Ending

Ending, as that feeling that occurs when the year draws to a close and the overriding urge is to finish, to tidy, to end ...what ever it is one is doing so one can start anew with the new year.
Yet again another filler post, nothing much to show at all. I'm plodding along on the socks, the cardigan seems forgotten in the depths of the work basket, I have a needle with a join that snags and that isn't fun when magic looping. Every few days a new loaf of bread is made and consumed. The minor change this week, major maybe, is that the building I work in is being upgraded, so I'm working from home. E-mail and internet and portable devices, makes it possible, I check in a few times a day and other than that I've spent my days polishing my Adobe Illustrator skills. This year work arranged a school membership to Lynda.com, and so I have indulged in all things techno geeky and fashiony and am working through lots of the fashion flats tutorials. The students have access as well, and this is something I teach so the Lynda.com subscription will change my teaching a little, or maybe a lot. It's been good to have several entire days to play and learn and practice without interruptions. Really good.

A few months ago J who lives on a farm asked if I was interested in naturally coloured wool. Being a commercial farm white wool and meat is the goal, and so any dark fleeces are removed from the bundles at shearing time. I think the whiter and finer and longer (within reason) and cleaner the fleece, the more value it has ... So this bundle of fiber became mine, a slightly scary idea, in that until now I have happily left the fiber prep to others. But a gift fleece from a quality sheep is nothing to turn away. I have read that cats often looooouuuve fiber, raw fiber and are almost annoying around it, stealing it, guarding it, rolling in it, so I was surprised Yo-yo was standoffish to the point of having her back to me.
Last weekend, it was fine and sunny and I felt up to the task of tackling the fleece. I laid out a clean old sheet and dumped one third of the fleece in the living room. Truth is I assume it is a single fleece, but it don't really know. The colour ranges from dark grey to white grey with golden brown tips where the ends of locks have been bleached by the sun. The sheer volume of fiber was almost to much ...I'm the kind of spinner who thinks that a 200-300 gram batch is large. This is kilos!

I sorted out some locks, the fiber is fine, with a nice crimp, and clean ( aka not smelly) so I am pretty sure it was skirted before I got it. Skirted is the technical term for the act of removing all the gritty bits, the messy bits and let's be honest the bits with poop and pee on them. I'm so glad about that, I did kind of avoid dealing with the fleece for a long time because I wasn't ready to deal with poopy bits even though avoidance was risking making a problem worse.

Then I laid out three rows of locks on tulle fabric, and folded the tulle mesh over to hold the locks in place. I repeated this eight times and the set about washing the fiber. The mesh envelopes/packets of fiber were sized to fit into a plastic mesh basket that fits inside my sink. I stacked several packets in the basket, and submerged them in very hot tap water with a dollop of Eco friendly dish detergent. I let them sit and wallow in the hot water for ten minutes, then drained it, and repeated with more hot water and dish wash. Once the water wasn't yucky brown I rinsed the stack of wet fiber by soaking it for ten minutes in hot tap water several times, until the water was clear not cloudy. The mesh and basket method I gleaned from the internet, and stops the locks from tangling and felting. The universal internet hive mind is also where I gleaned ideas about using dish wash, and hot, hotter, hottest water to melt the lanolin and general dirt.

This is the aftermath, I ended up with eight flat packets of clean dry fiber locks. And at this stage it all looks weird and very flat, oddly flat as if the fiber has lost its bounce and crimp - which due to the weight of the water it holds. So I left the opened packets of fiber in the sun/dappled shade for a few hours out on the warm concrete path to dry. I did move the fiber around a few times, to a new non-damp patch of concrete, to speed the drying, and then I popped it on a rack inside overnight over the dehumidifier. Just to make sure it was totally dry.
The next stage is to flick the locks ... And wash more. And I'll post photos. So far I've done a few locks and learned that I can be very selective when sorting locks for washing, it's easier to avoid the shorter ones, as they are harder to flick card. I think I will also snip away the bleached tips ... although Bear thinks they add a little drama. I weighted my dry fiber and it was 110g ... which surprised me, as 100 g is enough for many things. So only another eleventy thousand more batches to do.
There is a kind of project in mind for this, other than increasing my fiber knowledge and skill set. I will fill in the details next post.
Many thanks, na Stella

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All of it, out on show

Well here I am, back from KAN, if you want to drool over what went on there is a KAN ravelry forum thread and a site with photos from all three KANs (note this years kan was 2012, and photos are at the bottom of the page). Now I am home, and pretty much all knit out, the past two days I have been spinning, having felt a need to do something other than knit from a chart and not wanting to start something new. Last time I did that, it was the Pi shawl specifically to knit at KAN, before I realized that traveling knits are better if not worked with the yarn on a cone. Last post I promised to reveal my splurge, my stash enhancement, so here it is, sans one or two little things that are gifts for those who could not attend.

All of it

Compared to some of the photos in the KAN ravelry forums my Stash enhancement was very moderate, but I guess that just showing this pile is mean and I really need to provide a fuller tour of the pile.

First this

Within minutes of arrival, my traveling enabler M announced that there was the perfect merino silk grey yarn for me on the trade table next to her vintage Purls stall. Not only that but she had asked for three skeins to be put aside for me. Well - I couldn't really ignore such open thoughtfulness, could I? especially as often it is difficult to secure an entire cardigans worth of yarn from indie diers. The dye pots are small compared to industry, so as a result barches are small, and once yarn is on the market the dye batches are quickly sold. I loved the grey, named Smoke and mirrors, dyed by Jessica of Spinning a yarn. Having just finished a grey cardigan I know I need another one, truly I do.

Next fibre

Next there was a stop at Wabisabi fibers, where Matt had the most amazing variety on offer. This is two little 50g twists of North Island New Zealand Corriedale, which I am told is very different to south island Corriedale. I look forward to playing with this.

Thirdly

Thirdly was this, on day two of KAN, first is a twist of amazing yarn, so luxurious that the budget fibre is baby alpaca! I kid you not, this is Road to china, and is 50 grams of heavy fingering yarn consisting of 65% baby alpaca, 10% cashmere, 15% silk, and 10% camel. I don't even think it actually weighs anything, the label says 50 grams, but in ones hand the yarn is so soft as to feel weightless. Next to the yarn is a cute wee needle gauge, from Finland in the shape of a robot ....because ... you know ... it was cute, and the yarn fumes got to me.

That little splurge was followed the next day, as KAN is a three day event, by this a soft white and silver grey sock yarn blend, with merino and a touch of nylon also from Wabisabi fibers. I had seen this on day one, and loved it. Still there on the last day indicated that I really needed to adopt this fibre .... As no one else had.

More lovely rainbows

Also on the last day I spotted this, or rather these, two lovely hand made Rolags of blended merino. You know that jeweler, Frances who makes the beautiful spindles? Well this is one of her blends, I've spun her fibre before and the colors just glow. The two packets match, giving me all sorts of opportunity to play more with the fibre colors as I spin. I wish the photo did justice to the blend ... but it only hints at the bright sunny jewel colors.

M again

Then as the traders prepared to pack up, M from Vintage Purls convinced me that this was the perfect colour for me and as such needed to come home with me. I had been avoiding this fibre, yes it is 'my favorite' shade of grey blue, but it has sparkly bits as well. I'm not sure how I feel about sparkle in my fibre, but this has just a hint amidst the merino, alpaca and silk, such a teeny amount I could pretend it is not there.

I just realized that KAN started with M enabling me, and finished the same way .... with M enabling me, and I don't care, with friends like that i am one lucky knitter/spinner.


Take care, next post will have actual reporting of knitting and spinning .... I promise.

Na stella

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Inspired ...

This week I have been inspired by another knitter, something that happens all the time, when I see the knitters around me do clever beautiful things,when I see clever beautiful things on Ravelry and on blogs. This time it was a local knitter who has inspired me to finish and complete. As well I've been playing with my new hand carders, and making rolags, and I have that new project to introduce.

This is the project that inspired me, Kiwimoth from Ravelry gifted the youngest cub her Sanquhar mitts. Knitted in lace weight yarn, stranded, and on 1.25mm needles. The gauge is 13 stitches in 2cm, so 65 stitches in 10 cm or 4 inches, 17 stitches per inch - give or take. I am in awe, awe that Kiwimoth knit one, then two of these, awe that she gave them away! Her gift did inspire me to finish knitting mine, which has a gauge of 43 stitches in 10 cm or 4 inches, or 10 stitches to the inch. 

Here is the difference those seven extra stitches per inch make, on top Kiwimoths child sized mitt, underneath my more adult sized mitt.  One of the reasons I was dragging the chain on finishing mine was indecision. I didn't know if I wanted to make them gloves as the pattern was, I've never had a pair of gloves I felt comfortable in. I already had several pairs of mittens, and and to turn these into mittens seemed odd. When I saw how good Kiwimoths mitts looked, which she had finished with a teeny tiny picot edge ... I was inspired to do the same to mine.

I tried the picot edge, and it didn't really work.The top edge stretched, so I frogged and worked the picot again this time decreasing the facing stitches by a factor of 10%. I grafted the live stitches down .. but still the edge flared and the picot didn't sit on the edge. So I was in awe a third time that Kiwimoth had worked a picot edge at that gauge and had done so successfully. I frogged the top cuff back and worked a round of plain chocolate, then three rounds of single rib, then I worked two rounds of rib-slip to set up for a tubular cast off. I loved the final result, not as pretty as Kiwimoths, but neat and tidy.

I also spent some time playing with my hand carders, making little rolags. I turned a 100g  braid of soft silver grey Perendale from Vintage Purls into light sleek roalgs, and then spun a few.  I've played with long draw before, but not really felt in control of the process. After watching the two dvd's I bought I was convinced that like everything, success was reliant on good preparation. I have (Drafting the long and the short of it & How to card wool, as well as several books with instructions on carding it hand carders.   The thing about preparation seems true, because the silver grey rolags are a dream to spin.


I also visted you tube, and the most useful video I found was one by Hervorandweyland. Most videos and books told me the carding teeth should not touch, that they should skim over each other and not even mesh. I understood that to mean the teeth should just skim past each other, and I couldn't see how the fibre would be carded. This video shows the difference between a light hand with carding, where the teeth just brush past each other and meshing the teeth deep into each other (around the 2min mark), Seeing that made it clear to me that the teeth could touch, just not deeply.

I had so much fun spinning the first few rolads of pale grey that I dug around in the my stash to find something else to hand card into rolags. This is deep green, purple, wine merino, dyed by me 160g. At the base of the bag the fibre is more  black and green, at the top more wine and teal. I have no idea how I will ply it yet, but I plan to spin long draw.

And this little project, a hat, knit in the Knit one below style developed by  Elise Duvekot. The knitters study group project this month was Knit one below, which I have done not once but  twice before. I wanted to knit socks, but two things worried me, having enough yarn, I had 50 of the grey green and 100g of the variegated mauve, and fit. Elise recommends yarn with lycra or elastic fibres as being great for Knit one below socks, and I didn't have any yarn with lycra and didn't want to knit baggy socks. So I switched to knitting a hat, using the garter strip as the 'cast-on' edge. I love the way the stripes transition from the garter to the body of the hat. In an effort to stop the hat colours being to regular I'm switching the variegated and plain columns at the pale section of the colour way repeat.

I'm hoping that when little cub comes back from her grandads she will let me post her current project. She is knitting Elijah, and it is such a clever little project. The increases and decreases are all planned very carefully so the knitter knows exactly where and how to pick up stitches for the body, the legs, the arms, the ears and the trunk curls up a little because it has extra decreases to shape it upwards.

Take care
Knit lots, or spin, try long draw ... even
na Stella

Where did that week go?

Ever have one of those weeks where some how, the week is gone and there isn't much to show for it? There are times that I think my whole life is a bit like that, and the older I get the more time seems to fly and the less time I seem to have. Today there is a new project, specially requested by Bear, and an old project comes closer to ending, and there are new toys.

Bears A-kicking hat in Stansborough grey

Bear has very little hair, he won't mind me saying that, I know as I asked. What hair he does have he keeps very short, military short, clipped. Its been like that for a while, a long while. Here in New Zealand we have two factors that combine and raise the risk of skin cancer, much of the population is genetically disposed towards fair skin, the kind that burns easily, and not just in the midday sun. Add to that here in New Zealand the light that we get seems richer in the kind of wavelengths that cause damage to the skin. Don't panic, its not cancer, but there are some little spots that won't heal that Bears doctor wants to remove. Years of exposure to the sun has created skin that is almost to thin to take standard wear and tear and the treatment is to remove the skin and let new thicker skin grow. Bear is a sensitive sort and dosn't want to expose his head to the view of the world while it heals so requested a hat that could be worn indoors. We had a shared Ravelry session, where quite a few patterns were viewed and considered, many were rejected and we both felt that Elliots Ass-kicking hat by Megan Ellinger was the one. Then I invited Bear to view the stash drawers that held suitable yarn - and this is what he picked. Stansbourgh Yarn, 4 ply in natural grey. I'd link to the yarn itself but it was bought a few years ago and they don't do this one any more, just a DK / light worsted weight.

Edging Banjo-Helen's baby blanket.

Most of this week I've been knitting on the hat, seemed only fair that it be completed quickly. Bear wants to book a session with his doctor soon. Before I was distracted by the hat, I begun the edge on Banjo-Helen's baby blanket. I hope to have this done by the end of next week. Next weekend is the local Knit Camp - and I'm wanting to take something smaller with me to work on outside of class. The sanquhar mitts perhaps? Start a cardigan for me, start one for little cub ... start something for my secret swap partner, finish the socks on the needles? I've no idea what will be next but just thinking about what it could be is fun.

New toys, a pair being two makes it toys plural  doesn't it?

And here is my new toy, so new that I've not even brushed fibre past them. A pair of Howard Hand Cards, fine 120 TPI, standard sized, from The Woolery.com, shipping was almost the same cost as the carders themselves.  I've been looking at carder prices and shipping for three or so years now and with the current favorable New Zealand exchange rate I was able to by the carders with shipping for a little less than the cost that the carders alone would have been three years ago. I had to take a bit of a leap and risk, not being able to discuss hand carders much here, most locals have Ashford ones, and few spin woolen, and not being able to try different brands and styles before I bought. The Howard ones seemed good value for money without going for a student model, and a nice compromise between curved and straight. The more I looked the more there seemed to be a clear preference amongst those who use hand carders for either straight or curved. I'm waiting for a dvd to arrive to guide me, How to Card Wool: Four Spinners, Four Techniques before I start of and learn bad habits. Some times I just like to let the excitement rest while I look forward and plan to use new things rather than jump in and get all muddled. I thought since I was enjoying playing with spinning worsted that a pair of hand carders and a little tuition might be a good thing. The carders arrived within 4 days, the DVD was order first and I'm still waiting on it, I can wait - there is plenty to do.


This week looks like another busy week, lots to get through at work, there is another big hand in for students,  and so a pile of marking for me, and student presentations this Monday. Plus I'm nearly done on the next article for Entangled ... this one is on workbooking and keeping records of ones crafting. I'd best head off and finish that before Little cubs friends descend for a play date this afternoon and distract me.

Take care
na Stella

Some of this, and some of that ....

and I'm really feeling the need for more hours in my days and weeks just to play with all the things that I want to play with. I spent some time knitting and some time dying this week, and even started on a new and tempting hobby activity. 

The knitting is fairly monogamous right now, just the Banjo blanket, and pretty much going round and round and wondering when is a good time to stop and add an edge. Of course that involves making a decision about the edge, either the one from the pattern, or a side-knit band that matches the corner increases. And then there is a decision to make about proportions, I'm thinking twice as much burnt orange and brown is a good proportion for the edge colour.

Thursday little cub had friends around, and I wanted to leave them to their own play as much as possible. I like the idea that they are old enough not to need an adult to direct their play. Doing that mean I wanted to sort something for me to do, nothing so interesting that they would all want to join in, so stamping was out. I just knew any use of stamps with owls and flowers and frogs and colorful inks would result in requests to join in. So I opted for dying, I worked away for most of the day, worked is very much an overstatement as my dying involves leaving the pot for 20-30 minutes between different dyes being added, and not stirring or mucking the fibre about to much. Pretty much walking a short distance away and doing something else like knit. A whole day  and this is the result, four 100g merino top plaits, and two 150g perendale top plaits.

I had been inspired by the fibre dyed by Fibre Optics, the gradient dyed top is stunning, and I love the idea of a yarn that shifts from one colour to another. Her shop was bare, at the time I was there so I played. There was much play and a lot of learning and I found that whatever she is doing -- it was not what I was doing, as I had to return fibre to the pot and add more dye. Almost every batch had undyed patches when first removed from the pot. I suspect that her dye vat is larger than my dye pot, and that there is room for the fibre to be spread out a little more. Perhaps I should try 50g batches? And one day I might perfect more subtle colours ... something with less punch?

Some weeks ago I picked up a Paper recycling kit, and this week the cubas and I made paper. We used printer waste and two sheets of the deep purple tissue that VP yarn comes wrapped in. I was pleasantly surprised, we were successful. One side is smooth and the other has the mesh pattern from the screen, and the pale purple is rather pretty. The tissue didn't dissolve as I thought it would, instead resulting in deep purple feathers,  but did leak a huge amount of dye. All up this took us slighlty less than an afternoon, involved two cubs and I, and  was heaps of fun. So much so I'm looking forward to doing more of this. I've already had to stop myself pricing deckles, and I really had to stop myself pushing the buy now when I found a set that had not only A4 and A5 sized paper but an envelope shaped deckle as well to make matching envelopes with. I don't have enough room for the stuff I have now .. so really shouldn't be adding more on a one afternoon whim. Besides we already have a perfectly good  kit and it works just fine.

Which brings me back to where I began, wanting more hours in my days and more days in my weeks just to play with all this fun stuff.  If any one has answers please share.
Take care ...

na Stella

Project monogomy

I'm open to distractions, in fact some times I am amazed that I have been able to maintain a blog on knitting for nearly 6 years. Then of course I realize that knitting isn't a single thing, its a wide range of activities, from actually performing the stitches to imagining something and working through how it could be achieved, not to mention seeing all the amazing things that people do with knitting. Given how open to distractions I am when I practice project-monogamy it surprises me how fast progress can be. Take this week, my knitting has been on my Bubbles sock and progress has been rapid, so rapid in fact that I cast on the toe of number two at the Creative Fibre South Canterbuy 40th Birthday Open Day Celebrations. The Open day was fantastic, my talk was on how I teach Design, particularly Fashion design at our school of design, and seemed to go well with questions that indicated interest. The trades hall at the open day was fabulous - with lots to select from.

My plans for the leg of Bubbles worked out, I had charted the leg but not really made any decision about the cuff. As the bubbles dissipated up the leg the sock background of reverse stocking stitch became more dominant and I wasn't sure what sort of cuff would work best. I decided to try a garter stitch cuff - and it worked brilliantly, an almost invisible transition from reverse-stocking stitch to garter. Sock number two has started and is going fast, I'm nearly done on the heel flap and need to decide if the foot is long enough. The second sock feels shorter than the first - and I suspect the handspun is finer for this sock, so I might just frog back and add a wee bit more length after the gusset. I'll try both socks on before I commence knitting any more and make a decision.

The open day was fabulous, Fiona and Kathy and their team had sorted everything, including a lovely parcel of fibre and fruit as a thank you, the fiber is the large pale grey bundle at the back of this image. I couldn't help but exclaim 'Fibre! My favorite!' This is just over 200gms (7 oz) of light grey natural half-breed combed top. The fruit is in the fruit bowl and has mostly gone as my standard answer to cubs that ask for biscuits is 'no but you can have a banana (or whatever it in the bowl). That generally sorts the real hunger from the boredom peckish. In front of the fibre is a copy of Are you ready to dye by Sandra Dain, my copy was loaned to certificate student two years ago has never been returend so I replace it. Sandra's book has one of the most comprehensive coverage of dye methods I've ever seen, everything from dyepot and microwave to using syringes and dying yarn in the ball with different colours, in bags, in pots, in the oven, in sunlight, fleece, fibre, yarn, projects - a huge range of options all clearly explained with photos and clear instructions.

To the front of the book are two wee parcels of Alpaca, during my talk I explained how our students are expected to identify the designers (fashion or not) whose work they like and why, and whose work or process is the most like theirs and why. Doing so it intended to help our students work out where they fit into the world of design and design ideas and processes. As part of that I highlighted three designers whose work inspires me and explained what I understood about their process that I liked. My first two were Claire McCardell and Isobel Toledo's early work, and my last example was Schiaparelli. I included images of her shoe hat, her classic
Trompe-l'œil sweater(on my do knit list), and her skeleton dress. Afterwards I was alerted to alpaca for sale from an Alpaca named Schiaparelli from Otago Bridge Alapacs - so of course some of that had to go home. One in Pink (Schiaparelli Pink) and one in grey blue. I've already started to spindle spin the pink.

The table that distracted me the most at the trade hall was the one with vintage buttons. I was enthralled, and took home these few. Ten small glass black buttons, Victorian, circa 1880, about 13mm across. One larger flower button, also black glass, one purple turtle button in Moonglow glass, and one glass dragonfly (3cm across). The 10 small black glass buttons are destined to dress up a black or charcoal cardigan, the others are just to have until i find a use for them.

These new acquisitions go well with the vintage buttons I bought in Napier a few weeks back ... seems that I might have a new thing to stash. As I said easily distracted, but I never said that was a bad thing.

take care
na Stella

Oh my - I am one lucky birthday gal

I sure am, yesterday was my birthday and there was cake, and a lovely family dinner and lovely things to open and enjoy. I headed out to the KSG (Knitters Study Group) where I provided an old fashioned pound cake, with orange zest, vanilla innards (what is the name for the bit that you scrape out when you use pods?), and cloves. The best thing about having hobbies is that when people want to give you things they tend towards things that fit the hobbies you have. When friends are also into the same hobbies and activities .. well the gifts tend to be of the most amazing kind, the kind that really fit into what you want to do and use. Right at the end of the post is a new video, which I hope is of little or no use to most knitters, and of great use to a few in temporarily or permanently in special circumstances.


So ... first, is a pen - yes I know it is a knit-blog, but the pens have been creeping in of late and there appears to be naught I can do about that. The pens, and inks, are part of my life now, and we both have to adapt to that. Remember back in 2009 when I was knitting Owls in collaboration with Suzanne, well this pen called to S and reminded her of that collaboration. I knew there was a pen in the parcel - customs forms make a point of listing what is inside, in this case 'pen and ink'. I thought there might be a Tswbi pen, as was a firm favorite in her collection. I never expected a Sailor 1911 Maki-E Owl by Pen by Kosen Oshita.

Oh wow, you probably know all about yarn-porn, delicious photos of yummy yarn and fibre, here is some some pen-porn. The pen is predictably a fountain pen, a rather special one.

Maki-E is a traditional Japanese technique of decorating using layers of lacquer and precious materials, in this case gold and shell. This pen has the signature of the craftsman artist, and is absolutely beautiful.
Even the nib is amazing, 14ct gold with some of the prettiest engraving I have ever seen. This is a Japanese Medium nib, equal to a European fine. The pen if filled with Noodlers Summer Tanager Ink, a lovely burnt pumpkin shade. I am not at all disappointed that is was not a Twsbi as this is a pen in an entirely different league.

I was also gifted the spinning fibre, Morag shared some of her limited edition hand dyed cashmere-merino-silk. She said the colour choice was a no brainer, cool blue with a hint of grey .... and the wee notepad with button detail just reminded her of me.

Then Zoomer provided samples of her new button range, sweaters and Jandles (only Aussies call them thongs). I am going to have to knit lovely cotton summery things just to make use of these .....

I have been knitting, and rediscovering that if I pick a project and work on it for a few nights that considerable progress is made. I finished the first Heart of Glass sock, and cast on the toe of the second one on Thursday at knit-night. By Saturday night I had made it almost thru turning the heel!

And I am still spinning, so far 80grams spun, and 80 grams to go. Bobbin one is now done, and about to be put aside. I hope that when I ply this on the majacraft those bobbins will be large enough to make an unbroken skein.

The second half of the fibre is soft, and pink and predrafted al ready to spin. Monday night is spin night at my house .. so I will be able to spin more then. I am trying to spin at least 30 minutes most days, but that cuts into my knit and pen time.

And I am planning the next project,sewing. I am on leave this week. Supposedly the whole week Monday to Friday but effectively Monday to Wednesday because of the Cutting Circle workshops which came up after I planned my leave. Usually if I have a few days leave I plan to sew something, and this week is no exception. Global fabrics have just opened a store in Dunedin so I thought I should 'test-their wares'. Here is a lovely pure silk which all going well should become a nice simple dress. The plain purple brown fabric will be the lining and the paler brown knit is for a long sleeved tee for smallest cub. Global has so much to choose from that I very nearly went mad and selected more than this. I wisely thought that I could sew this Monday and then return to see what else I could sew Tuesday and Wednesday?

As it is still the Tour de fleece, I'm off to spin some, and then play with a special new pen and ink and pet some fibre ... and even knit some.
Take care - enjoy the rest of your weekend - where ever you are.
Stella

Post Script
.. a few weeks ago Bear and I made an new instructional video. How to knit with one hand, the left ... for a special wee boy who wanted to learn. I was sure there was a way and yes there is, based on lever knitting. Over time I hope to add in a few more showing how to increase, decrease and yarn over ... or cables (those I can't quite get my head around how to do those yet).

Surprise!

Today's post is about surprises, the nice kind, three of them .....one for me, one for work and one for some one nearby ...
First up I came home to a lovely surprise on Thursday ... and at first I had no idea who had organised it. The whole familygot home at around 6pm, me after a very long day teaching and then a long post-marking meeting, I was sorting something for the evening meal after sending an email saying I just wouldn't make it to knitting that night because of the time and the things still to do when Bear came in from checking the mailbox with a the following question Was I expecting any fibre? No I wasn't... but fibre there was, two bumps. And my favorite colours, blue, blue grey and grey. I was completely flumoxed about who it could be from, and the lovely hand written note didn't help at all, as it was signed 'friend'. The next day KathyR asked if I had 'found' anything .. and it all became clear. The Blue-grey is perendale she has dyed, and the three greys are natural halfbreed from a farm near her -- all coordinated and ready to use. I love both of these, and I'm really happy to have them .. both might have to queue jump onto a wheel very very soon, I just can't decide which will be first.


The past two weeks been teaching in 'my' Textiles - Hand Knitting Studio workshop for two weeks. This is a course where we suspend normal classes for three weeks and mix up students across the four design degrees (interiors, product, communication and fashion) and the three study years into 'electives'. The students just have those classes for three weeks, full on, full time, 48 contact hours in 3 weeks, learning, experimenting and then presenting something that come out of what they are learning. There are lots of fun options, claymation, millinery, story book illustration, Pop-up factory, contemporary jewellery, digital textile printing, packaging, short film, .... lots including my Hand Knitting one. Its full on, I have 18 students an all are pretty much newbies to knitting, By day three all were casting on and off, knitting an purling, increasing and decreasing and some even were attempting lace and cables ... its all good, but keeps me very busy. I am teaching in a room that was only fitted out in February, so its still fairly new and white and bland ... not a great place for designing ... but I'm working on that. A team of of the communication students have been designing quite quirky graphics for the hallways and stairways and shared spaces ... which are very very cool. I've been installing subtle knit graffiti in the room I'm teaching in - using odd swatches that I have left over from past projects. I was inspired by this local project (Ravelry link), but mine is a bit more subtle ...mostly as it is what I had already swatched rather than custom knit. See the bright green bucket - that holds my teaching needles for class .. I also have a matching green laundry basket that holds the yarn that we use for sampling and teaching. three chairs, and a table leg .. it is subtle.


And the last surprise is for some one near here, I'm still working away on my secret swap knit ... and right now I am about here, with only that, that and those to knit and tidy up. I made this photo with not a lot of light ... and I love the way it naturally desaturated leaving just colour in the stitch marker. In full daylight this project is not this colour at all, far from it.

The other thing I worked on this week was spindling, and I finished the fibre I started at spindle class and wound it off ready to ply. I have already plied it - Navaho to keep the colours true, but forgot to photograph it. there is 27g here ... so enough for something. Spindle spinning was so nice that I am even thinking of starting a new spindle project ... perhaps with one of the new fibres that arrived Thursday.

Take care ... the weekend is dark and cold here, perfect knitting weather ....and I hope the weather where you are is perfect for what you want to do.
Stella

Ooooooo - lovely

I've been spinning, I finished the plying which is good, but more excitingly I have been spinning wonderful fibre, new fibre, so new that only one batch has been on the market. I am so lucky as I've been spinning one of the prototype skeins, a test one. Let me explain, a bare two weeks ago, Morag came to spin night with some new Vintage Purls products, and she showed and tell'd. Amongst her new product there were two skeins of pencil roving, very special pencil roving, sock blend! I can't tell you how exciting this is to have fine merino blended with 25% nylon and pulled into beautiful pencil roving all ready to spin. I have long had a dream of spinning sock yarn, but I worry about all that work going into something that won't wear well enough for socks. I tried to blend some dyed nylon into perendale once .. but the nylon is so fine and silky that my fine toothed carder didn't really do a great job. I know many use stronger harder wearing fibres and successfully handspin yarn for socks... but nylon is a rather elegant solution as it provides strength and softness and allows socks to wear and wear in lovely luxury fibres like merino.


The entire spin circle wanted to take the pencil roving home .... but Morag insisted that these were the only two samples, the very first out of the Dye Pot and not for sale. We pouted, we sulked, we stroked the fibre and held it to our faces ... and generally made purring noises at the same time as making sad faces at the thought of not being able to buy it then and there. I was the last in the spin circle, siting right next to Morag, so the last to be passed the fibre, and when it was handed to me I held it tight and refused to hand it over, in a nice calm, polite not-letting-go-of-this -yet way. I just wanted to hold the skein for as long as I could if I couldn't buy it then and there, at the end of the night Morag said I could keep that skein in return for a blog review!


I love this fibre, I am going to have to be very active with my Monday check in to Vintage Purls shop ...that is when the stock is updated. I know this is a trial product, and is the same fibre blend as her sock yarn which I love. The pencil roving has hardly any twist - so just teases out easily ready for spinning, no further prep required.the nylon is so well matched for micron and staple length and so well blended that I can't identify which fibres are nylon and which are merino. The dye is amazing - partly as nylon is apparently a protein based fibre just as wool is, so takes the dye in a very similar way. Can you spot the two types of fibre ? I can't but then again the percentages are small .. so its mostly wool fibre.


I have not read any instructions for spinning from a hank or skein so just undid the dyed-to-match-yarn ties and laid the skein beside me. When I'm not spinning I hang the skein on the wheel - and so far the pushy-cat (Yo-yo) has not made a play for it. The more I look at this the more I wonder about knitting it up as is ....



So how is this to spin, amazingly lovely, I am at a loss for words. The fibre just teases out easily and smoothly with no neps, nubs, slubs or vm at all. I am finding this the easiest to draft and spin fine of any fibre I have tried. Honestly there are thoughts in the back of my mind about replacing most of my spinning stash with this .. but deep down I know that I need variety, so I'll just add lots more of this to the stash instead. This week I have pushed my knitting aside and spun and spun .... this stuff is fun.

I have had an disjointed and distracted week, plying the green perendale, still don't know what it will be but there is 166g and it is 360m ... so heavy sport weight? I love the effect of the shots of lemon amongst the green and lime, makes it look like the sun has caught the yarn, makes it look 'light'. Wednesday I was away to Auckland, visiting and marking at AUT ... returning on a 9pm flight. I was a very responsible lecturer, and took my marking with me to work on in the airport and plane ... instead of my knitting. See I can be grown up sometimes!


I also managed to finish the fourth hottie cover .. so now just finalizing the paperwork for the class. Instruction and design hand outs .... my deadline for that is Wednesday if I want the hosts to organize the copying, Friday if I copy them myself.
Life is busy, but it all seems achievable, and fun and there is a purpose to everything that I agree with, it is good.

Take care
Knit and spin and check out the fibre shop Monday afternoon New Zealand standard time if you like the look of the sock pencil roving, I'm not sure how often it will be up for sale, if it is please leave some for me?
Stella

Not much kniting going on around here but

I am spinning and getting ready for more spinning. I managed a bare 2 rounds of the Shetland blanket since the last post, and possbily a few rounds of the sock d... and the rest of the time went on spinning. I tried to knit more, two nights I took the blanket out and tried to work it ... but those nights I wasn't up to lace knitting. The pattern didn't seem to line up, things didn't seem to align with the yarn overs of the previous round. All of that left me with a sense that perhaps I wasn't ready to chart my own lace edges and I should have just left it be. Then last night I took the blanket up and again tried 'one last time' to work the third pattern round of the chart ... and success! That time it worked just fine while I watched Top Gear but when Ultimate Force started, a series Bear likes and I don't mind, - it was a particularly brutal episode that forced me to retreat to something more mindless to do with my hands. I told you knitting was my excuse to watch trash tv - and some of you didn't believe me, but it is true.


So the blanket with two more rounds than the last time you saw it looks like this, pretty much the same as before but with more holes - see


So I had to find something to do with my hands that involved less thinking, less focus - and preparing fibre seemed a good way to go. I had 116g of fibre from a 'scrappy swap', I was invited to join but wasn't quite sure what one was. I'm still not sure, but it was fun, one sends away 100g or so of fibre, and in return one gets back 100g made up from a wee bit of all the sent in fibre. So I had 116g of odds and ends of all sorts of fibre. Mmmmmm, Morag spun hers and plied it with her scrappy swap fibre from the first swap and ended up with yarn that was beautiful-ugly. Because the fibre was all so different I thought it best to diz it to an even thickness before spinning. I'm glad I did - now I have a basket full of smooth pencil roving all ready to spin.

And then there was Monday nights spinning, Monday night is Spin night in town, a group of us take turns to host spinning and we spin, and chat, and swap fibre and fibre stories and catch up on gossip. Monday I plied my Targhee from a Verb For Keeping Warm. It looked good when I plied it, but when I set it it puffed up and is now probably one of the most elastic yarns I've ever spun. Targhee is not a fibre type commonly available locally but it is one I will look out for.

You can tell that I'm still a beginner by the thick and thin plies in the photos .. but oddly the yarn girth (wpi) seems fairly consistent. Work is quietly frantic, as we hurdle towards the end of year show .. lots to do and lots that can't be done until the day/night of the show. Fingers crossed, break a leg and all that?

Take care, Na Stella