She Paints With Yarn » yarn

To Make Much of Time

Mary — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:53:08 +0000

I very long time ago, I read a poem that has struck a chord with me. Though most scholars will tell you this particular poem is about beauty’s fleeting nature, I take a different twist: Go out and LIVE!

To The Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Robert Herrick

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying :
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer ;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may go marry :
For having lost but once your prime
You may for ever tarry.

And that, my friends, is what I have been doing. The past month has been filled with amazing experiences for me. In non knitting world news, Jared came home for a visit. It was a tough visit, for a lot of reasons, but a good one in the end. I am again reminded just how lucky I am to be truly loved but such an amazing man. I ate my first “real” sushi while he was home- it was absolutely delicious- I’m not sure I can go back to the stuff I can get at the market now! We spent a few days at the lake, watched some fireworks, roamed the bookstore, watched a lot of movies, and played with the dogs. He approved of Chunk (yay!), and I’m fairly sure the feeling was mutual. Jared even got me gorgeous lilies that are still blooming (and he left on the 9th!!).

In yarn related news, I’ve got some spinning to share! The first is some BFL / silk that was dyed for me by Carrie of Funky Carolina. It’s one of my Pure Inspiration club fibers. I am completely in love with it!

The second isn’t done yet, but you can see the first half of it. The fiber is merino / bamboo / silk. It was dyed by PRS- her colors are just so incredibly gorgeous and full of depth.

I also finished some crochet- it’s a handspun version of the Queen Anne’s Lace scarf. Please excuse the crappy photo, I’ve not blocked it yet, so it hasn’t had a real photo taken yet.

The biggest news of all is that I am now working for Buffalo Gold Premium Fibers. A lot of what I am doing is behind the scenes, but it’s a ton of fun and I can honestly say that I love my job. Part of what I am doing is leading knit alongs on raverly. Please stop by the group and consider knitting along! The first pattern is a design of a friend of mine, and it’s absolutely awesome in every way. Details are all in the ravelry group, and will be on the BG site soon, as well.

Things seem to be moving in a positive direction around here. So, friends, what have you been up to?

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While my swedish buns bake…

Mary — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:59:17 +0000

My poor little blog has been neglected! Chunk keeps me on my toes- I guess he’s sucked my blogging energy right out. I’m making Swedish Cardamom Buns right now- they’re in the oven. I thought I’d take a moment to share a few things with you guys. First up, my most recent spin. I’m REALLY excited about this one. The fiber was awesome- SW merino dyed by Hannah of Pocket Pocket. It was a dream to spin. I got about 300 yards of fingering weight out of 4 oz. My yardage could have been better, but I’m not complaining.

Mal Swap recently ended. I had the awesome pleasure of hand delivering my package to Melissa (nulawlady on rav) in person at the KY Sheep and Wool Festival. Melissa was super sweet and fun to shop with- she totally encouraged my purchase of a yarn that I am really enjoy knitting a Meret (the Wooly Wormhead pattern) with. Pictures of that later when there’s more to show. I snapped a few images of her opening her package…. I’m so glad she loved everything! I made her bag (the blue one) and had fun picking things for a new spinner (everyone should spin!).

Next up, my swag from the festival- there’s a bag from Slipped Stitch Studios in some adorable owl fabric, cashmere yarn from MacKintosh Yarns, and an ounce of milk protein fiber to spin.

KYSW was my first wool fest. I had a great time and I hope there are many more to follow- maybe someday as a vendor!

I’m ordering new yarn for the shop tomorrow. I’m trying to decide between some aran weight BFL and a lovely cashmere blend sock weight. Either way, I have some great colorways planned so be looking for peaks at those over the next few weeks here. :)

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Would you like a slice of pie?

Mary — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:13:01 +0000

You would? Too bad, I’m not sharing! haha! I spun up Hello Yarn’s Five Plum Pie colorway last night- it was an incredibly fast spin! Both singles and plied in one evening. It’s so soft and bouncy and I LOVE it. I’d been spinning thinner and thinner and it was nice to spin something intentionally thick. 152 yards of bulky weight.

This is NOT going in the shop- I was super lucky to be able to get it, and I love it far too much to part with it. I’m thinking of knitting either Toast or a cowl with it. Anybody got a suggestion? Please comment if you do!

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Spinning Experiments

Mary — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:55:24 +0000

I have two new handspun yarns to show off today! The first is a hello yarn colorway, “Air”. It’s a merino tencel blend. I spun it into one single then n-plied it so that it will be nice and stripy when it is knit up. It’s about 184 yards of DK weight from 4 oz- which I think is pretty decent considering that it’s a three ply yarn.

The second yarn was an experiment in core spinning. I’d never done it before, so it’s not terribly even, but I was predictable enough with the fluffier bits that it looks purposeful. I really love core spinning- I certainly think it’s a technique that I can improve on, but it’s fun! This was a funky carolina batt- merino, sw merino, and bamboo. I got 275 yards from 3 0z. I’m not really sure what weight to call this- I guess I would knit it up at about a worsted gauge, but since it’s thick / thin it really could be knit at a lot of gauges.

As you can see, that bobbin is extremely full! As I got close to the end of the batt, I had to wind on by hand b/c it was so full. I just didn’t want to end up with two skeins since I knew one would be tiny if I changed bobbins at that point…

These may or may not go in the shop. Haven’t made up my mind yet.. They are currently soaking to set the twist, I guess I will decide after they are dry again. :)

Boo had his surgery yesterday- it went really well, and other than being incredibly loopy last night, he seems ok. We will get the pathology reports back in about a week and will know more about the tumors then. Cross your fingers they were benign!

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Cornflowers Abound

Mary — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:27:00 +0000

Since I got my spinning wheel last December, it feels like I’ve spun an entire sheep’s worth of yarn and yet somehow I have far less than that to show for it. This is mostly because my first efforts well… let’s just say they have been filed away in a very dark drawer which will never again see the light of day. Spinning on a wheel was more difficult for me to get a grasp of than spindle spinning. This is mostly because there are so many things you can adjust on a wheel! I have a fairly basic wheel, but it was still slightly overwhelming at first.

Around late January, though, I started producing yarn I was happier with. The one that I am most proud of is some merino dyed by Hannah of pocketpocket- she calls this colorway Cornflower. So, without further rambling on my part, I present pretty fiber pictures for your enjoyment:

I ended up with three skeins, totaling around 465 yards of bulky weight two ply yarn. It was (at the time of spinning) the most even thing I’d produced. I’ve started knitting some EZ’s Mitered Mittens with one skein, and I will probably knit a cowl to go with it, as well. Knitting with your own handspun yarn is a really rewarding experience. I’ve yet to spin / knit with anything I dyed, but I imagine that will be even more rewarding- a goal for the future, I suppose. :)

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Oh, dear.

Mary — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:18:22 +0000

The bad news: I waited forever to update the blog. The good news: I have lots to share!

First of all, my trip to New Mexico… There’s so much I *could* tell you, but it would be easier to just show you the pictures. There’s a TON of them on flickr, and most of them are captioned, so I’ll not post them all here as well. Here’s a few of them in a mosaic:

Since I’ve been home, I’ve been sick- my mother caught pneumonia at school and just had to share it with me. Not terribly much has been accomplished (when you think about the fact that this is 3 weeks worth of stuff, that is), but here’s what I have been working on… mostly spinning, but a bit of knitting, too.

Hopefully I will get back into the swing of regular posting now

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An Exercise in Nostalgia

Mary — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:06:06 +0000

Is it possible to be nostalgic for something you can’t really remember? My dad cooked a lot when I was young. In fact, I have almost no memories of my mother in the kitchen before he died. He made all sorts of things- mostly dishes rich in saturated fat with a side of starch. Not that I’m complaining- I loved it growing up. I’m sure he’s 100% of the reason I love to cook (ok, ok, that’s a lie. Julia Child also has something to do with that). I was going though a cook book in my kitchen this afternoon looking for a cookie recipe for my sister. I also found something that I didn’t expect to find- my dad’s chicken fried steak, gravy, and french fried (yes, actually fried, none of that oven baked crap) potatoes. The strange part is, I don’t actually remember him cooking this. I remember lots of his food, but this one somehow escaped the ol’ hippocampus.

Anyway, I think I’ll make this stuff soon. The following week, I’ll probably eat only salad, this stuff looks absolutely horrible for you. Deliciously horrible. Whipping cream and peanut oil, anyone?

In other, non saturated fat related news, my shawl class is going swimmingly. Picking 4 lace patterns with the same stitch count is frustrating, but I’ve worked up a few options that I’m excited about. Now, to knit about a billion swatches. Which is, perhaps, my least favorite part of the design process. I’d love to just pick a few things, stick them together and then – BAM- have it work. Sadly, the wool gods don’t work that way. Here’s what I’m using for my planning stages ( the blue) and the for the final stages (the pink)

Speaking of wool gods- I went to a sheep farm on Monday. The sheep were really friendly and absolutely adorable. Evidence:

Who can resist that face?

I really need to update my flickr with my YIP shots- I’ve not missed a single day this year, yet I can’t seem to get motivated to upload them to flickr- maybe I’ll do it later this evening.

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Spinning

Mary — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:14:04 +0000

Last weekend, I rented a spinning wheel from ReBelle. It was a single treadle Fricke, and I completely fell in love. I’ve been spinning on a spindle for just over a year now. I’m surprised I didn’t want to try a wheel sooner, but now that I have tried it, there’s no gong back for me. The wheel is so much faster, and after I got through my first pound or so of fiber, I was making yarn that I actually liked! I started with some undyed merino. That went pretty horribly, mostly because I wasn’t used to the wheel yet. It sucked, but I plied it anyway (and it still sucked then). I then spun some more of the same fiber, and it went much better. Feeling confidant, I moved on to something prettier- some hand dyed BFL from frabjous fibers. BFL is a bit easier to spin than merino, but I didn’t want to start with it because I didn’t want to mess up the gorgeous colors. Here’s what i ended up with:

Not bad for my first real wheel spun yarn! I know it has lots of room for improvement (it needs more twist in the ply) but i still LOVE it. Did I mention that it’s navajo plied? Yep, I tackled that beast early on, and I love the way it distributes the color- no barber poll here! Then, I moved back to some merino. This time it was dyed, in a gorgeous color called primrose. I wish I had included something for scale in this picture- these singles are about fingering weight, though it goes up to sport in a few places.

Can you believe how much improvement I got between those two? I was amazed. It was like all the sudden I remembered how to spin, instead of *learning* how to spin. I still have another 4 oz. of that to spin up, then I will ply it together. I can’t wait to see how much yardage it is!!!

So, this evening, I had to take the wheel back to the LYS. But, thanks to my mom, look at this lovely box that came home with me:

There’s a double treadle fricke in that box, waiting for me to assemble it. :D An awesome Christmas present, if I do say so myself! I’ll be assembling it tomorrow, and of course showing off pictures!

Edited to add: Spinners, would you comment with a few of your favorite places to get fiber?

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Another WIP gone

Mary — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:39:29 +0000

I just frogged the fair isle hat I started. I started it for the purpose of learning fair isle, which I now feel comfortable with. I just wasn’t loving the way this particular fair isle pattern was looking. Anyway, that’s one step closer to half of those WIPS being gone before October Stockpile starts. Wooo Hooo for progress!!!

In other news, Jared being in WA has proved frustrating. The three hour time difference is far more cumbersome than I expected since we both keep fairly busy schedules. He’s been assigned to the wrong course, so he’s trying to sort that out and we’re hoping that he will be put in a class that starts Thursday. I’m not looking forward to him doing resistance training; so far in his training I’ve taken comfort in the fact that I knew he was safe in and not being harmed. That’s not the case for resistance training. Although I’d rather him know how to handle himself if he were ever captured than not, it’s just not pleasant to think about.

He sent me a picture of his wings today:

And, just because it’s cute, here’s what I got when I went home today:

Here’s some of what I was working on last night- somehow this didn’t get put in the initial WIP post, not sure how I missed it. Anyway, meet my take on chickadee:

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Small bits of happiness

Mary — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:21:04 +0000

With Jared gone and not knowing when he will be home, I’m finding that I appreciate the small things that bring a smile to my face even more, since the biggest smile inducer in my life is currently over 2,000 miles away from me. So, we shall start with the smallest news, literally:

That’s right, I’ve gotten that far on a sock! I’ve been wanting to knit socks for ages,and as such am really pleased that I am finally doing it. I’m using Cookie A.’s Kai-Mei pattern [Rav link]. It’s probably not the best selection for a first sock, but Cookie is so descriptive in her patterns that I decided to tackle it. So far, so good. I love the yarn, too- it’s Malabrigo sock in “incieda”. My skein is much more purple than any other I have seen, and I love it. I suspect it was on the very top of the kettle, as it’s very saturated.

I’ve resumed my 365 photos. I realized that I was missing doing them, which was a great incentive to start up again. Here’s the two from yesterday and today. If you like them, meander over to flickr and leave me a comment. Or here, for that matter, I love comments no matter where they are:

The most exciting news I have to share with you is that I was hired as a columnist for HandmadeNews. I’ll be working for the Inspiration Department, under an awesome editor (and friend), Marjorie. Check out her latest article. My articles will be going up every Tuesday, and I will be linking to them here. I do hope that you will read my work- this is a very exciting job for me.

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