Coffeeneuring: Civic Duty and Bogza Coffee

Ride: 7  (I think.  I might have 3 rides in one week and will need another ride)
Date: Monday, November 2
Distance: 4.72 miles
Destination: Bogza Coffee, Beaverton, OR
Bike: Rivendell
Beverage: Borgia Mocha
Bike Friendliness: Super nice today; garage door was open, so I parked it behind my chair

Library book needed returning and voting needed to happen.  All voting in Oregon is by mail, so we get our voters' pamphlet, campaign mail and ballot in plenty of time to read through it all, vote, and mail it back.  Except the election is TOMORROW, and mail might not do it.  Fortunately, the library is a official drop-off site.  For that matter, the central official ballot drop-off site is not much further, but I didn't want to go there today.

Zipped over to the library, put the book in the magic return slot (scans the book's RFID chip and checks it right back in, probably triggering an email to the next person in line for the book), and, then, VERY trustingly, did not lock the bike before going inside to drop off the ballot.  There were some missionaries hanging right by the bike rack, so they'd see if it went off with someone who wasn't me.



Contemplated a route from the library to Bogza - most direct is north on Hall Blvd, then left on Millikan Way.  A bit dicey between Broadway and Millikan, because the bike lane vanishes, the lanes are narrow, and the traffic can be swift.  Fortunately, many red lights today, so I could merge in and take the lane.

It was a nice day today, so they had one of the glass doors rolled up.  Made bike parking easy - I put it right behind the squashy chair that I wanted to sit in anyway!



Borgia Mocha, and some forward progress on the Fair Isle Flower Sock.  This sock has been very frustrating - the first contrast color I chose didn't work out (unravel!), then the sock seemed overly baggy (unravel to the end of the stranded work) and use a smaller needle.  I think I've got it now.

Fitz joined me for awhile, and then headed home to get ready for woodworking class.

I then rode home via the brand new extension of Rose Biggi Ave - it used to be a parking lot cut through, followed by some outstanding potholes, and another parking lot which gave onto Dawson St.  Now it is an excellent street and shiny new bridge over Beaverton Creek, which is formed by the confluence of Hall Creek and Messinger Creek.  Messinger Creek is currently channeled into a storm sewer which terminates right at the edge of our property, and is currently overwhelming the catch basin and private diversion pipe, and flooding our downhill neighbor.  More than you wanted to know.

Coffeeneuring 2015: Delivering the Yarn

Ride: 3
Destination: Nike West Campus, Edo Building coffee cart, Beaverton, OR (just across SW Walker from the THRPD ball fields)
Date: Thursday, Oct 15
Beverage: Mocha
Bike friendliness: When I worked there, I was used to wheeling my bike into any building and leaving it unlocked in the lobby, or in a corner, or under some stairs.  This day, I locked it outside.
Total mileage: 11.59 miles

Back in the summer of 2012, I finished a contract at Nike.  While I was there, I got my eggs from Scott.  He also had pet sheep, and a few weeks after I left, he called to tell me I could have all four fleeces, with the condition that he get some yarn back for his daughter.  The whole fleece story is here.  So, anyway, three years later (I am so ashamed), I finally had yarn.  And, a few email exchanges later, we had a coffee date, at normal working-people hours.  As in, I'd be riding over through the morning commute.

Worked my way up through the elementary school and unexpected construction, before enjoying the drop down Park Way.  And then, when I tried to ride in the regular way, I found yet more construction.  Gack.  I knew where the building was, but finding the front door took a bit of time.  And, finally, there was Scott, and we wandered upstairs to the coffee cart.

I got a mocha, and we settled down for yarn handoff and catching up.  Lots of catching up.

Eventually Scott remembered he had to get back to work, and I headed back home.  

I thought I'd try to find a cut-through between 150th and Meadow, and you'd think there'd be one, but no.  Learning: there was a SIGN, saying there would be a through road eventually, but no estimated date, and a big fence and vegetation obscuring the pass through.  (Oh, wait, Google Maps says there is a path down the one road I didn't take!  Good to know for next time!) I hadn't ridden through there hardly at all since retiring, so I got to admire all the new infill housing.  Did remember to ride around the neighborhood construction on the return :-)

Other Learning: I now know where out in the boonies he lives, and will wave as I cycle by on any route which follows Stag Hollow Rd.

Coffeeneuring 2015: A Trip to Jim and Patty's Coffee, And Knitting Socks

Ride: 2
Destination: Jim and Patty's Coffee, Beaverton, OR
Date: Saturday, Oct 10
Beverage: Borgia Mocha
Bike friendliness: strip mall has the same crap wheel-breaker bike rack.  Baristas make up for it.
Total mileage: 2.73 miles

As my Theme this year is Fibers, and as I had completed my Elemental Lace Shawl (yay!), I had to start another project, or do something else fiber-related.  I did have a project in mind, and had only to print out the pattern and forage around for a contrast yarn and properly sized needles.  With the depth of my knitting supplies, that didn't take too long.



A storm is working its way through, and, as it was going to be another solo outing, I picked my closest favorite coffee shop, Jim and Patty's.  I managed to drop down the hill in between showers.



After locking the bike up in a suboptimal fashion to the wheel-breaker rack, I went inside and had a great chat with the barista - she is looking for a way to commute from the east end of SW Beaverton-Hillsdale to the store, without much riding ON Beaverton Hillsdale.  Sadly, most of the other options involve a some climbing, although investigating does reveal one good possibility.

Ordered a Borgia Mocha (mocha with orange), sat down, cast on a sock, and tried to start knitting on it.



Learning: the back of the store is too dark for knitting, especially with dark yarn.  I relocated to the front of the store, tinked back half the first row (there was an extra knit in the knit 2 purl 2, and it didn't come out right), and then zipped through 8 rows of ribbing.  The pattern calls for 6, but I am going to do 12, just to get a good ribbing band at the top.  The only thing I am really using the pattern FOR is the design chart for the leg.  I can knit a sock without any pattern at all.

Jim and Patty's used to be Coffee People, and there was a display of CP mugs on the counter.  I amused myself by counting out how many of them I had.  Four, and some may still be in the house.



Enjoyed the Borgia mocha, and headed home.  There was another period of non-rain, at least for the first quarter mile or so.  Luckily, it was a warm rain.

Coffeeneuring 2015: Coffee Outside

Ride: 1
Destination: Council Crest Park, Portland, OR
Date: Sunday, Oct 4
Beverage: coffee brewed right at my picnic table, with milk and sweetner
Bike friendliness: picnic tables under shady trees.  Pretty nice!
Total mileage: 15.75 miles



Coffeeneuring 2015 is underway, with its delightful collection of rules.  Given the traffic on the Coffeeneuring facebook group yesterday, it looks like participation has exploded this year.  There are postings from Kyiv (Ukraine), and somewhere in the Central Asian Steppe!

Rule 2 allows for Coffee Shop Without Walls (Coffee Outside).  At its simplest, one procures coffee, rides somewhere, and drinks it.  More elaborate undertakings include collecting all the equipment needed to grind and brew coffee in the Great Outdoors, and doing that.

Every year I have said to myself "gonna do Coffee Outside!", and then I don't locate the needed equipment, and it doesn't happen.

Part of the plan was to do this with the gear already at the house.  I used to backpack, and had certainly made coffee outside!

This year, I rummaged in the shed, went through my backpack twice; no Svea 123 stove...  More shed rummaging (this includes climbing over the riding mower, and balancing on a few things to reach the upper shelves, without inside lighting, so it is kind of dim), and I finally spotted my Sigg Tourist cookset, which I knew contained the stove.

The stove has not been used for a couple of decades.  It had some fuel, and right next to the cookset was my old fuel bottle, which had more fuel.  Filled up the stove, and it fired right up.

Next up was to get a mug and a drip thingie.  Mugs are easy.  For that matter, so was the drip thingie.  I had a choice of the cone, or a Bodum Solo.  Grabbed the Bodum Solo, just because I hadn't used it before.  I think it, and the mug, came into the house many years before as part of a Drum Corps Auction.

My destination was Council Crest Park, one of the two high points in the Portland area, and a popular destination for cyclists wanting a climb.  From my house to the summit is about 6 miles and 800 vertical feet.

Got to the park, and as usual, rode to the very top, to enjoy the view.  Another cyclist started a conversation by admiring my bike :-) and we went on from there.





Then I prospected for a spot to set up.  There are some picnic tables under some tall trees down below - no path, and a steep embankment, so I had them all to myself.



I had ground the coffee at home (blend of Mocha Java and Espresso Decaf), so had only to heat up the water and brew away.



Pulled out my knitting while the water was heating, and worked away on my lace Elemental Shawl.  Now in the final 8 rows, but each row is 855 stitches.  Won't finish quickly!

So I'd knit 50 stitches, and then sip some coffee.  Coffee was ok; maybe I'll use the drip cone next time.  Or more coffee.

Coffee consumption complete, 2/3 of a row complete, and the stove cooled down, I packed everything up to finish the ride.  Tradition dictates that one circumnavigate Council Crest on Fairmount Blvd before returning, so that's what I did.

It was SUCH a nice afternoon that there were many cyclists out on Fairmount, and even more on Hewett Blvd on the return.

Fleece Project Milestone

Recap: Way back in July 2012, a co-worker gave me four fleeces from his pet sheep.  Much washing was done, a little carding and characterization, and then, with me slightly burnt out from all the prep work, the fleece went into hibernation.



Then, this past January, I pulled out some of each fleece, and started carding.  Well, picking the fleece (flicking with a dog brush, removing more vegetable matter, fluffing) and THEN carding.







I ended up with a stack of batts, which I turned into fauxlags, because I wanted to learn how to spin longdraw.

Then I spent some time with Jacey Bogg's Craftsy Class on drafting techniques.  I was spinning up some laceweight, and it greatly improved my technique and speed.

Also had a new spinning wheel, so I figured I'd use this to get used to it as well - direct drive vs drive band, and a few other differences.

Started with the gray wool.  It drafted very smoothly, and I thought I had it all figured out.



Moved onto the black wool, where I learned that I didn't have it all figured out.  My fiber prep was also not as thorough as it might have been - lots of short bits left in, and it could have used another pass through the drum carder.  But I persevered, and ended up with yarn.  This fiber turned out to be a bit more fun, because at times it was like drafting chewing gum, and I could easily double draft out the slubs.  Lots of lanolin still in this fleece.

Finally, the moorit wool.  It had been a real pain to pick before carding, because it was slightly felted at the sheared end.

By now, the spinning wheel and I were getting along very well, and the actual spinning moved right along.

As I mentioned before, there was still a lot of lanolin present, and I really wanted it gone.  After much investigation on Ravelry, I ordered a bottle of Unicorn Power Scour, and the yarn got its finishing bath in that, with a hot water rinse/soak afterward.







I am happy with the end result.  This is the squishiest yarn I have ever spun.

Learnings: fiber prep, fiber prep, fiber prep.
Next tool: a wool picker, although I'll have to give the fleece another scour before I use it.
Future ideas:  I've got some brightly colored silk, and commercially dyed fleece to blend it to make the yarn more interesting.

The Other Spinning

There is still a wheel involved, except it is attached to my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel.  Back in February, I finally started spinning my Black Currant 80% Merino 20% Silk Top.  I can only reliably spin laceweight, so there we were.



It took FOREVER to spin the first 2 ounces.  There were long period of non-spinning, and, I am not the world's fastest spinner.  I have a choice of speed or consistency.



A month or so ago, I finally started on the last 2 ounces.  Slow progress.  Never to be finished.  BUT!  A Craftsy spinning class was getting a lot of positive chatter on Ravelry.  It would teach me how to spin worsted to long-draw (woolen).

My spinning is mostly self-taught, with a little help from one or two friends, reading, and watching YouTube videos.

The first lesson was on the short forward draw, which wasn't what I was doing.  I switched to that, and immediately got a LOT faster.  I even moved to a smaller whorl on my flyer (for cyclists, it is EXACTLY the same as moving to a smaller cog on the rear cluster.  Lots more twist.) Not only that, but I also gained vocabulary.  A week later, spinning for a few hours in the evenings, I finally finished.

I let the singles rest overnight before I started plying.  I also bought a plying class, but haven't started it.

Six treadles seemed about right.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I plyed over three evenings, eventually finishing off one bobbin and completely filling the bobbin on the wheel.  Hmm.  Maybe not totally consistent.



In a fit of organization, I had weighed my empty bobbins, so I knew how much fiber was on them.  Wound off half the remaining singles onto another bobbin, and continued plying onto another bobbin.



I skeined the second bobbin ; counting the number of turns on the niddy noddy gave me 238 yards.  After letting it sit overnight on the niddy noddy (twisted flat to help relax the twist) and removing the skein, I started skeining that really full bobbin.  About 90 minutes later (Call the Midwife on the tv), I was done.  Counting those turns revealed another 933 yards, so about 1200 yards of two ply laceweight altogether.  I know there will be less after finishing, but that is still way more than I need for the planned project.

I did worry a bit about the wrong amount of plying twist, but letting the singles and then the plyed yarn rest between each stage seems to have taken care of it.  The yarn appears balanced.

Finishing - a soak in gentle wash detergent, a soak in vinegar water, a soak in plain water, squeezing the water out by rolling up in a towel, some snapping, and hanging to dry.

Meanwhile, back on the fiber front...

A longish while back, Rebecca and Jessica presented me with 20 oz of alpaca - 10 oz of Suri and 10 oz of Brown Huacaya.  The brown may have been dyed; they weren't clear.  In any case, 10 oz was too much for socks or a scarf, and not quite enough for anything else :-)



But wait!  I could blend it with another fiber and have MORE.  I eventually bought 8 oz of a mahogany heather colonial wool top (love it when they say that, what kind of sheep is that, exactly?) and started casting around for a drum carder.  Not to BUY one, but borrow it for awhile.



Turns out that Dana in my cycling club has a drum carder.  Actually it is Dana and his wife, and they've got wheels, the drum carder and a couple of honking big looms.  I took myself over for a tour (I am so jealous), got a drum carder lesson and off I went.  (That's me, I don't always know what I'm doing, but usually I can figure it out, to some extent)





So, last summer, carded away, and ended up with 18 batts of blended fiber.  

I finally pulled out the wheel and got back to spinning it up.  The first few batts were not much fun to spin.  It just didn't draft very smoothly.  But I got halfway through and had to stop and ply, because I don't have enough bobbins to hold 18 oz of singles, plus more bobbins to ply onto.



Turns out it was me.  The last 3 batts have been amazing.  I turned it into one long strip, then did some serious predrafting before starting spinning.  It now almost spins itself.  This is SO COOL! (Maybe I should take a class...)



I was aiming to replicate Reynolds Turnberry Tweed, which a very kind fellow Raveler send me a sample of.  I think I'm pretty much there.

The yarn wants to be a vest, but hasn't said which one.

Next Thing You Know, I'll Be Raising Sheep...

I could. It says "livestock" right in our neighborhood CCRs. There would be the coyote issue, however.

Meanwhile, friend Clarkie (wife of former cycling/tandeming buddy Jason) thought we should do some yarn dyeing. They were coming to town to visit family, so we set aside a day. I spent time the day before mixing up all the dyes (demoting several kitchen utensils to Non Food Use Only), and collecting various bits of gloves, drop cloths, etc.

Also spinning like a fiend, to have enough yarn to dye, in addition to the one skein of commercially produced undyed sock yarn. There's good stuff on the SyFy channel at 2am, really. Caprica, for one.

We both went for variations of the Purple Haze and Willow, with Clarkie also adding in Spiced Pumpkin.

While things were steaming, and then hanging to dry, I got Clarkie started on spinning, both on a spindle, and the wheel.

We were both pleased with the results.

I think the colors over the naturally silver/gray handspun look pretty darn cool. And yes, that is 100g of 3-ply sock yarn.

Experimenting

Today is St. Distaff's Day, so this post seems appropriate.

The fiber collection (primordial yarn) is growing. The biggest acquisition was 16 oz of carded Corriedale sliver in a natural white/gray, which is to practice with. I have no emotional investment in this fiber; I won't feel like I'm wasting it if I don't end up with what I was aiming for, and so on... Not that it isn't pretty.



I am initially aiming for 3 ply sock weight yarn, which is in the vicinity of 14-16 WPI (wraps per inch).

Read The Big Book of Handspinning and some books by Judith Mackenzie McCuin. Spent some time perusing the Ask the Bellwether blog (she's good!).

Got a sliding hook flyer for the spinning wheel. Got the husband to drill out the slots in the mother of all to use all the whorls (that would be GEARS to you cyclists; the mother of all is somewhat akin to the rear derailleur).

My Thursday fibers group was highly entertained. They are mostly quilters, but have done spinning and knitting. I have been a quilter. All in all, a really nice, fun group to hang out with.

Pulled off about a half ounce of the sliver, split it into three strips, and started spinning, using my new Spinner's Control Card to help me keep a consistent diameter on the singles. Sort of. My singles ranged from 24-32 WPI.

Then I pulled out the Lazy Kate and started plying while lunch was heating up. Aside: we work for awhile, then eat lunch, then go back to whatever we were doing. Today was beef-barley mixture in pita bread, greens, apple and spiced walnut (walnuts made by SIL) salad, and apple cake.

I must say, I'm pretty pleased with how my plying is improving. Then wound the yarn onto the niddy-noddy, tied it off, and set it to simmer while we ate lunch.

After the simmer, I wrapped it in an old towel and thwacked it on the kitchen counter for awhile. Great way to get one's aggravations out. I highly recommend it. Then dried it on the shelf in my dryer (handy for those who don't want to wait for air-drying).



The end result? 12 WPI, 1125 YPP (yards per pound). Not quite there. But now I know what I need to work on. And it is pretty yarn, just a bit thicker than I was aiming for.

Spinning, Part 2

No wonder that pencil roving took so very, very long to spin and ply. The best son ever (TM) gave me a McMorran Balance for Hanukkah, and tonight I used it to figure out how much yarn I had made up.

47.25 inches balanced. Times 100 gives me 4725 YARDS in a pound. The total weight of the yarn is 110g, or .242 pounds. Basic 6th grade math (or 4th; don't remember. It was New Math back in the day, and I thought it was pretty cool) renders a shocking total of 1143.45 yards.

Wow. That's a LOT of very, very fine yarn. For comparison, 100g of sock yarn is in the vicinity of 400-450 yards.

So I knitted up a bit of it on US sz 2 (2.75mm) needles:



I probably have enough for that Swallowtail shawl, yes indeed.

On the Spinning front

First, a question dear readers - would you rather I had a separate blog for the crafty stuff? Or do you not mind the occasional forays into fiber arts and cooking?





That 4 oz of Fiber Optics Sweet Georgia Brown pencil roving that I purchased at Sock Summit has finally been rendered into yarn. Very fine 2-ply yarn. It was spun on the drop spindle, and maybe a quarter of the singles plied on the drop spindle, before I realized that I'd be plying it until next summer, and finished the plying on the wheel.



I tried Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' method of using plying sticks and a center pull to ply, but it didn't work. I then rewound the cops onto toilet paper rolls (those are SO useful), by using a rubber band on my ball winder core and putting the tp roll on over it. Then I used the plying sticks (translation - old big 60's knitting needles), a shoe box, and the tp spools of singles and created a plying box to feed the singles in to ply.

I must have done something right, because the colors on the two strips of spun-up pencil roving aligned more often than not, and I only had 2 feet of leftover singles on one spool. I am pretty sure this will never happen again.



Then I needed to skein it all up - the construction of a sturdy niddy noddy is described here.

Then simmering to set the twist, snapping and popping it, and hanging it up to dry. I got kind of impatient, so I set the shelf in my dryer and ran it on air fluff for awhile. Ahh, technology.

So, I have this cool-looking yarn, but don't know how much. I mean, it weighs 110g, but I don't know long it is. Request for a McMorran Balance has been put in for the upcoming holiday.



So, what is it going to be? Assuming I have enough, and I probably do, I plan to knit up the Swallowtail Lace Shawl, making the next size up, as many members of Ravelry have provided instructions on how to do so (19 repeats of one chart, rather than 14).

Got some books from the library on spinning. Right now, the yarn is telling me what it wants to be, in terms of thickness. I'd rather it be the other way around, so I'm studying up on it.

I Like Making Things...

So, I'm spinning. I have even MADE REAL YARN. I am so impressed with myself :-)



Anyway, Yarn Skein One was done up on a niddy noddy made of TinkerToys. Hey, I needed one, and we had them hanging around in a closet (Aside: we also have Lego and Duplo bricks, Brio trains, and wooden blocks. I keep them around for visiting small people. Or big people who like to play with Lego.)



That niddy noddy was good for one go around. I was skeining up some yarn last night, and it just really did not want to stay together. I could buy a nice wooden niddy noddy, but it would take long driving (Newberg, Carlton), or ordering online (waiting....). And it would only make one skein size.

Enter the PVC niddy noddy. All credit goes to The Anticraft, which provided the instructions and parts list.

A walk to Home Depot, where there were approximately 2 sales people for every customer (Black Friday, big day, all hands on deck), and one attached himself to me, so I read off my parts list and he helped me find everything. He was not inclined to cut it up for me (foo), so it was either going to be the hacksaw at home, or investing in a PVC cutter. Now there are other people who cut up PVC at our house a lot more often than I do, so I bought one. Plus I can cut it up now, too, should I have the overwhelming urge to reduce a 10' length of PVC to its component molecules. We did cut it into 2 pieces, which made the walk home easier.

Pedestrian aside: Between my house and Home Depot, a distance of, oh 1.5 miles, there are darn few sidewalks, narrow streets, ditches, poor sightlines... Walking holding 2 long pieces of PVC does cause motorists to notice. No one interfered with me in the crosswalks, or buzzed me on the walk home.

Sanded all the printing off the PVC. I started with coarse sandpaper and a sanding block, then finished it with very fine sandpaper. Wiped everything off, went inside, measured, and cut. I also wrote the resultant skein length on each body section, so I'd not have to look it up. By swapping out the body section, I can make a skein of a different diameter. One bit of clarification on the instructions - they call for 7/8" O-rings. By that they mean 7/8" OD (outer diameter) O-rings.



Pics detailing the construction.

Clearly I'm Feeling Better

This posting covers all my fun hobbies in one :-)

One of the issues during treatment was that I had a horrible phobia about riding my bicycle alone. Anywhere. I mean, suppose I fell over? I sure felt like losing my balance or conking out from time to time.

The treatment came to a quiet end on Nov 6. Took the last medication. I've been feeling bits and bits more like myself every day.

Today I hopped on my bike, and rode to
1) the bank,
2) the appliance store, where I bought a washing machine (it exceeded my rack capacity. They'll deliver)
3) the NEW yarn store, where I bought yarn for Fitz's promised Filey socks (a nice brown tweed) and yarn for KarenDipity's Marvelous Mitts and then, finally,
4) Freddie's, our grocery store, where I bought heavy things like milk, eggs, cheese, onions...

And back up the hill to home. Didn't feel panicky even once.

Whereupon I cooked up a great batch of Veggie Borscht, making the stock from various veggie ends and peelings (bonus points for this), and using up (from our CSA), the cabbage, beets, carrots, tomatoes, and some celeriac. Mmmm, tasty!

And now I'm cooking up a batch of Fig-Lemon preserve :-)

Perhaps no mitts today

The Bernat Galaxy won't work at all. Oh well. Back to the socks...

And the Knitting

Finished my first Conwy sock.



I think I have the cable thing down, now. I've cast on the second one, and have just about finished the cuff.

But my hands are cold. Rummaging around in my Ravelry queue, looking through all the mitt patterns that interest me, I found the Axel Mitts pattern (they've even spelled it correctly), and it wants chunky yarn. Two+ leftover skeins of Bernat Galaxy from my scarf are just about right. The yarn won't show the cable pattern well, but that's fine for this particular project.



However, I haven't got any double point or cable needles in 8 or 9. But wait... my MOM knits, too. Bet she'll have some. (phone call) And she does and she hasn't used them since the 70's. I'll pick them up on my way home today. With chunky yarn, they'll knit up fast, and my hands won't be cold. And I'll have mitts that match the scarf.