mamacate

Just talking, a scarabus, and a little FS.

I stayed up late (for a change!) spinning and plying up some merino/tencel that I'm going to use to make a feather and fan scarf for the Webs tent sale.  Master's students will have a table there, and I expect there to be some hand-painted yarn and other cool stuff.  I missed the tent sale last year, but I have heard that it is awesome, so do come on by.  So how much do you think I should charge for a handspun, handknitted scarf?  I suppose you can tell me once I've posted a picture of it.  I do reserve the right to get frustrated and give up on it before the deadline.  I need to turn it in on 5/10, so we'll see.  I'm planning to make it some airplane knitting.  Of course I think I'll also bring a simple sock to Maryland, since there may be some KUI going on Friday night and I've learned my lesson with lace.

So I'm seriously thinking of selling my Lendrum ST folding wheel.  Everyone loves this wheel, but I don't think it's the wheel for me, at least the single-treadle isn't.  I think I'm going to sell it and get a double-treadle Lendrum, or maybe try out some other wheels.  Now that I have the hitcher, I'll have a super-portable wheel, though it is rather limited in application--basically nobody's going to be spinning lace on this thing.  It feels a lot like a Louet: it's awesome for low-twist, DK+ weight spinning, but not so much for something where you need more twist.  So I might shop around a bit, but I think I want a DT.  When I bought this I had read how Alden Amos thought that double treadles were a stupid fad and I agreed that why would you need one?  But it turns out that I don't care about a double treadle for a saxony wheel, but for a castle-style it gives me more stability--or something.  But that's just me.  I'm sure someone will love this wheel.  It needs to find the right home.

So anyway, I think I'm going to ask $325 for the complete package (wheel, standard flyer, fast flyer, plying head, and lazy kate), or $225 for just the wheel, standard flyer, and kate.  New, it goes for $395/$295 for the same packages.  There is a little bit of oil staining around the orifice on the standard flyer, and I can't seem to find the orifice hook (I had to hide it from a kid who wanted to play with it, and I hid it so successfully that I haven't seen it since!).  I will get a new hook before I sell it if I can't turn it up.  So, does that seem fair?  And anyone interested?  I would prefer not to ship it, but can bring it to Maryland (Sat. 5/7), NH (Sun. 5/15), Stephanie's talk in Amherst (5/10), the Webs tent sale (5/21 or 22), or of course Cummington (5/28 or 29).  Of course I can also meet someone in and around the Noho area at any time.   I'll take pics of the oil staining--it's really not bad--I think the oil is actually good for the wood, LOL.

Okay, I've said it.  I've been going back and forth about this, but I'm taking the leap now.  Once I get those pics I'll put it up on spin-sales.  Gulp.

So I've been thinking about finishing.  I've always had a problem with UFOs, but it was usually caused by hitting some sort of a problem: having to rip out some large section, needing to do math that would take too much of my brain, or losing my notes (totally my problem with self-designed projects!), or other stalls.  But Soleil is humming right along with just a few rows of neckline decreases and some straight knitting to the shoulder.  I'm a little worried it will be too big, but it's not going to be terrible and worst-case scenario is I give it to Rhys.  What's my problem?  Partly it's being on a major spinning kick right now.  I WILL finish it, since I set the deadline of Maryland, but it's going to involve forcing myself.  I don't know why I do this to myself, though.  Does anyone else do this?

In my non-fiber life, besides being festival season, May is the start of asparagus season.  Hadley, in between my home and work, is one of the world's best places for growing asparagus (asparaculture?).  We have this famous "sandy loam" that just pops those babies right out.  So there are farm stands on my way to and from work, and the kids have been getting terribly excited about farm-stands and "ascarabus."  They won't eat the asparagus (they used to, but have developed typical 3-year-old food rigidity, which oddly does not extend to salmon sushi or seaweed), but they love buying it.  So the whole way home I get asked "are we almost at the ascarabus area?"

I used to just steam the stuff, but my FIL turned me on to an even better (and easier!) method: roasting.  I rinse 'em off, dry 'em, then throw them in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Then I roast or broil them for about 10 minutes at 450.  Try it.  Amazing.

Folks Find First Fiber Fest Fun (despite getting off "on the wrong foot")!

Hey, I spent an entire childhood being assailed by NY Post headlines in the NYC subways.  I couldn't help it.

The kids and I gave mama Rhys a few hours off and went to the CT Sheep & Wool festival.  A little warm up for Maryland, I suppose.  We had a tentative playdate with a friend, but then that was going to be in the afternoon, and I figured, hey, it's only an hour away, and it's just gray, not even raining, let's do it!

So off we went, and before we even got across the state line it was pouring.  Oh well.  Luckily, the fair was almost entirely indoors, so no harm.  We have raincoats.  We won't melt.

After some nice hot dogs and hamburgers (I passed on the lamburgers; I don't question the contents of hot dogs), we wandered the barns.  My strategy is generally to cover the whole place in browse mode, then buy what I want on my way out.  Saves carrying everything, plus I can narrow it down to what I really want.  You'd think it would, but it doesn't cut down on impulse buys, because at the end I tend to get a tad manic.  Somebody is going to have to watch me at Maryland to keep me from ordering an Alden Amos wheel or something.  Not that I'd do something like that.

So, speaking of purchasing wheels, if you read the Spin-List you  might have noticed me waxing acquisitive about David Paul's ridiculously clever new invention, the Hitchhiker.  Well, he had them in CT.  And I was suddenly overcome with the fear that all twelve of the ones he had there at the show would be gone.  Okay, I wasn't that worried, but I just think it's terribly cool and I WANT one.  So despite being unable to really try it out because of the vagaries of certain short people*, I just busted out the checkbook and signed on the dotted line.

*I scared the bejesus out of one of Dave's helpers by suddenly saying "hmmm...I seem to be short one kid."  He was right outside the door, pretending to be a bridge over a small ditch where the rain was running, and my fear meter was at about 3 out of 10, whereas Dave's friend was ready to call the fire department. Sorry about that, when you have twins who come with attitude already installed, you just get used to having to do a little chasing, and knowing that the fiber fest was not likely to be rife with kidnappers or people driving dangerously, I figured worse case scenario was that he was trying to operate someones spinning wheel without their consent.  Not that that's okay or anything.

Pictured by the wheels was Dave's other helper, Judy, of Smatterings.  Judy had quite a weekend of fibery fun--from seeing Stephanie (Harlot on Tour) at Circles to CT Sheep & Wool.  Wow.  It was nice to meet another blogger, and we chatted a bit despite my inability to hold a conversation due to the wandering children factor.  I'm hoping to have a chance to meet up with her again during my 24-hour whirlwind tour of MD.

When the rain let up, as it did periodically, we went out and watched some sheepdog trials. I don't get the sense that sheep are particularly energetic creatures, but they had them running around this gigantic field.  Luckily, they got to rotate in and out so they didn't get too tired.  Heck, I can't keep up with a border collie!  Henry enjoyed talking to the penned sheep waiting for their turn to be herded.  I think the kids love sheep & wool festivals as much as I do.  This is very good.  I'll just have to keep it on the DL that my trip to Maryland involves a "festabal."

So, home again, home again.  And let's take a looky at the haul, shall we?

I confessed to the long-suffering mamarhys that I bought yet another wheel, and took it out to demonstrate it.  There was a moment of confusion and I realized that I had gotten a left-footed wheel (hence getting off on the "wrong foot," get it?).  Whoops!  Apparently no one else realized it either until later--I was looking at the wood on the wheels, not even thinking about the fact that it's set up for one side or the other.  They only had one lefty and were wondering what happened to it.  I can trade it in for a righty at one of the upcoming fests--I'm a little nervous about taking it on the plane to MD, so it's going to give me a good excuse to go to NH, I figure.  Even so, I was able to spin up some merino/tencel roving I got from the Sheep Shed.  Low-twist singles that I steamed over my spaghetti pot (multitasking!).  I'm in love with this stuff and I want more!  Eleanor has requested a sweater out of it and I can't convince her that I don't have enough.  Guess I'll have to get more.  Lovely, lovely to spin.  I'm trucking along on spinning the bunny roving I got at NETA, too, and now I'm spoiled with this amazingly smooth stuff.  I do, of course, have more in other colorways, but the pink/orange/yellow ("Sunrise") is pretty cool, no?  The other colorways are "Spring" and "Autumn."  Yummm.  Also notice the lovely blue/green batt I got from Grafton Fibers and the pretty orifice hook from The Wheel Thing.

So I get in this much trouble at an itty-bitty festival.  Oh my.

I have not forgotten my other commitments, though, despite being on a bit of a spinning kick and wanting to spend all my time doing that instead of knitting.  I did knit my bit on Soleil, which has only one front left, plus finishing, of course.  Maybe tonight if I can resist the pull of the wheel (pun intended).  I'm a little worried it's going to be too big.  It's measuring right on target, but it's having that annoying mercerized cotton thing where it's a little floppy.  Hopefully a good blocking will whip it into shape, but I think I will go back to my former rule of only knitting with cottons that are cabled or otherwise designed to incorporate some stretch and memory.  While I know some people hate ribbon yarns (and I'm not a fan of big, wide tapes), I actually do like thin ribbon yarns, and I think my next summer sweater will be with one of those.

Sunday was our last Ethnic I class for the Master Knitter program, and I got to provide moral support (and cheers) when CeCe steeked and cut a sweater (not her sweater for the class, but a practice one).  She did really well, but it made me realize what a wreck I'll be when I finally take the shears to mine.  Ah well, I have a lot of knitting ahead of me before that happens.  No pictures, because there's very little to show there.  Then Pride Day in Northampton, which, after living here for 15 years, is just turning into old home week.  I saw everyone I haven't seen in a while, lots of catching up and chatting, and of course the kids love it.  A fine weekend, and now I need to spend the week recovering working.  Just a paper, a survey, a report, and the start of another freelance project stand between me and Maryland.  AAAAAAAHHHHHH! 

O Blog

O Blog.  This is not good.  You have made the ultimate leap, you have fallen off the edge of the earth.  You are no longer a means of procrastination: you have become the object of procrastination.  And this is not good.  Not good at all.  I have a cotton intarsia baby sweater and a ribby green sweater you can talk to about what it means when that happens.  If you can find them in the bottom of the stash closet, that is.

I do have hope, though, perhaps more than even for that ribby green sweater (which I know someday will become the apple of my eye again, but probably not until I'm done nursing and my boobs are back to a size that doesn't involve repeating letters).  I certainly have more hope for the blog's retribution than for the cotton intarsia sweater.

Despite being under all kinds of deadline pressure, I'm ridiculously unfocused at work.  I am so outta there in my head.  I envy people who can stick with a single job for years and years, but I'm someone who needs to move on periodically.  Pain in the ass, that.  I really wish I could manage it, but as hard as I try to stay engaged and focused on this job after 7 years, I am just. not. there.  And I have to go give a paper (okay, two) in a couple of weeks and man, I hope I can string a sentence or two together.  Adrenaline, as much as I hate it, usually helps kick-start the brain even in the worst of times.  So I guess it's down to the wire and adrenaline.  It should kick in soon.  I hate that it has come to this.

I don't know, it's weird, because I'm always getting this positive feedback about what a good reputation I have, and man, right now I feel pretty damn useless.  So either I'm doing a decent job of faking it or people are totally lying.  Actually, the truth is I'm probably riding on past good work, and it won't last forever.  Just a few more months and I can do something I can actually get my brain to pay attention to.  Please, let me get through the next few months without crashing and burning.  I think that will entail not procrastinating the freelance project anymore.  Okay, okay.

Good advice in the comments, there, from Sara and Jo to keep  knitting through it all (and I'll try to bring the confidence and hope as well), and I'm taking it.  Soleil is coming along.  This is a deadline I might just pull off.

I'm still sticking with the fair isle,  slowly but slowly, as before.  I got a few more colors, and I like it.  It's a bit of a mish-mash, but that's okay.  As I've been reminded, it's a practice piece, not a masterwork.  I'm still a journeywoman, you know.  I'm going to work the mish-mash thing.  I wasn't sure whether I was up for a non-repeating pattern, that is, a sweater where no band is the same from top to bottom, but now I'm pretty much sure I'm going to do that, and it'll just be a crazy, complicated sweater.  Sounds like my life, huh?

In addition to giving me good advice, Sara hooked me up with a drum carder and some cashmere and camel fiber from a major bargain-shopping score.  Oh, how grateful I am that she thought of me!

I can also report that at my color class last week, I got the prize for the UGLIEST combination of colors (click the link to see the ugly combo from my last post).  Other people had namby-pamby combinations that were mildly unappealing, or which just "kinda" clashed.  People, I brought the ug-lay.  The teacher is going to try to make something as ugly as my swatch, just to show that she can.  Bring it on, baby.  I also spun up some kinda  purty hand-dyed alpaca roving for another part of the assignment, which was to express an idea or emotion with color.  This was meant to express "may flowers."  I also had a kind of cool dyeing experiment which represented "april showers."  It was that same bright green with a variety of reddish browns, kind of like the woods in early spring.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures before handing everything in.  The photo shows what was left on the wheel after I plied until 1:55 for my 2:00 class.  What was that about procrastination, last-minute finishing, adrenaline?  Hmmm.

So there you have it: procrastination, complication, and the prize for ugly.  Yeah, baby.

What did you do with April?

I'm not dealing well with the fact that tomorrow is April 20th.  I have a lot to do before May, and, well, I need more time to do it in.  So if anyone can talk to the daylight saving people and get them to give me an extra week or two, I'd really appreciate it.  I know they're hoarding all those spare hours.  Gimme.

Speaking of early May deadlines, just about the only one in my life that is even vaguely on track is Soleil/Sorbet (one day I'll commit to a name for this thing).  That is, if I pretend that I don't have any other knitting that I should be working on.  Like, for example, a forlorn and neglected fair isle cardigan whose pitiful lack of progress I am going to have to show at class weekend after next.  But maybe I can be chagrined in a new cotton tank top, eh?

But first deadlines first.  I was also assigned, for my color class this Saturday, to knit a swatch combining colors that go well together, and one with colors that go poorly together.   Check it out.  Guess which one this is?  Pretty dreadful, huh?  I'm much more interested in this part of the homework than in the nice combinations.  They say we're supposed to make a collage, but ugh, I have sweaters to knit, people!  Ah well, mitered squares are good for a collage I suppose.

I'm in denial about a freelance project I have to start.  And then there's the paper I'm giving in San Diego on June 1.  My son is probably having his tonsils out in May, too (we just got the tentative date today).  It's the right thing to do, but oh, poor baby.  And I'd really like to NOT have huge deadlines looming at work (of course I'll forget all about them, but the goal is to get them out of the way BEFORE the surgery so I don't have to deal with the fallout later).

Okay, so sheesh, this whole blog post is just stressing me out.  The kitchen's a mess too.  And Rhys?  Out of town tomorrow.  Sigh.

Spring Fever

Wow. Life just keeps galloping on and here I am, once again, a cartoon character after a recent anvil incident, little birds and punctuation circling a stubbly protrusion from my head. At least the time that's flying by is late-winter time, which is very much not my favorite. Spring always reminds me that even when it seems like whatever is happening is never going to end, it does, and the new thing is pretty darned cool. It won't be long until the squishy ground is solid and has a nice layer of grass on it, and we can start going to "festabals" every weekend. I think I'm looking forward to NH Sheep & Wool, Cummington, and the Strolling of the Heifers even more than the kids are. Don't tell, though.

The kids' third birthday was this week. I'm still a little shocked. Three? Really? MY kids? I'm a little wistful for the baby stage, but not enough to have another one, LOL. I am not a big fan of the 1-2 year old age, when they do nothing but try to kill themselves by blissfully toddling into traffic and off high objects and reaching for sharp knives and electrical outlets and whatnot. I can see how it might be fun with one (maybe), but with two you just constantly feel like you're going to lose one any minute.

But now they're getting really interesting, they have a lot to say, and it's just neat to hang out with them.  Except, of course, when they're trying to get my goat.  I have faith that at some point they won't hit, kick, and bite just to see my head explode.  I know that they will soon find more complex and sophisticated ways of making my head explode.  I look forward to that.  Yes I do.

I don't know if I mentioned that they are already developing career aspirations.  Eleanor wants to be a fisherman, which I must say is reassuring given the extent of the current princess/pink obsession.  Henry wanted to be a firefighter until I recently mentioned that Lalo Guerrero died, and that he was an important singer.  Henry is now absolutely certain that he wants to be An Important Singer.  We could do a lot worse than Papa Lalo.  We knew Papa Lalo from the Los Lobos kids' album, Papa's Dream, which we have been listening to a lot since this all came up.  I first got it when the kids were infants and I hadn't yet learned to spin, but there's this whole part about handspun wool from a wooly bull.  Fiber everywhere, I tell you.  These kids don't have a chance.

As for my RDA of fiber, I have been finishing up Eloise, including a certain amount of pathological stripe "matching," wholly unsuccessful, I might add, with my little dribs and drabs of ball ends and my one new ball of wool, which, OF COURSE because it's Noro, has a big knot, omitting a whole stripe from the progression.  I'm up to the sleeve caps with two different colors at the same point on the two sleeves, and I'm trying to be okay with it.  I talk a pretty good game about going with the flow, but I'm telling you, when it comes down to it, it's total bullshit.  Just so you know.

The Not Crap Fair Isle is coming along REALLY slowly.  I mentioned that I got more colors, and that has helped.  I think this next pattern/border/whatever will be nice, but of course it doesn't fit in very well with the rest of the sweater now, LOL.  Still not crap, though.  When I have this one done I'll post a picture.  At this point it looks much as it did last time.  The class is this Sunday, where I will be publicly shamed with my itty bitty sweater bottom while everyone else is reporting their steeking experiences.  Or not, since last time most people were only slightly ahead of me.  It's really hard to work on this one when I'm not paying 100% attention, have good light, etc.  Normally I can knit almost anything in front of the TV, but the amazingness of this week's Amazing Race* caused me to have to pick up some Less Onerous Knitting (aka Eloise).  Notcrap, I have met my multitasking match.  I bow to you.

I plied up my laceweight bunny yarn too, and Sara sent me her Fall 04 IK so I can make the FBS.  I still need to spin some more, but I'm more than halfway there, assuming I don't have to double it.  I think my yarn is a little thin though--it's probably sockweight or a little smaller and the doubled laceweight is supposed to knit up at 4 sts/in in st st.  I think this might be too in between.  So maybe I'll just make the shawl with one strand and keep knitting until I think it's big enough.  I'm not experienced with lace, though, so I don't think this is going to be a mindless project.  Maybe that second Klaralund will have to happen.  And of course there are always socks to knit.  Oh yeah, and a big pile of UFOs.  But we won't go there.

Hey, my old buddy, bfing-triplet-mom-after-infertility Jody just came out of the closet!  As a knitter!  She claims not to really be a knitter but then she shows all these pictures of beautiful lace blankets and lovely baby gowns and wonderfully-executed cables and is all "I don't really know what I'm doing."  Okay girl, can I have a little of that not knowing what I'm doing because I think it would really improve my knitting.  She has a ran-out-of-yarn-don't-want-to-rip-what-to-do conundrum.  Go help her out, will ya?  I say make a pillow out of the front and bury the sleeve in the garden.  But maybe some of you know how to match yarn bought in the UK in 1994.

Oh, right, WORK!  Better go do that!  Birthday party report after this weekend...be very afraid.

*go infertiles! go poufs!  But may the infertiles beat the poufs at the end because the poufs are kind of snarky!  And may the sweet old people do really well too!  And may Amber and Rob get permanently lost in Siberia to stew in their own arrogant juices!  Amen!

They're back.

The kids and the lovely partner are back.  I'm somewhat rested though feeling a little sheepish about how much I didn't get accomplished in my long evenings home alone.  Man, it is nice to feel those warm arms around my neck and carry those heavy long bodies down the stairs in the morning.  Four days, even when working, is a good treatment for mama-burnout. 

I have been knitting SWATCHES this week for my color theory class.  I get bored easily, so I've been trying out new color techniques.  First, mitered squares, which I have done before, but they're still interesting to me.  Then entrelac, which, contrary to Stephanie's opinion (and I almost always find myself nodding in agreement with The Yarn Harlot when she says such things),  is kinda fun and not really at all like pulling nose hairs out with tweezers.  Now I'm trying mosaic knitting, which really is completely new to me.  I have one more to do.  What else?  Don't say the "i" word!

So my friend Sara?  Did you know she's nuts?  Now it's official--she has knee surgery this afternoon and she has been NPO since midnight last night.  So she did what any of us would do today at noon.  She went SKATING.  (!!!!!)  Okay, I guess if it was wrist surgery and we had one more chance to knit, that would seem positively rational to a lot of us.  An obsession is an obsession, I suppose.

Anyway, go over there, would you, and wish her well.  She's probably on her way to the hospital, but wouldn't it be great if she had lots of good thoughts sitting in her comments when she gets home?  And remember, she'll be on painkillers, so don't forget that now's the time to ask her embarrassing questions!

Better, thanks. Time for a project roundup!

Thank you for all the sympathy on Wednesday.  I'm glad you all got a laugh from my pain.  No, seriously, I am glad.  In fact, there were moments during the morning, particularly when the dog ran away, when I thought "I have got to blog about this!"  Made it all a little more worthwhile.

Despite rather hyper behavior upon arrival home from school, we had a pretty decent night, thanks to help from my friend Jenn (whom I recently taught to knit, and who is now a major fiber junkie thank you very much).  I used to beat myself up about not being able to do it by myself.  Now, most of the time, I say, whatever--HELP ME!  The more help the better, I think.

Anyway, there has actually been some knitting, a little spinning, and some SEX (Stash Enhancement eXperiences).  Let's go to the pictures!

First, and most importantly, the sockapalooza socks are done!   I liked that little hint Alison dropped that those of us with international recipients should have already sent them out.  Hey!  Nobody told me!  I thought it was a deal where we all mailed them on the same day, not that they were supposed to arrive on the fifteenth.  HELP!  Anyway, now I'm relieved that my recipient is blogless.  I won't have to be shamed by her opening them (on the other side of the world) in April or something.  They'll go out tomorrow, OKAY?  ;)  No, seriously, this was not a full-fledged freakout (I've reserved this week's freakout for the freelance report due next week).  It got me focused and got me done.

I'm in that space right now where I have a ton of projects going on (let me finish--I know I always have a ton of projects going on) AND they're all in the middle of the project.  You know, that point where the novelty has worn off a bit, but the end does not feel right around the corner?  Where you have miles and miles of stockinette or some pattern that you're now accustomed to staring you in the face?  You know that point.  Despite the fact that starting something new FEELS like it's going to make you feel better, it usually makes me feel worse.  It will inevitably get to the same point, and now you've got another project in the doldrum phase.  So finishing is the only answer, and thankfully it was quick and easy to finish the socks.  Off they go.  Buh bye!  I keep forgetting I'm getting another pair in their place.  Cool.

Also in the doldrums is Clapotis.  It's fine, but it just has enough more work to go that I can't get excited about it.  Actually, technically, I should be starting the decreases on the next repeat.  However, a) I have plenty of yarn to do quite a bit more length, b) I feel like it's a bit short to stop now, c) I made it skinnier just so I could avoid running out of yarn (see a) and longer (see b).  I got myself into this, now it's time to knit myself out.  Also, the yarn is a bit fuzzy (hello, I knew it was mohair when I got it!) and will probably not be good to wear with black, which, unfortunately, is the color I wear pretty much every day.  Oh well, it will go with my coat, and um, everything else I'm knitting these days.  And I do love the colors.  Knitting on...

Not Crap: The Fair Isle has achieved approximately another half-inch, so it's photo time, right?  I actually have barely worked on it since the class last week, but it has had a bit of work since the last photo.  I have some slight concern about the fact that I have abandoned the forest green for the last two bands, but I'm reminding myself that I'm fully committed to getting back to it, in the VERY NEXT BAND in fact.  The plan is to go little greenish background, big blueish background, little blueish background, big greenish background, little greenish background, etc.  So it's fine.  And I'm also starting to accept that I'm probably going to hate each band until I finish it.  I haven't decided if I'm going to repeat the designs or just torture myself keep it interesting and do different designs (same color progressions) throughout.

I do have a little regret about this sweater.  For the Master Knitter program we have to use the yarns available at Webs, which is fair because the classes are really reasonably priced.  But Webs does not carry the full range of Jamieson's or Jamieson & Smith, which are the two really classic Shetland yarns for Fair Isles.  I was looking at a color card, and the colors are so much closer together in those yarns, so you wind up with a much less stripey, much more blended effect.  In the end, I think it will end up being not crap, despite all of this.  And perhaps hell won't have to freeze over before I make another jumperweight fair isle.  At least I'll have this sweater to keep me warm in frozen hell while I knit it.

I've squeezed in the odd moment of spinning the bunny blend  roving from the Spa.  Don't let this full bobbin fool you--under the bunny is some llama for test-spinning that was on the wheel when I bought it.  It's probably a couple of layers deep, that's it.  This is the only bobbin I have for this wheel, so I need to wind it off (like, now) to another bobbin and start anew, but again, not really motivated to do it.  So that's kind of sitting too.  This wheel is noisy, and I have been mostly knitting in front of the TV (I heart TiVO, it figured out that I love Dharma and Greg within a week, can you believe it?  I didn't even know it was ON, and I'll forgive it the Elimidate incident, I mean, just because I guiltily watch Survivor, The Apprentice, The Amazing Race, and Project Runway doesn't mean...oh, never mind).  Anyway, it's not great for watching TV.  Though I love spinning on it--it's so fast and smooth.  I'm actually thinking about getting rid of my Lendrum and getting a different portable wheel.  I know everyone loves Lendrums, I'm just not sure it's the wheel for me.  I need to finish spinning for Rogue first.  Another project in the deep freeze.

One thing I am excited about?  My Shetland roving from a young ewe named Bess arrived in the mail yesterday.  Can you believe Donna crammed 3 pounds of fleece in a priority mail envelope?  She did.  Wow, this fleece?  It's beautiful.  Incredibly clean, like, does this sheep live outside clean.  In between ordering and receiving this fleece I had read a caution in the book In Sheep's Clothing that you should be careful of multicolored locks (not multicolored fleece, like from a spotted sheep, but fleece like this where each lock of wool has more than one color in the individual staple), because the color change usually coincides with a "break" in the wool.  A break is a stress point where the sheep had some sort of problem (feeding, health, other stress--I think lambing can cause a break too), and it weakens the wool which can cause breakage and general poor quality right down the line, from fiber prep to spinning to knitting to the final garment.  I was a little nervous that that might be going on here.  I tested the locks by holding them taught and flicking them with my finger, and got a strong "ping" sound, just as the authors recommend.  Since they sounded wistful about how wonderful it would be to find a fleece with this characteristic that was not damaged, it made me even happier to have found this unique fleece.

Here's a lock right out of the bag (can you see the glistening white section?).  And here's the same lock after flick carding, next to a plied yarn spun from what was left behind in the carder.  Makes kind of a nice laceweight, eh?  In the about five minutes I spent reading about spinning for Shetland lace, I did read that it is primarily from undercoat fibers, so maybe that's not what I should do with the whole fleece.  It's hard to imagine spinning 7" locks that small, but this is where I'm getting over my head with the whole spinning thing.  I'm just starting to learn about different breeds and fiber characteristics, and I have mostly spun from commercially prepared rovings and top, so I haven't dealt with sorting a fleece and whatnot.  So, all that to say, what do you think?  Laceweight for a shawl?   Worsted for a--well it's 3 lbs of raw fleece so I guess it would be for a vest, I probably couldn't get a sweater out of it, though I suppose it won't lose much weight from washing, since it is nearly greaseless.  Or maybe make a lot of socks and hats with it?  I'm kind of thinking I should comb it (more stuff to buy and learn to use)--seems a shame to card these beautiful long locks--or maybe just flick-card it and spin away?  Or just experiment.  Probably what I'll do, and that won't be for a bit of a while.  No rush, though it sure is nice to play with!  I'd love to hear any advice from experienced spinners.

Well, that's quite enough for one day.  I'll leave you with a cute kid picture.   My enthusiasm about the fleece must have rubbed off because as soon as the carders came out the kids wanted to play.  Eleanor was carding, and Henry, of his own accord, and having not been exposed to the concept since last summer, decided to make felt.  And tonight he made up a song that went "spin some yarn, spin some yarn, spin some yarn..."  These kids are either going to grow up to be master fiber artists, or they'll hate every bit of it.  Which do you think? 

A Series of Unrelated Things

Couple of random things, quickly, because, you know, busy day for a change.  Looky what I just snagged from the Spin-Sales list.

That's a first clip shetland fleece from a young lady named Bess.  I guess she started off black but has now decided to grow up to be white, so I get her cool multicolored fleece.  Three pounds, baby.  I'll be spinning that in my spare time.  BWAHAHAHAHA.  But I couldn't resist.  Could you?  I know, shearing season has just begun....  I'm going to have to quit my job.  Oh yeah....I *am* going to quit my job!

Janine took my FREAKOUT! about her swatching posts (and I must say those rules are entirely sound and intelligent in nature and just because I freaked out doesn't mean that she and the others who posted swatching rules were in any way wrong), and presented the other side of the story.  I actually think that the two pieces together should be recommended reading for anyone planning a fair isle.  I hope she'll put a handy link to the whole discussion on her blog, because there's some good stuff there on either side. 

The point is that there is more than one way to do this, and you have to figure out your own temperament (as Jill, the director of Webs' master knitter program says) and then do what is right for you.  I think I would rather freakout! periodically while knitting a fair isle than spend what feels like forever swatching the thing, then never have any happy (or sad) surprises while I'm knitting it.  Many, probably most, other people feel the opposite.  Ain't it a wonderful world?  Takes all kinds.

In other news, seeing this on the back of a car in Northampton, I practically had a coffee-out-the-nose experience.

Apparently based on a comic found here.  Freakin hilarious regardless.

Also...

Wow, did you know that there's a Church of Craft?  Interesting article here.  And an interview with one of the founders here.  I have lots of thoughts about how it's interesting that as little as 150 (even 100) years ago people did crafts to survive.  Sunday and worship were the only time they were released from that responsibility.  Now, we use craft as a creative outlet, and a connection to our spirituality, for the very reason that it is no longer necessary.  No time to really elaborate, but it's making me think.  Good stuff, though, I'm going to tell my mom about it because she wants a knitting class that's not too expensive.

Not crap: the fair isle (its new nickname) proceeds apace.  I'll post a picture soon, since I think I've done another half-inch.  I was happy to see that everyone else wasn't up to the armholes yet at our last class.  Phew.  I am also concentrating on my sockapalooza socks in order to get them out by the 15th.  I'm just about to turn the heel on sock #2.  I should be okay.  And then I'm sneaking in a little knitting on Clapotis and spinning the angora I got at the Spa.  Oh, and I'm getting sick.  So, actually, last night I did none of that, and went to bed at 8 pm with the kids.  I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!

Knitting should be relaxing, knitting should be relaxing...

Knitting has not been the stress-reducer I would like it to be for the last few days. I think I may just be in a stress-puppy kind of space, and I’m sure the whole PMS thing has nothing at all to do with it so don’t even go there, okay?

I read some very wise, very good advice over at Feral Knitter on swatching, which basically said “you must swatch, you must swatch everything, don’t even try to knit a fair isle without thoroughly swatching it.” This was not just Janine's advice, but it was echoed by many of her readers. These people make some really pretty fair isles.

So, instead of saying, “hey, good for them, I wish I had the personality type that could swatch for 6 years before starting a sweater,” I said “OH MY GOD I DIDN’T SWATCH EVERY COLOR PROGRESSION MY SWEATER WILL BE CRAP I AM DOOOOOOOOMED!” Because, you know, no drama here, no siree.

So, minor meltdown last night, but happily, I forced myself to just KEEP GOING on the thing to see what happened (is it crap? Is it really crap?). And guess what? It does not appear to be completely crap. I have been advised on the yahoo group for the class to a) take a chill pill (not in so many words, LOL), and b) if I want to swatch, make a teddy bear sweater as a swatch. I will definitely do a), and if I get to a point in this sweater where I get through a whole color progression/motif and I hate it and want to rip it out, I will change course and go ahead and do the teddy bear sweater swatch, putting the big mama sweater off to a later date (my fear: that date will be a-quarter-to-never).

I didn’t take a photo last night because I needed to sleep, and also because I don’t want to foist a new photo onto my blog every half-inch (note: I am not saying I won’t do this, just that I’m not doing it right at this moment). But, so far, it’s not crap. My new motto.

Edited to add a photo--see, you will be subjected to a photo every half inch of this sweater after all.  So much for self-restraint.  In my humble opinion, it is mostly not crap.  I do think the light blue against the purple is kind of crap, and I think it would have worked in another pattern but because of the way this one changes, the light blue and soft green are only together on two stitches every 22 or something, so it doesn't really progress, it just changes, and the change from high-contrast to low (I was trying to go dark-to-light on the background and light-to-dark on the pattern) makes this worse.  All in all, though, I think it will all blend in together to make a decent sweater, and hopefully the high-contrast crappy bit, in the end, will be a nice sort of contrasty area of interest when the sweater is done.  Don't burst my bubble now...

Knitting right along, and a visitor

Well, slowly but surely, the fair isle continues.  I'm done with the ribbing!  (I'm done with the ribbing! I'm done with the ribbing!)

Here's a photo update (sorry for the yucky flash photo). 

I know, it's still just a very small start, but folks, this is very small yarn.  Believe it or not, this is progress.  I think what I'm learning is that with fair isles, you can't totally judge until the pattern is done.  Which is hard, because if it sucks, you've just knitted a few thousand stitches of it.  I'm not adoring what I've got so far, but I'm trying not to be too derivative, and when I really thought about it, that swatch was pretty darned derivative.

So I'm working on some different color progressions and some different patterns.  And I don't really know how they'll come out.  I tried to pick patterns that would come out even with my number of stitches, and you know, they're not.  And I'm going to choose not to care--the fronts won't match, sue me--but hey, what's going on?  Maybe I counted stitches wrong?  I don't know.  I should probably re-count them.  Yah.  Uh huh.  Well, I'm not going to rip them out, but I suppose I can pick the right number of repeats or at least put blanks on either side of the button band.  The good thing about this whole bottom-up knitting business is that, at least one hopes, by the time you get up around the face where people actually see the pattern, you have figured some of this stuff out.  Humor me, will ya?

In other news (yes, even though it often seems otherwise, there are other things going on in my life besides the fair isle), I finished sock #1 for the sockapalooza.

Sock #2 is about an inch into it.  Mail date is 3/15.  I think I'm okay, though there may be some crunch knitting.  I figure I'll get as far as I can on the fair isle before the next Ethnic Knitting class this weekend, then go whole hog on the sock.

And hey, we had a visitor in the backyard this weekend.    Well, not actually in the backyard, since s/he was just behind the fence.  But we have a coyote in the neighborhood.  This picture was taken from my dining room window; the coyote was probably 100 feet from my back door.  I have seen this critter around 2 or 3 other times, but never this close to our house.  My cat stays indoors all winter (not because we make her do so, it's because she's a wimp; she sniffs the air at some point in November, then gives me this look like "excuse me, why don't you do something about this" and stalks back indoors).  Come spring, we're going to have an issue.  Hopefully the coyote will sumer at the lake or something.  Pet worries aside, it was pretty cool to see close up.  It's a big one; we weren't sure if it might actually be a wolf, but then when I checked, it turns out there are no wolves in Massachusetts, so that made identification easy.  We've seen tons of rabbits, deer, hawks, a tortoise, and even a bear behind our house, but this is a new one.  And it's somewhat more menacing than a bear, just because bears range for miles, and coyotes really keep a close territory.  Ah well, we'll just talk very seriously to the cat about staying out of trouble.  I'm sure that will work.

Work is wacky.  I'm having some trouble keeping all the balls in the air, but nobody has yelled at me yet (close, though, with one big screw up at my old job), and I'm hoping things will even out.  This week is the first week Rhys is taking any time off, so that makes a huge difference.  Wow, it's pretty neat to kiss your kids and wife goodbye at the breakfast table, and it's a far cry from the emotional and logistic insanity of everyone going off to their own thing in the morning.  I'm not saying being home with little kids is easy (ha!), and neither is having responsibility for supporting an entire family on your own, but there are some aspects of the one-income, SAHM family that are pretty darned appealing.  In other words, it's nice to have a wife. :)  I stayed at work today...until I was ready to leave.  Imagine.  Back to juggling tomorrow, though: possible snow day, one sick kid, both of us have to work.  Sigh.  September, when I become essentially unemployed, can't come too soon.  On the good side, I calculated my first bill for the new job and yeah, I did a good deal.  Yay me.

Off to watch the rest of the finale of Project Runway, even though I read a spoiler on the GLB-Knit list.  And knit.  All fair isle, all the time.  Except when I'm spinning...