As The Yarn Turns

The Knitting Calendar

Well I scored the very last copy of the "Knitting Pattern-a-Day 2005 Calendar" at Books-a-Million over the weekend. I'm actually guessing they have more stashed in the back or at least in a warehouse somewhere, but at least I got the last one on the shelf. I'm impressed. It's a nicely packaged calendar. The patterns are on individual loose glossy sheets, to make it easy to save your favorites. The pages are color coded by month and fit into a very nice box that you can close up or prop up. Most days have a single pattern on them but some more complex patterns cover multiple days. Now granted many of the patterns are available for free on the Internet, but this makes a much nicer package. I'm pleased with it.

The Llama is Done

I finally finished spinning and plying my llama fiber. I'm still a fairly new spinner. When I started spinning the llama, it seemed impossible. It kept coming apart and I had fiber flying everywhere. By the time I got to the end of my ounce of fiber, I had become much better at spinning it. To me it's like learning a foreign language. Once you learn basics, it still takes a while to understand different people because of each person's accent and way of saying things. You get used to that person and process starts over again with the next person. The more experience you have, though, the easier the transition is.

Right now I'm using a very simple device for plying my singles. I place my singles on individual empty toilet paper rolls. Then I stick a knitting needle through them and the whole thing goes in a long cardboard box.

There is actually a problem in the way I have it set up in the picture above. The singles come off clockwise in one roll and counterclockwise in the other. I actually had to turn one of them around before I started to ply. If I set it up so it is right beside me with the lengths of singles from the box about the same, it works well. There is no tension on the rolls so it's not ideal but it works in a pinch. I have very few problems with tangles and twists. One of these days I'll make or buy a better one, but this works for now. Here's the final product after plying and washing the skein. It's about 11 wpi and 60 yards total. And no, I have no idea what I will do with it.

Off to my next projects.

by Sydney  |