Wool For Brains

I’ve not eliminated the pile of wips but good enough will do. I managed to get the four small bobbins into one big skein, 1400 yards of skinnyish polworth. The bottom braid was dyed in beautiful British Columbia and came to me from a swap on Ravelry. I had plans for something huge and lacey, changing colour along its length. Unless I concentrate my standard skinny yarn runs around 700 yard/100g and that isn’t going to knit up huge. I got an undyed braid from the same person in a later swap, dyed that in vaguely similar colours with the aim of plying the two together to double the yardage.

I also finished up the baby jacket. This is Phazelia’s mitered baby jacket again with the same level bottom mods as last time. With this one I knitted the body before the sleeves thereby committing myself to knitting the sleeves in the round. The one good point about that is that when you reach the bottom of the sleeve you need to work each side seperately when knitting flat and if it’s in the round you don’t. Should I knit another I’d knit it flat because I dislike purling on dpns even more than sewing a seam. I think I’m done with these now, two was enough.

I did slack off on Sunday and play with some silk with the able assistance of my son. We made three pieces of silk paper (aka silk fusion), two of which I let dry flat for another day’s play. This is basically papier mache using silk fibre and glue (I do have photos of the process if anyone is interested). I haven’t tried it yet but it’s supposed to soften again when wet so it can be shaped at a later date. The third piece, in teacher’s favourite colour, is now a pen pot for her desk. The jam jar gives it some stability because otherwise there is no weight to it at all. There will be some more of this coming along because I have 200g of throwster’s waste to get rid of somehow and I’m not planning on spinning it.

The last piece of knitting in the pile (socks don’t count) was the toddler sundress. This is now in time out because although I’ve thrown lots of knitting time at it it is still many inches short. It’s not done but I am. If it hadn’t been in stripes I would have ripped it by now just to see it gone but I’ve plodded on (and on and on). It will lose 20% of the length in the first wash so although it looks a good length already it isn’t really. It is now going in a bag under the stairs for a month while I try to forget what it is I dislike about it.

I am now going to cast on for something fun. I’ve been a good girl and worked hard on the work in progress this week but I’m over it now.

My personal stash of socks lives under the kitchen sink. This is mostly because I use them in conjunction with the washer but also because no-one but me goes under the sink. If they were out in the open they’d be thrown away as rubbish. They’re not all odd, some come in pairs, but even the matching ones are a fat lot of no good because they fit no-one. There are some advantages to living with a growing child, there’s a ready supply of outgrown socks.

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Although they are no good for their original purpose they are still massively useful and one or more of them comes out from under the sink every week. I use them to hang skeins of wet yarn from the washing line, it’s more secure than pinning up the loops of yarn that I used to tie the skein and there’s no chance of getting the clothes peg irretrievably wound up with the yarn. The sock is much wider than a yarn tie and doesn’t leave a pinch mark blocked into the dry yarn. It works with roving too where I couldn’t hang it from a skein tie if I wanted to (there are none)

When I’ve finished a drum carding session the fibre that’s left on the drums could go into other batts to make textured lumpy yarn but as I don’t spin that sort of yarn I don’t make that sort of batts. The carder cleanings are just waste except of course they aren’t, they’re the start of lovely round felt balls. If you pack the toe of a sock with three handfuls of carding waste, tie it tightly and throw it in with the wash you end up with a nice round felted ball. To get a really good one you need to take it out of the sock after the first wash, tie it up tightly in another sock and pop it back in with another load of washing. I use these as plying balls when plying with a spindle, you wind the single tightly around the ball and pop it into a deep bowl to ply from it. I have another next to the sewing machine that is collecting pins and of course you can always throw them. (The socks are loved by their owner, I really disliked knitting them. Too much yellow) ??????? ??????? ????? ???? ?????? ???????????? ????????????? ???????????? ????? ???? ???? ??????

The third use I’ve found for useless socks is for protecting the fringe on scarves. I wash my woven things as soon as they come off the loom, before I’ve done anything about twisting the fringe. I used to end up with a big tangled mess but if you fold it in two and stick the fringe in a sock it comes out of the washer as neatly as it went in.

The baby jacket has been hanging around waiting for a second sleeve because I lost the circular needle I’d used for picking up stitches for the first sleeve. I’ve looked everywhere for it over the last week and I’m delighted to say that I have found it. It was in the bag with the knitting and pattern. I swear that was the first place that I’d looked and I did proper-looking not just man-looking

I was knitting the second sock of the pair during the Iknit day and I had three people ask me what yarn it was. How embarrassing. I had to say that I wasn’t sure because the label fell off before I got the yarn home. I suppose that was better than my usual story which is that I carefully saved the label and then couldn’t find it again later. These are certainly something with cotton and elastane, it came in a 100g ball and it is probably Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100 Cotton Stretch. These are the standard mother sock, 64 stitches and a no gusset short row heel. The idea was that she can have a pair of cotton socks for those hot summer days although in reality she’d be better with a pair of boot socks to wear with wellies. If you know me well enough you can ask me the other reason why these socks were a source of embarrassment during the day but seeing as I’m getting all tense just thinking about it the blog doesn’t get to know. They are not a perfect pair, I was off slightly on placing the heel of the second one. That was when I was sitting on the station at Doncaster trying to calculate the latest time I could leave and still be in London for 1.30. I was obviously not up to counting rows at the same time. The remaining yarn weighs 48g so there is a second pair to come when I feel like looking for another coordinating leftover.

This is not knitted, this is the first rug made with the peg loom that the wonder husband made for me. It’s made from the poor quality alpaca that I got as part of the three full fleeces last summer. The dog thinks that the string edges are fantastic and he likes to sit on it to chew things. It was a good job then that we made it small enough to go in the washing machine. It is still shedding but as this is not my floor that is not a major concern for me. On reflection, looking at the time it took to wash, card and spin the fibre for this I don’t think the product was worth the effort. Having said that I’d happily make another because my mother likes it and it is for her. I think my dissatisfaction is because it’s just plain white which is exactly what mum wanted but doesn’t fill me with joy when I look at it.

• On the Doll move

Shopgirl psp

download Alfie Wolvesbayne movies I have to sort the remaining two bags of alpaca, it’s become urgent because something has slashed its way into one of the bags leaving it not in the slightest bit airtight and open to moths (looking at the size of the hole it would be open to a lot of other things too such as eagles, goats and small dogs). Just because Pebble was dancing about in a pile of alpaca that had happened to fall out onto the floor the other day (that would be when I saw him sitting on the bag trying to get in it) and just because he’s menaced 500g of bfl this week doesn’t mean he did this. He’s so sweet and cute and.. well it was him wasn’t it? Fluffy or not he still has claws and teeth just like every other dog in the world. He is turning into a bit of a wool monster (he’s no snob, cashmere and acrylic have had the same attention) and I caught him in the act this morning with the sock on the floor and the yarn in his mouth. It is hard to look innocent and appealing in those circumstances but he nearly pulled it off. So much for my knitting being safe at the back of the settee, he can reach further than I thought.

Crying Freeman the movie

Let me not keep you in suspense a moment longer – it was a close run thing but the post arrived a full twenty minutes before the last fence panel went in. I feel so much better now that my garden is useable again and the dog was delighted to see the grass. The fence needs painting, I’m passing on Carie’s suggestion of Groundforce blue because I think a full six panels of it might be too overpowering. I did paint all my tatty concrete planters that very colour several years ago and a pot of masonry paint totally transformed them but I don’t think that it’s the answer here. The bucket of “Cedar Red” that was in the garage was given a trial on a corner of a panel and it turned out to be more of a cedar orange so that’s out too. Subject to further consultation with the neighbours on the other side of it the fence is going to be a nice plain not-orange brown. That’s planned for the weekend, weather permitting, so if you’ve nothing better to do you can wander over to the husband’s blog

• Breakfast at Tiffany’s dvdrip

and watch the painting action on gardencam. The pile of stone in the bottom corner should be forming itself into a wall and then there may even be some plants in the dust that is masquerading as a border.

Horror Hospital on dvd

This is what the postman brought, it came flat packed but only needed two screws to reassemble it. The woodwork on this also needs finishing, again I think that blue or cedar orange is out and the solution here is probably some wax. This is an Ashford inkle loom that I’ve rehomed from The Loom Exchange, it’s an older model because the current one has a different arrangement for maintaining the tension and has several more pegs. It will make a shorter length of braid but as I have the attention span of a gnat that isn’t such a big problem. It didn’t have any instructions but once I’d worked out that the warp is a continuous loop and circles around as you work it then it was straightforward. So far I have managed to make heddles, read a pattern, advance the warp and adjust the tension. This is Patons 4 ply cotton in pink and burgundy, I’m working towards handspun silk but I thought I’d better start off with something more utilitarian. The next braid will be wider with some pickup patterns and maybe after that it will be time for the silk.

We booked the accommodation fifty weeks in advance and the result was an ideal location. That was a good start to a weekend in Cumbria for Woolfest. It would have been an even better start if we’d got moving on Friday as early as I’d planned. Sadly I’d failed to communicate my plan to anyone else and was relying solely on the power of positive thinking to get us there early enough to go to Woolfest before moving in and hitting the pool. It’s no surprise to find that positive thinking was not enough to get us up, packed and out even though we had been woken early enough (6.30am) to hear an interesting fact about eye infections in guinea pigs. We arrived on Friday just after 3pm, unpacked, looked for squirrels, went swimming and a good time was had.

On Saturday my idea (again) was to be up and out early to Woolfest. This time I effectively sabotaged my own plans by booking pot painting at 9.30am. It takes far longer than you think and as a result, yet again, it was 11am before we were moving. This wouldn’t have been an issue except that we needed to be back by 2.30 to go quadbiking and it was an hour’s drive to Woolfest. The result was that we had a three night stay in Cumbria specifically to go to Woolfest but could only manage an hour’s visit. I have no photos as my camera and phone were in the car, but Louise has some because she obviously is much better at short term planning than I am. I did manage to see Denise in the short time that I was there so I don’t feel quite so bad about stalking her blog now.

I would have loved to poke around more of the stalls but all I had time for was a walk around, a visit with the animals and a quick shop for the things on my list. I did buy more than this but the Christmas fairy has already spirited the rest away and the kilo of superwash bfl has now vanished until late December. My shetland fleece from last year is all washed up and carded so it seemed sensible to buy another. This is two and a quarter pounds of Shetland ewe fleece, poop free and with very little hay. I do now wish that I’d bought the other one that I was looking at, next year’s list will say “Two Shetland fleeces”. It will also say “allow plenty of time for visit”.

On Sunday the boys did some archery, we went swimming, did about half of the orienteering course and then Daniel and I walked a llama called Pixie. Llamas are now his most favorite animal, displacing rabbits and ducks, but I suspect that will change sometime after 6.30 this evening when they will be knocked into second place by a puppy.

Yet again I’ve managed to scare myself witless while tidying the front bedroom. That’s where the fibre lives and the majority of it is supposed to be safely stored away in three sealed boxes. The corner of the room is a landing pad (and doesn’t that sound so much better than “dumping ground”?) for all those things that I leave there temporarily until I put them away later. Yesterday I decided that “later” was “now”. The corner was piled with things that I had sampled and didn’t like, remnants of fibre left over from past projects and the returnees from the auditions where I’ve pulled out a choice of three, rejected all of them and gone out and bought something new. The biggest pile is whatever fell off the drum carder most recently which for most of the year was white alpaca but is currently white shetland. It all needs to be sealed up and put away. There’s always the danger that the moths have found it and that’s what makes it scary. When I picked up a bag and a label dropped off and fluttered to the floor I frightened myself so badly that I had to sit down and have a cup of tea. That’s why the job has to be done over several days, once my nerve has gone and I’m jumping at dust then I’m done for the day. There were no scary moments this morning and so I’m done now.

Funnily enough it looks as if I do this thoroughly once a year towards the end of June. I have another bash just before Christmas but June is the best time to see the floor in there. It’s not a conscious thought, I just decided yesterday that it needed sorting out and I looked back to see when I did it last. June 22nd 2007, June 24th 2008 – in both cases the week before Woolfest. There is obviously some part of me that feels guilty about thinking about buying more fibre when I can’t store what I have, that’s probably why the other big tidy up is on the run up to Christmas. The guilt trip is over for now – it’s all gone away (the blue bag is the shetland and that’s next on the wheel, the yellow bag is Etsy stock). I did come across a few things that are going to be spun sometime never, they weren’t right for what I wanted them for when I bought them and I’ve had no better ideas for them in the meantime. Next week I’ll empty out the storage boxes and pull out the no-hopers and come up with a plan. I suspect that it will involve a drum carder and hat knitting.

You’re thinking “what is that white board behind the wheel?” I know you’re thinking that because I am too and as soon as I press “publish” I shall be off to investigate further. I didn’t even notice that it was there until I looked at the photo. It must be one of the side effects of photography, you can see things in the picture that you can’t see in life. I can also see that the floor needs cleaning which shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise seeing as it doesn’t get done on a regular basis. To clean the floor you have to be able to see the floor.

I think last time I promised there would be some actual knitting content. I have been knitting, the socks are longer (the lace isn’t) but I have spent more time with a single needle with an eye than with multiple needles. I think we have identified that I’m not big on the actual finishing of things so this weird sewing jag that I’ve been on must have been because I’ve not been well. It’s either that or a sign of alien possession or something else straight from the X Files. Having to unearth the sewing machine to make the back for the cushion cover turned out to be a good thing because I needed to make a hanging pocket for the new high rise bed. The big pocket is the right size for a comic and the small one is designed for the remote control for the dimmer switch (is there only me in the world that didn’t know that there was such a thing as a remote control dimmer switch?) The bed manufacturer does make a hanging pocket but mine did not cost me £25 as everything I needed was already in the house. Admittedly I did run short of the last 2″ of Velcro but as I begged that from my mother that doesn’t count.

If that wasn’t enough I then changed the sheets and vacuumed upstairs, did the ironing and made myself this. Here is the promised knitting content – look, there’s a sock in the bag. Laura made one and I copied hers, this is the protobag and it is a little bigger than I need for a sock, bag number two will be about as deep, the handles will be wider apart and it will be of smaller circumference. I should by then have finished fighting with the sewing machine that woke up from its five year sleep in a bad mood (why is it that when the tension goes loopy it’s never on the side that you can see as you’re sewing?)

Woollen project details – Noni evening bag made from most of one ball of Cascade 220 in some dark purple colour (no, I don’t get any better about keeping ball bands) and about half a ball of 220 in lilac. I made three lilac flowers and then overdyed one of them to make the plum colour. I didn’t fancy my chances of making green leaves starting with lilac yarn so those are white BFL sock yarn, held double and dyed green. I didn’t do any of the beading, I put off going to the bead shop on three successive weeks and when I did get to a craft shop that sold beads they didn’t have the right colours. I just wanted it finished and now it is. I blocked it over the guinea pigs’ food canister which turned out to be exactly the right size although it provoked much excited squeaking followed by disappointed muttering. I blocked it a second time by soaking the top and pinning it with spring clothes pegs to shape the fold on the top.

The cushion cover is hand spun merino/silk, (previously shown in pieces) woven on the 4″ pin loom that my husband made for me, washed aggressively and then oversewn with a ginger aran. I think I would have been better sewing the squares together before washing them because the fulled fabric was difficult to hand sew. I didn’t do this because I was worried that there would be some differential shrinkeage on the seam and I’d end up with a puckered mess. I can get that effect on a sewing machine, I don’t need to hand sew to do it.