Kates and Shuttles

My very handy when he wants to be hubby built me this marvelous tensioned lazy kate. Both my wheels have onboard lazy kates, although the Kromski one is described as bobbin storage in one place. It rather works that way, as storage I mean as it is a bit too rattlely and loose for my preferences in a lazy kate. So I asked hubby and he made up a quick one which works marvelously. The uprights are brass and removeable for storage or travelling. The tensioning device is simply two pegs and some string, which works well for it's simplicity. He thinks we should put a yarn guide on it as he feels it would make it quieter still. All I need to do is stain it and toss a coat of tung oil on it, but of course I had to try it out first.

On the weekend we went out to a local antique warehouse place looking for ideas for kitchen shelving. We found none, but instead I did find a few goodies to add to my collection. The small shuttle and the two spools were the bargain of the day in my eyes. The two larger shuttles were found at a flea market last fall for the grand price of $2 each! I've a bouquet of old pirns ( hey, they were 3 for $1, how could I resist!) as well. Now to figure out a neat way to display them.
Sigh, I love old things, old wood and paper-thin porcelain china, especially Lusterware. I guess that is the bit of magpie in me.

It seems like forever

It seems like forever since I've updated this. I spent the weekend at a friends place a couple of weekends ago. We had a lovely time and when my husband picked me up, he informed me that my "new" computer wouldn't boot up or if it did, it just showed the horrible blue screen of death. After much fussing and getting "people" to check it out, after finding out the waiting list to get it just looked at by the pros at the store, hubby decided to install a new hard drive to see if that was it. It was the cheapest and easiest fix he could think of and we could always use a second hard drive if it wasn't the problem.
While this was all happening we found the old computer in a corner and ressurrected it. Slow, ungainly and fussy, I was able to reset all my important bits of info and life went on. The new Hard drive did the trick and I was informed that my computer was up and running again. So happily I started moving all the info over again. Reseting it all in 2 weeks is a pain, but at least it is almost done. Plus boy who bangs the computer desk when frustrated has been given the old computer and hopefully mine will be happy for a long while.

While this was all happening I was working on .... the following....
my Kirtle bodice, which I left at my friends place, although I had wanted to bring it home to handstitch and get it ready for the eyelets and skirt! It is a very lovely shade of corally pink. I've actually got some madder dyed wool that is that exact shade. Reminder to all and especially to self.. when you have small bobbins of obscure coloured thread for a particular project, remember to remove them from your pocket before washing your jeans. I'm still trying to cut the jeans and a shirt out from the spiralled thread!

I have also been spinning. "Quel Surprise!" Black shetland wool on my new Kromski. The only thing is that I hadn't been certain what I was going to do with this yarn and started spinning without a plan. I was also watching a hockey game. Since this wheel spins so smoothly, I wasn't really paying attenting. The singles were really thinner than I wanted them to be. By plying I was able to bring it up to about 1500 yards per lb. I was considering weaving it as singles again, but they were pretty thin and without tons of twist, so I plied it. It is fairly soft and looks good plied. The cat likes it.

I've also been working on hubby's new fencing doublet. I've been drafting it from scratch, using his measurements. It has been a bit slow going for a bunch of reasons including; lack of fabric, lack of tested linings, learning curve and the total lack of incentive to clean off the table and make space in my work room to get sewing again. Spinning and planning weaving projects does interefere somewhat too for some reason. The pattern shapes are lovely though. Of course the cat had to investigate as well.

It's Done! ( Wheel update)

The hat is finished. The colours are a little washed out, due to the flash. I figured it is a hat and really didn't want to spend the time manipulating light sources to get the lighting perfect. It's pretty. It's really warm. It's going to be too big for anyone else, but should cover the recipient's dreadlocks nicely. It's finished before July, which is a real bonus. All the loose thread ends are woven in and everything! I'm very happy that at least some of my kids appreciate hand spun, hand made items of clothing.

NEWS FLASH!

I went out to Gemini Fibres last week to try out spinning wheels. They had a Kromski Minstrel in stock which I ended up bringing home with me. It purrs like a kitten. It spins so nicely and quietly. One evening, I was spinning away and I was asked why I wasn't spinning on my new wheel! It is pretty as well. The Minstrel has no plastic parts. It is wood, metal and leather parts. It is easy to adjust. I had one minor problem when I got it. One of the bobbins rattled something awful on Scotch Tension. While that bobbin was quiet using double drive, I couldn't get the tension adjusted enough to ply on it. However, handy hubby poked at the brass bushing and poof.. it works like a dream now.

I've mainly been playing with different fibres and ways of spinning on it to learn how it all works. Right now I'm spinning silk hankies on it. I just spun up the last of the grey icelandic/shetland mix leftover from my grey gown project. As well some unknown bright pink wool roving and some black shetland, which may be destined for singles, if they are strong enough.
My only complaint, if it could be considered that, is that the bobbins are considerably larger than the Ashford bobbins. It takes longer to fill them! Is that good or bad? Depends I guess if you're in an instant gratification mood and want that bobbin filled now! :)
It isn't quite as portable as the Ashford Traveller and certainly not as portable as the Lendrum I tried, but the sweetness of this wheel really makes up for it. This is likely my stay at home wheel anyway.
I'm very happy that Gemini Fibres is quite a long drive from here. I'd spend way too much $ there otherwise. For a tiny little store, the service is great and the selection is excellent. They do mail order as well.

The Christmas Hat Saga

My son asked me for a toque for Christmas. After a discussion of what kind, colour etc, I realized he wanted a handspun, handknit toque. His identifiers were no brim and dark colours, maybe with some lighter stripes, you know, what you dye.
Well, my natural dye stocks right now consist mainly of yellows and pinks. I do have some indigo and logwood but not enough fibre prepared to do an indigo vat with and logwood can sometimes be the lurid purple from hell vat, never exhausting and giving you purples to greys forever.
So I talked to Donna from Wellington Fibres and bought some acid dyes. She gave me a quick explanation as to how to use them and I brought them home and played. My son's hat will be gorgeous, although if I'd realized that yellow was quite that sunny, I'd probably have added a drop or two of olive green or brown. The nice thing about the colours I used is that they were easy to work with, albeit a few safety requirements and cleanliness requirements which were really no worse than using indigo or logwood powders or lye for soap making, so I was okay there. I had the stainless pots, measuring equipment and syringe for accurate dye solution measuring already, so equipment was a non-issue.
My results aren't nearly as exciting as Karen's were, but suitable I think for the intended recipient of the hat. Now all I have to do is to knit it up! Dang, where did I stash my needles.

socks, cats and knitting

I finished these socks a couple of days ago. They are made of Pattens Kroy sock yarn, which I purchased in error, likeing the colours but thinking it was a self striping sock yarn. I started them in May.
I can knit. I can knit very well when I want too. I have knit for years, teaching myself by making a child's sweater when it was the dark ages of time. I don't have that sweater or any others I made over the years for some reason. The first one didn't fit my daughter and wouldn't for years as I made it way to large, so I gave it to a relative, who didn't return it. I'm not sure why I didn't save any of the other's as there were fair isle, intarsia, fine, heavy weight, picture sweaters. My downfall came when trying to make one of my boys a cowboy sweater, with intarsia cow print body and sleeves, with a solid colour, fringed yolk. I couldn't get it finished for some reason.
Now I make socks, mitts and an occasional hat. Weaving uses up more yarn and despite the length of time it takes to dress a loom, sometimes a couple of weeks if you don't have multiple hours at a time to work on it, it seems to be faster and more satisfying than knitting.
Please note that the cat was no where to be seen when I went to take this picture. As a good helper kitty, he waited until I had them nicely laid out and then poof, he appeared and found his helper kitty happy place. Never fails. He likes to know what's happening.

spinning wheels and disappointments

Have you ever thought something was going to be wonderful and then been quite disappointed when you actually tried it out? Most of my guild members seem to use the Lendrum spinning wheel. I'd reconciled myself to it's looks as I think it is bordering on ugly and horribly modern. If I had my way, I'd live in a 17th century farm house, so the modern lines I found jarring. However, I could live with that if it spun as nicely as everyone raved about.
So I borrowed this one from the guild. It took a bit to set it up and I figured not a problem, give myself time to get used to it, knowing however that it shouldn't take too long to figure out. The very first thing I had to do was wiped the collected dust off it. The storage room is in a basement used by the local pottery club and I wonder if the clay dust is gathering there.. mmm silca!
At first I had it set up so that it travelled across the livingroom floor noticibly, every time I treadled. Finally got that worked out and the tension as well. Then the brake band broke. Sigh... big sigh here. Not a problem, although all I had was dark red crochet cotton to fix it with, the repair was easy. By the end of an hour or so of spinning, my foot was tired from treadling.. something I've never, ever had happen on my little Ashford Traveller, and my hands and arms/shoulders were tired from drafting. Even with the tension at the loosest, it took some effort to treadle and I was able to set it up with either no take up in the bobbin .. not good or with the slighted more adjustment, it wanted to grab the fibre right out of my hands. Drafting was definitely more of a chore.
The big plus was it was quiet. I mean really, really quiet. The guys were watching t.v and the sound level was normal. When I crank up the traveller, sometimes I can't get the clacks, whirs and creaks quiet enough and the sound level on the tube keeps going up.
I was disapponted to say the least as I'd really worked myself up into liking this wheel, probably to get over it's looks. Of course hubby didn't like it at all. oh well.. back to the researching a new wheel I guess..

Wintery Wonderland

Christmas was wonderful. All the kids were home. We had good food, family games, the traditional jigsaw puzzle which also seems to be tradtionally missing pieces, and of course presents. This morning I woke up to see the world wrapped in frosty lace. I was able to get a few photos before the sun burnt off the fog and returned the world to it's normal winter landscape. These were taken with a lower end Sony that my husband managed to win at a golf tournament of all places. Still, it takes great photos and these were taken on the snow setting, so not too shabby I think. The frost coated Queen Anne's Lace or wild carrot is from my garden.
The wintery landscape is from just down the road. Hubby had to run out to Golf town to spend his gift certificates on the driver which he desperately wanted and conveniently was on sale. Last year's model so it was really on sale. We took the back way home and I got my little rural country life dose in. There were even animals outside.. lots of horses and even a solitary sheep, sunning herself outside of the little door to her barn. So peaceful looking.

On the fibre side of life, I've almost finished spinning the fibre for hats and mitts. I'm still not 100% on the new drafting method I've been trying, but it is getting much more consistent and the soft and lofty yarn will make up into wonderfully warm and yummy hats and mitts. It's very fast as well, although not what I'd really want to weave with.