Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat

This weekend was the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat, in Tacoma WA. What could be better than going with my good friends Jen and Sam to the retreat on Friday and again on Sunday? (Well besides maybe going again on Saturday - but we had to do some stuff at home this weekend.) What a wonderful time we had seeing friends from on line, and from our fiber network in the Pacific Northwest. Here's a photo of some of the dinner group. That's our group clear down to the window and um, yes, the Christmas Tree.

I learn so much from hanging with these friends. Not only seeing knitted items to check out how they look in real life (as compared to seeing a photo), and being able to ask the person who knit the garment any questions, but by listening and hearing how others have tried various ways of doing projects. We all bounce ideas off of one another and share the love of fiber arts. Sam showed me Magic Loop knitting Friday night, and with my good friend Sheila's circular needles, the rest is history. I love it. Not only that, I got to talk parrots with Kerry! Not everyone understands parrot people. It's great to find someone else who is owned by a Quaker Parakeet.

The vendors out did themselves with wonderful rich colors and soft dreamy combinations of fibers that were irresistible. The Ernst Glass booth was awesome. I walked up and this deep red flower button jumped right out at me. The Chili Pepper glass needles were destine to come home with me as well. I bought a couple of skeins of Blue Moon, Socks and Rock lightweight yarn. I started knitting with it Friday night and you will see how my progress has come along as of 4:00 Sunday night in the photo below. Some of my other finds were Blue Moon Merino Tencel roving in the Rooster Rock colorway, Crown Mountain superwash sock fiber in "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Say a Little Prayer" colorways.

My power cord on the laptop is funky and needs replaced. I was able to get it to work tonight by turning the cord to the left or right until the computer came on. Let's hope that new cord I ordered comes in tomorrow!

Ya, you do want a closer look at that glass - I knew that you did! Double click on the photo if you want to blow it up.

Sunday Spinning

Spinning Guild held a surprise this month. Someone found that a family was threatening to throw out a spinner's stash! The lady who owned the stash was in her 80's and had forgotten how to spin, and the family was not interested in learning how. They had boxes of colored and natural fleece, mostly Romney. This photo was taken after about 1/2 of the entire stash was already spoken for.

We spinners all chipped in to help find homes for the fiber. The bag on the floor in front of my wheel came home with me, along with another bag that somehow fell into my car. All those boxes on the floor were full of clean fiber too. More spinners showed up after the photo was taken, more fiber found homes. All but about 2 or 3 pounds of fiber ended up finding homes and the woman who brought us this treasure took that. I'm sure it too will find a happy spinner to care for it. It was all lovely fiber.

If there comes a time when I no longer remember what my wheel is for, and Wayne even thinks of tossing my stash, it's up to each and every one of you to help find homes for my stash. I know you will not let me down. I have quilters in my family even if there are no spinners, but it's going to take a few of you to take on my stash as it stands today. Let's hope I get some spinning done before I get to the age where I forget how, or loose the ability to do so.

Yes, the photo of the spinners taking fiber home is small to protect the innocent and to make the amount of fiber you collected seem smaller than it truly is. Um... my bag had air in it too!

Here are a couple other creatures I met while at Spinning Guild. I thought you might enjoy them.

Blue Days

I have been having fun spinning tencel. It is hard to photograph because it is so shiny. I have 4 ounces of this beautiful blue, and I have 4 ounces of a tencel merino mix that has blues and greens in it which is already spun under this blue color on the bobbin. I was going to ply it with a black tencel that I have, but instead I think I'll ply it with some wool.

I dyed some "soft wool" that I bought at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival last year. Soft Wool is what the vendor calls this mix. All I know is it has some targhee in it. I used Blueberry Blast and Artic Apple Kool Aid and Blueberry Gaywool dye. It's drying tonight. I think it will work well with the tencel.

Muffin

When I go to my parents by myself and spend the night, I sleep with another dog. Shhh... I don't think Missy knows! This is Muffin. She is a smart little dog and she will actually pull her lips back and smile when she gets happy to see someone. It's really cute. She likes to sleep with her people, but not too close. Missy on the other hand sleeps snuggled up tight to her bed buddies.

I think I will try and spin some Muffin fiber this spring if Mom and Dad will collect some for me. For a little dog, Muffin really sheds a lot of fur!

Dinner with a View

We went out for dinner in Edmonds and had some beautiful scenery, wonderful food, and a fantastic time visiting.

Sweater Finished!

Wayne's sweater is finished. This started out as the Trinity Sweater, but we modified the pattern so it's a moss stitch and garter stitch combination. I spun the super wash wool as a three ply yarn in a heavy worsted weight. The sweater is more of a coat. Good thing Wayne is strong, he says if it gets rained on, he may need to get the wheel-barrow to haul the sweater around.


I used my size 9 glass circular knitting needles, made by my friend Sheila Ernst, to knit this sweater. I love using these needles. They have such a great feel and the points on them are hands down the best tips I have found.

Potted Poultry

The girls are sleeping in the greenhouse for awhile as they get used to my parents farm. They decided to try a flower pot as a good sleeping place. There are 5 bantam hens in this photo and two other hens are in other sleeping places.
A small rooster was put into the greenhouse with them last night so he can show them the farm when they get released from the greenhouse in a few days. I'm sure the rooster and the hens will wake up surprised to meet one another in the morning.

Family

The electricity came back on Sunday morning about 6 AM. I haven't had time to write as I headed to Onalaska to visit with my parents. Mom had a appointment at the hospital this morning, but she's doing great this evening and hopefully will be home tomorrow.

Mom has washed and dried the socks I spun & knit for her. I'm glad to say they've even held up to the dryer. Here's a photo of my Mom (Eleanor) on the right, and Gladys on the left. You can certainly see they are sisters! I've got another pair of siblings to share with you too. Here's my brother Mike and my sister, Sandy.Now to get a photo of my other brother, Terry, and you'll have seen us all on the blog - Dad was in the crab fishing photos some time ago. In the photo above Mike and Sandy is a photo of Mom and her brother, Clarence. Hey, you see that hat Michael is wearing?! I made that hat - and he's worn it for the last two or three winters. He just might get another hat one of these days :-)

Boom, Boom - OUT GO THE LIGHTS!

Early this morning we had another PNW wind storm come sweeping through our area. The power went out at 2 AM, and is still off. Thank goodness for the age of Internet - you can take your laptop to many places and get your internet fix.

So, today was the St. Distaff spin-in and about 100 people were able to attend this annual event. I know you want photos, but I think there are some friends who would wonder about my true loyalty if I put them up on my blog for all the world to see. So, if we don't have a photo - do we still get credit for attending the spin-in? I say yes, we do! I spun some Merino Tencel, and I bought some black Tencel to ply with the peacock colors that I was spinning today. I also bought some beautiful silk merino from the Artful Ewe. I need to take photos of to show you when we have our power back on.

All the fiber for Wayne's sweater is spun and plied, Hooray!

Starting the Year Right!

I had fun today with my projects and friends. I sat at my Fricke spinning wheel and spun. Moved over to the Lendrum with the jumbo plying head and plied, and have a 3 ply jumbo skein of yarn drying tonight. I really enjoy having two wheels! I'd better wrap this sweater project up very soon. The January sky is usually gray, and so is this sweater (although there are wisps of blue in some of the fiber). I like gray, just not too much of it at once.

I was tipping them back today in New Years celebration with friends. Yes, it was organic, green, and hot. Forgive the photo quality but this is the nearest I think I've ever come to an underwater shot - it's a rose tea blossom. (That's green tea Mom - no worries)

I am truly counting my blessing for the joyful colors in the Onalaska Skein. The shawl pattern has been chosen, the needle gague has been selected. The pattern I chose was the Alberta pattern from Stahman's Shawls & Scarves. I promise not to show you every row as she progresses, but I did want to show you that she is indeed begun. What a great start to 2007!

New Years Eve Post

You should check out yesterday's post to see where this beautiful yarn came from. I'm so excited to see how it's swatching I had to get this out for you tonight. I'm going to take the knitting down a needle size or two, and try a different pattern before I'm ready to start the shawl.

Here's Missy with her Holiday Bling!

Happy New Year!! Goodbye 2006. Hello 2007.

Special projects

I got a couple projects finished today. The handspun superwash Elecktra Light fiber made Mom a nice pair of socks. These were finished on the way to Onalaska today. So, one project done, I cast on a baby hat right away with the same yarn. It was finished by 7:00 this evening, but I forgot to get a photo for you.

Sam and Jen and Lisa all got together and came up with a awesome birthday present idea. Sam and Jen found a photo of my home town, Onalaska WA, and sent it on to Lisa to see if she could/would create a skein using Ony as the theme of the skein. Well it all came together in this wonderful work of art. What a wonderful gift.

I took the skein with me to show my family and to snap a couple photos of the Onalaska Skein in, where else, but Onalaska. I wasn't able to get up above the Mill pond which was in the original photo given to Lisa, but these are places on the farm where I grew up.

This first photo is taken at the front entrance where the old barn used to be. I spent many a morning and evening going out to the barn to milk the cow and/or feed calves. The barn was taken down about a year ago, but this tree in the photo was there as I was doing my chores.

The second photo is taken by the resting place of Sam and Trinket. They were my buddies as I was growing up. Sam was a German Shepard mix who was so intuitive and would console you when you cried, or could absolutely laugh with us when we were happy. He worried over the milk cow's baby calves as we brought them in from the field to the barn. Trinket was a toy poodle, who was anything but a sissy. She would chase cattle with the best of them, getting behind a steer to tug on his tail if he didn't run from her. Her heart belonged to Mom, but she was a great companion all the same.

The yarn is going to be knit into a Faroese -Shaped shawl with a pattern from the Myrna A.I. Stahman book, Stahman's Shawls & Scarves. I'm trying to decide if I want to knit the "Gracie" shawl, or the "Susan" shawl. I will do some swatches and see how they look before I decide for sure.

We had a great visit with my family today. Tango, the sun conure, was happy to come tell me his New Years resolutions. He says he's planning on learning a new word or two for 2007. Most likely it will be apple, and hello, but he will decide on that later.

What a Difference!

We did the early present opening this year. We had a very nice gift exchange. Our son received a plasma ball (one of those lights that looks like lightning inside similar to the one linked) and some electronic games, and of course socks. Wayne got a new coat and some tools. His sweater won't be done for about another week.

The ball on the right was wound on my small ball winder. The one on the left is with the new Royal jumbo ball winder that my family gave me. What a difference the right tool makes! There's room for more on the one on the left. It's a consistent tension and wound neatly. The one on the right is very loose and will fall apart quickly as I use it. I will rewind the one on the right so it's in better shape for my shawl project I'm planning with these two.

We also got a crab cooker for camping that will work great for that, but hey! It will work great for kettle dying wool! It's got high heat output and uses a propane tank for fuel. So - I'd say it's a fiber gift - but hey, use another pot and we got a crab cooker :-) It's call a Big Kahuna Burner. Now to find a really big pot for dying fiber. You don't want to use it for food if you've used it for dying, so I'll be looking at Goodwill or a 2nd hand store for that.

Missy found her presents under the tree and was quick to open them with a little encouragement. She helped others open gifts as well. She really loves to rip and tear things when she gets going. She's all tired out this evening and ready for a good nights sleep. Emma had assistance finding her gifts and she was very pleased. She got a catnip mouse that she rolled around on. She also got a door knob toy that has elastic and bounces around. It's got feathers on it and she think it rocks! She was batting it about for quite awhile this evening.

Tomorrow Tina is going to come over for a while and visit, but there aren't any big plans for the day. We are looking forward to spending some family time together.

Big Balls

Well, ball - but soon to be balls. Check out the Alpaca Lace I bought from Lisa Souza! I had her dye it bronze and gold. It reminds me of hay loose in the field. Okay - I'm a farm chick. This is great stuff! Someone else may have a more tantalizing description - but for me that description ranks right up there with a summer fair.

More to be blogged on this lovely wonder, later.

Not Much Happening

I've been working - a lot. The power went out for a couple days at home due to the big PNW wind storm. My photos in the dark are, well, dark. The ones with flash look light - but you can't tell our power was out when it's light. Trust me, it was out.

Wayne's sweater is down to just sleeves to be done. I washed the sweater and have it - gasp! in the dryer. I wanted to see it grow before I do the sleeves. I'm going to seam up the sides a bit more now that I can see how much it grew with the washing. Guess I'd better go pull it out of the dryer and see if it shrunk.
Um, sorry, somebody in my home likes to be in photos, and she likes warm wool to lay in. I tried to get her to move for a better shot. Wayne and I are thinking some antler buttons would be nice. It's going to have 9 buttons, since I put 9 button holes in the band. I found some buttons on the internet, that are sealed so they can be washed. Even if all goes smoothly buying them, it will take a couple weeks for them to get here. I don't imagine we will be washing this sweater a lot, but we can wash it in the washer (delicate cycle inside a mesh bag) since it is super wash. It's not meant for the dryer either, but I was feeling lucky and it didn't seem to hurt it. I got another skein spun over the weekend so I can work the sleeves.

Give Fleece a Chance

Working girls need to have some fun too. Who would have thought some rest and relaxation would come from dirty fleece? I agree, I would not have thought it, but it sure worked tonight. Then again, check out what I got to work with! This photo is without the flash so you can see how dark and beautiful this natural colored Romney fiber is. I love the crimp and the staple very much. This is a ewe lamb fleece that I purchased from The Pines Farm.
You can see it also at the bottom of the photo below. The dyed brown and green fiber is Lincoln fiber that I bought at a guild sale. The dye was not washed out well, and so I washed it to get the excess dye out. It's drying fast. There is 6.6 pounds of the Romney drying there with a fan turned on and a heater nearby. I gave it a good spin inside a couple mesh bags. I split the fleece into two parts so the washing machine would stay balanced in the spin cycle, so it's well on it's way to being dry too.
Wayne's sweater is coming along. Here's an update photo on the sweater progress.

Oh darn! Wrong photo! That's my fiber closet... if you've seen any naked sheep about, well don't tell them where I've stashed their clothing! Haha

Okay, Wayne's Sweater - for real :-)

Happy Birthday Missy!

Today was Missy's birthday. She is 6 years old today. It was also Jen's birthday! So happy birthday to both Missy and Jen. Missy got a special bone, some Pupparonis, a 3 foot toy snake that squeeks and fun to shake, and a massage glove for us to rub her back. I'll let Jen talk about her birthday, but the time we spent visiting with her was such fun tonight. Thank Jen for having us over.

I was able to work more on Wayne's sweater this weekend, but between going to the dump, shopping and wrapping Missy's gifts, and going to a wonderful dinner at Jen's home tonight, I didn't get any sweater photo's for you. So, I will leave you in suspense for the next sweater update.

More Christmas shopping was accomplished today. Actually I was gathering more items I needed to craft and create into Christmas gifts. Now to get busy putting the materials together.

Giant Frozen Chicken Alert

They DO exist especially when the temperatures get into the 20's. I think this one is breaking out with spots as well. He looks a bit mesmorized. Petrified poka-dot poultry - at it's finest.

Wayne's sweater has a back and 1/2 of the front done. I've started the second side of the front and have done a 3 needle bind-off on the one side that is done. It's looking good! I hope to have a progress photo up by tomorrow night.

I'm starting up the Six Sock knit a long with their chain link socks pattern. I have some Lisa Souza heels and toes in black, Sock! yarn. I called her up and got her to sock some Blue Sky Sock! into the mail for me for the main color of the pattern.

Snow Play

We received some snow! We only get snow a couple times a year usually, and it doesn't normally last very long. Here's a few pictures of the snow we have.

We feed the birds in our back yard. They are very happy with the snow here and all. Hey! Wayne said there is a humming bird trying to get humming bird food from the hummer feeder. It's frozen, so it didn't get any. I've been telling Wayne they migrate and he should take the feeder down that he recently put up. I am really surprised that they hang around in this sort of weather. Now, how to make the feeder not frozen for the little silly hummer. Guess I'll have to google it and see if I can find the solution. Poor little bird - it's very cold out! LOL - a nectar cozy perhaps? I've got lots of wool :-) Note: I found link that gives directions on this issue. Heat lamp!


Here's Wayne and Missy enjoying the snow. The snowy figure in the background is a cedar bear that sits by the larger pond in our back yard. The pond needs a new liner which we will get in next summer.

I went in late to work today due to the icy roads. I spent my morning separating Jazz's fleece and got a lot accomplished. I've just got another couple hours of work to do on it before it's all separated and picked.

We set up the Christmas tree. Here's a picture of it. Not too bad for an artificial tree I think.


It was rather frightening today. Wayne and I were in the grocery store. We had some Ding Dongs in the shopping cart, there was Christmas music playing on the store speakers. On the way out in the parking lot I caught myself singing "ding dong, ding dong, Christmas Bells are ringing" Oh No! The first Christmas song of the year - and not only that, there I was singing it. It had to be the snow, or the tree, maybe they were playing it in the store and it snuck into my subconscious, or possibly it was the Ding Dongs! It is only November 28th, what will the rest of the year bring?

Too Much Fun?

Shhh, don't tell Missy! We had a fashion show with Mocha today at Jen's house. Mocha is a little more exuberant when it comes to modeling. However she does know how to settle right into spinning after a fashion.
Tina came over to visit the other day. It was great to see her and get to visit a while. Missy was delighted! Aunt Tina is one of Missy's favorite people.

For my birthday, Tina found the coolest card, and put together a basket of wonderful goodies (chicken lamp, basket, table cloth, ear rings, book - am I spoiled or WHAT?). She gave Wayne and I a gift certificate to Dinner's Ready for our anniversary. I'm looking forward to checking that out. She's so sweet. I am really looking forward to reading the book she found called "The Egg and I". It was written by Betty MacDonald in Washington State. It was published in 1945. I hear there was a movie made based on the book as well.


Wayne and I went Christmas tree shopping. What do you think of this one? It came with lights already on it, and it certainly sparkles! Okay, this is one of two we got today. This was the last one like it where we were, and it just spoke to us. I'll have to get some decorations on it and send you all another photo to enjoy.

Have I mentioned I love the Elph Canon camera? It is so much fun. I took some movies with it today. What a hoot!