Listen while you knit!

I have always loved recorded books, even back when they were on vinyl record albums. Back in those days, I'd walk to the library, and come back with an armload of records - they were mostly plays back then - and I'd tape them onto cassette tapes. I'd listen to the plays over the course of a week or so, then start all over again, with a new batch, re-recording over the tapes until they'd finally break, then I'd have to get new ones.

It was such a nuisance because the point of recording the books onto cassettes was so that I could listen to them on my walkman while I took my daily walk, this being long before I discovered fiber arts. I didn't want to have already heard the recording, so I had this elaborate ritual of putting the needle onto the vinyl, clicking the pause button to get the recorder going and then I'd run out of the room, as my system wouldn't record if the volume was turned down. I'd return in about 15 minutes (if I remembered to) so that I could pause the tape, switch out the record, and repeat. Often, I'd have forgotten, or the side would have lasted much less than 15 minutes, so I'd have to back up the tape, find the end of the recording, which means that I would have heard some snippet of the story (Oh Horrors!) and go from there.

What a nuisance!

However, I gladly participated in such tedium because I was an addict, and it seemed such a small price to pay. Looking back, it's kinda hilarious, actually. What a lot of work.

Now, of course, it is so much easier! The library has carried books on tape for a very long time, and nowadays the library has books on CD, and some libraries even feature downloadable recorded books. What luxury!

I'm as happy as a pig in mud.

Add to this mix - the wonders of PODCASTS! I'll never be out of listening material ever again.

So, Santa visited Rosemaryknits a little early this year. Just a few days ago, I bought myself a Sansa Fuze and I couldn't be happier. I downloaded about 10 books from the library, and a whole bunch of podcasts. As I keep discovering more and more podcasts I'm wondering how I'll ever listen to them all!

I am getting a lot of knitting and spinning done these days, I can tell you that. Listening to something interesting is what allows me to participate in such mundane, tedious tasks as washing fleeces, or painting diningrooms, or folding towels. Instead of putting off such tasks, I am happy to have something to do while listening, heh heh heh. Without something interesting to listen to? I'm afraid that I just don't do any of these things.

So, I thought that I'd post a few of my favorite things, in case you are interested, too.

My favorite listening device, the Sansa Fuze. Quite easy to use, and affordable. My favorite headphones are these - Panasonic Slimz .

A few of my favorite books:

The Help - I just finished this book last week. Oh My Gosh, this is as good a book as I've ever listened to. The voice actors are superb. What's eerie is that this book is like I wrote my own memoirs. I was Mae Mobely, and Aibilene was our maid. My mother was Miss Lefolt, but she was a zillion times nicer to the maid than was Miss Lefolt. It was creepy weird, like I was looking into my own past, but through a really weird lens. This is exactly how I was raised, and I was 3 in 1963, just like Mae Mobely. This book is set in Jackson, MS, and I grew up in New Iberia, LA, but otherwise, it was pretty much the same. It gave me the skin crawling creeps in many ways - like I was being watched - so many things that the characters said, I could so relate to, especially the part about the little white girl visiting the home of her maid - the behavior of the little girl, the behavior of the maid, the behavior of the maid's neighbors - the author captured that part exactly - but Oh My Gosh, this book is just superb in every way. All throughout the book, I kept having that "someone's walking on my grave" feeling because not only could I picture what the author was saying, I actually lived it - it was so close to my actual upbringing. The ending is so hopeful and promising. Listen to it!

Harry Potter 1- 7 Audio Collection - these are awesome. My family and I used to read aloud every night. For many years, I was the reader, but then after about 15 years, I decided that I had read enough, and it was someone else's turn, so I had the kids read to ME. Besides, by this time, I had taken up knitting, so it was their turn to read, and my turn to knit. Then, we discovered this audio collection - Oh My Gosh, the reader, Jim Dale, is so wonderful - we've gone through this series three times, maybe four?

I read aloud from books 1 through 3 or 4, then we learned about the audio books and listened to the whole series, from the beginning. Then, when book 5 came out, we had to listen to them all the way through again, and then we repeated this trick when books 6 and 7 came out. Do you know that they never get old? Every time we've gone through the series, I "hear" something new - something that I missed the first time or two through, some little clue that I missed. Anyway, if you want to learn how to listen to recorded books, then here is the best teacher I can think of. This is a stellar audio performance, and a really good story, too. These are great car-trip-vacation books.

Sadly, listening to Harry Potter sort of spoiled us for actually reading aloud anymore. Since then, we've mostly listened to books but every now and then, I force one or the other of my kids to read a book aloud - the last one was The Princess Bride, beautifully read aloud by my then-17 year old son, Sam.

Another favorite that we've listened to over and over again is the Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 1: The Golden Compass, Book 2: The Subtle Knife, and Book 3: The Amber Spyglass. Now, these are a little different. While most recorded books are read just as the author wrote them, these are slightly different. They are performed with a cast of readers, and the readers leave off the dialogue tags, for the most part. So, the listener learns what each character sounds like, and the performer doesn't say, "he said," he just, well, he just says it, like in radio theater. The author narrates the parts of the book which aren't conversation, and the whole thing is completely delightful, besides being a really good story, too. We've listened to these over and over again. Some folks are offended by the story line.

Right now, I'm listening to the James Herriot Series with my family - there are too many to list them all, so I'll post this link, All Creatures Great and Small, and you can follow it to the rest of them. I knitted a darling little baby set while listening to All Creatures Great and Small, and I'm spinning my Coopworth while listening to All Things Bright and Beautiful. These books are wonderful. I can't think of an author who puts the reader there like James Herriot does. He paints wonderful word pictures, just wonderful. He's an excellent story teller. Were you aware that these are actually fiction, even though your public library shelves them with the non-fiction? There are 4 or 5 books in this series, along with lots and lots of compilations and offshoots - many hours of knitting pleasure, lol.

Edited later in the day, because Janice reminded me in the comments section - one of the best ever recorded books is Anansi Boys - certainly one of the best audio performances ever. I loved this book, and knitted this while listening to it.

So many of my friends tell me, "I've tried recorded books, and I just can't get into them." The truth is that you have to sort of re-learn how. I say "re-learn" because we all know how to listen to stories being told - it's in our bones. This is the oldest form of human entertainment and interaction, isn't it? Story Telling, and therefore, Story Listening, goes back to the beginning of humanity, so yes, you can learn how, you just have to give yourself a little time, and you have to select the right book. If you don't have any ideas, then pick any of the books listed above - all are very interesting and engaging, and all have good vocal actors. Some recorded books are such duds that I can't follow them either, and I'm a complete addict. Some, however, turn on the movie projector in your head and provide hours of listening enjoyment.

You can find audio books at your local library, from Audible.com, from Amazon.com and many other places, too. You can find some excellent selections at Librivox.org, too. Some livrivox recordings are excellent, and some are so bad that they make me want to stick my knitting needles into my eyes, so don't give up if your first few librivox downloads are awful. Keep looking, you'll find something you like.

We've also listened to The Bartimaeus Trilogy, The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate with great enjoyment, too. It's funny how, with each book I mention, I can remember the projects I was working on when listening to the books, lol. While listening to this series, I spun the skeins which I entered into the Taos Wool Festival. These books are great fun, and the voice actor is top notch.

Other books that I've recently enjoyed include -

To Kill a Mockingbird - my all time favorite book. This version is read by Sissy Spacek.

A Clockwork Orange - exceedingly disturbing, excellent vocal actor. I've tried to read this book, and the made-up language threw me. This actor brings it to life, and makes it perfectly understandable.

The Year of Living Biblically - very interesting. I washed fleeces to this book, which seemed somehow fitting, lol.

The Eyre Affair - This is a series of 5 books, and they are very good stories, and well performed, too. I did lots of spinning while listening to this series. My favorite one is The Well of Lost Plots

When You Are Engulfed in Flames - Hilarious! Don't listen to this with headphones while knitting at a coffee shop because you will laugh hysterically and folks will look at you funny. Just warning you... Anything by David Sedaris is funny. Oftentimes raunchy, but really funny. Offensive to some, so listener beware.

The Book Thief, I am the Messenger, Blink, and sooooo many more. These are just the last few in my reading notebook. I could go on and on, but I'll stop here.

Thirty years of addiction to audio books has provided me with a very long list. What started it all is that a very long time ago, I worked for a vision-impaired scientist who was able to get these special record albums and special record players through a foundation for the blind. We'd listen to books and stories and so forth while spending hours upon hours peering through microscopes, examining cotton chromosomes. Sometimes, we'd work right through lunch and stay late that night because the story was so engaging. That lady was pretty smart, if you ask me. Smart in oh so many ways.

From then on, I was hooked! To this day, I have absolutely no use for TV and can hardly sit through a movie, but give me a recorded book and I'm in heaven!

A few months ago, I discovered something new! New to me, at least. PODCASTS! Cue the chorus of angels...

My teenagers fixed me up with itunes on my computer and a quick tutorial, and here I am, happy in podcast land. Here are my current favorites.

Cast On - always interesting.

Craft Lit - Oh my gosh, she's doing Flatland, be still my heart. She also interjects so many interesting facts and observations - I'm loving this! I only learned about it a few days ago, and can't wait to listen to her previous books.

This American Life - I've listened to this radio show for years and I'm thrilled to be able to listen to the show even when I miss it when it airs. The most recent episode is online for free, back issues are available for a modest charge.

Car Talk - once again, I have loved this show for years, and I'm happy that I never need to miss an episode just because I have to go somewhere during their air time. My kids were raised with these guys - every Sunday, we listen to Car Talk and we get all upset if we have to miss it. Not anymore! Yay for podcasts!

Stuff You Should Know - I LOVE these guys! I wish they'd learn the subjective case vs the objective case when it comes to "I" vs "me" but I'll overlook it because they are just so darned CUTE!

Tech Stuff - I like to listen to these guys while spinning, just for the juxtaposition of the world's most ancient technology - a spindle - and the world's most modern technology - the stuff that they talk about. It makes me feel modern and edgy, lol.

Science Friday - a nice variety of science issues.

Please Explain is always interesting and informative, and you never know what you're going to get - large variety.

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is excellent for car-listening, as it is engaging and fast moving enough that you stay alert, plus, it's just hilarious.

Do you have any excellent recorded books to recommend? Do you have a favorite podcast? I'm trying to walk more, and there's nothing more encouraging than a good podcast to get me out there, getting my exercise. I've learned that I prefer audio books for knitting and spinning, and most housework and yard work, but that I prefer podcasts for walking and driving. When I listen to a book on tape, presuming that it's a good book, then I sort of "go there" and not pay such close attention to what I'm doing, which is not a good thing when I'm driving, heh heh .

Edited later to add - if you are a recorded book aficionado as well, then please check the comments section, as I hope to get lots of recommendations. Thanks!

Suddenly, I understand...

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A couple of weeks back, I washed a bunch of Coopworth fleece. I can't get enough of this stuff - it's soooo pretty! I laid it all out on the front walk to have a good look at it, and make some decisions as to what I want to do with this fiber.

I wanted to get a closeup, so that I could show you how wonderful this fiber really is...

...which means that I had to walk on the fiber itself...

Oh My.

How wonderfully soft and wonderful and luscious and wonderful...

Now I know why I keep finding this...

Dixie, now I understand. I understand, completely.

You just have yourself a nice little nap, and please, don't disrupt the locks, OK? I spent a long time, sorting them out.

Sweet dog. She's my little pal. She's so prissy and dainty that she doesn't bother a thing.

Look how the fiber looks with a little bit of flash - it glistens.

I'm going to have so much fun with this stuff!!


I just want to roll in it!

Spinning is going nicely, too. I've started with the lightest shade, which is a very pale grey. I'm cutting off the badly yellowed tips, but there's still a lot of yellow in there, and I'd love to know a way to lighten or reduce the yellow shade. I'm going to look at the drugstore to see if there are any shampoos designed for this purpose. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd love to know what has worked for you.

By the way, maybe you've noticed a little difference in the way Blogger is posting photos? Maybe it slipped by you... but if you click on the picture, you can make it big, and if you click on it again you can make it full sized. I like this new development. Try it.

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I love Colorado!

So, here it is, November 11, and it was a beautiful, warm day. I raced through my day's requirements,

because I have been anxious to wash more of Sierra's fleece.

I pulled everything outside and got straight to work.

Last Thursday, October 29, was rainy and snowy and so cold that my furnace ran, non stop, which means that the house never made it up to 65F, where I have my thermostat set. Today? Look! I'm out in the yard, barefoot. It was a beautiful day.

Gosh, how I love Colorado.

Hubby heard on the news that it's supposed to be up to 80F tomorrow. Yay! Maybe I'll wash a bunch more. I hate messing with unwashed fleece in the house, so I really count on being able to do this outside. I want to have a nice, large lot of it washed because, while it's beautiful today who knows what next week will bring. I doubt that we'll have many more warm days like today for a long while. Well, except for tomorrow.

Improved Spindle Jim

While I always liked using my Spindle Jim, many of its little problems really bothered me. The spindles would sort of jog up and down, and they would swing back and forth - even with the tensioning string. When I use it, I like to stand as far away as I can, so as to allow the twist to even out over a distance, and the little problems meant that I'd have to walk back to the spindle jim to solve the issue, then away from again. All of this back and forth would frustrate me, and I'd end up mad - every time.

Recently, there was a discussion of this very topic on Ravelry, and a genius with the user name of TobeyL suggested this idea, and it WORKED! It works spectacularly! And, such an easy fix, too.

Gosh, such genius! Thanks so much, TobeyL!!!

Here are the pix - -

First off, please forgive the book - my camera insisted on focusing on the piano instead of the spindle jim, and I was getting frustrated. The book was right there, and provided an easy remedy.

It doesn't look too much different from the original photo, does it?

What's different is that this little arrangement was added between the bottom of the spindle and the floor of the spindle jim.

I put an eye hook in the floor, under the spindle, and I attached to it this little conglomeration of parts - reading from the bottom up - a swivel, an eyehook and dowel, and a bit of plastic tubing. The alterations took less than 30 minutes to execute, but gosh, what a difference!

I had to rearrange the top of the spindle jim because the additions at the bottom means that the snaps make the whole thing too long. I just opened up the eye hook and threaded the swivel onto it, then closed the eye hook again. I left the snap part hanging because finding wire cutters is sometimes more trouble than it's worth, heh heh heh.

What a difference! The spindle twirls very calmly, with no jumping up and down, and with no swinging back and forth. The yarn just peels off with no problems whatsoever!!!

Since the spindle now spins freely, there is no need for the little drinking-straw-seatbelts, which was an absolute necessity of Version 1 of the Spindle Jim.

All of the hardware simply stays in place for storage.

This picture might give you a better idea of the parts which are at the bottom.

Handy PVC dpn case

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Look at what my darling husband made for me, a couple of weeks ago -

One end has a dot -

The other end - no dot - you'll see why in just a minute -

The end with the dot is the "free end" and this cap pulls off and there are some of my small dpns. This is a fantastic case! I put a little bit of foam in the cap to keep the dpns from rattling around so much.

The foam is just wedged into the cap - no need for glue. It looks like the foam is nice and circular, but actually, it's quite crudely cut. It looks round because I just pulled it out from the cap and it hasn't had time yet to go back to it's rather angular shape. It works just fine, though. No rattle.

My darling husband cut the pipe to such exacting specifications - the dpns fit perfectly. There is also a bit of green foam in the other cap, so the longer dpns are held rather still with this arrangement.

See all that I have stuffed in there! Believe it or not, there's room for more. I have quite a few sets of sock dpns, a set of larger dpns, and a random assortment of small crochet hooks in this tidy little case.

Do you see these little beauties?

Last year, my darling son took a jewelry making class at the local community college. He completed all of his assignments and he had two days of class time left, and a bit of silver left over, so he made me a set of Sterling Silver Double Pointed Sock Knitting Needles!!!

Be still, my heart!

He made them exactly how I like them - US0, 4.25 inches long, and stilletto pointy. He pulled the silver through a plate, ground the points and smashed the little flat parts on the needles on one day, and then he was going to return to school on the next day to carve his initials on one side of the needle, and my initials on the other, on the little flat parts.

On his way to school that day, he fell off of his bicycle and broke his collarbone! On his dominant side! So, he wasn't able to carve the initials. Then, school was over, and he no longer had access to the jewelry lab. Maybe later... Anyway, initials or no initials, I just love these little needles! I used them to knit the Trekking to Taos socks, and another pair (not yet blogged) and I'm proud to announce that these are the best sock needles ever made! I'm a lucky mama! They've gotten really shiny from use. I really love these needles!!!

What's also something special is that these needles, along with lots of jewelry for his class, were made out of some sterling ice-cream cups which belonged to my mother. No one liked the ice cream cups, but sterling silver is sterling silver, so handsome son was able to use them for his class. He made lots of jewelry out of those cups, including my dpn jewelry!

Something else which might interest you - I put a length of plain old aquarium tubing on my crochet hook - it makes it easier to use. Try it.

So, that's it! Hubby started out with a foot of pvc pipe - the smallest amount that the hardware store would sell to him. He came home and cut the pipe just a little longer then my longest needles. Then, with his superhuman strength, he really wedged one end cap into place - that thing isn't going anywhere! It's on there really tight! I jammed a bit of green foam down into that cap, and then jammed a bit into the other cap - the one marked with a dot. This is so that I know which cap is the movable one, and which one stays put. This case takes no room at all in my knitting bag, and it's so strong that nothing will happen to my littlest needles.

At least one friend has hinted... you know, gift-giving season is soon upon us... all knitters would like a little needle case... just sayin...

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I won at Taos!

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I am so excited! I entered three skeins into the Taos Wool Festival, and all three won prizes!

My skein of Alpaca/Nylon sock yarn won first place in its division, and won Reserve Grand Champion for the spindle spun yarn!

I knit a swatch, and oooohhhhh this is going to make a nice pair of socks! I used US000 needles, and I plan on knitting just a plain stockinette sock, or maybe a use the stitch pattern, "King Charles Brocade" on the cuff.

Details -

Prepared roving, Alpaca 66%, Nylon 34% - purchased from Eyedazzler Alpacas

Top whorl drop spindle, approx 1 oz

Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the fly technique
Entered in the Spindle Category, Expert (because I've won competitions in the past, and because I teach spinning lessons. I feel like such a fraud - I'm FAR from an "expert"- I consider myself an advanced beginner - but these were the rules), plied, undyed alpaca fiber.

The judge marked on the card, "3 ply" and I just had to smile to myself. See, some folks insist that Navajo Plied yarn isn't really a 3 ply, it's a single ply, folded upon itself. I must admit to a certain immaturity, but I get endless amusement out of this, lol.

At any rate, I just love to do this ply on the fly method of plying yarn. I think that it is really fun to do, and for me, spinning is an area in my life where I want to have fun. So... I use this method of plying for just about everything.

Remember the socks which I spun and knitted for my friend, Anastasia? Well, she's not really a shoes and socks sort of lady, so I had knit her a pair of bed socks. She waxed so nostalgic about her sheep ranching days, that I would like to spin and knit a pair of gloves for her - so that she can wear the gloves out in public and show them off to her friends, and they can all reminisce about their days, ranching in the valley. I think that she'll really like them.

I digress.

I entered a skein of yarn which I'm spinning for the gloves project, and it won second place! (You might like to see what the fleece looked like before it was washed - I like to post these pictures so that folks know that wool washes CLEAN!)

I really am happy with this yarn. I really like Suffolk. Can you see the sheen? The judge commented that she didn't think that this yarn would make nice gloves, that it was too thin and too stiff. However, I plan to make a twisted-stitch glove, and the yarn came out exactly how I wanted it to - thin and tight - so I think that it'll make excellent gloves. I can't wait to get started knitting this project.

Details -

Suffolk fleece, rescued from an old barn on Anastasia's property

Flick carded, pseudo rolags

Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly

Top whorl drop spindle, approx 1 oz.
Entered in Spindle spun, expert, undyed wool, plied.

The yarn of which I am the most proud, however, is this one. I really REALLY like this yarn. I'm stunned that it even placed, as it's quite thick-n-thin, but I like it just the same.I love spinning with Alpaca, but I always spin it really fine. I think that Alpaca does very well spun fine, and truthfully, I've never been able to spin it any other way. I've always bought my roving from Eyedazzler Alpacas, and it's so nicely prepared and soft and wonderful so that it drafts really easily, and, well, it just always ends up as a really fine yarn. I was determined to learn how to spin a thicker, softer, loftier alpaca yarn, and when I saw this fleece (on the animal's back as I was vacuuming it, lol) I knew that this was the fleece I wanted. I knew, instantly, how I was going to spin it, and what I was going to make with it.

This is from the batch that I washed early this summer.

I flicked locks, then made pseudorolags and then spun just barely enough for the singles to hold together. This is sooooo different from my usual way of spinning! I spun it at such a low twist that the single couldn't support the weight of the spindle, so I used my bike wheel instead. I love Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly technique, so I had to figure out how to make it work on my spindle wheel. It took some head-scratching, but I finally came up with a method which works and is quite easy, actually. The end result is a nice, soft, lofty yarn and I just love it.

As you can see from these photos, the fleece has some natural color gradation. I sorted the fleece into three piles, light, medium and dark, and spun to as to maintain this slight variation. I'm really thrilled with the end result.

This was really a stretch for me - I feel like I really learned a lot from this project. Best of all, it was really FUN!

Details -

Fleece from the alpaca named "Nico" who lives at Eyedazzler Alpacas.

flick carded, pseudo rolags

Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly, adapted for the Spindle Wheel (It's lots of fun!!!)
Entered in wheelspun, expert, undyed alpaca, plied.

Entering fiber competitions is so much fun! I wasn't able to attend the Taos Wool Festival - I sent my entries to the festival with some friends. They tell me that it was a good competition, that there were quite a few entries. Sigh. I wish I could have gone. I would have loved to see all of the skeins, and I especially wish that I could have seen all of the prize winners.

There's something I'd like to point out - many of us entered yarns and other items made from fibers from Eyedazzler Alpacas, and all of us won ribbons! My friends, Sharron, Erin, and Peggy (and maybe others who I don't know) spun Eyedazzler yarn and won ribbons. Sharron knitted a hat which won a ribbon. A woman made a needle-felted sculpture out of Eyedazzler fiber, and won a ribbon. Allie, one of the owners of Eyedazzler entered a fleece and won Grand Champion!

I'd say that this only proves what I've been saying all along - Eyedazzler Alpacas produces some glorious fiber!!! Allie recently received a new shipment from the fiber mill, and oh my gosh, she has some wonderful blends. My favorites are Bing Cherry Cordial and Storm Watch - the colors are wonderful, just wonderful. It's really fun for me because I know these animals, so when I see their names in the descriptions, it gives me a little thrill, lol. I see something like this, Charley, Tori and Bamboo, and I think to myself, "Hmmm.... I know Charley and I know Tori, but I don't remember an alpaca named "Bamboo..." and then suddenly it hits me, heh heh heh.

Anyway, you absolutely can't go wrong with any fiber purchase from Eyedazzler. If there's something that you want, but don't see on the web site, then be sure to drop Allie a line and ask her - she has loads of products which are not on the site. Just email her!
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Trekking to Taos

Once I completed my green socks, socknitting fever was in full swing. I've had this ball of Trekking yarn in my stash for years, and now was the time for it to become a pair of socks. I planned and cast on this pair of socks on a recent family car-trip to Taos, hence the name.

I've had a fondness for traveling stitches ever since knitting a pair of socks for Anastasia. I don't like the look of traveling stitches which are twisted - I don't know why - I just really don't. Most traveling stitch patterns ask you to twist the stitches - experiment with them twisted and untwisted and see how you like them the best.

I cast on using Cat Bordhi's Whirlpool Cast On - and used her SideStream Construction for the general idea of the sock. Both methods can be found in her book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters.

The Whirlpool Cast on is perfect. I doubt if I'll ever use another cast on - ever. It's quick, easy, intuitive, and eliminates those hated "ears." You can adjust your rate of increase so that your sock's toe will match the shape of your own toes. I love love LOVE it. In fact, I'm probably going to use it for any center-out cast on that comes my way - I'm thinking how wonderful it would be to have a from-the-center-out shawl which begins this way, instead of with that oh too cute little belly button.

Cat Bordhi is such a genius. Her amazingly creative solutions to knitting problems just leave me speechless. This book took my breath away.

Anyway, I settled on the SideStream construction. I was a little panicky at one point because it looked like there was simply NO WAY that this was going to work. The only thing that kept me going was that Cat had never let me down, and so I forged ahead. You know what? It worked! It worked soooooo beautifully!

I started the "pattern" so that, at the first, it was running up the outside of the toe. If I had used the more standard sock construction, this pattern would have ended up running up the outside of the sock. However, since I was using Sidestream Construction, it gently shifted the pattern so that now, it runs up the exact center of the sock, right up my shinbone.I was able to put another pattern panel in the wedge created by the Sidestream, and voila, this pattern runs up the exact center of the outside of the sock. This was one of those Happy Accidents. I thought that it would end up more to the center, but no, it couldn't have been any more perfectly placed if I had planned it. In fact, I'm done planning. From now on, I'm going to use the "Choose Your Own Adventure" method, as it's fun and seems to work very well, heh heh heh.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to take pictures of socks which are on your feet? I can't do it very well, as you can plainly see.

I played with some graph paper and decided on this simple waving pattern. This one pattern is the only one used - up the sides of each sock, the waving pattern appears by itself. Up the front of the socks, the waving pattern is represented twice - on one sock the patterns are balanced so that each goes out and returns to the center at the same time. On the other sock, one curve follows the other so that it sort of looks like DNA, in a way, kinda.

I used the starred options for the fronts of the socks -The plain wave is seen on the far right.

The braids up the back of the sock - I used one pattern for one sock, the other pattern for the other sock. It made me tired, lol.
For some reason, this one was hard for me, and for the first 20+ rows I just kept screwing up, and a big problem is that I didn't notice that I screwed up until long after I had cast off. I know, I'm a special breed of stupid.

Anyway, water under the bridge. It's a good knitter who knows how to repair mistakes, and repairing mistakes doesn't always mean ripping out. In my little corner of knit-dom, it rarely means ripping out. It means repairing.

It was so simple to fix - I simply embroidered over the mistakes and voila - perfection!

Here you can see that I completely forgot what I was doing, and there's a gap in the braid. No problem, just hook the new to the old.
Here is a bigger problem - I crossed the braid incorrectly, twice in a row. The "fix" is shown in the collage - click for big. You'll be able to see how I fixed it.

It's really easy to do - just a chain embroidery stitch.

I also bought some new sock blockers which are great for taking photos of socks. Here are a few photos -

Detail of the pattern on the left sock-

Detail of the right sock-

outsides-

insides-

whirlpool toe - this is a fantastic toe - look ma, no ears! (I hate squared-off toes and those little ear flaps.)
Nice and round. You can adjust how round by adjusting the number of "wedges" and therefore, the number of increases . If you want a more narrow, pointy toe, use fewer wedges. If you want a wide, round toe, use more wedges. I used 6 and placed my increases every other row. I really like this toe, and doubt that I'll ever use another.

detail of the braid up the back of the sock-

I had fun with these patterns! I had fun knitting these socks. Check out Cat's new book - I tell ya, the woman is a GENIUS!!!

Details:

Trekking XXL yarn- one ball

0 US needles

Created - April, 2009.
Toe up socks, whirlpool toe, sidestream construction, two at a time, magic loop - one knit picks circular, 24 inch (I think it is 24 inches long - I really hate to use long needles.)
Ideas from Cat Bordhi, New Pathways for Sock Knitters

Calling all fans of Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly technique!

I've been doing a lot of spinning here lately - and I've come up with some pretty significant changes in the way I do Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly.

It now works soooooo well - please, visit my original post and read through today's edit - marked EDIT - July 11, 2009, and see how you like it.

I've left the original post intact, and I've left intact the edit of April 2009, and added a new round of edits, today. I've left everything alone so that you can work through the three different ways, and see how you like it. I really like the newest method, but maybe one of the older methods would appeal to you?

Try it! I love LOVE this method of spinning and plying.

Navajo ply

ply on the fly

plying on the fly

navajo plying

Green Knee Socks

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My first knee socks.

I made these out of Paton's Stretch - nice yarn. I doubt that it'll be very durable, but I made these for art's sake, not for actually, you know, wearing. I think that I used size 00 double points. Maybe they were 0's? Anyway, they were tiny - my favorite for sock knitting.

A while back, I decided that I'll never make another pair of exact copies again. From now on, my socks will be different from each other.
This project taught me a valuable lesson - if you want your "differerent" socks to LOOK different, then pick a yarn in a solid colorway.

You have to look really closely at these socks to see that they are different. Can you even see it?
The sock on the Right Leg is mostly a k2 p2 rib, and it has this exceedingly creative and excruciatingly mathematically correct method of adding ribs to as to make room for the calf......and you can't even see the stinkin' ribs! The sock on the left leg is mostly stockinette, with a band of ribs up the front and the back. I tell you, the play between the stockinette and the band of ribbing is fetching. Too bad that you can't see it.
You can see a bit of difference if you look, really closely, at the tops of the feet. (These are Grace's feet - thanks Grace!) The sock on the left foot (on the right of the photo) is mostly stockinette, with the rib band peeling out of a sort of a vee - too bad that you can't see it. The ribs on the right foot begin near the toe, too bad that you can't see it, and they don't just all start at once, oh no, the beginning of the ribs forms a vee shape, too. Awfully too bad that you can't see it... sigh.

On the other hand, I really do like this colorway. It reminds me of hiking in the fall.

I knitted these from the toe up, with a beginning which was a little bit of a challenge, and I'm not sure it was worth it. I doubt that I'll repeat it, but here's what I did. I cast on 5 or 6 stitches and knit back and forth, making a rectangle, for approx 15 rows, ending with the completion of a knit side. Then, I picked up across the 15 rows, picked up the provisional cast on, picked up across the sole (15 rows), and then proceeded to knit in the round, slowly adding in more stitches, to widen the toe. It made a nice shape - rather blunt, which is how I like them. There are absolutely no "ears" - something that I hate and despise - those little corner thingies - urgh - I hate those little ears. This cast on method cured the ear problem, but it was so tetchy. (I'll soon show you a different pair of socks with a different cast on and THAT one is perfect.)

Knitting from the toe up makes so much sense to me. One of the best parts is that I can try on the socks as I go along. This was my first project on double points. I used a set of 5 to knit the sock, but I'd knit off onto 8 or 9 needles so as to be able to try them on. It worked great.

I used a sort of a modified Fleegle Heel (2 links)- but here's the trick - if you add short rows, here and there, you'll add area and curves to your sock and then it will fit... perfectly.

When you knit short rows on a tubular item, you stop knitting in the round,knit for some number of stitches, turn, work in the other direction, turn, and return to knitting in the round. If you only add one short row, where you knit to a designated point, turn and knit back to the opposite point on the sock, turn, and then commence knitting in the round once again, you've added a little wedge to the tube.

If you make your short row go a little past the middle-side-line, on each side of the sock, then you've added a nice, long wedge.

I put, I think, 3 wedges in the area from the arch to the actual heel , and then 3 above the heel. These short row bits were very spaced apart - they were not one on top of the other. Also, the turn of each short row was at a different point, so that the whole thing sort of blended in.

The short row areas were spaced apart from each other - I threw in a short row, then knitted, say, 10 rows, then another short row, then knitted another 10 or so rows - get it?

I was able to figure out where to put them by constantly trying on the sock. I wanted the heel turn to occur where the front of the sock was at the actual bend of my ankle, and the short row heel to be on the actual point of my heel. If you just knit round and round, then when it's time for the heel turn, the front of the sock is past the bend of the ankle. So, by adding a few short rows, I was able to add length to the back/underside of the sock without adding length to the front of the sock. I have really large heels, so this is necessary for a proper fit.

These socks practically POP when they slide onto my feet. Oh My Gosh, there's nothing at all like tailor-made socks!!! The sock's heels are where my heels are! Oh, glorious day!

Then, later on, when I got to the part of the leg where the calf swells - same problem. The calf is getting bigger around, but the vertical gain is greater in the back than in the front, since there's a curve there, right? Add a few short rows here and there, and this problem will be solved! The socks get wider and longer in the back. The best part is - - no more falling down knee socks!!! Try it! I guarantee that you'll like it.

I knitted and knitted until I felt like I needed to cast off before I ran out of yarn. I used my Best Stretchy Cast Off, and not a moment too soon. I had a tail of approximately 12 inches long on each sock. Whew! That cast off is a pain to rip out, so I was sweating it there for a few minutes!
All in all, a wonderful project. I enjoyed every minute, and can't wait for cooler weather so that I can actually wear them!
knee socks

paton stretch sock yarn

toe up socks

knit from the toe up

socks that don't match
knee socks short rows fleegle heel paton's stretch

Olimpia's sweater

Surprise Surprise! Actual knitting content on a knitting blog! I'm just a little late in posting pictures. I really do knit. Really, I do.
I knitted this cute little sweater for our baby friend, Olimpia. She was born in February, and she wore the sweater to her very first party, back in March. Her mama says that she was the Belle of the Ball!I used the yarn, Candy, and I can't remember whether I used 2 or 3 balls. It feels like you are knitting with string, but it softens up so nicely in the first machine wash/dry cycle. I can only imagine that it continues to soften.

I wanted to knit it at 5sts/in, which is a nice gauge for this yarn, so I had to recalculate the pattern, as it is written for 6sts/in for an infant. I was thrilled with the outcome!


I finished with an applied I-cord with ties, instead of buttons. I also make a pair of Christine's Baby Booties, but I forgot about taking a picture of them. These booties were so much fun to knit! They came out so cute, too.

I love the Baby Surprise Jacket. It takes about 2 sessions of dedicated knitting, and comes out so darned cute!!!

Cheers!
Rosemary

Baby surprise
artful yarns
christine's baby booties

Fiber Laundromat

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My fiber laundromat is in full swing.I washed two batches of fantastic alpaca fleeces - all three from Allie and Phil at Eyedazzleralpacas.com
from three different alpacas.

Nikko is a lovely butterscotch sort of color. Actually, his fleece ranges from ash blond to deep butterscotch. I just love it - lots of color variation - it'll be fun to play with this fleece.

Valley Girl is a wonderful cinnamon color. (This photo is NOT the correct color! She's more reddish.)Oh My Gosh, her fleece is super super fine. It's such a treat!

Calamity Jane is Black-Hole Black. Wait 'till you see it washed. Here it is, straight off of Calamity's back, and it's rather dusty. Once I wash the dust off, then you'll see how viciously BLACK this is. I can't wait to spin some.

I like to sew the locks into a length of netting, so that everything stays in locks and stays nice and neat. It's a handy way to handle a batch of fiber like this. This sack contains about 3/4 of a pound - I could have gotten more in to the sack, but you know, alpaca is so dusty that I wanted the bits to be on the thin side for adequate water flow.

I personally vacuumed each and every alpaca on that ranch - I personally emptied the vacuum cleaner, numerous times throughout the day - so I know that our vacuuming job was actually removing dust and debris - - just how much dirt does an alpaca carry around every day? Look at this water! This is from an animal which had been cleaned!!! An added bonus to alpaca - hardly any smell, really. Nothing like sheep, nothing.

I fill the basin with warm water and a generous squirt of hair-shampoo. I let it soak a while, then lift the fiber out, and I just pour the water out into the yard - the grass loves it. I keep refilling the basin with warm water and letting the fiber soak until the water runs clear. In the last basin-full of warm water, I put in a generous squirt of hair-conditioner and let the fiber soak in it for a little bit, then I let it drain out. I don't rinse this conditioner out - it really helps control the static electricity that my desert climate can cause.

My high tech water heater - I let one basin-full soak until another hose-worth of water heated up. It worked really well. Let me tell you - on a sunny day in Colorado - this hose heats up pretty fast and amazingly HOT. - my high tech dryer -
Why do these spoiled brat animals assume that I'm washing fiber for their comfort and enjoyment?



Pure potential.

Dreaming of becoming a neck warmer? A scarf? A lace shawl? What do you want to be when you grow up? This black is blacker than black.

I spun a little bit of each one - fine and thick - here's Nikko's swatch. Oh yes, this is going to be fun. I have lots of ideas... which one to start first?

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I also washed a bit of Coopworth, which I purchased from Sandy in California. This Coopworth fleece is truly beautiful. It's from a young sheep named Sierra Silver. I hope to spin and knit the sweater named Moonlight by Kim Hargreaves - the pattern appeared in Rowan 34. So, my sweater already has a name - Sierra Silver Moonlight. Ahhh... I can hardly wait!

I laid out the locks -

Pinned them into place --and then washed with my standard washing procedure - warm to hot water, shampoo, rinses, conditioner in the final soak. Hang to dry.

Washed and dried and take a look at how lovely. This sheep is many shades of grey from the lightest pearl to a very dark charcoal. If I'm a smart spinner, I'll be able to graduate the sweater from light grey at the shoulder to dark grey at the waist - won't that be nice?

I spun up a bit and got gauge (as noted on the pattern) on my first try, waahoo! Here is a test swatch - this wool fairly sparkles - it almost looks metallic - - there are some locks which are just about the exact same shade as pewter. If you make the photo large, you can see that there are some really dark fibers in there - this gives it a richness and depth to the color - I just love it.

I'm thinking of cutting off the yellowed tips to make the overall color more of a cool grey - the tips warm the color, and I'm not sure if I like it or not. Must experiment. (I've never cut tips off of locks before, and truth be told, I'm sort of chicken.)

A note on the pin job - - this was a minor fiasco. I don't think that it will matter in the long haul, but this is the last time I'll use pins. Take a look - rust - eek. Even the so-called "brass" pins - - yeah, right, brass, heh heh heh. It's such tiny spots of rust that I didn't have a full blown panic attack, only a minor case of the jitters. I need to find some rust-proof pins because this is just too quick and easy. I'll probably always sew alpaca into it's little sacks, but wool can get pinned.


Now, I washed enough fiber to get started spinning. I made a bunch of spindles, and improved my junky-garage-wheel. (I also bought a mountain of dyed rovings for other projects.) There's nothing stopping me - Let The Spinning Begin!

I can hardly wait!

Cheers!
Rosemary
how to wash a fleece - washing alpaca - washing wool - using conditioner on wool - how to wash wool - how to wash alpaca - wash fiber

Washing more Ancient Suffolk Fleece

Ahhh... summertime! This time of year, my thoughts turn to washing fleeces, in preparation for the hot hot months when all I want to do is spin.

I had so much fun with my old ancient shorn-in-1972-Suffolk-fleece the first time around, that I decided to wash some more, and spin a nice pair of gloves. (If you are interested, here are links to that other project, explaining how I came to own such an OLD bunch of fleece - Click Here, and Here and Here for more info.)

I arranged the locks on my netting -
Check out this crimp!
Check out this DIRT!!!
I like to sew the locks in place, so that everything stays all nice and neat and tidy.
Ummm... Dixie, no, this isn't a nice new pad for you. Silly dog.
Urk. This is the first dunk in some hot water - this dunk is only water, I'll add shampoo to the second dunk, the first dunk gets rid of the majority of 37 years of dust and dirt and who knows what else.After a nice hot soak in some shampoo - check it out! Pretty clean, yes?Here it is - all nice and washed and clean and fresh smelling and just plain old NICE. This is that super crimpy bit.

EEK! Do you see it?

Maybe you can see it in this picture -...and this one -

It's a 37 year old sheep ked!!! Eeeeeeeewwwwwwww....... By the way, I have some friends who raise meat sheep, and they were once donated a box car full of onions, which they gave to their sheep. They maintain that it got rid of the keds. Just for your general edification, lol.

Most of the wool isn't this crimpy, most of it is like the portion on the bottom, fingers added for scale.

Spinning has begun.

Can you believe that this lovely, clean, poofy, boingy wool came from that old skanky stuff? So if you have an old sticky stinky fleece hanging around, and you are thinking of using it for mulch - why not wash a lock or two and see what you discover. You might be surprised.

I use Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly - my all time fave spinning method - and I think I'll make a pair of gloves with traveling stitches - a different pattern on each finger? I can think of patterns while I spin. Or, maybe I'll just think about sheep keds. eeeeeewwwwww......

I have a new head!

I'm getting ready to do a whole lot of spinning, so I wanted to make a new head for my junky-garage spinning wheel. While the old one worked very well, it was loud, and the spindle was stuck in place. I wanted to reduce the noise, and to make it so that the spindle was interchangeable, so that I could work on more than one project at a time.

Here it is - while it isn't a thing of beauty, gosh, it works great.

Back side - notice the strips of plumber's tape to reduce friction. These strips also reduce the noise - this head is soooo quiet.

I put a little guide for the drive band - it's a bit of bicycle innertube, held in place with two O rings. That's it. It works great - it provides traction for the drive band, and it keeps the needle/spindle in place. Without this guide, the needle wanders back and forth, and there is much slippage as the needle is pretty slick.

Wheel side -

I don't know what the strings are - something from in the junky garage. They seem to be some sort of nylon? I'm not sure. I can't find my bag of cord locks, so I improvised with these T pins, with the thought that I'd use the cord locks, once I find them. Forget that - these pins work a zillion times better! They are infinitely adjustable, and they hold really well. (I have no idea why there's a knot in the string on the right. It was there already, and I just didn't untie it.)

I can loosen the strings, remove this spindle and replace it with another one. This way, I can have more than one project going at once. Nice, yes?

The clamp works like a giant clothespin - it makes for quick adjustments. When I'm taking a break from spinning, I take the drive band off of the wheel, and point the needle straight up, so that someone won't run into it. When I quit for a longer spell, I just take the head completely off of the upright portion, in the interest of safety.

I am going to make one change - I'm going to wait until the strips of teflon tape (aka plumber's tape) wear out, then I'll replace them by wrapping the tape around, horizontally, all the way around the little upright bits of wood, going across the string-holes. I'll poke holes in the tape, and then fish the strings through the holes. I think that this will work better, although it does work well the way it is now.

I still like using Pony Bead Lacing for my drive band, but I was at the hobby store the other day, and I couldn't resist this acid green S'getti String lacing - it works great and I love the color! It seems more durable than the Pony Bead Lacing but it's too soon to tell, as I've only just started with this green drive band.

Cheers!

Rosemary

The Peony Lady

My family and I visited Pueblo's Peony Lady, yesterday.

Oh My gosh, if you live anywhere nearby, maybe you'd like to pay a visit, too?

Imagine, walking around in an acre of peonies? There's a winding path through this peony patch. I tell you, it's easy to imagine being in an Impressionist Painting.

Go, visit Judy and her peonies. She sells huge bouquets of Peonies for (I think) $8, but I always leave her some extra money because, well, I believe in paying my way, know what I mean?

She doesn't ask for donations - she allows visitors to roam her orchard for no charge - but she's exceedingly appreciative of whatever you can contribute. I can't imagine what her water bill must be.

But, like I said, you don't have to pay anything, if you don't want to. It's completely free. Maybe you'd like to buy a bouquet?

If you go, bring bugspray. Be sure to bring your camera.

You might prefer to wear long pants (prepare for pollen prints on your thighs!) and closed shoes, but this is just a suggestion, not completely necessary.

From I25, take the exit to the airport and La Junta - Hwy 50. Travel a few miles - almost to the airport - turn right on 29th lane, then left on Resolana. Follow the signs and the instructions. You'll love it. Late afternoon is a good time - we went at about 4:30, and it was perfect.

(as always, click the photos for larger versions)

I'll upload more photos to my garden-photo-blog - Rosemarysgarden, so please head over there if you'd like to see a bazillion more photos of peonies.

T-Notches

I love spinning with a T-Notched spindle shaft. I learned about this back when I first learned how to spin. I had been spinning with my K'Nex support spindles, and wanted to learn how to spin on a drop spindle. My public library had a copy of this most excellent book, Hands on Spinning, by Lee Raven. In it were instructions for making these T-Notches, and since I enjoy woodworking, I thought that I'd like to make these.

I made oodles of these to go with oodles of CD Spindles. I know that there's a huge snob-factor involved in hand spinning, but let me just say it out loud - I love my CD spindles! They taught me how to spin, and I'll always have a soft spot for these perfectly balanced spindles!

Anyway, I'll let these photos tell the tale. Making a T-Notch is an easy task. I used my nifty Japanese Saw - an extraordinary cutting device. How I love my Japanese Saw! It cuts so smoothly that you don't really need to sand afterwards. It's so balanced, and since it cuts on the pull, it's easy for a woman to use. Amazing. Oops, I forgot, this post is about T-Notches, heh heh heh.

I sawed out the notches by making two parallel cuts with my nifty Japanese Saw, then popping out the bit left between the cuts. The Japanese Saw blade is paper thin - if you are using an "American" or "English" saw, then the kerf of the blade ought to make enough of a slot.

Then, I did some shaping with my Chisels.

The trick is to get the "slot" to end a little teeny bit past the midline, as viewed from the side.



And, a little teeny bit past the midline as viewed from the top. Having your notch "pass up" the midline means that your yarn will ride right at the middle. If your slots end at the midline, then your yarn will not sit in the middle - Get it?

This was my very first one - the most crude looking, and oddly enough, the most perfect of them all. The yarn is perfectly centered, and it spins like a dream.








I ground the tip into a rather conical shape, for aesthetics - it makes no difference in the performance.



Here is how you "thread" the T-Notch. Your yarn can go up one side for spinning, and the other side for plying.


These last two are made from Oak - a very suitable wood for notches, as it is so strong. The first one is, I think, birch, which is so easy to carve, but so easy to break, too. Frustrating. But, I like the lighter weight of the birch.

My only complaint is that you have to use a fairly thick shaft in order to have enough wood to carve. I much prefer a thinner shaft. It could be machined into a thinner metal shaft, but I'm a woodworker, not a machinist, lol.

I still have a soft spot for these notches - this is how I learned to spin - and I just like the wooden hook. As you wind the yarn up the shaft, it automatically "falls" into the notch - it's easy to use.

(You don't have to use CD's as whorls for this style of shaft, of course.)

Try it - see how you like this style of shaft.

Fabric Baskets

Wouldn't this make the BEST ever knitting project basket?  Just as soon as life simmers down just a bit, I'm going to whip out a bunch of these.

Here is a fabric basket with a handle - 

Here is one without.

I really like these.  Now, to find some time to sew...

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Make your own Spindles!

I spent all of Saturday, making spindles! I photographed nearly every step of the way, in painstaking, tortuous, detail, and thought I'd share it with you.

I really like these spindles - they are easy and quick to make, and are really inexpensive. Plus, I just like the idea that I can make my own.

All points considered, a spindle costs about $3 to make.

Obtain materials -
--buy or order the toy wheels. I much prefer these spoked wheels, as they make wonderful rim weighted spindles. I order from Lee Valley Tools and can expect delivery within a week.
--have your whorls with you when you select your dowels. Buy the closest fitting size. If you can't find an exact friction-fit size, then buy the closest smaller dowel.
--gather up the rest of the supplies, clear off a work area, and get started! (Detailed parts lists and where to buy everything is at the end of this post.)

Figure some way to hang your spindles -

or figure some way for them to stand perfectly straight. I use all sorts of different methods. Today I used an old refrigerator shelf laid on top of a clothes drying rack. In the past, I’ve used a bicycle wheel laid across two saw horses – hanging the spindles from the spokes, and I’ve hung them from the clothesline in my laundry room. If you are making a batch of spindles at the same time, then the line must be stretched tightly so that the spindles stay put, and don’t slide down the line and end up in a bunch. If you are making one-at-a-time, then it really doesn't matter how you hang it.

If you don’t have a way to hang your spindles, then you’ll have to figure out a way to have then sit straight up and down – this is important in the epoxy step later on.

If you are working on only a couple of spindles at a time, you could fill a vessel with dried beans or uncooked rice, and then stick the spindle shaft into it and arrange it so that it stands upright. Get this figured out long before you mix the epoxy!

Epoxy the underside of the wheels -
The spokes can come loose from the tread portion of the wheel, so run a ring of epoxy there, to hold the wheel together. I use a toothpick to make sure that the epoxy goes under both sides of the spoke. You see one epoxied and one un-epoxied wheel in this photo. You can do this step immediately before the rest of the steps, or you can epoxy them well ahead of time and use them whenever you get around to it, it doesn't matter.

Set the whorl aside to dry, while you work on the other steps. The epoxy doesn't need to fully cure, but it does need to be set, and not runny, for the assembly steps.

Cut and sand your sticks -
I cut my sticks to 12 inches, and lightly sand them. I don't want the sticks to be perfectly smooth - I just aim to get rid of splintery spots. If you want yours to be really smooth, then start with 200 grit sandpaper, and work through 300, 400, 600, and if you are really persnickety - 2000 grit (from an auto body shop supplier).

Test fit whorls to dowels -
If you can find a friction-fit then, excellent! However, I often have to make a smaller stick fit the wheel, because I think that it is easier to enlarge the shaft then it is to enlarge the hole in the wheel. It's a fiddly process, but it is easy and fast.

I use upholstery thread for this process. It's thin and exceptionally strong.

A photo tour of the process – (1) make a loop
(2) begin to wrap the thread around the shaft
(3) continue winding
(4) cut the thread, and pass it through the little loop. Arrange the winding nicely, then begin to pull the thread which is sticking out of the top of the winding.
(5) I pull until the loop is very small, and then I stop and make sure everything is nicely arranged. Turn it around and examine all sides. Then...
(6) keep pulling until the "knot" is pulled beneath the winding.
(7) then clip the ends.

Try the whorl on – maybe you need a second layer in order to make it fit.

Notice that I gave the shaft a 180 degree turn, so that the knots are on opposite sides of the shaft.

Put the whorl onto the shaft -

Voila!See how nicely the wrappings hold the whorl into place?

Look from the top - the whorl should be centered - there should not be a larger space on one side than the other. If it seems unbalanced, they try giving the wheel a turn - often, this will center it.

If there’s a great difference in the size of the shaft and the size of the whorl, then you can use a thicker cord – here I’ve used hemp.It's hard to see in this photo, but since the hemp is so thick, I've put a "dummy loop" on the other side of the shaft. I began winding, then I separated the cords of the "original loop" and the "dummy loop" so that the cords were pretty evenly spaced around the shaft. So, I'm winding around the 4 cords - understand? I didn't pull the knot under the winding, I just pulled it snugly, and didn't cut it off too short. It worked perfectly - I'll show you this one again later on.

The whorl doesn’t need to be jam-tight, it just needs to be able to stay in place during the epoxy step. It is the epoxy which will hold everything together, permanently. I've used this style of spindle for a couple of years, and I've dropped them - sometimes hard enough that the cop slips down an inch or so! - and none of the spindles have come apart. I assume that the epoxy is doing its job.

You’ll be amazed how different the whorls and sticks are. Some will take only one layer of thread, some will take much more. If you are working on many spindles at a time, then you’ll want to keep the sticks and whorls together during the whole process, as you are custom fitting them as a pair.

Wrap the hook end of the shaft -

Here is a fork in the road -

If your whorl friction fits, then skip over this step - you'll have to do it later -
after you epoxy the whorl into place. It's so much easier to wrap it now, with no whorl in the way. Test to see if you can get the whorl into place by putting it on from the bottom. If it's a tight fit, then you probably won't be able to push it all the way up from the bottom.

If you had to enlarge the shaft, then wrap the hook-end with upholstery thread -
This wrapping really strenghtens the end of the shaft. Screwing into end grain of wood is not good wood-working practice – the hole is practically guarranteed to get bigger, due to the structure of the wood. This wrap helps to prevent this.

Clip the ends just as closely as you dare.
Wrap at least as far down as the threads will penetrate.


Drill the pilot hole for the hook -
First - you might like to mark the spot for the hole. Put an "x" or a dot where you think it ought to go. Rotate the shaft - is it really centered? Move the dot until it is centered, perfectly. Here is where I put on my extra pair of readers - I really want to make sure that this dot is centered.I'm known far and wide for my fashion sense. My kids just love the doubled glasses.
Then, stick a pin or tack right into the center of your mark. This will create a divot which will help the drill bit stay where it should, and not skitter all around.

I tie a bit of upholstery thread to the drill bit as a guide. Tie it as tightly as you can, and then, clip the strings very short.

When you are using the drill, you can't "butt up" to the thread, or it'll move. You have to stop before you hit the thread. This keeps you from drilling too deeply, and I find that this step is imperative. If the hole is too deep, then your hook will never sit properly - it will screw in too deeply.

I'm using a Dremel tool, with the second-to-smallest drill bit.

Prepare the hooks -
If you bought cup hooks, then I guess you are done. I like to buy eye hooks, and prepare them in the manner described in the book, High Whorling, by Priscilla Gibson Roberts. I straighten them out as straight as I can get them, and then I turn a little hook. Above is a stepwise photo which illustrates my approach. I use round jawed jewelry-making pliers to straighten the hooks. I'll fine tune them later, according to these excellent instructions, Hatchtown Fibers Spindle Tuning Tutorial.

I buy size 217 brass hooks from Gate Latch USA. I like to use these tiny brass hooks because the brass and the teeny size combine to make them very easy to bend. Another reason that I like to use the tiny hooks is because I don't have to drill a comparatively large hole in a small diameter shaft. I like to use a small diameter shaft because, well, because it fits in the wheel. If I were to use a larger hook, I'd have to remove so much wood, that I don't think the connection would be very secure. I also like to use fairly narrow shafts because I think that it makes for a very fast, whippy spindle. I *really* don't like to use fat shafts.

There is a downside to such tiny hooks, however, and it's a pretty severe one. If you drop the spindle onto the hook, it's going to bend, and possibly snap right off. A spindle fell out of my bag, directly onto the hook, on a concrete walk, and snapped the hook way down in the hole. This made me very sad...

Put the whorls on, and screw the hooks into the spindles. If you haven't wrapped the hook end of the shaft, then be careful when screwing in the hook - don't over-tighten, you'll split the shaft.

Epoxy the whorls into place -
I buy long-acting epoxy so that I have time to work with it. Here is how I do it – First, I make sure that the whorl is perpendicular to the shaft. Then, I put a teeny dab of epoxy (I use a toothpick) into the groove of one spindle - I put a dab at all 4 compass points, then hang up that spindle and move on to another one. I dab epoxy on 3 spindles in a row, then I move back to the first one. The epoxy has settled into the groove, so I can dab on some more. Once again, I work my way through all three, and return to the first one. I keep this up until that little trough appears to be filled, then start on another batch. If you are working on only one spindle per session, then just dab in in there and wait. It doesn't take long. Don't worry about any bubbles, they work themselves out.

I like to leave an inch of shaft sticking up from the top of the whorl, but I don't think that it really matters.

Here, you can see epoxy, dabbed into the groove,
See how much it has settled?Dab some more in, let it settle - repeat until it no longer soaks in - it may take as many as 4 applications.

When you set the spindles aside for the epoxy to cure – take one more check to make sure that the whorls are perpendicular. Hold the spindle, vertically, right in front of your eyes, and twirl the spindle. You can't adjust it later!

The epoxy on the bare wood changes the appearance of the wood - on some whorls, the difference is minute, on some it's pretty drastic. Go back to the very first photo and make it big - see how the 4 spindles towards the bottom of the photo have really dark, unsightly, epoxy jobs? I think that it has to do with the wood that the hub was carved out of - some of them are really porous, and some of them are really pigmented - it changes the color of the epoxy!

If you don't like this look, then you can apply some wood finish to just the hub, to the whole whorl, or to the entire spindle. The wood finish will cause the entire piece of wood to look the way the epoxy makes it look - this makes it a lot neater looking, but doesn't effect the performance of the spindle at all. I'll discuss finishing later.

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SET THE NEWLY-EPOXIED SPINDLES ASIDE, OVERNIGHT - It's best to let the epoxy cure for a nice, long time, before you begin the other steps.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you want, you can add bumpers to the bottoms of the shafts -
I really like bumpers, and add them.In fact, I've come up with some fine-tuning to the Tammy Rizzo Navajo Ply on the Fly technique which involves using these little bumpers. Stay tuned, as I'll post about this, eventually.

In the photo above, I've added a layer of wrapping because this tubing is just a hair too large to stay on, securely. This is the first time I've ever done this - usually, the tubing holds on just fine without any added help. The other spindles didn't need it, just this one.

Check under the whorls, and trim away any stray threads.
Two of mine needed a little haircut - here you see the before and after photos.I used an Xacto knife to trim the excess string.If you want a notch, cut it into the whorl now -
I use a triangular file. I’ve experimented with various arrangements - putting the notch on the underside, putting it on the top, angling the cut - but my favorite way is the most plain – just a little vertical notch on the outermost part of the whorl.

I make sure that the hook is completely screwed in, then I carve the notch. I like to align my hook so that the back of the hook faces the notch - which is why I wait until after I've screwed in the hook to place the notch.

Balance the hook, according to the Hatchtown Fibers Spindle Tuning Tutorial.
I like to remove the hook from the spindle shaft to make any adjustments to the hook. I find that if I leave the hook in the wood and try to bend the hook, that it enlarges the hole, which will cause problems later. However, in order to bend the hook, you must hold the threaded portion between your fingers, because if you hold it in the jaws of pliers, the soft brass threads will flatten out. Those screw threads can really dig into your finger! So, I stick the threaded end into the little plastic doohickey, which you can see in the photo, "prepare the hooks," for the bending process. I think that this little doohickey came out of a click ball point pen, but I really don’t remember where I found it. It's perfect for the job, as it's a tiny little hard plastic tube.

If I were able to find some little tiny metal caps to put on the end of the shaft - a little cap with a little hole in the end that I could put onto the shaft and then thread the hook through - this would eliminate the problem, wouldn't it? I could bend the hook without having to remove it from the shaft. Actually, I'd only need one little tiny cap - use it to adjust the hook, then remove it and use it to adjust the next hook. Any ideas? Where could I find such a tiny little metal cap?

If you didn't wrap the hook-end of the shaft before, then do it now.

Seal the wrapping and the hook -
Once you have the hook how you like it, unscrew it from the shaft, apply an even coat of clear fingernail polish to the wrapping, apply a little blob to the end, and screw the hook *through* the wet fingernail polish. The goal is to get a little of the nail polish down into the hole, to lightly glue the hook into place. Be sure that your hook is aligned how you like it, and hang it to dry.

The nail polish is not a permanent hook-glue. If you like, you'll be able to remove your hook and use your spindle as a low whorl. Then, you can screw the hook back in when you want to go back to having a high whorl. Cool, eh?

Apply finish if desired -
I've tried finishing after gluing the whorls into place, and I've tried finishing the whorls before assembly. I can't decide which I like hate more, lol. There are good points and bad points to each method, I'll leave it to you to experiment and decide which way you like best. I just plain old hate finishing.

I use about 1000 coats of Minwax. OK, maybe not 1000, but it sure seems that way. I just hate finishing. However, if I bite the bullet and decide to do it, then I put on lots and lots of coats, so that the end result is smooth and glossy. This wood is so porous, that it really sucks in the finish.In this photo, you see finished spindles with three different hub types. The upper ones are 3 inch wheels - notice how different the two hubs look. If you refer to the very first photo, showing unfinished spindles, you'll see that they all pretty much look alike. It's only when you put the finish on it that this difference becomes evident. The one on the right looks *really bad* with epoxy and no finish, as the epoxy soaks into the hub, causing this dark effect. Once the finish is applied, however, it all evens out. I like the look of the dark hub.

The one on the bottom is a 2.5 inch wheel, and all the ones of this size have a completely different hub - it's relatively unaffected, colorwise, by the epoxy. In fact, I often don't apply finish to this size, because I hate finishing, and I think that this size looks nice, unfinished. The hub and the tread portions are made from different woods than the larger one - this size seems to be made out of some sort of vine - it doesn't have the grain pattern of the 3 inch size.

I find that the finish cures/dries much faster if I can set it in the sun. I don't even bother with finishing if it's wintertime and too cold - then it takes forever for the finish to dry, and therefore, forever and a day to get numerous coats. I bet that I put at *least* 10 coats.

I like the look of a finished whorl, but I don't like the feel of a finished stick. So, when I apply finish to the spindle, I wrap some painter's masking tape around the shaft, right under the whorl, to keep the finish from penetrating the wood in this area. Wrap the shaft - dab on the finish - hang it to dry. Repeat as many times as desired.

Admire your handiwork!

Supplies List -
-toy wheels - I've tried a couple of suppliers, and I really like Lee Valley Spoked Toy Wheels the best.
-dowels - hardware store, lumber yard, hobby lobby, walmart. For the larger toy wheels, the dowels in the cake-decorating department of walmart are, surprisingly, perfect.
-epoxy - hardware store, lumber yard, hobby lobby, walmart, and other places. Buy the one which dries clear or amber, and which has a long working time. The working time and setting time are listed on the front. Don't buy the quick setting kind for this project.
-hooks - Gate Latch USA
-sandpaper - about 200-400 grit.
-upholstery thread - walmart, joannes, hobby lobby, etc.
-fingernail polish - I use clear, but you use what you like.
- wood finish - I use Minwax natural, but you use what you like. You can buy it - hardware, lumber, big box store.

Epoxy Tools-

--something on which to mix the epoxy - it won't wash off, so it needs to be a throw-away something - junk mail works perfectly. I use old microfiches that the library was throwing away.

--something to stir the epoxy - popsicle stick, disposable fork, coffee stirrer.

--something to apply the epoxy - toothpick, skewer - something with a fine point.

--paper towel torn into smallish squares for wiping your fingers, your tools, the excess epoxy. Have lots prepared ahead of time.

--something to protect your work surface.

Tools needed
--dremel or drill for drilling hole for hook.
--something to hang the spindle from while the epoxy dries
--stout scissors for cutting the tubing
--something for mixing the epoxy

--scissors for cutting thread

--Xacto knife

More Sparkles!

I had so much sparkly alpaca left over that I decided to knit another pair of wristies. I wasn't particularly happy with the stockinette ruffle, so for this pair, I cast on 84 stitches, and did k3p3 for the ruffle. Then, I did k3tog then transitioned to the k2p2 arm part. I like them OK, but I think that it is toooooo ruffly. Should I knit them again, I'll k6p6 for the ruffle, and I think that this will be a really nice compromise between the flat stockinette ruffle and the flutey k3p3 ruffle.

Thank you, Emma, for being such a nice model!

I knit these wristies for my friend, Allie. I knit THIS for her little grandson.

This little bunny is too cute! I found the pattern here, Heartstringsfiberarts.com Bunny

She was very easy to make, and she only takes a little bit of yarn and a little bit of fiberfill. I knitted the 6 inch square while attending the Pueblo Symphony - does this make me a completely mannerless boor that I knit at the symphony? We had wonderful seats, right up close to the front (where the light was great, lol) and I cast on as soon as we took our seats, and I ran out of yarn right as the last ovations were heard. Perfect timing!

I ran out of yarn just one row shy of completion. I had to wait until I got home to work in the ends of the wristies, cut off the excess, splice the bits together to have enough to cast off! Then, I washed and blocked the square, and took another look at the pattern, and had a sinking feeling. I still needed yarn for the EARS! Well, as it turns out, the very first thing I did when spinning this fiber was to knit a tiny swatch to see if the yarn was coming out OK for knitting the wristies. I also had a tiny bit of fluff left over - so I spun the fluff, unraveled the swatch and had just enough for the ears. Yay!

So, this photo shows you what you can knit out of two ounces of alpaca and angelina - enough for two pairs of wristies, one bunny and about 8 inches left over. I don't like to cut so close to the emergency zone. As it is, I had to spin a bit more "plain" alpaca in order to have something which which to do the sewing. I figured that it was OK to sew it up with non-sparkly yarn. I also used my plain alpaca for the little needle-felted tail.

A word of advice - don't stuff the bunny's body too tightly. I used to sew animal figures out of woven fabric, and I always thought that they were so much cuter if they were stuffed tightly. Well, with this knitted fabric, the bunny's body just kept accepting more and more fiberfill. It wasn't until I had her all sewed up and tied and everything that I noticed that her body was really too large for her little head. She stretched!

All in all, these were such fun! The wristies were completely brainless activities, and the bunny was just plain old FUN. Get yourself a ball of something exotic, or better yet, spin it yourself, and knit one or both of these projects.

Enjoy!
Rosemary
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Sparkles!

My dear friend, Allie Neas, one of the owners of Eye Dazzler Alpacas, gave me two ounces of sparkly alpaca roving "to play with." She and I met at a yarn shop (actually, as it happens, we crashed a birthday party and got invited to share in their lunch - it's all in the timing! Thanks Karen, for allowing us to share in your wonderful party-potluck! Visit Karen at her shop, Colorado Fiber Arts, and wish her a belated Happy Birthday!), and I spun some of it on my handspindle, and it was just too gorgeous for words. Oh, the sparkle! It brings out the magpie in me.

As usual, I spun this very fine and very tightly spun because, well, I have my flaws. So, I casually mentioned that I just bet that I could spin this lovely roving into something a little more... useable... if I only had use of a spinning wheel.... so Allie loaned hers to me for the weekend. Now, this was very clever of me, don't you think?

This is what came home with me - an easier-to-use spinning wheel surely doesn't exist. I was able to set it up and get it running in no time at all. It's a Majacraft Suzie Pro Alpaca, and it's a wonderful machine! I just couldn't get over how easy and intuitive it was to set up and run. I especially like that it has a large, triangular opening for the yarn to pass through, rather than a little tube, like I've seen on other machines.

I spun a little while on a variety of alpacas in my stash - you can see my little pile there, in the lower left of the photo, then I sat down to spin the sparkley stuff. I spun all of the two ounces in just a few hours. This is amazing! I think that it came out very nice, with allowances for this being my first time on a wheel and all. I attempted to spin a thicker, soft, lofty yarn, and I like it!

Next, to prove that I did actually spin something useful, I sat down to knit some Mrs. Beeton's. The only problem is that I when I wanted to cast on, I was away from the house and away from my computer (Imagine that!) so I didn't have the pattern, so I came up with an approximation. Here's what I did - I worked a gauge swatch, and decided that 7 sets of k2p2 would make a nice size, so my "base number" is 28 stitches. I cast on three times this many, and knit stockinette for about one inch, then knit three together (slip 2 as if to knit, knit one, pass the two slipped stitches over) all the way around. Knit the cuff in k2p2 for approx 4.5 to 5 inches, or whatever length you like. Easy!

I finished these wristies in a nice little coffee shop on the Plaza in Taos. We returned from our trip a week ago, and until this morning, I hadn't seen my mitts, or my socks (future post) and I was beginning to think that I had left them at that nice little coffee shop on the Plaza in Taos! Oh, I was peeved with myself! However, as you can see, they returned (were in a child's room, aka "black hole"), and all is right in the world.

Anyway, back to the sparkly alpaca. This stuff spun just exactly like plain alpaca, which came as a complete surprise to me. I would have thought that the sparkle stuff was somehow stiff and non-compliant, and that it wouldn't stick to the fibers and draft out, but I was wrong. It drafted just fine, like it was alpaca fiber. This was nice. It was a very pleasurable spinning experience, watching the sparkle and feeling the alpaca, leave my hand and become yarn. I just love spinning!

Now, photographing it was another story. It's impossible to capture the sparkle! Very frustrating. However, I have a genius husband - I'm telling y'all - I'm surround, on all sides, by geniuses! He suggested that I underexpose the shot, and it works! Well, it works enough to demonstrate that sparkle is there - you have to *see* the sparkle with your own eyes in order to really appreciate it. Here is the skein, exposed as the camera wants to expose it.


Here is the skein, vastly underexposed. See? (make it bigger - you'll see it better)

So, like I said, I found the wristies just a few minutes ago, and asked my darling daughter to model them for me. It's very windy outside right now, so I thought that if we stood just inside the storm door, I'd have good light for the photo - (the "lump" on the uppermost wrist is G's wristwatch.) (Click the photo for a larger view)The dog got all excited because she KNOWS when photos are being taken and she wants to be in all photos, so here she is, wiggling and saying, "Pick me up pick me up pick me up."

When Grace didn't pick her up, she simply-
leaped into Grace's arms, silly dog. (Grace is wearing her nice satin jacket for this photo shoot - and her pajama pants. You aren't supposed to know about the pajama pants, but I couldn't resist Dixie and her cuteness, so don't tell Grace, OK? Thanks.)

So, here is my photo shoot, with Dixie. Aren't they cute? Yes, I mean Grace, Dixie *and* the wristies!

Then, I thought about taking an underexposed photo in order to show off the shine, so I thought that maybe over by the piano would work. Take a look at what this sparkly alpaca does! What the Red Shoes does for your feet, the sparkly alpaca does for your hands! It makes you play the piano like a maniac!

Here is a shot of the rest of the ball of yarn, and the wristies. There's plenty enough left to make another pair! So, one ounce would have easily completed this project. (in this photo, they don't look like they are the same size, I suddenly realized. They are just about the exact same size. I don't quite know why this photo came out so wonky.)

Here is another feeble attempt at photographing the sparkle. I'm telling you, this is the sparkiest yarn you could ever imagine, but you'll just have to believe me - I simply can't capture it in a photo.

Oh, I almost forgot! While in Taos, we visited a number of gem and rock shops - my son is taking a jewelry-making class and needed some stones for setting, and I found and fell in love with "Goldstone," a man-made stone which is sparkly. After a while, it dawned on me - it looks just like this alpaca!Goldstone doesn't photograph any better than sparkly alpaca does. Also, my camera does weird things with red - these two are closer to the same color in real life, but the photo makes them look quite different. Anyway, both are sparkly and pretty and I like them.

If you want some sparkly alpaca roving of your very own, then please contact Allie at EyeDazzlerAlpacas, and she'll fix you right up.

Cheers!
Rosemary
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COLORFUL pseudo rolags!

Take a look at this!!!

Knittermobile (Ravelry) took one look at the pseudo rolag post and RAN with it! She's done some amazing work with blending colors - take a look -

Rolag - stripes and layers

Originally uploaded by Knittermobile

This is an example of one of her pseudo rolags, and here is the resultant yarn -

Yarn made from one rolag

Originally uploaded by Knittermobile

As I've said numerous times before - I'm surrounded by Geniuses!!! 

Knittermobile, you are a Genius!!!

Oh my goodness gracious, take a look at those colors and how they are blended! I immediately placed orders with my favorite etsy sellers for some colorful roving, because I want to play, too.

Be sure to click the photos - or just go straight to Knittermobile's flickr account, and you can find more pictures of her colorblending with pseudorolags. Stunning, simply stunning. Also, such beautiful photographs - I'll have to ask her for her secret.

In the past few days, I've been playing around in my stash box - I'd like to spin for a sweater.  I saw the most wonderful sweater on a lady at a fiber show last May - it is Moonlight, by Rowan. Whooee, that's not a good picture.   If you are on Ravelry, then look at the project pages there - it's a great sweater!

I have gobs of perfectly lovely coopsworth locks, so I started playing. I didn't like spinning this particular fiber from the fold, so I decided to try making pseudo rolags - well, this stuff is soooo puffy and bouncy, that it wouldn't cooperate.   It wants to spin from a cloud, but I can't quite figure out how I'm going to accomplish that and ply on the fly...

...so, I've included a few photos to demonstrate the work-around.

Basically, I forced it to comply by using a comb to wrangle it around a size 15 knitting needle.

(non-coopsworth hair furnished by my daughter's cat, Jingles. She likes to sleep on my brushing cloth, the little dear.)

I used the comb to fold the fiber over the needle, then I held the comb in place while I began to roll the needle.

Then, I rolled and rolled -

and it continued to be puffy and bouncy and not hold together into a rolag form, but instead, it fell all to pieces.

So I pressed down on it with my hands - pretty firmly, actually.

and I rolled and rolled until it compacted into a surprisingly hard, tight, and dense little bundle.

Then, amazingly, it spun like an absolute dream..... ahhhhhh..... I thought that I had ruined it by compressing it so, but actually, it spun quite easily. The pseudo rolag held together really well, and even though it was so dense, it still drafted like a dream. Huh. Always a surprise. Also, it was very easy to handle - before I figured out this work-around, the rolags always fell apart and were very difficult for me to work with. Another nice thing is that there is LOADS of fiber in that dense little bundle, so I was able to spin a long long strand out of one pseudo rolag. I like this aspect, too.

I was able to get a nice, even spin, and I did the ply on the fly magic and... ahhhhh.... it's really nice yarn! I think that it'll be perfect for a hardwearing, jeans-and-turtleneck, everyday, knock-around, sweater. It's a great color, too. It looks white in the photos, but actually it's a very light grey with strands of jet-black hairs - not in great density - but I really like these little strands of black.

I think that this is the wool I'm going to use for my project. Now, to contact the seller to see if she has any more left.

So, if you want to use a fiber with some fight to it, here is how to force it to comply.

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Pseudo-rolags

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On one of my zillion yahoo-spinning lists, we recently discussed the topic of making rolags without using handcards. I never use handcards, but I like to use rolags, and here's how I do it -

NOTE - I'm fully aware that what I make are not the same as "real" rolags. I'm OK with this. These pseudorolags work just fine, and I love to use them. In fact, this is what I used to spin Anastasia's Socks - which was a very fun spinning project.

OK, so - here's how I do it - - I flick with a kitten brush - very cheap at the pet store -










You can also make pseudorolags out of roving - it's almost exactly like the process above, only without the flicking. Simply pull a staple-length bit of roving (OK, so it's top - let's not have this argument too, heh heh heh) and lay it on the fabric. Pull off another bit, lay it down and etc. The pieces which you are pulling off are whispy, thin bits, not great big fat hunks. It makes a lovely spinning preparation.

If handcards give you problems, but you would still like to spin from a nice, lofty, springy, easy-to-draft rolag, then - here ya go! Have fun!
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Boucle!

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Last month, my good friend, Peggy, came down from the big city to my humble little burg to teach us how to spin boucle! The class was aimed towards my friends, the Spinning Wheel Spinners, but Peggy made a special attempt to teach me, the Spindle Spinner, how to spin Boucle, too.

Let me tell you, there's hardly anything more exciting than watching little boucles pop up on your yarn!!!

Let me begin at the beginning. This class was sponsored by my good friend, Allie, from EyeDazzler Alpacas up in Westcliffe. Since the class was on January 31, Allie was afraid that maybe there would be snow, and it can be hard to get to Westcliffe in the snow, so Allie held the class at our local public library. This turned out to be an exceptionally nice place to have a Spin In.

We spun Mohair into singles. I bought some Mohair last summer, so I had this nice supply of blue-green curly hairy fiber. Let me tell you - this stuff is the polar opposite of alpaca, my favorite spinning fiber. There's a reason why they call it MoHAIR.

Hair. You are spinning Hair. Not my most favorite spindling experience. But, I'm willing to learn something new.

First - we made "brushed mohair." (as always, click on the photo to enlarge it.)We just made a two ply, then simply brushed it with a regular old hairbrush. Nice!

I think that my particular batch of mohair must have come from an older goat because it was pretty coarse and hairlike. Peggy had some nicer, softer mohair, which she explained came from younger animals. Like just about any other animal, its hair gets more coarse as it ages.

Second - we made "two pass boucle" which was easy enough, and really pretty, but really fragile and delicate, as the little boucles slide along the thread.


I can't see knitting with this, as I think that all of the little bumps would get pushed into a giant wad.

Here's how you can do it - spin some mohair, or any other fiber, into a fairly slender single with medium to high twist. On another spindle, start a leader of sewing thread, fine yarn, embroidery floss, or whatever. Tie your single onto the thread, and start spinning your spindle, slowly, in the plying direction - in my case, counterclockwise. Feed out about a foot or two feet's worth and then, slowly, begin to gently push the single down the thread, towards the spindle. Keep pushing, evening it out along the thread and - suddenly - little boucles pop out! Arrange them nicely, then wind on to the spindle, and repeat with another arm's length. Continue until you are all done. It's called "two pass" because the first pass was spinning the mohair, and the second pass is plying it with the thread and making the little boucles.

Third - we made "three pass boucle" and WOW, this came out really nice! The little boucles are held firmly in place, and the yarn is quite stable. Now, this is something I can use!

Here's how - Start from the end of the "here's how" for two pass boucle. On another spindle, attach a leader of something fine - you can use the same stuff you used in the second pass, or you can use something completely different. In my sample, I used some sparkly sewing machine thread, and it came out so cute! Tie the results from the two pass to the new thread and mount on your spindle. Begin the spindle spinning in the original spinning direction and ply the new thread together with the results from the two-pass boucle. Simple as that. The threads from the second and third passes criss-cross over the single and hold the little bubbles in place.

In other words, spin the mohair, ply in the opposite direction, then ply again in the original spinning direction. I'd use the terms "S" and "Z" but I *always* get it backwards, so just figure it out.

The ladies at the wheels did it a tad bit different, but not terribly different. They also did it MUCH faster than I was able to.

Fourth - we learned how to "core spin" so that little curls of mohair stand out from the core of the yarn. I used some Regia sock yarn as my core. I mounted it onto my spindle, and got the spindle spinning *slowly* clockwise (which was unplying the sock yarn), catching the butt end of little clumps of curls onto the yarn. Wind onto the spindle, and repeat until you've done enough.

Then, once I had spun enough, I tied the end of this yarn to a slender binder, much as I did in the three-pass boucle. I mounted this to my spindle and got it spinning counterclockwise, and plied the binder onto the yarn. This step also restores the proper ply to the core yarn, as it got untwisted in the first step. I plied slowly so that the curls could pop out and not get mashed. The result is... interesting... but I can't see that I'll ever actually have a project which calls for something like this, but then, as you know, I have no imagination whatsoever.

**It's important to note that the binder thread, in any of the above projects, can be threaded with beads, which can be fed into place as you are plying the yarn. I simply couldn't figure out how to do this without sprouting a whole 'nother set of arms, so I left it to my Spinning Wheel friends to do that part. The ladies at the wheels were doing a fantastic job of it, and their beaded boucle yarn came out really beautiful!

Peggy helped me realize that it's time to start a spinning binder - how I wish I had done this a long time ago. From now on - you hear me? - from now on, I'm going to keep notes and samples and put them into this binder! Let's just hope that my natural laziness doesn't cause me to drop this project.My daughter gave me this binder. She feels that she's outgrown the multicolored-laser-iridescent design. Funny, I haven't outgrown it at all. How does this work. I think that this is the COOLEST binder ever!

Thanks, Peggy, and Thanks Allie! This was a wonderful class! I learned a lot and best of all, I had a blast.

Go spin some boucle!!!
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Felted Slippers - one last time.

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After my last round of making felted slippers, I swore I'd never make them again. It's sooooo foolish to knit a great big item, throw it into the washer and pull out a considerably smaller item, isn't it? Seems backwards, yes?

However, dear darling hubby's slippers quit on him, and I can't stand for my dear darling husband to have cold feet.... soooo....

Another pair is born!  Fiber Trends "Felt Clogs" by Bev Galeskas.
The obligatory "before felting" shot -

In setting up the obligatory "after felting shot," this little cutie pie felt certain that dh's feet were splayed just for her. Or was it the camera? Whichever, she appeared out of nowhere and took her seat, pretty as you please. She's so spoiled.

OK, got her shooed away, and the other little cutie pie showed up. What's with these dogs?

OK, HERE is the obligatory "after felting shot" complete with the pattern for scale. I needle-felted the hearts, and in the process, discovered that needle felting isn't my craft. I'll stick with knitting.

As you can plainly see in the photos, we have hardwood floors, and I didn't want dear darling hubby to slip, so I sewed bits of leather to the bottoms. We have a Tandy store here in town, and it has a scrap bin, so I was able to buy scraps for $2. The two pieces of leather don't match, but dh doesn't care, and neither do I. These pieces were smooth on one side, and suede on the other side - I sewed them suede side out. DH reports that they are super grippy and no worries about slipping. Added bonus - they can be worn for quick trips out into the garage or yard. Looks like they've already taken a couple of these trips, eh?

This is a completely genius pattern. It works up so nicely! And fast, too.

I'd like to share with you a couple of tricks I've discovered, while making oodles of pairs of these clogs. First, make a photo copy. Black out all of the instructions which don't pertain to the size you are making. Careful now, as it's not always easy to tell which parts to mark out until you've read that entire line.

Here, you can see my heavily marked up page. Yes, it's blurred - buy your own pattern!!!

The highlights are to indicate where the pattern shifts from one type of thing to another. See, this pattern is quite repetitive, but not forever. You do the same thing for a number of rows, then you do a special row, then you do a different thing for a number of rows. This is what makes the pattern so completely wonderful. Marking up the pattern makes it much easier to follow, and to remember where the special, shaping rows are.

Next, circle the middle stitches. You can see part of my pattern below. In the upper margin, I wrote the word, middle, and circled it in purple ink. This is to remind me that the parts of the pattern which are circled in purple ink are the middle (middle of the toe) stitches. If you put a stitch marker before and after this middle stitch, then it makes everything so much simpler when it comes to knitting the upper.
See, the pattern will say to knit howevermanystitches, increase, knit some stitches, increase, knit some stitches, then "m1, k1, m1" - the "k1" here is your middle stitch. The first howevermany is a large number of stitches, but the "increase, knit, increase, knit" isn't very many at all, less than 10 in each case.

I don't mind counting up to 10, but I don't want to count the large number, especially if I'm knitting at a coffee shop or something (mistakes!!!), so I count backwards from the middle stitch, and then place a temporary stitch marker. I knit to the temporary marker, then do the middle increases, and so on. Get it?

If you count backwards from the middle stitch, it's so much easier than counting forward from where you are in the knitting. The same goes for the other side of the middle stitch - each row ends with something like "m1, k1, m1, k1." There's no sense in counting out 45 stitches when all you really need to do is to knit up to the last two stitches, then m1 k1 m1 k1. Get it?

This probably makes no sense to those of you who aren't knitting these slippers, but it makes perfect sense when you are knitting! This little trick turns this project from an - Only knit when you have quiet and privacy project - to a - Knit while participating in lively conversation project. Anyway, I find that this little tip makes all the difference.

Also, I've circled the stitch numbers in pencil. It's nice to stop and check every now and then. I've also circled the special rows - more incentive to stop and follow the instructions, rather than just knit and knit...

Once you get your pattern all marked up, put the copy back into the plastic sleeve, behind your original. You'll still want to look at the photos as you are knitting. I move a Post-it Note along the pattern, so I can keep up with which line I'm supposed to be on.

Another hint is that if you goof up the stitch counts, it really doesn't matter - you are going to felt the things! So, just fix the math on the next round and continue on your merry way. If you were supposed to decrease on the knit row, but you forgot, then decrease on the purl row. Honestly, it won't matter in the end, and it makes no sense to rip out when no one will ever know but you, and you'll forget.

When I made my very first pair I followed the directions for knitting the soles, which means that I knitted the soles with a slit up the middle. However, when I knitted all subsequent pairs, I made a significant change in how I make the soles - I do the "turkish cast on" and then knit the soles in one piece, rather than going back and sewing up the seam on the very bottom. I find that this makes it much neater, and for me much easier, in the long run. You have to alternate between knit and purl in order to end up with garter stitch, but I still like it so much better than going back and sewing up the sole.

OK, now, it's official. I'm never making another pair of these slippers, ever again. This time, I mean it. Really.

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We won at the ABR Fall Fest!

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We won again!

You know, I really like entering fiber competitions. I wouldn't have predicted it, as I'm not an overly competitive person, but really, I do like fiber competitions. I like the "grade sheet" that you get back from the judge - telling you where you can improve.

Grace and I entered items in the latest ABR Fall Festival (that's Alpaca Breeders of the Rockies), and we won 3 first place ribbons, and I also won "People's Choice" for one of my entries! Wha Hoo! The award for People's Choice is a ribbon *and* this - ... but, I get ahead of myself.

Grace entered her three ply alpaca skein, you saw it here, and you read about it here, and here. She won first place again! Way to go, Grace!

I entered this tiny skein - I spun this out of an alpaca-silk mix which is sooooooooo delightful that it practically spins itself! In order to enter, the skein has to be 50 yards - this skein measures 55 yards, believe it or not. It's so tiny! I can't wait to spin the rest!

I used a teeny, jewel spindle -
and I used my favorite method of spinning, Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly.

As an aside - the case for this product makes a perfect spindle case! I have plenty enough room for an ounce or more of fiber and spindles. I can drop it into my knitting bag without getting fluff all over everything. I wish that we could just buy these cases without having to damage our knees, first. Have you ever wanted to put a sticky note on such a product which reads, "So sorry about your knee. If you have no interest in re-using the case, then please call me because I'd like to have it." Imagine all of the cool packages we could obtain in this way? Sorry - I digress.

Back to the topic, heh heh heh. I won first place *and* people's choice for this little skein. I'm really happy to win people's choice, as it comes with a real prize - a gift subscription to any Interweave magazine. Last year, I won two people's choice awards, so I asked for Spin-Off and Knitter's. This year - which to ask for? Decisions... maybe I'll get Piecework?

I also entered my big honkin' alpaca doiley, and it won first place, too. It was my "summer project" and every time I look at it, I have so many nice memories. It took me practically the whole summer to complete, and I dragged it around with me to so many places.

Mostly, I knitted it here, on the bench that my darling husband built for me. This was such a nice way to start the day - with my coffee, on my bench, listening to the birds, knitting and knitting.

I also knitted at the HARP - and at the Fourth of July fireworks celebration - Just *thinking* about this doiley triggers a particular memory - oh, this was just TOO CUTE. See, my darling daughters are also jugglers, and as we were waiting for dark, and the fireworks to begin, I knitted and they juggled.

This little boy was entranced. He couldn't stop staring! After a while, he showed us HIS tricks!
Look! No Hands! What a cutie! My daughters insist that it was their juggling which threw him into a fit of showing off, but you and I both know that it was the knitting.

Here is the doiley, pinned out to block. You might look at it and say, "doiley" but I look at it and say, Summer Memories...
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Grace's Chullo Hat

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Grace got this hat kit (from Knitpicks) and jumped right in. Never mind that she'd never done any colorwork before, never mind that *I* haven't done any color work before - she simply loved this pattern and couldn't wait to get started.

It took her about a week from start to finish.

She didn't like the way the applied I-cord was written in the pattern, so she figured out a different way of doing it. (Please, disregard the un-worked-in ends - these were taken care of after the pix were taken. oops)
This was a "choose your own adventure" sort of pattern, and according to Grace, it was fun to work.

It came out great, don't you think?
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