Spinning in Florida

Last week I attended a spinning retreat/camp/gathering in Florida and had the most marvelous time learning new techniques and meeting so many other spinners.  I spin on a spindle and most of the people there were wheel spinners but we are all making fiber twisty to get yarn.  A lot of the techniques are the same and a spindle is “better” in one sense because it is portable.  And lighter!

The vendors had tables and displays full of soft, colorful wools and yarns that begged to be taken home.  You could clearly see the different displays empty as the days went by.  I bit.  I had Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket and just had to buy a few things.

Brother and his family were very generous to me at Christmas and gifted me with about 2.5 lbs of different wools for spinning.  All of it soft, well processed and in deep, rich colors.  I wanted to experiment with the dark navy solid and purchased some dyed merino in a blend of blues.  After spinning each one separately I combined the two together into a two ply yarn with a “Barber pole”  look.  The yarn is 102 yards of soft and squishy.

I have Stuff To Do so better get this out so you all can see something new.  More later!

Snowdrop Lace

One of the KAL (Knit A Longs) in a Ravelry group I belong to is the Snowdrop Lace Facecloth.  It was pretty and I started with a yarn I had close by – a variegated purple, green, and white (seen previously in my Turn Up the Heat Mitts).  After some struggles with the pattern I finally had a repeat I was happy with…but was not happy with how it looked.  Knitted another repeat.  Still not happy with how it looked. Variegated worsted is not the best yarn for a lace pattern, the pattern of the colors  interferes with the texture of the knit pattern.

You would think I’d know by now.  Continuing with a project while unhappy with how it looks does not always make you happy with how it looks.  Each time I saw the pretty white lacy appearance of the photo on the pattern the more unhappy I became.

Rippit…frogged.  Next I used some 2 ply cotton yarn I received in a Pisgah (home of Peaches and Creme yarn) grab bag.  I think it was a ball of their Article 925C, a 2 ply sport/baby weight that normally comes on 1 lb cones.  Love those grab bags!  And I love how it is looking, but what to make with it?

I can continue and make a pretty, lacy scarf (I think I have another ball of yarn in my stash) or continue to the end of the ball I’m on now.  Or maybe a little longer  and I think it would make a nice hand towel in the bathroom.  Or end it now and make a face cloth out of it.

The bit of purple towards the top is the lifeline.  In case I make ANOTHER mistake I know I can quickly rip back to this point and save unknitting each  stitch one at a time (called tinking).

Need to switch back to the R2D2 hat, as it MUST be finished by Sunday!

Sigh.  Had to rip back to the lifeline and decided this is now a facecloth.  Period.  Move on.

Binding off with Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off as shown by Cat Bordhi on You Tube

Knitting for Warmth

Christmas is past, and I was supposed to start knitting for ME now.  Not so fast.  The R2D2 hats I knit for the nephews were quite popular and a couple of people have actually begged me to knit one for them.  The knitting is finished on one, and the second has a good start to it.

I did break in the middle as it was unseasonably COOOOOLD in Florida and I wanted something to help keep me warm IN THE HOUSE.  Yes, I have heat, but my body heard how cold it was outside and refused to listen to the thermostat reading.

Peaches & Creme cotton yarn is one of my favorites and so I tried knitting some hand warmers (fingerless mitts) and a cowl out of two different colorways.  Both turned out and I will be going back to the P&C for warm things again. Some of my buddies on the P&C Ravelry list in the cold north lands (New England states!!!) say they like wearing the cotton items, except when scraping ice off windshields.  BRRRR.

Free pattern found through Ravelry, Susie’s Reading Mitts by Janelle Masters (click the link to go to the free pattern off Ravelry).  Of course I felt I had to mess around with it and initially did a ribbing cuff at the top.  Didn’t like it and ripped and reworked in the edging the pattern called for.  The yarn was quite a bit heavier so I cast on 36 stitches with size US 6 knitting needles and worked in the round by Magic Loop. Color is Country Garden (much prettier in person than in the scanned image)

The next item was a cowl, Stacked Eyelet Cowl – I wanted something to keep my neck warm as my short hair wasn’t quite long enough.  An advantage of this pattern is you can pull it up to sink your mouth and nose into the soft warmth or let it accordion low on your neck.  It drapes nicely and the choke factor is quite low with this cowl; I truly hate something pressing on my throat.

The yarn is Peaches & Creme Passion and is a lovely mix of gold, peach, coral, lilac, light red..and I keep seeing different shades of each in it.  Simple knit and I started with a cast on of 110 instead of the 120 the pattern called for – again the pattern is written for a finer yarn. I just kept going until it was the size I wanted.

Warm and cozy!  And the temp is finally back up in the 70’s.

Pink Glove Dance

A friend living near Portland sent me this…and it is definitely share-worthy!

Here is the comment from the You Tube page

Our employees put together this video to generate breast cancer awareness throughout our hospital system. We had a ton of fun putting this together and hope it inspires others to join in the cause

Shopping as a Competetive Sport

Thanksgiving weekend is remarkable for two reasons – Thanksgiving and then the day for intrepid shoppers, Black Friday.  Sis works in Health Care and often has holidays on duty.  Thursday was one and we ate lunch with her so we could be together.  They do have good cooks and eating the hospital food there is no hardship at all.

It was nice to get together for a meal and of course the talk included some discussion of strategy for shopping the next day.  Sis wanted a Walmart doorbuster item and volunteered me to sit in line at Office Depot for a netbook computer.   A friend needed the computer for her family and I was happy to help out.  Well, maybe not HAPPY but willing.  The weather is finally cooling off in Florida and Friday early morning was going to be cold.  Some of you may be laughing at me but hey, I was BORN in Fla and don’t know cold.  I even had to borrow a jacket, sweater, and quilt from sis.

This is going to be an adventure!

Up at 3 am.  There is a 3 am, and I Have Seen It.  It exists.  Checklist:  cold weather gear, folding chair, knitting, book, snacks.  Ready to go!  Drop sis off at the Walmart door and she joins the herd of people coming in from the rapidly filling parking lot.  I zip across to the Office Depot across the street  and park RIGHT in front of the store, in a parking place in front of my spot in line.  I can live with this.

About 10 people are ahead of me in line and most of them are there for the large notebook computer so I will probably get the netbook.  Good.  So I relax and chat with my new buds.

One is a soccer mom that home schools her kids.  So I ask how it is going for her kids and we chat about nearly everything under the sun interspersed with check-in calls from family members .  What did we ever do before cell phones?  While we were waiting her daughter called to give an update on her and grandma’s quest for the iPod Touch at Walmart.  They were able to find one but were not able to purchase it before the magic hour of 5 am.  The next call expressed a bit of excitement – two women had started arguing and were fighting.  A few minutes later an ambulance drives by and turns into Walmart parking lot.  Hmmm… correlation?

It is cold, but I am cozy under my layers of almost matching clothing and quilt.  I decide the parking lot lights are bright enough to knit, so pull out some Christmas knitting to see if I can get a few more rows completed.  The project is pretty simple, and no complex pattern to follow.  Knitting does make the time go more quickly and soon the daughter and grandma were there, having successfully completed their mission.

Some more details on the Walmart fight:  the argument exploded into a fistfight with actual BLOOD.   Daughter and Grandma didn’t stick around once blood started flowing and didn’t see the ambulance.  Sis called me and I asked her if she had seen the fight.  Nope, so no more info on that!

Office Depot has some good ideas for Black Friday stuff.  They have a “coupon” for each popular item and start at the front of the line to award the frozen customer with the proof that getting up at oh-my-thirty is really worth it.   A Netbook computer coupon was mine (the computer isn’t, but the coupon was).  I even got a doughnut as an additional reward.  It was cold.  But good!

Once the doors were opened and we were able to proceed into the store, a woman in back of me asked me if I was walking slowly just to hold HER up.  I quickly moved out of the lane of traffic and let her pass.  Then I just could not hold it in any longer and told her that yes, I got up at 3 am and sat in line in the cold for over 2 hours JUST TO MAKE HER MISERABLE.

That was evil of me, but good grief – I was looking for one of the under $10  items to purchase and there was a good chance they were located in the front of the store.

Success, and then traveled back to Walmart to wait or sis’s call to Pick her up at the front door.  Her cart is full and we load up, ready to move to the third store in the master plan, Target.  When I let her out I was headed to Chik-fil-a to get breakfast and totally missed when she tripped over the curb, fell into the trash can and amazed onlookers with my disregard for her plight.

Sigh.  I am a Bad Sister.

She was fine.  Although her mood was not improved because she left her cell phone behind and wasn’t able to call me to pick her up.  It was a long way to the back of the parking lot where I was sitting and blissfully knitting.  The remainder of the day was less eventful and Kohls, Bealls, and JoAnns Fabrics received visits from us.   Sis was dropped at each front door and I sat in the parking lot listening to Christmas Carols on the radio, knitting, and watching the parking lots fill up.  Ever aware of the call to start the engine and proceed to the next store.  I was beginning to wonder if we were going to run out of room in the trusty shopping mobile.

I did go into JoAnns as they had a few items I wanted to pick up and was able to get nearly all I wanted from that store.  It was hard to believe we had covered so much ground before noon.  Amazing what you can accomplish when you wake before the sun!

The expedition ended at a new Japanese Steakhouse, a fantastic reward for the exertions of the day.

At least I have some new stories to tell!

Pre-Christmas Crafting Push

I’ve been working on and off on Christmas gift items for a while now and have one large project finished and a few smaller ones.  All will be held in secret until Dec 25 or when the packages are finally delivered.

As with many of us, gifts this year will be those created.  Knitting is still enthralling to me so many of them are knitted.  Dust will be removed from the sewing machine for some fleece projects that have been popular in previous years.  Lots to do!

While trolling for knitting patterns I ran across these sites and thought to share.

Most of my pattern searching has been on Ravelry, but other places have ideas, too!  Lots of knitting charts and patterns are here.  The creative and generous designer is Jessica Tromp and I have only begun to explore the site.  I’m eager to try some more color work! The mittens page is full of some adorable ideas.

Ever been to www.colr.org? I was led there through a Google Widget and it is fascinating to pick a color out of an image and give it a name.  Lots more possibilities and need to see what else is offered.

 

Spinning in Public

Today was gorgeous.  It was in the 70’s when I pulled into my favorite local park by the river.  You may recognize it, the scene of the anointing of my “Bird Poop Socks”.  Late in the afternoon the picnic table next to the boardwalk IN THE CLEARING was free so I set up there.

Cypress trees and moss

The idea was to take some pictures of my hand-spun yarn with the weathered wood of the boardwalk as a backdrop and do some spinning.

Pictures came first while the light was good – bright and mostly overcast with bursts of sunshine.  It was quite breezy so I was a bit apprehensive about setting some of the tiny skeins on the walkway and held some in my hand.

A couple of my favorite pictures:

The first yarn is Rambouillet from Lazy Dog Farm in Texas.  Very very soft and fun to spin.  Two ply, about DK weight.  I think 80 yards.

The mini skein is my “mutant” roving – the sheep breed is CVM or California Variegated Mutant.  The breed is a result of crosses of Romney and Rambouillet sheep from nearly a century ago.  Not quite as soft as the straight Rambouillet and very nice to spin.  I  have about 5 more ounces, and I WANT MORE.  2 ply, sock weight.  I was going for lace weight, and it fluffied up on me.  For comparison the white yarn tied around the skein to hold it in place is good ole’ acrylic worsted.

Spinning

A near-constant breeze and gusts made it a bit windy but not too windy to spin.  The temperature was nice and it was like sitting outside in air conditioning… After I relaxed into the process, I was concentrating so thoroughly I was startled when a woman started talking to me.   We had a nice visit and she admired the single I was making.  After she and her dogs left, others walked by and spoke including a man that mentioned his mother used to spin with a spindle, and make blankets and rugs.

It is fun to talk to people about my spinning and I was able to get a nice start on a Christmas present for a member of my family.

One last picture:

What sheep are you?

Since I’ve been introduced to lovely sheepy wool with knitting and spinning, sheep seem more interesting than ever.

Wonder if I could have A back yard sheep?  Just ONE sheep.  Does a single sheep get lonesome?  Guess the zoning regs wouldn’t be too happy about it.

A new book (please note:  This would make a GREAT Christmas or Birthday present…just sayin’ and USED is just fine…) The Knitter’s Book of Wool has a fun quiz – Which ewe are you?

I’m a Finn!  Huh?

“Finn’s resilient nature makes them practical and straight-forward, a quality these medium wools balance with curiosity and a zest for life.  Fastidious in personal appearance and reliable, Finns stay true to their flock and make loyal friends.”

Awwww.  Very complimentary and guess they don’t know my 7 colored tee shirts I wear with everything.  Everywhere.

A good excuse to locate some FINN wool to spin!

It’s been a while

Sorry you haven’t heard from me in a while – been both busy with normal every-day things and didn’t think much was noteable.  Of course I thought you would be vastly interested in:

• The folding chair I’ve used for a computer chair gave up the ghost. This chair, unlike the previous 20 yr old desk chair did NOT dump me on the floor.
• I found the library book that is 2 months overdue
• The trip to the grocery store has been put off until I have eaten some of the cans of not-favorite veggies in the cabinet.  Why do they put nasty lima beans in mixed veggies???
• I’m behind on my email.  No matter how I try to keep up, it defeats me
• Guess what – I’m knitting and spinning!  But not yet knitting what I’ve spun.   And only in places with good AC.  Eliminates the dustbunny palace with mediocre AC until evenings when it cools off a bit and the AC has a fair chance.
• I’m tired tired tired of being HOT and sweaty.  Come on cooler weather!
• Missed both my sis-in-law’s and nephew’s birthdays.  (my BIGGEST oops)

Next post should be more fun!

Beach Trip!

Sis needed a beach trip – soak up a bit of salt air, watch the waves, and have a refreshing get-away.  I got to go too!   As we started from her house to head to Daytona Beach Shores the threatening grey sky turned to rain.  Much of the way is on a 2-lane highway and we had the fortune to follow a garbage truck on the way to the dump.  For miles.  And miles. In the rain.  You can almost see the reflection of the camera cozy I was knitting in the picture below.

The camera.  Sigh.  I had misplaced my camera over a month ago and could not find it anywhere.  So sis loaned me an extra camera she had at home and I could once again take pictures.  Side note – yesterday I was looking for a specific color of yarn, and in a small box UNDER the yarn I saw the edge of my camera.  YAY.  It was not left behind somewhere and I have it again.  Sis’s camera is fun to use with all the different settings and it doesn’t gorge itself on batteries like mine, but there is nothing like your OWN camera back.

The rain did end but were were left with cloudy skies.  First stop in Daytona was at Krispy Kreme Donuts.  The Hot Light was not on but they did have some warm glazed donuts (without the hole) of which we consumed way too many.  Then onward to Beach Street and the Scrapbooking store.  I sat and knitted while Sis found some pages she needed.  As we crossed the Halifax River on Dunlawton Bridge we got our first view of…THE BEACH!  Well, at this point it was ocean, but we are nearly there.

To the stoplight and turn left – a familiar path as we have stayed on this “end” of the beach before.  Saw a number of restaurants with closed signs.  Sad – including one Diner type place that had been there for years.

As we unloaded the car at the motel, the box of donuts fell to the ground, spilling FOUR of them.  I do admit that I was ALMOST tempted by the 5 second rule, but we were outside in the parking lot.  At the beach.  Sand…yuk.  And just general yuk, too.

Awesome room – 8th floor at the top of the hotel!  Great view, balcony, kitchen, and even comfy chairs!

First beach meal – takeout from DJ’s from under the bridge – It is a fun place to eat as they have wooden tables with thatched umbrellas as outside seating.  An interesting river view and you can even purchase fish crunchies (Purina fish chow?)  to feed the fish.  Both of us love the scallops and shrimp, so we split the meals and share the fresh seafood.

This is the view from the outside seating

I scurried back to our room and we ate sitting on our balcony, gazing at the ocean.  Ahhh…  Then it was time to change to the swimsuits and check out the water slide.  The hotel had an adult-sized water slide and we both tried it out, laughing all the way.

And the beach looked like this:

Cheery, huh?  We messed around in the pool and the hot tub…not much else was noteworthy the first day.

Day 2 -

Woke up just in time to take pictures of the sunrise and then back to bed…LOL

Waking up the second time, I find out Sis is ill.  Oh, dear.  I make a CVS run for bottled water, meds, and batteries.  Sis takes her meds and goes back to bed.  The notable meal of the day is delivery from an italian restaurant and is AWESOME.  The pizza was tasty, crunchy, and loaded with the good stuff.  We also ordered a toasted sub sandwich and it was just as good.  Will definitely be ordering from them again, Genovese’s Italian Restaurant (looked up the phone number and address to include here so I’ll remember it…LOL) 1116 Dunlawton Blvd 386-767-4151.

The day cleared up for a few hours, and I spent most of it spinning and reading.  A nearly perfect day for me, and miserable for sis.

and wool/spinning pictures for my fibery friends:

I slept through most of sunrise on the next morning, and before we knew it time to leave had arrived.

On the way home we stopped at an interesting little place on the St. John’s River for lunch.  We ate looking out at the hot summery day and watched the river flow lazily by.

Mini vacation was over.