Spinning with Judith MacKenzie

So Santa Monica's Fiber Fest has it going on(Beads, Quilts, Spinning, Knitting, Crochet). the fest is big enough to satisfy and small enough that you don't feel frenzied or at least I didn't feel frenzied.

The first day I shopped. Here's the list



1. Grafton Fibers double pointed 6" US 0 (Yea for beautiful needles)
2. 4oz of a Wool 70/ Chinchilla 20/ Silk 10 roving (Yes! I did just type Chincilla). A woman by the name of Donna is trying to prove that Chincilla is not a pelt animal and can be spun. It feels like angora rabbit. I haven't spun any of it yet, but I saw others spinning it and it looks easy.
3. 2oz Chasing Rainbows (Willits) Tussah 50/Cashmere 50 Pansies Roving.
4. 8oz WindWools Romney Roving, for which I'm think about a Baby Suprise sweater. We shall see.
5. 2 extra bobbins for my Lendrum

The second day was spinning with Judith MacKenzie of Teach Yourself Visually, Handspinning.
















I don't know about her book, but she is amazing. I learned so much in her class: Handspinning for the Hand Knitter. The most significant thing is that I now know the difference between a Worsted spun yarn and a Woolen. We spun semi woolen style with a Angora Rabbit/lambswool blend, Woolen with some buffalo/wool, and worsted with my favorite, Alpaca. She also showed us a sock spinning method. I definitely need to take more advantage of classes and perhaps really start going to the guild meetings.




My spinning is going to be so much better. The Eggplannt Lincoln is getting a revamp and I can't wait to start knitting with it. Before I was afraid because I had no idea for my handspun with standup. I really thought that disintegration was probably what would happen if I actually use it to knit something like a sweater. Well I was right. I was totally underspinning. The error usually is overspinning right? Well I under spin. I've already run all that has been spun through again and am on to my next bobbin.

Projects Completed and in Progress

Lady Eleanor is 60" long with 10 more inches. I like entrelac more and more as I go along. The small blocks that can be completed quickly give a new meaning to "let me finish this row."




This is the "Through the looking glass top" And easy knit and doesn't the Briar Rose look fabulous!




I'm still lurking in the Six_Sock_Knitalong and this sock "I love Gansey" is really nicely done. I was looking for something to keep my mind busy without being totally overwelling and this is it.


The other project I have in the works is the Lincoln Roving (Egglant). I'm spinning it up for our sweater yet to be designed.

I *heart* leftovers

What's for lunch today? Well, coffee first... then I'll think about food. There's a wonderful pot of leftover homemade spaghetti sauce and pesto-from-the-garden-drenched pasta.. Yummm... I've slept in late, and I'm all set to spend the day knitting and packing. Or, plan B is to take a shower and head to Charleston to spend this gift certificate for Knit that has been burning a hole in my pocket.

In the meantime, I've been knitting up yarn leftovers. I spent the weekend on Edisto Island and in between reading garden magazines and herb encyclopedias... I made a Heart Sachet, a free pattern from IK that has been in my pattern binder for a long time. It was a good deal of work to put into a project so small that is designed to be tucked away. However, I enjoyed learning how to make mitered squares and making something out of nothing, in a sense. The sachet only cost $1.50 for the lavender! Of my leftovers from the Cherry Tree Hill socks (finished last summer in Humbolt,) I made a cute little pair of baby socks and a lavender sachet. I must admit, I want one for every drawer and suitcase I own. My mother-in-law and I are discussing starting a lavender garden when I get settled in my new place.

Here's what I accomplished:

All the wonderful patterns

The Fall 2007 Interweave Knits is fantastic. There are so many patterns I want to knit. My absolute favorite is the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. Simple with that startlings beautiful cable accent. Oh how lovely! I even think I have some stash yarn that would work perfectly! Its a silk/cotton tweed when the pattern calls for Merino/alpaca/viscose tweed, but I don't think that will matter. It seems to me that everything the Eunny Jang designs is perfect. So Tangled Yoke Cardigan is firmly on my "to knit" list.

I've also considered the Minimalist Cardigan, but I think I'll have to go for the Tangle Yoke before the Minimalist. The swatch you sent for the Minimalist is perfect. I wouldn't change it at all. The drapiness of the alpaca will be minimized by the Moss Stitch and the fuzziness of the alpaca will soften the look of the sweater. I also think a tighter gauge would not be needed. How's that for definitive. I can't wait to see the progress photos.

I finished the Looking Glass sweater.....and it fits! I didn't trust my instinct and it worked. I don't know if that is something to celebrate but perhaps I'm getting better at figuring the gauge and sizing. I'll have pictures soon.

#@#!!!!%&*

Argh... There has been another wrench thrown into the Lacy Skirt with The Bane of My Existence... I mean, the Lacy Skirt With Bows. The other day (and I was too ticked off to blog about it at the time) I thought to myself, I have the whole day off. I think I'll finish this skirt so I can move on to something new. Let me lay out this half of the skirt next to the finished half and see how far I have to go.

That's when I noticed this glaring mistake.

I effing skipped a whole tier of lace on the second half and knitted about eight inches of stockinette stitch-- from two balls of yarn, mind you-- before noticing it!!!! I haven't even been able to bring myself to frog it yet. All of this on top of the fact that I was basically knitting it with two different dye lots that were creating a striped effect. I had convinced myself to persevere and that I would be able to soak or boil the skirt into a one-colored, nicely blended panel.

In order to calm myself and convince myself that I have any knitting skills AT ALL, I cast-on for a Mason-Dixon dishrag and contentedly knitting around and around. Of course, I then noticed a twist in the knitting... pulled out the needles... ripped back... and cast on, again. All that said and done, I have completed a washcloth and am saving it for my first bath in my new house. That's right, we have a house of our very own under contract! That's the silver lining to this blog post.

Remember those old metal buckets I found on D.'s company's land? Well, they have become my dandy little portable herb garden. I've made two batches of pesto from the basil and have frozen it all for winter. Now that I will have my own permanent garden plot, I want to research planting a dye garden.

The only other thing I have (sporadically, I admit) knitted this past month has been Eunny Jang's Entrelac Socks in a fabulous orange Trekking XXL colorway. They have been on standby due to the heat and my recent ability to turn everything I knit into a pile of kinky frogged-out yarn.

Today I got my Fall IK in the mail, and I think I will curl up with it for awhile. I really love the cover sweater, designed by Norah Gaughan. I have the perfect yarn in my stash for this project, but I have been holding out for the sweater that Stephanie Japel is wearing on the jacket of her book, Fitted Knits. She promises a pattern soon, and it looks like the most comfy cardigan ever. I wonder what the Tilted Duster looks like when hanging open? That might make my decision for me... I will keep my eyes peeled to see if anyone cranks one out.

Keep me posted about what has been happening in your knitting world... Oh, and I almost forgot! I have a seat reserved for me to hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot herself, speak in Atlanta in September!