Ravelry Revel

I finished plying the Ravelry singles last night (roving from Twisted Fiberarts, Ravelry Colorway, Cloudy blend-merino and bamboo). By the end of the last skein, I had found my Navajo 3-plying rhythm and it went much faster and smoother (rather than the ply and park method I'd been using). My joins are improving and I am very pleased with the yarn. It came out to 4.4ozs (though the last 2 hanks are a little damp still, so they may lose a tinch) and 297 yds, which is plenty for a pair of socks for me. It's a shade heavier than fingering weight but not quite sport. I will have to experiment with needles (maybe the 3.0 Size 2's will work best). I am itching to cast on, but will wait as book socks have priority for the next 6 weeks. I can't wait to see how it knits up.

Next on the wheel: Colorway: So Far Away (I'm singing Carole King while I spin) , BFL (blue faced leicester) from Yummy Yarns. This is fantastic fiber- I've never spun BFL before- I love it! This roving was dyed beautifully, with 4 identical repeats (the 4th is with the wheel) and a little left over. I'm spinning it fine to 3-ply and preserve the color repeats. The yarn should come out self-striping. I love this colorway.

Links for Twisted Fiberarts and Yummy Yarns in the Stash Enhancers list to the right.

GI, Joe?

Yep, it's exactly what you think it is....

http://www.strangebuttrewe.com/knitGI.htm

Thursday Tab- Rosita, A Dancing Doll, Saalfield/Artcraft #1723

Rosita (#1723) is a reprint of a larger set of Rita Hayworth in Carmen. Though there are only 4 dresses, I think this is the most beautifully drawn paper doll I've ever seen (and it's certainly the most gorgeous of the ones I own). The detail is stunning. The original Carmen set had Rita Hayworth 2 dolls and 4 more outfits that are equally beautiful. Someday, I'll own the original.

Click on images to enlarge, right click to save as jpgs, print clothes on plain paper, covers on card stock.

AI- Top... oh, right...

Never mind.

Force of habit I guess- a Wednesday without a Tuesday Night Recap just doesn't feel right. Oh well, check in again in January.

Learning Curve

Confession: I'm not good at Navajo 3-plying, and the notion of having to spin 1/3 more single for the same yardage goes against my lazy-grain. But Navajo 3-plying (or chain plying, as it is also called) is the best way to preserve color changes in yarns. It's good for regular variegated rovings when you want to avoid tweedifying your yarn. And it's perfect for the self-patterning rovings that are sold by Twisted Fiberarts. I've been spinning roving from Twisted, so Navajo 3-plying was my first, though reluctant, choice.

Here's the first skein of the Ravelry Colorway- it's Twisted's Cloudy blend( 60% Superwash Merino, 40% Bamboo)- the colors are green, black and pink. It should knit up as sections of green separated by pink areas bordered on both ends with black, all of the colors slightly heathered from the bamboo blend. The yarn is wonderfully soft, with a lovely satin sheen (from the bamboo), and the singles spun up beautifully even. The Bamboo keeps the merino from being as bouncy as it would be normally (or maybe that's the superwash), so the yarn is much more sleek than I expected. It's a little heavier than fingering but not quite sport weight. I'll have to experiment for needle-size (either the larger 2's- 3.0mm, or 3's). This skein is 1.7 ozs and 123 yds (look at that- I wasn't even trying for 100YPO, and I nearly got it with a 3-ply). I have 4 ozs of this roving, and I can knit a pair of socks for myself with 250 yds of fingering weight yarn, so I should have enough for a pair of socks, with some left over.

The close-up pic shows the colors best. It also shows all of my plying bloopers- my joins are wretched, and there are over-plied areas (and under-plied as well). But I'll learn as I go, and bythe last skein of this roving, my 3-plying might be barely adequate (I hope so because I have another Twisted roving on hand, 2 more on the way, and I intend to order even more).

For a Navajo 3-plying tutorial with a wonderful video, go here: http://www.yarnwench.com/php/Navajo3PlyTutorial.php

No Calories, No Carbs

I was looking for hand-painted roving on Etsy and stumbled across Bee Mice Elf's store- she not only sells great rovings, dyed in beautiful colors, and handspun yarns, but she also makes (and sells) totally realistic-looking needle-felted play food. Filled tacos, tamales, this great bacon and egg set, and the best of all- tortillas with famous faces *accidentally* fried in them. The food is intended for play, but it looks like art to me.

Check out the shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5656087

Ravelry Roving

I know you'll be dissapointed, but I couldn't think of a single pun (lame or otherwise) for today's post, so I went with literal: this roving is from Twisted Fiber Arts, and it's called Ravelry (after the fantastic Ravelry universe, which, if you don't know about, go check it out from the links to the right of the page). Twisted Fiber Arts dyes the most beautiful self-patterning yarns I've ever seen, and they also dye matching rovings for their colorways.

This one is called, as I mentioned, Ravelry. The fiber content is 60% Superwash Merino, 40% Bamboo, and this blend is called Cloudy. The bamboo content doesn't take dye the same as the wool, so the colors will be heathered, which is gorgeous. The Bamboo also adds a lovely sheen to the yarn. The colors are green with black bordered pink sections, and the roving was dyed to be self-patterning, just like the yarn. This stuff spins up beautifully and fine, and I plan to Navajo 3-ply it to retain the color separation and patterning. It probably won't be fingering weight since my singles aren't quite fine enough to triple them and still have yarn that thin, but it should be sportweight, which is nice for socks as well.

I divided the roving into 2 long roughly matching sections, each will be a single skein of yarn which should match fairly well as far as the striping goes (it won't be exact because, well, it's handspun). There are a couple of hunks of roving left that I will spin as a single, smaller skein that will also be self-patterning, but won't match the first 2 as well. I'll use that for toes if needed. I have 4 ozs of this roving, which should be plenty for socks.

I have 1 other Twisted roving on hand (Tulip colorway, in a Merino/Silk blend), and 2 more coming, and I'll order more when it's available. Check the post a few days ago for the Twisted Fiber Arts link if you want to see more.

Perry Cormo

It feels so good to finish a spinning project, and it feels especially good to finish one where I took the fiber from raw fleece to yarn (it'll feel even better when I knit it up, but that's going to have to wait until after the sock book is done).

I ended up with 8.6ozs of 2-ply yarn (from 1lb of raw fleece)- 46 yds of cream, 45 yds of oatmeal, 368 yds of med tan, and 130 yds dark tan, for a total of 589 yards of yarn (short of my 700yd estimate, back when I thought I was going to get closer to 100YPO)(silly me).

The yarn is fingering weight, and the color differences are subtle but nice. I hope to do a simple stranded pattern, or perhaps a cable with the color fading gradually from dark to light. This yarn is too soft for socks, but it would be perfect for a hat and mittens, knit on size 2 or 3 needles (3 for stranded, 2 for cables).

I learn something from every spinning project, and with this one, I learned that I am not able to properly card cormo on the drum carder. This soft wool should have had no lumps or bumps, but the yarn does. I let the fiber down by being in too much of a hurry. I should either have hand carded it (I have cotton cards, which should be fine enough for merino and cormo) or sent it out for processing. But the yarn is lovely, no matter what, and it should knit up beautifully.

Next up on the wheel- one of the Twisted Fiber Arts rovings.

Left Brain? Right Brain?

This is totally weird- a test to see if you're using your left brain or your right brain. I can see the lady twirl both ways, but it's easier for me to see her twirling clockwise (to get her to go counter clockwise, I have to look to the side and read something, and then she switches around). Supposedly only 14% of the people can see her twirl both ways, though that assertion isn't backed up by any research or other facts. The whole thing may be some sort of hoax, but it's interesting.

Give it a whirl.

http://www.where-what-how-why.com/?p=111

Chop Chop

The chopsticks I bought on eBay, for spindle shafts arrived- aren't they great? They were perfectly reasonable as chopsticks (just over $10 for the lot, including shipping), and they're a huge bargain as 20 spindle shafts. I am pretty sure that all of my stone donut pendant/whorls will find a good match among these colors (and I'll take the ones I made a few days ago and switch out the shafts to ones more color-coordinating).

I probably won't get any new spindles put together this weekend because we have company, and it's a holiday, and I am still trying to race ahead of the book deadline, but as soon as I get a few put together, I'll post a pic.

Handspun and Hand Dyed

I finished up the bamboo/sari silk/firestar fiber from Butterflygirl Designs last night. This is the first spindle-spun project I've tackled in years (okay, I cheated and plied the last 2 skeins on the wheel, but I spindled all of the singles), and the yarn came out beautifully. The total is 3.9ozs and 455 yds of sparkly, soft, jewel-tone goodness. This stuff is really hard to photograph well- the 2nd pic shows off the colors best. I am going to knit a lacy scarf with this yarn. I'll look around for a suitable pattern. The lace will have to be uncomplicated because this is a slightly textured yarn (the silk bits stick out gorgeously, and there are inconsistencies in the spinning) and a fiddly lace will not show off to advantage. Any suggestions out there?

(Butterflygirl Designs has more of the Riot available if you're interested, as well as gorgeous spindles: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5207884&order=&section_id=&page=1 )

I finished another skein of the medium-tan hand-processed Cormo. This one is 2.1 ozs and 156 yds (I cannot consistently get 100YPO on 2-ply yarns)- with the other skein of this shade, I have 275 yds and 4ozs, and one more skein to spin up to finish this entire batch of wool. I did not do it justice with my prep- there are many more neps than I realized, so it's definitely a textured yarn. But it's so soft and beautiful.

And my first shipment of Twisted Fiberarts self-patterning sock yarns arrived, and I am totally in love. Well, I was in love already, just from the pictures. And I fell even more in love after getting a couple of their hand-dyed rovings (which I will spin as self-patterning yarns). But I'm really really in love, now that I have seen, and felt, their dyed-yarns. The colors are deep and gorgeous, and the dye-saturation is perfect. I got Scorched in Playful (superwash merino, light sport, though I'm sure I'll knit it with size 2 needles) (see it here: http://www.twistedfiberart.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=98 ), and Guardian in 2 different weights (Playful, and Arial, superwash merino, light fingering) (see it here: http://www.twistedfiberart.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=92 ). Twisted also sends a teensy little sample skein (yarn, or roving, depending on what you order) that is specially dyed to show the color repeats in the smaller sample. This time I got Ankh in Kabam! (superwash merino and bamboo and nylon). (see it here: http://www.twistedfiberart.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=86 )

Twisted Fiberarts is now taking pre-orders for 4 more colorways (several types of yarn, plus several types of rovings for the spinners). This stuff sells out very quickly (all of the Xavier yarn-which is the colorway of the sample roving I used on the mini mitten and sock-is gone already), so if you want to order, check it out now: http://www.twistedfiberart.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=26 You won't be sorry. (I scored yarn and roving in Giles and Sherwood)

Thursday Tab- Saalfield Mitzi and Sissy, #N3965

My reference book says that Mitzi and Sissy #N3965 is a reprint of Evelyn Rudie, which was published in 1958. I don't know who Evelyn Rudie was, though she must have been a minor child celebrity. The cover price on Mitzi and Sissy is 49 cents, which means it was published in the very late 60's or early 70's, and the dolls look contemporary, but the clothes are definitely earlier.

Teklady27 sent me a Wikipedia link for Evelyn Rudie- she was the youngest Emmy nominated child star in the 50's, and she's still very active in the theater. The wiki entry has a photo of the original paper doll cover and dolls. Evelyn was blonde, but the dolls are obviously the same poses as the above scans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Rudie Thanks Teklady27!

Click on images to enlarge, right click to save as jpgs. Print clothes on plain paper, covers on card stock (though this back cover can be printed on plain paper too).

AI- Season 7 Finale

You know, I was almost at last year's Finale. My sister in Idaho bought me a Washington State American Idol stratch lottery ticket, which did not win anything, so I sent it in for the 2nd chance drawing. A few weeks later, I got a certified letter from the WA State Lottery Commission informing me that I was one of 110 finalists for their Grand Prize Drawing of a trip to the AI Finale, tickets to exclusive parties, and a wad of cash. I also got 40 more AI scratch tickets (no winners), an AI hat, an AI mug, and an AI messenger bag (which my granddaughter uses to store her Barbie clothes). Unfortunately, I didn't win, but for a few weeks, the possibility was tantilizing.

I entered the drawing again this year (this time sponsored by Idaho), but wasn't even a contender. Just think, I could have been there tonight, live blogging.

I really hated Mikalah Gordon during her season, but I find that I have a sort of grudging admiration for her now- not her taste in clothes or her mad singing skilz, but her ability to hang in there in the public eye (if being an AI remote host counts) with no discernable talent.

I did like Matt Rogers in his season, and he shares the same knack as Mikalah.

The So You Think You Can Dance kids show the Top 12 how to do it. Still. Again. Brooke looks like she's having more fun tonight than at any time during the competition.

Seal and Syesha sound good together.

I know that the show that brought us Kevin Covais and Sanjaya, not to mention William Hung, has no lowest rung when it comes to credibility, but does the Number 1 show in the country (slipping ratings notwithstanding) really need to shill horrible movies?

And there's Jason, looking fine, and sounding even better (though this song always makes me think of Shrek, speaking of Mike Meyers).

The Fordmercial reminds me that I do like these kids a lot, even the ones I didn't like while they were competing.

So, did Donna Summer need help down the stairs, or was she just being escorted?

Carly and Michael Johns should sound better than they do together. Maybe it's just that I don't much care for The Letter, and I prefer Carly's lower range.

Please, I beg you- no more talk of Simon's nipples.

I wonder how many of tonight's group numbers will end up on the tour. The Bryan Adams set was nice, and it's always good to see (and hear) Chikezie.

American Idol and Disney together at last. Why am I not surprised?

Paula is going to applaud the girls right out of her dress if she's not careful. And are there fewer ZZ's than usual?

Graham Nash and Brooke are a great pair- they sound lovely together.

What I said about Simon's nipples, goes double for glimpses of David Cook's thighs.

Ryan is mumbling his intros tonight, so I didn't catch who sang next- if my granddaughter had been here, she could have told me those were The Jonas Brothers.

Aaaaand, it's time for The Crazies- odd lisping high voiced boy (maybe), scary screaming girl, Let My Pipple Go Guy, and Reynaldo (who, like most crazies, has no sense of when to stop).

I don't know One Republic (and again didn't catch the name until Ryan repeated it after the song), but Wee David sounded good with them. Maybe he can sing contemporary music (on the other hand, I don't know this group- they could be the least contemporary bunch recording today).

Oh my. Wee David's paternal grandpa, when asked to give advice and encouragement to his grandson, brags about the advantage AI has given the rest of his family, and emphasizes how much he loves his son. Nary a word about David himself, which probably explains a lot.

Jordin, Jordin, Jordin- that dress is the wrong color, the wrong cut, the wrong fit, the wrong style, and just plain wrong.

My guess is that Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr made that video for the AI charity special.

Carrie Underwood's dress effeciently combines cuffs with a shawl. Are they Shuffs? or a Cawl?

Fantasia sang on the show last week. Ruben sang last night. Carrie and Jordin both sing tonight. I assume Kelly had better things to do. And Taylor no longer exists.

George Michael sounds pretty good, and hasn't been arrested lately.

So, after 4 months of twice a week (and sometimes 3 times) recapping, snarking, and goofing on this show that I love- it's David Cook for The Win. I actively disliked him for most of the season, but not so much now. I won't buy his album, but I'm okay with him getting the title. Wee David looks relieved, Big David looks overwhelmed. The Winning Song is surprisingly okay, and the show got their Daughtry. I wish them all well.(well, maybe not Daughtry).

And that's a wrap for Season 7. Don't worry, the auditions start again in 3 months. We'll barely have time to miss it.

Chop Suey

How do you make pretty spindle shafts when you don't have a lathe?

Use chopsticks.

Neither of these whorls go particularly well with the chopsticks that I had on hand, but they do illustrate the principle. It was tricky to poke a hole in the top of the stick for the hook- both had a sort of plastic end-cap. However, the stick that didn't have a topper, split when I screwed the hook in, so it's worth wrestling with the cap.

Both of these spindles weigh 1.1ozs, both are 9 3/4" long, and both spin just fine (a teeny bit of wobble, but the whorls weren't made for spindles, they were made for jewelry, so they're not perfectly balanced).

I have more chopsticks on the way (different colors and designs) and I'll probably switch the whorls out when those arrive (that's the nice thing about grommets- no glue makes for easy mix-n-match). I use opened screw eyes for the hooks, so I can buy most of my *ingredients* at Menards.

AI- Top 2 Performance

It's obvious from the opening shot that we're going to run the fight analogy right into the ground. I don't need to see either David in a satin bathrobe (though I suppose it's better than Matador pants). I was wondering when they'd haul Clive Davis out of mothballs- he usually materializes much earlier in the season. And there's Andrew Lloyd Webber again- maybe he'll make another pass at David Cook.

Speaking of DC, his first song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, is the perfect choice for him. I love the Jason Castro Treatment at the beginning.

I don't know whether Clive Davis or ALW inflicted Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me on DA, or if it was a joint decision. He does okay with it, but it's not going to prove to anyone that this 17 year old can speak to other 17 year olds musically (or to the 11 year olds, which is a more important demographic). His voice sounds wonderful, though I am distracted, as I always am in this song, by the line that my ears insist is "no more Augie Doggies". Oh my, tears already.

Next up, the boys are forced to sing musical slop from the songwriting contest. Cook selects probably the only song that even marginally suits his voice and style. He does okay with it- the middle was fine, but it's not exciting enough to get the judges worked up. Archuleta picks an extremely predictible ditty- he also sounds fine, but the song is beyond boring. For some reason, Simon fell for the whole *happy rainbows and puppydogs believing in us all* vibe. Not boring at all is DA's suit jacket with the appliqued anchors front and back.

Argh... Constantine... my eyes...

Cook stands knee deep in his truth (tm Paula) and knee deep in something else with his nonentity of a final song. I think he may have sunk himself with that one. On the other hand, Archuleta goes for the easy dunk with a song he sang already in the competition. Imagine V2.0 is far too embroidered for my taste, but for some reason, Simon likes it.

In fact, Simon comes right out and says that Wee David should win, and Ryan evidently agrees.

I liked Clay better, but I always enjoyed Ruben's voice. Can I vote for him instead?

Who's going to win? Not a clue, and I'm not voting this season, so it's not my fault either way. Who will weather the coming year better, whether he wins or not? David Cook.

I'll be a rover

(song lyrics count too)

The last few P.O. trips have resulted in Fiber Heaven! Despite my vow to use up some stash before buying new fibers, I have 2 new sets of hand-dyed rovings that I love love love.

The first order came from Yummy Yarn's Etsy shop. She's based in BC, Canada, and hand-dyes amazingly beautiful rovings from a variety of fibers, and gives them great names. I bought 4oz each of: Pretty How Town (greens and purple, Blue Faced Leicester), So Far Away (browns/greens/blues, BFL), and Patootie (pink and green, Corriedale). The colors on all 3 braids are wonderful, and the fibers are soft and gorgeous. I've never spun BFL (though I did spin a BFL cross earlier this year), but it is widely touted as the perfect sock wool. Yummy Yarn's etsy shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5106294 A couple of the rovings I bought are still available, as well as tons of other gorgeous colorways.

And then there's Twisted Fiber Art. I hesitate to mention Twisted because this indie dyer produces such intensely gorgeous self-patterning yarns and rovings that they sell out instantly and getting your hands on any of her stuff is tricky. She occasionally announces availability of a few of her fantastic colorways (every single one of them blows me out of the water), and they sell-out often before I get a chance to order.

Meg at Twisted designs her colorways (so beautiful- have I mentioned that?), and then makes them available in several different yarn weights and blends (Merino with assorted things: silk, bamboo, tencel, as well as superwash), and also several different fiber blends for spinners. The Cloudy roving has bamboo fibers blended with Merino- the bamboo doesn't take dye the same, so the yarn will be lightly heathered. The Festive roving is Merino and Silk, which will have a heavenly sheen when spun up.

I did finally snag a 4 oz braid of Tulip Festive roving (merino and silk) that is rose, pink and peach, and Ravelry Cloudy (merino and bamboo) that is pink, green, and black. Meg dyes her rovings so that they will spin up self-patterning like her dyed yarns. My shipment came with a little sample of Xavier roving (dyed specifically in short repeats so the sample will knit up self-patterning too) Lively (superwash merino). I've spun a lot of merino, but this stuff nearly spun itself. I split the length many times, and spun them in order, very fine, and then Navajo 3-plied them. The yarn came out at .2 ozs, and 26 yds. I cheated on the book work and knitted up a mini mitten and a mini sock with the yarn, using 25 sts (for each) on size 1 needles. You can see that the yarn came out beautifully striping (and if you check the site for the Xavier yarn, you'll note that my handspun stripes pretty well match her dyed yarn stripes). Though in general I dislike 3plying yarn (you have to spin 1/3 more just to get the same length as 2 ply), Navajo (or chain) plying is the best way of preserving the color progression and separation, and I think that's what I'll do with both Tulip and Ravelry.

I also have 3 skeins of sock yarn coming from Twisted, and I lust after very many more of her colorways (especially Netherfield). You can go look, and buy, if you luck out and find it available, but please remember that I want some too.

http://www.twistedfiberart.com/

p.s. I'll finish spinning the Cormo before I start any of the new rovings. I promise.

Yarns...

I couldn't think of a single song title that would reference these 3 yarns, even with a really bad pun. I'm a little slow this morning.

I got the first skein of the medium tan Cormo spun up. This skein is the heaviest yet- nowhere near 100yds per oz, but it looks and feels the same size as the earlier skeins. That does lead me to believe that the difference is in the weight of the wool fibers themselves, or perhaps in the crimp, since this skein shrunk more than the others after washing- so it's shorter, and therefore fewer yards in the final skein. However, I do tend to spin more fine at the beginning of a project (the old *hurry up and get it done* thing). At any rate- this hank is 1.9ozs and 119 yds (see- not 100YPO at all). The color difference between this portion and the oatmeal is very subtle, and it doesn't show in the picture very well, but I can see it in person (it's the 2nd from the bottom in the pic). I will have at least 3 more skeins of this color when I get done spinning the whole lb of Cormo fleece. This is all 4 colors that I got from that bit of fleece- only the medium tan is left to finish.

I finished spindle spinning the 2nd skein of Butterflygirl Designs Riot bamboo/recycled sari silk/firestar and it came out very well. I plied this (on the wheel- I cheated) with the same metallic thread as the first skein. This one came out 1.1 ozs, and 138 yds. I have at least one more oz to spin before I finish this fiber. It's destined to be a lacy scarf, though the lace pattern will have to be very simple because this is a slightly textured yarn. Total so far: 2.6 ozs (out of 3.4), and 292 yds. I'll have close to 400 yds when I finish. This picture shows the colors of the 2 skeins pretty well, but you can't see the sparkle. Not only is the plying thread sparkly, but the yarn itself sparkles with firestar, and the bamboo and sari silk have a gorgeous sheen. It's soft and gorgeous yarn, and it'll drape beautifully.

And to test my newly made stone spindle, I'm making some laceweight Merino yarn (with the purple/lavender/peach hand dyed roving). Though I hardly ever use singles, I decided to leave this yarn single for lace. I have about 2ozs of the fiber, and this first little skein (wound on my Ashford mini niddy-noddy) is .5 ozs and 76 yds (yep, it's over 100YPO, but it's not plied so that doesn't count). The stone spindle works very well, and I'll spin this entire batch on it. I want this yarn to be a lace scarf too. I'll have about 300 yds when I finish, and that will be plenty for the project. Since this yarn is consistent and pretty fine, I should be able to knit a more complex lace pattern with it. I wound and washed the skein at my son's house, and didn't have anything to weight it for drying, so I stretched it over the posts on his deck. That worked just fine, though there was not quite enough pressure to keep the yarn totally straight (and I overspun it a bit- I kept forgetting it was Merino, not silk).

I occasionally collect spindles, and I make them, but I hardly ever spin on them. Lately, I've been doing all 3, and I am getting much better at it (all 3, heh). Spindle spinning is still much slower than working on the wheel, but it's pretty amazing how much yarn you can make in 5 minute intervals here and there. And my spinning is getting much more consistent. I'm going to continue on.

Stone Soul Picnic

My husband found a workable rubber grommet for the stone donut (I bought several last summer while on vacation in my home town, intending to make spindles eventually. I guess *eventually* comes out to about 10 months). First, he cannibalized our ceiling fan to try one of the grommets where the blades screw on to the fan itself. Unfortunately, that rendered the fan a little less functional. Luckily, he found another style at the True Value. It doesn't fit quite as well (the groove is a lot narrower), but it'll do in a pinch.

The spindle went together very easily- I don't have a lathe to make the shaft pretty, so the stone will have to do the heavy lifting in that department. I opened up a screw-eye for the hook, and rounded the trimmed dowel ends with sand paper.

I have 2.7 ozs of merino roving (dyed by my friend Dana, and left from a larger project) that I'm using as a test run for this spindle. I didn't get a pic with yarn on it, but it spins just fine- it has a bit of a wobble (the stone itself isn't perfectly shaped, so that affects the balance) but otherwise, it spins fast and holds the rotation for quite awhile. I am quite pleased.

Stats: Shaft 9" (1" above the whorl), the stone whorl is 2" in diameter, it weighs 1.1 ozs (32 gr). I used a 12" x 1/4" hardwood dowel (it's a cake dowel, Wilton probably- got it at Walmart in a package of 12), a 1/2" screw-eye (opened), and a grommet that is 3/8" across, with a 1/4" opening. The grommet holds the whorl in place nicely, but it is adjustable- I could turn it into a low whorl easily. I don't know what the stone is, but I'm guessing Jasper.

I have several more stone whorls, so I'll probably make a few more spindles when I get some more grommets.

I'm playing Grandma this weekend, so probably there won't be any new posts until Monday. Have a great weekend everyone.

Thursday Tab- Watkins & Strathmore Teen Time, #1818-A, 1963

Whatever else you can say about this great set, you have to admit that the boy looks like a regular kid (as opposed to most of the men and boys in paper doll sets, who look like they were drawn by someone who had never seen an actual male, much less interacted with one). This boy, and I shall call him Moon Doggie, looks the High School Seniors did when I was in the 6th grade (which might explain my nostalgic fondness for this set).

These dolls are well drawn, and the period outfits are good. This book is probably a later reprint, with fewer pages of clothes. The first 4 pages are scans of uncut pages, the rest are scans from someone's cut set, though unfortunately I don't remember who sent them to me. If you're out there, generous paper doll sharer, let me know and I'll give you full attribution.

click on images to enlarge, right click to save as jpgs, print from any graphics program, clothes on plain paper, covers on card stock.