Pepper love

Pepper is a Cat. Yes, Bartholamew may look like a cat but he doesn’t act like the stereotypical cat. Pepper does. So I bought my Cat a Cat Scratcher… Thankfully, she loves it!!

I found it from Crazy Aunt Purl’s blog. And thankfully, Pepper uses it for scratching not just lounging too.

I’m still not knitting. I can only manage this because I discovered I could spin easily in my brace.

Maybe too easily:

That’s the jumbo plying head flyer/bobbin thing too that’s cram full. The “joy” now is transferring to the niddy-noddy. Its only like eleventybillion yards… (phrase also somewhat borrowed from Crazy Aunt Purl).

The fiber is some I got at SAFF unknown wool, the colorway is persimmon. It’s been fun to spin. And honestly I am interested in knowing how many yards it is.

Lastly, I’d like to direct you to Dotty’s blog. She got her prize package from me today!

Welcome Home!

My new wheel. It’s a Lendrum Folding Wheel. I have 3 different flyers for it – the regular flyer, the fast flyer and the plying head (that’s what they call it…). The plying head does have it’s own mother of all and drive band and the bobbin holds 2 full regular bobbins. (insert happy sigh here) The fast flyer fortunately takes the same bobbins as the regular flyer. I also have a tensioned kate. I need to read up on how they work differently than a lazy kate but I’m quite sure I have that information in a book.

I’m also needing some information on ratios. I think I have the basics down but really want some good information on this. If anyone can point me in the right direction I’d appreciate it.

As you may remember I fell in love with the Lendrum at SAFF. I sold my Ashford Traditional and a couple of other things sitting around collecting dust and saved up my pennies and bought the wheel from a lovely dealer in Suffolk. Why Suffolk you ask? Well, not only were they were quite friendly and helpful at SAFF, but my aunt Judy (who I made the socks for) lives in Norfolk. Not quite an hour away… darn, have to go visit the family.

I love going to visit my aunt. We have a ton of fun no matter what we do. We get up whenever and eat breakfast and sit at the table for hours in our pjs talking about everything before we change clothes and do whatever it is we had planned to do – that is if we had anything planned. So add that into the mix and of course I went to Suffolk.

Saturday morning we left with plenty of time to find the dealer’s studio. However, we did not realize that Suffolk’s Christmas parade was Dec 1. We saw some of the Christmas parade as it was headed right down Main Street in the exact direction we wanted to do. After digging out the good ol’ map we found away around the parade only to run into it again (it was quite a long parade…). We forged on but found ourselves on a road that wasn’t on the map. We stopped to ask one of the very nice police officers how to get to where we needed to be. He politely told us that we were on the street we needed to be on. So on we went.

On the way back from picking up the wheel, we got re-routed by an accident. We saw an awful lot of Suffolk yesterday and enjoyed the whole trip. She did take the first pictures of me spinning on my wheel but (not surprisingly) we got to talking and she forgot to take some with my camera too so when I get them from her I’ll share.

Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I have some wool calling my name…

SAFF Classes

Laura and I each took two classes at SAFF. She took a weaving class that had a lot of good information in it. And a Shepherd’s Rug class.

The rugs the ladies who wrote the book had made were gorgeous! The chair pad/cat bed Laura was working on was also gorgeous!!

I took a multi-color one pot dye class on Friday. It was WAY too easy and not messy enough. I see dyeing in my future (I had typed dying in my future and well, I figure that is in the future but not what this post is about!).

We dyed three pots as a class. Some fleece that was fun but looks – well not pretty.

We dyed some wool:

Pepper liked the wool a lot!

We also dyed a mohair blend:

This one took color much better than the wool. Our instructor said that mohair likes dye and will soak it all up. Hmm, I may have to buy some to try that out!

The other class I took was a Creative Cast on Class with Margaret Heatherman. She taught us a handful of basic cast ons and what they’re best used for and a couple really pretty “decorative” cast ons. Then gave us cardstock and double sided tape with all the cast on names so we could tape our swatches on them to remember which was which! This class, while as educational as I thought it would be, was way more fun than I thought it’d be! YEAH!

Next post will be my prize winnings from Spindle and Wheel.

beware…

Forgive me dear readers, it’s been a long time since I posted. I have no real excuses. October was just very busy and I just didn’t post much. I did an awful lot though. And I did an awful lot of fiber stuff…

October 13th the part of my family who lives in North Carolina and Virginia went to the NASCAR race at Charlotte. We had a lot of fun even if Mom won’t go to Arizona to buy Car-osaurus for me (Barrett-Jackson). And no, I don’t know what I’d do with it but does it REALLY matter?

I mean, come on… it breaths FIRE!

The next weekend some of us went to Sinkland Farms for a spinning demonstration. It was chilly and very windy but it was great company.

And I got the cutest little white pumpkin.

Then, Laura and I headed off to SAFF! Oh my did we have fun!! I had one basic rule: no buying yarn I could buy at home. Well, and to stay within my budget. And no bunnies. OK, so maybe I had a few rules.

Laura tried her hardest to talk me into bringing a bunny home. There was one I was quite fond of. This isn’t him but he’s close in color. “My” bunny had gray ears (and I met his new Momma and he’s going to be a shop bunny!):

I did bring some some alpaca and a silk brick:

I got some sock yarn:

And some general wool for a felted back pack (a pattern that I also bought)

How/why this wool is “From Down Under” is beyond me. It’s a product of Turkey and the shop is in Alabama:

But that’s OK. I think it’s pretty and will make a great bag.

The coolest thing either of us brought home was Laura’s antique circular sock machine:

We’re going today for a class on the finer art of making socks with it. And various other things.

The second coolest thing either of us brought home was my lucet:

My all time favorite thing:

My new wheel! OK. So, technically, she’s not mine YET. And she didn’t come HOME with me from SAFF and I’m going to a semi-local place to buy her but I fell in love with her at SAFF. And furthermore, have already sold my Ashford Traditional so I’ll have both more room and more money to buy her.

The Ashford has gone off to live with Amy. I posted the wheel for sale on my spinning group on Ravelry and within an hour I’d say, Amy had contacted me about her and we made the deal. In fact, I’ve already shipped her off to her new life in Michigan. Be well my first wheel. And bring Amy all the wonder and joy you brought me!

I’ve got oodles of llama pictures and various “crowd shots” of SAFF that I’ll get up on flickr or use them sporadically here.

OH, I almost forgot another great thing at SAFF. I finally met Mary! We’ve both been at the same fiber festivals all year but never realized we were seeing the other one or crossed paths or something but after my cast on class (which I’ll blog about later) I went to get lunch and there she was! The three of us sat and ate a little lunch and visited and had a great time! I’m SO glad I finally got to meet her in person. She’s the one who got me in touch with Robin who gave me all the information about my knit/spin group and ended up with me spinning and having a knit/spin group and all kinds of great friends! Thanks, Mary!! It was great to meet you! And wow, it’s been a smidge over a year since that all happened… how time flies!

Laura and I both took two classes but I’ll blog about those later. And I’ll update you on all my knitting progress. I figure I’ve rambled on enough for now. Plus it’ll give me more things to blog about so it won’t be 2 weeks between posts! (and hopefully blogger will be willing to upload my pictures then too!)

And I can’t believe I almost forgot my favorite October happening of all!! My sweet adorable little nephew was born at the beginning of the month:

A Finished Item!

Yes! I AM alive and I HAVE been knitting!!

proof of both:

For the record, that is the back of my head… and yes it did take me about 100 pictures to get the picture right.

I know lots of people knit sweaters for the upcoming fiber festivals but hey, let’s face it, I’m not a fast knitter. Plus I missed the memo saying while not a pre-requisite, a newly knitted item for said festival wouldn’t be a bad idea. SO, I knit a hat! It’s the Cinchy Hat from Interweave’s knitscene. The yarn was a gift to me by my friend Catie. She said they were my colors. And I believe she was right.

The best part, I still have a about a hank and a half left! What to make now…

I’m at a loss…

for a title for today’s post. So let’s just get right to it.

Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. I think it probably was one of the best ones I’ve had!

I got some lovely fibery gifts and a lovely cake (courtesy of my loving Mom):

It was chocolate too! She’s such a good Mom!!

Here’s my latest spinning, Briar Rose:

Not the best color representation but it’s not all bad either. I feel the same about the spinning. Not the best but not all bad. And even though I am not (yet) skilled enough to do this intentionally, I’m quite happy with the mixing of the colors in the plying of the singles.

I’m a little stalled on my socks. I have lots of great sock yarn but am lacking a some great sock patterns. Well, that’s not true. There are some great sock patterns I’m just having trouble pairing the yarn with the pattern to make something that will make me happy.

Oh and I got my class confirmation for SAFF. It’s going to be a one pot dye class and a cast on class. A little fun and a little practical. But also fun. I’m looking forward to the cast on class as much as I am the dye class. I know for sure that will get used in the future.

Another Weekend Update

Well, thankfully the heat broke (some. It’s down to “normal hot” instead of “OMG are you KIDDING me!?!? hot”).

Today I thought I’d spin the second half of the Briar Rose roving I had. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve spun. I think it showed in the singles but when plied they looked just fine. I’ll take pictures in a few days for you. It’s near dark out now and I’d like to try to capture good color for you.

But it was very slow going when I was trying to spin. Seems I’m not the only one here who’s infatuated with the wheel.

Pepper, in true cat fashion, rolled right before I snapped the picture. She had moments before been laying there with her legs intertwined with the treadle and other moving parts.

Bartholamew doesn’t care so much about the wheel but loves to sit in my lap while I spin.

I had another picture of his cute little face but he looked surly and you’ve seen him surly looking before. I thought I’d show you his sweet snuggly side. And for the record, no, I can’t spin with him in my lap.

After many cat breaks I finally got it all spun. I had intended it to be a swap present but the swap came and went and I still have the yarn so it’s mine now.

I’ve been knitting on my clapotis when I knit:

I’m to the 3rd section called “straight rows” but I like to think of it as the “dropped stitch” section since that’s what you do:

I ran into a couple knit/spin group friends over the weekend. They invited me to go to SAFF with them and after glancing at the website I gleefully said yes! Tomorrow I’m mailing off my class registration for a knitting and a dyeing class. I don’t think either of these will fill up but just in case I’m going to keep you in suspense as to what they’re for.

Tomorrow’s a bit of a special day for me so please to stop back by for a special post.