spinning my way to the moon

the summer in review!

i haven't been able to focus at all on schoolwork, so i figured it was time for a pictoral review of missing links as pictures from summer are LONG overdue!

first off, here are some of the first yarns that i spun! the blue i did on my drop spindle, which took forever, but was fun! the green i did on kate's luett spinning wheel and used it for my hat, foliage [ravelry link].


after these small adventures in spinning, i couldn't resist more! the fiber fever hit hard, so
kate and i got some roving and decided to DYE!

it was so messy but so worth it. we used RIT dyes, which might have been a mistake for first-time dying of this sort, but we managed through it anyway. besides, we were doing it at her boyfriends house, so it wasn't like it was our counters we were ruining, right? just kidding. but
i did do my share of bleaching countertops afterwards, anyway!

so, now that i had this beautiful purple and blue wool, what was i going to do with it? i was leaving to work at camp all summer and would not be around to use kate's spinning wheel. oh my god! i was freaking out! i can't go all summer without being able to spin this gorgeous roving! it was nagging at me, pulling at all of my nerves. there was nothing i could do. i waited as long as i could for my first paycheck from the summer but chloe was behind on paperwork so finally i just broke down and borrowed the money from my parents and bought

MY VERY OWN SPINNING WHEEL!

it was so amazing i didn't know what do do with myself. i sanded it and stained it and assembled it in the back of Grube library, the only unoccupied dry space in camp, as it was a horribly rainy week and i couldn't do it outside.
so,
then i spent my summer spinning this absolutely gorgeous and soft corridale yarn that we now affectionately refer to as Purple Rain. i started it as soon as my wheel was assembled during the first session of boys camp, and finished it the week that girls first session ended, just before i left camp and came back home to spend time with kate and william before they left for school.

...now the problem is, i don't know what to knit with it!!

very vegan sausage links

very vegan sausage links, or
sharla's sausages.

these were originally made as a joke for sharla, christmas 2006, because she does not eat meat.
i thought they were funny so i made more. i wanted to make a scarf, but didn't think it would be very practical!

yarn: pattons? tweed. some type of acrylic. color: raw meat red!!!!
contrasting yarn: i used pink, black, or another red would work as well.
needle size: US size 5
tapestry needle
polyfiberfill

thoughts: i found a tweedy red yarn that made me think of all the little bits of weirdness that you find in sausages. i also made another set of links using a red and white yarn that reminded me of ground beef with a lot of fat content in it. however, solid reds and red/browns would look fine too.
i used a pink sock yarn for the faces.








PATTERN:

co 3 st.
knit one inch in i-chord
row 1: kfb all stitches (6 st.- transfer onto three needles if using dp)
row 2: k all st.
row 3, 4: repeat rows 1&2 (12 st.)
row 5: *k1fb, k1* to end (18 st.)
knit 20 rows stockinette.

this would be a good time to add a funny face to your sausage if you would like, using a contrasting yarn and a tapestry needle.

stuff sausage with polyfiberfill or stuffing of your choice.

row 26: *k1, k2tog* to end of row (12 st.)
row 27: knit all st.
row 28&29: *k2tog* to end (6 st. at end of row 28, 3 st. at end of row 29)
i-chord 3 rows and begin new sausage.

repeat as many times as you like.

fairest of the seasons

[edit]

so i stayed up all night finishing lorne's dinosaur costume. i heard it was a hit at the party.
went to bed at two in the morning and i have to get up at seven in order to get to class at eight.
after laboratory i have to pack, pick up a boxspring for my bed and drive five hours to scranton, pennsylvania for my grandfather's funeral.
he finally passed away on monday morning after some ten-odd years of being told he could die any day because his altzehimers/parkinson's/dimentia was getting so bad.


fastforward past the part where i whine about missing halloween.


the funeral was O.K.
i'm not much into funerals - they're really not as interesting as harold & maude would have you think. it's all a bunch of "it doesn't look like him" or "he was never that skinny" or "wait, you're my cousin nancy!? i would have never recognized you!"
i'm also a little weirded out by my grandmother's fear of being burried underground. she bought them a space in the clarks summett mausoleum. it was interesting.

a lot of cold gray marble...
i don't know what my grandmother is going to do, now.

le gland du chêne

le gland du chêne

more commonly known as, an ACORN!

sizes:
long acorn (on left) 2.5x3.5 inches
stout acorn (on right) 2.5x3 inches

yarn: brown sheep lamb's pride worsted
bronze patina (light brown)
chocolate souffle (dark brown)

needle: US size 8
i used a circular needle, but dp would work as well.
anything written between *asterisks* should be repeated throughout the row.

other necessities: tapestry needle, poly fiber fill

simple abbreviations:
k1fb - knit one stitch front/back.
k2tog - decrease by knitting two stitches together.
p2tog- decrease by purling two stitches together.


also, don't worry about knits and purls matching up on the acorn cap- they end up being kind of random but are mostly just there for varied texture!

row:
0: with lighter brown, cast on 3 st.
1,2: work two rows of i-cord
3: *k1fb* to end (6st)

redistribute stitches on needle(s)

4: *k1fb, k1* to end (9st)
5: knit all stitches
6: *k1fb, k2* to end (12st)
7: *k1fb, k3* to end (15st)
8: knit all stitches
9: *k1fb, k4* to end (18st)
10 - 15 : knit all stitches (for a longer acorn, knit 2 or 3 extra rows of stockinette)

break yarn, switch colors to darker brown.

16: k1fb all stitches (36st)
17: *k1fb, p1* to end (54 st)
18: *p1, k1* to end
19: *k1, p1* to end
20: *p2tog, k2tog* to end (27 st)
21: *k2tog, p1* to end (18st)
22: *p1, k1* to end
23: *k2tog, p2tog* to end (9st)

at this point, fill acorn with polyfiberfill.

24: p2tog, k2tog, p1, k2tog, p2tog (5st)

move all stitches onto one needle

25-27: work 3 rows i-cord with 5st.
pull yarn through remaining st.
weave in ends.

voila!

and then there were...

been very busy with camp and camp related stuff.
getting kind of bored with this gig already. only ...25 more days.
which actually, when you put it that way,
it sounds much longer than i wished it to be.

assembled my spinning wheel a few weeks ago
but the amount that i've been able to spin every day
has been tapering.

started & finished a lot of projects since i've been here -
finished coachela.
made dug's DNA strand.
made liz's womb.
worked on some other small projects here and there.

i had a sudden bout of excitement in my life at the
end of last weekend when one of my rats,
dahl, died suddenly of an unusual
illness. bloating? i don't know.
they didn't know.
it was sad. he had a good life, though.

pictures of the wheel will follow.
also i hope to get up a pattern for my sausage links.
which really shouldn't be so hard.
i also can't wait to see how other people's watermelon slices come out -
currently four of them in the works.

did you know that there was an animated The Little Prince series?
i didn't. but now i own it.
it's actually quite terrible from what i've seen
as of yet... but how can you not love it?!