Fiber Musings

228 Rally in Taiwan, 2004

More on what happened on February 28, 1947:

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Socks with Magic Loop

I had a little private lesson with Sarah during the Gig Harbor Retreat on how to use the Magic Loop for socks. As I mentioned, this little lesson has changed my opinion of the magic loop method. Why? Because I was getting ladders at the “turn” and I often would slide the 2 sides together back into a single side. Per Sarah, it was probably because I was using a too short circular (32″ addis). She recommends a 40″ needle. Not that the 32″ doesn’t work, mind you, but that the 40″ is much easier. I hied myself up to the vendor booths and promptly bought a 40″ addi with some Koigu (just twist my arm!).

Then, she taught me her method for doing toe-ups. Yes, it’s just a regular figure-eight cast on, but she made it so much easier. Why? She helped me get over the fear of that sloppy initial row. How? Keep it sloppy! This makes it easier to go back and neaten it up later, after you have a few rows under your belt. Now, you can actually see what stitches need to be tidied up instead of digging around for the correct row.

Whew. 2 fears/dislikes allayed with a single session. Here are pictures of toe up socks.

Mobius

I played hookey from work yesterday afternoon and took Cat’s class on making felted mobius bowls. What a mind blowing experience that was! I’ve been wanting to try a mobius scarf for quite a while, but reading about all the different manipulations one has to go through to get the twist in there correctly so that you can knit it as a single piece (vs. seaming after the fact, like they teach you in grade school with paper strips) was hard to visualize.

I don’t believe I’ve seen the way Cat does it on any of the web sites/patterns. I’ll have to do more research on this to be absolute certain. But what I can say that it is the most fascinating experience. You just can’t believe that what you are doing is going to work, but each “round” that you knit, you are actually traversing the entire single edge.

All I can say is … buy the book (on Mobius knitting: scarves and bowls) when it comes out later this summer. Especially if you are mathematically/scientifically/puzzle minded. You can have endless hours/days of fun with this.

Here’s a picture of the pre-felted bowl. It’s made from Araucania Nature Wool in black. I had some leftover from the skein, so I casted on another mobius for Martin to see (he didn’t believe me). It was just enough to make a little hair band for me. A little Alice in Wonderland. Or is that Alice Through the Looking Glass?

P.S. My new drum carder came in yesterday. More on it later this week.

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It took me an embarrassing amount of time to finish this pair of socks. I believe that I started this on a cruise through the San Juan Islands about 18 months ago. I found it in the bottom of the sail bag at one point, then lost it in the move, and found it again. I took it with me as plane knitting project, and I finally finished it at the retreat. You see, I had to finish it because I met Sarah Hauschka. Why? Because she gave me a one-on-one lesson on her Magic Loop method on Thursday night of the retreat. But I promised myself that I wouldn’t work on the Magic Loop sock after the lesson until I’ve finished this darn albatross, er, blue socks.

When I finished them, they were a bit big. I thought that it was just because I hadn’t washed them yet. But when I got home, I realized that they fit Martin perfectly. Sigh. I must have sized them for Martin during the cruise. You see, they were toe-up socks and I had already turned the heel when I lost them. The second sock was made to match the first, without trying them on. Oh well. Martin got a pair of nifty new Lorna’s Laces socks.

Now, for the next part of the confession. I bought an embarrassing amount of fiber (both yarn and spinning fiber) at Stitches West. So I’m not going to post them. All you need to know is that I now have enough to last me until at least Blacksheep, if I spin every waking hour between now and then (forget about work and eat), and learn to knit in my sleep. And all I have to say is that Judith MacKenzie McCuin told us in one of the classes at the retreat … (paraphrasing lots here) if a fiber speaks to you, buy it. Even if you don’t know what to do with it. It spoke to you on some level. You are an artist. You and the fiber will eventually come to terms and figure out what it wants to be. Stop feeling guilty. (This is spoken from a woman who started to panic when her stash dropped below 2,000 pounds. Yes, that’s right. Two THOUSAND pounds.)

My drumcarder is finally finished and ready for shipping. And with my bonus from work, I’m going to buy a new spinning wheel? Why? Because Judith told me that I should. What other excuse does a gal need? Can you tell who my new idol is?

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Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat was a blast. Definitely worth going to. Just image an entire inn, taken over by the fiber addicted for 4 days. Add classes, food, and fiber vendors. What more could an addict ask for? I roomed with 3 other gals (2 from my old guild up in Ballard). So I went to bed talking about fibers. I woke up to fibers. I spent the entire day doing fiber activities. While not in class, I was able mingle with other like minded individuals for meals or just plain hanging around the lobby or fireplace, knitting and chatting. I learned just as much outside of the classroom as I did in the classes. Special thanks to Sarah Hauschka of The Magic Loop to teach me the fine art of using a single circular needle for sock making. My previous attempts were “eh” — not enough to convince me that it was something that I wanted to try again. But she shared some of her wisdom (the 32″ needle I used was too short for me, but the 40″ was much better — I feel like Golidlocks), and taught me the figure 8 cast on for toe-up socks. Mainly, it was to let go of the fear of a sloppy beginning. Leave it sloppy on purpose so that you can see your cast on stitches easily when it comes time to tighten them up.

Coming home and back to work was difficult. After being immersed with fiber activities for 24 hours a day to going back to the daily grind at the office. Ugh. And a house that needed unpacking. Double-ugh.

But I did squeeze in some knitting time yesterday. It was our quarterly off-site “fun” afternoon at work. Rather than partaking in the activity, I sat around to kabitzed with fellow workers and knitted the second magic loop sock. Unfortunately, I didn’t increase enough (56 instead of 64) and already turned the heel before I got home to compare it against the first sock. I’m now back at the toe region. Sigh. I was hoping to finish it for this weekend — Stitches West.

I’ll try to post pictures sometime this weekend of last weekend and this. But we are moving at the office too, as well as migrating to a new server. So things might get a little hairy.

Have a great weekend!

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Sorry. Things have been crazy around here. I’m leaving this afternoon for the Gig Harbor retreat. The movers are coming tomorrow morning to move us to our new digs. So things will be a bit crazy until we find everything again sometime in the next century. With 2 (and a half) moves in less than 6 months, we will have absolutely no idea where anything is. I just hope we find all of the tax paperwork before April 15th.

Have a good weekend!

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