Symphony At Last!

Finally she is done and ready for the big time!

Who?

My Symphony Scarf, big sister to the Concerto Stole and Scarf I completed several weeks ago!

Although I’ve had my Just For You Mitts available on Ravelry and here on my blog for free since last spring, and the Concerto KAL has been going beautifully this autumn (with some awesome finished projects now up on Ravelry!) , the Symphony Scarf is a special and very big step for me. This is the first time I’ve offered one of my own patterns up for sale, outside of some smocking designs that were published back in the 1980’s. Needless to say, I’m truly excited, despite the knocking knees that go with putting such a project out as a public offering.

I know I’ve designed a good pattern. It’s not a quick “grab a design from a stitch dictionary and knit it X number of times, then bind off” sort of pattern. Symphony has 3 large diamonds outlined by bands of stockinette, each diamond filled with a different design. The diamonds are nestled into a mesh background and the whole thing is finished with a completely original lace edging, which gave me a whole series of headaches all its own. It’s intended for intermediate level knitters who would like to challenge themselves by using some of the less common stitches – like nupps, clusters, bobbles, and centered eyelets. However, I’ve used those stitches within the various diamonds in limited quantities. Instead of committing to a project with hundreds of nupps, this gives the opportunity to use just a few  – learn the stitch without going totally insane in the process. There are also a very wide variety of single and double decreases, knitted on edgings, and adding beads to knitting.

Because this is not a repetitious pattern, it turned into a 10 page publications, 6 pages of which are beautiful, professional quality charts. Listening to people talk in the groups, I decided to offer the computer generated stitch by stitch as an extra to those who request it when they purchase the pattern. It will be quite a long document on its own, as just the body of the scarf has 470 rows, and it isn’t as nice as if I’d written it all out, but it is quite functional for those who can’t use charts at all. When I say “not as nice,” where I would say: (K2, YO, SSK) 3 times, the computer prints: K2, YO, SSK, K2, YO, SSK, K2, YO, SSK. I tried rewriting it, but after spending over 2 hours one evening, I had only the first 35 rows rewritten and not even proofed. It just isn’t practical to do that project, at least not at this point in time.

I wanted to get some photos that showed the diaphanous nature of the scarf, but Murphy intervened. Not only do I live in town, leaving me a lack of clear sky backgrounds, but there was a very stiff breeze blowing. Still, I think this gives a hint as to the hand of my pretty Symphony…

There is a funny story behind this pattern… and it’s also why it’s taken me until now to have her done. When I was asked to teach beginner and intermediate lace, Concerto came to my mind in a flash, but Symphony had a name and nothing else for quite a long  time. In fact, while trying to birth her, I accidentally came up with two other designs that are now in my sketchbook awaiting birth. After what was starting to feel like an eternity, I finally did begin to work out who Symphony was going to be, but she still wasn’t going to make things easy for me. Some parts were recharted so many times I lost track, and when I finally reached the edging and thought I had everything under control, I discovered I was dead wrong on that account, too! After several complete froggings and back to the drawing board moments with the edging, I managed to get one end completed a few hours before I was to hand it over to Arlene for display at the shop, advertising classes. It HAD to be blocked, so in a panic, I pinned her out and put her in the car on the blocking mats, then drove the hour with the windows wide open, hoping I’d have a dry scarf by the time I arrived. It worked… but I’d rather not have to employ that method again! And it was SO embarrassing to have it on display in the store with one end unfinished. Eventually I was able to kidnap her to bring home and finish. Now she’s done – and more than that, the pattern is written, and as of now it’s up on Ravelry and in my Etsy shop available for sale!

How much more excitement can there be in store for me this autumn???

Yarn Art

I was teaching at my LYS yesterday, and not surprisingly, during the course of the day, I picked up a few things here and there for some projects I have in mind, plus a skein of yarn for a prize drawing on the Yahoo group where I’ve been hosting the Concerto KAL. I had to laugh when I went to pay for my treasures. Totally by accident, the goodies I’d gathered for four different projects were perfectly coordinated!

It made me wonder if there was a good, creative way to use them all together in a project, then I remembered I’m giving the skein of alpaca away (It’s heading to Germany to an alpaca newbie!). I decided in the end that maybe the best way to use it all together was with to make some yarn art. Isn’t it pretty? And this way, Claudia gets her prize, my doll gets her outfit, my shawl still gets its special touch, and I’m still totally baffled as to what I’m ever going to do with those fantastic buttons.

Ticking and Chiming and Gongs, Oh My!

I did it!!!!! It’s finished – and it’s SO wonderful!!!!! My clock is done and on the wall, eye candy, and if there is such a thing, ear candy, too!

Now that I’ve used up my quota of exclamation points for the entire post…

What a project! My extra parts order arrived from Klockit yesterday, and although I had many other things I really was supposed to be doing, there was just no way I could bear to wait even one more day to complete this project. (Apologies to anyone who was expecting an email from me yesterday…) It was a nitpicky project with what seemed like 200 little steps, many of which were challenging in one way or another, and at one point I realized that the most important thing I could do was to focus on what just the next step was going to be. Otherwise I was going to find myself very overwhelmed very quickly.

If you want to get up to speed on this project before reading this last installment, the first post is HERE, and the second is HERE. And to visit it on my Ravelry project page, click HERE.

The basic goal was to mount the movement, speaker, pendulum drive, and bezel onto the case, add the dial, and hang her on the wall. Of course, nothing is ever quite so easy as the basic goal. What actually happened took 4-5 hours was more like this:

1. Briwax the case (after I gave up trying to remember where I put the color I wanted and settled for the darkest of those I could lay my hands on quickly)
2. Mount the movement. This was a serious challenge until I came up with a plan of attack. The object was to have the shaft of the movement centered on the face of the clock. However, there wasn’t a simple hole in the case. Rather, there was an off center, large rectangular cut out. The movement wasn’t symmetrical either, and if I got this off center, it was really going to show in the finished project, because the bezel holes were factory drilled and on center. I finally resolved the problem by taping lengths of crochet cotton in line with the miters on the face, letting them crisscross at the center. I measured from this center point to mark the edges of the hole. Then I got the leftover carpet tape from when I installed the carpeting upstairs and used it to temporarily attach the movement inside the case. This way I could align it while looking at the front, but it would stay in place when I turned it over. Of course, from then on through the project, I had to take extra care to hang the edge of the clock off the workspace, because the shaft was protruding in front. For some reason, the movement didn’t come with any mounting screws, so that was another challenge – finding screws that were long enough and thin enough to do the job. The only thing I could come up with was a little too long, but since it would be behind the face, I used them anyway and flush cut the points off after I had them installed.
3. Next I needed to mount the speaker. This required another screw hunt, but also a bit of acrobatic work between me and the clock. The speaker went into the top, and although I have a smallish drill, there just wasn’t a lot of room to work in that case with the movement in place, the case is heavy, and of course, I was limited in how it could lay on the table. By this point, I was very much in love with my carpet tape! Then there was the surprise discovery that there was a lot of wire hanging loose. I’d taken an odd  clip off the outside of the case when I started work and tossed it in my odds and ends in the tool chest. I dug it out and mounted it inside the case to hold the speaker wire out of the way.
4. My solution for the problem with the pendulum hitting the inside of the case turned out to be purchasing something that was called a movement case. It’s designed to hold a small quartz movement and add a pendulum to its function. It didn’t say so on the site, but it’s actually a pendulum only drive – no clockwork in it, and it was precisely what I needed. That was the good thing. The bad thing is that it had to be mounted below the open area in the back, as high as I could put it in that area, and of course, level and centered. This photo was taken at a bit of a downward angle, so it looks like there was a lot of room to maneuver, but actually, the back piece is very close to exactly level with the light colored wood where the pendulum drive is mounted. There was also a screw protruding into the case right where the pendulum drive needed to be. It turned out that this was a screw I was able to replace with something shorter and absolutely perfect. I’d have never have been able to get the drive in without the tape to help me. And whenever I have to replace the battery on the pendulum drive, I’m going to crab and complain the whole time I’m doing it, as it is sandwiched into a narrow crawlspace between the front and back boards. But you know, it looks fantastic on the wall, and it really was worth doing it.
5. Next I put the bezel on. Even this couldn’t be an entirely easy job. I’d been thrilled that the one bezel in the style I needed at Klockit was also the exact size I needed. I was even more amazed to find that the hinge holes that were factory drilled were a perfect match for the hinge pins on my bezel. On the other hand, the latch hole was an eighth of an inch too low. I had to remove the plastic plug that lined the latch hole, fill the hole (with wood putty that I first had to reconstitute), paint it over to blend with the case, and drill a new hole – which predictably enough was not a perfect fit for the plug. E6000 to the rescue… The edge of the metal on the bezel is very sharp, so I can officially claim that here is both a lot of sweat and blood gone into this project…
6. Finally – time to mount the dial! Of course, this is where I realized I’d not yet washed and blocked the knitting. :/ In my defense, I had already picked out one or two of the final rows of knitting in order to make it lay nicer, and I didn’t know until I got to the point of mounting if I was going to have to remove one more. However, here I was SO close to being done, and I had to wait for wool to dry… I put a lot of time into getting the face seated onto the metal disk perfectly as possible, while tightening everything as much as I could without risking breaking my drawstring of Palette yarn.  I couldn’t find the blow dryer, so I had a very long, impatient pace (well… actually, I cast on a new project to distract myself) until I was able to see the final project – and I was VERY late to bed, but do you blame me for that?

So while I was waiting for things to dry, I spent better than 20 minutes getting all the supplies and tools put away. I was amazed at the list of things that it took for me to make this project and decided it would be fun to write a list.

• 11 colors of Knit Picks yarn
• Clockwork Tam pattern
• Computer and Knit Visualizer charting program
• Printer paper
• Circular knitting needles
• Straight knitting needles
• Sewing up needle
• Scissors
• Eucalan
• Little wash tub
• Recycled clock case
• Quartz chiming movement (and included hardware)
• Pendulum drive
• Pendulum shaft and bob
• 3 batteries
• Bezel
• Clock hands
• Special order metal disk
• Bias Tape
• E6000
• Crochet cotton
• Scotch tape
• Utility scissors
• Drill
• 4 different drill bits
• Wood file
• Sharpie Marker
• Razor saw
• 4 different screwdrivers
• Screws of many sorts
• Wood filler
• Acrylic paint
• Pliers
• Briwax
• Paper towels
• Carpet Tape
• Scrap paper (for measuring inside where nothing else fit)
• Water
• Ruler
• Undu
• Trash bag (to protect work space)
• And a lead anchor in the wall

So, it’s done, and I’m floating! It’s exciting not only to have conceptualized this, but to have had enough serendipity that it came out far above and beyond what I’d first visualized. I can’t think what would make me happier with this clock, and how often do you finish a project with that level of satisfaction? And if I needed even one more thing to make me happy, the clock shop where I bought the case quoted me $175 for the exact movement I used. I came home and bought all the parts, including the really nice movement from Klockit, and with case, parts, yarn, pattern, and custom ordered sheet metal disk, the entire project was still well under the $175 they wanted for just the movement.

And so I wander off to my evening’s work to the tune of the Westminster chimes, which according to an inscription in clocktower of Big Ben, prays:

All through this hour,

Lord, be my guide,

And by Thy power

No foot shall slide.

Amen!

Two Fun Challenges

Hubby went out of town for just over a week, and this time I was ready to take advantage of the time alone to get some big projects out of the way. There was a lot of work, but I made sure I had some play in the mix as well, and what fun I had! I did two knitting projects just for the sheer joy of doing them – and because I’ve wanted for several years to try out knitting with Schoolhouse Press Unspun Yarn. Of course, I really didn’t need anything else on my needles, and though I’d ordered my wheels when the new KAL for a Lace Neck Scarf or Shawl by Marilyn VanKeppel was announced, I had convinced myself I wasn’t going to actually cast on – at least not until I cleared out a few other projects.

Beige, Spruce, Caramel, Dark Caramel, and Sage

Then DH took off to the airport, and next thing I knew, I had Unspun wrapped around my needles, eager to become a new shawl.

Somehow that first evening, I got this brilliant idea that I was going to finish my project before he returned in a week, despite teaching 4 knitting classes, working on the remodeling, planning to finish my clock, doing some major cleaning projects, picking up all his normal chores… oh… and being surprised by one of my classes and having to cast on a sweater. The really fun thing is that I actually succeeded! I finished sewing in my end at six minutes past midnight, so the dates look like 8 days, but it was about an hour less than 7 days, not counting the blocking, which I faithfully did the next afternoon.

The instructions say to block the top edge straight, but the pattern uses decreases in the fashion of the Danish heart-shaped shawls. I’ve wanted to knit one of those for ages, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to block this one taking advantage of the built in shaping. The top edge measures 72″ and the center back is 34″.

I love the finished shawl. It’s feather light, but warm, the colors are lovely – sage, spruce, beige, caramel, and dark caramel, and the Unspun gives it a totally different look from anything else I’ve knit to this point. And it was lots of fun to knit!

A few days into that project, I headed to Dayton to teach my Concerto and Symphony classes at Fiberworks. I was surprised and pleased to learn that Arlene now sells Unspun at the shop! She definitely needed a sample project and hinted about my shawl, but there was no way! Instead, I bought 4 more wheels, thinking I’d make the smaller Neck Scarf version of the KAL pattern. (Remember… I really needed a new project, right? )

Denim, Winter Blue, Donahue, and Raspberry

Having succeeded in my “While Hubby’s Away One Week Unspun Wonder” (as I named it on Ravelry), I got this crazy idea. Could I do the scarf in one day? Wouldn’t know if I didn’t try! It took some scrambling to get it blocked before my 24 hours were up, but guess what… I did it! I finished the knitting in six hours (counting fixing a few mistakes that happened because I was thinking “fast” and totally negated the speed bit…), then had it washed and blocked an hour after that.

I used larger needles for the scarf – size 10 (6mm) for the shawl and 10.75 (7mm) for the scarf.

The following day was a gorgeous autumn in Ohio sort of day, so the photo shoot was fun!

My “Little Wonder” measures 36″ across the top and has an 18″ drop.

If I were to do this one over again, I think  would move the raspberry stripe down against the winter blue instead of having a denim buffer between the two. Still, I really love the way these two projects turned out, and there will definitely be more Unspun in my future. In fact, I’m going to be teaching Unspun projects at Fiberworks in the near future!

Still Not Ticking

My patience is still apparently being tested by way of my clock project. The good news is that my parts came from Klockit much more quickly than predicted, and everything was beautifully packaged. However, a quick test assembly proved my belief that a wood disk for a dial was definitely too thick for the shaft. After some discussions with online friends, I knew that I needed to find a sheet metal shop, and when I googled and discovered one right here in town, I was thrilled! Thursday I happily exchanged $5 for my custom made, galvanized disk, plotting to finish my clock that evening. Turned out that was “best laid plans…”

The disk had a sharp edge, which I knew would make a quick end to my knitting, so I applied double-fold bias tape around the circumference, using one of my favorite glues, E6000. I figured that since it was photo-safe, it should also be fabric safe.

Once the glue was set, I did another trial fitting – or tried to do one. I don’t have calipers, so the size I’d provided them for the center hole wasn’t accurate. I had to find and employ a file before I could proceed…

Hole enlarged, I eagerly put everything together again, then discovered there was yet another snafu. The construction of the case is such that even with a pendulum mount that is set back 3/4″ from the front of the movement, the pendulum rod still laid against the framework of the lower portion of the case.

My immediate thought was to carve it out, but it’s actually the entire front piece, all the way down to the window, that is so thick, and it would be nearly impossible to do, not to mention that it would possibly damage the integrity of the piece. Of course, by the time I made this discovery, Klockit was closed for the night, so I wasn’t able to talk to anyone about what my options might be, and I didn’t know enough about what I was doing to be able to figure out anything on my own.

Friday the idea came to me to buy a second movement – just an inexpensive one without chimes, but with a pendulum, and mount that in the lower part of the cabinet. Even better, I talked to Karen at Klockit on Saturday, and they actually have an item they call a case for a movement, and although the info isn’t spelled out clearly in the item description, it’s really a little battery operated pendulum drive with no movement! Needless to say, I placed another order with them, and now I’m going to be pacing for the next few days again!

The Excitement Continues!

There is so much exciting stuff happening in my life right now, I can hardly keep up with it all even in my own mind! My high at the moment is a bit of serendipity that happened yesterday.

Last week, I “cheated” on the knitting I was supposed to be doing, and took the time to knit my first serious Fair Isle project. My only previous experience with Fair Isle had been a felted container, so I could get by with doing a lazy job. However, the moment I saw the new clock project from Knit Picks, I was enchanted with the concept of knitting myself a clock.

It was very disappointing that the only way to get the pattern was to buy the whole kit, and there was only one colorway. I find the choice of colors quite unappealing, and in my house, they would be downright appalling. However, I wanted to do this badly enough that I bought it anyway. The Caribbean corals, banana, and periwinkle shades can go into my stash and be used for doll knitting or other such things in the future. I added a heap of pinks, browns, and greens to my order, and when it all arrived, I knew I’d done the right thing.

I spent a lovely evening playing with the colors, using the black and white mode on my camera to compare the intensity of the colors. Fair Isle that doesn’t have gray scale contrast between colors used with each other appears muddy – a problem I noted in the kit colors, by the way.

I ended up with a selection of 10 colors that felt perfect to me, plus the bare, which is used for the ribbing that gathers behind the face to hold the knitting in place.

This is half again as many colors as is on the pattern, so I sat down with Knit Visualizer and redesigned the color layout. While I was at it, I just made a 12 repeat wide chart for myself so I didn’t have to risk going back and forth between the separate number charts and the main chart during the knitting.  I knew that was a recipe for trouble!

Once the planning was finished, the knitting seemed to go very smoothly, and it was terribly addictive!

I started in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and the actual knitting was done by Wednesday morning – just 3 days later!

I was so proud of how tidy my back looked, and my knitting is very smooth on the front – not lumpy in the least. I was amazed I’d managed so well, and had definitely not expected my first project to turn out so nicely.

A two hour marathon resulted in a couple million ends being sewn in (picture above showing only part of them), leaving me with nothing to do except be impatient to be able to have a finished  clock.

Here’s where things started getting a little bit more challenging, though… but I’ll get to that in a minute. First, a few comments about the pattern and instructions…

• For some really odd reason, the instructions say to use a provisional cast on. I can’t for anything figure out why. I opted for a long tail, since that is not bulky, and it is just fine. My completed clock face is gathered smoothly and easily to the back by running a gathering strand up and down through the ribbing, and there’s more support for the gathering, because it’s not just through a single loop of fingering weight yarn.
• I added several plain color rows between the ribbing and the beginning of the design, and I started knitting the design just a little lower on the chart. I wanted to have that band of little pink roses around the edge of my clock.
• The decreases worked really nicely until the very end. There the designer has 8 rows knit on the remaining stitches, and for me, that funneled. It’s just too many rows of the same at that small of a diameter. (Think about the Pi Shawl concept and that will make sense.) I’ve already gone back and picked out one row, which made a definite improvement. I might remove one more, but I’m waiting to see what happens when I assemble my clock before I commit.
• If I knit something like this again, I might try knitting from the center out instead of the outside in. I found it extremely difficult to work the last few rows. It was very tight quarters.
• Instructions say to just tie the ends together and cut them off. I experimented with that, but I found it left a jog in my Fair Isle design, so I did take the time to darn each end into the work, easing the design back toward looking more seamless. I think it was worth the effort. I don’t notice the seam unless I look for it.
• Instead of starting my rows at center top, I started somewhere less conspicuous, making the jog even less noticeable.
• There is an admonition in the instructions that totally confuses me. If I’d followed it the way it reads to me, I’d have had my numbers going the wrong direction around the dial. It says to be sure to put the numbers on in descending order. However, when you knit, you actually have to knit them in ascending order, or you will have a backwards clock. Just take some time to be sure you are going to have what you want when you are finished – like the carpenter measuring twice and cutting once, it is worth checking and double checking this before you knit very far.

Now, about the rest of this project… The finishing instructions say to wrap your hat around a paper plate, punch a hole in the middle for a craft store clockwork, and hang it on the wall. I’m really proud of my knitting, and I have a Victorian style home with antique clocks. The paper plate thing was going to look seriously tacky – or at least very out of place here, no two ways about it! I’ve probably spent more hours working on finding a way to finish this and have something that looked fantastic than I’ve spent on the knitting to this point. However, I’ve finally had a serendipity happening that has resolved the challenge. Yesterday I dropped into the clock shop while I was in the city to teach lace knitting classes.

While conducting my other business, I mentioned my knitted clock and my needs. It turned out that they happened to have a gutted case in the shop, and believe it or not, it was not only just the right size, but the style was appealing, and the case was from the 1980’s , so no guilt about messing up an antique. It’s an antique style case, but of modern manufacture, with solid, heavy wood. I don’t know wood well, but I think I’m guessing it is oak.

And the back is wide open, which is going to make it much easier for me to make any modifications I need to do. A closed back, antique case would have made it more challenging to use an electronic movement. This set up is perfect, as it’s designed to use exactly what I was hoping to install.

Best of all, they let me have it for just $25! There is no way I’d have been able to create any sort of a case for that price with my limited woodworking skills, let alone a fancy case like this one. Today I called Klockit for the umpteenth time, finally placing an order with them. All the inner workings are on the way, along with a glass bezel, arriving hopefully early next week. (I have to put in a gold star rating for this company, by the way. I’ve spoken and/or emailed multiple clock related companies in the past week, and the service I got from Klockit has been so far above and beyond anything I got elsewhere that I doubt I’ll look to the right or the left again. They are fantastic people, and so helpful that it’s a delight to work with them, even if you don’t quite know what you are doing.)

A little bit of Un-du (I love this stuff!) has already removed the presentation plaque from the front of the case, leaving not a trace of residue. So, now my only problem is to find something other than my dinner plate to use as a dial disk. It has to be thin enough for the clockwork shaft, strong enough to not buckle from the knitting being stretched around it, and I have to have a way to get it cut in a perfectly smooth, 10.25″ disk. I’ll be puzzling over that problem and Briwaxing my clock case while I wait with eager anticipation for my Klockit package to arrive.

I know… Patience is a virtue and all that… Besides, it’s not like I don’t have anything else to do here, right?

Concerto Knit-along Starts Today!

I’ve been terribly remiss in advertising this little adventure I’ve found myself enjoying! I guess I should start back at the beginning…

Several months ago, Arlene, the owner of my LYS, Fiberworks in Beavercreek, Ohio, asked me if I would teach beginning and intermediate lace knitting classes at the store this autumn. There was no way I was going to turn down something that should be that much fun! However, it did leave me with a bit of a project this summer, and it’s usurped the majority of my other knitting. I needed to create some patterns and knit them if I was going to have something to teach. The first one came together quickly, and with the help of some friends, was christened “Concerto.” There was no doubt the second would be “Symphony,” but she was a tough little gal to find. She’s currently being knit, with finishing deadline of this coming Friday evening. I’m planning a lot of quality time with needles the rest of this week.

Anyway, I started thinking that there were a lot of people joining our Yarnfeathers Group on Yahoo, saying that they wanted to learn to knit lace , and here I had a stole and scarf I’d designed expressly for the purpose of teaching lace newbies the basics of the art. A call to Tina resulted in as strong an affirmative as I’d given Arlene, and soon the start date was posted. I got Symphony finished and posted her to Ravelry, and now the excitement begins! In just over a week, there are over 140 hearts, 55 queues, and 21 project pages for Concerto, and Yarnfeathers has well over 100 new members! What fun!

So who is the gal stirring up all the enthusiasm?

Concerto is charted both as a stole and a scarf (Check the Ravelry page to see my test-knitter’s finished scarf.), choice of 6′ or 7′ length, and optional fringe. The original was knit with size 8 needles in Jojoland Melody yarn, and depending on which style you wish to make, requires 2-4 balls. This is a sampler style project with 7 different primary patterns, meaning that newbie lace knitters will experiment with a number of different designs instead of being locked into one big project that is boringly repetitive. The entire stole or scarf is created with just knits, purls, left and right leaning decreases, centered double decrease, and centered eyelets. Since this is set up especially for beginners, I’m posting tutorials as needed during the eight weeks of the event. If you are an experienced lace knitter, you won’t be alone in the group, though. We have a wide range of skill levels represented, and knitters from all around the world. There is no charge to join, and the pattern is currently being offered for free, though after the KAL is over, I’ll be offering it for sale on Ravelry and probably also in my Etsy store. First segment was posted today, Tuesday, Sept 15, 2009, and we’ll be working for the next 8 weeks, so come join us!

Three Bags Full

If there were such a thing as scratch and sniff blog posts, I can assure you, you would only scratch today’s once!

For some reason, the photo just doesn’t do this justice – in fragrance OR in appearance. When I opened the bag this fleece was packed in, I was overwhelmed – and not in the best sense of the word – and it took less than 60 seconds for all six cats and the dog to find me and my new treasure, too! I’ve bought several fleeces over the past year, but so far, I’d had terribly cold feet in regard to actually washing them – in large part, I think, because not only had I never even seen the project done, but also because the fleeces I’d picked out were all really neat fleeces, and I was terrified I’d mess them up in some manner. In June, I cured that problem by purchasing a nice enough, but plain white, fleece. Opening the box sealed my fate; I HAD to wash it. There would be no living with my pets otherwise!

So, I made an emergency run to Walmart, where I purchased three mesh laundry bags, some Dawn dishwashing liquid, and a pleasant smelling bottle of hair conditioner. Once home, I started the washing machine filling with hot water, and holding my breath as long as I could, I started stuffing fleece into the mesh bags, determined not to wonder what I was actually touching. Being a fleece washing virgin, I chose to minimize my possible losses by not putting too much wool in the washer at one time.

Coming back 15 short minutes later, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It looked like the Mississippi River had detoured through my washer, and I started wondering if I would ever really want to put my clothes in there again. I emptied the water and briefly spun the bags, and while the machine refilled, I examined my fleece. Amazingly enough, I really hadn’t damaged it, and in fact, I had to admit it already looked (and smelled) better. Now I was feeling braver!

Three soaks and spins, followed by a last balmy float in a hot lavender scented bath left me with wool I was no longer afraid to touch – and I have to confess, I was feeling pretty proud of myself as I hung the bags out on the clothesline, too! Of course, once it was dry, reality set in as I realized that it was still very full of VM (vegetable matter). At least it was clean VM, I reminded myself, as I started picking through a small bit of my now soft and pleasantly scented wool…

It took me 4 different days to complete, but I now have the entire fleece washed. I’ve not picked nearly as much as I’ve cleaned, due in large part to time being a rather finite commodity.  There is an entire pillow protector stuffed full of wool (and VM) teasing me into teasing it clean, a job which I’m oddly enough enjoying. What IS picked is such fun to squish on my way past it, though. As much as I’m looking forward to spinning this stuff, it really feels like a project unto itself just to have made something so pretty and lovable from something that smelled so hopeless not too long before. What a lovely adventure – and pleasure to think that it’s only the first chapter of the story!

And I don’t often do this, but… I chose the title for this posting with more than my fleece in mind. I just finished reading Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, and I have to say that it was such a delight! The premise of the book is that a shepherd is found murdered, and his sheep take it upon themselves to solve the murder. Though this might sound somewhat far fetched, the sheep really don’t act out of character for being sheep – assuming you can, for the time being, accept that sheep converse on a much more logical plane than you have believed in the past. What makes this book such a fun read is the author’s incredible sense of humor as she leads us through the thought patterns of the various members of the flock. Sheep without a shepherd can truly develop some interesting theological viewpoints! I frequently found myself laughing aloud at the conclusions they drew from the evidence at hand. Subtle comments about such things as the human flock that visited the meadow or the human mothers bleating at their children are sprinkled delicately through the story and keep the reader thinking from the sheep’s point of view. It’s been a good while since I had such outright fun with a read, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves sheep, wool, yarn, or just a good and entertaining book.

There Wasn’t A Parade…

So, it rained where I was on Independence Day, but at least there wasn’t a parade scheduled. I guess it could have been worse, right? The traditional picnic moved indoors and bore a distinctly different flavor, but the silver lining was that there weren’t any flies or mosquitos to swat, and the food was as good as ever, if not better. However, one tradition that was upheld would make me just as  happy to not continue. Even though my order was taken for a hamburger on the grill, by the time I got through the foodline, there wasn’t a single burger left, and only two hotdogs. I seriously dislike hotdogs, and there were two people behind me of a different opinion, so after I made a few bitter complaints, I resignedly grabbed a burger bun (there were LOTS of those left…) and heaped it with sauteed onions and pickle relish. I’d never had an onion sandwich before, but it actually wasn’t half bad so long as I didn’t think a lot about the burger I’d been eagerly anticipating. Besides, not wanting to risk a further shut out, I went through the dessert line without waiting to politely eat first, so I was looking at a double helping of Aunt Joyce’s Black Raspberry Cobbler. That little delicacy made it tough to keep pouting.

My sister and I both have June birthdays, and we live far enough apart now that we’ve begun waiting to exchange gifts on the Fourth. I’ve been bothered in recent years by the fact that no matter what I get her, it seems as if I end up with the better present. This year I was sure I’d done well – until I saw what she’d found for me!

Is this special or what?! I was nearly speechless! I don’t know how she finds things like this – or lets me have them instead of keeping them for herself – but she’s good at it! I was so overwhelmed, though, that I was suddenly very much afraid that she wouldn’t like her own gift. All that assurance blew right out the door!

So what did I get for her?

I’ve gone from avid ebayer investing hours searching for special deals to checking in once a week or so for literally a couple of minutes. They’ve so managed to ruin everything that was good about that site… but that’s beside the point. A couple months ago, I DID check in for a minute, and someone had listed this little doll for sale on a BIN just minutes earlier. Now my sister collects Victorian and Edwardian wedding memorabilia and has a definite soft spot for dolls. This is the first time I’d ever seen one of the older German all-bisques dressed as a bride, and I didn’t even hesitate. That doll was bought and paid for in moments. Never mind the fact she came bald… or rather, never mind that fact until I was faced with the fact that she still needed hair the day before she was to go to her new home. I’d just not been sure how I was going to managed such a delicate operation. She’s only about 3.5″ tall (forgot to measure!), and her veil and crepe paper gown are most definitely fragile – not to mention her headpiece was still firmly glued in place. Finally, my spinning experience proved the solution. After I cleaned her (which was also not so easy to do without damaging her finery),  I took a tiny tuft of merino that  matched her eyebrows to perfection… and stopped dead. I couldn’t just glue a hunk of merino on her head. She needed some sort of a part or something to create a tiny bit of style, but I had no matching thread. Hmmm… go knit for a while… VOILA! Thread! It’s a spun substance! I fingerspun enough of the merino to tie around the tuft, and I was back in business! I found my sewing up needle to be far better than a toothpick for placing the hair, as it didn’t stick and pull, so all in all, it was my spinning and knitting that were the basis for restoring this little sweetie. I loved the irony of that!

And – if you are actually holding your breath in suspense, my sister absolutely loved her doll, and like me, despite the many hours she’s perused the antique wedding stuff, she’d also never seen a doll of her type, so as the saying goes, I done good! We were both very happy people. I’m trying hard not to worry about what I’m going to find for next year, though…

One other happening of note on the Fourth… My little niece had eyed my knitting on several occasions, but she also lives at a distance from me, so I’d not had the opportunity to sneak knitting needles into her hands yet. Having seen the weather forecast, though, I’d slyly slipped my beginner kits into my basket when I was packing Saturday morning. Sure enough, the weather cooperated with me, and shortly after supper, I had a six-year-old on my lap, intently wrangling knitting needles and lavender wool, cheerfully announcing and displaying every single completed stitch. Now THAT is what I call fun – and a super end to the evening!

Oh… and she dropped some very  strong hints that perhaps someday I might make her something… GRIN!

The Thanks That Made Me Cry

Whew! The week before this past week was wild and wooly – SO much happening that I could have posted a good entry twice a day if I’d had time to breathe… and this week has been all about trying to do some catching up. Woke up Monday in an odd sort of mood, and the entire week has been very productive for me. Actually, I’ve invented a new game for myself, and since it’s still working, I’m hanging onto it. I pulled out my slightly dusty chore box and one die.

Rules are roll the die, count back the number of cards matching the roll, and do the job without grumbling. Extra large jobs (like finishing the sewing room) require 15 minutes of concerted effort. I also have cards for reading, knitting, spinning, etc., which means every so often I get a very nice surprise. ) Among other things, this week has seen me writing my last Christmas thank you note and sending two goody packages to friends – stuff that was meant to go out last year sometime! Feels really great to have the weight of so many old tasks off my shoulders and to see so many other things progressing after languishing for such a long time, and the approach is great for an ADD brain. But this wasn’t what I set off to post today, so I guess I better get back to the topic intended…

My wild and wooly week was actually 8-9 days long, and most of what happened was good stuff – enough to last me for months instead of days! I’m just going to share the first thing tonight so this doesn’t take me two hours to write. Besides, it was so special to me that it deserves its own post.

Remember the Cyber Fiber Retreat I mentioned a while back? Well, unbeknownst to me, the fun wasn’t entirely over. I received a mysterious package in the mail two Saturdays ago, return address being that of one of the participants. What was inside absolutely knocked my socks off! The retreaters got together off group and gathered up the most incredible bundle of fiber for me as a thank you surprise… I was doing the guppy thing – totally speechless! I’ve done a lot of stuff like this retreat – organized activities online and off, taught classes gratis for years, given away patterns and designs, and in all that time I’ve learned that a few people will remember to say thanks, and once in a great while, someone goes so far as to drop a handwritten note in the mail. This fantastic bunch of gals, none of whom I’ve ever met in person or even spoken with on the phone, went all out go put together a gift that reduced me to tears! My most “intangible” friends gave me the most tangible thank you I’ve ever received.  It looked like someone had secretly followed me around at a fiberfest and bought everything I fondled! Even more incredible to me is that I now own the world’s coolest knitting bag. ) What’s so fantastic about it? Well, it was custom made just for me! It has the names of all the women at the retreat embroidered on the back of it, and when I sit with it beside me while knitting, I feel like they are all close by. I love it!

And check out Granny on the front; is she something or what?

Besides my wonderful bag, the contents of my box included:

• a big ball of targhee/mohair roving from one of the retreaters’ flock
• a ball of Tofutsies sock yarn in a lively green print – too fun!
• a skein of Heritage HandPaint Oxford 2 Sock Yarn in the Wood Violets colorway – and wild violets are one of my very favorite flowers
• a generously fat skein of hand painted sock yarn in wonderfully earthy shades from Wendy, the Yarn Fairy
• a ball of sock yarn suspected to be from Interlacements in delicious peacock shades
• a cone of Colourmart’s always marvelous cashmere laceweight yarn in caramel
• a skein of DyeForMe baby alpaca lace yarn so the next time I’m dying to dye, I won’t have to sacrifice Kidsilk Haze
• 2 ounces of tussah silk roving, handpainted in luscious shades of pink, purple, and blue
• a sweet little nosegay which will be wonderful adorning a shelf in my new sewing room
• and all sorts of sweet cards and notes of appreciation

Now, do I have a great bunch of friends, or what? All I can say is that if you ever have the opportunity to bless someone the way I was blessed by these incredible ladies, please do so! And if someone has done something nice for you recently, please take a moment to say thank you in a meaningful way. It’s too easy to take people for granted and realize too late that we have. ‘Nuff said…

Thanks again, my dear friends!