Scarf-o-matic

Not even Olympic ranking

No medal for me, but then that is not a startling surprise. I have discovered that:

a. I really do enjoy the process more than the end product.
b. I am easily distracted.
c. I can't yet tell how many hours it takes to spin 8 oz. Have done some weighing and some maths and realise I have only spun about a quarter! But how long did I spend on that? Dunnoh. Wasn't paying attention.
d. I am a fibre shopaholic. What? You mean you knew that already? Ghasp.

You see, a funny thing happened on the way out to lunch this Saturday. I realised that I needed a niddy-noddy. Yes, that is right, I needed one. I know I could have tried to make one, or carried on using the bathroom door handle and sink tap, or the back of the chair. But I set off to the Handweaver's Studio to buy one. Well, when I was there, I couldn't help but spot the cutest spindle ever. Made by IST Crafts spindles, it twirls pretty fast. Currently playing with 25 grams of treetops colour harmonies Tussah silk in 'desert sage'.

So, what does my failed Olympic challenge look like so far?

Pretty fine, I reckon. I appear to have spun about 2.5 oz and have about 5.5 to go. She is coming out very thick and thin, but that is fine by me. I shall keep you updated on my progress, just don't hold your breath.

Now I back off to bed with Kleenex, Sinex, Lemsip and Pocket (the cat, who, although very therapeutic, is not as effective with colds as the first three things). 

Sock Virus and Family Tree

My mother came to visit, and, among other things, I asked her to remember as much family history as she could. My second cousin has already done one branch of the family tree, unearthing a few skeletons, which became the subject of a television programme. I was curious about the other branches, and joined Ancestry (they have a free trial period). So, for the last couple of evenings, when I should have been spinning for the Knitting Olympics (ooops), I have been building up the tree.  So far I have found: one potential skeleton (solved that one!), two important cotton brokers in Liverpool (one originally from Charleston in South Carolina, U.S.A), a ship owner, a police superintendent, and quite a few travelling labourers. The Other Knitter in the House has found, among quite a few straw hat makers, a nineteenth century cabinet maker called Ebenezer. Now, that is a good name for a cabinet maker.

Thanks for all the comments on my socks! I am afraid that I have caught another sock virus, because when I read Lolly's recent post on Brooklyn Handspun sock yarn, I followed her example. Look at this pretty skein:

It is called 'adventurous' and will knit up in stripes. Now, I must leave my dead relatives in peace and get back to my spinning. I am most definitely not an olympian - I get distracted too easily - but I will re-apply myself to the task this week-end and just see how far I get.

completed socks and, ejem, bought more yarn

Had to sit through Neighbours (Susan, love, don't marry him!), Doctors and Murder, she wrote to complete this sock, but it was worth it! (though I had better complete writing at least one conference proposal today as well). See the pair in their technicolour glory. Excuse my inability to grasp sock vocabulary, but can these be called fraternal?

I actually have about 135 grams left from the hank of Fibreworks, so - at some point - there will be another bright pair of Lorikeet socks.

Having recently read this entry on Whip up, I ordered a skein from Rohrspatz & Wollmeise in Spice Market. Claudia's is fluent in English, and - although she does not have photos of her colourways  - she can email you translations of their description (you can also pop over to Krawuggl who has some images of skeins on her blogg). Isn't it pretty?

I was able to Paypal, and it arrived very quickly and wrapped in tissue paper with a free sample of the softest Merino ever (it is really really soft and squidgy and lovely):

Olympic update:

Official challenge: despite cutting back on spinning, I have only 6 strips of roving left to spin... so am making progress.

Unofficial challenge: Dr Who scarf. I hang my head in shame, as now it measures all of 10".

Haunted by old injury

I honestly thought that I had set myself a relatively accomplishable official challenge for the Winter Olympics: spin some yarn and knit it up. Easy peasy piece of pie. So I didn't warm up, or take into account that I have never hand spun that amount of roving ever before (8 oz). I also forgot about an old childhood injury. Now, that is hardly surprising as it only ever bothers me when I hit my funny bone.

When I was about 9?, 10?, 11?, as usual I had to perform in the school's end-of-year 'extravaganza': the convent's idea of a sport's day was somewhat bizzare and involved each class in fancy dress - imagine 40 girls dressed up as Heidi, another 40 as daisies, and so on - doing some plain vanilla rhythmic gymnasium dance formation routine. This took place in the local football pitch, and I must have been clambering about the seats when I fell onto some glass (or it may have been gravel). So I now have a tiny scar on my right hand under my ring finger:

See how tiny that little scar is? See how lame I am going to sound now? I mean, in Torino, 'Grandma luge' has done her wrist in, Zhang and Zhang crashed spectacularly on their skating routine, and there have been quite a few others haunted by injuries old and new. So my pain is pretty lame. I have been spinning up the roving, and last night, the area around the scar started to ache persistently. I am fine after a night's sleep and massaging in some arnica, but I think I'll go a little bit slower now. This is as far as I have got, about 1/3 of the roving (I guesstimate):

It is worth the pain though... so pretty.

Dealing with the stash

The Other Knitter in the House and I spent Saturday sorting out the stash. My mother is arriving for the week-end, and the house looked as though a flock of rainbow coloured sheep had exploded all over it: there was yarn on every possible surface. This entailed some general re-thinking about future projects and discussing what we knit and when we knit, as well as purchasing some storage boxes.

So, on the left hand side you can spy the little set of  drawers which contains: (top) sock yarns; (middle) yarn to sigh over, like Alchemy and other beauties; (bottom) yarn for knitted gifts. On the right hands side you can see a few boxes. In total there are 5 (yup, five!) containers of yarn: one for large projects (tops and sweaters); one for small projects (scarves, mittens); a fancy box (all my mohair, jeez I didn't know I had so much; and TOKH's fluffy and ribbony stuff); one for charity knitting; and one full of spinning fibre.

Note there will be some destashing/swapping activity in the near future, but, in the meantime, who wants some FREE mohair fibre to play with on their spindle or wheel? I bought three 25 gram bags at The Hand Weavers Studio, and after trying one decided I couldn't get the hang of spinning this stuff. One is a set of greens, and the other is turquoise, orange and brown.  To spread the mohair, only one bag per blogg reader: so the first two to request the mohair in the comments will be sent it for free (doesn't matter where you live in the world!).

OLYMPIC UPDATE:
Official challenge: to spin yarn and knit up hat or mittens - have prepared strips for spinning.

Unofficial challenge: Dr Who scarf - 5" (I know, that is embarassing really, but I have realised I can't knit and watch the Ice Skating at the same time!). By the way, I have calculated that it will be 140" long and it will take me approx. 70 hours to knit. At this stage, my little sister will get it in 2012.

Not quite an Olympian, but...

I considered not participating in the Knitting Olympics, and - in fact - applauded Zeneedle for her motto: 'enjoy the process'. But, of course, I am a great lover of crazes and signed up. However, I thought carefully about what to do: become a WIPist, and complete projects on needles? Finally knit up a Clapotis? Go totally mad (like Sweetgeorgia) and knit a lace shawl? Bearing in mind that my mother is visiting for a week-end so we will be out and about, plus I have quite a few work deadlines before the end of the month, which means that there is no extra knitting time.

I decided to have an 'official' entry and an 'unofficial' entry. One is not particularly compatible  - at least at the opening stages - with watching the Olympics, and one is. So, my official challenge is to drop spindle the 8 oz of yarn I purchased from Hello Yarn a short while ago AND knit something from the resulting yarn within the Olympic period:

Whilst the unofficial challenge is to get back to the Dr Who scarf I promised my sister. I took the first attempt off the needles because I made a mistake reading the pattern (duh!) and I think it is too wide for her at almost a foot in width (she is a slim and petite young thing, unlike my cat):

So which team will I join?

This does not mean that I do not have a national streak (though I do tend to support Spain as well in competitions, as I grew up there), because I sure do hope our Curlers go for gold again!

PS: the hat DID fit the baby!

Babies are a distraction...

In Devon this week-end visiting my MIL (mother-in-law... yikes, I realised half-way through Sunday lunch that this is now indeed true! No longer my partner's mother, but my MIL). Anyway, I digress, because what I wanted to say was that the fields were full of gambolling little lambs. The fields next to my MIL's cottage are full of these little ones:

If you look at the bottom of the picture, behind the brambles, there is a cute little black lamb. Well, every flock should have at least one!

They are not the only wee little things to distract me, as I realised when packing my knitting bag on Friday that I was due to meet a 2 month old baby the coming week (i.e. tomorrow). So I cast around my stash and checked some books, but wasn't at all sure what to do when - by chance - I read Alison's entry on using Kimono Angora to knit a baby hat. I had some in my stash!

Pattern: (Toddler size) 'Childrens' Cotton Hat' in Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
Yarn: circa 10 grams of Louisa Harding's Kimono Angora in shade n. 08.
Needles: 4.5 mm circular (16").

Comments: because of yarn substitution, this has come out in the baby size (15 inch circumference). Alison has kindly written up the pattern correction, so the eyelets compute on this size. The yarn is simply heavenly, and I found the pattern easy although it was my first time knitting in the round and the first time I have ever knitted an i-cord. Now I do hope it fits her, or I shall be having to knit her a bigger one!

So, you are all thinking, 'She DID get SSS'! Fear not, my second sock is growing apace:

 
I hope to have it finished tomorrow so that I am ready to participate in the knitting olympics. I am off to find a suitable team to join.