Hard at Work

I did get busy on writing up the ladies Sorrel pattern yesterday and it is basically done. It took a lot of my attention for most of those day which involved way more math than you want to know or hear about. :-)

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I had to estimate the yardage requirements for the other sizes since I don’t want to hold up the publishing while I have all the sizes test knit. I know that the 42” that I knit took almost exactly 2 1/2 skeins and I went from that as a basis along with Ann Budd’s Handy Yardage Estimator as a guide for the rest. Her estimate for a vest of the size and gauge I made were pretty close to what I used so I am reasonably confident in my recommendations.

I desperately need to clean the house so I will probably publish the pattern next week sometime. I want to go over it again and check my figures first and won’t have time to do that today. I am also still not sure on the name. I also picked up about 15 pounds of Suri Alpaca to dye and need to get to work on that this afternoon if I can.

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In other news, the wood shop has been in full swing in the last couple of weeks. Jerry and Ian have been hard at work finishing a batch of oak yarn swifts. Those are now in my work shop area with the finish drying while awaiting final packaging.

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I am also excited to announce that we will finally have lots of new Sock Keepers back in stock very soon. Here is the proof!

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This is my adorable husband sanding the ends of each and every Sock Keeper.

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Here is my middle son, Ian, sanding the slots where the double point needles sit in the Keeper.

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There will be a slight change to how we make these from here on out. We are no longer laminating them from thin strips of wood. We are now making them from solid wood of one type. We will mostly be using cherry, walnut and oak, but there will be some special and exotic woods when we happen to have them on hand. I know there are some mahogany ones and maybe some poplar in this batch. I will show them to you when they are all done. They are going to look great!

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Finally home

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It took a few days to get caught up as always when I returned from 12 days on the road but I am finally ready to show you some pictures of the ladies size Sorrel top. Oh and yeah, what are your thoughts on the idea of changing the name for the larger sized version? Sorrel II? maybe I should name it for Lillah, my third granddaughter? Or what about Heather? (my daughter and Sorrel’s mom). Something else? Help! I am terrible at names, LOL!

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At first, before I blocked it, I tried it on and was unsure if I even liked it. I remained hopeful though since you should never judge a hand knit before a proper wet block. I was definitely not disappointed either. I am very pleased with the fit now and boy does this yarn feel great to wear. I am still wearing it while I am writing this post. :-) It is so soft and silky and light.

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Before I blocked it the measurement was small for the expected size but it easily blocked out to size without any excessive stretching. I didn’t even use any pins or wires. I simply put it in the washing machine for a hand wash cycle and laid it flat to dry on my bed. Only took about 6-8 hours to dry too.

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I am glad I lowered the neckline too. I was dubious even as I was binding it off that I had chosen right, but I am pleased with it.

So, I guess I had better get busy finalizing the pattern draft. I haven’t done a thing with it yet as I have tons of admin tasks to do also right now in addition to the household tasks. Soon though, promise. You will hear it here as soon as it is ready.

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In other news, I am up to the second set of short rows on the body of my Chance of Showers cardigan. Also I have successfully upgraded the old laptop, which I am still using right now since the new one is still at least a week away from arriving, and it is going pretty good so far. I have noticed a few quirks with the touchpad, probably a driver, but I like it overall.

Okay I will sign off for now. Talk to you again soon!

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Mission Accomplished

After an easy drive over from Schaumburg yesterday, I had no problem getting the booth set up and ready for the show, which opened today at 10:00 a.m.

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I checked in at the hotel about 1:30 p.m. I got unloaded and grabbed some lunch on the way over to the fairgrounds to eat and read while waiting for them to open the building for the vendors to set up around 4:00 or 4:30. I chatted with some knitters and had a restful hour or two, so that was nice.

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I was pleasantly surprised that I was all finished, except for putting out the signs, by 8:15, which was less than 4 hours. It took me 5 1/2 hours at Stitches last weekend. ~shrugging shoulders~

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It has been a more leisurely day in the market today, which is great for the shoppers I bet, so I decided to write a post now in case I get too busy the rest of the weekend. The sale yarn is moving pretty briskly, so I wonder how much will still be left by Monday. :-)

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Off to Allegan

It has been a nice little mini vacation these last three days but today it’s back to work. My bags are packed and I will be on my way over to Allegan, MI in about an hour. The drive should take about four hours or so if I don’t hit any major slowdowns. I will check in at the hotel and then go over to the fairgrounds to get the booth set up. I hope I can get it all done today so I don’t have to go in early tomorrow morning before the market opens at 10:00 a.m..

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I didn’t do a whole lot while I was here but that was my choice. I like to travel but at heart I am also a homebody. I am never bored just hanging out in my own space reading, knitting, listening to music, etc. so that is what I did this week. I did go out yesterday after lunch and catch a movie. I saw The Gift and it was a pretty good psychological thriller. The theater is really nice too. It had those nice leather recliners for the seating. I had never been in ne before and it was kind of cool.

On my Chance of Showers sweater I finished the second sleeve and started the body last night. This is done with short rows so the only thing is to keep up with where you are in the progress of those and it’s easy enough. I am only a little ways in at this point. I may not get very much knitting time at Allegan since I have much less down time from here out. I will try to post at least once when I am there. As a matter of fact the hour grows late, so I must hit the road again. See you soon!

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What Next?

Stitches Midwest 2015 is over for another year and I have a couple days off, so what to do?

I finished the ladies Sorrel on Sunday and I hesitate to show it to you unblocked but since here it is. I am waiting until I get home to wash and block it since I have only coin operated washers here at the hotel and it will be better handled at home. So, this is the best I can do for now. It will be much improved from a good blocking.

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So while I should be working on the pattern write up, and I will get to that soon, instead I picked back up my Summer Showers and started the right sleeve. :-)

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What else am I doing with my time here in Schaumburg? Well boring and geeky person that I am I first attempted to upgrade to Windows 10 since that came through over the weekend.

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I was able to get that done in a little over an hour yesterday morning BUT in the end spent many more hours trying unsuccessfully to find a workable driver for my Intel HD Integrated Graphics. I tried searching at Intel and Toshiba in Safe Mode with Networking but so far nothing for sure that will work. From what I could see of Windows 10 around the difficulty of a annoyingly flickering screen and barely responsive navigation (except for Task Manager which I could get up using CTRL_ALT_DEL), I am looking forward to it on the new computer I ended up ordering from Toshiba Direct. My current laptop is basically fine but it is 5 years old and I have been planning to upgrade this year anyway. This just convinced me it was time. Kyla will probably be getting this one later this month. :-) Oh, and I was pretty painlessly able to roll back to Windows 7 for any one out there who wanted to know. I wouldn’t have even attempted it this week if I didn’t know that was an option.

So yesterday afternoon I decided to get out of the room for a bit. There is a Half Price Books just down the road that I always hit a time of two while I am here. Not too much damage was done but I found a few vinyls and a CD.

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I think I’ll head out to Woodfield Mall just to get out of the room this morning while I am running a backup of my computer in preparation for my sweet new machine coming soon after I get home. Can’t wait! See you later.

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It’s Stitches Midwest time again!

It took me about 3 more hours to finish the booth today after shopping for some groceries this morning. Here’s the results:

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This is the view from the front.

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Here is the sale yarn table. Oh I think I forgot to mention that the Classic Merino Sport yarn is 50% off and it is marked down on the website as well. I am sad to discontinue it but I have some new ideas up my sleeve and I needed to make room first. :-)

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New Shawl Pin and Leather Bracelet display to make browsing and set up easier. We will see how that goes.

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The view from my checkout desk. See ya again soon!

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In Chicago

Well I arrived in Schaumburg, a bit later than I hoped due to a frustrating closure on I-65 north of Indianapolis and 2 hours of detours to end up 38 miles further north when I got back on the interstate, but I digress. I got here about 3:15, dropped in at the hotel to check in and unload by bags, then headed over to the venue to set up as much as I could before they kicked us out at 6:00 p.m.

Here is what it looked like after all stuff was in the booth and fixtures were arranged.

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I got all of the stuff that goes on the tables and shelf put out and got one rack of yarn out before I had to leave for the night. Not too shabby for doing it alone for the first time. I figure it should take 2-3 hours to put out the rest of the yarn and hang all the knitted samples and signage today.

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This was how it looked when I left last night.

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I am heading out to the Whole Foods this morning to get provisions for the week. My hotel has a full kitchen so I can avoid eating out all the time. After that I will be going over to finish the booth and stay through for the opening night market preview at 5:00 p.m. I will show you my finished set up next time. You will notice a few changes to make it faster for me doing this solo. Oh, and in case anyone reading this is coming to the show, I am in booths 305-307 and would love it if you would introduce yourself. I love to meet my readers. :-)

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Getting There

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Well I have done the first decrease on the yoke and it should move along much more quickly now. I don’t have much time to write more today since I am making final preparations for my trip to Chicago tomorrow. I will post soon from Stitches Midwest.

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Alpaca Fiber Dye Day

Well I thought I might divide up the job into two days but I got an early start yesterday, at 8:00 a.m., therefore, I ended up pushing on through all 32 pounds of it in one day. I am sure sore today though, LOL!

Here are the final results taken at the end of the day. The light was fading a bit when I took them since it was around 6:00 p.m., so the colors are slightly off.

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This picture is everything except the last batch, the Deep Teal, because it was still in the pot at the time. I wanted to get a picture while there was still halfway decent light.

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The picture does not do these colors justice. The lime green and robin’s egg blue on the Suri/Silk is gorgeous in person. I am especially happy with these two.

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This is the olive drab Suri/Silk and the Suri/Tencel in emerald. It is darker and richer in person.

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These are the two Suri/Merino blends. Lovely!

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Suri/Bamboo blends here in light pink and saffron.

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These four colors (above and below) are all darker and richer and the shot at the bottom is closer to the true colors.

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See you in a couple days with a knitting update on the ladies Sorrel. I am almost halfway on the yoke so it should start moving faster when I start the decreasing.

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Fiber Dyeing Day 1

I picked up a large order of fiber to dye for New Era Fiber Mill on Tuesday. It amounts in all a little over 32# and I plan to get it finished by Saturday so that I can deliver it on Tuesday before I have to leave for Chicago.

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It is mostly Suri Alpaca to be blended with either silk, bamboo, tencel, or merino at 80/20 ratios with the larger numbers being the alpaca. There are two batches of Huacaya Alpaca and they are not to be blended. They are the two darkest bags you see.

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I usually start these custom orders by doing samples to make sure my dye mixture and saturation are right to match the desired colors. Here is the 10g jars soaking before I add the dye mixtures.

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I made the samples match the percentage that will be in the final blend so that I will know how the dye will take overall. The alpaca will absorb and bond differently than the other fibers they will have added to them. You will see what I mean in the picture further down of the samples after they come out.

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Here is a slightly blurry (sorry) shot of the jars with the dye added before they go into the pot for heat setting.

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I was pleased with the results and only need to tweak a couple a bit. These are the Huacaya, and that little brown bit in the front is the color before I dyed them. The red is more burgundy and the other a forest green. My camera didn’t capture them very well.

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The left sample below is Suri/Bamboo and is a perfect match to the card. The right sample is Suri/Merino and while it was intended to be a few shades darker I over compensated on this one so have adjusted some to lighten it.

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These three samples are all Suri/Silk and I am pleased with these as they are. The intended colors were olive drab, lime green, and Robin’s egg blue.

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The top left sample is Suri/Merino to be dyed eggplant. Once blended it will be closer to the card. Next to that is a Suri/Bamboo to be dyed a cinnamon color. On the bottom left is a Suri/Bamboo also to be dyed emerald, and I am adjusting the color deeper on that one. The dark teal and the saffron on the bottom right are both Suri/Tencel blends and came out perfect too. 

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So, the rest of today I will be mixing up the dyes and starting the silk soaking. Silk needs to soak at least 24 hours to open up the fiber and make it more receptive to the dye. I will begin the dyeing tomorrow and finish up on Saturday. Look for more pictures soon plus a knitting update.

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