Ravellenics progress update

By way of explanation, Ravellenic Games is a little competition on a website for fiber artists and craftspeople (I dislike the term 'crafters' because of the mental image it usually invokes). We challenge ourselves to work on a piece that is a new technique or finish a piece that we have left lying around unfinished or to undo a piece that we hate and reuse that yarn for something new, bright and shiny. We have events like the international Olympics (oops, didn't mean to mention that trademarked word and hopefully won't get a cease-and-desist letter from the US Olympics Committee--Ravelry members will get the meaning of that remark). We choose the events in which we'll compete, such as spinning a fiber that we've not worked with before and entering it in the Flying Camel Spin event. There are also events complimentary to the main events, such as Stash Skeleton, in which I can use yarn or fiber that's been sitting in my stash for 6 months or more. My Flying Camel Spin yarn qualifies for the Stash Skeleton because I've had that white fiber for a couple of years (hey, fiber doesn't go bad like bread and you never know when your furnace will die mid-winter and you'll need wool insulation.....).

I love the winter olympics (if I spell it with a lower case 'c' does that avoid the nasty letter from the USOC?) and spend a good deal of time watching the events and working on projects. I've challenged myself with 5 projects this time and the green kimono mentioned last week was the first completed project. Second up was the acrylic lapghan I was crocheting for Husbeast's home-away-from-home. It took 6 days to finish this thing that I started in 2009 but it's done and will be heading south next week.

Third was the Striped Vest which needed neck, armhole and botton bands knitted on. I'd noticed that the fronts were curling badly, as Stockinette Stitch does, but the designers photo showed flat front edges so I thought the front bands would calm the curling. I should have known better.....

The curl is strong enough that it's overcoming the front, bottom and placket edgings. It was reassigned to the Aerial Unwind event (where we unravel a project that's not working) and is completed. It's now 7 skeins of yarn awaiting a new design.

The fourth project is an ongoing spinning project meant to break up the knitting and crocheting and give my hands a rest. We all know what happens when we perform repetitive tasks for too long and I'd prefer not to have Carpal Tunnel Surgery. This is a handdyed top from Blue Moon Fiberarts in her Prism colorway, not available to the public yet because it was part of the first Rockin' Whorl Club. I'm spinning it thin and plying it with some natural Polwarth. Here's the original dyed top and the singles on bobbins ready to be plied.


















Second photo was taken on a cloudy day with little ambient light so the colors aren't as bright as they should be. Sorry about that but I can't control the weather here in Pittsburgh.

The fifth project.....well, I can't talk about that yet as the recipient reads my blog.

During all that knitting, spinning and crocheting I was also working on a magazine submission or two and a couple of new hat patterns. Phew!

Two weeks' worth of work

It's been a busy two weeks, what with Ravellenic Games and doctors appointments. I'm a co-captain of my Ravellenics team so have been scrambling to assist the team and send out the spirit bags. And finish the four projects I've committed to for the competition. This is the first completion, a kimono I started in ....2009? I think? At any rate, I hate sewing up and committed to getting the seams finished for the Games. Done!

And spinning also happened. I'm working on a few patterns and needed to work up the yarn I plan to use for the final sample, which will photographed for the pattern.

The scarf yarn:  

 

 

 

The hat yarn:

 

 

 

And the wool leftovers on the bobbin from a larger project, one plied with a handspun dyed rayon top and a second one plied with a heathered dark brown handspun wool top (that's the yarn in the closeup on the right). I plan to use them together since they complement each other so well, I just don't know what they will become yet.

 





I'm still working on 1.5 lb. of wool top for the Games, a lapghan I promised my husband several years ago, and a handspun/commercial spun striped vest that I should really finish. These are all Ravellenic Games projects and I have a week to get them all done. It's rather difficult to spin when your favorite skier is barreling down the slalom run at 90 mph, though!

One pair done, four more to go!

So. Back to Christmas and spending the holiday in Connecticut with DS#1....
See, there's this yarn store just down the hill. The Lady E hadn't been there before. I hadn't been there before. Heck, I hadn't been in that part of Connecticut, and I've been traveling up there for 45 years! Down the hill we go to see the town, stop in the old railroad station/gift shop, stop in the yarn store. Oops. 

There was a sale on sock yarn, and we all went a little nuts. All told, I have 5 skeins to turn into socks for 4 people (DS is a little greedy, needs 2 pair).




The Lady E's socks (in transit to her)

  

The Lady E's yarn

Heel detail





Sock top detail







DS chose two yarns, one for regular wear and one because he wanted 'something bright'.

These are almost complete.

His bright pair, not yet started

Husbeast got into the act since it can be quite damp and cold in Louisiana winters, and of course, I had to have a pair.

MINE, all MINE!

Husbeast, what a color risk taker!



I certainly know how to over-commit myself, don't I?

 

Also while visiting up north, I finished a cowl from my handspun and it's winging it's way to a new home (not telling who gets it, it's a surprise). I'm working on another for myself because it's so nice to have something warm around your neck when traveling between warm and cold climates, which I do quite a bit. Photos of mine at a later date, when it's off the needles.

 

 

Next up, projects for the Ravellinic Games over on Ravelry. There will be spinning and knitting. Maybe I'll use one or more of the socks as a project?

Finally, I can show you the Christmas hats I made!

It has become a small tradition in my family that I make something for family members. Not everyone receives something every year, it's something that I do as the whim takes me. My biggest inspiration is DS#2 who is a bit......ummm....experimental? edgy? He has always challenged me to come up with things I thought I couldn't do. We've done Jack Skellington hats, bearded hats with interchangeable moustaches, skeleton mittens with glow-in-the-dark skeletons, a risqué Nordic hat, etc. And both sons are with lovely ladies who appreciate handmade things, so I was off and running this year.

For the Lady E, who saw me working with a certain handspun yarn over Thanksgiving and admired the colors as being 'hers', I picked up an alpaca laceweight to bring the yarn up to gauge and crocheted a nice little bucket-type hat for her snowy trip to work.

For the Lady S, who loves elephants, anything green, and hats, there's the Elephant Hat out of a washable wool blend.

And for DS#2, a little something to wear under his snowboard helmet to keep his ears warm when he's flying through the air upside-down (he wears the helmet, that's all I ask of him cause I can't control any of the other life-threatening stuff he does).

On a completely new note, I am intrigued by Husbeast's worksite down in Louisiana. It sits in the middle of a sugarcane field and the seasonal changes fascinate me, along with the construction changes of course. Remember these pix? The ones taken in November of the cane standing in the fields and being harvested? I'll include them for comparison but I took shots of the harvested fields when I was there over New Years. If you see this every day, you never notice the change, but seeing it after a 2 month absence is striking.

November 2013

January 2014

November 2013

January 2014

This is what Husbeast & Company have been building. It's a DRI facility, and it's been a long 2 years to build this. I'll leave the technical explanation out because it's too involved to explain here. Suffice to say it is a process in steel making, which is what Husbeast's company does and does very well. It's a huge site and extends down to the dock facilities on the Mississippi, where I cannot go without Federal certification that I'm approved to hang around dock facilities, so no photos of that side of the dike. I included the long shot because the construction dog was sauntering across the parking lot and she's cute.

 

An adventurous holiday!

I have been away and it's been an adventure! We left town the day after my last post and spent the Christmas holiday with our oldest son and his lady. This was their first tree and I think it's exciting to have been part of their holiday; we are grateful and honored to have been invited to share their Christmas.

And then we drove home, where I tried to boot my computer only to find that it needed repairs. Called the shop that's authorized to do warranty work, dropped it off on the way to the airport on Dec. 30 and headed to New Orleans for the New Years celebrations. We stayed at a wonderful hotel, drank champagne, ate chocolate-covered strawberries, saw the musicians in Jackson Square....and then it began to rain and the wind came in off the river. So back to the hotel to celebrate indoors.



This is an immature seagull who thinks roof racks make a good roosting spot. This was taken on the exit ramp into New Orleans on New Years Eve--lots of traffic headed in to the festivities. 

Jackson Square stage

Jackson Square stage

The tree in Jackson Square. Notice the fleur de lis on top instead of a star?

Hotel exterior

Hotel lobby. Nice place, eh?

I got to the New Orleans airport on Jan. 2 bound for Pittsburgh by way of Chicago Midway Airport. The flight was late but I was assured that my connection was also late and I'd make the Pittsburgh flight. Little did I know.....

We landed in a snowstorm--these are pix of the control tower from my window seat. There's also a plane out there, one of 6-8 sitting on the tarmac because there were no gates to park us.

No control tower visible even though it's quite nearby.

See the two other airplanes?

You all heard the news reports of flights cancelled and passengers stranded--I was one of them, sleeping in airport seats, eating airport food (all that sodium!!), trying to save cell power because I'd packed my charger and checked my luggage (yeah, stupid thing to do), and standing in lines trying to get a flight to anywhere that wouldn't be cancelled yet again. I have to say that during my stay I met tons of wonderful people from Pennsylvania and Chicago. We were all in the same situation and we all helped each other and encouraged each other to stick with it, we'd get out of there some day. I finally got a flight, with Husbeast's help, back to New Orleans. I stayed there till Monday, Jan. 6 (thank goodness I keep clothing at Husbeasts apartment down there) and flew home to -27F temperatures. Took over 30 minutes to de-ice the car and get it to a temperature where my fingers didn't freeze just trying to hold the steering wheel.

It took another week before Lenovo deigned to send their technician to replace my hard drive. I've spent the past week trying to convince companies that yes, indeed, I have purchased their software, and re-installing that software when they send it. Carbonite has been wonderful in downloading all my files again and I'm grateful to them because I actually have the photos to post on this blog.

Will I fly through Chicago again? Yep! But not in the winter......

Some new handspun yarns this week

I've finished up the Christmas gifts here at Chez Feisty. How are your projects going? Think you'll be finished in time to wrap your handmade gifts and put them under the tree? And I have photos but can't show them just yet because the recipients read this blog on Facebook.

However, I also managed to get some yarn spun this week in between visits to the garage, the hair stylist, the guild gathering--I had something going every day last week so the weekend came as a welcome respite. Before I decided to close the Etsy shop, I was working on a line of Tiffany-inspired braids. As I designed each one, I made two for sale and one for me to spin. If the color combination was ugly, neither the braid nor the yarn was going in the shop. Iris made the cut. The braids are listed but the yarn hadn't been washed and labeled before the closing sale. Here it is, although I'm not sure yet what it will become (suggestions welcome!):





















I had also been working on a series of gradient batts for the shop. One of my friends has a weak spot for anything purple, as do I myself, and I came up with a teal-blue-purple-berry transition and threw in a handful of white silk noils for interest. I spun up a fat singles for him as a gift, and just finished a fine singles for myself.

I got 392 yards out of 1.8 ounces of fiber and intend it for a Moebius with an undulating stitch pattern. I'm excited to see how it turns out, so am taking it along on my Christmas travels. Moebius knitting is so relaxing and mindless for travel.

And as if that wasn't enough to keep me busy, the weather here is warming up and the contractor called Tuesday night to say that he would be here bright and early this morning. This old house still needs some work to make it energy efficient, or as energy efficient as a 101-year old house can be, and so the basement windows are being replaced by double-pane windows. No glass block down there, I like to open the windows in the summer so the breezes can blow through and help cool it down in the evenings. The window cleaners also called last night to say they'd be stopping this afternoon, so I've already taken down the plastic pine boughs along the fence so they can access the windows. So today is my day to stick near home, wrap presents and bake Grandmas Cranberry Bread.

Stay warm, enjoy the holidays and I'll see you all in the New Year!

I have free time! And I can make stuff for ME! Just because I can!

I've been playing all week, now that I'm closing the online shop and don't need to spend so much time on that. So, here's the checklist of stuff done and in the works:

Knitted the sleeves of my friend's Tomten jacket for her son. She's become allergic to this particular wool and can't work with it for long, so I've done the sleeves and she will finish the I-cord edging and weaving in ends. I hope he likes it!

Working on Christmas gifts. Can't say what they are or who they're for, but it's something I do every year. I usually work exclusively with my handspun but sometimes commercially spun yarn is called for. And that's all I'll say about it till after the gifting.

























And, this fall I handpainted 2 pounds of mixed BFL roving. I've been picking away at spinning it up for a jacket for myself (I just love jackets for spring and fall wearing, so easy to toss on and head out the door). I'm over halfway finished and have just 4 more bobbins to spin up before I'm done. Because I have 8 oz. of Blue Moon Rockin' Whorl Club handpainted top that's calling me. Very strongly. And I refuse to start that till I finish the BFL.

 

Geez, this is so much fun. I can't wait for the New Year when I can start on all those fabulous ideas that have been swimming round in my head for months and years. I also got the chance to attend my guild's Teach and Learn meeting yesterday. It was great to have a day with fellow fiberholics, comparing projects and discussing techniques, talking about what's next on our needles/loom/wheel. I think I'm going to like this next phase of my fiber life.....

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and a lovely week to everyone else.

I think it's time for a drastic change....

“There's no need to quit until you stop enjoying yourself.”

Yep, that’s where I am right now. I’ve been waffling for a year now about closing my Etsy shop. I love making stuff, I love putting that stuff in others’ hands to spin or knit or wear. I make so much stuff that selling my overload seemed a good idea at the time (2004). But now? Sales are down for all of us retailers. And I’m spending the majority of my workday doing self-promotion or paperwork, leaving the studio work to perhaps one or two days a week. And I don’t like paperwork or office work—I did that for 40 years and happily left it behind me.

I have had one customer that was problematic, which is a really high ratio of wonderful! But there have been many more difficult interactions with other vendors or business folk.  Back when I had my weaving business or my brick-and-mortar shop in the 70s and 80s, you only had to worry about shoplifters and outsiders; the fiber folk were ALWAYS the ones you could count on to be fair and ethical. Unfortunately, that attitude doesn’t seem to have held true. If you add to the paperwork load the fact that as a business owner I must work with unpleasant people, it’s just not fun any more.

I made the decision earlier this week that I didn’t want to deal with the downside of owning a fiber business anymore. What I WANT to do is finish my Master Knitter certification, design garments that have been living in my head for years, spin flax, spin cotton, play with weaving with handspun again, play with spinning yarn just for me. And I can't do those things as long as my time is devoted to dealing with paperwork and difficult situations. As a result, I’ll be posting ads and publicizing the closing of my Etsy shop. There will be graduated discounts as December rolls on, but I haven’t decided yet the exact timing or the exact percentage of discounts. It WILL happen in the next day or so (hey, I’m no whiz at creating ad graphics y’know?).

I will continue to write articles, design for handspun yarn and possibly teach, but the handspun yarn and spinning fiber and handspun handknit garments will go. Garments that don’t sell in the closing sale will be donated to a local shelter; yarn will be used to make a few blankets for the house; fiber will be spun up by me (finally! I get to spin my own stuff!) or gifted to friends.

I want to thank my loyal customers, you’ve been the best folks around! And my friends and family—you were the wind in my sails these past 8 years, thanks for always being there with assistance and encouragement.

Watch this space for dates/discounts, etc.

Another fun link, cat/human equivalent age

No posts over the Thanksgiving holiday as I had house guests, and just a short post today to tide us over until Thursday when I return from another trip. Husbeast and I were wondering just how old our cat would be if he were a human. He's pretty spry for being 16 years old with the beginnings of kidney disease, and we wondered if we'll be as spry when we're as old as him.

So I used this cat calculator. Oh my goodness, he's 81. I doubt I'll reach much more than that age, and this guy is still killing our throw rugs and chasing laser lights!

Hope your Thanksgiving (if you celebrate) was wonderful, have a lovely week and I'll catch up with you on Thursday.

For your viewing pleasure, snowboarder videos!

Busy this week, traveling out of town tomorrow (not to worry--the neighbor and the security system are set to watch the house!). In lieu of a blog post, here's some exciting videos I thought you might like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm0vnz0BYzM

Ahhhh, glades, used to love skiing them (back when I actually had the leg muscles to take the impacts/quick turns)             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGOS6IKu5fE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxAmaYydBYw

For those of you who know me, yeah, that's my kid on the board.

If you're wondering what to knit with that skein of handspun you bought....

...I can help you with that. Once upon a time, I was developing a class of Uses for Leftover Handspun Yarn but it never really got off the ground--too little time in my schedule. And you're about to benefit from the notes I made!

Obviously, gauge and yardage are big considerations. Sometimes you'll have enough yardage for a whole item. I like to use Ravelry's data base, using the Pattern Browser function. Simply click on the attributes you know, like knitting or crochet, yardage, yarn size (DK, worsted, etc.) and see what comes up. You can fine-tune the search by selecting accessories or baby things--it's great fun to play with pattern ideas that way. Try knitting a tea cosy, perhaps even felting it for extra warmth. If you're like me, it's takes an hour or more to consume a pot of tea and having a cosy on the pot keeps it nice and hot. And your tea can keep you company while you browse more patterns on Ravelry....

Have lots of smaller skeins? I consider these design challenges; how can I combine colors and weights and yardage to make something special? (This is why I sell my Bits & Pieces sets in my Etsy shop--there are lots of creative people who need just a bit of certain colors.) Play with combinations of yarns, let them sit somewhere where you can see them daily, add a yarn/subtract a yarn each time you pass the grouping, and soon you'll have a coherent group of yarns that can be used for a garment or accessory. Try a lengthwise fringe scarf--see my Handspun Delight pattern on Ravelry, it's free for the downloading. 

Striped hats are another good use of small skeins; just use your favorite hat pattern and alternate yarns in skinny or wide stripes throughout. Both of these were made with a mixture of small skeins of handspun and commercial yarn. 

What about using those smaller lengths in a widthwise sampler scarf? Knit or crochet in a stitch you haven't used before until the yarn is finished, maybe do a few rows with a shorter length, then start a new stitch with a longer length. It will stretch your stitch knowledge and creativity. What about a diagonal scarf with stripes of different handspun yarn? Knot the ends at the edge and let them hang out for a touch of funkiness.

Making a solid color plain cardigan and want to punch it up a little? Pick up the neck and front edges with a single row of handspun in a pleasing color, then continue with the solid color. You could also add a row of the same handspun just above the cuff ribbing. Use your handspun to duplicate-stitch a little motif on that sweater and you've created a special piece that no one--NO ONE--else will be able to make.

It may be yarn and we all may be making garments, but that doesn't mean yarn can't be used like paint or colored pencils to create masterpieces. Try using some handspun in these ways; let your mind and skills take you some place special. Handspun yarn can push your creativity to new levels!

And please feel free to post photos of your work here, I'd love to see what you're doing. 

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Why use handspun yarn?

I had a customer ask how to care for one of my handspun handknit hats, thinking it would be difficult to care for wool. And I realized that not everyone has been immersed in wool for 37 years like me, and may not realize the advantages of naturally-grown, naturally-processed fibers. So I'm climbing up on my soapbox and giving a lecture on why natural fibers and handspun yarn are very good for you.

1.  That difficult-to-wash thing? Nope, not at all. It takes the same amount of time for me to handwash woolens as it does for my machine to go through a load--40 minutes give or take a few minutes. You throw all your laundry in the machine, add detergent/soap, select the cycle and walk away.The machine beeps when it's done. For woolens, you choose an appropriate-size container (sink, basin or bathtub) for the items, fill with warm-to-the-touch water, add a wool wash product or a good shampoo (I like shampoo for colored hair as it tends to safeguard the color in dyed woolens), push the items down into the soapy water and walk away for 30 minutes. Then you gently squeeze the items a couple of times to release the dirt, squeeze out excess water, empty the container. Refill it with warm water, immerse the items, squeeze gently a few times to rinse, squeeze out excess water, roll in a towel and lay flat somewhere (a waterproof place like the top of your dryer or a drying rack), and walk away. Hint: Don't lay your woolens where your pets can find them or you'll be picking dog/cat hair off your precious woolens. That's Kitty Mercury's favorite trick, sleeping on a drying sweater.

And, I really only wash my sweaters once a year, before I store them for the summer. That's probably because I have so many that each one isn't worn enough to get really dirty.

2. Wool and most animal fibers are better for the environment than acrylic. This is not to say that acrylic yarns should disappear, because they have many uses. But animal fibers are renewable whereas petroleum is not. Animal fibers will biodegrade in our landfills (or around my fruit trees where I use leftovers as mulch);  acrylic and plastics will remain for perhaps a thousand years.

3. When my handspun handknits are no longer serviceable as sweaters/hats/mitts, I can recycle them. Mostly I throw them in the washer and felt them, which means the cat gets a new snuggly cat bed or the living room has new coasters on the end tables. Make coffee sleeves, sew the felt together for a scarf or new mittens/hat, let the kids cut them out and glue them to bulletin boards in their rooms, cut felt Christmas tree ornaments, etc.

4. Wool isn't necessarily itchy. My personal feeling is that this urban myth came about from WWII when the soldiers were given blankets made of "shoddy" wool--wool that had been sourced from wool rags that were mechanically torn into shreds, respun, rewoven and felted into blankets. We had a couple of those blankets when I was a kid and they were nasty nasty nasty! If you're really allergic, with the sneezing and itchy eyes, there's not much you can do. But not all sheep are the same, some breeds grow tough rug wool while others grow spongy soft stuff that you can wear next to the skin. Those who want a soft wool should look for Merino, Rambouillet, Corriedale and other wools that are known to be soft. Handspinners source their wool from local growers or from mills that realize handspinners will only buy/spin the soft stuff.And this is why all my skeins are marked with the sheep breed (if known) so you can buy with confidence that it will be a soft yarn or a yarn suitable for outerwear.

5.  The most important criteria for me? I can have whatever color, whatever texture, whatever size yarn I want. And when I make it into a garment, no one--NO ONE--will have the same garment. Because every spinner is working with her hands and heart and brain, and those hands/heart/brain will make design decisions that are different in some way from mine. My friends, using the exact same raw materials, will spin differently and knit or crochet or weave or felt something completely different from my work. Handspun, handcrafted items are one of a kind (OOAK) and should be treasured, cared for, used, reused, and used up. It's one of the reasons we have few surviving textiles--they were hand made with a lot of work and love and were considered too precious to toss away.

Buy handspun yarn, work with handspun yarn, support the creative folks who have chosen to design and produce lovely yarn and lovely hand made things--they are giving you their heart and soul.

And that's the end of the lecture. Hope you enjoyed it!

A little holiday down south....

I have all good intentions to post weekly but stuff gets in the way. Like the 5 pumpkins from my garden that needed to be processed and frozen (anyone want pumpkin muffins?), the huge tomato harvest that also needed to be frozen, and the last-minute article that had to be written to meet deadline. Little things like that.

Then I ran away from home, flying down south to get some sunshine and excellent seafood. Since Husbeast has been working in Louisiana for the past 2 years, I have become addicted to grilled oysters and mango daiquiries. We usually head for the French Market early on Saturday, grab breakfast at a local bakery/eatery, then head for the market to see what's new. This week the satsumas were around so we had to have a bag of those, and we found a few things to give to family at the holidays. Then there's lunch.....J's Seafood is directly across from Organic Banana. Yes!! Grilled oysters and a fresh mango daiquiri, while Husbeast prefers to experiment with different daiquiri flavors--I believe it was coconut lime this time?

The downside of the visits to Husbeast is that there's only one car so if I want to go shopping I have to ferry him back and forth to work on the construction site (he's an engineer and it's a very large steel operation they're building). This is the drive to the construction trailer. That's not swamp grass, that's sugar cane ready to be burned, cut, chopped and trucked to the processor.

Entering the site

Some truck trailers and bulldozers for size comparison

That large brown mound is processed cane. A VERY strong molasses smell hits you right about now.

Egrets hanging out around the cane.

The final turn toward the trailers, and it's a sugar cane tunnel!

On Saturday, we took a drive over the causeway that crosses Lake Ponchartrain. I've flown into NOLA over the lake a dozen times but never crossed the causeway. It reminds me of Westdyke in Holland, sans the grazing sheep on the sides of the dyke. The causeway has pelicans hunting the waters, but I couldn't stop to get a photo so you'll have to use your imagination.

There are sailboats out there somewhere....

And a couple of 'bumps' in the roadway so ships can pass under.

After a stop at the local yarn shop, McNeedles, we found lunch at the Abita Brew Pub. Abbey Ale is delish!

Followed by a Sunday brunch with sweet potato pancakes, seafood omelet and bottomless mimosas! Not saying how many empty bottles left our table, but we were certainly happy when we left.

I am relaxed and rested and brimming with new creativity. Amazing what a week of wonderful seafood and good company can do for a person's outlook on life. I am a lucky lady!