Shovel & Hoe

Another lovely day. More sun and more gardening! I managed to finally get the new raspberries planted yesterday – even though it sprinkled rain on me twice. We now have 10 plants: 4 Latham (older cold-resistant variety), 4 Qualicum (newer variety developed locally), and 2 Autumn Bliss (a fall-fruiting variety from the UK). We’ll see which variety does best. They took up more space than I expected in the narrow new bed next to the fence between our property and next door. It doesn’t leave me as much room for the tall sunflowers as I wanted but no matter. Given a choice I always go for food over beauty! We haven’t had raspberry plants for a long time. Not since the chestnut tree grew so big that it shaded the original patch into oblivion. We’ll probably have to wait until next year before we get many berries though. Luckily this year looks to be a good one for the blueberries instead. Aren’t the flowers such cute little bells?

The weather has warmed up quite a lot finally. I’m feeling very behind on cleaning up and planting even though I’ve spent at least 3 hours per day on it. That’s kind of my limit because I don’t want to jeopardize my current good health. After all, I’m no spring chicken! T-Man has done what he can but he’s had other things to focus on. Mainly the side fence which seems at a standstill now until he can get some of the crushed limestone that he uses to stabilize the fenceposts. All the lumberyards are mysteriously out of it and he can’t carry on until the main supports are in. I’m beginning to like having the side open. It makes the yard look so much larger. But it’s just a bit too public.

The veggie garden is now nearly planted as far as possible until it warms up more at night. It’s quite the little mini-farm:

I can’t plant the beans and squashes out until the middle or even the end of May. Meanwhile, I have the big stepladder out to take me up to the higher branches on the pieris so I can finish that pruning job. I also placed most of the new path stones yesterday but haven’t settled them in place properly yet. Yet another big job! I’m trying to get as much done as I can before the weather is supposed to turn to rain this weekend. And then I will happily be forced to rest for awhile.

Continuing to plug away at knitting the Papyrine Wrap. Sometimes it’s quite a slog but I managed to keep to the plan of at least one repeat per day and sometimes more. I have a few more repeats before I can start the decreasing where it tapers towards the end. I will celebrate when this is done knitting! Then I have to knit the final dangly leaves and finally dyepaint the whole thing. Hopefully not turning it into a cat yack in the process! At least I get to sit down while I’m knitting. And I haven’t run out of podcasts to listen to yet.

Lost Time

Saturday was pretty much a lost cause. I know I made a nice blog post and even included a book review, plus knitted some on the paper wrap. But I had the worst migraine I can remember in some time and I barely stirred out of bed all day even though it was lovely and my garden was calling me.  My eyes were watering and my stomach churning and no amount of Advil was working to make the jack-hammering in my head just Go Away. Ugh.

Sunday was better and the Ravelry meetup was enjoyed in the sunshine (and occasional shadow) outside Bean Around The World coffee shop. I love that it’s only 3 blocks from my house though the staff could use an attitude adjustment. It’s a busy place anyway even though there are many similar coffee shops in the area to choose from. I still had a bit of a migraine “hangover” though which extended to yesterday as well. All the knitting that I did on the Hot Spring Socks got frogged so I might as well have just sat there instead. Sigh.

Yesterday I got some gardening done in spite of the continuing migraine hangover but there’s still tonnes left to do. The broccoli got transplanted. Only the carrots are left to put in that bed and they are still growing under the lights. They won’t go out until they’re 4” tall in an attempt to foil the rust flies. Hopefully. And I got the sunflowers, nasturtiums and squashes started. I’ve also been trying to prune the pieris which are about 10-12 feet tall. They were badly damaged this last winter and many dead branches and twigs need to be removed. I can only reach partway up even with a step-stool so I only got about half done. Since they are right next to where the new side fence is going in, I thought I’d get as much done on them as possible before the fence gets in my way.

Then today I woke up with the Dizzies! If it’s not one thing, it’s another, hey? Or are they related? Don’t think so. I still spent some good garden time and got the parsley and the winter leeks planted. That bed, which also contains the asparagus (nearly picked enough for dinner already!) and the walking onions, is now completed.

I read something recently that made me think: workers often do less work when they aren’t being observed by the boss. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But what if you don’t have a boss? In my many years as a dedicated avoider of the “Regular Job” I’ve rarely worked for anyone else and even then it was only on a part-time, very temporary or casual basis. I’ve actually found the boss hanging about to be a detriment to my performance and I prefer to know what I’m supposed to achieve and then be left alone to get on with it. Am I an even greater oddity than I think?

As a creative/artistic person, I’ve always been a self-starter. To an outsider, I probably seem to be scattered all over the map. But then my “real life” is inextricably linked to my “work” and my workplace is my home as well so there is no separation. I tend to have more than one creative project going at once, plus the housework and the garden. Interestingly the latter is usually one or the other – I don’t seem to be able to keep both inside and outside work going at the same time. (In other words, while I’m working in the garden, the dust bunnies have full reign of the house!) However, I can keep maybe 3 creative projects going but after that something gets left to languish, maybe just until I finish something else but sometimes forever. And those 3 projects have to be 3 different levels of difficulty: one easy to transport, one no-brainer and one that takes more concentration or that doesn’t travel well. Lately I’ve been trying not to start anything new until something else is finished.

I also have volunteer jobs. Just a few little chores for my weavers’ guild: helping with the library, schlepping chairs and, once a year, getting the membership booklet set up on the computer and taken to the printer. Not much compared to the newsletter that I used to do! That was a huge job. I’m taking it easier these days. I’ve always gotten involved with various groups, everything from a family centre when my kids were little, the school parents group when they were bigger, and my guilds when I finally had more time available. I like that you can choose what job you will be responsible for when you are a volunteer. You can always say no if it’s not up your alley. Though once you say yes, you had better come through!

I don’t need or want anyone overseeing my progress or lack thereof. I can do that really well all by myself. I try not to be self-critical but I do seem to have my very own internal quality control person as well as an internal boss. Hmmm…it’s getting kind of crowded in my skull! (No wonder I get headaches. Heh!) I’m glad that I’ve finally learned to pace myself better than I used to and I’m much happier and healthier for it. Can you do that with a boss peering over at you and demanding immediate results?

See what happens when my head is acting up? Only babbling and no photos. Hopefully things will be better next time.

FO Number Too…er, Two

I actually finished these first but wanted to put them together with a review of Cookie A’s new sock book which follows.

Monkey See Monkey Too Socks

For: Me

Yarn: DGB Confetti Seta Superwash, 55% superwash wool/20% silk/25% nylon, colourway 24.08 (browns with yellow, cream and rust accents), dyelot 8112, 420M = 50g. 2 balls.

Needles: Clover Takumi 5” bamboo dpns, 2mm

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A

Comments: I had never used this particular yarn before. I found that the silk content isn’t very apparent either in the knitting or in the look or the feel of the finished socks. Not sure the extra cost is justified really. I did like the colourway but interestingly, even though I started at what I thought was the same place in the sequence, they ended up different at the end.

Love this sock pattern as do thousands of others judging by the number of pairs on Ravelry. Cookie A managed to come up with an even more popular design than her Pomatomus. To use the vernacular, Cookie A rocks!

Yes, she certainly does. I got her new book “Sock Innovation” in the mail a couple of days ago and have been reading it carefully since. What I first appreciate about it is that the author states up front that she prefers to keep her sock shape the typical top-down, heel-flap, wedge-toe (my favourite too) and to embellish within that framework. That doesn’t stop her from explaining the other methods and giving patterns for optional heels and toes. Indeed, the whole first section of this book helps you get inside Cookie A’s methods and discover how she creates such eminently gorgeous socks. She gives you her tools so you can then create your own designs.

I don’t feel that this is a beginner level book, at least if you’ve never knit socks before. (I recommend “Getting Started Knitting Socks” by Ann Budd for beginner hand-holding.) This is more of an intermediate or even advanced level with lessons on how to read charts, pattern translation from flat to circular, placement of design repeats, cables in detail and a lot of those technical details that I consider particularly juicy. Any budding designer would be happy to play with these for a good long time and they aren’t necessarily only useful for socks but could be extrapolated for anything else you want to knit. The last part of the book contains 15 of Cookie’s delightful sock patterns, each named for someone who has special meaning in her life and illustrating the principles that were explained in the first part. The socks are knit from mostly hand-dyed yarns in solid, semi-solid or muted colourways so you can see the textures that are her trademark. They also are similar in gauge and size (average women’s) so that you can see how pattern stitches work within that basic format and the subtle changes needed to adjust for them. Cookie doesn’t forget to include hints on how to size each design up or down. The end of the book includes abbreviations, glossary of basics with illustrations and a short index.

I rarely buy books with just patterns in them. I prefer to have more content that furthers my technical knowledge and maybe lets me peek into the head of the designer. This book has it all! Patterns I can’t wait to knit, technical and design stuff galore and some personal tidbits about Cookie A herself. Including her real last name. (Now I know why she simplifies it to a single letter!) The only thing I miss is her signature mannequin “foot”. The socks in the book are sported by real feet. They look oddly normal!

One FO At A Time

Here’s the first of my recent FOs. Still haven’t finished writing up the second one yet. I’ve been busy!

Selbu Modern Tam KAL

For: me

Yarn: MC – Koigu KPM, 100% merino wool, dye code 2425, dye lot 81, purply-browny-charcoal. 1 ball, 50g = 175 yds (160m).

CC – Louet Gems, super fine/fingering weight, was Pure White, 80.1702-13, dyed by me to rusty orange, 100% superwash merino wool. Less than ½ ball, 50g = 185 yds.

Needles: 2mm 16” Aero aluminum circular (ribbing), 3mm 16” Aero circ (main body) and 3mm 6” Crystal Palace bamboo dpns (to complete crown).

Pattern: Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon (Zeitgeist Yarns).

Comments: My Ravelry meetup group started this KAL. I tried to resist but of course it was futile! I started with the rusty orange Gems fingering that I had dyed and then had some help choosing the Koigu for the main colour. They are a little different in size and twist. The Gems has more yards per 50g and is slightly thicker but softer twist. The Koigu has a tighter and more uneven twist. Can anyone tell me whether or not it is superwash? The label doesn’t say. It only says to handwash and dry flat which leads me to believe that it’s not but I could be wrong. The Gems is definitely superwash since it says so directly on the label.

I knit the hat with the main colour (charcoal) in my right hand (throwing) and the contrast colour (rusty orange) in my left hand (picking). It took me some time to remember how to throw with my right hand because I haven’t done that for years! My tension suffered since I was also trying to keep the floats loose and my left-hand picking is already looser than my right-hand throwing. I thought my vintage Aero circs were just fine for this project and the stiff cable didn’t interfere at all. I went up a size on the main needle because it was just too tight for gauge – though the tension was neater. I was afraid the hat would come out too small but it’s just right. When I got to the point in the crown where I needed to switch to dpns I ended up going to Birkeland Bros for a new set of 3mm bamboo. I only had a set of 4 in metal (need 5!) and the bamboo ones I have from Japan are much too long at 10” to be practical. (I’ve threatened to saw them in two: one shorter set and one longer but never done it. Now I have a good 6” set so I won’t have to resort to violence.)

I had one little blip that I repaired with a duplicate stitch. Then I finished the tam in hot soapy water and a little of the dye from both yarns washed out. Not as much of the one I dyed as I might have expected though but more of the Koigu. Interesting. Afterwards I blocked it on a 10” plate perched on a drinking glass until dry.

As always, Kate’s pattern is wonderful and fits really well. There’s lots of different ways to wear it. Guess I have to thank my friends for talking me into this one! Though now it’s too warm to wear it. Darn.

Meanwhile I worked more in the garden and more on my paper wrap. I also got two new books in the mail. More anon but right now we’re going to celebrate this glorious spring day by going for a long walk. I need to slather on some sunscreen! Whoo-hoo!

Digital vs Paper

Further to my debate with myself yesterday on whether or not to go to a digital subscription for two of the magazines that I regularly buy, I’ve decided to do a pro/con comparison.

Paper: Pros

1. Can review in store before purchase.
2. Easy to hold and read anywhere.
3. Doesn’t require special equipment to read (besides glasses!)
4. Stays available on the shelf indefinitely until needed.
5. Can be kept beside me for reference while working on a project.
6. Lasts as long as the paper and ink hold up (decades or more).
7. Can be lent, given or sold to another person.

Paper: Cons

1. Takes physical space to store.
2. Costs nearly twice as much to purchase.
3. Takes several weeks after publishing to become available.
4. Uses environmental resources: press, paper and ink plus delivery to the shop. (Note however that I pick up magazines on foot!)
5. Can be damaged but not easily if reasonable care is taken.

Digital: Pros

1. Delivered immediately when published.
2. Takes only digital space to store.
3. Backup copies possible, including physical offsite or digital online storage.
4. Search, bookmark and notes functions.
5. Links are immediately clickable.
6. 12 issues (2 years) subscription costs almost half as much.
7. No printing costs or resources unless I wish to print something myself.
8. Can print just the page(s) needed.

Digital: Cons

1. Must be paid for by subscription upfront. (12 issues best price-point.)
2. Can’t be previewed before purchase.
3. Needs Internet access to view, highspeed recommended.
4. Not as convenient to read on screen.
5. Possibility of losing or corrupting files.
6. Formats may change in future so old files can’t be read.
7. Illegal to lend, give or sell a copy to another person.
8. If I want a hardcopy, I have to print it myself using my own resources.
9. Home-printed copy not as good quality.

See any clear winner there? I don’t – so I’m still debating with myself. Did I miss any points anywhere?

Meanwhile yesterday we spent the afternoon in the garden. The weather was sunny but cool-ish so we got quite a bit done. Including planting King Edward, the flowering currant. Hopefully he won’t outgrow his space because I spoke too soon about the hellebore. It’s showing new shoots coming up so it didn’t perish after all. Just died back completely so we had no flowers on it this year. I also got more of the mint bed dug up and a new space for the two madder buckets is forming against the fence. I’m still reluctant to plant that stuff in the ground even though I’m probably limiting my madder harvest significantly. So be it – that stuff makes nice dye but from ugly scratchy invasive plants. It can just live in its big galvanised buckets! As I’ve written before, they make it totally easy to harvest the madder roots every couple of years. Just tip out the bucket’s contents on a tarp, separate out the roots, plant a few back in with some compost and lime and Bob’s yer uncle. We won’t discuss all the rest of the work cleaning and chopping and dyeing with the roots. I’d have to do that anyway whether they came out of the ground or the buckets.

Yes, I know I said I’d show the FOs today but instead of writing them up, I spent the morning knitting two repeats on my paper wrap and listening to the provincial leaders’ debate on the radio. Politicians! Why can’t they just say what they mean and mean what they say? And what does it say about me when I plan to vote for the party that I don’t want to run the province because the person running for the other party in my riding is not a good candidate for the legislature? And the other choices are worse and have no chance to get in anyhow. I like some of the policies and not others for each party but know they all lie to get in so just what can I actually believe? And don’t get me started on the personal attacks! Negatives are not the way to get me to vote for you, people. Just saying.

I always vote even if the choices are poor ones. Because if you don’t vote, you can’t bitch later. I prefer to earn the right to bitch. Even if it doesn’t get me anywhere.

Earth Day

I don’t really celebrate one particular day as Earth Day. I try to do my best for old Mother Earth as often and as well as I possibly can. After all, where would we be without Her? Empty space just isn’t an option! The last few days of warmth and spring flowers have reminded me how much life we owe to the turning of the Earth around the Sun. I’m so grateful that I have my little piece of Her to play in. (And fight the sow bugs for!) I picked a salad’s worth of greens, some from the garden and some from pots in the greenhouse, and we’ll have it for dinner in celebration. Hopefully if it doesn’t rain later today we can plant our new flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum var. King Edward VII) in the front yard. It’ll go in place of our big hellebore that we lost this winter. More substitutions to come.

Speaking of substitutions, T-Man spent yesterday after work demolishing the side fence (click for bigger):

It makes our backyard look so large and open! Hope nobody uses it for an opportunity to waltz in and remove anything before he can get the new fence built. We moved a few pots and things farther out of view anyway just in case. That poor fence has needed bigtime help for a number of years. T says that it fell down because the plants that were holding it up let go! True. He’s going to recycle some of the wood in other places in the garden including revamping the compost box.

In crafty news, I’ve completed two FOs: the Monkey See Monkey Too Socks and the Selbu Damselfly Tam. I did quite a lot of work on them at our fun Ravelry Pride & Prejudice & Spaghetti night at Infinity0’s place on Saturday evening. Finished up the sock toes and grafted them and then made great headway on the tam which I completed on Sunday. Both are blocked and just waiting for me to finish up the writing up of the details. Next post, promise.

Of course finishing so many projects made me start another one! I used some of the pretty yarn I dyepainted last week with my friend Jo:

It’s the one on the left, shades of burgundy and reds dyed over Knitpicks’ Bare sock yarn. Not sure I’m going to buy this stuff again. It’s almost too soft for socks and I may be making a big mistake knitting these for my DIL The White Lady, who is notoriously hard on her socks. I’m using the Spring Forward socks pattern by Linda Welch from Knitty. Not hard to knit and very pretty:

There’s a wee bit more knitted on those socks since the photo. Meanwhile I’ve been plugging away on the Papyrine Wrap which is about halfway to the finish line. I alternate between enjoying the knitting and being totally sick of it. I compromise by just wanting it finished asap. My goal of at least one repeat per day is pretty much being kept – even if I have to work a little harder to catch up occasionally. Remind me again why I’m doing this? Oh yeah, for it hopefully to be accepted into an exhibit and perhaps a fashion show. This will be at Emily Carr University of Art & Design, which in its older incarnation of the Vancouver School of Art is where I flunked out…er, quit after a year and a half in the late 1960’s. I learned not much worthwhile there except that I am not cut out to be An Artist. (It’s also where I met T-Man. I always say that was the best part of my experience in art school.) It will be pretty good for my ego though to be exhibited there. Take that! Only took me 40 years.

One more item today – I’m not sure if this link will work for you but give it a try if you’re interested. If it works it will take you to the latest Embellishments newsletter from Interweave. At the bottom are links to free digital issues of Cloth Paper Scissors and Quilting Arts magazines. This is the full magazine, not just a sample. You can save them to your own computer if you want. ETA: Don’t bother because you need a subscription and password to access them once they are saved to your desktop. Just read them in your browser. I have to say that computer-literate as I am, I still prefer the paper copy in my hands but pixels certainly take up less space on my shelves! I already own the Quilting Arts issue but I’m going to have an argument with myself on whether or not to buy the paper issue of CPS. Plus a digital subscription is just about half the price of paper. How badly do I like to hold paper rather than my little netbook computer? Decisions, decisions.

Productivity

Or lack thereof. It always seems to me like I never get much done but apparently I accomplish more than I think. I was reminded again today when a friend dropped by to get some of my wool/silk fibre to nest a set of pysanky eggs for a gift. She only needed a tiny bit and I have a fibre shop’s worth of stuff in my studio! (Plus in trade she promised me my very own egg made by her DH’s aunt.) Anyway, though she only lives a block away she hadn’t been in my house for awhile, far less upstairs in the Sanctuary of All Things Fibre. She was pretty amazed at how much handmade stuff we have in our house. Of course I don’t normally notice because I live in it but, dang – she’s right! I kind of forget that other people don’t surround themselves with hooked rugs, turned wooden bowls, handwoven curtains, stained glass lampshades and the like. They also don’t have multiple stashes and assorted tools and equipment so that each member of the family can make whatever their creative muse insists. Some People actually have to shop for tea towels and placemats and probably use (ugh!) paper serviettes. Poor things. Though I suppose it’s easier to justify throwing it out when it gets a little worn and go buy all new matching sets. I keep things I’ve made until they are in shreds. And then sometimes still find another use for them. Silly me.

Speaking of productivity, here’s the scoop on the one thing I actually completed recently:

Ruby Blue Twirly Scarf

For: my friend Beryl

Yarn: handspun from Ruby Blue fibre from Aurelia Wool, halfbred wool and glitter (several warm and cool reds, purples and a hint of khaki plus turquoise and red sparklies). Softly spun singles, 18-20 wraps per inch, angle of twist: about 15 degrees, wheel: Louet S-90, slowest whorl, used 1 or 2 zigzags across hooks to slow intake, short forward draw. 60 g @ 320 yds. Approx. light fingering weight.

Hook: 4 mm/F Clover Soft Touch

Pattern: 3-2-1 and You’re Done free online pattern by Sharon Maher

Modifications: I started with a single crochet foundation instead of a chain. Worked it about 2 metres long and then followed the pattern. I never blocked the yarn or even removed it from the bobbin – just started crocheting with it directly from the wheel after releasing the drive band and taking the yarn end out of the orifice. I ended up running out of yarn twice and had to spin more. There’s a little bit left on the bobbin at the end because I didn’t want to run out yet again. Those curlicues use a lot of yarn.

Comments: This scarf is for Beryl, the dear lady who gives me many rides to guild meetings and such and refuses to take gas money or anything in exchange. This version is much lighter and a bit narrower than my original scarf that used plied yarn and a different pattern and which she had admired. She totally flipped when I gave it to her! She was so chuffed she gave me a big kiss. I rarely give gifts (for various personally-valid reasons) but this one was so worth it.

Spicy!

I totally smell like cinnamon this morning. That’s because for breakfast I had a bowl of oatmeal with half of one of my favourite Pacific Rose apples, a tablespoon of ground flax seed and a large sprinkling of cinnamon cooked in. Because the apples are so huge there was more apple than rolled oats! No need for sweetening at all. Just a dollop of cereal cream. Yum.

Yesterday afternoon was so nice out that I got a chance to dig some more in the garden. I planted out some of my greens (lettuce, arugula, mizuna, tah tsai) and the summer leeks. Before I planted them, I picked off a bunch of the outer leaves since they were so huge and I’d rather eat them myself than have the bugs get them first! We had some in our dinner salad last evening along with some of the walking onions and store-bought veg. Nice to have garden-grown stuff in meals again! Though I just used up the last clove of my garlic the other day in a stir-fry. Sniff!

That’s it for home garlic until the scapes grow. The plants are already over a foot tall and doing very well. But then they are cold-hardy. Which is very handy since there was a hint of frost on some of the local roofs this morning. I wisely brought the broccoli in with the tomatoes last evening out of the greenhouse. Back – forth – back – forth…whew.

Today even though it’s very nice out (but cool), I needed to vacuum since I’ve been avoiding that for weeks. As someone may have noticed, not my favourite occupation! My friend Jo is coming over tomorrow to play in the dye studio so I thought I’d at least reduce the dust bunny population before she thinks I’ve gotten some new pets! Don’t believe me? Meet Fred & Ethel, who’s photo I snapped before sucking them up:

 

And they were not the only members of the family lurking about! The sun is shining in and making the dirt rather obvious. Amazing how much gets tracked in while gardening even if you’re trying not to. While I was playing in the garden yesterday, T-Man finished the first part of the back fence and tied the blackberry canes to it.

Oh, and while I was out there this morning bringing in that garbage can you can see in the alley, I found this:

So they didn’t drown or freeze after all! Yay! Now if they can avoid being eaten by the birds (hence the black net over them that you can just barely see in the photo) we may have some yummy peas some day soon.

Easter Weekend

I always think of Easter as the real beginning of spring. Even though I don’t celebrate it as a religious holiday, the eggs and chicks and bunnies speak to me of new beginnings and the cycle of life. This year we didn’t have any family gatherings (nobody bothered!) so T-Man and I just hung out at home. It rained nearly all day but just before sunset we got this interesting light on the cherry blossoms across the street:

With the dark clouds behind it looks somewhat eerie, don’t you think? Yes, the cherry blossoms are finally in full bloom, several weeks late but lovely nonetheless. We have lots of them as street trees in our city. Their beauty is short-lived but really spectacular.

Backing up a bit, on Friday we took the old VW van out to a garden shop where we had lunch and bought several new plants for the garden including replacements for my dearly departed rosemary and some of the creeping thyme planted between the garden path stones. Then we went to the stone yard and bought some more of those to continue the paths. They had a sale on with 60% off on glazed pots so we got one for the new rosemary, which is a prostrate variety:

That way we’ll be able to move it into the greenhouse over winter to give it more protection. Rosemary is a bit iffy here. Most winters it will be fine but every so often we have one that’s too cold and it can lose branches or be killed entirely. That’s what happened this year. The lady at the plant store said that nearly everyone lost their herbs: rosemary, sage, and thyme. I did lose the first two but not all of the thymes although some survivors show damage. We’re still waiting on several of our other shrubs to see if they can be saved or are toast, particularly a couple of the rhododendrons and our old firethorn. Sniff! That was so pretty with it’s red berries in winter. The birds will miss it as much as I will. T will not miss it’s thorns however. He has issues with thorny plants. He’s very happy that he’s nearly finished replacing the back fence where the blackberries have being doing their best to hinder his progress. And they’re just the heavily pruned canes and barely showing new growth yet.

In crafty news, I finally finished a secret spinning/crochet project which I have put into Ravelry but have not mentioned it here. I’ll wait until Thursday to blog it since it will be gifted then. Just in case the recipient is reading. Don’t think so but you never know! Nice to have actually finished something for once. I keep pegging away at things but it doesn’t seem like there’s much progress when it’s scattered around 3 or 4 different projects.

Oh-Dark-Hundred

T-Man has had to work an even earlier shift than normal for the last few days. So he’s doing it from home which means that I get woken up before 5:00am along with him since the computer is about a metre from the end of our bed. I eventually drag myself out from the warm covers and go make him some coffee (tea for me) and then breakfast. He gets served at his desk so he’s feeling quite spoiled by the attention.

The weather has turned back to rain and cooler temps as we knew it would. One big advantage of T’s working the earliest shift is that when he gets off at 1pm he’s home already. So we went for a walk yesterday giving him a break from working on replacing the back fence. He does have a limited time to get it done though – the blackberries are starting to grow and once they get too big he won’t be able to get in there without damaging the canes more than he already has. They will survive anyway no matter what. There is no easy way to discourage Himalayan blackberries!

An update on grandson Stargazer: the poor little guy did break his leg on Monday! He now has a honking huge cast all the way up to his upper thigh to protect the “greenstick” fracture just under the knee (much higher up than originally thought). He’s quite a brave little kid but it’s hard to explain what’s going on to a two-year-old who wants the cumbersome thing off. Now! I’m sure he’ll be managing to get around on it quickly and it’s only supposed to be on for a week or so. Sure makes him very heavy to carry though! Here’s Daddy Ninja tickling the little toes sticking out of the thing:

I couldn’t help being the first to decorate it with a blue star with an eye in the centre (Stargazer – get it?) in the middle of his instep. I’m sure his mom will be getting out her paints to add some more to it before it gets too dirty! Big sister Princess Pink was pretty blasé about all the attention her little brother was getting. She’s been a much more reasonable human being now that she’s heading towards her fifth birthday in August. Their parents, however, were pretty exhausted after all the stress of hanging around in doctors offices and hospital emergency rooms with more to come in the near future.

In Knitting News, I’m quite behind on the Papyrine Wrap now. I’m going to have to do some serious knitting today. I’ve been speeding up on the repeats some now that I don’t need to look at the pattern constantly. I have it mostly memorised finally. I’ve also been plugging away a row at a time on the Selbu tam. It’s also getting easier and I’ve been practising better technique with the right-hand throwing of the main colour yarn. It’s been so long since I’ve knit that way that I’m nearly starting from scratch. My tension is somewhat…ahem, variable, but I think it’s improving. This little tam is a good excuse to practise and small enough that if it turns out really bad, I can frog and start again.

Back to work. I’m several repeats off my paper knitting schedule as it is. Don’t want to get even more behind there.

Here I Am

It’s been awhile, I know. Spring finally gave us some warm sunny days here so we had to get out in the garden. You never know when it will get cold and rainy again. Like, say, tomorrow or the next day. T-Man took yesterday off work and has been working on replacing the fence and I’ve been digging and planting. I’ve planted my little fingerling potatoes (they sprouted in the kitchen drawer so they were good candidates) and transplanted my rapini (two kinds: Italian and Chinese – the latter is milder in flavour). I’ve got even more little seedlings in the greenhouse now. See?

The tomatoes have already grown twice the size since I transplanted them into pots. There’s broccoli, lettuce, lobelia and purple alyssum and also marigolds and coreopsis for both decoration and dye. (At least that’s what I’m trying to convince T-Man who doesn’t like it when I pick the flowers!) I tried to save the seeds of the totally mahogany-coloured coreopsis I got last year to see if I can produce more of them. They were really pretty! We’ll see if they breed true or if they continue to be variable, which is much more likely the case.

I really believe more people should try growing things. It teaches you so much! Patience (waiting for the right time to plant and for things to grow), observation (watching the weather, the soil, nutrients, insects, growth habits, the light etc.), enjoyment (nothing like the taste of a veggie before it realises that it’s been picked and eaten!) and exercise (preferably without hurting yourself). Nurturing living things makes you realise that there is something outside of yourself that needs your care and attention. Yes, sometimes growing a garden is frustrating, when the weather isn’t cooperating or bugs eat your tender seedlings or whatever. But that is usually overwhelmed by the feeling of satisfaction when things do well under your care. The yummy eating and pretty dye colours are a bonus!

I was thinking about how I learned to garden. It was my dad who had a fondness for flowers: roses and dahlias and sweet peas and gladiolus. I remember him begging old nylon stockings from my mom to cut up for soft plant ties and using pieces of the TV antenna that got blown off the roof by Hurricane Frieda for uprights to hold his sweet pea nets. He would offer me a whole 10 cents (big money!) to weed a patch of his garden for him – and then tell me not to spend it all in one place. I loved to watch for worms when he dug in the compost and our compost box today looks pretty much like his did in the 1950’s. Thanks, Dad, for teaching me that dirt under my fingernails is a good thing.

T-Man also learned about gardening from his parents. His mom is in her 80’s and still gets out in her garden almost daily. When his dad was alive they had a similar arrangement to ours: He does the “big” stuff (heavy pruning, mowing, digging) and She does the “little” stuff (planting, weeding, deadheading, harvesting). Of course there’s some overlap but T is much stronger than I am and I like fiddly stuff like planting tiny seeds and pulling little weeds better than he does. Our kids are getting more into gardening too, now that they all have some dirt of their own to play with. One of the reasons I plant so many seedlings is to have extras for them.

“A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill - except for learning how to grow in rows.”
    -  Doug Larson

On the knitting front, I’m slowly plugging away at the Papyrine Wrap:

Notice I changed its name again. I didn’t really like “stole” and “shawl” has been done to death so I decided “wrap” was better. After all, you wrap things in paper, right? This wrapping paper is for shoulders. I’m currently running behind on my One Repeat Per Day promise though. I’ll need to do several repeats for a couple of days to catch up.

Sadly I had to frog over an inch of one of my Monkey socks due to a mistake that I couldn’t otherwise fix. Darn. I wish I had noticed the problem sooner but that’s what I get for knitting on the bus, in semi-darkened rooms and while reading. But it’s supposed to be my “relaxing” knitting for when I get tired of the paper piece. I have the Monkey pattern memorised now but obviously I still need to actually look at it once in awhile. What’s up with that, huh?

So the grandkids may be coming over later today, but I won’t be babysitting. Just visiting. Apparently Stargazer has to go get his foot x-rayed this morning to see if he has a cracked or broken bone. He was playing at a park with bigger kids yesterday (including his sister) and ended up being the bottom of a heap at the end of the slide. His dad took him to Emergency but it was busy (of course) and the triage nurse didn’t think anything was really wrong. Unfortunately the little guy had a bad night and can’t put weight on the foot this morning. He’s only two and can’t really explain exactly what’s hurting. Hopefully it’s not too serious.

Just One More Row

Yesterday I took the bus to my friend’s house for our monthly Spectrum Study Group meeting. I was happy that it decided to hold off on the rain both ways. We had our usual delightful time chatting and sharing, munching and playing. There’s a lot to be said for having a group of dear friends with whom you can get together on a regular basis. I’m somewhat of a hermit these days but these times are special fun.

All I brought was my paper knitting because I was trying to travel light. I had my sock in my pocket for knitting while waiting for the bus and while riding on it. I was lucky to find a seat among the university students who frequent this new bus route. If you read The Panopticon, Franklin would be happy to know that in my neck of the woods a handsome young man can read “Out” magazine openly on public transit and nobody even blinks an eye. However my knitting a sock prompted one young Asian man to ask what I was making and who was it for. In broken English he complimented me on my “talent”! Cute. Though I think he was disappointed that it wasn’t for him.

So I got one and a half repeats of my pattern done on Papyrine. That means I need to finish the second repeat today to be up to date with my self-imposed schedule. Instead I carried on with my illicit Selbu Damselfly tam. It’s illicit because I shouldn’t really start anything new and because I also shouldn’t be so vulnerable to peer pressure from my Ravelry knitting buddies. (You know who you are!) However it’s really cute so far:

I had to go up a size to 3mm needles to get closer to gauge. Still not sure if I’ve got it right but we’ll see. Apparently I knit tighter than usual on old 16” aluminum Aero circulars in stranded colourwork with the MC in my right (not usual) hand and the CC in my left. I had to remember how to knit with the yarn in my right hand and also remembered why I don’t like to knit that way. It’s awkward and uses much more movement. I never learned how to do a little “flick” with my forefinger to throw the yarn like my mommy did. I have to let go of things and wrap the yarn. I much prefer to knit with the yarn in my left hand. Also the Koigu (MC, charcoal) is slightly thinner and tighter spun than the Louet Gems (CC, orange). They definitely feel different in my hands. I originally thought they were much more similar.

Another problem I’ve been having is the persimmon-orange colour that I dyed the Louet Gems yarn is coming off on my hands. It won’t be a problem after I get a chance to rinse the finished tam but I certainly thought I had done so with the yarn in the skein! Sometimes, even with all the dyeing experience I’ve had, the dye decides to be naughty and not set or rinse properly. It usually doesn’t make much of a difference in the final colour but it’s annoying while I’m knitting with it. Maybe it’s the same dye that gave me a problem with The Ninja’s Rusty Socks from a year ago? It’s a similar colour anyway. I still have orangey bamboo needles from that project!

April’s A Fool

Are you sure it’s April? I’d think it’s still January or something except for the intrepid spring flowers that are coming out in spite of the snow we got this morning! That’s my really big patch of cranesbills in front of the miniature daffodils. Luckily the white stuff got smart and figured out it wasn’t wanted. It finally disappeared in the real April showers.

Instead of looking outside, I started a KAL today with many of the members of my local Ravelry group: the Selbu Modern tam (Ravelry link) (PDF link). I have lovely Koigu for my main colour in a very dark purply-browny-charcoal and Louet Gems fingering dyed my own rusty orange for the contrast. So far I have less than an inch of ribbing and no photo yet. I really could use some more photos here, couldn’t I? But it’s just too dark today to take them indoors and outdoors is rather cold and wet.

I was good and didn’t start the KAL until I’d knitted one more repeat of the paper stole pattern. I’m done with the increases and am working even now so it’s a bit easier to calculate how long it takes: nearly an hour per 14-row repeat! The piece is nearly 14” long and about 16” at the widest. I need a piece big enough to wrap around a body though so I must keep knitting a whole lot more. Whew!

What else can I not show you? I’ve been spinning some of the lovely fibre I got at Fibres West from Aurelia. It’s called Ruby Blue (look here and scroll down) but it’s a little different in real life to the photo. A bit more purple and khaki plus lilac and the sparkle is red and teal blue. The result is a bit darker but, I think, more interesting. I’m spinning a soft thick (well thick for me!) singles on my Louet S90 wheel for a secret crochet project. I don’t think the giftee reads this but you never know, so mum’s the word for now.

While spinning, I was having some trouble with the S90 wheel drawing in too fiercely. I’d forgotten that the so-called “Irish” tension (bobbin lead/flyer brake) is most definitely positive and just about dragged the yarn out of my hands. As a matter of fact, I broke it several times until I clued in that maybe I should do something about it before my hands got tired holding back on the yarn. The brake was already off (I rarely use it except sometimes for plying on a nearly-full bobbin) so the next step is to zigzag the yarn over two hooks on opposite arms of the flyer. The rows of hooks are both on the same plane so you can do that on this wheel and honestly, it’s nearly always a good idea. For finer yarn I zigzag more, up to three times across the flyer, until it stops being a struggle to hold onto things. It makes it a PITA to fill the bobbin evenly because moving to a different hook is more work, but I couldn’t spin this yarn without the rigmarole. Just one more reason why Louet doesn’t make this wheel anymore?

Yeah, I know. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Later. Right now I have to go make supper.

Our Earth Hour

I confess that although we will participate, I don’t really get the point of Earth Hour. What is turning out the lights in your house for a single hour actually supposed to accomplish? The “Vote Earth” theme for this year doesn’t help explain it in any way. At least not to me. I get that it’s supposed to be symbolic but it’s much too vague. Here in Vancouver we have hydro power so there is no burning of fossil fuels to keep our light bulbs burning anyhow. Plus most of the lights in our house are the fluorescent energy-saving ones. Not that I’m totally convinced that they are the wonderful things touted by all and sundry, including environmentalists. They contain mercury which is a nasty poison. At least there are places to drop them off when they don’t work anymore. But please don’t actually drop them! And do not get me started on where to recycle my long fluorescent tubes. I’ve been trying to find a convenient place to do so and can’t find one. We’ve been collecting them for years rather than throw them in the trash. But I digress.

So please inform me if I’m wrong here. Wouldn’t it make more sense to stop driving your car for an hour? Or turn the temperature down on your furnace? Or if the point is saving electricity, how about turning off other things as well as the lights, such as the computer, the TV and anything else you can unplug? And what about businesses? Shouldn’t they participate too? Most probably use more power than my little house does. I guess they don’t want to inconvenience anyone too much or make it too complicated for Average Everyday Folks to participate. But really, what’s with the weird 8:30-9:30pm timing of this World Event? Is it supposed to be significant or something? Or just a random choice? Questions, questions.

Nevermind. We go to bed at 9pm around here anyway so we’ll just turn out the lights a few minutes earlier than usual. And then peek out the windows to see if anyone else in our neighbourhood is following suit.

“We’re all individuals!”
“I’m not.”

       from Monty Python’s Life of Brian

Reviews ‘R’ Us, Pt. 2

I got two new weaving books recently which might hint that I really need to get back to the loom sometime soon. The first one I’ll talk about here is “The Handweaver’s Pattern Directory: Over 600 weaves for four-shaft looms” by Anne Dixon and published by Interweave in 2007.

I know Syne Mitchell reviewed this in a past issue of WeaveZine but I have to add my tuppence here. This book has been touted as kind of the modern-era Davison (aka The Green Book) – filled with pattern drafts and photos of the resulting fabric, all for 4-shafts. I’ve seen it referred to as a “beginner’s” book, but I’m not so sure. I held off buying it until I actually looked inside because, of course, I have looms with 8 and 12-shafts, not to mention the fact that I’ve been weaving for some…ummm…30 years. But one glance at all the lovely clear photos of colourful interesting cloth and I was immediately hooked!

This is at its heart a recipe book. It doesn’t really explain weave systems in any detailed way but has basic examples and some variations: optional treadling orders, colour-and-weave effects and the like. Some are arranged as gamps with several threading and treadlings interacting in one piece of cloth. Little inset photos show the back of the cloth and occasional details. The pages are beautifully laid out. What I really like is the breadth of structures included. Double-weave, hand-manipulated techniques like brocade and Brooks bouquet, and crammed and spaced warps are there along with the twills, overshot, lace weaves, crackle, summer & winter etc. Think of a weave, look it up in this book and thread the loom! Just turn the pages if you run out of inspiration.

Speaking of turning pages, have I mentioned that this is a coil-bound book with a covered spine? It lies nice and flat so you don’t have to prop it open when your hands are busy. The cover on the spine keeps it from disappearing into anonymity on the bookshelf. It also has a nice little fold-out flap at the back that explains the drafts and how to interpret them. You can leave it out as you work on another page.

What I don’t like is kind of nit-picky I suppose. This book is not going to help you understand the underlying principles of the different weaves. For that go to Sharon Alderman’s “Mastering Weave Structures” or Madelyn van der Hoogt’s “The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers”. The beginning of the book has a very truncated section of information that either needs a whole lot more detail or to be left out entirely in favour of some other book (notably Deborah Chandler’s “Learning to Weave”) that does it much better. You won’t find anything on yarn sizes, how to wind a warp and get it on the loom, nothing about handling colour changes or two or more shuttles and, although hemstitching is shown, there are no instructions on how to do it. What is included is mostly too vague or incomplete to be really useful. You’ll probably learn a lot about reading a weave draft, though like Syne, I wish they also came on a DVD in WIF’s!

The colours might be either very inspiring or distracting, depending on whether you find them pleasing or just want them to stop interfering with your view of the structure. I like the colourful photos myself, but I have the ability to imagine alternatives which apparently is not universal. The author was very consistent in her choices of yarn: 2/16 cotton for the thin one and the same cotton yarn tripled and gently twisted (plied) for the thicker one. She doesn’t say if she spun them together herself but I don’t think that particular put-up is commercially available. I know why she used it however – it’s softer and heavier than 2/8 but finer than 4/8 (aka 8/4), covers well as pattern weft and comes in lots of colours.

In conclusion, don’t give up any of the other books in your library but add this one for those dull days when your weaving is feeling stale and the muse just isn’t visiting. Of course this book won’t negate the need to actually sample. I won’t even wind a warp without checking things out on the computer in PCW. You have to know what your particular yarn(s) and sett will do and how different that will be from the photo. You have to find out how it will feel as cloth. And then you might want to actually make something. For me, that would be a novel notion. But a number of possibilities are whispering to me.

But back to knitting paper. I’ve been achieving my goal of one repeat per day. Papyrine is slowly getting wider and longer. A little more and I’ll give you another photo-update. And I need to go tease my little plants into bigger pots. Work, work, work. It never ends.

Reviews ‘R’ Us

Well I’ve been using Windows Live Writer for a number of posts now and I’m in love. I forgot to give you the URL in case you couldn’t find it yourself. Go here. There are several other free programs there but you don’t have to get them if you don’t want to. Live Writer works with pretty much any blog system you’re using or you can set one up (Windows Live). You need a Windows Live ID but if you have Hotmail or Messenger then you probably already have one. No biggie. When you run WLW it helps you set up your blog or blogs if you have more than one. You can add another any time.

So since the last time I blogged about my happiness with WLW, I’ve discovered a few things. First it saves a copy of your post automatically on your hard drive. If you’ve been afraid of losing your blog posts, this should eliminate that fear. You can work offline and save unfinished drafts, set publish dates in the future and generally have more control than with some blog hosts like Blogger that I use. It is so much easier to insert stuff like hyperlinks, pictures, tables and other stuff and to format text. You can see what it will look like right away before you post. Oh and I found out how to add my “labels” only WLW calls them “categories” which is what threw me at first. It already downloaded my label list. Totally cool.

OK, I’ll shut up about Things Technological now. Lets talk about the Monkey See Monkey Too Socks. Cookie A has a video here talking about her most popular sock pattern with Kim Werker on Knitting Daily TV. And she’s updated the Monkey Socks pattern to accommodate other sizes: Ravelry link or Knitting Daily TV link (scroll down). I may try the expanded version with lifted increases instead of yo’s for a pair for T-Man. Eliminating the eyelets would make it a bit more “manly” I think. He’s already expressed a desire for a pair of his own. Meanwhile mine are coming along:

I decided these are mine even though I don’t really need another pair of socks. None of them will wear out! I’m running out of room in the sock drawer but must occasionally have a new pair Just Because I Can. This is my first experience with Confetti Seta sock yarn: a combo of wool, silk and nylon. Doesn’t really feel that much different from normal sock yarn. But I haven’t washed it yet so we’ll see if the silk eventually expresses itself. Otherwise there’s no point in having it in there, doncha think?

Roll Your Own

I’m convinced that pretty much all creative work is derivative. You see something you like that someone else made and you want something like that. They say that publishers of pattern books and knitting magazines have to be careful when they make the model garments because many people are so influenced by what they see that they can’t envision it even in a different colour. I find that kind of dedication interesting because I’ve never been afraid to change things to make it my own. Even if I follow a pattern exactly the yarn will be different. I think I’ve just discussed myself into a circle: make it the same, but different.

If we’re going to avoid that old demon copyright problems, I prefer to change things up a lot. I think it’s much more fun to carve your own stamps, for instance. They are funky and imperfect and less detailed but so much more personal. You don’t have to get permission to use them or to publish works including them. They are all yours.

The same for photographs. Take your own. Take lots! Pixels are there for your use and megabytes are cheap these days. Your photo skills will improve: your eye for line and composition, your colour sense, even your ability to use your photo editor of choice. Then you can use your own images for anything you like with no restrictions.

(That’s the photo I’ve been using as computer wallpaper lately. It’s from our coastal vacation last autumn: beach rocks at Cape Lookout, Oregon.)

I know I’ve said this before but I feel so strongly that it bears repeating. If I want to develop a style or “voice” of my own, although it builds on things I’ve seen or learned from others work, then I really have to go back to the basic levels and work from there in a more personal way. As a beginner I might benefit with a more “paint-by-number” approach but as my skills improve, I can begin much further back in the process.

This search for the exact right place to begin is something I’ve been pondering lately. It’s part of the reason that I get frustrated with books and magazines that call for specific tools and materials and expect you to make something that looks exactly or almost exactly like the model. That’s merely the leaping off point, in my opinion. But then I’m one who prefers a class on a technique rather than a project. A technique can be used and adapted in many ways but a project is just one thing. You might learn techniques from doing the project but they are subservient to the goal of completing the project. If you begin the project with a kit of supplies, your options even more limited. That’s not to say I haven’t both taught and taken classes like that. I just prefer to do things differently now.

I remember once at a textile retreat going into a classroom of needlework students. They were all working with the same kit using the exact same design. I was shocked! I’m sure it was excellent for skill building but how regimented. How boring! I would be hunting down ways to change something in my piece right quick! And probably earn the disapproval of the instructor. But I’m a rebel like that. Must have something to do with my Catholic school upbringing. I’m making up in later life for all that conformity the nuns tried to drill in to me. But I digress.

Recently, one of my friends showed me a journal she had made awhile back and I immediately recognized a stamp I had carved that she used in it. It was a little thrill! I doubt it would have felt the same if she had borrowed a commercial stamp from me. My leaf stamp is a part of me in a way. Just like the socks I keep knitting for my family or the paper stole for exhibit. A gift from me to the world. Am I making any sense here?

Probably not. Nevermind.

So the sun is out today. It hopefully will be warm enough this afternoon so that I can sit in the sunshine on the deck and transplant seedlings. Keeps the dirt outside where it belongs! I just vacuumed the basement entry by the “grow-op” yesterday and have no desire to do it again so soon. I also bravely left the seedlings outside in the greenhouse last night. They survived just fine. Hmmm…maybe I can get my peas planted today too! It’s late but the ground is still wet and cold so they would be the same size in a couple of weeks anyhow. No point trying to rush the season. It turns in its own time.

New Beginning

In the last couple of days I managed to get a couple of repeats done on the Papyrine Stole project. As I’ve mentioned before the paper yarn is not easy or fast to knit with but it’s kind of a fun challenge. I spent quite a bit of time trying out different stitch markers. I didn’t want anything too fancy or heavy or with dangly bits to catch on the paper. On the top right are the rubber o-rings which were too thick and stuck to the needles too much. On the left are the tiny hair elastics that were thin enough but also stuck just enough so they were hard to move from needle tip to needle tip. (They seem to work better on wood or bamboo needles.) On the Addi lace needles are the ones I ended up using: split rings, 3 dark-coloured and one silver to mark the beginning of the right side.

I also drew the stitch marker locations on the chart and it’s now much easier to follow. The centre section is mostly stockinette separated from the edging of leaves by garter bands. The centre is textured with random patches of reverse stockinette, garter and moss stitch to simulate bark. I plan to increase the width until it is wide enough and then work straight for awhile and finally decrease again toward the end. Like most knitting, even paper doesn’t look that great until it’s blocked! That will happen in the dye-painting process at the end. Stay with me here!

I’m also working on another pair of Monkey Socks (called Monkey See Monkey Too Socks) in Confetti Seta which has some silk in with the wool and nylon content. They’re coming out fine and I’m most of the way down the leg on one and partway on the other. I made the mistake of leaving out a row of st st in one sock so I repeated it in the other so they would match better. Now I’m more careful to count the 3 rows to make sure I’ve got them all before starting the first row with the purls (row 2). Sorry, Cookie A, but I would have put all 3 plain rows together on the chart for ease of following. Even if that meant starting the sock with 3 plain rows after the top rib instead of one. Apparently my brain keeps wanting to begin the repeat on row 2, the first one where something different is happening.

What else? Still schlepping the little plants in and out. It’s been too cold most nights to leave them in the greenhouse yet. It’s getting old really fast but in a couple of days there will be more transplants to start hardening off the same way. That will add considerably to the back-and-forthing if I can’t leave some out so it had better warm up a bit more. Now. At least no frost would be good.

Fibres West Report

I’ve got a photo-heavy report but they’re only my purchases and nothing else. I had a rare case of camnesia while I was at the Fibres West extravaganza on Saturday. I brought my camera but never took it out once! I was having way too much fun chatting, ogling, shopping, schmoozing, hugging, demonstrating spindle spinning, shopping some more and generally having a wonderful time. I went with the thought that I didn’t need anything (except one particular book) but of course a bunch of stuff followed me home anyway. It was the wool fumes, I swear! Or in my case maybe it was the sparkle.

I got totally carried away with things sparkly. Right off I jumped on a green triple dragon resin spindle by Dragoncraft from Twist of Fate:

I had to modify it slightly by tweaking the hooking and adding a notch (hated to file into the lovely shiny resin but it was necessary) and now it spins quite well. These are little spindles but on the heavier end of the scale at 40-45g each.

I found 3 balls of sock yarn (Mega Boots Stretch) in pretty colours at Knitopia’s booth (no website):

They were only $10 each! Couldn’t resist. Yeah, I know – not sparkly, but I also got a bag of sari silk for spinning:

I have no idea whether or not I can make anything out of these because they are very tangled fine silk thrums but we’ll see. They were too pretty! From Aurelia I got some Ruby Blue Sparkle and Silky Pearl Sparkle to spin:

The photo doesn’t do the white one justice because it’s really pretty and subtle when spun up and takes dye beautifully. And I already have a project in mind for the Ruby Blue. It’s going to be a gift so mum’s the word till it’s done. Still sparkling, I got some more angelina from Penelope Fibre Arts:

These will likely be blended into something for spinning rather than heat bonded. I just couldn’t resist the colours.

BTW, Brenda (aka Penelope) was the mastermind behind the Fibres West show this year and she is already planning the next one. Guess she got enough good feedback. I think it could use a lot more publicity and more participation. Some vendors did well and others not so much. I thought there was lots of room for many more vendors and way more shoppers. Some knitters were complaining that it was too much for the spinners and weavers and maybe that side could be increased some. There are a lot of knitters out there who haven’t crossed over to the dark side of spinning and weaving. Anyway we’ll see what happens next year when we are promised some classes as well as lectures and demos. That might encourage more participation. Finally the fact that it’s an hour-plus drive from Vancouver in what some of us might consider the middle of nowhere might slow a few folks down but apparently if they have it in town it costs a lot more for the venue and there’s even less participation from the public. Go figure.

But there’s more shopping! At Jane Stafford’s booth I got some small spools of Colcolastic (cotton and elastic) thread for collapse weaving:

I also got Anne Field’s book on collapse weaving and will be taking a class with her at the conference in Spokane this spring so more on that anon. I got a couple of other books as well and will be reviewing them individually in future posts. Meanwhile back at the purchases, I got one more item:

The clamp pad for my Forsyth mini woolcombs. I’ve been debating over this one for some time because a) it’s pricey, b) I thought I might get away without a clamp and c) I thought T-Man could make me something suitable instead. However, I finally convinced myself that a) better to have the thing made by the same person as the combs so the wood matches, b) Andrew’s design is quite involved but very functional and not at all something T would make and c) I got tired of waiting. Now I’m all set. I have all the fibre prep tools I can imagine ever needing! English woolcombs, mini 2-row woolcombs, blending hackle, 2 drum carders with a total of 3 carding drums, handcards in several densities, and a flick carder. What else could a fibreholic need? No. Don’t answer that question. But a girl’s gotta stop somewhere – at least for now.

The demo that my friends Beryl and Diana and I were supposed to do turned out not to be terribly exciting. It was really preaching to the converted. We got a few folks coming up to chat but when there’s nothing for sale, interest is small. I got a great visit in with Milady Daughter though and helped her through her first sock heel. I um…kinda slipped and bought her an expensive present: Sharon Miller’s Heirloom Knitting book from Homespun Haven (Armstrong, BC, no website). She’s been doing a wonderful job learning lace knitting and this book just answers so many of her questions. Since her Milord is between jobs at the moment, she couldn’t afford it so I pulled a “mom” card and got it for her. Hope she isn’t expecting a birthday present next September! Hope she enjoys the book too.

Well I need to get some lunch and some paper knitting done today so… later, ‘gators!

Testing From Live Writer

I just downloaded Window’s Live Writer which gives me a new way to post to my blog. So this is a test to see how well it works! So far it feels quite different to type in it so I hope it won’t take long for me to figure out how all the features work. Right off the top, it looks just like it would after posting so it’s much more wysiwyg anyhow. (Even has spell checking!)

So without further ado, I give you my FO:

Bead-Dazzled Lace Scarf

Begun: February 27, 2009
Completed: March 16, 2009

Yarn: Handspun silk/cotton, 2-ply very fine, 25 g. = 440 yds, dyed in brazilwood.
Beads: 6/0 Czech seed beads, gold-washed transparent rose, 3+ strands from the hank.
Needles: Addi Lace circular, 2.75mm
Hook: .6 mm steel

Pattern: Estonian Lace Scarf (Ravelry link) by Nancy Bush, Interweave Knits, Fall 2001.

Mods: Used beads instead of nupps. Centre section was repeated 24 times instead of 16. Picked up 292 sts on each long edge instead of 302. Used Evelyn A. Clark’s beaded cast-off from “Knitting Lace Triangles” p.50, row 8C and doubled yarn.

Comments: My handspun yarn surprised me by being silk and cotton instead of silk/wool so the dye didn’t take nearly as dark as I wanted. It dried many shades lighter and is still very susceptible to pH changes because of the brazilwood. It even went a bit pinker when I blocked it!

I made one boo-boo in the centre section and left out 2 rows of the diamond but luckily it barely shows – or I would have seen it in time to fix it! I knit the centre pattern 24 times and it still is a wee bit shorter than I would have preferred. I couldn’t pick up enough stitches on the edging so decided that it was easier to pick up 4 less than try to find 6 more. Lots of counting! Otherwise the knitting went ok, if somewhat fiddly due to the thinness of the yarn.

The cast-off was done slightly differently than either Nancy Bush or Evelyn Clark’s instructions. Besides doubling the yarn, I put the beads in as I did the cast-off row (instead of the row before that). It was much easier: slip the bead on the stitch, knit it then knit the same stitch together with the previous one through their back loops. The latter motion is like working an SSK. It makes a lovely edge with substance. I put 3 beads on each point:

After blocking it still is very prone to scrunching up and curling because the yarn is so soft. I will wear it anyway. The final size is 9” wide by 53.5” long.

OK, I’m convinced. This Live Writer is pretty cool! I have a lot more tools and can see better what it’s going to look like right away. The only thing I haven’t yet figured out is how to add a label. Here goes with the final test: posting it!

Results: Fabulous! Except that I have to edit in Blogger to get the label on. Nothing is perfect, eh?

EDITED TO ADD: I did figure out how to add the labels from Live Writer finally. It’s perfectly obvious when you look! I am now a Very Big Fan of WLW.