It's Blueberry Season

Blueberry season means blueberry yarn!


I have finished spinning 8oz of Blueberry Merino/Tencel that will be knitted into a nice scarf very soon. (VERY soon) I washed it around 11 PM last night and hung it on my kitchen cabinet knobs to dry. That wasn't going over too well with DH so I used a tree in the backyard for a bit.

Except for a small piece of about 30 yards, all of it is really consistent. It is well balanced and hangs in a nice loop, as it should. The 30 yards was from when I first started and I decided that that was a bit too fine so I went a wee bit thicker. I'm really, really happy with the finished 338 yards of this. I just don't understand why the yardage is so skimpy when it's homespun. I didn't measure WPI yet but this is probably a normal light worsted sized yarn. It's SOOOOOOOO soft and silky. I wish it would dry already though!

I'm in spinning bliss right now. Now, let's whip out the new strawberry colored fiber and......

Because it's June, June, June June!

Ah, June. Father's Day, weddings, graduations, last day of school, beaches requiring beach passes, coughing up money for summer camp, trees filled with leaves, the Belmont Stakes, the OFFICIAL start to summer, D-Day and the longest day of the year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. It's also...Blueberry season!

(Comon, you must like this segue, I mean, it is so good, they could've used it on the news! Ernie Anastos would be proud of me.)

Blueberries in the garden and blueberries on the wheel. I was telling you about that deliciously scrumptious blueberry merino/tencel blend that I got at MDS&W and here it is, spun into singles. It's so blueberry like that you can nearly smell the freshness.

(Note: No, I don't have a Woolee Winder. I'm anal about trying to balance out the yarn lately and try to get it on the bobbin all nice and pretty manually.)

Go ahead, breathe it in. My singles are really nice and even but I think that bobbin #1 (the one on the right) was a wee bit thinner. When I ply, I'll Navajo ply and switch among the three and hopefully will produce a nicely balanced yarn....hopefully. Actually, I'm really happy with my spinning lately. This looks much better than the earlier attempts, right?

Here's a photo of my Rose Quartz fiber, also Merino/Tencel.

Isn't it pretty? The yarn it produced was nearly solid silver with little to no rose highlights and that was a bummer for me. I bought a full pound of this stuff. I haven't washed it yet so the twist isn't set and it looks a little sloppy. It'll be fine.
I was thinking of knitting a tank top out of it. I have plenty of time because before I do that, have to lose weight, of course. I mean, I wouldn't want to run out of yarn......

As for knitting, I started another pair of BLACK socks, seeded ribbing pattern. It's really hard to knit with black yarn and after I finish this pair, it'll be something light or multi colored. Maybe a nice dense pair out of some STR or other handpainted yarn I have. No photos yet.

Ok, now let me tell you about my kids. Those of you not into funny things kids say can stop reading because spinning is done.

Last night, I made pizza. Homemade dough, sauce (ok, I bought the mozzarella, that's really hard to make at home.) I made it on my new pampered chef bar pan and even put the cornmeal on the bottom. It looked beautiful and made a nice crust.

"Mmmn.. Mom, this rich cheesy pizza is really good" (he reads that off the lunch menu..)

"Actually, Mom...this is as good as the kind they give us at school".

I guess I'll have to try a little harder next time. That goes for spinning and pizza.

Amityville Historical Society Fair and Spinning

Today was the day that a few of us got together to spin at the Amityville Fair. It was a lovely day, low 70s, light breeze, dry, ah! Spinning al fresco was so nice and it was the first time that I did it! I brought my wheel and some beautiful soft and squishy Opalescence fiber that I picked up in Maryland. I am regretting not taking home more of this stuff. It's silky and soft and spins so nicely. I am spinning it relatively thin and plan on Navajo plying it. I have fallen in love with Navajo plying. It's beautiful, it's like crocheting and you get a smooth, round yarn. I thought that one would feel the bumps of the chain stitches but that isn't the case.

Many of the spinners brought wheels and spindles, some brought knitting and some had lunch of Burgers and Fries from Five Guys. I was good and actually passed on the food, saving up my calories for the evening meal so I could sleep on it and make quality fat.

The Bagpipes played songs that I never heard played on bagpipes before.

There was face painting, all proceeds being donated back to the Historical Society.

There were old cars. I'm glad they had these REALLY old cars. Last time I went to the street fair in Massapequa the cars were...well, from my pre-teen years and I was feeling really old. Some of these were nearly 100 years old.

There were old buildings. Actually, there are many old buildings in Amityville. Yes, yes, I know all about that "horror house" and it's really a very nice part of the town. That house looks different nowadays though - This isn't it. This is an old school building.

And there was this....

UGH!

See the chip on the small whorl? I'm kinda upset by that. I'll have to buy a new flyer. I have the piece that broke off and I will attempt to glue it back on but I'm not sure it's going to work all that well. That has to be totally smooth or one risks ruining their drive band. I don't know how this happened, being I transported my wheel in it's padded bag. I took it out and it was CHIPPED. Drat.

I am spinning the most deliciously smooth and soft fiber which you can almost see on the bobbin. It's purple and it's 70 Merino / 30 Tencel but it's the softest I 've fondled yet. The supplier was "Opalessence" and I picked it up at MDS&W and I'm in love. It was inexpensive and the BESTEST. No Etsy shop, not on Ravelry..nothing. I found her webpage so you can check it out. I'll be buying more of this, for sure! Very reasonably priced, too!

My DH was such a doll today, taking the kiddies all around the fair so that I could park myself and spin. It was a nice day all around. Later, when we were hanging in the backyard, I had to photograph this. Maybe summer is coming after all?

Eye Candy Friday - Spring Lily Sprouting

It's raining and it's only 55 degrees. Sigh...this spring has been nothing but rain. At least the flowers like it...baby Lily sprouting up through the ground.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend - that means family camping trip. I keep telling myself, "I love camping, ah, the great outdoors". Is it all worth it?

A week before the trip, I start packing. Two of our nice LL Bean sleeping bags were ruined this past winter when a bottle of bleach leaked, ate through a shelf and dripped onto them. The bleach ate through the bags, through the zippers and destroyed them. Ok, so that's $150 to replace....mere headache. I did 200 loads of wash, washed up the camp knives, forks and cooking stuff. Oh, did I mention my dishwasher picked this week to die? Well, it did. I replaced it and the new one is coming on June 4. Until then, we eat on paper plates. I simply refuse to do dishes. Then came a full day of packing, shopping for food, exhaustion and trying to get out of here by Friday afternoon. Around 2pm or so on Friday, I noticed that the windshield cracked. Sigh.... The Glass Man said to leave it alone and take it camping and we'll fix it on Monday. Then, we're all ready to leave and hubby, who was expecting a 3pm dismissal found out that he had to work until 5. Ho hum. 5 turned into 6:30 because of overtime and an unexpected trip to another branch of the bank. Now we're up to bad headache and the kids are itching to leave. He gets home and we can't find the adaptor to the gas grill. We can go camping but we can't cook. Trip to Sports Authority only to learn that he has the right parts. It's now 7:30pm. Van gets packed up. Not sure I could make it 130 miles away before 11PM. We tell the kids we're leaving in the morning. They cry. Headache intensifies, I fall asleep. I get up at 5, rouse the kids, head upstate.

At this place, electric and water are shared between sites. The people next to us were very nice but must've not ever gone camping before. Who sets their tent up practically on top of the water?

If you look closely, you can see the front of that box is the electricity and the back is the spigot, the rock is all wet as is the bottom of their tent. Their table was located where my screen room is (the right of the picture). They set up all the way at the edge of their site and I felt a bit squished. Actually, initially, they were in my site. I had them move their table to give me access to the water and electricity. They weren't too happy but understood. They had miles and miles between their tent and the tent on the other side. Ok, fine......I guess. I could hear someone snoring and it had to be them.

The weather cooperated, it was sunny and in the mid-70s which meant the first swim of the year in the heated spray pool and in the frigid built in pool. Kids do not care. They're happy as long as there is a playground, a pool and a tent. They love to see Yogi and Cindy, too.

Seeing my babies glow and my DH interacting with them, quality family time, that's what it's all about. It's worth it to spend 18 hrs packing and unpacking for these Kodak Moments........right?

Here's my dear hubby and baby girl. That's our tent in the background.

Being it's the unofficial beginning of summer, it is time to start working on a pair of socks. Here we have a pair for DH, in man boring black, Knitpicks Essentials, size 2.25mm, 64 sts casted on, pattern is Seeded Ribbing. Let's see how dark my thigh gets by Labor Day weekend.

I leave you with this pretty picture as I head over to Ravelry to see if I can do a Summer of Socks KAL or something!

Eye Candy Friday - Pansies

Pansies

Eye Candy Friday - Sunset

Sunset at Cedar Creek Park, Wantagh, NY

Merino Blend Fiber and Spinning

So, I'm spinning up a storm. My Lendrum is becoming very fit, as are my ankles. I wonder if there is any aerobic benefit from this? I suppose there could be some extra calories burned because treadling is certainly more taxing than being a couch potato.


I replenished my fiber supply in Maryland as well as through Woodland Woolworks. I figured, what the hay, I had to pay for shipping on the fast flyer I got so I matters well get some fiber to play with. I give thee, Fiber Bouquet:



On the left, we have Rose Merino 70% and Tussah Silk 30%. I was inspired to knit with something silky after playing with all the silk things at the Guild meeting last month. It was quite interesting learning about silk and silkworms! My DD actually picked out both colors because she wants silky soft scarves to wrap herself in. On the right is my latest fetish, Lilac Merino 70% and tencel 30%. I must say that I very much like that blend. It's easy to spin and is NEARLY, but not quite, as soft as the silk. I bought a full pound of the former and 1/2 pound of the later. I wanted a pound of raspberry merino tencel but they were sold out. I was so miffed being DD loves that color best.


I've also spun up 1.7 bobbins worth of mixed berry. Here's an old picture of the fiber. It's rambouillet and I'm going to attempt to Navajo ply it nice and neatly. I just have this inkling that bobbin 2 is a little fatter than bobbin one but we'll see. I am so thrilled that I am going to actually have a 3 ply yarn!

In other knitting news, I still haven't started a sock, toe up or top down! I'm taking a break from sock knitting although I will probably cast on one very soon. I want to finish up husband's sweater that has been 'almost done' for about 6 months. ... uh... since October. That may be what he wears to Rhinebeck this year if it's cold and if he stops losing weight. DD wants a Weasley sweater so that will be summer sweater project and DS wants more socks. He loves wearing handknit wool socks and hasn't stopped wearing his even though it's MAY. He loves the color yellow but I explained to him that we can do black, green, tan, brown or almost any shade of blue because boys really don't wear yellow socks. So, he'll have to pick out the next color!

In weather news, it's warming up, I guess. They said 77 and sunny but it's 60 and overcast today. My barometer is way down in the 'stormy' category so I'm not trusting it to get nice out. We're going to eat an early dinner and we may take the kids down to the beach tonight to go for a walk and let them play on the playground a bit after dinner. Or, maybe we'll just go to the park for a bit. They need to get out of the house more because with it being the end of the school year and them getting tired of all this homework and being cooped up indoors, they're getting a bit stir crazy.

It's also that time of year when I start going through the camping gear, getting ready for a camping trip. It doesn't look good for the Adirondacks this summer but I'm thinking about a fall foliage trip this year! Also, planning a few short trips, things to do with the kids. They want to go to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and Atlantis Marine World. I can do that. So, we'll see how things go. Stay tuned for pictures of my socks over NYC taken from the top of the Empire State Building!

Happy knitting and spinning!

Eye Candy Friday - Let the Sun Shine In!

Eye Candy Friday - The Rain is Gone!

Navajo Plying

I have been spinning. I have been spinning on my new fast flyer. (love the grammer, I have been reading too many Kindergarten books!)

Let's discuss plying. You spin singles and you have to either ply them together with other singles or ply them back on themselves. Using a single to knit is usually not the desired route. A single will untwist, possible produce a fabric that is biased and not behave as a plied yarn will. Now, after carefully weighing out half of my fiber in one fluff and another half in another fluff, I still am not a machine. I will never be able to spin two singles that are the same by weight and by length. It just won't happen and I hate winding up with 23 yards on a bobbin that I refuse to part with yet can't really use other than to tie the skein together. Toss it? Give it to the kids? Get a cat and let it play with it? Learn to Navajo ply? So, I decided to practice Navajo plying.

For the past three nights, I've been spinning some black (or very, very dark brown, can't tell because the sun hasn't come out all this time so we live in the dark here in NY...) Shetland wool. From roving, not from top so it wasn't as smooth as it could be. It had little fuzzballs in it here and there but very little vegetable matter and no Shetland Sheep poop. I spun this on my fast flyer on the middle whorl, I guess that would be 15:1. I then attempted Navajo plying but didn't do it right. I got decent yarn but with many coils. I'm not sure, but I think that I would've done better had I went back to the slow flyer and did this slowly. The loop closed up way too quickly and I was nearly finger chaining at some points instead of big loop chaining. I used my right hand to do it and shouldn't have done that because I got coils.

Coils are loose spots in the yarn. Ugh...

It's sloppy.

It's sloppy but it is truly three ply yarn!

Today, I watched a very good tutorial which demonstrated Navajo plying. I highly recommend you watch this before and after you try Navajo plying. It's great! I was just pulling up a loop and trying to do everything with my RIGHT hand and had major tension issues which caused an unbalanced skein. I will do it correctly next time! I was always under the impression that I would feel the bumps of the chain in the finished yarn. I couldn't feel a thing. My yarn was nice and smooth. I was imagining irregularly spaced little knots and that wasn't the case at all. Hmmnn...

I have one bobbin of Mixed Berry Merino all spun and resting on the bobbin for several days and may Navajo ply it tonight. No sense in filling up the bobbin because it won't all fit on the bobbin when I ply. Another advantage of Navajo plying: barbershop pole yarn is reduced. For the most part, color changes will happen nicer than they would if two or more singles were plyed together.

In other news, when I'm not spinning and I'm letting the house go to pot, I'm knitting this beautiful baby afghan. I love it! Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece rocks!

Back to the grindstone!