Weaving a top

Last week on Weaving Wednesday I warped my loom for the first half of the top.  Using the shape of a top from the book I got last month, I worked out the calculations and Mary helped me with the warp.  Kathryn was out of town, so we just plowed through and with lots of laughing Mary and I managed just fine.  I believe Kathryn would be proud.  I went through the stash at home and found some fluffy wool that looked wonderful in the small section I sampled along with a second sample of using the warp yarn for the weft.  I liked the white until I began to weave with it...too fluffy, too sticky, and removed after a few passes of the shuttle.  The warp yarn was not what I wanted either because it looked boring.  This morning I dug through my handspun stash and found a lovely tweed in what I think will be enough for the top.  Now I am ready for Weaving Wednesday!

 

I liked the texture of the white wool but the warp as weft was less than inspiring
for a large project.  

29.04.16 Weaving along!  Kathryn's husband, Steven, came to take our photo on Wednesday for the magazine.  One side of my top is almost complete.  Fortunately I took the time to remeasure the length and was just shy in a couple of spots.  On Wednesday I unwove the sleeve so I could add a bit more to the body to make the full 12-inches under the arm.  Time goes quickly when you work as a group because of all the chatting and support.  Now to gather the yarn snippets and put my thoughts into 800 words.

The body of the weaving is on the left and the waste yarn filling in the side before the sleeve is on the right.

The sleeve is finished and the other side of the body is in progress.  Small safety pins mark the measurements:  12-inches below the sleeve, 20-inches for the sleeve (to be folded), and 12-inches below the other side of the sleeve.

Disengaging the forward pawl relaxes the tension and I can get an accurate measurement.

It is almost Shepherd's Harvest Festival time!  I am taking the felted sheep rug class taught by Linda Johnson-Morke  and then doing a demo on top-whorl spindle spinning, although not on the same day.  I will be curious to see how many steps I chalk up in the foot stomping part of the felting process.  This week an email came from  Marcia of Joxer's Jacobs. ChiChi's fleece is available, which is hard to resist.  I'm waiting to hear the weight and price.  Last year's was a perfect 3.3 pounds, beautifully skirted.

On the needles is the ribbing for the second woven hat.  As of today the temperature is more spring-like and this will be the perfect weight for cool mornings and evenings.  What a difference a day makes; yesterday was cold with rain showers and today is sunny and warmer.

Working the ribbing on the beanie hat.

 Last weekend five of us from the Crew took the Wilderness First Aid class.  The CPR portion was on Friday evening and the first aid on Saturday and Sunday.  The scenarios were helpful and we had to MacGyver the materials on hand to create splints, stretchers, and such to help the victims.

A screen with gauges at the waist of Ambu Man pops up for the responders to see if the compressions and breaths are correctly administered.  If the compressions are off the proper spot on the chest, it makes a clicking sound.

Jim was a victim with hypothermia and became a human burrito.

 Jim's birthday was this week and I made his favorite cake for the occasion. There were only two candles, but the rest were implied.  It would have been a mess to light more ;^).

Happy birthday, Jim!

Ben made reservations at Pittsburgh Blue for a family celebration.

Getting in the 10,000 steps daily is not difficult and helps to keep in shape for the upcoming backpacking trip.  Geese, ducks, and birds have returned as well as the green grass and leaves on the trees.  

On the walk...the geese were sounding the alarm while protecting a nest.

I love the way the morning light highlighted the birch tree.
Ever watchful white birch trees are so pretty.  

A day at the festival

On Saturday I went to Shepherd's Harvest Festival in Lake Elmo.  I did not take any classes, but did do a demo on top whorl spindle spinning.  It was such fun.  The demo area was in Building A and Andrea from Black Cat Farmstead was beside me.  Seeing the antique wheels lovingly restored is always a treat.  The first purchase of the day was a spindle sporting a glow-in-the-dark whorl 3D printed by Andrea's son.

A 3-D printed spindle whorl...

...that glows in the dark!

There were lots of vendors, some new some familiar.  I love the patterns from Ewetopia and purchased a few including Daisy and the October Cowl.

Sheep were sheared on the hour and Jody, one of my friends from Anoka Fiber Works, was skirting fleeces.  Between the shearing we talked about fleeces for sale in the barn.  I mentioned the beautiful Jacob fleece from Joxer's Jacobs.  Jody's eyes lit up and she said how nice they were.  I was not in the market for a fleece but her comments piqued my interest.  We went to the barn together and looked at the fleeces.  I had two in particular that I liked (Jody, you taught me well) and she agreed.  The smaller 3.3-pound fleece was mine!  Yesterday I roughly separated the colors.  Today I began the scouring process.  The wool is even nicer than I originally thought and nicely skirted.  ChiChi is the sheep with the lovely fleece.  The scouring is going well so far.  I worked from dark to light, which is my last batch.  The wool is fluffy and soft and the combination of natural black, gray and white is really pretty.  I will be interested to see how many yards of each color I can spin.  Perhaps enough for a Fair Isle vest?

Baaa!

Jacob fleece before dividing and scouring.

These little lambs were chilling in the barn.

It is always nice to know the names of the sheep.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Cookies n' Cream, although they are all cute.

The sheep surely look different when sheared.

Baa baa black sheep.  This little fellow was  so soft and sweet.

Pretty roving for sale in the barn.

My friend Jennifer.  It was so good to see her!

Mary from Anoka Fiber Works gives a spindle spinning lesson.

Andrea from Black Cat Farmstead grows flax.  Preparing the flax into linen is labor intensive. I did it one time before we moved to Minnesota.   

My new spindle, Stella with the beautiful Shetland wool roving I bought.  

The Baa-ble Hat--finished!

I finished the Baa-ble Hat last night and I am pleased with the end result.  Knitting with handspun yarn can be a challenge.  Originally the original green yarn I spun looked like a worsted weight.  I carded the blue-green Finnsheep with the yellow-green wool from Sue Ross and did not spin quite fine enough to obtain the gauge I wanted.  The other yarns in the stash were thinner and more even, so I quickly spun some more of the Finnsheep and was happier with the result.  There is a tiny hint of the bright green and I like the cool blue cast in the yarn.

I love how the Finnsheep blends into the other wool and changes the color.

Late last night I was so excited to be finished in time for Shepherd's Harvest.

A bit of steam worked nicely to smooth the crown

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Inside I tied the pompom to a button.  I use a strand of dental floss doubled to tie pompoms.  It is strong and stays tight around the core of the pompom.  

The sheep color changed three times.  I started out with white, changed to gray and then back to white.  Digging deeper into the stash I found a nice white that matched the thickness of the other yarns and used the fluffier tweed white for the snow and in the pompom. At first I thought the white would not stand out enough from the pale indigo used in the crown, but I liked it so much better than the gray and I did not have any darker blue in the stash.  The rustic texture adds to the charm of the design.  This morning I put the hat on the form and used the steam iron to give it a few blasts of steam and smoothed and patted the crown with my hands.  Rather than attaching the pompom permanently I tied in on the inside to a button, which will make washing the hat easier and keep the pompom looking good.  There was enough blue left to make a small pompom.

The final color choices.  I had just enough of the sheep white to use for the sheep section.  I think that some mittens or fingerless mitts may be in order for later.

Tomorrow is Shepherd's Harvest and I was happy to see my short bio on the website.  I have to get my stuff together today.  I kept the demo to top whorl drop spindling.  I have the Shetland roving from last year's trip to Jamieson & Smith to finish, BFL cloud and linen.  That should be enough variety to keep me busy.  Everything will fit nicely into a basket, so I will not have a lot to tote from the car.  Rain and warm temperatures are expected tomorrow, which does not affect the festival because fiber-folk love  all things woolly and soft along with meeting old and new friends.  Classes begin today.  I did not sign up for any this year, but next year I want to take the felted fleece taught by Becky Utecht if she offers it again.  I can take my time to find the perfect skirted fleece!

Project Ariana

This is the latest sweater sample for the shop.  I bought the pattern from the Ewetopia booth at Shepherd's Harvest this year and it is a lovely top (Ariana Shell).  I want it to fit like a vest, so I'm working on the 38".  I have to block the lace and I want to see how long it is before picking up the stitches for the body.  I substituted Rowan Felted Tweed DK for the original yarn.  The lace was a breeze to knit even though the instructions are written, normally I prefer charts.

The lace yoke is a 16-row lace pattern.

Rowan Felted Tweed DK in charcoal is the perfect yarn choice for the project.

Shepherd's Harvest 2013

For months I thought that our last Wood Badge Development before course in August was going to be the full weekend through Mother's Day.  We ended up coming back on Saturday evening, which meant Shepherd's Harvest  was a go for Kathy and me.  We were texting back and forth late in the evening making our plan.  It was a very fun day!  Lots of vendors, only a few sheep left on Sunday, but lots of llamas and alpacas.  We ran into lots of friends and made some new ones.  When I got  home from the festival I opened up the box of goodies I received from Fancy Fibers Farm containing the mohair locks, denim noil and sari silk.  I am excited to use the add-ins for colorful spinning.                                                                    
                                                                     

See the llama be the llama

Psst...you have something in your teeth.

Multicolor llama.  The llamas seemed to love being photographed.

CVM lambs were not as easy to photograph.

We stopped at Dunn Bros for something warm to drink and goodies.  I am working
on the Hitchhiker

Kathy is working on her Mullet Socks--business in the front, party in the back.

This is really nice roving from Handspun by Stefania.  I have 15.5 ounces.  The sample was really nice.  I know it looks like a German flag and I like that.  Fun and so soft!

Two ounces of hemp from Susan's Fiber Shop.  I spun a small sample and may use it carded with something else in the stash.

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A really pretty top to make with handspun.

Too pretty for feet!

Mmmm...for spinning:  denim noil, sari silk, and mohair locks from
Fancy Fibers Farm in Texas.