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Little Indulgences

denisemor 2 September 4, 2016September 5, 2016

Back in July I was down in Portland, Oregon for a few days (work conference).

Portland is a pretty darn good place to have to go for work if you are a knitter.
From my downtown hotel, there were three yarn shops within walking distance!

Not that I need yarn, mind you. But I’m looking at this as an entertainment expense.
(And souvenir yarn occupies a special exempt status in the stash)

I like to look, of course, but usually commercial yarn doesn’t hold much appeal for me anymore.
But browsing around Knit Purl I found a yarn that really made my day.

I think I was initially drawn in by the color.
A rich but creamy pink-red, with little flecks of orange.
And the sheer size of the skein- a whopping 660 yds.
And then I touched it. And I couldn’t put it down.

Galler Yarns Heather Prime Alpaca. In Tomato Bisque.
I’m not even a big fan of alpaca, but I love this yarn.

And I just found the perfect pattern for it (thank you Ravelry!)

Just cast on Friday, and I really like how it’s coming along!

In other wool news, I am playing around with making dryer balls.

Another use for wool leftovers!

All Washed Up

denisemor 0 August 28, 2016

But in a good way 🙂

Today I finished washing up all the remaining fleece from this spring’s shearing. Plus the Border Leicester fleece from Jonasson’s last Fall Fleece sale.

I sometimes think that washed fleece is my favorite stage in the wool processing pipeline.

It still looks all sheepy, but is fresh and fluffy.

Just mah-vel-ous.

I had the washed fleece sitting out to dry on our picnic table, but then it started to rain!

Woo Hoooooo! It hasn’t rained in about two months. I’m sure it’s not going to amount to much, but it sure feels good.

While one of the fleece batches was soaking, I did a little playing with a new Kool Aid flavor.

Peach Mango. Mmmmmm.

So pretty

And plays well with others, too!

The Process

denisemor 2 August 21, 2016

Thanks to everyone that came out to the Bow Little Market Fiber Day!

It was a hot one (about 90 degrees), and so I don’t think that a lot of folks were really in the mood to try on hats and fondle skeins of wool yarn. I think I’ll try again in the Fall once the weather has turned and everyone is concerned with keeping toasty.Hopefully I’ll get accepted to participate in the Holiday Market in November.

But I did chat with a lot folks about the sheeps and my wool process, how I do it all in-house from shearing to knitted object.
I kind of take it for granted anymore, but I guess the entirely hand-processed aspect of my wares is fairly unique.

So I’ve started a page that outlines the steps that the wool takes from Sheep to Skein.
That at least gets us to the designing and knitting stage in the project life cycle.

I hope you enjoy it.

Oh, and speaking of designing and knitting, I wanted to share the recipe for my basic fairisle hat.

Pick out some cool, flashy colors.
Cast on 120 stitches on size 3 circular needles (16 or 18″ length)
Knit about 10 or so rows in corrugated ribbing.
Work two or 4 rows in garter stitch for a bit of a border.
Work chart below for body of the hat until approximately 6 inches from cast-on edge.

Place markers every 20 or 40 stitches for shaping the crown of the hat
Decrease 6 stitches per round until 12 stitches remain.
Run two working yarns through remaining stitches and weave in all ends.
Wash and block, and there you have it!

Think Like a Chicken

denisemor 0 August 14, 2016August 14, 2016

Chickens are not known for their smarts.

But they can be fairly independent-minded and sneaky.
The new crop are pretty much fulltime “yard chickens” now, though they do go back to the shed at night.

(Stumpy the rooster is hiding in the shadows under the rhody)

There are probably 8-9 girls who should be laying regularly right now, and I’m only finding 3-4 eggs a day.
So it seems clear that some of these crafty girls are hiding eggs.

I’ve been hunting around, but there are countless places on our property that they could be tucked away.

Also, one of the new Speckled Sussex girls is currently unaccounted for.
It could be that she has fallen prey to some wild critter, but I haven’t seen any evidence of an attack (usually there would be feathers, or some other sign of a struggle).

I can’t help but wonder if the is hunkered down somewhere out of sight sitting on all those missing eggs.
I guess only time will tell.
Until then, I will continue to try and think like a chicken, and hope that it lead me to their secret stash.

And though it seems at times that chickens have overrun the wool blog, I am still actively engaged in “wool work”.
In fact, I finally got the rest of this years’ Frank/Felix fleece washed up today-

But I’ve been mostly focused on working up some new hats for the Bow Little Market Fiber Day, which is coming up fast!

If you’re in the area on the afternoon of Thursday the 18th, please stop by and say “hey”.
I’ll be there with knits, yarn, and carded fiber.