Fiber News

I have managed to work a little throughout this past episode. I finished my second BMFA design and hope you will be able to see both soon. And I made this shawl on the 970 and have been working on the crocheted border as my carry along project. It is named "Miss Violetta" and took only 2 1/2 hours to knit on the machine but will take approximately 2 1/2 weeks to trim. Tiny, lace weight yarn with a size 2 crochet hook! The style of the shawl is like this one, which appears on the homepage of my website.


I also finished one of my Kitri socks. The yarn for the cuff broke twice and I would have just finished the sock in ribbing if it hadn't been so darned cute (and the lace with the beads was very hard to frog) One more to go before I can start another sock.



Although I have about 17 projocts in the works, I try not to ever have 2 of the same type going at once. In that way, I don't feel so promiscuous.

Good News!

I took Eden to Reese's neurologist on Thursday and we got the good news that he seems to be improving after just one week without any meds. No pharmaceutical or surgical intervention seems needed. We are all so relieved.

I feel so sorry that he had to go through this. I even offered to buy him a puppy. He declined, much to the relief of Figaro, who was fearing that life, as she knows it, would end and she would lose her status as Queen of the House.

He still says it is all my fault, but is a little less angry with me now that he feels better. I really don't blame him. He went from having zits, to having clear skin, to having bipolar disease, to maybe having a brain tumor, to having a fake brain tumor and maybe going blind, all in the space of 4 months.

His skin is still clear, too. I noticed he is using more washcloths than he used to. Maybe he is actually washing his face now?

Rooster Rock Handbag (in Progress)

The scarf for BMFA is finished! As I told you, I adore the yarn! I had a lot left over, having calculated that it would take 2 skeins of Lupe and having forgotten that there would be a stretch factor once the scarf had some weight to it, I only ended up needing one skein.

Walking through my dining room last night, I realized that the colors of my rug are the same as the colors of the Rooster Rock. I can never be accused of having inconsistent taste in color.
While working on the scarf, inspiration struck for a handbag from the same yarns plus some others that were lying around. Probably 20% of the yarn in my stash could coordinate with Rooster Rock.
At first I thought I might submit the design to Tina but as I progress in actually making up the bag, I am thinking there are too many outsource materials and too much sewing construction to make it a marketable pattern.

Here is the bag in progress.
Suffice it to say I am much better at knitting than photography! I really admire bloggers whose photos are beautiful works of art. In particular, Cara (just scroll through her photos at the top of the blog if you want to be thrilled) and Yarnstorm (her photos have a unique style that just delight me)

I Just Love This Yarn

Even though it is a total PIA to wind (the skein is too big for my swift and I had to resort to the wide open knees method and it keeps knotting) and a PIA to work with (hard to see the stitches).

But the yarn (100% nylon) gleams like jewels and the colors take my breath away. Both the intensity and the color changes.

What is it? Blue Moon Fiber Arts Lupe, 100% nylon boucle, color Rooster Rock. I am finishing up my 2nd design for BMFA. It is a crocheted scarf which uses Lupe in combination with Silkmo, both the same colorway but an interesting contrast since the Silkmo takes the same colors and dulls them way down.



Wish I could show you the scarf, but you will have to wait to see it at Blue Moon.

Fish For Days and Hair for Months

I have been knitting fish for days, in my spare time. Which as you can see, has not been much.

A few years ago I saw the Tessellating Fish blanket somewhere on the web. I can't find a photo but the pattern is here. I was interested in it, but never mind.

The other day I got the idea to create a modular sweater , using the tessellating fish concept, alternating with strips or something. I haven't quite worked it out yet, but came up with my yarn pallette and have been making fish instead of socks as my carry-around, waiting at Dr. office project.
I had to change the pattern. Mine is much easier to knit and the tail is more 'anatomically correct'. There are 6 connected fish I was experimenting with a technique of crocheting together. The major bummer of this fishy idea is there are MANY ends to weave in. When I knit modularly, I like to weave in ends as you go, but this one doesn't lend itself to that technique.

Many have been asking, "How is the WIG WIP?" Well, it is almost done! Here you see the back:
And here is the top. There is just this small patch remaining unfinished:
After I fill that in, there is the finishing! No small job, it involves coating the inner edge about 1" deep with 3 layers of a brush-on liquid that dries into a firm and flexible latex-like surface where the tape tabs can be applied and easily removed with solvent. If the wearer has any hair of his own, it can be braided into a tiny horizontal cornrow and the center of the wig can be stitched onto the braid for extreme stability, but the outer perimeter still needs to be secured.

After that, you must ventilate the edge. Imagine a row of fringe, double knotted, made of individual hairs, side by side with no space between each hair. This must be ventilated through 3 layers of net and the latex edge! The hairs are very brittle, despite the fact that you soak them in water with oil (I am using olive oil) before ventilating which softens them up and makes the knots grip tighter. I imagine that this edge row will be quite challenging, with much breakage and lots of do-overs (and overs).

Since under ideal circumstances, I can ventilate about 84-87 hairs in 15 minutes, I am certain that the number will be half that or less for the edge. I calculate that it takes about an hour to do a square inch, but my guess is that the edge will take 8 - 12 hours.

Then comes the part I am looking forward to! Styling! I will spray in some oil and pick out the afro, then rough trim it to get an idea if there are areas that need more hair or different colors. The colors are looking much more contrasty in the photo than in real life. This worries me.

The final styling is done by the hairdresser on the set.

You could film, edit and score a complete movie in the time it has taken me to make this wig! Good thing it wasn't for a specific movie. Vicki is just going to add it to her stock and see if someday someone wants to buy it for an extra or background character. Or maybe I will keep it as a reminder of my first wig.

Will there ever be a second? I don't know. It's pretty tedious work. Today's understatement!

Stash Reduction

For sale: 7 balls of GGH Cadiz, 51% cotton, 33%acrylic, 16% rayon. 50 g/67 m per ball. Recommended needle size: 4-5 US. Originally $9.30/each. You can have it for $30 plus postage and I'll throw in an 8th ball and the swatch I knitted from it.