Kumihimo

One evening Irene invited us over to her house to do kumihimo braiding. Kumihimo is a form of Japanese braiding, normally done on a Marudai - something that resembles a wooden stool with the centre cut out. We used squares of cardboard with slits cut out. It worked quite well. My braid was very lopsided and twisted - where I've miscrossed some (a lot) of the strands. It was fun but the cardboard didn't hold up to my manhandling of it. They will start to bend and wear out after a while.

These Kumihimo discs from Braiders Hand. The discs are made of very dense foam, with all the slits pre-cut. They are a really good inexpensive alternative to the more traditional Marudai. I thought and thought about it - do I need another craft? No. Do I want another craft? YES!!! When I saw The Keyboard Biologist with her kit, I knew it was a sign and that I really should buy one (or two). I bought the Disc and the Flat braid kit. Janis at BraiderHand was very helpful. The discs included English instructions, EZ-bobs bobbins, and a bit of floss to get you started.

They arrived today and I tested them out. After making the first braid, I had to run down to Michaels for more embroidery floss. I didn't want to use up my DMC floss just yet. 105 different colours and 40% off! Love that Michael's coupon.

For practice, I made a bunch of little samples - won't bother with pictures for now. The flat braid was interesting...I accidently did a wrong cross halfway through and the pattern changed. I like the new pattern better but have no idea how I achieved it.

I can see this will be very useful for making cords for my knitted bags. With the embroidery floss, I can make thinner cords for fancy shoelaces. Now, I need to find out where to get the clear plastic tubes for the ends of the shoelace.

Edited to add:
A quick search on the internet informs me that the plastic tube thing is called an AGLET and there are websites devoted solely (haha) to shoelaces.

Crochet

Dentists are evil but necessary. Ok, I shouldn't say that about my dentist. She's a real sweetie. In fact, her whole team is wonderful. But I still don't enjoy a trip to the dentist. Half my face is still frozen and slowly thawing out. I hate that tingling feeling. It's going to hurt later. Ugh! While sitting at the dentist, I've been trying to think of things that could be worse than a trip to the dentist. Childbirth might be close.

On the bright side, I think I might have corrupted one of the assistant...she was fascinated by my sock knitting. Heh!

Crochet

When I was four or so, my parents sold our house to some people who had a daughter a few years older. I remember they came over one night to do some paperwork and Belle, the daughter, was crocheting granny squares. It was one of my first exposure to fibre arts of any kind and it was the coolest thing I've ever seen! This even predates knitting for me. She was making granny squares to sew together to make a blanket. She taught me the chain stitch and the double crochet stitch. At that time, I didn't know what these stitches were called.

Years later, out of curiousity, I picked up a crochet hook and made a couple of granny squares. Other than a pair of really ugly slippers (it's amazing what you can do with very oversized granny squares!) I made for my husband years ago, I don't crochet. I understand the principle behind it. Crochet is for picking up dropped stitches in your knitting.

A week ago, I came across this and thought how nice this would look in handspun. Better yet, in energized handspun single. So, that's what I did. And crochet this...



The singles were really kinked up and hard to work with so I washed and stretched the yarn to dry. Once the scarf was finished, I washed it again and let it dry without stretching. This seems to put the the "energy" back in the singles and I got all the kinks back. In using a thinner yarn, I got a thinner scarf. I joined the ends of the scarf together to make a big loop instead of having them flap free. I like my scarves better this way. Spinning the yarn thick/thin gave the scarf more texture but it made the clovers less distinct. I joined the flowers a little differently - through the middle instead of going through the side petals. The wool is a Polworth roving that I had dyed lime green/chartreuse with splashes of black. Spun up, it gave me the darker bloches of green.

My first crochet project - other than granny squares.

Best two weeks ever!

It had been the most glorious two week vacation ever! The two weeks felt like two months (in a good relaxing way). And being back at work had not been bad at all. This is the first time I've come back from vacation and not have to figure out the mistakes of a CERTAIN MORON. Life is good!

I did a lot of fibre stuff, reconnected with an old aquaintance. (Michelle will be showing her work at Fibre Essence, opening Aug 27th.) Finished the Sister's Plain Jane socks and sent them off in the mail. Finished another pair of Plain Jane socks for myself and casted on for yet another pair of PJ socks. I bought 400gms of this sock yarn so that WILL be a lot of socks. I could dye the yarn but for some reason, it appeals to me to make as many pairs of socks - all the same colour and style. There's no reason, other than I wanted to do this.

I also did a bit of swatching for the Rogue sweater. I've had this pattern for two years and still have not made the sweater yet. I thought I would spin something for it but not sure I like the look. The corriedale lamb is nice and soft but the cables are not as crisp as I would like them to be.

What else did I do? I knitted 36 rows of my lace shawl and unknitted 13 rows back. I still haven't finished the first repeat yet. I think if I ever decide to design another lace shawl, I'll make the pattern repeats smaller. The pattern is 79 rows! That's ok. This one is just the prototype to work out the mistakes.

What I didn't do that was on my list of things to do was re-tile the front entrance. I have the tiles but ran out of time. It's been busy with picking all that fibre, the Annual Trek, knitting socks, spinning, the barbeques, and general lounging around on the deck. I just ran out of time.

See? Fly Eyes!

Those giant heads are gettting heavier and bigger each day. I think it's time to tie them up. The Jays have been by a few times to check them out but I don't think the seeds are quite ready yet. Close but not quite.

The tree in the background is a crabapple tree. (Click on the pic to see the tree better.) The previous owners of the property planted it and never ever once pruned it. When we bought the place, the realtor told us it was a plum tree (it was in the dead of winter) so we expected plums. We thought it was strange that it took a VERY long time for the plums to ripen. And they were so SOUR!! Finally, we cut into one and found the apple seeds. It was a D'OH! moment. The second year, we gathered as many of the crabapples that we could reach and made crabapplee jelly. A gazillion pounds of crabapples and hours and hours of boiling, straining, etc gave us 14 jars of crabapple jelly. And red spots on my kitchen walls that I still have today. Tasty jelly but really not worth the effort. Now, we just let the birds get at them. Or, if anyone wants crabapples, you're welcome to them.

Fleece Pickings

Monday was fleece-picking day. I brought the picker outside and picked through close to 16 pounds of fleece in 5 hours. My "assistant" sorted and pull the clumps of fibre apart while I fed the bits into the picker. We had quite the production going. It was a perfect day - until the wind picked up in the afternoon. It's really not a great idea to pick when the wind is blowing. I have tuffs of fibre all over the yard and into the neighbour's yard as well. The awning that kept the sun off us, acted as a wind tunnel and funneled all the wind right through where I was working.

Today, I have to pay my assistant...we're off to see Pirates! Love Johnny Depp!

Pillows and Mug Rugs

The mutant sunflowers are not quite as tall as they were a few days ago. That's because the heads have gotten so large, they're bending over. And there's six flowers now instead of four. The centres reminds me of fly eyes. I know...I'm weird.

Annual Trek

Last Thursday was our 8th Annual Trek. The Annual Trekkers consists of me, my sister, my son, & my neice. Every summer we take one day and play tourist. It always starts with breakfast and Science World (yes, I know it's called Telusphere but it will always be Science World to me) and whatever else that catches our fancy. This year's Science World attraction is the Secrets of the Pharaoh Lego display. Really cool! I kept thinking how I would love a job that lets me play with Lego all day! We all had a great time. The new updated displays were very informative and fun. I'm just a big kid. :) Unfortunately, I think it must have been Day Camp day or something because I think every day camp in the city was there. The place was full of screaming pushy kids - we just ignored them.

The two kids had fun. It was strange to see the two of them together - great hulking teenagers - still enjoying an outing with the moms. Not sure how many more Annual Treks we may have but I'm hoping for at least another year.

Socks

As much as I pretend, I'm just not one of those people who start a pair of socks and finish them in 3 days time. The socks I was hoping to have done by Friday are still not done. I might have finished them if I had remembered to bring them with me on the Annual Trek. That's ok. My sister's birthday is not until next week. I can mail them to her. I'm halfway through the feet now.

Thanks to Rusty for the reminder the Guild Pillow Challenge is coming up (Ack! September!). I've gone into Mild Panic Mode trying to think of something. It's a Weavers and Spinners Guild. Since I don't weave, it means I could either spin something and knit it into a pillow or knit something with commercial yarns and full it into a pillow. I like the second choice. Paton's Classic Merino fulls up really really well. And thanks to January One for the Knitted Log cabin idea. The sample swatch fulled into a perfect mug rug size - I'm done for the Christmas exchange too! :D

Do you have yarn in your stash that you absolutely love? That, as soon as you saw the yarn in the store, you just knew it would be perfect for a particular project? That's how I felt about the Elspeth Lavold Hempathy. I knew it would make the perfect cardigan. I told myself I just need to find the right pattern for it. I've tried so many patterns (some I've made up) and nothing seems right. Tried it with different needles. It's just not happening the way I see it in my mind. It keeps telling me that it would make the perfect tank top but I had my heart set on a cardigan. I think it's best if I just re-skein this yarn and put it away for now.

*I'm having problems uploading pics so I'm not going to stress about this.

Mutant Sunflower invasion

We have giant sunflowers growing in the back yard. Rick is 6' tall so I think the tallest one might be 12'. This picture was taken yesterday and today, they're even taller and the fourth flower has opened.

The fun thing is that we never planted them. In between the sunflowers is our tiny little apple tree. Last year, one sunflower sprung up in the dirt around the apple tree. We let it grow. I think the Stellar Jays must have brought the seeds in from a neighour. They're always in our yard for the crabapples. The Jays, not the neighbour. The flower from last year was just as tall. By the end of the summer, the seed head was about 12" wide. The Jays would fly at it, hang upside down and peck at the seeds. These flowerrs are from the dropped seeds last year.

The little apple tree is doing really well. We feed it quite a bit since it has to share the space with the sunflowers. One thing we noticed is that the tree is doing better, surrounded by the flowers. It had been touch and go for the two years with all sorts of problems and insects. I don't know if the sunflowers are helping but the apple tree doesn't seem to have any of the blights.

Sock Cuffs

Of all the different styles of knitting a sock cuff, this one is probably the best (in my humble opinion). I credit this to Elizabeth Zimmerman. I'm sure lots of other people over the history of knitting had done the same thing but EZ was where I first learned about this. Combined this with a K2P2 ribbing and you have the perfect cuff!

Cast on double the stitches you'll need over two needles in the size you're going to knit with. Pull out one needle. First round, knit or purl two stitches together - whatever you chose for the ribbing. By far, the superior sock cuff. I like using two needles to cast on because when I pull out the extra needle, it leaves lots of room for me to easily knit/purl 2tog without struggling. Easier on my hands.

Stand up and take a bow!

The strangest thing happened this morning. On the commute this morning I decided to finish off my sock-in-progress. I only had two more rows of decreases left. With that done, I whipped out my sewing needle and grafted the toes together. As the last sock came off the last needle, I looked up and noticed EVERYONE watching me. One person started to applaud and everyone else joined in. Apparently, most of these people have watched me knit almost everyday but they had never seen the finishing. Usually I do that at home.

Too funny!

Triple Picker

It was a beautiful day to be driving out to Chilliwack to pick up my Triple Picker today. Not too hot. Traffic was light. We were greeted at the door by Paula and Pumpkin the cat. Their farm is absolutely amazing! Not only did we leave with a Triple Picker but Paula gave us a big bag of green beans, apricots, tomatoes & cucumbers!

They can't stress enough about the safety of using one of these. Warnings and caution stickers were all over the picker. It came with safety bars and a padlock. Rick took one look at it and insisted on a side trip to Lee Valley Tools for leather gloves. Good thing these gloves are long. I can see myself raking my arms over the nails.

I LOVE my Triple Picker. I tried it out on a fleece that I call my dirty little secret. It's a Romney cross - possibly merino cross, I think. I was not as careful with the washing as I could have been and the locks matted. Then I tried to salvage it by dyeing it in an Indigo bath last summer. By the end of it all, it was quite matted and really difficult to tease apart. I should have known better.

I pulled it out today and put some of it through the picker. What I thought was unusable came out so nice and fluffy! 1/2 hour of picking gave me 3/4 full garbage bag. Some bits were put through twice because it was so badly matted.

The Triple Picker opens up the fibre but it doesn't pick out second cuts. It does flick out quite a bit of VM, though. I think, with some of the finer fibres, I'll probably still hand tease first. This stuff is good enough to spin as is without carding it into batts.

I think I need to go spin a sample now. :)

Knitting Rambles

The weather is certainly different today. Much MUCH cooler! I'm actually glad that we're expecting rain this weekend. This picture came from the weathercam on Jericho Beach.


Last night I was tidying up my Stuff Room. I needed to find some space for my brand spanking new Triple Picker that's coming home on Saturday. I found way too many UFOs lying around. And these were not the ones that have been laying around for the last 20-plus years...current projects from the last six months. Three sets of unfinished socks...that's what happens when I knit one sock at a time. I always change the pattern as I knit and I always forget what changes I've made. AND I always tell myself that I'll remember because it's only one little change. Hahahaha!! They have now been reconstituted back into skeins and gone back into the stash.

I've tried keeping a knitting notebook with me. Over the years I think I've purchased as many little notebooks as I have UFOs. The problem is that I'm not consistant in using them. I have good intentions but bad follow-through. The notebook is always in another part of the house or in another bag when I need to jot something down. Pages get wrinkled or ripped out when the notebook is stuffed in the bottom of my bag. Maybe the problem is not the notebook but a better knitting bag. I'm still searching for the PERFECT knitting bag. I don't want a big one to carry ALL my knitting stuff...just one that's big enough for my current project that I can carry around the house, small enough to fit in my backpack to take to work. I have many bags that came close but just not quite right when I use them for a while.

So you see, it's not my fault that I'm not finishing things. I need to go shopping for a better bag...or a new notebook.

I think it's just easier to knit both socks together at the same time.

We're Back!

I love Mayne Island! Time move slowly there. Island time. One week felt like three. People move slower there. Animals move slower there. Mayne Island is such a nice place. I suspect it's so clean and tidy because the deer population eat everything that's not surrounded by six feet of chicken wire. They are cute, though. We saw 2 goats, 2 horses, 1 cow, 1 squirrel, 4 eagles, 2 herrons, and a number of seal heads bobbing in the water. No sheep. Apparently, Saturna Island is the island to visit if you want sheep. The way the ferry schedule worked out, we didn't get a chance to visit any of the other islands.

The place was nice and quiet. It was the perfect place to get away and do nothing. We did a bit of kayaking, a lot of hiking, and walking on the beach. Most of the waterfront areas are rocky and perfect for beachcombing and tidal pool watching...which is what I like. The one area that was sandy was so crowded. If I wanted to sit in a crowd, I would have just stayed home and headed out to Kits Beach here. I find it boring to just sit on the beach all day.


We checked out a few local attractions like the Lighthouse. The beach around the Lighthouse is perfect for tidal pool watching. Lots of small crabs, minnows and starfish. The rocks along here were all worn out by the tide to create natural chairs forsitting and watching the ferries go by.

The view at the top of Mt. Parke was spectacular! Mount Parke Regional Park had lots of trails for hiking that were pretty easy and some not so easy. Apparently we took the harder trail up. Wondered why we were the only ones huffing and puffing at the top.

I found Indian Pipe flowers growing all through Mt. Parke. They're a strange looking plant, all white and waxy-looking. As they mature, the flowers blacken. The plant doesn't have chlorophyll and survive by sucking nutrients from nearby tree roots. Medicinally, they're used as a poultice for wounds that are hard to heal.

I was disappointed that I didn't acquire any new fibres. Hatake Farms was not open for visitors because Linda O'Brien was away. I was not able to arrange a visit to Meadowmist Farms either. That's ok. I had enough to keep me busy. I did re-read all six Harry Potter books, the Alden Amos spinning book. On the fibre side, I knitted half a sock, half a sweater, and 3 more rows on my lace shawl.

It's been fun.

It's hot here!

It's hot and muggy inside the house. The windows are still taped up and covered with plastic. The weather has not been good for painting. The painters have only painted one day this week. They were supposed to be done by Friday and it's already Thursday. Still, I'm not going to worry about it. Only two more sleeps before we go away. I've finally decided on what to bring - sock in progress, lace shawl knitting, and a sweater project. Plus my wheel with three fibres - silk/cotton, silk/merino, & Polworth. That should keep me out of trouble for the week.

Soccer and Knitting just don't mix!

Italy won the World Cup and the month-long soccer fest is over for another 4 years. It's been fun. Soccer is really the only sport I watch...and even so, my understanding of it is limited. I enjoy the game for what it is.

I can't help but wonder if it would be better to come in third place than lose to second. Germany won and they were ecstatic! I'm sure there was a lot of celebrating that night. France came in second and they all looked like someone killed their cat. Second in the world is really not bad but I guess it's all psychological...losing to second place and winning third place.

One thing to remember for next World Cup - it's really not a good idea to knit lace and watch exciting games at the same time. Saturday's match between Germany & Portugal resulted in frogging back 7 rows - that's 1,400 stitches. I wasn't paying attention and a couple of misplaced yarnovers shifted the pattern over.

The house has been prepped and ready for painting today. Another week and I'm off on vacation! I've been thinking of what fibre projects to bring with me. A quick easy sock project for traveling. Spinning wheel is coming but haven't decided on the fibre yet. Probably my lace just in case. I'm deciding whether to bring the Sweater Surprise or start a new sweater. The Sweater Surprise is almost done...just need to finish the sleeves and sew everything together. I think I need a new sweater project.

Knitting News and Happy Canada Day!

I love knitting lace and especially lace shawls. I don't wear them so they are usually packed away and eventually given away as gifts. Sometimes it may take months and even years before a shawl is finally "gifted".

The Wedding Shawl/Afghan is NOT done. In my deepest heart, I think I knew it was not meant to be. Especially after restarting it for the 4523rd time. This is something I should take a bit more time with. It will be a shame to rush through this and come up with something less than what I wanted. Besides, my family kindly pointed out it may not be something my cousin and her new husband would want and it's not something that they can return to a store if it's not to their liking. I really don't know them well enough to make them something. Does it sound like I'm trying to justify this? Heh! I am.

With this realization, I decided to re-do the border. I changed the pattern and used a larger needle size. I think I'm liking this one.

The pattern repeats every 15 rows. I was thinking of 20 repeats before turning the corners. That would give me 300 inside stitches. I'll have to adjust the snowflake pattern a bit.


Madli Shawl

The Madli Shawl (Interweave Press Summer 2004) is completed! I'm quite pleased with it.





The wool is from a Polworth fleece that I wash, carded, and spun myself. There is something special in looking at the finished product and thinking - Wow! I made that! I REALLY made that from start to finish! Short of raising the sheep myself, I REALLY, REALLY made it all!!

It's a cool feeling. :D

Finished measurements: 64" x 21" blocked
Fibre: Raw Polworth from Penelope Fibres.
Weight: 107gms
WIP: 28-30 wpi - The spinning was not as consistent as it should be.
Needles: 4mm circular

The pictures should have been taken against a different background but the painters will be here shortly to powerwash the house. Didn't have time.



Happy Canada Day! I'm off to watch the World Cup Quarter Finals - England and Portugal. It should be a really good game.

*click on the pictures for larger pics.

Slow and steady

Knit and re-knit and re-knit. The wedding shawl/afghan (I've been told it's not a shawl but an afghan) is going very slowly. I've changed my mind five times on the pattern. Last night, I almost gave up and decided to keep the thing for myself. This morning I decided it was nice but not what I had in mind - too lacy. So this morning's commute was spent ripping out the shawl.

Tonight's reincarnation of the shawl is an Orenburg lace pattern. A simple border with a repeating snowflake pattern in the middle. I've just finished the first border and turned the first corner. Yah!

I must be insane!

I'm putting all knitting and fibre projects on hold for the next two weeks. Now that I think about it, it might not have been such a good idea. My cousin's wedding is in two weeks - July 2nd, to be exact. I have no idea what to get them for a wedding present. They're not registered anywhere and when asked, they say they don't need anything. I hate people like that. Ugh! What do you get them?!

Tonight I decided to knit them a big ol'shawl. Something they can snuggle up together under during the cold Vancouver winter nights. I have just under two weeks...13 days, to be exact...to knit AND BLOCK this shawl! Thank goodness for the stash! I have 4 balls of Zephyr in Emerald green. This stuff will look gorgeous even if I knit the thing plain garter stitch. I've decided on the Madli shawl pattern, expanded to make it wider and without nepps, of course. Having made this once, the pattern is easy enough to knit quickly.

Anyhow, I probably won't be blogging much until this shawl is done (Or July 2nd comes around). I do have a back-up plan if I don't make the deadline. The cheater's way out is a gift certificate from the Bay, with a note that the shawl will follow.

Knit In Public

Yes, I did Knit In Public but not at the Official Knit In Public. I opted out to knit at a coffee bar while watching World Cup Soccer with friends. Not sure if that was a good idea, as several rows needed to be "fixed". This is the Sweater Surprise.

In my usual lazy fashion, I'm knitting the two fronts and back together as one piece. The odd uneveness you see is where I put in the faux seam. The yarn is Mandarin Petit 100% Egyptian cotton, knitted on 3.25mm needles. The surprise is I'm not sure how this will turn out since I'm making it up as I go.

I passed on the Langley Fleece sale this year. I have too many fleece that I need to go through. On the other hand, I have decided to get the Pat Green Triple Picker so that means I can process more fleece quickly. I told the hubby that if he wanted his sweater by winter, I'll have to get a Triple Picker. :D Plus, there's no doubt that the Gang will bring fleece back to share from Black Sheep. I don't feel like I'm missing anything from passing on the Langley sale. I have enough Romney.

I know I've always said that I don't like to return yarn. But in a moment of sanity, I decided that the 6 skeins of purple was not really enough for what I wanted. I brought them back to the LYS and exchanged it for 10 skeins of Elspeth Lavold's Hempathy in Citrine. That stuff is really scrumptous to knit with! This weekend, I went back and brought the bag of black. For a cotton/hemp blend, I expected it to be much stiffer but it is really drapey and soft. It knits like silk. Originally, I had thought top-down cardie but now I wanted something to show off the drape of the fabric better. Have to give this one more thought.

Today...

Today I accomplished nothing at work. All day long, I worked very hard doing what I needed to do, only to find at the end of the day, everything was cancelled. I'm back to exactly where I started at 7am this morning.

Much like today's knitting. I casted on for a sweater last night and did the ribbing. Then I knitted during my morning commute (I gave up my nap) and at lunchtime, and on the commute on the way home. A good eight inches into this sweater, I decided I really didn't like the looks of the fabric. Everything was ripped out and I started over again. This time, I went with my gut feelings and used the smaller needle size.

It's only a month late...

but I finally finished the post on our Sock Dyeing day.

Nothing fancy.

It's interesting that Franklin's latest comic offering is about a woman who refuses to knit for her children, grand children, etc.

My son and husband are knit-worthy but I rarely knit for them. They find it too warm to wear wool anything. But Saturday night my husband said that if I wanted to knit him a sweater, he would probably wear it. I was so excited! In our nearly twenty years together, I've knitted him two sweaters (both cardigans), 2 pairs of socks, and a pair of ugly ugly UGLY slippers! He's worn everything once each, with the exception of the very ugly slippers. They fell apart from wear and tear...and chewing from the dog.

He wanted something plain and simple. No fancy patterns or colours. Grey. Or brown. Something I would call mind-numbingly boring to knit. Ack!

My stipulation is that it will have to be something I like as well. In case he wears it only once, I can "borrow" it back for myself.

Purple Daze

I can't walk out of a yarn store without buying anything. It would kill me to do so. I went to the LYS to buy another set of needles. For some reason, I can't find my Addis 2mm circular. They might be in a project somewhere. She didn't have any in stock and will order them for me.

Then I started browsing and fondling the yarn. And then I came across this...Garnstudio's Silke-Tweed in a brilliant purple! Silk and lambswool. Just perfect for a light summer cardigan or tank top. But the downside is that she only had 6 balls of the purple. Lots of off-white and cream but only 6 purple!! I tried looking at other stuff like the Elizabeth Lavold's Hempathy. They only have 3 balls in the colour I liked.

It took about an hour for me to decide to just buy both. There's enough of the Silke-Tweed to make a light top. Not sure what I will do with the Hempathy. It will just go in the stash for now. I'm a sucker for anything purple. :D