The Decorator Crab

Starting from the beginning

A while back, I signed up for a "learn to spin" class at the Craft Center of my university (aside: how awesome is it that my university has a craft center?!  They have sewing machines, weaving looms, spinning wheels, glass fusing, pottery wheels, photography, a wood shop, and much more - it is too cool). I already knew the basics of spinning before signing up for the class. What I was really after was learning fiber prep - picking raw fleece and carding. We spent the entire first day hand-picking VM out of some borderline janky raw fleece, and then cutting our knuckles on ancient hand carders. No disrespect to hand carder fans, but I was really holding out for the drum carder, which she promised to bring the next day.

The following day (it was a Sat/Sun class), we had two drum carders available for the five of us students. We worked together to card a bit of fiber for everyone, and then the new spinners moved over to the wheels. I however, remained at the drum carder for the remaining three hours of the class! I fell madly in love with carding. Immediately. I created six fluffy batts of some unknown, rustic, amazingly scratchy wool. And I loved it!!

It has some little brown hairs in it - maybe guard hairs of some kind? I am new at this.

I started spinning my lovely scratchy batts immediately, but due to interruptions from other commitments (see previous post), it took a while to finish all of it and get it plied up. Here is how it turned out:

More pics on Ravelry, for those with access.  It is rough, scratchy, and definitely rustic - I love it! I love that it is local, and that I used something that would have otherwise been thrown away (it was fiber from sheep for eating, not sheep for shearing). It was a nice contrast to the merino that I had been spinning right before it, and as a new spinner I am eagerly gobbling up as many kinds of fiber as I can.

I have started a project with the handspun, but I already fear that I will run out before finishing. I wanted to make something simple that would let the natural texture of the wool shine through, so garter stitch was an obvious choice. Without much yarn to work with, and since it is very itchy (no good for a hat), I thought that a pillow ought to fit the bill perfectly. Here is what I have so far.

The plan is simple: four garter squares sewn together. Two will be knit on the bias (diagonal) and two in the "regular" fashion. I am using size 4US needles, which I picked randomly because I haven't done any diagnostics on the yarn like WPI or weight/yardage. There are some thick/thin aspects of the yarn, but I think that it adds to the rustic nature of the yarn. The squares ought to block into nice, even edges. I can't wait to see how it works out!

So, there you have it - my first project that starts from the beginning (raw fleece). Yeah!

In other news, I will be using gifts from my Mom and my Mother in Law to purchase my very own drum carder and some raw fleeces (thanks Moms!!)!  OMFG - there are no words for how excited I am!  And, in some freakish happenstance of cosmic timing, the exact drum carder that I want suddenly became available second-hand, and is in great shape. How amazing and wonderful is that?! *Happy dance!* Since I promised to spend my graduation gifts on fun, indulgent things only (Nothing practical for this gal! Not this time!), I am going buy as much raw fleece as my money will allow me. I will be missing the Black Sheep Gathering because I am in Chile right now (moment of silence, please), but there are many wool-producing farms around here that I can stalk visit. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment! I may also be brave enough to order fleece online, but that feels like cheating somehow. I should use this as a reason to get out and meet my local fiber farmers, yes?

Okay - signing off from Chile. More when I return stateside!

In which she rejoins the Blogosphere

Greetings!

Well, I realize that I don't have any readers left out there after this extended period of blog silence, but I like to carry on under the delusion that someone will read this. I was away from my blog in order to write and then defend my Ph.D. thesis, and now I rejoin the world as a new crab. Sort of. I am now "Craftycrab, Ph.D." I'm not changing the blog name or anything (heh), and I don't use it in my signature or anything, and please don't call me Dr. Crab, but it sure as hell feels great to be done!  Now I will have time to blog!  And to leave comments on YOUR blog!!  Yes, I feel like a new crab, that is for sure.

I am currently blogging from Iquique, Chile, where I am currently involved in a new research project. But, I will return home in a week or so, and will then begin blogging again in earnest. I just couldn't wait until then to peek my head in around here! In the mean time, you can see what [little] that I've been up to on my Ravelry page (if you are a member of Ravelry - sorry Mom and MinIL). I'll get it all updated over here eventually, once the dust settles.

It already feels great to be "back"!!

Drive-by blogging

So little time right now.  So. Little. Time.  Trying to finish a Ph.D. in science and make the transition into future projects that will keep the research momentum going is completely exhausting. And completely inconducive to blogging, and crafting in general, actually.  I give you all that I've got.

18 blocks. 

Also, remember this? 

This UFO has been languishing in the pile since August, but the urge to finish it has struck. It must be the seeming endlessness of the hexagon blanket that is giving me the craving to finish something.  If only I can find the time...

Multitasking is the new black

Not much progress on this:
because I have been doing this:

this:

and this:


Sorry for the dark photos - it's been wet and rainy around here lately (and I love it!).

The hex blanket has "grown" to 13 hexagons. I have missed working on it, despite how much fun I've been having with the drop spindle.

I have produced my first three mini-skeins of yarn! They are far from perfect, but I am learning and getting better with every hour at the spindle. Our instructor left us with two more drop spindles and nine samples of various fibers.  They include silk, soy silk, cashmere, alpaca, corridale, merino/silk blend, merino/tencel blend, Rambouillet/angora blend, and Merino a la Margaret Stove.  That ought to keep me busy!

On Saturday I painted and organized the craft room.  Do not adjust your monitor - I did use a bright color! My craft room is decorated with Mexican Folk Art (Dia de los Muertos, Oaxacan figurines, nichos, etc.), so I took license to get a little Fiesta with the color.  I'm sure it's not to all of your tastes, but I think it's really fun and it makes me smile when I go in there.  I still need to hang my peg board and my storage box, but I'm almost finished with the room.  I'll consider it "Mission Accomplished."

My husband is home after being out of town for a week, so I am going to leave it at that.  More soon.

Finding my place.

I want to share a little story about two community yarn shops and how I feel about them.  There was a shop close to our house in Washington, and I shopped there on and off for two-and-a-half years. I also took a class on Fair Isle there.  The ladies who owned and operated the shop were very nice, but none of them ever learned my name.  I never felt that I was a part of the community there, that I would be missed if I stopped coming in. Now don't get me wrong - I wouldn't say that the place was cliquish or cold; they probably just had a lot of people coming in and out, and I was just one of the masses.  I often thought that it would be worth it to drive further into Seattle to find a shop that seemed to "fit me" better.  And then we moved.

Fast forward to today, in Corvallis, Oregon. There is one yarn shop in town, and soon after we moved I went to the shop to pick up some yarn. The owner was very friendly, and she invited me to an upcoming knit night.  I went, and the small shop was overflowing with knitters and crocheters. I was warmly welcomed and had a great time.  Conversation drifted toward spinning, and I mentioned a desire to learn.  As luck would have it, a class was coming up at the shop on learning how to spin with a drop spindle.  A full week later I called the shop to sign up for the class.  While I was on the phone the owner saw my name being written down on the class list and I heard her say, "Oh, Amanda signed up!  That's great!"  *HUZZAH!!*  That's what I'm talking about!  That's the intangible sense of community that had escaped me for so long in Washington.  Imagine my glee - I think I've found my place!

And now, on to the juicy bits.  As you can guess from the above, I finally gave in to my longstanding urge to learn to spin. For about the last year or so I've been having secret thoughts about how amazing it would be to learn to spin my own yarn. But, I always talked myself out of it.  "No. No no.  I've only been knitting for a couple of years, and I really should concentrate on improving my skills before picking up a new hobby. And besides, I already have all of that yarn in the stash..."  But I have also been inspired by other budding spinners, and I've been secretly wishing that I too could learn.  And now, finally, I've taken the plunge and attended my first spinning class!  My singles are thick and thin and horrifying, but I am so proud!  I have made yarn out of sheep fiber!  The idea of being able to go from fiber to sweater is so amazing and exciting, and I just can't wait to learn more. 

Our instructor gave us three kinds of wool to practice with, along with a top whorl drop spindle made from a wooden dowel and two CDs.  Neat!  The fiber on the  left is what is on the first "bobbin," and of course I completely forget what it is.  The fiber on the right has shorter fibers, so it should be a little different to spin than the first batch.  I am saving the purple pencil roving for dessert, which I have to earn by spinning all of the other stuff first.  I almost bought some fiber from Blue Moon yesterday, but I decided that I have to earn that, too, by at least finishing my spinning class and learning how to ply.  But I have to tell y'all, even though it's only a few days into it, I'm having the absolute best time spinning (such as it is).  And I'd like to ask, Lord, please keep me from the wheels until after I finish my degree...

Cutest. Bag. Ever!

OMFG.  I must make it - now!  I get an email every day from Interweave's Knitting Daily (link), and this bag was featured yesterday.  The pattern is by Pam Allen from Interweave's Bag Style, but is available as a free download if you are a subscriber to Knitting Daily.  The project is up on Ravelry, but it looks like no one is working on it yet.  Time to dig through the stash to see if I have anything that will work!

Off topic - dogs on video

This is for Minnie, who posted a very cute video of one of her dogs recently.  I shot this video of our Chihuahua, Johnny, at Cannon Beach a couple of weekends ago.  Johnny has bad knees and walks a little funny, but you can see that he doesn't let it slow him down.  Sorry for the annoying voice-over.  I always forget that my camera records sound, too - Doh!

In which she peeks her head out from behind the boxes

Greetings all, from the glorious state of Oregon!  We are still settling into the new house, but the dust has cleared and I have a few moments to get back to the ol' blog.  Anyone still out there?!

Blog-worthy creative progress is minimal, which is another reason that I haven't been back to the blog since we've been here.

The Hexagon Blanket has an embarrassing, measly 8 (8!!) blocks so far.  I started and then abandoned the first set of blocks, so my actual progress doesn't fairly reflect the amount of time that I've put into the blanket. So it goes here at Chez Crabby!!  Onward!

In between crocheting hexagons, I was drawn back to the needles by a simple project with gorgeous yarn - the Noro Scarf.  I found some Silk Garden Lite while we were at the coast last weekend, and I cast on that same night.  I'm doing seed stitch instead of K1P1 ribbing, and I love how the texture and colors are coming together.  The striping isn't as crisp as in Jared's version, but I'm digging it just the same.  I grabbed the last three balls of SGL that the store had, and will likely need a fourth ball.  I'll cross that bridge...yadayada.

And that's all the progress that I have to show for a month of absence. It's a sad state of affairs indeed. Sorry friends - my creative mojo sucks lately.   I'll post some photos of the new house once we get some decent color on the walls and the rest of the furniture arrives (squee!!). 

Johnny says, "I like sitting in the sun at the front door! Also, is that door really purple?"  Yes. Yes it is. Welcome home, pup.

A little short on content

Well.  All of the yarn is here, and I think that I have a final color palette for the blanket.  Many thanks to everyone who left comments on the last post!! 

The major changes in the organization of the color groups are:

1. Instead of the same three "dark brown" skeins, I now have three different dark browns.

2. The "tans" got a bit lighter, and I removed a color that I really didn't like.

3. I added a very light purple, and removed the darkest one.

4. I added a fun, aqua-green, and removed a dark green.

5. I added a bright blue, and removed a navy blue.

I was really motivated to lighten up the color palette a little bit. I got some good advice about not getting too many dark colors next to each other, so I'll be careful about that as I continue to make hexagons. I still haven't decided about the yellow - I may throw it in a few times just for fun.  Or maybe not.

I've made six hexagons so far, but I used some of the colors that I've now eliminated.  I also bought a 3.5mm hook that I am going to switch to, so I'll have to start over.  Sad, but for the best in the long run.

Here are the colors all together:

Here are the colors that didn't make the final cut:

It's funny how it all worked out.  I really like some colors that I ultimately rejected, and I dislike some of the colors that are still included.  I'm still an apprehensive color mixer, but I'm trying to go with the flow on this one and have some fun. 

We are moving from Washington to Oregon next Tuesday, so my spare time will be limited in the next couple of weeks.  I apologize in advance for what will likely be some spotty posting and lack of visible progress.  Rest assured though - I am super stoked on this project and will be highly motivated to get to it as often as I can!  Just bear with me for a little while...

Finally, it begins.

I literally shed a few tears when the UPS van drove by the house without stopping again yesterday.  It was just icing on the cake after a rough couple of days in and out of the dentist's chair. But, good news today!  The package from The-Yarnshop-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named arrived from Massa-friggin-chusetts!  YESYESYES!!  I actually ordered just a few more balls from Jimmy Beans Wool yesterday, since I had a coupon for free shipping and the Jaeger Matchmaker & Baby Merino DK are now down to $3.50/ball.  Two brown/tans, a green, a blue, and another "white/creme" are coming.  Don't know if they will make it into the mix, but the "rejects" will be used for something eventually. 

Anyway...now I have a decision to make and I wanted a little feedback from this here blog (that means you, too, lurkers!).  I have two options for my "white/creme" bunch, and the question is:

To Yellow, or Not To Yellow?  We have:

OR

The shade of yellow is not my favorite, and I worry that the color scheme will totally devolve into ROYGBIV if I include yellow.  Is it out of place, or is it my color inhibition (*wink* to Julia!) getting in the way??

The cakes of yarn are the Rowan Pure Wool DK, and though I haven't swatched with it yet, it does feel a tiny bit softer than the Matchmaker.  I'll give you the full report once I actually crochet with it.

So, that's about it.  I put up photos of the individual color groups here.  Feedback on the color groups is always appreciated (ie. ditch that one, find another one, etc.)! 

Enjoy the weekend all.  We will be doing a lot of packing for the upcoming move here at Chez Crabby. Oh joy!