Fiber Friday 8/11/06

I dyed a bit this week, and spun some too. Not much to brag about really. NEXT week I'll have some sparkly yarn to show off!

All three photos are of different pinky fibers. The first one is hand-dyed roving. The second is hand-dyed commercial yarn and the last is the swap yarn I spun. I actually did some non-pink stuff this week but I'm going to keep this a themed collection today.

It's baffling, really. I don't like pink a whole lot, but you wouldn't know it this week!

Panda-monium!

So many wonderful handpainted murals of pandas...

...and dragons (?)

The guy on the left looks like he's too sick to join KISS. The one next to him has remarkable posture. The next one is angry and the guy on the right looks like an actual panda.


The next painting is funny because there is a realistic panda looking at the scary panda, wondering how he got into this scene. I don't know how to comment on the dragons.

Another thing funny about this crazy panda, is he actually looks like a real panda, as it turn out...


...At least in body language. This real panda may be sleeping, but it's hard to tell.

There's no confusion here. Cute pandas live at the San Diego Zoo! They eat bamboo and honey sandwiches. AW!

In spinning news, I'm back on the wheel today with fury! I'm going to spin some yarn for another swap I entered...


(Doing happy dance for a sec...)

One week until fiber fest!

(Still dancing)

Don't tell the pandas they're living in captivity. They seem to like it.

Soft Undercoat

It was a long hot day at the San Diego Zoo on Monday but I managed to take lots of pictures. Today's offering is the Guanaco. It looked like a fiber animal to me...and it is!

I wanted to grab a bit of fleece but obviously there was no way that could happen. I thought the big one in the picture was friendly and wanted me to have it's fleece. It's clearly shedding in the summer sun and would like to have it gone I imagine.

I have some llama fiber in my stash but I haven't spun it yet. It's soft! I have been known to touch it but for some reason I haven't spun it. I also have some camel but I'm avoiding that too. I don't have much else in the way of exotic fibers...I have some bamboo that needs to be carded and a handful of angora bunny too. When spinning, however, I tend to stick with utilitarian fiber, basic wool.

According to Wikipedia: "Like the llama, the guanaco is double coated with a coarse guard hair and soft undercoat, which is even finer and thus more highly prized than that of the alpaca, although they carry far less of it."

The article goes on to say they also have thick-skinned necks, which Bolivians use to make shoes. Ugh.

Later this week: Pandas!

Swap yarn show-off

Yay! My swap partner received the yarn I sent so I can show it off! It's 4oz of worsted to bulky weight hand-dyed goodness. I tried to spin it smaller but I swear the fiber wanted me to spin it thick. I always obey the fiber. Well, not always, but I really should.

This skein is 2-ply and mostly pink. (what a girly week I'm having...) My swap partner, who also happens to be the organizer, started a thread on Craftster where all the swappers can show off the yarn. So far, I'm the only one there.

I sent off the yarn with time to spare and now it looks like I can join another swap...uh oh! I'm enjoying the swapping! This can only lead to danger and yet off I go.

In unexpected news, I am seriously considering going to Burning Man this year. I have never been and am looking for an opportunity to get away from myself a bit. At the same time, this crazy fest is intimidating and heat stroke-y, so I don't know. But it would be interesting to set up a spinning wheel in the middle of nowhere.

OH! Before I forget, I got a fine haircut today and that's why I'm late posting. Maybe the haircut will help me "get away from myself" so I don't have to camp in the desert after all.

Your ear just tastes so much better than a handful of oats

The big news today is that I am going to San Diego. I am hoping to see some fiber animals at the zoo so I can take pictures and show them off later this week.

I'm not asking for much, just some ear nibbling like what's happening in this picture I fleeced off the web. (Sorry) This picture was taken by Tanja A. It looks a bit painful and I don't fully understand why one would bite another's ear. Is this some kind of dominance thing?

In other news, I'm pretty excited to see my free pattern for Band Cuffs are getting promoted by people other than me in the web-o-sphere!

First there was Craftster...

..and Knitter's Review...

Now the big one, Knitting Pattern Central!

In summary, the pattern belongs to everyone. But your ear, that belongs to me.

Pink week continues...

There has been a fair amount of pinkness this week in the Free World, in both knitting and spinning. It may be because I recently discovered cuteoverload and am now obsessed with it. It may be because my swap partner listed it as her favorite color. I may never know.

Are you allowed to do that to your tailpipe?

Cute Overload is where I first spotted this Hello Kitty fanciness. It's classified under "What not to do to your Ferrari" but I'm not so sure about that.

Can you imagine the person who would drive this car? Some kind of superhero I expect.

Who is the genius who made this car? And how do I get him to photoshop my Mini Cooper in a similar manner?

Inspiration comes from unexpected sources, no?

Knitting show and tell

This summer has been filled with lots of knitting and spinning. I knit a small cotton bag for a camera as a gift for Gina. The top has a drawstring closure. The colors are a bit nutty but it is summer after all!

I also finished a pair of knucks (from knitty) but still have to embroider the knuckle tattoo part. They are made in fall colors because it's what I had in my stash. I will do the embroidery when I make up my mind as to what to write on there.

I know "love" and "hate" are traditional but I don't think I ever understood what that meant. I've narrowed it down to something knitting, spinning or blogging related.

I need to pick up another project but what? I've seen a lot of bloggers making posts about their unfinished projects...well I only have one, and I'm not going to finish it anytime soon! Wanna see it? It's a lace scarf. It turns out I'm a monogamous knitter! I tend to finish what I start (or rip it out and pretend it never existed).

There's a certain emptiness a knitter feels in between projects. Like a reader feels in between books or a chef in between meals. You have a world of potential before you, which is both inspiring and intimidating. Are you going to make another cuff that takes thirty minutes or a complicated lace shawl that will take you about a year to finish? Or socks? But a new pattern for socks you haven't tried yet? Something to make from your yarn stash or something you give yourself permission to shop for?

I'm waiting for inspiration to strike. Until then, I'll look through my stash, look through the recent knitting magazines and hope I feel a connection to something.

Band Cuff Customer Gallery!

Free pattern for band cuffs!

Check out these cuffs from Zen Gwen: brown and aqua, white and black, and aqua with tan? I LOVE the color combinations!

Phizzychick made some red, yellow and pink cuffs - SWEET!

I made a bunch, including a triple band cuff!

Speaking of cute overload, check out this pink and black number made by Sopranospinner! By the way, I hear the seven-year-old model is knitting her first poncho this summer. I love it! Kids who knit are cool.

Fiber Friday 8/4/06

TGIFF! I have some yarn to show off today. The first one is a bright combination of purples and blues 2-ply superwash yarn measuring 356 yards! You read that right. 356 yards. It weighs about 10 oz. I can't remember exactly what it weighs because it's not here. It is one of three yarns I entered to the homespun division of the LA County Fair... (UPDATE: See more of the Fair yarns on Sopranospinner's Progressive Purls blog! Have you seen her socks? Yeah!)

The truth is out, I didn't exactly spin it this week. But this is the yarn's debut in this blog and that's good enough for me. By the way, the yarn on the right in the same photo is a polar inspired 2-ply superwash skein measuring 204 yards. Lots of blues in a tweed fashion. It's funny, 204 yards would usually be something I'd brag about, but next to the 356...eh?

The next trio of pictures demonstrates a process. First you see the pile of natural colored roving. It's 85% wool and 15% mohair. Sometimes I dye the roving before spinning, but in this case I spun it up au naturale.

It's not the finest skein on the planet but I admit to being bored with the lack of color and spun it as fast as possible. It's 128 yards in all. Actually, I spun this particular yarn on the first day of the Tour de Fleece and put it away for about six weeks! Why? I didn't know what color to dye it. That's the short answer.

I also want to say how much it bothers me that the worst photo of the lot is by far the largest one on display here in this entry. It's HUGE! Grrr.

Anyway, I knew the dye could be a challenge because the yarn had it's own color to it and I would be overdying, which is an art form all it's own. I technically have a degree in art, but it had nothing to do with dying wool in my kitchen using cake dyes and kool-aid!

The dye hits naturally colored wool differently than it does white wool. Just imagine coloring on white paper with crayons. Now imagine coloring on tan construction paper. See how the colors are muted? If you're still with me, I present to you the finished yarn. It reminds me of a rainbow in a puddle at the gas station. You know what I mean?

Cherry blossom ice-cream smile

I've got more hand-dyed yarn to show off. It's not homespun but I report that this yarn is as soft as a kitten's tummy. It's a blend of alpaca, silk and merino in a dusty rose color.

Tomorrow is "fiber friday" and I will show off some actual homespun then. I must confess that pink isn't really my thing, but I am trying to push myself to make up all sorts of dyes in every color just to see what happens!

In band cuff news, a craftster started a knitalong! There is already a pretty finished cuff in the gallery. Neat!

I'm flattered and honored and will try not to keep checking every five minutes to see if anyone else is making the cuffs! I'm going to make a few more cuffs myself to test out some variations I'm toying with in my head.

I can share one thing, it's really hard to take a picture of your own wrist! Tip of the day: take a picture using a mirror. That's how I got the picture of my hand on my hip.

How to survive a hot day:

I've been spending too much time in Cute Overload where I found this photo. Intriguing, no?

I didn't want to post at all today because it means kicking Alias socks off the front page. I don't know what I'll do next week when the Band cuff pattern gets the bump. I set up a link in the sidebar and I'm confident most people are sharp enough to figure that out...

I finished spinning my swap yarn and I'm not sure if it's good enough and I can't post photos of it until my partner gets it in the mail. This being my first swap I'm not confident with what the expectations are. I went back on Craftster today to read the swap guidelines and I see they have a new swap up called "I have a disease swap." (pause)

The number one swap rule seems to be "send to others what you would like to receive yourself."

Hey! I'm going to see Al Green tonight at the Hollywood Bowl! I hope someone brings the frozen carrots. I can't get enough of those.

strawberry sunrise yarn

Now that the weather is a bit more reasonable I have been back in the kitchen with fiber and dye, making a go at down-home mad science. I prefer to think of it as wizardry.

This jumble pictured here is a blend of Wilton's buttercup, copper, and aster. Translation: yellow, orange and pink. This is actually commercial yarn and not homespun! I'm not as spinny this week as I once was. I do have a full bobbin of homespun right now but I can't show you a picture until after I ship it off to my swap partner.

Now that it's finally August I can count down the days until the fabulous fiber fest! This is where I learned to spin last year, which means on the 18th, I will officially have been spinning for one year! I can hardly believe it!

It all started with a spindle and curiosity. It blossomed into massive frustration and self-doubt. And now it's grown into mostly joy. Ah yes. Mostly joy! Peppered with moments of deep fondness when I am spinning in the flow of things and the harmony of life is balanced and resonant with me, through me and infinite.

But more often, frustration, self-doubt and mostly joy.