Each Thursday night, a number of us descend on Rao's Coffee in Amherst for caffeine and knitting. Most of us don't even live in Amherst anymore, but faithfully turn up most Thursdays. The following video was shot for my friend Jenny's blog for her unique, amazing stuffed toys, Knitted Beasts, which I urge you to check out there or at her etsy shop. It introduces some of the usual gang of idiots and our possibly less idiotic projects, which range from cuttlefish to Dr. Who to socks. Oh, and there's also about a minute and a half of me talking about my yarn.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
For Your Information
I just went through and updated all of the yarn listings to include information about each yarn's ability to take an acid dye (e.g. Kool-Aid) and ability to be felted. Acid dyes work on animal-protein fibers like wool or silk, though they will work well on nylon, apart from other synthetics, as well. Gauging the percentage of these fibers in the yarn is how I determine its dyeability. Acid dyes are some of the cheapest (you can buy enough Kool-Aid to dye a 100g skein for about a dollar) and, at least with the Kool-Aid side, are food-grade safe. There are a wide range of dyeing options out there, however. I'm still a novice dyer, so I can't offer too many details, but whatever your fiber is, there's a way to dye it.
Felting is another province of animal fibers, though it is more specific to fleece fibers. Silk, quite notably, does not felt. Felting works a little bit like velcro: fleece fibers have microscopic scales on them that like to hook onto other fibers. The process of felting is mostly about giving those the most chances to hook onto each other. Superwash wool, which also does not felt, is processed one of two ways. In one, the scales are removed using an acidic chemical bath (some accounts I've read specify bleach). In another, the fibers are coated with a polymer. I gauge whether or not something will felt by the percentage of fleece fibers in it, and also by its care instructions - another accurate way of describing the felting process is that you're basically doing the opposite of what the care instructions tell you to do, so if it's labeled "hand-wash only" there's a good chance it'll felt.
Hopefully, this information will help you choose the right yarns for your projects, or maybe get you started thinking about trying something new!
I know I promised rain songs for today, but my external hard drive doesn't want to interface with the computer right now (or the other way around) so I still can't get to the music. Anyhow, it's sunny out now, for a change, so it may not be the right time for rain songs anyhow.
Felting is another province of animal fibers, though it is more specific to fleece fibers. Silk, quite notably, does not felt. Felting works a little bit like velcro: fleece fibers have microscopic scales on them that like to hook onto other fibers. The process of felting is mostly about giving those the most chances to hook onto each other. Superwash wool, which also does not felt, is processed one of two ways. In one, the scales are removed using an acidic chemical bath (some accounts I've read specify bleach). In another, the fibers are coated with a polymer. I gauge whether or not something will felt by the percentage of fleece fibers in it, and also by its care instructions - another accurate way of describing the felting process is that you're basically doing the opposite of what the care instructions tell you to do, so if it's labeled "hand-wash only" there's a good chance it'll felt.
Hopefully, this information will help you choose the right yarns for your projects, or maybe get you started thinking about trying something new!
I know I promised rain songs for today, but my external hard drive doesn't want to interface with the computer right now (or the other way around) so I still can't get to the music. Anyhow, it's sunny out now, for a change, so it may not be the right time for rain songs anyhow.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Rainy Evening Update
Greetings from another rainy night in yarnland. There have been a lot of those recently, though with how humid it's been today, it feels like a gift in the moment; the heat lightning has just turned to rain. It was a rainy spring, too. I'm starting to wonder if we've been uprooted and moved to the Pacific Northwest. There's enough cultural continuity along the granola belt between here and there that it's possible we wouldn't have noticed.
As mentioned, a lot has happened. The big news is that Tom had an accident on his moped back towards the beginning of May - about when the conspicuous blog silence began - which was a more serious accident for him than the moped. Since then, he's had his kneecap surgically wired back together and has recently gotten the go-ahead to walk like a human, without the brace. It's still more work than usual, but the PT starts Monday, and hopefully that will help.
That being said, we've accumulated a bit of a backlog of stock to be listed, some of which went up recently in a burst. At left, Tom has styled the five new yarns into a dude in motion. Maybe she's running, maybe she's dancing, maybe she's a he. Starting at the body, the yarns are: Some Rainy Sunday, Flaming Lips, Juno, Magical Mystery Yarn #1 and Simply Red. There's still a few which need to be measured and portioned before they can be listed, but there's enough to post about as is that the rest will have to remain a mystery for now.
All but the Magic Mystery Yarn are fingering-weight yarns which held their shape beautifully, without any splittiness in the plying. Simply Red is a scarlet version of the Soft White yarn that sold out a while ago, an angora blend with a dense core and a gentle halo of fuzz. Much like the band, it brings a little more soul than its predecessor.
Flaming Lips is a super-soft pure merino in a deep fuchsia. I couldn't decide whether to call it Soft Bulletin or Pink Robot, but then realized that Flaming Lips covered both and still accurately describes the yarn all on its own. Juno is a beautifully peacock-toned wool. There would have been a lot more of it, but that was a sweater I brought in to show my students how to take apart a sweater, and it seemed only fair to let them take home what they unraveled themselves. Some Rainy Sunday is the same yarn I used to make the Raincloud scarf you saw the beginnings of way back when (seen completed at right); a soft, delicate slate blue lambswool.
I had trouble trying to name that one, simply because there are so many songs about rain. Two of my favorites are simply called "Rain" (by The Beatles and Bishop Allen), another is called "Gentle Rain" (Astrud Gilberto), but all those seemed too simplistic yarn names. I ended up looking back to Juliana Hatfield, but felt these three needed some love. They'll have to get added soon, though. Among the other large events was the hard drive of the laptop dying, and though it's back up and running with its new drive, I haven't loaded all the music back on yet, so that'll have to be on hold until tomorrow.
As mentioned, a lot has happened. The big news is that Tom had an accident on his moped back towards the beginning of May - about when the conspicuous blog silence began - which was a more serious accident for him than the moped. Since then, he's had his kneecap surgically wired back together and has recently gotten the go-ahead to walk like a human, without the brace. It's still more work than usual, but the PT starts Monday, and hopefully that will help.
That being said, we've accumulated a bit of a backlog of stock to be listed, some of which went up recently in a burst. At left, Tom has styled the five new yarns into a dude in motion. Maybe she's running, maybe she's dancing, maybe she's a he. Starting at the body, the yarns are: Some Rainy Sunday, Flaming Lips, Juno, Magical Mystery Yarn #1 and Simply Red. There's still a few which need to be measured and portioned before they can be listed, but there's enough to post about as is that the rest will have to remain a mystery for now.All but the Magic Mystery Yarn are fingering-weight yarns which held their shape beautifully, without any splittiness in the plying. Simply Red is a scarlet version of the Soft White yarn that sold out a while ago, an angora blend with a dense core and a gentle halo of fuzz. Much like the band, it brings a little more soul than its predecessor.
Flaming Lips is a super-soft pure merino in a deep fuchsia. I couldn't decide whether to call it Soft Bulletin or Pink Robot, but then realized that Flaming Lips covered both and still accurately describes the yarn all on its own. Juno is a beautifully peacock-toned wool. There would have been a lot more of it, but that was a sweater I brought in to show my students how to take apart a sweater, and it seemed only fair to let them take home what they unraveled themselves. Some Rainy Sunday is the same yarn I used to make the Raincloud scarf you saw the beginnings of way back when (seen completed at right); a soft, delicate slate blue lambswool.I had trouble trying to name that one, simply because there are so many songs about rain. Two of my favorites are simply called "Rain" (by The Beatles and Bishop Allen), another is called "Gentle Rain" (Astrud Gilberto), but all those seemed too simplistic yarn names. I ended up looking back to Juliana Hatfield, but felt these three needed some love. They'll have to get added soon, though. Among the other large events was the hard drive of the laptop dying, and though it's back up and running with its new drive, I haven't loaded all the music back on yet, so that'll have to be on hold until tomorrow.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Enriching the Internet in Tiny Ways
There is so much to update, I don't even know where to start! I've been doing a lot of work on the physical side of the yarn recently— the digital upkeep will follow soon. Briefly, there are three new brightly-colored fingering-weight yarns and the first garments— a few pairs of handwarmers made from recycled yarn (one pair has a little of my handspun, too). You can see them all in my new Etsy Mini sidebar!
Meanwhile, very briefly, since I can't find this tidbit anywhere else on the web, the bobbins standard to the Louët S51, S17, S15 and S10 wheels weigh 148 g or 5.2 oz empty. I hope that posting it here will save someone else the 20 minutes I lost having to wind off before weighing and then portioning.
Meanwhile, very briefly, since I can't find this tidbit anywhere else on the web, the bobbins standard to the Louët S51, S17, S15 and S10 wheels weigh 148 g or 5.2 oz empty. I hope that posting it here will save someone else the 20 minutes I lost having to wind off before weighing and then portioning.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Reluctantly Friday
One of the perks of teaching is school vacations. While I don't get to pick my vacation weeks, they seem serendipitous. This has been one of those weeks, and now it's drawing to a close, more pointedly so because I have to meet with tutoring students this afternoon.
Um, I seem to be getting hit in the head by twitchy tail at the moment. We have birds nesting in the eaves. This is Isis's new favorite program. She will sit for hours watching the birdies and twitching her tail excitedly. Regardless of who may be sitting in the chair underneath her. Neko sometimes likes to watch, too, but she
doesn't have the attention span for anything she can't eat. I actually caught them on camera the other day:
This best part of this picture is that it makes it look like Isis is standing on Neko's back.
Cute animals aside, the week off has been decently productive. Not as productive as I had in mind at the outset, but I suppose that's always the case. With a whole week in front of you, it seems like you have time to conquer the world, or at least a good hemisphere. And then you sit down.
Inertia aside, there are developments afoot. I have at least one new yarn listed, a gloriously soft bulky confection I'm calling Back in Black. Another, a tritone-blue sportweight called Mood Indigo, stands to follow shortly. Also, I reclaimed my sewing table again and enacted part one of plan to broaden the horizon beyond yarn.
These are a selection of spontaneous, one of a kind project bags which will be part of knitting kits which I will, hopefully, have ready in the next few weeks. They will include yarn, project bag, and pattern, since I've ended up writing a number of patterns for the munchkins at school. The bags may be available separately, depending on how many I make. For right now, I'm enjoying making them. It's all the joy of impromptu throw pillows with none of the annoying stuffing. Also, notice how long the scarf I'd just started at the last post has gotten!
For now, I'll leave you with two songs. The first comes from my fits of housecleaning this week. Addressing the robot/human dialectic seems appropriate for manual labor, so a recording of Daft Punk's set from Coachella 2006 has seemed a suitable soundtrack. It coheres very well as a whole, beginning with a human vs. robot theme and ending with the "Human After All" assertion, using the hooks from familiar songs of theirs more as motives than as independent pieces. I'd post the whole thing, but it weighs in at almost 75 minutes and about 100 MB. Instead, I've lifted out one of my favorite sections, which layers the vocal line from "Face to Face" with the hook from "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." (If you're really interested in the whole set, e-mail me and I will hook you up.)
Daft Punk - Face to Face (Live from Coachella 2006)
On a somewhat different but just as funky note is Sam & Dave's 1968 single "I Thank You," recorded from the 45 just for you. Man, the bassline in this song won't quit. It's hard not to bop and smile with this one. This song clearly shows their gospel roots. Minus a few of the more wordly references, this song would work just as well as a straight gospel song, which speaks to the positive, uplifiting humility of it (which gains a twinge of desperation when you add in the more worldly lines), but also to its huge sound, which progressively expands its scope of how many people are in the room, sharing the titular gratitude.
Sam & Dave - I Thank You
Um, I seem to be getting hit in the head by twitchy tail at the moment. We have birds nesting in the eaves. This is Isis's new favorite program. She will sit for hours watching the birdies and twitching her tail excitedly. Regardless of who may be sitting in the chair underneath her. Neko sometimes likes to watch, too, but she
doesn't have the attention span for anything she can't eat. I actually caught them on camera the other day:
This best part of this picture is that it makes it look like Isis is standing on Neko's back.
Cute animals aside, the week off has been decently productive. Not as productive as I had in mind at the outset, but I suppose that's always the case. With a whole week in front of you, it seems like you have time to conquer the world, or at least a good hemisphere. And then you sit down.
Inertia aside, there are developments afoot. I have at least one new yarn listed, a gloriously soft bulky confection I'm calling Back in Black. Another, a tritone-blue sportweight called Mood Indigo, stands to follow shortly. Also, I reclaimed my sewing table again and enacted part one of plan to broaden the horizon beyond yarn.
These are a selection of spontaneous, one of a kind project bags which will be part of knitting kits which I will, hopefully, have ready in the next few weeks. They will include yarn, project bag, and pattern, since I've ended up writing a number of patterns for the munchkins at school. The bags may be available separately, depending on how many I make. For right now, I'm enjoying making them. It's all the joy of impromptu throw pillows with none of the annoying stuffing. Also, notice how long the scarf I'd just started at the last post has gotten!
For now, I'll leave you with two songs. The first comes from my fits of housecleaning this week. Addressing the robot/human dialectic seems appropriate for manual labor, so a recording of Daft Punk's set from Coachella 2006 has seemed a suitable soundtrack. It coheres very well as a whole, beginning with a human vs. robot theme and ending with the "Human After All" assertion, using the hooks from familiar songs of theirs more as motives than as independent pieces. I'd post the whole thing, but it weighs in at almost 75 minutes and about 100 MB. Instead, I've lifted out one of my favorite sections, which layers the vocal line from "Face to Face" with the hook from "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." (If you're really interested in the whole set, e-mail me and I will hook you up.)
Daft Punk - Face to Face (Live from Coachella 2006)
On a somewhat different but just as funky note is Sam & Dave's 1968 single "I Thank You," recorded from the 45 just for you. Man, the bassline in this song won't quit. It's hard not to bop and smile with this one. This song clearly shows their gospel roots. Minus a few of the more wordly references, this song would work just as well as a straight gospel song, which speaks to the positive, uplifiting humility of it (which gains a twinge of desperation when you add in the more worldly lines), but also to its huge sound, which progressively expands its scope of how many people are in the room, sharing the titular gratitude.
Sam & Dave - I Thank You
Monday, April 6, 2009
Rainclouds and Lilac Wine
After a glorious Sunday, we're back to rain. It's amazing how green everything on the ground is getting, though.
Meanwhile, in yarnland, maybe it's just the lack of natural light, but the yarn's been talking to me. We recently dismantled a rather nice slate blue lambswool sweater which had an unpatchable hole in one sleeve. The fingering weight yarn that came off of it said, "Hey, you, make me into a pretty scarf." Friday last week began with a long staff meeting, and so I've made some real progress. It's knit on the bias, with panels of a fanned openwork and simple rope cables traveling diagonally across. I'm thinking of adding some Clapotis-style drop-stitch ladders framing the openwork panels, but I haven't decided yet. The whole affair is so light it feels like knitting clouds. Lace-weight things like this always seem a little magical to me.
The odd, colorful stripes from a worsted/bulky weight sweater have also been suggesting that they should become thrummed mittens.
Additionally, I'm just about to put up the first skein of what's likely the most delicious-feeling yarn I've ever harvested: an 85% silk, 15% cashmere that's as soft as the dog's velvety ears. It came in a lilac color, but I dyed half of it to a gentle red-wine color and plied the two back together to a workable sport-weight. This stuff is sweet and heady and worthy of the beloved song for which I will name it.
Speaking of which, Jeff Buckley's version is beautiful, but not enough attention is given to Nina Simone's 1964 version from Wild is the Wind. It focuses in on Simone's warm, almost abrasively strong voice, which nonetheless achieves a sense of wistful vulnerability here. Its sparse instrumentation builds almost imperceptably, and I swear if you turn the bass up high enough the song sounds like it's breathing.
Nina Simone - Lilac Wine
(Buy Wild is the Wind/High Priestess of Soul)
Meanwhile, in yarnland, maybe it's just the lack of natural light, but the yarn's been talking to me. We recently dismantled a rather nice slate blue lambswool sweater which had an unpatchable hole in one sleeve. The fingering weight yarn that came off of it said, "Hey, you, make me into a pretty scarf." Friday last week began with a long staff meeting, and so I've made some real progress. It's knit on the bias, with panels of a fanned openwork and simple rope cables traveling diagonally across. I'm thinking of adding some Clapotis-style drop-stitch ladders framing the openwork panels, but I haven't decided yet. The whole affair is so light it feels like knitting clouds. Lace-weight things like this always seem a little magical to me.The odd, colorful stripes from a worsted/bulky weight sweater have also been suggesting that they should become thrummed mittens.
Additionally, I'm just about to put up the first skein of what's likely the most delicious-feeling yarn I've ever harvested: an 85% silk, 15% cashmere that's as soft as the dog's velvety ears. It came in a lilac color, but I dyed half of it to a gentle red-wine color and plied the two back together to a workable sport-weight. This stuff is sweet and heady and worthy of the beloved song for which I will name it.
Speaking of which, Jeff Buckley's version is beautiful, but not enough attention is given to Nina Simone's 1964 version from Wild is the Wind. It focuses in on Simone's warm, almost abrasively strong voice, which nonetheless achieves a sense of wistful vulnerability here. Its sparse instrumentation builds almost imperceptably, and I swear if you turn the bass up high enough the song sounds like it's breathing.
Nina Simone - Lilac Wine
(Buy Wild is the Wind/High Priestess of Soul)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Welcome!
Welcome to the RPM Fiberworks blog!
We're here to show you a little bit more about who we are and what we do. What do we do? We give unfortunate sweaters a second chance at being fabulous by recycling them into usable yarn again, which we sell at our Etsy shop, rpmfiberworks.etsy.com. We have plots for the future as to other related products, but we're not telling, not just yet.
Who are we? We're Grace and Tom. We live in the lovely Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts with a couple of small, friendly beasts named Neko and Isis.
When not playing with yarn, Grace is an assistant teacher in a grade 2/3 classroom at the fabulous Hilltown Charter School. Quite frankly, she's playing with yarn a fair amount of the time there, as well, and encouraging her students to do likewise. Tom works at a job which shall not be mentioned outside of business hours, but which gives him a chance to ride his classy moped at least twice a day. He doesn't get much chance to play with yarn there or on the moped.
When we go sweater hunting at the thrift store, we check two sections: the sweaters and the records. We've amassed quite the selection of interesting 45s and LPs. At least once a week, we'll share a song from one of these. We'll also generally keep you posted about what's up with the yarn and give you some glimpses into all the things we do to make yarn reusable.
For now, here's some yarn hanging out to dry by the steps up to our apartment. The sharp will notice some that hasn't even hit our virtual shelves. There is so much yet to come.
We're here to show you a little bit more about who we are and what we do. What do we do? We give unfortunate sweaters a second chance at being fabulous by recycling them into usable yarn again, which we sell at our Etsy shop, rpmfiberworks.etsy.com. We have plots for the future as to other related products, but we're not telling, not just yet.
Who are we? We're Grace and Tom. We live in the lovely Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts with a couple of small, friendly beasts named Neko and Isis.
When not playing with yarn, Grace is an assistant teacher in a grade 2/3 classroom at the fabulous Hilltown Charter School. Quite frankly, she's playing with yarn a fair amount of the time there, as well, and encouraging her students to do likewise. Tom works at a job which shall not be mentioned outside of business hours, but which gives him a chance to ride his classy moped at least twice a day. He doesn't get much chance to play with yarn there or on the moped.
When we go sweater hunting at the thrift store, we check two sections: the sweaters and the records. We've amassed quite the selection of interesting 45s and LPs. At least once a week, we'll share a song from one of these. We'll also generally keep you posted about what's up with the yarn and give you some glimpses into all the things we do to make yarn reusable.
For now, here's some yarn hanging out to dry by the steps up to our apartment. The sharp will notice some that hasn't even hit our virtual shelves. There is so much yet to come.
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