Look, I'm Spinning!

This is my first skein of hand-spun yarn! I am using a top-whorl spindle, and having a great time.

I won a book from Wiley Publishing as part of the Charmed Knits KAL, and chose "Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning." Then I got got 8 oz of roving at the TKGA weekend in Manchester, NH, and ordered a spindle from E-bay. A couple of weeks ago, I realized that learning from a book is possible, but there had to be an easier way, so I went to Mind's Eye Yarn in Porter Sq. (Cambridge, MA) and had a spinning lesson from Lucy Lee. What a difference!

My plan is to spin all this yarn and then knit myself a hat and mittens, and maybe a scarf from the yarn. Maybe for this winter, and if not, there's always next winter. After all, I live in New England.

I've Been Busy

Who am I to be picky? I kept waiting to blog until I had some good pictures, but in the meantime LOTS of good stuff happened. I went to Rhinebeck - what a blast! The Knit-A-Yarn crew went to film and interview, so we were there for three days, and I still didn't get to see everything! I did manage to get some shopping in, of course. I feel like a bought a little of everything. The one thing I kept missing was hooking up with the Ravelry people. It took me over a week to recover from that trip.

I got two skeins of boucle yarn at half price because they were dyeing misadventures. I knit up one into a shawl.

It has a collar because I sort of mitered it by increasing down the center, as well as increasing at the edge. The actual color of the skein can be seen in the small hank of left-over yarn. I overdyed the shawl with blue food coloring. I'm much happier with the new color.

I love the ball band dishcloth pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting, so a bunch of people will be getting dishcloths/washcloths paired with a fabulous bar of soap from Frost Fish Cove Soaps. I've already given this set away to a good friend.

I'm trying to confine my knitting to promised items with a deadline (like the Aran sweater) and holiday gifts. I have finished one major gift for my niece - an entrelac hat (my design) and scarf knit in Nashua Wooly Stripes. I have a pinwheel sweater on the needles for another niece, and several sets of cabled wrist-warmers laying about that just need to have the thumbs knitted in. What is it about knitting thumbs that leads to procrastination?

Being this disciplined is extremely hard, since I have the yarn for two sweaters for me that I'm itching to get started on: a lovely entrelac jacket by Sarah James to be done in Noro yarn, and a pullover sweater by Ella Rae (details eventually).

I dyed...

Let's make a long story longer...I joined a hand-dyed sock yarn skein swap. When I rooted through my stash for the Knit Picks Bare sock yarn that I knew I had, there wasn't any. I could have sworn I had some, but no. What I did have was several skeins of lace-weight yarn; but these did not meet the requirements. To complicate things, I was laid off towards the end of August, and, since it was unexpected, my finances were a bit awry, so I couldn't just jump on line and order more sock yarn. My swap pal was very understanding, and did say that she liked lace-weight yarn, too, so lace-weight it would be.

Being unemployed does NOT mean that you are not busy. You might have noticed my previous blogs about launching Knit-A-Yarn, and then there was the month of career counselling my previous employer provided - now this is actually a valuable resource, but a month is a bit short, so I've been running off to seminars (very helpful, BTW) on resumes and interviewing and such. If Knit-A-Yarn goes as planned, I won't be looking anywhere else, but it never hurts to have a good backup plan.

Where is all this leading? Just that it took me longer than I anticipated to get around to dyeing the yarn. But today was the day!

I had done some multi-tasking with my homemade swift and used it to rewind the yarn into 4 separate sections, so that I could have four different colors that would stripe. Next I soaked the yarn in a vinegar and water solution, then I put out four strips of plastic wrap in a sort of fan shape, and twisted newspaper to make each section into a cradle for each section of yarn. Then I mixed my Wilton's cake dye in hot water, added it to a squeeze bottle and dyed each section. I used paper towels to absorb extra fluid, to avoid flooding. Note, the horrible green background is the vinyl tablecloth I had the sense to put down.

I'm hoping that once the yarn dries, the shades will be more pastel - lavender, pink, blue, and gray, but subtle enough to to used in a shawl or stole without detracting from the knitted pattern. One can always hope.

Then I carefully folded up the bottom part of each plastic wrap section, sealed in the yarn, and put it in a big bowl. I did open up a little at the top of each section to vent it, because the next step was to stick it in the microwave and nuke it for a minute-and-a-half. Then it sat for 15 minutes. Then I repeated the nuke and sit routine 3 more times...I wanted to make sure the dye was heat set, but didn't want to melt the plastic wrap.

By then it was time to go off to work at Fabric Place for the evening (my part-time job)(they have a very nice yarn dept.). When I got home, the yarn was nice and cool, so I rinsed it out, a section at a time, and then laid it out to dry.

Rewinding it is going to be an interesting challenge, but I'm sure I'm up to it.

On a more literary note, I finally got a copy of "Mason Dixon Knitting," which I've wanted for awhile. I am very taken by the Ballband Dishcloth. So today on my way to work, I detoured through A.C. Moore and stocked up on Sugar 'n Cream. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas!

Love At First Site

First, a picture:

I fell in love with this yarn instantly. How I found it is part of a longer story, so read on.

Knit-A-Yarn is a Web channel for knitters. I am the Channel Producer. I have been spending almost all of my time working on the content for the site. There will be video PodCasts for your viewing pleasure, a blog (I'm calling it Loose Threads) about what we're doing and how it's being done, a Projects page with links to stuff to do, a Knit For A Cause page with info on charity knitting, and more. I want to have a page called "Goat Herd - for kids who knit." You can tell I have a slightly skewed sense of humor. A big part of what we will be doing will be driven by input from the knitting community. So where does that luscious skein of yarn (Seacoast Handpainted, 100% merino, 560 yards in Truffle) come in?

Part of my mission is to visit all the yarns stores I possibly can within reasonable driving distance to find out what makes each one different or unique. So I started close by - The Knitting Room in Arlington, MA. I almost stumbled over this yarn, because it was part of a display that had been set in a basket on the floor. The colors just drew my eye. I loved the fushcia and the subtle shading into lavender and gray, and the golden browns gave just the right balance of contrast. But I didn't buy the yarn. I was laid off in August and was trying to be financially responsible; but I did talk to Jackie, the owner about the possibility of filming a PodCast (filming is scheduled for Thursday).

When I went back for a location scout with my sister, Melissa, Knit-A-Yarn Executive Producer (my family believes in nepotism), the yarn was still there. I gave it more fondling, but still didn't buy it. There was also a laceweight yarn in the same colorway...

I finally went back last Friday, and almost had a panic attack because when I walked in, the yarn wasn't there! (took a couple of deep breathes), then after some fast searching, I located it. Jackie had rearranged the yarn displays. So now it's MINE! (happy dance).

So come on over to www.knitayarn.com, and let me know what you think!

Tofutsies Update

Friday evening I sent an e-mail to customer service at SWTC aabout my Tofutsies yarn problems, with a copy to the company president. The next day I got a reply from Jonelle (pres) saying, "I am very sorry you have problems with the Tofutsies. I will have a new ball of yarn sent out to you on Monday."

I appreciate the quick response and will appreciate the new ball of yarn when it arrives.

If they know which yarn to send me, it means that they did check out this blog (I included the blog info in the e-mail).

It should be interesting to see what they send.

Socks Tote Kids

There is no linear progression to this post.

I've been doing a lot of knitting. All I've finished is a couple of dishclothes. They're quick, fun, and useful. I have been working on a pair of socks for a KAL for the Zig-Zag Sock, but the yarn - Tofutsies - has been giving me a lot of trouble. I keep encountering knots, and after I cut them out and rejoin the yarn, about two rows later - there's another knot! So I tink back and remove the short piece of yarn, rejoin, and keep knitting. This has happened twice. I ignored a couple of small knots (which I may regret later), but then I did a cut and rejoin a third time, and look at what happened!

Can you see where the yarn actually changed? This is not a gauge change, it is a different dye lot, or something. Pisses me off good. Tofutsies is gonna hear about this.

On a happier note, I finally dyed the yarn for the Gryffindor socks that I am knitting for the Hogwarts Sock Swap 2. I found a really great pattern at Blue Moon Fibers, which I can't reveal until after my swap pal has her socks. But here's the yarn: Knit Picks Bare dyed.

I've cast on for the first sock, and am enjoying the process of knitting. I really like working with this yarn.

The Aran sweater looks better all the time (such modesty, ;-) ). I'm almost up to the armholes on the back, which should be nearly complete by the end of the weekend. I did take a picture, but the quality of the shot was terrible. So no pic for now.

I have a project, a to-be-felted tote bag, that sits next to me at the computer, and as I wait for something to upload, or read a long post, I knit a couple of rows. I ask you, who's afraid of a little color? I keep a basket of yarn (Lopi) next to me, and randomly pick colors to knit, most of the time.

I'm knitting it side-to-side in garter stitch, and I like the back, where the colors overlap more, almost more than the front!

Moving on to knitting related news, on Mondays the Malden Stitch 'n Bitch meets at a local pub. This Monday, I took my 7-year old niece with me. She's a knitter, too. I taught her last year, and after knitting in fits and starts, this summer she began to focus in. On a recent trip to New Hampshire with her parents, she knit in the car, and finished her first ball of yarn!

The SnB was a small affair, one other person showed up, but the three of us sat, knit, and chatted away. Jasmine loved it. I'm not going to bring her every week, but I think it's good exposure for everybody.

Gotta go and e-mail Tofutsies.

Here's a "New" Acronym

I "unvented" an acronym: to WILT, or WILTING - to weave (or weaving) in loose threads. The penultimate task before finishing a knit item. I was going to call the blog that I'm writing for Knit A Yarn "WILT," since I'm going to be gathering up bits of (hopefully) interesting information about what is going on behind the scenes, but after some editorial discussions, the new blog is "Loose Threads." I like the name for the blog, but I can imagine knitters starting to talk not only about UFOs and tinking, but adding wilting to their conversations and further confusing the uninitiated.