A blog about my life, my fiber arts and pictures of my finished work. I will also throw in the very occasional recipe or shopping tip.
Monday, June 3, 2019
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Exhaustion
To unwind tonight,I spent 2 hours spinning. I finished a small bobbin for teaching plying. Then there was a 4 ounce blend of silk and mohair, it is in the sink ready to be washed. I also got the second plying spin on some lace weight yarn that I was given to make hats with. In my very humble opinion it turned out gorgeous. If I can leave Eric’s room tonight, I will take a picture. See below., the lace weight was first Z plyed and finished off with an S ply. Next it will get a hot bath to set the twist.
Now I am just waiting for Eric to settle in for the night. I have already filled the suction machine a 1/3 of the way up. John emptied it before he went to sleep. At this rate it will need to be emptied soon. Also the later I stay up, I get hungry.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Project numbers 3 through 10
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
11,482
Now if I could only have the G.E. 1960’s self cleaning house of the future. I could use more yarn up faster. Just imagine if the laundry washed, dried and folded itself. If the dishes washed themselves and magically made their way to the cabinets. Self mopping floors and self vacuuming carpets. On second thought just give me Rosie from the Jettison’s. Then I could spend my days playing with yarn.
I just have a few more chores to do before bed so I will cut this short.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Holiday Presents
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
The Whole Warp
You might ask how I acquired so much warp yarn. There are various answers to this question. The answers are as varied as the colors and brands themselves. They include: 1. Someone got the yarn while traveling and it is not cost effective to return the left over skeins. 2. The yarn shop no longer carries this brand and it can not be returned. This should read they started the project a long time ago. 3. I know you do a lot of work with scrap yarn so I thought you could use it up for me. 4. If I get this yarn out of my stash, I can buy more yarn. I personally like this one. 5. Make something for the kids for me. 6. From a Knitter’s or weavers estate. The saddest one of all is number 6. My Local Yarn Shop closed, so this could not be returned. Please support your lys so this does not happen*. These of course are not all of the reasons but are the main ones.
I figure if I weave 2 to 3 scarfs a week and acquire no more warp this should take about a year to use up. Not to mention all of he non superwash Wool that will be use in the process.
* Almost 50% of Local Yarn Shops have closed in the past decade. Please support your local yarn shops.
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Determined
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Oops
While getting ready for this years Sheep Thrills Fiber Retreat, I found the 5 skeins of yarn that I spun last year. I had forgotten that I put them in my sample box. When I got home last year I was just so tired, I put the box in thn garage. Then as I was getting ready for next weekends retreat, I found the skeins.
I have started washing and setting the twist tonight.
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Plying
Friday, July 13, 2018
Yarn
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Tour De Fleece
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Busy and Productive
Monday, March 5, 2018
Cotton Thread
I think that I have an idea for all the cotton crochet thread that I was given. It does involve a loom. The loom is warped for the sample.
P.S. I am using one of John’s creations in the process.
Fun, fun,fun. Until the the loom runs away.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Some Assembly Require
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Shawl's
All my shawls seem to be made from high quality yarn straight from the farm or my local yarn shop. There seems to be a direct correlation of the quality of yarn with how long the hand knit or hand woven item lasts. So even though it is more expensive it is worth spending the extra money for high quality yarn. After all how often can you say my hand knit item is 17 years old when you use cheep, low quality yarn?
So if you are planning to make something for yourself or a family member Please remember to buy your yarn directly from the farm or you local yarn store. They have a vested interest in the outcome of your project. These are also small businesses that deserve your business.
*These are my own opinions and I have not received any compensation from anyone or any business.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Yarn Creep
I have been doing a lot of knitting besides hats too. So tonight I think that it is time to find non-hat projects to fill my UFO basket. I am getting a lot of projects that have been put on the back burner for whatever reason finished. A huge thank you to Vicky Konecky at Grandma's Spinning Wheel, here in Tucson for the push. I am sure that John appreciates it as much as I do.
I have been so busy finishing things that I have not posted pictures in a while. I only say this because I have a full tote bag of finished objects that was under a corner table. I just did not notice how full the bag was getting. I should check that out more often. So I will take pictures tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
In The Blender
I think that I will be putting all my knitting accessories in one spot too. I have not decided what I will put all the accessories in yet. That and single pointed straight knitting needles will be done on Friday. I find it kinda of odd that after over 30 years of marriage that I am finally starting to understand my engineer's mind for organization and that sometimes less is more.
I usually do not run the washer and dryer after 100f, but I got a late start at laundry today. Even though I was finished with the laundry by 10:30 am it was over 100f already. It did feel on the cooler side today at lunch time it felt a bit chilly at 105f with a light breeze after last weeks 115f and 116f days.
I also found time to start knitting a new wool hat tonight and am halfway through with it. I think that is is time to go do some reading.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Projects Can Be Finished
Eric and I spent the day finishing projects. Eric and one of his Elmo's sat next to me as I worked. I managed to weight, label and tag all my Spinzilla 2016 yarn. Sorry friends have dibs on all the yarn. The good news is that it all leaves the house on Tuesday.
I managed to do the trimming on a dozen hand woven mudd rugs and trim the fringe. Next the failed attempt at twisting fringe was given up after 30 minutes. It did not help that the sound would not come up on you tube. The visual did not complete the necessary information to complete the task. So I did the fringe the way that I had learned.
Even without the sound I did learn that placing a heavy book on the woven scarf while tying the fringe did help a lot and made things go more smoothly. The scarfs were then washed and beat up. Yes, I slam freshly washed scarfs against a table. Then they get hung up to dry.
As as I was running out of energy, I decided to to set things up for tomorrow. I also emptied a knitting bag that tore and put the yarn away. I also decided not to repair the bag since it was not well made in the first place.
Friday, October 21, 2016
A New Routine
Well it seems that I am starting a new routine with physical therapy. It goes like this, one hour of physical therapy followed by lunch and a two hour nap. Grrr. This does not help with my to do list. It also leaves me scrambling to keep Eric entertained while I try to catch up on my chores.
Today this lead to white and beige silk drying on one end of the clothes line and ten skeins of yarn from Spinzilla drying on the other with about four feet of empty line between the yarn and silk. I want a good distance between them so the dye from the yarn won't transfer to the silk. I would have finished setting the twist on the rest of the yarn, but I ran out of daylight. Since my left hand is still wonky, they will take longer to dry because I could not squeeze enough water out of them. I am really hoping that the lower humidity of fall will help the yarn dry faster.
I would also like to thank Prayag Verma for his very thoughtful suggestion for a new application for blogspot on my iPad. My post should be more regular now.