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!!

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.

The year of the Shawl

Today I am working on the Silk Chevron Shawl to get it ready for Stitches East. It is being made with Silk Twist from Great Adirondack Yarn Co. As you can see from the photo, I really have to haul out the speed knitting skills in order to finish. fortunately. a chevron pattern is easy to get into once you get going. The only thing I don't like is that I have to do it on circs - not my needle of choice.


I have also kept up with my dyeing and fleece washing during these days of far too beautiful weather that we have had here in New England. The image above is of some yarn that is currently coming off of the wheel. That should be finished this weekend and then I will start another batch on Sunday.

I have also decided that I am going to make my Secret Stole out of Trendsetter's Cash Wool in a nice dark gray. That color will be perfect for me to use and wear. Plus, the beads that are left over from the Mystery Stole will work perfectly.

Amongst the Raveled

Yesterday evening I received my invite to join Beta Ravelry. My id there is dknitting. I woke up early this morning thinking about how I was going to build my account their. I had already heard that Ravelling (if that is a word) could be addictive. We will see what happens this weekend.

Last week I travelled out to northern New York to visit my friend Patti at Great Adirondack Yarn Co. It may be a little fuzzy, but the view was beautiful this early morning. No wonder she always comes up with those great colors.


I also finished up spinning some yarn and have started on another batch. These next few days I am exploiting the last hot days of the season by dyeing more wool, washing/drying fleeces and other sundry fiber activities. When it is nice and dry like this, wool takes no time at all to dry.

Everyone enjoy the last full day of summer.

Spinning a Labor Day Weekend of Love

Well, I was busy this past Labor Day Weekend with spinning, dyeing and knitting. I made headway on two knitting and two needlepoint projects as well as finished the Mericash sweater. that yarn is a dream to work with - 20% cashmere and the rest an extrafine merino. Pattern for this little sweater is available from Punta del Este Yarns.





Spinning and dyeing wise - I finished the Spicy Cantaloupe yarn and started spinning another batch as yet unnamed - blues, lavender, greens, etc. Yesterday I dyed two pans of blue faced leicester - one in reds/oranges and the other dark/med blues and purples with lime green. This evening I will continue with the spinning as I watch both the US Open Women's quarterfinal and the a couple of other things. I love it when my dh is not around so I can easily switch between programs during the commercials!

Mystery 3 is finally done!!!

You know that you live in a small place when the only place you can lay out your blocked stole is on your car! I must have a thing for green as you can see from the photo.



I loved working on this stole and will gladly do another lace project. Since the fiber is so fine, it is perfect for summer early morning knitting. People will have a chance to see my stole at both Stitches East and Rhinebeck this fall. It will either be displayed or draped over my shoulders while I am at the Great Adirondack Yarn Co. booth at both events.

Although I haven't posted in a while, I have been busy. This morning I started test knitting a little cotton jacket using a new pattern from Glampyre Knits called "Petal". I have had some multi colored Cotton 100 yarn knocking around which I had over dyed in a muted teal. It should work perfectly for this jacket. I have also finished spinning the chestnut colored alpaca as well as 6 skeins of what I call Frosted Leaves. Now I am working on some Spicy Cantaloupe while I watch the US Open.

Birds of a Feather

I have been busy working on Clues 4 & 5 of MS3 - now the Swan Lake Shawl. Now, I understand why the designer suggested black or white for the yarn colors. However, my colorway of Pheasant definitely has a bird theme and has woodsy overtone to it which reminds me of the woods where much of the ballet takes place.

It is also very appropriate that a project with this theme is my first foray into lace knitting. My paternal grandmother was a ballerina in Russia and Latvia in the 20's and she danced in many productions of Swan Lake.

On the other creative front, I have finished spinning the Purple Haze fiber (image to far right) and also finished knitting a sock. Now, I am spinning some fawn colored alpaca into a dk weight yarn (image to immediate right). With the heat and humidity that we have had in MA these past few days, lace knitting, spinning and needlepoint are the only things that I have felt like working on.

I have been thinking more about the idea of a Needlepoint Olympics during next year's summer event airing from China - if the air is clean enough for the athletes. There are so many beautiful Oriental canvases out there to choose from that would be appropriate for the event. Or course, dragons come to mind first. I realize that next year is not one of the dragon. But, I have a magnificent magical looking dragon canvas painted in various tones of red that just might do the trick. Although, considering the size of the canvas, it may be too large to stitch during that short a time frame and still be able to work and sleep. But, I will still keep knocking the idea around.

Things are buzzing along

On the MS3 front, I am within 10 rows of finishing clue 4. During the last few days I have had the pleasure of working on the stole at my sister's house. As you can see from the photo the view is distracting. But, Domino the cat, keeps me honest. The blossom laden bush there is a Rose of Sharon and is hosting a multitude of bees and a few birds swoop in every once in a while.

One nice thing about this part of the clue is that it is a very large piece of the same pattern. So, I am getting a feel of what lace knitting the same pattern on a project would be like. I think, I would like it as well as this stole that has so many different motifs. This would be especially true if I am able to add beads to it.

While I am here I am also spinning up some beautiful reddish fawn colored alpaca. I will have a picture of that the next time.

So Many Colors!!

Well, the beautiful spring-like weather has left my part of the country. But, I was able to get a lot of dyeing in while it was here, as you can see. As I write this, the alpaca to be plied with the dark blue/green roving and the red/orange roving are in the dye pot. All the other fibers are going to be part of a yarn I will probably call Summer Garden as these are the colors currently blooming in the garden.

On the MS3 front - I am 3/4 of the way through chart E. This is the biggest piece of the shawl that I have worked where the design is the same and will continue to be so through chart F. At this point, I tend to prefer the constant changing of motifs from the other clues. Maybe my opinion will change after chart F.

To Bead or Not to Bead

Today has been a great fiber day thus far.

First, I worked on clue #4 of my MS3. At this point in the work, the designer had stopped adding beads to the project. I can understand the rationale that the beads may be a little hard to lean back on when wearing the stole. However, the beads are so small and we have all gone through a little discomfort at times just to look fabulous. So, I figured out a way to work some beads into the design for clue#4. I love knitting with beads and I really didn't want to stop.

Second, I put some rambouillet roving into the dye pans with plums, royal blue, mustard, and celery colors. Tomorrow I will dye the corresponding alpaca for the second ply with the plums/royal dyes mixed together. I may also dye some blue faced leicester roving that I have. That one may be with some reds, nutmeg, etc. This week I got some dyes from Prochem. Now, I am having a great time playing with the new colors that I picked out.

Third, now I am going through a fleece of leicester longwool that I have to pick out the uvm (unidentified vegetable matter) and cleaning it so I can dye it later. These next few days are going to be relatively humidity free and will be perfect for drying fleece.

Back I go to get a batch of wool out of the kitchen sink where it has been soaking while I have been blogging.