Miscellaneous: September 2006 Archives

I wish that wasn't true today, but I am afraid that I made no significant progress on the Habu scarf, either pair of socks, my dad's vest or on the spinning of my moorit CVM. This seems to be the way of getting ready to go on vacation. My time gets channeled into focusing on the tasks that need to get done at work so that I don't have to feel too guilty about not answering most of my email for two weeks, and into trying to get things ready at home to prepare for the vacation as well. This weekend will be all about house cleaning.

About all I have gotten to do today with regards to being crafty was to think about what would be coming with me to Kauai. I've decided that I really want to keep this simple. And with one possible exception, I think I'm on target to do that. What's in my crafty "don't forget to pack" list?

• Two skeins of Sock Hop sock yarn in "Say a Little Prayer" and a set of 2.25 mm double points.
• One skein of Socks that Rock medium weight in "Amber" and a set of 2.75 mm double pointed needles.
• One ball of grey striped Trekking XXL and a set of 2.25 mm double points (yes, I have more than a few sets of these now).
• One 8 ounce bundle of 100% Sock Hop superwash merino in "My Boyfriend's Back", 3 WooLee Winder bobbins, and my Lendrum DT spinning wheel with WooLee Winder flyer, and some miscellaneous equipment for a homemade lazy kate

See, I told you everything but one item would seem pretty reasonable. Normally I wouldn't even think about taking enough yarn for three pairs of socks, but the first two are patterned and so probably won't be good for car travel. The grey socks for John are going to be straight stockinette.

And then there's the spinning wheel. Initially, I was planning leaving the wheel at home. I was. I really was. And then I mentioned this to John, who immediately started to tell me how it would be easy to prepare a safe suitcase for it to travel in and that it really wouldn't be that big a deal to bring it along. Still, I though it seemed like a lot of effort. But John had planted the seeds of doubt in my mind and the more I thought about it, the more I could imagine myself sitting on the lanai of one of the houses we were renting, happily spinning while taking in the island air. And then I thought, "Hey, how often does a girl get to go to Hawaii? Who knows when we'll be back next. Eat dessert first, for once, girlfriend!" So we're going to work out wheel packing logistics this weekend. It doesn't hurt that the Lendrum is, after all, a travelling wheel.

There's also the very distinct possibility that some red yarn for a red scarf will come with me as well, but that is dependent on selecting the yarn and the pattern, neither of which have been done yet.

This will probably be my last post for a little while. Monday is going to be crazy because we leave for Hawaii on Tuesday morning and don't get into Kauai until Tuesday evening. I'm going to have my camera, and both houses we're staying at have internet service, so I'm hoping to share a little taste of our trip with y'all.

Aloha!

My dad has always been the family photographer. For as long as I can remember he has always had a camera. When I was small, it was this wonderful old twin lens reflex Yashica (to be fair, it probably wasn't that old at the time) that I was absolutely fascinated with. As time moved on, dad bought himself a treat -- a Canon SLR. He even invested in one of those big telephoto lenses. And he started taking some color pictures, even though it meant that he couldn't develop them on his own. Nowadays dad has a digital camera -- his current fave is a Canon EOS Rebel SLR. It gives him the limitless possibilites for photography that you can only get from digital media.

No matter what camera he has in his hands at any given time, however, my dad has always loved to take pictures of flowers. If you were to look back through the old contact sheets, prints wrapped in yellow Kodak photo processing envelopes or to dig through the image archives on his computer, you would find all manner of flora. Everything from the humble dandelion to the most complex orchid has made it's way in front of my dad's lens. And the thing of it is, most of them are quite good. He's got an eye for the small things, my dad does.

So perhaps it is no surprise that when I am not taking pictures of my fiber endeavors, I am often taking flower pictures of my own. The macro mode on my new little Canon is just incredible, and while I don't have quite the artistic vision that my dad does, I'm beginning to look for those things that make a photo interesting. On Sunday, a beautiful day here in Chicago, John and I took another trip up to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. The light was beautiful and the many of the roses are still in bloom. Can you guess what I did instead of get started on a new pair of socks?

So there is no knitting in this post, but I do want to introduce you to a fun new toy I have installed to work with Movable Type -- the Photo Gallery plugin by Byrne Reese (I would put links here, but the ones I have are not behaving themselves right at the moment -- if you're interested, Google, they are bound to come back up). Just click the picture below to take you to the entire set.

And, as always, I'm thinking of doing more with this gallery than just posting flower pictures, so let me know what you think, and feel free to leave comments on the pictures if the spirit moves you.

Today, since I have to admit I have very little in the way of inspiring knitting or spinning to show off, I'm going to answer some questions that I think deserve airing in a broader forum than the comments and I'm also going to announce the results of my contest to identify the fake man photo from Michigan Fiber Fest.

First, from Beth S., in reference to last week's post about the new superwash merino rovings I bought from Crown Mountain Farms:

Is one hank of pencil roving enough for a pair of socks? I've been wondering about that.

Teyani sells both her Corriedale pencil rovings and her superwash merino rovings in 8 ounce batches. Most sock yarns that I've purchased are sold in 2 ounce/50 g put ups (usually you need two of these for an adult pair of socks) or 4 ounce/100g put ups (usually you need one of these for a pair of adult-sized socks). So, depending on how much you decided to spin up as part of the sampling process, and how big the sock are that you want to make, 8 ounces is enough for at least 2 pair of adult sized socks. Given that Teyani's rovings cost about $15 (before shipping), and the average ball of Opal costs $12-$13 these days, that's a pretty good deal. Granted, you do have to spin it yourself, but, if you're a spinner, that's all part of what makes the socks truly special. It also means that you can create exactly the yarn that you want to have for your socks.

Tamara asked this question, in response to my post about the picot sock top (and there were several others in a similar vein):

I'm looking for instruction on how to do a picot bind off on toe up socks. I started a pair in koigu yarn and they need something special at the top - I really like how yours look. I just wonder if there is no ribbing, will they fall down all the time though?

The picot bind off on the toe up sock is just done in the reverse of the way you would do it for a top down. Once you get to the point where you are ready to create the cuff, knit as many rows as you want the cuff to be tall. You might want to mark the row that is the first row just so you remember. Then you'll do the K2Tog, YO row and then you'll do an equal number of rows to the number of rows you knit from the marker. Then you can bind off loosely and fold the cuff over at the K2Tog, YO row and just tack the bound off row down to the starting rown. Alternatively, I am sure there is some clever way to bindoff while connecting the bindoff row stitches to the starting row. As far as falling down is concerned, the secret is to make sure that the sock top is not loose, so you might want to have a little less ease than you normally have in the top of a sock so that the top grips the leg well. I helped to accomplish this by knitting the first rows before the picot row on needles 2 sizes smaller than the needles I used for the body of the sock, as well as by doing a real gauge swatch to make sure I knew the right amount of stitches to cast on for a sock for me.

And Kim (the Spinning Guy) asked an interesting question about STR in response to the same post:

Now I'm starting to research future sock yarns. What is it you like about the Socks that Rock yarn? The colorways are tremendous. What about the tactile aspects of the yarn? If you were knitting plain black socks, would you use this yarn? If not, what would you use?

What do I like about Socks that Rock. Hoo boy! Let me see if I can think of all the things. First off, all three weights of STR are 3 ply, and tightly spun. This means that they have extra durability (from the extra plies) -- which is important in a sock yarn that is 100% merino and has no extra added nylon to help improve the durability. The three ply also means that the yarn has a delightful squishiness. It is really cushy and comfortable from a wearing perspective and it shows off textured stitches better than a 2 ply will.

The yarn is just wonderful to knit from from the tactile perspective as well. It's very soft and easy on the hands -- at least the light weight and medium weight are. (Julie is working with some of the heavy weight and I found that yarn to have a very different feel to it -- I haven't knit a project with that yarn yet, so I can't really provide a good review of it). The light and medium weight yarns have a nice elasticity as well.

From a socks-in-use perspective, it washes well (you almost can't even tell the pairs I have washed have been through the wash) and it gets even softer after washing. Some yarns loosen up a lot after washing, but the STR does a pretty good job of maintaining gauge and shape. Finally, one of my favorite things about this yarn is that buying it supports a small business person and craft dyer who really works hard to bring a high quality product to market and who has exceptional color sense. We gotta support the artists amongst us, friends, if we want to keep having beautiful and unique yarns out there to play with!

If I were knitting plain black socks, would I use this yarn? You betcha! I made John's dragon scale socks in one of the STR "almost-solid" colorways (Beryl) and I'm knitting my aunt's socks in another almost solid (Amber). Blue Moon's "Almost Solid" series is really beautiful and the subtle variations give the yarn enough depth to be interesting but are solid enough to show off texture. That said, I would determine if I thought the yarn matched the recipient. I know some folks who wouldn't want any yarn but a true solid, and Blue Moon doesn't dye any true solids. So in that case, I would choose a different yarn.

And Now for the Winner of the MFF Picture Challenge

First off, I'll say that this was meant to be tricky, but fun. I loved reading all the guesses and the rationale's that went with the guesses. Secondly, I probably should have reminded you that I was raised by engineers. This means that I am as likely to ooh and ahh over a special car or a cool piece of equipment as I am over a cute fuzzy creature. Finally, my husband and father are pretty eclectic picture takers and I think they found it to be an interesting game to entertain me with the images that caught their attention.

So which picture was mine.... drum roll please...

My picture was the picture of the tractors on the third day of pictures (the one entitled "Four Wheels Good" -- you get extra bonus points if you know what obscure album from the 80's that is a strange refrence to). Initially I was worried that no one would guess this picture at all and that I would have to drop a few hints (or change how I picked the winner). But as it turns out, Gabrielle did guess the correct picture! Check your inbox for an email from me, Gabrielle and we'll talk about how you would like your contest winnings!