Noro Redux and Other Stuff

I finally frogged Baby Eleanor and cockroach-ed 8 skeins or so of Noro Silk Garden that were Klaralund before.  I lost some because of the fringe.  I really enjoyed knitting Eleanor, but I never wore it and none of the family in the frigid north seemed interested in it.

The yarn is joining some other odds and ends and becoming 10 stitch Blanket.  It's up to 27 inches or so now.

This is going to be very hot.  In the last day the temp has dropped a little to the mid 70's.  ( Is it time to put the blanket out for the bed?)  For while I had to turn on the AC to work on this, lol.  I know I'm a wimp.

I worked on a few sewing projects.  I got a quarter inch foot for my Featherweight and a stitch in the ditch foot for my Janome, and I got to try them out.  I also fiddled with stitch 11 on the Janome, trying to replicate the serpentine stitch I miss so much on my Bernina.

Blogless JoAnn is sewing little dresses for her church, so I helped with the bodices while she was off to the Holy Land. I found this nifty method for doing them, the burrito method.  It beats trying to get the shoulder seams to match up .

I made a couple of busy bags for upcoming birthdays.  Reversible Bag is a fast easy project!

I had so much fabric and decided to do pencil bags as well.  No pattern, just an elongated pyramid bag. 

They came out stinkin' cute if I have to say so myself.

I crocheted another hanging bag using up some handspun. I wish the beehives stuck out a bit more.

(Skip to the bottom to avoid the whines)
1.  The Iphone update did not go well.  It drained all my battery power and made the phone run hot.  After the exploding Galaxies, I was a alarmed.  I fiddled with it and improved those two problems but my laptop does not like it one bit.  They aren't talking, so I have email my pictures to myself to get them on the laptop.  It does talk to ITunes.  Go figure.  ITunes, however, claims I do not have enough memory to back up the iphone even though I took off all music, pictures and most of my apps.  Oh well.  I don't know if I still need to see the Genius Bar on Thursday.
 2.  The final word on my neck is that it is "broken".  Well that sounds harsh.  I like to think of the injury as severe bone bruising.  The compressions are stable and that all that matters.  Rest and time.  The associated ligamentous injuries are what hurt and will take time to heal.  I must say.  I'm not sad that I am not to continue my Senior Fit Class for now.  I struggle so with exericise, sigh.  Michelle's magic massage hands have helped a great deal.  I'm going to see if I can wean myself off the massages and NSAID.  I so hate to take meds, but they really do help.  The doc is giving me a month and will be thrilled to inject my facet joints if I still have a lot of pain.  That is incentive enough to heal myself!!

The Landcaster whipped out his camera and photographed Totoro in the wild.  You know it's a wet summer when fungi pops up everywhere.

Cotton Notes, Skully Hats, and Perfection

Notes to self on cotton in Texas, shamelessly slurped from the Web.  The ideal time for planting is May 15 to June 20.  Harvest lasts from early July through November, producing more then 5,800 thousand bales in 2015 making Texas by far the largest cotton producing state in the US.  The US is the 3rd largest cotton producing country in the world, after China and India.

According to Google,

Ideal conditions for the cotton plant are:

• Long vegetation periods (175 to 225 days) without frost.
• Constant temperatures between 18 and 30°.
• Ample sunshine and fairly dry conditions.
• A minimum of 500 mm  (19 inches for the metrically challenged) of water between germination and boll formation.
• Deep, well-drained soils with a good nutrient content.

So my poor cotton plant suffers from too much water and poor soil.  Even then, I can't keep up with my spinning, lol.  And there is a backlog of purchased cotton sliver.  It does make for a cool arrangement and the flowers are pretty on the bush.  The are yellow one day, orange one day and then the cotton begins!

 On the knitting scene, there be hats.

Skully hat one
Pattern:  Skull Beanie by PolarKnit from PolarKnit
Yarn:  Vanna's Choice (yes, acrylic, eek)
Comments:  The pattern does not seem to be available anymore, but the chart was easy to ascertain.  CO 100 stitches, 1x1 rib for 5 inches, increase to 108.  12 pattern repeats.  St. stitch to total of 8.5 inches.  Divided into 6 pies.  Decrease one every other row until halved then every row until 12 stitches remain, Finish off.

Skully hat two
Pattern:  The Heartskull Hat by Siouxsie Stitches
Yarn:  Cascade Luna black and burnt orange, White Jeanee.
Comments:  I love how the heart motif's came out.  This pattern is not available now.  Luckily I queued it long ago.  I ran out of black at the very top, so made it white.  My first burnt orange pompom was pretty sad, so I used what little leftover I had to make a two toned one.  The Luna is so soft.  I love this yarn.  Sadly it has been discontinued, but there are still skeins to be had here and there.

On the personal scene, I had a stupid accident in my Senior Fit class so I had to take leave.  I scrunched my neck and have an MRI scheduled.  I think it's okay, though, and am working with my masseur with the magic hands and some pharmaceuticals.  It has interfered with my crafting.  This getting old is for the birds.

On a sad note, we have to say goodbye to The Ko'olau Santa Lady, Ione Adams.    She was in a fatal auto accident, not even one year after losing her husband to the big C.  Her beauty, talent and creativity will be missed.

This is blogless Melody's santa, created by Ione Adams.

Here is a video I found on Faceback.  It speaks to perfection issues and finishing issues I have in my life.  

 

 

Spindle Bags and Halloween Plans.

I admired Blogless Sandy's spindle bag, made by a wonderful quilter Lorraine.  I decided to make me one and it turned into three.  Perfection issues...I know I'm not the only craft-er suffering from this.  I'm trying to get better. 

I decided to try a zipper tab for the ikat one and followed The Missouri Quilt company tutorial.

Alas, I got the dread hole at the top.  So for number two, the green poodle one, I just sewed two small strips on the end, right sides together on the cut ends of the zipper.  I adjusted the the zipper length to make allowance for the seam, but that turned out to be unnecessary and made the seams a too small.  As I'm still fiddling with zipper sewing my Janome I serge the raw edges, but forgot to serge finish the edges  on this one, and I didn't like the way the raw edges stuck out.   I miss the serpentine stitch (on my Bernina 1530)for compressing the seams .  I also did not figure out a good way to top stitch the zipper down.  Number 3 is the charm right?  Except for the part where I sewed the pyramid the wrong way and the zipper pull is on the bottom and my flowers are upside down.  Sigh.  Retirement brain.  I would have fixed it up but had already bound the seams.  Anyway, all functional and kinda cute.  Perhaps I will try one more, just a little bit longer.

Elizabeth the doll who was Princess Leia last year wanted to be Luna Lovegood this year.  She has some serious body issues,  and is not a very standard size so I have not been successful finding clothing for her.   So far she has pink pants, pattern drafted by mwah.  It would help if she had a waist.  My drafting skills did not extend to a top, so she has a hand knit one from some hand spun, long enough to cover her tummy.   There wasn't enough for sleeves.  I will either knit some in another color, maybe grey, or make really long arm warmers.  She is going with the lion hat to support Gryffindor against Slytherin.  She still has no shoes.

For the hat, I modified hellostitchesxo free lion pattern.  The yarn, Patik, is billed as aran, but is more like a dk weight.  I used Patik and some eyelash for the mane.  I may trim it more as his ears are buried in there.  The eyes are felt.  True confessions, some glue was involved.  An interesting fact I came across was that big cats, like lions, have round pupils instead of the slits the small cats have.  Pictures to come.

Still don't know what to do about shoes. 

After the last post I tried to get involved in some knitting.  The Red Scarf project scarf in cartridge rib is cast on for, but moving ever so slowly.  The frogged Shibui Twig became a Luna Lovegood scarf.  The gauge is smaller the what the pattern calls for, but the scarf is long enough for a shorty like me.  The pattern is very easy and quick to crochet.  I don't think it needs blocking. 

The Olympics is amazing.  Such outstanding athletes!! 

It's about sewing

I'm trying the usual methods to inspire some knitting for Ravellenics, but so far no go.  The knitting mojo has escaped again, in spite of the constant "sale" ads from Little Knits and Webs on Facebook.  I'm still spinning in more ways then one, too.  The green cotton seems to like being spun on the new Malcolm Fielding PuYok and also the Red John Galen Tahkli,  It's a never ending batch of green cotton.

I pieced a bunch of hexi log cabin potholders on the Singer Featherweight while the Janome was getting it's tune up.  I finished them up on the Janome since it has a walking foot and a better seam guide.  They are rather large.  I left the hanging ribbons off the last 4. 

Pattern:  Log Cabin Hexi Potholder. It makes a large potholder.
Fabric from stash.  One layer Insulbrite and one layer warm and natural. 

The Kitty Kamoflage nest was a bit of a bust.  The T-shirt yarn takes a bit of muscle to crochet.  It was not stiff enough to stand up.  Jayne Cobb the Cunning Cat does not mind.

Pattern:  Cat Nest
About 10 XL men's T-shirts
Size 8 mm crochet hook.

T-shirt Yarn

One of the good things about having only sons is that the T-shirts are all large and above.  The drawback is that the colors are not usually very bright.

Number 2 son handed me a bag of shirts and I already had too many rags.  I followed this youtube.

It seemed much forgiving then making newspaper yarn like Vickie Howell

Or making fabric yarn like My Poppet.

After the deluge yesterday that was Tropical Storm Darby, the sky was blue but it was hot and muggy.  The sewing room cleaning and destashing progressed every so slowly.

I acquired a bunch of hats in the Aunty's great house destash so I've sorted them and settled on two for me and two for my sister. 3 were donated and a cute little lauhala papale was gifted to Blogless JoAnn's granddaughter.   Now to clean and repair a small hole in the straw hat.  I may need help shaping the lauhala hat but it already has a feather lei.  Years ago, in the time before always locking car doors, and before social media, a stranger slept in my car using my jacket as a pillow.  A hat was left behind with feather lei and never reclaimed.  I removed the lei and have had it stored.  I was wondering if it would be bad karma to use it, but after talking to a few people I decided it was a gift from the universe.   So it has a hat, if I can get it re-shaped to fit my puny head.

The Kon Marie method teaches that what I keep has to have a place, otherwise it or something else gotta go.  It's tough when all these treasures are coming my way.

Tour de Fleece Finale

It was a fun Tour this year.  The actual Tour was blessed with great weather and beautiful scenery. I never did find a channel here to watch it on so just watched it peripherally on their site.  It's all about the spinning.  I'm amazed that so many men devote so much time for training and 3 weeks of racing.

Me, I do not train for the Tour de Fleece.  I do acquire fiber and tools as the the time draws year.  This year I had fun with a loaner drum carder and blending board.  It seemed it was a purpley pinkey sort of year.

I bought my first Namaste Farms Scrapboxes.  One is still en route.  I'm mostly admiring them and practicing my skills.  My last completed project for this year was a small skein of leftover stuff.  I did a sample of corespinning and coils.  It's is still wet.  I'm not sure if it will dry what with Hurricane Darby passing over and a steady stream of rain, thunder and lightning.  I hope the utilities hold!

Purple sampler.  Polwarth, merino, silk and bamboo.  It was rather fun to make.  The coils are very random so I don't know how they will knit up.

The project I didn't get to was plying my over spun art yarn.  I'm thinking I will try a thread with sequins.  I have the sequins but haven't chosen a thread and can't decide whether the thread will need some twist added or not.  I'm thinking twist would be good since I want a ply and not a wrap.

I didn't quite finish enough green cotton to ply.  I improved my Tahkli technique.  I tend to stop spinning when the cops are quite small, ending up with small skeins.  My pu-yok spindle from Malcom Fielding is also in the mail, so I didn't have an opportunity to try it out.

I'm quite pleased with my pile of finished skeins. What do they want to be?

That is my spinning buddy on the TV in the background.  I never found Order of the Phoenix DVD but there it was on HBO.  Still have the Deathly Hallows to go.  The spinning stuff will be put away for awhile as the sewing room cleanup is calling.

TDF 16-20

Dr. Who Inspired Tardis Colorway completed.  Navajo-plied.  I always forget how to do this and didn't quite get my rhythm back for this one.  The superwash wool was a pleasure to spin and I hope this will stripe up when I knit it.  It's nice and sproingy.  Not sure whether to do socks, mitts or hat.

Believe it or not I finished spinning all the cotton I grew and had combed.   I have a nice little pile of bolls I have to prep for next time.  It's 3 ply, not yet boiled.  I'm planning to dye this some time in the future.

I acquired some salt dishes and sake cups from my cousin's destash.  They make wonderful support spindle bowls!

So of course I had to acquire more spindles.  I'm trying to spin up some purchase green cotton roving.  I may end up giving the rest of this away as it's a bit of a challenge for me.  This is a John Galen Tahkli.  It is so pretty in red with hearts.

Finished today for TDF day 20 is the Violet Vixen by Yarnshine Fiber Arts.  It was a 2.5 oz batt purple on one end and white on the other,  Polwarth/merino/bamboo mix.

  I ended up with 109 yards, so I'm not sure what it can be. 

We are currently having a Tropical Storm watch.  Hopefully I won't lose any more pieces of my fence.   I've enjoyed all the spinning.  I don't have anything planned for the last day.  Perhaps it's a good day to clean up the sewing machine room.  I was sad the cute Vintage machine found at my aunt's house was pronounced dead by the sewing machine man.  It was a flower power machine made by JC Penneys called a Swing and Sew.

Happy Spinning!

TDF 14-15

Dr. Who inspired Tardis colorway, superwash merino.

TDF 9-13

Hmm, I haven't posted progress since everyday looks the same spinning up my Dr Who Inspired Tardis Superwash Merino Spinning Fiber,  hand-dyed by Woolen Mill Street Yarns.
After spinning so much cotton, the merino is just flying.  It would fly faster if I spun more hours, but I can only do so many dontcha know.

I'm over half way done and plan to N ply this.  The colors are a bit gloomy and I'm already trying to decide what to make with it and what contrasting color might go with it.  

I've gone a bit shop happy this Tour.  So far I have not purchased fiber (Jacob roving from the Irresistible Ewe) but and acquired some spinning tools and satisfied my obsession with bog oak.  My wand is in the mail.

 I ordered an Acorn style supported spindle crafted from Bubinga and Cocobolo rosewood 2.3oz
from Ghstworks. I was surprised how large it was.  One of the drawbacks of ordering online.  I was equally surprised at how well it spins.  I tried it on some Corriedale and now I have some cotton on it.  It does very well in my Malcolm Fielding hockey puck.  The support bowl fits in my kitchen cotton cone which helps me hold it on my lap.

I'm watching Harry Potter but can't find Order of the Phoenix.  I became obsessed with a Molly Weasley frill and went on a hunt for the pattern.  Alas I discovered the frill is on a whole turtleneck.  So I did a little "mini stole" with left over Tahiti.

Yarn:  Tahiti by Schachenmay, colorway Laguna.
Pattern: 

Mini Stole (a)

by Shizuka Date (伊達静夏)

from Easy Crochet, Complete in 3 Days! (３日で完成、カンタンかぎ針！)

 I love this yarn but I'm trying to stay on my yarn diet and it's not on sale anywhere.

I took a couple of days to help my cousin clean out his mother's house.  The house was abandoned 10 years ago with everything in it and utilities still running.  It's nearing the end of the cleaning ordeal for them.  I helped sort an immense pile of clothing.

There was a lot of polyester including this gem of a coat.  Lots of shoulder pads.  I hope they never come back!  Darn, I acquired some stuff.  I have a pyrex bowl addiction and acquired 3.  Also a pile of hats and some puka shells.  Now I have to work on my own house to make room for them.  It makes me think about my own "collections".

I'm traveling vicariously through social media this summer.  I'm hiking in the Alps, visiting in Costa Rica and Spain.  I've also been to New York state and Washington State. Lucky live Hawaii :)

I wonder what kind of profile the BAU would come up with on the truck murderer in Nice?
I'm so sad for the loss of life and security.

Stay safe and just keep spinning. 

TDF Day 8

The Cashmere Queen Angora is plied and drying.  It's a lace weight, about 62 gram.  Not sure if it's enough for anything.  Jarrett Flood's Woodsmoke Scarf has been in my queue forever. 

The mix is very soft.  I think I'll leave it natural. 

The purple silk/merino/alpaca was a bit of a challenge to spin.  I may have cut the silk top too short so some came out.  I can't decide whether to ply this so it will stay a single for now. 

The colors are more true on the right. 

And there was a bit more cotton.  This bead spindle works pretty well. 

The spindle was another gift from Sandy.  Thanks!




It was a beautiful day today.  There was a nice breeze and not too hot.  I never get tired of looking at the Koolaus. 

What shall I spin tomorrow? 

TDF 6 and 7

 

 The Cashmere Queen Angora singles are resting and will be plied tomorrow.  

I am trying out this spindle made by Blogless Sandy.  Now that I've had a bit more practice on the supported spindle it is going much better.  I'm a bit tired of spinning cotton, sigh.  I want to try out all my supported spindles this Tour, even my Navajo spindle.  I think I have some churro somewhere for that day.  

For tomorrow I made probably my last batt for this tour.  I wanted to try out my new doffer from Maine Fiber Tools.  It works much better then the aluminum knitting needle.  The purple stuff is a mix of merino, alpaca, bamboo and silk.  Being lazy I ran it through the carder only twice so the spinning may be a bit lumpy with the silk top.  The merino alpaca is from Taylored Fibers and has some silk noils in it.  I decided to leave out the bling since the bamboo and silk top are both pretty shiny.

Happy spinning!

TDF 5

I wasn't too productive today on the spinning front since it's housecleaning day.  I spun a little cotton and started on the some stuff I carded yesterday.  I'm having fun with the borrowed drum carder!  I blended some angora with a merino/silk/cashmere mix.  It is a very easy spin.   There isn't much so I'm shooting for a 2 ply lace/fingering.  I hope to get at least one ounce.    I decided to go with the Hansen e-spinner while watching Chamber of Secrets and Judith McKenzie's Popular Wheel Mechanics.  This may take a couple of days to finish.

TDF Day 4

The ole shouders and wrists are complaining today about all the spinning  so today I only spun a little cotton and plied a skein.  I have 4 small skeins so far.  I will wait until they are done before boilling them and decided what color to dye them.  I also think to myself that this expensive (time-wise) cotton string!

 

I finished soaking and drying my Corriedale Chocolate alpaca 2 ply.  I added a little angelina for bling.  I rather like this one.  The dark alpaca toned down the Blushing Rose. 

Here it is compared to the skein of Corriedale with locks and bamboo.    

The last project was to prep my fiber for tomorrow's spin.  I had some leftover top from Stitches Midwest 2014 class.  It is 45% merino, 35% cashmere and 20% silk.  I tried to blend in about equal amounts of angora.  There fibers are all pretty short so it will be an interesting spin.  I can't decide where to spin it on the Majacraft or Hansen.  I think I'll shoot for a two ply fingering or less,
.

I ended up with about 62 grams.

It's been raining everyday making it nice to stay in, spin and watch the boob tube.  Harry Potter or maybe more Criminal Minds. 

TDF Day 3 Happy 4th of July!!

There was some excitement in France...a photo finish.  Cavendish was declared the winner!

Here it is July 4, and I'm happy just to spin away and eat cupcakes.  The cotton is endless, but now I'm spinning it on the Silly Salmon Design, Tibetan Support Spindle in Beautiful Pennsylvania Spalted Curly Maple & Ipe.
(hope that is not too many commas)  The cotton seems to take to support spindling quite well. 

The pink two ply is Corriedale handyed by Humaknitty.  I carded it with heliotrope bamboo and some mohair locks.  After spinning cotton this stuff just flew on the Majacraft Rose.  I ended up with 69 g of two ply bulky stuff.  

Still on the wheel, but nearly done is the rest of the Corriedale blended with chocolate alpaca and some angelina.  

So what will tomorrow bring?  I need a single of some kind to ply with my "art" yarn.  It has too much twist in it.  I'm thinking either a fine single or perhaps a little thick and thin.  Dunno if I should dye it before plying it.  The day after that is a mountain day.  Perhaps I'll spin a bit of angora.  I will try it on the carder and see if I can blend it with some Falkland or Merino.  

Happy Fourth of July! and Happy Spinning! 

TDF Day 2

I started spinning the Rose Corriedale with heliotrope bamboo and a few locks.  It's a two ply and drying now.  I found out that some of the locks are too short and since they are slippery then come out.  I was hoping the bamboo would soften the Corriedale, but it still feels a bit pokey.

I called this mini skein Blue Green Chop Suey since it's just unmarked stuff from stash.  I added some angelina and locks.  It's a two ply aran weight.  It's very soft whatever it is.  I suspect it's merino and yak. 

This is the Purple Chop Suey mini skein.  I added some sari silk and angelina.  I believe this is mostly merino and is quite soft.  It's a two ply worsted weight. I discovered that the sari silk works better if I split up the fibers instead of leaving clumps.  I cut the strands into 2-3 inch lengths before place on the fiber sandwich.

Tomorrow the Chocolate Alpaca Rose Corriedale batt, the last of the home made ones.

My first batts are spinning quickly.  The fiber is nicely fluffed up in the process and so easy to spin!