Home again, home again

But can't wait to go back.

I’ve had a fabulous long weekend.  I was in the beautiful city of Lexington, KY, for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival. But since I was going to be all the way over there, I decided to spend some time just enjoying the area. Last year when I came, there wasn’t much time to see anything.

I drove down on Thursday, a nice leisurely drive down. On Friday morning, I headed down to Berea, an area that is famous for folk art. While there was beautiful woodwork, pottery, glasswork and some quilting, I’m a little surprised that there are not more textile arts in this part of the country. I’ve visited several folk art places in Kentucky and haven’t seen even very much weaving, never mind knitting or other textile arts.

After Berea, I headed over to Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill. I’m in love. This is the most wonderful place and the most wonderful people. This was a strong, functioning Shaker village that was active from about 1805 until 1910. At its height, there were approximately 450 people in 5 or 6 communities. In 1910 it closed down but it wasn’t until the 1950s or 60s that the non-profit was formed and they started buying back the land and restoring the village. Amazingly, the buildings that are there are the original buildings, not reproductions. There were all kept standing and have been turned into, not only display places but also guest rooms. There were wonderful crafts and room displays, etc., but the most fun was a little ride through the village in a horse-drawn buggy with an interesting fellow that was able to give all the history of the place and has been there for many, many years. You can easily see how connected the staff is to the place.

The biggest highlight, even more than the buggy ride was the sheep shearing demonstration. The guy who did the demonstration is 77 years old and some of the younger guys who shear with him say that he can still out work people half his age and that he is a living legend in the shearing world. He was quite the character. The sheep he was demonstrating on were Polypay sheep, which is a relatively recent breed developed from crossing Dorset, Rambouillet, Finnsheep and Targhee. It was fascinating to hear him tell the story of why each of the breeds were worked in – have a look here for more info.

(That's my fleece he's holding up!)

Of course, the reason for the trip was teaching a class at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival on Spinning for Lace. I had 6 ladies in the class and everyone seemed to have a good time. The basis of the class was looking at the 3 elements that will set you up to be successful at spinning lace:

• Equipment – getting your wheel set up so that you’ve got lots of twist going in and very minimal pressure on the yarn being pulled onto the bobbin.
• Preparation – preparing your fiber to give you the best set up for spinning a light-gauge singles.
• Technique – using a technique that will either complement the fiber being used or achieve the sort of effect you want for the finished yarn.

They did such a great job and it was a lot of fun to see the excitement in their faces when they achieved a yarn they never expected they’d be able to make. To me, that’s the joy of teaching. That grin and giggle and excitement is what makes me love to teach.

It’s been hard not to include 43 photos here because the countryside was so beautiful and the Festival was so much fun. So here are a few that will give you a taste. You really need to plan on hitting this Festival next year, for sure. This was only their second year but it was so well done and with so many interesting and varied vendors. There were demonstrations and animals and fleeces and fiber and wood and so much more. The organizers did a fabulous job.

I also want it known that I showed steely self control because I did not come home with a mohair fleece, nor with a Cormo fleece, nor with a Jacob fleece, nor with any other fleece except the Polypay. I did not come home with a new spinning wheel (although I finally got a chance to try out the Spinolution – which has the most clever travel wheel you’ve ever seen. Not sure how much I liked it but it was definitely interesting) nor with a handmade table loom or shuttles or baskets. If that’s not an iron will, I don’t know what is. I am, however, planning to go again next year to get all the things I missed this time!

This time for sure

I tried several times during the week to post but blogger was down for a couple of days and I'm still having trouble uploading photos.  Hopefully this will work.

I just got back from Chicago where I was doing a tatting class for some of the folks from the LACE group.  There's going to be a beaded tatting class at the Lace Days on June 18 (actually this class is going to be the day before - see info posted on the above link) and some of the folks wanted to get in a lesson on tatting before they got to this more advance class.  There were also a couple of sisters who joined us, one of whom I met at TLD Designs where she was teaching an enameling class.  They were all the biggest hoots.  We laughed all day long.  And the best part is that every single one of them tatted.

It's not all going to be comfortable the first day you learn something new like this but they did fabulously!  Practice makes it more comfortable.  I love it when you get a room full of people who are willing to try just about anything. 

Our hostess, Nancy, was definitely the hostess with the mostest and I deeply appreciated her offer to put me up on Friday night so I didn't have to drive up and back in one day.   Thanks, Nancy.  You're the best!

Before we got started, we got entertained by an acrobatic squirrel:

In case you can't see, he's got his back leg hooked over one of the stands for the birds.  He was in high cotton, you can bet.
The table was set up ready for the gang:

We were moving too fast to get actual class in action photo (for some reason, I never think about taking photos while I'm running around the table!).  But we did get this one photo before everyone headed off:

I can't even tell you how much we laughed.  That's definitely the way to have a class!!!

Next up, the last event in my busy, busy spring, is the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington, KY.  This is a new event with this being, I believe, only the second annual.  If you're anywhere near, you definitely want to come out.  There are a ton of vendors, demonstrations and classes all day Friday and into Saturday morning.  I'm doing a Spin for Lace class on Saturday morning and there are only a few places left. I'd love to see you there!

Little bit of lace

One of the things I got on my trip was a dvd on bobbin lace and I've finally gotten around to watching it.  It came with 5 patterns which she goes through step by step.  It's been a great help.  Here's my first project from it:

Again, the first part of it is a bit rough but I'm really sort of pleased with the rest of it.  I'll have to find a wee square of linen to sew this onto and it will be my first real project. 

I Learned Something

I learned something last night.  I was watching a video on bobbin lace when the teacher described how to tie bobbins together after you've taken them off of a previous project.  Sometimes you still have plenty of thread on the bobbins and you don't want to waste it.  Here's what she said to do:

You've got two ends of thread that need to be connected up.






Take one of the threads and make a slip knot in it.



Now that you've got one slip knot, you're ready to attach the second thread.



Insert the second thread through the slip knot, leaving a short tail.

Pull the end of the slip knot until the knot is pulled tight.  You might even feel the knot pop as it incorporates the second thread.



Now you've got a nice tight almost unnoticeable knot.  You can trim the ends very short and go on with your work.



Pretty nifty, huh?  It seems so cool although I'm sure that everyone else probably knows the trick already.  It was new to me and I'm dead chuffed to have learned something.

All in a Day's Work

I know this will shock you but I always overestimate what I can do in any one given period of time. But I have managed to finish the bobbin lace doily I was working on:

When you work a square doily like this, you work it in 4 triangle sections. The only reason I don’t throw up my hands and walk away is that I got a little bit better in each subsequent section. Just a little bit but that’s okay. Now I’m going back to straight pieces, both because I they’re not as complicated as working around like this and because I need a little bit of a confidence boost.  You can see I haven't worked in all the ends.  That's for anotehr day.

At the most excellent of all used book stores located in Denton, Texas, I scored the unbelievable. I found 5 bobbin lace books, some as low as $3 and the highest at $13. One of these is regularly on e-bay and other sites for around $75 so I’m feeling very blessed right now and encouraged to move on with the lacemaking.

The other thing I’ve been working on is the handspun lace shawl. Not an exciting picture, I know, but there's only so much excitement you can give to a garter-stitch triangle.

I’ve spun this a pretty light lace weight from Frabjous Fibers Blue-faced Leicester. The 3 main colors that show up in the roving are green, brown and turquoise blue. I happily spun the first bobbin straight from the roving but when I started to spin the second bobbin (it was to be a 2-ply yarn), I realized that I was going to end up having brown in 2/3 of the finished yarn and that didn’t make me happy. It’s a pretty brown but I thought it was going to muddy the other colors. So for the second ply, I worked each of the colors and when I got to the brown, I pulled it out and put it aside.

That way, when I plied it, there was some brown but it kept the other colors more pure and that made me happy.
This is the very unexciting (so far) middle of the Thistle and Fern shawl from the new Margaret Stove book, Wrapped in Lace. In a Shetland-style shawl, the middle is worked (often point to point like I’m doing here and often in garter stitch as I’m doing here), then you work a border around this middle and finally you add an edging.

The center here is up to 180 stitches and I have to keep on until I have 254 stitches before I start back the other way. Seventy-four rows of lace weight garter on size 3 needles is a lot of knitting, in case you didn’t know it. I’m not progressing as quickly as I would like. A Jeannie-like blink and it’s done would suit me. I’m not a big fan of the garter at the best of times.

But one thing that has taken me away from progress on the shawl is a little baby blanket for a first grandchild of a friend of mine at work. I just found out about him last week so I’m trying to finish the blanket before his first birthday!

How We Roll

I was packing to go see my Mom. Usually I sort of throw things in a bag the couple of weeks before a trip as I think about what I need to take. This time, however, I found myself a couple of days before the trip with nothing packed. So one evening I packed. I packed my Hitchhiker (so easy to take and maybe I’ll want to spin). I packed drop spindles – 2 sizes – because I might come across some fiber that will need to be spun and I might want to use a spindle. I packed my new tapestry loom and some yarn because I might want to work on that. Actually I’m pretty sure I’ll want to work on that. I packed my bobbin lace pillow. Well, I packed 3 of them – my cookie pillow that I’m working on a doily with, the travel pillow that I’ve just gotten started with and another one because I might want to start on my yardage club lace (or something else). I packed my lace knitting that I’m doing with handspun. And, of course, I packed my knitting bag and other peripherals. Oh, yeah, I packed my tatting stuff because I’ve got a project I’m working on and I’ve got a class coming up right after I get back so I wanted to work on some stuff there. And a few books for each of the above. Might want to catch up on my reading.

I surveyed the scene.

There were also 4 boxes of books I was bringing for my Mom.

Projects. Check. Books. Check. Clothes. Ummmmmm…. Oops. Looks like I forgot something. No luggage.

I finally got everything ready and packed the night before. Good choice since it was rainy and messy the morning I left (the morning of the day the tornado hit St Louis which I missed because I left at 6am). And I was ready to go.

On the way, I was able to finish the scarf that I was knitting out of handspun merino laceweight yarn. Just need to work in the ends.

And the other item there is the start of a Shetland-style shawl with some laceweight Blue-faced Leicester that I spun. I need to do another post about this shawl because it’s being an interesting journey. This is just a crappy hotel room picture. More on that later. (No, I didn’t knit while I drove – that would be crazy talk – but I had time at the hotel the first night.)

For those who were laughing about me covering all my bases, I did, indeed, find some fiber that had to be spun and was started on a drop spindle:

This is Frabjous Fiber merino, silk and cashmere that is the most amazing fiber I’ve found in a long time. It’s actually white, purple, blue, green – I’ll get a better picture. You know I love Frabjous Fiber but I normally get the BFL. And the lady who owns the shop told me she’d just gotten in this shipment only days before. Good thing she was prepared for me!

On the way, I stopped at a wonderful antique shop in Purcell, OK, and found these:

Knitted lace edging which must have been knit on about a 0 or 00 needle, I think using the Brucilla thread shown here. The other is a strip of handmade torchon lace. Beautiful, no?!

Lace study

With the class coming up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Fesitval, I've been trying to push my limits in spinning lace.  Let's be honest.  My default yarn tends to be on the fine size.

But I wanted to work some samples with different types of fibers and different direction plies and see what I could come up with for projects for the Spinning for Lace class.

First of all, I put together this group of samples.  One of these is a commercial merino lace yarn.  The others are all handspun.

(Okay, there are 2 commercially spun yarns.  The one on the left is a strand of worsted weight yarn as a example.)

I also wanted to spin enough of one sample to knit something that will show the progress so here is the merino lace.  I spun something like 275 yards from 3/4 oz of merino fiber.  I can't believe how springy and fun to knit this is.

I spun this on my Kromski Symphony (which is my new favorite wheel for lace weight) at 16:1 ratio.  I spun the singles z and plied s.  I washed it in really hot water which activated some of the original merino crimp and gave this wonderful bouncy light lace weight yarn. The pattern is feather and fan (with an extra garter ridge running through one of them - I didn't find it until I was way past).  I've had to rip out several times and, because I've got plenty of twist in the yarn, it's hasn't been harmed by the ripping and reknitting (and ripping and reknitting - several times).  This was less than an ounce and I've got about 10 ounces left so I'm going to be able to do plenty with.  And isn't it a pretty color?  So springtime!

One more sample I'm going to knit up.  This is bfl which puffs up a lot once it's washed so it's never as fine as it seems when you're spinning:

One more and then I promise I'll stop.  This is rambouillet from the fleece which I washed lock by lock and spun straight from the lock:

(This is the worsted, handspun bfl and handspun rambouillet fleece.)

P.S.  Did you pick the commercially spun yarn?  It's the white strand on the left.