TDF 2011: Update - Day 13

Here's a photo of where I am right now with Tour de Fleece 2011:

• 9 1-ounce bumps spun.
• Another one ounce on the wheel.
• 5.5 ounces left to complete

TDF: Days 5-11

I'm still working diligently on my Tour de Fleece project. I've been looking at some of the forums & posts, and WOWZA, people have gotten a TON of spinning done! (As evidenced by the tons of bobbins and skeins already created.)

I am still plugging along on my mere one pound of fleece spinning. I have 6 ounces done, and am woefully behind getting all 16 ounces done by the 22nd of July. I need to get 10 ounces done in the next 10 days, which sounds do-able, BUT....when you have a multitude of things going on all at once, then it becomes a little bit more difficult (esp. since we're going to be gone for 2 days and there shall be no spinning for me because the 2 days will be jammed pack).

so, realistically, I shall have 8 days to finish 10 ounces. GAK. However, I shall perservere, as this is my challenge, and getting everything plied was "extra credit" anyways.

Slate Talks About Ravelry

Fiber artists all know that Ravelry is amazing.

Slate post an article about Ravelry earlier this month.

Weekend Full of Faires

This weekend was one full of variety of craft fairs and such.

On Saturday, we went up to the Renegade Craft Faire late in the afternoon. This gave us time to sleep in a little bit, grab a leisurely lunch before heading over to Fort Mason.

Parking was relativey easy, and the vendors there were the usual suspects we had seen before with a few new ones. I ended up buying a print from Wondermark, which was a whopping $5.00.

I got this print from him, which involves knitting...coz it's too funny, and well, it's just so very true!

It was interesting to see different takes on upcycling, repurposes, and the ilk, but nothing that jumped out at me and say 'WOW'.

On Sunday, I headed over to the Oakland Fiber Festival, which was a small craft festival for fiber artists. It was mostly vendors with a few guilds.

They had some tents set up to teach knitting, weaving, spinning, crochet, and felting, but some of the tents were over crowded with equipment. But unfortunately, not a lot of designated space for existing fiber artists to just hang out and commune. There were a lot of space in the park that you *could* do it...outside of the general festival area, but it would have been nice to see a place where people could convene, and sit and just hang for a while; seeing as how most knitters, spinners, and crocheters are extremely social community.

I had a nice conversation with Shaggy Bear Farms and her rare breeds flock and got a lot of information on some breeds that she raises, from pygora, teeswater, gotland, and Icelandic. I picked up a few samples from her to spin.

Google Geeking

Having worked for many a high-tech engineering & software companies in the Silicon Valley, I can say that I have some tech geek cred. Not as much as others, but enough.

The buzz lately has been Google+. I managed to get into the latter half of the Beta Program, and have been liking what I've seen so far. It's FaceBook with things done better than FaceBook

There's a little bit more security for privacy, photos, and the ilk.
I like their use of "circles" versus friend lists. You can put people you know into different "circles". (For example, friends, acquaintances, family, work friends, etc). You can place multiple people into different circles, AND G+ makes it easy for you to post only to specific circles.

However, I do wish that with all of Google's graphic design, that they would have made a more Google-esque interface instead of having it look too much like FaceBook.

For now, I'm on both, and I've discovered a nifty way to crosspost between Google+ and FB (with some restrictions), but it's good enough for me now. However, I will be using G+ a lot more.

Those who are on FB who primarily play games (like CityVille or Farmville) have no worries. Its rumoured that Zynga will have games on G+ soon enough.

Birthday Socks

My nephew got his socks on his actual birthday, which was all sorts of awesome. His mother sent me a text with a photo, letting me know how much he LOVES his socks. And despite the 86+ degree weather they were having (down in Southern California), he ran around the house with them on for the rest of the evening.

He keeps trying to wear them, but it's too darn hot down there to actual wear *wool* socks for any length of time, so he's been keeping them with him on his bed and sleeping with them.

The socks fit him a little loosely, but well enough. He should be able to wear them for another year before he outgrows them, which is exactly what I had hoped....provided he doesn't wear them out first.

The photo she texted me (which I won't post for obvious reasons), has him splayed out on the floor, feet in the air, to show off his socks....along with the biggest goofiest grin that a 6-year-old can muster.

Sometimes, you just have to walk away

I have this hat pattern. It's a pretty hat, and lots of people have knitted it. I very much like this hat.

The instructions are not overly complicated but not exactly all that simple. It's got tons of simple cabling in it. I've liked this hat for a while and had gotten it a while ago, but just haven't knitted it.

But apparently, I am completely incapable of reading *single* page of instructions correctly....several times. Apparently, I can't count either. I've had to frog several times, including ripping out the WHOLE thing 2x. *sigh*

• I couldn't count stitches correctly -- cast on 104 -- even with all the stitch markers I used, so when I start the cabling, everything was off by a single stitch. FROG back to the ribbing to reduce the number of stitches.
• Then when I get everything ready, I am unable to count a simple 8 stitches in order to do my cabling. FROG to the ribbing
• Then I couldn't actually *read* the initial ribbing part correctly (k1, p2, k1), which is a 2x2 rib (k2, p2), but you have to make sure you start at the right first stitch (k1) instead of starting with the k2 in order to get the cabling to line up correctly. COMPLETELY FROG in order to start all over again in frustration.
• Then I thought that I'd do a tubular cast-on to make a better edging since I had already frogged completely.. Apparently, despite having done this many many times, I am still unable to count correctly. FROG the cast-on 2x.
• And then, (this might have been an honest assumption, except that I didn't actually *read* the entire pattern first), I thought the "written" directions was a translation of the chart, because it had the same exact number of rounds. INSTEAD, the written directions were for the crown, and I couldn't understand why it was decreasing so fast to make such a small hat. FROG BACK to the ribbing.

Needless to say, I had to walk away from the whole thing for several hours as my frustration level was growing. I had started this hat on the 4th. I should have been finished by now.

le sigh

But, apparently, I am on the "right" track now (knock on wood), although I will be using lifelines at the finish of each repeat, because given the history of this hat, I'm bound to make yet more mistakes.

I guess it's a good thing that this hat is a lovely green for all the frogg'ing I've had to do. There are some days, where I just feel prettier than I do smart. *sigh*

TDF: days 1-4

Tour de Fleece has started well. Despite the holiday weekend, I've gotten off to a good start. According to my calculations, I just need to spin an average of 1/2 ounce of fiber per day in order to finish up a pound by the end of TDF.

So far, so good....even with the horrifically hot weather we've been having.

I Can Haz Socks?

Last month, I got a chance to spend some time with my niece & nephews. The youngest, C, asked me if I could knit him a pair of socks like I had for his older sister. He said I could make it his birthday present, if I wanted (which he pointed out was coming up).

Hmm. Cheeky kid just like his uncle. However, with his big blue eyes and toothy grin, who I am to say no? I'm such a sucker for those kids. And socks are a relatively quick knit, esp. since he's got smaller feet.

Of course, this was the kid who was kinda disappointed that I had given him a dead fish hat for his birthday (he wanted a R/C car), BUT also the same one, who dragged me over to show me that he had brought his hat and they had worn it while on vacation. LOL.

As he is growing like a weed, at 5 years old, he's wearing Size 2 already. His mom & I agreed that a size bigger would at least last him a year. So when I got home, I dug out some left over sock yarn (machine-washable for his mother) that I thought he might like, and knitted him a pair of socks.

I sent those off to him earlier this week, which should get them to him (hopefully) ON his birthday.

Knitted Knockers

This is very cool, and helps breast cancer survivors. So, if you want to do some volunteer knitting, yet something "different", here's the thing for you.

Knitted Knockers Program

Tour De Fleece 2011

It's that time of year again for the Tour De Fleece Challenge on Ravelry. Again, I'll be spinning with Team Sasquatch for TDF2011

My goal? Attempt to spin 1 lb of silk/merino fiber from Ashland Bay in the colorway "Spice" within the specified time frame. This is only the singles. I get extra credit for plying. ;-)

I bought it because it reminded me of tabby cats. However, when I did my sampling, it came out a beautiful brown tweedy color.

For the samples, I've spun 1oz of fiber, and tried a 2 & 3ply to see what I liked using a 11:1 ration on my Ashford Kiwi.

2ply (Left) / 3ply (right)

I'm basically going with the 3ply sample.

So far, I've split my fiber into 1oz size bites so I can get them off the bobbins and onto quills when I'm done. There are about 16 (1oz) bumps there + 1 bump @ 1.5 oz.

Usually, 1lb of fiber is enough for a sweater for me, so this shall end up being one.

Head over Heelix

I usually don't jump on a given knitting bandwagon immediately. If I like a pattern well enough to knit it, I usually get around to it. Very rarely has there been a pattern that I Have To Knit NOW!!

However, in the new issue of Knitty Fall 2011, I saw the Double Heelix and I just Had To Knit It Now!!

Luckily, I had just finished a pair of socks for my nephew (more on that later), and was looking for another portable project. I also had the appropriate yarn for it in my Stash.

The heel was a little bit tricky to get right and I frogged 2x because I didn't read carefully enough, but once I got the heel, everything else was cake.

Retzlaff Winery Event

The Retzlaff Winery Event came and went...without me. :-( I had gone last year, and had every intention of going this year, except that it was slated to have 80% chance of rain (unseasonably) on the planned weekend, so it was moved to a weekend when I already had conflicting plans. :-(

However, I had already arranged with Janet Heppler of Nebo Rock Ranch to buy two of her fleeces. She put aside two grey fleeces and 2 hogget fleeces (the first fleece removed from a sheep and generally the softest fleece a sheep will ever produce) for me to look at at Retzalff.

Fortunately, a friend, Lisa, was willing to pick up the fleeces and drop them off to Morro Fleeceworks for me (who was also going to be there). So, when it was definite I couldn't go, I had her do that for me.

I also had her get some fleece samples for my fleece & fiber study book so I could have some before/after of the fiber along the way.

Six pound grey fleece, Gretta

Gretta was coated, so she wasn't particularly dirty, and there was some grease. But, she had that wonderful musical sound when you pinged her locks.

Odie, a hogget ram @ 4.5 pounds.

According to Janet, the hoggets aren't coated and there is some VM in their coats. But since I really wanted to experiment with a hogget, this is of little concern to me as Janet's fleeces are quite nice. The hogget was slightly greasy, but not overly so.

I did take some of the samples (not enough to spin, really), and washed some of it so I could see the before and after. I've read enough about washing fleeces to have a working knowledge, but no practical experience. So I tried my best.

I had some tulle so I wrapped some of the samples in that, and let it soaked/rinsed 2x using Dawn.Then let it dry in the very hot sun.

The Results?

Gretta had very little change; just dirt & debris and some of the lanolin was removed. You can feel the difference mostly in touch versus sight. The *after* is very soft and most of the lanolin has been removed.

Before / After

Odie (Before & After)

Odie had the biggest visual change, as the yellow-y lanolin & dirt was removed leaving a very clean white fleece.

And, ZOMG, is it sooo soft!

(Before/After)

Now that I have these clean locks, I wish I had a little bit more to try a sample spin, but this was mostly just to have reference examples of the fleeces I buy. that I really can't wait to have these arrive from Morro!

Feeling Not So Blue about Blue

Previously, I wrote about my cat Blue who was suffering from an unknown-at-the-time ailment. However, she is responding beautifully to both types of antibiotics, and cancer has been ruled out.

She's eating, grooming, and generally herself again. This makes me happy. Now, I can concentrate on other things, like crafting....

Feeling Blue

This is my cat, Blue. (Once dubbed Bluebeard for the grey 'beard' under her chin, until we found out she was a girl...)

She hasn't been feeling well for the past few days, and the doctors don't know what's wrong; actually they just don't know WHY she's sick. It could be anything from an infection to the big "C"-word.

She's on two types of antibiotics, subQ fluids, and we're putting food down her until she feels good enough to eat on her own. She was at the vet for 2 days on an IV.

This is what I've been doing for the past several days, so things have been quite on the blog-o-sphere, and very minimal crafting has been done.

Blue's getting better, but progress is slow.

iPad Accessory Case

Since I got the iPad2, I've been looking at a variety of accessories, including cases for it. Some are rather expensive, and there are mixed reviews on all of them. Until I could make a firm decision regarding what type of case I wanted, I opted to at least make something quick for myself as a modicum of protection rather than just throwing it into my messenger bag when I go out.

I have available leather as well as fabric in the house, but I opted for fabric until I was happy with what I got, as fabric is a little more forgiving if a mistake is made. (Plus I have much more fabric available).

I took some progress pictures with the iPad just to see what it was like.****

All-in-all, it took me about 2 hours to put it together. I did spend 30 minutes, trying to remember how to do a bowline knot.

Fabric Being Used

I had some left over linen fabric from a previous outfit I had created.

I also had some left over quilting material that would serve as padding for my iPad.

Quilted Pocket Finished

One edge of the quilted fabric was already sewn in bias tape, so I thought to use that as the top edges. The edges are serged for extra strength

After some sewing for both the lining (green fabric) and outer fabric (striped fabric, the pocket was finished.

Finished Pocket

Boning along the Edge

I did some decorative stitching of a vine motif along the edge of the flap, and used boning to give it a little bit more stiffness.

Finished Pocket with iPad Enclosed
Here's the finished pocket with the iPad inserted. It's a little bit bigger than the iPad, but the inner quilted pocket fits the iPad snuggly.

Closure Idea

I was playing around with the types of closures to be used. A while ago, I found a young boy's leather belt that I think might work for the closure, but it proved to be a bit unwieldy.

I opted for a leather thong & a nice brass button. The thongs are tied with a figure-8 & bowline knot.

**** (Although 1-2 photos were taken with the iPhone because the iPad was in its case. And can I say that the iPad camera just SUCKS? I know it's not on par with my regular camera gear, but the photos it took are just horrid! They only look good when resized very very very small. The "large" ipad sized photos are just waay too noisy & pixelated.

Little Red Plane: A Knitted Adventure

This is absolutely adorable. I love the blue sky and green fields.

Quick Update

I'm sorry for the lack of posts as of late. May & June are my busiest months filled with sci-fi conventions, DIY faires, and ren faires. (Told you I was a geek....)

But for now, I've been playing with my FAVORITE thing that DH got me for my birthday.

It's the iPad2, and I've already loaded up all of my knitting patterns onto it, not to mention tons of sheet music for fiddle tunes, and playing with apps.

Unfortunately, I've also been wasting time playing Suduko on my iPad. *sigh*

The Long and Short of It.

Recently, I started working with some mixed BFL that I picked up at Village Spinning and Weaving two years ago. It's lovely fiber with still a nice sheepy smell.

I started spinning it on my Joy with my typical short draw. However, I kinda got bored, because there's a pound of it, and I had just spent a great deal of time spinning a lot of Frank.

So I decided that since I really have more yarn in my Stash than I know what to do with, I decided that I would play with the lovely lovely BFL using different draws.

By this time, I had already:
* spun & navajo plied 2 skeins of yarn
* spun short draw a 2-ply (intended for a 4ply chain)

So, I thought to practice my long draw, using the same ratios as before (11:1). It took me a bit to get used to the long draw and just "letting" go control over the yarn. The first bobbin of 1oz singles was very thick and thin but eventually I managed to get it relatively even with very little support from my non-fiber hand.

The 2nd bobbin of 1oz went very well with much more even yarn, although I did have lots of thick and thin sections. The 2ply result was quite nice. It's a worsted weight @ 58 yards with 2 ounces, which isn't much.

But I'm comparing the long woolen draw skein and the short-draw skeins and I'm kinda liking the nice halo effect and the soft loftniness of the woolen. Of course, I'll be knitting up sample swatches to get a feel for the resulting fabric.

Getting My Sock Mojo Back

For about 2 months, I kinda lost my sock mojo. Maybe it was because I had a foot injury and couldn't wear my hand-knit socks (they bothered the surgery area too much)....or shoes....in fact, walking was a bit of a problem too.

Well, that's changing. I'm slowly starting to walk again, and my doctor recommended that I get some clogs to help with the walking part.

Yup. You heard correctly, clogs. So I went to the store, and took a look at Dansko clogs. I was a little bit skeptical on the concept of wearing clogs could help me walk better, but who am I to argue with my surgeon?

Did you know that clogs have a tag on the box that says "American Podiatrist Medical Association Approved?" I didn't know that. I bet my doctor did. :-)

So, I got these lovely red beauties at the store. I had a 20% off coupon AND a gift certificate, so the price was about right.

And wouldn't you know it? They actually DO help me walk better. Of course, I need to wear socks with these shoes.

So, I immediately cast on for a new pair socks....

'Coz new socks should be had with new shoes, right? :-)