Rolling Hills

I wanted to work with a colorway that reminded me that the sun does exist, so I chose the Spunky Club September 2009 colorway Rolling Hills. It makes me think of the sun warming beautiful brown and green vegetation in the fall. I also wanted to try spinning BFL again. It was my first spinning fiber and now that I have more experience I wanted to see if I had learned anything. I also wanted to learn a new technique called Navajo ply or chain ply or N-ply or what looks to me like machine plying or rope. It has several aliases! And that’s a lot of want.

So, first I tried to prep the fiber so that it would be a little easier to work with. I had no idea that the fiber is quite compacted in combed top. I learned all about it by accident here. I didn’t make rolags, but I did make some loosened top.

Next want: Navajo ply.

I had some singles that I had spun that I didn’t love and decided to use them to practice n-ply. My first attempt resulted in coiled yarn which wasn’t really the effect I was going for.

I read books, blurbs, posts, and watched videos. It didn’t click right away, but I finally got it after watching this video a few times, which explains how to Navajo ply on-the-fly.

I’m not a big fan of on-the-fly plying… at least I haven’t really warmed up to it yet. I’ve read that you can become very efficient at it, yada yada yada, BUT, going back and forth between plying and spinning is a jarring process. I prefer to spin it all up and then ply. So now that I think I’ve got the hang of it, I’m going to just spin the rest and then try n-plying it when I’m done.

It’s spinning up fine… much better than my last experience with BFL. And I’ve switched to my Turkish Delight spindle because it is fast becoming my new favorite spindle.

Six Things

1. I have discovered that hand knits and velcro don’t mix.

2. My favorite recipe this week is Oyster Stew. It is super simple and super delicious. Shallots are a must and the cream, ah, yes, the cream. It is high in saturated fat, but it is also high in calcium and iron.

3. While I was pregnant I drank a big glass of milk every morning, not because I liked it, but because it was the only thing that would settle my tummy enough to get on with the day. Since I’m no longer downing the milk on a regular basis, I’m now taking Viactiv. I don’t believe in taking vitamins. I think it is better to get what you need by eating right, but Calcium and Vitamin D are usually lacking in my diet no matter.

4. Instant gratification: Tiny Turtle (scroll down linked page to find pattern).

5. Hand spun love: 2 ounces Merino/Silk in colorway Thunderstorm by Spunky Eclectic. This fiber spins really nicely, though it felt a little… synthetic to me. It is very soft. So different from falkland, wensleydale, or blue-faced leicester. It is going to be knit into a gift, I think.

6. I am trying my hand at navajo or chain plying (which is what I think I’m really doing). I’m spinning and plying on-the-fly. It’s a different experience. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll report more about it another time.

One Thing

I am so tired right down to the very marrow of my bones, but it is a good tired.

Seven Things

1. I do a load of laundry everyday. I sometimes do two loads of laundry everyday. Not only do we have baby clothes to wash all the time, but I have a pant shortage and have not had the opportunity to shop for more. So, I keep doing laundry. If you see me wearing the same pants twice in one week, don’t worry, I washed them after the first time I wore them.

2. The burp cloths they make for use with infants are hilarious. Dish towels work much better.

3. Great site for recipes, plus the eye candy. Yum. I am making the Beef, Leek, and Barley soup.

4. Many of the dust balls in my house are starting to include bits of fiber in them instead of the usual cat hair and other unidentified yuckies.

5. Now that the day is drawing very near, as in tomorrow, I am more at peace about returning to work while Samuel goes to daycare. Afterall, we did choose a good daycare (I believe) and it will be great for him to interact with children his age. I’m still going to cry the first week or so though.

6. I finished the Cold Front Shawl that I Could Not Wait to start. It’s really more of a shawlette. It just fits around my shoulders.

7. After I finish my Sockhead Hat, I’m going to start this. Everyone is talking about or knitting it, so of course I have to make one. And I have the perfect yarn in my stash: Dream in Color in Happy Forest.

Could Not Wait

To get the handspun on the needles last night…

This shawl pattern recipe can be found on Kasia’s blog. Just interesting enough to hold your attention, but not so interesting that you need to isolate yourself in a room with yarn-padded walls.

I can’t wait to get back to this yummy 3-ply yarn tonight. Happy knitting!

Seven Things

1. Peppermint tea. Yum.

2. Push-update. I completed week 1! I started week 2 off on a bad hand though (heh). I realized after the attempt that my blood sugar felt low which explained the whole lack of energy. I think I’ll repeat week 1 this week instead of moving onto week 2. Week 1 felt challenging enough for me… for now.

3. Daycare. Tomorrow Samuel and I meet his daycare teacher. I have mixed feelings about daycare, especially at such a young age. I’m thinking of it as school. He will only go part-time starting next week. He will learn things he will not learn at home and he will meet children his own age. I just don’t want to miss any of it!

4. The office. Not to be confused with the television show The Office, though I suppose it could be. It will be strange, but good, to be back.

5. Domestic goddess. Yes, I actually ironed. Clothes. Wrinkly clothes. And I managed not to iron any new wrinkles into those clothes. I had posted on Facebook that I needed to iron and since then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Chris usually does his own ironing (and I wear wrinkly clothes). I thought I could do this for him since I am home and he is working. And it actually happened. Mission impossible has been accomplished.

6. Addendum to Domestic Goddess. Now, when Chris buys new shirts they are of the wrinkle-resistant variety, which means that ironing pile is a lot smaller than it used to be.

7. I finished my first 3-ply yarn. I love it! Handspun yarns are much yummier than commercial yarns. I can see why some crafters will only knit or crochet their own handspun. Me, well…, maybe someday I’ll follow suit. I have a number of commercial yarns that need knittin’ first though. Oh, and I also have to stop buying them. Right. Okay, then.

Spunky Eclectic Wensleydale in Colorway Cold Front

The Cute

New mommy plus super-cute boy equals new obsession. Can you resist the cute?

Eight Things

1. I completed Day 1, Week 1 of the One Hundred Push-ups Challenge. This is the second time I’ve attempted this challenge. I wasn’t able to do 100 push-ups last time and may not be able to this time either, but it’s all about getting stronger for me. If it makes me stronger, I’m happy. I’m already starting out stronger than last time thanks to hefting a cute little boy around. I am starting out in the second column this time instead of the first column.

2. Turkey cutlets are way better than chicken.

3. A sock pattern of my very own is brewing in my head. Just need to find the time to try it. Like other ideas, it may turn into nothing, but this.could.be.the.one.

4. We are in desperate need of coffee. How could I let this happen? I finished the last caffeinated k-cup this morning that Chris just happened to discover in his work bag. And the new shipment HAS NOT ARRIVED YET!

5. I’m feeling far better than I did when I first gave birth to Samuel, but my abdominal tissue is still weak. I especially noticed it after shoveling the 14 inches of snow we received over the new year weekend. Yes, I’m ready to shovel. I need to exercise those muscles in order for them to get stronger. It’s frustrating it takes so long and I’m a bit impatient when it comes to recovery.

6. I haven’t bought any yarn or fiber this year. Oh, right, only four days in this year so far. And I’ve got my eye on some Mini-Mochi.

7. I haven’t made any New Year Resolutions. Have you? I figure the resolutions will make themselves known eventually when I look back on 2010. But let’s get through it first.

8. Seriously, is this the average size of a two and half month old foot? Wow! I’m a very proud mother of an above-average child.

Turkish Delight



I am enjoying a little Turkish Delight this week. The Jenkins Turkish Delight spindle (a gift from my husband, purchased from Spunky Eclectic) is a work of fine craftsmanship. The marble wood is beautiful and the ingenious design creates a center pull ball as you wind the spun fiber onto the bottom whorl. You attach a leader to the shaft using a half-hitch. It took me a little bit of practice to get used to removing the half-hitch from the shaft easily in order to wind the spun fiber, but I was told I would get the hang of it and sure enough I did. It is a simple flick of the thumb to lift the hitch off the shaft, wind the yarn around the whorl, and then reattach the yarn to the shaft with a new half-hitch.

I found that the spindle spun best for me when the half-hitch was at the top of the shaft as opposed to the middle or bottom. It is easy to get the whorl spinning with a finger-snapping motion at the very top. I found that the spindle spun well, but not always long. It required two or three starts to produce one length of spun yarn (from shoulder height to floor) to wind around the whorl. Compared to my Kundert, the Turkish Spindle does not keep momentum as well.

While I like how cute and compact the Turkish Delight is, I think the larger Turkish Spindle would be better for some projects. I have not measured how much yarn I have been able to wind onto the Turkish Delight yet, but I have spun two balls, completely filling the spindle, and still have a third of a 4 ounce bump of fiber left to spin. If I were to create a 2-ply yarn, it would be nice to produce two balls of yarn rather than splicing together balls (of yarn) to produce a single skein. There is nothing wrong with creating more than one skein of yarn. I simply prefer to produce a single skein when the yardage is around 400 or less.

Positives: Center-Pull Ball (saves a step if you like to ply from a center-pull ball), Beautiful Craftsmanship, Compact

Negatives: Loses Momentum Quicker, Limited Storage on Delight

Overall, I like this spindle and would like to try the larger version sometime. But my favorite is still my Kundert.

Spunky Eclectic Cold Front, Wensleydale

2009: A Collage

The idea was inspired by my friend Dori who has a wonderful collage of her own on her blog. It was fun looking through my photos and reliving some of the experiences. It was also challenging to choose photos for the collage… there were so many to pick from and so many wonderful memories. I focused on the knitty, the spinny, and the baby. What a great year full of new, exciting, frightening, and joyful experiences.

I was supposed to be joining my friends at The Knitting Experience for New Year’s Eve Knit at Night, but it has started snowing so I am staying home. We will do our usual: play cards, eat good food, drink a little something (not too much), and fall asleep way before midnight. And there is someone new in our hearts and lives this year who will make the new year that much sweeter.

Have a wonderful, safe new year. Here’s to a 2010 filled with new experiences. Embrace them: both the good and the bad. They go by so fast!