Back in action...

Spinning: The Pedal Pusher is back in action. :-)

It still wobbles like crazy (I haven't put the support bar back in yet), squeaks like crazy, and now the pedal clicks, but it works. With it being annoyingly noisy though it will probably end up being just a plying wheel after I finish this project. I seem to be spinning much finer than usual, which doesn't bode well for using all of this for a sweater.

A handy spinning tip for even bobbins when your flyer has sliding 'hooks' (unfortunately I can't remember where I learned this), is to use a mirror on the floor angled so you can see the entire bobbin - it works great! I first tried it while navajo-plying, as particularly on the Pedal Pusher I can't see a good part of the front of the bobbin while spinning. It also made the 2+ hours I spent spinning yesterday go faster, since I had something else to think about (maybe that's why my yarn has been a bit more even too).


Loom-knitting: I've made progress on the sock - I'm doing the foot now. Here you can see the heel.

Luckily you can't see my mistakes - I need to pay just a little bit more attention. This is about as mindless as it gets, but you do still need to look at what you are doing from time-to-time (being on the loom for a couple of years probably didn't help much either).

This particular craft goes by many names, depending on what style of loom you are using and what area of the country you are from (and possibly urban vs. rural). Frame-knitting, loom-knitting, they are knitting rakes (or just rakes), looms, boards, frames, rounds, Amish looms - these are some of the terms I've heard. For a blog label, I'll use "loom-knitting" unless someone has a suggestion that makes more sense. :-)


MK'ing: A bonus picture - I made this on my Bond ISM several years ago. It was going to be much bigger, but I got bored with doing so much hand-manipulation. But I sure do like how it turned out.



Weaving: I seem to be taking a break from weaving lately, though I've been wanting to do more Weave-It squares, and I want to finish the bag on the cardboard loom. The bag is going to end up as a spinning oil bag if I can get it finished, but it might be a little big - perhaps a small scissors will fit in there too. Now, If I can just remember where I put my Weave-It box and the cardboard loom....


Another bonus picture:


Boss Dog is such a cutie! It's hard to believe she's 11 years old! :-D She's as frisky as the 5-year-old (and he's plenty frisky!)!

Finally!

I've finally finished the first bobbin of the red colonial roving!

I cannot believe it has taken so long, and if it hadn't been for the spinning club meeting this past week it still wouldn't be done. Only (mumble-mumble) pounds to go!


Someone asked me about the sock loom - it is from Decor Accents, and I'm pretty sure it's the fine-gauge - I don't think they had extra-fine when I bought this. They've modified their design a bit as I bought this a few years ago.

I like switching up the crafts from time-to-time (obviously), and it was fun working with this again. I probably should've frogged it and started over (and may still end up doing that after it's finished), but since I could tell where I was in the pattern I just went on. After I took the picture I finished the leg and the heel, and now am about to do the foot. Looming goes faster for me than hand-knitting, as long as I'm not trying to do anything 'fancy'. (That's Lion Brand's sock yarn - I've forgotten the name.)


As to knitting - I haven't knit any more on the sweater - my brain has been on vacation this past week so I didn't dare. Maybe I'll get a couple of rows in today after I do some housecleaning.


No weaving either - I was going to work on the cardboard-loom bag yesterday but didn't get to it. Maybe I'll put that on my list of 'maybe I ought to do that today'.


We woke up to this this morning:

Now I don't feel quite so bad about realizing it's almost APRIL and I still haven't started my tomato plants!!

Oops...

I almost forgot to post my weekly update - mainly because I don't have anything to show for the week.

I did do a little spinning yesterday - I finally finished up the llama sample on the Polonaise. There's not much there, and what is there is isn't attractive, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I worked on the red colonial roving on the Production wheel a little bit too, but it seems to take forever to get anything done with that stuff. We installed the repaired Pedal Pusher base, but I haven't tried it out yet - perhaps I'll get to that this week. I was hoping to finish the red colonial bobbin first, but apparently that is going to take me a few months. :-/


I cast on the for the sideways sweater yesterday, and have all of 6 rows knitted. I never did hit row gauge at all, after swatching, swatching, and more swatching, so I'm crossing my fingers and making a guess. Maybe if it's a little too big I can stitch it up tighter. I took a closer look at the "Knitting Cuff to Cuff" book; I think it will be a decent primer on how to do a sideways sweater - at least a basic crew neck. I probably should have started with one from that book, instead of the more-complicated one I'm doing.

I'm in a bit of a crafty funk - there are so many things I want to do, but not enough time do them. The disadvantage of having too many interests (and working a full-time job that pays for them) is that it's so hard to pick something out of the chaos sometimes - so I'm not doing anything. I was hoping to have a quiet day today and maybe read a book, but DH has come down with a cold that has kept him inside watching TV most of the day. Oh well; at least he's feeling better today.

Speaking of too many interests - I took out my sock (knitting) loom that was last used... maybe two years ago or more. There is a sock started on it, and maybe I'll actually finish it. Or maybe I'll just look at the pretty yarn - who knows. I hope everyone is getting more done than I am!

It's a dreary Sunday

But at least I've finally finished the hat. I also really screwed it up, as I misunderstood the very clear instructions, so I'm calling it "The Almost-JIT Hat".

I had to add a pom-pom (which I hate more than fringe, and that's saying something) to hide the awful job I did on the top. If I were a faster knitter I'd frog back to where I first screwed up, but I'm tired of knitting on it and want to work on something else. It's also a little big, as I seem to have forgotten that I knit looser than most pattern-writers, so next time I'll have to go down a needle-size or two. I'm trying to shrink it a bit using super-hot water and the dryer, but since the yarn is mostly acrylic I'm not holding out much hope. I'm also going to make the brim wider next time as well. I have plenty of yarn to do another (probably about 20 more - I have a lot of that color), and probably will unless this version grows on me. It's a good, easy pattern, and the hat feels warm.

Since I did manage to come down with the flu, the hat is the only thing I've worked on (good thing too, as badly as I screwed such an easy hat up!). Today I'm going to make notes on my JIT pattern, and then I think I'll swatch for the sideways pullover and see what happens. I have an awful time with gauge, which is why I've never made anything that actually had to fit - so this will be my first sweater. (Note: the sideways sweater pattern has moved to here.)

I received Susan Guagliumi's "Knitting Cuff to Cuff" book on sideways sweaters this past week, but my brain has been fuzzy enough that I haven't tried to sit down with it yet. I would have sworn when I read the comments at Amazon.com that one or more of them said there was one pattern written for machine-knitting - unfortunately, none of them are (must be more of that 'fuzzy brain syndrome') but there is a section for MK modifications in the back. I was really hoping for a MK pattern I could just put on the needles and follow along without having to think much about it, but it appears that is not meant to be. :-(

My 12.5-dent heddle missed the UPS truck somehow Friday so still no sett sampler on the loom. Of course, I haven't finished making warp chains either (I don't like using the warping board so that is a task I tend to avoid), and I also haven't made up my 'wind-on-by-yourself' warp tensioner either - something else on my list of things to do that I keep forgetting about. Perhaps I'll do that today too.

I haven't been spinning either - I really need to get some of that in this week as well. That's all probably way more than I can get done all week - nothing like a fiber time-challenge to make me sit in my chair and watch sci-fi shows instead! :-) Good thing I do this stuff for 'fun' instead of profit!

Not much to report here...

I've been working on coming down with the flu that everyone is passing around these days, which has kept me from doing much of anything.

I have been knitting on the JIT hat, and am probably two-thirds done, but I'm taking it slow as along with everything else aching my tendinitis is trying to act up. I set up a different knitting machine that I will probably be using soon, but I need to watch the video first, as I've forgotten everything. And it needs to be cleaned and oiled, and I might need to add a section of needlebed to it (I love plastic machines, just for this - you can add sections from another needle bed if you are doing something wider than the usual bed).

I've also decided to go through Betty Davenport's Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle Loom and weave the samples. But there are 53!! of them in the first section, so that's going to be a long-term project with a lot of required prep work. I'm afraid I'll run out of interest before I get them done, but we'll see. I'm also thinking about doing a 'sett sampler' - where I take one yarn, in this case 8/4 carpet warp, and use different heddles to see how the hand changes. This will be very useful for the Davenport sampler. I started winding the warping board yesterday, but haven't gotten very far. Which is ok, as the 12.5-dent heddle isn't here yet.

I think that's all I have for this weekend; I'll post pictures when I have something to show or I'm feeling more energetic!