Sock Flat

I finally knit up one of my sock flats from this summer. It's always a surprise what comes out. I did these toe up and because my bind off is so tight, I used a picot cast off which is not only looser it gives the socks a very nice finish. As you can see it only takes about 2/3rds of a sock flat to make socks for me. I'm working up an idea of the remainder - film at 11!

It's Been a Christmas!

After my last blog entry, I had to rush down to Phoenix because my step-father was not doing well (he seems to be better now) and my mother was overwhelmed. It was a bad week to be gone, weather-wise, and I had some real concerns about getting back in time for some work commitments just prior to Christmas - but I made it. Unfortunately, my oldest cat, Hans, was not pleased that I left and gave me the cold shoulder upon my return. He can never keep it up long, because all I have to do is come close and he starts to purr!

For the first time in my life, my mother did not make me guess what she wanted for Christmas! She has a couple feather pillows which my grandmother made for her. I wove covers for them soon after I graduated from college and they had finally worn away (gives you an idea how long I've been out!) I only had a few weeks, but I made these out of Sugar n' Cream and included a zipper so she can wash and dry them. I used a pattern from one of the Harmony Guides for the pillow on the left and the cable one is from the new issue of Cast On. I sized them for my grandmother's pillows as "standard size" was not part of her vocabulary! (At least the pillows were both the same size.) Anyway, my mother was pleased with her presents.

Here's the scarf I made for my son out of the yarn Hans enjoyed a few entries ago. I wish the cable pattern showed up better. It was my first foray into Reversible Cables and I used the Palindrome pattern available at:

http://www.cometosilver.com/patterns/palindrome.htm

Rescue Chair Update

The cold weather has limited the amount of time I can work on my chair - but I've still been working on it - slow, but sure. I'm down to the last coat of paint in most places and down to the wood in others - like the seat. What has bothered me about the chair is that while it's as sturdy as the Rock of Gibraltor, it looks like it leans. I couldn't figure it out. At least I couldn't figure it out until I got most of the finish off the seat. The seat is not symetrical! So it's part of it's charm and it's not structural. I was very concerned that I would get to the last coat of paint on the chair back and see glimpses of rosemaling, but no, it's just wood. I'm may give up and get it dipped or have the rest of the finish stripped professionally since I'm kind of an instant gratification kind of person.

Biloxi Blues

When I purchased one of the hand spindles I wrote about a few months ago, I received some wool batts with the spindle. It's the Biloxi Blues colorway from Maine Woods Yarn and Fiber (www.mainewoodsyarn.com). I finished spinning and plying a week or so ago and here it is: About 278 yards of double-plied at about DK weight. I haven't figured out the wpi on it yet to be sure. It weighs in at 4.8 ounces, so it might be closer to worsted weight instead. I really like how the colors work together and the white just makes the whole skein pop!

Rescue Chair

I rescued this chair this afternoon. Okay, I really didn't "rescue" it in the true sense of the word. But it has been severely abused and neglected. It's solid wood and probably the sturdiest chair I've ever encountered. I'm not sure yet what kind of wood it is because it has so many coats of paint on it. It appears that in addition to its original dark stain, it's been red, gray, off white and it's current coat of white enamel. It's going to be a challenge, but given it's strengths, I think it will be well worth.

It's biggest positive (which is almost oxymoronic - if that's a word) is it's size - it's small, so it fits me perfectly. Not that I'm a little person, but let's just say I'm small for my age. Because of it's smaller size, it is very comfortable and will be great for spinning. The best height for spinning on an Ashford wheel (of which I have two), is 17 inches. This one, once I get the paint off the seat will be 16-1/2 to 16-3/4 inches high. It appears the seat is contoured, as is the back; but again, given the layers of paint it's a little difficult to tell.

I'm not sure of the period of furniture or when or where it was built, but given the color of the stain, I'm guessing it's from the early part of the 20th century.

Spinning Update

In addition to all the top secret knitting I've been doing for the holidays, I have been doing quite a bit of spinning. I've completed the gray-overdyed-with-blue I purchased at North Country Fiber Fair. It ended up as a 1 pound, 13.5 ounce/1142 yard bouncing ball of Navajo-plied wool.

As for the Vulcan & friend spinning, it wasn't consistently working out the way I wanted to so now I'm spinning the alpaca and wool separately and then plying them together. It took a little bit to get used to how slippery the suri alpaca is, but it's fine now and I'm loving the results.
For a little bit, I was wondering why I bought so much; but now, I'm really glad I did.

Spinning Vulcan

Sorry, this caramel swirl is not edible: It's Vulcan's fleece and that of some of his sheep friends swirled together in this delictible combination of suri alpaca (that's Vulcan) and wool. Since suri alpaca is slicker than black ice, Vulcan's owners combined his rich brown fleece with wool for easier spinning. Fortunately, I bought a lot of this because I keep changing my mind how I want to spin it up. Right now, I'm thinking three strands of as closer to barber pole as I can get it in one strand. In case you aren't familar with the term "barber pole" that's with the white and the brown spiralling separately like, you guessed it, a barber pole. What I've done so far has kind of a tweedy effect on the spool and it's keeping the rich brown color with just little flecks of white. What I wanted to avoid was having it blend into tan. Whatever garment it turns out to be, it'll be nice and warm.

Incidentally, Vulcan's photo is on his owner's website at http://www.rachalpacafarm.com then click on alpacas - his photo is near the bottom.