Full Days

It has been a productive week and satisfyingly busy although the refrigerator is still sporting it's duct tape and still I procrastinate. I think because I know it will be a domino thing. I can not even write about it because then I must think about it, and then I'll be off looking at boring refrigerators...
Saturday our spinning guild was invited to a farmers market at Casey Farm. It was wonderful, the weather, the farm, the people and my fellow spinners. Many people came over to stop and talk and ask questions. One person was a alpaca farmer wanting information on what to do with his fiber. He actually went home and brought back some of his wonderful fiber and gave all of us some to spin and knit or weave. It was incredibly soft with much crimp. Looks more like a super fine wool doesn't it? It feels as it looks. I weighed it on my trusty food scale, 8 oz. He is hoping we like it and will come back for more. He is a very nice guy. The farm is Shadow Pines Farm, Alpacas. and can be reached at: shadowpinesalpacafarm@cox.net. He will be happy to answer any questions. Tell him I sent you.
Then another person came up to us and offered lama to us, free. Someone gave to her, she does not spin. So I brought home two lama bumps.

It turned out to be a fun day with going to lunch with two of my spinning buds but when we parked the cars what was facing us but Knit One Purl Too Yarn Shop in Wakefield, RI. So of course we detoured before lunch. After lunch we walked a little and came upon glass blowers. We were mesmerized.
Sometimes it pays to park the car and walk around. We watched this process for a while. They were making a set of hand blown drinking glasses that were beautiful. Watching them was like attending a ballet. Each had a part to play in this dance.
I finished the shawl. It's fiber is hand spun, hand dyed wool and a commercial mohair blend whose colors just went so well with the hand spun. It was a quick weave as I needed the loom for the next item. My other loom is busy with a tapestry sampler on it. I am trying to learn a new technique. I weave, and unweave, and weave again and sometimes unweave that as well as I go through each new section. Slow going but I want to learn it so I am motivated. I have not been able to spend allot of time on it this week because it has been so hot and humid and I needed to finish a knitted item that had a dead line. It is finished. Just needs buttons. Those will be on today and then I can take a photo.
Have agreat day and thanks for reading.

Shopping in the basement...

I have warped the loom with a wool/silk yarn for a shawl. Just plain weave, moving quickly. Was not the intent, just is. That is OK, have to finish the story cloth, some pot holders, and a baby blanket are in the planning stages and a few other things as well. It is pretty neat though. I love looking at a loom threaded and you see warp threads and fabric. It can slow me down sometimes because I stop and look and touch, lightly dragging my fingers across the width of it in amazement. I am doing something people have been doing for thousands of years and it humbles me.
Last week I was searching in my basement "store" for something to bring to the farm to spin on shearing day. In so doing I came across this fleece that I made a mental note to come back to. Come back I did. It is a romney fleece from Watson Farm, from shearing day 2006. It is washed and ready to process. I also found my Indigo Hound wool combs, hackle, diz, and accessories. So for simplicities sake I may just use the wool combs out on the deck during the early evening hours and make little "birds nests" ready to spin.
I love when I am on a hunt for something in my stash and I get sidetracked by other finds that I have totally forgotten about. It is like a little shopping trip, "new stuff". I am trying to work from stash this year and so far not to bad. Well, there was a trip to Web's for 8/2 weaving cotton, Brown Sheep bulky for a felted bag,some Araucania Nature Wool just because and Austermann sock yarn with Aloe Vera and Jojoba oil in it. Should be interesting. But that has been it this year, so far. I think I am allowed one fall...Seven months to go.
The temperature is rising quickly. It is 11:30 AM and the thermometer reads 91.9. OK, that is hot. Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Spinning At Watson Farm

Saturday was spent at Watson Farm on the island of Jamestown, Rhode Island with some of the members of RI Spinning Guild, of which I belong to. One of our members helps run this farm with her husband and we are invited yearly to his event. We spin, talk, laugh, watch the shearer and keep track of the fleeces as we demonstrate and interact with the public.

Finishing

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This has been a hard week, for obvious reasons and some not so obvious. Things that do not make any sense at all to me and yet totally understanding, to some degree. Then there was the storm, the northeaster, the giver of water to one's basement. The loss of cable, phone and electricity all in one day was just too much. So one night while out doing my 3 mile walk, I thought I couldn't wait to get home and pick up my knitting, I just needed to sit and knit and not think about anything too terribly important. I needed the comfort of the familiar, the needles, the wool. Knitting is one thing I can control...So with that said I finished the left side of my sweater and started right in on the right. Of course I ripped it back once and restarted as forgot to reverse it all...Walking does not cure everything.

Then there was Saturday Spin In so I cleaned and polished my spinning wheels and finished a project I had been spinning for a while. I hesitate to say how long. It is Merino roving multi color that is primarily black, plum and with specks of color. It is plied and waiting to be set. I had planned to weave it. Still thinking about what. I initially wanted to make a triangle shawl on the floor loom with it, but I have already done it with some stash yarn. I used an online pattern from Handwoven. It was easy enough until the point when I had to do the technique that makes it a triangle, a little hard to explain. I unwove it a couple of times and finally finished it but I had to cut and sew to fix the tension problem. So I do not want to try that again. So it will be a shawl I think. Also at the last meeting of our spinning guild we were given some white and black wool from one of our member's sheep. We are to spin it and make something. If I could add the picture without upsetting everything I would. So instead imagine a puff of white and a puff of black

Also the blanket is off the loom. It is finished, washed, ends twisted and stray yarns trimmed, not in that order. I am tired, end of a long day and I fight with blogger to place words and photos. So much to learn, very frustrating. So I have been avoiding posting it all week.

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  I can't let this post end with out a Maggie shot. There is another dog in the house, Amy. I do not get good shots of her yet. Her eyes do weird things in the photos. She also just normally sleeps, on her bed, on the floor, no theatrics...she's eleven(77) and she just can't be bothered with me and my camera. Well, neither can Maggie. And yes, there is a bit of a weight problem...One DD said that Mag looked like an engorged tick. I thought that was a little mean. A bratwurst,maybe, but not a tick...We are working on the problem. I have been measuring her food and keeping the cats food up high. She is a tough one. This is her favorite activity. But she is the but(no pun intended) of allot of jokes around here.
  
This week and this post is finished. I learn a little more with each post but it is frustrating. If anyone knows how to get rid of those silly dots which have elongated to posting space needlessly...Ah, I am going to bed, that dog is looking very comfortable. Thanks for reading and thanks for all the comments. It is encouraging. Have a great day!

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