Crafting Spaces!

Now that I’m retired I’ve been focusing on creating crafting spaces in the house for the crafts that I love.  When I signed up for the Spin School I knew that I needed to create a spinning space that would encourage me to practice my spinning, and would keep everything I need neatly arranged.  The mini chaise is a piece that I picked up at an antique store when I was living in Center City Philadelphia.  Next to the chaise is an octagonal oak table that my husband and I picked up at a local antique store when we bought the old fashioned ice box that I use for my teas.  All the tools that I need are close at hand and the chaise has me at just the right height for spinning.  You can’t see it in this picture but the TV is to the right as this is our living room

Most of my knitting and crochet takes place on my day bed, which I use instead of a couch that is also where I lounge when we are watching TV.  I used to have an overloaded coffee table, but now have a much bigger, and much prettier table set up.

I made this table top when I was in graduate school at Notre Dame (in South Bend Indiana) and used it as my dining table (attached to a couple of book shelves), and when I moved to Philadelphia it became both my dining table and my crafting table, supported on book boxes (you can see a couple of my book boxes in the background of the first picture being used to support shelves, which is what happens when your collection exceeds the boxes and you’re no longer moving around).  You see, I have lots of books (and DVDs and CDs), and I used to have lots of book shelves.  I also moved around a lot in my younger days.  When I was in graduate school at Ball State (in Muncie Indiana, and just two hours away from my folks in Yellow Springs, Ohio) my Mom had the brilliant idea of turning my book shelves into book boxes that could be stacked to form shelves, but more importantly would serve as packing boxes for my books.  So that is what my Dad and I did - first we converted most of my book shelves into book boxes and then we made a bunch more.  They are all backed and have lids.  Anyway, back to my table top.  I needed something to support it, and all of my book boxes are occupied, so I bought some large milk crates (that come in bright colors) and used four to provide the base, and storage for my projects.

Even the trash can has a nice spot that keeps it out of the way and yet still accessible.

And there are spots for books that I want handy, as well as my iPad.  And that poor overloaded coffee table has also found a new home.

We had another coffee table that had served as a place to keep all of my spice jars (it was supposed to be a staging area as the real storage solution was created, but that never happened) and it just so happens that my old coffee table fit perfectly on top of that other coffee table, creating a nice spot for books that had been piling up (literally) on the floor and it also provides another napping spot for our cat Jezebel (cats need lots of good napping spots, preferably by windows).  The spices have a home in spice shelves that I bought and set up on more (you guessed it) boxes that I also bought to hold more books.

I Made Yarn!

About a decade ago I bought a spinning wheel - a Kromski Polonaise (a good investment as it turns out as the price has doubled since then) - but never learned how to use it.  I tried at one point, and we just fought each other.  Oh the mysteries of tension and drive!  Along the way I also picked up some spindles and a friend taught me the basics of park and draft, but I never really got good at that either.  Then along came the Mighty Network and a community called Sheepspot.  I joined it with the thought that I might finally learn to spin, but never had the time to really dedicate to it until I retired.  I had re-upped my membership in The Sheepspot Guild last year (after letting it lapse for a while), and then Sasha offered a Spin School for beginners starting November 5.  Conveniently I had started my terminal leave leading up to my retirement on October 21 so I signed up and I am very glad that I did.  The skein on the left is the first skein that I plyed.  It is the most inconsistently spun of the bunch, and it is too loosely plyed.  The middle skein is the second one that I plyed.  The spinning on that one is more consistent.  The skein on the right is my latest one.  The singles are still more consistent and also thinner.  My niddy noddy creates one yard skeins so I am able to determine the yardage of each skein.

Skein 1:  47 yards, 57.8 grams

Skein 2:  38 yards, 43.8 grams

Skein 3:  60 yards, 44.9 grams

Sasha promised that she would make me besties with my wheel, and she delivered.  I love spinning, and will be doing more.  At this point I have been focusing solely on my short forward draft, just trying to be consistent.  Once I have mastered that to my satisfaction (basically spinning consistent singles) I’ll go back to the videos and work on the short backward draft, spinning from the fold, and the supported long draw.  I am using Heinz 57 from The Woolery to learn on (this is the fiber that Sasha recommended as being easy to spin) and it definitely is.  She will be starting a free class for intermediate spinners next week that is supposed to help you continue to improve, which I signed up for, and in March it looks like she will be offering the Breed Study course, which I will also take.  I may also dabble a bit in dying, just to add color to these skeins.
 

Peacock Shawl - Chart C Done!

With the Saugerties Shrug finished I’ve been focusing most of my knitting time on my Peacock Shawl, finishing up the second repeat of the Chart C yesterday.  I’ve totally disregarded the yarn usage instructions in the pattern and am just using up each skein and then joining the next.  I have decided to modify Chart D, closing up the main motif into a diamond and repeating rows 151-155 of the chart until I use up my yarn.  I may do some modifications to that pattern as well - closing up the pattern in those final rows - it depends on how much yarn I have left at that point.

Pattern:  Peacock Shawl by Sivia Harding

Yarn:  Yarn Fairy Fairy Sock Medium

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)
 

Saugerties Shrug - Finished!

I finished up the shrug this past Sunday and posted the left over Bisque (59.9 grams) on Tuesday to the Ravelry user that had contacted me about it.  I am very glad that I knit this at a tighter gauge than the pattern called for, or else it would have been really huge.  I stopped working the flat stockinette section when I reached the end of the third skein of the Bisque instead of making it as long as the pattern called for.  After casting off I picked up stitches around the opening and knit 8 rows of the cuff pattern, working decreases every row where the two sides meet (the corners) to just finish it off.  That stockinette edge curled horribly and looked unfinished to me.

The blocking picture shows the edging on the opening, and you can see my decreases.

Pattern:  Saugerties Shrug by Jill Zielinski

Yarn:  The Plucky Knitting Scholar Worsted

Needles:  US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 8 (5.0 mm)

Saugerties Shrug - One Skein of Bisque Done

I have used up one skein of my Bisque and am halfway through my second skein.  Based upon some yarn usage calculations I will use up most, but not all, of my four skeins of Bisque.  It is actually fortunate that I am knitting at a tighter gauge and making a slightly smaller shrug, as I don’t think I would have had enough yarn otherwise, given how under weight my skeins are.  Four skeins should give me 460 grams of yarn (115 grams each), but I have only about 420 grams, and I will use about 400 grams.  I like the size that mine is working out to be, and it will be snuggly when it is finished.  I did go back down to the US 7 needle when I started working back and forth, it just looked neater than continuing on with the US 8.

I did make a slight modification to the colorwork pattern on the last patterned row.  I worked 3 C2, 1 C1 instead of 7 C2, 1 C1, just so I wouldn’t have to catch my floats.  This project is one of three that is in my current rotation and is my “I want to pay attention to something else (reading or watching TV) knitting” at least until I get back to the colorwork section on the right sleeve.  The other two projects are my Peacock Shawl, which requires some attention, being lace, and my Wallflowers blanket, which I also have to pay attention to while I work on it, but it makes a great lap blanket while I’m doing it - perfect for these winter evenings.

Pattern:  Saugerties Shrug by Jill Zielinski

Yarn:  The Plucky Knitter Scholar Worsted

Needles:  US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 8 (5.0 mm)

Peacock Shawl - One Repeat of Chart C Done!

After finishing up my Capelet I pulled this project out of my WIPs pile and decided it was time to finish it.  I had set it aside because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle the skein transitions.  The pattern calls for “feathering”, also known as striping, and I’m just not a fan of doing that, so in the end I just went with my default method of attaching the new skein to the old and just knitting until the old skein ran out, wherever that happens to occur.

It has been a while since I’ve done an all over lace shawl, and I am really enjoying it.  The yarn is really wonderful to work with, and I love the colors and the beads.  This project has been languishing since December of 2016!  I’m glad to be working on it again.  I want to finish as many of my WIPs as I can before I start more projects, although I have already broken that rule with the Saugerties Shrug, but that is a special exception.

Pattern:  Peacock Shawl by Sivia Harding

Yarn:  Yarn Fairy Fairy Sock Medium in Peacock

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Kalona - Finished!

Finally, I finished up my Kalona cardigan.  I finished it up on December 29, and it came off the blocking mats this morning.  It fits me better than it does my dress maker dummy, although the sleeves are just a little long, coming down just past my wrists, but that is okay.

Blocking was very straightforward.

The only thing I pinned was the bottom lace.

Pattern:  Kalona by Alison Green

Yarn:  Berroco Ultra Wool Fine

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)