Maia Spins

My New Best Friend

Yes, I have gone mac.  And to a laptop.  Shocking really as I've always complained about using laptops.  But, until now I've never used a laptop on top of my lap.  I love to curl up in a chair or on a sofa; sitting with both feet on the floor is not my style.  Life is perfect now.  I can curl up on the loveseat and work away.  When I want to refer to a spreadsheet while I work in the other room, I just pick it up and take it with me.  Dang!  I love this computer!

It is a revolution in more than one way.  Now I finally have a computer with sound!  The desktop pc either doesn't have a soundcard or it stopped working a looooong time ago.  So, dear readers I have fallen head first into Project Runway Canada (links to episode 1, if you go to the main site you will learn who the winner of the first season is.  If you are not in Canada you will need to watch it on You Tube).  Blame Julia.  She dared us to watch the first episode. I am on the fifth tenth episode now and loving it.  I confess to loving the US version too.  But, it does not have Iman.  Iman is awesome!  So smart, funny, and unbelievably stylish and beautiful.

Now that I am used to having sound, I think I need a podcast or two to listen too.  I have never paid much attention to them because I didn't have a way to listen.  So, tell me, what knitting and spinning podcasts do you recommend?

The Grey On Grey Scarf is coming along.  I started out by making a simple checker board pattern.  Snore.  Then I tried my Bias Scarf pattern adapted to a checker board pattern.  It still wasn't quite right.  Now it has the triangle point that is the beginning of the Bias Scarves, but I didn't turn the corner.

It is zipping along.  I was going to finish the boring one as well, but I didn't have enough yarn spun up.  A trip back to the wheel got me more yarn, only it is a slightly heavier weight.  Bye bye boring scarf.  The new yarn may become a matching hat.

The new fiber on my wheel is this bit of yumminess.

Blueface Leicester wool in Tactile's Heliotrope colorway.  (Oddly, it is looking washed out in this blog post, but not when I look at the picture itself.)  I am spinning it for sock yarn.  More on that soon.

A Bit of Spinning Content

It is true, I do spin.  It has not escaped my notice that I named this blog Maia Spins and I mostly blog about knitting.  But, I digress.

I was rummaging around in the fiber stash and noticed a lot of bits of grey fiber.  I don't normally care for the color grey, but these are dyed with logwood and they are beautiful.  All natural dye colors are beautiful.  I think it is because they are many compounds that together make the color we perceive.  There is more depth and complexity.

This is what I started with:
Starting on the left and sweeping around the outside:  Merino-Tencel (50/50), Tussah Silk, Carbonized Bamboo, Merino (dark), Merino (light).  In the every center is Mohair locks with two shades of Tussah Silk Noil at the bottom.  Not shown is some deliciously soft Alpaca in a pale grey. 

The Carbonized Bamboo is the only fiber that is not dyed.  When the bamboo is heated the cellulose in the bamboo carbonizes to this grey color.  It has an interesting history too.  It was an early filament used in the incandescent light bulb.  I quite like spinning with it; very smooth and easy to draft.

I spun up bits of each fiber and then plied them together as a 3-ply yarn.  I cycled through the light and dark colors going up and then down the shades.  It is hard to see in this picture of the skeins.

Next time I will show you how the yarn looks knit into a scarf (what?  spinning and knitting that isn't sock knitting? are you reading the right blog?).

You may have noticed that I am a big fan of dogs.  I got my first dog, Sophie just eleven years ago.  Now I can't imagine my life without one.  I am so thankful for the good times.  Like the frolic of a 16-year old dog named Harriet.

Unfortunately, their lives are too short.  This is Lulu.  The sweet and wonderful canine companion to our friends and neighbors B, K, and D.  She passed on Friday and she will be sorely missed. 

She was ever vigilant watching out her window and protecting the neighborhood.  Sammie can't go past her house without wanting to stop for a visit.  She was so good with her people and especially her best doggy friend in the world, Molly.  Lulu and Molly met at the local dog park and were instantly best friends.  They got along so well that their people had to become friends as well. 

My heart goes out to our friends and to Molly.  I know how hard it is to lose a dog.  The become so much a part of warp and weft of our lives.  Goodnight sweet girl.

 

Another Year Older

Saturday was my birthday and a wonderful day it was!  I had breakfast with my wonderful husband Roger , and Kay, the best daughter I could hope to have.  After breakfast we wandered through a restaurant supply store (foodie fun!) and then drove around Alameda Island.  I spent a quiet afternoon spinning and then we went out for a fabulous dinner.  The perfect birthday in my book.

Want to see my birthday loot?

A real mandoline!  This one is all stainless steel and built for handing down to the grandchildren.  It has already made a scrumptious Potato Gratin.

I also got Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.  It has been on my must read list for a while.  She is one of my favorite authors and this is a topic near and dear to my heart.

The skein in the picture is made from a gray batt that was kicking around.  A pretty color, but just a bit blah.  I spun it thick and thin(ish) and then plied it with a thin single of indigo dyed tussah silk.  Quite sexy now if I do say so myself.

The Little Big Announcement
The best birthday present is a whopper.  It is the reason I have been such a bad blogger recently.  It is the biggest thing to happen in my life in a long time.  It is the best job in the whole wide world!  (Have I built it up enough yet?)

I am thrilled to announce that I have started a business with Brooke.  We are naturally dyeing yarns and spinning fibers.  We actually started Tactile a year ago (it has been so hard keeping quiet for a year!).  So far, we have been selling at fiber festivals and at our local get-togethers (join our Google group for more info.).

So why is now the time for confessing my 80 hour a week obsession?  Is it because our on-line store is up and running (we are working on it)?  No (hence the little big announcement and not the big big announcement).  It is because we have a big, big month in February and we want you all to be a part of it.  We will be vendors at Madrona Fiber Arts in Tacoma, Washington from February 14-17, 2008 and then we head directly to vend at Stitches West the next weekend!  We have a crazy amount and variety of luscious spinning fiber an yarns.  It is so exciting I can barely sit still!!!

As if that wasn't enough, we are also teaching the Beginning Spinning on the Drop Spindle at Knit One One on February 3rd & 10th.  It should be a great class.  Sile at Knit One One is a wonderful host.

To sign up for our email newsletter and get a glimpse of what Tactile is up to, stop by our store blog (it is still under construction so be kind).  We have big plans, come on over and check them out.  We will be posting little bits of temptation.

Did I mention how great it is to be up to your elbows in fiber?  I want to thank my husband and daughter for putting up with yarn and fiber in every corner of the house.  They are so supportive and wonderful.  I also want to thank all the fabulous local folks who have sparked ideas and contributed to our growth and success thus far.  We couldn't have done it without you all.  Most of all, I want to thank Brooke.  In the last year we have gone from acquaintances to business partners.  It is like getting married on the first date.  I couldn't have picked a better person with whom to build a business.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

Out of Shape

I am so out of blogging shape.  It feels like a muscle that hasn't been exercised in a while.  Why yes, it is a muscle that hasn't been used in a while!  What's my excuse?  Busy.  I know, it is a rather flabby excuse (but thematic!).

I have been so bad that I never told you about my NYC trip in *cough, cough* October.  I went to six NYC yarn stores!  Would it be too late?  For those of you who are Lyle Lovett fans, it is not too late, I can make it a cheeseburger.  For the rest of you, please pardon my free association brain.

While I have been slacking, Lilli in Finland has been busy!  She came across my Toe-up Gusseted Heel Tutorial and used it liberally in her holiday knitting.  Just look at all those lovely socks!  She has even done a Finnish translation of my tutorial!  Check it out even if you don't speak Finnish; she made a great chart of the heel turn that is very handy.  Thank you Lilli! 

I have been doing a bit of knitting.  There are several sock patterns waiting in the wings including a pair I made for my grandmother.  Sweet little cables in a fingering weight yarn that I indigo dyed.  More details soon when I post the pattern.

It is a good thing I have been making new socks.  Half of my socks have turned up with holes in them lately.  Here is my big ole stack of sadness.  One of my all time favorites, my BFL handspun socks are in there.  They have just one hole on the ball of my foot where most of my socks fail first.  Anyone have a brilliant idea for recycling old socks or sock darning resources?  I want to try to salvage some of them.  I'd hate to use Stephanie's method of standing over the garbage can and loudly exclaiming "darn socks!".

Speaking of asking for advice, I have decided what I will do with my 2-ply Morehouse Merino yarn.  Thank you for the votes and great ideas.  As some of you suggested, I am playing with modular patterns.  I think I know what I want to do; I just need the right size double pointed needles.  I like the cheap metal ones available at chain craft stores.  Unfortunately, my local chain craft store doesn't believe in maintaining stock.  Grrr!  More on that project soon.

In recent news regarding knitting and social events, I went to Becca's New Year, New Project Knit-in.  We were required to bring and start a new project.  I learned that I am not good at starting new projects in public.  I wanted to start a new pair of socks based on a sock pattern I'd already knit (called Hudson Line, it is one of my new patterns coming soon).  This pair was in a different yarn at a slightly different gauge.  I spent time fiddling with formatting the pattern stitch for the new yarn, plinking around in my laptop (my master spreadsheet of socky goodness), and swatching.  Finally, a toe was created.  It is a great to except that the gauge is too loose.  I need a needle size that I didn't have on me.  Sad.  That is the downfall of liking cheap needles, you have no qualms about leaving sets in abandoned WIPs indefinitely.  It is easier to go buy more.  Maybe. 

Bad blogger that I am, I didn't take any pictures to blog.  (Recall the flabby blog muscle syndrome mentioned aove.)  Hopefully our lovely host will fill in the details soon.  I did get to see the Knit Picks metal sock needle set in person.  Celia had one and I had to use all my restraint to not steal it.  It has US sizes 0-3 in both metric versions of size 1 & 2.  Huh?  Yup, that means 2.25mm AND 2.5mm, both referred to as size 1 and 2.75mm AND 3mm, both referred to as size 2!  Best of all, they have nice pointy points.  Love that!  My set is already in the mail.

It must be time for a nap after this blog work-out.  Or maybe a strong cup of tea.