Dye Day

Peggy - the hostess.




Cynthia was a great help.

Catherine helped set up.

The non dyers...this time.

It's a pot luck so this is what we do best...eat!

The Wool.

And The Knitting Begins.....

I started spinning for the Seascape Shawl the first of the year. Four months later and I have started the actual shawl.

Little did I know I could actually spin TOO thin. I ended up replying my plied yarn with another ply. For you spinners, I plied again in "s". The colours came out a little more muted and darker but I think I like it better.

You can see how much thinner this two-ply is versus the three-ply above. It's just nice to know that when you screw up, you can fix it...one way or another.

Can you see it?

There is a dock down there under all that water. We have gotten so much rain in the past few weeks, we haven't seen the dock for the past week.
This is a clear moment:Clear only in the respect that I don't have to see the clouds through the rain. :-) Tornadoes have been bouncing around on the plateau all around us with one seen going over my neighbor's house and across our pond. Fortunately, we live slightly down a hill and they have all gone over. I certainly hope I never see one up close and personal.

A Fiber Festival!

This is the Harvest Moon Handspun side of Harvest Moon Handspun/Clay Cat. Sue came all the way from North Carolina to be a vendor and promises to be back for the third annual (which are ending up being every eighteen months). :-)

The Clay Cat side.


Sue Dial runs Harvest Moon Handspun/Clay Cat,

Vickie Park and Parkridge Farms in a new vendor...and a member of our spinning group.

Jan has become a teacher of needle felting. Lucy and Jan are both in our spinning group.

Margaret Vogel is well known in the area for her weaving.

Heather representing The Yarn Patch. Heather's in our spinning group, too.

There were garments to be judged.

The Cumberland Yarn Shop

Temari Balls


Swedish Weaving


There were more pictures but I was getting upload errors. To top it off, I took a picture of everyone BUT our spinning group! There was a crowd in front so I was going to go back and shoot later. Sorry Karen, Cindy, and Belinda.

What rock have I been under?

I was reading the latest issue of Knit Net and found a new advertiser..."Earth Faire". The Bead Stew Bracelet caught my attention...particularly the Moonrise on Neptune. I had to have it and ordered it immediately. I had the kit in my little hands within days and the shipping was very inexpensive. I am a lover of low or free shipping. Everything was included in the kit except the knitting needles (which I had). As soon as it arrived, I ran to Ravelry and submitted my new project. What a surprise to find 106 other people working on the same bracelet! So, yeah, what rock have I been under? These have been out since at least 2005!

When I get something I like, I want to extend the pleasure of working on it. I strung my beads the first night, knit the second, and finished up the third. All together, it was about six hours. The pattern was very easy to understand.

I have been putting beads in my yarn while spinning but haven't really thought about knitting with beads in clothing. Now that I know how to knit jewelry with beads, I'm on fire! My stash of beads will reduce somewhat as I purchase some larger beads to go with the colours I already have. Ha, ha. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. But the kits from Earth Faire are the best...and the price is not much above buying the individual parts, if at all.

I have started this bracelet using beads I already had:
I am allowing myself one kit per month and have already ordered "Moon Flowers". Go to Earth Faire to check it out.

Plans are already made for a black one, brown one, green, turquoise, blue.....

Update: 26 April 2009 - I finished my fourth bracelet with plans for at least four more. These are SO addictive and I have the time down that I can finish one in an evening after the beads are strung!

Update: 9 May

End of Winter

Spring is coming and I can feel the urgency in needing to finish up those winter projects. Surprisingly it only took a few hours...so why did I procrastinate? I need to work on that. I couldn't wait to block it before taking a picture. I love the colours and I love the thick and thin of the yarn. I like how it feels on me. What I don't particularly like is how it "looks" on me but it will be a comfortable 'around the house' sweater. I am learning to be more accepting of my finished projects. There is a place for perfection but everything does not need to be, nor can be, perfect.

And while I was procrastinating, I whipped out this cute vest. I don't know that it looks that good on me, either, but it feels good. I even had the nerve to wear it to my machine knitting meeting. And I think that is where I will spend this week...learning a knitting machine. Ah, the quest for knowledge!

Kindred Spirits

I love my spinning group. Everyone is so knowledgeable and we discuss everything...from animal husbandry to husbands; health issues to money issues; law to international affairs. Of course, fiber is what binds us together. It's a day of learning. Sometimes we are re-learning things forgotten. There also must be a correlation between fiber people and what makes a good cook. I don't know a single one that is not competent in the kitchen. Perhaps too good, as my waistline is starting to show.:-)

I always feel recharged and revitalized after a meeting. I can try anything without fear of failing because, after all, failing is still learning, if nothing else, than not to do it that way again.
My, what a great looking group of ladies!

So this is the spinning I am working on now...along with Muggs. What a photo hound!
This is 70% merino/30% seacell (a silk-like fiber made from seaweed). I am spinning this lace weight and will make the Seascape Shawl by Fiber Trends for my daughter. This project is teaching me patience because spinning so fine takes forever.

Living Vicariously

We all saw Camp Poose when I was hooking it. It's lovely in the winter, too. The pond is totally frozen so it's hard to believe it goes right up to the tree line. And this is what you do at camp in the winter....ice fish!

What do you get? A nice trout for dinner.

Felted Alpaca Hat

There is something different in the way alpaca felts vs. wool...at least using these worsted weight alpaca yarns. The purl side has a nice bubble, almost boucle` look. I like it!

US 10 - 16" circular needle and/or DPs
3 Balls of Landscapes Alpaca (72 yds each) -or-
2 balls of Classic Alpaca (110 yds each)

With a SINGLE strand of yarn, CO 100 sts -
Join and knit 45 rows.
Turn your work inside out so the purl sts are facing you.
Knit 15 rows.

Next row: *K8, k2tog* repeat around.
Knit 2 rows.

Next row: *K7, k2tog* repeat around.
Knit 2 rows.

Next row: *K6, k2tog* repeat around.
Knit 2 rows.

Continue these three rows (changing to DPs when needed) knitting one less in the decrease sections until 30 sts remain. Knit the next two rows.

Last row: K2tog around. Pull thread through remaining sts and finish off.

Felt to desired size.

If this is your first felting attempt, measure you head and add about 1". That is the size you will look for. Trying on a wet hat is not fun. Throw the hat in a zippered pillow case protector or tie it up in an old pillow case and throw in with the regular wash. Classic Alpaca will usually felt fast...usually one load. The Landscape will generally take about three loads because of the silk...but not all colours felt equally! Check the hat often. Take the hat out and spread flat and measure. This is the outside measurement and will be slightly more than the inside measurement. If I want an inside circumference of 23", I felt until I get a measurement of 12" across the flat hat.

Let’s say you over-felted. Soak in a little hair conditioner and stretch the hat out on a pot or bowl with the circumference you want.

After you get the size you want, shape and dry out of the sun, usually 1-2 days.

Copyright 2003 by Janis Garwood a.k.a. WoolTales. sheepfreak2003 AT yahoo.com All rights reserved.

Happy New Year!

Isn't this photo amazing? It was an e-card sent by my friend, Lucy. She can do anything with a camera and editing! She does restorations, too! There's more of her shots here. I'm a point and shoot girl and the last few sets of family photos really show it. No amount of editing can save them. I think I will ask her to do a photo session when my daughter and honey come down in March. We will be celebrating Bruce's 70th birthday!

And what is on the agenda for the new year? Why, it is trying to get organized...again. After reading today's Knitter's Review, I'm pumped to do another inventory of stash. The fact that I have three new hobbies since the last inventory of '07 only makes it more urgent. I will NOT post a "before" picture until I have a decent "after" picture! I have organized my knitting files on my computer, but what kind of exciting picture does that make? I have decided that if I like a pattern so much I have saved it four or five times (which I have found), then I might want to go ahead a make it...with stash, of course. And not wanting my favorite yarn stores to go out of business, I will occasionally buy yarn for a specific pattern I'm going to make at that time if I don't have the yarn. So I'm not going cold turkey.

This organization is not going to start by itself. I hope everyone has peace and hope in the new year...the two things that should not cost anyone anything.

Cheers!

'Tis The Season

Yes, this is the season for parties with my various groups. Some have opted for no gift exchange, but two groups are wonderful for hand created packages of wonderfulness. Over the weekend I received this wonderful bun warmer. LuAnn gave me the pattern last year but she knows me too well and knew I would never get around to making it...and this with fabulous machine knit dishcloths, and jars of tasty goodness from her garden.

At the spinner's Christmas luncheon I received this wonderful angora which Kim raises herself along with some marvelous hand dyed wool to spin with it.

The sheep shawl I made was well received. Do you think I remembered to take a picture of Karen wearing it? No! Well she said she wouldn't be taking it off, so I'll snap one at the next meeting. :-)

Here it is blocking. It does look better on.

So the holidays are starting out okay. There hasn't been a lot of stress shopping. Perhaps next year everything will be homemade. Wouldn't that be nice...giving the gift of one's time. Meanwhile, the lottery ticket to my husband is the gift of hope!

Tahdah!

I had my doubts a couple of weeks ago, but it's done!



I finished whipping the edge and blocked it yesterday. Now to find the right size pizza box. I feel so competent and in charge. Too bad my house does not reflect that. :-)