Fiber friends are the best

One of my fellow fiber bloggers offered to send me "some fiber". For free. Of course, I said, SURE! What arrived was MUCH more than I expected. Thanks, Qutecowgirl!

Lone Star Arts merino 'Neapolitan'

I think it was Qutecowgirl who first turned me onto dyeing yarn, with her adventures using Kool Aid.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep to Shoe 'Jailhouse Rock'

Most of the spinning I do is with undyed wool, which quite frankly gets a bit monotonous. Now I have some colors to experiment with. Fractal spinning, anyone?

Timbre Ridge Farm merino

Some of these fibers come from Rhinebeck, a fiber fest I have yet to attend.

Timbre Ridge Farm merino

The label on this chunk from Lorna's Laces specifies that the fiber is for spinning. I am guessing they had some disappointed knitters who got home and discovered their purchase was not ready for the needles. Sort of like accidentally buying whole bean coffee when you don't own a grinder.

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Wool Top superwash merino 'Devon'

Corriedale is one of my faves.

Paradise Fibers Corriedale Cross

I have a Jacob fleece in the garage, waiting for a good scour. Now I have a bit of fiber to play with while getting up the gumption to attack that fleece.

Jenny Jump Farm Jacob

This bit of bright yellow orange is from one of my spinning guild pals. Laura had purchased some roving that turned out to be a bit felted. I loaned her my hand carders so she could fluff it up. She paid me back with a sample of the resulting fiber.

I too have shared fiber with friends. In one instance, the friend was knitting prayer shawls using acrylic and eyelash yarn. I decided I was done with both of those fibers, so it all went from my stash to hers. I hope it sparked joy!

Not much to report

This week has been primarily about tearing the house apart in order to have the carpeting replaced with laminate. We did one bedroom, to see if I like it (and I do!) My daughter talked me into doing the rest all at one time (something about room transitions matching), so two bedrooms, a hallway, the living and dining rooms are all ready for their face lift. New baseboards, too, and probably some paint. So everything in those rooms (except furniture - it can be shifted around) had to go somewhere else. I am really glad I Marie Kondo'd the house a while back. I have a feeling there will be a bit more decluttering as I put everything back, hopefully next week.

Fiber prep: I did manage to finish deconstructing the incomplete sweater, so now I have a pile of curly yarn to transform into something else. These pics may not show just how much difference there is between kinky yarn and curly yarn, but the two feel very different from each other. Steaming is definitely the way to go.

Kinky

Curly

I'm not sure how much fiber stuff I will get done this week while the work is going on. One can only hope.

Sad news

Despite my warnings, granddaughter left Dill on the couch and one of their dogs chewed it up. I haven't seen poor Dill in person yet, but from the pic daughter texted to me, it looks like most of the damage is to the top layer, not the core. I told them to save all the loose fiber - it can be reused. If I can repair Dill, I think he will come live with me, at least until granddaughter becomes more needle felting worthy.

Knitting: The program at last Tuesday's spinning guild meeting was how to waterproof one's knitting using OdiCoat. I applied it to the bottom of the L-Bag.
Needle felting: Work continues on the fairy house. I have been felting leaves for the tree.
Spinning: Still working on the Shetland, although I am having second thoughts about using it for the Main Squeeze cardigan. Maybe I am getting cold feet after the Veronika cardigan. (BTW, my SO claims the color looks *fine* on me but agrees that the style is not my style.)

Someone contacted me on Ravelry about purchasing some yarn in my stash. When I dug out said yarn, I (re)discovered a sweater I had knit from that yarn ages ago. The sweater was never completed - knitting done but not the construction - plus it wouldn't fit me now anyway. I think the yarn could make a nice area rug for my bedroom, so I have been completely undoing the sweater. Of course, the yarn is kinky from being knitted up. Today I tried de-kinking some using a handheld steamer. It worked pretty well.

Veronika cardigan

I'm not sure what it is about this cardigan that I don't like. Even though it came out fine, it just does not look good on me. It may be my lack of boobs makes it hang funny in front. Or maybe it is the color. I have worn brown before but that was before my hair turned gray. Black used to make me look like death warmed over, but now I can wear it; maybe the reverse happened with brown.

Front

Pattern: Veronika Cardigan by Shannon Cook
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in colorway 9408
Needles: US9
Modifications: None

Back

One of the members in my weaving guild knit this pattern and wore it to a meeting. I could not take my eyes off it. The opposite direction of the pattern between the front and back intrigued me. If others think the color is okay, I might reuse the yarn and knit a regular cardigan incorporating these details. Maybe.

Folded in half

It is not unusual for one of my fiber projects to turn out fine but not look good on me. I get interested in a stitch pattern or a construction technique or something and away I go. Maybe I should stick with bags and rugs and things I can hang on the wall.

I can walk! (sort of)

I no longer use the cane, even when out and about. Huzzah! There is still a bit of a hobble in my gait sometimes, but in general, I am doing better. I turned my dining room table into an exercise table - added the leaf and covered it with yoga mats - so I can do a few more exercises and some gentle stretching without getting down on the floor. I also can lay flat (savasana or corpse pose, for you yoginis out there) to open the SI joint in my hips. Ahhh!

Knitting: I actually finished the Veronika cardigan, mattress stitching the few inches that make this garment a sweater instead of a wrap (separate blog post to follow). It turned out fine... but I don't like how it looks on me. This happens all the time.
Needle felting: I'm adding a tree to the fairy house.
Spinning: Still working on the Shetland. I am also experimenting with cable plying commercial yarn AGAIN (results of previous attempts posted here and here). I'll post about that later, too.
Weaving: Still working on the tote bag. The warp is getting tighter and tighter.

This past week I had a "blue" day, where I didn't do much except sit around and think about Life in general and my life in particular. I think finishing and not liking Veronika brought it on. One conclusion I arrived at is that I like to experiment with fiber. I think that is what draws me to dyeing yarn with natural materials - the result is almost always a surprise - and trying things like plying commercial yarn. Whether I actually create a finish product from my experiments is moot... unless that is also part of the experiment. I am going to keep this insight in mind going forward, in order to stay motivated.

A little progress

I saw my ortho doctor this past week. The x-rays look good, but I am still not putting my full weight on that leg. After the appointment, I realized my leg doesn't hurt when I to try to put weight on it; instead, it feels like the leg won't support me. So I have been putting a little extra oomph into my exercises, to make sure I am engaging the muscles in that leg and hip, especially when doing exercises that use both legs. Also, I think I have been overly dependent on the cane. After just a few days of using it less and less, I am able to get around the house without the cane and with very little limping. Progress!

Knitting: I felted the L-Bag. It was too big to put inside a pillowcase, so I was hoping the filter in the washing machine wouldn't plug up. (According to the manual, it is self-cleaning.) Lambs Pride yarn is purported to be good for felting, and felt it did, but the bag came out really fuzzy. The fuzz was enhanced by blue lint from one of the old towels I added to the mix. Ugh! I spent quite a while trimming the result with scissors. All that convinced me to purchase some nice leather handles for the bag instead of knitting up i-cord.
Spinning: Still working on the Shetland. There is a good article by Jill Moreno on the Mason Dixon site about "grist" - how dense yarn is.
Weaving: I think I worked on the tote bag this week, maybe once?
Dyeing: Two of us from the weaving guild are preparing a presentation for the March meeting about natural dyeing. We met up this week to discuss just what we are going to talk about. She weaves mostly baskets, dyeing the reeds with walnut husks. Our experiences are very different - even our collection of dye books is different - so it should be a halfway decent presentation.

I can't believe it is February already. One sure sign January is over is the tax documents are rolling in. That, and it is gray, gray, gray in Fort Rain, Windiana.

If it's not one thing, it's two

This past week, I have been fighting off the respiratory crud that has been going around. Then, to top that, I picked up a 24-hour bug (probably a norovirus) that laid me low. So not a lot of progress on fiber projects, at least not what I had hoped for.

Knitting: The knitting portion of the L-Bag is complete. I started knitting handles in i-cord, but I am not completely sold on that idea. The purse handles at Jo-Ann were a bunch of nothing burgers, but I saw some nice ones on Etsy. Undecided.
Spinning: Still spinning Shetland for that cardigan.
Needle felting: I want to finish up the fairy house from the class I took. The roof is now attached but it looks more like a hat than a roof. Contemplating how to correct that.
Weaving: Still working on the tote bag. The back will have stripes that match up with the flossa stripes on the front.

A big thank you to Janice for her comment last week. Some people tell me they are "good as new" after hip surgery, so it is good to get a reality check from the other end of the spectrum. I am almost back to where I was prior to overdoing it, but am careful not to repeat that fiasco. I have been overly optimistic and impatient, which only invites setbacks. Lesson learned.

One step forward, two steps back

A week ago, I was doing great, almost not needing the cane at all. Then apparently I overdid it. I went back to the walker for a couple of days, am back on the cane but not making much progress, let alone getting back to where I was. I called the phone nurse, who assured me this was normal. We'll see. The worry wart part of my brain assumes something catastrophic is wrong. I see the doctor in about ten days, so time (and x-rays) will tell.

A similar setback occurred with the L-Bag. First, my projected finish time was off because I neglected to notice that one of the final steps stated to repeat the previous two steps NINE times. Also, I decided to knit the bottom in all walnut, not noticing that there was a slight color change between 1-oz skeins. At first I told myself, It's the bottom of the bag; no one will notice. The problem is *I* notice. So I tinked back and am now close to being done for real, finishing in henna instead of walnut.

Knitting: Still almost done with the L-Bag.
Spinning: Basically done with the first "ball" of Jamieson Light Grey top; divided the next one into 1-oz bits. I find I can spin an ounce in about a half hour, which is my daily goal.
Weaving: I think I am finished with the front half of the tote bag, which is mostly flossa. I'm debating on whether to add another row of flossa, but frankly, I am flossa'd out. The back half will be plain weave, which theoretically should go much faster.
Needle felting: I've been working on a bag my granddaughter started, covering her previous embellishments. I think it is ready for her new artwork. I'm going to encourage her to sketch out a design first, like "professional" artists do.

While I haven't picked up my tapestry class again, I did watch a recorded webinair by Rebecca Mezoff (the instructor) about designing for weaving. She is basically flogging a new course she offers, BUT there was still some useful information in the video.

Finishitis?

I don't know why, but instead of suffering from startitis - the urge to start new projects left and right - I feel a case of finishitis coming on. I hope so. When I look at my WIPs in Ravelry, I'm a little embarrassed.

Knitting: I am almost done with the knitting portion of the L-Bag. I predict that by Tuesday, I could be felting.
Needle felting: Dill is done (see previous post).
Spinning: I purchased a lot more Jamieson Shetland top from Little Shop of Spinning, so I will continue spinning that for now. I think the last skein I spun is not super bulky, but that's okay because besides the cardigan, I plan to knit some accessories.
Weaving: I am hoping to commit to WEAVE EVERY DA*N DAY, just like I spin and knit nearly everyday.

Which WIPs should I queue up while I am feeling the urge to eliminate them from the to-do pile?

Knitting: There is the Veronika cardigan that needs just a bit of mattress stitch to be wearable. Also, a self-designed cape languishing in a bag by the recliner.
Needle felting: My granddaughter needle felted a bag, but now wants to redo the embellishments; I can cover up her previous work so she can accomplish that. And then there is the fairy house from the class I took that needs a roof... still.
Weaving: I have a tote bag on a loom that stalled. Also, time to get back into gear re the tapestry class I am enrolled in. Oh, and a pillow cover to finish. And a pillow top. And some triangle pieces to piece together. And will I ever return to inkle weaving?!?
Fiber prep: There is a scoured fleece to finish carding, plus three fleeces in the garage, just waiting for the right moment.
Dyeing: This is a must do - prep for a presentation to the weaving guild on natural dyeing. GULP! I also want to finish my experiment dyeing with false indigo.

Wow. That is a lot of work fun just waiting to happen. I may outsource some of the fleece prep. One thing I AM going to outsource is adding a zipper to my bog jacket; lucky me, a LYS owner does finishing work.

Do YOU have any fiber goals for 2020?

Dill is done

In case you don't have a YouTube-obsessed kid in your life, you might not know that Pickle the dinosaur is the hottest item around. My granddaughter just HAD to have one, but of course they were sold out. When I saw the picture, I said I could make that. "Noooo, Grandma, you have to be able to sew and it's made of plush!" Well, I could needle felt one. "But Pickle comes with a birth certificate and a tee shirt." Well, so what? I can still make one.

I thought maybe the granddaughter had forgotten about what I said, but the next time she came to my house, she asked about the dino who came to be known as Dill, Pickle's little sister. I tried to get her interested in helping more with the needle felting, but she just doesn't have the patience for crafts yet.

Initially, the granddaughter was a bit obsessed with Dill looking exactly like Pickle. But once I finished the body and added the green "skin", she took over, adding embellishments like a scarf and boots.

I tidied the embellishments a bit, plus added a flower on one side of Dill's rump, but otherwise, the extra bits were from the granddaughter. She is quite enamored with Dill, even though Pickle is now pre-ordered for a March delivery.

Last night I took Dill to the weavers guild meeting (there is a side group working on 2-D needle felting). The response was "AWWWWW!" I'll take Dill to the spinners guild meeting so my needle felting instructor can see what I have wrought. Then Dill will go home with the granddaughter - and hopefully stay out of the paws of her dogs.

That 70's Kitchen socks

I am guilty of choosing colorways based on their names. While I would have thought the colors for this colorway should be avocado green, harvest gold, and burnt orange, I still liked the way they look. I also liked the sunny yellow I used for the toes, heels, and cuff. So cheerful!

Pattern: Short-Row Toe and Heel Basic Sock, by Wendy D. Johnson
Yarn: Simply Socks Yarn Company Poste Yarn Striping in 'That 70's Kitchen', Simply Socks Yarn Company Simply Sock in 'Golden'
Needles: US1
Modifications: Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off

These were specifically for a friend who decided I needed her Roomba. That's a fair trade, right? Handknit socks for a Roomba? The swap occurred tonight. The previous pair of socks I knit her developed a hole in the heel, probably because they were knit too small. Because I have big feet, I think everyone else has small feet, but this is not so. I knit this pair to fit me, so they should be comfy on her. And last longer.

Included in tonight's swap was the holey pair of socks. I'm not sure I can repair them, so I might turn them into a pair of fingerless mitts.

New hip, new year, new hair

My gray hair doesn't hold color very well, but that doesn't stop my stylist from trying once in a while. She actually *sampled* the dye on a snip of my hair from a previous haircut; the magenta came out a soft pink. We'll see how long it lasts.

Pay no attention to the grimace - I'm selfie challenged

Knitting: The socks are finished! (Separate post pending.) So now I am free to return to the L-bag.
Needle felting: The order arrived from Living Felt, so Dill now has lime green "skin" plus a dorsal ridge of darker green. And hands? Paws? Something at the ends of the front legs.
Spinning: YES! I have returned to spinning, only after rearranging the studio a bit in order to be able to enter the room without taking a fall. It's back to the light grey Shetland from Jamieson.

Life is becoming a bit more normal. I am transitioning from the walker to a cane, which enables me to do more. For example, today I fetched the mail (the postal box is across the street from my driveway), filled the bird feeders, cleaned the litter boxes (my SO gifted me with a metal long-handled scooper), watered houseplants, baked scones, etc. In another week or so, I may even try driving. Woohoo!

Getting better and better

What a great xmas we had! (At least, from my standpoint.) My daughter cleaned, my son's girl friend cooked, all I had to do was sit and eat and enjoy family. I think I am going to retire from hosting holidays.

Knitting: This is about all I am doing, as I race toward the sock deadline. Usually, I knit a color band on each sock each day, but I've had to double my output in order to reach the deadline. I should be hitting the cuffs around Jan 1, plenty of time for a Jan 6 delivery date.
Needle felting: I placed an order with Living Felt, so once that arrives, progress on Dill will continue.

My son and his girl friend gifted me with the best ugly sweater ever!

I plan to wear it to January fiber meetings, as I don't want to save it until next xmas.

Like a turtle

The first week of recovery is going a bit more slowly than I expected. I slept a lot for a couple of days before realizing I was running a low grade fever. The phone nurse assured me this was normal. I quit the rx pain meds and switched to Tylenol, in case they were contributing to my grogginess. I am getting around better, putting more weight on my "bad" leg, but still have a ways to go. Thank goodness for great caregivers!

Knitting: That is all I have felt up to doing. The L-Bag drags on (and on and on). Can't wait for that to be done. The socks are trucking along, too.

Xmas will be at my house, primarily because neither of my kids has a bathroom on the main floor of their houses. But I don't have to do anything but relax in the (elevated) recliner. Temps are going to be in the 50's - not very xmas-like, but at least travel should be clear and dry.

Enjoy your holidays, however you celebrate!

Quick update

I'm home. Yesterday's surgery went well, despite my hip being worse than expected. In recovery, I was crying because my hip hurt so much, but after several doses of morphine, things were under control and just got better. Today the PT and OT people thought I was ready to go home, the doctor not so much. However, I talked him into it.

Parkview has a reputation for collecting the most money from insurance companies, despite being a not-for-profit hospital system in an area where the cost of living is relatively low. The extra money goes into several foundations that funnel money back into the community. I feel I received excellent care BUT I'm sure they could pay their employees better, especially those lower on the scale. They could provide more benefits, too.

I did absolutely NO knitting while there. Since I have a sock deadline, I will have to include them in my daily knitting rotation. I don't think I will be able to spin for a while, so that should work out fine.

Two more days

Two days from now I should be feeling... different. The hip pain should be gone, replaced by surgery pain and hopefully some good drugs. I've been a good patient, following all the rules and doing my exercises, etc. My general philosophy is "Hope for the best, plan for the worst" but when I think that things could get worse instead of better, I start sobbing. So best not to think like that!

Knitting: Still plowing ahead on the L-Bag. The shaping part is longer than I realized, but at least the stitch counts are still okay.
Spinning: Still spinning that luscious light gray Shetland top. The wool looks almost white but once it is spun and plied, it looks very gray. I plan to overdye it... with purple?
Weaving: Struggling a bit with the online weaving class, partly because I don't have the same equipment, partly because I don't have a good work area set up where I can view the videos AND work on the loom. My SO moved a table into my studio where the light is better, so hopefully that will help.
Needle felting: My granddaughter and I tried using my drum carder to blend some of the needle felting wool to create a yellow green for Dill's skin, BUT the fibers are so short they pilled a lot. Also, we are not very satisfied with the color. I am going to order some in the right color from Living Felt. While looking at their web site, I noticed some 2-D needle felting kits. I think one of those will be finding its way here as well.

I've been ruminating on how bad habits are broken and good ones made. It comes down to friction. To erase a bad habit, one increases the friction. For example, if you want to cut down on junk food, make a "rule" that it may be eaten but only if it is homemade (by you, of course). The opposite applies to good habits: reduce the friction. When I am done spinning for the day, I make sure the wheel is set up so that the next time, all I have to do is sit down and start; that has worked well for me. One bad habit I would like to erase is how I tend to get out a project to work on, then leave it out until pretty soon all the horizontal surfaces in my living areas are cluttered with half finished projects. A corollary to this bad habit is the necessity for the projects to be easily accessible in order to continue to work on them. THAT will take some organization!

Hanging in there... barely

Pre-op prep for hip replacement surgery includes a 10-day moratorium on any useful pain reliever one has found. In other words, I'm down to Tylenol and Icy Hot, which quite frankly is not enough. My daughter came over today to vacuum and mop, clean litter boxes and pick up dog poop, but I keep finding little extra things she did along the way. Tomorrow my SO will help me prep the house and run a few errands. I'm so thankful to have help!

Knitting: I am back to the shaping bit for the L-Bag, and with the correct number of stitches this time. Whoo-hoo!
Spinning: I'm continuing to spin the light grey Shetland and have 3-plied two skeins. It is turning out nice but I need a LOT more to do the Main Squeeze Cardigan.

Needle felting: Dill has four legs now, needs just a tail. Then my granddaughter will add the green skin and markings.

Weaving: I decided to treat myself to an online tapestry weaving class, to distract myself while I recover from the surgery. This particular class has three parts, but I purchased only part 1, to see if I like it. I also refrained from investing in a Mirrix loom ($$$) and from purchasing the recommended fiber. Instead, I will use the PVC pipe loom from the tapestry class I took at the Michigan Fiber Festival and fiber I already have on hand (and there is PLENTY of that!)

Besides fiber arts, I have been reading a lot and watching some Netflix. I highly recommend Abstract: The Art of Design. It is very inspiring.

Belated Thanksgiving greetings

I hope you all had a satisfying Thanksgiving Day. My daughter hosted, cooked all the family favorites (and then some), and I left in a food coma. My SO was sick with the flu, so he missed out (and we missed out on getting exposed to his germs). My ex was there, weird as ever, and my son and his girl friend. Then there were my daughter's husband's family, who mainly kept to themselves because we were hogging the dining room table. No drama, no angst, which made it perfect.

Knitting: Turned the heels on the socks; now they will remain mostly dormant so I can take them to the hospital as an activity to keep me occupied between physical therapy sessions. I am almost back to the shaping part of the L-Bag, and I am liking it much better.

Spinning: I waffled about what to spin next, decided it should be something luscious and fun, so today I started spinning some Shetland top (from Jamiesons via Little Shop of Spinning). Yum! So smooth with a nice long staple. I have about a pound of it, plan to spin an ounce a day, then buy more. Shetland is supposed to be pill-resistant.

Needle felting: My granddaughter finished decorating the felted xmas tree ornament; the bunny Peep has some sparkly fuzz now but needs details. Dill is coming along; I'll finish the core and then my granddaughter can add the color.

Still not back to weaving. And there is a fleece sitting in a big plastic garbage bag not far from this desk, just waiting to be flicked and carded. I don't understand people who claim retirement is boring - there is so much to do!

Slub, slub, slub

As I have mentioned before, I have been playing with spinning slubby yarn. New spinners have no trouble doing this - it is what beginning spinning looks like, fat and thin. But try doing it on purpose! And in a not-random way! It is not easy.

"They" recommend using top for this endeavor, but I stubbornly stuck with some roving I had on hand, a "Montage Medley" which is a fancy term for "mill ends". I think it was made by Ashford. If I decide to make more slubby yarn in the future, I will use top and see just how much easier that is (and whether the result is better) .

While spinning some of the slubby, I wrapped it at the same time with navy thread. To do this, the thread has to be held above the twist, so that it wraps. In a way, it is like spinning and plying at the same time. I also spun some plain singles from the Montage Blend, to ply with the slubby singles.

When I tired of spinning slubby, I still had a lot of the Montage Medley left, so I tried spinning some with white silk and some with navy Kidsilk Haze. The idea was that the silk and Kidsilk Haze would be mostly buried in the MM, so I held it below the twist, with the fiber. My results varied, with the silks showing some of the time.

There was plenty of single yarn, so after plying the slubby single with plain single, to create a two-ply, I three-plied the plain single, silk single, and Kidsilk Haze single. Of course, I ran out of one of those singles before the others, so I made a two-ply with the plain and Kidsilk Haze until I ran out of the latter, then finished with a two-ply of just the plain.

A new (to me) thing I tried was steaming the finished yarn instead of soaking it, to set the twist. My SO had loaned me his handheld steamer and I watched a couple of YouTube videos in preparation. I guess it worked okay - my yarn tends to be rather balanced once I am done plying, but it did feel fuller when I finished.

I ended up with a lot of yarn:

• 3-ply plain/silk/Kidsilk: 136 yds (176 g)
• 2-ply plain/Kidsilk: 20 yds (16 g)
• 2-ply plain/plain: 18 yds (11g)
• 2-ply slub/plain: 136 yds (111g)
• 2-ply wrapped slub/plain: 64 yds (59 g)

So what shall I make with all this? The roving is soft so the slubby yarn is soft, so it might be a nice woven or knitted scarf. The yarns with the silk and Kidsilk Haze has a tougher feel, though. I will have to let the yarn "age" a bit while I consider my options. Any suggestions?

Everything is an ordeal

Sometimes just getting off the couch takes a humongous amount of effort because of my bum hip. I've been trying to keep up with everything, but balls keep dropping. The weather is not helping, as the dogs drag in fresh dirt which quickly cancels vacuuming and mopping efforts. Last minute grandma duty saps my energy. At least I have an excuse for the holidays this year; I decided it is time for me to be invited to Thanksgiving, not do Thanksgiving.

Knitting: I'm up to the heels on the socks. They are my traveling project, but I have to turn heels in the quiet of my own home. The L-Bag looks better with a stripe of pale tan between the walnut and henna bands.
Spinning: I finished the Montage Medley spinning and plying (separate post pending). I tried something new to set the twist: steam.
Needle felting: Trying to make progress on the fairy house from the last class I took, but I'm a bit stuck on getting the roof on. Today my granddaughter and I collaborated (new vocabulary word) on the xmas tree ornament and her bunny Peep. She is also fixated on Pickle the Dinosaur, which of course is sold out, so we've been needle felting Dill, Pickle's little sister.

It's amazing how time consuming yet engrossing needle felting is. I keep thinking of new things to make using wool and a barbed needle. So many projects, so little time!

Shoulda swatched

When I reached the shaping portion of the pattern for the L-Bag, I discovered that I had lost two stitches somewhere along the way. That, plus a couple of other things I did not like, led me to ripping back to almost the beginning. The two things I did not like were the two rounds of green around each band of yellow - rather have just one round - and the lack of any break between the walnut and the henna - so I'm adding a round of light tan. As I type this, however, I am wondering what one round will look like vs. two rounds once the bag is felted. If I had swatched, I might have the answer. It is never too late to swatch, so maybe I will just do it.

Knitting: See above for status of L-Bag; the socks are about halfway to the heel (I knit toe-up).
Spinning: Yes! I am spinning again, even though the studio is not completely put together yet. I've been working with a montage of mill ends, practicing slubby yarn, silk reinforced singles, even Kidsilk Haze reinforced singles.
Needle felting: My granddaughter and I messed around with needle felting this week. Her thing morphed into a bunny Peep; I was trying to make an xmas ornament using a cookie cutter as a pattern, with limited success.
Weaving: No actual weaving occurred. However, I am planning a fall banner of sorts that will include some of the things I learned at the dimensional weaving workshop.
Fiber prep: At this week's spinning guild meeting, we practiced blending colors using drum carders. I blended blue and white to create a light blue, red and blue to make purple, and red, blue, and white for lilac.

Both my guild meetings in December are xmas parties, which I am planning to skip. Hobbling around is getting more and more difficult. This past week, my "caregivers" and I attended a pre-op information session for hip replacement surgery. I am SOOOO ready!

Help me, help me

I'm used to being independent. Ordinarily, I find it difficult to ask anyone for help. While awaiting surgery for hip replacement, though, I have been forced to lean on others, literally and figuratively. Yesterday my granddaughter mopped my kitchen floor, today my SO weeded the area where my wonderful gold mop grows. He is being very patient with me as our dates devolve to lunch and running errands; he's particularly helpful at Costco where they seem to move products around, especially this time of year when they need more room for xmas crap.

My daughter and son-in-law and SO came over last Sunday to finish moving stuff around, but I have made no more progress on the new fiber arts studio because, frankly, the rest of the house is a pit. The living room and dining room are now under control; next is the family room and kitchen. Maybe THEN I will get back to the studio. I miss spinning.

Knitting: Progress has been made on both the socks and the L-Bag. The latter has reached the shaping phase, but of course the stitch counts are not coming out right.

Weaving: The yarn arrived and is exactly what I need. Now to just get going again.

In an attempt to uncover the coffee table in the living room, I have designated the recliner as my "knitting station", complete with Ott light to show the way. My daughter pointed out that until I have a place for everything and everything in its place, I am a Marie Kondo FAIL. I will get there someday.

Best laid plans

I wanted to turn one of my spare bedrooms into the exercise/TV room. Toward that end, I got rid of the double bed in there, replaced the aging carpet with laminate, painted the walls, etc. and planned to move the sofa bed there. My house is well built but it has a few design flaws, and one of them is the configuration of the bedroom doorways. My daughter and her husband came over and measured and discussed and decided there was no way to get the sofa bed into that room. So onto Plan B: swap the fiber studio with the exercise/TV room since the sofa bed was already in the studio.

So that is what I have been doing this week. With the help of my SO, we have been schlepping stuff back and forth through the house. There are only a few 2-person items left to move (TV and its stand, elliptical, desk) which should be taken care of today. Then I can rearrange the old bedroom/new studio and get back to work.

I actually think this arrangement will work out better. One thing the bedroom has that the old studio does not is a closet. Crap expands to fill the space available, but now I can hide most of that crap away. Also, I was not sure what to do with the elliptical, but there is plenty of room in the old studio/new den.

Knitting: Bought the yarn I needed for toes and heels at Simply Socks, knit the toes (one twice), and am ready to forge ahead on the next pair of socks. Still working on the L-Bag.
Weaving: While emptying out the old studio, I found the missing ball band! I ordered the necessary rug yarn from Yarn Barn of Kansas, so now the woven bag project can progress.
Dyeing: Even though pokeweed berries are not a good dye source, I like to play around with them. I have been harvesting some (and leaving plenty for the robins and bluebirds). They are too soft to pick, so I tried freezing some on their stems but drying them on screens in the garage seems to work best.

Yarn needed

What sometimes happens when I am knitting/weaving/spinning, I hit a snag of one sort or another. Sometimes I need more yarn, sometimes I need more knowledge, sometimes I am just disappointed in how whatever I am working on is turning out. The latter is the worst because then I am torn between just finishing it anyway or permanently abandoning the project. Any suggestions?

Knitting: Finished the socks; can't start another pair until I find some matching yarn in a solid color for the heels and toes. Started an L-Bag, using some of my naturally dyed yarn (walnut, onion skins, henna).
Needle felting: still working on the fairy house.
Spinning: Plied the remnants from the gradient project, just to empty out the bobbins.

Tomorrow I am dropping by Simply Socks to find some yarn for heels and toes. The bag I am weaving is held up because I need more of the dark brown but can't find the ball band with the colorway information. I don't usually throw ball bands away but this one is definitely MIA.

Garter rib socks in browns

A while back I knit my SO a pair of socks that were mostly walnut with dark brown toes, heels, and cuffs. There seemed to be enough yarn left over for another pair, so I knit them in dark brown with walnut toes, heels, and cuffs. The former were in baby cables, the latter in garter rib.

Pattern: Short-row toe and heel basic socks, by Wendy D. Johnson, and garter rib, by Charlene Schurch.
Yarn: S.R. Kertzer On Your Toes 4 Ply with Aloe Vera, in brown, and unknown base yarn, hand dyed with black walnut, by Little Shop of Spinning
Needles: US1
Modifications: not really

Ordinarily, I do not make the cuffs so long, but I ran out of the dark brown yarn. Usually I switch to a 1x1 or 2x2 ribbing for the cuff, but this time just continued the garter rib. I hope they are tight enough to keep the socks up. If not, I can easily reknit the cuffs, an advantage of toe-up socks.

Now if only the weather would cool off enough for wearing wool!

Still not much progress

Cleaning for visitors, then visitors took up a goodly portion of this week, plus errands and some surgery prep. I don't always get a flu shot, tried to schedule one at my GP's office but the phone nurse bent over backwards to keep me away (I'm assuming they are very busy this time of year), so I went to Walgreens. Then my SO and I went in search of HUGE jammy bottoms for me to lounge around in while recovering (they have to be loose enough to go over bandaging and support hose). Needing a hip replacement has made me more empathetic toward those with chronic pain.

Spinning: got into a tiff with one of my spinning wheels while plying the slubby yarn, so I started spinning more skinny singles but with silk.
Knitting: STILL need to finish up Veronika; almost done with the socks.
Needle felting: Attended another needle felting workshop and have continued to work on the project from that.

At one point, my SO and I discussed attending the Handweavers Guild of America Convergence in Knoxville next summer, but quite frankly, I am burnt out on workshops. This year I attended one at Jay County, two at the Michigan Fiber Festival, two from the local parks department, and a two-day one with the local weaving guild which caused me to miss one with the local spinning guild. Instead, we are thinking of vising Storm King Art Center. My guy happily follows me to fiber fests (he's a photographer, so keeps plenty busy on his own); I decided we need to go somewhere important to him this time.

Another day, another workshop

Saturday I attended yet another workshop in needle felting. Same instructor, same fiber art, yet I still learned something new. The class project was a bit ambitious for 3.5 hours - I have a long way to go - but am confident about what I am doing. I will post more details about the Fairy House Lamp once I'm done.

I'm trying to get somewhat ready for some visitors Tuesday - vacuum, dust, etc. - yet today just HAD to take a nap. I was knitting on the socks and literally dozing off between stitches. Has that happened to any of you?

Not much progress report

This week has been a bit of a struggle fiberwise (and other wise). My SO came over and helped me with some yardwork (including dog-proofing the compost bin), I had to visit a physical therapist as a prelude to hip replacement surgery (that is scheduled in December), a while back Beau the Feline Destroyer of All Things Nice ruined the caned bottoms of ALL the dining room chairs (you couldn't sit on them without getting splinters in your butt) and I finally got them recovered this week, the contractors finished the updates to the bathrooms, etc. Always something going on.

Spinning: plied some of the skinny single with the slubby yarn. It is really soft!
Knitting: still need to finish up Veronika; into the cuffs on the socks.
Weaving: worked a bit on my piece from the dimensional weaving workshop.
Needle felting: finished up the pumpkin from the previous workshop - and taking another needle felting workshop tomorrow!

I follow Rebecca Mezoff, who is an accomplished tapestry weaver. She has a lot of Youtube vids including one that contains excellent advice (which she attributes to Tommye Scanlin, another accomplished weaver): Weave every darn day. I spin almost every day, I knit almost every day, I don't care if I needle felt every day but I think I will needle felt a sign that says, WEAVE EVERY DAY because that is something I don't do but wish I did. Or maybe I should tapestry weave the sign! Maybe then it would sink in.

Dimensional Weaving workshop

Last Friday and Saturday I spent six hours a day weaving. If I did that every day, I would get a LOT done! I would also be stiff as a board. Even though we stretched periodically, I felt nearly crippled by the end, happy to come home and lay on the floor for a while.

The instructor was Martina Celerin (web site may be found HERE). Almost all the materials she uses are scavenged from here, there, and everywhere, including Goodwill by the Pound. Consequently, most of the fiber was acrylic yarn, not my favorite material to work with. But there were also beads, shells, crinoids, feather boas, leather strips, etc.

No experience was necessary to take this class. You also did not need to bring or buy any equipment, as Martina supplied looms (built from scrap lumber), shuttles and pick-up sticks (made from yard sticks), and beaters (real metal forks). At the end of the class, I did purchase my equipment, partly because I was not finished but also because I seem to have become a collector of frame looms.

I came with an idea and some of my own materials, but the narrow loom precluded following that path. The second day we discovered a feature of these looms: because the nails run all the way to the edge, two looms may be clamped together, to form a wider one.

All it takes is a drill, a couple of nuts, and two long bolts.

While everyone else seemed to be creating pretty, 3-D pictures, I somehow ended up with monsters (ala Make It Mighty Ugly, by Kim P. Werker). The mummy was supposed to be a skeleton (everyone else was making trees and/or branches), but once I started wrapping, I just kept wrapping until a mummy appeared. I needle felted the pumpkin from some roving I brought, now that I know how to do that from a PREVIOUS WORKSHOP. (I wish I had used candy corn colors for the borders.)

At one point, while waiting on the instructor to cover the next technique, I started weaving from the other end of the loom, creating a gradient sunrise.

Since we started weaving right next to the nails, one end of the piece(s) will naturally have no fringe. And right now I can't recall the details about the other end except that each pair of warp threads needs to be tied together. Ends on the back of the piece can be tacked down with a glue gun.

I'm not going to start weaving like Martina, but I'm sure the techniques I learned will inform my own weaving. It's easy to get bogged down with weaving rules when there really aren't any. Or maybe a better way of saying that is, Learn the rules, then break them.

A day late

Sorry I am late in my weekly status report, but I have what I consider a good excuse: I was in a "dimensional weaving" workshop Friday and today. More on that later. Because of this workshop, I missed a local workshop on "bucket" dyeing. So many workshops, so little time!

Knitting: No progress on the Veronika cardigan. Nearing the cuff on the socks.
Spinning: Finished spinning a skinny single to ply with the slubby singles.
Weaving: A little progress on the rya tote bag. I actually wove a one-inch section without making a mistake!
Needle felting: Finishing touches on the pumpkin from the needle felting workshop, a few more to go and that will be done. Needle felted a little sheep and started an alpaca/llama (not sure yet which it will be.)

Needle felted pumpkin

Friday morning I took a workshop, officially titled "Needle Felt a Fairy Tale Pumpkin", through our local parks and rec department. I wasn't all that interested in needle felting, enrolled so I can transfer knowledge to my granddaughter, but this fiber art is not only fun but addicting.

The instructor Sue Powe belongs to my spinning guild. During the show-and-tell portion of our meetings, she invariably has a sculpture to share. She also sells them at fiber fests and through a local retailer, Fae's Closet. Whimsy is her forte.

(In the above picture are two of Sue's sculptures, a sad snowman and a sheep spindling her own wool. The red dinosaur in the back was created previously by one of the students. The colorway of the wool is "Pumpkin Spice" - of course.)

Sue's background includes ergonomics, so she helped us learn how to felt without developing carpal tunnel. We examined lots of wool before getting down to business. Repeatedly stabbing a hunk of wool sounds boring and tedious, but for some reason it is fun and relaxing - as long as no fingers get pricked. My pumpkin isn't quite done yet - I want to add more to the body. Also, I made the mistake of leaving my pumpkin on the kitchen counter while I ate lunch. Beau the Feline Destroyer of All Things Nice got hold of it and did some damage. Fortunately, the pumpkin is repairable.

There were only four students in the class, so we received lots of individual attention. Two students were age 11 and 12, and their pumpkins turned out great. I also now have a couple of ideas about how to direct my granddaughter's needle felting: use cookie cutters to create shapes and felt on top of Styrofoam balls for xmas ornaments. Stay tuned for more needle felting.

TW3

Brief wrap-up of the week that was.

Knitting: Finished the knitting of the Veronika cardigan, and it is blocked as well. Just need to do a little mattress stitching. The socks are ongoing.
Spinning: I'm spinning singles to ply with the slubby yarn I've been trying to master.
Weaving: Put on my big girl pants and fixed the broken warp. That success was followed by a badly executed rya row. I'll get the hang of it yet.
Needle felting: Took a 2.5 hour workshop, created a 3-D pumpkin. Fun and addicting!

TW3

(Is anyone else old enough to remember the TV show That Was the Week that Was? AKA TW3? Anyone? Anyone?)

In regards to yesterday's post, I'm not sure I could keep up with daily reports on my progress. Perhaps once a week is doable? We'll give that a try.

So what am I working on?

Knitting: In the homestretch of the Veronika cardigan. All that is left is ribbing along the back, plus a little bit of sewing. A pair of socks is halfway up the calf.
Spinning: I'm trying to teach myself to make slubby yarn. Yesterday I tried wrapping the yarn with thread as I spun. Tricky!
Weaving: I'm working on a rya bag on my frame loom, but a couple of days ago I broke cut a warp thread - ugh!
Dyeing: Picking clusters of pokeweed berries; froze some, put some in the garage on a drying rack, as they tend to dry on the stem anyway.

Do you fiber every day?

A while back I wasn't spinning yarn because I had some very nice roving but didn't want to spin it until I became a better spinner. Then two things occurred to me:

1. I wouldn't become a better spinner unless I actually did some spinning
2. It is easier to learn to spin using good roving than bad roving

So I pulled out a big ball of luscious Lincoln top and spun away. The more I spun, the better I got. I also lost my dread of plying because I had to ply those singles to free up bobbins. I am not the best spinner in the world, but I feel much more comfortable at the wheel now.

When I first returned to knitting oh-so-many years ago, I would knit about anything, just to be knitting. I knit at work during meetings, I knit in the car (while a passenger), I knit on planes, in hotel rooms, at home in front of the TV. Then I just sort of stopped. Learning to weave might have had something to do with it, but I think it more likely was the realization I had knit a lot of stuff that not only did I not want to wear, but nobody else did either.

I faced the same dilemma with weaving as I did with spinning: it was hard to just be willing to DO IT and SUCK AT IT for a while. I am still a long way from feeling at ease at a loom, as every project is a learning experience, but it's getting better.

Being retired has provided me with enough time to practice fiber arts every day. It is not unusual for me to at least spin a bit in the morning and knit a bit in the afternoon. Now I would like to weave a bit every day as well, plus process the multiple fleeces. Sometimes it feels like I never finish anything, but bit by bit, I will get there.

So I'm contemplating somehow reporting on this blog what I work on each day. It will have to be a brief summary, perhaps in a sidebar, or it won't happen. My goal is twofold: to have a record of sorts of my daily fiber output and to demonstrate that slow and steady completes the project.

When I mentioned to my fiber friends that I try to spin for 30 minutes a day and knit for 30 minutes a day, I get what are surprising-to-me negative reactions, like I'm turning a joy into a duty. But the more I spin, knit, weave, etc., the more joy I get from fiber. Writers write every day (at least, the successful ones do). I think fiber artists could take the same approach.

Does this resonate with you? Or am I being insufferable?

Spinning gray scale gradient yarn

A while back, I was playing around with some tapestry techniques. There are several ways to introduce gradient effects to a tapestry, but the book's method was a big fail for me: separate plies from (commercial) yarn and combine the plies of different tones to create gradients. The yarn I was working with snarled and snapped at me when I tried this. Then it occurred to me that, since I'm a spinner, I can create my own gradient yarns. Taking a workshop on spinning gradient yarns didn't hurt, either.

Starting with a range of roving, from black to white, I 3-plied a bunch of combinations:

• black-black-black
• black-black-dark gray
• black-dark gray-dark gray
• dark gray-dark gray-dark gray
• dark gray-dark gray-medium gray
• dark gray-medium gray-medium gray
• medium gray-medium gray-medium gray
• medium gray-medium gray-light gray
• medium gray-light gray-light gray
• light gray-light gray-light gray
• light gray-light gray-white
• light gray-white-white
• white-white-white

Yes, this was a bit tedious, but I am very pleased with the results. The plan is to weave a tapestry using these yarns. But first, I have to show them off a bit.