SparkCrafted

Crunching the numbers (and bones), or how we spent Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-26T10:12:00.003-04:00

How long ago did I mean to post this? Ohhhh, about 6 weeks ago....

6,250 - pounds of dirt, sand, aggregate, river rock, and pavers moved, selected, loaded, unloaded, positioned, used, and filled in
2 - items we bought off of Mr. Softee on Saturday

2 - times I had to reserve the CarShare for hardware store trips
300 - cost, in dollars, of additional materials (the pavers were leftover from the backyard patio installed 4 or so years ago)
14 - friends hung out with in the evening
4 - nights spent grilling
3 - containers of ice cream
2 - recycling buckets put curbside after a weekend of friends and drinking
1 - pair of pants destroyed in the process
22 - hours spent doing hard labor
24 - Advil administered for aches and pains
36 - tulip, daffodil, and crocus bulbs unearthed and replanted
1 - sage replanted
4 - rows of knitting completed for the entire Memorial Day weekend
0 - yards spun on wheels or spindles
28 - beers and ciders consumed by the workers (that is, me and Mike)

Add that all up, and you get this:

Wilde

2009-05-11T19:15:00.003-04:00

I finally took the time to check out a soon-to-be gone local mill. John Wilde & Brother has been in Philadelphia for about 125 years, predominantly offering carpet wools, though in more recent years, had started carrying products for hand-knitters and spinners. I say had because Wilde is no longer producing yarns, though they have some stock in their retail shop (hours by appointment or luck). I called sometime last week to see about stopping by on Thursday. I spent 30 minutes milling (har har, fiber pun) about, looking at the odd lots and the rummage bags (25 cents each!), examining a mohair fleece, and fondling the cones before settling on a large fiber-festival sized bag of goods:

From the top, clockwise: 4,800 yards of laceweight singles, 480 yards of bulky singles, a peek of the 2lbs carded wool, bits and bobs from the rummage bags (red, orange, blue), 1,400 yards 3-ply down in front, and a white bag full of 1 or 2 lbs mohair fleece.

I won't even tell you how much I paid for it all because that would make me seem obscene. And possibly dishonest - you will not believe how little I paid. In fact, I will just say this: the carded wool, the 2 lbs of it? Cost nearly 50% more than EVERYTHING ELSE on that chair, together.

Love the tags on the bulky singles.

I spent Saturday night and Sunday morning skeining up the big hanks - the 3-ply was portioned out in 110 yard skeins (with the intention of pairing them for 220 yard lots) while the laceweight singles were skeined a couple of ways - I had 8 hanks of 250 each and 5 hanks of 500 each and a leftover hank of 300 yards. I do not recommend winding hanks by hand, though I will say that my Fricke skein winder was absolutely the only thing that kept me sane whilst winding at midnight on Saturday. Or is that Sunday? It doesn't matter - it was all a blur.

I did all of this winding off and tying up in preparation for dyeing on Sunday. The original plan was for my dear friend Anj to come up to the Falls and we'd spend the day dyeing al fresco. But, poor Mike was just as sick as he's been all year, so I went to South Philly instead. I packed up my suitcase full of yarn and fiber and trundled on down. I managed to only get about half of the yarn dyed, much to my disappointment, but have made a somewhat firm date for more dyeing to take place in the near future, much to my delight.

Most of the yarn should be dry now (I started with the laceweight) while the carded wool is still lurking about in Anj's basement, dripping itself dry. Eventually, everything will go up on the shop, but for now, here's a wee sneak:

Two hanks, fraternally dyed for your knitting pleasure.

Greens

These two and the rest of what I dyed yesterday will go up on Etsy the beginning of June. Then, by mid-June, I hope to have the 3-ply dyed and ready to go, along with a few other things. Check my Flickr for preview photos, or subscribe to SparkCrafted's RSS feed to keep up with new listings.

A brief and recent history of illness

2009-05-09T08:30:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago - maybe even last week, though at this point, the days and weeks all just blur together and have found that I am losing my grip on temporal things - Mike checked out the new produce market in our neighborhood. For those of you that aren't familiar with our neighborhood, we really don't have any viable options for shopping. Sure, there are corner stores and bodegas, and down near the historic cemetery, there's a "marketplace" (though at a two-bus ride or 3+ mile round trip walk, it's not convenient. Plus, there are only so many Fuji apples one can eat...), and we've got a couple of pharmacies. But, there's no grocery store. There are grocery stores within driving distance, though we don't have a daily driver of a car.

Anyway, we were excited to see a produce market open closer to the house - if nothing else, we'd be able to stroll the 4 blocks to the market and back whenever we wanted to. Mike, finding himself home alone (I was either working or hanging out with my mom), checked the place out and pronounced it awful - but not before buying some apples, oranges, and a bag of seedless grapes. He started in on the grapes immediately, and it wasn't until he got to the last few in the bag that he made a somewhat gross discovery - when trying to pull the stem off of one of the grapes, he realized he was tugging on a worm. He immediately chucked the remaining half-dozen grapes, but was likewise immediately convinced he'd consumed who-knows-how-many worms.

Our discussion when I got home that night went something like this:
Mike: I have worms.
Me: What?
Mike: Yeah, you need to take me to the vet.
Me: WHAT?
Mike: The vet needs to get rid of my worms for me.
Me: You do realize that you could go to a people-doctor for worms?
Mike: But vets deal with worms all the time!!!
Me: You don't have worms.
Mike: Yuh-huh! I ate them! They're in my belly!

Later, Mike: Maybe they're eels.

Like with most of my husband's claims of ailment, I laughed and humored him. Getting home after work, I'd ask him how his worms were. Swimming at the Y, I'd ask if the eels were restless. I even asked him, one night, if he had the urge to drag his bare butt across the rug. He may be insane, but I'm right there with him.

He emailed me yesterday to let me know that his "worms have no concept of what day it is. I'm pretty sure they're celebrating Cinco de Mayo right now, even though they shouldn't be." Likely translation? He had gas....

After biking through the last 8-10 days of Philadelphia rain, Mike's developed a bit of the sniffles: sore throat, ache-y, sneeze-y, and so on. Of course, he's convinced that he has the Swine Flu, though he's taken to calling it the hiney flu (H1N1). He's further convinced that the worms in his belly are somehow involved in this head case and is currently planning tactics for eradicating the worms. I have no idea what that means. As I was getting ready for work, all I could hear was him moaning, "Woooooooooormmmmmmmmmmmmms!!!" Then, he'd shuffle by, tissues in hand, shaking his head. When I left, he was prone on the couch, the cats peering at him quizzically. I have no idea what to expect when I get home from work, though I suppose bringing home some gummy worms is not the best idea today.

Two-wheeler

2009-04-18T13:02:00.002-04:00

We've been watching Long Way Down, Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor's documented trip from John o'Groats, Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa. We're at the part where Ewan's wife joins them, just inside the Malawi border. Eve's relatively new to motorbiking* at this point, and I can't help but feel a certain Anne Shirley-esque kinship because of that. Here you've got a woman of certain age, willingly learning something new and wanting to do so because then she can share that interest with her husband. Sounds like a kindred spirit to me! Except Eve doesn't do all that well and regularly drops the bike. So, over the last day and a half, every time something's gone awry with me and my bike, I've chirped out, "But I'm better the Eve! I haven't dropped it!"

The question is, though, how much better. And I'd have to honestly say, not really better at all - just differently bad. To wit:

On my way in yesterday, I discovered the crash bar works, which is just another way of saying, "I hit something". Typical newbie mistake - I misjudged the width of something and clipped the crash bar on a landscaping trailer.
On my way home yesterday, I came upon some serious traffic in Germantown and the Falls. Since I'm still gaining confidence with my low-speed and walking skills (motorcycle walking, not two-legs walking) (though there are days when I wonder if I have those skills, too), I got a little panicked at the thought of creeping and crawling along in a line of cars and tried to find a side street to loop me back somewhere at least less congested. This was a great plan until my bike started to not run. Rolling along, and then sput-sput-sputter-off. I ran out of gas....
Still out of gas, I flipped the petcock (hee!) to reserve. Or, what I thought was reserve.... I managed to get nearly 5 blocks from home before the fuel in the bowls was completely exhausted. Had I flipped it to the correct reserve (instead of cutting the fuel off entirely, d'oh!), I'd've made it home no problem. Instead, the Mighty Swede cycled up and spotted me a half gallon or so of petrol*.

I will admit that I was a little spooked this morning, given my adventure yesterday, but rather than look at my mistakes, I've rewritten them as positive experiences. So I clipped the crash bar. It did no damage (to my bike), the crash bar did it's thang, and most importantly, I did not lose control of the bike. Go me! And, yeah, I ran out of gas. But, in each instance, I was able to get the bike out of traffic and thus avoid becoming part of an even bigger traffic jam. And, I'm also fairly certain that I won't ever again confuse the lever on the petcock (hee!!!).

Eve and I are probably tied right now in terms of road skills. Yeah, she's fallen and dropped her bike at least a dozen times, but she's always gotten right back on it and tried it again. I've commited all kinds of stupid mistakes, and yet I'm still upright. In a sense, I suppose it is all good.

*Motorbike and petrol are courtesy of McGregor and Boorman. They've gotten into my head, what with their accents and vocabulary and shit.

Stop me if you've heard this story before...

2009-03-21T09:33:00.003-04:00

Over on the Spunky Rav Group, we're talking about ear worms. Actually, the conversation started out with the simple question of "Who's on Twitter?", but in true Spunquistador form, took a turn for the worse by page 2. I had some alone-time last night (Mike was congregating with the old office mates and realizing, WOW, the old office is a veritable shit-hole), so in between drum carding (woot! batts!), I checked email and Ravelry.

Anyway, my contribution was the theme from The Facts of Life. It's pretty catchy, most of us have seen it (either first-run or re-run), and it is definitely a song that can get all up inside yo' head.

My husband has his own lyrics for that song. In fact, he regularly makes up his own lyrics for lots of songs, most of which are not fit for public consumption. His version of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" takes inspiration from Brokeback Mountain - 'nuff said.

Now, Mike and I have been together a LOOOOOONG time - we met in '90, started dating in '94, and married in '96. So, he's been a part of my life for, well, more than half of my existence. As such, he's taken on a lot of family memories as his own - even those that he wasn't around for - simply because he's heard the stories so many times. My favorite is when he tells the story of my dad and his buddies doing donuts at the local Catholic school being put under citizen's arrest by Davy Crockett. But, that's another time.

Way back when I was a kid, my mom sponsored a child in Africa. Mom's always been one to reach out and help others. I inherited that from her, though I consider it a blessing and a curse since I've been known to help others at my own expense. Still. The child she sponsored in Africa lived in Kenya and his name was Josphat Kipligat (or Kiplagat - it's been years since the paperwork was discarded, which is ashame because it would be kinda cool to look at those drawings and letters again). He was a black-as-night-save-for-his-gleaming-white-smile sweetie of a kid and would send drawings and little notes of gratitude. He'd share stories about what he'd been up to, how his family was doing, and such. The letters were fairly regular for a couple of years and then, one day, they stopped. Some time after that, mom got a letter from the sponsoring organization informing her that our little Kenyan boy had died. We were all very sad. Despite his health and our support, Josphat died of a snake bite he'd received while getting water from the nearby lake. The nearest hospital was too far away and there was no medical help available in the village. We mourned the loss of a kid we never really met and my mom then sponsored Sonia Thunder Cloud, a Native American.

You're wondering how this ties in to the song from The Facts of Life, right? Well, here it is. Mike made up a song as a way of, er, celebrating Josphat's life and death as we knew it:

You give me this, you give that,
You gave me Josphat Kipligat,
The facts of life, the facts of life.
When you cross the street
You're hit by that
You go fly-ing and then go splat,
The facts of life, the facts of life.
When you're bit by a snake -
There's nothing you can do
but go and die by the lake -
And that's just the facts of life,
That's just the facts of life......

Poor Josphat! Though, there's something to be said for remembering - seemingly forever - a child that lived half a world away and died 20 or more years ago. I don't know what that something is, but it's something. We've incorporated Josphat in other ways, too - the recordable bottle opener? Sings just "Jos-phat Kip-li-gat". Henry the Talking Gnome sings a fast-paced, high-pitched Josphat song (on occasion - Henry also says naughty things like "eat shit and die" and "if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it" and "ouch, my taint!" - such are the perils of living with Mike, people. Also, ladies - back off, he's all mine....). Holidays inevitably feature Josphat and his little song at some point. In fact, hardly a week goes by when I don't think of that little boy in some way. So, thanks, Josphat, for the memories. I hope wherever you are, you're smiling big and bright - I know we are.

SparkCrafted goes a little bit big

2009-03-06T14:44:00.004-05:00

I spent last weekend going through my handspun, measuring yardage, setting twist, drying skeins, and taking photographs.

And with hanks of yarn at the ready, I designed some labels:

Then, just to mix it up a little bit, I got out my beads and wire and threw together a set of stitch markers:

I've gone ahead and opened up an Etsy shop: SparkCrafted.etsy.com, a so-far-very-small shop offering a variety of handspun yarns, some hand-dyed items, stitch markers, and heather batts (for spinning or felting!). I love knitting, but I love spinning even more! And while I do spin-to-knit, I mostly just spin for the sake of spinning. I'll be offering handspun from fibers dyed by Amy of Spunky Eclectic, Carol of Black Bunny Fibers, David of Southern Cross Fibre, and others. Let my bounty of spinning come live in your stash! Or, just tell a friend. I'm adding new items about twice a week and hope to spend some time soon making more stitch markers (next to spinning, making stitch markers rates up there on my list of What I Really Really Like).

Anyone that wants to sort of proofread or offer feedback, please feel free to either Convo me on Etsy or email me at htsparks @ gmail . com.

The Opinionated Knitter

2009-02-05T08:43:00.002-05:00

Looks like I'm waiting 'til after dark to retrieve my book... Because this is one head-to-head I know to avoid.

A whack of WIPs

2009-02-04T14:13:00.002-05:00

There's a little bit of project ADD going on in my life right now.

First, there's the bedroom closet.

It's all done save for the trim (we're trying to match it to the rest of the house, which isn't easy since the house was built in the '20s) and inside customization. Actually, Mike's side is done save for one further piece. My side? I just have the clothes rod. We managed to install the closets themselves with very little difficulty (I KNOW! There's always some kind of difficulty! This time - very little!) and I'm already convinced that every other closet in the house needs to be Ikea-ified.

Next, there's a sweater vest. This is Fence from Knotions. I'm using stash yarn and making it longer than pattern calls for. I've got the back done and here it is blocking away:

I cast on and started the front last night and am vowing that come finishing time, I will not rush through it all just to have a FO. A stitch in time and all that shit.

Then there's the revival of my quilting foray. After discovering that Little Miss Penelope and Her Wonky Head of Attacking had managed to pull some holes in our current quilt, coupled with the fact that we're in the middle of redecorating the bedroom, whether we planned that or not, I've decided I need a new quilt for our bed. I bought fabric:

I'm going a little backwards about this and bought the fabric without having a pattern first. I think 8 yards of fabric will be enough, though for a queen sized quilt. If it's not, then OH DARN, I'll have to go back to Spool or Fabrics on the Hill and shop. Again. Ow, that's my arm you're not twisting...

Here're some closer shots of each of the 8 fabrics.

P&B Textiles, Clara 988E

Jay McCarroll's Woodland Wonderland, JY10

Kaffe Fassett Millefiore

Amy Butler, Midwest Modern 2 Sky/Fresh Poppies

Kaffe Fasset, Paperweight

Amy Butler, Midwest Modern 2 Green/Park Fountains

Unknown print, but I like it!

Sandra Banava for Robert Kaufman, Potpourri Blue

Click through on those fabric shots to get up close and personal.

The fiber I posted about previously - the organic merino from Spunky Eclectic - is spinning finely - 40-60 WPI, with most of the singles being 50 WPI. I'm nearly through the first 2 oz of the merino and am looking forward to seeing how the BFL spins! I really, truly can't wait to move this one to the FO column. While I love spinning and I really, truly love spinning for this particular project (which, by the way, is called "The Project in Which I Spin A Super Thin Yarn"), spinning 2 oz this thin is taking FOREVER. And then I'm going to do the same with the BFL. I must be crazy ... or crafty!

My fear of drowning

2009-02-04T13:32:00.001-05:00

I don't think I've always had this fear, though recently I've started having nightmares in which I drown.

Separated at birth

2009-02-01T10:01:00.002-05:00

This is a tale of two fibers, dyed in different batches, in different parts of the country, by different people.

Twilight, an organic merino, dyed by Amy of Spunky Eclectic for the Fiber of the Month club.

This is BFL, dyed by Brook.

The two dyers would be able to tell the two dye jobs apart, and most avid spinners would know that the two offerings are not identical twins. But, even so, I find it to be some sort of sign that my two favorite local dyers (and despite the 10 hour drive between me and Maine, I do consider Amy to be local. Oh, wait. I consider her to be loco.... I kid.) have presented the same colorway on separate occasions.

I'm spinning the merino super fine (50+ wpi). I split the bump in half and did minimum pre-drafting. I'm using the highest ratio with the least amount of tension on Mr. Fricke and I'm treadling sloooooooow, focusing more on achieving a consistent yarn and not worrying about how long it takes to get through 2 oz. Which, by the way? Takes forever....

I'm going to split the BFL into 1 oz strips length-wise, theoretically varying the color repeat. Then, I'll spin it as close to 40+ wpi. I'll ply the two and end up with scads of what I'm imagining to be the most beautiful yarn ever. Of course, I may be biased.

I think I'll only be able to do this for a total of 4 oz - the remaining half of each bump may have to wait in the stash for some other project. Maybe I'll card the two together, either on the drum carder or the hand carders. Or, who knows? Maybe I'll keep spinning the fiber fine and end up with thousands of yards...

Group FO

2009-01-15T11:07:00.003-05:00

This FO wouldn't have happened without three people: Amy dyed, I spun, and Angela knit. The first two parts of the road to FO were detailed a bit here. Angela sent me photos of the FO and I'm just about KO'ed by how gorgeously perfect the yarn and the colors and the project ended up.

I seriously want to make so much more of this yarn! It doesn't have to be the same exact colors or WPI, but the way I went about spinning this yarn in terms of finished hank goals is definitely something I'd want to do again.

2009 First FO

2009-01-07T14:13:00.000-05:00

I blogged earlier about making the batts and spinning the yarn, but as of late, late last night, I have a FO to share!!!

Using all but a dozen or so yards of my handspun, I made a top-down hat with horizontal ribbing. I cast on 8 stitches and increased evenly around until the hat was wide enough for my head (and hair), and at the same time, maintained a loose pattern of knit 4-6 rounds, purl 4-6 rounds. Once long enough to hit my ears, I knit the remaining rounds allowing for the inevitable stockinette curl. Here's the result:

I've worn the hat all day today and it's suitably warm but not too itchy. It's slightly too big, but I'm planning to do a little hand-agitation when I soak the hat later. Believe it or not, this is my FIRST hat that I've made for myself! I could get used to making hats for myself!!!

Pharm knits

2008-12-22T22:06:00.002-05:00

My friend Angela recently asked me to do some custom spinning for her. A Canadian friend of hers has hit a bit of a rough patch, to put it mildly, and Angela wanted to create a one-of-a-kind scarf steeped in sentimentality. She had very specific colors in mind: greens and golds of a summer field with hay rolls, sunshine yellow and sky blue, dawn and sunrise colors, bonfire reds, oranges, and smokey grays and browns, midnight blue with patches of white for the night sky and a little Glitz (fireworks and sparklers), and black. All of the colorways requested would progress from one end to the other, representing on some level the escape and solace in friendship and memories from life's darkess (the black).

Since finding pre-dyed fiber to match that order wouldn't be easy, I sent a request to my favorite dyer/supplier: Amy King. Considering the final project would have to be soft and hardwearing, I went with my current favorite fiber, superwash Corriedale. I gave Amy my instructions, allowed her some creative freedom, and in a matter of just a few days, had 8 oz of perfectly dyed fiber:

Top arranged in anticipation of final knit - green progressing to the black and the the black moving back out to the green. Two nearly identical, perfectly dyed bumps.

I couldn't wait to start spinning, but still had a little more planning to do. One, Angela requested a bulky yarn. Two, she wanted a 2-ply. Finally, she wanted the two plies to sort of play off each other with the color - rather than have big chunks of color, she wanted something that would fade out of one color and into the next. I split each hunk of fiber into two equal strips and then exchanged one strip from one hunk with one strip from the other. This was sort of my control for the final yarn and I hoped that it would be enough to even out any discrepancies that might be glaring in the finished knit. Then, I spun the fiber on my Matchless using the 9:1 ratio and a supported long draw. I did very little pre-drafting and ended up with lofty, lovely singles.

The spinning went so fast that I never got a chance to take pictures of the singles, plus I was on a deadline! In a matter of days, though, I'd managed to plow through all 8 oz. I plied using the same ratio (9:1) and then wet-finished the yarn with a thorough soak in Eucalan, hot water, and some hand agitation once the water had cooled. The resulting yarn fluffed out to about 5-6 wpi. I calculated the yardage and want to say it all totaled somewhere over 200, but I can't find the receipt scrap that I scribbled that information on... Anyway, yarn!

Angela's been knitting on the scarf for the last 8 days. When I saw her last Sunday, she'd managed to get through the greens and into the yellows and golds. By Thursday, it was reported she'd reach the halfway point. She's promised to take tons of photos of the finished scarf and I cannot wait to see them!

From the edge

2008-12-18T09:35:00.006-05:00

I'm at the edge of just jumping and calling this year (calendar or fiscal - not sure yet) done. Things were going great until the middle of October - since then, I've been sick. I've have head colds, sinus congestion, ear aches (debilitating, too), fevers, chills, and now, most recently, severe gastroenteritis. Whee? Through it all, I've tried to take as few sick days as possible and only when necessary. That there could be part of the problem - not allowing my body enough time to recuperate. But the other factor to consider here is my daily proximity to Children, many of whom Love Me.

I've been working as a public librarian for over three years now and expected the first year to be plagued with illnesses, and it was, complete with my first ever case of the flu. The Flu - oh, people, I had no idea that the Flu was that bad! All this time, I'd thought that coworkers or friends or family or strangers that complained about having the Flu were just weak. I mean, what's a little snuffle, eh? Well, I learned the hard way that year that the Flu? The Flu wants to make you its bitch, so STFU and suffer.

The next year, I got a flu shot (woot!), and managed to avoid any real, interfering illness. Yeah, I got lots of colds and probably took a few days here and there, but I really thought my resistance was building, the germs were losing, and I was on my way to being Super Girl.

Instead, I've spent more time sick than not in the last two months. And I'm learning, whether I like it or not, that I do need to take day(s) off to truly get better. I'm also learning that without cable, there is nothing on television (we have antenna service which means we pay $12/month and get all the channels you'd get with an antenna, plus some public access channels, home shopping channels, and Spanish language channels - all without static). For instance, this last round of illin' has found me tuning in to NBC for much of the day. Public television has loads of kids' programming or food programming - I couldn't stomach either of those. Home shopping channels annoy me - I think I've watch any type of home shopping channel a total of one minute in my entire cable-television watching lifetime.

Anyway, I've been exposed to a lot of commercials these last few days.

Hair Cuttery's new ad with Nick Gilder's Hot Child in the City. Is it just me, or does this chick look like she's tweeking out on some bad high? Dear Hair Cuttery - I do not want you anywhere near my hair even more now.
There's the ad about how your local car dealers have access to all kinds of different credit to get you in the car you want. Um. Where to begin...
Progresso vs. Campbell's. Who knew this was the latest heavyweight matchup? I saw one for Campbell's on Tuesday (I think, I looked away when I saw it was food) wherein Campbell's claimed to not have MSG in any of it's soups, but Progresso? OMG, MSG! THEN, yesterday, I saw a Progresso ad that claimed some 20 varieties of their soup have no MSG and they're working to remove MSG from all of their soups, unlike MSG-laden CAMPBELL'S. I am so confused.
CD commercials - I don't care that Toby Keith has a new album out. Plus, I only see these CD commercials, like, ever 6 months. It's like some weird cycle. Fortunately, it's not the same CD being offered each cycle. That would be awful.
I like butter as much as the next person. But the absurdity of this commercial?

Dear NBC - Momma's Boys is not, I repeat, NOT the most eagerly anticipated show of all time, or whatever claim you are making. I'd expect that type of "entertainment" from Fox. Now that the show's debuted, the commercials for that event are over, but I'm dreading the weekly pixel-barf touting the next episode.
The Jewelry Exchange in Norristown suggests great stocking stuffers, such as pearl necklaces. Am I the only sick mind that snerks like a schoolyard boy at both stocking stuffers and pearl necklaces, especially when the two are used in the same sentence?

What commercials bug you these days?

Batts!

2008-12-09T07:46:00.001-05:00

I had a dozen or so wannabe titles for this post, Bats in the Belfry, Batt-ers Up!, Batt-shit Crazy, Batt-tastic, and so on. But, I think calling it what it is, plain and simple, is sufficient.

After one pass through the drum carder:

Two passes for a blended batt:

And the resulting yarn:

The fiber is shetland and was the November installment of Spunky Eclectic's Fiber Club. The colorway was Raisin Wannabe and originally had broad splashes of purples, pinks, and bright green. After seeing some batts on Ravelry, I felt inspired to lug the drum carder downstairs and experiment. I passed the fiber through the carder twice and during the process added a pinch of glitz - I wanted there to be just a hint of sparkle. Once the batts were ready, I spun the fiber using a supported long-draw technique - wow, spinning that way is FAST. I'm satisfied that I was able to spin the entire 4 oz using that technique, but I definitely feel like I'm not in control of that skill. Guess this means I have to practice more ... Oh darn! I did a 2-ply yarn and have 162 yards of light bulky weight yarn. The longer skein (84 yds) has been wet finished - an overnight soak with hot - cold water (that is, I put the skein in a sink full of hot water and some Eucalan, and then forgot it was in the sink until morning...) and some slight hand agitation before a few thwacks on the side of the tub. It's remarkably fuzzy and lovely. The shorter skein has not yet been wet finished, but I will give it the same treatment.

I'm eventually going to make myself a hat using this yarn - funny, but for as many hats as I've knit, I don't have one to call my own! I might also try to get another 4 oz of the colorway and do another batt for a pair of mittens.

Chico approves of fiber. Actually, Chico approves of sunbeams. He couldn't care a fig about fiber...

Stash!

2008-11-24T08:43:00.000-05:00

I've been, to put it mildly, under the weather for the last two weeks. This weekend, instead of working as scheduled, I remained wrapped in blankets and drank a lot of tea. And, I managed to get some images uploaded to Flickr. Finally. I mean, I probably could have uploaded them weeks ago, but I had this huge imaging project looming overhead and I just didn't feel right working on other images until it was done.... And, while it took much longer than I expected, it's done and I can now resume taking pictures of yarn, fiber, and stuff.

Here's a Mystery Bump I picked up at Rhinebeck. It's about the size of a 2L bottle and promises to be an interesting spin.

I got some other fiber, but haven't taken a photo of it yet. My stash has been experiencing some growing pains and I've decided to sell some of it - I'm sure you can understand. I'm on the fence still about putting up my sweater quantities, and I remain hopeful that if I give it one. more. chance., I'll be able to knit a sweater *and* love it. Anyway, here's a link to the destash on Ravelry. I'm in no rush to move everything out - it really just feels good to have an idea of what stays and what goes.

After Rhinebeck, I found myself motivated to finish up the spinning I'd started on the Jensen. After months of trying to make our relationship solid, I admitted to myself that me and Mr. Jensen were just not going to be BFF. So, early on the first day of Rhinebeck (the line at The Fold was only about 10 deep), I made a deal on a Schacht Matchless - the wheel that I originally wanted before having the Jensen fall in my lap. I could not be happier with this wheel and feel like it complements the Fricke perfectly. Here's some yarn I spun on the Jensen and plied on the Matchless:

It's just over half of the 8oz of merino from Black Bunny Fibers, colorway Helleborus. I think it was my first installment in Carol's fiber club... It's really a scrumptious fiber and spun up without any problems. I Navajo-plied the singles and once I fulled and finished the yarn, found that it reminded me of the stains red wine leaves on white tablecloths.

Mr. Fricke is still getting loads of action - I spun up Spunky Eclectic's Acadia (FOTM) and then Navajo-plied those singles, getting 422 yds of lovely, fingering weight yarn. The fiber is Finn and the end yarn is called Dream It's Over.

Did I blog about this?

This is SW merino, custom dyed by Amy King. I spun it as part of a wedding blanket project and regret not having ordered more of this fiber and color. It's so squishy and perfect. The recipients, that dynamic duo Anj and Sue, will surely be warm all winter and every winter.

Finally, the cats. Oi, the cats. Things continue to be interesting. Just this week, in fact, we've woken up more mornings than not to discover two cats snuggled in bed with us. And, the other day, I found both Chico and Penelope practically sharing a windowsill (alright, so she was on the windowsill and he was on the table, but they were mere INCHES apart), drawn together by the Power of the Sunbeam. The Sunbeam is so powerful, little Miss P follows it from the floor to the bookcase:

And if that doesn't make you want to go home and snuggle, then I don't know what will. For those that will be celebrating, have a Happy Thanksgiving.

A Very Knitterly Birthday!

2008-11-20T16:00:00.002-05:00

This past weekend, Mom and I drove alllllll the way up to just outside Boston, MA to surprise my little sister on her 30th birthday. And while the weekend's festivities were definitely subdued (Big Sis has the flu, or something very much like the flu), I'm pretty sure the Birthday Girl still had a blast. Here she is modeling garments from Twist Collective at The Yarn and Fiber Company's Fashion Show:

That's part 1 of 3 and my sister is Amy, the first (and BEST) of the models. Everything she wore was amazing - in fact, everything that was modeled was amazing to see in person. I feel like my Ravelry queue just exploded a little from all the recent growth.

If you haven't checked out the latest issue of Twist Collective, do so now! Mittens, shawls, sweaters, and more - there's definitely something for everyone!

Every time I think of you

2008-11-01T22:41:00.004-04:00

It's been emotion central these last few days in Sparks Land and Monday might be the best day yet. But, to bring you up to speed: my little Ghia, Miss Bertha, has come home with a valid inspection sticker and a clean bill of auto-health.

In case you're newer to the blog, Mike bought the car for me a couple of years ago (it just happened to be around my birthday). I think the plan had been for me just to drive a Ghia that year as my birthday present, but I'm rarely one to go only part of the way. One short drive under my belt and we were making the arrangements to make the car mine.

Of course, whenever you buy a used car you can expect to encounter some problems. Guess how much those problems increase when you purchase a car that was built in 1974 and is known for its rusting abilities? If you guessed A LOT, you are right! And, if you've been reading this blog for the last two years or so, you'll probably remember the first failed inspection, the disappointing estimates for body repair, and then the horrific year of a car that would pass inspection, if only we could get the thing to run.

Admitting defeat was hard - it meant not only acknowledging that we weren't able to RTFM (I'm sure there's a joke to be made out of the idea of an engineer and a librarian looking under the hood....), but also preparing for yet another handful of cash thrown at the car. While my mechanic is highly esteemed among VW owners, both classic and new, it was hard to finally decide to make that call to him and then the tow company, if not for any other reason than it meant we would have to push the damn car out of the garage and onto the street and somehow manage to park it legally-ish...

But all of that is now history. All of that is now just another chapter in my sweet car's long history, a history that includes incomplete carburetors, asshole body mechanics, and, at one point between the factory and today, eggplant metallic paint. All of that is history because after a week of speaking with Howard the Genius every other day, I was able to drive my car for the first time since March 2007 last night. And while I was nervous to be on the road in my car - unfamiliar after all this time, plus, you know, I WAS IN MY CAR AND IT WAS GOING! - I was, to some extent, complete. Having Little Bert pass inspection finally? Well, it's been a long time coming.

Since picking her up last night, I've driven the car a short 20 or so miles just around the neighborhood, picking up dinner last night, getting gas, and trying out driving with the top down. I have to tell you, it's fucking awesome. I don't have any new pictures (yet), but here's my favorite:

We're far from done with our little project - paint job, new top, seats... The list goes on, but now? Now we can really start checking things off!

Peanuts and crackerjacks!

2008-10-29T22:30:00.002-04:00

I'm really much more of a football-and-hockey kinda gal and will tell you, whether I'm asked or not, that I hate baseball. I don't mind going to the occasional game because there's lots to look at while not watching a bunch of chewing-and-spitting men scratch themselves and run in circles. Plus? The number of non-hits in a game? Booooooooooooooring. I want action! I want hitting! I want the satisfaction of a well-aimed pass landing in the outstretched arms (or stick) of a receiving teammate and the resulting points to go up on the board as the crowd goes wild. If you catch a ball in baseball? That's usually an out.

So, I hate baseball, but I secretly love (and by love, I mean "if I have to") the Phillies. As a young girl, summer weekends always had the game as background noise, whether it was static-y on the TV or buzzing from the AM dial. I don't remember the 1980 season or victory, but I'm sure I listened to the game from somewhere in the house. I do remember team members, household names then and now: Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Tug McGraw, Garry Maddox, Larry Bowa. These names are so vivid that just thinking of them brings up still-images of televised game coverage, the colors of the away uniforms seemingly remembered as a much more pleasant combination...

The Phillies became the team to love/hate and my only connection to baseball. I didn't care a lick about the Yankees, the Sox (White or Red), the Dodgers, the Royals, the Orioles, the Mets, or any of 'em. I avoided the Little League games of my siblings and wouldn't date a ball player in high school just so I didn't have game obligations. I mean, come on - the only thing stupider than baseball was tennis. (Except I've also seemed to develop a serious interest in tennis lately)

But, despite this aversion to baseball, I always knew where the Phils were in the standings, maybe not exactly, but relative. Winning? Losing? Middle of the road? If confronted in a sports bar, I could have held my ground enough so that I wouldn't be mistaken for a fan of the other team (and beaten to a pulp, some might say).

But recently, all of this has changed, and it's not just because we're the mother-effing 2008 World Series champions. No, not really, because I would have gone back to secretly enjoying my Phils if we'd stretched it out to 7 games and given up the go ahead run in the 9th of the final game. I do the same for the Eagles every year they disappoint. It's not a bandwagon'ing type of affection - it's more like the rocky relationship of two people forced together and maybe, just maybe 20 years after having to listen to the same thing again and again and again, until finally one or both give in and say, FINE, we're not getting any better or any worse, this is just how it is.

Anyway, maybe it's a sign of aging, maybe I've accepted that if I've liked (relatively) a team for this long (more than 30 years), it's ok to go public. Maybe it's something else, but over the last few years (since Bowa's last season in '04, for no particular reason), I've followed the Phils a little more closely and cheered a little less privately, and refrained from calling the Boys the Sillies, and instead have sought out 950 AM and have not argued when the TV's been tuned to the game. I've root, root, rooted for the home team, damn it, and I'm so proud of our Phillies that I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat last night.

We did it, now let's have a parade!!!

Goats go to hell

2008-10-26T18:03:00.001-04:00

If nothing else, climbing on my second mountain has enabled me to discover something about myself: I do not like climbing mountains! I like hiking with mild elevation changes (say, 100-500 feet, spread over the length of the hike), I enjoy nature, and I really love spending time with Mike.

We'd planned to climb Hunter Mountain, the second highest peak in the Catskills, via an old fire tower access road. But, we ended up taking the wrong trail. Twice.

Once we got on the right trail, we faced a fairly strenuous climb along a narrow, rocky, and leaf-covered trail.

I twisted both of my ankles at least twice each, Mike got bit by a snake (thank goodness for high-top boots!), and I pulled a gecko move when I laid flat on an overlook and hung the camera over the edge to snap a picture, scaring Mike more than I'd anticipated.

And while we hiked the mountain via two wrong trails and never summited Hunter Mountain and spent 10 hours (including travel time to the trail head) away from flush toilets (not that I needed them because whatever I drank, I sweated out and whatever I ate, I burned up), I wouldn't say the hike was a complete waste.

All told, we hiked about 10 miles, had an ascent of about 1500 feet, and peaked just below 3700 feet. As we were leaving the trailhead, we passed the trail we'd intended to take, the signs nestled among the trees. And for whatever reason (let's call it pride), I vowed to return next year and climb the right damn trail. Of course, Mike didn't argue.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2008-10-14T14:15:00.005-04:00

Just checked the Rhinebeck forecast (for the Nth time today, bringing the total times checked since the 10-day included Saturday up to 11,000) and it looks like we're going to be sunny and brisk! Who can't wait? I CAN'T WAIT. I am so glad that Mike is willing to go with me this year - we're surely going to have a special 12th anniversary celebration.

Here're our plans so far:

Get up early Friday and drive an hour and a half to the trail head for climbing Hunter Mountain. At just over 4,000 feet, it's the second tallest peak in the Catskills. Mike's treating it as a piece of cake, but I think summiting a mountain is a big deal. It's not like we're strolling up a hill.
Spend Saturday strolling the festival. I've already looked at the event schedule and have marked off anything that is strictly non-fiber for Mike's enjoyment. This includes: canine Frisbee demonstration, pumpkin chucking, and a hand-drawn map of the wine and cheese barn. I expect I'll have to text him hourly just to make sure he's not trying to catch a Frisbee in his mouth or in a cheese coma.
Have a lovely dinner that may or may not involve banana ketchup outside of the house. If you're not familiar with banana ketchup, get some at your local international supermarket.
Play some disc golf as we make our way home.

Now, if you're keeping score, you'll see there are THREE THINGS on that list that are basically all for the benefit of Mike - mountains, cheese comas, and banana ketchup. And I only have the one measly day at the festival as my prize. I'll just muddle through, though. The things I do for that man!

Say hey if you see me! I'll be toting this bag again:

And, if all goes well, I'll be wearing a modified version of this sweater:

(Apparently I don't have any finished pictures of this sweater?
Anyway, I'm taking off the sleeves and seeing what happens...)

0-60, sometime in the future

2008-10-12T22:39:00.002-04:00

I'm exercising my right to be Bad Ass (it's in the Constitution!). Rode my motorcycle to work for first time on Saturday and consider the trip to and from an overall success - no crashes, no problems, and it was FUN!

True or False

2008-10-07T07:21:00.001-04:00

It is better to have knit and frogged than to have never knit at all.

My Hey Teach didn't make it - but not for my usual reasons! This time I knit it entirely way too big. Here's hoping I can churn out a vest using bulky yarn and US 9s. If not, I'll just have to be content with strolling the barns at Rhinebeck. Darn.

Still no photos!

2008-09-16T07:55:00.001-04:00

My camera is resting after shooting 550+ shots for a wedding last weekend, which reminds me... I really need to sit down at some point this week/weekend and go through those shots. Anyway, that's my lame-o excuse for not having progress shots of my overdue Ravelympics knitting. Yeah, I didn't think you'd buy it either.

Here're the deets, though, on the sweater as is - the body is complete, the shoulders are seamed, the neckline is done. I'm weaving in ends (I needed something relatively mindless to do last night after a long day at work) before starting the sleeves. I thought if I focused, really FOCUSED, I'd get the sleeves done by this weekend... But, there's other stuff keeping me from my knitting.

First, the car? She might start tonight. Don't ask me what was wrong. It might have been the fuel pump. It might have been the spark plugs. It might have just been bitchy. After we get her started, the plan of attack is: re-insuring, re-registering, re-inspecting. Dear Ghia Gods: please let her pass. I can't afford much more in terms of repair costs. A paint job is necessary, but will have to wait until we have that kind of dough to spare.

Second, I'm test riding a motorcycle tonight. Pretty freakin' excited about that. It's a '76 Honda CB200T and aside from being Bright Orange, is perfect for what I need in a bike right now. We tried to get the '73 Honda CB350F to work for me, but I was just too short for that set up (and lowering the bike? Probably not a good idea. I really hate when people fuck with what works on vintage vehicles.). I've sat the '76 a couple of times, it's narrower and lower. If all goes according to plan, I'll be buying boots and a jacket this weekend. I'd love to take the Safety Course that PA offers, but my Saturdays are about to be jacked by work. I will have to settle for being taught by two motorcycle nuts - Mike and the Mighty Swede.

Cat update (for those that have asked): Chico has left the downstairs! It took MONTHS of waiting, but he's now back in the habit of coming to bed with us at some point in the night and as soon as the alarm clock sounds, getting all snuggly up in my face. Awww, Chico. The trick? Last Thursday, I carried his fat as up to bed when we retired and after an initial WTF on his part, he settled down and purred himself to sleep. SEE - HE'S NOT THAT MEAN. Penelope shows us her belly at least twice a day and continues to be one of the sweetest cats ever. In her brief time with us, she's earned a whole slate of nicknames: Piglet, Princess, Girl(ie) Cat, Slut, and Bad Girl. The two of them are co-existing and that's really all I ever asked for.

Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad

2008-08-29T08:05:00.000-04:00

You'd think I'd finish that with something about being aroused for an educational professional. I tricked you. Instead, the badness I refer to is wheel lust. Hello, my name is Heather, and I'm a spinning addict.

Rhinebeck's on my mind, even though I have two major weekends between now and then. I just can't get the scene out of my mind: the crispness to the morning air, the vendors, the random alpacas strolling by in scarves, the bunnies, and the people. It really is among the happiest places on earth. And that's why I wanted to go this year, not because I had some list on the side or an urge to wait in line for one of the prize-winning fleeces or even to buy anything (except wine and cheese and pie to keep the Pieman from running after Our Lady of Boog).

Except, in the last two days, I've suddenly developed the notion, nay the desire to acquire a third wheel. And this third wheel would be something completely different than the other two (not a stretch to accomplish at all). I want something portable, more portable than my Fricke. And I want something that's less than $300. I want something cute and easy to use and compact. So, I've narrowed it down to two possibilities: a Charkha spinning wheel or a HitchHiker.

I know, I know. I really shouldn't compare apples to oranges. And, I should be wholly honest with myself (and you) and just say that I probably also just listed one of those as my potential fourth wheel. So, the question becomes, which do I need more at this time? I'd love to spin on a 100:1 ratio - that would be CRAZY, I bet. But, I don't often spin cotton and other short stapled fibers. Still, how Zen'ed out would I be, sitting somewhere with my little book Charkha, and making fine, fine thread. I suppose I could really go nutso-like and make my Mom custom embroidery cottons... Drawbacks - I'm not familiar with the Charkha, I don't know anyone that has one, and it's hand-cranked as opposed to treadled.

Then, there's the HitchHiker. Where the Charkha is refined, the HitchHiker wins for cuteness - foot-shaped treadle, hitchhiker cut-out handle, and teeny! The ratios aren't great in terms of range, but it's nothing a little fiber prep can't handle. I can see myself taking the HH many more places than the Charkha if only because it would allow me to do the kind of spinning I'm most used to right now.

Have any of your tried either of these wheels? What's your opinion? Have another recommendation for something inexpensive and portable?