Another kindred spirit

"People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting something that looked like a canary-yellow circus tent. 'Still got yer letter, Harry?' he asked as he counted stitches."

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Another knitter from the great story.

As I waited for Pete to pick me up from school, I took a couple of photos of the sky as it was getting dark this evening. Enjoy... for I'm going to get started winding my newest handspun into balls...

"Where's Doug? At spinning group!"

hehe... as I type this, WonderBoy is just starting to wake up from his afternoon nap and I'm listening to him through the monitor, singing in his cot. He's currently a big fan of a little song we adapted together from a Wiggles' song called "Where's Jeff?" The real lyrics go like this:

Where's Jeff?
Is he sleeping outside?
Where's Jeff?
Has he gone for a ride?

Jeff apparently has issues with falling asleep and then waking up in odd places. Nevertheless, WonderBoy has really taken to this song, and now adapts responses based on the first two lines. If I sing to him, "Where's Daddy?" he thinks and responds with the most appropriate line. Some times it'll be "At work" other times it might be "Eating dinner" or just "Right here". This works for most of our relatives and pets, and it's an entertaining way of distracting him, particularly during car trips and routine times. We've even had him respond when asked "Where's Mummy?" by singing back, "Knitting a sock". I love it.

Anyway, I'm sitting here typing, and suddenly I hear him singing this little song, each verse being a 'roll call' for the toys in his crib: "Where's Lion? Right here... Where's Nana Ted? Right here... Where's Doug? Right here".

Doug is apparently the name of his plush dragon that happens to be in his cot right now. I'm not entirely sure where the name 'Doug' came from (we know of no Dougs), but it all started with his little rocking horse that he christened Doug months and months ago. Now, whenever you ask him the name of a special toy, invariably, it ends up being named Doug.

I love the way a two-year-old's mind works. It's so entertaining!

In other news, I headed out to Burrawang, a small and lovely village near my home, this morning to go to my first spinning group. Me being the big wussy that I am, I didn't actually bring my wheel this time; just my knitting (which is going very well, by the way - I'm about halfway through the back). But it was lovely to meet more local ladies who share my interests in spinning and knitting. I'm feeling better and better about the possibility of a dedicated Southern Highlands Spinners and Knitters Group (SHS&KG? Nah.). I'd love it to get to a point where our monthly meetings are detailed in the local paper in terms of 'what's happening' and to see lots of people getting together, exchanging ideas and information.

Here's WonderBoy, sitting beautifully and reading his book while we got on with our spinning, knitting and fibre-related discussion:
We chatted about all sorts of things - Robyn told us about the bargain she got on a whole lot of circulars she got on eBay, Margaret showed off some beautiful books on spinning and fibre arts she had bought recently, I shared the wonder that is Ravelry with everyone and encouraged them all to join too, and (oh, no - I'm very ashamed to say I can't remember the name of the lovely lady in the pink) brought a couple of skeins she'd spun up that were just beautiful.

Here's Margaret, watching over Robyn and - I'm terribly sorry, I just can't think of your name! - as they get on with their spinning. Margaret is terribly knowledgeable and I put several of her tips into practice when I got home and brought me wheel out. It was a lovely morning, and I'm looking forward to next month's meeting!Lastly, before I go - a picture of young Luna, who has just started to head outside since we had her desexed a few weeks ago. She loves it, and spends a lot of time just running, leaping, chasing and sniffing things. Today she tried tree-climbing, and I'm pretty sure she was actually stuck - she must have been mucking about in that tree for at least two hours!

Swatches, swatches everywhere... and now I need a drink!

I'm trying (trying being the operative word here) to get on with the 'Elegant Drape Cardigan' from Creative Knitting. Tension has never before frustrated me like this! I did my yarn research and made sure that I matched weight, etc (I'm using Sublime Aran merino/silk/cashmere in the colour of 'Mole') and obediently set about with my tension square this afternoon.

I'm looking for 18 stitches per centimetre, using 5mm needles, and in the first attempt got 22-odd. Okay, so I upped the needles to 5.5mm and managed to get around 20 stitches per centimetre. Getting there. Third attempt, on 6mm needles got me 18. Finally.

Then I washed the swatch.

As my sister Lucy would say, 'Cheese and Rice'! The fabric stretched out to give me 16 stitches per centimetre, much to my chagrin. So, based on all the evidence before me in the form of three swatches, I began a fourth, back on the 5mm needles.

Today's lesson? Wash EVERY swatch, EVERY time. I feel a bit stupid having learned this lesson through trial and error even though I've read this rule something like a million times, but as I tried to explain to my family tonight:

"Yarrgh, knitting - she be a harsh mistress"

I mean, If I were a knitting pirate, I'd be saying stuff like that all the time.

In happier news, I completed My First Socks last night and wore them proudly everywhere today. I think I needed a badge that read, "I'm wearing hand-knit socks. Ask me how!"Here, you can see WonderBoy helping me model my lovely lolly-stripe socks. Incidentally, later today when I started swatching for the drape cardie, he came to me, picked up the skein of Sublime and rubbed it against his cheek, saying "ohhh... pretty yarn". I asked him what it felt like, and he replied "Shampoo".

Shampoo indeed. Bless his little (hand-knit!) socks!

Happy Birthday, Dear Petey...

Before I go on to tell of my fibre-washing exploits today, I must send a quick shout out to my darling husband for his birthday. We're pretty sure it's his 33rd, but you couldn't look at that face and not tell me he doesn't look a day over 21? Of course not.

And so, here's to the guy who laughs at my ridiculous jokes, fears my dancing (both tap and orangutan dancing. I'm proficient at both.), tolerates my knitting and spinning... and most of all, loves me to bits.

Here he is, in all his husband-y glory. Let us all bask awhile.

Love you, honey!

And now, having lauded Pete for having a birthday today, I shall get on with the fibre-related content of this post.

I just updated my Facebook status with the following:

"Jennifer is washing her precious skein of handspun and hoping to God it doesn't felt."

Can I get an 'Amen' from any other spinners out there? I have been absolutely terrified with the mere thought of subjecting my yarn to water of any variety, let alone stinking hot water. I go into the laundry every ten minutes or so, just to check on the bucket, but I'm frightened to get too close, lest I breathe on the water in the wrong way, resulting in a wonderfully felted wreath.

I researched this step online for quite some time today, never quite finding a site with information I felt wholly comfortable about. I've read that I should have washed the fleece before spinning, that I should let the yarn soak in water of 70+ degrees Celsius and a cupful of dish detergent, then let it sit in barely body temperature water to rinse. I read I should plunge and beat the yarn with a potato masher (!) in very hot water, then rinse in cold.

I mean, I'm sure the person who wrote that last one knows what they're talking about but that scared the crap out of me. Tell me that's not an recipe for instant felting, go on... Can't do it? No, neither could I.

So as you can imagine, I was very pleasantly surprised (not to mention extremely relieved!) to see that the whole process seems to have worked! Here's the photographic evidence...These shots are of us going through the wash and rinse. Do note that for me, that first photo was totally brown-trousers time.

I have to say, I wasn't prepared for just how much dirt was going to come out of the yarn, I really wasn't. That mucky bucket photo was taken only five minutes after the yarn was submerged, and I'm certain that although the yarn looks and smells quite reasonable now, if I were to rewash the yarn it would probably make quite dirty water again.
It's turned out really quite nicely, the fibres are light and have fluffed up a little to make an attractive yarn. Now that the grease is out, I can see where I have underspun the ply (a fair bit in some places), but that's something that I can learn from and keep practicing as I go. I'm filling another bobbin as we speak (not literally - that would be fibre-talent to shout about - blogging and spinning at the same time!)...

Now that I've already found a pattern for the hat I want to make with this yarn, the big question is: do I do a rewash to be thorough, or do I get on and start swatching this stuff and working out gauge for the hat?