What makes a weekend great?

Spending the weekend with a nationally known instructor, 13 other spinners, on a fiber farm with plenty of fiber critters makes for a great weekend! I came home with lots of new tips for spinning on a double-drive wheel, some fiber and a cherry/walnut kundert spindle. I'd definitely take another class with Patsy Z. Not only was she knowledgeable about all the different types of wheels, she had some funny stories to tell.

Picture proof :) Yes, we were in a barn for instruction. A BIG barn!

How the hell do they get all those horns in one bucket?

What a friendly smile, although, he or she wouldn't get toooo close.

This one didn't want to miss out on the attention! You could even pet, but watch out for the horns!

I wanted to get a group pic, but most had already left the building... Here's the last of the group with Patsy Z in the middle, Caron (owner of the farm) on the right.

Shetland wool

Been spinning some Shetland Wool Top purchased from Jamieson & Smith. The wool still smells sheepy - which is a good thing, since I missed the sheepy smells from SAFF! This was spun using the 19.1 ratio on Adelaide. I plied this morning and the 3-ply yarn has been washed and hanging in the laundry room to dry. It is beautiful! I'm thinking possibly sport-weight. I'm not sure what i'll knit with it - maybe a tam or some socks. I might even dye part of it! Still have more and want to spin the rest very fine. It will have to wait as we are headed down to Troy to watch a football game and see what football season will be like for our future Trojan :)

2 Little Monkeys...

Finally, I have pictures of the 2 pair of monkey socks I recently completed. The rainbow pair is made with Jojoland Melody and the other is made with a wool/mohair blend yarn that was purchased on our Blue Ridge Parkway vacation in June from one of the several yarn shop destinations we found with the help of the GPS.

I registered for a real spinning lesson to take place next weekend at Freehaven Farm in Simpsonville, SC. Patsy Z is the instructor - I hear good things about her from Sandra. Looking forward to learning new things :) Since I missed out on SAFF, i'm so looking forward to visiting with the fiber animals!

Love the weekends...

Thanks to all who have expressed good wishes. We're trying to get back to some kind of normal routine around here. Hubby is recovering well from his surgery ... the gruesome staples fit right in with the Halloween season :) These will come out Tuesday.

We went to Pelham's homecoming game Friday night. The parking spot was the good score for the night. We lost to Hoover as expected, but unexectedly made the last spot for the playoffs!

Remember back in May when Stacey and I went to MS&W Festival? We both came back with the goal to get a dream wheel... that goal has been met as Stacey received delivery of her wheel this week! We took the wheels to the LYS on Saturday for a spin. She got the wheel in ash to better match her other light color wheels. Here's some pics of our Schacht-Reeves 30" Saxonies made with the flyer on the right (front view and back view):


Aren't they lovely?!?! Our hubs might get jealous of all the love and attention our wheels are getting :)


Saturday night was Pelham's homecoming dance. We met up with the kids to take pics at one of Peyton's friends house. Peyton has the brightest dress of the group! I love this pic of Peyton laughing...





Her BF is standing right behind her with the white shirt and red tie. They all went to supper at Kobe before the dance.


Now I'm off to spin some shetland on the lovely wheel that I polished last night with some woodbeams. She glows....

Twists progress delayed

I've been away for a while taking care of hubby who came home from his project in Arkansas due to medical issues. He's had two hospital stays, one surgery and will be starting treatments for Crohn's disease week after next. Today has been a good day... we're hoping for more good days.

Knitting progess on the sweater has been put on hold. Small, portable projects are the thing for doctors offices and the hospital. Two pair of Monkey socks finished, one beret and working on a pair of gloves. Pictures to come later.

Sadly, the SAFF trip for me has been postponed until next year. I hope my fiber buds have a great time!

Twist Progress

The sleeves only have a few more rows to go...

The body is ready for dividing for sleeves:

Potato Leek Soup with a serving of finger

Peyton and I recently went to see Julie & Julia and immediately after the movie went to the bookstore to buy the cookbook. We decided we'd try a recipe out of the book maybe once a week or so - let's face it, she's not available many nights with colorguard practice, work, homework and the social life of a senior in high school. Last night we tried Potato Leek soup. Peyton and I both had knives ready, she chopping potatos and me attempting to slice leeks... first slice I not only sliced into the leek, but into my left forefinger (on the top) down to the bone. The henkel knives we have are wickedly sharp... I almost fainted. Wrapped it up tightly with a clean kitchen towel and sat back on the sofa while Peyton finished up the chopping to start simmering the veggies. She then went to the store and bought me some butterfly bandage clips. There is not much meat on top of the finger, and I really didn't want to spend the night in the emergency room to see if it needed stitching with all the sick people. The first thing that came to my mind was I won't be able to knit!!! It still hurts, and no, I can't knit - of course I tried. I hold my yarn over the left forefinger when I knit. I tried holding over my middle finger, but it's clumsy. It's hard to type because it still hurts like hell.

The soup tastes good, though :) We added additional potatos (seemed too runny/watery)... and then, of course, we had to add extra heavy whipping cream. The soup was a success although we decided next time to try substituting some chicken stock for some of the water.

Twist Sleeves

I've been working on the sleeves for a new cardigan - both at the same time. This Blackstone Tweed is wonderful to work with... although, it seems to be fragile. The washed swatch is verrrrrrrrrry soft - this fabric could be worn next to the skin with no itch at all.


I've had to adjust the increases in the sleeves as the pattern is written for someone of medium height... i'm too short so the increases are more frequent to get to the number of stiches needed at the underarm. The cables show up great, don't you think?


I think i'll knit the body in one piece. That way i'll only have to seam sleeves. My cardigan will not have the hood... there are instructions for both hood and collar. I'll have to get buttons... looked through my small stash of buttons, and none will work.

Swatching & Knitting

The LYS received a new shipment of fiber this week... couldn't resist purchasing this new Blackstone Tweed yarn! I think it will be perfect for this cardigan:

It is a blend of 65% wool, 25% superkid mohair and 10% angora rabbit. It is the softest tweed i've ever felt.

Spinning and Knitting

Spinning and knitting has been happening... blogging, not so much due to computer issues at home. Hopefully these have been resolved.

Here are some pics of what I have been up to:

Finished spinning the shetland sampler:

Spun the merino/silk blend (color) from a January Spin-in doorprize, and also spun some merino/nylon (white) that i've had in the stash since before the Kromski wheel arrived:

Vogue Knitting cover pattern has been thoroughly tested and approved with very old stash yarn - three new hats - the start of Christmas gifts :)

My baby is a Senior today

The BABY is a senior in high school starting today... makes me feel really old.

Yummmm

Tying a new DD band...

I finally can tie and new drive band on the big wheel without using another hand. I can't say that i've "perfected" this task, but am happy enough about the progress to brag a little :)

Since we have a family gathering to go to today, I don't have much time to spin but have the wheel all ready to go with the intent on spinning this...

.... which is a Shetland sampler pack from Jamison & Smith. Can't wait to spin up this lovely, soft, sheepy-smelling wool!

Now i'm going download onto my Ipod one of the funny Charlaine Harris books to listen to while I spin. This one is called "Dead and Gone".

Happy Spinning!

Tour de Fleece plying and dying with the guild

I've been spinning for the Tour de Fleece, although I haven't posted many pictures recently. There are only so many ways to show the same fiber over and over :)

Been plying and have a boat load of 3-ply, 15 wpi - haven't counted the yardage but there is enough to knit something substantial! There is more of this yet to spin and ply. Getting sick of spinning the same thing and have been taking breaks and spinning a little bit of other fiber to play with the new wheel.

The fiber guild had a workshop yesterday and Jennifer's place in Chelsea for dying sock blanks. It was great fun and I came home with two.... I wonder how they will look knit up??!

Trying to find locally the type of twine needed to replace the drive band. I read somewhere to use beeswax to give it grip, but used wayyyyyyyy toooooo much and had to tie on the one extra length of twine that came with the wheel. I found some twine at Home Depot but it is a cotton/poly blend and just a little bit heavier. Will try it soon in order to practice and perfect DD band replacement. Don't know if i'll be able to perfect this task as it seems to need more than two hands to accomplish.

I've bought more plastic bins and am trying to get the motivation/inspiration to organize my stash. Who wants to spend the little bit of spare time organizing when there is fiber to spin and knit?!!?!?!?!

Getting back to the basics...

Getting back to the basics of wool, that is :) Spun up a little bit of the white coopworth to practice long draw and have some of the romney ready to ply that I also spun long draw. I really need more practice though! This is my progress so far on the Tour de Fleece. The dark bobbins are from Fred, the Sonata, and the others are from Adelaide, the new wheel. This is a pile of clean fleece - grey romney purchased from Peeper Hollow Farm and a little bit of the white coopworth purchased from Cedaredge Farms... both lovely fleeces. I think there is plenty of wool to practice long draw... now to card some of them together for the next experiment!

Adelaide

That's her name (i think)... Adelaide has been getting alot of face time since she came home. Just can't get over her beauty. See hubby sitting outside on the screened porch in the background.

I've spun a complete bobbin of the TdF yarn.... and then decided to try something else.

I spun up a batt of coopworth that I washed and carded on the drum carder a while back. I think I should have run it through the carder a few more times. This is my first TRUE long draw woolen yarn.

It didn't come out very well, but it is so light and fluffy. Since it is coopworth, it's not the softest wool in the world, but would make lovely outer wear like hats, cardigan/jacket, gloves and socks. I have a whole fleece to finish processing and haven't done so because I can't decide if i'll blend with some romney or leave as is.... tough choice. I know i'll blend some to spin for socks for the next January Spin-in. For now, i'll be practicing long draw with several other batts on hand with the goal of trying to get as good as Sandra... it will take years...

I was able to catch Zoe on camera yesterday morning... she rarely blesses us with her presence, but she really had to see what all the fuss was about!

I'm going to try to transport her to the LYS today so everyone else can see her beauty... a picture just doesn't do justice to the real thing.

She spins so well.. smooth, easy treadling... barely having to treadle to get yarn. I don't think I could treadle fast on her and be able to keep up with the drafting. Time will tell. I purchased a small block of carnauba wax, recommended by Schacht for the leather bearings, and some danish oil. I'm going to put a coat of danish oil on the lazy kate tomorrow. It has already been treated once at the factory, but it does seem kind of dry so i'll test out on the kate.

Off to spin!

A Wheel is Born...

Hubby called me while I was on my way to the LYS for Knit Nite to let me know that 2 big boxes were delivered by UPS. I quickly exited the highway to go home instead.

Kiki was very interested in the unpacking process and had to help.

The wheel was a breeze to put together! The table, legs and treadles were already assembled... just had to put the mother-of-all and the wheel on ... didn't even have to tie a drive band since it was already tied and taped to the wheel after the mfg tested.

Meet the new member of the family... for now she is "0336"... naming will come later, i'm sure:

I'm off to spin for the Tour de Fleece!!!! I hate missing Knit Nite and seeing all my knit and spin buds... but I think they will understand :)

TdF Day 3

Doesn't look like much added... but actually spinning kind of fine. Almost 2 bobbins full (4 oz each) is pretty good when work gets in the way of spinning!

FO - Swallowtail Shawl

Swallowtail Shawl - shhhhhh - i took these pictures at work, can you see?

Size 5 Knitpicks circulars

Knit with some hand dyed yarn that came from Australia... but i seem to have lost the label!!! I know it was from the "Knittery". It is verrrrry soft, little to no pooling, and the colors will look great with jeans! I knit most of this on vacation.

Tour de Fleece - Day 1

I joined!!! Teams: Lantern Rouge and SSS Lovers

TdF Day 1: Since we were not home much of the day on the 4th, my "day 1" consist of picking out my goal and spinning just a little. I'm going to spin this bag of 1.5 lbs of SSS special dyed superwash.

Progress:

I may even do 4-ply for the first time :)

Blue Ridge Pkwy con't

Not much effort was required to name this overlook on the BR Parkway :) Don't you love it?!?!

Being in the industry, we could not help but take a picture of this crew working on a new gift shop at the top of Grandfather Mountain... several violations were very noticeable. Can you spot them?

As I mentioned previously, fiber activities did not cease while on vacation. Not only was there knitting, but stash enhancement took place. I told hubby the search was on for a spinning wheel basket... the kind you hang from the wheel, not the kind you store your unspun fiber in. There were baskets to be found, but several stops were made before I found exactly what I was looking for at "Spin A Yarn" with a little help from Nancy since the GPS was not aware that the street name had changed! Here she is with her new pup outside the store:

Here is the new basket... isn't she cute?!?

I also purchased a button and this new-to-me fiber that is a blend of 70/15/15 Merino, Cashmere & NZ Possum. I think I'll put this on the list for some Tour de Fleece spinning.

I also enhanced the stash in Burnsville at Yummi Yarns with more sock yarn: Unique Sheep Leili, Superwash Merino/Mohair blend and J. Knits Superwash Me Sock in Boston:

All in all, it was a very good trip and we enjoyed our time away and alone! I'm sure we'll go back and take some teens next time :)