Catching up, round 3

Just a few short months ago I was enjoying a plain air painting session at an apple orchard north of Anoka.  I belong to the Plain Air Club through the Rumriver Art Center.  It is the same group that painted outdoors last winter when it was 16-degrees Fahrenheit.  We have a nice time together.  If the weather is inclement, we will paint in the studio.  I have my photos from painting sessions and travels for reference when I work inside.  On this day I was using the water soluble oils, although since that time I have been giving acrylics another try.  The  quick drying time works well for layering color, although I still prefer the buttery texture and feel of painting with oils.

A beautiful, early fall day for painting outdoors!

Between painting sessions, I planned a project for Jim.  Using colors of the Grey Wolf (NYLT) patch, I designed a scarf, and wove it on the Cricket loom.  The super wash wool is warm, soft, and easy care.  I like the design and want to try other color combinations.  The length is perfect for going around the neck twice with plenty of scarf to keep the chest warm.

 Fall progressed quickly.  It was very rainy and the leaves took longer to turn, but there were pockets of beautiful fall color to enjoy.

   A finished project (just last week) is the handwoven tunic.  It began as a jumper, but after fulling the fabric, I could not place the pattern pieces for the short length.  After sleeping on other ideas for a few days, I decided to make a tunic.  My inspiration came from the recent exhibit of Gudrun Sjödén's clothing at the Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.  The wool tunic is a great alternative to wearing a sweater.  I shortened the short version of the pattern by about 3-inches and then added a piece on the side to smooth out the flare to the hem. I was able to lay the pattern, cut out the four pieces, and have leftover fabric.  The facings are lightweight linen and I used a Hong Kong finish on the inside.  The buttons are decorative, as I did not want to fiddle with buttonholes.  For ease of wearing, I added a snap and sewed the top button to the top layer, and then sewed the bottom buttons through all the layers.  The buttons came from a vendor at Shepherd's Harvest Festival and were waiting for the perfect project.  I believe this was the perfect project.  At this time there is no pocket as originally planned, but I can add it later.  

McCall's pattern from the 1990s, Harrisville Designs Shetland wool for warp and weft.

Winter is fast approaching.  The leaves are down, the geese are flying south, and the neighborhood turkeys are everywhere.  It was very cold recently and I bundled up for my daily walks.  The turkey prints were on the sidewalk beside the field and it looks as though they were deciding which way to go.  

Sweater weather has arrived!

A couple of Sundays ago Ellie taught a basket class at AFW.  The class almost didn't go until I snapped a photo and Teresa posted it on Facebook.  The class had a waiting list.  It was great fun and we were happy with our baskets.  I will eventually stain mine.  The round oak handles are unusual and were not difficult to add.

It's official, we had our first snowfall.  Good thing it snowed before the new shed was built.  The concrete cured and on Halloween the he-shed was installed.  Now the little camper will have a home. The weather turned cold quickly and I didn't take the time to change out the warm weather clothes for the cold weather clothes, yet.

Big change in the back yard landscape.

I took the opportunity to walk when the snow was falling and the wind was blowing.  The chill felt good and there were interesting things to see along the way.  It was obvious the wind was blowing from the north!

Mother Nature iced the cake.

A cold wind was blowing from the north.

One does not always have to look up to see interesting color and pattern.

The hydrangea is prettiest in autumn.  I think this would be a lovely color story for a project.

School is in session

School is in session and it's time to finish a project, add a class, and experiment.  The latest FO is my handspun vest made with the Mocha Dream roving from Ewespun Fiber Mill.  The fiber, ⅓ each Romeldale wool, alpaca, and camel down, was a dream to spin.  I ended up with 478 yards of two-ply yarn, which was more than enough for the vest.  The pattern called for a size US 9/5.5 mm knitting needle and after knitting a swatch I got the gauge I needed with a US 7/4.5 mm needle.  The pattern is from Folk Style, a book I've had in my library for some time.  The Grand Tour Waistcoat, designed by Di Gilpin was the perfect choice. There are a few Ravelry projects using the pattern without the intarsia motif.  The finished vest looks good with or without the swirls.  I didn't mind battling the bobbins, as intarsia is one of my favorite knitting techniques.

There's nothing better than a finished project.  The latest FO is a vest, knitted using spindle-spun yarn, using the intarsia knitting technique.  (I have an upcoming class for teaching the intarsia technique at Anoka Fiber Works.)   Intarsia, aka picture knitting, was popular when I picked up the needles in the early 1980s and I dove in relatively quickly as a fearless young knitter.  Thankfully the bobbins of varying sizes and shapes are still in the toolbox.

There wasn't a plan for the yarn in the beginning, as I just wanted to spin the beautiful roving from Deb Peterson, proprietor and shepherdess of Ewespun Fiber Mill at Old Man Wool Farm.  Deb premiered the roving at Shepherd's Harvest Festival over Mother's Day weekend.  The fiber blend is ⅓ Romeldale sheep's wool (from Deb's flock), ⅓ alpaca (also locally sourced), and ⅓ camel down.  The process of spinning was a joy and the natural colors blended into a beautiful variegated two-ply yarn with z-twist singles and s-twist ply.  I am thankful to have purchased that third ball because the 478 yards were enough for a larger project.

Fortunately, after many years of knitting and spinning, I have an ample library of knitting and fiber-related books.  Folk Style had the perfect pattern, Grand Tour Waistcoat designed by Di Gilpin.  Figuring that

Mocha Dream spy with the IST oak burl spindle.  The perfect tool for the project.

Mary snapped a photo for me.  There are three cables in the middle of the top motif.  

The upper fronts sport some seed stitch texture and cables.

A new class on the schedule at Anoka Fiber Works is for a Dorset "Cartwheel" Button.  Janie Crow taught our knitting group how to make them while in Shetland.  It was fun and we used the wool from our projects.  I thought it was time to practice and found the buttons easy and fun to make.  

The first three buttons turned into eleven buttons and counting.

The fall colors have been delayed by the abundance of rain this year.  I love the pops of color against the sidewalk concrete and grass.

I found a skein of fractal-spun Malabrigo Nube from a spindle spinning class I taught a few years ago.  The colors look like the leaves on the sidewalk (minus the grass).  I don't know what it will be, but I'm knitting a gauge swatch to try it out and see how it knits up.

Weaving Wednesday is a good time to experiment a "painted" warp.  I had some fabric markers, so I went small scale on a small loom to try it out.  No drips!  If I like doing this, I'll invest in some good quality fabric paint.  The blue and white fabric in the top left corner of the photo is Fey's kitchen towel.  She was very happy to finish them!

I finally used the skein of Vice yarn (Blurred Lines) that has been waiting patiently in the stash.  I think it would make a nice hat.  At the time I took the photo (yes, I fixed the position of the dowel to go up and over the front beam) there really wasn't a weft yarn I thought looked good with the colors, so I went with a neutral color.  As of this writing, it's coming along nicely.

This and that

Jim and I helped Ben with some yard work.  His maple tree is just lovely and I had to hug it.

Halloween night

We wore our costumes from the Scooby Doo themed Cub Scout Camporee.  Albert and Alberta.

Jody's bunny was a cute attraction to the booth at the Cambridge Fiber Fair in October.
He says, "Spin more cotton."

I was spinning some kitchen sink fiber from Old Man
Wool Farm and while sitting on a felted karakul wool seat cover that Linda made.

The fabric after washing, steaming, and brushing.
I have to do a muslin mock up of the wrap skirt before cutting into this!

The wall o' wool

I finished carding the four pounds of Jacob wool Jim got me from The Kerry Woolen Mill in Ireland.  Mikey, Jim's colleague from Ireland,  brought it over when he came over on a business trip.  I have two more pounds of wool from him!  The wool came as roving of sorts, but I wanted to loosen the fibers and make it manageable to spin so I sent it through my Wild Carder to make small batts.  Test spinning, plying and knitting swatches from each color will reveal how the wool looks as fabric and the goal is to use some of it for slippers and filled mittens.  

A nice surprise prize from Spinzilla was a $25.00 gift certificate from Akerworks, based out of Tennessee.  I used it for a portable Trillium spindle in neon green.  The spindles can be found under Hand Crafts on their website.

The black piece attached to the tag fits over the hook and protects it from bending.
The shaft is carbon fiber, which is very lightweight.

Between spinning and teaching there has been some knitting of WIPs and UFOs.  I resurrected the Round Dance hat on Halloween night.  The skeletons remind me of the first Disney Silly Symphony, The Skeleton Dance from 1929.

The Lopi cardigan is getting a band makeover.  I was never really happy with the bands and will re-do the bottom, fronts and neckband/collar as I did on the Shwook hat band.  

Next is the first project from the Seven Skeins Club.  I passed on the slippers in favor of Cohal, a slip-stitch cowl.  It was an easy knit, instant gratification!

Cochal (Scottish Gaelic word for hood)

We have enjoyed a beautiful and unseasonably warm Autumn.  The small burning bush in front is pretty.

...and finally, Jim was at the Minnesota Wild (hockey) game last week and got a selfie stick.  I like the photo.

spinknit

It is a busy time of year--yarn tasting at the shop, sample knitting, classes and spinning.  My project for yarn tasting the Snowy Woods Hat made with HiKoo Tiara.  It is a wool blend sprinkled with beads and sequins.  I typically do not use shiny objects in my knitting, but this was the perfect yarn for the project and it bloomed nicely when I blocked the project.  The pattern is part of a collection of six patterns and is available as an e-book or single pattern.

Snowy Woods Hat for Yarn Tasting

A beautiful autumn sky...

...and a cloud of BFL to spin

Colorful leaves...

...colorful yarn

FOs and Old Man Wool Farm

Did you hear the latest? Deb of Old Man Wool Farm and I are dishing the dirt in front of the Debbie Gossip wheel.

It is time to post some finished projects.  I have been burning up the needles, spinning wheel, spindles, and loom with projects for work.  Here they are (not necessarily in order of completion).

30.10.14  Lots of projects going at the same time around here.  I have three samples for Blue Sky going (sorry, I cannot show them), some of the class samples are finished and on display at Amazing Threads, the Kaffe Fassett KAL is coming along.  I need to finish two of the squares in time for  the release of Clue 4 tomorrow, and it is time to cast on for my Custom Fit cardigan.  I am making the Acorn Trail with Frabjous Fibers March Hare (worsted weight) in Tulgey Wood, a lovely deep dark brown.  This yarn is special as it is dyed and spun in the USA and the inspiration is from my favorite story book Alice in Wonderland.

The Gansey Headband is a quick project and great stash buster.

Customized P Chullo hat.  Initials on the earflaps, 'I love wool,' and sheep adorn the top.  

Timber Mitt before cutting the loops.

Wavelength is a striking scarf.

Kaffe Fasset Mystery KAL from Rowan.  Clue 1

Clue 2

Clue 3

Intarsia in the round cell phone cozy.  Good tutorial.

Gansey Legwarmers.  I will need these soon!

Earlier this month AFW had a field trip to Deb Peterson's Old Man Wool Farm/Ewespun Fiber Mill.  It was a gorgeous day to visit the farm.  Deb fired up the card and blended a Jacob fleece with blue silk noil she dyed.  I purchased some fiber from Hidden Valley Farm and we loved the colorway called Dark Side of the Moon, a Coopworth/silk noil blend.  With half of the fiber spun into a single, I can spin the pound of Deb's into another single and then ply the two together.

It is fun to visit the sheep.

The llama was happy to butt in and get an apple treat.

This beauty had one of the top fleeces at Shepherd's Harvest this year.

One of Deb's wheels, a delicate French beauty.

The card had leftover colors, which looked really nice.  

Blue silk noil blended with Jacob.  This will go with my Cormo/silk noil blend.  Watching the roving come out is mesmerizing

Autumn was particularly colorful and the weather was just perfect this year.  

Pretty colors in the small wildflower garden.

The birch trees are always watching.

Some neighborhood turkeys joined me on my morning walk.

One of the yard critters.  We call them mini-bears at Philmont.  

I do not know how it happened, but this was a most unusual split!