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 :-).

Yarn Along - June

I decided if I was going to get back to normal regular blogging, I'd better have something ready for the Yarn Along.  That and I'd picked up a skein of Rhapsody in Hue's Equinox Farm yarn and I was dying to try it out ;-).

Melanie did a spring and fall colorway and I picked spring.  I'm not sure why, as I much prefer fall, but I was probably feeling sentimental about the redbuds, which were as beautiful this spring as they were when this picture was taken several years ago.

The redbud blooms might be gone, but the yarn still looks right at home with a backdrop of Johnny Jump Ups on the Wool House porch.

My knitting mascot for this project is Silke, a super sweet lamb from Little Cotton Rabbits.  I've been trying to purchase one for several years and finally got lucky (they sell out in a minute when she lists them!) last fall...winter...?  If I'd kept the blog current I'd know for sure :-/.  Anyway, she took the first frogging with great courage and luckily we haven't had any more trouble.

Melanie did half the skeins with Merino and half with Blue Faced Leicester.  I chose the BFL since I'm...all together now...a coarse wool girl ;-), but it's not coarse.  It's very soft and smooth...and I'll be happy to get back to some good old Texel or Jacob when I'm finished ;-).  

The colors are really pretty though and I'm having fun working with it.  I think she may have a few skeins left from the festival if case you are interested in knitting along :-).  

For my book...well, I listened to some really good ones over the winter and during the Iknitarod/Iknitaredux.  I actually have some Friday Flashback pictures to post from the epic journey, so I'll share that list then.  

For this spring?  Meh... I've only listened to one book that I've really enjoyed.  But I really enjoyed it.  It's the final book in a series of three.  I've listened to them all and loved all three.  They are The Rosie Project, The Rosie Effect and The Rosie Result, but Graeme Simsion.  

I think you could listen to just the last one and not be lost, but why.  Start at the beginning and fall in love with all the characters and the last one will be just that much better.  They are cute and funny and the last one really makes you think.  Just brilliant.

Joining in with Ginny.

The Week In Review...Because It's Been A Busy One

Don't get excited.  There wasn't any knitting.  I had great hopes for posting with the monthly Yarn Along on Wednesday and even took some pictures of my current (sadly idle) project.......  Maybe today.

So, let's see...

The 2018 Christmas card is finished and printed.  Not stuffed and mailed, but they are painted, printed and in hand.  Whew!!!  I'll post a puzzle version this weekend for anyone who'd like a sneak peak and I'll also have some at the Wool House tomorrow.  Not for sale until next year, but if you come out to the farm (open this Saturday from 1:00-4:30), I'll give you one :-).  

If you didn't follow along with the Wovember Instagram photo challenge by daughterofashepherd last month, I encourage you to go check it out. There were so many interesting prompts and excellent posts from all over the world.  What a fun way to really focus on sheep and wool.  One of my posts was selected for the top ten!  :-D

The sold out calendars are back in stock.  Tim brought home some more Lamb Camp calendars last night, so everything still here on hold will ship out today.  Thank you so much for your patience...and all the orders.  Your support, on all levels, really means so much.

There are still three 2018 Equinox Farm fleeces left (Baaxter, Liddy and B. Willard) and several Tring Farm fleeces (lovely Maybelline and a few other white, grays and blacks), in case anyone is looking for a fun winter project.  Rebecca Boone was so dirty and greasy I offered to wash her fleece before shipping, so that was my fun project for yesterday.  Look at that shine!  Some is from the grease, some just because it's fun, shiny Cotswold.

I divided her into two parts so there'd be plenty of room in the washer to loosen up all the dirt.  Before washing on the left.  Washed on the right.

Washing wool in the winter is like an all day spa treatment.  The room gets warmer and steamier as the day progresses and it smells like heaven, not "smelly animal fur".  If you aren't aware of the Duluth "issue", here is one article that addresses it.  Clara Parkes always says it best.  

All washed and set out to dry.

Isn't she pretty?

So back to the picture of the yarn and project at the top.  That's Rebecca Boone!  I spun that yarn several years ago and had never found the perfect project for it.  Isabell Kraemer's Indigo Frost capelet keeps showing up in my favorites and it (finally) dawned on me that the design shape looks just like Rebecca Boone's cool dreadlocks...and if I dyed some of the yarn, I could match her colors in the color patterning.  So I did!  

I overdyed her light gray to get a darker gray like her nose and legs and a reddish/brown to match her sunbleached locks.  I then spun some Woolliam for her white nose.  I wasn't thinking and didn't wash her yarn before I put it in the dye pot and the remaining fabric softener made the dye take up unevenly and I love the effect.  

I'm ready to start the colorwork section and I can't wait.  Maybe today!

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...

Wednesdays Are For Knitting?

I spent some time off and on today working on putting together a Yarn Along post.  I wound yarn into balls for my next project, took some pictures, tried to figure out what I wanted to post, took some more pictures...and now that I'm sitting down, at the last minute of course, to put a post together I find that there is no more Yarn Along :-(.

I completely understand.  Blogging is a lot of work.  Families are a lot of work.  I can't imagine trying to do both.  Well, I sort of can imagine.  There are times when it might be almost a week before I can get a new post put up.  Having to do one on a schedule...well, we know where that would end up - at the last minute of course...if at all.

I am going to try to keep on a Wednesday "accountability" schedule.  Remember a couple months ago when I mentioned "Make Yarn, Use Yarn"?  I think that will be the theme.  Keep after me!

One last shawl picture.  I took it off the blocking boards, worrying that it would all spring back to jumble...and it, of course, did not and I love it even more than I did before.  Actually, there may be more pictures at some point.  I have an idea for a fun "photo shoot" with Liddy.

And moving on to my next project.  This yarn doesn't really look familiar, but it is.  It's the Renny yarn.  I've worked a little on this off and on for about a month or so.  Renny and I needed to do something to get our groove back.  

We made a few color changes and I took pictures all along the way and maybe I'll pull them out and share at some point.  I've also switched patterns to something I think will fit the yarn (and me) better. I'll talk more about that later as well.  Always learning! 

And if you've made it this far and are thinking "yeesh, I wish she'd stop talking about knitting and yarn and just post some more lamb pictures!"  Here you go :-). 

A Liddy story and more Lamb Camp tomorrow!

Yarn Along - The Iknitarod Is Underway

Gotta love an Amelia and Kate photobomb :-).

So I'm one ball into the Stories From Snoqualmie Valley/Equinox Farm shawl.  At this point I'm almost to the end of the fourth repeat.  I thought about trying to do the math to see if that seem about right, but that's a whole 'nother hole to drop into, so I'm just going to "knit on with confidence".

So here's an interesting technique you can use with wool yarn.  Most knitters are familiar with the "spit splice", but for anyone following along that doesn't know what that is it's an invisible way to join two pieces of (wool) yarn together.  

You can do this on any project, but it's most handy for lace (knitting with holes in it) where it would be hard to weave in (secure and hide) the loose ends of the two strands.  

Disclaimer:  This is the redneck method that I use.  There is probably a more correct way to do this ;-).

I like to untwist the ends of both yarns, but I don't think you have to do that.  One of these ends has a thick spot due to inconsistent spinning.  Normally I'd move up the strand to find a thinner spot, but I got carried away by picture taking...

To try to keep the doubled/joined yarn pretty similar to the individual yarns I just pulled that end off.  Now, instead of four loose ends there are only three.  

Next you take the two ends and stick them in your mouth to soak them with...spit.  Bet you didn't think you'd be reading that today, eh?  ;-D

You then roll the spitty spot back and forth between your hands and it felts together and you are ready to knit on.  Wool rocks :-).

Some scenes from the trail:

I originally set up on the Grahaminator, but it was pretty breezy so I moved down to the yard.

Sitting under one of me and Liddy's favorite knitting trees.  I wish she was sitting there with me all curled up next to me, chewing on my needles.  I could see her out in the field though.  The next best thing.

I think it's important to get babies out on the grass as much as possible so they have as normal a life as they can.

I am 8 rows shy of finishing two repeats today.  I am super tired and bleary, but I think I can do it. I'm going to do the night check and walk the dogs and hopefully that will wake me up a little.  It's a mental game at this point.  Those eight rows could wait until morning...but I'll feel better knowing I did it and it feels a little like the real Iditarod.

I listened to a good book while I was spinning last week, but I can't think of the title right now.  

If you are looking for interesting information and updates about the Iditarod, Alaskan Public Radio has a podcast called Iditapod and it's really good.  I'll try to come back in the morning and insert a link.

Yaaaaaawn :-o