Knitwith Homespun

But I have a couple of things to say. I am starting my swatch for Charlotte`s socks today. I am adding a progress bar on the left by my projects to include progress on the book I am reading (if and when I get to read). I was at the doctor`s today about my toe (broken) and read while I was there. It is a super funny book and very quick to read. Oooooo I can post my broken toe picture!

I am going geocaching tomorrow and I am very excited about it! We have six or seven items I expect to find and I will surely post pictures. There are 10 of us going and it supposed to be a lovely family past time. There are supposedly six items in Peters Canyon, the park where I normally hike. Now, with a broken toe, it should be a little challenging, but with 10 people, I doubt we will be sprinting anyway.

First, let`s discuss the Dirty Binky we know and love. This blanket was given to me at my baby shower in 2000 along with several others made of the same fabric and print style but different print. Since her birth, we have swapped out several of the blankets for each of the others so she would not get attached to any one blanket. This did NOT work. The blanket in this picture, around her neck, is the blanket we call “Dirty Binky”. You can imagine why. This blanket gets sniffed for its scent every night when she goes to bed and it MUST be dirty. She doesn`t like it fresh and clean. We know this, because sometimes while she sleeps, we steal it and wash it and put it back. Immediately in the mornings, she smells it and has a fit. This is the importance of Dirty Binky.

Last year, while visiting my sister in Boncourt le Bois, France, we all went out to dinner. All but the kids. The babysitter, Manu (short for Emanuel, which I am sure I am misspelling) needed a ride home when we got back. My sister and I drove her. Her English was very very limited and my French is much much worse. So, I am sitting in the front passenger seat and Carolyn (my sister) and Manu are discussing the evenings events.

All I can hear, is French, and I don`t understand it, so please bare with me as I substitute “Blah blah” as french. I cannot remember the exact words in French (as I don`t understand anything but hello, goodbye, and other very simple words).

Manu: “Blah blah blah blah (french accent) `Dirty Binky` blah blah blah blah”

Now even my sister, who speaks fluent and lovely French with no American accent, laughed at this! It was completely hysterical. Dirty Binky was lost and they couldn`t find it for bedtime. Now, of course, it`s not as funny when you type this story as when you tell it.

P.S. Dirty Binky was left in Mexico and mailed back to us once and left in Charlotte, NC and mailed back.

My wheel is here! Wow! Amazing! First of all, all the pictures are separate batches of fiber. She sent everything she had and it`s all from the 90`s. There were a couple of receipts in the bags of stuff. Some of it is alpaca, some is merino, and some is corriedale. I think it is at the very least $100 worth of fiber. The balls of alpaca roving are at least a pound each. They are very heavy for their size and very dense. There are two of those (the black balls). There is some camel (which smells like a farm). I can`t believe I got all this stuff for so cheap. It`s a miracle!

So, when I found out that my wheel was coming today, I called the spinning supply place I found on Tuesday. The gentleman that owns the place gives spinning lessons by appointment for $40. Needless to say, I called and had a lesson at noon. It was AWESOME! I got some Merino from him and it was amazing. I have not used merino before as I only practiced on my drop spindle with corriedale. It was very very soft and easy easy to draft. He said I was an excellent student and learned very quickly. I made a ball of yarn that was more like string! it was tight, thin, and strong. Oh my gosh do I need practice.

Here are some pictures of the fiber that came with my wheel. This woman is clearly, the nicest woman in the world!

This is a picture of my wheel. It`s very beautiful and I am now sure it`s an Ashford. My husband and I are quite familiar with it already. We have pretty much tuned it up. In using it, I discovered it was slightly out of alignment. David said, “Well there has to be a place to adjust it”. So we looked, and sure enough, there is. Open the hinge and there are screws holding it down. Loosen the screws, slide it over, it`s aligned. Beautiful. Next, one of the springs on the brake was missing. I think this was because it seems to be quite old and there may have been only one on this model at that time. Everything else that came with this wheel was here but the one spring. David said “Take it to Osh and get a new one”. They had them for $2.49. Sold! It was a little tricky tieing up the line to the brake but I did it! Fine tuning here and there is all it took and now it works well (I think). Now I just need practice. Practice, practice, practice.

Woohoo! I`m so excited!

What a day! So nice! This week I found a STORE that has fiber. Well it`s certainly more like a shop than a store. They have spinning and weaving supplies and fiber I can go in and take home. The fiber spins beautifully and drafts much easier than the other stuff I had (or maybe I`m just getting better at it). I bought the three colors to the right here and I plan on plying them together. The second shot is the aqua color spun up a bit. The color in the first shot is much more accurate than the second one. I just couldn`t get that color right.

The spun aqua I am really very happy with. The gauge is really very nice and getting a little more even than the purple and the pink I have already done. There are a couple of spots in this yarn that are thicker but I`m not worried about it right now. If I spend my time worrying about that, I`d spend all my time in the nut house.

This is my Mother`s Day picture. I love it! My family is making me breakfast and my daughter is so sweet. Here`s the story: My husband and daughter got together and my husband shopped. The card was a beautiful Mother`s Day card with a warm and fuzzy sentiment in it. Also, a gift card to Joann`s Fabrics, $50! Woohoo! The best part of this present (besides the fact that now I get to go there and spend it) is that Bella told my husband (without him asking) that that`s not where we buy our yarn! We go to the Red Bee! Ahhhhhhhhh! My daughter knows the stuff. Bodes well for me later and I`m very proud of her!

Now, the yarn on the niddy noddy. Same as the purple skein I already showed but spun a little bit differently (less even-more overspin). I am knitting a bag with this yarn and designing myself. I am very excited about it but I keep frogging the crap out of it. I`ll post something as soon as I have something to post. Thanks for your attention on this Mother`s Day post (those none of you reading).

When last we spoke (wrote/read), I was about to go to work on my sock with my Colinette Jitterbug pictured above. My sock needs to be frogged and I am crying because the foot is done but it`s messy and ugly. So…..I swatched my handspun purple singles. I am pleased with how it looks and am going to knit a bag with my own pattern and will post my progress shortly. Check back all none of you who read this! Ha!

This is the corriedale roving I got from Hello Yarn a couple of months back. I got the pink and the purple together to begin my spinning obsession. Little did I know, right? I spun the pink first, which I have already blogged. I saw the beginner problems that I had with my spindle and my spinning and tried to make adjustments. This bit has about 48 yards. While spinning this, I thought my spindle was getting too heavy and unweildy so I wound it off and washed it. This is washed and dried yarn you are looking at. Looks pretty good, right? Well old habits (even if they are new old habits) die hard. While spinning the rest of this roving, I started doing the same things that were wrong with my pink yarn. According to Dr. Phil, you can`t change what you don`t acknowledge. I am acknowledging that my joins are weak. I am acknowledging that because my joins are weak, I overspin them to make them stronger. I acknowledge I need more practice.

There, I am on my way to recovery. Wow, that felt good. Now, I was saving this for when my wheel came, but I don`t think I can quit spinning cold turkey for two more weeks. So, I have to spin. Maybe I will knit my beautiful sock today and start spinning my silk/alpaca tonight or tomorrow. I got this fiber from Paradise Fibers (who I love!)

Well I am getting super addicted to spinning. I am having a blast! This is my newest and it`s getting smoother than it was. The pink shown below is the first lot I did and I have set the twist and given it away. The overspin did relax quite a bit after I washed it. My Mom`s birthday was Sunday, so I gave her a set of Knitpicks Options and the handspun pink.

I considered plying the pink with this purple, but clearly, that`s a bad idea. The pink has so much overspin and thinner spots. This purple, although it is only my second, is much smoother and is a little looser than the pink was. I think it wouldn`t ply well together.

Now I have a wheel on the way. Yes, I bought a spinning wheel. Smoking deal at $60. Best I can tell it`s an Ashford Traditional. The wheel is in San Francisco and I am not. However, I have connections! My nephew, goes to NDNU and lucky for me, he has an apartment up there. His school let out last week, and if he had a dorm, he would have been home by the next day. He has an apartment, and there`s my luck. His lease isn`t up til the end of the month and so I had him go pick it up today! He owes me and now I owe him! When he is here for the summer he is renting a room in a house a couple of blocks from me so I told him he can come by for 7 dinners on an unannounced basis. That worked for him and he has it RIGHT NOW! Heeeeeeeeeee!

My plan: Keep practicing with my spindle. From what I hear, it`s much easier to switch from spindle to wheel if you have some experience with the spindle. I want to be comfortable with it. I will post any other pictures as they become available. I will pre-empt any regular programming with updates! Hehehehehehehehe!

Well I am having the best time. I think I have perfected my toe up cast on technique. I don`t know if anyone else uses this but I will write about it just in case.

This is my first sock that I started knitting toe up and I was using a pattern at that time. The pattern was from Charlene Schurch`s book “Sensational Knitted Socks” and it called for a provisional cast-on using waste yarn. I thought, there had to be a better way. There was. A couple of weeks ago, on Knitty Gritty, there was a show about socks with Cookie A. She is awesome! She demonstrated a method of casting on called a figure 8 cast on and it is truly amazing. I mentioned it in my previous blog about my top down sock. I have frogged and restarted the sock to the right about 8-10 times and quite enjoyed myself but in the process, I really learned a lot about this method of casting on the tried a number of increases for the toe.

Before you know it, I was out shopping and I happened into my LYS for some needles (my Knit Picks Options don`t have circular 1, 2 or 3s). I found some yarn and then of course had to try it. The toe looks like the picture to the left. I am pleased with it so I will share it here.

Figure 8 cast on. Knit first round according to the cast on method. Then begin increases. N1 = K1, yo, k1, yo, knit to 2 stitches, yo, k1, yo, k1. N2 = same as N1. N1 = K1, K1-b, K1, K1-b, knit til 4 remain, K1-b, K1, K1-b, K1. N2 = Same as N1. Repeat this until you have the desired number of stitches for your foot. The fewer stitches you start with, the rounder your toe will be. Obviously, you can adapt this toe to be as round or square as you like. It`s always up to you.