Smatterings

  • 10! 10! 10!

    Just 10 minutes a day..

    Ten_minutes_button copy4

    Carole, just as she said she would, came up with this button the other day.  Let's make it a movement, or at least a give it a try.. just 10 minutes a day, on your spindle or wheel.  Or maybe just on the preparation of the fiber you'll spin next, a bit of predrafting.   I think you'll be surprised at the results.  It keeps the thought processes in motion.  No rusty joints.  No one will know if you join in or if you miss a day.  Only you.  Post the button on your side bar or not.  But, give it a try. 

    10 minutes is perfect for test spinning a sample.  Just sayin'..

    the white alpaca I washed yesterday

    alpaca / merino / silk  carded together 2 ply

    alpaca / merino / silk carded together 3 ply.   Plied using the Andean ply on my spindle.

    5 responses to “10! 10! 10!”

    1. It really does work and I think it’s something about the mental process, just as you said.

    2. Great idea! (nice button Carole!)
      I once heard this about chopping fire wood …a little bit every day sure adds up 😉

    3. Since Cummington, I’ve been spindling a bit each day…some baby camel/silk from halcyon, and it is working. I’m a better spindler than I have ever been now.

    4. Manise

      I started out well, but well……I need to re-start that plan. 🙂

    5. Good for you! I want to do the 10 minute thing myself. I have a sweater’s worth of black alpaca and gray wool (both washed already!) that need to be carded together. I think small bites is the way to go…

  • Japanese Vines Scarf

    When I first saw this pattern, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  I knew what color I wanted to dye and the yarn I would use.  It was mid May in New England.  Everywhere I looked, there is was, a fresh new green sprouting up, harbinger of renewed life in the woodlands, fields and gardens.  There was a green canopy forming overhead.  They went together, this pattern of twining leaves, looking as if they also were only just waking, unfurling their leaves on their trip to the sun and the new colorway I imagined.

    The yarn is Arbori, 50% merino / 50% tencel, the color is "Sprout".   Michelle and I emailed back and forth discussing the possibility of kitting it up.  I swatched with the Arbori and came up with what I thought would be the finished dimensions.  I made up a few kits to sell at MA S&W and continued working on my own.  I can see myself making a larger version as a shawl.  I love the pattern.  After the first few repeats, I was able to memorize it.  The few times I dropped a yarnover, I found it on the next row.  This was a knit that I wanted to go on, and on.  Perfect travel knitting.  Sunday, I have to travel and this knit is done.  It'll be a hard one to replace.  This morning I soaked it and stretched it out on the table.  No blocking.   This may be enough.

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    The Japanese Vine Scarf by Michelle Molis
    Needles: Knitpicks Options #4
    Yarn: Ball and Skein Arbori  "Sprout"
    Finished Size: wide version 7 1/2" x 52"

    This will be offered as a kit.  Pre-order for July. 

    I know that quite a lot of you have purchased the Arbori yarn from me at shows and as part of the Persephone kit.  It will be offered in a limited number of colors soon.

       
     

    7 responses to “Japanese Vines Scarf”

    1. You captured that early spring green (my favorite of all greens) perfectly. It’s gorgeous!

    2. Lovely – and you are right – PERFECT for this time of year!

    3. I love it, Judy. So fresh and pretty!

    4. Lovely lighting for a beautiful FO. It captures the early spring colors.

    5. Manise

      Perfection!

    6. Nice effect, with the shadow of what looks like bamboo leaves at the top of the picture. The scarf is lovely!

    7. Beautiful~
      As always, your presentation is the best!

  • summer days

    There are three things to blog about.  Two for today, one is a teaser, and the third saved for tomorrow. 
    1. After days of record breaking, unbearably hot and humid weather, Mother Nature delivered a couple of the summer's most beautiful days.  Mid 80's and dry.  With a breeze!  Perfect for getting a handle on the bags of unwashed fleece that have been hanging around.  I wasn't planning on washing fiber but Wednesday morning I got a phone call.  A friend had been phoned by an acquaintance, who just happpened to have llamas, or was it alpacas, and she was shearing them that morning and had no idea what she was going to do with the fiber.  Last year, she threw it away.  Oh my!  I bit, llama or alpaca, it was a lovely morning, perfect for a 15 minute drive to look at fiber.  To make a long story short, it was alpaca, and for various reasons, I didn't take it.  But it put the bug into my head to get moving on the alpaca that I already had. 
    The first fleece that got washed was some absolutely gorgeous white alpaca.  Check this out.  If I remember correctly, there was about 6 lbs.  I washed it in four loads.

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    DSC_1306 
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    If you are looking for a great tutorial on washing alpaca, try this site

    Then, I moved onto some brown Montedale I'd split with a friend last year at Rhinebeck.  No pictures, it is in the wash now.

    2.  While I was busy doing the million things, the postman came to the door with a package. 

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    Want to guess what's in it?

    DSC_1316

    Yep!  More of Ken Ledbetter's beautiful spindles.  Pictures as soon as I can get to it.  They'll go up on the Ball and Skein website.  Probably not for a week or so, sorry.  But they are gorgeous.  Of course.

    3 responses to “summer days”

    1. I was thinking today what great “drying weather” we are having! Glad to see you have made good use of it…the Alpaca is yummy looking!
      And those spindles…cannot wait to see what they look like!

    2. An amazing lot of beautiful things here today. That is outrageous alpaca fleece.

    3. The weather has definitely redeemed itself from the awful heat wave of the beginning of the week.

Our lives are dyed the colors of our imagination.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

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