So many hobbies!

More Ming

Lately I've been craving Chinese food.  What does that mean?  Do I have an MSG deficiency?  A soy sauce deficiency?   I'm free tomorrow for dinner.  Anyone want to join me for some Cashew Chicken?

Someone asked for a custom order for a fair amount of Ming.  She wants to see it before she buys it to make sure it matches some she bought earlier.   I'm a bit nervous since monitors can be deceiving in color representation but if she doesn't want it, I'll just put it up in the store.   Along with the other roving I'll dye up this weekend.  I've been working on some new colorways so I'm all a'tingle with the possibilities.

What will you be doing this weekend?

Possibilities

Our seeds arrived today from the Seed Savers Exchange.  Two of my co-workers and I ordered together.  I'm buying my seed starting supplies this weekend, then I'll be counting down the days until I can start the peppers.  Woot!

I've had some luck on my wool search.  Aphelion clued me in to Forestfibres on ebay (Thanks, Aphelion!) and I hit pay dirt.  Forestfibres sells wool from rare sheep, among other things.   I have some washed fleece winging it's way to me from England.  It's the next best thing to a wool tour.  This has gotten me thinking about my specimen book and it's occurred to me I could make several books just as easily as I could make one.  It's possible that I will make several to sell but there are some issues I'd need to work out first.  (1) My specimen book will likely be a continuous work in progress which means any copy I sell will inevitably be incomplete.  I'll have to determine what breeds will be included in each book that I sell.  (2) The re-design of each page will include space for a photo of each breed.  Copying pictures off the Net, even if it wasn't a copyright infringement, which it is, won't work because the resolution is too low and copies will poor.  This means I'll have to either take the pictures myself or ask if someone has a photo of each breed and can I use it.  I hope to get sheep pictures at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this spring.  Oh, yeah!  Figuring out the logistics of putting together and selling copies of my specimen book will be a fun exercise.  I wish my sister lived closer so she could help me brainstorm ideas.  I also wish I had Pagemaker or some other page layout program so I could organize my page design more efficiently.  Another puzzle to solve.

These photos are all from the Library of Congress' Flickr page.  Check it out! 

Spin night!

Spin night was great!  There were 13 of us there and everyone kept thanking me for starting it up.  All I did was email one person and ask if there was a local spinning group.  I found out she sent the email to the entire Spinner's Flock!  One of the guys in Spinner's Flock (sorry, can't find the link) works at the local art center and he'd been trying to convince them that hosting a spin night was a good idea.  The committee had been resisting the idea because they didn't think anyone was interested.  He printed out my email, brought it to their meeting and said, "See!" and that was that.  It very strange to be the innocent catalyst of something so popular. 

The bobbin holds what I spun last night - Polwarth/kid mohair.  The blue skein is the last of the merino/silk/angora and the lumpy, white skein is the result of Sunday's rolags and my first attempt at spinning long draw.  As you can see, I need more practice.  I think I was starting to catch on with the last rolag but I need to spin more to find out.

I've been reinspired to dye up more roving.  At this time of year, I crave color and lots of it.  I'm thinking golden yellows, jewel tones, blues, rich browns.  I'll be cooking up more of my original colorways, including Ming and Calypso, and Tuxedo which I never offered in roving form.  I've streamlined my handpainting so it takes me much less time to dye up a pan of roving.  Ah, color!  A feast for the eyes.

New hand cards

Perhaps Winter wasn't the best time to try the spending diet.  I don't do so well in winter and this one has been particularly bad.  The thought has ocurred to me that living somewhere else might be a good thing.  I love Spring in Michigan.  It's my favorite time of year.  Unfortunately, you have to go through winter to get to it and well... winter in Michigan really sucks!

So, because I've been depressed from frickin' SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), I bought myself some beautiful Schacht hand cards.  Saturday night I practiced carding Rambouillet and making rolags and Sunday I practiced spinning long draw.  I need a lot more practice.  My yarn was pretty bumpy but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Tomorrow night is my first spin night.  I have some beautiful, soft Polwarth/Kid Mohair roving I bought from a local seller (I try to buy local when I can.  God knows Michigan craft people can use the business.)  This stuff is cloud soft and I want to spin it for a shawl I've designed.  It's a fairly simple design but it incorporates some new things for me:  cables and using two different colors.

I'm going to be buying some land in the country some time in the next year.  I grew up in the country and I really miss the peace and quiet, having a vegetable garden and listening to the Spring Peepers when I'm falling asleep.  I love living in the country.  I want at least 2 acres so I have the option of getting some fiber animals, and chickens, if I decide I want some.  That's a hard one, though.  To be honest, buying the fleece from someone else's animal is much cheaper than growing your own.  Having animals makes traveling much more problematic.  You can't just go away for the weekend.  You're tied to your farm unless you have a reliable farm sitter.  And, since I'm single, there's only one person to do all the work.  Still, there's nothing like free-range eggs and I can only imagine what it's like to see lambs and kids cavorting around the pasture.  Like I said, something to think about.

And the winner is...

Nicole from British Columbia.  I've emailed Nicole and I'm waiting to see if she prefers sock yarn or roving.  (Oh, Nicole, I'm probably going to need your address, too.  Forgot to ask for that.)  I only had five responders so the odds were pretty good for the folks who entered.

This is all that's left of the blue roving.  It'll get spun and plied this weekend.  It occurred to me tonight that if I'm not blogging about my wrap, I'm going to have precious little to post about my evenings.  I'd considered only working on the wrap on Knit Night but I just can't leave it alone.  It calls to me.

I told the ladies last night about my wool quest and Alice asked me if I was making a specimen book.  That's exactly what I'm making but I hadn't thought to call it that until she mentioned it.  I'd had the thought running around in the back of my head for a while now that I wasn't happy with the current format of my wool binders, aka specimen books.  I'll be designing a new format on my computer in the next week or so.  I'm not terribly happy with my hand writing so each specimen page will most likely be completely typed.  I'll fill out a new page as I experience a new wool.  One thing I want to add to each page is space for a photo.  My only real complaint about In Sheeps Clothing is that there aren't any photos of the sheep.  Finding photos of each breed may be problematic but I'll deal with that later.

Thank you to the fab five who entered my little contest and to the rest of you who quietly read my little blog.  It still surprises me that it's been a whole year.   Now that I've gotten the whole blogging thing down, I'd like to make things better and more fun for you to read.  With that in mind, if there's something you'd like to see or see more of or any other suggestions, let me know.  If it's doable, I'll try and incorporate the changes in the next year.

Tomorrow's Friday.  I'll be doing the usual spinning and knitting this weekend.  What will you be up to?

Did you see the eclipse?

As I'm typing this, the moon is in complete shadow and it looks red.  So.  Very.  Cool!  I'm lucky enough that I can see the eclipse from my bedroom window and I don't have to stand out in the cold like all the other poor saps.  Unlike the poor saps, though, I don't have a telescope so I can't see Saturn's rings.  I think it would be worth standing out in the cold for that.  I tried to take a picture of the moon using the zoom on my camera but it just came out as a white blob.  I won't make you look at it.

Knit night was wonderful.  There were seven of us there tonight.  Alice, the organizer of Wednesday nights, is a SciFi fan like I am.  I hope we didn't bore the others talking about Supernatural, Firefly and Twin Peaks.  It's so nice to talk to another SF geek.  While the talking was happening, I was working on my wrap.  I was right:  decreasing on one side and increasing on the other will make it turn like I want it to.  Here's another shot.  After this one, you probably won't see it again until it's done.  In progress photos can get pretty boring, "Look, here it is again, only longer!"   It's not that exciting a knit.

This picture shows much better what I was trying to explain yesterday.  I have a few issues going on on the right side but, hey, it's supposed to be rustic and I never planned on entering it in any wrap contests anyway.  I think I forgot an increase somewhere between yellow and dark red.  Oh, well.  It'll still be warm and I'll probably only use it when I'm sitting on the couch.

I'm off to bed.  I can't stop yawning. 

Wrap update

I'm ready to turn the corner on my wrap.  The right side will keep going, but the left side needs to turn and be knitted parallel to the right side.  Does that makes sense?  I started at the corner of a long rectangle and now it's time to start knitting the length.  In theory, I should be able to keep increasing on the right side and decrease on the left side and that should get me the wrap length I'm looking for.  Again, it makes sense in my head but I'm still pretty new to knitting and I have to try it to see if it works.  Or...ask someone at knit night tomorrow... which is probably what I'll do because I hate ripping back.  I'm pleased with how well these three yarns are working together.  I bought two of them from different sources and got the third in a swap with the Yarn Pirate (who just had an adorable baby - congratulations, Georgia!).  I guess if you build up a big enough stash, you're bound to have yarn/roving that goes together.  So, do I count the three yarns I'm using for Mission: Possible 2008 even though I listed three sock yarns instead of handspun?  I say, "Yes."  Hey, it's my list and these three handspun we're taking up much more stash room than three piddly skeins of sock yarn.  Plus, I'll be using the white Horn Dorset I have, spun and unspun, to finish up the wrap since there isn't enough of the colored stuff to do the job.  I'm stash diving like crazy and it's a lot of fun.  Besides, I kind of feel I should use what I have before I buy more.  Once the spring fiber season starts, I'm going to need the room.

Fiber Monday

Sunday's laundry.  From top to bottom:  Wensleydale, Lincoln, Borderdale and a BFLxClun Forest.  The first three are long wools and the second is a cross between a long wool and a down wool sheep.  I'm eager to try the BFL/Clun Forest.  It was a pretty dirty fleece to start with and didn't clean up very well but it has beautiful locks with fabulous crimp.  Lovely.

I spent breaks and lunch at work today trying to track down someone who might sell me some samples of primitive and feral sheep wool, specifically Manx Loughton, North Ronaldsay, Soay, Boreray and Hebridean.  (I don't know if my request for wool is totally weird to the Brits or what but I've gotten pretty good responses from folks in the US and mostly silence from across the Pond.  Maybe this is the Universe's way of saying I need to start saving for that wool tour.)  All five breeds have been isolated on their islands for hundreds or thousands of years.  One characteristic of a primitive breed is that some shed their fleece every year.   Where modern breeds need yearly haircuts, these sheep just molt and start over.  It's pretty cool.

Blogiversary Contest

Well, not exactly a contest per se.  Here's what you need to do:  leave me a comment, between now and 5:00 pm Thursday night (Eastern time) telling me what country or state you live in.  I'll do a random draw Thursday night and the winner will have a choice between a skein of sock yarn or some of my dyed roving.  I've always been curious where all of you live and this is my chance to find out.  So, comment away!

I've really enjoyed sharing my passion for fiber and spinning and knitting with all of you.  I can't believe it's been an entire year!  I would love to meet you.  I'm going to be at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this May.  Let me know if you plan on attending and hopefully we can work out a meetup.  All that wool!  I'll probably get high on all the wool fumes. 

High fiber weekend

I live for the weekends.  I spent the weekend playing with fiber:  knitting, scouring dirty fleece and spinning.  I've got Wensleydale and Lincoln drying and Borderdale and BFLxClun Forest washing.  I got a response from a request for a couple of ounces of Clun Forest.  She sent along a sample of BFL/Clun cross lamb's wool.  It's pretty dirty but I'm hoping it'll wash up well.  I haven't washed the Clun Forest yet.  The staple length of the Clun is pretty short.  I may have to cheat on my spending diet and buy some hand carders.  Maybe.  TBD.

Do you remember my dyeing experiment to dye and spin gradually darkening shades of blue for a Faroese shawl?  The spinning had been languishing for quite a while.  I'd still like to knit a Faroese shawl but I think I'll knit something simpler first.  Anyway, the blue skein is what's spun so far.  I'm no longer so wild about the light blue and I'll probably dye it darker.  The picture above is the washing pile from today.  The purple is the BFL I spun on my vacation, the white skein at the top is Icelandic and the bottom is BFL.  I'm really looking forward to the gray BFL fleece I've reserved from this spring's shear.  It's going to be lovely.

The weather was crazy this weekend.  Saturday was sunny and beautiful.  I had all the blinds open to catch the light.   Sunday I woke up to freezing rain that changed to rain.  Toward sunset, we got this:

About two minutes before I took the picture, it was much brighter.  A rainbow in February.  I hope this means spring is on its way.   Man, I hope so.

Is anyone else craving color?

In honor of Valentine's Day, I bring you the color Pink:

I've been pouring over my Seed Saver's Exchange catalog, trying to decide what to plant this spring.  I have to be very selective because I'll be planting in containers and I have very limited space.  I have it down to two tomato plants (Moonglow and Black Sea Man), a pepper (Sweet Chocolate) and Genovese Basil.  Oh, and if I can manage it, two kinds of lettuce (Forellenschuss and Yugoslavian Red).  It's killing me!  It's only the middle of February and I've got three months, at least, before I can plant anything.  How about more flowers:

In the meantime, I'll be reading and re-reading my new bible for growing veggies in containers:  The Bountiful Container.  The search is on for the perfect containers to house my summer children.  While I would love the gorgeous ceramic ones, they cost a small fortune.  Hmm, my brother owns a restaurant and he might save a couple of 5-gallon pickle buckets for me.  They'd be great for the tomatoes.  Although, the buckets are dark green and they might absorb too much heat in the sun and fry the roots.  I can get the same thing in white at the hardware store.  The basil and pepper will be happy in smaller pots that I can get just about anywhere.  Now, the lettuce, will be a little trickier.  We have rabbits around here so I'm going to need to get the lettuce off the ground.  I just had the idea of putting a couple of boards across the corners of the railing on my back deck and putting the lettuce up on the boards.  The containers don't need to be too deep and plastic storage tubs are coming to mind as possibilities.  The back is the best place for the lettuce since it gets morning sun and will be a bit cooler.  The tomatoes, pepper and basil will go in front where they'll get afternoon sun.

So what will you be planting this spring/summer?  Let me know.  Have you ever grown your own tomatoes?  You haven't really tasted a tomato unless you've gotten one picked ripe off your own plants.  If you have a square foot of space that gets at least 8 hours of sun a day, you can grow a tomato.  Trust me, you won't regret it.