Morning Surf Scarf

Okay, so I finally located the camera. It was buried under a bunch of junk on the dining table :-/ No, I haven't seen the surface in awhile. The camera was about half-way down through the rubble layer...

I sure wish I knew how to take really good pictures. Because I don't, you can't see the really pretty color gradations in the yarn. There's a heart-breakingly beautiful Montana blue in there, shading from light to dark. I usually don't like blue, but I love this blue. I kept wishing there was a lot of more of it, but mostly I have greens and purples - and they're pretty, too.

Anyway, this scarf was fun to make - and oh, so easy! I used a triple-twist cast-on, which gives a picot-like edge that is very stretchy. Perhaps too stretchy, but that's okay. I haven't blocked it yet, so I'll do that to straighten out the edges.

What's that cast-on, you ask? Oh - well, all you do is make a regular slip knot, leaving a small tail. Then, holding your needle in your left hand, twist the ball yarn 2 or 3 times around your index finger and mount the loop of yarn (over your finger) onto the needle! For a double twist, it's no problem to pull the yarn evenly and tightly. Unfortunately, this Finn really stuck to itself. As I was using a 3-twist loop cast-on, I had to pull very carefully to keep the twists from 'jumping over' each other and making a mess instead of a cute 'picot' bump. But, the extra bit of effort was worth it.

I then used a simple 2-stitch picot cast-off, which matched close enough, imo. I could have done a sewn bind-off - which I usually love doing - and just knotted the yarn around each stitch being cast-off, but I got lazy and eager to wear the thing! Oh, well. It's just a scarf, and it's not like I'm going to enter it into the County Fair or anything.

I really, really like this scarf! As I was finishing it, it occurred to me that I had never made anything for myself with my handspun yarns! I've hardly made anything with my own yarns, come to think of it. A hat for hubby, is all - I think. Most every yarn I've ever made, I sold or gave as gifts.

My deepest dream (a paeon to spinning)...

in my own little Fantasie Worlde is to be a...

Master Spinner.

(can you hear the harps and Angelic choir in the background?)

I can't believe how badly I want it. I want to learn everything there is to learn about spinning, about texture, about color, about...well, Everything Spinning! I would give SO much to be able to go to SOAR (Spin-Off Autumn Retreat) and take all those wonderful, awesome Workshops and Retreat Sessions, given by wonderful, awesome teachers! I'd be in 7th Heaven; I really would.

That would be by way of learning mostly Specialty Stuff in Spinning, with my "meat" being able to go to the Ontario Handweavers & Spinners (it's a Spinning Certificate Program) for the yearly almost-2-week Summer sessions. It can take 6 years to get through it all, with there being spinning assignments (O Heaven!) the rest of the year. A DREAM, to me!

What would I do with all that knowledge? LOVE IT! USE IT! TEACH IT! I would teach others to love the whole process of spinning yarns; to love the feel of all different sorts of fibers slipping through their fingers; to love yarns for their own sake; to love the end-use of their yarns, whether for knitting, weaving, crocheting, fiber art...whatever!

I would wish for my students to find what I have found: a lovely, peaceful, soul-soothing and actively creative process - very important, that. Some like to describe spinning as the 'new zen', the 'new yoga' (naw), or as being 'better than Prozac' (that's my favorite - lol), BUT...it's ever so much more than either of those things. Sooo much more.

Spinning is certainly soothing. Peaceful. Quieting to the soul. Harmonious and centering, very balancing. At times, far better than a mere chemical anti-depressant.

But what removes it from the realm of the merely peaceful and soothing, (not that those should be denigrated)? After all, wine and a warm bath can achieve that, as well. So...'what' is it? Two words (okay, 3):

(the) CREATIVE PROCESS!

The Creative Process does ... something ... for people who indulge in it. For me, it feeds my soul, releases anxieties, gets me 'outside' myself and into something more interesting than my bummed self. It 'grows' me, somehow. Don't ask - I can't figger it out, either. It just does. I feel as if I can b-r-e-a-t-h-e, move and think more easily. And - if my powers of observation are anywhere near accurate, I've noticed that it seems to do the same for others. When people are creating - no matter what it is - they are...happier...easier. More comfortable in their own skins, maybe.

SO...if at any time, someone can use the creative process to off-set (or even prevent?) depression from getting a toe-hold, or becoming worse - they should immerse themselves! Heck, even if they aren't depressed, dive in anyway!

Well, that's all the time I have for musings. I need to go do some more Creative Processing Stuff. Like...finishing my Morning Surf Scarf! LOL I'm almost half-done, and I'm really loving the...er, 'creative process', so I want to get back to it for awhile before I pick up the Dear Daughter Family Unit from work.

Morning Surf Scarf

is about 1/4th done! I got the pattern from the Summer '08 Spin-Off magazine. The designer is Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer of Heart Strings Fiber Arts. I didn't realize it, but she offers the same pattern for free if you sign up for her HeartStrings Knitterly News email newsletter! She has GREAT patterns! One day...I will own them all. LOL Anyway, here's my progress so far, fuzzy shots and all:










I started it last night, using sz 7's, but decided I wanted a slightly tighter knit, so frogged and went down to a six. Went to bed late and was awakened at 2:50 a.m. by *someone* dinging the doorbell! Scared the dickens out of dd and I, while the MENFOLK snored their oblivious heads off. I made hubby get out of bed and "do something!" We figure it was probably some real jerk teenagers who live in the area. Little nerd-heads.

Finn top c'est finis!

Remember the hand-dyed Finn top in the "Hyacinth" colorway from Laughing Rat Studios (Jenn)? I didn't ask her if I could use her photo of the unspun top, so the link only goes to what I'd done up on my own bobbin. That's what I get for not taking pics before spinning! Well, here it is, all 390+ yards spun up. I was trying to spin 2 thicker singles to get a light worsted weight. Unfortunately, it's more like heavy sock yarn, dang it. I want to make the Morning Surf Scarf from Spin-Off magazine. Sure hope there's enough yarn, b'c I haven't got a clue how much it calls for! I don't want some skinny, wimpy thing that only looks decorative. It's gotta at least be semi-warm!

Now we know why...

I am not - nor ever could be - a corporate CEO. I would probably misplace the company and all its hapless employees :-(

Would you like to know what item I managed to mislay today? Oh, yes, indeedy! Connie-the-idiot-fairy strikes again! Connie couldn't find her own hind end with a flashlight and written instructions. Perhaps I didn't need to point that out, though...

Just today, I got in another roving from Jennifer of Laughing Rat Studios (Oh, yes, ratties really do laugh, especially when you tickle their fuzzy tummies. I've heard 'em on an ultrasonic recorder. In case you ever wanted to know.)

SO...Jenn didn't come up with Just Another Cute Name for her business - there is a Reason for that name! Besides...rats are hysterically funny and the best pets in the whole, wide world. I heard that. Quit making those comments about cats and snakes. Believe it or not, the rat nearly always wins, damaging both predatory species in the process. heh heh

YOU GO, FUZZ-BUTTS! (that was the name of my former Rattery. Not the "YOU GO", but the FUZZ-BUTTS part. Just thought you ought to know)

ANYWAY. I got that lovely new Falkland roving from Jenn - combed top, actually - in the colorway "Forest". About an hour ago. Inside 20 minutes of unpackaging it...I lost it. Of course. See, I wanted to take a pic for ya'll to drool over admire (pardon my lousy photo), and...it wasn't where it was "supposed" to be. Fortunately for my sanity - what little remains - I found it inside 4 minutes flat. I only had to race downstairs once and through the upstairs twice. I'm hardly even out of breath!

I also wanted to post my (rather slight) progress on the other roving of Jenn's that I finally found in the previous post. It is GORGEOUS!







Here's a pic of Jennifer's "lost" Falkland:











PLUS...I received a box of quite lovely, very soft Romney x Polypay fleece from Julia Redman at Sapphire Child. I "discovered" her on Dori Ann's Yahoo list, HandPreparedFibers. So, here's the pic of Jenn's Falkland and Julia's fleece.

Making progress...slowly

Hey, Jenn! I am really liking this Finn! The colors are soooo nice and this is going to be one soft yarn, I can tell. I'm spinning it semi-worsted, using a long forward draw and just letting the twist 'snap' into the drafting zone. Fluffy stuff, indeed! I'm not even trying to spin terribly evenly and I'm trying my best to get thicker-than-normal singles so I might end up with a worsted weight yarn this time. Maybe.

I'll keep you posted on my progress, hopefully with decent pictures. My camera is so high-tech, even the kids have trouble with it; so you can imagine how hopeless I am with it. I can turn it on and point it at something. I can use the close-up zoom lens thingie. That's it. Oh, and connect the funky cord to download the pics. That is ALL.

I am freaking hopeless

I need a Keeper. I really do. My poor dd does her best (which is a really most excellent 'best') to fulfil my needs for a Personal Secretary. But not even she can keep track of all my fiber; bless her for continuing to try. It's a wonder she isn't emotionally damaged from keeping track of her mother and all her junk. I've got fiber stuck EVERYWHERE in this house. It more resembles a jumble sale/barn/storage unit than a home, thanks to my Fiber Habit.

I found the missing fiber...top...roving...whatever...(from the previous post), late last night. Only to discover that some much-loved hand-dyed Finn top was now missing! I nearly had a heart-attack over that one. It was very precious to me, not only because it is gloriously soft and JUST the colors I wanted, but also because Jennifer of Laughing Rat Studios dyed it up. She does lovely work and her fibers are always easy to work with - and she's a such a sweet lady, to boot. I finally found the precious stuff after a frantic search up and downstairs a few times, yanking open drawers, doors, boxes and bags located in about 5 or 6 places ::pant! puff!::

Poor Jennifer - she about had a heart attack, too, as I'd written her a bit earlier (before my 2 mad hunting rampages through the house), asking the poor girl if she'd ever sent the stuff to me! You can have no idea how awful/bad/stupid & horrible I felt, having caused such heart burnings for this lady. She's had enough troubles lately as it is, and here I was causing even more :-(. My stomach still hurts thinking about what I put her through. Thank goodness it was relatively brief, lasting only about 20 minutes.

Fortunately for us both, my 2nd 'mad rampage' had the happy result of my finding the beautiful Finn top. Wanna know WHERE I found it??? Well, remember my freak-out over the itty-bitty moth? Where I used my Food Saver to vacuum bag lots 'n' lots of fiber? Yeah. In that pile. It was the very first thing I'd bagged. On the bottom of the pile. In my bedroom closet. Plain sight.

I can't believe God ever trusted me enough to give me 2 precious children - it's a wonder I haven't mislaid them as well, the poor loves. But my saga doesn't end here...oh, no...it gets better (and isn't that just thrilling?).

This morning I lost my new blue Salish locks I just got in the mail from Dori Ann! GAH!!! Somebody help me! Put me in a round rubber room with just my fiber and wheel - I'll be FINE! I promise! Can't lose anything in a round room, right???

Yes, I found the Salish. Finally. Don't ask. I'm not telling.

What a STUPID start to the day. Even though it began last night. The question I can hardly bear to ask myself is: "What else is 'missing' that I don't yet realize?"

Anyhoo - here's a pic I'm posting of the two "lost" fibers. I figure I ought to have the pics just in case these things (bite my tongue!) get lost for real. At least I'll have proof that I HAD them. Once upon a time.
Look how LONG those Salish locks are! They're about 7" inches long, but the fiber itself is SO fluffy and soft. I have no idea how I'm going to spin these up, let alone combine them with the Finn top, but I would LOVE to have a 3-ply yarn composed of 2 plies of the Finn and a single ply of the Salish. Thing is...the Finn is, like, majorly short-stapled. That means it will have to have a very tight twist just to convince it to be yarn, but the Salish will have to have a very low twist to keep it from turning into steel cable. I have NO idea what the plied result will be. Probably horrible, as most of my experiments are. I really hate sampling the Salish because I have less than 4 oz, but I've got to do it or I'll end up with yet another It's-Not-Supposed-To-Look-Like-This! yarn.