Planned Purlhood

Before I was a Knitter, Spinner, or Weaver, I did quite a bit of needlework:  cross stitch, embroidery, needlepoint, etc.

Lately, I’ve been getting a bit burned out on the Big String Thing (i.e. knitting) and turned back to my “roots”, so to speak.

This past couple weeks, I’ve been working on embroidering flour sack towels.  My town’s new “fabric & more” shop got in some nice flour sack towels worthy of embroidery.  Here’s a sample of the set I’m working on for my kitchen:

It’s covering a batch of whole wheat “no knead” bread.  Recipe is here.

There’s been more crocheting happening here than knitting, and mostly in the form of potholders.  Nothing fancy, just worsted weight cotton yarn and the “potholder” stitch (single crochet through back loop and previous row’s unworked front loop) with an I hook.

I did start “Traveling Woman” last week, but since that’s still in the plain stocking stitch section, I’ll spare you the photo.

One skein of yarn for Ravelympics.  100% superwash merino from a etsy seller who’s shop closed.  ”Embers”, my bog-standard 2-ply sportweight spun long draw.  Approximately 300 yards per 4 oz.

I leave you with Bunny Buns.

I thought I’d better do a Faroese shawl as a test run to make sure I’d want to invest the time to do a Sheep to Shawl in that style.  Mucking up “Laminaria” helped some, too.

Stage 1:  7 February 2010, 00:44 PST

So I started Laminaria on the 3rd,  and I’m in about 3000 stitches to the first section on Saturday night when shit started hitting the proverbial fan.  First I was off by one stitch on one side, then I counted ALL my stitches to confirm my place in the row count.  THAT didn’t line up with the spreadsheet.  I look at it very carefully and see that stuff isn’t symmetrical.  I counted one side vs the other side.  I was off by four stitches in a way that couldn’t be “fixed” without ripping it all out and starting over.

I’m one of those people that if I don’t get it bang-on right the first time (and I usually do), it gets tossed aside and addressed later.  If I feel like it.

Stage 2:  7 February 2010, 01:18 PST

Frog Laminaria.  Note the plant’s interesting medical usage as a cervical dialator (and pregnancy inducer) and move on.

Stage 3:  7 February 2010, 01:42 PST

Recover enough to hit the Ravelry Pattern Database to find inspiration for what else to do with 1300 yards of alpaca laceweight.  I look at Irtfa’a a bit, look at the designer’s other Faroese shawl(s) some more.  Realize I have Myrna Stahman’s shawl book.

Stage 4:  7 February 2010, 02:40 PST

Discover that I’m going to have to knit a sw*tch and do a style of shawl never done before (by me).

Stage 5:  7 February 2010, 02:41 PST

Hyperventilate into paper bag.

Interlude:  02:58  PST test of all-call phone startles me into reality.

Stage 6:  7 February 2010, 04:00 PST

Swatch half-assed-ly, decide it’s close-damn-enough.  Cast on for The Real Thing.  Get a few rows done before it was time to go.

This is where I left off yesterday morning.

16 Rows:  As you can see when spread out, it pretty much maxes out the cables.  I’m thinking I need to get a longer circ…

And this is where I’m leaving off this morning.  The sun is up, and it’s past my bedtime.

than a lace knitter with equipment failure

I was knitting right along on the border of my latest shawl when the sodding Knit Picks cable comes flying out of the metal fitting and drops a good 30+ stitches.

This could be the last straw for Knit Picks products. There’s a reason they’re inexpensive.

I bought two Shetland fleeces from Stonehaven Farms in 2008.  One was a steel grey fleece of an adult wether (castrated male) name “Polaris”.  The other was this, a black lamb’s fleece from a ram-lamb called “Baltazar”.

VERY black with sun-kissed tips.  Earlier this month I decided I was settled in enough in the new house to embark on a big project.  I’m going to spin and knit “Irtfa’a“.  Fleece to shawl.  So, I got the fleece out of storage and attempted to roll it out in order to sort things a bit.

Oops…I forgot that Lois said this one was fragmented and picked through, so there’s no using one part of the fleece over another.  No big deal, but I had an “uuh, what the ?!” moment.

If the shearing and skirting team know what they’re doing (and the fleece isn’t fragment like Baltazar’s), they’ll roll up the fleece into one piece and place it in to a leaf bag for storage.  When you take it out of the bag and unroll it, it’ll look somewhat sheep-skin shaped, like this one (one of my Jacob ewe fleeces from this summer).

Anyway, I grabbed a big hand full and put the rest of the fleece away until I’m ready to process the rest.

I’ve taken to washing my locks in rolls of bridal tulle to keep lock formation.  This works well when working with prime fleeces that you want to spin from the lock or comb.  If you’re not too concerned about keeping lock structure intact, you can wash in mesh sweater bags.  The latter method is good for when you want to pick & card the fleece.

I sorted out a few locks, then line’m up in a bit of tulle, and soak in cold water for up to 12 hours.  I was very surprised to see the first cold soak water was VERY clean off of Baltazar’s fleece.  Seems he didn’t roll in the NE Oregon dust as much as his buddy Polaris.  One hot scour and two rinses later, I have very clean fluffy lock.  I seemed to have forgotten to take a pick of the wool-tulle packets, but you can read about the whole process on this KnittySpin article.  The author feature finewools in the article, but works just fine for other wool types, too.

There is noticeable grease in the rise, but it flicks out easily enough.  I got my tiny little Greensleeves Ethan Jacob for spinning the first lock.  Quick & dirty spinning, but I can tell right away this is going to be a very pleasant project.

I’m aiming for a heavy-ish laceweight (similar to Knit Picks Shadow in weight).  I think this will work well.

Next step it to prep the rest of the washed locks and spin up a test skein on the Rose.

I’ve actually got some decent knitting done the past couple of weeks. I started and finished another Swallowtail Shawl. The first one only used about 360 yards and came out quite small. The first is a shawlette on a petite woman (~5′ tall), but not more than a kerchief on myself (nearly 6′ tall). I wanted to maximize the 440 yards in a skein of Knit Picks Shadow (their merino laceweight) and did just that.

It blocked out at ~65″ x 24″ and used just over 440 yards. I had to use a wee bit of handspun to finish the last 20 stitches of the bind off. It’s large enough to not look silly on myself.

I used a size 5 on the budding lace charts and switched to a size 7 needle for the rest. I think I would have been ok on yardage if I had tightened up my stitches on the size 7’s. They were pretty loosey-goosey in the Lily of the Valley section.

Another quick project is a wee fulled bowl made from Knit Picks Memories “sock” yarn. This is a fingering weight 100% merino space dyed (faux handpaint). You use a double strand of it with the color progression matched up between both strands. Two trips through the wash and I have a nice little wool container!

I cast on for the second shawl of 2010 early Sunday morning, and its moving right along.

What’s new:

Spud’s tripled in mass since bringing him home in November. He eats like a typical herbivore, which means A LOT. He’s up to 1/2 cup of pellets and 3 cups of fresh greens a day, plus all the hay he can turn into (free) fertilizer. He’s bonded to John, and I’m Persona Non Grata. Figures. He’s a smart little shit, too. We’re composting his litter box contents, and Horace (the name of the compost heap) is going to be very good for this years vegetable garden.

Knitting continues in fits and starts. My frog to finish ratio is still a bit high, no thanks to me trying to knit things that weren’t designed for anyone over 5′6″. At 5′11″ and large framed, knitting to spec on fitted garments (anything written for a woman) is going to be too small. I was 70%+ into Peak’s Island Hood before I realised it was going to be too small in the hood section and there was no way I was going to REKNIT that much seed stitch to accommodate my noggin. I hate seed stitch. If I could say it gives me hives, I would.

There’s no FO pics as either they aren’t FO’s or they were gifted out before I could get them photographed or they aren’t gifted yet and won’t be posted.

I’ve been working on my knitting goals for 2010. After going through my 2009 projects, I’ve found that I need to concentrate better on monogamy and stop “testing” things. Just knit for god’s sake! Here’s some things I’ve decided on for this year:

10 Shawls in 2010 (self explanatory, more details at the Ravelry group)
Finish the Mandala Shawl
Participate in the Winter Ravelympics
Get all my fleeces scoured (this will have to wait for warm/fair weather - nothing dries these days in the basement)
Finish John’s sweater (it only needs assembling and the collar knit)
Finish Eris
Organize the “Craft Storage Room” (That DOES give me hives just thinking about)
Knit a few pairs of socks out of SOCK YARN, no merino need apply.
Weave more.

I’m sure there’s more I can do, but that’s a good start.

Some spinning has taken place. I’ve found that I really don’t care to spin lace weight yarn (at least from commercial prep), even now that I have a production spinning wheel. My poor attention span is absolutely shot these days and the time it takes to spin even an ounce into fine enough singles for a 2-ply laceweight is enough to drive me batty. I may put that project into a time out and spin something “bigger”. This also reminds me that I need to find my hand cards and/or purchase a higher TPI pair (mine are only 72 tpi, and I’d like something over 100 for finewool). Nothing beats spinning long draw from a rolag. NOTHING.

More anon.

Most who know me personally know that I’ve been wanting a house rabbit for some time. This week it finally happened. The right bun made his appeal, and we came home with a 6-week old Holland Lop buck on Monday.

He went from “aww” cuteness…

to Disapproving Rabbits contender in 4 days flat.

When one gets out of the habit of thinking about blogging, one definitely doesn’t blog much.  Oh well, there’s no rule on how many times one has to push “publish” in order to be considered a blogger.

Since the last post, not a whole lot has gone on.  Some knitting done.  Some spinning.  Some knitting with handspun.

This is my second “Habitat”.  It’s definitely a pattern that needs a multiple-plied yarn.  Singles yarn need not applied.  One of these days I’ll post a picture of the first one done in Malabrigo worsted.  ”Subtle” doesn’t quite cover it.  This yarn is a woolen,  spindle-spun & plied fine-wool blend that I carded from some handpainted top from Abby’s yarns.  It took about 12 hours of knitting over 3 days.  A “regular” hat usually takes me about 2 hours w/ worsted weight wool.

There’s another pair of sock on the needles for J.  His request, not mine.

There was also a pair of mittens in Silk Garden Lite.  I’m never buying Noro yarn again.  This stuff actually gave me a splinter from a bit of wood that was spun into the yarn.  Sorry, there’s “rustic” and there’s “bullshit”.  I can spin a perfectly rustic yarn, without having to cut bits of tree out of my cuticle with a scalpel.

There could have been so many witty post titles I could have used, such as “How I Shacked Up with a Nearly Complete Stranger for Three Nights”, or “OMG Fangirl”, or “Fiberholic Exhibits Restraint in the Presence of Too Much Fiber”.

Rabbitch and I had decided we were going to go to Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival this year.  Originally we had planned to have a vendor’s booth, but when those plans fell through (no room at the Inn), we decided to just go and Have Fun.  Of course, having a pre-paid hotel room booked helped in the decision process.

So, after working a 60-hour week (actually, it came out to 70 hours if one counts my commute), I staggered out of bed Friday afternoon, “packed” my bag and stumbled out the door.  Portland is normally a 3.5 hour drive, 4 with potty breaks.  It took me no less than six hours to get to Wilsonville due to Portland Rush Hour traffic.  Honestly, I think if I had the money, I would have flown.  $150 round-trip airfare would have been a small price to pay for not having my bladder trying to explode on me while stuck on the I-5 interchange.  Even then, I managed to beat Rabbitch to the hotel (she was slammed with Seattle traffic).  The kindly folks took pity on me after Rabbitch called to ask them to let me in the room.  I was able to get some Decent Coffee and a wee kip before meeting her.  I was rumpled and exhausted and a bit unstead on my pins, but I wil never forget her crossing the parking lot laden with wine, fruit, cheese, and about 3lbs of roving (she calls it a bribe) for me.  We settled in to the evening with aforementioned repast.  I think we got to bed about 1am (we’re both night owls, so getting up “early” can be interesting at best).

Morning came, breakfast was had.  I discovered that I packed rather poorly.  The only shirt I had was the one I was wearing when I got there.  The jeans I chose were on their way to being too big; by the end of Saturday I was desperately trying NOT to have a wardrobe malfunction.  We went to Target hoping for some inexpensive basic clothing.  Wow, total fail.  Never shopping at Target again.  Not a single pair of trousers or jeans to fit me (they were either too short, way too short, too small, or too large), and the tops were sleazy at best.  I picked up a basic t-shirt in the men’s department and called it good.

We finally made it to the Clackamas County Fairgrounds at around 1pm. We went into the animal barn first.  Not five minutes and we found some lovely alpaca 2nds (neck wool) for $5 a bag.  Score!  I haven’t worked with alpaca much, and since I’m finding commercially processed top a bit of a disappointment (there are exceptions to this), working from raw product has been the way to go lately.

We wander some more amongst the sheep & goats & alpacas.  Oohing and aahing over the longwool breeds.  They had Lincolns, Wensleydales, Leicesters of all sorts, and Gotlands.  OMG, the Gotlands.  Massive silver curled rams.  Simply gorgeous.  There were Ouessant sheep which were pixie like compared to the 300lb Ram in the neighboring pen.  Spirited & sweet shetlands; a few even from the flock where my Shetland fleeces were obtained.  One of the shetland ewes REALLY loved having her jaw scratched.  I think I stood there for five minutes giving her lots of  love while she chewed her cud.   Navajo Churro and Jacob were well represented as well.  I was able to meet the Shepherdess from Kenleigh Acres from whose “Chevelle” produced my beloved lilac Jacob fleece.  It was really wonderful to meet the other people on the end of splendid transactions.

Typical alpaca pose:   food hanging out of mouth.

Big Romney Ram

Wee little Ouessant sheep

Another big Ram - this one’s a Gotland Cross (IIRC)

Then, my phone rang.  It was Franklin Habit.

I’m totally NOT joking.  See, Rabbitch & Franklin are friends.   I squeaked and handed the phone to Rabbitch.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around with Franklin and Kristin Spurkland.  Kristin is a lovely knitwear designer from the Portland area.  Her most recent book is “The Knitting Man(ual)”  I think I may have to get a copy, since I live with a Man who likes handknits.  Seems appropriate!

We sat and knat and spun and had a wonderful time.  I met up with one of my local knitting group friends (Hi Linda!) and I was sucessfull in locating a Kundert Spindle for her.  They are my hands-down favorite affordable spinning tool, and I wanted her to start out right, and for less than a tank of gas.

I didn’t do a whole lot of shopping.  There were only a few things on my list:  Lisa Souza, a full sized Jenkin’s Turkish Spindle, some brown corriedale top, and a fringe twister.  The last on the list can wait, as it’s pretty low-priority.  I’m probably going to pick one up in advance of the Holiday Weaving I have in mind.

I got meet Lisa Souza AND pick up two bumps of some gorgeous SW BFL in “Chaparrel”

Sunday was pretty low-key.  My breakfast made a hasty exit about 30 minutes after ingesting, and the last two days was catching up with me.  Sciatica’s a bitch, let me tell you.  I found the brown corriedale at Crown Mountain Fibers.  It’ll be blended with some handpainted corrie.  Think of it as “cutting” the good stuff with filler.  The filler is just as nice, but just not flaming orange.

I seemed to take many pictures of goats.  This fellow has had his picture splattered all over the internet by OFFF attendees.  It’s kind of funny seeing all his pics around.

This fellow was so beautiful, I would love to have fiber goats some day (it would be another life, as I bought property inside city limits…)  Or perhaps just some goats I can visit often.

I leave you with one of my favorite pictures from the weekend:  Franklin testing out some glass knitting needles w/ handspun.  Probably doesn’t get much better than that!

In the interest of “content”, I present the December 2008 Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club offering of “Champagne”. Domestic wool blend.

I carded the top into batts, then spun it woolen for approximately 424 yards averaging 14 wpi (varying from way-too-thin to aran). 5 oz. I’m supposed to get 8 oz each shipment, so I’m hoping there’s a lost spindle with a bunch of this stuff wrapped around it buried in a box somewhere.

Before!

and as yarn:

There’s also been some weaving and knitting going on in between plumbing dramas at Chez Purlhood.

The latest scarf off the rigid heddle loom. Socks that Rock Lightweight as warp and Cascade Heritage Sock as weft.

The knitting?  Right, no pictures available for that.  We’ve entered Winter Gift Knitting Season.