Knitting, with Dogs

SAFF swag

Here's what I brought home from SAFF.  First, the processed fiber:

If you enlarge the photo, you might be able to read the labels.  On top is some superwash wool roving.  Lower left is a cotton/wool blend (percentages not on the package.)  It's called "Confederate Uniforms", and it's supposed to look like Confederate cloth when spun.  This strikes me as more fanciful than realistic, but it looked like fun.  Lower right is 8 oz. of tussah silk.  Mmmmm.... silk.

Next, the hardware:

4 inexpensive (i.e., cardboard) storage bobbins, 2 circular needles (half price!), and a bobbin for my Lendrum.  I've decided that I may try winding my yarn off onto storage bobbins and plying from them.  I haven't done this before, so it's an experiment.

I didn't buy much in the way of yarn or books/patterns.  This is all I got:

There's a skein of very fine silk noil yarn, and a pattern for a circular shawl with a front opening.  Y'all, I tried to walk away from this yarn.  I TRIED!  Ask Jane.  But I am a total lace yarn ho.  Never mind that I already have a big plastic container FULL of laceweight yarn.  But in the end, I couldn't leave it behind.  No, I don't know what I'll do with it.  I'll figure something out.

And last, the unprocessed fiber:

This is six ounces of black and silver mohair, and it is the softest, nicest stuff you can imagine.  I couldn't resist. 

See how much color there is NOT in these purchases??  I am so boring.  But I love the monochrome shades -- black and grey and silver and white.  I can always add color if I want to.  But I'm amazingly happy with colors like these.

Additional purchases, not shown:  4 dog biscuits (gotta bring something home for the pups!) and some socks for Dear Robert. 

A good haul.  I got lotsa work to do.  Fun stuff, though.

SAFF, part 1

This is the weekend for SAFF, the Southeaster Animal Fiber Fair.  It's the south's entry into the fiber festival world.  It's pretty small (according to folks who've been to some of the big festivals, but it was plenty big enough for me.  (I get freaked out by big crowds and tend to suffer from sensory overload fairly quickly.)

I almost didn't make it to the festival.  I was sick Wednesday night and Thursday, but by Friday I was feeling much better.  So I decided to head out, in the rain, rain, rain.  It looked like this:

Yes, you can question my sanity for pulling out my camera to snap a picture in weather like this.

I stopped just outside Greenville, SC and stayed overnight there.  That left me only about a 45 minute drive to Asheville.  I got plenty of rest (and knitting!) at the motel last night.  This morning dawned bright and fair, though I did run into a little fog:

But there were also gorgeous views:

I found the arena with no trouble.  Here's a view of the floor:

I met up with some friends almost right away.

L-R: Doug, Claudia, Lou, Jane, and Famous Steve.  (Yes, he answers to that across the hall.)
There was a blogger meet-up around lunchtime, but my pictures of that were pretty crappy.  Though Jen and I had the usual blogger/duelling cameras shot:

That's Emily laughing at us.  Emily's one of the bloggers that met today.
I met Anita and Steve today for the first time. 

Anita and I have been reading each other's blogs and corresponding by email for some time, but this is the first time we've actually met in real life.  Sometimes it's nice to know that your Imaginary Internet Friends are actual real people, and nice ones too!  :)
There was something going on with lots of Lendrums nearby.  I don't know exactly what it was, but every time I passed by I called it "Lendrumpalooza" in my mind.

And I got to try this:

OMG, I think I'm in love...  It's a great wheel from Lyle Wheeler.  I want a great wheel soooooo much.  I could have played with it all day, I think.
And of course there were animals.
Alpacas:

I particularly liked the one on the left, the one standing.  But I'm a real sucker for silver/black/grey wool and animals.
Llamas:

Could these guys look any more haughty??   They're like "We are the LLAMAS! We RULE!!!"  BTW, I've been totally warped by Ogden Nash.  I cannot look at these guys without thinking "The 2 l llama, he's a beast."*

I headed home about 3:00 pm, and got back to Robert and the dogs by 6:45.  It was a good day.

Tomorrow:  My haul from SAFF.

Look, goodies!

Hey, look what I got in the mail the other day!

Three bars of extra-yummy dark chocolate, a Halloween Pez dispenser, and a little memory card holder.  Here's another view of the PezCat:

How, you ask, did I come by all this goodness?  Simple!  I just spent an inordinate amount of time deciphering a Braille inscription posted by the inimitable King Of All Remote Controls!  And then I shamelessly asked if I won a prize by figuring it out, and he graciously obliged. 

Sweet!  Thanks, Ian!

A new look

I've been wanting a wool hat here lately, so when I saw that 3 Rivers Archery was having a sale, I decided to get in touch with my inner Fred Bear.  The result:

Whatcha think??

Fibery activity

Dear Robert was in FL for a couple of days last week, so I got some stuff done around the house!  w00t!  The good news:  I got some dyeing done.  The not-so-good news: I organized my stash, and jeezopete, but I have a ton of yarn.  My lace yarn stash alone could keep me busy for the rest of my life.

Anyway, the dyeing.  I've had some Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye sitting around for a while, and since I've recently gotten some cellulose fibers, I thought I'd try it on them.  No pictures of the dry fiber -- I forgot.  Duh.  But here are the fibers I dyed soaking in the dye basin.

Top left: a cotton/tencel blend from Detta's Spindle.  The brownish stuff just to the right of it is a cotton/wool blend.  At the bottom is some ramie from my stash.  (I found it while I was sorting everything out.) 

The Dylon doesn't need to be heated to work.  It works with warm water and salt.  So I mixed up the dye and added it to the basin.

(Sorry for the reflection of the light above the sink in the water.)

The directions have you agitate for the first 15 mins., but I wasn't worried about getting real solid color.  I was happy to take an experimental,  see-what-happens approach.  Here's what everything looked like once the water and excess dye was squeezed (squoze?) out:

Note the nylon net:  it makes lifting fiber out of the tub a WHOLE lot easier.  I tossed in a couple of balls of wool to see if they would take any dye, but they didn't do much.  Of course I didn't pre-wet them or anything, so I'm not particularly suprised.

Here's the dried fiber.  The cotton/tencel:

The ramie:  I like it best.

The cotton/wool blend.  I think it's a "light camo" color.  It took the dye least well, but that's ok too.

All these should be fun to spin up! 
In other fiber acquisitions, I got this:

It's a border leicester fleece, bought on eBay.  Mmmmm....

I got lots of work ahead of me, so I better get spinning!

48 Things You Could Care Less About

I've got a busload of stuff going on right now.  I'm organizing my stash, I've got some dyeing to do, Dear Robert's out of town for a manager meeting, blahblahblah.  So here's a totally irrelevant post as a place marker so you know I haven't actually abandoned blogging here!

48 Things You Could Care Less About

1. FIRST NAME?
Janice

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Not that I'm aware of

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?
Hmm, it's been a while.  I cry pretty easily, though.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
It's ok, but it's all over the place.  When I print, I can't stick to all caps or upper/lower case.  But it's generally legible

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT?
Honey baked ham.  It's really the only time I like ham.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Probably not.  I'm both boring and somewhat obnoxious IRL. 
 

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?
Nothin' but the blog, baby.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Newp, had them out the same weekend that John Glenn went up in the rocket.  I wrote him a fan letter and got a canned NASA response back.  But I still have the autographed picture.  :)

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Not. For. the. WIDE. WORLD.  It involves FALLING.  Jeezopete.  I'm not an idiot.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
The crystal meth of the cereal world for me is Maple and Brown Sugar Frosted MiniWheats.  I swear I could eat a whole box in a sitting.  That's why I try not to buy the stuff.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Yeah, I do.  I hate struggling to get shoes off, and I don't mind tying them.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Nope.  I've always wanted to be strong, but my strength periods have been few and far between.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
I don't eat ice cream much, but coffee ice cream is good.  Also anything that combines cherries and chocolate.

14. SHOE SIZE?
7 - 7.5, depending on the shoe, on the narrow side.

15. RED OR PINK?
Red.  All the women in my family hate pink.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
All the bloody joint pain I have these days.  Cripes.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My Sasha dog.  I dreamed about her last night.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
Nah. 

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Shorts:  slate blue.  Shirt: grey.  Shoes:  none

20. LAST THING YOU ATE?
Activia yogurt and hot tea.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The dryer running in the background.  I don't listen to much music, but I do listen to lots of podcasts.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Blue violet.

23. FAVORITE SMELL?
Probably lavender

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My sister.  She asked me to run by her house to see if the recycling had been picked up. 

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO?
The smile, I think, and whether they smile genuinely or just smile politely.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM?
Oh yeah.  Hi Beth!

27. FAVORITE DRINK?
Coffee or hot tea, depending on my mood and the state of my stomach.

28. FAVORITE SPORT?
Curling.  It's so... strategic.  And the curlers look like Real People.  I like that.

29. EYE COLOR?
Blue, mostly.

30. HAT SIZE?
7 1/4, I think.  That's a man's hat size, because I used to like to buy fedoras.  But a few years ago, all my hat mojo suddenly fled, and now I look dorky in hats.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Nope.  I did years ago, but do no longer.

32. FAVORITE FOOD?
Lime flavored corn chips.  SOOOO bad for me, yet so delicious.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings, mostly.  Although a happy ending in a scary movie may be the best thing.  But life these days is generally scary enough by itself, and too many scary movies are just gorefests these days.  I don't do gore anymore.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer, even though it can be miserable hot down here in GA.  Winter just makes me want to hibernate.  The days are too short.

36. HUGS OR KISSES?
Yes.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Banana pudding, the kind where you cook the pudding, and the banana slices are slightly cooked.  It is Teh Yum.

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Og knows.

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Folks who don't like memes.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?
Forest Mage, by Robin Hobb.
Spacehounds of the IPC, by E. E. "Doc" Smith.  A classic early SF work.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad?
Atlanta Thrashers Inaugural Season, 1999 - 2000.  They gave these things out at the beginning of a hockey game.  They're round, like a puck.  Or a frisbee.  Guess what ended up all over the ice before the end of THAT game.  Now they give away stuff AFTER the game is over.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV?
Lost.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS?
Little kids laughing, I think.  I'm not a mom-type, but I guess somewhere in the back of my genes, the hardwiring kicks in when I hear little kids laugh. 

44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  The Rolling Stones were a little raunchy for me.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME?
Hawaii.  Honeymoon.  Good times.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT?
Learning new things.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Forsyth, GA

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
I've seen it in a couple of places, but I stole this one from Beth.  (Told you I liked her.  But I'm not a stalker, Beth.  Really.)

THIS is good news!

This American Life, one of the best programs on the radio, is going to be available as a podcast for FREE, starting Monday.  They used to charge for their programs through a subscription through Audible if you couldn't listen to them on NPR broadcasts.  Sweet!

A few years ago, I had an utterly mind-numbing task to do at work, one that required lots of keyboard tapping, but almost no thought.  I was able to listen to archived TAL programs, and they literally saved my sanity.  I also got to know folks like David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell, and heard lots of really interesting stories.

So these would be great programs to knit or spin to.  Highly recommended!

 

Not your modern spinning wheel

I've been thinking a lot about spinning lately.  I think I'm going to write up some of the stuff I've been thinking about.  This entry is illustrated with my Country Craftsman reproduction wheel.  It's a double-drive wheel, with small bobbins and a small orifice, and it spins really nicely.  I like it a lot!  And it looks great when I sit behind it in costume.  :)

Ok, I know everybody today has nice new, modern wheels with plastic drive bands.  That's great, I have one too (a Lendrum.)  But in case you ever get interested in reenacting, or just decide you like the looks of a traditional wheel, or, like Beth, you suddenly find yourself in possession of an antique, here's a little tutorial on how they break down and come apart.

First, a view of the wheel from the flyer end.  All the pictures are clickable for bigger versions.  Here you can see the flyer and bobbin, the mother of all, the maidens (I tell ya, spinning has the Best Names EVAR) and the tension screw:

To remove the flyer, you should be able to rotate the front maiden toward you a little.  That will let you free the orifice end.  Then you can gently lift the far end of the flyer out of its leather bearing, lift the two loops of the drive belt off, and lift out the flyer.

Here's what's left when the flyer's removed.

And here's an exploded view of the flyer.  I've unscrewed the whorls (there are two whorls in one here).

To remove the mother of all, first unscrew the tension knob.  It's got a long threaded wooden shaft (sounds dirty, doesn't it??) that should just unscrew all the way out.

Then you can just lift the mother of all out of the wheel.

Here's how they all look laid out and apart:

If you had a cutaway view of the tension screw in the mother of all, it would look like this:

If you look close, you can see the tension screw going all the way through here.

Once you've poked around and looked at things and understood how everything fits together, reassembly the bobbin/flyer assembly by sliding the bobbin on the shaft and screwing the whorl back onto the end of the flyer.  Some whorls may have a left-hand thread (i.e., counterclockwise to tighter, clockwise to loosen); some may simply have a D-shaped shaft that you just slide the whorl on to.  (I was one of those the other week.)

Lift up the two loops of the double-drive belt and put one loop over a bobbin whorl, and one loop over a flyer whorl.  At some point in the process, the belt will probably either a) fall off the wheel or b) fall off a whorl.  Don't despair.  Take your patience in both hands and just put everything back.  IMHO, this is the most aggravating part of the process.  It's why changing bobbins on a double-drive wheel is a PITA sometimes.  Worry first about getting the flyer inside the drive belt loops and re-mounted in the flyer bearings (those things the flyer sets in) and you can get the belt back in place in a couple of minutes.

Put the orifice end back in the flyer bearing.  Rotate the front maiden away from you till the flyer is held tightly (but not TOO tight) again.

Pull your yarn back out through the orifice, adjust your belt tension, and start spinning!

If you have any questions, let me know.