In which we discuss much holiday fun and frolic with family and lots of food, update each other on a miserly quantity of completed knitting, have zero actual spinning going on, chat about the gleener, note the trick to the Channel Island cast on, and offer up our intentions to have better resolution in 2013.
Detailed show notes can be found in the podcast page over on the righthand sidebar of the blog, or click HERE.
Happy Solstice!
Love, Ellen
Dear Ellen,
I surely have felt fenced in of late. The post-surgical complications (nothing too serious, dear readers) have been a figurative and literal pain in the……okay, okay, I won’t go there. I was going a bit stir crazy, but I’m very happy to report that in just the last few days I have seen a dramatic increase in my ability to sit upright without doing additional damage or suffering some very discrete yet powerful pain. This translates directly into my being able to do things with my hands like knitting, doing needlepoint, needlefelting, etc. One is far less likely to go insane more able to entertain oneself when not limited to lying about on one’s stomach. This has yielded a number of completed projects on which I’ll focus most of the rest of this blog post (assuming anyone who reads this blog also listens to the podcast so I don’t need to tell them about Thanksgiving or the chickens).
I will comment on one other item though — Dale, with some help from Allen, Heidi, one of our teenaged neighbors and me (on the very last short board so I could say I helped) has completed putting up the posts and rails for our first paddock. Isn’t it fabulous? (Okay, it’s a crappy picture from Dale’s very old phone, but at least you get the idea.) We (and by we, I mean Dale) still have to put in the gates and trim the posts to height, but the hardest work is finished. I’m now working on the shopping list for halters, water troughs, hay racks and medical supplies. I can’t wait to see alpaca inside that fence.
Now to those finished projects. I’m really pleased with my Spring Grove Tocque and Mitts. They’re knit from yarn produced by Spring Grove Alpaca Ranch — our intended source for our first alpaca. (But you can only see the tocque here, and not yet blocked at that — imagine very similar mitts till I post a picture some day.) Carl, the owner was so generous with his time and alpaca for the wedding that I wanted to knit him something to repay him. I think he will appreciate it doubly since they’re made from his yarn — a lovely sport weight in natural fawn and tan colors provided kindly by the alpacas Prediction and Ellamy. I do so love knitting with alpaca yarn — kitten belly soft (TM).
I also created a little menagerie of fiber friends to keep me company in my confinement. They are all needlefelted, most have a partial or complete pipecleaner armature. Each one only took a few hours to complete — pretty quick and I think they turned out really cute. Each is the representation of a well loved pet. Can you pick out Max and Ruby? These guys are destined to find themselves under a Christmas tree (or in a stocking). I’ll miss them, but by then I should be able to be out and about and talking to humans. (No, I haven’t been talking to these guys….much.)
I also knocked out a handful of felted ornaments — 2 sheep, a snowman and a whoopie pie. I gave the little Wensleydale to my friend Jeri who raises them. The little snowman went to our knit group ornament exchange. Dale will get the whoopie pie and I get the little white and black sheep (perhaps a Suffolk?) is for me. I think I need to add a ribbon to the whoopie pie to make sure Dale doesn’t think he can eat it.
And Show Me Your Larch Pack is finished!! Off the needles, pieced and photographed…though not blocked yet. I do think you can see it’s fantastic potential in these photos — just imagine what it will look like after a good wet blocking. I am so looking forward to wearing it.
I haven’t cast on Pretty Thing yet, but I hope to before the weekend is over. I’ve got some other things to get done, so I’d better get to it if I’m going to get this posted and pick out yarn!
Love, Jan
Dear Jan,
After the miles of worsted lace weight spinning (well, maybe not miles, but perhaps a quarter mile) I’ve done lately, I needed some instant gratification. A batt - I needed to spin a batt with a woolen draw and to make it interesting I’d try to spin at a little heavier gauge than I have a tendency to do.
I made a trek to the Chamber of Secrets and the icy blue batt that from the drum carding class I took last spring practically jumped into my hands. It is lustrous Coopworth fiber from Carol Wagner at Hidden Valley Farm and Woolen Mill, mostly in blues & teals but with a smidge of yellow and yes, to spice it up, a little bit of pink. (I know, I don’t do pink. Yet there it is.) The locks were dyed the individual colors and then I carded them together.
I spun the singles with a forward semi-woolen draw, fairly long because the staple on Coopworth is several inches, letting enough of the twist slip back into the fiber to grab yet controlling it enough to prevent locking up and to enable slight smoothing of the yarn. I drafted quickly and was able to produce a heavy laceweight singles which when chain plyed produced a heavy dk weight yarn.
The yarn that this fiber produces is strong and supple, perhaps not next to the neck soft but it would be fabulous for rugged mittens or an outerwear sweater. The flecks of color remind me of tweed, but don’t have that slightly unkempt look some tweeds can have because the tweedy bits appear to be about to fall off the yarn. And I have to say, I even like the pink.
I hope you are feeling more and more in the pink every day.
Love,
Ellen
P.S. Happy Solstice tomorrow!
Episode 7 –Fiber Friends is Live!
We convey our sympathy to family and friends of knitpurlgurl. For ideas on how you can support her family, please visit the Friends of Knitpurlgurl group on Ravelry.
Thanks to irocknits for the gift of the For Good hat pattern - this time for Jan (she’s such a pouter)!
Thanks for the iTunes ratings, but more important, thanks for listening.
Jan’s recovery continues, slowly, but that doesn’t keep Ellen from teasing her about the Hens Who Will Not Lay.
The twins answer What Would Susan Ask?, this time dreaming about knitting.
Lots of knitting is happening this episode. Ellen has cast on a new cowl, using her bison handspun and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s Pretty Thing. She continues to make (slow) progress on Blue Moons and is at her 3rd of 6 mystery items (all will be revealed in good time). She also reported on the start of a Fiber Fusion sweater under Steven Berg’s tutelage. She talks more about that in the Design Principles.
Jan finally started both her Spring Grove hat and gloves. She is making good progress on her Show Me Your Larch Pack. Jan also promises photos of her Felted Friends someday.
After discussing spinning bison fiber from a cloud in 360 degrees, Ellen discusses rovings, top, sliver, and clouds in Fiber Jargon.
Ellen reflects on her recent experiences in The Knitting Guild of America’s Master Hand Knitter program. She and her buddy, Lisa, just sent in their Level II packs - what swatches do you think they will have to resubmit?
Jan and Ellen are identical in their recommendation to check out Annie Modesitt’s new book, History on Two Needles. Jan liked it more for the history and the technical mastery while Ellen wants to knit several of the projects soon. Check out the book and get a chance to win one of the patterns! (See the Twinset Designs Ravelry group for more info. Contest closes January 15, 2013.)
Speaking of contests, congratulations to winners of a Cat Bordhi e-book -
Cat’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks – Purplefrog5
A Treasury of Magical Knitting – Irocknits
A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting – SareBearKnits
and to Aljones1954, winner of the Rhinebeck project bag!
If you are in the Twin Cities area, you might be interested in taking part in the Knit-a-journey Winter Retreat, being held Jan 18-20 in Minneapolis. Details at the KAJ Ravelry group. Jan is attending Tina’s Fiber Retreat in her neck of Pennsylvania, but she reports it is all filled up.
Phew! Did you really make it this far? Thanks!
Dear Jan,
I crack myself up. I have named the most recent new project in my list “A cowl for George Bailey“, because it is a “buffalo” cowl. Say it fast and with a gutteral “c” and perhaps you will chuckle a bit. Kind of seasonal, eh?
Oh, why buffalo? It isn’t, actually. It’s bison, the bison 2-ply I spun last winter. Every since the spinning it had been telling me it wanted to become Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s Pretty Thing, and now I am granting that wish.
The long and heavy snowstorm of Sunday has made for some good knitting time and I am 70% of the way through the knitting, partly because it is so enjoyable. This yarn is wonderful fun to knit - it feels like petting a well-muscled but very soft and fuzzy cat. Weird description, yet that is what pops in my head every time I pick it up - there is a substance and suppleness to the yarn covered up by a lovely halo of soft.
Like a fluffy cat, no?
(I’m not sure I have complete buy-in on this.)
Love,
Ellen
In which we discuss feasts, post holes, knitting on drugs, knitting in church, why worsted isn’t the worst, remind listeners about the contests deadlines at the end of the month, and have a listen to the Abby Franquemont interview from Rhinebeck.
Thanks to irocknits for the gift of the For Good hat pattern!
If you want a peek at the chicken coop at Fair Winds, check out the Google Maps photo.
Jan has started knitting some some socks while recovering from surgery - her Percosocks. She hasn’t started a project page at the time these notes were written.
Ellen continues knitting on Rimfrost and a mystery knit.
Both twins were knittin’ bitten. Jan missed the “at the same time” in her Knitmore Girls’ SPAKAL sweater, the Larch cardigan. Ellen has a lunar eclipse in her version of Forestry which she is calling Blue Moons.
In Finely (or Finally!) Finished Knitting, Ellen whipped up an Overnight Hat to donate to charity. She also finished the wristers that are part of the submission package for the Master Knitter Level II certificate.
Jan reports that ice cream making is much simpler than she recalled from our youth. She used the Cuisinart ICE-21TQ Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker to make a cranberry lemon sorbet for their thanksgiving dinner. She did not take Ellen’s advice to use the sorbet as an icepack for her surgical wounds.
Ellen spun us 360 degrees and reports on the Fiber Optic Gradient Rovings which she has finished spinning in a fine worsted singles. Plying remains. In Fiber Jargon, she discussed the difference between the yarns that worsted and woolen spinning produce, and why.
We get more spinning info from Abby Franquemont in an interview Jan recorded with her at Rhinebeck.
Ellen reports a slick trick for knitting garter stitch in the round without purling. She found the trick on Fleegle’s Blog.
In Fashion Forecast, Jan predicts much laying down while she continues to recover from elective surgery, and Ellen mentions that she is taking a design class with The Glitter Knitter, Steven Berg, at his Minneapolis workshop, StevenBe.
Dear Jan,
I spent a lovely day at StevenBe’s yesterday, taking part in a charity hat knit-a-long and getting an education in how to wear Steven’s hot pattern, the Eyelet Ponchini.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Fashion forward folk will wear the ponchini so that it points at their latest footwear find. Hot stuff!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
But even the fashionistas have to face the Minnesota chill and can easily wrap their drape into a cowl, snuggled high on the neck or arranged in orderly folds to fill the gap in their coat.
When it gets really chill, cover those ears by pulling up a hood.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And as we approach spring (and yes, we will approach spring), convert to a stylish ascot by tucking the end through the loop.
.
.
.
Lisa and I didn’t come up with as many ways to wear the hats we knit. Still, we are proud to add 3 hats to the pile that Hats for the Homeless is collecting. I knit one; Lisa, that turbo-charged knitter, completed two.
Mine is my Overnight Hat (free Ravelry pattern of my design) in Sandnes Garn Canto. I modified a bit and cast on 60 sts instead of 54 for a bit more ease.
Lisa’s is one she made up on the spot. The plan is to get that pattern up for free on Ravelry in the near future.
Hoping to hear from you in the near future, too!
Love,
Ellen
Whatever will be, will be…alpaca. At least for this post.
Dear Jan,
As close readers/listeners of our blog/podcast are aware, you are a might bit infatuated with alpaca. I’m not quite the fan you are, but in the right application, alpaca serves its purpose admirably.
And the best purpose I can think of for alpaca is to keep Wilson’s ears warm.
Having a hollow fiber, alpaca is an excellent insulator. Knit densely, it will block the wind; the dense knitting also provides needed structure to this fiber known more for its drape than it’s elasticity. I knit this on size 2 needles using a 3-ply light worsted weight yarn, a 90:10 alpaca:wool blend from Velveteen Alpacas.
The pattern is my own. Getting the decrease ratio just right took some messing around, but I’m pretty happy with how it worked out in the end. I plan to rework it in a slightly looser gauge to make it easier on the hands for knitting. For more info on this incarnation of it, check out my project page on Ravelry - all the details you need if you’d care to work it out yourself before I get to it.
I finished the hat just in time. Wilson wore it today; though we had 70 degree temps yesterday, today didn’t get above freezing. It suddenly has me thinking of getting ready for winter.
Take care,
Ellen
P.S. Wilson looks mad in that shot, but he says he was just trying to look rugged and outdoorsy.
In which we love the number 5, talk of knitting retreats and fiber festivals, twin spin, learn about the best yarn for cables, find out that singles are singular, hear a Cat’s purr, count our blessings post-Hurricane, hear about a beloved knitting mentor and talk about loss including that of Judith MacKenzie’s studio, ask our listeners to support Hurrican survivors and help Judith get back on her feet and offer not one, but two contests!
Click HERE to listen!
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
