"Prime time to reassess looms"

OK, did anyone else take that as some sort of possible sale on weaving looms? If you're a true fiberholic, it sure did!! It's the headline on a story in the local paper, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, talking about the ongoing argument about reassessing our homes. However, when I went looking for the article online so I could link to it here--the first 2 Goggle ads were for weaving looms! Go figure......

How To Spin My Posy Toes Batts--Sweet Peas final

Hey! Remember this photo? It seems to have taken forever to get these socks finished. Wrapping up the outside work for the winter, getting samples ready for the October Phat Fiber Sample Box, preparing for a workshop on Textured Yarns that I'm teaching, yadda yadda. The socks are finished, washed and sitting in my sock drawer--yah!



Now for the techie stuff. This method of spinning yields a mostly-worsted yarn, which means I got more yardage out of the same weight of fiber--406 yards, to be exact. The size was the same, 16 wpi, but the yarn was less lofty and I had 158 yards remaining. The yardage used for these socks was 248, while I used 246 for the Snake Plant socks. Same pattern (You're Putting Me On socks by Judy Gibson), same needles (maybe).

So the difference in yardage can only be attributed to the spinning method. I have to say, the Snake Plant socks feel much thicker when wearing them in my Birkies! I think somewhere in the house move I switched needles? It looks to me like the left sock is thicker (US #1) while the right sock is rather wimpy and long and thin (US #2). Or perhaps my spinning changed in the 1-2 months between sessions? They feel just a little bit different when on my feet, which is a lesson on not letting your sons/friends pack and move your precious fiber and yarn!



Next up is the Caladiums batts, which will be spun in the third and final method recommended on the instruction sheet included with the batts. Since we're entering the holiday stretch here in the US, please have patience. I host all the holiday dinners here in addition to trying to keep my Etsy shop stocked. Speaking of Feistywoman Designs, I contributed to the Phat Fiber Sample Box for the first time in October--some of you who bought boxes may have already received yours! I've blended up a series of hand-pulled sock rovings especially for the holidays because, well, I just love wearing sparkle on my feet during the holidays and I thought some of you might, too! Here's the Snowdrift socks I just finished (fiber available Thursday) .....

Fingerlakes Fiber Festival

We took a week of vacation, ostensibly to visit the son in NYC but really just a way to drag hubby to Fingerlakes again (sshhhhh, don't tell him). In the last several years I have become disenchanted with the bigger festivals. It's not that they aren't nice, but I always enjoy being able to talk with the vendors and stroll the grounds in a leisurely manner. There's less of the hottest trendy stuff, but there's so many little treasures tucked into those booths if you can get in there to look around--I just love the little festivals. Last year we spent at least an hour solving the world's problems with Jonathan Bosworth--try THAT at Maryland!

The purchases. Usually, when I attend a festival with like-minded addicts, we throw all our days' purchases on the bed and play Show n' Tell. Since I was with hubster, you folks will have to play stand-in so I can show off my stuff. I usually have specific colors or fibers in mind; this year it was blues, greens and reds and BFL.

First stop was Winderwood Farms tent (actually it's always my first stop). I love Bob's dyework and can't get enough of his tops.



I found some really superb dyed tops at Cloverleaf Farm in the main barn. She repeats the same colors in various blends, so if you want to make plied yarn of different fibers it's quite possible with her tops. Here we have (l to r) Merino in Craisin colorway, Wensleydale in Southwest colorway, BFL in Raisin colorway, and Wensleydale in Gems colorway. The Wensleydale is for an experiment I have in mind. She also dyes silks in the same colorways, wonderful if you work in fabric!



Then back to the Ag Building to visit Maggie's Farm. She's a teacher in central NY who also happens to have a farm where she raises sheep, angora bunnies, makes soap and sews the greatest bags. I bought Mother Fiber (wool IS the Mother of all fibers, isn't it?) in Magenta and Navy to ply with some of the roving you'll see next.



The photos just don't do these fibers justice, but all I had for studio space and lighting was the window of the hotel room with early evening light. Ah well, we do what we can.

Last stop was Bob Geigers Farm. I'd met his wife Linda last year when she tried her hand at dyeing. What an enthusiastic lady, with a good eye for color. Sadly, she passed away this year but I undersatnd that her husband has vowed to carry on her dyeing. He's done a great job of it if you ask me! All fibers are BFL, my fav to spin.



That pink/purple one in the middle is a thank-you pressie for my kitty sitters. They take care of the boys just like I would if I were home, and the cats love them. Hope you liked your pink, Margie Girly-Girl! The other two will look smashing plied with the navy Mother Fiber in some way. I'm just not sure which novelty technique I'll use for spinning the yarn but it WILL be interesting.

Enough for tonight. I've had a long day, including packing up my samples for the October Phat Fiber box, and need to climb into bed so I can get up and do it all again tomorrow. 'Night all.....

Oh dear, I'm off-schedule yet again

Well, I really had the best intentions to post the beginning of the Sweet Peas socks this week, I really did! Then life got in the way again. We're heading out for a short vacation soon and there was lots of day-to-day stuff to be done before we can leave--like washing my clothes so I can pack them. And then there was the knitting to be packed, which is always the first thing I do when I'm heading out on a trip. Yep! I packed the Sweet Peas sock, so no stats on it and no pix. I CAN say that there was a total of 406 yds spun and they came out at 16 wpi, just like the Snake Plant yarn.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to see some friends at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival next weekend. I'll be the short chubby one with the dazed look on her face, wearing a Steelers shirt......stop me and say hello!

How to Spin My Posy Toes Batts--Sweet Peas

I apologize for being a few days late with the blog post. I ate some eggplant on Monday that didn't agree with me and have been sick for several days. It was not wasted time, as I started work on a Christmas present--can't say who or what because they will read my blog and spoil the surprise. At any rate.....

For the second technique and pair of socks, I chose the Sweet Peas colorway because....well, I just wanted purple and deep pink socks! And I know that the worsted technique described on my handout as 'stripping the batt lengthwise' will yield long repeats of color. I usually spin up 1-1/2 batts onto a bobbin and then ply it on itself from a center-pull ball, then repeat for the second 1-1/2 batts. This mixes the colors in a way that I enjoy. I started by unrolling the batt on my dining room table.



Then I split the batt down the middle, leaving about 1-2" still joined.



I then split each of those halves in half again in the same direction, leaving a join at the ends. With this batt, I split the batt so each color would have just a bit of the next color included. Once I have 4 sections split, I start from the other end and split those 4 in the opposite direction, leaving a join at each of those ends. When finished, you should have 8 sections of the batt pulled apart lengthwise like a series of Z's. When I was a kid we used to cut a piece of paper in this fashion and open it up to make a long 'rope' of paper (we were easily amused kids).



The next step is to attenuate these Z's into a useable 'top' and rolling it into a ball. Starting at one end, with your hands about 5" apart, gently start to seperate the fiber as though you're drafting to spin. Actually, you ARE predrafting the fiber. Doing this makes spinning a fine yarn much easier as most of the work is done for you before you sit down at the wheel.



This is the yarn I've spun up on the first bobbin. This bobbin has been plied and the sock begun, but we'll talk about that next week.



I'd like to end with a little philosophy I learned in the last few months. As you've heard me mention ad nauseum, we've moved into the family home which my oldest brother occupied for many years. He managed to alienate himself from just about everyone and almost lost his life because of it. He had a 45-year long argument with the next-door neighbor who wanted him to cut down the walnut trees, and they haven't been on speaking terms for 20 years. It was this neighbor who called the EMS when the wife noticed that my brother had not been out of the house for 3 days, and she thereby saved his life. Tonight I delivered homemade soup and muffins to them because she's had a hip replacement and can't be on her feet long enough to cook (no, her husband can't cook--he can't even boil water!). And WE haven't cut down the walnut trees either, although we did have them trimmed thoroughly, and they've stopped asking us to cut them down. It was so simple to have a conversation about pruning the branches that hung over their yard and solve the problem instead of the name-calling and silence that had ensued for 45 years on BOTH sides of the fence. Life is too short to hold grudges and hate people (unless they're dangerous). Most problems are solvable with good communication; silence is the weapon of the truly stupid, and it NEVER works the way they think it will.

Off my soapbox and on to the knitting.....

How to spin my Posy Toes batts--Snake Plant

The Snake Plant socks are finished! I have 80 yards left of the yarn, and realize that I never posted the total yardage. And now I've either lost the notes or packed them in some box somewhere. Oh well....

At any rate, they are thick, soft and spongy to walk on. I think they will do well in my Birkie clogs this fall and winter. Too thick for dress socks, tho. But it's nice to know how this particular method works up. Notice how different the striping is on the socks? That's due to the haphazard way in which I just grabbed a handful of fiber and spun it up.

I'm working my way through the Sweet Peas fiber. I have one sock started and the second bobbin ready to ply. Will post pix next week and talk about yardage, wpi and all the other techie stuff. In the meantime, here's a panarama (left to right, back of the house to front of the house) of my studio 2 months ago when we moved my fiber/yarn boxes in. I've added a dissembled loom, a carding table and some more boxes since but at least I have all the books on the shelves and the sock fiber unearthed so I can make sock batts for Etsy. Just have to figure out which fiber will be stored in the knee walls and how to know what's stashed in which cubby.

It's done! Well, sort of....

We've managed to mostly complete the move, and we're still married to each other and actually still talking to each other. Which I understand from friends is rather unusual. Never again. I will die in this house, or pay someone else to pack and move/donate my stuff.

But now we have to UNpack all that stuff, and still go through the junk we left behind to see if there's anything we still want, then clean the house and list it. I will be glad when it's all finished. Some things we learned:
1. Start WEEKS earlier than you think you need to. Although I was working mostly by myself, I should have started this packing back in February.
2. Never underestimate a salesman. One moving company salesperson sent me a contract which I never signed. Figured he'd get the message. Nope. His company showed up an hour after the one we'd signed with, but the crew was more than happy to go home that hot humid day.
3. Never believe the moving agent. If they say it's okay to NOT pack the freezer/refrigerator, they really don't mean it because the truck driver WILL make you pack both before they'll even consider putting them on their dolly.
4. Hire a moving company who hires professional truck drivers. Joe backed that truck into our driveway with inches to spare, because he thought about what he wanted to do and knew how to do it. Joe, here's to you!
5. Pack yourself a lunch. Otherwise, you'll be stopping at the local coffee shop for a quick muffin and brew. The truck crews usually pack/buy their lunch and eat it while in transit to the new house, and you won't have a spare minute to stop for a McNasty burger.
6. Swallow a dose of your favorite pain med and/or sleeping pill before going to bed that night. You'll be so tired and overwrought that you won't sleep without them.
7. WIPs make lovely packing material. They cushion the breakables and lighten the load. However, prepare yourself for the rude awakening when you realize just how many WIPs you really have!

When all is said and done, I'm glad to be here even tho the work isn't finished. Even tho we've named the rabbits here Hassen and Pfeffer and named the deer Stew, Burger and Little Stew, and named the groundhog #%&$* because she and the kids leveled my garden--it's still a great place to live. And I can't say enough good things about South Hills Movers--they were professional, supportive, thorough and hard-working.

I have begun to spin the second Posy Toes batts for the series I was writing on spinning my sock batts. The first batts were spun and one sock is completed. I'll continue the series soon--I need to download photos and figure out which box I stuck the sock knitting into. I know I was packing the CDs when I used it for packing material...wonder if it's in the Living Room boxes.....(wanders off to check)