learning to spin all over again

The Saturday before Memorial Day, I took a spinning class from Sarah Anderson at the Weaving Works in Seattle.  The class was billed as teaching drafting, which is something I can only do one way (short draw, sort of inchworm style), so I was very excited to learn more techniques.  I packed up my Sidekick and a lunch and went off for the day, leaving Chris to manage our farmers' market purchases and the dogs.

The first thing Sarah taught us was how to do thick-and-thin (aka slub) yarn on purpose.  The trick is to note your fiber's staple length, and then make the slubs just a bit shorter than that, so that the ends of the fiber are caught and spun on both sides.  I didn't particularly like doing this exercise, since I don't like slub yarn, but it was definitely valuable to practice paying attention to staple length and drafting and how they relate to each other to get to the yarn diameter that you want.

Next up was long draw spinning from the fold, using a soft prepared top with a good staple length.  This technique is SO COOL once you get it down, but it's also only going to work by spinning from the fold or from a rolag, which is why I didn't figure it out before.  The neatest bit is that as you draw back with your left hand and control twist entering with your right, the thicker spots will thin out to match the rest, and the result is a really springy yarn.  It's like magic!  I definitely need more practice with this technique, but I've got the basics down for sure.

After teaching the long draw method, Sarah passed out rolags she'd made ahead of time as well as offering short instruction on how to use hand carders to make your own.  I made mine in purple and lime green!  I don't plan to card my own fleece or fiber very often, but I do have a small and precious bag of Curzon's undercoat that I want to spin with some red wool to make yarn for a bracelet, so I'm glad to have gotten the practice.  Plus it's the best fiber prep option for doing the long draw method for a springy woolen yarn, so knowing the trick is pretty neat.

Later in the afternoon we tried spinning cotton for the first time, using these punis (basically cotton rolags) that Sarah made ahead of time using silk noil blended with the cotton.  We spun these using a similar technique to the long draw learned that morning, although with much more twist to accommodate the shorter fibers.

It was interesting to spin the cotton, and it was definitely a lot of work even with the "ease" added by the silk noil that helped bind the short fibers together.  I can see why there are so many specialized cotton spinning tools available (tahkli spindles and charkha wheels), as it was not easy to spin these well on my Sidekick!  I don't think this is something that I'll do much of in the future, but I'm glad that I got the chance to give it a shot.

The end of class was left with the option to work on whatever we wanted, including carding either wool or cotton, spinning with the additional fibers, flick carding wool locks, or playing with the luxury fiber Sarah brought along.  The brown is prepared camel down roving, and the silver is the most gorgeous extra-long-staple alpaca I've seen.  I really enjoyed spinning them both, especially the alpaca which was so long that I could spin thread nearly effortlessly.  It was also nice to enjoy spinning camel down, as my only experience with it so far was in a mixed batt and the camel down bits were horribly neppy and ugly and not at all pleasing.

The instructor also brought all of the yarn samples she spun for her book, The Spinner's Book of Yarn Design, and left them out on the table for us to examine throughout the class.  There are a lot of neat ideas and a ton of work incorporated into that table, and I enjoyed touching and learning from the different samples (even if I still think beehives are ridiculous).  Overall, I really enjoyed this class and I'll look to take another one from Sarah if the opportunity presents itself.

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It's been five weeks and four days as of today, and I still want Curzon back so badly it hurts.  I've been working on the photo book I'm making for him, and last night was the first time I could do it without ending up crying at my desk while looking at the pictures.  I've been going through our photos one year at a time, last night going through 2009, and then putting them in the book and into an album on Facebook as well.  We decided to add more pages to have more pictures, so interspersed with the story pages are solid collages of pictures of that wonderful boyo.

Martok is continuing to be a comfort, even as he shows personality traits that he could have learned from Curzon, which both make me smile and want to cry at the same time.  He's such a bright and inquisitive little guy it's amazing, and the way he throws himself into everything (often literally) is a delight.  I so wish we could have had more time with both of the boys together...

the magpie strikes again

Last year I learned how to spin, and quickly picked up several spindles and a wheel.  As I have magpie like tendencies, and some disposable income, this collection has grown quite a bit.  I'm up to about a dozen spindles, and yesterday my third wheel arrived - a Schacht Matchless double treadle, in the cherry special edition released this year for Barry Schacht's 70th birthday.  I'm a serious sucker for pretty wood and anything marked "special edition," and I'd been looking at a Matchless since last fall...and that's that.

 

Jadzia supervised the photo session after I was done playing with it for a while.  You can also just barely see Martok in the background by the patio doors, he was very interested in the wheel and nearly got his nose clipped by the drive wheel prior to this photo!

Special edition medallion - it says Special Edition - Barry Schacht - 2013 - 70th on it.  With a sheep!

The treadles had to be attached to the wheel when it arrived, which while not difficult was definitely interesting.  The wood of the treadles even has a bit of chatoyance, which can be seen when I'm using them to drive the wheel.  Really pretty, even in indoor lighting!  Also, those are dog toys on the floor behind the wheel, because we've got a house that's classy like that.

View of the back of the wheel, showing more of the beautiful wood and fabulous craftsmanship that went into the wheel.  The leather portions of the footmen needed oil already, so the break-in period is well underway!  I'm glad that I got "free" fiber with my purchase, however, as the double-drive wheel is definitely going to take some getting used to before I'm good to go with it.  I saw improvement with just a little time yesterday, as the wheel breaks in and I get used to working with it - plus, if it turns out I don't like double-drive, I can always switch it to Scotch tension.

Another shot of the back of the wheel, with more detail on the beautiful wood.  So, so pretty!

And finally, a shot of the serial number - which indicates that the wheel was made on May 16, 2013, and it was the 2nd Cherry wheel made that day.  Very cool!

Another miracle happened yesterday - Ezri let Martok lay down on the same bed that she was occupying, and even stayed there long enough for me to grab my phone to take a picture!  She's slowly starting to warm up to him and accept him, although he's still got his puppy annoyance moments where I'm pretty sure she wants to knock him through the wall.  She played tug with him a few days ago, and he was well tired last night without any energy to be annoying, so she let him snooze next to her.  Martok and Sirius both had their first shots yesterday (parvo vaccine), and they got to play together for about five hours worth of tug, bitey-face, chase, fetch, and running, so both boys were very tired by the end of the evening!

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My memorial locket finally arrived on Monday, and it is so beautiful I almost cried.  I found the artist on Etsy, and she sets a bit of fur/hair/cremains in resin inside this small locket (it's about the size of a quarter) and then makes the nametag and crystal for embellishment.  She accidentally attached an orange crystal and is sending me a red one in replacement, as red was Curzon's color and is my strongest association with him.  It's not much, but it's something, and it's given me some comfort to wear it this week.  It's not strong enough to wear every day permanently, so I may end up hanging it next to my bed after a while and only wearing it on special occasions, but for now it's often worn all day at work.

I still miss him so much it's like a hole in my life, but the emotional gut-punches are slowly starting to fade.  The framed studio photos from about 2005 up on our hallway wall caught my eye last night, especially the adorable one of Curzon licking Chris' face, and I was able to study the photo and smile a bit without crying.  I still want him back so badly it's ridiculous, though, and I don't know if that will ever change.  *sigh*

bits and pieces, crafts and puppies

Today's post is a lot of photos, because I've done a lot of stuff recently and it's always more fun to post and write about photos than it is to just put together large blocks of text.  Plus, I've done that way too much at work recently and I'm sick of it!  So here we go, in themed order...

Dogs!

My irises in the front yard are incredible this year - there are TWENTY flower stalks up, all with multiple buds/blooms on them, and they are just phenomenal.  They're the only thing in my yard that really is amazing, and I am enjoying the heck out of them right now.  Jadzia wasn't quite so sure, however, but she gamely hopped into the flower bed for me to take a photo.  I think this is the year I need to split the irises, so that will be a new adventure later this summer or sometime into the fall.

Martok hasn't learned how to play fetch in the rotation with the girls, so I've been taking some walks with him to get both of us some exercise.  I have also been taking Ezri with me, much to her dismay, as Martok is preferring to walk thisclose to her, as the photo shows.  Ezri is also not a fan of being walked on leash, so she's been pulling a lot, so we got her a harness last weekend to help minimize the effects of her pulls on her own body.  We'll see if that helps!

Craft Projects!

Back in April, I finally got around to getting an ink pad and nice paper to do pawprints of the dogs, and after I was done I used one set of them to put together this frame.  The prints came out really well (and the dogs were surprisingly good about it), although it amuses me that their feet-fur shows up so much in the prints!  The frame is an inexpensive floating-glass frame, so I can easily add one of Martok later, remove them to put together into a bigger frame, or just make a whole new one in the future.  I really like having it up on the wall, it's across from the door to my office so I see it every day.

And of course, I've picked up more spindles, as they're just a big an addiction as fabric for quilting.  These two are Bosworth spindles, both special order.  The smaller dark one has a whorl made from live oak (and a shaft made from bocote) that was harvested in the 1700s and then kept in ponds for use in repairing the US Navy ships at the time.  These ponds were eventually forgotten about and reclaimed by the forest, until they were recently found and the wood reclaimed and used by various craftsmen.  The larger red one has a whorl made from flame box elder and a shaft made from cocobolo, and is stunningly beautiful.  I've coveted something made out of flame box elder for a while, and I am thrilled with this particular spindle.  Both spindles are great to use and have small Phat Fiber sample projects on them right now.

Just this past weekend I cleaned up my sewing room and pulled out the materials to work on Aidan's quilt again.  I have just one panel done so far, though all the pieces are cut out already, and I designed another panel this weekend and it's ready to piece together.  This quilt will be the sibling to Averie's quilt, done very similarly, and hopefully completed in time for his birthday in September.

I finished knitting two pieces in February and March and they're shown here after a wash and during blocking.  The cowl is made from a single skein of fancy variegated yarn I bought from a store going out of business, and I love how the colors pooled to form large blocks in a slanted pattern.  The scarf is made from a skein of Manos merino singles, knitted up on size 9 needles in a simple garter/stockinette pattern I came up with on the fly.  It goes well with our new flyball club colors, and I have a second (nearly identical) one almost done to give to one of my friends on the team.

My first sock has made it to the "turn the heel" phase, and there it languishes.  I'll need to pick up stitches as I continue on, and my pattern isn't very detailed about that so I need to pick up a book or tutorial to figure out how best to make that work.  It's pretty cool, though, and I love the needles I'm using (Signature DPNs), so I plan to pull this one out and figure it out soon.

Still spinning as well, and I set aside my interminable fine spinning of the brilliant red Targhee wool I bought at OFFF last year to ply these two batts together.  The yarn came out very well, one batt is dark purples and one was cream with purple and blue, and I think the overall effect is very nice.  These batts taught me that I'm not so much fond of spinning chunky things, especially uncontrolled chunky things like mohair locks, although I do think the plied yarn came out well.  I still need to wash it, however, as I plied it back when we were still deep into the rainy season.

The last craft for this post is one I did not do myself, but one which I will benefit greatly from - my friend Kristie made me a set of "Unpaper Towels" using the best cheesy Star Trek fabric you've ever seen.  The towels are made from terry backed with quilting fabric, serged into squares, and set with snaps so you can roll them up onto a paper towel roll, then use them instead of paper towels.  I have used them for a few days and I like them a lot!

Miscellaneous!

Between the nicer weather appearing through the last few weeks and my attempts to increase my step count, I've been taking walks along the waterfront at work during my lunch break.  Most days I also take a spindle with me and spin as I walk, garnering several odd looks but no comments as of yet.  Such beautiful views are just a small part of why I love to live here.

 

And then there was this - I had the bottom couple of inches of my hair dyed a rich vibrant purple.  I LOVE the effect, it's fantastic, and sadly it has already faded away to a pale lavendar after just four weeks.  I'm having it redone this weekend, and will see if there's anything else the stylist can do to help it last longer - I'm already not washing the ends and rinsing them in the shower with as cool water as I can stand.  If not, I will probably keep it up until I am ready to cut my hair again, then just trim it all off and go on with my regular golden blonde.

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Today marks sixteen days since we said goodbye to Curzon.  Last Friday we picked up his ashes (or cremains, as they are called in the industry) from the vet, which was a very difficult thing for me to do.  I held him in my lap the whole way home, making Chris drive us, and wished so hard that I was hugging Curzon for real instead.  I know that won't happen, but the thought of that keeps hitting me anew every so often and it's like a punch to the gut every time it does.  For now the nice cherry box that his remains are in sits on top of one of the dressers in our bedroom, along with the blanket I made him when he recovered from his surgery and his collar.  Perhaps it is strange to admit, but I do talk to him even as I hate that he's in that box, and I have hugged the box more than once.  It helps, a very tiny bit, and that's all I can do now.

I've also been thinking more and more about the time we had between when we brought Martok home and when Curzon passed, that too-short span of just eleven days.  Curzon was so amazing with the puppy for the first few days, and we had such a good time with our photo session on that Saturday.  He had a great time at practice on Sunday, even as we realized he'd lost the sight in his right eye.  Monday was very difficult, but with more pain meds he seemed back to his old self and we had a good time all week.  Saturday was a beautiful day, and the rest I've already talked about.  I don't like to append too many human emotions or decisions to animals, but I also do think they are wiser and more perceptive than most people believe.  I'm coming to the conclusion that Curzon had been in pain for a while, and when we brought Martok home that was the signal he was waiting for to release himself from that pain.  Curzon had that wonderful Saturday where he played, saw lots of people he loved, and had steak for dinner, and I think that was his way of saying goodbye to us all.

It was too soon for me and Chris, and maybe it was even too soon for Curzon.  But I could never countenance his bright spirit suffering without hope of respite, and I would not want to hold him here in pain - that's why we had the vet come on that sad day.  I can only hope that his spirit will visit me upon occasion, and continue to inspire me in the future.

oooh, shiny

One of the things that spinning has given me in the past year is an appreciation for pretty wood and excellent craftsmanship.  I've always loved pretty things (who doesn't?) and have magpie/dragon tendencies to collect the shiny things and keep them around to stare at the pretty.  Back in January, I finally gave in and ordered a custom Golding spindle - a Scottish thistle inset on a purpleheart whorl.  I've seen several iterations of spindles made with that inset, but never one on purpleheart, and so I talked with the creator and he made one for me, even using a two-strand silver ring instead of a three-strand one to lower the weight to be closer to my ideal.  The spindle is incredibly beautiful, with chatoyance that I haven't seen on much purpleheart wood before, and it's a dream to spin with.  In the background of that photo you can see the tiny 2" featherweight spindle made of Karelian birch that I ordered at the same time.

I've also been considering a second spinning wheel, in particular a Hansen miniSpinner which is an electric spinning wheel designed to work on regular power, from a battery, or from a car cigarette lighter socket.  With a friend who loves hers, plus quite a lot of raves on their group on Ravelry, I went up to FibresWest in Cloverdale BC to try them out in person.  I liked them just as much as I thought (or feared to), and ordered mine while I was there.  I chose a purpleheart body with a WooleeWinder flyer/bobbin setup, with the bobbins and flyer done up in maple since they're not available in purpleheart.  I will definitely be traveling with this little critter, and I've even had it set up in my office on my desk so I can spin while playing WoW (during raid wipes or long flights, etc.).

And at long last, the quilt I've been waiting to make for quite some time now has been finished, gifted, and is now being used.  My best friend loves Dr Seuss, and so several years ago when the fabric line featuring his art and designs was released, I grabbed a fat quarter pack as well as flannel for the backing, knowing that one day she'd have a baby who'd need a quilt.  The pattern is quite simple, just a block with a "keyhole" on one side that is made up of just four pieces per block.  The fabric is quite busy on its own, and so I wanted to showcase large chunks of the designs while still having some pattern and play, so this idea worked out great.

I quilted this all in straight lines, using stitch-in-the-ditch along the blocks as well as simple diagonals across all of the blocks as well.  I did all of this freehand (but not free-motion) on my Janome MC6600P, using black/white variegated Superior brand thread on both top and bottom, which provided some depth to the stitching without being distracting.  This is probably my best quilting job yet, I'm quite proud of it.

I chose a black/white chevron fabric for the binding, which had the excellent effect of appearing to be a bias-cut diagonal stripe for most of if due to the small widths that I prefer to use.  I think it looks great against that eye-searing red/blue flannel background, and should be great for little infant eyes to focus upon!

Of course, I had a little helper when I was spending the better part of a week on the couch hand-stitching the binding...this is actually one of my favorite pictures of Curzon I think I've ever taken.  He was making sure there was extra love and naps put into every stitch!

And of course, the very-important label on the back.  My friend had not chosen to reveal the name of her son before he was born, so since I gave this to her at the baby shower, he got a generic nametag.  I thought about putting "Loki" on there, as that's what I had been calling him in place of his real name (he was due April 1, so I found that fitting), but decided in the end to go with the boring version.

And in closing, a most awesome picture that Chris took of Curzon and I at his first laser treatment a week ago.  He tweaked his back about a week and a half ago, probably from overenthusiastic (on my part) yoga ball work, and our teammate and veterinarian Nicole was happy to give him an adjustment, massage, and a red laser treatment to help him heal.  He's had 3 treatments so far with 2 more to go, and I think it's helped a lot - he certainly seems happy!

trip to Ireland...life is wonderful

As promised, I'm finally making a post of photos about our trip to Ireland back in February.  We decided to go on rather short notice, as Chris was asked to go for work and so I took the opportunity to go with him and take my second international trip.  We spent our time in the city of Cork, in the southeastern part of Ireland, and it was a lovely time even with the limitations of the weather and offseason.

Chris flew out on Monday and I followed on Thursday, each arriving the day after we left, so Saturday and Sunday were our days spent doing touristy things together.  This is the river that flows through the city of Cork, taken from one of the bridges we crossed as we wandered around.

We visited the Cork Butter Museum, where we learned about the butter industry in Ireland and how it changed in the mid-1900s with the advent of Kerrygold and other brands.  This is a display of some of the many individual dairy brands of butter available in the 1800s in Ireland, all of which joined together to make a single high-quality brand of Irish butter for export.  Sadly, no taste testing was available.

Saturday afternoon we took the bus to Middleton, where we toured the Jameson distillery, which was very interesting and very cool.  The copper pot still in this picture is one of the original ones used for decades/centuries before they built the new modern facility, and it's enormous.  While I don't drink alcohol, it was pretty neat to learn about the whiskey making process and the differences between American, Scotch, and Irish whiskeys.  Plus there was a stag party in our tour group, with the groom-to-be dressed in a cow costume and carrying a frilly pink handbag, so that was pretty entertaining.

 

Chris got invited to join the small group at the end of the tour who got to taste all three types of whiskey and thus become official Jameson Whiskey Tasters.  Pretty neat!

On Sunday we took the bus out to visit Blarney Castle, which was lovely and very interesting to walk around and enjoy.  This photo is of the Poison Garden, seen from one of the castle windows above.

The castle watchtower, as seen from one of the arrow slits in the main castle building.  You can see the moat just past the watchtower.

Spinning while I waited for Chris to finish up what he was doing at that point in time, whatever it was.  The portion of the castle visible behind my hand was added on in the 1800s and was more of a manor house than a castle, which was destroyed by fire unfortunately.

We also toured the grounds, including the gardens and the rock fell, as well as walking around some of the mysterious and ancient spots known as the Witch's Kitchen and the Druid's Cave.  This is me walking up the Witch's Steps, where legend has it that if you go up the stairs with your eyes closed and focus on a single wish, the witch will grant it as payment for the firewood she collects every night.  Yes, I made a wish...

This is the cathedral near the hotel where we were staying, which was very beautiful and lovely to walk past every day.  Lots of goldwork to catch the sunlight.

On Monday while Chris was working, I took the train to Cobh (formerly Queenstown) in order to visit the Titanic and Lusitania memorials and go through The Titanic Experience.  The town was gorgeous all on its own, however, and I had a good time looking at the lovely painted houses and doing a bit of shopping in the shops that were open.  I also had an incredible cup of hot chocolate and a scone that morning as I waited for the museum to open, as well as a lovely lunch at the Titanic Cafe after I went through the museum.

The Titanic Experience in Cobh is housed in the original building of the White Star Line offices, where those who boarded the Titanic bought their tickets and waited for the tenders to take them out to the liner, which was moored out of sight in deeper water.  The museum experience was very well done, smaller than the traveling exhibits I've seen before but full of information and presented in an interesting yet respectful manner.  It was an experience to walk the same space that so many had walked who were lost on that fateful voyage, and to see the ruins of the dock and the photos that show how things looked a hundred years ago.

After lunch I walked up the steep hillside to see the cathedral that looks out over the city, which was incredibly beautiful.  I loved the ironwork on this door, so intricate and clearly made by hand with love and attention to detail.  The interior of the cathedral was phenomenal, with an inlaid mosaic floor that had Celtic knotwork flowing throughout the entire building.  I did not see a gift shop, unfortunately, so I have no photos or postcards of the interior, but it's well worth the visit should you ever be in Cobh.

Tuesday I took a bus to Kinsale, noted as a very "foodie" and tourist-friendly town on the seaside just about a half-hour from Cork.  The harbor was full of boats, mostly shuttered for the winter, but still pretty especially with the early-morning sun rising over the harbor.  This was also my one encounter with an automated pay-for-use public toilet, which was interesting yet a brilliant idea.

The city castle in Kinsale is now the home of a winery (IIRC), but as it was February and not tourist season it was still closed for the winter.  The details on the castle were very lovely, especially these windows, and I wish I could have gone inside - maybe next time!

I walked from Kinsale out to Charles Fort, which was a very long walk that was broken up by an interaction with an adorable JRT out for a walk with her papa who jumped right up in my lap as I sat on a bench.  Very different looking dog than Phoebe or other JRTs I've known in the States!  The fort was okay, but very bare without a lot of stuff to look at, but it was interesting to read about the history of the site and the roles it had played in various wars.  This is a traveling apothecary/surgeon chest from the 1800s, which I found pretty neat.

Our last full day in Cork was spent visiting Chris' company worksite there and getting a tour, followed by relaxing and a nice dinner out as we prepared for the long day of travel to go home.  I thoroughly enjoyed our trip, and I hope to visit Ireland again.