One Crazy Fiber Lady

I do indeed still knit! I finished that lovely ITW “Return to Warmth” merino on the Canadian Production Wheel (which has totally spoiled me). It turned into a skein of yummy yarn measuring 538 yards and weighing in at 98 grams. Three ply.

I know. I’m kind of impressed myself.

I almost immediately broke out the ball winder and made to knit with it.   I started the first sock last Wednesday evening.  I just grafted the toe closed using a method I read about here.  I have to admit, I kind of liked this method!

You can see my purty new Stitched by JessaLu bag.  I got it this weekend at Tina’s shindig upstate.

This is going to be a short post. Rough day at work. I’m off to start the second sock.

Craft on!

Re-entry was tough.  There’s no getting around that.  Didn’t help that it snowed within the first week back and we won’t even talk about what happened this week!  All I can say is thank goodness for being able to work remotely.  Ugh.  The kids might be relieved to go back to school tomorrow as they get out of the trash the room/clean it cycle.   They are currently cleaning their rooms under threat of garbage pail currently.

I had a couple of inquiries into the status of the foot.  It is much better.  I think partially because it had time to heal, but also because I’ve chosen to ignore it.  Didn’t have much of an option on the cruise as our cabin was way in the bow of the boat and everything else was way in the stern.  There was a 1000ft walk to get just about anything. I wore sneakers and just took it easy.  The hardest walking was on the beach, but it was a worthy suffering We’re back to the point where the old right ankle is the more painful, so yes, life is back to normal now.

Yesterday, while the kids did this:

I played with this:

This is my new-to-me Baby Wolf!  I sold my LeClerc and used the proceeds to buy it from a friend (who was selling it to finance a brandy new 8H BW).  I got it last weekend and was finally able to play with it yesterday.  She’d left it warped so I could play immediately. How awesome is that???  I love it.  It has the Wolf Trap and the Stroller, so I’m  a happy camper.  I can keep busy for a long time with 4 harnesses.  I might pick up a small 8H table loom for those times when I want to do something more complex, but that can wait a bit.

When I was finished weaving, no I didn’t warp it for more.  I’m waiting for the warping reel I ordered to arrive, as well as a couple other doodads, I went back to spinning.  I’m in two spin-a-longs right now, so I have to get busy.  First up on the Schacht is fiber from Zarzuela Fibers that will be knit into a shawlette.  This is some superwash in “Purple People Eater” colorway:

I have one bobbin done and the second well underway.

In another project, for the Into the Whirled SAL, I’m working this yummy merino into a true three ply on the CPW.  Here’s bobbin 1:

Having only one bobbin is a bit challenging.  Now I’m really glad I bought that electric bobbin winder (which I used earlier in the day to wind my paper bobbins for weaving)!  I have a surplus of Kromski bobbins with 5 regular and a bunch of WW version.  I unwound this CPW bobbin onto a Kromski in no time with the electric winder.  It was awesome.  I finished up the second of three and am halfway through the third.  The CPW likes to spin FINE.

Work has been INSANE for me since getting back.  Shortly before the cruise, we had a little team re-alignment in the development group.  The five developers were split into two teams. Three were put on the User Story team which meant they worked on tasks towards adding new features to the software.  The remaining two were put on a Maintenance Team, to support customer service and fixing defects.  Lets just say I’m not writing new stuff.  I’m hunting and killing defects.  The split should be for the next 6 months to a year.  Could be worse.  It’s a less glamorous spot, but I’ve done worse.

My greatest frustration was that the other person on the team with me was terribly unhappy.  He was a software architect type person and miserable in the less glam role.  In many ways, he made my job harder.   On Tuesday, we had a company re-org. Several people were let go.  My Maintenance Team partner was one of them.  That leaves me as the only developer doing maintenance work.  To say I’ve been busy is a bit of an understatement!  My boss, when he sat me down right after my partner was let go, explained to me what was happening before I heard it on the street, so to speak.  Then he outlined what he saw coming down the maintenance pike.  It won’t be all defect work, but some smaller development projects geared towards empowering client services and customer support to do more things on their own and freeing me up from tasks that don’t really require a developer to do.  I’m content with that.

Off to play some Wii with the boy.

Craft on!

I spent the better part of this weekend with spinning wheels.  I gave in to something I’ve wanted now for a couple of years.  Back when I bought the Vermont Wheel, I’d been looking seriously at buying a Canadian Production Wheel.  I’ve always loved the way they look, especially the Borduas wheels with the cast iron treadle.  And to spin with a humongous 30″ drive wheel?  Oo la la!

Anyway, I wound up buying the Vermont wheel then, which it turns out was modeled after the Paradis style CPW.  I still love that wheel and she is divine to spin with.  Not to mention, she’s a gorgeous cherry with the inlaid gold.  What’s there not to love.   But the cast iron treadle has been calling to me.   I joined the Rav CPW group and drooled.  And while enabling someone into a wheel, I finally got enabled myself when a “nest of wheels” appeared.

She arrived in a humongous box on Saturday…a F.B. wheel!  Cast iron treadle and all.  She was in some sad and dirty shape when I unpacked her…

The twins and I spent some time and elbow grease with Wood Beams cleaning and moisturizing here.  Still needs some work but you can see the rich color of the wood now..

(Please to ignore the hideous couch and 70s fugtastic shag carpet.)  Still needs some work (and further cleaning.  Can you tell which end of the bench Alex was working on?).  The drive wheel is a tad warped and she needs new bearings in the uprights, not to mention flyer repair.  It had cracked clear through.  I glued it and its drying on dad’s work bench now.  I need to hobble down there and check to see if the glue has held.  It also needs a new set of hooks on the flyer.  The “nails” are in the wrong orientation, overly bent or just plain missing.   I did get to do a quick test spin.  She is FAST.

Now that the urge to spin was a burning need, I went to the Matchless to finally finish up the red merino I’d been spinning on it forever.  Anyone who has seen me out and about with the Matchless in the last year and a half has seen this project in one state or another.  It started with bags of fiber from Little Barn at MDSW in 2008, having been inspired by Zarzuela’s Toney Road sweater.  I started spinning the fiber shortly after buying it in May 2008.  The mixed red was followed by solid red that I distinctly remember being very bored with at WOOL this summer and indulging in fiber that my fellow attendees brought.  Well Saturday night, I finished the last of it.

Yesterday I pulled out the Womack electric and got busy plying.  I’m not quite finished yet, but have jam packed 5 bobbins worth of two ply.  Three have been skeined up and measured approx 1190 yds.  I’m getting on average 400yds per bobbin.  Whew.

I still have 2 bobbins worth of plying to do.  I’m sooo happy to not have this hanging over my head and tying up the Matchless anymore.  I’m thinking maybe one of the sweaters in A Fine Fleece.  Need to check the gauge, but I’d love Fylingdales in that rich red color (picture is a little too bright.  The real color is a deeper more brick red).

Craft on!

I’ll hope you’ll excuse my Wednesday post actually happening on Tuesday. ¬†In my book, it makes up for all the Sunday posts that didn’t hit until Monday. ¬†And once you see what I’m posting about, I’m sure you will understand why I’m a day early.

So I’ve been on a quest to acquire something for a decent amount of time. ¬†Far longer than the norm for me, almost a year at this point. ¬†The sore spot in all this time is that I used to own one but due to a self-imposed rule, I sold it. ¬† Didn’t take too terribly long to regret it either.

Well after some shooting in the dark, I managed to get one.  It arrived today.

Whatever could it be?

Any guesses?  Yes, it is bigger than a bread box and sorry, iPhone is not included for scale for a change.

Does this help? ¬†Odd looking protective material. ¬†Reminds me of fleece but in a synthetic. ¬†I wonder if it is spinnable. ¬†I’d try it if it weren’t ass-crylic and terribly squeaky

How about now?

Oooo pretty wood! ¬†I’ll give a hint, its cherry and that’s a leather strap draped across the top.

Oooo, its a box!

A box that opens with gorgeous book-matched cherry at that!

If it weren’t obvious by now, this will be the deal sealer:

Its a Journey Wheel!!!!!!

I know I’ve been pestering a certain blogger to sell her JW back to me, but that wasn’t happening. ¬†I put out several ISO’s on Ravelry and Yahoogroups to no avail. ¬†Finally after Rhinebeck, I was chatting with Dorre, who I knew was checking out various wheels. ¬†She mentioned that the one she really liked was in a box but couldn’t remember what wheel it was, nor which booth she saw it in. ¬†My brain made some weird mental leaps and had me sending an email to Susan’s Fiber Shop with a query as to whether Dorre had seen a JW in her booth at Rhinebeck. ¬†The answer came that that no, she didn’t have any in her booth, but she DID have one in her store for sale. ¬†I immediately jumped on the phone and arranged the purchase. ¬†While I had to wait for Susan to get back from SAFF, the wheel shipped on Thursday and arrived her today. ¬†So big thanks to Dorre and Susan!

I’m off to play…

Craft on!

Since my last post, we had halloween!

I started and finished a sweater for the little miss:

Project details are over here.

I started a sweater for me:

Project details are over here.

I started a sweater for the little mister:

Project details for this one are here.

Yesterday, I saw this pattern and just had to make it for my littlest niece.

All this knitting, with the exception of a purchase of a single skein of red yarn for the Monster Butt has been out of stash. ¬†The youngins went shopping in my stash to pick out the colors for the Drive-Thrus. ¬†That sweater remains my absolute favorite pattern for kids. ¬†The yarn I’m using for Eyelet Cardi was added to stash in February to knit another ChicKnits pattern but was redirected to this one.

This morning we got up rather early for a Sunday, got dressed quickly and had some breakfast before heading out to stand in line. ¬†The pediatrician’s office received their requested H1N1 vaccines and scheduled today from 9 to 1 to give the vaccines. ¬†We got there about 9:30 and after an hour wait, wrestled two reluctant kids into holding still and baring their arms, they were inoculated. ¬† This was followed by a trip to the dollar store for a reward for being good. ¬†Ha. ¬†Anyway, the rest of the afternoon has been spent outdoors, enjoying the surprise 66F day.

While the twins did this:

I played with this:

The fiber is BFL from SeeKay in Sunshine Day. ¬†I bought this fiber at the NJ festival in Sept. ¬†As you can see, I’m spinning it on the Kromski Sonata. ¬†She makes a lovely outdoor wheel

When I finished the second bobbin (the first 2oz were spun at Jessica’s house yesterday), I pulled out another project.

Oh yeah, that project was on another wheel  This would be the second half of the 4oz of BFL, also from SeeKay at NJ, but in Rubies.

When that was done, I pulled out yet another spinning project in progress:

Bet you thought it was going to be another wheel ¬†This is the Pumpernickel n Jam batt that I got from Into the Whirled at Rhinebeck on the midi Bosworth spindle also from Rhinebeck. ¬†I’m tired now

Outside the hobbies, I’ve been downright exhausted. ¬†We’ve changed development methodologies at work moving to an Agile system. ¬†Instead of only working on one particular area of the application, I’m now working on things across the entire system regardless of expertise. ¬†It has been like starting a brand new job. ¬†My brain is overloading with all this knowledge! ¬†I come home, have dinner, get the kids in bed and then by 9, I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open. ¬†I’m hoping that as I get experience in the other areas of the app, I’ll be able to stay up like a big girl again. ¬†On top of this, there’s been drama that I just didn’t need. ¬†Oh well.

I’m off to ply the SeeKay singles into some yarn. ¬†The kids picked those rovings for their winter hats for this year. ¬†While it might be 66F today, that will not last much longer!

Craft on!

This was one seriously busy weekend. Yesterday was my day at Rhinebeck for the beloved Sheep and Wool Festival. I have to admit, I wish the fiber hobbies hadn’t gotten quite so popular. The festival gets more and more crowded each year. I blame Ravelry At least it didn’t rain yesterday, but it was pretty wicked cold for the middle of October. Brrrr.

Anyway, it was the year of the spindle for me. I bought no fewer than 3 of them. The first one was actually on my shopping list, the other two sort of followed me home. In an effort to document these things so I don’t lose their details to fuzzy memories like the rest of the spindles around here, I present them now:

• Golding Ring Spindle
• 3″ Cherry Celtic Ring
• Walnut 9 3/4″ shaft
• 1.9 oz

• Bosworth Midi Spindle
• Silverwattle Whorl
• Bloodwood Shaft
• 28g/1oz

• Hatchtown Kaari
• Purpleheart and Walnut
• @1oz (she lost her tag before I bought her)

I did mention it was the spindle festival for me, didn’t I? ¬†As you can tell I have started spinning on the Kaari. ¬†She’s a wonderful little spinner.

The fibery purchases include two lbs of a BL-Romney in grey to spin for another sweater.

Sara had to check out the wool, and well, invade the one spot of natural light in my room.  Shortly after I took this picture, I had to get her slobbery nose out of the wool.  She has a thing for fiber.

After picking up 3 spindles, I had to buy some nice fiber for each of them.  I returned to one of my favorite nice fiber vendors, ITW.  I had picked up an Etsy order from her earlier in the day, but had to add to it.   Other than the grey BL-Romney, my only other fiber purchases were from Cris.

Front Row

• 56’s Falkland in Moody Neopolitan
• 60/40 Merino/Bamboo in Jonathan
• 80/20 Merino/Silk in Sangria

Back Row

• 56’s Falkland in Pumpernickel n Jam (x2)

Its safe to say that I’m a bit of a ITW groupie. ¬†I have more than a few braids and batts from her. ¬†The fiber that I started spinning on the Kaari is the Merino/Silk Sangria.

Other than a Knit Kit and a glass shawl pin, that’s my purchases for this year. ¬†I think I was pretty restrained. ¬† ¬†Oh wait, there was a bit more. ¬†I bought 10 skeins of yarn from Wild Apple Farm, 5 in a denim-y blue and 5 in a dark green. ¬†Still, pretty restrained. ¬†Its not like I’m lacking for hobby materials

Today was the twins’ birthday party. ¬†Yes, I know I scheduled their party for Rhinebeck Sunday. ¬†Yes I was supposed to stay overnight upstate and hit the festival both days. ¬†But thanks to a brain fart and a desire to not move too many weekends from their actual birthday, I jumped on the first Sunday noon party available. ¬†Alas, it coincided with Rhinebeck. ¬†I hope to not make the same mistake next year

We had 12 kids at The Little Gym for an hour of organized activity with the energetic and enthusiastic party directors, followed by 1/2 hour for pizza and cake.

The staff took care of entertaining, setting up, cleaning up and even packing all the gifts into big bags for us.  These types of places are well worth the cost.  We returned with a 1/3 of one cake, a pizza and lots of presents to open.

Now ¬†I think I’ll take a nap. ¬†I’m exhausted!

Craft on!

I’m going to skip the whole apology for not posting more often. ¬†I’d like to do so, but it just doesn’t seem to happen. ¬†This past week while I wasn’t at work but at home on a staycation, I was busier than if I had gone to work.

I gave the kids off as well because they haven’t had a vacation since last summer either. ¬†What with starting kindergarten {shudder} tomorrow, I figured they were due. ¬†We took a bunch of day trips including a visit to the Liberty Science Center and the New York Aquarium in Coney Island. ¬†I even got some bonus time to myself to sort through some of the clutter that is my space when the folks took the twins off to the boat Saturday morning returning for dinner on Sunday.

I have some pictures of the day trips but need to get them off the small camera. ¬†In the meantime, I’d like to catch up on the important stuff, the crafts! ¬†What with WOOL being a warm and fuzzy recent memory, I’ve been spurned to do some serious spinning, though these skeins aren’t necessarily limited to WOOL activity. ¬†This first skein is what I was spinning on the boat over July 4th weekend.

This is 8o’s merino wool top in colourway 9c09 that I bought from Cris. ¬†It is 40z spun up to 502 yards. ¬† If memory serves, I spun this on the Victoria and will be the last skein I get off her, but that’s a story for later.

This is superwash that I bought from Carolyn on Thursday at WOOL in the Moonflower colourway. ¬†I spun this on the Schacht. ¬†If I didn’t finish it at Lake George, I got most of it done there. ¬†If memory serves, and it kind of fuzzy at the moment, I finished it up Sunday night after getting home. ¬†It is navajo plied. I might have had a bit of a brain fart as the first half of the bobbin was done very fine while the second half wasn’t so much. ¬†I think I planned on plying from both ends of center pull to come out with an even yarn. ¬†As it stands now, almost half of the 316 yds is sock weight while the rest is a DK or so. ¬†I think I’ll fold in half and knit the boy a new hat from it.

This is 58’s Domestic Wool in colorway 9B16 that I bought from Cris at the Claremont festival back in April. ¬†I spun it on the Kromski Sonata after WOOL was over. ¬†It is 374 yards at just shy of 4 oz.

The last bit of spinning to show has also been knitted up.  I know a miracle has happened!  This is also superwash from Carolyn that I spun at WOOL.  It is the Superhero colorway.  This roving practically spun itself.  I still have a bit left (that little skein is about 100yds)  and will probably make the girl a pair of socks.

I have to admit, for all the spinning I do, I rarely knit with the stuff. Boy what a goof I’ve been for that. ¬†I loved knitting those socks and am now debating which skein sitting around here is next. ¬†I think that merino I showed above is next

I finished another pair of socks. ¬†These are the socks in my apology post from a couple of weeks ago. ¬†They are also from handspun. ¬†I haven’t a clue where the fiber is from nor what it is. ¬†It could be merino, but it could also be BFL. ¬†I think it is Spunky but won’t swear to it. ¬†I do remember spinning it over the course of several months on the Majacraft Rose after the move to the house so the timeframe is um, within the last 3 years. ¬†That’s about as far as I can narrow it down. ¬†Love em though. ¬†54st on US1 needles.

That’s it for now. ¬†Must go off an entertain the troops during our last day off. ¬†Happy Labor Day to those that are celebrating.

Craft on!

This past weekend, my folks gave me a break. Saturday after lunch they took the monkeys to the boat. They didn’t return until dinner time on Sunday. I had the house to myself! It was sooo quiet.

At first I hadn’t a clue what to do with myself. But I’m resourceful and figured it out. I went shopping. Alone. Ooooooo. I wandered around the newly rebuilt mall, hit Century 21 and bought myself a new purse. Why yes, I am a bag ‘ho.

I picked up some sushi for dinner and settled down to watch the earlier Sox game archived in MLB.TV. Have I mentioned I love the internet?? Anyway, while watching the game, I did some beading and finally restrung the turquoise chip necklace I made for Alex last summer. He’s broken it a few times and it has been sitting for months waiting for me to get back to it. I also made one for Kat in a pink coral like stone. She’s broken hers already.

Sunday I had a nice leisurely morning. I skimmed through the NY Times on my Kindle. (BTW, love it too!) After a shower, I popped off to Dunkin’ Donuts for a large coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Yum! It was a nice morning.

The rest of the day was spent here:

Craft on!

Jess reminded me that it has been far too long since I promised the recap of my July 4th weekend. Didn’t mean to drag it out so long but work (where I do my best blogging) has been crazy as we work our way through the remaining bug fixes before the software release in a couple of weeks. ¬†Madness I say! ¬†Seems so long ago, but I’ve been told that since I haven’t posted anything since, it is still kosher for me to do so now. ¬†Hey it’s my blog, I’ll post if I want to.

Here’s the reader’s digest version. ¬†We spent most of the weekend on the folks’ boat. ¬†The end.

That wasn’t worth the wait? ¬†Sorry

Well it is true, we spent the weekend on the boat.  Thursday evening we rafted up with a bunch of other boats in a sheltered pond like area off the Hudson River.  We watched the fireworks from the bow of the boat.

What’s a raft up? ¬†Well, a boat will drop anchor and others will tie up along side it, extending out in a big funny shaped raft. ¬†Every so often another boat will drop an anchor as well so the big old flotilla doesn’t swing all about and eventually break lose.

This is the view from the bow of my boat looking to our port.  On the other side of those trees is the Hudson. The slip of land to the right is where the fireworks flew from.

And the view from the stern, also to our port.  We had more than a few boats.   The dinghies and smaller boats would tie up along the swim platforms of the larger ones.

There’s the little miss swimming around in the pond behind the boat.

The little man did mighty fine swimming in the pond too. ¬†Yes, they both were wearing their PFD’s so drowning wasn’t an issue.

That freed me up to do this:

Yup, it was a lovely way to spend a holiday weekend!

Craft on!

Edited to add: ¬†Instead of subjecting my knitting/spinning buddies with the Sims posts, I’ve started a new blog for that. ¬†It is over here.

I don’t have enough time for a proper post today but I wanted to flash a new tattoo. ¬†No I didn’t get one, but my spinning wheel did!

Here’s my Victoria displaying her new body art:

Watcha think?

Details tomorrow I hope!

Craft on!