Update on Grandma’s blanket

On August 4, 2022July 31, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I have four borders and most of the center field done of Grandma’s blanket. The side borders are not finished because the plan is to maximize the length of the blanket with the yarn I have remaining. The pattern calls for tassels, but I don’t like tassels (because they become a tangled mess), so I’m going to use the tassel intended yarn to make the blanket longer (we have tall people in our family). The yarn remaining is laid out on the center portion. I will use one skein to make the length, and the other skein for the join technique I want to use. I consider this a calculated risk, not yarn roulette.

Magic update

On August 3, 2022 By CarynIn chickens

Just wanted to let you know that Magic is still kicking. Well, not really kicking as her bum leg is in its acting up cycle. I’ve lost count how many times she has gone through the heal/hurt series, but I feel there is a pattern. When she hurts her leg, her food intake decreases and she rests more. Her weight goes down. Her leg heals. She is able to get around and eat all the things, gains weight until she rivals or surpasses the others, then hurts her leg again. Repeat. Always the same right leg. At this point I don’t do much special except make sure she is on and off the roost at the appropriate times, pick the shavings of her belly that she can’t reach, and give her derrière an occasional rinse to keep her clean. She can usually get around some, and it gradually gets better. Tough bird.

Magic in the waxing part of her leg cycle (no, she doesn’t wax her legs, she is just getting better from her re-injury)

Tracking rows

On August 2, 2022July 30, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I’m still plugging away at finishing Grandma’s blanket. I have a renewed fervor for finishing, since I now have five projects in queue. I’m currently working on the border pieces, which are mostly a five row repeat. At this point I have the five rows memorized, but to keep track of where I am, I made a simple chart. Since I have to make two, I make the first leg of the X for one side, and the second for the other. Then they should come out the same length.

3D spindle design #2

On August 1, 2022July 28, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I reworked my spindle design in the Blender software and asked my local 3D printer to print it in cream resin for me. I redesigned the head and neck to make the top lighter and route the yarn better.

It spins easier than the first prototype, and is a bit more elegant, but isn’t quite where I want it.

Green combed top spun on a 3D printed spindle

I have realized that elegance is really what attracts spinners to a spindle. Yes, sometimes we need a workhorse to just get the job done, but a tool with elegance or history, or both, sing more to the soul. I have recently learned, when watching a history piece on spindles by Judith MacKenzie, that it possible to spin yarn by thigh rolling. No wheel, no spindle, hands and leg together to not only spin, but ply simultaneously. (I will report back on my attempts at that!) So why accumulate a collection of different objects to do the same thing? Because we are hoarders that like shiny things. We like to share and show our hoard and thus spread the knowledge farther. It is not a bad thing, in balance, and a good reason to strive for elegance on occasion.