sweaters

little ones. without arm holes.

well, that might not be entirely accurate. they do have spout holes.

For no particular reason I became inspired to get working on my teapot sweaters this week. Of five pots, two are now cozy. And the great thing about it? They neither take a lot of time nor yarn. I just might get all five done before December 5.

less than a month now

The official countdown begins, although I’m not officially counting down. My grandmother sent up the cake-topper from her wedding over 50 years ago. I’m not sure I’ll be putting it at the top of my cupcake tower, but it will definitely be present.

The lady appears to be missing a bit of her chin.

wedding bells news

It’s happening in just less than two months. I’m glad I’ve had this time to mentally prepare and whatnot. Pennsic was a bit of a road block to a lot of our preparations, but with that out of the way, we’ve moved forward successfully. The day after we returned home from Pennsic, we spent the entire day rearranging the furniture in Rich’s apartment. He takes his couch/futon to camp, so we wanted to take advantage of the living room being mostly empty. We’ve made room for some of my furniture which consists only of one chair, a coffee table, and spinning wheels.

As for planning the wedding itself, we had nearly everything taken care of before Pennsic except for a photographer. It was really difficult to find someone who was available and affordable. I didn’t think we’d get out without spending at least $1,000. However, through the grapevine, we reconnected with someone I knew from high school. She actually remembered me from when she worked there. We’re going to have a video done too, which I hadn’t considered before. And in a week or so we’ll meet with the caterer to discuss menu and cake!

Just a few days ago I finally decided on a head-topper. I really liked the look of the birdcage veils or little hat/veil thing rather than a large fluffy veil. My mom put together a few different things, but I just felt uncomfortable. In the end I decided on a birdcage attached to a headband since I have short hair and combs do NOT stay in! I found it at [Psalm117]

Also, I purchased an overnight carrying case to use as a card box from [Great Lakes Vintage], another Etsy shop. It’s actually a lot bigger than I had anticipated, even though I had a measuring tape in from of me at time of purchase. At the end of the night, I can just close the box and take it home! And then it’s reusable later. I’m not into this single-purpose-chatchka-lying-around-the house business.

rambling… sometimes you just gotta

I think I’m in chug-along mode. As in once every few weeks I dye a few pounds of wool. Each Wednesday I make an update to the etsy shop. During the week I spin a few skeins of yarn. In between I knit along on a project of mild interest. Tuesday evenings I weave a little more on the woolly bum cushions. I suppose some would call it a “rut”, but I feel like I’ve finally got a handle on my organization!

This weekend I’m picking up a few new fleeces from a local Ohio farm. When I spent my whole day in a fiber room at Masque a few weeks ago, I played with some great Icelandic wool and decided I needed some at home. So I chose two Icelandic fleeces and another that is a cross-breed. I’m excited to have some new additions to the pile. Plus I bought some wool scour last year at Rhinebeck and still haven’t tried it!!

I think we’ve decided to attend Rhinebeck again this year, but not Maryland. I haven’t been to Maryland yet, but I like the idea of going to Great Lakes in May and New York in October. I’m not sure I could manage to giant wool festivals in one year – or two in May. I’m easily intimidated. Plus I like to participate in the skein competition, drop off fleeces and buy from certain farms at the Great Lakes show.

After making that second teapot sweater and getting such a positive response, I’ve decided for sure to sell them this winter at my yearly show. I’m going to start buying teapots at flea markets and thrift stores, knit accessories for them, and sell it as a whole package. Weee! It’s like neckwarmers without having to hear from whiney customers about how wool is itchy and this or that is too small. Ha.

the same, but not

As you can probably guess, I’m very excited about my newly acquired spinning skills. For so long I was spinning all fibers and all preparations the same way and feeling very poorly about it. Then I met with Cosy and she shared her SOAR knowledge. Wow! I’ve been feverishly spinning worsted yarns like mad and I am loving the results.

I realized I had an excellent example of the differences between spinning techniques and preps. My Columbia fleece from the county fair was returned to me in excellent condition at the beginning of January. I love you Zeilinger’s!

Here are three yarns made from the same fleece. For each one I used a different combination of prep/spinning style. It’s quite interesting to visually see the differences between the yarns based on those two variables. These are in chronological order starting with the oldest. Neat, eh?

“Warm and Savory”. Flicked locks, spun woolen

“Lilac Sprig”. Carded roving, spun woolen

“Raspberry Truffle”. Carded roving, spun worsted

christmas knitting still!

Surprisingly I’m getting my Christmas knitting done. I have two more projects that are about half finished; one is a pair of fingerless mitts for Rich’s dad and the other is the scarf I started months ago for my mom. That is the one I’m thinking of wrapping incomplete. Cheryl says it’s okay! Otherwise I’m making good progress.

I dyed some more fiber, using up the last of my BFL. Must reorder again. Perhaps in the future I ought to buy a larger quantity. These two balls are 6 ounces each. I wanted to follow Cosy’s lead and try spinning 4 ounces and then plying 2 of different colorways. They both contain a bit of the same blue. It’s so hard for me to ply a yarn with another yarn rather than plying it back on itself. I like to keep things pure. But besides the option of interesting color combos, I’ve decided I’m getting tired of winding all that yarn into a center-pull ball!

expanding my options

This weekend Cosy came to Y-town for a visit – actually she was going up to the Cleve for a craft show and decided to stay with me – and it was super fun! Usually when I’m in Pittsburgh for spinning group there are more people and lots of things going on, so we don’t get a chance to chat. But we spent all day Friday spinning and dyeing and knitting. She shared her SOAR notes with me and now I am finally beginning to see the difference between “woolen” and “worsted” spinning.

Often she mentions my natural way of spinning because it is not her natural method. But sitting side by side, we were able to note and name the differences. I am a woolen spinner and now I can do worsted as well! I had no idea it was literally squeezing out the air. That sounds really strange, but frankly, I think that’s all there is to it. We also worked on the long draw, which should help me get better fine yarns.

After lunch I got out some BFL and my dyes and we discussed that for a little bit too. It was hilarious as she literally had to yell at me to do something different. “Don’t add water! Don’t spread that around!” It was so hard NOT to do what I normally do, but I wanted to try something new.

I’m excited to continue experimenting and using her suggestions. We’ll see what comes out in the next few months. I really need to order some massive amounts of fiber! I’m also planning a destash that will include undyed wool locks and cones of weaving yarn, so be on the look out for that. It will probably occur after Christmas!

a random assortment of things

Wow! I am really impressed with the response I’ve gotten in regards to my Blogiversary giveaway. The winner will be chosen this weekend, so you’ve still got time to enter.

Being a recent college graduate, I’m finding that this is an annoyingly transitional time in my life. On my list of things to do: Get a job, buy a new car, move out of my parents house, get on with my life. Well, at least I can say one of those things can be checked off the list!

My shiny new Buick Century. I was very excited because it only had 60,000 miles on it (compared to my previous vehicle’s 180,000); also, the turn signals worked, the electrical bits hadn’t fried, it didn’t make any scary noises, the bottom wasn’t rusted out, it had a rear window defroster… I’m rather easy to please when it comes to cars. Especially after you’ve been driving something blah. And it has mint green dashboard lights! teehee.

Yesterday, since my mom was home from work, we finally decided what to do with my Pennsic beads. I’m not a jewelry person – I don’t wear it or design it or think about it much. But for whatever reason, I do lots of things in the SCA that I wouldn’t do anywhere else. We strung these beads to “nest” meaning each is a different length and they all sit together very nicely. I told her what I wanted them to look like, and she put them together. I must say, my favorite is the light green jade. Same color as my Pyrex! I can’t wait to wear them this weekend.

And last but not least, some yarn. I bought this fiber last year at Pennsic, but I couldn’t bring myself to spin it. I do that all the time. It’s weird, I know. I’ve been working on spinning finer, so that’s what I did with this. I thought I did a pretty good job, but looking at this photo, it looks pretty uneven. I still have quite a bit of it left and I was thinking of doing a singles yarn next. I love how the colors stayed so vibrant. Most of the time when I spin my handdyed fiber it turns all pale and bland.

whiskers’ big day out

Sunday afternoon I got the bright idea that I would haul Whiskers (the drumcarder) out onto the back porch and revisit batts. All summer I’ve been staring at him feeling very guilty for not taking advantage of the awesome free machine that I was given. That plus my new fleece inspired me to go for it. This time I flick-carded the locks before sending them through the drumcarder and it made a huge difference. Mostly I worked with the Columbia fleece, adding bits of mohair into it as well (Heathered Plum). The other batts consist of mystery wool and mohair (Soda Fountain); Indiana wool and poodle (small pink batt). I realized that it’s best to always have things on hand and ready to go when you need them. Now I’ll dye more locks and flick-card them during my free time so they’ll be available.

Also, thanks to those you have taken part in the giveaway from my last post. The winner will be chosen next Saturday, so you still have time to get in!

1. Flick-carded, 2. ready for action!, 3. in progress, 4. in progress, 5. cranking, 6. in progress, 7. in progress, 8. exhausted, 9. finished batts, 10. heathered plum, 11. soda fountain, 12. batts

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

one year anniversary!

I wasn’t paying attention and almost missed my Blog’s One Year Anniversary! That would have been a sad day indeed. Let us revisit my first post dated September 6, 2007:

Some time ago I made an attempt to create a “fiber specific” blog. Unfortunately I was again disappointed with the lack of interest. This is probably because I am not intriguing and at the same time I hunger for attention and approval. Yes, it’s dumb, I know. So, we’ll give it a second go.  

Hm. Well, I must say that this second attempt has been vastly more successful than the first. Between that first fiber blog, which began and fizzled in early 2006, and this one, I realized that it requires quite a bit of effort on my part to make this something substantial. In order to attract readers, it is necessary to comment in other blogs and become a presence online. Being a member of Ravelry, Flickr, Facebook, Livejournal, Etsy, webrings, and other groups has made me much more visible to the public. 

I would like to thank my regular commenters/readers, occasional visitors, lurking secret readers, spontaneous arrivals, and all those blogs who have linked to me. I really appreciate your interest in my quirky little life and what I am doing with it. Having the opportunity to network and make new friends has been great. Sometimes I get very discouraged working alone in my house feeling small and unimportant, but knowing that there are people out there who are following my story really inspires me! Thank you!

Love, Gwen

Anniversary Giveaway!

Answer the following questions and leave as a comment in this post. I will randomly select one response and that person will receive a package of goodies from me. Winner will be selected September 13, 2008.

1. Name:
2. Location:
3. Years knitting/spinning:
4. Personal project you are most proud of:
5. How you found this blog:
6. Visit my Warm and Woolly collection on Flickr, find your favorite project and say what you like about it: