Way too much handspun cotton!

This is not even what I started with - I had already wound several yards off onto my niddy-noddy when I took this photo!  This is actually about a year's worth of cotton spinning.  Several years ago I bought a pound of cotton sliver, and have been slowly working my way through it  I don't have any particular project in mind, and it'll be a very long time before I'll really be able to use my loom again, so I had figured it would be OK if it took me forever.  I don't think I'd accounted for losing my ball-winder, and then wanting the bobbin for something else.  I'm not even going to speculate on how much yardage is here!  Do you have any idea how sore a shoulder can get from having to manually wind off this much thread?

Why I stopped knitting

 

I had mostly stopped knitting (and spinning!) about 7 years ago when I came down with an acute case of Bouncy Toddler.  My daughter had a tendency to treat Mommy and all of her stuff as a jungle gym/trampoline, with no regard whatsoever for what I had in my lap, or what might happen to it (or her) if she landed on it.  All pointy sticks were packed away, and rarely saw daylight.  Because I worked nights, there really was no time that I could knit safely - what little free time I had needed to be spent on other things. 

Unfortunately, she never really progressed past the Bouncy Toddler phase.  She was diagnosed with autism at 2 1/2, and has continued to jump into my lap with her typical lack of concern/understanding that there is something sharp that might do her damage.  Until she has been hurt by something, she doesn't recognize that it can hurt her.  Fortunately it only takes once, and she'll avoid that thing like the plague - but I'd rather she didn't have to learn about 2mm lace needles by experience :(  These last two years have been better, as we have found an ADHD med that reduces her tendency to Superball off all available objects.  It also makes a big difference for her in school - always a good thing!  As a result, I have been slowly rediscovering things I had to set aside those first few difficult years.  I'm glad I've been able to come back to these - I really missed spinning!

 

I still have a lot of unspun fiber stored away, which should keep me occupied for quite a while, as long as I don't decide I really need to make something for which none of the fiber I have at home is suitable.  I hope it will be many months before I get to that point.  I'm all in favor of The Bottomless Stash, and I understand quite well why it's necessary to have several different types of tops or roving, and at least one full fleece of every different breed one comes across.  Right now I just can't afford it - I need to spin what I've got before I can justify spending money on fiber.  I count myself lucky that most of the wool I have can be spun into a variety of different yarns, and I still have enough dye that I'm not limited to knitting with white (with the exception of one gorgeous black Navajo-Churro fleece - but that's another blog post).  I'm luckier than some - at least I already have everything I need!

So I'm still spinning my three-ply sock yarn - two bobbins down, one to go!  I finished my Cookie A. Clandestine socks and have started a pair of plain-vanilla wool socks for my son.  In the spirit of "don't buy what you can make," I've been knitting warm socks for the household instead of buying them.  I also have a growing basket of socks that need darning that I will get to one of these days.  If I can fix it, I won't replace it.  I do admit to procrastinating on the sock darning - I don't expect it to be fun! I am, however, getting some assistance with my sock knitting....

"Please account for any period of inactivity longer than 6 weeks...."

I've been neglecting my blog terribly!  I'm sorry!  December tends to be a busy month here as it is for many other households.  I cannot, however,  in good conscience put all the blame on December.  The biggest culprits have been my knitting needles, which have been mostly dormant for the past few years, but are now waking up again.  Yes, I've gotten back into my fibery pursuits!  All my activities seem to run in cycles, which is why I never get rid of craft supplies, even for things I haven't done in years.  I know (through experience!) that some day I'll get an urge to do that particular craft again, and everything will come back out! 

I'm getting to know my knitting habits better as years go by.  In fact, my knitting and handspinning preferences are quite well matched!  I prefer to spin fine yarns.  I know a lot of spinners complain about not being able to produce that irregular "beginner's" yarn after they master consistent spinning - I am not one of them!  I have come to realize that no matter how quickly chunky yarns knit up, I just don't like the look.  I also know that I will never have the patience to knit an adult-size sweater, especially in the finer yarns I prefer, so I don't even try anymore.  I really love socks!  Now that I've discovered how to knit both socks at once I no longer suffer from Second Sock Syndrome and I find that socks are the perfect portable project, and because they can be finished so quickly I get a much greater sense of accomplishment.

I have discovered that while I love color, I do not like doing colorwork in knitting.  I generally knit continental-style, but can also do English style, so fair-aisle is pretty easy (one color in each hand) - I just hate weaving all the extra ends in!  I find the need to stop and start the different colors to be a distraction - it messes with my "rhythm" while I'm knitting.  I have therefore turned to texture as my preferred design element.  Recently I've been seeing a lot of monochrome variegated yarns, many specifically meant for socks.  These are great for textured knitting patterns because the subtle variations in color add visual depth and interest but do not compete with the texture.  I cannot justify spending money on yarn when I have several pounds of wool in my house waiting to be spun.  Fortunately I also have dyes!  Sometime in January I will be dyeing sock yarn!

 I have discovered Cookie A.'s sock patterns, and am impatiently waiting for my birthday in February when I'll be able to afford a copy of her book,  Sock Innovations.  Fortunately she also has a number of patterns available for free at Knitty.com, so I will have plenty of projects to keep me busy until then.  The photo here is her Clandestine pattern, adapted to be knee socks by starting with a slightly larger needle and adding four pattern repeats for length.  Because her socks tend to have slightly different instructions for the right and left foot, I decided not to do both socks at once until I was used to how she works.  This is the finished right sock-  I started the left sock yesterday.


I have discovered that I was not the only person getting frustrated with trying to knit fine yarns with blunt-tipped needles!  I love my Addi circs, but what was meant to be a plus (smooth round tips that won't split yarn) is a real PITA when you're using size 1 needles with fingering or lace weight yarn.  I think this frustration is one of the reasons I had put knitting aside for a while.  All the various decreases in texture knitting required several tries before I could get those nice round tips under my tiny yarns!  I went looking for sharper tips, and found that KnitPicks had gotten good reviews on all my required points (small needles, sharp tips, smooth joins between needle and cable), so I ordered several pairs (2,1,1-,0) just before Christmas and am impatiently waiting their arrival.  I'm dealing with the Addi's until then, but I know these socks will be so much easier once I have sharper needles!


Finally, I have discovered Ravelry! This is Social Networking for fiber people.  No matter what you're interested in there's probably a Ravelry group for it, and if there isn't you can make one!  I haven't really started participating in the discussions yet because there's so much still to read and look at, and I always prefer to take the temperature of an online group before I start posting.  I'm going to try not to get sucked too far into it - after all, I already have enough on my plate with these socks!

Product Photography Shoots and New Work

It's been a very busy couple of weeks!  I had a custom order for a friend bumped up from a Christmas deadline to a Thanksgiving deadline (!)  and had to get cracking on that.  She and her kids had collected quartz from her grandmother's back yard and tumbled it in a hobby rock-tumbler.  One of them was heart-shaped, and I was asked to set it in something to give to her Aunt - the pendant pictured above is the result. 

Again, last week we had lots of doctor's appointments, cutting into my creative time as always.  Oh well - health is necessary!  I finally got around to taking some new product photos so that I could list my new work in my shop in time for the holiday shopping season.  I'll do another round in a few more days. 

I now have a better photo of the Paisley Pendant I was working on earlier.  I still have trouble getting any transparent stones to look right.  I need a nice neutral spotlight to shine straight forward onto the stones like in this photo setup that I really would like to have some day.  I would take photos a lot more frequently if it were easier to do!  My current lighting setup is a jury-rigged bunch of hardware-store reflectors with photo-floods and frosted Mylar for diffusion, none of which are designed to go with the stands I have for them.  It's hot, I have too much equipment crowded up in a tiny bit of floor, and I'm constantly tripping over stands and power cords!  If I could set up all the lighting more permanently it wouldn't be as big an issue, it's the setting it up and packing it up that always seem to take forever.  I'm going to make getting the new photo setup a priority for the coming year!  The more frequently I list the better the exposure I get.

I was finally able to get photos of some of my newer ring designs.  The sodalite here is a nice one.  I want to work on more rings with stones on them.  I tend not to do as many like that because anything with a stone in it will take longer and be more expensive, and I'm trying to build up a nice assortment of basic, inexpensive rings to build off of. 

Most of my stacking rings are variations on a theme, but I figure that's OK as a starting point.  I have lots of basic variations for people to choose from, and I can make them in pretty much any size, so I never have to worry about running out of something critical.

So that's what I've been doing this week!  My next project involves scanning a whole bunch of really old family photo albums so I can restore the photos and make slide-show DVDs for my in-laws for gifts! I love digital imaging, but scanning reams of photos is very tedious.  I can't wait until I'm done with the boring stuff.  I'll show you the before-and-afters when I have something to show for my effort!

Of Socks and Stones. Alas, no sealing wax, nor cabbages and kings.

My new "rocks" arrived a good week ago, and I'm still thinking hard about what I want to use them for, other than the classic "variations on a theme."  I've been doing some of that just to keep myself in the right headspace, and I think it's starting to work.  I'm feeling glimmerings of inspiration for Monday! 

The stone in the ring on the left is a peridot, even though you probably can't tell from this shot-

I am, however, starting to regret my decision to go for a greater variety of stones of lower cost/quality over shelling out more money for larger lots of one or two stones, but with better cut.  My stone setting skills are not yet that flexible.  I have a set of stone-setting burs in a variety of sizes, but there are one or two that are missing that I think I will have to buy in order to set some of these stones.  The CZs I was setting earlier are machine-cut, and all fit perfectly.  These new stones have more size variation, and end up being just a smidge larger or smaller than the closest "matching" bur size.  Add to that my less-than-ideal setup for holding on to rings and earrings while I'm trying to set stones (sometimes it's a two-handed process) and you have a good recipe for frustration :(  

This has combined with my decision not to buy anything I can make at home, and has led to me spending more time knitting myself a new pair of socks than working in the studio.  I really need to cut that out and do my knitting after Scarlett gets home from school.  That was supposed to be the deal - I stay home and work in the studio during school hours.  Yes, socks are necessary, but I can work on those when Scarlett is home, so I should not use my precious and limited my-autistic-daughter-is-at-school hours for knitting.  On the other hand, these are going to be very nice, warm, decorative socks!

This is the "Cabled Corn " pattern from Knitting Circles Around Socks, which I love not so much for the sock patterns (which are nice), but for the two-socks-at-once technique the author uses.  I will no longer suffer from Second Sock Syndrome!  For those unfamiliar with the condition, SSS is characterized by a tendency to knit the first sock in a given pattern, then get bored with the pattern and move on to something else.   The sad result is a large number of orphan socks.  Knitting them both at once does a great deal to alleviate this situation!  These socks are being knit in a handspun wool/silk blend I had hanging around.  I have a lot of handspun hanging around - eventually most of it will turn into something.  Right now it is becoming winter socks!

Pretty rocks!

I finally got the package of faceted stones I've been waiting for!  Now that I'm a little more comfortable with setting them I want colors!  I now have amethyst, citrine, peridot, and two different garnets (almandine and pyrope).   This week had lots of doctor's appointments and other obligations, so I didn't get to do any work in the studio until Friday :(

I made another pair of small rectangle posts with the 2mm almandine garnets.  I'm still playing with this design.  I like the idea, but the original pair didn't sit quite right.  I'm experimenting with the placement of the ear post.  I think if I place it a little lower on the earring, the earring will not tilt down so much when worn.  I really hope I can make it work at this size, because I love the design!  It's nice and clean, small, unobtrusive - perfect for anything casual, or for when you have very small children who like to pull on things that dangle :)

I also started work on a few more basic ring designs using the colored stones, but I probably won't finish those until Monday, so no pics yet.  DH was busy that afternoon, so no process pics :(  I am planning another big photo shoot for next week (probably Tuesday) - so I will finally have some really nice photos of the new work - not just quickie blog snapshots!  This will, of course, also mean the new work will finally be listed in my shops sometime near the end of next week - I will keep you posted!

Pressure Cooker Chicken Stew-ish

 Another dish in my "Seat-of-my-Pants" cooking repertoire!  Not exactly stew, I suppose - not with the whole chicken legs.  Still, it's really fast and really tasty!  I end up cooking a lot of chicken this way.  DH can't eat pork or beef in any form except ground, and won't eat seafood except shrimp, so we're pretty much stuck with chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs.  I have perforce become adept at cooking chicken in many different ways.  I'm sure the nuances are completely lost on DH, as he tends to slather barbecue sauce on all his chicken no matter what I've done with it - but at least I don't have to get tired of chicken!

 

• 4 red potatoes, skin on, chopped roughly into eighths
• 2 largish carrots, peeled, sliced or chopped, whichever you prefer
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced into roughly 1/4" slices
• 1 large onion, sliced or chopped however you like it
• 4 chicken leg quarters
• 1/3c white wine
• 1/3c stock or broth (chicken or veg)
• 1T salt
• 1/2t fresh ground black pepper
• 1 1/2t Bell's Poultry Seasoning
• 3T chopped fresh parsley

Adding vegetables to pressure cooker as you chop, saute on very low heat for about 10 min while prepping chicken.  Dredge chicken in flour and brown in a separate pan, two legs at a time.  Place chicken on top of vegetables.  Sprinkle with poultry seasoning, add broth, salt and pepper.  Seal the pressure cooker and bring to pressure (about 7min).  Cook at pressure for 10 min, turn off heat and let rest for another 10 min.  Release pressure, sprinkle with parsley, and serve with a slice of  really good bread!