Not lost

I'm here - just happily busy. I can't show you the wonderful things I am working on just yet - soon, soon.

However, I can show you some other things that have been keeping me out of trouble:

meet my spinning wheel - thanks to the extreme enabler (aka grannyg) I am now the owner of an Ashford Traveller?? not sure, but she's cute!I have always sworn that I would never take up spinning - my excuses ranged from "I do not have the space in my studio for the wheel and the whole extra world of fibre stash" to " I don't have the headspace for spinning" and "Flash will have me committed"-I'm glad to admit that I was wrong, there is plenty of space both in my studio and my head, and Flash likes the wheel's engineering simplicity - though I worry that if he had his way it would be lowered...with mags.

Here, dear readers is my first yarn, yes I plied it, yes I know that I do not know what I am doing, yes it looks like catsick (go on, ask me how I know) but it is mine all mine.

I can make yarn.

Gauge/ tension is an eternal source of stress/tension for me, I write patterns which can be used with different yarns, I have favourites but I do not owe any yarn companies any favours, so I make a number of suggestions and expect my customers to use any suitable yarn that takes their fancy, unfortunately the permutations are infinite, 4 ply can range from 22-30 sts per 10cm, but this little gadget is here to help me - it is a WPI gauge - Ravelry uses WrapsPerInch as well as other yarn descriptions and I feel that it is a useful addition, all you really need is a ruler, wrap the yarn around the ruler - not too tight, not too loose - you want the wraps to sit comfortably next to one another, then just count the wraps in one inch.

Unfortunately it is not a metric measurement, but we can all jump between imperial and metric can't we! I bought my little gauge from Karatstix who also sells cute little needle gauges and tension gauges. I'm happy to have another tool in my arsenal to help knitters get good results from my patterns.

Victoria is in the process of being graded

and test knitters have been roped in to help. I've moved on to playing with cables...oh you will love them, and I must tell you about the Christmas challenge I have set myself...many many socks, many socks...

So much to do, so little to say...

I have recently bought a chunky knitting machine, and have re-organised my studio in order to incorporate it in a more pleasing way, my evenings have been spent spring cleaning said machine, and ordering spares from the ever patient machine repair man, the machine is not in working order yet, but when the spares arrive it will be the cleanest second hand machine in existence! I've been working on cleaning all of the machine parts outside on the decks off my studio to avoid having kerosene and machine oil fumes in the house, and the neighbours have been looking up at me funny - maybe it's the podcasts?

The previous blog contained much about my life - children, husband, travels, subjects which stepped in to fill the breach when knitting talk was slow, that doesn't happen here, and inevitably I sometimes grasp for topics of interest.

All of my knitting is "secret" at present, I have finished all of my personal knitting (except poor dear Mackenzies Weasley sweater, this has now been ripped back completely and a new silhouette designed) I am working on a DK weight kimono style jacket, which I am finding enjoyable, have a semi-lace hat in the offing and the Riverstone testing is pottering along.

In yarn purchase news I thought I would show you this:

clever handpainted sock yarn from A swell yarn, with a an extra small skein for heels and toes! delightful, and not just for socks. The package arrived within 4 days!

My other major (in size, not in cost) purchase this week has been bamboo needles from 8season in China , I bought 2 sets of circulars (100 and 80 cm) a set of standard needles, and some stitch markers a few weeks ago, and the quality was so good that the Knit Rangers decided to do a group purchase, the prices are wholesale - but you must purchase over $30 US worth of products, yep like that was difficult! The sets of circular needles were around $10 US for 15 different sizes, and the knitting accessories are very similar to well known brands. These needles are smooth and supple, the cords are flexible plastic tube which are well fixed (mine have undergone vigourous pulling) they have the size laser printed on the needle and the sizes are correct - all up a very positive experience, and they too took less than a week to arrive.