July 2009 Archives

23 days of spinning

| 10 Comments

The Tour de Fleece is over and I managed to spin every single day. No one is more shocked than I am. I admit, I may have splurged on a few hits of fiber, along the way, but the result is thousands (!!!) of yards of finished yarn. If I were to add all the individual plies, I'd have quite a few miles, but even when I count only the yardage of the finished yarns, I have something like 2 miles worth of yarn of my very own making. I'm feeling pretty good about that.

My stint in the tour is marked by some truly wonderful memories. Not only did I take my spindle to the Tigard Knitting Guild

Spinning while I wait

But we also had a visit to Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Oregon Zoo (thanks Erica!)

Oregon Zoo -- Ladysmith Black Mambazo

And we saw Neil deGrasse Tyson at the Bagdad Theater. If you are wondering, which you shouldn't be, he is awesome.

Spinning at the Bagdad Theater
Neil deGrasse Tyson at the Bagdad

At home, the girls donned some works in progress.

IMG_0063.JPG Prism as hat

After 22 days, I had all this.

End of the Tour de Fleece 09

On the 23rd day, I added some lace weight singles to the pile

Finished prism singles

And in an effort to pose a mile in my pup's shoes, I wrapped almost all my new skeins around my own neck (in 95 degree weather, no less) and snapped a few more shots.

End of the Tour de Fleece 09

Even after 23 days of spinning, I was still enjoying myself and I'm surprised to report that I don't feel burned out on spinning at all. Perhaps it's the fact that I worked with such beautiful fibers or that I produced yarns I'm excited to knit, or maybe it's just that I didn't feel pressured to produce a certain amount or a particular type of yarn. Regardless of the reasons, I feel it was a good exercise and the girls got mighty used to all the treats they'd get after the various photo shoots, so they don't seem to be complaining either.


And as a side note, you can see some beach pictures from the weekend, here.

Beach fun in the fog

Thursday was the Twist Collective fashion show, I hosted at the Tigard Knitting Guild. It was also a bejillionty-six degrees, in the shade and still, my volunteer models agreed to wear thick wool sweaters and twirl in front of a full house knitters. I can't tell you how much awesome is contained in that guild. So to everyone there, I am sending a big dog hair covered thank you.

Here are a few of the many pictures my dear friend, Erica (not a knitter!) took. Another big thank you to her. Anyone who would brave that heat to take pictures of something she has absolutely no interest in, is a true true friend, in my book.

Twist Collective Fashion Show at the Tigard Knitting Guild
1. Silly faces while answering questions, 2. Ardent and Willow-Withe, 3. Bernhardt and Sunflower, 4. Uhura and Cleo, 5. Through the Keyhole and Lotus Leaf Mitten, 6. Primrose Path and Postwar, 7. Dulce de Leche and Postwar, 8. Ice Fantasia, 9. Bijou and Sleepy Monkey, 10. Stormsvale and Poffertjes, 11. Petals and Licorice Stick Socks, 12. Broderie and Postwar, 13. Cherry Fizz
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Did I mention that everyone who helped me volunteered and that it was a gatrillion and eleven degrees? Yah, lots of awesome.

In all honesty, it's mostly a blur. Once I'm in "go" mode, I'm flying on adrenaline and what I remember after is pretty vague, but I think the show went really well and that people got to see just how amazing the various garments are in person. Photos never give you a full picture of what the garment is like and seeing things on different body shapes makes it easier to imagine how they'd fit you. I know I walked away wanting to queue almost everything I saw.

So that's about the long and short of it. To see all the pictures including many of me making goofy face while I talk, you can see the whole set here.

And you can purchase any of the Twist patterns here.

Skein as fashion

| 12 Comments

I'm frantically prepping for the Twist fashion show tonight at the Tigard Knitting Guild. I'm pretty sure I'll make a complete ass of myself at some point. I hope I do so in a way that's funny. Funny asses are way better than offensive asses. There's a life lesson for you.

In the mean time, here are a few more shots from the Tour de Fleece.

Faux-hawk

Dyeabolical singles in progress
1. Dyabolical bobbin, 2. Dyabolical bobbin, 3. Dyabolical bobbin, 4. Yah, spinning is great. Where's breakfast
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Dyeabolocal 3ply and Black Cherry 2ply
1. More Black Cherry 2ply on plying spindle, 2. Red heads, 3. Red heads, 4. Dyeabolical 3ply
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

For any of my readers who might be local, or even local-ish, I'm very pleased to announce that I'll be MCing a fashion show for Twist Collective at the Tigard Knitting Guild, this Thursday at 7pm.

Twist Homepage

If you are already a member, wonderful. I hope you'll be able to join us. But even if you don't have a membership to the guild, they graciously allow you to attend as a guest, twice, completely free of charge. So if you've been thinking about joining, now might be a good chance to give the guild a test drive.

You'll see pieces from all of your favorite Twist contributors including another local's work, Ms. Chrissy Gardiner, designer and author of Toe Up!

I can't tell you how overwhelmed I am with the beauty of the pieces I'll be showing and I only hope I'll do them justice at the event.

"Trunk"

I would love to have some friendly faces to cheer me on and maybe laugh as I try to pronounce Poffertjes, so if you will be around, do drop in.

Apropos nothing, here's Thea sleeping.

IMG_0006.JPG

Making the rockin' whorl go round

| 7 Comments

The Tour de Fleece is going well. The first three days of it, I didn't have to work, so I got in a fair amount of spinning.

Spinning on the beach didn't amount to too much yardage, but who can focus on spinning when there is so much to look at and enjoy around you? Still, I was able to spin a bit of the Black Cherry merino/tencel I got from Amy's booth at the Fiber Frolic, and I confirmed my initial suspicion that the Spindolyn may not be the best match for me. It's a fine and well made tool but it just doesn't fit my spinning style.

For the two days after that I worked on a decadent batt of superwash wool, recycled sari silk and sparkle, that I got from the Enchanted Knoll Farms booth at the Frolic. Here I am spinning the singles.

I spun one bobbin on one day then the other bobbin and the plying the next to get about 422 yards of two ply at around 12 WPI.

My creation
1. Panda in sparkly skein, 2. Rolags make festive dreads, 3. Singles with sparkle, 4. Sparkly singles, 5. One full bobbin of plied yarn, 6. Bobbin and spindle, 7. 2ply on niddy noddy, 8. Smoochin my good dog, 9. Your head smells weird, 10. Girls with skein, 11. Girls with skein, 12. Girls with skein, 13. Finished red sparkly skein
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

The finished yarn was soft and got even softer when washed. I think it'd make a fantastic shawl or wrap of some sort. The red is intense and the sparkle makes it a little special.

Now that I'm back at work, I don't have as much time to spin so I've been fitting in little spurts of spinning on my spindles. On my smallest spindles, I'm working the Black Cherry merino/tencel I mentioned before and on my biggest spindle, some soft tan merino/tencel I got from Carolina Homespun on my trip to Oregon with Julia.

Two different Merino/Tencel blends spun on Golding spindles
1. Merino Tencel blends on spindles, 2. Black Cherry Merino/Tencel, 3. Black Cherry Merino/Tencel, 4. Pretty spindles and a pretty face, 5. Look what I spun, 6. The fiber appreciation society, 7. Can I eat it?, 8. Merino Tencel blends on spindles, 9. Merino Tencel blends on spindles, 10. Merino Tencel blends on spindles, 11. Merino Tencel blends on spindles, 12. Merino Tencel blends on spindles, 13. Cafe Merino/Tencel
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

We're only 5 days in but I can already tell that pushing myself to spin every day is also pushing me to try new things to keep it interesting. Also, it makes me think I might make a little dent in the ol' fiber stash. Of course, that means greatly increasing my yarn stash so it's probably a wash on that count.

4th of July

| 8 Comments

I remember being a small child, my younger brother just an infant, and going to some large rolling field with our blanket to watch the fireworks. Every year I'd cry but this year, I was going to be brave. We'd sit down and get comfortable and my parents would coo a little bit, reminding me that it'd be loud and asking if I was sure I'd be ok. I thought I was.

And then the fireworks would start.

I felt like maybe it'd never end and I'd hear the fireworks forever. They seemed so loud, so piercing, so inescapable. I would cry. I'd feel horrible about it, my parents would try to console me but I also knew I was letting them down. I really wanted to be brave.

I don't really believe in karma, though I think that genetics tends to give you back in children, what you gave your parents. I thought I bucked the system by opting never to have kids, but Panda gave me what my mother faced every 4th of July, for much of my younger childhood. She's absolutely inconsolable around fireworks. We hoped that a full day of running on the beach would quell the fear a bit, and the cool ocean air would calm her fragile nerves but the close proximity of those boisterous noisemakers were more than she could manage.

Still, the day was wonderful and the bad parts were brief. We headed out just before the show really started, giving our campsite up to an incredibly thankful wedding after-party, and drove home during the best (or worst, as the case may be) portion of the show.

4th of July, 2009 -- Manzanita, Oregon
1. Fireworks, 2. Setting up the tent, 3. Spinning on the beach, 4. Panda goes for a roll, 5. Can we come in?, 6. Miss Bear looking sweet, 7. Thea zonks out, 8. Silly dog hug, 9. Panda finds a safe spot to hide from the firecrackers, 10. Making a fire while the sun sets, 11. Carrying a bad little dog, 12. Leo in front of sunset, 13. A very sleepy Thea on my lapCreated with fd's Flickr Toys.

Panda is no worse for the wear having had a largely great day at a beautiful beach in weather much cooler than the 90+ degrees back home. All in all, a great day.

See all the pictures from our trip here.

And a little video from right before we left.

« June 2009 | Main Index | Archives | August 2009 »

Share this page

About this Archive

This page is an archive of entries from July 2009 listed from newest to oldest.

June 2009 is the previous archive.

August 2009 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

August 2016

S M T W T F S
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31      

Find Me Here

  • rss
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • flickr
  • goodreads
  • google
  • linkedin
  • pinterest
  • ravelry
  • youtube

Featured Patterns