I have published my pattern for the shawl. I named it Flames and Lace because there were a lot of other designs already that were using my initial idea, Candle Flames. I have it on the website and on Ravelry for $6.
I did get it written in time for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival last weekend. I even wore it in the booth and got many compliments on it. We also have a new batch of Yarn Boxes in some woods we have been out of for a time. We have Mahogany, Oak, and Cherry for $60 and Walnut for $65. They were very popular in the booth!
I am currently in Ohio for the Wool Gathering festival at Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs. I will be getting the booth ready tomorrow. This festival is all outdoors in big tents. We usually have pretty nice weather so I hope that holds true this year too. The market opens on Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 10-4.
I have a few hours of downtime this afternoon and hope to get a bit of knitting done on Saltarello. Here’s how it is looking at this point.
Wells kids, it’s time to head back out on the fiber market trail. Break time is coming to an end and I am off to Charlotte, NC for the Southern Comforts Fiber Market. Click the link for more details. I am looking forward to using my new trailer. I have taken it for a few spins just to check on the brake adjustments and such. Restocking the booth between market days is going to be much easier with all the room to spare. It’s all stocked and ready to hitch up today. I will be driving on Wednesday, setting up on Thursday, and market days are Friday and Saturday.
Oh! I forgot to tell you, we found a new owner for the old black trailer. Hopefully, someone will fix her up and get some more use out of her for many more years.
Knitting
I am glad to be feeling myself again today because I was feeling under the weather for 3-4 days. So much so in fact, that I wasn’t up to knitting. I would pick it up and realize I just didn’t have the energy. I wasn’t severely ill, it was just a low grade fever that hung on for days and a couple days of lower GI discomforts, but knitting a lace edging was a bit taxing. After countless cups of various herbal and medicinal teas, and quite a few bowls of chicken soup, I am grateful that I was feeling better by Sunday. I wanted a least a few days to get back on my feed before hitting the road.
Before I got sick, I had started and completed one of the repeats of the lace edging on my shawl design. I decided 3 skeins would be a decent size. I had 20g of yarn left and the edging should only use 17g, so I should be good. I didn’t touch it again until yesterday. When I picked it back up, I worked 3 repeats in one sitting. There are only 18 repeats across and each is 12 rows. The end is in sight! I am excited to see how it looks when it’s blocked.
Work Shop News
Just a day or so before I was briefly out of commission, we decided it was a good time to make a visit to our lumber supplier. The plan had been to work on more Shawl/Hair Sticks for awhile and get more lumber in the fall. We had bought a few new boards of exotics last month at Woodcraft for these. We revised that plan, however, and decided it was better to go ahead and start a batch of Yarn Boxes first. We had completed a small batch in June to fill out the inventory some, but one wood is already sold out. Time to make more boxes. Who remembers the old Dunkin Donuts commercial? You know the one? “It’s time to make the donuts”, says the sleepy guy who is rising in the middle of the night to get the dough started. That’s what I thought of just now. LOL
While I was trying to get healthy again, Jerry has been busy cutting, sorting, jointing, and planing wood. We bought some walnut, cherry, and white oak. We haven’t made any cherry boxes for quite a few years, and while we use oak quite frequently, it is usually red oak. At this point in the process, they are now all planed to the proper thickness and ready to be marked out for cutting down to the dimensions needed for the sides, tops and bottoms. Then the joinery cuts are made and they get assembled and glued together. There are dozens more steps after that to get to the finished product. These are probably the most labor intensive, as far as number of processing steps, of anything we make.
Parting Comments
Thanks for the comments on my new office. I am really enjoying having my own space. As a matter of fact I am writing this post from there. I got a couple better desk lamps and a desk stuff organizer. I have a comfy chair, which I am in now, for work like this. I am, however, realizing that the kitchen chair as a desk chair is going to have to go. It’s not inviting to sit in for any task longer than, say packing an order. So, I am in the market for a suitable replacement. Maybe I’ll have found one by my next post. We’ll see. See you soon!
It’s the end of July and that means we are wrapping up the summer break time. The yarn is all dyed, labeled and in it’s storage bins. About 2/3 of the yarn is in the trailer and the remainder is stowed in the work room as back up to restock the trailer during the late summer and fall show season.
Yarn Bowls
In addition to yarn dyeing, we have some new Yarn Bowls in the works. We will be bringing a selection of these to the festivals and adding them to the website. There are a large variety of woods and sizes, so the best way to see them is in person. The woods used include oak, cherry, walnut, and mahogany. We ended up with so many different sizes that we will have a range of prices to fit most budgets and uses. They will vary from $40 to $70.
Fiber Festivals
I will be heading off to Charlotte, NC on August 9th for the Southern Comforts Fiber Market. The festival will be at the Oasis Shriner’s Auditorium on August 11-12, 2023. We have a full schedule after that, so hopefully you can make it out to one. I would love to see you!
Knitting
I have been working on my new shawl design when I can. I would love to have this finished and ready for displaying in the booth soon. You may recall that I am using my Classic Merino Bamboo yarn for this shawl. The pattern will be forth coming as soon as I decide on a stopping point.
At this point I could work one more repeat of the lace pattern and still have enough yarn left for the edging. I am currently on the the third skein. The shawl measures around 65″ long unblocked. If I add another section and the edging, it will add around 7″. That’s 72″ before blocking. I think I may want it about a foot longer. That’s my indecision at this point. Do I stop at a 3 skein project? Or continue on and use some of a 4th skein?
It has been a full week around here. We finished the yarn dyeing on Monday. That day we dyed greys and teals. It was a half days work.
220 skeins
After we were all cleaned up for the day we got a text from the Ford dealership where we were looking into getting a new truck for me since my beloved 2014 F 150 has 120,000 miles on it now and Jerry wanted me to get a new one. The sales guy had one with the specs we wanted but it had some transportation damage that needed repaired. We went out and took a look and agreed on our terms for the purchase. From there it as a few days wait for the repairs to be completed.
In the mean time my mother, who had rapidly declining health and was in a nursing home took a down turn on Wednesday. We went out there and sat with her for awhile but she was totally unconscious. She passed away later that night. We knew it was coming and most of the arrangements were already taken care of. In a way it was a relief and probably was to her as well since her quality of life was reduced so much in the last two years. I am hopeful she is reunited with my Dad and happy for the first time in I can’t remember when.
Anyway, so around this time I got a contact from the alpaca mill I do dyeing work for that they had work for me. That was delivered to me on Thursday. We also got the call that the truck was ready so we went and finished that purchase. So I have a new ride.
We got the fiber order dyed today and can now get back to work getting all the yarn labeled.
Oh, I almost forgot! I am so close to finished the Midlothian shawl. I haven’t had much knitting time this week but as soon as I can devote a couple hours to do the picot bind off, it’s done. Maybe by my next post I will have a finished project to show you.
Good morning! Over the weekend I bound off and blocked my Debussy Shawl. I wore it this morning too while I had my quiet time with my coffee and reading. It was still a bit chilly this morning but we are in for some warmer, brighter days this week. Spring is coming soon!
I ended up doing only one extra repeat of chart 5 for a total of 8. The medium size has 7 and the large has 10. I weighed my remaining yarn between the end of the 7th repeat and the end of the 8th. I found that I used 35g for that repeat. I determined I would need at least 25-30g to do the final edge chart and at that time had 51g, so clearly there was not enough yarn to do anymore repeats of chart 5. I proceeded with the 18 rows of chart 6 and I have 21g left over.
I measured it this morning after being off the blocking pins for a little while. The long side, which is the diagonal edge is about 69″ and the shortest side is 41″. The measurement down from the top (longest edge) to the point, if you were wearing it like a triangle shawl is about 30″. So all that means it is pretty close to the largest size in Dee’s pattern even without the other two repeats. It’s a nice size but not huge.
I got straight to work on my gansey design after finishing the shawl. I decided to use my Classic Merino Superwash Sport yarn. I then decided that the Earl Grey would make a nice color that I hoped would show off the stitch patterns well. I know that traditionally ganseys were made with dark blue yarn and I did consider using my Midnight Blue, but I could see it in the Earl Grey in my head and went for it. I dyed 10 skeins, figuring I will probably use at least 6 for the 42″ sweater I am planning.
I worked up a stockinette swatch on size 4US needles and got a gauge of 5.5 stitches and 8.5 rows per inch. I used a remnant of Emerald for the plain swatch while waiting for the grey to dry. I spent some time perusing and selecting a stitch pattern arrangement. I graphed a portion for swatching and used the grey for that. I ended up making a minor change after knitting a few rows. Maybe you can see in the swatch that the ribbing between the double moss at the left side and the chevron in the middle. I changed that vertical column to seed stitch so it wouldn’t recede so much.
I like how the elements look next to each other. I began knitting the bottom welt last night. I am using size 3US needles for the garter welts and will do that for the definition ridges in the body and sleeves as well. I am doing the bottom welts separate for front and back and will join to work in the round leaving them separate but with a slight overlap at the side seam point. I did go with the channel island cast on for it. It’s a bit fiddly at first but not difficult once you get the rhythm down and it looks nice. I knit a 2″ long welt because I don’t like a welt that flips up.
Okay, that’s it for now. I should get the second welt done today and have it on the circular needles working the main body very soon. I am excited!
I just love these socks! They are so comfy and warm. The fit is perfect and they are definitely my new favorite pair of hand knit socks. I’m not sure if it’s the pattern or the yarn. I’ll probably be making this pattern again though. It as fast, interesting and easy.
I have been wearing my hand knit socks a lot this winter. I tend to wear them only when I am home for the winter since it’s hard to properly wash hand knit socks while traveling. I just save them up for the week and then just throw them in the sink with some shampoo to soak for awhile. When they have finished their bath I toss them in the washing machine for a rinse and spin cycle and lay them out to dry on the dryer or a table in the work room. Easy enough at home but more challenging in a hotel room. :-)
I have only one project left going at this point. I’m plugging away on my DeBussy shawl and have switched over to a longer needle. I have completed 4 of the chart repeats and joined on the second skein. I will see where I am on yarn supply and size when I complete the minimum of 7 repeats. I am thinking I would like it on the large side and I would rather use as much of the yarn as possible, so I may be going for the 10 repeats if I can.
I haven’t forgotten that gansey I want to start, so that may be happening soon now that I have only the one thing going.
I have been stash diving this week and it appears that I have a bad case of startitis. This is a rare affliction for me. I am typically project monogamous. The other notable change is that none of these are booth samples. I know! It’s been awhile since I just knit some stuff on a whim, and it’s pretty fun actually.
So here’s what’s on my needles at the moment. Riveting, I know. :-)
First up is Debussy, which I have knit before as a booth sample in my DK weight Merino yarn but this one is just for fun in some Cestari Wool/Cotton blend that has been in my stash for about 10 years. It’s slightly rustic looking which I think will make a nice all-season wrap.
Next up is a pair of socks. It’s been too long since I made any socks and I wanted a variety to switch back and forth on. I decided to make a pair of Gridiron Socks, in another long marinating yarn. The story behind this yarn and the one in my other project below goes back to 2009. I was in a online group, I think it was on Ravelry originally, with a handful of other hand dyers. We decided to do a collaboration yarn club. I think we called it Fiber Baristas? Anyway, we each were dyeing up a unique colorway for one of the installments and agreed to send a skein to each other as well. It was fun and I am finally getting around to using a couple of mine.
This last project is a cowl pattern my second daughter wrote for me using my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn about 10-12 years ago I think. It’s called Spiral Effect Cowl and I have made it a couple times before as a booth sample in that yarn. This one is made using another indie dyed yarn from the above club though. The cat (Mimi) is a bonus today. :-)
Oh, and I almost forgot! I finished my third booth sample I was knitting over the weekend before the stash dive. I think I will save that for another post after I can get a chance to get some better pictures maybe. Here’s sneak peek though.
This color is very hard to photograph because it really is a bit of a chameleon which changes due to light source. It is the Classic Merino Superwash Sock in Lavender. As I mentioned last time I used 4 skeins with 5g leftover using US4 needles.
Here is the original lace weight version along with the new version for fingering weight. I spent all of Saturday afternoon and into the evening editing and updating the pattern to include the new fingering weight instructions. I also made some corrections to the border charts and stitch counts for that section. The updated pattern is listed on the website and on Ravelry. If you already own the digital pattern, you will have gotten an update pushed to you. If you bought a print version at a festival and would like the update via email, please let me know and I am happy to send along the PDF. Contact me at knittingnotions@gmail.com.
Small sampling of the available wood bowls on the website
I spent a couple days last week getting the wood bowls added to the website. We have a lot of different sizes at the moment. They range from larger ones at the $55 price point which are big enough for holding a full ball of yarn down to some mini bowls ($20) which are perfect for holding small items like beads, stitch markers, coins, etc.
We will soon be bringing back some other wood tools we have not had in stock for quite a few years. Jerry had some big logs of walnut and cherry that he hadn’t had time to process. Well we have time now, so he started working on that this week after we returned from a little trip to the Smokies for Mother’s Day weekend. I’ll tell you more about that next post. :-)
So while this is keeping Jerry busy, I am planning some new yarn colors for 2020. I have decided to add six new colors to my palette. Here is a sneak preview.
I have added the 4th skein and hope it will be enough to finish. I am almost to the halfway point on the edging.
See the stitch markers in the top right corner? That is the half way point. When did I start this thing anyway? Oh, wow. Ravelry says Jan. 06, 2020. Sigh. Perseverance is a virtue right? :-)
How are you all doing today? We are getting through alright here. We are excited to report that we found actual toilet paper for sale in Kroger on Thursday! We were allowed to purchase two packages. My faith in civilization was restored just a little bit. LOL!
Making bread today
So, lots going on here at home to share with you this week. First of all we were notified that Jerry’s truck damage from the tornado was deemed a total loss. We thought it was going to be repaired all this time but the repair shop discovered after they began working on it that nearly everything was worse than they could determine at first. Mostly it was due to glass, probably not the glass from his truck but flying in the atmosphere. There was a huge debris ball and I suspect that was the culprit. Fortunately his truck was worth more than the payoff so we were able to get a replacement. He decided to go with something a bit different. He likes it a lot. It has a pretty awesome sound system!
2019 Nissan Frontier Pro-4x
I have made some progress on my Honeydew Lace Square fingering weight edition. I have five more rounds of the inner border and then it’s on to the edging.
We are trying to make the best use of our time during this quarantine/safer-at-home time. Jerry has been out in the shop a lot in the last week. He did a lot of tidying, re-arranging and de-cluttering. After that he got back to work on a big batch of Yarn Boxes that were all ready for sanding. We have some available on the website now if you were planning to pick up one at a festival this spring.
sanding, sanding, and more sanding
I have not been idle either. I have been cooking and baking more lately as is evidenced by the bread baking above. I have also been out at the dye pots a couple of times this week. New Era Fiber Mill has been keeping my busy (gainful employment which is appreciated more than ever about now). Here’s a batch I did the other day using my new work space, which I love, BTW. Did I mention my husband is amazing? Because he is. <3
Okay, stay well, and safe everyone! Make good use of your time and search for the silver lining! There is always something to be thankful for.
