47 posts tagged “knitting”

Busy days... I finished a pair of socks, Rachel and I made a wonderful asparagus quiche, and Chris has been working on his latest Williamsburg painting.

Busy fiber week here...

At Maryland Sheep and Wool, I purchased a plastic bag full of nasty, filthy Lincoln fleece bits for only $2.00. I finally got a bit of it washed, and ready to comb. I think some of it might be too matted and/or felted to use, but some of it is most definitely spinnable!
One Fiber Trends Felted Clog is nearly done - just a few more rows. And I've started a Sunday Market Shawl from some lace weight hand-dyed yarn that was sent to me by a fellow online knitter and dye gal. Very lightweight, very pretty, and so easy! Cast on, and in the first row, you knit 2, do a yarnover, knit 2, do a yarnover, knit 2, yarnover, etc. Then simply work garter stitch for as long as you want the shawl. In the next to last row, you drop a stitch, and unravel it down to the yarnovers. Such a nice effect, with lots of mindless knitting to take along for the next week or so.
The HitchHiker Spinning Wheel is SO much smoother now that it's received a little tweaking. Everyone in the family now comments about how much more quiet it is! I'm currently working on some Northern Lights "Autumn Twilight" roving. Not sure what it will become yet, but it's such a pretty, subtle color!

I'm also finishing the toe of the Periwinkle socks, so I'll have pics of those soon. Happy fingers! 

Sunday was given to taking my three younger daughters to Sheep and Wool. What fun they had!

Everywhere there were little babies, Becky had to stop and see them! We rested at the Sheepdog Demo, which is always amazing. How they train those dogs to round up the sheep is beyond me, but it truly makes me appreciate the farmers!
The girls had a lot of fun looking at all the handcrafted items. SO many ideas for them to try. Sometimes they don't realize how much skill and talent it takes to create some of those pieces, but I applaud them for thinking they can give it a go!
This was the first year we attended the Parade of Sheep Breeds. Did you know that the only farm animal that has more domesticated breeds available is the chicken? I think they showed about 35 breeds. I learned a lot, and took notes about which breeds were  "appreciated by handspinners."
More animal babies! The girls fell in love with the alpacas, and are begging to rejoin the local Alpaca 4-H club. If only it weren't such a drive... but they may sucker me into taking them anyway! This year's special demo was illustrating textile arts throughout Medieval history. Rachel loved this Mongolian costumed woman!
Near the end of the day, we met Baby, an orphaned alpaca who was bottlefed and raised by a teen girl. Most alpacas are very fearful of people, but not Baby! She was wandering around the crowd, and Becky adopted her. We spent about half an hour with her, and Becky was thrilled when Baby let her get a goodbye hug.

I love seeing my girls absorb the sights and sounds around them. They learned so much, hands-on, from the people who live it. We really enjoyed the Festival this year. Can't wait until next May!  

What a day. It started quite early, leaving the house by 6:00 AM to get there by 7:15 (had to stop for coffee!) The Western Maryland Ravelers set up right front and center, so we could have a pitstop/meet-and-greet/hangout for the day. Great idea, and one we'll repeat! Trillion stopped by to say hello, and I had to get a pic of her modified jean jacket, with Mrs. Weasley sleeves!!!

One of my first stops was The Merlin Tree, where Dave gave my HitchHiker a tuneup. All in all, it's put together correctly, but he made some adjustments that should make it spin more smoothly. I ran into a Raveler with a fabulous tatoo - don't even know her name! - but I kept running into her throughout the day and into the evening at the Rav party!
I was able to hit the Ravelry meetup, with buttons and avatar stickers, and lots and lots and lots of people! Lots of people got pics of Casey and Jess, but no one has one of Casey pointing to Jess' nose!
I spent most of the day shopping myself silly. Ended up buying fiber roving for spinning two major projects, plus a few miscellaneous bits of roving, some plain ol' brown and cream that was only .80/ounce (couldn't pass it up, for use as practice!), and the big ticket item of the day, double row fiber combs by Indigo Hound. Yay!
Toni and I met each other at the Ravelry meetup party that evening, after closing out the festival with the Western Maryland group - we left the fields at 7:15! Toni and I met some folks from Long Island who also knit in a Barnes and Noble. Their store, however, doesn't like them so much... they've been asked to find another place. Our Barnes and Noble loves it when we come - we're fun and we eat a lot!

You can't quite tell, but I have my buttons - including my new Ravelry logo pin - on the strap of my bag. My new Braided Ruana Shawl got lots of compliments. Since I hadn't washed or blocked it, it was shedding ALL over my black Ravelry beta tee - not a good fashion match!

Purchased from the Colonial Fiber Shop in Yorktown, VA.
Spun on the HitchHiker.
Plyed on the HitchHiker.
Dried in the sun in my backyard.
Planned for a hat, or maybe mittens.
Loved by me!

Emilee was cleaning her room, and found this wristwarmer. It's the first thing I knit from a pattern. I though it was so terribly difficult, and I never knit the match, which was fine with her.

Seeing this makes me realize how much I've learned. Like not to do so much fancy knitting and purling when you can't see it for the colorwork. Whatev.

1. Went spinning with the Sykesville Spinners last Sunday, and came home early, feeling a bit tired and sore throaty. Spent Monday feeling AWFUL. Awoke Tuesday feeling better, but had lost my voice completely. Rang a bell to summon the girls for two full days... NO voice whatsoever. Thursday I was able to croak out a few words.

2. Friday and Saturday were spent at the MACHE homeschool curriculum fair, telling people that we are an actual brick-and-mortar storefront. I held my own, but was exhausted by the end. I spend Sunday being too tired to knit (so you KNOW that was tired).

3. Began to feel better by Monday, and am slowly getting back into daily life with the girls. I was able to spin a little tonight, on the new patio that Chris has been building. He's taken a couple of days off work the last week or so, and this is the result

4. I was able to spin up some warm wine Corriedale tonight, and also model the finished Braided Ruana Shawl. It took about 2.25 hanks, except for the fringe, which I need to add.

In the past four or five days, the members of Ravelry have donated - in $10 increments - over $30,000. This brings Ravelry into the black, and pays for the sorely needed new servers.

I'm speechless.  If you love yarn and aren't on Ravelry yet, you should be.

What a week! I'm busy with some work stuff, getting ready for the MACHE homeschool curriculum fair. But mostly, I've been digging into the fiber, in preparation for the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, the first weekend in May.

First news - I'm linking to the Cloverhill Yarn Shop blog, which is sponsoring a yarn contest if we provide a link... so there ya go Check it out... it's so neat to hook up with other local fiber lovers.

Ravelry has totally changed my perspective toward Sheep and Wool this year. I've met so many other people from my area, and discovered a gazillion small companies that will be there. But now - their names/merch mean something to me... so shopping in person will be an extra special treat this year. In fact, Cloverhill's booth is teeming with indie dyers and spinners from DC/Baltimore area. I'm so incredibly awed by the chance to see all of this fibery goodness closeup and personal, and only an hour from my house!

So - in spinning and knitting news... I'm working on the third knit-up of the Ruana shawl, and am about 3/4 finished. The back is completely and the right front panel is a few rows shy of finished. Then the left front panel, and I have a toasty, but light and airy, shawl to wear at my computer, and at Sheep and Wool.

I've been spinning - on the spindle it's a lovely pastel with bits of bright color merino, and I'm practicing going as thin as I can. I did one spindle-full, shown on my smaller niddy-noddy, and am beginning a second. I really love the smoothness of this fiber. I think this will head toward a lace something - it's so light and smooth and thin!
This bit of Tussah Silk came in my fiber sampler, purchase last year. The fiber itself was SO shiny, and I'm certain I've spun it all wrong to take advantage of that sheen. I did this on my Ashford Traditional, and while it spun up like a dream, I didn't really know what to do with it. I sort of tried a longer draw, and sort of did a bit of it from the fold, and I would have loved to have had more to play with. The finished bit isn't SHINY like I thought it would be, so I think I'm missing something in the spinning, as I said.
I have a half pound of corriedale from Louet, purchased from the Colonial Fiber Shop, at the time I purchased my HitchHiker spinning wheel. The more I spin on the HitchHiker, the more I hate it. Which I hate. Because I want to love it.

The wheel is SO loud, I can't spin while watching TV, unless I crank the volume. It's a friction drive, so I know there will be sound coming from the grommet against the wood wheel. But the foot pedal creaks coming and going, and the whole thing rattles and shakes, and... it's just not pleasant to spin. I'm trying to spin a slightly thicker yarn, so it will ply worsted weight, but it's so daggone hard to get anything consistent. I don't think it's the fiber - it drafts fairly smoothly, and I'm so tempted to switch to the Ashford so I don't waste the fiber. I'm determined to stick it out with the HitchHiker, though, and practice. Maybe it'll get better.

I'm taking this wheel to Sheep and Wool, and stopping by the Merlin Tree booth to have the maker take a look at it. I sent video of the creaks and noises and the wobbling of the whole thing, and he thought everything looked normal. If that's the case, then I am sorry to say that I don't care for this wheel at all. I'd rather sell it and get something more stable. So I'm praying that he'll take a look at it and say, "OH - well, this little thing should be tightened here, and that thing shouldn't be rattling there," and he'll adjust it and make it the wonderful thing that I thought it would be.

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For those playing along with the Jessie/tadpole/fish saga, we now have one happy Betta fish (Fred), and three full-fledged, tiny tadpoles! The other eggs are slowly getting fuzzy on the bottom - I think they aren't viable and will continue to melt away. Becky is quite pleased!

I haven't had much spinning wheel time lately, but I've been spindling some merino on my Kundert spindle. I also got the extra yarn for the Braided Ruana Shawl, and have been able to finish it just about half-way. I had started a pair of lace socks (my first charted pattern, a pretty easy lace), but the yarn was so dark. I did about 8 rows, but was so daggone frustrated, I switched to a simple rib pattern. I think it all flows well together, and hey - it'll be hidden under my pants leg anyway! I'll try the sock pattern again later, with a lighter yarn.