Madeline and I at Niagara Falls in July 09

Me, Madeline, Ava, Alex and Luke

We spent Alex’s 10th birthday in July at Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls and had a great time with WannaBaa – her kids and mine.  It was chaos – but a good kind of chaos!  What a great place to bring kids!  Highly recommended but definitely on the expensive side.

Stay tuned for a book review this week…

NO!

This is a quickie and photo-less but there are thank yous due…

First to Shelby of Shelby Designs who sent that fantastic package pictured below and was kind enough to shout out in the comments… Go see her stuff. Its okay to drool.

Thanks also to Kris of Bockstart Knits for fixing my brain about the upstream/downstream thing. Much bigger thank you to her for organizing and keeping the HHHH Swap running. Probably one of the best organized swaps I’ve had the pleasure of participating in… thanks Kris!

Another thank you to Jeanne in NJ who is the very first person to EVER pick me randomly as a contest winner (seriously, I should rush out and buy lottery tickets immediately – I never win anything). I got a package that had more than just the sock yarn promised in it and while I suspect she may have used me as an opportunity to destash, I have to confess that I am rather willing to be ill-treated in this way. Photos to follow.

Lastly – many thanks to Mohamed who doesn’t even know about this blog but who is my earnest French teacher for this first week of mind-numbing language training. I think my brain may be leaking out of my ears…um…oreilles…but he is kind enough not to say anything.

Bonne journée à tous!

I’ll be back to blogging shortly – lots of pics to get off the camera first!

Lisa

P.S. A happy birthday to Ava who is now a whole 1!

July 12, 2008 – OTTAWA – For immediate release

Police are reporting that they are investigating reports of citizens impaling fibre, raising concerns that fibre abuse is becoming an increasingly frequent phenomenon locally. City police spokesperson, Staff Sargeant Wanda Wools, describes the incidents as “shocking and bizarre.”

“We haven’t seen anything like this in years,” she said. “The tools used to force the fibre to submit to the will of the perpetrator can only be described as medieval.”

Allegedly, on the morning of July 11th, over four ounces of superwash merino were mercilessly beaten against sharp stakes, forced through a small space, and roughly pulled into pieces.

“It was entirely consensual,” explained Lisa F*. “The superwash had misbehaved and asked to be lashed. All parties knew it was necessary. The merino hadn’t lived up its part of the bargain. I had to step in with disciplinary measures. I promise you that the results were well worth it and the merino is happy and safe.”

The merino could not be reached for comment. Representatives explained that it was too wrapped up to speak to the press and hopes to issue a statement once everything has spun out.

Dolores Van Hoofen of the Fibertarian Party was unavailable for comment so the policy position of the party are still unknown.

Sheep for Better Living Through Cruelty-Free Fiber has already contacted the Minister for Public Safety to see if he is willing to add new regulations to the Criminal Code of Canada outlawing the use of combs and hackles in the processing of fiber.

“We work hard to grow the fleece and we feel we should have a say in how its treated after shearing,” said SBLTCFF spokes-sheep Maaaa Romney at a press conference earlier today. “We may not be wearing it anymore, but the caring doesn’t stop just because the wool has left the barn.”

- 30 -

So – superwash merino went from frumpy to fabulous thanks to my new hackles…
Here is the lashed (video here to see how violent this is) fibre being drawn through the diz.

Lovely combed roving for spinning.

After all the frustration it was very very enjoyable smacking the merino onto the sharp pointy stakes. I totally get how Vlad the Impaler may have derived some sick satisfaction out of impaling the people who pissed him off.

Thanks everyone for posting comments on Leanne’s blog - I don’t know status at the moment but am planning to find out later today.

Oh and Amy Singer hearted my etsy shop…squeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

Lisa

One week until glorious 2-week holiday. I haven’t had an actual vacation since last August. I think my colleagues are lucky their heads are still attached to their bodies cause there. are. days.

Anyway – I’m wrapping up next to nothing at work. The new positon started on June 30 and has been…um…not exactly keeping me busy. I am hoping this is a combination of a) client not used to having a comms person and b) everyone is away anyhow. I am looking to hire someone anyway so we can start building bridges and I can get someone to inventory the web site and start looking at where we need to update “stuff”.

So that’s work. Better stuff ahead!

Needles

The Casbah sock is motoring along on the two circs – one is finished and I am about to turn the heel on the second. Terrific bus knitting and with the kids away at their dads all week there has been a lot of downtown and bus riding!

The whirly stuff

Its Tour de Fleece so there has been a fair amount of spinning. I am working on spinning laceweight from a gorgeous bit of Fleece Artist BFL in bright purples, pinks, greens and blues. It is taking FOREVER. Still I have to get moving – I am part of the Hush-hush Handspun Hootenany swap and need to send my pal 4 oz unspun (NOT a problem…lol) and 4 oz spun up (somewhat more challenging) in time to mail out in early August.

Dyeing crap…literally

Last night I was pretty much convinced that my dyeing mojo was gone. Dye was running off the roving or striking so fast I wasn’t able to get it to spread through. Colours were splitting into their primaries.

The problem? superwash merino roving. The merino is not the problem…its the chemical process they put the wool through to make it unfeltable. Apparently in stripping off the little “teeth” that make wool felt they also altered the wool in some way that makes dyeing consistently nearly impossible. Let me show you what I mean:

That’s the SAME colour on the left and right. The left – a pale violet – is on BFL roving…the right is the superwash merino. You can see how the colours I mixed split out into blue and red.

Here’s more:

Again – same colour – I was aiming for a pale fuschia. The top is the superwash and you can see that the dye struck so quickly that I wasn’t able to get it to spread through the wool. The bottom is way more accurate.

So if you are wondering if I dye superwash…the answer is NO. Auf Wiedersehen Superwash Merino!

I am in the midst of a colour study and have tons of 1 oz bits to dye up which I will strip down and spin up together in various combinations to see how the colours work together. The aim is to better understand colour, but also become more comfortable with colours that are not in my usual palette – like olive greens, browns and other colours that are best described as icky in my mind (but nirvana for others).

Last word…

Heaven. In a frozen container. I’m just saying that putting two perfect foods together is better than perfection.

You don’t know me. You may or may not read my blog. Still, I need to apologize for a terrible terrible thing.

It started innocently enough with some really nice sock yarn. It was Fleece Artist Casbah (have you tried it? Very nice. Highly recommended.). I was a bit worried about the Casbah and the yardage and making socks and having enough and blah blah blah.

Anyway, I decided it was time. Time to try my hand at toe up socks. I had Cat Bordhi’s YouTube video (now may be the right time for a strong sense of foreboding btw) of the Magic Cast-on. I tried it with dpns. Not successful. Trying to knit the first round was impossible. I tried again with a dpn and circular. Much better! I was on my way. Happily switched back to dpns all around and off I went.

Everything went well for a long time.

Foot? Sailed through.

First ever short row heel? Not. A. Problem.

Ha ha! I am a knitting goddess!

Onto the leg.

Laugh in the face of knitting!

Note serious laddering due to rib pattern chosen for sock as ribbing pattern now extends around whole leg. Remember that I always have laddering no matter how much I tug at stitches.

Laddering is really noticeable. Unacceptably noticeable.

Consider ripping back. Remember that laddering not likely going to get better.

Contemplate alternative solution. Reject it. Knit another row, tugging hard! Thank Fleece Artist for including nylon in sock yarn.

Think hard. Contemplate solution again. Accept dawning realization that solution is the only one.

Pull down box-o-knitting supplies. Get circs. Start knitting one sock on two circs.

Like it. Like it very very much.

I’m sorry Stephanie.