The Week in Wool-

In the wake of completing The Man’s socks  on size 1 needles, I felt that I needed to switch things up a bit. I needed to do something BIG.

It seemed like a good time to pull out the chunky peruvian wool.

Here it is with Bruno for scale (and because he’s such a cutie).

The wool decided that it wanted to be a scarf. And since it’s so thick and dense, I figured it could use a little lightening up, so I chose an easy lace repeat, picked up the size 10 1/2 needles and off we went!

I can’t tell you how much fun it was to see this come together. It just flew!

It flew so fast that I didn’t even think to take an in-progress shot. So, here we are at the blocking (and kitty inspection) stage.

Still trying to decide if it needs some sort of fringe to finish it off….
What do you think?

In other woolly news, I was able to squeeze in a brief visit to the NW Washington Fair last week- here are some of the highlights:

First, the Wool Show-

And then the sheep:

Dorset cross?

Navajo Churro-

Romney-

Ps.

For those of you who are interested, here’s a quick rundown on how I did he toe shaping for this most recent pair of socks.

It’s pretty simple. You don’t start the toe shaping as early as with some other methods.  Keep knitting the foot straight until you get to just shy of the tip of your (or the intended recipient’s) little toe. At that point, start decreasing (but only on the little toe side). To ease the curve, decrease every other round 3 times. From that point on, decrease every round until you have only half your original stitches left.

Then start shaping the big toe side (while you’re still continuing the decreasing on the little toe side). Again, decrease every other round for the first few, then go to every round. Stop when you have about an inch or and inch and a half worth of stitches left and kitchener the toe together.

Ta Da! A sock that is actually shaped like a foot!

Goldi-locks, Custom Socks, etc.

First, the goldie- locks

I really should have taken pictures of the actual locks before I teased them apart. They were gorgeous! I got this beautiful mohair at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art show when I was back in IL last month. Here it is spun and knit up (because I do so love to swatch!)

Guess I didn’t even realize that there were blondie goats!

And I did finally finish The Man’s socks.  These socks are outfitted with custom right and left foot shaping, to make the toes fit just right.

and a Denisee-standard heel,

as well as plenty of 1×1 ribbing, to make them nice and stretchy and form-fitting.

On other fronts, spinning continues apace for the next sweater project.

And my new quality control inspector insists on being present for all steps in the process, so it might take me a little longer than usual, but I’m sure the results will be truly feline divine.

Old Dog. New Tricks.

What a sweet couple, eh?

And he’s the guy we thought was going to be a problem!

Good boy, Bruno!

Speaking of tricks- it looks like I might have to employ some new ones of my own if I ever want to get much wool-work done around here.
Boo kitty seems to like yarn almost as much as I do.

It’s nice when she sits on my lap while I’m spinning,
but her constant attention makes knitting nearly impossible!

I can’t fault the girl for liking wool. (I mean, what’s not to like?)
So, I guess I’m just have to come up with some new strategies.

I might have to go into hiding to finish these socks

Knit your Milk?

It’s been mighty hot.

As much as I hate to say it- too hot for wool.

Almost too hot to spin.

But, I’ve managed to get through it by spinning the milk fiber I picked up back in IL. It’s light, and fine, and silky.

It is a little slippery,, but I find that it’s a lot more manageable if I spin it from the side (kind of “from the fold”). Seems to draft more smoothly that way, at least for me.

It’s been fun, and it is really very pretty. Nice for a bit of a diversion. (here it is,loosely plied with some random white wool- Romney, I think)

But it seems a bit weird, spinning something that is artificially fiberized (my word).

I do wonder about how the stuff is generated. And I’ve realized that what I really like best about spinning (and the fiber prep) is that the whole process is low-tech, and feels really close to the source.

I like that you can take a fleece from a sheep, and with some skill, patience, and a little bit of simple mechanical (not chemical) help, turn it into a finished object that is beautiful and useful. It’s really quite amazing.

I think the milk (and soy, and bamboo, for that matter) fiber takes me too far away from that.

Now, the Milk Protein top I haven’t seen advertised as “Eco-Friendly”, but the others are certainly marketed that way, and while Soy and Bamboo might be readily renewable resources, the process that is required to turn them into spinnable fiber really isn’t.

It takes chemical intervention and extruding the fibers with machinery and all kinds of things that are really energy intensive, and certainly not low-impact (environmentally speaking).

Now I’m not a green-freak, but I do wonder why we go to all the trouble of processing the heck out of things to make them serve a purpose they are not intended for when we’ve already got the perfect natural raw materials at hand. Just because we can? Maybe. But that kind of thinking gets us into all kinds of trouble over and over again.

I think that from here on out, I’ll drink my milk, eat my edamame, stake my garden with bamboo- and spin my wool (weather permitting, of course!)
___________________________
Ps.
Today’s harvest-

(Isn’t that the most beautiful onion?)

Pps.
The blog now has a spokesmodel-