Persistent Knitter

My sheep to shawl team signed up to do a demo for our local handweaver’s guild this weekend.  We decided to do a "Sheep to Scarf" trial run.  A scarf so that we didn’t have to spin or weave as frantically, but it’s big enough we’ll get a good idea of how the contest will go for us.

It was a not so great day for being outside and spinning/weaving. Luckly we had a tent - albiet a small one.  There 7 of us crammed into a tiny 10×10 space, and it was cooooold!  You can see Debbie on the left weaving (and talking on the phone to Mr. Debbie), then Judy, Di, a person who came by and Ingrid was showing how to use the spinning wheel, Ingrid, Rebecca, my empty chair (that’s my new Lendrum in the front), & Sue.

I totally forgot to snap any shots of the scarf as it was being woven! Hopefully Debbie has a shot of it on her blog, Divergent Threads.

It’s taken me forever, but I finally got  a picture of my new wheel:

I keep my wheels up on a short bookcase thing, so the kids can’t bang on it and play with it. Funnily enough, they could both probably pull them down on their heads, but somehow having the wheels up here prevents them from even thinking about doing that!  I think Katie has once or twice pushed on the treadles, or tried to move the wheel; but the scolding she got was enough to deter her from attempting it again.

On the left is my new wheel, the Lendrum.  On the right, the Schacht.  It is interesting to me to look at them side by side like this. You can see how much leaner the  Lendrum looks.  It’s a maple wood instead of oak so the color is lighter too.  The orafice on the Lendrum is actually highter than that on the Schacht, which really suprised me. It doesn’t bother me either way.

Things I like about each wheel:

Ledrum: lightweight, can transport it easier, bobbins are easier to get on and off.  Simpler overall, Accessories are cheaper, like extra bobbins, different whorls/flyers.

Schacht: Treadles like a dream. Pretty smooth feel to it.  Solid. Doesn’t move at all while spinning on it.  Much more adjustable. Can switch between scotch tension and double drive.

I was originally saying I’d sell my Schacht to pay for the Lendrum. Not having gotten the credit card bill yet for the Lendrum, I’m thinking I might keep them both.  I will use the Lendrum when I need a wheel away from home; but still enjoy the Schacht at home.

why I did this one, I’ll never know. But there it is:

(A bit scary that I’m the same score for Yoda and General Grievous)

You scored as Yoda. Yoda 75% General Grievous 75% Padme Amidala 64% Anakin Skywalker 58% R2-D2 56% C-3PO 53% Clone Trooper 47% Mace Windu 47% Obi Wan Kenobi 44% Darth Vader 42% Chewbacca 42% Emperor Palpatine 25% Which Revenge of the Sith Character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Since I’m apparently unable to take pictures of anything these days, I’ll blather on about some spinning stuff. (Sadly enough there are pics on my camera waiting to be moved to the PC.  I have no idea what they are of I took them so long ago)

I found  a link to a neat "drop" spindle, that can’t possibly drop!  The Spindolyn.

This is a really neat concept, and one that I think would be great for beginning spinners.  When I took a spinning class, I was given some commercially prepared fiber, a fairly heavy drop spindle, and some rudimentary instructions (the normal teacher was out sick unfortunately).   There are a LOT of things to learn when you first learn to spin. How to draft out the fiber. How to control the twist, letting it slowly take over the drafting zone as you draft more fiber.  How to attach the newly spun yarn to the drop spindle, how to spin the spindle, and draft the fiber.  You’re teaching your hands a whole new task, that it hasn’t done before.

My friend Rebecca, who teaches people to spin, favors the "park-and-draft" method. It boils down to: spin your spindle a whole bunch, adding twist, but not letting the twist move by pinching the yarn before the drafting zone. When you’ve got a whole bunch of twist built up, stop, tuck the spindle under your arm, or hold it between your knees, and work in drafting that twist into the un spun fiber.  Wind on the spun yarn.  This lets you do one thing at a time; rather than three at once.  Once you get comfortable with the park-and-draft method, you can move on to actually drafting while the spindle is spinning.

The Spindolyn is a variation of this theme, in that you can start the spindle spinning and then use both hands for drafting out the fiber.  The spindolyn lets you keep the spindle spinning though instead of stopping it and tucking it under your arm.  Being that I’m fond of tools & gadgets, esp pretty ones, I may someday have to pick up one of these.

Due to lack of time to take and process pictures; here’s a totally unrelated to spinning or knitting link:
http://www.mypce.com/buypce.shtml

My husband has declared his desire for one of these objects. :)

My wheel has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have a picture of it, but with the kids, husband and myself under the weather (some more than others) I haven’t had a moment to do much, and sitting down to spin last night was the highest priority once the kids were in bed.

The package arrived early in the morning; and when I first opened it up, I was a bit frazzled to find out that the wheel wouldn’t turn.  It looked as it had been put together improperly - because the bottom of the wheel was hitting the top bar of the treadles.  AIIGH! How frustrating to wait all weekend; and be tortured by UPS to boot, and have it arrive broken.  A call to the shop I bought it from and a quick over-the-phone walkthrough on how to re-true up the wheel part, and I was good to go.  Apparently they let Elephants sit on packages when being shipped UPS.

So I spun up a couple of Rolags, did a bit of Andean Plying (thank goodness Rebecca showed me that trick!) and I have to say I’m pretty happy with it. (the yarn and the wheel both)  I put on the fast-flyer first thing, and have been playing around with that one.  Next I want to spin up some yarn from the lock; which is more what I’m used to doing instead of using Rolags.

Once I get the other thing I’m waiting for (the bag from The Bag Lady), I’ll take a picture of it, and maybe some of the yarn I’ve made too.

My new Lendrum spinning wheel hasn’t arrived yet, but I’ve already purchased two "accessories" for it.  One is the fast flyer - my LYS did at least have those in stock.  The other is a bag from here: The Bag Lady.  I didn’t actually order it directly from here (although she responded to email very quickly). I found a store that had them in stock.  It should show up mid to late this next week. Thankfully no tracking info - I can’t torture myself with that.  So the bag is really cool. The wheel folds up, one part comes off the wheel into a pocket and the bag has backpack straps for easy carrying.  I ordered the demin colored one; worried that I’d hate a overly busy tapestry design. Not to mention the demin one was cheaper :)

I’ve spent the weekend preparing some fiber to spin up.  I had a small bunch of brown wool, I think I got it from my friend Denise when we were both learning how to spin. She bought a bunch of fleeces and was nice enough to share some with me.  Here is the ‘raw’ fiber:

You can see bits of VM (Vegetable Matter: grass, straw, burrs) in it. It must have been cleaned by Denise or myself because it isn’t greasy at all.  I’m carding it because there are no intact locks left to try and comb or even flick easily. The staple length is about 3" long.  So I’m carding it and making rolags:

I’m probably over half done with what I’ve got.  I’m excited to try out my new wheel with them! (And now I can officially say I’m making a dent into my fiber stash)

I can’t believe how many posts I’ve put up without any pictures.  I’m so sorry. Really. I go to blogs to look at pictures too.  If you’ve stuck with me this far, I reward you with a picture:

ooh, what is this cute thing you ask? It’s my "I don’t want to knit on the baby blanket" project.  A sweater for my 3.5 year old daughter.  Basic stats:
Pattern: Bright Tradition from Fiber Trends.
Yarn: Rowan Handknit DK (100% cotton)
Needles: Addi Turbo 24" circular (don’t remember mm size of needle)
How I’m ignoring the pattern: Different yarn (cotton instead of wool), different gauge (no I don’t know what it is, I haven’t measured it yet), but I’m so far using the numbers for a 6 year old size. I’ll adjust length when it’s necessary.

I had started a different sweater with this yarn previously. It was a Debbie Bliss pattern that had cables and moss stitch.  After The Nanny Sweater, I couldn’t take anymore moss stitch & cables. Plus that pattern was really hard to keep track of where I was.  I ripped back, and started again with Bright Tradition. I love the XO cable in it.  The texture of the rest of the sweater is really cool.  It’s a wierd variation on moss stitch, but you don’t do k1p1 or p1k1 on every row.  (So yes, it’s a sort of cable and moss stitch sweater again.  But an easier and cuter one)

My first start on this pattern was in a smaller size.  The yarn I’m using is thinner than what’s called for; so I need more stitches to make up the right size.   It was easier to start the sweater twice and compare the size after an inch or so to the actual child. I was happy with the way the fabric feels so knew I had the right needle size.  I just had to adjust the number of stitches cast on, and other than changing the length of the knitting to match actual measurements + growing room, I’ll probably be following this pattern as written.

I currently own a beautiful Schacht Matchless double treadle spinning wheel.  It is a thing of beauty. I’ve made some pretty good yarn on it. However, it’s a bit fussy to get it adjusted just right. It’s also really heavy. When I bought it I was thinking I’d take it home, and there it would sit every time I wanted to spin. I don’t travel to conferences or classes much.

Reality intrudes, and I do take my wheel with me more than I thought I ever would. I have a monthly spinning group that I attend.  Several times I haven’t taken the wheel because it’s pretty cumbersome to get in and out of the car.  The group is nice and doesn’t tease me too bad about this.  As my regular readers know, I’m a member of a Sheep to Shawl group. We take our wheels (not really optional in this case) with us to the contest, and to our meetings when we plan for the contest.  So my desire for a more portable wheel has grown.

I did some research, online and in person and I have found the Lendrum.  This wheel is lighter and folds.  Not in an Inspector Gadget way, but just one simpld fold so that it can lie fairly flat.  There are specially made bags for it. It’s simple.  Easy to take bobbins off and on. I almost bought a Lendrum as my main wheel instead of the Schacht. The beauty of the Schacht won me over that time.

I went and test drove the Lendrum. It’s smooth. It’s simple. It called to me and said, "buy me, please". Who am I to argue? So I had made my decision, and found that my LYS was OUT of them. AAIGH!

I spent the rest of the day searching online and calling stores to try and find one in stock. I started close to home. I finally ranged all over the United States, and found one.  No problem - they’ll ship it to me.  UPS ground - should take three days. (Are you finally getting the title? Yeah, you wondered if I would ever get there)

That was Wednesday. Three days should mean I get it Friday, right? I couldn’t find anything on the UPS web site to explain how shipping time was calculated, just day ranges.

Checking tracking information 100 times in one day does NOT make your package show up faster. (Kind of like hitting the Up/Down button extra times to call the elevator doesn’t make it come faster).  So it finally says it shows up in my state.  Great! I call UPS, and they say their website is lying and it hasn’t actually arrived where it says it is.  So much for technology making our lives better.  Now I get to torture myself with a tracking page that not only doesn’t tell me what I want it to (that my box is here), but it’s supposedly inaccurate as well!  I called UPS again when I got home and tracking information hadn’t changed anymore.  The explanation was better this time.  It’s in my state at a sorting warehouse. You can’t pick it up or get it delivered from there, it has one more hop to make.  When I asked about the three day rule, I got a better explanation.  They count days like this. Day 1 = Wed - Thursday. Day 2 = Thursday to Friday. Day 3 = Friday to Monday. (They don’t deliver UPS ground on Saturdays)

So, the package will show up Monday. I’ll have missed out playing with it all this weekend, but I’ll surive. It’s not like I don’t have anything else to work on. :)

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A great article on spinning wheels and picking one can be found here.

But it’s OK if you have more than one wheel.

Here’s another interesting looking product.  This one doesn’t come with any recommendations that I know of, I just happened across it when looking for information about mini combs. The Jenny Plyer

The names of things

I’ve been trying to figure out where the name "Lazy Kate" came from.  Apparently you can’t learn everything on the internet (at least until you find the magic search terms for google), but I ran across this great homebrew tensioned lazy kate setup at the Crafty Canines, Stuck on Socks blog.

You can find some spinning related definitions explained here.

So while trying to figure out "Lazy Kate". Maybe a woman named Kate got tired of her bobbins running all over at she plyed yarn from them, so built the "lazy" way of doing it.  Given that Programmers are the laziest people I know, it is ironic that there is a language named Lazy K.  Programmers will spend literally hours writing something so they don’t have to do it ‘manually’.  Then I wondered if maybe Kate knew Susan or some dumbwaiters?.

So maybe I can’t find where Lazy Kate is from, or where she is currently staying - but maybe one of these phrases will point me the right way, or I might decided to ask The Word Detective, who explained that someone’s use of the word Rammy was related to the fact that male sheep do tend to smell not-so-pretty.  He really seems to know his spinning stuff as shown in this edition.

Spin with rocks? Sure! Check out this article on The Evolution of Spinning.