This should keep me busy for a while!

Today's mail brought a box.... a big box.  And inside is a whole shetland fleece from a sheep named Mary, from Flutterby Farms in the San Diego area.    This fleece was living happily on Mary until last Saturday, the 27th, when John Quimby from Roseburg, OR sheared her.   All this info came from Jeri, (Fluffysgarden on Ravelry) who offered to select and ship several fleeces at a really good price.  How could I turn down such an offer.  Talk about fresh!    It was too windy to unfold it onto the mesh picnic table outside, so I spread a twin size sheet in the basement and carefully spread it out.

 I removed the yucky poopy bits, the second cuts and the coarser parts around the edges.

What is left has a staple length of about 4-5 inches and I really look forward to processing it to see what results.    

The cut side of the fleece is a lovely oatmeal color, while the tip ends are more yellow.   

I did bundle up about 6 oz of it into mesh bags to soak and wash over the next couple of days and I will be interested to see what the final color will be.    

I finished the Romney silver that I started a few weeks ago and ended up with about 5 oz of worsted weight yarn.   It was a pleasure to card and spin.

As a break from all the neutral colors, I have also been spinning up Dark Cathedral, by JulieSpins.   I originally thought it would be for socks but I think I am spinning too thin for that.   As a two ply, it should make pretty dramatic lace weight yarn.  This yarn is superwash merino, bamboo, and nylon.

And the shopping bag is coming along nicely.    My hands are getting used to the coarseness of the hemp fiber and it is a simple enough pattern to carry along for portable knitting.

Finished Squares/Finished Yarn

Two more squares are finished, washed and blocked:

Judy Sumner square with spider and flies:   The little fly at the top left doesn't show up too well...I should have used a contrast color.   I really liked the lace of the web, and I think it would make a great lacy scarf on larger needles.....hmmmmm.

Ann Strong square with pomegranates:

That makes 7 finished squares and I am now working on my 8th, which is Meredith K Morioka on page 8 and 9 of the book.   I am only an inch in now, so I will wait to show you all til later.   Once I finish this square I will be officially 1/3 finished!   Imagine that.   I have grown a lot since the beginning of this project, but especially in my mental ability to rip back to correct an error instead of plowing on and accepting it.   It is making all the difference in the final result.   So my 1/3 finished is not quite.....since I will most likely remake a few of the first squares with obvious mistakes..

Spinning:

Mostly I have been sitting on my hands when JulieSpins has posted updates to her Etsy shop.    But I couldn't resist this one:    Falkland wool in the Color: Magenta Madness and my goal was worsted weight yarn for hat or mitts.

Singles:

Singles with Fiber:

2 Ply, washed, and dried.  The color here is a bit washed out.   The colors above are closer to reality!

OOOOH   PRETTY!!!

Re: the first BEEZY post.   Mom is a little embarrassed that I am posting those, because she dated a lot before she met my Dad.   I assured her that the whole collection is charming and shows her as a young girl full of life.   When you see her gray hair now, it is good to be reminded of the young girl inside her head who still lives.

And another thing.....

From the comments so far, it looks like I have good reason to continue! I wasn't going to quit, but it is nice to be validated to continue! Keep those comments coming!

I looked at my blog as well, in this time of reflection and I ask you......Am I fighting middle age still, or am I fending off old age? I am referring to my banner at the top of the blog and now that this is the year I turn 60 ( I only feel 30.....of course, I use to say I felt 19) does my banner need a new subtitle????

Update on the bench and vanity from Mom's house: After all the research, I realized what we had in our possession, so I took the bench to be reupholstered, and talked to the gentleman there about the possibility of stripping the paint off the vanity and refinishing it as well. The bottom line was that the vanity would cost about $2400 to strip and refinish and there would be NO guarantee that he could restore it to the original beautiful mahogany finish since he had no way to determine how the piece was prepared for the paint back in the 60's. So I had to let it go for a pittance, but it is now sold to a nice young family who knows the treasure they may have if they put a little sweat equity into it.

As for the bench, this is fabric I purchased:

and since I am not paying to refinish the vanity, I decided to have the wood restored and finished as well as the upholstery replaced. Not cheap, but as my brother told me, it is a significant family keepsake.

I knit a second pair of mittens from the handspun alpaca

and now have started on a simple watch cap.

Maybe I'll add a stripe to the top of the hat for interest. I could use black or ivory for contrast. I'll have to see how that develops as it is knit up. So from 10 oz of raw fiber, at least 3 project sprang forth. Not bad....

And I am spinning. I finished a beautiful Merino from JulieSpins in the color: Canada (Photo courtesy of Julie)

which I navajo plied into a nice worsted weight

and I am now working on a Finn fiber from Bride Flight Studios

in the color: Oracle of Delphi. (Photo from her Etsy site) It is so soft and inviting. At spinning group last Sunday I was told that since Finn has a long staple, it makes a nice single ply yarn, so that is my goal so far.

Every time I checked her shop, it was empty, but I lucked into this one.
Timing is everything, and I will be checking again often, as all the sold colors were gorgeous.

There's more, but I don't want to spill it all out at once.

After a 4 day weekend

I just wasn't satisfied having so much handspun fiber left over after finishing my first pair of handspun socks. I knew there was enough for at least one more sock, but would there be enough for 2 more??? Taking the scientific approach (please note: totally unlike me), I weighed each finished sock on my digital kitchen scale and a-ha, one weighed 61 grams and the other measured 45 grams! I knew one was heavier, but I was really surprised at the difference between the two. I then weighed the leftover handspun yarn and it weighed 100 grams, or just under 4 oz. I then rewound it into two balls of 50 grams each and felt I should start another pair!

As the yarn ran through my fingers to the ball-winder, I knew that this was the thinner yarn of the smaller sock, so I went down to a size 2 and cast on 56 stitches for another pair of plain socks. These too, I am doing 2 at a time on circs, so if I run out near the toes, I can at least be certain that the toes will match each other, if not the rest of the sock. I am really happy with the texture of this pair so far.

After the 4 day weekend, I should have more to show for my time, but relaxing and enjoying the sunshine was the original plan. I took several walks, watch several movies and finished up the
Targhee from JulieSpins. It is incredibly soft and squooshy in its finished skeins. I didn' measure yet the yardage but I must have at least 400 yards in the two skeins (plus the bitty one) in sock/fingering weight out of the 5 oz of fiber.

I just love how the colors played in this yarn as it was two plyed. The two skeins don't even look like they come from the same fiber,

but one skein will lead naturally into the other.

Now to plan a project.... another Ishbel, perhaps? Any other ideas out there? Until then, I will be satisfied just giving it a squeeze every now and then!

Fibery Progress

One finished project! YAY! These are my first handspun socks, in a 48 stitch plain sock, top down on size 2 needles, 2 at a time. Spun from Dragonfibers (merino, bamboo and nylon).

I was going for a normal weight sock, but I ended up with a heavy sock which will be nice with Crocs and boots this winter. I used a regular 3 ply for them and I thought I was spinning sooooooo thin. Live and learn, and the funny thing is that one sock is much lighter weight than the other. I have enough yarn left to probably knit a third sock to keep as a spare and it might match one or the other of the socks. I can't really remember whether I spun thinner at the end, or at the beginning. So much for conscious spinning and knitting.

Washed and skeined up, below is the finished yarn from the Pagewood Farms fiber, in the color Maple Leaf. The label only said "wool", but it was soft and lovely to spin. They are both 3 ply but notice the difference navajo plying makes with the colors in the smaller skein. Soon (?) to be mittens. Maybe I will put a crochet edging around the cuffs with the smaller skein......

The Target Practice socks are making progress. I did have to frog back the heel once, because it was totally wonky.

I am a little concerned about the size of the socks. I measured exactly and had even gone down to size 0 needles, but as you can see, they look a little big for a women's medium. Since these are my first short-row heels, maybe when I rejoin with the instep stitches, it draws up and gets a smaller length to the foot. Anyone have any experience with short row heels?? I am glad I didn't try to do these 2 at a time since I would have spent even more time frogging back. Tonight I may get to start on the tops and see how that pattern does it thing. To be continued.

And, last but certainly not least, is some spinning goodness developing on my wheel. As a reminder, this is the fiber: Targhee wool in the color, Bouquet from JulieSpins. I am quite addicted to her fiber as I have mentioned before.

The top bobbin is from the outside of the roving and the second bobbin is from the inside. It hardly looks like the same batch! I split the entire roving in half lengthwise, and will 2-ply it which should result somewhat in some stripes. Of course it is my perogative to change my mind and navajo ply it to maintain the variation of colors and make clearer stripes. Another to be continued.......

Thursday Catchup

I cannot believe this week and that it is already Thursday. What that means for me (but not most people) is that my weekend is here again. Working parttime is bad for the budget, but I love the 3 days off each week. My only problem is that I have one extra day to get into trouble. I couldn't help myself....the Koigu was on sale last Friday when I went to knitting group at Colorful Yarns. My purchase qualified for a green bag by being over ??? dollars. I just cannot reveal in public the amount of my purchases for my own protection!!! ;-) The green bag can be used in the future for one of the Green Bag Sales where everything I can stuff into it is off a certain percentage. I just hope they don't have one too soon!

Nice group and a variety of ages and abilities. And something is on sale every week! The book wasn't on sale, but I couldn't resist this one:

There are lots of gift ideas for socks, hats and accessories that are unique. I really want to try the beaded socks from the front cover.

The other rabbit hole I fell down this week was JulieSpins shop update last Sunday. I knew in advance and planned my morning accordingly. Julie's yarns and rovings are so sought after that you have to sign in to Etsy and be ready to commit. If you dawdle, your choice disappears into someone else's shopping basket. I didn't dawdle.....but I did control myself and limited my purchase to only one:

This is Targhee wool fiber in the color Bouquet. I have never spun Targhee before but it is rumoured to be like buttah! I am trying to get away from spinning my favorite colors of blue teal and green and this roving grabbed my mouse finger right away.

Progress on the socks: I am working on the heel flap now and had to look up the formula for the heel turn on a 48 stitch pattern. Thank you Charlene Schurch!

What I am finding that the sock on the left has much thicker spinning at the heel than the one on the right, and I may actually have to do a few extra rows before turning the heel. My spinning is not perfect, but who will notice???

Last but not least is the Ishbel Shawl. I finished all the lace and now casting off. I definitely will make this pattern again since once I got the hang of it, it went along smoothly. As you can see, I am using much larger needles for the cast off (10.5) so that blocking this edge with its point will not be a problem. I think the side edges are a bit tight now and I worry about stretching it out.

It sure doesn't look like much in its green blobby state. Stay tuned.

Too Quiet on the home front!

Ali has only been gone for 2 days and already the silence is deafening. I am so glad she was able to spend so much time here with us. Amanda was only here for the first weekend, and with both girls here, the girl energy was strong. How great it was to be able to have the family together again for a happy gathering.

Alison did allow me to photograph her in the beret she chose of the two finished hats, both handspun and hand knit. It will serve her well in the damp cold of KC!

The Tour continues, and so do I

Lance cannot hope to win, and neither can I, but I can finish, and so can he! I may not have spun the most, or the prettiest, or the artsy-est or the fastest, but I am approaching the end of the Tour de Fleece with my goal met and all the rest being gravy! This is the very end of the original 2 pounds (32 oz) of Ashland Bay Merino in English Garden. This mini skein is still not washed so it appears a bit twisty. Notice, not a blister to be found. I bet Lance can't say that! I must feel pretty secure about myself to show my feet to the world, but it is summertime and living is easy..........

And here is a basket o' yarn with the rest of the English Garden as well as the laceweight Enchanted Seas from Julie Spins.

With a few days to go in the Tour, I went up to my stash box and pulled out the Kai Mohair in the color Caribbean and began to spin so fine........ Even two ply may be too thin for my liking so I think a Navajo 3-ply is in order. This will stripe the finished yarn, so I will have to choose my pattern carefully.

Saturday was field trip day for Stacy and me. In the morning we drove up to Boulder for a tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory tour. We were a bit disappointed that the machinery doesn't run on the weekends, but it was interesting anyway. We dropped a little bit in the Gift Store, and I thought the highlight was seeing the original artwork that was commissioned for the box art. It was incredibly whimsical and the boxes don't do the art justice.

After lunch at an Indian Buffet, a gastronomical flavor which I can say I introduced Stacy to, we went to a class taught by the famous Cookie A. All the sock samples from her new book were there and they may have to go into the queue for later. I have made several pairs of her Monkey Socks and this particular class was on chart reading. She went through the various charting methods and for practice we began a sample of a Celtic braid as shown.

Using her method for cabling without a cable needle was worth the price of admission, as Stacy said. I need practice, but I might just pick up the Slippery Socks again, using this method especially since it uses a one stitch cable repeatedly.

My cleaning break is over (any excuse from housework), and I must vaccuum the downstairs. The kids are coming and I am so excited, that it will be worth the effort, even it they don't notice!

Tour de Fleece, day 11

Finished the JulieSpins fiber in the color Enchanted Seas: 2-ply, nearly 400 yards and 4 oz.

Two more bobbins of the Ashland Bay Merino in English Garden.Tomorrow, I will post a cumulative effort so far.

Yesterday was a rest day from spinning, so I obeyed the rules. So what did I do??? I frogged back my Ishbel shawl which you can see to the right in my projects in its before state.. I took it back about 1 1/2 inches beyond the lace, because I was fudging so many rows to make the stitch count come out right that it was now totally wonky. Hopefully, this next time around, with all my practice on the pattern, it will come out closer to the way it was designed.

Edited to add: Looking at my spinning during the Tour de Fleece with my banner photograph, I definitely have to get out of my blue,green, teal, turquoise rut. I think I have more fibers in similar colors in my stash!

Finished Beret!

Remember when I was making lemonade out of lemons? See Here! Well, instead of using the crochet hook, I picked up with size six double points stitches all around the cast off edge at a ratio of 2 to 3 and then knit in K1P1 ribbing for about 1 1/2 inches. Of course, I was at the hairdressers when it was time to cast off and I was afraid of casting off too tightly, so I scavenged through my purse and used a ball point pen. It was pretty rounded so I had to click it open to have a point. Except for having marked up my fingers in the process, it worked great. So there.... to those airport scanners who confiscate knitting needles...we are very resourceful!

Here is the final flat beret from top and bottom.

bottom:

top:

I needed to grab a couple of the cuties from next door to model the finished product, because it is hard to photograph it on myself........ I had two willing models: first is Sophia:

And Mariel:

Aren't they adorable! And they didn't even mind posing in 95 degree heat!

There is only one more thing I might do and that is to crochet a single line around the seam from the old cast off and the new cast on. I used this technique when I steeked my Kauni sweater more than a year ago. It is similar to the lazy dazy stitch if you embroider.

Now back to spinning for day 5 of the Tour de Fleece.