It's all a Dream

I had a dream last night. In my dream, I was in a plant room.  There were several people there but I don't think I knew them.  The lady whose plants they were was playing hostess, answering the various questions about the plants.  As the visit was winding down, I found myself asking her questions like, "What's the most unusual way you've obtained a plant?"  "Which plant surprises or surprised you the most?" "Which plant gives you the most pleasure?" "Which plant is the most meaningful?"

The questions surprised her and as she started answering them, the plant room, all of a sudden, became more personal.  She became more thoughtful and softer as she let the questions take her back to her encounter with each of the plants.  She told me the plant she'd obtained in the most unusual way was a little ground plant.  As she pointed out a little plant, close to the ground with pinkish, red leaves or blooms or whatever they were, she began to tell me the story of how she was in a cab one day and began to talk to the cab driver, as you do.  They got on to plants and talked plants until they arrived at her destination.  As she was getting out and paying him for her trip, he reached down into the floorboard, brought up this little plant and gave it to her.  He didn't tell her anything about it or why he would have a plant in his cab but he said he wanted her to have it because he knew she would appreciate it.

I could tell that this gesture touched her deeply as her eyes began to moisten.  She got hold of herself and continued with her story but I knew that when I asked her which plant was the most meaningful to her, this would be the one she would go back to.

For the rest of the tour through her room and the stories she told me in response to my various questions, she has a deep, satisfied expression on her face.  The gift the cabbie gave her that day was working its magic all over again.  From that point, too, she was more animated about the history of the various plants, giving the proper and common names for each. (I should tell you that I know nothing about plants and have no idea what names she used - it was probably one of those dream things where I heard whaaa, whaaa, whaa but knew that's what she was telling me.)

I actually remembered the dream when I woke up, although it's fading now, but what I took from it was this.  Whatever your passion is, whether it be yarn or fiber, spinning wheels or looms, coins or angels or books, salt and pepper shakers or music or figurines, whatever that thing you have gathered around you, go and pull it out or look around your display cases or pull out your displays, and remember why you started collecting.  Really look at it again and remember where you got some of the items.  Do they remind you of a wonderful vacation or a dear friend or loved one who gave it to you to feed your passion?  Did you just love the colors or the feel of it?  Let it give you again, that feeling your first had when you saw it.  Was it excitement or satisfaction or humor or love or being loved?  Appreciate it all over again.

And if it doesn't give you that same thrill, why not pass it on to someone else and start over with something that you do feel passionate about now, right now, in your life.  In the immortal words of Rob Thomas, "No one said we have to keep the things we get."  Don't let sentiment hold you back.  Keep your fresh passion fresh abd let someone else appreciate the things that once thrilled you.

Plenty o' Cotton

I've finally gotten a chance to spin some of the cotton my Mom grew for me last year.  I keep saying that it's pretty astounding to see how much cotton fiber is on one little bitty cotton seed.  I spun a handfun (about 200 seeds) of the homegrown cotton.  Have a look at this:

This is the 2-ply skein of about 175 yards of cotton and the seeds it came from.  Since it was about 200 seeds, that means, on average, there was almost 2 yards of fiber on each seed.  Granted that this has be spun pretty finely but still. 

The other interesting thing about this cotton is how much silkier it was than the commercial stuff.  I tried to get a photo that would show how silky it looked but I just couldn't get it to show up.  This stuff was silky and bright white.

This is the cotton up against the while cormo that's waiting to be spun.  I hope the color shows up on the screen.  LOVE IT.

Checking in

It won't stay this way long but for a few days, at least, I've got my life back a little.  And no one can say that I'm not making hay while the sun shines.

I finished a spinning project:

I don't really like Etsy.  I find it hard to navigate and even when I search on a specfic vendor, I can never get it to come up.  But I was on the site the other day and came across this listing.  Who could pass that up.  I've never spun from a batt and wanted to try it out.  A batt, by the way, is simply a form of preparation that comes directly off the drum carder in a sheet like this picture shows.  The batt was made up of multiple shades of green merino with tons of silk tossed in for good measure.

I can't say it was the easiest preparation I've ever spun from but I know that's totally from my inexperience, not the fiber preparation.  I really didn't aim for a specific type of wool and I had no plans for what to make from it.  I just let it be.  And you can see what it be.  I wish you could feel how soft and squishy it came out. 

Now that it's here, I think I'm going to do a winter cowl.  Size 7 needles or so, a 1x1 ribbing, in the round, just go until it's gone.  Yep, I think that will do nicely.

The other thing I've been rocking is my bobbin lace.  I've got several projects in process, including a sampler bookmark and yardage of a simple, beginner edging (since I'm a beginner!).  The lace group I've been meeting with from time to time over the past 9 months or so, started a yardage club.  To gain entry, you have to complete a yard or two yards (can't remember what they settled on - I'll need to check that) of any bobbin lace pattern you want.  Takes more time that you might think but it's a great idea to stretch beyond the old comfort zone.  I'm currently at about 10 inches and when I hit halfway, I'll get a photo posted here.

The other thing I decided to try is a beginner project that came in my LACE welcome pack.  This is also a wonderful idea.  When you join the guild, you get an envelope that has information about the guild like the bylaws, etc., a membership list, a vendor list and this little pattern for a bookmark.  I'd never had a chance to try it so tonight I got my bobbins set up, the pattern pricked and ready and here's what happened:

Isn't it cute?!  I did that.  With my own little hands!  It's kind of wonky because I made the rookie move of taking all the pins out right away and spritzing water on it to iron.  Just like in blocking a lace shawl, you should really let the project sit under the tension of the pins for at least 24 hours.  Most of the time I'm pretty good about that, but for this I just couldn't wait!  I'll definitely make this again.  Only took a few hours and it's a nice little giftie.

Chance Encounter

We have a local auction house that has regular auctions on Friday nights.  I don't go a lot but I do enjoy going from time to time.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed on their weekly email that they had a "small loom."  That was the only description and there was no picture posted.  So, after I got finished at work, I headed over to see what this "small loom" was.  I knew the area that it would be in so when I got there I made a beeline to that area but I couldn't see it.  I looked high and I looked low.  Nothing.  Of course, the thought that came to my head was, "Small loom is right!"

I eventually found it hidden behind a basket and it was this:

It's a 9" Dick Blick Artcraft 4-shaft loom.  The gleam in this little guy's daddy's eye was a design developed by the Structo Company back in 1922.  Initially they were toys but came with all the fixings, including prepared warping spools and an instruction manual written by Mary Meigs Atwater, a most venerated weaver of the time. After World War II, I believe, when Structo had changed it's manufacturing output, the loom was put aside.  In the 1970s, Dick Blick (the artist supply place) bought the design and put out its version for a number of years.  It's all metal and this one had been sitting around a looooong time.  I took it completely apart and cleaned every little piece, put it back together and, Bob's your uncle, a truely portable loom.

The last time I was at Yarn Barn, I bought some blue and white linen because I wanted to do a twill study and I thought that would make it interesting.  I don't yet have a proper warping board (except on the back of my rigid heddle loom that was unavailable because it's got a project on it) but I realized tha the old weasel yarn winder I picked up at a local antique mall wound the yarn to 94 inches.  Well, I didn't need any more than that, so I just wound the warp on the weasel and got the thing warped right away.  I even got my twill study started.  (to everything there is a time....)

I'm not a very good weaver and I'm more interested in learning about weaving at this point than about making something perfect, so combining what little I know with this nice compact loom has been a perfect match.  It can be stored in the corner and brought out when I have a few minutes to work on the study.  Ideal!

p.s. If you want to find out a little more about the Structo and Dick Blick Artcraft loom, click here.  And here. And here. And here.

Most talented friends in the world

I have some of the most talented friends on the whole planet.  Don't believe me?  See what my friend, Cindy, made for me:

This is a Russian-style spindle turned using ebony wood.  It's so beautiful and elegant and the wood is super dense giving it a good weight.  It has such a wonderful feel to it. We believe this is Macassar Ebony which is why it's not black.  All I can say is I'm totally smitten.  It's beyond what I ever hoped for.

I picked out the wood when we were at a woodworking shop in Champaign a couple of weeks ago and she gave it to me at spin club last night.  I fell so deeply in love that I kicked it up last night with some fiber I had on me and got what you see on the green bobbin done just from last night and a little bit this afternoon.  If you want to see how a Russian spindle works (from someone who really knows what they're doing with it), have a look at this video from YouTube:

Or this one:

She also made the Navajo spindle I use most often.  She's been making the most beautiful spindles and is getting us all started with this style of support spindle.  She's getting so clever with her lathe that it's not leaving her much time to spin!  or weave.  or sew.  The price of fame is often steep!

If Fiber Were Liquor

This would be smooth 12 year old Scotch.

Since I don't drink, fiber becomes the stress reliever of choice.  Last weekend, in an effort to deal with work stress, I started on this tri-color organic, naturally-colored cotton.  The previous picture was prior to washing and this is what it looked like after it got boiled with the washing soda:

The difference in color is more about how the cotton darkens after it's washing that about the difference in photo lighting.  250 yards of smooshy, cushy cotton.  Hummm...now, what can I make with it?

While I was busy spinning the cotton, there was something busy spinning other things around here:

Yep, and it was really as big as it looks. 

Big as a Log

One of the advantages of knitting things with those really tiny needles is that when you get to do a project with US size 6 needles, they feel like logs and the knitting goes really, really fast.  Like this:

The variegated yarn is the Frabjous Fibers silk/merino/cashmere that I spun to (almost) worsted weight and the white is the KnitPicks Gloss (merino/silk) fiber spun to worsted weight.  Both were spun on my Kromski Symphony as 3-ply (Navajo plied) yarn with a high degree of grist.  I spun them fairly tight with the singles so that the final yarn would have that nice tight twist look.  I was disappointed because I lost of some of the softness of the fiber spinning it like this.  However, once it was knit up, dang if that softness didn't perk right back up.

I wanted to do a fair isle pattern for the hat but when I did, the colored yarn had enough really light sections that you realy lost the pattern.  I discovered that after I'd completely knit the sides of the hat - which was the second knitting of the hat because the first time was using US size 5 needles which proved to be way too small for the project.  So I basically knit 3 hats and a pair of mittens in the time it took to watch To Have and Have Not (first pairing of Bogey and Bacall - love that movie) and a couple of episodes of Psych (including the Duel Spires episode which I think is may favorite episode of the whole series - that's for another day, however).  Fast.

If you want to make the hat, I used size 6 needles, cast on 90 stitches.  I knit 3 rounds and then turned the hat inside out (to get the little brim).  I then knit 3 rounds white, 1 round color, 1 round of 2 stitches color, 2 stitches white, 1 round color. 

Then I did 3 rounds white, 2 rounds color, 2 rounds of 2 stitches color/2 stitches white, 2 rounds of color.

Next is 3 rounds of white, 1  round color, 1 round of 2 stitches color, 2 stitches white, 1 round color.  5 rounds white, 2 rounds color.

Now do 3 rounds purl (or just turn inside out and knit 3 rounds before turning it back like it was.

To decrease for the top, knit 8, k2 together then repeat all the way around.  Because of the way my yarn was variegated, I knit 1 round of color and 1 round of white.  You can use whatever color pattern you want.  Then the next decrease round is knit 7, k2 together and repeat.  I used 2 plain rounds between each decrease round and then continued to decrease as above, i.e. knit 6, k2 together; knit 5, k2 together, etc. for each decrease round.  You'll have to see how you go.  I continued until I had 8 stitches before I cut the edge and used a darning needle to draw the end of the yarn through all the stitches on the needles and work the end in.

I did a similar pattern for the mittens but cast on 40 stitches, knit 2 rounds white (k2/p2 ribbing) and about an inch of color yarn.  I used a basic mitten recipe for the thumb and hand shaping.  I did the same patterning as the hat until I got to the hands.  I decided to do the color for the top of the hands to echo the color for the top of the hat.

I wasn't sure how it would go but I'm definitely pleased with the final product.

I did run into one intsy littel tinsy problem, however, on the second mitten.  I'd spun the white from what I had left over from a batch of the Gloss fiber.  I'd been using it for demonstrations and had done some other little things with it.  And I almost made it, I really did.  I almost had enough for the whole set.  But I ended up being short 5 rounds on the second mitten and had to use a commercial wool yarn to finish it off.  How it got finished off is a story all in itself but suffice to say, white is not white is not white.  I spun some white BFL I had since it would have a similar light reflectiveness.  It was white but just not white enough.  I thought I wouldn't care, I just wanted the project done.  But it was just too different and I couldn't live with it.  Fortunately I had some commercially spun wool that was close enough to the color that really the only way you can tell the differenc eis to have a bright light to reflect off it.  The silk in the fiber has that silky shimmer to it and the commercial yarn didn't have that.  We'll have to see if anyone can pick out which is which!

Next day:  I went in to card some blended color rolags and you'll never guess what I found.  Yep, another section of the KnitPicks Gloss fiber. Don't it always happen that way.  Well, as Andy Griffin said to Otis when Otis kicked the goat who'd ate himself full of dynamite out of the jail cell and made him mad: Otis, 'bout one loaded goat at a time is all we can handle. (Doesn't really apply to anything, it just makes me laugh.)