The other day, we let the flock out for a yard graze, which will probably be their last in a long while, since we’re planning on putting in so many plants this spring.
Sabine quickly found a place were she could watch the flock in style: she ran right up to our compost pile and lay down.
I don’t mean to brag, but have you ever seen a better-looking dog?
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Tagged Maremma, posted by Caroline
This is not exactly a roy g. biv yarn since pink doesn’t exactly fall in the rainbow but it sure is bright and cheery and fun to spin. I had to finish it up as soon as I got home. I navajo-plied it to maintain the color progression.
So, I did in fact rip back the heel I’d started on the Monkey sock, and did it with a Sweet Tomato Heel. It looks great, and feels even better. It’s the perfect heel shape, and for once a knitted sock I made actually looks like it goes on a foot, even when laid flat:
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I am excited to teach this method (and show off the sock) at FiberCamp in less than 2 weeks!
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Tagged Knitting
First, the facts:
Title: Knitting with the Color Guys: Inspiration, Ideas, and Projects from the Kaffe Fassett Studio
Author: Kaffe Fassett & Brandon Mably
Published by: Sixth & Spring Books, 2012
Pages: 176
Type: Patterns
Chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Soft Tones
3. Singing Color
4. Moody Hues
5. Rich Shades
6. Useful Information
The In-Depth Look:
Kaffe Fassett is a name to be reckoned with in the knitting world. (Not to mention the quilting and needlepoint worlds as well.) He’s famous for his vibrant colors and strong graphics … and lots and lots of very bright, strongly-patterned sweaters.
The only problem was that those sweaters were a lot of work to make. He loved intarsia designs filled with dozens of color changes and therefore dozens of bobbins and even more dangling ends to be woven in. Complex cable patterns had nothing on Kaffe Fassett’s sweaters. And the worst part was that they were difficult to wear. Not every person had the frame or personality to carry off his bold designs.
Which is why, even though I’ve been knitting for over 20 years, I’ve never made one of his designs. I’ve had a signed copy of his “Family Album” since a book tour in 1989, and still, I’ve never made anything from it. Intarsia and I just don’t get along that well. And at 5’3″, I would never be able to pull off one of his (gorgeous) patterns without looking overwhelmed. Instead, I’ve just admired the pictures for years.
So, when I had a chance to look at “Knitting with the Color Guys” at Vogue Knitting Live last month, I didn’t expect to go any further than, “Pretty, but not for me.” Kind of the way I do when I walk past sequined tops or power suits in a store–I can admire them, but know I’d never wear them.
Except…
This book isn’t about sweaters. It’s filled with cozy, wonderful, delicious knits to have around your home. Afghans. Pillows. Throws. There are a few items that you actually wear, yes–gloves, leg warmers, hats–but mostly it’s about things you can cuddle up with.
The best part is that, since they’re largely things for your home, when you’re not snuggling with them, you can just LOOK at them. Admire them. Adore them. What home doesn’t have room for one gorgeous throw pillow? Or a striking blanket tossed over the back of the couch?
These are simply beautiful designs. Collected by color themes (bold, muted, pastels, and so forth), they make you want to crawl right into the pages and curl up with a cup of tea and a book. The photos alone are enough to drool over. There are not only pictures of the knitting designs (of course), but just random photos of other, inspiring, beautiful things to help set the mood. It’s delicious eye candy.
Of course, the book isn’t just by Kaffe Fassett. (It’s called “Knitting with the Color GUYS,” after all.) It’s co-written with his studio manager Brandon Mably who obviously shares his aesthetic and love for colors and patterns.
Really, I fell in love with this book. You should definitely take a look.
Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.
This review copy was kindly donated by . Thank you!
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Tagged brandon mably, kaffe fassett, Pattern Books
Back in 2009 when I was first learning to knit, part of my self-imposed knitting initiation was to read the entire backlog of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s blog, The Yarn Harlot. It was educational and inspiring as a new knitter to have such an intimate view into the life of a rather more experienced knitter. I realize this is hardly an original sentiment, but one of the things that really got my fantasy going was reading about the birth of the Snowdrop Shawl. I would have dreams about knitting lace like that when I was still struggling with understanding the construction of a hat. I knew the snow drops were completely out of my league, but that didn’t stop the dreams. I dreamed I was knitting it, I dreamed I was wearing it, I dreamed of it elegantly draped over the back of my sofa.
I found a lacy beret that was closer to my level and knit that instead. It seemed to take the edge off.
Then two years and some time passed.
In knitting class the other day, I was helping a student start a shawlette (she was using a gorgeous buttery yellow alpaca yarn) and we were talking about knitting shawls and the lace weight yarn I sell in my shop. I admitted that while I had swatched a bit with the yarn before I started selling it, I had never actually knit with anything in lace weight yarn ever. I actually said these words, “I’d love to knit a nice big lace shawl, but the right one just hasn’t found me yet.”
What a fickle knitter I am! I had completely forgotten about the Snowdrop shawl. It wasn’t until yesterday when I moved a hank of lace weight yarn from the drying rack to the “to-be-photographed pile” that I remembered about that shawl so long ago. Before I knew it, I was winding a ball of lace yarn and the pattern was printed and tempting me to cast on.
I didn’t make too much progress what with attempting to remain a responsible adult and all that rubbish. Though, as I knit each row and understand the movement of the yarn more fully, the more I want to work on it, responsibility be damned.
Of course, I noticed on the ravelry forums today that Knit Knit Cafe Podcast has announced their new knit along, and it’s a shawlette knit out of fingering weight yarn, and I know I have the perfect little yellow skein of sock yarn in the back somewhere. So I might get to work on that as soon as I get the other thing off my spare pare of size 6 needles. It looks like it’s going to be a lacy spring.
In the meantime, my shawl is Raveled here
and knit out of Oviraptor Lace Weight Yarn
on size US 6 needles.
What are your knitting plans for spring?
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Tagged In The Works, Inspiration, knit knit cafe podcast, lace knitting, lace shawl, lace weight yarn, lace yarn, oviraptor yarn, shawlette, snowdrop shawl, stephanie pearl-mcphee, yarn harlot
I had a really lovely weekend at SPA in Freeport, Maine. I hung out with friends, shopped for fiber, spun a rainbow braid, had some really excellent meals and even went shopping at LLBean at midnight. I was lucky to have a friend to carpool with and we left early enough that we arrived well in advance of the brief spurt of nasty weather Friday night. Another friend spotted someone carrying her Lendrum wheel in a giant LLBean bag and suddenly we were on a mission to each get one of our own. We didn’t manage to find a green one for her but we did score the last two giant bags in the store. If the weather is nice I think this will be an easier method to tote the wheel around and there’s plenty of room in the bag for fiber and assorted extras.
Here at Juniper Moon Farm our boots hold a special place of honor. They are not just a tool we use, not just a piece of clothing we wear. They are what transforms our P.J.’s in the middle of the night into hard working farm cloths or turn six inches of mud into a lovely stroll in the park.
Mud is an unavoidable aspect of our every day lives and when this mud if often a combination of dirt and animal waste there is a lot to be said for having good protection. A good boot not only protects you from mud but prevent the mud from clinging onto the boot and creating a massive mud boot combination which is near impossible to move around in.
Boots are more than just protection from mud they are a barrier against all of the elements. I can stomp around in the snow with impunity while wearing knee high boots or I can kick-in a layer of ice that has frozen over the water buckets. My boots have a combination of vulcanized rubber bottom and a breathable neoprene top which have made these recent hot days no challenge.
Lambs love boots.
My boots also have strong steel toes. At first I was sure that extra weight was not going to be worth but now that I can hardly feel when the sheep, pigs, or mini donkeys step on my feet I am more than pleased with my choice. The extra protection is also nice when I am working repairing the fence or working on the tractor when the chance of something heavy dropping on my foot is high.
Goats love boots too.
A few weeks ago, the good people that make Bogs Boots sent me the pair of their kick-ass Rancher Steel Toe Bootsto try out. But that’s not all- they even threw in a pair for one of you!
To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this post telling me which pair of Bogs you would choose if you win.One entry per person Entries will be closed on Friday, March 2nd at Noon EST and the winner will be posted here with information about how to claim your prize. Good Luck, everybody!
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Tagged Giveaway
Normally I wouldn’t give up on winter so soon. After all, where I grew up, March was blizzard season. Even here in Virginia we’ve had more than a few surprise March snowstorms; at least of those was nearly record – breaking. However, given the incredibly mild weather we’ve had since fall I think it’s not foolish to expect winter is done. Perhaps we’ll have another blow-out – who knows? But I am not holding my breath. Not when in the same week we’ve had several inches of snow followed by nearly 80 degree temperatures three days later.
So, over the course of the week we’ll be washing and packing away the heavier winter items and changing out our winter decor for spring.
Yes, I change the art on the walls along with the sheets, the pillows and the blankets to coordinate with the seasons. It’s easier than a re-doing your furniture every time you get sick of where it all is.
It’s hard to believe I took all of these pictures not eve a full week ago, considering a few days ago we were outside like this:
I gave in and planted some of the cold crops: beans, peas, arugula, Black Seeded Lettuce, and Red Romaine. I’m afraid if I wait for the normal planting date it will be too warm.
Spring cleaning, here we come.
As a first post, I figured I should put here what I have been working on. All images are link to full-size images, if you’d like to see things on a larger scale.
I will start with completed projects, since that’s always the most satisfying, right?
I finished spinning Spunky Eclectic’s “Peace On Earth” – the Dec 2011 fiber club offering – a South African Fine yarn in blue, greenish and white. The singles were done last week, and I n-plied it yesterday and washed it. Normally I thwack, but since this yarn was described as “felts well” I just soaked it in hot water twice and followed up with a cold water soak. I am pretty pleased with the results, and I have to say this yarn bloomed very wonderfully – it was about 16 wpi before washing, 9 wpi afterwards:
I was going to make a Citron shawl from this, but it’s much too large for that, now…or, perhaps not.
I also designed a small cowl for the Juniper Moon Farm contest – basically, come up with an original design using 1 or 2 skeins of Chadwick or Willa. My design, called the Loopy Wicker Cowl, is shown below, in both a one-color/one-skein and two-color/two-skein version:
If the design does not get selected for the contest, I will share it with you here.
On my needles, I am almost done with my Sagrantino Shawl:
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I like the pattern, it’s one of those where you have one thing to remember and the pattern just works out magically, so it’s great that I don’t have to lug around a pattern with me. However, each hexagon takes me about 2 hours, so it takes a long time to complete!
I have also been working on Monkey Socks – special thanks to my knitsky friend Amanda who pointed out that this wasn’t a crazy Cookie A. pattern, but something that’s memorizable (and she’s right!). Right now I am working on the heel but I will rip it out and work it as a Sweet Tomato Heel from the ingenious Cat Bordhi. I may also go up a needle size because the sock is a tight fit right now:
The yarn is handspun superwash corriedale, the Tartan colorway from the September 2011 Spunky Eclectic fiber club offering. I spindle-spun this, and made 1,000 yards of 3-ply yarn (yes, that means I made 3,000 yards of this. I am extremely proud of this accomplishment). So there is plenty for socks!
I have also started on a kid-sized hat in double-knitting from Alasdair Post-Quinn. The hat is Bratach from his excellent book Extreme Double Knitting: New Adventures in Reversible Colorwork. Alas, I can only take one of either the extreme double knitting or the adventures in reversible colorwork, and I chose the double knitting – the hat started out with the crazy pattern that Alasdair wrote, but I have changed it to be stripes and checkerboards and stuff. I messed up the first few rows due to it all being new to me, but I’ve got the hang of it now. I probably *should* rip out the hat and start over, but I am not sure if I will. Here is what my Not a Bratach looks like right now:
From the files of “not really actively knitting this one” but still a WIP, I am knitting Channel out of 2 different handspun yarns (handspun by me). One is the Oct 2011 Spunky Eclectic fiber club, Romney in the colorway “Beans”, which was spun as a single. The other yarn is a 2-ply yarn, consisting of Juniper Moon Farm Cormo and the Enchanted Knoll Farm’s Happy Hooves Batt Club’s Dec 2011 offering, “Winter’s Night Sky” in 65% superwash merino and 35% tussah silk. I have not worked on it in a while, but I do want to finish it eventually:
On my wheel right now – I am working on finishing up a bunch of Louet Black Diamond Top, which is carbonized bamboo. There is absolutely no memory in this, and spinning it is not a whole lot of fun, but I spun a bunch of it and plied it with a merino wool for a scarf, so I kinda want to spin the rest of it just to have it done, and ready to be plied with something else at some point.
I also have plenty of fiber waiting to be spun, I have to get to January’s Spunky Eclectic club, which is Targhee in blues, reds and white. The February club will come soon! I also have the February batt from Enchanted Knoll Farm waiting for me, it’s in the colorway of valentine conversation hearts, but I have not even opened up the package yet!
