It’s a (Blanket) Theme

It's time to restart the knitting! And I've decided to continue my goal of using up my remaining handspun yarn from Anne Cohee with mindless blankets. I'm already enjoying myself, though the cat is even more amused, as usual!

I've selected the Feather & Fan design. Several students have come to class in sweaters with this design, and I enjoy the vintage look coming back into style.

We are experiencing a snow and ice event today. I hope to knit many cozy rows this afternoon. The next few weeks are going to be wild with concerts, gatherings, and gigs. Cheers to all who are preparing for the winter holidays!

Donations

I put off going to the hair dresser so long that I once again found myself with enough length to donate. I'm excited to contribute hair to organizations who make wigs for children as well as inspire my students to consider doing the same.

I'm also thinking how I am donating my time to other important work outside of teaching. I started clearing some of the invasive honeysuckle again, and hope to find some additional time this weekend. The before and after pictures would be more dramatic if I were closer to the area where the shrubs were removed. Finally, my mind often wanders to all of the people who will be affected if SNAP benefits aren't renewed by tomorrow. I will definitely be giving extra to the food pantries this month. And maybe starting some seeds for winter window lettuce. And donating some of those extra knit hats I have laying around. Sounds like I just made a to-do list for myself! Which is perfect, because I had this thought a few days ago: What if I turn this year around for the last 61 days? How do I optimize my habits so that I can be my best self? Suddenly my mental to-do list is longer yet, so off to bed to prepare for the heavy lifting tomorrow!

Transitions

After many years of talking about it, we finally spent all summer in a different city, Milwaukee. My last Thursday, I visited an up and coming neighborhood called Bay View where i stumbled upon a sweet little used bookstore with resident cats, Fiber Fever yarn store, and an old fashioned habidashery. It also looked like one could eat yummy things here, but time was not on my side.

Bookstore with funny cats!

Handmade hats, new and restored, made on antique equipment.

The souvenir yarn from Fiber Fever yarn store is worsted weight from a Shetland sheep named Flora, who lives on the Rose Boulder Farm in Wisconsin.

I transformed the yarn into a hat using the Mossy Lane Hat pattern two weekends ago on a trip to New Jersey. (I used size 4 & 6 needles.) Its a perfect way to transition from a lovely summer to leaf peeping this fall.

After a long and early cold snap at the end of August and drought conditions, many trees are changing color early and shedding their leaves already. Enjoy the last day of summer, and of course, the delightful return of cool weather in the fall! Happy knitting!

Vanilla Velvet Mini

I finished this mini cowl (Vanilla Velvet pattern by Anne Hanson) a few months ago, but I finally blocked it. I used Shady Grove Alpaca farm yarn, Moonstar Sock with added nylon. When I first got the yarn back from the mill on 2016, my friend Lolita took a look at a few of my sample projects and exclaimed that this was the yarn that would show cables and lace the best. Sadly, it took me 9 years to give it a try. She was right!

I also washed the yarn before I knit the pattern so the yarn would preshrink. When my mom knit the sample socks, they shrank a few sizes after washing. I went down to size 1 needles, thus making the cowl much smaller than I intended. Since I already started knitting, I decided to make a tiny cowl with less pattern repeats. If I make it again, I will select the larger size and knit the recommended pattern repeats.

Two ways to wear: as a cowl and folded under as a turtleneck under a sweater. In spite of the added nylon, I still feel itchy while wearing, so I guess it's not the answer to my alpaca alergy.

The before pictures: I think prewashing the yarn made a big difference in the product, and the blocking was still needed to make the stitches appear smooth and expanded.

Happy Knitting in this early fall weather!

Alpaca Afterword

Recently I received a text from our friends at Big Pine Acre Alpacas who adopted our remaining herd last summer. Our youngest cria, Cherise, had just given birth to a baby boy at the end of June! I suggested some names - Good Lovin’, Cosmic Charlie, maybe Reuben to go with the Cherise - all Grateful Dead song titles, of course. So adorable! But as life sometimes happens, I got another text a few days later that the little guy had suddenly died. Heartbreaking… He looked a bit like his grandma, Peggy-Oh, with that white face!

We also caught up with news about the other animals, and as it turns out, Dark Star didn’t make it through the winter. He was 13.5 years old and lived a good life. No cause of death is known, as with so many other animals we had. He did have all sorts of suspicious bumps on his skin, which maybe contributed. 

He sure was a handsome man, and such a sweetheart. 

Rest easy, Dark Star. Shady Grove Alpacas’ first cria on September 5, 2011, Labor Day, to late winter 2025. 

The inspiration for our logo, he will always be our yarn mascot! ❤️

Change of Seasons Hat/Gaiter

Summer finish #1 is the Change of Seasons Hat/Gaiter from Mountain Meadow Wool company. It’s been a while since I worked with Shady Grove Alpacas yarn, and Dark Star’s Lopi spun does not disappoint!

The yarn is a good deal thicker than the pattern-recommended sport weight yarn. Knitting was done in two quick spurts. 

I enjoyed learning a new technique called the stitch by stitch hem from the ChillyDog YouTube channel. 

As advertised, the piece of clothing can also function as a cowl or gaiter for the neck. Next time I knit one, I will add more stitches during the increase row. I had 43 stitches on the needles and only added 4. It’s snug when you pull it over your head, but feels nice on the neck. It’s a bit tight if you want it to cover your mouth as well. 

The other change I would make is using different yarn or even something like smooth shoelaces inside the yarn tube. This yarn is pretty delicate and I’m not sure how long it will hold up with constant cinching. 

All in all, satisfying to complete and check it off the list! What will I knit next?

Summer Knitting Reboot

 After a week of decompressing after a tough semester of teaching orchestra, I am ready to take a look at some summer knitting. I unearthed a half finished cowl/hat made from Shady Grove Dark Star, some cool painted yarn I got for my birthday a few years ago, and a sock pattern with yarn. 

Not sure what’s first, but I’m looking forward to being productive in some other non-teaching way. 

Happy Summer! Is anyone else freezing? Maybe I should knit a sweater instead…