Meet Gord and Chamy

A lot has been going on here lately. I finished my spinning class in the Lower Mainland yesterday and had to return the Ashford Joy spinning wheel I was using. I knew this was coming so to avoid being without a wheel I spent most of the weekend looking for a Lendrum wheel as had been decided with the instructor in Minneapolis. Need details? Click here.

On Monday I started calling the local dealers and found one who was selling a Lendrum complete (that means there is a jumbo bobbin and flyer and a fast flyer for lace all for the same price as if I purchased the regular). I knew this was a good price on a brand new wheel so I hopped on it. By Monday evening I had the wheel, named it Gord, after the craftsman who designed it, and set it up. (Since this is a Canadian made wheel, Gord is totally the right name for him.) Gord and I went together to the last class where there were uhs and ahs about him and plenty of questions about where I got him and how much he cost. Others in class said I was very, very lucky to find one available; according to them one can wait four to six months for a new Lendrum. Again, it seems my lucky stars continue to watch out for me not only did I get a good price, I was lucky on how timeliness of the purchase. Mine is a charmed life!

Without further ado, here´s Gord. Just like a man, Gord is sturdy in construction, simple in design and expects little to no fussiness to continue working. I believe the two of us will have a lot of fun together in the years to come.

My Gordon Lendrum wheel (Gord) with all the extras still in their respective bags.

Since I own one now I thought I would try to gather more information about the designer and namesake for my wheel. Well information is not easy to gather. At quick look at the Lendrum website leads to very little information. I did find the company has been in existence in Odessa, Ontario since the 1970ś and it is purported to be an excellent wheel with its only flaw being its single drive rather than a double drive. I have been told a double drive is more challenging for beginning spinners so perhaps I will be fine without it. Information about the designer was so limited I gave up and have decided to simply appreciate my Gord wheel all the more because it has such an unassuming creator. Here are a couple quick photos of Gordon Lendrum, however taken from other spinners websites.

Holding one of his bobbins

The designer and his machine

There is a wonderful video from Paradise Fiber outlining what one needs to do to get started spinning with a Lendrum. It can be viewed here. Gord and I are ready for some fun spinning. All I need to make or purchase is a dust cover since I won´t be using him every week. I am very happy to own this special Canadian built piece. We will be together for the rest of my life.

A closed Chamy

The open Chamy

And Chamy, it is my now completely knit Ham and Cheese Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread. All is made of acrylic yarn because a toddler will be putting it through its paces. The crust was knit with a velvet-like acrylic which gives it a rather authentic look, IMHO. It is a Susie Johns pattern. If you want to see how the bread it made, click here for details.

Chamy is ready to makes its way to Miss M once a few more food items are completed. I was going to use Velcro to keep the pieces together. But after giving it some thought I decided Velcro is hard on wool and acrylics and besides, Miss M might decide to add the lettuce and tomatoes from the hamburger (yet to be knit) to her ham and cheese so perhaps everything should not be so ¨buttoned¨ down. That all means there is more fun to come.

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...

Yarn Usage II: Crochet vs. Knit

All four swatches were made. Each is 6.25" or 15.875 cm square; each prepared with the same sized yarn and needles or hook. It took 25 stitches to get the appropriate width for the knit swatches and only 20 stitches for both of the crocheted squares. That already says something, but I'll get to it in a minute. (Don't know what I'm talking about here? Check out this post first.) Unfortunately, you'll just have to trust me that four swatches were prepared and that they were all the same size. In the excitement to get to measuring and weighing of the swatches, no photographic evidence was taken. Luckily for me the results of this research doesn't have to be reviewed by a jury of my peer. This blog post will be the sum and total of where this information is published. The remains of my four swatches What can be shared, however, are the balls of yarn rewound after the weighing and measuring was completed. You will note the size ...

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting. It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008. (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.) See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles. And what about the yarn? It is truly ex-bulky. It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space. Or h...

Flagel Knitting Files

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