Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Holiday Batts!


I've been diligently carding batts upon batts for both my intermediate spinning class, and my giant Brains & Beauty Yarn holiday stocking at L&B Yarn Co. in Norman, OK.  I will have handdyed combed top, self-striping kits, and batts for sale through the holiday season.  Here's a taste:




I've got one more session each of Beginning Spindling, Intermediate Spinning/Planning Your Yarn, and Learning to Fix Your Mistakes classes coming up between now and the beginning of Dec.

I will also be teaching a limited class series designed around both knitting with handspun yarn, and knitting last-minute gifts for the holidays.  Keep an eye on L&B's class schedule for details.  

If you're already signed up for Intermediate spinning, there will be mini-batts involved!  If you're not signed up, but you'd like to be, contact L&B, I think there's one more spot in Saturday's session.  

/self-promotion.








Tuesday, October 26, 2010

For never was a story of more woe...

....that that of this darn sweater!  Okay, I realize it's not the most clever blog post ever, but the tragedy here is extreme.  And for all of you at home, muttering to yourself about my tendency toward hyperbole...shut up.

It began with the purchase of THIS yarn on a trip out to Minot, ND to visit my brother and She-to-Whom-He's-FINALLY-Proposed (yay!)  And continued with an awesome sweater pattern by the talented Ms. Ysolda Teague.   At first there was much rejoicing, although rather less eating of minstrels.


What you can't tell from the horrible photography, is that this sweater is the most perfect heathery-purply-dark-pink.  It has a lovely wooly hand and terrific structure in the knitted fabric.  It's not scratchy at all, despite not being the softest yarn ever, and is, in short, the perfect marriage of material to pattern.  

What you CAN tell from the above photograph is that I suck at taking my own self seriously.  Notice the way the back of the sweater is twice the size of the front?  Yeah, the back is 4 sizes too big...and the front is a size too small.  Allow me to digress... I teach (frequently, actually) a class at my local yarn store, cleverly entitled: Fixing Your Mistakes.  In this class, I admonish EVERYONE to ALWAYS make a gauge swatch AND to WASH and BLOCK that swatch BEFORE embarking on large scale knitting adventures.  Heck, I even believe in swatching!  It's not empty sermons week after week, I'm preaching the good word of kntting!!  Aparently, I am only preaching, and not doing anything resembling listening.  

I knit a quick swatch for this project, got a rough idea of gauge, and - upon reading that this pattern grows enormously in length, thus shrinking slightly in width - set out upon my merry way figuring I had mostly the right size.  Notice all the imprecise language in that sentence?  Yeah, well, it leads to imprecise gauge, which leads to yet another freaking sweater that doesn't fit!!  ARRRGH!  Seriously, you'd think I'd learn.  It's not like I haven't done this before.  And no, we're not going to talk about it.  All we'll say is that my previous attempts, while in no way resembling the sweater I intended to knit, have found good homes nonetheless.  This thought will sustain me as I rip this latest abomination back to whence in came.  

Take THAT, sweater curse!  Maybe my relationship with sweater knitting is star-cross'd and ill-fated.  Sweaters are stupid anyway.  

So...I started a vest!  See?


That's Milly.  Isn't she beautiful?  I'm in love with the latticework pattern.  It's just the right amount of delicate and interesting.  The yarn is pretty fabulous, too.  This humble vest marks the first time I've ever used the recommended yarn for a pattern.  

Milly is designed by none other than Ms. Linden Down, whose patterns trend heavily toward the classic and elegant.  They all look like something Audrey Hepburn would wear, and are flattering in such a way that they will make you look like Audrey Hepburn.   I love pretty much everything she's designed, and her patterns are well-written.  (Linden and are are secretly forming a mutual-admiration society.  I should probably tell her...)  This particular pattern is a little involved, and may or may not have been ripped back twice in the same evening before I decided that I really should pay attention.  We shall not speak of gauge.  

Lastly, seeing as I have decided to forever put aside the knitting of sweaters, this is probably not the droid you're looking for.  


At least it's pretty...







Friday, October 22, 2010

Yarn and an Earthquake!

Isn't it endearing how I throw caution to the wind, and title so many of my blog posts to end with an exclamation point!  Apparently, I'm rather excited - and on a regular basis - in text.

Moving on.  

We had an earthquake last week!  It was only a modest 4.3, but our house has seen better days (it was built in the 50's by the lowest bidder) and got a little stressed out.  We've had some hairline cracks in our walls for awhile, but the earthquake opened up quite a few new ones, and expanded some old ones enough to make me nervous.  

See?


And here...


And the Mack Daddy! (<--that's way funnier if you read it in your best Hank Hill voice, but really, aren't most things?)


I called our property management company to come check it out, and make sure my house isn't going to fall down around me.  They sent out a very nice duo of maintenance guys, who hemmed and hawed and agreed that yes, those were some mighty impressive cracks.  And then they got out their spackle and some paint and filled 'em right in!  Well, at least now they look good.  

We're relatively sure our house won't fall to rubble anytime in the near future.  All the big cracks are along lines of obvious stress that have been spackled and painted over probably dozens of times.  Really.  You can't tell from the photos, but this house has been painted so many times, we joke that all the rooms are actually 6 inches wider and longer than they look.  The cracked placed stand out at least another quarter inch from all the layers of "fixing" over the years.  Poor old house.  

And now for yarn!!!  I've been spinning like a fiend lately.  First there was a trip to Yarn School in Harveyville, KS with a dear friend.  We had a blast, and learned more than we each thought it was possible to know about dyeing and spinning and carding and combing and..... Unfortunately, my chronic lack-of-picture-taking disorder was in high gear and I have nary a shot of Yarn school to share.  But, I do have yarn!

Here is my Hello Yarn Corriedale in "Brittle" that was my bonus for bringing my own wheel.  It might actually be my favorite handspun EVER.  You can tell by the capslock that I'm serious. 

Next up is a batt I spun.  It was my first installment of the talented Josette's HappyHooves Batt Club.  This was a luscious batt, with just the right amount of sparkle.  Keep in mind my picture taking disease and you'll understand why there's no "before" shot.  Certain almost-five-year-olds may or may not have claimed this for "sparkly socks."  They'll probably show up in her Christmas stocking.  


This is a truly awful photo of a truly beautiful yarn.  Hello Yarn Corriedale in "Grouch."  I think I'm on a corriedale kick lately.  I'm also on a sock kick, and they were made for each other.  This may become knee socks if I can ever overcome my fear of calf-shaping.  Sigh....


Lastly is Hello Yarn Targhee in "Parritch."  This is one of the prettiest colorways I've every seen.  It's so subtle and soft.  One of my fellow yarnschoolers wore a seriously clever cowl to breakfast one morning. I spun this Targhee super-bulky in an attempt to recreate said cowl.  As soon as I'm done, I'll post the details.  


There was also a sweater disaster of which I'm not ready to speak.  And a cowl to make up for it.  And a vest that may be my new obsession.  Stay tuned!







Thursday, October 7, 2010

For Katherine

Alternate Title: The Weirdest Thing I Do (in public)



I won't go into details, but some time ago I started sewing cloth menstrual pads.  (if this is an indication that you'd like to skip this post - now is the time :)  We cloth diapered the kids, and I made lots of those, so mamapads (or mamacloth, mooncloth what have you) didn't really seem either all that hard, or much of a stretch.   I won't go into the numerous benefits of cloth for women, but if you're interested there is lots of information out there.

In any case, I started making them for friends, and eventually for actual paying customers.  It's been a pretty successful little side business and I really enjoy it.  I love knitting around and around in a circle, and these pads seem to be my sewing equivalent of that.

I've recently had a good friend ask me how I make them.  They're super-easy, and ripe for upcycling.  Frequently I use old t-shirts.  Although, let's be fair, I use either old t-shirts, or my husband's old pants, to make just about everything.

So, here's a down-and-dirty How To Sew Your Own Cloth Pads Tutorial.  You don't even need a serger,  which is a bonus as I don't have one.

Final note:  These pads in the tutorial are NOT the same as the pads I sell.  The ones for sale use organic cotton batting for the inners and tend to be a bit softer and a bit more absorbent.  But, the ones pictured below work just fine.

Step 1: Amass your materials.  This can involve something as simple as raiding your things-nobody-wears-anymore stash.  You need things that are 95-100% cotton.  T-shirts with a bit of spandex or lycra are fine, but I wouldn't use them as the very top layer.  In this picture (left to right, top to bottom) I've got a circle of purple Malden Mills Fleece, a pink hooded baby towel, some blue knit fabric scraps, some light pink microfleece, a red t-shirt, and some tiger print Minkee.



Step 2: Don't try to figure out what's written on the t-shirt, it's an inside joke...and only part of one.   I'm laying out all my materials (with the exception of the bottom, water-resistant layer) in a big sandwich. I've cut the bottom off the t-shirt to make it easier to work with.  There's also a layer of the blue knit fabric under the t-shirt.


Lay your materials out in the order you want them stacked, bottom layer on the bottom. Top layer on the top.  Par example:

________________   <---- microfleece/cotton bamboo/or Minkee (this layer can also be just cotton)
________________  <----- t-shirt layer
________________  <----- t-shirt layer
________________  <----- t-shirt layer

You can put anything that's 100% cotton as the absorbent "t-shirt" layer, and use as many absorbent layers as you wish.  You will have to sew through all these layers at the same time, so be a little cautious.   3 or 4 layers of cotton will do a LOT of absorbing.

Step 3:  Trace your pattern.  And by pattern, I mean a commercial pad, or an elongated oval you've cut out of a paper bag.  I'm using a pad I made awhile ago.  I also have paper patterns all over the place.  Don't make them too wide or they'll just bunch up when you use them.  3 inches across is plenty.  Make them as long as you want.  I like to have a variety of long and shorter ones at my disposal.  The length will be 100% personal preference.



Step 4:   Pin your layers together.  I have a walking foot on my sewing machine, so I only use a couple pins.  If you don't have a walking foot, I'd use way more pins to keep all the layers where you want them.



Step 5:  Set your needle all the way to the left position.  You want your sewing foot to be centered on the black tracing line (I used a sharpie to trace mine) but you want the seam to be a bit INSIDE the tracing line.  Sew all the way around like this with a basic straight stitch.


Step 6:  When you've sewn all the way around the outside of your oval, use that seam as a guide and sew another oval about an inch (give or take) inside that one.   Getting the curves to look good is more art than science.  Don't worry if they're wonky, wonky works just as well.


Step 7:  Carefully cut your ovals out along the black line, leaving just a fraction of an inch of fabric outside your outer seam.



Step 8:  Set your machine to the widest zigzag stitch, decreasing the stitch length slightly, and zigzag over the entire edge of your oval.  This will give you a nice finished edge.  If you've used all knit and fleece fabric, your materials won't fray in the wash.  If you've used any flannel, you may get some stray threads out the sides the first couple of times you wash.  They usually pull right out, or clip off easily - no worries.



Step 8:  Moisture-proofing.  You have many many many options for this step.  Lots of people like to sew on a Polyurethane Laminate (PUL) backing.  I don't like PUL because it doesn't breathe.  I like fleece.  A lot.  I've used all kinds of fleece.  Usually, a good microfleece works just fine as a moisture barrier.  (if your pads are leaking through the back, you're wearing them too long)  I've also used Malden Mills fleece (both 100 and 200 wt.) which is lovely.  Cheap anti-pill fleece from the fabric store works too, it just doesn't usually look as nice, and can be a little bulky.

The easiest way to make a backing is to cut a circle of fleece, attach your pad at the top and bottom (use more zigzag stitch,) and you're done.  They're a bit bulky this way, but hoo-BOY are they full coverage. Lay the pad in your unders, tuck the flaps down the sides of the crotch, pull and go.  If the flaps are a bit much, feel free to trim them down a bit.


Alternately, I've been known to pin my pads to a large piece of fleece, zigzag around the whole thing, and cut them out carefully, adding little wings in the process.   Like so (these are some of my very first pads - don't judge!)


You can vary the size and shape according to your wants/needs.  This one below is a post-partum/overnight pad.  I think the backing for this one is a thrifted fleece jacket.  



That's really, truly, all there is to it.  You'll be surprised at how comfortable these are.  You can use microfleece, microsuede, or Minkee as a top layer if you'd like a bit more of a stay-dry feeling.  All those fabrics are 100% polyester and non-absorbent.  Moisture flows through them and is collected in the cotton layers.  Minkee is downright heavenly for post-partum use.  Oh yeah. 

And, since that entire post wasn't revealing enough, I'll leave you with a couple pictures of custom pads I've made and sold!




Happy Sewing!







Saturday, August 14, 2010

Oh! Poor Neglected Blog!

You're not going to get much love today, either.  The Tour de Fleece was a rousing success on my end....for about a week.  Then I went on vacation, then I hurt my back, then I had surgery.  Whew!  It's been a big summer.  Once things are a little more normal around here I will be returning with thrilling tales of new business ventures, new craft obsessions, more yarn photos, and words to go with it all!

Until then, here's the finish line photo from my little part of the Tour.  That's a pound of SuperYarn, 8oz of Spunky Eclectic "Field of Screams" (possibly my favorite yarn ever,) 4oz of Hello Yarn "grunge" half-knitted into a Baktus, and about a pound and a half of 1oz samples for the aforementioned business venture.  Stay Tuned!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

The Tour...

...or as they say in more than one place we've lived: the turr.

Once again, I'm participating in fiber-centric games on Ravelry.  This time its the Tour de Fleece.  The basic premise is that roughly 1300 spinners have decided to spin every day the tour rides.  The idea is to challenge yourself, expand your horizons, and to do something amazing.

I spun an obscene amount in the first few days of the tour.


4oz. "Cauldron" by Hello Yarn, singles




BlueMeany Laceweight singles, carded by yours truly




8oz. "Field of Screams" by Spunky Eclectic




8oz. "Field of Screams" plied (left) and 8oz. "SuperYarn" plied (right - it's one ply "Cauldron" and one ply "Garland")


And then the night photos began.  This is the only one with which I'll torture you right now.  Understand that the *yarn* is nice, it's just the *photo* that's terrible.  



4oz. "Grunge" by Hello Yarn

Then there was the most fun girls' weekend in Washington, and a back injury...both of which have slowed my progress.  I'm also working on a somewhat-secret project that I hope to have descriptions and pictures of here in the next few weeks.  And it involves roughly 3 lbs of fiber!

Stay tuned...

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Socks of Joy and cleverness!

I'm slightly obsessed with socks.  I think they're somehow the epitome of knitting.  As if, once you knit socks, you've finally arrived.  Keep in mind I only started to feel this way after I figured out how to knit socks, but I digress...

The benevolence and patience that is my husband, tells people he knows when I'm knitting socks because my language takes a turn for the worse.  Heels in particular make me cuss.

These are some of my early attempts.  They all have their little flaws, but I love them because I made them.  All by myself!  The obnoxious pink and purple one is from my very first pair.



Now, this next pair is a stroke of self-proclaimed genius on my part.  I won't tell you how much I paid for the sock yarn in question, because you will fall over.  What I WILL tell you is that I will never buy this yarn again.  I walked through the heels of these socks on their very second outing.  Since this is some of the prettiest yarn to which I've ever succumbed, to say I was upset doesn't quite cover it. 

Enter Handspun Yarn ex Machina!  The new heels on these socks are handspun, navajo-plied Wensleydale.  Wensleydale is a coarser wool than you'd ever buy in a commercial garment.  Its staple length (the length of the individual hairs) is roughly 8 inches, categorizing this as a longwool.  Merino, by comparison, has a staple length of around 1-1.5 inches.  The long long staple length of the Wensleydale means that it will wear like iron.  The heels of these socks will probably be unearthed, in totally wearable condition, by archeologists after Battlestar Galactic becomes our Bob Dylan soundtracked future.   In short - I'm awesome and these heels please me to no end.  



Lastly, we have a heavenly slice of someone else's genius.  These are knit from self-striping, self-patterning yarn, handdyed by The Painted Tiger.  They are brilliant!  I'd lost my knitting mojo (knit-jo?) for a couple weeks, until I saw this yarn.  It's so not me, I tend to hate self-patterning sock yarn, but I could not resist this particular siren's song.  I took this picture approximately one and one-half days after the yarn arrived at my door.  Bliss.


Now, tell me, doesn't that make you want to knit socks, too?  


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Sampling

I'm usually too much of a weenie to do any sampling when I spin.  I don't want to waste a single gram of my delicious handdyed fibers.  Ironically, fabulously handdyed fibers are generally the ones that would benefit the most from sampling.

As I'm still learning how to photograph things before I start deconstructing them, there are very few beginning-of-this-project pictures in this post.

If you'll recall the singles mentioned in THIS post however, we'll get off to a decent start.


These singles are Targhee wool in "Garland" from my Hello Yarn fiber club April shipment.  They are bright and happy and wonderful, but I only have 8oz. and I'd really like to stretch it as far as possible.  

My May shipment of club fiber is a luminously sinister set of colors in "Cauldron," also 8oz.  




I really wanted to combine the two - mainly because that way I'd end up with almost a pound of the same yarn, but also because I've been dying to blend up two colorways and see what happens.    I asked the wise yarn sages over at ravelry and was informed that it would either be a brilliant pairing or a muddy mess.  Ugh.  

I braided the two colorways together (you're going to have to take my word for this as there were no photographs taken,) and asked the long-suffering Mr. YarnMadeMe for his opinion.  His answer of "I have no idea, you're the yarn expert" was both flattering and totally unhelpful.  

This is where sampling comes in.  I split each long strip of roving into six (more or less) equal widths and spun one long strip of each color, plus another half ounce of "Garland" on it's own.  



The horribly edited photo above is fairly representative of the outcome.  The skein on the left is 1ply each of "Garland" and "Cauldron."  The skien on the right is "Garland" alone.  While I'm completely in love with "Garland" all by its vibrant lonesome, I love the blended skein enough that it's where I'm headed next in the particular yarn adventure.  

Stay tuned for picture of a POUND OF SUUUUUUUUPERYARN!!  Dun dun dun!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Batts in the Belfry...

I have not been able to get these batts off my mind.  Apparently, this state of affairs gives me corny post titles.  I'm going to run with it. 


I'm hoping to participate in this years Tour de Fleece on Ravelry.  The basic premise is to set a spinning goal for yourself, and spin towards it every day that the tour rides - ostensibly watching the tour now and again.  There are teams to join.  I'm on Team Rookie and Team Monkey Farts, which is the Spunky Eclectic team, named after a favorite colorway.  The entire endeavor is basically a loosely organized, free for all, with prizes.  

In any case, I would like to try my hand at laceweight yarn, having never spun it on purpose.  I have big plans for a ginormous circular shawl, on which I can knit all summer, that will be light enough knitting for when it is 100 degrees outside.  We all know what they say about good intentions, so let's just watch this particular project out of the corners of our eyes, shall we?

The idea for this shawl was born of the most spectacularly blue fiber ever, dyed onto one of the scratchiest fibers ever.  So, I purchased a much softer blue fiber to go with it, hoping to end up with a heathered yarn that wouldn't tone down that magnificent cobalt too much.




Yes, intrepid readers, we're back to night-time photography!  The big twist of fiber in the foreground is the beloved blue.  The mess in the background is my concession to wearability.  In more technical terms, the cobalt fiber is 8oz of Norwegian Wool in "Violet Beauregard" by Spunky Eclectic, and the lighter fiber is 4oz. of Corriepaca (corriedale/alpaca blend) in "Blue Moon"  




I hated to tone down the brilliance of "violet" too much so I split up the fiber into 2:1 ratio and prepped it for the carder.  Each batt is two layers of "blue moon" alternated with 3 layers of "violet."  Nevermind the seemingly incompatible math, the fiber ratios are the same, I promise.  The "blue moon" layers are just thinner than the "violet" layers.  See?  My brain isn't completely gone.  




For a truly heathered batt, I'd need to run these through a couple more times, but now I'm looking forward to a bit of striping.  We'll just have to see.  

Don't check back for updates, just let them flow.  We don't want to jinx it.  Y'all know you're just here for my fabulous photography anyway.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Nancy's Shawl(ette)

A co-worker of mine is retiring this year.  She's spent her victory lap keeping me sane.  Since she's moving, in addition to moving on, I thought a Traveling Woman shawl would be appropriate.  This is designed so that she can throw it on and go.  I hope she loves it.



You'll have to forgive the exhausted nature of this post.  The school year ends June 1st, after which you can expect me to collapse, and THEN recommence blogging with a bit more energy.  Until then, here's a few more photos.






Told you there'd be more photos of my fence!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Spinning from the last couple weeks

First up, the penultimate skein from our colorwheel project!  It's 100% corridale wool.  This is the skein from the crockpot.  I have yet to spin the top from the oven.


It's not exactly what I'd envisioned, but I think I like it.  The Monster is completely enamored.  I think I'll try and crochet it into a Queen Anne's Lace Scarf for her.  All 4 year olds need wild scarves.

Next is a skein I spun for a co-worker.  She's retiring this year and is a knitter!  She and I have plans to hang out next year and knit.  It's always nice to make things for people who understand them. 


The top was Spunky Eclectic's "Chocolate Covered Cherries" colorway.  I didn't think I'd like it as much as I do.  I'm hoping it has enough red in it for Jane.  

This next skein is for She To Whom He'd Best Propose (aka - my baby brother's girlfriend.)  She's completed her commitment to the United Stated Air Force and should have more free time on her hands in the coming months.  Also, she crochets.  You see why He'd Best Propose?  


The top was also Spunk Eclectic, in the Feb '09 club colorway of "New Day."  Not only are the colors something I think she'll like, but the name kinda fits.  I love it when yarn comes together!

Lastly we have Spunky Eclectic Nov '09 club colorway "Istanbul Sunset."  I'm not actually a walking advertisement for Spunky Amy, I just have a LOT of her stuff.  And I like her.  And she's great.  Okay, maybe I'm a bit of an advertisement.  But in a good way, so it's okay. 


Hopefully, this skein will allow me to complete my Tappan Zee cardigan.  I'm doing evenly spaced rows of yarn overs instead of the diamond motif.  The lace was getting overwhelmed by the yarn.  My way is much better.  I promise to post pics when it's all done. 

Only two and half more weeks of school!