All done but the buttons

I have finally finished my first handspun and hand knit sweater using Woolgatherings fiber.  The process from fiber to sweater was fun.  I first spun the variegated as a 3ply,

Then I ordered and spun 2 plys of eggplant and one of rust as my semi-solid contrast. My problem here was that my spinning was not as fine with the semi-solid as it was with the variegated. After that, and a couple of false starts with patterns, my friend Jane suggested the February Ladies Sweater.  It was the perfect match.  I was able to most of my semi-solid to maximize the length.

Then I needed to choose buttons.  These were the 2 choices that I had on hand.

Even though there is no green in the fabric, I think that it made the best option, pulling out the other colors.

Problem is that the buttons are a bit too heavy for the drape of the sweater.  I will be on the lookout for something similar though.  The 3/4 length sleeve is just right.  If I were to restart this sweater I would have fractally spun the variegated so has not to have the long concentrations of pooling.  That said, I do love the colors, and the fibers were a dream to spin.

 

Prepping my first fiber

It is not that I do not have enough yarn, or already prepared fiber.  3 years ago, I went to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Festival, and I stayed overnight in Grayslake, with the intention of visiting Gretta’s Goats at Prairie Crossing, where they part of an incubator farm at the time.  They have since purchased a new farm, a couple of hours west of here, with a lot more goats too.  While getting the tour of the goats, Gretta had this fiber for sale, 1st lamp clipping from Violet, a Pygora (Pygme/Angora cross breed) who produced the wonderfully soft fiber that I will process and spin (hopefully)..  I purchased it, and it has been sitting in a bag ever since.

Last year I took a spinning class from Deb Robson in Wisconsin, and she gave us this scouring and wool wash.  I have been keeping it until I could put it to good use.

So, I know that I most likely did many things wrong thus far.  I did have the fiber pulled away from the running water, but now know that I should have had multiple bins of water and transferred the fiber over.  The scouring soap worked well, getting out a ton of dirt.  There is still some VM in there, but carding will hopefully take care of that.

When I set it outside to dry, I was afraid that I had totally ruined it, seemed felted.   I tried pulling the fiber masses out.  We left for dinner, and I woke up this morning thinking that this was an expensive mistake.

However, it is a gorgeous day, probably the last really warm day of this year.  The sun and air are drying it nicely and it seems to be fluffing up.

My drying rack is my sweater screen suspended between 2 outdoor chairs.  If I do pursue this again, something more suited would be good.  PVC rack perhaps?  I do have my Mom’s old PVC quilting frame in the attic, that just might work…

I also need to make a plug for Gretta’s Soaps.  I absolutely love them, and often gift them to others.  Give them a try, check out her Etsy shop.

 

Back to Spinning

It seems as if I have taken a summer hiatus from spinning.  I think being gone a lot, coupled with the really amazing weather where I would rather be outside, kept me away from my wheels.

I finally finished plying up this fiber from Julie Spins.  I initially started the spinning mid-March, and am just now finishing. I had put this on my Spin-the-Bin challenge.  Not sure that I will finish everything, but I am making progress.

 

I ended up with 534 yards of 2 ply from a 5-6 ounce braid.  During the plying process, I was afraid that it was all going to be muted blues.  But when skeined up, it took on these beautiful subtle colors.

 

 

 

 

And I finished spinning AND plying this Merino/Bamboo/Nylon from River’s Edge Fiber Arts, it is so incredibly soft.  198 yards of 2 ply. This was purchased 3 years ago at the Wisconsin Sheep & wool Festival, about time it was spun up.

This yarn is to coordinate with Baby Ria’s sweater.  The plan is to put the iCord edging on with this pink.  I thought that using the variegated from the body would not look as good.  And, I should have enough to make a cute matching hat.  The sweater had been on hold until I finished spinning this edging yarn.  Need to get it out before she grows too much more, we measured her late July.

 

3rd Fiber Weekend

First there was YarnCon, then Lorna’s Laces sale, and this past weekend was The Fiber Event at Greencastle, the kick-off to the county fiber fairs in the area.  Located just west of Indianapolis, it is an easy drive down and back in a day.

2012 was my first trip to Greencastle, and I loved it.  Andi went with me, we had a great drive, talked, and shopped, and found GeeGee.  My impetus at that time was to find the Fiber Optic booth and see all of her wares firsthand for the first time.

A torrential rain the night before we were to leave last year made getting out-of-town nearly impossible.  So, this year I was even more determined to go, and really wanted a knitting buddy.  My husband would have gladly loved the trip, but he does better when there is also a livestock display involved.  Lynette agreed to go with me, and we got a rental car early and drove off to get there in the morning for best selection.

First on the list was to make a beeline to GeeGee and score some of her aprons while the selection was still good.  I could have left with many more… I chose this lovely apron, from the early 1950’s for me.

I really love the pocket that goes all the way through both sides.  I think it will be great to toodle around the house in and have things (think knitting) close at hand.

Here is Lynette purchasing from GeeGee, we made quite the dent in her booth.  I absolutely love her aprons, and she has such a great sense of color.  75 years old, and full of life and optimism, a great inspiration.

 

Then it was off to take a first pass at all of the vendors and see what caught our eye. There were a lot of Alpaca vendors this year, many more than I remember 2 years ago.  We saw someone from the Champaign-Urbana fiber guild demonstrating a Chakra, that was really interesting.

I knew that I would be returning to Fiber Optic, just what to buy this year? A gradient of course!  My 2 favorite colors together, green and purple.  This is a definite Frances shawl! Lynette is trying the paintbox gradients, it will be fun to see how they knit up.

I have always wanted to knit the Sheep heid tam, so found the pattern and knew that I needed to get that.

Then, it just so happens that we passed by a Shepherd who had many colors of Shetland sheep, perfect symbiosis.  I scored these 7 colors, couldn’t be better than handspun for this project!

And keeping with the Shetland theme, I purchased a beautiful book, that deserves its own post tomorrow.

 

 

Soft to the Hand

I recently finished the second of my 12 items for the Spin the Bin Challenge.  This was a fiber from River’s Edge Fiber Arts, called Monkey.  Silk, bamboo and Merino.

It was a dream to spin, but the fiber was so silky that it was not a fine spin.  Thinking that this would feel so good on my hands, I chose to make a 3ply yarn for some future mittens.  Yardage was not as good as I would have liked, 160 yards of 3 ply, 4 oz.

On the knitting front, I am currently finishing up some CookieA socks from my last club shipment last winter.  The yarn is Tanis, made in Canada. 70% super wash merino, 20% cashmere and 10% nylon.  Look at their website, the colors are amazing (my color is off in this photo, it is really a lovely soft green, color Julep, which describes it well). This yarn, called the “Purple Label Cashmere Sock” is a dream to knit with, I have another skein in my stash that was from my birthday Twin that I now can’t wait to pull out.  Not sure how easy this yarn is to get in the US, that was the great thing about the past 2 sock clubs, was finding and trying yarns that I would not have necessarily found on my own.   Even though I have size 9 feet, I am knitting the size small in Cookie’s pattern.  When I took classes from Cookie, I realized that she knits so incredibly tight that my gauge is never the same as hers.  Not sure yet if these are for me or a gift…

Spunky

  This fiber was from Spunky Electric, a part of the CTA spin-along on Ravelry this past spring.  Unfortunately, I did not finish this during the designated timeframe, but it was part of my recent bobbin clearing mania, and I am slowly catching up.  The inspiration was a glacier photo, and this really captured the nuances of the colors well.

The fiber is Falkland, this is the first time that I have spun this fiber and did not really know what it was.

The term, Falkland wool, refers to wool grown only on the Falkland Islands and not in any other location. The wool clip from these islands is a very good white and is grown from Merino and Polwarth breeds. The majority of the wool produced emanates from the Polwarth.  

Fineness ranges from 18/19microns to 32/33microns with the bulk of the wool being in the 27- 30microns category. The length is 80-100mm with the fleece showing good bulkiness and soft handle. In some ways, and for certain applications, it can be considered better than Australian grown wool, especially for knitting yarn, where good bulk is required.

• Excerpted from World of Wool

It is very soft, and really puffed up a lot when I washed and fulled it.  It is already being knit up into a special surprise…

Sheep and Wool Classes

My husband and I both took all day classes at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival last Friday.  Both of us enjoy going to the wool festivals, and finding him classes helps to keep up his interests (he neither knits or spins, nor does he wish to learn), I love his company on these outings.

The class that I took was An Introduction Rare Wools with Deb Robson.  Fabulous class.  I could give long accolades about her preparation, knowledge of the subject of sheep, wool and spinning, and how absolutely nice she is.  Great teacher, take any class that you can from her.

Deb gave out cards that were used to make notes on the various breeds that we were spinning, and to attach samples.  Each breed was discussed with history, peculiarities about the wool, and instruction on how to prepare the fleece for spinning.  We flicked some locks apart and spun them, carded some, and used a comb for others.

The fiber samples were from Soay, Black Welsh Mountain, Cotswold, Lincoln Longwool, Wensleydale, Navajo-Churro, Karakul, Santa Cruz, Romeldale/CMV and Gulf Coast Native.  All of these sheep (and many more) are on the rare or endangered list for either The Livestock Conservancy (US) or the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (UK) for 2013.  Some of these I have spun already, most were new to me.  The variety of texture, length, color, luster, softness, is amazing.  My favorite was the CMV.  Wool is not just wool!!!

The large Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook I already owned, and was the reason that I knew that I wanted to take this class.  Hot off the presses was the Field Guide to Fleeces, which was the 4th thing that I picked up at the market.  Here is the review from Goodreads for this new compact book, which will have a place in the pocket of my knitting and spinning bags when I am out:

“With this compact, portable reference in hand, crafters can quickly and easily look up any of 100 sheep breeds, the characteristics of their fleece, and the kinds of projects for which their fleece is best suited. Each breed profile includes a photo of the animal and information about its origin and conservation status, as well as the weight, staple length, fiber diameter, and natural colors of its fleece. This is a great primer for beginners, and a handy guide for anyone who loves working with fleece!”

I have to also make a plug for the Dreaming of Shetland Project.  Several designers donated patterns to comprise an eBook, with the proceeds being given to Deb to allow her to spend the next year researching and delving into Shetland Sheep and their wool.  Approximately 40 patterns accompany this eBook, from all the great names in knitting and spinning.  The cost?  Just $20, what a great deal, it is in 7 sections, the first 2 have already been released.  I had only heard of this the day prior to taking this class.  Purchased this, worth the money many times over, and supports a great cause!!

“Shetlands connect to the earliest sheep, and they demonstrate what happens when humans influence a breed to fit alternate environments and to respond to economic pressures.”

–Deborah Robson

• And while I was taking this class, Dan was taking a class on making whisk brooms.  I am so tickled by the results that he achieved.  A favorite of both of us is the broom on the right, a “Turkey Tail”.  The small bound item on the left is a pot scrubber.

Wisconsin, Again!

This past weekend, I went with my husband to Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival, and to tour around the area.  We stayed in Whitewater at one of our favorite B&B’s,  The Hamilton House.  Dinner every night was at another favorite restaurant featuring organic and Wisconsin local foods, The Black Sheep.  We had a very fun-filled weekend, and packed a lot into it.

Day 1, Friday, we got up very early and drove straight to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival.  We both took an all day class, I will show photos of that tomorrow.  I did a bit of shopping at lunchtime, heading first to Jennie the Potter to get myself another of my favorite mug (matches the design of last year, but different colored yarn and sheep):

My second Jennie the Potter purchase was a yarn bowl. Most of my yarn is wound into a cake, and this would not be necessary, but for the occasional ball of yarn, I wanted this bowl with the cute cow with a knitted scarf.

Cleaning out and sorting through stash prior to attending a fiber festival is highly recommended.  Looking at all of the yarn and fiber that I currently own greatly tempered my purchasing at the vendors halls.  I did have to go and see Carol from Rivers Edge Fiber Arts, she always remembers my sister Marilyn, and wrote a very nice note in my mother’s obituary this summer.  From her I got this beautiful roving, 70% Merino, 30% Silk.  It will make a gorgeous shawl when spun and knitted up.

Day 2, Saturday, was very busy.  We first drove into Madison to attend the famous Farmer’s Market.  We parked in the midst of the registration for the Ironman competition at the Monona Terrace Convention center.  Needless to say, we felt out-of-place, so quickly hurried up to the market.  The colors and variety were amazing.  Currently I am taking a digital photography class to learn how to use my new camera.  This was a great area for exploring subjects.

Our favorite were the Hmong vendors who had very interesting and different vegetables for sale.  We purchased these tiny potatoes, Japanese eggplant, Thai eggplant (round green ones), and purple carrots.  I never knew that all carrots were purple 100’s of years ago.  We are very anxious to try cooking these up this week.

Got some popcorn…

And some great local cheeses that we ate that night. Next we headed off to see some Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan buildings.

 

And in the afternoon we visited the Aztalan mounds.  They were filming a bit for The History Channel, and invited us to watch the end of the filming.  Got to talk with the former head Archeologist for the state, and learned a lot about these mounds in particular.  Dan had recently finished reading a book on Cahokia mounds, so was keenly interested.

Back to the B&B, dinner and retiring early.

Day 3.  We went to one of our favorite place, Old World Wisconsin, a historic site representing the ethnic groups that settled parts of Wisconsin, showing the farms and a typical village from the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s.  While we were on the trolley to the first stop, our driver mentioned that there were 32 different kinds of fencing.   We searched out and I tried to photograph as many as possible, I will leave you with a few examples.

All the Colors

Finally, here are my purchases from our day last Friday at the Michigan Fiber Festival.  But I must interject that the name is confusing to those non knitters and spinners.  My friends had more than one person ask them if it was about eating fiber, and why would there be a festival for that?!!

Taking the Spinning the colors of Shetland class, while it was not too interesting, inspired me to spin up the many colors and knit the hat by Kate Davies, Sheep Heid.

With that in mind, I bought these 3 colors of Shetland wool, after I got home and read the pattern, I realize that it wants 9 of the colors, so I will have to do some more shopping at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool.  I have these 3 so far, and might use one of my other breeds of white as one of the colors.  This will be my first attempt at spinning for a specific project.  Fair isle apparently looks better with a 3-ply vs. a 2-ply (has to do with a round yarn versus the flatter 2-ply), but I will have to see how finely I can spin this up.

Not just natural colors were on my mind.  Mimi and I both were attracted to having this Jamieson’s color chart, so we are now both proud owners of this wonderful inspiration. One day, when I have knit up some more of my stash, I will make a trip and purchase a multitude of colors for an Alice Starmore sweater.

The last item that I have to show you was the one thing that I wanted to take away from this festival, The Shepard’s Rug book.

In trolling the market, I was on the lookout for this book, but not successful.  Then, we went out to the barn to see some of the animals, and  in the sheep area, there was Letty Klein with her rugs, and braiding away!!! I was thrilled, and she sold me the book, the coated linen thread, and then gave me a mini lesson on how to braid for these rugs.  I have been pouring over the book since.

All-in-all, a great time, and I have no guilt about stash enhancement.

Cleaning up

I have been busy cleaning up bobbins of old projects on my spinning wheels.  It seems that I have been a bit ADD with my spinning, starting the newest exciting colors before finishing something that was already in progress.  There always seems to be an excuse, a spin-along, Tour de Fleece, new arrivals…

This is Emily, a pencil roving from Fiber Optic, 70% Superwash Merino, 30% Seacell; 340 yards, so good enough for a short pair of socks for myself.  The Tour de Fleece prompted me to finish spinning this up and ply it.

Leftover Emily with some leftover purple/green fiber on the bobbin.

This was spun for the Tour de Fleece, Fiber Optic gradient Honey to Fig.  It is 80% Merino, 20% silk.  1150 yards of 2ply.  My average these days for 2 braids of FO is around 1200 yards, that gives a good amount for a shawl.

And I finished spinning the singles of this Shetland from Southern Cross Fiber, the color was a custom for the CAT spin-along in the winter, and I started it but too many other things got in the way.  The color is Storm’s Edge, 8 ounces.  This Shetland did not spin as finely at the Merino/Silk blends, and I know that it is uneven, need to start plying.

On the knitting front, I have been working on a new baby sweater, Baby Ull from Dale of Norway of course.  Love these colors together.

The thing that has been taking quite a bit of my time is organizing the basement after some new cabinetry is getting installed.  Here is a sneak peek, it is really messy still and a bit to go, but I am so excited!