Winding "Properly"

Finally took some time to take some sample fiber and practice winding onto a Turkish spindle neatly.  I well understood how to do it from looking it up, but never really did it - I would just wind on haphazardly and it looks very messy when the singles are not all lined up.  Plus, I'm pretty sure you can wind more on if its done neatly and I think its easier to gauge the diameter of the singles and be consistent when they are all lined up neatly on the cop.

Friday Felines Vol. 17 2014

Nikoh

Doing what Nikoh does best ... cause trouble and be a goober ...

Designing a Sweater: Prepping

The yarn arrived for my next sweater design - and pretty fast too!  I ordered on Saturday and it arrived on Tuesday.

I ordered some other goodies as well.  I've been to WEBS once, its not far - about 1 1/2 hours or so.  I had wanted to go for a long time and ended up going when I was laid off, because that's when I had time to go with my former coworker - but then I had no money, LOL!

I ordered two of the things I saw during that visit this time.  The Bryspun scissors where listed as assorted colors and one will be picked for you.  I took a shot and put in the comments of my order that I would prefer purple if possible please :o)  Well I got purple!!!  I had also seen these awesome crocheted sheep stitch markers and remembered them, so those were in the shopping cart as well!  Not pictured, I also ordered some US 6 Knitter's Pride Karbonz that I am hoping to use for this sweater project, but I'll have to swatch and see if this is the size that I want to use.

Next up is winding a skein and swatching.  The least I am going to do today is wind a skein.  I am working overnight again this week 11pm-7am - and I keep having the thought of - oh I'll do that this weekend.  Well I am also on a 4 on 2 off schedule now ... there are no weekends, LOL!

I also have to take all my measurements and record them somewhere that I can find them again.  I took most of them in October for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge, but as usual - have no idea where the worksheet is with all of that information.  The measurements will probably have to wait for the weekend - so I can grab my husband to help me measure.

While I'm swatching and doing measurements, I have to get more familiar with GIMP so that I can create a clean and proportional schematic for the pattern.  I use GIMP a lot to crop, resize and touch up photos, but really have no idea how half the tools work.

I figured I'd make a list here of the tasks that I need to accomplish, some may happen simultaneously, but I put them in some sort of logical order for now.

Sweater Design To Do's:

1. Select and Order Yarn
2. Swatch
3. Measurements (Swatch and Body)
4. Write the Pattern
5. Grade the Pattern for Additional Sizes
6. Name the Pattern
7. Knit the Sweater!
8. Block the Sweater
9. Take Photos
10. Format and Finalize Document
11. Publish the Pattern

Aspiring Designer

I am currently working on designing a sweater.  I have been obsessed with sweater design ideas.  I may have started to snap pics of people on the sly with my phone when I'm out and I see a sweater or a stitch pattern that I want to remember and making a stalker collection of sweater photos for future inspiration.  

WEBS is having a 40th Anniversary Sale this month and next.  I placed an order for a sweater quantity (and probably then some just in case) for the first sweater I plan on designing a pattern for this summer.  At WEBS some yarns are discountable when a certain amount is ordered.  I'm not sure if this yarn was on sale the other day or not, but I did get the quantity discount, so this Cascade Superwash 220 sport went from $6.25/skein to $5.00/skein.

I do of course have some sweater quantities in my stash, but they are all worsted or bulky weight.  Figures the first sweater that I want to design is a summer/warmer weather sweater and that's what time of year it is.  

I would love to be able to supplement my current income / feed my hobbies with pattern and hand dyed yarn sales.  Looking at this from a business standpoint though, for example, I would have to sell $75 worth of patterns to break even with the purchase of the yarn for this sweater before any of the pattern sales started to be profit.  Most publications pay $50-$100 for a pattern submission that is used, then you are unable to sell it on your own for X amount of time - so that's not any more profitable and its a lot easier to self publish.

Regardless of the $$$ factor - I'll still be designing lots of things to come in the future!

Where the heck?!?!

Sometimes I think there's a black hole living in my craft room.  Its a VERY small room (9x9') and I have A LOT of stuff jammed in here (its the computer/yarn/spinning/sanctuary room).  I think I often spend more time looking for something in here than crafting.  There is some sort of organization, like all my needles are in one drawer, all my wool combs and extra bobbins are in a drawer (you know all the important stuff I know exactly where it is and it has a home) ... but mundane stuff like papers, bills etc. are subject to the wherever it lands rule.

Do you have a black hole living somewhere in your house??

Friday Felines Vol 16 2014

Lovin the fresh air!  And probably stalking a furry critter outside.

So tired

No photo for this post.  I'm working third shift this week in training for work (11pm - 7am).  I've worked this shift before at a hospital on the switchboard weekends after working days at my full time job all week, the hallway to the bathroom reminded me of a Halloween movie and there were some  nights I wished Michael Meyers would come down the hall and end the misery, LOL!

So far so good, its pretty slow between 3-5am - the police radio is silent and there are no 911 calls (or at least that was how it was last night, but I've heard that's the norm).

I woke up this afternoon and felt like I had a hangover ... without the drinking.  Prior to this I was getting up at 6am for day training ... hard switch to make.

I did get some spinning and knitting done yesterday while killing time before working at night.  Hoping tomorrow sleep goes better and I can do some more - today I laid on the couch all day and caught up on tv ... couldn't do much else, hahahah!

Friday Felines Vol. 15 2014

Riley

So many ends ...

I wove in all the ends that I could (those not on the top row) the other day ... phew!

Friday Felines Vol. 14 2014

Willow

My baby girl ... she loves to sit on shoulders (and give kisses) ... I call her Parrot-Cat when she does this.  Sometimes she catches us off guard when we're bending down (like getting clothes out of the dryer) and then its too late, she's latched on!!!

The Franken Blanket

So I started this blanket last January (2013) and while I was hopeful - I didn't think it realistic that I would finish it in one year ... nope.

It has been sitting for quite some time with nothing added to it.  I would love to knit one square a day - but that is also crazy and I know just won't happen.  To complete the row I am currently on, I need 12 squares ... that seems more reasonable!  Let's see if I complete a row by the end of the month!

And yes - I did knit a square today!  The upper left corner (dark purple).