FO - Felt!

Inspired by the fabulous Simply Felt, I decided way back in April to try some "true" felting, meaning that instead of knitting up a giant, oversized item and shrinking it down in the wash, I would take loose fiber and turn it directly into felt. With my m-i-l watching the baby and hubby at work, I took an afternoon and played with fiber and water, winding up with a nice, rectangular-shaped piece of felt about the size of a placemat. I decided that as soon as it dried, I would blanket-stitch around the edge. Naturally, as soon as it dried, I put it away in the closet and didn't look at it again (except with the occasional pang of guilt)...until last night. As hubby napped through Man on the Moon (how anyone can sleep through Jim Carrey playing Andy Kaufman is beyond me), I finally dug out the yarn and needle and blanket-stitched my felt.

Here's what it looks like:


And here's what I've decided to do with it:


Strictly speaking, my lamp doesn't really need its own oversized coaster. But, what else should I do with a single placemat-sized piece of blanket-stitched felt? And I do love the way it turned out so very much that I couldn't bear to just tuck it away again.

Why I Should Not Be Allowed into Yarn Stores


See that? It's Mango Moon yarn, beautiful handspun from Nepal. Reminds me a lot of the sari silk I bought online awhile back (and just finished packing away from the evil m-o-t-h-s...more on that a little later). 100% viscose, which I've discovered is "a viscous organic liquid used to make rayon and cellophane." First manufactured in 1891 and used to coat fabrics, viscose was eventually developed into a thread which largely replaced cotton and wool in stockings and underwear (or so says wikipedia).

Whatever. I was a bit hesitant to buy something so far from a natural fiber (yes, its origin is plant-based, but it's a far cry from a cotton, silk or lovely pure wool), but I absolutely fell in love with the colors AND it was on sale - 30% off for a total of $14/skein. So, my spending cash for the rest of the month went on the vibrant, enticing, irresistible skeins you see above.

I brought them home, took a quick photo and promptly sealed them up in plastic because today I found...you guessed it...another *shudder* MOTH.

This time it flew out of -- can you believe it?? -- my closet, right off the shelf where some of my yarn was waiting to be tagged, bagged and stored among cedar balls, safe in baggies from the chewing mouths of moths. At least I now have my stash safely stashed away, all except the wool I've actively got on the spinning wheel and spindles. I hope I won't find out down the line I stashed away some nasty little larvae along with the wool.

I think I've heard that if you freeze your yarn, it kills any potential moth larvae. Might be worth filling up the freezer tomorrow....

WIP


One of my longest-running Works in Progress: a silk stole for my mother. The design is my own -- Madiera Mesh lace pattern for the body (from Martha Waterman's fabulous Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls book) and a pointed edging the source of which I'd better remember before I get to the other end or I'm screwed. The photo doesn't really do the colorway justice; it's a steel-grey with just a swirl of pale plum. Stunning, really. The skein cost me enough and it's taking me long enough to knit, but I started it back in January specifically because I knew it would take me a good year to finish. The skein is finally quite a bit smaller than when I first started. Maybe this WIP is finally on its way to becoming an FO.

The "M" Word

There I was, innocently emptying some yarn out of a box, when I saw it...the bane of every natural-fiber aficionado's existence, that four-letter M word: a MOTH.

And -- here's the really sad part -- I didn't manage to catch the darn thing.

I kicked myself for being so foolish. I'd planned to put my fiber into sealed plastic bags. Some of it was already there. But, much of it wasn't. So this morning instead of going to the bank or the supermarket or the dry cleaner like I'd planned, I spent two hours in a volcanically hot upstairs room packing wool into giant ziplock bags.

I have, as it turns out, a lot of wool. Here's some of it:
















And here's some more:

















And even more:
















And lest you think the madness ends here, what these photos don't show are the second chest of drawers, the storage stepstool, the spinning basket and the four shelves in my bedroom closet, all packed with wool.

Oh, and the stuff in the in-progress projects bags. Those don't count, right?

So, I've been thinking of my blog lately....

Maybe it has to do with my reading Yarn Harlot's blog or the Mason-Dixon blog. Maybe it's just because I've finished a bunch of really neat projects and I want to have a place to record them. Whatever the reason, I find myself wanting to update my blog and at the same time being VERY wary of the time I know it will take, especially the taking and posting photos part.

So, I'll start slow. No photos tonight seeing as it's near midnight and I'm not about to get up out of bed to start snapping pics. Just a list of FOs, with photos to come.

1. Absorba the Great Bathmat. I LOVE this pattern!! It's from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book, which is my current fave knitting book. I've made 2 already and have a 3rd under way. I think this will be my Christmas gift to family this year: a bathmat, 2 ballband washcloths and 2 ballband hand towels, all in coordinating neutrals. It'll be the Absorba the Great Bath Set.

2. Baby bibs, burp cloths and kimonos. Amy's pregnant. Lisa's Liz is pregnant. Cathal's Michelle is pregnant. One of these days I may very well get pregnant again. What better to have on hand than a supply of handmade baby gifts. Again, Mason-Dixon to the rescue. These three patterns are easy, quick and painless, but look absolutely adorable. I've already sent a matching bib/burp cloth set off to Cathal and Michelle. I've now got one kimono all knitted (just need to seam it) and a second on the needles. Boy, do I love this variegated Peache & Creme cotton!

3. The big 'un: A feather-and-fan shawl (titled, unfortunately IMHO, "The Dawn of the Cape" -- what an awful, 2001 A Space Odyssey image that conjures up!) from the Knitters' Dozen Ponchos and Wraps book. I did it in record time (six weeks start to finish) to wear to a wedding last night -- nothing like a deadline to get me moving. I love the Knitpicks variegated alpaca/merino/silk yarn I used, even though it was a tad heavy to wear in July. I think I'll convert the two swatches I made into wristlets as well.

More to come....

Making Felt

As if I didn't have enough projects going, today I just HAD to stop in The Strand on my way home and find (and buy) a copy of Simply Felt. Ah, inspiration, thy name is felt! No knitting up a piece and tossing it in the wash, either; no, this book teaches the traditional art of feltmaking, fiber to felt using only water, soap and good ol' handpower. For a non-sewer like me, feltmaking is an amazing way to both use up fiber stash and create clothing without having to sew a stitch. I have a three-pound bag of white and brown roving that I didn't quite know what do with...until today, that is. I quickly tested its feltability by making a felted oatmeal soap -- lo and behold, the fiber doth felt! Now I just need to decide what I want to make first. Maybe a small felted throw rug for under my spinning wheel and chair (since my loom isn't yet free to start my woven fleece rug)...or maybe a felt poncho for GiGi...or a felt cap for DH. Whatever I try, though, will have to wait till I have a stretch of free time (aka, someone else is watching the baby) during which I can get soapy and messy and not have to worry about stopping in the middle to do something else.

We'll see if THAT happens sometime this century!

Second Scarf

Well, I pulled out the spinning wheel again last night and even though I'm not thrilled with what I spun up at least I'm not as frustrated as I was before. I'm so used to spinning worsted style that spinning woolen is going to take plenty of practice. At least I've been reading up on it in a couple of spinning books, and my friend L has generously offered to give me a lesson the next time we get together.

In the meantime, I'm still working on my second woven scarf. This is the scarf that will match the hat I machine knitted for K in January. It's taking a long time because the weft is so narrow, but I really like the way it looks:


Once I finish this I think my next project will be to weave a small fleece rug out of the grey/green spinning bells I bought from The Sheep Shed Studio.

Frustration!

Tonight I tried to spin up some beautiful Brown Sheep roving mill ends in white with thin caramel stripes. What a disappointment! Not with the fiber -- with my skill (or, rather, lack thereof). I started by trying to do a long draw, which Lucinda kindly showed me the last time she was here spinning on her Journey Wheel. What spun out so effortlessly in her hands became a snarl of twisted lumps in mine. To add insult to injury, when I tried to go back to the usual way I spin, I couldn't get that to work properly, either. I kept trying to get an even, 2-ply yarn, and what I got was...well, not what I was looking for, that's for sure.

*sigh*

At least my weaving is going well. I finished the purple scarf and started on a rust/olive/magenta stripe with black weft. It's for K in Sweden, to go along with the rust/olive/magenta hat I machine knitted for her in January. After my spinning debacle, I spent the rest of the evening weaving on that. I still have quite a bit to go, but it's coming out nicely. Once it's finished, I think I'll try a rectangular shawl for myself using a simple black weft and super-bulky, ultra-soft Bohemian yarn for the warp. When I finally manage to get my selvedges under control, I'll attempt a shawl for myself using the pricey but oh-so-lovely bamboo yarn in the autumn colorway that I picked up at the Yarn Swift in Poughkeepsie.

So many projects, so little time....

Blogger Does Not Like Me...

...or my photos...or my weaving...or SOMETHING because it keeps refusing to post my photos and screwing up my formatting (and, of course, this isn't a case of the error occuring between the keyboard and the seat, as DH would say, it really IS Blogger's fault, not mine).

In any event, this is what my loom -- my wonderful, glorious loom! -- looks like with some real live weaving on it:

The colors are rather washed out -- too much flash, not enough skill on my part to keep it from glaring off the yarn -- but here's a closeup of what, with any luck, will turn out to be a beautiful handwoven scarf, a Christmas gift (nothing like starting early!) for my friend who loves purple:

On The Loom

This Spring Break, I decided to finally put together the 32" Beka rigid heddle loom I bought a few months back and learn how to weave on it. After much help from DH, here's the loom all assembled:



I decided to use a microfiber yarn in purple as my warp; in retrospect, it's probably far stretchier than I should have picked for a first project, but too late now...and I LOVE how it looks with the ribbon yarn weft (you can see it in the photo, above,wrapped on my humungo-sized shuttle).


Here's how the loom looks all warped up and ready to weave:

Spindlers Spring Fling Exchange

My package from my Spring Fling partner arrived, and boy was it fun to open! Amy N in South Dakota sent me:

• an assortment of different teas
• Hershey's kisses (plain and caramel-filled, which DH and I promptly devoured)
• purple Peeps (yuck! I'm not a Peeps person and neither is DH, so those will go to the kids in the family at Easter)
• Japanese jelly candies
  
• colored pens
• three skeins of novelty yarn, including a full skein of raspberry-colored Divine, which is the exact yarn I'm using in my ruana (score!)
• a very nicely-made wooden toy car wheel spindle
• four small samples of luxury fibers: angora, camel down, Chinese yak down, and raw quivit

I was especially surprised by the quivit. I have no idea of what to do with all those fibers, especially the quivit, which looks like it still has guard hairs in it. Maybe I'll spin some up for one of the Spin Off "Our Yarns" segments. Wouldn't that be cool, getting a sample of my yarn in Spin Off?

Mystery Spindles a Mystery No More!

Well, based on the responses I got on the Spindlers listserv, I think I've got the following spindles:

Mystery Spindle #1 = a Hatchtown Farms Kaari spindle. That's pretty cool since those spindles are pricey ($40+) and well-liked by a lot of spindlers. I haven't yet spun anything on it (the cop in the photo was made by the prior owner), but I'm looking forward to giving it a try soon.

Mystery Spindle #2 = a toy car wheel spindle. Wish I knew more about the name and date, but the shoddy construction does scream homemade. Still, it's never a bad thing to have some cheap, homemade spindles, even if only to have on hand for curious kids to play around with.

Mystery Spindle #3 = a Kokovoko. The shape looks right, but most of the Kokovokos I found photos of online were top whorls, not bottom. Still, I know that Kokovoko does make a bottom whorl spindle, and this so closely resembles the top whorls that I can't imagine it being anything else.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions!

Mystery Spindles

OK, I need some help here. I just received 4 spindles as part of an assortment of fiber, equipment and books I bought through the Spinners' and Weavers' Housecleaning Pages. One is a Louet top whorl, but the other three are mysteries to me. The woman I bought the spindles from couldn't remember any details about where they came from, so I'm wondering if anyone recognizes these:

Mystery Spindle #1

Mystery Spindle #1 looks to me like it might be a Hatchtown Farms spindle, but since I've only seen them in photos online and never in person I can't be sure. It's about 7 inches long from hook to end of shaft and fairly lightweight. The whorl isn't notched.

Mystery Spindle #2

Mystery Spindle #2 looks to me like it has the whorl of a Simple Market Farms spindle. However, the shaft is clearly a roughly-cut dowel with a cheap cup hook screwed in off-center on one end, and the whorl is clumsily glued onto it. The fascinating thing about this spindle is that it's signed and dated. It says:

"Kick n' Spin"
1997

And there's a signature on the whorl also that I can't read but that seems to be two words, the first beginning with S and ending with R (maybe only 3 or so letters long) and the second really more of a signature scribble than having any well-defined letters. There is also a hand drawing of a sheep (done in the same black ink as the rest of the writing) on the outer edge of the whorl. Unfortunately, my camera wouldn't take any clear photos of the writing. If this were just a homemade toy car wheel spindle, I can't imagine why someone would name, date and autograph it. Does anyone have any ideas about this?

Mystery Spindle #3

Mystery Spindle #3 is a real boat anchor, but I love the way it spins forever on a single twirl. I think this will turn out to be a wonderful plying spindle. It's a bottom whorl, about 10 inches long, and weighs about 3.5 ounces. There's no hook, but it does have an interesting "double notch" (for lack of a better word). The end is shaped like a shallowly-cut crochet hook, and the center of the hooked end is deeply cut. It looks like the hook is there for a half-hitch to wrap around and the notch is there for the end of the thread to fit into. Sound familiar to anyone?

I'd love to hear any ideas about what these three spindles may be. I got the deal of the century on them (all three plus the Louet for $10!), so I certainly can't complain no matter what the provenance. Still, I'd be interested to know more about these if anyone can enlighten me.

Forgot to Add....

Just this morning I remembered another thing I included in the Spring Fling package (which I still don't knowif my partner has received or not): two cute little handwoven "pockets" in purple and yellow. My mom gave one in red and white to my daughter for Valentine's Day with a little gift tucked inside, and it was just so cute I had to try and copy it.

Here are step-by-step directions for anyone who's interested. This seems to work best when made with something that has a bit of firmness to it, like paper or cotton fabric. I tried it with felt, but it tended to torque a bit after weaving.

How to Make a Woven Pocket

Using two pieces of paper or cloth, layer them one on top of the other and fold in half. Cut an elongated half-circle out of both pieces with the short center-line being the fold line. You will wind up with two roughly football-shaped pieces that are folded down the middle. Cut an equal number of slashes from the folded edge almost to the opposite side of each piece, but do not cut all the way through the outer edge.

Next, keep both pieces folded in half and weave the leftmost strip of the piece on the right (red fabric) between the folded rightmost strip of the piece on the left (heart fabric). Basically, you will tuck the leftmost red strip between the fold of the rightmost heart strip. Then take the second-to-right heart strip and tuck it between the fold of the same leftmost red strip.

• Continue weaving in and out in this manner until all strips have been woven together.

• Neaten weaving until pocket lays flat. If you like, add a handle or use as-is.
  

Knitting Olympics

I must say, I'm jealous of all those folks participating in Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. If I'd known, I might have entered, though the way my knitting has NOT been progressing lately, I doubt I'd finish.

I've been working on my ruana pretty regularly. It's totally mindless knitting with the only downside being the tremendous amount of yarn I need to drag along with me if I want to take it anywhere. It's definitely not designed to be commuter knitting.

I also started my mom's silk stole, figuring that should be portable enough to take with me to and from work, but so far I've only gotten about four points worked on the first edging; at this rate, she'll get it for Christmas...2007!

At least I finished spinning the orange never-ending Corriedale on my Louet wheel. Right now it's still in singles on the bobbin; I'm not sure if I want to ply it on itself or with another yarn. Right now I'm spinning up some mixed wool (white) on the wheel and enjoying how I'm increasingly able to spin a more consistent yarn.

Oh, and the Golding Swan Lake has been sent back to Tom and Diane for repair. Let's just say that there'll be no more spindling over bare hardwood floors for me. :( Still, the Goldings are wonderful and stand by their products, so I should get my spindle back in fine working order soon. Let's hope so; I can't wait to finish that purple variegated wool I was working on.

Secret Spindler Spring Fling

OK, I tried posting this a couple of days ago but bagged it when blogger went wonky on me and ate my post. Here goes try #2....

I mailed out my spindlers Spring Fling package about a week or so ago, which means my partner out in SD should be getting it any day now. Since the theme was spring, I started by making some Loom Blooms, which I made on my little Weave-It 4 inch hand loom following the pattern in this season's issue of Spin-Off.

I figure she can attach them to whatever she likes once she receives them.

I then made a bunch of stitch markers (I hope she knits!) in purple, green and gold -- nice springtime colors. Couldn't get a good photo, though, to post what they look like. :( Oh, well.... I sent them in a nice little woven drawstring bag (not handmade my me, unfortunately), which -- since it's fairly large -- she should be able to use to hold all her stitch markers, not just the ones I sent.

Next I included a couple of small skeins of yarn, one in pink and the other a novelty sorta-boucle-type in white. I just had them sitting around with no plans to use them and I thought maybe my partner would be more creative with them than I had.

I also tucked in a few seed packets: baby's breath, poppies and tomatoes. Again, just some seeds I already had in the house, but nice for spring (especially the tomatoes; by the summer they should be ready for picking and eating -- YUM!).

Finally, I packed it all for safe transport in a bunch of "mystery wool" in various shades of white and off-white. It came in a mixed box of wool I bought off ebay awhile ago, and I figured that even though it was a bit rough it would be perfect for needle felting or use in outerwear...and, of course, the color lends itself perfectly to dyeing.

I really hope my partner likes her package! Now, I wonder what I'll receive myself.... :)

Valentine's Day Surprise

Do I have the Dearest DH or what?? He gave me a Golding Swan Lake spindle -- a gorgeous piece of art that is as useful as it is beautiful. I've been happily spinning up some variegated purple wool roving since getting this beauty. How lucky can I get? *g*

Ruana

Tonight I finally started the ruana from Folk Shawls. A ruana is a South American shawl -- very long, solid in the back and split down the middle in front with a floor-sweeping fringe. It takes a tremendous amount of yarn, so I've been collecting for the past couple of months in preparation. I'm doing it in somewhat unusual colors for me -- lots of pinks, raspberry, purple, and also deep blues and charcoals -- and it's basically a showcase for some of the sari silk yarn I treated myself to at Christmas. This is going to be a LONG project --236 stitches in a row, and each row has to be ended and started over to make the fringe -- but it's totally mindless garter stitch knitting, so it'll be a nice break from working on my mom's lacey silk stole and my pi shawl.

Baby Blanket



I cannot believe how well this turned out! I wish I'd taken a "before" photo to show the comparison. I didn't simply because I didn't believe that crumpled, ruffled ball of knots would turn into anything resembling a blanket even after the most determined blocking. Happily, I was wrong! :)

This blanket is based on a Shetland hap shawl, which is the traditional "everyday" shawl worn by women of the Shetland Islands. The solid garter stitch center is for warmth, while the lace edging is for beauty. I picked the colors -- black, blue and light grey -- for my cousins' new baby, a boy due to arrive from Korea in March. I'm glad I have this finished well in advance; my current work/school schedule makes it tough to get in any serious knitting time. Still, I'm almost done with DH's Valentine's Day present, a simple scarf in a zig-zag pattern made from dark brown wool singles from the Brown Sheep company. That's my subway knitting, for the moment at least.

Sick Again

I can't believe this. It feels like I just got over the last horrendous cold and now I'm flat on my back again, mouth-breathing and wondering when I'll just frickin die already and get it over with. DH says it's going back to work that's done it; I'm not used to being around all those germy people, riding the subways and leaning over students' shoulders and such. Whatever it is, I'm miserable. Thank goodness for my in-laws, who very kindly offered to take the baby tomorrow so I can stay home alone and try to recuperate. Bed all day, chicken soup...aaaah, sounds like heaven!

How very, very sad.