Madrona Rocks

Ahhhhh, Madrona! A feast of fiber and classes, spinning and friends. What a long weekend! Peggy and I went with Linda K and Sandi on Thursday, not for classes, just for shopping and visiting. We bought stuff. It was all good stuff, too.

From Heidi Parra of Artful Ewe
660 yards of fingering weight
Merino-Bamboo-Nylon

From Crown Mountain
16 ounces of Corriedale Pencil Roving

From Blue Moon
Socks That Rock medium weight
Nodding Violet

and 70% Merino 30% Kid Mohair
in white/gray/black
with pink and blue highlights

We went back on Saturday
for visiting and
The Blogger Lunch!

Left to right: Mossy Cottege ~ Ryan, Rose-Kim Knits ~ Jessica, Weebug Knits ~ Marti, Katie ~ who reads many blogs, Feral Knitter ~ Janine, Yin & Yarn ~ Denise, Spinning My Life Away ~ Vanessa (in from Florida), and standing in the back is Yarn Girls, They Do Get Wooly ~ Rebecca and Peggy.

Thanks to TMK for the photo!

Next year we're hoping to have an actual legitimate blogger meet and greet and will be needing a committee formed to plan the event. Maybe a lunch on Saturday...with signage or name tags...

Artful Ewe

Details

Fiber: Purchased from Artful Ewe in Kingston, WA last November, 2006. 50/50 superwash merino and alpaca, dyed by Heidi Parra with Mother MacKenzie's Miracle Dyes (non-toxic and environmentally friendly and available at Artful Ewe) and bonus: Heidi and Judith MacKenzie will be in Tacoma today and through Sunday for the Madrona Fiber Arts event at the Sheraton. They're sharing a booth in the Market. Come. Get some fiber and some dye!

16 0unces spun between December 15th and January 20th.

3 hanks for a total of 1250 yards at approximately 14 wpi, also known as sport weight. That's enough for a vest! I've never spun enough yarn for a whole vest before...this is cool! Or I could make a really big shawl, 'cause I need another shawl....

Waves in the Square Shawl

Details:

Pattern: Waves in the Square by Sivia Harding

Knitter: Peggy, between November 30th, 2006 and January 16th, 2007.

Yarn: 12 oz hand spun and hand dyed 100% merino yarn from Sandi Soreng.

Comments: I didn't knit the last 40 rows of the pattern because the shawl was big enough by then (pattern called for lace weight and I used sport weight) and I used the lace edging from the Field of Flowers Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark instead of the garter edging as written in this pattern. Including the lace edging kept the delicacy of the shawl going and the garter triangle inside the edging mimics the garter border down the fronts.

Photos taken outside the Snohomish Library in Snohomish, WA on January 20th, 2007 with an Exilim by Casio, a digital camera. It was late in the afternoon on a mostly cloudy day.

Fiber For Socks

8.2 oz of 66%Mohair/34% Merino

Spinning

Spun and plied but not yet washed

The rinse water was about this color
after the fiber was removed.

A 30 minute soak in hot water and Wool Mix*,
a no-rinse wool wash.
It actually is this much whiter.

Details:
Fiber purchased from Sarah Anderson's booth at the St. Distaff Day annual event, in Mountlake Terrace, WA., hosted by Area 2010 of the Northwest Regional Spinners Association on January 6th, 2007.

I spun it at what I hoped was fingering/sock weight and ended up with 18 wpi after washing, which plumped it up somewhat. 8.2 oz turned out to be 7.5 oz spun, a total of 470 yards plus a little sample hank. I finished spinning and washing on January 12th.

I will update later on the dying of this lovely yarn and the knitting of it into what I hope are socks (which is why I bought it) but could be a shawl (because I need another shawl.)

*Wool Mix, formerly available through local yarn stores from Baa Ba Joe. When Joe closed his business the stuff went on sale and Peggy and I bought as much as we could afford. It's a fab wool wash, not only for raw and just-spun fiber but for finished hand knit garments and socks. It's use for felting can't be beat. It's the only thing I've used for years and when my stash runs out I hope there will be another product on the market as good as this one.

s~NOOOOOOOOO~w!

Last night the weather forecast was for a "trace to 4 inches". I think we got that. Enough is enough. It's suppose to snow in the mountains. That's what they're for.

I've said it before: MAKE IT STOP!

Pre-dawn snowfall

Dawn and still snowing

Daylight and barely snowing

10:50 a.m. Snowing AGAIN

11:50 and still it snows

11:50 a.m. Snowing in the back yard

This is Seattle. This is sea level. Stop, already.

January 11, 2007

Daybreak. More snow. Oh yippy.

Pretty, isn't it? Please make it stop!

Another Swallowtail Shawl

Because I must do as Peggy does:

Getting started

Lifeline at point where Lilly of the Valley pattern

would begin if I knit as given in original

Pre-blocked but finished knitting

Blocking close-up of Lilly of the Valley
Blocking on towels

Indoor natural light
Finished and indoor with natural light
Finished and outside in natural cloudy light

Spinner/Knitter: Rebecca
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl, design by Evelyn A. Clark
Source: Interweave Knits, Fall 2006
Fiber: Corriedale X, hand dyed by Baa Bette's Fleece
Source: The Bellwether, purchased March, 2006 at the Whidbey Island Weavers Guild Spin-In
Treatment: Spun in April, 2006 on my Betty Roberts Russian Olive wheel and then I chained the single and ended up with a fingering weight yarn, 667 total yards.
Shawl knitting began on Dec 26th, finished January 7th, 2007
Beads: #6 seed beads from Stash (Yes, I also have a bead stash. Your point?)
Finished measurements: 31" Neck to point, 64" tip to tip (32" each tip to neck)
Changes: I used a size 8 needle. Because I had enough yarn and didn't want a lot left over, plus I like a big shawl, I increased the first pattern by 5 more repeats, a total of 60 added stitches, 30 each side of the center marker. The next 2 patterns are ten stitch repeats and fit right in. The third pattern is a 6 stitch repeat so needed slight modifying at the beginning and end so that the repeats line up as they should ~ no big deal, really.
Notes: You may notice the radically different colors, photo to photo. It was impossible to maintain the actual color of the fiber, but the one that comes closest is the Finished inside with natural light.

It's been a good fiber year

Each year I designate a new page in my day-timer notes section for knitting and spinning projects as I start them in that year. I have been keeping this record in this form since 1999. I begin the new page with all the projects I started in the previous year (or previous to that) but didn't finish. This is the end of 2006 and I will share that unfinished list with you, beginning with the newest UFO's which I will not have time to finish today, December 31st, 2006:

12/26 - Swallowtail Shawl in Corriedale Handspun - Knitting
12/15 - Superwash Merino/Alpaca in rust, gold & navy - Spinning
11/15 - Merino/mohair roving, Dicentra, for socks - Spinning
06/10 - Litla Dimun Shawl in Betty's Handspun - Knitting
11/01/05 - Natural Polworth from Birkund Bros. - Spinning
10/01/05 - 50/50 wool/alpaca - Black - Spinning
09/29/04 - Top Down striped pullover w/ hood - dk wt - Knitting
08/13/04 - Scalloped Wrap for Marcia - K.S. Haze - Knitting
08/2001 - Oregon Shawl in purple D'cer et Soir - Knitting
1997 - Die Tolle Wool/Florica Fair Isle Cardigan - Knitting

Every year, before I add the UFO's to my new list, I review them to determine if I really want to finish them or not. If not, they are either frogged and re-hanked or given to another knitter who wants to finish the project. With the spinning, I will ply what I have and then either give that away or use it as is.

For 2007, these UFO's will not make the cut:

The two '05 spinning projects. I dislike the Polworth - it's got far too much VM for my comfort; the black merino/alpaca is lovely, but Peggy could really use what I haven't spun up, so I'll keep what I have, ply it and make a shawl instead of a sweater. The sweater I was planning would have been far too hot for wearing in Seattle anyway. What was I thinking???

Also not making the cut, the Oregon Shawl in purple silk/wool lace weight from 2001. I finally admit to myself that I don't like the yarn. I have a full bag of it, and must now decide if I want to run it with another yarn and start a new project or release it to the Universe. Not a small amount of swatching will be involved. It will be fun to finally use this yarn, as I love the color.

This leaves me with the fair isle cardigan project from 1997. A short history: I was designing it for the LYS I was working in at the time in order to use two lovely yarns which were moving slowly; I pulled a simple repeat from a vest pattern in an old knitting book from the '80's, used a gray solid and a variegated pink and wa-la, my own cardigan. I had only half of both sleeves to complete plus tacking down the lining for the stand-up collar, button bands and border when word came down that one of the yarns was being discontinued. BUMMER! I totally lost momenum when that happened. I am incapable of frogging it and can't finish. Conundrum.
All other UFO's make the cut for 2007. Congratulations to all of you.

I also keep a page each new year for future projects I really really really want to knit or spin during that year, a 'wish list', so to speak. We've been doing that since 2004, when Peggy and I decided we had been Fritterers. We were frittering away our precious knitting/spinning time on bullshit. Really. Here's the equivalent: instead of reading Daniel Martin by John Fowles, I pick up a Superman comic and am so pleased with the experience ~ it enriched my life and taught me so much...

Historically I haven't completed 100% of any annual 'wish list', although I love having it to refer to, to remind myself to not pick up that comic book. This year I was more successful as there were fewer items on it:

Braids Cardigan for a friend - finished 10/22/06
Knitting for the Folk Sock KAL - 3 pair finished
Knitting for the Evelyn Clark KAL - 2 projects finished, a third begun
Knitting for Dulaan, a local charity - 8 projects ready to be delivered
Using more handspun for knitting

I have a nice list of many completed 2006 items with which I'm very happy but don't need to go into here. It was a satisfying year of knitting and spinning in many ways: I cut back on buying commercial yarn in favor of knitting with my own handspun; I learned a lot about spinning and plying; I got to know some very wonderful women in the intermediate knitting class I teach at a LYS; Peggy and I traveled more this year for fiber events than we've been able to previously; I've put myself out there into more spinning groups, trying to overcome my fear of social situations and a tendency to hole up AND I cleaned up my yarn room.

2006 has been a good fiber year.

Happy New Fiber Year to you all and may your fiber dreams be plentiful.

Spin and knit on!
Hugs,
Rebecca and Peggy

Swallowtail Shawl

Indoor photos:

Blocking and closeups

In natural light and
Outdoor photos.

Spinner/Knitter: Peggy
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl, design by Evelyn A. Clark
Source: Interweave Knits, Fall 2006
Fiber: 50/50 Superwash Merino/Alpaca blend, dyed with Mother MacKenzie's Miracle Dye by Heidi Parra of Artful Ewe.
Source: Artful Ewe, Kingston WA, purchased October 25th, 2006
Treatment: Spun in November, 2006 on a Betty Roberts Chinese Elm wheel and then two-plied.
Shawl knitting began on Dec 5th, finished December 20th, 2006
Beads: copper metal beads and burgundy glass donuts, purchased at BeadWorld, Seattle, WA.

Some Knitting Content

but not so very much. This is Sweety Dahling, our old Budgie, back in 2002, knitting with Peggy. Back then she was still judged to be male, as there was a bit of blue on her cere.

This is Sweety today, showing a bit of her age and enjoying breakfast with the folks. She likes bread, toasted or regular, so we twist-tie it to her perch.

She's about 6 now, and you can see how her cere is pale and a little wrinkled. She's got a bit of arthritis in her left foot and she's not as plump as back in the day, but she's still eager to interact and loves being out to visit.

Plan D:

Email the lovely Lisa at Disentra and beg to buy
any small amount of merino/mohair Gulf
that she happens to have in stock.

Now why didn't I think of that sooner?

Schwing!
5.2 more ounces received in the mail!

Sweeeeeet!

I think it's going to match the first batch just fine!

oh boy oh boy, Socks! Here I come!

After the Deluge

The Flame Ash were lovely in October.

Then came December and The Storm.
They fell like Pick-Up-Stix.

This is one neighborhood, just a few of the many trees that went down in this one neighborhood, just a few of the Flame Ash that went down on this one street. It's a disaster, not just for the trees. Since last Thursday thousands have been without power. Peggy stayed with us since Friday; last time we went to check on her house it was 42 degrees in there. brrrrr.

There are many overcome with carbon monoxide and, sadly, some Darwin Award winners. People tried many ways to keep warm and most of them survived although some houses did not. BBQ's and candles can do a lot of damage. It's a disaster. We're never prepared for this sort of thing, though some manage better than others. On the local TV news there was no word about possible shelters until Sunday, so many people had no idea that help was available, especially those without TV. There was no sign of relief workers going door-to-door to notify people in their dark, frozen homes and apartments that there was a shelter with heat and food and light, mere blocks away.

Granted, this was a Hundred Year Storm ~ but there is a system in place for emergency action and we saw none of it from our local government (although the power companies were out in force and still are.) It was badly handled. The Mayor should resign.

There are still thousands of people without power, 198,000 in King County alone, as of Monday morning, today. Thousands! It's been 4 days.