My New "Practical" Neck Warmer (Cowl)

Well, during my rash of dye testing, I kept gravitating towards blues, turquoise, a few purples, but ended up with enough dyed batts and locks so something could come of them. At the same time I was learning English Long Draw (requires hand carded rolags to get the real thing) and also Navajo Plying which turns out a 3-ply yarn instead of 2-ply. I tried spinning my singles finer, and there are lengths where I succeeded and did get a final yarn that was worsted weight, but because of the extra plump in yarn grist that Long Draw produces (which I didn't know to take into account), most of what I spun came out closer to bulky weight.

I ended up with approx. 103 yards of yarn from my Romney fleeces and 160 yards of yarn from the CVM/Corriedale Cross white fleece - all in the same colorway. I finally decided the CVM/Corrie (a next-to-skin fleece) would be great for a neck warmer and the Romney could be used for fingerless mitts, with either (or both if necessary) making a hat. I'm not sure I'd wear all three together because it's pretty 50's to be quite that matchie-matchie, but what else can I do with that much (or little) yarn? Not much. Small projects only, and I'd really like mitts in that colorway and I'd really like a hat in that colorway and... you get the idea.

I decided to start with the quickest and easiest "no brainer" where I wouldn't have to even look up a pattern. A cowl, or neck warmer, since I only have one. So starting with the CVM/Corrie spin (which ranges between 6wpi and 9wpi)...

What I wanted: A non-bulky, warm, cozy neck warmer that wouldn’t be tall enough to push up into my hairline but would cover my whole neck length, and with just enough “hug factor” not to let in cold air, yet not have so much as to be at all constricting; and then it would spread out wider as it went down onto my shoulders so as to lay flat under a jacket and not curl up. (Whew.)

What I got: Just exactly that. YAY!



At some point I'll take a photo with it on because it really does fit "right" and it's super practical, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

How To: I made no increases in #stitches, but got the needed flare just by needle size changes. I can vouch for this with worsted weight/bulky weight yarn, but I don’t know if mere next-size-up needle changes would give enough flare using a fine yarn (your call on that). So these instructions apply to worsted or bulky weight yarn.

1. Do a good sized swatch in 2x1 ribbing (K2, P1) with the needle size that’ll give you a substantial fabric but not “cardboard stiff” given the yarn you’re using.

2. Measure your neck circumference under the chin and count stitches per inch from your unstretched swatch. Multiply out, and cast on that many stitches, rounded UP to the closest multiple of 3 sts. Do so using your method of circular knitting (or you could knit flat and join into circle with one seam), but DO cast onto 2 needles held together or onto a larger needle size so your cast on edge will have plenty of stretch.

3. In your swatch needle size, knit 2 inches in ribbing (neck/throat area). Switch to next needle size up and knit a third inch (collar bone area). Switch to next needle size up and knit a fourth inch (top of shoulders area). Switch to next needle size up (largest of 4 needle sizes) and knit 3/4 to 1 inch more, OR use 3rd needle size as I did, but knit with zero tension on yarn (super loosely). Bind off using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s “sewn bindoff” which is easy, fun, and a nicely-finished edge, but also it’s “the” bindoff for maximum stretch. (Do give a little tug against each bound off stitch as you drop it for max looseness.) That technique is shown on this (silent) video...



Ah! Here's another one (a "talkie") where she does show that little tug. She also says to leave 4x the length, so maybe I'm not the only one who's almost run out of tail yarn if she's a max-stretch-making tugger.



...and while EZ said to allow your garment’s yarn tail (what the video's star is sewing with) to be 3x the length of your bound off edge, I allow 4x because sometimes I’ve needed that added length, probably because I do tug against each stitch, whereas the demo in the video does not. But also because I'm a tad paranoid about running out of yarn in the middle of a bind-off.

You can do this neck warmer using 2x1 ribbing or 1x1 ribbing. If the latter, however, 1x1 ribbing has the most memory and hugs the most, so you would want to add one inch to your neck measurement, and of course you’d cast on an even number of stitches instead of multiples of three. (And I acknowledge that it's reeeeeally annoying when someone writes "of course" on something you may not have realized because you're a new knitter.) Also, if you want a real foldover turtleneck instead of single layer “mock” T-neck, knit 4 inches in your first needle size before progressing up. And finally, if you don’t want to knit in the round, you could also knit it flat with just a quickie 5” seam up the back to join.

My 1960s Stove - Restoration Cleaning

Ohhh, man. Am I ever sold on power steamers! We have about a 275-year-old farmhouse that originally had no kitchen. Well, I take it back, the kitchen was in what we now call the family room. It has a huge fireplace with a swing iron that sticks out of the brick (it eventually fell out and is somewhere, I want to find it)! Beehive oven, the whole shebang. That's where the family pretty much did everything - hang out, cook, bake, and I'd bet that room saw kids playing games, mom spinning yarn and dad going over the books, or maybe playing a banjo if he was the type. The kitchen, as we know it, was either added in the 60s or renovated in the 60s. I can't imagine anyone living in this house in the 50's with no "today's kitchen," but who knows. At that point this house still had all its farm land, not a neighborhood like it eventually became.

Anyway, I suspect it was renovated then. But in any event, one of the things I loved about this kitchen was the stove. It's a "drop-in" with cabinets underneath. The whole stovetop and its 4 burners are in the form of a drawer! You can close that "drawer" and the stove front is even with the cabinets. You can open it halfway and the drawer sticks out into the room a little. You get 2 burners then. Or you can open it all the way, and you get 4 burners, and it sticks out into the room. If you cook a holiday dinner and you have gravy splatters all over the cooktop, whoooosh. You can just close the drawer.

Well, this stove has been in this kitchen since the late 50s or early 60s, best I can tell. And I've cleaned this sucker but there's just no way to get off 50 years of grease, etc. off the many (and complex) brackets and crevices that let a drawer slide out below, but also (it gets worse) - the oven doors don't open top-down, they swing out toward you, and slide up. We are talking a LOT of "bracketry" which, I think is a new word, as of now.

Two kinds of horribles. One is the baked on black, where you can't see the surface at all. The other is that tannish brown glazed covering that's sometimes dull, but sometimes also gets shiny darker brown spots on it. This had both.

Along comes a handyman I hired to do other things, and he brought over a unit made by Wagner - Power Steamer 705. The thing only costs $50 on Amazon, but ohhh man! Talk about effective! This whole stove is brushed or shiny stainless steel plus some black metal. Bakelite handles. You get the idea. Could be gorgeous, but after all these years?

I took the steamer to this stove, and it is a painstakingly slow process because you shoot a blast of steam, then go at it with SOS pads. But it worked!! Dang, I was seeing a beautiful surface under all that. And seeing my glee, the handyman saw the question in my eyes as he was preparing to leave, and said, "Hmmm, do you mind if I leave the steamer in your office? I'll need it tomorrow when I continue with your cabinets."

"Uhhh, okaaaaaaay. If you must."

These photos are the result of a cumulative total of probably 15-20 hours spread out over a week, and I'd guess more than that. Plus, I'm guessing 10 gallons of steam.

Mais voila!! (click twice on the photos and they enlarge)

Range top drawer closed


Range top drawer open to the halfway position


Range top drawer extended full kick.


Range top itself!


Bear in mind, I've gone at this top surface many times with just SOS and a whole lotta elbow grease. I wish I'd taken photos before, but there was a "permanent" circle of brown around the burners that no amount of rubbing could get off. It was in all those teensy microscopic crevices that brushed stainless has. With the steamer, that stuff melts! An SOS pad gets it off. Still need the patience, but you just keep seeing progress, and... well, you just can't stop until it's perfect.

Now I reeeally wish I'd taken photos of the brackets that swing out to lift the oven doors because two things. One, you can only get at all parts of it by working on it a section at a time (holding the door open just so far) and then go at it again (holding it open just a little more). These tan metal brackets had that impossible brownish shiny coating with the dark brown spots. Stem to stern! 50 years??

Voila a 3rd time.


Dang, I'm just so thrilled with the results that are possible with a power steamer. And what I discovered to be THE most valuable tool for getting into crevices, corners and teensy areas was a nut pick! The point is totally fine, but it's rounded so it digs, but doesn't scratch. So down to the nitty gritty edges, baked on grease, charred blackened areas where you can't even see what's underneath it... all G-O-N-E !!!

Apparently this stove has a small but devoted cult following. It's called the Frigidaire "Flair" Custom Imperial, and in small print on the front, it says "Product of General Motors." Well, I'm thinking they used the same chrome on this stove that was on the early cars (you know the ones, they were made of steel then, not freaking fiber glass and plastic!! Horrors, and I mean it.

My only concern is... one burner has a built in sensor. It senses the temp of the pot that's set onto it, and is supposed to self-adjust to maintain the temp you set. I wasn't going to touch that, I swore I wouldn't, but this morning lust got the best of me and I blasted that sucker with steam and SOS. At least the top of it. I'm figuring that steam can't be hotter than 212 degrees, and pots get hotter than that. Right?? Right??? I sure hope I didn't mess that thing up.

REVISED Fleece Scouring Method

I had one bag left. With a whole lot more than that, you kind of feel the need to chomp through it, but just one bag? After scouring three big Romney fleeces and two 8-lb. CVM/Corrie Cross fleeces? It's easy to shine it on. But it was becoming an eyesore because I couldn't just stash it somewhere (and forget it for sure), I had to keep it visible so it would keep staring at me. The "one last remnant" is really hard to get motivated about.

It did look like a good bag though, it definitely wasn't dregs. Somewhere around 4-6pounds, but a big bag. I decided to take some liberties with it and switch things up a bit, trying some of the things that had constantly occurred to me, but you know how it is, you read the same conventions everywhere, and you just follow them.

Never again! I'm only sorry that I didn't try this sooner.

No more lingerie bag washing for me. Not after trying it this way.

Fill your container with hottest tap water (I get somewhere around 125-135 degrees, hotter as I go). Put the non-enzyme Dawn dish detergent in it, enough so the water tints blue. Add fleece. But this time, I didn't use lingerie bags. I just plunked a big glob of fleece straight into the water. It floated freely. Lots of dirt, grease, what you'd expect. Except more than before, it seemed.

Scoop fiber out (the trick now is to not get only half, but the whole blob, because you don't want connected fibers pulling apart just over this).

Onto floor of sink, use a wooden cutting board or some other thing to press evenly downward to squeeze out excess soapy, dirty, funky, very hot water. No mushing side to side.

Into equally hot rinse water. Same exit, same pressing.

Into fresh equally hot rinse water. Ditto.

Toss the whole blob, intact, into a bucket and leave it there. Trick here? YOU WANT IT TO COOL ENTIRELY BEFORE HANDLING. (No hot fiber into spin cycle.)

Keep processing batches, keep adding blobs to the bucket to cool. Or take them outside. Just make sure they're cool.

Once cool? THEN pack them into the lingerie bags, and put through the spin cycle.

Doesn't sound very different? Well, it is. Scouring fleece in lingerie bags is just bad. Think of what happens inside the bag at every turn (literally). First, the fiber has nowhere to go, it's contained. So it compacts. Lock upon lock. Next, lifting that bag out of the water. No matter how gentle you are, you still have hot, wet, heavy locks that WILL shift around inside that bag. What's that the recipe for? Felting. Curling. Getting pressed by weight into those curls.

Variation discovered along the way: Line the vessel with tulle so you can lift out the fleece, rather than using a scoop colander.

Variation #2: (I liked this also.) After the fiber is totally (and I mean totally) cooled, do a final rinse, this time in cooler water. A little heat added, but not much. Cool fiber, cool water. Let it float around, and now you can swish it around also.

Cool fiber, safer handling in terms of contributing to the matting (which will happen, not might happen, with any handling you do while it's hot). The goal is the least amount of handling possible WHILE IT'S HOT.

NOW it's great to put it in lingerie bags. And into washer's spin cycle. Then lay it out to dry, as normal.

The final product doing it this way was
1. Lock structure preserved SO much better. Beyond just noticeably so.
2. Way whiter, cleaner (did I say waaaaay cleaner?) fleece.
3. Softer. No soap residue.
4. Tangle free, and I mean to the nth degree that wetted loose locks can be. Pretty much tangle free. I barely had to flick it prior to carding.

One thing I do know regarding human hair. When you wash it, in hot water, you are opening up the cuticle (scales). If you do a final rinse in cooler water, you close the cuticle. For one thing, you will damage your hair less, just in combing it, if the cuticles are closed (scales are snuggled down tight against the strand).

Same with fleece.

I've never seen a more gorgeous, clean, soft, shiny, tangle-free result from scouring fleece as I did with that last bag. I sure wish I'd departed from the "conventional wisdom" on fleece scouring a whole lot earlier, because this fleece is a joy to card. The other (all 5 fleeces) from doing it the conventional way, just doesn't hold a candle.

Turquoise-Periwinkle and Drum Carders

I decided to put my Strauch Petite drum carder to work and try processing some locks on it rather than combing. I also did some color blending on it. I'm not getting the effects I want for some reason with the latter, at least with this blending attempt. It's possible that's because the colors are too close for the to stand out. However, I'd also dyed up a bunch of misc. solids last summer, a lot of which were in these same colors, so even though those were combed, I decided to spin close to all I had, and Navajo ply it (also something that's fairly new to me).

Navajo plying is interesting. It's a way to keep color changes together when spinning from rainbow-dyed roving, but it took a fair learning curve. Whoever invented Navajo plying was a genius, or else she got tangled up at her wheel, and then discovered that if she spun the tangle, or part of it, her colors would stay separated and she could call it Navajo plying.

I learned the technique entirely from a youtube video. Thank God for youtube videos. I've been actually learning pretty much everything I know about spinning techniques on youtube videos. Here's the best one I found on Navajo plying, by Sarah Anderson, with good sound, good photography and clear, concise instructions.

Unfortunately, my first skein in this colorway and technique, I spun the singles so that with 3 ply (Navajo), it ended up as a heavy worsted weight. On the next little skein, I narrowed down some (23 plyed yards) and got more of a regular worsted weight, bordering in some places on finer. Then what I did today, I narrowed up even more, and although more consistent, it's looking like this little skein (56 yards) will almost be a DK weight. That's an odd breakdown, but once I figure out about how many yards a hat will take (forgot), I think that's where I'll go with it. I like both the colors (a periwinkle wannabee and a turquoise), and I'm totally open to doing a scarf or cowl in the same or pick up one or the other colors, but spin it out of the CVM/Corrie mix breed fleece I have, which is definitely next-to-skin wool.

So here's what I ended up with (2 of the skeins, today's is soaking to set the spin).







I'm sure glad I'm not yet sick of this colorway, or either part of it, because Monday, Labor Day, my spin group had their annual Dye Day, and they were trying out their brand new humungous dye pot (it does pounds, and pounds at a time, a gigantic shiny stainless stand-alone pot, 2-3 ft. deep, mounted on its own burner). What color did they put in it, for everyone to dump whatever yarn or fiber they wanted into it? Turquoise. I stuck in 5 oz. of really nice grade locks from my Romney fleeces, or maybe it's more. Still unprocessed (not sure if I'll card or comb), but it's turqoise. Or maybe closer to Aqua. But at least it'll fit in, that's for sure.

I still have quite a credit balance at a LYS, and have had this huge flirtation with a Louet Jr. (roving carder - narrow drum) so bit the bullet and ordered one. A 4" wide drum, the teeth on the Louets are longer and of all things, flexible. They intermesh also. A totally different animal than my Strauch. It'll be interesting to see how that fits into my world. I don't know yet, only that I just couldn't seem to get that particular carder out of my head. That's what trade arrangements are all about though, yes? Buying something you couldn't justify otherwise.

E-reader Mecca for Knitting!!

As a newbie to the e-reader/ebook/audiobook world, I had bought a Sony Touch locally, with a 30-day return policy in case I just didn't take to e-reading. Well, I did take to it, but with further research, as of yesterday I was going to take back the Sony and go with the Kindle. I didn't think much about the annotation feature that Sony has, but then yesterday I really started looking at that.

Whereupon the whole ball game took a turn.

I'm falling in L-O-V-E with the Sony Touch e-reader. While its screen needs the right lighting for optimal reading (a trade-offish fact of life with a "Touch" screen), what I've discovered is that the potential of the Sony Touch's note taking is phenomenally suited to me as a knitter!

It all started when I downloaded Berroco's free Nimbus pattern into it. Well, I don't know about other knitters but I've learned that before I even start knitting something, to go through the pattern and circle all the size-related instructions because... (yup, I have done that. Twice. It's a mistake I don't want to ever make again. I've learned to circle all size-related stitch instructions).

So here's what the Sony Touch Annotation features will let you do. From within the reader. On the pattern page itself.

NOTE: Screen looks way worse in photos than it is. Photographing my very clear, crisp Samsung TV screen does the same thing.



While at marking up the page, since I'm not yet used to the upper right corner "dog ear" icon signifying that Bookmark Notes exist for that page, I drew two big arrows pointing to the icon. In other words, you can circle text, write in margins, cross things out as you knit them... there's unlimited, endless flexibility. You can mark or write with your fingernail but a way more civilized stylus comes with it, and Sony placed it in a totally secure, very accessible slot.

Now, page 2 of this pattern was blank. What a perfect place for a sketch! So I drew a sketch on it.



But then I also wanted to try out the Bookmark Notes feature, and this time, use the keyboard. (Bookmarks can be brought forward by a soft tap on the dog-ear, then whooshed away again by a soft tap on the X box.)



You can also draw on the bookmark notes page. That or the keyboard, you have that choice.

So the usefulness of the entire annotation scope of this Sony Touch, to me, is fast becoming a dealmaker/dealbreaker thing. As a reader, not so much. As a knitter? Indispensible.

As for e-readers in general, I'm totally sold on them. You bring this one unit with you, and you have your pattern(s). You have your book(s). You have a stitch dictionary perhaps. This particular unit also reads Microsoft Word files, so what the hey, you might have a draft of something you want to keep working on. Have Touch/Stylus, will travel. Each brand of e-reader has a different amount of storage space built in. Sony has a respectable amount, but. BUT! It happens to also have two slots for SD cards. The normal camera type... up to 16 Gigs! I don't know how much the Duo Stick card can have, I didn't care at that point.

Finally, as some e-readers go, and the Sony Touch is one of them, if you want to listen to music or an audiobook while keeping any of those things on the screen? No problem. It's also an MP3 player. (And with 16G+ of storage space)... EGADS!

Kindle is coming out with a new generation, and there's no question its screen is going to be better. Its current model already is. But the more I've learned, the more I've found that I'm just a tad bugged by Amazon's proprietary format limitations. The one downside to this Sony Touch is that it's lacking in screen contrast definition, and the Touch Screen technology adds inherent glare. But hey, for me? As a knitter? For someone who wants to jot notes on things? The annotation/drawing potential that this thing has... it's just way too compelling. As for the screen issue, Sony makes an e-reader cover for it (opens like a book) that has a convenient, although not perfect, light built right into it. The Kindle has one of those also, but the Sony needs it in some lighting. I've learned to position it so there's no glare (a fiddly process currently, but I will get better at it) but it definitely helps the dull contrast issue.

So that's that. Whether I keep this one or return it and wait for Sony's new generation (which is rumored to have everything this does but improved screen contrast is hoped for), I don't yet know. I'll probably have to make up my mind before the new model comes out. But I'm definitely going with the Sony. The annotation feature (which had sounded so "pfffft, meh" to me as a book reader), is now a deal-making feature for me as a knitter. It's pretty much become a done deal.

Dye Station Setup (requested)

Sarah over at Greener Shades Forum on Ravelry asked if I would post my dye station setup, probably not because there's anything ingeniuous about it (there isn't) but because it's so makeshift, but it works.

I’m having pretty good luck with where I keep gravitating to for dyeing. I’m using side-by-side washer/dryer as my “table” and I had a yoga matt type thing (bought at Barnes & Noble some years ago) and that is working out fantastically as a platform. I cut it to a manageable length (plus reserved a strip which I put on my kitchen counter when stovetop dyeing). What you see here is a length that covers my washer plus about a foot or so that spans over onto my dryer. If you put a couple of flexible (cheap) plastic cutting board mats (sticking out in the photo) to span the few inches between washer and dryer, the matt can spread across them so in case there's a spill, it won't drip down between them (horrors). Just be sure you remember where that gap is and not set a jar of dye stock right there. It is totally easy to blot up spills on the mat. It's rubberized so dye stock washes right off of it, and it’s wide enough so it exceeds the depth distance of the washer/dryer. And stiff enough so it'll stick out (again good insurance in case of a spill). Plus if any stock DOES happen to splash onto the washer/dryer control panels, it wipes off that surface really easily. So if you have a side-by-side setup, it works. If not, the yoga mat is thick enough so nothing would penetrate through it if using a kitchen counter (all precautions observed, of course).


As for other tools that seem to be working well for me, The Dollar Tree store had these remarkably handy “Sure Fresh Mini Storage” containers - 10 to a package that hold 50ml each for working containers as you go. Also great for storing leftover working stocks that are in small quantities. The square ones seem to seal best, but when they were out of those, I settled for the round ones. (Also great for stitch markers!)



I also am in love with the 30ml syringes for applying dyes for hand painting. The 60ml ones (largest shown) are too unweildly and the plunger doesn’t slide quite as easily for some reason. I find myself using the 24ml ones for best control. Also shown are 10-ml and then for fractions of dye stocks (like 2.75ml) the little 3ml. ones are perfect. These really give you some mean accuracy! These are very cheap at a farm supply store, ranging in price from $1.50 for the 60ml down to 19 cents for the little 3ml ones. I have at least 3 of all sizes so I don't have to interrupt my applications to rinse anything out.

Then I also use the back of a solid (no cut-outs) spatula I picked up at the Dollar Tree (stainless so it slips easily on fiber). This works great for patting, pushing dye into the fiber.

But that yoga mat was my "recycle of the year" -- it’s stiff enough to span across the two machines and not shift around like a plastic tablecloth does, it's thick enough so it isn't prone to developing holes anywhere, but it's totally foldable/rollable. The final thing I like about it is that it doesn't have much memory. If you fold or roll it up, it seems to unfold flat, not curling up on edges or fold lines creating uneven surfaces.

I left the photos at a larger size in case you want to click on one to get more of a closeup of those cute little storage containers. Dang, those were a great find.

Mon. Experiment

Logistics and setup/breakdown get really streamlined when you want to do maybe one of these a day and not spend much time at all. This time I was experimenting with the amount of resident acid pre-soak to leave in the fiber. I also wanted pretty deep DOS. I was prepared for mud because the amount of liquid by the time I was done syringing on my dye stocks at the intensity I wanted, GIVEN all that resident presoak already in the fiber -- well, all was fine unless you pressed on the fiber (at ALL) in which case, puddles. But having the fiber that wet sure does help in migration. There's a sweet spot balance in here somewhere. I just haven't yet found it. I have a feeling I'm heading toward moisture control right on the table as an integral part of what I'm after.

Anyway, THOUGH the turquoise doesn't come through that well in photo, this is, so far, one of my favorites because this combo has been in my head. Very simple, just a royal blue and turquoise with some color change blendings. I will do this again, except work with 2% stocks to bump up the DOS with less liquid required. Plus 2% stocks is only one more math calculation, but it sure would conserve on storage space required. I may be abandoning all those mixer/shaker containers and going to squat, short pint mason jars for stackabililty. Those mixer/shaker suckers are just too damned big.