Guess what I got in the mail yesterday.

(Suppose I kind of gave it away with the post title, eh?)

Yep. I got Sophie’s new bobbins from Ron Antoine!

(that’s the old one in the middle)

We are both so very pleased.

Here she is all reassembled with the small Kromski whorl and new bobbin.

She’s so much smoother and quieter now.
And also faster- I’ve got her on the 13:1 whorl, and things are going just spinningly.

In other news, I finally cooked up one of our Cinderella pumpkins from the garden-

and turned it into pie!

and sampled shortly thereafter.

This was a trial run on the “from-scratch” pie for Thanksgiving. (I’ve always used canned pumpkin before). And a mighty successful one at that!

I’ve also finally gotten back on track with The Man’s sweater. Sleeve #1 is about half done, and I think that I’ve finally got it right.

The knitting goal for this week is to finish both sleeves and develop a plan for the finishing….

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Isn’t she lovely?

Here she is again:

A soft and silky pile pf taupey, woolly goodness.

There were a lot of really nice dark fleeces there-

And beautiful mohair-

All kinds of good stuff. And coffee and cider to boot!

It’s always a nice sale.

In other news, I am a few short rows away from closure on the Zauberball socks!

And am still waiting to get Sophie’ flyer and bobbins back from Ron.
It hasn’t been that long- I’m just anxious to have her back together. She looks kinda forlorn with her parts missing-

(But maybe that’s just because she’s hanging out by the cello, who hasn’t seen much use in recent years.)

Not much knitting news this week. I’ve taken a time out on The Man’s sweater. Will rally the troops and make another charge maybe sometime soon. Hate to put the handspun through too much rippage, though.

I’m in anticipation this week. I expect to be receiving my new bobbins for Sophie back from Mr. Antoine sometime soon, and also looking forward to a really good fiber sale next weekend-

Here are the details-

Skagit Producers’ Fleece Sale

Saturday November 14^th, 2009.

It starts at 9 a.m. and goes until 3 p.m.

“Quality, soft fleeces consigned by local producers will be available and will include white and natural colored fine, medium and long wool sheep as well as white and natural colored mohair from Angora Goats.  Also available will be dyed and processed fiber.”

Everyone is invited to stop by for a fun day at the farm and bring a friend!  If you are looking for a “special” fleece, call (360) 757-6281 to see if they can assist you.  The sale is located at:   17543 Peterson Road,  Burlington, Washington

Directions:  Traveling South on I-5, take Exit 230.  Traveling North on I-5, take Exit 230.  Turn left onto Highway 20, turn right onto Garrett Road, turn left onto Peterson Road and follow directional signs.

Every year I go and get a really nice, clean natural colored Border Leicester fleece for the stash.

Here are some recent results from last year’s find-

Border Leicester

A lot of last year’s BL went into the Experimental Sweater–but I still have some left, so I’ll have to be careful not to overindulge. But it’s hard to keep one’s head once the wool fumes hit.

Perhaps I should take a chaperone?

The Man’s sweater looks much like it did last week.

This is not because I have not been knitting.

It is just that I’m having conceptual difficulties with the sleeve.

I have knit (and ripped) the right shoulder of this sweater 3 times now.

And I’m starting to wonder if part of the problem is the depth of the armhole.

Or perhaps I did not design-in enough ease through the chest.

I’m going to have to sleep on it before I make another attempt.

In other news, I took a field trip to Pullman, WA this weekend to visit WSU Animal Science facilities- Swine, Cattle, Sheep ,etc etc…

Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/44275451@N08/sets/72157622585553769/

That’s what the Kool Aid guy (the big pitcher) used to say, right?

I was thinking that I needed to plan ahead for this Kool Aid dyeing class that I’ll be teaching at the end of January. Get samples ready and all -
So, yesterday I make up a bunch of little mini skeins, selected a variety of flavors, and had at it.

Here are the results:

I think they turned out pretty cool. Best Kool Aid dying I’ve done in a while.

I think the key really is using enough of the stuff to get really saturated colors.

I used some Lambs Pride that I had in the stash- both white (Cream) and Taupe.
Here are some photos to show the differences between cream and taupe in the same flavor-

Pink Lemonade:

Mango:

Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade:

(This one actually had three samples- the one on the left is some light gray handspun)

I really like the colors on Taupe.
Might knit up the little samples into swatches for the class. Not sure yet.

It was just so easy. Took me maybe a half hour to do the whole thing.

And while I was busy making the kitchen smell like fruit punch, The Man was out in the shop re-threading the flyer shaft on the new little wheel (Sophie).

It worked out great, and now I’m able to use my Kromski whorls with her!

I did some measurements, and am pleased to announce that now Sophie has the following ratios (approximately): 5.7:1, 7:1 (on the kromski slower whorl) and 10:1, 13:1 (on the faster whorl, shown above)

For comparison, here is a photo of the whorl that she came with-

(I think the ratio on that one came out to 4:1)

She’s really coming along! Getting more versatile all the time.

And thanks to Michelle, I have found a woodworker that will make me some new bobbins for her. I’ll be shipping her flyer assembly out tomorrow for him for work from.

What a good wool day!

Finding I don’t have a lot to say right at the moment.

But I have been doing quite a bit of knitting.

See?

Boo Kitty really likes it

And I do too. It’s coming along very nicely.

I’m almost at the point where I join the shoulders together and get to try it on The Man to see how it fits.

I hoped to have some dyeing to show off in this post, but my results yesterday were rather disappointing. Still trying to figure out what went wrong.
Has anyone else used this product?

I was all excited about the neat colors. Tried the “Olive” yesterday, and it was total bust. Turned my creamy white alpaca a yellowy gray. Ick. Sure I can salvage it by overdying with something else,, but what a waste.

And I swear that I followed the directions.

Now I’m almost afraid to try the other colors.

Dag.

Though we’ve had a beautiful Indian summer here recently, we’ll probably have frost any time now, so it’s pretty much the end of the garden season.

I completed the garden tear-down yesterday,  and all that’s left out there now is the punkins-

Here is one posing with sweater-in-progress. (They look very Halloween-y together, no?)

The sweater knitting is coming along very quickly.  I got 10 inches or so done
this week! And I might actually have enough yarn already spun to finish it. Hard to tell at this point, though. Will probably work up another 1 or 2 skeins just to be sure.

Nothin’ But Blue Skies got navajo plied up into a really soft, squooshy chunky weight yarn- and enjoyed a little quality time snuggled up with some King apples from our big old apple tree in the garden.

And here she is against her namesake- pretty good match, eh?

We got off to a bit of a slow start today

But managed to pull it together and turn goodies from the garden

into savory sauce -

and dried bite size treats-

Also got the new storm door installed-

Just in time, too. I think the weather is supposed to change tomorrow…

Whew~

In wool news- I’ve got Blue Skies on the bobbin-

and am planning in earnest for The Man’s next sweater.

Option One: Cambridge Jacket

Option Two: Oregon Vest (with sleeves added)

My swatch is coming out at about 3.75 stitches per inch on size 9s

Either one would be just a starting point, of course.

So I just have to get my plan together and cast on.

If only I could get my desk back!

I asked the folks on Ravelry if anyone had ever seen a wheel like the one I just bought last week- and someone referred me to the following video.

(My wheel makes her entrance at about 1:15)

So, it would seem that she’s more likely Serbian or Croatian in origin than Welsh,, though she certainly might have come through the UK on her way here.

Neat, eh?

(I’m still not decided on a name- gonna take another week to think about it, though I’m leaning towards Sophie.)

Yesterday, the man installed nylon bearings for her wheel (where there had previously been small pieces of cloth and axle grease). Big improvement. Wheel spins more freely now.

I think what we’re going to do next is redo the threads on the flyer shaft so that it can use Kromski whorls.  The current threads are a really odd size (no surprise there).

Here is the girl hanging out in the yard with the first two skeins of yarn that we’ve collaborated on.

With her current ratio (approx 5:1), she does a really nice soft spun single.

Anyone know of a woodworker that makes custom bobbins?

In other news, I’ve reworked the Zauberball socks through the heel. I was distracted for a bit trying out a different kind of heel shaping, but in the end, decided to stick with my usual style.

And in honor of the lovely fall weather we’ve been having, I dyed some East Friesian wool and blended it with white alpaca. I’m calling it “Nothin’ but Blue Skies”.

Have a good week!

Look what I found this week!

Cute, eh?

It’s an old wheel. Seller was told it is Welsh.
Single treadle. Double drive. Only one bobbin.

Here it is next to my Kromski Minstrel:

And from the side:

It’s about 6 inches shorter, and quite a bit lighter than the Minstrel.
And the back side is pretty much flat,, so I can lay it down on the backseat of the car.
I plan on using it as my traveling wheel.

The flyer setup is pretty much identical to the Minstrel. It’s got the screw-on whorl that sits behind the bobbin and the flyer shaft rests in a block that is adjusted with a screw on the back vertical wheel support post.

The Minstrel’s whorls don’t quite fit (dang),, but it looks like if we created a front flyer bearing that sat a bit further forward, I could actually use the Minstrel’s flyer with this wheel! Then I’d have the benefit of more ratios.

Many thanks to The Man for helping me rig a scotch tension (because I prefer that to double drive),

fixing up the bobbin with a liner so it doesn’t wobble and chatter, and tightening up a couple connections that were a little loose.

Now she needs a name.

Suggestions?