I'm calling this color-way "Annette" because my friend Annette gave me some dye and I decided to try this experiment. I did not feel like making a big production out of dyeing so I just filled this dedicated dye pot with water and showed this roving in.
I had about 8oz of this wool mixed with this odd brown stripe. I'm not sure where I got this but I've had it for a while and did not particularly like this odd combination. I knew that sooner or later I would dye it.
I added dye a squirt of this and and squirt of that then closed the lid and simmered for 15 minutes. Let it cool off and rinsed. After I put it out to dry I was indeed surprised at the wonderful colors it turned out.
I'm not sure what I will make out of this wool but I guess I'll have to see how much yardage it will yield after I spin and ply it. I'm spinning it "woolen" so I'm told, woolen vs. "worsted" is the diameter and the "luftiness" between the fibers. I'm still a new spinner so I have my default draft and it makes a nice 2 ply yarn between sock yarn and dk weight.
I prefer to knit with smaller needles so I can't spin a thick yarn. Smaller needles just seem to fit my hand better. I will post the progress of this project one of many I have floating around.
I have not posted for a while simply because I've been so very busy. I went to Portland, Oregon to the second Sock Summit. I had such a magical time two years ago I just had to go again. This time it was great even though not quite the same as last time but a wonderful time was had by all.
On the way home my son picked me up at the airport and as he was driving he asked what I did up there? I answered: "I was in a flash mob"
Son: Flash Mob mom? Really?
Me: Yup a flash mob!
Son: Did you and five of your friends get together and jump up and down and called it a flash mob?
Me: That is not a bad idea but no honey me and 600 of my fellow sock knitters got together and jumped up and down.
Son: Oh NO
Me: Oh Yes and I have pictures!
Took some classes with Judith McKenzie and Franklin Habit. Both teachers were great and I learned a couple of new tricks, totally enjoyed each class I took. Spinning with Judith is truly magical, she is so relaxed and so full of knowledge that I could just sit and hang out with her for hours on end. Franklin was very organized and was well prepared with nice hand outs and samples. In my opinion that is important if you are paying money for a class the teacher best be prepared. The knitters are a tough and opinionated bunch.
Lots of "window" shopping at the market place. I did not buy much but really enjoyed looking at all the wonderful wares and chit chatting with the vendors.
Then there was the Fleece to Foot race, a bit silly but fun to watch. Yes they actually brought in sheep to shear and then spun the wool and knit the sock.
Probably much more but this is all I can think of to share with you. Clara Parkes did a wonderful job of writing about details of the Sock Summit read it here.
It's been a while since I've updated this blog and I have been busy. As I was sharing in my previous post about my back pain and it lasted longer than I thought. While I was sitting in the "Lazy Boy" chair which was the only place I could find some relief bored and not able to knit I had some beads near by and some yarn. I decided that maybe I could just string beads and maybe crochet something. Crocheting is a different movement than knitting.
I happen to have a ball of Noro Sock Yarn and 6 /0= 4.0mm ("e" beads) that I could reach. Slowly one by one I started to string the beads on to the yarn. Then I started to crochet chain one bring one bead down and the next thing I knew I had a bracelet. And so started the slippery slope or black rabbit hole of beading.
This necklace I call the "4th of July" for obvious reasons (next weekend is the 4th of July holiday). What I did here is crocheted around and existing leather necklace with a hook and chain fastener. Then I started to add beads, lots of lots of beads. Oh my who knew I loved doing this and am very pleased with the outcome.
Here is a video I watched and was inspired by:
Seed beads I love seed beads, I need more seed beads. My friend Brenda sent me a list of shops down town Los Angeles, now when to get the time to go.
Here are some of the shops that I like to go to, for beads:
1.)Athenian Fashions Main Store
820 S Maple St Los Angeles, CA90014 (213) 623-1289
Athenian Fashions Annex Store
416 E. 8th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213-489-2237
2.) Bohemian Crystal/The Bead Factory
810 & 812 So Maple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213-627-9553
(This is the place with the big bags of seed beads)
3. Beads & More
800 So. Maple Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213-955-9000
4.) Shenoute
813 Maple Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90014
323-305-7051
5.) Berger Beads
Berger Specialty Co. Inc. 413 E. 8th St. Los Angeles, CA 90014 Phone: (213) 627-8783
FYI
(I often put up information so if I need to access this stuff I can search my blog and it may help some of my friends to access the information I gather.)
Seed beads sizes are stated in aughts, (not millimeters) ~ as strung beads per 20 mm or 3/4 inch length. The higher the number, the smaller the bead.
Conversions from aughts to millimeters, large to small:
Slow it way way down..... actually I've been in so much back pain that I could not even knit! My dear husband remarked "You must really be sick you are not even knitting". I was doing some yard work and pulling some weeds, cutting some bamboo and actually having a great time out in the yard. The weather was great I was full of energy and Lucy by my side helping me dig we had a terrific time. This is the "growing" season for my Hawaiian Golden Bamboo and as you might guess it's growing like crazy. I love the way it looks and it serves a a natural "high" fence. The next day I was flat on my back and could not move from the pain.
Oh why did I do that? Oh it was not worth it! I'm never doing that again! Now I just have to wait to get better. It's a slow process but I am on the mend.
Soon I'll update my progress on my latest project the "Red Neck" sweater.
I went on a retreat over the weekend and had a wonderful time. I feel I learned so much, the ladies were so very generous with their knowledge and willing to show me how they use tools and different techniques to get the job done.
I learned how to "dry color blend fiber" with a drum carder. Wendy was a great teacher and seemed to be full of tips and tricks and fiber knowledge. Thank you Wendy.
I learned how to make "rolags" from Suzanne.
How to "space dye" with beautiful colors, love the results. I'll be knitting a small shawl because I only have 270 yds.
How to double knit? Iffy for our climate here in Southern California but kind of fascinating. Ok I already knew how to do this but still it was fun.
How to make spiral beaded necklace, now that was really fun. I've been wanting to learn beading for a while now. Another black hole to jump down.
How to core spin, I'll have to figure out what that could be used for but endless possibilities.
And a ton more information about natural dying and most of all made some new friends.
I purchased a pair of Schacht combs
The vender was Weaver's Cupboard,
Gail M. Marlow-Kickey (one of the organizers)
8287 Calle del Prado
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
I found this video on how to use these. There are two different kinds that I saw, one set was narrower and wider with finer "teeth". The other the one is for wool and is shorter and the teeth courser.
When one of the ladies showed me how to make "rollags" the key was to pet like you would a kitten as opposed to a vigorous dog petting style that I'm more inclined to do. Practice will be needed to learn this skill.
The current project I'm focusing on is coming along and starting to take shape. I hope to get it finished for Mother's day which is in one week. I think I'll make it. Hope the weather warms up so I can wear it.
I'm updating this post because I just found this by "splityarn"
"esiest knitted sweater zipper install ever"
The title alone made me take a look and she may be right!
And she says "Hold on while I blow your mind at the simplicity"
She uses Blocking Wires! That I think is brilliant and will probably work best! I will have to try this method so I am updating this post for when I am ready to install a zipper to my sweater.
Here are some other methods that I thought were useful:
This method is somewhat useful because of the double sided tape use, instead of using pins to baste the zipper. I like to sew the zippers by hand, baste it first with a highly contrasting color thread and a matching thread to sew the final seam. When choosing a thread to match your knitting and if there is a choice of colors always pick the darker color.
I find a lot of people do not like to sew and if they can use the sewing machine the better. For me my knit projects do not like to be machine sewn. If a sewing machine is used I have to be extremely careful and go very slowly. Hand sewing is gentler and easier for me besides I don't have to drag out the sewing machine the plug etc.
I like the idea of the double sided tape. They are using "Wonder Tape" . I wonder what will happen when washed? Yes I know they say to only use it on hand washed items not to be thrown in the washer or dryer. But still ...... I wonder how wonderful this "Wonder Tape" is?
Does JoAnn's have it? I see you can buy it online but there is always shipping costs and the instant gratification factor. My project is still several weeks away from being finished but I think I will try this method out on a smaller project just to test this Wonder Tape and what will happen if you do throw it in the washer and dryer.
The weather has been warming up and it's time to make the "switch". I call it the switch because I have to dig out some lighter weight clothing and switch my knitting from winter warm wooly things to summer cottonish stuff. My first instinct is to go to my LYS and buy new yarn to start a new project! I always forget that I have a "yarn cave" full of yarn. The yarn cave is our spare bedroom and yes it's full of storage boxes of yarnie stuff.
This time I was very clever and shopped at home! Wow so much I've forgotten about, I have some beautiful yarn right here waiting to be knit and enjoyed. I might add that I am very proud of myself for doing just this and resisting the temptation of buying new yarn.
Of course there was no ball band so I can only guess what I have. The content looks like some sort of mercerized cotton and maybe a rayon mix. When I give it the burn test it does smell like wood burning. There is a lovely shine to it and it's a cross between DK and Worsted weight. I chose to knit it on size 8 needles. And there was 2 of them just sitting in a box waiting to be made into a summer sweater/vest.
Lovely drape and it's just "my" colors. Why else would I have bought it?
Because I'm not sure how much yarn I have I decided to knit a top down something. I'm guessing that each yarn cake has about 350 yards and they weigh approx. 230 grms.
Short sleeve summer bolero, so far so good. I have my fingers crossed that I have enough yarn to at least make it a decent length. That is the great part about knitting from the top down, when you run out of yarn you stop.
I do have some "friendly" colorways to maybe add trimming if needed.
The spinning guild I belong to organized part of the Escondido Wool Festival a couple of weeks ago. This is a by-product of a sheep herding dog training facility. They are only interested in training the dogs but they need sheep to herd so we get the benefit of raw fleece.
The flock is a special breed of "Dorset" sheep. One of the characteristics of this down based breed is that it does not felt. This makes this fiber ideal for socks.
All these new terms I'm getting to learn. Skirting is basically picking out the poop & dreadlocks etc. out of fleece that was sheared off a sheep. The beginning of a wool sweater.
It all starts with the bah bah sheep.
First the sheep get a hair cut. Then we have this pile of dirty wool that gets rolled up and bagged. BTW I am the proud owner of one of those bags, it is waiting for me in the special yarn cave where I store all this good stuff.
The raw fleece is spread out and you start picking. Oh it smells real nice like a barn, sort of gives you that being down in the farm kind of feeling.
After all the dirty undesirable bits are picked out about 1/4 of the fleece is put in very hot water and dish washing detergent. Most people tout Down but I think Palmolive dishwashing detergent cuts grease better. Just my own opinion. There must be a reason for touting Down by most but I am the sort who likes to test it for myself.
Fill up the bucket with very hot water add a 1/4 of a cup of dishwashing detergent gently, you do not want suds, and add your fleece. You will need some sort of tool to shove all the fleece in there because the water is ouch hot.
After a half hour a lot of rinsing takes place. More hot water NO soap but rinse rinse rinse and you have white fleece. Take the screen off your window and lay all the wool to dry in the California Sun. I was very surprised how fast it was drying.
There are more new words here, comb, drum carding, roving, spinning woolen, singles or plying etc. After you do all that work you may get this 5 ply wool. Below is Pamela's harvest of one sheep's fleece spun 5 ply, enough for a sweater maybe. I'll have to ask her how much in yardage it was and in weight.
Now only the knitting is left to do. All I can say is I have a new found respect for the prices we can buy ready made yarn for. Hours and hours of back breaking work.
I still have my raw fleece and am not sure if I will do this but it's fascinating. My friend Molly told me that I could just send my bag of fleece to Morro Fleece Works and for a slight charge they will do all this cleaning and send back roving ready to spin. Hmm.... decisions, decisions....
A long time ago I was faithful to one project and would start and finish it before I started another. What happened? Slowly my stash and my knitting needle collection has grown and the next thing I knew I had more than one project started. At first it was only one "main" project and another small something. Like a married man who has their "main" relationship their wife but also has a little mistress once in a while. But I think I've totally crossed over the line and have become a Polygamous Knitter.
I have projects started all over the place. I would get new yarn and just could not help myself I would bust out another pair of needles and cast on another project. Then Ravelry.com came about and this habit got super sized. There are so many beautiful projects I just can't help myself. It has gotten to the point where I keep promising to finish or "frog" it. I actually have a storage box with "finish or frog" label printed on it.
The way I now have it rationalized is when I pick one of the projects that needs finishing I think oh wow I'm halfway there maybe I'll just finish it before I start another. This works some of the time. While lost in the land of Moebii (I'm still there) I was hoping to finish with this Moebious jag so I visited the "finish or frog" box and found this little shawl I started months ago and was 99% finished and success I managed to add the button and crochet the last edge, BTW choosing just the right button was no easy task. I think that was what hung me up on these is the perfect button hunt. I think I found it.
The original pattern is by Stephen West "Daybreak". Needless to say my version is sort of that pattern with a few modifications. I should call mine "Nightfall". When I look at other projects of this pattern on Ravelry they look totally different. So what you may say, the only reason this matters is because I've had more than usual eMails with questions about this pattern. My good friend Molly who usually follows patterns pretty closely pointed out to me that mine looks different than what the pattern calls for. Yes the first part, I knit until I got tired of knitting that part. I felt it was totally useless to count rows just knit it till it looks good to you. Then the stripes started, and I did one stripe plain and simply did not like it but I left it because it really did not matter if one stripe was different.
I decided that raising the stripes with a purl bump would look better. Sort of goes like this: Main color k 1 row purl 1 row, Contrasting Color knit 2 rows
Then of course the bind off which is demonstrated below.
This does not show how I add beads but the basic idea is here:
Moebeeei ..... Moebious' ..... ok lots of Moebiuses ...
I think I will go with Moebii because that is what Cat Bordhi is calling them and after all she must know because she is so very clever. The cast on for the Moebius is a bit tricky but not very difficult and once you got that down it's a very easy knit.
What I've been up to is knitting these Mobii.
The reason I stopped knitting my stranded vest is because I was getting ready to teach the Moebious at the Slipt Stitchers Guild. When I asked how many hand outs should I print they told me 50. Fifty? Does that mean that there will be 50 people in the class?
Really? 50 people? But I've never had 50 people in a class! But I kind of had no choice I was on the calendar and canceling was not an option. How hard could this be? So I figured I better knit a moebius to kind of freshen up my moebii skills. Well I just can't knit one! It is such a fun and magical thing so I got lost in the land of "Magical Moebii".
One after another I keep casting on for just one more. Now it's warmer outside, ok it's supposed to be 90 degrees today, that is hot and I can't wear wool Moebii so I cast on a cotton Moebius. And then there are the beads, I've lost my head and got into beads! But that is a whole other blog post "Lost in the land of beads..."
Inspired by Sivia Harding's Harmonia's Rings I designed what I call the "Erroneous Rings". Sivia's pattern does not fit me so this version fits better and is an easier knit. I just cast on for another and I will write down the pattern, I'll let you know when I will have it available.
The class went really well and yes there was 50 people in the class and somehow it all worked. I sent ahead the link to Cat Bordhi's video on YouTube for the cast on and her pattern. That way the more skilled knitters had a chance to try out the method and were able to help each other. As I said the cast on is a bit tricky but not hard once you get the idea. Cat did a wonderful job on the video and was kind enough to post it for all to see and learn.
My vest project is coming along and taking shape. I have steeked & cut and it's starting to look like a real garment. Crochet the cutting line for the under arm area then CUT. The first snip is the scariest and after that I got very brave and cut cut cut.....
To be continued soon I hope. This is 100% wool yarn (Kauni) and it is a bit "crunchy" ok some would call it "itchy" but for me it feels like wool should feel. Because it's so rough it's very sticky so ideal for steeking because it just sticks together sort of like velcro.
