The Pink is Back

Don't forget to click the image for a really close up look!

These are both rather unbalanced 2ply yarns and for good reason. I'm learning plenty about what I do and do not like to spin these days. Both of these fibers are from Spunky Eclectic. I love her stuff. The one on the top is s silk/merino blend in Tahiti, plyed with a tiny silk single. This skein is really light and airy and was easy to spin.

Then came the merino/Tencel in Pink Elephant. It was so slick it was pretty hard to manage. It just wanted to pull as much fiber in as possible and not "hold" the twist. So, I let it do it's thing and then I plied it with a thread of iridescent Mylar. It looks way better than you can tell. I have another 2 oz of this to spin so I'd best get anther spool of thread. If I had plied it against itself, it would have been so heavy. That's what happened when I tried to do that with Optim. So, now I'm seeing that if I want to get this weight of yarn and not laceweight, I should just ply it with a tiny single for strength.

Come Engage!

Next Monday I'll be doing a tele interview for the blog Woman on Quilts at 5pm PDT. The focus will be creating and business. Call in and have the opportunity to ask questions on the many different facets of this topic!

Tricky Latvians

My new knitting buddy, Petra showed up to group yesterday with the coolest little way of counting pattern rows! It's a length of yarn, (see white strand above) knotted in one inch increments. You move along to the next knot to as you go to the next row! When I asked her what the origin of this technique was, she said:

I just confirmed the source. In Joyce Williams' book "Latvian Dreams," she cites Lizbeth Upitis (author of Latvian Mittens) as the source.

Coooool. Low tech and free.

So, you'll also see these funky mittens that she's knitting in Noro as well.

When the Wheel's Away, the Spindle Will Play

Ever since I obtained my funky little spinning wheel, it's been a little tricky, having only one bobbin. What I've been doing is filling it up, winding half of it off and then plying it with a drop spindle. It's been exercise. I think my upper body strength has benefited. But, along with that challenge is the challenge that once I commit myself to spin a fiber, I've gotta pretty much stick with it until the bobbin is full.

It's been hard to find someone to make me some new custom bobbins, PDQ. I did find someone and then it's been a matter of letting my bobbin go for about a week to have the "babies" made. I have plenty of knitting to do, but there's this certain mindset that's just right for spinning. Hard to describe. Slightly distract-able, but still wanting to do something. Knitting won't always fill that void.

Thus, my lovely Spindlewood Spindle came out to play. It's a little snobby though. It only likes luxury fibers (go figure). Last night, in the heat of the night I started spinning some silk. It's pretty satisfying. I haven't dropped it too many times. The fiber is from Chasing Rainbows in Abalone.

There wasas well, the slightly manic spinning BEFORE I let got of my bobbin, pictured below. I had to do finish off what I had started before I let go of the bobbin for baby-making. You really can't tell in this photo, but this is Ramboulet, Silk and Sparkles, in a intense, deep blue. It's my idea of "dessert" spinning. It's something that I save up for fun, adventure and color satisfaction.I admit it: I'm a kinky spinner. I have proclivities that can hardly be explained. But, I have NO shame. Well, almost...

I Couldn't Wait!

I couldn't wait to post all these pictures from my time yesterday at the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR. This is my third year and was really the best ever. I went with my friend Melissa who is NOT a fiber person but a jewelry person. She's so inquisitive though that it made it really really fun. I love talking wool. I love talking all things fiber. And Melissa, well, she likes talking! (I may catch some sh*t for that last comment).

The whole day instilled me with new enthusiasm for my fiber-life. I paid more attention to the sheep breeds and their temperament. I found myself more open to every aspect of the day. And yes, I did have lots of business cards with me! This picture above is one of my favorites of the whole day.
There's Melissa (top left) just dreamy with thoughts of sheep.
This is my buddy from Twitter, Velma who was there showing her ColorBomb Creations.
And here is the bunny lady, Debby who I am always so happy to see. We found each other in the Toots Le Blanc fiber booth.

Then came the judging.
Each farm presenting their sheep breed would show in groups of three. Here are two being wrangled. They show the livestock with their butts facing the interior of the ring, to be judged first. Interesting.
This wee gal had the third in that group and you can see she had quite the steady grip on this sheepy.
How can you not be fascinated with the different horn shapes?
The amazing monotone but gorgeous texture combination is really highlighted with this ram.

But you look at this one and wanna say, "Hey! You've got a great haircut but let me get that straw out of your 'do! Ah! The conditions there are just not up to a fashion icon like yourself!"

So, as you can see, I've taken no pictures of the fiber this year. Yeah, it's all just gorgeous. Does this mean I'm about to buy some goats or sheep in the near future? I think not, but the focus in my spinning it changing a little.

The Day After

I hand lettered an insane amount of these armbands, not knowing how many folks would show. I mean, Through a combination of Knit/Purl and Larissa Brown I ended up getting a lot of press! All in all we ended up with a great situation of being able to snag use of these great Adirondack chairs that were in place for the floral exhibit. I felt like we were having a garden party.
And here we are, right in the middle of Pioneer Courthouse Square, a rotating group of enthusiastic knitters. I stayed 4 hours and then gave it up to those who arrived much later. Thanks again everyone for coming, and for Emily's fantastic vegan cookies. It was great meeting some new knitters and hooking up with old friends.

The Day Before...

From this fiber

To this yarn that reminds me of a wool dress that my mom made for me when I was a girl.

This is from pencil roving and might actually get knitted into something!

Tomorrow is WWKIP day (world wide knit in public). This is the first year I'll be an organizer and I stepped up to doing the gathering here in Portland, OR, specifically downtown.

I signed up for this way in advance out of concern that there would be a lack of interest. Portland has such a huge knitting community and we get together all the time. I think folks often wonder, why bother? We bother because we are showing folks what we do and how we value the craft of knitting. Important stuff.

Yesterday I went to my friend Melissa the jewelry-maker's house and she made me whatever kind of stitch markers I wanted. She had never made any before and I doubt she will ever sell any. That said, I get to show mine off to you in pride ;-)