Crappy Yarn

I made super-crappy yarn! But it's recognizable as yarn, not just roving wrapped around the bobbin, which is what I had before! And I made it!

So, turns out you're supposed to pinch the yarn as the wheel spins. This means that the fly wheel will continue to revolve around the bobbin, and the bobbin will turn because the fly wheel is. When there's enough twist in it, then you let go, at which point your scotch tension keeps the bobbin from spinning, allowing the yarn to wrap around the bobbin. I think.

First Real Day With Spinning

So, this is what I posted on FaceBook, with the addition of nifty hyperlinks (I may have been just a teensy bit steamed when I posted it. Husband was not amused):


Husband threw away (!!!) the cord I had set aside for my drive ... thingie. Not a shaft. A drive... cable. Thing. So, I'm using some Cascade 220 I had, spare (no such thing, but, whatever), and it's not working very well. And I think my ratio is all hosed. And there's not nearly enough twist in the fibers before they get wrapped around the bobbin. And I definitely need one of those orifice hook thingies, because my pipe-cleaner is getting worn out. And the AlpacaDirect video mentioned oiling the leathers and I don't even know what that is, much less did my $35 (read: thirty-five-goddamned-dollar) Ashford spinning book even mention oil.


Plan for tomorrow: hit the internet and figure out where to get an orifice hooky thingie and drive cable stuff and whether or not I really need oil and what kind and spare bobbins and what the hell I'm doing wrong that my roving is virtually unchanged when it hits the bobbin.


 In all fairness to the spouse, if the Things had not been messing with my wheel (!!!), the drive cable stuff wouldn't have been in the floor (!!!) where it was picked up and thrown out. In all fairness to fairness, who the eff finds a bunch of cord lying near the woman's new wheel, picks it up, and throws it away?!?

This is the picture of my fly-wheel/bobbin/leathers. And the shitty twine.

I haven't called the store in Spokane (yet). I've been lazy and laundering. I'll take care of that Monday.

As I posted later in FB, I had an as-I'm-falling-asleep epiphany, and think I know some more stuff to try. I'll check some stuff in the book and hit the YouTube and re-adjust my attitude (and tension levels hehehe) and re-try. I may try lubricating with cider instead of sewing machine oil and see if that doesn't help.

Flower Pot

My wonderful mother-in-law has sent on at least one occasion (and I think it's been twice, now) a lovely arrangement of plants which usually survives under my tender care for, oh, 6 or 7 weeks. They're lovely. They bring me joy and they're so green and happy-looking in their decorative basket, and I kill them so quickly.

I even managed to kill the cacti I had for my office.

That's ok - soon, we won't be allowed to have flowers or plants on our desks, anyway. They're changing the rules, or deciding to enforce existing rules, or something.

So, I was thinking, I could knit a flower/plant arrangement. They're unkillable, and if I do it right, I can avoid so much as dusting it for at least a year. I could do a leaf or a blossom per week and work on my longer projects between. I would arrange them in a decorative basket. I would use florists wire or a straightened coat-hanger in the stems, depending on the stem. This could end up really awesome.

And there are a GAJILLION patterns out there for flowers and leaves. I could do this. Really. I could see them in all different yarns and colors and textures... maybe even some felted.

Anticipation

So, I scrapped the cardigan idea with the black sequin yarn. I don't think there's enough of it, and it's too heavy for a good Spring/Summer/Fall cardigan anyway. I did see a note in Knitting Daily about their recent Knit-along (KAL), which was the Maple Street Cardigan. I had decided that wasn't the pattern for me, until I saw pics of the finished objects and some of the modifications others had made to the pattern, and I've changed my mind. This is the pattern for my cardi. It may be too late, this season, however; I'm already drooling over fall.

I have been gazing at the back cover of the July edition of Creative Knitting. It's a Plymouth Yarns advertisement for a warm, cozy, glorious winter cardigan. WANTWANTWANT. ...But maybe in blues, rather than greens... And DH delivered my September issue of Creative Knitting and I'm kinda liking the Structured Elements - Graphic Coatigan. Decisions, decisions.

Maybe I should review the to-do list from January...

In more current news, I'm working on a lace-patterned blanket (sorry, I can't give details). The pattern is 32 rows and I've done it once and a half, and I can tell you this will likely be the last time I do this pattern. I'm already hating it. Wish me patience and strength.

There's a sleeveless tank pattern I've decided to do, just have to buy a little yarn for it - it'll be a three-color stripe pattern, and I only have two colors (and only enough yarn for 2/3 of the pattern).

I have GOT to lick this not-buying-enough-yarn-the-first-time habit. Maybe I'll take out some of my stash and start buying yarn in larger quantities. Hmm...

A friend is planning to host a yarn-swap to help us all refresh our stashes. I've started going through mine, and I keep finding things I didn't realize I had. Maybe I can simply give away yarn, and not accept any, thereby decreasing my stash, and making it easier to choose yarns and projects... HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!... gasp... HAHAHAhahahhahaha

The Shrug

I have black yarn with sequins. I need a little black bolero. The v-neck kind, with short sleeves.

I searched my 30-some-odd magazines. I searched Ravelry. I looked in my books. I can't find the perfect pattern. Considering my track-record with finishing things I design myself, I'm a little hesitant. Do I settle for not-the-perfect-pattern? Do I try to invent as I go (and will probably have to frog it all)? Do I take not-the-perfect-pattern and try to make alterations? Eeeeeeeeeeek!!

Presents! Again!

One of my co-workers got me one of the bestest co-worker presents I've gotten. It was perfect, really - that gift you spent all winter hoping some one would get for you, but never actually said anything about. I'm convinced she has ESP.

I love to look at the stitches and daydream about using them in things. There's an "embossed" vine with leaves pattern that is begging to be on the front of one side of a cardigan. The calendar is in my office, so getting to look at the weekend's stitch helps mitigate the Monday-ness at the beginning of a week.

I've already used the calendar to make two Warm-Up America squares.

Even better, I got to make the squares using some of the yarn a church friend gave me. It's like a win-win-win.

Knitting and Fine Print

So, I'm considering a project or two and came across yet another pattern with fine print. Most free patterns posted by normal knitters (as opposed to patterns in books or written by knitting rock-stars) are copyrighted and have a note about approved use - usually something friendly along the lines of, Don't re-sell this, Don't post it on the internet as yours, etc.

But increasingly, I'm seeing nasty notes (like this one, from a Ravelry user - you'll need a Ravelry account) telling people they may not re-sell the pattern, may not use the pattern to teach a class, and may not even sell things made from the pattern. This, ladies and gents, is bullshit.

It'd be akin to providing instructions on making a birdhouse and then telling people they aren't allowed to sell a birdhouse made from these instructions for profit. Or writing a book on writing and telling people they can't sell stories written using these techniques. The copyright doesn't extend to the materials used or the time spent on the project - only to the pattern itself.

Not only do you have no legal standing to tell people that, it's not practical to enforce. So, you post your pattern and some no-good-nik like me makes a sweater from it and sells it, earning over $150 from the sale. Just to catch me, you'd have to be keeping an eye on all hand-made sweaters posted on sites like eBay and Etsy - it'd be a full-time job. Once you catch me, you'd have to find me and tell me, "Hey! You no-good-nik! Stop that, or else!" To which I'd sneeringly reply, "Or else what?" Then you'd actually have to take me to court, where I'd win, but we'd both be out much more money than either of us could have made from selling sweaters. Very worst-case scenario, I get ostracized from the knitting communities.

The concern for people who post patterns seems to be that some one will see their pattern, make hundreds of products from the pattern and retire on the French Riviera off the profits. While this may be a reasonable fear, I think you should just start charging for your patterns, stop putting them up on the internet, or devote more time to selling your creations and less to developing new patterns.