This week I made quite a bit of progress on my granny stripe stranded vest-
I’ve finished the neck shaping, and am only about an inch away from the top. Just need to decide if I want short rows to angle the shoulders a smidge. Then I’ll do a quick wash and block, and it’ll be steeking time!
I’m planning a double knit button band, and have tentatively settled on a creamy white for that. Need to do a little practicing on the technique to refresh my memory, tho.
In other news, I’m pleased to report that Mighty Red has found a new home
(disassembled you can see how many threaded parts she has. cool, eh?)
I just handed her off this afternoon, and wish her many years of happy spinning.
And I’ll leave you with a short clip of the sheeps out in the pasture earlier today. Beautiful weather for October!
This week I’ve been spinning that fiber I picked up in Port Angeles and getting to know my new wheel, who has identified herself as Marjorie.
She’s a smooth and easy spinner. The only little things I might need to attend to are her two missing flyer hooks, and the front flyer bearing, which is a double thickness of leather that has come apart. I’m finding that if I place the orifice through both layers, it binds a bit, so I might just trim back forward-most piece and just operate with the one thickness, which seems to provide plenty of support on it’s own.
I also finished my little sheep puppet- but a different one than I cast on a coupe weeks ago! The white and taupe one is on hold, because I rethought the project and cast on again in shades of brown-
He’s about 99% done- but I still want to do a little embroidery to define his nose and give him a little smile. Such a cutie- I’m unofficially calling him Chip. My tiny chocolately lamb.
Out in the garden, the rye is coming along nicely, about 4inches tall now
and I came across this cool praying mantis in the hoophouse this morning while I was weeding and doing some fall cleanup-
It looks like she is getting ready to unload a bunch of eggs- so I hope she found a good spot. Would be super cool to have more of them in next year’s garden.
Just got back from the Olympic peninsula this afternoon. A couple friends and I had trekked out to Port Angeles to attend the PNW Fiber Expo.
It’s not a big event, but really nice, with local farms and fiber processors. I picked up a couple nice fibery things- one to spin (cross breed wool from Dine ranchers in New Mexico, processed near Discovery Bay) and one to knit ( a bright and happy skein of sock yarn).
But you’re probably wondering, what is the “C” about.
The other thing that I acquired over the weekend.
So, in addition to a C, give me a “P”! and a “W”!
Isn’t she a beauty?
Tilt tension Canadian Production Wheel. iron treadle, no maker’s mark. 30″ drivewheel. 18:1 ratio
My friend transported her from Woodinville out to Port Angeles where I took custody of her.
I got a little spinning time on her while we were on location, and she’s so smooth and fast. A real workhorse. Still thinking on a name for her, but I think she’s going to fit in with the herd very nicely.
Our haul is mostly King and Mutsu apples, and is way more than we are able to process ourselves. The Man turns some into applesauce, which gets frozen or canned, and dried apple chips, that we gobble up as snacks. The rest goes to friends who turn them into very tasty hard cider. So glad that they are put to use!
Was out back checking on the quince, and noticed that the two enormous fruits on the tree were both compromised, so went ahead and picked them (wine bottle provided for scale)
and the fatal flaws
These guys got composted, but there are about 10-12 more that hopefully will get turned into jam or membrillo later on this fall.
In wool news, despite already having two sweaters in progress, I cast on another project-
Revisiting one of my favorite patterns- Estonian Sheep Puppet . I’ve knitted at least 4 of these, but it’s been a while, so I’m really glad I thought to make myself a cheat sheet for the head shaping the last time.
This one will be a baby gift, so has kind of jumped the line in terms of knitting queue, but shouldn’t take too long to turn out. I just love these little guys. 🙂
And, I’m pleased to report that my rye growing project is underway! The Man rototilled and amended the plot last weekend,
and today I sowed the grain (which is now tucked in safely under floating row cover fabric so that our friendly neighborhood birds don’t eat it all before it has a chance to germinate).
The variety is Sangaste, which apparently is the oldest cultivated rye variety in the world. Developed in Estonia in the 1800’s. Many thanks to Kim at the WSU BreadLab for the seed to make my little trial possible!
