Time Flies

Earlier this spring I bought a new road bike. I've been riding an average of five days a week. This has meant less time for knitting and spinning. At first, I was concerned about this. As I got more time on my bike, I realized that I had been needing a serious break from writing sock patterns, knitting and spinning. I had become seriously burnt out and that was a bigger threat to my continued interest in these things than giving myself a much needed break to recharge.

I rode my bike a lot as a teen. I'm one of those rare Californians who didn't get a driver's license the minute I turned 16. My bike was my transportation. I loved the freedom it gave me. I gave up my bike when I moved to San Francisco in the 70s because I'd had too many close calls with cars. San Francisco wasn't remotely bike friendly then. I love the way I feel on my bike; I'm using my own power to explore my surroundings. Cycling requires a set of skills in the same way that knitting and spinning require. The more I practice the better I become at it. I've also come up with some ideas for new sock patterns while I've been out on the road. I wouldn't have come up with these if I wasn't out on my bike.

Now when I knit or spin, I enjoy it more. I'm no longer feeling that I have to produce constantly in order to be a "real" knitter or spinner. I know that I am those things and I feel good about that.

Hey, I wanna do that!

I spent yesterday afternoon spinning on my Joy while keeping Kristine company at the Claremont Middle School Spring Fling. Claremont Middle School is in the Rockridge area of Oakland. They have an amazing school garden and music program. Kristine's booth was on the lawn near the garden and the petting zoo (which had the cutest little pig).

The beginning of the event was slow back where we were. By early afternoon, a number of kids had stopped by to see what Kristine was selling and what Adrienne, Sara and I were doing. Soon Adrienne and Sara were showing kids how to spin on a spindle. There was one boy that was closely watching me. I asked him if he wanted to learn how to spin. "Yeah." "On a spindle?" "No, on that" pointing to the spinning wheel. I slowed down to show him exactly what I was doing with my hands--a modified long draw. Then we switched places. At first, he wanted to treadle just as fast as he would if he were riding a bike and the wheel kept snatching the fiber from his hands. I stopped him and got him to treadle a bit slower. He started making bumpy, lumpy yarn like all beginners make. Then the urge to race the treadles bit him again. Snatch, stop, re-thread the orifice, start again.

After about 10 minutes, I noticed a little girl sitting on the chair next me. I asked her what she thought about spinning. Her answer: "Hey, I wanna do that!"

So I began the cycle of showing another child how to operate the spinning wheel. Man, was she determined. After awhile, she stopped and wanted to spin some different colored fiber. I asked her why. "Because this is ugly." (Mind you, this was some polwarth I bought at Deep Color Studio last summer in a colorway I love called "Black Magic".) "I wanna spin some of that" pointing at some of Kristine's indigo dyed fiber. I explained that we couldn't use that and that I didn't have any other fiber other than the "ugly" stuff with me.

"Well, I don't like it."
"Okay, what colors do you like?" I asked.
"White."
"Why do you like white?"
"Because it's pretty" all the while grinning at the sky.

This Baby Surprise Jacket flew off of my needles last week. I made it for a co-worker's newly adopted newborn girl. The buttons are Peter Rabbit and are leftover from baby things I made for my daughter forever ago.

Handspun weekend

This is the yarn I made this weekend. It is a combination of this:

baby llama purchased from A Verb for Keeping Warm at Colors last weekend and

80% merino/20% tencel purchased from Deep Color Studio in December.

I hand spun the merino/tencel and spun the baby llama on my Schacht Matchless. The colors of the merino/tencel are bright and the gray of the llama tones them down so that they are much softer. The yarn is approximately 18 wpi and 262 yards. I'm thinking neckwarmer.

Colors--A Fiber Festival

Yesterday was Colors in Berkeley. This event was pulled together by Sara, Kristine of A Verb for Keeping Warm, and Brooke and Maia of Tactile Fiber Arts. In addition to fiber and yarn from A Verb for Keeping Warm and Tactile Fiber Arts, there was fiber and other goodies from Pigeonroof Studios and Girl on the Rocks. Plus, there were three sessions of beginning drop spindling and three different fiber tastings. It was great fun.

I took the Exotics fiber tasting with Kristine. We spun baby alpaca, alpaca with silk, baby llama, baby camel with silk and 100% cashmere. It was all yummy and gave me an idea of what to ply with this merino/tencel blend I'm spinning on my Bosworth midi spindle.


This is going to look gorgeous with the baby llama I bought from A Verb for Keeping Warm.


Kristine is a really good teacher. There was the right mix of general chatting, discussion of the fibers we were spinning, and spinners silently concentrating on their spinning. I would highly recommend if you are in the Bay Area and get a chance to take a spinning class from Kristine that you leap. I've not taken spinning classes from Maia or Brooke; the buzz was that they are great teachers as well. I occasionally spin with both of them and can speak to their understanding of spinning and fibers--deep, very deep.

For me, one of the best parts of the day was meeting old friends from Deep Color and new friends from Ravelry. I loved sitting and knitting and spinning with Kathleen, Sara, Adrienne, Krista, Wonder Mike and Hizknits from Yknit. (If you haven't listened to their latest episode which is an interview with Lucy Neatby, what are you waiting for?) I met a lot of people from Ravelry whom I can't mention by name because I'm absolutely terrible about remembering names.

Here is the rest of the stash acquisition from yesterday.
100% Finn in Indigo Dip from A Verb for Keeping Warm.
80 merino 20 silk in Headlands from A Verb for Keeping Warm.
Superwash merino in Pink Cady from Pigeonroof Studios.
Superwash merino in Harlequin from Pigeonroof Studios.

I also bought the sweetest stitch markers from Girl on the Rocks and forgot to take a picture.

Just in case it looks as if I've done nothing but add to my stash, I present last week's spinning project: 268 yards of 80 merino 20 silk dyed with logwood grey from Tactile Fiber Arts.


Ada update: less than 20 rows to knit before I'm finished with both sleeves!

Let's make thread

This past Sunday I had the great pleasure of giving my Louet student spindle to a friend's five year old. Every time he has visited my house, he's wanted to "make thread." On Sunday as he spun, he told me he was going to make a pillow with his thread. To help him meet this fantastic goal, I gave him a bunch of small skeins of my hand spun. As he was getting ready to leave, I gave him a bag with some of rovings I had make with my improvised hackle. He is really a ways away from really spinning as his small motor skills don't match his ambition yet. I'm just so thrilled that he wants to learn to spin.

I finished knitting one sleeve of Ada. I didn't knit the full 9 1/2 inches of garter stitch the pattern calls for, stopping at around 8 inches because I didn't want a sleeve that grazes my knuckles (apparently, I've got short arms because I'm always shortening sleeve lengths when I knit or sew). I just have to finish knitting the garter portion of the second sleeve, sew up the shoulder seams, pick up and knit the front and neck band, sew up the sleeve seams, set in the sleeves and find a button. I figure another week and I'll be finished.

A wee bit more from Stitches West

I feel so lucky; I won a prize from the Ravelry raffle at Stitches West. I never, ever win drawings. Surprisingly, my name was drawn for one of the prizes from A Verb for Keeping Warm. While Kristine is a friend of mine, this was a complete, utter surprise and there was no monkey business with the drawing.

Here's my swag.

422 yards of fingering weight of an alpaca/silk blend. This yarn is lush.

This bag has already traveled to Los Angeles loaded down with books!

I've been spinning some of the fiber I bought from A Verb for Keeping Warm at Stitches. This is 2 oz. of merino dyed with cosmos grown by Adrienne and Kristine last year and overdyed with indigo. I think I'm going to knit a shoulder shawl with this.

Spinning a dream

I'm spinning the bundle on the left--a lovely merino from A Verb for Keeping Warm, colorway "Cosmos"--as a lace weight. This is dyed with cosmos grown in Kristine and Adrienne's dye garden and overdyed with indigo. I'm in love!

Fighting Tofu

I have been in an ambivalent frame of mind when it comes to knitting. As Natalie Goldberg writes in Writing Down the Bones, I was fighting the tofu. Fighting the tofu gets you nowhere.

The conversation in my head goes something like this:
"I want to spin."
"You need to finish knitting Caitlin's sweater."
"I'll knit later; after I've spun for a little while."
"You'll knit right now!"

So while my head talks to itself, nothing gets done. I don't spin nor do I knit. Goldberg goes on to say "If those characters in you want to fight, let them fight. Meanwhile, the sane part of you should quietly get up, go over to your notebook, and begin to write from a deeper, more peaceful place." So for the past couple of evenings, I've let my head fight it out while I picked up my needles and knit. I don't have pictures yet. The knitting is easy; I can do it without looking. And, after awhile my head stops fighting and begins to enjoy the creative process.

This sweater which has taunted me since the end of January is practically knitting itself because I've stopped resisting the process. I've got my knitting mojo back. It's not come back in a blaze of fire. It's just back and I've stopped looking for reasons not to knit. I didn't really do anything special to get my mojo back. For the first time in a very long time, I let my life take its course and did what felt right.

If spinning felt right, that was fine. I spun. I even thought about the sweater, but I always brought myself back to what I was doing at that moment. I just took note of the command to get knitting and filed it away. I kept spinning.

A few days ago, I picked up the sweater thinking I would knit a few rounds. And those few rounds became a few more. Tuesday night while knitting at a friend's house, I enjoyed the conversation and let my fingers feel the knitting. When I got home I was surprised to see that I had knit about 3 more inches of the body.

Yesterday, I was reading Goldberg and came across the phrase "fighting the tofu." It seemed to perfectly describe what I've been going through with knitting. Now, mind you, I've read this book a few times and this never jumped out at me before. I really like it.

And, I'm going to stop fighting the tofu.

Oh, and this is what I've spun when I haven't been knitting.

3/4 of an architectural rib

This is the Architectural Rib Pullover with one side and sleeve completed. It has been a pretty quick knit so far. I didn't work on it for a few days last week because I had the awful flu that seems to be striking everyone I know. The days I didn't knit, I slept. I seem to have recovered and am thinking I might be able to get a goodly portion of the second side and sleeve done this weekend.

This is what the sleeve and side look like laid flat plus a close up of the sleeve ribbing.

Oh, and I've been spinning. This is the targhee I bought in September. It was a dream to spin. The fiber was ultra clean and drafted easily. I loved the way this felt in my hands. Little fluffy clouds of softness. I had 6 oz. so I spun up three bobbins of singles and then made a 3-ply yarn, which yielded approximately 210 yards. I had some left on two bobbins and made that up as 2-ply, giving me approximately 80 yards. I would really like to spin more of this fiber. Not that I need to add any more fiber to the stash!

A weekend for making stuff

"I'm going home to make stuff" I said to Kristine of A Verb For Keeping Warm as I departed from Glimakra Weaving Studio yesterday, clutching the yarn I had just bought from her. Kristine, Brooke and Maia of Tactile Fiber Arts were participating in the Open Studio weekend at Maj-Britt Morbrand's studio. I bought 3 skeins of BFL from Kristine; two skeins of "The Best Blue" and one of "Northerner". Glimakra Weaving Studio isn't all that large and was stuffed to gills with wonderful fiber-y stuff. I wanted to stay and take it all in, but I had to go home and start making stuff.

As soon I got home, I wound one skein of "The Best Blue" into a ball and started to knit Clara Parks' Maine Morning Mitts. These are going to be a Christmas gift. This first one was knit while watching A Midsummer Night's Dream and part of Chocolat. Since I'm not knitting much in the way of Christmas gifts, the second one will be done in no time.

While I was working on the mitt, I poached some pears. I got these from one of the attorneys I work with. They have a wonderful flavor on their own, but I like poached pears. These are dead simple to make and make your house smell wonderfully spicy. First, make a simple syrup of 2 parts water to 1 part sugar. Throw in some cinnamon sticks, whole allspice and fresh ginger. Add the peeled and halved pears and cook over medium low heat until tender. Cool.

I also started the second twisted rib sock. After knitting the Maine Morning Mitt on a US 7 going down to a US 1 felt a bit weird. I normally knit on small needles and was surprised that I couldn't get my coordination right. So, I didn't get as much done on the second sock as I'd thought I would. But that is okay because these are for me and I'm in no rush to finish them.

I set today aside for spinning. I started spinning this merino/tencel up at the last pot luck Sunday spinning day at Maia's. I finished spinning 2 oz. today and will start on the second 2 oz. later this week. This fiber was one of my solar dyeing experiments from this summer. I love that the colors are softer than they would have been had I steam set the dye. I also started spinning the Targhee I bought in September. It is turning out a lovely oatmeal color. I've spun up 1 oz. and have 5 oz. left. I'm thinking of making a 3-ply for a hat.

Speaking of 3-ply, I made my first successful 3-ply late last week. I ended up with approximately 1.9 oz. and 190 yards. I dyed three separate pieces of merino top in three strengths of Jacquard Black using a low-water immersion technique. I'm going to use this to make another Purl Bee Beret.

Not felting

For the last month or so, I feel as if I've done nothing other than make felt scarves. Which is not exactly true.

I finished my Thelonious socks. I think I would have finished them faster if I hadn't screwed up my stitch count a few times--mostly from losing yarn overs and other equally mind distracting things.

I finished spinning these singles from a Lorna's Laces roving I bought a few months ago. I also finished plying them but have yet to take a picture.

And I started spinning this up.

Tart

The top down sweater is really, honestly finished. I've wet blocked it and it is drying as I write. Once I stopped over thinking the math to get the shape, it fairly flew along. I started this version Sept. 21 and finished knitting and blocking it October 14. And one of the best things is that the rainy season has arrived a month early. It is cooler, damp and sweater wearing weather.

This is the Sunday Spinning potluck tart before baking.

This is after baking and before being putting in a fancy-dancy banker's box lid for transport to Maia's on Sunday. Kristine was there with her beautiful hand dyed yarn. As was Linda and Kathleen. Maia's husband Roger was there for a short while entertaining us with a story about Independence, MO. Even though we were a small group, we had a grand time. I got to model Maia's shetland sock. It is the most amazing shetland I've ever felt--soft, squishy, yummy. I wanted to take this sock home with me. Alas, only one has been finished. I started spinning up some Chasing Rainbows merino tencel I bought from Carolina Homespun in Boonville last month. It is so lovely to be with a group of like-minded people and spin, eat and drink coffee. I can hardly wait for next month.

From that to this

From 13 plus bobbins of singles to approximately 2000 yards of 2-ply. I started spinning this on August 5 and finished plying at about 11:40 p.m. last night. Two months to spin and ply the two pounds of top I started with. Before wet finishing, it comes in at 12 wpi, putting it in DK weight range, which was what I was aiming for. I'm going to finish it using Judith MacKenzie McCuin's method for finishing woolen spun yarns. In fact, I just bought a cute mini sink plunger just for this job. Of course, my daughter thinks I'm nuts to believe that a plunger is going to help me in finishing the yarn.

From this to this

This started as 2 lbs. of merino top.

It's now 13 plus a little more bobbins of singles.

Next step, plying.

Purchases from TKGA

I went to the TKGA show in Oakland yesterday. My promise to myself was that I would not add to the fiber or yarn stash. I kind of kept this promise.

I couldn't resist this skein of Schaefer Anne. I'm thinking it will become a Chevron scarf.

I also bought a new square mini featherweight SpindleWood Co. maple burl with Brazilian cherry shaft. It's so cute and that was a big factor in the decision to purchase it. I really enjoy spinning on my wheel more than on a spindle. But I don't have room to collect wheels; however, I do have room for a few more spindles.

Other purchases were 200 braids to twist, knot, loop, or weave, a copy of The Crystal Cove Pullover pattern from Just One More Row and a copy of Myrna pattern from White Lies Designs.

On the spinning front, I finished bobbin number 10 of the wine-colored merino yesterday and started spinning up the last 8 oz. bump today.

I'm off to finish knitting the ribbing on the first sleeve of the top down sweater. I'm really liking it. Oh, and to check on the bread in the oven.

Cupcakes

Sunday I made cupcakes. I used a yellow cake recipe from the Fanny Farmer Baking Book. It called for shortening; I used butter instead. I overfilled the baking tin and got giant cupcakes. They smelled so wonderful. I could hardly wait for them to cool so I could frost them.

The frosting is the recipe that comes off the box of powdered sugar, not a true buttercream, which is fine because cupcakes are comfort food. In the spirit of Magnolia Bakery, I tinted the frosting a pale blue. Since my daughter is not fond of really sweet things, I didn't put a lot of frosting on each cupcake. For a final touch, I sprinkled them with "wild flowers". These were good and met with my daughter's approval of being good without being too sweet.

I finished the first monkey sock. I really like how this turned out. I've tried this yarn in other socks and always ripped them out because I haven't like the way the color has worked out. This was the right pattern for it. I'm more than half way done with the second sock. I don't know whether I'll keep these or put them in the gift box. I made these to fit me and that is a bit of a problem for gift giving since I have the smallest feet besides my mum in my family. I'll see if my daughter can get them on without over stretching them. If they fit her okay, then I can give them to one of my sisters-in-law.

This is the fifth bobbin of wine-colored merino singles. I have two pounds of this and plan on knitting sweater with the finished yarn. It is really lovely to spin. I'm spinning it over the fold, which is one of my favorite ways of spinning. I have about a pound and a quarter left to spin before I ply it. This will be good yarn for a Bay Area winter, where it can get cold without being bone chilling cold. Plus, it will be a good weight to wear indoors in Tahoe. Off to finish the second monkey.

A sad thing, a bad thing & a good thing

The sad thing. Deep Color is closing in September. Our spinning group will meet for the last time this Thursday. I've been so honored to be a part of this group of talented women. I've learned so much from Claudia and been inspired by others in the group. I've become a better spinner, learned to use natural dye stuffs and gotten brave in experimenting with acid dyes.

The bad thing. Last month I attended a conference in New Orleans and I was mugged on the last night I was there. It was scary. The man that grabbed my bag pulled me down in the process. I skinned my shoulder, hand and knee. I bruised the palm of my right hand and my right knee cap. The next morning when I started to absorb what had happened I was worried that I might not be able to spin because my knee was about twice it's normal size. I was more worried about that than anything else. The NOPD was quite understanding and tried to be helpful. They managed to recover my cashmere wrap, which had been wrapped around my bag strap. A street vendor in Jackson Square found some of my stuff including my house keys, office key cards and my business card case. He was kind enough to send these back to me--fortunately my key card has the name of my employer and address on it. He apparently contact my office and got the mailing address. However, he didn't include any way for me to get in touch with him to thank him and offer a reward.

The good thing. I was invited by Brooke to a spinning potluck at Maia's this past Sunday. It was so nice to get together with a lot of other women who share your passion. I met Rachel, Lala, Janine and many others. The was plenty of yummy food, good conversation, spinning and knitting. I started spinning up the wine colored merino top I bought from Julia for a sweater. I'm shooting for a dk weight 2-ply. It is a lush fiber and I'm really enjoying spinning it.

Some other good things. While in New Orleans, I finished the Broadripple Socks for my daughter--they remind me of Mardi Gras colors.

On Saturday, I solar dyed 4 oz. of merino/tencel with violet and blacks, trying to capture the colors I see in my neighbor's sweet peas. The black broke and gave a nice gray and copper. Despite not getting the colors I envisioned I'm really pleased with the results. Most likely I will spin this up for socks. (I rigged up my solar dye oven with a black utility tub, plexi-glass and c-clamps. I borrowed this idea from Spinning Spider Jenny.) I also plyed up the singles I spun from the Three Bags Full fiber. I got approximately 590 yards 2-ply out of 4.4 oz. of fiber. I'll post pictures later as it has been gray and gloomy in these parts the past few days.

Last night, I dyed some Henry's Attic Kona with cutch. I really love the color--a warm brown. Once it's dry, I'll take a picture. This yarn is for my mum to knit socks for my dad.

I'm still working on the socks I started in New Orleans. They are plain vanilla stocking stitch with a shaped arch made with Plymouth Sockotta that I bought two years ago at Lofty Lou's in Placerville. I'm not crazy about this yarn. It a bit to splitty for me. I want my plain vanilla socks to be mindless knitting, which means only glancing down at it every once in awhile. I have to look more often because of the splittiness. Fortunately, I like the colors--a few blues, a light green and light brown. These will be good socks for clogs.

I should have plenty of time to finish the second sock this weekend because my daughter is modeling in Teen Vogue's fashion shows in San Francisco, Sacramento and Concord. There is a lot of waiting time before a show starts and I must entertain myself.

More catching up

I've been knitting but have nothing to show for it. I used scrapes of Cascade 220 to knit a buttonhole-type bag for felting. It looks like a blob of black, purple, and red right now. I have to felt it. I'm in no hurry to do so because I think this will become a Christmas gift. I'm working up a pair of Broadripple socks in some Fixation that I've had in my stash for a few years. This should be a really fast knit--socks on US 3's. It is going slowly though. I don't know if it is because it is summer, and we are actually having summer weather in the Bay Area. Or, if I've just lost my interest in knitting this particular pair of socks.

I haven't lost interest in spinning or dyeing though.

The single is spun from a batt by Three Bags Full in Dragon's Fire I bought from Carolina Homespun last summer. I'm almost finished spinning the second bobbin. It is American Romeldale, tencel, and silk noil. I let this marinate in the fiber stash for a year because I changed my mind about liking it once I got it home. Now that I've spun most of it up, I really like it. It is a lovely color and I like the texture that the silk noils add. Once this is plyed, I'll figure out what to make with it.

I dyed this a few weeks ago. It's 4 oz. of merino/tencel. I was inspired by the Tidepool roving in the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. This is destined for sock yarn. I plan on spinning this next.

Kinda, sorta catching up

In my last post, I wrote about this sweater. It's Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere from my stash. I haven't gotten around to sewing the buttons on yet even though I've worn at least three times. If I were to make this again, I would lower the neckline about an 1" to 1 1/2". I learned a lot about knitting pattern composition, like not be scared of the math. I use math everyday in my professional life, so why be scared of it in my knitting life. I'm not terribly happy with this yarn though. It kind of itches; so I don't consider it terribly next to the skin friendly. You would think that a yarn that is primarily cotton would be comfortable next to the skin. It has made me wonder if the cashmere content is really cashmere, perhaps it is mohair? Which would explain the itch factor.


This poor yarn has been three different sweaters--really, two sweaters. I knit the first one a second time because I didn't like the fit. I decided after the second go-round that I really didn't like to sweater on me. So before I even wove in the ends, I unraveled it. It was liberating to do so. I was not going to let the yarn defeat me. Then I found the slouch sweater in Greetings from Knit Cafe and knew that this yarn was going to be happy as a slouchy, casual sweater. When this is on, the fronts curl onto themselves making a spiral, which I like. I like that it is casual without looking like a "mom sweater" or something that is better suited for my daughter.

I recently finished the "Indigo Ripples Skirt" from IK Spring 2007. I knit it in black cotton so it doesn't photograph so well. I wore it for the first time today and felt very girly--in a good way--in it.

Here is some recent spinning. The green is spun from a roving from Chasing Rainbows colorway "More Teals" 80% merino 20% tussah. I got 330 yards two-ply out of 2 oz. I'll probably knit a lacy scarf. The multi-color is from Nancy Jane Campbell and is 80% cormo 20% soy silk colorway "Floral Suite". I bought this at Lambtown last year. I gave about 1 1/2 oz. of this to my daughter, leaving 2 1/2 oz. for me. I got 576 yards of two-ply. I don't know what I'm going to do with this.