One Crazy Fiber Lady

Looking out the window now it is hard to remember how nice yesterday was.  Actually it was a pretty darn decent weekend all around. I had a lovely mother’s day, spendning most of it outside with the kids playing and Ladybug keeping me company. 

I finished the spinning the Still River Mill Mystery Bump singles, as well as 8oz of BFL from Little Barn to ply with it.  I just need to pull out the Fricke electric, find an empty Majacraft WW bobbin or two and then I can get to work.  You can see the range of colors through the two cakes.  Paired with the natural BFL, it should make a nice sweater for the little miss.  I’ll do a top-down raglan for her as I think that will bring out the best in the color changes plus. 

I can’t believe I spun a pound of fiber in a week.  I even finished another bobbin worth of the black corriedale on the Vermont wheel.

Amazing!  I started a new project yesterday.  This time it is dyed Merino from Clover Leaf Farms in Jungle Fever.  I picked up two 4oz braids of it at MDSW this year.   I’m hoping to get a solid merino in either a dark blue or maybe a hunter green to ply with and make Alex a sweater.  Those colors would look gorgeous on him.

And now a pictorial essay of my weekend:

I hope other mother’s had such a nice special day.

Craft on!

Time for a spinning wheel roundup.  I get alot of questions about various wheels, rightly so I suspect, as I’ve owned quite a number of them.  This post was born from a recent discussion with Manise.  So here goes, all the wheels I’ve have/had.  I’m trying to keep the herd stable so alot of wheels go simply because a new one came in and one had to git.

1.  Lendrum Upright - first wheel.  Still have it.  It is a great all purpose wheel.  It was able to do everything I ever asked it to do.  I have loads of bobbins and even a woolee winder (big surprise - this too is pretty common in my herd) for it.  I don’t use it very often, especially since the ankle injury as it is a double treadle that puts a bit too much strain on the bum right foot.  It now lives in Kat’s room and she has declared it hers.

2.  Lendrum Saxony - second wheel.  Opted for both the Scotch and Double drive, used it primarily in DD.  Sold it last year after MDSW and the Vermont wheel entered.  It is a beautiful wheel that I produced some very very fine cobweb on it.  Spun effortlessly.  One complaint, and I mentioned it in previous posts, is the construction of the treadle support that caused it to flex when treadling and generated an annoying squeak.

3.  Majacraft Rose - third wheel.  Also a nice all purpose wheel, though a touch prettier than Suzie.  The wheel is a bit heavier than I would like in a portable and the wood on the treadles was a tad too soft and would ding if something fell on them.  Folding it up as designed would result in dings on the treadle.  I took to wrapping the flyer in a towel before swiveling.  I sold this one to Chris to support the purchase of my Womack Butterfly spinner as I was newly pregnant with twins and fully expected some kind of bed rest.  Little did I expect that the bed rest would be in the hospital. 

4.  Womack Butterfly Spinner.  Saw it the first time at MDSW.  Perfect for the above mentioned expected bed rest.  I liked it better than Chris’ Roberta electric that I tried during our trip to MDSW.  The Womack is Scotch (flyer lead) tension while the Roberta is Irish (bobbin lead).  Up until that point, all my previous spinning experiences had been with Scotch or Double.  The Irish wasn’t comfy for me.  The Womack is cool.  I picked up a Woolee Winder for it.  With the addition of a foot switch, this would be perfect.  The wood base is absolutely gorgeous.  Price on it has jumped considerably since I bought it too.  Mr. Womack joked with me this weekend that he’d give me a full refund on mine ;)  Nice man, remembers me from year to year at the festival.

–its here that I loose what order they came and went.

5.  Ashford Traditional - Had for a short time.  Never really liked.  Can’t exactly remember why.  Does have lots of doo-dads that you can buy for it.  I think her small footprint and the single treadle gave some fits as she was my first single.  Ironic considering I started swapping the DT’s for ST’s not too long ago.

6.  Kromski Mazurka - sold.  Another ST/DD option wheel.  Little thing.  Never really bonded with her.  Fell prey to the same problem that the Traddy did, single treadle.  This wheel only allowed me to sit in one particular way to treadle and if I was out of place, the wheel would tip.  Footprint I felt was a little too small and made it a bit unstable.

7.  Jensen Tina II - still own.  Lovely little wheel.  Excellent spinner.  Another ST/DD optional wheel.  Another WW and bobbins.  Has all sorts of extra whorls for a wide variety of speeds.  Sweet thing that I should really use more often and completely forget about it.  It currently lives in the entry foyer.  If memory serves, the last time I used her was Mother’s Day last year when I remembered how very sweet she is.  Tough to get one of these babies used.  This is one of a few wheels that I didn’t buy new.

8.  Journey Wheel - sold to Deb.  Another ST/DD optional wheel.  Sadly, no available WW ;)  Single Treadle.  First one that didn’t make me nuts.  A gorgeous design and beautiful handiwork.  The wood case though does operate as a bit of a soundboard reflecting the song of that wheel back at the spinner.  Interesting.  Definitely need to buy a fabric cover/bag for it as the wood can be damaged easily. 

9.  Hitchhiker - sold to Dorre - Bought one from the intial batch if I remember correctly back at the first MASW where they were sold.  Even had a lefty one.  Cute.  Plus is that they use ashford bobbins.  When the multiple ratio option was added, made the wheel a bit more versatile.  Excellent for portability, couldn’t spin on it for long periods.

10.  Majacraft Suzie Pro - still own.  Nice wheel.  Have WW for it.  No difference really between this and the Rose.  Originally bought it because of the plastic bobbins and the grease spinning I was doing at the time.  It lives in the den right now and hasn’t been used in a while.  Both Mom and Alex consider it their wheel.

11.  Fricke E-Spinner - still own.  Woolee Winder.  Foot switch.  Box.  A very decent espinner.  Uses Majacraft bobbins, though a modified version of the flyer as it doesn’t turn on, but has a thumb screw.  I use it primarily for plying.  Between the foot pedal and the WW, it is ideal for that.  Not quite as pretty as the Womack (which is currently in storage), but with the case, it isn’t bad

12.  Vermont Wheel - LOVE.  I heart this wheel.  It is FAST.  SMOOTH.  SUPERB.  It is a single treadle that I can use either foot with.  Can spend many hours on this baby.  Not a single complaint for this one.  One of my two desert island wheels.  She’s a production wheel so she gets the big spinning jobs, ie 3 lbs of black corrie, as well as perfection for fine spinning.  I have a number of lace projects earmarked for her.

13.  Schacht Matchless - LOVE.  Single treadle.  ST/DD.  This is my utility player of a wheel.  A little too heavy to make a fabo portable wheel (ie the purchase of the trundle kit).  Many whorl options.  WW and bobbins.  This is my other desert island wheel.

14.  Majacraft Little Gem II - to be sold - Super portable.  Did not agree with the bum ankle.  I did like this one.  A smaller footprint than the Suzie or Rose and different to work with.  While Suzie doesn’t bother the ankle, Gem does. 

15.  Louet Victoria - sold - Never bonded with her.  Another very portable wheel.  Got an early one.  Had trouble with the scotch tension knob actually staying put.  The plastic cup that connects the treadles to the wheel made me nervous that it would snap.  Having said that, I got her during the height of the construction period at the house and she stayed in the box for most of the time.  I think I used her once.

16.  Danish Flax Wheel - own/walkabout - Small Danish repro wheel that I bought on ebay during a flax phase ;)  Very tiny.  Has been touring about on extended test drives, not entirely sure where she is at the moment.   Will have a home at some point.    Also a single treadle that gave me some fits and being a flax wheel, the ratio is very low.  This lace spinner didn’t enjoy that very much

17.  Schacht Ladybug - LOVES.  Though we’ll see how much loves there is when I take her out as the portable wheel ;)  I suspect she’ll do fine as long as I don’t have to schlep her very very far, like say from the Main Barn to the car at Maryland. As I haven’t flown since 1997, I don’t think her lack of foldability is going to cause a problem.

I think that’s it, and no I’m not including the charkhas (had an Indian - sold, have a Bosworth book sized).  I’m sure someone who has been paying attention for a while around here can remind me of something I’ve missed

Spin On!

It has been a very crazy week at Chez CFL.  This weekend was hands down a blast.  I had a fabulous time with Jessica, who is as always, a fabo festival buddy.  She has an excellent write up of our weekend.  Heck, I’ve already posted all the photos I took.  Sadly, the only camera I used was my phone and posted them immediately.  I’m also gonna skip the whole photographic evidence of my fiber-y gluttony beyond the shot into the back of my car on Sunday.

BTW, Manise had it right, I only bought one wheel this weekend, the Ladybug.  I had toted the Matchless along as my weekend wheel but she never made it out of the car.  One of my early purchases on Saturday was the trundle wheels for her, but they were returned a few hours later when I bought the Ladybug.  All the stuff on the right side was Jessica’s with mine on the left.  I purchased NO fleece (Jessica picked up that gorgeous Cormo), believe it or not, but the rest of the white fluffy bits were bundles of BFL from Little Barn.

I took Monday off from work to relax and recover from the weekend.  I learned this trick a bunch of years ago and try to repeat it whenever possible.  It gives me a day to indulge the spinning demons that possess me after a weekend at the festival.  I also HAD to get to know the new wheel.  I didn’t realize that each wheel had a little ladybug in different spots.  Here’s my little cutie.  That black bit in the stretchy driveband going over the whorl.  I love that the flyers/bobbins are completely interchangable with the Matchless (who you can see sitting behind the ladybug). 

I started with this bump of mystery roving that I picked up from Still River Mill(?).  It’s approximately 9 oz or so that varied in color from the light pink on the outside to that green on the inside.  I spun it as it at what will hopefully be a worsted weight two ply.  I um, finished this up by the end of Monday :)  Two bobbins worth.  I’m going to ply it with a natural colored BFL that I got from Little Barn.  I’m mostly done with the first of those bobbins now. 

So after all this spinning with the Ladybug, two pretty intense days, I have to say, I LOVES her.  She’s definitely a Schacht and spins like one.  She bothers my ankle not a whit which is perfect.  Anything longer than a half hour and Gem had me hurting.  This baby?  Nuthin.  Hours and hours spent with her were joyful and painfree.  Gem is now looking for a new home.  Again, you can see my Matchless sneaking into the picture behind Ladybug.

Tuesday was just insane.  I chaperoned a field trip for the kids to an area farm to learn about animals.  Four school busloads full of little kids.  {shudder}  Three pre-k’s and the kindergarten class.  It was fun, but somewhere during the second hour, the 21 little kids in my group all started to hit the wall of attention span and were wandering off. 

Wednesday was rather uneventful but my first day back in the office since Thursday.  We’re preparing for a release so things are a bit crazed as we try to cram more and more into the package.  I hit my deadline on the big project last week and have now moved into a QA phase with it.  Feels good, even if I lost about 9 days worth of work in a reorganization of the code.  It took way less time to rebuild, thank goodness.

I had to work from home yesterday as Kat developed a stomach bug.  Ugh.  I think i would have rathered been in the office than spending that much time in the bathroom.  She’s better today and went to school.  Fingers crossed that she stays there.

Since MD, I’ve been feeling a little off on the knitting.  There’s been the overwhelming desire to spin.  More troubling though has been the lack of desire to knit on Unst.  Not sure why and it doesn’t bode well for the project as a whole.  On Wednesday it was replaced for commuting knitting by Leaf Lace shawl.   Then last night, after reading a few Ravelry forums, I jumped in on the May Sockdown and started Uzume  (sorry, only have the Ravelry link) in some Koigu that was sitting about.  I’m really loving this sock.  I’m at the halfway point of the first cuff.  Sweet.  Not bad for casting it on last night before LOST.

Craft on!

A full weekend

Originally uploaded by CrazyFiberLady

The haul for Jessica and me

We’re homeward bound now. Tired , poor and happy

Vermont wheels

Originally uploaded by CrazyFiberLady

Three left….

lunchtime

Originally uploaded by CrazyFiberLady

A massive wait for food….

ummm

Originally uploaded by CrazyFiberLady

I might have just bought a wheel

Wish you were here

Originally uploaded by CrazyFiberLady

I figured I’d spare you all another picture of just one more repeat of the lace. Other than the bore factor of seeing minor progress, there’s the little fact that I’m off my one repeat a day pace. First on Monday morning, I did the same pattern row twice. Too busy jabbering with my fellow commuters. Naturally I didn’t find this until my commute home when I spent most of the trip TINKing the last two rows. Then this morning I found I’d dropped a stitch and it had gone back 4 rows or so. I had some repair work to do. Finally, as of the ride home tonight I’d finished the third repeat of both motifs. So instead of a lace picture you get a shot I took this morning after getting off the ferry.

I guess everyone has seen the secret coding work I’ve been up to recently by now I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. I like learning new languages, as long as they aren’t spoken languages! Depending on how brain drained I get this summer, I might wind up cranking out socks

Even though I plied this yarn up probably a month ago, I finally got it off the bobbin this evening. Need to get the wheel ready for traveling this weekend and all that! As a reminder, this is from fiber that I bought at NYSW this past fall to knit an argyle vest (Eunny’s Deep V - too lazy to get the link now - sorry). The pumpkin color is pure merino and the multicolor is a merino/tencel blend. I love the colors and how they look together. I spun all the fiber first and have been plying since: the first to the fourth, second to third, etc to even out any inconsistencies over the many months of short spinning sessions. I haven’t done the maths on the blend, but the pumpkin is 240yds.  I think I’ll spend the rest of the night plying the remainder of the blend.  That stuff is taking up my remaining Woolee Winder bobbins for the Schacht

Craft on!

…another repeat!  Make that two, two glorious diamonds tall already.  Two down, 17 more to go and I’m halfway through one now.  I’d be further, maybe, but I had to stand on the crowded ferry this morning!  (We had the little dinghy boat and while I could have waited for the next one, I opted to cram on.)  I have most of the pattern memorized so it isn’t difficult commuting knitting.  Add in that I have the pattern all neatly organized in the plastic sleeve to which a post-it sticks beautifully and we are all in business. 

It is an interesting pattern so far.  The diamonds are an every other row motif while the trees between are every row.  The really interesting bits should come when the center is done and the borders have been picked up.  Since it is garter stitch, you have two choices, do each quadrant of the border (square shawl and all that) separately and then sew them together.  Not exactly my first choice as I try to do as little sewing, especially on lacework, as possible!  The other is to purl every other round.  Seeing as I knit Eastern Uncrossed (or combined knitting as others are wont to call it), purling isn’t such a big deal to me.  I’m just not used to much stitch manipulation on the purl.  I guess I’ll get comfy with it pretty soon.

In other news, I discovered my car doesn’t like the rain.  Or the sprinkler.  I noticed this last summer/fall.  On rainy days or days when I parked too close to the front lawn and the car got wet, the radio display was flaky.  It either was blank, flickered or showed gibberish.   And then it stopped.  Probably because fall came, the rains stopped and the sprinklers were winterized.  Then I forgot all about it.  Until yesterday.  The rains returned.  It has now been raining forever, well okay, more like three days.  Here is how it displayed this morning.  I called Toyota to ask about it.  After a few questions as to model (Sienna), year (2006) and mileage (@9000) I was told they’d order me a new radio.  Since I wasn’t near the car I have to call back with the exact mileage on my car and the model number of the radio.  It still plays music, thank goodness, but it is always amusing to see what it has to say for itself.   I hope it wasn’t cursing at me this morning!

Craft on!