I Need Answers!!

Does anyone have a jumbo flyer for an Ashford Traveler Single Drive? I just ordered and received one and am a little confused. I think it is making my yarn fuzzy after it passes through the oriface. I tried to take a picture and my camera won't cooperate. Argh. I am trying to spin singles for a sock weight yarn and it keeps snapping it after it has passed through the hooks. I can't find any rough spots after the oriface.

Really interested in hearing about other people's experience with the jumbo flyer. I have always loved my Ashford and am starting to do some production spinning and thought the jumbo would be nice.

Grandma's Scarf

Another one of Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf. This one was completed a little while back, but needs to be sent this week. It is handspun that I bought out of curiousity. There were a number of different colors in the roving, and I wanted to know how all the colors would blend up. I think it is "green" from The Woolery. I spun it directly from the roving, no predrafting. This is a little thicker than my normal yarn, this is close to a worsted-two ply.

A little close-up. I am suddenly having problems with the digital camera. Not sure what it's issue is. I hope Grandma likes it. The weather is starting to turn around here--it's 41 F this morning--where are my Bermudas?

Happy Belated St. Patty's Day!

Green for St. Patty's Day. This is Say A Little Prayer from Crown Mountain Fibers. It is really pretty. I want to see how it Fair Isles with Respect, which is yellow.

Stick It To Me

I have only lived in here for five or six years and I have never hung pictures up. Bad Mommy. I tend to organize/clean/rearrange when home for long periods of time and during Spring Break I decided that now was the time to get those pictures hung. 15+ frames later I have a decorated stairwell. Best part is there are only three nails involved. All the pictures excet the two largest are hung with Command Strips. These are so awesome!!! They are especially wonderful for 100+ year old plaster walls.

For those of you wanting knitting content here it is:

Finished Jaywalkers. There are two, I only photgraphed one. I like the way the pattern changes the look of the SimpleStripes from KnitPicks. These were an earl birthday present for my SIL who frequently works at one of those gas booths where her feet get a little chilly.

Chemo Cap

This is my son modeling a chemo cap for his great-aunt. This is a variation on the Old Shale pattern, no purl row--all are knit rows. She has a small head and we thought that a silk-merino blend and a lace pattern might be more of an all season hat. This was made with handspun left-over from the now cursed wedding shawl. This yarn remains one of my favorites.

Friday = Feet

Another baby gift. I used some leftover Sock Garden yarn from KnitPicks in Pansey for the socks. Very, very sock. Felts good too. The hat is a merino yarn of an unknown brand bought on clearance a long time ago, but also very soft. The texture is similar to Karabella Aurora 8. The pattern is from the Green Mountain Spinnery book, which is one of my favorite pattern books. I like the mismatched look. Besides, I have lots of extra sock yarn.

Thursday = Toasty

I mentioned that I have yet to post about my new scarf due to an unflattering picture of myself. Here it is hanging on the wall at work:

This is handspun merino, a little thicker than my normal yarn, about a sport-worsted weight. I dyed/plied a little differently to have the stripe progression. The pattern is Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf that I have made a couple of times. Very pleased with the scarf, it is soft and stretchy and warm. I also learned a little about dying in the process. You see this fiber was dyed with the same colors as I used to dye the yarn for my mittens.

Another version of the Nordic Mittens from IWK 2004. These have had a little wear lately and are a little fizzy and felted. I used KnitPicks Bare that I dyed with either RIT or Cushings dye. This yarn felts very easily, but it is so soft and cushy. I love wearing my mittens. So, what did I learn about dying? Several people have told me that they don't match.

Wee Wednesday

It is spring time. That means babies. At least where the spouse works. He informed me that he needs six baby gifts. He has been informed that the recipients expect hats or socks. I finished one during the blizzard.

This is merino handspun that I used for a scarf that I haven't posted about yet. I like the rolled brim on baby hats, cute and very smart for fit.

Tuesday = Tableware

I got some stuff finished on the loom over the extended weekend due to the blizzard. First up is a tablerunner made of 1" cotton fabric that was in a toile pattern. It is destined as a runner for my new table when it finally arrives. It's hard to take pictures of long runners.

This runner is about 48" in length and 16" in width. Warp is 10/20 cotton trippled set at 12 epi.

Here is a close-up, to show texture.

I like to use fabric for runners and also for rugs. The one inch strips and the 12 epi creates a material that is not to thick to use as on the table. I manually beat the strips to compress the fabric as much as possible.

This mat is about 22". I should have made it longer. It was an experinment using Lily Peaches n Cream Cotton. It is a thicker yarn that is very durable and very cheap. I have always liked all the different colors it comes in. I am also just now noticing that I cut about 1/4 of the mat out of the picture. Imagine another blue stripe. Originally I was thinking of giving it to our neighbors as a thank you for snow blowing our sidewal during the last snow storm, but I don't think it is long enough. Here is a close-up:

I am pleased with the weight and texture of this. Definitely a do-again. The variegated yarn adds interest, but it isn't something that someone might consider "too pretty" to use for every day use. That happens to me a lot with gifts. I even made a proto-type placemat to match my dining room. I ran out of warp though and only finished one. Have to decide if I want to do the others with a matching warp.

Blizzard Blues

So what did I accomplish during the blizzard? Well, lots of knitting and spinning, games, cleaning, IMing, movies and eating. Here was the view out my back door when all was said and done:

I think that I will post about the stuff I have been working on a little bit at a time instead of all at once. Now today it is 33 degrees F out and I have about 22 inches of snow in my yard. Great.

Early Out

We had a surprise early out today due to weather. I passed the time (while yelling at hyper-active children) by clearing up some older bobbins to prepare a new sweater. This particular batch of merino was spun smaller than I remembered to my pleasant surprise and I think I have a project in mind for it, but might have to spin some more, there wasn't a whole lot on the bobbin.

I know I am a tight plyer, but I have never had this happen to me before. This is a two-yard skein after being taken off the niddy-noddy.