If You Don't Have the time to Knit it....

Just wear it.  Kristin is sporting the lastest "Mintage" bf sweater and a MelonHead KnitWear skein.   What a great look!  Thanks Kristin.

If you in the mood for a serious knit.....One skein of Guns and Roses makes these awesome wrist warmers...
Thanks Mariegold.

These warmers are hard core.  Great knitting.

My Old Friend Merino

The first time I dyed and spun BFL, I thought I had died.  The staple, the sheen, the lustre.....oh my.  Until that point I had only spun merino (which seemed so lifeless by comparison)

What was I thinking?  The matte finish of this fibre is hauntingly beautiful and subtle.  I am thrilled with the weekend's production and can hardly wait to dig in.  Merino, you have won me back.

I can hardly wait to get back in to the studio tomorrow.  Kristin and I will be having a dyeathon.

Dyeing to Learn Something New?

I've added a tab for classes.  I have the schedule now for the Dyeing Class in April.

Check it out!

No studio today, knitting at home.  Maybe a log for the fire and a movie.

Cashmere

What else needs to be said?.  It is a fibre that I don't often work with.  I managed to order some online last year and gleefully add it to my stash (with no plan for it whatsoever).  I think it works perfectly for this new prop for Gabi.  It is also beautiful to knit. 

I was out of the coordinating hand spun and had to go to the studio today to whip up a bit more.  It also gave me a chance to spend some time with the new studio acquisition.  The Majacraft Suzie Pro is a wheel that I have been coveting for some time.  It doesn't just spin, it soars.  The coordinating hand spun is kettle dyed BFL, not as soft as the cashmere, but I wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers either.

When did I become such a yarn snob?

Getting to the Root of Creativity

My custom order for the pair of ginseng hats is done.  In working through the hats and trying to get a feel for ginseng as well as the soon to be married couple, I did a bit of research.   When I read that the root was given in ancient times to open the heart, the work for the hats flowed freely.

 

I hand dyed the merino in shades of gray and blended them with a lovely dyed alpaca.  The hats are not the same, but they have a sameness, they share the same fibre and the same inspiration.  Love.

Sharing Knowledge

I've done something I have never done before.  I taught someone how to spin before I taught them how to knit. The woman who owns these hands can make magic.

 Another knitter and spinner set loose on the world.  Excellent.

Bus Knitting

I've been going to Whistler regularily.  At least twice a month.  Either for WFM Board meetings or to get together with Gabi.  We've been collaborating quite a bit this year and I'm excited about even more work that we discussed yesterday.

Friday day meetings means I get to sit back and enjoy the bus ride to Whistler.  It's awesome, environmentally correct and I don't have motion sickness so the knitting is extreme.  I was thrilled to finally finish my Urchin Hat. (Ysolda Teague) This has to be the best design for thick and thin yarn.  The design is exceptional.  It is really a revolution for hat construction.  Even though the pattern has been out for a while...(.free on her website or from Knitty)  I've been too busy doing my own thing to want to knit anyone else's patterns...However this one stuck.

I found myself with an extra skein of Koi Pond, and well, here is the result.

My alterations to the pattern overlapped some of the short rowing a bit more and I jumped the gauge to 10mm needles to accommodate the yarn and to have more of an exaggerated tam.  .

I love, love, love the hat and the yarn.  I wore it around the house today.  I want to knit one for everyone I know.  I want everyone I know who knits to knit one.  It's not like I don't have plenty of hand spun that will fit the bill. 

I'm oddly and eagerly looking forward to my next bus ride.  I think I'll knit another one.

Housekeeping Fairy

Today the housekeeping fairy came by the studio with a magic thing called a vacuum cleaner.  I can see the floor, my studio mates and the potential to keep it tidier going forward.  How amazing.  The magic fairy also brought her inseparable companion.

 

 

You never know who you might see when you come by for a visit.   Apparently the clean up was a generous belated birthday gift...Thanks Becky!

Not All Birthays are Perfect.

This morning we were given an unfriendly gift for our birthday.  Universe, thanks for the one less hour sleep that I really could have used.

Other than the rain, and the shortened sleep, our day together was a thoughtful one.  We still have all three of our babies and spent a great deal of time in cuddle mode.  So close to losing Hadiya this week...It was an awful feeling.  Everyone is back to their normal level of irritability looking for the comfiest cushion to claim.  Yes, back to normal.

I even got a short studio visit in.  I had a dyed top I could not wait to dive into.  After that, dinner at our favourite restaurant.  That would have been a great way to spend the evening, had my fortune cookie not called me fat.  An insult and from a frackin cookie if you please.  Okay, I know it's been a long comfortable winter, but really.  I have no choice, I have lifestyle changes to make.  I have NEVER in my life NOT listened to a cookie.

Our day will end with its usual customary tarot reading.  It's what I get John for his birthday every year.  It's not like I'm going to knit him a pair of socks, right?

Stormy Seas

Stocking Up

Kristin and I are in a dyeing frenzy, almost a race.  It's an intense amount of production and experimentation.  Why not?  We have the space, the drive and the perfect cabinets (thanks to Sonia).

It feels amazing to have this many stock dyes.  It feels......almost.......dare I say it.....

 

 

Organized.

 

Man's Inhumanatee.......

 

It seems that I will always end up with a small part of my business being custom work.  And when someone asks you to crochet them a manatee, well look at him.....how could I refuse?

Due to a small snag at the studio on Saturday(we blew a fuse) I was not able to work on my dyeing day.  This meant I spent the entire day spinning singles.  They definitely qualify under the 355 Project, and more so now that they have been kettle dyed....I didn't want them all to be white....So yeah for me...6 more yarns under my belt and back on track.

Most of these yarns are between 115-125g and 100-115 yards which means that my slouchy yarn over hat works perfectly for this and can be completed in the one skein.

While I am immersed in the yarning I am trying to deal with a terrible heartbreak.  Our middle cat (yes we have 3) is very ill.  While waiting for the results of tests and sneaking in as many cuddles as I can, I am gratified to be able to spin.  It's keeping me grounded and hopeful.

Transformation

I have been in the studio now for more days in a row than I can count.  The revised space with it's lack of clutter and walls of fibre is pulling me in.  That's not a bad thing.   I just find it surprising that the space can keep reinventing itself.  It's an organic continuous transformation.

Here's another transformation for you.

This batt is BFL, perindale tussah silk angelina and dyed mohair locks.  I was looking for glaciers ad thinking north of Jasper from the Columbia Icefields.  I feel like I captured it in the finished yarn.

I knew when I was working on this 3 ply that it would be a bit more textural than a regtular 3 ply as I did not soin all of the curl out of the moahir locks and I didn't try to smooth out all of the tussah and let some larger chunks fall in.

The resulting yarn is round with bits of glimmer, a lovely depth and slippery to coarse texture in places that makes it enchanting.  I took it home from the studio last night and keep opening up the skein to enjoy all the variations.

I spun a sweet single last night as well.  How many 3 plys can you fit into one day?

Top That

YEAH...... Five updates on the project page today.  Best day at the studio ever.  I spun with feathers.

There's a lot of dyeing going on.  I'm not doing any of it.  Cool.

Fibre Collective

Being open to change is a wonderful thing.  Embracing change is even more amzing.  The space is now either fibre related or in Joan's case, fibre friendly. 

With the new fibre crew on board, and realizing that basically we share the same brain when it comes to our likes and dislikes it was apparent that we need to all call in before we go out on our own seeking some rare and fabulous Hungarian fleece.  So it begins.  We are ready for the birth of the Fibre Collective.

I'm stoked.  It seems that I am in the company of talented, generous people who see the world through the same fuzzy, fleecy lens as I do.  This has brought a few issues to light.

1. I am restarting the studio drop in group.  I miss it others miss it. Enough said
2. I will be offering a dyeing class.  Okay, March folks, near the end of the month, details to follow.

The 355 project has had 3 yarns updated to the page, however the next few days will be a yarnapalooza with many updates.  I've spent the last few days carding and prepping so I am really looking forward to the alchemy of finished wool.

Gabi continues to amaze me with her wonderful photography and I can hardly wait for her new photos of this piece including a beautiful baby, rather than just laying on a log.

 

 

I have something in my possession that has become my "precious".  I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I also know that no one will be able to get it away from me without a fight.  Sweet Georgia Cashsilk Lace...all mine.

We're going to allow the collective to develop organically.  And then look tor the warehouse necessary to store this fibre.