Nesting

Trust me, it’s not what you think. I’m not pregnant and I’m not busy feathering my “nest”. I’ve been busy making little fiber nests out of combed merino fleece that I scored on my visit mid-February to Lynn’s Fantasy Farm in Pearisburg during sheep shearing day. I came home with Dinah and Alice’s beautiful fleeces and upon the owner’s strong suggestion, sought out some combs vs. hand cards. I borrowed a friend’s Louet/Edward Scissorhands like combs and combed the freshly scoured fleece before rolling them into nests.



Gorgeous Fleece


Washed and dyed locks


Lots of loverly little nests


Spun and plied yarn


Close up of colors


Finished Yarn


While I’m all about the process, the hand combing merino thing is a lot of work. And there’s a great deal of lost fiber. However, it’s equally difficult to find a fiber mill that a.) takes in small amounts of fleece to comb into top and b.) hard to find a mill that even combs fiber into top. Long story short, I’m going to have to buy some more fleece so that I can hit Zeilinger’s (http://www.zwool.com) minimum and hope that it will be ready in time for me to pick it up at Maryland Sheep and Wool in May. It will be worth it. It’s a dream to spin top and this merino is fabulous stuff.

Thing Two and I had a blast at Lynn’s farm though it was mighty cold that day.


The shearer hard at work


Her two dogs were the sweetest creatures I’ve ever encountered and her flock was well cared for and very loved.

We got right to work, skirting fleece. I was stunned that Thing Two jumped right in because there was lots of icky stuff to pick out on the skirting table. He simply donned some rubber gloves and went to work. What a trooper! I hope that we can make it again next year.


Thing Two at the skirting table

A Walk in the Woods

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I love the crispness of the air and the transformation of the verdant Blue Ridge mountains into a veritable color palette. I can't think of a better time to cast on for the Walk in the Woods Jacket from the Interweave book "Inspired to Knit" than now. I haven't found a book in ages that excites me as much as this one does. There are several patterns that I can't wait to cast on for but this one beat the others hands down.

I dove into the stash and was surprised that I had 75% of the colors in either Manos or Malabrigo yarns. The other 25%, I decided to spin up and dye using the Rupperts Corriedale I bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool this year. Twas a labor of love washing, carding, spinning and dyeing that yarn but it was worth it. I love the results.



Washed and carded batts



All spun up into yarn



Cooking up maroon yarn goodness



Happy dyed skeins



Finally, casting on



What I felt like once it was all over...

I've learned so much just knitting the sleeve as a swatch. A year or two ago and I would have impaled myself on my needles before I would have taken on such a large scale intarsia project. There are SO many ends to weave in. But I'm madly in love with all of these colors. And I will love this sweater forever so I plod ahead and am 1/3 the way up the back. I screwed up one flower on the sleeve (its an Amish mistake, right Robin?) and knit it in the wrong color. I might frog it, I might say the heck with it and leave it. I'll decide another time. The inconsistent thickness of yarn makes me a little crazy from time to time but it seems to all work out in the end. And while it is NOT a portable project, it has been an easy project to pick up and put down thanks to my magnet board. And its knitting up quickly. I'm hoping to have it finished by my birthday later this month as a prezzie to myself (and perhaps to wear to Stitches East which continues to be an on-again/off-again prospect). We'll see if I'm all smiles after another week or so of knitting on it.

On an unrelated note, I've started a Ravelry group and Heifer team for Heifer International supporters called Team Ravelry (you can also visit the team's progress through Team Heifer HERE). If you love Heifer and its outreach, please consider joining or supporting our efforts. We're planning to do some fundraisers, knit-a-longs, team projects, etc. in the future. I'm going to be posting more patterns soon and Heifer will again be a beneficiary. Lots of fun is planned for the coming months. Hope you'll come along for the ride.

Random Fibery Goodness

Flashing ya some pictures on the fly. I've been on the road quite a bit for both business and pleasure. Attended yet another wonderful, rain-free Maryland Sheep and Wool. Bought some hand cards, ordered a Robins custom wheel (3 yr waiting list so no photos yet), a Woodstock WPI tool (it was his final show before retiring), some yak/merino and yak/silk and BFL from The Fold (sorry not a STR fan so none here) and scored this gorgeous fleece from Rupperts Corriedales (which happened to have a couple of the prize winning fleeces in the show this year).



4.8 lb. Fleece (It's so clean, it brings a tear to your eye)



Close up of its crimpy goodness...



Spinning it up into yarn...

After starting her over a year ago, I finished Sahara just in time to wear her to church for Mother's Day with MacGyver (Mom) and Ebayman (Dad)





Cast on for the Swirl Shawl that was also purchased at Sheeps this year...



Busting the stash of some Malabrigo laceweight in the color Brisa (yummy stuff)

Praying hard for those suffering from natural disasters in Myanmar, China, the many tornados that continue to ravage the US (Virginia has been hit many times over the last couple of weeks) and our local knitting friend, Rae, who lost her home and beloved kitty in a fire last week.