Hallowe'en

Katie had a great time this Hallowe'en - birthday party on Friday, Hallowe'en party Saturday afternoon, treat or treating Saturday evening. But Sunday - fever of 102.

Playing Catch-Up

I am taking an intermediate spinning class at my LYS, Golden Willow Natural Fibres, and really enjoying it. I had thrown my older, much more portable camera into my bag of fibre weeks ago, but kept forgetting to take it out when I was at class. Last Thursday I finally remember that I had it and so I took it out to take some pictures and found that the memory card was full. There were pictures on there from over a year ago. Can you tell that I really hate that camera? If someone in the room so much as breathes funny the picture will be out of focus. But I did find a few pictures that weren't too bad.

This one of Christopher, Katie and Dallas is from last July when we were at a Saskatchewan Roughrider football game. Saskatchewan is home to the most fanatic football fans on the planet. The local saying around here is that we bleed green. Life pretty much stops in Regina when the Riders are playing. Even my 94 year old grandmother, when she was still alive, would watch the games. Instead of lullabys we sing the Rider fight song to our babies.

We love our 3-down football.

These next two pictures are from the end of August on the day before school started. It was a very hot day so we said good bye to summer with a bunch of friends at a pool and park. What I wouldn't give for some of that hot weather now.

Christopher has always been my water baby.

And finally the pictures from last weeks spinning class. The topic for the class was spinning cotton. I had a couple of "aha!" moments where all of a sudden the cotton started to spin properly, but they were few and far between. My sister Susan was having better luck with spinning cotton on her wheel with the lace flyer and bobbin attached.
Shannon, on her brand new Babe wheel.
Our class instructor, Deborah, showed us how to use a charka.
From left to right: Carol, Deborah, Shannon and Amy (who was a natural at spinning cotton on a wheel). As you can see, Golden Willow is a wonderful place to just drop by to sit and knit for awhile.

Next Thursday is our last class and hopefully I will remember to not only take my good camera, but also remember to use it.

My Memory is Just Not What it Used to Be

The other day I pulled out some fibre that I had dyed this summer and found that I didn't have a clue what kind it was. And then I had two skeins that I had spun and couldn't remember which was which. So either my memory has seriously deterioated or I had dyed and spun more than I thought I had. Either way it was time to start organizing a little more.

I am taking an Intermediate Spinning class at my LYS and a couple of weeks ago we covered wraps per inch. So my project yesterday was to get all my spun fibre on bobbins and get some proper records made.

Obviously, the little key chain that the bobbins are on is not going to last very long, but it was interesting for me to see my spinning progression as I have them in the order that I had spun them starting with my very first finished yarn.

Good thing for the blog because otherwise I wouldn't have remembered the order in which I had done them.

The Andalusian socks are coming along nicely. I haven't been rushing to finish them as I am in the process of spinning up some more fibre. When I had first finished the yarn and weighed it I only had 76 grams, which confused the heck out of me. I should have dyed well over 100 grams since I know that is the minimun that I need to finish a pair of socks for myself. I couldn't figure out how I lost so much in the dyeing and spinning process. Well, turns out that I didn't. I just lost it in my mess around my knitting chair.

I've Crossed Over to the Dark Side

I took advantage of the above average temperatures last week to groom Kai the Brat outdoors. I prefer to dry the dogs outside. If I dry the shelties indoors in my grooming room the forced air dryer that I use will deposit dog hair all over my house no matter how much I try and contain it. One clean, much more naked dog later I took a look around my yard. I am normally very glad to leave the blown out undercoat for the birds and squirrels (it is amazing how much a squirrel can fit into its mouth) and not have to vacuum it up from every corner of the house for the next 2 weeks. This time, however, my reaction was different. All I saw was beautiful, clean, fluffy fibre that was just begging to be combed and spun. So I gathered up as much of it as I could before it got mixed in with leaves and twigs. I got a good 3/4 of a grocery bag full.

I don't have my own combs yet, but I will borrow my sister Susan's. She has spun with her sheltie undercoat and it turns out beautifully. A skein of cormo/sheltie that she entered in the "I Made It On My Schacht" contest is in the finals.

I actually finished a pair of socks. They are made out of Panda Cotton, colourway 2301 Rosewater. I used the Spiral Galaxy pattern from the book Sock a la Carte for the body of them. I think that they are actually prettier in person and even better when they are on. I love the feel of the cotton/bamboo.

More New Spinning Stuff

This has been the strangest year weatherwise. Winter was brutally cold with no reprieves, spring never wanted to arrive, then summer was cool, but now that fall is here it has been absolutely beautiful. It has actually been very confusing. Cooler weather and threats of frost generally mean that school is starting, it is time to start harvesting all my garden produce, and generally get back into the routine of the school year. With our not just nice, but HOT weather I find myself being taken by surprise when the sun starts to set before 9 PM and the kid's activities are starting up again. I am spending all my time during the day working outside on the patio, trying to squeeze every last drop of summer that I can.

With the earlier sunsets, though, it does mean that I am back inside and in my knitting chair more often. I have decided that I actually like spinning more than knitting, which is starting to cause some problems. My stock piles of hand dyed, hand spun fibre are starting to mount up.

I knit up these socks awhile ago, but over the summer had forgetten about them. They are my second attempt at spinning sock yarn with my hand dyed fibre. They turned out better than the first try in that the finished yarn is slightly finer. They are made from Navajo plied BFL.

The next spun yarn is also BFL. I have discovered that if you add any amount of purple when dyeing, the finished yarn's predominant colour will be purple. Which is just fine if you are trying to create a purple yarn. However, this fibre was supposed to end up more blue with just a touch of pink and purple. The photo actually makes it look more blue than it is. It is a 2-ply light sport weight. So I took another bunch of BFL (there is only a little bit of it in the picture) and dyed it a light ice blue. I am currently spinning it up the same of the other with the intention of knitting something like a hat, scarf or mittens with 2 strands - one of each yarn.

I have started to knit some socks out of the purple/grey (again) BFL. So far, so good. They look like they will be a nice weight. The yarn didn't lend itself to any kind of fancy pattern so I am doing a simple Andalusian stitch just to add a bit more visual interest.

So Much Fibre, Not Enough Bobbins

Oh, oh! Another new (expensive) thing that I have discovered that I really, really enjoy. My already multi-function grooming/plant room is now also set up for dyeing fibre. And I have been dyeing up a storm!

I absolutely, utterly, completely refuse to even so much as look at carding equipment! I know what happens....

I have had a couple of "mom"cations this summer. DH Dallas and the kids are currently out again at Grandpa's cottage and so I have been free to do what ever I want! And to think that there was a time that I figured that I needed a 3-star hotel and airline tickets to have a good vacation. How things change once you have kids.

So there is dyed fibre all over my house right now. The problem is that I am eager to try them all out and start spinning them, but I have to ration my bobbins. I keep meaning to order more. In the meantime I wander around and pet them all.

I am starting to experiment with different fibres. This was my first try with Wensleydale. I was at my LYS bemoaning the fact that even though I didn't think it was possible for me to spin any finer without my singles disintegrating my finished 3 ply yarn was still coming out a bit heavier than I would like for socks. So Wensleydale was suggested. It has such a long length that it is literally possible to spin strong singles with only 3 strands of fibre. Unfortunately, I ended up felting this fibre a bit when dyeing so I had to rip it apart to draft it. It is still very fine and very strong. I Navaho plied it.

It is really overspun, but I don't mind that for socks. It doesn't have the softness of a lot of other wools, but it should wear like iron! It should end up to be loosely self striping when knit up.

A Blue Faced Leicester dyed with mauve, lilac and grey. I have discovered that anything dyed with purples in it will be dominantly purple. It didn't turn out quite like I expected (I thought the grey would show up more), but still a very pretty heathered yarn. This one is 3-ply fingering weight.

This one I couldn't wait to try spinning it. It is BFL again, spray dyed with pale pastel shades. So far, so good. I am very pleased with what is showing on the bobbin. Now I just have to hope that when it is plied things will still look as pretty.

This is a Corriedale-Rambouillet-Merino roving that I purchased from Wooly Wool of the West on Etsy. It is nice and soft and sproingy and should spin up beautifully. (Mikki had to get her nose in to see what I was doing. The dogs tend to like the sheepy smell of undyed fibre. Not too keen on the vinegar smell after dyeing, though)

Another Wensleydale. This time I didn't felt it! I also didn't get enough contrast between the blues that I would have liked, but it should still be fine. It is hard to go wrong with blue.

BFL again (I keep coming back to it!). It should self stripe nicely if Navaho plied.

And finally.... more good things in the mail. I got these notions from KaratStix on Etsy. Made of bamboo they are very light and should prove to be very handy. The wraps-per-inch tool is hanging on my spinning wheel. The Kitchener stitch tag is sitting next to my knitting chair. And the needle gauge (notice how she includes really small needle sizes) is attached to my knitting bag for when I am on the go.

I also have 3 more big, poofy piles of roving sitting on my kitchen table (all the easier to walk by and pet) still waiting for pictures. And there is a batch of Lincoln I dyed currently being spun also waiting. Not to mention the one finished skein and the dyed pile of roving to be spun with the intent of knitting two strangs together.

Which Ewe Are You?

I took the Which Ewe Are You? quiz. I'm not so sure that it really matches my personality (especially the hugging part - I'm really not much of a hugger except with the kids), but there are certainly worse wools out there.
" As a fine wool with roots in France and Spain, Rambouillets seem to exude a cosmopolitan air, yet stay grounded and easygoing with others in the flock. With big hearts and a spring in their step, these finewools' lively attitudes make them approachable and always ready with a warm smile and a hug."

The quiz did its job, though, as I eventually looked at the book it was promoting. The Knitter's Book of Wool comes out this October and it looks like it could be one to get