Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

I plied my "Red Dahlia" (282 yards) and spun my first bobbin (2 oz) of "Toffee." Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Today was the first day of this year's Tour de Fleece, the spinning event during the Tour de France. I had a false start, yesterday, thinking it was the first day. When I went to post my first day's progress, I realized I was a day ahead. So, I have now spun for two days, a half a bump each day of Southern Cross Fibre's "Red Dahlia" on Shetland, part of a six-color " Ivy League Kit." :) I guess only one of the bobbins "counts." Here's the kit: Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I plied the pink merino using the Ashford Traditional, with the bulky flyer/bobbin. I also finished up 20 ounces of Merino Milk and four ounces of Wensleydale in a spin-along of Spunky Eclectic fiber. The pale blue is "Glacial" on Merino Silk, and the multi-color is "Mystic Springs" on Wensleydale, part of the April-June SAL on the " Completely Twisted and Arbitrary " group on Ravelry. Fun! That brings me back to bare wheels (two of them, now!), and ready for the annual "Tour de Fleece," which starts this Friday! Added June 28: I came back to this post because I got kind of hurried when I was posting, before, and I didn't include my fiber prep... The Wensleydale, being a longwool, such as it is, does not work well as a woolen prep (my normal prep of choice). I pre-drafted pieces which were one sixth of the length and one quarter of the width, just simply pulling the fibers along the length until they felt loose and silky. I...

I took the Bullseye Twill off of the loom and washed it. The pattern is very subtle in the two semi-solid yarns so close in color... I was not terribly mindful of the selvedges, because I'm going to cut the fabric to make a purse. More on that later... I have also started another project, a plain weave scarf from a pre-measured warp from Earth Guild . Kay, my weaving instructor, had one of their scarves on her loom when I had my first lesson. Kay was weaving a different kit , the 15-16 epi scarf warp (which makes three scarves). I ordered the 12 epi scarves , specifically identified as "rigid heddle" scarf kits. I'm using my 12.5 epi heddle, though. The weft is 8/2 rayon, held double, and the warp is rayon slub. The colors are so beautiful, I couldn't decide, and I ordered three, Ocean Waves, Ruby Slippers, and Shadow Play. The reason the Shadow Play bag looks sort of empty is that I already started that one! Here is the warp wound onto the back beam: ...

We took Mitchell to the rodeo in Mascoutah on Friday. He seemed to like the cotton candy the best. He also took the opportunity for a pony ride. It was tough to get a good cowboy shot without getting closer than the orange, spray-painted line. Everything was through the rails of the fence. The clown obliged by perching on said fence. Mitchell got a hold of my camera and took this picture of his daddy. He also took a slew of pictures of a couple of little girls that were sitting near us... and some cow poo. I'll spare you those. :) Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I'm still tooling along on my " Classic Cardigan ." I finished the sleeves, the pocket bands, and started the front bands. The front band is in the top of the sleeve photo. It is four stitches wider than the pocket band. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I've been so focused on the next thing, I never posted "completion" shots of the first weaving project... Happy Knitting! Lisa Kay

I have been anxious to try a "twill" pattern. They intrigue me, partly because they are what is used to make tartans. There are many twill drafts available in 3-shaft patterns, which makes them readily adaptable to a rigid heddle loom such as I have, just by introducing a second heddle... without the need to use pick up sticks. I used the instructions at " Ask the Bellwether " that I pointed out in a previous post. I picked out a twill pattern on handweaving.net, a "point twill," which means it has "turns." The pattern name is "Bullseye Twill." The trickiest part was deciding how I wanted to thread the heddles. While a great deal of the threading is a straight 1-2-3 or 3-2-1, the "turns" are where it changes between the two. Because I'm using the two heddles to represent the three shafts, even a continuous 1-2-3 threading order gives an "extra" hole/slot for every three threads (compared to plain weave thre...

Helpful folks replied to let me know it was an Ashford Traditional. By looking at the timeline on the Ashford site , I concluded it was made between 1965 and 1975, just like me! It has a three-knob spoke, simple uprights. and leather bearings. :) Must be good, made in that timeframe! Hah! I spun two bobbins full of singles, two ounces each, and I'm ready to ply. I'll try the larger flier for the plying... The small bobbins seem to be full with the two ounces on them. Happy Knitting! Lisa Kay

A friend at work gave me a few things of her mother's, wanting to send them to a "good home" (i.e. where someone would use them). I don't know what kind of wheel it is. It was given to my friend's mom by her spinning teacher, so the origin is unknown. It has two fliers, a small one with three bobbins and a large one with four. The small bobbins also have a Lazy Kate (in the right of the photo). There is also a homemade skeiner and a drop spindle (left front). There is only a Scotch Tension. It seemed like the little cord was missing something. It didn't reach the hook. I'm not sure exactly what was there originally, but I bought the smallest springs I could find at the hardware store, and it seemed to do the trick. I spun some yarn on the smaller flyer, today, and it worked well. Does anyone know what kind of wheel this is? There is no "maker's mark." Maybe it is homemade. I don't suppose it matters one way or the other, but I was...

We took Mitchell to the Fort de Chartres annual Rendezvous for the first time. If you think the rubber boots are odd, check out the water level above the foot bridge in the first shot. In fact, the rain has covered so much of the parking areas (grass fields) that the event was officially cancelled . However, people did not seem to heed the cancellation. There were people in every sort of "period" attire, and there was a "fashion show" in the afternoon where various costumes were explained. There were some kilt-wearing pipers, and they even did some dancing... Mitchell climbed around on the fort, as many kids were doing. I was surprised there were not "please don't climb on the walls" signs everywhere... After all, it's a historic site. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay