The Weaselmomma

Now for something a little happier…

{ June 16, 2009 @ 7:01 pm } · { FO, fiberlicious, the awesome, wip }
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I give you yarn!

: “Precious”

I know. Big surprise, right?

But it’s squishy and stripey and bright and happy, perfect to chase the blues of another gray, rainy, damp week.

: Look! Three Plies! That’s new!

This is the BFL top from DragonFibers, spun on Su and Navajo plied on Joe. I wound up with 162 yards of fairly even 3-ply and decided, since it was the “Gems” colorway, to call it ”Precious,” since rubies, sapphires and emeralds are all precious gems, get it?

: One colorful skein

While it pales in comparison to Pleione, I love it for its own merits. I did achieve a light worsted weight, which is fantastic because I don’t want to just be a laceweight spinner. I want to be able to spin at different weights, and this spin gave me confidence that I could achieve it. It was also a great single to work my first Navajo ply on and to see how it really eats up yardage while doing some very cool things, like creating beautiful color transitions and preserving the striping in the painted top. Yes, it’s a little wonky, not the smoothest ply in the world. But still very cool and the yarn is balanced.

And it’s got me considering Navajo plying for my next skein, which I’m working up very quickly on Joe, though I must admit, the thought of this as a 2-ply really rocks my socks.

: Natural black Shetland with stripes of white tussah

Where I was only ‘eh’ about BFL, I’m loving Shetland. I actually finished the singles only a few hours after I shot these photos. And I didn’t even take a photo of the top before starting it, I was so excited to try it out. It literally only took me a few days to spin all four ounces…and I’m not really a fast spindle spinner, I just couldn’t put it down!

: Obligatory single shot

Some of the silk was a little slubby, but it works perfectly with the Shetland, which is undyed and still very sheepy…my hands have a distinctive sheep smell after working with this. The top is direct from the UK, from Shunklies, who is a fantastic fiber-loving seller that I cannot reccomend enough. There was a little VM in it, but overall it was great to work with and I’m loving the tweediness of the silk in with the natural black wool.

: So pretty

My houseguests are gone, which means life has returned to the regular grind…at least until one of them comes back up for a couple days this weekend. Madori will be happy. She’s been a little mopey without her twin so far this week, though I’m sure the weather isn’t helping.

: Such a sweet little girl

Who doesn’t feel blah when it’s so icky outside?

And then there were three…

{ June 15, 2009 @ 8:30 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Not all of the Big Changes at Casa de Weasel have been good changes. Some have been scary, some have been stressful. And some have been sad.

: And then there were three…

It wasn’t all completely unexpected. They have huge spirits, but their little bodies…they just have a hard time keeping up.

Whyatt couldn’t overcome ADV, which is a truly horrible disease. Otto and Buddha couldn’t overcome adrenal disease; their age and the severity of their disease made it inoperable.

And Lea…she truly broke my heart. Not one symptom. Nothing I could see. Just days after Whyatt, I lost her too.

So now, my little crew is down to three: Leroy, Spazz and Miranda. It’s almost surreal. Spazz seems sad. Miranda is her sweet silly little self. And Leroy is doing ok, despite the fact that he’s starting to show adrenal symptoms again; at four years post-op, I’m actually a little surprised how well he’s done. He’s been healthy for a long time, but he’s eight years old now.

It’s all just a matter of time.

I’ll have more yarny posts this week, but I needed to give my babies their moment. And I needed to show off this photo of my three little loves and their very sweet, very sleepy group hug.

Peeking from the Trenches

{ June 8, 2009 @ 5:56 pm } · { fiberlicious, the awesome, wip }
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The last month has marked the annual “busy” time at work, meaning my personal life screeches to a halt as I settle in with my compatriots to do the people’s work.

OK, a little overdramatic. But now that I’m finally peeking out of the trenches, for at least a little while, I can start to reconnect with the world. Very exciting.

For starters, I has some houseguests this weekend, and while one left early this morning, this one is sticking around for the week…

: I am just so handsome.

…although I did pack him a lunch, told him to play nice and sent him to daycare for the day. He was quite happy to go!

I also managed to finish up a certain project that I’ve been plugging away on for quite some time.

: Worth every minute of effort

This is “Pleione,” 485 yards of fingering weight merino/bamboo blend. I ended up going for the 2-ply, and I do think it was the right choice. Spun on the Greensleeves, plied on my Heavenly Handspinning Little Joe.

: I give Greensleeves so much credit for this

I think this yarn is just heavenly. Thus, the name.

Pleione is a name from the heavens. She is the mother of the Seven Sisters who sit with her and their father, Atlas, in the night sky as the nine brightest stars in the Pleiades constellation, a part of Taurus (which is my astrological sign). Pleione is a blue-white star surrounded by a cloud of red hydrogen gas–making her appear purple. I think it’s fitting.

: You…are my…shining star…

I don’t know what Pleione will become; for now, I’m just enjoying the look and feel of the finished yarn.

: Ok, just this one more, I promise…

I’ve also been working on some blue-faced leicester top that I got from DragonFibers in the “Gems” colorway on my Heavenly Handspinning Lovely Su spindle.

: Singles on Su

While I don’t think BFL will become my favorite breed to spin, I’m glad that I went for it with this top. It’s good to feel how the different fibers behave. This is my first experience with a long-wool, and I can totally see the good qualities it has.

: A little bit closer

Also, this fiber was space dyed–so I didn’t have to work to get any regular color repeats–which gave me the added opportunity to try a new technique: the Navajo ply.

Working right off of Su, I picked up Little Joe to try my hand at Navajo plying on a spindle. At first it was a little tricky (the first of the “chain bumps,” for lack of a better term, are very noticable and sloppy, but I’m thinking that a good wash-and-whack will help) and I still have to “park-and-chain” (meaning I make a length of chain and then add twist, instead of chaining while the spindle’s spinning) but I think the end result is really coming along nicely. And, it’s the first time I’ve achieved a worsted weight! Go me!!

: Ignore the incandescent light…focus on the plying

Su, by the way, has been the perfect spindle for this project. There’s nothing showy about Su. She’s not a fancy wood or shape. But what she lacks in style she more than makes up for in substance. Of my three Heavenly Handspinning drop spindles, I do believe she’s the best spinner.

: Su, you are lovely

And while she’s no ugly duckling, I do think she lets the true beauty of the project–the fiber–really stand out.

Finally, wonder of wonders, I am making slow progress on the knitting. Though if it’s gonna be slow progress, it should at least be impressive progress, and I think my Twisted Neopolitan socks fit the bill.

: Hey! It’s just about time for a heel!

Unlike the Herringbone Rib socks, where the slipped stitches slowed the whole thing down, these just cruise. But the tweeding…oh, the tweeding…

: An ingenius pattern

…oh, how I love thee…

Madori, by the way, is quite happy to have a houseguest for the week…though they were both more than a little mopey after Mr. Blue-eyes left this morning.

: The Mope Twins

Spinning Update: Making Progress

{ May 14, 2009 @ 11:37 pm } · { fiberlicious, the awesome, wip }
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I need more hands.

If not more hands, then more hours in the day.

If not more hours in the day, then a new evolutionary adaptation that eliminates the need for sleep.

: My beautiful Butterfly Girl spindle and Ashland Bay merino/tussah silk top

I need at least one of these things because there’s so many things I need to do on a daily and weekly basis that I just don’t have enough time for the things I really want to do.

Like spinning. And knitting.

I’m fighting off some serious spinning startitis right now. It’s tough. I have three–three–naked spindles right now as I’m working to finish up some of the projects I have going right now. And I am making some progress, slowly but surely.

I wound the first singles from the “pewter” merino/tussah silk project off the spindle, but I still have a long way to go on this project.

: Spun silver singles

I still have to finish the second ply of pewter singles before I can start the third ply with this maroon merino, which I’m hoping will bring out the subtle burgandy tones in the pewter top.

: From W.C. Mercantile on Etsy.com

I’m slowly making progress on the soy silk project too, but the real focus of my efforts has been on the merino/bamboo. I finished the first two batts, then wound the singles off the spindle.

: Pretty purple singles

This is when I really started getting excited about this yarn. It’s really freaking pretty. Like really pretty. I’m almost halfway through the third batt; only one left after that and then I can ply…though I have to say, the decision to ply this is a tough one. This is really nice as a single. Luckily, I still have plenty of time to change my mind.

I haven’t really shown off the Greensleeves I’m spinning this on, but I must say that I’m completely in love with this spindle.

: My Greensleeves Tom Foolery

Not only is it oh, so easy on the eyes, it’s also the second best spinner in my collection, right after the Bosworth. I was unsure about the hook on this one when I first picked it up, but it’s really well designed and balanced. Another of these, like maybe the bloodwood and ebony version perhaps, is probably very likely in my future.

I’ve learned from this project that I’m not crazy about spinning batts on a spindle. I have no idea why this is. I think batts are so beautiful; I love looking at them and I think Fiber Monster’s batts are just amazing. But when it comes to actually spinning them…I dunno. Very little appeal. Maybe that’ll change with time…here’s hoping!

That being said, these batts are spinning up really nicely. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t trying really hard to finish these up so that I could start something like this…

: “Hints of Lilac,” merino/tussah silk from WC Mercantile

or this…

: “Deep Sea,” merino/tencel from WC Mercantile

….both of which are just sitting pretty, waiting for me.

And in case it isn’t obvious enough already, WC Mercantile is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. Period.

The only downside about spinning that I can identify, besides the urge to constantly splurge on more pretty pretty spindles and pretty pretty fiber (which I’m dealing with quite well…yay willpower!), is that it takes away from my knitting time. My progress on handknits has definitly slowed since I started spinning.

Not complaining, though. Not one little bit!

Heavenly

{ May 6, 2009 @ 9:06 am } · { FO, fiberlicious, the awesome, wip }
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I’m so freaking proud of this right here.

: On “Cloud Nine”

I ended up with 129 yards of this amazing stuff, which I’m calling “Cloud Nine.” I used all of the 4 ounces of cotswold locks–every last one with the exception only of a couple clumps of locks that were curled so tightly that they were too full of VM (vegetative matter) to even try to salvage–and about half the merino.

Also of note: Some of the locks that were more saturated in color had a stickiness to them while spinning. I don’t know if it was dye residue or lanolin in the locks. I washed the final yarn in hot, hot water with some mild wash and rinsed it well. It bled a lot of dye in the wash, but the color stayed very saturated and now the same locks are super soft and fluffy. The wash was really key with this yarn.

: Two amazing skeins

This is one of those rare occasions where what I imagined actually became reality. When I ordered these locks, before they even arrived in my mailbox, I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted the final yarn to be. I even prepared myself for disappointment because I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off. But somehow, my hands did it.

: Perfect

An added bonus: This stuff is just so much fun to photograph. Every time I put the camera on it, I find a new and interesting shot, a different twist of locks, another shot of co-mingling color.

: We could be muppets…and thus, we are awesome

And yes, my new favorite photo studio is the top of my snare. My drums are set up in the front of the apartment, which is sort of rounded and has these three amazing windows in a row…great lighting opportunities.

Monster was perfect for this project; not my greatest spinner of a spindle (evidenced clearly when I picked up my Greensleeves last night, which spins like a whorlwind), but I didn’t really need a fast spinner for this. I needed capacity on the shaft and I actually needed a slow mover so that I could park the spindle, add the individual locks and send the twist up the strand. Monster will probably end up mostly being my plying spindle, but I’ll definitly pull him out for art yarns in the future.

And yes, I have been knitting too. There’s the Ugly Nutkins, which are on time out because they’re just so freaking ugly I don’t know what I want to do with them…

: What an ugly sock!

…and there’s the Socks of Kindness, which are little more than a single cuff right now but are working up very, very nicely.

: Fuzzy alpaca socks

This is a terrible photo of the Kindness Socks, BTW. The yarn is very purple and looks a lot more red-brown here than it truly is. The living room couch is no match for the top of the snare. But, you get the idea.

Feeling Caliente?

{ May 2, 2009 @ 10:54 pm } · { FO, fiberlicious, the awesome, wip }
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No? Then step a little closer to el Fuego!

: If you can’t stand the heat…

This is “Fuego,” 93 yards of fingering weight merino/tencel blend. Es muy caliente, no?

: Check the 2-ply twists

I picked up the fiber at Rhinebeck from The Sheep Shed at Mountain View Farm. The braid was 2 ounces in their colorway, “Fire.”

: Wouldn’t you want to play with fire too?

This was a quick, fun spin, and merino/tencel is quickly becoming one of my favorite blends to spin. This was spun and Andean plyed on the spindle that I’ve affectionately dubbed “Monster,” which is now heavy with merino and curly, curly cotswold locks.

: My favorite Monster

Monster is by far my largest spindle at 15 inches long and my heaviest at 1.8 ounces. As mentioned, Monster is from Heavenly Handspinning; the capacity of this spindle is just amazing, especially considering that I can still spin fairly fine on it despite its size.

Oh, and in case I piqued your interest, here’s a detail shot of what Monster’s carrying right now.

: Curly locks and a skinny single

This is a very, very fun project.

More to come…

Some catching up to do!

{ April 27, 2009 @ 9:24 am } · { FO, Madori, fiberlicious, musings, the awesome, wip }
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For the record, the winning gardenia was No. 2.

: Pretty white petals

And the whole room smelled amazing right after this bloomed. So lovely.

So, I’ve been such a bad blogger its not even funny! But, the beauty of not updating for a while is that I have so much to catch up on! We’ll start with an FO: the Huntington Socks for Mr. Blue-eyes.

: Voila!

These are just awesome. Mr. Blue-eyes loves them and, wonder of wonders, they fit!! Yay!!

: *Not* modeled by Mr. Blue-eyes

The details are what make these just a great finished sock. The Railway Stitch adds texture and visual interest, as well as form-fitting ease, to the sock and the striped heels and toes make them super fancy.

These were a quick knit, too. If not for a little break between socks, they probably would have been done in two weeks.

I’ve also been spinning, spinning, spinning like a spinning, spinning, spinning fool.

I’m working on the merino-bamboo batts from Rhinebeck on my Greensleeves Tom Foolery…

: Red/purple merino-bamboo

…and my Rhinebeck soy silk on the Bosworth Mini, which feels so tiny in my hands compared to the other spindles, but man does it dance like no other on the end of the single!

: A very bright and interesting combination of colors

The soy silk actually deserves some commentary. This stuff gave me fits! At the time that this photo was taken, I was so fed up with the stuff that it took all my willpower not to scrap these singles and pick up something more fun to spin, like the two ounces of tussah just waiting for me in the stash. I just couldn’t get the hang of it, even after receiving a tutorial from master silk spinner and laceweight idol, TerriSpins (rav link). So I set it aside, worked on the pewter merino/silk project, worked on the merino/bamboo project, and tried to forget about the nasty, evil soy silk.

And then I picked it back up and actually watched what I was doing. And realized very quickly that there can be zero, zilch, nada, absolutely no twist in the draft zone with this stuff. Even a half turn of the spindle is too much. That little bit of twist and it ceases to be beautiful and starts being bitchy.

It was a total “ah, ha” moment. I’ve spun almost an ounce now, and things are going much, much better.

In other spinning news, I picked up a couple of monster sized spindles from Heavenly Hansdpinning, and quickly worked up 2 ounces of merino/tencel blend top that I’m in the process of plying. More on that soon.

And I ordered these pretty, pretty, curly, curly cotswold locks from Dyeing for Color so that I can try my hand at my first art yarn. I’m planning on trying to integrate some tailspun locks into a single of ultrafine merino…sounds much easier than I suspect it will actuall be but I can’t wait for them to arrive so I can try it out!

On the non-knitting/spinning front, Jackson has gotten huge…though it would be nice if his head would grow to catch up with his body…what happened to that little puppy??….

: You know you just want to love me…

…Jackson and Madori don’t get to see each other as often, since Big Changes are still underway, and they really seem to miss each other…very sweet…

: Don’t touch my hedgehog, Jackson

….and this is what you get when you can’t eat any of the dairy-laden desserts offered at the Asian-fusion restaurant, but the cute little waitresses still want to sing “Happy Birthday.”

: Blow out the candle on your birthday fruit!

I can only hope that this coming year will be as wonderful and promising as this past year turned out to be!

Greenery…and Some Gray

{ April 1, 2009 @ 8:48 pm } · { musings, wip }
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So, who’s it gonna be?

You?

: Potential Flower No. 1

Or will it be you??

: Potential Flower No. 2

Which bud will give me my first pretty little gardenia? I guess only time will tell…but I’m really enjoying my new houseplants. One of the beautiful things about living in an old house are those wonderful old-style design features, like ripply plaster walls and decorative molding on each window and doorway…and deep windowsills just waiting to be filled with foliage.

And a windowsill herb garden is most definitely in the future!

Yesterday marked the next phase of Big Changes…and this part, and all the lead up to this part, was much harder than the first part.

So, I’ve been trying to keep busy, and I decided to take a big leap: I’m working on my first handknit for Mr. Blue-eyes. And, of course, it has to be socks.

: A manly sock for a manly man

And its a purdy sock too!

This is the Gentleman’s Sock in Railway Stitch from Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks, which is fast becoming a favorite go-to sock book.

: A melding of stripes and texture

I really like this sock. I wasn’t sure if I would really dig the combination of a textured stitch with striped details, but they just look so classic together. Interesting without being overwhelming, patterned while maintaining its masculine feel.

But a chick could totally pull off this pattern too.

: Stitch Love

The yarn is Valley Yarns Huntington, which I bought from WEBS in a fit of stash enhancing some time ago because, let’s face it, it’s a *fantastic* price for superwash sock yarn. It’s a great solid-color sock yarn that shows stitch definition beautifully, but it is really splitty. It does take some concentration to make sure that I’m getting all the plys with my stitches, but the end result is lovely. And this is a comfy sock.

: A stripey, tapered toe

I’m totally guessing on the size here, and I’m relying in the build-in stretch of the pattern, which is considerable. Mr. Blue-eyes’ feet are longer and wider than mine, and his calves are considerably thicker, but there is some calf shaping in the pattern and there’s a lot of ease. So I’m hopeful that these will work out.

: A very cozy sock

If not…well, they do fit me alright…

Thinking Pink…and Purple

{ March 21, 2009 @ 4:07 pm } · { FO, fiberlicious, the awesome }
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Look who’s been knitting!

: Pretty in Pink

Despite the fact that one striped and one pooled, I’m really happy with these. The fit is fantastic, they’re so comfortable and the cables are super sweet. And I think they’re going to wear really well since I knit them at a tighter gauge than I usually knit socks on.

Man, it takes a while to knit a pair of socks this high on US 0 needles, but it’s totally worth it when you gets results like this.

: Sweet soysilk socks

I’ve been spinning, too, and even finished another skein of 2 ply!

: “Purple Haze”

It’s a merino tencel blend, spun from 2 oz of top from Ellen’s 1/2 Pint Farm that I picked up at Rhinebeck. I spun it on my Greensleeves Tom Foolery 1.5 oz pink ivory and bird’s eye maple drop spindle that I picked up from Spunky Eclectic, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out.

It’s a little uneven, somewhere between a heavy lace and a light fingering weight. I wound up with 186 yards.

: All skeined up

So pretty.

I’ve also been working on 4 oz of merino and tussah silk blend that I picked up at Rhinebeck.

: Spinning “Pewter” on my Butterfly Girl spindle

I had to have this braid of top, and the spindle…that was a total love-at-first-sight moment. I’d been eyeing a Butterfly Girl millefiori clay whorl spindle for a long time, and when she posted this one, I just had to have it.

This little beautyis .8 oz and spins a beautiful fine single.

: A fine, silver single

This is destined to be my first 3 ply, and I’m thinking it’ll be two plys of the pewter merino/silk and one ply of a lovely solid burgandy merino that got from W.C. Mercantile (a fabulous shop, BTW).

So yeah, I’ve got a lot of spinning to do.

But, don’t worry. I’m totally supervised…

: Madori loves her papisan chair!

What a good little supervisor! I swear, this dog just gets cuter and cuter!

Feeling Breezy?

{ March 13, 2009 @ 10:30 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Well, are you?

: “Feeling Breezy”

How about now?

So, it’s underplied.

And possibly overspun.

But it’s lovely nonetheless.

: Up close and personal

The colors are much more muted when plied, a good lesson in color for all my future spinning, and it reminds me of a breezy summer sky.

: Three breezy skeins

I wound up with three skeins, for a total of 769.5 yards–a fantastic amount of yardage–at 36 WPI, making this a nice 2-ply lace weight. I’m thinking its going to end up as a Waves of Grain scarf; I have some seed beads that will match really nicely.

I decided to skein and wash my first spinning, the Mocha Latte merino from Fiber Monster, and boy what a difference that made! It looks so much better!

: My First Handspun

The SnBers, in their ever infinite wisdom, said that I should do something with this. So I did. Behold my fiber art!

: My touchable, smooshable, squishable new art

It looks so amazing on my living room wall! Fits right in with cozy chair and my vase of knitting needles!

: Such a homey touch!

Could an installation be in my future? Only time will tell!

Newer entries » · « Older entries

The Weaselmomma

Now for something a little happier…

And then there were three…

Peeking from the Trenches

Spinning Update: Making Progress

Heavenly

Feeling Caliente?

Some catching up to do!

Greenery…and Some Gray

Thinking Pink…and Purple

Feeling Breezy?

Of weasels and other nonsense

On the Needles

On the Spindles

Shops I Love

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