While I’m not getting around so well, I am getting things done. This weekend was a good one. Saturday, Deb came over. We were going to give Kim a spinning lesson, but unfortunately motherhood (Kim’s not mine) intervened and it turned into a spin-in on the porch. Deb has a great picture of our wheels on the porch.
I was pleasantly surprised that I could spin one footed on double treadle wheels with varying degrees of success. Friday night I gave the Lendrum Saxony a try and was quite successful, especially if I just put my right foot (the bad ‘un) on the right treadle to counterbalance. No work being done by that foot, just really letting the treadle bank off of it. Sort of.
Next up was the Lendrum Upright where I’ve been spinning some Crown Mountain sock hop roving in Big Yellow Taxi. Unfortunately, I wasn’t so successful. It might be because I have the band on the smallest whorl on the Woolee Winder making treadling more difficult. I’m going to give it another try with a different fiber and the largest whorl. We’ll see if that helps.
Saturday, two more wheels got the treatment. Since Deb came over with her Little Gem, I had to pull out mine so the two could reacquaint themselves. I was easily able to treadle one footed, in a method similar to the saxony. The right foot sat on the treadle and didn’t move. I was playing with some romney that’s been in stash since last spring. Come to think of it, it was the inaugural roving for the Suzie when her Woolee Winder arrived, as well as for the Fricke E-Spinner. Now its serving the same role for the Gem. I’m liking that wheel very much.
For giggles, I gave the Tina a spin. I haven’t used her since before I moved last April. Until a short while ago, she sat in a storage unit and only recently moved to the house where she took up residence in the entry foyer. I’ve forgotten how nice it is to spin on that wheel. Initially I had to keep the right foot on the treadle, like with the other two, but in no time, I had her going entirely one footed with the right nowhere near the wheel. Sweet. Good Tina. Anyone who might have thought she was going, forget it. I’m in love with her all over again!
Sunday was spent knitting. I want to rest up the ankle for next weekend and opted to not push it yesterday. I kept it elevated and iced. It was a day for finishing. First, two pictures of long since finished items.
Forest Canopy Shawl. Project details here. She’s reposing on the Lendrum Saxony yesterday afternoon.
Trekking 126 socks. I finally remembered to take a picture of these babies. Love them. I like the faternal twinness of them, even though that makes others nuts. Project details here.
After a couple episodes of Mega Movers on the History Channel, I finished up Icarus. The bonus knitting time in the waiting room on Friday left in sight of the finish line. In what is probably a first for me, I blocked it the same day. I got to use the new exercise mats blocking pads I bought.
It took 5 of the 2×2 interlocked mats to block this. I have wires at the top and quilting pins in each of the points. In no time at all, she was dry…
I’m wearing her today.
That’s about it for now. Time to go silly walk for lunch.
The verdict is in. Torn ligament in the ankle. I re-sprained it in the pothole. I’m back wearing a brace holding a prescription for 3x week physical therapy and an MRI with a follow up appointment in 3 weeks. Woo hoo. I’ll be one one with the silly walk next weekend at MDSW. Now I really need a single treadle wheel.
I’m kicking back for the rest of the afternoon, doing a little code, foot up, DVR remote near at hand.
Yesterday was one excellent mail day! I walked in from work to find a pile of boxes. This pile (relocated immediately to my room)
I love packages. The top two are yarn-y goodness. The one in front is my Skinny Duet that I ordered immediately upon hearing of it. The back is more cotton yarn for blanket knitting. Though I’m breaking with the 1824 addiction after getting Elann’s most recent newsletter and checking out the Sonata. I needed more colors and I suspect that texturally, it should work fine in the miter blanket, especially if I lay it all out properly.
Sorry, no pictures of the contents of either of those boxes as they are still in that same state. The bottom box got my full attention last night. It is my new Majacraft Little Gem (2). As soon as the monkeys were in their rooms with the lights turned off, I opened that sucker. I was up and trying her out in no time.
Isn’t she cute next to the much larger Lendrum Saxony?
I was actually able to spin on both those wheels last night, even though the ankle is yelling pretty darn loudly right now. Its a really good thing too as I needed some serious unwinding. Work has sucked recently and nothing really relaxes me the same way that spinning does. Something to do with transferring twist from one place to another. That must be it.
There’s a possibility (dare I say it) that a Canadian Production Wheel might just follow me home from MD. Carole suggested I contact Dave Paul as she thought he might have a CPW or two in the shop. After which she sort of snickered, well the email version of snickering. Looked a lot like a "mwahahahahahaha". So I did and he has 11 of them. I’m awaiting the specs now. Which brings me back to the Lendrum. What the hell do I do with her? Stuff her in the basement with the loom? Hide her in Kat’s room?
Tonight is the SnB, the high point of my week. MY finally received their shipment of the addi lace needles and I had them put a few aside for me. I’m eagerly getting them tonight. Spring Things and probably Icarus will be transfered asap so a review will be forthcoming.
Tomorrow morning is my appointment with the orthopedist. I got a message from his office yesterday giving me their website address. Never before got that. They directed me to the forms section where they had those new patient history/complaint/insurance forms ready for download so that you could bring them in complete. Nice. Good use of technology! I’ll still be ready with my knitting for a long wait Good thing Icarus has turned into a good travel project. I finally got my brain wrapped around the pattern (past the halfway point now on chart 4). I think the sticking point was the combination of knitting and purling in the same row. I haven’t encountered that very much in lace knitting before and I think it has thrown me a bit. At least I finally caught on. Means I might actually finish this one soon.
I feel like I’m floundering around looking for a project to work contentedly on. It happens periodically after finishing something that I really enjoyed. I cast on, work for a while and then discard in favor of something else. Must have enjoyed those Trekking 126 socks more than I thought. I finished (well except for grafting the toe) the first of the Duet socks on the train last night. Not sure how I feel about schlepping two skeins of yarn around to work on those. I’ll have to do the toe and walk around in the sock for a while to find out if I love it or not.
In keeping with a new day/different commuter project, Icarus came to work today. I was actually able to finish 3 rows on the way in. I’m now on row 11 of 24 for the fourth and final chart. No point in taking a picture of the whole thing, but here’s a focused in shot on the edge as I sat on the train this morning.
(Yes I can wear jeans to work Aren’t those colors gorgeous?! As a reminder, it is the Claudia Handpaint Silk in Just Plum colorway. I so love this yarn.
I think part of my discontent with knitting is related to my ankle. I really want to be spinning, but the darn thing isn’t letting me. I tried last night, but since all my wheels are double treadles (with the exception of the electric), I’ve had mixed results. I’m relieved that I ordered the ST Schacht. I just wish it would arrive sooner. It isn’t even scheduled to leave the factory until May 7, which really is around the corner, but doesn’t feel that way. I’m tempted to try sell the Lendrum Saxony in favor of a single treadle saxony style wheel. I would LOVE a Canadian Production wheel. While I do love the Lendrum, I really don’t need 2 saxony wheels. Anyone have a canadian wheel they aren’t using? Anyone want a Lendrum? (Sorry, not the upright, she’s not going anywhere.) In the meantime, I’m going to hope that Friday’s appointment with the orthopedist reveals something fixable.
My father reminded me that I still have a storage unit full of stuff, including my loom. I haven’t mentioned it much because I really haven’t touched the thing since long before I got pregnant. But its there. It is a LeClerc 24" 4harness compact jack loom. I put it up for sale on the Housecleaning pages with the offer to deliver to Maryland. Honestly, I’m mixed on selling her. No, I don’t weave much but that is related to the whole dressing the loom but I learned a new method (before folding her up and tucking her in the living room corner to bring home babies) that did speed things up considerably. I can’t say that I don’t want to weave again either. Looking at the prices of a new loom makes me even more indecisive about getting rid of it. Funny, I bought both the Saxony and the loom with stock options from bn.com back in the day (before the stock tanked). I guess if someone wants it before Maryland, I’ll put it in the back of the car and if not, I’ll tuck her in the basement for some future day.
Having finished the last pair of socks (and sadly I have once again to snap a shot of the finished Trekking socks) I had to find something else to knit. Knit time knitting has been Icarus as I’d like to finish that long term lace off. I’m 6 rows into the final chart so the end is almost in sight. Down side is that each row is over 400 stitches. I’m a glutton though as I just bought the Sarcelle pattern and actually have the Merino D’Oro in stash which I think has sufficiently marinated. We won’t even begin to mention that Tina and a cone of Zephyr is marinating at present. I’m just so excited that Modern Yarn finally received their shipment of Addi Lace needles. I’m getting a selection of them (2,3,4) on Thursday.
I did start a basic cuff down sock in Lorna’s Black Purl but quickly tired of. Could be that I went for the flap/gusset version instead of the short row and just couldn’t see myself working a second one. So I pulled the needles out Sunday night.
Yesterday morning on the train I cast on using some Opal Petticoat. Again working cuff down, but with the goal of doing my standard short row heel. I got a few inches into the cuff and by the time I headed home from work, I was so discontent with the colors that I just couldn’t work any more on them. While the yarn itself is fabulous, the colors are just a shade too sherbert-y for me. It is 1295 and the skein is going onto either eBay or Destash. I just can’t knit with it.
This left me with no socks again for the train. I did pack Spring Things into my bag, but then remembered the Duet Sock yarns that I’ve been stashing and haven’t tried yet. I picked one out of the box (Fire Dancer is the colorway I think). I started the heel last night while reading after 24. I took this picture this morning in the car on the way to the train. By now I’m half way through the foot. Sweet. By the way, she’s now got fingering weight Duet. I’ve ordered my first skeins of it and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.
Has anyone else noticed that I’m primarily a lace and sock knitter? Funny it only recently struck me that that’s what I really am. While I do knit other things, those two are where I really find my inspiration. Sweaters kind of suck. Maybe the next one should really be a lace one. We’ll see how that fits into the love of lots of little stitches that I seem to seriously enjoy. Next up is the Katherine Hepburn from Lace Style and I have the Knitpicks Merino Style in Moss currently marinating.
Finally, I want to share a few more photos from this weekend. First up is one of my father and the little man.
Well it is definitely spring in northern NJ finally. It was gorgeous for my sister’s baby shower yesterday. The sweater was warmly received. My sister told me that I was "getting really good" at the knitting thing
Today, after sitting in the backyard knitting a sock (lornas lace shepherd in black purl) dad suggested we take the monkeys over to see Great Falls in Paterson. With the 8 inches of rain that the nor’easter dumped on us Sunday/Monday, causing the Passaic River to seriously flod, the falls would probably be an awesome site. Dad was right. We’ve been going there periodically since I was a kid and I’ve never seen it as powerful as today. In contrast, if I remember correctly, the last time I visited it was during a drought. Amazing.
Rather than bore ya’ll with photos of finished socks (yup, I correctly predicted that the trekking ones would be finished Friday night) I thought I’d show you photos of the falls instead.
That’s little Miss Kat standing there seeing the falls for the first time.
Here’s what it looked like without the fence in they way.
Finally, I made use of the movie feature on my elph and took this less the fabulous but you get the idea movie.
We had lunch at the local hot dog joint and while Kat is sleeping, Alex is sugared up on the Skittles his grandpa let him have. I’m going to join Kat in the nap thing. I’m pooped out!
Its almost time to head home for the weekend and I just don’t feel like toiling at the moment. The ache in my ankle (yes the bad one) is terribly distracting. Two weeks ago it went from its on and off dull roar to constant. Didn’t help that I rolled it again stepping in a pothole coming home from the SnB. It hurt something fierce that night but was better by morning. The last week has seen it become constant with the added bonus of tingling in the foot. Nothing like nerve involvement to freak someone out. I decided it was time to see the doctor. I have an appointment next Friday morning with a foot & ankle ortho specialist. In the meantime, I’ll be pulling out my old ankle brace and making sure the advil is stocked up. Good thing I’m adding a single treadle wheel! (Might be time to use the electrics until the Schacht arrives)
Anyway, ankle bitching aside, I have been knitting. First, the important bit. Setesdal is done.
Doing some checking for the album, I discovered it took me just about a month to do this sweater. Not bad, considering it was almost entirely done at home on nights and weekends. I do hope my sister likes it. I’m happy with it though and almost ready to make another one. Though if I do, it will not be superwash wool! I’d like the yarn to work with me if I have to steek it. I did discover my error with the sewing as to why the ends popped out. My sewing machine has an automatic stitch size and it defaults to that when you turn it on. I forgot that. I saw the levers down at the smallest end of the scale and went with it. Oh well. I ran it through again using a much smaller stitch size before picking up for the second front band and everything stayed in place. Whew. Still, I’d much rather a grippy wool. I guess I have to make a Dale for Kat now.
Socks are the standard knitting project for me. Here’s the finished shot of the Vesper babies.
Full details here. I wore them yesterday with a pair of cords that matched the brown exactly. They were comfy, if a pain to knit. Love the colors!
The Trekkings are progressing very nicely. I mentioned the first was done and I’m halfway through the foot of the second now. I’ll finish that tonight.
And finally, here’s a shot of the pretty pink Spring Things. I worked on her last night at the SnB so she’s further along than this picture by another 3 repeats or so.
Tomorrow is the baby shower and thank goodness the weather has finally turned to spring. It should be far nicer to allow some 25 people outside rather than cooped up in the house. Oooh, we’ll probably finally get to use the porch! I’ll tuck a sock in my pocket for random knitting during the day.
Time for the weekly update. Sadly, I have no photos of knitting to show right about now. I’ve been too busy doing stuff and forgetting about the camera. There has been progress on multiple fronts though beyond the wheeling and dealing.
Speaking of wheeling an dealing, the Victoria will have a new home and she will be shipped out imminently. I am replacing her with another highly portable wheel that makes more sense when the other wheels in the collection are taken into account. I’ve ordered a Majacraft Little Gem 2. As I already have a cache of standard bobbins ( Suzie and the Fricke E-spinner) and a Woolee Winder (Suzie) to fit it, as well as the skein winder, it just made more sense than a lone Louet. After I told mom that I was selling the Victoria, she asked which wheel I would use to spin on the boat?! The Hitchhiker had served that role, but she too was in a new home. Not that I spin on the boat all that much, um only once if I recall correctly, but it was enough to put the bug in my head. Add in I had just seen Deb’s little Gem on Saturday, the seed was planted (btw she has an excellent recap of the day). So I went for it. Tax refund and yearly raise time It should be here before MD$W, fingers crossed!
So yes, there’s been knitting going on. Evenings have been devoted to finishing up Setesdal. Sunday saw the end of the button bands, Monday I finished the collar and last night I got the sleeves sewed in. Tonight I sew on the buttons and call this baby done. I have some small round buttons from the button box that go perfectly with it. I’ll most definitely be taking pictures of it this evening. Good timing too as the shower is Saturday. I have to admit, I did not enjoy knitting the bands on this thing. The Baby Ull was very splitty on the US0 needles, especially on the purl rows. I was never so glad as to bind off the last one.
Speaking of splitty, I finished the Vesper Neapolitan socks. The colors are gorgeous and I managed to get identical twin socks out of it, but honestly, it is too softly spun for my preferences. I had major issues with splitting and had to watch each and every stitch. Since socks are predominantly my mindless commuting knitting, I don’t want to focus so very much on them. The yarn required me to do so. I finished the last one at the SnB Thursday night. Friday morning I started the next pair. This time using the discontinued and returned to production Trekking XXL 126. I picked it up on eBay a couple of weeks ago (right around when I finally got my hands on the Vesper Neapolitan). I finished the first one this morning. For a change, I’m working cuff down, short row heel and grafted the toe. I cast on for the second while standing on the PATH platform waiting for the train. They’re definitely going to be fraternal twins (unlike the Vesper pair). I’m rather partial to frats for some reason
Thursday night I also restarted Spring Things. I wasn’t thrilled with how it was coming out in the KSH. While the KSH is a lovely yarn and definitely crack-worthy, I just wasn’t feeling the love with this pattern, not to mention the less than spring color I had picked (though with the way the spring weather has been in this area lately it is appropriate if not gloomy). So Thursday I wandered around MY when I spotted the right yarn. Enter more Claudia Handpaint Silk. The color is "Pink Posey" and if that doesn’t shout SPRING I don’t know what does. And Dorre, after I got home, I did restart it with the smaller US4 needles I like it much better and have gotten through I think 4 of the 13 repeats of chart 1.
Other than that, I’ve been doing a little spinning. About an arm’s length of Spunky Eclectics beautiful BFL roving in the Rocky Mountain High is left on the Suzie. It is spinning up at my standard sockweight. Sunday night I started the Big Yellow Taxi roving from Crown Mountain on the Lendrum Upright. Also spinning up at my standard weight of sock. It goes without saying that the 8oz will take me just shy of forever to spin. Now you know why I have so many wheels! Its the only way I can get some spinning variety without mucking around with settings and changing bobbins. New colorful rovings are on my list for MD$W purchases.
That’s about it for the moment. Pictures of actual knitting soon!
The Louet Victoria needs a new home. I’ve used her exactly once since I’ve gotten her and really, that is a sad state for any wheel. Nothing wrong with her at all, she’s a lovely wheel in just about brand new state. The original package is still intact: wheel, bobbins, kate, convertible carry bag and even the box it all came in.
$545 including shipping in the US. This is the Oak version of the wheel. Very compact. Makes a fabulous travel wheel (since I go nowhere, I don’t really need her).
I tried unsuccessfully to set up a paypal button. If you are interested, either leave me a comment on this post or email at crazyfiberladyATgmailDOTcom.
Edited 4/16: I have a pending sale of this wheel. Good thing too. Need to make room for wheels
I expect that most of you are now used to my rather sporadic posting. I have to admit, I’m not. I liked posting more often and well, miss it. But then there’s the whole time crunch thing. There’s a secondary problem that if I don’t post for a while, I want to write about so much that I expect it will take forever to get that one out of me that I don’t actually do it, compounding the short absence to a longer and longer one. Someday I’ll have it all figured out.
This week has been rather crappy at work, but at least going rather well outside the office. Which is good. The kids finally went back to school yesterday. The daycare center director apologized profusely for the length of the "spring break" and thanked us for our patience. She’s have a "parent appreciation dinner" next week and has changed the remaining vacation schedule to make up for the additional 6 days that they took now. Nice lady. Excellent center. Miss Kat went wearing big girl panties yesterday for the first time. She did rather well, with only a small accident. Naturally I sent extra clothes for such emergencies. She was so excited this morning that she announced she would hold it until she got to school. Mom and I convinced her otherwise. She’s an odd duck
This weekend another one of the wheels went off to a new home. The cute little hitchhiker is now living with new spinner, Dorre. I have to come clean now and announce publicly (beyond the comments dropped around blogosphere over the last day or two and in emails) that I ordered its replacement. I ordered a Schacht Matchless ST from WoollyManor. I’ve been looking at this wheel for a while and know that is quite popular around the blogosphere. It just seemed the right time, what with tax refunds on their way. Sadly, it won’t arrive in time for the trip to MD$W (I booked my hotel on Monday – woot! – staying in the same place as 2 years ago. Kim and Dorre are staying there too!) According to the email I got yesterday, it is expected to ship from the factory around May 7.
In preparation, I’ve been doing a little spinning recently. I sat down at the Lendrum Saxony Sunday night and was finally motivated to see if I could figure out why the hell the thing squeaked so badly. I knew it was coming from the front edge of the treadles where a metal bar went through and fit into the front legs. After oiling and otherwise lubricating the heck out of it, mom sat and watched as I spun (and cringed listening to the squeak). Result? The metal bar flexes as I treadle. It flexes enough that it rubs against one side of the treadle because while the metal is bending, the wood is not. Little I can do to lubricate for that. No wonder I oiled the hell out of it for naught. I had a bit of a brainstorm and pulled a pole out of the closet that I use to get hangers up to the upper rod. I put the pole against the block between the treadles, out back under the wheel with the other end jammed against a table leg to prevent the bar from flexing. It worked! I was able to spin without any squeaking! Now I have to come up with some kind of permanent rigging, like a piece of wood from the bar to the back leg. But at least I can use this wheel without the frustrating noise.
I finished knitting the body for Setesdal. Sunday morning the sewing machine came out and I seamed and the cut the steeks. Instead of knitting the neck area flat as the pattern suggested, I steeked there too. I’d much rather do that than knit two color flat. Bleh. Unfortunately, while I was picking up the stitches for the first button band, some of the white ends slipped out of the machine sewing. I grabbed them before they could unravel too far and hand sewed them into place. I think I’m going to reinforce with some iron-on interfacing. I have until next weekend (4/21) to finish and might just make it.
Because I’m really lacking in projects, I started a new one at the SnB last week. It is the Susan’s new pattern, Spring Things. I’m using crack Kidsilk Haze in a color number I don’t quite remember and can’t check as it is at home. The Vesper Neapolitan socks are the current commuter project. I purchased silver lined crystal beads from EarthFaire, which arrived yesterday. I’m up to a little over 100 stitches per row at this point, but it has taken a back seat to the socks, Setesdal and the Mitered Squares.
I found another sock yarn accidentally last week that I just had to order. Pretty colors and I love the idea that it is packaged with a coordinating heel/toe color. I went a little nutsy though and have 6 different skeins. Two arrived after this picture was taken. It is Duet Sock and I look forward to trying it out. I’ll probably hit one of these after the Vesper socks are done of which I’m well into the second sock now. Unlike my standard, this yarn is DK weight so it should make for some fast socks.
That’s about it for now, hopefully another post sooner than later.
Good thing Icarus has turned into a good travel project. I finally got my brain wrapped around the pattern (past the halfway point now on chart 4). I think the sticking point was the combination of knitting and purling in the same row. I haven’t encountered that very much in lace knitting before and I think it has thrown me a bit. At least I finally caught on. Means I might actually finish this one soon.
Anyone want a Lendrum? (Sorry, not the upright, she’s not going anywhere.) In the meantime, I’m going to hope that Friday’s appointment with the orthopedist reveals something fixable.
and I have the 
