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.

UFOs become FOs!

Project mailed--check!  Article and photos emailed--check!  Now to wait patiently until Spin-Off Magazine spring 2014 comes in the mail.  I had Ben  read my article yesterday and then I called Joanne to read it through her expert knowledge.  Whew, now take a deep breath and move on to the next project/s.

Speaking of projects, I finished the Pine Bough Cowl last week and over the weekend I did the Three Colorwork Cozies.  I am working on another cozy in a devorative stitch along with a small card envelope.

Cowl doubled over

Love the Kenzie yarn!

I purchased five colors of Ella Rae Solid and have been making little projects...

...working small is a welcome change for my hands...

...and these projects work up quickly!

I managed to attend the bi-monthly spin-in at Anoka Fiber Works, which was fun.  Good to catch up with friends and I tried out my Icelandic birch spindle with the brown Icelandic roving I bought at the co-op.  Beautiful roving and it is made more special by spinning it with the birch spindle.

Herr Kurbis and Humpty Dumpty examine the spindle and wool.  They approve.

Tangled again

The second time is a charm--I hope!  I am finally working on my vest again.  I called it Tangled because of the yarn-winding nightmare.  The steeks are holding as I picked up stitches for the front band.  Naturally I have to tink back a row, as the white stitches are offset.  I was watching the news this morning while knitting.  The tension is good and I'm carrying the white yarn in back to give the band the same look as the body of the sweater.

The red zig-zag stitching is how I reinforced the steeks. 

The front band in progress.  I have to take out the last row of stitches because the white stitches do not line up.  On closer inspection of the photo I see where I have double blue stitches.  

The never-ending Pine Bough Cowl is getting longer.  If this project was just for me I would make it long enough for a smaller cowl.  This behemoth is supposed to be 72-inches long!  The yarn is soft and has a nice hand, so the repetitive knitting is okay.  I will be happy to do some texture work after this project.

Fiddly to work, but the finished project will be gorgeous!

Jim and I went to the State Fair on Labor Day.  The weather was perfect, we ate our favorite foods, enjoyed the displays and walked about six miles!  It was the last day of the fair, so there were some bargains and good freebies.  Kemps had samples of three new flavors of ice cream--yum!  The Minne-apple dumpling with caramel was my favorite.

This must have been fun to paint.

The Great Minnesota Get-Together's mascot

Oddly cute squirrels in Heritage Village.  They look like the little stinkers in my yard.
It is fun to watch the little critters this time of year as they get ready for winter.

There are many wood sculptures around the grounds  I like this one.

I saw this TV and thought it would be a great frame.

Smokey Bear at the Minnesota DNR (Department of Natural Resources)!

My favorite shop in the International Bazaar, Global Mamas.
Last year I bought an Eli dress that I just love.  

WIPs

Works in progress (WIPs)--a constant for me!  I am currently working on shop samples.  After a couple of hiccups with Jane's Tunic, I am almost finished with one side.  There is a concern about the amount of yarn (5 hanks) being enough to finish, but I will soldier on and maybe hold a hank back just in case.  I love knitting with the linen.  The drape is lovely.  Next is the Pine Bough Cowl.  HiKoo Kenzie (merino/nylon/angora/alpaca/silk noils) makes knitting a breeze--plus knitting in the round traps the long floats on the wrong side of the fabric.  The yarn is soft and the colors beautiful.  The yarn rep was at the shop recently and had a washed and blocked swatch--oh my goodness, it was so soft!  There is not a large range of colors, but the colors available are wonderful.

As for the other WIPs and UFOs, they are anxiously waiting in their bags!

One for me and one for a sample.

I am finished with the large project for Blue Sky Alpacas.  Sorry I cannot show it, however, I have a couple of quick projects to show.  I could not resist the lone hank of Noro  Furisode in this colorway.  It was a quick knit compared to the projects I have worked on lately.  It is good to get a project finished quickly!  The Urchin is a great little hat and one of my favorite patterns.  Angel helped pick out the yarn for the sample.  Typically I prefer a thick and thin textured yarn for the hat, but this light and lofty single was perfect!  It took about a skein and a half.

The Bandana Cowl from Purl Soho.

A shop sample for Amazing Threads--Urchin, by Ysolda Teague.