A couple of questions on yesterday’s post about what biasing in yarns is.
Sometimes yarn that is constructed of a single ply is overspun and that causes the fabric knitted from it to slant in one direction. The yarn needs to be balanced for the fabric to not slant.
This is my highly unscientific take on it, and no doubt someone can explain it better. I did a quick google search but came up with nothing succinct and definitive on the subject, so you’ll hafta google for yourselves.
And it is certainly true that not all yarn composed of a single ply is overspun and will bias. The Morehouse Merino seems not to be, because there is no biasing in my knitting here.
But in the skein, it does look a bit overspun to me.
Go figure.
Penny T. asked:
Would you consider using some of your own handspun singles for lace?
Probably not, because I tend to overspin my singles. When I ply ’em, that pretty much takes care of it. And besides, plying is my favorite part of spinning!
And Vacuums
Yep, I have a Dyson and I love it. That is, when I actually use it. I used to have an Oreck, which was wonderful because it was so lightweight, but it actually kind of sucked at sucking. I gave it away and got the Dyson last year. Another thing I like about the Dyson is that it’s bagless and the cannister that collects the yutz you vacuum up is clear. It’s a tad alarming to see how much you can suck up in one vacuum session, but also nice to see what a good job it does. And it’s easy to take the cannister off the vacuum and dump it in a trash bag.
Last night when I was doctoring the photo of my Dyson by circling the on/off switch, I actually circled the wrong place on it and had to go back and look at it again to locate the on-off switch. At least I now have photographic evidence to refer to when I forget, the next time I vacuum. I think I need to follow Chris’ suggestion and paint the on/off button on the vacuum itself red or something. Strangely, I have no problem figuring out how to empty the cannister.
(When I first bought my condo in 1994 I vacuumed once a week. Ha ha ha ha ha! Wasn’t I funny?)
And Paws
If you mess with Lucy’s paws, she daintily withdraws them and looks offended. Sometimes she will say “meow” in an offended tone of voice.
A couple of you mentioned that you remembered that Lucy had been declawed by her former owner before she came to live with me. This is correct, and could possibly account for her aversion to having her paws touched. However, I’ve known declawed cats in the past who loved to have their paws fondled.
Lucy does have her hind claws, and she trims them herself from time to time by biting them off. This enchants me. (I’m easily amused.) I’ve had some cats in the past who did this, and some who didn’t.
Oh, and Books
As I mentioned a little while ago, I read fiction while eating lunch and knitting (ooh! I multi-task!). A little while back I was having a discussion of books with a coworker, and she gave me a book that someone had passed on to her and told me to pass it on to someone else when I was done.
This gave me an idea — always a dangerous proposition. As I finish the books I read at lunch, I’ll offer them up on my blog to whoever wants them. Unless I want to keep them for myself. I do have books I will never part with — I own everything written by Barbara Pym and everything written by Iris Murdoch. I would not part with those books for love or money. Or qivuit.
But a lot of stuff I read at lunch is stuff I don’t feel the need to keep — I’d rather pass the book on to someone else. Before we had our office suite renovated, I filled three shopping bags with books I had sitting in my office, left over from lunchtime reading. I offered them up to my coworkers first, and gave what was left to a sale to benefit the daycare center in our building.
So anyhow. I’m now gonna offer my books up to you guys, as I finish reading them. You can pass the book on to someone else after you finish it. Or donate it to a book sale. Or something like that. Whatever.
The first book I’m offering is Seeking Sanctuary by Frances Fyfield. I’ve linked to the Amazon.com listing for it so you can read the reviews there to see if you might like reading it. It was a little slow at the start, but all in all a very good read.
Would you like my copy of it? Send an email to blogcontestATcomcastDOTnet before noon Eastern time on Sunday March 25, and I’ll use the random number generator to pick a lucky recipient. Once again, anyone with a mailing address on Planet Earth is welcome to enter the drawing.