Spinning: my precious

I admit, the title is influenced by my recent bout with Lord of the Rings.
Without Disc 1 of the extended version of Two Towers I wouldn't have made the progress I did on my Topsy Curvy top. I might get it done in time for the "tropical" weather we are supposed to get after the weekend ;-)

So, what is precious?

First - the arrival of Joy!



Joy has joined Emma and together we share spinning adventures.
Emma is currently holding an undyed single out of fluffy merino for a dye experiment. To make it more fun I'm going to n-ply the yarn - another first for me.

And I have found a wonderful pattern I'm going to try out:
Pretty Twisted

It's a wonderful pattern to showcase subtle changes in sockyarn and those special buttons many of us have sitting around. Why not make an armband out of it? I'm planning on making several different ones!

Joy is holding a thin single out of Shetland top. It's the thinnest I have spun until now and the difference between a bobbin-led (Emma) and Scotch-tension wheel (Joy) is amazing. There is no pull! Something to get used to!

And yes, that's my view of our living room when I sit down and spin. Our dining table is right next to me, with my coffee mug in reach. Hey, has anyone ever seen a spinning-inspired mug? If you have - holler!!!

What do you do while you spin or knit?
I love to listen to music when I spin. I find myself listening to either folk or progressive-symphonic rock. Nice rhythms to treadle to, upbeat and enticing.

Audiobooks and movies are for knitting. Yes, I do take some easy knitting into the cinema with me, why? As long as I don't have to count or follow a more complicated pattern it's fine. No lace or cables in the dark, thankyouverymuch :-)

Audiobooks are great for sit down and consult pattern type of knitting.
If anyone has suggestions - I like (epic) fantasy, some mystery and also novels. Young Adult is fine, thrillers are not really my kind of genre. I would love some more female main character and more crafting in my novels, please!

Another precious is this batt I carded. It's two batts, to be precise. And they are fluffy and delicious!



Alpaca, several sorts of silk, cormo, merino, Firestar, Angelina...and this one is ALL MINE!

If I would card one for sale it would be rather pricey due to the fibres included...but maybe I can make mini-batts....

I have lots more of the alpaca, plus some grey Gotland - possibly enough for a bolero or cropped top! With the batt spun in as an eye-catcher...My new banner is a close-up of the batt. I could cuddle it all the time - if I wouldn't get fibres into my mouth constantly ;-)

I leave you with a picture of something that could possibly go BUMP at night ;-)

Spinning: Down to the core

It's 10 o'clock and all is well :-)

Waiting for the postman to arrive, eventually, with hopefully two parcels for yours truly.
One containing the latest member of this household, a lady named Joy. She will be accompanied by a freedom flyer.
Which makes her an Ashcroft spinning wheel :-) Bet you didn't see this one coming.

The other parcel contains more than a kilo of roving, fleece and locks. Hey, I have to practise!

And practise I did! This time corespinning. What an adventure!
Not my strongest point yet, but it's fun. I haven't found the best thread to use yet, I would like some fishing stuff or weaving thread, but I don't have any of that around, so I got me some white crochet thread.
Which I have plenty of.
I don't even like white.
It's been a gift from a lady who had to stop crafting when age made it impossible to see and move hands. She thought it's in good hands with me - and I will try and honour that.

So, what did I do?



Not enough for anything. But very colourful!

Wait!, I thought, I know exactly what to do!

Once upon the time I had bought this beauty of a brooch, which didn't get enough outing.

So, on went the creative mind and the hands followed:



And it's been worn to the local bee market in a neighbouring city, where it got some attention - we went knitting in public and in public transport together :-)



Knitting-wise I have taken on the challenge to finish as many WIPs and UFOs until the 22nd of July as I possibly can. Not that I don't have any lying around here :-)

If just the thread of stunning new projects wasn't so...alluring....

I just got notification that my copy of Knit, Swirl shipped from the US.
So many stunning designs and I'm looking forward to incorporate some stunning art yarn as well.

Also shipping is a copy of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook.

Some yarn dyeing went on and some carding, too! But I leave those tales for another time!

And no, still no postman :-(

Shining bright

So, I should get myself a flowery swimming cap :-)
I like the idea and will search for one. So far, none could be found in our little neck of the woods, but - there must be one out there.

Something like this maybe?



I actually like this one:



Knitty has a pattern for one, unfortunately it won't do the trick for me. Or has anyone ever knitted it out of a rubbery plastic and got it somewhat water-tight?


Today was so nice and warm that I split my time in half and did some laps in the little outside pool. Wonderful....

The light was a lot better today, so here are the two batts I carded and promised to take pictures of:



Contains
- BFL
- Angelina
- other fibers

Inspiration came from an English magazine about country living :-)
It seems to be flower show time in England right now, so BBC has been broadcasting from there. Haven't completely seen one of those shows, but I love flowers and their smells.

Contains
- BFL
- Angelina
- other fibers




Inspiration came from pictures of Dartmoor. A place I would love to visit some day...

Let me leave you with my musical suggestion for the day:
The Moon and the Nightspirit
Fantastic fantasy music from Hungary! Hey, I can't listen to progrock ALL the time ;-)

Having fun!

Time flies!
Especially when you are having fun.

Things have calmed down significantly around here and that makes me happy!

We've been to concerts of the Fish-y kind. Second time only that I saw this big man perform and second time I've been utterly impressed.

To give you a little impression:



I was one of the ballet dancers in the audience and with me many more! The man has an aura and presence on stage that cannot be described and can tell stories that I would live to listen to for hours. To me, this man belongs on a theatre stage!

Little city trips happened:





We also went to see my family back in Germany for a couple of days, which was nice and relaxing. The weather was extraordinarily nice and we would be sitting outside, barbequeing, talking, watching bats.

Talking about bats...eh batts :-)

More carding happened:





which I spun wild and plied with two orange threads into this:



I have carded two other batts that I haven't photographed yet, but which turned out wonderful! You have to take my word for it right now as the light is bad (it's overcast) and I won't be jumping up and taking pictures for you right now. Patience, my tinsel angels :-)

July will see me taking a workshop with...wait for it...





Pluckyfluff!!!

<3

Sorry, knit nerd speaking.

Some knitting happend, but it's work in progress right now. Summer tops. Which I don't need right now, seeing the south-western storm and clouded skies.

More tattooing will happen end of June! That also makes me happy. Again my own design, again inspired by Neolithic and Viking art work. Simple, but that's what I like. I'm too colourful and wild to carry colourful and wild with me all the time.

More concerts will be happening - I got Tori Amos tickets for the hubby and me and in the same month (and actually the same place), we will also enjoy Christy Moore in Amsterdam! The music lover in me is excited!

Another thing makes me happy: after years of not being in the water I took up my favourite sport again! I almost forgot how happy swimming makes me.
The first time I went, a couple of weeks ago, I was near exhaustion after a mere 7 laps of 25 meters each. Which took half an hour. Out of shape, me? What makes you think so ;-)
The next time I swam 20 laps in an hour. And now I've stopped counting laps and just enjoy my 1+ hours of swimming up and down, together with my friend.
I can feel the difference. Not weight-wise, but the way I sit, the way my shoulders feel. I like the way it feels and we have a regular date, twice a week, for some paddling in the water. Who would have thought that?

Just the chlorine wrecks havoc with my skin and hair, but I usually soak myself in lotion and conditioner (on my short hair, imagine that! And can we talk about colour-fade? I mean - seriously! This is bad!) afterwards.

So, yeah, this is what I have been up to!

It just doesn't stop

At least that's what it seems.
We have another death in the family - the mother of my sister in law died suddenly and unexpected and we are yet again preparing for a funeral and all that comes with it.
2011 hasn't been kind to us so far.

It's getting a challenge not to sink into grief and just not get out of bed on some days. Trying to find distractions, for myself, for my husband, for us. We grab every opportunity to get out and enjoy the spring and its colours, it certainly helps.

I get flowers, because...they were just my colour:



I got myself a drum carder and started to put it to crazy use:



Preparing the sandwich:

Contains of
- undyed BFL
- undyed BFL/Tussah
- Angelina
- Cotswold Locks in purple
- commercial magenta Merino
- commercial mixed Merino (pink, dark pink and light pink)



Second round on the carder:



Voila!



My husband carded the second batt after I prepared the sandwich for him! He was amazed how much coordination and strength it actually needs and that it's not straight forward. He did an excellent job and I'm looking forward to spin our batts <3

The third batt, contains:
- undyed BFL
- silk threads



became



I also finished a merino top I still had on the wheel.



Bobbin with single merino in a wonderful blue. In total more than 300m.
Will be set and knitted with some commercial wool I still have around - two balls of Mini Mochi in blue and lots of dark blue from another producer of commercial yarn. I think it's Lang, but I would have to dig into the shelf to actually confirm that. Plan it to knit it into a cardigan.

I have daily visitors:



There is some left over seeds from winter in that flower pot and that way they leave my spinach, wild flowers, carrots, peppers, zucchini and radish alone ;-)
It's a hoot to watch my two feline monsters when my feathered friends drop by! Better than TV. Silly and Pooka are allowed to watch from the inside and they are not happy about that. Especially Pooka gets very verbal about it.

Here they are, taking shelter from sun and warmth underneath my drying laundry. Where else ;-)



Both are rescues - we only take rescues and not necessarily kittens into our household. Lissy (long gone, never forgotten) was a kitten when I got her, Pooka as well. Justus and Biene (both in cat heaven) where adults, Biene also a sick one. She was so beaten and abused she was scared to cuddle. She would come up and snuggle up, but when you just moved the little toe she would be gone like lightening. Until I met my husband! She was his twin, his shadow! We were happy that the last years were happy and full of love for her! She was a guessed 17 when she passed away from liver disease. She also played Mommy to Pooka when she came to this household, not bigger than a rat and with similar features (long snout, skinny tail).

Silly is just that - a goofball, cuddly, playful and fun. Has a thing for plastic, cardboard, sandals and make up brushes. Don't ask ;-)
Pooka lives up to her name - little tomboy, rough on the outside and sweet and cuddly when she wants to. Doesn't like hights. Belly wuffles will accepted at any time ;-)

I wouldn't want to have it any other way <3

Easter egg colour

I needed something fun to do.
Today is rainy and windy and spring is nowhere to be found. So I decided I go and dye roving! With easter egg colours!

I loved it and I'm pretty happy with the results.

I had three different kind of rovings - BFL, BFL/Tussah and Merino/Tencel. All about 100mg, so a total of 300mg
I had five colours: yellow, orange, red, blue, green
I mixed two additional ones: a blue-green and a purple.

I followed the process described here

Soaking in water and vinegar:



Preparing the dyes and workspace:





I started with the BFL/Tussah mix:



After I dyed all three rovings I steamed the living daylights out of them, in total for about an hour.



After a cool down period (which I spent answering the postmen twice, once for my neighbours, once for me, preparing and eating some food and setting up a date with a friend) I unpacked the parcel in the sink. It's already interesting to see how the different rovings took the colours! The BFL is vibrant while the Merino/Tencel is seriously muted. It's difficult to pick a favourite!



And hanging in the shower to drip dry!



I had no colour bleeding at all.
The next time I will wear gloves, though. My fingernails have a rather interesting hue ;-)

And now I go and unpack my parcel from Fyberspates!
I ordered myself a lucky dip and Sparkle Lace merino, silk and sparkle in "water colour"

Tata!

It is my life and I take it back