I am desiring a skein winder if I am going to be spinning regularly -- and I certainly plan to be. I have a homemade one from a former acquaintance, and a horizontal 4-arm swift that can also be used to wind. Neither works well. The homemade one was not as well thought out or built as it could have been. As its aged, the 'windmill' portion has started to droop so that the heaviest arm hits the main post in use, and there's no way to fix it because that person used wood glue instead of bolts to fasten it to the post. The horizontal one does not work well for me because I'm five feet tall, which means short arms, which means it's difficult for me to reach the handle without having the end of the arm slam into my tummy.
So, I've been in the market for a vertical skein winder. I had it narrowed down to either a Fricke, or a Will Taylor. Both have marvelous reputations. The Fricke's disadvantage was higher cost, especially for an adjustable one. The Will Taylor's downside is a 2-4 month waiting period, and no built-in counter. A counter is really a necessary to me, and not nearly as common a feature as it should be on skein winders, so I would be hoping that Noellenoodle was still selling her electronic ones when the WT came in. I wouldn't want to order it in advance, since the counter warranty period is about the same as the wait for the winder itself.
It's shocking to me how hard it is to find those add-on counters. It's just a magnetic pick-up! (*eye roll* 'just'. That's the engineer in me talking. ^_~).
Well, I was about ready to order the Will Taylor, realizing there was a risk of not being able to get a counter for it later. But before I did so, I decided to stop in Ravelry's 'Spinner's Marketplace' group to see if anyone was selling a skein winder, or even if I could get a Will Taylor secondhand without a potential 4-month wait. And from there, I was directed to WoodenSpinner's Etsy shop.
Wow. I ordered one of her skeiners right there. I won't be able to comment on the manufacturing until it arrives, but the engineering looks positively brilliant. It's adjustable, but with pegs instead of screws -- no stripping holes with age or having yarn tension slide your skein a little smaller as you go. There's a tensioned bobbin holder right on it, so you don't have to dig out a lazy kate. And of course, a counter. I am a little concerned about one feedback comment that complained about the windmill hitting the main post, which I didn't see until after I had ordered. I'll just have to see how it goes there. With cotter pin construction, though, worst case scenario I could probably knock out the pin and put a shim in place to fix that if it happens.
Anyway, I'm excited. I can't wait until it arrives and I can try it out. I guess I should ply something between now and then. (Ah, plying. My mortal enemy.)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Nice try, but no dice
Some news agencies (ooh, nebulous blamee! You know what you're in for here ;) ) have been reporting more people turning to fiber arts like sewing and knitting during this recession 'to save money over buying'.
That's a stupid statement that can only come from someone who doesn't knit, sew, or otherwise make things for themselves.
The simple fact is that an individual can not compete with a large corporation where manufacturing costs are concerned. You're saving labor costs? Big whoop. Labor costs are a very small part of a soft product's cost. Furthermore, you are often competing with workers making less than $1 a hour and working on machinery that pumps out clothing far faster than the best hand knitter or seamstress could. And forget about getting ahead on materials. You've got to pay retail; the big manufacturers are buying such huge quantities that they can get massive discounts.
If you want to save money, you don't make it yourself; you go to Wal-Mart.
So why are more people knitting and sewing (assuming that is the case)? Because it's a stress reducer. I knit and spin a lot more often when I'm stressed, because it helps relax me. Furthermore, you've got affordable luxuries, another way to take the edge off. When you don't know if you'll have a job in a week, a new TV doesn't seem like such a good idea. $10 of yarn, though, that isn't such a big deal, especially when you're looking at at least 10 hours of stress relief and entertainment.
That's a stupid statement that can only come from someone who doesn't knit, sew, or otherwise make things for themselves.
The simple fact is that an individual can not compete with a large corporation where manufacturing costs are concerned. You're saving labor costs? Big whoop. Labor costs are a very small part of a soft product's cost. Furthermore, you are often competing with workers making less than $1 a hour and working on machinery that pumps out clothing far faster than the best hand knitter or seamstress could. And forget about getting ahead on materials. You've got to pay retail; the big manufacturers are buying such huge quantities that they can get massive discounts.
If you want to save money, you don't make it yourself; you go to Wal-Mart.
So why are more people knitting and sewing (assuming that is the case)? Because it's a stress reducer. I knit and spin a lot more often when I'm stressed, because it helps relax me. Furthermore, you've got affordable luxuries, another way to take the edge off. When you don't know if you'll have a job in a week, a new TV doesn't seem like such a good idea. $10 of yarn, though, that isn't such a big deal, especially when you're looking at at least 10 hours of stress relief and entertainment.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
In Which Kati Waxes About Yarn
My favorite LYS is having a big sale this week, and I didn't go to knit-night as usual because I was sick, so I went in this morning to do a little stash enhancement. And ooh, I thought I'd found the yarn for my Wallaby sweater. It was all cotton but not stringy, pilly, or excessively heavy; surprisingly inexpensive; there was a colorway I really liked and there was just enough of it on the shelf to make a Kati-sized sweater if I cleaned them out. Only one problem: I finally had to admit that as much as I liked it in the skein, that colorway was just not going to look good with my complexion. It was too pink, and too much of a ruddy pink. A little more lavendar could have worked, but not this.
I did, however, buy enough of it for a throw I plan to make next, a radiating star blanket. (The pattern is on Ravelry, but this way all y'all can see what it looks like.) I was planning to do it in Plymouth Kudo, a long-color-repeat cotton/rayon/silk blend I'm looking forward to trying, but the LYS won't be getting it in for a few weeks yet, and I expect to be ready to start my next project before then. Besides, photos of finished projects suggest that the Kudo's color transitions are fairly harsh, and I haven't liked the radiating star blankets I've seen with hard stripes. This may work out better. What I've got is multicolored but not striped. Each ply is a different color, so it should knit up with a tweedy look that hopefully will add visual interest without overwhelming the star pattern.
As I'm shopping, though, I'm realizing that I don't really like buying just one ball to sample with the wool-free stuff. Maybe not so much the alpaca, but with non-animal fibers, I question the usefulness of that single ball in my knitting life. I can do a lot of projects with a single ball of wool (or alpaca, really), depending on the yarn weight: winter hats, scarves, mittens. But cotton or linen doesn't make good winter wear. And there's not a whole lot of other one-skein projects I'm into.
So I'm thinking that I should buy enough for a project I would actually make. Granted, it will cost more that way, but yarn that is never used and never will be is money wasted. A lot of people do this and buy sweater quantities. I'm not willing to go that far, though. I am not a small woman.
Actually, an aside here. I'm a slightly-below-average woman -- which is absolutely unforgiveable in this country. This article here makes an excellent point right in the first 2 paragraphs: the average American man is a little bigger than designers think, but he can walk into any non-specialty store in the country and find fashionable clothes that fit him, look good on him, and unless he is very eccentric, suit his tastes.
The average woman, on the other hand, is defined as "plus size". If you've ever tried to shop plus-size clothing (and statistically speaking, more than half the women reading this have), then you know that plus-size is the nemesis of fashionable, or good fit, or variety, or generally worth wearing except to not be naked. More than half of the female population is defined as niche! It's insane, it's stupid, there's no logical reason for it, but institutionalized sexism sure explains it well.
I also like the quote from the model on the second page, who is considered "plus size" because she wears a 10 (horrors!): "On the street, I'm skinny. At castings, I'm a cow." This is getting into "scary stuff" land.
Anyway, back to yarn. A sweater for an average size person takes between 1500 and 2000 yards of yarn. I don't care to buy quite that much at once, especially since that would typically be over a $100. Not always; the yarn I was looking at today would have been around $50 for the 1800 yards I need for the Wallaby (as I said, unusually inexpensive), but usually good basic yarns starts around $3/100 yards and goes up from there.
However, I have REALLY been enjoying working on a simple circular shawl. Specifically a Strawberry Pie Shawl somewhat blasphemously converted into a circle instead of semicircle. (I say blasphemous because the design specifically made it semicircular because she doesn't like circular shawls.) The radiating star blanket is the same general idea, as are several others on my list to do. They're easy, sometimes I don't even have to carry the pattern which makes them excellent waiting room knitting, you can pick them up and put them down at any point because they're circular, and they look awesome. The nasty critical part of me gripes "isn't that a waste of your mad knitting skillz", but the rest of me goes "Maybe, but I don't care because it's so damn fun! Nyah!"
One of those in worsted or bulky takes 500 to 600 yards of yarn. That's a doable quantity to buy at a time. Not necessarily cheap in some stuff, but doable. And there's a lot of flexibility in what fiber you use. Even a cotton blanket can be nice when the themostat is just a little low, or if you want something to sit on at the park. Or just to look nice draped across furniture.
Thinner yarns will take more yards, but they also come more per skein. I'll just have to dig into some patterns I like and figure out some average yardages.
So, in conclusion: Yay yarn!
I did, however, buy enough of it for a throw I plan to make next, a radiating star blanket. (The pattern is on Ravelry, but this way all y'all can see what it looks like.) I was planning to do it in Plymouth Kudo, a long-color-repeat cotton/rayon/silk blend I'm looking forward to trying, but the LYS won't be getting it in for a few weeks yet, and I expect to be ready to start my next project before then. Besides, photos of finished projects suggest that the Kudo's color transitions are fairly harsh, and I haven't liked the radiating star blankets I've seen with hard stripes. This may work out better. What I've got is multicolored but not striped. Each ply is a different color, so it should knit up with a tweedy look that hopefully will add visual interest without overwhelming the star pattern.
As I'm shopping, though, I'm realizing that I don't really like buying just one ball to sample with the wool-free stuff. Maybe not so much the alpaca, but with non-animal fibers, I question the usefulness of that single ball in my knitting life. I can do a lot of projects with a single ball of wool (or alpaca, really), depending on the yarn weight: winter hats, scarves, mittens. But cotton or linen doesn't make good winter wear. And there's not a whole lot of other one-skein projects I'm into.
So I'm thinking that I should buy enough for a project I would actually make. Granted, it will cost more that way, but yarn that is never used and never will be is money wasted. A lot of people do this and buy sweater quantities. I'm not willing to go that far, though. I am not a small woman.
Actually, an aside here. I'm a slightly-below-average woman -- which is absolutely unforgiveable in this country. This article here makes an excellent point right in the first 2 paragraphs: the average American man is a little bigger than designers think, but he can walk into any non-specialty store in the country and find fashionable clothes that fit him, look good on him, and unless he is very eccentric, suit his tastes.
The average woman, on the other hand, is defined as "plus size". If you've ever tried to shop plus-size clothing (and statistically speaking, more than half the women reading this have), then you know that plus-size is the nemesis of fashionable, or good fit, or variety, or generally worth wearing except to not be naked. More than half of the female population is defined as niche! It's insane, it's stupid, there's no logical reason for it, but institutionalized sexism sure explains it well.
I also like the quote from the model on the second page, who is considered "plus size" because she wears a 10 (horrors!): "On the street, I'm skinny. At castings, I'm a cow." This is getting into "scary stuff" land.
Anyway, back to yarn. A sweater for an average size person takes between 1500 and 2000 yards of yarn. I don't care to buy quite that much at once, especially since that would typically be over a $100. Not always; the yarn I was looking at today would have been around $50 for the 1800 yards I need for the Wallaby (as I said, unusually inexpensive), but usually good basic yarns starts around $3/100 yards and goes up from there.
However, I have REALLY been enjoying working on a simple circular shawl. Specifically a Strawberry Pie Shawl somewhat blasphemously converted into a circle instead of semicircle. (I say blasphemous because the design specifically made it semicircular because she doesn't like circular shawls.) The radiating star blanket is the same general idea, as are several others on my list to do. They're easy, sometimes I don't even have to carry the pattern which makes them excellent waiting room knitting, you can pick them up and put them down at any point because they're circular, and they look awesome. The nasty critical part of me gripes "isn't that a waste of your mad knitting skillz", but the rest of me goes "Maybe, but I don't care because it's so damn fun! Nyah!"
One of those in worsted or bulky takes 500 to 600 yards of yarn. That's a doable quantity to buy at a time. Not necessarily cheap in some stuff, but doable. And there's a lot of flexibility in what fiber you use. Even a cotton blanket can be nice when the themostat is just a little low, or if you want something to sit on at the park. Or just to look nice draped across furniture.
Thinner yarns will take more yards, but they also come more per skein. I'll just have to dig into some patterns I like and figure out some average yardages.
So, in conclusion: Yay yarn!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
I'm going to be testing yarns FOREVER...
I went and became obsessed with the Wonderful Wallaby sweater pattern. It's a pullover hoodie with a kangaroo pouch, that's all, but it looks like it'd be fun to do and comfy to wear. The problem now is choosing a sweater yarn.
A year ago, this would have been easy. I would have gone to Jojoland and ordered a buttload of Rhythm in either M05, M06, or M13.
But nooooooo, I have to have a wool-allergic cat and an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. :P
Doing a search on finished projects on Ravelry with wool and merino filtered out doesn't really bring up anything that grabs me and goes "Me! You want to make one just like me!"
I'm probably going to have to swallow my pride and use an acrylic blend. The idea of doing this in pure cotton makes me woozy just thinking about it. My poor hands, to say nothing of the weight! Linen and hemp have the same hand problem, although less weight, but more cost. Alpaca would cost, maybe not more than I'd care to spend, but enough to make me think twice or thrice about my choice, and I think it would be too hot for me to wear most of the time. Not that acrylic is much better in the heat department. Acrylic yarns have this unfortunate trait that they don't breath, so I personally tend to get hot wearing them in moderate temperatures, but at the same time they don't insulate well in cold temps.
Still, since the Uber-fiber is verboten, the fact is that none of my remaining options are really ideal. So, I think I'm going to be doing a lot of sampling before I commit to a yarn, although you never know. I might get lucky on my first or second try and go "yup, this is it."
I at least have a start on it. I went to Hobby Lobby today and picked up skeins of several different yarns I wanted to try for it (although I forgot to get one of Lion Cotton-Ease. I seem to have this mental block where Lion yarns are concerned). They include Caron Simply Soft Shadows, a 100% acrylic but with a long color repeat, which I like; Bernat Denim Style, which was on sale and looked like it had potential; Hobby Lobby's house brand I Love This Cotton, which is probably a bit thin and would have to soften up quite a bit in the wash; and Patons new Silk Bamboo, which is surprisingly around the middle of the price range I'm willing to pay.
I decided to borrow the "swatch tube" idea from the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, except work it comfortably around 16" circulars for heavier yarns. Who knows, maybe down the line it'll make a nifty scarf, or can be turned into Christmas stockings, or something. In any event, since I'm not nearly as familiar with wool-free yarns as I am with the wool that's out there, there's going to be a lot of swatching in my future until I get some staple yarns settled on.
I started the sample tube off with some Andean Treasure from Knitpicks, which is 100% alpaca. It actually feels pretty nice, but it's the most expensive option on my list right now AND none of the colors really grab me. If only one of those were true, I'd probably have my sweater yarn picked out already, but with both of them working against, I'll probably try a few other things before making a decision.
I guess I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed. There doesn't seem to be a clear best choice for me right now, and it's going to take some patience to come up with the best of available options.
A year ago, this would have been easy. I would have gone to Jojoland and ordered a buttload of Rhythm in either M05, M06, or M13.
But nooooooo, I have to have a wool-allergic cat and an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. :P
Doing a search on finished projects on Ravelry with wool and merino filtered out doesn't really bring up anything that grabs me and goes "Me! You want to make one just like me!"
I'm probably going to have to swallow my pride and use an acrylic blend. The idea of doing this in pure cotton makes me woozy just thinking about it. My poor hands, to say nothing of the weight! Linen and hemp have the same hand problem, although less weight, but more cost. Alpaca would cost, maybe not more than I'd care to spend, but enough to make me think twice or thrice about my choice, and I think it would be too hot for me to wear most of the time. Not that acrylic is much better in the heat department. Acrylic yarns have this unfortunate trait that they don't breath, so I personally tend to get hot wearing them in moderate temperatures, but at the same time they don't insulate well in cold temps.
Still, since the Uber-fiber is verboten, the fact is that none of my remaining options are really ideal. So, I think I'm going to be doing a lot of sampling before I commit to a yarn, although you never know. I might get lucky on my first or second try and go "yup, this is it."
I at least have a start on it. I went to Hobby Lobby today and picked up skeins of several different yarns I wanted to try for it (although I forgot to get one of Lion Cotton-Ease. I seem to have this mental block where Lion yarns are concerned). They include Caron Simply Soft Shadows, a 100% acrylic but with a long color repeat, which I like; Bernat Denim Style, which was on sale and looked like it had potential; Hobby Lobby's house brand I Love This Cotton, which is probably a bit thin and would have to soften up quite a bit in the wash; and Patons new Silk Bamboo, which is surprisingly around the middle of the price range I'm willing to pay.
I decided to borrow the "swatch tube" idea from the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, except work it comfortably around 16" circulars for heavier yarns. Who knows, maybe down the line it'll make a nifty scarf, or can be turned into Christmas stockings, or something. In any event, since I'm not nearly as familiar with wool-free yarns as I am with the wool that's out there, there's going to be a lot of swatching in my future until I get some staple yarns settled on.
I started the sample tube off with some Andean Treasure from Knitpicks, which is 100% alpaca. It actually feels pretty nice, but it's the most expensive option on my list right now AND none of the colors really grab me. If only one of those were true, I'd probably have my sweater yarn picked out already, but with both of them working against, I'll probably try a few other things before making a decision.
I guess I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed. There doesn't seem to be a clear best choice for me right now, and it's going to take some patience to come up with the best of available options.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Project Musings
I am wanting to make a Strawberry Pie Shawl with some pink Elann Baby Silk I got in a swap.
Well, kinda.
I don't get how she wrote the strawberries. When I follow her instructions I get lopsided thingies I don't care for. I don't know if it's her or me, but I recharted the strawberries.
And I don't think the shape was fully thought out. It appears the thought process was "I don't want a solid circle. What I want to do is take a circle and cut a slit in it so that it goes on like a cape." So there are normal circular increases, but when you reach the end of a 'round', instead of going around, you turn and knit back in rows. Sounds like it should work, right?
Not if you're using spiraling increases.
It's got this odd shape where one side is straight and the other's flared. It's very obvious why that happens. Each 'wedge' has increases on the right side, only. So your right side has increases, and the left doesn't. In circular knitting, you just keep going around and that's cool, but in back and forth, not so much.
So, I'm trying to figure out how to address this.
I could just do it as a circular shawl. That actually makes things easier, because it becomes all knitting instead of having to purl back across some long-ass rows at the end there. But, I'm not completely sure I want a circular shawl. They take more futzing to wear, and really need a shawl pin. (Although that would be a good excuse to get myself a nice shawl pin. ;) )
To keep it cape-like, I don't think I could just put another increase at the other end, because then that last wedge is going to grow faster than the others. Even if that would work, then both ends will flare, and that will hang oddly. Trying to straighten the increases wouldn't really be practical; single increases in circular knitting naturally want to spiral.
So, after mentally rambling for far too long, I guess my options are J-shaped or circular. If I can't have what I really want without lots of redesign, I'll go for the option that saves me metric buttloads of purling. I'll do circular.
Well, kinda.
I don't get how she wrote the strawberries. When I follow her instructions I get lopsided thingies I don't care for. I don't know if it's her or me, but I recharted the strawberries.
And I don't think the shape was fully thought out. It appears the thought process was "I don't want a solid circle. What I want to do is take a circle and cut a slit in it so that it goes on like a cape." So there are normal circular increases, but when you reach the end of a 'round', instead of going around, you turn and knit back in rows. Sounds like it should work, right?
Not if you're using spiraling increases.
It's got this odd shape where one side is straight and the other's flared. It's very obvious why that happens. Each 'wedge' has increases on the right side, only. So your right side has increases, and the left doesn't. In circular knitting, you just keep going around and that's cool, but in back and forth, not so much.
So, I'm trying to figure out how to address this.
I could just do it as a circular shawl. That actually makes things easier, because it becomes all knitting instead of having to purl back across some long-ass rows at the end there. But, I'm not completely sure I want a circular shawl. They take more futzing to wear, and really need a shawl pin. (Although that would be a good excuse to get myself a nice shawl pin. ;) )
To keep it cape-like, I don't think I could just put another increase at the other end, because then that last wedge is going to grow faster than the others. Even if that would work, then both ends will flare, and that will hang oddly. Trying to straighten the increases wouldn't really be practical; single increases in circular knitting naturally want to spiral.
So, after mentally rambling for far too long, I guess my options are J-shaped or circular. If I can't have what I really want without lots of redesign, I'll go for the option that saves me metric buttloads of purling. I'll do circular.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
If it pisses off the bigots, it's gotta be good!
1) The "Conservative Knitters" group on Ravelry might as well be renamed "Bigots R Us." (Stumbled into it by accident via another member's profile.)
2) Although not directly related to that, they made me laugh quite heartily with their hypocrisy, too. Direct quote: "No surprise that she is a nasty lefty (but that’s redundant). She isn’t satisfied with talking about her book, she has to go insult conservatives." Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't snert.
3) This is the book that has them all a fluster. You can see just how horrible and insulting it is. (Hell yes I want a copy.)
2) Although not directly related to that, they made me laugh quite heartily with their hypocrisy, too. Direct quote: "No surprise that she is a nasty lefty (but that’s redundant). She isn’t satisfied with talking about her book, she has to go insult conservatives." Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't snert.
3) This is the book that has them all a fluster. You can see just how horrible and insulting it is. (Hell yes I want a copy.)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Today's Awesome Vendor Award Goes To...
Sophie's Fine Yarn Shoppe.
Due to my new wool-free status, I was looking for some alpaca or llama in yellow/gold to make a Gryffindor-colored felted hedgehog. (No, I don't have a reason for a Gryffindor hedgie. I just want one.) My wonderful LYS identified a likely candidate, Alpaca with a Twist Baby Twist in Lemon Zest, but they don't carry it themselves and I couldn't make up the minimum order.
Well, a search of the internet suggests that Sophie's is the only place in the States that carries the Lemon Zest. Which is awesome, but not why they get the awesome vendor award. I placed an order with them for (1) 50 g ball of yellow, (1) 50 g ball of red, and (1) 50 g ball of grey to fart around with.
Package arrived today. I opened it, dumped it out, and out came (1) 50 g ball of yellow, (1) 50 g ball of grey, and (1) ginormous hank of red. Baby Twist comes in two sizes, 50 g and 250 g. The 250g hanks do not give you a discount. So immediately I think "Oh no, what stupid-ass thing did I do? I could have sworn the check-out was priced for three small balls." So I look for the invoice to try to figure out how I screwed up this order, and on it is a little sticky note:
"We have sent a jumbo hank of Red at no additional charge as the small hanks are backordered."
O_O
Guys, one hank costs more than my entire order. They just sent one along instead of making me wait for a back-order or asking if I want to cancel? First time, small order customer? WOW! That is above and beyond in the area of customer service.
I know where I will be getting my Alpaca With A Twist from now on.
Due to my new wool-free status, I was looking for some alpaca or llama in yellow/gold to make a Gryffindor-colored felted hedgehog. (No, I don't have a reason for a Gryffindor hedgie. I just want one.) My wonderful LYS identified a likely candidate, Alpaca with a Twist Baby Twist in Lemon Zest, but they don't carry it themselves and I couldn't make up the minimum order.
Well, a search of the internet suggests that Sophie's is the only place in the States that carries the Lemon Zest. Which is awesome, but not why they get the awesome vendor award. I placed an order with them for (1) 50 g ball of yellow, (1) 50 g ball of red, and (1) 50 g ball of grey to fart around with.
Package arrived today. I opened it, dumped it out, and out came (1) 50 g ball of yellow, (1) 50 g ball of grey, and (1) ginormous hank of red. Baby Twist comes in two sizes, 50 g and 250 g. The 250g hanks do not give you a discount. So immediately I think "Oh no, what stupid-ass thing did I do? I could have sworn the check-out was priced for three small balls." So I look for the invoice to try to figure out how I screwed up this order, and on it is a little sticky note:
"We have sent a jumbo hank of Red at no additional charge as the small hanks are backordered."
O_O
Guys, one hank costs more than my entire order. They just sent one along instead of making me wait for a back-order or asking if I want to cancel? First time, small order customer? WOW! That is above and beyond in the area of customer service.
I know where I will be getting my Alpaca With A Twist from now on.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Why I Am Sad.
That's minus a week's worth of stuff I've already traded off, BTW. There's still some stash that needs to be sorted, but it's mostly... yeah.
In general, there's also a big quality difference between the stuff in tub A and the stuff in tub B, too. :P
I'm thinking I might as well drop out of my "stash knit down" group. That tub on the left there, that's not a stash. That's leftovers. I can't go shopping in there! :P
Look, you didn't even get your PUN right.
Ravelry sells ad space to knitting stuff. Tasteful, out of the way, they've got to finance the largest fiber arts site on the planet, and some of the stuff advertised is really awesome, so that's cool.
One ad I was today was for Knitch Magazine, a new online magazine for knitting fashion.
Uh huh. I'm not going to say anything bad about the content except that I really sincerely doubt that monk's robes are going to be the hottest thing in evening wear this year. Or day wear, for that matter.
However, the word I think they're trying to pun there is "niche". Notice the 'e' on the end. Despite what teh internets seems to think, "nitch" is not even a word. And "knitch" is a terribly arcane word meaning a bundle of plant stalks.
Suffice to say, I am less than impressed.
One ad I was today was for Knitch Magazine, a new online magazine for knitting fashion.
Uh huh. I'm not going to say anything bad about the content except that I really sincerely doubt that monk's robes are going to be the hottest thing in evening wear this year. Or day wear, for that matter.
However, the word I think they're trying to pun there is "niche". Notice the 'e' on the end. Despite what teh internets seems to think, "nitch" is not even a word. And "knitch" is a terribly arcane word meaning a bundle of plant stalks.
Suffice to say, I am less than impressed.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Source of All The Trouble
Some very nice people wanted to see the kitty for whom I am dumping most of my wool fiber, so here's my pretty girl:
Here she is with another cat, Malcolm. No good can come of this.
See, I told ya.
This photo here succintly demonstrates the problem:
(That's pre-haircut and pre-house-recovery, BTW.)
She knows she's worth it.
Here she is with another cat, Malcolm. No good can come of this.
See, I told ya.
This photo here succintly demonstrates the problem:
(That's pre-haircut and pre-house-recovery, BTW.)
She knows she's worth it.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Well, that was depressing.
As I wrote about the other day, it turns out that my cat Mara is allergic to wool among other things. The vet is sending me a complete list of what she was tested for and what substances were positive. (So there's always the hope that maybe it was lanolin or sheep dander and not actually wool. The vet tech on the phone was having trouble reading off some technical term and then went "oh, wool!", so maybe she made a mistake. I'm not going to plan on it, though.)
Although she has other allergens, wool is the easiest of the ones I know about for me to manage, so for now I'm concentrating on it and the dust mites. Of course, I knit and spin, so this is not a trivial activity.
And that what brings me to what was depressing: preparation for major destash. I've decided that if it's got wool and I don't love it, I'm going to try to destash it.
In the next few days, I'm going to try to put together a page of some of the wool-containing yarns I need to destash, and open a "want to trade" post on the nicer of my regular knitting boards. I'll come out ahead if I can trade for wool-free yarn, even if it isn't a one-for-one trade, but that's probably not going to get a whole lot of takers. What's left there will go up for sale on Ravelry, where I won't get much for it. I don't know a better place to go, though.
Although she has other allergens, wool is the easiest of the ones I know about for me to manage, so for now I'm concentrating on it and the dust mites. Of course, I knit and spin, so this is not a trivial activity.
And that what brings me to what was depressing: preparation for major destash. I've decided that if it's got wool and I don't love it, I'm going to try to destash it.
- I have a lot of wool and wool blend yarn. I divided up the portion of stash I already had organized so wool was in one storage tub and wool-free in another. The wool tub was about 1/4 full. The wool-free had four items in it. :P
- If you're not a retailer, you can't get a good price for yarn. Especially the single balls I've got. If I get back half of what I paid on any given item, I'll probably be lucky.
In the next few days, I'm going to try to put together a page of some of the wool-containing yarns I need to destash, and open a "want to trade" post on the nicer of my regular knitting boards. I'll come out ahead if I can trade for wool-free yarn, even if it isn't a one-for-one trade, but that's probably not going to get a whole lot of takers. What's left there will go up for sale on Ravelry, where I won't get much for it. I don't know a better place to go, though.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Oh no! She's allergic to WHAT?!
Last month I had a pretty impressive vet bill for my cat Mara because she needed an allergy test. She just keeps getting infections and irritations in her ears and other parts, and it will help her a lot if we find out what it is and work to desensitize her to it.
Well, the results came back today, with several positives. Ragweed and a few other weeds that don't surprise me. The dust mites I was dreading, but that can be handled. But then came the last thing on the list: sheep's wool.
SHEEP'S WOOL?! O_O
I knit and spin. There is sheep's wool EVERYWHERE. You walk in the living room, there's sheep's wool cat toys. (Well, not any more, but there was one sitting right in front of me as I talked to the vet.) Walk into my bedroom, there's a wool hat and pair of slippers on my dresser. We won't even talk about the craft room, with the wool spinning fiber and the wool yarn. Go downstairs, there's a flippin' fleece in the laundry room. My mittens are wool. My winter hat is wool. The scarf I just finished is wool! The sweater I'm knitting on is wool. The shawl I'm making... Well, that one's alpaca, so that's OK. But still!
I'm really not sure how I'm going to manage this one. I'll do my best to keep wool away from her, but there's so bloody much of it! 90% of my stash just became verbotten. And technically the other 10% is contaminated. Thankfully it's not a matter of life and death. Given that, though, and given how much of it there is,I think I'm going to have to go for a "minimal harm" model. Keep her out of the craft room, put wool items in that room as I find them, put her in another room if I want to work with wool outside of the craft room, always wash my hands after doing so (or wearing my mittens) before touching her,and trying to minimize or eliminate wool from future incoming stash. Any other ideas?
I guess, as much as the cover offends me, that a copy of No Sheep For You is in my future. I know my LYS carries it.
So, how about some vibes for the desensitizing medicine to work and work fast? (And hope she doesn't bite my hand off at getting pilled every single day.)
Well, the results came back today, with several positives. Ragweed and a few other weeds that don't surprise me. The dust mites I was dreading, but that can be handled. But then came the last thing on the list: sheep's wool.
SHEEP'S WOOL?! O_O
I knit and spin. There is sheep's wool EVERYWHERE. You walk in the living room, there's sheep's wool cat toys. (Well, not any more, but there was one sitting right in front of me as I talked to the vet.) Walk into my bedroom, there's a wool hat and pair of slippers on my dresser. We won't even talk about the craft room, with the wool spinning fiber and the wool yarn. Go downstairs, there's a flippin' fleece in the laundry room. My mittens are wool. My winter hat is wool. The scarf I just finished is wool! The sweater I'm knitting on is wool. The shawl I'm making... Well, that one's alpaca, so that's OK. But still!
I'm really not sure how I'm going to manage this one. I'll do my best to keep wool away from her, but there's so bloody much of it! 90% of my stash just became verbotten. And technically the other 10% is contaminated. Thankfully it's not a matter of life and death. Given that, though, and given how much of it there is,I think I'm going to have to go for a "minimal harm" model. Keep her out of the craft room, put wool items in that room as I find them, put her in another room if I want to work with wool outside of the craft room, always wash my hands after doing so (or wearing my mittens) before touching her,and trying to minimize or eliminate wool from future incoming stash. Any other ideas?
I guess, as much as the cover offends me, that a copy of No Sheep For You is in my future. I know my LYS carries it.
So, how about some vibes for the desensitizing medicine to work and work fast? (And hope she doesn't bite my hand off at getting pilled every single day.)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Lookie what I finished!
My tiger eye scarf!
They look more like owls than tigers to me, but I still really like this pattern. I've been working on this guy since late May. Not exclusively, of course, but it has been my main project for the last month or more.
Just in time for the cold weather to move in (again).
They look more like owls than tigers to me, but I still really like this pattern. I've been working on this guy since late May. Not exclusively, of course, but it has been my main project for the last month or more.
Just in time for the cold weather to move in (again).
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Is Alden Amos good for anything?
A few years ago I borrowed Alden Amos' Big Book of Handspinning from the library, and I was less than impressed. Even if the book had been completely accurate, I would have turned off by the ego, the constant pimping of his products and dissing on others', and also the lavish praise on a seemingly unrelated person's products who if you look it up, you'll learn is his significant other. But the book is NOT completely accurate. It is littered with errors. From telling you to wind spindles off the end (please do not do that. Depending on the yarn you might be OK or you might end up with a horrendous mess, but it is always better to wind off the side), to the directions for measuring WPI that are completely wrong (he says to pack to refusal. No. It's not measured that way. The yarn should be gently laid next to itself, no gaps and no crowding).
However, he does have the only really detailed explanation of how a double-drive wheel's ratios work to produce take-up, so when I ordered a double-drive wheel, and got one of Borders' rare really good coupons that brought the book down to a reasonable cost, I bought myself a copy just for that section. I read it over again, and... it's basically bunk.
The math is perfectly fine, but it only works on paper. He's neglecting major contributors like, say, driveband drag -- which is the single biggest factor in determining take-up once your whorl ratios are set. Adjusting driveband drag is how you set your take-up rate. So the three pages of calculations are basically worthless except as academic interest to set your minimum. He does eventually talk about driveband drag, after many many pages of theoretical babblings. So the whole theoretical thing is basically worthless.
Just like Scotch tension, with double-drive you set your whorls, and then tighten something to adjust your take-up. Double-drive pulls in more gently and adds twist as it does. That's all you need to know.
Then, just to add insult to injury, another huge glaring error. Alden tells you that your driveband MUST cross a certain way on a double-drive wheel, and you must change the crossing to the other direction when you switch between spinning and plying. The only way to change this crossing is to either cut the driveband off and tie on a new one, or take the drive wheel off.
Luckily, I stopped, blinked a few times, and said to myself "There is no way our foremothers were destroying their precious hand-spun drivebands or taking their wheels apart several times a year." So I went elsewhere and looked it up.
You know you switch from spinning to plying on a double-drive wheel? You pedal the other way. That's all. You don't do a damn thing to the driveband.
Honestly, I have never seen another instructional book with so much that's just flat out, disasterously wrong. I'm honestly getting to the point where I wonder if anything in this book is right. I really do think it's more wrong than right, so it is really sad that this book is one of the "spinning bibles" out there. Luckily most people either can't afford it or aren't that interested in the theory, and own better more correct books, because if this had been the most common book for new spinners, the community would spend the next two hundred years undoing the damage that man had done. It absolutely blows my mind.
However, he does have the only really detailed explanation of how a double-drive wheel's ratios work to produce take-up, so when I ordered a double-drive wheel, and got one of Borders' rare really good coupons that brought the book down to a reasonable cost, I bought myself a copy just for that section. I read it over again, and... it's basically bunk.
The math is perfectly fine, but it only works on paper. He's neglecting major contributors like, say, driveband drag -- which is the single biggest factor in determining take-up once your whorl ratios are set. Adjusting driveband drag is how you set your take-up rate. So the three pages of calculations are basically worthless except as academic interest to set your minimum. He does eventually talk about driveband drag, after many many pages of theoretical babblings. So the whole theoretical thing is basically worthless.
Just like Scotch tension, with double-drive you set your whorls, and then tighten something to adjust your take-up. Double-drive pulls in more gently and adds twist as it does. That's all you need to know.
Then, just to add insult to injury, another huge glaring error. Alden tells you that your driveband MUST cross a certain way on a double-drive wheel, and you must change the crossing to the other direction when you switch between spinning and plying. The only way to change this crossing is to either cut the driveband off and tie on a new one, or take the drive wheel off.
Luckily, I stopped, blinked a few times, and said to myself "There is no way our foremothers were destroying their precious hand-spun drivebands or taking their wheels apart several times a year." So I went elsewhere and looked it up.
You know you switch from spinning to plying on a double-drive wheel? You pedal the other way. That's all. You don't do a damn thing to the driveband.
Honestly, I have never seen another instructional book with so much that's just flat out, disasterously wrong. I'm honestly getting to the point where I wonder if anything in this book is right. I really do think it's more wrong than right, so it is really sad that this book is one of the "spinning bibles" out there. Luckily most people either can't afford it or aren't that interested in the theory, and own better more correct books, because if this had been the most common book for new spinners, the community would spend the next two hundred years undoing the damage that man had done. It absolutely blows my mind.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
I was right!
Over the summer, I called bullshit on the old "whatever group that isn't us makes intentional mistakes to show only God is perfect" crap.
Someone kindly directed me to this article, specifically the second on Humility Blocks. End result of research: it is crap!
Amish do not intentionally put a mistake into quilts, and are aghast at the idea that they would or would think they would need to.
I lambasted the idea towards Navajo work last time.
And the article there talks about how experts in Persian rug and that history also believe the Humility Boof to be BS.
So, enough with the racist crap, fellow artisans.
Someone kindly directed me to this article, specifically the second on Humility Blocks. End result of research: it is crap!
Amish do not intentionally put a mistake into quilts, and are aghast at the idea that they would or would think they would need to.
I lambasted the idea towards Navajo work last time.
And the article there talks about how experts in Persian rug and that history also believe the Humility Boof to be BS.
So, enough with the racist crap, fellow artisans.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Enjoy my geekery
I want to decorate my house for Halloween.
I don't have a lot storage space for decorations after the season this year.
I do have an Internet connection and a buttload of spare paper. Thus, lookit the awesome stuff I found:
This site is the best. LOVE the mechanical bat. Oh, and I think I need to wear a shirt with a pocket on Halloween just so I can have a pocket monster in it.
I think these will be too much work for this year, but they've got some cute things. I like the winged jack-o'-lantern.
These little buggers are cute. I need to put a couple of them together soon.
I don't have a lot storage space for decorations after the season this year.
I do have an Internet connection and a buttload of spare paper. Thus, lookit the awesome stuff I found:
This site is the best. LOVE the mechanical bat. Oh, and I think I need to wear a shirt with a pocket on Halloween just so I can have a pocket monster in it.
I think these will be too much work for this year, but they've got some cute things. I like the winged jack-o'-lantern.
These little buggers are cute. I need to put a couple of them together soon.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Spin-In News
Whew. Just got back from the Spin-in. Downtime was not a significant problem. Ooh, let's see...
My gloves won second place in their category! Go me.
I was not insane-impressed with most of the vendors. I didn't come home with any yarn. I did come home with a bunch of roving, because I'm like that. I am a sucker for silk, especially tussah roving and mawata (i.e. silk "hankies"). But I didn't spend nearly the amount of "petty cash" that I took.
I did, however, buy a spinning wheel. Actually, a bit more than that. I bought THE spinning wheel: a Schacht Matchless. I got to try one there, and it was soooo nice. Absolutely lives up to the hype.
I was planning to order a Kromski after this event unless I found a wheel I liked, but I did have in the back of my mind that if I found a Matchless for a good price, I'd go for it. I did, so I did. Got some nice freebies, too. The only down sides are 1) it's an order, not a carry-out, so I'll have to wait a week or two to play with my new toy, and 2) it's a single treadle. Under normal circumstances I slightly prefer a double, but the huge treadle of a Schacht makes it not normal circumstances. Because of the design, I think a single will be just great, and quite a bit cheaper.
So, very soon I will have in my possession a spinning wheel that will do everything I ever ask of it. So of course, then I HAD to buy roving, you see. :)
I think I've gotten enough big toys until after November, though. ^_~
I also tried the Schacht Ladybug. That is also a very nice wheel. It can have a place on my short list, too.
Oh, and I learned microwave dyeing. Given my love of insane-bright varigates, hand-dyeing may be in my future.
My gloves won second place in their category! Go me.
I was not insane-impressed with most of the vendors. I didn't come home with any yarn. I did come home with a bunch of roving, because I'm like that. I am a sucker for silk, especially tussah roving and mawata (i.e. silk "hankies"). But I didn't spend nearly the amount of "petty cash" that I took.
I did, however, buy a spinning wheel. Actually, a bit more than that. I bought THE spinning wheel: a Schacht Matchless. I got to try one there, and it was soooo nice. Absolutely lives up to the hype.
I was planning to order a Kromski after this event unless I found a wheel I liked, but I did have in the back of my mind that if I found a Matchless for a good price, I'd go for it. I did, so I did. Got some nice freebies, too. The only down sides are 1) it's an order, not a carry-out, so I'll have to wait a week or two to play with my new toy, and 2) it's a single treadle. Under normal circumstances I slightly prefer a double, but the huge treadle of a Schacht makes it not normal circumstances. Because of the design, I think a single will be just great, and quite a bit cheaper.
So, very soon I will have in my possession a spinning wheel that will do everything I ever ask of it. So of course, then I HAD to buy roving, you see. :)
I think I've gotten enough big toys until after November, though. ^_~
I also tried the Schacht Ladybug. That is also a very nice wheel. It can have a place on my short list, too.
Oh, and I learned microwave dyeing. Given my love of insane-bright varigates, hand-dyeing may be in my future.
Friday, October 17, 2008
I don't have a project?! What do you mean, I don't have a project.
This posts is actually about three posts. And I'm running around trying to get ready for the spin-in/itty bitty fiber festival I'm going to, so it might be disjointed as well.
Lookie what I finished!
They're blocked and everything, but still a tiny skosh damp. At the suggestion of my knitting group, I'm planning to enter them into the "Viewer's Choice" awards at the spin-in tomorrow. Unless I get lost and don't get there in time to enter. Think kind of like a county fair type of competition. Just friendly, the most you stand to win is a ribbon.
It's always amazing to me what is hard or easy to people. One of the ladies at my knitting group brings these amazing lacework shawls and she's just whipping through them while chatting up a storm. I have to be completely alone in relative quiet to handle lace. On the other hand, just about everyone went insane over these little guys and were absolutely amazed (and asking me to teach a class on it). Yet the reason that I brought these is because up until I got to the original colorwork fingers (not used because they were too tight), they were a project I didn't have to pay much attention to.
At least to me, the hardest part about colorwork is learning to knit with your off hand. Once you know that, you're just switching which hand you wrap the yarn with.
However, motif work like this is the one time I wish I was primarily an American knitting instead of continental. For absolute best appearance, for most people and myself included, the background yarn should be knit with the right hand and the motif yarn in the left. Because of the way the yarns lay on the back, the left-hand yarn pops out a tiny bit more. However, I am MUCH faster and more natural wrapping with my left hand. Trying to do all the background with my right would not be all that much fun, not to mention slooooow. And the effect is so subtle that it's literally a subconscious perception; only the most absolute expert would be able to tell which yarn was in which hand looking at the finished pieces. As long as you're consistent, no one will consciously notice.
Anyway, spin-in tomorrow. If I'm entering something, I've got to be there for at least five hours. It's an hour away, so I can't really leave and come back. I've never been to this before, so I don't know if that's a problem or not. There are workshops, but I'm unclear whether the ones I most wanted to take have been cancelled or just aren't on the online schedule for some reason. I've heard the vendors are amazing, though. I'm hoping to stock up on pretty yarn (dude, I need buttloads of fingerweights in bright multi-colored colorways), and if I'm really super-duper lucky maybe I'll even find a spinning wheel -- but I won't hold my breath there.
Nonetheless, being a spin-in, eventually I'm probably going to want to sit down and work on a project. I'll throw a spindle in my bag, but knitting is cool too and keeps me occupied longer. But, I've discovered I don't have a project I can take!
What have I got going right now? Um... two lace things. I can't work on lace and be friendly and social at the same time. (And one's going to be frogged anyway.) I finished my gloves. I haven't started my sweater, and I need to measure, wash, and re-measure the swatch first because I've never used the yarn before and I'm going to basically rewrite the pattern. I guess I'll start something. I was going to start a sweater for an MSD, but that has to be custom fit and I do NOT want to carry a doll around. So I think I'll take the stuff for the nerdly mittens I want.
I have got to just buy a metric buttload of Dale of Norway Baby Ull in black and in white. I'm thinking 5 to 10 skeins of each color. I love the stuff.
Anyway, I need to be getting stuff together for tomorrow, so ja ma!
Lookie what I finished!
They're blocked and everything, but still a tiny skosh damp. At the suggestion of my knitting group, I'm planning to enter them into the "Viewer's Choice" awards at the spin-in tomorrow. Unless I get lost and don't get there in time to enter. Think kind of like a county fair type of competition. Just friendly, the most you stand to win is a ribbon.
It's always amazing to me what is hard or easy to people. One of the ladies at my knitting group brings these amazing lacework shawls and she's just whipping through them while chatting up a storm. I have to be completely alone in relative quiet to handle lace. On the other hand, just about everyone went insane over these little guys and were absolutely amazed (and asking me to teach a class on it). Yet the reason that I brought these is because up until I got to the original colorwork fingers (not used because they were too tight), they were a project I didn't have to pay much attention to.
At least to me, the hardest part about colorwork is learning to knit with your off hand. Once you know that, you're just switching which hand you wrap the yarn with.
However, motif work like this is the one time I wish I was primarily an American knitting instead of continental. For absolute best appearance, for most people and myself included, the background yarn should be knit with the right hand and the motif yarn in the left. Because of the way the yarns lay on the back, the left-hand yarn pops out a tiny bit more. However, I am MUCH faster and more natural wrapping with my left hand. Trying to do all the background with my right would not be all that much fun, not to mention slooooow. And the effect is so subtle that it's literally a subconscious perception; only the most absolute expert would be able to tell which yarn was in which hand looking at the finished pieces. As long as you're consistent, no one will consciously notice.
Anyway, spin-in tomorrow. If I'm entering something, I've got to be there for at least five hours. It's an hour away, so I can't really leave and come back. I've never been to this before, so I don't know if that's a problem or not. There are workshops, but I'm unclear whether the ones I most wanted to take have been cancelled or just aren't on the online schedule for some reason. I've heard the vendors are amazing, though. I'm hoping to stock up on pretty yarn (dude, I need buttloads of fingerweights in bright multi-colored colorways), and if I'm really super-duper lucky maybe I'll even find a spinning wheel -- but I won't hold my breath there.
Nonetheless, being a spin-in, eventually I'm probably going to want to sit down and work on a project. I'll throw a spindle in my bag, but knitting is cool too and keeps me occupied longer. But, I've discovered I don't have a project I can take!
What have I got going right now? Um... two lace things. I can't work on lace and be friendly and social at the same time. (And one's going to be frogged anyway.) I finished my gloves. I haven't started my sweater, and I need to measure, wash, and re-measure the swatch first because I've never used the yarn before and I'm going to basically rewrite the pattern. I guess I'll start something. I was going to start a sweater for an MSD, but that has to be custom fit and I do NOT want to carry a doll around. So I think I'll take the stuff for the nerdly mittens I want.
I have got to just buy a metric buttload of Dale of Norway Baby Ull in black and in white. I'm thinking 5 to 10 skeins of each color. I love the stuff.
Anyway, I need to be getting stuff together for tomorrow, so ja ma!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Options, I still haz dem.
So, I'm working on this pair of gloves:
And ya know what? They're gonna be too small. The hand is OK, if a little tight, but the fingers? Totally not going to happen. It's time I faced that fact.
So, my options:
1) Finish them by the pattern and give them away. :P No! Mine! Mine, mine, mine!
I think that shows what the inner child thinks about that option.
2) Frog the pinkies and turn them into fingerless gloves. I'm thinking do a couple of rounds of ribbing at each finger, and half the colorwork thumb then a couple rounds of ribbing there. That should give me enough width at the fingers, but I don't know if I'll have enough length in the right hand to be comfy.
3) If that doesn't work, tranform them into fingerless mitts. No finger divisions, just a few rounds of ribbing around the top. I'm not huge on fingerless mitts, but if it's the only way these will fit, it's the only way they'll fit.
And ya know what? They're gonna be too small. The hand is OK, if a little tight, but the fingers? Totally not going to happen. It's time I faced that fact.
So, my options:
1) Finish them by the pattern and give them away. :P No! Mine! Mine, mine, mine!
I think that shows what the inner child thinks about that option.
2) Frog the pinkies and turn them into fingerless gloves. I'm thinking do a couple of rounds of ribbing at each finger, and half the colorwork thumb then a couple rounds of ribbing there. That should give me enough width at the fingers, but I don't know if I'll have enough length in the right hand to be comfy.
3) If that doesn't work, tranform them into fingerless mitts. No finger divisions, just a few rounds of ribbing around the top. I'm not huge on fingerless mitts, but if it's the only way these will fit, it's the only way they'll fit.
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