Anything but socks.

Friendship quilt

2010-03-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to do much knitting or spinning lately with the extra freelance work I've picked up so not much to write about. Over the weekend I did get to spend some time with my mother & Bailey at a quilt show in Stover, Mo. While I was outside entertaining a child who is crazy about slides my mother was busy inside looking for fabric for a difficult task that she and my oldest sister have now started. While cleaning the old trailer at my grandmother's place my uncle found some old quilt blocks that someone(s) had started but not finished. Unfortunately something started eating at them and needless to say most of the blocks had a lot of damage to them but there were a few that looked great.

The pattern piece is called a "Friendship Quilt" and the big plus sign in the middle is left blank for hand embroidery work to be added later. Now my mother wasn't sure who actually worked on this piece, if it was a group of women or just a hand few but every block was hand sewn and the fabric used was quite old. The pieces that were damage and in need of repair my mother and sister ripped out what torn and went to fixing the block with fabric from other blocks that couldn't be saved or using new fabric in it's place.

They have managed to mend two blocks so far and are hoping to have this quilt finished by Homecoming in October for everyone to see.

One happy child...

2010-03-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

[Insert scary Jaws music here]

"Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??" "Is my fishy hat done yet??", etc...you see how well it turned out for her.

Fishy hat done for Bailey and I still hate short rows

2010-03-08T08:39:00.000-08:00

Ok, say it with me now...."Short rows are our friends, not a pain in the ass."

The long awaited 2nd Fish Hat by Thelma Egberts in "Finding Nemo" colors is done.

Just in time for spring. Hopefully she'll still want to wear it next winter.

The diet diary part 2 and why they still suck plus progress on cotton spinning.

2010-02-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

My diet started about 9 weeks ago after my last visit to the neurologist to check how I was doing on the new medication, they did the standard check in routine. Sign in, verify information on the paperwork, co-pay, wait and then the weigh in. I knew one of the possible side affects from taking Lyrica was some weight gain but as I stepped on the scale, needless to say I was shocked as how much I had gain in 4 weeks. Even when I was pregnant with Bailey I didn't gain much weight at all and at times I had a very hard time gaining any weight. It was with that one step on the scale that got me thinking about my weight and kept me thinking about it for the rest of the day. The next day I download the app for the iPhone, Loseit.com, a calorie counter and basically set my goal to loose 1/2 - 1 1/2 pounda each week.

As I've gotten further along with this diet, I've adjusted my goal and my allotment of calories as I've gotten more comfortable with the restrictions. I did what I said I would never do and purchased a bathroom scale and brought it my home to which it sat on the dinning room table till I found a battery. Our weigh in (my diet buddy James has joined me in this self-induced hell lifestyle now, his choice wasn't so willing as my choice was. Doctor's orders!) was last Sunday and I am happy to report, I've lost 16 lbs and James has lost 11 lbs. since both our doctor visits. Which makes me think the doctor's scale wasn't all that accurate since I really can't see how I could have lost that much weight that fast and maybe the shock to my system wasn't necessary. Then again, whether you are counting calories (or carbs in the case with James) it does make you more aware of what you are about to shovel into one's mouth.

Not much progress has been made on the cotton fiber and frankly, it's giving me some problems. I managed to get two bobbins full of cotton singles and set up the wheel for plying. Over twist seems to be making plying a general pain so I've taken the singles off to the niddy noddy and letting them set for awhile to help with the twisting problem. I'll do some research and maybe check out some books on cotton to figure out what to do. With the cotton on hold I don't like to have a naked spinning wheel, so I grabbed the wool that I dyed recently at Carey's house and started spinning it last night and oooo.....how I missed spinning an easy fiber. I couldn't get a good picture of it (it's so pretty but so out of focus when I'm taking it's picture) so I'll show some other items I've recently purchased.

About 2 weekends ago I did a quilt shop hop with my Mother & sister Terrie around the southwest Missouri & Arkansas. To entertain and keep Bailey from getting too bored with traveling, I told her that she could pick out a fat quarter of her own and that we'll make something out it.

The quarter that she started with is the red with watermelon seeds all over was this was the start of her collection. We worked off that to match up the rest of the colors (reds, greens and blacks) in the fat quarters. The quarter with the awful glare is actually a pink batik, which is Bailey's favorite color and somehow I'll work this in to the pattern whenever I figure out one to make. The fabric on the right is mine for a bag project gotten at a wonderful discount fabric store in Springfield, Mo. that has some of the best designer fabrics at really good prices. Of course no trip is complete with out visiting a yarn store while in Springfield.

Creamy white alpaca yarn....mmmmm. I'll use it to match up to some brown/white/black alpaca mix that I spun up last year. I made some fingerless mitts out of the yarn but have enough leftover to do something.

Still spinning the cotton and why diets suck.

2010-02-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

Nobody ever wakes up one day and says "I think I'll start a diet today, just for FUN!!" There is always a reason for them, either good or bad there is always some kind of reason for them. Now you're probably wondering what does diets have to do with spinning & knitting. Everything. If I was at a smaller size right now spinning fiber up wouldn't take as long to make or to knit up. But I could be at a size 1 and still be spinning the cotton fiber for the rest of my life. Cotton fiber spinning is taking it's sweet time in producing any yarn to knit. I've been at it for a while now and I almost have the second bobbin done. Now, maybe I picked the wrong time of the season for spinning the cotton fiber because of my dry hands which have cause some issues. But again, I think even with the ideal location, perfect time of the year and all the planets lined up, I would still be working on the first ounce from the 2 pounds of fiber that I have located next to the couch. With all the whining done for now I will say that whenever I do get this yarn done and knitted up, it will look GORGEOUS! So far I've been trying to spin it on the thick side, I'm wanting a heavy worsted weight yarn for my sweater (bigger yarn+big needles=less time knitting for my fat ass) but cotton has a very nasty habit of spinning up thin. So this yarn will consist of thick, thin, thick, really thin, really thick and back whatever I get it at before it breaks weight. Still it will look GORGEOUS cause the dye job on the fiber is just awesome and should be really interesting when knitted up.

So what's with all the weight issues and dieting?? Well I've started one (again) and I've set some goals up for myself. Now like I said earlier, diets don't start up without a reason and I do have my reasons. Now I'll admit to be lazy at times but when it's a hobby and one that you enjoy well my fat ass isn't the real reason for starting a diet up again. Like I said, I have my reasons and I've got a prize set up for whenever I do loose the amount I've set up for myself. Yes, it's an insanely expensive item (No Carey, it's not another spinning wheel) but for now I'll keep that bit of info to myself. To start off this whole diet thing I download an phone app for my iPhone to help me count my calories and so far I've stuck with it. I'm on week 3 and I've been keeping track of what I eat, how much I've eaten and cutting out snacks. So far I've stuck to my daily allowance of calories and I'm driving James crazy with the whole counting thing but let's be honest, it's probably not a far drive for him. The next obstacle to tackle is buying something that I said I would NEVER own.

A bathroom scale. They are PURE EVIL but in order for me to do this diet thing right, I'm going to have to bring this horrible, horrible thing into my house. The next step after the bathroom scale is exercise which I'm not opposed too doing but until it warms up a bit and I'm able to find a spare minute this next step might take a while in meeting it's goal.

Today's blog brought to you by the letters W-T-F???

2010-01-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

As requested from my 3 year old, she wanted a fishy hat like the one I made for her friend Alex but in clown fish colors. Ok, not a big deal, I have the neon orange that is brighter than a thousand suns leftover from a previous project, I have black and white yarn...I can do this again. I should have guessed this new hat project was going to be difficult starting with losing my size 8 double point needles and from the previous hat experience using circulars proved to be a pain to use. Not wanting to spend much money on a new set, I picked up the cheapest pair I could find. They are ok needles but once again in previous projects I have done the type of yarn sometimes picks out what type of needles I should use. The double points I got are plastic and with this orange yarn, it slips off the needles quite easily and it looks like I should have gone up a size to work with this stuff as well, ugh. I should have just picked up the wooden pair and just deal with the fact I lost my good size 8 wooden double point needles and pay the extra dollars to get a good set again.

So I continue to knit this stuff up dropping a stitch here and there with a 3 year old asking "Is my hat done yet" in the background. Now it's time to do the short rows....ok...knit to the end...do I slip the stitch first or do I move the yarn from the back to the front?? How did I do this last time...no that's not right, let's try this, no...not right again. Ok, I just need to look this up, where did I put my notes?? Ok, ok...slip the stitch first, bring the yarn to the front, slip back the stitch, bring the yarn to the back and turn...got it, that was easy...why couldn't I remember this?? Ok, time to go back and do the next short row...ok I'm at the end of the next row time to do what just took me 5 minutes to figure out...ok...what did I do first...slip or bring the yarn to the front?? Crap, I need to look it up again!! Ok, ok slip, yarn, slip, yarn and turn, got it. On to the end of the next row..hmm...is it yarn then slip then yarn...WTF! I've only managed to only do half of the first set of short rows required on this hat since starting this 2 weeks ago. I don't understand why I can't seem to remember the steps to doing these short rows? This is just stupid!

When the hat frustrates me I just set the needles down and go to another frustrating project I have going on: Cotton spinning. Carey was right, I'm going to hate it to the point I want to stab myself. Spin cotton or stab my eyes out...hmmm...tough choice, I'll go for stabbing myself but then I would drop all those stitches in the short row I just did, damn it! What frustrates me about the cotton is not what Carey warned me about, the breaking of the fiber is a pain but what is frustrating to me is once I find that groove to spinning it right the minute I walk away and start back up I can't get it going right. Again...WTF...I was just doing it right and then I needed to stop, come back and now I can't seem to get it spinning right again. I spend the next 15 minutes trying to get it going again just for it to break on me. AARRGGHHH....so much for a relaxing hobby. I have noticed that cotton seems to produce a bunch of what I call "Yarn Barf", leftovers from the roving that are too small to get back on the single that you are spinning up. A good spinner (example: Carey) wouldn't have any but I'm not that good and still have some yarn barf with any fiber I spin.

Just walk away from the frustrating cotton for a minute and do some predrafting of some newly dyed wool I did a couple of weekends ago.

Trash bag of goodness becomes....

Empty gift bag of drafted goodness ready to spin!!

2 1/2 pounds of wool all drafted and just ready to for me to spin. I got together with my friend Carey at her house to dye all this using her Country Classics dyes that she's had much success using. I'm surprised I made it out the door with it but then again at the rate I'm going with the cotton, I should have taken Carey's offer of spinning it up for me. I still have more fiber to dye up and if it stays some what warmish this weekend I'll try dying the bamboo fiber with the dye that requires a well ventilated area.

I've also gotten back into finishing up some sewing projects and started a needle case out of some fat quarters I got last year from the shop hop I did with my mother & sister. I'm sure there are patterns out there to use but I just figured something out and sewed it up.

Not too bad, just need to stitch the lines to form the holders and I'll do that later tonight.

What's on YOUR needles??

2010-01-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

I hear this often from other people who are curious on what I'm knitting on. Currently right now I'm carrying a ball of yarn in my purse. That's right, a ball of yarn with some size 6 needles stuck in it just sitting in my purse. It is just patiently waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. No clue. Just sitting in my purse, staring at me when I'm driving. Like all crafty people out there they have a few UFO's in their craft room or bag. I recently came across one of my unfinished projects while organizing my fiber & yarn stash, the Pretty Bird neckwarmer by Christianna Wincek. I discovered a horrible mistake I was making in the cable pattern and did what every good knitter does. I promptly put the project down and forgot about it, until last week when I unravel the project back to the very beginning of the cable pattern and started over on it. This year I'm going to try to keep the UFO's down to a number that I can count on one hand and so far I'm starting off pretty good.

I finished up the belated Christmas gift hat this week.

One catfish blugly with needle felted eyes! I can take that UFO off my list but saddly I had to put another one in it's place. A "Finding Nemo" looking clown fish hat to make in a hurry so that a certain little child of mine will stop asking when her fish hat will be done.

Catfish Blugly

2010-01-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

I finally finished a belated Christmas gift for Bailey's daycare friend, Alex, a Fish Hat by Thelma Egberts.

Click on any of the images to make the larger

Pictures to come of the hat after blocking and with whiskers & eyes on.

Normally hats don't take me too long to do but this one took some time to do due to learning curve I needed on how to do short rows for the first time. For this hat I used some leftover handspun yarn done by my friend Carey called "Blugly" that she used to create her Mr.Greenjeans sweater from the Fall 2007 issue of knitty.com. At some point when I was doing the short rows the shaping of the mouth looked a lot like a catfish to me and gave me the idea to put some whiskers on it later. When I put the hat on Bailey she insisted that I make her one right now, in pink of course. James who didn't think much of the pattern when I first showed him was a changed man and laughed with glee upon seeing the finished project. He suggested to Bailey that her hat needed to look like a clown fish like the one from Finding Nemo. One quick search for an image of a clown fish she was hooked (ok, that bad pun wasn't done on purpose) on the idea. The list of future projects keep growing and if it doesn't warm up soon, I may use the camel yarn I'm making for some extremely warm socks.

New scarf project for Cathy

2010-01-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

My friend Cathy gets very cold easily and last year I knitted the Fetching fingerless gloves for her to use at her office. The other day I mention that I still had some leftover yarn from her gloves and would she like something else. She mention a scarf or socks would be nice to have to keep her warm. I pretty much have a love/hate relationship with socks and that she would need to take a number behind my husband and oldest sister who have hinted on wanting some and are still waiting for hell to freeze over to get any. I have vowed to actually finish a PAIR of socks this year. Not just do one sock, get frustrated and stop mid-way through the first sock and never pick the project up again, actually finish a pair this time. We'll see if that happens it's only January right now. The yarn I used is called Dream in Color Classic wool #480 Midnight Derby.

I have selected four patterns for Cathy to choose from:

1) Rittenhouse Scarf by Marilyn Murphy

2) Lovely Leaf Lace by Joelle Hoverson

3) Rainy Day Scarf by Beth Collins

4) Ribbed Scarf with Crochet Edging by Ann Budd (you'll need to scroll down to find this pattern)

Any suggestions on what I should make for Cathy?

Cotton

2010-01-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

For my birthday I received 2 pounds of undyed cotton fiber from my parents. Happy happy, joy joy!! I've been wanting to learn to spin cotton for a while now but never got around to actually purchasing any. I was wanting to do a grand project to work on from beginning to end for myself and found the knitted piece to make out of the cotton, Berroco's Dittio spring sweater. I don't like having all this fiber & yarn and not have something planned for it. My fiber & yarn stash is getting too big and I'm not going to be able to out wit James much longer when he starts pointing that little fact out to me. I told Carey about my gift and she promptly said "You're going to hate spinning it".

She's probably right, all fibers with a short fiber length are a pain in the neck to spin but I have some really nice Camel fiber on my wheel now that has a long fiber length that is proving to be a pain as well. Camel fiber is very, very soft and breaks easily while spinning. First mistake I made was to try a new technique on how the fiber is drafted. Spinning from the fold is where I basically take a short length of fiber, fold it over a finger and draft the fiber out from the middle instead of an end. All the length isn't helping one bit and has taken some trial and error while spinning this and James has learned a few new words while sitting next to me on the couch.

The new spinning technique wasn't the only new idea I had to try out as well. I've never dyed cotton before and it takes a bit of a different approach than the basic wool I've done. Since cotton is a plant based fiber, you need to dye with heat and usually something that will cause the dye to set. I had gotten a little dye kit from the Yarn Barn in Lawrence, Ks. that had everything; activator powder, six basic colors and a small bottle of Synthrapol. When I read the instructions it said to do in a "Well Ventilated Area", since I missed the opportunity to dye this fiber outside because of the winter weather, I was going to need something else to use but what? A quick internet search later and I was on the Rit Dye homepage. Rit dye is easy to use, comes in large assortment of colors and doesn't need a "well ventilated area" to work with.

(Notice the large plastic bag over the white countertop....I really hate the white countertops that came with the house)

Quick soak and then...

Rinse

At this point the 2 pounds of wet cotton fiber looked like bad bread dough that was heavy and dripped water everywhere when lifting into the pot for dying. I used 3 different colors (navy blue, royal blue and tan) to get the overall affect of different shades of dark blues, blue-grays with spots of a dark gold/brown mixed in. I used the condiment containers first filled with the royal blue and tan in them and started squirting the colors on the fiber. Then I poured the navy blue over the fiber and mixed it in by hands. I should mention that even though the Rit dye is easy to use, it still suggested on dark colors to add salt to help the fiber take the color and to use a longer cook time.

I kept fiber at a simmer for about 15 minutes before rinsing and rinsing...it took several rinse cycles for this cotton fiber to stop bleeding. I need to invest in a metal steamer basket like my friend Carey uses for her dye projects. It would have kept the fiber off the bottom of the stock pot and not burn at the bottom of the pot but no biggie, I only use this pot for dying projects anyway.

I think my husband would prefer for me to find a better place to dry my fiber out but our bathroom shower curtain rod is currently the best place for it. After drying I thought the fiber looked a lot like blue dreadlocks, I grabbed a handful and walked out into the living room with them on my head. Bailey giggled with glee while James rolled his eyes, at least someone was amused with my antics. I named the fiber Blue Dreads instead of the suggestion of Rastafari Cookie Monster from James.

Here is the 2 pounds of cotton fiber named "Blue Dreads" waiting for me to start spinning it. At first I thought I was going to have a ton of hand carding to do but when winding it up into fiber balls the fiber was coming apart quite easily and no carding should be needed. I will still need to heat set this before I do a final washing but I've decided to do that after the garment is knitted up and use my dryer for that.

I heart Ninja's

2009-12-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

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

Birthday card

2009-11-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

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

2009-09-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

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??

2009-08-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

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.....

2009-04-06T20:14:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-23T08:54:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-02-18T08:11:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-11T06:48:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-03T07:09:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2009-01-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-01-02T11:09:00.000-08:00

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.

Socks are my nemesis, hats are my true love.

2008-12-31T10:04:00.000-08:00

Sock knitting is the craze in the knitting world now. Every knitter out there does it, blogs about and post pictures of them wearing their newly created sock in some beautiful location. You see big separate sections in the yarn store, solely devoted for sock yarn. Yes, it is indeed the fad of the knitting world and I have yet to fall in love with knitting socks.

When I completed my first scarf, I naturally wanted to do more. Not only did this provide me with a reason to go shopping for more yarn but it was the next great project. I wanted to make something nice and special for my husband, just for him. He said socks. A nice pair of dress socks for work, he said. So I rushed out to find the perfect needles, sock yarn and settled in learning how to knit socks. After starting, then undoing, then starting over, then undoing again (repeat 10 more times), I finally sought out some help. Carey had gotten the sock bug and just took to it. She's knitted several beautiful pairs of socks and has blogged (gotaspinningwheel.blogspot.com) about it with lovely photos of her creations in different locations. She helped me get started and once again I found myself in the start, undo, start over, undo pattern again. Maybe it was the yarn or the needles, I decided to buy more different types of sock yarn and needles. Again, start, undo....well you know the rest. By the third round of trying to knit a pair of socks for James it was getting close to winter and I said to myself "Bailey needs a hat". So I knitted a hat. Then another hat and another hat. My child only has one head but 4 hats to pick from now, with more on the way. Then I made a hat for Carey, one for my mother, one for Carey's mom and then another hat Carey. I found my knitting bug and although it's not the fad of the knitting world right now, I really enjoy making hats. They are just plain fun to make and although I have gone on to making other knitted items for people, I keep coming back to making hats. I did make something special for James earlier this year, I completed "The Boy Hat" pattern by Elizabeth Heath-Heckman just in time for winter that he wears all the time and now he has at least one handmade item from me.

So it's been 2 1/2 years since I learned to knit and I'm still working on a pair of socks for James. I recently came across a small pair of circular needles just for sock making and I'm at it again. I'm keeping the sock-in-progress located in the car in order to actually work on it once in a while (yes, James I know that's a cup holder but it also works for holding your sock-in-progress as well) on my daily carpooling to work.
No more excuses, I will finish the socks, although I did see a need for my dad to have a warm hat to wear outside now that it's winter.

Current projects

2008-12-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

Here is my attempt to start up a blog on my adventures in knitting and spinning fibers. I'm sure this blog will fall on the list of things that I will soon ignore and forget about doing just like house cleaning, laundry, feeding the fish, etc...

I've only been knitting for about 2 1/2 years now and I've become quite obsess with this little hobby. A little hobby that has finally turned into a big, expensive, running-out-of-room passion of mine now. For Christmas my wonderful hubby order a spinning wheel for me since I have been learning to make my own yarn for my knitting projects. I've been using a basic drop spindle given to me from my knitting buddy Carey Sweeten (This was part of her evil plan to suck me into the world of spinning fiber so that she would have someone to dye fibers with.) and although I'm quite slow in this process, I've still managed to produce a couple of projects from my ever growing fiber collection. Currently I am about a 1/3 of the way through 1 oz. of a silk hankie with no clue on what to do with. I'll probably just spin it all up put it on an empty bobbin and just say "Ooo...it's silk, how exotic". Spinning silk isn't all that hard to do, it hardly needs any twist on it from the draft but it's not all that fun to work with. Very long fibers that stick to everything and if there is any air movement in the room you can pretty much count on those long fibers making their way up your nose.

As for my knitting, I just finished two hats and currently working on mittens to go with the red hat. The green hat was a basic pattern using worsted weight yarn that I made myself. I picked up 16 oz. of a carded wool in a greenish/olive color, spun up on my 2 oz. spindle and finished up with a 2 ply for the yarn.

The red hat is the "An Unoriginal Hat" hat pattern by Stephanie Pearl McPhee, done in Mauch Chunky strawberry red yarn. Originally I had gotten enough yarn to make a basic hat but discover while knitting that I didn't like how it was knitting up. The yarn is a single type of yarn and when knitting at the gauge it felt pretty flimsy and weak, not what I was wanting in a thick, warm hat for winter. So I grab the second skien and knitted with 2 strands thus producing the thick, warm hat look I was going for. Unfortunately this used up my 2 skeins and I ran out before finishing the project. A quick web search and week later I now have 3 skeins now with plenty to make some mittens. The patter for the mittens is "The Basic Cable Mitten" by Amy O'Dell. The mittens knit up pretty quick, I've got the right one done, will start on lefty later tonight.
As I finished the hat up over the holiday weekend, my hubby commented on if I was making the hat for a giant since it looked rather large. "Noooo", I replied back, "it's a thick, warm hat for winter." I didn't see myself complaining about having cold ears last Saturday when we had some snow and lots of cold wind.

Well that's the end of the first blog entry and if anyone is wondering about the name of the blog well...James is a very patience man and is still waiting for some socks.