Because... does one have to have a reason?

 

Actually, there is a pretty good reason.  I wanted to understand how circle cloaks work so I made some tiny mockups.  And since the only thing I have that resembles a doll are these chickens... 

So what did I learn?  

Early bird gets the worm

The internet is a better place because I made this video.

At least that is what Mrs Clint tells me.

I also promised Mrs Clint a special treat if her video went viral.  She said any video with her in it will go viral so I might as well give her the treat now.  I said, let's wait and see.

The goal is 50K views in the first month to go viral for a channel my size.  I think I'm safe.  

A special treat on Christmas Morning (or Holiday Day as I call it).

 Does anyone else get this obsessiveness?  An idea in the head and the whole of life and cleaning house and everything cannot happen until that idea actualizes?  

Just me then.

Well, I don't know where it came from but one morning I woke up needing to build a thing.  I had no idea how to do it.  But it infested my every waking moment.  

So I made the thing and I made a video about making the thing.

It's not perfect.  It's not even close.  But I made it.  I ate it.  It was DELICIOUS! 

It's amazing how much you can learn about a thing by making it out of gingerbread.  It also inspired me to learn some special effects for the video.  

Happy Holidays everyone!  

The best way to learn how to build anything!

There are things you know you know,
things you know you don't know,
and even things you don't know you know.  
But it's the things you don't know that you don't know that will get you in the end.
-paraphrased from some politician I can't remember.

I've been working with spinning wheels for nearly 20 years.  Repairing, assembling, using, spinning, buying and selling, teaching, technical support, writing, researching, and other adventures.  I know a lot about spinning wheels.  

Or at least I thought I did. 

What I didn't know is how much you can learn by building a spinning wheel out of gingerbread.

That's right, gingerbread.

Gingerbread must be the most unforgiving substance to build from ever!  Rigid when you don't want it, crumbling at the wrong moments.  Even making the parts thicker doesn't guarantee strength.  But rather, understanding the forces at work and the stress points is key to successfully building something out of this crazy material.  

I learnt more in two days of failure and one wheel-shaped object than I ever knew I didn't know.

My first attempt was not as awesome as the image in my head.  Actually, it has no resemblance to the image in my head at all.  

But I kind of think I might try again next year and see if I can do better.  

If you want to build or repair spinning wheels, and you want to do it well, build one out of gingerbread.  You will learn more than you ever knew you didn't know.

Fun and foolishness

 

Nothing serious today, just a fun video of Beau, the rescue alpaca eating apples.

Because... why not?  

The distaff defense

My new hero!  

Self-defence classes never go out of style.

I was looking for a video on how medieval people used to make distaffs (yes, I get bored sometimes), and stumbled on this video.  Thought you might enjoy it.  

Animal Photos Once Again: Alpacas and Llamas

These are our rescue boys.  Tommy refused to be photographed, but the others put on a show for us.

Beau is really an Alpaca, Possibly the largest one in BC
He's considerably larger than our rather large llamas.

Toothless Max, the really old llama.
We love him dearly and are happy we can give him
the care he needs to live out his remaining years.
His fibre is also the softest and finest fibre I've worked with.

Tyrone the rescue alpaca dancing at the fence

more dancing.  

Would you like to stand still for a proper photo?
Shakes head no.
Oh well, here's your breakfast.

You know it's gonna be one of those days when...

You wake up at the crack of dawn, look out your window and see your neighbour presser washing his moose.

At least there was one thing that happened today to make me smile.  I think I need to watch some Buster Keaton this evening.

zombies don't like onion skin yarn as much as they like cauliflower

You know what I think? Zombies on tv and in books are quite comical. However, when they are actually happening at you, zombies can be terrifying and strangely mesmerizing. I had the hardest time waking up from that dream this morning. I don't even remember the details except that someone was serving zombie meat on a cruise ship because they ran out of pork, thus turning all the cruise ship guests into pseudo-zombies. But thankfully I decided to go vegan just moments before dinner for no apparent reason.

I'm not even sure I know what a pseudo-zombie is, but it was just as scary as a real zombie.

That's dreams for you.

Some spinning:

This is spun from some wool I dyed with onion skins long, long ago. I knit some socks with the first batch of yarn, but had lots of roving left. So this week I spun it up just the same as before and presto. Now there is new yarn for sale in my shop.

The mystery project is at a bit of a stand still. I can't decided on what I want to power with my system so I don't know what battery to look for. I'm really tempted to put a standard 110V AC plug on it, but what kind of battery can provide that kind of power?

One other project that I'm working on right now has hit a snag. The snag is called open office. Did I have this much trouble telling MS Office to do what I wanted? I wrote some stuff, and now I want to print it as a booklet. You know, where you have an A4 paper and turn it on it's side and fold it in half, put a staple through it. That kind of booklet. It doesn't seem that hard...until you try and figure out the page order. I even tried using templates (that didn't work well at all!).

La Sigh. My office software and I are not speaking at the moment.

Time

Here is something I found on the local CraigsList. It made me smile so I thought I would share it with you all.

I have a functioning time machine (i know it sounds unbelievable, but I assure you it works) that I need a 2nd person to operate with me.

I'm looking for someone who is adventurous and reliable. Preferable a male; or a female that can do heavy lifting.

I am leaving on Jan 30th, 2011, in the morning and plan to return October 2nd, 2010. I am going to June 1983 to handle some business.

If you are serious about time travel and are reliable, then please contact me. You do not have to pay anything, but you would have to provide someone to watch my cat for the time we are gone. The only qualifications needed are that you are reliable and that the circumferance of your head is no more than 64cm.

...

Stir crazy?

It's snowing again today and I tell you, my toes are mighty cold.

I really need slippers. But, in spite of my mighty knitting skills, I suck at making slippers!

Even so, I decided I'd give it a try. I have a small collection of sweaters that I've shrunk over the years. Lovely nice warm wool sweaters that lost the never ending argument with modern technology. I thought they would make some great slippers. So I cut them up.

While I was cutting, I noticed something that caught my attention.

That looks something like a vest. I like wearing vests in this weather. Hmm... I wonder... what if I cut a little bit more here and make it a V neck and I wonder....what if I crochet the edges with a light blue yarn.... and then full it a bit more to make it just the right size?

Stunning! I love this! Once it was fulled, I brushed the fabric to make it look and feel like it was always meant to be this vest. The fabric is so strong, and soft, and warm. I love it!

Only... I decided to cut corners and instead of fulling it by hand like I would usually do, I gave my washing machine a chance to redeem itself....What is it said about solving problems with the same level of thinking that created them?

This lovely vest is far too small for me. Sigh. Now what am I going to do with it?

I have the joy of making a beautiful vest - a real work of art - but my feet are still cold.

Maybe I should change my approach? Something like offering 100yds of handspun yarn to someone willing to knit me a pair of warm, strong, wool slippers?

Maybe I'm just stir crazy from all this snow.

Pocket Monsters are hot

I don't know why, but I'm totally enamoured with these little pocket monsters.

They are not very big and you sew a little sack of rice to put inside them. First you microwave the rice sack and then you put it in the pocket monster. This warms up the monster then you put the monster in your pocket to help keep your hands warm. Cool eh?

Here's what it looks like before it's assembled.

And here is a gang of the little guys planing their next prank.

Tour de Fleece 2010 - weaving

This morning, happy me. I finished spinning my Shetland fleece.

Here, also is my weaving sample. I like how the fabric 'collapse' and even though it's the most simple two shed weave, it makes a lovely texture.

I expected the fabric to bias because it is woven with high-twist singles. But it didn't. I think the twist in the warp balanced out the twist in the weft. The warp didn't fuzz or break. It needs no additive.

In other news, I also tried my hand at weaving a basket. My first basket. Please don't laugh.

Apparently learning how to weave baskets from a short article found in an old magazine is more difficult than expected. But then again, my first yarn looked about the same - art yarn, art basket - I'll try again later.

Tour de Fleece 2010 - day one and tatting

Yesterday, I had some help from the ducklings sorting out the rest of the Shetland fleece.

Today the Tour de France began. It was time trials, a thing I find incredibly boring. As if the commentators needed another excuse to talk about Lance. Lance this and Lance that. Even if he is still a good rider, he always seems so angry to me and I would much rather hear about some of the other riders from time to time. There's almost 200 riders, why do we always have to hear about one American.

Oh, goodness. I sound like a Canadian.

The Tour de Fleece for me, began very well. I had a few moments spinning wool (the brown tops in the photo) to warm up, then I spun up a couple of samples of silk tatting thread. The silk is glowing white and I love it. It's Navajo ply, and much finer than anything I've tatted with before. If I was the kind of person to use the expression, I heart ...., I would totally heart this silk thread I made today.

Confirmation

Maybe I was right about that time thing after all:

Picture is from Worst of the Time Lords.

do chickens climb apple trees?

Yes they do.

This is the chicken known as Other Speckled Fool. Do you see him?

He's about ten feet up the apple tree.

Isn't he photogenic?

How to use a drum carder

I just had to laugh. These have to be some of the most enthusiastic instructional videos I have ever seen, and it tell you how to use a drum carder. Even if you don't spin, have a look, I think it will make you smile and give you a new appreciation of how enthusiastic fibre people can be.

How to use a drum carder

Oh, and to that poor person I scared at work today by saying "I know you on Ravelry" at you, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you like that, I was just so excited to see a real live Ravelry person, I didn't think before I spoke. I do really like your blog by the way, I think it's off to a great start and I hope you get a new footman for your wheel soon (if not, message me on Ravelry and I can set you up with a couple of people here in town that can help with that).

ETA: here is the link for the second part of the video.

ETA again: here is the third part.