Seventh Sock

Here’s another pair of boot socks. I think I like these best of this most recent batch.

 

There is one thing I forgot to mention in my last blog about knitting these socks: the needles I used. I am so very fond of knitting socks with double pointed needles. Many sock knitters these days use either two circular needles or one very long circular needle. I just can’t seem to give up my double points. They fit so nicely and naturally in my hands. And I’m very happy with my sock knitting. On occasion, there are sock patterns that are just easier to knit on two circulars. But usually I go for the double points.

And usually I pull out my needles that are made of rosewood. They are so pretty, and they are smooth yet not slippery, and they are warm. But on this sock pattern, I also use my very old aluminum needles. For the leg of the sock, I use a US size 6 (4mm) set of needles; the rosewood needles. For the foot, I use a US size 4 (3.5mm) set. Now, the yarn I use – B B&L “Heritage” – is a sturdy worsted weight yarn. Such yarn is typically knitted on US size 7 or 8 or even 9 needles. But for socks, I knit at a tight gauge. Knitting this yarn on size 4 needles can be a physical challenge. I really struggle when I use my rosewood needles; for one thing, I’m worried about breaking them. That would be bad. I have no such worry with the aluminum needles. I’m so very glad I’ve kept them as part of my needle stable.

I was asked to share the pattern. Here is the basic outline:

Cast on 40 sts. Work in K1P1 ribbing for the leg of the sock on size 6 needles. Then change to size 4 needles for the foot. Work a heel flap on 20 sts, leaving the other 20 sts for the instep. Do a regular heel turn, ending with 12 sts rem on heel needle. Pick up 12 sts along each gusset side. Work the rest of the sock in st st. Do a standard gusset decrease, going from 56 sts to 40 sts. Work even until approx. 2 ½ inches short of foot length. Work a graduated wedge toe. Kitchener stitch the toe. Presto! If you’d like more detail, email me: amy@stonesockfibers.com.

Six Sick Socks

You're out of the woods

You're out of the dark
You're out of the night
Step into the sun
Step into the light
           Lyrics by Edgar Harburg, from The Wizard of Oz

I’m finally feeling like a human being again. At last, food tastes good – especially that spoonful of peanut butter I had late last night.

While under the weather, I drank a lot of herbal tea and water, did some nasal rinses, took antibiotics, watched TV, and knitted boot socks. Six pairs. (I’m nearly done with a seventh pair.)

This is the same boot sock pattern I’ve been knitting for 30 years. So it’s as mindless a pattern as can be. I use this pattern to play with constraints. I try to make every pair unique. I use the same yarn (used to be Reynold’s Candide, now it’s Briggs & Little Heritage). I never change the stitch pattern. I only change colors.

 

There is one exception to my every-pair-unique strategy. I always have a pair of red socks with pink toes. I call them my CiCi Socks, in memory of my dear friend CiCi Rock. She taught me to knit socks after she gave me a pair of boot socks that were red with pink toes. She changed my life. She died just after I moved to Michigan to begin my life as a fiber artist. Damn cancer.

Don’t think for a minute that I have too many pairs of boot socks. Even though there is no snow on the ground right now, there will be. And winter is long here. So I use boot socks nearly every day. And they wear out; typically the heel goes first because of the abrasion in the boot.

When I wear a hole in the heel, I give the socks to my dear friend, Becky McD. We wear the same size socks/shoes. And she likes to darn socks. So these socks get a new life. And I get to knit more boot socks. A win-win, I’d say.

Spin-Off Arrived

Early last week my copy of the Winter issue of Spin-Off arrived in the mail. The “luxury” issue.

 

My second column of the “Ask a Spinning Teacher” is on page 24. I also have a project included in this issue: “The Last of Lucy. A Christmas Stocking” on page 92.

In my Marchblog entry, I mentioned that the sheep known as Lucy had passed away.

Although her wool wasn’t strictly a luxury fiber, I consider it precious to me. With the last of her wool, I spun and knitted a Christmas stocking. I’m pretty happy with the pattern. As with all my designs, I’d change a few things if I did it again.

 

Anyway, when I submitted the article, I had included an email from Marie Glaesemann, Lucy's shepherd. Spin-Off didn’t have room for it, so I’d like to share Marie’s reminiscence here:

“A sheep’s life is not very long or exciting to write about but Lucy was special. She was born in 2005. She died in September 2014. We hadn’t bred her that year because she had such a hard time the year before. Paul found her lying in the overhang of the hay shed and thought she was just sleeping but she had peacefully died. At least it surely looked like she had just died in her sleep. A good way for a “pet” to go – I suppose animals can have weak hearts just as people do and if I had to guess, that is what I would think. That was probably why she was so docile, easy going and sweet – even when her babies were born, she was an exceptionally caring mother but she did, although reluctantly, let us do all the necessary things with them. As you know she was 1/2 Romney, 1/4 Corriedale and 1/4 Border Leicester - seemed to be quite a combination. Wish we had had more with that fleece. Lucy had 11 babies in the 7 years we bred her so her claim to fame was not in lamb production but instead it was her fleece production. I really am glad that you had those years of enjoying spinning her fleece.”

Lucy was special, and I am glad that I got to enjoy her fleece for so many years.

My “Ask a Spinning Teacher” column is on plying balanced yarns. I like writing technical articles such as this one for two reasons. First, it forces – er, encourages – me to clarify and elaborate my thoughts on a topic. I think I did that here. Second, it prompts me to create a systematic series of samples to make my points. Spin-Off did a nice job of photographing those samples. And now I’ll have them when I teach workshops. So, I’m pretty happy with is article too.

 

On Saturday, I received a charming note in the mail from Beth Pennington. She lives nearby. Beth is a master spinner. And her husband, Dave, is a renowned expert on antique American spinning equipment. He is co- author, with Michael B. Taylor, of the book, “Spinning Wheels and Accessories” (2004, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen, PA). Beth and Dave’s house is loaded with lovely antique wheels, all functional.

 

So, here’s the content of Beth’s note:

“Spin-Off had an article that caught my eye immediately. It had photos and clear descriptions of yarns, and balanced yarns at that! I thought to myself, ‘At last someone who clearly understands and can write about it!’ And then I looked at who wrote it. Congratulations for your wonderful article – and thank you! Thinking of you with a big smile on my face! Fondly, Beth.”

I giggled and turned slightly red. Thanks, Beth!

I Mostly Like Free-Lance

I’ve been self-employed for just over ten years now, scraping by on a meager income. I love the independence. I can say “yes” when I want and “no” when I want. I do work that I enjoy and value. I interact with people who are sincere and generous.

I don’t mind having very little money because I don’t crave stuff and things. I live modestly. I’m fortunate that I’ve found a rental situation that I can afford and is safe and comfortable. I’m fortunate that I enjoy cooking and baking, so I eat well despite not being able to dine frequently at all the wonderful restaurants nearby. Most importantly, I’m fortunate that I live in an area I truly love. So, it doesn’t matter that I don’t have money to travel the world; there is so much right around me that is endlessly delightful.

But. There are downsides to free-lance work. Basically, if I don’t work, I don’t get paid. I have no sick leave and no paid vacation. I don’t usually consider these to be problems; I like working and I’m mostly healthy. Right now, however, I’m not. Nothing serious or life-threatening. I’ve had a sinus infection for nearly three weeks. I feel like crap. It is very hard to get any work done. I’ve got deadlines to meet, and proposals for work to send out.

And I can’t smell anything. Food doesn’t taste good. This is especially frustrating during the time of year when food is my focus. Not wanting to eat on Thanksgiving is a drag.

I have a bad attitude. I’ve tried not to dwell on it, but damn! I am sick of being sick. I’ve only been able to do mindless work: I’ve been knitting boot socks. Lots of boot socks. At least that’s something. I’m on my sixth pair. I do need them. So, these past couple weeks haven’t been a total loss.

When I feel better (soon), I will completely – not just mostly – like free-lance.

Blog Reboot

This is a sincere effort to start writing regular – and more frequent – blog entries.

For as long as I’ve posted on this blog, I’ve thought about these posts as being mostly for my benefit. After all, I only have 49 official “followers”. That’s pitiful.

But, in my blogging absence, I’ve learned that there are folks out there who really miss my writings. (I’m sorta embarrassed to say that; it sounds so braggy.) I’ve been scolded by many folks at several of my teaching events this year. And last week, I even got an email from a reader who asked if all was well. She was worried about me! And she missed my blog entries.

I miss them too. I realize that they help me keep track of my travels, teaching, creating, writing, and living. Of course I regularly update my resume and my teaching schedule, but they are only lists of events. They don’t include any of the flavor, like catching up with old friends and making new ones, or the impulse buys, or charming gifts that I’ve received, or the number of times people say I look just like their aunt, or the events with terrific food (or not-so-terrific food).

Let me say in my defense that I’ve been doing a good amount of writing in the past few months, just not on my blog. I now have a regular column in Spin-Off magazine, “Ask a Spinning Teacher”. Cool, right? (Oh, if you want to ask a question, send it to spinoff@interweave.com with “Ask a Spinning Teacher” in the subject line.)

And just to let you know, I do post bits and pieces on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amy.tyler.125). You are welcome to join me there. Everything I post is “public”. My posts of course include fiber, but also dance, art, creativity, puns, and how much I love living in Michigan.

Lucy, Knit Repair, and Re-Mastering a Technique

I’d like to share three vignettes today.

Lucy

Every Spring since 2008, I have purchased raw fleeces from Marie Glaesseman. She and her husband have a small flock of mixed breed sheep. They live near Duluth. They care for their animals. The fleeces are sheared well. Then they are skirted well. The result is beautiful, healthy, fun-to-work-with wool.

Every Spring since 2008, I have purchased Lucy’s fleece. Lucy is a mix of Romney, Corriedale, and Border Leicester: a truly lovely medium grey fleece with wavy, long locks . But Lucy is no more. Marie informed me that Lucy died this winter. I am sad. I have spun and knitted a lot of Lucy’s wool. I have shared Lucy’s wool in many workshops. I have just a bit of last year’s wool left. I will make something special with it. For myself.

Knit Repair

My friend, Sylvia VM, recently asked me to get her out of a knitting jam. She’s working on a knit-in-the-round sweater with an intriguing cable pattern going up the front and back. Somehow, 8 stitches dropped off the needle. Those stitches unraveled about 6-8 rows. She wanted me to fix it. I said sure. I started messing with it and then started getting a headache. Some of the dropped stitches had unraveled just a couple rows, while others unraveled 8 rows. There were a couple of moving 3-stitch cables. Gah!

I very quickly suggested that she just rip out the sweater 8 rounds and re-knit. Now, this would not have been a problem for me. I’m a pretty fast knitter, and ripping out is not the psychological trauma for me that is for some. Sylvia was appalled. She pointed out that she’d added the sleeves, and that each round was now over 300 stitches. OK, no ripping.

I’m not sure what exactly happened next. Sylvia said something that woke up my brain. It instantly became clear to me that all I had to do was unravel all 8 stitches all the way down to the 8^th round. Then I simply re-knit each horizontal strand, following the cable pattern, starting with the bottom most strand. It took less than 5 minutes to fix the problem.

And then it occurred to me that I could use a similar approach to mending a hole in an Aran cabled sweater that has been sitting in my To-Do pile for way too long. I will make the hole bigger, take some spare yarn, and knit the first row with one strand of yarn, leaving long ends on both left and right for weaving in ends. Cut the yarn. Knit the second row with a second strand. And so forth. Of course, this is currently a mental exercise. We’ll see if theory and reality agree.

Re-Mastering a Technique

I’m working on a couple articles for Spin-Off magazine for their Fall 2015 issue. One article is a how-to about a couple of gently textured yarns. These yarns are spun from regular Z-spun singles. The plying causes the texture.

I’ve been making these yarns for years. And I’ve taught these techniques in many workshops. And I use them in my knit designs. I thought I’d just sit down and spin a few new samples of the yarns.

For some reason, I could not make one of them work (I’m being vague on purpose). I ended up spinning and plying FIVE crappy skeins of yarn. Five! I tried changing all sorts of things: the thickness of the singles, the amount of twist in singles, the wheel I used for the singles as well as for the plying. I re-read my old notes. I looked at my previous samples and knitted items. Why was I able to make this yarn then but not now?

I am happy to report that I had a breakthrough and figured it out. The plying required a strong take-up tension, but I was going overboard. When I reduced the take-up tension a very small amount, all was right with the world. And this yarn. Thank goodness!

Out of Hibernation

This winter has been cold. Really, really cold. I love winter. I love snow. But as my friend, Sylvia, says, the cold has been “inconvenient”. So, I’ve holed up at home more than I normally would. I felt a bit frozen, figuratively speaking. But now is seems that Spring may actually arrive. It's time to wake up.

While it was so cold, I got a good amount of work done, but I wasn’t blogging. I am thrilled that I’m getting more teaching and writing work. Assuming this keeps up, I suspect I won’t be able to blog as often as I’d like.

Things are happening and I want to share. For one thing, I had another article published in Spin-Off (Spring 2015): “Rug Hooking With Stash. Something Old, Something New.” I blogged last November about this project. Here’s a picture of the rug. I took this one. I must say that Spin-Off did a much better job with the photography.

 

I’ve got more writing for Spin-Off to do. That’s a good thing. More on that later.

I do want to mention some upcoming fiber events. Yes, I’m teaching at these events. But so are many other wonderful fiber arts instructors. If you’ve got an urge to travel for a fiber fix, try out one of these:

Interlochen College of Creative Arts is sponsoring a number of Spring and Summer fiber workshops as part of their Adult Arts Programs. I’m teaching spinning in May and August, but there are also other workshops in knitting, weaving, felting, and dyeing. And, yes, there are classes in many other art forms. Check it out!

Spring Fiber Fling is a weekend event at a charming church camp in Pickford, Michigan. That’s in the Upper Peninsula. The event is held the weekend after Mother’s Day, May 15-17. You can find a pdf of the brochure on the Facebook page of the Country Spinners & Bridge Shuttlers Guild  I’m teaching two half-day workshops: “The Surprising Yarn-Over” and “Ply This Way, Ply That Way”.

Later in May, I travel to Burlington, Ontario to be part of “Panoply”, the Ontario Handweavers & Spinners Conference. This event holds two “firsts” for me: my first teaching gig outside the USA, and my first time as a keynote speaker. Oh, and I’m teaching a new workshop: “Spinning Wools of North America”.

June 5-7, I’ll be teaching at the Michigan League of Handweavers Summer Conference  “Spinning With Silk Hankies” and “Spinning and Knitting Goat Fibers”. While I’m there, I may well take the opportunity to take a class from the wonderful Kate Larson.

In July, I travel to Pennsylvania for the Mid Atlantic Fiber Association 2015 Conference. I’m teaching “Playing With Plying”. I’ve taught at MAFA a couple times and have enjoyed it. The line up of instructors this year is impressive. I’d be tempted to attend this event to take classes if I weren’t scheduled to teach!

August is the month for the Michigan Fiber Festival. I’m scheduled to teach “Spinning & Knitting Energized Singles”, “Beginning Spinning on the Wheel”, “Mechanics of Your Wheel”, and “Variations on Short Draw.” Registration is not open yet, but will be soon.

And September is the month for the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival. I’m breathlessly waiting to hear what workshops of mine they’ve chosen.

In October, I travel to Chautauqua, New York for my first time at the Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference. I’m teaching “Beginning Spinning on the Wheel” and “Spinning With Commercial Yarns”. Hey, any festival with “Great Lakes” in the title has got to be awesome. Right?

So, you see I’m busy. I’ll do my best to avoid letting my blog languish.