RubyPlaid's Xanga

Add spinning and dyeing to the list...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:55:30 GMT

of hobbies that take up way too much of my money and room in my apartment. I was bitten by the spinning/dyeing bug a year or so ago but only recently did I switch gears into full-on obsession. I took a weekend class last October, and while the dyeing segment was successful, I didn't get the hang of spinning on a spindle. I enjoyed playing with the dye and the yarn and all the wonderful potential. When it came time to apply the color to the yarn, I went with my inner Goth and created this mixture of black and dark blue, and bright turquoise.

The dyeing was a lot of fun, and it was exciting to see all the colorways and interpretations other members of the workshop came up with. It was a beautiful autumn day and we put our new creations outside to dry in the sun.

I desparately wanted to learn how to spin, but my spinning wasn't as immediately satisfying as my dyeing. It was fun, and I was able to try a couple of different spinning wheels, but I couldn't draft the fiber properly. I was not pleased with the small amount of undyed yarn I created. It looked as though it unraveled after I took it off the spindle. I put it away and didn't pick up a spindle again. But I still dreamt of spinning. I subscribed to Spin Off, I bought books on spinning, and I joined several spinning groups on Ravelry, where I oohed, aahed, and jealously coveted all the wonderful yarns the other Ravelers posted. True to form and generous to the last, the other spinners were eager to answer my questions, satisfy my curiosity and offer advice and information to the new girl. Some might use the word "enabler," but who am I to comment?!

Almost one year later, a different yarn shop offered a two-session class on spindle spinning. Eager to try again, I signed up, along with an unexpected buddy--my sister. Together we learned how to spin on a spindle, and I finally learned how to draft properly. It took all of five minutes, when the teacher took my spinning out of my hands and said, "You're doing it wrong." She patiently showed me how to pull the yarn away from the spindle--two or three times, truth be told--and in that single act, she unlocked the mystery of spinning for me. Leah, I'm forever grateful. You rock, lady! I went home and started spinning that night.

I have two small skeins of chunky hot-pink yarn at home. I have one ball of wonderfully organic undyed gray wool. I'm working my way through the gray Coopworth top so I have enough handspun to make a nice winter cap. I have some great photos in my camera; they'll be part of my next post. All the knitting I've been planning has all been pushed (not just pushed, SHOVED--shoved, I say!) to the side while I only have spinning on the brain. This makes me a bad person. My dog, who shivers when it's cold outside, has been patiently waiting for the handknit sweater I promised him. It will be acrylic, since I'll undoubtably need to throw it in the wash. Sorry, Spike. Maybe I'll start it next week...

Fiber Revival 2009

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:55:15 GMT

First of all, I know, I'm a bad blogger! Poor li'l neglected Xanga site. Hopefully I've made amends by including...this picture of adorable alpacas! I went to Fiber Revival 2009 on Saturday the 15th to indulge in a little fibery goodness. This was the third year the festival was held at the Spencer-Pierce-Little Farm in Newbury, MA, but the first year I heard about it. Needless to say I was pretty excited!

It was near 90-degrees on Saturday but it was a beautiful day for a drive straight up Route 1A, with an easy turn right into the museum entrance. iI drove up a wide lane lined with beautiful, ancient, sweeping trees. It wasn't hard to imagine the road as a dirt lane on which carriages rode up to the main house two centuries ago. It's nice to see the trees are still there. Not only was this my first time at the festival, it was my first visit to the farm, which I've been meaning to visit for some time. The house itself was a beautiful old stone and wood mansion, with acres of farmland and museum exhibits. They were offering free tours that day but we didn't stay long enough to take advantage. I found it a little confusing, trying to find the usual exhibits among the festival; I'll have to pay another visit when the museum isn't hosting an event. I feel weird taking photos of people's booths and of other people, so please excuse the lack of fiber-related photos. (Obviously, I had no problem photographing other people's alpacas.)

My favorite part of the festival was that herd of adorable alpacas! I've never seen one in person and they are just as gentle as can be. I love their big, expressive eyes, and they all look like they're smiling. They were lovingly attended by their human family. There were a couple of baby alpacas in the crowd, but the photo above is the best one I could get; they all turned their backs to me whenever I snapped a photo!

The alpacas were there for the festival, but a variety of animals live on the farm every day. I couldn't resist getting a shot of this little guy (girl?) when I saw him sleeping in the sun. He was so completely unaware of all the yarn and spinning behind him, I had to laugh. Look at how his front paws are stretched apart. I was admiring his gray and white stripes while simultaneously coveting the spinning wheel behind him.

There are a variety of farm animals that are cared for and used for educational purposes, such as horses, goats, (giant!) pigs, chickens and even a turkey. Many of the animals are rescues, and the museum has a donation box asking for help in caring for them. I snapped what I thought would be a picturesque view of a sheep by an old shed--when the sheep moved, I realized she only had three legs.

I envied the groups of fiber enthusiasts who had travelled together, or met up, and brought their projects, folding chairs and lunches. I was accompanied by one non-knitter (Mom) and one extremely casual knitter (my sister). This basically limited us to looking at the exhibits and doing a little shopping. It was hard to limit myself but I spent a mere $41: $20 for a 4poz. bag of alpaca roving, and $21 on some handpainted sock yarn--you can never have too much handpainted sock yarn! The roving is a beautiful undyed mocha brown color, and came from an alpaca named Dani Girl. This was the first time I met the source of my spinning and knitting face-to-face! Dani Girl, on the other hand, seemed less impressed than I was...

My sister was the biggest surprise of the day: she walked into the festival, saw the vendor selling unprocessed fleeces and decided she wanted to take up spinning!

Meet my newest knitting recipient.

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:23:31 GMT

This is Spike, my newest buddy. He's a "sato"--Spanish slang for a stray, or street dog. Spike was abandoned on a street corner in Puerto Rico by his owner. He stayed on that corner for days waiting for his owner to come back. Spike was rescued by a shelter in PR who gave him medical care and lots of attention. He then stayed with a foster family for several weeks before boarding a plane for the US. He lived at a shelter for a few weeks before finding his new home. Spike is a total sweetie--he's friendly and affectionate--the complete opposite of his name. Someone in Puerto Rico gave him his name--his medical records are in Spanish and on the line asking for his nombre it's given as Spike! Friends have joked about my new "attack dog." It doesn't help matters that I coincidentally ended up getting my first tattoo on the same weekend I got Spike. His favorite method of "attack" is to curl up on someone's lap and settle down for a cuddle, then fall asleep. Yep, he's 12 pounds of fury all right.

Spike had a hard life before I adopted him. He is so getting a nice handknit sweater!

I bought him a cute yellow parka and a blue, green and brown argyle sweater from the local pet boutique. He doesn't like the sweater. It's too big, and as my sister was walking him in it the other day a neighbor (male) said to her, "Who put that sissy sweater on my little buddy?" I think Spike took it personally. We bought a sweater because we wanted him to have something right away. He shivers when it's cold out. Now he'll have to wait until I knit him one. Now that I have to keep the whole "sissy issue" in mind, I'm not sure what to knit. It will have to be a basic, plain-colored sweater. I have a couple of free patterns from the internet. I ordered some yarn today from Webs. I was originally on their website to buy the supplies to make the new Blue Skies stuffed chickens with their dyed cotton but I threw in a couple hanks of Blue Skies' bulky alpaca in a nice orangy-natural and a nice brown color, respectively. I'm hoping to knit it up quickly, but the warm weather's just around the corner so it may have to be put away until next fall. I'm sure there will be a few more chilly mornings though.

Spike is a daschund/chihuahua mix, and we suspect there is some terrier in him as well. I think he's also part cat. He can jump pretty high for a dog, and often ends up on balancing on the arm of my armchair or the sofa. He seems to be laying claim to my entire knitting area. He thinks my armchair is his, and he's gotten into my yarn a few times so I may have to move my Lantern Moon three-tiered yarn holder. I have a nice green wooden Chinese rice basket that I had set up by my chair to store my current knitting projects in. He got into that so I had to move it somewhere else. I can see that knitting with Spike around is going to be a challenge for a while, but I'm confident he'll get used to my knitterly activities and that he'll settle down. Maybe getting a sweater of his own will help.

Socks for Spring

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:16:26 GMT

Crocuses are slowly sprouting all over the place, the temperatures are tentatively reaching out for the 60s, and tourists with maps in hand have been sighted all over Salem. That can only mean one thing: Spring is here! And even though I'm still plugging away at the hooded tunic, I've cast on not one but two different sock projects.

For my birthday a couple of months ago, I treated myself to a custom-dyed yarn order from Three Irish Girls for some colorful socks. This is the Donegan colorway, a gorgeous blend of soft blue, turquoise and chocolate in their Adorn sock yarn. It's deliciously soft and "sproingy." This yarn cried out to me for a cabled sock pattern so, after much pattern book consultation, I chose the Zigzag sock pattern from Vogue Knitting's Ultimate Sock Book. The pattern is an adorably clever fake cable: a slightly confused cable that zigs and zags all over the sock. No cable needle required, it's all done with knits, purls, yo's, ssk's and k2tog's. I don't have a good close-up photo showing the cable pattern, but once these are done and i can put them on I'll post one. In the book the sock is done in a pale pink and it's very pretty. I think a variegated yarn may be a bit too busy for this pattern, which also has subtle lacey holes throughout, so I bought some Knit Picks Palette in pale pink to do another pair of Zigzag. But this is a fun, interesting pattern; a wee bit challenging but not really. I love how soft this yarn is and the funky colors are making this a blast!

Here is my sock-in-progress. It begged me to walk over to the harbor on my lunch hour to knit on it for a while and to be photographed amid the natural scenery. I didn't have any checkers or chess pieces with me, but the sock didn't seem to mind.

Here's a lovely view of Salem harbor. It was 70+ degrees yesterday in the Boston area. I love being near the water; it's relaxing and it refreshes my spirit.

I've spent entirely too much money on yarny goodness lately (just when is that Economic Stimulus check coming, anyway? I do have bills to pay, you know) but it's fun! I made my way over to Seed Stitch last night for the funky Friday night iPod party knitting night. It was a great group of ladies--there were no guys last night, though rumor has it they show up from time to time. Anyone with an iPod was asked to make a mix at least 2 hours long and bring the iPod in so they could plug it into the awesome sounding Bose iPod dock. I totally want one even more now but I hesitate at spending the money (wait a minute--did someone say Economic Stimulus check?). I planned on buying the yarn to make my own version of Skully, but with a different chart on the sleeves, so I could start it there. But like an idiot, I forgot to throw Donegan in my bag in case they didn't have the yarn I wanted in stock. Of course they didn't so, instead of placing an order and leaving, I threw in 2 skeins of Regia's Kaffe Fassett sock yarn in Fire and some Addi DPNs. Hence my second sock project. Oh well, I kept drooling over this color in the Webs catalog anyway, so now I've got it! I had to order Lamb's Pride bulky in black, of all things, so now I need to begin planning my sweater.

I want to make a more fitted version of Skully, with not-quite-so-humungous sleeves. But this requires math, my evil nemesis, so I may need to sign up for a studio session or two to have a knittng professional help me write the pattern. I'd also prefer to knit it in the round rather than flat. I'll keep you all posted once I get going on this.

Ruby Red Goodness (sans plaid)

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:08:01 GMT

Today I successfully hand-dyed my first hank of yarn. I'm so proud! Ain't it pretty? I used a hank of Knit Picks' Bare Fingering Weight yarn and Blastin' Black Cherry Kool-Aid. I know it's in keeping with the whole "ruby/red" theme I have going on here, but I expected it to be a little darker, perhaps veering toward purple a little, like black cherry usually does, as opposed to a bright cherry red. But I like it a lot, and I'm very happy with the results. This is a picture of my yarn simmering away on my stove. The finished result is the same as the color you see here.

Thanks to Knitty's instructions I was able to put my yarn on the stovetop to simmer, start doing some homework, and check back on it periodically. Don't you love when knitters share? It was extremely simple, and lots of fun. I made a quick trip to Special Thoughts, the local discount outlet/seconds/overstock store to pick up some cheap cookware supplies that I'll reserve just for dying yarn. I love the nice, deep pot--it comes with a lid. I filled in the gaps in Special Thought's inventory with a stop in Wal-Mart for the rest of my supplies: cheap tongs, rubber gloves (I got pink ones-HA!), turkey basters and, for a mere $9.99, a three-tiered set of bamboo steamers for when I start hand-painting yarn. Not bad.

Here are the specs, in case anyone's interested:
1 hank Knit Picks Bare yarn, Fingering Weight (the hand-wash only version) 440 yards/100 grams (4 oz)
5 packs Kool-Aid in Blastin' Black Cherry (1 pack per ounce of yarn recommended, I added one more in an attempt to produce a darker color)

Now my yarn is hanging in the bathroom drying. The flash from my camera has added a pinkish sheen around the middle but the yarn is a nice, uniform bright red all over. The yarn is well-saturated and there are no uneven/undyed areas.

I was planning on making a pair of red socks with a Gingerbread Cable pattern (found in Vogue's Ultimate Sock Knitting) but there's so much yarn in this hank I may just knit the socks and then set my sights a little higher. Perhaps a shawl too? I could dye two more hanks in different colors and do some type of lace patterning. I'll have to think about/play with this a little. Spin Off's Spring 08 issue has inspired me with its article on Scandanavian shawls. Bare's hand-wash was $3.49 per hank; I expected it to be a lot smaller. I didn't pay attention to the details in the catalog, I just added the yarn onto my book order at the last minute and decided to go for the hand-dying process. This is my first, but certainly not my last, round of yarn dyeing. Now I'm just waiting for my apartment to stop smelling like fruity goodness and wet wool.

It's Official

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:57:47 GMT

I'm a geek. I had this epiphany while reading Spinning the Old Way by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. Don't get me wrong: this is a great book. It has everything I wanted to know, answered all my questions, and the illustrations are clear and easy to comprehend. I was doubtful about having to follow illustrations rather than photos. But as I was reading I began to imagine what a non-knitter/spinner might think if they were to pick up this book, with its diagrams on the right and wrong way to make yarn, how to apply to correct ratio of spin to roving, etc. I was reminded of car buffs and mechanical-device enthusiasts who love nothing more than to pore over schematics; of mathematicians and scientists who lovingly apply themselves to their pi charts and their Venn Diagrams, and...whatever else really smart and/or nerdy people do that I couldn't possibly begin to comprehend. It occured to me: everyone has their own geek manual, TMI-filled publications for a subject near and dear to their own heart but incomprehensible to other people.

If you look to the left of this post you'll see a Xanga group listed called Yarn Geeks. That's me. I'm the founder, and two or three other people, bless them, not counting my sister, proudly answered the call. So I'll continue to study my little charts and diagrams. And eventually, I'll end up with something fabulous and useable, something called yarn.

Dear Crochet,

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:34:26 GMT

I've been thinking about you a lot lately and, even though we didn't exactly hit it off the first time, I'm willing to give you another chance. You knew knitting was my first love, but you deliberately beckoned to me with your shiny, colorful aluminum hooks, and your dainty lace-like edgings that suspiciously began showing up in more and more knitting patterns I wanted to try. Before I knew it, I was dreaming of groovy granny-square aghans, cuddly little toys, and retro-inspired home accents.

Sure, there was a lack of commitment, but admit it: we were both guilty. I was already knitting, but I began to cheat on my local yarn shop with the local quilt shop. From there, it was but a mere hop over to the needlepoint shop (they're all on the same street, after all). My attention and interest waxed and waned like the phases of the moon. I dumped you after one month because my needs just weren't being met. I wasn't getting what I wanted out of the relationship. We weren't going anywhere.

But you? You played a part in the breakup as well. You're hardly left-hander friendly, so you kept pushing me away. I had two choices, gain more strength in my right hand ASAP (tension? I'll give you tension, all right--tension over getting my stitches to come out normal), or spend the rest of my crocheting life holding all instruction charts and patterns up to a mirror. And lets face it, crochet hooks give off a creepy dental-instrument vibe.

We've had a long, tempestuous on again/off again relationship, you and I. Remember when I was in 6th grade, and one of the moms who volunteered during school recess held a crochet lesson? I struggled to embrace you, but you wouldn't let me in. I gave you a second chance in college, but you hadn't changed. Eager to give you another chance, I joined a class two summers ago to get to know you again. I made small, tenuous steps to repair the relationship, but soon grew frustrated at our lack of progress.

We've still got a few hurdles to face: In addition to my many other fiber sweethearts, I've recently begun flirting with spinning. And guess what? I'm still left-handed. Crochet hooks still remind me of those toothbrushes dentists hand out with that little rubber tip on the bottom and the plaque scraper. But I got a 25% off coupon to Barnes and Noble in my e-mail, so I purchased Deb Stoller's The Happy Hooker. I feel newly inspired. I've still got that purple H crochet hook I bought for class, and yarn is certainly not a problem.

So we could give it another chance, yes? Whadya say?!

I haz a spindle!

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:54:23 GMT

The Hello Yarn order I've been anxiously awaiting came today. The box was full of fibery goodness, a classy personalized postcard from Adrian, and an adorable tin button. I'm a sucker for those buttons. I didn't spot the button at first because it had fallen to the bottom of the box. Good thing I dug through all the packaging tissue!

This dyed roving is Correidale, from Britain. It's said to be the easiest roving to spin and a good choice for beginners. I chose silver-grey, bubblegum pink and fuschia. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the fuschia is very bright and so hot pink it's practically on fire. It's gorgeous! The spindle is a Louet drop spindle. The ring-of-sheep illustration on top of the whorl makes me giggle.

So I have some roving, and I have a spindle, and I have a set of instructions. Know what? I'm scared! I printed out more instruction from Spin Off's website with detailed photos of the spinning process, but it seems like a big step. I have some funky mittens planned for this wool; I don't know how yarn I'll end up with once it's been spun. Maybe there'll be a festive matching hat as well. If I can get over my fear of Taking The First Step.

Those sheep wouldn't lead me astray, would they?

Just in time for snow...

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:11:44 GMT

...and toasty warm they are, too. I finished my Squirrel and Oak mittens just before the first snowstorm of 2008 hit. I started these in December, and Adrian posted the "08" pattern online shortly after the new year so I was able to be nice and up to date with these! And so my first FO of 2008 is duly datestamped. This was my first ambitious stranded project, and I'm pleased with the results, though they're not perfect: The squirrel tip is pointier than the oak tip for some weird reason. Also, the edges are curling. I admit I only know one way to cast on (don't ask me what it is, i call it "regular"), but the edges usually don't curl. Oh well. I, uh, meant to do that.

I put these on yesterday to go out and dig out my car. They did the job nicely. I wore them to work today and they are truly nice and warm. I am fast becoming a fan of the Dale of Norway yarns. My TV local weatherman recently said mittens are warmer than gloves, so I've been on a mitten kick ever since. I have a newfound appreciation for mittens in the adult world (with or without the safety cords).

The storm raged, schools closed, my office closed, but the USPS lived up to its creed and delivered as usual. This was fortunate, since it gave me a nice, leisurely snow day to peruse the package that arrived from Knit Picks. It was my copy of Terri Shea's Selbuvotter. I'm very excited about this book and, with one Nordic-esque stranded project under my belt, I'm eager to take on another one. I'm leaning toward NHM #10, with the year 1932, as my choice. I'm also leaning toward copying Adrian at Hello Yarn's colorway of gray and red, since it looks very crisp and vintage, along with her picot edging as well. Hey, imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?

I have one more package coming: my spindle kit and roving from Hello Yarn. I was more excited about the spinning than I was about the mittens until I had a thought. I can use the yarn I spin myself to make my next pair of stranded mittens! I had to go lie down for a while.

My snow day was a good time for me to catch up on my hooded tunic. I finished the body and slipped it over my head. It actually fits. I had to go lie down again for a while, but I'm all right now. All that's left are the arms and the hood, blocking, and, hopefully, I can wear it in a week or two. My evening class is on Mondays this semester, and it was cancelled last night. Next Monday is Martin Luther King day, so again, no classes. This gives me an astounding two-week extension on my leisurely knitting time before homework time takes over.

Festive Winter Mittens

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:53:07 GMT

I can't believe another Christmas has come and gone! It's been a busy 3 or 4 months for me. My first semester of grad school is over and I'm anxiously awaiting my grades. In the meantime, I got in some quality knitting time. I'm still working on my Knitting Pure and Simple Hooded Tunic, but I brought a small, portable project home with me for the holidays. I love Hello Yarn's patterns. I've been dying to make something of hers ever since I learned to knit, but I didn't know how to do stranded colorwork. I took a couple of lessons over the summer. Finally, the day after Christmas, I cast on the fabulous Squirrel and Oak mittens.

I'm knitting them with Dale of Norway's Hauk sport-weight yarn. It's got a nice feel to it, weighty but not too heavy. As you can see from the window in the background, New England got hit with some more snow. Perfect mitten weather. I have a couple of weeks off before school starts again, so that should give me plenty of time to finish my sweater and my mittens. In the meantime, I finished Maskerade by Terry Pratchett and started Making Money, also by Terry Pratchett, a Christmas gift from my sister!

My sister gave me a veritable knitting extravaganza for Christmas this year! Under the tree was a copy of Andrea Berman Price's Knitspeak, a gift card to my LYS, and two adorable knitting-related Christmas tree ornaments. One is a slim reindeer in a ski outfit holding a basket of yarn and needles. The other is a cute redheaded girl holding a basket of yarn and needles, from Anthropologie. Having a knitting-shop gift card is like having money burning a hole in your pocket, so one day after driving back from Connecticut, I rushed over to the yarn shop to see what could tempt me. I have plenty of yarn stashed all over the house, so a nice knitting book--yes, another one--seemed like a good option. I browsed around at leisure finally and walked out with their last copy of Knit Knit. I devoured the book when I got home.

The book profiles several artists who knit or work with yarn. These artist profiles are what I like about knitting magazines, though my favorites, from Interweave Press, seem to be skimping on the profiles lately. I found a lot of inspiration from this book, along with some nice patterns, and some way-out-there patterns (giant teddy bear knit with industrial fiberglass, anyone?). I also got a little jealous of some of these knitters: I want a fabulous knitting career, and a light, airy studio space with hardwood floors and lots of windows, too!

It's New Year's Eve. I'm a total homebody, though, so I'll spend the evening doing, what else? Knitting these mittens in front of the tv. We've got a supply of Martinelli's sparkling apple cider. We never did go back and look for some Proseco or Mommy's Secret (isn't that a great name for a wine?!). Whenever I go home, I'm always struck by the different foods available in the NY area that I can't find in the Boston area. There's a certain garlic bread that isn't available up here, so my mom always includes a loaf or two in the frozen food she sends me back with every year. Other than that, the only thing I crave but can't find is Wise green onion dip mix. It seems like none of the supermarkets in MA carries green onion dip mix; I can only ever find (shudder) ranch, or maybe, if I'm lucky, garlic. So I loaded up with 5 packets of dip mix when I went home to have on hand. I was going to buy ten but, as my mom pointed out, that would mean I'd be buying a whole lotta potato chips! Ah mom, ever the voice of reason.

Happy New Year everyone!