Wander the Web 53

Inspiring, fun, thought-provoking, and crafty links to round out the week and jumpstart your brain.

Travel “By The Silent Line”, an abandoned Paris rail line; by Pierre Folk

Not a tutorial but an excellent Steek 101 from Kate Davies

Time Spent Consuming vs. Creating

If I knew this cabin was waiting for me, I’d go skiing. 

A behind the scenes look at Kramer yarn mill.

Art On The Loose; London’s National Art Gallery hid 45 replicas of their most famous paintings around London. Wouldn’t it be fun to track them all down? 

I’ve been blogging for 8 years. Pretty great, especially the part about shouting into the void. (via Elise Blaha)

I’m a sucker for good sorbet. This recipe just happens to be from Alton Brown and involve watermelon.

Corrections; Hits close to home.

Spinning Malabrigo Arco Iris

When this skein was freshly dry from its bath, it was my absolute favorite. One Tour de Fleece and a few more skeins of handspun later, it’s still my favorite. The colors are amazing, the yarn is ridiculously soft, and it has great density.

Way back in June, I was ready to spin Arco Iris but had no clear vision of how. So the fiber got to lead the way. Once I unbraided the bump, it was clear that was absolutely no chance of spinning identical singles. The colors were randomly dyed without a single discernible repeat. Spinning a 3-ply was out because it would muddy the colors. Chain-plying was out too because I wanted as much yardage as possible. Instead of going through some fiddly process, I decided to keep things simple since the colors were complicated enough all ready. Split the fiber in half lengthwise and spun the 2 pieces from opposite ends. Then I plied, let the yarn rest on the bobbin, and dunked it in the sink with some Eucalan. The only handling the wet skein got before hanging up to dry was a few pops over my hands. No thwacking against a shower wall or other stress relief.

The soak plumped up the yarn considerably. Before the bath, the yarn averaged 9 WPI, basically a worsted weight. The bath turned into an aran weight with an average of 8 WPI. It’s still a much denser yarn than I usually spin. The past few months have seen me trying to spin thinner and thinner yarns which usually meant double-drafted woolen creations. For whatever reason this bump of fiber wanted to be heavy and smooth. I’m not one to argue with wool so I went with it. Spun it inchworm style and went against every screaming urge I had to draft it finer. Sometimes I let to much twist into the fiber and snapped the single. Sometimes I had a good flow going. Drafting inch-worm is definitely something I still need to practice. The resulting yarn is a bit thick and thin but plying fixed many of its ills.

The yarn was content to sit on the shelf for the past few months but no longer. I might gotten a little distracted from writing the first draft of this post looking at cowl* patterns. After an exhaustive search through Ravelry and Pinterest, Present by Mademoiselle C wins by a landslide. The cowl looks like fun travel knitting and a great showcase for handspun. Not going to wait to get started.  

The Specs

Fiber: Malabrigo Nube - 4 oz Merino

Color: Arco Iris

Yardage: 202 + 29 yds

Dates: June 22- July 2014

 *I’m a little late joining the cowl party.

The Scorpion Submarine

Until the Bearded One and I went down to visit the Queen Mary, I had no idea The Scorpion Submarine existed or that touring it was even an option. Once we knew that we could, we couldn’t pass up the chance to see it. After buying our tickets and passing through the gift shop, we crossed a bouncing gangplank to the Scorpion’s top deck before climbing down into the sub. 

Once you get into the cramped halls and tiny rooms, you forget how big it looked when you were walking around on top of it. The photos don’t do the tight space justice. I somehow managed not to hit my head ducking through hatches and doorways but my toes were not so lucky. Seems like I violently found every step, rise, and pipe despite my best efforts not too.

One of the facts broadcast through speakers across the sub was that, during it’s operation, 79 souls lived and worked on the Scorpion. Imagining 79 people crammed into that sub is an exercise in claustrophobia. I’m not remotely claustrophobic but I was glad to be back in the open air after 30 minutes in that sub with a scant 5 other people. Happy I went during the week when it wasn’t crowded. The other bonus was that only the Bearded One got to see me awkwardly crawl/fall through the compartment hatches. Figured out how to climb through by the end but I wasn’t any more graceful about it. 

If you can push claustrophobia aside, the Scorpion Submarine is worth a visit. Just watch your toes. 

Part 1: To The Aquarium of the Pacific

Part 2: Exploring The Queen Mary

Part 3: The Scorpion Submarine

Wander the Web 52

Inspiring, fun, thought-provoking, and crafty links to round out the week and jumpstart your brain.

I’ve been sneaking in bits of spinning and knitting into my day to help keep my sane. The last few days have been the most I’ve spun since Tour de Fleece. It’s nice to see the bobbin slowly fill up and do something with my hands besides from clicking buttons.

How to turn a file folder into a book. Why have I not made this yet?

How hiring a handyman is like buying a crochet (or knitting) pattern.

And a little deeper, thoughts on (knitting) pattern pricing from Ysolda Teague

NASA developed origami style solar panels.

The Shape of Ideas by Grant Snider

Nina Lindgren’s Sprawling Cardboard Cities

Wish I’d been able to read this article when I first unboxed my spinning wheel

On Comparison 

Journey of the Aviator Hat

Now that this aviator hat has gone on its own cross-country journey, I can finally write about it. Knit for a brand-new baby boy, it was an easy knit that came out adorable. The hardest part was picking just the right buttons. My only mod was to tack down the corner edges of the front flap so it didn’t stick out due to sturdy button stitching. Thanks to the multiple sizes, all the way up to an adult small, I’m sure I’ll be making many more for both boys and girls.

It wasn’t until the hat was in front of the camera that I noticed something. The hat was staring back at me. Now I can’t un-see that face with it’s stubby legs and bulky body. What does it want? Cuddles, I hope, and maybe cookies. When I picked out this pattern, I never noticed the face. It was just a cute hat. To be fair, it’s still a cute hat and not all of the finished projects on Ravelry look like silly creatures. I’m glad this one does though.

The Specs:

Pattern: The Journey of the Aviator by Gabrielle Danskknit

Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool Worsted - Electric (143)

Needles: US 7 & 6

Dates: July 17 - August, 2014

@Ravelry

Exploring the Queen Mary

Ever since moving to Los Angeles last year, my Mom’s been telling me to visit the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Took over a year but the Bearded One and I finally went after our visit to the Aquarium of  the Pacific. Since we went during the week, the ship wasn’t crowded and it seemed like we had the place mostly to ourselves. The two of us trekked up and down decks, through quiet hotel corridors (it’s still a functioning hotel), down the promenade, and stopped to catch our breath on the bridge. The history and grandeur of the Queen Mary was impossible to miss and it was easy to image what taking a voyage on the ship during its heyday must have been like. 

Part 1: Aquarium of the Pacific

Part 2: Exploring the Queen Mary

Part 3: The Scorpion Submarine

Wander the Web 51

Inspiring, fun, thought-provoking, and crafty links to round out the week and jumpstart your brain.

For all my writing friends. 

When street art and architecture work together. 

A summer camp for composing video game music? Awesome.

The craftsmanship on these embroidered animals is impeccable. Plus, they’re cute. 

A day in the life of Vanessa Knight of Able Ground

The Daily Routines of Famous Creatives

5 Secrets to Success

Tag-along with a robot to see the Tate Britain after dark. 

Found Lisa Congdon’s blog which is both vibrant and utterly exciting. Loved this peek into her sketchbooks and the Word for the Day.

Hand Carded Rolags vs Drum Carded Rolags

It’s taken me longer than I wanted, but after a bit of a delay, I’m finally writing about my last bit of Tour de Fleece spinning. It was a bit of an experiment and a lot of fun. See, several months ago, I got a rolag from a spinning guild demo on making and spinning rolags. Spinning it was fun and I loved the finished yarn but I only had that one hand carded rolag. Fortunately, I’d also gotten some fiber from the demo - natural wool, dyed wool, silk noil, and white mystery wool - to make another. The only problem was my complete lack of hand cards. A few months later when I rented a drum carder, I finally had the chance to turn that fiber into a batt and then a rolag. But would it match? Could a drum carder create rolags that matched hand carded rolags? To find out, I fed the 18g of material through the carder twice to blend the colors and fibers evenly. 

To match the guild rolag, I split the batt 3 times across the width and rolled each piece into a rolag. When it came time to spin and I kept everything about the process the same. Used the same ratio and twist direction. Plied the single with itself, just like the first. They both got the same finishing, a soak in the kitchen sink with Eucalan and a few good pops across my hands.

Are the finished sample skeins the same? Yes…and no. 

Both yarns are the same weight with similar WPI and have the same lumpy-bumpy texture. They’re both thick & thin and a little hairy. They’re both squishy and airy like the true woolen spun yarns that they are. So far, so good, right? The only difference between the 2 samples is the color and it’s not just because of the silk noil. The hand carded skein is darker with clear distinction between the brown and teal.  The drum carded skein is more blended, lighter in color, and noticeably teal. If I’d passed the fiber though the carder just once, the colors might have been more similar but maybe not. A drum carder has more surface area than hand cards which directly affects how fibers (and their colors) interact. 

Besides from the color differences, the hand carded skein and the drum carded skein have the same texture, the same weight, and the same loft. So long as the 2 are spun the same way, the finished yarn will be the same. The only difference is one of color and blending. Drum carders make it easily to repeatedly card fiber until it is as blended (or not) as you want it to be. How many times the fiber is fed through can have a major impact on the final color, especially with hand painted rovings. 

As for these 2 skeins, I’d definitely use them for the same project. To mesh the colors (AKA dyelots) the best bet is to alternate the skeins every 2 rows. Now, what to knit with 36 yds?

To The Aquarium of the Pacific

To celebrate my birthday on Friday, The Bearded One and I went to The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. I love visiting Aquariums so this was a great treat. It’s fascinating to watch fish, sharks, jellyfish, and all matter of creatures swim. Some use large tails to get around, some use tiny fins, and others jet around with squirts of water. Seems like I’m getting a peak at an alien world. Plus, I get to see octopuses which are pretty awesome even if they do hide from the camera. 

Next up, The Queen Mary and Scorpion Submarine.

Wander the Web 50

Inspiring, fun, thought-provoking, and crafty links to round out the week and jumpstart your brain.

A couple of days ago, I found a box sitting outside my steps. Inside were lots of Happy Birthday! goodies and a comfy pair of hand knit socks. I’ve wanted to knit Hermione’s Everyday Socks for years and Cece beat me to it. Thanks, Cece! They’re awesome socks.

A great primer on different wools and fibers aimed at spinning the perfect sock yarn. 

Make something small every day.

“Great people do things before they’re ready.”

Lucy Sparrow hand stitched 4,000 items -beer, magazines, candy bars, what have you - to stock a corner store.

DIY Natural Dyes Chart - focused on fabric but would probably work for yarn too

Weekend Wrap Up: Disneyland and Beyond

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The Bearded One took Friday off and we made a split-second trip to Disneyland and California Adventure. On 5 hours of sleep, we covered 17 miles, walked over 35,000 steps, did everything we wanted too, and somehow didn’t get sunburned. We rode Space Mountain 3 times and even got to see the inside of it during a shut down. With the lights on, Space Mountain is even more impressive. Later in the day we tackled The Tower of Terror, which was even more fun than I remembered, and California Screamin’.  Only got to ride it once but Screamin’ is definitely my new favorite roller coaster.

August Break 2014 also kicked off Friday and I had fun looking around for interesting details to capture. Forgot to pick a photo for the first 2 days but I think I’m finally getting into the swing of a daily photography project.

Sunday, after a week and a half break,  I was finally able to get back to my spinning. My shoulder and wrist are back to 100% so I finished the first Color Bot single from Tour de Fleece. Spinning the second single is on this week’s to-do list. Going to use this technique again and also trick myself into a decent spinning posture to spare my shoulder from the pain of poor spinning. You know, so I can spin more and not hurt myself.

Wander the Web 49

Inspiring, fun, thought-provoking, and crafty links to round out the week and jumpstart your brain.

"Caught up” is not the finish line. 

Such adorable little boxes

Urban Giants - An amazing look into the Western Union and AT&T Long Lines buildings

Check out Cities at Night to get an astronauts eye view of cities across the world.

Coconut pudding? Yes, please

I am so knitting Inkling the Squid

Make Everyday in August

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across Year of Creative Habits. Everyday, Crystal picks one creative thing to do - maybe it’s drawing or painting or watercolor - and everyday she writes about it. The entries aren’t just about what the drawing but also about making, fear, learning, and just plain getting started. It’s inspiring and, no lie, I’m reading the archives from the very first post.

Reading about her daily project, reminded me of my own attempt, The Incremental Project. Every month I picked something to do everyday. I had a good run and tried drawing, writing, yoga, and photography. I even spent a month knitting one giant blanket, 2 rows a day (still not finished, by the way). Learning and challenging myself on a daily basis was great but the whole endeavor came to a screeching halt when I got married and moved cross country all in the space of a month. Just didn’t have the energy or the time to keep the project going.

Year of Creative Habits has been a good kick in the butt to get back to daily making and learning. So, starting tomorrow on August 1st, I’m committing to take one photograph a day as part of August Break. I’ve done photography before and August Break 2013 but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to learn or play with. I can’t wait to get started. Maybe the prompts and daily emails will keep me motivated and give me ideas for other things to photograph besides from knitting and handspun, great as they are. To keep myself accountable, the photos will be going up on Instagram tagged with #Augustbreak2014. 

If you want to join in too, you still can. Have fun making in August! 

Tour de Fleece 2014 Recap

I knew it was going to be a photo finish. There were only 6 days remaining of Tour de Fleece and I still had ounces left to spin. Color Bot was starting to fill up a bobbin but I still hadn’t drafted my way through the first of 4 color repeats. If everything went just right, I’d be able to finish the first single Thursday. On Saturday, I’d haul the wheel to the spinning guild meeting and finish the second single. Sunday, the last day, I would ply. It was going to be tight but I could pull it off unless there were some major hiccups. Instead of hiccup, it was twinge in my shoulder that moved down to my elbow and finally to my wrist. Didn’t take long for my left wrist and hand to swell up and hurt to move. I was officially out of the race.

How did I do this to myself? Well, yoga’s downward dogs and planks didn’t help but the main culprit is how I spin. No matter how I draft, long-draw or otherwise, I usually end up twisted to the left with my arm sticking straight out behind me. Knew this wasn’t the most ergonomic posture and it finally came back to bite me. So, until my arms heals up, no spinning and no yoga.

Not spinning for the past few days, especially the last of the Tour, has been annoying and the knitting has been scant; however, my shoulder and arm are all the better for it. Wrist braces don’t exactly make that stuff easy anyhow. The swelling has gone down and everything hurts  much less now. At least I was able to reach the majority of my Tour de Fleece goals before my arm called it quits. I spun a few of the batts I made on the drum carder. I tried new a new technique for spinning fine singles and it actually worked. Not being able to spin gave me the time to read about spinning, specifically spinning ergonomics. FYI, the articles in Ply have been especially helpful. Didn’t get around to spinning new fibers but nothing’s stopping me from trying once my arm heals.

Aside from messing up my arm and shoulder, this year’s Tour de Fleece was a good one. I learned and tried new things, had fun, and got some great handspun out of it. Keeping a relaxed pace was nice too and not spinning every day probably saved me some pain and stress in the long run. Not including Color Bot, I spun 3.2 oz (90g) into 4 skeins and 206 yds. Not much but still worthwhile. 

How did your Tour go for you? Injury free, I hope.

Wander the Web 48

Inspiring, fun, thought-provoking, and crafty links to round out the week and jumpstart your brain.

Stumbled across the While She Naps blog and podcast this past week and I’m smitten. Looks like a great resource for blogging, business, and creativity. 

The Writer’s Retreat from Incidental Comics

The middle is what you should fear.

Exploring the world

Challenge!  

For today’s awesome science - a synthetic functioning leaf .

Handspun Corriedale

I’m glad I saved all the batts I made on the drum carder to spin during Tour de Fleece. Haven’t been able to spin all of them, but the batts I have spun have been worth the wait. They’re both fun to work with and very versatile. If you want a worsted yarn, you can spin them in one big chunk or tear them into strips like I did with the Mystery Batt. For a woolen yarn, you can tear batts across the “grain” and roll them into fauxlags (same as rolags which come off hand cards instead of a drum carder).

The fate of my only Corriedale batt was being torn up and made into 11 ever so squishy fauxlags. I split them in half by weight and started spinning. Seems like I say this every time but I had so much fun working with these. Scout’s honor, fauxlags/rolags are my favorite thing to spin. It’s a shame that I don’t that work with them more often. Definitely a good thing that I also love the lofty woolen yarn fauxlags become.

The finished yarn is squishy and nice even though this batch of Corriedale isn’t the softest. It’s even a consistent thickness. The thick and thin spots lend character instead of defining the skein as a whole. Looking forward to knitting it up once I’ve got the right pattern in hand. In the meantime, back to spinning through the last weekend of Tour de Fleece!

The Specs:

Fiber: 40g (1.41 oz) Corriedale

Yardage: 90 + 18

Weight: DK - Worsted

Dates: July 13 - 18, 2014

Spinning Color Bot

Color Bot arrived in my mailbox in March from the Spun Right Round fiber club. The green, blue, gold, and purple were right at home in my stash. The neon pink and red? Not so much. This bump definitely isn’t something I would have picked out for myself but it’s good to step out of one’s comfort zone every so often. Still, neon pink is light years outside of my comfort zone.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to spin it since opening the package. I wanted to downplay the pink while making the blues and green pop. Spin it fractal? Let it barber pole? Split it and let the fiber do what it will anyway? Even with fiber I’m not initially fond of, I usually love the final handspun but that didn’t seem likely this time. Neon pink just isn’t a color I’m drawn too or wear on a regular basis.

I had one other idea but immediately dismissed it - completely removing the pink/red. Would taking out the pink solve the problem? Definitely but it seemed like defeat. If I couldn’t spin colors, even colors I didn’t like, into something I thought was great, then I must be a failure as a spinner. But, I told myself, “I’m smart and have the internet at my fingers. I should be able to find some trick to spin all 4 oz in a badass skein of yarn.” What I found instead of this post on Woolen Diversions(interesting blog, by the way). She had a bump of fiber she wasn’t fond of either. So, she ripped out the colors she didn’t like and spun the ones that she did. Reading about her process gave me a new perspective. Maybe removing colors I didn’t like didn’t make me a failure. Maybe it wasn’t defeat. Maybe it was just another trick in a spinner’s toolbox. 

When I finally unchained the top, I ripped out the pink with gusto. The fiber was dyed in a clear repeat so getting the colors I wanted wasn’t hard.  There were just 3 oz left to spin and I decided to use those 3 oz to attempt one of my Tour de Fleece goals. Since I got my wheel last September, I’ve been trying to spin a fingering weight yarn. Come close over the past few months but haven’t spun anything smaller than sport weight. Then I saw this trick for spinning fine singles that involved threading the single across opposite flyer hooks which is supposed lessen the tension/slow the uptake. After spinning the first color repeat, my single is intentionally and consistently thin. It isn’t falling apart and I’ve only put enough twist to snap the single once or twice. Won’t know for sure if I’ve succeeded spinning a fingering yarn until after the singles are plied and the twist is set but I’m hopeful. If not, I’ll still end up with great yarn I actually want to knit. 

Wander the Web 47

Inspiring, fun, thought-provoking, and crafty links to round out the week and jumpstart your brain.

Stumbled across Nimona this week and it’s now one of my favorite comics.

Flight of the origami birds

A visit to the Voss Folkemuseum

Check out this awesome library in Sweden

Hasty and passionate scrawlings

Creative Thinking hits close to home

I would love to walk this path through the treetops 

Enjoying listening to Sunny War

The First Skein of Tour de Fleece

My first skein from Tour de Fleece was spun from the first batts I made on a drum carder. The batts I made before I knew what I was doing. The ones that were kind of blended but mostly filled with lumps, bumps, and clumps. The ones that looked like an impressionist painting. Looking at them fresh of the drum carder, I knew that they weren’t going to be create a smooth yarn but whatever. I’d just made my first batts and they were awesome.

When Tour de Fleece rolled around, I was less excited and more annoyed that I hadn’t split the fiber evenly for 2 equal batts. So I tore them into strips and started one single that’d be plied with itself. Tried to aim for a 2-ply worsted weight but the fiber had other ideas. Sometimes the fiber wouldn’t take the twist or there was an un-draftable clump. The single came out thick and really thin and not just because I was drafting long draw. (Short forward draw was not an option thanks to the lumps.) So much for that worsted 2-ply idea.

At this point, I wanted to trash the single and move onto a different, less ugly project; however, plying solves many ills and I wanted to see if the plied yarn was any more appealing. Chain plying seemed like the best bet to get a worsted weight yarn and it was easy to find a rhythm once I got started. Where the single was thin, I got fingering weight. Where it was thick, I got bulky. The clumps just stood out like a sore thumb.

Plying fixed a lot but giving this yarn a bath and a good thwack made it so much better. Instead of throwing it out, I wanted to keep it for something good. The yarn, clumps and bumps included, plumped up into a unified whole. Every random bump seemed like it belonged right where it was. The skein definitely wouldn’t be as interesting without them. Maybe even boring. If I knew how to weave, that’s what I’d use this yarn for. Who knows? I may learn eventually.

The Specs

Fiber: Mystery Wool from a Gwen Erin Grab Bag 

Yardage: 86 yds

Weight: Fingering - Worsted - Bulky

Dates: July 7 - 9, 2014

Slow and Steady Tour de Fleece

Tour de Fleece is well underway with 8 days down and 13 left to go. This year, I’m doing things a little differently. As in previous years, I’m aiming to challenge myself and learn something new but at a rather relaxed pace. I’m not trying to spin all the things, clear out my fiber stash, or make myself spin every free moment of the day. In an afternoon, I might turn a batt into rolags and start spinning them that night or the next morning. No rush. The yardage isn’t exactly piling up but I get to spend more time enjoying the process. Plus, at the end of it all, there’s beautiful yarn waiting for me.

My goals are pretty simple.

• Spin up the batts I made during my adventures with the drum carder. 
• Spin new fibers. I’ve got Romney, Alpaca, Angora, a BFL/Silk/Angora blend, and silk hankies. All fibers that have been hanging out for far too long in my stash and I’m ready to try my hand at them. Bonus, I’ve turned a few of them into batts. 
• Try new techniques and read up on spinning. Top technique on my list - A tutorial by Lisa Raynor that shows how pulling a single through several flyer hooks to lessen tension makes it easier to spin fine yarn. I haven’t yet been able to spin a fingering weight yarn on my wheel and this tip might get me one step closer. As for reading, I’ve got the latest issue of Ply to keep me occupied.

The relaxed pace of this year’s tour is growing on me and the last 2 weeks should be a breeze. How’s your Tour de Fleece spinning going? Achieving your goals or throwing everything to the wind?