YorkSett Arts and Crafts

Colombia 2012

2012-01-30T16:21:00.000-08:00

ETA: Grumble! blogger is up to something now. I can't get hard returns to show up. Excuse the mess!

I had to add all the paragraph tags by hand!.......so much for a content editor

The first month of the year is almost gone...well gone really! Fiberwise I have not done much this month, . I have not knit except for a couple of inches on my camo socks, the back of a cardigan on the machine that promptly became balls of yarn, and a cowl I knit yesterday, and is now drying. I have not sat idle either, I went to Colombia for a quick trip, a very short week. Getting ready for the trip took most of my time and energy the first two weeks in January, gone one week, and now the month is almost over.

The trip was wonderful, but bittersweet, my grandma passed away on January the 2nd, life played its tricks and I did not make it in time to see her one last time...I spent precious time with my dad, his wife, my siblings and nephews. A couple of visits with my cousins, and a dear family of very close friends. I did not visit with anyone else, not that I did not want to, time was too precious so I had to cut it short and be very selective of who I was going to spend time with. I had it all planned out, in a calendar, day by day, hour by hour. It all happened like clockwork, amazing since Bogota is a crazy city of 10 million people in which traffic is a daily nightmare. Somehow it all happened.

Three days into the trip my Lolita dog became ill, I found out via a bizarre email in which the pet sitter in answer to my question said she did not know if Lola had eaten..... With this I contacted a dear friend,asked her to go over to the house and check on her. Sure enough, she was very ill, was rushed to the vet and for a couple of days we did not know if she was going to make it. Miracles do happen, and now my beloved 14 yo yorkie is back home and doing quite well.

This is me being really picky, the other person in the knitting teacher wondering what else I could possibly find :)

Part of the reason of my trip to Colombia was to visit the Friends of Colombian Orphans Machine Knitting Workshop at Hogares Club Michin. I was the only board member of the organization that had not visited the site yet! About time since we have been at it for almost 4 years now. Two other board members and I had made arrangements with Michin to visit. We wanted to have time to talk with the kids in training, the teacher, and the admin staff. I wanted to see first hand the finished goods, the machines and get a feel for the teacher and the kids. They are my people and I can read them well, there is a cultural take in how people communicate. Communication is not just about spoken language, it is also about body language and the person listening on the other end.

I am very happy to report that things are going smoothly. The kids that have trained or are in training are happy, they have learned quite a bit, they are capable of making useful things on the machine. A little guy wants to become a fashion designer, and he is dead serious about it. Some of the others see it as a potential source of income in their future, there is even one that wants to become a doctor and sees machine knitting as a pass time and distraction for stressful times in her life. Hurray! in their eyes, it has a purpose, they are learning a skill, their lives are enriched with it.

The teacher is a wonderful woman who enjoys machine knitting and has now discovered that she loves teaching, and the kids, she is fully identified with the purpose of Michin, and is having a great time at it, aside from the fact that now she has become a full time employee. This means that we are touching yet more lives, expanding the purpose, we are giving this woman a steady source of income, health insurance and benefits for her and her kids.

The staff at Michin is the best! The organization was started 50 years ago by a woman who invited kids to her home after school in hopes of keeping them occupied and out of trouble until their parents got home from work. She fed them and came up with stuff for them to do. Much to her dismay she soon found out that some of the kids had no homes to go to, and no parents to wait for. Very soon she had more kids than space at her house, as time passed she learned of the troubling lives some of these kids had. Through donations and hard work she bought a house where kids could go after school and some even live at. Today they have seven houses, one for each age group, boys and girls are separated after a certain age, a new program created by the Colombian government is sponsoring one of the houses exclusively for battered women and their kids. The Colombian child protective services helps support the organization, but with so many kids there is never enough money. The big concern for everyone, and FOCO’s target population, kids over 14 who will soon age out of the orphanage and will have to leave if not adopted by 18. Bound to the streets or who knows where if they don’t have a skill that can help them earn a living. There are 170 kids at Michin, 100 of them have no legal ties with their families, either because they have been taken away or because they were abandoned so long ago that there is no telling where the families are. Eighty percent of those kids are 12 years old or older....those are the kids we have to focus on, and pray that the rest get adopted before they get there.

That is the short version of the story, lots more to it of course.......

Future goals, to create a cooperative so the machine knitting program becomes self sustainable, and a source of work for kids that age out, and expand to the battered women group. For that, we need money to buy more machines, and hire at least one more teacher. Michin is in the process of buying another house to move the woodwork shop, the bakery and the knitting shop. Once there we can expand the program. They are close to getting the house, most of the cash is ready, one more little push and it will happen....in the mean time, FOCO has to come up with the resources to full fill the goals.

Can you help? Five bucks will buy a pound of yarn for the kids to learn with...

And now we have Ewe

2012-01-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

This pattern came out at the end of the year, Fair Isle and stranded knitters quickly fell for it. Of course me too!

I used my own handspun yarn...not surprised to find out I had more than the 9 natural shades of wool called for, and the 9 I used are Shetland wool.

Ram heads:

Then the ewes:

It gets worse:

Ram and Ewe blanket

and even worse with a cowl

I think the cowl is a bit too much, but the blanket is a cutie for sure!

I might knit it but on the machine, as I said before I am focused on lace knitting and time is precious, since I want the blanket, have the yarn and it will go quicker on the machine....why not? Specially if it is my handspun yarn, and remember we said it is not like I am going to put the yarn on the machine push a button and come back to a finished blanket...nope..I have to start by drafting the pattern, punching the cards or drawing it in the software, it all depends on which machine is best for the yarn I have.

That will happen when I come back from far away lands in about a week or so.

Stay tuned!

Necessity Is The Mother Of Productivity

2012-01-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

The green one is a different pattern, here is a close up:

I needed a number of presents, and I had to come up with something quickly. I went shopping, but not store shopping, I went stash shopping instead. One pound 8 ounces each color of lovely mohair yarn, good for anything and nothing really. I had not been able to come up with a purpose for it in a couple of years. That would be nice, to make ‘something’ with all that, but what? what could it be that would go quickly, cover the required number of presents and be good enough to be proud of and worthy of giving away to loved ones?

I had thought about woven scarves, at 8 epi x 10 inches wide considering 10% takeup x 70 inches... 155 yards per scarf plus fringes plus loom waste, plus the amount required for weft, roughly another 100 yards. The plan sounded like a good one except I had controversial sources for the number of yards per pound, I did not want to wind and measure mohair yarn of all things, did I really have enough? Sampling in this case is tricky you need to weave at least one complete scarf to know if the end product is worth it, then set up the loom for bulk production. It sounded doable IF I had enough yarn, but something in the back of my mind did not really trust how the mohair would behave on the loom. What if I ended up with a big mess of yarn, sticky warp and a nightmare to weave? I did not have enough time to deal with a mess.....think think think.

Handknitting was out of the question, no time for that, the project had to involve some kind of machine either loom or knitting machine. Off to Ravelry I went, on the machine knitting list there is an ongoing thread where people post completed projects for the month. (it is a spin-off from ‘a garment a month’ something we did a couple of years back inspired by the Cabled Sheep, yes blame me, I was a copycat) There is where you are likely to find things that people are liking and making. Sure enough, Tuck Lace scarves by the bundle. Someone got a pattern from a guild meeting, shared it with everyone, and as quickly as ‘I like it, its easy’ tons of scarves made their appearance.

My next question: Would the mohair knit up easy on the machine? would I get all kinds of hanging fuzz on the gatepegs? Quick answer from another machine knitter who had done a complete tutorial on working with this yarn! Yarn and pattern in hand I went to the machine, 40 minutes later I had a lovely scarf, and then another, and another and another. In about three weeks I had 12 scarves! all the yarn used up, all the needed presents (and then some) ready to go.

Fiber friends are wonderful, all the community is great! The machine knitting community is smaller and we are all learning and unearthing old techniques together, also coming up with new stuff more suitable for current times and available yarns. There is hardly a question that goes unanswered, most of the 60’s hard core machine knitters are still around, and active, lots of new comers available to learn. I am sort of in the middle, I don’t know a lot, I learned bits and pieces from my mom, have read my way through books, handouts, magazines and tutorials, I know more about it than most of the newer generation of machine knitters, but have lots yet to learn.

We are seeing more and more people interested in machines, mostly its people that started out as handknitters and are overwhelmed with huge stashes. There are only a couple of companies making new machines, most of the people have found theirs in a basement, under a bed, in an attic, on Craigslist or Ebay. What is amazing most of these machines get be brought back to life with a new sponge bar ($30) and a bit of oil and TLC. Newer generations, the really geeky ones, are finding ways to connect electronic machines to computers bypassing the expensive connecting systems available. It will only get better. Hopefully the existing companies will keep production going, and maybe the ones that left will come back on board.

….and no its not cheating, you can’t put the yarn on the machine, push a button and walk away...it does not work that way. You have to have a swatch, figure out your gauge, cast on, knit, decrease and increase, cast off, block, steam and seam just like any other piece of knitting. In handknitting it is easy to spot a mistake, you can see both the right and reverse sides of the fabric at any given time, in machine knitting you are seeing only the wrong side all the time. Make a mistake and you might not see it until the piece is completed and off the machine....make a mistake, push the wrong button, forget to thread the carriage and all your work will land on your feet, unceremoniously just with a big ‘broken toe bang’. In machine knitting you really have to understand pattern construction, there are a number of techniques for bands, button bands and shaping that are similar but different than hand knitting. Of course you can buy a pattern and follow the instructions, push the carriage and come out with something wearable, but patterns for modern looks are not all over the place....the whole process makes you a more recursive knitter I think.

…..No doubt things go faster on the machine, disasters are also bigger and not as forgivable as in hand knitting. Do I hand knit? of course all the time! my sticks are my loyal companions every where I go.

What is ahead for 2012?

2012-01-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

I am here! knitting and weaving and spinning and having a grand time at it. This past year was not big on knitting projects, I completed a few but not as many as in the past. I wove more than I knit, I think.

I also set up the knitting machines again, knit a couple of sweaters on them, and never took pictures, that must be a first for me.

The last two years have not been very good in my personal life, but we won't go there. I am grateful I am hanging in there and still tangling up yarn.

My stash did grow, a LOT with the recent closing of the LYS, it is hard to stay away from lovely yarns at great closeout prices. I bought several packages for complete cardigans, some for the machine some for handknitting. But I don't have specific patterns in mind for any of them. Time will tell and I will either design something or follow/modify a pattern.

The plan this year is to make a good dent in the stash, both weaving and knitting. Weaving just got easier and I should not procrastinate as much between projects because I bought a tieup assist contraption for the Glimakra loom. Now that I don't have to crawl under the loom to tieup and I can put on one long warp and weave and change tieups easy, I should be able to do a lot more. I wanted to do this for a long time, but I kept putting it off. Finally in early Fall I set up the loom with a 16 yd warp for towels...I could change the treadling sequence but did not want to crawl and change the tieup. I soon grew bored with the possibilities and lack of pattern variation, it took me a long long time to finish the warp. That is when I decided life is too short and if want to get more weaving done the tieup assist was the way to go.

The second and big plan is to knit more on the machines, there are so many things I want to do, and so many lovely things out there, I have to do at least some on the machine if I ever want to get at least half way down the list.

Handknitting of course, my forever love with lace. I have to finish Princess so I can move on to another large project which will likely be the Queen Spider shawl. The piece is lovely, and I love the story behind it, it is a must.

Then there are socks, and more sock yarn that is waiting for me to work on.

In conclusion, I doubt I will sit idle, and I know I will have fun.

Last but not least revive the blog, keep track of what I make and write down the good and the bad so at least I can learn from my own experiences.

With that in mind, I welcome a New Year and wish you all the same!

Weaving Deflected Threads

2011-09-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Last night I was reading emails and wondering how I could use some glitter yarn to weave a scarf (yes I tend to multitask). To my surprise there had been a recent discussion in one of the weaving lists. As always, generous fiber artists had lots of references, among others one to an article in Handwoven, Nov./Dec. 2009, pp. 28-29 by Bobbie Irwin. Magazine, yarn and loom came out, and by 3:00 am this morning I was ready to start weaving. I started measuring the warp at 12:30 am, so it wasn't too bad.

The article says to pickup the individual threads, but I figured there had to be a faster way of doing it. I combined techniques, made string heddles attached to a heddle stick. I am almost done weaving the scarf.

Because I know others are interested in using novelty yarns in the warp, I made this short video illustrating how I did it. Hope it helps someone.

My Dad bought a doll for me for my birthday!

2011-07-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Told you he would, he was as happy as I was. We had a great time, he looked at the dolls. Discarded a couple he did not like and we both decided on this one.

I am blessed, I have the most wonderful Dad in the world.

The ones that live with me already

2011-05-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

As I said, I have dolls, many. Some are stored away, some came right out of the moving boxes last year when I moved. The first thing that was hung to a wall in the new house were the Saint's and the doll shelves. The oldest one is my age,a few I bought in Spain about 14 years ago, the latest ones are from 2002. I have to add that besides the shelf they also have chairs, rocking chairs and beds..
Down from the shelf and to their chairs they all came yesterday for a photo session. I didn't do anything to any of them, just took the pictures as is.

Here we go:

This guy is Tachi, he was my first doll ever. My mom knit his overall years ago, he is difficult to dress because his legs are slightly bent as a baby's would be, he has movement in his arms and legs but it is limited. He is made out of rubber instead of vinyl as we know dolls today. His eyes are fixed, they do not move, I think they are some sort of buttons, no real hair. I love him to pieces.

Next up is Carlitos. He was made by Fabrica Nacional de Muñecos, in Colombia. They had all different sizes of the same doll. I did not like him as much as Tachi because he is a bit on the large side. Still love him, we have been together for a long time. My mom made his overall, he had commercial socks but one went missing when we moved from Colombia to Utah, so I knit him a pair of baby booties. He has real men underwear. A big large on him....I suspect they belonged to my brother at one point!
His eyes move, although the right one has limited movement. No hair, movement on arm and legs. He is also rubber but harder than Tachi.

These three guys are from Spain, they make lovely dolls there. The expressions on the faces are amazing. Check the little girl nose and tears. These came to live with me thanks to my sister's brother in law. He had gone to Africa to do some field work on the Colombian Malaria vaccine, and on his way back he would always spend a couple of days in Madrid. We would give him money and he would buy dolls. When we did not ask him to bring dolls back, he would call us making sure we really did not want dolls.
From left to right:
The newspaper boy, his mouth is open announcing the daily press. I love his pullover, it is machine knit, and lovely. His pants are Corduroy.
The one in the middle is a tiny little guy, I love his teeth, he has the most amazing cow eyelashes I have ever seen in a doll.

I will post closeup pictures of their faces.

The one on the right is the sad little girl. I love her face!

This girl is the one I bought in Madrid. The store is a 5 story building full of all kinds of dolls and accessories. I had the hardest time deciding what to buy. I finally got this girl because she had a Winter outfit on and I could buy the Summer one. The Summer dress is made of cotton fabric with a lovely flower print and a scarf for her hair.

She has the most beautiful face, her body is cloth, the limbs and head vinyl. She does not stand on her own, never has. She is 22 inches long.

My forever heroes! Pinocchio, Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny. I bought all three of them at Disneyland in Orlando, 1997 (I was NOT a little girl!). I was there with my dad, and his wife. I found Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck fairly easy. Pinochio was another story. It was getting dark, close to closing time, and I had not found the guy. One of the managers who knew I was looking for him, finally found him at one of the booths..of course is was the one farthest away from where we where. My dad and I walked hand in hand all the way back there and got Pinocchio so he could come live with me. Neither him nor Bugs Bunny are Disney characters, it was a miracle I even found them. I had seen others, but the faces and detail of these is unique. Click on the picture to see Bugs Bunny, blogger is cutting the picture for some reason.

Of course I have move dolls.....Barbies of course, her little brother and sister, no Ken. A couple of my Barbies are early editions,the bodies are not soft like the vinyl they use for them today, it is some kind of paste, one has a fixed head. Also a baby that I bought at age 10 with savings from my allowance, half went for the doll, half went for books. Also at least 3 or 4 modern Barbies, the bare bone ones, I bought them to make the Paradise Collection dresses. Turns out the patterns are made to scale and the dolls are slightly larger than Barbie. The Lady Di gown I showed yesterday is one of those. The nice thing about those dolls is that the arms move at the elbow and at the waist making it a lot easier to dress. You can style their hair too.....I did that on all three of the ones I made. They said to cut the hair for Lady Di, but I did not, just pulled it up and rolled it (with real rollers, hair dryer and the whole 9 yards). All this Paradise Collection doll dressing happened between 2001-2002....not too long ago, I was already married and over 40. I am doing it again. I will never stop loving my dolls, or put them away. I will always have them on display and play with them every so often.

I am eager for my dad to come so we can go to the new American Girl store in Virginia. I have to confess, I am having a hard time waiting for the day to come. In just a couple of days, I have collected knitting and sewing patterns for clothes for them......I have to have a doll to try them on! I might have to get an AG doll before then, that does not mean I will not ask my dad to buy me one. I can always have two right?

A girl has to have a doll for her birthday, right?

2011-05-28T17:34:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, I was born and raised in Colombia South America, I don’t have children and just found out about the AG last week! Backtrack about 45 years, my mom was big into dolls. She always said she bought dolls for me, and made clothes for my dolls, but the more I think about it, the more I think she really did it for herself :)….she knew all about knitting, crocheting and sewing clothes for the dolls, she was well known at the Doll Hospital in Bogota…she knew the names of just about any doll there was available in Colombia back then…..even when I had grown up, she would make new outfits for everyone at least once a year, her version of Spring cleaning! For some reason, we never knew of the AG dolls.

I have my two favorite dolls, plus a few I bought in Spain, and of course Barbies and clothes. When I first came to the US I found Paradise Dolls and made several of the gowns…still have a couple in the queue.

But these AG dolls are just TDF!

I have no children of my own, there are no girls in my family….but I have to have a doll! LOL! I told my husband and he said “I think that is more than alright”. Gotta love the man!

I was going to order a doll but then found out about the brand new store opening in Tyson’s corner in VA…..hummm my mom is no longer with us, but my dad is coming in July, he will be here on my birthday.
My plan: I am going to ask my dad for a doll, and I am going to go to the store with him to get it. There, I don’t care. A girl can have her dad buy her a doll for her birthday right?

Princess Out n Bail

2011-05-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

After 3 years of solitary confinement, Princess is out on bail. Yes, you read correctly. I started Princess back in 2008 with great enthusiasm, it only took a few months to complete the edge, border, and center of the shawl. This was the second printing of the pattern, long awaited and longed for. As soon as the reprinting was announced, I jumped on it. I had the yarn and the needles ready months ahead of the announced date. A couple of other great knitters and I dove at it with passion. The first thing I did was modify the bottom edge to allow for an easier knit (less), and better distribution of the stitches to be picked up for the border. It was plain math and did not change anything in the structure of the pattern, just a bit of redistributing. As we went along, the other knitters and I found mistakes in the charts, corrected them, blogged about them, made sure everyone out there has access to our findings and kept going. I was on the final section of the edge when I discovered a major fault in the pattern...there was no corner on the edge to go along with the corner of the border which in turn created the most dreadful dogear ever seen. It was my fault and only mine for not thinking ahead, I could have corrected the problem when I started knitting, at this point, it was too late. A couple of other people knit right through it, finished their shawls, blocked, and took pictures and went on their merry way. Not me, oh no! how could I? I pondered over it for a couple of days, I knew there was not a thing I could do about it, but emailed the designer asking why. The reply shocked me, in short it said something like, it is the way it is, that is the way the Shetland knitters did it, I did not bother to correct it (maybe she did not even notice it, who knows), it will block out....well Princess was in my mind a master piece, a piece that would make me proud to be a lace knitter, I could not quite grasp the idea to rig it and block it out, and let it be. I blogged about it, I ranted, I complained, I tried talking myself into the idea that it did not really matter, that it would be beautiful regardless, that it would be OK...nothing helped, it was still there, ugly, proof of poor workmanship AND I had pictures to show for it.

So, in a bag with the pattern the row counter went the whole thing. I could not make myself work on it. I did not knit lace for quite some time, instead I knit socks and cardigans and would do just about anything to avoid the slightest yarn over in my knitting. I was set on letting it just sit there till the end of times. I did eventually turn back to lace, after all it is my knitting first love. Once in a while I would take Princess out, look at it and sigh, each time, the rage of a terrible mistake came back. A few months back, when Interweave Press released the Margaret Stove book and video, I took a close look at the Granny Cheyne’s Shetland Shawl. I want to knit it so bad! I will not start another Shetland shawl until I do something with Princess, I can't live with UFO's in my life....that is just the way it is. I promised myself I would reconsider Princess after finishing Eala Bhan. Last night Princess came out of the bag, it was just like I had put her away, the yarn has turned a bit yellow but it will be OK after a good wash, I found my place on the chart, found a new container for her so I can move her around the house without risk of snags, now it sits by my bed. I went to sleep looking at the pile and dreaming of the day I finish it. I know it will never give me joy I had anticipated, but it will be out for the world to see. I can then move on into lovely and complex pieces with a hard learned lesson. I can design, there is almost no pattern I have knit that I have not made changes to. Why did I trust the Princess pattern so blindly? I will never know, and will never do it again.

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2011

2011-05-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

If it is possible to have too much fun, that is exactly how I felt after MS&W this year.

It all started last February when I sold a spindle on Ravelry to someone I did not know. After the deal was finalized, she asked me if she could come and stay at my house to go to show this year. I said, sure! come on over!

She flew in on Friday, we met at the Metro station and rode the commuter bus. A quick trip that night to the LYS, and dinner. We got to the fairgrounds early Saturday morning, way before 8:30. Good thing, lots of people around already. Got a good parking spot and off we went.

First target: the Main Building, more specifically the Spanish Peacock booth. I had special ordered a mini Tibetian spindle and, although Mike was holding it for me, I did not want to risk it. They could get busy and sell it in error to someone else. Sure enough, when I got there at 8:45 the spindle had already been 'saved' a couple of times. Spindle in bag, off to the Corridale booth. First customers of the day. I got three 2 lbs bags from different sheep. Lovely stuff. Long, soft and clean as can be. From there on it really did not matter to me were we went as long as we would stop by and get a T-shirt for my dear friend in Oregon, we did mid morning after the rush had passed.

We walked all over the place in random order, the outside vendors, the barns one by one, aisle by aisle, outside new vendors. We went several times back to the the Main building, seems like each time we went there one of us would end up with something different.

My friend went wandering into the fleece sale and found a lovely Jacob/Cotswool fleece, very long locks, clean and beautiful colors. She did not want to carry it back with her and showed it to me. I in turn bought it in a heart beat. Lots of work will go into it, I will sort the colors, wash the locks, comb and spin it into beautiful yarn. One day it will become a multicolored garment.

I also bought the Spinning Wheel and Accessories collectors book, a couple of double end crochet hooks, clever tool. On one side it has a crochet hook and on the other a knitting needle tip, one of them does have a crochet hook on each side. I called mine the double hookers.

I spun on the great wheels, chatted with friends we ran into. Spun on a Schacht Reeves wheel at the Carolina Homespun booth. Stopped by the Woolee Winder booth and chatted with the ever clever and giving Nathan while my friend gave a Hansen wheel a test spin.

We ate lamb in all the forms we found and ice cream cones, many ice cream cones! I love those dipped in chocolate.

We went back on Sunday because I had someone to meet for yet another Ravelry transaction 'smiles'. Since we were there already we took another stroll, no barns this time, just the Main building and some of the outside vendors. Talked to the woodworker that sets up outside by the main entrance....forgot his name, he will be making a cone core for a cone winder...contraption that I will show here when I get it back.

The leather guy fixed my little MP3 player purse, also with beautiful workmanship and included the price of the fix in what I had paid for another bag the day before. People are so generous!

We rode the tractor back to the car, and got out of there right around three,came home to explore our goodies and dream of next time.

I love fiber shows. The feeling of people all driven by fibers, spinning wheels, clever craftsman, yarn, bags, pots, auctions, books, needles, gadgets, animals, technique, lessons, and what have you! All of us with the same goal, create something with our hands. Color, there is always color natural or otherwise. Everyone is happy there, most in a rush because who knows, we might miss something! The vendors did well, I think, except for one who was for some reason not happy at all, sat at the back of her booth, with her head down, would not greet people, it was the only empty booth I saw every single time I walked by. I hope she did well, she had nice stuff but I was not in the mood to go in and talk to someone that was not thrilled like the rest of us.

I can hardly wait for next year, I am sure I will come up with something I have to have. If nothing else, I will go chat with people and eat chocolate dipped ice cream cones.

Kumihimo with Rodrick Owen

2011-05-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was at a Kumihimo Workshop with Rodrick Owen, and the Blueridge Spinners and Weavers guild. (That is my new guild) It was great!
One of the participants posted pictures here:
Torque Story
Since I am in a couple of them I figured I'd post the link.
I have pictures of my own and will share them soon......it might be a while because this weekend is Maryland Sheep and Wool!

TTYL

A sample of my handspun yarn

2011-04-16T10:10:00.001-07:00

Sample
Originally uploaded by larodrig13

I was in the process of ordering a new spinning wheel from Alden and Stephanie. They requested a sample of my handspun yarn to help them figure out what the specs of my wheel had to be.
No problem! I have some....I went digging here and there, from a small plastic bag I went to a mesh laundry basket. This does not include the brown and white fleeces, already spun, that are set aside for a blanket. It does not include all the different projects I have made with handspun yarn. It also does not include four 8 oz bobbins sitting waiting to be wound off.
Clearly, I don't need another wheel since the ones I have seem to be doing the job. I don't need more yarn either, at least for a while.

What I really need is to get busy and wind off all this yarn and make things with it.
As a side note, the Helix scarf project I had blogged about failed. I knit a section and the yarn is way too scratchy for a scarf. Its the mohair in the yarn that does it. It will be recycled along with this pile into cloth. It will happen on the loom, you can be sure of that!

Corridale Fleece Challenge, Multnomah the Finished Piece

2011-02-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

Here is what we decided to knit with the yarn from the Corridale Fleece Challenge

It is tiny and cute as a button, if I say so.

I knit the garter stitch part with the yarn I spun, and the lace with the yarn that my friend S spun. In the finished piece, you can barely tell the yarns are a bit different.
We hand washed the locks as Margaret Stove does it, because my friend S had learned from Margaret years ago. The yarn is spun also ala Stove way. If you are interested in spinning Gossamer weight yarns, check out Margaret's video, priceless!

I might just have to get another one of these fleeces at the Maryland S&W festival this year.

The original pattern is from HelloKnitty but other than the setup rows, I did my own thing.
Needles US 4, Addy Lace needles.

It kinda sorta goes together but not really.....

2011-01-30T14:43:00.000-08:00

Last year, someone gave me a big bag of roving, among others there was this soft stuff , bits and pieces, not much. I used it to practice long draw. The pictures show the result. I know the colors don't quite go together, just sort off. There is mohair and wool in the mix. It can not be used for warp because it is loosely spun, add the mohair and you will get lots of yarn cuffs! Otherwise it would be ideal for warp for a multicolored, designed on the reed throw.

I am going to knit an Helix Scarf with it.

There are 8.8 oz of yarn, guesstimating there should be about 300 yds, maybe a bit more. It should make a nice length scarf for bitter Winter mornings.

I wound individual balls of color for the final decision on the color sequence.

If at the end the colors are just too weird together, I will wear one tail on the front and one on the back The person looking at me either from front or back will never know I am wearing a really weird scarf! That or apply the 10 ft rule.

See you later!

ETA: In the pictures on the blog you can only see 5 balls, there are actually 6. If you want to see the complete sequence click on the picture to see it on Flickr. Why do they keep cutting and rotating pictures, I don't know........

ETA more...it just occurred to me that people might think I am knitting this because I am completely out of yarn, LOL! that is NOT the case by any means. I have enough yarn to last me beyond life expectancy. I just want to knit it, that's all.

Waulking

2011-01-22T07:24:00.000-08:00

There are two times I can remember that I got tears in my eyes at the sight of fiber creations. The first one, the day I saw pictures online of Shetland Shawls, I could not believe what I was seeing. It was a dream come true, never seen one before, I guess somehow I had envisioned one.

The second time, was in Salt Lake City, I am unsure of the date, maybe 2006 at the Great Basin Fiber Fair. They had announced a Waulking demonstration, I had no clue of what that was, but someone told me it was a process for felting cloth. I stuck around and watched all the set up. This lovely woman, Anne Carroll Gilmour was in charge of it all. I knew about her because I had seen some of her designs at the Black Sheep Wool Co. and from Spinderella.

As she set everything up, people started coming around and invited to participate. I did not participate because my arms hurt on a regular basis and I avoid any additional strain on them. When Anne started signing to instruct the participants, I got the first set of goose bumps. It was just Row Row Your Boat, but Anne's voice carried through in a lovely manner.
The process is for fulling, not really felting woven cloth. The method comes from the Scottish Gaidhealtachd, the Hebrids to be more exact. A large piece of woven cloth is soaked in soapy water and moved around a table while pounding it at the same time. The video shows it a lot better than I could ever describe it.

The resulting cloth is fulled, and used for outerwear garments such as jackets, coats, hats. I would imagine it is also used for blankets or bed covers.

The process, the singing, the community effort towards usable cloth, the joy that everyone feels, is like magic. I still get goose bumps when I watch the video.
If you ever get a chance to see one life, don't hesitate. There are no words to describe the beauty of it all.

Red comes from bugs

2011-01-18T05:17:00.000-08:00

One of the things I enjoy the most is dying, more so if its with natural dyes. A few days back I used a kit from Prochemical to dye with Indigo.

Here is what I ended up with (the picture of the blue fiber alone kept coming up too washed out, it worked best when the camera had the white to set the balance):

This past weekend I dyed with Cochenille bugs. You crush the dry bugs with a coffee grinder, put them in a little bag (an old nylon stocking), bring to boil, add cream of tartar, boil, add tin, boil again. The recipe said to boil the fiber.....I think not! the risk of felting the whole thing is too much. The final color depends on the amount of bugs, and the fiber. You can see how the different fibers take color different. The brightest is wool, the next shade down Kid Mohair and the lightest is silk.

There are 8 ounces in all, it will be blended and carded. Then it will sit around until it speaks up and tells me what it wants to be.

Blending and Carding

2011-01-15T13:04:00.001-08:00

wool alpaca and silk
Originally uploaded by larodrig13

The Wasatch Woolpack Handspinners guild is having a fiber challenge this year again. Each one of us received 8 ounces of natural color (white) wool, alpaca and silk.

My friend S dyed hers and did not like it much, because she wanted it Navy blue. Hers was very similar to the color I wanted for mine. Humm...what if we trade? I had an Indigo dying kit and my fiber was still white .

I dyed mine, and carded it on the Patrick Green carder, pulled roving out and sent it her way.

Here is a picture of what I sent to her:

Here are a couple of videos of the Indigo dying process: Indigo

I was not totally convinced it was going to work, but it did, much to my relief.

She sent hers my way. I just got done blending and carding it. I love the color. Under the light in my studio it looked blue, under day light it looks purple. Either way, I love the color.

I want to spin it and knit a lovely shawl I saw. The challenge is getting the yardage I need. My default yarn is about 700 yds/ 8 oz., there are 8 oz and the pattern calls for 1000 yds. I know I can spin it, I just need a bit of concentration.

Plan D

2011-01-07T04:58:00.001-08:00

Should really have been plan A.

For while I have been thinking that the window in my office has a shade that does not allow light in unless it is rolled up. If I roll it up, you can see inside the room. It leaves me at plain sight of whom ever happens to walk by or peek in. Computers, printers, camera, etc, etc. NOT GOOD. A dark room is not an option.

I asked DH to put up a curtain rod, and I would make a curtain soon. I knew I had curtain veil. It so happens that the veil is cut up in strips of 13, 15, 20 inches. I know I brought this from Colombia and I used the original veil to make curtains for my house there. Why do I have such uneven pieces? I have NO clue. It might have been that these are the remnants from the different windows in my former house, who knows. Adding up, even if I seam the strips, there is not enough to cover the window x 2.5 for a proper curtain.....grumble, ditch plan A.

I thought I could add lace strips in between and make an original curtain. Plus I could learn to make fell seams. The lace strips are in some very safe place because I cannot find them....I know I have some, I am sure I do, and they are at least 10 inches wide. With the missing lace, ditch plan B.

Plan C would be to buy fabric and make the drape. BUT I do not want to buy more stuff! I have more than enough as is, ditch plan C.

There is this yarn, also from Colombia, and I have tons of it. At least 4 one kg cones! Well I am going to make the curtain, I am going to knit it on the knitting machine, plan D.

That means it will be a while, in the mean time, I hung and held with clamps a curtain that I knit with the same yarn for the kitchen window in Colombia, not wide enough, added a strip of the fabric to cover up.

It looks UGLY but now they cannot see me from outside. Having this awful fixture hanging in my office will certainly make me hurry up and knit the proper curtain.

Stay tunned!

Triangular Scarf Handspun Merino

2011-01-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

A very simple triangular scarf with a lace edge, the center is garter stitch, knit, knit knit.

I used 450 yards of handspun Merino. Needles US 5

This time around, I ended up with a 30 inch tail! I have to quit doing this!

Next up, I am not sure. I have a couple of projects started and several in mind. I want to learn to quilt and sew this year.

Corridale Fleece Challenge

2010-12-28T07:18:00.001-08:00

May this year, Maryland Sheep and Wool, my two friends and I bought a bit over a pound of a lovely Corridale fleece. One of us does not spin due to health related issues. The challenge was to wash, prepare for spinning and spin the fleece into yarn. There are 6 skeins total, each one of us will get 2 skeins, one from each spinner, and make a finished item with it.
Here is my share and a little blurb of how I did it.
Sadly I do not have pictures of the fleece, or I might have but can't remember where now.

I received a bit over 8 oz of raw fleece and separated it in three lots of a bit under 3 oz each.
Handwashed the locks one by one.

First batch, I used a flicker.
Second batch, I used fine wool combs
Third batch, I used a dog comb.

Then spun each on the Majacraft Rose with the lace attachment. I used a Nostespine to make center pull balls because I did not want to risk making a mess with balls made with a ball winder. Plyed on the Majacraft wheel.

The first picture is the yarn drying.

This one is the three skeins:

Output weights:

The one that was flicked has 2.8 oz, the wool combs 2.6 oz and the dog comb 2.6 oz.

All three skeins look identical in weight and quality.

Now I will wait for the other spinner to finish hers, send out the yarn to the final recipients.
Once I receive my other skein, I will decide what to make with it. I am sure my yarn is bulky weight compared to the other spinner's yarn, it will be interesting to see what I can come up with.

As Daryl Lancaster said recently in her blog:
"I will take a pile of stuff and see where it takes me"
Only this is not just stuff, it is (in my eyes) beautiful, soft lovely yarn from a friendship fiber challenge.

Spin on!

The Grey Cardigan

2010-12-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

It was 6 months before I got around to get the buttons on.
The pattern is from the UK magazine "The Knitter' I love the cables on it. After I finished it, I read somewhere, probably Ravelry that there are mistakes in the pattern.....oh well! I did not notice any and the I can see now big flaws in it.

Yarn: Cascade 220, five skeins
Needles US 7 for the body, US 6 for the ribbing.

Close up of the cables. Like them lots!

I am currently kind of out of knitting love. I am working on another self designed shawl using my handspun. It is black Merino and I am liking the results, but for some reason I don't seem to be knitting as much these days. I am up to other stuff soon to be revealed.

Stitch on! whatever type of stitches you are using, it keeps us sane.

Just about anything can be a fiber tool

2010-11-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

things such as dishwashers...how you might ask?

My friend Terri (aka the enabler) casually mentioned one day that she had gotten all these wood bobbins for sectional warping at a nearby store. She sent a picture and of course I gasped. The bobbins are antiques and I figured I would just do with my cardboard ones. I thought those were a one time find and there would no left overs for me. I forgot about it until one day that I went to said store (I am not saying where b/c I know for sure there are no more bobbins left now, sorry) and asked the store enabler if by any chance there could be more bobbins, I would love some. Store enabler said maybe not but maybe yes and how many would I need? Sixty, is the rods I have on my spools rack. Besides I think I will never ever weave anything above 60 epi. Enabler said he/she would look and see and call me. Next visit to the store, and no bobbins. This time, I did get enabler to write down my number and save it. I figured hope is the last thing ever to be lost.

What would you know! Last Friday I got a call saying my bobbins were ready and waiting for me! Yesterday morning bright and early I headed out in bobbin rescue mission.

They are wonderful! the core is walnut and the ends are some kind of industrial type plastic strong enough to resist falling on concrete floors at industrial mills and not breaking.

There was a slight problem, there was fine silk, used to weave men's ties on them, and of course they were not clean. Armed with a matt cutting knife the job of cutting the silk off went quite fast. Here is a sample of what was in the spools:

The silk is lovely and there are all kinds of lovely bright colors. It is making its way across country to Spinderella who will wash it, and turn it into beautiful Thrums. I will be getting a share of the Thrums roving but the bulk of it will be for her to sell. I know it will be lovely.

Here is a closeup of a bobbin, and the paper that wrapped the core and the two tools I used to cut it off:

Bobbins waiting in line, 65 total, I got a few spares just in case:

I got most of them done last night and left a few for today.

Here is where the dishwasher played it's roll. As instructed, I put them in the dishwasher. Perfect place to wash them. High temp water dry on demand. It did take two runs to get rid of the 'old smell'. Now they are nice and clean and will be used to put a long warp on one of the looms:

More bobbins make one happy weaver:

ETA: Spools on the rack. They are a bit damp, sitting on the rack for a while will dry them out:

The Dory Shawl

2010-11-28T11:29:00.000-08:00

Here it is.
I love it! nice and soft, drapes nicely. Perfect for Winter commute.

Who needs a crochet hook?

2010-11-17T02:19:00.000-08:00

Last week while at a meeting, I knitted the Dory yarn. It is a shawl, in memory of my loved Dory who passed away last May. I was spinning the yarn the day she died and I wanted to make something special to keep me warm.

I had 450 yds (6 ounces), casted on for a triangular shawl in stockinette stitch and knit until I had used up 60% of the total. The border is a stitch pattern from one of Barbara Walker's books, 'Background Lace' . It is an interesting pattern with dropped yarn overs on the wrong side, which are the ones that make the lace.

The cast off is crochet cast-off with 5 chains between two anchor stitches. Well.....at the meeting I did not have a crochet hook...what to do? It was mid afternoon and I was surely going to fall sleep unless I found something to do with my hands. I fiddled and looked at it for a while and figured I could work the crochet with the knitting needles just as knitting one stitch on top of the next.. it worked much to my relief.

Here it is, one stitch right on top of the next, and the next count five, anchor with two stitches from the border and keep going.

I was so entertained with my unvention that I did not notice the tail getting shorter and shorter and shorter.....ooops!

This much was left over...it was quite a scare, I did not want to have to undo all that work on about 400 stitches, plus a couple of rows of the stitch pattern.

I has happened twice in a row. I really hope this does not turn into a pattern!

Pictures of the finished shawl blocked and dry will follow.

Spindle Bags!

2010-11-14T11:59:00.001-08:00

A while back I said I was making spindle bags, life got in the way and the project was set aside for a while.

Now I am presenting the ultimate, clever, hard case, lined, sturdy lovely design!

I am quite pleased with the little bags. To see more, head on over to my Yorksett Arts & Crafts on Etsy.

No more broken spindles ever!

ETA: The tin cans are 10.5 inches long and will fit one of the Spanish Peacock's mini Russians. Standing straight up about 1/4 inch sticks out of the can, but if you lean it goes right in. The largest whorl that will fit is 3 inches in diameter.
The bag is 6 inches longer than the can. I can make longer containers, cardboard, like in mailing tubes cut to size. Another container that I can line are the oatmeal as in Quaker oatmeal ones. But I am a bit hesitant to use those because insects might get attracted by the oatmeal. The ones from dishwasher soap, the little bars that go in the dishwasher? those are also wider but shorter than the oatmeal ones.

Too close for comfort!

2010-11-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

Another one and probably the last scarf in a long time. This one came about because I had to replace my old, well worn Winter scarf. The yarn is the same one I used for my sister's lace scarf, Schulana Merino Cotton DK weight, 2 1/2 skeins, about 75 grams. Needles US 3, 47 inches long.

I wanted a dense stitch pattern. I used Brioche stitch caston 200 stitches and knit round and round and round until I ran out of yarn.....well came a bit too close.

The first go at casting off showed I did not have enough yarn, painfully I took the castoff out plus one additional round, I did make it but barely...the tail is a scant inch. The rest are snips from the ball joins. The tail on the top is still attached to the last castoff stitch.

Here is a closeup of the scarf to show the stitch pattern, because of the nature of the Moebius both sides right and wrong show on the same side. It is nice and stretchy to go over my head to wrap twice around the neck with ease. Done with scarfs for now!

Short Documentary on Linen

2010-11-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

Here to watch. Linen Video

For those of us who love natural fibers, enjoy!

Some stuff has to be reinvented...

2010-11-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

For a while I had a long list of stuff that had yet to be invented, cell phones were at the top of the list. Those are better now, they still need some work done...longer battery life for one...but that is a topic for some other time.

Over the years, I have bought several irons, they leak, they clog, they fall....like this one, that I knocked over with the ironing board...

When I bought this iron the brand had terrible reviews, I bought it because they had a really good price at Costco and I needed it in a hurry.

This time around I wanted to buy one with a huge water tank because my new studio does not have a near by water supply. Off I went to the Pattern Review forums and the Artisan's Corner forums to look around and see what people have.

There are basically three kinds of irons:

The common home steam iron with terrible reviews and the annoying feature of automatic shut-off. They leak after a while and the water tank is small. They have to be replaced quite often (and sooner if you drop them .....)

The steam generator irons that vary in price and durability. On average they hold 33 ounces of water, some have auto shut-off, some don't. The big minus of these systems, the buttons seem to be a fragile and fall off or break.If you run out of water in the middle of a project, you have to wait 10 min for the thing to cool down in order to open the tank and fill it back up.It also takes a while to heat back up. They do have a 3 year warranty which is good if you can find one locally and don't have to ship the monster back.

The last option, that caught my attention right away, are the gravity feed steam irons. They have a tank that holds again about 33 ounces and hangs from 3 ft above the iron in order to work....hence the name. You can fill the tank any time, they tend to cool faster than the steam generator ones but heat back up quickly. There are several brands and the price varies depending on the brand, not the quality. (I was told this by a sales person).The different brands are pretty much the same thing, branded different some cost more, some less. Humm this sounded like something I would like. Hanging the tank is really no big deal and if they work and last, why not? Well....the manufacturer warranty is only 90 days...why would that be? There are of course some people that report the irons failing after a few months.

Back to square one I went and ended up buying one the same brand, same store as the one I had just dropped.....this one has a 3 year warranty and I can take it back to the store if need be.

Since the old iron was a gonner, I did a bit of exploring to see if I could find out why the irons leak and go bad so easy. I expected to find a cracked water tank...armed with a screwdriver I opened the thing. What a big surprise I had, check it out. I am not a film maker by any means and the tripod was not around, but I had to record my findings.
I sure hope steam irons are next on the list for engineers to focus on, they have a long way to go...says me.

Some people clearly have lots of time ....

2010-10-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

I found this link in a blog I read.... I guess you could call it art ......I guess its OK

FO: Langsjal Jóhönnu and yet another scarf

2010-10-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

This is another Moebious scarf. The yarn is a cotton Merino blend. I did not like the hand of the yarn after washed but it softened up after moving it around a bit. Needles US 5 in 47 inch length. The stitch pattern is from one of the Finish stitch dictionaries. As always, cast one multiple of the stitch pattern repeat, translate the chart for circular knitting and knit away until desired width or you run out of yarn...whatever happens first. This one was knit for my sis who took it back to Colombia...along with just about everything I had laying around that looked like a scarf or a shawl.

This is Langsjal Jóhönnu from Three Cornered and Long Shawls. I love the book and have knit several patterns from it. The yarn is Fiber Optica Lace. Needles US 3. The yarn was a bit felted in the skein but it came apart nicely when wound into a ball.
The pattern is knitted lace, stitch patterns on both sides. It knits up very quickly, maybe a couple of weeks at most. I love the shawl but I don't have it any more. My sister took it with her back to Colombia arguing I can knit more. Since I have never knit the same pattern twice, I might never get one done for me....or might, who knows.

No need for torture

2010-10-10T11:39:00.001-07:00

Reverse stockinette seam
Originally uploaded by larodrig13

The new Aran Knitting book by Alice Starmore includes a beautiful new pattern, Eala Bhan. It is shaped and of course cabled. As good cables go, there is pattern stitches both on the right and wrong sides. No big deal, been there done that.

There are a couple of people knitting it in the round to avoid the reverse stockinette seam........they say it always comes out ugly uh? where did that one come from?

If you work the selvage stitch as the rest of the others in the row, make sure it is not loose or deformed, and use the proper technique, it is not ugly, nor difficult. It comes our just right.

I knit a tiny swatch last night and seamed it using contrasting (red) yarn, to prove my point. There it is. I left one bit of red yarn loose so you can actually see the seaming yarn. The rest of the seam does not show the joining yarn and it does not look ugly nor deformed and it is not difficult. The swatch of course is unblocked, unwashed just as I had it in my hands right after I seamed. After the piece is washed, you should not be able to see the seam at all.

Knitting the cardigan in the round would imply keeping track of many charts, decreases, increases and armhole shaping, plus steeks and finishing. That is OK too if you want the extra work, but why do it if it is so easy to just knit the pattern as written and seam?........someone was even talking about the need to create a spreadsheet to keep track when knitting it in the round. .....no need for torture, says me.
I knit in the round, I steek but I do not go an extra mile if there is no need.

Random Thoughts

2010-10-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

I can't weave now due to some health related issues that will soon resolve, for the same reason my knitting machines are still in the box.
The perfect table loom for me is yet to be found
I don't like variegated yarn
I have many many knitting needles except for the number and length I need for the next sweater
I hate blocking.....unblocked lace is ugly
Princess is in jail
I am working on 'the perfect' sock pattern
I love watching YouTube videos ...maybe my attention span is not long enough for anything longer?
Half of my stash is white lace yarn, the rest is sock and weaving yarn
I have lots of fiber to spin and love it all
I am working on the Dory shawl, lovely handspun yarn, I might even write a pattern
The next big project is a stranded cardigan....I just have to swatch and get the right needles
I found a wool mill 3 miles from my house, I will visit it today with a load of Shetland that needs to be carded
Spinning for the 'all colors, all wheels one loom blanket' has begun
I ordered a second end feed shuttle
I ordered knitting needles
I ordered a spool rack
I am spinning silk hankies, the yarn is so thin I have no idea how it will be plyed
......I think I need to focus!

Machine Knitters Dreams come true

2010-09-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

This is what we have been doing with the money you helped up get.

Thank you!

Collaborations!

2010-08-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

Weave! from Alice Schlein on Vimeo.

What a wonderful story and result. Enjoy!

Black Chenille Shawl

2010-07-25T09:35:00.001-07:00

Fresh off the loom:

I love to weave chenille. It is probably the yarn I have woven the most with.
The fabric feels just like velvet with a beautiful hand.
Sett 18 epi
Edited: The weft is cotton the warp is the chenille!! Thanks to Cynthia for pointing it out. Warp 20/2 cotton. I should have used a closer sett to avoid the white showing as much, but its done and the white gives it a bit of character.....or so I say.

There is one more cone of chenille in the stash, a beautiful Antique Rose color, it will go up next on the loom.
I made this shawl 24 inches wide on the loom and 80 inches long plus the fringe, long fringe too.
I know its a bit too long for me but it will wrap around nicely and serve as a good commuter pillow coming Winter!

World Record

2010-07-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Shawls

2010-07-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

Aeolian:

This is the modified (by me) version.
The yarn is handspun from Merino roving dyed by Judy Gunn in Utah. The color way is Dee Dee's Delight. I wanted the colors to stay together but did not want Navajo ply. I divided the roving right down the middle lengthwise and spun two 4 oz bobbins, then plyed. The colors did stay together for the most part, only the yellow and orange shifted a bit, but it worked out OK. I spun it while preparing the move to MD and I spun and plyed it a bit too tight, thankfully the yarn softened in the wash. It could have been a bit softer....next time....

I knit the shawlette version but did not bead it, and did not knit the bobbles in all the places the pattern called for. I was afraid I was not going to have enough yarn!

Needles US 6 and about 450 (ish) yards. I love the colors, so much that I am going to spin the other 8 oz. The pattern is a bit tricky, they use unconventional symbols....\ is k2tog, OK, but a (bold) \ is k3tog. ........Once I figured it out, thanks to Ravelry, I had not problems.

Next up is another one of the shawls for the book Three Cornered and Long Shawls. Fina Hyrnan. I used Mountain Colors lace weight about 2/3 of the skein. It is wool and silk and needles US 3. It knit up amazingly fast (about a week or so) easy and interesting construction. It starts at the bottom tip with over 200 stitches on provisional cast on. The triangle is formed as the knitting progresses towards the top. Then pickup the stitches from the provisional cast on and knit the edge.
The yarn is a joy to knit with and the color blends in nicely without any drastic changes.

Love the edge!

OTN: another shawl from the same book, this time with a different yarn.

Mobius

2010-07-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

I love Mobius scarves, they are a lot of fun to knit and they stay on and keep you warm. My sister had put in a request for a couple a while back. It got cold yet again in her corner of the world and the scarves have not been delivered....oooppss!
Quick remedy, pull out a stitch dictionary, the Estonian one in this case, wind off some yarn from the Jagger Spun Zephyr favorite stash, Addy 42 inch, size 5 needles and go. Cast on multiple of stitch pattern anywhere close to 240 stitches and knit around and around and around until about 10 inches full width. Dig out yet another book (can never remember how to do it) with the picot castoff , done. Block in a not attached blocking board such as the ironing board, this so you can block one section at a time.

Here are the results:

There is another one, also in Jagger Spun Maine line. Pictures and specs to follow...after it gets out of the bath water and on the blocking board. I hope I can fit both in an International Flat rate mailing envelope.....then take them to the PO and hope for the best. Just about anything is likely to happen to stuff in the mail to Colombia.
Edited to change spelling......I am never sure of that one.

Knitters helping Knitters

2010-06-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

Knit Buzz has an article about Friends of Colombian Orphans on her blog.

My name is in print!

Is this fun or what?!

Friends of Colombian Orphans

2010-06-27T04:46:00.000-07:00

I have written about this before. Right now we are in a contest run by the Chase group to raise more money for the program in order to continue teaching a life skill (machine knitting) to these girls.
All you have to do if you are willing to help is go to the site and vote. Once is good enough. If we are among the first 200 charities we will get $20K .
Read more about it here

Please?

Spinning at The Manning's

2010-06-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

We had a great time today at The Manning's

A video of me spinning cotton:

Romney Kid Mohair Silk

2010-06-04T08:29:00.001-07:00

Romney Kid Mohair Silk
Originally uploaded by larodrig13

Romney 60%
Silk 20%
Kid Mohair 20%
Total: 8 oz of spinning beauty

I bought the Romney lamb and the Kid Mohair fleeces, and washed them. The silk was purchased at MW&S.

I hand blended it and tossed it around a bit.I have yet to card it and decide if I want to spin/cuddle/dye or sell it :)

I might end up selling some, with a whole lamb fleece and several Kid Mohair fleeces...there is only so much I can spin and use.

Maybe a combination of all the above is what I will end up doing

Rambouillet Fleeces

2010-05-31T13:15:00.000-07:00

Two Rambouillet Fleeces, skirted, washed, carded by Spinderella and now hand spun. I have a bit over two pounds of the white one and 1 lb 11 oz of the brown one. Sorry for the dark part in the picture, I could not convince the brown to show up properly.

Part of the brown fleece was used for a jacket I knit for my husband a while back.
Spun with the Roberta electric spinner it is 15 wpi each skein is 8 oz.
I do not know the total yardage because some skeins where made while the yardage counter was out of service. I have yet to wash it and set the twist. Then it will sit quietly in a corner while we thing what it might become.

The initial plan was a stranded coat for me...but maybe it will just become plan C woven cloth with alpaca yarn for weft....we'll see. I don't think there is enough to go for plan B: a shadow weave blanket. I will have to use a different weft.

We'll see. I love processing fiber from hoof to cloth. This one is almost there.

Robert Powell Shawl

2010-05-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

The pattern and history of these shawls was published in Interweave Spin Off magazine Winter 1996. A dear friend of mine pointed me to it. The shawl starts at the tip with 7 stitches, the edges are knit at the same time with the body of the shawl and the top edge is knit sideways at the very end. Four garter stitches are bound off at the end joining one corner.
The shawl is knit in garter stitch all along.
I used some of my handspun yarn, from a blend that Spinderella had carded for me years back. I know it has silk and wool and a bit of glittery stuff and who knows what else.
I had 1200 yds and the shawl took about 400. That means I have yarn left over for another shawl.
I am quite pleased with the results.
The yarn is sports weight and I used US needles size 7.

Drops jacket 106-3

2010-05-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

This jacket was a joy to knit. It went fast too, just a couple of weeks. As always I lingered in finding the buttons, now its done.

Yarn Cascade wool 220 5 skeins and a bit.
Needles US 7
The instructions for these bobbles are interesting, instead of knitting all the stitches together in the return row, you knit three rows over three stitches and then knit them together. A lot easier on the hands than the traditional bobbles I had made.

The lace on the bottom is very pretty as well. Nothing too fancy, just enough to add some interest.

Drops patterns are full of interesting techniques. I have yet to find the first mistake in any of them. One thing that they do have to work on are the button bands in the models. Some of the pictures seem sloppy because of bad finishing techniques. That I blame on the knitter or who ever is in charge of the photography but not on the patterns.

Cheap cashmere

2010-04-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

I do not know how true this article might be. The author does not quote the source of her information nor says how she came about it.
All I can say, is I sure hope its not true or at least exaggerated. IF, this is true, and this is what they are doing with the animals, I can not imagine what they are using for dyes and how they are disposing of the leftovers. Who is going to save the planet?

I have enough good old sheep wool, alpaca and blends to keep me going for several years and my stash does not include any of this questionable cashmere.

That Green Sweater

2010-04-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

That Green Sweater is a lovely story that involves Elizabeth Zimmerman, a Goddaughter, a knitter, a knitting magazine, a knitter_photographer and SchoolHouse press.

When I read the story I knew I had to knit it. One of the online groups that I belong to held a Knit-Along.

The original design has a very wide sleeve which I did not care for, so I changed it.

The sweater is knit in the round steeked at the front, the collar and the sleeves.

Very interesting and unique way of knitting the sleeves from the top down.

The collar (still missing the button) I have to find one around here.........

I love the result, enjoyed the process and learned a lot! Can't get any better than that!

Yarn: Cascade 220, 5 skeins
Needles: US size 6 and 7

Drops 114-9 Black Jacket

2010-03-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

It is finished, I am really happy with the way it turned out. The fit is perfect and I love the cables. I also learned several construction tips in the process.
Here is the link to the pattern: Drops 114-9. The only change I made was the yarn, I used Cascade 220 wool. Needles US 6 for the ribbing and 7 for the body. Used a cable needle!

Blue Heron

2010-02-21T05:18:00.001-08:00

My first encounter with one of these critters was in Utah, when one day all of a sudden all the koi from the pond were gone. I think I googled something like 'my koi are missing' and Google came up with the answer: Blue Heron. That year we did not realize what was going on until each and everyone of the lovely fish were gone. The following year we still had the little ones and as they grew up, DH protected them with a pond net and that was the last we saw of the bird.

Our new house has a pond with koi in it currently in hibernation. The pond is frozen except for the opening the heater creates. This morning, as I opened the blinds, I saw the Blue Heron had moved with us! He was walking on the pond and promptly flew to the top of the shed.

I stood at the window and he would not move, they are determined beasts and he will not give up until either he gets all the fish or the pond is covered. I don't know if he was able to get to the fish this morning, he might have. He stood there for at least an hour keeping his eyes on the pond and on the window where I was looking at him. He finally left but I know it will not be long until he comes back.
If you click on the second picture, you can see how close he is to the pond.

THE Project

2010-02-15T17:30:00.001-08:00

A few years back I bought two Rambouillet fleeces, one white, one brown. I wanted to weave shadow weave cloth. Washing Rambouillet can prove to be a challenge, as all fine wools it has lots of lanolin. It took several passes and eventually I got it squeaky clean.

I took it to Spinderella's Mill she carded it and Jim her husband tried spinning it. The wool was so soft that it was next to impossible to spin it on the industrial spinning heads. He managed to spin some of the brown one before giving up.

That yarn became the inside of a jacket I knit for my DH. The rest, of the brown is in pencil roving. ALL of the white was in pencil roving. Rambo fleeces tend to be large, lots of wool.....

Back in November or December I tackled the bags and started out with the white. I am spinning it on the Roberta, the main reason, the wheel has 8 oz bobbins and I can get large skeins. So far I have 1.5 lbs of plied yarn and about 8 ounces more or singles. In the bag probably another 8 ounces or so. All together I should end up with about 2 lbs of finished yarn. The brown one might only be a pound or so.

The wool is soft, but has lots of VM and nubs. The spinning process is not all that quick, I have to stop over and over again to pull out bits and pieces of VM and nubs. The yarn will not be perfectly even but it is nice and soft.

I am spinning it to my default yarn, making to effort to spin thinner or thicker, just what my hands and the wheel want to do. Ballpark it should end up at about 20 wpi.

I will not have enough of both colors to weave a large piece of cloth in shadow weave, but I do have an alpaca/wool blend in brown that might very well end up as the weft. The alpaca came from my own alpaca and was carded, blended and spun at Spinderella's.

As I work my way down the bag, I am thinking what the best choice for the yarn might be. Cloth in a double weave structure is what I think it will become.

For now, I have to finish spinning the lot, wash and set the twist and measure out the final yardage. Not until then will I make the final decision. I want to use all the handspun yarn for one cloth. Weft, I know I have enough.

I will keep you posted, the more I spin, the more exciting it gets. I can just see it as warp on the loom, full width in a nice and even warp ready to weave......part of the enjoyment of fiber arts is process and exploration of all the possibilities.

Knitting Ergonomics

2010-02-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

In just about any fiber community I have hung around, there has been a discussion on pain developing at one point or another. We all have heard about knitter's elbow, painful feet on weavers, back pain on spinners, the list goes on.
Laura Fry is a weaver that pays close attention to ergonomics, she has a great article on ergonomics=efficiency.

I have always been very careful with my hands and I refuse to participate in any type of contents of race that will put extra strain on them. If I knit one or two stitches faster a minute than the knitter sitting next to me, is THAT going to change the world or the quality of the finished garment? Probably not.
I am a fast knitter, I knit Continental and the number of movements involved with each stitch are less, that and 45+ years of knitting probably has a lot to do with the speed.

A while back I found a couple of articles on cabling without a cable needle, I thought it was clever and sure enough picked up the technique.
While I was knitting the Swirl Coat and later Cassidy, my right thumb started hurting. It hurt to the point where I could not hold things with my right hand. I blamed it on moving and boxes and packing and computer work and everything I could think of except of course on knitting. After the move things started settling down and the pain slowly went away. UNTIL I picked up Cassidy again and the pain was instantly back! Paying close attention to what was going on, I quickly realized it was the extra strain on the thumb while crossing the stitches without the cable needle. I finished the sweater with the needle of course, and let my hand rest for a couple of days.

I am happy to report that I knit the entire back of the Drops jacket, all in stockinette stitch and there is no pain at all. I can hold things without dropping them, I can open bottles just like I did before. The back took three days, the front with the cables might take a bit longer of course, but not by much.

Cabling with the needle is a tid bit slower, but hey! it does not hurt!
I want to be able to be a creative fiber artist until the day I kick the bucket, in order to do that, I have to take care of my hands and body.
It might be slower, but it pays off.

I urge all of you to be careful, when pain starts developing, it is your body crying for attention. Not every technique that you come across is suitable for your style and it might hurt!

Cassidy aka Blizzard

2010-02-13T13:28:00.001-08:00

I was in Maryland in December when the first blizzard struck. Locked up in a hotel and knitting away on a Swirl Coat from Vogue Winter 1986-1987. Long story short, the pattern was way off and I ended up unraveling 8 skeins of Cascade 220. You'd think that after 45+ years of knitting I should have guessed earlier, of course not!

My only choice was the yarn an needles I had with me. A quick search in Ravelry for Cascade 220 patterns came up with Cassidy (Ravelry link).

Cast on and away I went ignoring the 'use smaller needles for the ribbing'.

With the move and the packing and the rest it took a while to get finished, but here it is: finished during the second (and hopefully last) blizzard in Maryland.

I love the hood and the cables. Nice and simple, not too much fuzz. It fit just right.

It still needs buttons that of course I have somewhere in a box.
Used 5.5 skeins of Cascade 220 and needles US 7

Now OTN this pretty jacket from a Drops pattern.

One day, hopefully soon my looms and yarn and something different than Cascade 220 and needles size 7 will show up!

The guys that came to dig me out

2010-02-08T23:49:00.001-08:00

This is how it went.
See......there is no way I could dig myself out of that mess!

Blizzard 2010

2010-02-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

I moved from Utah to Maryland...I thought I was getting away from the snow. Today after the fact, this little guy found his goodies in our back porch.
It 4 short video clips, there is no way to edit iphone videos unless you are on Mac...

Use It Now!

2010-01-03T19:53:00.000-08:00

don't save it for your estate sale, wisely says: Honeysuckle loom.

I have a 'special stash' of my own. Fibers that I don't want to spin, yarn that I don't want to knit. Some of it will probably remain in its current state, but there is plenty of stuff that I do want to use for that special something.

I decided years ago that my handmade items are now for me, if I make something for someone else, I have to be 100% sure that that person IS going to like it and use it. Since the bulk of what I make is for me or my house, the 'special' stash can be used.

I do not like New Years resolutions, those are seldom kept, but this year I will knit all the special sock yarn, weave the silk and the Tencel. Spin the silk and the cashmere and make stuff for me!

The 'special stash' alone is enough to keep me busy for quite some time...

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

2009-12-31T18:34:00.000-08:00

Such a bright man!
Happy New Year to all!

'La única idea nueva que podría salvar a la Humanidad en el siglo XXI es que las mujeres asuman la dirección del mundo. Creo que la hegemonía masculina ha dilapidado una oportunidad de diez mil años. Los hombres hemos menospreciado y ridiculizado la intuición femenina, y por otro lado, a lo largo de la historia hemos santificado nuestras ideologías, casi todas absurdas o abominables. La estructura del poder masculino ha demostrado que no puede impedir la destrucción de la naturaleza de la vida, porque es incapaz de sobreponerse a sus propios intereses. Para las mujeres, en cambio, la preservación de la naturaleza de la vida es una vocación genética. Invertir los poderes es un asunto de vida o muerte. '
Gabriel García Márquez en Más allá del año 2000

Help us get this money for Friends of Colombian Orphans

2009-12-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

Please go over and vote. It is a donation from Ebay. You can vote every 4 hours. If we get the prize we can buy more machines for the Knitting Initiative in Colombia

Name your Cause: Friends of Colombian Orphans

After you get to the link just scroll down a bit of find it on the right hand side bar.

Swirl Baby Blanket

2009-11-15T12:17:00.000-08:00

Using Diana Natters great video instructions, I made this cute baby blanket for the brand new baby of a dear friend of mine.
I used Caron Boucle acrylic yarn 7 skeins. Love the hand and the drape. It is ideal for a baby, it can go in the washer/dryer without a problem.

Knit on the Mid-Gauge machine using max 60 needles. T 5

A stack of napkins

2009-11-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

Here they are all 19 in all their glory. I wove 4 each with a different tie up and treading. Pressing them took forever!

This is my set, there is one that does not have a partner in the big stack. I wanted mine all different. I finished the hem on all of mine, the rest only have a line of machine stitching to avoid unraveling. Each weaver will finish her own hems.

The exchange is this week, I can't wait it see the rest!

I loved the process. Hopefully the lessons learned will last and I will not repeat the same mistakes next time I dress the loom.

Flying Geese Cardigan

2009-11-03T15:21:00.001-08:00

Alice Starmore patterns are always gorgeous. I used Scottish Fleet 10 skeins and made a fair amount of changes in the pattern so it would fit me.
I love it! I knit it in about a month, earlier on this year. It sat in a basket waiting patiently to be blocked until this past weekend.

For some reason blogger decided to rotate the picture and I am not fighting with blogger today.

No buttons, just a clasp....I never button up my sweaters.

The stitch pattern closeup:

A Roll of Napkins

2009-10-30T22:55:00.001-07:00

Nineteen napkins woven. The same warp I struggled with here. After I rewound it, it was perfect, no tension problems. Exception made of the of the occasional sticky thread, weaving them was a joy. I had measured 16 yds, for 20 napkins, 21 inches long each. When I rewound it, and due to the tension problems I lost about a yard or so of warp. The final count is 19 with not an inch of warp to spare. The last bit was very difficult to weave in spite of the Damask shuttle.
In the picture you can see I finished with the warp rod 6 inches from the back of the shafts and that is barely enough to get a shed on this loom.

This is my longest warp yet and I am quite happy with the way it all turned out. I am not finished by any means. Tomorrow I will cut the cloth off, sew it together in a tube to avoid twisting and into the washer they go. After that I have to run a seam at the ends of each piece and cut them apart. They will be washed dried and pressed. The hems left unfinished except for mine. Out of the 19 napkins, 5 are mine, the rest will go to the other weavers who in turn will have woven the rest of my set.

The exchange is the second week in November, I can't wait to see the rest!

I will publish draft, structure and finished product pictures later on.

Embroidery....

2009-10-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

This is made with my big machine:

Click on the picture if you really want to see it. Taking the picture was almost as hard as making the thing!

It was a lot of work, had to hoop 6 times and make sure and get everything nice and straight. The fabric is suede and the piece measures 36"x20".
It will go to DH's group therapy room ..they always start the meeting either with the Lord's Prayer or the Serenity Prayer.

Off to finish up the napkins so I can take pictures! I am almost done!

The Perfect Spindle Bag

2009-10-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

The reason why we have so many bags is because THE bag has yet to be invented. I am a bag collector like any other fiber artist I know. The only knitting bag I use is one I made a while back it works very well and fits large and small projects.
After knitting, drop spindling is the best portable project there is. But spindles are fragile and have to be well stored. After trying many different things, I 'think' I have come up with the Ultimate Spindle bag:

It is sturdy, will not collapse, it does not have zippers or closures to snag the roving, it closes tight. Fits a 10 inch large whorl spindle or two. Enough room to carry extra fiber and a Nostepinne if need be. Perfect!

I am making more for sale, they can be personalized with or without embroidery customer's choice. Many colors available.

Friends of Colombian Orphans Ebay Auction

2009-10-21T04:20:00.000-07:00

The auction is live at Ebay. There are wonderful beautiful things from Colombia plus a beautiful kit for the 2010 Winter Olympics! Holiday shopping and unique lovely things to buy and help our effort!

Accidental Weaves

2009-09-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of weaving lists have been talking about accidental weaves. Some interesting posts came from Maggie and Eva.
Could I resist and not play? of course not!

How do we get from here:

To here?

Better quit playing with this stuff, next thing you know you NEED a 32 shaft loom!

I might just have to weave this cloth.

Lessons learned

2009-09-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

Up until last week, the longest warp I had put on any of my looms had been 10 yds. For a long time, I wound on shorter warps in order to practice, practice, practice and because most of my projects have been with handspun yarn. The last 5 or so warps had been spotless, 'perfect' as perfect gets. I was ready for a long, 'pro' style warp.....yeah right!
I am participating in a napkin exchange weaving project with our guild MMAWWG. Each weaver is to weave enough napkins to exchange with 7 other weavers in each group. The 'owner' provides the weft and we all have the same warp yarn. At the end we will each have 8 napkins woven by 8 different weavers including oneself in the same color, different threading and treading. I am in two groups because I want 16 napkins. For 16 napkins we need about 12 yds but I figured I was going to put on 16 yds for 20 napkins/samples, etc.
I set to wind the warp, I wanted the measure the warp two ends at a time. I wound half the warp yarn with the electric cone winder and the other half was left on the original cone....this was the first mistake. Different cones, different 'winding style' caused the yarn to unwind at different rates. By the end of the first bout I knew I had problems, but I had this in the past and did not find much of a problem, it would even out while beaming. ( It did NOT). I pressed on.
Took the warp to the loom and got things set up to beam on. I use a raddle and ¼” dowels as warp separators in this particular loom.
It was then when I encountered the second and third problems;
In the past, I had tied on the first warp thread and the last warp thread of a bout to one another to make it a continuous loop......I read/heard this somewhere. It had worked, it did cause a few tangles as the threads got themselves straight, but it was manageable for the most part. This time x that x 16 yds, and 600 ends and I had at least 5 crosses across the warp. Big mess of tangles! There was no uncrossing the offending ends because the 'other' end was at the END of the 16 yds. No worries, I carefully untangled each cross and pressed on.
I quickly ran out of dowels so I continued packing with blind slats. That was a BIG mistake! The slats collapsed at the edges and the warp was beamed on with significant tension differences. Problem is, I did not notice this until after I had started weaving!
I lashed on, and started weaving, a few loose threads easily fixed with pins. But the warp kept getting tighter and tighter on the left side of the loom.....finished the two first napkins and then disaster struck. I could NOT get a close to even tension more and more threads came loose. It was then that I stood at the back of the loom and saw the collapsed slats.
This was Friday night; I wrote a request for help to one of my weaving lists and went to bed. Four am Saturday morning: I had to fix this one way or another!
I started trying to wind the warp on the cloth beam; the tension was so uneven there was no way. In 5 inch width increments, I chained off the warp trying to get the threads as even and untangled as possible. To beam, this time I used construction grade paper, a huge roll that cost less than half of what the slats and dowels had to start with. It 'only' took me 4 hours to re-beam the whole thing. In the middle of the process, I noticed the cloth beam was not quite at level.... come to find out one of the screws holding the back cross post had stripped off the wood and the whole loom was off square! Toothpicks and wood glue did the trick. It is holding on now but I suspect it will not for much longer. I have put in a request to the loom manufacturer for a more definite solution. If this fails, I will have to re-beam yet again on another loom and re-thread! So let’s hope it holds up for the remaining napkins. The first napkin of the second try, wove up in no time at all, no tension problems and the pattern draft looks very promising. I can’t wait to see them wet finished. I have the rest of the tie-ups and treading for the rest. I will change tie-up and treading in groups of 4.
So I learned:
1. Cotton has NO elasticity
2. Problems will compound and become nightmares in longer warps
3. Always double/triple check your loom and make sure things are doing what you think they are doing or at least what they are supposed to be doing.
4. ANY cross in the warp WILL become a mess. When you read or hear something make sure you THINK about it. Does it really make sense?
Why do I keep doing this if it causes so many problems? I love the finished product. Because creating textiles is a process that involves magic and creativity. Because I know that if I keep doing it I will learn from my mistakes and one day, hopefully not too many warps away, I will become a proficient at it and make fewer mistakes. As I read weaving books and understand structure, I become more enchanted with the process. I want to weave more, I want to create and design.
When I first stated, I struggled with terminology, I struggled because I could not visualize the descriptions and therefore could not reproduce them at ease. Today, I understand the process, I know when there is a problem. For the most part, can figure out how to fix the problems. I will re-read some of the classic books, Rug weaving by Peter Collingwood the first on the list.

Friends of Colombian Orphans a story and a cry for help!

2009-08-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

Stick with me, it turned out a bit of a long story but you will not be sorry you read it:

About a year ago I found on Ravelry a group called Friends of Colombian Orphans, I joined and soon found out that the moderator is a wonderful energetic woman that has a child from Colombia. Jane and her husband lead FRIENDS OF COLOMBIAN ORPHANS .
The idea in Ravelry was to knit hats and scarves and collect toys and things to take to the girls from an orphanage that I had happened to volunteer at when I was in high school.
I thought,yeah that is good, thanks in behalf of my fellow Colombians BUT: "give them a fish and you feed them for a day...."

I asked Jane why not do something that would have more impact on the lives of these girls. We got on the phone and I told her I thought we should set up a workshop at the orphanage, teach them machine knitting skills and maybe the girls could:

1. Become a co-op to get funding for the program so it could become self sufficient
2. Have a life skill that would allow them to make a living once they had to leave the orphanage at age 18.

This was a dream I had since way back then and I really did not think much would come out of it..... Next thing I know, Jane and her husband John are asking all kinds of questions about machine knitting: where is the best place to buy machines, what kind of yarn, who can teach? how can we do this? I called The Singer Shop in Bogota talked to the owner (who I had met way back then also), got back to Jane and John who in turn had made contacts in Bogota to find a manager, a place to set the program at, etc. etc. and the plan was rolling! ROLLING FOR REAL!

Today we have:

-John and Jane have gone twice to Colombia
-At least two knitting machines have been purchased
-The room for where the machines are to be set up is being remodeled
-We have two very experienced machine knitting instructors who will teach the girls
- We have a project manager
-The orphanage has approved the program
-The organization has been registered in Colombia as not-for profit "Fundacion para Una Vida Mejor'
-Friends of Colombian Orphans in the USA is a not-for profit organization that can take donations.
- Contacts have been made, grants submitted with some likelihood of ongoing donations from at least one large agency to keep the program going.

There is more story behind Friends of Colombian Orphans, they have already remodeled sections of an orphanage in Bogota and taken numerous donations. Here are pictures of some of the the projects

The workshop as it was a couple of months ago:

At this moment there is enough money to get started and carry us to the end of the year, but we need money to continue on until we get the grants. We need knitters to help us help these girls, teach them a life skill and help them become self sufficient. With this we will prevent these girls from going out in the street and living lives they do not deserve.

You can help in several ways:

Cash donations at Donations for Friends of Colombian Orphans

Join us in the online auction we are planning for October.

Help us spread the word. The Fiber Art Community is wonderful and I know that together we can do this.

Either way you can help, just thing that every penny counts.

Thank you!

16 yds or warp

2009-07-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

need to go on my loom ASAP. Problem is, I am not sure my arms are up to it...I am seriously considering an AVL warping wheel. It looks a lot easier on my arms than going up and down on the warping mill.
Sigh!

Machine Knit Kitchen Towels

2009-07-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

Not quite art pieces, but they do the job: use up the stash AND new kitchen towels.

Machine: HK100
Pattern: Free from RadianLace
Stitch pattern: hand manipulated tuck every three needles alternating every three rows: two rows of tuck, one row plain knitting.
Yarn: Peaches and Creme 1 ball per towel. Except of the white and green one, for some reason I ran out of yarn way before I finished the body of the towel. I used white coned P&C.
Tension: 5.1
Others: I had to spray the yarn with upholstery silicone because the yarn was too dry to run smoothly through the machine.
Time per towel: aprox 30 minutes.
I knit four rows by hand, then hung on the machine, the 'button' was also knit by hand, easier and faster than dealing with a dangling towel from 6 stitches on the machine.

Here again my dislike for variegated yarn, it never fails, see those awful white spots?

Gebrochene Baby Blanket

2009-07-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Gebrochene is a broken twill, most of the pattern drafts found are for 12 and more shafts but there are a few that can be taken down to 8 shafts. I fell in love with the pattern during a workshop with Marjie Thompson last Fall. Here is a picture of the draft I used after modifying the original to fit the three panels I needed to weave.

As part of my practice for THE coverlet I plan to weave, I decided to make a baby blanket with three panels using the broken twill structure. This would give me opportunity to get a better feel of joins, hems, etc.

Yarn: Noho cotton 1,320 yds/lb sett at 14 epi. White for warp, pastel baby colors variegated for weft.
Width on the reed: 19 inches
Finished width: 12.75 inches (Take up: do the math)
Length woven per panel: 39 inches including one inch with 20/2 cotton to minimize hem thickness and one inch in plain weave in the pattern yarn.
Finished length per panel: 38 inches
Number of panels woven: 3

The yarn was clearly the wrong selection for this structure, the bumps in the yarn muddle the pattern and it is hard to see unless you stand to the side and in low light. With a bit of faith you can see the diamonds here:

Color: the variegated yarn pools like every other variegated yarn I have ever worked with. (Note to self: never use variegated yarn again. You KNOW you don't like it.)
I joined the panels by hand going over and under the warp threads, it was easy and the seams are barely visible...it would be better if the yarn had been one color. I washed it in the machine with 3 blue jeans so it would take all the beating possible and dried it likewise. It has shrunk to the max and it will be easy to wash in the future. I used the serger on the edges and a folded over hem with the sewing machine.
Here is a picture of the join:

One of the panels turned out about an inch longer because I changed the way I was weaving after the first panel. (Note to self: stick with what you are doing till the end, even if in the process you read about a 'better' way to beat.) I was able to match the panels enough to where only a bit of undulation can be seen as in this picture:

In conclusion: The blanket if functional, it has lovely drape and will serve well. It was not worth the effort of the complicated treadling, I could have obtained probably a better result with a more simple structure. I will still give it to intended baby (who was born a week ago). My hope is that it will become his drag blanket and serve him well for years to come.

It took just a few beads!

2009-07-04T06:42:00.001-07:00

The mystery fiber fabric became a shawl. The weavers in my guild determined it was a shawl and so it is. As seen in the prior picture, I had woven about 5 inches in scrap yarn with the purpose of protecting the potential fringe during the wash.

Inspired by Susan, I followed her tutorial and here are the results:

Apparently great minds think alike because Leigh just published her beaded fringe, except she followed Lynnette's tutorial. Interesting enough, Leigh's project was also somewhat of a disappointment at first, not so after the beads.

I am quite happy with the results, it was not a lost cause after all. The shawl is long enough that I can wrap it around almost twice....or maybe it needs a different owner.

Look who came over to visit!

2009-06-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

and the news she has

Bridget said... It is kind of you to make such lovely comments about the veil I designed and knitted for my daughter. The center motif is original, as are many of the stitch patterns. Very soon, Schoolhouse Press will be publishing a pattern for a scarf with two lace alphabets on it, one that I designed for this piece, and another worked from the opposite direction.

Sketchbooks

2009-06-10T05:02:00.001-07:00

There has been a lot of talk lately about sketchbooks. Peg and others have talked about different software packages that can be used to create them. Ideas and screen shots have been shared.

I have had a fiber/design/ideas sketchbook for ages, always in my trusty notebook. My notebooks have been ongoing ever since I can remember. They are small (4x6 or so) spiral notebooks where I write things to do, things to remember, design ideas, sketches, yarn amounts, knitting calculations and whatever else needs a secure place to be written on. There is a large pile of them, each with start and end dates. Sometimes I go through a couple a year, sometimes one will last more than a year, it all depends on how busy I am. For the most part, I can remember when and where I sketched something down, I go back and review if there is something I want to make. As we all know, life has had a dramatic change with the IT era, but there are still things I do by hand, sketches being one of them. Going back to the notebooks and finding things quickly is not that easy anymore. What to do with the sketches? what to do if I see or think of something and I am not at the computer? Plus I use three different computers plus the cell phone.
I made a list of requirements:
-Indexing capability
-Easy notes
-Scanned sketches
-'standard' format
-Non exclusive software so I can open the file in any of the computers I happen to be at. Ideally non-proprietary software

I decided to use the word processor in OpenOffice. I can create a TOC, by using styles I can keep the TOC current. I can write as many notes as I want. I can insert pictures and scans.

Scanned sketch: each project idea has title, typed notes and the scan(s) from the notebook. The only other thing I might want to add is dates. Other than that, this will work going forward.

Dealing with less than perfect

2009-05-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Peg wrote about dealing with frustration and getting back to work. She asked her readers to write about how we overcome frustration and resume work. Then today Tien wrote about the roots of frustration. Both struck home with me.

I have been knitting the Princess shawl for over a year now and very close to the end line I came across the terrible designed corners. People say it will block out and all will be fine, the designer says its OK to fudge. I have not been able to overcome it. I wanted a perfect lovely Shetland shawl that I had knit with all my love for lace. It has been sitting in a bag for a couple of months now. I have to confess I have even thought of giving it away. I know its not that big of a deal, but for me it is. In my heart it was my master piece, the piece that would demonstrate, to me at least, that I am an experienced lace knitter and I can do it all. The pieces I have designed and people have loved did not count. I wanted this shawl. Tien has the perfect explanation of why this happened, in her blog she writes:

"One of the things they taught us is that clinging lies at the core of suffering. Clinging, or attaching to a specific result, causes pain when the result doesn’t happen. The degree of pain, of course, is related to the degree of clinging. The tighter you cling to a desire, the more pain you feel when the desire does not happen."

Well there it is, all out. There was/is way too much clinging on my part to this piece. Nothing else mattered, I was blinded with the end result I had in my mind and did not exist. Not even the prototype of the shawl is anywhere close to what I had in my mind. Maybe now that I know it is less than perfect I can move on and finish it. It is after all a shawl like any other I have knit and will knit. The perfect master piece might not exist and if it did, do I want to suffer through it? The definite answer is no, I want to enjoy the process and admire the final piece.

The best part of it all is that in the process I have learned several lessons. Knitting and life lessons alike.

Shuttle Tamer

2009-05-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

Like any other weaver I have shuttles, lots of shuttles, long and short. Until today I had them in a basket but always worried they would get damaged. I wanted them hanging and handy. I wove one in double weave from Handwoven magazine but did not like it, the shuttles go in sideways and the width is fixed to whatever you set the warp to.
I wanted something that would hold all the shuttles I have and those that might come. A shoe hanger came to mind but finding one long enough for sky shuttles and pickup sticks was not going to happen. What's a girl to do? Make one right?

I used a corduroy fabric I bought at the upholstery fabric store for the back (double) and a thick cotton (almost but not quite, canvas thick fabric for the pockets) also from the upholstery fabric store. I had bought the fabric for a bag I had in mind with lots of pockets. Both were remnants and quite large pieces. I drew the pattern during a meeting this week at work :). I measured the back so it would fit the inside frame of the door and not interfere with the lock. The pockets were carefully eyeballed (precise measurement....) but making sure I would have one row of long pockets for the long shuttles and that the smaller pockets would fit a regular boat shuttle. The smaller ones are completely covered but my hand fits and they are easy to get out.

I cut the two pieces for the back, then hemmed the top and bottom for the pockets. Folded the fabric in half and divided by three on each side. Each pocket is 25 centimeters on the front and 10 cms in the back. Sewed the vertical seams and then folded the fabric to make the pleats at the bottom. Then.....sandwiched the two back parts and used the serger including the three hanging bands. Reinforced the outer seams with the sewing machine because in the places I had the tree layers of fabric the serger slipped a bit. Flipped the whole thing over and closed it shut at the bottom. It is huge but fits all the shuttles and I have plenty of spare pockets.
The colors are not exactly pretty but they match and it is dark enough so that it will not have to be washed very often, I did prewash the fabric so I know I will not have unpleasant surprises.

There it is, hanging from the back of the door in my studio.

Next up: a backpack for the weaving bench. Stay tuned!

ETA: I just looked at the enlarged picture...ignore the chalk marks......I am not a seamstress!

I knew there was a purpose

2009-05-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

35+ years ago I started an iron collection. Over the years I have acquired 80+ of them most are miniatures but there are big heavy ones too. Over the years people have asked many times what is the purpose of so many irons. I just smiled and never answered, I did not know! But today, I found it.

I finished weaving a rug and I had to turn the hems. I decided to use "OK to Wash Glue" before I sew the hems. I needed something heavy to hold the hems together while they dry. Something a phone book would had come handy for, or maybe a pharmacology book. Since phone books are long gone from my house, and the pharmacology books are busy with something else, I wondered and walked around bit. There they where, the irons! I hauled 16 of them to press the hems of two rugs. Nice and heavy, pressing away. Tomorrow when the glue is dry, I will finish them up.

Bridget Rorem Bridal Shawl

2009-04-30T05:48:00.001-07:00

Jean talked about signing her Princess shawl, and mentioned that the lace knitted alphabet charts were in a back issue of Piecework Magazine (May/June 1998) to be exact. Of course it is one of those sold out, not to be found issues. A dear friend of mine happened to have two copies and she graciously sent a copy to me. Now isn't that nice!
It turned out that the alphabet is pretty but the shawl that inspired the alphabet is even better. I copied a section of the picture and I am giving it the proper credit. I wanted to show the corners of this shawl, the perfectly formed corner and the center. The center looks like a Celtic knot and is very similar to the center of the Medallion Square Shawl by Galina Khmeleva. It might be the same center, I have not read the complete article yet.
The corners are so pretty and well formed, it is evident there was no fudging or on the fly adjusting here.
My Princess is still hibernating, waiting for me to get over the corner design hump.

In Progress

2009-04-23T07:10:00.001-07:00

The baby blanket that is. The yarn is Noho cotton yarn from Webs set at 16 epi. Light is a definite factor here, if I stand right in front of the loom all I can see is a blur. If I turn the direct light off and stand to the side I can see the pattern developing.
I have woven half of the first pattern repeat of the first panel and I am loving it.

Next up!

2009-04-19T05:54:00.001-07:00

This is the draft pattern for the baby blanket. It is a Gebrochene on 8 shafts. I can't remember where I got the original draft from. I ended up having to modify it because I did not have enough ends on the warp. The calculations had been made to end up with about 100 yds of left over warp but I came up short, so the next best thing was to change the pattern.
Warp and weft are Noho cotton set at 14 epi.
Width on the reed 17.5 inches
I will weave three panels to end up with an almost square blanket.

This is one of the practice pieces for the coverlet. The purpose is to weave the panels and make them match side by side. Also, to practice the way I am going to join the panels and the hems.

The warp is now on the loom, the heddles are counted. Today I will start threading.

FO: Mystery Cloth

2009-04-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here it is Breaks and Recesses. I still don't know what the fiber in the yarn is. It washed out well, not a lot of shrinkage and the cloth has nice drape. I don't think it heavy enough for towels but it certainly does not have the character of a shawl.

The closeup to better view the structure. Click for big and you will see.

I think I am just going to let it be woven fabric for a while. Maybe someday it will talk to me and tell me what it wants to be.

It was a fun project with stash yarn of unknown origin. Next time I want more predictable results.

The warp is measured for a baby blanket it looks promising but we'll see.

The Saga of a Flying Loom!

2009-04-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Hannah's Eagle as she is now known is a Glimakra Standard loom that went to live with a weaver. Go on over and read the story of the flight.
There is an English post down bellow the picture.

Pendelton Selvage Rug and mystery yarn

2009-04-05T17:49:00.001-07:00

There it is. My first ever rug woven with Pendelton Selvages. It came out quite nice or so I think.

I wove a header on both ends with carpet warp and beat it very very hard. Two inches on both sides. Then hem stithed it. Tied knots with warp ends 4 at a time to minimize bulk. Folded the headers and did a crab stitch to hold the hems down. No fringes. I do not like rugs with fringes.

Specs:
Warp: carpet warp 8/4 doubled set at 8 ends per inch. Width on the loom 24 inches, width off the loom 23 inches. Length 36 inches.
Weft : Pendelton Selvages beat very very hard. I found out that the selvages have a right and a wrong side to them. I did not realize it until I was almost done with this rug. If you lay the weft consistently you will have a fuzzy side and a not too fuzzy side. In this rug it comes and goes.
The rug weighs 2.7 lbs I had 9 lbs total. Meaning I have enough for two more rugs.
The rest of the warp will be woven with rags cut from DH's shirts.

I still have no idea what the fiber is on this yarn. I am weaving it from a draft from the Eight Shaft book called Breaks and Recesses. I quite like it. Since I don't know what the yarn is going to do when I wash it, I wove a tabby header of about 5 inches. It it washes into towel texture I will cut it and hem it, if it washes into shawl fabric texture, I will have 'protected' ends so I can twist the fringe. How is THAT for a plan?
Blogger turned the last picture on its side, I have no idea why and I could not talk it into turning it right side up. So there it is sideways....

Plan gone bad

2009-03-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

I had this great plan for dishtowels with some mystery yarn from the stash. I thought it was cotton/linen of some sort. The burn test certainly looked like it. Perfect! I only have one pound. The wpi calculations said to sley at 18 epi for twill.

I had all the math worked out and this afternoon I set to wind the warp. The more I wound the more I knew it was not cotton less linen. I think it is some kind of rayon or who knows what. It has a sheen to it and it is a bit bumpy. The next surprise was that McMorran lied and I ended up with a warp about 3 inches narrower than what I thought. No big deal. Then I realized that 18 epi means 7 end floats almost half an inch! well that is not going to work with that draft less with the yarn. So now I have a warp nicely wound on the loom 351 ends, 3.5 yards long and I have no clue of what to weave with it! The weft is the same yarn, or it looks like it....I hope. Ten ounces on the warp, 6 ounces left for weft. I spent about an hour on the handweaving.net page looking for drafs, dug out a good part of my books and I am set blank. No clue what to do with it. At this point all I know is that it is a shawl or wide scarf but what structure? It is wound on an 8 shaft loom, that gives me more options but still. Any ideas?

Stepping Back Into Reason

2009-03-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was lusting on a computerized loom fascinated by complex beautiful fabrics that can be woven with them. I researched several possibilities and concluded that the Leclerc Weavebird Compu-Dobby loom was the best deal with the best customer support and best customer reports. I looked into several possibilities and price and flexibility are definitely in favor of the Weavebird. Some time if there is interest I can write a comparison and the why’s and how’s of this conclusions. One of the people I wrote to asking about more shafts was Joanne Hall owner of Glimakra USA. Joanne, wise woman said, before you do anything, sit back and think what it is that you want to weave. The question though simple is wise and certainly got me thinking….

Right around the same time I found out that I will be graduating next May. A second doctorate degree is something few people have the honor to obtain, it was a lot of work and well worth the effort. It is also a big occasion and my dad will be coming from Colombia to attend the ceremony, there is also a small chance that my sister will be able to come. That sure brought me into a halt, stop dead right there and think! My dad’s room is upstairs untouched and ready for him and his wife anytime. But the second guest room is where my Glimakra resided since it came to live with me several years ago, as some of you might know the loom takes over the complete room! Meaning NO ROOM for anyone else!

DH said we should take more advantage of the basement and rearrange things. It was swapping my knitting machines room and turning it into his office and me moving the knitting machines and the loom into the larger basement room. It took three weekends and a lot of work to do all this. DH and I did most of the work but had a son in law and the grand kids come and help with the loom move. I took the loom apart almost alone and the men came in to help hold the side frames and carry those down the stairs. In the mean time the kids took the pieces downstairs one by one but quickly without pressure or strain on any one. In about 30 minutes the loom was totally disassembled. An hour later the loom was downstairs and back together again. I double checked the manual to make sure we had all the parts in the right place. That night I was dressing the loom again. That would never ever happen with a more complex loom. Tools: the mallet that comes with the loom and that was it! No screws, no plans, no fuss, no problem.

The good part is that now I have a lot more space around and it is easier to dress and tie up. The best part of all is that I fell in love with my loom all over again. I also found out I could for under $200 add two more shafts. Bringing it up to 10, not bad at all! If I wanted to have a Compu-Dobby I would have to give up the Glimakra, there is no way I can do that. The other alternative is to give up the living room, an option that makes perfect sense to me but not that much to others. There is no sense in getting into a more complex piece of equipment for a lot more money and a lot less room. There is only ONE of me and only so many hours in a day and so many days left in life. There are a number of things in my ‘to weave list’ and all of them can be woven in what I have now. What I need to do is learn more about structure, understand drafting better and weave, weave and weave some more. There is more I can add to my loom….if I decide to go the more shafts route. Not as conventional as a regular multi-shaft system but just as fascinating: Double Harness Weaving aka drawloom and such other devices. I have not been known ever to venture into simple things…..

I joined Complex Weavers it can be called an online guild. In spite the name, Complex Weavers is not complex at all. It is meant to bring together people with common interests. CW has two very appealing aspects; one is the lending library, huge list of wonderful and out of print books. The second one the study groups, people with common interest in different methods or structures. There is a Double Harness study group and no drawloom ownership or sample weaving is required. So I signed up and intend to read as much as I possibly can about the techniques involved. I might or might not end up getting a drawloom or a computerized loom for that matter. What I have gained is a wealth of knowledge throughout the process.

I have no one to thank but my local weaving guild for all this. The Mary Meigs Atwater Handweavers Guild is a group of women with varied interests always willing to share and teach. Some of the members never stop finding ways and things to show and teach us. Every time I go there I come home with something new I have learned and a whole new world to explore. Mary Meigs Atwater can rest assured that her request for lending her name for the Salt Lake Guild is being completely fulfilled.

I have read more about weaving in the last couple of months than I ever did in the past, I have met wonderful and giving people. One of the phrases I came across is probably one of the most inspiring thoughts for a fiber artist: Peter Collingwood said: “The simple starts where the complex is exhausted”.

Princess and Dog Ears

2009-03-21T18:24:00.001-07:00

I finished the Princess center. While knitting the last 5 plain knit rows, all of a sudden it struck me that there was not going to be a way of turning the corners to attach the top edging.
I re-read the pattern, looked a the shawl and there it was. The pattern says to pickup the stitches for the border all the way along the inner edge of the points. NO TURNING instructions. I still can not understand why I did not think of it at that point, it would have been really easy to pick up all but the stitches corresponding to the two outermost points on both sides. I guess it was the excitement of having completed the never ending edge and the eagerness to keep going with the border. The fact is that when I realized what was going to happen it was way too late for any kind of corner adjustment. I asked on the Heirloom list, and others had done the same thing I did. I asked the designer and she said the pattern was correct, that I had done it right and there was no need for turning corners, just to fudge and block the shawl, that it will have an oval shape and not so much of a triangle. Well fudging after 15 months of knitting is not exactly the most appealing solution, but there is no other. I can not fudge in the knitting as I apply the final edge. I will have to fudge in the blocking.

I am upset at myself for not having seen it. I have knit many many shawls, triangular, squares..I have knit Gossamer shawls from patterns from Russia. I have designed my own and I have turned many many corners on shawls and sweaters and blankets. Yet here I did not even think there would be a potential problem. It is no ones fault but mine. For once I did not change the pattern except for changing the number of points to knit at the beginning. I just stuck to the pattern like a beginner and here are the results. I took pictures from different angles with the shawl laying flat against the table. Blocking will have to be vigorous and I dare not do any pulling or tugging on a dry shawl. I just hope that some way somehow it will flatten out.

For the lucky ones that have not picked up the border stitches, the solution is very simple. Pick up all the stitches but the two out most points. Knit 4 more points than the math I did back then. and leave those two points loose. When you finish the center, sew the initial edging turning the corner and then finish the top edge. Another solution is to knit 4 less points at the beginning, when you get to the border pick up the stitches as instructed but cast on side stitches (20 is a good guess but do the math) and knit the border and the center. When it is time to finish the edge, start attaching it and turn the corners at the same time. I think this second method is a lot easier. Because there will be no sewing involved except for the last row to the first row of the edge.

Here you go the dog ears:

Shaft Envy and Things for Sale

2009-02-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

I just came back from a weaving workshop with severe shaft envy and longing for a Compu-Dobby loom. As I can not stack things up, space has a limit, I have for sale a few things:

Price includes packing materials or delivery within 200 miles of Salt Lake City Utah. Does not include shipping. Actual shipping will be added to the final price. I take Money Orders, Cashiers checks or Paypal.

1. Leclerc Voyaguer 12 Shaft 24 inch weaving width. Purchased in September 2006. Includes: two lease sticks, book Warp and Weave, Slim Leclerc 12 inch shuttel with one bobbin. Screwdrives and 600 Texsolv Heddles. Condition is used in excellent condition. Price: $950

2. Van Eaton Folding Spinning wheel. I purchased the wheel from Van Eaton in October 2008. It spins great. Single threadle, four bobbins, lazy kate, two whorls. It has Scotch tension and double drive mechanisms. This wheel is one of the last ones he will ever make. It is in pristine condition. Price: $900.

3. Yarn kit for medium size Henry VIII by AS. It does not include the pattern nor the book. The yarns are Jamieson and Smith and Jamieson all with original labels. Fourteen skeins including shipping within the continental USA . $100

For inquiries and pictures please leave a comment with a return email.

What to do with neps in fine fleeces

2009-02-14T20:28:00.000-08:00

The following is a response to a post by SnailSpirals, (Entry Feb 14, 2009) the original intention was to leave a comment on her blog, but it turned out a bit too long for a comment. I am posting it here. If you are a spinner and like to work with fine fleeces go over to her blog and read her entry first. Then come on over and read my response. As I wrote in response to her, the whole thing is in first person but I am too tired tonight to change it. Go on over read and come back.

Very interesting experiments, however, I think you are headed in the wrong direction. I agree that the primary cause of the problem was insufficient washing, namely the lanolin was not washed out entirely and the carder was set too fast and the carding cloth was to rough for the fleece, specially the Merino component of it. I have not worked with raw Merino fleeces but I have done so with Rambouillet. The saga was similar, lovely and expensive fleece turned into a pile of neps. What ends up happening is exactly what you described the fiber springs back on itself and forms the neps. There are two alternatives for salvaging the fiber: have it combed or pindrafted by the Zellingers the down side to this is that they require a minimum weight per order and with one fleece that is next to impossible. With mine, I went through a very similar process as you described and concluded that the best thing was to spin from the roving but drafting the neps as I went. The ones I was unable to draft I simply picked out. The resulting yarn was awful at first: curly beyond belief. I washed the skeins and put 1 lb weight on each skein hoping to get rid of the curl. As soon as the yarn was dry, I took the weights out and I had curly yarn again. You can see the yarn in this picture:

It is more noticeable in the green skein. The yarn sat undyed for ages, then I dyed it as you see in the picture and put it on the loom. I thought I was going to end up with some kind of textured fabric. Well surprise! The fabric came off the loom and I fulled in the washer a bit. You can see the results in this picture:

If you look at the blanket in detail there is not one nep to be found, and it lays nice and flat. The curls from the yarn are long gone. What is more interesting is that before I dyed it I knit a square and tried fulling it in the washer, it would not felt! I washed it with a load of jeans x several times, no fulling even. The only reason the blanket fulled so well is because the weft is alpaca wool blend. I think the Rambo did not full because the fiber and the yarn were washed over and over and over again with soda ash, ammonia, dish soap and as I recall one of those fancy fleece scouring soaps. Rambo as Merino tends to felt very easy because of the softness of the fiber. This one did not. I was tempted more than once during the two years I played with this fiber trying to come up with something to save it, to just throw it away. Am I glad I did not, this blanket is my husbands all time favorite. Give the spinning a try over stretching (drafting) and putting in a bit more twist than you would normally aim for. I think you will be surprised at the results.

A sock instead of dinner

2009-02-06T05:20:00.000-08:00

Last night I could not figure out what to make for dinner. I did know how to knit the second sock. I figured I would knit the leg and think about dinner, the leg was done, no inspiration. I knit the heel, no dinner inspiration yet. I knit the foot....might as well finish it.
When DH got home I told him: I did not cook dinner, but I made you a sock! He laughed and settled for left over lentils and rice. Gotta love the man!

Focus? Yeah Right!

2009-02-01T05:43:00.001-08:00

Project monogamy is how I used to work. Not any more, the array of interest is above and beyond that possibility. I knit, machine knit, weave and spin. A recap of the ongoing projects is kind of scary:
- Princess: pending 20 rows to complete the center plus who knows how many points to complete the edge.
- Salt Lake City Winter Olympics cardigan: pending 2/3 of the color work on the body and all the color work on the sleeves. You could say it is 70% complete if one does not count the sewing and cutting and facings.
- Sample for the weaving workshop: The loom is dressed and I started my sample. So far about 10 inches out of the 72 I plan to weave. Cotton scarf for my grandma.
- Warp for rug: calculations are done, the carpet warp is sitting by the warping mill along with the contrast yarn that will be used to tie the chains. Guide string in place.....or not if I decide to measure warp for three instead of two rugs.
- Warp for scarf: the chains are sitting in a bucket waiting for either an idle loom or a place to set up the table loom. This is plain weave with novelty yarn, a gift for a friend that fell in love with a shawl I wove, since its a he I will weave a scarf using the same yarn.
-Mid Gauge knitting machine: ribbed hooded cardigan for me, the back is complete up to the start of the armhole decreases. It is English ribbing 2/1/2 I had to stop last night because all of a sudden I was not sure on how to go about the decreases. The question is posted on the yahoo list, some kind soul is likely to come along today and help me out. This is a hand knitting pattern from Drops modified for the machine.
- Standard Gauge machine: holds one sock for DH up to about the middle of the foot. I will finish it today and start the second sock....maybe I can finish these today.
- Roberta spinning wheel holds about 2 oz out of many pounds (I do not want to know how many) of very soft wool that I had forgotten about. I have white and brown wool and the plan is to spin it all up and use it to weave a blanket using a Log Cabin draft.
-Rose spinning wheel: about an ounce of spun yarn out of 4 oz of very pretty light blue roving that will become beaded yarn. The plan is to use it to knit-weave the cuffs and the front/collar band for a cardigan.

The question is: will all this be completed? sure! eventually in different stages it will all be done.

ETA: I forgot about the train project! About 10 inches of the back of Flying Geese cardigan (AS pattern) The yarn is Scottish Fleet in bright lovely red. The stitch pattern is simple yet entertaining enough and it is going fast.

"Celebrating Fiber Arts: From the Past to the Present."

2009-01-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

2009 Biennial Mary Meigs Atwater Weavers Guild Show
The Utah Cultural Celebration Center

I am thrilled! I won the "Lorna Tayler Award" (the highest mention at the show) with one of my hand spun handwoven blankets!

I wove this blanket during November-December 2007. I still can not believe it! There are so many beautiful pieces at the show, I am amazed that mine was the one chosen.

If you are in the area, do go visit the show amazing wealth for inspiration.

The prize is money, it will be quickly invested in the license for the weaving software I have always wanted. I have plenty of yarn, the software is what I need.

Keeping Track of Books

2009-01-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

Remember I said I was going to blog about the books I read? Well that is NOT going to happen. Shortly after I started doing it, I found GoodReads. An online database for readers. You can search by author, topic, book title, isbn, you name it! Also share your books with friends and find what other people recommend according to your past reading history.
I found the site through a fellow weaving blogger and I am delighted with it.
I added all the books I had on the LibraryThing and ended up with quite a list.
No book blogging here unless it is something out of the ordinary.

Machine Knit Socks

2009-01-13T15:18:00.001-08:00

Socks size 11, calf length, fine yarn, solid color = Machine Knitting.
There is no way I am going to knit these by hand. I did it a couple of times and called it quits.
On the knitting machine it is another story ONCE you master the technique. I wanted round heels, round toes. It did not happen because I could not figure out the instructions in the book. NOW I know and the next pair will be round heels and toes.
I frogged one of these socks 5 times until I gave up and knit a Peasant heel and a regular short row toe. The second sock took about 45 minutes plus sewing and grafting time.
Yarn is KnitPicks Essential sock yarn, it is superwash Merino blend. Nice and stretchy. It held up well to all the frogging although it does split a bit if not handled with care. I had to pick up the stitches with DPN and had to use 1.5 mm needles. That tells you how fine they are. I think they will hold up well to wear because they are that tight, but the fabric has a nice hand.
The leg was knit flat using the ribber for 2/2 ribbing, the foot knit in the round. Sewing at the sides of the heel and grafted the toes.
Lessons learned:
Every line in the pattern is important, and should not be skipped......
Check row gauge after the heel is done.
When knitting off into waste yarn use higher tension, ravel cord and yarn
Always use the P carriage when knitting in the round
Cast on on waste yarn to hang the comb so the edge of the ribbing does not stretch.
You can knit 5 socks in one day!
Machine knitting is fun but has its own challenges, there is more control over hand knitting.
Verdict: I like them and will knit more trying other style heels and toes that I think will fit DH's foot a lot better.

Stranded Knitting .......

2009-01-08T18:46:00.000-08:00

International Year of Natural Fibers 2009

2009-01-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

It will not be too long before all we have left is plastic, remember that plastic comes from petroleum aka oil and you know how that part goes.

Check these out:

Royal Brierley factory to close

Fox Valley Leather Company in North Salt Lake City: closed

Historic Brigham City mill burns; community suspects arson

To make matters worse Romi has a post with scary facts in reference to toys including those made in the USA.

I urge knitters, weavers, spinners all fiber artists to help promote the
International Year of Natural Fibers 2009

I can't work with acrylic, it hurts my hands and gives me goose bumps!

Informative Note:

I contacted the IYONF organization and they said we can use the logo and help promote it as long as there is no commercial interest in doing so. Feel free to take the icon an post it on your website. But please do stream from your own website.

Huck Table Runner

2009-01-04T17:04:00.001-08:00

All the cloth on the beam

Woven to the last possible bit.
More pictures and specs after it dries.

Workshop Apron and visitor mouse

2008-12-31T11:41:00.000-08:00

One of the participants at a weaving workshop I went to this year was wearing an apron. How clever! Scissors, pen, notebook, warp separators and even tapestry needle all in tow. I have said it before, I am not a seamstress or come even close. But I figured I could handle this one. Pattern traced from an old apron, a dip into my little tiny fabric stash and here we are.
It is quilted...kind off because I did not top stitch anything. But it is reversible and has batting between the two layers. The pocket is also quilted and large enough to fit the scissors.

I also wanted the pin cushion but a red/pink store bought one even if tiny would not go well with the colors. I Googled for pin cushion patterns and found a website with gazillions of them. I don't like mice or rodents at all, but this little guy looked harmless enough to have around. I make the cone, filled it with cushion filling stuff (also from the stash) tucked in the rear end, and made the tail and the ears with finger cord. The eyes and the whiskers are the same strand of yarn using the famous whisker/eye embroidery method.......

I get a kick on how the Basset is glancing at the mouse.
Note to self: organize the never ending pile of stuff sitting on the bed in my studio or move Simona next time you are going to take a picture.

A poem I love

2008-12-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

This poem was written by a Colombian, he was one of the greatest poets the country has had. In Cartagena, there is a monument to the poem and of course the shoes. The poem talks about the highlights and history of the beautiful city, at the end it says the city although old and full of antiques can only inspire the same love we all have for our old shoes.

A mi Ciudad Nativa

Noble rincón de mis abuelos: nada
como evocar, cruzando callejuelas,
los tiempos de la cruz y la espada,
del ahumado candil y las pajuelas...

Pues ya pasó, ciudad amurallada,
tu edad de folletín... Las carabelas
se fueron para siempre de tu rada...
¡Ya no viene el aceite en botijuelas!

Fuiste heroica en los tiempos coloniales,
cuando tus hijos, águilas caudales,
no eran una caterva de vencejos.

Mas hoy, plena de rancio desaliño,
bien puedes inspirar ese cariño
que uno le tiene a sus zapatos viejos...

Luis Carlos López

Dye Exchange Handspun Handwoven blanket

2008-12-27T05:11:00.000-08:00

I used all of the fiber I got from the Wasatch Woolpack dye exchange this year. The intent was to use only the exchange yarn but there was not enough yarn to weave the piece the width and length I wanted it. I added most of the handspun yarn I had sitting around. The weft is Jagger Spun yarn. Sett 12 epi, woven in plain weave. I had some tension issues from the front rod tieup that caused skipped threads. Those I fixed with a darning needle. The fringe was cut at 6 inches long and twisted in 4 thread sections.

I tied the warp to a dummy warp I had on the loom. After doing this several times I have come to the conclusion that it does not safe time and not really too much warp. It does safe from threading mistakes. This one is the fourth handspun handwoven blanket I make and that will be it for a while since I don't have any more fiber is colors to spin. I do have plenty of other fiber but not in different colors, plus how many blankets should one have?

Next on the Glimakra a rug and on the Leclerc Compact a Huck lace table runner. .....I love the rithm in weaving!

Again: click on the images for a better idea on color. Blogger keeps washing out the pictures....I wonder why?

This spun into this....

2008-12-26T10:00:00.000-08:00

I bought this fiber from Judy Gunn in Centerville Utah. She is one of the most knowledgeable spinners and dyers I know. The color wave is DD's Delight. The colors were chosen by a friend of Judy's who's name is DD. To go with it I also have the jet black. It is a lovely and very soft Merino. One lb of each.

Spun so far 8 oz of each. Its sitting in a water bath as I type. It will become a stranded cardigan using a Dale of Norway chart that I have sitting around here somewhere. The swatch will be knit, the numbers figured out and the knitting will begin. Eight more ounces of each color are the backup just in case.
The plan is stranded cardigan with siamese sleeves so I can have some kind of "control" on the color.
If you click on the pictures the color shows a lot better. For some reason the tiny pictures on the blog look washed out.

Hats!

2008-12-25T05:46:00.001-08:00

I have been knitting hats. Hand and machine knit hats.

First up the cable tam from Vogue Knitting Holiday 2008.
The yarn is Pure Merino from Berroco. I used slightly more than three balls, needles US 6.

This one is for me! To match a rib warmer.....if I have enough yarn that is.

The other two are knit on the midgauge machine. They are for my husband's granddaughter. The pattern is my own and the result of the combination of techniques found in different patterns for hand and machine knitting:

Machine knit Reversible hat
Another machine knit reversible hat
Handknit hat with earflaps
Machine knit hat with earflaps

The machine knit ones are with some wool/acrylic blend yarn made so a teenage girl can use the washer with no worries.

We'll see what's next!