Strung Out

And here's the 90 yards, curled up all pretty- from only about 2 ozs of wool and silk! Now I really have to get back to work- really really

On the skeinwinder... did I tell you all how much I love this !

Here's the silk roving all spun up... the colors about right. 15 grams worth. The merino was 20 grams worth

Merino and silk purple roving... so pretty

what a great weekend this would be if I had time.

What I want to do:
Spin with Elizabeth
Spin the black Corriedale with silk
My acid dyes came in the mail- Dye! Dye! Dye!
Yarn Harlot in town on Sunday 10-noon at the Sit and Knit

What I need to do:
Women's legal forum beginners golf lesson- Sat 11-noon
Intensive trial ad and Moot court case stuff
send out resumes

What I will do:
golf lesson
trial ad stuff/ moot court stuff
resumes
yarn harlot

Here are the rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same

My 23rd post's fifth sentence is from the December 5th, 2004 post.

"Bad BF! No treat for you!"

- ok, so I don't actually use periods- so the whole post is one big sentence... but following natural breaking points, it is #5- how funny is that!
For some context, Chris had just posted a anon comment about how knitting was for dorks, and shouldn't I spend more time at law school... I was pissed.

anyway- back to work... lots to do!

Yay! This is a project I can get started on before my dyes show up! But I have a dilemma... red/orange? or blue/green? I have 4 ozs of black Corriedale- very soft, so it's perfect for a scarf/hat/maybe mittens- or I can go super skinny with the yarn and try to make a tank top of some sort. The blue and red are silk tussah- yeah, I use tussah, sorry little - mothies(they die)- anyway... my idea is to introduce silk slubs into the black at regular intervals, so in the knitting fabric, one bright silk stitch will randomly pop out in the fabric! Please tell me what you think- I worry I'm not thinking through this right

here it is... all bundled up

newest handspun! 63 1/2 yards... skinner than last time- but should be great for a hat

Thanks for all the great comments guys! I loved spinning the faux cashmere... it's actually some synthetic fiber- like nylon or something (I'm not sure what it is exactly) I knew it was a synthetic material- but forgot when I went to break off what was left of the single when I was plying the 2 singles... I pulled really, really hard instead of getting scissors, and I left a red groove in my hand- very uncomfortable.

But I'll probably leave this undyed, since it is so beautiful and snowy white.... I'll probably spin up some more, to make a hat for my sister's baby. - 20 yards just isn't enough.

Update on knitting news- I finished the knitting part of my submission for Knitty... now I just need to take pictures, assemble and felt!

I went to Traverse City for a wedding on Saturday.... long drive there and back in 1 day- so I didn't have the chance to stop at Inish Knits- but that's probably for the best, since I'm a student... low on time and extra $.

Alrighty- I'm off to get some work done, there won't be very much going on in the next few days... maybe some more spinning if I get enough work done tonight

Here's the close up! You can tell that this stuff was a little harder to draft... lots of thick and thin bits. But it's so darn pretty, I can't be mad at it.

Here's 20 yards of really soft, pretty faux cashmere... I didn't weigh out how much it was though

Here's the faux cashmere... it's shiny and soft!

Here's pictures for Elizabeth! Blue Faced Leicester- still stinky in this picture- but washed shortly after

When I got home last night, a package was waiting for me... it was the Blue Faced Leicester and the faux cashmere.... they were sooo soft... but the Leicester was a little stinky- it smells like a barn. ew.
oh well- maybe I'll have time to wash it before I leave for my friend's wedding this weekend... then it can dry for a few days totally undisturbed, since when I come back, I won't have time until Thursday to actually spin any. boo.

so tired. If I didn't have an interview, or have to teach arms, abs and glutes class, I'd just go home and sleep all day.

oops! This picture didn't post... this is the navajo ply I tried- I wish the wool were actually this blue color- So beautiful!

ok... here's the last skein I made today- one thin single, plied with the purple cotton crochet thread... 43 yards worth!

alrightly... the thin single was 52 yards... after my (questionable) navajo plying... I just under 16 yards... 16 really screwed up yards. I don't think I'll navajo ply an uneven single unless I'm trying to get funky little bumps. Which I'm sure I'll want sometimes :)

This skein was really over twisted.... I was probably hanging onto the yarn too much- I should probably loosen the death grip ;)

So last night I spun some more singles... this time trying to go really skinny and even- and they look pretty good! I think I'm going to use this single to try navajo plying... it's not very much, so it's ok if (or when) I destroy the wool :) The good news is that it's like finger crocheting a chain, and I know how to do that! (thanks Vovo!)

On a similar topic... My Copper Moose order was shipped... Blue Faced Leiscester and faux cashmere.... both are supposed to be soo soft, and althought I've heard cashmere can be tough to spin, I love a challege! Of course, both tops are white... so there is going to be some dying going on! If these turn out well, I think at least 1 Christmas present will be made

anyway- I'm off to the ND v MSU game... and after that I've got to pick my topic for my Note (30-page legal research paper) oh joy.

I had to play with the color of the picture a little- but this is pretty close to the real shade- maybe a little less blue... but that isn't the couch's natural color. The original picture I took was entirely blue! This skein is probably medium weight... it's still a little thick and thin, but smaller :) I spun 2 singles and then plied those together... and guess what! It doesn't spin in one direction or another! No overtwisting- Whohoo!

quite a lot more than I had before, isn't it? about 95 yards worth. :)

the newest handspun... much thinner, less thick and thin bits, and the real color is a bit more lavendar and a tad less blue

and then there was math...
I was curious about how many yards I made yesterday... so I put the skein back on the skeinwinder, and counted how many full revolutions the yarn made around the skeinwinder. (I didn't have any partial revolutions, but if I had, I would have measured that bit and added it later.

I had 16 full revolutions.... at 52 inches around (yes, I measure the darn thing)
So I have 848 inches of yarn- seems like so little, doesn't it?

Since I had no clue how many inches were in a yard, I googled it- and then realized how sad that was, since 12 inches are in a foot, and 3 feet are in a yard. (36 inches are in a yard)

848/36 = 23.5555555555555555555555555555556; or 23.5 yards


for those of you at home
(inches of yarn) x (inches around the skeinwinder) =_____ / 36= yardage

see, you do need math... now if only we could convince math teachers all over the world that they could use knitting as a teaching tool

TEN YEARS AGO: I was a freshman in high school, had just stopped ice skating competitively, met my current boyfriend wayyy back at the first night all the incoming freshman meet each other- and threw his baseball hat on the roof of the school (it's one story, and a janitor brought a ladder over- so he got the hat back)

FIVE YEARS AGO: I was in college... I taught myself how to knit sometime in 1999 or 2000... and started a wonderful addiction, met a friend for life (hi M!) and had a whole lot of fun!

ONE YEAR AGO: 1L year. Long. Tiring. Demoralizing. Over.

FIVE SNACKS: 1. mini-brownies that Martin's (grocery store) sells 2. chocolate 3. popcorn 4. chocolate pretzels 5. chocolate chip cookies
So you see the trend? Or- "One of these things is not like the others..."

FIVE SONGS I KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO: 1. House of the Rising Sun 2. The Distance- Cake 3. The Devil in Disguise- Elvis 4. What a Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong 5. The Wanderer (oldie but goodie)

FIVE THINGS I WOULD DO WITH $100 MILLION: 1. travel around the world 2. plan on a 1 month vacation every year 3. start my own buisness and be my own boss (law or fiber) 4. buy a really nice spinning wheel (and maybe sheep) 5. invest wisely- so I don't burn through it right away, so there is some left when I'm old, and so there is money left to donate to charities after I die.

FIVE PLACES TO RUN AWAY TO: 1. Brazil- Bahia or Rio 2. Paris 3. South of France 4. Costa Rica 5. Hawaii (I've never been there, but I'd like to go)

FIVE THINGS I WOULD NEVER WEAR: 1. cowl neck sweaters 2. pencil pants 3. bulky turtleneck sweaters 4. sweater dresses 5. micro-mini skirts

FIVE FAVORITE TV SHOWS: 1. Simpsons 2. Futurama 3. Family Guy 4. The Apprentice (with Trump) 5. Law and Order SVU

FIVE BIGGEST JOYS: 1. dancing 2. knitting 3. teaching a kickboxing class 4. finding out that you acutally can do what you think you can 5. sleeping in on the weekends

FAVORITE TOYS: 1. my new spinning wheel 2. all other fiber related stuff 3. my laptop 4. my snowboard 5. update- I'm taking out "my boyfriend" because I would be pretty darn upset if he wrote something like that- although he hasn't decided if he actually is mad about it.

FIVE PEOPLE TO PASS THIS ON TO: Elizabeth at http://esknitnspin.blogspot.com/ ; Madalyn at http://unravelme.lettucepieces.com/ ; Ada at http://dutchknitting.blogspot.com/ ; Mayflwr at http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=mayflwr ; Kris at http://www.web-goddess.org/
Tag, you're it...

here's the wound-up skein...when I hung it up, it curls a bit clockwise- I think that means I overtwisted in the actual spinning, not the plying. I still have to set the twist, so I'll weight it and hopefully straigten that out.

Here it is on the skeinwinder... although the color is a bit off- the blue is a bit darker- more navyish, and the purple stand outs nicely

I plied last nights spinning with purple crochet thread. It's pretty

I am sooo excited... this is my first effort- I probably overspun- but it's all good! How does it look Elizabeth?

The end of the hook I made to pull the yarn through the hold in the spinning wheel

Hello friend!

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The new Knitty is up! Unfortunately, while they have many interesting patterns that look fun to knit, none of the patterns really appealed to me in wearability terms....

I liked the sleeve patterns in "leaves in relief" but I just don't see myself wearing even a modification of the sweater... so I guess I'll just have to make the koala bear, and learn to spin this fall. HA! - like there's any dearth of knitting going on!

Here are the baby socks! the color is a bit off... but sooo cute!

The spinning wheel is in the mail (eee!) and I'm almost done with the 2 cutest baby socks- they're plain white... but adorable anyway. I'll post a picture once I've finished.

So much good news today! Hooray for the finished baby blanket... 3 1/2 months ahead of schedule!

Say hello to my little friend!

If you can't read my mind, here's the news... I am the new owner of a gently used Louet S10....
Hooray!

it was an Ebay purchase, and was a little bit more expensive than I had planned on spending but after doing some research I decided I didn't want to go with an Ashford wheel. Although plenty of people LOVE their Ashford wheels, I've heard they squeak a bit, and I'm hoping to spin while others watch TV.

Ideally, I would have wanted a Baynes upright colonial wheel- beautiful, but about $150- 200 outside of what I wanted to spend, and the Louet wheel came online for less than half the price of a new S10.

Elizabeth.... I'm probably going to have a ton of questions- I'll try not to bug you too much, but you are the most advanced spinner I know :) in person at least!

http://www.massmoca.org/visual_arts/images/current/davecole.pdf

This is a really excellent and inventive exhibit... follow the link for pictures and information.
Way to go Dave Cole and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art!