Dangling Threads

ta da! woodshop, socks and the season

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:22:00 +0000

This is a great time of year (and I don't mean the holiday stuff, but the season itself)
I like the way the woods changes so slowly, no colored leaves, but lots of brown weeds and hanging on thingies, with birds flitting in and out..not reached the totally bare, dark limb look of January look, just a gradual shriveling up-really, that is pretty ; )

Yep, I am cheerful. I thought it was too hard, too much to physically demanding (in my condition) but tada! my woodshop finally has a floor! and "sort of" insulation. I still have some insulating to do and plastic to staple up over the insulation (paneling will have to come later) I was able to double the size of the shop, from 12 x 12 to 12 by 24 (taking away the sheep's part of the barn, they now have to use the front shed instead, but they really don't care) and reuse and remount the south facing glass so as to retain the solar heat gain that I am so thankful for on sunny days in the winter.

You can't know what this means if you didn't experience the "before" situation...but lets just say that a crampled jumble of tools on an uneven dirt floor that was muddy when it rained, and uninsulated ceiling and metal walls that were colder than a well diggers feet in the winter had gone on long enough (8 years) and was not conducive to productivity or happiness. I finally was able to obtain the lumber and enough salvage materials to get started, and I took my time and didn't get hurt.
I am happy! I have already done some of my best woodworking in the last few days, and really look forward to each day in the shop. I appreciate all the help I got, including the local building supply (shop local whenever possible) who delivered some of the bigger lumber and placed it just where I needed it and my family who supplied the encouragement.
My pink sock project lacks 1/4 inch of ribbing, and I have started spinning on the dark blue romney. (I don't have rules about finishing one project before starting another, maybe I should)

ply on the fly, unplanned projects and hot sox

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:01:00 +0000

First, I am getting caught up with spindolyns, and should be able to get back to making specialty spindolyns by next week, yippeeeee!!!! Thank you all for your patience and encouragement ; )

~the evolution of a random knitting project~

When you are laid up, you sometimes get so discouraged that you almost don’t even feel like playing with fiber…almost. At these times, I find that starting a random, unplanned project that has no deadline, no commitment is a no pressure way to slide back into getting your serious spinning and knitting groove back. Working on perfecting my “ply on the fly” technique on the spindolyn™ sounded like an entertaining task. (first incidence of randomness)

In a sort of sulky mood I looked around for some fiber to spin using this variation on the Navajo three ply technique that I wouldn’t feel destroyed over if I, well, destroyed it. But I didn’t want to have to gather up my crutches and hobble in to the living room cupboard where my main stash of fiber and spindles live. Day to day living, and making my way too and fro out to the shop is enough hobbling for each day (hence the sulky mood.)

Peaking out of a basket in the corner of the office I spied this plastic bag of great, fluffy roving that I got from Susannah at SAFF last year. It is a hairy, cheery blend of bright yellow, orange and hot pink. I like how the colors look together, but the hot pink is a bit hot for me, so I separated it out from the other colors, thinking it would be a good fiber to sacrifice on some “risk taking” sort of spindling. (second incidence of randomness)

I commenced the ply on the fly, taking a few minutes to get a rhythm and technique going that seams to work best on the spindolyn. (I will get a video up of this some time soon) It was pretty mesmerizing and in no time, I had this much spun and plied and ready to knit. I could have packed more onto this “melody” size spindolyn™ but it was starting to slow a bit from the weight, and I was anxious to get to knitting, because it seemed “ripe” to knit.

That is the whole fun of “ply on the fly” it is ready to knit, right off the spindolyn™ and that is a pretty instant gratification! But how much can you knit from this amount of spindling? and what to knit? It is a pretty hot color and it occurred to me, that I am going to probably need something “hot” on my poor toes of my broken foot, as it will probably be extra cold this winter, and a sock toe would make a good swatch (third Incidence of Randomness; or I will call this 3rd I. R.)

So I decided that the hot part of the color should be on my toes, and toe up socks would probably be the way to go. I could see how far one spindle of Navajo plied yarn would get me in knitting a sock. Next step, see what size yarn we are talking about. 24 wraps per 2 inches. Now this was pretty silly step, because once again, I didn’t want to go look for needles, and the nearby ones were a set of US size 2 double pointed bamboos. Those’ll work. (4th I.R. )

I cast on using “Judy’s Magic Cast-On” and started knitting a toe.

And this is when I really got excited about ply on the fly. It does seem slow when you are doing it, but then, like magic, you are ready to knit!!! that will keep me going while I am recouping.

And this is how far that the this amount went in the knitting…

And now that I look at it, I think I will spin the next spindle full with a bit more of the orangey, then ending with the yellowy (5th I.R.)

And this is how an unplanned project full of random decisions has turned into a planned pair of hot sox.

Back on the barstool again

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 14:22:00 +0000

Well, it’s not exactly a barstool, but a tall stool in my woodshop that I can sit on for brief spells to run the power tools to make the spindolyns. I have found that I can prop my broken foot in its ugly boot cast into the trash can to keep it kind of elevated. You still have to walk some, to move from this tool to that, and of course, back and forth to the woodshop out in the mule barn, so the amount of time is limited, when you are supposed to actually be staying off of it all-together.

But I told you that to tell you this; some progress is being made(!) and that cheers me up. I am about half way caught up, and I would estimate the turn around time on current spindolyn orders is going to run between 2-4 weeks, depending on how well the healing goes.

Funny thing about that stool. I picked it up at an estate sale for a couple of bucks, because it was taller than your average stool, and a lovely retro creamy yellow metal and I thought it would make a great fern stand on the front porch. But then when I was unloading it from the back of the truck, I realized that it was really very heavy duty and larger than I thought with a wide flat seat, and decided it would make a great stand in the shop for my belt sander. But then when I got it out to the shop, I never got around to putting the sander on it, because I started using it alternately as a table for setting my water bottle on, making notes or sketches, or for sitting up on when my feet got tired. Now I wouldn’t trade it for anything, wish I had three of the the same thing, because it is a perfect tall height and sturdy size.

I do have a cheapie wally world folding stool in the kitchen to sit on while doing dishes during my foot convalescence but it is really too short and awkward to reach the dish drainer, and dishwater runs back down to my elbows. This got me to wondering about just what is a “standard” stool height, and I discovered after googling bar stool sizes that there several heights, starting with dining height, then counter height, then bar height, then tall bar height, then spectator height, which is the tallest. The other thing I learned is that bar stools are expensive, very expensive. Something to watch out for at yard sales, in case I was to happen to get old, or break my foot again or something.

Meanwhile, back in the shop, there have always been wren’s who make nests in the mule side of the barn, but not generally on the shop side. But since I have been absent so much, one has moved in and made a nest up on a high shelf. She is not real happy with me for coming back to work.

delay, delay, delay

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:03:00 +0000

Well, I was going to entitle this post "I take it all back" (being too hot to spin, that is) but then a series of unfortunate events has conspired to make me fall quite behind, so I need to explain that first for any customers that might have concerns.

First, for the month of June, middle Tennessee did not have a single day that was below 100 degrees. We had three days that were 109, but mostly, it hovered around 104. I know that everyone has been hot, so I don't want to sound like a whiner, but my wood shop is in the old mule barn, which has a metal roof and metal sides, has no insulation and no ac. It is, actually, open to the elements and hotter than an easybake oven in the afternoon. At least this summer. In summers past, it was pretty comfortable, and I just made sure to do most powertool work early in the mornings.

But his extreme heat limited the hours I could work in the shop on spindolyns, even with fans going. Those few cool hours had to be shared with all of the farm chores, which have been compounded by the drought. The drought has meant that the animal and garden water has had to be hauled, and they needed watering three times a day due to the heat. Our household water has had time consuming complications, too, so I had slipped behind, time wise, but was feeling confident that this past weekend, with the predicted cooler weather I could catch up.

Good news~ we are getting rain, and it has cooled off and I am so thankful!
Bad news~ Before the rain started, I was up the creek bed looking for a possible additional water source and slipped and my foot went between two rocks and I fell backwards and broke my foot. It is, well, I won't go in to it, but it isn't great.

Anyway, as soon as it is safe to be up and about and back to the shop, I am sure I will catch up, I just wanted spinners to know that there has been and will be a delay.
Meantime, I have some lovely, half done specialty spindles that I can polish on.....just might be a few days before I can get some help or get back out to the shop and get the bases drilled and brass cut to finish them...and then there are those outstanding orders that are setting on the work bench half done. Well, frankly, it just kills me.
I just don't handle this sort of thing well, I really, really hate to know there are people waiting on their spindolyns, and I never was a "sit around when there is work to be done" sort of person.
Fortunately, an elevated foot does not prohibit spindolyn-ing or knitting, or sketching new designs....all I have to do now is work on the anxiety produced by guilt at being late.

hot weather spinning, angora and improvements

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 23:21:00 +0000

How hot is too hot to spin? As the years go by, I am starting to think....
maybe never.
(leaving out extremes, of course, I am just talking about average summers as we have known them, not as they appear to be morphing)
Anyway, now days, most folks have central heat and air, so summer spinning is really not a question of comfort. But if you are like me, and don't have such modern amenities, you may have discovered cool places to sit and spin, maybe with your feet in the water. Or maybe you have figured out a way to use a very small fan pointed just at your face so that it doesn't blow the fiber around. If you are really jonesing to spin, you could always wear one of those cooling neck wraps...which got me to thinking about knitting something for that purpose....has anyone ever done that? What is inside those neck wraps, anyway, that keeps them cold but not dripping?
Old fashioned shade is a pretty nice thing, too. Here you can be pretty comfortable if you are elevated above the chiggers and oriented in such a way that catches the breezes coming down the holler.
Which brings me to the bunnies.
Summer is always a time you have to be extra concerned about the Angora rabbits, making sure they have plenty of water, and shade, and breezes to be comfortable till their favorite season arrives. And because I check on them so often in the summer, it makes me want to spin angora, which is kinda crazy and perverse since it is one of the very warmest fibers, many times warmer than wool.
So that is what I am spinning right now, and I as I spin, I am still turning over in my head different possible ways of prefelting singles of angora before you ply it with wool......

Oh, and about my shoulder, it is better! It turns out that in order to give it the rest it needed, I needed a shoulder brace that actually fit, and guess what worked the best? An old fashioned 6 inch wide ace bandage. I watched a couple of videos on youtube on how to wrap your shoulder, and figured out that the problem with wrapping it without assistance is just the getting it started part. So, I sewed an upper arm sized tube in one end, slipped it on and voila, very easy to finish the wrap yourself. Wrapping it while I worked, then applying the ice, then rest and the herbal anti-inflamatories have done wonders. Interestingly, so has kayaking, which you wouldn't think, but I think it loosens the arm up some.
The third element that has helped me on the road to healing is transitioning over to natural anti-inflammatories: white willow bark and curamin, they seem to help increase circulation in a way that the over the counter nsaid s don't... upward and onward!

Disability, Beethoven and Me, ambidextrous spinning.

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:58:00 +0000

Last summer I tore my rotater cuff repairing and expanding my falling-down office. I really like this space with its windows and plants and room for my spinning wheel so much it was almost worth it.
But it is easy to get depressed when months and months go by and you don't get better, only worse.
When the pain started affecting my spinning, it felt tragic. Now it has slowed down my spindle making to where turn around time has expanded to 2 weeks. I hate that. When a person decides to order a spindolyn, I get excited for them, I want them to have a new spindle and play with it as soon as possible, as I know I would.
MY APOLOGIES for the delay, sincerely.
I am doing everything rehaby that I can find to do to help my body repair the injury (ice, heat, rest, brace, nsaid, yoga, vitamins, herbs, meditation, etc,) I am open to suggestions. Surgery is out of the question without insurance, and the way I scar, that is probably not a great option anyway.
So I watched a really interesting documentary online recently "In Search of Beethoven" and besides all the great historical perspective, it made me think a lot about how frustrating a disability is that gets between you and your art and the way you cope with it is the only thing that keeps you from offing yourself (which he considered often) I can better understand why he had a reputation for being grouchy and "letting himself go" I am feeling pretty grouchy right now myself. Anyway, his perseverance is an inspiration, especially since he had no chance of getting better, and I do.
     Considering this, I decided to try and learn to spin better drafting with my right hand. I am left handed, but have no trouble drafting with either hand on the wheel. It just doesn't seem to matter, and I often switch drafting arms just to rest the other. BUT, I have another confession (telling people about my bad shoulder seems like a really personal confession of defeat, btw)I can not seem to draft right handed on the spindolyn.
     It is darn skippy and crazy awkward how odd it feels to try and draft on the spindolyn with the right hand. I am primarily a left handed spindolyn drafter. There, I said it.
       So, I have discovered that I can still spin if I put my bad left shoulder in a brace and a sling and twirl the spindolyn by the side of the whorl all the while minding to keep it loose and not tense, and draft with the right (wrong) hand.But it is slow going.
      Not because of the strange left arm set up, but because my right hand is having to learn to draft upward. It feels silly and like I am new at this, and that is GREAT! It is like the gift of being a newbie all over again. You just can't borrow or buy that feeling! It makes me feel like I can relate better to new spinners, and I am very proud of this small amount of uneven yarn I have gotten spun drafting with the right (wrong) hand...tada!

New Year, New Spindles, New website, and reflections on gift knitting

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:23:00 +0000

Welcome 2012! I wish for everyone plenty of time for all their fiber projects this year.

New Spindolyns...
I have finally got the new spindolyns up on the website. After much experimentation, I decided on 4 different sizes,

from smallest to largest; the (new) soprano, the melody, the concerto and the harmonic.
The mezzo has been enlarged a hair to hold a bit more, and the weight removed from the center so that it spins faster and then renamed the soprano (a recycled name, but it just made more sense)
The concerto is a bit fancier and a special thanks to Mary (FleeceFriend on Ravelry) for helping me with the name.

New Website
oh yes! (almost forgot) for some strange reason, folks in Germany get a 404 when they try and visit the www.knittinganyway.com website, even though it is up and running here..
So while I figure out whats up with that, I have put up a blogger page for them at
http://www.spindolyns.blogspot.com/
It could be that it has been up on the web since 1999 and was originally designed in Microsoft Frontpage, which of course now is totally outdated.
I have been "afeared" to learn a new software, but I think the time has come to start over, so if you are visiting and see anything weird, it is because I am trying to rebuild the original knittinganyway from scratch (wish me luck! : 0 and let me know if anything is totally wacky while you are browsing)

On Gift Knitting
Much has been written about knitting for others and the spiritual benefit it is for the knitter and the recipient. There are chemo caps, and prayer shawls, and afghans for afghans, and many, many other ways that knitters can contribute of their time and talent.
I was thinking as I knit a few dishcloths for giving away this year the difference between knitting for those we know and those we don't.
One of the intended recipients of a dishcloth that I was working on happens to be a "modern" young woman (an old fashioned phrase, I know, but I can't think of another way to say it) I had found some unknown, unlabeled, cotton in my stash that was a perfect match to her kitchen curtains, and short on time, I wanted to do something personal for her.
I was thinking of her while I knit and it occurred to me, that unlike me, she mostly eats out, and if she rarely cooks, it would be to microwave something out of box, which she would serve most likely on a paper plate, or pop the dirty dish into the dishwasher.
With this dawning realization, it occurred to me that she might not "get" her gift. Oh, maybe she might recognize it as a dishcloth, but probably not that it was handknit, in a special pattern and in yarn that matched her curtains, and I kind of doubted that she would immedietly recognize the scrubbing value and niceness of a handknit dishcloth.
For just a bit I set it aside and worked on something else.
I thought of all the knitted things that would suit her better, for which I had neither the time, the yarn nor the money.
And that is when I realized, that sometimes, knitting for someone else is just because you are thinking of them, and it doesn't have to "fit", it is the thought(s) that count, the loving thoughts of that person that are looped into each stitch, whether they know it or not.

Some people are not sheep

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:21:00 +0000

I love how individualistic fiber people are!

at SAFF 2011, the weather was perfectly cool for wearing wool. I saw not only miles of fibery goodness, but great numbers of spinners, knitters and weavers parading past wearing their fabulously individualistic hand work. Sure, I did see numerous iterations of certain shawl patterns that are very popular on Ravelry right now, but it was obvious that none of them were in kit form. They were different from each other not just in yarn choice, but in many little adaptations and special touches and colors so perfectly suited to compliment the wearer…sigh…it was truly inspirational.

Sadly, I have no photos, I took my camera, but Susannah and I were so busy in our booth teaching spinning that I didn’t have time to get it out. Which brings me to the second most marvelous thing about both SAFF and “Fiber in the Boro” which I attended this weekend (a wonderful show, kudos to the organizers!) There is a huge upswing in people interested in learning to spin!

People who want to set down their gadgets and get down to something that is really real. Learn something that allows you to use your own two hands, while touching something that was grown out on 4 feet that don’t do much else but eat grass and bask in the sunshine…..Ah, it does the old heart good!

Now this is a little unrelated, but I came home from the fiber festivals with lots of little balls of uneven yarn from demoing the spindolyn. This happens every time, lots of little snippets of demo yarn. I show one of these balls of yarn here riding on the back of the strangest trombocino squash I have ever grown…it looks sort of like a long neck goose.

The trees above looked like this one day, and naked the next, after a big rain and wind storm..yep, winters on it’s way.

Autumn Spinning, Knitting and gee, time to get out the woolies!

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:42:00 +0000

I believe I mentioned that I bought some lovely rainbow ~~roving~~ top last year at SAFF, and it took me almost a year to get around to spinning it, should have started sooner, as it is a super-wash merino, not at all compacted, spins like a dream and is my current favorite thing on the spindolyn.

Actually, I should have bought more of it, but although I can remember the location of the booth of the talented dyer at SAFF last year, I lost the card that came with the fiber, and can’t remember her name. Finding her (hopefully) again this year is one of my quests for this year. I leave in about 29 hours…am I ready? Nah, still polishing spindolyns and packing…so why am I blogging? .needed to put my feet up for just a bit, and am just too excited to be quiet.

It really is a fun fiber festival, all that inspirational wool walking around, not just in the booths, or on the backs of the attending fiber animals, but being worn by talented attendees, lovely work every where you look. Sweaters and shawls and hats and vests, oh my!

What was I saying.. oh, so I divided this top into by splitting it in to two equal strips.Weighing them to make sure.

I have spun the first half up on the harmonic spindolyn and have a good start on the second one already…

but you know how when you are spinning and daydreaming about what you will knit, you get a hankering to go ahead and knit…this little lust was dancing around in my head while passing through my LYS and I couldn’t pass up this merino singles, so soft, so yummy and with those autumn colors…and so I started knitting this basket-weave something or other….(I think it is going to be a cowl)

And now that I have gotten that going, I can merrily go back to spinning!

If you come find yourself at SAFF, do come by and say howdy!, Susannah and I’s booth is near the front door, across from the restrooms.

Sneak Preview New Spindles for SAFF!

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:54:00 +0000

     Autumn is here and we can start looking forward to a wonderful winter of cozy spinning and knitting, but first…..the fall fiber festivals!!
        I will again be at SAFF (South Eastern Animal Fiber Forum) in Asheville Oct 21-23 and am busy, busy in the wood shop making spindolyns in cherry, walnut, tulip poplar as well as oak, and in many different sizes.
        It has been a particularly fun time, as pressure always makes me have new ideas, and I have been trying out some new spindle designs and new base designs to accommodate the new harmonic spindolyn size.

The weather has been lovely, the leaves are starting to change, I have a really pretty sock on the knitting needles and there is a pumpkin sitting on my table, what could be better?

If you come to SAFF, drop by and say hello!

Mo Bigger! the new Harmonic Spindolyn!

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:09:00 +0000

Well, finally!
I have been fiddling with a bigger diameter spindolyn for a while, and kept running into weight issues slowing it down.
I have also been wanting to make a spindolyn out of tulip poplar, one of my favorite woods, but it is too light weight.
Can you see where this is going? duh. Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees, but then two things happened.
My friend Lisa, a new spinner, sent me this photo of her lovely beginning efforts, and I was stunned at how much she was able to stack on to her spindolyn, and I thought, man! I really need to come up with a bigger spindolyn for plying, and quit just thinking about it.

And then I was pushed over the edge to jump up from my computer and go out to the shop and just "do it" when a lovely customer, and member of the Ravelry Spindolyn Spinners group, Annette, wanted to add to her spindolyn collection and asked ever so nicely for a bigger spindolyn.

And so the "Harmonic" Spindolyn was born, and I can't stop spinning on it long enough to do any knitting. I am a happy spinner!
It is made with tulip poplar, and is 3 1/2" in diameter.

And it holds ALOT!

Hot Weather Knitting

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:18:00 +0000

We are not daintily perspiring here, we are dripping.
Frequent cold cloths to the face have been necessary in order to not just flat out keel over.

I have hit the age where my facial skin is now "tender" (awww)

I am also at the age where I found myself griping like an old grouch when I went to pick up a couple of new wash clothes to replace my old, holey wash (face) cloths...."sheesh! they don't make them like they used to!"

The wash cloths I found were either too thick and heavy to ever dry out in our southern humidity, or they were just plain scratchy.

I ask you, how does cotton get scratchy? I think there is more in that cotton than just cotton..

I guess labels these days lie, just like politicians

On the very day that I picked up a ball of cotton to knit my own washcloth, a knitting friend of mine emailed me, saying she wished people would knit something more challenging than dishcloths.

Unbeknownst to her, I felt duley challenged.

I made it more difficult on myself by promptly misplacing my yellow dishcloth yarn, found an alternative (but ugly) brown, cream and green ball of peaches and creame, and scoured Ravelry for patterns that offered some spicyness of language when you loose your place in them.

I picked 4 patterns from Ravelry, and present 3 here in order of most challenging to least.

I began with the pattern called "vortex six" by Rebecca Hudson..she has a series of neat vortex dishcloths..meditative, but I admit, a bit more challenging in the heat than I was looking for, I stopped mine after 5 rounds, instead of 6, cause the yarn was ugly (photo A) and I was hot.

Mine does not look like hers, I will go back to this pattern in cooler weather and with two colors of yarn at a later date.

photo A

Next, I decided that some thinner cotton in a bit more open stitch would dry quicker in the terrible humidity, and got this yellow varigated mercerized cotton purchased from my LYS Traditions in Lafayette, TN, for which I promplty lost the ball band or I would tell you the brand....I like the way it knit up, but the varigation had lovely orange, yellow, white and ....gray?? this would be very pretty if they left out the gray varigation, as it makes the cloth look "pre dirtied" However, the mercerized actually does make a nice, soft, quick drying wash cloth.

The cloth is smaller than it looks, because the rubber ducky is actually a "mini ducky" The pattern is the Petal Dishcloth by Susan Esser, it is knit list archived. It was a little easier to follow whilst one is daintily dabbing ones forehead with the previous cloth.

I totally screwed up on this last one, but it is a great pattern, easy peasy, it is the Starfish Cloth by Dione Reed of Sew Funky. I intentionally used a little bigger needles, thinking quick drying again, but I went a little too far and it flops around like a jelly fish rather than a starfish. I also decided that I wanted it to be anatomically correct (to a starfish, that is) and so only made 5 arms rather than the 6 the pattern calls for, so fudged the rows a little randomly to accomodate than, and one of the arms looks like it was whacked off and grown back, which is also biologically correct to starfish, so that made me feel closer to the ocean, which just the thought of those breezes has a cooling effect, so that was worth it.

It is also not as big as it looks in the photo, as the hat is very small..You could, however, soak the cloth, squeeze out most of the water from the middle, drape it over your head and let the drips come down the starfish arms for a cooling effect....?

A dumb idea and a new beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:09:00 +0000

So, I save things. It is not as bad as hoarding, but it is a problem.

I was not raised during the depression, but many of the people that I have admired the most in my lifetime, and considered my bosom friends (sadly, all gone now) were raised during the depression. Maybe their influence? Maybe it is genetic? Maybe it is just an inventive mind that sees on opportunity in every object for re-purpose.

It is with great effort that I exist in a state of re-training away from my natural tendency to allow the foot of my bed end up looking the way my much admired, beloved and dearly missed Granny's did.

The foot of her bed was a completely personal pile of interesting reading, newspapers, books, letters and clothes that were "in waiting". Clothes that were not quite dirty enough to wash, but not clean enough to wear to town, so waiting to be worn out to the garden. To wash too often would be wasteful. My Granny was very short, so the growing pile did not interfere with her sleeping. When the pile spread around and up the back side of the bed, she would deal with it, but it grew again, and again. She had the most delightful laugh when confronted with it.

My projects do this, spread like this. My spinning and knitting; I start too many, finish too few, have interesting ideas and diversions in the middle. If I lived in an ordinary sized house, there might be room for this "spread". Or if I was not also running the business of knitting anyway in addition to "living" and working my projects in this small of a space, it might not be a problem either.

I offer here for exhibit to examples of things that I should have thrown away right from the start.

Exhibit A)
This very cool and tough banding that came around the bales of shrink wrapped alfalfa that I bought this winter to supplement one of my goats that was frail.

I saved every band off of every bale. I thought it would be so cool woven into a tote bag or something.Stiff and strong... Imagine my chagrin when I discovered this exact same banding made into totebags on display at walmart (spit) pooey. I haven't thrown it out yet, but soon....

Exhibit B)

Our rescue dog is a border collie cross (crossed with something very, very dumb. Bless her heart.)

Anyway, J.B. brushed her daily for a couple of weeks this spring and out came lovely clumps of deep, dark, almost black, soft undercoat. He would peel it off of the brush and toss it willy nilly out in the yard somewhere, wherever he happened to be. Later, I would go around and gather it up, sometimes with dew on it, sometimes I had to fight the kitty for it.

Now really, I ask you, am I seriously ever going to get around to spinning these clumps of dog hair, which when all added up probably is only a spindle full?????

Oh, the new beginning..that will have to wait to the next installment.

The Meaning of Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Sat, 21 May 2011 01:48:00 +0000

So, I was able to get out to the shop with me crutches, and J.B. helped me move one of the tools to a lower table so that I could sit at a stool for part of the process of making spindolyns. When I sat down, I had an overwhelming sense of..."ohh, I do really like doing this" I do really enjoy working with wood, it was good to be back in my shop (crummy as it is)

It got me to thinking about that feeling you get of happiness and contentment when you reunite with the familiar after a seperation, even if you had been ragging on it quite a bit before you left.

And isn't that what a vacation is all about? we think of it as the activity itself, the trip, the tour, the leisure, but when it is all said and done a good part of the lasting effect is not the memories, but the coming home and appreciating where we left off, we see the familiar with a fresh and newly affectionate look.

If we come back to a job or place and we only feel revulsion, then it is probably a wake up call that it is time to move on.

My accident provided me with an unexpected vacation in the dictionary sense; "time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure" Now, my planned vacation (kayaking near Chattanooga) won't happen this year because of the resultant medical bills, but I am amazed that the time of rest (ok, not so much pleasure) had the same after effect as a real vacation. My woodworking and crafting seems rosier and I feel more motivated all the way around after my unplanned period of rest.

So I looked up the origin of the word vacation, and I especially like the reference to "empty"

Word Origin & History

vacation

late 14c., "freedom or release" (from some activity or occupation), from O.Fr. vacation, from L. vacationem (nom. vacatio ) "leisure, a being free from duty," from vacare "be empty, free, or at leisure" (see vain). Meaning "formal suspension of activity" (in ref. to schools, courts, etc.) is recorded from c.1456. As the U.S. equivalent of what in Britain is called a "holiday," it is attested from 1878.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

We get empty, so we can feel that satisfying feeling of filling up again.

So, lets all raise our rested spindles in a toast and fill them up again!

testing a prototype spindolyn

Emergency! knitting and spinning.. OR making sure we are prepared

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Sun, 15 May 2011 18:14:00 +0000

Please note: if you are waiting on a spindolyn shipment, I apologies most sincerely for the delay, I am still unable to walk after the accident, but hope to be out to the shop by the end of the week (more info below this post)

My sis in law and I talk often about what I think of as "girl scout orta's"
Habits we "orta" keep that can make us more prepared in the event of an emergency.
There are your basic emergency kits, then there are your "emergency fiber kits"
Their house fire taught me that a person aught to keep their purse on a hook right by the exit door. If you have to go to your safe place in the event of a tornado or flash flood, you will know where it is to grab it to take it with you. To have to replace your drivers license, glasses, etc is a drag. But even worse, if your car keys are in your purse, and you can't find it as you rapidly exit the burning house, then you can not move your car and it burns up with the house.

BD and W keep a "bug out bag" or "zombie apocolypse bag" handy by the door with survival stuff in it.

My mother kept a "hospital bag" that she could grab if someone went to the emergency room and she had to go sit. It had clean undies, socks, her own non allergenic soap and toiletries, something to read and write with and her knitting.
This was not her regular knitting, but a ball of dishcloth yarn and appropriate needles, just left there, waiting for the next emergency.
The last time S.i.l. had to go to the emergency room after the tractor accident, when I called to ask her what I could bring, she said; "please! something to knit"
And it got me to thinking I aught to get together an emergency bag, with toothbrush, knitting, spinning, etc. But I did not follow through with my plan, and in this last emergency, there I was, waiting and waiting, because I did not grab my current spinning or knitting project as they were to big, bulky, hairy, messy or disorganized to take along.
And that leads me to the point of this post.
A person should plan their emergency fiber kit ahead of time, and decide if they are going to make it an entirely separate project from your current project, so that you can grab it and go and it will have everything you need and you won't have borrowed out of it or scrambled it.
I realize that some organized and tidy person's current project is perfect and complete and ready to go at a minutes notice, but mine is never that way as I am a little scatterbrained and scatterproject. In addition, some of my projects are just not appropriate for public (no, not adult oriented, but as mentioned previously too big, bulky, hairy, messy or disorganized)
So, for myself, while I am confined to this position with my foot up, I am pondering what this emergency fiber kit should contain...and when I get mobile again, I have made myself a promise that I will make it's assembly a priority. I am thinking......

1 spindolyn, but which fiber would be easiest and most contained? what fiber is best for a stressfull or sad situation?
1 small, simple knitting project; complete, simple, contained. But what? Mom always took a dishcloth, but what if my hands are too tired for cotton? is there a stretchier cotton out there? what else is mindless small and comforting...maybe just sock blanks...wristers?

I will think on this some more, when I can think straight.

Ok, here is what happened, if you are faint hearted, stop reading here, and know that I am recuperating as fast as I can, and am trying to rustle up some help to get back orders out. WARNING! graphic details below.

You might not want to look at the photo of big old dirty nail in the barn that I stepped on which went all the way through the ball of my foot to the top between the bones and tendons that operate my toes.

Flood prep, running behind and big hoe

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:13:00 +0000

Edit. note; I wrote this post before the tornados last night in the deep south, but even more now, I encourage you to donate to the Redcross.

First, a disclaimer; my problems are small compared to those in other areas of the south who have lost lives and homes and communities to these wretched, seemingly unending storms. So if’n you’re so inclined, Y’all donate to the red cross, mm’kay?
Ok, on to my little aggravations. I try hard to fill orders on time. Of a coffee and idea sparked nature myself, I understand impatience to “get on with it” so it pains me to know that someone is waiting for a spindolyn or a knitting machine tool, and I might be standing in the way of some spinner or knitter and fiber progress! Fiber progress, is, right now, one of the “lovely comforts” that we can lean on in difficult times.
Excuse me, I have to go dig a ditch, be back later……
Ok, that right there is the problem. The rain and storms.
When the NWS said we might have 7-9” of rain, I went into preparation mode.
We learned from last years May flood that devastated Nashville and surrounds that you need to get everything away from the creeks that might be picked up and carried on down to clog up a culvert or bridge, even if it is not your culvert and bridge, because wouldn’t you feel stupid if you were to recognize a board or trash can or part of a feed trough that had been carried by the flood on down the creek and has now clogged up a culvert and caused the road to wash out and it is your junk that was not on high ground that has made it so that you and and your neighbors can’t get to town (that didn’t happen to me, of course, I am just saying.)
It is just that we (citizens of a planet undergoing climate change) are not used to this much rain, even in the spring season, and we are not used to the creek getting up that much, so people put lots of things in the flood plain, like my neighbor who had just built a low bridge over the creek for his tractor, and it caused our road to wash out to impassable for over a week until the county could get big equipment in to get us out.
So yesterday, planning on being well prepped, I spent part of the time I should be making spindles lifting up fence crossings and moving temporary bridges and pulling out downed trees from the last storm so they would not be swept away and add to the debris dams. I also dug ditches around the garden and house foundation, cleared the culvert and rearranged the the wingwall rocks. Every trouble spot that appeared in last years flood I tended to in preparation for this years flood. Good thing I did.
Except.
Except this year, something was different that I didn’t take into account. The pasture is on a hillside. The goats follow the sheep (that’s right, the sheep are smarter) and the sheep followed the mule, and the mule had set paths around and down to various pasture locations, and a switchback sort of way to get to the barn.
After the mule was gone, the sheep (Edwina, she is the leader) was happy to be the one making decisions, and changed the route to the barn. Showing that sheep are not as smart as mules she chose a hell bent for leather straight shot to both the barn and the front shed,
Edwina’s new straight shot tracks changed the route of the sheets of rain running off of the pasture. Turns out, having a mule prevented erosion, who would have thunk it?
So this morning, I woke to a spindle shop with water racing across the floor.dirt floor. Damn.
Wood was wet, some ruined, thankfully, no tools where on the floor, but there was a big mess to deal with and some walnut and oak to mourn.
So, part of today that would have been used for making spindles, had to go to salvaging wood and ditching and rerouting the water. Then when I got that done, the next round of storms came through with lots of lightening, and I don’t feel cool at all about working in a wet dirt-floored metal-walled building with lightening all around….so here I am blogging…but told you all that to tell you this.
Give the water a place to go, a lot of flood damage could be prevented if people kept in mind that water wants to go where it wants to go….and
Life is about having the right tools. These are my preferred ditching tools.

This is a cement hoe, lets water through the holes, and my trusty pick/mattock.

Farming~ the romance and the reality

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:44:00 +0000

   Warning: this is a long, not informative, sorta personal reflective post, you can just skip down to the fun part (the video) if you prefer : )
   I have never considered myself a "gentlewoman" farmer. Over the nearly 30 years that I have been raising sheep, goats mules, donkeys and angora rabbits, I have tried to put practicality first. If a critter didn't "lay eggs, make meat, grow hair or protect against predators" I have been disciplined about not bringing it home.
After all, the first goal is not to lose money. Especially when my children where young, that would have been like taking food out of their mouths. I think that is the definition of gentlemen or hobby farmer, you can afford to lose money, and farming is all about losing money.
   My second goal was to do the best by my animals, loving and caring for them to the best of my ability within my resources, and this has not always been easy, and I ended up sacrificing perfectly good knitting and spinning time trying to tend to the health and happiness of the animals.
   The third goal was to profit from this work and care in terms of feeding the family, enjoying the fiber, utizing the manure for the gardens, and if possible, maybe make a little money.
   Well, right off, let me just say I have just about broke even when it is all said and done, but I have learned a lot, had joys and disspointments and had to be ever vigilant and ever disciplined. Sometimes the freedom of travel or the apartment life fleetingly is appealing, but it is gone with the first garden produce of the year, or the first lamb born.
   As I advance in years,I am finding that keeping up with making the spindles and tools, trying to make a living, trying to garden for food and find time to still knit and spin and weave (much less blog) just leaves less time for the animals. So this winter and spring I have downsized the livestock part of the farm considerably, and am enjoying the remaining sheep and rabbits more.
   Will I have more time to blog? not sure about that...I was up in the woods above the pasture yesterday on my way to the spindle shop and had the most interesting idea for a spindle base......you can't be on the computer when you have an idea burning a hole in your head....
Edwina had triplet lambs this year, so of course I had to make a lamb video.

The three have such strikingly different personalities. Estella is the exuberient one in the video, she is even an exuberient eater. She has more white on her than the others, is more curious and the most bossy. Eloise is the somewhat shy lamb, when she is not playing with her sister, she stays close to her mother. Their brother Edward, the runt, was, from the beginning, a dreamer. He likes to spend quiet time alone, watching the wind blow in the trees, eating leisurely off away from the rest, exploring little areas. He had to have a bottle supplement for a while to get him up to speed, and he will probably always be a small whether, but his fleece is lovely and his health is good. Now that is more info than anyone wants to read, but there you have it!

Heart Chart (for knitting, that is)

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Had this heart ready to post for a month, wanted to get it out in time February, but work got in the way. It is the chart that I used for the Machine Knit version of the Heartwarming Aromatherapy Keyhole scarf (coming soon)

The larger version to print out is Here It is 24 stitches wide so will work with the Magic Needle Selector wand, or punchards.

Making time and space for Machine Knitting

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:27:00 +0000

    Repairing a thoughtless error in my calculations on a knitting pattern this afternoon, I noticed I was neither hunched over nor hurried as I sat at the knitting machine.
     The greyish light of the winter afternoon rested softly on the needle bed and I felt happily contented, mistakes and all, and wondered why I had waited so long to set up the knitting machine this winter right in front of the living room window.
     Since fall, it had nagged at me, this desire to move the knitting machine to somewhere warmer, but not in the way. This house is too small for both of those criteria to be met, so I finally decided that "in the way" is not so bad, after all.
     In the summer, the knitting machine resides in the office, which is actually a poorly insulated enclosed portion of the original back porch. I can bundle up and assemble spindolyns or pack orders, but I simply can not abide being cold while knitting. It is somehow counterintuitive, and I operate on a 50/50 mix of intuition and logic. This winter has defied both of those, averaging way below normal in temperature and above normal in gloom. I have been doing more spinning and handknitting and just plain missing my knitting machine.
    So now, it is finally crammed into the living room, with 3 warming dogs, two cats, JB and his music studio, the wood stove, the tv, the stereo, the books, 3 computers and so on. Funny thing how that kind of winter intimacy either makes you want to kill someone, or drives you into a personal space that is actually more productive. The latter is working for me, with the mk right there at the window, every time I look out the front window to check on the sheep and goats in the pasture or the birds at the feeder, I sit down and knit a few rows (or more) the same way one might casually pick up their hand knitting.
      I was originally worried that the sun coming in the window would be a problem........ha. what sun?

What is funny about this photo? I am repairing my mis-calcuation by adding more on to the knitting on the machine, by knitting it on by hand. When the table and the chair are nice heights to each other, this is as comfortable as lounging at the kitchen table reading seed catalogues and knitting.

The shoemakers wife~the sockmakers husband

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 01:16:00 +0000

       As an old school feminist, the terms "husband and wife" leave me a little uneasy, but hey, when you are searching for a title, sometimes you have to stretch.
      But the point is still valid, even if convoluted. In this household, we are experiencing a serious sock deficit. ( insert horrified soap opera music here)
       Some winters in sunny Tennessee, just a few pairs of warm wool "home knit" (hand or machine) socks will get you through...this winter has been a frigid exception. Need---more---socks! feet are cold, socks are dirty.
        Will get on to that, as soon as I get these current spindolyn orders done, locate some more hay for the sheep and goats, find some dry firewood,etc, but in the meantime, will share some photos of socks that were kindly forwarded to me from a customer, Kay, (EarthKat) Thanks Kay for sharing!

Great job! her first Machine knit socks. The colors really move me.
She knit them using the pattern in my book Sock Options for Machine Knitters, and wrote some nice and head swelling stuff about trying other patterns and really liking the book but (blushing) I wont go in to that, other than to say it really makes me happy to think of happy feet,and inspires me to get cracking on some socks for my poor cold feet.

Melting snow and the warmth of human kindness

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:45:00 +0000

It has been a “hard times” winter for a lot of people. Around here, we have burnt up a winters worth of firewood and e’t up a winters worth of hay, and it is only the middle of January. A body could get right down and discouraged having to rub their hands together just to keep them warm enough to knit or make spindles, but you can tell that the days are getting longer…like right now, it is already 4:30 pm, and I still have enough light yet to finish this post, put on my snow boots and go bring in some more firewood.
There just has been a terrbile lovely sprinkling of human kindness down on me of late, customers saying nice things about the spindolyn, sending me wonderful photos of their spinning in progress on their spindolyn, or their knitted sock accomplishments from a pattern in the Sock Options for Machine Knitters, or making good marketing suggestions, and even sending winter soup recipes! When you’re kinda fighting the winter blues, you just can’t ask for nicer niceness than that!
Mono commented on my last post about enjoying her spindolyn, which after receiving she quickly spun up some lovely fiber and posted it on her blog, which is a very busy and fun fiber blog to visit. Now here is a strange coincedence…about the time she had placed her order, and I was working on making her spindolyn, I was actually knitting a hat from one of her patterns from ravelry (which you can also find one her blog) “Tempos Headcoat” (can you hear the spooky music?)

Here is another pic of my shop (in the foreground) looks cold,doesn't it? you can't imagine ; )

new year a comin’

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 17:07:00 +0000

and now, back to our regularly scheduled programming….
I refuse to make the list of resolutions, instead, I am just going to start doing them..like every little design thing that pops into my head I will sketch, no matter how silly.

What are you wearing?

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:31:00 +0000

To stay warm, that is. I was wondering that this morning when I was out feeding the rabbits, chickens, sheep and goats with the windchill at –3. I was actually pretty comfortable in my layered merino sweater under a pair of coveralls and a wool earflap hat and scarf, but I could use a wool vest for in the house and some angora boot liners.
I was wondering if other knitters are happy with their wool “warmies” or if they have given the best stuff away and still need certain warm things for themselves. So my question is, what are you wearing and what do you wish you had already knitted for yourself before this terrible cold descended?

Snow falling with the sun shining outside my kitchen window.

The snow is beautiful, but the unseasonable cold is a little frustrating for me, I have Christmas spindolyns that need to be finished and shipped, but with temps in the single digits and teens, the little electric heater in my shop (aka: barn stall) will not cut it to bring the temp up high enough to run the power tools. I know this is not like being stuck on the interstate in a blizzard with nothing to eat or drink, but it is a problem that is hard to explain to anxious customers…we don’t normally have this kind of weather in TN. But weather is no longer “normal” so I really will have to do something about the shop before next winter.
But the view from my spinning wheel is nice!

new spindolyn models! and what wood would I if I would…

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 23:32:00 +0000

I have added a new base (the Orbia) to the spindolyn lineup. I like the stability of the cubia base so much, that I added this one, with roundier corners, that let you tilt it easy for winding on.

Unlike the cubia, the tube sits in it straight upward, instead of at an angle…if you want the angle, you just tilt it..or not.

Also there is a new whorl model. I have named it the Melody, it is like the mezzo but just enough larger in diameter to give you more capacity and a wee bit slower spin, good for thicker yarns and plying.

And, ta da! I have finally opened my Etsy store, and have posted and sold some fancier spindolyns, out of cherry and walnut and oak..Etsy is fun I can’t wait to have some time to get some pixies up on Etsy, too.

I have been asked a few times about the woods that I use to make the spindolyns. Why I don’t use exotic woods, why I limit my production to certain woods. I do so, because I know that to some extent (as much as can be said, in this ruthless world that we live in) that these particular species can be harvested sustainably, that they are fairly common and resilient species, and that their harvest provides income for many people in the South Eastern US, parts of the Northwest and Canada. I can’t know this personally about imported woods, so I stick with what I know.

Wood for me is an emotional thing (it is, another form of fiber, after all) So follows is a dissertation on why I use what I use, with more personal info than you probably want to know

I love wood, and I love trees. So much so that the minor for my degree in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan is in Forestry. At one time I was a park ranger, and then later in my life I was passionately active in a lobbying the state Tennessee to adopt legislation to insure best management practices in logging to protect future stands of timber and stream quality in the state.(this effort failed, of course)

This coincided with a time in my life when I lived at a sawmill and it was a giant conflict for me, to see big dead tree bodies come in on trucks, and then to see fabulously beautiful walnut, oak or cherry come off the mill or out of the kiln. I couldn’t wait to get ahold of some of the scraps from the “real lumber” and run to the woodshop with it to get started making something, a spindle, a lap loom, furniture for pixies. Contrary-wise I also couldn’t stand to see the empty places on the Upper Cumberland where the forests once stood. Life is about conflict.

I also knew plenty of loggers personally, and saw as the small scale sustainable loggers where pushed out of business by the large scale loggers using giant, immensely destructive logging equipment. But then over the years, I have watched as trees filled back in, slowly and stunted and certainly not majestically, and missing much of the diversity of flora and fauna that the old ways of harvesting preserved. But at least I can see regrowth, and at least I know the enemy. I can’t say that about exotic lumbers or far off logging practices.

The bases, mostly “ready fetched on” as Granny would have said, are either maple, Canadian birch or fir. These are also “somewhat sustainable” woods, grown in the US or Canada, and for the spindles, I stick with the wood I know, cherry, oak, walnut and poplar, wood grown in the forests I know.

this is what knitting does for me

noreply@blogger.com (Cady May) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:32:00 +0000

You might have already seen this (the knitting part is at the end) but if not, and you like miniatures and stop motion animation, and sometimes you feel like life is chasing and terrorizing you, and knitting is the comfort food of choice, then you might understand why I shared it again here.