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Good Intentions

knitting, spindles, spinning No Responses »

Jul 212011

Right after I came in here and talked about how I was going to post more, dammit, really, I mean it this time… my camera up and died. And given my frequent lack of eloquence with words, I feel like any blog post from me is rather lacking without pictures.

Luckily for me (and you, I suppose), this happened at about the same time that I opened up membership for a tiny little secret spindle club, the funds from which I was able to use to buy a very shiny new to me camera.

These are some mittens that I’ve been meaning to knit for years and years; I actually think I put together a kit for them before I even started this blog four (!!) years ago. I needed something quick and fun before starting my next work project and these definitely fit the bill. Plus, even though it’s 100 degrees now, I will be very grateful that they’re ready to wear by the time winter rolls around.

These socks actually belong to my dear Sandi, who not only knit my pattern, she also let me graft her toes when I saw her this weekend. I may have fan-girled a bit.

This is Sandi’s Sidekick, which is really a fantastic wheel that I may have considered grabbing and running off with. I’m pretty sure she could’ve taken me down, though, plus it was her birthday party so that seemed kind of mean.

This is my Tour de Fleece spinning; for the first time EVER I think I will actually reach my TdF goal. Which may be helped by the fact that my goal was to spin one single skein. Of sock yarn. On the wheel. I can’t fail with standards this low!

And this is one of the new spindles from the 3d printed line (which will have a name eventually, I swear). This particular one is already sold, but there will be plenty more where it came from in the next week or two when I launch the full shop. (Note to self: come up with a name for the spindle line before launching the full shop.)

That’s all I’ve got for the moment, though rest assured that now that I’ve got a new camera, I am taking pictures of pretty much everything, and there’s all sorts of exciting stuff going on, so I really will be back with more. Seriously. I mean it. Don’t look at me like that.

Thanksgiving

FO, design, fiber!, knitting, spinning 1 Response »

Nov 262010

I am thankful that I can make things.

(Spinning long draw, from the fold.)

I am thankful that I can make things that make others immensely happy.

(I finished on time, and it fits! Details on Ravelry.)

I am thankful that I can make things that make me immensely happy.

(This hat is part of a small gifts pattern collection coming shortly; stay tuned!)

I am thankful that I can make things that help other people make things, and then offer them at a discount to you, for the holidays.

15% off and free shipping on all shop items, through Monday; discounts will be refunded after purchase. 25% off all patterns in my Ravelry store, through Tuesday; no code needed!

That time again

caturday, spinning, travel 1 Response »

Sep 082010

Weird how festival season always sneaks up on me—I spend all summer wishing for it to arrive and then somehow I’m entirely unprepared when it does get here.

… So woefully under-prepared, in fact, that this blog post has been sitting open for the past three days waiting for me to finish it. So here’s the deal: Oolong and I will finish getting ready for this weekend’s show (she’s become quite the helper with my spinning)

You’ll come visit this weekend if you’re in the area (Garden State Sheep Breeders Festival—I’m with the Union County Crafters in barn 4), and next week after I recover I’ll fill you in on all sorts of fun things that are going on this and next month.

Recovery

design, knitting, spinning, travel 2 Responses »

Jun 042010

I always forget how much shows take out of me; usually I need at least a week after I get home to chill out and process and start getting back to normal. And of course the fact that I came back terribly sunburned this time is not helping matters!

So, Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft: there was the usual assortment of friends, food, fun, and fiber, plus the added bonus of a much needed road trip and vacation. Which means that all of the recovery (and sunburn) is so worth it.

I found a llama that looks like me:
$jesh as a llama (by jesh\)$

And a wheel that matches mine:
$norwegiantuplet (by jesh\)$

And I found out how fast I can’t spin:
$short draw showdown (by jesh\)$

Wait, though—that one needs the backstory.

A few months ago, after hearing rumors that she had a super fast short draw, I challenged Lynn to a contest. A short draw showdown, of sorts. And showdown, we did, although it is now being proclaimed as more of a smackdown, but I maintain that I could’ve been defeated by much less if my yarn hadn’t broke at an inopportune moment.

In any case, after we spun fast and furiously for about ten minutes, our yarn was wound off together as one skein. This also gave us the opportunity to answer the age old question, “how many spinners does it take to wind yarn off of two wheels?”
$how many spinners (by jesh\)$

And my yarn ran out first. (Lynn had a good 24 yards on me, which is what I’m holding above. She’s got the amount that we both spun—though you’ll have to ask her on the yardage of it.)

Still, it was my own fault for challenging her in the first place, and next year we’re going to have at it again in a long draw brouhaha. Neither of us are as good with long draw as short draw, so I’ll need to do some practicing.

I also ran into my fellow ISO/destash mod Kim, who happily handed over a copy of the fantastic Think Outside the Sox book in exchange for nothing but a hug and a handful of peanut m&ms.
$somebunnyslove kim (by jesh\)$

There was Wollmeise on offer as well, but honestly it’s not my favorite and the book is much easier for Hillary and I to share anyway, as the m&ms weren’t just mine.

And that’s the highlights, really! I picked up a few skeins of yarn, one for a design project and one to knit Jennifer one of these:
$finishedlicoricedrops (by jesh\)$
Since she was quite enamored of it when I pulled it out to show off on Sunday.

I also grabbed some super delicious cormo/alpaca fiber, but then (stupidly!) handed over my flyer to have more bobbins made, so I can’t start playing with it just yet. It’ll be worth the wait, though; I love cormo quite a bit and having it blended with alpaca makes it extra delicious.

Oh, I did finally manage to find a project for the road, and worked on it quite a bit:
$rookglove (by jesh\)$
(blurry picture brought to you by how difficult it is to take a picture of my right hand with my left)

I ended up using the stitch pattern from the not-working socks after all—with a few alterations and in a different yarn, I think it looks fantastic. And I also think it’ll look way neater as full-fingered gloves than it would’ve done in just a simple sock. Hopefully I can get a pattern written up for them, too!

There’s also a quick test knit on the needles that I’ll hopefully have done and ready to show off sometime this weekend. Must knit faster!

Panic!

fiber!, knitting, life, spindles, spinning, travel No Responses »

May 262010

The good news: The handspun and kits are all finished and packed up,
$packedkits (by jesh\)$
diversion shawl is done and blocking, and the weather for this weekend looks awesome.

The bad news: I still have six spindles to finish, ALL of the spindles need to be weighed and labeled, I can’t find my spindle labels, I wasted an hour of prime packing time fighting with my stupid @#*%ing blocking pins to get the diversion shawl laid out, I’ve got a cold from hell, and all of my attempts at drinking hot tea to combat said cold are being thwarted by the 90 degree weather today.

Also, I tried to start a new sock project so I would have some travel knitting, but variegated yarn + lace pattern + not even using the right size needle = frog.
$badsock (by jesh\)$

Miles and Miles

knitting, spinning 4 Responses »

May 202010

and miles (and miles!) of handspun lace singles.

$kit yarns (by jesh\)$ I
I’m not even kidding—this is exactly 1.7 miles of yarn. I’m still working on cowl kits for MASW, although with only two skeins left the finish line is finally in sight. And even though I’m going to be totally sick of spinning these things by the time I’m done, I will say that it’s been a fascinating project; each kit only needs a small amount of yarn, which has allowed me to explore all sorts of interesting fibers and blends and play around with different carding and spinning techniques as I go along. There are batts, too, for spin your own kits, but I didn’t dare bring those upstairs for photographs because they would’ve been instantly beset upon by kittens, and I don’t think anyone particularly wants nommed batts.

Unfortunately due to an ordering mishap the packaging I need for the kits won’t be arriving here ’til Monday, and we’re leaving early-ish next Friday, so Tuesday and Wednesday will probably be a rush of labeling and organizing and bead counting to try and get everything in order. On the plus side, I can probably ~~bribe~~ persuade some locals to help, which should cut down on the tedium.

Meanwhile the sweater is still in time out, and I don’t even want to think about it, so instead I’m working on a pretty little wrap thing.
$licorice drops in progress (by jesh\)$
Let me tell you, it is really nice to be able to just knit something that is mindless but still engaging—I think if not for this project I would’ve just burned out and given up on knitting for a few weeks. Fortunately, this is relaxing enough that I can probably dive back into design work (and maybe even tackle The Sweater) once I, er, wrap this up. (That was terrible. I’m sorry.)

But I have to get these kits done first! She says, while sneaking away to knit another row…

Three Things

design, knitting, spindles, spinning No Responses »

May 082010

I don’t think I could be any busier right now if I tried. (Actually, forget I said that—no use tempting fate, here.) So, have a list.

1. Finally got the yarn to continue on with my sweater, and started a sleeve tonight.
$sleevestart (by jesh\)$

I’ve also been working on mathing out the other sizes and writing clear, coherent instructions so that my test knitters can get started, but I gotta say, it’s a challenge. The thing is that once you’re knitting the sweater it’s really easy to see how the lace and cable columns fit together and everything lines up, but getting there is… an issue. Still, I’ll get it worked out. Hopefully.
$katawriting (by jesh\)$

2. Washing handspun is magic. I know this, and have known this for quite a while, but seeing it in action still gets me every time.
$washedvsunwashed (by jesh\)$

These skeins of laceweight singles are actually for cowl kits that I’m going to have with me at the MA sheep and woolcraft fair at the end of the month; there will be handspun versions and spin your own, and Jen will have a handdyed version both at MA and at NHSW this weekend.
$levada (by jesh\)$
(The kits include beads for the picot cast on unless you request it without; my original handspun sample was knit without, only because I hadn’t thought of beading it at that point.)

3. After MASW I’m going to be migrating all of my shop stuff (spindles, fiber, yarn, kits, and patterns) over to this site from Etsy. I’m telling you this now because a) I’ve already started working on it, but it’s going to take me that long to get everything set up, and b) the few items left over on Etsy are 30% off so that I don’t have to move them.

Flood

knitting, spinning 1 Response »

Mar 142010

It’s been raining non-stop since about Thursday night; yesterday was particularly torrential.

Which made it a great day for a spinning meetup! Right? Heh. The meetup itself was great, but the hauling wheels to and from cars was… treacherous, to say the least.

$CPWs (by jesh\)$
The meetup was originally planned as a Reunion de Rouets; a gathering of Canadian Production Wheel owners. In the end, though, we ended up as a rather ragtag group of various wheels and spinners, and it was quite interesting to see the difference in spinning styles and wheel speeds and fiber choices.

I got Hillary to try my wheel out at one point, and I think it may have convinced her (well, more than she already was) that she needs an antique wheel in her life.
$hillary and catherine (by jesh\)$

All this despite the Drive Band Incident of 2010…

… which we won’t speak of ever again.

And although I didn’t get to work on them at all yesterday, I did start a new project on Friday.
$veyla flat (by jesh\)$

No Caturday today; instead you get a picture of tsock’s dog Luke.
$YIP 072/365: LUKE! (by jesh\)$

There!

FO, knitting, spinning 5 Responses »

Jan 272010

I finished my sweater the other day…

$carter cardigan (by jesh\)$

but I still can’t get good pictures of it.
$YIP 027/365---Meh (by jesh\)$

Remember that time when I said I could totally knit a cabled sweater out of black yarn and it would be fine? Wrong. I mean, the sweater is fine, the sweater is great, but the photography is proving tricky, as the above proves. I think I might have to recruit someone to be a human tripod for me and get some shots outside in the sun, if I want a chance of the pretty cables showing through.

In the meantime, I spun up some yarn…
$handspun singles (by jesh\)$
(35% merino, 35% alpaca, 30% wensleydale; 620 yds/45g)

$handspunswatch (by jesh\)$
…and knit it into a swatch for a new design, which will probably be released next month. Hopefully it will be easier to photograph than the sweater.

Tail End

FO, knitting, spinning 4 Responses »

Dec 152009

I promise this is the last of the FO parade for now—I’ve just been finishing so many things recently! Unfortunately I think, after finishing thirteen projects in four months, my knitting mojo has given up and died. I hadn’t knit a stitch in days and when I tried to get back to it this evening, nothing I tried was working. Oh well, I’m sure it’ll come back eventually.

In the meantime! I have some tasty new yarn to fondle.

This is the three-ply cormo I’ve been working on for, um, ever. Well, like a month; I really don’t sit down at the wheel as often as I’d like. But I finally worked up the energy to ply it and I’m glad I did, because despite some violent disagreements with the wheel (noise making, driveband throwing, driveband breaking, among other things), the yarn turned out gorgeous. It is squishy and fuzzy and light and pretty much everything I’d hoped for when I started spinning it. As far as I’m concerned there’s only one downside to this yarn: it’s brown. Now, while I have nothing against brown yarn in theory, in practice, well… I have brown hair in the exact same shade as this yarn, which means using for a hat or a scarf is right out. I don’t want to look like I’m wearing my own hair! It is sock weight, and I considered knitting socks, but I’m pretty hard on my handknitted socks and I’d be concerned about it holding up, long term. So what’s a girl to do? We’ll see—right now I’m considering gloves but I can’t seem to find the inspiration (see also: no knitting mojo).

(Three-ply cormo from Foxhill Fibers, purchased at Rhinebeck ’09. Spun short draw/point of twist, 500yds in 4oz.)

I also polished off that silk scarf I was working on the other day; it was a happy little diversion while I was waiting for the extra yarn to finish my dad’s vest.

Pattern: Suadela Stole by Lankakomero
Yarn: Twisted Fiber Silk Lace in Lilypad, one skein
Needles: US6/4mm Knitpicks Options
Notes: I don’t have much to say about this because it was such a straightforward, mindless knit! I only knit to eight repeats of chart two because the silk was so stretchy and I was getting bored.
On Ravelry here.

And that’s all I’ve got! Maybe I’ll take a knitting break and try to get some spinning done while waiting for my mojo to return.

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