tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:42:57 +0000http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/cadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)Blogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-1155484277264306597Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:25:00 +00002009-11-14T07:42:57.817-08:00I have a spindolyn sitting by almost every place I sit down in my cabin. I call them my little “head clearers”They are “in progress” testing of two things, a sort of sampling and sampling. Some are sampling the spindolyn prototype itself, some are sampling the fleece or blend. I like to make blends, blends of fiber even more than blends of color, and that is a lot. I am very blendy, I guess, http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/L2GKll2L7QQ/pixie-takes-hike-or-samplings-of.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)0http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/11/pixie-takes-hike-or-samplings-of.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-8896447394634890183Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:45:00 +00002009-11-01T10:46:56.057-08:00Not really, but when you work on and work out a design that takes more time and revision than you expected, when it finally falls together it feels somewhat like a birth. Not all designs are like that. Some you say “yes, that is nice, that works, I like it” and some you say, “wow, this is precious” and you gaze fondly and proudly upon it like a newborn puppy. Ok, so that sounds a little extreme, http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/2NOT1cD9RHY/look-what-stork-brought.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)3http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/11/look-what-stork-brought.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-6123533390148563327Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:26:00 +00002009-09-25T17:30:12.541-07:00It happens every year at this time (at least for the last 30)I start to notice all kinds of natural dye sources around the farm or wherever I be outdoors. The golden rod is in full bloom, the pokeberries are ripe, as are the elderberries. The morning glories are wound around every spent cornstalk and the marigolds are just flat out loaded. I want to start collecting, and stuffing gallon jars, http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/bS1WiYXGO8U/work-curse-of-dyeing-woman.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)1http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/09/work-curse-of-dyeing-woman.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-3357800195832809195Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:15:00 +00002009-09-01T15:32:21.319-07:00Funny how fall is at once a really busy time, festivals, harvest, school starting back, and yet it has a kind of slow and lazy overtone to it. I am trying to get my fall garden in and the last of my summer things put up, but on the side table are 3 almost full spindolyns with a different fiber on each (cotswold, gray angora, and brown alpaca. When I come in for a rest and a glass of water, onehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/bdNtPjuKnz4/autumn-creeping-in.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)0http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/09/autumn-creeping-in.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-3176144202706569669Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:01:00 +00002009-07-19T05:13:02.161-07:00A customer recently sent me this email (thank you Judy for asking and prompting me to post) “I am wondering if anyone has tried plying with two spindolyns. I'm thinking that I could spin singles on both spindolyns and then ply directly from them onto another spindle. That would eliminate winding the singles off the spindolyn. I would probably need to have beanbags for both spindolyns so http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/DEThLYl3B5A/plying-on-spindolyn-little-more-about.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)6http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/07/plying-on-spindolyn-little-more-about.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-7316204250477755239Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:48:00 +00002009-07-14T10:53:32.327-07:00So several weeks back (well before the independence holiday) we decided that what we badly needed was a getaway, a quick overnight vacation. Camping, on the Cumberland River, and a day of rest, relaxation and kayaking. We threw tent, food, bedding and the inflatable kayaks in the back of the station wagon, checked the availability of our chosen campground from the Army Corp of Engineers website http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/FB38S_TxLyc/pic-nic-spin-nic-and-knit-nic-surprise.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)0http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/07/pic-nic-spin-nic-and-knit-nic-surprise.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-2276073736448945261Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:56:00 +00002009-07-10T17:00:03.000-07:00Recently I was surprised at the mailbox when I opened a note from my sister Mary and nearly spilled the lovely pink contents out onto the gravel drive. It turns out they were flowers from her orchid cactus, that she suspected (from a spill, I imagine) that they might contain a dye. Being ever inquisitive and generous, she saved them and mailed them on for my pleasure and experimentation.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/V86X3-Ofus8/in-pink-or-not.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)0http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-pink-or-not.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-4907068201779187230Mon, 18 May 2009 11:56:00 +00002009-05-18T04:56:39.599-07:00I last posted or knit. But I have been spinning some every day, and taking long walks in the rain, when I am not moving pans and buckets around in the spindle shop to catch the roof leaks as I work. There is a wet weather creek that runs right beside the shop, and so all of this months spindles were made to the accompaniment of cascading water, rushing and gurgling. The rain rain rain came http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/SKUDie_bw8A/cant-remember-when.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)1http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/05/cant-remember-when.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-8618119609398045354Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:13:00 +00002009-04-15T17:17:02.645-07:00Cherry Blossom Spindolyn Pouch…..Or some sort of title like that. I finished this early last week, but blogging time is hard to find between putting in taters and ducking thunderstorms. The great thing about new tools and accessories is the way you get so excited about using them that you sometimes grab something nearby to try them out with, and it wasn’t necessarily a material you had http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/ftoCYoL866w/blossom-base.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)3http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/04/blossom-base.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-8109682861022092246Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:45:00 +00002009-03-30T17:48:33.299-07:00 It was actually the cherry blossoms blooming that reminded me of the color of that spray dyed yarn, and made me hunt it up and start knitting on it..they way so one thing leads to another, when you are not knitting with a plan, but just “comfort knitting” I started another spindolyn bean bag pouch, out of the cherry blossom colored yarn. It is a spiral hexagon, but to really match the cherry http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/Kk5wyIFwTKs/cherry-blossom-knitting.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)4http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/cherry-blossom-knitting.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-7278990291864234Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:42:00 +00002009-03-22T04:43:11.766-07:00It was an impulse buy, from a discount rack, at a discount craft store. I normally don’t succumb to impulse buys, because the thread I dangle from will not support them and groceries in the same week. But, I was in the big city (Nashville) which is a rare thing, waiting in the parking lot of a musical instrument store for the boys to make their cable purchase (modern musicianship requires an http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/KJ5lR5UF9gU/ungreen-thing.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)1http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/ungreen-thing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-2921461332508435018Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:35:00 +00002009-03-17T18:40:36.038-07:00Hey Beadnik! your hops guess was a good one, because that was going to be my next “guess this photo” Here it is, coming up self seeded in the pots by my outdoor shower. Now, I have always read that hops are difficult to get started, but that has not been my experience. These came from the Whitewater River in South Eastern Indiana. Hops grows wild all over the river banks there. Introduced http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/53emWJ3uf0E/hops-and-hemp-and-fiber-too.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)2http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/hops-and-hemp-and-fiber-too.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-7069086163859541690Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:36:00 +00002009-03-16T17:36:42.810-07:00I was just about to post these three photos, all in one post…to give the extra hint to the extra credit question of “what is this spring bud”… The first one posted with its hemp cowl, the second one a week later, (notice I haven’t had time to knit the hemp yet) and the last one, with its rain soaked  flower buds.. But then Cyndy guessed it, without the the final photo hint! Yep, thehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/IgUeLRAPUS0/buds-and-blooms.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)4http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/buds-and-blooms.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-3948708843788602477Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:34:00 +00002009-03-14T14:37:29.334-07:00First, I would like to comment on the comments of my previous post regarding hemp. Cyndy, thank you so much for the pertinent information! Cyndy commented:   The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009 would finally allow North Dakota, and the other states that have passed pro-hemp legislation or resolutions (Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/w9gPXGGB5kA/more-spring-photos.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)3http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/more-spring-photos.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-1666163037650453628Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:00:00 +00002009-03-12T10:10:42.727-07:00Most people already know the history of Hemp in the US. The story of hemp and paper, of US paper and oil company greed, how hemp could save the forest, etc. We forget these fights in the midst of other problems, but boy, it sure comes back when you go to buy a couple of balls of hemp knitting yarn for a particular project (knitted hemp sprout bag, pattern coming soon)It is hard to find, and http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/V0ZXlVDLgnQ/hemp-and-color-of-money-and-spring.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)2http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/hemp-and-color-of-money-and-spring.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-6693832023646430514Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:40:00 +00002009-03-04T06:51:05.001-08:00I swear to you that when I typed that title for this blogpost that it came out "the god ate my homework"I mix up phone numbers, too.I mix up alot of things. But I am deliberate and slow with the spindolyns, and still I make mistakes.Some might say I am just a total loser, but I prefer to think of it as a handicap in the "absent minded professor" sort of way.What does that have to do with dogs? I http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/3bQ1oNGQyDI/dog-ate-my-homework.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)3http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/dog-ate-my-homework.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-697597852215628112Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:21:00 +00002009-02-20T15:25:28.455-08:00The History of the Spindolyn Part 1 The Loom (where in little Cady May gets wild and wooly) My Daddy was, like many rural Great Depression Era survivors, a resourceful, creative, do-it-yourself kind of guy. His response to those early life challenges developed in him a passion that went a little beyond most DIY'ers, and spilled over into inventing and tinkering. He loved farming and gardening http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/VwxX5xn5tvA/history-of-spindolyn.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)1http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/02/history-of-spindolyn.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-2347952163102549254Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:35:00 +00002009-02-14T06:36:34.610-08:00  It’s that time of year when the very faintest of blooms start to show on the maple trees, and cast a yellow purple haze on the mostly gray limbs covered hillsides. The daffodils are starting to peek out, and we have made it past the red and white winter yarns of valentine season. And no, I did not finish my valentine finger ringers in time…rats.  They woulda been cool though, red with white http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/Y2rddtEj7eI/looking-to-spring-with-yarn-desktop.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)0http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/02/looking-to-spring-with-yarn-desktop.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-4557585310675419029Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:55:00 +00002009-02-19T16:01:18.935-08:00 The base is finally done, and already hard at work. It is amazing how much more flexibility it gives you in locating the spindle for spinning. This is a pretty simple pattern. It can be found as a downloadable pdf here You may recall from previous posts that I had to spin additional mohair for the interior tube to sort of match the outside pouch, and in doing so, remembered why I love http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/fIOfDGbpE_s/bean-bag-base-or-pouch-for-spindolyn.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)7http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/02/bean-bag-base-or-pouch-for-spindolyn.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-2566047897613131630Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:43:00 +00002009-02-03T07:45:53.099-08:00         Note frost on Rose’s main, not exactly wool…   It rained a lot before the snow, so the creek was rushing through white (click for a closer look) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/fkt2TdUdVuU/winter-whites-and-wool.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)0http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/02/winter-whites-and-wool.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-4832639214719038644Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:28:00 +00002009-01-27T16:28:48.272-08:00 Tommorow I am taking down the bottle shaped base off of the website...I can't get quality control on that wooden piece, so off she goes and it will be two to tango.Good news is, while I am there, I am going to fix the shopping cart so that you can add extra spindles to your order..fun, huh?We started the morning with freezing rain, dripping ice from every branch. A pretty view to work with out http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/PE3LQLMRfJw/one-down.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)1http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/01/one-down.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-8957018806366632167Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:14:00 +00002009-01-21T05:41:09.656-08:00Miniature wool inaugural gown of glitter yarn, graceful ribbed waistline and snug fitting bodice.Not really, but doesn't this look like something that would keep Barbie warm, if she had some matching merino/mohair socks, a tiara with ear flaps, perhaps? Ok, I am being silly, but it is so durn cold...this is the progress made last night on the bag. The bodice is actually the interior pocket to http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/iHs7k5j6Me4/miniature-wool-inaugural-gown.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)0http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/01/miniature-wool-inaugural-gown.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-6624913481845720452Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:41:00 +00002009-01-19T12:45:14.143-08:00I have had several customers bugging kindly requesting a pattern for a bean bag base for the spindolyn. The thing is, even though I have made several that work quite functionally, they are not worthy of writing up a pattern for. Rather, they have been children of my usual "method operandi" That is to say, I start out with yarn and needles, or fabric and thread and good intentions to make a "http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/z4bVeI4tcqE/spindolyn-bean-bag-base-take-four.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)0http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/01/spindolyn-bean-bag-base-take-four.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-3860217812345159145Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:11:00 +00002009-01-16T07:17:35.755-08:00Bath poufs, shower scrubbies, soap saver puffs, whatever you call them, these mesh wonders are useful for more than the bath. With one snip of the center cord I have used them for several years in garden applications, pond filters, yarn bra's, etc. But where they really shine is as mesh fleece washing bags. If you have never opened one, they deconstruct as a long, long tube of nylon mesh. Cut thehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/G4Ag-HwoDZE/scrub-dub-fleece-in-tub.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)1http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/01/scrub-dub-fleece-in-tub.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044824214506405475.post-904030474579529056Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:27:00 +00002009-01-05T05:27:23.909-08:00I am washing a jacob lamb fleece right now, in small parcels to divide the colors, doesn't it smell great? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DanglingThreads/~3/dCVVThb5_JE/cross-species-fleece-sniffing.htmlcadymay@gmail.com (Cady May)4http://danglingthreads.blogspot.com/2009/01/cross-species-fleece-sniffing.html