Virgin Wool

Rest in peace, Mom

2009-10-30T20:57:00.001-04:00

I miss you.

Happy New Year?

2008-12-31T14:02:00.003-05:00

That's ½ of my maple tree resting comfortably on my neighbor's shed, thanks to today's high winds. It's also resting comfortably on the utility pole in the corner of my yard, and I've therefore lost my landline telephone service. Still have cable and electricity, (obviously, or you wouldn't be reading this), but I wonder for how long. Phone & power companies have been notified.

My neighbor is apparently away for the holidays. What a lovely gift she'll be coming home to. (Sorry, neighbor!) Now I wonder just how much this is going to cost me....

I heard and watched the whole thing happen -- quite dramatic. I'm just thankful it's not on either of our houses or cars. But the day isn't over, and the high wind advisory has been extended until 10 p.m. Exciting times!

And a Happy New Year to you, too!

It's appalling....

2008-12-22T12:52:00.002-05:00

I have several appalling things to report, not the least of which is the appalling lack of blogging that has taken place here recently. No guarantees on any improvement in that situation, as the first quarter of 2009 promises to be nightmarish, as far as work is concerned. I do, however, still owe you all a report about my weekend at SAFF, (waaaay back in October), and the fantastic week I spent in New York City for Thanksgiving, (was that already a month ago?!). I would love to be able to blog about both of those lovely times over the course of the next week or two, preferably before the New Year. We'll see what happens....

It's also appalling that my second finished knitted object of 2008 was not started nor completed until last week. Nothing like squeaking one in before the end of the year so I can still call myself a knitter!

Here it is, as a WIP, being modeled by a coworker:

And here is the finished object:

Specs:
Yarn:
* Main: Lion Brand Cashmere Blend (in Navy)
* Stripes: Lion Brand Cashmere Blend (in Cream)
Gauge: 4.25 stitches per inch
Needles: U.S. size 8 (5 mm) Clover bamboo 7" DPNs
Pattern: cast on 84 stitches in main color, join in the round, K2,P2 every round for ~1", then knit every round for ~4", add stripes where desired; decrease & finish according to Super Simple Hat Calculator
Size: ~20" circumference
Recipient: Diego
Raveled here

This was knit for 13-year-old Diego, one of the 8 children of my office’s sponsored Christmas Mother. Diego is a Dallas Cowboys fan, (I know -- appalling! Insert gasp of horror here!), so I made a hat for him in the enemy’s colors. Turned out quite nicely, I think, despite that major design flaw! My good Christmas vibes must have overpowered the bad hate-the-Cowboys juju. ;-)

What's not appalling is that I have lured another unsuspecting person into the abyss that is fiber crafts. Saturday night I had dinner with a coworker who's going through some difficult times right now, and while eating our Thai food, I "innocently" suggested that she might want to give knitting a try, to help relax her. One stop at a craft store later, and before she knew it, I'd cast on for her and shown her the knit stitch. I stuck around to make sure she was okay with the first few rows of her garter stitch scarf in a dusty rose merino worsted-weight yarn, and after I returned home received a call from her around midnight thanking me for teaching her, and letting me know she was "having a blast" (her words). If that's not music to the ears of a fiber-enabler, what is?

She called me again today and told me that she was already close to finishing her first 200+ yard ball of yarn, and would need help joining the new one, and she also wanted to buy more yarn to start a scarf for her son. (My internal dialogue: "You mean, I can take you to an honest-to-goodness yarn shop?? Be still my heart!") So, we're heading out this afternoon to buy more yarn. I gotta tell ya, this doesn't suck. :-)

And so, although this hasn't been a banner year for my knitting, I'm still quite pleased, all in all.

Here's hoping I can share more of my recent exploits with you, before 2009 is heralded across the threshold. But in case I don't get a chance to say so before then, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Counting down...

2008-12-04T17:22:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the extended blog silence, but, at least now there's light at the end of the tunnel -- I've started a countdown:

As you were.

Another spinning FO

2008-10-23T13:44:00.001-04:00

You may recall that about a month ago I shared a photo of some fiber that a fellow River City Knitter asked me to spin up for her.

Since then, I've taught myself how to navajo ply, (YarnHarlot has a good description of the method, here), then I spun up the singles of this Lisa Souza hand-dyed Blue Faced Leicester (aka "BFL") top:

and then navajo-plied, skeined, washed and dried the yarn.

Here is the finished 3-ply:

I think it turned out okay, for my first navajo-plied handspun. I realize that you reduce yardage quite a bit when you turn a single into a 3-ply, but I do so like preserving, as best as possible, the color sequences that the hand-dyer originally intended:

The colors in this "Joseph's Coat" colorway are so contrasting that if allowed to "barber pole" in a 2-ply, I think the resulting yarn would have turned out much muddier.

The final measurement is about 168 yards, but I haven't yet counted wraps per inch. My guess is maybe sport-weight?

So, experienced spinners, does 168 yards of a 3-ply sport-weight from 4 oz. of fiber seem about right to you, or does it seem a bit scant, like it does to me? Other than the obvious "spin a finer single", how would you recommend I extend the yardage? An airier/loftier fiber prep? I'm always looking to learn and improve....

Anyway, I hope the recipient likes it.

Lots of upcoming fiber events this fall:

This weekend, for the second year in a row, I'm attending SAFF. I need to be in Greenville, SC all next week for work, and since that's less than an hour's drive from the Asheville, NC area, I decided to go down a few days earlier and partake of the fiber festivities. Should be fun!

How many Virginia readers are going to the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival in Berryville this weekend? This is its 3rd year, and I've still never attended. Next year, for sure! (I hope.)

In two weeks is Stitches East, but I'm not sure if I'll be attending. I may just stay home that weekend, since I've got a lot of other travel (business and personal) in store for me over the next month. And I certainly don't need any more yarn or fiber, especially after SAFF. But, we'll see -- I may want to jump on the River City Knitters bus trip just for the camaraderie!

So, if all goes well, I should get out at least one blog post this weekend about my SAFF experiences. After that -- who knows!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Yay, me!

2008-10-05T20:25:00.003-04:00

I won a 2nd place ribbon at the Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia, for my 2-ply skein of spindle-spun Corriedale (plied on my e-spinner):

Along with ribbons, they give out prizes. My prize was a lovely 2 oz. alpaca/merino/angora pin-drafted gray roving from Thistledown Alpacas. That totally rocks!

Since I knew I needed to be there today at 4 pm to pick up my skein, I didn't arrive until around 1:30, and started off by watching a little of the sheep dog trials:

...conveniently located near all the food vendors. So I had a lovely lunch of teriyaki chicken kabob and a spring roll (mmmm). And for company, I ran into L-B, who sat with me and showed off her lovely loot while I ate. Nice loot! After lunch, we parted ways and I began my pilgrimage from tent to tent, visiting lovely vendors and admiring their enticing wares.

Since most of my knitting peeps attended the festival on Saturday, the only other friend I ran into there was the lovely Queen Bess -- it's always fun to run into her at fiber festivals.

In the skein & garment tent, I had to get a shot of the "Best in Division"/"Best in Show" garment:

I had actually seen this on Ravelry a week or two ago, so I wanted to get a shot of it today with its ribbon, in case the winning entrant didn't get a chance to go to the show. It's an Alice Starmore pattern knit with Kauni yarn, which is perfect for fair isle, with its glorious color changes. Lovely autumn colors. Incredible knitting.

I visited every vendor, but was good and didn't go too crazy with purchases. I do have two more drop spindles to add to the collection:

The spindle on the left is a 0.8 oz. lace spindle made of oak, and really spins quite nicely and makes an uber-thin single. It has a notched shaft, (rather than a metal hook), which is new to me, but I like it. I purchased it from The Drafting Zone (Bowie, MD). It's made by a woodworker whose name escapes me, who designed it for his wife who does re-enactments at Mt. Vernon.

The spindle on the right is an Anne Grout glazed ceramic spindle. I must confess that I own three of her spindles already, but those three are top whorls. This one has a bottom whorl, a type of spindle I'm less skilled with, so I thought the pretty whorl will inspire me to practice with that tool:

In addition to my prize of alpaca blend roving, I also came home with some merino and a border leicester/mohair blend, but as the hour was late and daylight was waning, all my photos came out blurry or out-of-focus. You'll have to trust that it's pretty. :-)

I also got a FFF 2008 t-shirt, but again, no decent photos to be had tonight. It's brown.

I have to say, the drive alone is worth spending a precious weekend day at such an event. The rolling hills and lovely farms are so inspiring. I loved this one:

(click for big)

Ahhh...... I love fiber festivals! And now it looks like I'll get to go to SAFF again this year, since I'll be in the area for work. Something tells me that, with two full days wandering around there, I may not be as good at that one. Should I rent a U-Haul?

;-)

Hold on to your chairs...

2008-09-27T15:24:00.005-04:00

*
...I have a scarf update.

Breaking News -- it's longer:

I'm about to finish the first ball of Noro Cash Island, and the scarf currently measures about 20" x 5", so should be an optimal 60" long by the end of the third ball.

I'm really enjoying knitting this. I just do one or two sections at a sitting, and can even put it down mid-section and figure out where I am when I pick it up again later. Yet it maintains my interest as it grows and the colors change. A fun knit. It'll probably end up as some family member's Christmas gift. And when I finish it, I might just start another. Maybe.

Here's a couple of shamelessly self-indulgent close-ups:

Is anyone else as excited as I am about next weekend's Fall Fiber Festival? And look at that weather forecast:

If the weather really is that nice all weekend, I may go both days! Can't wait!

But I must also visit the State Fair at some point, possibly Friday afternoon, to see this year's TNK ribbon winners. Patsy, Amy, Jon and Lou all won ribbons again for their sewn, spun and/or knitted crafts. They are my heroes!

I will end this short post, so that I can go back to playing with fiber.

But before I go, I must say two things:

Rest in peace, Paul Newman. Your sparkling blue eyes will be missed.

Go Redskins, beat the Cowboys!

That is all. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Ziggy-Zaggy Knitty-Spinny

2008-09-21T17:29:00.003-04:00

Two posts in two days (in less than 24 hours time)! Can you stand it?

Don't get used to it!

This morning I took Iris Schreier's workshop, sponsored by our River City Knitters knitting guild, and learned modular knitting using Iris' Zigzag Modular Scarf pattern (P57).

Yesterday afternoon, as I was driving home from the spinning guild meeting, I was mulling over the fact that I still hadn't settled on what yarn to use for this morning's workshop. So on impulse, I veered off the Powhite Parkway onto the Grove Ave. exit and stopped at Knitting Basket, to see what they had in the way of ArtYarns (or anything else, for that matter). I was hoping for some Supermerino, but they only had Ultramerino. Ute suggested Noro Cash Island, which I've since decided is a brilliant choice for this scarf. Noro's long stretches of color are perfection for any striped, multi-directional or entrelac knitting project. That's Basic Yarn Knowledge 101, but I really didn't want to use the scratchier Kureyon or Silk Garden. I hadn't considered Cash Island, and its softness (60% wool/30% cashmere/10% nylon), coupled with its signature Noro self-striping, made it a perfect chioice.

See what you think:

Modular (or multi-directional) knitting is fun! I can't wait to keep working on this. Once you get past the set-up sections and figure out how to read the knitting, it's fairly mindless, which is PERFECT for my feeble brain. And I adore the look of garter stitch fabric, especially in this type of tweedy yarn. I also love the ease of knitting every row, which makes the project even more popular in my mind. I may actually finish this, rather than relegate it to hibernating ("zzz") status on Ravelry. Wonders never cease.

Iris shared her basic formula for knitting this type of project if one wants to stray from the pattern and increase or decrease the number of cast-on stitches -- also handy to know. She also had a little trunk show again, which was just as fun and inspiring the second time around, getting to see and touch all those pretty garments and yarns. Plus we got to hear about how she got her start as a knitwear designer and her philosophy as a yarn designer and manufacturer -- all very interesting. At the end of class, she signed our books, and I was sorry I only had one in my possession (Exquisite Little Knits) for her to sign. I am motivated to get the other two (Modular Knits and Lacey Little Knits). We also got to flip through all the proof pages of her upcoming book - Reversible Knits, and there are some great patterns in there, too. I'll be adding that to my Amazon.com wish list, for sure.

Since we're on the topic of knitting, of which I've neglected for months, it seems, I thought I'd share a few other humble little works-in-progress I have going:

Here's a Spiral-Ribbed Bed Sock (an Interweave pattern from an old issue of Spin Off) that I've been working on, a little bit at a time:

yarn is Dream in Color Classy in "Pansy Golightly"

I like this pattern because it calls for worsted weight yarn and it doesn't have a heel, (basically one long tube that's closed at one end), so it will be fairly mindless knitting until decreasing for the toe. Somewhere around the ankle, I'll also have to start moving the first purl stitch in each row over one, every four rows, to start the spiral. That's not terribly challenging, I don't think.

You'll notice I'm using two circulars to knit this sock -- my first time using that method to knit in the round. I have to say, I love it. But, size (and the tool) matters. I started out using 16" circulars, and as many people have told me, they're just not as comfortable to knit with doing this technique. It can be done, it's just not as pleasant. And I'm all about the pleasant. ;-) So these are 24" Addi Lace needles, which are divine to knit with. I want 2 pairs of every size and length they have. Doesn't mean I'll get them all. I just want them all.

I'm taking my sweet time and not feeling any urgency to finish those bed socks, so don't expect an FO photo anytime soon.

One more thing I've worked on in the recent past, although I haven't touched it in at least a month, is the Prism Long-tailed Wrap. Here it is as an amorphous blob:

colors are fairly true in this photo

Here's a close-up, (colors a little washed out):

yarn is Prism Kid Slique in "Smoke" colorway

It will be pretty once it's done, but I'm not sure when that will be.

All of these are out on my Ravelry projects page, if you need more details.

And since I'm feeling particularly prolific today, I'll share a couple more things in my fiber queue.

This is just a basic ball of Lion Brand self-striping sock yarn I picked up today at Ben Franklin.

But it won't be made into socks. Instead, I'm going to use it to learn and practice navajo-plying. In yesterday's spinning guild program, it was suggested that we use a self-striping commercial yarn so that (a) you don't ruin a perfectly good handspun while practicing, and (b) the color changes in the yarn will help you practice when to close the loop when plying. So, when all is said and done, I hope to have a not-too-terribly-ugly ball of this in a much-bulkier navajo-three-ply on top of the four plies it already has. And what starts out as 438 yards should be reduced to one-third, or about 146 yards. I'm interested to see how it turns out. Might make a cool-looking hat, after it's done. Or it might go straight into the trash can, depending on how things go.

Another spinning project in the queue was handed to me today at the end of our knitting workshop. A fellow River City Knitter who is not a spinner has somehow found herself with some roving:

and was looking for someone to spin it for her. Robin H. volunteered me and my electric spinner (thanks, Robin H! I'm volunteering you to hook me a rug!). Actually, it should be a fun project -- the white roving is about 10 oz. of babydoll wool, (I'd never heard of that breed, until just now.) It's still got a lot of lanolin in it, so should be really nice to spin. It's also got little bits of VM throughout, but the pieces are so small that I'll probably not trouble myself to pick them out, unless they're really big and obvious. (If you more experience spinners reading this disagree, please speak up!)

The multi-colored roving is some Blue-faced Leicester from Lisa Souza, which should also be nice to spin. I think I might wait to spin that until after I learn how to navajo ply, so that I can preserve the color sequences.

And that, my friends, takes us to the end of my fiber update, for now. Not sure when I'll post again. It could be a day, a week, or a month, as lately, I tend to write when the spirit strikes, when time allows, and when I have something interesting to say or show. And that magic trifecta doesn't always come together frequently. So, if you get tired of seeing the same old post at the top of the blog for days and days and days, might I recommend Google Reader?

Hope your weekend was wonderful. Have a great week, my friends!

Is this thing on...?

2008-09-20T20:21:00.004-04:00

...tap, tap, tap....

(...crickets...)

Apparently, I've lost my audience, which is what I deserve for not blogging for weeks. But I'll write a new post and send it out into the universe, and see what, if anything comes back.

First of all, I have some finished yarn to show ya:

Those were all spun and plied on my electric spinner. All are wool of one form or another and purchased from various sources.

Casey approves, and has adopted them as a pillow:

Here's one more skein I've recently finished:

It is 100% Corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms in their "As Above, So Below" colorway. The singles were spun on two drop spindles; they were then plied on my electric spinner, skeined, washed, whacked, dried, and reskeined.

Here's the obligatory dime photo:

The skein is 1 oz., 112 yards, and about 20-24 wraps per inch -- roughly laceweight.

Last week I was spinning up a 50/50 blend of cashmere/silk, with plans to submit it to the Fall Fiber Festival Skein & Garment competition. Well, disaster struck when I went to ply the luxury yarn, (don't ask - it's still too painful to discuss), so this wool is a last minute substitution.

Here's my entry all ready to go, along with my entry form and $2 entry fee:

high hopes

This is turning into quite the yarn-centric weekend for me, so it seems.

Iris Schreier, a published knitwear designer and the talent behind ArtYarns, is in Richmond this weekend teaching workshops for the River City Knitters knitting guild. At the last minute, Robin H. talked me into attending a mini-workshop Iris gave last night (Friday) at Lettuce Knit, which was quite fun. Iris handed out tiny skeins of ArtYarns supermerino samples, taught us a few of her very unique knitting techniques, and passed around knitted samples from her three previous books as well as from her new book coming out in April. We actually got to see a few pages from her new book, which was cool. Oh, and she has a new yarn coming out that is a machine-washable cashmere/merino/nylon blend. She passed around a crocheted baby blanket made from it that had already been machine-washed, and it was just lovely, and so soft. Can you imagine - a machine-washable cashmere yarn? Think of the gift-giving possibilities!

Another cool thing she showed us was her way to do a mobius cast-on by using a modified long-tail cast-on, which did seem less complicated than Cat Bordhi's mobius cast-on. I hope I can try it sometime. If you have Iris' book 'Exquisite Little Knits', it's the cast on she does for the belt ring, but converted to a long circular needle (at least 36").

Today (Saturday) I attended the Clothos Children spinning guild meeting, my first time attending an actual meeting other than their silent auction back in April. It was a much smaller group this time, and quite nice. They have a show-and-tell session, which is fun, and then a little instructional program, and this time the program was about plying. Some very helpful tips and suggestions were offered, and a demonstration of navajo plying was given. I'm very motivated to learn that technique, and am eager to start practicing next weekend. Once I learn how to navajo ply, I will probably ply everything I can that way, if I have enough yardage, and especially if the colors in the fibers dictate. I'm not a big fan of the barber-poling effect of plied yarns, and when I buy a gorgeously-dyed fiber, I want to preserve the color sequences that attracted me to it in the first place. Plus, it will be lovely to ply from just one bobbin without having to wrestle with a tangly center-pull ball. (See above-mentioned cashmere/silk painful fiasco.)

Tomorrow (Sunday) I'm attending Iris' morning workshop for her zig-zag scarf, which should be fun. I have to admit that I have not been a huge fan of the look of many modular knitted items, but the techniques are really cool, so I'm ready to give them a try. And after seeing some of the knitted samples from ArtYarns designers like Iris and Sharon Sorkin up close and personal, I believe I'm a convert. Keep an eye out for Sharon's Sequined Mohair Lace Vest pattern (I120) (Ravelry link) -- the photo on the pattern sheet does not do it justice. In person, it is gorgeous enough to wear in a wedding or to the opera. And another pattern I loved, (not sure if it's released yet), is for a gorgeous cabled cashmere scarf, where the cables are different on each side. Beautiful and inspirational. The yarns themselves are exquisite, with a price tag to match. But there seems to be some very decent pattern support, so that one can create a beautiful heirloom knitted item with just a skein or two, and therefore worth making a splurge, now and then.

It's getting late, so I will end this. If you're attending tomorrow's workshop, I'll see you there!

The Boss comes to My Hometown

2008-08-19T11:15:00.004-04:00

Oh, one more thing, before I go on vacation...

...I saw The Boss again last night:

Twice in one tour - what a treat! But when they announced he'd added dates, including a show here in Richmond, how could I not?

Another great show. Springsteen was very playful last night, with lots of crowd interaction, taking of requests, pulling young fans on stage, handing out drumsticks, and an unheard-of 8-song encore at the end of a power-packed 3-hour show that never stopped save the brief departure prior to the encore. I was on my feet for most of it, and came home with ears ringing, sweaty and exhausted. And blissfully happy.

My friend and I had great seats - very close to the front, at lower level stage right. My only complaint is that the sound was horrible. Not sure who is to blame - Springsteen's sound engineers, or the Richmond Coliseum. Probably a combination of both. I've seen him there before, back in '05, but our seats faced the stage head-on back then, where all the speakers face, and the sound back then was sublime. Last night there was so much buzz and reverb that it was really hard to make out what the song was, until he started singing the lyrics, which at times were also hard to hear. Because of the sound issues, the singers and instruments sounded out of tune, at times. Such a shame. The reviewer in the local paper also had the same issue. So much for the press having the best seats in the house.

Anyway, if you're a fan and would like to see more photos and two brief videos, I invite you to visit my Flickr photoset.

Enjoy. I definitely did!

And now I bid you adieu for a few days.

I've been plying...

2008-08-18T11:18:00.009-04:00

...and now I've got me a basket o' bobbins that I need to wind off, wash, whack and dry. Once that's all done, I will display the skeins in all their glory, and share the who/what/where etc.

I'm learning that if spinning singles is as enjoyable and zen-like as knitting a beloved project, then plying is like seaming the pieces together and weaving in the ends -- a bit of a chore.

Here's my dilemma. Many, many (most) of the indy-dyers on etsy and other places sell their lovely, hand-painted rovings in 4 oz. increments. And usually, you can only get that gorgeous colorway you love in just one 4 oz. sample. Either they don't reproduce their colorways, or else if there were multiples, someone else has bought the others and you are left with just one. (Sorta like that sale bin of sock yarn at your LYS -- what can you really do with just one skein of Koigu?)

Okay, 4 oz. of fiber is still a decent amount -- you can make a hat, or maybe some socks or mittens, with 4 oz. of yarn, although I think for the latter two items, I'd prefer to play it safe with 6 oz.

Of course, I'd get more yardage with singles than with plied yarn, but considering that I can't seem to spin anything fatter than laceweight, I think that for the time being, everything is going to be double-plied. And once I learn how, I will probably do some navajo three-plying as well, so as to preserve color sequences. But then that cuts down one's yardage to a third of what came out as singles. So, again, more fiber for more yardage seems to be necessary.

So, let's say you are able to get a nice 8 oz. sample of that gorgeous colorway you love. Or, perhaps you're using an undyed, natural-colored fiber, perhaps from a fleece you acquired and had processed (or processed yourself, you industrious fiber artist, you). Or you dyed up an 8 oz. quantity of fiber yourself. (My, aren't you a Jill of all trades!). So, bottom line is, you find yourself with 8 oz. of the same fiber - brilliant.

Here's the next problem. Let's say you've got yourself an electric spinner with a bobbin capacity of 4, maybe 5 oz. When you were buying those little 4 oz. increments of fiber... (okay, let's stop talking in the 2nd person, and move back to first -- this is me we're talking about, after all). So, when I was buying and spinning up 4 oz. of fiber, I could fit the singles all on one bobbin. However, if I wanted to make a two-ply, I had to make a choice -- do I split the fiber and spin it on two different bobbins and ply it together, or do I spin it all on one bobbin, wind it into a center-pull ball, and ply it to itself?

I've done it both ways, and both ways are mildly problematic for me. Not earth-shattering, mind you, but annoying enough to take some of the bliss out of what I was feeling when spinning the singles. If you spin the singles on two different bobbins, invariably you get more on one bobbin than another, and then after you've plied them both together, you've got extra singles on one bobbin. (Here I am, back in 2nd person. Switching to first again.) What I've been doing in those situations is taking the extra singles and Andean-plying them on one of my drop spindles, to make a little mini-skein. Sure, it's cute, but I'd really rather have that yarn back in my bigger skein.

If you spin the 4 oz. all on one bobbin and wind it into a center-pull ball, you've got some wrestling ahead of you. There doesn't seem to be any way around dealing with the challenge of the energized single and how much it wants to tangle. Of course, one could wind the single on a niddy noddy, skein it, wash it and set it before plying, but really -- do I want to add another labor-intensive step to this process? I have found that if I try to ply directly from the center-pull ball, there will be tangling, so I've ended up adding another step, which is to take both ends of the ball and wind them together into another center-pull ball, before plying to add more twist. This works okay, for the most part, although winding the two ends into that second center-pull ball always produces a bit of frustration as I fight to ward off the tangles and the occasional broken single. Don't believe what anyone tells you about how long a single sits on a bobbin and how it "sets" the twist and tames the energy. Not true! Plenty of energy left, after days (weeks!) of sitting on a bobbin!

So, here's what I'd really like to do. I would like to spin up larger amounts of fiber (8 oz., with 4 oz. of singles on each bobbin), and be able to ply them (using a lazy kate) onto one bobbin. This of course, requires a bobbin with a capacity for 8 oz. of yarn. Wheels with jumbo flyers, (Lendrum, Ashford), come with bobbins that can hold that capacity. I don't own it (yet), but there is a jumbo flyer available for my Butterfly electric spinner; however, it does not come with a WooLee Winder, so I'd have to be changing hooks throughout the plying process -- another annoyance. I'm still not ready to buy a more traditional wheel, especially not just for plying, but even if I did, there is no jumbo WooLee Winder for the Lendrum or Ashford, that I know of.

There is, however, a jumbo WooLee Winder for the Roberta electric spinner. I didn't go with that spinner to begin with because I was dissuaded by what I'd read about the very strong draw-in of the bobbin-led Irish tension (like a Louet wheel). But that jumbo bobbin is enticing me to consider it as a second "wheel", just for plying. I do have room on the coffee table for another spinner after all. Dare I?

Another tool I'm considering, if I really want to get serious about cranking out the production spinning, is a dedicated skein-winder with a yardage counter, which would be so much faster than winding off every bobbin (especially 8 oz. bobbins!) onto a niddy noddy. So, I think if I up my plying capacity, I will definitely need one of these....

And then there's a postal scale. It would be nice to know exactly how much a particular sample of fiber or handspun yarn weighs. There have been many times I've wanted to know exact weights and didn't have an accurate or precise-enough scale to measure.

And let's not forget the drum carder I've been considering. Making my own custom batts would be a real kick!

See -- this is the problem with hobbies. Hobbies beget more hobbies. Tools beget more tools. It's never-ending. Cha-ching! Scary....

With all this yarn production I'm considering, the next obvious question is, what will I do with it? The funny thing is, I'm not knitting much (at all?) right now; I'm just enjoying spinning too much. I'm not sure I want to go so far as to start selling handspun yarn, (and I'm not sure I'm good enough for that, anyway). All I can think of is, maybe I could spin yarn for the peeps in my knitting group. I wouldn't want to do it for pay - that just takes the joy out a hobby. But if someone bought the fiber, (their choice of colors and fiber blends), I could spin it up for them. Of course, I'm not sure how well I'd be able to meet their needs, that is, if someone wanted a three-ply fingering weight, they may or may not get that. My inexperience, at this early stage of my spinning "career", means that a knitter would need to be satisfied with what I'm able to create, which may or may not be what they had originally intended. Which is why I couldn't take payment.

It's just something I'm considering; not even sure if I'd have time, but I like to think I would -- I do enjoy it. :-)

Anyway, back to that photo at the top, and managing reader expectations. I am leaving tomorrow for a short vacation down at the beach, and won't be back until late Saturday. I'm not taking anything more with me than a couple of drop spindles, a little fiber, and one or two knitting projects, (ever the optimist). Therefore, since I get most of my spinning production accomplished on the weekends, it could be at least another 10 days-2 weeks before I have any finished skeins of yarn to show you. Just sayin'.

And maybe by then I will have figured out a solution for my plying capacity problem. Maybe I'll even have a new tool or two. :-)

Phun with Phake Photography

2008-08-17T13:52:00.005-04:00

I've been wasting time this lovely Sunday morning over on YearbookYourself.com, where you can upload a photo of yourself and through the magic of the interwebs, it shows you how you'd look in the hairstyle and clothes of different eras.

Some of these make me sentimental, because they really look like my mom:

1950

1952

Some just crack me up:

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1972

1974

1978
(snort!)

1980

1982
(the little flower on the chin can't save this atrocity!)

1984

And some are scarily close to hairstyles I've actually worn:

1986

1988

1990

My sister totally had this hairstyle not too long ago:

1992

But not this one, thank God:

1994

And if I ever wondered how I'd look as a blond, here are a few options:

1996

2000
(big bangs are back!)

Such an amusing waste of time. Such an amazing, ageless face I have!

;-)

Spinning Yarns...

2008-07-24T18:52:00.006-04:00

...literally.

But before the yarn and spinning talk, let me first address a minor change in the decor that you may have noticed when you opened Virgin Wool today. There's a new ticker up there, prompted by a suggestion from knitting pal (blogless) Issy. I have moved my knitting ticker down to the very bottom of the blog, and the new spinning ticker takes its place at the top, since that's my current passion, and also because some would argue that after a certain amount of time has elapsed, one cannot call oneself a novice knitter anymore. Ahem.

But even as the buried knitting ticker fades into the obscurity that is a blog footer, I feel I should point out a momentous event that occurred recently:

Sunday was my 3-year knitiversary!
My, how time flies....

I'm so glad that I found fiber crafts, even if at an age when most knitters have been doing their craft for 30+ years. The hobby itself has brought me much pleasure, but more than that, it's introduced me to many wonderful knitters and knit-bloggers and widened my circle of friends exponentially. It's influenced my shopping and spending habits, how I spend my free time, how I spend my time on the internet (Ravelry much?), what I read, where I go on Tuesday nights, where and how and what I do when I travel.... I could go on, but I'm sure you know what I mean, if you're a knitter. If not, you can get an idea by reading the archives of my blog or any of the thousands of other knitting blogs out there.

So, anyway, once again, for the third year in a row, I offer my heart-felt thanks to my sister-in-law Jenny who three years ago gave me a learn-to-knit kit for my birthday and taught me to knit three days later on her birthday, and ultimately created a monster. :-)

I am learning that with the fiber arts, one never says never. When I first learned to knit and soon thereafter discovered that there are people out there who, in this day-and-age still spin their own yarn (!), I thought to myself, I will never do that.

Hee hee!

Now that I've learned how to spin and am reading the associated spinning books and magazines, I'm thinking that the ruling out of weaving way-back-when was also a silly declaration. However, there will be no rush to learn to weave, since my tiny house can't even fit a spinning wheel!

I'm just keeping an open mind....

Okay, now it's time to show my first two finished yarns spun on my Womack Butterfly spinner:

The white 2-ply is mostly Corriedale with a little mystery wool thrown in towards the end. It is under-plied is many places, and started out slightly coarse, but softened up nicely after a wash with Eucalan and hair conditioner. I haven't yet measured the yardage or the WPI, but it's about 4 6 oz., probably about worsted weight, which, by some estimates makes it roughly ~~225-300~~ 400 yards. It seems like a lot of yarn to me, so my guess is it's on the high end of that range.

I might dye it, maybe with some Wilton's food coloring. Or I might leave it as-is. I think it might make a nice Urchin hat, perhaps if held doubled, since that pattern calls for super bulky....

The blue-green 2-ply is the merino I showed in my last post. It was a delight to spin, is also under-plied in many places, and I also don't yet know the yardage or WPI. But again, it's about 4 oz., and probably sport weight, so roughly 300-450 yards. I'm thinking it's on the low end of that range -- definitely doesn't weigh as much as the white yarn. But now I'm thinking the white yarn might actually be closer to 5 oz.

I really need to measure and weigh this stuff.

Anyway, more photos:

After I plied and washed everything, I immediately started spinning some more fiber in my stash:

That's the most gorgeously-dyed fiber I've laid my eyes on in recent memory. Of course the photos don't do it justice, but I just love how it's almost iridescent, like an oil slick. It's 4 oz. of 100% merino that I purchased from a gal up at Susan's Fiber Shop Spinning Retreat back in March.

Gorgeous, right? After my good experience with that first batch of merino, I was really looking forward to spinning this lovely stuff, but quickly discovered that not all hand-dyed merinos are created equal, especially if one is partially FELTED! Ack!! I'm still spinning it, but, if spinning that last merino was like butter, then spinning this stuff is like, well, trying to spin felted merino, for lack of a better metaphor.

The first half is done -- here it is on the bobbin:

And I'm a little ways into the second bobbin, although tonight I'm taking a break from it, because frankly, my hands, wrists and fingers are aching from trying to draft that stuff, even after pre-drafting the hell out of it. I have another batch of fiber in a different colorway from the same gal. It's also gorgeously dyed. I'm crossing my aching fingers that it's not also felted....

Note to self: ply the HECK out of this, when the time comes.

Keeping up with the Peloton....

2008-07-13T11:59:00.008-04:00

This weekend finds me continuing to "compete" in the Tour de Fleece, although it's not so much a competition with other spinners as a personal challenge to practice and improve my own spinning skills. It's been a fun challenge, thus far.

I did find out, sort of accidentally, that there are actually two different Tour de Fleece challenges out there on the internet. The first one I linked to the other day:

and another, different one that I found via its Ravelry group:

I've joined them both, because the goals are essentially the same -- you spin every day of the race, take a break during the days of rest, (if you want), and try to meet a personal challenge along the way.

I had no plans to watch the actual race:

but yesterday when I sat down to spin it happened to be on tv, (on Versus - channel 2 on Comcast digital cable in Richmond), so I watched it. I don't really understand all the intricacies of the race, but I'm learning, and the French countryside is quite lovely, and that last kilometer of each day's stage is always exciting, so it's a pleasant sporting event to watch. All those fit young men aren't hard on the eyes, either.

Yesterday I finished up my bobbin of white fiber, cramming on as much as I possibly could, before the arms of the flyer started rubbing against the yarn while turning -- a clear indication that I'd reached the limit of its capacity:

I haven't plied it yet -- I was too eager to get started on something with color. I did talk to Nathan Lee of WooLee Winder on Friday about the problem with the flyer winding on unevenly, and he talked me through how to tweak it so that it will load more evenly with the next bobbin.

So, are you wondering what I picked to spin next? I went with my heart, and picked the superwash merino that my head was telling me to "save" until I was more experienced. But, it's so lovely, how could I not spin this right away?

And just by sheer coincidence, the aptly-named colorway is French-inspired:

and reminds me of my favorite painting:

The Artist's Garden at Giverny, Claude Monet

I hope to visit France and Giverny someday. My grandmother was French, (a WWI war bride), my dad speaks fluent French, but I've never been there. It's on my bucket list.

But I digress....

This morning I turned on the race again and watched their first day on the slopes of the Pyrenees, while I relaxed on the couch with a cat on my lap and spun my merino. Here's what I have so far:

The bobbin looks a little lumpy because of my choice of leader yarn, a rookie mistake I won't make with the next one.

While spinning this morning, I had an epiphany, a breakthrough, a "Eureka!" moment. I had just read last night someone's description on how to do long draw drafting, a skill I really hoped to gain at some point, but was sure would take years of spinning and perhaps several classes with master teachers to acquire. But this morning while spinning and watching those racers on a downhill stretch, I was thinking about what I'd read last night, and before I realized what was happening, my hands figured out what to do, seemingly all on their own. I can now long-draw! I find it hard to express how much this thrills me, and how much I feel it opens up possibilities for me; all I can say is, this totally rocks.

O, joy!

Today, I feel like I've not only kept up with the peloton (the pack), I've actually broken away to take the lead and win the yellow jersey.

Lance knows what I'm talkin' about....

My first bobbin full

2008-07-11T11:53:00.004-04:00

singles spun from 100% Corriedale top
on my new Womack Butterfly electric spinner

No, your eyes are not deceiving you -- that is definitely an uneven bobbin, with more yarn on the left (front) than on the right (back). From my preliminary investigation, (searching in the Ravelry forums using the keywords "WooLee Winder uneven"), this is apparently not unusual for a new WW, and will apparently work itself out as the WooLee Winder flyer gets broken in. I hope that's true. Otherwise, I'll be contacting the WW folks for advice and perhaps a repair. I need to order more bobbins from them anyway....

I also need to order some spinning wheel oil and a tensioned Lazy Kate. I'm open to recommendations.

I've been spinning every day for at least an hour, since the start of Tour de Fleece last Saturday, and I'm really enjoying it. It's very relaxing, and I could keep at it for longer, but during the work-week, I tend to get sleepy in the evenings after an hour or two of spinning. I do look forward to finishing up this bobbin. (Experienced spinners: should I consider this bobbin already finished, since the front is full?)

In any case, once finished, I will then wind it into a center-pull ball and ply it to itself, (that is, if I've given the singles enough twist so that they don't fall apart during plying. Fingers crossed.)

My next minor dilemma is a good problem to have: what to spin next? The prettiest hand-painted fibers I currently own all happen to be merino, but I'm thinking that I should maybe stick with long-stapled fibers for awhile. I'm uninspired by the BFL, Targhee and Rambouillet in my stash, and I'm saving my Polwarth until I feel much more proficient with the spinner. Should I wait for the BFL that I just ordered to arrive? Dare I try the merino?

An announcer's deep voice cuts in, accompanied by dramatic organ music:

What will Mary do?
How will this saga unfold?
Which fiber will Mary pick?
Tune in next time to find out!

;-)

Butterfly in da howse!

2008-07-06T22:27:00.006-04:00

My Womack Butterfly electric spinner is now out of its box and situated in its rightful place on my coffee table, next to the couch:

Now I can actually lay on the couch and spin while I watch tv! How great is that? Can I get any lazier? ;-)

So, let me introduce you to my Butterfly.

Here is the motor end of the device, covered in a cute woven material:

Those buttons on top, front to back, are: the on/off switch, the speed dial, the clockwise/counter-clockwise switch, and the fuse.

The drive band connected to the rotor on the front is a stretchy clear plastic, much like what you find on a Lendrum wheel.

The flyer is a WooLee Winder:

which is probably the most ingenious invention to hit yarn-making since the spinning wheel. I highly recommend it. Basically, it allows one to continually spin and draft without having to stop and change hooks. It also allows more yarn on the bobbin, because it fills it so evenly. And the best thing about this particular WooLee Winder is that it and its bobbins will fit both Ashford and Lendrum wheels, and should I choose to go with either of those makers if/when I eventually get a wheel, I can use it interchangeably. Nice.

Right now I'm getting used to it by practicing with some plain white corriedale. I've found that, for me, right now, low speed, low tension, and spinning from the fold seems to work best to make the smoothest yarn. Not sure why that is -- I'd really prefer to spin from the end of the roving like I can when I'm spindle-spinning. But with the electric spinner, (and I think this is also true for me with wheels), I seem to get more neps and slubs when I spin from the end of the roving/top. Seems counter-intuitive, but somehow it's smoother, spinning from the fold. So, I have more stops and starts, feeding in new fiber to old more often, but the end result is better.

If you'd like to see videos of a Butterfly in motion, Northern Virginia knitter KSee has blogged about it here, including sharing two videos. The spinner really is that quiet, which is how it got its name -- quiet as a butterfly.

Back in March when I was attending the spinning retreat up in Wisconsin, I picked up a couple of pretty orifice hooks being sold by one of the talented and crafty ladies in attendance. So yesterday, when I realized that I would need an orifice hook for my new e-spinner, I remembered that I had the perfect one:

How cool is that?! If I had planned on finding a butterfly orifice hook to "match" my Butterfly spinner, I never would have found one. Gotta love how things work out.

I expect I'll get lots more practice with my e-spinner during the rest of this month. I've unofficially joined the Tour de Fleece challenge:

which basically just requires that you spin every day during the Tour de France. I'm "riding" for Team Rookie and going for the Maillot Jaune (Yellow Jersey).

And once I feel comfortable spinning that white Corriedale, I'm switching to one of my pretty hand-dyed rovings.

Should be fun!

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T08:47:00.005-04:00

(full story here)
*

Have a fun and safe Fourth of July!

(Edited to add -- check out this great knitted flag hat!)

Holiday Toy

2008-07-03T15:20:00.002-04:00

This has been a painfully slow week at work, and yesterday dragged particularly long, especially as I wasn't feeling all that well. So it was therefore the perfect afternoon for me to come home to this box on my front porch:

What could it be?

And what does that say?

Sounds interesting!

But what is under all those peanuts?

Is that wicker I spy?

It's my new Womack Butterfly electric spinner. I've left it in the box for now, but will be setting it up and taking it on its maiden voyage this weekend. Photos to follow.

Yippee! Happy Holiday weekend to ME! :-)

Too funny not to share....

2008-06-30T14:30:00.003-04:00

Miss LakeKnitter Emmy has a valid point in her most recent blog post, in that Ravelry may be sucking up a lot of what used to be prime blogging time. I can definitely relate.

Being as my latest passion is spinning and drop-spindling, I've been spending a lot of time chatting in Ravelry's Spindlers group, where much inspiration, encouragement, education, admiration and (most dangerously) enabling of stash-enhancement (for both spindles and fiber) is taking place.

Case in point, some recent acquisitions:

Spindle: Lotus Lace Spindle by RestlessPeasant (on Ravelry)
Fiber: 80/20% Merino/Silk in "Cabaret" from Tempted, on The Loopy Ewe

Recently somewhat started a discussion entitled "Spinning becoming a passion?", about how her knitting projects have gone neglected by the wayside, while she becomes more and more enchanted with creating yarn on her drop spindle. Oh, how I can relate.

Many people voiced agreement and cited their reasons for loving spindling, including its portability and the ability to take advantage of stolen moments while on hold on the phone, or waiting for a pot to boil. This prompted someone to suggest the creation of a bumper sticker that says something like "Spindlers do it during every spare moment".

Which then led to an even racier bumper sticker suggestion:

"Wheel Spinners do it in the orifice".

I know, I know. Tacky and classless.

And hilarious.

Made my day.

;-)

Crock Pot Leg o' Lamb

2008-06-20T17:23:00.003-04:00

Being as I live alone, I'm not much of a cook, (the burners on my stove are turned on once a year, whether they need it or not), but I do like my crock pot. So far, I've really only been successful with split pea soup, but I'm determined to expand my repertoire.

I joined the "CrockPot Love!" group on Ravelry, where there's lots of great recipe suggestions, and someone recently posted a link to this awesome blog called "A Year of Crockpotting". Basically, the gal is cooking a different recipe in her crock pot every single day in 2008, and even better, she's blogging about it, complete with photos and reviews of the success or failure of the recipe, and her family's reception of it. Oh, and all her recipes are gluten-free, in case that matters to you. (Not an issue for me, thank God.)

Anyway, I stumbled upon her leg of lamb recipe, and was inspired to try my own. So, here is my version, complete with photos:

The beast:

The "dry" ingredients for the rub:

The liquid ingredients:

In progress:

All cooked and ready for dinner:

It was actually very good, although a bit salty (even with those low-sodium liquid ingredients). I think that rosemary-ginger rub has a lot (too much?) salt in it.

I love the smell of lamb, but this stunk up my house house all day while it was cooking, and that would have been fine last week if the air conditioning had been working, to clear the air. Alas, my heat pump chose that very day to die on me, during our oppressive heat wave, and so the humidity and lamb smell just hung around my hot house all day.

It was still a good leg of lamb, and I'm fairly proud of myself, because it's the first successful non-soup item in my crock pot, and my first, ever, home-cooked lamb.

So now I'm rooting around in books and on the internet for my next inspiration for the crock pot. It may very well be the "Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic" recipe that came in my crock pot's owner's guide. I just need to go buy a chicken. And a boat-load of garlic....

So, what's your favorite crock pot recipe?

Glass Spinning Wheel

2008-06-02T15:31:00.004-04:00

Work has utterly consumed my concentration these past few weeks, so, in a shameless attempt to fill the lengthy void between blog posts, I'm sticking my head up for a second to give you the following:

(Feedblitz email subscribers click here to see embedded video)

So, how portable do you think that thing is? ;-)

While I'm here, how about a brief fiber-related update?

I've been knitting a bit on my Prism longtail wrap with the yarn and pattern I purchased in Wisconsin in April, (I got a lot done down at the lake last weekend), and I'm also spinning almost every day on whichever drop spindle happens to be nearby. The spindle collection continues to grow, and I really need to find some time to document them all. Not sure when that will happen, however.

I am no closer to a wheel purchase, (again -- still no room for one), but have decided that in the meantime, in in the interest of faster yarn production, and thanks in part to inspiration from this video podcast, I'm going to try using an electric spinner, (I can always clear a space on the coffee table for that). I have narrowed my choices down to Jerry Womack's Butterfly spinner (the little wicker gizmo seen for sale in the main building at Maryland Sheep & Wool). He will very graciously ship one out to me on spec, and allow me to test drive it for a few weeks before I pay for it. If I don't like it, I can ship it back. But I've got a feeling I will like it.

I've done a lot of research on the various models, and have even gone so far as to create a Ravelry group for electric spinners (since there was an obvious lack of such a forum), and the folks who own Butterfly spinners swear by them. So I'm looking forward to receiving mine. Jerry says I should have it in a week or two. Maybe then I can finally reduce some of the fiber stash that's been accumulating around the house! :-)

I came, I saw, I bought NO yarn

2008-05-04T22:22:00.004-04:00

Yes, you read that right. Two days at the 2008 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival and I came away with zero yarn. Proud of me?

Don't be. What I didn't purchase in yarn, I made up for in drop spindle purchases and fiber. And I'm giddy with delight.

Unlike previous years, I took very few photos, so don't have much to show you tonight. But I will share my favorite spindle purchase of the weekend.

Feast thine eyes upon this beauty:

That's a Golding ring spindle called "4 Blue Roses", with a vintage enamel ring, a 2¾" carved & painted cherry whorl and walnut shaft, and it weighs 1.32 oz. (The fiber is 70/30% Corriedale/Alpaca top from “A Touch of Twist”.) Needless to say, it's a delight to spin. And Tom Golding is even more delightful in person than he has been in emails. I'd been asking him questions about a few of the other gorgeous vintage spindles on his website, and so he very graciously brought them to the show especially for me to see, hidden away from his main display. I could have hugged him right there. Those spindles were breathtaking in person. But after seeing the blue rose spindle, I knew it was the one for me. Oh, happy day. :-)

Okay, enough about the spindle. Not everyone feels the same way I feel about them, so it must get boring. So, for those who'd like more details about my weekend, I will elaborate.

I left Richmond around 5:30 pm on Friday, and arrived in Columbia, MD around 8 pm. Thanks to Nigel, (my beloved GPS), I made one intermediate stop to pick up some dinner-to-go at Macaroni Grill, and enjoyed it after I checked into my hotel. (I wish Richmond had a Macaroni Grill -- I adore their "Carmella's Chicken Rigatoni" - chicken, pasta, mushrooms, garlic, onions, parmesian cheese -- how can you go wrong?)

Staying at my hotel were Suzanne, Melanie & Lou, and we ate breakfast together both mornings. After breakfast on Saturday, I got to the festival early, and managed to hit all my "must-see" vendors by noon. At various points during the morning, I ran into Patsy & friends, Jane & Donna, and Robin C. and her husband. Oh, and I ran into Gina Bonomo as I was leaving. After grabbing a lamb sandwich for lunch, I wandered by the Ravelry meet-up in the rabbit barn (jam-packed with people), and then decided I'd had enough of the heat, humidity and crowds, and went back to my hotel to relax for a few hours before dinner and the Ravelry party at the Sheraton.

I met up with a few other Ravelers at the best sushi place in Columbia, Sushi Sono, which is conveniently just a quick stroll down the sidewalk from the Sheraton. I had my favorite item on their menu -- Una Jyu (freshwater eel over rice) and some spicy tuna tartar. Dee-lish. The Ravelry gals I met there were complete strangers prior to Saturday evening, but turned out to be fun dinner companions. We wandered over to the party after dinner, and I managed to get a Ravelry tote bag -- cute! Later I ran into Beth and Monet, who were both amusingly entertaining and the life of my little corner of the party. (I do have a photo of that -- dare I publish it?) I stayed long enough to hear Casey, Jessica and Mary Heather talk a little about Ravelry, and then draw numbers for door prizes. Some nice prizes to be had, for sure. Alas, I did not win anything.

Today, (Sunday), I arrived at the festival mid-morning and almost literally ran into Bess at one point, (wearing her beautiful KipFee sweater), which was a lovely surprise. We shopped a bit together and then parted ways. I spent the rest of the day visiting all the barns, buildings and vendors I'd missed on Saturday, and added more spindles and fiber to the stash. Oh, my. I had lamb again for lunch, (and ordered some to-go, for dinner). I love lamb. I then had an ice cream cone and spent a little quiet time on the hill outside the main building -- that's always nice. I took another round of the vendors in the main building, and before I knew it, they were announcing that the festival would be over in half an hour! Where did my day go? For the first time, I missed the sheep-to-shawl competition. I also missed the skein & garment competition -- hated missing that, but them's the breaks. I'm hoping someone else who attended took lots of photos and will share.

Once again, for the third year in a row, Sunday turned out to be a much better day than Saturday, both weather-wise and crowd-wise. So, I will always recommend that people go on Sundays. It's really like a completely different (sane) event.

My drive home was trouble-free, for which I'm eternally grateful, and now I'm sufficiently exhausted. Time for bed!

And later this week I hope to get some photos of my purchases taken and published here. Need daylight and wakefulness for that. :-)

So, how was your weekend?

The Boss

2008-05-02T11:00:00.006-04:00

Wednesday night I saw my dream-husband Bruce Springsteen and his "heart-stoppin', pants-droppin', earth-shockin', hard-rockin', booty-shakin', earth-quakin', love-makin', Viagra-takin', history-makin', legendary E-Street Band" perform at the John Paul Jones arena in Charlottesville.

I last saw him 2005, when he came to Richmond on his solo "Devils and Dust" tour and gave us an incredible show, one that was very different from what E-Street Band fans are used to seeing. And while that '05 tour and album proved to me his incredible artistic versatility, Wednesday's show underscored his stamina and longevity.

This 58-year-old man, who has been rockin' hard for 30 years, has still got it. With every bit as much energy as his four-hour "Born in the USA" tour I caught in Hampton in 1985, (but alas, only half the length -- the man is pushing 60, after all, and his fans are getting old, as well), The Boss did not disappoint. (Although, someday, somehow, someway, I'm going to see him perform "Rosalita" live...).

Clarence "Big Man" Clemmons

Stevie van Zandt

Max Weinberg

Best songs of the night included a surprise rendition of "No Surrender" early in the show, "Radio Nowhere" from his new album 'Magic'; and oldies like "10th Avenue Freeze-Out", "Born to Run", "Badlands", "Adam Raised a Cain", "Prove It All Night"...

...and "Jungleland":

(Feedblitz subscribers click here to view embedded video)

"Badlands" and "Jungleland" are two of my all-time favorite Springsteen songs, and were easily the highlights of the night for me. A moment that was a close second, however, and that proved that (my dream-husband) Bruce has still got it, was when he slid across the stage on his knees (58-year old knees!) during "Mary's Place". I cannot think of a better song to prove his virility.

:-)

(Newspaper reviews here and here. Set list here. A few more photos out on Flickr, here.)

Fiber Fun

2008-04-26T19:58:00.005-04:00

Thought I'd share just a little of what I've been up to recently, spinning-wise.

Yesterday I decided to try spinning up some cultivated silk sliver that was in my stash, that I'd purchased from Jennifer of Spirit Trail Fiberworks at the 2006 Knitters Review Retreat. I had originally thought I'd knit with it, sorta like people knit with unspun silk hankies. But in the interim I have learned how to spin, so decided to try it on one of my Golding drop spindles:

It was a lot easier to spin than I thought it would be. Drafting the silk sliver is sorta like drafting a fairly long staple-length wool, in that you need to keep your fingers/hands fairly far apart to allow the fibers to slide past each other and draft.

Now I'm wondering what I'll do with the singles once I have more of them spun up -- will I two-ply the silk to itself? Ply it with something like a merino? I don't know. But I don't really worry about those things when I spin. I spin for entertainment value alone. The yarn end-product is icing on the cake. I guess that makes me a process spinner, which is a good thing, since the process is slow-going on a spindle.

Here's a more recent fiber purchase:

That's about 8 oz. of Polwarth wool (an Australian breed that is a merino-Lincoln cross), in the "Summer Garden" colorway, purchased from Rovings.com. What you see above is one long strip of roving, starting with the blue end on the left, dyed with large sections of single colors that graduate into the next color, ending with the purpley end on the right. I'm not exactly sure how this should be spun to its best advantage, but I have some time to consider that, as I most likely won't be spinning this until I get a wheel.

Rovings.com is a Canadian company that is breed-specific to Polwarth, and they import the fiber from Australia. I decided I needed more of their fiber after receiving a little sample of it:

with one of my drop spindles. (Incidently, the spindle shown above, a Cocobolo spindle purchased from The Spanish Peacock, is not the spindle which came with the Polwarth sample.) Anyway, after spinning the sample, (in the "Brick" colorway), I was immediately hooked. The fiber is incredibly soft (as soft as BFL or merino, I think), and the bonus is that it has a longer staple length -- 4-6", making it quite lovely to spin. So, about a month ago I talked a few local spinning friends into going in on an order with me, and we received our fiber last week. Nice stuff.

And now I, along with thousands of others, are counting down the days (hours, minutes) until Maryland Sheep & Wool, where we'll get to fondle fiber and yarn to our heart's content. Can't wait! Hope to see you there!

Mad Town Mania

2008-04-21T22:35:00.000-04:00

Wisconsin capitol building

Last week I was back in the greater Madison, WI area again for work, and since it will be my last trip there for the foreseeable future, I took full advantage of my time there, and hit not one, but three yarn shops. (Because apparently I can't get yarn at any of Richmond's wonderful yarn shops, nor online, nor at any upcoming fiber festivals?)

But I think most knitters will agree that common sense often flies out the window when we walk through the doors of a yarn shop.

First stop on my itinerary was Lakeside Fibers, and behind this unassuming entrance:

was room after room of tempting lovelies:

In that last room, way in the back, is a great cafe and knitting spot with a wall of glass that looks out onto this view:

winter is officially over

Can you imagine a better place to buy yarn, sit & knit, sip coffee and eat a cookie? Neither can I.

Downstairs they have a weaving studio, and upstairs in the cafe they sell quite a few finished woven items. Needless to say, I did not leave the place empty-handed.

I looked at this scarf over and over, and almost left without it until I overheard one of the shop owners tell another worker that the weaver is selling her loom and quitting the craft. How could I not get it?

But that's not all that came home with me.

I also could not resist this Prism Kid Slique in the "Smoke" colorway:

(this photo is more color-accurate)

which is for Prism's long-tailed wrap:

They had a store sample in a pinkish colorway that was quite lovely. (I've since found a free pattern on Prism's website that's very similar to the one I purchased, in case anyone reading this is interested...).

I also couldn't leave without this lovely Claudia's Hand Painted sock yarn, in her "Teal Party" colorway:

Teal.
Party.
Again, how could I not?

Next stop was The Knitting Tree:

Smaller than the first shop, but still quite nice, and I had a fun discussion with the owner on the addictive qualities of Ravelry. Oh, and I picked up some Dream in Color "Classy" in a gorgeous new colorway called "Pansy Golightly":

Shop owner Margaret said the iridescent colors reminded her of a shimmery oil slick, and I admit I must agree. I also grabbed Yarn Harlot's latest book. [I didn't even know she had a new one out, I'm so behind on hers (and everyone's) blogs.]

Last but not least, I made a return visit to The Sow's Ear, and was seduced by the siren song of this Colinette kit:

Hey, I'm nothing if not consistent -- I like what I like, and what I like happens to be teal. It's just a good thing that they don't make Rolex watches or Mercedes Benz in teal. And if they do, please don't tell me.

Wisconsin weather was quite spring-like last week -- we had a couple days in the low 70's -- and if it weren't for the bare, leafless trees and lack of pollen, I would have thought I hadn't left Richmond at all. Now that it's been raining buckets here for three days, I'm wistful for last week's Wisconsin sunshine.

The rain does has its advantages, though. Besides the obvious benefits of watering the plants and trees and replenishing aquifers, the giant puddle in front of my porch is keeping me out of yarn shops.

It's a good thing.