Borg Queen Yarn...

...your uniqueness shall be added to our own.

I have a 3 month club membership with Spindies. It's wonderful, lovely and such fun to open presents for me every month, even if I have to buy them myself!



My very first Spindies Paint Box was the Peacock inspired one. Each sample from bamboo, milk fiber, wool roving, and gorgeous blended batts were such fun to pet and play with. It really gives me a good idea of the product each of the contributors produces.

I struggled with how I should spin this lovely fluff up. I considered spinning each sample as it's own little yarn, but didn't know what I'd do with ten 0.5oz mini skeins of Peacock inspired yarn. I considered breaking each sample into little bits, and spinning a fat single with a bit of each sample in sequence, but didn't know what I'd make with the resulting yarn. In the end, I decided to go with what I know I will love, 3 thin singles, plyed into a fingering weight yarn.



I wish I had a blending hackle, but since I don't, I found another way to blend all the samples nicely. I stretched each sample out to a big rectangle (approx 15" x 20") - very easy with the batts. Not so much with the milk and bamboo rovings - those I lightly carded with my handcards. I stacked each stretched sample on top of eachother. Then I ripped the sample sandwich into eight strips. To keep things tidy, I twisted each strip into a little knot until I was ready to deal with it. Once I was ready to spin, I predrafted each knot and spun to my heart's content!

I feel a bit guilty for this approach, the wonderful uniqueness of each sample is lost this way, and I hope each of the fiber artists who contributed don't feel slighted by my melting pot approach.

I'm spindle spinning this so I can get the thinness I want from the singles, but I'll ply it on my wheel. I've got two thirds spun, and am working away on the final stretch. However, now that I'm at this point and have just found the Brandywine Shawl pattern (a Haiti relief project by Rosemary Hill) I'm considering a two-ply lace weight instead!



On the Knotty front, I've got 4cm of cuff!

Knotty Gloves

My poor sad, neglected blog...

I've been spinning this summer, but not so much knitting. But with the kids heading back to school, I start thinking about fall. And then thinking about winter and Christmas gifts and cold weather. And that almost always cures the knitting funk!



So today I cast on for Knotty. I'm using the East Friesian lamb I spun up this summer and I'm still just as in love with it as I was when it arrived in it's raw sheepy state. It is such a lovely smooshy yarn. I'm hoping the 80g I've got will be enough for these gloves. These will be a Christmas gift for someone who always appreciates handmade goods. The fact that these come from raw fleece to finished product will not be lost on this someone!

Fiber Tourism - part II

On Saturday morning we headed out of Ottawa torward Toronto to take in a Blue Jays game before saying goodbye to my parents and heading north again. Enroute, G kindly allowed me to detour us to Port Hope to visit the Black Lamb.

I tried out a Majacraft Suzie Pro and a Little Gem. I really liked both of them. However, I liked the way the Suzie treadled better than the Gem. I would still like to try a few other wheels, but so far, I'd say the Suzie is my favorite of the ones I've tried.

The Black Lamb had big baskets of fiber tempting me in every corner.


I succumbed to some tencel roving. I've spun merino/tencel before, but never 100% tencel and I think this could be a fun challenge.

Sunday afternoon we watched the Jays play the Cleveland Indians. Although they lost 4-5, it was one of the highlights of the trip - my first ever major league ball game!

Fiber Tourism!

My family met up with my parents in Ottawa last Monday for a week of sightseeing and fun! Of course, I couldn't leave any yarn shop unvisited and included a few in my travels. My goal was to try out a few wheels. Don't tell my Ashford Traditional, but I'm looking for a replacement.

On Monday night, we watched the Mosaika show. It was quite enjoyable: the show uses the parliament buildings as a screen. Tuesday, we toured the center block of the Parliament Buildings.

I enjoyed it much more than I expected. The architecture is really impressive and I hadn't known that the building was built to honor the soldiers who lost their lives in WW1. The library was really amazing, all the wood details were well worth a visit. Tuesday afternoon we visited the Aircraft museum.

Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, more museums, including the War Museum, the Museum of Civilization and the Nature Museum. And a bit of Shopping!

One of the shopping stops was Wabi Sabi, a fun fiber arts store in Ottawa. Both M and I found some merino/silk fiber that begged to be brought home with us (with really great prices, I might add).



M helped me pick out mine: it was a toss up for me between two teally greens and this one. M pointed out that this one was really more my color!



And of course he picked out the purple. He says this will be the first he spins on my wheel!

Wabi Sabi has a Louet S15 and a Babe in store that I got to try out. I can appreciate the price of the Babe and the double treadle, but really didn't like how it wobbled. Plus, I just can't get past the PVC. (my apologies to any die-hard Babe fans). The Louet I liked better, but found getting the bobbin off a bit fiddly, I'm sure I could get used to it and I like it's modern appearance and smooth treadling.

And since my parent knew I was looking for a new wheel, they brought me this:


Isn't that a cute little wheel? "Respect the Spindle" was brought along for reading material on our trip - highly enjoyable and informative!

Zahara - new pattern

I'd like you to meet Zahara. She's a sweet knitted camel, complete with underbite, knobby knees and a gentle disposition.



This pattern is suitable for someone who can knit in the round on double pointed needles. Other skills required are increasing and decreasing, knitting short rows, picking up stitches, grafting and seaming.

To make your very own Zahara, you’ll need less than 100 grams of worsted weight wool. I used Patons Classic Wool in "Sesame".

As usual, the pattern is available through my Etsy shop and as a Ravelry download.



This link will redirect you to Paypal through Ravelry's shopping basket.

Somebunny special...

Excuse the seriously silly title, but someone I love asked me to make them a bunny after seeing this one that I made for my nephew for Christmas. How could I resist?



This one is made with handspun: 2oz of oatmeal colored Corriedale, 3 ply worsted weight, and a little bit of teal merino/silk, 3 ply heavy fingering weight for the dress.



I changed things for the body on this one as I wasn't entirely happy with the way I'd improvised the body for my nephew's bunny. I like this much better. I knit from the neck down. Once I got to the legs, I slipped half the sts plus 3 to a holder and knit the others in the round for one leg. The 6 sts (3 from the front, 3 from the back) were placed on a holder, while I knit the second leg. Then 6 sts were grafted together and all ends woven in.

The skirt was improvised too: cast on 50 sts, made a little picot hem, and knit up to where the bunny's waist is, did some decreases, bound off half the sts and knit the bib back and forth. Tiny 3 sts I-cords make the dress straps.

The pompom tail used up the very last bit of handspun that I'd made for this project. All that's left are the trimmings from the pompom as I used all my snipped off yarn ends and the last few yards of yarn to make it!

Coming Soon to a desert near you...

I'm almost finished tweeking a new pattern. B has been bugging me for a while to make a camel. She's named it Zahara...



And since we're on the topic of camels, maybe you can help me? Do you know the song "Alice the Camel"? It's one of those count down songs that goes like this:

Alice the camel has 5 humps,
Alice the camel has 5 humps,
Alice the camel has 5 humps,
Go, Alice, Go,
Boom, Boom, Boom...

Alice the camel has 4 humps,
Alice the camel has 4 humps...
etc,

until the end...

... Alice the camel has no hump,
Alice is a horse.

Now B says the song is supposed to be about Sally the Camel. Which way did you learn it?

Being Good has it's rewards...

Last summer I let you all know of my resistance to the temptation to steal my favorite picture book. Well, today, my goodness has been rewarded. The public library in my little town is selling books from its collection that are rarely signed out and "Sarah's Bear" was on the table!



If you ever have the chance to read this adorable book, take 5 minutes. The darling water color illustrations and sweet text won't disappoint you!

Soft, Fluffy Clouds

I started carding the East Friesian last night and it is oh so soft and bouncy.


The little bowls show approximately equal amount of fiber: one washed and dried, the other also carded!


And here's all 80g carded and ready to spin. It really fills up the same blue basket the raw fiber was sitting in in the previous post.

Sushi Club - East Friesian Lamb

My July installment of Natchwoolie's Sushi Club arrived today. Absolutely gorgeous bouncy, soft, creamy white East Friesian lamb's fleece!



As usual, dog and cats had to have a sniff of the sheepy goodness enclosed in the ziploc bag! And again as usual, the kids groaned at the farm fresh scent!



It looked like so much fun, I gave it its bath immediatly! And it has already fluffed up so much. I can't wait until its dry and ready to spin.

Can't show you the knitting I'm doing...

I'm working on a new pattern, but don't have enough of it done to post it. So I'll show you supper!


Grilled chicken pizza done on the BBQ!


Grilled Pizza with Chicken, Grilled Veggies and Pesto
Ingredients
pizza dough - I use homemade whole wheat crust.
1 large or 2 small chicken breasts (grilled, roasted, or cooked in some fashion), sliced
grilled veggies (I used leftover grilled onions, mushrooms, red peppers and summer squash from last night's supper)
pesto
feta cheese, in small cubed
mozza, grated

Method
Preheat grill to medium heat.

Form dough into balls larger than golf balls and smaller than tennis balls. Roll out to between 1/8" and 1/4" thick. Dust with flour and stack in layers, separated by parchment paper.

Place pizza rounds on grill for 2 minutes with the cover closed. Flip. While still on the grill, spread with a bit of pesto, sprinkle with mozza, feta, veggies and chicken.

Go sparingly on the toppings on this pizza, it gets soggy with too many and is difficult to remove from the grill.

Close cover, grill for an additional 90 seconds, or until mozza is melted. Remove to a cooling rack, or cut and eat immediately.

I can only fit two 8" pizzas at a time on my grill so some of the pizzas are warm and some are hot by the time I have them all cooked. But at ~4 minutes cooking time, I'm done 8 pizzas in 16 minutes!

Yummy!

Monkey See, Monkey Do...

I couldn't put this pattern down! This was such a cute fun knit. Details and mods on my Ravelry project page.