drive by

I really just wanted to show off this two-toned roving I made for a customer.  I loved doing it and I’m really pleased with the results.

brindled Jacob roving

FUN!  What could possibly top that?

tri-colored Jacob roving

The three colored roving I made for her friend and business partner.  I’m an enormous fan of naturally colored wool and Jacob is just an all around fantastic fiber to work with; it’s soft, it’s got lovely crimp and bloom, a bit of luster and an ideal staple length.  This has made me seriously consider getting a couple of Jacobs.  (Seriously.  I need some Jacobs. NEED.  Someone buy some Shetlands from me so I have room for a couple, okay?)

I love all fiber but this was the most fun I’ve had all year.  I thoroughly enjoyed this job.  These might show up at SAFF this year in the Patchwork Farms & Perfect Spot Farm booth.  There’s a ton of happy vibes in that fiber and if the spinner gets even half the fun out of spinning it that I got making it, we can all consider it wildly successful.

We had nine lambs this year, one completely unplanned.  In the past the Shetland rams and the Corriedale cross ewes found the difference in their sizes to be an uncrossable hurdle.  Proving the adage “where there’s a will there’s a way”, we came out one night in the pre-pre-pre lambing season to find a dead lamb from Blossom and moved both she and RoundEars to the ewe pasture.  Shortly thereafter, Cabbage joined the flock.

Who are you calling mutt? I'm ethnically enhanced.

Next came Carob (Apricot’s ram lamb)

Hey! Don't hold this lamb!

Then Cashew, Cinnamon & Chicory,Chili & Chervil, and eventually after a long and ridiculous wait, Clove and Cuthbert.  Don’t judge me, internet, this alphabet scheme really works for me when I can’t remember how old they are.  My brain is leaking out of my ears at an alarming rate these days, I need all the help I can get.  Anyway, we later lost our top ewe, Pie, to parasites despite all efforts to save her but her lambs were old enough to wean, at least.  One of them, Chervil, later died in a freak accident with the fence and left poor Chili alone. Luckily he had friends.  By the time the ram lambs got banded and moved to the boy pasture he was adjusted while the others went through the normal pains of separation from their families.

I will always be bigger and better than you, Cuthbert.

Larry the buff orpington rooster fell deeply and passionately in love with our ridiculous and dorky mutt chicken and followed her around cooing at her for months.  She rebuffed him at every turn until he was having no more of it and did the barn version of Rhett sweeping Scarlet up the staircase.  What can I say?  Bird sex is pretty violent, I’m doing my best to sugarcoat it.  Later, Henny Penny hatched 8 eggs and three roosters and two hens lived to adulthood.  The Buff Dorkington family is now expecting another round of fluffy yellow chicks.  There are eleven eggs in the clutch and I’m not sure how many more roosters this farm can hold so we’re hoping for a surplus of hens.

Buff Dorkington chicks

While all that was going on, I was also doing this:

This is me, skirting a fleece.

wool going into the picker

wool coming out of the carder as roving

I made a bunch of yarn

pindrafted roving

And I’ve been doing a LOT of it. There are many more mill pictures forthcoming as well as the update on my knitting (that one won’t take long) and I’d like to do a tutorial post about skirting fiber for processing.  VM has become a big part of my life and I just know you’re going to be as excited by the subject as I am.

Let the games begin!

There was Wandering the Moor by Celeste Glassel, knit in Plain and Fancy Wool “Lichen”.

There was Egg to Bluebird and a Little Nest, Too by Susan B. Anderson (various scraps of alpaca and wool)

From the same designer and book, Mama Duck and Ducklings

A pair of alpaca Saartje’s Booties

Otto The Owl from C220

And a Babe-with her own Baby

All of which were Christmas gifts for beloved little nieces and nephews.  I did manage to sneak in a couple of selfish projects since the last post, as well.

Flowers and Frills Shawl by Yvonne Senecal in AlphaB’s RichB alpaca, which she dyed for me from just a few vague descriptions on my part.  (She’s having a sale right now, by the way.)

And a Windspraut Spitzbergen by Monica Eckert, knit in Misti Alpaca lace.  Shown here with my Christmas gift from Jared, a lace blocking frame.  I’ve got two more waiting for their turn on the rack.

I think I could have accomplished more knitting had it not been for this massive other project we’ve been working on.  Fleury Sheep and Wool, our fleece processing business has finally become a reality.  We have a space in a circa 1951 textile mill (out of business since the 80′s and now functioning as an antique mall, bowling alley, YMCA and various other businesses) and a few days ago we received our equipment.  I have a whole set of pictures on Flickr for those interested in seeing what it all looks like fresh out of the crates.  Between this, the real job, the farm and trying to stay warm and dry I’m stretched a little thin these days (wish I was stretched a little thin across the stomach and hips!) so weeks pass in the blink of an eye.  I am trying to carve out more time to post here, especially about the mill and the farm.  Best laid plans, etc.

I’ll be back to show you a couple new shawls and I have plans to blog my participation in the Winter Knitting Olympics.  (Sock Hockey for me, Team Rubberhoars.)

I know, I know.  It’s a little large and a little flashy. I’ll just consider those raised eyebrows a side effect of jealousy about my wonderful wrap.

This is my Aeolian shawl.  I entered it in the Skein & Garment competition at SAFF a couple weeks ago.  This being my first entry for judging and SAFF being known for its feedback I thought I’d enter a couple shawls, learn what they’re looking for and next year I’d come back and win-the old came/saw/conquered technique.  I did some research about what judges typically look for and thought I’d hedge my bets by entering one in a neutral color-my silver Crown Prince Shawl and this one.  The Crown Prince suffered a massive setback when I had to rip it down to the border and I decided to cut it to work on other things, so I felt I was taking a risk with this bright color.  I really wanted a ribbon of some color but I never thought it would be a blue one; there is some stiff competition at this festival.  Even better than the blue?  That enormous purple and white Best Of Show-which I saw from the far side of the arena and I nearly plotzed.

The judges loved the pattern (“A fun, classy shawl!”) and thought the beads were perfectly used within it.  I chose a slightly matte rainbow finished bead that closely matched the yarn.  There were several shawls there with contrasting and/or shiny beads so my choice may have made an impact in case you find yourself contemplating bead knitting for judging.  The genius behind the design is Elizabeth Freeman.  The genius behind the yarn is Kate of Dragonfly Fibers, who-at least in my part of the world-often shares a booth with Sanguine Gryphon at the fiber festivals.  Beads were purchased from Fire Mountain Gems, a company I have been using for donkey’s years and which always makes me happy.

The pattern is flawlessly written and fun to knit.  Without beads I probably could have finished it in 4 days instead of several weeks.  The yarn is very, very nice to work with and it holds its shape well and stays blocked nicely-not to mention the fact that the price on it is very reasonable and there is generous yardage.  I’ll definitely be buying more of Kate’s yarns.  One hank made the large sized Aeolian with a few feet to spare.

Now for some more pictures:

I promised you some socks.

Pattern: Lutz, by Me.  I haven’t published the pattern yet.

Yarn: “Mango Pa-Pay-Pay” Superwash merino by Alpha B Yarn.

Needles: Size US 0 Kollage square circulars

Commentary: I was asked to test knit this yarn for the dyer.  I liked it so much I have bought several more skeins.  I chose this color because I’m deeply in my poppy phase, apparently.  In the picture above I have twisted the top sock so you can see the front.  The dyer is a fan of figure skating and I wanted to knit something inspired by that, hence the skate laces and the name of the pattern.  The sock is knit toe-up using the Riverbed Architecture by Cat Bordhi, my favorite sock method of all time.

The needles.  Hm.  Well, I do like the square needles.  The cable is a bit too floppy and flimsy for magic loop and that was a bit aggravating.  I knit the second sock on the plane to Sock Summit and nearly had an apoplectic fit when the cable appeared to be loosening from the needle.  The coating came detached and slid down a bit over the fibrous cord but the cord itself remained adhered to the needle and I was able to finish, though there was a bit of snagging at that join for the remainder.  I contacted Kollage directly about it and they are cheerfully replacing the needle and have added an experimental precaution to my new one so I’m looking forward to testing that out.

My current project is in yet another similar color:

Aeolian in Dragonfly Lace; color:  “Holly Berry”.  Yes, it’s another beaded project.  This time with the beads hooked onto the stitches as you come to them.  I love this shawl but I will definitely be giving beaded knitting a rest after this project.

If you don’t hear from me for awhile send sewing machine oil, wine and chocolate.  Also please say a few “hail malabrigos” over my knitting projects.  I had ambitious plans for two shawls involving judges and ribbons.  I’m quickly modifying that to a wishful one shawl.

Pattern: The Fleur Wrap by Sharon Miller.  $6 internet download.  See the second link for interesting ways in which this fichu can be worn.

Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, 3 balls in colorway “Anthracite” which to me looks more like a denim sort of blue.

Needles: US 8, 5.0 mm

Notes/Mods/Info:

I was unable to understand the bind off instructions as written so I modified it and am perfectly happy with the results.  Here’s what I did instead:

K 1st stitch. Knit 2nd stitch but do not pull off the left needle, pass 1st stitch over this, then pull the 2nd stitch off the left needle. YO, pass finished stitch over the YO and off needle. Repeat to end.

I can’t wait until it’s cool enough to wear this one, it’s so soft and floaty.

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Pattern: Shipwreck by Knitting Harpy via Spring 2009 Knitty.

Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk, two of the big 600 meter hanks (almost every inch of both of them) in colorway “Lilypond”.  This picture is very washed out; for better color view the yarn color card here.  It pooled a tiny bit on every size needle except size 10.

Needles: All of them.  I’m only kidding a little, the pattern requires sizes 4, 8, 9. 10, 10.5 and 11.  Luckily I have an interchangeable set, it came in handy after the fours.

Notes/Mods/Info: Hokay.  I have a LOT of notes for you here.

I didn’t modify the pattern but my yarn is thicker than what’s called for so my shawl is enormous.  It would make a very pretty table cloth for your standard round bistro table that seats three.

The pattern calls for 5000 beads.  (Yes, you read that right, Five. Thousand.)   I used clear, iridescent finished 6.0 glass beads that I bought from Fire Mountain Gems, a place I used to frequent many years ago when I had a jewelry making business.  You are instructed to pre-string the beads.  If you did that you’d be sliding 5000 (yes, thousand) beads along every time you wanted to pull out a length of yarn for knitting.  This doesn’t even look good on paper, people.  Presumably most knitters are going to use wool for this so in theory you could break the yarn to add just a few hundred at a time and then spit splice it back together.  I, however, just had to use Seasilk which isn’t feltable, meaning I had to basically divide my 5000 (I’m not kidding, thousand) beads and string them onto the two balls.  This is the part where you think I’m going to tell you it wasn’t that bad.  You’re living in a fool’s paradise because it SUCKED.  Like my crochet bind off on the Gossamer Square, it was worth it in the end but the first half of each bead allotment made me say some very bad words.  And if you know me at all you know that I know some really terrible ones.

To make this bead stringing thing easier, I made a ghetto bead spinner out of a hummus container and a bamboo skewer.  It could have been smoother but it got the job done so much faster than the other option would have.  If you make this shawl I highly recommend that you either buy, rent, borrow or make one of these gadgets because my friend you have FIVE THOUSAND DAMNED BEADS TO STRING.  Here’s where I went to figure out how to make and use the spinner. Jared took one look at it and snorted.  I will have you know he had to retract said snort because despite all common sense the thing actually works.

The pattern says put the beads on “randomly”.  I don’t know if you have the same issues I have coughOCDcough but I discovered that “random”?  It’s hard!  I would much rather put them on every fifth YO or something.  Every stupid bead was a judgment call for me.  OMG what if ~this one~ is the one that throws the whole thing off and it looks like ass??? Yeah I said that five thousand (THOUSAND!) times.  The anxiety was too high.  Eventually I decided that every seventh stitch was the key for me but each row I started that first one in a random place.  It was the best “random” I could do under the high pressure circumstances.

By the way, it was cheaper to buy 8000 beads than it was to buy 5000 so I have a lot of beads left over.  Some of them are still in the bag and a whole fecking bunch of them are on the floor under my desk because hi, the bamboo skewer thingie sticking out of the bottom of the hummus tub means the whole shebang tilts!  Violently!  Don’t be coming around saying I made this project sound like fluffy kittens and a foot massage from Ewan MacGregor and you want your money back, I’m giving it to you straight here.  What you should do to keep the container from tilting:  rest it on a coffee mug or do what I did and stick it on top of a yarn cake.  I had both but I was drinking the coffee and the yarn cake has been sitting there for a few years now.

Anyone who wants a few thousand clear/iridescent 6.0 beads full of dog hair and poptart crumbs let me know, I’ll part with them cheap.

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Yeah I said three more and I’ve only posted two but the third one needs a photo shoot and hey it’s a sock, you’re not going to die of anticipation.  Though if my history with this blog is any indication you may die waiting.

In order of ascending age:

Pattern:  The Gardener by Leslie Comstock.  Free download on Ravelry.

Yarn:  Malabrigo superwash sock, colorway “stonechat”.

Needles:  US 1 / 2.25 mm

Dates:  Began 3/19/09 Finished 4/2/09

Notes/info/mods:  This was knit as part of the Ravelry Rubberneckers Spider-Along.  The construction is the toe-up Riverbed architecture from Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways for Sock Knitters which is my absolute favorite sock of all time. So far.  She’s got another book coming out in a few weeks so that could change.  I’m not a big fan of Malabrigo’s usual yarns but I adore their sock yarn.  It’s soft and the colors are lively and bright. 

See that big dropped stitch in the 2nd picture?  Yeah I didn’t notice that glaring mistake until I wanted to wear them for the first time at Sock Summit.  Claudia was kind enough to fix it for me. 

——————–

Pattern:  “Esther” by Stephanie van der Linden, free Ravelry download, part of the Socken-Kreativ-Liste Yahoo Group

Yarn:  Panda Toes wool and bamboo from Crazy Monkey Creations in colorway “Orange Blaze”

Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm

Dates: Yeah, I didn’t make a note of them.  Even Ravelry cannot force me to be organized.  Fight the power!!  I know I began them a couple weeks before Stitches South, so sometime in April and I finished them probably around 6/14/09 since that’s the date stamp on the picture.

Notes/mods/info:  I didn’t modify this pattern at all and I freaking LOVE this yarn.

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Pattern: “Gossamer Square” by Elise Duvekot from the book Knit One Below

Yarn:  Knitting Notions Classic Merino Lace in colorways “Red Plum” and “Aubergine”.

Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm

Dates: 4/26/09-5/5/09

Notes/mods/info: Very interesting technique in this book.  You’re knitting vertical stripes one color at a time, alternating between knitting into the next stitch and then into the 2nd stitch down from the needle.  I believe this technique is also called “tuck knitting”.  When you knit into the one below and pull the stitch off the needle it drops that row by one and this forms a loose and drapey fabric with lots of loft and spring.  It’s also very easy on the hands as somehow the rhythm of the knitting does not fatigue the hand muscles.  I will admit that the bind off is an enormous pain in the ass as you’re crocheting a short chain in one color, then crocheting and twisting the other color around it, etc.  Jared sliced open a few arteries and veins in his hand while sharpening the lawn mower blade and the EIGHT FECKING HOURS waiting in the ER to get him patched up provided the perfect motivation to finish it, though.  It was worth it in the end.  Worth the trouble, not worth slicing open someone’s arteries, just so we’re clear here.  (And believe me, I considered slicing open my own for a second or two and I’d still do the same bind off on the next one.)

I made this shawl for my mother-in-law and she loves it.  Once again, I absolutely adore this yarn and I can’t say enough good things about it; if you haven’t tried it you really should.  The base is soft and holds shapes well, the yardage is generous for the price and her colors are generally soft and welcoming.  The pattern was fairly quick to knit and I’m going to make one of these for myself, too.  Though it lacks the intricacies of lace, it makes such a wonderful fabric that I really wanted to curl up in this shawl and stay there.  I think it would be an awesome “travel” shawl.  Something you could wear on an airplane and use as a blanket to cover up and nap, too.

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OK, I have three more but I’m bored now.  I’ll write them up later today or tomorrow because I want to tell you about Sock Summit and I also have a huge update on the mill plans and a teaser about another project I’m involved with.

So to clean up the FOs from LAST FREAKING YEAR HI IT’S THE MIDDLE OF THIS YEAR, we have:

Pattern: Bea from Rowan’s Little Treasures (the pattern from the cover) Ravelry link here.

Needles: US 6 and 7

Yarn: Ella Rae Classic in bubble gum freaking pink, which I tea dyed to make it a tiny bit less barbie.

Mods: Didn’t really make any but I wish I’d ignored the instructions and knit the bands on as I knit the fronts because it’s so unknitterly to sew those on afterwards.

Comments: There’s a super cute little kick pleat on the back that is very poorly explained in the instructions.  You slip some stitches with yarn in front and basically that’s making fold lines for later.  Then when you get to the top it has you knit across the row and bind some stitches off in the middle.  Here is where I got confused.  You’re supposed to then continue knitting across the rest of the row after binding off.  And by the way, you need to get some decent tension on that first stitch after the last bind off stitch to make it flow nicely from the last knit stitch you left on the right needle.  You now continue back and forth as normal and you have a loop flopping about which is the top of the pleat.  Later you fold and press along the slip stitch lines and you sew that bound off section flat and attach it to the bodice.  It all makes sense when you do it, but they leave their tiny, murky clue about it to the last sentence of the pattern.

I made this for my three year old niece, Charlotte, who will only wear pink and I understand she found it acceptable in every way.  She has a new baby sister on the way and I think I want to make this for her when she’s old enough to pick a color.  Very similar in shape but it will be different enough to be hers.

Our tally of lambs for 2009 was 14.  We lost Bergamot when she was a week old and Briar to unknown neurological problems only recently but everyone else seems to be doing great.  All sheep and goats have been shorn and the fleeces skirted, so I really need to photograph them for sale.  The covered fleeces in particular are shockingly nice-I will find it next to impossible to sell the shaela and one of the whites because apparently I think I have time to do everything (like process fleece) even though I can barely finish the simplest of knits these days.  I’m so busy that I’m almost always tired.  It’s all good busy, though, like the garden and the sheep and the shop and the mill.  Oh, and work, but since it pays the mortgage it sits in the good column, too.

The dog and I had a walk this afternoon in the drizzle.  We went down to the ravine where the springheads are and the bank was covered in hundreds of ferns and the sound of trickling water and birds was quite relaxing.  We’ve had a lot of rain this spring and everything is so green it hurts your eyes.  I used the walk as an escape from some frustration and it helped quite a bit.  Poor Wyatt is getting old-though he doesn’t act like it-and he’s started losing teeth so I’ve realized that our time together is waning and that we should go on walks together while we can.  We both came home with a bunch of ticks and I’m trying to view the grooming as more quality time instead of OMFG TICKS!!!! time.  Still, the tick removal was a bit less frustrating than the lace bind off and family related angst I was trying to escape so I guess that’s a win!  And lace wrap?  You will not win.  I will kick your mohair butt, so just give up now.