#1 Good Thing about Knitting

You can always have a do-over.

(Unless you’ve steeked.

Or it’s brushed mohair.

Or- well, you get the idea.)

I promise I will have something worth posting by tomorrow.

(Hot off the needles!)

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-

There and Back Again

Sorry I  missed y’all last weekend.

I was back in Illinois visiting family and attending my 20 year high school reunion.

It was fun, and exhausting, and I’m awfully glad to be taking the rest of the week off to catchup with things around here.

Would you believe, it just so happened that here was a really great fiber event going on the very same weekend of my visit? Right near where I was staying??

Indeed. The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival, in Crystal Lake, IL.

So of course I stopped by.

There were inside vendors-

And outside vendors-

Fabulous humongous skeins of yarn-

Hitchhiker travel wheels (which I got to try out!)

Wonderful hooked items-

And I did bring home a couple of souvenirs-

Some glowing blonde mohair:

And Milk Protein Fiber! Because it was just so unusual (and beautiful):

And, I did manage to get a bit of travel knitting done!

Stashbuster Hat:

I really like how the Mountain Colors “Mountain Goat” yarn works with both the light and dark handspun. I forget the name of the colorway, as it’s been sitting for a while…they may not make that exact thing anymore.

And Sock:

Standard sock formula, with a little extra ribbing in the gusset, on tiny needles. Good for long plane rides. (and yes, it’s store-bought yarn. Didn’t plan far enough ahead on this one)

Ps. Boo Kitty came home last night. So far, so good!

Random Fiber Acquisitions and more-

You’ll never guess what I brought home from work the other day.

So I’ll just tell you.

Buffalo.

Yep. Really.

Not the whole animal or anything- just buffalo hair.

Pretty gnarly stuff. Guess it was collected from a scratching pole that is out in the pasture for them.

But buried deep within the hairy mess is fluff. Very soft, short, downy fluff.

Here it is (mostly) sorted:

I figure, volume-wise, I got about 10% or less fluff.

I washed and then I carded what little I had-

My hand cards are not the really fine type, but I was able to get it into decent enough shape to spin after a while, though there was still quite a bit of veg.

Here is the resulting swatch:

Wild, eh?

Was kind of an interesting exercise,, but the de-hairing was not much fun. Kind of like picking apart dusty brillo pads.

And in other news, I finally have my first batch of yarn for The Man’s sweater.
I’ve decided on a heavy worsted three-ply (from three bobbins so I get a more consistent result)

Here are the nice fat little bobbins ready to be plied-

Here is the yarn, fresh off the wheel-

And all steamed and skeined up-

I do so love a squooshy three-ply.

Stats on the yarn: approx 110 yds per 3.5 oz skein.

Bait and Swatch?

I’ve been pretty wrapped up in working with the fleece from BSG, but I did want to finally share the rest of what came home with us-

Mohair.

Kid Mohair.
Just enough to try out- maybe 7 oz.
It was just so silky and lustrous that I couldn’t resist.

A couple of people had mentioned to me that I just HAD to try it. That it was heaven to spin. That I didn’t know what I was missing.

Ok. Turns out that they were right!
It also turns out that black mohair is really hard to photograph.
Here are a couple of my attempts:

This is the one to try and show how fine and light it is-

And here is a swatch (of course), to show you the amazing luster (too bad you can’t feel how silky it is!)

Very Nice stuff.

That was it for the fiber. Really. (Aren’t you amazed at my self-restraint?)

But we did bring home a bit of sheepy decor:

Isn’t that fun? Did you notice the little shetland tail on the odd-sheep-out?

Just couldn’t resist.

In other news, the stranded colorwork swatch I was working on at BSG is fast on it’s way to becoming a hat.

And Boo Kitty came over for a “meet and greet” with the pups this weekend-

The event was a little stressful for both parties,, but I think that with time (and close supervision) it will work out.
Hope so, anyway. She’s such a sweetie.

Swatch-o-rama

One week ABS (After Black Sheep), and I have made a start on processing my new acquisitions.

First- The Fleece.

I really love the fleece. I didn’t realize it when I bought it, but it is two different colors.

Here are two different sections before washing-

And here it is washed (silvery black in the back, blackblack in the front)-

I guesstimate that it’s about 65% silvery and 35% blackblack.
Clem (my drum carder) and I have decided that the thing to do is blend the two colors to ensure I have enough of one shade to make a solid colored sweater jacket for The Man.

So, I ‘ve begun to card, spin and  knit to plan for the project. (I love doing samples)

Here it is blended-

On the wheel-

And swatched-

I’m thinking of something like Ann Budd’s Cambridge jacket.

The processing is going pretty fast, but I am taking an extra step and trimming the ends of the locks.

The blunt ends on the locks makes me think that perhaps the sheep was coated. And what’s strange is that there is a weak spot just where the tips change color. Kind of like you would expect on a Shetland or other primitive if you sheared ahead of the “rise”. But this is Romney/Corriedale, so I can’t figure it out.

I didn’t want the little  ends break and end up being neps, so I’ve just snipping them off.

This has already gone too long,, so I’ll save my one other fiber acquisition for next week!

(PS. We finally decided on the girl kitty.)

Black Sheep! Black Fleece!

Whew.

What a weekend.

Here’s a quick rundown-

There were sheep of many colors:

And goats too,,

Primping for the show ring-

Showing-

I looked up Michelle, of Boulderneigh, and it turned out that needed a hand, so she gave me a quick rundown, handed me Bramble’s lead, and off we went!

It was a lot of fun to hang with Michelle and her beautiful Shetland babies.

After the Shetland show, the man and I took a walkthrough of the vendors. As you would expect, it was an amazing assortment of fiber-

and yarn-

and tools:

(Note- this neato-frito little travel wheel is a Spinolution “Bee”. There are a lot of cool things about it, but what I love best is that the bobbin is removed from the front of the flyer! You just pinch the sides of the flyer together, the front part with the orifice slips off, and the bobbin pops out! And it has a really slick mechanism for adjusting the bobbin brake. I don’t think I can explain it properly,, so encourage you all to check it out on the Spinolution website.)

And then there was the wool show.

Man, were there a lot of nice fleeces.

(that last one is Teeswater, on the hoof)

And this is the one that I brought home.

Nice, eh?

Yeah.  Denise is a happy girl.