Hi Alene, I've been daydreaming of lace lately. Why? The gorgeous Aeolian Shawl from the latest knitty. Beautiful, beautiful, and with an earthy name as well. I hope to make one someday.
More realistically at this point in my life, I should do something a bit less complex since I have almost no experience knitting lace. I'm leaning toward that Mason-Dixon Knitting beauty, Belinda. I also like the Spinner's Shawl. Both of these have the virtue of being done on medium-sized needles for a small-needle-wimp like me.
I've got my fleece all washed now. It looks even better and a lot less yellow (that wasn't pee; it was dirt stuck to lanolin, whew). Fluffy and crimpy and soft. Ahhh.
C
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
What I Did On Spring Break
Last fall I chatted with Diana of Dreamfarm at our local farmer's market. As a long-time buyer of her family's excellent goat cheese and eggs, I was pleased to see yarn at her booth and bought a couple of skeins. Although the dairy goats and chickens are the mainstay of their farm, they also keep a small flock of Jacob sheep. They have wonderful spotted fleeces that she has made into yarn at a local mill. We made plans for me to get a raw fleece from her in the spring. I left the market that day feeling happy and a little dazed; my first fleece!! I didn't know until I asked her that I even wanted one! :)
So about 2 weeks ago, the kids and I went to pick up my fleece. It was a sunny but cool spring day, one of those days with a crisp blue sky. Diana gave us a farm tour. We got to pet the baby goats and the mama goats. We got to go inside a chicken shelter
and adore the farm's big gentle dog! In fact, it was one of those days that make me wonder why I'm not a farmer myself. Diana emailed shortly after and said we'd narrowly missed the birth of twin goats.
I've been washing my fleece, a five-pounder from a ewe named Grace. She was pretty clean and almost all of her fleece is quite soft. I've gotten most of it washed, using the directions in the back of Start Spinning. I'm very happy with it and looking forward to spinning it. Hope all is well in AZ!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Quickie
Hi Cindy,
I should be headed off to bed but I haven't written yet this month and there is only 40 minutes left in it so I thought I'd post a few pictures.
We got new cell phones a couple of weeks ago. Mine is a pretty blue one that I want to protect so I made a couple of cozies. Guess which one is mine.
Two weeks ago DH went backpacking in Aravaipa Canyon with a couple of his buddies, one from Seattle and one from Dallas. It was the first trip they've done together in 14 years. Aravaipa Canyon is SE of Phoenix. I drove them down to the east end which is near Safford and picked them up two days later on the west end. Before I could pick them up though I had to call AAA for a jump, the truck battery had died.
Aravaipa is a perennial stream so they didn't need to carry water. There were plenty of frogs and fat squirrels to keep them company. They didn't see any rattlesnakes so it must have been a bit early for them.
The main part of the canyon is a Bureau of Land Management Wilderness area. You have to get a permit to hike there and they only let a limited number of people in each day. The Nature Conservacy has purchased ranches at both ends to help preserve the area.
This is my favorite picture. DH took it in one of the side canyons they hiked up to. Notice the columnar jointing in the canyon walls. Looks like a volcanic tuff to me. And notice how the smooth erosion of the walls is almost exactly the same height as the boulder in the distance. Imagine the force of the flash flood to move that!
I'll close this off and head to bed. DH is dropping me at the airport on his way to work. My flight leaves shortly after 10 and I should be to MKE by 3:30. I'll see you on Friday and may give you a call beforehand. Looking forward to seeing you! A
I should be headed off to bed but I haven't written yet this month and there is only 40 minutes left in it so I thought I'd post a few pictures.
We got new cell phones a couple of weeks ago. Mine is a pretty blue one that I want to protect so I made a couple of cozies. Guess which one is mine.
Two weeks ago DH went backpacking in Aravaipa Canyon with a couple of his buddies, one from Seattle and one from Dallas. It was the first trip they've done together in 14 years. Aravaipa Canyon is SE of Phoenix. I drove them down to the east end which is near Safford and picked them up two days later on the west end. Before I could pick them up though I had to call AAA for a jump, the truck battery had died.Aravaipa is a perennial stream so they didn't need to carry water. There were plenty of frogs and fat squirrels to keep them company. They didn't see any rattlesnakes so it must have been a bit early for them.
The main part of the canyon is a Bureau of Land Management Wilderness area. You have to get a permit to hike there and they only let a limited number of people in each day. The Nature Conservacy has purchased ranches at both ends to help preserve the area.
This is my favorite picture. DH took it in one of the side canyons they hiked up to. Notice the columnar jointing in the canyon walls. Looks like a volcanic tuff to me. And notice how the smooth erosion of the walls is almost exactly the same height as the boulder in the distance. Imagine the force of the flash flood to move that!I'll close this off and head to bed. DH is dropping me at the airport on his way to work. My flight leaves shortly after 10 and I should be to MKE by 3:30. I'll see you on Friday and may give you a call beforehand. Looking forward to seeing you! A
Monday, March 16, 2009
Love those natural fibers!!
Hi Alene -- spread the word: it's the International Year of Natural Fibers !! Word is starting to get around. I've read about it on Spindlicity and on the Martha's Vineyard & Hudson Valley Fiber Farms blog. Of course, my love of things woolly is well known but I can't wait to learn more about and see what people do with other natural fibers this year too.
The picture is of fiber and yarn scraps, mostly wool but other natural fibers, too, that I carded together to spin for Ravelry's Spin Your Scraps contest. What's going on with natural fibers down there in the desert?? ;) C
Friday, March 13, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
My service project
Remember a few posts back when I talked about making mittens for the homeless? I still think it's a good idea, but when I saw the low off-season prices of mittens at the store (yes, it is insane but mittens & gloves go on sale in February here in tropical Wisconsin), I wondered if I wouldn't help more people by raising some money. I've been thinking about how to do it. So here's what I'm going to try: Spin up some fun yarn in Ravelry's Spin Your Scraps challenge and knit it up into a scarf; then I'll auction off the scarf to benefit a local charity that helps homeless people in my city. So in March I'll work on the spinning!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Check it out!
New spinning books on the horizon: this summer and this fall (all about spindling!). Hurray!!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Crafter's block, plus goals update
Hi! Glad you are emerging from the winter icks. We're doing all right here. DS wants to learn to spin on the wheel so may try that soon. DD thus far hasn't done more than twirl the spindle and treadle the (empty) wheel but I'm encouraged by her early interest.
I've been having crafter's block for a while now. It took me lots of tries to get a Shawl Ministry project to stick with; it's a lap robe using the Babette Blanket pattern but in less thrilling colors. I'm smitten with the brights but they need some projects with more subdued colors.
I started a few projects with lovely cotton, but as usual, it makes me sore if it's anything bigger than a tawashi. So I'm going to weave with it instead.
The Big Rectangle? Poor thing. First I realized I had enough yarn but not in enough colors (what gives, I always have too many colors in too small amounts) . . . so I decided to weave a rectangle shawl. But that was giving me something probably too heavy (when I know more about weaving, I'll be able to get around that, I imagine). I considered this sweater and still am, along with some other wraps: Mananita, Nina, and Belinda. The trick: I need to use stash because I'm getting my fleece at the end of April and suddenly that seems soon. Must make room.
I've been doing Navajo spindle spinning and loving it. Really all I want to do is spin a lot and knit and weave some . . . so that's another challenge for using up the stash. Hmm. I was very moved a few weeks ago by a story of a homeless person barehanded; I felt a strong urge to "whip" up a zillion mittens to cover all those cold hands. But I'm not sure if it wouldn't be better to raise some money to help instead (I'm also always leery of repetitive strain injuries, so any project that involves me whipping out lots of something, well, doesn't usually happen).
Bye for now, C
I've been having crafter's block for a while now. It took me lots of tries to get a Shawl Ministry project to stick with; it's a lap robe using the Babette Blanket pattern but in less thrilling colors. I'm smitten with the brights but they need some projects with more subdued colors.
I started a few projects with lovely cotton, but as usual, it makes me sore if it's anything bigger than a tawashi. So I'm going to weave with it instead.
The Big Rectangle? Poor thing. First I realized I had enough yarn but not in enough colors (what gives, I always have too many colors in too small amounts) . . . so I decided to weave a rectangle shawl. But that was giving me something probably too heavy (when I know more about weaving, I'll be able to get around that, I imagine). I considered this sweater and still am, along with some other wraps: Mananita, Nina, and Belinda. The trick: I need to use stash because I'm getting my fleece at the end of April and suddenly that seems soon. Must make room.
I've been doing Navajo spindle spinning and loving it. Really all I want to do is spin a lot and knit and weave some . . . so that's another challenge for using up the stash. Hmm. I was very moved a few weeks ago by a story of a homeless person barehanded; I felt a strong urge to "whip" up a zillion mittens to cover all those cold hands. But I'm not sure if it wouldn't be better to raise some money to help instead (I'm also always leery of repetitive strain injuries, so any project that involves me whipping out lots of something, well, doesn't usually happen).
Bye for now, C
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Still Alive
Hi Cindy,
After well over a week of being sick, followed by DH being sick, I'm finally almost back to normal. I caught a nasty bug last month, right after DH's birthday and ended up missing 4 days of work over 2 weeks and the cough hung on for quite a while afterwards. I went to Urgent Care the second day and it still hung on for over a week. It didn't go away until I went again and got antibiotics. That seem to kick it.
Surprisingly I didn't do much knitting during all my sick time home, just lots of sleeping and resting. I've started back at it the last week or so. Today will be the first day my friend and I go down to the gym again after both of us being sick.
As you may have seen on the news we have a very important visitor in town today. Actually he arrived yesterday afternoon. It is hard to seen in this picture but there is snow on top of Four Peaks in the background (near the tail of the plane). Pretty cool. He's speaking at Dobson High, a couple of miles from our house. We talked briefly about trying to get tickets but we would have had to get there Sunday night to stand in line until 10 am Monday. They had about 1000 people show up and only 500 tickets.
After well over a week of being sick, followed by DH being sick, I'm finally almost back to normal. I caught a nasty bug last month, right after DH's birthday and ended up missing 4 days of work over 2 weeks and the cough hung on for quite a while afterwards. I went to Urgent Care the second day and it still hung on for over a week. It didn't go away until I went again and got antibiotics. That seem to kick it.
Surprisingly I didn't do much knitting during all my sick time home, just lots of sleeping and resting. I've started back at it the last week or so. Today will be the first day my friend and I go down to the gym again after both of us being sick.
As you may have seen on the news we have a very important visitor in town today. Actually he arrived yesterday afternoon. It is hard to seen in this picture but there is snow on top of Four Peaks in the background (near the tail of the plane). Pretty cool. He's speaking at Dobson High, a couple of miles from our house. We talked briefly about trying to get tickets but we would have had to get there Sunday night to stand in line until 10 am Monday. They had about 1000 people show up and only 500 tickets.
I've got a post coming about some wedding knitting/crafting I'm doing for a friend. She's getting married in June and I've made few things in prep for the shower.
More soon, A
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Need help with a sweater?
Try Farli's blocking service! (or perhaps she's ready to advise on button placement ?? )
Saturday, January 31, 2009
2009 and lots of goals
Tee hee, so much for blogging the next day . . . hope all is well in AZ. We're doing well here. My niece L just had her 1st baby, a little boy (Dad's 3rd great-grand), so I'm thinking I need to whip out some kind of gift. I've been meaning to write about several things, so we'll see how my memory is right before lunch.
Do you make New Year's resolutions? I like the opportunity to reflect and set goals. So here are mine for the New Year (not in any special order):
1. Stick with my exer-stash goals as I make them in the Ravelry group Exer-stashers. Basically, have a program of regular exercise! In my case, also lose 10 pounds and get some cholesterol-busting eating habits.
2. Learn more about weaving. I am really liking the low-tech weaving I'm exploring with my rigid heddle loom and a homemade warp-weighted loom (more on that in a future entry). Remember the Big Rectangle? It was nothing but fun to work on but had the bad luck of being started right before I learned about my congregation's Shawl Ministry and got the bug to spin a fleece and also do more weaving . . . so long story short, the Big Rectangle is now a weaving project, loosely based on its knitted ancestor. Go ahead, say I told you so. :D
3. Continue my exploration of baking but not just with yeast breads that my family can't embrace. ahem.
4. Start saving for some of those big vacations we dream about here so that we don't have to rely on imaginary money.
5. Explore some of the Asian and Indian recipes in our cookbook collection ;) Also, in the fall, try to find a use for everything in the winter storage share, maybe even the turnips this time (gulp).
6. Make some mittens for homeless people in keeping with my desire to do something to be part of the "new age of responsibility."
That should give me plenty to work on besides all the other stuff of life. I'd better paint the bathroom pronto. love, Cindy
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Before the kids wake up . . .
I thought I'd toss a few pictures up and try to
catch up on blogging! First, two pictures of he lovely Estonian lace socks DH bought for me from a charity fundraiser at his work: they really are from Estonia, cool, eh? I wear them in bed on chilly nights (like last night! It's about 15 below now, 6:30 am, and schools are closed cuz of wind chill danger).
Next is a HP-inspired hat I made for DS top-down so that it is the size I intended. Yay!
Also here is the lovely Faroe Island roving I got at the Sow's Ear as my first "exer-stashers" reward. I joined an exercise support group on Ravelry to support my New Year's resolution of very regular exercise and healthier eating, partly so that I can lose those last 5-10 pounds I've been wanting to get rid of but mostly because I need to lower my cholesterol some.
We took the kids to Cave of the Mounds a few days after Christmas, and we all loved it! It was the first visit there for the kids.
More soon (perhaps tomorrow cuz the wind chill warning lasts through midday Friday), C
catch up on blogging! First, two pictures of he lovely Estonian lace socks DH bought for me from a charity fundraiser at his work: they really are from Estonia, cool, eh? I wear them in bed on chilly nights (like last night! It's about 15 below now, 6:30 am, and schools are closed cuz of wind chill danger).
Next is a HP-inspired hat I made for DS top-down so that it is the size I intended. Yay!
Also here is the lovely Faroe Island roving I got at the Sow's Ear as my first "exer-stashers" reward. I joined an exercise support group on Ravelry to support my New Year's resolution of very regular exercise and healthier eating, partly so that I can lose those last 5-10 pounds I've been wanting to get rid of but mostly because I need to lower my cholesterol some.
We took the kids to Cave of the Mounds a few days after Christmas, and we all loved it! It was the first visit there for the kids.
More soon (perhaps tomorrow cuz the wind chill warning lasts through midday Friday), C
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Birthday Scarf
Hi Cindy!
Last Saturday was my mom's birthday. I didn't get anything knit for her beforehand so I decided to try a wet felted scarf. I chose approximately an each ounce of cranberry and charcoal merino plus a mix of coopworth and the mystery wool I carded when I took my first spinning class. Probably about 4 ounces total.
I laid a vinyl tablecloth down and used bamboo place mats and old nylon curtains to lay the fiber on. The bottom layer I placed horizontally with the red and grey distinctly separated by white.
The middle layer was only the white, running vertically.
The top layer I mingled the red and grey more with the white between the layers. I then went down the entire mass and started working it over. I had a massage roller with with tiny plastic nibs all over to first work the fibers together. I then folded the nylon curtains over and rolled the mass in the bamboo place mats. I then rolled them back and forth several time, checking frequently.
After felting the layers together, fulling the full piece with hot water and rinsing, I soaked it in vinegar water to get the final bits of soap out before tossing in the dryer for about 15 minutes. This gave it the final bit of fulling before I hung it to dry. I worked on the piece for about 3 hours total and then it took another 2 days for it to finish drying.
I showed my friends at work and they were all impressed by it. It started about 6 feet long and probably 15 inches wided and ended up about 5 feet long and 12 inches wide. I wrapped it up yesterday and sent it off so it should only be about a week late. I used a Knit Picks catalog for the wrapping and for a bow, with a little bit of a Patternworks catalog.
I cut several knitting catalogs into strips last week and made a paper chain for my friend CG's cubicle. Her birthday was on Sunday. She took a picture of them before she took them down so I'll eithe post it here, along with the crown I knit her, or post it on my finished Ravelry projects. It was pretty fun.
Hope you are staying warm! More soon, A
Last Saturday was my mom's birthday. I didn't get anything knit for her beforehand so I decided to try a wet felted scarf. I chose approximately an each ounce of cranberry and charcoal merino plus a mix of coopworth and the mystery wool I carded when I took my first spinning class. Probably about 4 ounces total.
I laid a vinyl tablecloth down and used bamboo place mats and old nylon curtains to lay the fiber on. The bottom layer I placed horizontally with the red and grey distinctly separated by white.
The middle layer was only the white, running vertically.
The top layer I mingled the red and grey more with the white between the layers. I then went down the entire mass and started working it over. I had a massage roller with with tiny plastic nibs all over to first work the fibers together. I then folded the nylon curtains over and rolled the mass in the bamboo place mats. I then rolled them back and forth several time, checking frequently.After felting the layers together, fulling the full piece with hot water and rinsing, I soaked it in vinegar water to get the final bits of soap out before tossing in the dryer for about 15 minutes. This gave it the final bit of fulling before I hung it to dry. I worked on the piece for about 3 hours total and then it took another 2 days for it to finish drying.
I showed my friends at work and they were all impressed by it. It started about 6 feet long and probably 15 inches wided and ended up about 5 feet long and 12 inches wide. I wrapped it up yesterday and sent it off so it should only be about a week late. I used a Knit Picks catalog for the wrapping and for a bow, with a little bit of a Patternworks catalog.
I cut several knitting catalogs into strips last week and made a paper chain for my friend CG's cubicle. Her birthday was on Sunday. She took a picture of them before she took them down so I'll eithe post it here, along with the crown I knit her, or post it on my finished Ravelry projects. It was pretty fun.
Hope you are staying warm! More soon, A
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
When Good Projects Go Bad
Hi Alene, and Happy New Year to you and yours. We had a nice Christmas with most of my family coming over on the 21st. DH's dad visited earlier this month so the gift extravaganza was spread out. As for me, I received yarny things from the family: the new Mason Dixon book, 2 skeins of wool yarn from a favorite farmer's market vendor, and the 2009 Spindlicity calendar! Thank you for my gift certificate; I look forward to spending it as soon as possible :D
I've recently had 2 projects go bad. First was a pair of mittens that I was improvising but they came out way too wide with a too narrow thumb and a too short cuff. Methinks I'll frog them and try again with a little less improvising. The 2nd one is the bedsocks I've been making for the Shawl Ministry. Here's a lesson to pass on: don't try turning the heel on a new sock architecture while watching Wall-E with the pattern book on your lap, no notes, a cuppa coffee on one side, and a 4-year-old asking "Why?" repeatedly on the other. Also it is not easy to make socks to fit an unknown pair of feet from a previously untried pattern. Well, duh.
Am contemplating my New Year's resolutions; post on that soon. Bye for now, love, Cindy
I've recently had 2 projects go bad. First was a pair of mittens that I was improvising but they came out way too wide with a too narrow thumb and a too short cuff. Methinks I'll frog them and try again with a little less improvising. The 2nd one is the bedsocks I've been making for the Shawl Ministry. Here's a lesson to pass on: don't try turning the heel on a new sock architecture while watching Wall-E with the pattern book on your lap, no notes, a cuppa coffee on one side, and a 4-year-old asking "Why?" repeatedly on the other. Also it is not easy to make socks to fit an unknown pair of feet from a previously untried pattern. Well, duh.
Am contemplating my New Year's resolutions; post on that soon. Bye for now, love, Cindy
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