Now Norma Knits

Raising The Cool Quotient

Reason No. 145.7 that I love having the blog:

The coolest friends.  (Is this really my life?!)

Regina, you know my soul and rock my world. 

I can't wait to wear that t-shirt.  Won't I be the coolest mama?  And I'm so excited to introduce Abigail to Teddy Thompson*. Thank you! The next time I see you (soon, hopefully), I will hug my thanks to you in person.

*It's so super-cool when a mom can introduce her young adult daughter to some music before her friends can even do so.  Wicked cool. 

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The Contest:  Or What Ancient Project Did I Finish?

The long-overdue gift for a friend -- thrummed (fleece-stuffed) mittens made from Coopworth wool roving, which was a beautiful gift from Carole, and which I spun into the yarn used for these.  The thrums are locks of an incredibly beautiful Polwarth fleece, a gift from Kim.  The inside of the mittens look like this:  The story of these mittens is they were knitted for a friend, but I ran out of yarn (and there was no more Coopworth roving to be spun) before I could complete the two mittens, so I went back and took off the cuff of each mitten and knit a different cuff made of Lamb's Pride worsted.  Other things got in the way (notably, the Red Scarf Project and lots of other projects), and it took me over a year to get back to these. 

My friend's wife is a knitter. When he opened the package, containing one completed mitten and one still on the needles, he said:  "I know what this is: A promissory note!"  He asked me if he was going to have to wait a year before he got the finished pair, and I insisted that no WAY was he going to have to wait that long.  Erk.  There have been several sub-zero days this winter during which he could have worn thrummed mittens, and I feel bad that I did not get them done well before now.  I'm happy they're finally done.  I'll package them up and mail them out this week.

And the winner is:  Margene!  She is the only one who guessed these mittens. I know exactly what she needs as a prize.  :)

A Fiberful Weekend

for Deb:

My calendar is by Sabra Field, a Vermont artist whose work graces the walls of other parts of our home, as well.  She is a woodcut artist.  I am particularly drawn to her Vermont barn and landscape pieces.  This one is called Autumn Sunset, and the original print was done in 1988.

I love having this calendar in my home office, as I find her work peaceful and restful and I never tire of it. 

Second, a rare occurrence:  I had a quiet, restful and restorative -- and very fiberlicious -- weekend.  Saturday was spent spinning almost the entire day, complemented with some dyeing and some knitting.  I am almost finished the "small intestine" scarf -- so-called because someone in the room I was hanging out in on the Friday night at the hotel in Poughkeepsie/Rhinebeck asked, "Norma, what are you knitting?!"  Someone else quipped, "A small intestine."  Honestly, I'd had a bit of wine (I bet you're surprised), and I cannot remember exactly who said it, so I won't make any allegations that I cannot swear to.  It was hilarious, regardless, and maybe not too far from the truth.  I love the yarn (the silk/wool blend Brooks Farm limited edition stuff I bought in Maryland in May) and I think I like the scarf, but I'm not sure it's the best use of that yarn.  I'll have to decide later, once it's finished and blocked.  Now I know you'll be on the edge of your seat to see the Small Intestine Scarf.  Soon.

I started the 2nd Green Mountain Mohair mitten, which, as you can clearly see, is going to be a fraternal, not identical, twin:

Hell, it's not even a twin.  More of a step half-sibling. Same mother, different father. But I think I'm going to love it.

Meanwhile, I set up the spinning wheel in the family room and David and I watched a couple of movies -- "Thank You For Smoking" and "Prairie Home Companion" -- both of which I liked (the screenplay and the acting in "Companion" were phenomenal) and both of which were great for spinning and plying and knitting. I spun and plied at least 300 yards (plied yardage) of CVM and merino. 

When I got sick of spinning and plying, I knitted a bit, and when I got sick of knitting, I washed and set the twist in the newly-spun yarns and dyed another skein. 

I started and ripped out and restarted at least three times the next scarf for the RSP07 (someone in an email or in the comments referred to the Red Scarf Project '07 in that shorthand and I love it).  I think I've settled on this.  I alternate loving it and being not-so-sure about it (too Gryffindor? too yacht club? too loud for a college kid who might not like to draw attention to him/herself? or is it just right?) but I'm going to stay with it, I think.  This is my first multi-directional scarf, and it is a wicked lot o' fun.  I was not feeling the love for the gold Backyard Leaves scarf I had started in the gold Aurora Karabella 8 I'm using here.  I love the way it looks with the maroonish-colored Lion Fishermen's Wool I dyed, so I ripped out the Backyard Leaves.  I still want to make Backyard Leaves, but I feel it deserves to be knit in a better yarn.

The red looks quite like raspberry in this photo, but in reality it's a very nice maroon with a russet tinge to it.  Let's hope this goes to a student at one of the several schools for which these are the right colors.

My Gift To Me

Homespun, Handknit for the Holidays

This is my first project in my own handspun yarn. (well, I don't count the three rows of spindle-spun singles I used on the cuffs of the spicy thrummed mittens I did earlier this year or late last year...)

Yarn:  Handspun (by me! Woot!) gorgeous red-dyed Portland wool from Spirit Trail, purchased at the New York Sheep & Wool Festival, 2005

Pattern:  "Classic Mittens No. 615" from "Gloves and Mittens to Knit and Crochet for the Entire Family," women's size

Needles: US Size 4/3.5 mm double-points

Gauge:  5.5 stitches/inch

Thrums: Montadale roving dyed red to coordinate with the yarn. I used Kool-Aid and cake icing gel for the dye.

Knitted in the Warms Hands knitalong. Yay, Sandy!

Me = Happy, happy, grin, grin. Warm Hands. Pretty red, yummmm. Love, love, love.

Some notes:  The yarn was pretty darned ok.  It got better as I went along in the spinning, and therefore in the knitting.  However, it all knitted up at a pretty even gauge and looks nice and even in terms of texture. There are a few places where it tightens up or makes a little indentation line because that row or two was a thinner or thicker yarn, but overall I think it's pretty good and balanced, for a first project.  I realized for the first time as I was taking the picture of the inside of the mittens that the second mitten's thrums are, shall we say, less generous. I didn't realize as I was knitting them that I was making the thrums any differently than the first, so it's possible that they might fluff out more with wear, since the first one has been put on and off my hand several times already, and the second one has not. I cannot discern a difference when they're on my hands. 

Ok, bring on the cold and snow. I'm soooo ready.

Happy Holidays, everyone! 

Spinathon

While everyone else is out fighting the traffic and the crowds, carrying their heavy coats and heavy packages around the overheated mall, and getting head- and feet- and backaches, or stressing out about baking or what else they need to buy and what else they need to make, who's not going to be happy with their presents, or putting up their trees and fighting with lights, I choose to do something else. So this weekend was brought to me by the letters S.P.I.N.

Counterclockwise, from top left:

1. With the help of David, I finished plying the remaining Jacob that had gotten a bit tangled in the last attempt.  44 yards.

2. My first handspun merino, spun from some wonderful Sheep Shed roving I got in Rhinebeck 2004. It's been sitting on a bobbin for quite a while now. I decided to put it into a center-pull ball and ply it up. My spinning has improved enough that any new singles I do from the remaining roving will be quite different from this, so I figure I can use this for one thing, and the rest for something else. Even with its imperfections, it is absolutely scrumptious. The colors are to die for, and it's soooo soft and smooth. If I can make the rest match this in terms of the resulting yarn, I envision an Irish Hiking Scarf.  About 90 yards.

3. A tiny bit of remaining red Portland. It was left over from the last plying I did.  I decided to ply it up to free the bobbin for something else.

4. Oh, yummmmmm!  Coopworth, a gift from Carole.  Dyed in madder root exhaust bath to an incredible warm light brown. This turned out so light and soft. So very happy with this. (and there's still more to spin!)  108 yards here. Thank you, thank you, Carole! This is going into some mittens for some very cool friends.* (see below) It was a bit hard for me to control at times,(also see below) but I'm very happy with the finished result.

5. And lastly, one of the best surprises yet. From a big bag (I don't know how much it weighed initially) of mixed-British- breed sheep pencil roving that I bought on eBay way before I knew anything about anything roving-related. Holy COW. This stuff practically spins itself. I ended up with worsted-to-aran-weight gorgeous stuff that is practically indistinguishable from Cascade 220. So. Soft. So. Lovely. There's lots more of this, and I will very much be looking forward to spinning it. It may also go into the mittens. I have a plan for his-and-her mittens for two dear friends with whom we get together every January. She knits - always has - since way before I ever knew her (which has been 20+ years), but she doesn't spin. He's a retired history professor. I always have a challenge about what to get them for gifts. (we have a gift exchange at our get-together) I just know that handspun, handknit thrummed mittens will be "just the thing" for this couple. This is one of the few couples who will "get it." Big time. And I'm therefore wicked excited about this project.

This weekend I also figured out the problem with my wheel:  It was the old bobbins that came with the wheel. The person I bought it from had carpenter-glued the old bobbin pieces together when they had separated. It finally dawned on me that when I was struggling to spin, or when the wheel made a lot of noise, or the spinning was crappy, it was when I was using the old bobbins. Duh! Hit me over the head with a board. Of course, those globs of glue were slowing everything down, getting hung up on everything. So out they went. Now I need an infusion of new bobbins. But what a revelation, and what a difference it has made. (Of course I didn't discover this until most of the Coopworth was all spun up, so it's more uneven than it needed to be, but it's still going to knit up beautifully.)

Now I have a little bit of transcript work to do. That's my weekend roundup so far. How's yours?

The Portland Has Spoken

And make no mistake:  Red Portland handspun wool does not like to share the stage. The yarn turned out quite nice this time around. I've started and restarted mittens with it. I've searched book after book for ideas to match the yarn. I've tried different cast-ons, different patterns, joining in different yarns to add some interest (I thought) to the mitten. Nothing doing. The Portland wants to be alone. The Portland is diva-ish, obstinate and ornery. In this photo it is cozying up, ever so briefly, to some blue mill-spun local-sheep-farm Clun Forest wool, but it agreed to do so only to help the digital camera catch its very dragon-red image. Even then, the job is not so good. There are many colors in this red. It is absolutely lovely. Of course we will never get a decent picture of it and of course you will never understand until you see it in person. That's just the way with red and digital cameras. And I'm guessing that even if we overcame the shortcomings of technology, this yarn would still refuse to cooperate.

I love it, and I'm listening and yielding to what it's saying. (as if I have a choice)

Get a freakin' load of that. This is the unembellished whole truth:  After I typed the above statement, I went and took a picture of the cuff. And look:

Shadings and variations. O-kie dokie. I guess we know who's boss here.

I think we are naming these: New England Red Dragon Mittens. A rare and precious breed indeed.

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At present, I am using my standard mitten pattern from the vintage booklet handed down to me by my mother. I am vacillating as to whether there are going to be thrums placed in it. I really do want thrums, but if the Portland says NO, then there will not be thrums. We'll just take this one row at a time. I'm not terribly afraid of dragons, but certainly quite respectful.

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And for fellow gingerbread fiends, I have put the recipe that I posted last winter for Gingerbread Hermits in the recipes category if you'd like to try it. It is certifiably fabulous. The regular gingerbread that I made yesterday was certifiably horrible. Note to self: Do not use blackstrap molasses for gingerbread EVER AGAIN. Ick, blech.

Tilt-A-Whirl

My head is all over the place. I've been spinning and accumulating small bits of really good stuff. I think I might have enough Corriedale, spun fine and even, (that Corriedale spins NICELY for me!) for socks:

Can I hear a woo?  And also maybe a hoo?  (sorry, Cate)

And I started a sock:   Cute, eh?  But I don't love it. I don't know what it is about the color combo, because it really SHOULD go together, and I suppose it does, but it's not doin' it for me. I gotta feel the love, people. It's all I'm sayin'. I gotta feel the love. So I'm not doing anything rash like ripping it out just yet, but I'm going back to the drawing board spinning wheel to spin some more colors that might make me a happier camper.

And I started the red mittens with the lovely Portland that I had spun. See how pretty?  I love it. Scratchy as all hell, but I love it anyway. The color is OUTstanding. It'll be perfect for outerwear, and for the intended thrummed mittens. The thrums will be supersoft next to my hands, and I won't feel the scratchy Portland, but I will benefit from the warmth and the durability. HowEVAH.  Go back and look at the picture. Pretty, mm?  Yes. Very. Now take a look at how THIN it is. It's 2-ply that is thinner than fingering, or maybe about fingering-weight. TOO THIN for my mitten pattern. TOO THIN. So I did this:  (and if I've done something that is verboten in the spinning world, because I really have no idea what I'm doing, please don't tell me.)  I took the two plies, and I replied THEM together to get FOUR plies.  It came out looking like a tangled up pile of scratchy shit this:  Soooooo tightly spun, and STILL not overly thick, I'll tell ya. This might be WIRE, not yarn; I'm not sure.  I've washed it and it's hanging, drying under tension. Will I be able to use it?  For something other than scrubbing my pots and pans? *sigh*

I've got to loosen up. And I've got to learn to spin something that is not THREAD. Or learn to love lace a little more, I suppose.

So I got a little discouraged, after all that effort and time with so little to show for it. I also have got a little bit obsessed with hats. Go figure. This hat-hater decides she wants more hats. And I have a pattern for a really nice fishermen's rib hat that has a thick brim again, the thick brim that I've decided is ok for a pinhead, and I was trying to decide between June's gorgeous handspun in green and maybe something else. I was futzing around a bit and then saw the lovely skein of alpaca my Better Pal, Missa, sent me. I don't think there's enough yardage there to make a hat with a thick brim, so, I think, I'd better get online and order more from Missa. Then, this little bag of chocolate brown baby alpaca top that Jen of Spirit Trail sent me just flopped up on its back, out of the bin on the floor like a fish jumping out of an aquarium. Eureka! Let me see if I can spin this, to combine with the stuff from Missa, and maybe I can make a really pretty and super-soft hat that would suit me!  Well, ignore those two or three really fat bits you can see there, because they really are anomalies in this bobbin. Here it is, post-plying and pre-washing:

I slowed down the treadling a lot and concentrated really hard, to try to get it thicker and smoother. It was difficult, and time will tell if I was successful, but I think I did all right. I fear it's thicker than the sportweight stuff Missa sent, but even if it is a bit thick and thin, I'm going to use it anyway. It's just too special not to. But man, this spinning thing is challenging my circuits. Let's hope they don't BLOW.

Meanwhile, no hats were cast on. Mittens were cast on, knitted for a while, and ripped out. Socks were cast on and knitted for quite a long while, and they are abandoned. I totally forgot that I had the gift alpaca lace scarf in the car waiting to be worked on.  Kind of just feels like I was on the Tilt-A-Whirl all day yesterday.

If I Were Lost

 

Ye Olde Plain Vanilla on the beach. With...you know....Jack.

Wacko friends with Photoshop. A good thing or not?

Yup. That Dave has come out of his shell.  We may have to put him back in it. 

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So, like, I've been spinning the red Portland wool.

The one on the left was spun a couple weeks ago, remember? The one on the right is the more recent one. Can you tell the difference? Does a bear go to the bathroom in the woods?

There's another Cloud hat on the needles. Wait 'til you see it! It's gorgeous. Using the remainder of the Magallanes from the felted mittens, and a kind of ecru-color Divine.

And I have been knitting on the husband's birthday socks. It doesn't look good for them being completed for his actual birthday, which is the 21st, but he won't mind. He'll happily take them when he gets them. I held it up tonight and said, "Do you like it?"  "Yeah, it's nice! What is it?"

I obviously don't need to stealth-knit around that man. He doesn't even remember that these are his socks. Heh. Oh, and guess who in this house, it turns out, REGULARLY watches both House M.D. and Lost. Yup, him. Do I feel foolish? Does it seem like we actually do NOT live in the same house? In my defense, it is a rather largeish house. And my fiber room is sort of three levels above the family/TV room (it's a split-level), and I rarely go in the family room. So there you have it. David knows Jack. So no problem.

Frappr Fever, man!  Frappr Fever! <--------- Go add your pin if you haven't yet. It's so danged much FUN. And no, you don't have to be a blogger to add your pin. Anyone can do it. All you need is your postal code.  Love you guys!

Making Yarn - The Journey Continues

I finished spinning and plying the yellow Corriedale. There it is next to the skein of Koigu used as the standard, and the ball is the fuchsia that I did earlier. Overall, the spinning on the yellow is not as even as that in the pink, but I'm happy with it anyway. There was a lot more of the yellow roving than there was of the pink, and I think I got careless at times. There will be a few places where it will have to be cut as I'm knitting with it, because it broke as I was plying it and I just picked up the broken piece and continued plying. This created zuzzies, my favorite new "technical" term. (I learned it from Laura.)

But it's a pretty decent fingering weight, and I can't WAIT to make socks from these handspun yarns! I've still got more fun colors to do from the autumn sampler pack I bought. Next up, I think moss green.

Big thanks go to my husband for being the helper with the plying of the Corriedale. In both instances, I used the center-pull-ball method of plying, because I had spun the entire bit of roving onto one spindle and I wanted to make sure it ended with no waste. He has become a master of keeping it from twisting maddeningly before I can feed it into the wheel for plying. We once again show great teamwork.

I also decided to ply (patience? me?) what I could of the Portland while I wait for more to arrive. This was spun before the Corriedale, and before Sandy IV, and boy, can you tell. It's also such a different wool than the Corriedale - different to control. It resulted in a pretty rustic yarn. Not nearly as uneven as some of my earlier attempts at Sandy's roving, but not as nice - by a long shot - as the Corriedale. I love it anyway, and I think it's going to make fabulous mittens. But I don't have enough for mittens yet, so I'm anxious to receive the rest. I'm excited to get started.

I took two dozen photos of this yarn, and you all know how much red hates to be photographed. That is the photograph that is the closest to what the yarn actually looks like. Also, the yarn is not fully dry in that photo, so it may look a bit different (better or worse, I'm not sure which), when it is dry. I'm nervous about trying to match this when I receive more roving. As people have pointed out, when you improve, it is very hard to go back in terms of the quality of the stuff you produce. I don't want the new yarn to be so much better than the first that it is noticeable. I guess what I could do, if that should happen, is alternate the skeins, much as one would with dyelots, and that would blend it in better.

I started spinning some of the llama down I got at VT S&W, and that stuff REALLY WANTS TO BE SPUN FINE!  It's gorgeous, but because I want to use this as the thrums in the mittens, I also want to spin some yarn that is the same gauge as the red Portland, to be able to use for the cuffs. It is so HARD to control it well enough to spin it thicker, that I've ended up with a real thick-and-thin thing going on. Very inconsistent. And with lots of zuzzies.

Now, who can tell me the best-looking cast-on for mittens that have a K2-P2 cuff? I want something that is stretchy, yet polished-looking. Although I want these mittens to be rustic, I also want a really nice edge that won't look sloppy. These are going to be sentimental favorites for me, I know, and I want them to be as nice as they can be.

I've got a fairly one-track mind lately -- only on the spinning. I pick up the knits, look at them -- maybe do one or two rows if I'm lucky -- and put them down again. At this rate, having not even cast on yet, I'm pretty sure my husband's socks will not be done for his birthday, the 21st of November. I'm champin' at the bit to get going on those red mittens, but first I need the fiber! 

Spinning ....Yeah, Kinda Rockin' My World

I realized I have to rename what I referred to as Sandy II in my yesterday post. It's really Sandy IV. 

Left to right:

1. Spindle-spun under the influence of quite a bit of wine by Laura and me in the room at Rhinebeck;

2. Skein 1 on my wheel;

3. Skein 2 on my wheel; and

4. Skein 3 on my wheel.

Sandy I, Sandy II, Sandy III, Sandy IV, The Generations. As you can see, the whole genetics thing is working quite nicely and things are improving with each generation.

And then I went in the closet and, for sentimental reasons, I dug out the very first roving I ever bought. I bought it on eBay before I knew anything about anything fiber-related, except that I had signed up for the thrum-along and knew I needed some "fleece," is how I termed it. Long-time readers of my blog may recognize this fuchsia roving as the stuff I used in my first thrummed mittens (when I didn't yet know how to properly knit in the thrums) and the Tutti-Fruity Mittens for Dulaan (I'd finally got the hang of thrums by that point). (Carole, please note the NON-PINK color of those mittens. It is Cascade 220 dyed in orange Kool-Aid.)

The roving went into Lauren's thrummed mittens, too. I also tried to spin it on my larger Golding spindle just after Rhinebeck 2004 (It was unusable crap, and I know there's a picture of it somewhere in my archives, but I can't find it). I sent it to Lauren and I presume she threw it away, which would have been a wise move.

And now it's the one in the middle:

L to R, for comparison purposes:

1. Koigu. 

2. My handspun Corriedale. 

3. Jamieson & Smith Shetland 2-ply.

P.S.  I like spinning.

P.P.S. That is an understatement.

Hey Cousin! I Made Yarn!

2 small skeins of Sandy's Colorway (read about the colorway and its origins here) from Bay Colony Farm Border Leicester roving purchased at Rhinebeck (with an extra couple of "bumps" of roving sent by Helen of Bay Colony for me to practice on. Thank you, Helen.)

It's overspun in places, underspun in places, and quite loosey-goosey in the plying, but it's come a long way from my first attempts, and I think it's knittable into ....something -- I don't know what. I'll let Sandy decide.

And here is a mini-skein of Jacob wool purchased from an Upstate New York small farm vendor at the Vermont Sheep & Wool festival. I'm very excited about how this turned out and can't wait to spin more. This was a BARGAIN. The bag says 8 ounces, but I think it's more like a pound, and it was only $10. An outstanding thing to practice on, and I love the resulting yarn.

My wheel and I are definitely friends now. Cousin, I'm thinkin' about you, and you need a wheel. (no, new readers, we're not really cousins, but we have the same last name, so we have adopted each other.)

Like the plate in the photos? It's part of our collection of Harker Mallow pottery. Harker Pottery has a fascinating history (but the link to the history doesn't seem to be working, damnit). Anyway, Mallow is the pattern name, and this was made in the 1930s and '40s. My husband had four pieces of this stuff when I married him. He did not even remember where he got it -- some auction or other. (P.S. What kind of a weird husband comes with his own Depression china?  Queerest thing was, we had been married five years before I saw it. It was packed away in his attic when I moved in and I had no idea he had it. We built our house, I chose the colors for the new kitchen, we unpacked boxes and voila! There are these pieces in my new - which is now 17 years old and outdated, ick - kitchen colors. Freaky.)

Anyhoo, I started searching for it and found it quite prized and collectible on eBay. That was about 300 pieces ago. Yowsa! The design on there is actually a decal, not painted on. I love it.