Fiber, Various

A week since I taught my first dye class, and I'm finally getting around to showing off the pics of the day, and the newest member of Johanne's flock. We all went to see baby Achai before class started.

It's cute to see how all the females in the pen are kind of protective of him, and they would all move in front of Achai to keep us from seeing him, in case we were dangerous. 'He has a lot of aunts', Johanne said.

Thanks to Jo and Chantal's organization, we were ready to start promptly on time, with neat booklets of information and skeins of yarn for everyone. And all the students had a great time, getting into chopping plants and straining dye baths, ending up with a lovely row of samples to go home with.

You know it's a keen class when one of the comments from a sort of survey and discussion after was "You should have dye supplies for us to purchase so we can go home and do some more!"

This afternoon there was a bit of fiber fun of a different sort. Fibrefest is on in Almonte this weekend, and I snagged a ride with my mother and a friend. What I really wanted to see wasn't even as much the vendors as the exhibits at the museum (the MVTM, textile museum). I will say right now, definitely worth the trip. Go soon, before they're finished.

One exhibit was by a Peruvian tapestry artist, and while I'm not usually big on modern work, the colours and technique were incredible, as if the tapestries were painted.

(detail of the tapestry above)

The other exhibit I really wanted to see was a display of Coptic weaving, dating from the 4th-10th centuries. And they were amazing. Most of the pictures I had seen of Coptic weaving previously was monochrome, like the first picture, so to see a few colored pieces was exciting. This particular colored piece says it was likely a piece off a curtain. Think of it, these fibers were all handspun (spindle-spun, since spinning wheels were still hundreds of years in the future), natural-dyed, and handwoven, and they've survived for 1500 years since they decorated someone's clothes or home...

On The Needles

There are a couple knitted things in progress. It hasn't all fallen by the wayside in the end-of-semester scramble, even if progress has been slow the last couple weeks.

I got started on the second shawl out of the cria I spun for Johanne. One skein chocolate and one in the light beige I used for the last shawl. After a couple days of swatching and looking through books and Rav for ideas, I finally went with semicircular and striped with a contrasting border. Semicircular because I hadn't tried planning one yet, and wanted to see if I could. Striped, because I figured the variegation in the chocolate would show up best in a stockinette ground rather than lace, and I added little purl stripes of the beige to tie in to a beige border.

The border got started a week or more ago, but I don't really think I like the way it's coming out. So now I have to decide how I want to change it.

So that's languishing in the to-do pile while I meditate. Meanwhile, I started something else. Remember back in the fall, I was working on some diagonally striped fingerless mitts? Anyway, I submitted the idea for a pattern collection, and they were accepted. Deadline to have final pattern in - April 26, which is my last day of exams, and the day before I head off to the country to teach my second-ever spinning class. So I've been trying to get that done a bit early. Writing up as I re-knit, and I sent the rough copy of the pattern to a very kind friend who volunteered to test. Anyway, they're coming along.

Tomorrow, if the weather isn't too horrible (that means you, mutter mutter Winter Storm Watch), I'll have time to finish the mitts up when I meander off after class for my usual Friday social/fiber session. If not, I'll be hibernating at home to finish them, and being very grateful I'm not outside like the poor goose we saw today at Canlock. We had a class trip there, as they sell stone and mulch and such. And in one of the piles of mulch is this Canada goose, sitting on her eggs already, and having a hissy fit if anyone comes near. (Guess they won't be selling much of that mulch for a while.) I wonder if she'd let them put a tarp up to protect her a bit?

New Projects

The cria shawl is done and blocked (with expert supervision from the cat, naturally). Turned out very nice, 65" across and 28" deep final size. I'm thinking Tiger Moth for a name - the center pattern is Tiger Eye, but it looks moth-like to me in this orientation. And yes, there is a bit of striping going on - innate to the handspun, not a different lot or anything. If I'm very good, I could get the pattern written up this week and start hunting testers, but I suspect it will take a bit longer.

 

Finished shawl means I get to start a pair of mittens.

The pattern is a nice basic one, doesn't require a graph, so good to take around. Actually got it from a weaving draft in a book on Latvian weaving I borrowed from the Guild this week. There were several promising patterns in there - a source I'll have to consider more often.

For a change in pace in Construction lab today, my group ended up in the wood-shop, making planter boxes for the upcoming show. My woodworking tends to be like my gardening - few if any power tools involved. But today it was all power tools. Miter saw, table saw, jigsaw, band saw, and brad nailer. I feel like I've definitely added to my repertoire! That's my group-mates in action, below, using the brad nailer. We basically take turns doing things and taking pictures and recording - we need records for timesheets in our logbooks, and pictures for that and for our portfolios in English class.

Alpaca, Various

I'm putting the edging on the first shawl of the handspun cria I'm doing for Johanne. It is going to be very pretty, I think. With any luck, it'll be blocking tonight or tomorrow.

When I get that done, I have some more alpaca to play with for her, for the farm store. They sold a lot of their finished products over the fall and winter, and a restock on some of the smaller things is needed.  So Mom and I will do a bit of knitting - scarves for her, mittens for me. I'm happy - make a little money, and get turned loose with license to play with colours.

If that wasn't enough alpaca - I finally got to this month's Guild Meeting after missing a couple, and got to take home a prize for Viewer's Choice Award from the Spinning Challenge - a bag of 100g raw, cream-colored cria fibre. Alpaca is definitely the fibre of choice this week!

Fiber Update

It doesn't seem like there's been a lot of fibery stuff around here lately. Too much getting back into the school routine, starting the wheels turning for the co-op process (I really, really don't like writing resumes and cover letters!), and researching computer stuff. Turns out my computer isn't compatible with the design software we need for class...so it's off shopping for me at some time in the next week. Money I didn't really want to spend, but what can you do? At least that should keep me in the loop, technology-wise, for a few years!

But there has been some fiber-related content around. I've been working on spinning the cria roving I got from Johanne back in October. First skein is done, about a light fingering weight, and very soft.

The second skein is being plied, and then there will be one more smaller skein of the beige to spin and ply before I start the chocolate-colored one. And there is an idea for a lace shawl in my head for at least some of that beige yarn.

I cast on knee socks for myself last week in Briggs and Little Regal which I had in stash. Good take-around knitting. One is done and the second is close to halfway - just in time, since it's supposed to start getting cold the next few days!

Color and Lace

I finished cria shawl #2 Thursday and took it off the blocking pins Friday morning, but hadn't had a chance to take pictures until today. I'm pretty happy with it, and glad the yarn didn't run out. Two tiny balls are all that's left, however, so I was definitely right to stop at 8 repeats.

Off to the parents' for a few days over the weekend. Yes, there is Internet, so why didn't I blog? Too much to do. And no prizes for guessing what most of it was, given that I had undyed rovings and yarn around:

I had lots of fun in the dyepots (indigo, cochineal, coreopsis, and walnut), and the results will be heading for my Etsy shop over the next week or so. I finished spinning almost all the remaining peacock batt - only one bobbin to ply and that will be done and I can start my sweater with it! The pysanky family is growing  - 8 knitted and 5 of those stuffed and finished. These are a bit bigger - maybe the Palette stretches more than what I had for samples, so I will try a couple with a needle size smaller, and can't wait to show them off when they're done. Two testers have finished the Bargello tam, and there were and are adjustments to make to the pattern. Ah, never a dull moment!

Casting on...and on...and on

I finished the main portion of Joanne's second cria shawl last night. It was excellent timing too - literally five minutes before the end of the movie I was watching. This morning I wound the remaining skein into two equal balls to start the edging.

The edging for the Haapsalu shawls is worked in 2 pieces, one side plus one end at a time, and there is an actual formula, requiring a calculator, to figure out how many stitches to cast on. According to the notes, the edging is knit in two pieces as more stitches becomes difficult to fit on the needle, and longer needles or circulars are best for this part. After doing the math, I suspect this may be an understatement. My cast on row was 331 stitches for each half of the shawl. It took 20 minutes, by the clock, to cast on for the first half.

I have decided that I am very glad of 2 things. One, that because of my handspun not being as fine as their yarn, that I only had 2 pattern repeats across, rather than the 4-5 I would have needed (and the proportionally larger number of stitches for edging, then). And two, that the edging is written in garter stitch and not stockinette, so at least I don't have to purl back across all those stitches. I know I could do it - I suspect previous shawls have had at least as many edge stitches. It just feels like so much more when you actually count them.

Now to cross my fingers and hope there's enough yarn to finish the edge.

Playing Catch-up

Hmm, no posts since Tuesday. What's my excuse? None really, for Wednesday. But Thursday was baking and groceries and library run coupled with knitting at Knit-Knackers, where I also purchased some roving to dye up.

The baking (chocolate-bottom cupcakes) was aimed at yesterday's session of Fleece Spa. Filled a bobbin with the peacock batt there, added a few inches to the second cria shawl, and watched Shaun the Sheep videos on Youtube. Came home, had a bite to eat, and swung off to the Friday knitting group, to add another few inches to the shawl, enjoy hot cider, and meet Kit and Phae's baby who, having a knitting mother and mother's friends, was naturally well wrapped in knitted stuff.

Today is more about catching up with the stuff that's not quite so glamorous. However, I think I've got a good start on it. Here we are not even noon, and I've got a batch of laundry done and folded, a loaf of bread in the oven, e-mail caught up, and yesterday's spinning plied and skeined. There will be homemade soup with the fresh bread for lunch, and then to deal with washing of dishes and of wool socks. And maybe a bit of time after that for a movie and a chance to finish v2.0 of the bargello tam. The first one blocked out rather larger than expected, so hopefully this version will be less Rasta. Then I'll have to decide whether to frog the first one or try to felt it down a little. Ah, fun.

January Monday

I mean, what else can you say about it? It's bright and sunny and cold! I had to drag myself out for a job interview this morning, but I'm not planning on going out again today. I suppose it could be worse. My sister and her boyfriend called home to let Mom know they and their luggage arrived safely in Whitehorse, and it was -35 there.

Two skeins spun and plied so far for the spinalong (it goes so much faster when it's bulky navaho-plied instead of laceweight 2 ply), and a bit more knitting done on the second cria shawl for Joanne. I am loving the Estonian lace.

Another One Bites The Carpet

Which is to say, the first of the cria shawls is done and blocked. And while I'm not particularly fond of carpeting per se, it does make a great base for blocking things.

I plan to get a second one cast on today, same yarn, different pattern. Good excuse to try something out of my new Haapsalu Shawl book. Actually I did cast on, but had to rip out, as it appears my math skills are off today. I figured out I needed 68 stitches. Counted the stitches in the cast-on twice, but ran out of stitches on the first pattern row. Rechecked my knitting against the pattern, couldn't find the problem there. Only then did I realize that I had miscalculated the number of stitches to cast on. 2 repeats of 32 stitches plus 4 edges stitches on each side does not equal 68 - I forgot to add the second edge. Some days, it's hard to believe I have an advanced degree.

Beads and Lace

If you had told me a couple of years ago that my 'mindless' project for hauling around would be a lace shawl, I would probably have thought you were crazy. But, that is currently the case. I'm a skein into the first of the shawls for Joanne out of her cria. It took several tries to find a pattern I thought would work with the yarn, but this one I think will be nice, with a large feather border to finish.

It will come with me to Guild meeting tonight, and it did just fine at yesterday's knit out. Yesterday was a lot of fun. Not only was there knitting, and a big group of us (three tables' worth), but I spent the first half of the day helping with inventory at a friend's store. How is that fun? Well, not only is she a lovely person who fed us (homemade stuff, to boot) AND paid us for our help, but the store happens to be Canada Beading Supply , and counting inventory means that I get to fondle walls full of pretty beads - crystals and carnelian and onyx, and all sorts of things in a rainbow of colors. I love going there, even if I don't buy much - I get very little use out of the jewellery I do have without making more, but still, I like an excuse to drool over the colors there on occasion.  

Joy To The World, The Cria's Done...

I feel like this has been a terribly productive day, really. The blocked scarf from yesterday is wrapped. I went out this morning and got my Christmas cards stamped and mailed, and picked up a few things I needed. Came home and finished spinning the last of the cria, had lunch, and went into baking mode (there's a cookie exchange this week).
At 4 o'clock my kitchen table looked like this.

By 5 o'clock, it was this.

I had to wait for the icing to dry on the first round before I could make room to do the second round. So I did some plying. Give you one guess what this is.

All the cria in one lovely pile. Spun and plied. 574 grams according to my scale. A little number crunching yielded an approximate total of 2200 yards. Which means that hopefully I should have enough to do the shawl I wanted with my share. The yarn still needs a final wash, but the spinning is DONE.
Next up - something that doesn't require carding. But not today. I still have Christmas knitting to do, and cookies to clean up after.

Be it Resolved

That I am going to finish spinning Joanne's cria before Christmas.

I have no excuse, none at all, not to sit down and spin for an hour or more every day, now that I'm between jobs again. And I've been slowly working on that cria since last winter. It's lovely and all, but I'm tired of it! So I have made up my mind that I will spin that and only that, do some every day, and get the stuff done, and be able to finally give Joanne her share of the yarn when I'm out there at Christmas.

Then and only then will I start spinning something else. I can look forward to that, and to having a nice pile of cria yarn for myself.

The wheel is out and I've done at least half a bobbin since yesterday. It's encouraging. Hopefully all that's required is a bit of determination.

Pink is my new obsession

I’ve had the song stuck in my head this weekend because of a new spinning project. Well, not pink per se, but the oranges and magentas I dyed last year (cochineal, madder and pokeberry), and have been looking forward to doing something with.

One of the local Quilter’s Guilds had their show this weekend, and several of the other fiber and handwork-oriented guilds set up shop there to demonstrate skills and advertise. I spent Saturday spinning there. But what do you bring to spin at a quilt show? Weavers and knitters are producing a fabric, so that is sort of relevant, but spinning is a step before that. My figuring was that there are more people who are doing mixed-media things now with quilts, and maybe they’d be interested in something colorful and textural for yarn. Besides, I wanted a break from the unending cria.

I noticed shortly after starting that I apparently didn’t rinse the dyed fleece thoroughly enough. Pink fingers. Which, after all, doesn’t look quite so bad as walnut staining or indigo.

But the singles were turning out lovely. I figure there’s about enough for three skeins.

I couldn’t resist plying up the first one before finishing the singles, just to see. Pretty, no?

Oh, the cria? I measured what I have done, just for the heck of it. There are 328 g spun, which is approximately 1640 yds. I can fit about three times the yardage I normally do on a bobbin. This explains quite nicely why each bobbin feels like it’s taking a looong time.

In Spite of the Snow...

Spring is coming. I know it's Ottawa, and we're not going to have 'the flowers that bloom in the Spring, tra-la' for at least a month yet and more likely two. But after three months of snow, I'll take what I can get. We've passed the point where you only know intellectually that spring is coming, and gotten to where you can feel the difference in the weather. The temperatures are regularly up to around the freezing mark now, and before this morning's snow/ice pellets, there was bare ground around my building. The birds are more cheerful, the lilac buds are swelling...

And all of a sudden the cat wants out for an extra walk every morning.

In other news, the first skein of cria fleece is plied, gorgeous and heavy. The bag doesn't look like I've made a dent, though, so I'm going to get a lot of yarn out of it.

And I baked myself an apple cake, which is what I had for breakfast today. I feel it was a productive weekend.