greenolive

obsession is an understatement!

me and THAT spinning wheel

Meet Leggs, my single-drive Sheridan Scandinavian spinning wheel, we've been seeing a lot of each other lately. And I mean a LOT!

You already know I'm just a little obsessive, so this post will come as no surprise. I've probably seen more of Leggs in the last week than Mr greenolive. Even I think it's a bit too much. (He certainly does!)

I bought Leggs last Saturday and came straight home and spun. And spun. And plied. I only stopped for dinner, cups of tea and toilet breaks. And only then when the strand of fleece broke or I had to change bobbins.

I was up til 4am the next morning spinning and plying. (Unless you have been without internet connection for the last six weeks you will be well aware of the hold spinning has on me at the moment.) 

Two bobbins of Leicester-Romney cross spun into singles are ready to ply.

One 2-ply skein of handspun, still a bit fuzzy but I am improving.

In the eight days since, I have spun every day. Except for Friday, when I thought I'd take a break and be sociable. But I made up for it by doing another 5am stint today.

Two skeins, two fleeces, two colourways.

In the past week I have spun about 8 or 9 bobbins of singles and plied them into 11 skeins of 2 ply wool. They are all washed and twisted and looking very inviting. And still a bit fuzzy for my liking, but the later skeins are decidedly more even.

It's quite a messy business this spinning. Especially if you use raw, natural fleece as I do. You have the bits of grass, stick, dirt and other organic matter that falls from the fleece as you handle it. Then there's the bits of fluff and fleece that fall to the floor as you pull bits to spin or break a single because your tension is too tight. And, don't forget the grime and lanolin on your fingers and hands and clothes. 

As for the set up, you need space for the wheel, a chair, and somewhere to put the fleece, bobbins and tools. When I set up I end up taking over the lounge room. 

A very time and labour intensive persuit, you need to spin two bobbins of singles before you can then ply this into a yarn. Then skein, wash, dry and wind it. My teacher said it takes about 2 hours to fill a bobbin. So you need to factor in about four hours before you can even start to ply.

So, taking into account the mess, the space and the time to produce results, you can see that my all-night spinning sessions are quite sensible. However I'm a bit stiff and sore by the time I climb into bed. Maybe I need to take some breaks? But when the wheel is spinning, and the fleece is magically releasing itself into a thin strand of fibres, you don't want to mess with the flow. You hang on for dear life and pray it lasts a bit longer!

 

Knitted swatch from some unwashed spun single. Is it me, or does it look like some fabulous Habu yarn?

Now I just need to decide what to knit with all this handspun yarn... Any ideas?

And I've still got heaps of fleece to spin.

one down, nine to go

making progress with the knitting WIPs

The finished Sea Green Baby Blanket for Baby Pickles.

I have no trouble knitting to deadline. I think that stems from my years of working to deadlines as a graphic designer. If a brochure or annual report needs to be released on a certain date then there are no excuses for missing it.

You'll remember my very long list of knitting WIPs. (I'll wait while you remind yourself just how long it was.)

Ten. Yes, 10 projects on the needles at once. Some of you were a bit incredulous, being the sorts of knitter with only one project at any one time. (Don't you get bored?)

The shame of my excessive WIPs and the impending deadline for the Sea Green baby blanket spurred me into action and I focused and finished the blanket. And wrapped it. And posted it.

Sea Green now has a new home in Baby Pickles room. The colours complement the teal wall beautifully. What luck! Check it out for yourself. Now all we need is the baby.

And, since I've finished one project, can I start another now? Mr greenolive is pestering me for a jumper. I can't say no can I?

greenolive turns one

Happy blog birthday!

And you get the presents!

I had every intention of posting this first thing this morning. However I didn't get to bed til after 4am as I was spinning and plying up a storm on my very own spinning wheel. (More about THAT later.) And a girl needs her beauty sleep, especially at my age. So, with a few hours sleep I type this post (so cut me some slack with the spelling and grammar, ok?).

Exactly one year ago today I posted my first blog post.

I didn't really know what I was doing, exactly why I was doing it, what I'd write about or who would read it. Would anyone read it? Thankfully they did. And they commented – even better – you all know how I feel about comments!

Anna Laura was my first commentor. So I should probably send her a thank you pressie to mark the occasion. She's kind of like my blog's god mother.

In those subsequent 365 days:

• I have posted almost 170 posts (I have several drafts which have yet to see the light of day so it's hard to be precise – very unlike me, I know)

• received 615 comments (some of them are mine, but I have at least 600 "real" comments!)

• met lots of fellow bloggers who seem to understand me (see Patricia's comment on this post)

• written for mixtape

• sold greenolive goodies 

and had such fun. I love blogging. Now while I'm showering, driving to work, or trying to fall asleep, an idea for a blog, tag line or first sentence pops into my head and I have to write it down before I forget.

A year ago I couldn't have imagined how much this online community of crafters and creatives would come to mean to me. 

I love reading your posts: oohhhhing, aahhhhing, laughing, nodding in agreement and often shedding a tear as I read about your lives and adventures, challenges and triumphs, inspirations and frustrations.

I love seeing the images of things you have created, feeling inspired as I see each of them, in awe of your talent and skill. And your photographs of the world around you opens my eyes to new ways of seeing and new things each day.

I've bumped into quite a few graphic designers and several architects, and you remind me of a time when my creativity was with me 24/7, not just in the after-work hours under the guise of greenolive.

So to celebrate greenolive's first birthday, you get the presents. That's the tradition isn't it? Leave a comment – get a present.

Five is one of my favourite numbers, so there are five "presents". I can't promise I'll do the impartial random name draw. I kind of think I'll know who you are when I read your comment. No pressure!

Let the comments begin!

Small print: I'm not sure if the "presents" will be greenolive goodies or something tres desirable from my vast fabric-wool-button stash. But I do promise they will be comment-worthy!

Very small print: Aunty Shabby you are not eligible to win, sorry, but you can still leave a comment! And that goes for you too Mr greenolive.

just how many knitting projects is too many?

One of my many WIPs, see very long list below.

I often wonder about this very question as I start yet another knitting project while several others in various states of completion lie about the place begging to be finished.

Just how many knitting WIPs is appropriate? How many can one have on the go at once? And why do I keep starting projects while I have many others that need focus and attention and completion?

Is there a knitting rule I just don't know about?

I know some of you have the self-discipline to not start a new project until you finish another. It's like you have some magic number in your head: three knitting WIPs is enough. No, really, it is!

Or you have the internal fortitude to resist starting a new project even though the yarn is divine and you want to see how it feels as you knit it. Clearly you are not the type of knitter who's into instant gratification!

Unfortunately that is not me. I crave instant gratification and have no self-discipline when it comes to yarn.

When I actually count my knitting WIPs I have 10:

1. The Sea Green baby blanket

2. The mulberry mohair wrap vest

3. The steel blue moss stitch scarf

4. The linen lavender pillow (number 5)

5. Mum's cotton poncho

6. Mum's sparkly wrap

7. Baby Blanket #3

8. The pink bamboo vest

9. The green cotton scarf

10. the scarf for Ed

And these are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. I'm sure if I really tried I could rustle up a few more! And I mean real WIPs, knitting that is actually "on the needles" as opposed to queued and ready to start.

I wonder what my problem is? Procrastination? Can't commit? Short attention span? No discipline? 

How exactly do you guys keep your WIPs to a manageable number and actually finish a project every once in awhile?

a spot of sewing

The button detail on linen curtains sewn for the new house.

Saturday and Sunday saw a spot of sewing in the studio. Finally, the studio was the scene of crafty creating after weeks of unpacking and sorting.

Both afternoons Mr greenolive and I decamped to the studio spending several hours together enjoying the space and the steady rain on the tin roof. 

I did the last of the unpacking and sorting – those last 5 or 6 boxes that inevitably get left because you're not quite sure what to do with them or where they should go. The sewing machine was unpacked and I managed to modify three curtains and make two more. That means the kitchen window, pine shelves, studio sink and studio window are now sorted! On Sunday I managed to finish three new scarves and start another two. Not quite a rhythm, but first steps certainly.

Mr greeenolive added some more lights in the studio so I can seem what I'm doing, and started stripping back the old dresser we bought from the landlord. He also put up a curtain rod so we can screen the sink area off from the rest of the studio. Its starting to look quite comfy. Can't wait til I can spend more time in there.

Oh, and I managed to get a spot of knitting in too. Sea green blanket is finished!

finding a rhythm

the aftermath of the move

It's not as bad as this anymore, but it's still not quite right!

It's been five weeks since the move and I still don't feel settled. I haven't hit my stride or found my rhythm. Things still feel very topsy-turvy. Boxes still need to be unpacked. Things need to find their homes. Studios need to be used. Knitting needs to be done. Walks need to be had. Sleeping patterns need to go back to normal. 

And you know the really odd thing? We lived here for three years before so I thought I'd just slip back into a groove. Things would go back in their old places. It would be the easiest move ever.

I'm hoping I find a rhythm soon, I don't like feeling this way. It's a bit like sitting on a bus that just won't stop at your stop even though you pressed the buzzer. There's nothing you can do but go for the ride. Eventually you'll get off and get home, but not quite as you'd planned, and much later than you were expecting.

I'm feeling very discombobulated. Until a few years ago I didn't realise it was a real word. I thought it was one my dad made up to describe his daughters when they were out of sorts. It sounds like a word your dad would make up doesn't it?

Maybe the short, cold, dark winter days have something to do with it? 

sea green

Baby blanket #6

Close up of the WIP baby blanket

The tale of yet another baby blanket – this time Sea Green. Baby Blanket #6.

If you are a regular reader, you are probably thinking this looks suspiciously familiar. You'd be right. But last time it was Pink Bubblegum, perfect for a girl. 

However this time the sex of baby in question is unknown, so I need to play it safe and knit something suitable for a boy or girl. This variegated yarn, once again a lovely, soft yarn of thin and thin texture, runs the colour spectrum from white through green to very bright teal. Reminds me of the colours of the ocean in the tropics – hence the name, Sea Green.

A simple garter stitch pattern again, knitted on circulars simply for the ease of knitting. Cast on anywhere upwards of 80 stitches on a needle size that works with your particular yarn, knit madly til yarn runs out and Bob's your uncle, you have a baby blanket.

I'd better get a wriggle on, Mum is almost 37 weeks and baby might be impatient to come out!

And if your are wondering why a baby blanket and not a cardigan, booties, a hat or something else, it's because babies can't outgrow blankets! Plus I love the idea that Baby Pickles might be snuggling into this blanket well past their fifth birthday.

I dream of spinning

I'm totally obsessed!

A close up of two different handspun yarns: one in the natural "white" wool the other from a coloured fleece ranging from brown through to grey. I plied both of these and spun the brown one too!

You've probably guessed by now, based on the number of recent posts on the subject, that I am totally obsessed by spinning.

I have finished my last class and for the past few nights I have been dreaming of spinning. Of spinning the rest of my brown-ish fleece on a double-drive Sheridan spinning wheel. The fact that I don't have a wheel hasn't put a dampner on things.

In week four, we consolidated the lessons of the past classes: spinning, plying and winding the yarn into a skein. I didn't get a chance to do any spinning, instead focusing in plying the singles into a two-ply yarn.

My practice plying was with some natural-coloured singles that languished on some half-empty bobbins. Spun by someone else, probably a beginner like me, they were lumpy and bumpy and twisty and turny. Regardless, I plied my heart out and ended up with two skeins that were a bit twisted, but all mine none the less! The photo above is of one skein in its natural state – before the washing and winding into a ball. Aunty Shabby liked these so I have promised she can have them. Am I not a most generous sister?

I left this to last, hoping my practice plying would mean I wouldn't stuff up this. It was far too beautiful to stuff up. Plied from two singles in this beautiful wool, this is my favourite yarn. I can wait to knit with this and to spin and ply the rest of the fleece. 

The colours are so lovely ranging from deep dark chocolate through coffee with cream to soft pale grey. The variegation you see in the yarn is due to the different coloured fibers in the fleece. My teacher said it was excellent work and stopped me mid-ply to take a photo the bobbin in situ. I was quite pleased as you can imagine!

For my last lesson I had Chris, a single drive Ashford, a traditional model with the wheel on the right and the flyer on the left. While she was quite pleasant and we got the job done, I wasn't as enamoured of her as I had been with Matilda. 

It seems I am a spinning wheel snob. Matilda is a Sheridan, double-drive, castle wheel and she was wonderful to spin and ply with. I want to buy her. But as I can't have Matidla, I'll have to settle for another Sheridan wheel, but only after I meet them and see how we get on.

Have any of you got a mum, sister, aunt or granny with a Sheridan spinning wheel hiding in the attic, shed, garage? I promise to give them a very good home! 

in a spin

But in a good way!

Two bobbins of yummy spun singles ready to ply next week.

I'm loving this spinning lark! Don't know why I didn't sign up for lessons years earlier. If you have a hankering to learn how to spin, sign up now. You'll love it. And if you are in Melbourne, I can give you the number of my teacher.

Week 3 and it was all good. I met Matilda, my favourite so far. She is a double drive Sheridan Castle wheel and we got on like a house on fire. I'd buy her if I could, but she is one of my teacher's favourite wheels and now I know why.

I was able to spin almost half a bobbin of wool, using a dark-coloured fleece, a Leicester-Romny cross. It was delightful to work with and the variegations in the wool are divine. I can't wait to start knitting with it.

Then after I'd mastered spinning, I learnt to ply the wool, creating a 2 ply yarn from natural and dark singles that someone else had spun. 

Once again I got to take the wool home to wash, ball and knit. This time I chose a simple garter stitch as I thought it would show off both the texture of the yarn and the contrast of the two colours.

It seems it was a good choice, I got top marks for my homework.

siblings

 

Three sisters: #2, #3, #1  – circa 1977 I think. 

The recent visit of one of my two sisters with two of her three children gave me the chance to ponder siblings and how the relationship between siblings rarely differs, even despite their ages. 

I am the eldest of three sisters: M, R and S. And the middle sister, R, is now the mother of three: J, M and H. Two sets of three. 30 years apart. And very similar in how they view their place in the line up.

The eldest child: reliable, dutiful, polite, breaking ground and doing the hard yards. Being responsible for the others, watching out for them, making allowances and giving up things for them: the front seat, the last chocolate... At least that's how J and I would characterise our roles as eldest children. Younger sisters and brothers are such a pain (his word not mine!) 

We agreed the middle child (R or M) has much less pressure and is allowed to do things at a much earlier age than we were allowed to. Case in point, J had to wait til he was seven before he could sit in the front seat of the car. M, his younger brother, was allowed to sit in the front seat when he was six! As for H, the youngest, a girl, J expects she'll be sitting in the front seat when she is five! What injustice! I concur. 

And the youngest, (S or H) don't get us started! They are usually spoilt, are allowed to do things at a much younger age, but are very useful for getting parents to say yes to things. It's the cute factor... 

Which one are you: eldest, middle or youngest?

Footnote: Maggie's comment reminded me that as an eldest child I can be quite bossy – but its a good kind of bossy...