Too Much Fun

I've finally got some pics from the weekend.  We had a table full of patterns and resource material for participants to dig through and we used these a lot through the weekend.

The facility turned out to be more than perfect and the staff at the RiverBank Lodge were fabulous. I can't say enough good things about them.  We had little gift bags for everyone that become project bags.  There was a workbook (with companion cd full of period pattern books), projects, and other fun bits and pieces.

We had four absolutely terrific ladies and they were such a great mixture of personalities but all of them came game for anything and ready to try their hand at whatever we threw at them.  That attitude always makes it so much fun to teach. 

Jane and I found the worst written pattern that could ever have been produced and used it for our first session.  It was a great way to learn the common terms of the time and laugh.  Plus it's a really cute pattern!  I'll show you one day.

I could go on and on and on but I'll stop here and let you enjoy some pictures of the area around the RiverBank Lodge....

Heritage Knitting in Progress

Sorry I don't have any photos yet.  I have the camera and I have the laptop but I forgot to bring the little cable that connects the two.  Details, details....

We're getting ready for our last sessions in our Heritage Knitting Retreat and it's been more fun than I could have imagined.  We have had 4 wonderful ladies participating and it's been a hoot.  We've learned how to read the world's worst written pattern and actually gotten a cute project out of it, we've learned a new knitting language, we've laughed, we've learned new stitch patterns, we've laughed, we've eaten, we've had fun with digging through the 19th century pattern books, we've learned about modern yarn equivalents to yarn selections like andalusian wool and berlin fleecy, we've eaten, we've laughed.  A good time was had by all, in other words.

Wish you could have been here.  We're going to rework the workbook a little bit and it will be available a little later if you're interested.  The hard copy workbook with companion cd is going to be $15 and $10 for the cd only.  The cd contains an electronic version of the workbook and a collection of digital copies of 19th century pattern books.  Shipping will be added to either type.

It's been 2 years worth of research and planning for Jane and myself and it feels wonderful to have this tangible outcome here at the end with both the workbook and the time we've had together this weekend.  It feels maaavalous, Darling!

Cotton Country

Boy, it's hard to believe it's almost here.  The Heritage Knitting Retreat.  Jane and I have been working for 2 years for this weekend and we're more than excited.  If you can still join us, please let me know.  If you're not able to join us, we've developed a workbook and companion cd that will be available for purchase. 

In the midst of everything else, I've been bitten by the cotton bug.  It's causing a little bit of distraction.  I think we're going to get there but it's definitely a distraction.

I started with this dyed cotton from the Woolery:

As you can see, I haven't gotten much further with this cotton, mostly because I got drawn into this cotton:

This is organic cotton which is naturally colored.  It actually grows this color, commonly called coyote.  The interesting thing about this cotton is that, once it's spun up and boiled (to get the natural goo off), it will be a darker color.  It's doesn't go quite brown but it's definitely towards that color.

This is this almost 1 ounce spun on my Fricke using the fastest whorl using my version of a long draw.

And this will be my next project, tri-colored cotton, all naturally colored.  But it will have to wait until after the weekend!

Edited because I completely forgot to show you this.  My mother, who can grow anything on God's green earth, accepted the challenge to try to grow some cotton plants from seed I spun from.  Here's her little babies:

Making my way

Time flies and sometimes it's a matter of whether to blog about spinning or actually spinning.  Both are enjoyable but, let's face it, doing the first without doing the second means you run out of the first pretty quickly.

The big news is that I've finally finished the spinning for my Berroco Cosima sweater.  All that remains is to sew together and finish the collar.  I'll post a picture when it's a little more presentable.  I've been going through a little internal debate this afternoon because of a post today by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot).  She talks about how she washes and blocks all the pieces of her sweater before she sews the pieces together.  The reality is, she's right.  You really should do this for a number of reasons.  She's made the argument so I'm not going to go into them but it really is a good practice.  So the debate has been going on in my mind all afternoon about whether I wanted to do it or not.  It seems especially important with handspun yarn.  But I don't think I'm going to do it.  My yarn has been washed and thwacked so it's not straight off the wheel.  I'm really just ready to finish the sweater up. If I wash and block and all like I should, it will be the weekend before I can get it finished and I really don't want to let it drag out that long. 

I know that seems a bit silly for a project I've been waiting a couple of months to get the last of the yarn spun up.  I get it.  But the reason I got it finished is because I'm ready to have it completely off the list.  I think it will be okay.  Really. 

I'm also very close to finishing the spinning of some silk roving I got.  This is all I've got left.  Silk begs to be spun fine but I didn't want to do that with this roving.  I'm spinning it on my Kromski Minstrel to make a 2-ply which will be, I hope, about fingering weight.  I'm using the fastest whorl to get a goodly amount of twist into the single because I want my plied yarn to be fairly high grist (I think that's the word I want).  It's been one of those rovings that seems to multiply as you spin.  It was supposed to be 2 ounces but I think there's actually going to be a bit over 3 ounces.  I did weigh it after I'd already spun some and it still weighed out at more than 2 ounces.  Not often you get more than you paid for, is it?  The roving is so well prepared and has been fun to spin.  Another reason I used the higher speed whorl is that the last time I tried to spin silk, I under-estimated the amount of twist needed and had some trouble with the plying step.  I think this is going to ply beautifully.

Can't tell you what it's for just yet.  Later.  In fact, much of my time right now is completing things for the Heritage Knitting Retreat, both samples and projects.  Time is getting really close but there's still time if you'd like to come join us.

I have another package of this silk roving in a green colorway but I don't think I'm going to try to get that done right away.  I also think I'm going to give into the silk and spin it much more finely than I have this.  I think it will made a beautiful scarf/shawl.

Heritage Knitting Retreat

I meant to be posting a bit more about our upcoming Heritage Knitting Retreat coming up June 18-20 but haven't done much yet.

For those who don't know, my friend, Jane, and I discovered quite by accident that we're both besotted with antique patterns and knitting.  We happened to show up at Knitorious is St Louis where Deborah was doing a program on Civil War-era purses and got started talking.  As things fell into place, Jane had the idea to do a Heritage Knitting Retreat and asked me if I would like to work with her on it.  Of course I did and here we are.  We've got a lovely place in hand for it where the owners are into Civil War re-enactment and are excited to have us and we've got lots and lots of plans.  There will be a ton of resources the participants will go home with to carry on the journey after the event, too. 

Have a look and maybe you, too, will come join us in beautiful Petersburg.  Oh, and we're listed in the events section of the new PieceWork magazine, too.

I stand corrected...

Evidently I stand corrected on the nets for horses' ears! See the comment on the previous post. Always ready to learn something new.

Onto to new things. I am now the proud possessor of Evening Stockings (for a Young Lady to Knit).

This is the most fun I've had with a pair of socks in ages. I love to knit socks, don't get me wrong. But these were just plain fun. And incredibly easy. Nancy Bush interpreted them from a pattern in Weldon's Practical Needlework, Volume 15, published in London in 1900. I found the pattern in the November/December 2009 issue of Piecework Magazine, in case you'd like to give them a go.

Here's how the shaping was worked along the back of the leg.


Heritage Knitting Retreat

We've finalized some details for the Heritage Knitting Retreat next June. The idea is to have a weekend devoted to knitting from the latter half of the 19th century, including looking at patterns and how to read them, materials that can be used and stitches that were commonly used and more. Have a look here for more details and to download a printable version of the flyer. If you'd like to join us June 18-20, 2010, drop me an email or message me in Ravelry and we'll get you fixed up.