Category Archives: Spinning

Not even 60

Holly Doyne Posted on by

George took the call from Reiner this afternoon.

We met Nina Fink in In the summer of 1994. Out in one of the small towns near Heidelberg at a Fest and there was a group of spinners. One of them was Nina. She reached out to this fairly lost American and made me feel welcome in the local spinning guild. Over the next several years she and I got to know each other better at various spinning demonstrations and Spinntreff. Our families got together for various picnics and other events. My eldest has been good friends with their eldest for years and we have known their youngest since birth. George and Reiner have collaborated on some projects.

Since they live off the end of the earth (train or car to Eberbach then head up into the Odenwald till you feel like you have traveled back decades. The old house in which they live used to be a guesthouse complete with hof, barn/stables/carriage house and a huge room for parties. The place was packed on her 40th birthday (14? 15? years ago).

What with the distance and my retirement, the last time we physically saw each other was at our home in May 2011 (Been there, Done with That party).

Nina in the yellow shirt and her son Tim. Nanawolf is in the middle

Nina in the yellow shirt with her son Tim. Nanawolf is in the middle

Apparently she started feeling ill and developed what is often called “the dwindles” about six months ago. Repeated doctor visits didn’t come up with a cause. But Nina was her own person as well; German by birth she became an Australian citizen when they lived there 25 years ago. Didn’t matter to her what the local Amt had to say when she returned about residency permits and the like. Aussie she had decided to be, and Aussie she was. So you might say a bit stubborn. She turned down the advanced diagnostics offered.

Last Thursday, 7 Feb, she took a sudden turn for the worse and went the “stop breathing, ambulance, resuscitation, hospital, intensive care” route but nothing worked.

Reiner called tonight to tell us. It turned out to be disseminated cancer. There will be a memorial service in about a week.

Bright, funny and extremely capable, her loss will be felt not just by her family but all the rest of us who knew her. One of those people who helped without question and rarely asked for much of anything in return. Saying someone was a good mother, goat herder, spinner and baker might not be impressive to many in this day and age but it made a difference to her husband and children.

Besides feeling the hole that is there, I acknowledge my share of anger. At myself for not staying in closer touch since we always think we have all the time in the world. And at Nina for not being willing to find out what was wrong in the face of increasing physical illness. She might not have chosen to live her life any differently, but her family would have had time to come to terms with a future empty of her.

George and I looked at each other. We will do what we can for both Reiner and Timmy over the coming months. We also made the commitment to each other to “knock you over the head and drag you in by the hair (long, short, doesn’t matter)” if either of us gets ill. I am a believer in knowledge as a way to exercise what little control one has in this life. Denial and avoidance generally don’t have any better result than having information and can limit choices.

I can’t die in my mid-50s – I am already well past that. Losing friends younger than me? Just should not happen…….

not even a picture

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I started something different today – a cowl instead of a shawl. Took the ball of Zauberwoll and a pattern from Raverly. Knit in the morning.

Had a couple of friends over for knit, chat and spin this afternoon since we would be the only ones at Red. Nice time seemed to be had by everyone and….

I was able to send along fiber and orange yarn to Catrin, wool and the promise of borrowing the Louet to Brigitte. Diana (who currently has the Louet, probably since about 2006) is more than willing to try and see if she likes the Schacht. This leaves me with the thought that if everything works out well, everyone happy I could potentially reduce my wheel collection by two!

Then, if I can sell off the Victoria for a decent price I might just replace it with a Schacht sidekick. I do want a portable wheel, just not that thrilled with the one I have.

Back to the “no picture”.

Went to dinner with friends last night and knit some more. Turns out I really like the pattern but did not like how the yarn looked. Frog time for this version which might explain why there is no picture. black/white gives a picture that looks like a blob……

California Handweavers

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Sometimes you can just be in the right place at the right time. My luck ran that way today. From what I think I read, it was the annual convention of the California Handweavers complete with classes, banquet and fashion show (last night) and a room full of dealers with lovely things to buy.

It has been a long time since I have done any significant weaving. Years and years as a matter of fact. The Glimakra drawloom went to live in PA in 1993 and I sold the AVL leaving me only various toys and an 8-H Baby Wolf. My interests drifted over to spinning and knitting.

The guys dropped me off late morning. I intended to buy a day pass and then join them in a shoe-shopping-for-the-boy expedition. Instead I texted them back saying I wasn’t going to be done till about 1700.

It was easy to spend a couple of hours in the dealers and exhibition hall. First looking at the fashion and weaving displays then wandering from booth to booth feeling all that luscious fiber. Carolina Handspun had a number of spinning wheels to try and I have now managed to talk myself out of buying a Schacht Sidewinder. I have a portable wheel which I really don’t much like (Louet Victoria) and was hoping to find an alternative. I managed to avoid all the fiber and all but a couple of skeins of yarn.

Then there was this dude with glass earrings. If I hadn’t already had plans for Thursday evening i would have been over at the Oakland Center taking a class from Harlan. As is, I just had to settle for indulging in a couple pairs for me.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon in a class taught on finishing techniques for handwovens. Daryl Landcaster started out in haute couture and tailoring taught by her mother. Weaving was a later addition. Reviewing seams, edge-finishings and hemming all of it is applicable to “normal”

I will give you the photos as a gallery – click to embiggen…

Trying to find the bed

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Since my plane went to Munich in order for me to change planes to go to Frankfurt to catch a train to go to Heidelberg (you figure it out, by the time I was on the train I was too wiped out to care) I got home several hours after George.

I had stayed up all night in spite of being given one of those nice emergency exit row seats.

Can you say too tired to be smart?

George was sound asleep when I arrived home; denying the whole thing of course. Thanks to the girls – the upstairs was still fantastic. Bothering the Mole a bit, he got back on the chore list I had left for him.

I am glad to be home. Unfortunately the problem with napping at all is that sleeping at night is then a bit more difficult. I am not sure that the answer is five row wool combs, but it is an alternative.

Combed Shetland makes a nice fine singles

Combed Shetland makes a nice fine singles

Progress

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I went ahead and frogged the second sleeve of Pyramide.

hours worth of knitting, gone

hours worth of knitting, gone

leaving only the first pattern repeat, I picked up all the stitches and am working my way back down the sleeve.

forever to go

forever to go

This time I will check regularly to make sure that the sleeves match.  I know that I will be much happier with the result, even if it was painful to undo all that work.  The good thing is that I am decreasing on both ends of everyother ridge, so each pair of ridges is just that little bit shorter.

Moving on – I took a spinning break

shetland singles

shetland singles

testing some commercial Shetland roving that I got in the UK Swap.

I still haven’t come up with a name for her although I really did decide that this Louet is a she, rather than a he. Calling her the brand name of “Victoria” just seems a bit much, but selecting a name from the Victorian Era might just do it.

Finally, I made a bit more progress on the textured sleeveless pullover. Working past the split in the neck, I am now in the not fun position of having three balls of yarn dangling so that both fronts and the back are proceeding at an even pace.

sleevelss pullover, neck split

sleevelss pullover, neck split

Since I managed a bit more after the picture, I have only a couple of cm to go before starting the shoulder shaping.

Obviously, my goal by the end of this coming weekend is to have completed three outstanding WIPs (pullover, Pyramide, Pagode) if not a fourth – the Faery Ring so that I can start Brage (Lavold Sweater) on the 15th.

Two/three are safely back at school and I survived a second night in a row at the gym.

Spinning

Holly Doyne Posted on by

There is a certain quiet of a house when the dog has gone. Toys sitting where they have been forgotten, dog bed empty and the food dish just waiting to be filled. There is dog hair on the carpet of several rooms waiting to be vacuumed. Completing all these tasks will make things a bit more final than I think my daughter is ready to have happen.

Friday night we had dinner in Guildford with a friend which eased things a bit and yesterday was a quiet day with Internet only an option at work. Today it was more of the same. BT down and me thinking about how I can force them to give me two days credit for service not delivered.

I am not talented in jewelry making. Ms Soprano messed around a bit and came up with both button cuff links and a good dozen lovely stitch markers for me.

stitch markers and cufflinks

stitch markers and cufflinks

The black wool that I received in the Ongoing Swap (Ravelry UK Spinnners) is now spun –

singles

singles

The Dreamsicle merino/silk is now plyed

two ply with remaining fiber

two ply with remaining fiber

I also finishing spinning and plying all of the grey shetland that I had coned. Not being smart enough to take a picture prior to dropping it in the sink, at least I managed to weigh it (445 gm) prior to the start of the soak.  There seemed to still be a bit too much lanolin left so I expect to lose as much as 50 gm in the washing.

Now, all I need is a set of wringers. You know, the kind of wringers that used to top every old fashion washing machine. If you crank yarn through them, you can powder remaining veg matter….

Volunteers and the rest of the stash

Holly Doyne Posted on by

So where, you might be thinking, is the rest of the stash?  It is tucked in here.

organiized. Finally.

organiized. Finally.

Seriously, this closet contains the total and complete UK stash not including WIPs and the sock yarn. I have a sweater envelope with the handspun, two bins of lace yarns, the large box is Kauni, a bag of Smart, Drops and Dale, and the rest of various yarns. I could knit at top speed between now and when I leave the UK and not use it all up. There is definitely some which will find a new home rather than be transported back.

Last evening saw (heard?) the first annual RAMC (V) Band Concert. The members are all in the Territorial Army which makes them Volunteers who more than likely put in much more time than they ever will recover in either drill credit or pay. From Marches through Overtures, Regimental Songs and a Fairy Tale, it was a great program. I only regret a few more people didn’t get themselves out for the program. Did I mention that it was free? Or that I was not organized enough to bring along my camera?

The gym is closed on Sunday, so I substituted some spinning wheel treadling –

singles

singles

two ply

two ply

but have no clue as to what it will eventually become.

Sock Yarn Stash

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I don’ think that I mentioned cleaning, organizing and moving the furniture in my bedroom. Or maybe I did, with apologies for my lousy memory. As part of the straightening, Ms Soprano and I moved all of the fiber related stuff (from there and the living room and the back office) up to the top floor.

After a couple of days of getting my strength back (plus putting the DH on a plane this morning back to Germany) it seemed time to tackle the disorder with detours out to get running shoes for the daughter and an exercise hour at the gym.

George had purchased this wonderful huge basket for me several years ago at a German craft fair. It is lined which makes it safe for yarn. Rather than dribs and drabs of this and that – I decided to load in all the sock yarn.

just a few skeins and balls

just a few skeins and balls

Did I mention that he is 61 today and we took him out for dinner last night? That I still need to find him a present? There are always the usual fall backs: books, music, luggage…. Knitted things are rarely an option: he either tucks them away or runs them through the washer and dryer which does not do much good to a handspun, hand knit vest.

Since he is on his way back to Germany, I rewarded myself with a trip to the gym and a bit of spinning – with fiber from LimeGreenJelly

BFL

BFL

More Combing

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Shetland is so much fun. I like the length of the locks, I like the color (might it be because I am getting more than a bit grey myself?) and I really prefer combing to carding as fiber preparation especially since my spinning preference is semi-worsted. Admittedly, it does mean a lot of waste. OTOH, I have few lumps, bumps or short fibers and trash sticking up here and there.

a bit wavy....

a bit wavy....

Now, if I only had a pair of heavy rollers to smash all remaining veggie matter I would be a completely happy camper. It is probably not worth finding the wringer portion of an old washer, but it is definitely a thought…..

On other fronts, we hauled the dog into the vet on Wednesday. She started limping and it had become progressively worse over the last several days. Turns out to be most likely significant arthritis in that hip and she is now on an anti-inflammatory. Being a retriever, she has little taste in what she wolfs down so putting liquid on top of her dog food is not an issue. It is inhaled so rapidly that I don’t think she even noticed.

Meanwhile, it means that neither the daughter or the dog get to take long walks. End result is that Ms Soprano and I hauled ourselves to the gym yesterday at lunch for the induction. To a total cost of 5 Pounds Sterling for the year (insurance) we are now allowed to use the post gym. Open Mon-Sat, we have made the commitment to go everyday it is open. I badly need to get back in shape and exercise is always good for increasing one’s lung capacity…..

plying

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I spent a bit more time pying and now have almost a full bobbin on the dutch wheel of the grey shetland. It takes forever to ply on this wheel since it seems to have perhaps the lowest ratios in existence. OTOH, there is a lot to be said for a bobbin that holds over 250 gm of 2 ply with room to spare.

If I wasn’t taking advantage of my new USB tape player to create MP3 files from audio cassettes, I would go totally bonkers.

2 ply grey

2 ply grey

On a roll, I finished spinning and started plying this white wool that has been hanging around forever. Someone gave it to me last year. To say that it was not high quality is being kind with the wastage on combing more that 50% due to second cuts and fractured locks.

white singles

white singles

So I will see what it looks like when plyed. I can always use a bit of white for something.

The grey shetland? There is this sweater in the Meg Swanson book called Faero…..

Cotswold

Holly Doyne Posted on by

finally managed to get these babies in the mail. The UK Spinners (on Ravelry) have an ongoing, rolling swap. I had claimed a lovely braid of hand dyed in soft russets and browns (fall project in mind) and it was my turn to figure out what I had that was swap worthy (and could exit the stash without too much pain). Looking through, there was about 22 oz of hand dyed Cotswold locks in my stash. Just go and look at those wonderful faces and all those long locks. No wonder a lot of their fleece goes for crafts, dolls hair and the like. These are long locks.

IMG_1411

anyway, I finally got to Royal Mail today and sent the package off to a wonderful fiber person Swansea.

Now I just have to keep my greediness to myself and not go after anything else…….

Spinning around

Holly Doyne Posted on by

As you can tell, I have been messing around with the blog appearance again. Never mind that the sidebars seem beyond repair in all themes or that this particular theme has no options whatsoever. (Meaning that I have to get creative and actually edit some php and css files myself. Not mentioning that the editor does not seem to be working nor remotely does anything resembling the archive function.

Ah well. Clean, simple. Lots of white and the Heidelberg pictures rather than my current garden. Please let me know in the comments what you think and what you find that is broken, I would really appreciate it.  For that matter, does anyone really check the blogs anymore as apposed to reading feeds?

In better use of my time, I hauled out the spinning wheel yesterday.

fine black singles

fine black singles

and tried spinning a bit of the black roving I received in the On-Going UK Swap.
Looked at some of the white shetland

unprepared locks

unprepared locks

and combed at bit, spun it into singles, then plyed.

two ply shetalnd

two ply shetalnd

it was happy to be fine

15 threads over a pound coin

15 threads over a pound coin

and it is now washed and hanging. That small amount turned into 30 meters of two ply.

not for dogs

not for dogs

meanwhile, the grey fleece I washed last night is mostly dry

grey shetland

grey shetland

My choice of listening today has been Zombie Chronicles by James Melzer which you can find on his website or Podiobooks and The Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steven Miller. You can find it contained in the Saltation Podcast on Fireheart Foundry or available on iTunes. It will be out in hardcover from Baen this fall.

At almost 2200, it is dark enough that I need to bring in yarn and fleece.

Oh, ewe

Holly Doyne Posted on by

The lightening struck, the penny dropped.

Standing in the bathroom this evening wondering why my clean towels all smelled a bit off. A bit funky, a bit like…….sheep?

All the clothes have smelled a bit weird for the last month or so, but I just blamed it on the dryer which sometimes decides to heat and other times is more than happy to churn away hours at a time with a nice cool breeze fluffing the interior contents.

Right before vacation – so I guess it is getting on closer to 8 weeks, I used the washing machine to soak out some fleece. Nice lingerie bags, hot water and lots of soap. Took three times through, but the end result was some fairly clean, soft white fleece for spinning.

After I was done, I ran an empty load with soap and didn’t think anything of it.

Since I have been living with German front load washers for years, I have not exactly been using this method for washing fleece in recent times. This dim light in the back of my brain is now mentioning something about bleach afterwords, or at least vinegar.

As I put these words to screen (doesn’t sound anywhere as nice as “pen to paper” I can hear the washer churning with perhaps this time a better chance of clean smelling laundry this time.

Books & Audio Books

Chaos King by Laura Ruby on the MP3. Teen fiction – highly recommended.
The Watchman. by Robert Crais in the station wagon. First thing I have heard by him. Have a few more now in the queue.
End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood on the bedside. Stunning.

Fleece

Holly Doyne Posted on by

It has been a long time since I muttered around about spinning. And normally I go no where near fleece, washing fleece or processing from the beginning.

But lately, as the price of roving seems to have sky rocketed to the point where painted and dyed roving is more expensive than commercial yarn, I have been reconsidering. I don’t begrudge the Indies for wanting to make money, but when I am looking for sweater/vest amounts of yarn it starts becoming a bit dear.

Please also remember that I am now living in wool country. There may not be as many sheep here as in the UK, but some of the rural areas seem pretty close. One of those areas is the Shetland Isles. You have heard of Jamiesons, right?

As essentially the processor on the Shetland Isles, fleece is available for less than half the price of roving. In turn this seems to be about half the price of yarns (which can be purchased on cones). I liked the price on the fleece, especially since all grades are the same price. Shetland fleece are small, so buying by x number of fleece or I want y kilos are both possibilities.

My fleece appeared at the back door yesterday.

The magic box

Opening it
inside the box

I found this sturdy plastic bag containing neatly rolled fleece in exactly the colours I had requested.
Fleece in the bag

Each fleece was already decently skirted. The rain in the Isles must contribute to the cleanliness as these were nowhere near as dirty as I expected.
One of the grey fleeceA bit of the white

I think I am going to plan either this weekend or one in July as fleece washing.

Knitting

Doesn’t look bad blocked at all
Diamond Fantasy Shawl, blocked

And I have taken a skein of J-Knits in colourway Maryland
Marylandwound in a ball

and am going to test drive Forget-me-Not by Evelyn Clark as a possibility for the Eldest. The colours are something that would appeal to the Maus (Ms Copper by any other name) so I know I will have a taker when it is complete).

Podiobooks

Half Share – Nathan Lowell.

Both my headache and meds have finally worn off, just in time to crash.

-Holly

What to do

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Goals and Priorities for the summer. Hummm.

The KnitWit brought up the idea of setting some knitting and spinning ones for the summer.

It is summer out there, isn’t it? Given that it has been cloudy and a whole 15 degrees. I really need something to concentrate on other than the back garden which is rapidly going to seed.

Unfortunately, my goals for knitting and spinning may need to take a backseat to three work related tasks that have actual deadlines.

I had submitted for a couple of presentations at an August Conference. [Un]fortunately, they were both accepted and I now have to put them together. Unlike the good old days where you could finish up your talk the morning of, the new rules require that all presentations have been vetted by the security folks and are uploaded by 25 July. Takes the pressure off me at the last minute, but I really should have more than the abstracts at this point.

The other project is a bit larger. Several months ago I became involved in a review of materials for teaching Catastrophic Medicine and Disaster Operations to Military Officers. As a side bar, I half jokingly suggested that I turn the work into a thesis for a Diploma at Apothecaries. I have to write the requesting letter (which pretty much commits me to the project) and then have it finished by the first week in August so that I can sit Parts I & II of the exam in Oct (on my birthday no less). The High Holidays don’t even interfere this year.

See the problem?

Work or knit? Or perhaps work and knit. But all my outside reading is going to have to stop along with design work, housework (hey!) and the garden.

Never mind about the garden.

Arches

From last Saturday at Winchester

-Holly

Socks Update

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Work, as you can tell, is not exciting.

Spinning

While wandering around, looking for something else (like a source of Finwool outside of Finland), I came across a lovely site on the Northern European Sheep Breeds. Not only have they correlated history with current sheep, but have also accomplished the supporting scientific analysis. More breeds of wool to sample?

Sock Wars

No, I haven’t forgotten about it. Or been killed. Still alive here. My assassin apparently died right before I left for Finland, sending off the unfinished socks that she had started upstream to the person who had killed off her.
My target apparently finally got her socks, and has socks on the way to me.

Obits:

Kneedle Meister is now at peace.

There she lies brokenhearted.

Got her socks and ‘poof’ departed.

SKP2008

Think I forgot to mention that the second pattern in the Sock Knitting Olympics was released 1 May. Since there seemed to be some pattern errors, I held off till it was sorted out. I am recycling the yarn I had selected for Sock Madness – much happier with this pattern called Berlin Mȕster.

Berlin Sock Pattern from SKP2008

Fiber and Belts

Holly Doyne Posted on by

It finally happened today. The Mole started on the garden.

Look at me, I am mowing!

munching along through the high grass.

munching through the high grass

unfortunately, the fan belt gave out – leaving me with an incompletely mowed lawn. Lawn sculpture anyone?

Lawn Art

Ah, well. I have flowers
FlowersMore flowers

and plenty of bees.
very busy bee

Spinning

Since it was sunny, I took photos of the rest of my spinning stash. Blue Faced Leicester Roving, some Lornas Laces and the last from Creatively Dyed.

Blue Faced LeicesterLornas RovingCreatively Dyed Roving

Audio Books

Finished Bloody Mary and on to Rusty Nail. Can you tell that JA Konruth has a name thing going?

Since I have to catch a train at 0617, it might be wise to go pack a suitcase…

-Holly

Spam in cycles

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Honestly, you wonder that people don’t have better things to do.  Dummy websites that pull posts from around the world based on key words. Mailers that send out dozens of offers for various insurance schemes. Drugs that none of us need or want. I would home that no one would ever answer any of these bogus offers.

I suppose that I should be grateful to somehow be missing all the porn spams.

At the same time, I have no clue why Askimet keeps dumping comments from my friend Carmen in the spam bucket. I might have thought it was because of having a gravatar (Odin is quite the cat) since I have have it set to catch all comments that have links, but this happened before she got the pix uploaded.

There has to be a logical reason why all of this spamming occurs. Someone must bite. Same reason that pfishing is out there, and all the letters from Africa hinting at untold millions should you only help by first opening an account with your own money. (That disappears. And someone might be surprised?)

Sock Wars III

The forums on both Ravelry and the Sock Wars sight have been hilarious. As of shortly before midnight, there were 81 fallen in their socks and comments flying thick and fast. Besides a few rather sour grapes, I have seem prose, poetry, beautiful sock pictures and some really creative obits. Krafty1 went all out in her packaging (and the socks are pretty cool too).

Spinning

Finished up the last ounce of Temptation and all of the plying. Picture tomorrow, since it would involve going and locating the camera.

We (the Mole and I) braved Tescos for gas and some groceries, dropped off the recycling and made it back home with only one detour. I just love people who ride on your bumper even when you are doing the speed limit.

-Holly

Spinning Guilds

Holly Doyne Posted on by

A Monday back in the office means a number of email accounts to check, a search of the calendar to make sure that I don’t forget anything and a bunch of filing. In other words, booorrrring.

Sock Wars III

I have heard from my assassin. She is in the US. I reached my victim. She is also in the US. Luckily, she is not allergic to wool since her socks are just about done. Without a screaming reason to really hurry, I didn’t knit during breaks today.

Sock Wars III

At the start of today, one sock was complete and the other half way so. (Well, I did tell you that I spent most of yesterday spinning. Pink and hot pink it was with that grey thrown in).

The “dead” count started at 5, since that was the number of those who opted out after the alleged start. From here on in, I suspect the first ones out will be US based who received US based victim’s dossiers on Friday. Could have gotten socks in the mail on Saturday. Or even Sunday if you live near a major airport.

Seems like a lot of people are taking this more seriously than I. Airmailing small packages actually costs the same US or UK post. (under $5). DHL? UPS? FedEx? Not me!

Spinning

I am in West Surrey. Surrey Heath to be specific. Don’t ask my why my post code says Guilford. There is a local spinning guild which meets occasionally in Farnham. Another spinner (ound through Ravelry) and I went together. The speaker was excellent, funny and dynamic.

The speaker

20 year ago, she and her husband moved into Hampshire. Having a large garden (US this = yard) they decided to get a couple of biological lawnmowers. They had never had animals before. The Shetland Sheep really took over their lives.

She brought about 12 fleece to demonstrate the breed characteristics – never mind that it turns out the breed has literally dozens of recognized colours and patterns. (Lets hear it for the Scandinavian names.)

Just a small sample.

Here is a bit better look at the fleece

But you know what was really amazing? No one, I mean no one brings knitting to the meeting. All those knitters and spinners, they are all worried about offending the speaker. I thought for a moment and asked the question. Not surprisingly, none of them would worry about knitters, they all believe in multitasking.

Perhaps I am just too young for the group?

-Holly