Search This Blog

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Ravelry Button

Uhhh, how the hell do you do it! I put the button into my picasa album and tried to write the HTML URL yak yak in like blogger instrx say to do buuuut not working. Freakin' Frackin' Double Dratt. Will come back to it later. Maybe someone with know-how-isms can explain. Letter by letter by dot and dash. Wowza.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

my cute hand crafted spindle

Here is a picture my tinker toy spindle. I think the small rocks lend a rustic feel.
these are the items I used to make it
These knitting needles were bought from Walmart. Useless for knitting because they kept catching the yarn even after sanding them a bit. They just never worked too good. The needle shown is a size 10 1/2. I used a size 11 for my spindle which needed glued but a 13 would actually be a nice snug fit. You can see how much chunkier the red tinker part is to the size 10 1/2. I'd have put the other 11 in the picture but it seems to be missing. And if you saw my work room you'd know why.

this is the little darling that started it all. a gift from a nice local fiber artist. her blog

these are my first, ever, wee, plyed, hand spun hanks
The one on the right, with the unintended VM included, was made first using the gifted spindle. I used a small wire doggie comb that looked like a dinky carder. Not very good at removing unwanteds.
The hank on the left looks a little better. The spindle I made was a bit on the light side at first so added the small stones to increase the weight. It seemed to help. That time I used bigger doggie combs on the wool and they actually removed almost all of the sticks and stones... 

As to the plying. That was frustrating (...wanna break some bones?). One lady used two med sized terracotta flower pots turned upside down with the yarn balls inside. You'd pull the ends through the holes and ply that way. A super idea but, alas, no funds for such. I think I may have found something that will work. It's one of those lazy susan wooden spice rack. like this Mine I picked up at a flee market. 3 bucks maybe? I already removed the lazy susan part for a (some day) home made yarn swift. Lots of free instrux on the web for that. So many smart inventors out there in cyber space. I send out a big thank ya! Anyway, I think if I lay the thing on its side, stick the balls inside the 4 slats and pull the ends through two of the holes I should be able to ply that way. I am currently combing and spinning some more wool and shall continue on.

Hope some one can use my spindle idea.
Have a good day.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

times they are a changin'

fast! Yeah every time I turn around there is something new is going on. Here at my house. The list:

Not working. I have to stay at home because my grandson will soon be out of early head start. And I have custody.

Two of my sons (who used to babysit so I could work) they now have work pending. They are wielders. A real hit and miss kind of thing. They are on the last rung at the bottom of the ladder. You know the score. BUT there is work to be had. That is a good thing.

Scored some fleece. Two actually. And so a new adventure begins. Which I am loving. These fleeces were a freebie. What up with that? Yes God I Will Follow You Down Any Fiber Path. Course I do not have a clue as to what anything should look like. One fleece was very dirty. 4 hot water washes this creature took. 3 bottles of blue dish detergent. I bought 2 thin wire dog brushes and 2 steel dog combs. Guess you know what those are for. As I sit combing out this fuzzy fiber my husband actually had the nerve to say, "that looks like something a crazy, evil person would do." Well babe you better start getting used to it. Oh yeah.

The fleece was given to me when I volunteered at a local fair. click next until you see the sheep's wool! Pretty grimy. You can see my pile to the left. I am standing behind the camera. Just the way I like. But the Heritage Farm Museum shows how our early settlers lived. A neat place do a vacation at.

Have been looking for equipment for spinning. On The Cheap. I made a spindle with a short wood knitting needle, size 11, a round wood tinker toy connector with small rocks glued into it's holes around the edge and a cup hook screwed on top. Spun and plied one wee hank. Not to bad. When my rechargables are ready, will put up pictures of my stuff. My goodies.
Want a wool picker and a some wool combs. Want a spinning wheel. For as close to free as I can get. I'm thinking Make It Yourself. Which is not free but close enough, really.

Here are 2 different links for a PVC pipe wheel. Dragons Keep's wheel  This'un's free.

Doni Stuff's stuff  This one's for purchase. 7 bucks.

The other two items on my list? Got blessed. A gent sent me two of his wood working plans. For combs and a box picker. Free. What's wrong with him?! He asked me to put a close pin on my lips about this. His web site is still being worked on and will soon begin sales for his Fiber Woodworking Plan Creations. They are priced very reasonable. But for those of you with folding money right now here is Kaydessa's safe box woolpicker . Some wool pickers look like something that dude from the movie "Pit and the Pendulum" might use to torture you. Slowly. Painfully. I would say you could not use these things around kids. But the one in the above link looks very safe.

And so some changes are very good. Some are on the okay side. Some are a real bummer. Like making no money. That sucks!

Okay, have a good one.