Etsy!

So it has been a long time since I had anything listed in Etsy.  However, I just uploaded over 20 skeins of yarn that are up for sale.  A couple planned events for this summer fell through which means I have plenty of yarn that is ready for sale! 


 I thinkthis would be great for fellow Minnesotans....does it read U of MN to you as much as me?

like mini skeins?  take a gander at these....

The soft blues along with all the other colors make this one special to me.  I am a sucker for blues!  So if you look on the right side of the blog, you will see a link to my Etsy shop.  Hop over and take a look.  Maybe something is there calling your name.  And always remember, I do custom spins as well.  Next up are several of my cowl kits.  But I can fit in a special order most any time.  Let me know what you are interested in and we can come up with something unique.

I've just signed up for a new fiber festival for me, it is Fosston Fiber Festival next September 30 - October 2.  Looks like it will be fun and they have a lot of hands on demonstrations during the day.  I will be demonstrating stranded knitting.  So come look me up!

Over the long weekend I literally spun all day, I'm filling a special order for Polly and Lila and Claudine's.  I'm spinning up a couple pounds of white fiber so she can then dye it.  Can't wait to see what she will come up with, this is something new we are trying.  If you like local, don't think you can get more local than this.  I should have about 8-10 skeins to her by the end of the week.  Then on to my cowl kits!  I stayed up really late spinning....Virginia was NOT amused.

Another excuse to wear hand knits!

Hello to all the people who visited my booth at Shepherd's Harvest over the weekend.  What a fun although FRIGID time it was.  But then, could it be any better looking at all things fibery on a frosty nippy day (even though that day is in the MIDDLE OF MAY).  Yes, welcome to Minnesota my friends, where winter hangs on tightly, not giving in to spring easily whatsoever.  I guess that makes us all appreciate our summer months though.  Anyway, back to Shepherd's Harvest.  Saturday morning when I left home to drive to the fairgrounds it was 28 degrees.  Yup.  I looked at least twice and that is what it said.  I arrived and settled in to my booth filled with my yarn and lots of fiber from Fat Cat Knits and Tippin' With Dixi.  As the barn filled with people the temps slowly moved from really uncomfortable to manageable, but then again it could have been the addition of multiple layers of my samples too! 

I probably could have made some extra money renting out my samples, a hat here, a scarf there, you want to try a cowl?  Here you go!  But it was so much fun visiting with people.  I sit and spin when I'm not working with people in my booth and boy is that interesting.  The remarks are always fun, watching people trying to figure out what I'm doing.  I get that a lot of people just have never really seen spinning wheels work so I try and explain the process as simply as I can.  I hand out bits and bobs of my roving to the kids that come by.  We laugh about whether or not they've ever seen a blue sheep or whatever color I'm spinning before.  It is fun so see their eyes just light up and laugh at my silly questions.

My cowl (or infinity scarf) was a huge hit which is so rewarding.  I handed out a lot of cards with the name of the pattern, the Crazed Scandinavian Cowl by Wendy Johnson.  I'm placing an order today for more fiber so I can start working on kits of the yarn for those that were interested in getting one.  For you spinners out there, I'm also making up some fiber kits as well if you'd like to spin your own yarn for it.  Don't want to leave anyone out!  Just leave a comment with your email info and I will be in touch and we can work out the details. 

After two days of being in the barns it was a bit of a relief to pack every thing up in two cars and get ready to head home.  Until you discover that your car battery is dead.  I stopped Anna before she drove off so we could try and jump my car.  She got the jumper cables out of her trunk and I walked over to my car to guide her in to the very tight fit between a van and my car.  I look over and watch as Anna starts taking everything out of her backseat and moving it into the front seat.  I'm trying to figure out why but just don't get what is happening.  I walk over and she tells me she locked her keys in the trunk.  And the trunk release on her dash doesn't work.  So she pulled down her back seat and slithered her way into the trunk and pulled the release to pop it open.  Keys are recovered and cars are maneuvered, jumper cables attached (after the wonderful help from another vendor) and in no time my car is up and running, baskets rearranged to the back seat yet again in Anna's car and we are finally on our way home.

And look who was waiting to greet me!  That is Virginia singing to me when I got home.

Thank you to everyone I met, it was a joy!  Now after a rest last night, tonight I'll be back spinning.  Because if I'm going to make the kits for as many people who want one?  Ya, must keep spinning!

Shepherds Harvest Here I Come!

In a couple days I will be vending at Shepherds Harvest.  And look what will be in my booth----

It is the Crazed Scandinavian Cowl.  I love it!!!  I finished it over Mother's Day Weekend.  Emily and I binged on the last two Harry Potter movies, Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2 while I grafted the cowl together.  Started at 10 pm, grafted the last stitch at 2:12 AM!  As I said to a friend, I felt like the Sharon of old, not old Sharon!

I had a booth at Yarnover a couple weeks ago and brought along the cowl still on the needles as I spun up another batch of the same yarn and had it as a kit.  Wendy Johnson, the amazing designer of the cowl, gave me permission to have her pattern attached to the yarn.  I was very nervous about doing something like this since it was over 2100 yards of handspun yarn.  Not an inexpensive project, and my sample wasn't even complete.  But do you know the kit sold in the first five minutes of the show!  I nearly cried and hugged the poor woman who bought it from me.  She probably thought I was as crazy as the cowl!  I did make some changes to the yarn for the kit.  I spun it at a much finer weight as my original batch was just a wee bit heavier and thicker than the intended yarn.  On one hand, my cowl will be able to handily deflect a -30 below Minnesota blizzard perfectly, but may not be the easiest thing to wear on most other days.  And to top it off, I had such interest in the cowl I have a few orders for additional kits in the same and different colorways!  Talk about happy and excited!  So once I'm done with my spring shows, I will get busy at the wheel and work on those orders so they are done before my next stretch of shows this fall!

On the home front, Emily is moving on to high school next year, now that is a big transition on its own, but my girl?  Tried out for competition cheer and made the varsity team!  Oh boy, here we go again!  I may have mentioned this in years past when Anna was a comp cheerleader, how expensive these activities are.  So the more Crazed Scandinavian Cowl kits I can sell the better!  Because my fabulous sweet amazing Chinese Swedish Minnesotan girl is going to need every extra penny I earn!

If you are coming to Shepherd's Harvest, look for me in Barn C.  And if you mention seeing this blog post, it is worth 10% off your purchase!  The event is so good for family's with kids, so many things to see and do.  See you at the Washington County Fairgrounds, near Lake Elmo, May 14 and 15th!

Winter

Winter has been mild in Minnesota this year.  This week is a reminder of what our winters are normally like.  Cold, crisp, beautiful.  Beautiful as long as you don't have to drive anywhere at certain moments.  We got a huge snowstorm on Tuesday.  It started snowing around noon and quit Wednesday morning.  I love looking out into my backyard.  We have large pine trees and in the winter they take on a magical winter wonderland appearance.  I was able to work from home Wednesday so I didn't have to struggle in traffic for hours.  This is my view while I'm sitting at my table working.  Not too shabby. 

To give you a sense of scale, there was no snow on my outside bench before Tuesday.  Just a bit now!  And that is a very protected area too.  Virginia is not happy right now trying to go outside.  It is deeper than her legs so it is a bit challenging for her. 

I've been meaning to knit some new mittens for myself for the last 3 years.  Even got a few pair started this fall but they all failed for multiple reasons.  Finally this week, my old pair of mittens gasped their last breath.  The thin spots in the thumbs gave way to a gaping hole.  Not so warm here to have a gaping hole in the thumbs!   And I certainly can NOT wear commercial mittens/gloves.  Seriously!  I would have to turn in my knitters card if I did that!  But I have NO time to whip out a new pair of mittens right now.  I thought I was going to eek my old pair through one more winter since this year was rather mellow.  Um look at the pictures...not so mellow anymore.  So I did a little surgery.  I snipped off the top of the thumb, ripped back to a sturdy section of yarn on the thumb, slid the live stitches on needles, added some bright, cheerful, left over handspun yarn and knit a new thumb.  Sort of a Frankenstein mitten you might say.  I love it!  Not perfect by any means, but I do smile every time I put it on.  Tonight at Emily's cheer competition I will graft a new thumb onto the second mitten.  Maybe I can refine the first row or so, but if not?  My thumbs will still be warm and I will still smile at my mittens. 

Hand spun goodness



I spin all the time.  But finding the time to actually knit is another challenge.  But one I'm determined to change in 2016.  While I don't make resolutions as a whole I am determined as my life changes to find more enjoyment for me.  And right now that is knitting with my handspun.  So I spun up a beautiful, new to me fiber, from Ginny of FatCatKnits.  It is a wool/linen blend.  She dyed up a colorway for me called Uranus in a long gradient.  It goes from teal green to teal blue to navy blue to red wine to purple merlot, to black.  Gorgeous! 

The grey neutral is also the wool/linen blend.  It is the perfect foil to make the colors glow.  The pattern is the Crazed Scandinavian Cowl by Wendy Johnson.  What is not to love knitting a huge variety of fair isle patterns?  It is a long infinity loop type of cowl.  However, as I've been working, I think I'm leaning towards finishing it as a scarf.  The pattern calls for fingering weight and my handspun isn't quite that weight, just a bit heavier so I'm not sure if it will lay nicely after being wound a couple times around my neck.  Since it is knit as a tube, in the round, it is two layers thick.  No howling Minnesota winter wind will penetrate this baby! 

I do think it is a great sample for my yarn.  I will have it done in time for my fiber festivals this year.  Yarnover is fast approaching in April.  It will be finished and hanging in my booth so look for it there.  I need to keep spinning each night too so I will have plenty of completed skeins for upcoming fiber fests.  I'm thinking of spinning more of the same yarn and selling it as a kit for those fiber fests.  Considering you need 900 yards each of the two colorways that is both a big time and cost investment.  I'm still thinking on it.  I don't see a huge down side for me because if the kit doesn't sell I can break it up and simple sell the individual skeins.  But I often hear from people they would like to knit with exactly the same yarn as one of my samples so maybe I will put the 8 skeins in a package and see what happens. 

As I've worked on it, I fall into the "just one more row" as I see a pattern developing with each row completed.  That is the fun part.  Then watching how the colors are shifting brings another level of anticipation. Who needs sleep! I'm about half way done now.  I started it over the holidays.  Hoping to finish it in another month. 

This has been the perfect project this week as Emily had her tonsils out last Friday and I've been home with her.  Her medicine is every six hours, so I've been up late in the night and then early in the morning.  Amazingly, even sleep deprived, I've knit on.  With some help.  Virginia decided I was going to blow away or something so decided she needed to anchor me down on the couch.  She did a mighty fine job.  smile...must keep spinning...(or knitting as the case may be)

It's Christmas Time!

We are in the final days before Christmas.  Anna came home last Thursday and will be home for 3 weeks.  Today is Emily's last day of school.  I will have Thursday and Friday off both this week and next.  Let the festivities begin!


I didn't knit much this year for gifts.  I did make a hat for my sister,

 I think she will like it.  I need to add the braids on the side, they will mostly be made up of the fun bright colors.  My sister loves bright crazy colors.  I took a simple Scandinavian hat (Susan B. Anderson pattern) and changed it up by using my variegated handspun.  I think MK will like it.  It is very her.


I'm also making a hat for her husband, Steve, but that had a bit of an issue.  I decided last Friday to make it for him.  Not a problem, plenty of time to make it before Christmas Day.  I had the perfect charcoal grey yarn I spun from Shetland fiber.  I found a simple pattern and whipped it up in 24 hours.  However, when I tried it on, I decided I needed to add a couple inches to it so it will securely cover his ears.  They live in the northern wilds of Wisconsin and shoveling and snow blowing is a big past time (most winters) so having all of your ears covered is a must!  This morning I unpicked the woven in end at the top and ripped it back past the decreases, got it back on my needles and started knitting again.  I'll finish it tonight and it will be better with the additional length to it.

My nephew and his wife recently announced they are expecting their third baby!  Which means I get the pleasure of knitting (hopefully) a new baby blanket for Baby J.  I just spun up a bright fun colorway called Frog and Carp dyed by Ginny at FatCatKnits.  I love how clear and strong the colors are.  I spun it as a 2 ply gradient and was thrilled with how it turned out.  I will have more dyed for me in a Merino Superwash and I think I'll do a 10 stitch blanket ((Ravelry pattern)  It will be easy to use my handspun in it and it is forgiving.  Sounds like a perfect fit to me. 

I'm working on my schedule for next year's Fiber Fests and at this point will be attending 4 shows.  I'll be at Yarnover in April (their 30th anniversary and I'm having special fiber dyed for me by Polly at Lila and Claudines to celebrate), Shepherd's Harvest in May, a new event for me in September, we will be at North Country fiber fair in Watertown, South Dakota, and finally the Fall Fiber Fest in Hopkins in November.  Toss in keeping my yarn shops happy and filled with stock I will have lots of spinning to day.

On that note, Merry Christmas everyone.  Can't wait to see what the new year brings!

What happened!

As you can see, I've been silent for a really long time.  Lots of things have happened in the last year.  My mom, who lived with the girls and me, passed away the day after Thanksgiving.  The girls and I were blessed to have her living with us for the last 10 years.  We miss her every day but know she has been reunited with my dad and they both are happy to once again be together.  Then Anna had her 18th birthday and Christmas came and went.  The winter was spent sorting out the house and making changes so it completely became the girls and my home.  Then we had to put our beloved old pug, Gadget asleep in early spring.  More changes in the house as we painted the whole downstairs.  Emily turned 13!  Anna graduated from High School in May.  I took the girls off for a big vacation, we were in Maui for 2 weeks.  That was an amazing time for the three of us.  We left laughing and returned laughing.  I can't ask for more than that.  In the next two months, we had Anna's grad party and last week took her to college in Ely, MN.  Now Emily and I are figuring out life as 2.  In that vein, we got a new dog.  My wonderful friend had a lovely Brittany Spaniel named Virginia.  My friend has a large loving family filled with siblings with small children and Virginia struggled with all the little ones who wanted to love her.  So we took Virginia into our much quieter home.  Slowly but surely she has settled in, loves to go on walks and when she returns promptly hops into my bed, burrowing amongst the pillows before snuggling into a long nap.  She is good for us.  The last 10 months have been filled with sorrow yet much joy.  I just may be returning to this place to fill it with my thoughts for no one other than me.  If others read, great, but if not, it will be for me.

As far as my spinning and yarn, I've been blessed this year to continue working with my stores.  I am scheduled to head to Yarn Harbor in Duluth, MN on October 10.  I'll be bringing lots of yarn for Kathy to select from and spend the day spinning with my many friends there.  I can't wait to see Kathy's new location. 

I'm also going to be a vendor at the Fall Fiber Festival held in Hopkins on November 7th.  That is a great venue.  Each year there are more and more vendors and I'm really looking forward to heading there again this year.  The last two years it has been such a challenge for me as Anna had a Cheer competition that same day right down the road, but this year that is no longer an issue.  Although if Emily has anything to say about it that will change next year.  But I'll enjoy this year as a bit calmer.

Finally, I will be at Needlework Unlimited on November 21 for a spinning day as well as bringing in new stock for Karen.  Whew!  As you can see my next 3 months are busy ones.  But with all the stress this year, I've found solace in my spinning.  I may not have spun quite as much as in years past, I still have some absolutely beautiful yarns in my basket ready for stores or fiber fests.

And before I forget, one more store is stocking my yarn, head to Double Ewe in Circle Pines.  Kelly started stocking my yarn and picked out some really pretty selections.  And she has several of my samples to show how things will work up.

I just noticed something, apparently I only work with yarn shops that have owners with names that start with K!   Even Lila and Claudines follows the trend with Kirsten.  Makes me smile.

Well that is enough for now.  hopefully a few people are still reading this, maybe mention it at an event I'm at, I'd love to chat with you.  But for now, must keep spinning! 

Anyone know E. H. Jacobson?

When I started spinning I went out and tried a bunch if different spinning wheels before settling on my Louet wheel, a Julia.  I've been very happy with her.  I never really had much desire for what I call a Rumpelstiltskin type wheel.  Until recently that is.  May I introduce you to my new old beautiful wheel. 

Isn't she beautiful.  She is signed underneath the table with this inscription.  Made of Mt. Ash by E. H. Jacobson. Little Marais Minnesota.  I love her.  I'm trying to find out any info I can on Mr. Jacobson.  Little Marais is a very small town along the  North Shore of Lake Superior so maybe I will be able to learn more...like what year he made her in.   But for now I'm happy just to have her!

Mother's Day

My two girls are the joy of my life.  I waited a long time for children.  Wondering if I even would have them.  With international adoption, my life was forever changed.  I remember sitting in church for years on Mother's Day.  Painfully listening and watching mom's being lifted up.  Longing to be someones mom.  Who knew my children would be thousands of miles away from me.  Longing to be someones child.  smile...Now Anna and I have been together for almost 17 years.  Emily joined us 10 years ago.  And we are a family.  And every Mother's Day I sit in church and feel joy but also remembering the pain I felt before my girls.  To anyone reading this who is longing for children and feels the pain of seeing others have something that you so desperately want, there is hope.  You too may find your way to the child that has been made just for you, who is also waiting and hoping for a family.  I will never forget those years and realize how truly special my family is.  I'm blessed.

Yarnover Aftermath

I've come down from my yearly Yarnover hangover.  smile...One long day surrounded by yarn fumes will give anyone a fibery high!  I had the pleasure of sitting next to Annie Modesitt and her partner Kathleen Pascuzzi who were there selling their new hand dyed yarn, which was amazing.  And I also discovered today while reading the Yarn Harlot's blog post that she took a picture during the day and you can see a bit of my booth as well as me talking to someone behind my rack of fiber and bags.  smile...now I don't think anyone will recognize my stuff or me, but I got a silly thrill from it!

My weekend was not just filled with Yarnover, nope, we had my whole family staying at our house over the weekend.  That meant we had 6 adults and 2 little girls under two tucked in with the four of us.  It was a house filled to the brim with love.  While it isn't something I would want to do on a regular basis, it was fabulous to have all of us under one roof.  We had not all been together in several years.  It was amazing.

Now I have some breathing room.  I've pushed so hard for 4 months, getting ready for DFW Fiber Fest, Yarnover 3 weeks after that, one sale to my local yarn shop in between and having my family here that I'm beyond exhausted.  I've spun over 60 skeins of yarn in those 4 months.  That is a lot.  I have time now before my next scheduled events in late summer/early fall.  I finally have a chance to knit again.  I have a chance to possibly teach a couple classes in knitting and I'm working up what I think will work.  Stay tuned, it is a new adventure for me.

Finally knitting

For months I've been madly spinning.  I spun over 60 skeins of yarn in just over three months.  With work, the girls activities and life in general, something had to go.  It was knitting.  Well we've been home from DFW Fiber fest for a week.  And after a brief respite I'm back to spinning.  And knitting!  
This is my Quaker Yarn stretcher.   Out of a single I spun called Lollipop.  I love the bright colors and it makes me smile every time I pick it up.

Welcome to the new home for Knitting My Way Home

Today is the grand unveiling of the new look to my blog, etsy, facebook and every part of my yarn world.  I have a niece who helps small businesses work on branding and creating a true cohesive look to all their sites on social networks.  She took my rather plain and boring blog and with hard work, amazing creativity, and a laughing spirit, she created this.  And I'm so happy!  (look at her site, it is amazing, Serendipity Designs)

It is perfect timing with my new adventures coming up in Dallas.  So look what is currently in my basket....it is an amazing blend of BFL roving and Bamboo.  It is called Grotto and it is spinning up thin and luscious.  This is the first bobbin but I should be plying it this weekend.  

While I was spinning, Emily came in my room, plunked herself down, took out my handcards, grabbed a bunch of hodge podge bits and pieces of roving and started making rolags.  Before long she had a small basket filled.  As you can see she used reds/yellows/blues/whites.  I quickly and roughly spun the rolags into a thick and thin rustic yarn.  It is soaking, but for our first efforts using the handcards?  We are both thrilled.  I'm thinking we just might have a fun basket of small yardage bulky yarn at Dallas.  Perfect to add to brims of hats or cuffs on mittens. 

It is late, I have work in the morning, so will leave for now.  But please, take a look around the blog, there are links now to my facebook page, if you like what you see, please click the like button!  It is so much fun!

Change is coming

Things are under way here at Knitting My Way Home.  I've been writing the blog for about 5 years.  I've been spinning yarn for about 5 years.  Hmmmmm could that be a theme?  It seems it is time to shake things up.  I've been selling my yarn for a few years now....toss that into the mix and who knows what will happen.  Watch here...things should be ready for the unveiling in about a week.  Whoo Hoo!

Endurance

OK, I'm ready to give.  I'm exhausted from dealing with the snow and cold.  I'm a native Minnesotan.  We take great (and sometimes silly) pride in not letting the winter stop us from doing our daily lives.  Well my pride is gone.  We got hit again on Thursday/Friday with a ton of snow, strong wind that drove that new 10+ inches of snow on top of the already 35+ snow base to epic snow drifts.  Our sidewalk after it was shoveled is close to my shoulders.  Not in one spot, but the entire length of our sidewalk.  We are safe.  We have power and all the necessities of life.  But Lord, it is enough.  This is a common site....

Seriously, this happens a lot, you fight your way home on the snow covered freeways, wearily park your car safely in front of your house, go in for the night.  the next day dawns bright and sunny yet cold.  Go out to start your day and discover this.  That is YOUR car buried under a mammoth snow drift thanks to Mother Nature with a helping hand from your friendly neighborhood snow plow driver.  And you begin the arduous task of digging your car out.  Lovely.

Of course there are pretty views of winter too.  I love them as much as the next person...see?

But really, I'm done.  I don't want to take any more vacation days because I can't safely drive the 17 miles to work in less than 2 hours (EACH way).  I don't want to scrape and shovel my sidewalk and driveway for another two months.  I can barely throw it high enough now to make it over the mounds.  I love wearing my hand knits.  I'm warm.  I feel stylish.  But my toes are screaming to be let free and escape their wool socks and snow boots.  So I keep my eyes on the calendar.  In one month, my girls and I will be scurry into the car at 5:30 am and happily sit in that car for 15+ hours.  Because when we get out?  We will again be in our second home, Texas.  Ready for a week of fun.  And Lord please let it be warm.  Of course to us, that would be anything above 40 degrees.  I'm crossing my fingers...my cold, numb fingers. 

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.