A Troll

 I have been declared "a troll" on Ravelry. That says more about their culture than my nature.

They do not like people that read a lot, but are skeptical of what they read. They do not like people that test what others write by doing experiments, building math models, and comparing the assertions of various authors. They do not like people that spend weeks and weeks considering Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks.  They do not like people that go to Europe and look for old buildings where textile work was done. Most of all, they do not like people that do the above, and come to conclusions that are different from the ideas of Queen Victoria's Court.

The ladies of  Queen Victoria's Court believed that the Earth was created by God some 6,000 years ago, and in contrast, I accept most of what is in The Feynman Lectures.  However, I accept new discoveries in science.

I liked Alden Amos, and I trust his writing and statements more than I trust the work of other writers on hand  spinning, and yet he did make errors, and his errors in the Big Blue Book are noted and annotated in my copy. Likewise, Judith McKenzie McCuin is one of the foremost experts on wool. Her errors are likewise annotated in my copy.

As in any journal, there are a multitude of errors in this blog. 

It took me years to work out virtues of different kinds of  knitting needle tips. Now, I sit down to knit with 3 sets of needles, each with a  different style of tip. I knit ribbing, and  knit flat with needles that have round tips. Round tips are also nice for Lizard Lattice.  I knit lace and substantial areas of decreases with pointy needles.  And, I knit plain knitting, in the round with flat tips. Knitting in the round with flat tips is the fast way to knit plain. By switching needle types, I can save 6 or 8 hours on a pair of socks, and I can save days knitting a fine gansey. When I was using pointy needles, it took me about 2 weeks to knit a good weatherproof gansey, With smarter use of different needle tip shapes, it only takes me 8 or 9 days.  In the last 4 months, I have saved about 10 days of knitting time, by using the needles with the correct tip for that particular kind of stitch.  

Everybody that has been following along,  and doing their own experiments on needle tips, likely worked this out long ago.  I may be the slowpoke here.  The key point here is that knitting sheaths work, and they allow knitting better, faster. 

These days I have 3 or 4 knitting sheaths that I use on a regular basis depending on where I am knitting, what I am knitting, what I am wearing, and the needles I am using.   If I am out and about, I use a knitting sheath that slides onto my belt, so it does not fall into the briny deep. Some knitting sheaths work better with some pant/belt combos - the jeans and belt I am wearing today work perfectly with a goose wing, while the dressier pants I wore on Sunday worked better with my favorite Durham style sheath. There is a sock in progress on 12" long, US 000 needles.  Those needles like the "slide-on" sheath, but that knitting wants excellent light, no vibration or bumping, and no interruptions, so sometimes that knitting sheath gets used here in the studio.  If I was a commercial knitter, I would mostly knit the same kind of objects, with the same needles, in the same location, and I would use the same knitting sheath, day after day.

I find that that the people that call me a troll for posting about DRS spinning, are the same people that did not like me posting about knitting sheaths and different tip on my needles.

I have spun in public at Lambtown and Stitches West. anyone and everyone who want to watch me, could.  I have offered to meet them so they can see (film) and measure the full spinning and knitting process. 

Now, I have my revenge. I spin yarns they cannot. I knit things they cannot. 

These are not the actions of a troll.