spinning – Page 7

With Ripples

February 3, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

I finally feel like I’m getting somewhere with this project. I had intentions of knitting the garter portion with the entire first ball and starting on the edging with the second (and somewhat smaller) ball, but impatience won out. That and the fact that each row is very nearly 400 stitches and I couldn’t bear to keep increasing it further. The first ball is very nearly through, however, so a few extra rows of edging won’t matter much.

I have a feeling that this will end up being a lot smaller than I hoped, and end up more scarf-like than shawl-like.

Back to it.

January 6, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

multnomah_wip babybooties

Well, we’re back to our usual non-holiday routines around here. We live quite the quiet, unexciting life. Work, dinner, watch TV (while I knit), and then go to bed to read and sleep. I’m not sure if we’re just really lame, or maybe that’s normal. It’s not like anyone wrote the manual for adulthood to tell me. Perhaps it’s just a hangover from the busyness of the holidays, or a little bit of cabin fever? I don’t know.

So there has been knitting. And more knitting. And emotional mood swings going batshitcrazy as I stare at these itty bitty baby slippers. I still have to knit another pair before my friend’s baby shower, but they’ll have to wait until these emotions settle a bit. And a spoiled puppy following me everywhere (she’s feeling a lot better, by the way). Pretty standard around here, really.

We’re all pretty lazy on this gray day.

October 28, 2012 Marie 1 Comment

As I sit here and write I’m wrapped in my thick Vernal Equinox shawl. The 80 degree temperatures of this past week are most definitely gone, and the rain and cold and those endless hazy gray clouds cover the sky.The lack of sunlight is making it difficult to take photos (or I need to learn how to compensate better).

It’s been a lazy weekend, filled with lots of sitting about and watching TV and crafting. I’ve made a lot of progress on some yarn on my wheel, the color of which is quite fitting for a weekend such as this. Gray, with hints of brown and blue. It’s quite boring and makes me sleepy. Even the pup is lazying about.

I did get up the nerve to give some sewing a shot. A pair of pajama pants with fabric from the stash. The last pajamas I attempted were a total disaster, so it took serious courage to attempt them again. So far, so good. They went together well, I didn’t have to rip any seams, and – most important – they fit. The elastic band is in but needs finished/secured, and the bottom of the pant legs need hemmed. But that’s the easy part. And now that I have a tiny bit of confidence with sewing patterns I’m resisting the urge to run to the fabric store to make more. And maybe snag a new pattern or two to try.

Maybe this knitter can learn to sew clothes, after all?

Rumpelstiltskin

September 2, 2012 Marie Leave a Comment

Most of us know the story of Rumpelstiltskin, yes? With the maiden whose father tells the king she can spin gold from straw?

Tonight we had a little family party at our house, and one of my nephews seemed fascinated by my spinning wheel and wanted to touch it. None of us were even sure he knew what he was looking at but he, very matter-of-fact, exclaimed “It makes gold!” To which I laughed and replied “Well, I guess that must make me Rumpelstiltskin!”

Never one to turn down showing an interested child how something works, I pulled my wheel out better and explained how it worked. I even let him treadle a bit with me. He so carefully worked with me to turn the wheel, watching the yarn uptake onto the bobbin. And just before he decided he was done with the process he looked up and asked “Where’s the gold?”

If only, little dude. If only.

Spinning Sable, the final verdict

June 23, 2012 Marie 3 Comments

Well, here it is. The finished yarn. 850ish yards of handspun beauty. This sets an entirely new record on yardage for me. The braid of fiber was only 4oz. No wonder it felt like I was never going to finish the plying – 850 yards! Good grief.

I was still unsure of the yarn until I started winding it off the bobbin to see the colors blend. The red isn’t near as pronounced when you twist it up with the other colors. It’s a very colorful fiber and I think it wants to be woven into a scarf. The colors would blend gorgeously in a woven item, though I may just be using that as an excuse to try to coax the Mr into buying me a loom for my upcoming birthday.

I think, if the loom thing doesn’t pan out (and it probably won’t), I’ll be casting on for Mini Mania scarf. A sideways-knit, textured scarf would be a perfect match for the colors and give it that woven look without actually being woven. The downside to this is casting on 500 stitches, and then knitting row after row after row through all 850 yards of fiber with what might end up being the most boring knit ever. Which means it’ll probably end up being my no-brainer knit – the kind I take with me to knit group, sporting events, family gatherings, etc that I can knit and knit and knit without worrying about messing up or having to follow a pattern.