They are colorful, with cool chicken art, and I really couldn’t bring myself to throw them away.
Sometimes they even have different background colors, like this pink one for breast cancer awareness-

And they are fairly indestructible, being made of plastic woven tarp-like material-

And this week, while stuck home in the snow, I finally decided to do something with them!

Tote bags! Aren’t they sporty?
Great for the grocery, the farmers market, holding projects, etc. etc.

The material is a little bit of a pain to sew, because it slips around some, and it is really hard on stick pins, but the tote bag styling is really simple, and I think now that I’ve done a few the next batch will go faster and easier.

 
And in wool news, I am making steady progress on Cobblestone

One more sleeve, then we get to the exciting part: the yoke! A little texture, some short rows.
Pretty sure I’ve got the yarn to cover it now.

Now, this isn’t entirely unusual (it IS January), but I’m having a hard time mustering any excitement about it.

So I’m trying to concentrate on indoor pursuits!

Especially those that serve to promote toastiness.

For example,

Cobblestone, beginning to look like it might be a sweater!

It’s really hard to take good true-to-life colors in photos of really dark colored objects, and that’s about all I could manage for now. But I have started one of the sleeves as well-

You’ll have to trust me when I tell you that the charcoal-y grey blend of Chone and Spike is much more appealing in person.

And I’ve been spending a little quality time with Hank, my Pirtle wheel, spinning nice soft cushy singles-

Aren’t they fun? No idea what they want to be yet.
But I’m ok with that.

(see last post )

I have mixed feelings about the stash.

I love the stash.
I need the stash.

But the stash exerts a subtle pressure.
It longs to be more than yarn in a cedar chest.
Or home decor.

But these days I seem to be spinning faster than I knit.
So it tends to accumulate some.

And it’s sometimes hard to part with stash, because I either had some grand idea of how I might use it.
Or it’s not quite perfect or flashy or luxurious enough to be a “gift skein” or to sell.

So I’m not making resolutions about stash this year.

No need to put pressure on the relationship.

Healthy stash, happy Denisee.

Long life the stash!

They like evergreens, and it makes their breath all fresh and piney

Then in order to get the new year off on the right foot, I brought out the other herd, my spinning wheels, for a cleaning and oiling.

Don’t they look swell, all shined up and ready for 2012′s challenges?

I also dug out the partial distaff that I got with Sophie (on the right), and found a branch out in the yard that might serve as the basket-type part on top. I’m going to work on drafting from the distaff and see if I can get the hang of it.

And lastly, I got a start on my next sweater project- the Chone/Spike Cobblestone

Still have 3 or 4 more skeins to go for this one, so I’ll be working at it from both ends for a bit-

Goal completion date: end of Feb.

Specifically, I was dreaming of a Patrick Green Big Batt carder.

Yeah,  it’s pretty sweet (especially with that cool burnishing tool).

And there are some videos on You Tube of it in action that just made me think that it must be a quantum leap from my current equipment.

So smooth, so quiet. Such lovely fluffy batts.

But then there’s that big price tag. And the wait list.

I wouldn’t have gotten it by Christmas (or even my birthday) anyway.
.
.
.
.
.
So I got this

Yep, that’s still Clem. But he feels like a whole new machine since he got is Christmas tuneup!

I’d known for a while that his alignment wasn’t really right.

There was too much turning resistance.

And noise.

There was quite a lot of fiber that had gotten stuck down on the drum axles, and he probably hadn’t been lubricated in ages.

So we took him partially apart. Thankfully that’s not a tricky thing. Pretty simple construction.
But it really made getting all the crud out a lot easier, because it turned out that the wool that was building up had gotten shoved into the brass bearings in the frame because of the rotating motion.

I should have taken before pictures, so you could see how much junk came out of the poor guy.

It’s hard to keep fiber out of those gaps, but I’m going to try and be more diligent from here on out.

And while he was apart, it was a lot easier to adjust the alignment of the smaller feeder drum to get the right spacing of the tines between the two drums.

He was way too tight. The tines were meshing and causing a lot of resistance and noise.
I learned that the right spacing is to have them about and index card (or Christmas card!) thickness apart. This allows for the fiber to transfer effectively without causing a lot of stress and tension on the machine, the wool, and the operator (Go figure)

Now that I’ve got Clem all tuned up everything goes faster and easier, and I’ve been carding up a storm-

The batts are fluffier, and he seems able to do a better job on just one pass.

Not only that, but while I was looking into drum carder use and maintenance online I discovered a handy little trick or two-

Turns out a flick carder is really great for cleaning his drums

And also held lightly against the big drum for a couple passes after all your fiber is loaded, it can act as a burnishing tool as well, smoothing the surface of the batt very nicely.

Turn out Clem and I probably still have many happy years and batts ahead of us!

Measuring and mixing.

Beating and blending.

Scraping and rolling.

Baking, cooling, frosting.

Packing and Shipping.

But I made it. All 13 batches of it.

Then I sent it off to friends and family. (ok, not ALL of it. I kept a little for local munching)

And I’m afraid I didn’t take any pictures of the process. I was just glad to get it all done in time.

Of course, I made sure to take wool breaks to ensure I retained my sanity in the midst of all this cookie craziness.

Exhibit A- Oscar Socks

I started these socks months ago, when the recipients feet were only as long as the white part! Yeeks!

Exhibit B- Custom Photo Glove/Mitts

These are a not-so-secret Christmas present for The Man. Still need thumbs and index fingers (with openings for finger tips), but I’m getting close!

And the spinning-

Mioget Shetland with blonde mohair and gold tussah silk, Border Leicester, and some CVM/Suffolk cross.

Yum. High fiber goodies. Healthiest things I made all week!

Now perhaps I can just relax and enjoy the holidays

I plan to compete in the following events:

Springerle
Gingerbread
Cinnamon Mandelbrot
Sugar Cookies
Fruit and Nut Bread

and perhaps Pfeffernusse and Cardamom Biscotti if I have strength left.

This is the view from the starting blocks

All ingredients are present and accounted for, and I’m going to get a start first thing in the morning.

Dough chilling, baking and cookie cooling time will hopefully offer me the opportunity to take some wool breaks, as I do have a few little non-baking projects that I need to wrap up pretty quick!

The goal is to have everything packed up and shipped out by Saturday the 17th.

See you at the finish line-

And its a good fit! I am so pleased.

First sweater knit entirely of wool from my very own guys. Way to go Edgar and Griff!

In other news, I finally did something with all those neat little quinces that our tree produced this year!

After doing a little research online, I decided to go with processing them into quince paste, aka Membrillo.

It seems that Manchego cheese is the perfect match for the quince paste, and I thought that was mighty cool, since it is a sheep milk cheese. So I set about finding some!

Oh yeah. Just the right thing.
Big yum.

Only straight seams left- one sleeve and the two sides.

I feel pretty good about having tried something new. Something that was a little outside my comfort zone.
And I also feel pretty good about how it’s turning out.

Here’s a side shot-

It’s nice to know that I can actually follow a pattern if I have a mind to

Might not make my self-imposed Thanksgiving deadline, but it will be close.

It’s really seeming like winter here recently. Got down to 20F last night (which is pretty dang cold for us)
So right now everything is frosty and crunchy.
And while it’s kind of a pain that the chicken and sheeps’ water is icing over, it’s kind of nice that the yard isn’t squishy.

I guess freezing weather does hold some advantages.

And it makes for nice crisp, wintery photos-

Three Sisters, on the way up Hwy 9

Lyman Ridge (behind our little orchard)

Frosty sheeps munch munch munching

Sadie going long for a frozen apple

And Walla inexplicibly zoomin’ round and round the garden beds

Guess the chill and the crunchiness really gets the pups charged up!

And blocked.

And ready to rock

So this morning I started in on sewing it up.

First I did a little research online on preferred techniques.

Then I worked up some courage and set out to sew the first shoulder seam.

I think it turned out pretty well. But it wasn’t as straightforward as expected.
I mean, I get the grafting idea.
But somehow the purls really threw me.
The shoulder edge stitches were purls.

Yeah, tricky.

Once I finally got it figured out, I probably should have gone on and done the other shoulder seam, but I was anxious to give the sleeve a try.

Here’s the setup-

Now the sleeve is an interesting challenge.
It’s part graft, part mattress stitch, sometimes at the same time.
Each stitch is a judgement call, because you’re working on a curve.

Whew.

Then I found that taking a picture of a should seam is almost as hard as sewing it.

But I guess if you can’t really see it, then it’s good, right?

Shadow is now half-sleeved!

That’s where I left it today.

So far so good.