Anoka Fiber Works

Anoka Fiber Works is a small business located northwest of Minneapolis.  The shop is made up of vendors, much like an antique shop, and the owner is Mary of Spinning Magic.  Some of the vendors, myself included, teach classes and occasionally guest instructors come to the shop to teach.  There is space to sit in the spinning circle or take a seat at one of the tables to work on projects  and make new friends.  AFW hosts classes and open social hours. 

Coming up the first weekend of April is the North Artists Studio Crawl.  AFW is Studio F.  Deb P. of Old Man Wool Farm will be joining Kathryn, Rob, and I this year.  

We returned from China on Thursday.  I slept for ten of the fourteen hours from Shanghai to Boston because I caught Jim's cold.  We had a great time in China and below are a few photo highlights from our trip.  

We climbed a portion of the wall on the second day.

A group of us took the subway to the night market in Beijing.

Outside the Temple of Heaven folks gather to socialize and exercise.  Yarn barf is universal!

With the help of Google Translate, we managed to order a delicious meal of chicken and chrysanthemum blossom dumplings with vegetables and some coconut juice.

Learning about the health benefits of green tea.

A mix of the new and the old on the river in Shanghai.

Old town Shanghai was bustling with activity.

February 2018 classes

The last class for the month is Wednesday, 28 February and registration is required. Call or stop in during store hours for more information and to sign up. I look forward to seeing you!

Anoka Fiber Works
Call: 763-479-9626
Stop in: 4153 Coon Rapids Blvd, Coon Rapids, MN 55433
Store Hours:
Tues. 10-4
Wed. 12-8
Thurs. 12-5
Fri. 10-5
Sat. 10-5

BEGINNING RUG HOOKING
The technique of rug hooking is easy and fun to learn, especially when adding some of your own yarn to make your project unique!
DATE/TIME: Wed, February 28 from 5-8 pm
INSTRUCTOR: Deborah C.
COST: Class fee is $32 and the kits are $30 (purchase from Old Man Wool Farm)

A photo of my sample.  I added some of my handspun yarn to the picture.  

Friday FOs and a WIP off the loom

This year is starting off well for the WIP wipeout!  I finished a hat that I started in class.  It will be a shop sample so I do not have to leave my beret there.  I like the beanie version of Dreaming of Provence by Tori.  The Unicorn Tails are beautiful, but I prefer woolly wool for color work.  Super wash wool tends to behave like cotton and so I took a chance and put the damp hat in the dryer with a towel and checked it often.  Perfect!  The yarn bloomed and filled in the spaces.  I caution anyone not to do this with every super wash wool.  I know how this particular yarn behaves, so it was not a problem.

Lavender, sunflowers, poppies and almond flowers adorn the hat.

I topped it off with a sunflower.

The beginning of the weave-along journey, picking out warp and weft yarns.

The first armhole slit.

The string is used for measuring.  The knot marks 17-inches for the front past the second armhole slit .

Kathryn, Mary and I meet once a week at Anoka Fiber Works to weave and for support.

Kathryn's project is off the loom and she is doing a quick size check.

My project fresh off the loom.  The orange and turquoise yarn is waste yarn to be removed later.

I was pleased that I managed to make armhole slits, although I began the second one on the wrong side.  Kathryn noticed and I fixed it.  That is why working as a group is good.  We take care of each other through the process!

This morning I used the sewing machine to zigzag the edge above the waste yarn.  I will let it heal before I cut anything...because I am chicken...

Meanwhile...

Last weekend we had a fun time at an event by Ft. Snelling sponsored by REI.  It was a glorious day, very cold and we saw this beautiful sun dog over the lake.  

At this moment...

I have been finishing up lots of projects.  This week I completed two samples for the shop, a hat and a mitten.  The Baa-ble Hat is a delightful design by Donna Smith for Shetland Wool Week 2015.  Using Rowan Pure Wool Worsted made this project quick to knit compared to my fingering weight yarn projects of late.  Angel chose Rowan Pure Wool Worsted in Ivory, Umber, Gold and Lt. Grey Heather as the colors for the hat.  The design began as a Christmas ornament.  It is fun to look at all the projects on Ravelry of this hat.  I immediately thought of my handspun stash and will do a bit of stash diving today to see how much I can find for another hat.  The Nordic Mittens are a traditional star design by Beth Brown-Reinsel and were featured in Interweave Knits Winter 2004 issue (the pattern is now available as a single pattern, also.)  Knit with fingering weight yarns in solid and variegated, there are few ends to weave in when finished.  I would love to knit a pair in two solids to really show off the charted work.  These will be a perfect future class project.

The Baa-ble Hat and the sweet little sheep from Jennifer.

The Top This Hats are quick projects to make and Bobbi can't keep them in the shop!  Monkey enjoyed modeling.

Speaking of sheep--it has been that kind of week.  I met Jennifer for coffee and she had a gift for me, an adorable sheep she designed for Target and that happens to match another sheep I have on the little cupboard.  I am thinking that it might be appropriate to do a mini yarn bomb on it.  On Saturday the gals at Anoka Fiber Works had a class on how to choose a fleece for spinning.  It was interesting, informative and just in time for Shepherd's Harvest, which is coming up soon.  I will be sure to use my new knowledge when I check out the fiber for sale during the festival even though I am not in the market for a fleece.

Which bag of fleece would you choose and why?

Did you choose the light or the dark?

Learning about skirting the fleece--what to keep and what to take off.

Sheep's wool

Checking the crimp and the strength.

Alpaca

Welcome to the flock Reginald

Reginald is the newest member of the spinning wheel family.  I was at spin-in on Saturday and noticed him in Mary's space at Anoka Fiber Works.  He was a little dusty and needed his screws tightened, and I thought he was amazing!  On Tuesday, armed with tools and a dust cloth I set to work on him.  Mary had some oil and in no time he was in his element.  I brought the pound of Jacob/silk noil roving with me added a long leader to the bobbin and now have a nice single in the works.  Reginald is an Ashford Country Spinner.  Knitsinclass (Kate) is his former owner.  Joanne was helpful today in helping me track down the instructions.  Naturally we started looking at the internet together, which led us from the Ashford website to Ravelry, and then we looked at patterns, and so on and so forth.

The Ashford Country Spinner Double Treadle was made between 1999-2012 according to the website.  I did not notice a date stamp on Reginald, but I did find a date stamp on Louie (8088) making his birthday in 1988.

Reginald in all his glory.  The fiber is Jacob/silk noil Deb Peterson carded at Ewespun Woolen Mill the day of our field trip to her farm recently.

Now I know Louie's age!  On the bobbin is more of the Dark Side of the Moon.  I will have a sweater's worth when I am finished.  

I finished Dreaming of Provence by Tori.  It is a lovely pattern and the Madeline Tosh Unicorn Tails were the perfect choice of yarn for this project.  It is the perfect hat to wear on a cool spring day.

From bottom to top: poppies, lavender, sunflowers and almond flowers.

I recently had a class at Anoka Fiber Works using the Harrisville rug hooking kits.  Everything was included, but I encouraged the students to bring bits and bobs of their handspun yarn to use in addition to the yarn in the kit.  Deb Peterson carries the kits in her Anoka Fiber Works space.

Mine is on the left and Dawn's on the right.  Adding our own bits and bobs of handspun yarn made each picture unique.

Last but surely not least is Monkey Jacobus.  I finished him during the latest monkey class.  It is a challenging project to knit, but the result is so darned cute and always brings makes me smile.  He got into the leftover blue yarn and is making himself some pants.  Annita Wildshut's toy patterns are delightfully charming.  One of my students started the Vera Bear and it is adorable.  She said that after knitting the monkey the bear  is very easy.  

Monkey pants in the making!

Catching up

The last week of January--really?  I am working on catching up on projects and thinking of what is ahead for this year's classes.

The never-ending Kaffe Fasset squares are finished and I will be making two cushions.  It will be easier to display the cushions than the larger bolster.  I love the colors, but just did not enjoy knitting the squares.  I prefer stranded color work or intarsia.

The two pieces are drying and soon will be covering a cushion.

The KAL for Endgame by Michelle Hunter (knitpurlhunter) is finished.  It was rewarding to be able to complete the project within the four weeks.  Working with HiKoo Kenzie is always a pleasure.  I have to take a good photo to send in for the contest ends in February.

Endgame in HiKoo Kenzie, Saddleback.

Last Monday a group from Anoka Fiber Works took a field trip to Black Cat Farmstead in Stockholm, Wisconsin.  It was a lovely drive through the snow covered landscape, which reminded me of the hills of southern Ohio. There were fish houses scattered on Lake Pepin.  When we arrived, Rollo and Andrea greeted us and we walked from the house to the studio.  Andrea's studio is a small, two story house that once occupied a spot on the farm of author Laura Ingalls Wilder's grandparents.  The farm is nearby and after Andrea purchased the house, she had it moved to her farm.  The basement houses a large loom and a cheese-curing room.  The main floor has a wood-burning stove and there are baskets of natural and dyed roving, finished yarn, and silk hankies.  Andrea rescues spinning wheels and they dot the nooks and crannies of the back room.  Upstairs there are two large looms and some of her wheels.  We sat up there and enjoyed some of her homemade goat cheese with crackers and nice hot coffee.

We went outside to visit the sheep and the horses.  the Icelandic wool had a nice sheen in the late afternoon sun and there was a particularly cute dark Shetland lamb.

It was a great day and good to get out and about with fiber-loving friends.

Rollo leads the way to the studio.

Andrea and Rollo

Always a good sign!

Spindles and other fiber goodies.

Rollo helps Andrea get the stove going.

The layers of paint tell a story inside the house.

Bight colors on a cold winter day.

Lovely fiber everywhere!

The basket of roving by the window was hard to resist.  The stairs lead to the...

...studio!  The upstairs is newly renovated.  

On the other side is a cozy spot with lots of light and the perfect place to work and chat.

A dream wheel.

Downstairs is for drying. 

Of course no trip is complete without sheep encounters.  Icelandic and Shetland sheep, my favorites.

Over the weekend was the bi-monthly Spin In at Anoka Fiber Works.  There was a good crowd and the bunnies were there, too!  I brought my Moosie and the roving I got in Stockholm.  I like the way the singles plied together in the bottom photo.  

Mary's center pull ball exploded while she was plying.

Dawn snuggles one of the visiting bunnies.

The bunnies were friendly and so sweet.

The fiber matches the hair!

Whatever I make with this yarn will be called Rollo.