Scarf!

So here's the finished Trellis scarf. I'm pretty happy to have it done. I didn't block it out very much as I liked the way the pattern looked a little denser. All in all, it worked out well, especially since it was our failed dyepot that had to be overdyed. It's way more purplely than the pics show. The variations in colour actually seem to work in my favor this time!


I'm pondering making a pattern for the hat in the previous post. What do you think? I'd love some feedback on it.


At last, a picture of the elusive Uzume. She seems to like having her pic taken about as much as I do. She's Loki's cat. I know it sounds weird, but yes, the dog has his very own cat. She sleeps with him, grooms him and lets him drag her around the house by a clump of her fur. They have a very strange relationship, but we love them anyway.

Vindicated! Proof of spindle breeding

As you can see, here is a good example of spindle offspring. These spindles are from Quantum. The one on the left is a bubinga baby butterfly (say that fast more than twice), and the other is a canary butterfly. Even the names imply that spindles breed. So I obviously can't be to blame for the number of spindles in my possession, as they've quite clearly been doing the nasty when I'm not spinning with them.


Even these Powell spindles bear a striking resemblance to each other, indicating a genetic bond. There's 35g tiger maple and ebony and a 45g pau ferro and ebony. Virgin spindles that need a good spinning.

Hat!

This is the finished hat from the swatch on the last post. I even have enough yarn left for mitts or another hat. Garter stitch in the round is really sucky to do.


Check this out! I spent my Sunday trying to figure out how to make my bleeping sock machine work and came home to this. Apparently the happy shed elves were busy. This means that I'm that much closer to my fibre having it's very own room. Scary that it needs its own room, but it's too late to worry about that now. The yarn's been bought, the sheep are naked...

A Total Score and More!

Okay, so it's a lame rhyme, but it's Pooh! I couldn't help myself.
It seems that my brother and his girlfriend have developed an unhealthy addiction to Winnie the Pooh. They've done their daughter-to-be's room entirely in Pooh motif. Rather than try to wean them off it, I've decided to help it along. I found all this great stuff at the japanese dollar store (bit of a misnomer as everything is $2.00). What a deal, can't beat it with a stick!


Yet another baby sweater. I wonder how long it'll be before I hate pink...


This is a swatch for a hat for the Nihon Vogue course. It's handspun from some sort of beast roving I picked up at the Madrona retreat this past February. Hope to have a finished pic up early next week.
A few people have asked how I like the Lady Ann and the Mongold. I do like the Lady Ann, but the cop seems to want to wind around the waist rather than higher up. This does not affect spindle use at all, just different than others and I have to get used to it. It's a very zen spindle. Calming to use. I like it, but I wouldn't do any sort of production work with it. I am brutally disappointed with the Mongold. It does not live up it's reputation. I do have another one on the way and I'll see if it's better. For now, the Forresters, Tabacheks and Bosworths are still the ones I pick up first. Though my Eichheim is quickly becoming a favorite as well.

Dyeing Day

Yesterday Angela and I spent the better part of six hours dyeing yarn and roving using natural dyes. We did four pots and had great results with all but one. On the left is the wool and roving done with blackberries, centre is madder, and right is the failed alkanet (initally it was a nasty brown/grey) overdyed with cochineal. I really like the bright orange we got from the madder. I'm not an orange person, but it's so clear it reminds me of creamsicles.


This is the laceweight that I spun from a merino/kid blend, also dyed yesterday. I'm knitting it into the scarf from the most recent issue of Interweave Knits.


Here's some Targhee destined to become a three ply double knit for a project yet to be determined. I have almost two pounds of it, so it's likely to become a sweater of some sort.


And last, but not least, here's one of the results of Angela's weekend with dye. It's 50/50 merino tencel that will be a three ply sock yarn and then some seriously funky socks. Hopefully I can get it done before I go senile.

More Research Fodder

Look at what was waiting for me after my dog walk this morning! The one on the left is a stripped down mahogany Lady Ann (1.7g), that's a Kaari in the center of oak, ash, and bubinga (.95g), and the one on the right is a Mongold. The first two are Hatchtown's and I feel very lucky to have them.
If you haven't heard about the nesting eagles on Hornby Island yet, it's definitely worth a look. Live streaming video pretty much in the nest!

I am the only short one

These two guys are my little brothers. At the top, 20 some years ago, and below, this past weekend. Genetics can be so cruel. They're about 6'3" and 6'4" and I'm around 5'6" in shoes. They were so cute when they were little... now they just tower over me. Harder to tickle them till they scream like little girls now. But not impossible.
Much gardening and taking of crap to the dump was done. And now my yard looks a million times better. Not to mention how great it is to see them both at the same time.

More socks done! Only two pairs left of the nine half pairs I found hiding in the bottom of the evil lantern moon basket. Feel free to do a little dance, I did. These ones took longer to finish than the others, but they were worth it. And that's my new Forrester. It's a rock maple linum series, 26.4g, and it spins like a hot damn.
I did get the gansey done for class on that Saturday and now I'm swatching for the Cowichan sweater and the descending pattern yoke sweater. I think we're going to wind up making ten garments for this class instead of the usual eight. And in amongst all this, I still have to get the shed built (so I can put my wool in the former garden equiptment room) and finish spinning the merino/kid for a stole. Anybody got an extra day or two they can sell me on the cheap?

What a Clever Man! No Really!

This is the beautiful noste that my guy made this weekend. It was his first time working on a lathe and he did an awesome job. Now he gets to show me how make one.


Two more pairs of socks have been added to the "done" pile! On the left is Bordello socks in a mohair blend from Fleece Artist and on the right is Twists and Seeds Footie in something from The Stash. Only three semi pairs to go. Which is a good thing because...


...these have now been added to the sock stash. What did I think, the other stuff would get lonely? Must have been fugue state stash shopping again. The pink skeins are self stripping that I dyed myself. We'll see how that works out later.


And this is the reason it took me so long to get the blog up this afternoon. Parcels arrived! It was like Christmas! A couple of spindles I found on ebay, some gorgeous fibre, a Kromski niddy and last, but not least by any stretch, my little spidy from Tracy Eichheim. I am so thrilled, and now I get to go play with my new friends.