Category: Blog

Not much knitting news this week. I’ve taken a time out on The Man’s sweater. Will rally the troops and make another charge maybe sometime soon. Hate to put the handspun through too much rippage, though.

I’m in anticipation this week. I expect to be receiving my new bobbins for Sophie back from Mr. Antoine sometime soon, and also looking forward to a really good fiber sale next weekend-

Here are the details-

Skagit Producers’ Fleece Sale

Saturday November 14^th, 2009.

It starts at 9 a.m. and goes until 3 p.m.

“Quality, soft fleeces consigned by local producers will be available and will include white and natural colored fine, medium and long wool sheep as well as white and natural colored mohair from Angora Goats.  Also available will be dyed and processed fiber.”

Everyone is invited to stop by for a fun day at the farm and bring a friend!  If you are looking for a “special” fleece, call (360) 757-6281 to see if they can assist you.  The sale is located at:   17543 Peterson Road,  Burlington, Washington

Directions:  Traveling South on I-5, take Exit 230.  Traveling North on I-5, take Exit 230.  Turn left onto Highway 20, turn right onto Garrett Road, turn left onto Peterson Road and follow directional signs.

Every year I go and get a really nice, clean natural colored Border Leicester fleece for the stash.

Here are some recent results from last year’s find-

A lot of last year’s BL went into the Experimental Sweater–but I still have some left, so I’ll have to be careful not to overindulge. But it’s hard to keep one’s head once the wool fumes hit.

Perhaps I should take a chaperone?

The Man’s sweater looks much like it did last week.

This is not because I have not been knitting.

It is just that I’m having conceptual difficulties with the sleeve.

I have knit (and ripped) the right shoulder of this sweater 3 times now.

And I’m starting to wonder if part of the problem is the depth of the armhole.

Or perhaps I did not design-in enough ease through the chest.

I’m going to have to sleep on it before I make another attempt.

In other news, I took a field trip to Pullman, WA this weekend to visit WSU Animal Science facilities- Swine, Cattle, Sheep ,etc etc…

Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/44275451@N08/sets/72157622585553769/

That’s what the Kool Aid guy (the big pitcher) used to say, right?

I was thinking that I needed to plan ahead for this Kool Aid dyeing class that I’ll be teaching at the end of January. Get samples ready and all –
So, yesterday I make up a bunch of little mini skeins, selected a variety of flavors, and had at it.

Here are the results:

I think they turned out pretty cool. Best Kool Aid dying I’ve done in a while.

I think the key really is using enough of the stuff to get really saturated colors.

I used some Lambs Pride that I had in the stash- both white (Cream) and Taupe.
Here are some photos to show the differences between cream and taupe in the same flavor-

Pink Lemonade:

Mango:

Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade:

(This one actually had three samples- the one on the left is some light gray handspun)

I really like the colors on Taupe.
Might knit up the little samples into swatches for the class. Not sure yet.

It was just so easy. Took me maybe a half hour to do the whole thing.

And while I was busy making the kitchen smell like fruit punch, The Man was out in the shop re-threading the flyer shaft on the new little wheel (Sophie).

It worked out great, and now I’m able to use my Kromski whorls with her!

I did some measurements, and am pleased to announce that now Sophie has the following ratios (approximately): 5.7:1, 7:1 (on the kromski slower whorl) and 10:1, 13:1 (on the faster whorl, shown above)

For comparison, here is a photo of the whorl that she came with-

(I think the ratio on that one came out to 4:1)

She’s really coming along! Getting more versatile all the time.

And thanks to Michelle, I have found a woodworker that will make me some new bobbins for her. I’ll be shipping her flyer assembly out tomorrow for him for work from.

What a good wool day!

Finding I don’t have a lot to say right at the moment.

But I have been doing quite a bit of knitting.

See?

Boo Kitty really likes it

And I do too. It’s coming along very nicely.

I’m almost at the point where I join the shoulders together and get to try it on The Man to see how it fits.

I hoped to have some dyeing to show off in this post, but my results yesterday were rather disappointing. Still trying to figure out what went wrong.
Has anyone else used this product?

I was all excited about the neat colors. Tried the “Olive” yesterday, and it was total bust. Turned my creamy white alpaca a yellowy gray. Ick. Sure I can salvage it by overdying with something else,, but what a waste.

And I swear that I followed the directions.

Now I’m almost afraid to try the other colors.

Dag.