thin and thick

I’m so please with this yarn. It’s part of my “spinning finer” series and the wrapping in plastic wrap and microwaving experiment. I’m feeling more comfortable spinning fine, but that dyeing method didn’t quite do it for me. I do enjoy these colors immensely, but it didn’t really do what I was expecting. All the colors still blended together. 

100% Bluefaced Leicester
Handdyed using Wiltons icing dyes
Spun from these

Bliss. Handspun BFL, 166 yards, 11 wpi

My second yarn is also a 2-ply, but it couldn’t be more different from the one above. I spun it ultra-bulky and willy-nilly on the Country Spinner. I couldn’t keep focused on it long enough to spin more than a few yards, so once plied, it ended up only 15 yards. The best part, it is 3 wraps per inch! How awesomely hilarious is that? It consists of assorted natural wools (including Bluefaced Leicester X Border Leicester; Romney; Shetland; unknown wool).

 
Death by Chocolate. Handspun natural wools, 15 yards, 3 wpi

And to finish up the day, Fuzzy Booties! They’ve been done for several days, but I didn’t get to photographing them until this morning. Unfortunately the second bootie is slightly smaller than the first and I haven’t decided if I will make a third. I’d know, you know? I still have the hat to make.

i’m super hyper today!!!

Again, two unrelated subjects. First, I wanted to share this dress:

I bought it on Etsy last summer but never had the chance to wear it. It was looking like I was not going to have a chance to wear it again this summer, so I decided to wear it to work for no particular reason. It’s so much fun and definitely that weird old 60’s fabric that doesn’t feel quite natural. I can’t believe how perfectly it fits me either. I think vintage clothes work better on me than modern clothes. Were all the women petite? Did they not think everyone was 5′7″ and 105 lbs? Sensible, I’ll say.

Photos taken by Billy.

And next, check out these adorable buttons I had made! I want to specifically thank Laura who designed the graphics since I can’t make things fit in a 1 inch circle. Thank you so much Laura!! They were made at purebuttons.com and were really affordable. I wanted them to put in my etsy packages for a little something extra. So go buy something and you’ll get one!

shop update!

This is my biggest shop update yet! Nine hanks of roving. Wow. That was a relatively long and dull process… adding all of those to etsy. It gets rather tiresome near the end. All of them are either Falklands or Corriedale; most at 4 ounces, though two are less and one is more.

 
 

Here is a small selection of the nine. From left to right: “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream”, “Anthropological”, “Turkish Delight”, “Vintage Rainbow”. Please hop over to the Etsy shop and take a look. Thank you!

a new addition to the blog

Greetings, faithful viewers! I’ve started a new aspect of this little blog, suggested by none other than Richard, Mr. String, himself:

What to do with all those little pieces of string?

You will see in the navigation bar at the top of the page, “Got Bits of String?”. On that page, I have started compiling a list of various ways to use those little bits and pieces of string that we find around the house, end up with after a project, etc. I am requesting that each of my readers contributes at least one way they have found to use small pieces of string. Please leave a comment there, here, or in my inbox.

Thank you for your input!

big batch of color

Summer storms! Random and abrupt. Also abrupt: the postal system! I spent the morning knitting a wee baby booty that didn’t end up so ‘wee’. Eh, babies grow, right? And after lunch I went out to find two packages on my doorstep. One containing yarn for Knit Picks that I will neither be using nor enjoy post-knit. The other box contained four pounds of top from Hello Yarn; 2 lbs Corriedale, 2 lbs BFL. I started with the Corriedale and split one pound into four 4 ounce hanks. While I was working on that, my order from R.H. Lindsay arrived, packed in a beer box, no less. That was 2 pounds Falklands top, which I split into 4 ounce hanks also. In total I dyed 2 pounds today. The most I’ve done in one day!! I needed to do this, since I haven’t updated the shop in quite some time and everyone seems to prefer the spinning fiber rather than my yarn.

I dyed these using three different techinques. Four were done on the stove top (hot pour, suppose) with lots of water in which to slosh around. Two were done by putting them in a casserole dish and baking them. Two were done in a crockpot. The last crockpot batch is still cooking as I type this. I had a difficult time choosing colors. I see lots of orange.

countdown to time travel

With Pennsic quickly approaching – 36 days/2 hours/45 minutes/8 seconds – my priorities are shifting, which is why I shared that tunic a few days ago. I’m thinking not so much about knitting and craft sales as I am about fixing wayward garb and filling my wardrobe with hot weather friendly garments. Lately I’ve been heading in a slightly new direction or at least a more tailored look. I saw an illustration in a program of a woman standing at a cooking fire. She was wearing clothes very similar to what I like to wear, except she looked better.

Usually I wear large baggy dresses because it’s easier than making things fitted. However, it isn’t very flattering to my figure. Also, the fabric shifts around a lot and I’m always fidgeting with it. The veil I’ve been wearing is a rectangle – actually called a headrail. It constantly falls off the back of my head and the tails are always falling over my shoulders into whatever I’m working on.

Using the illustration as a guide, I made a new dress that laces in the back to make it more fitted. I also made a new two-part veil, one part being a tube that gets tucked under my chin and one part being a circle that pins to the top of my head. It might actually stay on this time! I’m quite excited to try it out in a few weeks. I’m hoping to get at least one more fitted gown finished before Pennsic, but I also need to sew a few more sleeveless dresses and overdresses so I won’t die of the heat.

Lady Genevieve at Squire’s Castle, March 2007.

look like an annoyed stallion.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think I am backtracking as far as my knitting capabilities are concerned. So many of my current projects are not getting finished; not just abandoned out of boredom, but frogged from frustration. I feel like I’m knitting quite regularly, but not getting anything accomplished. Nothing to show for my efforts. 

The mug cozy was started 3 or 4 times, but eventually given up on entirely. Sometimes projects make me so mad, I don’t want to make any attempt to finish them. Sometimes I find things half done that were completely forgotten about. I found the feather and fan test swatch this morning. It’s only a few inches long, but I needed the yarn for my weaving project, so I bound off, leaving it a useless 6 or 7 inches.  The cardigan, on the other hand, was rolling along really well. I got so much done in such a short amount of time. However, now I’m to the sleeves and it’s really annoying, not to mention I don’t know what I’m doing – when to decrease? So, it’s been stuffed in a bag and left for now.

 

On the Kromski loom I’ve got this little wooly scarf that has been laying around for months. Ok, maybe not as long as I thought. The photos were uploaded in September. You’d think in 8 months I could have finished it. But no. It’s annoying me too. I hate the way the color has turned out – you can’t see the warp threads at all! And my edges are really bad. Now I’ve got something else in mind and I want to get it off the loom. Do I cut it, ending up with lots of short lengths of string and a short, useless “scarf”? Do I rush through just to get it done? Or do I let it wallow on the loom and never get anything else accomplished? 

Well, I brought the loom to work with me this week. While gallery sitting, I’m going to get the stupid thing done! I want to wash it and see if some of the annoying parts are lessened.

the littlest fridge dish

I’ve really taken to the Pyrex refrigerator dish sets. Especially the 1.5 cup size – they are so small and adorable! So far I have one Verde in the medium size and one orange in the wee size. They both had lids. Last night at the Goodwill I found a stack of four of the smallest, none of them with lids. The yellow ones were in really good shape and priced at $2.00 a piece. The red was a little less happy and cost $1.50. I decided to buy them all.

UPDATE: After some investigating and comparing, I discovered that the yellow boxes are part of the Verde fridge set, which is neat because I have the most pieces from that collection. Now I just need the largest dish and I will have a complete set, except that I am missing the lids. They just looked so yellow, it didn’t occur to me. Awesome surprise!

My mom laughed at me when I showed them to her. I think it’s time to admit I’m becoming more of a collector and not just buy-what-you-need. How could I resist them?!

i dyed that day

And you can dye too for all I care!

I finally took advantage of a day off and dyed up my fab new snuggly locks. The green is my favorite, not surprisingly. It contains all the shades I’ve been dying for and have been unable to achieve. When I prepared the dyes, I didn’t actually mix any greens; rather, I poured yellow, gold, turquoise, and blue in separately and they all blended together in the pot. I love the results, although sometimes that blending action is really annoying. I need to work on some different dyeing methods. Even the microwave and plastic wrap gets me slushy colors.

Despite my absolute love of the green and my love of the fiber, I have listed both of these on Etsy. So, if you are interested in this wonderous fiber, please hop over to the shop and check it out. I plan on dyeing and listing more over the summer. Cheers!

Foliage. 1.5 ounces. Blue-faced Leicester X Border Leicester

Rhubarb Crisp. 2 ounces. Blue-faced Leicester X Border Leicester

a new fiber art

Sewing counts as a fiber art, right?

This weekend I attended Northern Oaken War Maneuvers and had a great time. Several friends camped with us, which made it even better. I shopped around, took a class, relaxed, got very sticky and stinky. Saturday night we had a terrific potluck feast in camp: chicken and lamb kabobs, couscous, cheese, fruit, veggies, bread, and cookies. We sat under the trees and enjoyed the sounds of a hammer dulcimer played by a fellow camper.

In my free time I hand-stitched some trim onto one of Rich’s tunics. I’d made the tunic last year some time (using a sewing machine), and after washing, the yellow fabric around the neckline began fraying. How embarrassing! I could not let him wear it until I had fixed the mistakes. So, at War Practice I bought some trim to cover up the edges of the yellow. I’d never sewed trim in a circle like that, so it was exciting. I’m very pleased with the way it turned out. Now I want trim on all my dresses!

Rickard’s tunic. Keyhole neck with new trim.

And one more thing… last weekend Thomas crawled into the window of car. He does that sometimes. I spotted him hunkered down on the floor, asleep under the peddles. He didn’t seem to mind a photo-shoot, although he woke up eventually. Someday I’m going to drive away without knowing he’s there!