Knitwith Homespun

In the summer, I find it hard to give my daughter plenty to do.  She gets bored and wants people to come play and wants me to play and wants things to do.  I have a varied background in crafts and things as you might imagine.  So while I was sewing some things last week, Bella found some clay in my notions box and took it out.  She asked if she could play with it.  Of course you can, I told her.  She made a couple of simple smiley faces.  They were lovely.  I remembered seeing that you could bake them to make them semi-ceramic and thought I would do that.  I baked them at 250 degrees for a couple of hours.  This discolored them a bit.  She spent some more time working with the clay and made a few other really lovely things.  Two snowmen and a cute little cat.  I was going to take a picture of them but thought, no, I can do that after I am done baking them.  I seemed to remember the package directions for baking the clay to be something like 350 degrees so that is what I baked the snowmen and the cat at.

Well, there was a foul smell coming from the oven.  Huh, that didn’t happen last week.  I wonder what’s going on.  I looked in the oven and saw this:

If you click on this image, you can see in the melted mess, the faces of these sad little crafts.  It makes me laugh every time I see this on the counter.  Bella too!  She tried to be mad at me for ruining her crafts but it just is too funny.

Besides not finishing my vacation blogging?  I am knitting, spinning, sewing, and finishing.

Knitting my multi-directional scarf.  Note to self; don’t knit a scarf with sock yarn.

Spinning 3 ounces of merino/tussah silk that Bella begged me to spin for her and please also knit a beanie with it when you are done.  So, yes, it’s done.  I started it in Eugene during BSG in my worsted vs. woolen class and finished it just yesterday.  I will Andean ply it tomorrow and then find a pattern for her beanie.  I think it should be a tight band with a wider head like a beret.  I’m sure she has other ideas.  I’ll keep you updated.

Sewing…..longer story.  During camp this week, Bella left her bathing suit at the aquatics center and they couldn’t find it when we called. I went to Costco and got  her another for today’s outing to the water park.  While there, she caught the crotch of her brand new bathing suit on some slide and it ripped a huge whole.  Luckily, it was in the seam and I was able to make the repair.  I have told her that this is the last bathing suit I am buying for her this year.

Finishing….My niece, Christine asked me to knit her a bag.  It is over there on the right of my sidebar called Birthday Bag.  It has been there waiting to be finished for almost a year.  I know this because it’s almost her birthday AGAIN and it’s still not done.  She has been patient and I should have finished it long ago.  It’s done Christine!  I’m sorry it’s late!  I hope you like it!

The reason it sat around for so long is because I was stumped for the handles.  I bought some leather straps but they just didn’t fit with the style of this bag.  I toyed with the idea of some ribbon weaved into the top of the bag and gathering the top.  This is what I went with and took Christine yesterday to get some ribbon to use.  We chose three colors that match the bag and I started to weave them through.  She was very clear that she wanted a clasp or closure at the center so I put in a magnet closure that I had in my knitting bag.  I covered the metal of the closure with the white buttons on the outside.  I may put bows at the edges of the straps like I have shown in the bow photo but I’m not sure she will like it.  She is turning 14 and she chose the yarn from my stash and told me what shape she wanted.  I hope it is what she expected.  Here are the shots that show the detail.  The dowel is at the bottom of the bag to give it support if she put someting heavier in there.

Ok, I debated whether or not to blog this but here goes.  Last night after I finished dinner, Bella asked me to come play Mario Pary 8 on Wii with her.  She still had her dinner on the table and I let her play still sometimes while eating (especially in the summer).  I had made a very simple dinner; seared chicken breast, whole grain pasta with parmesan, mixed vegetables including carrots, corn, and asparagas.

I was playing my turn on the Wii and I told her to finish her dinner.  And she told me, “just one more bite Mom.  I’m gonna conquer my fears”.  I looked over to see what the heck she was talking about and she had a forkful of asparagas.  There had to be about 5 small pieces on that fork at one time.  She ate it.  What a good girl.  I totally love her enthusiasm sometimes.

Ok, that’s it.  Sorry for bragging.

One thing I forgot to mention about the Black Sheep Gathering is the basket I bought.  I got it from this lady and I use it a lot.  I carry some of my projects around and even my toiletries when I was going from my trailer to my sister’s house and all.

Saturday morning I was looking forward to most of all.  I have not taken an official spinning class until this day.  I am almost completely self taught with books and videos on Youtube.  I was thrilled to learn how to officially spin on my own wheel from someone who knew what they were doing.  The class was taught by Judie Overbeek. She was very knowledgable and friendly.  She allowed us to spin in our own style and taught us to refine it in a more proper way.  It was awesome!

Here is Judie teaching us the worsted method of spinning.  For those that aren’t aware (and I wasn’t before this), worsted produces a smoother, tighter, heavier yarn.  Woolen takes the fiber and allows more air and fluff to come into the finished yarn.  Woolen is also known as the long draw method.  It requires a lighter mindset, I think. I had a really hard time with the woolen method.  I have been spinning worsted for the entire time I have been spinning and it’s very controlled and anal.  That’s me!  This is also called the inch worm technique or short draw.  I find the woolen method to produce a nicer yarn for sweaters and scarves but I don’t think I will be able to do it.  I am going to try and keep the practice going.

Also interesting is that the plying of woolens and worsteds is different.  When plying a worsted yarn, it balances very well (when done properly).  When plying the woolens, most of the energy in a worsted single is available in the plied yarn.  This was super interesting and kinda fun I thought.  Such completely opposite results in each of the same action.  The picture here to the right is the plied woolen.  If you click on this photo, it should enlarge to a nice big size.  Note that the plied yarn looks very much like a single.  This is how this yarn should look as it’s plied.  Judie told us that a lot of your lumps and bumps created in your long draw spinning will come out in the plying.  I was not able to successfully spin anything with this method but I am going to try to at least finish 4 ounces by the end of the year.

Having spun worsted for so long, I really have a hard time with the long draw method.  It seems like there is no control and the resulting yarn is uneven.  If anyone out there is a woolen spinner, please enlighten me cause I just don’t get it.  Do you enjoy spinning with both techniques?  Do you easily switch back and forth?  Please let me know!

More to come on my vacation.  Summer is harder blogging time as I have a 7 year old weight on my ankle all day every day annoying the living crap out of me.  Motherhood is such a joy.

This is a questionnaire for a swap.  If you aren’t at all interested, please don’t read it.

1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself?

I have been spinning for a little over a year.  I would consider myself a beginner to advanced beginner.

2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)?

I have created yarns of each of these types except art yarn.  I am interested in art yarn but I am a bit of a control freak so art yarn is pretty but freaks me out!

3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)?

I love my wheel but I also just bought a drop spindle.  I am thrilled with it and will continue to spin on it.

4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don’t like?

I love merino (of course).  I haven’t really found a fiber I don’t like, however, so I would be thrilled with anything.
5. Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)?

My favorite sellers for fiber are Spunky Eclectic and Helloyarn and for batts I go with Hanks in the Hood who now has fibers available only on Paradise Fibers.

6. What kind of fiber do you want to try?

I haven’t tried camel but I have seen it done well.  I am afraid of it a bit, but interested just the same.
7. Is there any techniques you would like to learn?

I recently took a class and learned spinning in the woolen style.  I didn’t care for it at all!  I have heard about something called a cabled yarn and this is interesting to me.  I have yet to see a cabled yarn or a picture of one but I haven’t looked too hard yet.  I think I might like to try it.

8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn?

I have purchased some dy but haven’t tried it yet.

9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber?

I would definitely love to learn how to prep fiber but I don’t have anything to do this at home.  I would prefer ready to spin fibers.

10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed?

To date, I stare at my handspun.  I have knit one hat and one scarf with my handspun.  I have a habit of contemplating the perfect project for my handspun babies and so it takes quite a while to come up with projects for them.

11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)?

I don’t think you can have too many WPI gauges.  Threading hooks are always nice (like spindles); you can never have too many.

12. What colors “fall into your shopping basket”? Any colors you just can’t stand?

My favorite colors are bright and beautiful.  I don’t dislike anything because I like variety.  I find myself keeping and loving bright greens, purples and oranges together or separately.

13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now?

I have some beautiful green and blue optim on my new turkish spindle and some beautiful merino silk from Hanks in the Hood on my wheel.

14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have?

Crafts are all fiber related but hobbies are cooking and photography.  Does my daughter count as a hobby?  I think she is more of an occupation.

15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about?

I am passionate about photography and cooking.

16. Do you have an online wishlist?

I do I do!

17. Is there anything that you collect?

I collect yarn and fiber!  Ok, so everyone here has that problem.  I am very gadgety and geeky.  That’s about it really.

18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have?

I get Knit1, Knit Simple, Interweave Knits, Spin Off and other non fiber related mags.  The books I want are all on my Amazon Wishlist.

19. When is your birthday?

October 17 a million years ago!

20. What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality?

This is super hard to say.  I have never thought about this so I’m a bit on the spot. I can’t think of any!  I have no idea!  Help me!  

21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)?

I live in Southern California and it’s quite mild here.  Temperatures range from 75-95 typically at this time of year.

22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself!

I used to hate eating fish but I now eat sushi as well as fish!

Favorites
favorite painting/picture(link):  I don’t really have one that anyone else would know.

Candy: Reeses

Food: Cheese, butter, beef, cream you name the fat, I love it!  Oh yeah, chocolate!

Drink: Diet Coke!

Movie(s): Ferris Beuhler’s Day Off, Practical Magic, and all time favorite, Crash.

TV Show(s): Friends, Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement

Book(s): To Kill a Mockingbird, Wicked

Guilty Pleasure(s): Dog the Bounty Hunter

The Black Sheep Gathering was a wonderful event.  The idea is to get the fiber animal people together with the spinning and knitting people.  End to end kind of networking.  I didn’t do nearly what I wanted to and didn’t even bring my Black Sheep Bingo card with me when I was out and about.  I am going to try to go about this post in chronological order.

First, I had a class on Friday morning called Multidirectional Scarves.  The instruction was J.C. Briar.  She was an awesome instructor!  Her instructions were clear and her handouts were very informative.  It was certainly well worth the money for this class.  I knitted a small sample during class with this yarn and then after class, I started a full sized scarf which is pictured.  It’s really very mindless knitting once you get the hang of it.  I t’s easy easy easy.  Everything is garter stitch and increases and decreases.  With J.C.’s technique that she teaches, I think you can see that there are no bumps at the join in the center.  It lays completely flatI think once I finish this one, I will design something a little more complex and exciting.

Friday afternoon, I had a lot of time to walk around.  I had intended on playing Black Sheep Bingo but I left my card at the trailer and couldn’t play at this point.  There is so much to see and I decided I wasn’t going to shop right away.  I wanted to see what was around first before I started dropping all my money.  I was very successful at this and saw some wonderful things.  I also saw some people that I knew.  This is Lori Lawson.   When I was shopping for my wheel, she let me come to her house and spin on her wheel to see if I liked it.  I did.  I bought one just like hers.  If she sold them, I would have bought it from her.  She is a super nice lady and a talented spinner and dier.

Saturday, I took a spinning class called Worsted vs. Woolens.  This class was enlightening.  I learned I am a control freak and that I don’t like woolen.  I will practice this technique but I imagine I will remain a worsted spinner.

The afternoon class was entry level entrelac.  This class was great and I really loved entrelac.  I think the technique taught was more designed for certain items and not for generic knitting whatever you choose. I enjoyed J.C.’s class a little more.  One of the interesting parts of this class was the technique to keep the color bleedthrough that you see in my photo of the blue coming through the gray.  In my photo, it’s not so evident, but her technique really helps.  She had us start our secondary (or tertiary)  color by sliding our work down our circulars to the other side and picking up the stitches with that color.  This allows us to have our secondary (or tertiary) color already on the needles when we start the next row (if that makes sense).

When I was shopping on Friday, I realized I didn’t have yarn for my Saturday afternoon class.  In a world of sock yarns or superbulky yarns, it’s hard to find worsted weight in any form.  I did it though and bought each of my skeins for $2 each on closeout.  I met a lovely lady who brings her closeouts for people who need stuff for classes.  Awesome, huh?

Ok, backing up to Friday night; there was a Ravelry meet up and pot luck which I attended.  I met some lovely people and knitted some on my multi-directional scarf.

Pre-BSG:  Backing up even further; on the way up to Eugene, David wanted to stop in Sacramento.  The reason for the stop was a burger joint we saw on Food Network’s show Diner’s, Drive-in’s, and Dives.  The show went to a place called the Squeeze Inn in Sacramento.  The burgers here are made the regular way, but when it’s time to put the cheese on, he takes a giant handful of cheddar and throws it on the burger with the top bun.  Next, he throws a handful of ice on and a huge lid on the burger and bun combo.  This steams the bun and makes a giant cheese halo around the burger.  David wanted one of these desperately and we had one (me and Belle split one and David had his own).   The Squeeze Inn is TINY and  has only about 8 stools for seats at a bar.  There is additional seating out back.  We showed up at 10:30am (to avoid the crowd?) and found three stools together but it sure got crowded as we left.  The wait staff was very helpful and super friendly.  The burger was delicious but I don’t know if it was worth the extra mileage at these gas prices.  If you want a good laugh, go to Flickr and look up the Squeeze Inn tag and see what comes up.

I think that’s enough for now cause I’m exhausted!

I am on vacation. I am coming home on Monday night. I have a ton to post about and will get to it when I get there. I haven’t fallen off the earth. We are packing our trailer at the RV park and will be home before we know it. I have had internet the whole time but no time to blog or anything. Talk to y’all soon! Hi Sandi!

I don’t have a lot of time because I am packing up the trailer for BSG and getting food and clothing set up. I had such a great time at this event and met a lot of wonderful people. Bella played with June and these rats. There were men playing guitar and really creating a beautiful ambiance. I can’t imagine spending the day any better way. I really really enjoyed myself. Bella stole my fish so I don’t have a picture but the mystery project was a great time too. I was three stitches away from finishing when I was killed! It was very irritating.

Check this out! This is Bella’s second grade class.  Bella is on the far left.  Mrs. Gallo is the dark haired teacher.  Thanks so much Carol! Totally awesome!

Ok, ok ok! I am going to have to come back to Natalie. I have decided to try the Susie Hoodie from More Big Girl Knits. I am going to try to get gauge with the yarn that I have for the Natalie. Label gauge says 20 stitches is 4 inches and pattern gauge is 17 stitches is 4 inches. I’m going to see how close I can get to gauge and see which way I will go with this pattern.

Ok, frogging the Natalie Coat again cause apparently, I can’t measure 13.5 inches at all!

Since I am not feeling 100%, I have been knitting and spinning like crazy. I can’t do my normal stuff, like hiking and housework. David is very understanding about it all but it drives me nuts! So here’s my stuff:

1. Natalie Coat: I have frogged what I had to date and now I am restarting this from Big Girl Knits. As it turns out, if you don’t pick up a sweater or project for a very long time, you tend to forget where you are in the pattern. I wasn’t too far so I thought I would frog and get a good momentum going again. It’s going well and I am further in this pattern than I was before. There is a lot of “At the same time” stuff in here that if you aren’t paying attention could throw you for a loop.
2. Mrs. Gallo’s Ruffled Edge Scarf: This is for Isabella’s teacher. She is a very nice lady and will totally appreciate a gift like this for the end of the year. Bella has learned so much in school this year and I believe it’s due to the attention and kindness of her teacher. Mrs. Gallo taught her about enthusiasm, determination, success, and strength. This was done in a series of poems that were learned all year long and then performed in a play at the end of the year by her class. The concepts learned in these poems have been echoed back to me by Bella for a while now and I believe they are long term, lifelong lessons and I love her for teaching them to my girl. The yarn I used was handspun Hanks in the Hood Merino Bamboo. The scarf is a short one with pretty ruffled edges and I love how it turned out. It only took a day to knit and I am very happy with it.
3. I got some fiber in the mail today. I bought enough of this stuff to make a sweater for Bella. it’s called Sweet and Sour and so far I love it. It should be fun to spin. I’ll keep you posted!

This weekend was busy and wonderful and unpleasant all at the same time.  These are David’s parents.  We celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this weekend and had a great party at their house.  It was a great celebration and a wonderful example for all us married folk to follow.  They have 5 children, of which David is the youngest.  Typically, I would help coordinate this party and cook a huge portion of it.  This party was catered!  We never do that!  It was awesome and completely delicious.  There were 75 people and it was a great party.

The unpleasantness comes from my medical problems.  I was given a shot a couple of weeks ago to help with my issues and it causes my estrogen to surge for a couple of weeks and then dip down very low for a significant period of time.  Therefore, I had a migraine on this wonderful and big day.  I was very upset about it but tried to have a good time anyway.   Here I am with my beautiful girl.  I am so proud of her she makes me cry with pride and joy almost daily.  What a gift!  We had a house guest during the last few days and she cooked him breakfast yesterday!   This is Gene and he is one of David’s cousins.  He had other options to stay but chose to stay with us so he could get to know me and Bella and David a little better.  He lives in Arizona and helps with the Montessori school that the family runs in Tempe.  He is very nice and it was  a joy to have him with us.

Now let’s talk about this cake.  What can you say and what should be said about this cake.  It was delicious.  It was beautiful.  It was slightly flawed. Enough said.

This is Bill.  He is David’s next brother in line; the second youngest.  He lives in Las Vegas with his wife and son.

This next picture is a beautiful little girl named Kadence.  She is the daughter of David’s second cousin libby.  Not only is David the youngest of his family, but Jerry, David’s father, is the youngest of his family.  So David’s cousins are all somewhat older than him and his brothers and sisters.  So David’s cousin, Mary, is this beautiful girl’s grandmother.  She is such a joy and almost never gets fussy.  She loves to have her picture taken and is drawn to me like a magnet when my camera comes out.  Here is a picture of Kadence when she was teeny tiny!

I still have my migraine but it’s more manageable on this second day.  They usually last three days for me.  I am supposed to be at the mud run today.  I feel flakey and lazy because I am not there.  Nuf said!

Here is a link to the full set of photos from the party.

I love memes and this is only my second one. Thanks Kyle!

What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was working for my father-in-law part time and trying to start a web design business. Back then, not many people did it but I couldn’t keep up. Technology moves too fast and if you don’t have the people or resources for marketing, you don’t have time to do the work, get the work and finish the work and stay in business. It was fun and gave me good internet background but it’s over. It did give me this domain name that works well now for spinning and knitting!

Five snacks I enjoy:

1. Pirate’s Booty
2. Nachos (homemade of course)
3. Apple
4. Homemade smoothie. Right now I have blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, and mango in the freezer. I buy em at Costco and freeze em myself. Bella loves a good smoothie but I just broke my hand blender and now I have to just look at my beautiful frozen berries.
5. Krinkle Twists. Another Costco snack but it’s low fat and probably totally fabricated. It says it’s got no transfat, no gluten, no msg, no this, no that, but they sure taste yummy. Bella hates em.

Five things on my to-do list today:

Boring boring housewife stuff:

1. laundry
2. dinner
3. Finish knitting scarf for Bella’s second grade teacher. School isn’t out til the 17th so I have time.
4. Cleaning for house guests. My in laws are having a 50th anniversary party this weekend so we have some family staying here.
5. Go to Costco (didn’t say that coming, did ya?)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Pay off all my families houses.
2. Pay off all my families credit card bills.
3. Start a family scholarship fund.
4. Set aside a bunch of money for Bella.
5. Fix my house. It’s 40 years old and falling apart.

Five jobs I have had:

1. Burger flipper
2. Volunteer at the animal hospital
3. Fish fryer
4. Telemarketer
5. Secretary

Five of my bad habits:

1. Don’t make my bed.
2. Bad eating habits.
3. Very messy.
4. I spend too much time on the computer.
5. I yell at drivers on the road. They can’t hear me!

Five places I have lived:

1. Philadelphia, PA (born there)
2. Southampton, PA
3. Tustin, CA
4. My in-laws back room
5. That’s it cause I’m sedentary

Five people I want to get to know better (yes, this means you are tagged!)

1. I’m not tagging cause last time, only two people did it.
2. If you want to do this meme, let me know and I’ll put your name here.
3. Angela
4. Zuleika
5. Jocelyn

Five random things

1. I just ate a bunch of lemon iced lemonade cookies.
2. I am watching The Deadliest Catch right now.
3. I don’t have a plan for dinner tonight.
4. I am not getting anything done this week. I don’t feel well and it’s not getting better.
5. Bella is in a talent show this weekend too. Lookout for a deluge of pictures and videos of a teeny girl singing and dancing.

Thanks for reading and I hope you play along!

I just have to get this out so I’m sorry for the double post today. I am soooooooooo proud of my girl today. She is just 7 years old. That’s so young. I have discussed here before about how I am not a good housekeeper. This is a fact. I have been told though, that I have a homey house. People love to come over and I always have enough dinner. It’s cluttery and dusty. There’s the foundation.

I don’t harp on Isabella to clean her room. I don’t have a clean room so I don’t feel like I have a place where I can call that kettle black. However, I try to have her pick up her laundry and trash from her room. I help her clean it when it’s necessary and we do it together. It’s a messy, messy room, to say the least.

Today, Isabella spent hours in her room, listening to Michael Jackson (her new favorite artist) and straightening up her toys and animals, making her bed, cleaning her sink (she has a sink in her bedroom) which was dirty from toothpaste and stuff, and arranging everything as neatly as she could. I didn’t ask her to. She had already finished her homework. She wasn’t trying to get something from me (she does that sometimes if she thinks it will help her with something else).

I am so so pleased and proud of her. I love her to the end of the earth and she is growing up before my very eyes.