Fiber and Pups...With a Twist

The spinning for Tour de Fleece is done. I finished the second bobbin of the lovely Waimea Rooster merino/Tencel fiber from AlohaBlu. Here are the two bobbins, within 1 gm of each other in weight.

Then I got out my expensive lazy kate.

My wheel has a lazy kate built in, but I like to place the bobbins at least a few feet away from my wheel while plying, so the twist has a chance to even out a bit before the singles get plied.

Here’s what my yarn looked like before washing.

I got 20 WPI (wraps per inch, so fairly fine yarn, in the fingering range). I had 880 yds before washing. 

Dusty had his first haircut with our regular groomer. The breeder groomed the pups regularly while she had them, so they would be used to grooming. Here’s what he looked like before:

He looked much better after

Here’s a photo of Dusty and Rocky after their day at the spa.

It didn’t take them long to get dirty again.

I didn’t make it to Vintage Stitchers this week, but I dropped in on Joanie, along with Dusty and Rocky, so she could meet the new pup. She had just returned from a trip to Idaho, and brought me a souvenir.

Ha-ha, very funny! However, it’s a nice guidebook. It has a skull and crossbones beside each mushroom that’s toxic to humans, but doesn’t specify which ones are toxic to dogs. However, if I can identify the offending mushroom, I can Google it to find out if it’s toxic to dogs.

What's on my needles: The “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” working on the first sleeve, very little progress this week. Delectable Pathways quilt put aside for now.

What's on my Featherweight: No sewing until I get home again.

What's on my wheel: Just finished the Waimea Rooster Merino/Tencel from AlohaBlu, but plan to spin something new when I get back.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury, also from Audible. Now reading The Heiress of Winterwood by Sarah Ladd. Interesting story, but the narrator leaves something to be desired. I think she would be better reading children’s literature. It’s a Regency novel, and it also bothered me at first that she has an American accent, especially since they mention the war with the American colonies. I got used to her reading as the story went on, though, so it’s OK. (It’s Christian lit, if that influences you. It didn’t bother me.) Still reading Remember This by Shae Buggs on the Kindle app on my iPad, making some progress, now that things have calmed down a bit on the puppy front. 

What's in my wine glass: Amberhill Secret Blend, a red, 2014. It’s my second-favorite wine.

What's my tip of the week: If you’re training your puppy to do his business in the backyard, take him out every time he wakes up, finishes eating, has been playing vigorously for 10 minutes or so, or just for some exercise. Tell him what you want him to do (we use “make potty,” and then ask, “more potty?” if we think he might have some more serious business), then praise him if he does it. Don’t take him back in the house right away, unless it’s because he gets to eat, and he’s hungry. If they enjoy being outdoors, dogs will learn to put off doing their business to get to stay out longer.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Tour de Fleece, Tour de Poodle….

The spinning for Tour de Fleece has been coming along. I’m well into the second bobbin of the lovely Waimea Rooster merino/Tencel fiber from AlohaBlu.

I also finished making the steeks for my “So-not-my-palette” cardigan. Here it is before I cut the steeks.

This shot shows how I trimmed the loose ends of yarn, rather than weaving them in, one of the advantages of steeks.

I picked up the sleeve stitches and started knitting the first sleeve, but I discovered a mistake in how I picked up the stitches, so off to the frog pond. With a new puppy in the house, the heat and the early sunrise, I haven’t been getting enough sleep, and the light wasn’t very good when I was picking them up, not to mention the distractions at Common Threads, where I was doing it. I got off by one vertical row of stitches on the last few inches of the front. Oh, well. I get to have the fun all over again! At least this time I know I’m doing it right.

Common Threads met on Thursday at Lynda’s. Margareth was working on this great shawl, the Homestead Shawl from Interweave Knits’ Gifts 2015 edition.

Janet was working on her Washington Park Shawl. She has started the border, which has some challenges, but I should be able to show off her finished shawl before too long.

Other people were working on socks, baby knitting and needlepoint.

Meanwhile in Puppy Land, Dusty continues to grow. Yesterday, at 12 weeks, he tipped the scales at 8.0 lbs. This shot shows Dusty on July 13th (left) and July 23rd (right), so you can see how much he has grown in that time. (Check out the height of the play yard fence.)

You can also see that his facial hair has grown (presumably all of his hair, but the facial hair really shows up). His “raccoon eyes” have become less pronounced. He goes for his first grooming (other than by the breeder) on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see what he looks like when I pick him up.

How has his nibs, The Dustball Dude managed this phenomenal growth? Of course, by eating, but also by sleeping a lot:

He also has been muscle-building by playing a lot with brother Rocky, whereby big brother just needs to stay still or move his head a bit. Sometimes he can even continue to nap:

Dusty has also had a couple of walks with the family:

And some water play. On Sunday, we threw a toy in that doesn't float. He hesitated, poked it with a paw a couple of times, and then went after it with his mouth. True to poodle form, the bubbles came out his nose as he retrieved it. Go, Dusty!

We finally figured out how to get Dusty to eat enough in the evening so he could get through the night.

The Little Dude had his puppy boosters on Tuesday, which means he’s less likely to get Parvo now. We are still being cautious, though, and cleaning the pups’ feet as well as our own with disinfectants after we have been out on the street, until he has his final puppy booster on August 16.

Because we have a trip coming up, and Dusty won’t have full immunity until 10 days after his next puppy shots, we decided to try to train him to use paper, which we can put down in the bathtub of our trailer, so his feet never have to touch the ground at rest stops (always a danger area, because dogs from all over use the area). We will only have Rocky’s feet to clean, and our shoes to slip off at the door to the trailer.

We have trained Dusty to go on demand, so it was easy to get him to go on paper once he was used to going on the ground outdoors. We just put him on the paper and said, "Make potty." (Now if we can just get him not to go anywhere else...but that will come.) He’s sleeping well at night, now that we have figured out that he just needed a big dinner in the evening.

We expect to be leaving on our trip east a week from today, but that’s flexible. I'm planning on delivering the "Seeing Stars" quilt to our daughter and SIL, and take some quilting books to DDIL1, but shhhhh! It's supposed to be a surprise. Dolly will go along, too, so Daphne can meet Daphne Jr.'s counterpart.

What's on my needles: The “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” steeks done. Still hand-quilting my Delectable Pathways quilt.

What's on my Featherweight: I used my machine for the steeks finished, and now my machine is put away again.

What's on my wheel: Still the Waimea Rooster Merino/Tencel from AlohaBlu, continuing to spin for the Tour de Fleece, making good progress on the second bobbin.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Thornwood House by Anna Romer, one of the best books I have ever listened to. It had everything: Adventure, suspense, mystery and romance coupled with interesting, very human characters, some Australian history, with beautiful language and a feast of the senses, with sights, sounds, smells and other sensations. Find out more here or here. I feel as if I had just visited Australia without the need of a plane ticket. Now listening to The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury, also from Audible. Still reading Remember This by Shae Buggs on the Kindle app on my iPad. 

What's in my wine glass: Lindemann’s Cawarra Shiraz-Cabernet 2014. Always a nice choice.

What's my tip of the week: Do you have hummingbird feeders? You don’t need to buy expensive feed for them. Boil water and mix it with sugar. Allow to cool at least until lukewarm. A ratio of 1 sugar to 4 water works. Use regular table sugar only (sucrose) from cane or beets. Never use honey or artificial sweeteners. Hummingbirds don’t need the vitamins nor especially the red dye in most commercial hummingbird feed.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Beethoven, Binding and Birthdays

The performances of Beethoven’s Ninth on Monday and Tuesday went well. Here’s a photo from Monday’s performance.

We were in Berlin for Christmas in 1988 and attended a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth with Herbert von Karajan conducting. It was a very moving experience. The wall would come down less than a year later and was celebrated by a big celebration that included Leonard Bernstein conducting the same orchestra. I never thought I would get to sing this great piece with a real orchestra. It was truly the high point in a couple of difficult weeks. (If you want to find me in the photo, I'm in the front row of the choir, far left. That's house left or stage right, if you're savvy.)

Common Threads met on Thursday at Lynda’s. Kay had returned from her four-month cruise. She had a good time, in spite of a leg fracture caused by a fall in the shower. She got to practice her Spanish and worked on this afghan:

Karan showed us photos of her grandson, who will be a year old in July. (You may remember the hot-air-balloon mobile she knitted for him.) For once, everyone was knitting.

Margareth is working on a hooded sweater for her new grandson. She couldn't figure out the placket join, which was made with four stitches on each end of the section knitted flat. You overlap the ends of your knitting and then knit the first two with a third needle, the way you do a three-needle BO, only without the BO. (I was up-to-date on this technique because I had used it in my Everyday Play doll dress pattern.

Georgette is working on the Tahki Yarns Fire Island Fringed Shawl by Irina Poludnenko, who coincidentally designed the Vicenza (my “Lovejoy”) Lace Shawl. It’s very pretty, but the pattern is giving her fits. She had to rip out and start over.

Lynda is working on a sock. She isn’t crazy about the stripes, so she says the socks will go in her “gift drawer.”

I worked on my “Sunny’s Socks,” using this yarn, sent to me by a dear friend in honor of Sunny and to cheer me up. 

The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll “Sunny Afternoon” hand-painted. How appropriate. I CO on Wednesday using Charlene Schurch’s “Baby Cable Rib” pattern. It's a perfect pattern for breaking up the pooling and not detract from it or get lost in the busyness of a hand-painted yarn. After Common Threads I had this much done:

Friday, I was required to do the H-word, which, as you know, I always put off as long as I can. We had an appraiser coming to look at the house, so we can refinance and make some much-needed repairs, mostly to the exterior. I worked flat-out, only stopping for a 15-minute lie down after lunch. I was certain I was going to be in a lot of pain on Saturday, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I wish I had thought to take a before photo in my fiber studio, because I had pretty much just been throwing things in there since Christmas, but here’s the after, not perfect, because I ran out of steam about 5:10, and the appraiser was coming at 6:00 PM.

It helped that DGD1 is in California visiting friends and to do some photo shoots, because I had access to her bathroom and all of the rest of the downstairs to clean. We have company coming to spend the night tonight, and he will be staying in the loom area, so I had to clean up for him anyway. I plan to host Common Threads on June 2nd, so now I just have to keep everything tidy until then.

I’ve started spinning my Waimea Rooster roving. (I have more coming, so I should be able to make something nice and big with the yarn.) This is the Merino/Tencel blend.

Also under construction is my “Seeing Stars” quilt. I’m sewing on the binding. I hope to have it finished and ready to show off next week. Sewing on binding is one of my least-favorite quilting chores, but I’m always so happy when it’s done.

Finally, my “Lovejoy” (Vicenza) shawl went to DDIL1 for her birthday, which is today. Happy birthday, Patty!

What's on my needles: Still hand-quilting the “Delectable Pathways” quilt and sewing binding on the “Seeing Stars” quilt. Working on the “Sunny’s Socks.” Still have Aran sweater for Daphne Jr. and “Trickle Sock”s on needles. Swatched for “So Not My Palette” cardigan and got gauge. I’ll probably CO when I finish the binding on “Seeing Stars.”

What's on my Featherweight: Waiting for the next project.

What's on my wheel: Waimea Rooster Merino/Tencel from AlohaBlu.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. Reading Dragon Rose by Christine Pope on the Kindle app. However, they have given me the WhisperSync version for free, so I may listen to it instead. I had just started, so I don’t know how good it is yet.

What's in my wine glass: Bohemian Highway Merlot. On the bottle it says, “This package is recyclable. Protect your karma.” Recycling protects more than your karma, if we all do it. DH is combing the state liquor stores as I write this, hoping to find another bottle or two.

What's my tip of the week: When sewing on folded binding, I like to put my right forefinger between the binding and the quilt to keep both layers together and slightly stretched. It keeps the top layer from sliding past the bottom layer. It’s a little unwieldy until you get the hang of it.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Farewells and Goodbye

We said goodbye to the Knitting Community yesterday. And my page:

I have such fond memories of the years on the Knitting Community and special friends, some of whom I have no way of communicating with again (Susan, Marty, Judith), as well as some I'm still in touch with even daily.

On the bright side, we have The Frog Prince and His Knitting Community Orphans, which is now in full swing.

I spent a good part of Saturday on the Knitting Community copying photos I thought I might not have elsewhere. I had already copied half of them, but the past couple of weeks has been very busy with extra practices for Beethoven’s Ninth, with our first performance this coming Sunday. I had a deadline and priorities.

I did get a few other things done this week, though. I had been waiting for my contact person at the Winter Sports School to tell me what they wanted on the label for the back of the quilt commemorating the life of Sam Jackenthal, the young skier who died after an accident in Australia. I finally wrote up something and got an OK on it. Here’s what it looks like, including the names of all the quilters who donated their efforts.

Here’s a photo of the finished quilt. The blocks were painted by students at the school who knew Sam. I think it was therapeutic for them to say goodbye in this way, and will be therapeutic as well when they see the quilt. (The Winter Sports School is for young athletes who participate in winter sports, which they practice during the winter. The school allows them to go to school during the seasons when there are no winter sports.)

The quilt will be on display at the school and once the students who knew Sam have graduated, it will go to Sam's family.

Many thanks to everyone who took part in producing it.

I delivered it after church on Sunday, before dropping by to visit my friend Joanie, who needs to have her current knitting project restarted after she made a mistake and had to frog back to the CO.

I managed to get more spinning and knitting done during the week, but not enough to show much difference, so watch for an update next week. I managed to organize my squares for Johan’s I-spy quilt, and got a few cut to size. And (Ta-da!) Dolly finally got her slip.

This was the pattern I made for it, similar to the one I used for the dirndl to go with the Red Ridinghood outfit.

The line on the skirt pattern shows where I had to cut it to make it short enough. If anyone wants the pattern, I plan on making a better copy, one that will fit on an 8.5” X 11” piece of paper, which will require a fold in the middle of the bodice. Send me a personal message if you want one, either on Quilt With Us or on Ravelry, but if you’re in a real hurry, you can just copy this and blow up the photo so that the 1” marks on my portable cutting mat are 1”.  You will see that the tops of the shoulders are placed on the fold, and one side of the skirt is also on the fold.

I use freezer paper for my doll patterns if I make them myself. Then I can press them onto the cloth, maybe put in one pin, and cut carefully without separating the fold underneath. I wanted a decorative trim down the front, so I placed that on first.

I used a pin to hold it in place. Then I folded the entire piece with the wrong sides together, pinned in several places and sewed (quilters: “chain-pieced") up the left back, around the left armhole, around the neck, around the right armhole and finally down the right back, not cutting the thread at the tops of the shoulders. As you can see, I trimmed the seams, trimmed the corners and clipped the curves.

Then I turned it right-side out and pressed.

Next, I took the skirt, folded over the two back edges 1/4” and then 1/4” again, and sewed them down. I ran a row of stay-stitching around the waist, just inside 1/4”, and then clipped to the stitching.

Right sides together, I sewed the right side of the bodice to the skirt. (If you don’t care if you have raw edges or want to serge or zig-zag the raw edges, you can just sew both right side and lining to the skirt.)

I pressed under the raw edge of the lining to line up with the seam. This was what it looked like from the outside:

Then I made a row of top stitching over the seam and another row about 1/8” above that, to hold the lining in place. (Here you could make a nice finish by sewing the lining down by hand, but I was in a hurry to get the doll clothes sent off.)

To cover up my (ahem) irregular stitching, I put another piece of decorative trim over the stitching and sewed it down.

I tried it on Dolly (with her cooperation) for length and to determine how to sew the shoulders together. A very thin strap might have fit OK just sewing them together straight across, but I found I got a better fit at the shoulders by overlapping the shoulders and sewing them at an angle. (I might try not having shoulder sections at all next time and using ribbon in place of them.) I cut off the excess fabric at the hem and turned it up, adding a lace trim to hide the stitching. The final step was to sew small pieces of velcro on the back edges at the top, waist and hem. The same pattern would make a great summer dress.

Dolly was a big help with fitting the slip and making sure it was going to work. She didn’t get to keep it long, though, because it got shipped off in the package for Miss Daphne’s birthday, coming up May 14th, to be worn by Daphne Jr..

Here are Daphne Jr.’s duds, furniture and bedding packed and ready to ship. We needed a big box, because the mattress had a stiff piece of board at the bottom, so Daphne Jr. won’t sink into the depression in the lid of the storage box that is her bed. (We can’t have her sinking into a depression, can we?) That made the mattress too big to fit flat in the box. I could have had DD buy a comparable storage container there, but the mattress still would have been a problem.

DH filled the rest of the box with air pillows, and styrofoam peanuts, and when he ran out of those, plastic bags. He carried it for me to the Post office. It wasn’t that heavy, but it was bulky. (I held the doors.) Here he is at the Post Office.

(I love the sign on the wall that says “PACKED WITH HEART.” So true.)

With all the goodbyes, I’m glad I don’t have to say goodbye to my Knitting Community friends and fellow "orphans." Activities in the Ravelry forum are moving along. We even have plans for a special Spin-in during the Tour de Fleece, starting July 2 and runs through the 24th, so pretty much the whole month of July. The Tour de Fleece coincides every year with the Tour de France. (You might have heard of it. Bicycles are involved. We’re spinning. Get it?)

This year we will be spinning fiber prepared for us by Christina/AlohaBlu. She also does hand-dyed yarn, but we’re going to be spinning from her fiber. She’s even making two special colorways just for us (although we can use any colorway we like for the Spin-in). The special colorways are based on our logo photos, first The Frog Prince:

…and then His Knitting Community Orphans.

I plan on a braid of each, along with some Waimea Rooster.

I would give you a link to the Waimea Rooster colorway in a braid, but we bought it all up, so there’s no more in the shoppe. In fact, she’s dyeing more for us. If you really like it, I'm sure she'll make more.

What's on my needles: Still hand-quilting the “Delectable Pathways” quilt. Working on the the Vicenza Lace Shawl. Progress on both Still have Aran sweater for Daphne Jr. and socks on needles.

What's on my Featherweight: Johan’s I-spy quilt. Ready to start on Dolly’s Regency outfit when I get a chance.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving, in "Fawn," still, almost done with second bobbin (out of two...whoo-hoo!)

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listing to the Beethoven’s Ninth choral practice recording is still cutting into my audiobook time. Reading A Love That Never Tires by Allyson Jeleyne on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Lindeman’s Cawarra. The big bottle. Not that I drink the whole thing by myself at one sitting.

What's my tip of the week: Keep backups of the photos you really don’t want to lose on CDs, well-labeled. I lost some photos that were on my hard drive when my old laptop died. I lost more that were on Flickr when I had to give up my Yahoo account because it was repeatedly hacked. I could have lost even more photos that I had on the Knitting Community, if I hadn’t copied them to CD, especially the ones from before I got my new computer. I also have an external hard drive as a backup for my MacBook. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.