So many hobbies!

New colorways

The first of my new colorways, this one is Chocolate Hearts. 

This one is called Grasshopper.  I'm still tweaking it.  The next batch, the brown will be darker and there'll be more green.  

My latest attempt at kettle dyeing which, again, failed to work the way I wanted.  The dye hit too fast which I think means the acidity was too high.   Next time, less white vinegar.  I'm looking for a 14-16 quart pot as my dyeing pot.  And next time, I'll try with something other than Superwash Merino.  Since the scales that allow wool to felt are removed or coated in Superwash, the fibers have nothing to grab onto and tend to drift apart which makes it hard for the dye to move around in the dye pot.  

Last Saturday I rediscovered that if you spend 3 or 4 hours waiting for car repairs, you can get quite a bit of knitting done (the bonus is I now have heat which is fairly important with winter coming).  I've got about 10 rounds to go on my Socks that Rock socks and I start the heels.  Sadly, I have more car repairs to wait for this weekend so more progress will be made (the seal is bad around my windshield - I'm tired of scraping frost on the INSIDE of my car). 

Oh, I remembered two additions to my UFO list: two single socks that have been waiting for a couple of years for their mates to be knitted:

The sock on the right demonstrates why I don't like knitting socks cuff-down.  I was afraid of running out of yarn so I didn't make the leg as long as I would have liked (I ended up with extra yarn) and the toe looks retarded and needs to be ripped back so I can reknit it properly and Kitchner it closed.  The sock on the left was the first thing I knitted with my handspun (I think).  Clearly I suffer greatly from SSS (Second Sock Syndrome) which is why I'll be knitting both socks at once from now on. 
 
 

Gotta love, 'shrooms!

Mmmm, Cremini mushrooms, sliced, sauteed and added to spaghetti sauce.  My favorite sauce is Classico Tomato and Basil.  I have spaghetti a lot.  It's easy and fast after a long day of work and very yummy covered in fresh grated parmesan cheese.  It's what I had for dinner tonight.

I forgot my camera for the Fiber Expo, but someone took a picture and sent it to me.  My roving sold the best.  The handspun, not so much.  A number of folks had some nice things to say about my spindle boxes.  Next year I'll do somethings differently:  order a banner with my logo to hang on the back wall; make up small signs, particularly for the handspun; I'm trying to decide between a real cashbox and just stuffing my earnings in my pocket; possibly a rug to warm things up; lights; and some kind of system (lattice, pegboard, wire rack...) to hang handspun and/or roving at eye level.

I was forbidden by my sister to buy more roving after we de-trashed my condo.  She told me if I needed to go shopping, I had to go through the large bins of roving in the basement and shop there.  She was a bit annoyed with me when I told her I bought this:

 

It's Merino/silk/bamboo and it's soft and luscious.  It's also brighter than this crappy picture:  blue, green and aqua.  It's the purchase I always make so I have beautiful, cheerful winter spinning and I always buy from Winterhaven Fiber Farm.  I just love the way Jenny dyes.  Plus, it's the only roving purchase I've made since May (the May roving is already spun) so I don't feel guilty in the slightest.  The rest of my spinning this winter will be from stash diving.  There's some really nice stuff in there.

 

I've given myself a mission to complete as many of my UFO's as possible before the end of the year.  I've already finished spinning and plying the Cormo roving I bought in May.  The spindle above has the third quarter of the graduated purple roving I dyed earlier this year.  One more singles to spin then I can ply.  The rest of the UFO's are:  fingering weight socks from Socks that Rock, the sport weight socks from my handpainted yarn that I haven't touched since last winter, a handspun shawl, some Polwarth I'm spindle spinning, the last 4 oz. of Polwarth/angora to spin and then ply with the Cormo/silk singles that I've already spun.  I'm not knitting any Christmas presents this year so Christmas knitting isn't a concern.  (Everyone is getting jam and/or cookies for Christmas this year.)  It'll be nice to start the new year without any old UFOs hanging over my head.

Vacations and projects rock!

Man I love spending time with my family.  I had such a good time up north.  It was relaxing, I had time to work on several projects, spent time with my nephews and sister... it was all good.  Our cottage is on a lake so I got to see the lake in all her glory.  And, naturally, I forgot my camera.  I decided I need to put together a bag that I grab whenever I walk out the door that has some essentials that I don't want to leave the house without:  camera, journal, thumb drive, pens, double-stick tape, iPod, ear buds, calendar.  This means I'm going to need to buy a small camera that is easy to tuck into a pocket.  I'll give you an update later on how that's going.

 

I started Shawl that Jazz on Wednesday and I haven't been able to put it down.  I've got about 10 inches of it knit already.  The yarn I dyed myself the week before and I'm almost done with the first skein.  If it looks like I'm not going to have enough to knit the border, I plan on dying a third skein in just brown and black.  I'm really enjoying this pattern.  It's pretty clever.  She uses short rows to shape the shawl and once the body is completed, you pick up those inactive stiches and knit the border.  It's pretty cool.

When I was able to put the shawl down, I did some bead embroidery for the first time in months and months.  I was able to complete the beading on one piece that I'd been stalled on since the last time I beaded:

 

Sorry about the glare; I waited too long to take the picture and had to use the flash.  Eventually, this will be sewn to a backing, some kind of fringe will be attached and a cord and the necklace will be sold (hopefully) on Etsy.  I also started a new piece that's not complete yet:

 

The cabochon at the top is turquoise from China (I love ebay!) and the bottom piece is a piece of shell I picked up off the beach on Sanibel Island.  My mom wondered why I'd pick up broken shells but these pieces are too beautiful not to save.  This picture is really crappy.  I'll post it again once I've finished the beading.

Gotta go to bed.  I'll tell you more later.

Now it's right

 

This is the blue I was looking for.  I'd rather the light spots weren't there but I think they'll add a nice accent to the knitted piece... whatever it ends up being.  I took the turquoise yarn and over-dyed it bright blue with some black added to tone down the blue.  Now it's gorgeous and pretty much perfect... and it's going to look great on me. 

 

This yarn I over-dyed with fushia to get the red-purple yarn I was looking for.  (Okay, I've flipped between the two and the photos don't look that different but trust me, the added fushia makes a world of difference.)  Both yarns will likely become cowls or neck warmers of similar ilk.

Last week I did a trial dyeing of some newly purchased 60/40 Merino/bamboo roving.  I think it turned out pretty well:

 

It's really not that glossy; I had to use the flash.  I love how it turned out.  Spun up, this roving will be shiny and soft.  If you haven't tried spinning Merino/bamboo roving, you don't know what you're missing.

I started binding a couple of books this weekend.  They're not much to look at right now, just sewn book blocks, but I've rounded the spine and tomorrow I'll cut out of spin night early and go to Hollanders to use some of their equipment.  The book blocks will go into the backing press to create the shoulders and I'll use their big board cutter to cut boards for the covers.

Still not satisfied with the color

Well, my peeps, you know that sky blue yarn that I overdyed to a medium turquoise?  It's still not right.  Or rather, I want to use it for a nice warm cowl and that color won't look good on me so I need to try again.  Possibly purple but I'm leaning more toward a deeper blue.  Yeah, definitely blue. 

As for purple dyes, I dyed up some Merino/bamboo roving today.  Because bamboo is a celulose fiber and not a protein fiber like wool, it won't take acid dyes.  This means you need to dye the roving darker than you normally would because the undyed bamboo fibers will lighten the color.  Anyway, the finished roving is drying and will be available for a photo shoot later this week.

 

My newest spindle was delivered Saturday.  It's a .8 ounce Comet spindle from Tracy Eichheim.  It's one of his production spindles which means it's nicely affordable but still very well made.  I've been searching for a spindle that will spin for a long time and I'd heard good things about Tracy's spindles so I ordered one.  Everyone was right:  these spindles do spin forever.  This thing is the Energizer Bunny of drop spindles!  Seriously!  By the time it slows down, I need to wind on anyway.  If you've been looking for a long-spinning drop spindle, order one of these.  Love!

I'm in the mood to bake something scrumptious.  Anyone got any good recipes they'd like to share?  I have some bananas that are happily on their way to black so I'm thinking banana nut bread will be forthcoming... as soon as I clean off the kitchen counter. 

Still searching

 

The beaded thingy has been frogged and I'm still looking for the right fingerless mitts or wrist warmers to knit with the yarn.  The purple yarn was dyed on Sunday but as you can see, there are light spots that I can't figure out.  It's also a bit darker than I wanted so I'm thinking of overdyeing it in magenta to see if it will cover the light spots and make it more of the red-purple I was shooting for.  Besides, the experiment will be fun and I'm all about the fun.  The purp is the Merino/cashmere/angora yarn I made for my mom's fingerless mitts two Christmases ago.  I decided it didn't have enough twist and would hold up better if I gave it a little more so I ran it through my wheel again.  Now it has the quantity of twist I think makes a good-looking yarn.  I've been told by some people that I add too much twist when plying.  I say, they don't have enough. 

My spindle storage shelf is almost done.  All I have left to do is add the cuphooks and figure out where I'm going to hang the darn thing.  Oh, I suppose I ought to seal it with something - darn!  I used nice bright ash for the everything but the back piece.  The back piece is darker recycled wood that gives great contrast to the lighter wood.  I'll try and get eveything completed this weekend but I'm taking a class all day Saturday and Sunday and I just may not have time.

Happy weekend people.

Changing it up

When was the last time you cleaned out your pantry?  I've been in my condo nearly 10 years and today was the first time.  Boy, did I have a lot of old stuff in there:  soup that expired 4 years ago, beans that expired 6 years ago, a jar of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn that moved in with me.  Does sparkling grape juice have a shelf life?  I have two bottles that have been here almost since I moved in.  My recycling bin will be overflowing this week.  I'm a bit slow in learning an important lesson:  if you don't need it right now and it isn't a oft-used staple like tomato paste, don't buy it.  My pantry has a lot more room tonight than it did this morning.

I treated myself to a new book this week:  Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders.  It prompted me to dig out some of the luxury yarn I've spun over the past couple of years.  I have a couple of skeins of Merino/angora and about 100 yds. left of the superfine Merino/angora/cashmere yarn I blended up for my mom two Christmases ago.  Neither one was a color I liked so I overdyed them.  The Merino/angora went from a sky blue to this:

 

The Merino/angora/cashmere was overdyed a dark purple but it's still drying.  Pics later.  The yarn above I'm thinking will be the beaded wrist warmers pictured on page 21 of Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders - provided I can find the right beads to match.  Considering I could practically open my own bead store, I'm a bit annoyed to find I don't have the right color beads.  I'll be visiting my LBS (local bead store) sometime this week to look for a match.  I'd like something with some sparkle. 

Six more offerings

Not much to say tonight.  I did some dyeing this weekend and went to my guild meeting but aside from that, it was a pretty quiet weekend.  I'll leave you with some photos.  I like the last two the best.

   

 

 

If wishes were horses...

 

Tuesday's dye job baked and dried.  The two lengths of roving are layered one on top of the other.  The one on the left was on top of the one on the right so it absorbed more dye.

SOAR's classes aren't thrilling me this year.  I made the mistake yesterday of looking at the summer classes offered at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.  I am a sometimes bookbinder and Penland is offering a class this summer that I would LOVE to take.  It's a class taught by Daniel Essig called "Textured, Painted & Bound." (Go here and look at the first class of the second session.)  I have the vacation time (it's a two-week class) but, sadly, the funds are lacking.  Aren't they always? 

Gearing up

My Guild's winter fleece fair is coming up (2/21) and I've started dyeing roving to sell.  I used Val's method of dyeing with dry powder and so far I've had mixed results, more from my learning curve than from the method I'm thinking. 

 

You can see where some of the red dye didn't disolve and spread.  I think if I add a bit more water, that won't be a problem in the future.  This batch - two 4 oz. lengths of BFL - needs to cool over night before I wash and dry it.  I have high hopes.

These two were dyed Sunday night.  The first is a Merino/Tencel blend and the second is Superwash Merino:

 

 

Neither of these really grabs me but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I've learned that what one person dislikes, another might love.

As promised, I took better shots of the yarn I plied while on vacation.  The first is the cashmere/Polwarth blend.  It may be getting a blue bath at some point.

 

And this one is the llama I've been spindle spinning for the past few months or so:

 

The list of workshops and retreats for SOAR 2009 is now out.  I'm not sure I'm excited enough about them, though, to spend the money and effort required to travel from Michigan to Oregon, schlepping my wheel along with me.  More perusing of the lists will be necessary before I make my final decision.