Rosemary Knits

Frivolous Knitting

2011-11-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to completely frivolous knitting.

Can you tell what I knitted?

Just what everyone needs, a knitted bike lock-chain cover!

Please take a moment to admire the awesome bikes.

The blue one is mine, and I bought it way back when I was in college. I think I bought it in 1979. Maybe 1978. I can't imagine how many miles that bike has carried me. It's a Raleigh Rampar, Mixte, lugged steel frame. I love it.

The white beauty is a Schwinn Hollywood from 1960. It belongs to my 16yo daughter, and was one of those serendipitous finds this summer.

I think she found it in July? Maybe June? We had a wonderful summer, riding together. She is who took the photos for today's blog entry, actually. Visit her blog at Cinnamonthicket.

The bikes get along just fine. Every time we leave them alone, this is what we find - they are snuggling AGAIN. heh.

Anyway, back to the knitting! I had this wonderful brightly colored yarn in a super chunky gauge, and I cast on, I think, 8 stitches, on size 10 dpns, and knit a tube. Then I cast off. Really, it was as simple as that. It wasn't all that hard to run the chain through it, which surprised me.

It looks nice, it's eyecatching and a conversation piece, but seriously, it's so darned heavy that I'm seriously considering getting a cable lock.

It'll be hard to give it up, because it's just so much fun!!!

(a little picnik fun!)

I knitted this tube in a modified version of I-Cord. My version takes three needles - cast on 4 onto each of two needles. Hold them back to back (so to speak) so that you can join your cast on into a tube. Knit across one needle, then knit across the other one. Instead of using 4 or 5 needles to knit a tube, like you would a sock, you just use three needles. I find that I-cords which are bigger than 4 or at the very most 5 stitches are nuisance filled to knit on two needles, but too few stitches to use the standard tube knitting number of 4 or 5 needles. Try it!

Because Fleegle Asked...

2011-03-29T14:56:00.004-06:00

Dear Fleegle,

Ask and you shall recieve.

Here are more detailed instructions for the PseudoRolag technique.

First, kick the cat off of the fiber.

Next, pull off wisps of top and lay them in a row. In this example, I wanted the striping to make short color repeats, so I pulled off a very narrow bit of the top. If you want longer repeats, just pull off wider bits of top. You're the boss.

Way too wide to easily roll up, so...

Scootch in the sides

Then roll it up. There is a second stick in there - it's hard to see.

Here, you can see the blue and the purple blending nicely. In a few days, I'll post another color-blending sample. This is where I'd like to do some more experimentation, with color blending,

You can make small, dainty P-Rolags, or you can make big honking ones. (Sorry for the awful photo, but I think you can get an idea of the size of this monster.)

This one has angelina and black alpaca added.

Tidying up...

I use a big knitting needle, and one which is short and very narrow - just because I have them - you can use whichever sizes you like. You'll have to trust that there's another one in there - it doesn't stick out so it doesn't show up in the photo.

Ready to go!

Here is a photo which better shows the "two knitting needles" thing -

Whatever you've rolled up in there will draft out when you spin. Use as heavy or as light a hand with the "extras" as you'd like. Only experimentation will tell if your blend is actually draftable.

Here are some wacky tests - I had lots of fun with these.

Wool and already-spun yarns and string. The grey yarn in the middle was already knitted, so it's all ziggy zaggy. Of course, this would be lost the instant that the finished yarn got wet, but still, it was fun to play with.

I like to lay a very thin layer of wool on top of the "odd stuff" - it makes it a little bit easier to roll up.

FUN!!!

Picked Mohair...

I didn't take the photo, but I laid wool on top of the mohair, then rolled. The yarn ended up sort of boucley

Wool, Cottswold locks..

Another fine layer of wool laid on top of the locks...

This one was fun. As I recall, it was tricky to midwife the locks through the plying stage, but they drafted out of the P-Rolag just fine. My notes tell me to remember to fluff out the butt end of the locks first, so now you know, too.

HAVE FUN!!!

Your pal,
Rosemary

More Pseudorolags!

2011-03-27T23:05:00.001-06:00

Hello again!

It was so much fun to see our article in print! Thanks, everyone, for your kind words - Susan and I had lots of fun writing that article, and we are so happy that you like it!

There's a little more to the story, and I'd like to share. The sock which is pictured in the article, On a Roll With Pseudorolags, is one of a pair of fraternal twins. The one which made it into the magazine is the Mild Twin, and let me introduce the Wild Twin.

I had so much fun spinning this pair of socks.

The fiber was dyed by Spunky, it's BFL, and Spunky custom dyed it for me. It is fantastic. I asked for a simple batch of red, yellow, blue, and I couldn't be happier - the fiber and the dye job are perfect. This is the first time I've used BFL, and ohmygosh, I love it. It has a drapeyness that you have to feel to believe.

Here is a shot of the beginning of spinning the Mild Twin - the dyed top and the very first pseudorolag. I broke it in the middle of the blue section and spun it like this - red yellow blue red yellow blue. I knitted the Mild Twin from the toe up, and used Fleegle's Heel, and that was that.

The Wild Twin was MUCH more fun!!!

Here is the cast of characters -

From left to right - black alpaca, blue angelina, green angelina, yellow angelina, watermelon pink angelina. We had fun.

Here is how I did it -

First, I laid out the BFL by pulling "tufts" off of the end of the top - no flicking or combing or anything - I just pulled the tufts and laid them out - and then I laid other things on top - sometimes some alpaca, sometimes a color from elsewhere in the top, sometimes some angelina.

I kept track of the p-rolags by pinning numbers onto them so that I could make sure to spin them in order. I wanted the Wild Twin to be somewhat similar to the Mild Twin.

Aren't they pretty?

I thank you for your patience. I thought that these were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. If you want to see more photos, just say the word. heh.

As mentioned in the article, these were all spun with my favorite method - Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly. Knitted with my wonderful awesome sterling silver knitting needles, made expressly for me by my darling son, Sam. They are size US0, and they are wonderful.

Experiment with Pseudorolags! I've added things such as threads pulled out of fabrics, shreds of sari silk, strips of fabric, feathers, lengths of yarn, curly locks and all kinds of other stuff. Play and see what YOU come up with!

Encourage one another...

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Mushroom Helix

2011-03-05T12:29:00.001-07:00

A while back, there was a call for entries on the Spin Off site, and since I fell in love with the scarf in question, I thought I'd enter. Why not? The worst that could happen is that my scarf wouldn't be selected, but I'd still have a nice scarf, yes?

Well, it DID get selected! WOOT! You can follow this link, Handspun Gallery of Helix Scarves, and see all of the others, too. I did the wrap-and-turn differently from the original pattern, and maybe you'd like to read about it.

This is a fantastic scarf pattern - it was my "coffee shop knitting," and it's perfect for that purpose. Garter stitch with just a little bit extra to keep the knitter interested, but on the whole, not much thought required. Perfect for knitting while talking.

Here are some photos of the lovely animal who contributed the fiber - she lives in Rye, Colorado, under the watchful care of Jean and John Kenney. I took these photos back in November, 2010.

She's a Churro Corriedale cross, and she's just a lovely animal. I bought her whole fleece, and I think that I'll spin a sweater, next.

Look at her view - I bet that these sheep don't appreciate it at all, but I sure do.

I took these photos one day, while visiting with Jean. I had no plans to take photos that day, and generally, when visiting Jean, I don't even see the sheep - Jean has a huge ranch, and the sheep are off grazing somewhere, but on this particular day, they came up the hill, stood outside the window and posed so prettily that I just had to snap their photo.

Since they were up so close to the house, I asked Jean if I could take more photos, so she went out to the barn and gave them a little more hay to keep them interested - here is a quick glimpse of Jean -

- and all of the sheep saying, "This is odd. Why are we getting a little hay now? Weird. Let's not ask questions, let's just keep an eye on the crazy lady and enjoy our snack."

They sure kept an eye on me. It took a while before they approached the feed - as you can see, the goat wasn't shy at all.

In fact, when I opened my car door to get my camera, he tried to climb in. I think he wanted to go for a ride. He's soooooo friendly. The sheep, not so much, heh.

Do you love fiber-circle stories? I do, so here's mine. In May or June, 2010, Jean called my LYS, Colorado Fiber Arts, and told the owner. Karen, that she had fleeces for sale, did she know anyone who might be interested? So, Karen told me, and I called Jean. I bought this dark fleece, and I also bought an unblanketed white Corrie fleece, as well as a blanketed Corrie ram fleece. And, at that very moment, a firm friendship was formed, Jean and I are great friends and I feel so lucky! I only wish that I'd have gotten to know her sooner.

Oh, and by the way, my LYS is the best ever! Visit the web site - Karen does mail order. If you live close enough, then stop in for a visit, take a class, participate in Open Knit, and just have fun! A great bunch of fiber folks hang out in the yarn shop. The latest news is that Colorado Fiber Arts is now participating in the First Friday Art Walk of Pueblo, and a different fiber artist is featured every month. If you haven't taken a Pueblo First Friday Art Walk, then why not think about doing it next month? Its lots of fun.

OK, back to my story, heh. Here is a photo of one of Jean's three rams - I think that this might be "my" ram, but I'm not sure.

The boys have lovely views, too.

We didn't hold the girls' interest for very long, and they wandered off.

I like this view, which is 180 degrees from the mountain view - you can see FOREVER.

Wow, how I digress. I started out, just wanting to show my Helix scarf, and I end up with a view of Kansas. Fiber is like that, isn't it. All encompassing.

By the way, the scarf photo features my darling child, Grace. She and I have had a busy month - February is Audition Month, and we traveled all over the place, and we had great trips! You can watch and hear some of her audition material here, if you like.

Be kind to one another.

Rosemary

Sierra Silver Moonlight

2011-01-22T16:10:00.007-07:00

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Or, how I went from
,

,
- to -
,

.
- using
.

.
- and a whole lot of
.

.
-because I really took my time with this project, and it took a very long time.

See, way back in May 2008, I attended an alpaca show with my friend, Allie Neas. I think I even blogged about it, and I saw a woman there who was wearing THIS sweater.
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I was so gobsmacked by it that I actually approached a complete and total stranger and fawned all over her sweater and begged for details. She was either somewhat snooty, overwhelmed by my boldness, shy, or maybe just mean, but all she would tell me is, “It’s a Rowan Pattern, and I used a zipper instead of buttons.” Bitch.

It took me FOREVER to actually find the pattern, based on the limited information that it was a button-up Rowan pattern. I finally tracked it down - it’s Moonlight, and it’s in this book, number 34.
.

..
The fleece was shorn from a sheep, named Sierra Silver, owned by The Lace Shepherdess.
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Sierra is the one in the middle. Isn’t she STUNNING. Her fleece really is silver. It also kind of sparkles in the sunlight. I love it LOVE IT.

So, please allow me to introduce my sweater, Sierra Silver Moonlight (I love poetry.)
..

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Here, let me twirl in front of the camera for you.
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Yeah, I’m pretty pleased with myself – this is my first ever sweater!

As you can see from the photo with my little dog, Dixie, lying on the washed locks, there is a slight color variation from light to dark grey. I wanted to knit the sweater so that it would be the lightest color at the collar and the darkest at the hem. The only way that I could figure out how to do this was to knit the sleeves as I knitted the bodice, only I can’t stand raglan sleeves, so that was out. I was thrilled to discover that Barbara Walker, a true genius, had already figured it out, and she shared her genius with the rest of us in the book, Knitting From the Top. Thanks, Barbara!

In order to use this genius idea, it meant that I had to re-design the whole sweater to be worked from the top down. Also, I wanted a tighter gauge and a more closely fitted design. I’m really pleased with how it all turned out.

I learned so much through the course of this project. I learned that I love Coopworth, and I learned that so does my cat…
,

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- - Don't let that look of pure innocence fool you - I couldn’t make her get off of this fiber, the brat.
,

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Wait, there’s more!
,

,
- - she actually stole my spindle and carried it up to my daughter’s bed. Look how she’s hanging her head in shame.
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,
- - the only way that I could keep track of my balls of yarn.

Anyway… I spun this yarn on my toy-wheel spindles, using my most favorite method in the whole world, Tammy Rizzo’s Navajo Ply on the Fly. If you have shied away from Longwools, thinking that they are harsh, well, you might like to reconsider. This fabric which resulted from knitting this sweater is sturdy and strong – I figure that if I can keep the stupid cat off of it, I’ll have this sweater for the rest of my life. On the day of the twirling-in-front-of-the-camera-photo-shoot, it was bitterly cold, and this sweater kept me surprisingly warm. Longwools have a drapey luxuriance - I’ll certainly be spinning more Coopworth! Witness my latest purchase from The Lace Shepherdess – Timothy – he’s the handsome lad in front, and here is a photo of his fleece. Ahhhh……

Encourage one another….

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

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As all of my friends will attest, I’m a very exciting person. As proof, I offer evidence of my New Year’s Celebration -

Yes, I sat and quietly spun in the New Year!

May your New Year be filled with fibery joy!

Rosemary

Updates to my bicycle wheel spinning wheel

2010-10-03T23:07:00.003-06:00

A long while back, I built a spinning wheel out of a bunch of junk in the garage.

You might like reading the posts where I discuss the progression of this design -

My New Wheel!

Odds and Ends.

I Have a New Head!

While it worked very nicely, and while I really enjoyed using it, setting it up and taking it down was a royal pain in the neck because it was all clamped together. Sooooo..... I decided to work on the frame and make it more user friendly.

Meet my new wheel! (All photos click for enlargement)

The base is the same,, but I'm using a different wheel - my garage is overflowing with spare wheels - and pretty much everything else has been replaced. But - LOOK! It folds up!

Everything can now slip into an 8 inch wide slot between boxes in my fiber storage area. Ten big shouts of joy over that one! Yay!

So, let me give you a tour of my new wheel.

First, let's look at some measurements. The wheel itself measures approximately 25.5 inches across.

Cleaning it of road gook is possibly the most difficult and distasteful part of the entire project. I hated that part - it took forever and I hated every minute of it. I cleaned all of the spokes, and I cleaned the rim inside and out (I didn't clean the hub), and how I hated that job. In fact, I forgot how I cleaned it - I used some sort of solvent and a lot of paper towels and I blocked it all from my mind.

I kept the same base as in the original version of the wheel, and the center part measures

about 31 inches long, and the wheel side of the base measures about 15.5 inches long, while the

spindle side measures just a little less. Why? Because I needed to make room for the wing nut. Oops. Poor planning. *blush* It still works just fine, and a little asymmetry is aesthetically pleasing, isn't it?

The base is made from previously used (and exceedingly bunged up) pine 2 by 4's.

The spindle arm measures about 16.25 inches long,

and is about 3.5 inches wide.

The wheel arm measures about 26.5 inches long.

Both of these are made of maple - the wheel arm is wider at the base

than at the wheel end

- it came that way from the lumber yard and this is why it is sitting, unused, in my garage. Like I said, my wheel is a little asymmetric, and this is perfectly OK with me.

So that my wheel can be folded and moved about, I felt it necessary to peg the arms in place so that they don't flop around while in transit.

Here you can see the peg for the spindle arm - one of an old pair of knitting needles which I made for some project a while back. They are made out of oak, which makes for a poor knitting needle, but which makes for an excellent peg.

I put the peg back into the base so that I don't lose it. I lose lots of things, and I have cats who help me lose things, which only makes matters worse. You'll see that it is in numerous spots on my table throughout this photo shoot, but in reality, I store the pegs in their holes when I'm spinning. Really, I do, lol.

(If you click the photo, above, to enlarge it, you'll see that I've countersunk the original bolts - same on the other side of the base. The spindle arm couldn't rotate with the bolts sticking out.)

The arm rotates up and then I tighten the eye bolt and wing nut to hold it into place. I picked eyebolts and wing nuts for this project because I didn't want to have to depend on tools. That was before I discovered that I'm made out of some wimpy stuff because they still hurt my fingers.... sooo..... I made this little wrench out of some left over maple - it works great!

I operate the wing nut with the maple wrench, and I stick the peg through the eye bolt so that it can lever against the table top, and it prevents the eyebolt from just turning around and around.

It works fantastically, and no hurt fingers! yay!

The maple is left over from this awesome counter top, made by handsome husband,

It's just gorgeous, and I've found a hundred uses for the little left over pieces.

Here are more views of the pegs and the wrench,

and the wrench stores in the wheel arm peg,

After these photos were made, I added two little brass screws, one on either end of the wrench, just because I never really trust gluing these things together, plus the little brass screws look nice. I'll have to show you sometime.

The spindle arm has a rounded base so that it can easily swing into position, and also so that it can be tilted one way or the other as needed. I completely forgot to take a photo, but in between the pieces of wood lies a sort of a washer which I made out if window screen to help add a little friction. It works great. The wing nut doesn't need to be tightened ferociously tight, it just needs to be tight enough so that the arm stands up. Once you get it set, it stays there during use, even though you would be able to move it with light force.

Moving right along.... the spindle holder -

I swing it up and tighten it into place. I'm using the same spindle holder, or "spindle head" (is this even a correct term?) that I've been using for quite a while now. It works great. I've made a small change to the point where the band hits the spindle, but I'll get to that later.

Next, it's time to raise the wheel arm. It folds down onto the base and rests on two little dowels, and it gets held in place by the peg that you saw earlier.

You can barely see the pegs in the center and to the right, under the wheel arm. You can see the holding peg on the left.

I start by raising it so that it stands vertically, and I gently tighten the nut.

It doesn't need to be really tight, it just needs to hold still for a little while.

On the arm, you can see two copper straps.

Years ago, I cut pieces from a copper pipe, flattened them with a hammer and anvil, drilled two holes in them and then bent them in such a way so that they held a basket onto my baby stroller. The baby in question is now almost 21, so you can see that I never throw anything away, heh. I am thrilled to be able to use them for this project.

I flattened them out again,

and mounted them on the wheel arm. I mounted them at a slant because they wouldn't fit crossways. There are wingnuts on the other side.

The bicycle wheel is mounted onto a file,

because I had a file and it was handy. You might be able to find something else lying around which would work even better.

Looking down the wheel arm, you can see where the file will fit.

It seems like it ought to be difficult to lift the wheel onto the arm, but surprisingly, it's not - I was able to do it onehanded, and still take photos of the operation, which sort of surprised me.

The wingnuts need to be only barely tightened - they really aren't holding anything in place, gravity holds everything together nicely.

Be sure that the wheel is sitting on the arm like in the photo above, and not like in the photo below.

Next, I lower the arm out to the right in the proper position, and I'm ready to spin!

This is enough for one night - next time we meet, I'lll show you how to set up for spinning. In the meanwhile, here's a photo to prove that it actually does work!

Stay tuned!

Encourage one another...

My Baby Girl Won a Photography Contest!

2010-10-01T12:57:00.000-06:00

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My youngest, Emma, age 14, entered the local newspaper's Summer Fun photo contest and she won first prize in the high school division! She won a nice little camera! WOOT!

Here is her winning photo,

which is a self portrait, taken with a tripod, timer, ladder and 9,000,000 takes. The author of the newspaper article which summed up the contest called it "Highly creative." I have to agree. I also have to wonder if he had any idea how much work went into it.

She entered 10 photos, and here are the others -

legs

a friend's legs

OK, I guess this one is more "feet" than "legs" but I'm spotting a distinct pattern here.

I have to admit that I didn't understand this one (above) until she pointed out the colorful footprints. Another self portrait which featured a timer, a tripod and this time, a box.

This is the upper part of the girl in the argyle socks, above, heh.

And, here's just about all of her! I love love love these two photos, the ones above and below this comment. I love how two clubs are in the air in the photo above, and I love the expression on the girl's face in the one below. There are about 75 other photos from this session, and they are all fantastic. I don't know how Emma narrowed it down to only two entries.

A hollyhock. She took this photo much earlier in the summer, and this morning, months later, I saw the exact same image out in the yard - the sun shining through a watermelon-colored hollyhock. I took it as a sign to blog about the photo contest!

If you'd like to see more of my darling's photos, then please visit her blog, Cinnamon Thicket.

Emma and Teelin, the juggling girl in the photos, have a juggling video online, maybe you'd like to see it? The camera was set all wonky, so the image quality isn't too good, but still, I think it's cute. Watch the little brown dog, heh.

Encourage one another

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A public service announcement re: audio recordings in videos

2010-09-28T00:19:00.000-06:00

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A friend who knows me in person was wondering why it sounds like I'm lisping in my latest video, when in fact, I don't lisp. Her husband is an audio expert, and he explained it perfectly. So, to expand the general knowledge in the universe, or at least in the blogosphere, here's the problem and the cure.

Ben says that I was standing too far away from the microphone, which is built into the camera. He says that high frequency sounds, the "s" sound in my case, is being picked up better than the lower tones, so all you hear is the hissing "s" sound, and that the further you get from the mike, the worse the problem. He says that this problem is exacerbated when recording outdoors. Two strikes against me - too far from the mike and outdoor recording.

There you go. Problem identified and problem solved. I love it when this happens. Thanks Ben! Thanks Karen!

This is great news because I have plans on doing a couple more videos in the coming months. My kids have a nice recording device, so maybe I can put them on the job as my audio engineers, heh.
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There IS a Spinning Fairy!

2010-09-25T11:01:00.000-06:00

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And she passed by my house! I'm the luckiest spinner on earth!!!

Take a look at the goodies which she left for me....

A nice big wad of cotton punis...

My girls have had so much fun with the newspaper that it's wrapped in!

A nice big wad of.... *swoon*..... cashmere.....

Two completely beautiful spindles, and three completely beautiful spindle dishes -

- one is a Swarovski cyrstal in a beautiful deep golden color, with a matching salt cellar dish,

and the other spindle has these three lovely greeny bluey browney beads, with a matching dish.

Both of them spin like dervishes - really REALLY fast, but the crystal one just zips like you wouldn't believe. I love them so much. The wooden dish was turned by my friend, and actually, I think that I like it the best.

Here is a quick little video to fuel your creative juices -

(That's a little bit of merino on the spindles - I want to get used to them before I spin the cashmere and the cotton.)

Wait, there's more!

Cute, colorful bookmarks to keep my place in my favorite spining books, and a darling little pair of knitting needles IN MY MOST FAVORITE SIZE HOW DID SHE KNOW?

A way too cute cup coaster -

check out these guys, look at their little googley eyes!

Look at the darling little thatched roofs and the stone fences!

She picked up this coaster on a recent trip to Scotland. I love it. I want to go there and see these sheep and these houses and these walls.

She also sent a magazine article which talks about a bridge project in my home town. I really appreciate this, too!

I'm such a very lucky woman to have such a good friend! Thanks, Susan!!!

Update to Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly technique.

2010-09-18T00:06:00.001-06:00

Finally!

I've finally found the time to make this video. Let me tell you, it takes so very long to make a 10 minute video!

I hope you enjoy, and I hope this video helps you to enjoy this technique. It's my favorite way to spin.

A friend pointed out that if you are viewing this on blogger, then you don't have the sidebar. Thanks, Karen! I hadn't thought of that... So, here's the "sidebar" links which I promised in the video. Enjoy!

(Karen also said that she's going to ask her husband, who knows about audio stuff, why I sound like I'm lisping.)

Links of interest -

my first video, showing you how to start the spindle,

EyeDazzler Alpacas

Dazzler's Best - where you can buy some of that yummy alpaca blend

Fiber Beat Podcast and Videos

Navajo Ply on the Fly, Navajo ply on fly, tammy rizzo, navajo spinning, hand spinning, spinning, spindle spinning

Simple Knitting Bag Solutions

2010-09-03T22:03:00.002-06:00

Sometimes, it's the simple things which can make life so much... well... simpler.

I love backpacks, but I don't like how everything ends up in a jumble in the bottom of the pack - especially if the backpack contains my knitting, and all of the little doodads which seem to accompany any knitting project. I solved this problem by making my pack a two-storey pack.

I put two cut-down jugs in the bottom of the pack.

The sweater-in-progress sits on top, the notebooks slide between the jugs and the pack side, and the doodads stay in the bottom without getting all tangled up in the sweater. I have outfitted my knocking-around back pack in a similar way, too, with life's little doodads in the bottom (laptop cord, pencils, hair clips and etc, and larger items can sit on top (books, notebooks and etc.) If your zipper goes all the way to the bottom of the pack, then you don't have to unpack the upper storey in order to access the lower storey. It works great.

If you don't have jugs, then maybe you could use a cut-down box. You might like to devise a divider - it's the thing in the middle which keeps the knitting from falling down into the lower storey and getting all jumbled up with the doodads.

Another kind of bag that I like to use is the humble tote sack. What troubles me about tote sacks is that they don't stand up, and when the sack flops over, then all of my stuff tumbles out, too.

If you put a box into the bottom of the bag, then you eliminate the problem - voila! the bag stands on its own just fine, even when it's empty.

I can put my knitting or spinning project into the box, and any paper work or books can slide in between the box and the wall of the bag.

The bag with the purple handles has a shoe box in the bottom, and the other bag has a hair dryer box in it.

This particular tote sack is way too narrow for a shoebox. My daughters just bought a new hairdryer and it fits perfectly, ha! I just love it when my trash is useful. This bag will be just right for a couple of spindles and a whole bunch of fiber...

Industrial Percussion

2010-08-27T22:32:00.000-06:00

My son, Sam, attends Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, where he's studying to become a computer animator. This was his final for his Sound in Animation and Video class. I think that he did an excellent job. His friend, Zack, is shown in most of the video, but Sam is the handsome lad who is drinking coffee.

Enjoy!

Darling knitted creatures!

2010-08-04T00:28:00.002-06:00

My friend, Allie, of Eyedazzler Alpacas, now sells knitting patterns, on this site, Dazzler's Best. She asked me if I'd knit a few of the animals, so that she's have something to display in her booth at Convergence, down in Alberquerque. Maybe you saw her there?

These animals are so much fun to knit! The patterns are very well written and easy to follow. They are written for knitting on double points, but with a little figuring, you could easily knit them with two circulars, or with the Magic Loop. They don’t use much yarn, so they are excellent for using up those bits and pieces in your stash.

Since they are small, they make excellent travel projects. Personally, I think that they make the perfect coffee shop knitting project - they are small, so you don't have to carry a big old bag, they are very oddly shaped, so you get interesting stares, and should someone gather up the gumption to come over and ask what you are knitting - well, nothing stops 'em dead like this response, "oh, I'm knitting a two headed alien..." heh.

I especially admire the shaping on these darling creatures. For instance, look at T Rex from the side

– see how she has a nice straight back, and a round, poochy belly? That’s not due to manipulation of the stuffing, that’s due to cleverly placed decreases. The patterns are written so that the animals really have personality, and from there, it’s easy to personalize.

I think that it would be lots of fun to needle felt designs onto the completed animal. Let your imagination soar! Flowers? Initials? Team-Jersey numbers?

These patterns would be suitable for many levels of knitting ability. While they would not be suitable as one’s very first knitting project, they would be a great way for a beginner to advance his or her knitting skills. Each pattern set features detailed instructions for the various abbreviations used in the pattern, and you can visit the designer’s web site for written AND video demonstration of any techniques that you might not know how to do. The online tutorials are very clear and well presented.

Another interesting point is that many of the techniques used in these patterns come straight out of sock knitting. For example, T Rex has a perfect sock-heel head. Triceratops has a short-row head. If you are interested in sock knitting, then these patterns would be a fun way for you to learn the various techniques.

Please note that I knitted these animals with very different gauges. If they were all knitted with the same yarn and the same needles, they’d all be just about the same size. In other words, if I had knitted the horse with the same yarn and the same needles as for T Rex,

they’d be the same size, believe it or not! Now, just imagine a menagerie of Tiny Dinosaurs, Safari Creatures and Aliens! How much fun!

T Rex – knitted with one strand of Lamb’s Pride (wool and mohair), and one strand of Broadway (acrylic, mohair, poly, metallic, nylon) held together, on size US 10 dpns, at a gauge of about 2 ½ stitches per inch. Her eyes are made of Cascade 220, tripled and french knotted, with a french knot of black Wildefoote sock yarn for the pupil. She’s a big ole gal who measures approximately 26 inches from her sharp teeth to the tip of her pointy tail. I assembled her according to the pattern with no modifications, other than her head ornament. Since she has no ears, being a dinosaur and all, her head seemed oddly bare. She needed a hat.

She stands (sits?) about 11 inches tall, and isn’t she beautiful?

Triceratops – knitted with two colors of Cascade Jewel (wool), a thick and thin yarn, and two colors of stashbusting sparkley yarn.

I call him "Lamont," because I worked on him on our drives back and forth to Denver, to watch Grace perform as part of her stint at the Lamont School of Music (see my post of July 2).

It was great fun to blend the colors, especially since I wasn’t sure how it would all come together until he was all sewn up. I knitted him on size US 7 dpns at a gauge of approximately ...ummm… let’s just call it a variable gauge, due to the thick and thin nature of the yarn. Knitted at this gauge, he stands about 5 inches tall, and is about 17 inches long.

I assembled him a little askew in order to give him something of an inquisitive air.

In order to sort of sculpt him into shape, I assembled him by using dpns to prop up his neck and head in order to hold him in position while I figured out the proper angle with which to attach his tail. It gives him personality, I think.

Red Horse –

she is the darling of the bunch with her little diminutive self. She was knitted out of Fino, a laceweight Alpaca yarn, on US 00 dpns, at a gauge of approximately 10 stitches per inch. Her mane and hooves were made out of a little bit of Wildefoote sock yarn.

She’s approximately 3 inches tall, and she has a marble in her abdomen to help keep her from falling over. She is made from the Zebra pattern in the Safari Friends collection.

Just imagine how much fun it would be to knit an Appaloosa, or a Clydesdale? How about a paint or a Palomino? What fun it would be to needle-felt a little saddle or make a bridle out of ribbon? The mind boggles.

Gamma the Two Headed Alien – knitted with acrylic out of my stash, on size US 7 dpns, at a gauge of about 6 stitches per inch.

He and She measures about 9 inches tall. I loved knitting the eyeballs. After I attached the eyes to the heads, my daughter insisted that I leave the strings hanging, instead of hiding them. I agree with her – it gives a cute moustachey look.

Gamma is from the Take Me To Your Leader collection.

I think that most of these Alien models would be able to wear doll clothes. Imagine Gamma in a little vest? I know that my girls would have dressed Gamma, were he and she knitted about 10 years ago!

Elephant – This model is my most favorite.

She is knitted with one strand of variegated mohair and one strand of Peruvian Tweed Alpaca held together, on size US 3 dpns, at a gauge of approximately 4 stitches per inch. She sits about 7 inches tall. This elephant, with no legs, would make an adorable baby toy, too. I moussed her ears to to encourage them to stay “outstretched – mousse works great with animal fibers.

Isn't this just the cutest thing you have ever seen?

These creatures are so much fun to make. Give them stripes – give them sparkles – sew on decorations – needle felt onto the completed animal - Let your imagination soar!

Screw Spinning

2010-07-10T09:44:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, I had the good fortune to spend the day helping my friends Allie and Phil at their annual Alpaca Shearing Day.

As the alpacas are shorn, their fleeces are sorted into bags - the main fleece, the neck, and the trash. In slow times, I'd poke around in the trash barrel and oooohhhh and ahhhhhh at what was being thrown away! I wanted to spin that stuff so badly! Allie and Phil have such gorgeous alpacas that their refuse is stunning, lol. So, being the rude person that I am and all, I poked around in the storage room, hoping to find something that I could use as a spindle, because I just couldn't stand looking at that lovely fiber and not spinning it. I'm sure that you understand.

Voila! I found this long screw. Excellent! Actually, it spun very nicely. My friend, Peggy, snapped the photo, above, using a flash - the screw is actually spinning, and I am actually making yarn. WOOT. The only problem is this - I'd spin a length,

and then wind on, and I put a hitch, then spun another length. Then, I'd have to pick out the previous hitch, wind on, and put in another hitch. This was a royal PITA with the screw because of how the yarn would bury itself in the threads.

Back into the storage room.

Sorry Phil.... you were really busy.... I should have asked.....

Anyway, I found a bite block, which was a stick about an inch in diameter and about 6 inches long, and covered in Alpaca Puke (ICK), and I thought that I'd try this.

It worked very well. After a while, I gave up picking out the previous hitch, and would just wind on top of it, thinking that I'd deal with the problem later.

Truth be told, I never dealt with it. I never got to do enough spinning for it to be much of an issue. We were kind of busy.

I showed this photo to my son, and he exclaimed, "OH! Alpaca poi!"

Silly boy.

Anyway.....

So, take a look at this photo!

(The photo is of such high quality that if you click on the link above, you can enlarge your view numerous times and still have a clear idea of what's going on.)

Look at where his yarn meets his yarn ball - there's a little stick there. *facepalm. Of course. Why didn't I think of that. So simple. It would be such an easy thing to just pin that stick in there and no need for picking-out-of-hitches.

I wonder if his apindle-stick was coated in Alpaca puke? Take a look at the size of that ball of yarn, will ya? I wonder what he's spinning? His fiber looks sort of stringy/hairy. I wonder if this is the end of his supply - or, maybe he has a basket of fiber behind his right leg? I want to know more about this man and his spinning....

If I had poked around in that storage room, just one more time, I bet that I could have found a small nail.

Un Sospiro - Grace Thomas

2010-07-02T00:05:00.000-06:00

Number 3 in D flat major - Un Sospiro by Franz Liszt

PianoKnitterGirl is at it again! My daughter, Grace, is currently studying at the Lamont School of Music, Summer Pre-College Academy. She was selected to perform in their Honors Recital, which was held last night, in the Hamilton Recital hall in the Newman Center of the Performing Arts. Oh My Gosh, what a facility! She will perform with her Chamber Ensemble tonight, July 2, in the same location, 7:30 pm, in case anyone is up for an evening of a variety of chamber groups. Join us! I'll be the one who is grinning like an idiot, possibly knitting.

Their final big blowout performance will be held on Saturday at 1:30 in the Gates Hall which is quite a stunning performance hall. Grace will be performing again, with a woodwinds ensemble, I think - not sure. This event will feature an all-school choir, a number of large ensemble groups, and an orchestra. It should be perfectly delightful.

All of these performances are free, and open to the public.

If you know of any high-school-age student, who is serious about music, please direct them to the Lamont Pre College program. Grace attended last year, and again this year. She just loves it, and she has never worked so hard in her entire life. Kids attend from all over the country. They study music from dawn to dusk, and they really grow as musicians. It's worth every penny.

Colonial Spindles?

2010-05-28T15:37:00.000-06:00

I really enjoy reading about the history of fiber arts, particularly from a European/North American perspective. I just stumbled across this article, Request for Documentation!, and I found it very interesting. Maybe you'll like it, too.

Of course, I did my "stumbling" on Ravelry. Last week, I found this nugget on Ravelry - The Hearth Library. Oh My. Notice the search function - I typed "spinning" and I got 1127 books. What fun!

Felted Rocks!

2010-05-19T01:31:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter, Grace, and I decided to make little purses. We wet-felted some merino onto rocks! It was fun, relatively easy, and the purses came out really cute.

Here are my purses, next to the rocks that I used. Too bad that I didn't include a measuring device - the blue one is approximately 2.5 inches in diameter, and the green one is approximately 3 by 4 inches.

Here is the other side of the purses. The blue one is pretty much the same on both sides - the center bead is a little different, but that's all. The green purse...had a problem. See how the rock is white? Well, so was the wool, and I couldn't tell that the wool was REALLY thin in one little spot. So, I needle felted some colorful yarn over the thin spot. Where the yarns lie side by side, they are hiding the thin spot. Hey, it worked! It might not be terribly attactive, but it worked! The yarn provides strength to a really weak spot.

If I do this again, I'll either use non-white rocks, or I'll cut the neck out of a balloon, and then stretch the balloon over the rock. Then, I don't think I'll end up with thin spots.

So, here's how we did it. We wrapped the rock in saran wrap. Then, we layered thin whispy bits of merino top this way and that, wetting slightly to get it to all hold together - sort of. We dabbed a bar of Ivory bath soap here and there, and gently rubbed to get the wispy ends of the fiber to lie down and behave. The gentle rubbing causes foam to form, and this sort of holds everything together. We added more fiber, and gently rubbed some more. The rubbing was more of a turning and turning - like you would do with a bar of soap when you are washing your hands - that around-and-around motion.

When we were satisfied that we had added enough fiber, we dropped the rock into the toe of a knee high stocking, and sort of twisted the stocking so that the rock was held firmly in the toe of the stocking. Then, we jiggled it with an orbital sander. No sandpaper was attached - we just held the rock up to the rubber pad on the orbital sander. We'd sort of gently rotate the rock while jiggling it, around and around. It worked great!

After making sure that all parts of the rock had been jiggled, we rinsed the rock and took it out of the stocking to test for felting. We'd do this by poking (it should feel firm, and not spongy or cushy) and by pulling (no fibers should be able to pull free from the surface). When we were satisfied with the felting, we rinsed out all of the soap, and then we dunked the rock into a really hot pot of water, and then dunked the rock into a really cold pot of water, and we repeated this a few times. This finished up the felting process, nicely.

Grace and I did the dyeing parts differently. I dyed my rock purses by simply heating them up in a pot of koolaid - Lemon Lime for the green purse, and Berry Blue for the blue purse. I stuck the purse in there, rock and all - I was afraid that if I had cut the rock out, that the cut edges would stretch or something. Grace cut her rock out, and dyed her purse in Rit. Her way worked better, as it dyed the felt through and through. My purses dyed only on the outer surface, which isn't a huge problem, but I think it looks nicer to have the inside dyed, too. Oh, and her edges stayed nice.

After dyeing, we let the bags dry. Mine were still on their rocks, so I hung them in net bags so that all sides could dry.

We cut the rocks out by slicing the felt with an Xacto knife. This was much easier than I had anticipated. I adjusted the opening so as to receive a zipper - I sort of squared the edges of the slit.

We sewed in zippers. The little blue bag has a really old, really soft zipper, and it was very easy to install.

Sorta looks like a Muppet.

This purse is really small, so I had to cut the zipper. First, I made sure that the installation was just how I wanted it, then I whipped the zipper closed. Then, I cut the zipper, and whipped over the edge.

As a finishing touch, I whip stitched the outer edge of the zipper tape to the inside of the bag, just to sort of make it neater on the inside.

This green zipper was so soft, that it followed the curve of the opening without any further work.

However, this pink zipper is rather stiff, so I had to do a little extra work in order to make it lie nicely.

Can you see the whip stitch over the edge? Now, can you see the running stitch just inside of the whip stitch? Now, can you see the small vertical slits cut into the zipper tape? Each running stitch goes over one of the slits. Can you see them? This allowed the zipper to curve nicely.

First, I sewed the zipper into place - I used numerous rounds of whip stitch to hold it into place. Then, I cut and finished the end of the zipper.

Next, I cut the slits into the zipper tape, and then I ran the running stitch, gently pulling the thread to make the zipper curve. Then, I knotted the thread, holding the curve into place. Last, I whipped the edges of the tape into place. I think that it turned out nicely.

I stuffed the purse with net bags (onion bags) and zipped it closed, and then needle felted the yarn onto the outside of the bag.

Here is Grace's purse. She added a strap so that she can use it as a shoulder bag. It is so cute!!!

See how hers is dyed inside and out. This looks much nicer. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a photo of a black hole?

In the photo below, and in the first photo of the black purse - I had to adjust the exposure so that it would show up nicely - in reality, the purse is jet black. These photos seem to show that the purse has a greyish tinge, but no, that's just the exposure. The entire purse is like in the photo above - BLACK!

Since she was planning to make a proper purse, she made her felt pretty thick so that it would be durable. My purses were to be small, "treasure" bags, and I wanted for mine to be pretty thin.

This was a very fun project - and, wow, your hands are never as clean as they are after a wet felting project!!!

(All photos click for big, and click again for even bigger.)

Enjoy!

Knittergirl plays the piano, too!

2010-03-04T19:12:00.003-07:00

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Grace and her friend, Rebecca, playing a little Beethoven for you. They are both 17, and are Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Way to go, girls!

They are working under the direction of Veronika Afanassieva, of the Veronika String Quartet.

I know that this post has absolutely nothing to do with knitting, but what can I say - I'm proud of these girlies! Should you want to see more, and you know that you do, then go here - GracefulPiano.
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I like this photo

2010-02-23T14:50:00.002-07:00

this photo was taken last summer, when I was spinning THIS skein of alpaca.

I just like this photo.

Sam's Doodle

2010-02-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

My son, Sam, is quite artistic. He's always been a doodler, and for the past couple of years, his doodles have been of this one particular celtic knot design. Above, you can see one of his first designs, which he drew onto the surface of his desk. Yes, I know that it looks like maybe it's on someone's skin, but no, it's on his desk, lol.

Here it is on his skin. I HATE it when folks draw on themselves - shame on you, Sam! You are going to get ink poisoning!

You can see the basic doodle in this fancier doodle, and you can also see it in the owl -
Sooooo..... I thought that it would be fun to try to knit this doodle!

I didn't know too much about cables, and I knew absolutely nothing about charting cables. I threw myself on the mercy of my email pal, Susan, who knows everything there is to know about knitting, and she launched me on the right track.

Many sheets of graph paper later, I had a design to swatch.

This is much harder than it looks! The pink swatch was my first one, and it's... meh.

What helped me to get a swatch that I like is to chart only the "pattern" rows. You know, like charting lace, where you chart the "pattern rows" but not the "resting rows." Eureka - I had that little brain storm and then I was able to actually make it work.

When I finally got a swatch that I liked, I trotted on down to the yarn store, and my friend, Joyce, was there and I made her pick out some yarn, heh. It's so nice to have such nice, accomodating friends! Joyce selected this wonderful, heathery, Cascade 220 in the most manly of manly colors - sort of a heathery army green. Perfect!

The way that I solved the problem of the "circles" is to not solve the problem at all. I find that this way is *always* the easiest, lol.

In the photo above, you can see that I got to a spot where the two smaller circles would have to cross the large, center circle, in an area where the slope of the upper circle is pretty much vertical. I swatched and swatched and scratched my head and scratched my head, and I never could figure out how I was going to make this work with traditional cable techniques, so I just ended the cable, put it on pins and decided to just sew them together. It works perfectly!!!

Actually, I didn't exactly sew the cables, it's more like I crocheted them. I held some yarn on the inside of the hat, and I fished a loop through one of the knit stitches of the cable. Then, I fished a loop through the other knit stitch of the cable. I found that this side-by-side arrangement is important so that the stitches sit properly.

My first attempt was to just embroider the cables with a chain stitch, and they came out way too flat and ... well... flat. Cables stand up from the knitting - the stitches are sort of at an angle to the plane of the reverse stockinette. Am I overanalyzing? Probably.

Anyway, so I fished the two loops through the last knitted loops of the cable. Then, I fished two more loops through and so on, always fishing the yarn up through from the inside of the hat, until I closed the gap, making sure that I had the over and under crossings correct.

The two little side circles took only two rounds of "fake knitting" while the large central circle took something like 6 or 8.

There's a little problem, though. The reverse stockinette background is visually composed of horizontal lines, right? Well, knitting going horizontal is also composed of horizontal lines... sigh. So, the cables don't pop quite like I'd like for them to, especially at the bottom of the design. However...

Sam loves his hat and recognized his doodle, straight away. YAY!

Oh, and yes, Sam's hair has blue streaks. This is what happens when you have long hair - and teenaged sisters. Sam's hair is wet in these pictures - when dry, the blue is MUCH bluer, heh heh heh.

Here is a side view...

And one from the top.

Do you see his hands? Next post - Sam's Mitts! Stay tuned!

NEW Spindle! NEW Mitts! NEW Earband! Hooray!

2010-02-16T00:37:00.001-07:00

My dear e-pal, Susan, sent me a lovely batch of fiber for Christmas. She dyed it herself! I love the colors! And, look what else -

A beautiful spindle, which she made herself! It's so beautiful, and it spins so nicely - it sort of floats. The nice flat sides mean that I don't need a notch! It's nice and light, just how I like my spindles, and I think that I'm going to use this spindle very often, and...

I'll fight anyone who tries to take it away from me.

Yes, Emma, I know - awful joke.

By the way, yes, it's true, Emma's hair, fingernails and bathrobe are all the same color.

Which makes me want to sing, too, Emma darling.

I think that Emma gets extra points for being perfectly willing to stand out in the yard on a frigid morning, posing for pictures, wouldn't you agree? The fact that she was perfectly willing to do completely silly things means that she'll get to have ice cream for breakfast whenever she wants.

Thanks, Emma!Anyway, back to the project. So, I was thrilled with my Christmas present, and I got to spinning right away, later that Christmas day.
I had in mind a pair of fingerless mitts and an ear band, right from the very start.

Susan sent me a nice 4oz bunch of fiber. I split it cross-ways in half, and then I split one of the halves the long way, and I spun each of the three pieces in my favorite way - Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly method. I'm working on spinning softer, less tightly spun yarn this year, and I was off to a good start with this batch, and then I slowly reverted to my old ways, slowly getting tighter and tighter. Old habits are so hard to break!

My good friend, Joyce, came over on New Year's Eve, and like the wild women that we are, we sat and knitted. I don't think that we even had much to say to each other - we just knitted, and as I recall, Joyce went home by around 10:30 - woot! What a raucous New Year's celebration!!!

She worked on a hat for her daughter, and I played around with some scrap yarn - I had been out shopping with my daughters the week before, and I saw a sweater in a shop with a very interesting stitch pattern, and I wanted to copy this pattern for my mitts. I messed around and messed around, and I never did figure out that stitch pattern. Instead, I discovered this one, and I like it so much better than the one I was trying to duplicate. I love it when this happens.

Does this stitch pattern have a proper name? Surely, someone has knitted it before?

It goes like this. Cast on - join in a circle. Knit three rounds. On the fourth round, k1, then stick the point of the right needle into the stitch which is three rounds down and knit the stitch then pull the knitting so that the stitches above it unravel, then k1 and repeat all the way around. Repeat these 4 rows ad infinitim, alternating the rows in which you dip down. That's it. It's really easy, and I love it! It makes a THICK fabric which is highly textured.

I got such a kick out of the fact that the stitch pattern and the striping of the yarn are almost an exact match - each 4 row repeat is in a different color. Well, almost each repeat. Anyway, it was fun watching this happen!

Notice - both mitts start and end in aqua blue. I was so excited that I nearly cried. Nerdy?

It's something like brioche in that what you end up with is so much wider than what you started out with, so careful swatching, and an exceedingly loose cast on is in order. Also, the stitch pattern doesn't show up very well, and the ultimate width of the stitch pattern isn't readily apparent, until 3 or 4 rounds of the pattern has been worked, so swatch for quite a few inches before you make your decisions.

Like I said, I divided the fiber into three parts - the larger part was spun to make the ear band, and the two smaller parts were for the mitts.

I spun one of the smaller parts from one end, and the other of the smaller parts from the other end. so that the striping on each ball of yarn was opposite from the other. I knitted both mitts from the cuff to the fingers and I started knitting from the beginning of the spinning. So, as you can see, the mitts have opposite striping patterns - one of them goes, from the cuff up, blue, gold, pink, purple, and the other one is the opposite. Yes, I am, indeed, this nerdy.

They are knitted in the simplest way possible - just a plain tube for a while, then I switched to knitting back and forth for a vertical-slit thumb hole, then back to knitting in the round. I used my favorite mitt cast off - the applied i-cord bind off. It's so durable and non-stretchy so that the finger end of the mitts keeps its shape really nicely.

I knitted the ear band with my old standby ear band pattern. Swatch to determine how wide you want it. Provisionally cast on this many stitches, then knit a stockinette tube for about 3 inches. Then, switch to a k2p2 rib-tube for about 2.5 inches, then go back to knitting stockinette. When it gets long enough, kitchener the tube closed and you're done! This makes a nice, thick layer of smooth knit stitches across your ears and a cinched up length of k2p2, which goes under your hair. I love this pattern - it's also nice to have miles of stockinette for those public knitting sessions, such as knitting at the coffee shop - this keeps my hands busy, but I don't have to think about what I'm doing.

This time around, however, I was terribly afraid of running out of yarn, so instead of doing the little "under the hair thing" in a tube of k2p2, I did a sort of a three needle bind off, without the binding off step - - I guess I could call it a "three needle stitch reduction" so that I ended up working a k2p2 single-layer for the under the hair part. It worked - when I was all finished, I had only about 5 yards of yarn left over. This is cutting it way too close for my comfort. *pant* *sweat*

It came out much nicer than I thought that it would. Here's what I did, to the best of my recollection. When you knit a k2p2 tube, and you fold the tube flat, you can arrange it so that the purls of the front layer nestle into the knits on the other side, or the back layer. So, I just knitted or purled these together, one stitch from the front needle and one stitch from the back needle, which reduced my tube to a single, flat layer which required only half the yarn to go one round. I knitted back and forth for about 1.75 inches, and then I wanted to return to a k2p2 tube.

If I recall correctly, this is what I did. I inserted the tip of the needle in between the legs of the stitch below the next-stitch-to-be-worked, and pulled a loop through, then slipped the stitch which should have been worked. Now, I have two knit stitches on my right hand needle - one just added, and one from the previous row, but both are pulled through the same stitch on the row below. I continued across, adding either knits or purls as the situation warranted. When I got to the end of the row, I turned.

On this row, I knitted or purled the stitches which had been slipped on the previous row, and slipped the stitches which had been added. When I got to the end of the row, I turned.

I got out another needle, a dpn of the same diameter, this time working the previously slipped stitches, and slipping the previously worked stitches onto a dpn. Turn.

Now, resume knitting a tube.

It sounds like more trouble than it really was, and it saved probably about 10 yards (or more?) of yarn. It looks really nice, too. In fact, it looks exactly like all of my other ear bands. Funny how that worked out. Maybe I'll do all of them this way?

I really like earbands and mitts. Here in Southern Colorado, our winters are exceedingly mild, and often, it's just not cold enough for a hat. However, I wear my long hair pulled back into a bun, exposing my delicate ears, and an ear band is perfect. Same goes for my hands - my hands often get all sweaty in mittens, but are just right in fingerless mitts. Folks who've never worn them often don't understand how they help at all, since it is your fingers which get cold, not your palms. All I can say is - try them and see for yourself. They work very well, and your fingers are free.

As an aside, my daughters' ballet mistress requested a pair of mitts a few years ago. See, she and her husband studied for their pilot's licenses for their 70th birthdays! WOOT! She thought that mitts like this would be so perfect for flying, as there is lots of wind in the cockpit, but she can't wear gloves because of needing to operate the dials and so forth. Just a couple of weeks ago, they bought a plane of their very own. It's from the 40's, and it's bright yellow. Hey! I just thought of something! I should make new mitts for her, and a pair for her hubby to match their little yellow bird! Good idea!

Back to the program...

A little tip - next time you need to replace a lamp shade - pick out this shape. Loosen the thumbscrew at the top, and you've got yourself a really nice swift!

Another aside, have you ever seen such cute wrapping paper? This is what held my spindle and fiber secret until Christmas Day. Yes, I took photos of the wrapping paper, and yes, like I said before, I am that nerdy.

What amuses me is this - my children were so enchanted that I got presents from someone that they never met that they insisted that these be the first presents that I opened. I don't know why this charmed me so, but it did. All three of them watched and waited while I opened these presents, and they oohed and aahed right along with me. It made me so happy!

Thanks soooooo much, Susan. While Emma is the model, these mitts and earbands are keeping ME nice and warm on my daily walks. The fiber made such nice yarn - more boingy than I've experienced thus far. It was a delight to knit. I absolutely adore the colors, and like I said, it spun up to be almost the exact amount needed for this project. I'm using the remaining 5 or so yards for skein ties for my sweater project. And the spindle - the spindle is a complete work of art.

THANKS A MILLION TIMES THANKS!

Hugs!
RST

Cute Pumpkin set for Baby J

2010-01-24T22:21:00.001-07:00

I can't remember when I've had so much fun knitting something. Domino can't remember when he's had quite this much fun, either. Patient cat.

Take a look at these booties -

-they are so cute. These are Christina's booties, and they're easy to knit. The tie is ended with "Just a Leaf," a pattern that I found on Ravelry. I see lots of "Just a Leaf" projects in my future. These leaves are a snap to knit, and so fast and easy.

The little slipper and hat set comes from this flickr page. I used "Just a leaf" instead of the leaf recommended in the slipper modifications. You could actually do the icord as an applied i cord, but since it's not much sewing, I chose to just sew it on. I provisionally cast on and knit the i-cord, ending with Just a Leaf. Then, I picked up the provisional stitches and knit the other half of the i-cord, once again, ending with Just a Leaf. I used the tails at the middle and at the tip of each leaf to sew everything to the slipper. Fast and easy!

This little set is for a great niece who was born on my birthday! Woot! I turned 50 and she turned just-born on the same day (Oct 22)! I am quite amused by this.

Grace's Cabled Purse

2010-01-23T16:22:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, my daughter wanted to know how to knit cables. I was busy cooking at the time, so I explained as best as I could, promising to actually show her just as soon as I was done in the kitchen. Later, I said that now would be a good time for a demo. However, she was already halfway through this little purse.

Clever girl.

It zips open to reveal a nice linen lining. The linen is reclaimed from a pair of pants purchased at the thrift store for just such a use. I can't pass up nice linen - I feel like we'll use it somewhere in the house.

The way she made it is really clever, I think. She provisionally cast on, and knitted back and forth for about an inch and a half, which would be the bottom of the purse. Then, she wanted to switch to knitting in the round, but instead of picking up across the sides of the back-and-forth-knitted part, she cast on the amount of stitches which would equal this measure and then she picked up the provisional cast on and knitted across it, and then cast on for the other side, and then proceeded to knit the body of the purse in the round. After she was all done, she stitched up the small slits left at either side of the bottom. Clever girl. You know how you can never quite match up the gauges when you pick up along a side edge? She got around the problem altogether.

She mounted this button on her purse.

Which pretty much sums up my daughter, Grace - a truly amazing person.

Listen while you knit!

2009-12-03T13:02:00.001-07:00

I have always loved recorded books, even back when they were on vinyl record albums. Back in those days, I'd walk to the library, and come back with an armload of records - they were mostly plays back then - and I'd tape them onto cassette tapes. I'd listen to the plays over the course of a week or so, then start all over again, with a new batch, re-recording over the tapes until they'd finally break, then I'd have to get new ones.

It was such a nuisance because the point of recording the books onto cassettes was so that I could listen to them on my walkman while I took my daily walk, this being long before I discovered fiber arts. I didn't want to have already heard the recording, so I had this elaborate ritual of putting the needle onto the vinyl, clicking the pause button to get the recorder going and then I'd run out of the room, as my system wouldn't record if the volume was turned down. I'd return in about 15 minutes (if I remembered to) so that I could pause the tape, switch out the record, and repeat. Often, I'd have forgotten, or the side would have lasted much less than 15 minutes, so I'd have to back up the tape, find the end of the recording, which means that I would have heard some snippet of the story (Oh Horrors!) and go from there.

What a nuisance!

However, I gladly participated in such tedium because I was an addict, and it seemed such a small price to pay. Looking back, it's kinda hilarious, actually. What a lot of work.

Now, of course, it is so much easier! The library has carried books on tape for a very long time, and nowadays the library has books on CD, and some libraries even feature downloadable recorded books. What luxury!

I'm as happy as a pig in mud.

Add to this mix - the wonders of PODCASTS! I'll never be out of listening material ever again.

So, Santa visited Rosemaryknits a little early this year. Just a few days ago, I bought myself a Sansa Fuze and I couldn't be happier. I downloaded about 10 books from the library, and a whole bunch of podcasts. As I keep discovering more and more podcasts I'm wondering how I'll ever listen to them all!

I am getting a lot of knitting and spinning done these days, I can tell you that. Listening to something interesting is what allows me to participate in such mundane, tedious tasks as washing fleeces, or painting diningrooms, or folding towels. Instead of putting off such tasks, I am happy to have something to do while listening, heh heh heh. Without something interesting to listen to? I'm afraid that I just don't do any of these things.

So, I thought that I'd post a few of my favorite things, in case you are interested, too.

My favorite listening device, the Sansa Fuze. Quite easy to use, and affordable. My favorite headphones are these - Panasonic Slimz .

A few of my favorite books:

The Help - I just finished this book last week. Oh My Gosh, this is as good a book as I've ever listened to. The voice actors are superb. What's eerie is that this book is like I wrote my own memoirs. I was Mae Mobely, and Aibilene was our maid. My mother was Miss Lefolt, but she was a zillion times nicer to the maid than was Miss Lefolt. It was creepy weird, like I was looking into my own past, but through a really weird lens. This is exactly how I was raised, and I was 3 in 1963, just like Mae Mobely. This book is set in Jackson, MS, and I grew up in New Iberia, LA, but otherwise, it was pretty much the same. It gave me the skin crawling creeps in many ways - like I was being watched - so many things that the characters said, I could so relate to, especially the part about the little white girl visiting the home of her maid - the behavior of the little girl, the behavior of the maid, the behavior of the maid's neighbors - the author captured that part exactly - but Oh My Gosh, this book is just superb in every way. All throughout the book, I kept having that "someone's walking on my grave" feeling because not only could I picture what the author was saying, I actually lived it - it was so close to my actual upbringing. The ending is so hopeful and promising. Listen to it!

Harry Potter 1- 7 Audio Collection - these are awesome. My family and I used to read aloud every night. For many years, I was the reader, but then after about 15 years, I decided that I had read enough, and it was someone else's turn, so I had the kids read to ME. Besides, by this time, I had taken up knitting, so it was their turn to read, and my turn to knit. Then, we discovered this audio collection - Oh My Gosh, the reader, Jim Dale, is so wonderful - we've gone through this series three times, maybe four?

I read aloud from books 1 through 3 or 4, then we learned about the audio books and listened to the whole series, from the beginning. Then, when book 5 came out, we had to listen to them all the way through again, and then we repeated this trick when books 6 and 7 came out. Do you know that they never get old? Every time we've gone through the series, I "hear" something new - something that I missed the first time or two through, some little clue that I missed. Anyway, if you want to learn how to listen to recorded books, then here is the best teacher I can think of. This is a stellar audio performance, and a really good story, too. These are great car-trip-vacation books.

Sadly, listening to Harry Potter sort of spoiled us for actually reading aloud anymore. Since then, we've mostly listened to books but every now and then, I force one or the other of my kids to read a book aloud - the last one was The Princess Bride, beautifully read aloud by my then-17 year old son, Sam.

Another favorite that we've listened to over and over again is the Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 1: The Golden Compass, Book 2: The Subtle Knife, and Book 3: The Amber Spyglass. Now, these are a little different. While most recorded books are read just as the author wrote them, these are slightly different. They are performed with a cast of readers, and the readers leave off the dialogue tags, for the most part. So, the listener learns what each character sounds like, and the performer doesn't say, "he said," he just, well, he just says it, like in radio theater. The author narrates the parts of the book which aren't conversation, and the whole thing is completely delightful, besides being a really good story, too. We've listened to these over and over again. Some folks are offended by the story line.

Right now, I'm listening to the James Herriot Series with my family - there are too many to list them all, so I'll post this link, All Creatures Great and Small, and you can follow it to the rest of them. I knitted a darling little baby set while listening to All Creatures Great and Small, and I'm spinning my Coopworth while listening to All Things Bright and Beautiful. These books are wonderful. I can't think of an author who puts the reader there like James Herriot does. He paints wonderful word pictures, just wonderful. He's an excellent story teller. Were you aware that these are actually fiction, even though your public library shelves them with the non-fiction? There are 4 or 5 books in this series, along with lots and lots of compilations and offshoots - many hours of knitting pleasure, lol.

Edited later in the day, because Janice reminded me in the comments section - one of the best ever recorded books is Anansi Boys - certainly one of the best audio performances ever. I loved this book, and knitted this while listening to it.

So many of my friends tell me, "I've tried recorded books, and I just can't get into them." The truth is that you have to sort of re-learn how. I say "re-learn" because we all know how to listen to stories being told - it's in our bones. This is the oldest form of human entertainment and interaction, isn't it? Story Telling, and therefore, Story Listening, goes back to the beginning of humanity, so yes, you can learn how, you just have to give yourself a little time, and you have to select the right book. If you don't have any ideas, then pick any of the books listed above - all are very interesting and engaging, and all have good vocal actors. Some recorded books are such duds that I can't follow them either, and I'm a complete addict. Some, however, turn on the movie projector in your head and provide hours of listening enjoyment.

You can find audio books at your local library, from Audible.com, from Amazon.com and many other places, too. You can find some excellent selections at Librivox.org, too. Some livrivox recordings are excellent, and some are so bad that they make me want to stick my knitting needles into my eyes, so don't give up if your first few librivox downloads are awful. Keep looking, you'll find something you like.

We've also listened to The Bartimaeus Trilogy, The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate with great enjoyment, too. It's funny how, with each book I mention, I can remember the projects I was working on when listening to the books, lol. While listening to this series, I spun the skeins which I entered into the Taos Wool Festival. These books are great fun, and the voice actor is top notch.

Other books that I've recently enjoyed include -

To Kill a Mockingbird - my all time favorite book. This version is read by Sissy Spacek.

A Clockwork Orange - exceedingly disturbing, excellent vocal actor. I've tried to read this book, and the made-up language threw me. This actor brings it to life, and makes it perfectly understandable.

The Year of Living Biblically - very interesting. I washed fleeces to this book, which seemed somehow fitting, lol.

The Eyre Affair - This is a series of 5 books, and they are very good stories, and well performed, too. I did lots of spinning while listening to this series. My favorite one is The Well of Lost Plots

When You Are Engulfed in Flames - Hilarious! Don't listen to this with headphones while knitting at a coffee shop because you will laugh hysterically and folks will look at you funny. Just warning you... Anything by David Sedaris is funny. Oftentimes raunchy, but really funny. Offensive to some, so listener beware.

The Book Thief, I am the Messenger, Blink, and sooooo many more. These are just the last few in my reading notebook. I could go on and on, but I'll stop here.

Thirty years of addiction to audio books has provided me with a very long list. What started it all is that a very long time ago, I worked for a vision-impaired scientist who was able to get these special record albums and special record players through a foundation for the blind. We'd listen to books and stories and so forth while spending hours upon hours peering through microscopes, examining cotton chromosomes. Sometimes, we'd work right through lunch and stay late that night because the story was so engaging. That lady was pretty smart, if you ask me. Smart in oh so many ways.

From then on, I was hooked! To this day, I have absolutely no use for TV and can hardly sit through a movie, but give me a recorded book and I'm in heaven!

A few months ago, I discovered something new! New to me, at least. PODCASTS! Cue the chorus of angels...

My teenagers fixed me up with itunes on my computer and a quick tutorial, and here I am, happy in podcast land. Here are my current favorites.

Cast On - always interesting.

Craft Lit - Oh my gosh, she's doing Flatland, be still my heart. She also interjects so many interesting facts and observations - I'm loving this! I only learned about it a few days ago, and can't wait to listen to her previous books.

This American Life - I've listened to this radio show for years and I'm thrilled to be able to listen to the show even when I miss it when it airs. The most recent episode is online for free, back issues are available for a modest charge.

Car Talk - once again, I have loved this show for years, and I'm happy that I never need to miss an episode just because I have to go somewhere during their air time. My kids were raised with these guys - every Sunday, we listen to Car Talk and we get all upset if we have to miss it. Not anymore! Yay for podcasts!

Stuff You Should Know - I LOVE these guys! I wish they'd learn the subjective case vs the objective case when it comes to "I" vs "me" but I'll overlook it because they are just so darned CUTE!

Tech Stuff - I like to listen to these guys while spinning, just for the juxtaposition of the world's most ancient technology - a spindle - and the world's most modern technology - the stuff that they talk about. It makes me feel modern and edgy, lol.

Science Friday - a nice variety of science issues.

Please Explain is always interesting and informative, and you never know what you're going to get - large variety.

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is excellent for car-listening, as it is engaging and fast moving enough that you stay alert, plus, it's just hilarious.

Do you have any excellent recorded books to recommend? Do you have a favorite podcast? I'm trying to walk more, and there's nothing more encouraging than a good podcast to get me out there, getting my exercise. I've learned that I prefer audio books for knitting and spinning, and most housework and yard work, but that I prefer podcasts for walking and driving. When I listen to a book on tape, presuming that it's a good book, then I sort of "go there" and not pay such close attention to what I'm doing, which is not a good thing when I'm driving, heh heh .

Edited later to add - if you are a recorded book aficionado as well, then please check the comments section, as I hope to get lots of recommendations. Thanks!

Suddenly, I understand...

2009-11-30T22:14:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks back, I washed a bunch of Coopworth fleece. I can't get enough of this stuff - it's soooo pretty! I laid it all out on the front walk to have a good look at it, and make some decisions as to what I want to do with this fiber.

I wanted to get a closeup, so that I could show you how wonderful this fiber really is...

...which means that I had to walk on the fiber itself...

Oh My.

How wonderfully soft and wonderful and luscious and wonderful...

Now I know why I keep finding this...

Dixie, now I understand. I understand, completely.

You just have yourself a nice little nap, and please, don't disrupt the locks, OK? I spent a long time, sorting them out.

Sweet dog. She's my little pal. She's so prissy and dainty that she doesn't bother a thing.

Look how the fiber looks with a little bit of flash - it glistens.

I'm going to have so much fun with this stuff!!

I just want to roll in it!

Spinning is going nicely, too. I've started with the lightest shade, which is a very pale grey. I'm cutting off the badly yellowed tips, but there's still a lot of yellow in there, and I'd love to know a way to lighten or reduce the yellow shade. I'm going to look at the drugstore to see if there are any shampoos designed for this purpose. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd love to know what has worked for you.

By the way, maybe you've noticed a little difference in the way Blogger is posting photos? Maybe it slipped by you... but if you click on the picture, you can make it big, and if you click on it again you can make it full sized. I like this new development. Try it.

I love Colorado!

2009-11-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

So, here it is, November 11, and it was a beautiful, warm day. I raced through my day's requirements,

because I have been anxious to wash more of Sierra's fleece.

I pulled everything outside and got straight to work.

Last Thursday, October 29, was rainy and snowy and so cold that my furnace ran, non stop, which means that the house never made it up to 65F, where I have my thermostat set. Today? Look! I'm out in the yard, barefoot. It was a beautiful day.

Gosh, how I love Colorado.

Hubby heard on the news that it's supposed to be up to 80F tomorrow. Yay! Maybe I'll wash a bunch more. I hate messing with unwashed fleece in the house, so I really count on being able to do this outside. I want to have a nice, large lot of it washed because, while it's beautiful today who knows what next week will bring. I doubt that we'll have many more warm days like today for a long while. Well, except for tomorrow.

Improved Spindle Jim

2009-11-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

While I always liked using my Spindle Jim, many of its little problems really bothered me. The spindles would sort of jog up and down, and they would swing back and forth - even with the tensioning string. When I use it, I like to stand as far away as I can, so as to allow the twist to even out over a distance, and the little problems meant that I'd have to walk back to the spindle jim to solve the issue, then away from again. All of this back and forth would frustrate me, and I'd end up mad - every time.

Recently, there was a discussion of this very topic on Ravelry, and a genius with the user name of TobeyL suggested this idea, and it WORKED! It works spectacularly! And, such an easy fix, too.

Gosh, such genius! Thanks so much, TobeyL!!!

Here are the pix - -

First off, please forgive the book - my camera insisted on focusing on the piano instead of the spindle jim, and I was getting frustrated. The book was right there, and provided an easy remedy.

It doesn't look too much different from the original photo, does it?

What's different is that this little arrangement was added between the bottom of the spindle and the floor of the spindle jim.

I put an eye hook in the floor, under the spindle, and I attached to it this little conglomeration of parts - reading from the bottom up - a swivel, an eyehook and dowel, and a bit of plastic tubing. The alterations took less than 30 minutes to execute, but gosh, what a difference!

I had to rearrange the top of the spindle jim because the additions at the bottom means that the snaps make the whole thing too long. I just opened up the eye hook and threaded the swivel onto it, then closed the eye hook again. I left the snap part hanging because finding wire cutters is sometimes more trouble than it's worth, heh heh heh.

What a difference! The spindle twirls very calmly, with no jumping up and down, and with no swinging back and forth. The yarn just peels off with no problems whatsoever!!!

Since the spindle now spins freely, there is no need for the little drinking-straw-seatbelts, which was an absolute necessity of Version 1 of the Spindle Jim.

All of the hardware simply stays in place for storage.

This picture might give you a better idea of the parts which are at the bottom.

Handy PVC dpn case

2009-10-26T00:29:00.001-06:00

Look at what my darling husband made for me, a couple of weeks ago -

One end has a dot -

The other end - no dot - you'll see why in just a minute -

The end with the dot is the "free end" and this cap pulls off and there are some of my small dpns. This is a fantastic case! I put a little bit of foam in the cap to keep the dpns from rattling around so much.

The foam is just wedged into the cap - no need for glue. It looks like the foam is nice and circular, but actually, it's quite crudely cut. It looks round because I just pulled it out from the cap and it hasn't had time yet to go back to it's rather angular shape. It works just fine, though. No rattle.

My darling husband cut the pipe to such exacting specifications - the dpns fit perfectly. There is also a bit of green foam in the other cap, so the longer dpns are held rather still with this arrangement.

See all that I have stuffed in there! Believe it or not, there's room for more. I have quite a few sets of sock dpns, a set of larger dpns, and a random assortment of small crochet hooks in this tidy little case.

Do you see these little beauties?

Last year, my darling son took a jewelry making class at the local community college. He completed all of his assignments and he had two days of class time left, and a bit of silver left over, so he made me a set of Sterling Silver Double Pointed Sock Knitting Needles!!!

Be still, my heart!

He made them exactly how I like them - US0, 4.25 inches long, and stilletto pointy. He pulled the silver through a plate, ground the points and smashed the little flat parts on the needles on one day, and then he was going to return to school on the next day to carve his initials on one side of the needle, and my initials on the other, on the little flat parts.

On his way to school that day, he fell off of his bicycle and broke his collarbone! On his dominant side! So, he wasn't able to carve the initials. Then, school was over, and he no longer had access to the jewelry lab. Maybe later... Anyway, initials or no initials, I just love these little needles! I used them to knit the Trekking to Taos socks, and another pair (not yet blogged) and I'm proud to announce that these are the best sock needles ever made! I'm a lucky mama! They've gotten really shiny from use. I really love these needles!!!

What's also something special is that these needles, along with lots of jewelry for his class, were made out of some sterling ice-cream cups which belonged to my mother. No one liked the ice cream cups, but sterling silver is sterling silver, so handsome son was able to use them for his class. He made lots of jewelry out of those cups, including my dpn jewelry!

Something else which might interest you - I put a length of plain old aquarium tubing on my crochet hook - it makes it easier to use. Try it.

So, that's it! Hubby started out with a foot of pvc pipe - the smallest amount that the hardware store would sell to him. He came home and cut the pipe just a little longer then my longest needles. Then, with his superhuman strength, he really wedged one end cap into place - that thing isn't going anywhere! It's on there really tight! I jammed a bit of green foam down into that cap, and then jammed a bit into the other cap - the one marked with a dot. This is so that I know which cap is the movable one, and which one stays put. This case takes no room at all in my knitting bag, and it's so strong that nothing will happen to my littlest needles.

At least one friend has hinted... you know, gift-giving season is soon upon us... all knitters would like a little needle case... just sayin...

I won at Taos!

2009-10-19T00:57:00.002-06:00

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I am so excited! I entered three skeins into the Taos Wool Festival, and all three won prizes!

My skein of Alpaca/Nylon sock yarn won first place in its division, and won Reserve Grand Champion for the spindle spun yarn!

I knit a swatch, and oooohhhhh this is going to make a nice pair of socks! I used US000 needles, and I plan on knitting just a plain stockinette sock, or maybe a use the stitch pattern, "King Charles Brocade" on the cuff.

Details -

Prepared roving, Alpaca 66%, Nylon 34% - purchased from Eyedazzler Alpacas

Top whorl drop spindle, approx 1 oz

Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the fly technique
Entered in the Spindle Category, Expert (because I've won competitions in the past, and because I teach spinning lessons. I feel like such a fraud - I'm FAR from an "expert"- I consider myself an advanced beginner - but these were the rules), plied, undyed alpaca fiber.

The judge marked on the card, "3 ply" and I just had to smile to myself. See, some folks insist that Navajo Plied yarn isn't really a 3 ply, it's a single ply, folded upon itself. I must admit to a certain immaturity, but I get endless amusement out of this, lol.

At any rate, I just love to do this ply on the fly method of plying yarn. I think that it is really fun to do, and for me, spinning is an area in my life where I want to have fun. So... I use this method of plying for just about everything.

Remember the socks which I spun and knitted for my friend, Anastasia? Well, she's not really a shoes and socks sort of lady, so I had knit her a pair of bed socks. She waxed so nostalgic about her sheep ranching days, that I would like to spin and knit a pair of gloves for her - so that she can wear the gloves out in public and show them off to her friends, and they can all reminisce about their days, ranching in the valley. I think that she'll really like them.

I digress.

I entered a skein of yarn which I'm spinning for the gloves project, and it won second place! (You might like to see what the fleece looked like before it was washed - I like to post these pictures so that folks know that wool washes CLEAN!)

I really am happy with this yarn. I really like Suffolk. Can you see the sheen? The judge commented that she didn't think that this yarn would make nice gloves, that it was too thin and too stiff. However, I plan to make a twisted-stitch glove, and the yarn came out exactly how I wanted it to - thin and tight - so I think that it'll make excellent gloves. I can't wait to get started knitting this project.

Details -

Suffolk fleece, rescued from an old barn on Anastasia's property

Flick carded, pseudo rolags

Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly

Top whorl drop spindle, approx 1 oz.
Entered in Spindle spun, expert, undyed wool, plied.

The yarn of which I am the most proud, however, is this one. I really REALLY like this yarn. I'm stunned that it even placed, as it's quite thick-n-thin, but I like it just the same.I love spinning with Alpaca, but I always spin it really fine. I think that Alpaca does very well spun fine, and truthfully, I've never been able to spin it any other way. I've always bought my roving from Eyedazzler Alpacas, and it's so nicely prepared and soft and wonderful so that it drafts really easily, and, well, it just always ends up as a really fine yarn. I was determined to learn how to spin a thicker, softer, loftier alpaca yarn, and when I saw this fleece (on the animal's back as I was vacuuming it, lol) I knew that this was the fleece I wanted. I knew, instantly, how I was going to spin it, and what I was going to make with it.

This is from the batch that I washed early this summer.

I flicked locks, then made pseudorolags and then spun just barely enough for the singles to hold together. This is sooooo different from my usual way of spinning! I spun it at such a low twist that the single couldn't support the weight of the spindle, so I used my bike wheel instead. I love Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly technique, so I had to figure out how to make it work on my spindle wheel. It took some head-scratching, but I finally came up with a method which works and is quite easy, actually. The end result is a nice, soft, lofty yarn and I just love it.

As you can see from these photos, the fleece has some natural color gradation. I sorted the fleece into three piles, light, medium and dark, and spun to as to maintain this slight variation. I'm really thrilled with the end result.

This was really a stretch for me - I feel like I really learned a lot from this project. Best of all, it was really FUN!

Details -

Fleece from the alpaca named "Nico" who lives at Eyedazzler Alpacas.

flick carded, pseudo rolags

Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly, adapted for the Spindle Wheel (It's lots of fun!!!)
Entered in wheelspun, expert, undyed alpaca, plied.

Entering fiber competitions is so much fun! I wasn't able to attend the Taos Wool Festival - I sent my entries to the festival with some friends. They tell me that it was a good competition, that there were quite a few entries. Sigh. I wish I could have gone. I would have loved to see all of the skeins, and I especially wish that I could have seen all of the prize winners.

There's something I'd like to point out - many of us entered yarns and other items made from fibers from Eyedazzler Alpacas, and all of us won ribbons! My friends, Sharron, Erin, and Peggy (and maybe others who I don't know) spun Eyedazzler yarn and won ribbons. Sharron knitted a hat which won a ribbon. A woman made a needle-felted sculpture out of Eyedazzler fiber, and won a ribbon. Allie, one of the owners of Eyedazzler entered a fleece and won Grand Champion!

I'd say that this only proves what I've been saying all along - Eyedazzler Alpacas produces some glorious fiber!!! Allie recently received a new shipment from the fiber mill, and oh my gosh, she has some wonderful blends. My favorites are Bing Cherry Cordial and Storm Watch - the colors are wonderful, just wonderful. It's really fun for me because I know these animals, so when I see their names in the descriptions, it gives me a little thrill, lol. I see something like this, Charley, Tori and Bamboo, and I think to myself, "Hmmm.... I know Charley and I know Tori, but I don't remember an alpaca named "Bamboo..." and then suddenly it hits me, heh heh heh.

Anyway, you absolutely can't go wrong with any fiber purchase from Eyedazzler. If there's something that you want, but don't see on the web site, then be sure to drop Allie a line and ask her - she has loads of products which are not on the site. Just email her!
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Trekking to Taos

2009-07-19T00:51:00.001-06:00

Once I completed my green socks, socknitting fever was in full swing. I've had this ball of Trekking yarn in my stash for years, and now was the time for it to become a pair of socks. I planned and cast on this pair of socks on a recent family car-trip to Taos, hence the name.

I've had a fondness for traveling stitches ever since knitting a pair of socks for Anastasia. I don't like the look of traveling stitches which are twisted - I don't know why - I just really don't. Most traveling stitch patterns ask you to twist the stitches - experiment with them twisted and untwisted and see how you like them the best.

I cast on using Cat Bordhi's Whirlpool Cast On - and used her SideStream Construction for the general idea of the sock. Both methods can be found in her book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters.

The Whirlpool Cast on is perfect. I doubt if I'll ever use another cast on - ever. It's quick, easy, intuitive, and eliminates those hated "ears." You can adjust your rate of increase so that your sock's toe will match the shape of your own toes. I love love LOVE it. In fact, I'm probably going to use it for any center-out cast on that comes my way - I'm thinking how wonderful it would be to have a from-the-center-out shawl which begins this way, instead of with that oh too cute little belly button.

Cat Bordhi is such a genius. Her amazingly creative solutions to knitting problems just leave me speechless. This book took my breath away.

Anyway, I settled on the SideStream construction. I was a little panicky at one point because it looked like there was simply NO WAY that this was going to work. The only thing that kept me going was that Cat had never let me down, and so I forged ahead. You know what? It worked! It worked soooooo beautifully!

I started the "pattern" so that, at the first, it was running up the outside of the toe. If I had used the more standard sock construction, this pattern would have ended up running up the outside of the sock. However, since I was using Sidestream Construction, it gently shifted the pattern so that now, it runs up the exact center of the sock, right up my shinbone.I was able to put another pattern panel in the wedge created by the Sidestream, and voila, this pattern runs up the exact center of the outside of the sock. This was one of those Happy Accidents. I thought that it would end up more to the center, but no, it couldn't have been any more perfectly placed if I had planned it. In fact, I'm done planning. From now on, I'm going to use the "Choose Your Own Adventure" method, as it's fun and seems to work very well, heh heh heh.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to take pictures of socks which are on your feet? I can't do it very well, as you can plainly see.

I played with some graph paper and decided on this simple waving pattern. This one pattern is the only one used - up the sides of each sock, the waving pattern appears by itself. Up the front of the socks, the waving pattern is represented twice - on one sock the patterns are balanced so that each goes out and returns to the center at the same time. On the other sock, one curve follows the other so that it sort of looks like DNA, in a way, kinda.

I used the starred options for the fronts of the socks -The plain wave is seen on the far right.

The braids up the back of the sock - I used one pattern for one sock, the other pattern for the other sock. It made me tired, lol.
For some reason, this one was hard for me, and for the first 20+ rows I just kept screwing up, and a big problem is that I didn't notice that I screwed up until long after I had cast off. I know, I'm a special breed of stupid.

Anyway, water under the bridge. It's a good knitter who knows how to repair mistakes, and repairing mistakes doesn't always mean ripping out. In my little corner of knit-dom, it rarely means ripping out. It means repairing.

It was so simple to fix - I simply embroidered over the mistakes and voila - perfection!

Here you can see that I completely forgot what I was doing, and there's a gap in the braid. No problem, just hook the new to the old.
Here is a bigger problem - I crossed the braid incorrectly, twice in a row. The "fix" is shown in the collage - click for big. You'll be able to see how I fixed it.

It's really easy to do - just a chain embroidery stitch.

I also bought some new sock blockers which are great for taking photos of socks. Here are a few photos -

Detail of the pattern on the left sock-

Detail of the right sock-

outsides-

insides-

whirlpool toe - this is a fantastic toe - look ma, no ears! (I hate squared-off toes and those little ear flaps.)
Nice and round. You can adjust how round by adjusting the number of "wedges" and therefore, the number of increases . If you want a more narrow, pointy toe, use fewer wedges. If you want a wide, round toe, use more wedges. I used 6 and placed my increases every other row. I really like this toe, and doubt that I'll ever use another.

detail of the braid up the back of the sock-

I had fun with these patterns! I had fun knitting these socks. Check out Cat's new book - I tell ya, the woman is a GENIUS!!!

Details:

Trekking XXL yarn- one ball

0 US needles

Created - April, 2009.
Toe up socks, whirlpool toe, sidestream construction, two at a time, magic loop - one knit picks circular, 24 inch (I think it is 24 inches long - I really hate to use long needles.)
Ideas from Cat Bordhi, New Pathways for Sock Knitters

Calling all fans of Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly technique!

2009-07-11T21:10:00.006-06:00

I've been doing a lot of spinning here lately - and I've come up with some pretty significant changes in the way I do Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly.

It now works soooooo well - please, visit my original post and read through today's edit - marked EDIT - July 11, 2009, and see how you like it.

I've left the original post intact, and I've left intact the edit of April 2009, and added a new round of edits, today. I've left everything alone so that you can work through the three different ways, and see how you like it. I really like the newest method, but maybe one of the older methods would appeal to you?

Try it! I love LOVE this method of spinning and plying.

Navajo ply
NOTE ADDED SEPTEMBER 2010 - view my new and improved video! I think you'll like it.

ply on the fly

plying on the fly

navajo plying

Green Knee Socks

2009-07-10T11:50:00.001-06:00

My first knee socks.

I made these out of Paton's Stretch - nice yarn. I doubt that it'll be very durable, but I made these for art's sake, not for actually, you know, wearing. I think that I used size 00 double points. Maybe they were 0's? Anyway, they were tiny - my favorite for sock knitting.

A while back, I decided that I'll never make another pair of exact copies again. From now on, my socks will be different from each other.
This project taught me a valuable lesson - if you want your "differerent" socks to LOOK different, then pick a yarn in a solid colorway.

You have to look really closely at these socks to see that they are different. Can you even see it?
The sock on the Right Leg is mostly a k2 p2 rib, and it has this exceedingly creative and excruciatingly mathematically correct method of adding ribs to as to make room for the calf......and you can't even see the stinkin' ribs! The sock on the left leg is mostly stockinette, with a band of ribs up the front and the back. I tell you, the play between the stockinette and the band of ribbing is fetching. Too bad that you can't see it.
You can see a bit of difference if you look, really closely, at the tops of the feet. (These are Grace's feet - thanks Grace!) The sock on the left foot (on the right of the photo) is mostly stockinette, with the rib band peeling out of a sort of a vee - too bad that you can't see it. The ribs on the right foot begin near the toe, too bad that you can't see it, and they don't just all start at once, oh no, the beginning of the ribs forms a vee shape, too. Awfully too bad that you can't see it... sigh.

On the other hand, I really do like this colorway. It reminds me of hiking in the fall.

I knitted these from the toe up, with a beginning which was a little bit of a challenge, and I'm not sure it was worth it. I doubt that I'll repeat it, but here's what I did. I cast on 5 or 6 stitches and knit back and forth, making a rectangle, for approx 15 rows, ending with the completion of a knit side. Then, I picked up across the 15 rows, picked up the provisional cast on, picked up across the sole (15 rows), and then proceeded to knit in the round, slowly adding in more stitches, to widen the toe. It made a nice shape - rather blunt, which is how I like them. There are absolutely no "ears" - something that I hate and despise - those little corner thingies - urgh - I hate those little ears. This cast on method cured the ear problem, but it was so tetchy. (I'll soon show you a different pair of socks with a different cast on and THAT one is perfect.)

Knitting from the toe up makes so much sense to me. One of the best parts is that I can try on the socks as I go along. This was my first project on double points. I used a set of 5 to knit the sock, but I'd knit off onto 8 or 9 needles so as to be able to try them on. It worked great.

I used a sort of a modified Fleegle Heel (2 links)- but here's the trick - if you add short rows, here and there, you'll add area and curves to your sock and then it will fit... perfectly.

When you knit short rows on a tubular item, you stop knitting in the round,knit for some number of stitches, turn, work in the other direction, turn, and return to knitting in the round. If you only add one short row, where you knit to a designated point, turn and knit back to the opposite point on the sock, turn, and then commence knitting in the round once again, you've added a little wedge to the tube.

If you make your short row go a little past the middle-side-line, on each side of the sock, then you've added a nice, long wedge.

I put, I think, 3 wedges in the area from the arch to the actual heel , and then 3 above the heel. These short row bits were very spaced apart - they were not one on top of the other. Also, the turn of each short row was at a different point, so that the whole thing sort of blended in.

The short row areas were spaced apart from each other - I threw in a short row, then knitted, say, 10 rows, then another short row, then knitted another 10 or so rows - get it?

I was able to figure out where to put them by constantly trying on the sock. I wanted the heel turn to occur where the front of the sock was at the actual bend of my ankle, and the short row heel to be on the actual point of my heel. If you just knit round and round, then when it's time for the heel turn, the front of the sock is past the bend of the ankle. So, by adding a few short rows, I was able to add length to the back/underside of the sock without adding length to the front of the sock. I have really large heels, so this is necessary for a proper fit.

These socks practically POP when they slide onto my feet. Oh My Gosh, there's nothing at all like tailor-made socks!!! The sock's heels are where my heels are! Oh, glorious day!

Then, later on, when I got to the part of the leg where the calf swells - same problem. The calf is getting bigger around, but the vertical gain is greater in the back than in the front, since there's a curve there, right? Add a few short rows here and there, and this problem will be solved! The socks get wider and longer in the back. The best part is - - no more falling down knee socks!!! Try it! I guarantee that you'll like it.

I knitted and knitted until I felt like I needed to cast off before I ran out of yarn. I used my Best Stretchy Cast Off, and not a moment too soon. I had a tail of approximately 12 inches long on each sock. Whew! That cast off is a pain to rip out, so I was sweating it there for a few minutes!
All in all, a wonderful project. I enjoyed every minute, and can't wait for cooler weather so that I can actually wear them!
knee socks

paton stretch sock yarn

toe up socks

knit from the toe up

socks that don't match
knee socks short rows fleegle heel paton's stretch

Olimpia's sweater

2009-07-08T23:12:00.002-06:00

Surprise Surprise! Actual knitting content on a knitting blog! I'm just a little late in posting pictures. I really do knit. Really, I do.
I knitted this cute little sweater for our baby friend, Olimpia. She was born in February, and she wore the sweater to her very first party, back in March. Her mama says that she was the Belle of the Ball!I used the yarn, Candy, and I can't remember whether I used 2 or 3 balls. It feels like you are knitting with string, but it softens up so nicely in the first machine wash/dry cycle. I can only imagine that it continues to soften.

I wanted to knit it at 5sts/in, which is a nice gauge for this yarn, so I had to recalculate the pattern, as it is written for 6sts/in for an infant. I was thrilled with the outcome!

I finished with an applied I-cord with ties, instead of buttons. I also make a pair of Christine's Baby Booties, but I forgot about taking a picture of them. These booties were so much fun to knit! They came out so cute, too.

I love the Baby Surprise Jacket. It takes about 2 sessions of dedicated knitting, and comes out so darned cute!!!

Cheers!
Rosemary

Baby surprise
artful yarns
christine's baby booties

Fiber Laundromat

2009-06-30T01:34:00.001-06:00

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My fiber laundromat is in full swing.I washed two batches of fantastic alpaca fleeces - all three from Allie and Phil at Eyedazzleralpacas.com
from three different alpacas.

Nikko is a lovely butterscotch sort of color. Actually, his fleece ranges from ash blond to deep butterscotch. I just love it - lots of color variation - it'll be fun to play with this fleece.

Valley Girl is a wonderful cinnamon color. (This photo is NOT the correct color! She's more reddish.)Oh My Gosh, her fleece is super super fine. It's such a treat!

Calamity Jane is Black-Hole Black. Wait 'till you see it washed. Here it is, straight off of Calamity's back, and it's rather dusty. Once I wash the dust off, then you'll see how viciously BLACK this is. I can't wait to spin some.

I like to sew the locks into a length of netting, so that everything stays in locks and stays nice and neat. It's a handy way to handle a batch of fiber like this. This sack contains about 3/4 of a pound - I could have gotten more in to the sack, but you know, alpaca is so dusty that I wanted the bits to be on the thin side for adequate water flow.

I personally vacuumed each and every alpaca on that ranch - I personally emptied the vacuum cleaner, numerous times throughout the day - so I know that our vacuuming job was actually removing dust and debris - - just how much dirt does an alpaca carry around every day? Look at this water! This is from an animal which had been cleaned!!! An added bonus to alpaca - hardly any smell, really. Nothing like sheep, nothing.

I fill the basin with warm water and a generous squirt of hair-shampoo. I let it soak a while, then lift the fiber out, and I just pour the water out into the yard - the grass loves it. I keep refilling the basin with warm water and letting the fiber soak until the water runs clear. In the last basin-full of warm water, I put in a generous squirt of hair-conditioner and let the fiber soak in it for a little bit, then I let it drain out. I don't rinse this conditioner out - it really helps control the static electricity that my desert climate can cause.

My high tech water heater - I let one basin-full soak until another hose-worth of water heated up. It worked really well. Let me tell you - on a sunny day in Colorado - this hose heats up pretty fast and amazingly HOT. - my high tech dryer -
Why do these spoiled brat animals assume that I'm washing fiber for their comfort and enjoyment?

Pure potential.

Dreaming of becoming a neck warmer? A scarf? A lace shawl? What do you want to be when you grow up? This black is blacker than black.

I spun a little bit of each one - fine and thick - here's Nikko's swatch. Oh yes, this is going to be fun. I have lots of ideas... which one to start first?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also washed a bit of Coopworth, which I purchased from Sandy in California. This Coopworth fleece is truly beautiful. It's from a young sheep named Sierra Silver. I hope to spin and knit the sweater named Moonlight by Kim Hargreaves - the pattern appeared in Rowan 34. So, my sweater already has a name - Sierra Silver Moonlight. Ahhh... I can hardly wait!

I laid out the locks -

Pinned them into place --and then washed with my standard washing procedure - warm to hot water, shampoo, rinses, conditioner in the final soak. Hang to dry.

Washed and dried and take a look at how lovely. This sheep is many shades of grey from the lightest pearl to a very dark charcoal. If I'm a smart spinner, I'll be able to graduate the sweater from light grey at the shoulder to dark grey at the waist - won't that be nice?

I spun up a bit and got gauge (as noted on the pattern) on my first try, waahoo! Here is a test swatch - this wool fairly sparkles - it almost looks metallic - - there are some locks which are just about the exact same shade as pewter. If you make the photo large, you can see that there are some really dark fibers in there - this gives it a richness and depth to the color - I just love it.

I'm thinking of cutting off the yellowed tips to make the overall color more of a cool grey - the tips warm the color, and I'm not sure if I like it or not. Must experiment. (I've never cut tips off of locks before, and truth be told, I'm sort of chicken.)

A note on the pin job - - this was a minor fiasco. I don't think that it will matter in the long haul, but this is the last time I'll use pins. Take a look - rust - eek. Even the so-called "brass" pins - - yeah, right, brass, heh heh heh. It's such tiny spots of rust that I didn't have a full blown panic attack, only a minor case of the jitters. I need to find some rust-proof pins because this is just too quick and easy. I'll probably always sew alpaca into it's little sacks, but wool can get pinned.

Now, I washed enough fiber to get started spinning. I made a bunch of spindles, and improved my junky-garage-wheel. (I also bought a mountain of dyed rovings for other projects.) There's nothing stopping me - Let The Spinning Begin!

I can hardly wait!

Cheers!
Rosemary
how to wash a fleece - washing alpaca - washing wool - using conditioner on wool - how to wash wool - how to wash alpaca - wash fiber

Washing more Ancient Suffolk Fleece

2009-06-26T23:43:00.001-06:00

Ahhh... summertime! This time of year, my thoughts turn to washing fleeces, in preparation for the hot hot months when all I want to do is spin.

I had so much fun with my old ancient shorn-in-1972-Suffolk-fleece the first time around, that I decided to wash some more, and spin a nice pair of gloves. (If you are interested, here are links to that other project, explaining how I came to own such an OLD bunch of fleece - Click Here, and Here and Here for more info.)

I arranged the locks on my netting -
Check out this crimp!
Check out this DIRT!!!
I like to sew the locks in place, so that everything stays all nice and neat and tidy.
Ummm... Dixie, no, this isn't a nice new pad for you. Silly dog.
Urk. This is the first dunk in some hot water - this dunk is only water, I'll add shampoo to the second dunk, the first dunk gets rid of the majority of 37 years of dust and dirt and who knows what else.After a nice hot soak in some shampoo - check it out! Pretty clean, yes?Here it is - all nice and washed and clean and fresh smelling and just plain old NICE. This is that super crimpy bit.

EEK! Do you see it?

Maybe you can see it in this picture -...and this one -

It's a 37 year old sheep ked!!! Eeeeeeeewwwwwwww....... By the way, I have some friends who raise meat sheep, and they were once donated a box car full of onions, which they gave to their sheep. They maintain that it got rid of the keds. Just for your general edification, lol.

Most of the wool isn't this crimpy, most of it is like the portion on the bottom, fingers added for scale.

Spinning has begun.

Can you believe that this lovely, clean, poofy, boingy wool came from that old skanky stuff? So if you have an old sticky stinky fleece hanging around, and you are thinking of using it for mulch - why not wash a lock or two and see what you discover. You might be surprised.

I use Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly - my all time fave spinning method - and I think I'll make a pair of gloves with traveling stitches - a different pattern on each finger? I can think of patterns while I spin. Or, maybe I'll just think about sheep keds. eeeeeewwwwww......

I have a new head!

2009-06-26T22:57:00.000-06:00

I'm getting ready to do a whole lot of spinning, so I wanted to make a new head for my junky-garage spinning wheel. While the old one worked very well, it was loud, and the spindle was stuck in place. I wanted to reduce the noise, and to make it so that the spindle was interchangeable, so that I could work on more than one project at a time.

Here it is - while it isn't a thing of beauty, gosh, it works great.

Back side - notice the strips of plumber's tape to reduce friction. These strips also reduce the noise - this head is soooo quiet.

I put a little guide for the drive band - it's a bit of bicycle innertube, held in place with two O rings. That's it. It works great - it provides traction for the drive band, and it keeps the needle/spindle in place. Without this guide, the needle wanders back and forth, and there is much slippage as the needle is pretty slick.

Wheel side -

I don't know what the strings are - something from in the junky garage. They seem to be some sort of nylon? I'm not sure. I can't find my bag of cord locks, so I improvised with these T pins, with the thought that I'd use the cord locks, once I find them. Forget that - these pins work a zillion times better! They are infinitely adjustable, and they hold really well. (I have no idea why there's a knot in the string on the right. It was there already, and I just didn't untie it.)

I can loosen the strings, remove this spindle and replace it with another one. This way, I can have more than one project going at once. Nice, yes?

The clamp works like a giant clothespin - it makes for quick adjustments. When I'm taking a break from spinning, I take the drive band off of the wheel, and point the needle straight up, so that someone won't run into it. When I quit for a longer spell, I just take the head completely off of the upright portion, in the interest of safety.

I am going to make one change - I'm going to wait until the strips of teflon tape (aka plumber's tape) wear out, then I'll replace them by wrapping the tape around, horizontally, all the way around the little upright bits of wood, going across the string-holes. I'll poke holes in the tape, and then fish the strings through the holes. I think that this will work better, although it does work well the way it is now.

I still like using Pony Bead Lacing for my drive band, but I was at the hobby store the other day, and I couldn't resist this acid green S'getti String lacing - it works great and I love the color! It seems more durable than the Pony Bead Lacing but it's too soon to tell, as I've only just started with this green drive band.

Cheers!

Rosemary

The Peony Lady

2009-05-29T01:31:00.002-06:00

My family and I visited Pueblo's Peony Lady, yesterday.

Oh My gosh, if you live anywhere nearby, maybe you'd like to pay a visit, too?

Imagine, walking around in an acre of peonies? There's a winding path through this peony patch. I tell you, it's easy to imagine being in an Impressionist Painting.

Go, visit Judy and her peonies. She sells huge bouquets of Peonies for (I think) $8, but I always leave her some extra money because, well, I believe in paying my way, know what I mean?

She doesn't ask for donations - she allows visitors to roam her orchard for no charge - but she's exceedingly appreciative of whatever you can contribute. I can't imagine what her water bill must be.

But, like I said, you don't have to pay anything, if you don't want to. It's completely free. Maybe you'd like to buy a bouquet?

If you go, bring bugspray. Be sure to bring your camera.

You might prefer to wear long pants (prepare for pollen prints on your thighs!) and closed shoes, but this is just a suggestion, not completely necessary.

From I25, take the exit to the airport and La Junta - Hwy 50. Travel a few miles - almost to the airport - turn right on 29th lane, then left on Resolana. Follow the signs and the instructions. You'll love it. Late afternoon is a good time - we went at about 4:30, and it was perfect.

(as always, click the photos for larger versions)

I'll upload more photos to my garden-photo-blog - Rosemarysgarden, so please head over there if you'd like to see a bazillion more photos of peonies.

T-Notches

2009-05-15T00:41:00.001-06:00

I love spinning with a T-Notched spindle shaft. I learned about this back when I first learned how to spin. I had been spinning with my K'Nex support spindles, and wanted to learn how to spin on a drop spindle. My public library had a copy of this most excellent book, Hands on Spinning, by Lee Raven. In it were instructions for making these T-Notches, and since I enjoy woodworking, I thought that I'd like to make these.

I made oodles of these to go with oodles of CD Spindles. I know that there's a huge snob-factor involved in hand spinning, but let me just say it out loud - I love my CD spindles! They taught me how to spin, and I'll always have a soft spot for these perfectly balanced spindles!

Anyway, I'll let these photos tell the tale. Making a T-Notch is an easy task. I used my nifty Japanese Saw - an extraordinary cutting device. How I love my Japanese Saw! It cuts so smoothly that you don't really need to sand afterwards. It's so balanced, and since it cuts on the pull, it's easy for a woman to use. Amazing. Oops, I forgot, this post is about T-Notches, heh heh heh.

I sawed out the notches by making two parallel cuts with my nifty Japanese Saw, then popping out the bit left between the cuts. The Japanese Saw blade is paper thin - if you are using an "American" or "English" saw, then the kerf of the blade ought to make enough of a slot.

Then, I did some shaping with my Chisels.

The trick is to get the "slot" to end a little teeny bit past the midline, as viewed from the side.

And, a little teeny bit past the midline as viewed from the top. Having your notch "pass up" the midline means that your yarn will ride right at the middle. If your slots end at the midline, then your yarn will not sit in the middle - Get it?

This was my very first one - the most crude looking, and oddly enough, the most perfect of them all. The yarn is perfectly centered, and it spins like a dream.

I ground the tip into a rather conical shape, for aesthetics - it makes no difference in the performance.

Here is how you "thread" the T-Notch. Your yarn can go up one side for spinning, and the other side for plying.

These last two are made from Oak - a very suitable wood for notches, as it is so strong. The first one is, I think, birch, which is so easy to carve, but so easy to break, too. Frustrating. But, I like the lighter weight of the birch.

My only complaint is that you have to use a fairly thick shaft in order to have enough wood to carve. I much prefer a thinner shaft. It could be machined into a thinner metal shaft, but I'm a woodworker, not a machinist, lol.

I still have a soft spot for these notches - this is how I learned to spin - and I just like the wooden hook. As you wind the yarn up the shaft, it automatically "falls" into the notch - it's easy to use.

(You don't have to use CD's as whorls for this style of shaft, of course.)

Try it - see how you like this style of shaft.

Fabric Baskets

2009-05-07T19:54:00.003-06:00

Wouldn't this make the BEST ever knitting project basket? Just as soon as life simmers down just a bit, I'm going to whip out a bunch of these.

Here is a fabric basket with a handle -

Here is one without.

I really like these. Now, to find some time to sew...

Make your own Spindles!

2009-04-21T14:38:00.003-06:00

I spent all of Saturday, making spindles! I photographed nearly every step of the way, in painstaking, tortuous, detail, and thought I'd share it with you.

I really like these spindles - they are easy and quick to make, and are really inexpensive. Plus, I just like the idea that I can make my own.

All points considered, a spindle costs about $3 to make.

Obtain materials -
--buy or order the toy wheels. I much prefer these spoked wheels, as they make wonderful rim weighted spindles. I order from Lee Valley Tools and can expect delivery within a week.
--have your whorls with you when you select your dowels. Buy the closest fitting size. If you can't find an exact friction-fit size, then buy the closest smaller dowel.
--gather up the rest of the supplies, clear off a work area, and get started! (Detailed parts lists and where to buy everything is at the end of this post.)

Figure some way to hang your spindles -

or figure some way for them to stand perfectly straight. I use all sorts of different methods. Today I used an old refrigerator shelf laid on top of a clothes drying rack. In the past, I’ve used a bicycle wheel laid across two saw horses – hanging the spindles from the spokes, and I’ve hung them from the clothesline in my laundry room. If you are making a batch of spindles at the same time, then the line must be stretched tightly so that the spindles stay put, and don’t slide down the line and end up in a bunch. If you are making one-at-a-time, then it really doesn't matter how you hang it.

If you don’t have a way to hang your spindles, then you’ll have to figure out a way to have then sit straight up and down – this is important in the epoxy step later on.

If you are working on only a couple of spindles at a time, you could fill a vessel with dried beans or uncooked rice, and then stick the spindle shaft into it and arrange it so that it stands upright. Get this figured out long before you mix the epoxy!

Epoxy the underside of the wheels -
The spokes can come loose from the tread portion of the wheel, so run a ring of epoxy there, to hold the wheel together. I use a toothpick to make sure that the epoxy goes under both sides of the spoke. You see one epoxied and one un-epoxied wheel in this photo. You can do this step immediately before the rest of the steps, or you can epoxy them well ahead of time and use them whenever you get around to it, it doesn't matter.

Set the whorl aside to dry, while you work on the other steps. The epoxy doesn't need to fully cure, but it does need to be set, and not runny, for the assembly steps.

Cut and sand your sticks -
I cut my sticks to 12 inches, and lightly sand them. I don't want the sticks to be perfectly smooth - I just aim to get rid of splintery spots. If you want yours to be really smooth, then start with 200 grit sandpaper, and work through 300, 400, 600, and if you are really persnickety - 2000 grit (from an auto body shop supplier).

Test fit whorls to dowels -
If you can find a friction-fit then, excellent! However, I often have to make a smaller stick fit the wheel, because I think that it is easier to enlarge the shaft then it is to enlarge the hole in the wheel. It's a fiddly process, but it is easy and fast.

I use upholstery thread for this process. It's thin and exceptionally strong.

A photo tour of the process – (1) make a loop
(2) begin to wrap the thread around the shaft
(3) continue winding
(4) cut the thread, and pass it through the little loop. Arrange the winding nicely, then begin to pull the thread which is sticking out of the top of the winding.
(5) I pull until the loop is very small, and then I stop and make sure everything is nicely arranged. Turn it around and examine all sides. Then...
(6) keep pulling until the "knot" is pulled beneath the winding.
(7) then clip the ends.

Try the whorl on – maybe you need a second layer in order to make it fit.

Notice that I gave the shaft a 180 degree turn, so that the knots are on opposite sides of the shaft.

Put the whorl onto the shaft -

Voila!See how nicely the wrappings hold the whorl into place?

Look from the top - the whorl should be centered - there should not be a larger space on one side than the other. If it seems unbalanced, they try giving the wheel a turn - often, this will center it.

If there’s a great difference in the size of the shaft and the size of the whorl, then you can use a thicker cord – here I’ve used hemp.It's hard to see in this photo, but since the hemp is so thick, I've put a "dummy loop" on the other side of the shaft. I began winding, then I separated the cords of the "original loop" and the "dummy loop" so that the cords were pretty evenly spaced around the shaft. So, I'm winding around the 4 cords - understand? I didn't pull the knot under the winding, I just pulled it snugly, and didn't cut it off too short. It worked perfectly - I'll show you this one again later on.

The whorl doesn’t need to be jam-tight, it just needs to be able to stay in place during the epoxy step. It is the epoxy which will hold everything together, permanently. I've used this style of spindle for a couple of years, and I've dropped them - sometimes hard enough that the cop slips down an inch or so! - and none of the spindles have come apart. I assume that the epoxy is doing its job.

You’ll be amazed how different the whorls and sticks are. Some will take only one layer of thread, some will take much more. If you are working on many spindles at a time, then you’ll want to keep the sticks and whorls together during the whole process, as you are custom fitting them as a pair.

Wrap the hook end of the shaft -

Here is a fork in the road -

If your whorl friction fits, then skip over this step - you'll have to do it later -
after you epoxy the whorl into place. It's so much easier to wrap it now, with no whorl in the way. Test to see if you can get the whorl into place by putting it on from the bottom. If it's a tight fit, then you probably won't be able to push it all the way up from the bottom.

If you had to enlarge the shaft, then wrap the hook-end with upholstery thread -
This wrapping really strenghtens the end of the shaft. Screwing into end grain of wood is not good wood-working practice – the hole is practically guarranteed to get bigger, due to the structure of the wood. This wrap helps to prevent this.

Clip the ends just as closely as you dare.
Wrap at least as far down as the threads will penetrate.

Drill the pilot hole for the hook -
First - you might like to mark the spot for the hole. Put an "x" or a dot where you think it ought to go. Rotate the shaft - is it really centered? Move the dot until it is centered, perfectly. Here is where I put on my extra pair of readers - I really want to make sure that this dot is centered.I'm known far and wide for my fashion sense. My kids just love the doubled glasses.
Then, stick a pin or tack right into the center of your mark. This will create a divot which will help the drill bit stay where it should, and not skitter all around.

I tie a bit of upholstery thread to the drill bit as a guide. Tie it as tightly as you can, and then, clip the strings very short.

When you are using the drill, you can't "butt up" to the thread, or it'll move. You have to stop before you hit the thread. This keeps you from drilling too deeply, and I find that this step is imperative. If the hole is too deep, then your hook will never sit properly - it will screw in too deeply.

I'm using a Dremel tool, with the second-to-smallest drill bit.

Prepare the hooks -
If you bought cup hooks, then I guess you are done. I like to buy eye hooks, and prepare them in the manner described in the book, High Whorling, by Priscilla Gibson Roberts. I straighten them out as straight as I can get them, and then I turn a little hook. Above is a stepwise photo which illustrates my approach. I use round jawed jewelry-making pliers to straighten the hooks. I'll fine tune them later, according to these excellent instructions, Hatchtown Fibers Spindle Tuning Tutorial.

I buy size 217 brass hooks from Gate Latch USA. I like to use these tiny brass hooks because the brass and the teeny size combine to make them very easy to bend. Another reason that I like to use the tiny hooks is because I don't have to drill a comparatively large hole in a small diameter shaft. I like to use a small diameter shaft because, well, because it fits in the wheel. If I were to use a larger hook, I'd have to remove so much wood, that I don't think the connection would be very secure. I also like to use fairly narrow shafts because I think that it makes for a very fast, whippy spindle. I *really* don't like to use fat shafts.

There is a downside to such tiny hooks, however, and it's a pretty severe one. If you drop the spindle onto the hook, it's going to bend, and possibly snap right off. A spindle fell out of my bag, directly onto the hook, on a concrete walk, and snapped the hook way down in the hole. This made me very sad...

Put the whorls on, and screw the hooks into the spindles. If you haven't wrapped the hook end of the shaft, then be careful when screwing in the hook - don't over-tighten, you'll split the shaft.

Epoxy the whorls into place -
I buy long-acting epoxy so that I have time to work with it. Here is how I do it – First, I make sure that the whorl is perpendicular to the shaft. Then, I put a teeny dab of epoxy (I use a toothpick) into the groove of one spindle - I put a dab at all 4 compass points, then hang up that spindle and move on to another one. I dab epoxy on 3 spindles in a row, then I move back to the first one. The epoxy has settled into the groove, so I can dab on some more. Once again, I work my way through all three, and return to the first one. I keep this up until that little trough appears to be filled, then start on another batch. If you are working on only one spindle per session, then just dab in in there and wait. It doesn't take long. Don't worry about any bubbles, they work themselves out.

I like to leave an inch of shaft sticking up from the top of the whorl, but I don't think that it really matters.

Here, you can see epoxy, dabbed into the groove,
See how much it has settled?Dab some more in, let it settle - repeat until it no longer soaks in - it may take as many as 4 applications.

When you set the spindles aside for the epoxy to cure – take one more check to make sure that the whorls are perpendicular. Hold the spindle, vertically, right in front of your eyes, and twirl the spindle. You can't adjust it later!

The epoxy on the bare wood changes the appearance of the wood - on some whorls, the difference is minute, on some it's pretty drastic. Go back to the very first photo and make it big - see how the 4 spindles towards the bottom of the photo have really dark, unsightly, epoxy jobs? I think that it has to do with the wood that the hub was carved out of - some of them are really porous, and some of them are really pigmented - it changes the color of the epoxy!

If you don't like this look, then you can apply some wood finish to just the hub, to the whole whorl, or to the entire spindle. The wood finish will cause the entire piece of wood to look the way the epoxy makes it look - this makes it a lot neater looking, but doesn't effect the performance of the spindle at all. I'll discuss finishing later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SET THE NEWLY-EPOXIED SPINDLES ASIDE, OVERNIGHT - It's best to let the epoxy cure for a nice, long time, before you begin the other steps.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you want, you can add bumpers to the bottoms of the shafts -
I really like bumpers, and add them.In fact, I've come up with some fine-tuning to the Tammy Rizzo Navajo Ply on the Fly technique which involves using these little bumpers. Stay tuned, as I'll post about this, eventually.

In the photo above, I've added a layer of wrapping because this tubing is just a hair too large to stay on, securely. This is the first time I've ever done this - usually, the tubing holds on just fine without any added help. The other spindles didn't need it, just this one.

Check under the whorls, and trim away any stray threads.
Two of mine needed a little haircut - here you see the before and after photos.I used an Xacto knife to trim the excess string.If you want a notch, cut it into the whorl now -
I use a triangular file. I’ve experimented with various arrangements - putting the notch on the underside, putting it on the top, angling the cut - but my favorite way is the most plain – just a little vertical notch on the outermost part of the whorl.

I make sure that the hook is completely screwed in, then I carve the notch. I like to align my hook so that the back of the hook faces the notch - which is why I wait until after I've screwed in the hook to place the notch.

Balance the hook, according to the Hatchtown Fibers Spindle Tuning Tutorial.
I like to remove the hook from the spindle shaft to make any adjustments to the hook. I find that if I leave the hook in the wood and try to bend the hook, that it enlarges the hole, which will cause problems later. However, in order to bend the hook, you must hold the threaded portion between your fingers, because if you hold it in the jaws of pliers, the soft brass threads will flatten out. Those screw threads can really dig into your finger! So, I stick the threaded end into the little plastic doohickey, which you can see in the photo, "prepare the hooks," for the bending process. I think that this little doohickey came out of a click ball point pen, but I really don’t remember where I found it. It's perfect for the job, as it's a tiny little hard plastic tube.

If I were able to find some little tiny metal caps to put on the end of the shaft - a little cap with a little hole in the end that I could put onto the shaft and then thread the hook through - this would eliminate the problem, wouldn't it? I could bend the hook without having to remove it from the shaft. Actually, I'd only need one little tiny cap - use it to adjust the hook, then remove it and use it to adjust the next hook. Any ideas? Where could I find such a tiny little metal cap?

If you didn't wrap the hook-end of the shaft before, then do it now.

Seal the wrapping and the hook -
Once you have the hook how you like it, unscrew it from the shaft, apply an even coat of clear fingernail polish to the wrapping, apply a little blob to the end, and screw the hook *through* the wet fingernail polish. The goal is to get a little of the nail polish down into the hole, to lightly glue the hook into place. Be sure that your hook is aligned how you like it, and hang it to dry.

The nail polish is not a permanent hook-glue. If you like, you'll be able to remove your hook and use your spindle as a low whorl. Then, you can screw the hook back in when you want to go back to having a high whorl. Cool, eh?

Apply finish if desired -
I've tried finishing after gluing the whorls into place, and I've tried finishing the whorls before assembly. I can't decide which I ~~like~~ hate more, lol. There are good points and bad points to each method, I'll leave it to you to experiment and decide which way you like best. I just plain old hate finishing.

I use about 1000 coats of Minwax. OK, maybe not 1000, but it sure seems that way. I just hate finishing. However, if I bite the bullet and decide to do it, then I put on lots and lots of coats, so that the end result is smooth and glossy. This wood is so porous, that it really sucks in the finish.In this photo, you see finished spindles with three different hub types. The upper ones are 3 inch wheels - notice how different the two hubs look. If you refer to the very first photo, showing unfinished spindles, you'll see that they all pretty much look alike. It's only when you put the finish on it that this difference becomes evident. The one on the right looks *really bad* with epoxy and no finish, as the epoxy soaks into the hub, causing this dark effect. Once the finish is applied, however, it all evens out. I like the look of the dark hub.

The one on the bottom is a 2.5 inch wheel, and all the ones of this size have a completely different hub - it's relatively unaffected, colorwise, by the epoxy. In fact, I often don't apply finish to this size, because I hate finishing, and I think that this size looks nice, unfinished. The hub and the tread portions are made from different woods than the larger one - this size seems to be made out of some sort of vine - it doesn't have the grain pattern of the 3 inch size.

I find that the finish cures/dries much faster if I can set it in the sun. I don't even bother with finishing if it's wintertime and too cold - then it takes forever for the finish to dry, and therefore, forever and a day to get numerous coats. I bet that I put at *least* 10 coats.

I like the look of a finished whorl, but I don't like the feel of a finished stick. So, when I apply finish to the spindle, I wrap some painter's masking tape around the shaft, right under the whorl, to keep the finish from penetrating the wood in this area. Wrap the shaft - dab on the finish - hang it to dry. Repeat as many times as desired.

Admire your handiwork!

Supplies List -
-toy wheels - I've tried a couple of suppliers, and I really like Lee Valley Spoked Toy Wheels the best.
-dowels - hardware store, lumber yard, hobby lobby, walmart. For the larger toy wheels, the dowels in the cake-decorating department of walmart are, surprisingly, perfect.
-epoxy - hardware store, lumber yard, hobby lobby, walmart, and other places. Buy the one which dries clear or amber, and which has a long working time. The working time and setting time are listed on the front. Don't buy the quick setting kind for this project.
-hooks - Gate Latch USA
-sandpaper - about 200-400 grit.
-upholstery thread - walmart, joannes, hobby lobby, etc.
-fingernail polish - I use clear, but you use what you like.
- wood finish - I use Minwax natural, but you use what you like. You can buy it - hardware, lumber, big box store.

Epoxy Tools-

--something on which to mix the epoxy - it won't wash off, so it needs to be a throw-away something - junk mail works perfectly. I use old microfiches that the library was throwing away.

--something to stir the epoxy - popsicle stick, disposable fork, coffee stirrer.

--something to apply the epoxy - toothpick, skewer - something with a fine point.

--paper towel torn into smallish squares for wiping your fingers, your tools, the excess epoxy. Have lots prepared ahead of time.

--something to protect your work surface.

Tools needed
--dremel or drill for drilling hole for hook.
--something to hang the spindle from while the epoxy dries
--stout scissors for cutting the tubing
--something for mixing the epoxy

--scissors for cutting thread

--Xacto knife

More Sparkles!

2009-04-06T22:14:00.002-06:00

I had so much sparkly alpaca left over that I decided to knit another pair of wristies. I wasn't particularly happy with the stockinette ruffle, so for this pair, I cast on 84 stitches, and did k3p3 for the ruffle. Then, I did k3tog then transitioned to the k2p2 arm part. I like them OK, but I think that it is toooooo ruffly. Should I knit them again, I'll k6p6 for the ruffle, and I think that this will be a really nice compromise between the flat stockinette ruffle and the flutey k3p3 ruffle.

Thank you, Emma, for being such a nice model!

I knit these wristies for my friend, Allie. I knit THIS for her little grandson.

This little bunny is too cute! I found the pattern here, Heartstringsfiberarts.com Bunny

She was very easy to make, and she only takes a little bit of yarn and a little bit of fiberfill. I knitted the 6 inch square while attending the Pueblo Symphony - does this make me a completely mannerless boor that I knit at the symphony? We had wonderful seats, right up close to the front (where the light was great, lol) and I cast on as soon as we took our seats, and I ran out of yarn right as the last ovations were heard. Perfect timing!

I ran out of yarn just one row shy of completion. I had to wait until I got home to work in the ends of the wristies, cut off the excess, splice the bits together to have enough to cast off! Then, I washed and blocked the square, and took another look at the pattern, and had a sinking feeling. I still needed yarn for the EARS! Well, as it turns out, the very first thing I did when spinning this fiber was to knit a tiny swatch to see if the yarn was coming out OK for knitting the wristies. I also had a tiny bit of fluff left over - so I spun the fluff, unraveled the swatch and had just enough for the ears. Yay!

So, this photo shows you what you can knit out of two ounces of alpaca and angelina - enough for two pairs of wristies, one bunny and about 8 inches left over. I don't like to cut so close to the emergency zone. As it is, I had to spin a bit more "plain" alpaca in order to have something which which to do the sewing. I figured that it was OK to sew it up with non-sparkly yarn. I also used my plain alpaca for the little needle-felted tail.

A word of advice - don't stuff the bunny's body too tightly. I used to sew animal figures out of woven fabric, and I always thought that they were so much cuter if they were stuffed tightly. Well, with this knitted fabric, the bunny's body just kept accepting more and more fiberfill. It wasn't until I had her all sewed up and tied and everything that I noticed that her body was really too large for her little head. She stretched!

All in all, these were such fun! The wristies were completely brainless activities, and the bunny was just plain old FUN. Get yourself a ball of something exotic, or better yet, spin it yourself, and knit one or both of these projects.

Enjoy!
Rosemary
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Sparkles!

2009-03-31T15:53:00.002-06:00

My dear friend, Allie Neas, one of the owners of Eye Dazzler Alpacas, gave me two ounces of sparkly alpaca roving "to play with." She and I met at a yarn shop (actually, as it happens, we crashed a birthday party and got invited to share in their lunch - it's all in the timing! Thanks Karen, for allowing us to share in your wonderful party-potluck! Visit Karen at her shop, Colorado Fiber Arts, and wish her a belated Happy Birthday!), and I spun some of it on my handspindle, and it was just too gorgeous for words. Oh, the sparkle! It brings out the magpie in me.

As usual, I spun this very fine and very tightly spun because, well, I have my flaws. So, I casually mentioned that I just bet that I could spin this lovely roving into something a little more... useable... if I only had use of a spinning wheel.... so Allie loaned hers to me for the weekend. Now, this was very clever of me, don't you think?

This is what came home with me - an easier-to-use spinning wheel surely doesn't exist. I was able to set it up and get it running in no time at all. It's a Majacraft Suzie Pro Alpaca, and it's a wonderful machine! I just couldn't get over how easy and intuitive it was to set up and run. I especially like that it has a large, triangular opening for the yarn to pass through, rather than a little tube, like I've seen on other machines.

I spun a little while on a variety of alpacas in my stash - you can see my little pile there, in the lower left of the photo, then I sat down to spin the sparkley stuff. I spun all of the two ounces in just a few hours. This is amazing! I think that it came out very nice, with allowances for this being my first time on a wheel and all. I attempted to spin a thicker, soft, lofty yarn, and I like it!

Next, to prove that I did actually spin something useful, I sat down to knit some Mrs. Beeton's. The only problem is that I when I wanted to cast on, I was away from the house and away from my computer (Imagine that!) so I didn't have the pattern, so I came up with an approximation. Here's what I did - I worked a gauge swatch, and decided that 7 sets of k2p2 would make a nice size, so my "base number" is 28 stitches. I cast on three times this many, and knit stockinette for about one inch, then knit three together (slip 2 as if to knit, knit one, pass the two slipped stitches over) all the way around. Knit the cuff in k2p2 for approx 4.5 to 5 inches, or whatever length you like. Easy!

I finished these wristies in a nice little coffee shop on the Plaza in Taos. We returned from our trip a week ago, and until this morning, I hadn't seen my mitts, or my socks (future post) and I was beginning to think that I had left them at that nice little coffee shop on the Plaza in Taos! Oh, I was peeved with myself! However, as you can see, they returned (were in a child's room, aka "black hole"), and all is right in the world.

Anyway, back to the sparkly alpaca. This stuff spun just exactly like plain alpaca, which came as a complete surprise to me. I would have thought that the sparkle stuff was somehow stiff and non-compliant, and that it wouldn't stick to the fibers and draft out, but I was wrong. It drafted just fine, like it was alpaca fiber. This was nice. It was a very pleasurable spinning experience, watching the sparkle and feeling the alpaca, leave my hand and become yarn. I just love spinning!

Now, photographing it was another story. It's impossible to capture the sparkle! Very frustrating. However, I have a genius husband - I'm telling y'all - I'm surround, on all sides, by geniuses! He suggested that I underexpose the shot, and it works! Well, it works enough to demonstrate that sparkle is there - you have to *see* the sparkle with your own eyes in order to really appreciate it. Here is the skein, exposed as the camera wants to expose it.

Here is the skein, vastly underexposed. See? (make it bigger - you'll see it better)

So, like I said, I found the wristies just a few minutes ago, and asked my darling daughter to model them for me. It's very windy outside right now, so I thought that if we stood just inside the storm door, I'd have good light for the photo - (the "lump" on the uppermost wrist is G's wristwatch.) (Click the photo for a larger view)The dog got all excited because she KNOWS when photos are being taken and she wants to be in all photos, so here she is, wiggling and saying, "Pick me up pick me up pick me up."

When Grace didn't pick her up, she simply-
leaped into Grace's arms, silly dog. (Grace is wearing her nice satin jacket for this photo shoot - and her pajama pants. You aren't supposed to know about the pajama pants, but I couldn't resist Dixie and her cuteness, so don't tell Grace, OK? Thanks.)

So, here is my photo shoot, with Dixie. Aren't they cute? Yes, I mean Grace, Dixie *and* the wristies!

Then, I thought about taking an underexposed photo in order to show off the shine, so I thought that maybe over by the piano would work. Take a look at what this sparkly alpaca does! What the Red Shoes does for your feet, the sparkly alpaca does for your hands! It makes you play the piano like a maniac!

Here is a shot of the rest of the ball of yarn, and the wristies. There's plenty enough left to make another pair! So, one ounce would have easily completed this project. (in this photo, they don't look like they are the same size, I suddenly realized. They are just about the exact same size. I don't quite know why this photo came out so wonky.)

Here is another feeble attempt at photographing the sparkle. I'm telling you, this is the sparkiest yarn you could ever imagine, but you'll just have to believe me - I simply can't capture it in a photo.

Oh, I almost forgot! While in Taos, we visited a number of gem and rock shops - my son is taking a jewelry-making class and needed some stones for setting, and I found and fell in love with "Goldstone," a man-made stone which is sparkly. After a while, it dawned on me - it looks just like this alpaca!Goldstone doesn't photograph any better than sparkly alpaca does. Also, my camera does weird things with red - these two are closer to the same color in real life, but the photo makes them look quite different. Anyway, both are sparkly and pretty and I like them.

If you want some sparkly alpaca roving of your very own, then please contact Allie at EyeDazzlerAlpacas, and she'll fix you right up.

Cheers!
Rosemary
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COLORFUL pseudo rolags!

2009-03-17T00:35:00.003-06:00

Take a look at this!!!

Knittermobile (Ravelry) took one look at the pseudo rolag post and RAN with it! She's done some amazing work with blending colors - take a look -

Rolag - stripes and layers

Originally uploaded by Knittermobile

This is an example of one of her pseudo rolags, and here is the resultant yarn -

Yarn made from one rolag

Originally uploaded by Knittermobile

As I've said numerous times before - I'm surrounded by Geniuses!!!

Knittermobile, you are a Genius!!!

Oh my goodness gracious, take a look at those colors and how they are blended! I immediately placed orders with my favorite etsy sellers for some colorful roving, because I want to play, too.

Be sure to click the photos - or just go straight to Knittermobile's flickr account, and you can find more pictures of her colorblending with pseudorolags. Stunning, simply stunning. Also, such beautiful photographs - I'll have to ask her for her secret.

In the past few days, I've been playing around in my stash box - I'd like to spin for a sweater. I saw the most wonderful sweater on a lady at a fiber show last May - it is Moonlight, by Rowan. Whooee, that's not a good picture. If you are on Ravelry, then look at the project pages there - it's a great sweater!

I have gobs of perfectly lovely coopsworth locks, so I started playing. I didn't like spinning this particular fiber from the fold, so I decided to try making pseudo rolags - well, this stuff is soooo puffy and bouncy, that it wouldn't cooperate. It wants to spin from a cloud, but I can't quite figure out how I'm going to accomplish that and ply on the fly...

...so, I've included a few photos to demonstrate the work-around.

Basically, I forced it to comply by using a comb to wrangle it around a size 15 knitting needle.

(non-coopsworth hair furnished by my daughter's cat, Jingles. She likes to sleep on my brushing cloth, the little dear.)

I used the comb to fold the fiber over the needle, then I held the comb in place while I began to roll the needle.

Then, I rolled and rolled -

and it continued to be puffy and bouncy and not hold together into a rolag form, but instead, it fell all to pieces.

So I pressed down on it with my hands - pretty firmly, actually.

and I rolled and rolled until it compacted into a surprisingly hard, tight, and dense little bundle.

Then, amazingly, it spun like an absolute dream..... ahhhhhh..... I thought that I had ruined it by compressing it so, but actually, it spun quite easily. The pseudo rolag held together really well, and even though it was so dense, it still drafted like a dream. Huh. Always a surprise. Also, it was very easy to handle - before I figured out this work-around, the rolags always fell apart and were very difficult for me to work with. Another nice thing is that there is LOADS of fiber in that dense little bundle, so I was able to spin a long long strand out of one pseudo rolag. I like this aspect, too.

I was able to get a nice, even spin, and I did the ply on the fly magic and... ahhhhh.... it's really nice yarn! I think that it'll be perfect for a hardwearing, jeans-and-turtleneck, everyday, knock-around, sweater. It's a great color, too. It looks white in the photos, but actually it's a very light grey with strands of jet-black hairs - not in great density - but I really like these little strands of black.

I think that this is the wool I'm going to use for my project. Now, to contact the seller to see if she has any more left.

So, if you want to use a fiber with some fight to it, here is how to force it to comply.

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