More fine yarns

Most of you know that I like to spin on a spindle and that I like to spin very find yarns. Late last year, I got myself some Merino-Silk blend fibres, and started spinning them on the spindle. Because they were so well-prepared, it just naturally wanted to be spun very fine. I had nothing to do with it!

I really enjoyed the spinning. It is beautiful fibres, very well-prepared (there were no short hairs and it was combed top) and just a joy to spin. Every moment I had, I would pick up the spindle (which sits beside me when I am at the computer) and would spin while watching a movie or TV show. I find I fall asleep if I have to sit still for only a few moments! And little by little, I collected quite a number of cops of very finely spun singles.

I wanted more fibre, since I spun it all up. I was able to get a bag of Merino-Silk-Alpaca blend, as nice as the earlier batch, and it also wanted to be spun very fine. So I acquired a number of cops of that as well!

A couple of months ago, I was all done, and had to start plying. It would be quite impossible to use the singles in any way, and plying was the only thing to do. I decided on a 2-ply. However, I could quickly see that even a 2-ply was too fine to be used in any way! I did think of doing a 3-ply, but decided I wouldn't get much yarn that way, and left it as a 2-ply.

It took me several weeks of plying. It just seems to go on and on and on! As I watched the cops empty, they didn't seem to change at all! I would ply many, many metres, and when I looked back, they were still the same as before! But little by little, and a lot of spindle twirling!!, I finally finished all those cops and I had a lot of plied yarn made. When I wound them off into skeins, I had seven skeins of very fine Merino-silk-alpaca 2-ply yarn! I washed them and hung them to dry, and twisted them into skeins. Here is a pic of one: this one is about 585 metres. I don't have a weight for it, but will try to get that one day soon.

That is a dime under the strand of 2-ply to show you relative size. You should be able to click on it to em-biggen it.

I still have no idea what I will do with it!

I am Back!

Well, the truth is I haven't really been away. I just haven't posted anything here for a very long time. I have been busy -- there are many changes around here. And one day seems to go by and then another. Things just get left for "tomorrow".

I have written several posts, in my head, but not actually in print. I did write some posts here, but left them in draft form. And I am quite certain that I did post something before, which has just vanished! That is our new technological world -- nothing lasts as you expect! 

One of the things that have changed here is that I have a new computer since the last time I posted. Well, in fact, I have gone through TWO other computers since the last post!! They just don't make them like they used to. The new computers are designed to fail in a very short time. Then you have to buy a new one -- that is the point of the whole thing. If anything lasted too long, business would fail, so we have to make sure that you have to buy new things all the time. Nothing is made to last these days.

We live in a throw-away society. I see that all the time in this apartment building -- people throw out so many things that are still in fairly good shape, but may no longer work and no one wants to spend the time -- nor the money -- to repair anything now. After all, it will cost too much to repair, so we will just buy a new one! Most of the time, these items are still in good working order, but people just can't be bothered to take them with them when they move. They simply buy another one!! Money isn't a problem for many here.

But about my computers. I had one which was getting old and it just couldn't continue to work any more. After all, it was about 5 years old, so you can't expect anything to still work as it did when it was new! I wanted a small little laptop-type of machine, mainly to be used for internet access, and not as a main computer. I found one at The Source (formerly known as Radio Shack) and the price was acceptable. It was a nice little size (about 10" screen, I think) and it had enough buttons on it to do what I needed. It had only 250 GB storage, which was enough for my purposes. I wasn't going to keep much on that machine anyway. I did have a desktop for the main work. This one was an Acer, which is a lower-end brand.

But shortly after a year was over, it just stopped working. No big bang, no explosion, no whimper -- just shut down, and wouldn't start up again! It was no more!

I looked around, and found that the prices were best at The Source again. I eventually found one that had the things I needed and told the sales guy I wanted this one. It was another Acer. He went to the back room, and brought a box saying it has a different model number, but is the same machine. When I got it home, I could see it wasn't the same! The one I looked at had more USB ports and on the side. This one had only a few and on the back, which is most inconvenient. But it had to do.

I enjoyed working with it, and it was small enough that it fit into my little briefcase, and did what I needed. I used it mostly for access to the internet, and it did that well enough.

One day, just short of 6 months after I purchased it, it suddenly got really sluggish, and then starting closing programs, and shut itself off! And I could never boot it up again. It simple stopped working! No more to be said. I tried so many times, and it just would not start up again. I took it back to the store where I bought it, but they didn't want to have anything to do with me. They only make sales; they don't do repairs. I had to take it to some repair shop, or contact Acer and let them handle it.

But I needed one urgently, so ran around looking for a replacement. I went over to Best Buy and they had a couple that looked like they would fit my purposes, but the prices were far too high. In talking to salesperson (they all tried to avoid me at all costs), I was told that I should wait for about 2 weeks  until Black Friday and I should be able to get one of them at a substantially reduced price.

So I waited. It was torture! I was able to go over to a friend's and use the computer to check on emails, and I used the computers at the library as well. When the Big Sale came around, I went back to Best Buy and looked for the big deals. No such thing!! In fact, the little machine that I quite liked 2 weeks earlier had INCREASED in price by $100! That is the way Best Buy works -- raise the prices, and then pretend to put them on sale. People are so easily duped!

So I turned around and went over to Staples, and found a nice laptop that I liked. At the cashier, when he started adding in all sorts of "extras", the price was going up and up! I said I am not paying for anything extra; I want the computer only, and nothing more. You have to watch everything they do! Suddenly, all the things that come with the machine were "extra charges". However, when I brought it home, I discovered it was so HUGE! It was much larger than I had wanted -- somehow I was anxious to make sure it had enough USB ports and other features, that I overlooked the size of the machine. And it is heavier than I like. But it was too late to take it back now, so I had to keep it. It will have to do for now.

I had been in touch with Acer tech support to see if they had a suggestion on how I could get this machine to boot up. No ideas. A few weeks later, I contacted them again, and we went through a bunch of check-points and still couldn't get it working. I was really frustrated -- obviously, he didn't speak English, and seemed to be using Google translate for our communications. I gave up!

Eventually, I had to contact them once more. I HAD to know what to do with this thing -- it still had a warranty in effect -- and he (or she; you don't know who you are speaking to from India) said I will have to send it back to the head office and they will try to repair it. I know all it needs is a new HD and O/S -- but all my files were lost forever.

So in late March, I packed it up and sent it back to Ontario to the head office. I still haven't heard anything from them since -- I guess it takes time for them to get to all those machine being returned. I was told by a tech guy here that Acer is junk. He has seen so many of them needing fixing, and there is nothing you can do with them. They are very poorly made, and aren't worth buying. That is why they are so low priced. Now I know!! We will see what Acer will do with this one; it is still covered by the new warranty. The other one I had was just over a year and the warranty had expired, so there is nothing I can do about that one. But lessons learned!

Now I have a HP -- which my tech shop tells me is very poorly made as well. He says he has seen so many of them coming in for repair as well. He thinks they are junk -- not worth buying. Well, that may be. I am not expecting this one to last much longer. I don't put anything important on it, so that when it does fail, I won't have lost anything. Just can't take chances any more!

In with the New

I have just taken down the old calendar of 2014 and put up the new one. It is the start of a new year, a new start. The days are getting longer (really, they are!), and summer will soon be here.

What better way for a youngish single man to celebrate New Year's Eve than to do some knitting! And that is what I did. Actually, I started this on Dec 30, and completed it on the 31st.

I was looking around for something to do, and reached into a bag laying nearby, and found a ball of cotton, in black. Now I have learned many years ago, not to do anything in black! It is so very difficult to see the stitches, no matter how bright the light is. I found that only natural daylight worked the best. Even a cloudy day was better than the brightest tungsten light in the house.

One of my favourite go-to things for me to knit is a dishcloth. I have one in the kitchen that I use all the time, and needed more. My usual pattern is the basketweave, in various sizes. It is a combination of knit and purl, which makes for more interesting knitting, although doesn't require constant attention. It is my usual mindless knitting while watching a movie or a TV show.

I did this one in 3-3 design, but could have used any other combination. I kept the 3 outside stitches in garter, and that blended in well. 

As I've said, black is not easy to work with. This yarn had some thick and thin sections, which does add texture, but was much more difficult to read the knitting itself. I have done this in several colours, as you can see, and the light pastel shades are better for showing off stitch patterns. But these dishcloths do get stained very quickly, so the black may be better. I did find that a lot of the black/purple dye came out when I first washed this one, and it will continue doing so for many washes to come. As long as I don't lay the wet black dishcloth on anything white to dry, I should not have any trouble with it. I had it blocking before midnight.

To all my virtual friends, I want to wish you all the best of good things in 2015. May there be plenty of knitting in your future!

New Sock!

Right after I finished those last grey socks, I immediately cast-on for another one! I had been thinking about this one while working on the grey pair, so had to get started while it was still fresh in my mind.

I have been thinking about doing a small workshop with a few girls at work that had asked about knitting socks. But I wanted to have a "teaching sock" to show them the different things involved in knitting a sock. I had seen this somewhere on a site, but really needed to make one for myself as a teaching aid.

So here is my "teaching sock":

-- and yes, I just made one!

Each colour represents a different part of the sock. There is a different technique or pattern used in each section. Looking at it this way, I think it will be less daunting for anyone to start on a sock. It really is not that hard! By working each section, one at a time, in the right order, you can easily complete a sock. There are no new techniques used here that any intermediate beginner doesn't already know, so there won't be anything new to learn. You already know everything necessary to knit a sock! You just need to know which to use where and how to switch from one to the other.

That's why I find knitting a pair of socks so interesting to do. Each section is quite short -- there really isn't time to get bored with it before you have to switch to something else. There is always something "new" to do to keep your interest high. And each sections is quite short that you are finished the sock before you know it! This one took me about 3 evenings, which is a lot faster than most other things we knit.

Now all I need is to get the girls together all at the same time, and we can get started!

Uncle socks

About two years ago, I decided I wanted to knit something for my uncle. And, looking around, it seemed obvious that he would like a nice pair of socks. That is something everyone can use. He was having some trouble with his feet, or legs, or something, so socks seemed like a nice idea.

I started on the socks with commercial yarn since I had it handy. I started on the toes, and when I got to the heel, I couldn't decide on how to do them. I wanted to reinforce the bottom of the heel in some way since that is where most socks get holes. But I had trouble determining how to do it properly, so I just left them. For a very long time! And there they still sit, mocking me!

Eventually, I started a new pair but with my hand spun this time. It is not the softest wool, but I wanted these to wear well. They aren't scratchy, but are good enough for socks. Since it is not very fine yarn, they are a little thicker and will work well in boots, or sandals. And that is how these will be used, I think.

I started these at the toes, since I like that construction. I just love doing Jenny's Magic Cast-on! I think it is so ingenious, and so simple to do, and looks great! So that is what I used.

I couldn't find long enough circulars to do two at a time, so used only one circ and then double points! Hey, you use what you have handy. You can see below how I did them -- one circular needle for the top and then double points for the sole of the sock. I decided to put in some ribs on the top half of the sock, just to make it fit snugly. (Yes, I used red yarn markers)

I increased for the gusset, then turned the heel -- which again is very interesting to do -- and did the peasant heel flap in reverse.

Again, all fun to do. I did the ribbing all the way around the leg.

I decided not to do anything different for the cuffs -- just use the ribbing I had already established, and they worked just fine. I cast off loosely, and darned in that one end! Done.

I had originally planned on doing the toes and heels in a contrast colour, and completely forgot when I got these started! I was so excited doing the Magic Cast-on that I didn't realize I was using the wrong colour. Never mind. These work just fine as they are. Next time, I'll pay more attention. Which reminds me -- I should cast on for a pair for myself!

More Spinning

I think I may have mentioned some time ago that I had received a part of a fleece from a woman I know that has three "pet" ewes. They are of indeterminate breed, but do have quite a nice fibre. I had used some of it before, and asked if I can get some more. She very kindly brought me more.

It was raw fleece. There is the usual dirt and grime in the fleece, but were relatively free of vegetable matter.

I was able to pick out the locks, and I washed them individually. I then laid them out to dry, making sure they were in the same direction. Later, I combed them carefully, and made a sliver out of each combing. I spun all the singles from the cut end, naturally very fine and all on my trusty CD spindle.

Because I wanted a very soft spun yarn, I put only enough twist in the singles to hold together. Usually, I put in added twist, which produces a good firm yarn and give me good definition when knit. But I wanted something very light this time. I used my spindle as a supported spindle, so that there was little weight on the very fragile single strand. Being so fine, it could not support that much weight. But it only took a few spins to give enough twist to hold these fibres together. You really don't need that much twist in a yarn!

It took a very long time to fill one cop on the spindle. Of course, I am spinning as fine as possible, and I think as I get more practice, I am getting finer and finer! It was fun to do. I would put on a movie or some TV shows, and spin away. I can get many kilometres done in very little time!

I have plied all these singles I had. Then this weekend, I decided it was time to put them into a skein and wash the yarn, and get working with it. I have a project I want to make with it, and there is a time crunch now! I didn't measure how much yarn I have in the skein.

The fleece is natural white, which is actually an off-white. I washed the two skeins I produced, and then hung them to dry. It really didn't take that long to dry. Our climate is very dry and now very hot, and perhaps the finer yarns meant it dried very fast.

So here is a look at my skeins. That is one strand on the dime, but there is a reflection off the mirror finish which I didn't notice at the time I took the photo. This is all two-ply, even though you can't see the strands too clearly this way.

There is a great deal of elasticity in the yarn -- it looks very soft and delicate, but when you put some tension on the yarn, it stretches very far, and holds together surprisingly well! It is quite strong. I'm very pleased with it.

So now to start the knitting. This time, I will do a gauge swatch!

Newest Lace Project

For the last little while, I have spinning some wool I got from a friend. I am enjoying washing the locks, combing them, and spinning the very fine singles.

But to take a break from all that spinning, I wanted to have some knitting on the go as well. I have been watching Chicago Fire (and the companion series, Chicago PD) and need to have something to do with my hands or else I fall asleep!

I found a really nice shawl called Ashton shawlette, by Dee O'Keefe, free on Ravelry. It's very simple to do, basic design of double-down triangular shawl. As I was working on it, I thought it looked rather small, so repeated some of the patterns to add more rows than usual, and I'm glad I did. It ended up being a good size this way, and I do like the additional pattern repeats. It is really very simple to do, rather basic and boring if you are used to something more complicated, but is interesting enough to keep you going through it. It's a very good introduction to lace knitting, since it is very logical, and you will be able to "read" your knitting as you work, and can predict what is to come just from seeing where you have been! Simple pattern with astounding results.

Here are some pics of it on my blocking wall:

I used a bright red yarn for this from my stash. I thought it was wool, but there was no label on the cone. As I was working with it, it felt rather harsh in my hands, so I thought it was some sort of acrylic. But I stayed with it, despite the feel. When I washed it, a lot of the red came out in the water, so I knew it wasn't acrylic! It softened up really well once washed, so I think it is wool. It has a very high twist to the ply, which is probably why it felt hard. But I like the elasticity in the yarn because of that.

I really liked doing this one, and I think I may do another, in a different colour. Maybe with the yarn I am spinning now!

Check Everything!

Last week, I went over to Safeway since there were a few things in their flyer that I wanted. The prices were acceptable, although not at any reduced price. I know the regular prices, and Safeway (as well as every other store) will artificially inflate the prices for a short time, and then "reducing" the price down to regular, and we [less-than-bright] shoppers think it is a good deal. But you can't always trust those lower prices.

So they had 10-lb bags of potatoes for $3.99, which a good price considering they normally are at about $9. On the other side of the table were 5-lb bags for $3.49...and the 10-lb bags were $3.99. Now I don't understand the logic here! I don't normally like a large bag like that because I don't have anywhere to keep potatoes for so long, and by the time I get to the bottom of the bag, they are soft or have sprouted.

However, I decided to take the larger bag, and will have to use them up quickly in some way. I picked up a few other things as well.

The cashier was one of those chatty types, which I find annoying, but I was civil and tried to respond when I really had to (at the minimal). And there was some confusion about which bag I wanted to use, since I had brought my own. Anyway, I filled my shopping bag and left the store. The one thing I always have to do is go over the receipt before I leave the cashiers counter, no matter how long the line is behind me. This time, I didn't. I have been surprised by what they charge me other times.

When I got home, I started supper, and had to cook up a couple of potatoes. I really do enjoy my potatoes! And while it was cooking away, I went to the computer and entered my expenses on my accounting program. I am a former bookkeeper, so like to do these entries and get all kinds of reports (okay, so I am a nerd), and see who is taking all of my money! That is when I discovered that I was charged $8.99 for the potatoes! I know the sign at the store clearly said these were on special for $3.49!! I made the mistake of not checking the receipt at the store, even though I thought the total was slightly higher than it should have been for a few items. I think it was this same cashier that tried to distract me at another time and she failed to give me a $10-dollar bill in change. That is why I always check before I leave.

So my warning to you is always keep an eye on what you are being charged. Check it before you leave the cashier counter... and you can catch any error right then. I don't know if the cashier takes the extra herself, or whether she gets any kind of bonus, but I was overcharged, and I don't like it much.

This is one of the reasons I haven't been to Safeway for a long time. This kind of thing has happened a couple of times, and I just scratch them off my list of places to shop. I thought I was being careful, but got distracted once more. I am very careful when I go to any store, but this time I slipped up. I have to say she was pretty good. Very unassuming, really slick and that is why she is so successful.

You just can't trust anyone anymore!

I'm Ba-a-a-ack!

Okay, so I didn't realize how long since I have posted to my blog. But I haven't been away, just busy. You know how it is, you get things working on on a few things, time just goes by, and suddenly it's months later.

I have been knitting, and will post a few pics of some of the things I made. I also have been spinning, and have used up most of my fibre. I do have one bundle of lovely combed top, which I am not sure how to spin, so it is waiting. I did spin up another bundle in the same colourway previously, trying to separate out all the different colours, and then plying them back in different combinations, but nothing was quite what I liked. So it needs to wait until it decides how it should be finished.

The other night, as I got into bed, I heard a crashing in the other room! I got up to take a look, and found a pile of boxes had fallen into my one open working area but couldn't really see where they had come from! And then noticed one of my towers of boxes had fallen over -- it was bound to happen since it was slightly on an angle -- but I didn't want to deal with it then. In the morning, I got up and decided I had to clear it up before I could get to work on anything. In the process, I found many of the scarves I had woven so many years ago. They had price tags on them, from the time I was selling them at some sales. I packed them up into boxes once more! It was nice to see them again, and remember that I did good work back then.

I also found that a couple of boxes had cones of yarn on them! Some were huge cones, of very fine yarn. I don't know when I will ever use them up, unless I get back into weaving. Knitting would last a lifetime, I'm sure. Not sure yet what I will do with those.

But the greatest find was a box with huge bags of fibre in them. I could just barely make out the writing on the outside of the bag -- 1 lb alpaca. Wow! I was just saying that I wanted some alpaca, and here it is. Amazing how the Universe provides when you ask properly! I guess I had purchased these so very long ago, put them away (as I do with most things) and promptly forgot about them. There is a rusty grey/brown, a mottled silver/grey and a white. This is raw fleece, very dusty, what I saw had a lot of VM in it. I combed and spun a bit of it last night, and will continue to do more. I am spinning it fine, but would like a thicker yarn. I'm going to have to try very hard to spin it thicker, but it just wants to be this fine! Really, it does. After I ply it, I'll see how it looks, and may use it just as it is for something. I'm trying very hard not to put much twist into it.

I do want to do some very thick cowls, but I really don't think I will be able to spin yarn that thick. I just can't do it! I may have to combine it with some other yarns to make a bulky yarn that way.

The main reason I haven't posted here much is that I don't have internet at home anymore. Late in the summer, the cable company I was with (Shaw), had a fire in their office complex. After that, connection with them was very sporadic and intermittent. Eventually, it just stopped. When I went down to their office, they told me everything is working fine. Except I know it was not. And that was the end of that. I paid for the month of August and only got a few days out of it, and never heard from them since.

I've been trying to get internet only (without telephone service) with Telus, another provider here. But they have high connection fees, or something, and after paying over $900, I still don't have anything. I keep on trying, and I won't pay any more money to them, so I think we've reached an impasse. Of course, they have the controls, so there isn't much I can do until they deem me worthy of their over-priced services! I don't know where this will end. That money may just be lost now.

It's been bitterly cold here for the last few weeks. Winter came early this year, and hard. Although this is Canada, and I have seen winters with a lot of snow before, this time it seems to be much harder to bear. Perhaps I am older, or perhaps the winters are much more severe. It's a good time to stay indoors, and knit. Which I will do. I will attempt to get some pics posted in the next few days to show you what I have been up to lately.

I just realized that this is my anniversary day! I started blogging this date in 2005. Wow -- nine years! Doesn't seem that long, and I've got nothing so show for it! :-)

Enough is enough

When I was a youngster, and when I wanted more of a treat, Mom would ask "Haven't you had enough yet?" Well, really, wouldn't you think that if I had enough, would I ask for more? It was a very simple issue then -- I knew when I had enough, and when I still wanted more.

Now that I am older, and now that I have to decide for myself when I have had enough, and knowing that a lot of things are not good for us (me specifically) when taken in excess, the issue is much more complex. There are many more factors to consider, and it is harder to know when enough is enough.

And so now that I am spinning, my spinning teacher and the books I've read all warned me to be careful not to over-twist. But they never said how much is enough. We are told to put in "enough" twist in the yarn, and that it should be suitable for the intended purpose. Ah-ha! So now we have to know how we intend to use this yarn, and to know how much twist we are going to need. As we study further, we find out that the amount of twist will determine how soft this yarn will be, how well it will wear, the texture it will produce in knitting or weaving. This spinning thing is not as easy as I thought it would be!

When I first began spinning, and when I did a balanced ply, I found that my yarn was sadly very poorly plied, and very wimpy. I wanted a sturdy yarn, with good definition, and that didn't split for me when I was knitting with it. So I was sure to put in lots and lots of twist when plying. In fact, I was vastly over-plying -- but it did give me a yarn I liked. There was some kinking when in the skein, or when using it, but that was alright. Certainly, I can "set the twist" and it would be just fine.

So I have now decided it is time to do a study and find out how much twist we really need in a yarn. What effect does under-twist or over-twist have on our work? Does the twist really matter that much?

I have spun and knitted a couple of samples for you with singles, and with a 2-ply yarn. First, I used a single that had a moderate amount of twist (neither too loose or too tightly twisted) and have knit a swatch.

You will see that the swatch is fairly even, and rectangular. (There is some curling, but that is stockinette)

I then did another swatch with a single that had a lot more twist in it. I then washed and blocked the yarns with some tension to keep it straight, and it looked very nice and normal (no excess twist). You can see it here

and note that it is fairly rectangular. The stitches themselves are more mis-shapen, and "irritated".

The final swatch is a 2-ply yarn. I have part of it with a balanced yarn, and then with an over-twisted ply.

You can see the the bottom half is decidedly angled, while the top is even and rectangular. The bottom half is the over-twisted yarn, and seems to have some slant.

I remembered that many people have told me that you can block out your knitting, or that they will settle down once you have washed the pieces, or have "set the twist". So I did that. I soaked and washed the pieces together and then laid them out on a towel to dry. I patted them flat, and let them take the shape they wanted.

Here, you can see the first swatch with the moderate twist in a single.

It has retained its rectangular shape, and seems to be very much as expected.

The overly twisted single swatch really shows what can happen with a strong twist -- even though I had "set the twist"!

It biased badly!! It is nearly a diamond shape, and that is not what I wanted. The stitches themselves seem to be settled, but the whole piece has bent all out of shape.

The swatch with the plied yarn shows this dramatically.

The bottom, with overly twisted yarn, still is slanted, while above it, with the balanced yarn, shows a nicely-shaped rectangular piece of knitting. I think that I could have blocked the bottom section nice and straight, but I feel that it would all slant again when it was washed the next time. All of these washed pieces were simply laid out flat to dry; I did not pin them or stretch them in any way. It has helped somewhat in that the stitches are knit fairly tight, so there is not much room to move around.

I have a t-shirt that twists on me. That is, the side seams don't stay on the sides. There is a definite twist to the whole t-shirt; the body turns slightly to the right from the arms down. It's an undershirt, so it doesn't matter too much, except it is hard for me to accept that it won't hang properly! I can see how annoying it would be if it was an outer-wear shirt with seams that would not lay where they should. I would be constantly trying to straighten it, and it would just move back where it wanted!

This brings me to the question of what would happen if I blocked the twist out of the yarn, knit a garment and then sold it. The buyer would take it home, and eventually wash it. BROING!! It would twist all out of shape, bringing tears to a young mother, thinking that she had ruined her darling daughter's lovely little sweater! When in reality, it was not her fault at all, but the fault of the spinning. Should I warn her not to wash it?

I wonder whether many knitters -- or even many spinners -- are aware of the effect twist has on their knitting. They understand that yarn is made of twisted fibres (in some weird way), but that might be the extent of it. Are knitters aware that they put in Z twist with every stitch (throwers, or English knitters)? Luckily, most knitting yarns are S-spun, Z-plied to compensate for that. Do they know that they put in twist when taking yarn from the centre of the ball, and the opposite twist from the outside?

Now, does this really matter at all? Isn't knitting just supposed to be fun?

Cotton

For the last several weeks, I have been spinning some cotton. Actually, it's been for many, many weeks -- I don't really remember how long -- but cotton is not a very fast fibre to spin.

I located two grocery bags of raw ginned cotton; I don't really remember where or when I got them. I seem to gather lots of things with the idea that one day I would make use of them. Sometimes it is many, many years before I find what to do with them, but usually I make use of it all.

Cotton is a very short fibre. It is very fine, and quite delicate. It doesn't card that easily. You need special equipment to card cotton. I don't have that equipment. I do have some small cards, which work quite satisfactorily with wool, but is not so good with cotton. I tried a little bit, and I created a lot -- and I mean A LOT -- of noils!

I did spin those little batts, but was not very satisfied with the result. I also made some punis, and that made spinning a bit easier.
It is a whole different technique than one uses with wool. I was never very good with the long draw, but have now learned to do that. You really spin better with the long draw with cotton.
So eventually I settled on drawing a small tuft of cotton over the teeth of the carder, and "combed" it that way. It's slow, but works quite well. I didn't get so many noils this way.

You may know that cotton needs a lot of twist. In fact, you need to put in far more twist than you think is possible, and maybe just a little more. Cotton is very resilient, and can withstand much twist. It needs it. It is a short fibre, and does not have any scales as does wool. So in order to hold itself together, it needs a lot of twist. It also cannot be spun thick. For that reason, you will find that cotton is usually a multi-ply yarn to give it some thickness, and strength.

I was going to make this a 2-ply yarn to knit a special project this summer. I may not get it finished until Christmas, but there is no time limit on these things! Ha-ha-ha. But after looking at some samples of the 2-ply, and seeing how thin it still is, and seeing it is somewhat uneven, I decided that I would do a 3-ply instead. So it's a bit more spinning; that's alright. There is no deadline!

I had forgotten how long it takes to spin cotton. I remember spinning some about 20 years ago. At that time, I made it a point to spin each and every day, even for a few minutes. I was working very long late hours back then in a stressful position, so even when I came home after midnight, I always sat down and spun for about 10 minutes or more. I found that it helped me "unwind" while I was winding the cotton!! There is a meditative quality to spinning, which I used to advantage. I found that spinning for a few minutes would relax me enough so that I could get to sleep, and be rested enough to be back at work early the next morning. Very often I would sit far longer than I expected since I really found it so enjoyable.

But it took me a long time to fill one bobbin! I seem to recall that it took well over a month to fill one bobbin. I did a 2-ply, as I recall, and just doing one bobbin of plyed yarn took me almost 2 full weeks!

This past Sunday, as I was reaching the bottom of the first bag of cotton, I could see a piece of paper in the bottom. It probabnly was a label of some sort, but forgot what it said -- probably where it came from. I reached down and felt that it was a rather stiff piece of paper. Pulling it out, I can see that it was a card in an envelope!  It was addressed to "Mr. Super Spinner"! Inside was a card with a lovely picture of a lighthouse on it. Inside, a short note addressed to me saying "A box full of cotton for you".

Then I remembered: this came from a dear friend of mine several years earlier, who had some cotton she said she wasn't going to use, and she sent it to me. I remember that I wasn't prepared at that time to do anything with it, but as with all things I have, I would use it "one day". That was in June of 2006. The day had finally come.

I have been so truly blessed to have met some absolutely wonderful and precious friends through fibre. This was a friend that I have known for many years, but have never met. We were "friends" through the internet. I can't remember how long it has been, but we used to meet twice a week, most times, for an internet chat. There was a small group that used the chat room through All Fiber Arts, but sadly, that chat has now dimished. There are people from across Canada, from Rhode Island, from Ohio, and even New Zealand. Through the years, we have gone through all kinds of tribulations and joys. We had a lot of good laughs, and have helped each other through difficult periods. We still keep in touch by email. I value these friendships better than most others, because we have survived for so long, and have shared so many parts of our lives.

So to you, Kessie, thank you so much for your gift of the cotton. I am spinning it now, and thinking of you often. Your generosity of sending me all this cotton, to someone you have not met, touches me deeply. I am going to use this to make something special (details will come later after I get started) and will treasure this as something that comes with a very unique story. Kessie, you are a very special lady.

Catching up

I really thought I had written something recently! I must still have it in my head and have not uploaded to the blog! Happens quite a lot.

Last week, as I was walking to work at about 8 am, I noticed the sun was now shining directly in my eyes, and it was looking directly down the avenue. Remember I told you it had happened in September, and now it is doing it once more. I thought it would be sometime in early April, but I miscalculated. This time, the sun is on its trip down south. The days are much longer now, and the weather seems to be improving, but some days its hard to tell. I didn't wear any mittens to work this morning, and it was a bit chilly, but I refuse to accept that it is still winter! Although the calendar says it is spring, I really question that. We had some snow flurries yesterday.

I was looking at the Nanking Cherry bush in the next block this morning on my way to work. I am expecting it to burst out in blooms sometime in May. We then get one more final snowfall, which knocks the blossoms off, and we get no fruit! That's what happened last year. I think I only saw about 5 green cherries last year, and never got to taste any in the fall at all. Some years are like that.

I did find some Saskatoons in my freezer that I picked last year. I decided I needed to make room for other things, so took some out (still have more left) and cooked them up, thinking I would make some jam. They didn't want to break up! I tried mashing them too, but they are stubborn things. No matter. I will eat them up as they are. They are very good -- at least, I like them -- and have been using it for a topping on my cake (I made 3 last week; yes, they are all gone now).

What have I bee doing all this time? Well, I located two large grocery bags of raw ginned cotton that I acquired from somewhere, and I started to spin it. I did spin some many years ago, and I recall it took me a very long time to fill only one bobbin. I now remember clearly all over again! It does take a long time to fill one bobbin, mainly because the wheel I was using has a very low ratio and you need to put a lot of twist into cotton. I need to dig out (and I really do mean "dig out") one of my other wheels with a higher ratio and see if I can be more productive. I have to card the cotton first, make some punis, and then spin. But I don't have cotton cards, which means that my regular cards are creating too many noils and I don't want that. So I carefully use the teeth of the cards to "comb" the cotton, and I'm much happier with the result. However, this still takes time and slows down the whole process.

I have a project in mind that I want to do this summer, and I think it would be nice to use my own hand-spun cotton. It is going to be very fine. So I was toying with the idea of doing a 3-ply yarn... and then thought of all the extra spinning I need to do, and may re-think it later. Right now, I'm just spinning the singles, and will see what I do with them later.

There have been some other spinning and some knitting that happened during my long absence. I will post some pics later on. But this cotton is taking so much of my time right now that there hasn't been much else going on. On the weekends, I sit and spin all day long, watching some old TV westerns, until the sole of my foot (not my ankle) gets really sore. But I am making a lot of progress, and think I will get enough done by the time I start on my knitting project later this year.

That will have to be all for now, but wanted to let you know I am still here, doing fine, being very busy, and I don't seem to be getting anywhere. And so it goes.

New Year

It is really bad if you have to check your blog to see when you last posted! And I was horrified to learn it was sometime late last year!! I know I've written many since then, usually only in my head as I am walking to or from work, and there are a number in my Draft folder, but they never actually were published. So are many other things in my life now too.

I have been extremely busy with a very long and horrible trial that has gone on far too long. However, the jury finally came in this week, and sentencing will proceed by the end of this week, and then there will be only some administrative work and it will be over. This one has surely taken much out of me. The financial cost is astounding, but the human cost is immeasurable! So many cases are the same.

During all this hub-bub, I have tried to keep a sense of some sanity and have been spinning. A long time ago, probably nearly a year ago, I picked up a large bag of some unspun roving at a good price. Little by little, over the summer and fall, I have spun it up and then finally plied it all. I had a lot -- enough for a good-sized sweater, I would think. It's not terribly soft wool, but would be excellent for outer wear, and I may have a few ideas in mind for it.

This was all spun on my wheel -- I felt guilty for neglecting my poor little wheel -- and plied on my trusty CD spindle (because it holds more yarn), and I put as much on the spindle as I could for the plying. I created these adorable little beehives! I didn't make up any skeins -- I just left them in these hive-shaped cones, and will put them into skeins later on, when I have nothing else to do! ha-ha The colour is a mid-grey-brown, rather neutral, and I may over-dye it at some stage to give it more depth. But that is another project.

Unfortunately, the masters of this site (that unnamed G-word) will not allow me to insert a photo I have prepared of these cones, so you will just have to see them here: beehives

I've also been doing more spinning with the white fleece, and that will be in another posting. The weather has been terribly cold here for a few days (-30C at times) and then it is above freezing on another! One never knows what to wear to work, because it can change by the time you go home! Still, there has only been just a skiff of snow, and it all melts in a few days. Not so where Mom lives; she has had a lot of snow, and high winds, and very low temperatures. I'm glad I left long ago, but it's harder on her now that she is older. the only bright spot in all of this is that on most cloudy mornings, I can see the sun shining on the snow-covered mountains from my apartment and from work. I do have to say that is a very nice sight to see. I may have included a photo of the mountains from here in an earlier post. More to come.

Same fleece, new skein

Early this year, I obtained a handful of fleece from an indeterminate breed of sheep, which was lovely to work with. It was beautifully fine, and soft, and a joy to touch. I combed every lock carefully, keeping them all aligned, and spun it all on my spindle from the cut end. Of course, it had to be very fine!

I like good texture when I use a yarn for knitting, so I spun them with a lot of twist. You can see what happened when I plied the yarns! But they came out very nice when I washed the skeins. So it was all well in the end.

However, while working with the fleece, I kept thinking that I would like to spin a soft yarn too, just for comparison, and to see if I can do it. So I also combed the locks, and spun it true worsted as before on the spindle. The spindle kept falling to the floor because I didn't have enough twist in the yarns! It was a delicate operation to put in just enough to hold together and not much more. I had to concentrate to hard!

The plying was not much better. Because you lost about half the twist when plying, the singles would come apart very often, so I had to splice them together many times. I wanted to use up all the singles in the skein, so I made it as big as possible. The singles also had to be aligned, so there is a definite direction to the yarn. I wonder how I should knit it?

Here is a pic of my finished skein, with a penny for comparison. I do like this yarn, it is nice and soft, and looks like a yarn. I think it would be nice for next-to-skin wear... maybe a scarf or shawl of some kind. That will be determined later.

I want to wish you all the very warmest of Christmases, and much happiness (and good knitting) in the New Year. It must have been the end of an age last week, so we are now starting something new.Let's all have renewed energy, and new outlooks on life. It does get better!

Completed work

One of the things I like to do is look through second-hand or thrift shops for something that I might need. Often times, it’s not so much that I need it, as that I could make use of it. That is how I gathered together my sets of knitting needles. I say “sets” because I have more than one complete set: I have bamboo, plastic, metal, wooden in straight, circular, double-point. Most are packed away somewhere for we all just use our favourites most of the time.

On one visit, I located a rather large bag of yarn. Usually, all I can find are the oddments – something left from a project. Not quite enough to do anything substantial with it, and yet quite nice yarn. I then have to find something else that I could mix in with that to complete a project. But this time, it was a big bag with three huge balls of yarn. It was an afghan kit complete with instructions, and even needles. In fact, there was about 15 cm (6 inches) of work started. Perhaps it was someone that got ill and could not finish it, or someone that got really bored with it. The knitting was very well done – it was not some beginner here – so I was envisioning all sorts of scenarios of why it was being given up.

I felt that this project needed to be completed. Something that was started, and then interrupted for some reason, really needed to be finished, and I felt it was being presented to me to do the job. I imagined some elderly woman starting this for a new great-grandchild, became very ill or perhaps even passed away, and the work was not finished. It was up to me to carry on and get it done.

It was in three strong bright autumn colours: brown, orange and darker tan. And acrylic! But there was a set of circular needles, I think about 4 mm, and I’ve always wanted to do one of these. The price was right, so why not.

That was sometime early in the spring, I think. Since then, I’ve been working on it when the mood struck me, and then I really just wanted to get it done. It was a simple chevron design, quite boring to do, so it was perfect for those mindless movie-watching times. It was not very wide, perhaps a single person width. I didn’t know how long it should be, but just kept on working. I measured against myself, thinking it should be large enough to cover yourself from toes to nose. And there appeared to be enough yarn to make it so.

There were two stitches on each edge in garter stitch, but I didn’t like the way that looked, nor how it lay. The rest was in stocking stitch, which is okay for the front of the afghan, but since the other side would also be visible, I felt it needed to look good as well. I carried the yarns along the side, which was a bit cumbersome. I also felt that all three yarns should not be on the same side so I changed one to the other side… which meant that two of the colour changes began on one side and the other on the opposite side. It also meant that the pattern row had to be done for that one colour on the purl side… so that required some technical skill. Well, it was a boring job, so I had to add some interest to it!

I did consider lining this, partly to hide the ugly purl side, and to give it a bit more heft. But what do I use? Certainly, it had to have some stretch to match the knitted material, and soft and warm. I did consider knitted jersey, in some brushed finish, but decided against all that in the end. It will just have to be as it is.

As I was nearing the full length, and watching the amount of yarn I still had left, I began musing about putting a border around it all, which would finish the side edges nicely, and add some width to it as well. The trouble was the ends – because of the chevron design, how do you do a hem on that?

But I worked it out, thinking that I would like a folded hem. That is easy enough to do: knit to the width of the hem, do a purl round, and then knit the other side, grafting it on the final round. I had to be sure I had enough yarn left for the hem though!

All was working well, except for the ends. Remember this had that chevron pattern, so I was just able to continue the pattern for the front hem. I was able to pick up stitches easily on the caston edge. But the back side of the hem had to be done IN REVERSE design so that it would all lay flat neatly. I never thought of that until I actually started doing it.

So in the end, when I changed colours, I then just picked up stitches all around the sides and the other edge and continued the colour stripe. I then switched to the dark brown for the purl round, thinking a darker colour along the edge would set it off nicely, and then the colour sequence on the back side. By then, I was running dangerously close to running out of yarn, and when a colour ended, I just continued on with the next colour. If anyone examines it closely on the back side, he will see that the stripes aren’t exactly even all around!

In the end, I kind of like it. It is acrylic so won’t hold up well for long, so it was a waste of time to spend so much time on it for little use. It is on my bed already, so I am trying to get as much out of it as I can. I have collected a lot of the old Gunsmoke TV episodes (began in 1955) and watched them while knitting this afghan. Those early episodes are over 50 years old! And in black&white – does anyone remember those? I never watched these when they originally ran, but I do remember some of the later ones, in colour, when the series finally ended in 1975. This afghan took many, many episodes to complete!

Here are some pics. It’s really difficult to show you the true colour, but I think I got close to it. I’m showing you the overall appearance, and a close-up of the hem, both sides.

So while this is not the type of thing I would ever want to do for myself (not in acrylic!), I felt a sense of accomplishment that I finished something that was started (even if it wasn’t my own project at first) and that I will use it for a time instead of the intended recipient. Maybe there will be a feeling of completeness in the world now. I can only hope.

It's happened again

It happens twice a year – regular as clockwork. Well, actually, it IS clockwork!

Since the first day of summer, the sun starts its slow trip back to the south. At the height of summer, it rises far up into the north-east, makes its way to just a little south of us at noon, and then the slow descent to set in the far north-west. During a couple of weeks in June, you can actually see it sneak across the north just below the horizon to come back up in the east. At the summer solstice, we get about 16 hours and 38 minutes of daylight.

The avenues in our city run directly east-west, while the streets run north-south generally. At this time of year, and earlier in the spring as well, the sun rises directly in the east along the avenue. When I am walking to work in the morning, the sun is very low in the east and directly in my eyes. Everything in front of you is in dark silhouette; there is no colour! It makes driving very difficult. Walking is bad enough!

In spring, this occurred on April 9 or 10 this year. These are the only two times in the year that the shadows of the street signs and trees on the avenue are all parallel to the curbs. It’s a curious phenomenon. I’m sure that most people don’t even notice it at all, but I find it pleasingly comforting in some strange way that we can always depend on the sun appearing in the exact same spot year after year after year. I seem to like everything to line up in some way, for it all to be in the right place.

There is little in our world these days that can be said to be dependable like this. It seems everything and everyone is in a state of flux, very changeable. The only rule to follow is: “it depends”. There are too many variables in play to be able to make any kind of prediction with any reliability. We shall see what we shall see.

There is a change in the air already. I can feel a chill in the shadows, and in the air at night. The sun is still warm, but not with the burning intensity of mid-summer. I know fall is pushing its way in, and winter is not long after. This is my least favourite time of year. I have a feeling of dread, of foreboding, and of general dismay. I’ve always gone into a slight depression at this time of year for as long as I can remember. But being aware it is happening helps in the struggle to get through it.

I am working on a colourful afghan in fall colours! It has brown, rust and orange, so at least that is trying to put some brightness into my life. The pattern is very plain and oh-so boring to do, but I keep on plodding. Of course, it’s not a small item, so has been taking a long time to do, and I’m not sure of the final size. I was planning on working until I run out of yarn, but it just seems to go on and on and on! I keep thinking of doing a border all the way around it, and I may do that as well; that is still in the planning stages. It depends (see, I told you!) on how much yarn I have left when I finally determine to terminate this whole process. More about that later.

The Fall Equinox is in another two weeks, so enjoy the last few days of summer that you can. We’ve had just a hint of frost this past week, and this weekend, we are forecast to reach a high of +29!! (That is in Celsius, of course – I don’t know what that would be in American) We’ve only had a couple of days of +30 this summer as it is. As I said, everything is quite unpredictable. Very.