Five new spindles! Two of them are already sold, but the other three are up on the shop, including a new model, rim weighted!

And here’s a close up of one of the new ones.

Spins really well, I have to say. I test every spindle before it goes out to determine if it’s balanced well and if it has an “ideal” point to hook the yarn through as you spin. These, as rim weights are prone to do, spins way long but is harder to crank up quite as fast. You might also notice that this model has a significantly narrower shaft (and a tiny bit longer) than my other top whorls.

And now, my hands are all crampy from holding and sanding whorls and carving shafts.

Mokey says, “I’m cuuuuute, there, now you took the photo… will you throw the ball for me now?”

And that’s all for now!
~The Gnome

However, I do sometimes handwash precious socks, and someone mentioned the other day that they didn’t know how to go about handwashing something you’re worried about felting. So, here’s how I handwash socks (or anything else, really). I’m sure it’s been talked about elsewhere on the web, but this is how I baby things I’m paranoid about felting.

First, I plug the sink.

And fill it with just barely not-cold water (colder than lukewarm).

Here you’ve got a couple options. SOAK and Eucalan are “no rinse” washes, which is nice because you don’t have to be paranoid about leaving a little soap residue in your socks. I didn’t feel like figuring out where I put my SOAK samples, so I got our normal detergent (which is very very gentle, our clothes rarely run or anything like that), Meyers. Add a little bit (probably… 1/8th cup?) to the sink, which is likely more than needed. I only use about 1/4c for a load of wash. But my socks are dirty.

Put in my dirty socks. Worn twice each.

Submerge to get wet. And let sit 15 minutes, or until I remember they’re there. This lets the soap get into the fiber and break up the dirt.

This works better if you actually plug the sink so your water doesn’t drain out. Otherwise you end up like I did, with just a few inches of water to wash in. ::shrugs:: Not a huge deal.

Then you “squish” your socks. Note there’s no twisting or rubbing of the fabric against other fabric. Basically I’m trying to gently squeeze water and soap into any remaining places. I squeeze my way down each pair of socks twiceish.

Drain out the water

Refill with clean, still not-cold water. Put the socks back in and let them soak another few minutes (10, or until I remember). This lets the soap migrate out of the socks, along with the dirt, by diffusion. That means you have to agitate less to get the soap and dirt off. Once you’ve soaked them, “squish” them again. Again, no twisting or rubbing of fabric. Just squeezing the water through them.

Drain the water again. Depending on what wash you’re using and how dirty it all was, repeat the rinse and drain. I usually rinse 2-3 times total because I wear my handknit socks twice.

Squeeze the water out. Again, no twisting! I hold the socks up with one hand and “milk” the water out the bottom. As you squeeze the water will run out and down, so work from the top to the bottom squeezing the water out.

Lay out on a folded towel that’s twice as large as needed.

Fold the towel up over the socks.

Press down as hard as you can to force water up and down into the towel. (Two handed is way easier if you’re not also holding a camera)

At this point they’re pretty close to where they are after a washing machine spins the water out. So hang them or lay them out to dry.

And poof, handwashed handspun handknitted socks! It’s really not hard if you want to treat your handknits as well as you can.

Now your gratuitous cuteness…

That’s all for now!
~The Gnome

::runs off to check blog posts::

…um… right… so I made another hat! Uh, I guess I’ll post about that later when I find the photos… wait I never blogged the yarn either… or the holidays… ::grumbles:: I’m doing badly with this blogging thing.

Right, anyway, NOW I’m back to knitting the sweater I’ve been designing… ::pauses:: I did tell you about that, right? Um… yeah, designing a sweater. Because clearly the most intelligent thing to do ever is to design the first sweater you ever knit.

Fumbled my way through the first sleeve. Changed a few things with the increases to make them more even and knitted the second sleeve… and screwed up my math. Disastrously. Balloon arm. So pulled it out. That was right before Rhinebeck.

Just got around to re-casting on for the second sleeve. I figured that with an almost hour commute each way, I’m going to have a lot of sitting time. So it’s either spindle spin in 2.5 foot increments between my knees, or maybe finally get some knitting done. So I cast on.

Done with the ribbing, will be starting the pattern in another… row I think.

Under the knitting, that’s my black book, my grimoire if you will. In that book lie my secrets. Dye recipes, knitting notes, some random science (mammalian estrous signalling pathways!), a few sketches, fiber mill notes, maps from worlds I’ve created… an eclectic collection of all manner of oddity from my brain. Heck, there’s even a few runs of learning to write the Arabic alphabet (which I’m terrible at). It’s no Necronomicon, but it might still drive a sane man crazy to try to understand it.

More later, apparently including the details of all the projects I haven’t been telling you about. Whee?

Gobo, being a lap dog. Usually this is Mokey’s trick (she’s convinced she’s still 6 inches long) but every once in a while he needs his turn too. Yes, I have spoiled dogs. Sorry the light is bad, flashless in the near dark is hard. That’s me under him.

That’s all for now!
~The Gnome