Progress Report

New job (temporary) is now official, yay!

I start training tomorrow, also yay!

As soon as jet lag wore off (mostly) I started the Handspun Sweater Project™ (hereafter HSP) and interesting things were discovered.

I had already spun a sample in June or so when I ordered 8 ounces of the fiber for that purpose and entered some 2-ply yarn from it in the Fair (red ribbon).

Here's the 2-ply:

And the 3-ply sample: Nice yarn, but I want a little more twist. Worsted spun, singles 28 wpi.

So I started this time with worsted spinning at 32 wpi, to see if it was too thin at that size or if I could use it and get more yardage out of my 2 pounds of fiber.

Sample skein: Nice yarn, definitely. Would be lovely at 5 spi. But at 4, it's just too thin and floppy.

Here's the swatch on 8's: You can't really see from this how flat the cable is and how airy the fabric. This just would not work at 4 spi, which is the gauge I got with it on these needles.

Next I spun from the fold at 28 spi for the singles and ended up with this yarn: The yarn is fuzzier, as expected, but a really easy spin, very soft and lofty and Aran weight, yipee!

The swatch: The cable stands up very nicely and the gauges is still a bit off, so I will swatch again with the real yarn on 7's to see if it's perfect. But I think this yarn is the winner. And I enjoy spinning from the fold a lot, that will help my process with all this gray.

Enough?

Down to the spinning today, I think.

My plan is to do 6 ounces of finished yarn a week until I'm done. I don't know if that is really possible, but it's 2 ounces at a sitting and then a day of plying a week. The spinning should take me 5-6 weeks at that rate and gets me knitting by March 1. The nice part is the sweater should knit up pretty quickly at 4 spi and I might be able to wear it before it gets too hot here. That would make me SO happy!

Wish me luck at the new job. I'm doing perfectly easy stuff at a perfectly pleasant place with perfectly lovely people. Bummer, huh? Only wish it would turn into something longer term, but you never know.

Peace.

I have more to say? That's impossible!

I neglected to post pictures of my recently completed Fetching Mitts so here they are: These are for my son's teacher, handspun singles, superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms, Ain't No Mountain High Enough (dyed by the sadly no longer doing so Teyani).

These are for my daughter's friend, who requested them after I made some for another friend because they were too small for my son's teacher. Again, handspun singles, superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms, American Pie (yadda, yadda, yadda).

I'm choosing yarns/rovings based on people's color preferences. If I have yarn that will work, it will be used. If I have roving, I shall spin. If neither, I will purchase. Haven't bought anything yet, but the season is still young.

And these are finished for my son, although I have not gotten a modeled shot yet as he loves them but is inexplicably embarrassed to wear them all the way to school. Ho hum. Noro Kujaku. I would wear these myself but they are way too small for me. Need to make more, they are so wild!

And so I move on. I have almost finished the first Princess Mitt for my daughter's teacher and then three more pairs. My goal date for finishing is...are you ready for it?...December 12th. Then I can start my sweater finishing jag early!

Oh, and if you miss the politics, come on over to GroundReport and read my stuff. I'm having a blast!

Peace.

I Would Like to Point Out That...

I am NOT participating in any "knit 12 sweaters in 2009" knitalongs OF ANY SORT. NO. Sock Madness took it out of me (although it certainly put it into my sock drawer) this spring and, well, let's just say it wasn't acceptable to be driving around looking for Wi-Fi to keep track of the group at inappropriate moments. Just saying.

Which is not to say that I am not a stasher-of-yarn and could not, if pressed, do it. I live in fear that my yarn/fiber budget will be (and it has been so don't think this is hyperbole) so small (who are we kidding, it is now) that yarn purchases are right out. Completely. For an unknown period of time. But the stash is an important sanity-retaining device. For if I had nothing to knit, who knows what trouble I would get into!

Instead, I propose a knitalong of my own devising, in which I will contentedly be the only participant (although others are welcome and encouraged!). It addresses the aforementioned problem of USING UP THE STASH (this would be bad) and also my desire for NEW SWEATERS to appear with reasonable frequency. And my children's concerns about my sanity, as I will be able to keep knitting.

I will call my knitalong NaFiExpleDeUnfiSweStaSa, or National Finish Expletive Deleted Unfinished Sweater Stash Saving. Can't I do better than that? How about SoCalFiSwe or FiGDUFO? Ooh, that's almost Finish it, Doofus!

Obviously, suggestions are needed.

WTFAYSASF? (WTF Are You Starting A New Sweater For?)

It is to be profoundly hoped that the prospect of so many newly completed sweaters will stop me before I cast on again. But I'm only cautiously optimistic on that.

Here are the culprits:

I knit this sweater as a mindless project for standing in line at Disneyland, the yoke is handspun, the rest is lovely sale Montera that my mom got me in New Jersey. I've worn the thing. And I love it, except that the neck opening is a bit large. Always intended to steek it and turn it into a cardigan. Ought to be able to complete that before going away for the holidays, right?

This is Scoop du Jour by the always talented Bonnie Marie Burns of Chic Knits and, notwithstanding this picture, is about 75% completed. The yarn is beautiful (way on sale) Merino in my absolute favorite color. I could take this one with me on my trip and finish it while I'm gone, easy peasy.

This lone sleeve is the extent of my Must Have Cardigan. I really liked knitting this sleeve and have had a crush on this pattern FOREVER. While I attack my next project, this will be the one on the needles in January/February, if I can resist the urge to cast on...Kauni, Tangled Yoke, Tempest, Mr. Greenjeans, February Lady, all of which are in the stash. Calling my name.

However, as you have suspected, I will be spinning this winter as well. And I have big ambitions. I have stalled on my Bettna sweater out of handspun (and you can see it has not yet resurfaced), although almost all of the yarn has been spun. This one is hard to work on as it requires yarn changes that mean I either have to be home or carry around a huge bag of stuff. What I should do is take the (endless) time to make a ball of yarn that changes on its own and then just carry that around till it runs out. We shall see.

If you remember, last year I was spinning up samples for October Frost from A Fine Fleece. I was going to try to use fleece that I have in the garage, but the wool I carded up did not want to be spun into the yarn that I want for the sweater. So I am back to my original plan of Oatmeal BFL. News at Eleven!

However, since I don't yet own that, and in a terrible paroxysm of switching fiber in the house for fiber in the garage, I believe that I can spin for a Tempest with two lots of fiber I have here. What I want are two analagous yarns, one light, one dark. I don't need a huge amount by weight as the sweater is knit with sock/laceweight. So my new spinning project is:

Targhee for the main color. This fiber is MUCH darker than shown here, very dark blues and purples. I have about 6 ounces.

And for the contrast color, Acacia from Spunky Eclectic's Fiber Club on Finn. I lurve me some Finn.

These pictures really do not show the contrast in value of these fibers. And I am hoping that my Acacia will come out like the yarns I have seen already spun up and even itself out to a light bluish green sort of yarn. If not, I will move on, but since I'm going to end up with sock yarn either way, I won't be disappointed. Handspun socks are always welcome here!

Is this long enough? Sheesh!

Meanwhile, life goes on around here. We're working as hard as we can, volunteering as much as we can, giving as much as we can and looking forward to spending some time with our families far away. This week is all the usual stuff plus: getting DS through his requirements for the Computer belt loop for Cub Scouts, cantoring a Christmas Carol singalong (cross your fingers that my currently-gone voice reappears by Wednesday), Girl Scout meeting with our girls and a troop of Brownies to make stockings for sick kids in our local hospital, Parent/Teacher conferences. And the kids come home early every day this week. But it sounds a lot worse than it is. Hey, next week it will be time to bake cookies, rehearsing for and performing a radio play of "Little Women," a birthday party at Build-A-Bear and two Caroling parties with the kids. Luckily, it's all fun until someone loses an eye.

Hope your Thanksgiving was fun and filling!

Peace.

Alleluia!

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I Have a Dream"
Delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

And if I might add it...

YES WE CAN!

Peace.

If the Bible is an authoritative source

Proverbs 6:12-19

“12 Troublemakers and villains,
who go about with corrupt mouths,
13 who wink maliciously with their eyes,
signal with their feet
and motion with their fingers,
14 who plot evil with deceit in their hearts—
they always stir up dissension.
15 Therefore disaster will overtake them in an instant;
they will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up dissension in the community.”

Sound like anyone we know?

And now for something completely different...a working drumcarder!

Well, it always worked. But I haven't used it for a LONG time. And not because I don't want to. But processing wool in my kitchen is a long, arduous process of boiling pots of water and such and I have just been looking longingly at my beautiful machine. However, at the moment I have a couple of issues that the drum carder can help me with:

1) No money for buying fiber. Which means October Frost will go the way of all things this winter unless I think of some other way to get the wool. I wanted to use Oatmeal Bluefaced Leicester from Paradise Fibers but no way, not right now.

2) I do have 1 whole raw fleece and 2 half raw fleeces in bins in the garage. Which I haven't really been able to reach for a year and a half. But DH has been redoing the garage (since the happy end of our now ex-friend's extended stay with us) so that we can reach things like books (!) and the children can play with their large-format toys. So the fleece bins are reachable.

Yesterday, I washed some fleece. Here is the raw material: This is a beautiful fine gray fleece with tan tips that I purchased at the very last L.A. County Fair Fleece Auction in 2005? I think it's about 6.5 pounds. The first year that I competed in the spinning contest (and won the Novice Class). It is super bouncy and soft. Here is some of it drying out in the sun: It doesn't look like much now, but I will have pictures of batts later today, I hope!

Of course, the first batch was a bit sticky and had to go through one more wash and two more rinses. Ho hum. I should have better luck today as the second batch was clean after 2 washes and 2 rinses. I just MUST get the water hot enough to melt the lanolin.

I think this wool will make a beautiful gray aran sweater that I will wear for years and years. The Oatmeal BFL that I bought for sampling will make a couple of gorgeous pairs of socks. Now the trick is to spin yarn that won't pill. I plan for a true 3-ply, nice and firm. And I know there will be enough, yay!

Here goes! I'll be carding while watching MSNBC, C-Span and CNN all day. Can't miss anything!

Peace.

Ooh, Not really tagged but here I go anyway!

Amy Boogie of Spunky Eclectic fame has tagged whoever wants to be so I will take her up on it. Love her blog, love her fibers! And I believe she has a pattern in the new Knitscene, congratulations Amy! Here goes:

1. Where was I 10 years go.
Pregnant with DD and working full-time as a legal secretary for a solo practitioner in L.A. When I took the job he only came into the office three days a week or so but by that summer he was coming in every day and crazy busy. I was pretty close to telling him I needed every other Friday off 'cause it was taking the joy out of my summer. And that worked out. I worked for him until I went on maternity and never went back to an office job (so far).

2. 5 things on today’s to-do list
Swimming lesson
Summer Reading Club show
Finish transcribing tape of lifestory of HUGE drug addict (rather overwhelming)
Spin at least 10 minutes
Finish second Marigold sock

3.Snacks I enjoy
I am a low-carb girl and have been for almost six years, so lots of snack foods are off limits, like chips, which I love. Nothing like the smell of a new bag of Ruffles! But what I eat are peanut butter, pickles, peanut butter, mangoes, peanut butter.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Buy a house. Buy a Hybrid car. I'll go with Amy, spin and knit and travel. Pay back (or forward) all the money everybody's ever lent me or given me or anything to help out. Make an endowment to my church. Go to SOAR and pay for scholarships. Mostly I would stop worrying, which would be a great thing and billions are not even necessary for that.

5. Places I have lived.
Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Minnesota, New York (Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan), California and summers in Illinois, Alabama, West Virginia. We always talk about moving back East to be close to our extended families, but the film industry pulls us back in. Maybe next year! The kids are extremely ambivalent about this.

6. Jobs I have had.
Start from the beginning? Fast food worker, Movie theater cashier, Temp Legal Secretary, Singing Bumble Bee, Actress, Soloist, Legal Secretary, freelance Transcriptionist. I like what I do now, sing and type, just wish it involved health coverage...

7. Who would I like to know more about.
Whoever is reading this, there aren't very many of you. Let me know if you do it so I can drop by!

In knitting news, I have almost finished the Marigold socks and will surely finish them today. Good news, they are lovely! Bad news, they are totally different sizes. My two skeins spun up one right after the other are really different gauges. Now that I have more bobbins, I'm going to start real 2-plying instead of Andean all the time to even it out. But both socks fit me and the colors are just right. Thanks again, Amy! I will be casting on Rivendell as soon as these are done with my newly finished yarn, which probably has the same problem, so I might do more knitting from both skeins, but that's no big deal. I can spit splice.

In spinning (oh, some of that was spinning, huh) 10 Minutes a Day has been great and I have moved on to the last 2 ounces of Dandylion to Navajo ply for socks. The first two skeins are VERY fine for my 3 ply so trying to match that is taking a while. But, hey, those will be some happy socks! Here's a picture of the first skein that won a Blue Ribbon at last year's L.A. County Fair:

This year's fair entries are rather sparse but they will go out soon. I think I'm mailing to avoid the gasoline for driving back and forth two extra times. I will attend the Fair itself at least twice so this is a good idea. At least for my carbon footprint. I have two yarns for sure and one pair of socks. I was going to send Marigold, too, but the size issue is bothering me regarding judging. I will figure this out once they are blocked. Of course, there is a sock contest this year that Joy (!) and I will be attending and competing in so if I end up with something gorgeous that's where it will go. I should start the new Spunky Club fiber and see if I can get it nice enough to enter, since it's a blend and will fall into a different class than the others. Or some silk. Or something.

I started out the year all excited and ambitious about the Fair and have fallen into a malaise. I just don't feel like getting all het up about anything. Having a nice time not being het up, I guess, not dreaming about stuff I have to do that doesn't exist and all. Didn't come close to finishing the sweater, am not obsessively spinning yarns, just sending in socks that I made for something else. I've even thought of not entering at all, but since I have some stuff already done, why not? Can't wear the wooly socks till fall anyway.

That was a seriously too long post with not enough pictures! Thanks for sticking with it!

And Wes Clark did not impugn McCain's service. He merely said that his experiences do not have any bearing on whether he would be a good President. Which they don't. I wish the news cycle had been all about McCain's property tax delinquency instead, mind you, but this is ridiculous.

Peace.