The Resurrection of Spinning

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First of all, I must say that I am thankful for my health and my life situation in which I can stay at home and not worry about where the next meal is coming from. My husband and I leave the house about once a week to get groceries. My husband, adult children, and their families are healthy. The acquaintances I know that are sick with covid-19 are young and doing quite well at home.

Like so many other people who are home bound, I have an abundance of time on my hands. I indulged in the luxury of ordering supplies online and having them arrive a few days later at my door step. It’s been interesting trying to obtain my materials online. Normally I’d want to feel fabric before buying it. When it comes to a fleece, I’d want to see it, feel it, and smell it. (I once had a Shetland fleece that I couldn’t get the stink out of even after dyeing it, so smell matters.)

Being that I have the time to process and spin yarn right now, I went ahead and ordered a few pounds of Merino. I found an online supplier and read the descriptions of my options. I chose two differed colored fleeces, both with a 4 inch staple length—at least that’s what the description said. I had already washed them and was picking through the first one when I realized the staple length was more like 2 inches with only a few locks being in the 3 inch range. I took a good look at the second fleece and found it to be quite short too. After I double checked the description of my wool – confirmed it said “4 inch staple length” – I emailed the seller. She had a no-return policy but offered to give me some money back or send me more fleece. I opted for more fleece with a 4 inch staple and now I await the package.

It was a joy to take out my drum carder and get to work on this cinnamon colored Merino fleece. My spinning wheel has been in storage for TWO YEARS while I was traveling. Guess what? It was in disarray just like I left it! Sadly, the magic elves didn’t break in and repair everything while I was gone. It has several broken parts, it’s misaligned, and dirty. I’ve ordered the replacement parts – a new drive band and a spring for the tension. Now I’m awaiting that package too.

    Basic Toddler Socks

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    Free Pattern – Basic Toddler Socks

    Please do not post this pdf on other websites! If you want to share it, just link to this page.

    basic-toddler-socksDownload

    Staying at home has allowed for plenty of time to finish this pattern. I made several versions of this sock before I got it just the way I want it. My little grand-baby will have plenty of wool socks. I was hoping she could model them for my pattern but alas, I can not see her for a while. If anyone knits these, please post on Ravelry.

    When it comes to patterns for socks, there are plenty sized for babies or kids but few are designed just for toddlers. Rather than making big baby socks or small kid socks, I designed a sock just for the little feet of toddlers. Measure your toddler’s foot from heal to toe and pick a size on the chart. You can make them a little longer or shorter as needed, just start the toe decrease ½ inch before the desired length.

    The pattern calls for a sock yarn that is about 14 w.p.i. Since you only need a relatively small amount of yarn, this is a good project for remnants. Most people want a washable yarn for their toddler’s socks. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to use handspun yarn as long as the person doing the washing understands how to care for the fiber used. Since the required yardage is so scant this pattern is great for handspun yarn. 

    The skill level of this pattern is Intermediate.  It’s best done by someone who knows how to knit, purl, do simple decreases, and knit in the round with double pointed needles. At the end you have to do a kitchener stitch to close the toe. I think it would work great for someone making their first pair of socks!  

    Enjoy!

    Raffia Basket Weaving

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    Travel life has halted. Staying at home has allowed for some time to adventure into some new territory–basket making. I purchased some raffia at a craft store and then I became home-bound and ordered some more on Amazon. One of the mistakes I made right away as a new basket maker was not estimating accurately how much raffia I would need. It’s funny that I bought about 8 oz of pre-dyed raffia and thought I could make about 4 baskets! Ha! The most simple way of estimating how much you’ll need is to weigh a basket and assume you’ll need about that much raffia to make the same size basket. The one pictured here weights about 6 oz.

    There’s several good youtube videos about making raffia baskets if you are interested. Mostly I looked at photos and just figured it out. Controlling the shape has been a challenge. The sides want to curl in as I build it up. I’m going to have to keep working at controlling that.

    I use some leather scraps to make straps.
    I have yet to meet a basket that is not useful.

    Last Day in Argentina

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    F.O.s from this trip

    After three months in Argentina we are packing up the backpacks and heading back to Washington State. The finished items that I’ve knitted are being stuffed in the little zipper pockets of the backpack or shoved down deep. I’d like to get them back to give to family members. It was a fantastic trip!

    Summer in South America

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    Between our climbing trips I have plenty of time to rest and knit. There’s been a few days on this trip that I haven’t even left the apartment. Since the beginning of our 3 month trip to Argentina I’ve been working on my toddler sock pattern off and on. Now I need to take the little socks back to Washington and try them on my grandbaby. Once I have the pattern written like I want I will post it here.

    I went back for more.

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    After finding a yarn shop in El Bolson I thought this might be my last chance to buy some Argentine yarn. So the next day I went back and got two skeins of black mohair. These are sold in unlabeled skeins so I really don’t know the yarn content. Being that I don’t speak Spanish and the woman at the yarn shop didn’t speak English, I’m not sure what I have here. It’s very soft but I think it’s got some regular wool in it. Either way, I love it. On our way back from Piedra Parada I saw Cashmere Goats near the road. Other than that, I haven’t really seen fiber producing animals here in Patagonia.

    Esquel, Argentina

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    Rain on our kitchen window. Monkey tree outside.

    We arrived in Esquel, Argentina a few days ago. So far this seems like a wonderful town. Still can’t find a shop that sells wool yarn. I probably need to let that dream go. I’m still working on designs (to be published later) using the yarn I have. Stash is running low. God forbid that a yarn snob like me would have to use acrylic.