Yarn Along - A Barnyard Scarf

One of my favorite things to do is to sit down and spin yarn from our flock.  I have a big plan for the Tour de Fleece this year involving spinning enough yarn for a sweater, but mostly I only get allow myself an hour or so here and there and then I end up with baskets full of small amounts of yarn...that just sit there.  

I do enjoy the baskets of yarn.  There's something joyful about all the different colors, textures, weights and especially all the individual sheep tucked in there, but I've been trying to think of something special to make that would utilize those small skeins.

I decided to try weaving a multi-yarn scarf.  I used my handspun bits and bobs for the warp (the up and down threads) and some Nistock Farms Golden Fleece Cotswold singles for the weft (the side to side threads).  

Since the warp threads were all different thicknesses, I used a reed that would accommodate the thickest yarns.  Actually, I started with a 6 dent reed (6 ends per inch) but didn't like it and, you know, ripped it out ;-).  The 8 dent reed worked reasonably well, but a 10 would have been better.

I wanted to showcase the individual handspun yarns rather than the solid color weft, so I worked for a warp faced weave (more warp showing than weft).  I know who most of the yarns are.  The white Cotswold is Keebler, the warm brown is Petunia, the thinner white is Peabody, the too thick for the 10 dent reed gray is Rebecca Boone, the medium weight gray is probably Jester...

And it's too hot to even ask 20 to model it, so I hung it on the barn ladder.  Next to the fire extinguisher.  

Some day it will cool down enough to wear.

Regarding books...I have lost the energy to listen to "grown up" books and after thoroughly enjoying the Terry Prachett young adult books last year, decided to delve into the Newbery Medal Winners list this year.  I may just stay there.  I've listened to The Girl Who Drank the Moon, The One and Only Ivan, Moon Over Manifest, Walk Two Moons and Bridge to Terabithia.  

I highly recommend them all :-).

Welfare Check

When a musher gets stopped out on the trail and the GPS tracker doesn't move or moves in circles...they try to find someone in the area who can get out to them and do what's called a welfare check to make sure everyone is okay.  

One of the musher I am following this year is Blair Braverman.  She appeared to be having trouble at a creek, or was maybe trying to get back to a cabin, or...her gazillion Twitter fans were all panicked.  I felt bad as well because I too feared the worst.  Turns out her GPS unit was malfunctioning and she was still on the trail.  

No such luck here.  I left "Unalakleet" in good spirits, knitting on strong.  I did my short rows, divided for the sleeves, added 8 or 9 inches to the body...started second guessing how it was going, hesitantly knit another inch or two...and stalled out.  

I needed a break anyway.  I'd knit to where my hands were sore.  Bill was in town so I was helping with shearing at Final Frontier Farm on Monday and then we sheared here Wednesday.  The Wool House Crafters met on Tuesday and I asked a couple folks for their opinion on the fabric I was getting and I think we all agreed that it was okay, but could be better.  

I ripped it all back to Unalakleet.  I figured if I was going to get stuck out on the trail making some necessary sled repairs, there'd be no better place than to hang out with fellow Iknitaroder knitski and eat sourdough pancakes ;-).  20 caught up with us there.

20:  Glad you've made it back here to Unalakleet and everything is okay.  Sounds like you've had some trouble this year.  What can you tell us about that?

TCSL: Well, the theme this year so far seems to be gauge.  Gauge too tight, gauge too loose, gauge not making sense, gauge inconsistencies due to sloppy or inattentive knitting on my part...  

20:  Why is gauge so important?

TCSL: Gauge affects how the fabric feels and how a garment fits.  If you knit it too loose it's "sleazy".  If you knit it too tight, it's feels stiff and harsh.  If your gauge doesn't work with the pattern size you've chosen, your sweater won't fit.  There are frequently gauge issues with stranded knitting versus straight stockinette as well.

20:  I thought you did some gauge samples before the race though.  Shouldn't that have helped?

TCSL:  Yes, absolutely.  My mistake was only swatching the plain knitting, not the colorful patterning as well.  I lost two days right off the bat because I didn't do that and had to restart 2-3 times.  After I finally felt like I was on the right track and finished the top section, I started down the body and all was okay for awhile and then I started knitting tighter for some reason and the fabric started feeling "off".

20:  So what are you going to do about that?

TCSL:  I did what Stella always says "Take it back out and do it right."  I unraveled it all the way back to the bottom of the yoke last night and I am going to go up a needle size which will make the stitches bigger and the fabric softer and smushy-er and I'm going to pay more attention this time.

20:  That sounds like a good plan.  So other than the sled runner issues, how have you enjoyed the trail so far?

TCSL:  Honestly, the trail this year has been one of the prettier ones.  We got all sorts of beautiful snow early on and Pip and I really enjoyed that.  I took a bunch of pictures of that and all the sheep and even did some videos that I just haven't had time to edit together.  

20:  I've noticed you've been knitting in the Wool House more this race.  What changed to encourage that?

TCSL:  I loved that cute little tan couch, but it wasn't the most comfortable sled ;-).

20:  It's been fun catching up on all the Iditarod race videos and interviews up there with you as well.  

TCSL: Yes!  I've really liked being able to run my iPad up there this year.  It's been fun to keep up with the race a little better while I'm knitting.  I've listened to some good books and podcasts as well and I like that better than trying to knit watching tv.

20:  What's been your favorite? 

TCSL:  Ooh, hard to pick.  I really enjoyed Winterdance: the fine madness of running the Iditarod and Dogsong both by Gary Paulson.  I listened to Call of the Wild by Jack London as well.  I liked it...I mean it's a classic, but some was hard to listen to.  I'm going to look for another sled dog or Iditarod story to keep us company as we get back out on the trail.  I also have a few episodes of the Iditapod to listen to.  That's a really fun podcast.  And you know, the race isn't over so there will still be more race updates from Iditarod.com :-).

20:  Do you think there is any chance you could still get finished before the Red Lantern?

TCSL:  Not really.  I'd have to think we are mathematically out at this point, but I'm basically okay with that.  It's disappointing for sure, but I'd rather be disappointed by not finishing quickly than disappointed in the finished sweater.   My sheep team worked hard to get here and I want them all to be happy and proud.  Sometimes what you learn out on the trail is more important than the race itself.  I'll come off this race a much more skilled knitter...and that will help me for next year!

Not Quite Dead Yet

I made it nearly 50 years without getting the flu.  It'd be nice if I could go another 50 without a repeat.  A huge thanks to Saint Tim for holding down the fort for almost a week now.  I did make it out for a Biscuit fix to feed this morning.  Yeesh.

Yarn Along - The Denim Elizabeth Shawl

Once I finally settled on what I was doing with the colors, twill structure and sett, the rest of the project went off without a hitch.  Actually, the entire project from dyeing and combing to spinning and finally weaving was completely enjoyable.  I think it does look like denim and I'm giving myself an A for creating and using c-o-l-o-r :-D.

I was worried there were too many white stripes, but side by side, it's probably not far off.  I wish I'd had a little more of the very light blue yarn, but again, it's not too far off.

The orange stripe on each edge is to match the side seam stitching and hems.

And this beautiful shawl pin (made by a friend who didn't just create the pin, but made the glass beads as well!) nicely represents the coppery/brass button.

My biggest fear in weaving a shawl was that it would end up thick, stiff and blanket-y when I wanted light and drape-y.  I worried a bit about how loosely woven this was, but I had confidence in the yarn and it came out just as I wanted. 

Thanks, Elizabeth!  I had a great time and, as always, learned a lot.  A great project :-).

My book this week is The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg.  After last week I wanted something completely Pollyanna and this definitely fit the bill.  Nothing earth shattering, but a completely enjoyable story.  Perfect :-).

Joining in with Ginny...

Yarn Along

Yeah, I know I missed last week.  These pictures were actually all taken, well, most of them, last week, but I didn't have the mental energy to explain them and then the next thing I knew it was like Friday.  

It's quarter after ten and I once again don't feel like I can give this post the energy it needs, but I'm going to at least hit the high spots so I have a record of at least some of how this project has progressed.  This is the Elizabeth shawl.

After stewing and stewing on how much of each color I wanted to use and how I wanted to use the colors, I finally decided to just figure out the percentages of the colors as they came off the wheel.  I don't remember now how I separated out the colors before spinning, hence the importance of documentation (head smack).  

I like how Betsy appears to be studying the loom (the big Mac) in front of her.  She's probably amazed at the dishtowel mess on there.  I'll be weaving the shawl on the Baby Mac for just that reason.  

I'm not going to address how the warping board also appears to be appalled at the dish towel mess in front of it.  

Normally I wouldn't have left each color on as I wound the warp, but I wanted to see all the colors together in case it told me something about the mix aka something else to stew about...which I did for about a week and then finally decided to just go with it by the math and how it turned out was how it was supposed to turn out.  

And yes, still stewing.

So then I sleyed the reed using the 'by the book' maths to determine which size reed I should use...and didn't like it.  Thought it was too crowded.  

So then I pulled the little Dorothy loom out and wove a sample...like I should have from the very beginning.  I threaded it looser, did a right and left twill, thought maybe I should double check the denim twills and found that actually jean denim is not a 2/2 twill, but a 3/1 twill for heavy denim and 2/1 twill for lighter weight fabric.  

I sampled the 3/1 and hated it and then thought what the heck and pulled last half of the sample out and re-threaded it for a 2/1 twill and really liked that.  Sorry to not explain that more for non-weavers, but it's now 10:40 and I'm tired :-o.

I also had a great plan to take pictures of 20 and the Sock Monkey doing all this since they tend to be the ones to fix most of my yarn problems...and forgot.  It would have been really cute.  Sigh...

My next dilemma was the orange.  I'd originally planned to just use that for the hem stitching, but stewed on that for awhile and decided (after it was threaded and wound on of course) that I wanted it to run up both edges as well, like the side seams of blue jeans.  

I stewed on how to make that work without un-doing anything, started putting the hemstitching in and didn't like it so took it out, pulled one of the four hand woven (with a needle) picks of the plain weave edge to make it three to match the three shafts I was using (don't ask me why I thought that was important), got the side orange set up and started weaving and after about three inches I decided I wanted the hem stitching after all and put that back in.  Yes, I'm exhausting even myself at this point.

I'm a little worried that the fabric is too "sleazy" but it was sleazy on the sample as well and it fulled nicely so I'm [weaving] on with confidence...  I'm about halfway through.

As far as books....yeesh...I've hit some duds lately.  Well, duds really isn't the right word.  My most recent book, The One and Only Ivan was very well rated and I guess most folks really enjoyed it, but even though I had to assume the ending was going to be happy, I really struggled getting to that ending having to listen to and be reminded of what people do to animals.

Speaking of animal books, after I raced through all of the Tiffany Aching books last year I listened to The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.  Terry Pratchett was just an incredible story teller.  I have listened to these six books several times now and each time I catch something new and brilliant that I'd missed before.  These I can highly recommend!

Joining in with Ginny for the...

Un-Yarning Along

I'm a firm believer in setting yourself up to succeed...but I only let myself knit at night, after dinner, when I'm tired.  It was 63 degrees today.  I worked until 4:00 and grabbed my knitting bag and headed for the Grahaminator (my favorite knitting spot).  Getting such an early start I was sure to go far.  And I did.

And then I noticed that I'd doubled up a row the night before...and had to frog four rows.  Four rows on a hat is no big deal to most knitters, but I'm a Slow Knitter.  Nothing else to do though.  And then June rolled over on her back looking like my knitting was killing her...and I had to laugh.

At least the scenery was nice :-).

I think I'm back on track, but I'll give it a good double check tonight after dinner.  I decided to have a margarita.  That can only help, right?   

I'm currently listening to The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald.  It's taken me a bit to get into it, but it's starting to get interesting. 

Back Yarning Along

When Ginny stopped hosting the popular Yarn Along I thought, "Well, I can still post on Wednesdays and use that as a record of progress." A couple of my favorite Yarn Along-ers tried that as well. It just wasn't the same.  I'm so glad the Yarn Along is back even if it looks like it's just monthly now.  It's a lot of fun and I made several new friends through this group and picked up quite a few good book tips as well.  

For this week's Yarn Along post I'm sharing some Christmas gift knitting.  Not knitting I'm doing to gift, but knitting gifts given to me ;-).  This Voe hat is a kit from Brooklyn Tweed.  I've been really wanting to try some of their yarn not only because it's so beautifully marketed, but also because it's American made yarn from American sheep.  Nice!

I got to learn a new cast on (German) and a new ribbing.  I think the ribbing is called mistake ribbing.  I. Hate. Knitting. Ribbing.  Getting to straight knit every other row was a huge morale booster :-D.  I may never knit un-mistake ribbing again!

Is this not the most charming project bag ever?

With the most charming logo and tag to boot?  I just love everything about this project so far :-).

And it was nice to see the sheep venture out for a bit this afternoon.  A brief foray near 30 degrees!

My book this week (I'm just going to keep repeating that to myself ;-) is another favorite Christmas gift.  Sheep-O!  The story of the worlds fastest shearers.  I'd link to it but it's so old it doesn't even show up on Amazon's used books.  Maybe if I checked Amazon Australia.  It's fascinating!

I've also listened to a ton of good audio books that I've been thinking for months how fun they'd be to share.  I'll try to put together a list for my next week's Yarn Along post.

Happily joining in with Ginny...

Biscuit's Buddies!

You've seen this lamb before.  There's just a hint of a clue left to jog your memory.  Look at her right ear ;-).

There's a bit more to the rest of her story.  Getting her "on the ground" was a bit of a gamble.  Her mom was one of the grand dame ewes at Final Frontier Farm and while Kathy knew it was a risk, she thought/hoped the old ewe had one more lamb in her.  If she could just get a ewe lamb...and she did! She had a beautiful black ewe lamb.

Of course, not all fairy tales have a happy ending.  Momma put everything she had into the baby...and then didn't have enough milk.  Everyone pitched in to take care of the baby and things were looking good...and then we noticed the tell tale signs of a selenium deficiency.  Selenium is a killer - too much or too little.  Lamb care went into high gear.

She and her mom lived in the front of the lambing barn all spring.  They could come and go into the front yard, but mostly the lamb just stayed in the barn.  Momma would go out and graze around the parking area, keeping a close ear and eye on her lamb, and come back in to check her every few minutes.  She took the very best care of her that she could.

Other than worrying about her, I enjoyed having a bottle lamb to snorgle during breaks in lambing and barn work.  I fed her, held her, took some adorable pictures of her...  Watching momma monitor every single thing we did to her lamb was heartwarming.  She was a funny old ewe and I enjoyed her almost as much as the lamb.

There were a couple times we thought about putting her down.  She was one very sick little girl.  She was also one very tough little girl and she never gave up.  When I decided I wanted a buddy for Biscuit, she was the top of my list.  And, having watched the two together, I knew I'd never want to split them up, so momma got to come, too :-).

And now Biscuit has a buddy (she's actually his half sister - they have the same dad :-) and a surrogate mom.  

Several folks have asked about Biscuit's collar.  It's for his leash ;-).  Being the helicopter mom that I am and with how much trouble he's had lately with his tummy (that seems to be in pretty good order now, thankfully!), I've taken to keeping his eating under very close watch.  

Biscuit will eat anything.  I started to wonder if his propensity to eat everything except good old grass was possibly due to being raised on goat milk (goats are notorious for eating anything ;-), but the black lamb was raised on goat milk as well and she's a good grazer.  She has a better mom. Hopefully she'll teach Biscuit.

They are off to a good start.  

"I guess this grass stuff isn't so bad..."

Right before he realized I was busy taking pictures and ran off to grab some probably poisonous pokeweed along the fence...and she followed him :-o.  That wasn't what I had in mind, kids.  Sigh...

This really is a funny old ewe.  One of my favorites.  She still watches that lamb like a hawk and still watches everything I do to her, whether feeding her a bottle or holding her for a vet check up.  She didn't think twice when I offered her a cookie and when she took her first look around the paddock, she found the free ranging mint and I swear I heard her say "Hmmm, they even have a mojito garden here!"

Sometimes you do get to move to "a nice farm in the country" :-).

Kate shouldn't be out there, but she keeps sneaking into the field when I'm in there :-/.  There is a gap in the gate and even though I told her to stay out, sitting out in the field together is sort of our thing and she is not to be denied. That's fine when you know the sheep are okay with that, but this ewe is very distrustful of border collies and made it clear from the start that she was not afraid to take Kate out!  

Kate seems to know that and has gone above and beyond to show her that while she must be obeyed, she'll be fair and can be trusted.  The lamb snuck out through the same gate when I was feeding two nights ago and Kate so, so gently and quietly and slooowly walked her back through.  Mom watched the whole time with me in between (like that was really going to do any good if things went south :-o) and I think we all breathed a sigh of relief.  

Neither has a real name yet.  Grandma and "the crippled lamb" will not work ;-).  20's Uncle John has hooked me on the Tiffany Aching stories from the hugely popular (but nowhere on my radar) Discworld series.  I'm toying with Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany...but I really don't like the name Tiffany...even though it's perfect for a tough little brown eyed, brown haired girl.  

Mostly I'm mentioning the series to recommend them to anyone else who may not know about them. I haven't tried any of the Discworld books yet, but the offshoot Tiffany Aching series has this non-fantasy reader's interest piqued.  There are sheep and shepherding in the stories!  And the writing is very good.  I've listened to two now and can't wait to start the third.  

So, in speaking of fairy tales, let's all hope this one does end up with a happy ending.  It still might not, so be prepared. I can't tell you not to get attached to anyone...because I know we all already are. We are not going to dwell on what could still go wrong and we will continue to do all we can to take the very best care we can, right?  Right.  

Now let's come up with some good names!

And enjoy having a new puzzle!  

You'll need to click on the image to get to the puzzle.  I think that worked okay for everyone last time, right?

Yarn Along - Preparing For The Iknitarod

This year's Iknitarod has already been a long strange trip...and the race hasn't even started.  I'm going to try to hit the highlights (so far) here and I'll re-read it all in the morning and if something doesn't make sense I'll try to fix it and fill in any missing details...

It started innocently enough - yarn for a Liddy shawl.  After so many months of terrible knitting, I needed something sweet and soothing, like Liddy herself.  A shawl fit not only because she and I had knit two shawls together when she was a baby, but also, if I messed up the gauge, it wouldn't really matter for a one size can fit anyone shawl.

Little did I know that not only had my knitting and weaving mojo jumped ship, but my spinning mojo was gone as well.  I sampled and sampled and sampled and never produced a yarn I was happy with. I seriously contemplated giving up the whole fiber deal.  It's been a long year, pretty much since last years Iknitarod "fail" with Baaxter.  

I finally got one yarn I thought I could live with and spun my first skein.  It was nice...but realistically wasn't a shawl yarn and I knew it. Liddy is smooshy and fuzzy and stretchy and perfect for hats, mittens, a warm snuggly sweater.  Shawls should have some drape and flow.  

One rule I try to always follow is don't set yourself or your dog or your horse or your sheep/child up to fail.  If Liddy doesn't want to be a shawl, don't force her to be a shawl.  No one wins.

Is there something I could do to help my sheep/child succeed?  Well, let's see...  If I have a "down type" (sort of your traditional picture book fuzzy sheep wool) fleece and need it to be less smooshy and stretchy and clingy (these are some words I'll come back and fix in the morning I'm guessing ;-) why not mix in a little "long wool" like, say, some Cotswold?

Two samples in and bingo!  The skein upper right is the original 100% Liddy.  The bottom bundle is about 1/4 Cotswold and the upper left is around 1/3 Cotswold.  Notice the samples have some shine to them? A little more open and drapey?  Much more shawl-like.

While I probably would like the upper left the best, factoring in that this is a Liddy shawl, I felt like the yarn should still truly reflect Liddy.  Liddy with just a little help from Buddy :-).  We finally had a workable plan...I was pretty sure.  Ideally I would have knit a swatch to make 100% sure.  

I'm going to fly through the rest of this.  It's almost 11 and it's been a Long Day.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!!!

Buddy on the left and Liddy on the right.  I did the best I could to weigh each amount, but my scale doesn't weight micro amounts well.  

Liddy on the left and Buddy on the right.  Hopefully you can click to biggify and see that even though they are both sheep, they are very different sheep.  Different breeds produce different types of wool.  Liddy is fuzzy and Buddy is curly.

I loaded about half the Liddy onto the coarse cloth carder.  There is a handle that cranks to turn the drums as the wool feeds on.

Then I added the Buddy.

And then I added the rest of Liddy.

Then you pull off a big batt of fluffy wool - this needs some added explanation.

See Buddy sandwiched between two layers of Liddy?

I then divided the batt into sections (insert mad scientist notes on how many times and combinations) and then pulled it all back into thin "ropes" (again, this is going to make no sense, sorry) and ran it all back through the coarse cloth carder a second time.

Repeat the division, pulling out into thin strips and this time feed onto the fine cloth carder.  Coarse and fine refer to the number of wire poky things (I really need to go to bed) per inch.  Maybe you can see how much smoother this last pass looks.  

Again, hopefully you can click to biggify and see the small fuzzy curls of Liddy contrasted with the big loopy curls of Buddy.

Two more blended batts, ready to spin.

My book this week has been The Story of Dr. Doolittle, which somehow I never read as a kid.  How could I have missed that?  

Joining in with Ginny...  And I'll be back with a fresh(er) brain in the morning to make sense of all this and tell you a little more about the fun I have planned for the next two weeks.