Well...

There's a lot to write about but, I don't have time because I've gone even crazier.

 Poor Claxton. He's so very kind and good to me and for 4 days last week the only way he was able to get from our living room to the kitchen was to go out the front door, around the house, then into the kitchen through the back door (it's been raining, by the way).

Why has Claxton had such a time making his way through our home? Well, as I said at the start there's a lot to write about but, I don't have time...so, I'll say it in pictures:

Above is a whole lot of hand spun Icelandic wool. This effort was my little part in an Icelandic Study Group I joined when  I had the good fortune of meeting this artist/shepherd. The spinning of the wonderfully white fleece led to the painting of these skeins:

I painted the yarn so that I could use the new rigid heddle loom I purchased at the Duluth Fiber Handcrafter's Guild Sale (a place where, I'm sorry to report, many fiber addicts encourage each other to become only more afflicted. We're really no good for each other at all!):

I mean how was I to know that the act of warping this loom would lead to the further warping of my own sorry self?

So, I wove and I wove this little warped warp of mine which resulted in this:

...with cute little fringes:

...and which led me to the (natural) conclusion that I needed a larger loom...

So, Claxton and I went on an odyssey to the outer reaches of Eden Prairie, MN where we met the most wonderful woman who sold us her most treasured floor loom and now I'm warping at a whole new level of warpedness.  (More about this fantastic person later as she gifted me with a weaving library that should keep me crazy-busy for the next 5 years.)

Please note that this is a happy little picture of a loom that has finally found its own space. For a week it sat in the hallway making Claxton's travels from living room to kitchen a bit...cumbersome.  When one brings something the size of a couch into one's already  fiber-filled living quarters it can disrupt the flow of traffic a titch. (But, almost anyone will tell you that it's worth it!) This picture was only taken AFTER the beautiful, beautiful, 8 harnesses of cherry woodedness were prominently arranged where our couch once resided.

And, here she is with 10 full yards of towel warp ready to be woven.

I'm on my seventh towel and, like I said at the start, am way too busy to be web logging thank you!

But...let me also say that the tomato plants are thriving:

...which means I'm still  a "go" with that crazy plan of actually spending time outdoors this summer.

Our mean frost date up here is mid-June so, I just keep transplanting the green cuties into larger and larger containers under the lighting system. Claxton says it might be time to plant so he's off fetching the potting soil  right this moment and I'm getting ready to take them all outside.

Between weaving towels and planting tomatoes I have no more time! I surely do hope your days are filled with this sort of intense excitement as well.

Happy Mid-Spring!

Spring Equinox in Northern Wisconsin

Before we moved from Kansas City to northern Wisconsin I was seriously into gardening. That interest has faded a bit over the years.  It may be, in part, because I had a hard time adjusting to 6+ months of winter. In all fairness it is a bit of a climate change. (Last year we didn't even have a summer season, just extra helpings of winter and spring.) It might be that, after all those years of weeding and watering I just got tired of playing in the soil. Truth is I lost a lot of my enthusiasm for gardening about the same time I became wool-obsessed.

This weekend marks the beginning of spring and, even though that means very little up north I found myself down in the basement digging out the old gardening flats, pots and soil mixes. I know! What is going on? And, I was right in the middle of charting and knitting a fantastic fair Isle tissue box cozy too. The sun shone through the window and onto my graph design and before I could say, "Wait until I finish this row" I was elbow-deep in potting soil.

I seeded two flats of tomatoes, basil, lobelia, and African daisies. It's not going to be much of a garden compared to the crazy days of yesteryear but it is a small step away from the spinning wheel. (It appears I actually plan to spend some time outside this season. Yay!) 

So, once the flats were seeded I bagged 'em. I want a successful germination so I have to keep these little cherubs nice and warm. The only consistently warm place in our house:

I placed the bagged seeds on top of the furnace next to the boiler in our basement. I'm guessing in a week to 10 days there will be some sort of sprouting action to report. Then I'll move the tiny plants under lights! When the growing season is as short as ours is up here you have to take advantage of an early, indoor start. (Please note: no matter how many lights you have or how early a start you make, never try to grow cotton in northern Wisconsin. It's a fool's game.)

But that isn't all! Look at these bread boxes I found at a thrift store (below):

Are these not perfect little green houses for propegating?

The bread boxes keep conditions warm and humid for these little impatiens cuttings. They should sprout well here and be full-fledged plants by June when it's finally safe to actually plant living things in Wisconsin, outdoor window boxes.

When I lift the lid it is decidedly warmer and far more humid inside the bread boxes.

Well, that's it on the gardening front. Time to get back to the serious business of treadling wool. I need to spin up a bit more yarn pronto. (After all, this latest tissue box cozy isn't going to knit itself you know.)

Free Knitting Pattern Tissue Box Cover Cozy

As is customary of "The Treadler" I do have my yammerings to share  but FIRSTLY,  Let's have a go at this pattern shall we?

MATERIALS NEEDED: 

One upright, (squarish) naked tissue box in need of cozying.

U.S. size 5 / (or 40 cm)  16" Circular knitting needles OR a set of 5 double pointed knitting needles OR well, you know, there are a great many ways to knit in-the-round so choose your favorite and follow me.

Crochet hook size  1/2 .75mm to embellish the top (optional).

Yarn:  By the new weight standard you want to use #3, Light Weight (the old alias for this yarn size is DK Light-Worsted.) At this point I've made 3 cozies and none of them weigh more than 2.5 ounces. You can safely complete a cozy with less than 3 oz. of yarn.

4 place markers (I just use scrap yarn in a slip knot) One should be of a different color than the others to mark the beginning of each round.

NOTE: The above boils down to, "use the needle size and yarn that gives you approx. 21 stitches per 4 inches across. You will control the height as you knit. AND, remember you are dressing a tissue box. It is not going to refuse to wear your cozy or complain that the cozy is too baggy or too tight, makes it look fat, etc...

I spin my own yarn so...no particular brand endorsement from me except to say, "Come on and start spinning! You'll love it!" Also, you can use wool so that if the cozy is too big for its box there's the option to felt it down a bit.

CAST ON: You'll be knitting around to make a square. Cast on 88 stitches. There are 4 sides to the tissue box so that's 22 stitches per side. (We'll use the stitch markers to tell us where the corners are.) 

Round 1: Place a marker at the beginning (It should be a different color than the other 3) and  join your stitches. Be sure that your cast on stitches aren't twisted or you'll be in MOBIUS land. (K 22, place a marker) 3 times then K22 = 88 total stitches.

Round 2: (This round is what you will be doing most of the time)

(K 4, P 2, K 4, P 2, K 4, P 2, K 4) Repeat 3 more times, or at the start of each marker, all the way around.

Repeat all of round 2  four more rounds.

Cabling Round: (Time to make the pretty twisties.)  

*K 4, P 2 (Slip next 2 stitches onto cable needle and hold them behind your work, K 2 stitches, now K the 2 stitches from the cable needle, P 2) Repeat everything in parenthesis once more, K 4. One side is complete

Repeat from * all the way around (3 more times). If cabling is new to you check out this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn3I_JD7Ek4&feature=related

Note: You don't need a special cable needle, you can use a dbl pointed needle OR, be a brave little soldier and try this flying trapeze method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fokn_CJp4EY&feature=related

This is fast and easy but, can be a little scary for folks afraid they might drop a stitch.

CONTINUING ON: For the entire body of the pattern you will knit Round 2 Five times then complete a cabling round. Keep doing this until your knitting will cover the height of the box. Depending on your particular knitting style the number of rows will vary. Your tissue box is about 5.5 inches tall (14cm) so be sure your knitting is just a little bit longer than that. Now you are ready to decrease at your 4 corners to knit over the top of the box and to the center opening.

DECREASING ROUNDS (In essence you are starting at a corner):

(K 1, K2tog, K to the last 3 stitches before your next corner marker, Slip one stitch as if to knit, slip the next stitch as if to purl, slide the left needle back into them and knit them together from the back, K last stitch) Repeat 3 more times all the way around your box.

Questions about decreasing? Here's a good link for ya: http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/decreases

These decreasing rounds are pulling in the 4 corners of your box. You are decreasing two stitches at each corner or 8 stitches per round.

First round of decreases will take you from 88 total stitches to 80

the second round will bring you down to 72 and so forth.

I like to complete 7 full rounds of decreases for all my tissue box magic. IF you are using a circular needle for your work you will want to switch to double pointed needles as the project shrinks down.

By the end of the 7th round of decreases you will have a total of 32 stitches left. Bind off these last 32 stitches but do not break the yarn. 

CROCHET Embellishment for top (This is optional but, really jazzes up the top of your box with a ruffley opening for the little tissues):

ROUND 1: Place crochet hook in that last bound off stitch and ch3, Double stitch all the way around in each of the bound off knit stitches and join.

ROUND 2: Chain 3 and *Dbl crochet in first stitch, 2 dbl crochet in next stitch, repeat from * all the way around. You have increased your stitches dramatically (every other stitch) creating a bit of a ruffle in this opening. Join.

ROUND 3: Ch1, sc in first stitch, (*ch3, sc) Repeat from * all the way around.

Bind off and work in all the loose ends. Mission accomplished!

Above is a picture of my fluffy fibers before they were spun into yarn. You can see I blended the wool to slowly change color along the way. I think it is fun to make the tissue box become lighter and lighter as it gets to the top. That fluffy, white tissue peeking out really POPS. But, you can do anything you want...

Create yourself a box that is all one color, or heathery, or twinkled, or has a smaller opening, or has a different cable design in the middle of each side or...well, the possibilities are endless. I never dreamt I'd be all up-into making tissue box cozies but, here I am sending Claxton to the drug store on mega-tissue runs and planning cozies for everybody on my holiday gift list (act surprised). Sad? Yes! But, this entire web log is laden with similar obsessions so at least I have the comfort of consistency.

And there you have it! A lovely, free pattern just in time for allergy season!  Whoah! I may have just had an epiphany whilst typing this. What say you to a fair Isle tissue cozy? Would that not be the coolest thing ever? Bohus cozy? (Clearly, we will be needing more tissue boxes.) To the Spinning Wheel AWAY! 

A Valentine For Clax

This rhymey poem, dear Claxton,

Holds a special thanks from me.

I'm grateful that you tolerate,

 My fiber odd-yssey.

You could have me commited.
It's not that hard to do.
It's not like there's no evidence,
to push the verdict through.

For, if you chose to testify,

(and thus incriminate)

A quick commitment hearing,

would securely seal my fate.

It was you who found our crock pot stuffed,

with wool and walnut hulls.

(They dye a lovely brown that's

colorfast and never dulls.)

And, you know the salad spinner's

only used to spin dry wool.

And, that your brand new shaving brush

is now a fiber tool.

And, how our pasta roller,

Is now my cotton gin.

And that all these crazy antics,

Make you weary, weak and thin.

Yes! You could prove insanity,

Quite easily enough.

And then you would be shed of me...

But, stuck with all my stuff!

Happy Valentine's Day!

So, here is a miniature heart just for Clax. That's right, made entirely of wool that was freshly scoured and then one half dyed a cheery red just this last Friday. The fleece has been spread out on towels drying in our hallway. (Clax has had to take quite a detour to get up and down the staircase but, he'll surely think it all worthwhile when he receives this, his 100th woolen giftie!)

Secret Stash

Last night I was oh-so despondent and this morning I'm oh-so very happy. Last night I thought I was almost out of wool. When I say, "almost out" I don't really mean all the wool on my multiple shelving units, or the wool in the big box that is for sharing when teaching classes, I mean I thought I was almost out of undyed wool. When I say "undyed wool" I don't mean the two raw fleeces I have yet to scour, or the two scoured fleeces I plan to drum card soon, or the undyed Corriedale rovings for felting or the Icelandic roving for the study group, I mean undyed, commercially prepared, combed top. Last night I thought I only had a half pound left. So you can understand why I was despondent!

This morning, however, as I was packing for a spinning class I noticed a lovely carry-all that had been tucked away. I figured it might be handy for lugging teaching supplies and samples. Lo and behold it was a secret stash of combed top - a stash so top secret it was unbeknownst even to myself!

Wahoo! This happened once before when I surprised myself with a 1/2 pound of lustrous alpaca roving but, that was a long, long time ago. I dashed to the scale to quantify my delight:

TwO-PoInT-SeVeN-FiVe-PoUnDs! That's over 44 oz. That's eleven 4 oz braids I can dye. (I'm really having fun dying 4 oz braids.)

Best of all, Claxton was still asleep when this discovery was made. I had just spoken with Mr. Clax last night about needing to make a very large purchase in the very near future - and, make no mistake I still do. But, Claxton needn't know about this discovery... for good reason:

Seven years ago I accidently left my purse on the roof of the van and Claxton noticed it. For seven years, whenever we go anywhere or return from anywhere or think about going or returning from anywhere Claxton says, "Do you have your purse?" Three years ago I stopped carrying a purse so he started saying, "Do you have everything you need?"

Exhibit B: Five years ago I caught a great sale on taco seasoning packets (10 for a dollar). Ever the thrifty shopper I purchased a few dollars worth. When I got home there was CLAXTON unpacking and putting away our groceries when he comes across the packets.

     "Why would you buy all of these?" He askes.

     "Because they were on sale, they're handy and they really jazz up our bean dishes." I say.

Claxton lifts the lid on my Grandmother's old ceramic cookie jar where apparently I had been storing several taco seasoning packets. Again, this was five years ago, we have long since used up all of the taco seasoning packets from that dark day of my "crazy shopping" episode and still, to this day whenever I bring home any type of seasoning packet, be it gravy, chili, fajita or the infamous taco Claxton always says, "Are you sure we don't have 500 of these tucked away somewhere?"

I rest my case and whisper to you now, the secret stash of wool has been carefully tucked in with the regular stash and we shall never speak of it again.