Knittin' Spinster

Susie and I put together a spinning group to build on the techniques we learned in Gwen Powell's workshops. We were surprised - and pleased - to have nine spinners at the first meeting; invites** went out Monday, so there wasn't much notice. We're meeting at the same yarn store where I teach my crochet classes. The owner is a guild member and is letting us use the classroom while her SnB knitters group meets in the main part of the store.

Our plan is to meet the second and fourth Thursday of each month. During the first meeting, we'll study a specific fleece (probably Romney in March); the second meeting will be for individual spinning projects. Despite all the talking and eating and seeing what everyone else was working on, I got almost a full bobbin of a Columbia/mohair blend spun up. I bought a one-pound bag of this at last year's Fair and it's a dream to spin. I'm taking two of my wheels to the next meeting. Several knitters want to try spinning. I'm hoping to entice them over to the spinning side.

I think I'm officially a knitter now. Along with the eleventy-seven crochet projects I have going, I have four knitting projects on the needles. Two squares from my knitting block-a-month class, a cotton washcloth and a scarf. The scarf is Blue Sky Bulky, a 50/50 alpaca/wool blend. I'm using size 15 needles and I'm starting to think I should have used at least a 19. Tear it out and start over? Or keep on and wonder if it will be ok? What to do . . . .what to do . . .
I can now watch teevee and knit at the same time (last week I couldn't do that. Any distraction caused violent ripping out of stitches. ) Next up: talking while knitting. Whoohoo! Party time.

**If you're a member of the guild or Knit & Nibble and you'd like to come spin with us, just drop me an email and I'll send you the details.

325 Smackeroos

Yesterday, we stopped at the camera store where we bought my poor broken baby to get her repaired. Other than the cracked glass/plastic covering on the LCD screen, she still works fine. The only damage I did when I smacked her into the airplane armrest was the fairly impressive crack you see. The store owner shook his head mournfully, called the repair people, and said it would be - you might want to sit down here - three.hundred.and.twenty.five. dollars to fix. Oh, and gee, you might as well buy a new camera body, because you're already halfway to the $650 it would cost.

Wrong. Dick told him we'd think about it, brought the camera home, popped off the broken plastic, then cut, shaped and fitted a new piece of plastic. Cost? $15.

Estimate for camera repair: $325

Cost for a new camera body: $650

Benefit of having a very handy hubby: Priceless

$325 my ass.

Crochet Fun

Tonight's sock class was a blast. We had a lot of fun AND got the first half of the sock done. My plan was to get the cuff, heel flap and heel turn done tonight so we would just have the gusset, foot and toe to do next week. Everyone made it to the heel, so 'homework' is to finish the heel flap and try to do the turn. We'll start with either the turn or the gusset next week, depending on where everyone is. I think that will still give us enough time to complete the sock.
The five ladies have varying degrees of experience, but they all were enthusiastic and jumped right in learning the new stitches. The socks start with a double crochet foundation stitch rather than the usual chain stitch. I was pretty sure this would be new to everyone. Sandy was already there when I finished teaching a private lesson, so I showed her the stitch before class started. The other four staggered their arrivals so that I was able to show it to each of them individually. (Thanks, ladies!) That definitely worked out well. Trying to teach that stitch to them as a group would have been tricky, especially with the thin sock yarn we were using. Another thing that worked well was the worsted weight scrap yarn I brought for them to practice on. It's so much easier to learn when the yarn is thick enough that you can actually see the stitches you're making.

I was amazed at how well they all did. Of the five stitches we used tonight, four were new to most of them. Nobody got frustrated, no one gave up and they all "got" the new stuff by the end of class. Mandy even liked her sock cuff so well, she decided to use it as a bracelet. That should impress her students tomorrow.

Sock Class

I'm teaching my first crochet sock class tomorrow night. Spent almost the entire day reworking the pattern to make sure it is correct. (it wasn't. hopefully it is now.) Me, worrying things to death? What gave you that idea? I'd never do anything like that . . . .

Super Bowl, Super Mitts

Although we aren't football fans, we almost always watch the Super Bowl. More for the commercials than anything else. (The Blockbuster Mouse ad was the best this year.) But I need a project, something to keep me busy while the actual game is on.

I have a drawer full of yarn I've spun, beginner stuff that isn't fit for public view. Love the color, love that it's my first real plied yarn. But what is it good for? Tossing it isn't an option. But felting it is. I crocheted oven mitts - without a pattern, as you can probably tell from the first picture - to replace the ancient, charred ones we currently use. Before felting, they were 11.5" and pretty ugly. After two trips through the washing machine, they are a svelte 10" of heat-resistant beauty. The thumb didn't shrink as much as the rest of the mitt; it looks huge and out of proportion. If I did these again, I'd change the way I finished the top of the mitt and make the thumb shorter. But overall, I like how they turned out. And I like that I could use my handspun for something useful. Now, if I can just keep them from getting set on fire like the last pair of mitts . . . . .

Teaching is Tiring

I taught my first block-a-month class today - and I think it was a success. Of the seven students, two had lots of experience and were soon far ahead of everyone else. They were happy to work on their own, just asking questions when they needed help. The other five were beginners, including two who had just completed the beginning crochet class. The newbies worked at wildly different speeds, so I just went back and forth between them, explaining the pattern and techniques, and keeping them on track. Six of the seven were great. Friendly, helpful, positive.

I was determined that everyone who wanted to would finish the square today, so the scheduled 3-hour class stretched to f.i.v.e. hours (through lunch time. 10:30 to 3:30. Did I mention no lunch? But Chris brought Dove dark chocolate to share. Hurrah!) The last 3 hours had a party atmosphere; laughing, talking, swapping stories, yarn shopping, cheering each other on. Very fun.

Five of the seven have signed up for more block-a-month classes and two are taking my sock class on Tuesday. And the shop owner is referring customers to me for private crochet lessons. I met with my first student yesterday for two hours and we're meeting again on Tuesday. So overall, I guess I don't suck at teaching.

But today's five hours of concentration and problem solving tired us poor retired folk out. This is how I spent my evening. As a human cat bed. Don't they (we?) look comfy?

Art and Art Critics

Marie presented Dick and I with a new painting yesterday. She's keeping the first one (scroll down) to hang in her room, so now we'll have one to frame and display downstairs.

Dick put this one in the top of his closet, mainly to keep it away from the cats until we can get it framed. (And to let the paint dry. I didn't know about the wet paint. It's still wet. Ask me how I know.) When I took it down to get a photo, Snickers decided to play art critic. This is the first photo I took. And this is the second. It wasn't until the third shot that I finally got one that didn't feature Madame Critique.

Chocolate over-Indulgence

Have I mentioned that Dick is going to build spinning wheels? He's been researching those already on the market and studying construction methods and techniques. I've been doing my part (since I'll be the main beneficiary of his labors) by setting up study dates with my friends' wheels (thanks, Susie!) and searching for books, plans, and websites that he might find interesting. One book that was highly recommended, Understanding The Spinning Wheel by Eric Corran, just happened to be in stock at Village Spinning and Weaving in Solvang. It's a tad pricey ($80!!) so I wanted Dick to look at it before we bought it. Can you say 'road trip'?

And, of course, you can't go to a yarn shop without purchasing yarn. At least I can't. It would hurt John and Marsha's feelings if I didn't contribute to their retirement fund, right? So in addition to the book - which Dick pronounced 'excellent' - I made a slight addition to my yarn collection. (it's not stash anymore, it's a "collection". Check out the rationalization here.)
From the top, there's 665 yards of black 3-ply Superfine Prime Alpaca Yarn (incredibly soft, to make Dick a scarf to replace the one he left on the plane. sigh.), 500+ yards of "Hot Foot" Superwash Merino in luscious purples, blues, teal, and black (to make a shawl for me), and a cone of 10/2 Tencel to ply with my spun singles (to extend those 6 and 8-ounce treasures I just had to have; spun up, there isn't enough yardage to do anything with. But if I ply one spun single and one strand of Tencel . . . .)

In all the trips we've made to Solvang, we've never explored the surrounding countryside. We go to the main shopping area, check out our favorite shops, and then drive back home. We had some time to kill today, so we took a side road and explored. Have you ever heard of Nojoqui Falls? Me neither. The trail head is in a secluded county park about 7 miles outside Solvang. The area is beautiful and the falls are a 10-minute hike from the parking lot. We didn't have hiking shoes on today, but we will next time! We drove through Ballard and Los Olivos - featured in the movie Sideways - and we'll definitely go back there too.

Today's destination wasn't at all influenced by the Chumash Casino's Chocolate Indulgence promotion - Buffet ($14.95) with over 40 chocolate desserts, white and dark chocolate dipping fountains, free chocolate samples - offered only on Thursday evenings through February. They cheated just a touch by counting the various chocolate truffles and candies separately in their '40 desserts', but they had more items than (most people) could possibly eat - chocolate pudding cake, cherry and chocolate crepes (custom-made while you waited), chocolate dipping fountains with every kind of fruit you can imagine, 5-layer chocolate cake, tiny chocolate mousse cups, Italian sipping chocolate (it was like drinking liquid truffles; almost too rich), and cakes and tarts and more truffle-y chocolates than I've ever seen in one place. In addition to the main buffet dishes - two salmon, two chicken, four shrimp, tri-tip, salads and fruits and breads and potatoes and veggies and who knows what else? And all of it was well prepared and delicious.

We showed restraint and were able to walk away from the buffet under our own steam. But it was hard.

FO! And KO and HO

If a Finished Object is an "FO" and a Knitted Object* is a "KO", then a Home improvement Object should be an "HO", right? Ok, maybe not.

Are you sick of finished blocks yet? This is #5. It's another Chris Simon square - Star Overlay. Chris has several free patterns on her website, including these blocks. I want to have six blocks sewn together to show Saturday's first block-of-the-month class. Only one block - and all the joining - to go.

Dick's been busy working on various projects to complete the house remodel. He grouted the tile outside my studio door and put the oak finish piece in place (last coat of varnish went on yesterday. Yeah!) Don't you love the caution tape? Doesn't do a bit of good when you have cats and teenage boys in the house.

Today's project was sanding and staining the first part of the stair railing. And, oh boy!, I got to help. The excitement. The joy. The sarcasm. You may recall that I'm only allowed to do tasks requiring unskilled labor (for good reason) or semi-skilled under direct supervision. Sanding and wiping off stain are about as unskilled as it gets. And the results are pretty nice. I really don't mind helping, and between the two of us, we got this job done in about an hour. Plus, it gave me a chance to wear that really sexy dust mask.

*You'll notice I mentioned a Knitted Object? This is the first-ever item knit by me. It's not pretty, but I did it! I did it! This square is all knit stitch. The next one, in a tan version of the same yarn, will be all purl. I've tried to learn knitting before and it didn't take. I wanted to make sure I really understood both the knitting and the purling. If an entire 12x12 square doesn't teach me, I guess there's no hope.

I figured out how to bind off with a little help from here. And watched a refresher about casting on and purling while I was visiting. There are other knitting help sites (including a good one on DIY) but KnittingHelp.com is still my favorite. What did we do before there were videos on the Innernets?

Crafty Day

I have a bad habit of taking workshops and then never doing anything with the information or techniques I learned. But since Dick left early today to take his mother to the doctor and Marie ran out of the house shortly after 10 (literally! - she thought she was scheduled to work at 2. Nope. The boss called at 10:15; Marie was supposed to have opened the store at 10. Oopsie.), I had the whole place to myself. So I sat down at the wheel and Navajo-plied all the singles I have stacked up around my studio.

The first skein was actually the best balanced of the lot - but I held the twist so tightly while I was plying that I couldn't even move my poor thumb when I was done. I worked on relaxing on the next skein and it got a lot better. This was spun from batts we made at a guild workshop last July. Susie had us combining various colors of wool on drumcarders, a la Deb Menz. Some of the color combinations were, um, interesting. I spun all mine together, one after the other. I really like the resulting yarn. I'm not sure how many yards I have; hopefully it will be enough to make a block for my blanket project.

This skein is more reddish than the blue/purple my monitor shows. I spun this a long time ago. I was surprised when it appeared on a bobbin, under the sparkly yarn I thought was the only thing on there. There's not much of this one, but the spinning is really even and I'm pleased I found it.

This was spun from roving I got from Bountiful (I think). I love how it sparkles. I remember how pleased I was when I was spinning this; it was my first successful attempt at making a consistently thin yarn. And I'm pretty sure I have more of the roving. Somewhere.

It's hard to see in this photo, but this represents a couple of the techniques Gwen taught this weekend. The thick brown yarn is a thick-thin slub that takes everything you've learned about making a consistent fiber and throws it out the window. It was a lot of fun - and very liberating - to make. This bobbin held all the different fleece types we worked with on Sunday so there was no consistency of color. I took a silver sparkly novelty yarn that Susie gave me and carried it along as I Navajo-plied the wool. There's not much of it, but I'm thinking I could use it in my blanket as the center of a square, with another yarn around it. We'll see.

And lastly . . . . . another square for my block-of-the-month afghan. This is Waldo's Puzzle by Chris Simon. It looks a lot harder to make than it is. The only tricky part was weaving the last circle around the first three correctly. It took a couple of tries, but I finally got it. I love the 3D effect. Four blocks done, only eight to go.

Lots To Talk About

So let's get started. I have an FO* - a cotton scarf made with Schaefer Yarn's 'Laurel' (100% Pima cotton) in the most gorgeous colorway - but I forgot to take a picture of it before handing it over for the Guild's conference booth. I'm happy with how the scarf turned out (the pattern is an EP original) and really bummed that I forgot the photo.

Yesterday's Wonders of Wool workshop with Gwen Powell was a "wow". We started with fleece - both well skirted and 'yucky' non-skirted. Gwen talked about how to separate the sections, what to look for in a good fleece (and when to cut your losses and toss a fleece in the compost pile), how to wash wool - including a great demo of lock-by-lock washing with hand soap (beautiful results!) - and on to prepping with handcarders, the differences in spinning woolen and worsted - and when to use each method - and how to figure out what a 'mystery fleece' might be. The volume of information was almost overwhelming. Gwen lives about 45 minutes from me (or 2 hours, depending on how the 405 is feeling that day) and offers classes in her home. Including how to design crocheted sweaters that fit. I want that class!

The very best part of the day was the woodturning ideas I came home with for Dick. Gwen is a woodturner (among her many, many talents) and had some thoughts on what Dick could make for our new business. One idea (I'm not telling the others. I'll show you though when they're done . . .) is an orifice extender for the new Victoria wheel. The opening in the 'stock' orifice is too small for the type of yarn Gwen makes and teaches in her workshop. She's sending me the dimensions and we're going to see if Dick can make more. This one was made by Gwen with tulipwood. I also took the prototype crochet hooks Dick made to get some feedback from Gwen, Susie and others; feedback was positive! In fact, if I'd had a dozen hooks I probably could have sold all of them to my classmates. Very positive reception to Dick's beautiful work.

Remember the fiber I spun in Saturday's workshop? The fuzzy parts are 'boufles', pieces of dyed mohair Navajo-plied into the yarn. I made it into a skein tonight and it's soaking right now. Hopefully, it will dry overnight because I'm itching to make it into something - like a 12" crocheted block. I'm planning to use my past and future class/experiment spinning to make individual squares that I'll sew together in an afghan. It should be really, really colorful.

Marie has condensed her jobs from three to just one. She's working full-time as manager of my favorite scrapbooking store, Scrapbookers Villa in Ventura. She decided to go with that job because she can set her own hours and work around her college classes. One of the benefits is that she got to go to Anaheim for CHA - the "World's Fair" for the craft and hobby industry! 3,500 booths... 20,000 visitors... 46 nations... one shared passion. Can you tell I'm envious? Marie and Debra took lots of classes and looked at tons of new products. Most of which will arrive over the next 3 months. The good news about Marie working there? I get to hear about and see all the new products first! The bad news? I want to BUY all the new products first!

This is one of the classes Marie took. Marie is a talented artist; this class taught her some great new techniques. Isn't it gorgeous? This is the Bob Ross Wet-On-Wet painting technique. Pretty cool, huh?

*Finished Object

Plying Workshop

Today's workshop was wonderful. Gwen is a great teacher, very knowledgeable and patient. We learned to Navajo ply singles to make a 3-ply yarn, then moved on to multiple singles, making 9- and 12-ply yarns. Gwen also showed us how to add puffs of colored mohair to make a poofy, textured yarn. The ugly green and purple yarn on the left is crochet cotton. I brought a big bag of the stuff to share; I've had it practically forever and had no plans to use it. Turns out crochet cotton is the perfect yarn to practice on. My little bag of goodies was very popular.

News reports last night gave us a slight chance of rain today, but the general consensus was that it would miss us. Wrong. It poured all day long. Dick had to right idea. This is how I found him when I got home around 5. All warm and cozy in his den. I'm so envious.

Cute Kitties

Want to see something really cute? Go here. Since I don't have any baby photos, the best I can offer is cute kitties.

Oreo has forsaken my lap for another heat source -
She's crazy about the heater in my studio and often sleeps with her head on the back wheel and her nose almost in the heater. She'll still climb up in my lap when she wants to be scratched, but then it's back to her new love.

AJ, on the other hand, prefers a softer, more enclosed sleeping spot. I left the lid off the box of wool batts I'm spinning and she climbed in, nestled down, and claimed it as her own. I think she's down for the night.

Tomorrow I officially start as Vice President of my spinning and weaving guild. My main responsibility - and the reason no one else wanted the job - is to arrange for speakers and workshops at our monthly meetings. I thought the hard part would be coming up with ideas. Wrong. The hard part is getting potential providers to return calls and emails. If they would just say 'nope, sorry, can't do it', rather than leaving me hanging, I'd be so much happier. Bah humbug.

Being the organizing fool that I am, I've set up a database with all the programs the guild has had since about 1998 (yes, I'm a little compulsive, why do you ask?). I'm tracking all the contacts I make and all the ideas people have given me for future programs. Since VP is traditionally held by the same person for two years, I'm hoping my little Excel program will make it easier to book programs next year. That's the theory. Better idea would be to find another um, volunteer to take this job.

Museum Day

Dick and I like a good museum, so it's a bit of a surprise that we've never been to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. We've talked about it - usually after seeing the building during the annual Rose Parade - but whenever we plan to go, something seems to derail the plan.

We made it today, despite a very impressive traffic jam in Moorpark, of all places. First impression was good; several bronze Rodin sculptures grace the front lawn, including The Burghers of Callais. Dick and the girls saw another edition of this bronze when we visited the Rodin Museum in Paris last year. (I didn't see it - I was in our hotel room with a very sick son.)

Our first stop, after paying the very reasonable $8 entry fee, was the cafe. My advice? Eat before you go. The items sounded good; roast beef sandwich, eggplant sandwich (which I love), potato salad, brownie. It says something that the brownie (hard to mess up chocolate) and the bagged potato chips were the best part of the meal.

Dick loves Impressionists and the museum has a nice selection of paintings and bronzes by Monet, Degas, Manet, Pissarro and others. We spent a bit of time contemplating van Gogh's Mulberry Tree (so much energy! The branches reminded me of the twisting snakes in Medusa's hair.) and Portrait of a Peasant.

We also liked the 17th & 18th Century collections. I'd never seen Interior with Monks by Alessandro Magnasco. A fascinating - and strange - painting done all in browns, blacks, and grays, with a little white. The 14th-16th Century collection featured a lot of religious artwork that we found uninspiring; the modern art in the 20th Century area was not to our taste; and the Asian Collection, while impressive in it's size and scope, just couldn't hold our interest.

Would we go back? Maybe. If they had a special event or exhibition that we wanted to see, it would be worth the drive. Overall, it just wasn't that impressive. But then again, we're comparing it to last year's visit to the Louvre, Rodin, and Musee d'Orsay (gorgeous, gorgeous place.) There aren't many collections that could compare with those.

New Look

Do you like my new look? I just spent over 3 hours updating my blog template because the 'new' Blogger couldn't import the changes I'd made in the 'old' Blogger. Three hours to get my 'new' blog to look just like my 'old' blog. Shesh.


While I was at it I added Haloscan comments. Blogger's comments have always been kind of annoying but making everyone get a Google account just so they could leave their thoughts? Ridiculous - and the final straw. Goodbye Blogger, hello Haloscan. (If you plan to upgrade and you're a Firefox user, be sure to read this article.)

Vickie - you should be able to add a comment now without all that 'anonymous' hassle. If anyone has a problem using the new comments, could you let me know at epspinsATgmailDOTcom?

Thanks (I think) to JenLa for pointing me in the right direction.

FO! And Time Out

A student in my beginning crochet class asked for the pattern of a scarf I made a few years ago. The problem was that I - of course - didn't write the pattern down when I made it. Fortunately, it's pretty simple. To check the pattern before I shared it, I made a second scarf using some handpainted silk and merino wool yarn I bought a long time ago on eBay. It took me a little over three hours to finish this. (Did I mention it's a really easy pattern?) I like how the openness of the design shows off the color changes in the fiber.

I've finished two of the three bobbins I need for Saturday's workshop (the partial bobbin in the photo is the third.) Each batt is about one bobbin's worth of singles. Since I have six more batts, I should have a lot more fiber than I need for this weekend. Yesterday, I rolled the batt length-wise, then drafted and spun from one end. Tonight, I tore the batt into 4 long strips that I'll spin end-to-end. I'm want to see if different drafting methods will change the tone/color/texture of the singles.

Since we'll be plying three to six (or more) singles in Saturday's class, I'd like to use the large plying head I bought for my Lendrum. My plan was to fill the bobbin that is currently on the wheel, then ply it with the one I have waiting. You'll notice I'm speaking in the past tense? Florence seems to be offended by all the time she's been sitting idle. Nothing I did tonight was right; the tension was off, the brake band broke, she wobbled, she squeaked, she sulked. I finally gave up.Florence is now sitting in the corner for a well deserved time out. Maybe her attitude will improve by the weekend.