Blog

This weekend has really whizzed past.

Saturday I had the opportunity to go down to Seattle and give a spinning demo at our friends’ retirement community, Merrill Gardens at Queen Anne.

First time I’d done something like this, but it went pretty well I think. Had a nice size group of folks show up, and they seemed to be interested- asking a lot of questions, and fondling all the wool samples I brought. Once I got talking, it took a while to get to the spinning part-( there’s just so much to say about the wool itself! and the prep!)- but we finally got there.

And everyone was amazed by the wonder of wool becoming yarn before their very eyes.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think to have the man take any photos, so you’ll have to use your imagination to sketch the scene.

Anyway- I should mention that I finally have another project in the works:

A nice, simple, functional wardrobe item. I’m actually following the pattern (so far), with one small modification- I’m doing a little bit of shaping at the waist so it isn’t quite so boxy.

The yarn is a nice thick dark brown Romney 3 ply-

that i will have to spin quite a bit more of in order to finish. Don’t know what it is with me and the 3-ply lately. It’s a bunch more work, but I love it anyway.

This is how far I’ve gotten-

About half way up the back. The square thing sticking out the side is a pocket, that will get sewn down to the inside front when the vest is assembled. Here’s a better photo of how that works out:

That’s all for now, except…..

First person to guess what I’m going to be for Halloween gets a prize!

Wednesday night’s topic last week at my Livestock Adviser class was sheep (!) and llamas. Yea!

Mother Hildegard George, of Our Lady of the Rock on Shaw Island was our speaker.

Mother Hildegard runs the sheep operation at the convent. They keep Cotswolds, selling breeding stock and wool products through their website. She brought a lot of wool-related materials (roving, yarn, books, magazines) because she’d heard that there were a bunch of fiber folks in the class. Sounds like they’ve got a really nice setup there on Shaw Island. 300 acres, no real predator problems.

During her class I started a swatch. About 4 inches wide. A nice smooshy corriedale (navajo plied). And I liked how it felt so much that I just kept going. Pretty soon I had 20-something inches of swatch, and I thought, “I should really turn this into something.”

First I made it into a band. Picked out the cast-on, and kitchenered the two ends together.

Here is Bruno, somewhat reluctantly modeling the band:

(Poor Bruno. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But he’s a good sport. Gotta love the sweet Bruno.)

Anyway- it was a nice band,, but the edges rolled under like crazy. It needed something more. So, I picked up some stitches behind one edge (so the edge itself is visible on the front) and knit a hat top out of some lovely soft emsket Shetland. Then I did the same on the other edge, but knit about an inch or so of 2×2 ribbing.

And here ’tis- from the side:

and from the top:

I do like the cross-directional interest, especially since the yarn is kind of self-striping.

In other news, we have a mountain of fresh and fruity wool muffins from my last KoolAid dyeing adventure:

Yum.

The weaving report: I finally got about 13 inches woven on my handspun sampler, and decided that was enough for now, so I cut it off the loom, and now rather than the project itself being a loose end, the project is a mess of loose ends! I’m sure there is a better method for finishing it, but for now I’ve tied all the little ends in pairs so it doesn’t unravel itself.

My first weaving. It’s simple, and certainly not perfect, but it’s fabric. Cool, eh?

Didn’t quite finish sock #2 this week,

but working with those bright fruity colors has motivated me to dye up another batch of sherbet-y goodness:

Kool Aid is so much fun.

Very little woolwork to show for this week, though I did manage to finish sock #1 thanks to bus rides and lunch hours.

Sporty, eh? A nice thick, warm sock.

Just my standard sock formula- lots of ribbing, modified Dutch heel, wedge-type toe, kitchener stitched to close. Here’s a closer look at my preferred heel- so easy to work, and fits a narrow foot very nicely.

Toe is little squarer than I’d usually make, but that’s because I kept on with the foot a little too long. Still a good fit.

Sock number two is newly cast on, and will be worked in the same yarns, with whatever striping scheme that occurs to me while I’m knitting it.

Still have to ply the rest of the purple haze

Which means I’d better keep this short. Gotta get to bed early tonight. It’s been a hard-workin’ weekend around the homestead.

Denise out.