[fibernet] Re: What's new?

2010-01-14 Thread Gerow, Julie
How nice to know that Bill's work will be continued by his apprentice!
Thanks for the info and congratulations on the planned new additions!
Julie


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[fibernet] Re: What's new?

2010-01-13 Thread juneoshiro
Fibernetters,

What's new in Fiber - I have been corresponding with Myles J, the man who 
apprenticed with the wheelwright Bill Wyatt until Bill's death last spring. 
Given my original spot on Bill's waiting list (signed up 2 years ago), I may 
be getting a Wyatt-Jakubowski Pegasus wheel (http://tinyurl.com/yjxrkel) this 
year! (However, it's OK if it doesn't come until next year, or maybe the year 
after that - see below.) I could pinch myself a million times. If it's 
everything I remember from MDSW 2004, this could mark the end of my wheel 
collecting ways. 

What's new in Life - I am expecting TWINS this summer! We have a 1-yr-7-mo 
daughter already, but we are absolutely stoked to be expanding our family. I am 
out of the first trimester, finally, so we are optimistic for a good outcome 
and healthy children. I met someone last night who delivered twins that weighed 
more than 7 lbs each, so that is my new goal!!! 

June



Re: [fibernet] Re: What's new?

2010-01-13 Thread gschamel
June,

The Pegasus is really beautiful - congrats!

 ...met someone last night who delivered twins that weighed more than 7 lbs 
 each, so that is my new goal!!

...and sending out good thoughts towards your meeting that goal.

Gwen S.
-- 
reply to: gwe...@xmission.com


[fibernet] Re: What's new?

2010-01-12 Thread Mary Bob Pratt -- Elihu Farm
Ron, The winter weather in UK and Europe has been in the news here in 
the US. How much snow  and cold do you have in Sweden?  (Just looked at 
weather underground, and discovered a wx map for Sweden. 
http://www.wunderground.com/global/SN.html ( Is the coast of Norway 
really around +40F? )

The Northeast has been very cold, but that does happen here. We're 
supposed to be used to it HA. The people in the South are really 
freezing, much colder than usual there.

Chores take forever on these days. Frozen water buckets to empty in the 
a.m. Eggs to collect often so they don't freeze. Extra grain for the 
lambs, which are outside with big bale feeders full of baleage. Don't 
want to give the impression we do all of this ourselves. We were farming 
full time for quite awhile before we  hired 'real' help, instead of 
limping along with various high school or college kids after school or 
on weekends. But it's still tough in this cold, especially with nearly 
all the sheep outside 24 hrs a day.

Now we're heading for a warm up, which will be welcome. Maybe the ewes 
due to lamb can go out on a neighbor's field with portable fence. 
Meanwhile, it's time to bring in the dozen or so pregnant ones, for 
mid-February lambing. I used only one ram for that group, Dickens, a 
recessive-colored Romney. A good test to find out if we have some girls 
with recessive color genes. If not, we'll have recessive color carriers.

Mary in eastern NY










Re: [fibernet] Re: What's new?

2010-01-12 Thread Ronald Parker

On Jan 12, 2010, at 1:17 PM, Mary  Bob Pratt -- Elihu Farm wrote:

 Ron, The winter weather in UK and Europe has been in the news here in
 the US. How much snow  and cold do you have in Sweden?  (Just looked at
 weather underground, and discovered a wx map for Sweden.
 http://www.wunderground.com/global/SN.html ( Is the coast of Norway
 really around +40F? )

Yep, it's true. The Gulf Stream goes by. Not so in Sweden where the 
temps are unusually cold with below zero F temps.

 The Northeast has been very cold, but that does happen here. We're
 supposed to be used to it HA. The people in the South are really
 freezing, much colder than usual there.

I check temps in MN to make me feel warmer here.

 Chores take forever on these days. Frozen water buckets to empty in the
 a.m. Eggs to collect often so they don't freeze. Extra grain for the
 lambs, which are outside with big bale feeders full of baleage. Don't
 want to give the impression we do all of this ourselves. We were 
 farming
 full time for quite awhile before we  hired 'real' help, instead of
 limping along with various high school or college kids after school or
 on weekends. But it's still tough in this cold, especially with nearly
 all the sheep outside 24 hrs a day.

We always lamed starting April Fool's Day. The ewes were out all Winter 
with no problems. Shearing was in late March, then they had access to 
an open barn free choice.

 Now we're heading for a warm up, which will be welcome. Maybe the ewes
 due to lamb can go out on a neighbor's field with portable fence.
 Meanwhile, it's time to bring in the dozen or so pregnant ones, for
 mid-February lambing. I used only one ram for that group, Dickens, a
 recessive-colored Romney. A good test to find out if we have some girls
 with recessive color genes. If not, we'll have recessive color 
 carriers.

 Mary in eastern NY\\

Have fun!

Ron
rbpar...@swipnet.se



[fibernet] Re: what's new

2010-01-07 Thread Grace L. Judson
Thanks to Holly and Jekka with their thoughts on my plying question.

 

Holly wrote:

 In your particular situation, the only real 
advantage to chain-plying is to get knitting 
before you're finished spinning and plying :) And 
practicing a new skill probably counts, too.



Yeah, well, let's not talk about getting to any knitting.  I'm going to be
working on reknitting that cotton XL sweater for a while. sigh

 

And I have done chain-plying before, so it's not that I'm totally learning
the new skill.just thought it might be easier.but.

 

Jekka wrote:

 The other question on chain-plying the llama is how it behaves at the
bends. I have found that some fibers are more malleable and chain-ply with
barely perceptable bumps (merino, for example), but that more wiry fibers
can be very stubborn and not want to bend that radically. I'd be a little
concerned that the llama might be one of the stubborn ones. 

 

This is exactly what I've been wondering about.

 

Of course, I could try it . and at the same time, I've got a funny feeling
it could be one of those things that might get worse over time.

 

I think you're both reinforcing my suspicion that Navajo/chain plying would
be a Mistake.

 

Bah!  :-)

 

Grace

 



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[fibernet] Re: What's New

2010-01-06 Thread Jane Reid
What's new with me? Not much, fiberwise, although I enjoy reading about it. 
Still mostly lurking on this list, but delighted to see it active again. 
Fiver
Still ice-skating and doing a lot of volunteer activity for my skating club, 
which hams a number of national contenders and at least two Olympic 
contenders this year -- quite a change from years past for us. Not since the 
glory days of Kitty and Peter Carruthers . . .
Freelance writing markets seem to be drying up more all the time.
Had a bout with skin cancer this fall. Not life-threatening or 
anxiety-provoking ,nothing like the breast cancer I had 14 years ago. Still, 
inconvenient and a pain both literally and metaphorically.
Fiber? Well I have a crochet afghan underway that has been dormant for 
several months. I love the design and it would be great for my annual 
charity auction. But it's made of teeny little granny squares, and I fear 
I'll never have the patience to sew them all together. I'm thinking of 
trying to redraw the design so I can work it out in straight crochet rows, 
which would be much quicker and  sounds much easier. And I might actually 
finish it. So one of these days ...
Best wishes to all,
Jane

Jane Reid
mjr...@dca.net




Re: [fibernet] Re: what's new

2010-01-06 Thread Jessica Sewell
The other question on chain-plying the llama is how it behaves at the
bends.  I have found that some fibers are more malleable and chain-ply with
barely perceptable bumps (merino, for example), but that more wiry fibers
can be very stubborn and not want to bend that radically.  I'd be a little
concerned that the llama might be one of the stubborn ones.  I love chain
plying, but I also find that I am not always the most consistent spinner
from one end of a bobbin to the other, so plying with separate singles gives
me a little more chance to even things out (of course, sometimes all the fat
bits pile up too).

Jekka

-- 
Jessica Sewell
Assistant Professor

Director of Undergraduate Studies
American and New England Studies Program
Boston University
226 Bay State Road
Boston MA 02215
tel. 617-353-9913
Office: Room 207

Art History Department
Boston University
CAS 302
725 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston MA 02215
tel. 617-353-1464
fax 617-353-3243
Office: CAS 215B
jesew...@bu.edu


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Re: [fibernet] Re: What's New

2010-01-06 Thread Holly Shaltz
Jane, when I do granny squares, I don't sew them 
together (though a whip stitch matching stitch for 
stitch is pretty fast), I crochet them.  I use 
either slip stitch or single crochet while holding 
the two squares right sides together.  When I get 
the first two of the row done, then I do the next 
two without breaking off the yarn - like chain 
piecing quilt squares, if you're familiar with 
that process.

Eventually I have all the rows crocheted together, 
then I crochet along the columns, criss-crossing 
the previous seams whatever way seems to work 
best for that particular project.

Hope that makes it seem less daunting to tackle :) 
  I admit to loving granny squares and I'm glad 
they're back in fashion, at least for a little while!

Holly


Re: [fibernet] Re: What's New

2010-01-06 Thread gschamel
 But it's made of teeny little granny squares, and I fear
 I'll never have the patience to sew them all together.

Wonder if it might not be possible to crochet them together? 
  With something similar to the three-needle (knit) bind-off?

Gwen S.
-- 
reply to: gwe...@xmission.com


[fibernet] RE: What's New

2010-01-05 Thread Suzanne Correira
Still doing my thing at Fire Ant Ranch, although the flock has been gone
almost two years now.  LOVING the new place and I actually have the space to
use that felting machine I got, although I have yet to produce a saddle pad
which was why I bought it in the first place!   Doing about as much dyeing
as ever and probably more fluffy batts and about the same number of shows,
although the locations have shifted somewhat.  More knitting these days and
back to designing surprisingly - what I started with!

Still horsin' around with the dressage and cat shows (HHP) have entered
the picture as well :)

Ron, I found the remains of that ancient Fibernet T-shirt you gifted me for
some suggestion I made about the list and computers so long ago - Fibernet
was my very first list!

Suzanne Correira, www.fireantranch.com, Georgetown, TX
Fiber, Yarn, Fashions, Spinning Equipment and Tools.
Fiber Workshops Taught  Workshop Venues Organized.



[fibernet] RE: : What's new?

2010-01-05 Thread Cathy de Seton
Sorry, I'm behind with the thread/list. I just popped back home to clear the
computer of mail, collect a few supplies food/other so I found that
'fibernet' has awoken! 

 

Happy New Year Everyone.

 

I am currently not at home, although I am not far away, a short 20mins bus
trip back to the nearest bus terminal to home. I am housesitting a rag
weavers house/studio which is down off the road about but not on the beach.
I can see the other end of the beach from my deck of the hillside. It does
have broadband and stuff like that but it is still 'off the beaten track'
the path up to the road zigzags up etc  So although I could do some weaving
there, I probably won't - I am supposed to be unwinding completely and
relaxing/reading//dreaming. OH, watching TV etc. 

 

At home, I have been spinning a lot. I got out antique wheel #1 it's the
Akehurst on this website. There are only 4 of them and I own one!
http://www.nzspinningwheels.info/saxony.html Anyway, I hadn't spun on it for
a while so I spent some time giving it some TLC but it had a couple of
problems. To cut a long story short, the part that needed some TLC is away
at a friends workshop.  So I promptly had to get out my Hamilton  (the one
of the same page is a pals down south of here) and it has been purring along
creating wonderful thread. 

 

No weaving, I don't have much time, even though it is my Summer holidays
from Uni - at Home I am finishing the major sort up started last Summer and
sorting/sifting out my belongings etc. But I plan to tackle some yarn dyeing
when I return in late Jan.

 

Apoligies is this is difficult to read, I left my 'computer glasses' down at
the other house, and I have had to remeove my regular glasses to see the
screen properly J 

 

Cathy in NZ, where the sun doth sun brightly and I am attempting to get a
bit of a sun tan over the next 12 days left off my interesting Summer
holiday J I may not see your replies for a few more days (unless I look on
the website)



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[fibernet] Re: what's new

2010-01-05 Thread Grace L. Judson
What a great question to get the list sparked off again!  Thanks, Ron.

 

And happy New Year to all.

 

I've been REknitting a cotton sweater that's (ahem!) a Christmas present for
my best friend - who happens to be 6'3, and although not overweight, that's
still a lot of knitting.  REknitting because the first version (sigh) ran
out of yarn, and also had a bit of gauge creep.  Blech.  Oh, well, so it
goes.

 

I'm also wondering, and had been thinking about posting a question to
Fibernet when Ron's what's new post came through, about the virtues of
Navajo plying over regular three-ply?

 

I'm spinning some lovely llama in a gorgeous dark chocolate colour.
Actually, I should say I'm standing by and admiring it whilst it spins
itself!

 

I'm aiming for a sport-weight three-ply yarn for a lace shoulder-shawl sort
of thing.  Of course, I don't know how much yardage I'll have of singles,
and so I'm wondering if it might be easiest - and actually kind of fun, too,
since the little bit I've played with Navajo plying was lots of fun - to
just Navajo-ply rather than trying to get three sets of singles to come out
the same length!

 

Any thoughts on pros or cons for this? words of advice from more experienced
folk?

 

Thanks!

 

Grace

 



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Re: [fibernet] Re: what's new

2010-01-05 Thread Holly Shaltz
Grace writes:

about the virtues of Navajo plying over regular 
three-ply?

Advantages as I see them:

Can ply with just one bobbin or ball of yarn ready.
Closely related, lets you do a 3-ply from a 
relatively small amount of fiber.
Don't have to worry about having bits of singles 
left on two bobbins.
Can play with color, if the singles are multi-colored.
Fun to chain-ply, once you get the hang of it.


Disadvantages:

In the beginning, it's very easy to overply until 
your hands and feet get thoroughly coordinated 
(helps to put your drive band on a *larger* whorl 
for a slower flyer, rather than a faster whorl as 
usual for plying, until you're really comfortable).
If the yarn is true-worsted, you'll potentially be 
slicking fibers up and out of the twist, making 
the yarn a little less smooth and shiny.
The little bumps where the yarn reverses direction 
add texture (yes, can be either a pro or a con, 
depending on how much texture you want).
Tension may be a little uneven until you get the 
hang of things - but then, so can traditional 
three-ply.

In your particular situation, the only real 
advantage to chain-plying is to get knitting 
before you're finished spinning and plying :)  And 
practicing a new skill probably counts, too.

I love chocolate-colored fibers!  I have some very 
nice moorit Shetland roving from the one year we 
had wool good enough to send to Stonehedge for 
carding.  I think there's only 9 or 10 ounces.  I 
need to think of a really good project for it...

Holly


[fibernet] Re: What's new?

2010-01-04 Thread Mary Bob Pratt -- Elihu Farm
Trying to stay warm in eastern NY.

We finally had to put all our sheep on feed. There's still hay aftermath 
grazing under about 8 inches of fluffy snow. If the wind blows enough 
away, we may be able to graze some more.

Lambs to market tomorrow, and maybe more next week, depending on what 
they weigh. We now are farmers market vendors with lamb, eggs, stewing 
chickens (retired layers), and this year holiday goose.

Mary