• Thoughts 22.03.2021 No Comments

    Still sorting out the problem with posting pictures. I’ll have to put in an update at some point, although I’ve just been knitting socks. But this is a rant about yarn quality. It feels like I’m getting a lot of poor quality yarn. By that I mean yarn that pills too much, wears out in odd spots or just generally doesn’t hold up. I don’t mind using that chainette yarn I bought when discounted, but I wore a hole in the sleeve in quick order, same with Rowan Felted Tweed. That’s not good when you knit a cardigan. And you never know what you’ll have problems with. I like the single ply West Yorkshire Spinner’s yarn that I used for a cardigan. It does pill a lot though. I really need to buy a lot less yarn.

    And on a related note, I am purging my stash pretty heavily. I even threw out some almost finished handspun projects and a bunch of handspun yarn.  I haven’t done anything with it in years. It is a very freeing thing to do, if you haven’t tried it. You have all these projects that you mentally plan for that yarn and it’s a weight when you never start them. Get rid of the yarn and they are gone. You’re free to work on something new. I will likely get rid of some of the yarn I bought, although the unused stuff will go to Goodwill. It’s just like purging my way through my knitting and spinning books. There are a lot of hard choices you have to make when you move. But I still intend to move my spinning wheels and treadles, if I can make enough room for them.

     

  • Thoughts 08.02.2020 No Comments

    I was working hard to get the Christmas knitting done. Then I had several other projects I worked on. I haven’t blocked them, so I haven’t taken any pictures. Then, a couple of weeks ago, my husband died. I am still trying to adjust to that. I am going to see if I can block those projects this weekend and update this blog. I hadn’t intended to go this long between posts.

  • Thoughts 06.08.2019 1 Comment

    I’ve redone the Slipped Stitches site. I just felt like the software was cluttered and hard to use. Since I didn’t have a lot of subscribers, it seemed best to start over. I’d planned to do a wiki, but found wiki markup was not easy to learn. So I went with a blog/forum. I’ll have to add back all the links I had on the original site. And I’m doing what I call Lessons. I want to talk about the basics of different crafts and how to do them. Mostly, I hope folks looking for a drama free place to talk about craft will join us.

  • Thoughts 30.07.2019 No Comments

    I  see posts from people asking for sites with free patterns. I have links to some of these sites over at Slipped Stitches. But I wanted to give you a better way, a way that will free you from having to work someone else’s designs. I’m going to suggest some books that will allow you to make your own designs. And I’ll be talking about knitting here, as I’ve never used a book to make a crocheted sweater. I just started crocheting.

    Elizabeth Zimmerman

    • Knitting Without Tears
    • Knitting Almanac

    Priscilla Gibson-Roberts

    • Knitting in the Old Way
    • Simple Socks

    Ann Budd

    • The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns
    • Knitter’s Handy Book of Top Dow Sweaters
    • Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns
    • Getting Started Knitting Socks

    You’ll need a stitch guide. You could start with Barbara Walker’s first book or try Mary Thomas’s Book of Knitting Patterns. Mary Thomas’s Knitting Book is useful too.

    For colorwork, Alice Starmore’s Fair Isle Knitting is available from Dover and reasonably prices. Janet Szabo’s Cables: The Basics has some nice cable patterns. If you are interested in cabled sweaters, I’d highly recommend her books.

    The only other thing needed here is yarn and needles. I used the Mary Thomas books plus Ida Riley Duncan’s Book of Progressive Knitting for a long time. The Knitter’s Guide to Sweater Design by Carmen Michelson and Mary Ann Davis will guide you through just about any kind of sweater you’d want to make. It’s out of print but worth getting.

    You don’t need to own all of these, of course. Pick an author that suits you. It’s not hard to do your own design, just requires that you use your own creativity.

  • Thoughts 07.07.2019 No Comments

    The forum is at https://slippedstitches.com

    I wanted to keep this politics free for now. So many people are tired of having to deal with politics in every little thing that we do. It’s a small forum and will probably stay that way. But anyone is welcome! We are going to focus on the things that we have in common.

  • Thoughts 29.06.2019 1 Comment

    I have already been banned for 10 days on Ravelry, So I am not posting anything on that site. Why did I get a new 30 suspension from them today? Because they are trying to ban me for things I have posted on other sites AND ON MY OWN WEBSITES. For any of you still naive enough to think they are not trying to ban conservative speech, you might want to rethink that position.

    Are you that easy, that your silence and consent to this behavior can be bought with free patterns? Do you want to live in a world where everyone must be made to think a certain way and only voice the approved positions?

  • Thoughts 10.06.2019 No Comments

    I am thinking about doing some large projects on my spindles. And that leads me to thoughts about production. Because you run into this issue with all sorts of spinning tools. My Pipy spins nice yarn and I can spin enough to do a large project. It’s not the most efficient way to do it. It doesn’t have large bobbins and it has a 16″ drive wheel. My Louet S-10 has larger  bobbins and a large drive wheel. It’s a lot easier to crank out the yarn on it. The new Country Craftsman does not have especially large bobbins. It does have a 24″ drive wheel. I can do fine yarn projects on this wheel that I would find tedious on the Pipy.

    The same thing applies with spindles. A production spindle will have a longer shaft, so that it holds more yarn. It could be a bit heavier, but really I think the shaft length is major. I love those Kaaris, but the shaft is so short that it doesn’t hold a lot of yarn.

     

    My Mongold, which hasn’t seen a lot of action lately, is a real production spindle. I’ve used it to ply a 4 ounce bobbin, spun on a wheel. It’s not too heavy if you are spinning thicker yarns. And it has a nice long shaft.

    This Tracy Eichheim low whorl is another production spindle. I use it for plying fairly often. It holds a lot.

    This is the new butternut Bosworth Midi. It’s a lighter weight production spindle, weighing in at 20 grams. Nice long shaft and I can pack a lot onto it.

    This is my Jenkins Delight and an unnamed Turkish spindle. I don’t really think of my Delight as a production spindle. I am working on a sweater project and I also know there are ways to pack on more yarn, depending on how I wind it. But it’s limited. A Swan might be a better choice or even an Egret. The big Turk would work, but it’s heavy enough that it doesn’t put a lot of twist in the yarn. I do use it for plying sometimes.

    Sometimes, we just want to have fun and spin or even do a quick sample. And sometimes we pick up a spindle because we fall in love with it. With spindles, you really do need to have few different weights around, for different types of yarns. I’m assembling a production team for my sweater projects, all Bosworths because I really want to work on my high whorls again. If you are considering larger spindle projects, you might want to take a look at the spindles you are using and make sure they are a good fit for the project.

  • Thoughts 06.06.2019 No Comments

    I wanted to post a link to Cherricongo’s spindle spinning tutorials.

    https://www.ravelry.com/people/cherricongo/handspun?set=tips–techniques

    You will need to log into your Ravelry account to view this. Steve, aka Cherricongo, has done a great job of explaining his system for spinning yarn on spindles. And he’s done four spindle spun sweaters at this time, so I’d say his system works. It’s worth your time to read through it. I am currently trying to figure out a system for my spinning projects. I want a physical notebook as the digital notes on Rav don’t allow you to attach samples. I’ll post more, once I have something in place.

    I have a new spindle to talk about and one more coming in today, so will post on those tomorrow. If you find the Cherricongo tutorials helpful, please consider making a donation to his Go Fund Me. The link is here:

    https://www.gofundme.com/my-friend-steve-needs-your-help

    He is living in Colorado in a travel trailer (sounds familiar) and recently lost his beloved African Gray. And he has some serious health issues to deal with.

     

  • Thoughts 01.04.2019 No Comments

    This was triggered by discovering the wonderful Knitting Sarah blog (just added to my blog list). Let me say again how much I like her blog. I think she is doing beautiful work. And I am saying this up front, because I don’t want my thoughts here to be taken as a slam against her. But in one of her tutorials, she says:

    “Most spinners you talk to will say their #1 goal is to spin a yarn that it could be mistaken for mill spun, or at least something that looks like the control involved could not possibly have been executed by human hands.”

    I’m sure this is true of modern spinners. Back in the 70s,when I learned how to spin, we despised this. We did not want to replicate commercial yarns. We wanted yarns that looked like they were created by human hands. And we made all those crazy, irregular yarns that machines couldn’t make (until they started making thick and thin yarns!) What we see today are spinners using the same type roving the mills would use. It’s great stuff, don’t get me wrong. But it disconnects us from the craft. Let me explain.

    Knitters used to create simple yarns and use their skills as knitters to create beautiful things. You can look at ads for yarns back in the 1900s and see that most were basic colors and usually four ply. There were novelty yarns of course. The knitter created the colorwork, from the pattern they chose and the colors they used. Think of Fair Isle. Now, we get the colorwork in the yarn and the patterns we choose need to be simple. You’ll see a few projects at Knitting Sarah where the yarn overwhelmed the pattern and she had to choose a different pattern. Makes life easier for busy knitters. No reason to do something complicated. We are handspinning yarns like the mills turn out.

    Who makes the money under this system? The mills, that process the fiber and spin the yarn. It’s a system that rewards the ranchers that turn out white fleeces, preferably merino these days. Ranchers make their money off the meat, not the fleece. Small farms, raising endangered breeds or colored fleece, rely on spinners to help them keep going. Why bother, if modern spinners are not interested in purchasing a fleece and preparing their own fiber? What happens to the market for fiber prep tools? If you are buying nothing but commercial roving, why would you need a drum carder or cards? (You might want to blend even commercial fibers, but still.)

    There is something to be said for watching a sheep get sheared, buying the fleece and processing it yourself. There is something to be said for having the ability to hand card or comb your on fiber. There is something to be said for being able to create your own beauty, out of simple yarns, using your skill as a knitter. And being able to do these things, makes you a better spinner.

    I don’t want to take anything away from spinners that only use these prepared fibers. I understand that folks have busy lives and may not have the space or time to work from raw fleece. I started thinking about these issues when I was demo’ing at the local fair with a group of spinners. They had us back by the sheep pens. I looked and everyone was spinning commercially prepared fiber. So the next day, I brought my cards and combs and clean fleece. Some of the young folks with sheep came over to demonstrate their carding expertise! It was fun, if a bit hard on my cards. It made the connection between their animals and the yarn we were spinning. That’s important for the continuation of our craft. Be versatile! Go to a fiber festival (it’s important to support those), buy some raw fleece and learn how to wash and process it. Make something beautiful out of natural colored wool. Support local shepherds by buying their wool. Show young people that connection between the wool from the sheep and the yarn. Keep spinning alive by broadening it, not narrowing it down to replicating what the mills make.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Thoughts 18.01.2019 No Comments

    Last year, I was burned out from Christmas knitting and didn’t knit for about six months. This year, I never stopped. I got in the habit of knitting in the morning before work and knitting on the weekends. I started a new project every time I finished the old one.

    You don’t know what stress is, until you have to pack up your fiber room.  I had to pack some things up, just to get them out of the way, so that we could paint the room. And that meant that there were things I couldn’t find afterwards. Now, we are getting into the “pack it up for the move”. And I’m already running into problems. I packed up my fiber as I wasn’t spinning any major projects. Then, SpinOff did a Hapalong. I’m about to finish a hap and thought it would be great to join in. Only my fiber has already been moved to the big truck we are planning to use for the move. I bought new fiber for the project. All the bobbins for my Louet are in a bin in that truck somewhere. I can use my Pipy but it just has one good bobbin. I might be able to repair the other two, if I can get my desk drawers back open. I have a sweater that I was working on that is in hibernation now. I can’t find the two large balls of yarn I need to finish it. I’ve been trying to set aside the things I want to use, so they don’t get packed up. And, I find I get upset when my treadles leave the room. They aren’t packed up yet, but I miss them. It is crazy that I’m moving seven treadles across country, but I am. I’ve tried to limit my book buying, but somehow I keep finding books I want to read right now. I hope we finish the house soon, because I really want to be done with this. I get to retire when the house is sold and then I will have time to work on the projects that I want to do.