Recession Kate

I dont have a proper Lazy Kate for my wheel, the bobbin holders on the front are not tensioned, so I made one based on one I saw somewhere on the internet (sorry to whoever thought this up because I cant remember where I saw it!).

This is made from a box with 2 knitting needles. I created a tensioner from a piece of string with a bulldog clip, however this picture shows the 'recession bobbins' that I was using for the spindle so I didnt need any further tensioning.

I did ask Nigel to make me a kate from wood dowels, but frankly, this one seems to work pretty well!

First yarn

I have been practising with Spinning Julie. Last week I had a spinning lesson with Amy which helped a lot. Since then I have plied some yarn that I spun on my spindle, and some that I have been spinning on the wheel.

This is the spindle yarn, I dont know what the fibre is, but its not very soft. I bought it at Lambtown last year and it has made quite a chunky yarn.



This is some BLF that I bought to practise with on the spindle - this fibre was rather felted and the yarn is also rather chunky. The colours worked out nicely.




Here is the stuff that I have spun since my lesson - it's still very thick-and-thin, but a lot better than the purple stuff. I plied it as a 2-ply, but also had a go at Navaho plying, which looks better for this yarn, but I had very thin singles and was obviously rather rough with my plying as it kept breaking.

Still, I have a pound of the orange stuff so I have a lot to practise with!

Maker Faire

Last Sunday while Nigel was at the Rugby, the boys and I went to the Maker Faire at the San Mateo fairgrounds. We thought we would spend a couple of hours there...

The boys loved the robot area: these are little 'artbots' that take a small charge from dead batteries to power their LED lights. We then found the Exploratorium PIE area and the boys were hooked! The project was a 'chain reaction' of 15 'stations. In each station the participants had to take an input (in this case the white 'dominoes' and deliver an output (another 'domino'). Each station also had one component provided that had to be incorporated into the design. In our case the element was a hula dancer.

The three of us worked on the design and implementation together: Adam took the input and had a ball roll down a chute, push 2 foil-covered blocks together to make an electrical connection which started the hula dancer dancing on her plinth. Once the dancer danced off the plinth her foil-covered bottom made an electrical connection with the foil covering the table and started Finlay's portion of the design: A small motor turned a clothes peg on a stick, which pushed a cork through a hole in the wooden block, and activated the bamboo skewer 'poker' which knocked over out output domino.

It took us over an hour, and we had to return in the afternoon to see the entire chain set off. It was a great project, and really engaged the boy's imaginations. There was a lot else to see too (and we didnt even make it into the spinning/weaving/knitting craft tent!). There were several fire sculptures; this one made by the Lotus Girls.

Attendees could operate this sculpture so all three of us operated it for a while, spinning the 2 balls, and making 'puffs' of flame.

Adam was also particularly taken by the number of people just walking around in costume/with robots/other exhibits. They liked this guy who they thought was like a faun!



We stayed all afternoon and came home exhausted but with a memo on the calendar to go for 2 days in 2010.

Off the needles:SKB

I have finished my Simple Knitted Bodice and managed to eke one wearing before it got too hot.

I'm really pleased with the sweater, easy to knit, easy to fit. I would totally recommend it for a first sweater. The pattern is by Stefanie Japel, issued by Stitch Diva. The yarn is Sirdar Balmoral which I received for my birthday from Eileen.

I did modify the pattern by eliminating the waist shaping, to match my own lack of waist shaping. I also knitted the lace waistband a little lower than the pattern. The great thing about this pattern is that is is knitted in one piece from the top down, so its easy to keep trying it on to ensure you get the fit you require.

Poetry Please

The boys' school held an open day last week when parents are invited into the classroom to see their child's work. Both the classes held some entertainment for the parents:

Finlay's class were part of the Kindergarten Chorus - 80 kindergartners singing about growing, saving the earth, and saving water...they were actually very cute. Finlay is in the middle of the front row.

Adam's class gave a poetry recital together, then parents were invited into school on Friday morning to hear each child recite a memorized poem. Adam chose 'I have a dozen dragons' which was a 4 verse rhyming poem.

He did an excellent job on it and received top grades for memory, interpretation, clarity, and enthusiasm! Signing him up for drama club during summer school is beginning to seem like a good idea.

Flying the flag

Last Friday the scouts had the honour of performing the flag ceremony at the SJ Giants game. In front of a sell-out crowd the scouts walked onto the field with their flags, and saluted while the San Jose Water singers did a very creditable rendition of the National Anthem.

Adam admitted to being very nervous - but I think I would have been too in front of over 5000 fans. He is the third in the line above, wearing shorts. As the cubs walked onto the field there was an audible "aahh" from the crowd.

We all enjoyd the game - even though the Modesto Nuts won!

Meet Julie*

...my new toy! This is an Ashford Traveller spinning wheel that I bought from Craigslist on Friday.

I think it was produced between 1980 and 1991. Don't know what wood, but it's a nice solid wood with a lovely patina. It's a double drive wheel, although you can rig it as a scotch tension wheel, which I think I will do as it's supposedly easier for beginners.

It was very dusty and needs a does of oil, but seems in good condition. I cleaned it today and tried some spinning...

This was some Blue Faced Leicester roving that I bought from Blue Moon Spinnery at Stiches a couple of years ago to use with my drop spindle. As you might expect, I have a lot of it left. The spinning is rather uneven, as I'm really still getting used to the pat head/rub tummy aspect of treadling the wheel while drafting the fibre.

I've ordered a maintenance kit from Yarndogs, and will sign up for a spinning lesson as soon as possible. Really I need to learn how to adjust the wheel for starters, but I could certainly use some technique on my drafting too.

Spinning is supposed to be relaxing but at the moment I realise that I am holding my breath while I'm spinning, which is making it less relaxing than it might be!

* Julie is named after a friend, also a Kiwi.

Bags of Bags

Having seen some lovely box bags for sale on Etsy.com, I decided it would be a fun project to try.

Last week when I got the sewing machine out last week to patch 4 pairs of jeans, was as good a time as any. I thought this would be a quick hour or so, but actually making 2 bags took me several hours!

I used this tutorial and materials I had on hand. I got out my old cutting mat and rotary cutter as accurate cutting is essential to the success of this pattern. The denim is left over from shortening Adam's bedroom curtains.



This Hello Kitty fabric is practically an heirloom: I bought it in France when I was a student (so we are talking more than 25 years ago now), long before HK stuff was widespread, and it was so expensive I only bought 0.5 of a Meter.



I'm very pleased with the finished item:


especially it's cute lining!


I'm using these little bags (because I also made a green one - not shown) for my collection of double-point-needles and knitting notions.

More monkeys

Another pair of Monkey Socks. This version is knitted without any of the purl stitches.

The no-purl pattern made these socks quicker to knit, but still kept a nice simple lace pattern. The pattern is really hidden by the stripes in this yarn, which is Hazel Knits sock yarn in the Bobbin's Nest colour which was created especially for Bobbin's Nest Studio in Santa Clara. The boys have really admired the socks - and I'm very pleased with them. I think the pattern creates an almost deco effect with the blue and brown waves and the yarn is lovely.

Mother's Day

Mother's day in the US was celebrated on Sunday. As the boys get older they are more involved in planning and executing my 'treats'.


In the picture I am unwrapping the gifts that they had made at school (ceramic mobile, and plaque) with my special breakfast on the tray.



They had prepared the breakfast themselves (fresh-squeezed orange juice, strawberries, and a cinnamon roll) while Nigel made the tea. They had also arranged a vase of flowers for me. It's so nice to see them growing into thoughtful little lads!


In the afternoon I had a ticket for the ballet, and Finlay asked if he could come with me so we both went to see the Ballet San Jose performance of Song and Dance.





We stayed only for the first part of the performance: Puccini songs, which we both really enjoyed. This was Finlay's first experience of 'grown-up' ballet having really enjoyed the Nutcracker at Christmas. We had talked about the ballets being little stories and Finlay was keen to tell me his version of the story. He also demonstrated some ballet on our return - however I'm not signing him up for the ballet school just yet ;-)


Skipping out on the second part of the program gave me an afternoon to lounge about the pool reading, while Nigel throw some steak on the barbie, and the boys played nicely. Apparently my request for the gift of "no fighting" was taken seriously.

On the needles:SKB and Ishbel

I have a couple of projects on the needles at the moment (as well as the inevitable socks).
For my birthday my mother-in-law Eileen sent me some wool: Patons Balmoral (a silk and wool mix double knit) in this nice lavender shade.

I decided to knit a pattern I have had in my queue for a while: Stefanie Japel's Simple Knitted Bodice. It's a top-down raglan with a lace accent. I'm knitting the whole jumper in the same yarn rather than using a contrast.


So far the yarn is knitting up really nicely, it's soft but with good stitch definition. Would have been a good choice for cables really - but it's also a good match for this pattern.

I also have a lace pattern on the needles. This is Ishbel from Ysolda Teague.

I'm knitting it in Geisha yarn from Blue Moon Fiber in the Lucy Colourway. I'm up to the lace border of the shawl and somewhat stalled when I could not match the lace pattern stitch count with the written instructions. I read on Ravelry that I should ignore the written instructions and just work from the chart - but then I got sidetracked into the sweater.

Fishing fools

Last week saw the county host a youth fishing event at the local percolation ponds. It was a overcast day (see below) with intermittent showers, but the event was very well attended.

We all went along, and my heart sank when I saw the huge strings of fish that other youthful fishermen were walking along with, but luckily our boys still managed to catch nothing in these heavily stocked ponds!*

* to be fair to the boys we didnt really have the right tackle for catching trout in a pond - but we had fun neverthe less. We saw lots of birds landing and taking off from the ponds which is always fun, saw a large carp taunting us from the shallows, and a couple of turtles.

More socks

The latest round of socks...

Here are a pair of Cookie A's Monkey socks. I've knitted the pattern previously, but the old socks felted in the wash and I think no sock wardrobe is complete without a pair of Monkey socks (I dont know if it's the most popular sock pattern but it certainly feels like it).


The yarn is some unidentified wool I bought from Green Planet Yarn in Campbell. I lost the label so I'm hoping it is superwash. I think it's likely as these days I really don't buy handwash sock yarn any more...I am happy to handwash woolens...my problem is remembering which socks require handwashing...hence the felting problem!

The socks below are for Adam - shorty socks as usual for him. My usual pattern knitted over 54 stitches.



The yarn is Pagewood mills merino superwash in Denim, left over from Nigel's similar short socks. This I know washes beautifully and retains its drape after several washes. That makes it worth while knitting the yarn which was rather splitty. Adam is most pleased that he and Nigel have matching socks.

I left my heart (again)...

..I think you all know the lyrics.




My parents minded the boys for a weekend while Nigel and I spent a child-free weekend in San Francsico. As usual we did not do a whole lot. We walked to the Coit Tower and enjoyed the view, then walked down the steps to the Embarcadero.



I like the photo below as it shows how steep Telegraph Hill is. While we were walking down we met a US Census agent preparing for the 2010 (I think) Census. She was trying to reconcile postal addresses with the 'street' address...not an easy job in that area I should think.



We stayed at the Serrano Hotel which was great. Our suite had this view from one of the windows...we could see the cable car crossing on California, especially at night.


We ate one night at the hotel's restaurant Ponzu which we enjoyed and returned home on Sunday refreshed, revitalised and looking forward to seeing the boys! We visited during a record-breaking heatwave in California so it was pretty warm in the city, and nice to get home to the pool...now open for the season.

Socks

While we have had visitors my knitting has focussed on socks... As well as a secret pair for my dad in Dream in Color Smooshy (no picture) Finlay received another pair of socks.



In Kaffe Fasset's colours for Regia, these are the 6-ply sock yarn. Basic recipe as usual. I also knitted a short pair for Nigel from Tess's designer yarn. This is yarn that I particularly dislike for it's colour bleeding issues, but love for it's longevity!



The usual pattern - knitted short for summer.

I also repaired Finlay's celtic socks. I noticed that they were very short and realized they had felted and shrunk so I cut off the toes, picked up the stitches again (which was very painful as they had felted - but I used a darning needle which worked OK), and knitted the toe again 2" longer. I was disproportionally pleased with myself.

There were other socks too - but I have not yet taken picures so will need to wait for another post.

One of the birthdays

I don't seem to have any photos of my birthday which I also celebrated in April, but we had a lovely day out on my Mum's birthday.

She requested a day out on the bay, so we headed up to San Francsisco and took the ferry to Tiburon. We (Ferretworld) had never been there, but the journey was really the main event.

It was a glorious day out on the water with hundreds of boats out in force. I asked my parents if they missed sailing - but they said not, even on such a perfect sailing day. After a nice lunch on the waterfront in Tiburon we headed back to the terminal and got an old trolley bus back to the Ferry Building. San Francsico has a fleet of these rejuvenated trollies (trams) that run on some of the lines. We traveled in a 1936 trolley from Pittsburg. We grabbed a coffee at an Italian bar in the Ferry Building (picture above) before heading home for cake.

Banana cake from Icing on the Cake - this is the highlight of a birthday as far as the boys are concerned.

Where in the world...part two

A photo-heavy post from our spring break trip.

We were, of course, in lovely San Diego. This lovely couple are part of a series of sculptures and other public artwork depicting San Diego's role as a wartime naval base.

The boys definitely took the vacation business seriously. This is the outfit Finlay planned to travel in - but decided to save it for the proper holiday.

We went here of course, however I think we were all a little disappointed with SeaWorld. We were expecting more aquarium than theme park...but we all enjoyed the Shamu show.

What we really enjoyed was visting some of the ships in the harbour. We spent a long time on the USS Midway - Finlay's favourite part = the brig! Here they are in a plane cabin on the mid-deck.

We also spent a day at the Maritime Museum visiting the Foxtrot class submarine, the Star of India Clipper, and the HMS Surprise which is a replica of HMS Rose that was used in the Master and Commander movie. Since I have an abiding interest in the maritime novels of Patrick O'Brien, and the boys have heard a great deal about Napoleonic-era naval warfare, we all enjoyed the visit.

We also took a harbour tour on a 1914 pilot boat which was excellent. If anyone plans to visit San Diego the Maritime Museum and harbour tour is excellent value as well as excellent.

Finally we made some time for this:

An excellent vacation!

Where in the world was Ferretworld?

As it turns out pretty close to home...but rather busy. For the last several weeks we have had visitors, which combined with a ski trip, spring break, easter, and two birthdays, seem to have kept us busy.

My parents are visiting from the UK. We took advantage of the spring skiing up at Bear which was lovely and sunny.

I think all the resorts are closing this weekend so this was probably our last trip of the season - but it was a good one.

Mother's Day

My mother's visit co-incided with the UK Mother's Day this year, and although we can't actually get Mother's day cards here - I did knit Mammie a vest.

Here she is modeling the Back to School U-necked vest by Stephanie Japel.

It's knitted in Cascade 220 Heathers in the appealingly named colour 9449. I knitted the 39" bust although I would probably have been better to knit a smaller size as the vest suits a moderate negative ease, whereas the 39" is a generous ease on my Mum.