Author: Marie Haigh

I started knitting 15 years ago right around the time of my marriage and the birth of my niece.

A Birthday amongst the Olympics

Marie Haigh9 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I have been spending a lot of time in front of the TV watching the Olympics. From basketball to soccer to volleyball to swimming, it’s been thrilling to watch! Of course, more TV time means more dedicated spinning time. So much so that I made my wrist sore from all the spinning.

I finally got the wool off of my spindle.

This wool came from the brown Shetland pencil roving I purchased on Etsy from Serentity Sheep Woolens. I spun it on my Jenkins Turkish spindle. It’s about a fingering-weight yarn. After the Olympics, I plan to ply the two balls together and create a DK-weight, 2-ply yarn.

What I learned from spinning this wool:
I love to spin!
I really enjoy the drafting process.
I like the spindle to turn slowly, allowing me more drafting time.
I should not try to spin anything over .75 ounces on my spindle. It makes my wrist throb.

Thanks to my wrist hurting on Sunday, I didn’t spin a lot. But, I couldn’t resist playing with the Sunshine fleece I have to spin for the Ravelympics Fleece to Fencing event. The rules behind the event state that I have to spin yarn from a fleece and then knit something from the newly created yarn.

I am using the alpaca fleece that I purchased from North Star Alpacas. Though Maple did recommend washing the fleece first, I read from other spinners that the washing step could be postponed until after the locks were spun. Guess which option my lazy self chose?

Yep, I just grabbed a few locks and slowly drafted them into something resembling a pencil roving. Then, I threw it onto my spindle. I was nervous at first, treating the alpaca like it was fine china. Once I got over my silly fears, it went fine. The ends of the locks tended to be wispy. I spent some time just pulling the locks back apart and redrafting/rejoining them together. Next time, I plan to try a little bit of greasy lotion on my hands and see if that doesn’t help tame the fly-aways.

I won’t lie to you. My hands were dirty after spinning for just a short time, but I am washable. I’ll wash the small sample of yarn later today to remove any remaining dirt. Hopefully, the washing will help the yarn to bloom as well, making it softer and more lofty.

I mentioned a birthday in today’s title. It would be mine.

Dan surprised me with an Irish tin whistle this morning for my birthday.

Recently, I have been trying to learn how to play the recorder again. Though I was pretty good at it during my middle school years, I apparently forgot everything. I explained to Dan that my ultimate goal was to learn my favorite instrument in Irish music: the tin whistle. Isn’t he the best?

Phillies Stitch and Pitch Night plus a Tag

Marie Haigh6 Comments

Tuesday night was Phillies Stitch and Pitch night.

 

I went with Dan who was unfazed by the knitters uot numbering the casual fans. He was just happy to see a Phillies game from the Citizens Bank stadium.

We grabbed food and Victory Hop Devil (local beer) first. Then, we grabbed the Stitch and Pitch goody bags.

Yes, that is Cascade yarn. The color is from their ‘Heather’ line and is #9459. I was going to get a solid color of lime green, but Janet, the knitter sitting to the left of me, wanted it since it was her daughter’s favorite color. I didn’t really have a preference. As far as I could tell, there were no ugly colors in Cascade’s line.

Most knitters consider Cascade a fundamental wool yarn. Yet, I’ve never worked with it. My fundamental wool yarn is Briggs and Little, mainly because my MIL lives in Maine near the Canadian border. She tries to visit Briggs and Little’s mill at least once a year to stock back up.

During the game, I worked on my 5th i-cord for the Christmas Tree Skirt. It was the most idiot-proof project I could come up with. It allowed me to watch the game and clap for any great plays and/or players without being worried about losing my place.

I finished it.

The only downside to the night was the fact that we lost 2-8 to the Marlins. We should have lost 1-8 because Vicky’s (Shane Victorino) home run wasn’t really a home run. It was a foul ball. Soon instant replay will resolve such issues.

It stayed a close game till the last two innings. The most exciting moment of the game came in the 3rd inning. Moyer, our pitcher, was struggling a bit and had loaded the bases. He struck out Amezaga to get the 2nd out. Then, he struck out Johnson to close the inning. Back to back strikeouts from Moyer is a rare sight. He is known as a contact-pitcher, so it was fascinating and just good fun to watch him mow two boys down.

This week, I was tagged by two of my favorite bloggers: Jo of Blissed Out and Nancy of Nancy’s Arts, Crafts & Favorites. The tag rules are as follows:

1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

I’m no good at writing random things about myself. Last time I received a tag of this nature, I refused to answer it just because I couldn’t think of anything to write. This time, I figured I would make a half-hearted attempt. So, here goes.

1. I own three parasols. All of them were purchased at the PA Renaissance Faire. Though I just thought they were pretty when I purchased the first one six (?) years ago, I quickly came to realize that they were as functional as they were pretty. Two years ago, I visited Disney World with my sister’s family in the dead of summer. Hot and humid doesn’t begin to describe what the weather was. Suffocating and unforgiving would be a more accurate description. I carried my parasol with me everywhere.

By the end of the week, I was the only one who was not suffering from some degree of sunburn. Now I never leave the house without a parasol on a sunny day.

2. In the 7th grade, I received an award for reading the most Stephen King books. I was so proud.

3. William Stafford is my favorite poet. Jane Austin is my favorite author. I have read and reread all their books.

4. My favorite TV series is Murder She Wrote. I currently have them cued up on Netflix and am rewatching all 12 seasons.

5. I hate the beach. I don’t like the sand fleas, the salt in the water, or the sun. Yet, we try to visit the Jersey shore at least once every summer. We don’t go for the beach. We go for the boardwalk, the arcades and the good food.

5 out of 6 is good enough, right? Right.

Onto the tagging of blogs:
1. Ivana – an amazing designer
2. June– spinner extraordinaire
3. Susan – a fellow knitter in nearby NJ
4. Bellwether – who answered all my Turkish spindle questions
5. Tracie – a crochet designer, recently published
6. Sisters Anne and Martina – both knitters living many miles apart (Alaska and Georgia to be exact)

I tried to pick blogs that I recently found or have not tagged in many turns. I read about 90 blogs. It’s hard to pick just 6.

Grandpa’s Jacket

Marie Haigh7 Comments

In my high school years, my Aunt gifted to me the jacket that Grandpa once wore.

There were a few holes in it, but otherwise it was in good condition. I wore it to death. A button fell off. The zipper became busted.  At least a dozen more holes sprouted on the sleeves and back. About five years ago, I packed it up with the rest of the winter clothes.

Though I can’t hold a candle to my Aunt’s pack-rat habits, I’ve never been able to get rid of this jacket. I know I will never wear it again. I kept telling myself that next year I would throw it out.

While working on my Christmas tree skirt, I quickly came to the conclusion that hand sewing 24 buttons onto each tie would land me in the nut house. There had to be a better way to decorate the white ties. Then, out of the blue, I remembered Grandpa’s jacket.

It was 100% wool. It would felt.

Why is it when you want to felt something, it won’t felt?

I tried washing the jacket by hand, moving it from hot water to cold. Nothing. It didn’t felt at all. It two cycles in the washer and two more in the dryer before it felted enough where the edges would no longer fray. I’ve never had such trouble before.

But, it worked. I have green stars with which to decorate my skirt with.

Dissecting and Reassembling a Skein of Yarn

Marie Haigh10 Comments

I had purchased this yarn from an Etsy seller about a month ago. Almost immediately, I realized it would not work for what I had planned: a cozy. The yarn was thick and thin and wouldn’t completely hide the item it was wrapped around, i.e. cozy-ing.

Before I go any further, I want to stress that the fault does not lie with the artist. The fault is all mine. I am too picky. I prefer a yarn to have the following features: consistent thickness throughout the majority – occasional bumps and nubs are fine, minimal friction when sliding through my fingers, and balance – although some unbalance is fine and preferable for certain projects.

Because the yarn was over-plyed with a thread, it was very elastic. It’s a nice feature in certain projects (NO fault lies with the artist), but I found it to be annoying because the yarn would not glide through my fingers. It kept bunching up.

So, I un-plyed the thread from the yarn.
Then, I plyed the now-just-wool skein with Knit Pick’s Quarry.

Then, I folded the yarn back onto itself using the Andean method, creating a 4-ply yarn.
Lastly, I removed the orange and black ribbons, since they no longer complemented the yarn.

I’ve renamed it Royal Sunshine.

I think I’ll use it to knit myself a headband for the winter months. It should keep my ears toasty and warm.

Summer of Love Part 2 and SewSpun’s Yarn

Marie Haigh6 Comments

I received my 2nd Summer of Love package yesterday from Piney, not my real swap partner’s name.

Missing from this picture is a book titled Knit Noel because it was the first thing I snatched from the box. It wasn’t until I finished taking pictures of all the goodies that I realized the book was still laying on my desk open to the page of the Christmas Tree Skirt design. (My design of a Christmas Tree Skirt is still undergoing the embellishment phase.)

About those goodies – boy, did I receive a bunch of them!

First up is the roving.

It is 100% Merino wool dyed in bright green and yellow with a smattering of royal blue. All the roving that I have – and I have an amount that is bordering on too much roving – is undyed. I refused to purchase any of the dyed rovings because I was certain that I would fall victim to the rationalization of buying roving just because it’s pretty. I hope this gorgeous roving doesn’t push me down the slippery slope.

Here’s a look at the non-fibery goodies Piney included: a needle gauge keychain, K2tog magnet which has been relocated to my fridge door, and chocolate wrapped in tin foil.

The unwrapped chocolate:

Lastly, I unwrapped the yarn:

It is 100% wool named Taos from Crystal Palace Yarns. The color is a mix of blues and greens: my favorite color combination.

Thank you so much, Piney!

Two days before I received Piney’s package, I got a box filled with yarn from Mandy of SewSpun. Since she had chosen the name I had suggested for her blue-green handspun yarn, Lady of the Water, I won the contest and received one skein of yarn as the prize. Much to my surprise, I found two skeins of yarn inside the box.

The cream yarn cake was handspun by Mandy from undyed wool roving. The red skein was commercially-spun, but hand dyed by Mandy.

Thank you, Mandy!

A Tree Ate my Homework

Marie Haigh5 Comments

How come things like this never happened when I prayed for them hours before a report due date?

Sunday night, a huge thunderstorm came through the area (I live in PA).

My neighbor had been contemplating cutting his maple tree down, since it was showing signs of decay.
He wasn’t quick enough. Mother Nature decided to help him along.

The crack came first. Then, a few minutes later, another gust of wind came through and hoisted the big branch a few feet to the right of the break.

The branch fell onto our cable line, snapping it in two. We lost TV and Internet service for two days.

It also got tangled into my rose bush. My neighbor spent a good hour trying to extract most of the smaller branches from the bush. I think he is more attached to the rose bush than I am. Ever since I started draping the long branches on his ranch-style fence, he’s doted on it.

Though it was annoying to not have TV or Internet, I remain grateful that the tree landed in our yards and not on our houses.

During the silence, I managed to get some knitting and spinning done. I’ll tell you more about that later this week. I also received wonderful goodies from Mandy of Sew Spun and my Summer of Love swap partner. Pictures coming tomorrow.

Last Night’s Storm and Other Pics

Marie Haigh8 Comments

The storms started rolling into the area around 4 pm yesterday. While looking out the kitchen window, I notice how stunning the clouds looked. I ran and got my camera.

Can you see the bird flying to safety?

As pretty as the storm was to watch, I would have been upset had it not watered my garden sufficiently and had it not broke the heat wave. The storm did not disappoint. Jake and I were able to take a longer walk than usual due to the cooler temperatures. I plan to do absolutely nothing in my garden this afternoon. Nothing but sit underneath the oak tree and read a book.

Speaking of the oak tree, I took photos of it in Spring when it was in full bloom. Recently, I had one of the photos developed and framed.

I’m thinking of hanging it in our bedroom (We have a total of 3 pictures in the bedroom right now. Maybe another photo will help it to not look so sparse. I’m not much for the minimalist look.)

And because I couldn’t resist, I had a picture of my favorite lilac bush blown up.

I feel a bit silly hanging pictures that I’ve taken of our garden on our walls, but I’m sick and tired of looking at bare walls. Something had to be done.

Trashing my Good Reputation

Marie Haigh11 Comments

I wasn’t going to tell you. I was going to keep my reputation for being a slow but accurate knitter.

Me? I don’t make mistakes. All my projects turn out perfectly.

Then, I remembered how much I loved to read about other people’s blunders. It always makes me feel more relaxed and at home. It’s like I tell Dan all the time: misery loves company. He is trained to tell me that he feels awful when I’m sick.

So, in the hopes that I can trash my good reputation, allow me to flaunt the latest mistakes which I made on my woven pillow.

First, I did not make a gauge. It is the first cardinal rule Knitters are taught. I ignored it. In my defense, I was stuck in that 12-hour car ride without proper measuring tools or blocking tools.

Second, I did not remember the concept of weaving two colors. One side of my pillow should have had all blue strips while the 2nd side should have had all cream strips. If you recall, I had mingled the colors.

Finally, I made the biggest mistake of all. I forgot to insert a pillow into my pillow cover. I had it all seamed up. It was finished. It looked great, ignoring the fact that it wasn’t a perfect square. Then, I started to turn it over and realized that it was a bit flat. Dan was a witness to what happened next. He looked over at me while I had my face buried in the pillow cover, half laughing and half weeping. He tried to comfort me by reminding me the pillow cover was merely a prototype. “You was planning on reknitting it anyway”, he said. I only laughed harder.

What am I going to do with an empty and completely enclosed pillow cover?

It might make a lovely trivet, but I can’t bring myself to felt it.

Alpaca Fleeces and Sammy the Cat

Marie Haigh10 Comments

In the past week, I have purchased an amazing amount of fleece: over 2.25 pounds. I am still reeling from the experience and lapse in sanity. 

WHAT was I thinking? I’m not exactly sure, but I will try to communicate my train of thought.

My 1st attempt of spinning was from Corriedale roving that had been sitting in my cedar closet for about 5 years. The years had not been kind to it; time had compacted the fibers into a very flat disk. The roving measured approximately 4 inches in width. These two facts meant that I had to do a lot of pre-drafting. Additional drafting had to be done as it was being spun onto my Ashford spindle.

My 2nd and current attempt at spinning is from Shetland roving. This roving is soft and lofty. More importantly, it was carded into pencil roving, roving that is approximately 1 inch wide. My first thought when I received it was that I won’t have to do any pre-drafting. Wrong. I still do though it has been greatly reduced. Pre-drafting consists of just teasing the fibers further apart so that the yarn can be spun thinner than the initial carded 1-inch width.

These two wools have been great to work with as a beginner spinner. Yet, my favorite wool is alpaca. It’s heaven in your hands. My entire reason for spinning was so that I could eventually spin my own alpaca. There you have it: Reason #1.

Reason #2: If there is no amount of carding that can eliminate pre-drafting, why not skip the step altogether? Why not indeed. So, I did my research. Come to find out – it is possible to eliminate the carding process with certain fibers. Alpaca is one of those fibers that can be spun straight from the locks (sections pulled off of a fleece).

Reason #3: I love to take something and strip it down to the basics. In design work, I start with a blank piece of paper and a pencil. In gardening, I start with seeds or bulbs. Short of shearing the animal yourself, the closest I can get to the basics of wool is to purchase the fleece and start from scratch.

Reason #4: It’s Maple’s fault. She wooed me. I was browsing through her Etsy store to purchase yarn for my swap partner and I came across her listings for alpaca roving and raw fleece. Her description of Sunshine’s fleece grabbed my attention. “By the way, this fleece has hardly any vegetation in it. I am going to spin this without further preparation, like carding or combing. Because it is crimpy and long this is easily spun.”

So, my 1st purchase of raw alpaca fleece was from Maple of North Star Alpacas. Here are pictures of the raw fleece she sent me.

Sunshine

A lock of Sunshine: Do you see how it changes from cream to fawn and back to cream?

Polaris

On Sunday, I received a call from my local alpaca farmer. She invited me to come out and see the bounty from her latest shearing.

As I was walking towards her house on the farm, I was greeted by Sammy.

I heard Sammy’s greeting of Meow, Meow before I even saw him. Walking swiftly to me was an orange tabby cat. I knelt down to meet him and he bowed his head so I could scratch his ears. I spent the next several minutes taking photos of Sammy and petting him. What a sweet cat!

Show and Tell of Shearing

Though I had no plans to purchase anything more than a sampling of fibers totaling one pound. I came home with two pounds. What can I say? I have no will power.

Buddy, the blind alpaca, before any processing

Buddy after shaking (to remove the vegetation) and carding (to blend in the sun-dried tips)

Magnum whose fiber is red!

Dan commented that Magnum’s fiber looked eerily like my hair.

And more goodies starting from the top right and working clockwise: Cream alpaca blended with brown alpaca roving, Dark grey – almost black alpaca roving, undyed silk roving, and lastly brown alpaca roving.

Oh, yes, I have enough fiber and roving to last me for many months. I am NOT allowed to purchase anymore no matter how pretty it is.

Which begs the question, how am I coming along on that Shetland roving? Well, I still have 4 more ounces in my cedar closet, untouched. On the positive side, I am making mean work of the roving upstairs.

I LOVE my new spindle. It spins and spins. I highly recommend Jenkins Woodworking.

A Cheery Apron

Marie Haigh10 Comments

Within Ravelry, I am in a group called Sew Obsessed. Obviously, it’s for knitters/crocheters who love to sew in their spare time. Recently, there was a call for an apron swap. I have still not had a chance to make myself another apron, so I thought this would be the perfect motivation to not only make myself a new apron but to also make an apron for someone else. I could share the love, so to speak. Though I have not even started to make an apron for either, I received an apron from my swap partner yesterday.

It’s so bright and cheery. When I pulled it out of the package, I smiled.

Though I only expected the apron, my swap partner Betty included many goodies from the kitchen friendly to the taste-bud friendly:

A card
A card set
4 dishcloths
2 cutting boards
Candy fruit slices
Dark Chocolate with orange flavoring
Orange scented candle

Thank you so much, Betty!

Faithful readers, I know I promised alpaca fleece, more Sammy and a custom knitting bag, but household chores are calling me. I have ignored them too long. Plus, I would like to eat homemade food tonight. I’m thinking potato soup. I have some pork stock that should provide a great building block. I will try and post again tomorrow with the fleece pictures.

Until then, here’s a sneak peak of how the woven pillow is turning out.