Yarn Girls, They Do Get Wooly

Knitting Olympics and Ravelympics Gold (in handspun)

2010-03-01T05:15:00.000-08:00

Out of 4oz of Crown Mt. Shetland Roving:

Peggy spun 200 yds of 2 ply for the 2010 Ravelympics.

She then knit up the Peter Seamans Scarf
from Myrna Stahman's Shawls & Scarves book
using handspun 5% chinchilla, and 95% wool.
The ‘chinchilla’ fiber is from Kate Painter
at Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival 2009

I used almost all of the 1080 yards of handspun Jacob/Angora for my second February Lady Sweater:

This year we're committed to knitting only with handspun so we're busy figuring out what to work on next. Swatching is a huge part of the process, more than usual although we always swatch a lot. We both finished our Olympic projects early and spent the rest of the time going through stash and swatching, pulling out patterns and comparing swatch results to potential projects. I do believe some designing will be involved...

Peggy's February Lady Sweater

2010-02-12T05:30:00.000-08:00

It’s countdown to 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies!

We're ready to knit and dreaming of 2010 Gold.

Just to show you what can be accomplished
we give you Peggy's 2008 Ravelympics Project
and the twists and turns of a very tough knitting venue.

Here's her story:

Aug 8/08 6:00 am PDT - cast on for the Ravelympics, even though I didn’t actually sign up to be a competitor until August 18th (sorry, my bad.) The February Lady Sweater was only one of two patterns that I could find which would use ALL of this particular handspun-twice dyed yarn without going over AND one of two patterns that I wanted to knit.

Aug 11/08 6:00 pm PDT - injury! OH NO. Infected index finger may slow knitting. Doctor visited for antibiotics. Note to self: wear gloves when gardening, especially if I have a cut on my finger which may pick up a puss-causing vile infectious bug.

Aug 15/08 7:15 am PDT - detected MISTAKE in lace pattern 4 inches back. Frogged back and reknit incorrect row. Lost 2 whole days re-knitting to where I was before frogging. SAD and DISAPPOINTED that GOLD may now be out of reach. sob.

Aug 18/08 6:55 pm PDT - Regrouped and picked up for the sleeves, using two 29” circulars to knit both at the same time. Wrapping my brain around right back and left front on one needle, and the right front and left back on the other and then knitting in the round – it will be a challenge on the commuter bus!

Aug 20/08 7:51 am PDT - posted the photo on Ravelry showing the finished body length, and 5 pattern repeats into the sleeves. How will this ever be finished by Sunday when I still have to go to work every day???

Aug 23/08 4:37 pm PDT - Knitting done, ends sewn in and into the tub of water for soaking before blocking! Yea!! Posted a pre-blocking photo at 5:25p.

Aug 24/08 11:15 am PDT - Buttons on. Finished photo posted to the Ravelympics page for the Sweater Sprint. (Many thanks to Ellen for helping with that.)

The Gold Medal was awarded by

The Head of The International Ravelympic Committee:

Adonis Dionysius Bobicus Maximus

"I was just so darned proud to compete for my craft."

...Peggy

***************

Reunion

2010-02-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo from 1959,
Second Grade, the beginning of our Bluebird Group.

Front row: Clair, Jan, Tina, Ann
Middle row: Donna, Bobbi, RoseLee, Becky, Miss. Eddy
Top row: Janice, Barbara, Peggy, Liz, Mary

(same little girls, different order)

Fast forward to July 31st, 2009

and our reunion weekend in

La Push, Washington
15.3 miles from the famous Forks, WA,
(the rainiest location in the US)
It sports a beautiful beach which is visible even in the fog
and is about 10 to 20 degrees cooler than Seattle,
which was a real relief to many of us who had recently dealt with
the high 90's for over a week and over 100 degrees one day. ick.

Martha, Diane and Peggy chatting on the beach

back row: Peggy F., Jan, Sue, Valerie
front row: Bobbi, Martha, Diane, Robin

back row: Mary, Jan, Rebecca, Martha, Peggy F.
front row: Bobbi, Valerie, Peggy M.

Same group with Diane at the top left.Jan and Mary

In 1986 many of the group contributed to a quilt,
presented to our long-time leader, Eddy Duryee.
Eddy was pivotal in our lives, mentoring and befriending,
encouraging and counseling for not just our school years but
on into adulthood, until the day she died.

We've managed to meet twice since this trip to the coast, not so many of us each time but some that didn't make it to the initial event were able to join the holiday potluck in December and the small dinner party at Bobbi's house on Feb. 5th. It looks like we'll be able to keep in touch more often now and it's fun to reconnect.

Our new favorite game

2009-12-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Bananagrams!
(Thanks, EmBe, for hooking me.)

This is our game from Christmas morning while we had
the Yulelog fire with Christmas music on the TV and
coffee in hand. We discussed the timing for cooking dinner
as we played and made a point of using 'Christmas' words.

Wishing everyone a drama-free Merry Christmas!

There's Santa and then there's "Bad Santa"

2009-12-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

Spinning BFL

2009-12-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ashland Bay Natural Colors Blue Face Leicester

(or Blue Faced, if you prefer. I've seen it both ways.)

Fun stuff. I tried my larger whorl and put my drive band on the big wheel to see if I could spin bigger yarn, by bigger I mean not lace or fingering weight, which is normal for me. I acquired one pound, purchased from Heidi at The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble. Love her shop ~ if you get a chance, stop by. She has a weaving annex now, and gives classes.

Three hanks, 647 yards.

Prewashing, it's not so sproiny.After washing: sproiny!
The swatch is worked on 8's, 7's and 6's.

The 8's gave me a nice fabric and there is probably enough yardage for a vest. Or maybe a shawl/wrap. I briefly considered buying another pound but I have plenty of other fibers to spin right now and so I'll just move on. By the way, when I washed the three hanks to set the spin, the water was filthy brown. Not oil, dirt. I have heard that Ashland Bay fibers are processed in China and this may be true, I don't know. I do know that I haven't yet run into fiber quite this dirty. I have also heard that Blue Face (or Faced) Leicester are called that because they look sad, not because their color is blue. I know they aren't blue, but can that 'sad' bit be true? Surely not...

Rhythms del Mundo

2009-12-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Fleece Sale

2009-11-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

On November 14th Melinda, Peggy and I traveled I-5 from Edmonds through the Skagit Valley to Burlington and our destination: Jonnasson's Farm for the annual fleece sale there.

The Skagit Valley

We didn't stop for Alpaca.
You would think we would have
but perhaps some other time.
We didn't stop for cider either.

A typical Skagit Barn.

The Jonnassons, along with 3 or 4 other sheep breeders, hold a fleece sale every year and the prices are quite reasonable. Inexpensive. Cheap, even. The goal for me was Dorset, as Sam, an amazing spinner and knitter in our NwRSA area 2010, had shown us her Flying Geese sweater (if that link doesn't work it's because you're not part of Ravelry. Get on that!) she made from what she called the filthiest little Dorset fleece and said it was a fabulous fiber, once it was cleaned and carded (or words to that effect.) Thanks for the lead, Sam!

I've been looking for Dorset roving ever since. It's not available. Not at Black Sheep, not at OFFF, not at Whidbey Spin-in, not at Madrona, all fiber conferences with large, if not huge, markets. So then I figured I'd have to find a fleece, since my search began prior to jumping in to the 'fresh off the sheep' part of spinning. No luck at any of the fiber conferences for fleece either, but then, finally, Gretchen at Gretchens Wool Mill gave us a lead to this fleece sale which the Hordyks of Sand Hill Farm are part of and and they raise Dorsets and would have some available, which we knew because we called to make sure. yea! We've been looking forward to this for a month.

The exit to Burlington and
to the North Cascades Highway.
North Cascades Highway is a worthwhile road trip
if it's not winter.Although I suspected we did one,
I was assured that no U-Turns happened this trip.
The Jonnassons farm building
which housed the fleece sale.

There was fiber and fleece available,
dyed and natural.
Eileen Hordyk shows Peggy the crimp in
a brown Dorset/Rambouilett cross fleece.

Melinda weighing the pros and cons
between two brown Rambouilett/Dorset cross fleeces.
One was darker, a ram fleece and 7lbs;
the other was lighter, from a ewe and 6lbs.
We took the 6 pounder and
will have it washed before we split it three ways.
It was only $24.00.
Peggy bought some Mohair.
The Dorset fleece.
This turned out to be the only one at the sale.
Of course I had to buy it ~ it was only $18.00. For 6 pounds.
After washing I should have at least 3 pounds,
enough to spin for a sweater.
6lbs of Dorset Ewe #1011
Like Sams, it was very filthy
but also very crimpy.
Eileen, who owns the ewe this fleece came from,
showed me how to remove the damaged tips before washing.
So when we arrived home I immediately worked with
a little of the fleece because why wait?
This is rinsed just once in hot water.
And here it is washed one time with Dawn and hot water.
Through the carder once.
Spun and 2-plied.

Not the best spinning job but I rushed it.
It's bouncy and cushy. This will be great!

And in closing,
some of the Jonnassons Fleece on the Hoof.

Apples in the Jonnassons front yard.
It is such an interesting tree that
I had to take a picture.

And so it begins

2009-11-14T06:30:00.000-08:00

This was only last March 15th

And this was last night, November 13th.

Eerily familiar.

Quotes from Robert H. Heinlein as published in "Friday" in 1982

2009-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

What are the marks of a sick culture?

It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn't the whole population.

A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice but any country can fall sick with it. Dominance of males over females seems to be one of the symptoms.

Before a revolution can take place, the population must lose faith in both the police and the courts.

High taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that's old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way - even though there are always endless attempts to wish it way by legislation. But I started looking for little signs and what some call silly-season symptoms.

I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots of course - but I suspect that little incidents of violence, pecking way at people day after day, damage a culture even more than riots that flare up and then die down. Oh, conscription and slavery and arbitrary compulsion of all sorts and imprisonment without bail and without speedy trial - but those things are obvious; all the histories list them.

I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named... But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot.

This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it.

--- a conversation with Friday and Dr. Baldwin in "Friday"

Where batteries go when they die

2009-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Superior Fibers

2009-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

A couple Saturdays ago we went down the road 4.5 miles to Superior Fibers in Edmonds, WA to drop off the rose gray alpaca fleece that we found at OFFF and also a partially washed Rambouillet which we found at Black Sheep in '07 and finally cried uncle on processing ourselves.

We tried. Really. Once when Betty was here she said she'd show us how it was done so we went out and bought several little open-weave bags to put the fleece in for washing, we spent the afternoon learning about how hot and how much soap and rinsing gently and not shoving it around to avoid felting. It was a smelly, sweaty, nasty job which we did not enjoy. I'll go one step further and say we disliked it. A lot. About a year later Peggy actually considered throwing that fleece out. tisk. It was a weak moment and didn't last long. We had been looking at the stack of stuff in the garage that needed to be dealt with, the unwashed portion of the Rambouillet fleece being on top of the heap. We decided instead to give it to Superior Fibers to finish for us. If we had known how close they were, we would have done this long ago. It took 15 minutes to get there.

Bill and Inga live in a regular house in a regular neighborhood a few miles north of Seattle. They have all their fiber processing machines in their double garage and it's a snug fit. They have four Belfast machines (carder, picker, felter and rug yarn maker) in there, as well as the washer and the drying rack. Their plan is to move to Oregon, around Salem somewhere, and spread out a little, maybe three times the space.

Belfast Mini Mills is located on Prince Edward Island, Canada-eh. Bill says the guy from Belfast Mini Mills comes to Edmonds every year or two to tune up the carder and make sure all the machines are working well.

Bill explaining how their Belfast Mini Mill Carder works.

It's big. Probably seems bigger than it really is

because it's in a small space.

The mechanical picker.

This is one very large washer.
They keep the temperature at 140,
which de-greases the fiber really well.
This machine has an incredibly fast spin cycle.

The drying rack has a motor-driven fan
for a 24 hour drying schedule.

This is the Belfast rug yarn maker.

What comes out:
Alpaca wrapped around a jute core.

The Felting Table (with decoration.)
Bill and Inga are gardeners, too.
This plant is in for the winter.

Fiber ready to go back to the customers.
We didn't bring any home because
the fleece we gave them at OFFF wasn't processed yet.

There are quite a few YouTube videos which are worth viewing on the various Belfast machines if you're interested.

Fun times

2009-10-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

We thought 95 was a really great score
for
Spider Solitaire
(free Windows game)

But then this happened:

Maybe this is why we're not getting so much knitting done...

Friday Knitters

2009-10-16T18:00:00.001-07:00

Being laid off has one benefit:

I got to knit with my Peeps on Friday morning.

This is a strange photo. Everything is blurred but the Peeps and I don't know how that happened but I rather like it. Here's my second try, and they still seem happy to see me!

After 19 months of full-time work at the University of Washington, the State of Washington budget cuts got me and I'm laid off, along with about 350 others on the Seattle campus. This is a miserable economy to job hunt in, as the last 5 months have proven, which is how long I've been actively looking for another job. I was told in May that October 1st was my last day as the 'Scheduling Assistant for the Dean' at the College of Education ~ that seemed like a good chunk of time to: 1) take classes in interviewing, CHECK, 2) tune up my resume, CHECK, 3) net-work with people about my situation, CHECK, 4) apply for jobs, CHECK, and 5) find employment....no check for that one. I am working in a temporary hourly situation on the Bothell campus until the woman I'm filling in for gets off jury duty. She has Fridays off, hence enabling me to join the Friday Knitters this morning. This was the highpoint of my last two weeks!

U-Turns Happen

2009-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Road trip with Evanne, Tazo the Dobie, Peggy and Rebecca:

Last Friday at 7:45am we four took off from Seattle for Wenatchee to meet Betty Roberts and pick up Evanne's wheel which Betty had been repairing. It's a 2.45 hour trip (for most people.) As long as we were going over the hill and back, Betty thought it would be a good idea if she brought along a few of the fleeces she had laying around so we could drop them off for her at Gretchen's Wool Mill in Monroe for carding. How they get back to Betty may be the fodder for another blog entry.

It was a beautiful day. We started on I-90 but went north to Hwy 2 as soon as possible so that we could get to Wenatchee via Stevens Pass. On that little road between 90 and 2 we got turned around (nobodys fault, U-Turns happen) and ended up in North Bend, a few miles south of Snoqualmie instead of north, but it really was a beautiful day and we got to see the old trains and Mount Si in the mist, so it was all good.

Mt Si is a hill, a really big one but still, a hill.

The Vine Maples going East were spectacular.
They had the sun on them.

We arrived in Wenatchee close to 90 minutes late, no surprise given the U-Turn in North Bend. Betty and Fran were waiting patiently for us at the Walmart, parked under the only trees fringing that massive parking lot. Since it was noon (instead of 10:30/11:00, the agreed upon meeting time) we decided to pile into Betty's car and immediately drive to the Mongolian Grill for lunch. This is a treat for Betty, as she gets to Wenatchee maybe 3 times a year and always makes the Mongolian Grill one of her stops, and she couldn't wait to share it with us. I didn't take photos ('ol dopey me) but if you've ever been to a Mongolian Grill you know how it goes: fill your bowl with everything you love and they cook it for you while you watch. Sit and eat. yum.

After lunch we went back to the Walmart parking lot and pulled out the wool from Betty's car, as well as Evanne's wheel, and put it all in our car and headed West, to Monroe and Gretchen's Wool Mill.

We made a stop on the way home at The Farm Stand.
Evanne wanted to find some local Gravensteins.
They're the best for pies.

Getting to the Farm Stand was an adventure.
Coming out of Cashmere,
we ran into this slow moving vehicle:

Evanne admired the purple flowers close up.

Heading West through the mountains;
the Vine Maples were good but it was cloudy.

Tazo had to share some of his space with the wool.
It was a high-anxiety moment but he stepped up.
What a guy.

There was a LOT of wool, much of it under Tazo.

When we got to Gretchen's we started pulling it out.

9 bags full.Gretchen and Peggy and The Wool.
Gretchen has a manual picker and a ginormous carder which
she calls a 'cottage industry carder', this vs the really big ones in the commercial industry and the really small ones that we have on our table tops at home.

The Picker.
First fluff up the fiber

and then run it through the big carder

Gretchen's carder creates a 17"X6' bat

Our friend Melinda (also a Betty Roberts wheel owner)
bought a lot (maybe ALL) of Bridget's fiber at the
NwRSA Board meeting in Monroe, WA in 2008.
Melinda, this photo is for you!

This is Bridget; Gretchen keeps her just for the wool.

Melinda spun the wool and knit up a sweater.
Here she is in her Bridget Cardigan.
(photo stolen from Ravelry)

Gretchen lives in the sticks. She has a lot of critters.
Many of her chickens are very young and not laying
eggs in the usual size yet. They're very small.

This is Cowboy. He's 7.

Cranky ducks.Right before we got home we found this sign:
No U-Turn?
Can you even do a road trip without one?
Not if you ride with us.
With us, U-Turns don't just happen,
they're almost mandatory.

Buddy Squirrel

2009-10-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

Horse-Chestnuts
gathered on campus of the
University of Washington
during the last week in September.

Offering to the Squirrel God

Considering the worthiness of the offering...

Tasting for poison...

This will do.

Real chestnuts are rare in Seattle. We found a tree in Canby on the Clackamas County Fairgrounds when we were there for OFFF, relatively exciting except that they weren't ripe enough for harvesting, darn it. Don't eat horse-chestnuts. They won't kill you but they don't taste good anyway so why bother? Bring them home for your squirrels.

OFFF

2009-10-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival
September 25, 26, 27, 2009

Possibly the best fiber festival in Washington and Oregon, including Black Sheep Gathering. OFFF is smaller, chattier, friendlier and more relaxed, perhaps because it's got 'festival' in the title. There are women spinning on the lawn all day long, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, sheep and goats, alpaca and rabbits being judged, singers and musicians entertaining us, food vendors with lamb and chicken and homemade cakes and pastries, fund raisers selling cold drinks to the parched shoppers and lots and lots of smiles. I didn't see one cranky person and we're happy to report that Tina of Blue Moon finally figured out that we're sisters. She did not have to confess that, either, which makes it even funnier.

This year we decided to camp out and save our disposable $$ for fiber and gas. Camping in a tent is $12./night vs $52.+ tax at the nearby DaysInn, so we saved approximately $100.00. We camped out in the back by the racetrack, under the pines. There were less than a dozen campers and room for at least 40 so it was pleasantly uncrowded and quiet, except for the trains. Lots of trains, all night until about 3:00am Saturday morning. Not far away, either. Close, loud trains.

Knitting at the campsite

Cold breakfastEvanne and Del were right next door.We took our chairs and wheels out to

the sunny spot for a few hours.

On the back lot, camping in a tent meant no running water and no electricity and the portapotty was 50' to 200 yards away, depending on where one decides to set up. We borrowed the tent, the cots and the lantern but had about everything else ~ not unlike the Knitters Retreat but we didn't take as much because we stayed only two nights. The weather was high 60's to mid 70's during the day but mid 40's to low 50's at night so we did a lot of layering. We packed the ice chest with everything from the frig that we could use cold (no stove) and bought coffee from one of the vendors. Also, Del, our next door neighbor at the campsite, shared his coffee with us. Thanks Del! He and Evanne brought Tazo and Tuesday, the Dobies, who were extremely entertaining.

Across the racetrack was the Irish Wolfhound dog show, an annual event the same weekend. Here's Del, taking time out to watch the Wolfhounds across the field ~ waaaay out there. You can see them if you embigify the photo & squint.

We did a tiny bit of stash enhancement. Yes, we did.

Crown Mountain Purple Rain
Corriedale Cross, 8 oz
Chinchilla blend

This white below is the same blend as

Mt. Colors Bearfoot

We bought 2.5 lbs

'cause we're going to make us some socks!

A little undyed sock yarn

from Woodland Wool Works

80% Merino, Cashmere 10%, Nylon 10%

378 yards and some from
Great Balls of Fiber

100% Blue Face Leicester Sock yarn 450 yards.

And some fleece.

Yes, we have succumbed to, nay, embraced buying fleece but in all fairness only because we admit to being: A) powerless against fleece since we discovered that we don't have to process it ourselves and 2) cheap and thrifty and 8 pounds of fleece for $25 is VERY thrifty.

Photos of the two thrifty bags full of fleece, one white Rambouillet and one brown Coopworth/Corriedale Cross? No, that would have taken planning and forethought. But here is a little bit of each that we kept back from Superior Carding:

Evanne and Peggy
shopping at the Parking Lot Fleece Sale

Then there was a 3.8 lb rose gray alpaca fleece which we couldn't pass up and we found another, much smaller 1.4 lb rose gray, so similar to the first that we had to get it, too. They need just a little cleaning of veggie matter before we send them to Superior for processing, but we don't mind that part. It's the washing and carding that we object to. Superior is very handy, being in Edmonds, just down the street, practically.

3.8 lb Rose Gray Alpaca fleece

1.4 lb Rose Gray Alpaca fleece

On Sunday we were cruising the main building for vendors we hadn't noticed before and found some cochineal dye and the mordant to enable it:

We had the best time at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival this year. It was the fourth time we've been, our first time camping. Usually we would drive to Canby for the day, packing the van with 2 or 3 other friends, leave at 6am and be back by 6pm. This year was our camping experiment and we will do it again, for sure.

Rock on, dudes

2009-09-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

When my alarm goes off in the morning it's music, usually something so hideously dreadful that I have to immediately turn on the light and turn off the radio, at which point I'm awake enough to turn on the tv for the 4:30a.m. opening weather report on channel 4, 5 or 7. I can't do 13 (Fox, here in Seattle.) I love Walter, the weather guy in the morning on 13 ~ he's adorable and we used the same hair cutter for awhile ~ but Fox is just too 'fair and balanced' for me and I can't stand supporting them by watching anything they offer. It's sad that Walter is working for the Dark Side. Walter! Come back to the light! Arianna Huffington did it (and from a way darker place) and so can you!

This morning, however, I just lay back and let the music take me. It was 7 minutes and 51 seconds of pure, sweet, absolute heaven and I have been rocking out all.damn.day as the song replays in my head.

My friends, I give you the same great version that I heard this morning and the opportunity to get your day started, no matter what time it is right now:

Talk Like a Pirate Day 2009

2009-09-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

All pirates should have this smile.
Arrr*, matey.

*Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. "Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!

Corriedale Roving into Yarn

2009-09-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

I looked for a label or a receipt on this roving but didn't find any, even though I've had it less than a year ~ how hard is it to keep a receipt with the fiber??? Probably bought it for the color as every time I looked at it I thought about recreating it at one of our next dye days, so I put away a bit of the fiber. I'm guessing that it's Corriedale.

Project Notes: August 28th, 2009, begin spinning woolen, trying for a fatter single than my usual. I divided the fiber down the middle and then in half again, spinning two quarters onto each spool and then plying them together. Finished on September 5th, 365 yards in 4.8oz.

One thing I'm learning (which may be obvious to others) is that my finished yarns are lighter than the dyed rovings appear. I've been a little slow in figuring this out. The other thing is how my eye fools me into thinking that one color is dominant ~ in this case the fuchsia. This is not pink. I also thought I would have more light bits.

If all goes well, this will be posted at 9:09am on 090909. hee.

Someone's coming ~ act like a cat.

2009-09-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

A conversation in 'Cat':

The translation:

Sock Summit 2009, part 2

2009-08-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

The mementos:

Our plan for shopping at Sock Summit 2009 was to look for vendors who weren't from around here. This was as easy as finding yarn at a yarn store. We figured we probably wouldn't see them again, being the great world travelers we are ~ neither of us likes to fly (although we will if it's an emergency) and we tend to spend our fiber dollars on fiber, not on getting to the fiber and back, unless we're talking driving to Black Sheep Gathering and Oregon Flock and Fiber and Madrona Fiber Arts and the Knitters Retreat, all within six hours by car. While we shopped the 'Outlanders' (hee hee, Michale, hee) we had to stop by our favorite local yarn shops ~ Toots LeBlanc, Acorn Street, Crown Mountain, Good to be Girl, etc just to say hi and get hugs. We didn't buy locally until we bought sock yarn from Michelle and Carl of Toots when they came to Seattle shortly after SS '09 to be the program at Seattle Knitters Guild, because we didn't get enough at Sock Summit, I guess... Here it is, a three-ply Jacob/Alpaca/Mohair blend, perfection for socks!

And here are the shopping results of our trip to
Sock Summit 2009:

Above is the yarn Peggy and I bought from
Enchanted Knoll Farm in Maine.

She has 3, me 1. Mine is purple.

These two are from Tess' Designer Yarns,
mine on top and Peggy's below.

From there we traveled wildly divergent paths:

Mt Colors Barefoot in Marigold ~ and yes, I know

I can get this locally but I've been looking for a year
and my lys's just don't stock this color,
even though I've asked several of them to bring it in.
I know they can't stock every color in every yarn,
so I took my shot when I had it.

Three Irish Girls McClellen Sock, no color name.
They won 3 of the catagories in the Ravelry Dye contest
for Sock Summit so I had to see their stuff in person
and then I had to buy just one.

Rose Garden from Heritage Hand Dyed.
It was the color, of course.
I think I'm going through a pink phase again.

Peggy was drawn to this deep raisin, aubergine, wine color
from Sanguine Griffin. It's a loosely spun lace weight,
just right for a shawl, she thinks.

From Australia came Ms. Gusset and
all her wonderful Merino Optim Top,
not sock yarn yet but it will be once spun.

One more memento of the three day jaunt to
Sock Summit 2009.
The pin, people, the pin!

Sock Summit 2009, part 1

2009-08-10T05:47:00.001-07:00

We had a great time at Sock Summit 2009.
We ran into so many friends that we are hard pressed
to think of who wasn't there...oh yeah, Ryan.

Here's the Market, which is why we went:

Peggy at Enchanted Knoll Farm. They came to
Portland Or from Portland Maine. cool.

Peggy, Linda K and I sat together while over
900 of us knit at the same time on two straight needles
and set the Guinness World Record for the number
of knitters knitting at the same time. cool.

Speaking of knitting at the same time,
here's a crazy man knitting 7 pairs of socks on one circular needle
which is over 100" long. This is at the Skacel booth.

We met Ellen, of Twinset.
She went to the Ravelry Meetup but we headed home.
Yes, we bought yarn. That's an entry all it's own.

Pink Socks

2009-08-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

Pink socks with beads and a picot cuff ~ how much cuter does it get? Wear these with girly-girl shoes, or different girly-girl shoes, a glittery bracelett and maybe a poodle skirt..

Project notes:

Yarn: Zitron Trekking Sport XXL
Needles: Knitpicks 48" circulars, size 2.25
051009 Started my new socks with sale sock yarn. Love sale sock yarn! It's the usual pattern: 72 stitches, picot cuff w/ #8 seed beads, clear pink ones this time. So cute! This is a new method for me, working both socks at once on one 48" circular from Knit Picks ~ it's my new favorite way to knit socks and my new favorite sock needles!

The heel flap is worked in Eye of the Partridge, which is a first for me but I thought the delicate girlie-girl pink needed a little dressing up from my regular 'sturdy' heel ~ it's not a wear-spot for me anyway. Knitting Eye of the Partridge in pattern does take paying attention to though. I always extend the *slip one, knit one* from the heel to under the heel because that IS my wear-spot.

080409 Finished during the Bluebird Reunion at La Push, WA. We will do an entry on that weekend shortly. These socks are so darn cute!

Tour de Fleece, 2009 the end

2009-07-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

Peggy won!

July 26, 2009 7:16 a.m. - Completed my Tour de Fleece challenge this morning! 3 bobbins-full, 16 ounces. Whew - Yellow Jersey earned just before the official ending of the race at 8:29 a.m. Pacific Time!

The next part of this project is to spin another 16 ounces, this time using plain CVM, and then ply them together.

July 4, 2009 Started the 2009 Tour de Fleece challenge of 16 oz of CVM Angora. By Day 15 I had completed 2/3s of the challenge.

1 lb. of CVM Angora top from Yellow Creek Cottage in Ohio. This one has about 20% Angora in with the CVM, and is a natural grey. It’s more light tan than grey, but that’s OK. It will be fun to spin, and then ply with the CVM.

***

Rebecca did not finish. It became abundantly clear on day 15 that, with only half the project completed and less than half the race remaining, I wasn't going to be able to finish my project. It's all good though. At this point I am more than half way through the 9.4 oz, and it will be done fairly soon. I got to spin every day, I used stash fiber and I like the resulting yarn. Yea for Peggy and all the others who earned the yellow shirt! Congrats everyone!

2009 Tour de Fleece, Day 15 update

2009-07-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

Peggy, two full spools

Peggy, starting the third spool

Rebecca, one spool of 2-ply, about 470 yards
Rebecca, beginning the third spool

Sock Yarn We Dyed

2009-07-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yarn:
KnitPicks Bare 50% Superwash Merino, 25% Superfine Alpaca, 25% Nylon
438 yards, 100 gms Fingering Weight

Rebecca's project:
Jacquard Acid Dyes: #626 Navy Blue and #638 Silver Gray
Daubed on dry yarn with a damp chop stick in some places and increased water level to cover, heated to simmering. Took out when it looked done.

Peggy's project:

Prochem's WashFast Acid Dyes
#304 Cranberry, #306 Turkey Red, #508 Mahogany,
#411 Periwinkle, #119 Sun Yellow
Soaked yarn in water with a little vinegar, spread out as a single layer of yarn, daubed on dry powder w/ damp chopstick at 2" intervals, 6 sections w/ each of the 5 colors, wrapped in saranwrap and set the color with hot water bath for about an hour. (This would also work in a microwave.) Unwrapped and put in hot water with a lot of vinegar so the colors wouldn't migrate.

2009 Tour de Fleece - Day 7 update

2009-07-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Peggy
CVM Angora blend
Day 1

Day 2

Day 7

Rebecca
Yak Merino blend

Day 1

Day 2

Day 7

The Dye Days of Summer

2009-07-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

We had a couple of dye days the last two weekends.
Here are some of the colors we got.

Embe wanted to over-dye a very bright sock yarn.

It toned down quite nicely with a navy blue tint.

Kay's first two attempts at this dye thing went very well!

Pat threw some yarn in the color left from
another project with good results.

Peggy did some test colors on samples of CVM.

Natasha wanted to recreate this:

From this:

and got very close!

The Peggy's were over-dying brown yarns;
the one on the left could have been a bit orangier
but they both look lovely in the sun.

MaryEllin went for raspberry
and Peggy got a blue/pink combo ~ lovely.

ElK was doing some dry dyeing per Sandi:

The gorgeous eggplant result.

and FINALLY, the most amazing of the day,
Elaine and her space dyed project ~

Squirt on the dye:
Wrap both halves:

Microwave it for 3 minutes, let it dry in the sun
and compare with the inspiration:

That's an amazing dye job, Elaine.
Nicely done!

2009 Tour de Fleece - Day 1

2009-07-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Rebecca will spin 9.4oz of 50/50 yak-merino blend from Sarah Anderson of Great Balls of Fiber and hopes to spin it the same as the 4oz 2008 Tour de Fleece batch. This should make enough for a very large circular or square shawl.

Peggy has decided on one pound of CVM/Angora from Yellow Creek Cottage in Ohio. Ultimately this will be plied with one pound of 100% CVM from the same source.

That's the plan. We shall see.

Limbo Gloves

2009-07-02T06:20:00.000-07:00

Project notes:

Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Limbo Superwash, sport weight, 2 skeins, 275 yards total
Needle size: us #3
Pattern: from a class I took at Weaving Works where the instructions are basic and gauge is everything.
Beads: from stash

It was a very fun project and a great use of the Limbo yarn, which had perked in my stash since the mid 90's. And why not put the beaded picot cuff on gloves as well as socks?

I did some wrist shaping:
decreasing two stitches per round 4 times,
3 knit rounds between decreases.

All that's left is the weaving in of ends.

Ok, ends all woven in. Tried on and photos taken.
Shared with friends who also tried them on.
Multiple friends.
Multiple try-on times.

What’s wrong with this picture?

A dropped stitch on the right glove just below the index finger.
ack.

I am NOT frogging to catch up that stitch. I will stop the run with a little strand of yarn and weave in the two ends. feh. Almost perfect gloves. But it’s all good. In 50 years or so no one will remember, right?

New Lazy Kate

2009-06-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

We found our current favorite Kate at Carolina Homespun
while attending Black Sheep Gathering in June 2008.
We didn't travel that far this year but we will visit
OFFF on September 25th, 26th and 27th.

Swallowtail Shawl with Kauni

2009-06-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

*Some of our new posts will be projects finished over the past year.
We'll play catch-up while we put up the new stuff as well.

Peggy's project notes:

Aug 31/08 - I love the Swallowtail using variegated or space-dyed yarn, so I thought I’d try Kauni yarn. This Kauni is mostly bluey tourquoisey teal – very subtle color changes. I washed, dried and rearranged the colors with all the lightest together, medium together and dark teal together.

Sept 18/08 - Knitting done, ends sewn in, blocking in progress.

Sept 19/08 - blocking all done.
The size with extra repeats of the two ‘nupps’ charts is
29” deep by 57” wide.

Get ready, Get set

2009-06-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

Tour de Fleece
July 4th through July 26th, 2009

Now is the perfect time to finish the spinning project
currently on your wheel,
free up those bobbins
and contemplate your

'09 Tour de Fleece challenge.

Last year we both worked with luxury fibers, thinking that it would take quite some time to spin them and spin them well. Nope. Blasted right through and did a darn fine job of it, too, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Peggy's '08 Tour results:
left to right

Cashmere, Pygora, Yak Merino

Rebecca's '08 Tour results:
50/50 Yak Merino from Sarah Anderson on top
Silk Mohair from Velda Mack below

The whole pile:

So. Nice. Wish you could feel them.
These are some very soft, lofty yarns and we love them all.

We haven't knit with any of them yet,
although some swatching was done to test the results.
As I said: nice.

So get on that, ok? July 4th is just two weeks away!

It's a matter of opinion but...

2009-06-13T16:41:00.001-07:00

...we're going with 'ugly.'

We're thinking of a wool-related topic for our next blogger entry.
Stay patient.

OFFF

2008-09-28T17:35:00.001-07:00

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival
Sept 27th, 2008
Canby, Oregon

The Gang: (seated) Elaine, Pat, Peggy (giving Jessica a hug), the other Peggy, Jerri w/ the Hot Lips Strawberry soda and Rebecca took the photo ~ 6 of us in one van, 4 hours down, 4 hours to enjoy the event, 4 hours back, that was the plan. It would have worked too, except for the wreck on the north side of the bridge between Portland and Vancouver, the car fire at the Tacoma dome (northbound lanes) and the need to stop now and then for caffeine and potty breaks.

Peggy found some white Jacob Alpaca DK weight
from Toots LeBlanc & Co

1 Pound of roving (white Targhee-Rambouillet-Merino mix)
from a lovely woman who's name we cannot remember.

and some Lisa Souza Hardtwist Petite sock yarn in 'Emerald City'.

Rebecca went looking for some Dorset fiber but found the
Horned Dorset Ram instead. Handsome fellow.

The young owner wasn't selling the fiber she had on display
but she did offer a little bit of it as a sample,
and took our names for the future.

Because the Dorset was scarce,
Icelandic from DeMoss Mtn Meadow Ranch
seemed a sensible alternative,
some Lisa Souza Hardtwist sock yarn in 'Olive Tones',

and from Great Balls of Fiber (Sarah Anderson)
9oz of Yak Merino (50/50).

Closing with the obligatory lamb photo.
Cute.

Tour de Fleece, Day 23 and The End

2008-07-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

The final day of Le Tour de Fleece found us with a lovely pile of newly spun fiber, a total of 2,037 yards.

Left to right: 198 yard of 100% Cashmere by Peggy, 130 yards of 100% Pygora by Peggy, 624 yards of 50/50 Yak Merino by Peggy, 495 yards of 66.6/33.3 Mohair Silk by Rebecca, 590 yards of 50/50 Yak Merino by Rebecca

Rebecca's pile:

Yak Merino on top

Mohair Silk below

Finished project #2: 50/50 Merino Yak. 3.9oz, 590 yards of 2-ply, 24 wpi. Started spinning on July 7th and finished on July 26th, one day shy of the final day of Le Tour de Fleece ~ yea me, I achieved my Tour goal of spinning every day and I'm extremely happy with the resulting two hanks of lace-weight yarn. Perhaps my goal for next year will be to spin something other than lace-weight.

2-ply on walnut skeiner

2-ply close-up

2-ply on spool w/ penny for scale

Peggy's pile:
Cashmere, Pygora, Yak Merino

Finished Project #3 (2008 Tour de Fleece) on Saturday, July 26th. I ended up with 624 yards of lace weight.

I purposely over-spun and over-plied to get a decent twist remaining in the yarn after washing. You can see how the yarn relaxed in the bathwater (fourth photo) and how kinky it started out (third photo.)

I’m planning to dye the yarn and hopefully, 600+ yards will be enough for a pretty baby blanket.

624 yards of Yak Merino, washed and relaxed

Pre-washed 2-ply on the skeiner, with a penny for scale

Pre-washed hank, over-spun and over-plied

Washing:

Tour de Fleece, Day 15

2008-07-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Peggy's Project #2: 2 oz. of cashmere fiber in stash since January 7, 2006, purchased at the St. Distaff Day spin-in from Roberta Maier of Breezy Meadow Farm. Started spinning on July 6th, and on July 12th, I'd finished plying, washing and drying. Only 198 yards, but out of 2 oz., that's not too bad. I was aiming at Baby weight, but it's almost lace weight.

2 oz Cashmere

Plying

198 yards lace weight

Peggy's Third Project: 8 oz 50/50 Yak Merino blend purchased in 2007 at Black Sheep from Carolina Homespun.

Projected Plan: Spin it 'Baby' weight for sweet little baby project, dyed appropriate color.

Rebecca's continuing Second Project: 4oz 50/50 Yak Merino spun at lace weight. My original plan was to three-ply it for socks but when I two ply it to test the weight as I'm spinning it's just so darn nice that all I can think of is how great it would be as a shawl so I've divided the last third in twos and am going to just fill up the two bobbins and 2-ply it. It'll be fine. And, as Barbara said yesterday while we were all out at Alice Lake's house for Dye Day, "You're going to make socks to put in stinky old shoes out of this????" (made face to go with sentiment). It did seem a crazy idea when put that way...

Tour de Fleece, Day 2

2008-07-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, that wasn't quite the challenge we thought it would be.
Apparently we have learned a lot about spinning in the last year ~
what we thought would take quite a lot of time...didn't.

Peggy:

We took a 'spinning with Pygora' class at Blacksheep in 2007; I bought some of the soft stuff and felt that spinning this fiber to specific 'baby' weight would be a difficult challenge. But no. I was pretty much finished with it by 5 p.m on Day One. It will make a lovely pair of booties and maybe a baby hat. I may dye it first.

Getting started on foam insulation.

Single

130 yards of 2-ply

Rebecca:
Velda Mack (she of the Pinkity Pink Pink fiber Peggy used in her big Faroese Shawl) grabbed me on the way out the 2008 Blacksheep door, to say 'hi' and to show off this wonderful blend of 2/3 mohair and 1/3 silk ~ not exactly my style but after all, it WAS Velda, it was only $3.50/oz and it was a pretty color. $12.00 and 3.6 ounces later, I thought it was a fairly inexpensive way to say goodbye to Blacksheep.

Getting started on foam insulation

2 spools of singles

Done by 4:15p on Day Two
495 yards of 2-ply ~ enough for a little shawl.

'Plan B':

Peggy's cashmere, 2 oz.
Perhaps this will take awhile...

Getting started on a foam core.

Rebecca's 50/50 Yak Merino, 4 0z @ $4.45/oz
Plan: spin it finely enough to 3-ply it for socks.

We will try to update more frequently for the next few weeks than we usually do, because of Le Tour de Fleece. Apparently 'Plan B' just means spinning every day of Le Tour and grabbing the next fiber that catches our eye as soon as we finish one.

Tour de Fleece

2008-07-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

We signed up.

It starts today and goes till the 27th. For details, go here.

Peggy's pygora in grams

Rebecca's mohair silk in ounces

We shall see what happens.

Cables and Checks Vests

2008-06-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Three of them.

Ruby
Classic Elite Provence
knit by Rebecca

Topaz
Classic Elite Provence
Knit by Peggy

Emerald
ONline Clip
Knit by Peggy

Pattern designed by Janet Charbonnier and may still be available at Acorn Street Yarn Shop in Seattle. We knit the Ruby and Topaz vests in the last decade of the last century; Peggy finished the Emerald version in May 2008. This is a timeless vest and a very fun knit.

Pin is designed by Wilma Hoffman. Wilma is a genius at putting together odd and ends of Bakelite and creating beautiful pins and other jewelry.

Angora Silk Mohair

2008-06-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

8oz of Evanne's Angora Silk Mohair blend
(available in many colors)

Singles on the spool

2 ply hanks

Close-up pre-washing

Spinner: Rebecca
Tool: My Betty Roberts double drive Russian Olive Wheel
Project Notes: This fiber was a gift from Evanne on St. Distaff Day 2008, spinning commenced on Feb. 2nd, spinner got distracted by shiny things and spinning was finally completed on June 15th, 2008.
Results: 7.10 oz, 597 yards, 12 wpi, 2-ply. Happy! Thanks Evanne!

Peacock Handspun

2008-06-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

Spun by Peggy: Reflection Farm color #74, Corriedale Cross 13.8 oz

Began: February 3rd, 2008

Finished: May 31st, 2008

2 ply, 1435 yards, 12.5 ounces, lace weight.

Intended project: Peacock Feathers Shawl by Dorothy Siemens

That's a whopper.

2008-05-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

What Burger King shows as their Whopper:

What it really looks like:

The Real Outside.

The Real Inside.

The Real Fries.

It doesn't matter. It's all good. It's the best burger.

Snow Day AGAIN

2008-04-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

It started about 3pm yesterday ~ snow, in April. It usually doesn't snow much in Seattle, maybe once or twice a year, and then not much coverage. This snow season seems to never end. It started early and stayed way past it's welcome. Last Saturday it was 80 degrees in some areas around Puget Sound. Today, one week later, snow. A 50 degree drop? What the...?

By 6:30 pm

Poor spring flowers...

The Hood

The Garden the Next Morning

The tree outside the kitchen window.

That's a lot of snow. Too much. Go away now. Shoo.

Dye Day

2008-03-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

We had another one this last Saturday with the Friday Knitters, plus a couple of Guest Knitters. Eight of us dyed quite a bit of fiber and yarn, some of it is shown below. The weather was cold but it didn't rain, what a bonus for Seattle Dyers in March especially since we were outside on EmBe's patio. We even got a little sun and some of us sat and knit in the patch of sunlight. Our potluck made for a much needed mid-day break, with an outrageous apple crisp for desert from Evanne and wonderful salads from everyone else. Yum.

After lunch Evanne started a big Indigo pot.

Her yarn was periwinkle.
Results of the first dip:

Spin it out.

Squeeze out more.

Evanne and Peggy swoosh it around
to get oxygen into it,
which makes it the true color.

Evanne adds a little of this or that
to make the Indigo more active.

Dipped a second time and squeezed,
jiggled to make it the real color,
slightly darker than the first dip.

Below, Peggy's Merino Top dyed
in the same pot of Indigo.
It's lighter on the inside and should
be a lovely variegated when spun.

Duranee's Lincoln roving from
the Indigo bath.

Reclaimed Lana D'Oro, from a
sweater I frogged.

Resting in the last bit of color
in the cochineal pot.

Rinsed once.

My 33% Merino, 66% Mohair,

handspun 2-ply.

Simmering in Mother MacKenzie's Miracle Dye ~

2 colors we mixed: aubergine and raspberry.

Slightly dry, showing better color.

Dry, it still seems to have that lovely shine.
El K's sprinkle method

with powdered dye.

Peeking under to see what's happening.

Finished and laid out to dry.

Rosy Fingered Dawn

2008-03-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Knitter: Rebecca
Pattern/Fiber: Rosie Fingered Dawn, a shawl kit from Blackberry Ridge; their lace weight wool in six colors.
Details: Knitting began 03-17-2001 and ended 05-06-2001 ~ it was my first massive lace project, inspired by Evelyn Clark who had just knit one for herself and of course I had to do it, too. This shawl was a challenge for me and if I knew then what I now know about lace knitting then I would have gone up a needle size or two for the lace edging. In fact, if I ever run out of things to knit, I may just rip out the current edging and knit on a new one, sideways, so it will stretch better in the blocking.

Blackberry Ridge lace weight wool is a treat to knit with and Hazel Carter writes a classic pattern. The resulting shawl is cozy and warm.

The shawl pin is the design of Beth Richman, who sells her lovely enamel work at street fairs here in the Northwest (Upper Left Coast) and at LaTienda.

Lana D'oro Redo

2008-03-05T07:20:00.000-08:00

The Original Sweater:
Mid-1990's Tunic with open work, boat neck,
crochet picot cuff and collar trim.

Taking it apart.

All the pieces.

What the undone yarn looked like.

Yarn after the first soak and dry.

Yarn after the second soak and dry.

Project: Take apart a sweater that I never wear, rehank the yarn, wash it and waa-la! I recovered about 1200 yards of a 50/50 wool alpaca from Cascade Yarns called Lana D'Oro. This is straight enough to knit with as is or maybe I'll dye it and then knit it. We do have a dye day coming up in March...

Knitting Left to Right

2008-02-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

Don't know about you, but we have a couple of crazy friends who knit left to right instead of right to left and they call it 'normal'. Well, we all know that 'normal' is a relative concept, but in this case they happen to be correct: knitting back the other way is a good way to avoid purling, turning after the short row wrap or knitting right to left, if you happen to be...well...normal. Ok, EmBe, this one's for you! Now, would you show us all how to do a cable that way? And how about knitting into the back of the stitch and purling and...

Two Leaf Lace Shawls

2008-02-14T08:14:00.000-08:00

Today we have some vintage knitting, 'cause sometimes we just run out of current knitting to show you. We'll be doing Vintage occasionally because the original concept for our blog was to have a place to archive our knitting and spinning. Common sense demands that we pull out old projects, take photos and post details so that we can go back through the archives someday and claim to remember knitting that.

By Peggy, in her handspun Corriedale from Grafton Fibers

By Rebecca, in her handspun merino from Ashland Bay

Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Fiber Trends.
We knit these back in 'o6 with some of our first handspun. I can clearly see some serious over-twist and over-plying in my purple yarn while Peggy's is superior in every way ~ she's a natural talent at spinning.

Koigu Gloves

2008-02-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

Working on the ring fingers.

Trying on to check fit.

Not so many ends to weave in...

Preblocking.

Just in time for the rest of Winter:

Knitter: Rebecca

Yarn and Needles: Koigu Sock yarn (KPPPM), 2 sks, #2.0 mm Inox 24" circulars, 2 of 'em.
Pattern: Finding a pattern was problematic. Have you ever noticed how chunky knit gloves look in the pattern photos? I wanted 'refined' gloves, densely knit at a fine gauge and that meant (to me) sock yarn and size 'tiny' needles. There were no patterns with this criteria in our shared library of knitting books, although I came closest with one from VK's little book on mittens and gloves. I just had to revise it from double-points to 2 circulars and I also included the beaded picot cuff, using 32 #8 seed beads per glove. The pattern had a goofy kitchenered end to each finger/thumb which, after working, looked (as I said) goofy, so I changed it to the less obtrusive "break yarn and with a chibi, run yarn through remaining stitches and pull tight; weave in ends." That worked nicely.
Project Notes: Began knitting December 16th, 2007 and finished January 27th, 2008. The Koigu was stash yarn and I used less than two balls, so if you have two balls (which we all know are not enough for socks with a long leg or foot) you can actually knit a pair of gloves with a fairly long arm. On the next pair I will go up one needle size for the fingers/thumb as they are just a tad too tight. The rest is perfect. My first gloves. I like them!

Blue Vest

2008-02-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

Swatching with stash yarn.
The holes are yo/k2tog's which indicate
the needle size I used. I started on a US 5
and decided on the US 7.

10 stitch steek and decreasing for front V-neck.

10 stitch armhole steek and decreases.

The steeks after cutting,
picking up for the button band
and armhole trim and blocking.
Preblocking

Blocking

Buttons
FO

Knitter: Rebecca
Yarn and needles:The yarn is GGH Via Mala from my stash. This was a 4-ply chunky weight yarn calling for size US 10.5 needle. I separated it into 2-ply, which was simple to do as the singles weren't twisted (plied) ~ they were just 4 strands laying next to each other (see photo #3 for a peek at the ball) ~ but it was tedious and so handy to have knitting friends willing to help. I'm not fond of knitting with needles bigger than US 8 and I ended up with about 2,900 yards of yarn I can happily knit on a US 7. For this vest I used a #4.5 Addi Lace 32" circular for a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch. This revised vest pattern only took about 820 yards so I have plenty left for more projects. I can also separate the yarn again, into singles, and have some lovely lace weight for shawls.
Pattern: The Artisan Vest from Green Mountain Spinnery, tweaked. I changed the pattern to be knit in the round with steeks and it worked out well. I also changed the button band and the armhole trim from crocheted to seed stitch, so that they matched the border. I added back-neck shaping and short-row shoulder shaping for the three-needle bind-off.
Project notes: Began knitting on January 11th, 2008 and finished on January 27th. The steeks are knit in seed stitch, which lays so flat that I didn't have to deal with the fabric curling after it was sewn on the machine and then cut. I didn't even need to tack it down. Even though the pattern is a cardigan style and I did put button holes in the band, I ended up sewing the button band closed and so wear it as a pull-over. Next time I'll remember to save myself some time and leave out the button holes. The buttons have little thistles on them and came from my button box where they have languished for years. It's nice to finally use them. The difference in the blues is totally my camera, with and without flash, cloudy days vs bright sunshine, etc. The photo closest to actual yarn color is the close-up of the buttons.

Dancing Leaves Lace Shawl

2008-02-04T09:17:00.000-08:00

Blocking tools: lump of damp shawl,
towels on rug, pins and blocking wires.

Blocked out to about 25"
from collar to cuff.

Close-up with beads

Knitter: Peggy
Yarn and needles: 900 yards of a Rambouillet/Angora blend from pal Evanne; size 5.5 mm circular needle.
Pattern: Evelyn Clark's Dancing Leaves Lace Shawl, available on her website.
Project Notes: Knitting began January 6th, 2008 and finished January 27th. Choosing a pattern fabulous enough to go with this incredible yarn was challenging and then choosing beads to go with the yarn was intense. I ended up with #6 seed beads in 24k gold plate, 366 of them, from Fusion Beads in Seattle. The finished product: so warm, so cozy! The Friday Knitters passed it around at show-n-tell, trying it on as it circled the envious and now everyone wants to knit one. It fit every body type and looked great. Evanne modeled for the FO photos.

Mt. Tango Targhee

2008-01-31T07:10:00.000-08:00

8 oz of Top from MT. Colors

Spun 2-ply

Grafting the 2 ends in the middle
Blocking
Another FO!

Spinner/Knitter: Rebecca

Fiber: Mt. Colors Targhee in the Mountain Tango colorway. Fiber purchased from Woodland Wool Works in June 2006 and spun during 4 days in November, 2006. I came out with about 600 yards of maybe DK weight ~ I forgot to check wpi.
Knitting: Began on December 5th, 2007 and finished December 13th, 2007. The pattern is my own. I took the Lilly of the Valley from Barbara Walker and began two pieces on the same 32" 5mm needle, thus ensuring the two ends have the scallop that I love. I used the bobble only through the first three repeats and then left it out as it uses a lot of yarn and who really likes being slowed down by bobbles anyway? When I was almost out of yarn, I kitchenered my two halves together and waa-la! Wrap!

Snow Day

2008-01-29T07:40:00.000-08:00

January 28th, 2008
Does it get any better than this?
No, not if you're in Seattle.

Wild West Shawl

2008-01-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

Blocking

Closeup of bison and hoofprint

Draped nicely on Evanne

Knitter: Peggy
Fiber and Needle: Paternayan Crewel Wool on size US #6 needle.
Pattern: Wild West Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark, available on her website.
Project Notes: Using SRY* is always smugly satisfying. I had a big cone of the Paternayan which I used to bulk up some Jamiesons Sport Weight Tweed for my Braids Cardigan. I used three #8 seed beads at each point of the cast-off edge. Knitting began sometime in December, it took about three weeks and I finished before the end of 2007. The original version is larger, but this size makes the perfect scarf. I loved this pattern. Each section had a different graph which made it fun and kept my interest. I would definitely recommend the Wild West Lace Shawl pattern to beginning & intermediate lace knitters who like a challenge. Next time I knit it (and it will be soon), I'll use a warm, soft 'hairy' handspun yarn -- maybe some fine wool fiber with alpaca or yak or angora blended in. I have all of those just waiting for my spinning wheel to free itself from the current spinning project.

Note-to-self: Next project with Paternayan Crewel, use a larger needle. Maybe a #8.

*Stash Reduction Yarn

Yarn Search in Progress

2008-01-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

Edited on 021208:

THANKS EVERYONE FOR SEARCHING
YOUR STASHES FOR THIS YARN.
WE FOUND IT ON (WAIT FOR IT...)
EBAY! Michale is extremely happy.
Now she can make a sock monkey sweater of her own.
Top Down, of course.

This falls under that wily category:
"Why didn't I think of this sooner?"

DOH!

See this sweater?
(not the little red monkey suit, the Sock Monkey Sweater!)

See this yarn?
It's Rowan DK Marl ~ Shade 822 Buttermint.
(The lot # doesn't matter as long as it's all one lot.)
I need more. I need 10 skeins more.
Help. Thanks!

This yarn is discontinued, has been for years. If you have some you don't want any longer please let me know. My friend Michale must have a Sock Monkey sweater and I told her I'd do what I can to help her find some yarn like mine. (She's buying, btw.) We've tried the usual searches, including ebay. No luck yet but we have our feelers out! Any leads are appreciated.

Artful Ewe Green Shetland

2008-01-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

Roving and Singles
3 hanks of 2-ply

Spinner: Rebecca
Fiber: 100% Shetland, hand-dyed by and purchased from Heidi Parra of The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble, Washington. Heidi also has a blog, which has wonderful photos of her shop.
Results: Spinning began November 6th, 2007 and ended on November 18th, 2007 with 1600 yards of 18-20 wpi 2-ply. I'm stumped for a project to knit with it because that's a lot of yarn. It is probably the best spinning I've done and I owe it to the fiber, which was wonderful to spin. If you have the chance to get hand-dyed Shetland from Heidi, go for it. You won't be sorry. Hey! She's going to be vending at Madrona again this year! You could get some there, or you could stop in at her shop on the weekends, which is when she's open. Or you could just call her and find out what colors she has right now.

Targhee Drenched in Red

2008-01-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

Targhee fiber ~ some good combed top.
One pound, white This 'domestic' targhee is called
"Mountain Top" and came from here
and is also available locally (Seattle)
at Village Yarn and Tea.

Then dye it.

In the light-to-medium parts the dye diluted
and the really dark bits are deeply saturated color.
I used Jacquard Dye in 4 different reds:
Crimson, Burgundy, Scarlet and Fire Red.

Dabbing the dry dye onto dry fiber with a damp chopstick and then submerging in water and a little vinager and heating, the process is more time consuming than difficult, although it's nice to have a guide the first time through. My guide this trip was Sandi, who is famous around Seattle for her hand dyed/hand spun merino. Sadly, Sandi has no website. Happily, we like it this way because if she did, none of us would get any ~ she wouldn't be able keep up with the demand. Bonus: she's happy to share her knowledge!

Spin
4 spools of singles
Ply
2-ply ~ it looks way pink!
4 Hanks
of
"Stabbed in the Heart Red"

Dyer/Spinner: Rebecca
Project Notes:
We left Seattle on June 21st, 2007 for the annual Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon, which began the next day. I acquired this fiber on June 23rd, 2007, dyed it in November at the Friday Knitters Dye Day, began spinning on November 22nd, 2007 and finished plying on January 1, 2008. Interested to see how far a pound would go, I'm very happy with the pre-washed yardage of 1550 in 4 hanks. It's about 13-15 wpi, 2-ply. It fluffed up with washing, is very sproingy and no doubt has less length now that it's dry ~ I'll have to measure again before a knitting project is chosen.

Snow for Santa

2007-12-25T15:50:00.000-08:00

It hardly ever snows in the Seattle area.
Some years, none at all.
This is a treat.

1:23pm

1:45pm

2:12pm

The little kids must have gone out of their
already over-stimulated minds!
How much better does it get than Santa AND snow?

Top-Down Magic

2007-12-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

The problem with stripes...

The solution: an evening of weaving in ends.
Pre-blocking
Blocking with Fiesta

Knitter: Rebecca

Pattern: Top-Down Sweater, #6 Unpattern by Karen Alfke. I love this pattern. I've made at least five sweaters with it, all different and all of them fit perfectly. The pattern is designed so well that perfect fit is a given. It's all about gauge. Your vision, your yarn, this pattern = the best sweater, ever. Once in a while I teach a class for the Top-Down Sweater using the #6 Unpattern.
Yarn and needles: Jamieson DK in 5 colors, size 4.5 Inox grey circular needles, G crochet hook.
Project Notes: I started this sweater in September, 2004. I cruised through it until I became hopelessly stumped when trying to figure out the hood ~ I'd never knit one before and had all my 'how to' books out, trying several styles, frogging each in turn, putting it away to think about and losing track of it until a couple weeks ago. This time around the hood just about knit itself and wa-laa, a little crochet chain 3 times around, weave in the endless ends, block and done on December 2nd, 2007. Took me three days. If only I'd known how easy a hood really is...

And now for an 'omg moment': I just realized that I did a really good job matching the repeat from the body to the sleeves! I hadn't noticed this until I looked at the photos of the FO hanging in the Rhody. Just-goes-to-showya ~ step back and admire your work now and then: you may see something different and wonderful.

The Magic Bits

(other sweaters from this pattern)

Sock Monkey Sweater
in Rowan DK Marl

Sock Monkey Suit
in Tweed DK
using the same pattern.

Jamieson DK Henley with
vintage buttons, a little pocket
and side-vents

Koigu V-Neck with short sleeves
(7 skeins)

Koigu Crew Neck with long sleeves

Boyds Bear in worsted weight v-neck

Better late than never

2007-12-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

(edited for spelling on 12/17)

Judith MacKenzie was judging fleece at Black Sheep Gathering this year. Sitting in the gallery was like getting a class for free, she was so generous with her comments and knowledge. We spent a total of five hours with her, learning about why one fleece is better than another. She was thrilled with the quality of the fiber this year and mentioned over and over that they were all so clean. She only found need to reject one fleece for dirt and moved several out of certain classes because they were not qualified for that particular class even though they were wonderful. One of those she had a helper put over with the blue ribbon winners as a potential best in show winner.

Here she is unrolling a fleece that she said was perfect.
Unfortunately I didn't write down the fleece type.
It's huge, though, so we know it's not a small breed.

Judith will be teaching at the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat again this February in Tacoma at the Hotel Murano (formerly the Sheraton.) She is also the guest speaker at the Banquet on Saturday evening. Her subject will be tracing the story of the American Bison. Fun and well worth the cost of dinner.

Gansey Socks

2007-12-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

Back interest

Knitter: Peggy
Pattern: Gansey Socks, designed by Beth Brown-Reinsel in 1995
Yarn and Needles: Alice St*rmore Scottish Fleet in pink; #2.5 2-32" Addi Lace
Project Notes: The project served 4 purposes --

1. Something fairly straightforward to work on at the retreat

2. Refreshing my interest in Gansey knitting

3. Using STASH yarn left over from knitting Jade St*rmore's Beadwork sweater (pattern found in Winter 99/00 Interweave Knits) a few years ago (2004?)

4. And in so doing, giving me socks that match a sweater I love to wear.

My Beadwork

Autumn Shawl

2007-11-30T08:45:00.000-08:00

The maple in the front yard is creating
a play pen of leaves for the cats,
Austin and Ferris
(they're bad boys, these cats)
2-ply spun on my Betty Roberts
Russian Olive double drive wheel
A lump of damp shawl

Preblocking

I brought in some leaves to compare.

Stretched on blocking wires.

And done!

Spinner/Knitter: Rebecca

Fiber: about 5.7 oz of Corriedale cross, color #32 lot 2 from Reflection Farm.
Project Notes: The fiber was spun early in 2006, about 830 yards of 2-ply. For the knitting, I used a #5 needle and the 10 stitch lace chart called Horseshoe from one of Barbara Walkers books. I used the chart throughout and included a border of lace with #8 seed beads. I've used Horseshoe Lace before in my Scalloped Lace Wrap, a pattern available at a couple of local yarn stores. The Autumn Shawl knitting began October 14th and was finished October 29th. I am very pleased that the FO reflected so well my original vision for the roving. yea!

Arrow Lace Socks

2007-10-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

The Book:
Socks
from Interweave Press

On the cover: Arrow Lace Socks
The book is still available even though it
was published in 1997. For the spinners amongst us,
each pattern is based on and knit up in handspun but
commercial yarn can be used with good success,
as follows:

Yarn from The Artful Ewe, one of our favorite LYS's. Heidi does a masterful job at her dyeing and the resulting fiber and yarn is fabulous and very economical. This sock yarn is 75% Superwash and 25% nylon. We added a picot top with #8 24k gold plate seed beads. Knit by Rebecca for her buddy Pat B. for the "Friday Knitters 2007 Sock Exchange." (Photos of the results of this event will be posted at the end of the year.)

Sock yarn is 3-ply 100% Blue Faced Leicester from Wool2Dye4. Knit by Rebecca, this yarn was given to me by my buddy Pat B. the day the Friday Knitters got together for dye-day earlier this summer. This creamy yarn turned into a successful purple. Same 24k beads because they were just wonderful on this color.

Sock yarn from The Artful Ewe (in a different red colorway) and these were knit by Peggy with the same24k beads because we love them!

All socks knit between September 7th and October 18th.

Reflection Farm Rovings

2007-10-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

Last April four of us (Linda, Natasha, Rebecca and Peggy)went to Puyallup (pronounced Pew-Al-Up, emphasis on the Al, for those not from around here) to Shepherds Extravaganza in order to over-indulge ourselves with Corriedale Cross roving from Reflection Farm. We posted on this before but we now have photos of colorways from all 4 stashes so we're playing catch-up. There isn't a website for this event but there is a pdf for the 2007 entry form so hopefully they'll have something new for 2008 sometime soon. In any case, we will post the dates for the April 2008 event as soon as we know. There are classes, sheep and other fiber critters to view and a lovely market. It's a small fiber event which is under-advertised but well worth the trip.

Some of these batches have been spun since we acquired them and so we've included photos of the resulting yarn.

But enough talk! Show me the FIBER!

Color #62 with a 2-ply sample

Lovely, but no color number can be found...

Color #1 lot 7

Color #58

A different lot of #58
#58 2-ply hanks from the second lot
Color #83

Color #61 lot 2

Color #78 lot 1

Color #11 lot 7

Color #5 lot 3
Singles of #5 lot 3
2 ply hanks of #5 lot 3
Color #44 lot 6
#44 lot 6
Singles on upper spool
2-ply on lower spool
2-ply hanks of #44 lot 6

Alice, the creative dyer/owner of Reflection Farm, is quite accommodating with individual dying requests, so if you like one of these she may have it on hand or she can recreate it, but keep in mind that dye lots can differ quite a bit. If you want something specific, she'll be happy to try it for you.

Boy Socks

2007-10-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

I told David I'd knit him socks only if he promised to not tell anyone who did it. You know the problem: knit one person some socks and then everybody wants some. He's a very sweet graduate student in the department at the UW where I work, saw me knitting one day and pined for some hand knit socks with "red cuffs, heels and toes and crazy yarn in between." It took quite some time to knit them. Boy Socks go on forever!
Knitter: Peggy
Yarn: Opal in the leg/foot and the red is Fortissima Socka mit Bamboo, both purchased locally at Village Yarn.
Pattern: Basic stockinette with more stitches for The Boy, size 2 needles.
Note to Self: "No more Boy Socks."
Big Doily: It is called 'Willow Basket Lid' and the pattern can be found on page 99 in Traditional Lace Knitting by Furze Hewitt, published in 1997 by Kangaroo Press. This was a gift to me, knit years ago by Rebecca in #5 cotton. I keep it under glass on my end table.

Vintage Tile

2007-10-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

There was a lot of yellow, gold, orange and brown when I moved into this house in the early '80's and that's because it was built in the '70's when those colors were big in clothes, home decor and kitchen-ware. Sadly, I don't do those colors. This entry hall is one of the final 'original features' to be dealt with.

Before, minus baseboards

During

There are approximately 175 big tiles which are 7.5"X3.5"X .25" thick and there are many smaller edge pieces which were cut to fit. These are the survivors of my Special Tile Removal Tools ~ a hammer and a big screwdriver.

Huge Stack of Tiles
and good color match
to the actual color

What, you may ask, am I going to do with these lovely vintage tiles? I am offering them to you, for free. It's this, CraigsList or The Dump, but it seems a shame to throw them into a landfill when so many people do love vintage 1970's stuff. So, if you live in the Greater Seattle Area and have a need for tiles, let me know (twinsspin at yahoo dot com) and we'll figure out a way to get them from me to you! Next stop: CraigsList. After that I will have to seriously consider the dump.

Got wood?

2007-10-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

These trees had to come out because of safety issues, not 'just cuz'. I love trees, and didn't want to spend thousands this way, but these trees (plus some from the green belt which have fallen onto my yard and thankfully not my roof) really need to be removed before they do massive damage. Fear of trees is big in this neighborhood. The winds are strong off Puget Sound, the trees fall often and usually onto something. Winter is coming and it's time to deal, again.

Below, a brief pictorial history of what 5 men with chainsaws and a wood chipper can do in 5 hours.

Two ginormous Douglas Firs

at least 115 feet to 125 feet tall

Close-up view from deck

Two guys with really big...ummm...
chainsaws (yeah, chainsaws) cutting off limbs
as they climb.

I missed seeing the Christmas Tree Top
come off, but this is about 2 hours after
they began.

Big pieces came off fast.

This is the back yard under the trees
before they came down ~
you can see the 2 trunks and how
close they are to the house.
This is the same space after
they came down:

Side yard before,
with Sequoia and a tilting Douglas Fir

Working on the Fir

These two needed to come out ~
the Fir because it was tilting further each year
and the Sequoia because the Fir damaged it.

We have so much wood!

September has come and gone, so cleaning this up now prepares us for the rainy season, and the gray days ahead when it will be too nasty to work outside. If I heated mainly with wood I'd be set for the next year or so, but as it is, I'd be happy to give most of this away to neighbors with stoves and fireplaces. Life is abundant!

Merino on KoolAid

2007-09-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

Spinner/Knitter: Peggy
Fiber: 100% Merino top, some wonderfulness that we talked our buddy Sandi into sharing. We got together with good friends back in March for a pot luck and many hours of dying. We used Mother McKenzies Miracle Dye for some wool and KoolAid for others.
Project notes: Space-dyed with KoolAid and then separated down the middle and spun. The single was chained in order to keep long color runs and BONUS: the socks match so well and it must have been totally great dying/spinning/knitting MoJo! The pattern is just basic stockinette with the picot top.