tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415Sat, 05 Oct 2024 02:06:37 +0000knittingsocksshawlsspinninglacehandspunvestsalpacatwisted stitchespatternsclock vestislandyarnblockingcableskneesocksplyingwool/silkbuttonbandfoodmerinosakiorisinglesswallowtailsweatersbuttonsflowershatstop-downBFLbambooberetsbooksbreadfiberhelixpricessnicketsspindlesstripesafghanscottoncrochetcushionsespinnerillusionmosaicneedlesshort rowsstrandedtoolshttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)Blogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-6689788065055829076Mon, 18 Nov 2013 19:12:00 +00002013-11-18T11:12:39.133-08:00 While digging through my old recipe files searching for a potato/turnip casserole recipe, I unearthed an ancient recipe for eggnog.  Back in the 1970's I made this concoction every Christmas. It was both potent and delicious. It would be a shame for the recipe to be lost forever, so I am putting it out here to share and preserve it. If you try it, let me know what you think. Oh, and yes, http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2013/11/killer-egg-nog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-6616804795735339464Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:00:00 +00002013-06-18T10:00:22.425-07:00I have finished an actual knitting project, an event that has not occurred for quite some time. Nothing terribly impressive -- just a pair of socks -- but I'm counting it. The pattern is called "Cable Twist," and I've knit it in various yarns several times before. Definitely one of my faves -- simple but has a nice look. I needed simple. Here's the short version of why. Having spent a lot http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2013/06/actual-knitting-content.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-6209784968445317564Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:45:00 +00002013-02-19T15:33:21.422-08:00 This memoir, which covers essentially the 10 or so years that Rushdie was under threat of death from a Muslim fatwa, is almost painfully honest.  I'm not sure Rushdie is someone I would want to know, but I loved his memoir.  The everyday details of how he had to live, the emotions he felt (even the petty stuff), his personal & professional relationships, struggles to continue http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2012/12/salman-rusdies-joseph-anton.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-7680597354571905791Sun, 23 Sep 2012 20:03:00 +00002012-09-23T13:03:44.285-07:00In the few intervals between heat waves this summer, I've been teaching myself to crochet. I've long known how to do single and double crochet as an edge on knitting, but all else was a mystery. So I pulled out my handy needlecraft book and got at it. Below is my best effort. It took four tries to get this right. The actual motions of creating a stitch are easy. The difficulty is in http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2012/09/learning-to-crochet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-2674340410345712120Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:00:00 +00002012-06-26T12:00:17.404-07:00No, Oshibana is not an obscure fiber technique. Nothing to do with knitting, spinning, or any other fibery fun. Actually it's an art form that uses flowers and leaves, rather than wool -- defined in the dictionary as "the ancient Japanese art of making pictures with pressed plants." Sometimes it looks like this – I picked the above example, because the shapes are so very obvious. http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2012/06/in-which-i-discover-oshibana.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-6924985682120685345Thu, 24 May 2012 20:25:00 +00002012-05-24T13:25:20.301-07:00 For the third time in the past year I have been granted the opportunity to play host to a dove family. Apparently they really like the flower boxes on my second-floor balcony – private, secluded, and safe, with lots of soft greenery. It really starts with the "house hunting." Cooing activity in the trees outside is followed by flying visits to the three different boxes, a considerablehttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/2012/05/and-so-it-begins.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-1006491028134353946Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:38:00 +00002012-04-23T16:38:12.624-07:00 Having finished my Adult Surprise Jacket -- which turned out amazingly well, and I'm delighted with it – and having decided while knitting it that I would NOT lengthen the sleeves, but simply leave them at the elbow, I found myself with one skein of each color left over. Oh, what to do? Well, I'd had a very interesting pattern for some felted slippers in my Ravelry queue for a while, and I http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2012/04/felting-virgin-no-longer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-4421227012320357428Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:21:00 +00002012-03-12T16:21:28.347-07:00One of our local community colleges recently had an exhibit of "fiber arts." Of course I had to go take a look at it. And was I ever glad I did! It was a small exhibit, no more than 30-40 different items. But the stars were the quilts. Although I don't quilt and know next to nothing about quilting, I've always enjoyed visiting quilt exhibitions. It's so intriguing to see what quilters can http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2012/03/fiber-art.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-7792933417538549470Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:55:00 +00002012-02-28T10:55:19.627-08:00I have finally begun the finishing process for an Adult Surprise Jacket on which I had completed all the knitting at least nine months ago. Why did I wait so long? Oooh, now I remember. I had decided to do an i-cord bindoff, then do applied i-cord along the shoulders and sleeve cuffs, and the sew the shoulders together. Just like the original Baby Surprise Jacket, by the time you are done http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2012/02/endless-i-cord.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-3391670472473279878Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:12:00 +00002012-01-25T19:26:14.012-08:00mosaicsocksI've been knitting a mosaic sock pattern (Diamond Mosaic from Charlene Schurch's "More Sensational . . . " book) and wanted to continue the pattern all the way down the foot. This is, of course, next to impossible if one prefers the traditional flap-and-gusset heel. The additional gusset stitches and subsequent decreases are an insurmountable problem. The patterns in the book are no help; theyhttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-which-i-discover-band-heel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-1373915251930751822Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:28:00 +00002012-01-25T19:25:05.000-08:00handspunsocksOnly a few days ago I finished reknitting the toe of a sock made from handspun yarn, my very first handspun, actually. A dreadful hole (three toes wide!) had sprouted. And, of course, this was a pattern with cables and twisted stitches which I had decided to carry ALL the way down to the very end of the toe. Fortunately I had a little bit of leftover yarn, so I soldiered on – ripped back past http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2011/12/save-those-yarn-squibs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-4436275189967095491Sun, 27 Nov 2011 02:28:00 +00002011-11-26T18:30:10.928-08:00alpacacablespricesI have never before knit with bulky yarn. Nor with U.S. # 13 needles. It felt like manipulating tree trunks. But in less than a month, ta-daaaaa ! This is the Abrazo vest, a free pattern from the Fall 2008 issue of "Knitty." It's actually written for "super bulky" yarn, so I had to knit a size up to get a good fit. Of course I had to make a few adjustments to the pattern cuz I didn't http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2011/11/bulky-yarn-fat-needles-finished-object.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-405426671393824679Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:17:00 +00002011-10-24T10:20:11.764-07:00flowersI went to the Orange County Rose Society's 2011 exhibition this past weekend.  Lots and lots of amazing roses.  They were large, tiny, scented, unscented, and colors I'd never seen. Here's just a few. This is a miniature rose, barely two inches across, floating in a silver dish. The colors are difficult to capture. The red is a medium deep maroon, and the yellow is an intense http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2011/10/roses-and-roses-and-roses.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-8047220281174512241Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:20:00 +00002011-09-04T12:26:12.121-07:00fiberhandspunspinningIt all began with an itch to use the long-neglected spindles. Then I found this. Madly inexpensive Brown Sheep Mill Ends from Suzoo's Woolworks. There was a lot of blue, a moderate amount of yellow, and just a bit of red. It didn't even occur to me until much further along that these are the three primary colors. Of course yarn isn't paint. You can't expect to combine blue and yellow tohttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/2011/09/color-in-spindling.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-7992780573677286492Fri, 04 Jun 2010 22:18:00 +00002011-09-04T12:27:03.067-07:00patternssocksJust a quickie (perhaps to mark the six-month anniversary of my last post??). I have moved -- again -- and Internet access here is problematic.Anyhoo, I have added another free pattern link on the side. The "Staggered Lace Socks" pattern has been up on Ravelry for a while, but not available ouside the Rav world.I'm working out another new pattern -- a pillow cover -- and should have it up in a http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2010/06/another-free-pattern.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-4528108220679580403Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:06:00 +00002010-01-04T10:16:17.835-08:00laceshawlswool/silkIt is done. It is done. The Celtic Stole, my very first project with laceweight yarn, is finished at last. I may never knit with laceweight again. Love the pattern, but oh, my goodness. Knitting with thread is a whole other world. So . . . here it is -- This is my second stole (y'know, rectangular-type shawl), and I'm realizing that with this shape you get a lot more of the decorative part http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2010/01/lots-of-little-lacey-lessons.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-7591138067197709674Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:43:00 +00002011-09-04T12:28:58.405-07:00alpacapatternsvestsWell, we all are designers really, whether we start from scratch, modify a pattern, or cobble several patterns together into something different. But here's what happened to me.I bought this fabulous alpaca yarn from Knitpicks intending to use it for a specific vest pattern. That so did not work out. Then I tried it with some other patterns. No and no and no. But I really wanted a vest. I http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/12/apparently-i-am-designer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-5788944993583899728Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:02:00 +00002009-12-07T18:20:06.038-08:00espinnerfiberhandspunplyingspinningI have, in fact, purchased a spinning device. Notice, I did not say "spinning wheel." Although extensive research into spinning terminology suggests that this device may be considered to be generically a "wheel" despite the absence of an actual wheel. No treadles either. No footmen. Have you guessed yet?Yep, it is an e-spinner. A HansenCrafts miniSpinner to be precise. What we have here ishttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/12/so-about-that-spinning-wheel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-1334566358999976059Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:22:00 +00002009-11-17T12:39:46.685-08:00The highlight of this past weekend for me was a visit to AlpacaFest West. The name says it all – loads of lovely alpacas of all colors and kinds, fiber on the hoof. And so gorgeous. Just look at that cutie little face . . . As much as I have read descriptions of the two types of alpaca – Suri and Huacaya, it took an up-close-and-personal look to get the idea across. This guy with the http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/11/alpaca-heaven.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-812584417714688565Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:58:00 +00002009-11-08T11:37:08.320-08:00handspunspinningWell, I am indeed done with spinning this yarn. And I thought I was done with spinning altogether (more on that in a bit).According to my Ravelry file I began this spinning project in June 2008 and finished it in October 2009. Rather a long time, wouldn't you say? Naturally there were some life events, like moving to the mainland, and a good bit of knitting along the way, but still.So what ishttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-thought-i-was-done.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-7923938948665868505Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:52:00 +00002009-10-18T12:04:13.214-07:00Although I have not yet finished the Celtic Stole, I have already started the Strawberry Pie Shawl. Two shawls on the needles at the same time – shocking, is it not? But I could not wait. Oddly enough, this relatively simple pattern gave me all sorts of trouble. I could not make sense of the directions. Clearly the designer and I spoke different dialects of pattern-ese. I attempted to charthttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-is-heard-is-not-what-is-said.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-7259730235434523484Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:11:00 +00002009-10-11T17:25:07.627-07:00breadfoodA while back I read a book called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and was greatly intrigued by the process described. But since the method involved putting aside my beloved bread machine in order to shape the bread by hand and bake it in the oven, the experiment had to await weather cool enough to run the oven without fainting from heat stroke.The idea is that you skip all the kneading, http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/10/adventures-in-bread-making.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-4334499814880260219Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:46:00 +00002009-10-04T20:05:47.171-07:00I got a nice surprise when I took a stroll down to the pier today -- a Kite Festival.Big ones, little ones, all over the beach. How about this dragon?We had entertainment too. These drummers were awesome. Incredibly coordinated routines.And as I walked home along the water's edge I encountered another sort of kite -- a windsurfer.While the river (behind the nearest jetty) and the stretch of http://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/10/fun-on-beach.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-6508185441001616985Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:14:00 +00002009-09-19T17:36:01.884-07:00alpacashawlsvestsyarnWhat have we here? An empty drawer? Totally, entirely empty? How did such a thing happen? Excessive efficiency on the part of the drawer owner, perhaps. Tsk, tsk, this will never do.Ah, much better. Drawers, as we know, are meant to be filled with yarn (or fiber). There's room for more, of course, but this will do for now.So, let's take a closer look at the contents (which just arrived inhttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/09/nature-abhors-vacuum.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1992296059190319415.post-7857348825995408745Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:53:00 +00002009-10-11T17:30:31.406-07:00flowersSince July I have been noticing these trees with gorgeous orange flowers all along Ocean Avenue. As long as I have lived in Southern California, I don't remember ever seeing anything like this. What the heck are they? Does anyone know?It's definitely a tree, not a bush. The big ones are way taller than a one-story house.Here's a closeup of the blossom. Each one of those teeny mini-bananas inhttp://woolenough.blogspot.com/2009/09/name-that-tree.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wool Enough)9