Flying Poodle knitting et cetera

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Happy Birthday Sasha!

2009-08-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

I hear tell that the baby that this surprise is for has arrived! One of my knitting group members spend a good part of last year knitting Baby Surprise jackets for math colleagues of her husband. (Well, their babies, anyhow.) So when Jodie, April and I heard that she was expecting a wee one, we plotted and schemed.

April and I bicycled over to Jodie's house with a basket of merino top (washed, carded, and combed fiber) dripping vinegar. Jodie had some dyes mixed up already (Jaquard acid dyes), and we mixed a few more colors as well. We tested the colors out on a paper towel, and fiddled around until we got some good colors that we all agreed on. Then came my favorite part: squirting dye onto the roving with squeeze bottles, the kind that burger joints put ketchup and mustard in. Jodie then wrapped the dyed roving in plastic wrap and steamed it in one of her dye kettles.

We then spun a few reference samples, went our separate ways, and spun up the fiber at home. Jodie and I spun very close to the same weight, April had a bit thicker yarn. We used Jodie's and my yarn for the jacket, and April made a matching hat from her yarn.

Dyed, spun, what comes next? Knitting! Jodie cast on the sweater, April knitted next, and I finished it up. April had picked up these buttons years ago while living in London (or maybe Toronto, I forget) and didn't know that she'd been saving them all these years for this project. The grain lines on the wooden buttons echo the stripes on the sweater.

Back view:

Fantastic, no? We entered the jacket in the Black Sheep Gathering Fiber Arts show, in the group projects division, and garnered a blue ribbon. (So did the other project in the category, but this wasn't due to grade inflation, just appreciation for the group creative process.)

Photographed against a wool blanket that we bought last year at the BSG.

Turkish Spindle Reunion

2009-07-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

Ever since I met the spinning wheel, me and the spindle have not gotten on so well. Spindle paled in comparison for speed and control. I also worked my self into a frustrated frenzy on multiple occasions trying to spindle a cashmere silk blend that was, um, challenging. Slippery as all get-out. With a relatively heavy spindle. No happy ending.

Last year (or the year before), I took a step back towards the spindle by buying a turkish spindle at the Black Sheep Gathering. It sat for a while. Then this LOVELY Bluefaced Leicester roving appeared in my hands courtesy of my sister-in-law, and the twain met.

I'm having fun with it! Finally! If I'm too antsy to sit down and spin at my wheeel, I can stand and pace with the spindle. I can bring it to work and spin on my break. I can bring it to knitting night!

It was rather key to match up a compatible fiber and spindle. Long staple and grippy wool is a good match for my kinda heavy spindle.

Does anyone else remember making grade-school craft of yarn wound around popsicle sticks? And weren't they called turkish something-or-others?

Creamsicle plying

2009-07-12T15:04:00.001-07:00

I missed my knitting group this last week, and I think that has something to do with finally being motivated to post. Poodle had a toe amputated (he had a squamous cell carcinoma in his nail bed, = cancer), so I came home to coo at the drugged up dog instead.

The Black Sheep Gathering this year was fun, I watched hours of fiber arts judging. The skein of pygora blend that I entered garnered the comment of being underplied, so I have been working on overcompensation. To wit:

This is a silk/merino 50/50 blend, and I was so sure that it would end up fatter than this. I set out to spin this fiber quite consistently, and did a pretty good job. This is the first skein that I have plied of it, and it has a big section where I was overspinning one of the singles. And the plying is not very consistent. Next one will be better.

I was taught to ply by drawing out a long section, adding twist, then letting it all take up at once. Then I saw my friend April plying by letting the flyer pull the fiber on, slipping through her fingers, adding twist and feeding it simultaneously. I've been experimenting with that, and I do like it.

Unwashed skein, see all of that twist writhing around? I wonder how much this will bloom when I wash it.

I'm itching to do a thick/thin yarn now to balance all of the precisedness (one of my favorite words that is not a real word) of these singles. I should finish plying this stuff, but I've plied for like 3 or 4 hours today, and I'm going to scream if I ply any more.

Quilt (wild blue and green) DONE!

2008-09-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

Finishing a project is so satisfying! My little quilt was made using a crazy made up technique of sewing blocks in at odd angles. The bestest part was that the pieces in the middle were from a scrap grab bag from the local quilt store. I love recycling! The backing and border are organic cotton, I seem to remember that it is naturally dyed. The embroidery thread that I tied it with was ridiculously cheap with my employee discount, so I went all out and used FOUR colors.

And here it is ! Hobbs Heirloom cotton batting. And it's in the mail to the lucky new owner right now.

I'm thinking of getting a laptop again, my blog posting was so much easier from the couch! It's always humbling to go read all of the blogs that I frequent and then come back here and see my terse and not so witty writing. I'm not trying for an "oh, poor me", just writing about writing. Which happens to be my least favorite thing to read about.

Summer is coming to a close, and has not been very exciting. That is totally my fault, as the past few summers had been so busy that I tried to not plan very much for this one. I succeeded! I am glad to be well rested and to have had a lot of hobby time.

Bags of Fabric

2008-08-26T22:18:00.001-07:00

Well, I figured out a way to use the charm squares that I bought last year (charm squares are 5" square, and the term "charm" indicates that the fabrics are not repeated in the collection). Pockets on little bags!

July already? Pic of skirt I sewed meself.

2008-07-10T14:53:00.001-07:00

I've been back on a crafty streak, there was a bit of a lull there. I went on a fabulous vacation in late March, a road trip through eastern Oregon.

I'm wearing a skirt that I sewed a few years ago, and a t-shirt that my friend April silkscreened for me.

On the way back from this road trip, we stopped briefly in Sisters, OR, at The Stitchin' Post
; easily the most amazing quilt store I've ever been in. I only had a short amount of time there, so I didn't even look (except for once or twice) at the yarn goodness they displayed as well. I'm going back. (After I use up what I bought there, that should delay the trip for a few years!)

Cotton Bag, and another hat pic

2008-03-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

This hat was in the hat lineup, but it deserves a close-up. Mountain Colors yarn, with a brim of Cash Iroha. The pooling of the colors made a good pattern.

I have had two skeins of Patagonia Cotton sitting around for a few years, I bought them at a yarn store in Medford. I now have a bag for walking to the corner store to get milk.

The two skeins were different colors. When I started knitting, I had hopes of making a one skein bag. Nope. So I switched skeins in the middle, so the sides are not the same. See photo below of the other side:

I crocheted the sides together and continued into a strap, worked with both colors. I had made eyelets (yo, k2tog) at the top, and knit an I-cord integrating elastic into the middle. I threaded the I-cord through every other eyelet.

I'm not too excited about it, but it's better having a bag than it was having 2 balls of yarn.

When bikes go to rehab: (Notice crochet Noro hat that I've had forever, and still like!)

It's snowing hats!

2008-01-27T21:28:00.000-08:00

Snow on handspun hat
Looks warm but on the ground is
Not keeping ears warm

This was born in one week! Last sunday I spun the wool, plied it, wound it into a ball, and started knitting from the top down. This sunday I wove in ends!

The wool is 2 ounces of merino that I received as a gift from a birthday exchange (I think it was in 2006). I wasn't so wild about the color unspun, but the color improved with spinning. I spun it fast and dirty, trying to get thick and thin. I knit it on size 3 needles, the nubs stand out well in a tightly knit fabric. I knit from the top down, and used every last inch of the two ply. I then used the navaho/chained singles from the bobbin end to cast off.

And I've been busting stash like nobody's business! It started with this fun scarf that I first saw on Saartje Knits. So simple, 1x1 rib alternating skeins of Noro Kureyon in the same colorway. On the needles (size 8 maybe?) It was about 9 inches wide and not quite long enough. I held it over a tea kettle while I was stretching it, and it blocked to about 6 inches wide and plenty long.

And it continued with crochet hats:

On the top right is all Elsebeth Lavold angora left over from the chukar arm warmers. The top left is that plus Waterlily? merino wool. (I ran out of angora and had to get creative.) Middle two hats are Noro Kureyon that I got in anticipation of knitting Lizard Ridge, which I never started. You know all about the lower right already. Lower left is Mountain Colors with Noro Cash Iroha trim (the uneven edge is very clever ear shaping).

All this in January! Yay! There is plenty more stash to bust, but this is a great leap forward!

The knitted hats are not just about using up accumulated yarn though, I have never been a fan of the hats that I have knitted, and I decided to knit lots of them until I got what I wanted. The green hat is the closest so far.

Solstice Goodie Bags

2008-01-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

I'm going to skip my "I hate Christmas" rant, and jump to the good stuff: I get a crafty itch that needs to be scratched. One year I made little books with a fairy tale. The year of the pop-up christmas tree cards was a good one, as was the paper poinsettia year.

2007 was the year of the foundation pieced strip bags:

Stash from a Florence, Oregon quilt store, acquired on a few coastal outings this year.

And a lovely picture (taken by Hans, not me, of course) of the finished product!

We stuffed them with wax paper bags of Nuts'n'Bolts (husband's family chex mix recipe), and of cookies.

I used a variety of fabrics for the backs, but they all had the somewhat metallic red fabric on the front.

And the best part: I had fun giving them out! It's pretty much what rescues that particular holiday for me. Crafts and cooking and sharing them both with friends and family.

Hope yours was good!

Red Koigu arm warmers!

2008-01-10T22:48:00.000-08:00

I made a second pair of arm warmers to keep my Mother-in-law's arms and hands warm while she's reading on cold Alaskan nights. You might remember the Chukar arm warmers. They were a big hit!

Koigu is a lovely lovely thing. Merino, tightly spun enough to have a firm hand, and presumably resist pilling, but not at all scratchy against the skin. And the colors, Oh the colors!

I ordered this Koigu in October 2006 from Patternworks. It was on backorder, and I held out because I thought it was the prettiest colorway. I ended up holding out until february, a little late for xmas 2006. So they became a xmas 2007 project.

I wanted a thicker fabric from the koigu, since these are supposed to keep arms warm, not just pretty. I settled on a horizontal rib (4 rows of stockinette, 4 rows of reverse stockinette). This incidentally made the shaping of the arm quite easy, since it was very elastic. I checked to make sure the fabric wouldn't be too stretched out up near the elbow, again referencing the warmth issue.

I then knit up the hands separately and sewed the sections together, letting the cuff roll and sewing it a few rows into the wrist.

I used an I-cord bind off on the fingerless fingers, and LOVED it. Such a neat edge! Sorry the photos don't show it better.

BTW, that is one of our new bathroom countertops! We went shopping at a marble/stone remnant yard, and found this beautiful piece. A little more eco-friendly than buying virgin stone.

Gratuitous poodle shot!

After his latest haircut, he was so cold that he wanted his coat on inside the house.

Blue Shawl

2007-11-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

Almost two months since I last posted (hangs head in shame). I've finally brought a knitting group together, and that has been helping get me out of my knitting funk.

One of my first knitting projects was a blue/purple/green shawl. My stepmom bought me the yarn for a birthday present, and at about $50, was the most I'd ever spent on yarn at that point. Unfortunately, I have no idea who makes the yarn, only that it is acrylic and cozy.

I learned to knit in 2000 or 2001, and this shawl spent most of the first part of the new millennium in my closet. It's November now, and the weather has become wintry. We keep our house cool to save electrons, and I was looking for warm clothes when I came across the shawl again. It hasn't moved from my shoulders for two weeks now. I can wrap it around and tuck the ends into my jeans pockets, or use it as a lap blanket on the couch.

notes: super big needles, and I had to tie every single fringe end with thread to keep it from unraveling.

Homemade Needle Holder

2007-10-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

I started giving flu shots today, so in addition to the normal (ranges from hectic to insane) workday filling prescriptions, I'm jabbing people in the arm. I gave about 40 shots today, that's a lot of shoulders to torture.

Some of my creative energy is going towards managing the pharmacy. It's odd to think of managing as creative, but some of the planning and organizing feels similar.

I can't remember if I've posted about the needle holder before.
-The fabric is from upholstery sample fabrics from a thrift store.
-The ribbon is from the country fair.
-The numbers are written on the elastic in Sharpie. I'm pretty sure that is mentioned in the book of couture sewing techniques I'm reading right now.
-The pattern is based on needle holders that I inherited from my grandmother.

The only tricky part was figuring out that I had to sew the channels before I put the front and back panels together.

Poodle Helps with Sewing

2007-09-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

He's holding my muslin hostage. I thought that only cats did this: sitting on your projects while you're working on them.

I'm trying to make this:

(the short sleeved version). I started out thinking I was going to make a muslin to adjust fit, but I think I'm going to just go for it. I did trace the pattern onto muslin so that I didn't cut the pattern up. Am I wasting time, wasting fabric, or saving paper and the pattern for future use? Who knows.

I'm in the middle of a very anticlimactic vacation. I went to the beach on tuesday, other than that it's been life as usual. Vacation is very hard for me to schedule, and I'm bummed that we couldn't go anywhere on this one due to the remodeling schedule. I had to put my request in months in advance, back when we thought it would be done by then. I'm going to go distract myself, otherwise I'll drown in this wave of self-pity.

After george got tired of chasing sticks and splashing in the waves, he make a little pattern in the sand:

Well, he sniffed it anyway. I left one of the agates I found in the middle of the spiral. It was fun to come across someone's creativity on the beach.

Koigu Socks and trouble in color lot land

2007-09-13T09:21:00.001-07:00

I ordered a skein of Koigu from Patternworks, decided I liked the color, and ordered two more. They seem to be different dye lots. Were that I'd checked before I started knitting! Oh well, I can reknit a sock.

(Size 2/3 needles, co 64 st, and I'm on track to use only 1 skein per sock)

It's such a comfort to have a pair of socks back on the needles. I can tuck them into my purse and bring them with. I knitted while watching the Eugene Celebration Parade. I turned a heel in line at the bank. I've even brought them on two dog walks.

It's fall again, and I'm looking forward to getting a group of knitters together! Some of my knitters moved away, but I've found a new neighbor who knits, and I've got some leads on interested people.

Fair entries

2007-08-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

The beautiful pattern Odessa, in my humble homespun yarn:

Third place, baby! And now I see, a nice little gap center in the middle of the forehead. Ah, the flaws the camera reveals. I spun up the superwash merino from Fantasy Fibers bought at the Black Sheep Gathering a few years ago, I think I spun from the fold on this, but I can't quite remember. I knit up three hats, and since the yarn was not the most even, I ended up doubling the yarn in the middle of a hat since it had gotten a little thin.

Next time I knit an Odessa, I am going to put the beads on. I think they'll add fabulous sparkle.

I'm pretty sure I've posted pics of the Peace Fleece spun up before, but I couldn't find it. So here is the second place winner in wool blend category:

It's been a while since I've done anything competitive, so I think I'm taking an inordinate amount of pleasure in this winning phenomenon. It's somewhat tongue in cheek, as it is a county fair without a lot of entries.

I've got six skeins of this yarn, and I'm planning to make a few sets of hats and mittens. It's a nice cushy bouncy yarn. I knit the swatch up on size 8 needles, and it turned out very dense. I'll go up a needle size for the hats.

Liberty trim skirt

2007-08-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Last summer I sewed two skirts that turned out quite nicely. One was with a Kaffe Fasset print with a solid lower border,

And one was a black print with a black ribbon around the hips.

So to help repeat the success, I used the Kwik Sew pattern again, with a solid body and a Liberty of London lower border. I used an organic green cotton to line the border.

I left the green cotton edge serged and pinked the liberty print (after the picture above was taken)

(Nice port-a-potty, eh? Side effect of big home remodel.)

It was one of my first projects using the serger that I own half-interest in. I serged all of the raw edges of the pattern pieces before I sewed them. I felt very spiffy!

I often dive into sewing projects when I want some immediate gratification, and end up frustrated or cutting corners. This skirt was nice in that I was very process oriented, and I wanted to spend time working on it, rather than have a new skirt pronto.

I'm looking forward to wearing it to work tomorrow!

I won!

2007-08-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

I entered four items in the Lane Co. Fair, and won first with the green two-ply wool, second with the peach three-ply wool blend, and third with the Odessa from maroon superwash merino handspun. Mini-quilt didn't place.

The judging was suspect on the wool two-ply, as one of the entries that didn't place was absolutely gorgeous and technically wowzers. And had placed very well at the Black Sheep Gathering. Oh well, their bad taste/poor judging is my gain!

Links to follow.

Noro Cash Iroha sweater back

2007-08-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

It has not been a month since I last posted! Um, the poodle ate my blog posts.

Quick catch-up. For my birthday, Hans and I went on the Blackberry bRamble, a bike ride sponsored by GEARS. We did the 43 mile loop on our Burley tandem. The ride went out to the Crow-Applegate-Lorraine school, where there was a perfectly timed food stop, and then back to Eugene via the Fern Ridge bike path. And the crowning touch: blackberry pie and ice cream at the finish! Yum. Hans was captain (in the front) for the first 2/3rds, then I captained the rest of the way. I'm getting better at the captain position, learning how to relax while I'm steering so I can save my arm strength for when I need it. I'm the best stoker ever (stoker is the person in the back seat) , which requires balancing, pushing hard up hills, and being nice to the captain.

Megan and I went to the Eugene Emeralds Stitch 'n Pitch last night, it was fun to be at a ball game with oodles of knitters! 75 people bought tickets, not a shabby turnout.

I've actually made some knitting progress, and here to model it is my paper-tape dress form:

I've knit the back, and one half of the front. I'm planning on casting on the other half of the front on this lazy weekend.

And a progress shot of the bathrooms:

Oh, my aching back!

Creamsicle fluff and Black Sheep Gathering Stash

2007-07-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'll put a close up at the end of the post, but big photos screw up in internet exploder. (It works great on Mozilla Firefox.)

This is the luscious orange sherbert merino silk blend that I've been purring over.

The last few spinning projects I've done have been with rougher tweedier blends, which have been fun and more relaxing to spin, as I don't worry about consistent thickness as much. I knit some hats with a maroon superwash merino, and had a chance to ponder the inconsistencies of that yarn up close and personal.

When I started spinning this, I decided to be very focused on keeping consistent thickness and twist. I bought a handy dandy spinner's gauge at the Black Sheep Gathering that is helping quite a bit. The sun was setting too fast for me to get a good pic tonight.

Speaking of things bought at the BSG:

I've bought wool from The Bellwether before, and sometime soon I'll remember what it was. This is a blend of whatever she had around. It was a fabulous green, and therefore irresistible.

The other wool was from the booth of the lovely lady who sold me this last year. No, I didn't ask what kind of wool it was. I was too busy agonizing over what color to buy and how many ounces.

Now for the close-up:

Purrr...

What my dog is dreaming of

2007-07-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

during the newly hot hot days of summer...

Jill's Liberty of London Bag

2007-06-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

"Hi, I'm Jill's bag. I have a nubby chocolate exterior, but I'm real silk, baby. And look at the double stitching around my handle, yow! But it's inside where I really shine. That's right, the real thing: Liberty of London cotton. Cotton so fine it feels more like silk than my exterior. Blues so blue it almost hurts!

"I was conceived as a wedding item due to the fabulous color choice of Jill for her wedding colors. I didn't have a specific role to play, other than a gift of a coordinating theme.

"I've got a spine of Davey board. One side of my bottom is blue, the other brown, just to mix it up a little. I've got interfacing too, thus my upright posture. Iron-on interfacing keeps my outside crisp, and sewn in woven interior interfacing keeps my Liberty free to drape, as it does so well.

"And if you don't think I'm fabulous like this, you can turn me inside out! I'm a little wrinkly if you do that. I'm not quite perfect. I've got a little dimple right there at the corner, but Martha always tells me that no-one will notice."

-The fiber on the right is winding itself in a smooth twist onto my spinning wheel. More creamsicle color than it appears, it is a merino/silk 80/20 blend. Yum!

The last month. Month! Aargh!

2007-06-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

The other thing taking up valuable kntting time:

2007-05-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

Now: chaos.
Soon: cork floor.

Debbie Bliss + Noro Cash Iroha = ?

2007-05-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

This:
grew longer, and wasn't fitting quite right. So now it's wound up into tidy balls again. I'd knit about 4 inches past the bottom of the armhole, so I frogged a significant chunk of knitting here. Sad, but liberating. I tried it from the top down, now I'll try it bottom up.

I'm knitting the Simple Jacket with Collar from Debbie Bliss Number Two, and I can't find any pictures online to link to, sorry.

It is nice to realize that if I actually work on a project, it might get done. It's been a while since I've knit much, I did knit up a pair of the felted slippers, but they are not yet felted.

Here is my latest project (by which I mean Hans did most of the work):

This was my mom's bike when she was a little older than I am now. It was covered in cobwebs, with rotten tires and flaking handlebar foam. Now it's shiny and rides smoothly.

And a photo with both bike and knitting! Those are my handspun orange mittens in action!

( I almost never ride without a helmet, but I was loaning it to a guest that day. Usually I protect my very expensive noggin.)

I've thought that a recumbent tricycle with hands-free steering would be an ideal way to combine knitting and cycling ;)