rustica sock chart

I hear tell they are giving cold and snow after the weekend...still have some windows to put plastic on, but me and the monkey

are working on these socks for my cold feet (priorities) I'm a fixin' to put the chart in the free charts portion of my website..it is not what I would call "classic content" (a chicken and two trees) but it is for me, so....!

or the black and white version

you know...seeing it shrunk down like this make me think maybe I need to reverse the trees, like this....
yea, that's more balanced...guess blogs are good for something.

Testing the bag

got so excited about my turkeytime socks that I forgot to mention that the MK fulled bag is done..

I dropped one of those removable, compartmentalized stiff purse liners in, dropped in my camera, my palm and my knitting and took it for a test drive to Nashville the other night (a "locals only" showcase). Clubs are not my "thing" but live music is, and if you are involved in the music business, surviving an evening at a club, in order to hear good music, while aging gracefully is part of the deal.

It is always an "iffy" thing to knit in a club, as surprisingly enough it does offend some people. (jeesh! can you believe that!) I never knit while the act is on stage, only between sets, while waiting, etc, which is certainly more polite than all the loud mouth drunk chicks that talk all through the solo's...but I digress.

I am very, very happy with how this bag functions in this situation...it blobs down on your lap like a beanbag, securely and discreetly staying in place and feeding the yarn nicely!

Socks on my feet

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Yea! the turkey time yarn socks are done and were on my feet (till last night, when I spilled a glass of wine on them, which is ok, because today it is 70' out (how odd is that for december) and I wanted to wash them anyway....
So, the final update on the socks...knit on LK 150 T 1.5, with merino sock weight yarn from painted tiger in the colorway "turkey time" the pattern is the standard toe with round heel from the book"Sock Options for Machine Knitters"
Next...I need some boot weight socks, so stash diving is in the plans for this evening...

unborn socks are not a pretty thing

unborn socks are not necessarily pretty thing, This is the turkeytime, knit on the LK 150 T 1.5 with the round knit heel pattern from "Sock Options for Machine Knitters"

They are at the place of seaming and doing the ipso facto ribbing...but I keep dropping the dpn..need more coffee..

turkey from tiger arrived

My yarn arrived! isn’t it yummy? I am swatching now for socks and eating that wonderful Michigan apple.

yarn mandala

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waiting on my turkey

The color of forsythia leaves when they begin to turn in the fall, is a combination of pinkish gold and burgundy ...it sings out like the sparkle of an elegant table setting. I once had a sweater that was "almost" that color..moths carried it away long ago, but it always made me feel elegant (and of course it picked up the highlights in my hair...(ha!)
I have been looking for a yarn that had that same "feel" for a long time.... when Painted Tiger ordered something from me at Knitting Any Way, I clicked on her link and tada! she had that color in her Etsy store...called "Turkey Time" in hand dyed merino

...yea..bed socks for me to knock away the winter chill....now, how am I going to hold my feet up to my head so you can see how they bring out the highlights in my hair?
The yarn might be here today...mmmm.

ravelry and unraveled

Ok, ravelry blows me away.
the concept is both fabulous and frightening,
Thousands of knitters, all over the world, exposed to the whole world, all their projects, patterns, ideas, dreams, hopes and mistakes there for your awe, admiration or amazement....and yet, it makes me a little uneasy. It makes me feel a little like a voyeur, and even more like a failure.
I don't have time to upload my stash contents, my wip, my fo, maybe I am different or challenged, but if I took the time it took, when would I knit? when would I do laundry?
Even if I never updated myself on ravelry and just visited it for inspiration, there is so much great knitting there, I can see it eating up hours of my time, just wandering from one great pattern to the next and admiring one great knitter after another, lusting after the next new yarn......
Is it just me that has to work for a living? where the hell do these people get their time for knitting and money for yarn?
ok, this is not a rant, it is just that ravelry is, for me, at once both truly awesome and truly overwhelming, and not just a little frightening....like "big brother is watching me and my knitting"...(who me, paranoid?)

messed up the blog

thats what tinkering will get you!

"what are you doing up? its 3 o clock in the morning!"
"I tried to change my template, everything is lost, including the new and old template, and all I wanted was a knitting background......" voice trails off.
"oh, I thought you were working on something important."

bag beginnings

"we take the time to do it right the third time"
was a favorite motto of my late friend Fuzzy. He would snort if he knew how many times I have to resorted to that quote of late, he always warned me...when you get as old as me, you will ****-up a lot, too. I would always reply "I will never get as old as you"
Jokes on me.

Yea, so all of my knitting projects these days take 3 starts to get them going in the right direction. So it is with my latest attempt at reproducing in knitting a winter bag to replace my worn out summer rattan bag...
it is just the right size and shape to hold my knitting, my camera, my palm, and still not look like I am a bag lady carrying around my attachments. The shape holds things secure.
So, the concept was to have it be felted for stiffness, but mix it with stripes of non felting yarn to give it textural interest.
First error, forgot to change the tension on the lk 150 to the larger tension to accomodate for fulling, second error, miscalculated stitch and row count (inverted them twice) because I decided at the last minute that the stripes would look cooler vertical. And third error, ran out of wool when making the handle, bottom and sides in one piece. So have to rip that out to make sure there is enough yarn for the bottom and sides, and use the acrylic for the handle.
Will the nightmare end?

the other hand

Well!
The second wrister has been done a long time, I have worn them on every cool day since my last post, and yet, I left it hanging on the blog.
Knitting notes...even though I know that this is normal, I freaked when I took the second wrister off of the machine, it was 2 1/2 times as long as the hand knit one. I went to bed thinking that it would have to be re-knit, but by morning, it had relaxed itself up into the same length.
Machine knitting is a lot about faith. If you did the swatch, ran the numbers and cast on, no matter what it looks like when it is hanging there like it is on a torture rack, the knitting most likely will look better after a good nights sleep.

I started this wrister last winter when I never could get the house above 57 degrees. The idea of using crayon colored sock yarn (brand forgotten us #2 dpn) was that it would brighten dark days and go with anything...isn't that the same optimisim that lead us all to make our little brother a hat out of a similarly striped "Redheart" yarn back in the 70's? (that is, if you were around then) It is a bit "bright" for the wrist area, but I decided to forge ahead and mix things up a little and start on the second one on the knitting machine (LK150, T3, hand controlling upper tension) My, the second one was quick! even latching up eon using the adjustable latch tool set up with 2 latches and 4 spaces in between, passing across twice to keep tension even. Even I was surprised at how quick it went. Till this morning....
it is hanging on the machine, waiting for me to figure out what kind of bind off I should use...I sort of faked one on the hand knit wrister, and now, on the machine bind off, my mind is a blank as to what to use (I used the double knitted back ewrap cast on)

impetus at last!

Sometimes you just can't seem to get your groove going. The tools of your craft sit dusty and idle, and your ambivalence is almost depressing.
Then as if a pixie strikes the odd tool, one thing leads to another and you are back rocking in the cradle of creativity. Sometimes, you need a nudge.
I have discovered a new fabricated nudge. Pack away the tool in an inconvenient spot. The joy of unpacking it can be that impetus.
I started a project of winterizing (I do one more step each winter, and yet to feel any warmer, but that is another story) that required moving and rearranging many items in my little cabin. The LK 150 Knitting Machine had to be packed away. The project drug out longer than expected (that always happens, too) and the km, which I had lost all desire to fiddle with, started to call to me with project possibilities..so I handknit in compensation, all the while imagining how helpful the LK would be for aspects of the particular projects I was playing with...but it was packed away. When I finally unpacked it, each item lifted from its styrofoam nest breathed life into me as if I were preparing for a sacred tea ceremony. I found new inspiration and new ideas in that ceremony.
Maybe I should wrap up and unwrap my dirty dishes? nah.

Ta Da! the pleasant spindle returns!

I have spent my spare minutes for the last week or so spinning on the reincarnation of the Pleasant Spindle.

I had forgotten the bliss of autumn breezes fluffing wool as it slides through your hands with the promise of warming your feet during the cold days to come. The Pleasant can handle longer staple wool than the spindolyn, and it has been a while since I have spun romney (the future boot socks in progress) I forgot how mindless and fast long staples are. I love them!

pleasant problem solved (maybe)

the thing about inventing is that you always have to have disclaimers..I got all excited listening to NPR the other day when they were interviewing the scientists involved in the fission project in France. Yes, I know that you would generate some nuclear waste, but not near the quantity that they are proposing we deal with hear in Tennessee..Sure, come on, bring us your nuclear waste, there's money in it? right?
Anyway, I was going somewhere with this...oh yea! So, this morning I sat straight up in bed and think I have solved the balance problem with the latest prototype of the pleasant spindle! Course it is to hot in the workshop to do the drilling required, but I am doing some sketching on it.
meantime, while I let the ideas incubate, I have been searching for the lost baggie of soy silk. Contrary to popular net opinion...I LOVE soysilk. I don't think it feels weird at all (no weirder than silk can feel)
I want to get the dust off my big wheel and see if I can generate a breeze, and soysilk seems like a cool choice to work on.

I have an office!!! (sort of)

Yea, so I haven't posted in a while as the weather has made it hard just to make it through each day (see meanwhile back in the holler blog for details) But to try and maintain a cheerful outlook, I can announce that my life has become easier with my NEW"office" (yay!)
One of the boys moved out of our little cabin, and it opened up the little 8 x 9 room (that is part of the original closed in shed porch of the cabin (added after the civil war)
Into this grand room, I have moved my printer, invoice materials, shipping boxes, tape and that sort of thing....I left the futon in case I am overwhelmed with the need for a nap while packing spindolyns
This room is very cold in the winter, the wood stove heat does not reach it, and the floor slopes 6 inches where the floor joists are gone on the north east side, but it is a "separate space", and that makes it wonderful! No more will family food crumbs end up ruining spindolyn instructions, etc.
An interesting bonus of this room is the way the morning light comes in and is filtered by the porch roof, it is an elegant, charming light, and that added with the fact that the former resident left me his vintage stereo with wonderful sound and great radio reception, I can now conduct business, in a more gracious and happy state of mind!

caught! ! !

I'm back! and caught up, sort of .....

(If you disclude housework, farmwork, cabin repair and maintainance, mule training and dog loving, and did I say housework, again, then you can consider me mostly caught up.)

Everyone who is expecting a spindolyn should have one in their spinny little hands by monday, and I hope to actually spin some myself tonight (a rejuvinating saturday night of spinning on the porch and listening to music and watching fireflies, does it get any better than that??)

why is knitting any way slow right now?

Mom lives 120 miles west of me, then Nashville (where the doctors are) is 90 miles back again to the east. But we are cheerful and making the best of it, what else can you do?
The times I do stay at Momma and Daddy's, their rural area has the worst dial up in the world (and no cell service, either) Mom says when we get on the other side of her breast cancer, she will consider satellite internet, and then I will be able to answer emails with more grace and timeliness when I am styaing there, and she can do the type of research on the internet that she enjoys so much. There will no longer be time to go make supper before a single page loads.
So, if you get aggravated with me for being slow, just give me a little time and I will catch up to you, I am keeping up, just a week or so behind everyone else. It's ok if you want to keep buggin me, though, I don't mind, and maybe I need the reminder, as I was the type of personality that went around in circles before this and the fire happened, anyway.
This really makes me realize what a face paced world we live in, and how we have all escalated our expectations to match the speed of Amazon.

mindless mindfulness

Mindless mindfulness- part 1
I am getting adjusted to these times. I get home, unload my truck, have a cup of tea and head straight for the shop to make spindolyns or tools,working steadily from the top of the list down. I walk longingly past the garden that needs so much tending, and promise the dogs that maybe next month we will go on a long ramble.
But now is a time of a lot of driving (Mom and Dad live 120 miles -one way, west) a lot of hours in waiting rooms and a lot of long hours at the drill press or standing before other noisy shop tools. These activities are ripe grounds for wandering minds and I have been thinking a lot about multi-tasking and the mindful state and have noticed some trends I would like to ponder on paper, but it is going to have to be in snippets, as now, when I catch a few minutes in the waiting room and write on my pda.
The first observation is that sometimes my mind wanders in pictures, sometimes in words and sometimes it is just a dull semi-coherant fog.

out of town and easy on the hands

So there may be a couple of extra day delays on spindolyn orders right now. Thanks again to everyone for their patience and well wishing.
On a knitty note, I have had a chance to do a little knitting in waiting rooms. I have three projects in my bag right now, and have noticed that (counter-intuitively) the US size 2 dp needles on which I have started the cuffs for the wristers, are easier on my arthritis than the circular size 10s that have the capelet out of the shiny purple stuff on them.
For some reason, I thought the bigger needles would be easier, maybe it is not the size, but the weight of the larger project?
Even though having a little time to handknit is nice, I can't wait to get home and get caught up, as I would love to have a little time to work on the new spindle prototype, and to hang this purple capelet on the bond and finish it up.
I plan on using the adjustable latch tool with the bodkins stuck in it for transferring the stitches across the row for decreases for the neckline of the capelet, which is knit from the bottom up.
I need to start another project on the LK to have finish work to do, as there will be many more waiting rooms with Mom over the coming weeks.

catching up

I am almost up to speed, caught up with most spindolyn orders, if you have one outstanding, it will be mailed for sure by wednesday, if it was not in the batch that went out on friday.
Thanks again to everyone for their understanding.
I got a note from a customer commenting that she was really enjoying her spindolyn and she hoped that I was squeezing in time to spin.
That brought tears to my eyes, as that was a very kind thing, indeed, to wish for someone time to enjoy a minute or two on something just for fun.
Back to the shop!!!
(oh, I had the greatest idea on my drive back from helping my Mom this weekend about how to solve the problem in the future design of the low rider spindolyn...can't wait to test it out!!! will keep you posted)

update on the fire

I am back from two family fires in one week (coincidental and 90 miles apart) and working like Charlie Chaplin in "Modern Times" trying to catch up with orders and obligations.
I really appreciate everyones kind words and patience.
My family is pretty much a cheerful, loving bunch, and they are handling the tragedy well, with lots of help from their church and community.

Customers note

I just learned my brothers house and vehicle burned to the ground this morning,
don't know how long I will be gone, so there will be a delay in getting out your orders,
my apologies,
Catherine

springtime free chart

So I had this chart ready to post before Easter, but got busy trying to cope with the cold weather (let me tell you children, it is miserable in the shop making spindolyns because I had already taken the plastic down off of the back wall, and danged if it didn't snow(!!!) this morning!)
Anyhoo, I thought it was going to be for a sock top, but am wearing wristers alot right now for the old arthritis, and so am knitting this pattern into the wristers, instead, will post the pic when done, and hopefully have the dangling threads snipped off.
haven't gotten to that point yet, but plan on having three color on the middle rows of the chart, three color is easier for me on the machine than by hand.

testy or testing

Am waiting on a delayed shipment of brass right now, which delays me and makes spindle addicts desperate! (I have learned you don't want to interfere with a fiberholic and their fix) I woke up this morning worrying about that, so what did I do? I pulled my spindle off the bedside table and spun a little while listening to the birds and waiting on the coffee. Spring is!!!
Brass has gone up (again!) and so has the wood, hate to pass that cost on. On the upside, I am trialing a new spindle whorl style, waiting on the glue to dry. Counter to science, I am thinking of adding extra weight to the center. I love testing.

time and honor

You know, Tennessee is a long state, I always forget that when I try to squeeze too much into one weekend.
So the old folks at home where a wonderful visit, as always. I am so grateful that I can still be in the same room with them and share our memories and politics and point of view. So many people that I care about are gone, and though we can't cling, we can slow down and hold each moment closer while we can, because the time will not always be there.
Time was the theme on the way back, heading towards Nashville, realizing that I was not going to be able to fit in the time to make it to the seff fiber festival at Montgomery Bell park, and passing by that exit saw this bus heading into town behind us, and there was that time theme, again.
She was heading in to accept her honorary degree in music at the Ryman, before it is too late.
It does go fast,doesn't it?

march winds, not yet

So I have been falling in bed exhausted from spring farm/garden work and got this idea that I would chart the "march wind" (sort of like charting a verb intead of a noun)
I have been hankering to knit something to felt since the recent discussion on the yahoo lk150 group. The perfect candidate is the pending waist bag prototype for my spindloyn (I miss wearing a spindolyn sometimes)
The idea was to have the clouds be knit in acrylic and the background wool so that the background would shrink and the clouds pouf out. The chart is supposed to be like oriental depiction of wind, but it is not there yet, by any means.
Sometimes, I chart on the first take, sometimes, I have to put them away for a few days and redo them..this one is a long way away, it may have to be canned altogether, because even though I have redone and redone it, it has major suckage.
Maybe because the days have been fabulously warm and not windy and perfect for gardening.
Anyway, when (if) I get it right, I'll post it on the free charts page and either way, hope to get the bag done soon.

shhh, Im counting seeds

so i can't count stitches.
I wanted to work on the peach cables, but there are only so many hours in the day. Today, it was peach spindolyns and the new portable chicken pen. I was lacing the wire onto the pen frame with much satisfaction, because, in a way, it is like a giant basket, only it is wire, instead of withies.
Until the chickens are contained, I can't plant the spinach, and because "as soon as the ground can be worked" has come and gone last week, the spinach is not calling, it is screaming.. and until it can be laid to rest in the cold new ground, I can't count stitches and rework the peach cardigan. But, doesn't anticipation ad to the deliciousness...ok, writing time limit up....maybe I will just knit a few rows.....

Peaches and bad dreams

I found it! the lost unfinished peach spring time farm cardigan! I found it in the bottom of one of many, many baskets that hold yarn, and rovings and unfinished knitting projects.
I have been needing a "fresh" cardigan to wear to the post office, these old farm sweaters are getting pretty ratty looking, like something an animal has been sleeping on and dragging around the house as a comfort blanket. Actually, they look like this from wearing them to gather firewood and do barn chores.
So, I thought it would be no problem to piece it together and whip up some sleeves for it....
that is when I noticed that one front is a different gauge than the other, the one with the cable button band already sewn on it is was kni at the wrong tension. The other cable button band is too short to fit n the correctly tensioned front.... Oh. this is why it was put away unfinished. The button bands were hand knit, the fronts where knit on the LK.
Here is the nightmare part. I have no clue what tension on the LK 150, nor what needle size for the bands....argh!!!! NOTE to self. NEVER, ever, stuff anything into a basket without documentation.

I really love this wool and this color....where do I start, do I swatch until I match gauge? or frog?

nostepinne imposter!

say nostepinne imposter three times fast! ha!
Yes, some of you guessed it, that is indeed the center part of the body of an alto recorder being used as a nostepinne in the video. The advantage of this in your spinning basket is that if you get bored spinning, you can always put the three piece of the recorder together and make music!

it live, the video that is

spindling video almost

whew! the spindolyn video is almost done! I am s-l-o-w-l-y learning amateur video editing, and I finished the replacement video for the new updated spinolyn, showing how it spins-YAY!
Jimmy is here this weekend to lay down a music track for it, he tried a couple of "pretty" compositions, with strings, but I was thinking of something more like a samba!?!
He left his sustain pedal back in Nashville, so I may have to wait for the music and the upload to google video till mid week.

lights, camera, spin

working on the new spindolyn how to video, when not in the shop, freezing to death.
I am not the kind of person who can just set the camera up and go...oh no, I have to...run out of batteries, trip over the usb cable, accidently delete the best footage, realize there is a glare on the lens from a fingerprint, wipe it off and discover a rabbit hair on the lens, burn my main spinning finger while putting wood in the stove, finally get the perfect footage only to realize their is a giant, glaring grease stain right in the middle of my shirt. Professional? ha!
On a postive note, I am getting a lot of yardage of yarn spun! (anther ha!) and am enjoying the actual spinning time.

why spin -reason #27

sometimes you gotta make something you like, before you can like what you make.

wild hair

found this on the path to the old barn, fresh wild rabbit fur.
I ask myself, isn't it beautiful!? isn't it not that different than the years I spent spinning angora? yes, its short, but I shall just whap felt it when it is done.
The cards I wanted to use to blend it with the dyed lambs wool and dark dog fur are somewhere in the unheated bedroom...nope too cold to dig around in there, so I shall blend it with my hands..this would work better if my hands werent so cracked and dry, but progress! a spindle full and enough for maybe three more spindles full. A good reason to stay up late on a friday night, letting a podcast read to me by the firelight, spinning and imagining wild rabbits and owls in the dark.

photo measuring for knits?

Oh man! I want this software mentioned below.. well, the price tag is out of the question for me, but just imagine the knit design implications of this, or around the farm, measuring for chicken fencing, etc! or how about spindle specs, etc, etc!! the scientist in me just drools....

Kevin C. Tofel writes "Using a simple concept, iPhotoMEASURE software can measure any objects you can take a picture of. Include a printout of a 7.5- or 15-inch sqaure in the photo and the software can measure any distance or object in the pic to within 99.5% accuracy. Although geared towards contractors, there's any number of consumer usage scenarios as well. Enough to justify a $99 price tag? Jury's still out on that."

Weebles, a spindle makers tale of woe and wobble

So i have been gluing spindolyns this morning, inspecting, and tossing rejects into the reject box and thinking about wobble and weebles.
Not the wobble from smelling glue, nor the wobble from the earth being out of balance both weatherwise and spiritually (from too many people straying too far off the beauty path)
Nay, I have been thinking about the physics of wobble, acceptable amounts of wobble and design issues.
Years back on some yahoo group about spindle making (forgive my forgetfullness) there was a great discussion on the physics of wobble, faster spin, center of gravity, etc. I learned and applied alot of the information when working on spindle designs between the pleasant spindle and the spindolyn.

But, the spindolyn is a different animal, it rides in a tube, and the tube has space between it and the shaft and it will ride about in that space a little bit. Not a great wobble, more like a slight gyration.

Not enough to slow down spin, nor to interfere with the aesthetic experience of spinning on the spindolyn but enough to cause a wrinkle in the forhead of some spinners who do not understand the physics of the supported spin and only have one criteria with which to judge spinablity, that of movement away from the center. There are, of course, other criteria, such as speed, comfort, and "handiness".

The matter is complicated for the maker by the following circumstances.
If the whorl is not flat, or centered, or it has warped from the finish (which some do, because of the lay of the grain within the whorl, you oil that puppy and it curls up like a tater chip) or the ring is warped or has warped from the finish, or was out of round to start with..these things cause real wobble, and even though you inspect and reinspect at each step of their creation...you can end up with a weeble.
The weebles go in a big box. What do I do with the weebles?

steady working

working quietly and steadily on spindolyns and a custom knitting chart today, hope my customers can be patient, but with 49 in the cabin, the finish is drying slower than expected. I have rearranged the bird feeder outside of the window to have company while I work, and am noticing individuality. Its tempting to to post more photos on my other blog but photos of birds are like photos of flowers, you have to have been there, maybe.

new spindolyn

and I spun yards and yards this morning before daylight, because that is a good way to bring in the dawn of ground hogs day, and because I didn't want to get out of bed too early on my birthday. I like the new spindolyn base best, I think, for spinning in bed and because it IS my birthday, I can fill this post with lots of "I" "I' "I"s.....I like spinning natural white when it is snowy, this yarn hopes to be toe warmers for in my boots.

warming up

from shop work, it is a toasty 38 in the shop, 58 in the cabin, so I am coming in to warm up and work on the spindolyn video...one thing about this kind of weather, you can spin with a sort of desperation, keeping thoughts of soft and silky neck warmers-to-be in mind as inspiration, as you try not to hunch up your shoulders from the chill.

trying out a new (not really) way to say "whats new"

via a blog. old hat, but maybe more efficient to put it on blogger and feed to the site. So this is testing.
more testing has revealed that the some of my "how to pages" where all garbledy in some browsers(!!!) where I tried to use layers, I can tell by stats they were visited alot, how come you guys never told me!?!?

working on new spindle

preliminarily called "the pixie"
It will have a shorter base for more clearance in the car, and a wooden shaft above the whorl.
I still have not given up on the idea of a strumming style, but need to have access to the great wood I did up on the cumberland plateau.