The Promised Pic

I'm in love with Hanalei

Just over a year ago, DH and I decided to go to Kauai for vacation. We'd been once before, when the boys were still in elementary school. We never got around to the north side on that trip, so we decided to go there this time.



The north side gets a considerable amount of rain and is lush, green and tropical. There is Princeville, and just a tiny bit farther along the road is Hanalei. The road from Princeville drops down into a valley, and crosses a one lane bridge and poof! A different world.

Town is maybe two blocks long, and a block from the beach. Sure, its touristy, but once you cross that one lane bridge, there are no more mega resorts, or traffic signals. (I'm sure there can be plenty of traffic, but it wasn't bad in November.)  And guess what? Hanalei has a yarn shop! Hanalei Strings is part yarn shop and part musical instrument shop. They carry beautiful colorways, which I'd love to share, but all my cell phone photos came out blurry.

First view of Hanalei Bay. Do they do this for all the tourists?

There are more one lane bridges, if you continue past Hanalei. A car will take you as far as Haena State Park, where the road ends and the trail along the Na Pali coast begins.

On the road to Haena St. Park. Good eats at Sushi Girl!

For this drought stricken Southern California gal, the days were a soothing mix of rain, sun, trade winds, and walks along the beach.  And no freeways.  I'm sure more visits to Hanalei are in my future.

Dyeing to Make a Change

What came into my stash as this,

Is now this,

Thanks to a little hot water bath along with some acid dye and a splash of vinegar. So much more interesting now.

Merry Christmas to All

Hope everyone had a lovely day. I know we did. And my family gave me this wonderful dye kit.

Cast-on Giddiness

Oh oh oh! The socks are almost done, the throw pillow is all most done. I've made enough yarn to start working on Iced, and I can easily justify casting on one more, smaller project. Maybe a scarf made with this;

a 50/50 blend of silk and cashmere, hand spun and hand dyed by me.

Distracted

By this guy...

The weather today is just amazing, warm and clear with a light breeze coming off the ocean. A great day for taking the spinning wheel outside to finish plying hand-spun sock yarn #4. I'd moved the spinning wheel and supplies outside and was just getting ready to move the lawn sprinkler before I sat down to ply some sock yarn.  And then, out of the corner of my eye I noticed this snake in the planter next to the lawn, headed for the patio. This is crotalus ruber, a red diamond rattlesnake, and this is a big one. While I don't see them all the time, this is the species of rattlesnake I see most often in our yard, driveway, etc. I like that they're doing their part to keep the rodent population in check, but I don't especially care for rattlesnakes hanging out near the house. Its like an accident waiting to happen.

This particular snake was well behaved, and started to head away from the house once he'd caught wind of me. But I didn't want to take any chances, so I asked Ryan to bring me a push broom and a 30 gallon trashcan while I kept an eye on the snake. For once, Ryan didn't say, "just a sec." to one of my requests for his time. Once I had my "tools" I had Ryan go back into the house for the camera. By now the snake was near the back edge of the lawn area.

The snake is, I think, between 3 1/2 - 4 feet long.

I put the trashcan on its side on the ground ahead of where the snake moving. Snakes like hiding in dark places, and so he went right in. Or, maybe I've caught this snake before and he remembers the drill. Either way, it works.

Normally, at this point I just tip the trashcan upright, but this snake seemed kind of big, so I used an telescoping pole to tip the can up. And normally, I just pick up the trashcan and head for the property line so I can dump the snake into the sage brush on the other side of the fence, but as I really, seriously respected this snake's size, I slipped a big black trash bag over the top of the trash can. We couldn't find a lid.

He is a very handsome snake. I hope he stays out of the yard for the rest of the year.

Oh, here is the spinning that I never quite got to;

It's looking like this when its plied;

And here are the socks I working on when I have knitting time. The yarn Plymouth Happyfeet DK, and is left over from a little girl sweater I knit last summer. I think there is just enough yarn to make some ankle socks, or maybe footies, something that will be nice to wear during spinning.

Yesterday was...

National Beer Day. And I missed it. I guess I'll have to make up for it later, maybe today. And mark my calendar for next year.

Today I replaced the switch I broke on the trash compactor. Something still isn't exactly right, because the motor driving the ram doesn't automatically reverse like its supposed to. I can reverse it manually by turning the switch to "off"  and then turning the switch to "on" and then the motor reverses and puts the ram back up. I did find a tech sheet hidden behind the front panel, with schematics and ohm ranges for the various switches. I think I'll ask DH to investigate this part for me. Mostly because I've lost interest. In fixing the compactor.

So instead I took some pictures of the merino/cashmere/possum yarn I dyed purple last week. It is a very, very, dark purple, nearly black.

 See what I mean?

Handspun Sock Yarn #

I call it, "RED!"  Reminds me of shopping mall Santa suits.  Scipio kitty is fascinated by watching yarn creation. "So. That's how string is born."

this is more like it

These colors look better in person than on my monitor, at least to me. From upper left to lower right we have superwash merino roving, light gray alpaca roving and cream alpaca mini batts. There are differences in how this lot was processed compared to the earlier purple and scarlet baths.

The first bath, scarlet, and first purple/black bath I weighed out the fiber and aimed for 3-4% of the fiber weight when measuring out the dye powder. By the way, I don't think my digital scale is to be trusted. The dye was then added to the warm water in the pot.  The fiber was added.  The vinegar was added to the pot. In the case of the scarlet, I didn't pre-wet the merino, but I did pre-wet the merino/possum blend that went into the purple.  Also, I just reused the scarlet dye bath water for the purple lot.

The second purple batch I tried to use less dye powder, more like 2-3%. I wanted some color variation in the roving, so I added the vinegar to the pot before I added the pre-wet merino superwash. After waiting for 5 or 10 minutes, I decided there was still enough dye in the pot to add some more fiber, so I added the alpaca, sort of random amounts. It actually took up more dye than I expected. I added a little more vinegar.

All the batches "cooked" for at least 20 minutes, and were then soaked in a "Soak" bath of warm water and rinsed in tepid water. I sure hope Evan pays attention when I tell him to wash his red socks separately.

There is one more dye experiment just finishing up, a cashmere/silk blend 2 ply that I spun up some time ago. The natural color was lovely, but something I'd never wear, so I mixed up some green dye bath using sky blue and yellow. I tossed in the pre-wet silk cashmere blend, poured in the vinegar and after a few minutes threw in a little dry skein of silk single I spun from hankies, and some more vinegar.

And here is the result.

Either the cashmere took up all the yellow/green, or the silk really likes the blue dye. There was still some green in the dye pot when these finished up. I love both the colors.

During all this playing with color and fiber I noticed that wool seems to dry faster than the cashmere or the alpaca. But I also feel like I can spin (I put the fiber into a mesh bag and swing it around over my head) more water out of the wool. The other two fibers seem to clump together more and trap more water.

Happy, happy. Now I can start spinning the red wool for Evan's socks.

now for Purple!

More like purple black. Should've gone easier and put a bit less dye in the bath, I guess. I hope the color lightens some as it dries. In the meantime, I've started another purple dye-bath, more superwash, some cream colored alpaca and some light gray alpaca. And there is white wine in my glass.

Red-y or not

Wow. It hurts my eyes. But it did turn out red!

Next up, purple.

playing with dye

Today, I'm watching the pot to make sure it doesn't boil. There's about 3 oz. of superwash merino and some scarlet red acid dye in the pot. For the red socks Evan requested. *Note to self: sitting at the keyboard is not the same as watching the pot, and now the dye bath is at a definite simmer. Maybe even a low boil. Thank goodness I'm using superwash.

In my defense, I did check the water temperature with a cooking thermometer. It was only reading about 150 F so I turned the heat up, just a little bit. At an active simmer, the temp read not quite 180 F.  For the record, cooking thermometers and I have a poor history. When ever I use a meat thermometer to get the meat done just right, the meat turns out overdone. Even when I account for continued cooking after removing the meat from the heat source. I bought myself one of those cool digital readout grilling thermometer probe things, and it quit on me. Recently I bought one of those glass candy thermometers, just to use for dyepots. Somehow, the end got crushed before I ever had a chance to try it.

I guess I'll just wing it. The heat is off now so I can post some fiber pictures while I wait for things to cool:

Superwash Merino, very soft. Some of this is in the dye pot right now.

Silky, shiny bamboo fiber

Sumptuous merino, alpaca and silk blend

dyed mohair roving, I'm going to add some of this to Evan's socks

more mohair, dark purple and green, just because

more mohair, see above!

Scarlet superwash merino roving picture to follow soon! I hope.

More Socks

Third in the unplanned hand spun sock yarn category. Two plies hand dyed super wash merino wool and one ply natural brown alpaca. Basic toe up pattern, short row heel. These are easy to work on while I visit my dad. The other brown socks are nearly done, but only about ankle high. Ran out of yarn. They wait on the needles while I either spin more yarn, or use up whatever is left over from the above pair.  Sigh. I haven't had anytime for spinning lately.

quick updates, some good, some sad

Sad first, just to get it out of the way. In the middle of the night last Wednesday I woke up and found Cado the Whippet in a bad way. Fortunately, there is an emergency animal hospital in town so I was able to end Cado's distress and suffering without waiting for morning.

Cado on her bed in the kitchen.

My dad is still living with glioblastoma, but is declining. I'm glad we've had time to get to know each other better, and sad that the cancer is taking that away now.

I've started another pair of hand spun socks, I was knitting them for myself, but now I think I'll give these to Ryan. He had his 20th birthday yesterday. I can't really, really believe I've been a mom for 20 years. Part of me feels like I've always been a mom, never a time when I wasn't; and part of me can't believe that much time has passed so quickly. I love my son in so many different ways; with ferocity and tenderness, understanding and frustration, patience and toughness, heartache and pride and awe. I would not change any of it. He is my firstborn, the beginning of my motherhood journey. A journey where I've seen and learned more about myself than I ever dreamed possible. Anybody who started all that deserves a pair of hand spun, hand knit socks.

I finished another skein of hand spun sock yarn, this one specifically for socks for DH. The above isn't a very good picture, sorry. Spinning yarn for, and knitting simple socks, has been a comfort. Speaking of simple socks, I did try shrinking down the last ones, the Society of Sisterly socks. First I tried shrinking them by hand in hot soapy water, without much luck. So then I added alternating hot and cold shocks. Still not much change. Well, fine. I threw them in the washing machine with a load of laundry on a gentle cycle (its a front loader). Now this is risky living! And after all that, I still ended up tossing those socks into the dryer on low to get the shrinkage I wanted. But now they're just right. I seriously want to wear them everyday.

Oh, and little Scipio kitty has gained half a pound.

Oh #2; there is a really cool quilt exhibit at the Oceanside Museum of Art, runs until March 13.

Sunday Updates - its a girl

We've added a new family member, but she doesn't have a name yet. Born an alley cat in a bad neighborhood, right now she is scruffy and beat up. But as sweet as can be. Probably between 4 and 6 months old, tiny for her age. Here is her mug shot while in quarantine, until she can be de-pestified inside and out.

She always looks at me squinty-eyed when I put her back in the crate. Shae is a bit put out because a) Shae doesn't get to properly meet new kitty until quarantine is over and b) new kitty is housed in Shae's crate. Shae really likes her crate.

This is Shae, in case anyone forgot.

Its all about the sock. Yup, more sock yarn in the making on the spinning wheel. Alpaca that was on the drum carder in this post, now looks like this. But not so shiny without the flash.

Superwash merino roving was tossed into a pot with brown acid dye and vinegar and came out looking like this;

and is now starting to look like this;

much cooler than I thought is would be.

And remember this?

It is this close to frogging. Too stripy, I'll have to figure out a different way to put it together.

Lets just call it....

A splog. Short for sporadic blog. Or, more accurately, a sporadic web log. It happens, at least to me. Splog happens. I got splogged. (I like it so much I've added it to my user dictionary)

A brief debriefing; my brother came to visit for a few days. His last visit was roughly 4 years ago. We visited our dad (during one visit Brother installed grab bars in Dad's shower), we visited our maternal grandparents (something was wrong with the forced air heating unit, Brother got it working, at least temporarily), I took Brother whale watching (hey! its what I do) and while he was staying at my house Brother replaced the working parts inside most of the toilets in the house. Now they don't leak anymore. Brother used to be a plumber. During all of this, I didn't get any pictures of Brother.

Before Brother showed up, I dyed up some superwash merino, intended for a pair of socks.

I wanted some variegation, but I think maybe this is too much. Maybe I will add another shade of brown. Why brown? Because these socks are intended for Hubby, and while he really likes handmade socks, he likes 'em kinda plain.

Time Slips

Time. What an unusual thing. If I use it well, I seem to have more of it. If I give myself plenty of time to get somewhere, not only do I have time left over when I arrive (good for knitting a few stitches), but I have so much I can very easily afford to give some to others. I have time to let the other driver go first when we both arrive at the intersection at the same time. I have time to let a person take a place in front of me in line at the grocery store. I have plenty of time for offering a smile to a stranger, and lending an ear to someone who needs to be heard. I have time to be polite.

I like to imagine that when I give myself the time to be on time, the time to be polite, ripples are created, and maybe other people will find just a bit more time in their day as well, and can pass the gift along. I don't know if it works that way, but I do like to imagine it does.

I've let time slip away as far a blogging is concerned, and it seems like the longer the delay, the easier time slips away. What a curious thing.

I haven't been blogging, but knitting and spinning go on. We had some cold weather here, by Southern California standards anyway, and I decided I needed some mittens. Really! I'm one of those people whose hands feel like icicles when it's 60 degrees F outside. The mittens are almost done now, and I might just name them the Seriously Overkill for S.Cal. Dog Hair Mittens. Some where along the way, I decided they should be flap mittens, so I could uncover my fingers if I wanted to use them for something. It made sense at the time, but we've had at least of week of 70 F+ daytime temps here, and any kind of mitten seems ludicrous right now. Except for maybe cute little fingerless ones. But I 'm almost done, and I'm sure that eventually it will get cold enough that I will absolutely need such warm mittens. If not, I'll just plan a visit to my sister in Minnesota. Construction details; cuff is one strand each natural white and natural brown 2 ply wool held together, 1x1 ribbing. Hand and thumb is one strand each natural white and natural color dog hair 2 ply yarns held together.

As I'm using up some hand spun yarn, I'm just as busy making more. I spun some merino roving that I dyed, and plied it with another hand spun merino dyed by someone else. I don't have any pictures of what the "by someone else" roving looked like before I spun or plied it - I can't figure out how that happened. But at least there is a picture of the finished item. I haven't weighed it yet, but it should be about 8 oz. Pretty blues.

 Some time before Christmas I finally figured out who made the drum carder that lives at my house. It's made by Duncan Fiber Enterprises. That bit of info meant I could finally get a replacement drive belt and handle and boy-howdy! Does that ever make a difference in using the drum carder! Its much more fun (and productive) now. I carded up some brown merino cross wool and spun a single, the thinnest stuff I've ever spun on purpose. I'm not really sure what to do with it now, maybe 2 ply or even Navajo ply, I'll figure it out eventually. Then I finally gave myself permission to start playing with this lovely Shetland fleece I got last June. So far I've tried spinning from the lock and spinning from a batt, both turn out very nice. (no pictures yet) I'm in love with this stuff. I need to ply it and get a little swatch knit up so I can decide what to make.

During all this knitting and spinning, it occurred to me that while a knitted project can be frogged and returned to the state of 'yarn', spun wool cannot be returned to the state of 'fleece'. At least I don't think it can. And I love the fleece part. So much raw possibility. Sigh. So much responsibility in deciding what kind of yarn. :-)

It seems to me like I've been so much busier that it reads. I'm a medium speed knitter, I'd guess, a slowish spinner, and an even slower drum carder operator. And I enjoy it all. I'm sure once I'm done with this post I remember other things I meant to mention. OH-Oh! I remembered one already. My new Pocket Wheel is complete and ready for shipping. Just a few more days and I'll finally see it in person!

Spinning and Knitting Along

Like I mentioned before, attending BSG really intensified my desire to spin. So I started spinning bits of things, just to get a feel for different fiber and methods. This is 2 full hanks of cormo/merino type stuff, 2 plied.Some 2 ply brown merino cross, it spun way nicer than I expected.
This is a hank of Romney single ply, I was practicing woolen style spinning.Later I dyed it, now it looks like this;Dyed some wool at the same time; Fluffys Garden was showing me vat dying.Carded some of the wool into batts; this started as dark gray wool.And practiced spinning alpaca, here's a little bit of black 2 plyAnd some rather coarse brown 2 ply
And I've finally been making some progress on my Summer Waistcoat. A group of us were at Petco Park to promote Stitch N Pitch next Sunday.
The socks are nearly done, almost time to start the ribbing. Haven't done a darn thing with the Muir Shawl.