Seeing green 💚

In time for St. Patrick's Day, I present a FO in gorgeous green💚!  A week ago I finished The Cranberry Gose top, a sample knit and one of the choices for the Pick-a-Sweater class at beWoolen.  The yarn, WYS Fleece BFL, has the starring role of this project and made knitting a joy!  The knitted fabric has a soft hand and the color, Fellside, reminds me of the hills and mountains of Ireland and Scotland.  Wet blocking the front and back pieces improved the fabric by measuring carefully (using the schematic) and pinning the pieces to size.  After air drying, I used duplicate stitch to join the shoulders, lining up the texture stitches.  Seaming with mattress stitching at the sides made a tidy finish.

The pattern instructions are straightforward.  Taking time to plan ahead for the texture stitching at the neck and shoulder areas is helpful.  I used German short rows and placed six markers for the initial shaping so I could see where to stop the texture and just use stockinette stitching.  The back and front texture work should mirror each other when finished.  Shaping the front and back at the same time (so to speak) on separate needles also helped.  I tend to knit while watching TV, so those markers keep me on track.  The designer confesses to be confused by the right and left side before beginning the shoulder shaping.  The right side is as the sweater is worn and the knitting universe is correct.  The second size has the right amount of ease and I like the funnel neck, which is about 6.5".  There is enough length to flip the neck down for a turtleneck.  

Tidy mattress stitch side seam.

Summer is over, ready for autumn!

28.09.2021 This year has been a blur.  We managed to get some camping in and one of the first was Cascade River State Park in Lutsen, MN, where the water looks like root beer.  It's so beautiful there and I particularly love the hiking trails.  Gus did great coming down the "ladder" stairs.  Our first day hiking was beautifully sunny, but I have to say I really enjoyed the second day of hiking in the fog.  

Since then, we added a few more pins to our MN state park map including Scenic, Whitewater, Split Rock Creek and Blue Mounds.  There was also a trip to Ohio using Harvest Host sites along the way including an aviation museum, and a heritage museum in Iowa, two wineries and a farm in Illinois and a farm and private property in Ohio.    We recently returned from the Camp-Inn Campout in Wisconsin and it was nice to see familiar faces and meet some new folks.  

There was and is lots of fiberwork happening with spindle spinning more colors to use in tapestry weavings, a dive into the Shetland yarn stash for this year's Wool Week hat designed by Wilma Malcolmson. 

I went back to plein air painting briefly, but the cool weather did not last long and the bugs came out early this year.  We have had a hot and dry summer.  Lately, there has been some much-needed rain with cooler temperatures and shorter days.  We have a day or so of warmer weather and then it will once again be cool.  I am ready for sweater weather.  Bring on autumn!🍁

Cascade Falls

The "Ladder"

Spinning little skeins

For little tapestries.  Perfect projects for deck time under the umbrella.

Wool Week 2021 hat.  My color way was inspired by my favorite outfit,
blue jeans and a white tee.

Houndstooth fabric on the home loom, Buttercup

Knitting a Strange Brew cardigan.  As of this writing, I still have to cut the steek,
finish the bands and block...buttons.  Must choose the perfect buttons. 

Springtime plein air painting in progress.  

On the loom and on (and off) the needles

20.04.2021 Only one of my looms (the small Good Wood) is empty at this time.  Recently, I re-warped the tapestry loom and made new string heddles for it...only because I could not locate the other heddles.  I lost one warp thread in the process.  My current read is Rebecca Mezoff's book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving: A Complete Guide to Mastering the Techniques for Making Images with Yarn.  It is a good book with plenty of photos and well-written instruction for self-guided learning.  

Sampling on the little loom.

Schacht Tapestry Loom, cotton warp approximately six-inches wide.

A couple Saturdays ago Louie and I into the shop and I plied a full bobbin of Jacob yarn from roving purchased years ago at Shepherd's Harvest Festival.  It will be helpful to have more Jacob if needed for a knitting project in the planning stage.

My office (using the term loosely) is a bit cramped, so it was time to reclaim yarn, needles and markers from a couple of UFOs.  The blue Gansey is frogged along with the Eid Top.  I would get more wear out of a blue cardigan and keep the Eid Top's yarn and repurpose into another colorwork vest.  

Looking pretty good.

I love the yarn colors, yarn type and the pattern, but
sometimes one just cannot get into the groove with a project.

It was the end of the road for this Gansey.

Needles and markers reclaimed from the depths of the knitting bags.

I finished a shop sample for beWoolen using the beautiful Tahki Donegal Tweed yarn.  The pattern is Strange Brew from Tin Can Knits using Aran weight yarn, top-down construction with short rows at the back, and extra colorwork at the cuffs and bottom.  This was such a fun knitting project and the class is going well with all the lovely sweaters in progress.  Next will be a cardigan version...steek!

Happy knitting!

Tweedy bits love

13.01.2021 

 I love rustic tweedy yarn.  This past year I have been enjoying using handspun and commercial  tweed yarns for my projects.  The bits of color add texture and interest when viewed up close,  and blend optically at a  distance.  

Small tapestry weaving in progress

 

It was a happy day when beWoolen yarn shop stocked Tahki Donegal Tweed.  The perfect project to highlight the lovely yarn was Doocot, by Kate Davies.  The pattern calls for DK weight yarn (11 WPI).  This yarn is Aran weight (8 WPI).  WPI means wraps per inch, a way to determine the thickness of yarn,  something I did not know about until I learned to spin.  It is also helpful to measure the WPI when a commercial yarn label is missing.  The Craft Yarn Council (a very helpful resource, by the way) has a chart showing the yarn weight system.  

Back to the sweater...to knit the appropriate size for myself, I went up with my needle size and yarn weight and down a pattern size and the numbers and measurements from the pattern were perfect with the correct amount of positive ease.  The only other adjustments I made were to the sleeve decreases, which I did every five rows to the cuff ribbing and to widen the neckband ribbing.  It worked out beautifully.

Tahki Donegal Tweed yarn for a sweater and a mini skein of handspun

Donegal Tweed, Fossil colorway

It helps to have a knitting buddy in the camper.  We were staying at Itasca State Park when the yurt was unveiled in Bemidji

There was enough leftover yarn for a pair of mittens

My second sweater with Donegal Tweed is Dacite.  I knit one for a yarn shop sample in 2014 and then taught a class.  I received an update to the pattern through Ravelry.  Carol Feller, the designer, updated the pattern with extended sizing.  It was a good opportunity to knit this sweater again and teach a class. The pattern is well-written and fun to knit, as there are lots of fun knitting techniques throughout.  In my excitement to take the sample to beWoolen, I did not snap a photo of the sweater when it was done blocking and the buttons added at the neck.   

Hot off the needles

The back has a natural dip (no short rows) because it and the sleeves are worked in stockinette stitch.

Yurt work

 18.09.2020  It has been far too long since my last post and I will not go into detail, but suffice it to say it has been a roller coaster ride through the summer.  

I returned from the Tapestry Felted Traditional Mongolian Yurt Workshop in Bemidji, Minnesota on September 12.  Linda asked me months ago to do artwork depicting the steps to making felt for a Mongolian yurt.  The tapestry felting workshop (to make the felts for the yurt) was made possible with the Sustainable Sheep and Fiber Community of Northern Minnesota (SSFC) through a grant from Region 2 Arts Council.

When I arrived for week 2, Linda had me needle felt my initials on the last panel.

The first of two roof panels.  The last layer is mohair, which will peek through a layer of black and a
starry night sky.

Measuring the edge thickness.

Rolling and getting rid of excess water.

After each rolling in the field, the felt is checked, measured, rolled up and the rolling
process repeats until the proper level of felting is achieved.  

Taking the roll back to the truck for another go around the field.

I enjoyed riding in the back of the truck on a sunny day through the field of wildflowers.

I spent a couple of days spinning up some wool/alpaca batts to be made into rope.

Plying singles...

Rope-making.  Hold on tightly, Linda!

The handspun wool/alpaca turned into lovely rope.

13.10.2020 The yurt was set up for the first time at the Farm to Fiber Festival in Bemidji, Minnesota on October 3.  Jim and I camped at Itasca State Park and the weather was beautiful for the weekend.  We went into town on Friday to help to a set up in the parking lot across from the Bemidji Woolen Mills.  It took a bit of time, but once the wood frame was fitted together in the correct size the rest of the set up went smoothly.

It is bigger on the inside.

I love the finished yurt and was proud to be part of the project.  It is bigger on the inside!

Linda makes some last minute adjustments to the felt walls.

We added a starry sky to show on the inside.  

A state map with initials of those that donated wool and worked on the yurt.  Note the stars felted
onto the night sky.

A room with a view.