Category: Blog

Sorry I  missed y’all last weekend.

I was back in Illinois visiting family and attending my 20 year high school reunion.

It was fun, and exhausting, and I’m awfully glad to be taking the rest of the week off to catchup with things around here.

Would you believe, it just so happened that here was a really great fiber event going on the very same weekend of my visit? Right near where I was staying??

Indeed. The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival, in Crystal Lake, IL.

So of course I stopped by.

There were inside vendors-

And outside vendors-

Fabulous humongous skeins of yarn-

Hitchhiker travel wheels (which I got to try out!)

Wonderful hooked items-

And I did bring home a couple of souvenirs-

Some glowing blonde mohair:

And Milk Protein Fiber! Because it was just so unusual (and beautiful):

And, I did manage to get a bit of travel knitting done!

Stashbuster Hat:

I really like how the Mountain Colors “Mountain Goat” yarn works with both the light and dark handspun. I forget the name of the colorway, as it’s been sitting for a while…they may not make that exact thing anymore.

And Sock:

Standard sock formula, with a little extra ribbing in the gusset, on tiny needles. Good for long plane rides. (and yes, it’s store-bought yarn. Didn’t plan far enough ahead on this one)

Ps. Boo Kitty came home last night. So far, so good!

You’ll never guess what I brought home from work the other day.

So I’ll just tell you.

Buffalo.

Yep. Really.

Not the whole animal or anything- just buffalo hair.

Pretty gnarly stuff. Guess it was collected from a scratching pole that is out in the pasture for them.

But buried deep within the hairy mess is fluff. Very soft, short, downy fluff.

Here it is (mostly) sorted:

I figure, volume-wise, I got about 10% or less fluff.

I washed and then I carded what little I had-

My hand cards are not the really fine type, but I was able to get it into decent enough shape to spin after a while, though there was still quite a bit of veg.

Here is the resulting swatch:

Wild, eh?

Was kind of an interesting exercise,, but the de-hairing was not much fun. Kind of like picking apart dusty brillo pads.

And in other news, I finally have my first batch of yarn for The Man’s sweater.
I’ve decided on a heavy worsted three-ply (from three bobbins so I get a more consistent result)

Here are the nice fat little bobbins ready to be plied-

Here is the yarn, fresh off the wheel-

And all steamed and skeined up-

I do so love a squooshy three-ply.

Stats on the yarn: approx 110 yds per 3.5 oz skein.

I’ve been pretty wrapped up in working with the fleece from BSG, but I did want to finally share the rest of what came home with us-

Mohair.

Kid Mohair.
Just enough to try out- maybe 7 oz.
It was just so silky and lustrous that I couldn’t resist.

A couple of people had mentioned to me that I just HAD to try it. That it was heaven to spin. That I didn’t know what I was missing.

Ok. Turns out that they were right!
It also turns out that black mohair is really hard to photograph.
Here are a couple of my attempts:

This is the one to try and show how fine and light it is-

And here is a swatch (of course), to show you the amazing luster (too bad you can’t feel how silky it is!)

Very Nice stuff.

That was it for the fiber. Really. (Aren’t you amazed at my self-restraint?)

But we did bring home a bit of sheepy decor:

Isn’t that fun? Did you notice the little shetland tail on the odd-sheep-out?

Just couldn’t resist.

In other news, the stranded colorwork swatch I was working on at BSG is fast on it’s way to becoming a hat.

And Boo Kitty came over for a “meet and greet” with the pups this weekend-

The event was a little stressful for both parties,, but I think that with time (and close supervision) it will work out.
Hope so, anyway. She’s such a sweetie.

One week ABS (After Black Sheep), and I have made a start on processing my new acquisitions.

First- The Fleece.

I really love the fleece. I didn’t realize it when I bought it, but it is two different colors.

Here are two different sections before washing-

And here it is washed (silvery black in the back, blackblack in the front)-

I guesstimate that it’s about 65% silvery and 35% blackblack.
Clem (my drum carder) and I have decided that the thing to do is blend the two colors to ensure I have enough of one shade to make a solid colored sweater jacket for The Man.

So, I ‘ve begun to card, spin and  knit to plan for the project. (I love doing samples)

Here it is blended-

On the wheel-

And swatched-

I’m thinking of something like Ann Budd’s Cambridge jacket.

The processing is going pretty fast, but I am taking an extra step and trimming the ends of the locks.

The blunt ends on the locks makes me think that perhaps the sheep was coated. And what’s strange is that there is a weak spot just where the tips change color. Kind of like you would expect on a Shetland or other primitive if you sheared ahead of the “rise”. But this is Romney/Corriedale, so I can’t figure it out.

I didn’t want the little  ends break and end up being neps, so I’ve just snipping them off.

This has already gone too long,, so I’ll save my one other fiber acquisition for next week!

(PS. We finally decided on the girl kitty.)