UndyedYarnpire's Fiber Opera

I dyed socks in January. I was really impressed with myself.
    

I dyed socks again today. I am not as impressed, but not because of the dye job... I melted a sock during the heat set. I am still a-goggle about it.

The procedure I used for the first pair in January was to lay out plastic wrap and use ridiculously strong Kool-Aid powdered mix (in about 1 cup of hot water) and pour on stripes. I added some food coloring to get green and was quite happy with the way this came out. You can, however, clearly see the fold line and although the dye made it all the way through, the second side is weaker than the first. These were somewhat blotted, had a second layer of plastic put over top and microwaved.

The second pair I did had purple and teal mottled all over and was just tossed in the slow cooker.  

Today I did one slow cooker pair and a handpaint pair and a stripe-pour pair on three different sock bases. 

I suppose I should talk about the sock bases. I bought finished machine-made commercial socks from Sock Dreams. (I really like their products and their service. That is a recommendation.) Originally I bought 2 pair of "O Woollies" for the January batch. This batch was one pair of the "O Woollies", one pair of "nylon trouser socks" and one pair of Bella silk+nylon socks with a mild texture.

Today I microwaved the two thinner pair and the all nylon ones melted a hole right at the center of the dish. If I had cooked them less, had flipped the packet, or added water underneath... any of that might have saved the sock. I want to find something else to do with it, because who does not need a polka dotted nylon tube? 

There will be pictures soon. I want them to dry first. There will also be after washing pictures of the handspun yarn. 

I did no knitting for weeks. I had pneumonia. In August. Then my husband got it and became catastrophically ill. Things are improving and I am back working on the Tardis socks he requested last Thanksgiving. Now that it looks like he might live to wear them. 

Things were so grim here that someone else made me a hat. And I feel less stupid about sending them to other people now because I really appreciated it. 

I was reading Nicki Epstein's new book, the block one, and got really inspired by the animals in the back. I love the turtle one made from a square of basket weave. I had a request for a green animal right after I finished the second elephant. Which I had forgotten because the second elephant was a hard slog to finish. But I got a Rav PM from someone last night admiring the elephants.  

I think I could easily make a toad based on what I have done with the elephants and seeing how the turtle came out in the book today. I stopped what I was doing and immediately cast on. I have about half the face knitted, including some non-flat bits for toad-like texture. The yarn is the mottled green stuff I used for that lace scarf. (There is probably not anywhere nearly enough of it. Even after 8 years of knitting, I still mis-estimate yarn needs most dramatically. I usually have twice what I will need or I have half. It is rarely close.)  I am pausing at this point trying to decide if I want to dye some yarn fresh and start with more than enough or if I want to continue with my current plan to make a two-tone toad (it will be white-bellied) and hope there is sufficient mottled green.

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There was a sizing problem with the "Phantom Phonebooth" socks. I had my husband (the intended recipient) try them on when I had done the decreases for the short row heel and it was at least half an inch too short. I pulled out the heel, laboriously picked up stitches and added 6 more rounds. But I had forgotten I had already added the wing-increase stitches (using the Bordhi method for toe-up construction)  so I am concerned the ankle will be baggy. The socks are not at all stretchy. Either I am knitting too tightly or I should have been suffering through ribbing. So it absolutely will have to actually fit him, there is not enough give that these would be comfortable to wear otherwise. I have not even arrived at the interesting part of this, where I get to make it look like the Tardis. 

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The Oakland Fiber Festival is coming up on July 10, 2011. That is a Sunday. It is being held at Splashpad Park in Oakland, where the regular farmers market is. I will be attending this event. If you have been wanting to meet me in person, this free event that has free parking might be a good opportunity. Although many restaurants are closed nearby on Sundays, there are several that will be open. It was not a great event last year. I certainly would not drive from Marin or Sunnyvale to see it, but this is walking distance for me so my scale is different than people who come from far away. It might be better this year as well since the organizers have practice.

Admittedly I am hoping to meet some fiber-craft people who are not immediately local to me because I struggle to fit in with most of the knitters I have met. Or if you are immediately local and actually outlook-tolerant, please speak up. My email is on the sidebar or you can send a Rav PM (same username) if you do not want to leave a comment in public. 

I have started a new, simple project. I want to make a cowl where the end can be tucked through, like a keyhole scarf, so one does not need buttons at one's neck. 

I still have the Phantom Phonebooth (Tardis) socks out. 

Eventually I will sew up the first woven scarf into the bag, as intended. There will not be more weaving progress for a while because I put the loom (warped, and I hope it did not get horribly tangled) back in its box. I was going to sell it, but now that the Emilia looms cost $269 for the 13", it would be a final decision on weaving. I am incredibly grateful that I did buy a small folding loom though so I could put it back in the box.
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Everything has been put away. We had a water leak and the repairs are going to require redoing the entire floor in one room, which means finding space in the rest of my apartment for nearly half of my stuff. There simply is not room for a choice in projects, especially since I will be busy washing and cleaning things to prevent mold growth. 

There might, and quite possibly will, be radio silence here merely due to that. But I will attempt to post when there are new ideas, and I have actually been much more fiber crafty in the past month than in the past year. I realized the last time I spun was a year ago before my MIL visited. I knew the volunteer gig was draining my creativity, but had not realized the only knitting I had been doing was fixing other people's mistakes. How can I pass on the joy of knitting when I never want to even hold my yarn when I get home?

I had more surgery at the end of March and it went better than December's, but my husband got some bad health news recently, so we are still reeling a bit and resentful of the double-crisis with the water. I have actually been knitting and I have all these ideas now, so as contrary as it seems, I hope to have more content, not less. 

It has taken more than three months since we began the project, but the blanket is finally completed. 



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 This is a list of vendors at Stitches who are offering Thursday night specials. If you patronize them on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, you will be paying more than other people and getting less selection:

From this thread: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/stitches-west-2011/1521105/

Alpenglow Yarn / Ranch of the Oaks / Little Red Bicycle #1048
Knotty Knitters Calendar (sold by XRX itself)
Ellen's Wooly Wonders #1445
Faerie Mountain Fibers #1040
Twisted Sunshine Designs #1146

I have blacked those places off my copy of the market map because I do not want to pay more than the supposedly fair price the vendor has chosen. 

Admittedly those were not places I have highlighted, so it would not be a loss to me, but I will probably refer back to this list so I do not accidentally patronize them in the future either. 

This Thursday night sale basically says, "We treat some people specially and you are not one of those people. We would prefer to do business with other people than you. Please go elsewhere." So I plan to abide by that request and take my money elsewhere, forever.

Bijou Basin Ranch has coupons on their website, so you will pay more if you do not pre-prepare, but they are at least good for the whole show and for anyone. (#602 - 700) I would feel less put upon if I could "mention their website" or a special code word and get the discount, but that is because I cannot print at home so self-printed coupons are a huge hassle.

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Last year I asked if there was anyone reading here who wanted to accompany me to Stitches West on the Friday market day. I have never gone with anyone else. This year I invited people from the learn to knit group where I volunteer and no one wants to come with me. (One woman does want a ride there if I am going, but did not see the invitation as being to a social outing with me as her friend.)  If you want to accompany me, please do speak up. Email, Rav PM, or comment here. If you know me, feel free to call too. I am seriously considering not going. I have only three booths highlighted and I could just as easily order from their websites later. Between gas and entry fee and lunch, staying home would more than cover any shipping costs. Plus I need nothing. I still have untouched things I bought at my first Stitches in 2008.  It would be different if I was going with someone else and doing something social and fun. Many of the comments in the Stitches West group talk about how great it is to meet other knitters and make lots of friends. I do not think I have spoken to anyone who is not a vendor, ever, at the show. It usually seems like everyone travels in groups of their own friends and have no need of conversation with strangers. 

There's a local Ravelry (not sponsored, or technically affiliated, but they are allowed to call it that) meetup. They are holding it at the Women's Building in San Francisco. The link to that location specifies that the building is to be used in support of women and girls. Shocking how extremely inclusive that feels, right? Obviously they are not going to come right out and say men are not allowed, and the meetup group does have a parenthetical comment saying men are welcome, but seriously, how welcome would women feel if there was a building saying "this space is intended to support men's endeavors"? 

That would be why I do not go to YMCAs. If they want to rename their organization to the effect of actually including old women and a-religious people, then sure, I can see them being a community organization for everyone. 

I am honestly offended by how universal and understood the prejudice in the fiber arts is. I would really like to see other women stand up and say, "I like the idea of getting together with other knitters and crafters but not if your event is only open to some kinds of people."

Tools I have built yesterday and today in order to facilitate the weaving:
On the left is a terrible picture of the new rubber feet on the bottom of my Emilia. They do keep the ratchets from hitting the table when the loom rests flat instead of with the front end hanging off the table.  The second picture is of a hand-beaded sleying hook made from a paper clip. Sleying hooks are what weavers use to thread the heddles. This is a vast improvement over the plastic guitar pick that came with the loom since it actually fits in both the slots and the holes.
 
  

My new weaving project is warped. I am making a plaid from black and silver and white. 

Having put my loom away for almost 2 weeks, I am almost ready to try again. My experience was so horrible the first time, but I think a lot of that has to do with being a beginner and mis-understanding the instructions. I hope that is the case.

I will not need to assemble the loom again, which should prevent the heinous disaster I experienced. People at knitting group laughed when I told the story (since I meant for it to be funny, that is fine) about how I was supposed to melt the ends of the texsolv cord to prevent fraying and thought since I was only doing 4 cords, I might just use a match instead of lighting a candle. I burned my thumb, dropped the match, and set some papers on fire. Luckily I was able to blow the papers out and did not need a fire extinguisher, but you might guess that my opinion of the loom instantly dropped to a bitter negative one. 

Next came the actual using of the texsolv cord. In the assembly instructions, the word "loop" is used at least three different ways. You wrap the cord around the beam to make a "loop" and stick the end through one of the "loops" in the other end of the cord. Next you make a "loop" with the cord to attach the tie-up bar. But that one really meant, "Pinch a fold of the cord in the middle and put this through the hole at the loose end of the cord." So, not only was the explanation vague to the point of incomprehensibility, it says nothing about the extremely tight nature of the texsolv cord. It was so tight that in my imagination I kept hearing the cord scream like an abducted  virgin heroine in an historical romance. Accomplishing that maneuver with a burned thumb was painful. 

Anyway, having warped once and a half times, I should avoid the obvious pitfalls that resulted from instructions that were written "Do A B D E repeat across, oh, by the way, make sure to do C every time too." Anyone who had warped a loom before would know C, wrap around tie-up bar, but I had no idea and had to unwarp a lot of very finicky yarn. 

I had problems with the warping, but the second time it mostly worked. However, layers of warp intermingled during the winding on, so my tension was wonky when I started weaving. (I did not notice during the process and it was only by reading the Ravelry group where someone else had a similar issue with wonky tension that I found the explanation. The instructions actually say that no warp wrapping is needed.) The warping is ridiculously tedious and a complete pain in the entire body. It is honestly horrible. And this is the "direct warping" that makes rigid heddle looms "so much easier" than multi-shaft looms. I warped about 9" and cannot imagine owning a 32" wide loom. Some of the warping and sleying (putting the yarn through the holes of the heddle) problems were because the tools provided with my loom are inefficient and completely pathetic. The "sleying hook" does not fit into the slots of the 10-dent heddle without forcing it. And the sleying hook is under 2 inches long and plastic. It is, actually, a strangely shaped guitar pick. There is no reason why what comes in the box as an "everything you need to get started" should not work together seamlessly. They probably should ship the looms with the 8-dent heddle unless they find another sleying hook that fits better. They actually recommend using dental floss threaders for the 12-dent heddle in the instructions.

The other problem with the winding on is that was when the ratchets started grinding the under-surface because the instructions do not say to set the loom with the front edge hanging off of the table. These instructions give a diagram of a slip knot, but never mention anything about where the clamp that holds the loom stable is supposed to go. The clamp is not even in any of the pictures. I was mostly able to figure out what I should do based on the pictures and the fact that there is only one place to put the clamp (on the underside of the loom's front stabilizer brace.) But if the instructions had mentioned this, there would have been a lot less destruction of the pad I had placed under the loom. I am mostly thankful that I had taken extra precautions. 

So I was extremely angry the whole time I was weaving the first project. Some of that was because the stick shuttle gave me splinters. How difficult would it be to actually sand a flat piece of wood? That is inexcusably bad quality control. 

Now I have little rubber feet from the hardware store to raise the loom up and protect the table from the ratchets if the clamp slips (which it does frequently unless you are willing to damage your table tightening the clamp) and I have come up with a way to indirect warp (where one measures and cuts the warp threads and sleys them afterward instead of during) which will save me from having to lean in to do detail work then immediately stand and walk around the room before hunching back down again. Plus I know better now. I know how to position the loom to use the clamp and avoid table damage. I know how a correctly warped loom should look. I bought some warp separating bamboo mats to help reduce intermingling the warp layers during winding on. 

I hated my loom because I did not have what I really needed to make it work. I lacked in experience. I lacked in understanding the directions. I hurt myself and damaged property during the assembly because of the instructions.

In my opinion, corners were cut in the design choices and those choices affect the versatility of the loom (it is extremely difficult to use this loom on your lap because of the ratchets). If the lumber on the ratchet mounting sides had been wider, then the loom could be folded and stored flat on a tabletop when not in use, but that cannot happen since the ratchet teeth stand proud of the surface in every orientation. The loom does not fold up well at all, the knobs are strained when the loom is folded. The pegs holding the loom in the open configuration (it can be folded while warped) splintered the wood in their holes. The wood feels unfinished, though it might have some sort of clearcoat. It certainly is not professionally varnished for durability and long-lasting service. I feel like what came in the box is insufficient to make the product work correctly. 

Many of these problems have been addressed by fixing the user and aftermarket solutions. But I must heartily recommend against this loom due to the instructions, the ratchet teeth, the poor quality finish, and the lousy included tools. If this loom was $80-100 and marketed as an unfinished loom for experienced weavers, I think it would be fine. Since it is assembled, I will feel no guilt selling the loom should the second project go anything but silkenly smooth, provided I explain to the buyer how the loom should be mounted. I am still considering weaving as a potential hobby, but this is definitely why everyone keeps recommending try-before-you-buy because everyone-is-different. I will see if I can try out other rigid heddle looms in person before buying the next one. 

 I was working on a giant post about grafting, but it has devolved into a list of links and rants about really annoying things in the world of knitting.

There are a lot of really annoying things in the world of knitting. These five are the ones making me crazy today.

Kitchener Stitch is a specific kind of grafting, only for stockinette. If you are grafting another texture, or not using a sewing needle, or any of other parameter change, it is just grafting. Plus Kitchener most likely did not really create it himself so his name is on it for mythical reasons. 

I dislike it when anything is named after a specific person in knitting. I appreciate when things are credited to their developers, but I find myself really annoyed by the phrase, "I used Judy's Magic Cast-On." 

I am outraged by the people who say that if you substitute yarns (or worse, yarn colors) or change textures or have to do your own math that you no longer have what was in the pattern. There gets to be a point where a project is merely inspired by a particular pattern, but most of us have to do our own adjustments.  If there is a pattern and you have only tweaked it, then you have used the pattern and should credit the originating source. If there is a designer who cannot let design elements go, if they only want people to use certain yarns and only for certain body shapes, then they need to sell completed garments or kits at the very least. 

Then there is the polar opposite of this, someone who created a pattern last week, making a hat in the round using stockinette and with a roll-brim, and Cascade 220, arguing that other people "stole her idea" even though they made their hats 5 years ago. We do not have to credit the obvious and if anyone should give credit it is the new knitter who did no searches of prior art before claiming originality. 

And finally, last on today's rants, I hate when truly profound techniques are distributed through quantity-limited media. Magazines without online-access archives (paid or not) are not the correct distribution method for a fundamental technique change. I find that I feel no interest in summarizing the various grafting techniques, even though I found something I have not seen anywhere else, because the one hidden in an out-of-print issue of IK (Interweave Knits) is supposed to be paradigm shifting. Right now, I do not care if it does change grafting throughout the entire knitting world, because that knowledge is lost to all but a select few.