July 2007 – Fiber Musings

WooLee Winder

On 25 Jul, 2007

I’ve finally succumbed. My WooLee Winder (for the Schacht Matchless) arrived in the mail today. I immediately popped it on and took it for a test whirl. Unfortunately, the fiber that was close at hand was some soysilk that I dyed in a dye workshop. I just don’t enjoy spinning 100% soysilk, so it wasn’t a good test run. I’ll have to have another go tomorrow with some wool. (I have to admit that I absolutely loved spinning Karaoke, which is 50/50 soysilk/wool. So, I need to blend the 2 pounds or so of soysilk that I have in storage.)

While spinning, I noticed that I can hear some noise from the WooLee Winder. I think it is coming from either the travel screw or the eyelet, since the gears are quiet when I rotate the bobbin my hand. The noise is quite noticeable, but I notice all noises on my Matchless. I don’t know what level of noise/rattling is normal. I need some more time with the WooLee Winder.

I also have to play with it to find the sweet spot for the scotch tension. I either get too much or too little draw in. And I’m also a “pusher” when it comes to winding on. It will take a little retraining to let the travel screw do it’s job instead of pushing the finished yarn on the bobbin.

Lace Objects

By Ann

On 20 Jul, 2007

In FO, Knit

After spending a couple of hours diagramming the lace shawl from my dreams, I have a much better appreciation for the genius of lace designers. I’m still working on the increase rates of the shawl versus the natural increases in the lace motifs that I want to use. After examining published lace patterns, I have some better ideas of how to proceed. However, I have put that aside for the time being.

Instead, I will present you some finished lacy objects.

A cat walked across my scarf…

This is the last of the auction scarves. This is for Carol, who lives on her boat with her cat named Scuppers. The scarf is to represent the cat pawprints on a white topside in the morning dew…like the dirty skid prints you might find on your car windshield or across your deck on a frosty morning.

I have not been happy with the cat’s paw lace patterns I found in my references. They are really more like a daisy with 6 lace circles. I designed this so that it is more representative of a paw print, and aligned them such that it looks like the actual path of a cat.

If anyone is interested in the pattern, let me know. I’ll put the pattern in my sidebar.

Specs:
Yarn: Handspun Chasing Rainbows Cashmere/Silk in Purple Haze colorway; lace weight
Pattern: my own
Needle: US #3

Swallowtail Shawl

Specs:
Fiber: Handpainted Alpaca/Silk, purchased at Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat. I don’t remember the vendor’s name and can’t find the tag right now.
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark, from Interweave Knits Fall 2006 issue.
Needle: I don’t remember, but I followed the directions in the pattern exactly, so probably the recommended needle size.

Landscape Scarf

The shaping of this is ingenious. I love the long curved edges. Perfect for ties without pulling the scarf out of shape. I can imagine several scarves like this, but with different lace designs. (Yeah, right. See the 1st paragraph of this post.) All I can say is, Evelyn Clark is a genius.

Specs:
Fiber: Handspun Merino/Silk from Lisa Souza, colorway Shaved Ice; fingering weight
Pattern: Landscape Scarf by Evelyn Clark
Needle: Again, I followed the instructions blindly, using the recommended needle size for fingering weight yarn.

Dreams

By Ann

On 6 Jul, 2007

In Knit

I dreamed of peacocks and triangular shawls last night. Must be the effect of the MS3. The gap between the time I finished Clue 1 and when Clue 2 is posted seemed interminable. I need something else to do. Sweaters are too hot to have on my lap during the heat wave we are experiencing. Socks aren’t grabbing my attention. MS3 has my lace juices going again. I need more!

That must be why I was dreaming of lace. But peacocks? I have no idea, except that I was looking at a fir cone pattern the other day and thought that it might look like the eye on the peacock feathers. Would you believe that I even dreamed of the chart? I think I can draft out what I dreamed last night in about an hour with Barbara Walker and some graph paper.

This morning, I took a look at the web. Lo and behold! Fiddlestick Knitting already has a Peacock Feathers Shawl. It is very different from what I envisions, but gorgeous, nonetheless. It will definitely go on my project to do list. I have some variations that I want to make, but wow. That pattern makes me salivate.

Back to my dream pattern. I went back to Google Images and searched for peacocks. I realized that what I had envisioned didn’t really look like a peacock in full display. What I was dreaming was more like if you take individual feathers and placed them next to each other like a wing. It’ll still be interesting, but I like Fiddlestick’s better.

Does that mean I’ll abandon mine? No. I still want to play with it. Will it work out? I don’t know. We’ll see.

Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Month: July 2007 Page 1 of 2

WooLee Winder

Lace Objects

Dreams