Cryogenically Preserved

Yes, we are again in the crazy depths of the freezing tundra.  They shut down the schools again, both today and tomorrow.  Anymore closings and they start tacking on days at the end of the school year.  At this rate the girls will be going to school until July!  And I'm not exaggerating (well not much anyway).  The thing that is amazing or as my friend in Dallas says, "not natural" is we continue on with our daily lives.  It can be -15 with a wind chill of -40 and while they close the schools down, the rest of us continue to find our way to and from work, go to the stores, and the really crazy few?  They are jogging (I think running to try and keep their feet from freezing to the pavement) or cross country skiing.  We live here, we don't hibernate (I keep lobbying for that at work, so far no takers), we go in and out of buildings and cars.

For those in the Texas area, who are popping in because they found my blog through the DFW Fiber Fest list of vendors, HELLO!  I'm so excited about heading back to Dallas for a visit and adding in yarn and 3 days of fiber fumes?  Can't get better than that.  My girls and I are counting down the days until we get back home.  I'm spinning every day as much as I can, between running around through the frozen air, shuttling the girls to and fro with their activities, and working my day job.  Each skein I add to my basket makes me smile and hope it brings as much joy to you.  We leave in 54 days....but who is really counting....ummmm that would be me!

Returning to our regularly scheduled broadcast

Well we survived the deep freeze of last week.  Today was a balmy 39 degrees ABOVE zero.  This does a couple things in MN.  You will see LOOOONNNNGGGG lines at car washes, where we try and wash away the salt and chemicals from our cars before said salt and chemicals eat away at the outside of your vehicle.  The days you can do this are limited in winter, they need to be warm enough that your doors and locks won't freeze solid after rinsing off all the yuck on the outside of the car, so when you are lucky enough to have it 20 degrees or warmer, the lines begin at the car wash places.  And the second fun event is taking the time to chisel off the icy dregs on your sidewalk and driveways.  So all in all just a fun time in the city!

The girls will have a full week of school for the first time in 3 weeks.  I'm sure you can imagine their joy at that thought!  However, you also can imagine the joy of my mom who is home with them during the days they are off school.  smile...

I have 11 weeks until the DFW fiber fest.  That means my spinning must be constant and I can't falter.  This last week was a good week.  I got 6 skeins in total done.  Here are the last two.

This is Just Dance - a riot of colors that make you smile to look at.  I think it would be great fun to use for a kids sweater or just a bright and cheerful scarf, no matter who the age.

I also spun a long gradient, Little Mermaid.  I ended up putting it up as 2 skeins, I think it will be sold either as a pair to get the full effect starting with a soft buttery cream, moving to a golden bronze, to a light green before it completes its color journey to a deep spruce green.  But it will also work as two separate skeins, still a gradient, just not as extreme.



This is the roving for Little Mermaid, I think Ginny does such amazing work in her colors and layout.  I'm always so happy with her work (Fat Cat Knits).

I've already completed spinning the next two bobbins, called Snow Angel.  Tomorrow night I will ply it.  It is soft greys, yellows and creams. 

This week will be more of a challenge to keep up the spinning time.  Emily has a concert on Thursday night.  smile...she is so excited!  So to the regular schedule of cheer practice, dance practice, church youth groups and confirmation, we will toss in a choir concert.  Too bad I can't bring my wheel!

Baby Its Cold Outside!

Living in the Midwest can sometimes seem like a test of endurance.  These last few days have been an endurance due to extreme cold.  Everything is so much harder when it is -20!  Toss in wind chills of -50 and you really wonder just how crazy your ancestors must have been.  Because really, who in their right minds would stop on a windswept prairie where temps can range from 100+ in the summer (ok, so not so often but still it does happen almost yearly) to lows of -30?  I can't imagine living in log cabins or sod homes trying to keep warm and/or cool during these times.

I was one of the few people who pushed on today and went to work.  I don't do anything "urgent" or "critical" in nature.  I work for a medical device company in the legal department.  But if I'm not there, I have to take PTO and I really try so hard to save as much of that as I can, between my mom's appointments and the girls appointments it can take a lot of time away from work.  Toss in the desire to actually have a vacation every once in a while, every PTO hour becomes precious and so valuable.  I did leave early though.  Even though my car is only a few years old, even those can have a tough time starting in temps as cold as this!

I happily got home by mid afternoon and spun away.  I working away on filling the basket for DFW Fiber Fest.  So far this last week I finished four more skeins.  These are true and sturdy skeins.  Not in your face skeins, but the sturdy work horses I use to really make those in your face skeins shine.

Meet Stella, I bought Stella's beautiful gray fleece at Shepherd's Harvest 2 years ago.  It was already cleaned and processed into a lovely bag of pin drafted fiber.  Stella is a bit of a conundrum, initially you feel her and you think Oooo, just a bit scratchy, but then, wait a minute, there is underlying softness to her as well.  I think she is a sturdy yarn, with gentle luster but quite a bit of strength to her as well.

Then there is this, I named them Hidden Gems.  Because while muted in tone, there are so many beguiling colors hidden in the background grayish purple.  Remember a couple posts ago I showed the roving I dyed myself with great help from Angela of All For Love of Yarn?  This was the roving that I felt was so me and initially I wasn't sure when I was spinning it, but in the end, I'm really quite pleased with the results. 

 

Both Stella and Hidden Gems have joined the other finished skeins in my basket.  I've upped my daily spinning to about 3+ hours on most week nights, the weekends?  I'm trying for 6+ hours.  I'm determined to have a great selection of yarns in 11 weeks.  Holy cow!  11 weeks until  DFW Fiber Fest.  Must sign off, must go spin.

And just what does 10 pounds of fiber look like?

Actually what you see here is only a mere 8 pounds of fiber.  The other 2 pounds are a natural cream and a variegated BFL mix that when spun will turn to a gorgeous soft grayish color.  These are all from Fat Cat Knits.  I just love Ginny's dyeing.  It has saturated, glorious and vibrant colors.  I have a small custom spin for a customer in Duluth, then I can't wait to see which of these I pick first.

I also realized I haven't had any finished pictures of my Color Affection.  So here it is, modeled by my newly 17 year old daughter.  Her birthday was yesterday. 

I used white, blue and brown.  All were merino with silk and they spun up super easy and so very pretty.  I was very happy with the result.  The Color Affection pattern is very easy and I enjoyed the calming repetitive nature of the knitting.  I'd do it again if I had more time!  Time, the bane of my existence at the moment.  Trying to spin yet knit samples, how I wish for another pair of hands!

And to end this post, here are some examples of skeins that while pictured in the snow, will be winging their way to Texas comes spring...

Dyeing and drum carding

I spent the best time Saturday afternoon.  I did a custom spin for Angela of All For Love of Yarn, she brought me a bunch of her beautiful roving, in a multitude of colors.  I spun 11 skeins for her and Saturday I went to her place where she taught me how to dye roving and use a drum carder.  What fun!  My girls went along to watch and after a few hours of play um I mean WORK, I took home buckets of still wet roving.  Look at these beauties!  I have literally pounds of beautiful stuff to spin. 

My younger daughter picked the colors for this, lots of blues/purples/pinks.  Have I mentioned her bedroom is painted a deep purple on 2 walls and a strong turquoise on the other 2 walls?  This is Emily through and through.

This was a bit of blues, reds, a hint of pink and yellows.  This is more me.

 

 

And this one?  I think this is my favorite, it is just a hodgepodge of colors, all blending into just an amazing batch of roving that I'm itching to work on.  One of the things I'm still working on, is to know what the finished yarn will look like after spinning it.  This?  I'm clueless but CAN'T wait to see!

After the fun of dyeing, Angela next introduced me to the wonders of working on a drum carder.  I mainly spin combed top.  I've had a few batts in the past but I never really liked spinning from them.  I found them stiff and bit cumbersome so I just stuck with what I worked with the most, combed top.  Well after this?  I just may need to explore the world of drum carding.  Because the stuff Angela helped me make is as soft as butter and I can't wait to work on it.  I have several coils of this soft delicious stuff.  We combined blues and green tossed in some gorgeous buttery Carmel with just a hint of sparkle.  Have I mentioned I can't wait to spin this! 

 

And why pray tell am I waiting to spin ANY of this? Because I'm plowing through ......

 

And I just got an email from Ginny of Fat Cat Knits, my order of, oh um, 8 pounds of fiber is on its way!  Must keep spinning!

 

How is -2 a high?

I'm a native Minnesotan, now I lived in Texas for 13+ years and consider it home as well.  But no where in any sane person's logic would -2 be considered an appropriate temperature, much less the HIGH for the day?  Now that is sheer crazy talk people.  I look outside and it is a gorgeous winter day.  White snow, blue skies, beautifully sunny day, with nary a cloud above, but it is windy and it is cold.  And that leads to the notion the a number with a minus sign in front of it is a HIGH temp.  This is the sun that is a cruel, taunting sun.  It lulls you into thinking it will be just be brisk outside but when you step out and your breathe slams in your throat as the numbing wind sucks out any oxygen in your lungs, you know the sun is just giggling at you....sigh....and it is only early December.  Lord this may be one long hard winter.

On a much brighter (and dare I say warmer) note,

this is the roving for my younger daughter's China yarn.  This will be turned into yarn named for Emily, whose Chinese name is Hong Hong, which means red the color of fire.  I love the color range in this, it has sparks and strength much like my Emily.  I'm currently spinning some white Corriedale fiber, but once I'm finished with it, I'll be pulling this one out next.

 

One thing I'm trying to do this year, is spin more natural colored fibers, one reason is they play off so nicely with the hand dyed colors.  I like doing stranded work and having my own handspun in both colors and natural undyed fibers makes my heart happy.  So I'm planning to spin one batch of natural, then one batch of hand dyed, it will help me have a balanced selection at my fiber festivals.

 

And this is just a glamor shot of some beautiful roving from All for Love of Yarn, Angela is a local indie dyer and I use her fiber frequently.  I just finished a custom spin for her and can't wait to see the fiber I'm going to receive as form of payment!  Watch here...I'll post the new stuff as soon as I get it.

 

 

Building my Stock

Well we survived the first snow storm of the season.  And while we didn't get the snow that the North shore got, the 6+ inches was enough for me.  If I didn't have to commute to work via car, it wouldn't be nearly the issue it is.  I just crept along with everyone else, inch worming my way safely home.  But it is beautiful looking and makes it look like Christmas!  Someday I will be able to stay home, snuggled up warm and cozy while the snow flies.  But now?  Ya, working five days a week can be a challenge at times like this.

I've finished my custom spins and I'm beginning to prepare for DFW Fiber Fest.  I'll be showing my skeins as I go along...hope you see something you like!

This is Hong Kong at Night, it has some lovely glitzy sparkle mixed in the reds and yellows.  It so reminds me of the sunset in Hong Kong.  I spent a couple nights there during the trip to China to get my younger daughter.  She picked out this roving.  Seemed fitting

This is a special colorway called Zhi Hua.  This is the name my older daughter came to me with.  It means Wise Flowering Blossom.  I worked with my indy dyer, Ginny of Fat Cat Knits to come up with special colorways for my girls.  This is Anna's.  It fits her perfectly.

And this one is called Pink Lady.  A soft, shiny yarn that I fell in love with and created a long cowl from it.  The cowl is called the Biscuit cowl.  I think it showed off the yarn nicely.  That cowl can be found on my Ravelry project page.  Look for China mom....you will find it there.

 

And that is what I have to show tonight.  Hoping it gets some people thinking about stopping at my booth either in Texas for the DFW Fiber Fest, or in MN at Yarnover in the spring.  Yup that is me, we get our first snow fall and I'm already thinking of spring!