sweetgeorgia

Blocking Board

Everybody loves a good blocking board! I always get questions about my blocking board whenever I show photos that include it. So, no problem! Here’s the info…

I bought the board, called the “Sew E-Z Board”, from an E-bay store called “Memphis Vintage”. I got the larger version of the board which is 30″ x 48″. There’s a smaller version too. The board folds in half for storage. The price for the larger version is about $65 USD. Oh, and shipping was about $20 USD. Marlene at Memphis Vintage is super-nice too and very easy to work with.

Enjoy!!!

Higher Tech Happiness

Apparently, when I get addicted, I also get a little obessive compulsive. I spend yesterday afternoon test-driving spinning wheels at Birkeland Bros. and got to try the Ashford Traveller, Joy and Traditional wheels… and then I came home with the Ashford Joy!

I had originally thought that I would prefer the Traveller, but when I tried it, I found my ankles kept bumping into the wheel as I tried treadling. Also, I found it tougher to get treadling. The Joy was much easier to treadle (I believe it has weighted treadles?) and much smoother. I love that the Joy is fully assembled and so small that I can carry it! The Traditional was lovely too, but the version I tried was a single treadle, not so ergonomic and seemed like it would be too big for our house.

And here’s what I’ve been spinning so far… some of that Kool-Aid corriedale. Fun fun fun.

Low Tech Happiness

Yes, I skipped Kung Fu this past Thursday… but for a good reason. I was dyeing the lovely white roving into candy colours using Kool-Aid and then proceeded to spin it on Friday…

And here’s what I ended up with:

Good clean fun. It took about an hour to dye the rovings and another hour to clean up — but happily, I didn’t stain the dining table or any of our white upholstered chairs!

Blocking Highgate

While knitting Highgate in public, the most frequently asked question was “oh! is that for a little kid?”. When I say, “no, it’s for me…” I get weird looks as if I’m totally delusional about fitting into such a narrow sweater. Please enter “blocking”. I know, blocking ribbing is a no-no, but in this case, I checked my blocked swatch and the photo in the pattern book and, yes, I believe this sweater needs some serious blocking.

On the front piece, I also modified the shoulder shaping to try out short rows… Excellent fun. It leaves I nice smooth shoulder for seaming… Of course, it would have made sense to do a three-needle bind-off, but I had already bound off all the back shoulder stitches, so… whatever.

And you call this yarn?

I paid how much for Colinette Point 5?!? When I can literally spin it myself?!? My first foray into drop spindle spinning produced maybe 5 or 6 yards of slubby, thick and thin yarn. They say it will never happen again, so I’d better label and date the yarn and then put it on the shelf to be admired as “My First Yarn”. Here’s what I’m using:

And here’s what I made:

Now I have questions! How much twist? How do I improve my drafting so that I get more even thickness? How do you know how thick a yarn to spin? I heard that you’re supposed to wash the yarn after you spin it to set the twist… must read up some more.

And oh, why did I stop at just 5 yards?!?! I want to dye the rest! Colour my world! Hmm, Kool-Aid? Or proper dye? Cold or hot? Dip or pour? Either way, I should have enough to make 2 pairs of socks!

Lucky progress? I finished the back piece last night as I finished watching the entire first season of The O.C. Yay.