Lost Arts

Designing Knitwear

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 04:48:00 +0000

People ask me how I come up with ideas for designs for knitwear, and I usually brush off the question because the answer is huge!

Usually, a design comes from a situation. I'm going somewhere special and I want something special to wear to the event, or I bought some clothes and want something to go with it.

This kind of situation means I already have been inspired about what I'd like to wear. It also includes a lot of personal biases. For instance, I love pockets! I try to put pockets in everything except mitts, mittens, hats, and cowls. And even then I think about doing it. A pocket that's the right size for a bus pass that's a tap card is perfect for the back of a mitten if you commute by bus.

But it also to extends to styles. For instance, I love cables and Celtic Knots.

And a Celtic Knot is a great thing to put in a spot where there is shaping:

And then, I thought, why can't cables and knots be combined and go in different directions?

I thought some more about what else I could do with them, and realized that they could come off the surface of the knitting and do something.

I don't know if you can see it, but there is a Celtic knot (a Saint John's cross, which is a symbol for happiness), but the bottom of it comes off the surface and threads through some picot holes to form a drawstring at the bottom of the sleeve. The end of the drawstring can be tied into a bow without pulling it tight to form a bell sleeve, or it can be pulled tighter to form a ruffled bottom and a bloused sleeve. You can see the way it works better here:

And it can perform other functions, like coming off the surface to form button loops on the front of a sweater.

These photos are all shown before blocking, so they look a little rough.

If I'm fresh out of ideas for myself, I think about a friend and wonder what they'd like to wear. And what colors they'd like, although color is such a big topic that it will have to go in its own post.

Or, I'll see a sweater in a magazine, and think about changing something about it to make it a completely different sweater. But more often, I'll see a sweater and think that a motif on it would be great on a shawl.

Then again, you can think about different knitting or crochet techniques, which is sort of what I did with the cables and Celtic knots. But this can work for anything, like entrelac. Or a trim, like fringe, which I'm beginning to find out can be done a lot of different ways. The more I look at it, the more I think about writing a whole book about fringe and different ways to do it.

Or Mobius. Here's a simple mobius cowl:

Which lead me to think about making a hat with a mobius cuff:

A lot of the knitting I do is inspired by the designing I have done for sewing fabrics, so it's very plain and relies on shape for the design. So they're very simple knitting, but sometimes can look very intricate.

Have you ever wanted to get a tattoo? You can knit whatever tattoo you'd like to get into a sweater! Then you can have it just when you want to wear it, and just take it off to remove it. You can think of it as a "try-out" tattoo, or something that you don't have to commit completely to.

Another thing I've been wanting to do for myself is a lifetime sweater. This would be a plain sweater that has symbols on it of achievements you've had during your lifetime, or things you're interested in, or things you've learned. For me, it could have an entire Viking rune futhark around the bottom, because I'm interested in Viking runes. It might have a spider on the back because I spin. I was thinking of a winged heart on the sleeve because I flew when I was in the Air Force. But that would also look great as wings across the back, and could extend into batwing sleeves. Maybe some other symbol from a movie I worked on. And so forth. Your accomplishments would be different from mine. It could be done either in a single color with raised designs, or in colorwork, whichever you prefer, or fits what you'll be knitting.

Let your mind go, and think "What if?" There are endless ideas out there for you, too! Have fun with it!

Learning to Spin on a Navajo Spindle

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 22:31:00 +0000

Someone on Knitter's Paradise sent me a private message that she had bought a Navajo spindle online (which hadn't come yet), and she couldn't find books at the library that were helpful, so she wanted my advice.

After a few huge answers, which didn't even begin to scratch the surface, I am going to post parts of my answers so it might be helpful for everyone.

I think you made a great choice for a spindle. It's a support spindle, so it's easy to spin on. You spin it against your thigh, so your hand is flat, which doesn't stress your hand and even gives it a rest from knitting or crocheting. You can spin any kind of yarn that's spinnable on that. Some novelty yarns, like chenille, aren't spun. You can spin the finest gossamer lace yarn or super bulky yarn and anything in between on it.

What kind of wool roving or sliver did you get to spin on it? If you haven't ordered anything yet, I'd recommend that you start with a nice, commercial Corriedale sliver. Corriedale sheep produce wool with a nice crimp, and it's fairly fine, but is a nice, easy fiber to spin. Ashford has a wonderful selection of colors of Corriedale sliver that's moderately priced. Sliver is pronounced so it rhymes with diver. Sliver is carded, not combed, so it will tend to produce a more fuzzy yarn than top. Top is combed, and is more organized, with more fibers being parallel, rather than jumbled, which is the way carding leaves the fiber. It's called woolen which is less organized, and fuzzier, as opposed to worsted, which is a smoother yarn, but the key here is that it's much easier to spin.

http://jumbukwool.com.au/ashford-craft/ashford-slivers

I chose this link because it shows all the colors available in the fiber. Scroll down from the merino/silk to the next listing. You could choose a natural, undyed color and dye it, or buy two 4 ounce bags, each in a different, but close shade of the same color or something close, like light blue and lavender and ply them together to get 8 ounces of yarn which is enough to actually make something. The beauty of this is that you can buy just 4 ounces to start and then get another 4 once you get started. Look around before you buy. As with anything, you might find a bargain or a sale. You can buy it in individual ounces from some sellers.

Every time you switch to a different fiber, it will handle a little differently, and you're going to have to adapt to each new fiber, so don't be discouraged when you later buy something different, and it doesn't behave like what you learned on.
You are going to start out by doing some spinning. Then we're going to ply it and make some real yarn.
First of all, when you spin yarn, you're going to get something that wants to kink and curl and fight back. That's what happens. That's going to look awful if you release the tension on it, and that's OK if you intend to ply it, which is what we're going to do. It's like stockinet stitch curling. That's just what it does. And we will fix it when we ply. I'm assuming that you probably want to knit or crochet it, and that works best with plied yarn, so we're going to make yarn that's good to knit or crochet with. At least to start. You can make novelty yarn later. Right now, you're just learning to do it.

I'd buy at least 4 ounces to start with. That's what I did. But you'll find that the whole process is mesmerizing and addictive, and you're going to be unhappy when that little bit of yarn gets spun, and you can't keep going. I know I did.

Your sliver might arrive kind of squashed. You can find a spot at the end of the sliver to pull it in half down the length of the sliver. Then pull each section apart lengthwise again. This is probably the easiest way to fluff it up again and make it easy to spin. A lot of your success will come from starting with a nice, fluffy sliver that drafts easily. Plus, if you do this, you'll have less drafting to do.

If you really get into this, you may want to buy cards and card your own wool to make heathered colors from pre-dyed wool or fiber. But for the moment, you need to find out what makes a good carded or combed fiber for spinning. And you want to have something that's a good quality, but still fairly cheap, while being a fiber that can make you proud of the first thing you've spun. The Ashford Corriedale is a great compromise. I'm telling you things like brand names because the names mean I know exactly what I'm telling you to buy is good quality, and I know what I'm recommending and I'm sure you'll get something that's easy to spin and I can tell you how to handle that fiber.

When you have your Navajo spindle and your sliver, you can get started.
Spinning consists of two parts.

There's drafting, which is pulling the fibers out until there's about an equal amount of fibers or thickness. This is why pulling your sliver into 4 lengths is good. It tends to pull the fibers apart a bit and let them slide out more evenly when you draft, and it makes the fiber supply thinner so there's less drafting to do.

Then there's twisting, which pulls the fibers together, and that makes it more difficult to draft, and is what holds the yarn together and keeps it from just falling apart. If you get a lump in your yarn while you're making it and don't want it there, stop the spindle and grab the yarn on the side of the lump that's closer to the spindle and untwist it. Pull gently, and the fibers will slide against each other again, and you can pull the lump out. Because you're just starting, I wouldn't worry too much about lumps and unevenness. If it's not really extreme, it will make a great novelty yarn that will make people ooh and ah over.

Oh, and I nearly forgot that there is winding it onto a spindle (in this case) or bobbin to hold the newly spun yarn until you can ply it.

Oh, and I should mention right now that most of the things spinning books tell you not to do are really OK to do to produce novelty yarns. What they usually mean is not to do it if you want perfectly smooth, even yarn. That's great, but you might want to make novelty yarn, too. Other spinners ask me how I made some of my best yarn, and when I tell them, they say, "Oh, I would never do that!" because some book told them not to.
Continued soon!

The End Is in Sight for Steve Canyon!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sun, 24 May 2015 11:44:00 +0000

A huge load has been lifted off my mind, because the covers for the third Steve Canyon DVD are done!

We thought the cover was done a long time ago, but there turned out to be a few changes. All the last minute changes are finished and it's ready to go to the printer.

It's been a long, hard road for this last little bit of the Steve Canyon saga on DVD, but the end is in sight!

I want to commend John Ellis for his patience and perseverance during what has to be the most awful series of events in DVD-making history. He's suffered through crashed drives that self-destructed, taking months of work with them to the digital grave, the loss of electricity for an extended period of time, personal health problems and enough to crush most people. I want to thank everyone who was patient and supportive while he struggled through this mess.

Items that were the last in existence anywhere turned out to be in terrible condition rather than the pristine state he was promised.

People he'd interviewed have died since he interviewed them.

But it did give him time to find, connect with, and interview people who participated in the original TV show, and add content that wasn't available when he started, or even when he started the last DVD.

It's been what seems like a never-ending marathon, and a labor of love.

I'm happy and proud to have been able to contribute to the whole project by doing the covers for the DVDs and the slipcover. If you haven't seen the slipcover art, check out John's blog at: Steve Canyon on DVD.

And I'm going to treat you to a sample of my work by giving you an advance peek at the covers.

I really like that we finally got a cover that really shows Dean Frederick's face.

I know a lot of you watch things like this for the planes, and I do like to see them, but for me, flying them is much more fun than looking at them. Unfortunately, I never got to fly any of the planes Steve Canyon did, just T-34s.

In this case, I really love that cover. I know one person who's really going to love this cover!

Here's the inside of the cover. The list of episodes is dull, visually, but vital info! And another great shot of Dean Fredericks!

Keep in mind, when you watch the episodes that this project has been done a lot later than the original series. A lot of the material was in really bad condition when John got it, and cleaning it up and making it look good is an amazing job taking thousands upon thousands of hours and so much work by him and him alone!

The photos I was able to get to start with looked terrible, and with all three of the covers and the slipcase, I put in weeks of work. And almost all of the photos were in black and white, and I'm the one who hand colored them.

I need to go out and buy a bottle of champagne so I can celebrate when that last DVD arrives in the mail, and the whole project is officially DONE!

John is now feeling better after some months of debilitating pain, and expects to get a post out soon. The end is in sight!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend! Remember those guys who fly for us as well as all the rest of the guys (and gals) who defend this country!

SPINNING BASICS: Tools to Spin With: Spindle Spinning Wheels

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 22:35:00 +0000

There are two basic types of spinning wheels: spindle wheels and flyer-and-bobbin wheels (also called treadle wheels).

A spindle wheel is a wheel that has a spindle almost exactly like a support spindle, but it's driven by a wheel.

There are a lot of different kinds of spindle wheels. The first ones invented were in the East and were called Charkas, which is the Sanskrit word for "wheel." They were similar to this kind of a wheel.

There are also small, folding charkas that fold up into a hardback book size and shape (usually called a book charka), and larger versions called briefcase charkas, etc.

The spindle wheels that you'll see most often are called great wheels, walking wheels and wool wheels.

They are all basically a spindle that has support, and that is driven by a wheel that is usually turned by hand, not by a treadle.

This is the kind of wheel that sleeping beauty ran afoul of. Spindle wheels got a lot more use than spindles did, once they were introduced, and they frequently had spindles that were metal. The amount of use that they got, over a period of time, tended to sharpen the tip of the spindle until it was really dangerous. Add that to the fact that sheep go out and play every day in the dirt (you know, the stuff that has a lot of tetanus organisms), and it's no wonder sleeping beauty could get seriously hurt on that wheel!

Wikipedia has a whole collection of photos of different kinds of wheels and lots more information. I'm going to do more articles about treadle wheels, but you can read ahead here.

Great wheels were called that because they have a large wheel. The name walking wheel came from the fact that a spinner would have to stand, and would usually walk to spin a longer thread before she went back to wind it onto the spindle. The name wool wheel comes from the fact that the larger spindle wheels were made to spin wool, and had lower ratios, which was just what was needed to spin wool.

When a spinner refers to ratios in connection with a wheel, it tells you how many twists the wheel adds to the singles being spun for each revolution of the wheel.

Most of the charkas were built with the intention of spinning cotton, so they had higher ratios. To give you a better idea, the bottom ratio for treadle wheels will give you 3-1/2 twists per one revolution of the wheel, where the top end is more like 22:1. But some of the charkas would give you more like 36:1 to really add a lot of twist fast.

With almost every spindle wheel, you'll find a wheel with a drive cord. The drive cord will drive a whorl, and sometimes they have several whorls close together with different diameters so you can make the spindle go faster or slower to suit you by changing which whorl the drive cord is on. Some charkas have an accelerator where the wheel turns a whorl on an axle with another whorl that has a drive cord that drives the whorl on the actual spindle. This is usually called a Minor head, after the gentleman who invented it, and it's a way to get more revolutions out of the spindle for each revolution of the wheel.

Some of the book charkas and similar ones are more complicated because they have extra parts that allow them to fold, but this covers the basics of spindle wheels.

SPINNING BASICS: Tools to Spin With: Spindles 2

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 12:40:00 +0000

I have to stop writing these when I'm not really awake (like now).

I intended to write more about spindles and hit send without thinking.

There are a lot of things that affect how fast/slow and how long/short a spindle spins.

As mentioned before, a thinner shaft makes for a quicker spin to start with. It makes sense, because if you snap it between your fingers, for instance, your fingers move at a certain speed, essentially, in a straight line. That movement is translated into a circular spin by rotating the shaft. The narrower the shaft, the further around the circumference you'll move the spindle with the same snap.

The bigger the measurement around the outside of the shaft, the slower you'll move it.

For instance, with a narrow shaft, a snap of the fingers might make the spindle go around twice. If the snap moves what's between your fingers one inch, but the shaft measures a half an inch around, you'll spin it twice. But if it measures a whole inch around, you'll only spin it one full revolution.

Another major factor in spin speed and length of spinning time is the whorl.

A small diameter whorl tends to spin faster than a wide diameter whorl.

But a small diameter whorl will lose it's speed and slow down faster than a wide diameter whorl, which will keep spinning, if more slowly.

You also have to take into account the weight, and where in the whorl it's distributed.

If most of the weight is close to the center, it will tend to spin faster than if most of the weight is toward the outside.

It's a balancing act as far as trading off speed for length of spin. If you're spinning lace yarn, for instance, you'll want a lot of spin, otherwise it'll take forever to get enough twist into the yarn/thread to hold together.

Other factors include the support point for a support spindle. You want the point that the spindle spins on to be as small as possible to generate the least friction. My Tibetan spindle has a brass point on the bottom that's fairly sharp specifically to lower friction when the spindle spins in the bowl.

The other factor is overall weight. The heavier the spindle overall, the more energy it takes to spin it, but the longer it will spin.

If you happen to be talking about a drop spindle, though, the weight of the spindle will make a big difference in the thickness of the yarn you can spin with it. If you try to spin a yarn that's too fine with a drop spindle that's too heavy, the yarn will keep breaking before it will get enough twist in it to be strong enough to hold the spindle's weight. But if your drop spindle is too light or you're trying to spin yarn that is too thick for the spindle, it will tend to make the spindle slow down quickly and stop. If you're not paying attention and try to let it spin, it will eventually (and fairly quickly) stop and begin to spin in the opposite direction, unspinning the yarn and falling.

The overall weight issue is complicated by the fact that, because you keep winding more and more yarn onto the spindle, it keeps increasing it's overall weight the longer you spin. So, if you're using it as a drop spindle, it may be too light when you first start, just right when it's half full, but too heavy when you finally give up and wind the yarn off onto something else to ply it.

This particular information is something that you may find a bit too much at this point, but is something to refer to if you have a problem with a particular spindle in the future.

SPINNING BASICS: Tools to Spin With: Spindles

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 11:46:00 +0000

So far, we've gotten what yarn is, but we're not up to how to make it yet. You'll need tools to make it.

Spinning tools come in two broad categories: spindles and spinning wheels. These come in categories, too. Let's start with spindles and cover wheels in the next post.

Spindles

Spindles come in two broad categories. There are support spindles and drop spindles. Actually, there are a few that can use both or a combination of support and drop. It pays to learn both ways of spinning on a spindle. But we'll simplify to just support and drop spindles.

Support Spindles

As you might guess, support spindles are ones that are supported while they're used. There are many kinds of support spindles, and they're often used with a spinning bowl to keep them from traveling while in use. The bottom of the spindle is usually placed in a bowl, and the spindle spun with a finger snap on the shaft. Most support spindles are used this way.

The fact that the spindle is supported makes it much easier to learn on. You can use a spindle that's too heavy to be used as a drop spindle with the yarn you're trying to make, and it will still work well. And I find it easier to draft and add twist with this kind of a spindle.

A Navajo spindle has the bottom of it placed on the floor or in a bowl (if it tends to skid on the floor) usually on the right side for spinning (Z twist), and the left side for plying (S twist), and spun by rubbing the top of the shaft against your thigh with your hand held flat. Because you're not actually using hand dexterity, this is a good choice for spinners because you're using your arm muscles to provide the spin, not your hand muscles. So, you can give your hands a rest from knitting.

Find out more here.

A low whorl drop spindle can be used as a support spindle if it has a nice, pointed bottom end, and they often do, for versatility. They can be spun in a bigger bowl, or a shallow bowl.

There are many different kinds of support spindles, and many are named for where they became popular, so you'll see them called names like Tibetan, Russian, Andean, and much more. You can search for spindles on sites like Etsy, and if you want a support spindle, you should search for it with those words. If you check Etsy for this, you'll also find a lot of spinning bowls, although you can use any bowl that has kind of a scooped out inside. A bowl that has a flat bottom inside isn't as good for a spinning bowl. You can also find many videos on how to use these different spindles on YouTube. Here's a link for Tibetan spindle spinning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCjubnwi5Yo

Drop Spindles

Drop spindles are, as you might suspect, given some spin and then dropped. They're harder to master at first because they are the weight they are. If you have a spindle that's too heavy for the yarn you want to spin, it's going to break the yarn before it has enough twist and fall to the ground. If you choose one that's too light, you're going to have a hard time getting it to spin. The twist you're adding with the spindle will be strong enough to resist twisting, and start untwisting instead. You need to watch for both of these conditions and modify the yarn you're making to be compatible with the spindle, or change to a spindle that works better with the kind of yarn you want to spin.

Drop spindles mostly come in either high or low whorl varieties. Either can be snapped in the fingers or you can raise your leg and rub it against your thigh to twirl it before dropping it. I'd recommend the thigh rub, because it will save your hands.

Miscellaneous

There are a few spindles that can be used either way. Low whorl drop spindles can be spun in a bowl. An Akha spindle has a mid whorl, and is usually used supported in the hand, but sometimes, after twist is inserted, it's spun against the thigh and dropped to insert even more twist. See it here.

Turkish spindles are usually considered to be drop spindles, but, as with other low whorl spindles, can be used in a bowl if they have a nice, sharp point at the bottom.

General Info About Spindles

The thin long center part of the spindle is called the shaft. A thin shaft will give you more twist for your effort, but you don't want it so thin that it will break easily.

The wider part of the spindle is usually circular, but could be square, triangular, a straight piece, two straight pieces, a bead or just a wider part of the shaft. It's called a whorl.

Spindles sometimes have a hook at one end to catch the yarn and hold it to make it possible to spin more quickly and easily. Hooks are seen more often on drop spindles. The alternative to a hook is a shaft that narrows to a point. There are pros and cons to each.

Spinning Basics: Twist Direction

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 06:47:00 +0000

You may have noticed in the previous post that I spoke about twisting fibers in one direction to spin them and the opposite direction to ply them.

But that gets awfully confusing. How can you tell which direction is intended? How can you describe it to someone else?

Spinners have an easy way of describing it. They call the spin direction either S or Z.

It's easy to understand this. Hold a piece of yarn up so it's vertical. What you'll probably see first is the ply twist. It either slants from upper left to lower right, which is the direction of the center part of the letter S, so it's ply twist is called S.

If the slant is from upper right to lower left, then the twist is called Z twist because it's in the direction of the center part of the letter Z.

If you're testing a singles or something that you need to know which direction to ply in, you can see the fibers going in these directions and you know to ply in the opposite direction.

If you spin or ply Z on a wheel, the wheel (as you view it when you sit at it) will rotate in a clockwise direction. If you spin or ply Z on a spindle, the spindle will rotate in a clockwise direction when you look down on it from above.

S is just the opposite. The wheel will turn counter clockwise. The spindle will turn counter clockwise when viewed from above.

Yarn is traditionally spun Z and plied S. I've read that nobody knows why, but if you spin with a spindle, are right handed, and spin the spindle with a motion like snapping your fingers with your right hand, you'll get Z spun yarn. So, it's easier for a right handed person to spin Z on a spindle, and I think that's where this tradition all came from.

For most uses, twist direction doesn't matter, but using yarn with opposite twist directions in the same piece can make a visible difference in the finished item. The fibers are aligned in a different direction and reflect the light differently, so it looks different. The yarn can be all the same dye lot, but look like different colors. If you've ever knitted a sweater in flat pieces and sewn in the sleeve, you know the sleeve color probably looks slightly different right where the seam is, just because the yarn is going in a different direction, even if it's all the same yarn. So, it's usually considered good to have all the yarn for a project spun and plied the same way.

So, I think those two things started the convention that yarn is always spun Z and always plied S.

However, as with a lot of things, if you completely understand the rules, you can see when it's useful to break the rules. Understanding the rules and knowing when to break them should be part of the definition of being an artist. People learn the rules and never break them. As an artist, I've broken them all the time when it makes a better finished piece.

You could, possibly, knit a sweater in "color work" by using all the same dye lot fiber, but spinning lots in opposite directions and using them as different colors. This would be very subtle, but noticeable. I haven't tried this but it would be an interesting experiment that would probably work best in medium to light colors.

I have also read some articles on crochet that insist that yarn spun Z and plied S will tend to untwist the plying twist when crochet, but that yarn that's spun S and plied Z will tend to tighten up the plying twist when it's crochet. I don't crochet much, and haven't tried this. You spinners who crochet might want to test the truth of this.

SPINNING BASICS: What Yarn Actually Is

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 11:17:00 +0000

I used to blog all the time, and then I got caught up in a forum for knitters, crocheters, etc. called Knitting Paradise. There was a lot of interest in spinning, and I agreed to do a series of posts for them. The posts were in the Main section of the forum, which is reserved for knitting and crochet because there really wasn't a place for them. Since then, there is a new section for Other Crafts, and I'm trying to get them moved there. In the meantime, and going forward, I'd like all the articles collected in one place, so I'm duplicating them here. Look for more in the future.

Every once in a while, there's a topic on here about spinning, and they always get a lot of attention and rack up a lot of pages of comments. On the latest one, we wanted to start a new section for spinning, but Admin said it would have to be a user administered section, and as such, it would invisible to the user unless you signed up for it.

So, we decided to just start posting things with the word "Spinning" at the beginning of the post to make things clearer, and make posts more visible.

So, this is the first one I'm putting up under that agreement. I'm planning to put up some posts that are just basic info about spinning, and a good place to start for those who know nothing about spinning, and I'm starting them with "SPINNING BASICS" so they'll be easier to find.

The first thing I want to say is a disclaimer. Up until about 10 or 12 years ago, almost all yarn was something you could spin (the notable exception was chenille). Around that time, mills started finding ways of making novelty yarns like fun fur and other kinds of yarn with constructions that are bizarre.

They are excepted from this discussion. Here, I'm discussing the vast majority of commercial yarns and yarns that you can hand spin.

Now that that's out of the way, here we go.

If you take a bunch of loose fibers and grab them at both ends, providing you're not grabbing both ends of the same fibers, you'll find they pull apart easily. The first thing you have to do is find a way of making these fibers longer and making them stay together if you want to make yarn.

If you twist the fibers together tightly enough, the twist makes them compact themselves together into a narrower group. Tightening that up make it harder for the fibers to slip in opposite directions, so adding fiber, little by little in an even stream, and twisting together tightly enough will make a continuous strand that, for all practical purposes, will not pull apart, and you've created the most basic yarn of all: a singles yarn.

This is good, but the twist in the yarn creates a problem. It wants to untwist. At this point, it's what spinners call a "lively yarn." They also call it an unbalanced yarn. It not only tries to untwist, it wants to twist back on itself, kink, and generally fight with you. You can weave with it, but if you try to knit with it, the fabric will bias, and if you, for instance, knit a scarf in stripes, the stripes will be diagonal. You can diminish this quality with blocking (called setting the twist), but it tends to still be there to some extent no matter how hard you try to get rid of it.

If you're spinning yarn and let go of the end, as much of the yarn as isn't fastened down will immediately untwist itself and become fluff again. You have to keep it restrained to keep it from falling apart.

There's another problem, too. A singles yarn is stronger than loose fibers, but it's still not as strong as it could be.

The way to deal with this is plying. If you take two or more singles yarn and twist them together in the opposite direction from the direction they were spun in, you can increase the strength of the yarn tremendously. If you do it properly, and produce a balanced yarn, you can also completely eliminate the tendency of the singles to want to untwist.

If a yarn is unbalanced, for instance, if it has a lot of spinning twist and not much plying twist, or hasn't got much spinning twist and a lot of plying twist, it will act, to some degree, like a singles, and will try to untwist, kink and fight back.

Sometimes, a spinner may do this for a reason, to create a special effect, but usually, it's considered a defect.

What you usually want to create is a balanced yarn, which is one that will lay still and not try to fight back. Sometimes it's hard to tell if you've created a balanced yarn. If you spin something over time, the twist may (to some degree) set itself on the bobbin or spindle. Then, when you ply it, you may be tempted to underply it. The true test of a yarn and it's balance is to wash the finished yarn and let it dry. Then, you'll immediately see if it's balanced. It's a little late then, although it can still be fixed. It's just extra work.

The way to tell for sure if it's balanced is to look at it carefully, and you may need magnification for this. If you're buying magnification, I recommend a linen tester.

To judge how well the yarn is balanced, look at the plied yarn carefully. You'll see the singles twisting around each other, but if you look really carefully, you'll see the individual fibers in the singles. If the yarn is balanced, these fibers will look like they're running parallel with the direction of the yarn. If the singles had a chance to set either on the spindle or bobbin, the yarn may still act lively, but if the individual fibers are straight, when the yarn is washed, you'll see all that liveliness go away.

This is a test that you can apply to commercial yarn, too. Every once in a while, you may notice that you knit something in stockinette, and if you look at the Vs on the right side, you'll see that instead of the nice V you expect, you're getting something that has one leg of the V almost vertical, and the other at a stronger angle than it should. This is because the yarn isn't balanced, and it can change the look of stockinette and fancy stitches, and if it's severe enough, it can make your knitting bias. In other words, if you knit what should be a rectangle, you may actually get a diamond shape. This is the fault of the yarn, not the knitter!

Next time, I'll cover twist direction.

Hi, Strangers!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:37:00 +0000

When I mentally gave myself permission to not have to blog every single day, I didn't anticipate that it would take me this long to post a new one.

But a lot of things conspired to make problems for me.

Blogger changed their whole dashboard, etc, and it suddenly didn't work on my desktop computer. I should note that my DT computer is an iMac that's probably at least 15 years old. It has all my workhorse programs on it, but the internet seems to have all upgraded in the space of a week, and that meant that suddenly the whole internet was speaking Greek as far as it was concerned. I can't access the internet at all on it.

I have upgraded to a newer laptop, but it doesn't have all the programs I like and use on it. I still have to get around to loading them up, and I have things that I really have to do that have been distracting me from it, along with my allergies making me to sick to want to do anything all the time.

I want to put up photos in my posts so that it's more interesting, but PhotoShop is on the other computer. I think I'm going to have to investigate iPhoto so I can put up photos here.

But the most important thing is to just write something, so here goes.

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Last weekend was the Fall Fiber Fest!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go.

I don't have a car anymore, and Holly was having a problem with her brakes, so, to make up for not going and buying a special treat, I bought a treat over the internet, in the form of two pair of Signature straight needles.

I had gotten a pair of size nines in seven inch length with a bell cap and stiletto points in the past, and I love them! I did a potato chip scarf with them out of Mary Maxim Mohair Glitter yarn. Don't turn up your nose because it says Mary Maxim. It's very nice yarn! It has some mohair in with the acrylic and it does have some very sparkly fiber in it, too.

The nines are purple, like these, but mine have the bell cap.

The colorway I bought is Seaspray, which has an assortment of pastel colors in it including green, pink, lavender, blue and turquoise.

I enlarged the photo a lot, so it's a little pixilated (OK, a lot), but you can see the colors better. It seems I can put photos up when I swipe them from the internet. I don't think I'll get in trouble for this because it's really free advertising for the yarn.

This is a very fine yarn that you can knit with a larger needle because of the mohair filling in the spaces. It says to use size nine needles, which is what I did, but the result is very open and airy. I would use a smaller needle if I was making a sweater that I wanted either to actually cover, as opposed to display me, or actually wanted it to provide some warmth. But for the scarf, it's perfect!

I started off using the potato chip scarf pattern that's been bouncing around the internet that uses 20 stitches. I found it awfully narrow, and not ruffly enough to suit me, so I changed it to 24 stitches and an extra short row, which made it wider and gave it a lot more ruffle. Pictures to come when I get off my lazy rear end.

Anyway, I wound up with a scarf that looks like it's made of fairy dust!

Now that it's done, I bought some lavender Lion Brand Fun Fur and am making a scarf with it on the same size 9 needles. Unfortunately, I only bought two balls of it, and the length scarf I want will need another ball. I have to get back to the store to get more. It's currently my traveling project. If I'm working on a large project that I don't want to carry around, I usually also work on a smaller, more portable project like a scarf or socks.

So (back to the original point of this before I strayed off into Signature needle rhapsodies), I ordered two more pair of Signature straight needles in 7 inch length, with stiletto points and bell caps in sizes 5 and 2-1/2. Both of them happen to be blue. Here's a photo of blue Signatures, but keep in mind that mine have bell caps.

I also ordered more yarn from Mary Maxim to make a baby blanket for my soon to appear (January) new great grandson. The yarn is called Prism, and it's multicolored (important for the project) and machine wash and dry. I've raised a baby, and I can guarantee that she doesn't want anything that isn't wash and wear.

This is also really enlarged so you can see the color better. They show this made up in a capelet in their catalog, and the blue gets so light in that sample that it's almost an off white, so this sample may or may not be an accurate color sample. Either way, I think it'll be a nice blanket for a baby/little boy,

For the blanket, I'm planning on using my new size 5 needles to work it in domino knitting.

I also bought a book from Amazon that arrived on Tuesday (actually, it arrived on Monday, but the people at the apartment building I live in wouldn't give it to me until Tuesday), called Domino Knitting. I was a little unsure about spending money on it, but now that it's here, I love it!

The blanket will look a lot like the cover of the book, but be knitted in small blocks that, since the yarn is variegated, will look a lot like the cover, but blue. I love the Signature needles! They're like knitting with jewelry!

And we're having a craft class downstairs in less than a half hour, so I'm going to get off the internet and go down there. I'm not really interested in craft lessons, but there are a bunch of nice people and it's fun.

I am going to try to blog more often, even if I don't have any photos. Actually, I don't think I did too bad for not having any photos.

I hope you've been watching Grimm on Fridays and Once Upon a Time on Sundays!

Have a great weekend!

Happy August!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:35:00 +0000

I meant to blog yesterday, but I missed it! So, I'm wishing this for you a little late.

Happy Air Force Day!

The photo was taken at Lackland AFB, where I was stationed for a couple of months.

I hope it was a happy one! Having been in the Air Force, I have a soft spot for it and flying. Find out more about Air Force Day from the Department of Defense here!

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I'm still working on the shawls with the Celtic knots. The one I'm currently almost finished has a knot that's made up of hearts. I really love this one.

If you look at it, there are two hearts with their bottom points touching in the center, and the knot expands into a big, overall heart.

That's made from Knit Picks Tweed in Marine Heather. The color is rich and beautiful, and the photo doesn't do it justice. You can see it better if you click the link. It is a blue that leans toward turquoise, and the heathering makes it look so deep and rich. It's soft, and just a wonderful yarn! I love this yarn!

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I talked to Holly on Sunday, and she's going to drive out here and see me. It's been a little over a year since I've seen her, although we talk on the phone frequently. I'm really looking forward to trying to find a good chair for me that doesn't damage my elbows like my current one does. I really hope we can find it on Sunday, because it I don't find it until later, I'll have to try to get it home by myself, which means a cab, which I don't think will be a good arrangement.

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Well, it's that time of year again. Pennsic is already under weigh, and some of my friends have already gone. For those of you who don't know, Pennsic is one of the biggest events put on yearly by the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), and it attracts people from all over the world.

Pennsic started as a war between the Middle Kingdom and the Kingdom of the East, and it features all sorts of battles including a field battle, woods battle, bridge battle, siege, melee, and much more. The different battles accrue points, and points are also added for winning many other kinds of competition, especially in the arts and sciences. There are also classes in the arts and sciences, royal courts, and shopping, shopping, and more shopping! And I'm not even mentioning the large part of the populace who stay up and party all night.

We are still currently in the first week of Pennsic. It will really get going on Saturday, when the majority of attendees will start arriving. More info as it happens!

I need to get some other things done, now, so I'll try to blog more frequently in the future.

Have fun in the meantime!

Happy Independence Day!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 21:23:00 +0000

Happy Independence Day!

I hope you're celebrating in all the traditional ways!

I have a horrible, foreboding feeling that this may be the last year for a while that we're able to celebrate in peace. Hearing some of the things that representatives of our government are saying, it's making me scared that by this time next year, we may be fighting for our independence all over again. We're certainly not going to get any independence if our elected officials have their way. It makes me wonder why we elected them, and then I think back to George W vs. Al Gore, and realize we didn't elect them!

I always loved the United States. That's why I joined the Air Force. But this isn't the country I served, anymore. It's changed beyond all recognition.

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On to happier topics.

The Saint John's cross shawl is done in it's City Tweed DK incarnation. I'm currently knitting another one in Wool of the Andes sport weight yarn (it must be Solstice Heather, but I don't think I ordered that color). Anyway, it's a new denim blue, very pretty. I was looking for a lighter shade, but they didn't have a lighter heather blue. Anyway, I'll be at or near the middle of the cross before the day is over.

I still have to get the two scarves off to Knit Picks, but it's been so hot out, and going to the post office is an all-day trip, and I've stood in 100 degree (sometimes plus) weather in the sun for more than 2 hours too many times in the past (or below freezing, with lots of wind), waiting for a bus, to do anything buy dread going. I was considering trying to go to one of the other post offices, but I still have to take the bus to get to them, and if I go to the one that's closest to me, I can walk across the street to the yarn store and sit in the air conditioning for a while before I go back to fighting with the buses. Plus, there's something I want to buy there.

On the point of post office closeness, the one that's closest to me is furthest on the bus. The bus gives me a scenic tour of the county before it will take me anywhere I want to go. So, the post office I get to first on the bus isn't the closest one. And neither of the post offices or the Fed Ex office have places that it's convenient or even out of the sun to wait for the bus to get home.

But back to my local yarn shop, Yarn Cloud. They have a Namaste Buddy Case in eggplant, to match my Laguna bag.

Isn't it pretty? And convient to carry very small things, like tapestry needles. It has separate compartments and magnets built in to hold those needles, your scissors, and more. I've been wanting one for a while, and I can't wait.

The photo shows it with cosmetics in it, but it's great for tiny knitting things, too.

Since I don't have one yet, and wanted to show what it looks like, I went to the Namaste site, and discovered that they are adding a new color in their Oh, Snap bags! In August (just in time for my birthday), they're adding eggplant to the colors available!

Don't those look pretty? And useful? I have to check out the prices, but I really like them.

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Well, I have to get going if I want to do the stuff I need to do today!

Have a great Independence Day, a beautiful balance of the week and a fabulous weekend!

Happy Summer!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 23:39:00 +0000

It's well and truly Summer, now. The Solstice was last Wednesday? Sometime last week. We've not only passed Memorial Day, which most people regard as the beginning of Summer, but it's now officially Summer by the calendar.

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I've been busy with my latest resolution, which is to get one pattern accepted and off to Knit Picks each month. I'm on a push to get the last little bit of the knotted scarf completely finished and in the mail. I should actually be working on it right now.

When I submitted the proposal for this, I knew that I'd have to take photos and I'd need a model, but I had no idea how to find one. Submitting the prop was a leap of faith. I've decided I'm going to do this, and somehow I will get it done, even if I don't know how I'm going to do it right now.

Well, I put up an ad on CraigsList DC, and three young women answered my ad. One of them was exactly what I was looking for. Her name is Samantha, and here are some photos of her and the scarf (which I made in two different weights and in two colors so I could tell which was which).

Since this, and the next project, and most of the ones I want to do have a Celtic flavor, I was hoping for someone with strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. Samantha has green eyes, but really is perfect, and she has a very nice personality. I'm really delighted with her as a model and a possible new friend. She's wearing the worsted weight scarf in Wool of the Andes in Baltic Heather. The color is beautiful! and it looks great on her.

Here's the same scarf in one of Knit Pick's sport weight Wool of the Andes color Haze Heather. Both colors are made from blending different colors of wool before spinning and they are beautiful. If you examine them closely, you can see all the different colors of fibers.

Here's a closer view of the actual braided knot. The quality of this photo isn't too good, because I took it with my tablet, not a good camera. But you can clearly see what the knot looks like.

I plan to finish putting together the layout for it today, and tomorrow, go back over it and proof it and check it for all the things that Knit Picks requires of their patterns. I was going to say it's a long checklist, but it's actually two shorter checklists.

In the meantime, as you may have noticed since I have photos of finished projects, I've been working on my next project for Knit Picks. It's the shawl with the Saint John's cross in the middle, fringe, and a picot bind off on the top edge. I'm only partly done, but most of the cross is finished. I'm partly through the top part of the cross, after the interlacing ring. Here's what the cross looks like and you can see how far I've gotten.

That's being knit in Knit Picks' City Tweed in DK weight, and the yarn is just scrumptious! It feels great on your skin! I'm getting near the finish, but since this is a triangular shawl, knit from the bottom up, and each row gets another stitch added at the beginning of the row, each row is getting longer. There's still a lot of knitting in this! When I knitted the first one, it took me almost an hour and a half to bind it off! It uses a picot bind off, so there's not only a lot of stitches to bind off, but you keep casting on more stitches, which then have to be bound off, too. This shawl just eats up yarn at an amazing rate! It has a garter stitch background, fringe (each strand of fringe uses about 14 inches of yarn!), and the picot bind off, which is very pretty and adds a nice touch, but also really uses up yarn.

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I've been watching the Jesse Stone movies on Hallmark Movie Channel all day. They're showing them out of order, which is very disappointing of them. There's a new movie at the end of all this (starts at 8 pm here) that premiered on network TV about a month or so ago. They're all very good.

I've been reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. These are really good, too.

It's based on the idea that right after World War II, a woman and her husband are taking a second honeymoon in Scotland, and, while collecting some botanical specimens, she walks between the two sides of a cracked standing stone in a henge and is transported 200 years into the past. The first book is Outlander, and it's first-rate!

I got my copy from the library, and hadn't looked for it on Amazon until I looked it up to put a link to it here so you could read a review of it if you wanted, and I'm stunned at the price for a used copy! I may have to buy the whole series for myself.

The second book is Dragonfly in Amber, followed by Voyager, and I'm now up to Drums of Autumn. Actually, I'm almost finished reading it. I'm really loving it, but the library doesn't seem to have the next book or two, just the final one. I'm either going to have to break down and buy the books or give up for the moment. It's probably a better plan to buy these and read at leisure, though. Drums is over a thousand pages, and it's printed in small type, which is why it's taking me a while to get through them. It's a fascinating story, and she makes me care about the characters, but it's a book that walks, as opposed to books like the Harry Potter books or the Twilight series, that just fly!

I plan to at least take a break from the series and switch to another one that I've really loved.

If you haven't met Odd Thomas, you really should read the books. There's a series by Dean Koontz all about Oddie, whose parents claimed to have intended to call him Todd, but left off the T by accident on his birth certificate application. Odd sees the dead. They don't talk to him, because to Odd, the dead don't seem to be capable of speech that he can hear. Ghosts come to Odd when they've been killed, in an effort to bring their killers to justice. But he sees other supernatural phenomena, too, like the dark, smoke-like creatures that gather preceding major catastrophes to feast on the negative energy. It's always a mystery for him to solve because although he gets clues, nobody can really tell him what happened, or, in some cases, what's about to happen.

There is a whole series of books about Odd, which I have read, and which you can find on Amazon, plus some graphic novels about Odd which I haven't read. The thing that's prompting me to go back and read the series (aside from the fact that I love them so much that I do that from time to time anyway), is that there's a new book in the series (Odd Apocalypse) coming out at the end of July. I can't wait!

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Well, I've managed to delay the work that I should be doing by writing this as long as I possibly can, so I guess I'd better get busy and actually do it.

I hope you've been having a wonderful weekend and have a great week coming up!

Yarn!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:43:00 +0000

Yesterday, all the yarn from Knit Picks arrived! That's not totally true. The post office delivered it on Tuesday, but because of the apartment building I live in, I couldn't pick it up until Wednesday. There are things I love about this place, but that's not one of them.

Anyway, I picked up a box full of about $100 worth of yarn! Absolutely free! Well, I've agreed to do a lot of work with it, but it won't cost any actual money.

I had requested Wool of the Andes in either Baltic Heather or Marine Tweed, and gave them a choice which they sent. I was secretly hoping to get the tweed, but they sent Baltic Heather.

Here's the Marine Tweed:

When I went to look for what the Marine Tweed looks like, I realized that they're discontinuing the color and it's on sale! That's probably why I didn't get it. So, if you're looking for something like this, Knit Picks is the place to look. There are some other colors of Wool of the Andes Tweed that are on sale. Check it out.

Isn't it pretty, though?

Anyway, the Baltic Heather yarn is just beautiful! If you look at it closely, you can see so many colors in it, but from a distance, it looks more like a tonal color. I'm really pleased with it. . .

It's every bit as beautiful as the photo shows it to be. In real life, it's even more beautiful.

That's the yarn for the scarf.

The shawl is going to be knit in City Tweed DK, in Porpoise.

It's hard to decide to call this blue or grey, but it's truly beautiful. The Wool of the Andes feels good, but this stuff feels more like an angora rabbit!

I'm really looking forward to knitting with this stuff! It's true luxury fiber!

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the Wool of the Andes. It's knitting up so nice. I finished the first short section of the scarf, and have finished most of the section for the woven knot and will try what I think will be an easier way to weave it. I'll be on to the long straight stretch to the second knot later on this evening.

I've been bored to death with all the Spring TV shows that have finished up last week and left a wasteland in their wake.

Tonight, however, I have pizza, some good stuff on TV, and a scarf that is an easy knit, but looks so great that it's a real joy to knit! I'm planning to kick back and just enjoy the whole thing! I'm going to try to rest my elbow at least several times during the evening.

I wish you an evening as fun as mine is going to be!

Fabulous News and Bad News

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:15:00 +0000

Monday, I got an email from Knit Picks telling me that two of my designs had been accepted for their independent designer program!

The first of the two is a scarf with a woven knot in it. I've already done a sample in Wool of the Andes sport weight, and have some really bad photos of both projects.

The wonderful, fabulous camera my sister gave me seemed to be malfunctioning, and the wonderful camera I bought before that seemed to be doing the same thing. Luckily, the problem was with the batteries, but it took me a little while to figure that out, so these photos were taken with my tablet computer.

Here's a view of the overall scarf:

As mentioned, that's in sport weight, and I'm also going to do one in worsted weight.

One of the ladies (Beth) at my knitting group (Flying Fingers) started knitting it. I was there for the meeting yesterday. Beth came in a little late, and when she saw me, her mouth opened, and before she could say anything, I said, "You want to talk to me!" She asked how I knew that, and I told her that she was close enough to weaving the knot last week that I was sure she'd be up to it by now, and I suspected she couldn't figure out how to do it.

So, we sat there, and wove a section of her scarf together. It really is a job for four hands. It was kind of fun working with another person so closely. There were cheers and words of encouragement, and everybody had fun. Afterward, every once in a while, she murmured, "I'm so pleased!" It gave me some ideas on how to adapt the job so it can be done with just two hands.

The other pattern that was accepted was the triangular shawl with the Saint John's cross on it.

You can't see it too well in the photo, but it really is spectacular! The fringe around the two sides is finished, in other words, there are no cut ends to fray! And you can't really see it too well in the photo but there's a picot bind-off across the top. I made it for a friend, who bought the yarn, and I'll have to knit it again for the pattern in Knit Picks yarn.

I'm so excited about this opportunity!

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The bad news is that about a week or so ago, a big, soft lump came up on my right elbow. I ignored it for a while, hoping it would go away, but it hasn't gotten any better so far.

So, today, I looked it up on the internet, and it says that the bursa in my elbow is inflamed. It says to take ibuprofen, use a compression bandage, try to keep my elbow elevated, and stop doing stuff that irritates it!

It said it makes your elbow hurt, and I hadn't noticed that. But then, I'm really good at ignoring things like pain. Once I stopped everything and paid attention to my elbow, I discovered that it really was hurting.

Stuff that irritates it includes knitting!

So, Knit Picks has sent out yarn support for the two projects. It hasn't arrived yet, and I'm going to at least stop knitting until it arrives. I may delay starting it or at least take it easy when I do start.

That not only includes knitting, but also typing, so I'm going to stop now, and you may not hear from me for a while. If you do, it may be very short.

I do have a doctor's appointment, so relax. The internet may be helpful, but doesn't really replace a doctor. I can't see her instantly, though, so I can at least start to treat this before seeing her.

In the meantime, have a wonderful week and the best Memorial Day Weekend ever. I'm going to try to get out at some point to see Rolling Thunder. I don't have to actually go anywhere to see them, they're pretty much everywhere on Memorial Day Weekend, but not in my apartment. I'll have to go out to see them.

Anyway, have fun!

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sat, 05 May 2012 20:26:00 +0000

If it's Cinco de Mayo and it's Saturday or Sunday, then the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is underway.

Unfortunately, my allergies are keeping me from going. I don't have a car, and I'd like to think that it's the reason that I'm not going. I'd like that, because it's something I could possibly fix and maybe go next year.

But I can't kid myself. I've been having a severe allergic reaction for more than two years straight, and almost constantly for at least 5 years because of the unhealthy conditions in the HUD subsidized apartment in which I live. Going out for the day in the Spring, when the air is filled with tree pollen is nearly suicidal. I don't know. Maybe I can fix the problem with the apartment building and get better, if not well.

But back to the Sheep and Wool Fest! Or rather, back to the subject, but not the Festival.

Here's a photo of a lamb to get you in the mood.

Susan McFarland brought along a little lamb to the show a few years ago, and you can see her sitting in Susan's lap. Isn't she a cutie?

I'm at home, getting in the mood by watching You Lucky Dog on the Hallmark Network. It'll be on later today, too. It's about a woman who comes home from New York to her family's cattle farm and discovers that they've bought some sheep, too. She gets and trains a sheep dog named Lucky, and starts a designer sweater business. There are lots of border collies herding sheep, so at least I don't have to feel like I'm missing the sheepdog trials.

In the meantime, I'm finishing up some knitting projects, doing some light cleaning, and I might even do some spinning later. I might even treat myself to some chicken fried rice from the local Chinese restaurant as consolation.

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The Jewelry Project

I used to make and sell sterling silver jewelry, and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed wearing it even more.

Then Steve decided to help me by throwing out all my tools (including a torch) and what was about $300 worth of sterling silver (then). It's probably about $4,500 worth of sterling in today's prices. This, and similar incidents, is a large part of why I'm no longer married to Steve.

I've been collecting silver working tools for the past few months, and this month I splurged and spent all my disposable income on the last few tools I needed, and some nickel silver wire. It should all arrive this coming week.

From Cool Tools, I ordered an anvil that is almost a sculptural work of art in it's own right,

a sandbag,

a mallet, and protective glasses (I'm not showing the glasses).

I found a great shop on ebay called JETS Tools, and I ordered a goldsmith's hammer from them.

Isn't it pretty?

I plan to get a chasing hammer soon, too.

All of the tools are not only superb tools for the job, but aesthetically pleasing as well. The anvil, mallet, and hammer are beautiful pieces of sculpture, and the sandbag is to deaden the noise of using the hammers and anvil.

And, of course, I ordered some metal, in this case, various gauges of nickel silver wire. Please note that although it's called nickel silver, there is no silver in it. It is, as the name states, nickel. Actually, it's mostly copper, and there's a little bit of zinc in it, too, but no silver.

But it looks great, doesn't tarnish, and it's a tiny fraction of the cost of sterling. I got it partly because I was nearly broke after buying the hammers and anvil and wanted to be able to do something with the tools, and partly because it's a really inexpensive way to experiment before making things in the far more expensive silver. Next month, I may spring for some sterling filled wire.

Oh, and while I was at it, I ordered the crochet hooks I need to make the hats that I ordered the yarn and beads for last month. It'll be so nice to get the sun out of my eyes, and look great while I'm doing it!

I hope you're having a great weekend, and that if you live in my area that you got to go to the sheep and wool fest!

Flying Fingers

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:54:00 +0000

Almost a month ago, I was invited to join a nearby knitting group called Flying Fingers. It's located in a complex dedicated to seniors about a mile away from where I live.

I went to one meeting, missed the next, and then Dottie forgot to pick me up for the next one, but I've been to two more since then.

At the meeting last night, a lot of the members were missing because there's another nearby knitting group that they went to. I'm guessing that that group is only once a month, instead of every week like Flying Fingers. I did get to meet one of the people from the other group (besides Dottie) last night, and was invited to speak at one of their meetings. I don't know what they want me to talk about, but it sounds good.

During the meeting, I worked on binding off the shawl I've been making for my friend, Louise. She has a "craft class" at the apartment building where I live. They pretty much exclusively do paper crafts, almost always greeting cards. Once a month they get together and make two or three cards each. I used to do paper crafts, and had a lot of rubber stamps, but they went to New Jersey, and I'm not interested in putting any money into rubber stamps at the moment.

Because of the paper crafts, which Louise does all the time for herself, she regularly goes to either JoAnne's or Michael's. She generously offered to give me a ride to one or the other of those two places when she happens to be going there. I live near her, and she only takes me when she's already going, so it's not out of her way.

I wanted to give her some money for gas, but she insisted that she would be going anyway, even if she didn't take me, so she wouldn't accept money.

What we did agree on was that she wanted a shawl to give her sister in law for Christmas, so she bought the yarn and I knit the shawl. That's what I was binding off at the meeting last night. It was a picot bind off, so it really took a lot of time and yarn. When I was completely finished, there was a five inch tail of good yarn and another inch of frayed. I used exactly all the yarn that I had! I have some tails to darn in, and I'm debating about blocking it.

The yarn is a heathery beige-tan in worsted weight. She chose Wool Ease in Mushroom.

I started at the point at the bottom, increasing each row, and put a fringe around the two short sides. There's a big Saint John's cross (sample below from a different project), and I finished off the top with a picot bind off.

You can barely see a sample of the picot bind off on the right in the photo above.

The photos are from a completely different project, because I don't have a photo of the shawl yet, but I plan to take one and have a picture for you real soon, now.

I really have to go to the library and pick up a book, but I'll try to do another post again sometime very soon.

Friday the Thirteenth!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:04:00 +0000

Today is Friday the thirteenth, and the second one this year. We still have one more to go, so don't think you're off the hook yet.

Oddly enough, a lot of people regard Friday the thirteenth as a lucky day, so I've chosen to look at it that way, too. You might want to try it. It's much less stressful.

So, have a happy, lucky Friday the thirteenth!

Happy Easter!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 23:47:00 +0000

Happy Easter!

I hope you've been having a happy Easter!

The temperature in my apartment is getting up near 90 degrees (again), and I finally gave up and opened the window. Happy allergies! I feel like I have flu most of the time.

I hope you're enjoying all the great Easter movies on TV, but don't miss Once Upon A Time
tonight!

April Fool's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:09:00 +0000

Happy April Fool's Day!

For those of you (like me) who haven't really seen anyone today on which to play an April Fool's Day prank, I give you the following link to a list of the most notorious April Fool's Day pranks ever played.

Having been a typesetter, I especially appreciate number 5, about the itinerant island chain of San Seriffe, with it's punctuation-shaped islands and it's capital, Bodoni. The two major islands, Upper and Lower Caisse were a nice touch, as was the second cousin of the president, "Che" Pica (you have to hit the "more" button and wait for a while to read all of the story).

I also particularly enjoyed the article about Alabama changing the value of Pi. The story about the left-handed Whopper was beyond belief. Additional gigglers include the conversion to metric time, the "bomb" dropped on a German camp during WWI, whistling carrots, drunk internet use, the predicted death of an astrologer, diseases in teddy bears, footprints of a flying man, and, in a twist on the metric time prank, there's Big Ben being converted to digital. I only got up to number 50, but there's lots more if you're interested.

If you happen to be wondering how April Fool's Day started, you can read an explanation here, from some people who are probably as confused as you are.

Whatever, I hope you have a fun day!

Happy Heathen Rites of Spring!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:13:00 +0000

Happy Heathen Rites of Spring!

I know that Spring started on Tuesday, and it's now Friday, and I'm more than a little late.

But, that doesn't mean that my wishes are any less heartfelt.

The cherry blossom height is usually late in April, but somebody forecast that it would be a little earlier than that, and the TV station that reported that said they thought it would be at it's best around the 15th of April.

Well, I live outside DC, which means that the cherry blossoms come out earlier in the city than here because the city leaks so much heat, and it's warmer there. But, even so, the cherry blossoms are in full, glorious bloom right NOW!

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The Future of Knitting Content on this Blog

As I've mentioned before, I got involved in a knitting forum called Knitting Paradise. The link is to sign up for their newsletter. Here is a link directly to the knitting forum.

There are people from all kinds of backgrounds and skills on the forum, and they mainly discuss knitting, problems they're having with knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving. You'll get a better link if you sign up. There are also sections of the forum for photos, so you can show off your best work, a section for swaps and to sell stuff you no longer want, a section to just chat about stuff in general, and more.

Well, people keep asking questions, and I keep answering them. Oh, by the way, if you have any questions about knitting, I can probably answer them, just ask a question in the comments.

And after I've answered questions, I have had people ask me for more accurate directions (i.e., a pattern) for how to knit something.

So far, I've committed myself to writing and publishing two patterns: comfy socks pattern, and a Christmas stocking pattern. They seem to be stuck on a socks thing.

Anyway, on the subject of the comfy socks pattern, there was a general discussion of socks, and I mentioned that my daughter told me about diabetic socks. These are socks that are marketed to diabetics (who are notorious for having foot problems) because they've been engineered to avoid foot problems for people who have diabetes. A friend recommended them to her because, although she doesn't have diabetes, they were the most comfortable socks that he'd ever worn. She tried them and agreed that they were super comfortable.

Well, she described them to me, and what qualities they had that made them so comfortable, and I've been working on duplicating those qualities in hand-knit socks. I've been knitting them for a couple of years, and refining the formula little by little. They're not quite as good as the commercial socks sold for diabetics, but they're getting remarkably close.

You won't find fancy stitches and designs or lace and cables on these, but they are good, handsome socks that hug the foot where it's needed to keep from producing blisters, are loose over the toes to provide comfort and wiggle room (but still snug enough not to fold over and cause blisters), have deep enough heels that they won't slide down in your socks, have legs that won't droop and fall down, and have have a cast on at the top of the leg that's stretchy enough that it will go over your heel without a fight. These are handsome, good looking, everyday socks that will feel great on your foot. And they have a lot of techniques that you can apply to almost any other sock pattern to make them more comfortable.

I have one more thing that I want to test before I actually write up this pattern. That means I want to knit and test wear at least one more pair of socks before I even start to write this. So, you can see that this will not be out instantly. In fact, the more I think about this, the more it sounds like a small book rather than just a pattern. There's a lot of work that's already gone into this, and it's definitely going to be a pattern I feel like I have to charge for.

I read about a woman who's writing and selling books on the internet, and she's making a fortune at it because she's selling the electronic books for about $2. It doesn't take a lot of thought to realize that selling 5 books (or patterns) at $5 each isn't as good as selling 100 at $2 each. So, I'm planning to assign lower prices to my patterns to gain some volume (this doesn't apply to my printed patterns, which also cost money, up front, to print).

But this pattern will be a short book, with lots of photos of construction, and with instructions written out so that even beginning sock knitters can turn out excellent socks from the beginning. So, the pattern/instructions will still be a more robust price. I plan to keep it under $10, but I also plan to make it a treasure-trove of how to knit socks for beginners, with a pile of tips, tricks, and new ways to make socks comfy. So, you'll be getting every penny's worth!

I plan to test a different type of sock yarn, and take lots of photos while I'm doing it, then write it all out, lay it out and make a PDF. That's a lot of work, considering that I won't have the money for the new sock yarn I plan to test until the beginning of next month, and it's so hot in my apartment, that knitting is giving me heat stroke, and it's going to get much hotter in here in the next month. It's 80 degrees outside, which means it's about 90 degrees in here. It usually reaches 110 degrees in here long before they turn on the air conditioning.

As to the other pattern, I want to get some yarn and knit a stocking while taking photos of the process as it unfolds for the pattern.

I'm going to quit, now, because Blogger has stopped functioning.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:02:00 +0000

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

This seems to sum up Saint Patrick's Day most years for most people, so I thought it would be appropriate.

Another thing that I think is appropriate is sharing with you a recipe for a drink called an Irish Fog, invented by an SCA friend of mine, Alan Feldman/Baron Silver.

1 part Jameson's
1 part Drambuie
1 part Irish Cream

Combine, with or without crushed ice, shake, and serve. It tastes like a chocolate milkshake, positively yummy! It will make you drunkish!

I was going to give you a link to Wikipedia, where they give you a long dissertation on the history of Saint Patrick's Day, but I think this is more fun!

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It's a Harry Potter Weekend!

ABC Family is having a Harry Potter weekend (again). Yes, I know they've already done it to death, but it's still fun for me, so I thought it might be fun for you, too.

Currently, they're showing Goblet of Fire, which is appropriate, because they attend the quiddich world cup in the beginning, and Ireland wins, so there's a lot of shamrock and leprechaun symbolism in it.

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The New Knitty Is Out!

The Spring issue of Knitty is out, and you can see the new patterns here!

It's getting up near 90 degrees in here, and I just can't stand to sit and write any more.

I hope your whole weekend is fabulous!

We Lost an Hour Today!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:09:00 +0000

That's right, it was time to spring forward early this morning!

It comes around every year, and I'm never prepared. Loosing an hour of sleep always makes me cranky!

But, it's a little after 7 pm, and it's still daylight here! That's a good thing! It makes me feel like Spring is really on it's way.

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Get in on a Review and Giveaway for Knitters!

I came across a great article about something every knitter needs today, and they're giving it away!

Check this out!

If you have hearing problems, like me, you don't really have to hear what she's saying in the video to get the gist. She's giving away a gadget that looks like the spike you stick receipts on, but it looks like it has ball bearings or some other provision to make it spin easily. You impale your ball of yarn on the spike, and it feeds off evenly and without tangles! What knitter doesn't need something like that?

Enter today! The giveaway closes at noon on Tuesday!

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Since I Keep Changing Subjects So Often, I've Decided to Make it Easier

I've decided to not only put in a row of asterisks when I change subject, but to put in a title for the subject change so you can read what you want and disregard the rest.

Enjoy!

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Star Trek 2!

The other evening, I was watching Star Trek (the new, revised version with a whole new history), and loving it, just as I did the previous 5 times I watched it (it's still on my DVR so I can watch it again), and wondering, now that he's created this great, brand-new history, what is J.J. Abrams going to do with it?

Well, that question has been at least partially answered!

They started filming the next movie in January, and we can expect a brand-new extravaganza next summer! Wikipedia has more news here, and that link will probably take you to updates over time. They haven't got a release title yet (movies seldom do at this stage), so everybody just seems to be calling it Star Trek 2.

I don't know about you, but the only other science fiction news that could get me this excited is if Joss Whedon announced that he was putting Firefly back on the air!

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There's a New Sookie Stackhouse Book Coming!

On the first of May, there will be a brand new book about Sookie Stackhouse out! I can hardly wait!

It's called Deadlocked , and there's no information about the story, only preordering on Amazon.

Charlane Harris has some general information about what she's up to (along with some other really great writers) on her blog here. She has, however, published Chapter 2 of Deadlocked using Flash (so you probably can't read it on a phone or tablet). I don't know why she published Chapter 2 rather than Chapter 1 (I haven't read it yet), but it's there if you, like me, can't wait.

If you're a fan of Charlane, you might want to check out Diana Gabaldon, who is the author of the series I'm currently reading, the Outlander series.

The first book in the series is Outlander , and it's about Claire Randall, who lives in England during the 1940s. On a trip to Scotland, she walks between two stones of a henge to collect a botanical specimen, and winds up in the 1700s. Her adventures are immediate and exciting, and it all takes off from there.

I'm about halfway through the second book, Dragonfly in Amber , and loving it!

Oh, Once Upon a Time is on! I have to go watch it!

Have a wonderful week!

Knitting Needle Review

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:25:00 +0000

The first thing I have to say here is a disclaimer. This is not a review of all possible knitting needles, just a review of the needles I've been lucky enough to try out or have heard a lot about.

I should also say that I am a very biased reporter of the facts.

I really love the sharp, long points, and hate the short, stubby, blunt points. I've also tried plastic and wooden needles, and I find that I tend to snap them with amazing regularity, and since I can't afford to replace needles (either in knitting time lost while I get new ones or in money spent), I tend to avoid those. I also like circular needles because they're more versatile. I can knit flat if I want, or knit circularly in the easiest way possible. So, mostly, you're going to hear about needles that I like.

Fixed Needles

The one exception to the plastic knitting needle situation is the Bryspun circulars. They have a metal rod in the tip, and the plastic is slightly flexible, but still stiff, so they don't tend to break like their DP needles do. I like to use their DP needles in the larger sizes because they have some give (they're not too stiff) which is easier on my hands; the surface lets what you're knitting slide smoothly, but tends to prevent the stitches from jumping off; and they're just nice to work with. I only work with them when I have plenty of the same size on hand because I manage to snap them on a regular basis.

The points on the Bryspun needles are very similar to the Addi lace needles, but a little more concave, which makes them a dream to knit with.

Everyone who likes sharp points seems to love the Signature needles with stiletto points the best. Here's a photo of a stiletto point.

And, for comparison, here's a photo of the three different needle points they have available. That's the stiletto on the left, middy in the middle and the blunt point on the right. They mention on their website that the stiletto are the most popular.

I haven't had the privilege of trying them yet (in other words, I can't afford them), but have heard that the cables on the circular needles are wonderful.

I watched an episode of Knitting Daily where they were making gauge swatches on short single point Signatures, and it looked like they were knitting with jewelry, and I'm just dying to get a pair. The available stoppers on the ends look like this:

You can see why I said they look like you're knitting with jewelry.

The down side of these is the price. Everyone says that they're worth every penny, but nobody denies that they're expensive.

At about half the price of the Signatures, I love the Addi lace needles. They originally advertised that they had copied the Baleen needle points, but those were a concave shape, and the Addi lace points that I've gotten lately seem to be straight.

Below is a comparative photo of an Addi lace point, and the point on a Chiaogoo lace needle of the same size. Addi is shown on the bottom with Chiaogoo on the top.

Addi lace needles are made in brass with a clear coating that I think is resin. If you remember the grey coating that used to be on some needles that everybody insisted was Teflon, that was actually resin. The clear resin coating on the Addis doesn't seem to be quite as slippery as the old grey coating was. If you're knitting lace, this can be an advantage. The slipperiness is close to a nickel coating, but not quite as slippery.

At this point, I'm reviewing the fixed Addi lace needles. I'll get to the interchangeables in a bit.

I've noticed that after you have them for a while, they tend to smell like brass that's oxidizing, and I tend to get the smell on my hands and I don't like it. The points, however are quite nice. From the photos, they seem to be very similar to the stiletto points on Signatures, and at about half the price. The joins are wonderful, and the cables are very flexible. I used to love these needles before I tried Chiaogoo.

A Chiaogoo lace point is shown above the Addi point in the photo above. The points are very similar, and seem to be almost (maybe exactly) the same as the stilettos. When knitting with them, the very end of the point seems to be a little more blunt in the Addis.

Chiaogoo lace needles come with stainless steel tips, which will never smell like the Addis do. They also have the size of the needle imprinted on the needle tip, although I find the imprint difficult to read. The steel has just the tiniest bit less slipperiness than nickel coated needles, but not much. They're very close. The joins on these are smooth as silk, and the cables are sturdy (braided steel with a plastic cover), and very flexible, with no memory.

They also have a different feel when you knit with them. They feel like precision tools in a way that makes the Addis seem almost clumsy by comparison. This is not something that I can describe any other way. They just feel very precise, and just perfect to knit with. All this at about half the price of the Addis (or about 1/4 of the price of Signatures).

If you have an allergy to nickel, all of the needles reviewed so far should be safe for you.

Interchangeable Needles

Now we get to the ones that will not be safe for people with a nickel allergy, and the ones that are interchangeable, too. There are also ones in this list that are safe for people with allergies.

Options needles by Knit Picks are brass with a nickel coating. The very tip of the point is sharp, but they have a shorter taper than all the needles reviewed so far. Options are also available in resin-impregnated wood (Harmony) and plastic (Zephyrs) with the same tips for those of you with allergies. As far as wood or plastic needles go, they probably have the sharpest points it's possible to have with those. The cables are very flexible, and the joins can be excellent, and the join has a hole in it (for using a key to tighten them) which can also be used to thread a lifeline through so that you don't have to do it manually. They offer a quality product with a low price for what you get, so they're a good, economic buy.

I have had a cable come right out of the connection one time. I've had some connections come unscrewed when I didn't fasten them right, and I've had some connections that developed some roughness due to use.

Knit Picks is a wonderful place to buy from, and they guarantee everything. I mentioned the cable that popped out when I ordered from them, and they sent me two brand new cables, free in my order. I've heard many people mention that they've almost instantly replaced a product that broke or malfunctioned.

In fairness, I should say that one or another of my Options needles were used at least 4 hours every day for about 4 years, and the worst thing that happened was that one cable popped out of the connector. Plus these are very popular needles that see a lot of hard use by thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, possibly a million knitters for many years, so hearing about some problems shouldn't scare you off from them. Think about the times that you've sat on your knitting, or otherwise accidentally done something really bad to your needles, and you'll see that they have a very good record.

One to the Addi lace clicks! The first thing I need to say about these is that I haven't tried them myself. But I've read a load of reviews, and heard a lot from people who own them. But you should take anything I say with a grain of salt.

Addi originally released the set with 4 inch tips in brass with the clear coating. So many people didn't like the short tips that they later released 5 inch tips, and for a while, both were available. Sometime around this time, they changed to a nickel coating instead of the clear coating.

Now, it seems that they may be selling sets with either the 4 inch tips and sets with 5 inch tips. Other news I've heard leads me to believe that only the 5 inch tips are available. If you buy a set, and the tip length matters to you, you should be sure to check and make sure you get what you want.

Everybody seems to love the cables. Very flexible!

I've heard mixed reviews about the joins. They do not screw together like most of the other interchangeables, but rather, click together, more like the Denise needles. Hence, the name. Some people report not having any problems with the joins, and others report that yarn catches on them and it's difficult to move the stitches along them. This may (or may not) have something to do with how well the owners learn to operate the click mechanism.

Some people seem to see right away how to click them together, and others never get the hang of it, and their needles keep coming apart while knitting.

I've just gotten (in my opinion) the best interchangeable needles available. They're the Hiya Hiya Sharps interchangeables. The small set (sizes 2 to 8) have just come out in the past few months, and the large set (sizes 9 to 15) will be out soon.

They're stainless steel, with points that seem to be identical to the Chiaogoo lace needles, and they also have the size imprinted on the tips. Speaking of the tips, you can get the set with 4 inch tips or with 5 inch tips. If you like a more blunt point, they were previously making them with a regular point in both size sets.

The cables are clear plastic, and they are flexible and have no memory (don't keep trying to curl up).

The joins are screw-in, but have a lip that goes over the cable part of the join and seems to make them smoother than most of the joins that screw together. Oh, and did I mention that there's a swivel joint in each join? Well, there is! Some people had problems with the join coming unscrewed during knitting, so the manufacturer included two little pads of rubbery plastic to use for traction while screwing them together, and nobody seems to have a problem with them coming apart when they use the pads to tighten them.

These needles have the same precision feel to knit with that the Chiaogoo needles do.

To top it all off, they have the nicest case that I've seen come with a set of interchangeables, ever! It's made of silk brocade, which is available in several colors. There's a zipper pouch for keeping cables secure, spaces for the needle tips (with a few extra if you want to add more tips), and a zippered compartment for the little rubbery pads and anything else you might want to keep with them, like stitch markers, scissors, etc. It's everything I want in an interchangeable needle case.

The only warning I have for you is that there are so many options with this set that you have to be careful when you buy to make sure that you get what you want. Check the point (regular or sharp), the tip length (4 or 5 inches), the size (either small or large set) and the color of the case. Each set (small or large) seems to cost about the same as the Options, but both sets together give you much smaller and larger needles than you'll get in Options. I really don't like to knit anything that needs needles larger than about size 9, so the small set with extra Chiaogoos in size 9 are perfect for me. And I really appreciate having interchangeables that go down to size 2. I know others really only want the big needles, so choosing to separate it all into two different size sets might be a good choice for most.

Whew! That's a lot of information! And it only covers needles with sharp points! You can see why I didn't want to get involved in reviewing ALL needles!

I hope you're having a good day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:35:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you have the best Valentines Day ever!

If you'd like to know more about the day, check this out! You might not want to do that, though, because a lot of what Valentine's Day is about is founded on martyrdom. Just skim down to where they talk about more modern celebrations.

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For all you knitters out there, the universe out there has brought you the best Valentine's Day present, ever!

You'll have to pay for it, but the new, revised edition of The Principles of Knitting is out!

This is the best knitting reference book that has ever been written! This is the book that people were selling for $350, and people were lining up to buy it! This has stuff in it that you've never even heard of before!

It's a big book! In order to hold all that information, this book is huge! The best doorstop book ever. You can use it for ballast in a ship! And it is crammed with ways to cast on, increase, decrease, and do anything else that has anything to do with knitting! Amazon has it for a reduced price, too! If you're not sure, order it anyway. If it goes out of print, you may be able to sell your copy for $350. But at 2 am, when you can't remember how to do a particular cast on, and you have to do it right now, this is the book you want. No matter how esoteric the question, you can find your answer here!

It's Valentine's Day! Treat yourself!

Hi! I'm Still Here.

noreply@blogger.com (lostarts) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:55:00 +0000

Sorry!

I know it seems like I've been ignoring my blog and that's true, but I haven't been really well lately.

At the beginning of December, my doctor discovered a problem, and I've been taking tests for it ever since. She seems to think that it's got something to do with my kidneys, so she's sent me to a urologist. My first visit to him was just to have him outline a list of tests that he says need to be done so he can find out what's wrong.

Oh, and he requested that I leave a urine sample.

Before I could even get home, they had left a message on voice mail telling me that they were going to do a lot of tests, and the sample I gave them wasn't big enough to do all the tests. They wanted me to go back and leave another sample.

Unfortunately, although the trip would have taken me 15 minutes each way if I had a car (and that's if every light turned red just in time to catch me and there was really bad traffic), the trip on the bus meant that the whole thing was a six hour round trip. And the trip was arduous enough that although my appointment was on Wednesday the 18th, it made me feel very sick, and it wasn't until Monday that I started to feel better.

So, I talked them into the idea that I should go to the lab (which I'm being told is nearby, and close enough for even me to walk to) instead of all the way back there. I also have to make an appointment for a CT scan, and then an appointment to go back to see them for the final test.

I'm waffling back and forth between hoping that they can find out what's wrong and fix it, and that there's nothing wrong in the first place. There's clearly something wrong with me, but I can't figure it out, and clearly the doctors I've been seeing don't care enough to bother.

The GP, who is new, is the one who found out that I have the problem I'm currently getting tests for, and she wants me to go to two other doctors for problems that doctors have been notable for not doing anything helpful, and, in fact, wanting to do only stuff that makes things even worse, so I'm not enthused about going to either one of them.

On to more pleasant topics!

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In the past, I've read some really good books that really seem to be reasonably modern fairy tales rather than anything else. Some of my favorites have been written by Diana Wynne Jones.

I think my all-time favorite of her books is Fire and Hemlock. My local library has it, so yours might, too. Look for it in the young adult section (along with the Harry Potter books). Don't be fooled by the designation, you'll love it even if you're an adult.

Another one of her books that I love is Howl's Moving Castle , which is even more fairytale-like than the other one. I won't go into a lot about what it's about except to recommend it.

The reason I'm mentioning it is that Howl's Moving Castle was made into a movie, and has been released a while ago on DVD, but will be on one of the Encore channels this coming Saturday. It'll be on three times times on Saturday starting early in the morning. Check your local listings.

Ok, it's Anime, and that's nice, but I don't usually like that. This one, however, would be difficult to do any other way. So, if you like fairy tales, check it out!

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I bought a lot of sock yarn over the internet to make some socks for Christmas presents. The color wasn't bad, but not anywhere as wonderful as the sample looked on my computer screen. This may have been partially my screen that was to blame, but I don't think so. I was disappointed, but I made the socks.

I felt bad about it, though, and saw a great sale on sock yarn and thought I'd buy some really great yarn and make some socks in addition to the ones I already made.

All right, I know that that would make them late, but I haven't gotten to see anyone I made Christmas presents for yet, so at this point, it doesn't make a difference.

So, I sent to Mary Maxim to buy some of their Aloe sock yarn in Sahara (for the presents) and blue (for some socks for me). Well, it all arrived, and I love the sock yarn for me, but the replacement yarn I got is horrible!

The sample of Sahara yarn in their catalog and on the internet looks interesting:

It looks pretty, doesn't it. But the real yarn has the parts that look lavender in the photo looking more like pink. The lime green that you can barely see in the photo is very prominent in the yarn. The stuff in the photo that looks like a sand color seems to be totally missing in the yarn I got. There is some navy blue, which I would think would help, but it hasn't got a hope of mitigating the ugliness of the other colors. I'm going to have to talk to them tomorrow about returning it. I just plonked it down in front of my keyboard and took a photo. Here's what it looks like:

They just don't look alike to me.

The blue yarn for my socks is beautiful! Here's what it looks like:

That photo looks just a little washed out.

More news as it develops.

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I've recently found a website called Knitting Paradise. The main part of it seems to be a forum, and it's really addictive. You have to sign up and be a member to post anything, but it's free. They send you an email every day with a link to the main forums and the top subjects. If you comment on a subject, you'll get emails every time someone else has something to say on the topic. If you comment a lot, you can be snowed under with emails. Just so you know what you're signing up for.

A lot of the people who are members are new knitters or don't have a lot of experience. Some of the questions recur at least three times a week. Some of them recur three times per hour.

So, I've decided to make this blog more worthwhile for knitters by answering some of the more popular questions in-depth in individual posts.

So, you're going to start to see my usual posts interspersed with posts on individual knitting topics. For instance, I plan to make my next post about circular needles. They always made perfect sense to me, but from reading the forum, I've realized that it's not as straightforward as I thought for a lot of people.

In the meantime, I hope things are going better for you than they have been for me. Have a great week!