S of S and YARN CANDY!

Finally! I'm back! Well I didn't go anywhere but I've been very busy and had to leave the knitting community for a while. Lots to catch up on so here goes:

Summer of Socks: I am STILL working on the 2nd Monkey that I started on Canada Day, ya, July 1st. I know! But I told ya, I had to put "me" aside for a few weeks. So here I am knittng and drinking tea [Red Rose] at Seattle's last night.

See, I'm knitting again! It feels good to have time for me again. And I mean real time. DD1 is away at camp till Saturday [she left Sunday] and DD2 is attending a Day Camp this week with my nephew [whom she loves!]. On Tuesday my sister called and asked if DD2 could sleep over for the week. "What! The WEEK! I'll bring her over right now!" Hey, I LOVE my girls but I really stretched myself lately and needed refueling time. Thank you sister Shawne! I owe you! Hubby and I have been enjoying the time alone. Something I discovered this week: When the kids aren't around clothes are optional!

Here's what I was doing last night. Hubby, Barry, was taking engagement pictures of this cute young couple. I'm the assistant that carries stuff and holds the reflector. For those that don't know, Barry took photography at College before we met and instead of taking the great job he was offered at one of the top studios here, he went out to BC with a friend and became a trail cook on a dude ranch [the guy's got character]. His love of photography was put aside when we started a family and his equipment went out of date. This past Christmas, Santa [seriously, we have no idea where it came from] brought him a killer digital and he just start doing portraits and weddings again this summer but it is still a hobby....for now. [that's one kicking butt i've got there!]

Here's some yarn candy. I brought the yarn along to the park so Barry could take some good pictures in natural light. The bag is one I got for $5 a few weeks ago. Hard to resist a 5 buck bag. See what's peeking out? More on that tomorrow.

When ever my dad goes to Winnipeg [about 3-4 times a year, more often than me] he goes to Ram's Wool and brings me home something. Always something amazing, something I wouldn't be able to afford for myself very often or even treat myself too [Like most moms I have a hard time spending money on myself.] My dad has some kind of sixth sense about what to get. He knows very little about yarn and knitting. He says he just goes with his gut and never spends more than a few minutes in the store.

This yarn I received last Christmas from my sister but we all know who went to Winnipeg and picked it out. I absolutely love it. It is something from Fleece Artist. I'll have to see if I can find the tag. Fire colours are my favourite and the best colour to pair orange with is purple and this yarn has it all, including texture. I love texture. Must be why I love cables.

I haven't found a use for it yet but I just love looking at it and feeling it. I like having it. My dad doesn't quite get that part of knitting, just having great yarn. He asked me a few times if I used it yet but then stopped. I told him I have to just wait for the right project to use it on. It will come.


In the spring he brought me this: Cashmere. So soft and pretty.











pssst. creamy beauty. what do you want to be.










tomorrow I promise to post more yarn candy.
What I treated myself to when I went to Winnipeg.

Summer of Socks

Here I am in Winnipeg on my birthday, June 15th, surrounded by all my 4 sisters, mother and father celebrating with the Monkey sock! The weather was beautiful. Most of us had just arrived that afternoon after an 8 hour drive from Thunder Bay and relaxing in the backyard was perfect. One of my sisters looked at this picture and said, "Kellie, in her natural habitat."

I finished this sock on the way home but didn't start the 2nd one until Canada Day, July 1st.

Every year we [DH, DD1, DD2] go down to the Marina with thousands of others to celebrate. We find a place to set up our chairs in front of the Main Stage [there's 2 or 3 others] and that becomes 'home base'. From there we take turns going off to stand in line.

Stand in line for: free coffee, free cake [which was awesome], tickets for jumping on the bouncing stuff, jumping on the bouncing stuff, paddles boats and the food: ice cream, hot dogs, corn-on-the-cob, kettle corn, spring rolls, cotton candy. There are street performers everywhere, there's the big drum circle anyone can join and this year giant games were added [giant chess, checkers, jenga, etc]
It is prime territory for DH, Barry who is a photographer so he did most of the standing in line with the girls while I sat, knit and chatted with my DMIL. So the second Monkey sock will be counted as my 1st summer of socks sock. I am hoping to get at least 2 other pairs done. Tomorrow I will post the yarn I picked up in Winnipeg which includes the sock yarn I will be using.

So here's to 140 years, Canada and to the 1st sock of summer. A sock that will hold many good memories for me. Memories of sisters and joy in Winnipeg [more on that amazing weekend and what we were doing there on my other blog]. Memories of cool weather fun on the shores of Lake Superior. Reveling in the laughter of my girls, enjoying good food, good music, good company all in sight of the Sleeping Giant. Just made for a great Canada Day!

Looky what I did!

Playing catch-up here. This post has been unfinished since June 14th. The day after I was off to Winnipeg for the weekend and I haven't done much since. I have so much to tell and will try and blog everyday until I am caught up. Yet to come: yarn candy from Winnipeg and summer of socks progress.

I dyed the little yarn cake. I used Wilton icing colour, Delphinium Blue. I have done a lot of reading on dying and thought using something I already had in my cupboard was a good place to start. What is so cool about this is the dye colour split into different shades [as was discussed on the email group dyehappy] .

So I looked for how to do it. I don't know why I didn't think to just ask the email group but the result probably would have been just as confusing as what I found elsewhere on the web. Seems everyone has their own idea of how it should be done. Most recipes for Koolaid dying would contain references to Wiltons saying it is used the same or similar. So which is it? There is so much info out there on Koolaid dying, with conflicting procedures and methods I actually became overwhelmed and put off doing it because I couldn't decide what I should do. After a week of letting all that knowledge rattle around in my brain I just did it. I didn't bother following anyones recipe i just went with what had collected in my memory.


My process: Soak the yarn in a mixture of 1 cup water and 1/4 cup vinegar for an hour. I had discovered on some chat board that the difference between koolaid and wiltons is you need more vinegar with wiltons because koolaid has citric acid in it. Some dyers don't even bother adding any vinegar to koolaid. Some dyers cautioned using to much vinegar because it could damage the yarn and use as little as a tablespoon to a cup of water, others said that was rubbish and used as much as a 1:1 ratio of vinegar and water.

Use a toothpick to poke the Wiltons colouring into the wool in a few spots. I almost used to much colour. To encourage colour splitting using less is better.

I covered the cup with plastic wrap and microwaved the wool at 50% for 5 minutes. Raising the temperature of the wool slowly also helps with the splitting.

Let it set for 2 minutes. Microwave for another 5 minutes. Let set for 2 minutes. letting it rest helps prevent hotspots and scorching.

Continue to microwave and rest in 2 minute intervals until the water was clear.
I was soooo impressed when the water did clear. That's when I knew it was working!

And here she is, the one, the only, Little Cake: First Wool in Delphinium Blue!

First wool: I SPUN IT!

In this post we meet the 1st wool. learn how I did it and what I think about the information out there on processing wool-simply put: us newbies need help!

LOOK MOMMIE! I DID IT! My first little cake of homespun!

It's kinda shy, a little embarrassed. She's over spun in most places and not even spun in some. [I don't get it]. But maybe if we promise not to laugh or make fun of her she will come out of the shadows and into the light.

Come on little wool. We promise not to laugh. You look so cute, all wrapped up in your little cake. Come on.....that's right.......



There you are! aren't you sweet!


I think that is all we are going to get from her at the moment. If you click on her you will get a good close up. You will notice there is still some VM caught in there. I just couldn't get it all out with the carding and couldn't wait until I managed to get combs from who-knows-where.

I spun it on a spindle I made from a knitting needle and a CD. I got the plan for that from 'Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning' by Judith MacKenzie McCuin. I like the book. I like pictures. What I don't like is that Judith shows you how to make a spindle but then doesn't actually show using it. There are pictures about using a spindle just not the one homemade. For some reason that really bugged me. Like the instructions weren't complete.

The other thing that bugs me is that there are no step-by-step instructions that show how to take fleece from sheep to knitting needles. The instructions are there but they are not connected. This is a complaint I have across the board. I could not find step-by-step instructions anywhere. You can find instructions on washing, combing, carding, spinning and whatever else but nothing that said what comes next. Like: step 1) wash the fleece like this...... 2) card.... 3) comb..... 4) spin..... or whatever. I had to do a lot of reading and research to find out what the different steps were and then figure out what order they go in. I am still not sure I have it right. It seems no one out there has thought that there are those of us who know literally nothing about it and need to be held by the hand and taken through the step-by-step procedure.

I had washed and carded until I was sick of it and still had VM. There must be something else. The closest I came to a step-by-step procedure was in the files of the Spin List at yahoo groups. The file is called "Fleece to Yarn". 'Hurray!' I thought, "Finally I can find out what to do after I card". I read step one about skirting - check - , step two is washing, - check - , step 3 is dying, will do that later, this fleece still has VM!, step 4: comb, card or flick.....so what about them? That's it. This is the step I have all the questions about. No where can I find why you would do one over the other, what the benefits of each one are. What my next step should be.

I got an answer on youtube. Yah, no kidding. Rexenne shows how to use combs here . She talks about how it can help remove VM and separate out the short fibers and leave you with only the long fibers. Eureka! The info I have been looking for. Because the sheep was sheered by ametures short fibers [second cuts] are an issue. OK, I need combs....and a ditz, finally saw what your supposed to do with that too. Yes, I know all this info is in the book and elsewhere but this was the 1st time i saw anything about combing helping to remove VM and that it is this process that makes those nice, big, fluffy balls of ready-to-spin fiber you see in the store AND online and IN THE BOOK! CONNECTION COMPLETE!

Maybe its because I am a visual learner I had a hard time connecting the dots or maybe this really is a short coming in the spinning community. It seems everyone who puts fiber and spinning info out there assumes their reader has at least some kind of basic knowledge to start with. Well I had none! I did A LOT of research and reading to obtain the knowledge that I have now. I just wish I could have received it in all one go from somewhere.

Now I want to test dye my little test cake. Then I'll test knit it into a swatch and keep it as a reminder of my beginnings because this is NOT the end. There will be more. I have to get better at this and put to good use all the knowledge I have.

Monkey Love Casts On!

Coming at ya.....

I asked Barry to take a picture of the Monkey sock I cast on so I had something to post to ravelry. The next thing I know he's all:

click....click

'hold the
light here'

click....click
'now this way'
click....click

After several minutes of that I changed the arrangement.




click...click

come close







click....click...click

get back















Several minutes later... I started getting board so it started getting weird.

dancing monkey.

I grabbed the yarn and danced the needles like it was a marionette. Who says monkeys don't have strings? [Brent!]
[little inside joke for Canadians, and if you are Canadian and you don't get it.....what!....your Canadian and don't watch Corner Gas until you can quote it? for shame]


Still it went on......











and on..... Picture this if you dare: Two adults, on their bed, the woman is bouncing a square of sticks and string around the pillow while the man is clicking away, coming close, backing up, lying down, sitting up, adjusting the light.....please stop.


And then, about 20 minutes [in all] later.....
finally it did.....
but isn't all that jitterbug yarn candy delightful!?! yum!

My Birthday Present

That's my ball of Colinette Jitterbug in Jewel that I gave to myself being held by one of my other Jewels, Bronwyn.


Here is how I wrap it in a ball: drape the skein over my knees and start winding. [man, i really need to do some sit-ups]

This is my favourite chair. It's comfy and deep. It's in the corner with a floor lamp right behind it. The tv is in the other corner on my right. The couch is on my left so there is little reason for anyone to block the tv in case I should want to look up while knitting. That's my knitting bag [just like my grannie's!] nestled inbetween the chair and wall and you don't want to know what is going on behind the chair in the corner. It's my little world of yarn.


Here is it, glissining in the sun!











And here: in the form of two lovely yarn cakes...still attached, in case they are not even because I am about to cast on Monkey. I plan to go with the picot edging as exalted and described by Cara. Her blog is the coolest ever! No matter how many times you click 'refresh' the banner photo is always different. Love her sense of colour.

Don't be surprised if there are more lovely pics of this yarn. I love it. At $25.00 A SKEIN, yes, for one skein it will make the most expensive pair of socks I think I will ever own but....the most beautiful as well.

I'm Invited! I'm Invited! I'm Invited!

Ah, Ah, Ah! breath.
It finally came! My invite from Ravelry!!!!
I am, of course, Redplaid. I will be there for a while reveling in Ravelry.

Lickity Split! Barba-Knit?

YouTube does it again.
Barbapapas popped into my mind the other day and the weird thing is [ok, the fact that Barbapapa came to mind is weird] of the 2 English episodes on YouTube one is about sheep shearing.....

Why YouTube Won't Let Me Sleep.

Three words people, "Vintage", "Sesame", "Street"!
here's a knitting sampling of what I mean, enjoy:

Cleaning the Fleece....stinkin' fleece!

And I mean STINK--IEEEE!
In this post I tell my personal experience but also give info on how to clean fleece. Here are some resources I found useful: The Joy of Handspinning, Ask the Bellwether, and two Yahoo groups: Spin-List and Spindlers. To look at the photos with more detail just click on them.
Here it is in the backyard on a clean sheet before cleaning. I laid it out, best I could, just to get a look at it and see what I was up against. It was so dirty, full of hay and dust and who-knows-what-else which is all called "VM" - vegetable matter. The part I am picking up here is from the shoulders. You will notice that the back end looks cleaner and it is. I was surprised. I did have to pull of the poopie tuffs [which really isn't that bad because it is dry. I learned that these are called "tags"]. The shoulders have a lot of hay bits in them because they like to hang out with the horses. They stand under the horses' heads so while the horses are eating they drop hay bits on their back. The hay gets embedded all the way to the skin. When you pick the dirtiest parts off the fleece it is called "skirting " All this lingo is new to me.

I like this quote from Amelia's blog [where I got a lot of good info]: "If you're lucky, the fleece is still sheep-shaped"........hahaha. If you have amateurs doing the shearing you're lucky to have a fleece that is still connected in places. I had trouble laying it out so the top was...on top. It was twisted in places. I felt lucky I could recognize the shoulders from the butt.
Here is what half of the fleece looked like before washing. It is in a Rubbermaid tub. It wasn't until I crammed it into my washing machine I realize what a gross job this was going to be. I first filled my washing machine with hot water [you need the hottest you can get. The hot water melts the lanolin, called the "grease", so there is no point to letting the fleece soak until the water cools off.] I put in a cap full of laundry soap. Next time I'll just use Joy or Dawn, cheaper. Then slowly pressed in half the fleece. NOTE: this is way to much to wash at once. More on that latter. Notice the dirt caught in the grooves of the tub. If I could just shake it all out. The moment the fleece hit the water my basement filled with the smell of barn...ya...crap #5. I just did the unthinkable. I brought the farm into my home....my city life. It was disgusting. I got nervous.



Here it is after washing it twice and rinsing it twice. To wash it, leave the fleece in the hot water for 30-45 min. with the lid of the washing machine closed. MAKE SURE THE MACHINE IS TURNED OFF. YOU DO NOT WANT TO AGITATE THE FLEECE AT ANY TIME. Turn on the spin cycle to get most of the water out. Take the fleece out. Fill the machine again with hot water and wash again. Then repeat twice without soap to rinse. It might seem unfair to have taken the 'before' shot inside and the 'after' shot outside but it does help accent the difference in colour. This IS whiter but it is still full of VM! "Crap"!



So I decided to try again. I had spread the fleece out on a drying rack covered with a sheet. I thought maybe if I pull the fleece apart a little the dirt would have a better chance of escaping.

So here I am, having so much fun! I took manageable pieces, shook them, pulled them, picked out stuff and shook them again. yay! At least it's nice outside.










I tried an experiment. I put some in a colander and washed it in the kitchen sink. I took about 1/4 of the fleece and put it back in the washing machine. The smell was better but still yukky! The results: The bit in the sink came out looking the same as what was in the machine. The machine cleans a larger amount so I'll stick to the machine method.

The Results So Far: Here are the 3 stages side-by-side. On the left the bit that was washed, rinsed, picked and pulled, washed, rinsed again. In the middle the washed, rinsed, picked and pulled bit. On the right a piece of the half that hasn't been touched. I was surprised at the difference between the first two. It wasn't until I put them beside each other that I saw how much cleaner the fleece became with the extra washing.

knitting meme

I picked this up from Amelia of "Ask the Bellwether" . It has been bouncing around the knit blog-spear for a little more than a month. Amelia traced it back to "cosymakes" , I looked back farther to find the author: Rineke of "tingletangle" from Denmark. She created the knitting meme on April 6th in the same fashion of " the meme of books". I've never heard of it but it is an interesting excerise that I have decided to join in on.

In Rineke's words: this meme "is one with knitting techniques, habits, items, tools and materials. Not everything is there, but quite a lot. Mark with bold the things you have ever done, with italics, the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest."

Here's mine:

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

I Sheared the Sheep......or not....

I went to shear the sheep. I meant to shear the sheep but didn't actually get to touch a sheep. Now before you feel sorry for me let me say after I watched my BIL do it I was not eagerly jumping in there.



BIL works on Ram with electric horse shears, Cherie holds the cord out of the way, DD2 watches, but where am I?

He started with the most desperate case, a 235 lb ram that had not been sheared in 2 years, poor thing. He looked like he was being choked by his own fleece. That is the way he recently came to BIL who keeps sheep for food, not fleece. He only shears them because it is humane to do so.

Who is that in the funky, painty pants and red sweat shirt standing by?

Even though he used the electric trimmers it still took about 20 mins. Why isn't there a professional doing this? There isn't one available. There used to be one in the area but he moved to New Zealand 2 years ago.



Oh ya, that's me.

Cherie could hardly wait to get the shears in her hand. BIL suggested not using the electric ones so we could get a longer fiber. This is the yearling. Her fleece is a lot cleaner than the rams.



Almost done. That is BIL holding her between his legs. Sheep cannot be on their side for too long. They have difficulty breathing in that position. BIL did manage to get the sheep in the proper shearing position , sitting up on their bums, but they didn't stay there. This is A LOT more difficult than it looks.

Cherie and BIL switched places to get the job done.









Hold on there sweety! Just a few more snips.










All Done! Back with baby.








Who's next? Actually we will be back in a week or two to finish the job. I promise I will be more proactive and get in there.






When all was said and done BIL fixed us a great supper of BBQ lamb chops and mutton steak. Thanks Cherie for pushing me into this learning experience. Maybe I should hold that thanks until I try cleaning the stinky fleece in the van. More to come .......anyone out there know how to clean a fleece? It's like talking to a wall.
It's official. I'm great at standing around while others work, but then you already knew that.

I can't believe what I am about to do!

SHEAR SHEEP!

Yes! I am going to my BIL on Sunday to shear his four sheep. I am excited and repulsed all at the same time. And no, I have never done this before. That's one of the sheep I'm going to shear.

Blame it on Cherie, my friend. She is my amazing knitting friend who knits mitts, socks, blankets....with NO pattern. And I'm not talking about simple, beginner patterns. Her mittens are beautiful with flared, intarsia cuffs. We have been saying for months we need to get together so she can show me how to dye wool.

Anyway, my DH mentioned to her one Sunday that his brother has sheep that need shearing. That's all she needed to hear. This something I would say I would like to do and then never get around to it. Not Cherie. She wants that fleece! She wants to clean it, card it, do whatever else needs to be done (we don't even know), dye it, weave it and, maybe, sell it. When I told her my BIL has the fleece from last year too she was exuberant!

"You are going to have wool coming out the yingyang!" I said. Her response?

"It's about time! My yingyang has been empty for a looong time!" Ah Cherie. She's so sweet.

Someone please help me! How do you shear a sheep? What do you do with the fleece once you have it? How do you clean it? Process it?

Who am I kidding. No one is going to be reading this that will be able to help me. In fact I would be surprised if anyone reads this at all.


Scream as loud as you like! No one is close by to hear your cries! CACKLE, CACKLE!

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Did a Little Painting...

Did a Little Painting...
Originally uploaded by knit_purr.

here's just a taste of what you will find in the following post "Tiny Knits"
enjoy

Tiny knits

I've been cruisin' the knitting blogsphere the last couple of days and *wow* there are a lot of cool knitters out there.

yesterday we had the big glove. today's find: TINY and I mean TINY

First you need tiny tools
then a little model pretty girl
not small enough, k
not cute enough, fine
now for tea


the whole blog is amazing. check out her tiny flickr
Knit one, Purr....too
i don't even know her name!

and now for something completely different.....

except for the knitting content....
Look what I found! well, with the help of a blogging friend.... The Big Glove.

The page might take a bit of time to download but the pics are worth it.