Knit Lit

Because I have nothing else to do get a bit ADD when I have a lot of projects going, I spent two days last week reading a book by Veryl Ann Grace called Murder Spins a Tale: A Flock and Fiber Mystery.

It's a cute book about a widow who owns a yarn shop specializing in spinning, a small but diverse flock of fiber animals, and two Great Pyrenees up in Washington state. The book describes her day to day life, taking care of animals, feeding her divorced little brother, and then solving the mystery of the murdered town doctor. It seemed fairly reminiscent of Lilian Jackson Braun's "Cat Who" Mysteries, but for me, that a good thing as I liked them and Braun is now deceased (in Braun's stories there is a middle aged bachelor solving murders with the help of his two cats). Neither one is Dickens or Shakespear, but I did finish Grace's book in two days, both nights staying up past 2 am reading. It was a nice book with good plot twists, and despite an Amazon review that stated the murderer could be guessed within paragraphs of the character's introduction, I was still waffling between suspects for three fourths of the book.

Grace clearly knows her knitting and spinning. She included several large sections about either activity as Martha, the main character, was teaching a beginning spinning class throughout the story and recommended several real books to her fictional characters.

Grace is only one of many who write in this genre I am going to dub Knit Lit. There are several others, such as the Crabapple Yarn Mysteries by Jaime Marsman, Yarn Retreat Mysteries by Betty Hetchman, and Knitting Mysteries by Maggie Sefton to name a few. Not only do these books provide a cozy but compelling mystery, some even include a knitting pattern and/or a recipe. And of course there are others who write crochet and quilt themed mysteries.

From my point of view, sometimes you just need a light and easy book, a jell-o book as my mom would call it. Sometimes you want to be thinking about fiber without working your hands. These books are a great combination of the two.

How about you? Have you read anything good lately? Let me know, maybe we can read something together.

Not (Entirely) My Fault

When I first started spinning, I bought a pound of Cotswold wool because it was fairly inexpensive and I had no idea what I was doing. So I got it, I started spinning and everything was going well, for the first three ounces. Then I started watching dyeing videos on Youtube and I thought, "Hey, I can do that!" So I tried my hand at dyeing. Unfortunately, I had only a few ounces spun and so I dyed my roving...

After I let it dry, I noticed that it was not as fluffy as it had been when I started. My videos did mention the danger of felting, so I was careful (or so I thought), but my wool felted a bit anyway. Nothing too bad. I can still spin it, but it's not like it was.

 This is what I started with, lots of fluff and nice and open.

 This is what I was left with. You can see how my diameter was almost halved. Well according to Sarah Anderson in The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs, "breeds like Cotswold felt if you carelessly allow them near a heavy breather."

So, my fault for not knowing the properties of the yarn before I messed with it, but really, it worked out because while it's not as easy to spin, I can still spin it. Which is good because I dyed 8 ounces at two separate times....

This is the first batch that I dyed as roving. I used the "Burrito Method" where you put the wool on cling wrap, apply dye to just the specific areas where you want it, wrap it all up and then microwave it in two minute intervals for about 6 minutes total.

Here is some of my wool that escaped felting before it was spun. Luckily, I had this on my spindle at the time when the other yarn was dyed. This yarn was then dyed after it was plied, just like Cotswold should be...apparently.

This was a fun process. I unwound my skein and kettle dyed the entire skein in yellow. When the dye was exhausted (read "the water was clear"), I removed the yarn and let it cool for a while, until I could handle it. In the meantime, I put green dye into the water. Then I knotted up the loop of yarn and let it soak in the green until that was exhausted. At this point, I removed the yarn, let it cool, and added blue to the water. When the yarn was cool, I retied it leaving new spots exposed and others covered and placed it in the blue. The result was a mix of yellow, green, and even some teal.

I had always planned on taking the finished pound of Cotswold and making a Market Bag, since it is far too rough to be used near the skin. Maybe now I will try felting it all the way through...

My Knitting History

It all started in college. I was sitting in my room, and a friend told me to come to the common room where she was going to help the RA teach people to knit. Being 18 it seemed like a reasonable use of an evening, so I went with her.

We got down there and she handed me a pair of size 8 needles and some amazing luxury yarn purchased at Walmart or a similar place. She showed be a very provisional cast on (which I have used on everything I have ever made until about two weeks ago) and told me to just cast on until I thought I had enought stitches. I ended with the rather awkward number of 48, too think for a scarf and too think for just about anything else. Then she showed me an English knit stitch and I worked in garter for about two inches. Next came the purl and I completed about six inches of stockinette stitch before she explained how to rib. Now this took several days to complete between class, two part-time jobs (one at a nursing home and one as a dance teacher), and a serious-but long distance- boyfriend.

I knit my firt scarf a few weeks later at a dance competiton. After that my friend bought me "The Knitter's Bible" for my birthday, and I proceded to learn from books and try things I shouldn't, like a loop patterened sheep, which my friend who taught me and purchased the book for me received as a bridesmaid gift when I got married.

Here is as complete a list as I can remember of all the actual things I have knit, not including practice swatches in something that resembles chronological order.
A red 2x2 rib scarf
A pink fuzzy garter stitch scarf
A two strand ribbed scarf
A drop stitch scarf
Two lace scarves
A garter stitch scarf
A hat
A blanket
Two shawls
A tumbling blocks scarf
A 3 foot long stuffed alligator toy
A skinny looong garter stitch scarf
A bobble yarn scarf (pictured below)
Another tumbling block scarf
Two pairs of fingerless gloves
Several garter stitch scarves for charity
A hooded cardigan for my 3 year old, we shall call her "Tiny"
A pair of gloves
A hooded vest for Tiny
Slippers for Tiny
A long twisted cowl
A long sleeved shrug
A kid's hat

I am currently working on a basket weave scarf, a modern log cabin garter stitch blanket, my first pair of adult socks (though since I only wear a size 6, I'm not altogether sure it counts), and my first real sweater.

So there is the not-so-brief story of my knitting to date. It's clearly more than 30 hours, but I am not going to bother quantifying it. Also I only started wokring with real fiber, as opposed to acrylic about a year or so ago, so I figure those projects don't need to be included in my pursuit to become a fiber artist.

How about you? How did you get started knitting, sewing, spinning, rebuilding small block engines, or whatever activity you choose to fill your "me time"-we'll call it that since I never seem to have any extra and it certainly isn't free-?

Let the Journey Begin: Hours 0-30ish

About two or three months ago my husband and I were talking to his parents, and his father suggested a book called "Outliers" by Malcom Gladwell. As my husband's father suggested the book, he got to read it first. Now that I have a chance, I am reading it. It's very interesting so far and I highly recommend it, but while it may have been the inspiration for this blog, it is not the reason for it.

In the second chapter, Gladwell finds that in almost every discipline, field of knowledge, or interest it takes 10,000 hours of delibrate focused time to become an expert. So that explains the "Ten Thou" part of the title, now for the "Spin"...

I have recently begun to spin yarn and for lack of a better turn become a fiber artist. I have been knitting for about 7 years, and a year or so ago made the jump form Michaels and Joanns to local yarn stores, or LYS. When I saw how many varieties of yarn were available, it proded my interest to delve deeper.

I have always been the type of person to do things for myself, and after a field trip with a group of third graders, my curiosity for spinning was piqued. Finally about 6 months ago, I was surfing Craftsy and saw a free class on Breed specific wool. After taking the class, I knew I had to start spinning, so for Christmas 2012 I got a student spindle from the best spinning authority online, Amazon, and found a small farm where I could order a large quantity of wool for a reasonable price.

I watched many videos on spinning and just kind of started. And once you start spinning, you have to start dying too. Since then I have spun through 5 out of the 16 ounces of the original Cottswald wool I bought, 4 ounces of Merino, and about an ounce of Border Leicester, all on my student spindle. I have also read about different fibers from "The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook" and through most of "Learning to Spin". All the while, thinking of ways to potentially make money with this.

Then last night, I was reading Gladwell's book "Outliers" reading about how it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert and I decided to take the plunge.

I've decided to track any activity I complete using yarn or wool along with research and classes relating to these activities. This means knitting, spinning, washing and combing, dying, reading, watching Youtube or Craftsy classes. I think it may be a bit short, but I have decided to credit my previous knowledge at 30 hours. This does not include all the knitting I have done in the past 7 years, but I'm going to let that slide mostly because it would be too hard to estimate how much time I've spent on it.

So, this is my journey from beginner spinner to expert fiber artist. I hope it goes well, and I would love to have some company.