What Snow Days Are For

Today was the perfect kind of snow day.  The kind where there is just enough to be pretty, and not enough to cause problems getting around. It was a good day to get some things started and other things finished.

I started a pot of bean soup and let it cook while I took the crumpled mass of knitting that was my completed Rona shawl over to the sink to be cleaned and blocked.  

I used an area rug to block it on, because the damp alpaca/silk blend had a tendency to grip the surface of the rug as I spread it out and pinned it down.  From the center circle to the points, measured 31 inches all the way around.  It seems to me that depending on your gauge, that number can vary. 

Here's a better peek, and more pictures are coming soon. 

I've been working on spinning some luxurious Suri alpaca from Odelia Alpaca Farms.  It's a slippery fiber to spin, but is very smooth and not hard to get used to.  I found that spinning from the fold helps to keep the yarn consistent, especially with slippery yarns like alpaca and angora. 

Here is the crocheted blanket that I finished last night.  It was started last September, to use up an assortment of miscellaneous yarns.  Most of these were leftover bits of sock yarns, and I put in a few rounds of white angora for texture and interest.  It's mostly a lap throw, as I don't have the patience to work on this for another year, with each round getting longer and longer to complete.  

After all, there is snow...and KNITTING to be done.

A Life Remembered

I got a call about a month ago, from a woman who had recently and suddenly lost a beloved Norfolk terrier.  The dog had a stroke, and she had saved a bag of hair clippings.  As some of you may know, I had previously owned a business called "Rover's Comb."  I would spin brushed dog hair into yarn, sometimes blending it with wool, according to a customer's needs.

For five years, business was steady, up to the day it was closed (my son is allergic to dogs to the point of asthma). Truth be told, dog hair isn't among the choicest fiber for spinning, although there are many breeds that contribute to beautiful yarns. The woman had come across a remnant post on the internet, and asked for my help to find some usefulness for the yarn. Having loved and lost pets before, it was easy to understand.

I went into "RC" mode, temporarily reprising my former role, with lint roller and vacuum cleaner on constant standby.

Unfortunately, short, straight dog hair is not normally useful for producing any yarn of quality.

One thing I have done in the past, was to make an image of a dog paw by blending the short pieces with wool, hand felting it, and cutting to shape; creating an ornament for display in the home, or to adorn a Christmas tree.  To make it more authentic, I've had great results with people sending me the paw print of the dog, to replicate.

I began the process of hand felting wool that was blended with the straight, short hair.

I made two batts of felt, in contrasting colors.  One was to be the dog's color, and the other was white wool for background.
There were a few minor issues, most of them having to do with miniscule slivers of hair EVERYWHERE, including eyes...but in the end, it turned out quite nice.

Remembering Rosie.

While Waiting for a Brighter Sky

January began with cloudy skies and peeks of that bright thing that just might have been the sun. Those little bursts of sunshine quickly disappear, so perhaps taking a picture will remind us that the big yellow thing is still up there.

So I will cheer you all with some knitting. This one is my first completed project of the new year. My goal is to complete all unfinished projects by spring. This one was the smallest, but it was so gratifying. A simple k1p1 rib. The yarn is called Poems, a very soft 100% wool. This yarn is variegated, and I used two different colorways, switching off every 2 rows. It took 4 skeins, 2 of each color, this one was on size 8 needles. I love this scarf! It is warm and comforting to wear.

Time for a Warp, Wheel, and Wool Club meeting. This month, Dale hosted, and we really enjoyed our time sharing stories, showing projects, and catching up with each other.

Dale is spinning up this Cotswold wool. She is planning to dye this yarn to make a houndstooth jacket.

I brought some homegrown cotton to spin for an unknown future project.

Barb B. is continuing knitting on a colorful Beatrix Potter sweater for her granddaughter.

Barb K is spinning a "Salt and Pepper" blend of alpaca roving that she purchased from Whirlwind Ranch.

When Barb spins, the sunlight always seem to fall on her beautiful handknit socks.

This is a scarf that Mary Ann is making. She is using Debbie Bliss merino, and the pattern is the Balloon Scarf, from the book "Scarf Style."

I love the way we use our hands to admire each other's handiwork. This one is called Citron (shawlette) from Knitty. Citron is now the most popular knitting pattern on Ravelry. Mary Ann is knitting this Citron. There are five sections, and in this photo, she is on section 3.

Robin worked on making felted slippers. Unfortunately, I had some focus issues with the camera, and couldn't get good pictures of her project.

As always, the food was amazing. Dale made the best vegetable beef stew, and there was homemade bread, veggies, cheese, salads and chocolate.

Wallpaper Caper

The new year is also a good time for remodeling. Back at the house, my good friend Diane actually volunteered to help me take down the wallpaper in the master bathroom, even though I warned her that there was a lot of it. What a good friend! Armed with a steamer, scrapers and other tools, we set out to get the paper off the walls. It took about seven hours, with a break for lunch.

It was 1980-something wallpaper. Diane said the minute she entered the room, she thought she was stepping back in time. None of us wanted to keep that look any more than we wanted to bring back shoulder pads or stirrup pants...so we got busy.

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

There were some expected "oops" moments, but nothing that can't be fixed.

To be continued...

Christmas Knitting Revealed

It turned out to be a white Christmas after all! I let the heat out of the house to take this picture, or so I was told.

Christmas knitting can be especially rewarding when the recipient is another knitter. So I could hardly contain my excitement when these alpaca mittens were finished. I bought the yarn a year ago, with my good friends Barb and Robyn in mind.

The mitten pattern used was "Family Mittens," from the Homespun, Handknit book. The I-cord idea came from Lanechka's "Mors-du-cheval mittens on Ravelry. Although she gave great directions, when I got to the website for making the knot, I couldn't figure it out to save my life. So I used a double coin knot instead. Go ahead and click on the picture to see it better.

Frog Tree yarn is so very soft, and warm. The yarn store had a selection of colors, and a mitten on display. I tried on that mitten, and that was it. It took less than 2 balls of yarn to make the pair.

They were happy to get them!

I knitted a scarf for my son's girlfriend, Jen, that was made from two hanks of Lana Grossa "Gnocchi" yarn. I got the idea from Robyn, who made one in a pretty green color. The pattern was a simple garter stitch. I used size 10 1/2 needles and 8 stitches wide. It was a very fun thing to knit, velvety soft, and very fast knitting. If you try this, just remember to make your knit stitches in between the puffs. Robyn's website will describe how to make the scarf in even more detail.

After all the preparations, today we celebrate Christmas day. We are enjoying family time and celebrating the birth of Christ. Hope you are celebrating too, each in your own way. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

First One For Practice

We're always asking my husband's Aunt Dorothy what in the world she does to make her chocolate chip cookies SO incredibly good. She says she just uses the toll house cookie recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag. Then she goes on to say that she uses the best quality ingredients she can find: real butter, true vanilla, the best chocolate, etc.

I think that same standards for care and quality hold true for any craft project. I found this e-book called Crafty Tree Trimmings:

This is a fun assortment of tree trimmings, the combined efforts of several people. 15% of the proceeds go to Project Linus, and it's not too late to get your copy here: http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/12/crafty_tree_trimmings_e-book_d.html

When I saw the gingerbread house ornament, I knew it needed a place on our Christmas tree. I am also loving the one, that looks like a vintage ornament. Thankfully, it didn't take long to make the little house, but Christmas is coming at the speed of light, and so I plan to make the others sometime before the tree gets put away in January.

Making the ornament was fun and easy. I got some supplies together that I already had. There were, however, a few problems of my own doing. The instructions called for wool felt. I happen to have synthetic craft felt, and a lot of it, in all colors. I would have done better to use a better quality felt, and the right glue. Not having craft glue, I tried other glues, resulting in less than desirable results. Crafter's glue...NOT Elmer's washable glue, Gorilla Glue, or J-B Weld. By the way, did you know that certain glues can MELT things?

I do recall someone telling me the first one is for practice.

The final product turned out "tree worthy" after all, but I can envision Aunt Dorothy, shaking her head in disapproval at my choice of inferior materials. With her eyes closed.

It's a Fiber Thing

Some people just don't get it. Have you ever wanted to tell someone, "It's a fiber thing. You wouldn't understand." Who--other than another fiber person, would understand why one would travel across the country, and bring home a suitcase FULL of wool roving, patterns, and yarn, for souvenirs? I can tell you this after visiting the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival: fiber arts are ALIVE AND WELL.

I'm actually still in recovery mode from the Connecticut/Massachusetts, Rhinebeck trip, with lots of good memories fresh in my head (and still tripping over meeting Karen Allen!). And because our fall colors were later this year, I returned home to enjoy them all over again!

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I have brought back enough yarn and roving to keep me busy, most likely for the rest of my life. First, I need to finish some projects already started: socks from the airport, the Ballerina jacket, and the Rona Lace shawl that I lost my place on (and no chart to save me!).

I also came home to this:

The cotton I planted in a raised bed in the back yard, was ready for harvest. It seems that they ripen better after a frost, when the leaves have fallen. The closed, frost-bitten bolls turn brown on their stems, and look just like walnuts on a stick. I can tell that squirrels have been fooled. I noticed the remains of a few torn-apart bolls, and white puffs on the grass.

Meanwhile, it was time for another meeting of Warp, Wheel, and Wool club. We had a great turnout, and such a beautiful day, that we were able to spin and knit under the deck.

As always the company was great fun, and the food was unbelievable.

We had a Thanksgiving/fall theme, and everything was there: fresh roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, and sugared cranberries, swiss chard with garlic and olive oil, sweet potatoes, pecan pie, cranberry-nut bread, grapes, green salad, pumpkin muffins, spiced cider, coffee... it was one of those, "it's- your-own-fault-if-you-went-hungry" kind of feast.

So I turn around to see Anna holding up this huge quilt tops that she's made...and then another.

...and then THIS came out.

This is Anna, people! One of our club members first 'met' Anna through this blog, so dear readers, if you haven't met her yet, this is Anna. She quilts, spins, weaves, knits and crochets...and works a farm. What will she do next...?

It's easy to see that this group of friends are all very talented. Robin shows an adorable baby sweater, done in Beatrix Potter characters, while Barb B., who knit the sweater, holds the grandbaby that will be wearing the sweater when it's finished.

Awww....Squirrel 'Nutkin"

Dale shows her weaving, a spectacular garment. She used perle cotton for the project, and it drapes beautifully on her.

Anna displays a woven design in 4-draft overshot.

We had five spinning wheels going, but also Finished Objects of knitting! Sadly, I wasn't a contributor in the FO department. I worked on spinning the aforementioned cotton.

Mary Ann's patience has paid off. She is wearing the Penelope Blouse, an Oat Couture pattern. The yarn is called "Hempathy." What beautiful work, and great color!

For your entertainment! I couldn't possibly feel this way about my husband, after he spent an entire day of vacation time at Rhinebeck, AND walked downtown Northampton for 3 hours while I happily skipped through WEBS. He even bought me chocolate. No trade.

Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival

We saved Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool festival to be the "cherry on the whipped cream" of our trip. This was truly the peak of fall colors. We had a very cold day, but people were ready with their hand-knit hats, scarves and sweaters. Some of them were returning from the day before. Best of all, it didn't rain as predicted.

As we entered the town, we noticed a backlog of traffic, and sure enough, it was to the entrance of the fairgrounds. There was a sea of cars, and they kept coming in, and so did the buses.

Demonstrations were fun. This man was demonstrating an electric spinning machine.

There were lots of critters wearing beautiful fiber.

This looks like a suri alpaca.

I don't recall what kind of sheep this was, but what a coat it was sporting!

Here, a woman was demonstrating a rug making technique.

Felting is very popular, and this booth was my favorite.

I loved the felted skunks, with their fluffy woolen tails up and ready to fire. Look at them. Are you smiling? I was. The shop owners noticed it, and said that people leave their stand with that same kind of smile.

There were so many people, that it was hard to see the displays. Waiting in line was frustrating at times. I did get to chat with some nice people while standing there, so it wasn't all bad.

There were lots of good deals. Prices were very competitive, and it was hard to make a choice.

This is a beautiful, very productive spinning wheel.

There was lots of inspiration. It was fun to see things already made from the wool being sold.

Another electric spinning wheel.

This was the view from the upstairs part of the barn.

Lovely handwoven scarves are so popular now.

I felt like the proverbial kid in the candy store. I warned my husband he would have to watch me buy yarn in mass quantities. He was very good about it.

I bought yarns and rovings as I thought of things to make. The best deals came from a company called Little Barn (www.littlebarninc.com), that had the best deals on the fairgrounds. The line was long, but worth it. The colors are great, and the wool is nice. This tent was apparently the best kept secret of the event, and those that knew it from previous years, sought it out first. So now we all know.