Wisconsin Sheep and Wool

After a hiatus of many years (weddings and then Covid), we finally returned to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. The weather was beautiful, and the sheep events and markets as we had previously experienced. Since I did not take any classes, we went only for Saturday, and stayed the night at one of our favorite B&B’s, the Hamilton House in Whitewater. Highly recommended.

https://www.bandbhamiltonhouse.com/

We went through the vendors first, and then off to watch some sheep judging competitions

Next was the sheep dog trials. The event we watched was the open event with a lot of young dogs, none finished the course. Next year we need to time it to see the more experienced dogs. I am still amazed at how they are able to train the dogs to move the sheep.

And then it was back to the Market, this time to shop. I must admit that I was disappointed in the dimished quantities of spinning fibers. I was happy to see Handspun by Stefania there. Her booth was much smaller, but still amazing what she does with natural dyes. I did not end up purchasing anything, as I still have some of her fiber in my stash, but here is a little eye candy:

http://www.stefania-spins.com/

There were a lot of booths with kitchen sink dyers. I find that most have limited color theory knowledge and their combinations do not appeal to me. I found a vendor that I have purchased from extensively in the past, and was not wowed by their selection either. So, I purchased very little. This reproduction of a mid-1800’s loom was amazing.

These are the only 2 skeins that I purchased. A beautiful robins egg blue skein from Why Not fibers, near Traverse City, MI. They have been at YarnCo in past years and said that they were excited to be coming back in 2023. I think that this will make a beautiful shawl, my photo does not do the color justice.

All of these yarns are made from fiber that was raised in Michigan or another Great Lake State and then processed at one of our local Mills. These yarns are very special and limited in quantity based on the micro scale production of them. These yarns are a labor of love for us and other small businesses locally.

https://whyknotfibers.com/

The only other yarn that I purchased was this fingering weight Yak yarn from Tibet, from Reywa Fibers. This is destined to be a shawl for me.

Reywa means “hope” in the Tibetan language, and the desire to be a catalyst for hope is what drives our company vision. Our passion is to see Tibetan people benefit directly from the development and sale of the fiber their animals produce, enabling families to live healthy lives, full of hope for the future. With an emphasis on Education, Reywa profits have sponsored several children of Tibetan families. As Reywa grows, our ability to impact Tibetan communities will grow as well.

https://www.reywafibers.com/

And a pair of retractable scissors for me and a book for the grandchildren

We also stopped by a booth that was focusing on sustainable wardrobes and clothing. We purchased this book and magazine.

https://fibershed.org/

Lastly, I purchased a lovely leather bag from Muud. It is a great storage bag, with lot’s of compartments, and the yarn can come out between the 2 zippers. This was my splurge at the Festival. It reminds me of a vintage travel cosmetic bag.

Knitting bags

Sunday was a rainy, dreary day. On our way home, we stopped by Beloit College and were able to tour The Poewerhouse, a repurposed community powerhouse into an amazing student center by Gang Studios.

https://studiogang.com/project/beloit-college-powerhouse

And who can resist a used book store in a college town?

Solidarity

The world events are troubling and I am at a loss as to what to do, other than emailing reps and donating money.

Then I remembered the yarn that I did not know what to do from the Good Vibes Yarn Tour. I had found uses for the previous yarns from that club, and this just sat.

So, I wound this up and searched for a pattern.

A friend had loaned me the Laine 52 Weeks of Shawls book, and I found the pattern Limelight that seemed perfect, and the yardage that I had worked well.

And, so I started knitting. The directions in the book are not well written, they need to identify the repeat area more clearly, and to state how many repeats there are in each section. I misread it at first, and had to tear it out. I did contact the designer, Anna Johanna, and she replied right away.

The colors are working well in this pattern, however I am not happy with the blue yarn, there are many sections where little to no color was applied. I would not purchase this yarn again. Not sure who will receive this yarn, but knitting it is my little prayer for peace with each stitch.

#prayingforUkraine

#sunflowersandsky

#goodvibesyarntour2021

Mindful Mending

A couple of months ago I participated in a mending workshop offered by Maggie Leininger of Considered Cloth at Compound Yellow here in Oak Park.  I was trying to think of what to mend, and then I knew exactly what it had to be, my beloved braided rag rug that I made with my mother when I was about 12 years old.  This rug went with me to college and has travelled about with me.  In recent years, it has been worse for wear, but I kept it nearby knowing that I somehow wanted to repair it.  When I was working on it, and we were all looking at it, I remembered the double-knit fabrics that I had used on the clothes that I sewed for myself.  It is definitely a snapshot of sewing in the 60’s- 70’s.  Working on it was a lot of fun, and Maggie, the group leader gave me some great ideas.  In the areas where the fiber had disintegrated, I wove in new T-shirt strips.  During the couple of hours there, I made great progress, and vow to finish this up over the summer.  I had originally intended to put it on my front enclosed porch, but was convinced not to put it in such a high traffic area (that may have contributed to excessive wear in the past), so it will go in the small guest bedroom that I am planning on redoing into a guest/TV room.

A couple of weeks after that workshop, I was in Boulder with my DIL at the cutest fabric store, Fabricate.  You should visit it if you find yourself in Boulder, CO; the staff is wonderful, and if I lived in the area, I would definitely be taking classes.  They have tons of beautiful Japanese fabrics, and other unique items.  My DIL choose several beautiful fabrics to make clothes for Izumi (and she has already sewed most of them up!).  The Denver/ Boulder area is rife with fabric shops, some more trendy, and some focused on quilt making.  I cannot figure out why the Chicago area does not have a good fabric store selection.

 

 

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While she was looking at fabrics, I chose to mull around the store and see what else was there.  I found this book on mindful mending, Mending Matters.

So, of course I had to get the book, especially after the recent afternoon of mending and discussions about mending and preserving clothing as opposed to throwing them away.  This is precisely what my mother and grandmother always did.  In the book, the author uses a special Japanese cotton thread, and Sashimi needles.  I got a few colors of the thread, and a package of needles, to try out the techniques in the book.

Much of the book focused on mending denim, but there were some really good and inspiring ideas in there.  It is a great read, that I highly recommend.  It takes the repair of clothing to a more artistic level.  My only critique would be that many of the projects are similar and the set-up and techniques were repeated where they did not need to be.

 

 

The author had several references int he book, the most intriguing to me being Tom of Holland and his visible mending.  I am now following his blog, I love how he has painstakingly repaired many otherwise lost or abandoned items.

 

 

And, wouldn’t this retreat in Italy be fascinating to take?!

The Vintage Shetland Project

I have taken to reading my knitting books, and not just looking at the patterns.  Last year, for my birthday we went to Michigan and stayed at the beach.  On the beach I met a young girl who was Lithuanian.  My conversation with her got my husband and I to talking about Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.  At lunch the next day we were sitting talking about the different root languages of each culture and history, when a family sitting next to us asked if were talking about Estonia.  We said yes, and they said that they were Estonian.  In fact, the woman’s father taught Estonian history and culture at Indiana University.  We proceeded to discuss Estonia and their history with them, and she asked how I knew so much about the history of Estonia.  And I said it was through my knitting books!

A recent book purchase is The Vintage Shetland Project.

I absolutely loved this book, I cannot say enough good things about it.  Here is the description from the publishers:

The Vintage Shetland Project, is the culmination of eight years of hard work and personal determination. Inspired by the patterns and colours of Shetland knitting, the fashion historian, author, designer and publisher Susan Crawford began a journey into the rich heritage of Shetland knitwear, and in particular the pieces held in the Shetland Museum archive. With the help of Dr Carol Christiansen, the museum’s curator, Susan undertook the task of carefully selecting the most stunning and original designs from the 1920s to the 1950s, transcribed them stitch by stitch, and has here recreated them for the modern knitter, in stunning detail and a range of sizes for women and men.

In combination with the collection of 27 comprehensive patterns for garments and accessories are carefully researched essays exploring the stories behind each piece and honouring their creators – some famous, some forgotten. Photographed by Susan on the island of Vaila, situated off the west coast of Shetland, this book also celebrates the untameable beauty of Shetland itself. Compiled with Susan’s trademark attention to detail, this book is a fabulous treasury of Shetland knitting design and a valuable insight into its textile traditions. It offers you the chance to delve into a fascinating era for knitwear design and to bring it to life in stitch-perfect vintage style.

The meticulously written patterns showcase Susan’s new yarn range, Fenella, created specifically to enable you, the knitter, to perfectly recreate these unique museum pieces. Made using 100% British wool, grown, spun and dyed in Britain, in a range of 26 colours carefully chosen to emulate the shades found in the original vintage pieces.

The Vintage Shetland Project is a celebration of stunning design, beautiful knitting and the people of Shetland themselves, during a time of local change, international conflict and revolution in the knitting industry.

The essays in the book were fascinating, the history of the men and women who promoted knitting in the Shetland Islands, and the stories of knitwear.  I am in awe of the research and dedication that went in to writing this book.  It read like the great series of short stories that it is.  All manners of knitting are covered, from how a pattern gets it’s name, a knitting suffragette, the rise and fall of popular designs, a female knitting shop keeper, the influence of rayon, a sweater that goes and returns from WWII POW camp, and more.

Then, after one is sad that the narrative of knitting in Shetland is over, come the patterns influenced by the history and stories told.

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Susan has also put together kits for each of the patterns, and choosing is proving difficult.  Each kit comes with Fenella yarn that is British wool and British spun.

Here is  a great review of the yarn, which I have yet to see in person.

This definitely goes down as one of my favorite knitting books.  Buy it before it is out of print!  I got mine at School house Press.

Now to choose my kit to order…

 

Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Revisited

Finally, after a 4 year hiatus, I was able to return with Dan to the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival (why do people always want to get married on this weekend?!).  We drove up and back in one day, something that we are not going to repeat, it is so much more enjoyable to stay overnight and not have the nighttime driving.  It was a long day, but fun.

 

Sheep judging, interesting as always

 

There was a different sheep shearer than we had seen in the past.  Amazing how docile the sheep get when put on their backs.

And we got to see a new sheep breed being introduced to the US, Valais Blackness, a breed from Switzerland.  Look at that fleece!  Apparently it is a coarse wool, I wonder if it is like Churro sheep.  This was the hit of the fair for breeders.  They are so cute also.

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We also watched the sheep dog trials, which is so fascinating.  I am not sure how they train the dogs so well.  My photos were not great of that event.

And then, on to the market.  The first year that I went to this event in 2010, the market overwhelmed me.  I was a brand new spinner, taking my first class up there, and picking up my first wheel, the Ashford traditional.  That didn’t stop me from ogling over other wheels at the fair.  There were several vendors selling wheels, and so many with big bags of beautiful fleece and roving that you could buy in whatever quantity you chose.  By the next year, I had my eye on a Jensen wheel that was on display at the fair, and finally got it that winter,  I still love my Jensen.  The Traditional was sold right after I got the Jensen, and I still have my Ashford Joy for traveling, both great wheels.

The market, while still occupying both of the large barns, was different.  There were the weaving and knitting and dyed fleece, but much less emphasis on spinning and I only saw one vendor with 2 big bags of roving.  That was a bit of a disappointment for me.

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Fiber Optic, my favorite dyer for roving was there, as they have been for the last several years.  I hesitate to admit how much of her roving I have in my stash waiting to be spun up, so I was not looking at that.  However, I have never knit with her sock yarn, and this seemed like a good time to purchase it, especially after my Clown Barf experience.  The owner, Kimber Baldwin, has a degree in Chemistry, and a great sense of color.  Plus, if you don’t like the outcome you can call her and return it!

Their yarn seems to be more popular now than the roving.  One day I will make it down to her shop, which looks amazing.  I purchased yarn for 3 pairs of socks.  the deep red/brown color is what Dan chose for himself.

I have already wound up the multi-color.

My purchases also were for my Ravelry birthday twin, and then a new book for myself:

It is a lovely book, and I looked through it thoroughly.  Happily adding it to my stitch dictionary collection.

 

 

My Prize

A  couple of years ago I entered a few items in the knitting contest at YarnCon, Chicago’s Indy Yarn fair that has been going on for several years now.  My Polar Bear Sweater was the winner of the best knitted sweater, and won the Best in Show also.

I was so excited, and received several nice prizes.

This sweater was knit during the 2008 Ravelympics.  I knit most of it while sitting at the beach at Lake Michigan, and then knit like a fiend when I got home to the neglect of everything else to finish during the summer Olympics – 2 weeks.  I was really proud of the results, and so happy to win something for my knitting efforts.

One of the prizes that I was to win, and receive later was the knitting book Great Northern Knits.

I must admit, I don’t even know what Twin Peaks is, but was happy to win a new book.  Then I mostly forgot about it.  I was surprised a couple of weeks ago when a package came in the mail, and I knew that I had not ordered anything.  So to my surprise, this book was inside.  They hadn’t forgot about me after all this time!

There are some fun patterns in the book, and I will have to delve into it further at some point:

 

But, what caught my attention was this  sweater, knit at a very fine gauge.  Just my type of project.  This is on the to-do list.

Thanks Great Northern Knits!

Knitting Ganseys

If you read my last post, you know that Gansey sweaters originated in Guernsey, and the name was modified.  Years ago, I took the Gansey sweater class from Beth Brown-Reinsel.  We made a small sampler Gansey, that I still have.

This was at Stitches Midwest in 2002.  At the time I purchased her wonderful book, and she signed it for me.  It was a great class, and I have always wanted to make an adult sized Gansey, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

Photos from the original book:

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The book has great History, instructions on how to make the sampler Gansey, and some Gansey sweaters that you can follow the pattern for.  In the intervening years, I have taken at least one more class from Beth on twined knitting.  She is a great teacher. So, when I saw that an updated version of this book was coming out, I was all for it.  This is not the first time that I have purchased a newer version of a book that I already own.  I was not disappointed.

This book is hardcover, the first was a paperback.  This is full color versus B&W.  The photography is beautiful, stunning scenery, and gorgeous knits.  I read this like a novel, something that seems to be more and more common with knitting books.  The history that I have garnered from knitting books is amazing.  This has reignited my interest in making a Gansey sweater.  Of course, I found out that there is still a factory on Guernsey Island that makes sweaters after I got back!  I would highly recommend this book.

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I am still keeping my original copy.  Plus it has a note and signature from Beth!

 

Japanese Knitting

Sometime in the past 3 months, I purchased this book, and had it sitting around. So, when I saw Japanese knitting being offered at Vogue Knitting Live  this year, I was interested in taking the class. It wasn’t until I had signed up, that I realized that the woman who translated this book was the instructor.  This is a gorgeous book, with beautiful patterns in it.

Japanese knitting is easy to learn and follow, as unlike any other country, they have standardized the knitting symbols, so once you know what they mean you are good to go with any book.  Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols is a great book which will teach you the knitting symbols, find it here.

My Saturday morning class was “Tips and Tricks from Japanese Knitting”.    The class moved at a quick pace, and I never lacked for a task to knit.  There was a bit of background, but not as much as I would have liked.  The instructor had lived in Japan, and I felt that there could have been more cultural information shared.  Nevertheless, I knit some swatches, and learned some new techniques.

This little swatch above shows 2 versions of tubular cast on (one I liked, the other I have little use for), button holes in the ribbing (this was a good trick and could come in handy), 3 sizes of bobbles (the little ones are hardly worth doing), and in the center of the swatch are two versions of 3 needle bind-off that lay flatter than the traditional way that we are used to.

Next we learned a decorative 3-needle bind off that reminded me of the Estonian braids.

This class, while not the most engaging teacher, was worth the time and effort for techniques that she had gleaned from Japanese pattern books.

In the afternoon, the class was making the fingerless mitts that are featured in the book.

First off, the instructor asked that people bring 200 grams of DK weight yarn.  Okay with that, but the yardage was too much.  Then she asked for needle sizes 6 and 8 dpns.  I opted to bring along more, the smallest I had being size 3.  There was really little new material taught in this class, I could have easily just read the book.   It was mainly knitting on our own, with a lot of quiet time (uncomfortable and boring).  I would have appreciated that knitting time having some background on knitting in Japan and a slideshow of shops, knitted items, etc.  Several people left early, as they had not brought along the correct needle sizes (they followed the class instructions), and their mitts were way too big.  I continued to knit mine, all the time feeling that they too were too big.

Finally, I too left early, there was really nothing to get from the class, and I knew at that point that I was going to rip them out and start over.

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The color of the yarn is very pretty, and I like the motifs.  I will rip these back, and knit with a size 2 or 2 1/2.  I think that I will scrutinize class descriptions more carefully in the future.

Good information from the class was that there are a few more Japanese books being translated this year.  I have some pattern books, but they are all in Japanese.

To come in 2018:

And, if you really like Japanese knit designers, here is a list that was shared to look up on Ravelry.  The Japanese have such a talent for putting detail and thought into everything that they do form knitting to quilting to cuisine to architecture.  I am always inspired.

 

 

Vogue Knitting is Back!

After a hiatus of 3 years, Vogue Knitting decided to return to Chicago, at least for this year.  I had taken some really great classes there in the past, and finally decided about a week ago to take the plunge and try a couple of the classes.  It is much smaller than it had been in previous years, was put together on a short notice.  Nonetheless, we were happy to have this event back in town.  It was at the Chicago Hilton on Michigan Avenue, so not as convenient as the Palmer House for transit.

This event occurred at a particularly busy time of year for me; school is busy, taking classes, One Earth Film Festival, and preparing for a trip over Spring Break.  Nonetheless I finally broke down about a week ago and opted to take 2 classes on Saturday (more about that tomorrow).

Friends Barb and Pam from Stitch ’n Bitch went with me for the morning, they just had morning classes, and we went shopping together at lunchtime.  I was very restrained.  The first thing that I purchased was discounted books from Vogue Knitting.

The tuck knitting is a new technique to me, and I thought it was worth a try.

And, with a little Granddaughter to knit for, of course I had to get the Doll clothes patterns.  I have 2 of her earlier books, and had knit things for my niece from them.  I love the fantasy aspect of these, and strong girls.

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A knitting coloring book on sale also seemed like a great option. Good thing to put my Prismacolors to use with.

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For the rest of the market, I was not overwhelmed.  We circled around once, and I purchased this neat cloth box holder.  I think that I would like more of these.  I envision this sitting on my organized counter in my knitting room.  Hopefully the organized thing will happen soon!

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The first pass around, all 3 of us were impressed with a fair trade booth that had fair trade yarn, Merino grown from their own sheep and natural dyes from the area were used.  The yarn is made in Rwanda, and is a women’s collective that helps those who suffered under the genocide, and pays a living wage.  On display was a cool double knit cowl that so impressed us, that we all bought the kit with the pattern, yarn, and a fun bag.  The yarn is all organic, and so incredibly soft to the touch.  This will make a beautiful cowl.

And, as I was checking out, a person was looking at this beautiful lambskin leather bag.  When they opted to not get it, I snagged it up.  This will become my good purse when I want to take along my knitting.  It is so soft.

The interior has hand stamped fabric.  Made in Ethiopia.

I am hoping that Vogue decides to make this an annual event in Chicago again.  It gives opportunity to take classes that would otherwise not be easily available.  Plus another knitting time to hang out with friends.

YarnCon is next month!

Selbuvotter

The second of my 3 book reviews, it will be a fairly short written piece.  This is a very comprehensive book on the art of Selbuvotter mittens, over 300 pages of history, charts, graphs and photographs. The only unfortunate part is that it is written in Norwegian, with no English translation, so the history component is lost on me.  However, the charts for knitting speak a Universal Language, and I will just let some of the photos speak for themselves.

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The book is a bit hard to come by, I purchased mine at Schoolhouse Press.   This link has some great examples of pages from the book also.

I love the fact that the traditional mittens are all in B&W.  The book shows inspiration from snowflakes to horns to flowers and how they were interpreted.  It would be nice if the book were printed in English one day, I think that the audience would increase greatly.  The beauty of knitting though is, a chart is universal.

Again, printed in Norway, with a ribbon bookmark attached.  Definitely a great library resource.