Finally, some pics

I've finally been able to get some decent pics of the spinning I've been doing of late and also of the Berroco Cosima sweater/jacket. Usually I don't think about the photos until it's too dark to get something decent.

Here's the yarn I've been spinning. It's from the Lincoln/Coopworth mix roving I got while in Wisconsin. Once I started plying (which was done with a Navaho ply - 3 ply) I could tell how much more comfortable I got with the spinning as I went on. Getting close to the end of the plying (which was the beginning of the spinning) I could tell the ply was much thicker and less confident. I'm really proud at how this came out and am looking forward to finishing it. I ended up with just over 172 yards so I won't have enough to do what I originally intended but I think I can figure out something to do with it! It looks more grey here but it's actually a green/black mix.

And then here's the Berroco Cosima sweater. This is from the Berroco book #281 and made from Cuzco yarn which is 50% alpaca/50% wool - beautiful hand.

Here's the detail for the neck - the buttons are antique shell buttons I picked up a while back and I love what they add to the sweater.

I have been wearing it but can only stand it for about 15 mintues! Don't want to wish cold weather too soon but I can't wait to wear this!

I'm still spinning...

It’s been rather a busy day, even though I had it off from ‘work.’ (Don’t worry, it was legitimate – I didn’t call in sick!)

I’ve been really on a spinning jog lately and have spun almost a full 8 oz of the lovely green roving I bought a few weeks ago in Wisconsin. This is the Lincoln/Coopworth roving that is being so much fun to spin. I’ll post a picture once I get the first skein plied.

I also spun about 172 yds of black alpaca the other day which also turned out quite lovely to spin. With that one, I was trying to do a 1-ply at a certain thickness to match some wool that I want to use for a design idea I’ve got. I just don’t think it’s going to be enough yardage for the project I have in mind. My friend, Karen, from Karen Poulakos Fiber Arts Studio has some lovely ‘Colonial’ wool roving that I think will be a perfect match for the other yarn I’m going to use so as soon as she gets in some black, I’ll be good to go. I just want to make sure that I have enough. Nothing worse than running out of yarn and not being able to buy more! Maybe I can get more of the green done while I’m waiting. Well, I do have some maroon ‘Colonial’ so maybe I’ll work on that for a while!

The great Cricket Wars of 2008 are in full swing. Living on the ground floor, this time of year I get invaded by those nasty black crickets. Five a.m. Sunday morning found me stalking the critters as they mocked me from their hidden positions. Somehow, at least one of them got into the cabinetry in my kitchen where I couldn’t get to them but their noise echoed as loudly as it possible could. I did, however, get in some hits to one that was in the open and took some others out later in the day.

I’ve reinforced my perimeter and it seems to have worked for most of today but I can hear them encroaching from the outside so one never knows when they’ll strike next.

By the way, if you're in Springfield in October, go by the Chase Bank building. I will have 4 watercolors in the display there during the month. As I mentioned before, I've just joined the Sangamon Watercolor Society and this is part of their on-going display at the bank. But this month, they have a special artist who will be in town to do the judging and will give feedback on each of the paintings. I'm excited to have some impartial feedback on my work (unless he says it sucks then I won't be so excited!). Hopefully he'll be more constructive than that!

I did finish the sketch of my Great Grannie and will post a picture once I get the mat cut the right size. This is the one that I finished all but the face on and it took me forever to get up the nerve to try the face. There are flaws but I'm very happy with it overall.

Avast ye maties

Yet again, I've let it sneak up on me again unbeknownst. Arghhhhh...

Aye, it's Talk Like a Priate Day! September 19

Have ye never heard of Talk Like a Pirate Day? Just follow the link above to the secret treasure of pirate talk and pirate stories. Want more?

Wikipedia


"Avast belay, yo ho, heave to,
A-pirating we go
And if we're parted by a shot
We're sure to meet below!"
"Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,
The flag o'skull and bones
A merry hour, a hempen rope
And 'hey' for Davy Jones!"

And you can even watch Pirates of the Carribean to round out your day.

Good day to you, me hearties!

New Classes

I've got a couple of classes coming up at Lincoln Land Community College here in Springfield in case you're in the area and interested.

The first one coming up on October 18th is Knitting Jewelry with Jewelry Wire and Beads (click on the Lincoln Land link above, choose Fall 2008 Community Learning Schedule and then go to page 10 of the booklet). We'll be making a bracelet or necklace fob with, as it says, jewelry wire and beads. It's a great technique for quick, unique Christmas gifts. I'll post some sample tonight so you can see the sorts of things you can do with this simple technique. The great thing is that you only use the knit stitch so I've even had people who've never knitted before finish a project during the class.

The second class is 3 Saturday mornings of Beginning Lace (page 11 of the booklet). The first class is November 8th and then we'll also meet for the next 2 Saturday mornings. The project is going to be a sampler lace scarf which will give you the chance to try out a few different lace patterns, getting used to working both from charts and from written directions. We'll also talk a bit about the special characteristics and techniques of knitting lace and take a bit of the mystery and intimidation out of it.

The Springfield Flock Fiber Arts Guild will also be doing a beginning knitting class this fall so you might want to check that out. The project will be a teddy bear-size sweater introducing the knit and purl stitches, increasing and decreasing and casting on and binding off. They're working from my curriculum so I'm quite excited to see how it goes. That will be 3 sessions starting September 27th. The sweater really will be doable for everyone and can be finished by the end of the class. It was originally set for a 4-session class but I'm still confident it can be done in this time. It's also a great chance for beginner knitters to take the step from basic projects to learning the techniques and steps to knitting a sweater. Everything you learn can be translated into making any size sweater. The Guild has deemed this the year of the sweater and challenged Guild members to make at least 1 sweater this year so this seemed to fit right in.

Happy Anniversary

I wanted to take the opportunity to wish my parents congratulations on 25 years together. I well remember the day they got married in a quiet ceremony. For making the commitment to each other, sticking through the hard times and always encouraging and supporting each other I have to say I’m humbled and honored to be your daughter. I love you both.

In other news, I finally got my latest watercolor framed and I’m very happy with the way the white frame sets it off.



One other thing I got on my recent jaunt was this pattern and the Berocco yarn in charcoal. I can’t tell you how gorgeous and sensual this yarn is. A fairly chunky yarn in half superfine alpaca, which gives it weight and softness, and half Peruvian wool which gives it some loft and memory. I’ve got the back and the left front done. The right front and sleeves should go quickly (on size 10/6mm needles) and then all I have to do is wait for the cool weather!

Road Trip

I had a bit of a get-away this weekend with a trip up to Madison, WI. The main reason for going was that I’d never been there and it was an easy long weekend trip. It wasn’t until after I’d planned the trip that I discovered it was the same weekend as the Jefferson County Sheep and Wool Festival. I also didn’t know that this was the BIG sheep and wool festival for Wisconsin, as I was told by one of the vendors. There were 2 large buildings just full of fiber and spinning wheels and fiber and looms and yarn and fiber.

Here are some pics:

There was also a sheepdog demonstration from a lady who ranches in southeastern Illinois. I didn’t get her name but she definitely knew her stuff. She was also spending time coaching some folks with sheep dogs that had not had any training. When I first got there, she was working with a man and his dog who was doing amazing. Little did I know that the dog had never herded sheep before that morning. Two hours of work she did with the dog and his owner and they were going through all the paces.

Then she brought out her dog. Wow. What a performance!

Fortunately I was only there for Sunday morning! But I got some yummy roving and a beautiful Border Leicester fleece. It’s so scrummy that I’ve been able to ‘card’ it with my fingers. It’s still in the grease but it’s only a light lanolin and there’s almost no vegetable matter. Can’t wait to get it spinning.

The roving I bought is a gorgeous dark green with black highlights. It’s the exact color I’ve been wanting for the fisherman’s sweater I designed a couple of years ago. Yes, the ‘pretty man sweater!’ I’ve been looking for more than 2 years for the right yarn in the right color and haven’t been able to find it. Well, now I just have to spin it!

I did also visit the 2 yarn shops I found in Madison – both very nice. One is a smaller shop but with some lovely yarns and lots of sweater samples. I found a pattern book from Gedifra Moments that really took my fancy. I’d never seen this company before and when I searched on it mostly found German and Greek web sites that carried it so I’m guessing European.

But it was at Lakeside Fibers that I fell in love. For it was there that I discovered the Weldon’s Practical Needlework series. Weldon’s was a late 19th century needlework magazine that was published in Britain. Obviously getting hold of a real copy of one of them is not easy these days and not at all cheap. But bless Piecework Magazine’s pea picking hearts, they republished them in a series of 12 volumes a few years ago. I knew nothing about this. I poured over the volumes for a long while before deciding which I was going to splurge on. I decided this was what I would spend my State Fair winnings for! I wish I could tell you how wonderful and amazing these reprinting are for a lover of vintage patterns. Sigh…. I’m still swooning just a little bit. Click on the Amazon.com link above and you can have a little peek into the volumes. Lightheaded. Ohhh… I’m okay, I’m okay. Whew.

All in all, quite a weekend! Just as well I was driving.

You take the high road, I'll take the low road

and I'll be in Scotland afore ye.


I’ve finally gotten back to the Saltire and Thistle Shawl. I put it aside because the thistles in the pattern are going to wrong way. I kept thinking I would spend some time working out how to reverse the pattern, which I’m fairly sure is a pretty easy thing. Thing is, though, I’m not and it’s been sitting patiently by my chair with the border halfway done. I’ve finally embraced the fact that I’m not going to do anything with the thistle pattern and have come to the realization that if the thistle pattern wants to be upside down, I’m jolly well going to let it be upside down. Who am I, after all, to tell the thistle which way it has to face. Here’s my ‘prototype.’ I don’t have a new photo but this is what I’m making except this one is where I’ve done the thistle pattern wrong.

Again, don’t get me wrong. It’s pretty and very uniform so that it looks like it was done on purpose – and it was – but it’s not a thistle. It came out more like a shell. Pretty but not a thistle.

So now I’m doing one with a thistle. The other thing I’m doing differently is in the corner sections. In this photo, you can see I just did plain stockinette stitch in this original 'prototype' shawl because I wasn’t sure how things would go. I decided to go plain and figure out how the shaping works.

On this one, I’m doing a Shetland eyelet pattern, in keeping with the Scottish theme – Saltire (Scottish flag) in the middle, thistles and the Shetland eyelet pattern in the border and then I’ll do a wide knitted off border (over the almost 600 stitches there will be around by the time I finish the border. You're right if you're thinking the prototype doesn't have an edging. I was doing it to learn the technique so I didn't go to the trouble of doing the edging, I just crocheted it off.

I figure I should be finished with the border in the next week or so and then the edging will take a while. The last time I did a simple garter knitted edging, it took me about 3 months to do it!! I’m a fast knitter but having to knit the equivalent of 1200 rows takes a while, I don’t care who you are!

It's nice to embrace the realities of life and enjoy the process of knitting a beautiful shawl that will remind me of my life in Scotland. They not facing the wrong way, they're just facing the other way.