Mandy Moore's Blog, page 66

Jillian’s Spinning: A Quick Trip to Portland

Our family went to Portland to celebrate my in-law’s 50th anniversary, it was a blissful 3 days. Why is it so hard to get my brain and sleep back in sync traveling west to east? I’m still a little blurry, but here’s a quickie recap.

PDX!

We drank, we ate, I bought books at Powell’s, we stayed at the Kennedy School , I even spun at the Japanese Garden.

I squeezed in a trip to Twisted!  A super fast the-husband-and-kids-are-in-the-car-outside trip.

Twisted!

Mer helped me pick out some Knitted Wit yarn for a little fair isle. I saw Quince yarns in the wild. I visited a wall of Blue Moon Fiber Arts and petted a whole bunch of fibers from new to me dyers. I wish this store was in my neighborhood!

But what did I buy?

Twisted Haul

Fiber from Knitted Wit and Wonderland Dyeworks, Knitted Wit Rambouillete yarn, Hazel Yarn sock, Swans Island fingering weight yarn, Socks That Rock – I didn’t have time to meet up with Tina, so I worshiped her yarn instead. And some Madeline Tosh Unicorn Tails for stitching.

I’ve been home a couple of days and am already trying to figure out how soon I can get back to Portland.

Now for another cup of coffee!

WWKIP

I’m shameless. I knit in public pretty much every day. Although I remember a dark time when I didn’t. Not long after moving to Toronto — 20 or so years ago — I was given tickets to a Blue Jays’ game. I took my knitting with me, naturally. And naturally, I worked on it, but I confess I felt a little sheepish about it. In hindsight, it was perhaps that it was a colorwork project, and I had several balls of yarn attached and more than a few loose ends…

But now, I relish knitting in public, and I love the sometimes-funny looks I get. And that’s what June is all about, for knitters. We celebrate World Wide Knit in Public Day (Facebook site). It used to be a single day, but it’s celebrated on a variety of dates, depending on where you are, and what else is on your calendar. And that’s sort of the point. Really, any date should be celebrated with a bit of knitting in public (well, maybe not on Polar Vortex days…).

I took part in a couple of Knitting in Public events over the past few weeks… At Shall We Knit, in early June.  Kim and Ron of indigodragonfly did a yarn dyeing demo.

Knitting, and related activities, in public.

I worked on my circular shawl yesterday, on the patio in front of Lettuce Knit.

In the great outdoors, outside Lettuce Knit.

A group in Toronto also knitted at Gibson House. Not only are they knitting outdoors, but they yarnbombed their own chairs.

How good is this?

Yarn-dyer Cat of Blueberry Pie Studios wins this year, for knitting on a rollercoaster. I believe it was a kiddie-coaster, but even so.

Bonus points for danger!

Did you Knit in Public?

WWW: The Great London Yarn Crawl; Franklin Habit wows in Vogue Knitting; Meet the Tech Editors!

The Great London Yarn Crawl is returning on Saturday 20 September 2014! As last year, their proceeds from the event will be donated to Refuge, the UK’s leading charity supporting women and children victims of domestic violence.

Brought to the UK by two North American ex-pats, Allison Decker Thistlewood and Rachel Brown, the Yarn Crawl is a great way to see lots of London’s Yarn Shop treasures and meet like-minded knitters during the journey!

Franklin Habit designed this beautiful vest for Vogue Knitting’s Early Fall issue.

We couldn’t be prouder of our Franklin Habit — look at this delicious thing he’s concocted for the lucky people at Vogue Knitting magazine! Stunning, exquisite and really, just perfect.

We’re proud to know you, Franklin.

It’s your turn to get to know someone…two someones, actually. Our Garment Tech Editors, Ashley Knowlton and Ruth Garcia-Alcantud! You’ll find their lovely mugshots and bios on our Staff  page. Without our crack Tech Editing team (which includes, of course, Managing Tech Editor Kate Atherley), Knitty would, basically, suck. So go learn more about these amazing, skilled women.

We think they’re awesome.

I am off on a quick family vacation today for my in-laws ...

I am off on a quick family vacation today for my in-laws 50th anniversary. We’re flying so there is not much space, but I’m still bringing spinning. Check out my little kit.

My plane travel spinning kit.

A little featherweight Bosworth spindle and 2 ounces of Spunky Eclectic 50/50 camel/silk (color Lakeside). Because I am ever the optimist, I also have straws to slide full cops onto and a collapsible niddy noddy from Ashford.  It all fits neatly into a small project bag from Madbird. I’m working on a new yarn idea, I don’t know if I want it to be a 2 or 3 ply. I should get enough spun for swatching on this trip.

How small is my kit? Well the new issue of PLY came yesterday & it not even as long as the magazine.

Spinning bag and plane reading.

What do you take for travel spinning?

WWW: New Knitty, Knitter in Residence and Rhinebeck is Coming

 

First Fall Knitty is live!

 

 

Knitter in Residence

 

The University of Glasgow has a job posting for a Knitter in Residence. I wonder how many applications they’ll get?

 

 

 

Delaware is for Cables from First Fall Knitty

 

 

Chari on Ravelry is trying to collect 300 handknit hats by September for the homeless in Savannah, Georgia. If you can help there’s more info in her Ravlery group Hatalanche. There are lots of hat patterns in the Knitty Library

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you counting there are 129 days until Rhinebeck. Workshops are already up!

 

Taylor Swift did needlepoint for Ed Sheeran.

 

Jillian’s Spinning: Standing and Spinning

Lately I’ve been feeling really stiff after a long bouts of spinning, and I wondered if I could stand and spin with my miniSpinner.

Being a packrat and being married to a packrat has it’s distinct advantages, because the husband went into the garage and brought out something he had rigged for a tradeshow.

Tripod

It’s an old tripod with a piece of wood attached. Bonus points for the oilcloth.

The underside

My miniSpinner sits perfectly on top. There’s even a bungee cord to hold it since the hub used it for a little laptop.

Secured with a bungee

I need to play with the height a little, but so far it is fabulous!

Standing and spinning!

Anyone want to come spin in my backyard?

 

WWW: Knitting in Public; knitting flora.

Once again, this month marks World Wide Knit in Public Day. Or Week. Heck, if it were up to me, I’d make it a month. Different cities and organizations mark this day at different points during the month, but no matter where and when you do it, we think that KIP-ping is an excellent way to spend an afternoon.

This Saturday, Shall We Knit is hosting a variety of shenanigans and yarny fun, and I’ll be there. Lettuce Knit in Toronto is hosting an event June 22nd, and I’ll be there with very special guest Dexter the dog.

Event listings can be found on the site: Canada, US, UK. So far, 27 countries have events registered!

Definitely counts as knitting in public.

Toronto’s annual TTC Knitalong date has been announced for this year: July 12, 2014. Toronto’s knitters will be taking over our streetcars and knitting their way around the city, touring yarn stores, knitting up some fun, and puzzling other commuters.

More details soon to be announced, on the blog. Registration opens June 14th, and this even sells out fast.

Image from the artist’s website. Click to enlarge and see the detail.

LOVE this: artist and former biology student Tatyana Yanishevsky knits plants and flowers. She studied biology and art at Brown University, and for her senior thesis in visual art, Yanishevsky knit eight anatomically correct flowers.

More info about her work on her website. The level of detail is incredible, and knitting is the ideal medium to represent her subjects: “You have these petals and these veins that bring water and nutrients to different parts of the plant,” says the artist. “I can copy that in knitting by having cables and ridges.” She uses yarn of different weights for different parts of the flower, and lace stitches create the airier and more ethereal parts of the plants.

What you can’t see from the photos is the size of the items… her tiger lily is five feet wide, a little larger than the actual item.

This past winter, nineteen of her works were on display at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Scientists and artists alike have praised her work for its beauty, but also its educational value: these large-scale models are an ideal way to examine the tiny details that we can’t always see or appreciate.

Speaking of plants, a group in Canberra, Australia, has kicked off a program to encourage knitters to make scarves for trees at the local arboretum. The trees will be dressed up for Australian National Tree Day, July 25th.

Celebrity knitter alert: apparently Harry Styles of boy-band One Direction is a knitter.

Jillian’s Spinning: Woolen, Worsted and Woolen-N-Worsted

Last week I accidentally plied a woolen singles and a worsted singles together, making woolen-n-worsted 2-ply instead of a woolen or worsted 2-ply.

I spun more singles and plied woolen to woolen and worsted to worsted and knit all of them into swatches.

Here are close ups of the woolen 2-ply and worsted 2-ply – they are both Corriedale.

Woolen 2-ply left and worsted 2-ply right.

As I’d expect woolen is fuzzier and worsted is smoother. The worsted stitches look crisper too.

Here is the woolen-n-worsted swatch:

woolen-n-worsted swatch

Smooth-ish and the stitches are a little squirrelier than a worsted. Here’s a closer look:

woolen-n-worsted closer

I can see the two different plies in this one, especially in the garter stitch at the top and bottom. It’s interesting too, that this swatch is heavier than the woolen swatch but not as heavy as the worsted swatch. It hits the middle in all things. There is nothing wrong with this yarn, I would use it for any project, I would even sneak it in with a wholly woolen or worsted project, but probably around the edges.

Can you see the difference? Would you knit with it?

WWW: Sock Knitting Machine, Faroe Islands, Campaign for Wool launches in Canada

Whoever designed this poster didn’t knit socks – those are straight needles!

I enjoyed this short documentary on the role of the sock knitting machine in the First World War. In two parts, on Youtube. Part one. Part two.  A bit of history of socks, and a fun demo of a century-old sock knitting machine in action.

You can still find these machines for sale, at speciality dealers. Brenna, a teacher at Lettuce Knit, has one, and her holiday gift knitting is taken care of very very quickly…

Debbie Bliss has launched a new range of knitterly products, including the best tea towels and mugs in the entire world. I am not joking.

I follow the activities of The Campaign for Wool education program in the UK and elsewhere with interest; I was very pleased to hear that its Patron, Prince Charles, has just launched it in Canada. The objective of the campaign is to educate as many people as possible about the incredible benefits and versatility of wool in fashion, furnishings and everyday life. Visit the website for more info, or follow them on Twitter for all sorts of woolly goodness.

Ok, so let’s add the Faroe Islands to the itinerary for the Grand Knitting Tour. Sounds absolutely wonderful.

The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario, has announced details of its summer camp programs. The Museum has teamed up with the Almonte Potters’ Guild to offer two “mixed media” camps, with sessions on pottery and textile crafts. In the first sessions, July 21 to July 25, participants will enjoy mask making, wheel throwing, building fairy houses, and a tallest pot contest at the Potters’ Guild, followed by weaving, tie dyeing and other textile crafts at the Museum. The second camp runs from August 11 to August 15, and will feature animal making, wheel throwing and making your own set of dishes in the morning and tie dyeing, felting, and other crafts in the afternoon. The program is open to children ages 6 to 12. Call the Textile Museum at 613 256-3754 or the Potters’ Guild at 613 256-5556 for more info. I wish I could go – it sounds absolutely fantastic.

Jillian’s Spinning: When Will I Learn to Keep Track?

This past weekend I had another lesson in why I need to keep track while I’m spinning. I need to spin a 2-ply woolen yarn and a 2-ply worsted yarn from the same fiber for my next Knittyspin column. I spun four bobbins, 2 of woolen singles and 2 of worsted singles. I was sure I could keep track of which was which, even though it was night and I was watching the second season of Game of Thrones. (I hope the sound effects person for GoT wins awards, because it wouldn’t be so visceral and gross without all of those squishy fighting sounds.)

I matched up bobbins and plied. And what did I get? Two 2-ply samples of WoolenandWorsted.

WoolenandWorsted, d’oh.

You can really tell looking closer. There’s a section of pink and blue – one ply smooth, one ply fuzzy. It’s Corriedale.

WnW closer

I could have unplied and replied, but what a mess. I respun. This time I spun two singles and plied straight away, instead of having four bobbins sitting around, tempting fate. Much better.

Worsted, top and woolen, bottom.

I sincerely hope that one day I will learn not to rush and to mark my yarns within a micron of their fuzzy little hearts .

Did any of your learn any hard spinning lessons this weekend?