I heart Ninja's

Check out one of my favorite blogs....http://ninjerktsu.blogspot.com/

Birthday card

Check out the awesome birthday card I got from my friend Genetta!
She's got a blog at http://paperscraping.blogspot.com/. She seems to be more on top of the whole blog about your craft/hobby than I am. I'll have pictures soon of some finished stuff.

Dear Yarn Blog

Dear Yarn Blog,

I haven't forgotten you although I have been paying more attention to the family blog lately, it's not you, it's me. I just get so wrapped up into what I'm doing and forget to tell you about the wonderful new yarn I'm been making.


At top is a cloud mohair yarn that I learn to love and hate at the same time. Mohair is goat fur and comes in short locks which can be a pain to spin up. It's so soft to hold but it's very slow when spinning up as I wrapped it around a cotton cord. Start up the wheel and stop the wheel just to manually spin the wheel to wrap the yarn around the bobbin. It also leaves a weird feeling on your hands like when you just put some very old lotion on your hands so your hands are soft but have that cake like feeling to them. For plying this type of yarn I'm taking some silk singles done earlier to do a 2 ply and all this is doing is basically holding the mohair down a bit on the cotton cord. Not sure what my plans are for it maybe some kind of cowl/scarf type of project since this yarn will be very bulky. In between spinning the mohair stuff up I've also been spinning some bluish-green carded wool. Since this stuff has been carded it's spinning quite easy but it also takes some practice. Doesn't take much for this wool to get thin on me quick since the fibers have been already carded, it causes the fiber to break easily on me when spinning.

I haven't forgotten my knitting, in fact I have two projects going on. First up is the Morning Surf Scarf by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer.



It's being done in some handspun wool yarn done at an Sport weight on size 4 needles, it's the fiber I dyed a while ago using kool-aid. I haven't gotten far with it but so far I'm liking it. I'm also finishing up a wool stocking hat that is getting knitted from the top down. Although it's getting bigger and I know with the ribbing stitch pattern it will stretch but it still looks small to me.

So yarn blog, I've been busy with other little projects around the house but I haven't forgotten about you. I'm just lazy so deal with it.

xxoo
Jennifer

Things I have done on my time off during the summer

My office implemented reduce hours during the summer this year. Of course it came along with reduce pay but I won't complain about having my Friday's off during the summer at all. This coming Friday is the last one I'll have off and then it's back to a 40 hour week. Sniff...I'm getting sad about this.

Here's what I did...

1. Mowed the yard and cleaned my house.
2. Slept in till 8 am. Sometimes 9 am.
3. Watched daytime TV and realized it really sucked.
4. Signed up for Netflix.
5. Spun lots of fiber into yarn.


6. Spent time with my friend Carey eating sushi.
7. Spent time helping my friend Carey clean & move out of her old house into her new home.
8. Painted my bedroom.


9. Purging out my basement, yard and house in one massive dumpster.
10. Used my weekends for my family.

What are we going to do tonight, Brain??

Recently I did a blog update about my sewing machine "Pinky", a rose color 1950-ish Kenmore that didn't seem to be wanting to work for me. Apparently according to my tech support (aka: my father) this machine is very picky on it's tension setting and it doesn't take much to mess it up, which I tend to do often. While Pinky was waiting for repair from me touching it, I got another machine from my parents.

Meet the Brain:
It's a teal blue old Singer sewing machine my parents got for $15 and runs great. I had been calling it "Bluey" since it's a blue machine but my wonderful friend Carey suggested "Brain" after the cartoon "Pinky and the Brain". I loved it and informed my parents last night that I couldn't break up the pair. I finished up the skirt I had been making last night and will have some pictures to come.

Now for the knitting part of the blog. For the 1 billion time for me, I have once again started a sock up with the goal of actually trying to finish it. Last Friday Carey and I both purchased some sock yarn and needles at MisKnits in Kansas City, Mo. We had no real reasons to actually purchase more yarn but we did anyway like the fiber junkies that we are. I chose some Totufsies sock yarn with very high hopes to create a pair of socks from the Jaywalker pattern by Grumperina. So far I have it started and in my purse to work on whenever I can.

Still here, just been lazy

Yes I know it's been a while on the blogging for both of my blogs but it is summer time and the last thing I really want to do is be stuck inside sitting at a computer typing. Although it's been getting hotter and with a reduction in work hours I really shouldn't have any excuses on to why I'm not posting more blogs. The simple reason is that I simply haven't felt like it and the crafting bug hasn't been there much lately.

Sewing:
Recently I purchased a bunch of fabric to make some simple skirts and tops due to the fact I hate today's clothing not fitting me right. It's either too loose in one area and too tight in another. Ever since having the C-Section, I really hate having anything tight around my belly and today's trend is form fitting shirts. So I bought some fabric with grand plans of creating some nice clothing that would fit me just right. First I start with the simple wrap skirt with some lovely fabric that I should have thought twice about or at least have had my mother there letting me know of the evil of this type of fabric. It is slick stuff and moves underneath the pressure foot so it's been a slight pain to sew. Now of what I have been able to sew up, I've been running into the same issue I've been having with this machine: Tension. After sitting at the machine for 35 minutes getting it fixed from the change out in thread, I finally got the tension right on the stitch. I'm now at the point in joining the three pieces of the skirt together when I hear a GRRR....PLUNKKKKK! The tension is back off again and I need to get my tech support (aka: my Mother) up here to fix it.
The fabric on the right is a knitting bag for Carey waiting in line next the the skirt that may never get done due to me taking a sledge hammer to the machine on the left.

Spinning:
This area has seen much improvement and advances. Recently on one of my no work on Friday's, Carey and I got together for a spinning day. She worked on her current projects while I worked on mine and we had a great time. Back in February I dyed up about 8 oz. of wool I had purchase on a trip to Clinton Mo. using nothing more than Cherry, Grape Kool-Aid and the grill.
Still smells like Kool Aid after all these months and now it looks like this in a 3-ply next to the yummy Alpaca fiber that I also have been working on. I think there was 8 oz. of alpaca fiber that I did that came out in an DK/Aran weight. Very soft and warm stuff.
I have another bobbin that is full and can be plyed up any time. I still have about half of the wool fiber still left to do. Looks like I need another spinning Friday with Carey again, I got a lot of spinning done that day.

Knitting:
Been trying to finish up on some UFO's (Unfinished Objects, it's geek talk for craft people) so not much has been done or started. Still working on the Cardi I started a while ago and due to a mistake in my increases I was stopped in my progress. Apparently one of the increases for the sleeves got off and started shifting to the left of the raglan seam, so I basically had 3 seams going straight and 1 out in left field. I cried and started ripping out about 3 inches of work. Usually this wouldn't have been a big deal but this cardi is being knitted from the top down and it was a lot of stitches that I had to take out and redo. So I'm now to the point to where I was and have taken the stitches off the needles for some measurements. Once I put it on, I'll know if I need to keep going with the increases or if I can move on to the next step.

Today's sewing session with a toddler & husband

Start the machine up. Slow and steady. Keep it straight.

I am one with the machine. Keep going, take the pin out.

Keep going, steady and slow, easy on the turn.

You're almost done...

James yelling across the house "Yes, I'll play kick ball with you, let me finish this......DON'T EAT YOUR BOOGERS BAILEY!!!"

I am one with seam ripper....

New blog idea

I'm taking a page from Carey's book on blog filler. A typical day at work chatting to Carey through IM.

Carey: I'm psychic. Or your dad is. One of us.

Jennifer: That's what we can do on our Friday's off is operate a Psychic Knitters phone line. "I see in your future some frogging to occur...sucks to be you".

Carey: That's a great idea. And we'd always be right!

Jennifer: I know, it's like we're psychic or something.

Carey: That can be our slogan. "Psychic Knitters: It's like we're psychic or something."

Jennifer: That would make a great blog.

Carey: Dangit. Wish we'd a thunk of it sooner.

Jennifer: Me too.

Stash Management

One thing about having your own wheel is stash management. Not only do you need to manage your yarn but the fiber as well. Currently my inventory is residing in the office closest in several containers. It also resides in a laundry basket in the living room, a bag in my bedroom and I'm sure I've managed to put some in the new sewing cabinet I have now. A while back I got a yarn winder and that has help bunches in creating what I call yarn cakes and can quickly become an addiction. First night of ownership I wound up most of my yarn and some that didn't even really need it. Of course winding yarn is a two piece operation, a yarn winder and a swift. Since I don't have the swift, I have to be creative.
Works about how it looks, not so good. It does the job but is rather cumbersome to operate and blocks the hallway access off which isn't good when trying to potty train a toddler. I use my sewing cabinet to attached my yarn winder too and recently has been a chalkboard for Bailey's artwork. I'm just going to have to break down and buy a swift this weekend.
Our recent vacation to Tulsa allowed me to visit the fine stores down there and make some purchases for future projects. The yarn on the left is a 100% wool in colors of dark brown, gray and black that will be used in a new The Boy Hat for James. He like the one I did for him but preferred it to be longer. The yarn on the right is sock yarn called The Frog Prince by Naked Sheep Company and will be used for some fingerless mitts or actually maybe some socks. Although I doubt the second option will occur since I am still trying to finish up the pair of socks I have going on for James. Currently I'm working on the Top Down Cardigan from CosmicPluto for myself out of Bernat Cotton yarn. I wanted something that would take the chill off at work but wouldn't over heat me as the heat was cranked up in our office building. I had started it some time ago but put it down when I need to get a bigger cable and kind of forgot about it. Now that I have only James's sock and the cardigan, I can devote more time finishing those two projects before starting anything else. Well that's at least my plan for now.

Still spinning.....

Still here and still very busy. I will have tons of stuff to show eventually whenever I can catch a minute on the computer.

So what have I been doing lately?? Check out my family blog and you can read all about my recent vacation.

I've learn to Navajo ply and will never ply another way again. I've recently finished a few hats as gifts to a bald headed friend of mine. Currently I'm spinning some alpaca fiber that Carey gave to me last year and it's truly a pleasure to spin. Photos to come soon, I promise.

Pink is cool

Last year my mother gave each of her daughters a sewing machine. The machine I picked was an old Singer that had been converted to electric and was just a simple straight stitch machine. No fancy bells or whistles, just put the fabric under the foot and try to keep it straight. I probably picked it more for the simplicity of the machine rather than the value of it being my grandmother's machine. I also picked it over the other machines due to this one being a table top and not in a cabinet. At the time I just didn't have the room and figured I wouldn't use it often. Whatever the reason was I walked away with a nice sewing machine to do the rare occasional sewing projects with.

About a month later after I got the Singer sewing machine my mother informed me that she had another sewing machine for me. Apparently she found this in an antique store at a good price and couldn't pass it up. It was an old Kenmore sewing machine and had more features than the Singer did, plus it was pink. I was intrigued. Pink is one of my favorite colors but what kind of pink. Retro pink from the 50's? Cotton candy pink from the 70's or was it brighter than 80's fluorescent pink? I went to my parents one weekend and walked away with this.
A 1950's Kenmore dusty rose pink sewing machine and weighs 500 tons (ok maybe not that much but it is quite heavy). A simple little machine with some major coolness to it, I've recovered my living room pillows, repaired clothing, made curtains for the bathroom and kitchen. Since receiving this machine I've done more sewing in the last few months than I have ever really done in my life. Did I get the sewing bug? No but apparently my middle sister Terrie did and has been busy taking a quilting class these last couple of months. I must have gotten a little sewing bug since I will be joining them on a Quilt Shop Hop this coming weekend hitting many different stores in several towns in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. This will be a test of my mothering skills in seeing how well I can keep a two year old entertained while being dragging in and out of the car all day while trying to knit on my own projects. Plus if we see a yarn store along the way, they have been order to stop.

A couple of weekends ago, I showed up for a visit at my parents home and discovered a sewing cabinet in the process of being refinished for me.
It had an older Kenmore sewing machine in the cabinet but wasn't in good condition. It's a nice old cabinet that has a retro 50's flare to it so I immediately loved it . So it now looks like I will have a nice cabinet to put my pink sewing machine in and store any accessories as well. I still don't have the room for a cabinet machine but it will go well with my furniture once it's done. Now when I do sew, I don't have to clear off the dinning room table to do it.

Old school

When all else fails, do it old school.
This is a 2-ply Mauch Chunky wool on my Schacht drop spindle. It was spun into singles on the Babe spinning wheel but for some reason I wasn't in my plying groove Sunday night and yet again on Monday night. No matter what adjustments I made, I wasn't getting it right. I was wasting time and ruining my singles in the process. Total mess. No amount of soaking, adding weights or other tricks to get the over twist out would have helped on my stuff. Frustrated, I cut off the offending yarn and tossed it into the trash. I was to the point of just ignoring the singles and moving on to something else when I stopped myself and saw my spindle. There it was on the coffee table sitting between the empty popcorn bowl and a Minnie Mouse puzzle. At that moment I felt like Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With The Wind" when she became empowered and declared she was never going hungry again. I picked up my spindle and declared I was never going to waste my singles. I wrapped the single around my hand for some Andean plying and about 20 minutes later I had a very nice 2-ply yarn with balance. Granted I know there are some spinners out there who are probably in shock with the idea of going back to a spindle to finish a single up when there is a perfectly good wheel just sitting there and I just needed to keep trying to find out what was going wrong and.....well that's just silly to me, after all the drop spindle taught me to spin in the first place. My wheel is great and is much faster than the drop spindle but there are reasons for me to go back to it now and again. One reason is simple, my 2-ply yarn on the drop looks much better than it did on the wheel, go figure? It may take me a bit longer to finish up the Mauch Chunky wool but it will get done.

Unfinished Objects

2 obsessions, 1 person, how to cope with all the UFO's?? I think every person who knits and spins their own yarn has faced this dilemma at sometime with their newly acquired hobby. We struggle with this issue daily. I can only compare this to how parents of more than one child must deal with the question of "who do you like best"?? Having two other siblings I know the standard answers parents must give to their children but just like parents, knitters & spinners will have one project that they will just favor for some reason but equally love all their projects just the same. Until a certain knitting/spinning project let's someone else drive their car one day and then wreck it, well....that's a different story.

Currently I just finished up the Mauch Chunky Juju Fruit 4 oz. bag of fiber. I still have to ply it into a 2 ply but that won't take to long to do. This will be the 3rd skien of yarn from this wool, the second skien produced about 200 yards of sport/DK weight yarn.
The Juju yarn is currently being used in a Basic Tam (a tam is the same as a Beret) pattern from an Interweave magazine that Carey left at my house. I'm combing the two yarns that I produced (100 yds done on the spindle at a chunky weight and the sport weight from the wheel) from this wool. I used the chunky weight to do the 2x2 rib and then switched to the sport weight when I started the increases on the body of the hat.

Also I have on needles is the Prettybird Neckwarmer in the Dream in Color yarn. It's starting off slow due to I tend to be slower working on straight needles. Granted these needles are smaller in length but I still tend to slow down on the straights for some reason.
Over on the wheel I've started spinning the grey/green/purple shetland wool that I dyed a couple of weekends ago. It's not quite what you would call a pencil style roving but is rather close to it enough that I'm not doing any pre-drafting at all. I've also kept the wool wound up in the ball and just started spinning from it. Unwinding enough for me to use each time I starting working on it. I'm really enjoying spinning this wool up and I plan to najavo ply it so that I can keep the color together. This wool is quickly becoming my favorite since I really want to learn who to najavo ply. On one of the many spindles that I have it has about half of a 1.5 oz. silk hankie spun up on it. I still have no clue what to do with it, either leave it as a single or use it with something else as a 2 ply.
Or since my two sisters are crocheting now, maybe one of them would like it to make something out of it to give to a little sister perhaps, just a thought.

Happy little mistakes

This weekend I found myself helping my good knitting buddy Carey with cleaning out her mother's house. I showed up just in time to help her assemble 1 of 4 pieces of new office furniture for her office/spinning room. I brought along my supervisor, Mr. Gnomey and he made sure we at least got the one of the desks put together before breaking for lunch.
Carey has picked out some awesome colors for her new office/spinning room and Mr. Gnomey agrees with me on that as well. Due to my poor camera skills, the color on the walls is a rust color, not orange. The hutch/computer desk is black but has rust undertones which matches the wall color. Nice!

While I was there I did learn how to do some najavo plying which seeing first hand is helping me understand the whole process much better than just watching it on a Utube video. When I was watching Carey I saw her "Bob Ross, aka Mr. Happy Trees" mentality take over. She was demonstrating how to fix a break in a single while najavo plying when she started saying "There are no mistakes, just happy accidents. You take your happy single and form a happy loop, no mistake. Happy accidents. Nobody will ever know, nobody will ever know, it's our happy secret..."

I think it's time for Carey to put down the paint roller and pick up a paint brush and start painting again.

Dye projects part 2

Last night sitting on top the stove was the last of the fiber dying projects from the weekend. It was toughest one to do, I didn't know how it was going to turn out and I really didn't know how to dye a synthetic fiber. As I peeled back the foil and dumped the remaining water off, this is what I saw.
James named it "Tang" which was appropriate since it smell like the orange kool-aid that I used. With the sheen quality of the fiber it has more of a copper look to it to me. Was this the color I was attempting to do, uh....sure...I totally knew what I was doing.

O yeah, it's Kool-Aid man!

Over the weekend I dyed about 1 pound of shetland wool, 9 oz. of creamy white wool, 7 oz. of gray wool that I purchased at Kiddin' A-Round Spinning & Weaving store in Clinton, Mo. This isn't my first time dying fiber but it was the first time that I was able to achieve two things: 1) dark colors and 2) fiber not felting (this part of dying fiber process is a wonderful thing to happen).

The first time I dyed fiber I used kool-aid, vinegar and the microwave. The resulting fiber was bright colors, some felting of the wool and pretty much stunk up the house. It was eventually spun up into sport/dk weight yarn by my friend Carey.
It's still waiting to be turned into something, I do have plans for it someday. The next dye project was wool that I purchased from the fiber shop in Clinton, Mo. but I did different method of dying the wool. I used food coloring and vinegar but instead of the microwave I used the stove. I purchased a big stock pot and steamed the fiber which I found nothing easy about this method. I still had a stinky house and lots of water to throw out when done. Plus the colors were totally off and the fiber felted pretty bad on me. Although the colors turned out wrong it was still a pretty shade of pastels greens, yellow and oranges even though I was going for a dark hunter green color. I made a two ply yarn out of it and eventually turned it into a hat that looks like a big gum drop.

I read somewhere on the internet about using your oven to do fiber dying with. I figured why not use my grill and keep the smell outside. My set up was the same as before, I first soaked the fiber in the stock pot filled with water & vinegar. I let the wool soak for about 2 hours and then drained the water off.
Then I used disposable aluminum pans to hold the wet fiber in, applied kool-aid (Cherry, Grape and Raspberry flavors) to the white wool and green, blue and red food coloring to the gray wool.
Normally I would be wearing gloves to squish all the liquid into the fiber but I couldn't find them. I tried using the kitchen tongs but it didn't seem to work out too well in getting the liquid into the fiber so I reached in and used my hands. Comet cleaner not only cleans the counters but can take off the kool aid stains off hands really well which is a good thing cause I really didn't want to have to explain to my co-workers why my hands were purple & red and no my perfume doesn't smell like Kool-Aid. Once I covered the fiber with dye, I cover each pan with aluminum foil and took it out to our gas grill to steam. I allowed the heat to build up gradually and about 30 minutes later at 275 degrees, I removed the foil to check the progress. The water came out clear so that was an indication that all the dye I use the fiber had taken in. I turned off the heat and allowed the wool to gradually cool off before bringing it back inside to rinse off.
I can't wait to spin this stuff up and see how it looks. Best part of all with dying fiber using the grill is that I didn't get any felting or a stinky house. Plus, I do believe shetland wool is just awesome. It's incredibly soft and wonderful to spin with.

I also try to do some Tencel fiber dying last night and used the oven. Tencel is a synthetic fiber that looks and feels like silk. I applied the same technique as I did in using the grill with the only exception of longer cooking time. From what I could tell from last night was it took the dye but isn't coming out as dark as I wanted. This fiber has a sheen look to it, so the colors that were coming out had a metallic look to it. Once I removed it from the oven I kept it covered and left it to cool overnight. Tonight when I get home from work, I'll get to see what color it decided to be. Pictures to come tomorrow, good or bad, I'll show it off.

Check it out

The fetching gloves are done and a big thanks to my model.
I will get them in the mail ASAP to you Cathy.

Weekday routine

Monday and Tuesday nights are for spinning. Don't know why, I just picked those two days and set them aside for some wheel time. Of course nothing happens until 8 pm when it's someone bedtime. It's not that I couldn't do spinning or knitting while Bailey is up but she's usually wanting to be in someone's lap watching Spongebob Squarepants and changes laps during the commercial breaks. Since getting my spinning wheel I have put more time at night into spinning than knitting but last night I put that aside, turned on Doctor Who and started working on the Fetching gloves that I am making for my friend Cathy.
Recently I discovered a mistake. A mistake that made me rip out about 3 inches of work to redo again. Something about this pattern has not only given me some issues but to Carey as well. Carey who is a spinning/knitting master ninja also had and is having again the same issue as am I. The right glove comes out great but something changes when you do the left glove. It's hard to understand why if you are just making the glove again but changing the slant on the cable there would be a noticeable change. Carey's theory is that when we are knitting we are pulling tighter on the cable in one direction than we do when we change directions. My theory is that it is an optical illusion created by an evil magician who happens to be a gnome. Did I have to rip out 3 inches of work? Unfortunately yes, I did. Even though the evil gnome magician is doing a great job in creating frustration for us, I was off on my rows and it needed to be fix so that it would look somewhat right. The left glove still looks shorter in the cable rows but at least I know that my rows are at the correct number.
Since there will be plenty of yarn left over from the gloves, I've decided to also knit another gift for Cathy out of this yarn. I've chosen the Prettybird Neckwarmer pattern since I don't think there will be enough leftover for a scarf but this will help out on those cold days for Cathy. This next project will be Carey and I new knit along, as soon as we get the current projects done first. That's if we can wait, I found my size 4 needles and have them in the traveling project bag right now just waiting to start up the neckwarmer.

Kankles of steel

Last night after we got home I sat down for a spinning session, working more on the purple Mauch Chunky fiber. After about an hour, I noticed my legs were hurting along with my back and arms. It wasn't the type of soreness just from sitting in a bad position but from an actual workout. Granted it wasn't much of a workout but I was feeling "the burn" in the back of my thighs. So the next time I hear my friend & spinning buddy complain about having too much fiber and that she really doesn't need to buy anymore fiber. I will simply remind her of the benefits of a spinning wheel.

I'm pretty sure with the few little calories that I was able to burn off I've managed to put back on with this cold morning we are having in the office. I'm not a fan of hot tea and pretty much hate coffee so I'm only left with hot chocolate for any warming affects to my body.

To my horror I discovered a mistake in the current knitting project of the Fetching Gloves that forced me to rip out what I had done for the left glove. Needless to say I cried a bit as I ripped down 3 inches worth of work. Just the joys of knitting I guess.

Will travel for yarn

I am always wanting to find new sources of yarn & fiber stores that are close by so I don't have to buy so much off the internet. The internet is fine and wonderful source of stuff to buy from but I simply don't have the patience to wait and I like to get out of the house exploring the local area. So while off on Friday, I took a trip up to Parkville, Mo. to look around and to check out a store called the Florilegium. It was a nice store full of all types of fiber related supplies one could image. A nice size yarn store with basic selections and name brands yarns. Not much in the fiber as I was hoping for but you could buy some pre-dyed fiber and odds & ends filler fiber by the bag. If you ever need a button for something, this is the place to visit. Tons of them in all shapes and sizes. Although the trip was nice and I enjoyed my visit to the store, nothing jumped out at me and scream "TAKE ME HOME!!!"

So I returned home. I may have been empty handed but I was already planning more road trips in search of new stores for sources to my hobby. I would like to make a trip out to Lawrence, Ks. and hit the Yarn Barn for some more fiber & spinning supplies in the next couple of weekends. Also there has been talk among my mother & middle sister, Terrie about participating in a Quilt & Fabric Shop Hop going on in the first weekend in March. I really don't sew much at all, just real basic stuff. My last sewing project was making a curtain for the bathroom window and all I did was to take a long pre-made curtain, cut to the size I wanted and hem it up. Really not much skill in trying to sew a straight line but it still took me a bit to do. I wouldn't mind tagging along for the ride since they will be hitting towns in the southwestern parts of Missouri & Arkansas and I'm sure there are some yarn/fiber stores down there just waiting for me to find them. Plus I am certain I will find some fabric that could be made into an outfit for Bailey.

Since James was sick and I wasn't feeling too good by Saturday night, I only managed to get a little spinning done. I abandoned the practice fiber and started on spinning up the Mauch Chunky Roving in the Juju Fruit color, 4 oz. bag.
I've worked with this fiber before on the drop spindle and produced a very chunky 2 ply yarn. Originally I got more of this fiber to make a hat or scarf out of but since that I am now spinning this on the wheel, I will have two completely different types of yarn to work with. I think I can use both yarn in one project using the drop spindle yarn more as an accent to the overall project since there isn't much of it (less than 75 yards I believe). Overall my first attempt at in producing a workable yarn is going well I just have half a bag left to go.

Busy week and more crapy pics!

Another busy week/weekend down and very little knitting/spinning done. Again, sorry for bad photos, I've still not managed to get my camera working properly with indoor shots. I've only managed to finish 1 of the fingerless gloves, Fetching from the Knitty Summer 2006 issue for my friend Cathy in Tulsa. Her favorite color is blue so I found some very soft and snuggly Dream in Color Classic wool #480 at the local yarn store. They are a bit tight on my hands but I have fat hands and Cathy has skinny hands so I'm sure they will fit just fine on her. If not, she can wash them down a bit in hot water to adjust the size for a better fitting.
here's a picture of the yarn before use, it shows the color the best I could get it.
Not much done on spinning other than I spent a little time trying out the different size bobbins I have. Since my wheel is an Irish tension, the ratio of the wheel is determined by what bobbin I put on. If I want more twist in the fiber as it spins up on to the bobbin, I use the bobbin with the smaller end. In the next photo with the poorly drawn arrow, you can see (try squinting, it may help) the round end with a groove. That groove is where the drive band goes to spin the bobbin, so if the round end is small you have a faster, higher ratio for the twist per inch in your fiber. That round end is basically the only way I can tell what ratio I'm using on this wheel (at this current time, I only have two ratios to choose from) so I can do basically a sport to chunky weight range at this time.
The one good thing about this wheel is that since it is made of PVC pipes, it can be modified easily (with help from my father and his tools) to suit my needs. I've already been gathering materials to build my own tension lazy kate for plying purposes and creating a new flyer unit with Scotch tension in order to get more ratios available to me.

I spent the last of the weekend gathering all of my fiber and getting it ready for whenever I do get around to spinning it all up. Predrafting on the fiber always took the most time on the drop spindle for me because I found it easier to work with and I kept a rhythm of spinning going on when I didn't have to do so much to the fiber. Not so on the wheel. I still need to get all the fiber down to the size I will use but instead of taking it down further, I can leave it in a larger mass and still manage to work with it. I still have 3 more bags of fiber to sort out but as you can see from the picture below I have plenty of fibers to start on. I should finish up with the white practice fiber first but I honestly can't wait to spin up something other than white. Although the fiber is just plain white, it is rather a soft wool and I will have to purchase some more of it when I get to dying fibers when it warms up outside.

Yarn barf

I got my new spinning wheel last Monday night and I finally got to sit down for more than 5 minutes to actually try to learn how to make yarn. 45 minutes later and this is what I had. A small pile of over twisted, broken yarn barf.


Sorry about the pictures being terrible, I should rename the blog "Jennifer's blog of bad knitting photos and piles of wasted fiber on office floor".

The spinning has been slowly going. I got the wheel last Monday night and I finally got to sit down with it late Sunday night. My 1st session was about 45 minutes and I was learning how to spin. I was also learning on how quickly the wheel can yank the yarn right out of your hands. I was mastering that last part quite well by the end of the night. At the end of the 1st session I could tell that 1) I had way too much twist in the fiber and 2) I was doing what's called the "Inch worm" style of drafting. Basically I had a long piece of fiber and was only pulling about an inch out at a time while the wheel was spinning. The little booklet that came with the spinning wheel suggested using the spinning from the fold. Instead of long piece of fiber, you have short piece of fiber and you draft out from the middle instead of the end. I tried that technique the next night and my results were about the same, too much twist and still having the fiber ripped out of my hands. Even though I call (well I must give credit to Carey for the name) my first attempt yarn barf, I did notice one thing I am proud of and that is that the newly fiber was the same thickness throughout. It wasn't as thin as I wanted to get it (that will just take some time) and even though I was getting much better on the drop spindle, I still had thick/thin spots throughout the yarn.

I have managed to complete two baby hats , 1 bootie (with the other on it's way to getting done) and hopefully I hope to have the last baby hat done before Saturday. The K-State newborn hat is a Basic Newborn hat by Jennifer Jackson done in Classic Elite cotton/alpaca yarn. The second K-State toddler hat is a child size Thorpe hat by Kirsten Kapur, which was very simple to do and I may have to make on for myself. The third hat is kind of a joke for the expecting mother. My cousin is having a baby boy and the kid is basically coming into a family of hunting enthusiasts. So I found the brightest, neon orange yarn I could find so the new baby can fit in with the rest of the Harding men. The pattern is actually pretty cute, just a basic ribbed hat and will look cute even in the bright orange. Pictures to come later, I'm still hoping for a good, non-blurry one later tonight.

It's Here!!!

Finally, my new wheel arrived yesterday! After a busy day at work and an evening at Chuck E. Cheese, we arrived at home around 8:30 to find a big box on the front porch. As James brought the box in the house Bailey was more excited than I was about a big box to play in. Little does she know, I have plans for reusing that box. Once inside I raced to the office and immediately open the box, of course there was some assembly required....
But a few minutes later I was done.

My wheel sits in my office waiting for me to come home and just play with it but it will have to wait. I have a baby gift to get done in a hurry since I found out last weekend that my cousin is actually due sooner than I thought and her baby shower is in two weeks. Oops...my bad.

Spinning wheel to come, sometime.

For Christmas James order me a spinning wheel to take the next step in making my own yarn. Now I didn't get anything fancy or special, just a basic beginner's wheel to start learning on. I purchase a Babe's Production wheel made out of PVC pipe that can be converted over to a scotch tension drive later on if I wanted too. I choose the PVC pipe spinning wheel for basically two reasons: 1) cost and 2) with a toddler running around, if one morning I found hello kitty stickers all over it, well I haven't made too much of an investment in it to freak out. As of right now, I'm still waiting for it to show up in the mail. Still waiting.....

My father has been working on converting an old sewing case into a spinning wheel for me as well. It's still a work in progress due to him trying to get all the beans out of the field first but as soon as he's done with the field, he'll be back on it.

I felt a little guilty ordering another wheel before he got this one completed but I thought for a minute and realized that anyone with a hobby has more than one piece of equipment to work their hobby on. I'm going to be no different than my mother who can't stop buying sewing machines or James and his video games. I'm sure once my father gets this wheel working for me, I'll have plenty of fiber to use on it.