TKGA on TGIF w/ MIL taking BART

G and I planned on attending 'The Knitting Show' a bit ago. I can never remember the name...knitting...crochet...something...something. Anyway, the confusion is that TKGA and CGOA do a knitting and crochet show together and they really like acronyms (apparently).

It's much much more smaller intimate than Stitches. I even risked not using a stroller for A. She was ergo'ed most of the time.

Even tho' we live a couple of miles away, we parked the car at the BART station and took public transportation there. Why? well, we had issues parking around there the last time we went and I didn't want to deal with the hassle. It's Friday with the Farmer's Market, Chinatown...yeah...we went public transport.

We got there and decided on doing a quick once through before lunch. Well, the first stall we came to, I made my one and only purchase for...yes...a cone of yarn. It was only $12. And it'll be nice as a shawl or a lap blanket doily thing...

And yes, you read correctly, after all that, that's all that I got (yay me!) I came really close picking up a ball of lace weight at Yarn Place, but as I didn't have a project for it, couldn't and didn't buy it.

We watched the fashion show, and that was pretty neat. There's a ostrich boa jacket that used yarn that I had so, I might make that (sans boa).

There was a lady there with a lovely Frosted Flowers shawl (Gathering Lace). That has moved up in my to do queue. Her's was lovely. The Lacy knitters group was there, I might have to join the guild.

Pictures? Well, like I said, I only managed to get one yarn, and it's not very exciting, so maybe I'll take a picture of it when I make something. How's that?

Oh, we had lunch at Caffe 817 and had a lovely latte in a big bowl (along w/ sandwich). And I picked up some apples from Farmer's Market.

It was a lovely day and many thanks go to MIL for a fabulous day! And A? She slept through a bunch of it.

Do it yourself Cone Spinnerrette - a tutorial

I love cones of yarn. Not hanks, skeins, center pull balls...nope. If at all possible, I will buy the cone. Did I mention cones I like? Why do I like knitting from the cone? It gives the illusion that you have a never ending supply of yarn (you don't, and there have been times where I have run out). The yarn's all contained on the cone, you don't have to worry about losing that one ball of 16 you needed for a project. And they look so neat and tidy too. However, there's a downside to cones. You can unintentionally put a bias in the yarn. Putting a twist is okay when you're knitting with several strands held together, but when you're only knitting with one, well...

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and I had so far just winged it using a paper towel holder to hold my cones. Letting the cone spin on it's own is okay, but the McGuyver in me said there must be a better way. Remember that I met a knitter at the lacy knitter's guild a couple of months ago, and he showed me his cone holder? Remember? He told me that I could make one using a bearing and some wood. He also said I could get my husband or boyfriend to do the woodwork, but we won't go there--I love z&a's dad so much, but if I had asked him to build this for me...well, let's just say that as an engineer, he would have over engineered and spent several years mulling it over and then tried to make it better than I needed and then well, he's an engineer...I figured I could build this thing. The only difficult thing to get was the bearing. btw-they don't carry it at big orange store. Nor did I see it at Orchard. I found it at my local Ace Hardware. But I had to ask. And this will also be the most expensive part (at least for me) of the project. It was $7.99

I was thinking that I would have to buy a wooden disc, and a large dowel and a small dowel, then get a large drill bit and drill a hole on top, then pound a dowel the size of the inner hole of the bearing on to hold...ack! what a project. But I figured out a much easier way.

So, without further ado, here's my tutorial:

Unfortunately, I made it before I took any pictures, so this is a re-enactment.

Title: Yarn Cone spindle developed from simple vertical paper towel holder

Materials and Methods: General tools were used for this construction. A rubber wood paper towel holder (Local thrift store, CA) was dismantled and the screw from the center pole removed using standard procedures. . The screw from the guide pole was also removed with a wrench.The bearing was procured from Ace Hardware (figure 1).

Figure 1

The hole in the guide pole was enlarged using a drill and a drill bit of the same size as that removed from the main pole. The larger screw was screwed in (figure 2).

Figure 2

The top of the guide pole was whittled with an exacto knife to fit the circumference of the bearing(figure 3).

Figure 3

The original guide pole, now with the larger revised screw was replaced on the platform in the center. The spinnerette was assembled and tested. (figure 4, 5).

Figure 4 Figure 5