Fiber Fool

First off, let me thank you all for your wonderful positive thoughts and well wishes for DH. I’m knocking on wood as I type, but I think the ick is gone from the house! Copious doses of Benadryl seems to have worked and I’ve somehow escaped the bug (again, knocking on wood). I’m woefully behind in replying to blog comments with little hope of replying to every one anytime soon. So please, accept this as our heartfelt thanks!

All the lack of sleep has caught up with my body and it is none too happy with me. But, I am plugging along on the next installment of the book. This is a really fun group of patterns and I can’t wait to get it out there, but it still needs some more work. In the meantime, here is a little sneak peek (full specs here if you want yarn at the ready when it is released). Those of you who have been bugging me for new sock patterns (you know who you are) - this one is for you!

Now, on with a brief linkity for this week…

Yummy:

• Ashley English’s guest post on Design*Sponge this week has my mouth watering - orange and vanilla marmelade! I’ve never made marmelade before, but DH and I have discussed making some. This may be just the recipe!
• Craft linked to something I think would be loved by my SnB group - Fig & Feta Phyllo!
• Heidi Swanson of 101cookbooks.com released a 6 recipe sample of her second cookbook, Super Natural Every Day which is bring released in early April.

Photography:

• I’m not immediately in the market, but I have found myself contemplating what my next lens purchase should be. This recent DPS article on Standard Lenses has some great food for thought on the subject.

Literary (or not):

• Calibre, a great program for organizing your ebook collection has developed a portal for DRM-free books called Open Books. With the aid of Calibre, all of these books are readable on any device, including the Kindle!
• I just learned of a Kindle blog that focuses on classic books - Kindle Classics. I’m excited that there is a place to go to help me choose which version of classics to get as not all e-books are created equal. Even if free, reading poorly formatted books takes away from the enjoyment.

Ever have one of those weeks that you’d really like to have come to end? Well, it has come to end, but the troubles it brought with it are not yet gone - or the effects of those troubles are not yet gone anyway. DH got *very* sick last week and missed school/work from Wednesday on. Just when we thought he was on the mend (though not 100%) he came home yesterday afternoon with a really nasty looking rash. He stayed on top of it with Calahist (calamine and Benadryl topical), but as soon as he’d treat a spot a new spot would pop up. Then about an hour after going to bed it was covering probably 80% of his body. So at 1:30 am I went to Walgreens and consulted with the pharmacist to help get him through the night. I was paranoid about the swelling moving to his airway though so I was awake most of the night, sleeping in about 20 minute bursts and checking on his breathing and then it would take me at least another 20-40 minutes for my mind to stop running at 1000 rpm and let me fall back to sleep. I’ve not had more than about 4 hours of sleep a night for a week running.

When I worked with the BFL at the top of the post it was the first my wheel had been put to use in over a year I think. And I loved it! Oddly, despite the break, it was the most satisfying spinning process and product of all time I think. The result was a soft yarn with nice drape and phenomenal loft. It was really nice to knit in the evening and then wind down just before bed with 45 minutes to an hour of spinning.

I do think that despite the last-minute extra work added to my schedule that I slept a bit better when working on this project. I was spinning in the evening as my last thing before the bedtime routine. Even if I’m not actively working on a spinning related submission I really want to keep the wheel running. Maybe not every night, but at least a few times a week would be a healthy goal I think. This last week has really brought this to light!

Before the lovely BLF was on the wheel I had a partial bobbin of some striped rolags I created back in 2007 based on an article by Dianne Cutler in the Fall 2007 issue of Spin-Off. So I spun up the rest of that bobbin and was reminded why it had stalled out.

The idea of the article was to spin an almost Noro-like striping yarn. The basic premise is to stripe the batt as you drum card it. Then roll the bat around a wooden dowel to create a rolag or puni-like form (like shown above, but with it striped along the length) which you spin from one end, without unrolling. If you are consistent in creating the punis and the order and direction you spin them up you can get the gradual striping in a plied yarn. This excited me and when that article came out, I happened to have had Cathy’s drum carder, so I pulled together some coordinating scraps of random dyed roving I had on hand and made 6 striped batts according to the article with a plan to spin 2 per bobbin to create a 3-ply yarn.

I don’t know if I made mine too dense in the center by rolling it on the dowel under too much tension or if I just don’t know how to spin from a puni. I’m pretty sure the result is not going to be striped predictably as the fiber wanted to draft off of the outside, rather than spinning all of the first stripe of color and then going onto the next. I can’t imagine that colors would line up across multiple bobbins. I tried spinning straight from the punis and I tried predrafting. Neither was terribly pleasing or a pleasant spinning experience. Even trying to predraft them was an exercise in frustration. I have 2 out of 6 punis on one bobbin. I’m willing to sacrifice that and aim for a nice 2-ply with the remaining 4 punis.

I learned a few things about how I want to spin my singles with the BFL project. I’m pretty sure that even if I figured out how to draft and spin the remaining punis properly, I probably would find the 3-ply yarn to be heavier and denser than I want. So I can chain ply the currently spun bobbin and start over with the rest and aim for a 2-ply.

Can anyone shed some light on this spinning technique? What have I done wrong and how might I deal with it with less frustration?

In the meantime I might revisit this Wooly Wonka merino that Margene gifted me a couple years ago. When diving through the fiber stash I realized that it also has 1 bobbin of singles spun. I’ll have to find my reference spinning card for it so I recall the twist and grist I was aiming for and whether I was planning for a 2-ply or 3-ply yarn. I think I know where it is (*crosses fingeers*). But those colors seem great for this time of year, do they not? They are certainly in contrast to the brown outside the windows!

The fibery shots I shared a few weeks ago (that go with the shots I showed off on Friday) were not just for the fun of it. Though if I were always so excited by the shots that came off my camera I think it would need to be surgically attached. Some of those shots were taken to support an article I wrote for Ennea Collective - 10 Ways to Improve Your Fiber Art Photography Now.

Ennea Collective is a fairly new kid on the blog of fiber art related web-based magazines. This current issue is #3 and they keep growing with each issue. If you haven’t checked them out, you should stop by and poke around. There are patterns for knitting and weaving and you do not have to spin your own yarn to make use of the patterns. They even provide a detailed article on choosing commercial or pre-spun yarn to go with their patterns.

In writing my article I tried really hard to cover a wide variety of topics. I wanted to ensure that no matter your skill level or photographic equipment there should be something extra you can take with you to improve your photos, whether you take them to share on your blog or on Ravelry or the various other social media places. I have to say it was a challenge narrowing it down to 10 and to try keep things brief while still being sure to define technical terms clearly. If, after reading the article you have further questions or comments, please feel free to let me know! They could spark further articles or blog posts!

Okay, now onto what seems to have become the every other week Linkity…. We’ll start with photography this week…

Pixely:

• 10 Ways to Improve Your Fiber Art Photography Now - while geared towards photographing fiber arts, much applies to any product photography
• How to Reduce Noise without Software - as camera manufacturer’s keep uping the megapixels on cameras without increasing the sensor size, noise is becoming an increasing problem. These are some solid tips to keep in mind when shooting in situations requiring higher ISOs.
• If you enjoyed last week’s 10 on Tuesday and wish I had included some additional photography blogs, PhotoFocus lists 5 with mini reviews that cover all skill levels and types of info. Most of them were new to me!
• Correcting Perspective Lens Distortion in Photoshop - not something I bother with to often, but for some subjects or settings it is required and this is a good tutorial on how to do so.

Yummy:

• Even though Valentine’s is over, I can’t get over this fun way to mold hard boiled eggs into fun heart shapes! Wouldn’t that make some fun deviled eggs on your Easter spread?
• My heart skips a beat at the thought of this Pomegranate Buttercream, especially with her suggestion of having it on Cardamom Shortbread! *swoon* I think this is going to have to happen in our kitchen sooner rather than later!
• Organic Chocolate Taste Test Results - includes milk, dark and specialty flavor. Run by Rodale.
• Grapefruit Sour Cream Pound Cake sounds like a divine dessert to brighten these last days of winter (original pin).
• Speaking of grapefruit, how about taking it savory and making it into risotto? Color me intrigued!
• Soups are still on my radar, despite out frequent 50+ degree highs. This is a garlic soup that is much different than our usual and I can’t wait to try it!

Crafty:

• Upcyclers dream - 1 ladies medium sweater becomes a cowl, a pair of leg warmers, 3 mug cozies, a bracelet and a neckwarmer.
• The kid in me is screaming at the idea of such a large spin art rig!
• My inner geek is squeeing over these scarves inspired by math and science.
• Knit designer, Laura Nelkin has solved the problem of handknit gloves and using smartphones without exposing any fingers!
• In case you missed it, don’t forget my Infinite Scrunch (on ravelry) knitting pattern that is free in the MSK Feb/March newsletter (PDF, on page 3).
• Maybe not quite strictly fitting in this category, this Inspired by Iceland video has some great sweater inspiration and is just plain a fun music video.

Lusty:

• One day I searched for “Dala Horse” on Etsy and while I didn’t find a hademade dala horse that spoke to me, I did find this fun cutting board, these great notecards and some fun bags!
• I just love this calendar that uses the phases of moon to represent each day of the year! A great design!
• I’m loving these handmade felt slippers (or these with a lace inset) and thinking I really need to explore wet feling dimensional things so I can make some for myself.

Remember that from a few weeks ago? Well, it is all grown up now!

Of course I can’t show you it in its undisguised form.

I’m sure you can guess what it is. But all the neat little details cannot be revealed just yet.

You’ll have to trust me when I say that I have much prettier photos of the final product. It will have it’s official photoshoot with one of my favorite photographers in just about 2 weeks. Then to press at the end of March. Until it hits stands I’ll have to keep mum. I’m not certain what the stand date is but I’ll keep you posted!

Emma gets to lead this post, because as of yesterday she has been a member of our family for 8 years! I can’t even hardly believe it. I wish I could find the photo of her from her first day here where she hid beneath our dining room table and only peeked out from under one of the chairs. It was adorable, but it isn’t easily accessible and it was from pre-Flickr days.

This should be a fun 10 on Tuesday!

For the most part, non-knitting blogs that I follow fall into two categories - photography and cooking. I do have a handful of handmade beauty/natural living blogs. And since getting my Kindle for Christmas I’ve about doubled my reading/Kindle blogs I read, which isn’t saying a ton. There are the general creative blogs and a few design blogs too. I’ll do my best to have a diverse list that focuses on blogs I think are under appreciated or lesser known.

1. I’ve only fairly recently begun making use of Photoshop actions, but it was MCP Actions that got me hooked and I still find their blog to be very educational and inspiring. She brings in many experts in a variety of areas of photography, and not just on using Photoshop etc. She also does a good job of presenting information of interest to those at all levels of experience and interest too. One of these days I’d like to take a few of her post-processing classes. She is also hosting a 52 Week photography project this year (which I have yet to participate in) I’m enjoying watching the weekly picks though!

2. Creature Comforts Blog has a daily inspiration posts that I love where colors are sampled from a photograph (or set of coordinating photographs) to create a sample color palette. I often love the photographs that are chosen as well as the palettes. If you follow me on Pinterest you already know this as I fairly frequently pin them to my “Color My World” board :-)

3. Chris turned me onto Books on the Knob about a year or so ago. This book blog stays on top of the e-reading market and shares links to mostly free or cheap e-books from most of the major sellers - Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo. She shares discount codes for other places like Fictionwise, Smashwords and more. If you read e-books, no matter your platform, this is a blog to follow to keep yourself on budget!

4. How Sweet It Is has become a favorite “go-to” blog for dessert recipes (she’s pretty heavy on chicken recipes too as her husband loves it). If you’ve followed any sweet recipes in my linkity posts, chances are good you’ve landed there before.

5. My Homemade Beauty does not post very frequently, but the posts are generally informative and include links to further resources. It isn’t just for people who are DIY-ing their beauty products either as there are also reviews for natural products on the market too.

6. Back in January my Svea Latte post was featured on CRESCENDOh! (Thanks Jeannine!). I was given a heads up severeal weeks in advance and started watching the site. While I don’t always take the time to check in daily, it is a great place to get exposed to other creativity-centric blogs. Each week there are two guest curators who share 3 links a day (sometime 1 is static all week) and then there are some other rotating links by the site owners. You’ll find photographers, cooks, mixed media artists, seamstresses and more.

7. This one is going to surprise you all, I’m sure! LOL! From Sthlm is a design blog focused on Swedish design. Posts are infrequent (according to Google Reader they have .5 posts per week on average) but always inspiring to me.

8. A new to me blog since Christmas is the I Love My Kindle blog. It is fairly Kindle-centric, but they follow a lot of e-reader news and provide some interesting comments on press releases related to the e-reader market. While I don’t always agree, it always provides some food for thought.

9. I’m always in aww of the low-fi looking, yet totally eye catching photography at Bloom, Grow, Love. I wish I knew her secret!

10. I think I found Food in Jars via Mia aka FireMoutainGirl when she “liked” it on Facebook. It is a blog dedicated to preserves - both making them and using them! It doesn’t have quite the level of photography of the better known food blogs, but the content is solid.

I haven’t kept up my blogroll here on the blog. But if the above are not enough for you, the blogs I read via Google Reader are public once I file them from my “Test Drive” folder into the category they belong.

• Books and Reading
• Crafty
• Fashion & Trends
• Fiber Arts
• Food
• Must Read (people with whom I interact fairly regularly, tends to mostly be fiber artists)
• Natural Living
• Photography

Now, I can’t wait to find out about all the new to me blogs you are reading! If you’re playing along this week, be sure to let me know! And add your link over at our intrepid leader’s blog!