The Spin goes on, Yada, Yada Yeah

Well, as predicted this was a week from Hades, but I have survived with help from my good friend, and co-worker, Karen. Thanks so much for all your help, girl friend! Three hours in on Saturday finished up the torture and now I hope it is clear sailing for a month. We got a good audit report in the end, so I guess that is all that really matters in the end.

So, in case your wondering about my over dying experience on Monday here is the result, although, I did change my mind at the last second and used turquoise instead of black to darken up that purple skein in the post below, (please scroll down just a bit!) and this is the result:

It's not real striking looking at it by itself, actually, but when I put it with the Goblin, it really looks like I know what I'm doing! lol So, what do you all think?



I am now leaning towards the mitered afghan from the Mason Dixon Knitting fame to work up this yarn. I plan to roll the yarn this afternoon and start on it tonight, probably. I am trying something different with the pictures, although I am not looking entirely successful, but I guess I'll let it go.














One more thing going in the wings right now (well, other than the Kai, which I did get my yarn for, thank you Karen, from Two Swans Yarns!) is the gloves:

One pinky done twice as the first one was kinda tight, even for my bitty pinky, so I ripped it out and started again. Then Monday rolled around and you know the rest from there.

Chris and Caryn go off to UK to sign her up for classes next semester, and to pick up Bryan, he will start his Spring Break on Friday. Next year, they will have a car and can come and go as they please, which will please us to no end. Getting them both up there at the same time will be a problem tho! Well, off to the shower for me, I hope you all have a great week!

Please don't be shy about comments, I really love to hear from people, so I know this is actually worth the effort! :)

Spinning up a Storm!

You know, this week I finished up the purple Romney! Actually, I finished it up last Sunday, but after my post so, here it is now:
The color goes pretty well with the Goblin Eyes, I think I have decided to start a free form couch throw and what ever I am not too sure about will go into it -I am kinda anal tho, and it will all have to match somewhat. I'm not that creative as you can see from the new quiz in the sidebar. It must be the accountant in me!

Here is the skein itself, I still plan to overdye with some black. I am planning a mental health day on Monday so I will try it then I think. Work has been a bitch lately, and I really need a few hours (days, weeks, months) to myself. I'm sick and tired of working for people who say they don't understand the language, or say they don't understand accounting. WTF? How did you get to be the COO then? Stupid man. I'm still dreaming of that yarn shop, when and if we ever find out about Caryn's scholarships for this upcoming year, then I will know what to do.

I got a deal on Spin Sales this week too, lookey, lookey! Well, maybe it wasn't the deal of the century, but I'm happy with it! As you probably know, Rick Reeves no longer makes any wheels. This frame wheel took me a few nights to get together and then a day to get my treadling down. It's really different from the other wheels I have, because it's a single treadle? I'm not entirely sure if that is the reason, or if RR made it function this way - heel toe, heel toe and a really, really short draw up distance!!

But, I am getting it and this is the result so far:


That picture is kinda dark, the color is a rich red coral by fiber monster on etsy.com. It practically spins itself! It shows up better in the picture above. I think maybe it will go with the goblin and purple I've got going -hmmmn? Have to think about that. . .

Have a good week everyone - I know I won't due to the work factor - auditor's plus month end. Yah, that works doesn't it? Insert Expletive here: "!"

So, What's up this week?

Well, I guess lots of stuff! I am still in my finishing mode, and I found out this week that I will most definitely run out of one color for my Kai Cardigan. So, I ordered another skein from Karen, at Two Swans Yarns, but haven't heard anything at all from her site, or her. I think this is a sign that she has been swept away by the Madrona experience going on up there! I know she is a great vendor, so, I will wait. But, you know don't you that patience is not my #1 virtue right?

Here is a shot of the sleeve in progress:

I got six of these from my sweetie for Valentines Day:

They are so perfect, what I mean is that they are opening perfectly and they are so, so fragrant! Oh man! I love 'em, but really, I keep telling Chris, just one! I only need you to send me one!

And Caryn and I went prom dress shopping yesterday, and found the most perfect dress for her. Her date is 6' plus, and she is a bit nervous about that, so we got some sandals with heels for her too! D-A me, I forgot the camera, so I have no pictures to share, but suffice it to say, she is perfect in purple!

Speaking of purple, here are the finished purple romney bobbins:

And still in finishing mode, I am working on these still, slowly, as I was trying to make Kai the #1 project at this house, (until I ran out of yarn that is!) . . .

These are really fun, I am now working on glove #2 and will do all the fingers at the same time. That way, hopefully, everything will be even and the same size!

And you know, we had a little snow this week so Caryn got this great shot of Blazer:


Have a good week, everybody!

Two Steps Forward . . .

And I'm not going backwards, for once . . .

I thought I would show you what that purple roving looked like after I put it through the drum carder. I only gave it one pass as it wasn't horribly felted. I just knew that trying to spin it straight from the roving would have made me a little stressed, and let me tell ya, that is not the point of spinning! So here is one shot, and I just want to say that I know it is not the best shot. As you can see there is an open cupboard door in the background, on the bottom left, well behind that I had three more open. . . and there was all the stuff from bringing in the groceries. . . so, this is the best I have, Gheez!


And a little closer:

Chris said it looks like it multiplied! That was funny, as it did appear to do that, I guess that's what a little bit of air does for you. It's been fun to spin up, but now I have decided to overdye this with just a hint of black and see what that gives me. I will definitely overdye the plied yarn. And after all this work, I have ultimately decided to Navajo ply the Goblin bobbins and use this as an accent to Goblin. So you ask, "what are you making?" Well, Uhhh, I dunno! Do you spin to knit or knit to spin? That is the question . . .

Anyway, here is a spinning progress shot:

I think that one is actually a little closer to the true color, it's really tough to get good shots in the cold gray gloom around here.

On the knitting front, I have made some progress on my Kai Cardigan, I put a pin in from the last point that I think I showed you. Don't you just love that motif? I know I do!

Have you ever noticed that when you are working on size 3 needles, it takes freakin' forever to get 10 inches done? Especially when doing three rows a night is a big deal during the week! Well, it's coming along, and I only lack about an inch and a half now. . . then the neck bind off and I can cut the armhole steeks and start the sleeves. I was hoping to get there this weekend, but I am obviously a slow knitter. Here it is all laid out with the armhole steek right up front and center!

This color shot is pretty good too! It is definitely pretty, I just want to be done!

As The Wheel Spins - More Romney!

I've been spinning this weekend. Any time it's a little stressful the wheels can always be counted on! Bryan is moving back to Lexington this weekend, and it's always a little sad to see him go. We are a very close family, and I hate to see the children leave the nest, I guess.

So, I finished up spinning the last of Georgia and man did I ever have to stuff this bobbin to get it all on! Look:

Ok it's a bit fuzzy, I tried to get too close I guess. Then I changed out the bobbin and started spinning up the Romney Corriedale that I have been combing, when it isn't over 75 degrees outside that is!
This is the stuff that my sister in law, Carol, just couldn't stand the sight of in the roaster pan dyeing up. She says it looked like blood and guts to her! My friend, Karen, said basically the same thing! So, it must be true and I decided not to put that photo back up for your viewing pleasure. . . lol. So anyway this is the nests getting spun up:


I am working with the Mabel Ross Essentials of Handspinning guide to try to make sure I am getting the same sized yarn as I was getting spinning up Georgia:

I personally couldn't be more pleased with the way this is turning out so far!

The only problem I am having right now is the fact that the bobbin and flyer mechanism is making a chattering noise and I can't figure it out! I have oiled it and oiled it. I keep fussing with the tensioning screw . . . I can't seem to get it to stop and it's driving me crazy! Any suggestions are welcome as I am at the end of my knowledge on this one! I'm going to try to take it apart one more time and see what I can see. . .

Three Skeins of Georgia -

So, I have been spinning. . . bet you didn't know. . . I got a shipment from Wooly Wonka Fiber's as I am in Anne's Exotic Fiber Club. This shipment was for 4 oz. of the most white Cormo roving I have ever seen!! Since my wheel was in a prime spot for moving out bobbins, I started spinning some of it up:

I know, that's not a bobbin, but look at how white that roving is!! Ok, I have to admit, it's not my favorite to spin. It is very soft, yes, and it is very well prepared, but I still end up with itty bitty nups that do pick out, but drive me nutty. I don't think that soft fine wools can be prepared without these bugger's, which is why I sold a whole prepared fleece of Cormo from OVF. I just couldn't stand the nupps, and it feels like I have to practically watch every second or the fiber pulls away from me! I don't remember either of these problems with some hand dyed merino I started with on Tina, so maybe this is indicative of Cormo. I don't know, but here is my spinning so far:


So, the reason I was ready to start this is I had another full bobbin of Georgia ready to ply with it's mate on the Lazy Kate. So, this afternoon, I plied, and plied, and plied:

It's major hot here in KY which is the reason for the half gallon drink sitting next to me! But anyway, I took a shot of my lazy kate after plying the two bobbins and, Ashley, just look how close I came to being perfect! Well, I don't usually get this close, this is pretty dad-gum close, I have to say myself!

So, this resulted in 291 wraps on a 1.5 yard skein winder:

Which equates to 432 yards approximately:

And this is all the roving I have left to do of Georga:

Which I am now trying to decide to either spin the whole thing on a bobbin and center ball ply or try to even it out on two bobbins and ply 'em up like I did today. . . my luck is not so great with the center pull ball, but I hate to waste any of these singles either! Decisions, decisions!

Fibery Pursuits - in Kentucky and Tennesse!

Yesterday, Peggy and her granddaughter Emma Belle picked Caryn and myself up to go to Tennessee on a bunny hunt!

It was quite and adventure, as the woman who was selling the French Angora Rabbits was completely clueless when it came to giving directions! On top of that, dear Peggy doesn't have a map in the car. . . ok, well, not my usual way of doing things and hopefully, I didn't spoil Peggy's day, but I honestly hate to not know where I am going! All's well that ends well, though and Peggy got 2 of the little critter's and I am thinking about the offspring of those two. . . Go see the cuties on her blog!! Oh, I want one!

Ok in other persuits, when you take two of these:




And ply them together:




You could get one of these (with leftover's on one bobbin):



This is 4.5 ounces of a Romney Sheep named Georgia (from Skyline Farms) that spun into 305 yards of two ply yarn at 14 wpi.



I have been using the Yarn Scale that is supplied in The Essentials of Yarn Design by Mabel Ross to try and stay consistent with this yarn. I think that so far it is working! This is the darkest of my Romney and I plan to have three darks and two lights for a fairisle design by Ron Schwitzer.