One Crazy Fiber Lady

I made some serious progress on Evenstar this weekend. I finished the first chart and am well into the second. I finished the transition to the second yarn this morning on the train. Might be time to go hunting up some beads very soon. The progress spreadsheet reads 20% completed. Yay me.

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I’ve forgotten how much I like pi shawls.

Craft on!

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I cast on for another project last night. Evenstar Shawl. The yarn is Eos from Unique Sheep in Tequila Sunrise gradients.

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Sigh.  That habit was easy to break.  So much for the once a week on a Sunday rundown posting.  It was nice while it lasted   I do have progress on a number of fronts to post, but not this post.  I’m going to be doing something familiar to anyone who reads this blog.  I’m getting a new wheel.  I’ll be picking her up in (wait for it) MDSW.   She’s a Schacht-Reeves 24” double treadle in Cherry.  I lurve cherry and the observant will have noticed a recent trend around here from single to double treadles.  With the bum right ankle and the bad left foot, a single treadle no longer cuts it.  Neither foot is worse than the other, so a single isn’t really an option.  While both the Reeves and the old Matchless were large single treadles that I could put both feet on, it just isn’t the same.  The two footed treadle motion is different than a double treadle.  So there you have it, my rationale for swapping wheels.

What does this mean for the herd?  Well, the Reeves 24” is looking for a new home.

As you can see, beyond the light layer of dust, she’s in excellent shape.  24” in Oak, large single treadle with the flyer on the left.  There are three different whorls for the wheel, the extras screw onto storage on the underside of the bench.  There is also the orifice hook stowed in the bench just in front of the wheel support.

One of the differences between the Reeves and the S-R version is the finishing details that Rick used.  Instead of exposed screw holes, he plugged them with beautiful wood plugs throughout, this includes the drive wheel and where the treadle attaches to the treadle bar.

There are 5 large bobbins, two original Reeves and three that were recently made, as well as the bug style lazy kate.  They all work beautifully.  One of the originals has a notch missing from the edge, which you can see clearer here.

You can still cram a lot of fiber onto the thing.  No, the pink singles don’t come with the wheel.  I’ve since wound them off after being embarrassed at how very long they’ve been waiting to ply.  I actually spun the first bobbin on the Reeves Frame wheel that I sold in August of ‘09.  That explains the level of dust, n’est-ce pas?

Now the details.  This wheel would be a pain to ship, so I’m looking for a local buyer (wheel is in NJ).  I can deliver to a number of locations including the Clermont festival this week or the big one, MDSW.  I’m asking $1,100 $1,050 for her.  If you’re interested, please leave a comment or email me at risa AT crazyfiberlady DOT com (for some reason, gmail is now treating my comment email as spam).

Craft on!

Wow another week has flown by.  This one brought the return of BASEBALL!   We’ll ignore for the moment that my team isn’t doing so very well so far.  Season is still young, there’s plenty of time to panic. I just had a spinning playdate with Tami so its time for the weekly update.

On the Needles

1.  Hermione’s Deathly Hallow Socks – The first sock is done, but this isn’t news as it was at this time last week.  I’ve dawdled with the knitting this week, but am catching up now.  I finished the foot on the second sock onFriday while getting a pedicure 🙂

2.  Mawata Lilies Shawlette – Finished! I totally enjoyed working straight from the mawata’s and will definitely do more with silk.

3.  Featherweight Cardigan –  The finishing of one object marks the point where I can start something new.  Next up is a second featherweight cardigan in Malabrigo Lace.

I started this on Friday night and put the sleeve stitches on the waste yarn yesterday afternoon before the Seder. The colorway is Vermillion.  I love it.  I made this sweater once before, but it came out too big, so I gave it to mom.  Since then, the designer has added additional sizes to the pattern, including smaller ones.  Yay!

On the Fiber Front

First up, I owe a picture of the finished yarn from last week.

I dug out the never-ending bag of CVM roving that I’ve been spinning on and off for years now on the Vermont Wheel.  I actually weighed the bag and there’s 1.5 lbs left to spin.  I’m going to try and do a little every day.  I have a good beginning on the next bobbin’s worth:

At today’s playdate, I started new fiber on the Schacht.  This is Targhee from Zarzuela in Redwood.  I’ve split the fiber lengthwise into strips about the width of my index finger.

Other spinning – I filled another spindle on the Charkha with the Shetland, and managed to add a little more of the silk to the Bosworth spindle.  Not interesting enough to take another picture of either.

Other Stuff

Dad took the twins to Toys R Us yesterday afternoon before the family showed up for the Seder.  He came home with this:

Just what we needed, a 14′ trampoline for the backyard.  That’s Kat jumping with a friend of hers a little while ago.  It was a family affair in assembly.

Craft on!

Wow am I tired today.  There must be something in the air this weekend because I’ve been pretty draggy.  Though I think today is a result of yesterday’s driving two states away for a baby shower.  It was excellent, and I don’t like showers 😉  I’m glad I went but am paying for it today, which started somewhat early as the CPW moved along to its new home this morning.  Getting right into it:

On the needles:

1.  Hermione’s Everyday Socks –  Stick a fork in these babies, they are done!  I finished them up on Monday.

This is the first time that I did this stitch pattern and I have to say that I really liked it.  I think it works very well with handpainted yarns and was easy enough for my fuzzy brain to hold onto, though I did have issues seeing the stitches in low lighting conditions, like Panera.

2.  Mawata Lilies Shawlette – is still in progress.  It doesn’t look much different than the picture from last week.  I managed a few more repeats of the edging lace and have at least made it past the halfway point.  Each repeat is taking less time as I’ve mostly memorized the pattern, well after the third or so repeat of each sitting.  The first one or two are slower.  But, progress is being made and I’ll probably be working on it tonight when Game of Thrones Season 2 starts!

3.  Hermione’s Deathly Hallows Socks – I started these Tuesday morning on the train and bound off the first one late this morning.  As part of their homework, the kids need to read for at least 20 minutes each day.  Due to personality conflicts, Alexander usually winds up reading with me and while he reads to me, I work on the current sock project.

The yarn is Forbidden Woolery Lush in the Deathly Hallows colorway.  The pattern is, surprise surprise, the Hermione’s Everyday Socks pattern.  Figured the names of the two went well together.  I’ll start the second sock tomorrow morning.  Probably.

Mods on this sock:  working toe up instead of cuff down, plain foot and a 2×2 rib.  What can I say, I’m particular with my socks.

On the fiber front

I’ve actually made some progress this week.

1.  I finished spinning the singles of the Blackforest Cake Merino (been mistakenly calling it BFL) on Thursday night.  I n-plied it on the Schacht today.

It came out to be some 468 yrds of n-plied at 4.2 oz.  I think it’ll make some lovely socks.

2.  Friday night I plied the Merino/Bamboo/Nylon blend from River’s Arts.  It is 528yds of 2ply and somehow I forgot to take a picture of it off the bobbins and I’m too tired/lazy to do it now.  Maybe during the week 😉

3. Tussah Silk – this is still ongoing. I managed to finish off another length of silk that i had batched up oodles of ages ago to facilitate this project. no clue how much silk it amounts to, but it worked through 3 different colors. I wouldn’t expect rapid progress on this project, but you knew that already 😉

4.  Charkha Shetland – this one was idle this week.  Oh well, can’t work on everything 🙂

This brings up the big question, what to spin on the wheels next?  I think I’m going to dig out the never-ending bag of processed CVM that has been ongoing on the Vermont wheel for ages.  I usually fill up 3 bobbins, wind off and repeat.  I have some 9 cakes of wound singles sitting downstairs and yet, the prepared fleece bag doesn’t look any emptier.  Maybe if I work on it somewhat regularly I can make progress.  Finally.  Now to find where I stashed it.  I think I’ll alternate this week with this and the charkha before pulling out something else for the Schacht 🙂

That’s about all for this week.

Craft on!