sometimes she'd get a few feet off the ground going after one of them up a tree. She took her squirrel duty very seriously, and never missed an opportunity to run them back up their tree, and then looking wistfully after them. I could almost hear her say "almost got that one!" before we'd turn back for home.<br />
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Last April, her annual veterinarian visit turned up a decline in kidney function on her blood work. I already knew she had a heart murmur, but this was something that there really isn't a treatment for that is reasonable for a dog. As she started dramatically increasing her water intake, I knew her time was growing shorter. I started coming home from work for lunch so she could get outside more frequently. That lasted quite a while, and I actually enjoyed our time together during those breaks from my work day. Then I noticed that she was less interested in her rawhide treats, and played with her toys less and less.<br />
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There comes a point where the quality of life trumps nostalgia. I knew she couldn't get better and that the end was coming for her. I did not want her to suffer - she'd given me so many years of companionship and joy. I made the most difficult call of my life when I contacted the vet for her final appointment.<br />
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About a week later, she got in the car and we made the short trip to the vet. Dr. Jan brought in a padded blanket and spread it out on the floor, we had the conversation about how the medicine works. Vanessa didn't even need to go up on the table this time. Dr. Jan gave her a sedative shot, and Vanessa wobbled over and laid down on the blanket with her head on my feet, so I couldn't go anywhere without her knowing. She always did that when she wanted to rest, so that she wouldn't miss anything exciting. Then Dr. Jan gave the shot in Vanessa's foreleg that let her go peacefully away, and she was gone.<br />
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Vanessa was a beautiful story of success from her difficult beginnings, through rescue and the fabulous people who donate their time, their homes and their love for the dogs that they help along the way.<br />
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Goodbye my beautiful friend. I'll always remember you, my dear Vanessa. In time, we'll meet again in the place where dreams come true, and squirrels are slow.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vanessa<br />
6/2003 to 3/13/2013</td></tr>
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Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-41726402822734768862013-02-27T03:47:00.000-08:002013-02-28T04:34:34.126-08:00Things are getting fuzzy!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GVikBGbtqEw/US3lDm1d61I/AAAAAAAAAZs/kP3KgFTd30c/s1600/Etsy+and+Ravelry+02+14+2013+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GVikBGbtqEw/US3lDm1d61I/AAAAAAAAAZs/kP3KgFTd30c/s320/Etsy+and+Ravelry+02+14+2013+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knit Picks Galileo in "Gem" on size 3 (3.25 mm)</td></tr>
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Spinning and swatching have taken up my fiber time lately. I've been working on wooly goodness to put into my Etsy shop as well as spinning more singles for another embellished yarn. Swatching for some new projects as well. Sometimes it is nice to start looking into my next few projects when I feel ready to stall out on my current one. Shipwreck is in that particular spot right now... a little too much time on really fine yarn and fiddly lace has me hungry for some super simple take along type of projects. That being said, naturally the first thing that grabbed me was the extra-super-duper fiddly cabled cardigan called Tapestry. I'm nuts - I know. But the swatch was plain stockinette with garter borders, so it met the need of super easy knitting that I needed just then. Of course the photo also gives me away - I've cast on for the sweater and I'm a couple rows into it. Didn't I just frog out a cabled sweater? Ummmmm..... yes, but I guess I'm ready for more punishment on even finer yarn and smaller needles. Learning from recent mistakes doesn't always happen in my case evidently. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Combed Romney nests up for sale</td></tr>
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Other fiber madness includes this batch of delightful fluff. This is hand combed Romney that I processed on my English 4 pitch combs. I mentioned them and discussed the process back in the <a href="http://karen-wizardsworkshop.blogspot.com/2012_06_01_archive.html" target="_blank">Wicked</a> post. It is a very nice way to get lovely spinning fiber out of clean but trashy (with VM) fleece. Spinning from hand combed top is such a pleasure. The fiber is arranged in parallel fashion, so the spining is so smooth and wonderful! I like texture too, but nothing beats combed fiber for a lovely smooth singles when spinning. This Romney is pretty typical of the breed, long and silky fiber. Not as harsh as most of the longwools and a terrific fiber on which to learn spinning. There is also something about spinning the pure, undyed, creamy natural wool. My passion for color in spinning doesn't often give me the time to do much white, but this fiber may just find a place in the lineup sometime very soon. This particular batch is listed <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/123624129/clean-wool-combed-nests-1-ounce-white" target="_blank">here</a> in my Etsy shop. I'm working on more of this fleece in dyed colors as well. Those will go up in the shop as soon as I'm finished combing them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original pair of swatches for Knit, Swirl jacket</td></tr>
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Another fun project that I'm still swatching is a jacket from the book <u>Knit, Swirl</u> by Sandra McIver. I've wanted to do one of these lovely knitted works of art for several years, so I finally bought the book and raided my stash for these swatches.<br />
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The rich purple is a mohair that has been in my stash for years, just waiting for the right project to showcase it's beauty. Being mohair, it isn't next to the skin soft, but it has such a wonderful fluffy halo that it should work well in this jacket. The one on the bottom is the handspun that has made several appearances in this blog. It is the Dolly Dorset with Louet Northern Lights in Wild Berry Jam. These swatches were done on the same needles with the same stitch count and pattern, and they don't match up for size. Bummer, but that is why I do swatches, to find this kind of thing out before I charge into a project. I've learned this the hard way... so I do a lot more swatching than I used to. Since the tags aren't really visable, I'll give the details here.<br />
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The mohair swatch is done in Millie Mohair that I've had in my stash since 1992 or so. I remember buying it back when I lived in Colorado from a shop called the Recycled Lamb. I believe that they are still in operation - I've encountered them on Ravelry from time to time. <br />
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Back to the swatch: I cast on 24 stitches with the plan of a three stitch garter border and worked it up on size 7 (4.5 mm) needles. Did four rows of garter stitch and then worked the stockinette center section and finished up with another four rows of garter stitch. Bound it off and gave it a bath. Who knew such fine yarn would work up in nearly Aran weight? The fabric is light and airy, but the fuzz really fills it up! I also notice that it has a definite tendency to bias which is good to know. I didn't block it hard because I wanted to know what it wanted to do on its own. Worked up at four stitches per inch, just a bit too big for the gauge called for in the pattern.<br />
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The second swatch is the handspun done up in the same fashion. But it washed up nice and square - being a three ply yarn really helps it to behave as a more stable yarn construction. This swatch worked up at just over five stitches per inch. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TFsvS2kc9qw/US3u6jRGNDI/AAAAAAAAAa0/Qu29TDJO2dU/s1600/Knit+Swirl+swatches+02+21+2013+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TFsvS2kc9qw/US3u6jRGNDI/AAAAAAAAAa0/Qu29TDJO2dU/s320/Knit+Swirl+swatches+02+21+2013+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New swatch showing the welted construction,<br />
done in two different needle sizes</td></tr>
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Tough decisions now... do I switch yarns, or switch needles to make these yarns work together? The first thing I sampled was to change needle sizes to make the gauge match and it worked pretty well. But, and here's the big problem, I don't like it as much. Knitting the mohair on size six (4 mm) needles makes it firmer than I really want and really compresses the fluffy fun that makes the yarn such a treat. I also find that I'm not as wild about the handspun on the size 8 (5 mm) needles. A bit too floppy for my taste, and I think the colors just don't really go together as well as I'd hoped. So, I'm back to the drawing board. What I'm considering now is a very plain yarn with the mohair so there is less competition between the yarns. I'm also thinking that I may alternate rows to spread out the fluff a bit. The welts will still show up well I think, but I'll need to swatch it to be sure. I'm not wild about the visible purl bumps between the welts, so I may match up the yarn on those rows to help them blend in better. So, now I'm in search of a new background yarn to use with the mohair.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-13195809746546086212013-01-31T13:50:00.001-08:002013-01-31T13:53:35.961-08:00Rare breed Spin-A-Long - Dorset Down<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IYUeJiA_Q7E/UQrXG3CrQAI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/obFJ1y4jcV8/s1600/Shetland+Rare+breed+SAL+01+10+2013+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IYUeJiA_Q7E/UQrXG3CrQAI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/obFJ1y4jcV8/s320/Shetland+Rare+breed+SAL+01+10+2013+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brindle Shetland yarn, finished skein 466 yards</td></tr>
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Rare breeds of sheep are so interesting. The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deb Robson and Carol Ekarius is one of my favorite sources of information on breeds of sheep and the qualities of their wool. Yet it gives only the kind of knowledge that reading provides. As a spinner, I love the tactile qualities of the wool. So I was immediately attracted to the <a href="http://www.knitspinfarm.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Knit Spin Farm</a> Rare Breed Spin-A-Long (SAL) that started back on the first of January. I mentioned the Shetland that I did as my first project. Since I posted last, I finished the skein. It ended up being 40 wraps per inch in the singles and about light fingering weight in the finished chain plied yarn. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MEfQEzd0mVE/UQrYGoA6aUI/AAAAAAAAAYY/vYVuy0UQS5I/s1600/Shetland+Rare+breed+SAL+01+10+2013+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MEfQEzd0mVE/UQrYGoA6aUI/AAAAAAAAAYY/vYVuy0UQS5I/s320/Shetland+Rare+breed+SAL+01+10+2013+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of Brindle Shetland yarn</td></tr>
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Statistics: 3.7 ounces, 106 grams. 466 yards of chain ply yarn. Spun singles clockwise on the Kromski Fantasia, chain plied on the Louet S10 13 treadles.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fI9fMUEB_8I/UQrZMKUABpI/AAAAAAAAAYg/t69Xzw8FLnE/s1600/Dolly+Dorset+and+Annis+swatch+01+12+2013+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fI9fMUEB_8I/UQrZMKUABpI/AAAAAAAAAYg/t69Xzw8FLnE/s320/Dolly+Dorset+and+Annis+swatch+01+12+2013+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dolly Dorset - raw lock from darkest portion of fleece</td></tr>
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Now that I've finished the Shetland, I decided to do more with the Rare Breed SAL. Thought through the list and decided on the Dorset I have in my stash. Remember Dolly from the color study? I'm working with her fleece on its own this time. Took a couple ounces and prepared them on my wool combs to produce a semi-worsted top. I did not lock wash this fleece, and I'm not concerned about having a fully worsted preparation since this is a down wool. I wanted to have some fun with the bounce, and by combing I thought I'd be able to reduce the fuzzy factor of the finished yarn somewhat. This is what the fiber looked like beforehand.<br />
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Saving a lock out of the raw fleece is an excellent idea, since I seldom am able to process a whole fleece at the same time. Typically, I'll do a small sample and start the record keeping in a spinning journal. The pages aren't in any particular format, but I do try to record things that I do with the fleece. <br />
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IgrI-TIEwzI/UQrbFr9LP2I/AAAAAAAAAYo/kcpXlXfzl-M/s1600/Dolly+Dorset+and+Annis+swatch+01+12+2013+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IgrI-TIEwzI/UQrbFr9LP2I/AAAAAAAAAYo/kcpXlXfzl-M/s320/Dolly+Dorset+and+Annis+swatch+01+12+2013+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Combed nests of Dolly Dorset's fleece</td></tr>
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Back to the raw lock, there is a good reason to save it. The crimp pattern is most obvious in a raw lock that is undisturbed. In this particular fleece the crimp is very orderly and consistent from end to end. The brownish tips are somewhat weathered since this fleece was not covered with a sheep coat. Being a down wool, it should be (and has been) pretty resistant to felting. This particular lock shows length of about four inches, which is longer than usual for down wools. A happy surprise indeed, since it allows a lot more options for processing and spinning this wool. I usually use the snack size ziplock bags to preserve the raw lock and make a note of the breed, the name or ear number of the sheep, the source and price and the weight of the fleece and whatever other things I notice at this stage of working with the fleece. Then I toss the bagged lock back in with the fleece. As I process the fleece, I tag the bags as I go along so that I don't lose track of which one it is and what I've done with it. With a raw fleece, I put any notes in a page protector since the grease of the wool will affect the paper - sometimes to the degree of obliterating the notes I've made - not a happy discovery!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9wIt6Wrx9go/UQrfexB_rQI/AAAAAAAAAZE/UNFxjbPUlPI/s1600/Blog+and+stash+01+31+2013+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9wIt6Wrx9go/UQrfexB_rQI/AAAAAAAAAZE/UNFxjbPUlPI/s320/Blog+and+stash+01+31+2013+004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finished skein of combed Dolly Dorset</td></tr>
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Down wools come from several breeds of sheep, and the saddest part is that few shepherds that raise them are much concerned with the quality of the fleeces and treat the fleece as more of a nuisance than a profitable product that the sheep are producing. Perhaps this SAL and others like it can encourage a few more shepherds of these down wool breeds to place more value on these fleeces. This particular fleece seems to be from a shepherd that does have some care for the spinning quality of the fleeces they are producing. That being said, the fleece was still quite reasonably priced when I bought it through Ebay. Many shepherds use Ebay and Etsy to sell their fleeces, and with the exception of the Nasty Romney, I've had little or no trouble with inaccurate descriptions. Most sellers are very honest about the qualities of their fleeces - sometimes even exaggerating the amount of vegetable matter to be sure the buyers know what they are getting, and discounting the price to make it more appealing if there is veg in the fleece. Such was the case with Dolly's fleece. It was described as having some veg, which it did, but not nearly the quantity I was expecting.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0dO09M-ZoKA/UQrhiju10GI/AAAAAAAAAZM/qOpBx7QnDKw/s1600/Blog+and+stash+01+31+2013+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0dO09M-ZoKA/UQrhiju10GI/AAAAAAAAAZM/qOpBx7QnDKw/s320/Blog+and+stash+01+31+2013+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of the finished yarn</td></tr>
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The spinning was smooth and easy. The combed preparation drafted smoothly, and I did much less predrafting than I typically do. I spun with a medium backward draw since the staple length was allowing me to do so. The singles were very fine and the plying went well. Overall, I continue to be impressed by how well-behaved this fleece is. Everything just works, smooth and simple. The fiber does shed slightly while spinning, and feels somewhat dry in comparison to other wools I've worked with. I don't know if this is characteristic of the down wools or not. I've got an order in to another shepherd for some Dorset roving to test this idea, but being a commercial prep, so I'm not sure the comparison will be valid. <br />
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The statistics on this skein are: 31 grams, 1.1 ounce, 124 yards. Spun singles clockwise on the Kromski Fantasia and chain plied counterclockwise 13 treadles on the Louet S10. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--olpx-jgUqc/UQrjpffgDkI/AAAAAAAAAZU/TBdq2mE0FZs/s1600/Dolly+Dorset+and+Annis+swatch+01+12+2013+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--olpx-jgUqc/UQrjpffgDkI/AAAAAAAAAZU/TBdq2mE0FZs/s320/Dolly+Dorset+and+Annis+swatch+01+12+2013+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dolly Dorset carded batt</td></tr>
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Part of my purpose for this wool in the SAL is to compare combing and carding prep on the same fleece. I'm looking forward to finishing the woolen prep I did for this study. I've started on it already, and the main difference I've noticed is that I'm pulling out the neps as I spin. I rather expected this, since combing removes them before spinning. Woolen preps mean less waste at the processing step, but more at the spinning step. Still less overall compared with combing, since it leaves the different fiber lengths in the batt. Combing sorts out the longest fibers and keeps them well aligned in the top. It is a trade off in some respects, but the end product can be vastly different. Since I wanted to test the difference in prep, I'm spinning the singles in the same way, medium backward draw, clockwise on the Kromski and I'm about halfway through the batt. It looks and feels similar in the singles. The washing of the plied yarn will tell a better story. The combed prep seemed less bouncy than I expected after the washing. The value of doing the two similar skeins side-by-side will show the difference in bounce by the length of the finished skein. I expect the woolen prep to be much shorter in length since the crimp isn't as altered. I'll have my answer soon.<br />
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Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-54205965738390594232013-01-03T01:31:00.001-08:002013-01-03T01:34:29.976-08:00Welcome to the frog pond... are you hungry?Discovered this in my inbox this morning and thought it made a certain amount of sense, so I'll share it with you too. It is a little video (under two minutes) that really made me think about what my own "frogs" are.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickspire.com/m/AdvancedLi255/EatThatFrog">http://www.flickspire.com/m/AdvancedLi255/EatThatFrog</a><br />
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So here's my first live frog... a frogging project! I've decided to "frog" the cabled sweater so it will stop bothering me. In case you aren't a knitter, "frogging" is where you discover a mistake a few rows back, and "rip-it, rip-it, rip-it" back so it can be re-knit. Hopefully <em><u>correctly</u></em> on the second try. Some projects take many trips to the frog pond. I had a sweater that I had completely finished knitting the pieces and frogged it all the way back because I didn't like the fit. I blogged about that <a href="http://karen-wizardsworkshop.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=44" target="_blank">here</a>, just scroll down the page until you see the red-violet sweater.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uHwmViwYFjc/UOU76PkWWFI/AAAAAAAAAWU/khIsm9bc1kg/s1600/Blog+01+03+2013+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uHwmViwYFjc/UOU76PkWWFI/AAAAAAAAAWU/khIsm9bc1kg/s320/Blog+01+03+2013+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See how the ribs mis-match the cables... bummer!</td></tr>
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So here is the shot of the mistake side of the sweater... I showed you the good side last post. See how the cables don't line up with the ribbing. That was making me unhappy, because that is one of the things I really liked about the pattern. Since I hadn't done cables in a while, I followed the pattern precisely rather than making sure it made sense on the reality of the needles. When I converted the pattern to knitting in the round the stitch count didn't line up to the pattern anymore - probably because of the stitches not being lost into seamlines of the finished sweater. In any event, I'll reknit this in the round and watch more carefully to be certain that the ribs line up with the cables.<br />
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This is the part that always makes me go "hmmmmm....." because as satisfying as it is to watch a mistake disappear, there is the niggling consternation over how long it takes to knit this amount of yarn versus how quickly it can be made back into just balls of yarn again. In any event, it is finished now and I can consider how to start again to make the ribbing line up.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O1-NT3qDbNQ/UOU-fTt9jSI/AAAAAAAAAWo/VhnbxyN1Y00/s1600/Blog+01+03+2013+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O1-NT3qDbNQ/UOU-fTt9jSI/AAAAAAAAAWo/VhnbxyN1Y00/s320/Blog+01+03+2013+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back to being balls of yarn, needles and a pile of markers.</td></tr>
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Part of the reason for the error is that I hadn't done cables in such a long time that I didn't really watch where the stitches of the cable were coming up on the pattern over the ribs. I was too busy counting stitches! It is going to be a matter of lining up the knit stitches of the cable pattern over the knit stitches of the ribbing. Sounds easy enough, but there are several charts working at the same time - six different charts in each row. I've made myself a "cheat sheet" of sorts where I've made photocopies of the charts, which are different sizes, and I keep a colored pencil with me so that I can mark off the rows as I finish them. Ponderous, I know, but it is a way to keep track that works for me. There are chart keeping systems out there that use magnets to line up on the papers, but I don't have one of them. Since I keep my pattern on a clipboard that goes in and out of a project bag, I'm not sure the magnets would stay in place.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-40phzpZ0FkY/UOVB-vgPnqI/AAAAAAAAAXA/TATPoZlNjyQ/s1600/Blog+01+03+2013+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-40phzpZ0FkY/UOVB-vgPnqI/AAAAAAAAAXA/TATPoZlNjyQ/s320/Blog+01+03+2013+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brindle Shetland roving and bobbin of singles in process.</td></tr>
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The next thing I've been working on is the Shetland roving I started on the last post. I've got over half of it finished now. 2.6 ounces of the 4 ounces I started with are now spun into singles. This is such luscious wool - I'm loving the way it spins up, fine and soft and very different from the commercial Shetland yarn I've encountered in yarn shops. I spent some time with my Mom today and since she remembers the days when Shetland sweaters were all the rage, I asked her about them. Wondering if maybe the wool was better back then, like the hand processed roving I'm using now. She said it was dreadfully scratchy to wear those sweaters, and she had to be sure to wear some kind of firmly woven shirt underneath those stylish sweaters! What young women go through to be fashionable.... seems that it never changes. <br />
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I take a certain comfort in knowing that as a spinner, I really can do a lot to make my yarn be exactly what I want it to be. Granted, there are some wools that really are never going to be "next to the skin" soft. There are many others that can either be blended with other kinds of fiber, or handled more gently in processing that will come very close to being that soft. Soapbox I'm hauling out now: the medium wools may not be as soft as the finewools, but they are lots more pleasant to spin, more durable, and by buying raw fleeces or roving from local shepherds I get to support small, local farms. That is so important to me... having had a farm of my own for ten years. The driving force behind this <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/knit-spin-farm-podcast/2394175/1-25" target="_blank">rare breed spin-a-long</a> is to encourage spinners to at least <strong><em><u>try</u></em></strong> some fiber that is new to them. I can use myself as an example of how surprising the project can be. I would cheerfully buy more of this kind of roving from this farm. Shetland sheep have a claim to fame in their colored wool - there are eleven "official" colors and many patterns of markings on these tiny sheep.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5UZBVueqvrM/UOVJiyPY4WI/AAAAAAAAAXU/mgA6DrZ0jSQ/s1600/Blog+01+03+2013+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5UZBVueqvrM/UOVJiyPY4WI/AAAAAAAAAXU/mgA6DrZ0jSQ/s320/Blog+01+03+2013+005.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The worn heel of my favorite slippers.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D0ru0n6rFfI/UOVLKrtsruI/AAAAAAAAAXo/r6GrVRMPLqc/s1600/Blog+01+03+2013+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D0ru0n6rFfI/UOVLKrtsruI/AAAAAAAAAXo/r6GrVRMPLqc/s320/Blog+01+03+2013+004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garter stitch patches, about 4 inches square.</td></tr>
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Next thing I've been working on is some mending. I'd prefer to mend than to remake things as much as possible... use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without is something of a mantra for me. Not a popular idea in current culture, but one that I strive to live. This particular mending project is a pair of slippers that I knit and felted about a year ago. I've loved them nearly to death, and now they need patching. These slippers are from a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/slipper-socks-13" target="_blank">felting book</a> that I just love. There are many projects that I want to try, but I've done these twice. When I do mending, I try to catch spots that are wearing thin before they become holes - which are much harder to fix! I decided since the rest of the soles of the slippers are in pretty good shape, I'd just patch the heels. My thinking was that since the stockinette wore out faster on the heels, I'd do the patch in garter stitch to get more yarn into the same amount of space. I knit up a couple of squares of garter stitch, casting on 20 stitches on size 8 needles and working until the pieces were square. The next step is to felt the squares. I'll put them into a "delicates" bag and throw them into a heavy duty wash with low water level and plenty of soap - with a couple pairs of old jeans for company - and beat the fuzz out of them until they become good, firm felt. Having done some of this kind of felting before, I'm pretty sure they won't be square at the end of the process, but since it will be felted, I could cut them to a specific size if I wanted. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7lcEIFoQ2Cw/UOVMwxCH-WI/AAAAAAAAAX8/xG5P7_rSLvQ/s1600/Blog+01+03+2013+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7lcEIFoQ2Cw/UOVMwxCH-WI/AAAAAAAAAX8/xG5P7_rSLvQ/s320/Blog+01+03+2013+006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite, although well worn, slippers.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KarenBPike/slipper-socks-2" target="_blank">Here</a> is my project page from Ravelry on these slippers. And here is a shot of what they look like today. The soles are in pretty good shape, but the superwash sock yarn tops are still like new. Superwash wool is amazing stuff! This is done in Wildfoote from Brown Sheep yarn company. Still available, but I don't know if this colorway is still part of their line up. I bought this yarn years ago, and did a stash dive to make these slippers over a year ago. I've been so impressed by the durability of these slippers and I've made another pair since then so I can always have a pair to wear - they take a couple days to dry after being washed - felt is pretty dense stuff! The felt does relax a bit with wear, so washing and doing a little massage job on the worn parts tightens the felt a bit, but these are to the point that the felt doesn't have the ability to tighten up enough anymore. <br />
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My condo is on a slab foundation, and the thickness of these slipper soles keeps the chill off my feet very well indeed. I'm off to make felt patches....<br />
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Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-42620142139597629432013-01-01T08:44:00.000-08:002013-01-01T22:39:24.121-08:00Happy New Year!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPRWic7Hnrc/UOL-GtVqiyI/AAAAAAAAAUg/F8CVVyZ02s0/s1600/Ravelry+stash+and+project+09+12+2012+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPRWic7Hnrc/UOL-GtVqiyI/AAAAAAAAAUg/F8CVVyZ02s0/s320/Ravelry+stash+and+project+09+12+2012+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shetland Wool - Brindle roving from Bramble Wool Farm<br />
This blend is 49% Black/51% White Shetland in natural colors.</td></tr>
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So begins another adventure! Since I work third shift, I was awake for the midnight change of year. I celebrated by spending the night spinning some lovely Shetland Brindle roving from <a href="http://www.sawmat.com/" target="_blank">Bramble Wool Farm.</a> It is part of a Rare Breeds Spin-a-long with Joanna and the folks over at the <a href="http://www.knitspinfarm.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Knit Spin Farm podcast</a>. This wonderfully prepared roving followed me home from the 2012 Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival back in September. I had a hankering to experiment with Shetland wool, but the tiny skeins I found for very high prices at my local yarn shop certainly put a damper on my enthusiasm! That being said, there are wonderful rainbows of color available in those gorgeous Jamieson yarns! Since this wool is so often used for Fair Isle knitting, I suppose that it makes a certain amount of sense to have small skeins available. I think I'll chain ply the singles I'm spinning and perhaps dye it in several colors to play around with some Fair Isle. Here's what I have done so far:<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fidgily5gm8/UOMGHmHqmhI/AAAAAAAAAU8/hIBu9R0aEyw/s1600/Ravelry+stash+01012013+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fidgily5gm8/UOMGHmHqmhI/AAAAAAAAAU8/hIBu9R0aEyw/s320/Ravelry+stash+01012013+004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1.8 ounces spun into singles on the Kromski, pretty fine singles</td></tr>
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This will probably be a chain plied yarn. I prefer the rounder cross-section of three strands to the flat nature of two-ply yarns even though the two-ply is what is traditionally used for Fair Isle work. I have four ounces of this roving, so I'm just about halfway through it already.<br />
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Some things were surprising as I spun this Shetland. I was sure it would feel very scratchy and rough like the commercial yarn I saw at the shop. To my delight, it is softer than expected and it drafts well. As I browsed the farm's website, I did discover that they hand wash their fiber, which may account for the softness and the very slightly "oiled" feel of the roving while I draft it. Hand washing the wool allows it to retain just a touch of the natural oils to remain in the strands of the wool. It is a matter of opinion whether this is a good thing or not - but I prefer it for spinning, since it allows the fibers to slide along each other more smoothly. Commercial preparation strips out all the natural oils and, to me, makes the fiber seem parched and dry. It also straightens most of the wave and crimp in the fibers which deadens the bounce and lively nature of hand processed wools.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MFbXzbrY7_s/UOMKHeUpVpI/AAAAAAAAAVY/Zb2kTMeOGsg/s1600/Shipwreck+12+13+2012+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MFbXzbrY7_s/UOMKHeUpVpI/AAAAAAAAAVY/Zb2kTMeOGsg/s320/Shipwreck+12+13+2012+002.JPG" width="320" /></a>As I mentioned in my last post, I have started the Shipwreck shawl and I'm thrilled with the way it is turning out. Here is the first "in progress" shot I took at the end of the 5th section, called Bleeding heart lace, of the pattern. It is pinned out on a blocking mat for the picture, since knitted lace is less than lovely just sitting on the needles. This measured about ten inches in diameter when pinned out.<br />
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I have continued into the next section, called Madeira, and shot another picture after stringing a very long cable through the stitches. You might notice a white thread strung through the stitches a few rounds from the edge. This is called a "life line" and is a clever way of retaining sanity while working complex lace patterns. Lace is difficult to rip back in the event of a mistake since the holes cross the boundaries of the rows. Life lines are threaded through the stitches of a round, and make it possible to replace the knitting needle correctly in the round if the knitting has to be ripped back. The needles I'm using have a nifty way to accomplish this. There is a small hole in the end of each cable connection to tighten the interchangeable needle tips - this is also useful to make life lines, just string some sewing thread through the hole at the beginning of the round. This draws a thread through each stitch in the round. At the end of the round, the life line is placed - much easier than other ways! The only trouble is that it also takes the thread through all my markers.... This time, I did slip the thread out of the markers, but I think next time I'll just do another life line about five rounds later and leave the thread in the markers. In any event, here is a picture three rounds into the Madeira pattern.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BIq1i-iGrxE/UOMNgygk01I/AAAAAAAAAVs/wp0qBQgk8dk/s1600/Ravelry+stash+01012013+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BIq1i-iGrxE/UOMNgygk01I/AAAAAAAAAVs/wp0qBQgk8dk/s320/Ravelry+stash+01012013+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Notice that in just a few rounds the size has increased enough that it takes four of the mats to pin it out into round now! Probably about eighteen inches in diameter now. This style of shawl construction is called "Pi shaping" since the increases come at intervals where the stitch count doubles in a single round. Makes it simple to keep track of the increases.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zPMr_Ch4fyI/UOMPiXiCInI/AAAAAAAAAWA/MG-_NU298qA/s1600/Cabled+sweater+12+05+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zPMr_Ch4fyI/UOMPiXiCInI/AAAAAAAAAWA/MG-_NU298qA/s320/Cabled+sweater+12+05+2012+001.JPG" width="320" /></a>The other project, the cabled sweater, is in time out at the moment. I've made an error when I converted the pattern to knitting in the round that altered the stitch count and the cables didn't line up exactly as I had hoped. I'm not sure anyone would notice but me, yet part of the appeal of the sweater pattern was that the cables grew up out of the ribbing. So I'm trying to decide if it bothers me enough to pull it out and fix it. I'm about twenty rounds into the pattern, and it is gorgeous, but the mistake at the edge is pulling at me. I'll probably frog it back to the ribbing and re-knit it unless someone has a slick solution to fix it without having to pull out all that work. In any event, here is a picture of the sweater so far.<br />
I don't see the mistake in this shot, so it is probably on the other side. So in the interest of full disclosure, imagine the pattern offset by two stitches so the cables don't line up over the ribs at the bottom edge. One of the many things I really like about this pattern is that the sides of the sweater are in regular stockinette stitch as well as the panels between the cable sections. I find that more appealing than the reverse stockinette that most cabled sweaters have as the background. Reverse stockinette means lots of purling, but it also means a nubby surface that seems more likely to pill than the smoother stockinette surface. This particular yarn is the rugged <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Wool_of_the_Andes_Worsted_Yarn__D5420103.html" target="_blank">Wool of the Andes Worsted</a> in Amethyst Heather from Knit Picks.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-30472154569941464072012-11-29T07:50:00.000-08:002012-11-29T07:50:23.337-08:00Blocked and ready to give...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A5SB9SVeOdI/ULd3TrpsY3I/AAAAAAAAATw/-gFMmk3ztDE/s1600/Shawlette+and+chicken+hat+11+29+2012+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A5SB9SVeOdI/ULd3TrpsY3I/AAAAAAAAATw/-gFMmk3ztDE/s320/Shawlette+and+chicken+hat+11+29+2012+005.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front view - Annis shawlette for Mom</td></tr>
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Mom's shawlette is done and ready to give for Christmas. This was a relatively quick knit. I loved working with the Malabrigo yarn, beautiful color and wonderfully soft! Way out of my price range, so I really enjoyed working with this fancy yarn.<br />
I've done this shawlette before, and so I was familiar with the pattern. That certainly helped me get through the nupps - which are not my favorite things to do - but the effect is very nice. The method I use is not the knitting purist way of doing things. The nupps on this shawlette are one stitch to seven stitches on the first row and then back to one stitch on the next row. I use a tiny latch hook, I got mine from a knitting machine supplier a long time ago. Not entirely sure if they are still available, but it is about half the size of the standard rug making latch hooks I've seen in craft stores. The way I use it goes like this: the first row I do on the knitting needles in the normal way, knit one stitch without removing it from the left needle, go back into the stitch and do a yarn over. Repeat until the required number of loops are on the needle. Knit on in the pattern to the end of the row. When I get back to the nupp on the next row, I slip the loops onto the latch hook and lay the working yarn in the hook, close the latch and draw it through all the loops and re-hang the yarn I drew through onto the right needle. Then I tighten it up to match the gauge of the rest of the knitting. Works better for me than trying to use a knitting needle or a crochet hook to capture the yarn without losing all the loops.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QvKi4Oqxtwo/ULd5reDYtGI/AAAAAAAAAT4/vHn4A4orO8A/s1600/Shawlette+and+chicken+hat+11+29+2012+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QvKi4Oqxtwo/ULd5reDYtGI/AAAAAAAAAT4/vHn4A4orO8A/s320/Shawlette+and+chicken+hat+11+29+2012+006.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back view - Annis shawlette for Mom</td></tr>
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This shawlette has the lace done first and then short rows of stockinette to the top edge. It is crescent shaped, and was a very different looking thing on the needles as it was being worked. This particular piece didn't get quite as large as the pattern suggested for blocking. The pattern suggested fifty six inches in width, I got about fifty two inches, and I blocked it out about as far as I could. The yarn was beautiful, but it did lose some color in the wash water, but the finished piece doesn't look any lighter, so the color was probably excess dye on the fiber of the yarn. I put it through several hot water rinses to be certain I got all the detergent out of the fiber, and to rinse out as much of the dye as would come out so that the shawlette wouldn't lose color onto any garment it would come in contact with when worn.<br />
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I do have a set of blocking mats from Knit Picks that I shot a picture of this piece on before washing so that you can see how much knitted lace changes from the needles to the shawl.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tU7_duBKX6o/ULd7cV2hQaI/AAAAAAAAAUA/h-gvZL57FGs/s1600/Shawlette+and+chicken+hat+11+29+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tU7_duBKX6o/ULd7cV2hQaI/AAAAAAAAAUA/h-gvZL57FGs/s320/Shawlette+and+chicken+hat+11+29+2012+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before blocking - notice the size</td></tr>
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This picture gives an idea of the size before blocking. The tape measure shows about twenty eight inches, I thought I'd have plenty of space on these nice blocking squares. Not in real life though... I blocked the wet knitting out to the fifty two inches and it took my other set of squares, an alphabet play set that I bought at Walmart for about twenty bucks a few months back. I knew I'd need them for the Shipwreck shawl I'm planning - I'm sure glad I had them for this! Hideous colors, so I won't blind you with a photo of the lace being blocked, but they worked very well to hold the pins in the points of the lace. I do have blocking wires, but they are not the super flexible ones, so I only used them for the ends of the lace where it is flat. I used extra fine sewing pins for the points of the lace, being sure to catch at least two strands of yarn in each point.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y5Yoqhmi4kQ/ULd9NA8hwDI/AAAAAAAAAUI/syiP-XGcFjU/s1600/Shawlette+and+chicken+hat+11+29+2012+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y5Yoqhmi4kQ/ULd9NA8hwDI/AAAAAAAAAUI/syiP-XGcFjU/s320/Shawlette+and+chicken+hat+11+29+2012+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of lace before blocking</td></tr>
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The process of blocking is pretty simple. Take the wet knitting and stretch it out, using pins at all the points of the lace to pull them out and lay the knitting very flat and allow it to dry in that state.</div>
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The reality is a little more involved. </div>
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1. Take the sloppy looking mess of knitting and soak it for a half hour in hot, soapy water remembering not to agitate it at all. </div>
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2. Become horrified by the dark purple water under the suds.</div>
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3. Bundle up the knitting and squeeze out still more dark purple water and suds.</div>
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4. Remind myself to relax - there is still purple yarn in there.</div>
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5. Refill the bucket with more hot water and push the tiny bundle back into the water.</div>
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6. Become alarmed again by the dark purple water.</div>
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7. Repeat the hot rinse a couple more times, carefully watching to see if a white shawl will remain at the end of this process.</div>
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8. Relax a little when the color bleed slows down after the fifth rinse.</div>
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9. Take the little bundle out of the water, squeeze out most of the water and carry the tiny bundle down to the blocking board.</div>
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10. Start pinning it out after threading the two straight edge bits onto blocking wires.</div>
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11. Discover that the fancy branded knitting blocking squares are not even close to being big enough to do the job, no matter how cleverly configured.</div>
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12. Move the whole shebang to the kitchen counter and retrieve the other set of mats - the hideous bright colored alphabet set mentioned earlier. I am NOT shooting a picture of lovely lace on those ugly things!</div>
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13. Start over, pinning the knitting out and re-pinning as it grows, and <em>grows, </em>and <strong><em><u>grows</u></em></strong>! This piece more than doubled in size from the needles to the blocking. I was amazed!</div>
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14. Wait for the thing to dry, finding somewhere else to prepare and eat my meals so I don't have to disturb what now looks very fragile, airy and light.</div>
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15. Remove a couple of pins after about 12 hours, gasp with delight that the lace holds the shape. Then remove the rest of the pins and wires and let the knitting rest for a couple hours.</div>
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16. Prepare the dress form and shoot some pictures!</div>
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Even though I did this before with my first shawlette, I didn't use such fine yarn and didn't block it out as far. I really was not prepared for the beauty and diaphanous quality of the finer yarn made into knitted lace. I can hardly wait to begin the Shipwreck shawl. That pattern is a very large circular shawl - almost six feet across when blocked! Glad I had this experience first to prepare myself for that, although I love to be surprised by beauty like this. I think Mom will be delighted with her pretty shawlette, and I hope she gets a lot of use out of it.</div>
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Next on the needles is a heavily cabled sweater for myself. I'm already started on it and I'm enjoying this knit a great deal. I like to keep one project in heavier yarn in progress for when I just want to knit something that I can really see progress on. Finer yarns are great, but the projects seem to go so much more slowly...</div>
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Still spinning on the singles for the Shipwreck shawl. I've got about 600 yards of the sequined yarn and over 400 yards of the yarn without sequins. I'm into the last ball of the Louet Northern Lights pencil roving in the Violets colorway and I've got a full bobbin of the purple recycled yarn ready for plying when I'm done with the LNL singles. I'll probably cast on the shawl and get started on it so that I'll have some idea of how much more of the yarn I'll need of each style. The sequins are in the netted part out toward the edge, so I expect that I'll need more of that. The total shawl takes about 1600 yards, so I'll have plenty of knitting to do.</div>
Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-56802036950687154692012-11-15T04:08:00.000-08:002012-11-15T04:08:32.277-08:00Knitting lace for Christmas...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i-cOa-9hcus/TX-Q8N_N5GI/AAAAAAAAAD8/wjYsjD5_oOE/s1600/Works+in+Progress+02+23+2011+013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i-cOa-9hcus/TX-Q8N_N5GI/AAAAAAAAAD8/wjYsjD5_oOE/s320/Works+in+Progress+02+23+2011+013.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annis shawlette in Wiggly handspun <br />
on the needles</td></tr>
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As time goes on, I find that I enjoy the challenge of lace. This lace shawlette is one I've done before - in my own handspun. I showed you a picture of it in progress, at about the point where the current shawlette is on my needles now. This is the Annis pattern from Susanna IC. Granted that my handspun is a heavier weight than the yarn I'm using now - but the shawlette really turned out well. Looking back, I never showed you the finished project, so here is a shot of it on the blocking board. It is pinned out while still wet from its bath so that it will dry with all the gorgeous lace pulled out flat. As you can see from the "before" shot on the needles, it isn't impressive as it is in progress.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F6EO_PxUG10/UKTRAZS65OI/AAAAAAAAASs/2rm-guZtKlQ/s1600/Annis+shawl+06+26+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F6EO_PxUG10/UKTRAZS65OI/AAAAAAAAASs/2rm-guZtKlQ/s320/Annis+shawl+06+26+2012+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annis shawlette in Wiggly handspun<br />
on the blocking board</td></tr>
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This is a relatively simple pattern, and I love the striping that happens in the stockinette section on the shawlette. I blocked it into a crescent shape, thinking that the tails would stay in place better. The nice thing is that I can change my mind and reblock it in a different shape when I wash it next time.<br />
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I took a couple shots on the dress form to show it on a person-shaped form. I like the way it turned out. I pinned it in place fully open, but in reality, I'd probably put the ends over my shoulders for the warmth of double thickness on my neck and shoulders.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7AnfA9IyFuE/UKTSwr4OAMI/AAAAAAAAATA/jL3YlU-6VB8/s1600/Ravelry+06+29+2012+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7AnfA9IyFuE/UKTSwr4OAMI/AAAAAAAAATA/jL3YlU-6VB8/s320/Ravelry+06+29+2012+006.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annis shawlette - back view</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Wck_lgU82c/UKTSgwDTJUI/AAAAAAAAAS0/B448mq0iaP8/s1600/Ravelry+06+29+2012+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Wck_lgU82c/UKTSgwDTJUI/AAAAAAAAAS0/B448mq0iaP8/s320/Ravelry+06+29+2012+005.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annis shawlette - front view</td></tr>
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Another way I could wear this is with the wide part across the front and the pointed ends pulled to the front as well. Didn't take a picture that way though. I guess I didn't think of that while I had the dress form out. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6OYWr_UPMTE/UKTVnq-bS7I/AAAAAAAAATU/U0vNtdv2THE/s1600/Etsy+and+Ravelry+11+15+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6OYWr_UPMTE/UKTVnq-bS7I/AAAAAAAAATU/U0vNtdv2THE/s320/Etsy+and+Ravelry+11+15+2012+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom's Annis shawlette in Malabrigo</td></tr>
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In any event, I'm working this one again in Malabrigo that I bought for my Mom about a year ago. We were planning to knit this together and the lace was a bit too intimidating for her. I'm doing it for her Christmas present this year. I'm ten rows into the lace pattern, and the yarn is far different and quite a bit finer than my handspun. I don't have the ball band from this lovely yarn, but it is mostly a lovely grape color with some blue shading. Since it is still on the needles, I've pinned it out to show off the lace patterning. The first set of nupps is done... not my favorite, but once I started using a small latch hook to finish the second row I was much happier with the outcome. The nupps take two rows, the first row is to create seven stitches from one and the second row takes the seven stitches back to a single stitch. This leaves a small bubble of yarn on that spot in the pattern. There will be a chevron of five nupps that follows the points in the lacework. Nice effect, so I'll do them for Mom's shawlette.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0d2-hDlaFiU/UKTXN1Ko1CI/AAAAAAAAATc/0xWCj3sb4Vc/s1600/Etsy+and+Ravelry+11+15+2012+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0d2-hDlaFiU/UKTXN1Ko1CI/AAAAAAAAATc/0xWCj3sb4Vc/s320/Etsy+and+Ravelry+11+15+2012+015.JPG" width="320" /></a>Here's the fun part. I found some interesting soft laceweight yarn in a pleasant variegated gray to black. This is Patons Lace in the Patina colorway. Slightly fuzzy and mostly acrylic (80% acrylic, 10% mohair, 10% wool), so I was worried about how it would hold up to blocking. I knitted up a swatch of the lace pattern and used beads in place of the nupps. I just did a loop around the needle tip as a place holder of sorts where the nupp would appear. That loop was unwound and I threaded a relatively large round bead onto the loop. I like the result, and it gives a pleasant weight to the edge of the sample. These beads are 6mm size and are just a bit larger than I really want unless I find some that really speak to me. I was sampling to find the largest beads I'd use in this pattern and I think I found this to be about the maximum size. I washed and blocked the swatch and it seems to be holding its shape relatively well. The photo was shot with the swatch loose on a smooth surface, and it hasn't pulled back much so I'm calling it a success.</div>
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Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-55779403041075325952012-10-25T04:37:00.000-07:002012-11-15T02:54:07.757-08:00Through the Loop...Finished spinning the Loop bullseye bump. Let it rest on the bobbin overnight and then chain plied it on my Louet wheel. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plied "Goddess" from Loop on the Niddy Noddy</td></tr>
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I have a system for chain plying that works well on that wheel. I put the full bobbin of singles behind my shoulder on a ledge behind my spinning chair. I draw off the bobbin in a straight line to the orifice of the wheel so I don't have as much snarling of the singles as I work. To do the chain ply, I tie a loop onto the bobbin leader and put my right hand thumb and forefinger through the loop. Then I draw a loop of singles through the loop on my right hand with my left hand forefinger and draw it out about 20-24" (I've never measured - oops!) until my left hand reaches a spot on the wall. Then I bring the loop over to the continuous strand from the bobbin and do a counted number of treadles, in this case 13. I do this for consistency of my plying twist - and I <u><em>do</em></u> count treadles, then stop the flyer and wind on the finished yarn. Fiddly, yes, but I like the evenness I get in my yarn from all the counting. It isn't perfect, I don't think handspun is, or at least mine never is perfect. But I love my yarn, so it works for me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full view of the finished yarn on the Niddy Noddy.</td></tr>
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This skein's vital statistics are as follows: Loop bullseye bump in the "Goddess" colorway. I don't think this is one of the repeatable ones. Fiber content is Merino, bamboo and tussah silk in undisclosed percentages. At a guess, I'd say about half Merino from the way it spins up. It became a very nice and soft yarn. Not much sheen or springiness, probably because of the silk and bamboo. The skein weight is 4.7 ounces or 132 grams, length is 686 yards and 24 wraps per inch before washing. It isn't dry yet, but it doesn't seem to have much spring to it, so I don't think there will be much change in this skein as it dries.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full view of the "Goddess" skein</td></tr>
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I washed the skein in hot water with a small squeeze of Dawn Olay Hand Renewal dish liquid in the Lavender scent. I was really hoping for some color bleed to tone down the bright green, but that didn't happen. I may still split off the colors later on, but I'm currently considering a round yoke sweater using this yarn for the colorwork portion. If I break up the colors, I could overdye that green with something else to tone it down - maybe a peacock blue or a darker green, just to knock the intensity down a notch. Another option would be to plan the colorwork specifically to break up the stitches to small "pops" of the green. The quilters call that kind of oddball color a "poison color" that is needed to energize the color scheme of a project. In a colorwork yoke, I'm thinking of doing something floral... maybe iris or violets... or maybe something abstract, I haven't decided. The grist of 24 wraps per inch makes it a fingering weight yarn, so I do have plenty of options. Many suppliers make a grand array of colors in this yarn weight.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of the "Goddess" skein - color is more accurate in the full skein photo.<br />
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This seems to be my default yarn. It is what I naturally seem to spin. Unless the fiber wants to be something else - but then I have to pay closer attention to maintain some other grist. But I do make the attempt, especially with the superfine wools I've been sampling lately. Speaking of that, I'll show you what I've been sampling in the last few weeks.<br />
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This particular sample is also from the <a href="http://www.loopfiberstudio.com/" target="_blank">Loop Fiber Studio</a> and it came in the box along with the Goddess bump as a gift. It is a sample of Steph's Spontaneous Spinning Clouds. The fiber is carded but not aligned in a batt or top. This little bit had white and a pale pink fiber with a smidgen of sparkle fiber that appears to be Angelina. No fiber notations were made so I can only speculate what might be in this yarn.<br />
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It is pretty stuff, a 5 gram sample, and I got 20 yards of chain plied soft yarn with a pale golden glimmer that is quite appealing. Only enough for a little accent on a knitted piece, but scrumptious enough to be worth it.<br />
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Also in progress is some of the Grand Champion Targhee fleece that I purchased at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival last month. I chose some of the fleece near one edge and did some lock washing on it. Then I flick carded and spindle spun some of it quite fine. Chain plied on the spindle - because the Louet pulls too hard to ply a super fine yarn, it breaks the singles. We have an understanding now, and there is much less frustration. There are some things a Louet S-10 does marvellously well, but fine yarn isn't one of them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Champion Targhee fleece, yarn sample</td></tr>
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Statistics on this sample are thusly: spindle spun singles clockwise, spindle chain plied counter clockwise. Before washing, it measured 28 wraps per inch and 13 yards. After washing the sample is 27 wraps per inch and 12 yards in length. Pretty springy yarn, not quite as much as the super fine Corriedale that I prepared with the same method. This is a very pleasant yarn, still in the fingering weight range, even though it feels finer. It will be a great pleasure to work through this lovely fleece!Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-34035691807567000042012-10-17T05:25:00.000-07:002012-10-18T00:22:30.751-07:00Gone Loopy...Spinning is one of my favorite things to do. Takes me to a wonderful, peaceful place with very few distractions. Of course, it also helps that I'm doing it in the middle of the night! Even so, there is something creative and tranquil about the feel of prepared fiber slipping through my fingers on the way to the spindle or wheel. Currently I'm working on a bump of fiber from a online shop called Loop. This is the photo from the advertisement:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-39qjaxWxAAc/UH6fR4FCoYI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/WEIwwLR5JM0/s1600/Goddess+promo+photo+il_75x75_371716274_3fle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-39qjaxWxAAc/UH6fR4FCoYI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/WEIwwLR5JM0/s200/Goddess+promo+photo+il_75x75_371716274_3fle.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
It is called "Goddess" and it is made up of Merino wool, bamboo and tussah silk. It is spinning up well, although not especially quickly since it wants to be pretty fine singles. Most people chain ply these bumps, and for a while I was thinking of doing the same thing. I'm into the bright green part right now and I'm not crazy about the contrast with the other colors, so I'm considering removing the bright green and spinning it into a separate yarn.<br />
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Here's a shot of the bump after I started spinning the olive green section at the center of the bump. <br />
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One of the interesting things about these bumps is that the fiber pulls from the center. Most of the fiber I work with isn't put up this way, so it has been a new experience for me to spin from this kind of preparation. One thing that is going to be nice is that I'll have a bit of time to decide how to handle that bright green, and it will already be in the spun singles form. The blue is also quite bright, but it doesn't bother me as much. An option I've considered is to use a neutral ply to tone down the brilliant intensity of the bright green. I will keep on spinning the singles while I think this over. I'd welcome any opinions on this quandry, please use the comments section to contribute your thoughts. There are 4.6 ounces of this fiber, so in a chain ply, I'd probably end up with about 500-600 yards or so of a three ply in approximately fingering weight yarn. If I do a neutral ply I'd have about twice that.<br />
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Here is a shot of the bobbin with the singles in progress:<br />
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As I've worked with this fiber, I've thought about making my own interesting color combinations, but doing up the colors as separate small batts from my drum carder. Perhaps blending a small bit of the colors so that the progression is smoother between the colors.<br />
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But that is an experiment for another day.... I remember how long the color study took me to finish!Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-54372971157038393592012-09-26T05:22:00.001-07:002012-09-26T05:22:49.255-07:00Squirrely.... in the best way!Funny things sometimes happen when you least expect them. The other day I was walking my dog and I spotted something before she did (thank goodness!) and was able to redirect her attention so she didn't know what she missed. Amazing that I was even able to do that, since she's a Border Collie and really doesn't miss very much. When I researched that breed before adopted her, the best advice I found was "if you bring a Border Collie into your life, get used to being stared at all of the time" and by golly - that is absolute truth!<br />
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What I saw was this:<br />
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At some level I was well aware that baby squirrels existed, but I had never actually seen one. Typically, I consider them vermin... but my normal reaction was overturned by this little critter. This is not a zoom shot - the baby squirrel seemed pretty fearless - I sat down on the grass and quietly waited for a few minutes and as it got closer, I started snapping pictures. The sound of the "click" didn't startle it, which really surprised me. So I kept clicking away... and imagine my delight when a sibling appeared in camera range! They crawled all over each other, not really playing, just doing the littermate thing of <em>"whatever you have must be better, but I simply must find out what it is and take it from you if I can"</em> that seems to be common in every litter of baby critters that I've ever encountered. Fun to watch, and even better that the new baby didn't mind the camera either, so I got this shot too:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What big feet they have!</td></tr>
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I didn't bring out any treats for them, since I had no idea I could get this close, so I just watched them play and wrestle. After a few more minutes, I reached out with a finger to touch the first one on the back - carefully avoiding their faces - since I didn't want to risk a bite. It jumped straight up into the air, evidently some kind of startle reflex, but didn't seem upset in the least, and made no attempt to strike or bite. So I stroked their soft fur and thoroughly enjoyed watching them and spent a few more minutes sitting there on the grass with my new little friends. <br />
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They kept wandering closer and one of them put a tiny paw up on the leg of my jeans. Since I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, I offered my forearm, and it clambered up onto my arm, and then onto my knee. The other baby accepted the same offer and curled up next to the first one. They promptly fell asleep there, in a small, furry heap on my knee. I cupped a hand around each side to keep them from tumbling off (hence no pictures of that wonderful moment - sigh!) and watched them sleep peacefully for a few more minutes. When they awoke, I lifted them off, and set them back on the grass.<br />
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I saw them once more that day, but then I didn't see them again for a few days. I hoped that they were all right - and then I saw one again today, About halfway up the tree - looking serenely down at me, as though it remembered our moment together, but it is still a wild creature, and it skittered back up the tree. <br />
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It made me happy... Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-52185227104739941992012-09-12T02:51:00.001-07:002012-09-26T05:43:36.598-07:00Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival 2012Amazing weekend! Took some vacation time and had a wonderful time at this <a href="http://www.wisconsinsheepandwoolfestival.com/" target="_blank">fiber fair</a>. Probably the best and largest one that is close to me. It runs from Friday to Sunday and just finished up its eleventh annual event.<br />
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As I think back on it, this festival started as a sheep show and has grown into the amazing event that it is now. It has a full livestock show, fleece show and auction, vendors in two large barns, a sheepdog trial that runs all three days and classes from nationally known instructors.<br />
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This year I entered the Open Handspun Skein Competition in two categories. Experienced adult spinner class - fine yarn lot, and Drop spindle class - medium lot. The entry for the first one was a yarn that I just finished, I called it Deep Blue Sea and my plans for it are a very large shawl called <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shipwreck-shawl" target="_blank">Shipwreck</a> so I still have a lot of spinning to do! The shawl requires 1600 yards of fine yarn. The skein I entered will be used for part of the beaded netting that the pattern calls for out near the edge. I may alternate the sequined rows with the regular yarn, I'll sample it and see. Here's what the yarn looks like:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RKoPDwYCHpU/UFBOZUzXTPI/AAAAAAAAAPo/frYhNJhYqPE/s1600/Competition+yarn+09+03+2012+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RKoPDwYCHpU/UFBOZUzXTPI/AAAAAAAAAPo/frYhNJhYqPE/s320/Competition+yarn+09+03+2012+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deep Blue Sea</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bmNX90K5mgw/UFBTM-CEytI/AAAAAAAAAP8/3eV2VsOP_ZI/s1600/Competition+swatch+09+06+2012+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bmNX90K5mgw/UFBTM-CEytI/AAAAAAAAAP8/3eV2VsOP_ZI/s320/Competition+swatch+09+06+2012+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deep Blue Sea - swatch</td></tr>
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It is a three ply yarn, one ply is a varigated wool from Louet called Northern Lights in the Violets colorway. It shades from purple to lime green through several shades of blue. One ply is a lambswool, angora and nylon blend in purple. The third ply is sewing thread strung with 3mm amethyst iris sequins. As I plied the yarn, I pushed in a sequin about every 3-4 inches so they would appear about once every knitted inch. The Shipwreck pattern calls for beads at random intervals, so I thought this would work for me since they sequins are already in the yarn. Beads strung on yarn have a number of concerns for me. Sliding the beads along the spun yarn abrades the yarn unless the beads are very large. If the beads are smaller there is the problem of a thick spot in the yarn that the beads might not fit over, and that is always possible on handspun. I also made a small swatch, the competition required it to be quite small, so the motif from the shawl pattern was much too large. I chose a small eyelet pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cr-66kNqie0/TnTKcBgMZQI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rhgpt_FYM64/s1600/Knitting+and+spinning+09+16+2011+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cr-66kNqie0/TnTKcBgMZQI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rhgpt_FYM64/s320/Knitting+and+spinning+09+16+2011+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Neon 3 ply and extra black chain ply</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RaczYMFABjw/UFBVdDPXMII/AAAAAAAAAQE/DrX5puRMh9s/s1600/Yarn+date+Blue+Neon+07+17+2012+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RaczYMFABjw/UFBVdDPXMII/AAAAAAAAAQE/DrX5puRMh9s/s320/Yarn+date+Blue+Neon+07+17+2012+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Neon - swatch</td></tr>
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The other yarn I entered was also a three ply. Spun on a drop spindle, this yarn was one ply of a handpainted BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) roving from <a href="http://frenecreekfarm.com/" target="_blank">Frene Creek Farm</a> my favorite local shepherd. The other two plies were made from a 50/50 blend of "Dusty" a fine wool covered Corriedale fleece from a shepherd in Colorado (no longer has a web presence) and some black alpaca roving. This photo shows the extra black yarn chain plied on top of the Blue Neon skeins. I called this one Blue Neon because of the way it worked up - the skein showed brilliant color against the black background which was the look I was after with this combination of fiber. The swatch shows a nice, shadowy stripe of the varigation of the handpaint. I did like the swatch at this weight the best. This one was done on size 4 needles and had the suppleness I'd want for a sweater or vest. I had also done a swatch for socks on size 2 needles. It is also pleasing to me, but I think this will probably become outerwear. Might use some as an accent on socks, but since there is no nylon in this blend, it might not wear well enough for socks.<br />
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The skein competition was interesting to watch. The instructions were that no talking or questions would be allowed, and the judge worked in silence. Disappointing to me, after listening to the wool judge on the prior day. He chattered away as he judged the fleeces. Talked about what he looked for and what he was finding as he worked his way through the many fleeces in that show. Just a difference in the way the two judges worked. Perhaps there is a tradition there as well... I don't know, but I did enjoy the way the talkative judge worked. I think I learned more from that method.<br />
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The results were available after the judging and I was allowed to keep my score sheets, which I appreciated. Sadly, there were no comments on the papers, just the numerical scores. The nice thing was that I was permitted to speak with the judge when she was finished. The standard calls for perfection, and appears to compare the handspun skeins to millspun yarns. I fared pretty well, my Deep Blue Sea got 96/100 points and the Blue Neon got 100/100 points. Both were awarded second place ribbons. Deep Blue Sea was topped by a bamboo/silk 2 ply that was perfectly even. Not as pretty, in my opinion, but it was perfect. Blue Neon was beat by a beautiful heavier weight two ply, that again, was perfectly even. That skein also won Best In Show. I'm content, my scores were very good, and I still love my yarn. Actually, the judge did too, as I learned in our conversation after the judging was done. She told me that she knew how difficult it is to ply with sewing thread and that she just LOVES sequins. So..... I think she liked my yarn - quite a lot.<br />
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Will I do another competition? I don't know. I learned a lot, but I also know that my yarn scores very high in such a competition. That part was quite satisfying. The payout isn't really enough to make me want to do very much of this. Each of those skeins represent many hours of work, and though the booth was attended, I was uncomfortable leaving my hard work out there for the whole weekend.<br />
Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-76264781125953040792012-08-16T04:27:00.000-07:002012-08-16T04:28:25.629-07:00So Fine!Back to spinning... on some super fine Corriedale (yes, really!)<br />
I called my favorite local shepherd (<a href="http://www.frenecreekfarm.com/" target="_blank">www.frenecreekfarm.com</a>) a little while back and asked about some really fine gray fleece. She had two on hand, both Corriedale. I was skeptical, but I went out anyway, since she's never steered me wrong and she has lots of fleece on hand all the time.<br />
I truly couldn't believe what I saw...<br />
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This is one of the two fleeces that I bought. Both Corriedale and both very, very fine wool with abundant crimp. Also very greasy fleeces, as most fine wools are, so the washing was a bit of an adventure.<br />
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I pulled off a small part of one of the fleeces and washed it the normal way I do fleeces. After it was dry, it still felt sticky, so it got another bath. Then I put it on the drum carder - mind you, I have a fine fur drum on my carder - and I got a batt full of noils. <br />
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Back to the drawing board...<br />
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I took the pitiful, noiled batt and combed some of it to see what would happen. The resulting nest of fiber is shown above. Still some waste, but not a total loss as the batt would have been. I did spin a couple of the nests of combed fiber and they were very nice to spin and quite fine and pleasing singles.<br />
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Then I said to myself, "Self, this fiber needs different preparation to be it's very best". So I set about learning to deal with superfine wools. Checked some books out of the library, read them, spent a little time in denial and then decided to try lock washing. I shudder in the face of this kind of fiddly prep just to get the wool clean! But, armed with a roll of tulle I sewed up the little bags to hold the locks of wool.<br />
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After the tulle bags were ready, I went back out to the garage to commune with my fleece. Took it out of the plastic bag and unrolled it. Took off some skirting bits that I didn't want to deal with for this kind of process and brought in about 600 grams to attempt my experiment with lock washing. There is still about half of the fleece in the bag, just in case I want to experiment further. I also have the other fleece, so there is plenty of wool for me to fiddle with. I took pictures of the process for my friends over on the Knit Picks Community and I'll share them with you here too.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cIrlapxuihQ/UCzPRa6uAII/AAAAAAAAAOo/VnTLaFI_j_s/s1600/Tour+de+Fleece+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cIrlapxuihQ/UCzPRa6uAII/AAAAAAAAAOo/VnTLaFI_j_s/s320/Tour+de+Fleece+2012+001.JPG" width="320" /></a>Here's the setup: nine nursery plant flats and one large tub big enough to hold them all and allow a bit of sloshing around space. This shot shows the tulle bags with the raw locks stitched inside, in the nusery flat and ready to go into the water.<br />
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I stacked up eight flats like this and put an empty one on top to keep everything together and pushed the whole mess down into the soapy water - held it down for a minute or so and brought it up out of the water, and then pushed it down again.<br />
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At that point it looked like this and the water was positively filthy... like the first wash on the uncontained fleece the way I usually do my wool washing.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Cs0cg0PmCaU/UCzQhB5bcxI/AAAAAAAAAO8/4-aCmC4o9pI/s1600/Tour+de+Fleece+2012+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Cs0cg0PmCaU/UCzQhB5bcxI/AAAAAAAAAO8/4-aCmC4o9pI/s320/Tour+de+Fleece+2012+006.JPG" width="320" /></a>So then I did another wash, and several rinses using this same process, but separating the trays and using the empty tray on top of each one after the first wash. This was to help each batch of locks get cleaner - at least that is what I hoped would happen!<br />
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After all that was done, I took the bags and laid them out on a screen to dry. I used my mini trampoline for this - put up on sawhorses for good airflow and turned on the ceiling fan to circulate the air around the fleece. I wasn't sure how much the bags would slow the process, since I usually am able to pull the locks apart as they dry and that can't happen in lock washing.<br />
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Here's a shot of the bags drying on the screen. Nice clear gray, and the dirty tips will come off when I flick card them prior to spinning. It took a couple days for the bags to be fully dry. I opened one and flick carded the locks. I used a small pin brush made for brushing dogs - the kind that looks like fine carding cloth - often called a slicker brush. Flick carding is a process I hadn't used before. Grab one end of the lock and brush out the other end with the dog brush until it is nice and fluffy and straight. Then turn the lock around and do the same thing on the other end. Remember not to card the fingertips! It smarts! I also dug out my old horse shoeing chaps to cover my legs while I did this. It worked great since it is nice thick leather and I could really get a good push with the brush against the leather. The flicking pulls out all the tender tip wool and gets out all the vegetable matter in the wool as well. Very nice preparation and it leaves me with little tufts of fiber that is all lined up in the lock formation and ready to spin. I started spinning from this preparation - super fine singles and pretty trouble free spinning. Here's what it looked like after I had a bit of this spun up.<br />
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The locks are in front. Different colors, yes, but I didn't sort for color on this batch of singles. I wanted to have some variation in the finished yarn. So I spun the locks as they came up, and there is some variegation in ths singles as you can see. The singles are super fine, and much stronger than I would have imagined. I did a chain ply on this bobbin of singles and ended up with 130 yards of chain plied yarn. I noticed that the yarn was very springy and elastic as it went into its first bath. As a note, I wind my skeins on a two yard niddy noddy, which I tie in at least four places to keep the yarn organized and easy to untangle after washing. This means a skein hangs in about a 36" loop when it comes off the niddy noddy. This skein had a lot of bounce to it, and I expected it to pull up some, but when it was dry it hung in a 24" loop! I've never had such bouncy yarn!<br />
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I re-wound the skein after it dried, since some of the strands were somewhat wayward in the first skein up. The new skein came out at 120 yards and still has an incredible bounce and springy quality that I've never had in handspun before. I've got a couple skeins of commercially spun Merino yarn that have a similar feel. I can't help but wonder if it is the fine wool, the crimp, or the lock spinning that causes this quality in the finished yarn. Time to do more research into this... in the meantime, I'm enjoying this cottony, next to the skin soft wool that I've made. Next big decision is what I'll make with it. Since I have plenty more of this fleece and another fleece that is very similar, there will be much more of this yarn available to me. Besides - I still have several of the tulle bags left to flick and spin....Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-20081722662509902512012-07-29T00:38:00.000-07:002012-07-29T06:39:57.737-07:00Tour de Fleece recap...It seems that I go through phases in my fiber art life. Right now I'm in a spinning phase and having a wonderful time! Just finished Tour de Fleece, which I have never done before. I had not heard of it until recently, but it is a self-directed spinning challenge that runs at the same time as the Tour de France bicycle race. Having no interest in sports, I did the challenge for the personal satisfaction.<br />
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I participated in three teams, the first one was Knit Picks and I chose to spin a three ply yarn to complete the singles I had spun of "Blue Fleck" colorway from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlohaBlu" target="_blank">AlohaBlu</a> that I received in a spinning swap a while back. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PDo05jwx17g/UBTcwFOpzpI/AAAAAAAAANY/gJzt5qOTnhc/s1600/Spin+swap+05+25+2012+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PDo05jwx17g/UBTcwFOpzpI/AAAAAAAAANY/gJzt5qOTnhc/s400/Spin+swap+05+25+2012+004.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spin swap from AlohaBlu, the Blue Fleck custom dyed roving is in the middle</td></tr>
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When I get those precious braids of handpainted roving I like to plan a yarn around them to show their beauty. This particular roving was about two ounces, and I like to have more yarn than that in the event I want more than an accent of the handpaint. So I made up more batts to match. In this case, I wanted a subtle blend of blues and teals so I combined these fibers into batts: some gray Corriedale from a sheep named "Sierra", some wool top in a colorway "Bluebell" and some hand dyed Firestar in blue and teal. All of this came from my stash (how cool is that!) so it made me feel extra good about the yarn I was making! Here's the picture of the finished "Blue Fleck" singles and the stash of the other fibers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uZD4Fyi8PhE/UBTewvsXbnI/AAAAAAAAANg/NW4kbG84y4U/s1600/Ravelry+06+29+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uZD4Fyi8PhE/UBTewvsXbnI/AAAAAAAAANg/NW4kbG84y4U/s400/Ravelry+06+29+2012+001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Fleck singles, Bluebell top, Firestar in blue and teal</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6amjNqTGs0I/UBTfDfOwtLI/AAAAAAAAANo/Q71soeEbZ0M/s1600/Batts+for+ebay+05+10+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6amjNqTGs0I/UBTfDfOwtLI/AAAAAAAAANo/Q71soeEbZ0M/s400/Batts+for+ebay+05+10+2012+001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sierra Corridale</td></tr>
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The finished batts looked like this:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rkZk1InyU98/UBTfrxmmQkI/AAAAAAAAANw/prrVImq-xtE/s1600/Ravelry+06+29+2012+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rkZk1InyU98/UBTfrxmmQkI/AAAAAAAAANw/prrVImq-xtE/s400/Ravelry+06+29+2012+010.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I made four of these at 33 grams each so that I would have two bobbins with well over two ounces each for plying. I prefer not to have to try and match batts after the fact, because it seems to be like dye lots, where even if I use the same materials and in the same ratios it never looks identical.<br />
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Then I started the spinning. It seemed to take forever since I wanted the final yarn to be pretty fine. I finished a bit early, which was a relief and did the plying and got this yarn:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iFgVZuUfEjQ/UBThDn8_emI/AAAAAAAAAN4/CttVrFtnvgs/s1600/Tour+de+Fleece+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iFgVZuUfEjQ/UBThDn8_emI/AAAAAAAAAN4/CttVrFtnvgs/s400/Tour+de+Fleece+2012+001.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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It ended up being 600 yards, 160 grams or 5.6 ounces! No wonder it felt like I had been spinning forever! I ended up with quite a bit of the blended singles left, so I did an experiment with embellished yarn using sequins strung on sewing thread. I chain plied it with the two strands held together, very fiddly and time consuming, but I really like the resulting yarn:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TTSh_6cy7DA/UBTiYZo_5XI/AAAAAAAAAOA/THOQRcSmdjQ/s1600/Tour+de+Fleece+2012+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TTSh_6cy7DA/UBTiYZo_5XI/AAAAAAAAAOA/THOQRcSmdjQ/s400/Tour+de+Fleece+2012+002.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
It is 36 grams or 1.3 ounces and 92 yards. At this point, I'm planning to use this yarn set for some kind of outerwear with the sequined yarn for trim. It isn't soft enough for next to the skin, but it is gorgeous and will wear well. Haven't decided on knitting or weaving yet, or even what form of garment. So into the stash it goes for the time being.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-66722533813118675382012-06-06T04:30:00.000-07:002012-06-06T14:24:18.813-07:00Wicked!Yesterday I went to my personal Mecca.... Susan's Fiber Shop in Columbus, Wisconsin. She's an amazing woman that I've met many times over the years of attending fiber festivals in various parts of the country. Starting with the Estes Park Wool Festival out in Colorado many, many years ago. I was there for two reasons, first to pick up a set of wool combs that I had ordered and also to test spin a wheel I'm considering - the Kromski Fantasia.<br />
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She gave me a short lesson on combing - I took along some of the Nasty Romney, thinking that if combing could make <u>that</u> awful stuff look good, it would work wonders on any other fiber I presented for consideration!<br />
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If you've never seen wool combs, they are a pretty startling piece of gear - in the same way that a picker is - except on a much grander scale. Spinning seems to be such a gentle craft, peaceful and serene, until you see this:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXcL5qbGjOs/T880pxMGOqI/AAAAAAAAAMg/yNw-pbFyDzk/s1600/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXcL5qbGjOs/T880pxMGOqI/AAAAAAAAAMg/yNw-pbFyDzk/s400/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome to the dungeon... mwahahahaha!</td></tr>
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Gleaming instrument of torture, one might think. This is one of the pair, clamped down in its base and ready for use. The other one is swung toward the stationary comb once it is loaded up with wool locks to begin the process of combing. Actually it works a lot like combing my own hair, although mine never gets as messed up as the Nasty Romney!</div>
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So, I'll load up the comb and get started. Here is the first load of locks from the Nasty Romney that I dyed plum some time ago. I've tried to spin this from a carded preparation, and I'm sick to death of picking out, ummmm "stuff" (it is the most diplomatic word I could think of) while trying to spin this mess. Here is what the first part looks like:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HUfAAA8kQVA/T8819-wOKSI/AAAAAAAAAMo/62-VMQj_Pyo/s1600/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HUfAAA8kQVA/T8819-wOKSI/AAAAAAAAAMo/62-VMQj_Pyo/s400/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+002.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First load of the combs - <br />
Nasty Romney about to get what it deserves!</td></tr>
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The other comb is there on the left. Ready to start swinging, catching just the tips of the locks to draw them away on the moving comb. This gives the trash an opportunity to fall out, as well as aligning the fiber into a very nice parallel arrangement that is a very different spinning experience than carded fiber. Carding allows the fibers to be in a much more random arrangement in relation to each other. Makes a fluffy yarn (think sweaters) that traps air and is warmer to wear because of it. The combing makes a worsted preparation (think suit fabric) that is much smoother and silkier in appearance because the fibers are more parallel, they stay in alignment during spinning. The worsted yarn isn't as warm, since it doesn't trap air, but it retains the wool's other appealing properties. As I combed the locks, the fibers begin to transfer to the moving comb, leaving the short fiber and some of the trash trapped between the rows of tines on the comb. Looks like this at the end of the first transfer:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qAzJMJp1EaE/T884SEyW-SI/AAAAAAAAAMw/AI1Lg8wjH0E/s1600/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qAzJMJp1EaE/T884SEyW-SI/AAAAAAAAAMw/AI1Lg8wjH0E/s400/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+003.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the first transfer on the combs</td></tr>
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The fiber is starting to straighten out, and see the short stuff and the trash left on the stationary comb? That all gets pulled off and can be scrapped, carded or used for felting.<br />
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Next step is to transfer the fiber back to the newly empty stationary comb for the next pass. Further aligning and cleaning the fiber. I was truly amazed at the speed of this process - sure beats picking out all the mess by hand at the wheel! I also started to see a bit of luster from this fiber, which I sure wasn't expecting at all!<br />
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So, here it goes back to the stationary comb for the next round of combing. I took a close up so you could see how the wool gets caught in the teeth of the comb and all the fibers are starting to line up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mb1N7lFqrS4/T885WovNSfI/AAAAAAAAAM4/XE64E-_VaSI/s1600/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mb1N7lFqrS4/T885WovNSfI/AAAAAAAAAM4/XE64E-_VaSI/s320/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of what happens at the tines of the comb -<br />
could that actually be luster in the fiber?</td></tr>
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By this point, I was amazed that this was the Nasty Romney - it is starting to look and behave like much better quality fleece! This might actually become pretty yarn! Just a note, the shiny parts are the fiber itself - there is no added bling in this combing. I might add some later on, but I want to test spin some of this without any additives to see if has really become nicer to work with - heck, it couldn't be any worse than it was when I started!<br />
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Thus ended the second pass of the fiber in the combing process. Susan suggested four transfers on the combs for the best result on this fleece. So that is what I did.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c9ei1Uciags/T8867usQqmI/AAAAAAAAANE/73n_xd10pos/s1600/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c9ei1Uciags/T8867usQqmI/AAAAAAAAANE/73n_xd10pos/s320/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+005.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the fourth transfer - ready to pull off the comb</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4WZgUv2rM2k/T888PyunHQI/AAAAAAAAANM/u1cw3K-rFsA/s1600/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4WZgUv2rM2k/T888PyunHQI/AAAAAAAAANM/u1cw3K-rFsA/s320/Combing+plum+NR+06+06+2012+006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plum Nasty Romney - combed top</td></tr>
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Here is the fiber after the fourth transfer. I can hardly believe how consistent and smooth it is! The next step is to draw the fiber from the combs. This can be done by hand or with a small tool called a diz. A diz is a small curved bit of plastic in this case, with a hole in the center to control the amount of fiber that can pass through at one time. The first few draws off the combs, I did by hand, just pulling the fiber off the comb in a more or less consistent diameter. This one, I decided to try out the diz. I like using it, I got a much longer piece of top and far more consistent, as I expected. Here's a look at what came off the comb:<br />
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I thought it was truly amazing... no stuff in the fiber, smooth and pretty! I can hardly wait to spin some of this and see if it spins as well as I think it will! I typically enjoy spinning top, so this should be a far more pleasant experience than this wool has given me up to this point. I'm also very fond of this color, so I doubt that I'll blend it with anything else. So... I'm off to spin some of this pretty wool. I almost feel guilty calling it Nasty Romney anymore - but that is where it started...Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-78755055349804762882012-05-12T07:34:00.000-07:002012-05-12T07:34:12.979-07:00Nasty Romney goes pink!Well, a very long time ago I produced this hot pink wool from the nastiest fleece I ever worked with.<br />
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One of four dye baths I did with this Romney fleece. Blogged it at the very start of the blog, so I won't re-tell the story here. Suffice it to say - I finally did something with some of this pink wool. Did a nice blend with some gray Corriedale from a ewe named Sierra and added a bit of white icicle fiber for some sparkle. <br />
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It seemed to take forever to get this done, I had 99 grams of batts to spin. Mostly did it while I was sitting at the computer listening to podcasts and my Celtic music station on Pandora radio. Nice way to pass the time, to be sure! <br />
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Spun the singles on a spindle and chain plied them on my wheel.<br />
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I ended up with this: <br />
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A lovely mauve yarn, with a touch of sparkle. Softer than the Romney alone and more interesting than either color wool would have been. I'm pretty partial to heathered colors anyway, I like the character and interest that they have when worked up into something. I originally thought I'd do a scarf out of this, there is a pretty one from Spin-Off by Stephanie Gaustad called Helix Scarf. It is a ruffled confection that is a very interesting knitting pattern. Besides that, it would be great with my winter coat.<br />
<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-62438627992295090902012-05-09T12:59:00.000-07:002012-05-09T12:59:14.887-07:00Spinning in progress...Busy, busy, busy and always more to do. But this is what I've been working on. I showed you the Cormo I was spinning in my last post. I've spun up about half of what I have on hand and have this pretty little skein to show for it.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uUSe789cQ8c/T6rITixlTYI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Wzj_WZXopW4/s1600/Handspun+and+batts+05+09+2012+008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uUSe789cQ8c/T6rITixlTYI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Wzj_WZXopW4/s320/Handspun+and+batts+05+09+2012+008.JPG" width="320" /></a>The next thing I've been working on is a pretty good sized quantity of batts that I had made of some of the pink Romney from way back when. I blended it with some great light gray Corriedale from a ewe named Sierra from my favorite shepherd in Colorado. I also decided to blend in a little bit of white icicle to add some sparkle to the yarn. My original plan was to knit up a ruffled scarf that I found in Spin Off some time ago. An odd thing happened as I worked with this blend. The Corriedale was a little "sticky" to work with. I had washed it quite a while before I actually did anything with it, so it "rested" in that state. Since the blending was already finished, I went ahead and spun it up the way it was. But I also decided to re-wash some of the fleece that hadn't been used in the blended batts. Much, much better... feels clean and pleasant again. I had no idea such a thing could happen with fleece as it sits waiting its turn in my stash. I'll definitely chalk this up as a learning experience! I doubt that I could spin a fleece "in the grease" since I found a little stickyness so icky to work with.</div>
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Here's a shot of the singles on the spindle and the bobbin that I load the singles onto as they accumulate. This way I don't end up with a bunch of tiny skeins.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cvRqhr8orVU/T6rK_jEFVPI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Pwci86LuXvw/s1600/Handspun+and+batts+05+09+2012+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cvRqhr8orVU/T6rK_jEFVPI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Pwci86LuXvw/s320/Handspun+and+batts+05+09+2012+002.JPG" width="320" /></a>I still have a little more to finish up but I am on the last batt now. The sparkle of the icicle doesn't really show up on the pictures - most sparkle fibers seem to be pretty camera shy. I wonder sometimes how people get shots of Angelina that show the multicolor glittery effect.</div>
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I made another neat discovery. There is a virtual knitting/spinning guild of sorts over on the Knit Picks website. I've just joined up... it should be interesting to see what I find over there.</div>
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Until next time....</div>
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</div>Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-92200272528857808152012-02-18T09:49:00.000-08:002012-02-18T09:49:24.954-08:00Happy Birthday to me!<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's my birthday, and I wanted to tell you about what I've been working on lately...<br />
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Well, once again I'm chugging along on projects. Here's one: <br />
The second pair of slipper socks. This is the superwash part that doesn't felt. Next thing is to pick up stitches and make the sole out of feltable wool. This one will have the Fairy Tale color of Wool of the Andes that I had left over from my sweater. Should be wonderful - and the best part is that the soles don't take very long to knit. I'll get started on the top of the second slipper in the superwash so I've got simple knitting to do at Church tomorrow.<br />
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I've also been rummaging through my stash. Did some more spinning too. This time it was a smidgen of combed Merino top from Ashland Bay in the colorway Rose Quartz. Their top is such a delight to spin! Before I knew it, I had finished it up and then Navajo plied it. Washed up and skeined it looks like this:<br />
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The vital statistics on this little skein are: Singles spindle spun clockwise, Navajo plied 15 treadles. Weight: 52 grams and 212 yards.<br />
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I think it is a lovely heather - looks like dusty mauve overall, but there are so many colors in this one! From yellows to blues and several reds and violets. Up close it looks like this:<br />
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If you click on the picture you can zoom in as far as you like. This yarn is so soft - being Merino I expected that - but still, I'm thrilled! Might do some lacy mitts with some Fair Isle patterning with the Amethyst skein I told you about a while ago.<br />
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I've also been spinning some Cormo top from the Riverwinds Farm in Boyd, Wisconsin. I bought 4 ounces of this blended gray from them at the Jefferson Sheep and Wool festival back in September 2011. I've put two or three spindles full onto the bobbin for plying and I've got another one started: <br />
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It is just as soft (if not softer) than the Merino, so it may get a role in the mitts as well. This soft stuff is spinning up pretty fine, so it will be interesting to see how it works up. Might even have enough left over for socks - at least the cuff part of socks. I'm not sure how well this super fine wool would wear in socks.<br />
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Here's a closer look at the singles on the spindle:<br />
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Mighty pretty color and so fine and soft. Spins so smoothly, it is difficult to stop spinning. I guess I've been fooling with the Nasty Romney for so long I'd forgotten how nice it is to spin good wool!<br />
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I've also been digging around in my storage unit and finding a lot of my older handspinning. I'm getting it out and rewashing it a skein or two at a time. I'm amazed at how far I've come in my skills. Seems to me that it is good to revisit my old yarn - and my old spinnables that aren't yarn yet. There are some neat possibilities for me to explore in those boxes... I'll shoot some pictures of my "beginner yarn" once the skeins are dry.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-34227956203858827712012-02-01T13:17:00.000-08:002012-02-01T13:17:20.407-08:00Rrrrrrufffles!Well, the ruffle yarn arrived in yesterday's mail. Couldn't help myself - I started in on one of the scarf patterns right away to try it out. This is some weird construction... here's a picture of the way this stuff is put together:<br />
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This one is called Frill Seeker Stargazer. It has some metallic shot through it as well. Pretty hot pink/burgundy/black progression through the colors. The metallic is red, but it really looks nice in this combination. I checked out some YouTube videos about how to knit with this kind of yarn. Basically, you just use the top edge for the stitches, working with the tiny chain between the blocks to make the stitches. I did this on size 10 needles (6mm) and a cable - this stuff is slick and slides around a lot! <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aHlKnsdd-9s/TymjNA6XAkI/AAAAAAAAAKc/LPBG2zzV1E8/s1600/Ravelry+Stash+and+blog+02+01+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aHlKnsdd-9s/TymjNA6XAkI/AAAAAAAAAKc/LPBG2zzV1E8/s320/Ravelry+Stash+and+blog+02+01+2012+001.JPG" width="320" /></a>Here's a shot of the whole skein before I got started on the scarf itself. It was loosely tied in 3 places, and it said right in the pattern NOT to wind it into a ball, so I put it on an umbrella swift and started knitting. Very simple pattern, just 12 stitches in garter stitch until you run out of yarn, or get to the length you like. Mine turned out 50 inches long, and it is much softer than I expected it to be with all that metallic in it. The fiber content on this Stargazer yarn is 78% Acrylic and 22% Polyester. Since it doesn't mention the metallic, I'm assuming that the polyester is the metallic carrier somehow. The ruffling happens automatically - the chain knits into a scaffold of sorts to hold the gathers in place for ruffles to happen on the outer edge... like this:<br />
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Soooooo, after the last of the skein comes off the umbrella swift and over the needles I ended up with a very pretty scarf to wear with my raspberry colored winter coat. One thing I did notice with this yarn is that it snags pretty easily - especially the metallic thread. So this isn't going to be something that will work with any coat with Velcro closures near the neckline.<br />
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This is a hand wash and dry flat kind of scarf, but being all synthetic, it won't take long to dry. Keep it from snagging up - wear gloves when washing it so it doesn't catch on anything. It seems to be very soft and should be quite warm - of course it is also highly unusual and decorative! Pretty as an accent scarf for a plain dress or turtleneck too.<br />
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I don't think I've ever done a project that worked up this fast - and fun to watch it do it's thing! So I already have a finished scarf! Ta-daaaaa!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U7Sp9yQwv0M/Tyml6s8jcxI/AAAAAAAAAKs/YqwJHaOQ4fc/s1600/Ravelry+Stash+and+blog+02+01+2012+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U7Sp9yQwv0M/Tyml6s8jcxI/AAAAAAAAAKs/YqwJHaOQ4fc/s320/Ravelry+Stash+and+blog+02+01+2012+003.JPG" width="240" /></a>Next thing I finished up was the sweater. I decided to "line" the button bands with ribbon for stability since the knitting was somewhat soft and there really wasn't much to attach a button to that would hold it up without sagging or pulling the stitches out of shape. I spent some time in the library, dug out the old standard Vogue Sewing book and read about couture methods on buttons and buttonholes and came up with an idea that worked out well. I wasn't able to find ribbon that exactly matched the red-violet color. This didn't really surprise me, it isn't a common color. So I used a satin ribbon printed with a Victorian style pattern in black and white. I hand sewed it in place on both button bands so they would be firm and straight. Then I cut small slits in the ribbon and did hand worked buttonholes, using buttonhole stitches (basically the same as a blanket stitch, worked tightly and very close together) and I got very stable, firm buttonholes. I tested the fit of the buttons several times as I worked the buttonholes, since I wanted them snug, but not too tight. Here's a picture of the buttonholes:<br />
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The stitches are pulled quite tight, that keeps the row of edge stitches in place and centered on the edge of the hole itself. Interestingly enough, I found that I had a better result by starting in the middle of the long vertical of the slit rather than on one of the ends. I'm not sure why, but that's how it worked out for me. Here's a picture of the ribbon bands - granted, this is the inside of the sweater - the stitches aren't perfectly even, but they look okay to me. Since I'm the only one who will really ever see this part, I didn't tear it out to make it perfect on the inside. I'm recovering from generations of perfectionism... so I'm calling this a good thing! <br />
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Interestingly enough, I've never seen this method of handling button bands except on an old sweater that my Grandmother made for my Mom - she did machine buttonholes over grosgrain ribbon. I wanted mine done in yarn, so this is what I came up with. Never have done a cardigan before, and even though this one took two tries to complete, it is done and I'm pleased with it. Finally, finished and blocked, here is the last picture of the finished button bands.<br />
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Yep, my first ever cardigan. I like it. A lot!Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-51376917070934491172012-01-26T03:00:00.000-08:002012-01-26T03:00:54.674-08:00New stash...Gosh, it has been a while since a yarn grabbed me like this. I found some really pretty ruffling yarn advertised in a catalog from Mary Maxim. Most of their things are way to cutesy for my taste, but they had several varieties of this self-ruffling yarn that I wanted to have a look at "in person" to see how they worked. I went to every craft shop in town, and of course, none of them had any of the types - not even the Red Heart version. Sigh.... <br />
So, I went back to the catalog and tried to place an order for the least expensive version - Red Heart Sashay - and it was out of stock! Bigger sigh...<br />
So, I went for the higher priced version and placed an order. Hope it arrives soon... it looks so nice in the pictures.<br />
Of course, with all that yarn shopping a few skeins followed me home. I found this lovely, fuzzy Patons Lace with Sequins in the Amethyst colorway:<br />
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Pretty stuff, but as with most sparkly yarns, this one is a bit camera shy. The sequins are a deep color that shimmers between red, fuschia and violet. Very pretty indeed! I'm thinking of a shrug or a vest with this, the balls are lace weight, and with all that glittering, I'll want a smooth knit to show it off to it's best advantage.<br />
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I'll swatch it later on, since I seem to have caught the "cast on" bug in the last little while.<br />
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Here's the beginning of my next sweater - at least I hope it is, the swatch is feeling a little light and loose and it isn't at gauge yet. But here's the picture of what I'm planning for the next sweater.<br />
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The pattern is from Sunday Knits and is called Tapestry. Very romantic, lots of cables and lace and knit in the round up to the armsceye. I especially like the way the buttons are nestled into the cables on the front. I chose a superwash fingering weight yarn from Knit Picks called Stroll in the colorway Twinkle Heather. I'll keep going on the swatch and see if I like it better as it grows in size. There are some people that say superwash wools don't feel good to them. I really rather like the soft hand that this treatment gives the fiber. Some wools feel a bit scratchy to me - even Merino sometimes. I typically wear pure regular wool sweaters over a cotton turtleneck for comfort. The superwash I can wear in socks on my bare skin without a problem. For instance, those new slippers I made have both kinds of wool in them, superwash on the tops and feltable wool for the soles. I find them more comfortable if I wear thin socks inside the slippers. Doing this should also help improve the wearing life of the slippers as well, so it becomes a win-win situation. This being said, I've started another pair of slipper socks since I adore the first pair and needed another "easy" knitting project for when I'm somewhere that I can knit on something simple and still be able to pay attention to other things going on... like at church. So here's a work-in-progress shot of the slippers:<br />
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Since it takes two strands held together for the tops, I wound off a small ball of the sock yarn, trying to match up the patterning so there are some coherent stripes on the tops. I like the effect I'm getting so far. The match isn't perfect, but with two yarns running together the stripes are softened a bit. So far, so good. I'm just starting the top of the foot on the first slipper. These take me about twenty hours from start to finish. The yarn is Wisdom Yarns Phoenix in the Hayden colorway. Superwash wool and nylon blend. Cast on with size 7 needles and switch to size 4 for the tops. I'll use my leftover Wool of the Andes Worsted in Fairy Tale for the heels and soles - I had a few balls left from the sweater and they match this yarn pretty nicely.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-69294241191438070792012-01-12T08:34:00.000-08:002012-01-12T08:41:39.117-08:00Sweater done, spinning in progress...I love the feeling of finishing things... got a few more done this week. The never-ending sweater is finally knitted. Took a picture of it before blocking: <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S7CPHf5JUqs/Tw8GtU5jDHI/AAAAAAAAAJU/u75cN1NL6bA/s1600/Sweater+and+spinning+01+12+2012+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S7CPHf5JUqs/Tw8GtU5jDHI/AAAAAAAAAJU/u75cN1NL6bA/s320/Sweater+and+spinning+01+12+2012+001.JPG" width="240" /></a>I like the way it turned out, but there are a couple of things I still want to do before I wear it. Blocking would be the first thing, and I have given it the first warm bath of its life. At the moment it is drying on a screen. Never ceases to amaze me how the stitches smooth out after blocking. Didn't need any wires in this one, just laid it out flat. Second thing I'll be doing is adding a band of ribbon to the back of the button bands. The knitting is wonderfully soft, but it isn't likely to support buttonholes and buttons without sagging. So rather than wait for that to happen, I'll be putting the ribbon on to stabilize it.</div>
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I've also been finishing up some spinning that has been hanging around for a while. Here is a small skein of Amethyst Heather merino from Ashland Bay. It started as one of the lovely striped tops that they are so famous for. I just got a tiny sample (this skein is 9 grams) so that I could check the colors. I'm pleased with this colorway, it "reads" visually as purple, but it is made up of blues, reds, pinks and grays. Very nice indeed - I'll be ordering up more of this one. Statistics: 32 yards, 9 grams; Amethyst Heather merino top from Ashland Bay; spindle spun singles clockwise, Navajo plied counterclockwise 15 treadles.<br />
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This one has been hanging out on a spindle for who knows how long. I took it off the spindle onto a bobbin and Navajo plied it to this gorgeous yarn. It is a black Shetland wool blended with dyed mohair locks in blue and fuschia. I really didn't expect Shetland wool to be so soft. Love the sparkle and shine of the mohair. I'll certainly be doing more of this blend in the future! Statistics: 92 yards, 31 grams; Shetland/Mohair; spindle spun singles clockwise, Navajo plied counterclockwise 14 treadles.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iYwRz-zb9PI/Tw8J5TNRFXI/AAAAAAAAAJs/tXq2ChvwAeg/s1600/Sweater+and+spinning+01+12+2012+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iYwRz-zb9PI/Tw8J5TNRFXI/AAAAAAAAAJs/tXq2ChvwAeg/s320/Sweater+and+spinning+01+12+2012+006.JPG" width="320" /></a>This brute of a skein is the beginning of a sweater project from the color study yarns. This is the 50/50 blend of GNR and Dolly Dorset. Love the heathering and the color. This isn't the softest wool, so it will definitely be outerwear. Haven't worn much green lately, but it is a good color for me and I'll enjoy working with my handspun on a larger project. Statistics: 270 yards, 74 grams; 50/50 GNR/Dolly; spindle spun singles clockwise, Navajo plied counterclockwise 14 treadles.<br />
<br />Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2874468691276989895.post-11577060845522325452012-01-06T08:35:00.000-08:002012-01-24T11:25:43.534-08:00Quilting club...The story started a long time ago.... <br />
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Mom's mom was a passionate and gifted quilter, modest enough to think that she didn't do it right - even after winning quilt shows and being invited to judge the same show the following year! I often asked Grandma if she'd teach me to quilt, and she always told me I should take a class, since she didn't think she did it right. I never did get her to change her mind, and she's gone now. So, after all these years, Mom and I are learning to quilt.<br />
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Mom and I have started taking a quilting class of sorts. It is actually a club that meets once a month. No schlepping sewing machines - one person in the group presents the block that we'll be making for the month and points out any tips or troublemakers in the construction. Then we all go home and take our chances with the directions and try to make the block.<br />
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We're working out of a book called <em>Sylvia's Bridal Sampler</em> by Jennifer Chiaverini. As Mom and I looked it over, we thought "hmmm, 6 inch blocks, shouldn't take much fabric. How hard could it be?" (Okay, now that anyone who knows anything about quilting is having a good laugh at our expense.....) Not only have we discovered how little we know, we've also found a group of some of the most supportive and interesting women I've ever met.<br />
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I'm rather pleased with what I've learned. Each month my skills get a little better. Here's my first block, called Cats and Mice<br />
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Fun to do, but lots of tiny pieces! I actually cut all those tiny bits and did all the 1/4" seams. Since then I've learned how to do paper piecing and that makes it go a lot better - easier too!<br />
As for the other things rolling around in my studio, the sweater is getting sewn up, and I found some great buttons for it! I'm still spinning on the GNR/Dolly blend at work. Just about ready to ply off the first bobbin of that one. Made a sample of some very fine 3 ply yarn from a little puff of Ashland Bay Amethyst Multi wool. The skein is drying now. I'll shoot more pictures and get those posted next time.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17628866414694965502noreply@blogger.com2