Author: denisemor

Here’s a thing I’ve been playing around with recently- knitting with unspun wool.

On the first attempt, I just stripped down batts as I went, which resulted in having to a lot of joins- not a big deal, but kind of slows the knitting progress. In an effort to make the actual hatmaking more efficient, I decided to use a diz to pull out a fairly consistent thickness of roving from each batt

It took a little while to get a feel for it, but then it worked out pretty well!

The roving is very satisfying to knit with, making huge, squishy stitches on size 13 needles.

For these hats I cast on 35 and 36 stitches. Talk about a quick knit!

Here they are a little closer so you can see more of the texture.

Fun to make, and amazingly warm.

I used a Figure 8 type cast on, like you might use for toe-up socks, but with two different circular needles. Then knit the hat upward from one set of the stitches, while leaving the bottom half of the stitches hanging out on the second circular needle.

Once the hat is knit, come back to those live stiches around the edge and either knit a couple rows if you think that you need a little more depth, or just cast off the stitches for the brim, and poof! you have a hat.

Here’s to the sheeps that make all this woolwork possible. I thought this was a cute shot of them all hanging around the shed hoping for some alfalfa treats this afternoon.

Have a great (if distant) Thanksgiving everyone 🙂

yeah, I was originally going to blog today.

It’s not that there is nothing going on. This week we’ve had a few blog-worthy fiascos arise (storm-wracked chicken condo, rotting dead rat under chest freezer in the shop) and also some fibery triumphs (16 pounds of carded wool! an unspun superchunky hat! )

But there are no pictures. And it is late. So you’ll have to take my word for it.

At least until next week.

Take care folks. 😉

Quite possibly the longest week ever.

And while I’m relieved by the result, it’s left me rather exhausted, so I’ll keep this short.

Woolwork for the week includes Felix Spring 2020 rolags

And also a bit of a test spin from a drum carded batt. It’s not terribly even, but I love it anyway. So soft and pristinely white. The rolags should yield a more even result. I find that Felix’s fleece, being a lot finer than my other wools, requires a bit more careful prep.

Also picked and carded the last of Daphne’s Spring 2020 fleece (her first shearing) , about 14 oz. You can’t see it very well in the photo, but the outer coat of her wool has a really interesting mahogany color. I don’t think that that characteristic has carried into her adult fleece.

Also dug deeper into my bins and turned up a little over a pound of lovely Chone wool. Is always kind of bittersweet working with the wool of a dear departed sheepy friend.

Very special stash.

Ok, take care and have a good week, folks-

I was thinking this week that, since there is no longer a Bow Market, where I would normally offer my woolen goods to folks locally, I might as well post some items here in case folks are interested in unique handcrafted gifts for the upcoming holidays (or just to be outfitted as the weather cools).

So I’ve reactivated the Farm Stand page. There you’ll find hats, cowls, a couple super cute little sheep puppets, and a variety of hand-processed wools from my pasture gang. I hope to add some yarn listings soon.

Since I’ve resolved to get more of my washed fleeces carded up, I’ve gotten quite a bit done! I’ve got about 23 oz of Esther’s creamy white wool ready to go

About 19 oz total of three different shades of Dottie

And I think about 13 oz of Daphne from her Fall shearing a couple of months ago

I’ve also carded Fiona’s fall shearing (baby fleece), but I think I’m keeping that for myself 🙂

Just picked Daphne’s Spring 2020 fleece during the Hawks game this afternoon, and so will hopefully have that hot off the carder a little later on this week! I do really like this part of the wool processing, as I get really hands-on with the fleeces and can appreciate the variations in their colors and textures.

Also got some good work in on the hoophouse this weekend. It’s really starting to take shape!

The hoops are up, and the corner braces in. Next up- baseboards and hiprails!

Have a good week- and make sure you get out and vote.