Progress!

Progress on the Gansey style pullover is going well.  I have been adding notes in a notebook and also on my Ravelry project page.  It has been an enjoyable project so far and now I have to type up the handwritten notes so I can use what I learned, knitting without a written pattern, to knit another sweater.  My early sketches included various texture stitches, neck gussets, the split hem, etc.  The split hem was the first element to go, and then the various texture stitches changed to a simple and easy-to-adapt stitch pattern that fit well with my stitch counts.  The Ridged Rib is a multiple of 2 + 1 stitches and a 4-row repeat.  The second sleeve is in progress and the sweater will be finished this week.

By trying on the sweater while the sleeve was in progress,  I could easily customize the length and  the decreases.  

There is a new vendor at Anoka Fiber Works, Wether'sfield Wool Farm.  I purchased some of the Shetland wool.  Two 4-ounce bags of Emily's white washed wool, and one 3.1-ounce ball of Treble's moorit roving.  I had some black Shetland roving I bought when we visited the Faribault Woolen Mill's 150th celebration a few years ago.  I combed the white wool and it is just beautiful to spindle spin with my Moosie spindle.  Mary held a second bag for me when Jim and I were camping last week.  I will have to see how much yardage I can spin and figure out a nice project for the yarn.

Emily's beautiful washed wool

Combing was the perfect prep for the wool.  I used my Valkyrie (fine) wool combs.

Moorit is a mid-brown color between fawn and dark brown.

It was a good thing I waited to finish spinning the last of the black.  There will be plenty to add to the future project.

Beautiful natural colors.

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.  

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.

Spin a little knit a lot

My hands have been busy working on class and shop samples and on some wheel and spindle spinning.  I was on the last section of Wavelength when I noticed some funky looking stitches, which prompted me to frog and then re-knit...and frog and then re-knit...I am now back to the correct number of stitches in the sections (naturally the extra stitches occurred in just a couple of sections).  Taking a break for a bit to regroup and do some other work.

On the needles:  Wavelength, P Chullo, Beaded Beret, Kaffe Fassett KAL bolster, and Greta for the shop.  Tangled, Pigment, Goblin Hat #2, and Puffin Mantle for personal projects. I must not forget the Icelandic cardigan that needs to have the front bands and collar re-worked.  It would be nice to wear it this winter.

On the wheel/s and spindle/s:  Louie and I are spinning up some lovely white cormo/navy blue silk noil blend called Dark Side of the Moon from Hidden Valley Farm in Wisconsin.

Cormo and silk noils

The single is thin and plied together it looks like a DK weight

The new siding on the house is coming along nicely.  Yesterday Tom came by to paint portions of the the soffit and fascia from the garage side of the house.  The Cameo looks nice and clean for the trim and the Montana Suede matches the existing brick.  Now I have to decide what new color to paint the front door when all the work is finished.

WIP Wednesday...The knitting demons have left the house and I am yet again on the last section of Wavelength.  Good grief!  It is a great project to knit, but I finally put small markers at the decreases and large markers at the increases so I can feel where I am in the knitting.  I do not always look down at my knitting--especially garter stitching.

The projects from Blue Sky came yesterday and when I finish the scarf I can start on the small projects for BS.  It is a good opportunity to try out their new yarn before the release.

Back to Iceland--armchair style!

Naturally I would love to go back to Iceland immediately, but this little trip will be from my chair.

I arrived so early in the morning, met Barbara and we found this little cafe for our breakfast.
I admit the heads are creepy, but we sat in the back so they were not staring
at us while we ate.

The door on the Hallgrímskirkja.

You know you are in knitting country when...
a huge picture of sheep is on the side of a building.

I love to take photos of doorways--beautiful color and texture!

Ragga's colorful bicycle parked outside her studio. 

Alafoss--where Lopi yarn is made.  The lovely color samples on the wall were just a teaser...

...of what we were going to see!

Huge bales of wool waiting to be carded.  The brown bales some white
added to make a particular tint of brown (whIte = tint, shAde = black)

A very large room partially filled with wool.

This room is full!

After visiting Deb's Ewespun Woolen Mill, it was nice to know
what the machine was doing to the wool on a huge scale.

MiniD was exhausted and took a breather on some oddments.

Dyeing room.

Here is the view from the dyeing room.  Not bad, I must say.

Our delightful teacher, Debbie Abrahams, poses by some  red yarn that matches her hair.

Winding skeins of white.

The shade cards are nice to see.  Alafoss tries to be as green as possible
with the dyeing process but some of the colors they
create have to be done in a not-so-green process. 

The yarn bits on the left will be carded together into cakes (aka plates) of unspun Icelandic wool called "plötulopi."  After being carded together, the wool is peeled into fine strips
and then wound into cakes. 

No visit to a factory is complete without visiting the shop!  I cannot
say I would buy a fox pelt (sad face), however the knitted gnomes
were pretty cute!  I purchased some Einband and three cakes of wool.

MiniD was charmed by the elf houses across the street.

Our first stop after Alafoss was the plains of Þingvellir.
Coins shine in the very deep clear water.

Lava 

Walking along the tectonic plates.

A little geyser bubbles.

While the big geyser spouts every four to  ten minutes

There is a reason to stay on the paved path!  Mary holds tight to MiniD
so she does not get burned.

After a quick lunch we go to the shop and what do I see?
Icelandic snuggies!  Now that is a snuggie I would wear.

On our way to the wool cooperative we stop briefly at a lovely waterfall.
It was very windy and rainy.  I did not want to stand too close to the edge.

The cooperative is run by female farmers.  They work to preserve the
beautiful colors of Icelandic sheep.  (White wool is most in demand.)

A sweet doll greets us when we walk into the building.

Honestly, I do not know what this was, but it looks like a turf house of sorts (on a small scale).

Back in town the next day and our lunch spot had a lovely view of the harbor.
It was a good day for some hot soup.

I can imagine these would be fun and stylish to wear in the middle of winter.

Everyone loves to knit!

Interesting color and texture...except for the cigarette.

An elf rock in a park behind our hotel.

Stepping stumps in the park.

A nice way to recycle cans.

I got hungry and needed something for a snack.
These cookies were really good.  Gnome liked them, too.

Back home, the lava rock votive candleholders make the shadows look
like the mountains of Iceland.

Lopi yarn and cakes from Alafoss, buttons from Ragga, a pin and ornament from
the Handknitting Association of Iceland.

Lovely spinning fiber from Þingborg Ullarverkstæði

Herr Kurbis and Humpty Dumpty admire the soft wool and my new birch spindle.

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