In the Fiber Room

Have you seen Brooklyn Tweed's Winter 14 Look Book?  We really have our eye on the beautiful 'Kelpie' - a 'modern triangular Hap Shawl'.  How pretty is this?

And while it is very lovely in Brooklyn Tweed's fingering weight Loft, what really has us going is the thought of knitting it while replacing 'Stormcloud' with Poseidon's millspun and the contrasting colors with some of our Border Leicester cross millspun that we've naturally-dyed.

What do you think of this combination?  It's (left to right) Poseidon, Goldenrod, Hibiscus, Jewelweed, Hibiscus2 and Goldenrod2.  We just might have to take the leap and buy that pattern today.

In the Fiber Room

Here's a peek inside the fiber room... some hand spun yarn, some wool locks solar-dyed with cosmos flowers and a new project underway with some of our mill-spun yarn. The white is from the Border Leicester crosses and the grey from Poseidon.

Don't forget to comment on last Wednesday's post for a chance to win a farm mug!

 

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.

A single photo - no words - capturing a single moment from the week

A simple, special extraordinary moment.

A moment to pause, savor and remember.

Participating with the SouleMama blog.

Please forgive our breaking the 'no words' rule.  The electricity came back on last evening... after nine days.  Many thanks to all of you who kept us in your thoughts and for your kind words of encouragement!   Please join us in keeping those still affected by Hurricane/Blizzard Sandy in your prayers.  There are over 3,300 families in our county, alone, still without power.  We are so very grateful to all those that are working hard to get things back up and going... both here in West Virginia and the other areas with even more devastation.

Special Knits for Special People

Beautiful naturally colored wool contributed by Larry, Poseidon and Princess, hand spun and hand knit by Shepherdess Sharon into a special 80th birthday present for her special father-in-law, Dwaine.  A soft, cozy Man Hat  from a pattern by Haven Leavitt, knit in a wonderful combination of stripes to keep him snug and warm through what remains of winter.

A small shawl hand knit by Shepherdess Anita, based on the Wool Peddler's Shawl by Cheryl Oberle, with the ruffle modifications from here and here.  The yarn was hand spun and hand dyed by our friend and neighbor, Betsy, at Quaking Maples Farm.  It is on its way to Spokane to warm Cousin Janet's heart and her shoulders as she continues her long journey to recovery.

Special knits... love and prayer knit into each and every stitch... to bring a smile...  brighten a hospital room... to show someone just how much they are loved.

Inspired by Drifty Hat

I recently purchased the book 'The Red Collection' by Mandy Powers because I fell in love with all the zig zags, the bobbles, the colors and the patterns.  But I realized it was really because of this pattern - 'Drifty Hat' - I love this hat - can't wait to knit it - and I think I will even keep it for myself.  A sure sign of how much it is adored.

photo copyright Mandy Powers
courtesy of Ravelry

Over the weekend I became aware of the cause of this attraction.  These colors pretty much mean winter to me.  The flash of the red cardinal in the grey and white winter landscape is a common sight in our West Virginia hills.  As I realized this, I noticed just how often we happen upon this color combination in the course of a normal day. 
Becoming more mindful of that flash of red... well, I think that is what... really... in the end... gets us all through the greys of winter.

Holiday Knitting

Working hard to make holiday wishes come true... a hat to match Alex's mittens (he's been looking for one for two years), custom, rainbow-dyed purples and black balloon head for a young lady's friend, hand warmers knit to a writer's specs, and so on, and so on...

Dyeing, Spinning, Knitting

Just a small sample of what we have been up to... when we are not in the barn.

Spinning Easter Egg Painted Roving

 

Using two different batts that we colored with Easter egg dyes and kool-aid, I spun this colorful little skein on the drop spindle.

I stripped each of the two batts into narrow strips and alternated them on the spindle.

   It made a beautiful mix of greens and oranges.

Will make great colorful stripes in a hat or scarf.  Hmmm…..

 

Any ideas????

Canning Box of Color

What do you do with a school snow day? Dye wool of course.

On a recent snow day we got out some carded lamb's wool batts and tried some kool-aid and easter egg dyeing.

We used tiny sponge rollers that came in some kind of paint-on easter egg dyes a few years back. They seemed to work really well.

Everyone got in on the artistic fun.

Then saran wrap and to the microwave.

Then to the drying rack.

The left over dyes went to locks for a canning box of color!

Pics of spun dyed batts to follow soon.

Warm Wooley Hats

I have recently finished two hats made from my spindle-spun yarn:

The beautiful brown was gifted to us from our coopworth cross ewe Hera. The blue yarn is spun from wool we dyed in a spinning/dyeing classes we participated in.

It is so fun, and such a feeling of pure accomplishment, to make something starting from the very beginning of the process -- raw wool.

This one looks better on a model!

Ohh, they are so warm!!!!

Thank You Hera!

Wool Socks

Finished these scrumptious wool socks recently. They are made from 100% superwash merino wool sock yarn -- "mountain sunset" from www.Lavendersheep.etsy.com . The pattern is from Knitting Vintage Socks book by Nancy Bush. (Received both the yarn and the book at Christmastime-- THANK YOU to my sisters!) They were really fun to knit and are yummy and warm to wear. Hopefully soon we will be knitting socks from our own handspun wool.

And . . . Oh Yeah . . . Guess I should mention . . . It's snowing again . . .