Not exactly progress

The Blob is still not blocked, but it has had buttons sewn on. Twice. And it still isn't finished. I went looking in my button can for suitable buttons; I thought I had some leather shank buttons in there. But after dumping the whole lot out on the guest bed and going through them all, I was one button short. I know there's a joke in there somewhere, but I'm saying it anyway. I did find enough leather buttons, but they were the kind with holes, not a shank, so I sewed them on anyway. But the knitted fabric is too bulky and I wasn't happy with the way it bunched up, so I took them off. Yesterday, I went to Joann's (Without the sweater, of course; what do you think I am, some sort of genius?), where I found two different wooden shank buttons so I bought enough of each for the sweater. Last night, I showed both of them, the small oak ones and the large mahogany ones, to ToolMan who proclaimed the large mahogany ones were perfect. So, I sewed on the small oak ones. To the wrong side of the front. The Blob is now taking a time out in the guest room until it decides to cooperate with my finishing techniques. Or until I am in a mood to take off the wrong buttons and sew the right buttons on the right side. Fourteenth time is the charm, right?

And I am still knitting on the Big Black Things, so progress is being made on that front. Thankfully they need neither buttons nor blocking; they do however require duplicate stitch. We shall see how successfully, or not, that goes.

I did knit something that I can actually show you. Except, I didn't knit them.



I have to confess; I crocheted. I know it's wrong, but I just couldn't help myself. I haven't been happy with the way the bobbins turned, or didn't, on the lazy kate so I decided to make some felted "washers" for it. Some leftover Dale of Norway, a size G hook, and 15 minutes later I had some round things; then a couple spins through the washer and dryer with the dirty towels and they were well felted. Hopefully, this will quiet the noisy plying. And they didn't need buttons.

I did finish that batch of roving; it's in lace weight singles, resting on the bobbin. It's not as brown as I had anticipated. I was hoping for "New England Autumn", but it turned out more like . . . .



"Brady Bunch Kitchen." Barbara suggested plying it with something else to make the colors "pop"; I'm not sure any color in there is capable of "pop." I'm going to Andean ply it because I at this point I already don't like it, so I have nothing to lose. If all else fails, I'll over dye it and cable it with something else.

After all knitting on The Blob (which is not exactly vibrantly colored), the Big Black Things, and spinning all that brown, I needed some COLOR to work on. StitchJones to the rescue!



Would you just look at those colors! Sharon's colors are highly saturated, and even though she's not a spinner (but I'm working on her), she knows how to dye roving so the colors stay true when spun. This is 4 ounces of Corriedale in her "On The Vine" colorway.



These colors are making me of someone on the Christmas list. I'm thinking this will become a hat; I have a skein of Sharon's kettle-dyed semi-solid that would make a great scarf to go with this. And I won't have to sew on a single button.

OFFF my rocker, again!

Last weekend was OFFF, again; and as usual, I went nuts!

ToolMan and I got up early, hustled around getting Andy Rooney his breakfast and insulin shot, loading up the last bits of paraphernalia, and hit the road early; we had to be in Canby at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to meet Cindy and set up for the PDX Knit Bloggers. Cindy had the awning (of which we'll need 2 next year!), a swift and ball winder, and all her personal stuff to haul down; we had the banner, more stuff for teaching, a cooler, and our personal stuff. Fortunately, we were early enough that we could drive onto the grounds and unload, leaving our cars inside for the pack up at the end of the day.

But, we certainly weren't the only ones up and around early that day! Take a look at who came visiting about 7:30:



Isn't he gorgeous? When he saw me take the camera out, he made a special point of stopping to pose and give me a profile shot!

We went back to setting up the awning and arranging the area, hauled over a picnic table, strung up the banner, and generally setting up shop.



Before long, the PDX Knit Bloggers began showing up, in force. Duffy had some knitted wrist distaffs to sell; Kathleen had some hand spun to sell; ToolMan had some shawl pins and a lazy kate for sale; and I put out the Country Craftsman with a "For Sale" sign. I grabbed one of the wrist distaffs and used it all weekend; very nice not to have to drafted fiber flying all over the place! I know Kathleen sold at least a couple of skeins; I think both were StitchJones colorways, so I'm not surprised they went quickly! ToolMan sold the lazy kate to Susan, and he only brought home 2 shawl pins.

Mid-morning, ToolMan and I took a stroll around the barns to see the animals. There were little alpacas:



Some big llamas:



Some Shetland sheep:



And some dread locked dudes:



Actually, those are angora goats.

Some people became obsessed by bunnies. Deb took four of the little fiber-makers home to the mountain with her.



And "Henry, the Barn Boy" went to live in Tina's studio.



I'm wondering what color Henry's hair will be next time we see him?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:



People were stopping by to ask for help learning to spin, asking about wheels in general, learning techniques, and asking about our blogs. Lots of people (OK, mostly the guys) were interested in Barbara's Journey Wheel.



Barbara worked out a great spiel for little boys about the "Transformer Spinning Wheel" where a little wooden box turned into a spinning wheel.



As the little guy in this picture was walking away with his dad, I heard him say, "That was the coolest thing I saw all day!"

We all take advantage of Barbara's knowledge while she's here; Duffy got a lesson in combing.



I got to fondle her samples and notebook from a class she had recently taken Judith McKenzie McCuin. And I learned how to make a yarn similar to Kid Silk Haze, the crack of the yarn world.



The crowds were big this year. Although there were some vendors missing that we always look for, there was plenty to choose from. So much in fact, that the ATM ran out of cash twice on Saturday!



On Sunday afternoon was the team spinning competition; one person drafts and treadles, the other one pulls the single; break your yarn and you loose, first one to the Main Building wins.



This young lady and her dad won (I'm not sure what the prize was, except maybe bragging rights). That's her dad way in the back there, in the shorts and green t-shirt; and she spun that in about 30 seconds! I think she might have been a "ringer"!

Then at the end of the day on Sunday, as we were all wearing down, this lady strolled into our area and asked who the PDX Knit Bloggers were. That's Naomi, the brilliant mind behind the Knit a Condom Amulet Project! As Humphrey Bogart would say, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine."



She and her husband were visiting Oregon to see the newest grandchild and had come to OFFF because she's a knitter and, get this, he's a spinner! Theywere perfectly adorable, and we made them promise to let us know next time they visit and we'll hook them into some of our regular knitting and spinning get-togethers around town.

The best part of OFFF for me isn't really seeing the animals, or touching and buying the fiber and tools, learning new techniques or methods, teaching people about spinning, or eating the lamb kabobs, although I dearly love all those things and I wouldn't miss them for the world. But for me, OFFF is all about the people. The very best parts are getting to see the friends who can only be with us once a year, seeing the friends we only get to see occasionally, spending chunks of time with gals from my regular knit group, having two whole days with knitsibs from near and far, and meeting people I never thought I'd meet.

*tink* *tink* Is this thing on?

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth; I just don't know where the time went!

The second weekend of the State Fair was pretty much same as the first, except we rallied the troops and had fiber, yarn, rugs, other things to fill up the booth. Lots more folks stopped by over the Labor Day weekend; people were taking advantage of the long weekend and cool weather (and staying close to home thanks to gas prices). The only bad part of the weekend was the occasional deluge of rain, but the temps were perfect. I even had a couple friends and a former co-worker stop by to visit!

I did get lots of the Incredible Hulk spun at the Fair, but there's still a lot left, too. My only prerequisite for buying fiber from now is that it NOT be green. I'm determined to make it through this stuff, if for no other reason than I'm sick of looking at it. So sick of looking at it that I think I might have StitchJones over dye it for me; maybe add some browns and blues to kill the green.

And now that the Fair is over, I'm going to put the Country Craftsman up for sale. It was a great wheel to learn on and it spins wonderfully and it certainly is beautiful, but the old girl just can't compete with the Lendrum and it's multiple ratios and it's portability. Time for it to move on to another spinner, or want-to-be spinner.

And I have been knitting but I have absolutely nothing to show for it. I had several scarves knit to go in the Christmas present box; a lovely pink mohair, a bright multi-colored bamboo, a lovely navy merino/silk blend, and a wispy teal in Shibui sock yarn. All of which went home with darling daughter-in-law when they came over for dinner on Labor Day. Come December, I'll remind her that she already got her fair share of the hand knits!

Oh, and I did get a hat knitted out of some bulky multi-blue merino; which was tried on, declared it to be perfect for wearing in the garage this winter, and promptly appropriated by ToolMan. And I mean promptly; it was tried on, and stashed in his coat closet within minutes of the ends being woven in!

And The Blob is still being knit on; actually, the end is in sight on that one. I only have 14 rows left (but they're BIG rows) so I only get about 3 rows a night done. I'm trying to get it knit up so I can do the sewing up and blocking next weekend.

Speaking of next weekend, that's the TKGA Conference here in Portland. WHOO HOO! My tickets came in the mail this week, along with my name tag, raffle ticket for a doorprize, and a ticket to turn in for my goodie bag from Coats & Clark (I'm hoping for some of their new yarns to try out). I'm not taking any classes; I'm saving money for OFFF, but I will be taking my camera so my next post should be much prettier to look at!

Oops, it's past my bedtime, and the dog needs to go out before we hit the hay. See you next week!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know . . . .

I missed posting last Sunday as I usually do, but there was an enormous ball of fire in the sky and it caused so much heat that I nearly burst into spontaneous combustion. Really!
It was just too darned hot and humid to even think about spending more than 5 seconds next to any heat-producing object like a stove or a computer. ToolMan and I, when we did eat, ate only cold meals for 3 days. It was so hot that ToolMan didn't go work in his garage and I didn't knit or spin.

I know that some of you live in parts of the world where it gets very hot and very humid and therefore you have no sympathy for a bunch of wimpy people in the Pacific Northwest who complain when the temperature is 102 and the humidity is 30%. If you're one of those people who live in a climate that regularly reaches those temperatures, then I salute you because I just don't know how you do it.

I did get that pair of socks done while commuting, but I don't have pictures. They're just plain self-striping yarn, worked toe-up, with 2x2 ribbing so they're not really all that exciting to look at, anyway. I'm still slogging away on The Blob, which is looking more blob-like every day so I haven't bothered to take pictures of that. And I've cranked out 2 plain ole' garter stitch scarves for the Christmas present box, but what's to look at when it's just miles and miles of garter stitch?

I did get one (OK, most of one) bobbin of singles spun on the Country Craftsman last week before somebody left the furnace blaster open. The poor old CC was starting to feel neglected; I hadn't spun on it since the Lendrum came to live with us. But I'm taking the CC to Artisan's Village at the Oregon State Fair for the next two weekends, so ToolMan got her all dusted, cleaned, oiled and greased for me last week. I've gathered up fiber samples to talk about, and I've started gathering up all the tools and gadgets to take along; I've got my combs and diz, roving and sliver, ballwinder and reel, drop spindles, extra string for drive band, oil and rags, and WPI gauge and scissors. I made a list last week and have been adding to it, but I'll probably leave something terribly important at home anyway. I love to spin in public, so I'm really looking forward to spinning at the fair, but I think ToolMan is even more excited than I am. He's even charged up the battery and I've emptied the memory chip for the camera. Now, if we can just remember to take it with us.

Spinning in place . . .

Remember those bobbins of bright green from a couple of weeks ago? Well, I got two of them plied up yesterday.



Would you look at the size of that skein? Eight ounces! On one honkin' big bobbin - so no knots! Lemme tell 'ya, I am SO glad I got the plying head with the new Lendrum wheel. This is only half of this color roving, and I have another pound of a darker green, as well.

I bought this at OFFF last year from Ronnie's Handspun. It languished in the Stash Room since last fall because I thought it was too coarse to be anything but a cardigan or something felted. But now that it's been spun, plied, and given a nice soak, it is unbelievably soft and squishy.



Unfortunately, I found out that Ronnie passed away suddenly last Friday, from a heart attack. I had hoped to buy more from her at OFFF this year. She had such beautiful big braids of kettle-dyed roving last year, and at excellent prices. And she had a great sense of color. I mean, just look at that green!



It reminds me of new grass, fresh asparagus, and just-squeezed limeade. ToolMan says it's the color of Kermit.

Speaking of the Stash Room, Kathleen says she's insanely jealous of someone who has a Stash Room and wanted to see pictures of it. So here's a little tour of my own personal Bat Cave.

In our guest room, there's a small-size door into a small-size room,



Which is guarded by assorted goblins and monsters.



Actually, "Stash Room" is also the off-season repository for my assorted holiday decorations. Hey, where else would you store a witch who can't fly straight?

But it does also store my yarn and fiber,



in assorted plastic bins, bags, and cardboard boxes.



What space hasn't been taken up for fiber-related storage, gets taken up by extra comforters, appliances used only once a year, and camping equipment used even less frequently.



I take no responsibility for that singing fish plaque. It was a "gift" at the white elephant exchange at last year's office Christmas Party. And it's going back again this year. Unless one of my dear readers wants it. If you do, let me know; I'll gladly pass it on to you.

Oh, yeah, and I got some knitting done, this week, too!



Not much, to show, but this is slow-going work. It's gotten wide enough that I can only get 2 or 3 rows done each way on MAX. And then only when I get a seat with enough room to actually knit. With the price of gas going up exponentially, so has the number of riders on Tri-Met.



Just a simple leaf pattern, but the feel of the Bambu and the wine color make it really luxurious feeling.

And last, but not least (no, I haven't forgotten my promise to blog this, Monica), a pair of socks in progress. I was working on these last month, when the Harlot was in town, but Monica and Heide stopped me from starting my perverse heels until I can blog them. As you see, they are both now up to the heel part, so I intend to knit, photograph and blog the method over Memorial Day weekend.



And who says you need two circs to do socks two at a time?

Bustin' out all over

Things are bustin' out all over: the leaves on trees, flowers popping out on bushes and trees, the sun (finally!), new cars in driveways . . .

That's ToolMan's new baby; a brand new Scion xD. Although the Toyota minivan has served us faithfully for the past several years, hauling lumber from Lowe's, paint from Bi-Mart, furniture from Costco, me to OFFF, and knitters to Yarnia, it was time to trade it in. It wasn't giving us any problems; on the contrary, it still ran like a top and will probably still be going years from now. But, pulling into the gas station with a 1/4 tank, and still paying $65 to fill up, made up our minds for us; we needed something more economical.

ToolMan did the shopping and negotiating last week while I was at work. How luxurious to leave that task to someone who enjoys it so! The Scion website says the xD "features urban sophistication, utilitarian tendencies, and simple yet stylish flair." I'm not entirely sure that meshes with how ToolMan and I see ourselves. Actually the only things we really cared about were, in order: (1) the gas mileage, (2) does it have a fairly indestructible interior and can Andy Rooney see out the windows without climbing the doors, and (3) will the spinning wheel fit in the cargo compartment?

Speaking of bustin' out all over, my fiber area in the family room is fairly bustin' at the seams.

Why yes, that is a second spinning wheel you see there.

That's a Lendrum Complete that just came to live with us on Saturday! ToolMan and I went out for our usual Saturday morning breakfast out and then we headed for Costco. At least, that's where I thought we were going until Toolman kept heading west. Once we hit Forest Grove, I knew where we were headed: Woodland Woolworks. ToolMan said since I had a birthday coming up, he wanted to go buy my birthday present, and since it was such nice weather, and we had a new car, he knew just the place to go buy a spinning wheel. (After almost 20 years, he knows me pretty well!) He knew I'd been lusting after a Lendrum Complete and now that I've taken this spinning thing so seriously, it was time I had my dream wheel.

When we arrived, I went in the Discontinued Room (always my first stop), and admired a Schact Matchless and a couple of Saxony-style wheels before taking a turn through the yarns and books. Then we headed upstairs, and who do we run into? Duffy! She and I had a great time trying out all the wheels. We tried out the Hitchhiker, Louets, Ashfords, Kromskis, Majacraft, and of course, the Lendrums. Interestingly, we both liked the same features of wheels, but for entirely different reasons!

Then wonderful gals packed up my new baby, along with the lazy kate, extra bobbins, fast flyer, and plying head, and all my assorted goodies for me. I used my craft dollars to get a set of Majacraft mini-combs but they're on back order and will be mailed to me when they come in.

If you look closely, you'll see one bobbin from the Country Craftsman on the horizontal rod of the winding station; it took me 3 hours to spin those 2 ounces last weekend. But up there on top is a full 4 ounce Lendrum bobbin, plus another 1/2 full bobbin on the Lendrum. I did both of those in 3 hours! I bought a pound of this last year at OFFF and originally intended to ply it with some darker green. But now that I've unbraided it and started spinning, I'm not sure I'll do that. It was kettle dyed, so it has some lovely variegation as well as shades of yellow-green and blue green which should give a nice tweed to the finished yarn.

I think I'll spin and ply the darker green separately and then alternate the two in a Fibonacci sequence for an Adult Surprise Jacket. It'll be perfect for taking Andy Rooney to Hondo Dog Park next fall.

Speaking of Andy Rooney, I want to say thanks to everybody who asked about how he's doing. He's become a regular at the vet clinic, but he's doing MUCH better. We've been able to reduce his morning insulin dosage, he's lost 10 pounds, his appetite is back, and he's starting to get that bounce back in his step.

He had a good romp today at Hondo, although we made him stay in the "Small and Timid" area; he's not quite up to running with the big dogs again, but don't tell him that. After about 20 minutes, we cleaned him up and put him back in the car. He wasn't asleep by the time we got home, although he did nap all afternoon. But, boy, was it ever nice to see him chasing and wrestling with his friends again!

My brain is spinning . . . .

I still have spinning on the brain. I spun up the rest of the bats from Barbara today.



I'm going to let them rest until next weekend. I find that letting the singles rest for several days before plying makes for more balanced yarn.

But, gosh, aren't those singles luscious looking?



I plan on knitting this up into a large scarf/small stole. I think it'll be beautiful with my grey suit.

The only thing that been on my mind more than spinning are all the fibery events this year.
I got word that I'm going to be spinning at the Oregon State Fair this year in the Artisan's Village. I am really looking forward to it!

I'm not sure I'll make it to Black Sheep this year, but I do hope to make it to the Aurora Colony Fiber Fair in a couple weeks.

Then, of course, there's Stephanie's visit to our fair city on the 22nd to launch her new book. I'm glad Blue Moon Fibers is sponsoring her this year at the World Forestry Center. Much better venue than last year when she was here; Powells was overrun with knitters. I must remember to thank her for giving birth to the PDX Knit Bloggers; I wonder if she even knows????

And I've put in for time off before and after the TKGA Show and OFFF this year. I plan on attending all day, every day at both of them. In fact, I'm considering renting one of these for the month of September. I really want to spend time spinning and taking spinning classes, but my Country Craftsman just doesn't travel all that well.

And tonight, I'm going to cast on for this with this in black.

See ya in the funnies!

A Bundle of Joy

No, we're not going to be parents! ToolMan and I have LONG passed that stage of life! But we do have a "new baby." I found the listing on Craigslist locally last week and contacted the seller by email. Then we drove over to Gresham on Friday to see her.



She was made by the seller's grandfather, Fred McCown, in about 1960. Although Fred passed away a number of years ago, they tell me Fred was from Lebanon, Oregon, and was quite a craftsman. He built a spinning wheel for each of his children, but apparently no one in the family was a spinner. This one is solid bird's eye maple; even the table which is about 2 1/2 inches thick! She's only 38" tall, but she's solid and hefty.



Without questions, Fred was one heck of a woodworker; ToolMan was mightily impressed with the turnings; it's quite a feat to have made the flywheel and all those turnings in wood that hard. After a good cleaning (she's been in an attic for the last 20 years) and a rubdown with mineral spirits, she gleamed like Fred had just finished her yesterday. Fred put on such a beautiful finish, that even after years of neglect there were no cracks or fissures in the wood.



We think Fred might have made these as a personal challenge of his skills, because there were a few things that would have been done differently if he'd known someone who intended to spin. Notice he has used two separate drive bands, rather than a single, crossed one. And those drive bands are rawhide, rather than cotton twine. And, of course, she only has one bobbin. We gave her a proper driveband, polished up the copper and brass fittings, and oiled that long silent wheel axle. ToolMan had to take some burrs off the orifice and make an orifice hook for her.



Then I sat down and took her for what appears to be her very first spin. She has only one ratio, which I haven't measured yet; but she treadles like a dream! Fred may not have known everything about building a spinning wheel, but he sure knew how to make a wheel spin! Even with the drive band on, one push on the treadle and the wheel will spin at least 7 or 8 times 'round! And no dead spot on the treadle!



She a little slow in adding twist and even slower in takeup, which gives the spinner great control. There it is; a laceweight single on her very first time out. And so quiet, the only thing you hear is the air movement caused by that beautiful wheel and flyer turning.



Fred should be proud.

We're baaack . . . . .

Our 'puter got really, really sick almost immediately after my last post.

And I don't mean that just the closet was full of blue shirts, because when we bought this thing back in January, we purchased it with a virtual walk-in cedar closet of storage space. Besides, if there was simply no room left in the closet, then I know how to take out blue shirts, fold them very tightly, and add some red shirts so everything would be hunky dory. Oh NOOOOO, it wasn't that easy.

Our computer, for which we paid mucho dinero in January, came complete with 40 gigabyte hard drive, wide screen LCD monitor, DVD burner, special sound and video cards, capable of connecting directly to cable to record movies for viewing later, and with a whole house wireless network. A machine, that was, up until Tuesday, screaming fast, suddenly turned into a brick.



Just like what happened to Stephanie, when you turned it on you got the pretty wallpaper. And nothing else. No icons. No START button. No pretty harmonic music. Nothing. Hit CTRL + ALT + Delete. Nothing. No little Task Manager Window. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

So, who do you call? That's right; Ghostbusters! Same guys who came delivered this baby and attached it's little umbilical cords to the Internet, cable, and big screen television. Can they come fix it? Sure they can. On Thursday. That's right, two days of no Internet, no email, no resumes being sent out, no blogs, no pictures moving from camera to storage. Nothing.



Andy Rooney was completely bummed that he couldn't get to his Internet Texas Hold 'Em and chat with his favorite West Highland Terrier, Moxie.

I however, was very productive. It's amazing how much you can get done with no computer to distract you.



Yep, a SECOND skein of that navy heather roving from Woodland Woolworks. I did this on the Ashford Traveller borrowed from Chrispy.

While I was at OFFF last Saturday, ToolMan worked on the wheel that Barbara brought up from Arizona for me. She got a nice two day marination in mineral oil, some nice paste wax, a little massage with a rubber mallet to tighten up her joints, and a nice new drive string.



Isn't she pretty? It's a Country Craftsman double drive, and she spins like a dream for me. First thing we tried was some of that Dragon Waste from OFFF. Just look:



I used all I had of the purple, magenta, pink roving. I didn't buy much of it because those really aren't my favorite colors and just wanted them to get used to the new wheel. Now I wish I'd gotten more of all three colors. I did one single starting with the purple, then when it was used up I moved onto the magenta, then progressively lighter through all the pinks. And plied it with a white single.

Here's a closeup of my very first real yarns, with a penny for perspective:



Not great, but not bad. This could be very addictive. Especially when there's no computer to distract you.

Yesterday, the Ghostbuster guy came to fix our computer. He was only here for about 30 minutes. No, he didn't fix it; he said it was too far gone for him. Whereupon, I retired to my sick bed.

"But," he told ToolMan, "I do know someone who can."

Two hours later, I wake up and walk downstairs to find this in our family room:



A young, hunky guy who can fix computers. And, apparently, televisions. This is Nate Montierth. Nate is the owner of Tekology. Nate, however, has no website. If you're in the Portland Metro area and need a computer doctor, Nate's your man. You can get in touch with him at nate@tekology.biz.

Nate put on new, gold cables from the cable box to the television and tweaked up the settings for high def. Nate is a tech guy.



Then he went to work on the computer. Not only did he save all the pictures, resumes, knitting patterns, and ephemera from the hard drive, but he upgraded the wireless modem, took off a bunch of junk programs we don't use, and set up better virus and spy ware protection. Nate is a geek.

He also pretended to be interested in spinning wheels and knitting. Nate is a FREAKIN' GENIUS!