STITCHES WEST Feb. 21st - 24th -- Santa Clara

I am off to Stitches West up in Santa Clara a few weeks from now with Pam and Karen. Hope to see lots of friends up there, too, and looking forward to visiting Melissa Sheppard's Argosy Yarn booth. I need some of her beautiful cashmere. Some of the classes I am taking at Stitches are: "fiendishly difficult stitches", "mitered patchwork" and "Russian-style continental knitting" with guru Galina Khmelva.

I have been busily dyeing the past couple weeks, putting together a shipment of sock yarn for Morgaine Wilder of Carolina Homespun, who will be featuring sock yarn in her booth at Stitches. Besides my Capistrano Fiber Arts sock yarn, she'll also have Nature's Palette and Claudia Handpaints. Morgaine's booth at the fiber shows is always one of the best. She literally brings a store with her and has all things fibery that run the gamut from spinning to knitting. [http://www.carolinahomespun.com/] So make sure to drop by the Carolina Homespun booth.

SUMMER FUN! While at TNNA on Jan. 11th, I Iearned from Morgaine that she and Judith MacKenzie McCuin have put together a slate of summer intensive workshops to be held July 28th through August 3rd at Point Bonita in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, just north of SFO. The workshops will be put on by their organization, the Golden Gate Fiber Institute. Margie and I got so excited just thinking about a summer intensive in a natural setting, we immediately signed up for natural dyeing and spinning ancient fibers. Some of the other classes are lace knitting, felting, crocheting, each with great instructors. All meals will be prepared by a culinary institute chef, so you take your classes, socialize, hike around, and they feed you, too. And it's all within reasonable driving distance. I can hardly wait for July to arrive. For information, visit their website at http://www.goldengatefiberinstitute.org/.

New Year's resolution well in hand I have been spinning almost daily to keep true to my 2008 resolution of spinning ALL of the fibers I have purchased at Rhinebeck and Black Sheep Gathering the past couple of years. I am happy to report that progress is being made. Here are a few skeins I spun last week. The emerald skein is merino/tussah (80/20) and the deep jewel toned skein is merino/bombyx (50/50). Both of these were spun from roving purchased from Clover Leaf Farm at Rhinebeck. The taupe skein was spun from baby alpaca roving I got in the alpaca/llama barn, also Rhinebeck. It's a blend of the fiber from four baby alpacas.

This past weekend, my knitter friend, Jan, was visiting from NYC. She wanted to go to a LYS, so I took her to Strands Studio, a very cute knit shop in Dana Point. When we walked into the shop, we were met by a long row of colorful knit squares hanging from the beam in the middle of the store. I recognized them as squares from the Lizard Ridge afghan (Fall 2006 issue of Knitty.com), a pattern I had wanted to try. The shop's owner, Kelly, has been knitting these colorful squares out of Kureyon and will put them together with a cloth backing. Kelly's artful display motivated me to run home and start knitting. I only had two skeins of Kureyon in my stash, so I then tried the pattern with some of my sock yarn. Here's the result. Once you get the hang of the short rowing in the pattern, this is a very easy knit.

And it's always good news when another spinner comes into the fold. Jerry reports on his blog (http://twistedknitster.blogspot.com) that his new Fricke spinning wheel was waiting for him when he got home yesterday. He was so excited he put the big size 15's to the treadles last night. I predict he'll be spinning easily within a month since he did pretty well as a beginner when he tried out my Rose last year. Just another little obsession, huh? Thankfully, he and Mrs. Twisted are both knitters, so they'll be able to do something with all of the yarn he's going to spin.

CAT BORDHI AT COMMON THREADS

Last Friday I got a welcome call from Common Threads in Encinitas that they had a cancellation for the Cat Bordhi sock workshop and would I like to attend. Of course! So yesterday, I trekked (in a pair of handknit socks) down the coast for an all day class with Cat Bordhi. The class centered around the sock knitting techniques in her new book, below:

Was there homework for the class, was my first question. And the answer was yes, so I spent part of the weekend getting myself up to speed by knitting the two learning socks at the beginning of Cat's book. I knit one pair of the "Little Sky Sock" and two pairs of the "Little Coriolis".

These little socks are so cute and easy, and the absolutely best part is that when you bind off, you're done. NO SEAMING!! It always seems that with a lot of the bootie patterns, you spend more time weaving in the ends and seaming than you do knitting the dang little things. There were about 15 in attendance at the class, a really nice group of women, and some familiar faces, including Gaby from the OC Ravelry group. Here's Cat (standing) helping one student with a question.


I had a great time at the class and have to thank Nancy and Carolyn of Common Threads for hosting the workshop. I learned toe-up sock knitting and different kinds of toes. I also mastered the provisional cast-on that Cat explains in her book -- I just needed a little visual push and I got it. I also got my feet wet knitting socks on two circular needles, although I did my sample sock in class on my double points. I didn't want to get bogged down in too many new things at once. But, I am now ready to tackle Cat's book on knitting socks on two circulars. (I know my converted friends are cheering.) Hey, I still love my dpn's. And I started "Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks" from the new book. The socks in Cat's book for the most part do not use the traditional heel flap. It's a really neat way to knit socks. She also had all of the socks from the book with her and told us the story behind each one. She was a delightful, patient teacher and I was so glad that I had the opportunity to take the class.

Over the weekend, I also finished the pair of ribbed socks I had been working on.

I am now going to turn my attention to finishing a cabled shawl I have been working on that is knit with some very dark brown buttery handspun alpaca from "Shadow", fiber I bought at Black Sheep Gathering two years in a row. Happy knitting and spinning!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2008

We all talk about new year's resolutions, so I've got a few. First on my list was to destash and only keep yarn that I would actually want to cast on and knit with. I already accomplished this task two days before 2008. Since becoming a handspinner in 2000, I have only wanted to knit or weave with natural fibers. I managed to go through my entire stash and pull out all of the acrylic, rayon, novelties, and other yarns I bought eons ago. The good news is that almost all of these orphaned yarns have found a good home. My friend, Marion, took many balls and skeins to share with her Wednesday knitting group at the San Juan Senior Center where some of the knitters are of limited means. I am so happy to know that they will enjoy using these yarns. And my other friend, Dale, came by and departed with three big bags. Yee!Haa!

My other resolution is to scale down and get organized. Just before Christmas I got into a whirlwind of purging and cleaning, wanting to start the new year afresh. I spent days shredding up old files, checks, receipts and actually destroyed my shredder in the process and had to go and buy a new one. Sheesh!! But . . . I have only made a dent in the pounds of paper that we have accumulated over the past 20 years. Why oh why do we need this stuff anymore? So this will be an ongoing process during 2008, but now that I have started, I am on a mission.

My final resolution for 2008 is to spin all of the fiber I have purchased at Rhinebeck and Black Sheep over the past couple of years BEFORE I go to Black Sheep again this June. I've actually made a dent in this one as I have been spinning every day. This, of course, is the best of resolutions. Spinning is so relaxing and therapeutic and I love it . Here's some of what I have been up to -- This is about 1,100 yards of white cormo wool/tussah silk that I spun and plied with 100% angora rabbit. The cormo blend is from Barbara Parry of Foxfire Fibers of Massachusetts. She has lovely cormo wool rovings and blended rovings from her own cormo sheep. The fiber on the mini niddy noddy is some merino/cashmere dyed by Lynne Vogel and spun by me.

Here are the other skeins I spun from Lynne's handpainted merino/cashmere rovings. I started spinning these on my trip to the Sierras in late September and just finished the final skeins yesterday. There were about five different colorways which I plied on each other. I plan to use all of these in one project -- maybe a vest.

The skeins below, I started about a month or so ago and have been working on them ever since. I wanted to spin an array of colors that would go together in one project. These are all spun from my handpainted rovings. The two gray/light yellow/lilac are superfine merino in "Etoile". Then, to the right is a skein I spun plying "Etoile" and "Johnny JumpUps". On the bottom is a skein of purple baby camel/silk plied with merino/silk in "Gentian" colorway. In the middle is a skein of merino/silk/angora in "Violets Marl" and then the gold skein is merino/cashmere in my "Goldenrod" colorway.

Below are some random skeins I have been working on for the past few months. The blues on the left are baby camel/silk and kid mohair/merino in "Sargasso Sea". The ones in the middle are merino/bombyx silk and plied with baby camel/silk. The skein on the right is merino/cashmere.

On the knitting front, I started another (my third) Lady Eleanor entrelac stole. I just love knitting these. I am trying to work my way through my large stash of Silk Garden and some natural silk/merino yarn that I hand-dyed. These two yarns are the perfect combination for the Lady Eleanor. I'm loving these colors.

And during all of this cleaning of the nest, I managed to experiment with dyeing a new superwash merino sock yarn. And I am now knitting a test pair of socks to see if I like the yarn. So far, I like what I'm seeing and I like knitting with this yarn, too. These socks are on US2 needles and it's just my basic ribbed sock pattern.

Oh, yeah, there's that resolution about trying to blog regularly. Yeah, okay. . . so I hope everyone is having a great new year. Happy spinning and knitting 2008 and let's resolve to keep our little spinning and knitting groups going throughout the year -- let's not lose touch with our fiber friends.

My best intentions of blogging regularly evaporated quickly as I found myself immersed in numerous projects. Oh, yes, and there was the messing around on Ravelry (it's addicting). I discovered something the other week when I started listing my books on Ravelry. OMG! I have at least 120 knitting books -- this doesn't include the ones not in the Ravelry database, or all of my weaving, spinning and dyeing books. Yikes! And I'm now deep into dyeing sock yarn for The Yarn Tree's "A Sock for All Seasons" sock club. I actually have had dyepots going since 6:00 a.m this morning. My pattern and yarn will be sent out to members in Spring 2008. Linda LaBelle just opened up the sock club for the next go-round. [http://www.TheYarnTree.com]

So here's some stuff I've been working on since last I blogged. I knit a "Lady Eleanor" entrelac stole a couple of years ago, and ever since wanted to do another. I used some of my stash of Silk Garden -- two colorways. In between the SG, I used natural silk/merino yarn that I dyed which looks so similar to SG, same hand only in solids. My four colors (cinnamon, toffee, pear and moss) melded perfectly with the many colors of the SG. And for anyone wanting to knit the Lady Eleanor with SG, I went down to a US6 needle instead of the US8 suggested in the pattern (using LaLana Wool's yarn).



Then, Lynne Vogel emailed me a pattern she'd worked up for a felted bag. I loved it and, geez, on US13 and US17 needles, it was a snap. I had it completed within 24 hours of receiving the pattern. I followed Lynne's pattern to a "T", but used stash yarn: Manos del Uruguay worsted doubled, and a superfine bulky merino in cream and some I had dyed. After felting the bag, I added a handmade flower from my friend, Michelle Hoffee.

Of course, I was still in felted bag mode and looking to use up more of my stash, so I immediately knit a second one, using Berroco Hip Hop in two colors stranded with Malabrigo worsted merino. This time, I altered the handle by knitting it in three strips and braiding them before reattaching to the other side of the bag. I used the Malabrigo doubled for the handle. The bag turned out so cute and then I knit two colorful flowers with some of my leftover bulky handpainted yarn.



I love both of these bags and they make great knitting and spinning baskets. Another project I had been wanting to do was a pair of "Firm Fitting Fingerless Gloves", one of the Mac & Me patterns I had knit previously. On Ravelry, I saw a pair of mitts knit by "Punkin" from Southern Oregon and was inspired to use some of my natural-colored handspun yarns: taupe pygora and cream alpaca/silk. Here's the result. Yes -- I had to add a splash of color.



After Margie and I had our first foray into "nuno" felt with the kits we brought back from Rhinebeck, we'd been wanting to try this felting technique again, only with silk, instead of cotton gauze. My order of silk organza arrived from Dharma Trading Co. so we got together on Monday and had a very successful felting session. Here's a picture of my piece.



I loved this piece so much, I had to try it again yesterday and here's the result. This time I made a wider and more rectangular piece.


If you haven't tried felting, it's fun but quite labor intensive. My arms and back are killing me today so I'm going to have to recover before I tackle another felted piece.

I was very excited when I saw Lynne Vogel's spinning article for Knitty.Com with a beautiful mobius wrap in the pattern section. I think the Winter Issue of Knitty is going public today (Weds.), so check it out. If you aren't a spinner yet, this article and pattern may just push you over the fence into handspinning.

And, finally, let's keep all of our friends in Oregon and Washington in our thoughts. They have really taken quite a hit with horrendous rains, floods, huge surf, snow storms etc.

I HAVE BEEN HAVING FUN!!
I have been spending entirely too much time on Ravelry and I have to agree with my friend, Sheree, it really sucks up your time. But it's fun. So, here are some of the things I've been working on in the past week. I bought this lovely yarn last February at Stitches West from Michele Camacho of Toots LeBlanc & Co. The natural gray yarn in these hats is a 60/40 blend of angora rabbit and Rambouillet wool. It blooms beautifully as you work with it. And I used some of my handspun yarn for flowers. The pattern is Toots LeBlanc's "Celtic Bunny Hat".

I loved the cabling on the top of the hat so much that I decided to use that cabling for a child's cap. And here's the result.

I have also been doing A LOT of spinning (my most favorite thing to do). Here is a skein spun from fiber I bought at Rhinebeck from Roclans Farm of PA. This is a 50-50 blend of kid mohair and Rambouillet wool. The taupey silver color is the natural color of the fibers.

This is a skein I spun from my randomly handpainted rovings. I plied a merino/kid mohair (70/30) blend with a merino/cashmere (80/20) blend. This skein will make a pair of lovely socks.

Here are two bobbins which I am in the process of plying together.

And here's the finished skein alongside my "Etoile" roving (a blend of merino/angora/silk) and "Johnny Jumpups" (superfine merino). I am going to spin more of this and probably use it in a shawl, using some 100% angora as accents.

So, now the fun begins!! Margie, my partner in fiberness, came over on Thursday. We had purchased nuno felt scarf kits at Rhinebeck and wanted to make them. It's a labor intensive endeavor, but in a nutshell, the project involves taking a gauzy woven fabric as a base and laying out roving on top of the fabric, drizzling soapy water on the whole thing and then applying pressure and agitation so that the fibers felt and become enmeshed in the woven gauze -- making a felted piece of fabric. Here are some pictures of Margie's project laid out and wet.

You can see the gauzy fabric and the opaque areas where white merino wool was laid down in a trellis design.

Pieces of colored rovings were used to make the flowers and leaves and vines.

This long piece is wrapped in bubble wrap around a PVC pipe or a rolling pin and rolled until the fabric begins to felt. When the piece has felted somewhat, you then take your piece and bunch it up and throw it (yes, I'm not kidding) on the table many times. Believe it or not, slamming this bunched up wet piece of fabric actually causes it to shrink and felt even more right before your eyes. This whole process requires a good deal of elbow grease and is not for weaklings. This is my piece in the process of being tortured.

Here are some pictures of our felted scarves drying out on the rack. Margie's is the one that looks like poinsettias. You can see how the base fabric became crepey looking.

Here are some pictures of mine.


Well, I had so much fun on Thursday, I just had to try it again on Friday. So here are some pictures of what I did yesterday. I can see all kinds of possibilities with this process. Here's my project laid out and wet.



Here's the finished piece. Dang! this is fun.

Needless to say, I have been enjoying all this creativity. So, you ask, what am I going to be doing this weekend? I think I may be slamming a bunch of wet wool on the table until my arms finally give out. I have a couple of very cool Japanese books on felting and I may try some projects from those books. I can't read the Japanese but the pictures are pretty explanatory.

And finally, I am so excited. I have been working so hard lately that I decided to reward myself with a new fiber bus -- actually it's a VW Eurovan -- that I picked up on Thursday. It's the perfect vehicle to haul all my fiber stuff around in.

TORRANCE FIBER FEST -- WHAT A DAY!!!
I was up at 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning readying myself for the Torrance Fiber Festival and was on the road at 5:15 a.m. to pick up Margie. We have a tradition of starting the day with a latte from Starbucks in Laguna and ending the day with a latte at Starbucks in Torrance -- we need caffeine for the road, coming and going. And Sunday was no different. We had a phenomenal day at Torrance -- frenzied at times -- we could barely catch our breath. Everyone who attended said that this was the largest turnout ever. We were stoked, to say the least. It was great to see so many of our fiber friends and to meet new friends, too. Thank you so much everyone for stopping by. I took some pictures of our booth. Of course, Margie and I are biased, but we think we have one of the most colorful booths. Here's the rack of my handpainted rovings:

Margie had lots of handspun yarn, lots of washed wool and hand-dyed mohair locks, and many skeins of her yarn handspun from mohair locks (a big hit with the knitters).



Margie finally gets to come up for air and take a break during the fashion show lull. She's wearing a vest that she handknit from her hand-dyed, handspun yarn.

My handpainted sock yarn (variegateds and solids) were a big hit.

I was also fortunate to have some lovely handcrafted niddy noddies from Blarney Yarn (a local OC artisan) as well as handcrafted drop spindles from Cascade Spindle Co. from Washington. Both of these artisans use exotic woods in their spinning tools. Not only are they beautiful to look at, they feel wonderful working in your hands.

Here are a couple more pictures -- skeins of our handspun yarns, bags of silk and cashmere rovings and patterns.


On the way home, we were exhausted, but with lattes in hand, we headed down the freeway elated, having had one of the best days ever at the Southern California Handweavers Fiber Festival. The SCH Guild should be commended for the great job they do of putting the show together every year.
And a big surprise in the mail yesterday -- my copy of Linda LaBelle's book: The Yarn Lover's Guide to Hand Dyeing. What a wonderful book. Linda did a great job! It has lots of tips on dyeing, and it also gives you a peek into the lives and dyeing studios of Koigu, Treenway Silks, Hand Jive, 13 Mile Farm, Schaefer Yarns, Chasing Rainbows and my Capistrano Fibers Arts Studio. This book will make you want to run away to the country and have a farm and alpacas and sheep.

So, now it's time to catch my breath, relax, spin and get creative. Yesterday, I broke into some of the exquisitely lovely fibers I bought at Rhinebeck -- some merino/angora/silk roving -- from a small farm that raises angora rabbits. Here's the result:

This whole week is going to be a treat to myself -- spinning, spinning, spinning -- one of my most favorite things to do. And an outing for lunch with a friend. As my friend Jerry says, life is good.