Valentine

We don’t really do anything special for Valentines Day, but every once in a while there is a surprise. A few weeks ago Peggy Orenstein wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times that was shared with me, and I told The Farmer I would like to read her book. 

And here it is! Listening is my love language. I appreciate when someone hears my request and acts on the information. Hope your day was just as great! Love, peace, and knitting to all of you. 

Yarn Haul

Vacation yarn souvenirs are some of my favorite items to collect. I had some excellent adventures this summer, but it so happened that I was also able to sneak in an impromptu pilgrimage to a yarn store that I have admired for a few years. Let’s all dreamily stare at the front window of Stephen and Penelope Fine Yarns in Amsterdam!

More importantly, let’s admire the vast and gorgeous yarn selection! I spent several hours on two different days drooling here. Don’t worry, I swallowed the drool!

I eventually chose some skeins from this section of the store. Have I mentioned that I am a fan of orange?

I really like this wooden display holders and think I will try to make a few for the day that I start selling Shady Grove Alpaca yarn at fiber fairs…

Violá! Three coordinating skeins in orange plus a branded project knitting bag to keep them safe. Watch out for those crazy bicycles in Amsterdam!!

Prior to Amsterdam, I had the opportunity to visit England and purchased some Swaledale sheep yarn (white) and some sock yarn dyed in the same neighborhood. More on the sheep of England in an upcoming post.

Final picture of entire yarn collection, including four skeins of sock yarn that I purchased at the request of my parental unit. It’s her favorite, and it came in some lovely colors!

And finally, some fiber whimsy brought to you by local knitting and sewing artists who decorated this bridge in the town of Melk, Austria. More on that trip in a later post as well!

Stay safe and happy knitting! 🧶 

 

Chunky Inspiration

A few days ago a friend asked me to make a hat with super chunky yarn. I have been knitting a long time, but I must say that I was shocked to have to go to the craft store for SIZE 35 (!!!) needles. Even more surprisingly, I could have bought size 50 needles. I was basically lever-ing with turkey basters…

The upside of thick yarn and large needles is a hat that fully materialized in 50 minutes. The Loopy Mango merino yarn was super soft and just one twist more than basic roving, which made it very fuzzy to work with. A wonderful choice to make a very cozy and stylish hat with.

This new experience led me to contemplate the large amounts of Shady Grove Alpacas rug yarn that I have no idea how to use. So I cast on 24 stitches on those fat new needles and knit about 20 rows, at which point I decided the design was symmetrical enough and cast off.

It looks much nicer than I expected, and is super soft to stand on. The other reason I was inspired to make a rug was the terrible choice of tiling in my master bath: muddled pink marble. It is the worst combination of ugly and freezing cold, inexcusable in the face of the fact that it would have been easy to pick a different color, or at least put a radiant floor heating unit underneath.

This experiment in alpaca bath mat knitting seems to solve some of these issues nicely. I believe I shall be knitting this again to cover that hideous floor with more warm, cozy foot blankets.

The mat also doubles as a squishy rug to alleviate back pain while practicing the guitar. Bonus!

I have a few posts I need to catch up on. Hopefully I'll gain some new momentum soon. In the mean time, stay toasty!

Spin & Knit 2015: A Resolution

Happy New Year!

I gave up New Year's resolutions a decade or two ago, but I thought I would give this year another try. My title sounds pretty misleading, since I do have one of these spinning beauties, but I'm afraid that I need to spend some time on the (recumbent) stationary bike instead. Must keep in shape for upcoming hiking adventures after all, and knitting seemed like it would be a good pairing with all that peddling. So my goal is to ride and knit 30 minutes on any day that I don't visit the gym or don't have evening orchestra rehearsal.

Looking into the Black Mountain Range at sunset. (Peru)

I gave it a whirl this evening. (See what I did there?! OK, go ahead and groan...) Instead of knitting, I ended up talking on the phone and then writing an email on my phone. So we'll have to see if there will be any additional knit items to blog about. Ready for finishing are a sweater, a hat, a crafty blanket I started as a pre-teen, a jacket, and some fingerless mitts.

I'll keep you posted, but don't hold your breath...

May 2015 be an enjoyable one for you!

SWAP!

This past month I signed up to be part of a swap on the Whole Latte Chocolate Love group on Ravelry. It's for knitters who enjoy chocolate, coffee, and knitting, of course. We put together packages that contain chocolate, coffee, yarn, and little special things that would go well with those items. Below is a partial view of what things I had in my buddy's box: Squish Me hat pattern from Knitspot, matching Bare Naked Wool DK weight wool in colorway cocoa, some Malabrigo sock yarn, truffles from Concannon's Bakery, other dark chocolates, and Main Street coffee, which recently got bought by Concannon's. I also finished some handmade quilted note cards.My goody box was right up my alley! My swap partner lives in Omaha, NE, and got me all kinds of things from her home town: Scooter'coffee (founded in Bellevue, NE, in 1998), a large bag of Baker's Candies' famous meltaway dark chocolates (family-owned factory in Greenwood, NE), and a skein of Malabrigo Rios yarn from the local yarn store, Personal Threads Boutique. She also thoughtfully supplied reading material on each of these places. I love learning something about other places and supporting local business. To top the box off with the chocolate theme was a little shower kit that included shower gels in cocoa velvet truffle scent and buttercream delight scent. Till next time... I'll be wide awake and knitting!

Trachtenjacke: Must-Have for the Tourist's Nephew

Part 2 of Nephew #8's gift was at least one article of clothing that... ahem... I should have knit for him personally. This is a traditional jacket, or Trachtenjacke, often seen in southern Germany and throughout Austria.

Add to this charming and simple jacket a shirt stitched up with Edelweiss:

Cute combination!

Throw some Lederhosen into the mix:

Close-up of the Edelweiss in the cross strap:

Violá, a wonderful outfit for a 3-year-old!

I can't wait until Nephew #8 is 3!

In the mean time, hope to duplicate this knit jacket myself. Or I could go back to Innsbruck and purchase another. Innsbruck is a delightful city...

Wooly Wealth

Last weekend was not only filled with family, but I also received some unexpected fiber-related treats.

These hand cards belonged to the great great great grandmother of my step father-in-law. His mother wanted the cards to go to a home in which they would be appreciated, which they certainly will be here! The woman who originally owned the cards is Cynthia Catlin Miller and she lived from 1813-1883 in Warren County, PA. She was an abolitionist who established the Female Assisting Society and the Ladies Fugitive Aid Society in Sugar Grove, PA. Her son Franklin Richard Miller founded the Miller Foundation Tree farm, the first tree farm in Pennsylvania.


The cards have "Sargent & Co, New York" printed on them with a galloping horse in the middle. It is unclear which era of the Sargent Company produced these cards. One article reads that J. B. Sargent's father's company made wool cards for the mills in the New England area. When J. B. Sargent took over around the 1860's, it sounds like the company he headed made more hardware and locksmith items. At any rate, the cards can be solidly attributed to the early to mid 1800's.

While the cards are in excellent shape still, I will DEFINITELY NOT be using them for carding fiber. The leather holding the metal teeth is in good condition, but the teeth are just a little rusty. They will serve as a nice decoration in my study!

A friend of my mother's friend is a very active spinner in Maryland. She must have run out of space to store all of her yarn goods, and so she is passing some of them along to me. I am very grateful, as I was about to order another batch of Jared Flood's lovely American-made SHELTER yarn for a hat and scarf project. I am sure, however, that he would approve of me using handspun, American made yarn for his Fortnight hat and Wayfarer scarf patterns in place of the SHELTER yarn.


She prepared some of the yarn for sale at the Maryland Wool Show in 1990. The little tag on the gray yarn states that it comes from a Copworth Gray sheep named Norman. The brown skeins come from a Romney Brown sheep named Helga. It's fun to have a "personal connection" to the yarn one is working with.


So now, if you will excuse me, I think I will cast on a project!

1,000 Shells

This past weekend, a second cousin of mine came to visit my parents. I had not seen him since 1993! We showed him several attractions in the area, beginning with the birthplace of Thomas Edison in Milan, OH. This 1,000 shell knit afghan was made by Edison's mother for his sister's wedding on what appeared to be size 000 needles... I can only imagine the amount of time this must have taken. I am assuming that she probably spun the yarn for this project as well. So. much. work.


Here is a close up. It takes one's breath away... (Clicking on picture will make it larger. A second click on the photo, even bigger and more magnificent.)


In the afternoon we checked out the Marblehead Lighthouse and had a lovely dinner at Mon Ami. And then played some music to round off the day.


The weekend was great! Happy Summer!

Oh BROTHER!!!

One of my brothers finally put in a knitting request:



Yes, you see correctly. That is a KNITTED SKELETON!

I think knitting a sweater for my brother's 6'6" frame would be less of a hassle than this project. And also take less time. What are you, a pediatrician or something? Those must be some soft bones... They might need a procedure! Or prescription for Fosamax... Oh wait, that is for older patients...

This image was borrowed from failblog.org.

ETA: No I did NOT knit this crazy piece... yet! HAHA!

A Week in Wool

Last week was very crazy, hectic, exciting, and full of many experiences. (Barn-raising, middle school festival concert, playing the viola in my symphony gig, teaching school and commuting all the while...) It was therefore lovely to get several shipments of woolly yarn throughout the week to infuse some calm moments into all the activity.

First up on Monday was the arrival of the new sock club yarn and patterns.

The photo intentionally does not show the full glory of the dyed yarn, as this color way and its accompanying patterns won't be released to the general public until January. The yarn is beautiful and so soft! The patterns look wonderful too!

Second, I finally decided to finish the Adult Tomten sweater that I started a few years ago. The yarn that arrived in record time on Wednesday from Beaverslide and was an absolutely perfect match! That means I don't need to do any fancy knitting to incorporate old and new colors. It still means that I have to frog the original knitting. Just not happy with what is going on with the sizing and front closure options. This jacket needs to look perfect when finished.

Oh, and don't forget to order honey next time you order from Beaverslide. The honey is DIVINE: light, fruity, and you can almost taste a little bit of the dusty mountains from the environment it was collected in. Delicious!

Third and last, I did make an impulse purchase over the previous weekend.

Jared Flood has come out with his own specially designed yarn called "Shelter"on the first of this month. You can read about this amazing yarn on his blog here: brooklyntweed.net/blog. I should have waited to order the yarn, because he published the pattern I want to make (Wayfarer Scarf) the day after I ordered the yarn. So I am one skein of yarn short. Never mind, the yarn has a wonderful texture and color (Soot colorway) and will make a lovely product.

Now, I hear what you are saying: Will we ever see any more knitting from you this year? I do hope so... though I do confess that the output has been extremely limited this year. Maybe the next time I will show you something??? Till then, Happy Knitting!