Friday, November 30, 2007

Naming the spinning wheel

I have to come up with a name for my spinning wheel.
I inherited it from my DH's Interesting Uncle Joel. He lived in Minnesota. A town with Lake in the name (imagine that!). They were of German descent, not Swedish or Norwegian. He taught History for years. He is sorely missed by all. I don't think he was a spinner, the spinning wheel was a "prop" for his historic lessons.
It's a Cherry Wood Rick Reeves 1977. Seems to be very unique. I'll have to post photos, as soon as I find the camera again. It's beautiful, but had a rough life lying on it's side on top of a pile of other priceless antiques for years after he retired. It's a lot smaller than the wheels that I see for sale now. I've been wondering why. Is it maybe to spin a finer yarn than the newer wheels? This was, after all, made before the 80's BIG WOOL era.
Any suggestions?

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Finished the Star of David Baby Afghan

I finished the Star of David baby afghan. After ripping back and rekinitting the center section about 3 times. I think it came out pretty good, in the end. And I really love the yarn: soft and washable. It's a good thing, I went kinda knuts when I thought I might run out before I was finished. Now, I've got a bunch leftover. But, the consensus among all the people that have seen me knitting is that it is "Big Enough Already. You can't always knit 'till you run out of yarn". Especially if you're a yarn-a-holic.

Friday, November 23, 2007

More from 1970


Who outthere remembers when we didn't wear PANTS! But we might wear a Pant Suit if we were very daring. How modern they were. And McCalls was right there on the cutting edge of fashion. Or, you could use those zigzag skills to create a wearable afghan, complete with fringe.


Friday, November 16, 2007

Looking back at 1970



From McCalls 1970
I really think that I've seen the orange poncho in a pattern magazine recently.
Without the skirt, scarf, hat and minus the heavy fringe.


Friday, November 09, 2007

Fur Yarn by Paula Lishman


Now, this is absolute luxury.
Fur That has been made into Yarn yep You read that right.
Fur + Thread = Yarn
They don't make a lot of guarantees about weight or gauge.
It sure looks pretty, comes in a lot of colors, and natural critter colors.
Be forwarned, this is one of those intrest vs committment things. The Chicken has an interest in breakfast and the Pig has a committment in a ham & egg breakfast. Therefore, in this case the sheep or alpaca has an interest in your yarn, whereas the fox or rabbit (in this case) is committed. Other forms of yarn probably require less of the donor animal.
Photo from the FurYarn.com website.
The prices seem to run about $60, Canadian, for a kit to make a Rex Rabbit Collar
$100 for a hat kit.

Maybe not bad, I don't know. It seems like a lot of extra work.
But, isn't that what Luxury is about? Most of us probably don't knit because it's the easiest or cheapest way to clothe our families. Those Canadians sure do know how to stay warm.
You Betcha'.

I'm thinking that anything made out of a $100 ball of yarn is going to make someone feel pretty pampered.

Time to use that fancy scarf technique in Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's book on how to have two matching ends with no waste.

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