A View from Sierra County

Last Minute Reminder: Contest Ends Tomorrow

For the first time in a few months, I had two days off in a row.... I was so excited just thinking about it.  First I had to make it through the annual Grass Valley Downtown Association Sidewalk Sale, which was very hot (high 90s) but a success at the yarn shop.  I collapsed into a heap Saturday evening, rallying only briefly to think about how I would have to do a post soon about the knitter's most dangerous four letter word.

I spent a lovely Sunday-Monday weekend at my high country house, where Internet access is a tortuous process.  The end of the fun was marred by car troubles and a late night getting home, as well as some intense back pain that had me losing sleep the past three nights and paying an emergency visit to my chiropractor.  He helped a lot, and I just had a small, refreshing nap.  This preface is to explain why I haven't been reminding you sooner that my contest is scheduled to end at midnight tonight (that's PDT, my time, in case you were wondering). 

I have been a somewhat neglectful blogger, and made it seem too challenging in the first place, I am afraid.  I did have several of you send some delightful ideas, but I know there is a lot more creativity out there, so I am going to extend the deadline until midnight tomorrow, August 1st, and then announce the winners by Friday (I have to be gone to training part of the week).  Those who contribute a clever idea, a la my original post, will be entered into one drawing, to win this skein of Harvey Farms yarn

and a set of Hogwarts House sock knitting stitch markers made by the Craftylilly, Jennifer.

These markers are smaller in size, perfect for sock projects.  Jennifer has also come up with one of the coolest ideas I have seen lately in jewelry for knitters, a lariat-style necklace that holds your stitch markers close to your heart while you knit... check it out at her Etsy store.  She could make you one in your favorite color, and I will show you a photo of mine when it arrives.

Here's the part I should have made clearer: ANYONE else may enter, even if they don't want to try and come up with a clever idea.... they and the select group of would-be designers will co-mingle in a drawing for a sweet little knitting accessory pouch made by Pat, a fellow member of the Mountain Harvest Crafts Co-op, and a black sheep tape measure to start filling its many pockets with your knitting tools.  So enter now!  Email me at burrobird AT gmail DOT com.

This is a rather boring little post and about all my recovering back can take of sitting at the computer, so I will bid you all a fond farewell until next time.  There will be exciting posts, knitting and burro news, and mountain photos again soon, I promise.  I actually feel 1000% better, but am not pressing my luck.

Oh Joy!

That's how I feel tonight...it's still too hot to get a good night's sleep or keep the plants from wilting.  DH is still gone, on his third fire assignnment of the summer, with the likelihood of several more before winter.  My camera battery still needs to arrive (and I neglected to mention that I have had cameras that ran on rechargeable AAs for years and reluctantly bought a model with a lithium battery, so was not happy to be incapacitated in less than two months!).

However, I just got home from a lovely knit night together with Claudia and Stephanie, sitting out on in the back yard of the pizza parlor down the street, knitting and drinking beer and enjoying the fact that we can do that in summer.  I got most of my first mohair mitt done and could rejoice in the relief of determining I have enough yarn.  I got my first diamond square made, measured it and the gauge was right on (do you know how rare that is in my life?!).  I will be able to proceed with making lovely little squares that will grow into a lovely little top.  And when I tried on my Lutea this morning, the fit was perfect, and the color suited me better than predicted.

All is right in the world and I can go to sleep a happy woman.  Pleasant Dreams!

A Finished Object

It's amazing!  I actually finished something last night... my Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell is fini, except for weaving a few ends and blocking.  That will have to wait until tomorrow, and taking photos for you will probably have to wait even longer, as my camera battery, in my only-two-months-old camera, decided not to take a charge any longer on Sunday.  This led to two trips to the store where I bought it (a box store charitably remaining nameless) and a few tries elsewhere.  I ordered a battery onilne tonight, after gagging on the price and thinking about the fact that I could practically buy enough yarn for a whole sweater, or at least another sleeveless one, and will have to wait several days for it to arrive.

Lutea was a lovely, delightful and amusing knit, all the way until yesterday when I struggled muddle-minded in the sultry, soggy evening heat to finish that one, last shoulder and properly bind it off... though I don't hold it against the pattern, but rather the heat and thunderstorm pattern it brought here.  I am very happy with Rowan Calmer and want to make something else from it in the future... it is soft, squishy, vibrant and stretchy, the best alternative to a wool in a non-wool yarn I have found, pretty much.  Although I will enjoy the beautiful Spring Garden colorway I selected for my next garment, from Tahki Cotton Classic Color, and will have fun making the Diamond Patch Sweater from Just One More Row, I am not expecting quite the same joy in its qualities, which seem more like a standard cotton yarn, though with a high sheen and less likely to split than most.

Although I haven't had the chance to get any further on my CSM sock, I thought I would post a progress photo, taken before the camera battery died:

My need for more practice and skill development shows in the short row heel, where I ended up with a hole that will need fixing as I was increasing back out... the lovely color is inspiring, though, and I hope to get this pair finished over the weekend and another started.

First, though, I have to finish up the Tour De Fleece, plying more of the Coopworth (11.2 oz of roving is a LOT of spinning; I probably have a third left to spin, one full bobbin waiting to be plied, and another plied and 'resting' on the bobbin until I can wind it to the niddy noddy for another good night's sleep before washing and thrashing. 

Then I hope to enter a nicely finished skein in the 'novice skein' division of the Nevada County Fair, as well as a pair of fingerless gloves, based on the pattern in Alterknits from my spindlespun mohair singles in the 'novice projects division'... I am not much for deadlines, but am pressing onwards as this is the one and only year I can enter the fair as a novice spinner.  Wish me luck!

UFO Shoes

My July UFO Resurrection will be finishing up a pair of felted clogs that I started back in March 2005.  They only need the second outer sole knitted up and attached before they can be thrown in the washer.... which means that I managed to knit one whole shoe and the body of the second before abandoning them.  There really is only about two hours' worth of work left to reach completion.... 

Why? Why am I so fickle?  The pattern isn't particularly hard, though the sole shaping requires reading it before every row.  But I did it once ... why not the second?  Did I get bored? Did something more glamorous come along?  Looking back through my blog posts from that time it was probably simply that spring came along and interrupted my attention to their completion, as well as invalidated my instant need for shoes.

So what has inspired me to make them my July UFO Resurrection?  I stumbled upon this great website!  If I quickly finish up my pair of clogs and send them off, I can get winterized soles attached and wear them by the time winter arrives.... how cool is that?!  Did I mention I abandoned these with only about two hours of work left to do on them?  Cross your fingers for me that I can manage to stay focused, for just two hours.

A Special Day for Children

The Nevada City community decided in 2003 to resurrect an old tradition, putting on a Children's Festival in the park each summer.  It was such a hit that there are now two sessions, morning and evening, winding Renaissance Faire style through the woods alongside the creek that flows through the eastern edge of Pioneer Park, less than a mile from downtown.  Our Headstart's parent organization, Placer Community Action Council, was offered free admission tickets so that we could bring lots of our families, and I gave out a few dozen tickets, then got up bright and early yesterday morning to meet up with my co-worker, Coya and her kids, and later connect with our home visitor, Stormy, one of her mamas and son, and DD Nikki, who is a home visitor for the Grass Valley area (yes, we work for the same organization, and she was hired first!).  Nikki had brought two van loads of people, making multiple trips, and late in the morning we got together for a lovely snack she had packed.

This is the view that greeted us as we walked under the pretend stone arch and into the fair area.... lots of tables where children could make wonderful crafts... there were glass bead necklaces to string, magic wands and foil-covered cardboard shields to construct, clothespin dolls and swords ....

The swords appeared to have been pre-cut from recycled packaging materials, and the shafts had holes already made so that the child could slip an end onto a shaft and decorate it with lots of sparkling 'gems'.  Us more experienced moms insisted that every member of a family go home with one so that pretend battles didn't turn out to be one-sided!

These lovely prints were quickly produced by drawing with permanent marker on bits of recycled bed sheeting, stretched over the top of a plastic drinking cup and held in place with a rubber band while the artist made their design.  Then, rubbing alcohol was sprayed on the surface and the artist rotated the cup to spread it around, creating the subtle blendings of color (the cup also worked to catch any drips).  The festival organizers had dozens of mats pre-cut and ready to frame the resultant original artwork.

There is a troll that must be bribed in order to cross the bridge over the creek to the rest of the fair.... he will accept songs or dances or jokes or even bits of nature such as the pieces of bark that Coya's son Dougie rounded up as tickets for the three of us, then raise the wooden bar and let you pass.

There are strolling minstrels, the Queen to pay your respects to, and a stage with haybale seats, where a juggling performance by the famous Izzy Tooinsky took place in the late morning.

One of the highlights for me was this fire-breathing dragon, a fantastical sculpture that could come to life, shake its head and breathe out great flames from its nostrils!

The backbone of the event is the dozens of volunteers, like my friend Robin shown here doing tie dye art on paper coffee filters with a group of children. 

We had a lovely morning and also got several ideas for new art activities to use in the coming months with our tiny students.

I will have a knitting post up next, as my Lutea Lace Shoulder shell is almost done... just the last two pretty and lacy shoulders to finish in about one evening's work, and then blocking.  It is a beautiful pattern and easy to work, though it needed a few addendums to correct errors.  The first CSM sock is waiting for me to attempt my first 'wedge toe' and then make it a mate, and I am poring over Knitting Lingerie Style, by Joan McGowan-Michael of White Lies Design (and an almost-local grrl) for my next garment project!  I leave you to enjoy your summer weekend, with this photo of the most dramatic sky of the week, taken just before Wednesday's deluge (rain is rare where I live in summer and a momentous occasion)

 

Blog Gorp and Internet Menace

OK, this is going to be a 'sucky' post, as I spent an hour working on a lovely one, complete with pictures, arrows and diagrams... but opening somebody else's blog triggered massive Internet Explorer windows opening, one after the other (this has happened to me before, usually in the evening) leading to a quick ditch of everything.  Now, Typepad has been pretty good about backing up as you go... more than I even thought I needed till now... this time, though, nothing.  Zip. Nada.  Just this little paragraph I had saved as a draft yesterday, following up from my CSM post yesterday... sorry folks.  Maybe those of us in rural areas with crappy internet connections just aren't destined to be the heroines of knitblogland.  I just blew throught the dinner hour, cut into the knitting time and have nothing left to give... see ya

My post about our CSM gathering generated a lot of interest and questions, so I wanted to share links to two CSM bloggers who actually routinely finish socks (a goal I hope to meet very soon).  The first one is Soxophone Player Doug, who lives up in Ontario, where he has sheep... he describes himself as a soxoholic, and makes so many socks using his CSM that he sells many at the local Farmers Market, and is a great resource on the wide array of sock yarns out there.  One example is a yarn from a small company that I had never seen featured on a blog before, the Apple Laine yarns from Ottawa.  The other one is Maria, the Knackful Knitter, who has been so lovely in sending me words of encouragement that I will get through my first pair of CSM socks and be flying along in no time.  She makes CSM socks for Socks for Soldiers and is also doing the Mystery Stole 3, so drop by for a look.

Seeing Red and A Contest

I wanted to share my Great Solar Kool Aid Dye Experiment with everyone, and encourage you to conserve fuel and use the sun, while the getting is good (at least in the Northern Hemisphere).

I needed more yarn for Seraphim, and had been mulling over 'design modifications' that would allow me to finish up and personalize my version, so I bought some lovely silvery-cream yarn of the same weight from Harvey Farms last week. 

Then, a trip to the store netted several packages of Kool-Aid.  I mixed two packages of Tropical Punch with one package of Strawberry, hoping to get a nice tomatoey-coral red... the smell was terrific, and reminded me of childhood days attempting to raise a fortune through a street-side Kool-Aid stand.  I added 6 oz. water to 2 oz. white vinegar in order to assure that my color would stick to my yarn.  Pouring my 'dye bath' over pre-soaked yarn which had been placed in a gallon-sized ziplock bag led to this:

Though it is hard to see the yarn through the heavy plastic, I was optimistic from the start.  The color looked really close to what I wanted!

That is my very large, antique black enamel turkey roasting pan, which I was hoping would absorb the sun's rays and help to keep my dye bath at a simmering temperature.  I wasn't sure how much solar heat to apply; I left my pan out for three days, and then emailed Amy, saying "Most Kool-Aid recipes for heating on the stove or microwave say to heat until all the color is taken up; how long should I leave this out in the sun?"

Well, I felt a bit foolish when she reminded me that I might have more liquid than those people had used, and added that she had never solar dyed yarn for longer than a few hours....  I guess it was out there long enough.

My yarn rinsed clear right away, which is a good sign that my vinegar fixative had done it's job.

This is the newly-rinsed yarn, drying over the bathtub... ain't it awesome!

I am very happy with the color, and the fruity smell, though that will probably dissipate.  I doubt that I will use Kool Aid all that often; there are more precise, more ecological and less expensive ways to dye yarn (though not all three in one choice).  However, I am delighted to get the color I had in mind, while employing the sun.  This yarn will be used for the bottom two charts on the shawl, and I wound it into a ball last night... not an easy task, considering the skein is a double-length one.

Now, for the contest part:

There is another innovation to the design that I intend to employ.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it and enter my contest, is to send an email to: burrobird AT gmail DOT com, by midnight Pacific Daylight Time on July 31st, 2007, describing what you think that innovation is.

I will put all the entries into one basket to pull a prize winner, and all the correct entries into another basket for a separate prize.  I have been collecting a few choice bits with a contest in mind, and the date of the drawing, August 1st, was selected in memory of my father, who would have celebrated his 84th birthday on that day.  He developed Alzheimers in his early sixties and died in 1998, but I owe a great portion of my creativity to both his genes and his nurturance.  A fitting reason for a contest celebrating the creativity of being a fiber artist, don't you think?

All About The Socks

Friday, which is one of my two days off right now, saw me up early and heading over to Esparto and the West Valley Alpaca Ranch for a CSM gathering (aka, Circular Sock Knitting Machine).  There were only four of us, including our lovely hostess Pat, who has been raising alpacas for over fifteen years, and spins, weaves and knits as well.  Pat turned over her shop/classroom/studio to us for a fun-filled day.

This photo shows Pat's CSM set-up, very efficient, with her machine clamped to a customized stool, complete with lamp, mounted row counter, basket to hold supplies, and tool holders recycled from syringe cases leftover from vaccinating alpacas, and loom in the background.

We were a far-flung group, drawn together by our desire to become adept at using these antique gadgets.  Shelly, who begged Pat for some training and got us all together, came from Stockton, about an hour away.  She has a brand-new reproduction of the Auto Knitter, which she got a month ago and is eager to put to use making socks.  These spiffy new devices are being produced in New Zealand, and she was still needing to fine-tune it with advice from Pat after the long trip to get here.

Paula, who hails from Long Beach, was also unpacking a new-to-her machine, reconditioned by the famous Barry Travis (well, at least he is famous in the narrow circle of CSM users, who have to rely on the Internet to find and communicate with each other, there being few books and even less in the way of classes, covering this subject.  Paula also teaches music for a living and has an equally strong passion for the tango.

Deb (or Docter Deb, as we discovered) is a veterinarian from nearby Winters who no longer practices, but teaches weaving and spinning.  She found a machine at a fair a few years back, and much like me, just hadn't found the time to fully internalize the process and get a pair of socks from her machine.  She did have a lovely pair of pale lavender lacy socks she had just finished knitting from her handspun blend of wool and angora... I wish I would have gotten a picture!

You do get to admire Deb's first heel, produced along with her swatch of gauge and tension measurements (note the little colored flecks - those are row markers as she changed the tension dial; it is important to know what range a potential yarn will do best in before knitting your sock).  Since Deb lived the closest, she started on her 'real' sock in the late afternoon and was hard at work when I left.

My progress was frustrating; the yarn I had obtained from the veteran CSMer who sold me my machine was splitting, giving my little needles lots of trouble and generally slowing my progress.  I did make a nice tube swatch from some DK weight yarn Pat had me try, establishing that my machine really did crank properly.

Late in the afternoon, when I was struggling to make my first heel for practice, a photographer showed up.  Apparently, the Davis Enterprise is doing a story on the ranch...

I captured him shooting a photo of Pat demonstrating a salient point about the use of our machines to Paula.

Pat's ranch is close to two hours from my home, so I had to call it a day even though I wasn't done.  I was thinking about what to do with all that cone yarn I had, you know, the yarn that was giving me so much trouble all day...

I have made a commitment to succeed, so this morning I set my equipment up on the kitchen table, which will have to do until DH can convert a stool for me to use as a stand. 

I slowly worked my way through the mock rib start, the hem that followed (which finishes up the top edge) and then the leg... now I am taking a rest for my eyes before trying to take on the short-row heel.  I could actually be close to finishing my first-ever CSM sock. 

Cross your fingers!

Steady Spinning, Yarn Ahead

My post about our Spinning Sunday let you know where I am heading in purchasing half a fleece, but not where I have been... I actually have spun quite a bit this month and le Tour De Fleece is only about 1/3rd over!  I tidied up several bobbins last week, clearing space to get down and do some spinning for this sporting event, and so far I haven't missed a day.  My Navajo plying has been steadily improving, while I chew my way through the 12 ounces of Romney-Coopworth roving.  I can't say it's all that much to look at, though it is a lovely shade of silver and my mind wanders down pathways of overdying possibilities while I am spinning.

I am getting a collection of little skeins like the one at right, but haven't had a chance to check the WPI on them and am not sure what kind of total yardage I will end up with... though I am guessing that this is worsted weight.  I do keep a notebook on my spinning results, but just haven't updated it with information about all the recent work; I did arrive at Anna's on Sunday with all of my bobbins empty, though.

I have also been musing about ways to increase my spinning knowledge, and ordered a copy of Judith Mackenzie McCuin's book, Teach Yourself Visually, from Carolina Homespun, along with a tune-up kit for my wheel.  I figure that I can maximize my skills by working on two different areas simulaneously - I can fine tune the settings on my wheel to gain the most cooperation and I can work to improve the human skills I apply to fiber handling as well.

Besides filling a bobbin and a half with more Coopworth, I also managed to work some more on my Angel's Rest socks at a water board meeting last night.  Sigh, I do feel for those on the board, faced with raising our rates by 50% next month, but I also was shocked that I was the ONLY customer concerned enough to show up and raise my voice (well, figuratively; Mama taught me to be polite, even when disagreeing with people).  As you can imagine, the vote didn't go my way.... and those few inches of sock knitting had to serve as consolation.

Spring Things has gotten to the point in the design of things where I will need to sit at a table, working in the beaded border design in the next few rows (alternatively, some people made nupps in this pattern section).  Unfortunately, I don't get much table-sitting time this week.  DH left again early yesterday morning, this time to serve as a line archaeologist on the Birdie Fire outside of Flagstaff, AZ.  Turns out that the fire, near Mormon Lake, is in a desert region where there were relatively unsuccessful settlement attempts, therefore not so much in the way of historic and prehistoric artifacts to protect; he walked bulldozer lines all day today and will probably do the same tomorrow, then be sent somewhere else in the mountain west.  More chores for me, so Spring Things will probably have to wait a bit.

Seraphim also made it to a pausing point on Saturday, as I truly did use up all the yarn I had... lucky for me, Anna had more.  The yarn was milled for her and mislabeled as laceweight; it is actually DK weight, which has proven to be a good choice for this warmer shawl with a lovely, lacy border.  I hadn't been so sure I would get to finish with the same type of yarn, so began to come up with some 'design modifications'....

Even before I could check with Anna about what she had in stock of the yarn I was using, I had been inspired by a new design from Fiber Trends, and had come to the conclusion that the two narrow border charts, all that remains between me and completion for Seraphim, should be done in a different color.

Amy encouraged me to try Kool Aid, something I had been thinking was "silly" until a few people from the two fiber guilds got into a conversation about the chemicals in food coloring and how similar they were to some of the mordants used in natural dyeing.  I think I will mostly stick to alum mordanted natural dyeing, but picked up several packets of two flavors yesterday so that I could at least try this method once.  I will be solar-dying the lovely silver-cream yarn, hopefully with vivid results.  There's more, but I will reveal it later .... gotta keep ya'll curious.

I am also spending some time this week getting ready for a circular sock knitting machine gathering that will be held over in Esparto at West Valley Alpacas on Friday.  As I gathered up notes, yarn, and other needed materials, I realized that I have a large amount of theoretical knowledge about making socks on the CSM, and also a large amount of fear about diving in and making it work.  Now, fear is just not like me!  I am processing how that came about and why... and thought it wouldn't hurt to employ a charm to help me past this fear.

Nothing like sale sock yarn to make a knitter feel positive!  I had to go down to Auburn to pick up a new vacuum for our child care center and I had heard that there was a sale at the LYS; this Mega Boots yarn was 50% off... music to my ears.  If I could have afforded it, I would have bought more!

My other great find of the week was this lonely skein, the last hand-dyed skein from Anna's dye classes last summer.  I couldn't bear to think of it, lonely amongst all the natural colors and brought it home with me.  300 yards should make a nice little something!

Spinning Sunday

I had an outstanding day yesterday, starting out over Yuba Pass and dropping into the lovely Sierra Valley.   After a month of planning and encouraging, the Foothill Fibers Guild and the Carson Sierra Spinners and Weavers 'met in the middle' yesterday, at Anna Harvey's ranch for an afternoon of spinning. 

We have Sharon to thank for the organizing principle behind the day, and she has also done an excellent job reporting over on her blog, so be sure and take a look.  Here she is, happy as a clam!

When I arrived at the ranch, Sharon and Mim were the only other participants there yet, and they were getting a tour of the huge new barn that Anna and her husband built this past winter.  Long-time readers will remember that my blogless buddy Linda and I showed up at Harvey Ranch just after a big snowstorm a year ago last spring, hoping to attend shearing and found that the shearer had wimped out, worried about driving in snow. 

This barn wasn't there yet....

All of the wood was logged and milled right onsite, a tradition of the past though not uncommon here in my part of the Sierras... Anna's husband is a logger and runs his own portable mill, and the ranch is 5,000 acres, covering both valley grassland and conifer habitat on the eastern slope.  They have 200 sheep and several acres of blueberries.

Oh... and the view from Anna's workshop upstairs is inspirational!  That laundry basket is sitting atop a scale, as the room is yet-unfinished and has been serving as the skirting room for all of those fleece, but will eventually house a floor loom so that she can weave and take in the view.

The quality of Anna's spinning flock has been winning her lots of awards, including some sort of grand championship award at Lambtown last year and second place spinning flock at Black Sheep Gathering last month.  She is planning to attend the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby in September, and won awards there last year as well.

Take a look at the sheen of these locks of silvery-grey and you will see why.  Her flock is primarily Coopworth and she has also been developing a Ramboullet group.

While we were upstairs looking at all of the fleece, Sharon found a wonderful Ramboullet fleece and started talking about getting it processed and blended with a lesser percentage of some alpaca she has... she tried to talk Mim into it, and when Mim declined, I said 'yes'!  Truth is, I am running short of fiber... I have less than a pound!

Here's our new purchase, rolled out and ready for skirting... Anna's table is a nice, big size for this purpose, allowing the entire fleece to be laid out at once rather than bunched up, and the torn off waste bits and debris to drop through the mesh onto the floor, where they can be quickly swept up.

Sharon has skirted a lot of her own Shetland fleeces over the years, but Anna had lots of tips to share to make the process easier and more efficient... she unrolls the fleece with the tips down, allowing her to grab sections and shake out the bits of hay and other debris easily.  She also showed us which parts to discard and why... sometimes it is that they are already too felted from rubbing, such as the underarm and neck sections, sometimes too dirty (I bet you can guess).  The two of them made quick work of the skirting process, while Amy and I looked on.

We each ended up with just over three pounds of fleece, and Sharon is sending it off for processing, so it might be a while... but I do think that this will become the basis of the major spinning to shawl process I have been dreaming of... I won't need to worry about running out!

I did sit and spin and got quite a bit done... I also tried out Amy's double-treadle Ashford Kiwi, and liked it a lot... she pointed out that if I get an Ashford portable as my traveling choice, I would be able to use the Lazy Kate and bobbins I already have (nothing like enabling friends, right?!)

The time passed too quickly.... how come that always happens when we are having fun?  I needed a 'friend fix', having been pondering over the weekend how almost all of my friends are virtual, and was this really much different than children with imaginary friends.  It was wonderful to spend 'real time' with people who share my passion.  Amy, Sharon and I will be sharing a shift demonstrating spinning at the Nevada County Fair on August 10th, so if you are heading that way, come by and see us.  Amy also convinced me to come and help out at their booth at the Nevada State Fair (free admission if you are carrying a spinning wheel was a good lure!).  In the meantime, the virtual world is full of good friends, and later this week I will have a Seraphim update, as yesterday's adventures led to further clarification about how she will be finished.