A) Segments for this episode.
1) Production with emphasis on Wool-Aid and Knit for Tibet
2) What’s in my Tea Pot: Lapsang Suchong
3) Materials Sourcing
4) QC Inspection
5) Shipping
6) Boneroom update
7) After 5
II Production
A) Last week I mentioned that I had been buying the Lion’s Brand Fisherman’s wool for charity knitting for the now defunct Warm Woolies charity knits. I recently found a new group on ravelry called Wool-aid that appears to be taking over where Warm Woolies left off. Currently they are accepting donations for the Knit for Tibet Charity. Knit for Tibet is an outreach effort of the Kyegu Relief Fund established in response to the devastating 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the eastern Tibetan town of Kyegu on April 14th 2010. The humanitarian need is on going and significant. 90% of the towns building were destroyed. Winters are harsh in Kyegu and the people are facing desperate conditions as many are living in lightweight tents. Items most needed are vests, sweaters and sock for Babies and Teens but all sizes will be accepted. Donations need to be received at Wool-Aid by May 31st. I had 2 toddler size sweaters in bulky weight yarn knitted up and intended for the Warm Woolies 10 in 2010 contest. I will be seaming these up this week to send to the Knit for Tibet cause. I also half finished sweater in a teenage size that I will be attempting to complete as well. If you’d like to donate as well donations should be sent to:
Wool-Aid
1381 Rocky Creek Court
Belleville, IL 6220
If you feel you’d like to help but can’t complete items for the May 31st deadline check out the Wool-Aid group on Ravelry for additional initiatives and for guidelines for knitting such as the best fiber content and sizing of garments. For example Wool-Aid requests that Knitted garments are knit densely in a yarn with as much natural animal fiber as possible. Bulky weight is preferred but double stranded worsted works as well. Garments should be knit with warmth and coverage in mind. Socks should be knit of at least worsted weight if not bulky and cuffs should be as long as a heel to toe measurement of the foot.
B) Brown Wool Sweater - This sweater was previously cast on and abandoned
about where the arms would be separated. I lost the original pattern but found a similar one in the same gauge with only two less stitches that should have been cast on. I’ll correct that when I decrease under the arms. I’m using the Mr. Darcy sweater pattern off of Knitty.com. I am not using the “Dot pattern” that the pattern calls for. After the arms are separated the back and front are worked back and forth in short rows. I think this will work but it’s a crap shoot. Who knows maybe it will be in next weeks bone room.
C) Bulky Weight toddler sweaters: I knit these up over a year ago. They have
Have been sitting in my UFO pile. They are made of bulky weight from a warm woolies pattern that is not yet available on Wool-Aids website. These are worked flat and in one piece so t almost looks like across with a slit in the middle. When you fold the cross in half top to bottom you can see the sweaters I need to weave in ends and seem up the sides and under arms. Then these will be off to Tibet!
D) Junk Raglan: Added to the junk raglan this week one small cake of the
Reclaimed yarn. Could have been more but it’s been set aside to finish the Brown wool Sweater. Reclaimed yarn is Lion Brand Wool-ease in denim blue.
The yarn was originally a huge Q hooked afghan the pulled apart under it’s own
Weight.
E) Juno Regina – is still sitting in the bone pile waiting for me to tink back the purl row and correct the dropped stitch. This is on hold until I can find some quiet time to do this.
G) FLS - No buttons yet but the thread in the house! Need to find a quiet moment to finally finish this. I want to wear it once before I have to pack it away.
H) Pedestrian Crossing COWL is off the needles I attempted to sew on the buttons but was too tired. I will get these sewn on this weekend.
I) The Daybreak Shawl By Stephen West. I gave upon waiting for the sz 4 circs from Jimmy Beans. I swatched this on my sz 5's and was pretty happy about the feel and drape of the fabric. I did soak my swatch just to make sure there wouldn't be any nasty surprises later and I'm still thrilled with it. I'll be knitting this out of Sensations Bamboo and Ewe in colorway Bamboo and Ewe Purple and Berroco Comfort in Color # 1812.
III What’s in my Tea Pot?
A) This week in my teapot is a very unique tea, Lapsang Suchong. Lapsang
Suchong is a black tea originally from the Wuyi region of China’s Fujian province. Lapsang is distinct from all other teas because it is smoke dried over pine wood fires, which give the tea a smoky flavor. This tea to say the least is an acquired taste. I cannot drink a pot of this tea. I brew this by the cup every once in a great while. It basically tastes like a campfire in a cup. If your drink your tea with sweetener this will taste a bit like a teriyaki beef jerky. The effect can be a bit unsettling. I am not a convert of this tea. But if you find it and the price is right it’s fun to pull out and impress your friends. Remember Lapsang Suchong is Black teas and should be steeped in boiling water for 4-6 minutes. I brew this lightly because of the strong flavor.
IV Materials Sourcing:
A) Plarn = Plastic yarn. Last month at my DAR meeting we had a guest speaker come in and give a talk on recycling. April after all is Earth Day month… The discussion came around to how to recycle those plastic grocery bags. The presenter was pretty chagrined by these bags because as a recycler they had to amass and store hug quantities of them before they could find a processor to take them and make any money in the transaction. That’s when one of the ladies said that she new of crafters that turned these bag into plarn and used them to knit / Crochet tote bags and accessories. NEW FIBER TO KNIT WITH I’m in! So this week I went on line and googled plarn and found www.myreycledbags.com. The basic gist is that you flatten out the bag, fold the flattened bag in half lengthwise twice, and Cut the handles and the sealed bottom edge off with a pair of scissors, then cut the resulting rectangle into 1-inch strips. I haven’t played much with this yet but I’m thinking that this is where if you wanted to adjust your “Plarn Gauge” you could cut a wider strip to get Bulky Plarn or cut a narrower strip for sock plarn. Socks of Plarn do not sound comfy…. So I have started amassing my bags and have a few cut up and I’m winding my Plarn Ball. I so far have a beige and red Plarn Ball and a Maroon and gold Plarn Ball. (Who knew a honey baked ham bag would be so stylish…) I think when I have enough Plarn I’ll make myself a grocery store tote bag. (Which may be counter productive because then I won’t get any more bags to make plarn with…)
B) I finished spinning the second Bobbin of the Corriedale. I actually got to ply my first two bobbins on Babe! I have to say that the yarn is much better than my first skein from my drop spindle. (My apologies to Abby Franquemont!) My first skeins from the drop spindle are a bit over spun and more than a little crunchy. The skeins off of Babe are light and airy to they point that some spots may be way under spun. There are defiantly some thick and thing spots but this is a 1st skein so I’m overall pretty pleased with myself.
C) I plan to use the unused Paas Easter egg tablets from Easter to dye this yarn. I wanted to do this Thursday night but ran out of time.
D) I also unfortunately did not get back to the Mohair kid my mom gave me. Hopefully I'll find time for that this week.
V QC Inspection
A) You may have noticed that this isn’t the usual place that QC shows up. That’s because this week it’s my spinning in QC and not for once the knitting. I need to invest in a swift. I attempted to wind my full bobbins onto the back of a chair. After about quarter of a bobbin I decided that the skein wasn’t big enough so I took it off to try to wind it onto something else. I finally settle on winding it around my big cutting board this of course snarled all of the previously wound yarn and took me over an hour to undo. Lesson learned one you start winding off the bobbin you are committed to whatever method you started with.
VI Shipping
A) The Baby Swirl Hat is complete with the ends woven in! I had to take this off the needles and frogged it back to a place where a I thought it looked like a hat more for a baby and less like one for a cone head. Getting the lace pattern back on the needles was not going well so I frogged the entire thing and recast it on. It's a cute swirl pattern I think I'll use it for the leg of my next pair of generic socks.
VII Boneroom
A) Still no Zombie BBQ or SZ 4 circs.
VIII After 5
It was warm and wet in Ohio this week. Well, warm and wet until I wanted to do something out doors. If any one saw on the show notes page I posted that Sunday May 15th was the annual blessing of the sheep at The Spicy Lamb Farm. Joe, B, and were set to head out to the farm until we woke up Sunday morning and it was COLD and raining. I'm a bit bummed we missed this event I was looking forward to the bagpipes and perhaps getting pictures of B with the sheep. If you're interested in the farm you can check them out at www.thespicylamb.com. As of now I'm planning on attending the Crooked River Fiber on August 4th-7th. The spicy Lamb farm will be open this weekend and their will be events all through the village of Peninsula. I've taken a look at the class schedule and there are a few that I plan on registering for. Registration for non PAA members starts may 21st.
Spring in Kent brings rain and baby geese. All around the factory I work at the Canadian Geese and their goslings are everywhere. By the end of summer their will be hundreds of them stalking around through the weeds like predators. With all the rain the geese have taken to hanging out around the deep puddles in the day care parking lot. This week during a particularly nasty rain storm B and I saw one of these geese wandering in the parking lot. And says” That Duck needs to be wearing socks because his feet are getting wet. What's he doing in the rain where's his coat! So until next week every stay dry!
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