Shiny Happy People

For the past two mornings in a row, I have taken a shower and then pulled the shower curtain aside to find this:
This is what happens when Dug is woken up in the morning by Dug's 30 pound cat throwing himself on Dug's head. You may think the uncannily accurate representation above has nothing to do with spinning or knitting, but you are wrong: I fully intend to explore the technique of intarsia by knitting this image onto the front of Dug's Christmas sweater.

I Can't Grow Nice Fingernails, Either

Now it's not just the gardening that is distressing me - it's the manicures. All of the other female knit-bloggers in the universe take pictures of themselves holding their projects or demonstrating techniques and they have PERFECT MANICURES. How is this possible? They work with wool, which vacuums all of the moisture out of your hands and causes your fingernails to shrivel up and split right down the middle. At least I thought that's what happened; apparently it only happens to ME, because every other knitter on the planet has perfectly shaped, elegant nails with just a touch of clear polish, and smooth, ungnawed-upon cuticles. Whereas I look like I clip my nails by shoving my hands in the garbage disposal every day.

I've tried the simple stuff - vitamins, heavy duty nail repair polishes, that kind of thing - but I need some serious help here. Suggestions anyone? (Someone told me recently that I should try NOT biting my fingernails/cuticles/fingers/hands, but how the heck am I supposed to do that? I'm NERVOUS here, people.)

In other news, JAMES L. has won the contest for naming my New Sweater Wool. (We were having a contest? I don't know, I just made that part up, just now. I can do what I want.) The orange and deep teal fiber shall henceforth be known as Nuclear Pumpkin. (Isn't that the best name EVER?) Nuclear Pumpkin. I shall now squeal with delight. EEEeeeeee!!

I Can't Garden

What does this have to do with knitting, spinning or anything remotely to do with fiber? I DON'T KNOW, but I'm distressed. I tried reading some other knitting blogs - the blogs of highly esteemed, book-writing, pattern-writing knitting gurus, and all over their pages: GARDENING. Successful, beautiful gardening. Whereas I have murdered no less than thirteen shrubberies since my house has been in my possession, and every bulb I've ever planted has lain miserably in the ground without even a hint of life.

In other news, Jennifer spent last weekend exploring the yarn shops of Clinton, MO, and brought me back a PRESENT! That's right! SOCK YARN!
This is Crystal Palace bamboo-cotton-nylon blend sock yarn. The colors are beautiful, the texture is soft and snuggly, and I can't wait to start making a new pair of socks with it! (Those of you who live in my house will be saying, "Who says you're waiting? Isn't that a sock toe I saw on the coffee table?" Quiet yourselves.)

I was lamenting to Jennifer that I have so many delectable yarns piling up, not to mention all the spinning-and-knitting projects I'm coming up with, and how I have not been churning out finished projects as quickly as I would like, how I don't knit fast enough, how I'm not meeting my own expectations, etc. Jennifer, ever tolerant of self-induced drama, replied, but with more cussing (and this is highly paraphrased because I can't remember her exact words, exactly, with exactness): "What the #$#% are you talking about? This is YOUR hobby. The only person imposing deadlines on you is YOU. This isn't something you OWE anybody. Work on what you want to when you want to and shut up about it. Dumbass." Eureka! She's right! (As usual.)

I am not concerned about being verbally slapped into reality by Jennifer (on a daily basis), because I am permeating her psyche with EVIL. See this? This is a bunch of wool, and a drop spindle, and this photo was taken at Jennifer's house, by Jennifer. BWAAAAAAH HAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAA! I'm just waiting to see what her first spinning wheel will be. Heee! (Note to Mom: See that wool? It has been dyed and then CARDED to get that color effect, so I'll need you to buy me a $900 drum carder. Thank you.)

Of Procrastination and Predrafting

I decided, with the huge 2+ lb pile of wool I've dyed for The Next Sweater, it would be a good idea if I predrafted as much of it as possible before spinning to ensure consistent results. Last night, instead of finishing up the first sleeve of Blugly, I pulled some of the wool roving into smaller strips, separated the fibers out and predrafted them a little, then wound the gauzy, drafted strips into pretty little coils and put them in a big plastic tub with a cat-proof lid. (You will note that I failed to take pictures of this. Perhaps tonight I will do so.) I did this for hours and hours - granted, I had to pause quite often to hug various cats and dogs who URGENTLY needed to sit on me and breathe in my face - and I have probably predrafted 1/32 of all that wool. Geezis.

Also, I got all excited yesterday, because I thought that I would be able to finish the first of the FrootLoop socks - after all, I'd knit on it for 5 hours on Tuesday, and probably an hour of carpooling-with-Dug time yesterday - but when I held it up to my foot I was nowhere close. So sad!

I'm noticing that knitting tiny little sock stitches makes my wrists hurt, so I don't think I'm going to be a professional sock knitter, but I'll get over it. I prefer focusing on sweaters, anyway. I'll just space out my sock knitting to give my wrists time to rest. Which will be difficult, because sock knitting is fun, and magical gifts of sock yarn appear on my desk every couple of months! (Pictures of latest magical gift of sock yarn to come.)

Weekend Update

I'm feeling overwhelmed by all the things I want to get done, so I spent this weekend working diligently on Blugly. (I really did!) It's frustrating because every time I take a step forward, I take a step back. On Friday night I put the live stitches on waste yarn, tried it on, stared in the mirror, and asked myself the dreaded question every successful knitter must ask herself mid-sweater, "Does this button band look like ASS?" Sadly, the answer was YES. So I ripped out the button band, consulted the pattern, consulted the internet, thought about what I'd learned from knitting the Button Band of ASS and I feel that I have a reasonably good chance of knitting a non-ass-looking button band the next time around. I'm going to finish the sleeves before I give it another go. Also, I am concerned about the cabled ribbing along the bottom of the sweater. I read that it pulls in, and then you block it, and then it's fine, but man, it REALLY pulls in. I wonder if maybe I should block the sweater BEFORE I reknit the button band, to see how the ribbing turns out? That way if I have to reknit the ribbing, I don't have to rip out both the band and the 2nd half of the sweater.

You know, if I hadn't been knitting with my own handspun, I'd have just knit the thing up WRONG to be done with it, and just shoved it in the back of a drawer somewhere. But I know that if the ribbing doesn't look right, I will totally rip it out and reknit it. Is there a lesson in there somewhere for me?

Then I spent the rest of the weekend thinking about sweaters, and it is it really worth it to DYE and SPIN and KNIT entire sweaters? I mean, it takes a lot of time, especially when I don't devote myself to getting one thing at a time complete. I mean, how many spinning projects do I have going at once? A lot.
Truth is, I'm not that great a knitter. I've been knitting for 10 + years, but intermittently. And badly. After all I've gone through with Blugly (which is this pattern, Mr. Greenjeans, and most other knitters have had an easy time knitting it up - it's just ME that gets stuck on the learning curve), do I really think this is something I want to do over and over again? I mean, what an ordeal. How could I ever think of starting another sweater's worth of spinning?
I'll start taking suggestions NOW on what to call this fiber. For the sweater, I'm thinking that I may just do an Elizabeth Zimmerman "Percentage System" sweater and work in my own embellishments, rather than work from a pattern - that way after all this spinning, the sweater will really be My Own Work. What do you guys think?

Various Things

The weekend is upon us! I shall start it off by showing you Various Things That I Have Been Working On. First we have the Navajo plied "Roadkill" Alpaca. I have a prettier picture of this in the sunlight, but this snapshot of it on my filthy kitchen counter shows the color more accurately.
I do have some more of this alpaca to spin into singles and ply, so naturally I've been working on that and not starting anything new, like this:
Okay, so maybe I started this red "Cashgora" fiber, to test out my new high speed whorl. I do not even recall what this fiber really is, but I suspect some of it comes from goats, and there might be some angora blended in. (Hence the name and all.) I'm struggling with it a bit, but that's because I'm not sure how to behave with the faster spinning speed, rather than anything to do with the fiber. The important thing is that I stick with spinning up all of this red fiber and getting the hang of the whorl, and then spend the rest of the weekend spinning the remainder of Roadkill and Blugly, as well as knitting Blugly, and that I DON'T procrastinate any further by starting yet another new and frivolous spinning project. That is the important thing.
Whoops.

Out of Control

With all the spinning and knitting projects I have going on, or floating around in my head, I'm starting to feel disorganized. Ravelry helps, of course, but then I just start adding MORE things to the mix. (www.ravelry.com - I'm there as Carey954. For you non-fiber people who do not know wtf I am talking about, it's a very addictive fiber artist website.) Sadly, you can only add knitting/crochet projects to your stuff in Ravelry - I don't know that you can add spinning projects. So I can't really keep track of EVERYTHING there.

So here's what I need to get done, in order of priority:

1. Blugly - I need to Navajo ply the last of my singles (woohoo), finish binding off the button band, and knit each of the sleeves. So close!

2. Roadkill - I have a little bit more wool to spin and Navajo ply (I can't stop the Navajo plying. In fact, I WASN'T going to Navajo ply the alpaca, I was going to 2-ply it, and my mom FREAKED OUT at me until I agreed to Navajo ply it. We are fans of Navajo plying.) THEN, I need to decide what to knit with it. I'm thinking a scarf as a holiday present for my Grandpa, who likely does not read this blog so it will be a surprise.

3. Frootloop socks - they are my "carpool with Dug" project, so they are coming along. But I accidentally bought some new sock yarn with the needles I purchased from Knitpicks, so I have to remind myself not to abandon them in favor of new socks. (It doesn't matter how fiercely you love a current project; sometimes the lure of casting on something NEW is just too much!)

4. Koigu one skein gloves - another "waiting room" type of project. They'll get done whenever.

5. The "Leftovers" yarn - I love that stuff, and I'm having a heck of a time deciding what to knit with it. If I have enough, the bag on the cover of "Bag Style", perhaps. I don't know. SAD.

6. The red "cashgora" fiber (I do not even know what it really is) that I am spinning, using my high speed whorl for the first time around. I suspect it will be fingering weight yarn when I am done. More socks?

7. At one point, I bought some wool to knit the "Dashing" mitts from Knitty.com for a certain boy who lives in my house and is very handsome. (Fortunately, if he reads this and the surprise is ruined, he does not care about wool and mitts enough to remember it by the time winter weather comes around.)

I'm pretty sure there's about 4,000 other things I should be speedily working on. These relaxing hobbies sure are stressful.

Monday

This weekend, I shirked all of my worldly responsibilities and I spun. I spun and spun and spun and spun. I spun all night on Friday instead of sleeping. I spun all day on Saturday in between social activities that did not involve cleaning or mowing the lawn. I spun late into the night on Saturday. Sunday I got up at 6:45 and spun. I took a short break to do some chores for my mom (in the most half-assed, unhelpful possible way) and then we went back to my house and I spun ALL FREAKING day. Here is what I have to show for all my spinning:



See that photo?
You don't?
You don't see a photo there, showing all the glorious results of my spinning fanaticism?

That's because THERE IS NO PHOTO. Somehow, all of that dedicated, frantic spinning resulted in nothing.

Well, not entirely nothing, but nothing FINISHED. I decided I was going to get all the Roadkill Alpaca spun up and plied, as well as the rest of the Blugly. Problem was, the Roadkill just wouldn't die. Every time I thought I was done, there was another little pile of it. It's like it was multiplying. I've started Navajo plying it, but I STILL have more to spin into singles. It's just not right. (Except that it is so fun to spin that I can't stop.)

I now have 7 bobbins completely full of something-or-other, so tonight I'm going to have to start skeining and washing; I was hoping to do a bunch all at once, but I'll have to do it in stages to free up bobbin real estate. Maybe I should order some more bobbins? How many bobbins do most spinners have, customarily? I do not know.

Let's just take another look...

With all the stuff I went on about yesterday, I don't feel that this latest yarn I've finished got enough screen time. Let's look at it for a moment, shall we?
Even though it's from the exact same roving I dyed and spun for Blugly, it's a little softer, a little more sophisticated in its construction. It seems like every time I spin, I get better. I started spinning the sleeves for Blugly last night, and realized that the sleeves of the sweater are going to be wayyyyyy better than, for example, the shoulders. Heehee. I don't think it will be noticeable though. Only I will know. Except that I just told you all, but, you know, aside from that.

A Prolific Knitter...

...I am NOT. I see the words "prolific knitter" smattered across every knit-blog I've ever read. (Just for kicks, I googled the words and came up with close to 3000 results.) Everyone knits, apparently, and PROLIFICALLY. Except for me. In 2008 I have finished ONE pair of socks, and they don't count because I knit 3/4 of them in 2007. Sigh. But maybe I could become a prolific SPINNER. I think I'm on my way.

And that's why this is going to be a really long post. Today I'm going to make up for not posting in ages by giving you the post from hell. Seriously, go get another diet coke because this is going to take awhile.

First, that muted orange and blue fiber I was working on turned into this, and was immediately passed off to Jennifer. (She's a prolific knitter.) This is a snuggly, spongy 2 ply. I may have to borrow it back from Jennifer and hug it until she is ready to knit something with it.
Next, the Fishguts wool that my mom dyed wayyyy back in January and I had spun one crappy beginnerish 2 ply from it. Finally, I ran out of Blugly to spin and picked up the Fishguts again. I got three sizeable skeins of semi-worsted 3 ply out of it.
Which reminds me, the internet has revealed to me that most of the time handspinners create 2-ply yarns, I think because it's faster and you get more yardage out of the fiber, but I really like the twist I get from a 3 ply. (For now; I have a HIGH SPEED FLYER kit on the way for my spinning wheel, that may greatly change my spinning results!) And since I've given up sleeping, I have plenty of time to spin the extra singles for a 3 ply. (I finally got myself a 3 bobbin tensioned lazy kate so I don't have to Navajo ply unless I WANT to. Well, I always want to, but it's not always the right choice.)

Speaking of Navajo plying, I dyed myself some more Blugly wool. You've noticed that I haven't mentioned the Mr. Greenjeans/Blugly sweater in some time, haven't you? Well, I've been quietly plugging away on it; I sort of put it aside in favor of spinning when I realized I wasn't going to get it done in time to wear end of winter/early spring, but it will be ready for me this fall! I have the button band to finish up and the sleeves. Button bands! Technically, I'm still a new knitter, and this was my first button band. I had to start over at least three times, and I'm still not sure if it's perfect, but I do not care; I am not starting over again. If it is ugly, I just won't look at the button band. And I am sure others won't notice because they will be blinded by the Blugly.
My next and proudest achievement this week is that I spun and 3-plied ALL of that leftover wool from Blugly. (You know, the stuff I demonstrated dyeing in my last post?) It is, so far, my favorite yarn EVER. I lament that I don't have enough for a sweater, but I did end up with about 380-400 yards of it. Come to think of it, I'm not above combining this stuff with store-bought wool in order to get a sweater out of it. Or I could knit a really nice bag or scarf or something? Maybe a Mistake Rib Scarf? What do you guys think? Suggestions, please! Next - and I'm pretty excited about this - is my very first attempt at hot pour dyeing. I had a batt of natural tan alpaca that I decided to experiment with because alpaca doesn't felt like wool does and I didn't have to worry as much about ruining it. First, I soaked the alpaca for 1/2 an hour - probably should have soaked it overnight - with a squirt of Synthrapol. I don't have a clue what that is, but the internet told me to soak my fiber with it, so I did.
Next, I mixed up my new, grown-up, Country Classics dyes in some pyrex mixing cups that will not ever be used for food, ever, because the internet says not to.
Then I heated the alpaca in my NEW DYE POT, to almost-but-not-quite boiling, and I poured the dye on in a stripe and tried to wait patiently for it to "exhaust" before I added the next color. I was not very patient. I was pretty sure I had not achieved the results I was going for, and when I hung the tangled, tortured mass of alpaca up to dry, Dug said that it looked like roadkill. Hmph.
However, once it dried, it looked like this:
You want to roll in it, don't you? You totally want to roll in Roadkill. You're sick. Naturally, I could not and will NEVER get a good, non-blurry picture of any singles-in-progress on the bobbin, but this is a current project and I'll try photographing it again this week.
Hopefully I'll post again soon with the alpaca finished and plied, the Blugly sweater's progress, some socks that I'm working on and...a bunch of other crap. That's right, stay tuned for more CRAP.