88 Skein Challange

I mentioned my  88 skein challenge in my last post. And how I would like to become better with the mediums I am currently working with. I have only had YouTube as a teacher. I have never been shown how to pin by a real live person. But I think I have done well for myself. The yarn I make stays together and isn't over spun. I like how it knits up. Ok enough bragging.

Why did I choose 88 as the number of skeins I should make for this challenge? The number just popped into my head. When I did a search and found that the Chinese feel the number 8 is a lucky number. Besides if spinning up 88 skeins of yarn doesn't improve my knitting even a little, then I NEED classes.

I wanted to start from square one when I decided to take up spinning. So when I found some free fleece on Craig's list, I decided it was a good opportunity to learn via the Internet. I felted a few bowling ball size pieces of wool learning how wash it properly. 

What I am working with for the time being, is a very soft mixed breed of sheep. I haven't ever worked with softer wool and I bought a garbage bag full! 

So back to my Challenge. I want to complete all 88 skeins before the new shearing season. Not only will I be a better spinner, but it will justify buying more fleece!

I invite you to follow along and watch my progress. Or if you want, challenge yourself! I would love to see pics of what everyone is working on. It doesn't have to be just knitting. Send your pics to my e-mail Craftywitch78@gmail.com and I'll blog about them! 

Creative Resolutions

It's resolution time again! Loose weight, become better orginized, finish W.I.Ps...and all that. I would like to become a better blogger and improve my crafting skills and create and complete a few goals this year. 

I want to start with fiber. From start to a finished product. I want it to be ready to knit into all sorts of wonderfull things in time for Christmas knitting to begin.

"The greats weren't great because at birth they can paint, the greats were great becasue they paint alot" ~Macklemore~

My first goal is to start a personal orginizer.  You can see my personal progress in my blog Beautiful Me. But this thing is awesome for orginizing my thoughts.

My second goal is going to take a little longer. I want to challange myself to make 88 skiens of hand painted yarn. I have already washed all the fleece I plan on using, so all I need to do is start brushing! 

Thanks for visiting! You can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, and Pintrest!

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We Moved!

It's unfortunate but we had to leave our beloved Washington. My family needed some one to help take care of my grandmother and I was having a tough time finding a job that would cover all of my bills. So I sold a majority of our belongings and headed back to Placerville, California.

I want this to be a year of positive thinking. So even if I had to leave Washington for a bit, my children get a chance to get to know their great grandmother and the rest of my family. My sister and my mother haven't seen us in about 6 years. I get to finally meet my first niece, Izzy. (She is a cutie b.t.w. I can say that because I am in no way biased.)

When I was a little girl, my grandmother had a huge garden with several fruit trees. As a little girl I remember climbing the giant fig tree in her back yard. I still love figs. She had everything from persimmons to black berries, asparagus to egg plant. Plus she had all the other regular garden veggies like zucchini and tomato and bell peppers. She grew up during the depression so we did a lot of canning during the summer.

I did get to go to the 2013 Yarnival. It was my first fiber event ever and I am ashamed to say I didn't take any pictures. I was located at the Boeger Winery just out side of Placerville. Kyle and I went alone and had wonderful time. It was very hot, but there were vendors selling food and drink with shaded picnic benches. I picked up some hand painted roving of merino  and bamboo. It was the first time every working with anything besides wool. I have the fiber a beautiful sheen to it and it is so soft. I am thinking about making a pair of socks out of it. . . one day.

Yesterday and today I have been working on a hat for Elizabeth. I am using some of the fiber I bought while I was living in Washington. I have also decided this is not only the year of positive attitudes but trying new things. I have worked with knitting patterns enough to know there are somethings I would love to change to make them more unique, but I am still enough of a novice that I do not feel comfortable altering anything. So I have decided to give recipes a try starting with  Paper Sensei's top down hat. It's a  free pattern and a very easy hat to stitch up. But learning how to start a hat with no gauge is a little scary for me but I am trying new things and I WILL master it!

When I grow up I wanna be a fiber artist!

Well, I have a very good reason as to why I haven't been posting regularly. I have been spinning every day (nearly) sense I bought the thing. I love it my Ashford Traveler with the double drive. It's so easy to use. I am still learning about how to adjust tension and how much twist I should use. But with the wonders of youtube I'm figuring it out. 

I have also decided to become serious about fiber art. I know I have been playing around with many different fibers over the years, but I don't feel I am skilled enough to be able to call myself a fiber artist. So I decided to start at the beginning with all of my fiber crafts. Starting with knitting and spinning, I have modestly chosen a few scarf patterns (around 500) to choose from. I wanted a wide range of techniques to choose from. Then I'll allow myself to pan out from there. 









At the moment I am working on The Soda Fountain Scarf. I like the retro look it has in the picture. I decided to use some of the fiber i had already spun up. 100% merino wool. I had thought wool was very scratchy and had resigned myself to wonderfully warm but scratchy clothing. (Maybe I'll blog about different fiber at a later date.) Now The pattern said that you can use yarn you have with any needle size, preferably 1 size larger than the recommended label says. The red scarf to your left isn't mine...the green and pink is. Maybe it is too soon to start knit picking (har har) my work. 

Well, that's it for today! Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment.

First spinning wheel

I am so excited! We did our taxes and I'll be able to buy my first spinning wheel. I have never touched a spinning wheel and I honestly don't know what got in my head to start making my own yarn. Probably the cost of natural fibers or the concept of making something from the very start to finish, or maybe being able to do something so ancient as spinning wool into yarn that has me so focused on learning how to process the fibers fresh off the animal. Not to mention that I am also passing on this knowledge to my two children. Both of my children will sit with me and pick wool and Elizabeth keeps asking me to teach her how to spin with my drop spindle.

So were to start...I had no idea what I was looking for. So I started off on you tube.  Found a few videos about different wheels from some of my favorite video makers. I also went to my spinning group on Ravelry "Spin Love" and asked there. So between a number of you tube videos, my Ravelry group, and also talking with spinning wheel dealer I have decided to go through. I have narrowed it down to 2. 

The Ashford Traveller is thus far my top choice. It seems to be very portable and doesn't seem to take up much room. It seems sturdy enough to last a few years and I haven't heard anything bad about them. It is very hard to really feel 100% sure about something you haven't even used yet. So I found choice #2. 

Quite a few people had a lot of good stuff to say about this one. It is very obvious that this wheel hardly takes up any space. I have heard more than once that this is a good wheel for beginners. But i just don't know. I still need sit at one and try it out. It's strange, I feel like I have spun in a past life.