Just DO IT

So much for my NY's resolution to blog every week...January was a whirlwind! I spent one busy weekend in Seattle for Nihon Vogue. For Level I we are finishing our first two projects--a roundneck vest and a top-down raglan. We learned how to do the sewn bindoff for straight pieces and how to work the sleeves for the raglan. Swatches were reviewed for the roundneck pullover, the next project. I am so excited to be using Madelinetosh DK for the pullover and was happy to have my lace panel swatch approved. Jean's approval process seems to be somewhat arbitrary at times, resulting in much swatching (its good for the soul) and some frustration.





I can't recall the name of this colorway right now but it is foresty green with little peeks of lavender. My cable swatch was rejected as the row gauge is tighter than stockinette, but the lace on the right was approved. Not a great picture for the details but it reminds me of climbing leaves. I will use it for either a single panel up the center front, or two panels, one on either side of the front reaching up to the shoulder.

These swatches are some of my handspun for the sleeveless vest. The whole project is turning out alarmingly small but I am trying not to think about it. (Ah, denial.)






The Level II class was a bit more intense. Our first two projects are a dolman sweater and a 'puffy-sleeved' sweater. My dolman is in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light. This is a great yarn and I am loving working with it, so much so that I bought another sweater's worth in a different color.





My dolman is going to be a zip cardigan with a cable running up the fronts of the cardigan and up the tops of the sleeves and shoulders. We learned how to graft the pieces together so I have most of the finishing to do for this project.

All this to do, and I am not even working on any of it. More soon about the bottom-up raglan for Level two--this is what I have been working on. Catherine Lowe yarn...YUM!

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Mess?

I am not sure why my husband thinks I've trashed his office...






Looks good to me!

Beginning again

This is my first real post from my Ipad and I think I am going to find this easier than posting from my main computer. Up until this last week I have been working primarily on assignments for Nihon Vogue. Our next class is next weekend. After knitting, frogging and reknitting, I finally finished most of the homework and have been free to work on other things. One of my New Year's resolutions is to spin up all of the fiber I purchased at SOAR this year.
The first fiber is an unknown wool from an unknown vender. Okay, I lost the tag. I started spinning this on my drop spindle while still at SOAR and the tag is nowhere to be found. It is from a vender who was from the area surrounding Delavan WI where SOAR was held. There was a small sample of this blend in my welcome pack and I knew I had to get some. Four ounces, spun on two bobbins and then plied together. No regard for trying to orient the color sequence in a particular way. I love the colors and the way they blend. It reminds me of the complexity of color you see in yarns like the tweedy Jamieson and Smith colors, or the Alice Starmore Hebrides yarns.








The resulting yarn is about 300 yds of DK-to-worsted weight yarn destined to be some mitts and who knows what else. It is still slightly damp but I intend to get it on the needles before the next Nihon Vogue class--great airplane knitting.

In other news, E had her third presentation in preparation for getting her black belt in May. There have been a lot of changes at our Dojo and the new karate Master is trying to raise the standards. Consequently the kids last night came in for a lot of criticism, all in a good way though. I am so proud of E for keeping a good attitude despite this.


I was definitely inspired to practice at home myself after this presentation!



More about Nihon Vogue coming soon!

Baptism dress

100_2352, originally uploaded by drlafall.

Here is the back of the dress, I have just started the patterning for the bodice. This star pattern is a bit of a slog but I really like the way it looks. I got the back blocked yesterday and am hoping to block the front and sleeves on Friday for assembly saturday. Then I will finish right on time!

Also blocked is the February Fitted Sweater. When assembled it will be my first FO for the IntKnSweMoDo, if I don't count the Baptism Dress. Im on a roll!

I missed a few other resolutions in my last post, nothing very exciting. The most important is that I will waste no more time on computer games. I probably used up hours of my life last year playing mind-numbing games. I don't feel too bad about it though because I think that time helped my brain process some of the emotional issues I have been trying to work through. Anyway, this resolution has freed up a lot of time, and I am going to make my goal of a knitted dress for E's baptism on Jan 10.

I started her dress on Dec 26. The pattern is not well written--for example, the schematic does not match the shaping of the pattern. I added extra length so that the dress will fall to her knees. I also added more shaping at the armhole and neck. The yarn is luscious--Blue Sky Alpaca Sport in a hot pink. Pic is in the next post

It is the beginning of a new year and a full six months since my last post. At the begnning of each new year I do set some resolutions. It is sad to think that we make these resolutions and within months we have forgotten them and slipped back into our old patterns. Perhaps we set our sights too high.

This year I am going to try and stick to some realistic, achievable goals (at least I think they are achievable).

1. I will participate in the International Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathalon AKA IntKnSweMoDo. When I think about my stash of yarns and patterns as well as my WIPs, I could probably participate for two years and not exhaust my supplies. Anyway, it is a great motivator to get some things done.

2. I will get my candidate blue belt in jiu jitsu. This is going to take more consistent attendance in class and overcoming my discomfort. I am not quite sure why I want this so much. It seems the opposite of everything I am. Somehow though, when I am through with a class, I am charged and excited.

3. Find the joy in life every day. THis is my personal challenge. Living with a husband who frequently drinks to excess and is not much of a participant in our family or in our marriage is difficult. In order to get through it, my only choice is to focus on the good things and try to limit the impact on my daughter.

Okay, so I throw the last one in there, sort of out of the blue going from light-hearted to deadly serious. The thing is, I'm just trying to figure out how to survive this. It is certainly not the journey I thought I was on.

The last thing I need to figure out how to cope with is how I feel about K. Boy this really came from out of the blue and it took me a long time to realize what was going on. At first I just thought it was a case of hero worship. Then last summer I recognized the feeling. It has been over 20 years since I had felt this feeling. I never wanted to feel this again. It is too insane. Perhaps there is really no figuring to do. There is nothing to do about this, but try to let it fade away over time...yeah, like about 20 years!!

Recycling

I really should change the title of this blog at this point because I have completely abandoned all things fiber in favor of all things fabric. I am loving! the sewing! True to my usual obsessive, need to know self, I have signed up for four on-line sewing classes. Three are through www.quiltuniversity.com and the fourth is through www.patternreview.com. Three are obviously quilting techniques--time for some formal education in this. One is basic garment sewing, also time to stop winging it on my own and learn the proper way to do things...
I am currently working through the lessons of "Starting from Scratch", a class on basic patchwork techniques. The precision with which you have to do everything is almost unbearable! It never occurred to me to square-up my blocks before assembly and right now, as I quilt my log cabin quilt, I am suffering the outcome of this knowledge deficit. I don't know if it will be worth trying to struggle through quilting this extremely poorly constructed quilt top, or if I should just abandon it as a teaching experience. Perhaps it can be hacked up for some other use. Reduce, reuse, recycle...

Things I would like to sew...

From Amy Butler's Stitches:
Decorative throw
Placemats and napkins
Patchwork duvet cover (make as a quilt)
Wide-leg lounge pants
Kimono-style bathrobe
Decorative hanging towel
Fashion checkbook clutch

The sewing bug has bitten me big time. On of the first things I did was downsize some PJ pants. They were mine but the elastic waistband had torn out. I cut them down for Elizabeth who was delighted!

She has worn them a ton since I finished them!

I am also working on a simple outfit for Elizabeth, a Burda Pattern. The top is cute, and I am very proud about my success with the zipper!

The last thing is a little summer cover-Up from Weekend Sewing. This is just the facing. I used a Liberty Lawn. At$38 per yard, it wasn't a bargin!

Many more pictures and projects for a later post. I have been sewing up a storm!

Is it possible to be a post-a-day kind of gal? Who knows, but I am accumulating a bunch of projects to blog about. These are pictures I took during a class at Madrona. It was about a special Japanese dying technique called Kakishibu. The dye is extracted from the persimmon and then is used to paint fabric, paper, yarn, basketry, you name it. The hue darkens over time, and can be modified by the use of different chemical modifiers such as tin. Chris Conrad taught the class and had some stunning examples to show us. The diverse uses to which this dye has been put are amazing. The picture above was acheived using a stencil resist to paint parts of the flower, and leave other parts white. The picure below shows how the dye looks different on two different fibers. The background is a silk scarf, with chenille leaves taking up the dye in a different way.

The picture below is of a basket that has been covered with paper, and then dyed. The dragonfly stencil was added later. Just amazing!

Another picture from a basket. I enjoyed learning this technique but don't think it is something I will pursue further. I prefer to work with more brillant color. It was a great example of making the most out of a technique. My own sample is 'curing' in my yarn room. I will need to finish it in someway so that it is appropriate for hanging.

And finally, lovely Tacoma from my hotel room...only three months ago. How the time flies!

I am in the air on my way to the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat. It has been a whirlwind these last couple of days. The big karate push paid off when Elizabeth and I graduated on Friday night. She received her advanced blue belt and I received my advanced red belt. I got a few pics of her. She was the photographer for my graduation so the pics aren’t great but what can you expect from a five-year-old. She was at least enthusiastic!

Look at that great back stance! I am so proud of her for really sticking with the karate. And it is amazing to see the progress she makes. It seems like forever that she cannot do a specific move and then all of the sudden, she can, and she does it well. So much fun to see!

Saturday E ran in the Medtronic ½ mile race for kids. It was pretty chaotic for her age group (first grade and under). The faster kids quickly lapped the little ones and you could no longer tell who was ahead. E was in first place for about the first ½ lap and then she slowed down. Due to the chaos, she accidently did an extra lap before I was able to get her attention and signal her into the finishing area. Pretty funny! At least she had a good time and is excited about doing another race in May.

Having finished the Grant Ave Vest, I have had some serious starter-itis. This is in part due to a visit to Bella Lana after E’s race on Saturday. I was able to find the Tilli Thomas yarn for the stitch diva sweater I have been eying for the last six months. I am excited about this pattern because it is knit from the top down, something I have little experience with, and it might be dressy enough to wear to Danny’s graduation in May. I also bought enough Twinkle Soft Chunky to make the Potter cardigan from Town and Country. I have been working on this, it is such a quick knit, and have one sleeve done (my swatch) and am working on the body.

Crisis of confidence revisited

So this is the project that got me thinking of all of my UFOS and why they continue to be UFOs. It is the Celtic Vest kit by Fleece Artist. I picked the kit up at BeeHive in Victoria British Columbia. I just couldn't make this work. I got 3/4 of the way done with it and realized that even with some heavy blocking, it just wasn't going to work. Also, the neck shaping looked funky and I just didn't have the endurance to redesign the whole thing. So, to the 'repurposing pile'.

As I thought of my other UFO's it is apparent that most of them have some aspect with which I am not happy. I will have to think long and hard about each one before expending more effort.

Finally, the Grant Ave vest is done, all but the buttons. I am a little unhappy with the way it gaps out away from my waist because it has no shaping along the shoulders. It is a generous size and I might wear it belted which will solve the problem.
To get geared up to really work some fairisle, I started these mitts. I am very happy with the way they are going even though I am only on the first one. Once the fairisle bug bites me, I am usually good for a fair amount of it. We'll see if it gets me through these mitts.
Lastly, this is what I got for my birthday this year. It is my fifth (and final) stripe on my red belt, which qualifies me to test for my advanced red belt! I am very excited and have been working hard to get here. I need to continue the push to try and qualify for my brown belt by May, otherwise I have to wait until September. Elizabeth will also be graduating, to advanced blue so I will put up pics from our graduation on Friday.

I'm over it

I've had enough of the subzero temps for this winter. It was quite depressing to note the -3 on the car thermometer on my way to work. I am tired of cold hands and feet. The saving grace is the blue, blue sky today. And I heard a cardinal singing when walking to the office from the parking lot this am. Hopefully the bird knows that spring is on the way.

I haven't had the energy for any serious spinning lately so I have been working my way through several shipments of CrossPatch Creations sampler packs from the Bellweather. I love these. They are one ounce samples of various colorways and I can spin them any way I like without worrying about final weight etc. These are pics of my recently completed fourpack. I have another all spun up into singles and waiting to be plyed. I am trying to have a shrinking fiber inventory this year. So far, I have taken in 8 ounces of Merino/tencel from Chameleon Colorworks and have completed these little 1 ounce skeins. Once I ply and wash the others, I will be negative 1 ounce!
Aren't they fun?! I think the black/brown/white will be cuffs for some black mittens/gloves/mitts. I think I have a skein of soft, soft Kimmet Kroft Fibers yarn, or perhaps my black Malabrigo--either will be luscious!

Resolving a crisis of confidence

...or How a good blocking does wonders.

I spend a quiet day at the hospital yesterday and was able to get the stranded part of the Asian-Inspired baby sweater done. It only took about FIVE episodes of the Closer to get through this part of the sweater when I discovered puckering...! Argh.


It is not as visible in this pic as it really appears. I threw it aside, disgusted. Before ripping the whole thing out, I decided to wait until this morning when I could subject it to some serious steam ironing.
Hurray for irons! It looked much better after a little pressing. Enough that I can continue without ripping my hair out.
I have been very frustrated with my knitting these days, perhaps because I am not allowing myself to start new and exciting things, with the exception of the above project. I am trying to get those UFO's done but I am realizing that each is a UFO because it was a problem. With each one, I hit a snag and lost interest in the project. Something about it ruined my ability to see it as a viable finished garment. I may end up frogging more of them then I originally intended. The list in the side bar was culled from all of my UFO's as being the most likely to be completed, but I may find more of them get 'repurposed' then I thought.
Anyway, this project was a roaring success...

Name of Project: Sunrise Scarf

Weave: Plain weave

Warp: Purchased handspun

Weft: Handspun BFL, fiber from the Spunky Eclectic. Worsted spun, 2 ply

Rowan Kidsilk Haze, color Blush

EPI: 12

Width in reed: 10 inches

Finishing: Edged with Herringbone stitch.

Thrown in normal wash cycle, then pressed.

Final Destination: Christmas gift for my mother. She loved it.
And finally, a little handspun I finished before the first of the year. It is a merino/tencel blend from Chameleon Colorworks that I purchased at SOAR 2006. It is navajo-plied to preserve the color changes and I am very happy with it. I don't know the yardage off the top of my head.

Hell week

I am at the end of my third call in the last week. Fortunately, this was a quiet call and we did not a single delivery during the entire 24 hours. The complete opposite of watching the blood flow out of a young woman who did not want to receive blood products. I will never forget the grace and courage with which she and her husband faced the likelihood of her death, just after the birth of their son. Mike writes it off as pure stupidity, bordering on psychosis but I think they have something that many of us strive for but never near. Call it peace, or faith. I don't know, but it was a night I will never forget, and I hope never to repeat!

I am way behind on FOs. Fortunately, there are FOs. I had a big push just before the new year because I wanted to shorten the list of things to finish in the coming year. I want to enter 2010 with no FOs that are older than six months. That seems only fair to the projects that have been languishing in the closet for years.

When my mom visited over Thanksgiving, she fell in love with the yarn I was spinning and I promised a scarf for her for Christmas. The yarn on the left, below, is a 2-ply spun from a Spunky Eclectic club shipment. I think it is BFL. I spun it worsted, to practice that technique, and should have plied it a little more tightly but it ended up working well for this scarf. The warp yarn is on the right, a yarn I purchased on Etsy, I don't recall the seller. I used every last yard of the 200-and-some skein and warped my rigid heddle loom. My handspun, combined with some Rowan Kidsilk Haze, is the weft.

I was so in love with the end result that I could barely part with the scarf. I have enough weft to weave another, if I can find another suitable warp yarn. Ahh, a success!

I carry a thousand thoughts and stories in my head, but when I sit down in front of the computer...nothing.
We have been shivering through a breath of Arctic chill over the last few days. Today, it will warm up to a balmy 11 degrees F. We had a blowing light snow last night. The kind of storm that shocks you because it makes the world seem so silent, even in the middle of a busy city at rush hour. Despite the storm and the driving conditions, there were many cars headed towards Target for after-work Christmas shopping.
Christmas always seems to catch me by surprise, and before long, I am so overwhelmed that I decide that there is really no need to decorate the house, or bake Xmas cookies, or... Over the last few years, Mike and I have been trying to establish some traditions for our family, given our hectic work schedules. This year I am not working on Christmas, and only a 1/2 day on Xmas Eve. We are planning a really nice dinner on the Eve, and then gourmet foods from Zingerman's to snack on for Xmas Day.
Gift knitting is coming along quite well. I had planned two sweaters for E, and am on the first sleeve (body is done) of the second sweater. Pictures to come. Back to the knitting for now!

I just came back from an absolutely wonderful weekend in Chicago with my sister and several of her friends. We shopped, ate and drank--all were done to extremes. Although my sister and her friends are not fiber freaks, they were tolerant of my need to knit and to seek out the nearby yarn stores. I managed to hit three shops, picking up several skeins of yarn at each. The 'moment' of the weekend was during dinner at SusiSamba. My sister and her friend were getting a little heated talking about politics, it was getting a little tense. I, in a slightly drunken stooper, decided to pull out my knitting. THis elicited screams of laughter from the other two women at the table who thought I was making a statement about the political converstation. I just wanted to knit, but it ended up breaking the tension and was really quite funny.

With the flights and early morning awakenings, I managed to cruise along on a sweater for E. She chose the yarn and pattern, but I don't think she will expect the FO as a present under the Christmas tree.

This is a pic of the back. The front has lots of bobbles but I did not think those would be comfortable when sitting in a chair so I omitted them from the back. I am almost done with the back. Then there is a wide ribbing at the waist and a large turtle neck. The body is knit side-to-side. It is going quickly, I started it last Thurs and expect the back to be done today.

The other pic is a little dark but it is a closeup of the Florin vest I knit for a friend's son. A quick, easy knit. This was done in Halcyon yarn's Botanica. I want to do one for me, perhaps in Cascade 220.

We ARE a country that can put aside our fears and our prejudices. WOW!
A finished Christmas present. Okay, almost finished. A few ends to weave in and loopy detail to add at one end. This is the Stone City Scarf from the most recent Interweave Crochet. I used Noro Silk Garden Sock, about 1 and 1/4 skeins. It is destined for my friend Doneka. A quick and satisfying project, great for dragging to E's after-school activities.

Today is the long-awaited end to the election season. I've voted, and am so glad to be done with all of this that I really don't care who wins. Two years of campaigning! There ought to be term limits on a campaign!

Time flies between posts, as usual. I've had a lot of fiber fun over the last several months. I spent several days in both Sept and October playing around with natural dyes. I pulled my recipes from various books, mostly relying on Trudy Van Strachen's book and was (mostly) delighted with the results.


These are various skeins of handspun shetland, in various natural colors, that I started throwing into the exhaust baths of various dyes including cochineal, and logwood. I love how many colors you can acheive by varying the mordant or the after-bath. I especially love ammonia dips, probably because I like the whole red-blue-violet spectrum.

These are the mini-skeins of Belle yarn, several dyed with cochineal, one with logwood, and one with weld. I am very happy with the results and am planning to knit these mittens with this yarn.

This very dark picture shows mini- skeins of merino lace-weight yarn dyed with Brazilwood, with a number of different mordants and afterbaths. Each skein is about 200 yds and they look beautiful together. I have no idea what I will do with them. I also managed to spend some time at the Textile Center and carded some of my Shetland-Border Leicester fleece. I spun this beautiful worsted-weight yarn that is soft and spring-y. I can't wait to get back to carding somemore of this fleece so I can really get going with the spinning.

I have been surprisingly productive with knitting and weaving for Christmas presents as well. I am well into my list of projects and may add a few more if this pace continues. I need to get pictures of the WIPs for my next post.

Well, I didnt actually get in to the Ravelry swap, I did not send in complete info in time. Oh well. I am still going to try to blog once per week to keep the blog going. My spinning binge has continued. I am spinning my second batt of merino/silk from Ewenique Fibers but am spinning this singles a little thicker then the original batt.
I did not like the way my thin yarn was "muddy", none of the original colors really stood out. I am hoping that with a thicker yarn, the colors wont blend as much, they are really to beautiful to lose. This is a sinfully wonderful batt to spin, very soft. The batt weighed two ounces and I split it in half length-wise, spinning each on to a separate bobbin. I will finish the second bobbin tonight or tomorrow and be ready to ply them together this weekend. This is the fingering weight yarn I spun from the first batt. The colors really blended too much.

The second picture is from the second batt, and is a dk weight that I am very happy with. It is a soft, springy yarn. I keep hearing Judith MM's words in my head to underspin and overply a woolen yarn and it really works to get a great yarn.
I am accumulating quite a stash of handspun fiber and I think it is time to see if I can sell any of this. I am thinking of setting up an Etsy store. As a prelude to this (hee, hee), I am doing some marketing research that I will post more about later. I cant believe there is even a market for this but it appears to be true. I also think it may be time to destash some of my commercial yarn on Ebay or Ravelry. There is no way I can possibly use it all. So on my agenda is some photography of my stash, and some sorting to figure out what I can part with.

My other major venture is getting into the natural dying. I have been fascinated by this for a while and should have some time to experiment with this during my vacation in September. So I have ordered a stash of dyestuff and mordants to experiment with.

This last picture is the last of my four samples from my Bellweather sample club. It is from a great batt from Crosspatch Creations and is very vibrant. I just wet-finished it today.