Fiber Fool

1. PS June Wallpaper1, 2. PS June Wallpaper 3, 3. Spinning Blues, 4. Knitty’s Katja, 5. PS Game - Carcassone, 6. Superwash Handspun, 7. Blue Plate Special, 8. Scrap Quilt, 9. PS Game - Boggle, 10. Water, 11. Swim Bag in Blue, 12. PS Branding, 13. PS Warning, 14. PS Trailer, 15. PS Bottle Cap 2, 16. Persian Midnight, 17. Thank You Card, 18. Japanese Stab Bound Book, 19. Snow Mandala, 20. CD Cover Art, 21. Blue Book, 22. Light Fat Book, 23. Hip to Be Square Art Journal, 24. Lime, Lavendar, and Aqua Art Journal, 25. Ocean Art Journal, 26. Ocean Art Journal 2, 27. Blue Art Journal Spread 2, 28. Blue Art Journal Spread, 29. soar_collage, 30. allaboutthecar, 31. Lily Lake, 32. Scotts Bluff National Monument 3, 33. The Stanley Hotel, 34. Silk/Merino Yarn, 35. Cotton Candy Cotswold Yarn, 36. Mackensie Merino Tussah Yarn

Well it is the last day of June so even though you only just saw most of these, here is my complete June mosaic. It was funny as I was going back through some of my art work looking for blue things, most everything that is blue was made as part of a round robin or a collaborative project that in some way dictacted the colors used. I rarely chose to make a piece predeminantly blue on my own unless it was a blue-green that is hard to classify as either blue or green. Go figure!

Nevertheless, all those collaborative projects allowed me to have a decent mosaic for the month of June. This Spectrum Sunday (hopefully) I’ll be ringing in July which means one of my favorite colors - purple!

Being laid up with the various maladies I’ve had recently has had me reading like a fiend! As some of you may recall I had decided that this summer was going to be dedicated to reading some of my old favorites from my childhood. I started out with the Anne of Green Gables series because they were on a bookshelf rather than in a box somewhere so it made it a logical place to start. The first two went really, really slow for me. I’m not sure why. I just wasn’t making time to read and I think since I knew the story so well there wasn’t the suspense of what might happen next to keep me reading. But, once I got through Anne of Avonlea I’ve been plowing through. I read Anne of the Island in two days. I should be finishing Anne of Windy Poplars today I believe. I wish I was as witty and optimistic as Anne!

I did take a break and read a mystery by an author who is new to me, William Kent Krueger. I read about this author on Renee’s blog, A Good Yarn. He is a Minnesota author (what is it about Minnesota mystery authors?) and I read the first book in the Cork O’Connor Series, Iron Lake. It is set in northeastern Minnesota between Duluth and the Boundry Waters Canoe Area. Cork O’Conner is a half Ojibwe former sheriff who is estranged from his wife following the incident that cost him his job as sheriff. The book was sprinkled with Anishanabe lore and practice and the mystery itself was quite compelling.

This was Krueger’s first book but it garnered him several awards, including the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, Barry Award for Best First Novel, Minnesota Book Award, and the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award. I think I may deviate from my plan following the conclusion of Anne of Windy Poplars to give the second book in the series, Boundry Waters, a read. I found it great to read Iron Lake because I checked the hardback version out from the library and it had been read enough that the book would sit open and I could knit while I read without pages moving of their own accord (at least when I wasn’t sitting in front of the fan).

I do have a particular soft spot for Minnesota authors. I love that I can pick up a book set in Minnesota and *really* be where it is set. Even these books that aren’t set in the metro area or near where I grew up feel like home because I’ve traveled to nearly every area of Minnesota. If you know of a Minnesota author you think I maybe am unfamiliar with please feel free to give me some recommendations. Colorado-set books/authors would be highly welcome as well (though I know about the knitting ones by Maggie Sefton and I have no interest in those for a personal reason) but I do love Kent Haruf!

A couple of you were correct, the blue yarn is handspun. It’s the same fiber that was on my wheel in the first June PS post. It was purchased at Brown Sheep Company when we went on our Spring Break Road Trip up there back in March.

Overall it has been very nice to spin, though I do make a double pass at pre drafting. I know some feel pre-drafting isn’t necessary if you are “skilled” but I find the more time I put into the fiber prep, the better quality and more even my yarn is so it is worth it to me to make that effort. Especially when spinning finer yarns.

This skein is exactly 4 ounces and about 310 yards. It seems that is my default yardage for four ounces when I’m aiming for sock weight yarn. Though, this could probably pass as a lighter weight sport. It seems I routinely end up on the lighter end of the next size of yarn up from what my goal is. And yes, I do test it while I’m spinning to see what it will look like. I’m hoping I’ll be better at turning out a desired yarn weight by the end of this challenge. I haven’t washed it or measured wraps per inch yet as there was probably about 1 ounce of singles still spun on each of the two bobbins I was plying from and there was also another 3 ounces of fiber that hadn’t been spun yet.

Originally I was going to use some wooly nylon serger thread as a third ply to see if that would increase the durability of the yarn, but I forgot until I already had several yards plyed. So, I decided to go ahead and spin up the remaining three ounces onto the two partially filled bobbins and hopefully I’ll remember the wooly nylon when I’m ready to ply once again. I’m curious, has anyone out there used wooly nylon as a ply? Will it work, or will I just get a crepe yarn because the wooly nylon is so much thinner than my singles?

I did reach my sumer spinning challenge goal for this first week. In fact, I exceeded it by 2 hours! I spun for 5 hours this past week! It feels good too, as I can tell my singles are getting more even and my plying has as well. I’m very, very happy with this skein of yarn. I’ll wait until I have the rest spun and plyed.

For a person who isn’t a big fan of blue this yarn as really grown on me. There were areas where there was some lighter blue in the fiber and it doesn’t really stand out, but it adds to the shiny appearance of the final yarn I think, making highlights that look like it is light reflecting when it isn’t. I really like that! I may still end up overdying it slightly in the end. I’m not sure yet. It is probably destined to be socks so maybe it doesn’t matter, but I don’t have much of anything in my wardrobe that these socks would go with…

First of all, I want to thank you all for the comments on the baby stuff from Friday’s post! It was a blast to knit those things. Now all I need is a cute baby boy project to knit with some red cotton ease in my stash and then I’ll be caught up with all the babies that have already arrived…

It was a crazy weekend. I woke up Saturday with a terrible sore throat. I hit the Emergen-C real hard as well as Mucinex and lots and lots of water as well as lots of hot water with lemon and honey. Sunday the sore throat was mostly gone but my head was killing me so we had to postpone the hike we had planned for that morning. I was real bummed, but I suspect we’ll give it a try this coming weekend if DH isn’t sick. I’m doing better today though still not over it. Plus, I had another dental appointment this morning. I thought it was for putting in the permanent filling on the tooth that had the root canal, but they did some stuff and then put another temporary on it. I get the permanent filling on the 11th of July. But, there is nothing more fun than to have hands and instruments in your mouth when cannot breath through your nose, LOL! *sigh*

Last week DH and I took a few walks through the neighborhood and I captured a few items that were blue. I also did a bit of scavenging around the house to find some things as well. Blue is not one of my favorite colors. Though I have to say that when we bought this house there was one wall in every room that was painted a a dirty pastel blue color and that made blue sit really unfavorably with me. There is still one wall remaining that color and it is in our kitchen. I can’t wait to be rid of it. That said, I did find much more blue around the house than I really expected to. Though most of it was recieved as gifts.

I fill you in a bit more on the yarn pictured in that mosaic tomorrow…

It has been baby central around here. Water aerobics classmates, neighbors, and multiple cousins. I don’t always knit for babies, but with it being summer baby things are much more pleasant to knit. They are small so they don’t make me hot. They also give me a great sense of accomplishment because they are so quick to knit.

Last Thursday I gifted the neighbors with a Katja from Knitty. As I often do, I bastardized it. I knit it from the bottom up in the round with a picot hem. Then, I took a hint from Mason-Dixon Knitting and I hit the edges of the picot and the purl bumps with a bleach pen. Because I didn’t want it to go completely white most of the effect is *very* subtle because where you put the bleach first is what gets whitest and that was the picot bumps. The rest just lightened enough that you aren’t even sure if it lightened or if the light is just hitting the purl bumps differently.

This is knit from the discontinued Lion Brand CottonEase. I have to say I’m really disappointed that they discontinued it. I hope they bring back an equivalent with a better color palette. It is a bit splitty, but it is a nice blend that lightens the weight of the cotton and it softens so nice with each wash. Best of all, this top in the 3 mo size used only 1/2 skein so it makes for very economical baby gifts. It also counts as a Project Spectrum knit too!

I gifted this to the neighbors last Thursday and it was met with very positive exclamations of cuteness. The recipient is only 3 weeks old so it is a bit big for her yet, but come August it should be a cute fit. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a modeled photo sometime.

Since I had changed the construction of Katja so much I decided to jump off on my own and knit one with a lacey bottom for my cousin’s baby who is also about 3 weeks old and lives in Hawaii. There were some additional changes I decided to make. I figure since this baby is in Hawaii the longer time she can wear it, the better. So beside knitting it in the round from the bottom up I put in a row of eyelets before the “cups” of the halter so a ribbon could be run through to snug the top up now while she is really little. I suspect she may be able to wear it until 4 or 5 months with the give of the fabric.

I then still had half a skein left and no summer baby girls coming up so I decided to knit a little coordinating diaper cover. It too has eyelets for cinching the fit a bit better and I used matching ribbon. I also added a smaller version of the lace that is on the bottom of the halter top around the leg openings. I think it gives it a bit more of a girly, frilly look which I think mom will like since this is baby number two, but girl number one :-) I’m guessing the diaper cover may not fit as long as the top does, but I couldn’t go up a size or I would have run out of yarn.

This set is also knit from the discontinued Lion Brand CottonEase. One skein made the entire playset. Again, I’m hoping mom and dad will send me a modeled shot at some point. It will be winging its way to Hawaii next week. I know one grandma and one aunt are knitters so I know the work will be appreciated.

Anyone have any recommendations for a cute summery knit for a baby boy? My streak of girls has been officially broken!

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On a slight side note, does anyone have any first hand experience with placing phone orders from any knitting shops? My mom wants a few phone numbers for some yarn shops who will be able to help her over the phone to order needles and/or yarn. She’ll want people who can describe color well as she remembers colors and really likes being able to visualize that. Also people who can ship quick. She is in Minnesota so mid-west shops would probably be preferred for lower shipping costs, but as long as they are helpful I don’t think she cares too much. She’d probably want a shop that has a nice range of yarns as well, from economical (i.e. Encore) to utilitarian (i.e. Cascade 220) to just plain really nice to work with in a wide range of weights as well. Leave a comment with any suggestions you have.

Have a great weekend everyone!