A lot of years, it’s not until the year end wrap up that I truly understand how much I did during the previous 365.25 days. This year even though the total yarn mileage was a bit of a shock, I was completely aware all year that I was busy. I nearly didn’t do this post at all.
2022 ended with us knowing we were going to be redoing the shower in the bathroom. After way too many trips to hardware stores and bathroom showrooms, we finally decided and by the end of May, that hurdle was cleared. No more water issues in the house. Or so I thought. Continue reading 2023 Year End Wrap Up→
My overarching goal has always been making useful things useful again. That’s whether I’m fixing sewing machines, doing woodwork/woodturning, refurbishing spinning equipment or creating something in CAD from scratch.
I talked about 3d printers in a previous post and how they’re maybe not what people think they are, yet. That’s not to say they’re not ready to bring new life to things.
Every once in a while when I’m knitting on my antique sock knitting machine, I pull the bum off a cylinder needle. They’re basically latch hooks but with a foot or protrusion that the cams in the machine push up or down. Continue reading Future Starts Slow→
Suddenly around the middle of December this year, I decided I needed to make presents because sometimes I’m a little crazy/stupid.
No, I couldn’t buy them, I had to make them this year. Pens and socks. That’s what I would do. It mattered not that I am a very new CSM sock knitter and I’d never turned a pen. This is what I was going to do. For Christmas. Less than 2 weeks away.
See, the last few years, we haven’t really been in the holiday mood. Last year was particularly tough when we almost lost Bandit to pancreatitis/severe infection/necrotic tissue at the beginning of December. All of my energy last Christmas was dedicated to getting him eating on his own and recover. A large part of this year was getting him back to normal and Grey to recognize him.
As the year comes to a close, I had one last project to finish. Back in September, I prepared some rolags out of waste fibre when I was carding the Finn/Gotland locks. These were not the full of chaff and yuck parts. Just stuff that stuck in the cards but wasn’t short or full of neps.
The first sample of Finn/Gotland. This batch ended up being darker than the second. It should make for an interesting yarn because one portion will have darker shades than the rest.These rolags are from the second batch of dyeing – they’re noticeably lighter than the first batch.
I started spinning them on a cross-arm spindle shortly afterwards. It drafts beautifully and smooth despite being waste wool.
I thought I’d try something a little novel for this blog. A short post.
What? It could happen. Maybe a “shortish” post for now.
Back in July, I started a supported spindle spin that ended up being a far larger project than I imagined. See, I usually spin just to spin. Then the yarn gets put on the wall where it may take me years to use because I spin more than I knit or weave combined.
I talked about this project back in August and showed a bunch of in progress pics. Well, around late September I got it in my head that maybe I could finish it by November 10th and have it blocked and dry in time for the Edmonton Fibre Frolic. I do these things – putting unnecessary pressure on myself. Still it was only a couple of rows a day, as long as nothing went wrong and if I could keep up with the spinning. It also depended on how many repeats of the penultimate chart I decided to do. As written or one repeat, it was doable. The knitting alone though was a huge undertaking. True lace (no rest rows) and shaping I’ve never done before. Some days a row would take me 2 hours – especially if I had to go back and find an error or fix one in the row below. Continue reading An accidentally epic finish→
By far, the biggest thing to happen in August was this Circular Sock Machine. I’d been looking casually for one for a year or so but finally put the word out that I was in the market. The goal being to use up some handspun because I spin much more and faster than I knit or weave.
Within hours, an acquaintance said she had been thinking of selling hers. We talked it over for a couple of weeks while she finished up one more project and then on Aug 13th, we went and picked it up. I’d never laid hands on a CSM in my life but I have used a flatbed knitting machine that I had to refurbish before I used it and already hand knit. I also enjoy a challenge – which most people warned me this would be. Everyone kept saying “there’s a big learning curve!” and there is but it’s no more difficult than learning to service vintage sewing machines. In fact, a lot of the logic process transfers across especially when troubleshooting tension or dropped stitches. Continue reading Older and Better – antique sock machine and revisiting projects→
My thoughts and revelations on the skills of yester-year
