5 Point Money Crisis Hats

This hat was born from my watching too many shows on the finance channels. Many of the pundits were offering 5 ideas to get us through the current crisis. Well, this hat is my answer to them.
There is plenty of warmth and color to this hat. The hat starts with a thick rolled brim and is topped with a 5 point striped area and a couple of squiggles tied into a knot. Most of the yarn in this hat was dyed and spun by myself. The hat was hand knit and then fulled (slightly felted). Materials – wool, alpaca, mohair, some metallics and synthetic yarns may have made their way in.

Now, I am off to knit a couple of strips to finish off a throw for the living room. It is amazing how quickly the weather has cooled down!!

Errata in Silk Lace Shawl

A kind and confused knitter just pointed out an errata in the Silk Lace Shawl pattern that folks purchased at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last week. Row one of the pattern should read: Row 1: Knit and inc one stitch at each end of row.

I apologize for any confused knitting that my mistake may have caused you.

Weekend of Being the Good Yarn Witch

This weekend I had the wonderful experience of offering 10 tubs of coned yarn in my basement for free (recipients pay postage) to the whole world. After making a couple of posts on ravelry, photographing most of the cones and then entering them on my stash pages, most, if not all of the yarn is now claimed. It was amazing to see how people jumped at the chance and were very gracious about it. There is a whole group of ladies in the UK who all seemed to want the same color of yarn. Fortunately, I had enough of that color for all who asked for it.

This week I will learn the ins and outs of flat box shipping, custom forms, and the like. The people at the post office will get to know me a little better after I ship out the 45+ boxes!! What yarns that were not claimed by individuals, will go to a non-profit organization in NH that is teaching people with disabilities how to weave. All those people will be happy and I can then use the tubs for storage of things that have been just lying around in the cellar.

As I went through the tubs, I came upon some yarns that I still saw as treasures. However, I realized that they didn't have the same allure for me anymore and that it was time to let them go to homes where they would be used and appreciated.

I really had a blast doing and I know that I will have as much fun packing it all up and sending it off to different parts of the planet.

It has been way way too long since posting

I have been far too busy spinning and knitting to blog. The list of finished items doesn't reflect the six batches of yarn that I have spun and have already sold to stores. However, it does reflect my current knitting situation. These are images of the Safari Vest that I am creating using Safari Yarn - 100% cotton from Great Adirondack Yarn - which will have some beads on the front. The other is a detail photo of my Secret of the Stole ii where I am definitely in the Tortoise club - midway through clue #3. I have added beads to it even though the pattern didn't call for them. I have definitely gone bead crazy.

Now, this is the way to relax!

I looked up from my yarn winding to see my two furbabies taking a nap. Now, I could only learn to relax like that!

So much fiber and not enough time

Over the past few weeks I have been to two celebrations of fiber, Stitches and Rhinebeck. My favorite was Rhinebeck since I was able to meet some of the actual producers like Macho Man the alpaca. Now, a week after Rhinebeck, I have finally gotten back into the swing of things. My yarn companies are starting to get their spring lines to me and I am using these last few days off of the road to get some spinning and car organizing in. The mound of blue/green fiber here is going to be Curly Blueberry when finished.

Plus, there is my new addiction of ravelry. Since I was working at the Great Adirondack booth at the sheep & wool I wasn't able to make either of the meetups. I really wish I could have gotten one of those buttons!

I am also now a member of the Tortoise club, which is a sub-set of the Secret of the Stole group. Unlike MS3, where I was right up to date, I am just now nearing the end of clue #1. thanks to holidays coming up, I am sure that I will have the stole done in time for New Year's, or there abouts. Well, back I go to wheel.

Spinning Fall Colors

This past week I have been busy doing some last good weather dyeing and fleece washing. My goal of finishing the batch of Curly Heat Wave didn't happen until yesterday afternoon. But, last evening I started spinning up some BFL in burnt orange, nutmeg, etc. I will ply it with some alpaca dyed in light nutmeg and with these mohair curls worked in.



It seems I have started working on this just in time as today is the first cool day here in MA in a while. Perhaps fall has finally landed in New England. The leaves are starting to cool and the peepers have gone silent. Since I will be in Baltimore for Stitches much of this week, I will miss out on some of the early days of leave changing around here. However, I will have the joy of driving through the colors on my way to Rhinebeck the following week. A couple of years ago that was an incredible drive as the whole area was in a misty fog. The brilliant leaf colors shown through just as you passed them. May everybody have the change to enjoy some of the beauty that is the changing of the season this fall.