I am finding as I get older that Winter is not my bodys friend. Everything is stiffer on me, knitting is just a little less smooth, the joints in my fingers, hands , ankles and knees a little less responsive when I spin (snap crackle and pop) and everything wants to seize up the colder and wetter it gets. Winter doesn't lie about my age. It doesn't flatter and it has absolutely no sense of humor. Well, "feah" to you Winter! See above my spinning of the 4 ounces of Polworth and up to row 96 of the International Shawl. When the going gets tough, the tough get to knitting and spinning. Winter just reminds me that if I want to knit the good stuff, I have to get cracking. I have no idea how much yarn I got out of 4 ounces of fiber, but maybe I can break in that yarn yardage counter that my sister got me last year. And that brings up the fact that Stitches West 2008 is coming soon. Though I don't plan to buy yarn, my sister has informed me that she is more than happy to "gift" me with yarn in order to ease my agony. I have the best sister in the universe :-) Just a short post tonight as e-blogger is acting out and refusing to "spell check" anything for me. Good evening and good knitting!
24 comments:
Your spinning is lovely--that color is rich and will make gorgeous lace.
You take such better pictures of the International shawl. I can't get mine spread out as much as yours.
YOu did get my email about the error on row 107, right? Or was is 105--I forgot already.
I sympathize about the cold. Wish it were spring already!
I hear you about the snap, crackle and pop. I think we're eating the same cereal.
I love the "semi-solid" colours of your International Shawl.
you are complaining in California? I am frozen in Utah!
Lovely yarn and beautiful lace :D
I am having too much fun with too many projects!
What gorgeous spinning! I love the color. What are you planning to knit with it?
Gorgeous Polwarth. I hadn't realised that it was available as top.
your spinning is beautiful, and I empathize with your ever-more stiffening hands (good thing I don't spin with my knees!) The internation shawl is gawjus!! and I love the color. Your blog is such an inspiration to me.
the spinning is beautiful I love looking at it and the colour is so rich...
You should try Lancashire in the UK we have high rainfall and most of the year round it's damp and windy.... on the + side I can't remember the last time we had a hosepipe ban :o)
Lovely times two! Both the handspun and your International Shawl are looking very fine! I love watching your progress on that shawl. Blogger wouldn;t spellcheck for me this morning either, and I really need my spelling checked...
Dear fleegle,
Yes, I did get your message about the error in row 105 thank you for sending me a correction since I would have mucked around and shreaded my yarn up trying to figure out a Homer Simpson "fix" for that :-) I can only get a picture of a decent section of shawl by knitting part way on one circular needle and then knitting the rest of the way on a second needle. Then I can spread it out for a shot. Takes a little time but worth it for the pictures! Although I bitch about the cold here, it's not that bad compared to everywhere else in the country. I'm just used to it being temperate out here.
Dear Dave,
I really like it too. I just picked the color spectrum I liked and asked Carol at Black Bunny Fibers to dye it without big color changes. I think the open mesh in the pattern also helps to isolate the colored sections for pretty nice definition :-)
Dear Laritiza,
I can always depend on you having lots and lots of beautiful and interesting projects that we can all gape at in amazement :-) I think I would freeze solid if I was out there in Utah! I really feel bad for complaining when I know that most everyone else has it worse off, but I'd rather say it's the cold than me getting old :-(
Dear Opal,
Spinning the Polworth was interesting. Really different than merino. I could not get it as consistant and I have the feeling it will fluff up a lot when washed up. I'm not really sure what to make with it. Some sections are very vivid, some more muted.I'm going to look over some of the shawl patterns I have and try to decide. Whatever it is I pick, I think i will be using US 2 or US 3 needles on it.
Dear Ted,
This is the first time I have ever seen any and it was apparantly a small lot of Polworth that was done up at Deep Color before they closed their store front (they still teach classes though) so I just was fortunate to get this. I've seen some Polworth (undyed) from time to time for sale so I could, in theory, break out the crockpot and dye myself some :-) It was interesting to spin. We will see how well I did when I go to knit it though (she typed while crossing her fingers)
Dear Judith,
I'm happy you are enjoying the posts ont he blog. I really love the way the International Shawl is knitting up even though fleelge found several errors in the pattern already (shes ahead of me by quite a bit by now). I'm looking forward to warmer weather just because it means I will be able to knit a little faster and not shudder at the thought of getting down on the floor to block something that won't fit on the shawl frame. What can I say? I'm a weather whimp!
Dear Littleberry,
Something about the cold weather really makes me want to work on spinning rather than knitting. I no sooner finished the Polworth than I broke out the Merino/Silk fiber from Blue Moon Fibers that I got at Stitches West last year. I will get a picture of it for the next post but it is really easy to spin and is a really pretty colorway in the blue/green range. I really enjoy the spinning almost as much as the knitting :-)
Dear badcatdesigns,
I need my spellcheck as well. Even with it my sister is always looking at the blog and finding my errors. She spells much better than me. I love looking at fleegle's version of the shawl since she was able to get a shot and posted it on her blog too. I'm having a tough time trying to figure out what will come after the Myrtle Leaf section though. That is when we all get to pick whatever we want from two other sources/countrys. This is likely where I will end up putting in something that looks just awful or doesn't go. Oh well. It's only lace :-)
I'm so impressed by the spinning -- that yarn looks amazing. I love the colour.
I'm intrigued by the pill bottles as centers of your balls. Do these fit on a ball winder? or some other mystical way to use them? Since I suffer from an over-abundance of pill bottles, some other use of them is really desired.
Love your spinning and knitting!
Dear Soo,
It's a pretty color and the Polworth was interesting to spin. I'm still undecided what to make out of it though. I will swatch it and see!
Dear Gailr,
No,the pill bottles do not fit over the ballwinder. When I first started spinning, I made yarn for my cable knitting so when I plied yarn, I would skein it off, wash it and block it and then wind it into a ball to use. Since I have to wash and block for lace anyway and I'm lazy, I just wind the yarn directly to the ballwinder with a toilet paper rolll cut down to fit the ball winder core. Once It's wound into a ball, I slide the pill bottle in to replace the toilet paper roll. I do this becauses I have not blocked the yarn and it helps prevent the yarn from twisting back onto itself as a center pull ball while I knit. Since the bottle is slicker than a toilet paper roll, it works pretty good. I use the really big and tall pill bottles for this.
I can totally relate to the snap crackle and pop. It seems like it's all I've been doing recently. Oh well, at least we're aging gracefully ;)
Jane, your work is so beautiful. I really enjoy watching your progress (and that of your cohorts as well). Years ago I crocheted a few doilies. If I wanted to knit a small, very simple doily - what pattern would you recommend? I have been knitting for years (know the basics), but haven't really challenged myself.
Dear knitpicking,
Aging is not for the weak :-) I really have to work at that "aging gracefully" thinga little more LOL
Dear Sherilan,
I'm happy you are enjoying all the blog posts by everyone. I know I love to go look at what everyone is doing as well. Lucky you being able to crochet! I only do it to cast off a doily. As for a simple doily, you can try at Yarn Over where the list free patterns. Here is a link for a nice one that you might want to try but if not that one, check out some of the others that are at that link.
http://www.yarnover.net/patterns/doilies/donner/ullstein2.html
Good Luck with it and thank you for your comment and for checking in on the blog :-)
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