Just what I need: another project!

I met my friend Stacey for some lunch and knitting and catching up and this project followed me home: the Shop til you drop bag made with Hemp for Knitting in the large size.    If I don't have blisters or callouses when I finish this, I will be so lucky.     I'm using lots of lotion and shea butter on my hands as I go and it is helping a little.   I will love the results when I am done, but I will have the battle scars to show for it!   The next  skein may get soaked before being wound into a ball, hopefully to soften it up a little.

Lest you think I have forgotten about the afghan, here is the current square, the Meredith K Morioka square on page 8-9 of the GAAA book.

I just realized that my next post is my 200th Post since beginning this blog more than 2 years ago.   I will have to think of something special for the occasion!

New Look!

Last night I noticed that there are lots of new options on Blogger for formatting, so I have been playing with it and trying to update my look.   New photo at the top and separated from the title....now easier to read, don't you think?   I don't want to go overboard on the background, because my postings are so photo heavy and it would be a distraction, but who knows.

Comments are appreciated!

Another Pyramid o' Fiber!

I am loving having this drum carder at the ready....at least for the last week.  It goes home, or to the next lucky borrower this Sunday, so I was motivated to finish off the romney wool.

   It turned out so much better than the rambouillet/teeswater cross.   Not due the fiber itself, but to the fact that I think I slightly felted the dark brown wool in the scouring process.

The bottom skein was the first skein from the batch, and the top skein has the addition of some mohair and sari silk.   It looks softer in the photo than it actually is, though.   Feeling more like shetland type wool, its future is unknown.   I do have enough singles left to make another plain skein, so maybe a hat???.

 I was so much more hands off for the romney and the results are fluffy, soft and luscious. Here is a washed lock of fiber with its lovely crimp.

and its resulting pyramid o' fiber!

extreme closeup of a carded batt:

I am holding off starting to spin it until Sunday's Spinning Meetup where everyone can ooooh and ahhhhh!   I nearly bought a carder on Ravelry this week, but I had some concerns about its condition and the price.    Once I get the tax refund.........all bets are off.

BEEZY, post 3

More Beezy comics for your enjoyment.   As always, click on each one to enlarge and appreciate the artist's craft!

Now I know where my daughter gets it!    I don't recall my Grandpa being so formal, but I do remember that he never had a gray hair on his head!   And the house was suburban, not rural as depicted in the comic!

Grandma was a great baker and so is my Mom, and Toll House cookies have been a favorite for generations!  Even when they are a little dark around the edges......

This is my Mom showing off some sewing skills much to the dismay of her older sister, my Aunt Jean.   Aunt Jean is the musical one while my Mom is the crafty one, and she never let anything go to waste!  She still has her sewing machine in the apartment, but I have most of the knitting supplies.  There is a Hebrew phrase: L'Dor V'Dor, which roughly means "from generation to generation" and that is how talents and creativity are passed on.

Mom, you were such a heartbreaker, and again it reminds me of my daughters!

I remember the house well, a charming tudor style house in suburban White Plains, NY (yes, the house number was #9.   For 6 months in the  1950's we lived with my grandparents after Dad left the Air Force, and that was when Grandma taught me how to knit.  My first project was a coral sweater for my doll, and it had so many holes, it could have been mistaken for lace!   What I learned on her lap must have stuck with me because I have been knitting ever since.

The side porch was screened in and was the best place for breakfast and lunch.   The huge lawn with spruce trees and a flowering dogwood in the side yard was heaven for my 7 year old self.  

Pardon me while I go deep into nostalgic reverie.   

Carding with a Tool!

The Olympics are over and I chose not to compete.   It is not that I wasn't doing anything for these last 16 days, it is just that I didn't want to put any pressure on myself.  I guess I just wimped out.    I didn't finish any of my projects, but am plodding along on the squares for my GAAA.   You know, knit one row, tink one row, knit 1/2 row, tink 1 1/2 rows.    And so it goes.   At this rate it's like paying off a credit card balance by paying the minimum payment each month:   it'll take 247 years (or so) to pay it off.  

I have borrowed a drum carder from fellow spinner, Lynn, to finish off my fiber

 from last month's shipment before I start on the fiber I got last week.   OK, I opened the inner plastic bag, and it is getting its first cold soak.  And I realized that THIS month's fiber is going out in another 10 days!   Yikes.  It is so soft and lanolin-y and hopefully most of the yuck will come out with the soak.

 The drum carder, a Strauch petite, is one hefty tool, and really does the job of blending the fiber into batts.   What starts out as this:

  ends up like this: a pyramid of batts, ready for spinning.

What could be done in about 10 rolags of hand carding can be carded into a single batt of about 1/2 oz with the drum carder.  What a timesaver, so much so that I feel a major purchase coming on.........    I had a 15 minute lesson Sunday at spinning group ( we are actually "multicraftual") and Sunday night I made 2 more batts on it, while watching the terrible new show, Marriage Ref, which came on after the Olympics closing ceremony.    Perfect background noise, and I am so glad I didn't expect to be entertained by the show! 

  Monday, I made 4 more batts with the rest on Tuesday evening.    I even went crazy on the last two, by blending in some natural mohair and some shredded sari silk.   See how pretty! On the pyramid they are the top two.

The flashes of color make me so happy.    Maybe I will ply with the plain batts, to maximize the yardage.