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May 31, 2006
White Dove Farm
Remember that Corriedale lamb roving I bought from White Dove Farm at the Tall Grass Fiber Fest last month? Well, I’m in love. The roving lent itself so beautifully to the fingering sport weight I prefer, I couldn’t wait to swatch it up. At 21 x 35 gauge, I’m thinking the Pentagon Shawl from Nature Knitting by Norah Gaughan. Except of course the pattern requires 21 x 30. I’m a bit leary of the implications for this particular pattern. It’s not just a shawl, it’s a series of swirls with armholes and I hear the pattern has errors. Maybe a long sweater with cables instead, with enough left over for the shawl or a shawl or something. The yarn is calling hard. I emailed the publisher for errata but there’s no way I can fend off this yarn for long. And the pattern is lovely.
I had originally bought 4.2 ounces of roving to try. As fate would have it, Mary Wallace had 21 ounces left. We scheduled a visit on what turned out to be a perfect summer morning and were utterly delighted. Mary very graciously gave the whole family a tour. First stop were her three yearling rams. We all took turns petting them. It turns out their favorite tickle spot is underneath their chins. Aren’t they handsome?
I can’t look at this guy without dreaming of sweaters and shawls and hats and scarves and socks and all manner of woolen lovelies.
Then we went to visit the lambs. Eighteen boys and three girls this year! Mary caught a couple so we could pet them. They were so beautiful. Cradled in her experienced arms, they submitted very sweetly to our collective oohs and aahs.
Now this is a view I can live with.
This is as close as I’ve ever gotten to the sheep to shawl experience. The roving is minimally processed and the color is such an exquisite blend of natural browns and grays. And then to have met the Sheppard and her flock! When you buy a sweater you buy a product. But this, the spinning, the knitting, the shepparding, this is the stuff of life.
Posted by Jacqueline at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)May 22, 2006
Sophia’s Blanket is Finished!
I must be suffering from first lace syndrome because I keep expecting it to unravel. It is the most fragile piece of knitting I’ve ever done and I love it. The saga is long but worth recounting because it has taught me much.
1. Find perfect yarn at the 2005 Alpaca Show in Grayslake, Illinois. Purchase 1000 yards from Loren & Judy Stevens, which is 100 yards more than I need and all the skeins they had.
2. Knit mid section. The pattern is so repetitive and soothing. So soothing in fact that the last 2 ½ repeats takes longer to knit than the previous fourteen.
3. Pick up 220 tiny hairy uncooperative stitches TWICE. Miscount enough times to take a break. Discover that Suri will not take a lot of frogging.
4. Work on inner border. Discover mistake, tink ever so gently, then reknit. By now, each row is over 1000 stitches. After border is finished, take a break, a longer break.
5. Start the outer border. Complete one side. Discover in the middle of the second side that I’ve run out of yarn. Stare at the 4-inch wispy leftover in disbelief. Search stash feverishly. Thrice. Count starts - yep I’ve used all 1000 yards. Call Judy Stevens at 9:00pm hoping against hope that another skein exists. Express mail her a sample sliver and wait.
6. Judy calls back. She doesn’t have any more. The closest thing she has is lighter (different alpaca) and thicker (different mill). Order 200 yards via express mail and wait.
7. It arrives. I’m doomed. It is much lighter and much thicker.
8. Go to The Fold. Ask Toni for help. Nothing ready made will work but she has alpaca fiber in the exact same color. She hands me a bag and says, “Between the two of us we should get this done.” SHE THEN SPENDS TWO HOURS SPINNING ENOUGH FIBER FOR THE BORDER! She will only accept teary thanks. The generosity of this woman has no bounds.
9. Try to finish the border using Toni’s fiber. The difference between fibers is barely detectible. Breathe huge sigh of gratitude and knit away. Run out of yarn, again. No problem. I have more fiber! All I have to do is spin and ply another batch.
10. Try to spin some more Alpaca. Try to ply and then discover why Alpaca is called a downy fiber. Clearly I have not the skill. I also do not have the heart to ask Toni for more. So I try the lighter thicker Suri. I am so disappointed with the difference in border yarns that I take a break, the longest break thus far. But not before I order two more skeins of the lighter, heavier Suri. Since this is the most likely option for the entire border, I will NOT tempt the goddess of availability. In the interim I will rest. I will knit other things. I will have a few small knitting successes.
11. Return to the blanket. Tink the border, all three yarns of it, and look at the three tiny balls: the original Suri and Toni’s handspun (which are so hard to tell apart), and the lighter, thicker Suri. Choose the lighter, thicker Suri for the entire border. Lord knows I have enough. Six hundred yards of it! Hear row gauge versus stitch gauge whispers. Ignore whispers. There are only so many things that can go wrong and I believe I’ve hit the limit.
12. Finish the border. Graft the end. Soak it in Eucalan. Spin out the extra water. Spread it out to dry. Wake up early. Press it then pin it up on the window shade, stretching the points as much as possible.
13. For the first time since this project began, I smile. It’s too beautiful for words.
14. Take it down. Add one final accent – Toni’s handspun.
Sophia is two months old and I will see her soon. But first I will bring Toni flowers. And I will send a photo to Judy Stevens. And I will fight the urge to do it all over again in a beautiful lace weight merino Toni has in the shop. It is the most beautiful rose color and each skein is 800 yards apiece and two strands together look glorious and there are more than enough skeins!
Lessons Learned
1. Take a lot of breaks. It is not a character failing. It is an absolute must for long endurance projects.
2. Ask for help. You will be overwhelmed at the generosity and support you receive.
3. Give thanks. For the miracle of Sophia’s birth. And for all the love and generosity and perseverance one single blanket inspired.
Posted by Jacqueline at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)May 18, 2006
Mad Spinning
Last night I finished plying the Corriedale lamb roving I purchased at Tall Grass Farm and I am so proud of it. I am inordinately proud of it. I think because I bought the roving directly from the farmer. The colors are completely natural and I was able to achieve the sport/fingering weight I prefer.
For the first time I felt like I could really clothe my family if I had to. I felt like donning colonial garb and starting a fire and working by candle light. Of course I didn’t. My trusty OttLite does too good a job keeping crone posture at bay. That and my new yarn ball winder arrived. I finally broke down and ordered one from JoAnn’s online. With the discount and shipping I paid $10 less than I would have at a shop. Mind you, I love my nostepinde, but I had only one bobbin of the Corriedale and I wanted to ply it without wasting an inch. I couldn’t think of any other way to accomplish this than by winding the Corriedale and using both ends to ply.
I was so excited. A little too excited. I mean I know it’s just a yarn ball winder. But somehow, when it comes to fiber, the happy versus thing itself ratio is phenomenal.
P.S. That's my beautiful Deva in her favorite chair. Fiber gets her excited too, although for different reasons.
May 08, 2006
hit by a farm
Jim and I want to raise sheep one day. Since neither one of us knows the first thing about farming, nor do we have a farm yet, we read a lot. Actually I read a lot. Jim nods distractedly, which is good enough for me. I just finished hit by a farm, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn by Catherine Friend and loved it. I loved it because it talks about the things a newbie, and a reluctant to admit indoor girl, needs to know before embarking on such a venture. It talks about pooh and sex and birth and all the gritty gooey things that surprisingly enough other books don’t talk about. Either because they assume this knowledge or they don’t want to scare you away. It also talks about what farm life can do to your otherwise rock solid relationship. I can’t tell you how important this is to me. Not only does Jim represent 90% of my happy, the whole purpose behind this lifestyle change is a return to family and love and fulltime togetherness. Clearly there’s a lot of pooh involved. Not to mention cross species contact that in any other setting would indelibly mark you as beyond help. There is also death, intentional and non-intentional. Catherine is a tender-hearted soul but she is also a meat eater. So are we. Even if we concentrated on fiber, the care of animals encompasses their entire life cycle. Can we do this? Lastly, she writes at length about balancing farming and other passions. I want to teach and knit and write and spin. Jim wants to sing. Must sing. Has to sing like birds need air and fish need water.
Verdict? My to do list has gotten more serious.
1) Subscribe to the Black Sheep Newsletter and Sheep Magazine.
2) Order more roving so I can decide what kind of fiber I want to raise.
3) Find an internship. I need to acquaint myself with more pooh and goo than my Aussie and Bichon can produce.
4) Jim and I need to write up a plan that takes into account our whole life, not just one part of it.
5) Catherine has a BLOG! Add to my favorites. Spread the word. Tell everyone!
Did I mention the book is hilarious funny? Like cover to cover, paragraph to paragraph, do not drink anything while you're reading it because it will spurt out your nose funny?
May 05, 2006
Good Grief
Good grief! I’m sorry I haven’t kept up. I had to prepare for the Basic Skills Tests for Teacher Certification so all fiber related pursuits had to stop while I reacquainted myself with algebra, geometry and word problems. What a misery. I took the test Saturday morning. I was so drained afterward that even though my budget said no, my heart, my soul, my very life force demanded emergency resuscitation. So off to The Fold I went for deep fiber therapy. Look what I got!
Isn’t it cool? It’s four ounces of merino wrapped in rambouillet roving. I’ve also finished both commissions so now it’s all joy, joy and more joy! I have a hat for Sophia on the go. And I finished spinning the berries (a.k.a. Blue Face Leceister “Cranberry”).
I’m setting aside the very last braid for a skein of just fingering weight. I’d like to try a scarf. The colors are such an endorphin rush. It’s impossible to be sad while spinning this fiber. I hope Toni gets more in.
I’m now spinning consistently between fingering and sport weight. I’m still very much a beginner so I can’t tell you exactly how I achieve this. I just hit my groove I think and this is what happens naturally. This is so like me. I’m very much a hands-on learner. I read instructions only after “I’ve got it”, sometimes to my regret. And I use jargon only when I’ve quite literally absorbed the skill. So one day I’ll use words like wraps per inch. For now, I’m just crazy happy that it comes out like this.
The next thing I want to tackle is posture. I definitely have a crone gargoyle thing going on when I spin which can't be good for me.