Renny's Hennys

I ended up making a third baby chick and that used up all but a very small amount of dark green yarn and an even smaller amount of light green.  This was a fun project and I'd probably keep making chicks if I hadn't run out of Renny's yarn, but it's time to move on to a new fun project.

Tour De Fleece Wrap Up

Last week I walked out of the Wool House and around my car to find my beloved bike crashed and all the accessories strewn about...and a sassy little tail sashaying away.  Hit and run.  A bit like my Tour de Fleece this year.  If you look closely, Jared is standing up the hill peeking around the back of the truck.  Jared does not like drama.  He lives with Maisie...

I ended up spinning four bobbins of Ellie's lamb fleece.  I had some issues with back fatigue because I was using a not ideal chair in the air conditioned wash room so I could hang out with Pinot while I spun.  I didn't make any effort to change my chair until almost the end.  I'd have probably spun more if I'd done that earlier.  My typical can't get out of my own way strategy.

Removing the chair aspect, Ellie was a fun spin.  The yarn is super soft and just a bit fuzzy and a beautiful creamy white.  I loved it even, or more so, as a single, which is not very common for me.

I did my weights and measures thing and paired up the appropriate skeins for plying and then swapped out to the double arms for my skein winder.

This is my favorite way to ply.  Everything stays nice and tidy and evenly tensioned and by using skeins rather than balls or bobbins, you have a better idea of what each skein looks like throughout and I find I have better luck matching up my singles that way as I'm not a very consistent spinner, especially over a long time frame.

I was able to get most of the plying done during the day with just a little bit left for after evening chores.  The porch was cool and comfortable, even in the heat of the afternoon.

As I was plying I noticed a pretty big spider crawling on a ball of wool off to my left.  Just as I was thinking I needed to remember to watch for that in the morning it took off towards the ceiling and I realized she was building a big web.  That really struck me, the two of us spinning on the porch.  Two Wool House Crafters :-).

I ended up with a little over 700 yards of smushy, cozy, sportweight/dk yarn.

It lost a bit of it's fuzziness being plyed, but Ellie's dad was a Cotswold cross from Nistock Farms so I know if I want it back all I'll need to do is run a soft brush over my finished item.  The pattern I've picked will look pretty either way.  The skein winder is from Nistock's as well - good sheep, good tools :-).

I started knitting a few practice rows with the small skein yesterday.  I'd have more to show if I hadn't had trouble counting to nine, but I've practiced doing the stitches required for the patterning and I'm hoping to get started for real this afternoon or tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to go back to In Person Crafters here on the farm.  We'll still be on Zoom as well as we are every Tuesday, but if you are local and would like to come out from 7:00 to 9:00 on the second Tuesday of each month until it gets too cold, the porch is really nice now - spider approved :-).  We'll have to over flow onto the grass so maybe wear long pants if you are a bug magnet.

The 2023 Iknitarod Warp Is A Wrap

Sweet little Maggie, once again demonstrating her wool worthiness.  She has shown a significant interest in everything I've brought out to the barn or barn lot and she's equally interested in WIPs (works in progress) and finished items.  I think I'll be making something from her wool this year!

Aside from the interesting structure, the beauty of a V shawl is how easy it is to wear.  No shawl pin needed.  It will stay put on your shoulders even as you are carried outside on a breezy afternoon :-).

This is where the two pieces are woven together after the front panels are finished.  The pattern I used is a representation of the Fibonacci sequence.  I used five warp threads for each "one" so instead of 1,1,2,3,5,8 I threaded 5,5,10,15,25,40.

I was prepared to really only focus on the back pattern, but I'm equally happy with the simple stripes on the front as well.  I think it's a nice, clean look.

I really enjoyed working with this yarn - the Lamb Camp Legacy blend from all the sons and daughters of Rocky and Jared when they were working over at Tring Farm.  It was easy to warp and weave and it held up well to all my weaving and unweaving and weaving and unweaving and weaving and...  It fulled really well and is surprisingly soft, even up next to my face.

I waffled on what to do with my fringe.  I am not a huge fan of twisted fringe.  I just don't love the look or the feel.  Being a Cotswold cross yarn I was concerned about the fringe felting together into a big mess so I sampled a couple of ways to keep it under control.  

I had the best luck putting big pieces of shipping tape over all the loose yarn before I washed it.  The knots still got a bit fuzzy though so I'm going to keep thinking on it as I get ready to warp up another version.  I think my next V project is going to be a mobius scarf.

All in all I, now that I'm a few days out from the fiddly joining work, I can say I really enjoyed this project and another successful Iknitarod is in the books :-).

"I somehow thought there'd be more knitting."

 

Knitting My Fingers To The Bone

"Did someone say bone?"

I have actually been knitting.  You may have seen occasional glimpses of this on Instagram over the summer and fall.  It should have been finished months ago.  I realized it would be the perfect thing to wear tomorrow for Hug a Sheep Day and have made a big push over the last few days to get it finished.  Nothing works like a deadline!

Regarding tomorrow, if you'd like to follow along on Instagram Live (look for the small round picture of 20 at the top of your home IG screen), we'll do a similar schedule to last year.  I should be able to then post the recorded videos over to Facebook.

Morning flock walk 8:30ish.  Remember the beautiful sunrise and weather of last year?  Yeah, that ain't happening tomorrow (she says, trying to jinx it into proving her wrong and being nice ;-).  

Cookie Party 1:00

Knitting Project Reveal?  Maybe? (I hate to be on screen :-o)  3:00

Late afternoon flock walk 5:00

Night check  10:00

These are all tentative/hopeful times, but being ornery sheep, they may run on a different schedule (unless there are cookies involved), especially since it's going to be cold and rainy that day.  Go ahead and prove me wrong.  I dare you! ;-)