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.